Author: Admin

Tens of thousands of mourners lined the streets of Najaf, one of Iraq’s holiest cities, on Wednesday to witness the funeral procession of slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose coffin has crossed the border from Iran as part of a six-day ceremony.

Crowds carrying large images of the deceased leader gathered along the procession route, chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” as Khamenei’s coffin was transported through the city streets atop a large truck.

Both Iraqi and Iranian flags were visible throughout the crowd, along with banners representing powerful Iran-backed Iraqi militia groups, whose members joined the procession in large numbers.

Najaf carries deep religious importance for Shi’ite Muslims around the world, as it is the burial site of Imam Ali, who was both the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammad.

The coffin had arrived the previous evening at Najaf’s international airport, where Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, along with senior government officials and religious figures, took part in a formal reception ceremony.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and commanders from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also traveled to Iraq to participate in the procession. The coffin is expected to continue on to the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala before ultimately being returned to Iran, where Khamenei will be laid to rest.

A legal fight that has stretched nearly a decade may be reaching its conclusion Wednesday, as a top English court prepares to hear the final appeal in a case challenging Trinidad and Tobago’s ban on gay sex.

Supreme Court judges in London are set to consider a significant human rights case that, if decided in favor of the challenger, could make same-sex relations legal in the eastern Caribbean nation — and potentially influence how other Caribbean countries handle similar laws.

The case was originally brought in February 2017 by Jason Jones, who contends that his country’s so-called “buggery” laws — holdovers from the colonial era that criminalize gay sex — are unconstitutional. Anyone convicted under those laws faces up to five years behind bars.

Standing against Jones is the government of Trinidad and Tobago, which has the support of the country’s Council of Evangelical Churches and its largest Hindu organization, Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha.

The legal journey has passed through multiple courts over the years. Trinidad’s High Court ruled the laws unconstitutional back in April 2018, but a local appeals court partially overturned that decision in March 2025. That July, Trinidad’s Court of Appeals gave Jones the green light to bring the matter before England’s final appeals court.

The case is now in the hands of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and LGBTQ advocates throughout the Caribbean are watching closely to see how it unfolds.

The region has seen a mixed record on the issue. The Bahamas decriminalized homosexuality in 1991, and the U.K. government struck down similar laws in 2001 across Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. More recently, courts in Barbados, Dominica, St. Lucia, and Antigua and Barbuda have also thrown out comparable laws. However, gay sex remains a criminal offense in Grenada, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Jones, now 61, has been openly gay since age 16 and left Trinidad and Tobago in 1996, citing what he described as homophobic violence and discrimination he experienced there.

LGBTQ organizations backing Jones noted in a recent court filing that his story reflects a broader reality, stating that he “is unable to fully express his sexuality without being branded a criminal.”

Jones himself has framed the issue as one of secular values, arguing that “Trinidad and Tobago is a secular society and a multi-racial one. Christian morality is neither universal nor superior.”

Attorneys and advocates point out that even though the buggery laws have not been actively enforced in recent times, their existence still carries real consequences. As one written argument recently submitted in Jones’s favor put it, “A law of this kind operates not only through arrest and conviction, but through the stigma, fear, concealment and exclusion.”

That same filing argued that criminalizing gay sex “compounds stigma at precisely the stage at which young people may be forming identity, seeking support, accessing education and healthcare, and deciding whether it is safe to disclose abuse, bullying or self-harm risks.”

The five-judge panel of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council could announce a decision as soon as the Wednesday hearing concludes, though there is no set deadline for them to do so.

TAIPEI — A top Taiwan official issued a stark warning Wednesday that China’s slow but steady escalation of pressure tactics could fundamentally change the situation in the Taiwan Strait — and the rest of the world might not realize it until it’s already too late.

Kuan Bi-ling, who leads Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council and oversees the island’s coast guard, made the remarks during a forum held in Taipei. She pointed out that China’s aggressive maritime behavior is not aimed at Taiwan alone — Japan and the Philippines are also feeling the pressure, particularly in the disputed South China Sea.

At the heart of her concern are so-called “grey zone” tactics — actions that fall short of open warfare but are designed to intimidate and coerce. Kuan warned that as these actions build on one another, the overall situation can shift dramatically without any single moment triggering alarm bells.

“Each individual action may not appear to trigger an international crisis. Each escalation of pressure may still be judged as not constituting war. But when a series of actions accumulates, it may create an entirely new status quo,” she said.

China, which considers Taiwan part of its own territory despite the island’s democratic self-governance, sends military aircraft and naval vessels into the airspace and waters around Taiwan on a daily basis. Regular Chinese Coast Guard patrols near Taiwan’s eastern coastline have also drawn sharp objections from Taipei, which insists Beijing has no legal claim to maritime jurisdiction in those waters. China, for its part, does not recognize any sovereignty claims made by Taiwan.

Kuan also cautioned that the long-term consequences of this pressure could ripple through international commerce and security — potentially causing shipping lanes to be rerouted, insurance companies to reassess their risk calculations, and frontline personnel to face mounting strain.

“And the international community, through repeated judgements that each incident is ‘not yet a crisis,’ may gradually become accustomed to things that should never be regarded as normal,” she warned.

“In the end, we may suddenly discover that no decisive war ever occurred on any particular day, yet the original status quo no longer exists,” Kuan added.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office had not responded to requests for comment at the time of the forum. Beijing has blamed Taiwan for the current tensions, particularly targeting Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te, whom it labels a “separatist.” Lai has maintained that only the people of Taiwan have the right to determine the island’s future.

Last month, the United States, Britain, France, and Germany all voiced concern over the new Chinese Coast Guard patrols operating off Taiwan’s eastern coast.

Also present at the forum was U.S. Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, who became the first U.S. senator to travel to Taiwan since U.S. President Donald Trump held talks with China’s Xi Jinping in Beijing back in May.

ZAPORIZHZHIA REGION, Ukraine — Russian military forces are working to neutralize a powerful Ukrainian drone strategy by hiding military cargo in civilian vehicles and deploying advanced electronic jamming equipment designed to knock out Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service, according to Ukrainian drone commanders and pilots who spoke with Reuters.

Ukraine’s so-called “mid-strike” drones — capable of accurately hitting targets dozens of kilometers behind the front lines at relatively low cost — have fundamentally changed the nature of the conflict. These drones are frequently operated through Starlink connections, which had long been considered resistant to jamming attempts.

Throughout this year, Ukraine has used mid-strike drone campaigns to hammer Russian supply lines, fuel storage sites, air defense systems, and command centers. The effort has disrupted Russian logistics and created fuel shortages in Russian-occupied Crimea.

A Reuters crew that visited Ukraine’s 422nd Unmanned Systems Regiment in the southern Zaporizhzhia region heard from four drone commanders and pilots about the growing list of Russian countermeasures.

JAMMING SYSTEMS

An advisor to Ukraine’s defense ministry, Serhii Beskrestnov, identified one specific Russian jamming system called the Volna Kupol Garant. He said the device emits a signal powerful enough to destabilize Starlink connections across an area of roughly 20 square kilometers — about 7.7 square miles. Approximately 10 of these systems have been detected so far, he said.

However, the jamming units have themselves become targets. The 422nd regiment has participated in strikes against two of these systems. One was destroyed just hours after being located, in a joint operation with Ukraine’s SBU security service. Video of one such attack showed a massive explosion as a drone struck a site containing six large trailer-like boxes.

“As soon as we struck that installation, our Starlink-equipped (drones) flew without problems,” said a crew commander who goes by the callsign ‘Dyryhent.’

Meanwhile, Musk has blocked Russian forces from accessing Starlink to prevent Moscow from using it to guide its own drone attacks.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment, and neither did Russia’s defense ministry. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the specific tactics Russia is employing.

HIDING SUPPLIES IN CIVILIAN VEHICLES

During the Reuters visit to the 422nd regiment, soldiers working under the dim red glow of headlamps loaded a high-explosive warhead into a winged drone. The propeller engine coughed to life, and the craft — called the “Zozulya,” or “Cuckoo” — was launched by catapult into the darkness, heading southeast toward Crimea to strike a base used by Russian drone operators.

Drone commanders described how Russian forces have adapted their supply logistics to avoid Ukrainian strikes. Fuel and other materials are now being concealed in everyday civilian vehicles.

“We hit water tankers and the tankers were burning because there was gasoline inside,” said Kolesnyk, one of the commanders. “We’ve hit painted-up milk trucks that had diesel fuel in them.”

Russian forces have also begun running small fuel convoys escorted by pickup trucks armed with machine guns, taking back roads to stay off surveillance radar, and using civilian cars, quadbikes, and motorcycles to move fuel, ammunition, and supplies to the front, according to Ukrainian military intelligence.

Russia is also using camouflaged underground shelters, abandoned structures, agricultural buildings, and civilian gas stations to store military fuel and supplies, intelligence officials said.

Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the U.S.-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, called Ukraine’s mid-strike campaign perhaps the most significant battlefield development of the year — but acknowledged that Russia is beginning to find ways to push back.

“If they scale production of the jammers, they could make it more difficult to conduct the middle-strike campaign,” he said.

Still, the campaign has not halted deadly Russian attacks on Ukraine. Russia continues to hold roughly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, four years after launching its full-scale invasion, and not every Ukrainian drone strike finds its mark.

During the Reuters visit, the 422nd regiment fired a RAM-2X drone at a fuel tanker — and missed. The surveillance drone tracking the truck was then shot down by a Russian Tor surface-to-air missile system.

“At least we know it’s there now,” said one crew member, who logged the Tor missile system into Ukraine’s digital battlefield targeting database — marking it for a future strike.

Speaking in Ankara on Wednesday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen made a firm declaration that Denmark would stand behind every part of the NATO alliance — including its own territory — just one day after U.S. President Donald Trump once again pushed for American control over Greenland.

Trump has repeatedly insisted that the United States must acquire or take control of Greenland, which operates as a semi-autonomous territory under Danish rule. Those claims have created lasting tension between Washington and Copenhagen, both of which are founding members of NATO, and have more broadly strained U.S. relationships across Europe. The dispute has since shifted into diplomatic channels.

“We are ready to defend every inch of NATO, including our own territory … Of course we will defend the kingdom of Denmark,” Frederiksen said, making it clear once again that Greenland is not on the table for purchase or transfer.

The Danish leader also reflected on the founding purpose of the alliance itself. “One of the reasons why we have built NATO many, many years ago, is if anything happens to one of us, then everybody should stand up for each other,” she said.

NAJAF, Iraq — Funeral processions for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei got underway Wednesday in the Iraqi city of Najaf, drawing thousands of mourners into the streets.

The multi-day funeral began Saturday in Tehran, where Iranian authorities shut down roads, airspace, and much of daily life as crowds gathered to honor the man who ruled Iran for decades with a firm grip while repeatedly clashing with Western nations. Following ceremonies in Najaf, Khamenei’s body will be transported to the city of Karbala before making its final journey back to Iran.

Diplomatic talks between the United States and Iran appear to be paused until after the burial concludes. Meanwhile, military exchanges between both countries in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday and into Wednesday have raised concerns that a fragile interim agreement — meant to halt the monthslong regional war — could collapse. The U.S. military carried out strikes on Iran early Wednesday, saying Tehran had first targeted three vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran then launched retaliatory strikes on Kuwait and Bahrain.

Khamenei’s remains arrived in Najaf — one of the most sacred cities for Shiite Muslims worldwide — on Tuesday. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and other top officials accompanied the body. Crowds lined the streets holding portraits of the late leader, while some mourners performed acts of self-flagellation as a sign of grief.

The casket carrying Khamenei was draped in Iran’s national flag and enclosed in glass. Mourners in the streets waved Iranian flags alongside red and black banners representing mourning and a desire for revenge.

One attendee, Jaafar Jawad, expressed his feelings about the occasion. “We the people of Iraq will remain a thorn in the eyes of the enemies,” he said. “His arrival to us is the greatest possible honor, and God willing we will be loyal, and repay a little of his due in the holy city of Najaf.”

Funeral prayers in Najaf are scheduled to take place at the Shrine of Imam Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad. The ceremony will be led by Muhammad Taqi al-Hakim, a senior religious scholar at the Najaf seminary.

In Karbala — another city of deep significance to Shiite Muslims, where Imam Hussein, the Prophet’s grandson, was killed in 680 AD — prayers will be held at the Imam Hussein Shrine. Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalaei, a representative of Iraq’s top Shiite religious authority, will lead those services.

Khamenei was killed in late February during large-scale strikes carried out by the United States and Israel against Iran. He was one of several high-ranking Iranian leaders who died during the conflict. He was 86 years old.

Iran’s newly designated supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has not appeared at any of the funeral events so far. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly sustaining injuries in the same airstrike that killed his father.

American military forces carried out a series of strikes on Iranian targets in the early hours of Wednesday morning, following attacks on three merchant vessels in waters off the coast of Oman. The action brought the Strait of Hormuz back into the global spotlight as NATO leaders gathered for the second day of their summit in Ankara, Turkey.

U.S. Central Command announced through a social media post that the strikes were launched “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”

The NATO summit is centered around demonstrating the alliance’s growing military strength at a time when U.S. attention is shifting away from European defense. Leaders are presenting military initiatives worth billions of dollars, with the goal of convincing President Trump that Europe is building a stronger defense posture within the alliance.

As Wednesday’s summit sessions got underway, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte declared that the overnight U.S. strikes on Iran were justified, stating that Iran had broken the terms of the ceasefire. “I think it is totally crucial that the U.S. forcefully reacts,” Rutte said. He also called on NATO members to reaffirm that Iran must never obtain nuclear capabilities and to stand behind the principle of free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

On Tuesday, President Trump met with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ahead of the summit and announced plans to lift sanctions against Turkey, which could open the door to selling F-35 fighter jets to the country — a move that faces opposition from Israel.

Trump also took aim at NATO’s ability to operate without U.S. leadership, expressing frustration that some alliance members declined to participate in the military campaign against Iran — a war he launched alongside Israel without first consulting NATO partners.

The president once again pushed his position that Greenland should be “controlled by the United States, not by Denmark,” a stance that has been described as the single greatest threat Trump has posed to the NATO alliance.

Responding directly to Trump’s comments at the summit, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was unequivocal: “Greenland is of course not for sale.” She added, “We hope that all, including all allies, will respect the Greenland people right for self-determination. And we are sovereign states and we need everybody to respect our territorial integrity and our sovereignty.” Frederiksen also affirmed that Denmark stands ready to defend every corner of NATO territory, including its own, and expects fellow alliance members to honor their mutual defense commitments.

Overnight drone strikes launched by Ukraine against Russian territory have left one person dead, injured several others, and caused damage to industrial facilities and two oil tankers, according to local Russian officials speaking Wednesday.

The governor of Russia’s Saratov region, Roman Busargin, announced via Telegram that a Ukrainian drone attack in his region resulted in one fatality, injuries to multiple people, and damage to civilian industrial sites.

In Russia’s southern Rostov region, Governor Yury Slyusar reported on Telegram that two tankers were struck in the Taganrog Bay area of the Sea of Azov. He noted that both vessels were empty at the time and had been traveling toward Rostov-on-Don. Two people in the area suffered minor injuries, he added.

According to Ukraine’s military, Ukrainian drones have targeted roughly a dozen tankers belonging to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” over the past several days — vessels that had been transporting fuel to Crimea. The Sea of Azov serves as a critical supply corridor for Russian forces operating in Crimea and other Russian-held areas of southern Ukraine.

The mayor of Nizhnekamsk, a city in the central Russian region of Tatarstan, Radmir Belyayev, described a “massive” drone assault on his city in a post on the Telegram messaging platform.

Russia’s defense ministry reported that its forces intercepted and destroyed 415 Ukrainian drones over a 12-hour span.

These attacks are part of an intensifying Ukrainian campaign targeting Russian oil refineries, which has escalated in recent weeks. Throughout the ongoing conflict — now entering its fifth year — Russia has repeatedly struck Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, resulting in widespread power outages and shortages of heating fuel during the winter months.

Russia fired ballistic missiles at Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv overnight, officials confirmed Wednesday — the third such strike on the city in fewer than seven days, as Ukraine continues to struggle with a critical lack of U.S.-made air defense interceptors.

The latest assault unfolded as the NATO summit was getting underway in Ankara, where U.S. President Donald Trump was scheduled to sit down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for face-to-face talks.

According to air force data, Ukrainian air defenses managed to intercept more than 80% of the 169 drones deployed in the overnight strikes across the country. However, none of the five ballistic missiles Russia fired were brought down — a recurring problem for Ukraine’s defense capabilities.

Russia has intensified its air campaign against Ukraine in recent months, as its ground forces have seen their advances largely grind to a halt. Ukrainian strikes targeting Russian military supply lines and oil infrastructure have also triggered widespread fuel shortages inside Russia.

The human toll from Russian strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region has been severe this month alone — 60 people have lost their lives in July.

In the overnight attack on Kyiv, one woman was killed and two others were injured, according to Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the city’s military administration. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that the strikes ignited fires in a storage facility and a non-residential structure in two separate districts on opposite sides of the Dnipro River.

Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, was also targeted in missile strikes, with local officials saying private homes and a church sustained damage.

Zelenskiy has made repeated appeals for U.S.-made interceptors, which remain the only weapons in Ukraine’s military inventory capable of shooting down ballistic missiles. The missiles’ extreme speed and sharp downward flight path make them nearly impossible to intercept with other systems.

The Ukrainian president was expected to press the issue directly with Trump during their meeting at the Ankara summit on Wednesday.

Trump, who had spoken with both Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the lead-up to the summit, said Tuesday in Ankara that he believed the war could be “settled, hopefully soon.”

Putin, meanwhile, has vowed to continue the war despite the growing challenges facing Russian forces. Moscow has demanded that Ukraine surrender the remainder of the eastern Donetsk region — territory Russia has been unable to fully seize after more than four years of fighting.

Ship-tracking data reveals that at least four oil and gas tankers have reversed course rather than pass through the Strait of Hormuz, as a fresh wave of attacks on vessels in the critical waterway has raised serious safety and security alarms.

The turnarounds follow an incident Tuesday in which a Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker and a Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker were damaged near the strait. Reports indicate Iran fired missiles at ships in the waterway, prompting maritime authorities to elevate the threat level for vessels attempting to transit the area to “severe.”

Three LNG tankers — the Al Ghariya, Duhail, and Al Ruwais — had been slowly making their way westward toward the strait before each changed direction late Tuesday, according to data from analytics companies Kpler and LSEG. All three vessels, operated by QatarEnergy, were traveling empty and bound for Qatar’s Ras Laffan export facility to pick up cargo.

A fourth vessel, an Indian-flagged tanker hauling 2 million barrels of Kuwaiti crude loaded late last week, also made a U-turn near the tip of Oman at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, according to data from LSEG and Kpler.

Since the conflict began in late February, at least 16 LNG cargoes from Ras Laffan and 10 from ADNOC’s Das Island terminal in the United Arab Emirates have successfully passed through the strait. However, those numbers represent only a small portion of the roughly 7 million metric tons that are typically shipped from both export hubs each month.

A backlog of empty vessels waiting to load at Ras Laffan has been growing, with more than 10 ships in the queue as of early July, according to analysts at Vortexa. The firm also noted that more than 50 vessels controlled by QatarEnergy and ADNOC are currently positioned across the Middle East Gulf, India, and the Malacca Strait, with some having switched off their Automatic Identification System tracking signals for more than 10 days.

Despite the turmoil, at least two crude oil tankers did manage to exit the strait. The supertanker Tenjun, managed by Nippon Yusen KK and carrying 2 million barrels of Qatari crude loaded in late February, passed through the Strait of Hormuz late Tuesday. Another supertanker, the Pertamina Pride — managed by Indonesia’s state energy company Pertamina — also exited the strait Tuesday with its transponder switched off, according to shipping data. That vessel is transporting 2 million barrels of Saudi crude loaded in early March.

Nippon Yusen declined to offer any comment regarding the Tenjun. Pertamina had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Two senior United Nations officials are sounding the alarm, urging Western countries to re-engage with Afghanistan before the nation slips deeper into instability — with consequences that could ripple across the globe.

“The lesson of (the) recent past is that ignoring Afghanistan is not a good thing to do,” said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Barham Salih, speaking to The Associated Press during a joint visit to the country alongside the head of the United Nations Development Program, Alexander De Croo.

Salih, speaking via video link, said it is wiser “to engage, to support and promote the right type of policies to making sure that Afghanistan remains safe and secure.” He warned that without such engagement, “we may well risk instability, with all the implications of that instability” — including drug trafficking, extremism, criminal activity, and refugee flows.

Afghanistan, a country battered by four decades of conflict, is now facing a convergence of crises — natural disasters, climate change, and one of the largest waves of returning refugees seen anywhere in decades.

“In Afghanistan, there is never a crisis just on its own. It’s always crisis on top of crisis,” De Croo told the AP. “And that you see here.”

Nearly 6 million people have returned to Afghanistan since 2023, most of them from neighboring Pakistan and Iran after those countries launched crackdowns on migrants. Another roughly 2 million are expected to arrive back this year, according to the U.N. officials.

These returnees are putting enormous pressure on local communities that already have very limited resources in a country where poverty is widespread and malnutrition threatens the most vulnerable residents.

The situation has been made worse by steep cuts in international aid and a Taliban government that has excluded women and girls from education beyond primary school and barred them from most jobs.

Afghanistan also remains cut off diplomatically. No Western nation has formally recognized the Taliban government since it took power following the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led forces in August 2021. Russia became the first country to officially extend recognition, doing so in 2025.

Last month, a Taliban government delegation traveled to Brussels to meet with European Union staff for discussions on diplomatic services and the return of Afghan nationals from European countries — a small but symbolic step toward breaking Afghanistan’s international isolation.

Despite the daunting challenges, U.N. officials noted that Afghanistan has made meaningful gains in certain areas, particularly in security, fighting corruption, and reducing drug production.

“I wouldn’t close my eyes to the fact that there is progress, and maybe progress that no one would have expected five years ago,” De Croo said. He pointed out that drug production has fallen by 95% in a country that was once one of the world’s leading producers of opium and heroin.

“If now the international community turns its back to Afghanistan, the consequences will not only be in Afghanistan. The consequences will be much, much broader,” De Croo warned.

He added: “The message to Western countries is: if you want to have a stable and peaceful society, you are not only achieving that with domestic policy. If you want to live in peace and stability, your neighborhood also needs to be at peace and stability.”

The Taliban’s severe restrictions on women and girls remain a major sticking point between Afghanistan’s government and the international community. Both De Croo and Salih said they raised the issue directly with Afghan officials during their visit, and both believe that continued engagement — not isolation — is the path to progress.

“We hope that constructive engagement will show the way forward in that regard,” Salih said. “It’s important that there is progress, there is tangible reforms that will allow for an inclusive system in this country.”

The cuts in international aid have had “a very tangible impact” on the Afghan people, De Croo said. He noted that 422 medical centers shut down in Afghanistan in just one year due to a loss of funding. “Closed because the funding just disappeared. That is more than 3 million people that are impacted, that just lose their access to basic medical services,” he said.

Earlier this year, the World Food Program revealed that funding shortfalls had forced it to turn away three out of every four severely malnourished children seeking help because it no longer had the resources to feed them.

The Taliban launched a poppy eradication campaign after taking power, but De Croo noted that the dramatic drop in drug production was also tied to programs that gave farmers alternative crops to grow. Funding for those programs, he said, has been sharply reduced — raising the risk that drug cultivation could return if support disappears.

“If we cannot continue working together with farmers in giving them an alternative for producing drugs,” drug cultivation could come back, he said.

Salih acknowledged that global attention has largely shifted away from Afghanistan, but said the current moment presents a real opportunity for the world to step back in.

“It is vital to remind the world that the price of inaction far outweighs action,” Salih said. “You cannot ignore Afghanistan, and what happens in Afghanistan does not necessarily stay in Afghanistan.”

PARIS — Marine Le Pen wasted no time declaring her fourth run for the French presidency, making the announcement within hours of a Paris appeals court ruling that cleared her path to the 2027 election.

Speaking during a prime time appearance on TF1, Le Pen framed her candidacy as the story of a fighter who had pushed through a lengthy legal battle that many thought would finish her political career for good.

“There are many French people who are going through hardships, and we too are going through hardships,” she said. “These trials, I believe, have strengthened us.”

Until Tuesday’s ruling, Le Pen’s chances of ever reaching the Élysée Palace had appeared finished. A court had previously handed her a five-year ban from holding office back in March 2025 after finding her guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds to pay staff at her anti-immigrant National Rally party in France. The appeals court on Tuesday reduced that ban, allowing her to run — though it did not overturn the underlying conviction.

Le Pen confirmed she intends to pursue a final appeal against the guilty verdict at the same time she campaigns for the presidency, a bold and risky dual strategy.

The move is a significant gamble. She must hope that France’s highest court sides with her in that last-resort appeal, and she must also convince voters to elect someone two separate courts have now found guilty of embezzlement. Le Pen appears to believe French voters will look past her legal troubles to make her the country’s first far-right leader in modern times.

“I think you should never impose anything on the French people; they must have the final say, and now the French people will have the final say,” she said.

Brigitte Barèges, a former lawmaker from a right-wing party aligned with the National Rally, said she understood Le Pen’s decision to press forward.

“I know her character and I’m a bit like that,” Barèges said. “You want to show those who caused you this setback that you are not dead because of it, that you are still there.”

The announcement comes at a moment when the National Rally has never been closer to wielding real power in France. Polling data indicates Le Pen should comfortably advance to the second-round runoff in next year’s election, though winning the final vote is considered less certain.

Le Pen told TF1 she is confident she will be able to campaign without the restrictions of an electronic monitoring tag, which had been a condition attached to her release. She also confirmed that Jordan Bardella, the 30-year-old party president she has mentored, will run alongside her as a candidate for prime minister should she win.

Bardella had previously been positioned to run for the presidency himself if Le Pen remained barred, and current polling actually shows him performing more strongly than Le Pen for the top job. Le Pen dismissed any suggestion that this arrangement might breed resentment between them.

“Jordan Bardella and I are fighting for France. We are fighting for the French people. This cause clearly goes beyond us,” she said. “And therefore our personal ambitions do not come into consideration at all.”

Barèges agreed that the National Rally’s chances are stronger with both figures running together, noting that over recent years the pair have built a powerful political partnership that blends fresh energy with seasoned experience, helping transform a once-fringe movement into a party that could realistically form a government.

“We have offered the French people a partnership, a partnership that I believe is complementary, balanced, coherent, and solid,” Le Pen said.

Challenges remain, however — particularly on economic policy. Critics have long accused the National Rally of lacking a credible plan to address France’s significant public debt and sluggish economic growth. While Le Pen dealt with her court battles, Bardella began moving toward a more free-market economic stance than his mentor on issues such as pension reform.

Among the unresolved questions is whether the party will hold to its pledge to lower the retirement age back to 62, a promise that some insiders within the party now view as financially unsustainable.

A senior party official acknowledged that several major policy questions remain unanswered, with tough decisions still ahead on issues including pensions and taxation.

Gilles Ivaldi, a political scientist at Sciences Po, said resolving the party’s internal tensions over economic policy will be critical to its prospects going forward.

“To govern and secure a parliamentary majority, the RN ultimately needs to win over right-wing voters and, at some point, reach accommodations with the mainstream right,” he said. “A broad alliance of right-wing forces is a prerequisite for the RN to take power.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced Wednesday that they carried out missile and drone attacks against U.S. military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait, responding to a fresh round of American military strikes on Iran tied to attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the joint operation targeted key U.S. military sites, including Bandar Salman, Bahrain’s Fifth Naval District, and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. Iran also claimed it shot down a U.S. MQ9 drone it said was attempting to interfere with the operation.

Air raid sirens blared across Bahrain and Kuwait following the strikes. Kuwait’s military confirmed its air defenses were actively responding to what it described as “hostile” missile and drone attacks.

Earlier in the day, the U.S. launched its own round of military strikes against Iran and revoked a license that had permitted Iran to sell oil on international markets — a response to attacks on three tankers in the strait.

U.S. Central Command reported that more than 60 small boats belonging to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were among the targets struck, calling the action a response to Iranian shipping attacks that violated the ceasefire agreement.

“The unwarranted aggression by Iranian forces is a clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire and undermines freedom of navigation,” CENTCOM stated.

Iran’s top military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, fired back, calling the U.S. strikes a “blatant act of aggression” and warning of a “crushing response.” The command also declared that Tehran would not tolerate American interference in control of the strait.

Iranian parliament speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf accused Washington of breaking the ceasefire, pointing to the military strikes, renewed oil sanctions, alleged violations of Iranian adjustments in the Strait of Hormuz, and Israeli attacks against Lebanon.

“The era of bullying and extortion is over,” Qalibaf wrote on X. “We don’t fold.”

Iranian media reported explosions at Iran’s main oil hub on Kharg Island, as well as on Qeshm Island and in the southern port cities of Sirik and Bandar Abbas. Iran’s Press TV said multiple blasts were heard in southern Kharg Island, which serves as the export point for 90% of Iran’s crude oil. CENTCOM made no mention of Kharg Island in its statements.

A U.S. official told Reuters that American strikes focused on Iranian air defense systems, coastal surveillance systems, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, and drone launch sites.

No civilian deaths were reported in Iran, though several people were injured by shrapnel from what Iranian state TV described as an “enemy projectile” striking a commercial pier in Sirik. Reports also indicated strikes hit fishing piers in both Sirik and Bandar Abbas.

The escalating clashes represent the latest blow to a fragile ceasefire agreement reached last month between the U.S. and Iran, which was intended to pause a conflict that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.

On Tuesday, Washington revoked a key concession that had allowed Iran to sell oil on global markets — a move that sent oil prices surging more than 3%. Under the interim agreement, the U.S. Treasury had issued a June 22 license permitting the sale of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products through August 21. With the license now revoked, Iran has until July 17 to wind down related transactions.

A U.S. official said negotiators were still working in good faith toward a final agreement, but analysts note that Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz has given Tehran significant leverage in talks, effectively allowing it to hold its ground against the world’s most powerful military.

Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the oil license revocation as a breach of the framework agreement and warned that Washington would bear responsibility for any consequences. The ministry said Iran would take whatever steps it deemed necessary to protect its interests and national security.

While Iran denied responsibility for the latest tanker attacks, Qatar blamed Iran for striking three vessels, including the large Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker Al Rekayyat, which was hit by a drone that sparked a fire in its engine room. The crew was reported safe and was being evacuated. A Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker believed to be the supertanker Wedyan was also reported damaged off Oman, though the cause was not immediately confirmed.

Iran’s foreign ministry called Qatar’s accusations puzzling, insisting Tehran was honoring its commitments. However, the ministry also warned that commercial vessels face risks when using routes not coordinated with Iran.

A second U.S. official, speaking anonymously, said early indications suggested Iran had fired on three commercial ships.

Iran’s leadership has been pushing to establish a permanent system for collecting fees from vessels passing through the strait — a move that would represent a significant shift in regional power dynamics in an area where the U.S. has long served as a security guarantor.

The latest U.S. strikes came as large crowds gathered to mourn Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the holy city of Qom. Khamenei was killed alongside his daughter, granddaughter, son-in-law, and daughter-in-law on the first day of the conflict.

The ceasefire was designed to allow 60 days of negotiations toward a permanent deal, but indirect talks held in Qatar ended last week without any apparent progress. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to resume bombing unless Iran agrees to “make a deal.” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi warned that under the terms of the interim ceasefire memorandum, negotiations on a final deal would “not commence if threats continue.”

They gave themselves the name the “German driving school for experts,” but according to German prosecutors, the real purpose of their Telegram chat groups was far more sinister — bragging about sexual assaults on women and exchanging advice on how to sedate them.

Court documents reveal that members of these online groups used coded language to disguise their crimes: women were referred to as “cars,” sedatives were called “fuel,” and rape was described as “driving.” Victims were referred to in posts as “dead pigs.”

Investigators have spent years combing through posts across approximately two dozen group chats on the widely used messaging platform. Authorities believe the chats served as an online predator network made up primarily of Chinese men who targeted mostly Chinese women living in Germany. The investigation has already resulted in convictions for three alleged core members on rape and related charges, with a fourth man currently standing trial in Berlin.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains discussion of sexual violence. If you or someone you know needs help, please call 1-800-656-4673 in the U.S., 116 016 in Germany, or 15117905157 in China.

Frankfurt chief prosecutor Dominik Mies spoke with The Associated Press about the case, saying, “The perpetrators were characterized by a particular ruthlessness, an objectification of the victims, and the perfidious planning of their crimes.”

Many key details about the investigation remain out of public view, including the total number of attacks and suspects connected to the Telegram chats, and how the groups — some of which reportedly had tens of thousands of members — were able to operate for so long without being shut down. It also remains unclear whether these chats are connected to a growing investigation in Europe and the Americas into sexual assaults facilitated by drugs within misogynist online communities.

Germany’s strict privacy laws limit what prosecutors can discuss outside the courtroom, restrict access to documents, and have resulted in members of the public being removed from the Berlin courtroom during certain portions of the ongoing trial.

These restrictions may explain why the case has attracted less public attention in Germany than might be expected. Still, members of Germany’s Chinese community — mostly women — have been showing up to court proceedings to stand in solidarity with the victims, even when they have no personal connection to them.

Fu Xiao, who traveled roughly 500 kilometers — about 310 miles — to attend the Berlin trial, expressed her frustration: “What makes one really angry is to see that such groups hate women, they have no respect. Women aren’t seen as people.”

In China, state-run media has provided extensive coverage of the prosecutions, but broader conversation on Chinese-language social media platforms like Rednote has faced partial censorship. Screenshots and searches show that certain tags have made posts more likely to be deleted or banned on Rednote. However, posts using less direct language — such as references to “date rape” or the vague phrase “students studying abroad in Germany” — have managed to avoid removal. China’s Ministry of Public Security and Rednote did not respond to requests for comment.

The German cases have been compared to the high-profile case involving Gisèle Pelicot, a French woman who was repeatedly drugged and raped by her then-husband and men he invited to their home over nearly a decade. That trial, and Pelicot’s choice to waive her anonymity, ignited a broader conversation about rape culture in France and internationally.

During a hearing in Munich for one of the Chinese men convicted in the German investigation, Judge Markus Koppenleitner addressed the wider significance of the case: “Pelicot is not an isolated case. This is not a Chinese or French phenomenon, but one that also exists in Germany and, ultimately, worldwide.”

Similar cases have been emerging around the world. While authorities have not publicly connected them to the German prosecutions, some investigators have said that tips from German law enforcement and journalists were critical to advancing their own cases.

In Los Angeles, German investigators reached out to police last year regarding a potential suspect in drug-facilitated sexual assaults. The defendant — a graduate student from China — is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting three women in LA after allegedly obtaining drugs from a Chinese national in Germany.

Last month in the Netherlands, police arrested four men suspected of drugging and sexually abusing women following information shared by authorities in Germany and the United Kingdom. Dutch police said the suspects used social media chat groups to spread videos of the abuse and discuss methods for drugging victims.

And just last week, Europol — the European Union’s police agency — announced “Project Medusa,” an international law enforcement operation aimed at dismantling online networks that promote drug-facilitated sexual assault. Germany and the U.K. are leading the effort, which has already resulted in 57 arrests.

The predator network in Germany was able to operate despite clearly violating Telegram’s terms of service, once again raising concerns about how the platform has been exploited for criminal purposes. In 2024, the app’s founder was arrested in Paris amid allegations that the platform was being used for illegal activity, including drug trafficking and the sharing of child sexual abuse images. He denied any wrongdoing, attributing the problem to a rapid growth in users that he said “caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.” That investigation remains ongoing.

In a statement, Telegram said, “Sexual violence is explicitly forbidden by Telegram’s terms of service and such content is routinely removed,” adding that the company “fulfils all of its legal obligations in relation to such harmful content, including everything set out by” the European Union’s Digital Services Act. The company did not respond to questions about the German cases specifically, including how images, videos, and commentary about sexual crimes could have been posted for years on the platform, or whether Telegram had alerted authorities.

Court documents indicate that some of the German Telegram chats date back to at least 2020. Attorney Magdalena Gebhard, who represented a victim in a prior Berlin trial that ended in a conviction, said there was an inner circle of eight perpetrators and that some of the chat groups had as many as 50,000 members.

According to prosecutors, police only became aware of the network in 2024 after a man in Frankfurt — identified in German court proceedings as Dapeng Z. — shifted from drugging and assaulting female acquaintances to targeting women he met online. German and Chinese media have identified Dapeng Z. as the group’s alleged ringleader. German police arrested him in 2024 with assistance from Chinese law enforcement, according to the Chinese consulate in Frankfurt and the Beijing News, a state-run outlet. He was sentenced in February to 14 years in prison for aggravated rape, attempted murder, and other offenses, though he has appealed. His attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.

Authorities have not publicly stated how many women were victimized by the “driving school” network, but have confirmed the investigation is continuing, meaning additional arrests and newly identified victims remain possible. Gebhard’s client, for instance, only discovered she had been sexually assaulted after investigators found video evidence of the attack.

On Wednesday, a verdict and potential sentence is expected in Berlin for defendant Zhiting S., believed to be part of the group’s inner circle according to German and Chinese state media reports. He faces charges of sexual assault, possession of child sexual abuse images, and other counts. Prosecutors say he used prior medical knowledge to instruct a Telegram group on which drugs could be used to sedate women before assaulting them, and that at least one person acted on his guidance before an attack in Frankfurt. German authorities also accused Zhiting S. of repeatedly sexually abusing a woman in China and distributing images of that assault online. His attorney did not respond to questions from the AP. In Germany, defendants are not required to formally enter a plea.

KOHIMA, India — Tovi Murru can’t pinpoint the exact date his family gave up cooking with gas. “It was sometime in April,” he recalls.

Since making that switch, the workload around his home has roughly doubled. Murru heads into the forest to collect wood from fallen trees, hauls it back, and splits it himself. He has also taken over most of the cooking duties. When the family still relied on liquefied petroleum gas, his 27-year-old wife Atoshi Ayemi handled the kitchen. But managing an open fire is simply too demanding for her, he says.

“The common person is really suffering with the rise of fuel prices. And LPG cylinders are no longer available. The few that are available are unaffordable,” Murru said.

Murru, 32, works as a driver and shares a company-provided home with his wife, their daughter, and two dogs. He acknowledges that if he had to pay rent on top of everything else, getting by would be nearly impossible right now. His monthly income is $125. When he can track down an LPG cylinder — which is increasingly rare — it costs close to a quarter of his paycheck on the black market, more than twice what it sold for before the Iran war began.

Murru proved to be a quick study at building a hearth, completing the project in under a day. He lights the fire with practiced ease and uses it to boil eggs and prepare a broth to be served alongside rice. “Azatina loves eggs,” he says, nodding toward his 3-year-old daughter.

Though Kohima sits more than 4,000 kilometers — roughly 2,500 miles — from Tehran, this small city is still feeling the consequences of the Iran war. Like many others, Murru struggles to understand why a distant conflict is disrupting daily life in his community. He is a Naga, a member of an Indigenous group with roots in northeastern India and parts of Myanmar.

Because India relies on imports for nearly 90% of its crude oil, the war has created hardships for drivers who need gasoline and for the millions of households and restaurants that depend on LPG.

Smoke from the fire irritates Atoshi’s eyes, and young Azatina’s as well. Tovi says the smoke is unpleasant, but adds, “it’s the heat from the fire that gets me,” wiping his forehead as he speaks. In a striking bit of irony, the family sets their meal out beside an empty gas cylinder.

Power outages have become a regular occurrence most evenings, leaving the couple to navigate their home using the flashlights on their mobile phones. Tovi dishes out the food, and the two dogs wait patiently nearby — their turn to eat comes next.

This report is based on a photo gallery assembled by AP photo editors.

ANKARA, Turkey — President Donald Trump blindsided NATO leaders gathered in Turkey when he ordered a wave of strikes against Iran late Tuesday night and canceled the license that had permitted Tehran to trade its oil on the global market. The dramatic move reshaped a summit that had been carefully planned to highlight how alliance members were ramping up their defense budgets and rallying behind Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia.

The military action came in response to attacks on three merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and it exposed just how fragile the temporary ceasefire between the two nations really is. Trump gave the order shortly after stepping away from a dinner hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, where all 32 NATO member nations had gathered ahead of Wednesday’s formal talks on defense spending progress.

Trump made no direct public statement about the strikes Tuesday night. It is uncommon for a sitting U.S. president to order military action while traveling abroad, though in 2011 former President Barack Obama did authorize strikes against Libya while visiting Brazil.

European allies and Canada had already been on edge, worried Trump might air new grievances about the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran — a conflict they were never consulted about. Trump had called for “loyalty” from allies and labeled NATO a “paper tiger” after several member nations refused to open their military bases for U.S. forces to use in attacks on Iran.

During a Tuesday meeting with Erdogan, Trump revealed he had essentially been testing NATO allies when he asked for their support in the Iran conflict. “Italy turned us down and Germany turned us down and France turned us down,” Trump said. “And that’s OK. But, you know, why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars and they’re not there for us?”

NATO summits are traditionally meant to project a united front — a signal of strength intended to discourage potential adversaries. That unity is considered more critical than ever as Russia presses on with its war against Ukraine and fears grow that other European nations could eventually be targeted.

Last month, in an effort to keep Trump satisfied, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte traveled to Washington to celebrate what he called the “Trump Trillion” — the $1.2 trillion that European allies and Canada have added to their defense budgets since Trump first took office in 2017.

As world leaders arrived in Ankara, Rutte hosted a special event to highlight the major contracts tied to that spending — a large portion of which is expected to flow to American companies and generate thousands of U.S. jobs.

NATO officials had hoped Trump would embrace the moment as a victory, but based on comments he has made since arriving in Turkey, the alliance appears headed for another round of criticism from the U.S. president.

Trump also stirred up a familiar controversy on the eve of the summit, once again insisting the United States should control Greenland rather than NATO ally Denmark. That stance directly contradicts one of NATO’s founding principles — that member nations defend one another’s territory rather than threaten to take it.

Trump has long maintained that the U.S. shoulders a disproportionate share of NATO’s defense costs. At last year’s summit, alliance members agreed to invest 5% of their gross domestic product on defense — 3.5% on military budgets and 1.5% on infrastructure like roads, bridges, and ports to allow faster movement of troops and equipment during a crisis.

Ahead of this year’s gathering, Rutte called on member nations to present “clear, concrete and credible plans” for reaching the alliance’s spending benchmarks.

New data released by NATO on Tuesday showed that Slovenia, Belgium, Spain, and the Czech Republic may face scrutiny from the Trump administration, as all four countries are struggling to even meet the older, lower target of spending 2% of their GDP on defense.

The Trump administration has been pushing for a leaner, more capable “NATO 3.0” model in which Europe takes primary responsibility for its own security — including Ukraine — using conventional weapons, while the United States maintains its nuclear deterrent.

Despite that vision, European allies and Canada are still waiting for a clear answer on how significantly Trump plans to reduce the number of U.S. troops stationed in Europe.

The Pentagon has launched a six-month review of that troop presence, and any reductions could hinge on how quickly European nations increase their defense spending and whether they are willing to allow greater access to their military bases.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used the occasion to again push for Ukraine’s admission into NATO, arguing that his country’s battle-hardened military would strengthen the alliance’s overall capabilities. Zelenskyy, who is scheduled to meet with Trump in Ankara on Wednesday, pointed to Ukraine’s ability to strike deep inside Russian territory, hit oil refineries, and attack other energy infrastructure. He said Ukrainian forces are eliminating an average of 30,000 Russian troops every month.

Anxiety is also rising among northern, central, and eastern European nations over the possibility that Russia may be planning a hybrid assault on the continent — blending traditional military tactics with tools like cyberattacks — as Russian President Vladimir Putin struggles to achieve a clear win in Ukraine.

Trump is also set to meet with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former insurgent who led the military campaign that removed longtime autocrat Bashar Assad from power in December 2024. Al-Sharaa, despite his past as an al-Qaida fighter, has gained Trump’s support as Syria works to rebuild and restore its relationships with Western nations.

Trump has repeatedly suggested al-Sharaa would be more effective than the Israeli military at rooting out Hezbollah in Lebanon — a claim that has raised alarm in both Lebanon and Israel. Al-Sharaa himself has stated he has no interest in taking on that role.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Kuwait announced Wednesday that its air defense systems were activated to intercept incoming fire, following United States airstrikes aimed at Iran.

The announcement from Kuwait’s military came shortly after Bahrain also reported that it was facing incoming missiles on Wednesday morning.

At the time of reporting, there was no information available about what, if anything, had been hit in either country.

Both Bahrain and Kuwait have previously been targeted in Iranian attacks, part of a broader wave of violence that has rattled the interim agreement reached between Iran and the United States intended to bring an end to the conflict.

Washington — The U.S. Central Command announced Tuesday that American forces have wrapped up a fresh round of military strikes against Iran, with more than 80 targets hit during the latest assault.

In addition to the new wave of strikes, Washington moved to revoke a license that had permitted Iran to sell oil on international markets. That decision followed attacks on three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, where projectiles struck the vessels.

The U.S. military released a statement describing what was targeted in the operation: “U.S. forces struck Iranian air defense systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats in and near the strait (of Hormuz) to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international commerce flowing through the international trade corridor.”

The statement went on to say: “CENTCOM forces remain postured and prepared to hold Iran accountable when the agreement is not adhered to or obeyed.”

Iran’s top joint military command fired back, threatening a “crushing response” and accusing the United States of what it described as a “blatant act of aggression.” Iranian officials also warned that Tehran would not tolerate American interference in the management of the Strait of Hormuz.

The broader conflict has left a ceasefire in a fragile state. The war began on February 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran. Iran then responded with strikes targeting Israel and Gulf states that house American military bases.

The fighting — including U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon — has resulted in thousands of deaths and the displacement of millions of people. The conflict has also driven oil prices sharply higher and rattled financial markets across the globe.

State media in China reported Wednesday that the death toll from a landslide in the country’s northwest has climbed to 21, following the completion of rescue efforts at the disaster site.

The slide struck just before 7 a.m. Tuesday, burying 33 people in the Nanhe township of Longnan city, located in Gansu province, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. State broadcaster CCTV confirmed that all trapped individuals had been pulled from the debris by early Wednesday morning. Of those rescued alive, seven sustained minor injuries while five others were unharmed.

Authorities have not yet determined what caused the landslide. Video and photos shared by CCTV on Tuesday showed three excavators alongside rescue workers digging through large mounds of earth at the scene. Skies above the area appeared clear and sunny at the time of the footage.

European leaders within the NATO alliance traveled to Ankara, Turkey on Wednesday with a clear goal: persuade President Trump to reaffirm his commitment to the decades-old military partnership after he stirred fresh controversy over Iran and Greenland.

Upon arriving in the Turkish capital on Tuesday, Trump suggested he might have skipped the summit entirely if not for his personal friendship with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. He also left the door open to pulling additional U.S. troops out of Europe.

Earlier Tuesday, NATO attempted to show that European members were taking Trump’s demands for greater self-reliance seriously, announcing a series of arms agreements totaling at least $50 billion.

Trump, who has been a persistent critic of NATO throughout both of his presidential terms, declared he was “very disappointed” with the alliance. He said the United States was not “treated well” during the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, questioning why America continues to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into the alliance when European partners did not stand by the U.S. during that conflict.

“Why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars, and they’re not there for us? We’ve always been there for them,” Trump said during a joint appearance with Erdogan on Tuesday.

Trump has specifically accused European nations of refusing to allow U.S. forces access to their airspace and military bases during the Iran war. European officials, however, have pushed back on that claim, saying they largely fulfilled their obligations to U.S. forces — even though they were not consulted before a conflict that disrupted their economies and proved deeply unpopular across the continent.

Among those caught in Trump’s crosshairs was Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, once considered a close ally of the president. Trump said his relationship with Meloni had soured “because she refused to help us” on Iran, though he still referred to her as a “nice person.” Italian officials have been working in recent days to put the disagreement behind them.

Trump also renewed his claim that Greenland — a semi-autonomous territory belonging to NATO member Denmark — should come under U.S. control. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen responded hours later from Ankara, stating she expects all allies to honor the sovereignty of the Danish kingdom and that Greenland is simply not for sale.

The 32 NATO heads of state gathered for a dinner Tuesday evening, with the formal summit session scheduled for Wednesday. Ambassadors from all member nations have already signed off on a summit declaration pledging an “ironclad commitment” to collective defense, though it will not be officially released until the leaders themselves endorse it.

The Trump administration has been pushing European allies to increase their own defense budgets and take primary responsibility for conventional military defense on the continent, as Washington shifts its strategic focus toward the Indo-Pacific region. The U.S. has already announced troop reductions in Europe, scaled back the forces it contributes to NATO defense planning — including an aircraft carrier, refueling planes, fighter jets, and drones — and launched a six-month review of its overall military footprint in Europe.

European leaders say they are prepared to shoulder more of the security burden but are urging a structured and predictable transition to prevent any vulnerabilities that Russia could exploit. Officials on the European side have expressed hope that Trump’s warm relationship with Erdogan and his positive ties with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte could help ease tensions during the summit.

State news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday that at least 21 people have been confirmed dead following a landslide in China’s western Gansu province, with rescue and recovery operations now concluded.

The disaster unfolded early Tuesday morning when the landslide swept through a valley in Tanchang county, leaving 33 people trapped.

According to state-run China Newsweek, the majority of those caught in the landslide were residents from surrounding villages who had been brought on as temporary workers at a government-operated forestry farm located in the valley.

The area is characterized by rugged mountain terrain, deep valleys, and a network of rivers — conditions that make the region particularly vulnerable to natural disasters such as flash floods and landslides, especially during the rainy season.

A cargo plane carrying five crew members vanished off the coast of Karachi, Pakistan, late Tuesday evening after plummeting rapidly and losing contact with air traffic controllers while on a flight from the United Arab Emirates, officials reported.

Pakistan’s airport authority announced on X that search and rescue teams had been mobilized in the Arabian Sea. The reason behind the aircraft’s disappearance has not yet been determined.

The Boeing 737, operated by Karachi-based K2 Airways, was making a cargo run from Sharjah in the UAE to Karachi when the crew reported a problem with the navigation system at 9:18 p.m. local time, according to the airport authority.

Radar tracking showed the plane dropping sharply and making a sudden change in direction around 9:21 p.m., after which both radar and radio communication were lost approximately 155 nautical miles — or about 178 miles — west of Karachi, the authority said.

In response, officials activated the Rescue Coordination Center and launched a multi-agency search and rescue effort across the sea to find the missing aircraft.

Aviation expert Imran Aslam, speaking to local ARY News, said the cause of the disappearance remains a mystery. He noted that even in cases of engine failure, a plane would typically continue gliding rather than drop so suddenly. “I still cannot understand how the plane went down so abruptly instead of gliding,” he said.

According to its website, K2 Airways is a private cargo airline headquartered in Karachi that was founded in May 2018.

Officials confirmed that both Pakistan’s military and civilian agencies deployed numerous air and sea resources for the search effort. The Pakistan Navy frigate PNS Zulfiqar was quickly redirected to the area where the aircraft disappeared. The Pakistan Air Force also sent planes to assist, and a Pakistan Navy ATR aircraft departed from Turbat to join the operation.

Additionally, a merchant vessel operated by the Pakistan National Shipping Corp. was sent to the area and is taking part in the search.

This incident comes years after a devastating crash in May 2020, when a Pakistani passenger jet carrying 98 people went down in a densely populated neighborhood near the Karachi airport following what appeared to be an engine failure during its approach to land. Nearly everyone on board perished, with only one passenger surviving. A subsequent government investigation concluded that human error by the pilot, co-pilot, and air traffic control caused that Pakistan International Airlines disaster.

MELBOURNE, Australia — A Google executive appeared before an Australian government inquiry Tuesday, defending YouTube’s decision to keep online a video that falsely portrays a wounded survivor of a deadly antisemitic attack in Sydney as a staged performer wearing theatrical makeup.

Google Australia manager Rachel Lord was called to testify as part of a government investigation into the rise of antisemitism across Australia, which includes scrutiny of a December shooting at a Sydney Hanukkah gathering that claimed 15 lives. Two gunmen — a father and son identified as Sajid and Naveed Akram — are alleged by police to have been motivated by the Islamic State group.

Inquiry officials questioned Lord about a specific complaint filed by shooting survivor Arsen Ostrovsky. In the hours after Ostrovsky was shot on December 14, a photo showing blood flowing from a wound on his head was shared on the platform X. The image quickly became the target of online attacks against him.

Lord confirmed that the decision to leave the video on YouTube had been reviewed at, in her words, “quite senior levels.”

“We have spent a lot of time thinking about where we draw the line and we continue to re-evaluate where we are doing that,” Lord said during her testimony.

To avoid displaying disturbing images publicly, inquiry lawyer Richard Lancaster read from a transcript of the video instead. According to the transcript, four men appear in a split-screen format, describing Ostrovsky’s bleeding head as looking “very crisis actor-ish” and referencing “makeup.” The men also label him an “intelligence asset” who holds a “degree in theater.”

The video further identifies Ostrovsky as a Zionist and asserts that the massacre itself was a “false flag operation” — a claim with no factual basis.

Lancaster pressed Lord on the matter, telling her that YouTube’s choice to leave the video up revealed a “really serious deficiency” in the platform’s hate speech policies. Lord responded by saying she appreciated Lancaster’s “feedback.”

Lord also noted that YouTube had communicated with Australia’s online safety regulator just three days after the massacre, stating the platform was “focused on ensuring Australians and all users around the world have access to high quality information about the tragic events.”

Ostrovsky himself testified before the inquiry last month, describing a sustained campaign of online hate, abuse, vilification, and AI-generated manipulation he has endured since sustaining the minor head wound. The inquiry was also shown an AI-created image depicting Ostrovsky appearing to laugh while someone applied fake blood to his head.

The U.S. dollar held firm at its highest point this week against most major currencies as Asian markets opened Wednesday, following a fresh round of American military strikes against Iran that reignited geopolitical concerns and pushed oil prices upward.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback’s performance against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 101.18 — its strongest reading since July 2.

The surge in demand for the dollar as a safe-haven currency followed the United States launching a new wave of strikes against Iran on Tuesday. Washington also revoked a license that had permitted Iran to sell oil, a move that came after three tankers were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz.

Analysts at Westpac noted in a research report that worries about the durability of any peace agreement resurfaced following Iran’s attacks on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. “Concerns over the inflation outlook were in focus, seeing yields jump higher across the globe,” the analysts wrote.

Brent crude oil rose 2.6% to $76.12 per barrel at the opening of the Asian trading session Wednesday, marking the second consecutive day of gains.

The New Zealand dollar edged up 0.1% to $0.5681 ahead of an anticipated interest rate decision by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which is expected by a narrow margin to raise rates for the first time in over three years.

The U.S. dollar gained 0.1% against the Japanese yen, rising to 162.28 yen. Bank of Japan board member Toichiro Asada, who was the only dissenting vote against the BOJ’s June decision to raise interest rates, told Reuters on Monday that he would need to see evidence of demand-driven inflation before he could back additional rate increases.

The euro dipped 0.1% to $1.1405, while the British pound slipped 0.1% to $1.3353. The Australian dollar held steady at $0.6926.

In cryptocurrency markets, Bitcoin fell 0.2% to $63,518.35, while Ether dropped 0.5% to $1,774.45.

Federal prosecutors announced charges Tuesday against the head of an Indian criminal organization in connection with a high-profile political assassination in Canada — a killing that previously threw the diplomatic relationship between Canada and India into turmoil.

The announcement came as part of a sweeping law enforcement crackdown involving agencies from the United States, Canada, and Europe. In total, 37 individuals have been charged in connection with three separate Indian international crime syndicates accused of involvement in kidnappings, racketeering, extortion, illegal firearms sales, drug trafficking, and murder. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli made the announcement at a press conference Tuesday, joined by representatives from the Los Angeles Police Department, the FBI, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Investigators are still searching for seven fugitives believed to be in the U.S., two in India, and one in Europe.

Patrick Grandy, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said the criminal groups have “fueled violence, fear and instability within the East Indian communities throughout California and abroad.”

Lawrence Bishnoi, 33, and his longtime friend Satinderjeet Singh are accused of planning and directing the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a well-known Sikh independence advocate who was shot and killed outside a temple where he served as president in 2023. The slaying ignited a diplomatic firestorm after then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated there were “credible allegations” pointing to the Indian government’s involvement in Nijjar’s death. Bishnoi is currently in custody, while Singh remains at large.

Prosecutors say Bishnoi’s organization “routinely targeted prominent religious, social and political leaders with violence” in exchange for significant sums of money.

Nijjar was 45 years old at the time of his death. He was a leading figure in a movement seeking to establish an independent Sikh homeland called Khalistan, and had been organizing an unofficial vote among Sikhs living outside India through the group Sikhs For Justice. Born in India and a Canadian citizen, Nijjar was wanted by Indian authorities at the time of his killing, with a reward offered for information leading to his capture.

Tensions between Canada and India over Sikh diaspora activism are not new. Canada is home to the largest Sikh population outside of India, and India has long accused Canada of allowing what it calls “terrorists and extremists” to operate freely. The dispute escalated to the point where both nations expelled each other’s diplomats.

Tuesday’s announcement also identified two additional criminal organizations swept up in the same two-year investigation on similar charges. These transnational groups have members operating in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. Some members are also accused of stealing large amounts of drugs from rival criminal operations in California and then distributing those drugs across the country and into Canada.

Court documents allege that some defendants used corrupt connections with local officials in India to go after rivals or individuals suspected of cooperating with law enforcement. At least one defendant is accused of directing criminal activity while being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility — though authorities have not yet explained how he managed to communicate without detection.

No attorney for Bishnoi had been listed as of Tuesday afternoon.

U.S. Attorney Essayli framed the operation as a testament to international cooperation, stating: “Working together, law enforcement in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia are determined to target and dismantle these criminal organizations wherever they operate.”

Iran launched missile attacks against commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, targeting at least one Qatari-owned liquefied natural gas tanker as diplomatic talks between Tehran and Washington remained at a standstill and regional tensions continued to climb.

Iranian state television, citing sources, confirmed that Tehran had struck at least one LNG tanker, claiming the vessel had disregarded warnings issued by Iranian forces. A U.S. official separately told Axios that two merchant ships had been hit by Iranian missiles.

One of the targeted ships was identified as the Al Rekayyat, an LNG tanker belonging to Qatar. According to The Wall Street Journal, the missile hit the vessel’s engine room, sparking a fire. No crew casualties were reported.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency confirmed early Tuesday that the tanker was struck on its port side while heading southbound, approximately 8 nautical miles — about 15 kilometers — east of Limah. The agency noted the strike caused a fire but reported no casualties and no environmental damage.

The strike came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had issued maritime warnings, announcing that its missiles and drones were ready to fire.

The attack unfolded against the backdrop of stalled U.S.-Iran negotiations, which have been paused during the funeral week for late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The talks have yet to produce any concrete agreement.

On Monday, President Trump stated he still favored reaching a diplomatic deal with Iran but made clear that military force remained an option if talks broke down. “Either we’ll make a deal or we’ll finish the job, and it won’t be that hard to finish the job there. But I prefer a deal,” President Trump said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi pushed back against Washington’s warnings, posting on X that “millions of proud Iranians gathered to pay tribute to Khamenei and his legacy. Neither they nor our forces are intimidated by threats.”

Araghchi also directed a pointed message at the United States regarding the ongoing negotiations: “Article 13 of the Memorandum of Understanding is clear: negotiations on the final agreement will not begin if threats continue. Honor your signature.”

Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, took a major step Monday toward establishing a commission to investigate the security and intelligence failures behind the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led massacre — but the path forward is already deeply divided along political lines.

The bill cleared its first reading by a vote of 59 to 0 in the 120-seat legislative body. No lawmakers abstained. Opposition members refused to participate in the vote, staging a boycott in protest of the proposal’s structure.

The legislation will now be sent back to the Knesset Constitution Committee for additional work before returning for its second and third readings, which are expected to occur next week. That timeline is tight, as the Knesset is scheduled to dissolve ahead of elections on July 17.

As written, the bill calls for a six-member commission. Members would ideally be chosen by a two-thirds majority vote of Knesset lawmakers. If that threshold cannot be reached, the governing coalition and the opposition would each appoint three commissioners. Final authority over the appointment process would rest with the speaker of parliament — effectively giving the ruling coalition control over who sits on the commission.

The bill also includes provisions allowing former hostages or family members who lost loved ones in the attack to attend proceedings as observers. Commission hearings would also be broadcast publicly.

Opposition parties have made clear they will not cooperate with any inquiry in which politicians select the investigators. They are pushing instead for a formal state commission of inquiry — one where members would be appointed by the president of the Supreme Court rather than by lawmakers. That court has been in ongoing conflict with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on a number of fronts.

The parliamentary vote came just days after large demonstrations were held Thursday in Tel Aviv and elsewhere across Israel. Thousands of people gathered to mark 1,000 days since the October 7 attack and to demand the creation of a state-led, independent commission of inquiry.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. The attack set off the ongoing war in Gaza.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi officially opened Egypt’s new State Strategic Command Headquarters on Saturday, a sprawling facility nicknamed the “Octagon” situated in the country’s New Administrative Capital, located east of Cairo. The opening ceremony featured the formal signing of the complex’s founding charter and the ceremonial raising of the Armed Forces flag over what has become one of the most ambitious military command centers in the entire Middle East.

The Octagon is far more than a single headquarters building. It functions as a fortified military and administrative city, constructed on a scale designed to signal Egypt’s regional aspirations through its sheer size and advanced secure communications infrastructure. According to Egyptian state information, the complex covers approximately 22,000 acres and is divided into 13 strategic and logistical zones.

The facility’s distinctive design features eight interconnected octagonal outer structures arranged around two central command buildings — a layout intended to represent the unified integration of Egypt’s armed forces and government institutions.

While the massive new complex has drawn scrutiny from Israel, analysts point out that ongoing security coordination between the two countries, their mutual interest in stability along the Gaza border, and the enduring 1979 peace treaty all provide powerful reasons for both nations to avoid any serious breakdown in their relationship.

The funeral of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was far more than a religious ceremony — it was a calculated political performance designed to show the world that the Islamic Republic remains a force to be reckoned with, even after war and the death of the man who led it for more than three decades.

According to Reuters, Khamenei, 86, was killed on February 28 in strikes carried out by the United States and Israel, which also claimed the lives of several of his family members, including his daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. The ceremonies began in Tehran before moving to the city of Qom on Tuesday, with additional stages planned in Najaf and Karbala in Iraq, ahead of a scheduled burial Thursday in Mashhad — Khamenei’s birthplace.

His coffin, along with those of his relatives, was first placed at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla, one of Iran’s largest religious complexes, before being carried through Tehran and then through Qom. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf both prayed behind the coffins in Tehran, while crowds in attendance waved flags bearing messages of revenge directed at the United States and Israel.

In Qom, hundreds of thousands of mourners turned out to attend prayers, carrying banners that drew comparisons between Khamenei and foundational figures in Shia Islamic history. Iranian authorities worked to bring millions of people to the multi-city procession, providing transportation, meals, and lodging to attendees.

A researcher based in Tehran, speaking anonymously, told The Media Line that the estimated crowd reached 4.5 million people and argued that “most people are totally backing up the regime.”

However, analysts noted that crowd size alone could not be taken as a straightforward measure of public support, given that the government declared public holidays, offered logistical incentives, and applied political pressure to encourage attendance.

Dr. Tallha Abdulrazaq, a Middle East political analyst, told The Media Line that the funeral fit into a long-established pattern of political theater by the Islamic Republic — similar to past events like Quds Day commemorations and mass mourning ceremonies for senior commanders, including Qassem Soleimani.

“The point of all this is to use Shia Islamist symbolism to energize conservative constituencies and draw parallels between modern events and formative historical episodes such as the Battle of Karbala,” Abdulrazaq said.

He described the event as “a kind of loyalty test,” intended to compel public alignment with the regime following the war.

The funeral route itself carried symbolic weight. Moving through Tehran and Qom in Iran, then to Najaf and Karbala in Iraq, and finally back to Mashhad, the procession traced a geography of Shia religious authority — making the ceremony not just an Iranian affair, but one with transnational Shia significance.

Foreign attendance added another layer of diplomatic meaning. Pakistan sent Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, along with Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. Turkey was represented by Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz, China by senior lawmaker He Wei, Russia by former President Dmitry Medvedev, and Taliban officials from Afghanistan were also reported among the attendees.

India’s official delegation included Bihar Governor Syed Ata Hasnain — described as the most senior Shia holding public office in India — alongside Deputy Foreign Minister Pabitra Margherita. Indian opposition figures Salman Khurshid and Mehbooba Mufti were also reported as part of the delegation.

Nudrat Naheed, an independent researcher and communications strategist specializing in international relations and geopolitical affairs, told The Media Line that the composition of foreign attendance was central to understanding the event’s significance.

“The funeral ceremonies in Tehran should be understood not only as a moment of national mourning but also as an important diplomatic event,” Naheed said. “State funerals often serve as informal arenas where regional and international actors signal political priorities through their level of representation and participation.”

On Pakistan’s participation specifically, Naheed said: “Pakistan’s attendance carries particular diplomatic significance given the longstanding relationship between Islamabad and Tehran. At a time of regional uncertainty, the decision to participate reflects an effort to maintain diplomatic engagement with a neighboring state while reinforcing channels of communication on shared security and regional issues.”

Abdulrazaq noted, however, that most foreign delegations were relatively low- or mid-ranking officials, with Pakistan’s prime minister appearing to be among the most senior foreign officials present.

The Gulf region’s response was more nuanced. Saudi Arabia dispatched a delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed bin Abdulkarim al-Khuraiji, while Qatar and Oman also sent representatives. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were not among the publicly confirmed Gulf delegations.

Saudi political analyst Abdulaziz Alshaabani told The Media Line that Riyadh’s attendance should be viewed through the lens of diplomacy rather than any endorsement of Tehran’s ideology.

“The attendance of an official delegation at the funeral should be understood as a diplomatic gesture rather than an ideological or political endorsement,” Alshaabani said. “It reflects Riyadh’s commitment to maintaining state-to-state communication, particularly during a period of heightened regional uncertainty.”

Alshaabani also noted a shift in how regional rivalries are now framed. “Compared to the past, the Sunni and Shia division is less marked,” he said. “Today, regional politics is driven more by national interests and pragmatism than by sectarian divisions. While religious differences remain, they are no longer the primary factor shaping state relations. This war put the interests more in alignment between the two, but differences still remain.”

Among the most discussed elements of the ceremonies was the reported use of specific Qur’anic verses recited as different foreign delegations approached the coffins. Iran International identified the verse recited as the Saudi delegation came forward as Verse 13 of Surah Al Imran, which recalls the Battle of Badr. An anonymous Tehran-based researcher told The Media Line the selections appeared to be “targeted verses for each delegation” — for the Saudis, a verse about “the disbelievers and the believers”; for Turkey, one about “those who remain idle”; for Lebanon, one about those “unwilling to make sacrifices”; and for Qatar, a verse about “repentance and forgiveness.”

Geopolitical analyst Massimiliano d’Amore, founder of The Red Zone, told The Media Line that the entire staging appeared carefully calculated. “The Tehran ceremonies function as a legitimacy operation layered onto a religious rite, and the signaling is deliberate at the level of architecture even where individual elements remain ambiguous,” he said.

D’Amore argued that holding the funeral during the first 10 days of Muharram placed Khamenei’s death within the Shia martyrdom tradition, while visual elements — including a clenched fist emblem, multilingual slogans, and the black platform used for the coffins — suggested Tehran was sending a message to a broader Islamic and anti-Western audience, not just its own citizens. “The choreography is the clearest layer,” he said, adding that the staging recast “a head of state killed in wartime as an heir to the Karbala tradition.”

Irina Tsukerman, president of Scarab Rising, Inc. and board member of The Washington Outsider Center for Information Warfare, told The Media Line that the verse selections effectively divided foreign guests into separate political categories. “The choice of verses carried the main political burden of the funeral, because Tehran assigned Arab states language of judgment, confrontation, and spiritual suspicion, then assigned its armed clients language of loyalty, sacrifice, and divine favor,” she said.

The presence of Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and other Iran-aligned movements reinforced that hierarchy. Abdulrazaq said Tehran’s relationship with Hamas and Hezbollah should not be treated as equivalent. He argued that Iran’s strategic confidence in Hamas has weakened since October 7, 2023, when Iran was drawn into a wider confrontation with Israel that it had long sought to avoid. “Hezbollah, on the other hand, has been shown far more grace from Iran,” he said, describing it as a more direct extension of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

He suggested Iran is likely to focus on consolidating its network around Shia factions it more directly controls in Lebanon and Iraq, while also emphasizing the Houthis due to their ability to threaten shipping near the Bab el Mandeb. Hamas, he warned, “may find itself left out in the cold despite the public posturing from Tehran.”

Senior Iranian officials also made a point of appearing publicly. D’Amore noted that the presence of figures including Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander-in-chief Ahmad Vahidi, Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani, President Pezeshkian, and Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf signaled that a reconstituted command structure was willing to assemble in the open after the war — though Vahidi’s appearance under visible security suggested ongoing vulnerability rather than full confidence.

The most striking absence, however, was domestic. Mojtaba Khamenei — Ali Khamenei’s son and Iran’s current supreme leader — did not appear publicly at the Tehran funeral prayers. Reuters reported that as the ceremonies moved to Qom on Tuesday, there was still no public sign of him and no released image since the war began. Three of Khamenei’s other sons — Mostafa, Meysam, and Masoud — prayed beside the coffins at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla, but Mojtaba was nowhere to be seen.

D’Amore called this the ceremony’s most defining signal. “Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei did not attend the prayers for his own father and his wife,” he said, noting that it remains unclear whether his absence was due to injury, a security decision, or deliberate concealment by the regime.

Abdulrazaq was equally pointed: “If he was as victorious as the Iranian state claims, and if he was in such good health, then he would have made an appearance in public, even through a prerecorded message broadcast on big screens. Instead, he was totally absent from his own father’s funeral.”

In the end, Khamenei’s funeral served as both a demonstration of the Islamic Republic’s remaining capacity and a revealing map of its limitations — a regime still capable of staging massive public events and drawing foreign delegations, but also one managing succession under threat, projecting legitimacy without its current leader in view, and using the language of martyrdom to navigate a moment of deep strategic uncertainty.

Pakistan has opened two new overland trade routes — one through Iran and one through China — giving landlocked Central Asian countries a way to reach Pakistani seaports without passing through Afghanistan. The move comes after Islamabad indefinitely shut down its Torkham and Chaman border crossings with Afghanistan in October 2025, citing persistent cross-border militant threats.

Both corridors became active in April 2026. One runs through Iran’s Gabd-Rimdan border crossing, while the other passes through China’s Sost Dry Port. Combined, the two routes have already carried more than 14,000 metric tons of cargo.

The launch of one corridor was marked by a formal ceremony in Karachi, where senior officials from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan were present. Pakistan positioned the new routes as a long-term solution for Central Asian nations looking to reach global markets without depending on Afghan transit. The inaugural convoy transported frozen meat and other goods to Tashkent and Bishkek by way of Iran.

Pakistan also sent its first export shipment from the Karachi Export Processing Zone to Kyrgyzstan through the Sost Dry Port, operating under the TIR — or Transports Internationaux Routiers — international transit system. The 3,300-kilometer corridor between Bishkek and Karachi, which functions under the Quadrilateral Traffic in Transit Agreement, has already seen its first two-way commercial exchanges, with Kyrgyz transport fleets bringing minerals and textiles into Pakistan.

In a separate development, the Hemani Group used Pakistan’s electronic customs platform, known as the Pakistan Single Window, to ship a 23.9-tonne load to Kyrgyzstan.

The new corridors give Central Asian nations, including Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, overland access to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan. Uzbekistan has already started using the Gabd-Rimdan route to move agricultural equipment and industrial raw materials.

Pakistan is also working to expand the role of Gwadar Port as part of Phase 2 of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Situated roughly 400 kilometers east of the Strait of Hormuz, the port is expected to handle growing cargo volumes as the new land routes attract more regional trade.

The expanded network also broadens the use of both the TIR transit framework and the Pakistan Single Window system, which handles customs paperwork electronically for shipments crossing international borders.

Leaders representing all 32 NATO member nations have descended on Ankara for the 2026 NATO Summit, with President Trump among those in attendance. The central issues on the table include raising defense budgets, growing defense manufacturing capacity, and shifting more of the responsibility for European security away from the United States.

A high-profile dinner Tuesday evening is expected to bring together additional world figures, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, European Council President Antonio Costa, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

President Trump has long been vocal in his criticism of NATO, contending that European nations lean too heavily on American military resources. His administration has pushed those countries to spend more on their own defense and take on a larger share of the continent’s security obligations.

European leaders are set to highlight the progress they have made toward a pledge struck at last year’s summit in The Hague — a commitment to direct 5% of gross domestic product toward defense and defense-related spending by the year 2035.

According to a draft of the summit declaration reviewed by Reuters, leaders are expected to announce: “In 2025, European Allies and Canada increased their investments in core defense requirements by more than $139bn.”

The draft declaration is also expected to include the statement: “We are building the future: a stronger Europe in a stronger NATO — a modernized Alliance. European Allies and Canada, working with the United States, are assuming greater responsibility for the Alliance’s defense.”

Adding another layer of tension to the gathering, European officials are worried that the ongoing war with Iran — and President Trump’s frustration with European governments over how they have handled it — could cast a shadow over the summit proceedings.

The draft declaration is expected to take a firm stance on Iran, reaffirming that “allies reiterate that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon and call on Iran to fully respect freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”

The summit’s schedule includes private morning sessions, public afternoon meetings featuring NATO officials and industry representatives, and a series of announcements covering areas such as space defense, surveillance systems, air and missile defense, strike capabilities, transatlantic joint production, and defense innovation.

The United States is moving to restore sanctions on Iranian oil exports after three commercial ships were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday and Tuesday. The action reverses a temporary suspension of sanctions that had been put in place during a 60-day ceasefire connected to broader regional conflict negotiations.

Those peace talks have been put on hold for one week as Iran conducts funeral ceremonies for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

A US official confirmed that the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control will be pulling the sanctions waivers in the wake of the attacks.

“As President Trump and the administration have repeatedly affirmed, the MoU in effect with Iran is entirely performance-based. Iran will only reap benefits if they exhibit good behavior,” the official stated.

The official went on to say: “Iran’s actions in the Strait were wholly unacceptable to the United States and will be met with consequences. Our negotiators continue to work in good faith towards a final deal.”

Iranian state television, citing unnamed sources, reported that Tehran had targeted at least one liquefied natural gas tanker after it allegedly failed to heed Iranian warnings. Earlier, a separate US official told Axios that two merchant vessels had been struck by Iranian missiles.

One of the ships hit was the Al Rekayyat, a Qatari-owned LNG tanker. According to The Wall Street Journal, a missile struck the vessel’s engine room and ignited a fire. No injuries or deaths were reported.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency reported that the tanker was struck on its port side while heading southbound, approximately 8 nautical miles — or about 15 kilometers — east of Limah early Tuesday morning. The agency confirmed the strike caused a fire but said there were no casualties or environmental damage.

The attacks followed an announcement by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that it had issued maritime warnings declaring its missiles and drones were prepared to launch.

Dominic Hadeed, the owner of Blue Waters, a bottled water company based in Trinidad and Tobago, along with his wife Genevieve, filed an appeal on Tuesday challenging their ongoing detention. The couple is accused of being part of a conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the attorney general, and other senior government figures.

Both Hadeed and his wife have flatly denied the allegations. Their legal team argues that the detentions amount to political retaliation targeting members of an ethnic minority community believed to be aligned with the opposition.

Hadeed is of Syrian origin and is a member of Trinidad’s Syrian-Lebanese community. According to the appeal, authorities reportedly used the derogatory term “1%” when referring to that community.

The couple was taken into custody in late June under emergency powers provisions. Hadeed has since been held at the Port of Spain Remand Yard, while his wife was transferred to the Maximum Security Women’s Prison. Both remain detained as they await a scheduled hearing on July 27.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has launched multiple strikes against Iran, U.S. Central Command announced Tuesday, saying the action was a direct response to Iranian attacks on three commercial ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.

In an official statement, U.S. Central Command declared: “U.S. Central Command forces have begun launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping.”

The statement went on to say, “Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire.”

The specific targets of the U.S. strikes were not immediately confirmed, though Iranian media reported that six projectiles struck the area of Taheroui pier in Sirik, located in southern Iran.

Tuesday’s action represents the first confirmed U.S. military strikes against Iran since late last month, when the two nations engaged in several days of back-and-forth strikes and counterstrikes.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — American military forces launched a series of strikes against Iran in the early morning hours Wednesday, coming just hours after three commercial ships were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman.

The renewed hostilities from both sides are putting the interim agreement reached last month in serious jeopardy. Both the U.S. and Iran have accused the other of violating that initial deal. The latest round of fighting also makes it harder to continue negotiations aimed at fully reopening the strait, curbing Tehran’s disputed nuclear program, and achieving a permanent end to the war that began on Feb. 28.

U.S. Central Command released a statement on social media explaining that American forces carried out the strikes “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”

“Iran’s demonstrated aggression was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire,” the command added.

The latest flare-up follows a comparable wave of Iranian attacks on shipping and subsequent U.S. retaliation that took place late last month.

Shortly after the three tankers were struck by projectiles, the United States pulled a license it had granted that allowed for the sale of Iranian oil — a key component of the interim agreement meant to halt the fighting.

According to the U.N. International Maritime Organization, the number of attacks on ships in the fuel-shipping waterway on that day was the highest since late April. The fresh wave of assaults threatened to once again disrupt the flow of vessels through the strait, just as nations were hoping to restore normal shipping and ease the global economic burden caused by the war.

A U.S. official, speaking with The Associated Press under the condition of anonymity, said the oil license was revoked because Iran’s behavior in the strait was unacceptable and had to carry real consequences. The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.

One tanker caught fire after being struck

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center reported that one tanker was traveling off the Omani coast when it was hit and erupted in flames. Iranian state television reported that the liquefied natural gas tanker was struck after disregarding warnings, though it stopped short of claiming direct responsibility for the attack.

The other two vessels suffered some damage but were not seriously disabled, and no injuries were reported. Both ships continued on their way, according to the U.K. maritime agency.

Iran has repeatedly declared that only its designated route through the strait is considered safe, and Tehran is suspected of targeting vessels that have chosen an alternate route running closer to the Omani shoreline. Location data from the U.K. agency confirmed that all three attacks took place off the coasts of Oman or the neighboring United Arab Emirates, suggesting the targeted ships were using that Omani-adjacent route.

Specifically, a Qatari tanker named Al Rekayyat was traveling south through the strait near Limah, Oman, when a projectile struck its left-side engine room and ignited a fire. Majed Al-Ansari, a spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, described the incident as an “unacceptable attack” on international navigation and global energy security, calling it a “serious and explicit violation” of international law. In a post on X, he stated that Qatar holds Iran “fully legally responsible.”

Later that same day, the U.K. maritime agency reported a second oil tanker was hit on its left side while exiting the strait near the Omani-Emirati border. A third vessel was struck by a drone off the coast of Oman.

Negotiations between the US and Iran are stalled

The United States remains committed to pushing forward with diplomatic talks with Iran, with goals that include fully reopening the strait, scaling back Tehran’s disputed nuclear activities, and securing a lasting end to the war that began Feb. 28.

The Joint Maritime Information Center, a multinational body operating under U.S. Navy oversight, had told shipping companies Monday that the route around Oman “has been expanded and remains available for all traffic.” Ships traveling north use the Iranian-designated route and must register with Tehran, while those heading south coordinate with Oman and the U.S.

As part of the interim agreement, Iran and the United States had agreed to allow ships to pass through the strait without fees for 60 days. However, Tehran has insisted it must control vessel routing and eventually collect transit fees — a demand that would overturn longstanding international practice in the waterway. The U.S. and many Gulf Arab states have rejected any arrangement that would allow Iran to charge for passage.

The license the U.S. had issued permitted the production, delivery, and sale of Iranian oil through Aug. 21. U.S. Vice President JD Vance had said at the time that extended talks with senior Iranian officials held in Switzerland had laid a “good foundation for a successful final deal” to end the war.

U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil purchases had been in place since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. After the U.S. and Israel launched the war and the strait was closed, the U.S. had authorized temporary Iranian oil sales at least twice as a way to encourage progress toward a deal.

Diplomatic talks between Iran and the U.S. appeared to be on pause pending the burial of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the outset of the war. Data firm Kpler reported that at least 108 ships crossed through the strait last weekend using various routes. In peacetime, roughly one-fifth of all globally traded oil and natural gas passed through the channel.

Mourners gather in Qom for Khamenei’s funeral

Iranian authorities transported Khamenei’s remains to Qom, a city known as a center of Shiite Islamic scholarship, where large crowds gathered Tuesday to pay their respects.

Iranian state television broadcast live footage showing hundreds of thousands of mourners making their way toward Jamkaran Mosque, located just south of Qom, for the funeral service. Shiites regard the mosque as a sacred site, believing it once hosted Muhammad al-Mahdi — the 12th and final Shiite imam, who vanished in the 9th century and is expected to one day return to bring justice to the world.

Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei — the son of the late leader — had not appeared at any of the ceremonies, which began Saturday in Tehran. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly sustaining wounds in the same airstrike that killed his father.

Khamenei’s body arrived in Najaf, Iraq, late Tuesday, where it was received by senior officials from both nations. Processions are scheduled for Wednesday in both Najaf and Karbala, the two most sacred cities of Iraqi Shiism. Iraq has a large Shiite population and is home to significant religious sites and centers of Shiite learning.

Khamenei, who was 86 years old, is to be returned to Iran and buried Thursday at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, the city where he was born.

The International Monetary Fund announced Tuesday that Silvana Tenreyro will serve as its next chief economist, stepping into the role vacated by Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, who has returned to the academic world. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva made the announcement in an official statement.

Tenreyro holds citizenship in Argentina, Italy, and Britain and has spent many years as an economics professor at the London School of Economics. She is scheduled to assume the position of economic counselor and director of the IMF’s research department beginning August 10.

Her career spans a wide range of high-level economic institutions. From 2017 to 2023, she served as an external member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. Earlier in her professional life, she worked as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and also held a seat on the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Mauritius. She is a widely published scholar in the field of economics.

At present, Tenreyro is a member of Georgieva’s external advisory group and provides guidance to prominent public and private institutions on economic and financial matters.

Georgieva highlighted the significance of the appointment given current global conditions, saying: “At a time of profound transformation and heightened uncertainty in the global economy, Silvana’s mix of intellectual leadership and policy experience will help ensure that the Fund’s analytical work and multilateral surveillance and policy advice will remain at the cutting edge in support of our membership.”

The IMF’s chief economist plays a central role in producing the organization’s regular economic assessments and acts as one of the fund’s leading voices on the state of the global economy. In recent years, that responsibility has grown increasingly complex due to challenges including the COVID pandemic, changes in U.S. tariff policy, and ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Tenreyro completed her Ph.D. and Master of Arts in economics at Harvard University, having previously earned an undergraduate degree in Argentina.