Author: Admin

JERUSALEM (AP) — It was described as the deadliest strike of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, and most of those who died were children. Yet more than 120 days later, the full truth of what happened remains buried under a cloud of incomplete information and political maneuvering.

Since at least one American missile struck an Iranian primary school on February 28, the Trump administration has neither formally accepted responsibility nor publicly released the results of a Pentagon inquiry into the bombing. A U.S. official familiar with the matter, speaking anonymously because the investigation is ongoing, told the Associated Press that the military had evidence almost immediately that the school had been hit.

The AP pieced together an account of the attack using open-source data, video footage, human rights documentation, and interviews with researchers and civilians both inside and outside Iran. The reconstruction revealed previously unknown details about the bombing in Minab — including the range of backgrounds of the children who were killed.

A lack of information from the Pentagon, combined with Iran’s government using the tragedy for its own political messaging, has made independent reporting extremely difficult. Families of the victims have been left without answers. Key questions — such as exactly how many munitions struck the school and a complete list of those who died — remain unresolved.

When asked about the incident last week, President Donald Trump said he had not read the Pentagon’s report and had seen nothing convincing him that the U.S. was responsible.

“I don’t know that they’re ever going to solve that problem in terms of whose fault was it, because there were missiles flying all over the place,” he said. “I don’t think it was us.”

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to the AP’s request for comment.

The AP’s reporting drew on conversations with U.S. officials, Iranian human rights workers, a Minab resident, an international representative of the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Union, and researchers from major international rights organizations. Many of those interviewed requested anonymity out of concern for their safety and the safety of those they spoke with.

The morning of Saturday, February 28 was clear and bright over Minab, a city in southeastern Iran located roughly 16 miles from the Strait of Hormuz. It was Ramadan and a regular school day in Iran.

Students filed into the Shajareh Tayyebeh school — a name that translates from Farsi as “Good Tree” — passing colorful murals in the schoolyard before settling into classrooms with brightly painted desks, boys and girls in separate areas.

The school was one of more than 30 bearing the same name, established to serve children from families connected to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard or other state institutions, according to Shiva Amelirad, the international union representative who taught in Iran for 18 years and has maintained contact with people in Minab.

While most Iranian schools operate under the Islamic Republic’s general guidelines, the Shajareh Tayyebeh schools were more deliberately designed to instill and reinforce the Guard’s ideology, Amelirad said. She was quick to add, however, that children are civilians no matter their family backgrounds, and that “any attack targeting a school is unequivocally condemnable.”

Satellite imagery and open-source mapping reviewed by the AP showed the school sat within the same walled compound as a Guard base. It had once been part of that base before being separated and converted into a school more than a decade ago.

While some students were children of Guard officers stationed at the nearby base, others were local children from Minab — a city with a predominantly Sunni Baluch population, an ethnic minority that frequently faces repression from the Iranian government, according to the Balochistan Human Rights Group.

Hundreds of students were believed to be inside the building when teachers and administrators learned that bombs had begun falling on Tehran at around 9:40 a.m. School officials decided to send the children home early and began calling parents on landlines to come pick up their kids, according to two people who spoke with the AP. An independent conflict-tracking organization called Airwars, based in London, also documented that parents were summoned to retrieve their children.

At 10:15 a.m., Iran’s state media issued an advisory closing schools across the country.

One father who lived nearby immediately went to collect his 10-year-old son, according to a Minab resident who shared the stories of several families with the AP — details the AP cross-referenced against available lists of the dead and timelines compiled by rights groups. At the school, the father spotted two younger relatives, ages 6 and 7, waiting outside. He offered them a ride home, but they declined, saying their own father was already on his way.

He left with his son and stopped at a supermarket. Ten minutes later, he heard explosions.

Multiple munitions hit the compound, striking at least five buildings, according to the AP’s satellite imagery analysis. The school was leveled under hundreds of pounds of explosives.

The father rushed back to find a scene of devastation. Video circulated by Iranian state media showed onlookers screaming as men dug through smoldering debris pulling out bodies. The father eventually spotted two burned figures he believed were his young relatives — though he couldn’t be certain.

More people arrived. A man from a nearby Sunni village came searching for his nephew after receiving a frantic call from the boy’s mother. He found the child dead in the rubble.

Rescuers uncovered small backpacks, children’s drawings, colored pencils, and worksheets. A tiny arm was found suspended in the wreckage.

Men carried mangled limbs and torsos to the local hospital, according to the Balochistan Human Rights Group, whose staff spoke with two victim families. The AP was unable to independently confirm the exact number of munitions that hit the school, but the blast had left remains so badly damaged that many body parts were unrecognizable.

By the end of that day, hospital doctors estimated they had received at least 108 bodies, though they cautioned the number was likely an undercount, the Minab resident said. By the following day, state media was reporting roughly 150 dead. The figure soon climbed to 168.

Three days after the bombing, thousands of Iranians gathered at a roundabout in Minab for a mass funeral, standing before a podium and a large portrait of the late founder of the Islamic Republic. All parents of victims — regardless of ethnicity or religion — were required to attend, according to the Minab resident. Most women in the crowd wore the black chador, a garment standard in the Islamic Republic but not typically worn by Baluch people at funerals.

Parents were initially told they could take their children’s bodies home for private burials, the resident said. In the end, many chose to bury their children together. Drone footage circulated by state media showed workers digging a grid of small, identical, unmarked graves in an open lot.

“The state media advocated a narrative based on IRGC interest,” said Amelirad. “You can tell because they called the kids martyrs.”

As strikes continued across Iran, journalists and human rights researchers scrambled to document what was happening — but verifying details from Minab proved nearly impossible. No one had access to the site. Iranian government restrictions blocked most foreign journalists from entering the country. On the first day of the war, Iran shut down internet access, cutting off ordinary civilians from the outside world.

As fighting intensified around the Strait of Hormuz, the atmosphere in the province grew increasingly tense. All military branches were heavily deployed in the region. Families of victims feared speaking out. Reports emerged of people being detained for attempting to contact foreign media.

That left Iran’s government in control of the story.

Iran’s soccer team wore golden “#168” pins on their jackets when they arrived at the FIFA World Cup. The Iranian negotiating team pursuing a pause in the war with the U.S. called itself “Minab 168.” Pro-Iran groups produced viral videos depicting the children as animated Lego figures, mocking the United States.

“In the aftermath of the attack, Iranian authorities … exploited the suffering of victims’ families and surviving children for propaganda purposes,” Amnesty International wrote in a March report on the deaths.

Throughout all of this, no public list of the victims’ names was ever released.

With access to Iran blocked, researchers turned their focus to the question of who was responsible. Iran blamed the U.S. Trump cast doubt on American involvement and pointed the finger back at Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said only that the Pentagon was looking into it.

Internally, the U.S. military knew more than it publicly acknowledged. When reports of the school strike first emerged, the military was aware it had conducted strikes in that general area — though it took time to verify Iranian claims that a school had been hit and to formally open an investigation, said the U.S. official speaking anonymously.

It appears that while one analyst had identified the building as a school as far back as seven years ago, that finding was never adequately shared across the various intelligence and military agencies involved. As a result, the building was not recognized as a school by those selecting targets — pointing to potential systemic failures in the target review process, the official said.

A former Pentagon official, also speaking anonymously, said the bombing was a foreseeable consequence of changes made by the Trump administration — specifically, reductions in staff dedicated to minimizing civilian casualties and Defense Secretary Hegseth’s focus on military lethality.

When Hegseth took over, he significantly reduced the size of an office known as the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence, which had been established by Congress in late 2022. That move halted the office’s work on maintaining “no-strike lists” — catalogues of protected locations such as hospitals, schools, churches, and mosques — said Wes Bryant, who joined the office in 2024 as Branch Chief of Civil Harm Assessments. Bryant noted that when he was at the Pentagon, it was widely understood that the list was already out of date.

In recent weeks, some progress has been made in identifying the victims. Airwars spent months reviewing open-source information and was able to confirm the names and identities of 157 people killed, including 123 children aged 13 and under, and 34 adults. Among the adults were 26 school staff members — one of whom was pregnant — and five parents, each of whom lost at least one child. Airwars estimates the death toll falls between 157 and 168, with between 95 and 111 people injured.

Whether the Pentagon’s formal findings will ever be made public remains unclear. Much of the investigative work has reportedly been completed, but the military’s Central Command, which commissioned the probe, is still reviewing the results.

Past investigations have moved faster. When a Hellfire missile killed 10 civilians in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 29, 2021, the Defense Department acknowledged responsibility and provided operational details within a month.

When asked about the Minab investigation last week, Trump said, “I don’t know that they’re ever going to solve that problem.” Hegseth said the findings would be released “when the appropriate time is right.”

Some members of Congress are still demanding answers. Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican from South Dakota who sits on both the Armed Services and Intelligence committees, said in a recent interview that Congress has not received adequate information about the bombing and expects a full report.

The issue, he said, “has not gone away.”

Asia’s manufacturing sector held its ground in June, as a worldwide surge in demand for artificial intelligence technology helped cushion the blow from the ongoing Iran war, according to private business surveys released Wednesday.

The findings offer some reassurance for Asian economies that depend heavily on exports, though analysts warn that energy-related price pressures stemming from the Middle East conflict could intensify in the coming months. Supply shortages and shipping delays are already stretching delivery timelines across the region.

The surveys highlight how the global wave of AI investment is fundamentally changing economic conditions across Asia. Soaring demand for computer chips, data center equipment, and other technology products is providing a significant growth engine while helping to shield the region from escalating geopolitical and trade uncertainties.

China, Japan, and South Korea all recorded factory growth in June, driven by strong orders for chips, computers, and AI-related goods. Companies also stockpiled materials in anticipation of potential shortages and price hikes linked to the Middle East situation.

China’s RatingDog General Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, or PMI, came in at 51.7 in June — marking a seventh straight month of expansion and topping the 50-point threshold that separates growth from contraction. The reading dipped slightly from 51.8 in May but surpassed analyst expectations of 51.6.

Those results echoed an official government survey released Tuesday, which also showed Chinese factory activity returning to expansion territory last month on the strength of export orders.

Yao Yu, founder of RatingDog, described the results positively: “Overall, the manufacturing sector maintained a steady expansion in June, supported by sustained new order growth, easing cost pressures and improved labour market conditions.”

Japan’s PMI climbed to 54.8 in June, up from 54.5 the previous month, marking a sixth consecutive month of expansion. New orders grew at their fastest rate in over two years. Despite the positive headline numbers, input cost inflation remained near a four-year high — a warning sign that corporate profit margins could come under pressure and broader inflation could follow.

South Korea’s factory sector also expanded for a seventh month in a row, though the pace slowed compared to May as export demand softened.

Usamah Bhatti, an economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, noted the headwinds facing manufacturers: “Firms frequently reported that rising raw material prices, alongside difficulties sourcing and receiving inputs due to delays and shortages, weighed on sector performance.”

Across other parts of Asia, factory activity largely continued to grow. The Philippines’ PMI held nearly steady at 50.9 in June compared to 50.8 in May, while Malaysia’s index climbed to 50.7 from 49.9. Taiwan and Vietnam also reported factory expansion during the month.

Powerful rainstorms have swept through Ghana, triggering widespread flooding that has claimed the lives of at least 12 people, according to the Ghana National Fire Service, which announced the death toll on Tuesday while noting that rescue efforts remain active.

Among those who lost their lives, the fire service confirmed that three were women, eight were men, and one was a child. Rescuers have pulled more than 470 people to safety so far, and officials said they would continue providing updated figures as additional casualties are confirmed.

President John Dramani Mahama said early measurements showed approximately 140 millimetres of rain had fallen on Accra — the highest rainfall total recorded in the city in several years. For context, he noted that the highest single-day rainfall recorded the previous year was roughly 56 millimetres.

Mahama attributed the extreme rainfall to shifting climate conditions, describing the event as something beyond the government’s ability to prevent.

Flooding in Accra is a recurring problem during the rainy season. Experts have long pointed to inadequate drainage systems, illegal construction along waterways, and poor urban planning as factors that consistently make the flooding worse when heavy rains arrive.

In a formal statement Tuesday, a government spokesperson announced that 300 million cedis — roughly $27 million — would be made available to support flood relief efforts.

President Mahama also directed Ghana Armed Forces and police personnel to be deployed alongside the National Disaster Management Organisation and other agencies to assist with rescue and relief work throughout the capital.

The flooding has not been limited to Ghana. Neighboring Ivory Coast has also experienced severe rainfall. While officials there have not released an official death toll, a source with ties to firefighters and the interior minister indicated that approximately 20 people have died.

South Korea’s Oceans Ministry announced Wednesday that the cargo ship Namu, operated by HMM, is expected to leave the Strait of Hormuz no earlier than mid-July, once repairs from a May attack have been completed.

The bulk carrier suffered damage to its hull near the stern during the attack. On May 27, South Korea stated the strike likely involved an Iranian anti-ship missile, and the country called in Iran’s ambassador to deliver the findings of its investigation along with a formal protest.

Iran’s ambassador to South Korea, Saeed Koozechi, rejected any suggestion that Tehran was behind the attack, according to the Yonhap news agency. South Korea later acknowledged it could not definitively determine who carried out the attack or whether it was intentional.

Vice Oceans Minister Nam Jae-heon told reporters at a Wednesday press briefing that two vessels, including the Namu, remain stranded in the Strait of Hormuz with a combined 35 crew members on board. He also noted that 21 South Korean-operated ships have safely passed through the strait in the two weeks since the United States and Iran signed a ceasefire agreement.

A ministry official at the briefing confirmed that HMM is bearing the cost of the repairs. A company spokesperson later confirmed to Reuters that HMM is covering the expenses and intends to file a claim with its insurer.

When asked whether South Korea might seek reimbursement from Iran or the United States, Minister Nam said the government may consider reviewing that option at a later time, but offered no further details.

The Strait of Hormuz was shut down by Iran after the U.S. and Israel launched military strikes on February 28, a move that sent oil prices surging worldwide and sparked widespread concern about the potential effects on the global economy.

Iraqi security forces swept through Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Sunday, detaining politicians and senior government officials in what stands as one of the most visible anti-corruption operations the country has witnessed in recent years — and an early test for Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who took office in May.

The Green Zone has long symbolized Iraq’s post-2003 political landscape: a sealed enclave housing government institutions, foreign embassies, and the political networks that have shaped Iraq’s delicate balancing act between Washington, Tehran, and its own deeply entrenched elite.

According to Reuters, elite units from the Counter Terrorism Service carried out raids on homes within the fortified district. Iraq’s state-run Iraqi News Agency reported that 47 suspects were taken into custody, among them members of parliament and government officials. The arrests were carried out under judicial warrants tied to suspected corruption networks, with some cases reportedly stemming from testimony provided by Adnan al-Jumaili — the former deputy oil minister for refining affairs — following his earlier detention.

The Associated Press, citing the Iraqi News Agency, reported that those detained included 12 sitting lawmakers, one former legislator, a former adviser to former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, and another senior Oil Ministry official. Some of those arrested were associated with al-Sudani’s Shiite political bloc, while others were linked to the Sunni Azm Alliance. Specific charges were not immediately disclosed, but an investigative judge indicated the probe centered on allegations that state resources were used for political campaigning and that government contracts were exploited for personal financial gain.

For al-Zaidi, the operation offers a political opportunity — a chance to present his new government as bold and willing to take on a corruption system that has hollowed out Iraqi state institutions for decades. But the raids also invite a harder question: Do these arrests represent the beginning of a genuine reckoning with Iraq’s deepest corruption networks — including those tied to armed factions and Iran-aligned political interests — or are they a managed spectacle designed to channel public frustration while leaving the real power structures intact?

The timing adds political significance. Al-Zaidi is expected to travel to Washington in mid-July to strengthen economic, trade, and investment ties with the United States. Reuters reported that the visit is aimed at deepening the Iraqi-US partnership, while also noting that the prime minister faces the broader challenge of reining in Iran-backed fighters, tackling systemic corruption, and navigating the competing demands of Washington and Tehran.

That balancing act has grown more complicated in the wake of recent US-Iran understandings and broader regional efforts to reduce tensions. Earlier this month, US Special Presidential Envoy for Iraq and Syria Tom Barrack traveled to Baghdad in what The National described as the highest-level American engagement with Iraq since al-Zaidi’s government was formed. Washington’s deepening cooperation with Baghdad has been tied to efforts to disarm Iran-backed militias and bring weapons under state control.

A report by Asharq Al-Awsat on the meeting between Barrack and al-Zaidi, citing a US Embassy statement, said the two sides discussed Iraq’s plans for the “complete disarmament and disbandment of all armed groups and formations operating outside the authority and control of the Iraqi state,” as well as preventing Iraqi soil from being used to threaten regional stability. The same report noted that the mechanisms for establishing a state monopoly over weapons remain unclear and that some factions have continued to resist disarmament.

Against that backdrop, analysts view the Green Zone raids as carrying implications beyond domestic anti-corruption enforcement. One notable arrest with Iran-related dimensions was that of Ali Maarij, the deputy oil minister for distribution affairs. Reuters reported that the United States sanctioned Maarij in May, accusing him of helping divert Iraqi oil revenues to benefit Iran and Iran-backed militias, and of facilitating the blending of Iranian crude with Iraqi oil for export using falsified documents. Iraq’s Oil Ministry had denied those allegations at the time, stating that the activities described by Washington were outside Maarij’s official responsibilities.

Even so, the broader campaign has not yet visibly moved against the most powerful Iran-aligned militia figures or the political structures surrounding them — and for some Iraqi observers, that absence is telling.

Middle East political analyst Dr. Tallha Abdulrazaq argues that the operation should be measured not by the scope of the arrests, but by who has been left untouched.

“For there to be a real shift, [al-]Zaidi would have to start targeting the real big whales of corruption that have plagued Iraq for almost a quarter of a century since the US-led invasion in 2003,” Abdulrazaq told The Media Line. “This operation is designed to give the impression that Iraq is finally cleaning itself up, but the reality is that those arrested are small fry and expendable fall guys.”

That assessment is harsh, but it reflects widespread Iraqi skepticism toward government-led reform efforts. Iraq has seen previous administrations announce anti-corruption drives, only to watch them stall, unravel, or get absorbed into elite deal-making. Under former prime ministers Haider al-Abadi and Mustafa al-Kadhimi, reform rhetoric repeatedly collided with the realities of Iraq’s power-sharing arrangements, party patronage networks, and militia-linked economic influence.

Political analyst Alfadhel Ahmad offered a more measured take. He said the arrests have given al-Zaidi political momentum, but cautioned that their true significance depends on what follows.

“So far, the arrests have targeted third-tier Sunni politicians and associates of former PM Mohammed Shia al-Sudani — most linked to the network of Adnan al-Jumaili, the oil ministry undersecretary arrested earlier,” Ahmad told The Media Line. “Real intentions are hard to judge yet, but these arrests have clearly added political momentum and a cautious popular legitimacy to al-Zaidi’s new government.”

Ahmad also noted the deliberate staging of the operation. Deploying elite security forces gave the raids the look of a decisive government intervention, even if many of those targeted were not among Iraq’s most heavily protected political actors.

“There’s also a deliberate effort to project spectacle — deploying tanks and counterterrorism units to arrest figures who mostly have no militia protecting them,” he said.

The deployment of the Counter Terrorism Service carries its own symbolism. The force is among Iraq’s most respected security institutions, closely associated with the campaign against the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, and formally accountable to the prime minister. Using it in a corruption sweep inside the Green Zone sends a message that al-Zaidi can direct the state’s coercive power against senior political figures.

Abdulrazaq, however, views the Counter Terrorism Service’s involvement as part of the performance rather than evidence of genuine institutional authority.

“The use of the Counter Terrorism Service was, again, just for theatrical purposes,” he said. “…it was designed to show that Zaidi himself has authority and command.”

The deeper question is whether Iraq’s state institutions can operate independently of the networks that have long dominated them. Corruption in Iraq is not simply a matter of individual misconduct. It is woven into party financing, public-sector contracting, oil revenues, border operations, government ministries, and armed groups with formal political representation.

That is why anti-corruption campaigns in Iraq are so often filtered through the lens of factional politics — who gets arrested, who walks free, and whose interests are shielded.

“This strikes at the heart of the matter,” Abdulrazaq said. “The Iraqi state literally is the militia-linked economic structure and the militia-controlled parliament and government. There is no separation between them.”

For Ahmad, the verdict is still out. He does not rule out the possibility that al-Zaidi could build on this early momentum to widen the campaign, but says the bar must be clear: the government would need to move beyond expendable figures and begin targeting interests connected to powerful factions.

“Worth remembering: Iraqi politicians have always reversed reform and anti-corruption efforts,” Ahmad said. “Iraqis have a long record of distrusting government action, fearing the same outcomes they’ve seen before.”

“Al-Zaidi has a clear chance to prevent backsliding by building on this momentum to expand toward key politicians and test the waters for confronting interests tied to pro-Iranian militias in Iraq,” he added.

That is also where Iran enters the picture. The raids took place while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was visiting Iraq. Iranian state media reported that Araghchi held separate meetings with the governors of Karbala and Najaf to discuss arrangements for funeral ceremonies in Iraq for the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Some observers have wondered whether the arrests, the US diplomatic track, and Araghchi’s visit are somehow linked. Both analysts rejected any direct operational connection between Araghchi’s trip and the Green Zone operation, though they interpreted that absence differently.

“I wouldn’t bother reading too much into the timing apart from the fact that it shows Iran isn’t bothered at all by [al-]Zaidi’s move,” Abdulrazaq said. “Tehran is extremely pragmatic and would be more than happy to sacrifice a few nobodies and placeholder MPs just so that the current system that serves its interests continues.”

Ahmad was more restrained, saying there is no evidence so far connecting the two developments.

“Regarding Araghchi’s visit, those two things are not connected — at least for what is known till now. He came to arrange Khamenei’s ceremonies in Najaf and Karbala.”

The distinction matters. There is a difference between proving that Baghdad coordinated operationally with Tehran and arguing that the campaign has avoided Iran-linked power centers. The first would require evidence that has not publicly surfaced. The second is a political judgment based on who has been targeted so far — and who has not.

Ahmad said the campaign may actually serve the interests of the Coordination Framework — the largest Shiite political bloc and the central parliamentary force behind Iraq’s current order — as it tries to manage US pressure without breaking its ties to Iran-aligned factions.

“The Coordination Framework…may be trying to market this campaign to Washington,” he said. “But importantly, the campaign has not yet touched any Iran-linked interests or proxies.”

That gap between appearance and substance could prove decisive ahead of al-Zaidi’s expected Washington trip. The United States is not viewing corruption solely as a governance problem; it also sees corruption as part of the infrastructure that allows armed groups, smuggling networks, and foreign influence to persist within the Iraqi system.

Abdulrazaq argued that Washington’s real concern is less about corruption itself and more about regional compliance.

“I don’t think the US necessarily cares about corruption per se,” he said. “What the US cares about is compliance with its ambitions in the region.”

Ahmad’s conclusion ran along similar lines, though with less certainty. He said the true measure will be whether the campaign eventually moves against militia-linked economic interests and the political figures who protect them.

“Against the broader US demands, there’s no sign anything has changed on the ground,” he said. “I think we should watch what follows these campaigns — specifically whether the government moves to undermine militia-linked interests.”

Ahmad warned that if the campaign goes no further, it will likely be read as a maneuver by Iraq’s political class to manage American expectations ahead of the prime minister’s anticipated Washington visit.

“Otherwise, the likeliest reading is that Iraq’s political class is trying to circumvent US demands and present Washington a false picture — especially ahead of the PM’s anticipated visit — at the expense of expendable, marginal politicians.”

There is also the dimension of internal score-settling. Anti-corruption drives in Iraq have frequently been used as tools in factional power struggles, particularly when the justice system is applied selectively. Abdulrazaq said this campaign appears to follow that pattern.

“This is absolutely also about score settling,” he said. “To be clear, those arrested are almost certainly also corrupt, but, effectively, Zaidi is eliminating certain political rivals on behalf of the Coordination Framework of Shia Islamists close to Iran.”

The arrests have produced three competing narratives: the government’s claim that Iraq is finally confronting corruption; the public’s guarded skepticism shaped by years of broken promises; and the analysts’ warning that the campaign will only prove meaningful if it extends to the political and militia-linked structures that have historically been treated as untouchable.

For now, al-Zaidi has made his mark. The Green Zone was locked down, prominent figures were detained, and the state projected strength at a moment when Washington is pressing Baghdad to demonstrate control over armed groups and reduce Iranian influence. But projecting strength is not the same as achieving transformation.

What unfolds in the weeks ahead will determine whether this becomes a genuine turning point or simply another chapter in Iraq’s long history of managed reform. If the arrests remain confined to lower-tier actors, Sunni rivals, and associates of the previous government, the campaign will deepen suspicions that Baghdad is offering Washington a staged concession while leaving the underlying system untouched. If it reaches toward senior militia-linked economic interests and the political figures shielding them, then al-Zaidi may begin to truly challenge the foundations of Iraq’s post-2003 order.

Until that question is answered, the Green Zone raids remain less a conclusion than an open test: whether Iraq’s new government is genuinely confronting corruption — or simply managing the appearance of doing so at a moment when both Washington and Tehran are paying close attention.

Two prominent Israeli figures whose lives were transformed by the October 7 Hamas-led attack officially became members of the opposition party Yisrael Beitenu this week, bringing an emotionally charged message to opposition lawmaker Avigdor Liberman’s political movement just ahead of the 1,000-day anniversary of the assault.

Sharon Sharabi — brother of former hostage Eli Sharabi and of Yossi Sharabi, who was killed while being held captive in Gaza — along with Rafi Ben Shitrit, whose son Elroy Ben Shitrit fell as an IDF soldier, addressed the party’s weekly faction gathering for the first time on Monday.

Both men described their decision to enter politics as a transition from personal sorrow to public duty. Sharabi explained that within hours of the attack, what began as individual family tragedies became, in his words, “a national disaster for an entire country.” He spoke about bereaved families, fallen soldiers, and a society still grappling with issues of security and trust. “How is it possible that 1,000 days have passed and Hamas, a Nazi terrorist organization, is still in the Gaza Strip, still trying to harm our soldiers and the citizens of the State of Israel?” Sharabi asked.

He said that under the next government, Yisrael Beitenu would work toward defeating Hamas while also pushing for a stronger, more unified Israeli society. Sharabi also spoke personally about the toll his family paid — losing his brother Yossi, his sister-in-law Lianne, and Eli’s two daughters, Noiya and Yahel. “Our mission is to pass on to the next generations a stronger, more united and safer state,” he said.

Ben Shitrit took a more overtly political tone, drawing a connection between the approaching 1,000-day milestone and the Hebrew calendar date marking the ancient breach of Jerusalem’s walls before the destruction of the Second Temple. “The symbolic connection is clear and painful,” he said, adding that on October 7, “the walls of defense and security of the State of Israel were breached.”

Ben Shitrit said the Israeli public has spent 1,000 days waiting for answers. He argued that only an independent state commission of inquiry — one operating outside of political influence — could properly investigate what went wrong before and during the attack, including intelligence failures and government decisions made in the years prior. He placed ultimate responsibility on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Netanyahu’s continued resistance to such a commission only erodes public trust further.

He also rejected the idea of forming a broad national unity government under Netanyahu, calling it a political tactic and arguing that the same leadership responsible for divisive policies and the failures that preceded October 7 cannot credibly position itself as a unifying force.

Ben Shitrit said his motivation for entering public life goes beyond anger — he wants to bring “responsibility, truth, service, pioneering and dedication” back to the center of Israeli politics. He praised Liberman as a leader with experience, strategic clarity, and firm stances on Hamas, Hezbollah, military service, and governing. “I joined Yisrael Beitenu because Avigdor Liberman and Yisrael Beitenu tell the truth, even when it hurts,” he said.

The addition of both men gives Yisrael Beitenu two new faces whose personal stories directly tie the party’s political platform to the still-open wounds of October 7 — including calls for a state inquiry, the grief of bereaved families, and the argument that Israel’s future government must be grounded in accountability rather than political self-preservation.

BOGOTA, Colombia — A Colombian senator who came up short in last month’s presidential race is now threatening to refuse recognition of the election’s winner unless several conditions are met — chief among them, that the president-elect give up his American citizenship.

Progressive senator Iván Cepeda issued a statement Tuesday demanding that Abelardo de la Espriella, who won Colombia’s presidential runoff in June, relinquish his U.S. citizenship before taking office. Cepeda argued that holding citizenship in another country while serving as Colombia’s head of state could create serious conflicts of interest.

Cepeda also called on de la Espriella to publicly clarify whether he acts as an “agent” of the United States. The concern stems from de la Espriella’s background as a criminal defense attorney, during which he represented a former paramilitary leader who served as an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Additionally, Cepeda demanded that de la Espriella abandon any plans to extradite outgoing President Gustavo Petro to the United States. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have stated they are looking into Petro for possible connections to drug traffickers.

“If these conditions of legality are not met, as the leader of the opposition, I will embark on the path of peaceful civil disobedience that implies not recognizing the authority of someone who will not defend our national sovereignty,” Cepeda stated.

De la Espriella, a conservative attorney who campaigned on a law-and-order message and received an endorsement from U.S. President Donald Trump, defeated Cepeda in the June 21 runoff by roughly 250,000 votes. The final tally showed de la Espriella with 49.6% of the vote compared to Cepeda’s 48.7%.

Cepeda had formally acknowledged those results three days after the vote, following validation by Colombian authorities of an election-night quick count.

De la Espriella has not publicly responded to Cepeda’s accusations or the demand that he renounce his U.S. citizenship.

The 47-year-old lawyer was born in Bogota and is scheduled to be sworn in as Colombia’s president on August 7. He acquired U.S. citizenship as an adult after spending several years living in Florida, where he operated a law firm whose clients included former paramilitary figures accused of human rights violations and businesspeople facing money laundering charges.

While Cepeda’s refusal to recognize de la Espriella carries no legal consequences — the National Electoral Council has already certified de la Espriella as the winner — political observers say the stance could still have real-world effects.

Manuel Camilo González, a political science professor at Bogota’s Javeriana University, noted that Cepeda’s position could ignite demonstrations in the streets or be used to justify efforts to obstruct de la Espriella’s legislative agenda in Congress.

Cepeda’s party, the Historical Pact, holds more Senate seats than any other party in Colombia, though it does not have enough on its own to block legislation from passing.

KAMAKURA, Japan — The Japanese author behind one of the country’s most cherished literary characters — a young witch named Kiki — has a bit of difficulty climbing stairs these days. But at 91 years old, Eiko Kadono hasn’t slowed down when it comes to writing.

Kadono still sits down to write every single day, still loves the color pink, still dresses up, and still holds firmly to her belief in the transformative power of books.

Her most famous work, “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” was first published in 1985 and later adapted into an animated film in 1989 by Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli. It is just one of roughly 200 books she has authored.

“I never tire of writing,” she told The Associated Press during a visit to her home in the scenic coastal town of Kamakura, located south of Tokyo.

Her home, marked by a small pink gate, is packed with books, pink chairs, and a collection of animal figurines.

“I’m probably a child at heart,” Kadono said with a quiet laugh.

She was dressed in a colorful smock — designed specifically for her by her daughter — and wore her trademark boldly framed glasses. She noted with pride that the smock’s sleeves have elastic at the wrists so they can easily be pushed up while she writes.

Today, she types on a keyboard, pressing each key slowly and deliberately. But every story still begins the old-fashioned way — written by hand. She also sketches drawings as part of her creative process.

“I want to write so that the reader can visualize what I am writing,” she said. “I love to write.”

Kadono remains sharp and quick-witted. She’s unbothered about wearing a wig and doesn’t understand why anyone would feel the need to hide it. She wears red lipstick and is only slightly self-conscious about her wrinkles.

Her writing style has remained largely consistent over the decades, though looking back at her earlier work, she feels it was more wordy compared to the cleaner, more precise style she favors now.

The original Japanese Kiki series spans six books along with three spinoff titles. The first book was translated into English in 2020 by Delacorte Press and is now available in 25 languages worldwide.

The second installment in the English series, “Kiki and the New Magic,” is scheduled for release in August, translated by Emily Balistrieri and illustrated by Yuta Onoda.

Kadono never planned to become a writer. She was, by her own description, primarily a housewife — married to a designer and raising a daughter. During her 30s, she spent two years living in Brazil and was later asked to write about that experience. That’s when she realized she genuinely enjoyed writing — not as a profession, but as something she found fun and fulfilling.

The spirited, no-nonsense character of Kiki was actually born from a drawing her daughter made at age 12 — a cute little witch flying on a broomstick toward the moon. From that image, Kadono crafted a coming-of-age adventure featuring Kiki and her black cat, Jiji.

Kiki’s Museum of Literature opened in Tokyo in 2023 and now sells Kadono’s signature smocks, pink mugs, and T-shirts featuring her characters, alongside shelves upon shelves of books by various authors.

A statement displayed in pink lettering on the museum wall reads: “The other-worldly fantasy that Kadono creates has overcome the boundaries of language, to become appreciated by a wide global audience, including children and adults, and won international accolades.”

A five-year-old visitor named Tsukiko Fukuda, who was touring the museum with her family, put it more simply: the books are fun, and pink is her favorite color too.

Kadono, who received the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2018, says she hopes a steady stream of talented children’s book authors will emerge so that future generations can grow up loving to read.

She believes we are at a critical crossroads that will determine whether that vision becomes reality. The outdoor adventures and imaginative play that once shaped children’s lives have largely faded away, replaced by digital entertainment and modern distractions.

That’s why reading matters more than ever, she says.

“People must think on their own to be able to create. That’s what being human means,” Kadono said, her voice filled with conviction. “Books are the only thing now that can bring about creation and imagination.”

KABUL, Afghanistan — Abdul Ahad Momand, the first Afghan citizen ever to travel to space, has passed away at the age of 67, according to his family and friends.

Momand lost his battle with cancer on June 21 at a hospital in Stuttgart, Germany, the city he had called home since departing Afghanistan in 1992 amid the country’s civil war.

Former President Ashraf Ghani expressed his grief on social media platform X, writing: “I am deeply saddened by the sudden death of Afghanistan’s first and only astronaut, Abdul Ahad Momand. I pray to God to grant Momand a high place in heaven, and I extend my deepest condolences to his wife, children, and other family members.”

Back in 1988, when Momand was just 29 years old and serving as an air force pilot, he was chosen to participate in a Soviet space program that sent representatives from allied nations into orbit. At the time, Afghanistan was under Soviet control.

Following extensive training, Momand launched aboard the Soyuz TM-6 spacecraft alongside Russian cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Polyakov. He spent nine days in space conducting scientific research on the Mir space station. His journey home aboard the Soyuz TM-5 hit a snag when technical difficulties caused a one-day delay, leaving him and Lyakhov in tight quarters and at risk of running out of food and oxygen.

An Associated Press report from that era noted that Momand — whose surname was spelled Mohmand at the time — spoke about his earlier role in joint Soviet-Afghan military operations aimed at suppressing an insurgency in his homeland, saying he had flown hundreds of attack missions.

Prior to his launch, Momand told the Soviet publication Sovietskaya Rossiya that his mission would help pinpoint Afghanistan’s mineral resources, evaluate hydroelectric potential, and examine glaciers and earthquake hazards, according to the AP.

From orbit, Momand addressed his fellow Afghans in a televised message, noting that conflict cannot be observed from space. “I would like to believe that such will be the situation on the land inhabited by my brothers and sisters, on the land of our fathers and mothers who have suffered so much during the years of the war,” he said.

During his mission, Momand also brought the Quran with him and read from it — a moment Ghani described as introducing Afghanistan to the world “with national colors and national words” while presenting its Islamic identity to the cosmos.

“His nine days on the Mir space station made Afghans forget the bitterness of the civil wars of 1988 and the rest of that decade,” Ghani added.

Momand was originally from the Andar district of Ghazni province in southeastern Afghanistan. He received military training at academies in both Afghanistan and the Soviet Union.

News of his death brought widespread sorrow across Afghanistan among those who regarded him as a hero. Zahir Ammar, a 35-year-old blogger from Jalalabad who focuses on cosmology, honored Momand’s legacy, calling attention to the historic nature of his achievement.

“Abdul Ahad Momand is the first Afghan astronaut in the entire scientific history of the country to go into space, he took the Holy Quran with him into space and added Pashto to the list of languages spoken in space,” Ammar wrote.

“Now, astronauts’ trips to (international space stations) have become commonplace, but during the time of the late Abdul Ahad Momand, this was a great achievement for Afghanistan,” he added.

Ammar also voiced regret that Momand spent his final years in exile, expressing a wish that he could have shared his experiences with younger generations inside Afghanistan.

No details about funeral or memorial services have been announced. Momand is survived by his wife, two daughters, and a son.

Israel is facing its most difficult diplomatic position with the United States in modern memory, and may be more isolated internationally than it has been in decades — that is the stark assessment of former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren.

Oren shared his views last week with a small gathering of foreign journalists at an event organized by MediaCentral, speaking openly over a meal at a Tel Aviv restaurant. Born in the United States, Oren immigrated to Israel in 1979 and went on to become one of the country’s most recognized diplomats. He held nothing back when addressing the challenges confronting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the possibility that Netanyahu could survive politically, and what the future might look like if the Israel Defense Forces fail to secure the northern front.

“For the first time in history, we have no recourse,” Oren told the group. “Traditionally, if there was a problem with an [American] administration, we went to Congress. If there were problems with Congress, we went to the administration. We can’t do that. There’s nobody we can go to complain to.”

Oren explained that Israel has, in his view, “lost the Democratic Party,” while the Republican Party is split between those who “may not like us very much” and others whose primary loyalty is to President Donald Trump.

“So, who are we left with? Maybe, at times, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz. That’s a slim limb to be hanging from,” he said.

Oren noted that several Republicans have told him the upcoming US midterm elections, set for November 3rd, represent an “existential fight for Trump.” He said Trump’s supporters believe that if the president fails to contain the conflict in Lebanon, it will hurt him politically. At the same time, Netanyahu understands that a military defeat in Lebanon could mean “he can find himself being Citizen Netanyahu and not prime minister.”

Despite this, Oren placed some of the blame on Netanyahu himself, saying the prime minister bears responsibility for “alienating the Democrats.”

“I opposed his March 2015 speech to Congress,” Oren said, referring to Netanyahu’s controversial address before a joint session of the Republican-led US Congress — an appearance arranged without the Obama administration’s knowledge. Netanyahu used the occasion to argue against the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Iran nuclear agreement that President Obama later signed.

“I didn’t think it was going to affect the vote on the nuclear deal at all, and it didn’t; and it would only cost us further support in the Democratic Party,” Oren said. “They still talk about that speech, so I don’t know what we gained.”

Looking ahead, Oren pointed out that many potential Democratic presidential candidates — including several who are Jewish — are “highly critical of Israel.” He expressed support for Netanyahu’s push to negotiate a new framework for defense cooperation and US military assistance, but expressed doubt that Israel has the decade-long window Netanyahu is counting on to put such an arrangement in place.

In January, Netanyahu introduced a plan to gradually phase out US military aid in favor of expanded joint defense programs. Oren warned that if Democrats return to power, “they’re going to cut it [the aid] off immediately. There’s a big difference between morphing into a partnership where we’re equal partners and one where one side is simply cutting off the aid.”

The situation for Jewish communities outside Israel is also deteriorating, Oren said. According to Tel Aviv University’s 2025 Annual Antisemitism Report, 20 Jewish people were killed in antisemitic attacks last year — the highest annual death toll in more than 30 years. The same report found that antisemitic incidents across every Western nation remain far above pre-Gaza war levels.

“I’ve been in Australia, Canada, most recently in Italy and France. In every community I’ve visited, they say there’s no future for that community, which is very disheartening,” Oren told journalists. “It’s like we’re reaching a situation where the Diaspora as we know it is going to constrict very, very fast.”

In the past, Oren said, Jews facing persecution in one country could relocate to another — from France to England, Canada, or New York. Those escape routes, he noted, no longer feel as secure. He described Hamas’s October 7th border attack as having “broke through a dam, which had held back the currents of antisemitism for about 80 years, and what followed was a torrent.”

Oren suggested it may not matter much who leads Israel after its upcoming election — whether that turns out to be Naftali Bennett, Gadi Eisenkot, or Netanyahu himself. He said a new prime minister might earn a brief “grace period” of two or three weeks in terms of international perception, but that a fundamental shift in Israel’s global standing is unlikely. He argued that no incoming government would establish a Palestinian state overnight, and military operations in Gaza and Lebanon would likely become more aggressive, not less.

On the Lebanon front specifically, Oren was unequivocal: “This is not a strategic issue. This is an existential issue … If we lose the North, we lose the country.” He warned that pulling back prematurely would allow Hezbollah to eventually redirect rocket fire from border communities like Metula toward larger cities like Ashkelon.

“For a large segment of the people who now define themselves as anti-Zionist, it’s not what we do anymore; it’s who we are, and that’s not going to change,” Oren stressed.

On the question of responsibility for October 7th, Oren said Netanyahu deserves some of the blame but should not be held solely accountable, even if “the buck ends there.” He revealed that just days before the massacre, the Israeli government had held a meeting in which it decided to send a delegation to Cairo to offer Hamas de facto sovereignty over Gaza and participation in a gas-sharing arrangement. Further details, Oren said, will appear in a new book he plans to publish later this year.

“I was in the government until 2019, and I had a tremendous amount of responsibility for Gaza,” Oren said. “I worked closely with the army, worked closely with the Shabak [Israel Security Agency], worked closely with Mossad. And I will tell you unconditionally, unequivocally, that the ‘concepzia,’ as they call it, was that Hamas was deterred, was that Hamas wanted to devote its time to developing Gaza, was uninterested in the conflict, and that Israel could focus on the serious dangers, which were Hezbollah and Iran.”

Oren said this belief was not unique to Israeli leadership — it was shared by American officials across both the Biden and Trump administrations. He said the only prominent figure who publicly challenged that assumption was Member of Knesset Avigdor Liberman, head of the Yisrael Beitenu party and a former defense minister.

Despite nearly three years of war and mounting political pressure, Oren cautioned against writing Netanyahu off. “It’s always premature to eulogize” him politically, he said. Israel remains sharply divided: in Oren’s largely Mizrahi neighborhood in southern Israel, criticism of Netanyahu is virtually nonexistent, while among the more Ashkenazi, center-left community where he rows on the Yarkon River, people are eager to see the prime minister removed from office.

“The problem with Bibi … he’s a very, very difficult act to follow,” Oren said. “He is physically robust. He spent a lot of time in ridiculously overrated schools, and he’s probably the smartest guy I’ve ever encountered. He is a brilliant politician, whatever you want to say. He’s a survivor.”

A recent N12 poll showed Netanyahu’s Likud party still leading with 24 seats, with former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot’s centrist Yashar party close behind at 22 seats.

Oren also defended Netanyahu against some critics, arguing that many decisions attributed to him personally would likely have been made by any Israeli prime minister. On the US-Iran agreement, Oren said the greatest damage is not to Israel but to America’s standing globally.

“It is an incalculable blow to America’s prestige and deterrence power,” Oren said. “The Chinese are going to take notice, and the Russians are going to take notice. I can’t imagine any country will join the Abraham Accords right now. If anything, they’ll be seeking rapprochement with Tehran very quickly. I think they’re already doing it.”

Oren said Israel should use the coming years to broaden its foreign policy reach, building stronger ties with India, South America, and Africa. As for why Netanyahu should be the one to lead those efforts, Oren suggested the prime minister simply may not be willing to step aside — describing him as someone who sees himself as “transformative, if not messianic,” driven by a belief that he was born to fulfill a mission.

“Here’s a man who’s got a pacemaker, who’s now recovered from cancer, has been through I don’t know what. He doesn’t stop, and you have to ask yourself, what’s driving this human being? What animates him?” Oren said. “What animates him is a sense of mission: the mission to save Israel and the Jewish people.”

Whatever one makes of Oren’s analysis, his overall message was unmistakable: Israel is confronting serious headwinds on the world stage, including a deeply uncertain relationship with its most important ally. In that environment, he suggested, the identity of whoever holds the prime minister’s office may matter far less than whether Israel — and the broader Jewish world — can find its footing in the turbulent years ahead.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee took the stage at the Herzliya Conference on Tuesday, describing last week’s US-brokered framework between Israel and Lebanon as a landmark moment — one that fundamentally reframes how both nations view the conflict along their shared border.

Rather than a war between two countries, Huckabee said, the agreement reflects a shared understanding that Hezbollah — not Israel or Lebanon — is the true source of the problem.

“Israel already knew that it was not at war with Lebanon,” Huckabee said. “Lebanon has a problem with Hezbollah, not Israel. Israel has a problem with Hezbollah, not with Lebanon.”

The Washington framework, reached through US-mediated negotiations, connects a step-by-step Israeli pullback from portions of southern Lebanon to Hezbollah’s disarmament and the movement of Lebanon’s national military into areas long controlled by the Iran-backed group. Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since 1948, and Hezbollah has pushed back against any deal that conditions an Israeli withdrawal on giving up its weapons.

Huckabee said the negotiations unfolded across five separate meetings in Washington over recent months. Early sessions were stiff and formal, he noted, but the tone gradually warmed as talks progressed.

He recalled a particularly striking moment during a break in negotiations, when he spotted an Israeli general and a Lebanese general chatting privately — relaxed, smiling, and at ease with one another.

“When I saw that, I realized I was watching something historic,” Huckabee said.

That scene brought to mind an image previously put forward by President Isaac Herzog: the possibility of one day driving a car from Jerusalem north all the way to Beirut. Huckabee said he referenced that vision during the talks — not as a near-term forecast, but as a way to illustrate what full normalization between the two countries could one day look like.

The ambassador was careful to note that the deal does not solve the hardest problems. Dismantling Hezbollah’s military capabilities in southern Lebanon, he said, will be a long-term undertaking. The group’s armed presence in that region has repeatedly sparked conflict with Israel, including during the most recent round of fighting, which left much of southern Lebanon damaged and displaced large numbers of civilians.

Huckabee also highlighted what he called one of the agreement’s most notable features: Iran was deliberately excluded from the negotiations. Tehran has spent decades arming and financing Hezbollah and has relied on the group as a cornerstone of its regional influence.

“They have no role in it,” Huckabee said of Tehran. “They have no reason to stick their nose in it.”

Shifting to the broader US-Israel relationship, Huckabee described the military cooperation between the two countries during recent operations as unlike anything seen before. He said Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, told him personally that in his entire military career, he had never witnessed a partnership like the one forged between American and Israeli forces.

Huckabee said the two militaries worked so closely together in operations centers that it was nearly impossible to tell them apart — except by the patches on their uniforms.

“If you did not notice the patches on their sleeve, you would not realize which one is the Israeli and which one is the American,” he said.

While many specifics remain classified, Huckabee said future disclosures would reveal an extraordinary degree of coordination in both operations and intelligence sharing.

The ambassador also highlighted President Donald Trump’s record on Israel, pointing to the relocation of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, efforts to bring home Israeli hostages, and the establishment of the Board of Peace.

Wrapping up his remarks, Huckabee pushed back on the notion that the US-Israel alliance only benefits Israel. He argued that the United States gains significantly from Israeli intelligence, technology, agriculture, and innovation.

“It is not a one-way street,” Huckabee said. “Israel does a lot of things for America.”

The comments reflect the administration’s broader effort to position the Lebanon framework as both a security agreement and a potential opening for wider diplomatic progress in the region. Whether that potential is realized will hinge on one unresolved question: whether Lebanon can assert real authority in its south while Hezbollah continues to refuse surrendering its arms.

Ukraine’s highest-ranking military commander said in a televised interview aired Tuesday that his forces are actively preparing for a potential new Russian offensive launched from the north, though he considers a renewed push toward the capital to be an unlikely goal.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, speaking with TSN Ukrainian television, also addressed weeks of Ukrainian concerns that Moscow has been pressuring its ally Belarus to take a more active role in the ongoing war — saying a Belarusian-based attack is not something he views as probable.

“The most likely scenario, and this is confirmed by several data sources, is possible offensive action in the north from the territory of Russia, from the Bryansk region,” Syrskyi said. “This is a realistic option, of course, and we are preparing for it.”

He explained that the goal of such a northern offensive would not be to march on Kyiv, as Russian forces attempted following their February 2022 invasion before pulling back to concentrate on the Donbas region in the east. Rather, the strategy would likely focus on capturing territory in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region while pulling Ukrainian troops away from other parts of the 1,250-kilometer (775-mile) front line.

He described such a move as a tactic aimed at “stretching the front and depriving us of reserves.”

On the question of Belarus, Syrskyi noted that while the country allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin to use its soil as a launchpad for the initial invasion, he doubts Belarusian leadership would go that far again. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly cautioned Belarus against getting further involved in the conflict.

“In view of recent events, I don’t think the Belarusian leadership would opt to use their own territory and give it to the aggressor to use as a staging area for an offensive operation,” Syrskyi said. “At the same time, of course, we are taking this possibility into account as well.”

Earlier this month, Zelenskiy gave Belarus — led by longtime President Alexander Lukashenko — one week to shut down relay stations that Kyiv claimed were being used to strike Ukraine. Zelenskiy has since stated those stations are no longer in operation.

Syrskyi also noted signs that Russian troops are showing fatigue, with the pace of front-line fighting dropping off. He said Russian frontline activity has decreased by about 30%, while Ukrainian forces have continued carrying out long-range strikes against Russian targets, primarily those connected to the oil industry.

Miguel Gomez confirmed to Reuters on Tuesday that he has been selected to serve as finance minister by Colombia’s president-elect, Abelardo De La Espriella.

Once in office, Gomez will face the significant challenge of advancing sweeping economic reforms through a Congress sharply divided along political lines, all while working to stabilize the nation’s struggling financial situation.

De La Espriella has laid out an ambitious agenda that includes cutting taxes, rolling back government regulations, and reducing the overall size of the Colombian government by 40 percent — moves he says are necessary to address a growing budget deficit that has already taken a toll on the country’s credit rating.

ACCRA, Ghana — Catastrophic flooding and landslides brought on by days of heavy rainfall have claimed at least 24 lives in the capital cities of Ghana and Ivory Coast, authorities announced Tuesday, as rescue workers continued pulling stranded residents from buildings swallowed by floodwaters.

In Ghana’s capital, Accra, entire structures and roadways were underwater by Monday, cutting off access to multiple parts of the city as well as the neighboring city of Tema.

At least 12 deaths have been confirmed in Ghana. Among the victims were a mother and her child, both swept away in the Achimota-Agbogbloshie district. Alex King Nartey, a spokesperson for the Ghana National Fire Service, shared that information with The Associated Press.

Across the border in Ivory Coast, several days of rainfall caused flooding that killed more than a dozen people — the majority of them in the Attécoubé and Yopougon municipalities within the capital city of Abidjan, according to the Minister of National Cohesion Myss Belmonde Dogo.

Local media in the region reported that at least nine of those who died were found buried under rubble in the Mossikro neighborhood, following rains that began on Saturday.

Footage circulating from Accra showed residents wading through chest-high water to help neighbors escape, while cars sat abandoned on roads completely overtaken by floodwaters.

Nartey described access to the hardest-hit neighborhoods as “a big problem” for emergency responders, who were forced to call in military assistance. By Tuesday morning, several areas of the city remained partially underwater.

Ghana’s National Disaster Management Organisation reported that emergency calls started flooding in around 7 a.m. Monday as homeowners discovered water rushing into their residences. “The whole place was flooded. It’s alarming,” said Mariam Dongyela Millah, deputy director of communications at the disaster agency.

The Ghana Meteorological Agency issued a warning to residents of Accra to brace for additional rainfall throughout the coming week.

Deadly flooding is a recurring crisis across parts of Africa. The World Meteorological Organization notes that Africa is among the world’s most vulnerable regions to extreme weather, even though the continent contributes only a small share of global greenhouse gas emissions.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Hundreds of bus drivers walked off the job and gathered in the heart of Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, rallying for higher wages, improved working conditions, and an end to the exhausting six-day work week. Their strike is part of a larger national effort to guarantee all Brazilian workers two full days of rest each week.

Alexandre Garrido, 49, has spent two decades behind the wheel of a bus and says the current schedule leaves no room for a personal life. “You can’t spend quality time or go out with your family, give attention to your children, visit relatives, or have a day like going to a restaurant to have lunch together,” he said.

A constitutional amendment that would cap the Brazilian work week at five days has already cleared the country’s lower legislative chamber and now sits before the Senate. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has thrown his support behind the measure, making it a centerpiece of his reelection campaign ahead of an October vote.

Under the current system, many Brazilians put in five full eight-hour days and then report for another four hours on a sixth day. Others technically have two days off but still clock 44 hours total per week. The proposed amendment would set a 40-hour weekly maximum while keeping workers’ pay intact.

If the Senate passes the measure, it would reshape daily life for millions of lower-income Brazilians and could provide a significant political lift for the president’s campaign. Several other Latin American nations have enacted similar labor reforms, though Argentina has moved in the opposite direction.

Rick Azevedo, a city councilor in Rio and founder of the movement known as Life Beyond Work — one of the primary forces driving the reform — attended Tuesday’s demonstration. “Those who support working six days a week are in favor of modern slavery,” he said. Beyond the bus drivers’ union strike, Azevedo’s organization also coordinated protests in cities across Brazil on Tuesday.

Roughly 14 million Brazilians currently work six days a week. Among them is Fernanda Sousa, 26, who lives in the sprawling Rocinha favela. Six days a week, she rises before dawn, drops her 6-year-old son at his godmother’s home around 5:30 a.m., and commutes to the upscale neighborhood of Gavea, where she serves cheese bread and snacks at a bistro.

“Going to work on a Sunday when everyone is with their families breaks my heart,” Sousa said while heading home one recent Friday evening with her son beside her. She added that juggling work and household responsibilities is a constant struggle — a burden that falls heavily on women and is made worse by the lengthy work schedule.

Research in Brazil consistently shows that workers in lower-paying, lower-skilled positions are the ones most likely to be locked into the demanding 44-hour week.

Matheus Paulo Costa da Silva, 28, supervises a home furnishings store in Rio. He recently tried enrolling in an evening information technology course but found he was simply too worn out to continue. “I can’t see my family, I can’t go to the gym, I can’t study. I live to work,” he said.

Lawmaker Erika Hilton, who championed the amendment through the lower house in May, noted that even some of her conservative colleagues have come around to supporting it, though opponents in the Senate are working to defeat the bill. “Ending the six-day workweek allows us to care for workers who are under attack since Brazil’s slavery days,” said Hilton, referencing a period of nearly 400 years that came to an end in 1888. She added that workers deserve the freedom to travel, go to the beach, attend church, or simply spend time with friends.

Brazil’s business community, however, is raising serious concerns. The country’s National Confederation of Industry estimates that cutting the work week could drive annual labor costs up by as much as 267 billion reais — the equivalent of roughly $52 billion — an increase of up to 7%. The confederation also warns the change could drag down Brazil’s economic growth by 0.7%.

Economists say smaller businesses stand to be hit the hardest. An institution that supports small enterprises notes they account for about 97% of all businesses in Brazil and provide half of the country’s formal employment.

Marcelo Pierini, 52, owns a pie restaurant in downtown São Paulo and is already anxious about what the reform could mean for him. He runs the restaurant with five employees, closes only on Sundays, and operates on slim profit margins. “This change could mean one of two things: closing on Mondays and losing some profit or sharing my bill with the customers,” he said. “It is hard. I want some rest too, but I can’t afford it.”

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s government issued a stern warning Tuesday, stating that any effort by India to cut off Pakistan’s share of water under the Indus Waters Treaty would constitute the “weaponization of water” — a move it said could seriously threaten peace and security across the region.

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, along with other senior government officials, delivered those remarks at an international seminar dedicated to the treaty, a 1960 agreement brokered by the World Bank that governs how water from the Indus River system is divided between the two nuclear-armed neighboring countries.

The treaty has faced growing pressure since India suspended its involvement in the agreement following the killing of 26 tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir in April. India blamed Pakistan-based militants for the attack, an accusation Pakistan rejected while offering to cooperate with an independent investigation.

The incident triggered one of the worst breakdowns in relations between the two rivals in decades. Both nations cut back diplomatic and trade ties, shut down their primary land border crossing, and canceled visas for each other’s citizens. The situation worsened further when the two sides exchanged missile strikes in May 2025, until U.S. President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire. Relations between the two countries have remained at a standstill ever since.

At the seminar, Dar made clear that water should never become a political weapon. “Shared waters must never be weaponized. They should remain a bridge between nations, guided by cooperation, dialogue, and respect for international law for the benefit of present and future generations,” he said.

Dar argued that water is fundamental to human dignity, food security, economic growth, and environmental health, and that rivers flowing across national borders should encourage cooperation rather than spark conflict.

He labeled India’s 2025 decision to suspend the treaty as “illegal,” insisting that Pakistan views the agreement as still fully valid and legally enforceable. “No party can unilaterally suspend or terminate obligations under a treaty that contains no such provision,” Dar stated, adding that international agreements must be honored in good faith.

Dar also repeated Pakistan’s position — previously adopted by the country’s National Security Committee — that any move to redirect, interrupt, or reduce Pakistan’s water allocation under the treaty would be considered an “act of war.”

Pakistan has repeatedly accused India of violating the treaty since New Delhi announced its suspension. At Tuesday’s seminar, Mehar Ali Shah, the chairman of Pakistan’s Indus River System Authority, alleged that India reduced water flows along the Chenab River in recent months, in what he described as a treaty violation. India had not issued a response at the time of reporting.

Earlier in the event, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar emphasized that the treaty cannot be changed, revoked, suspended, or set aside by one country acting alone. He also argued that protecting the agreement has grown more urgent as climate change, melting glaciers, and increasing water shortages pose long-term threats to the region’s stability.

The Indus Waters Treaty, signed in 1960 and facilitated by the World Bank, lays out how the Indus River system’s water is distributed. Under the agreement, India controls three eastern rivers — the Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas — while Pakistan receives the waters of three western rivers: the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab.

Until May 2025, the treaty had survived multiple wars between the two nations, including conflicts in 1965 and 1971, as well as the 1999 Kargil conflict. It had long been considered one of the few lasting agreements between the two countries despite decades of hostility centered on the Kashmir dispute.

Rescue teams from Jordan working in earthquake-ravaged Venezuela pulled a young child alive from the debris of a collapsed building early Tuesday morning — a rare breakthrough on the sixth day of search-and-rescue operations, Venezuelan authorities confirmed.

The child, identified as Klieber Moran, was freed from the rubble of the Los Corales Garden 1 building in La Guaira state. Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez announced the rescue in a message posted to Telegram, saying the child was taken to receive medical care following the ordeal.

The rescue came after Venezuela was struck by two earthquakes — measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 — that hit less than a minute apart last Wednesday. The back-to-back quakes toppled buildings and left thousands of people trapped beneath the wreckage, according to authorities and rescue teams on the ground.

There was some confusion over the child’s exact age. Acting President Delcy Rodriguez described Moran as 3 years old, while National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez referred to the child as 2 years old in a televised address.

“We must hold onto the hope of continuing to find people alive beneath the rubble,” Jorge said. “Early this morning, a 2-year-old boy was rescued and is currently receiving care at a health center in Caracas.”

Meanwhile, a major delivery of humanitarian aid touched down in Venezuela on Tuesday. United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric confirmed that a UNICEF shipment carrying 47 metric tons of supplies had arrived to help children and families in need.

Dujarric said the shipment contains emergency health kits designed to provide urgent medical care, including supplies for safe deliveries, newborn care, disease prevention, and treatment for those affected by the disaster.

HAVANA (AP) — Despite Cuba recently rolling out a sweeping set of free-market economic changes, the country’s top diplomat says discussions with the United States have ground to a halt. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez made the announcement Tuesday, signaling a sharp freeze in diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Rodríguez pointed out that the newly introduced economic measures were never brought up or addressed during previous rounds of talks between the two nations.

“The recently announced (measures) are a matter of total and absolute sovereignty,” Rodríguez said. “We have neither listened to nor are we interested in the U.S. government’s opinion on them.”

However, he expressed frustration that the reforms were answered with what he described as “a new package of unilateral coercive measures … against Cuba.”

Earlier this month, the U.S. imposed fresh sanctions targeting Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel, other government officials, and companies considered vital to the island’s struggling economy.

Several of those sanctions came after Cuba’s Communist Party and the National Assembly of People’s Power gave the green light to 176 economic measures — the most significant economic overhaul since the Cuban revolution. The changes align with certain demands the United States has made as it pushes for a transformation of Cuba’s political and economic system.

Among the reforms are expanded opportunities for private businesses, the ability to hire workers freely, authorization for private banking, and allowances for Cubans living abroad to invest on the island.

While Rodríguez acknowledged that U.S. officials had been “generally respectful” during earlier talks, he said that behavior runs alongside “constant aggressive statements against Cuba, threats of military aggression, and the imposition of additional coercive measures.”

The U.S. State Department had not responded to a request for comment at the time of this report.

Rodríguez made his remarks at a press conference where he also announced that Cuba will bring the issue of a U.S. energy embargo — put in place by President Donald Trump in late January — before the United Nations General Assembly on July 7.

“The blockade and the policy of aggression and hostility of the United States government against Cuba are a threat to the existence and well-being of the Cuban people, and to the exercise of their human rights,” Rodríguez said.

He also pushed back on any suggestion that Cuba poses a danger to the United States, which he referred to as “a major military and nuclear power.”

The oil embargo has dealt a heavy blow to everyday life in Cuba, triggering extended power outages, rationing of fuel, internet disruptions, and the suspension of public transportation and flights. Garbage collection, water delivery, and other essential services have also been halted, and working hours have been cut back across the country.