Category: World News

Venezuela is pushing to complete what could be the most complicated debt restructuring in modern history, and it wants to do it fast — raising serious concerns among financial experts about what that speed could mean for the country’s future.

The South American nation is working to restructure both its government debt and that of its state-owned oil company, with total claims nearing $200 billion. Bondholders say Venezuelan officials in Caracas are hoping to complete the early stages of the overhaul — launched in May — as soon as November, with the goal of unlocking billions in desperately needed investment across industries including oil and energy.

But the push for speed is alarming debt specialists, particularly given that Venezuela is simultaneously dealing with the aftermath of devastating earthquakes that killed more than 3,000 people and damaged hospitals, schools, and other critical infrastructure last month.

“This will surely be the most complex sovereign debt restructuring of my lifetime,” said Mitu Gulati, a sovereign debt expert and professor at the University of Virginia. “I’ve never seen anything done like this.”

A central concern is whether Venezuela can produce a credible Debt Sustainability Analysis — a document that measures a country’s debt load against its economic outlook to help determine how much lenders can expect to recover. The challenge is enormous: Venezuela’s debt includes arbitration awards, oil-backed loans from China, traditional bonds, and overdue interest payments. The country has not released complete debt or economic statistics in years.

Veteran sovereign debt attorney Lee Buchheit, who has guided numerous countries through debt restructurings since the 1980s, said the proposed timeline is far too compressed to produce a trustworthy analysis. He noted that both the government and bondholders may have their own reasons to rush — officials may want to demonstrate a return to global financial markets, while bondholders may want to avoid a more thorough review by the International Monetary Fund that could result in smaller payouts.

“What may be presented as a DSA will in fact just be a manufactured set of numbers that appears to support some form of bond restructuring,” Buchheit warned. He was hired in 2019 by then-opposition leader Juan Guaido to advise on debt restructuring efforts.

For comparison, Greece’s restructuring of its roughly $200 billion debt following its 2012 default took approximately one year to complete. Venezuelan government officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Caracas announced in May that it had hired financial advisory firm Centerview Partners and initially aimed to finish the Debt Sustainability Analysis by the end of June. Investors now anticipate it will be delivered sometime this month. The IMF confirmed it is not involved in the process, which has deepened doubts about the reliability of the figures being used. Centerview Partners declined to comment.

Adding to the unease, the Financial Times reported last month that Venezuela’s debt burden could actually reach $240 billion — $40 billion higher than earlier estimates — without clarifying what accounts for the additional amount. That revelation alarmed some creditors and prompted calls for IMF participation.

“If you don’t have a process that can be verified by independent observers, the IMF, then you run the risk of cronyism and corruption,” said Christopher Sabatini, director of the Latin America Programme at Chatham House.

A Caracas-based financial consultancy called Sintesis Financiera argued that the Venezuelan government should pause the restructuring process entirely, warning that relying on economic data and assumptions made before the earthquakes would be a “costly mistake” that risks underestimating just how much debt relief the country actually needs.

The earthquake damage — estimated at $7 billion — is a “massive blow” to an economy already struggling to recover, according to Joan Domene, chief economist for Latin America at Oxford Economics.

“It will make the case for the government to plead for an even bigger haircut,” Domene said, referring to the losses that creditors absorb when debt is restructured.

Some observers believe the advisers involved understand the gravity of the situation. “It’s right to have a healthy degree of skepticism,” said Elina Theodorakopoulou of Manulife Investment Management, which holds Venezuelan bonds. “But surely you would believe that the people that are putting that together realize the significance of doing that credibly.”

Venezuela’s economy has shrunk by an estimated 75% since 2013, weighed down by sanctions, corruption, and chronic underinvestment. The earthquake’s infrastructure damage has added losses equivalent to as much as 6% of the country’s gross domestic product. Venezuela’s backers have been counting on a fast debt resolution since the U.S. seized then-President Nicolas Maduro in January.

Few analysts expect significant foreign investment to flow in until creditors can no longer pursue Venezuelan assets through legal channels.

“Venezuela has been in limbo for years,” said Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, a professor at Queen Mary University who is advising some private investors on the situation. “We want to unlock funding… (but) publish a DSA that will not be contested.”

Getting the restructuring wrong, experts caution, could leave Venezuela crushed under unsustainable debt obligations — leaving little room to fund infrastructure repairs or healthcare.

“If you give away all of your goodies now… my worry is that we’re just pushing the real restructuring problem down the road,” said Gulati.

DUBAI — Iran laid its slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to rest Thursday at one of the country’s most sacred sites, as massive crowds gathered in the northeastern city of Mashhad to witness the culmination of a week-long series of funeral ceremonies stretching across two nations.

The burial took place at the Shrine of Imam Reza, where the golden dome and towering minarets caught the morning light as mourners waved Iranian flags, carried photographs of the late Khamenei, and held signs bearing revolutionary slogans.

Notably absent from the proceedings was Mojtaba Khamenei, who was named Supreme Leader by a clerical assembly in the week following his father’s death. He has not been seen publicly since the strike that killed his father on February 28 — the same attack that left him with severe injuries, including a disfigured face and badly wounded limbs. While written statements have been issued in his name, no images, video, or audio recordings of him have been released. Senior sources in Tehran say he is recovering but has not yet been well enough for public appearances, and that state security services are also working to limit his exposure out of concern for further U.S. attacks.

As crowds waited for the funeral procession in Mashhad, chants demanding vengeance against U.S. President Donald Trump rang through the streets. “I swear by the blood of the Supreme Leader, Trump, we will kill you!” demonstrators shouted, with women in the crowd holding up placards reading “Kill Trump.”

Khamenei’s remains, along with those of four family members who died alongside him, had already been transported through Tehran, the Shi’ite Muslim clerical center of Qom, and the Iraqi shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala over the course of the past week. At every stop, enormous crowds filled the streets to the sound of Shi’ite mourning chants and revolutionary calls.

The concept of martyrdom carries deep significance in Shi’ite theology, and Khamenei’s death at the hands of foreign adversaries has tapped into a powerful religious and political tradition at the core of the Islamic Republic’s identity.

The funeral marks a pivotal turning point for Iran, closing the chapter on nearly four decades under Khamenei’s leadership. His death comes months after a wave of nationwide protests fueled by public anger over an economy strangled by sanctions. Security forces crushed that unrest by killing thousands of demonstrators — a level of repression consistent with previous episodes of violence under the Islamic Republic.

Analysts suggest Iran emerged from the recent war in a strategically stronger position, with its hold over the critical Strait of Hormuz remaining intact. However, the country also sustained significant damage that has compounded existing economic difficulties.

Khamenei first took power as supreme leader in 1989, a decade after the Islamic revolution, and spent the following 37 years consolidating political, military, and economic authority within his office. That consolidation increasingly sidelined Iran’s elected president and parliament and was carried out in close partnership with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which grew steadily more powerful throughout his tenure.

Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment as his successor came with the backing of the Guards, who are now widely regarded as the dominant force shaping Iran’s political and strategic direction.

The U.S. State Department announced Wednesday that it will keep pressing China to resume talks with the Dalai Lama, following the death of a Tibetan man who set himself ablaze near the United Nations headquarters in New York last week.

The man succumbed to severe burns approximately one week after the incident near the UN building. Tibetan exile activists and a media organization called Voice of Tibet identified him as Lobga Rangzen. According to Voice of Tibet, he “self-immolated outside the U.N. headquarters in New York after a live appeal for Tibetan independence and unity.”

In an official statement, a State Department spokesperson declared: “The United States is committed to supporting the unalienable human rights and aspirations of Tibetans to celebrate and preserve their unique culture, language, and religion without fear of interference.”

The spokesperson went on to say, “The United States will continue to call on China to return to direct dialogue, without pre-conditions, with the Dalai Lama and his representatives, and with the democratically elected Tibetan leaders, to resolve differences and achieve meaningful autonomy for Tibetans.”

Support for Tibetan human rights has been a consistent position of the U.S. government, maintained through both Republican and Democratic administrations over the years.

China pushed back on the American statement. At a regular news conference on Thursday, Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, said: “We urge the U.S. side to honor its commitments to recognize Tibet as a part of China and not support Tibet independence, and to stop using Tibet-related issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs.”

Following the man’s death, China reiterated that Tibet has been an inseparable part of its territory since ancient times and indicated that it expects “relevant countries will handle the matter in accordance with domestic laws.” Beijing has previously stated that Washington is in “no position” to criticize China on matters related to Tibet.

China, which is working to strengthen its grip on Tibet, considers the Dalai Lama a separatist figure and insists it holds the authority to choose his successor, pointing to a centuries-old tradition. The Dalai Lama — the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate — has told his followers to reject any successor selected by Beijing.

China took control of Tibet in 1950, describing the takeover as a “peaceful liberation” from feudalistic serfdom. Human rights organizations and Tibetan exiles have long condemned what they characterize as oppressive Chinese rule in Tibetan regions, a characterization China firmly denies.

Ethnic minority issues remain a deeply sensitive subject within China, where Tibetans and other minority groups face heavy surveillance over any perceived signs of “separatism.”

The International Campaign for Tibet reports that 159 Tibetans inside Tibet have set themselves on fire since 2009. The organization’s data also shows that 11 such incidents have taken place among Tibetans living in exile.

PAMPLONA, Spain — Every year, the northern Spanish city of Pamplona transforms into one of the world’s most electrifying party destinations as the San Fermín festival takes over the streets. The celebration, which centers around a daily running of the bulls, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the globe and stands as one of Spain’s most recognized cultural events.

Beyond the famous bull runs, the festival is packed with parades, live music, religious observances, and street festivities that continue around the clock throughout the event’s duration.

The celebration gained international recognition largely thanks to American author Ernest Hemingway, who depicted the festival in his 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises.” That landmark work is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, adding an extra layer of significance to this year’s festivities.

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian drones carried out a new round of attacks Thursday, targeting oil infrastructure across Russia and igniting two oil tankers in the Sea of Azov — just one day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to give Ukraine the rights to manufacture Patriot air defense systems.

Ukraine’s repeated strikes on Russian oil refineries and related infrastructure have sparked a serious fuel crisis inside Russia, with gasoline shortages and rationing reported across multiple regions. Drivers in some areas have reportedly waited hours just to fill their tanks.

Early Thursday morning, a Ukrainian drone strike set off a fire at an oil depot in the city of Tver in western Russia, according to acting regional Gov. Vitaly Korolyov.

In the southern Stavropol region, Gov. Vladimir Vladimirov reported that Ukrainian drones had set oil reservoirs on fire in Vyazniki. He said officials ordered the evacuation of residents from several nearby apartment buildings as the blaze grew larger.

Out on the Sea of Azov, Ukrainian drones struck and set two oil tankers on fire, according to Rostov Gov. Yuri Slusar. He noted that one vessel was still burning and that crew members had been safely evacuated. The strike is the latest in a string of recent attacks on tankers in the region, which Ukraine says is aimed at cutting off fuel deliveries to Russian-occupied Crimea.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that its air defenses shot down 73 Ukrainian drones between late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

Ukraine’s Air Force, meanwhile, said Russia launched 94 long-range strike drones and two ballistic missiles at Ukraine overnight. Of those, 72 drones were either jammed or intercepted — but 19 drones and both missiles caused damage at 13 different locations.

The drone exchanges came on the heels of a notable diplomatic moment. During Wednesday’s NATO summit in Turkey, President Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and announced that the U.S. would license Ukraine to produce Patriot air defense systems — a major victory for Kyiv, which has long sought access to the technology to defend against Russian missile attacks in their more than four-year war.

The tone of Wednesday’s meeting stood in sharp contrast to a tense and widely-watched confrontation between the two leaders at the White House back in February 2025. This time, Trump spoke warmly of Zelenskyy, praising his willingness to pursue a peace deal and saying the Ukrainian leader has “done an amazing job” and “been very effective.”

Firefighters in Greece were working to contain a fire Thursday morning that broke out at a business location roughly 15 kilometers — about 9 miles — northwest of Athens, leaving at least two people with serious injuries, according to the country’s fire brigade.

A large response was mounted at the scene, with approximately 75 firefighters, 20 vehicles and engines, and a helicopter all dispatched to fight the blaze. The fire ignited early in the morning and produced a heavy column of black smoke visible in the area.

Rescue crews pulled one severely injured man from the site, the fire brigade reported. A second man who sustained serious burns had already been transported to a hospital prior to that rescue.

Greece’s public broadcaster ERT reported that four additional individuals were receiving treatment for injuries connected to the fire.

Authorities called on people in the surrounding area to leave as a precaution. Officials noted that a fuel truck was located on the business property, though one fire brigade spokesperson indicated the truck was believed to be empty at the time.

A top official at the International Criminal Court says a major “breakthrough” has been achieved in the ongoing investigation into crimes committed during Sudan’s war in the Darfur region — evidence that could connect the atrocities directly to those in command.

The ICC has been investigating attacks on the cities of al-Geneina, which occurred in 2023, and al-Fashir, which was targeted last year. United Nations experts have determined that forces from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces carried out crimes bearing the “hallmarks of genocide” against people from non-Arab tribes in those areas.

“We have got additional evidence, strong evidence, linking what is occurring in Darfur with leadership levels. And we are very, very pleased to say that this is a breakthrough for us,” said deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan, speaking to Reuters after traveling to eastern Chad to meet with victims of the attacks.

Khan did not identify which forces the leadership belongs to, and under ICC rules, she was unable to confirm whether arrest warrants had been sought or were being pursued.

“We are confident that there are going to be results in at least a reasonable time,” she added, without specifying a timeline.

In international war crimes proceedings involving political figures, one of the biggest hurdles is establishing a direct connection between high-ranking leaders and the specific crimes carried out by those beneath them. Prosecutors must gather what is known as “linkage evidence” — typically insider testimonies or documented records showing that leadership was informed of operations and plans on the ground.

Al-Geneina and al-Fashir experienced the worst violence during the war between Sudan’s national army and the RSF, a conflict that has now stretched on for more than three years. The RSF currently controls both cities. In January, Khan told the UN Security Council that the paramilitary group had refused to cooperate with the investigation. The RSF has maintained that it did not deliberately target civilians and has pledged to hold individual wrongdoers accountable.

A Reuters documentary examining the fall of al-Fashir identified several RSF leaders who were either committing or present near attacks, based on interviews and analysis of videos shared online. Khan confirmed that ICC investigators have gathered similar testimony in their own probes.

Witnesses in those investigations described executions and acts of sexual violence. “We will ensure [their stories] are also told in the course of our proceedings,” Khan said.

Although Sudan has not signed the Rome Statute and is therefore not an ICC member, the UN Security Council granted the court authority to investigate atrocity crimes committed in Darfur starting in 2005. Sudan’s army-led government has cooperated with investigators regarding the most recent attacks, but has not surrendered several former senior officials who face accusations of genocide and other crimes from an earlier phase of the conflict. No public arrest warrants have been issued in connection with the current war, which began in April 2023.

When asked whether nations alleged to be supporting the commission of these crimes — including the United Arab Emirates, which has been named in expert filings to the court as backing the RSF — could face legal consequences, Khan explained that the court’s authority covers individuals who contribute to crimes, not nations themselves. She said the court’s current focus is on crimes committed within the two cities in order to produce concrete outcomes. The UAE has denied any involvement in the conflict.

Three nations in West Africa’s Sahel region — Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso — announced last year their intention to withdraw from the Rome Statute. The ICC confirmed on July 1 that all three had submitted formal letters initiating that process, which takes one year to complete.

“I hope they change their minds because I see a great virtue in being part of the Rome Statute family. I think it protects the world,” Khan said.

Khan and other ICC staff are currently subject to U.S. sanctions, imposed after the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders on charges of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

CAIRO (AP) — He is the grandson of a prominent Shiite cleric, born in Qom — the center of religious scholarship in Iran — and raised in a devout family that embraced the country’s theocratic system. But by the time he reached his late 20s, he had abandoned prayer and lost faith in clerical rule. Today, he can barely hold a conversation about politics or religion with his own siblings and father.

The tech worker, now in his mid-30s, says Iranian society is fractured to its core — even among those who oppose the Islamic Republic — and he places the blame squarely on one person: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The supreme leader who governed Iran for more than three decades was laid to rest Thursday, following his death at the outset of the war.

Massive funeral processions carrying his coffin through Tehran and other Iranian cities drew enormous crowds of loyalists, a show of force by hard-liners at the heart of the Islamic Republic, who celebrated him as a champion of clerical authority who had defied the West and Israel.

Yet beneath that display runs a deep current of resentment — built up over decades of violent crackdowns, international sanctions, and economic failures — that has intensified since authorities killed thousands of anti-government demonstrators in January.

“A gap has opened up in homes across the country that is really remarkable,” the tech worker said by phone from Tehran, where he currently lives. Like other Iranians who spoke with The Associated Press about Khamenei’s rule, he asked to remain anonymous due to fears for his safety.

Khamenei’s death, caused by Israeli strikes on February 28, has been framed by Iran’s leadership and his supporters as a martyrdom that crowns his legacy. Reflecting the rhetoric of ultra-hardliners who reject any negotiations with the United States, some funeral attendees called for the killing of U.S. President Donald Trump in retaliation.

“Our goal is to prove to the world that we will not submit to oppression and tyranny, and that we will avenge the blood of our leader,” said Hossein Akbari, a 60-year-old mourner attending the funeral in Tehran.

Khamenei assumed power in 1989 following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini — the commanding ideologue who had led the revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed shah a decade before and inspired a vast popular movement.

Under the banner of resistance to the West, Khamenei pushed forward Iran’s nuclear program, expanded its missile capabilities, and strengthened its network of militant allies across the Middle East — all while defying international sanctions.

Inside Iran, he cemented hard-line clerical authority by largely dismantling the reform movement. He granted the Revolutionary Guard sweeping military, political, and economic influence. As younger generations sought greater freedoms, he worked to maintain rigid control over personal behavior and dress codes.

A pivotal moment came in 2009, when protests erupted over allegations of vote-rigging in that year’s presidential election. Dozens were killed as authorities crushed what was then the largest protest movement the country had seen.

That crackdown produced a widespread sense of hopelessness, according to an Iranian activist and former political prisoner who contributes to a reformist-leaning publication in Tehran.

A senior aide to Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged last month that the country was “severely polarized” between die-hard supporters of the Islamic Republic and those seeking its complete collapse. But Ali Rabiei said a significant portion of society exists between those “two poles” — people the government could rely on to push for change within the existing system. His comments were reported by the state news agency IRNA.

Reliable polling does not exist in Iran, but election results offer some indication of public sentiment. Voter turnout in the country’s most recent presidential election fell to near-record lows, widely interpreted as a sign that millions who wanted change saw little point in participating. Even so, the hard-line candidate received 13.5 million votes, while Pezeshkian, the reformist, earned 16.3 million.

A string of protest movements since 2009 have each been met with brutal government crackdowns. January’s was the most deadly, when security forces killed thousands of people to suppress nationwide demonstrations that began over economic grievances and grew into calls for Khamenei’s removal from power.

The sister of a protester who was shot and killed on January 9 in Tehran summed up Khamenei’s legacy in a single word: injustice.

For working-class families, Iran’s already struggling economy has deteriorated further since the war began. “Workers can barely afford to buy bread, everything is so expensive,” she said.

“Since my sister died, mentally, financially, our life has fallen apart. All we do is look at photos and videos of my sister and cry. What do we have left?” she said from her home in eastern Iran.

A quiet form of resistance surfaced over the past month as Iranians observed the sacred period of Ashoura — marked by funeral-style marches honoring a martyred Shiite saint from the 7th century. Videos shared on social media showed some participants in the processions carrying photographs of family members who were killed during January’s crackdown.

One element of Khamenei’s legacy is the Islamic Republic’s demonstrated ability to endure both his death and a massive assault by the United States and Israel. The leadership came out of the conflict having reached an interim agreement with the U.S. that delivered some immediate benefits. That deal also holds out the prospect of a larger reward — the lifting of sanctions — should Iran and the U.S. finalize a nuclear agreement, though the outcome remains uncertain.

“It’s a victory for the Islamic Republic,” said a 35-year-old woman who took part in the January protests, referring to the deal. But “for Iran’s people, until we see the results, we won’t know if it is.”

She expressed concern about the deep divisions within Iranian society and the rifts among those who oppose the theocracy — some of whom hope for its rapid collapse, while others believe gradual reform from within is possible.

“The space for dialogue is very closed, and I don’t mean only the government, I mean the people,” she said.

A 33-year-old Tehran resident who also joined the January protests and has since lost his job at a technology company said his primary worry is the devastated economy, where both unemployment and prices have soared. Many of his friends are now out of work, and his wife’s employer drastically cut salaries.

“All of us, frankly, are just trying to stay alive and all of our struggle is taken up with meeting basic needs like rent and food,” he said.

Rebin Rahmani, a Kurdish activist who was once imprisoned in Iran and now lives in Paris, said the theocracy under Khamenei had no real solution to its mounting political and economic crises — only more repression.

“Its insistence on iron-fisted, security-driven approaches will only trigger further unrest,” said Rahmani, a director at the Kurdish Human Rights Network. Protests are “reigniting every few years with renewed force.”

Pezeshkian and other pragmatists within the Iranian system are hoping to use negotiations with the U.S. to lift sanctions and revive the economy. For now, they appear to have tentative backing from Khamenei’s son and successor, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who remains in hiding but offered qualified support for the talks in a written statement.

The true test of the elder Khamenei’s legacy may come in peacetime, said Ali Vaez, Iran director at the International Crisis Group, as competing factions fight to shape the future direction of the Islamic Republic.

“Wartime gave the system a degree of cohesion under shared duress. But the governance challenges remain just as stark.”

LONDON (AP) — The race to replace Keir Starmer as Britain’s prime minister got underway Thursday as the Labour Party officially opened nominations — and it appears there will be only one person in the running.

Former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has begun gathering signatures from fellow Labour lawmakers. He needs a minimum of 80 to officially enter the contest, a threshold he is widely expected to surpass with ease.

Every other politician who had been considering a run has since stepped aside. Former Defense Minister Al Carns, who had been weighing whether to enter the race, announced late Wednesday that he would not stand against Burnham.

“I’d hoped a leadership contest would give us the opportunity for a proper debate,” Carns said in a statement. “But months of internal Labour politics isn’t what the country needs right now. We’ve got to get on with the job. Andy Burnham’s earned this and he’s got my full backing.”

The nomination window closes July 16. Burnham is expected to be declared the new Labour leader the very next day, and is set to officially become prime minister following an audience with King Charles III on July 20.

Starmer announced last month that he would step down once his center-left party selected a replacement. He won the prime ministership by a wide margin in July 2024, but chose to leave after two years in office that were clouded by missteps and poor judgment calls that damaged his reputation within his own party and among the broader public.

Burnham spent nearly ten years governing Manchester in northwest England before returning to Parliament last month after winning a special election. He has pledged bold change, promising to reverse nearly two decades of sluggish economic growth dating back to the 2008 financial crisis. His plan, which he calls “Manchesterism,” centers on combining private and public investment in areas such as transportation, housing, and infrastructure.

Still, Burnham will inherit many of the same difficult challenges that plagued Starmer — a slow-moving economy, struggling public services, and an ongoing cost-of-living crisis facing everyday citizens.

On foreign affairs, Burnham has pledged to stay the course, writing in The Times of London that the government’s “commitment to NATO and the U.K.’s nuclear deterrent will remain absolute.” He also stated that Britain will continue to stand firmly alongside the United States and remain a strong backer of Ukraine.

Australia and India have broken a long-standing deadlock, signing an administrative agreement Thursday that clears the path for Australia to supply uranium to India for peaceful energy use. The announcement came following a face-to-face meeting in Melbourne between Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While the two leaders confirmed the deal jointly, neither provided specifics on how much uranium would be exported or when shipments might begin. The move resolves a years-long impasse that had blocked a 2014 export agreement, which had been frozen due to fears the nuclear material could potentially be diverted for weapons development.

Australia sits on the world’s largest known uranium reserves, though the country itself uses no nuclear power and operates no nuclear weapons — meaning all uranium it mines is sold abroad. India, home to 1.4 billion people and a rapidly expanding middle class, has set an ambitious goal of reaching 100 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity by 2047, a level that would generate enough electricity to power roughly 60 million Indian homes annually. Despite doubling its nuclear power output over the past decade, nuclear energy still accounts for only 3% of India’s total electricity supply.

A key complication has been India’s status outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which only recognizes the United States, China, Britain, France, and Russia as legitimate nuclear weapons states. Australia, as a treaty signatory, has traditionally refused to sell uranium to countries that haven’t signed on. India has argued the treaty is unfair because it only acknowledges nations that tested nuclear devices before January 1967, a cutoff that permanently excludes India. The country faced international sanctions and uranium trade restrictions following nuclear tests it conducted in 1998.

A turning point came in 2008, when the Nuclear Suppliers Group — which includes the U.S. — granted India a special waiver, allowing it to purchase uranium from member nations. Since then, India has worked to establish bilateral agreements with individual countries. It signed a similar deal with Canada in March.

Australia’s position on the matter gradually softened over the years. While Canberra had long insisted India must sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty before any uranium sales could happen, the country agreed in 2014 to allow exports under conditions including International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards and a clear separation between India’s civilian and military nuclear programs. Thursday’s administrative agreement was designed to remove the remaining barriers to putting that earlier deal into action.

Modi’s visit to Australia is part of an annual summit between the two nations’ leaders. In a joint statement, both Modi and Albanese committed to deeper defense and security cooperation throughout the Indo-Pacific region, describing it as representing “a step-change in the depth and ambition” of the bilateral relationship.

The announcement of stronger security ties came just days after Australia publicly criticized China for test-firing a long-range ballistic missile from a nuclear-powered submarine into the South Pacific Ocean — a region covered by an anti-nuclear treaty. However, neither leader mentioned China by name during Thursday’s statements, and both declined to take questions from reporters afterward. Thousands of people gathered in Melbourne hoping to catch a glimpse of the Indian prime minister during his visit.

India ranks as Australia’s fifth-largest trading partner. Two-way trade in goods and services between the two countries reached 54.4 billion Australian dollars — approximately $37.7 billion U.S. — during the 2024-2025 financial year, based on Australian government data.

Modi began the week with a stop in Indonesia and is scheduled to travel to New Zealand on Friday, marking his first visit to that country. India and New Zealand finalized a free trade agreement in April.

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s Supreme Court has confirmed a seven-year prison sentence for former President Yoon Suk Yeol, marking the first of his several criminal cases tied to his short-lived martial law declaration in 2024 to reach the nation’s highest judicial body.

The court backed an April decision by the Seoul High Court, which had found Yoon guilty on several counts: violating Cabinet members’ right to participate in deliberations before the martial law declaration, falsifying the official proclamation to conceal that procedural failure and later destroying the document, and directing presidential security personnel to unlawfully obstruct law enforcement officers attempting to arrest him following his impeachment.

The martial law declaration lasted only a matter of hours. Lawmakers managed to push past a line of heavily armed soldiers and police stationed outside Seoul’s National Assembly, and once inside, voted to strike down the decree — forcing Yoon’s Cabinet to formally lift it.

Yoon was not present for Thursday’s ruling, which is final and carries no further avenue for appeal. He remains in detention and continues to face proceedings in separate cases. Among them, he has appealed a life sentence handed down on the most serious charge against him — rebellion.

Following the ruling, Yoon’s legal team issued a statement expressing “deep regret,” arguing that the justices had reached a conclusion in a significant case without conducting a thorough enough review.

The Supreme Court’s decision is consistent with the position taken by South Korea’s Constitutional Court, which removed Yoon from office in April 2025, determining that his martial law decree lacked legal justification and was not carried out according to required procedures.

Yoon summoned 11 Cabinet members to his office shortly before going on late-night television to announce the martial law declaration on December 3, 2024. However, several of those present — including then-Prime Minister Han Duck-soo — have testified that Yoon simply informed them of his decision rather than opening the floor for any discussion. The Seoul High Court also found that Yoon violated the rights of nine additional Cabinet members by either not calling them to the meeting at all or notifying them too late to participate.

Although the martial law period was brief, it sent South Korea into a serious political crisis, bringing high-level diplomacy to a standstill, freezing key political functions, and unsettling financial markets. The situation did not stabilize until Yoon’s liberal political rival, Lee Jae Myung, won a special presidential election held in June 2025.

Beyond his rebellion sentence appeal, Yoon is also contesting a separate 30-year prison term. That case centers on allegations that he ordered drone operations in 2024 with the deliberate intent of escalating tensions with North Korea, thereby manufacturing conditions that could justify imposing martial law domestically. His legal team has argued the drone flights were a direct response to North Korea sending thousands of balloons carrying trash across the border into South Korea.

A Rotterdam museum is paying tribute to a recently deceased Dutch artist in a most unusual way — by covering its floor with more than 800 pounds of peanut butter, enough to make roughly 15,000 sandwiches.

The installation honors conceptual artist Wim T. Schippers, who passed away last month at the age of 83. Schippers originally created the work, known as the Pindakaasvloer — or peanut butter floor — back in 1969. Starting Friday, visitors can view the recreation at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, where it will remain on display for two months.

Beyond his visual art, Schippers was also known as the Dutch voice of both Ernie and Kermit the Frog on the Netherlands’ version of “Sesame Street.” His body of work was known for being absurd and playful, often poking fun at traditional notions of what art should be.

“Isn’t it fantastic that we are all standing here looking at peanut butter?” Schippers once said to reporters at the Central Museum in Utrecht in 1997, when the piece was shown there for the second time.

The peanut butter floor was part of a larger series Schippers called his Floor Covering Series, which also featured floors blanketed in glass shards and salt.

Food photographer and writer Mieke Weismann, who attended the 1997 exhibition as a teenager, recalled the experience vividly. “The thing I remember is the smell,” she told The Associated Press, describing how the sharp scent of peanut butter drifted through the entire museum.

To prepare the current installation, two museum workers spent several days using drywall trowels to spread 40 buckets of peanut butter across a hexagonal area measuring 25 square meters — about 270 square feet — applying it to a depth of roughly 2 centimeters, or about 0.8 of an inch.

Schippers never set strict guidelines for the work, leaving the size, shape, thickness, and type of peanut butter open to interpretation. For this version, Dutch peanut butter brand Calvé donated tubs of smooth peanut butter for the project.

The artwork has had its share of memorable moments over the years. During a 2011 showing, several visitors accidentally stepped into the sticky surface. And in 1997, a group of people placed 12 slices of bread along with several bags of hagelslag — the chocolate sprinkles commonly eaten on bread for breakfast in the Netherlands — directly onto the floor in what was considered an act of vandalism.

Schippers, however, seemed unbothered. “It doesn’t look bad,” he told Dutch newspaper Volkskrant at the time. “The sprinkles have been applied with a sense of proportion and a skillful hand.”

Authorities overseeing Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh launched a major relocation effort Thursday, using loudspeakers, volunteers, and community leaders to move residents out of dangerous areas after a series of landslides claimed at least 13 lives in recent days.

The deadliest single incident occurred Wednesday, when monsoon rains triggered a landslide that tore through an Islamic school at a camp in Cox’s Bazar — home to more than one million Rohingya refugees who fled neighboring Myanmar. At least five children perished in that collapse.

A Quran teacher at the school, Begum Jahan, described the moment the building gave way. Students had been getting ready for class when part of the structure suddenly caved in. “Those of us who were on the western side managed to get out, but everyone on the eastern side was buried under the debris,” she said. “Some suffered broken arms, and some of the girls lost their lives.”

Residents of the camp began pulling survivors from the rubble before emergency crews arrived on the scene. Dollar Tripura, who heads the local fire service and civil defense, confirmed Thursday that emergency personnel later took over rescue operations, treating the injured and recovering the bodies. The search was officially called off Wednesday evening.

Jamal Hossain, a Rohingya volunteer who participated in the rescue, said those pulled from the wreckage were transported to a hospital. He noted that all of the fatalities were women, but expressed concern that additional victims may still be buried. “We do not know whether there are any more bodies buried underneath,” he said.

Cox’s Bazar officials said they are moving refugees away from vulnerable hillside areas, with more than 1,000 people already relocated. Authorities acknowledged that many refugees are hesitant to abandon their makeshift shelters, even when warned of danger.

The Bangladesh weather office has warned that additional rainfall is expected in the coming days.

Earlier in the week, landslides struck the same camp area overnight Sunday into Monday, killing at least eight people. Local media, including the Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo, reported that at least 22 people across Bangladesh — a delta nation of 170 million — have died in landslides and wall collapses over the past three days, including the deaths at the Cox’s Bazar camps.

Bangladesh has long pressed the international community to support efforts to repatriate the Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, but those efforts remain at a standstill.

He’s far-right, freshly released from prison, and now partnering with a man who believes serious criminals should “rot” behind bars — yet Italy’s Gianni Alemanno has become one of the country’s most surprising advocates for prisoners’ rights, trying to strike a balance between a hard line on crime and a genuine concern for human dignity.

The 68-year-old has spent decades on the right side of Italian politics. He got his start in the youth wing of the post-fascist MSI party, later served as agriculture minister under the late Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and held the office of Rome’s mayor from 2008 to 2013.

On June 24, Alemanno walked free from Rebibbia prison in Rome — one of Italy’s largest and most run-down facilities — after 18 months of incarceration following a conviction for influence-peddling and abuse of office, charges he had denied.

During his time inside, Alemanno kept a detailed social media diary of what he witnessed, shining new attention on Italy’s neglected prison system. The country’s prisons rank among the most crowded in all of Europe, with an occupancy rate approaching 140%.

“Only those who have spent time inside, or have relatives inside, understand the issue with prisons. Others do not understand it, they don’t see it at all,” Alemanno said in an interview with Reuters.

Alemanno also recalled a much earlier stay at Rebibbia — a 10-month sentence in 1982 for throwing a Molotov cocktail at the Soviet embassy during a far-right protest. Remarkably, he ended up in the very same cell when he returned on December 31, 2024. “From that cell, I watched Italy win the football World Cup in 1982,” he reflected.

Upon his release, Alemanno aligned himself politically with Roberto Vannacci, a former army general and vocal anti-woke campaigner whose new far-right party has been climbing in opinion polls. Vannacci, however, holds views on punishment that are anything but lenient.

On the night Alemanno was freed, Vannacci met him and made his position crystal clear, drawing on the Biblical story of Cain and Abel — in which Cain murders his brother. “Between Abel and Cain, I’m with Abel, and Cain should rot in prison,” Vannacci told reporters. “For serious crimes, people definitely deserve a rigorous, serious, and prolonged sentence.”

While locked up, Alemanno built a reputation by co-authoring a Facebook diary with a fellow inmate serving time for complicity in murder, documenting what he described as abuses and failures within the prison system. The two plan to turn those posts into a book.

Alemanno spoke out about filthy living conditions, understaffing in the judiciary, suffocating red tape, petty regulations, and the near-total absence of educational or vocational opportunities for inmates who genuinely want to change their lives. He argued the system is essentially designed to keep criminals criminal.

“Those who want to misbehave have a wide-open path and can do whatever they please; those trying to find a different way, on the other hand, face a multitude of difficulties,” he said.

Last July, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government promised to add up to 15,000 new prison spaces and make it easier to transfer inmates with addiction issues to treatment facilities in order to reduce overcrowding. So far, no new spaces have materialized, and a proposed law addressing inmate transfers remains stalled in parliament, at risk of dying if it isn’t passed before the current legislative term concludes in 2027.

With polling showing Meloni’s coalition running even with the center-left opposition, and facing pressure from Vannacci on crime and public safety, it remains unclear whether the prime minister will choose to spend political energy on prison reform.

Still, Alemanno expressed cautious optimism — even without Vannacci’s backing on this particular issue. “It is a bipartisan battle, which must bring together left and right,” he said.

South Korea’s Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed a seven-year prison sentence for former President Yoon Suk Yeol, stemming from his efforts to prevent authorities from detaining him after his brief and controversial declaration of martial law in 2024.

The decision came after the Seoul High Court increased Yoon’s original five-year sentence to seven years back in April, following a determination that he was guilty of additional offenses beyond the original charges.

In issuing its ruling, the Supreme Court stated there were no errors in how the lower court interpreted the law.

The nation’s highest court also affirmed the appeals court’s conclusion that Yoon was guilty of forging official documents, failing to follow required legal procedures — which mandate that martial law be formally discussed in a cabinet meeting — and providing false information to foreign news organizations.

Following Thursday’s decision, attorneys representing Yoon announced their intention to pursue further legal action. “We will challenge the constitutionality of this ruling through constitutional review procedures, including a constitutional complaint,” one of Yoon’s lawyers stated.

Prosecutors, who had pushed for a 10-year sentence in the case, argued that Yoon abused his presidential authority and caused harm to the public.

The 65-year-old former leader is already facing a separate life sentence handed down in February, connected to charges that he orchestrated an insurrection related to the martial law declaration. Yoon has been held in custody since July 2025 and is currently facing seven additional trials.

Chinese authorities announced Thursday that Tropical Storm Maysak has left 39 people dead after catastrophic flooding struck southern China.

The bulk of the fatalities — 26 in total — were the result of a dam breach in Nanning, a city in the Guangxi region. Ding Wei, the city’s vice mayor, shared those details during a news briefing.

Maysak delivered record-breaking rainfall to the region, overwhelming reservoirs and leaving residents stranded for days inside homes and other structures. Prior to Thursday’s update, officials had reported only six deaths.

A large-scale relief effort has been launched, with drones and thousands of boats deployed to reach those still trapped by floodwaters. Approximately 130,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas.

HONG KONG — Asian stock markets fell and oil prices surged Thursday as the conflict between the United States and Iran deepened, with both sides launching new attacks.

U.S. stock futures moved slightly higher.

The United States carried out additional airstrikes targeting Iran, and Iran retaliated by launching attacks against Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar. The escalation came one day after President Donald Trump announced that a temporary ceasefire between the two countries was “over.”

Japan’s Nikkei 225 recovered some ground lost earlier in the week, climbing 1.6% to close at 67,849.98. Technology stocks provided much of the lift, with chip equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron jumping 5% and artificial intelligence-focused investment firm SoftBank Group adding 0.4%.

South Korea’s Kospi index ended 0.1% higher at 7,255.09, bouncing back after falling 5.4% on Wednesday. Samsung Electronics dropped 1.3% on Thursday, while memory chip manufacturer SK Hynix posted a 3.6% gain.

China’s Shanghai Composite index dipped 0.5% to 3,952.49. The decline followed a report showing China’s producer price index rose 4.1% in June compared to the same time last year, up from May’s 3.9% increase. Some economists are linking that accelerating inflation to rising costs tied to the ongoing Iran war.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.8% to 24,011.61. Shares of Apple supplier Luxshare fell 5% on its first day of trading in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Chinese artificial intelligence company Zhipu, also known as Z.ai, surged 11.5% after announcing plans to raise approximately $4 billion through a share sale.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5% to 8,745.20. Taiwan’s Taiex finished flat, and India’s Sensex gained 0.7%.

Oil prices were on the rise early Thursday. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was up 1.1% at $78.88 per barrel. It briefly crossed $80 on Wednesday before giving back some of those gains. Before the Iran war started, Brent crude was trading near $72 a barrel. A period of optimism surrounding an interim peace agreement had recently pushed prices back down to pre-war levels.

U.S. benchmark crude was also up 1.1%, trading at $74.32 a barrel.

Commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey of ING offered this assessment: “The oil market has continued to rally as the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran appears to be on life support.”

The two analysts noted that vessel tracking data shows tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz — a critical passage for global oil shipments — has declined in recent days, rekindling investor worries about oil supply disruptions.

On Wednesday, Wall Street’s S&P 500 closed down 0.3% at 7,482.71, having fallen as much as 1.1% following Trump’s ceasefire comments. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.1%, settling at 52,348.39. The technology-focused Nasdaq composite edged up 0.2% to 25,870.65 after recovering from an earlier decline.

U.S. chipmaker Broadcom jumped 4.8% after Apple announced a multiyear partnership with the company.

In currency markets, the U.S. dollar slipped to 162.45 Japanese yen from 162.59 yen. The euro rose to $1.1430 from $1.1417.

SINJIL, West Bank — On a cool June evening, roughly 15 Palestinian men from the West Bank town of Sinjil stood watch on a hilltop, scanning darkened valleys below for any movement that could signal an incoming settler attack.

The men are part of a community-organized volunteer group — one of several like it across the West Bank — that has taken it upon themselves to shield their town from a surge in settler violence that Palestinians say neither the Israeli military nor their own governing authority has been willing or able to stop.

“We have been left on our own. You are facing settlers supported by their government,” said volunteer Fadi Alwan. “We have nobody. So we are forced to stay here and protect this town.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government has approved hundreds of new settlements and settler outposts across the West Bank. The smaller outposts, officials note, have frequently served as launching points for violence that has driven thousands of Palestinians from their homes.

The Israeli government has stated that the strategic positioning of settlements is intended to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state centered in the West Bank — an outcome central to the two-state solution that has long been supported by major world powers.

The vast majority of the international community views Israel’s settlement activity in the West Bank as a violation of international law. Israel rejects that position. The West Bank is a territory where the Palestinian Authority holds limited self-governing powers while the Israeli military operates without restriction.

Palestinians report that when they contact Israeli police or the military for help, responders either arrive too late or intervene on behalf of the settlers carrying out the attacks. The Israeli military denies those claims.

“The army protects them and doesn’t stop them. We call the army. We call the police. It’s useless,” Alwan said.

When asked specifically about Sinjil and the pattern of attacks described by residents, the Israeli military said soldiers are deployed to break up confrontations, but that responsibility for the conduct of Israeli civilians in the West Bank falls under the jurisdiction of the Israeli police. Israeli police did not respond to a request for comment.

Searchlights and WhatsApp

On the night of June 26, as volunteers gathered around a fire on a Sinjil hilltop, one member swept a searchlight across the surrounding hills looking for settlers. Others drove patrol routes through the town, all connected through community WhatsApp groups where residents can quickly alert one another to potential danger. Similar messaging networks exist in other West Bank communities, though the organized patrols in Sinjil appear to be more structured than most.

“If they get close to the houses, we go confront them, we send (messages out) on the WhatsApp groups,” Alwan said.

Just days before that night, Alwan said he was struck by a settler armed with a spiked club during a daytime assault while he was trying to harvest wheat. He pulled up his shirt to reveal a wound that had not yet healed.

He also recalled an incident from the previous year in which settlers fired live rounds at a tent the volunteers had set up as a watch post, narrowly missing the young men inside. He said Israeli troops arrived the following day and tore the tent down.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions about allegations that soldiers dismantled the watch tent.

Alwan and other residents said they believe most of the settlers responsible for attacks on their town come from six outposts situated on the hills surrounding Sinjil. The Yesha Council, an organization representing settler communities, did not respond to a request for comment on the situation in Sinjil or what local regional councils are doing to address the violence.

A Town Increasingly Cut Off

Sinjil lies along the main road connecting the Palestinian population centers of Ramallah and Nablus, with settlements and outposts scattered across the hills to the north.

Local officials say the Israeli military has closed four of the town’s five entry points and erected a metal barrier around the community, cutting residents off from approximately 2,000 acres of privately owned land.

Moataz Tawafsha, the head of Sinjil’s municipality, said settler attacks intensified after the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023, forcing the town to find a way to protect itself on its own.

“We really feel as if we are living in a collective prison,” Tawafsha said. “As a result, the municipality has taken primary responsibility for providing protection.”

Since October 2023, settler violence has claimed two lives and forced more than 100 members of a Bedouin Palestinian community living on town land to flee, according to Tawafsha. An additional 20 families have been displaced from their homes within the town itself during the same period, he said.

Community Steps In

Some residents say the volunteer protection network has saved lives.

Abed Foqahaa reinforced his home with metal bars on the windows and erected a tall metal fence around his yard after settlers threw a Molotov cocktail through his window about two years ago while he and his family were inside.

“The fire broke out and we couldn’t control it. We tried to save the house, but all of us suffered from the smoke,” Foqahaa said.

He used the town’s WhatsApp group to call for help. Young men from the community — initially held back by the Israeli military — eventually reached the house and helped carry out Foqahaa’s father, who uses a wheelchair.

“God bless them, they really helped us,” Foqahaa said.

In the southern Italian region of Calabria, more than 200 Cuban medical professionals are keeping hospitals running — and the regional government is refusing U.S. demands to send them home.

Cuba has operated international medical missions for decades, deploying doctors to developing nations across the globe. Calabria, the poorest region in Italy, became one of the latest recipients of that program when Cuban physicians began arriving in January 2023. Their presence filled a critical void left by a severe shortage of locally trained healthcare workers that had forced some hospital departments to shut their doors entirely.

“It was a disaster. I was keeping the emergency room open all by myself,” said Francesco Moschella, the chief physician at Polistena hospital, describing the situation before the Cuban doctors arrived.

The arrangement caught the attention of U.S. officials, who visited the region this year. Washington has long taken aim at Cuba’s international medical missions, calling them a financial lifeline for the Cuban government — one the Trump administration has worked to cut off through sanctions and diplomatic pressure.

Several Caribbean and Central American countries have already canceled their agreements with Cuba under that pressure. Jamaica ended a 50-year medical cooperation agreement in March, displacing nearly 300 healthcare workers. Honduras expelled more than 150. But Calabria’s governor has held firm.

Calabria ranks last among Italy’s 20 regions in access to public healthcare, according to the country’s health ministry. For 17 years until April, the region operated under special government administration because of chronic budget deficits, corruption scandals, and organized crime infiltration — all of which hampered investment in healthcare. Many newly trained Italian doctors chose to build their careers in the wealthier north rather than stay.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuba dispatched doctors to several parts of Italy. Calabria kept the arrangement going long after the pandemic ended.

Emergency medicine specialist Zoila Yakelin Arevalo Cruz is one of those doctors. She left her young son behind in Cuba in mid-2023 to work in Polistena. The emergency room where she works treats 30,000 patients each year, and six Cuban doctors make up half of its staff.

“For a first-world country, Europe, we had a completely different idea. We didn’t think that the shortage of doctors was so serious,” said Arevalo Cruz, 38. “In this hospital there were lines that lasted up to eight or 12 hours. Now, thanks to our work, in less than an hour a doctor visits you.”

During a recent visit by the Associated Press, Arevalo Cruz carried out her duties in fluent Italian — a language she says she even picked up traces of in the local dialect through conversations with grateful former patients who stop by just to say hello.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has labeled the Cuban missions a “form of human trafficking,” pointing to the Cuban government’s practice of keeping a large portion of the doctors’ salaries and allegedly confiscating passports in some cases.

“Cuban medical brigades are a key source of hard cash for the failing regime,” the State Department told the AP, adding that it was sharing information with partner nations about “the sobering realities of Cuban medical brigades to which they might otherwise be unaware.”

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum pushed back in March, defending the program as essential care for underserved communities.

Cuba’s government has said it has 22,000 medical personnel working across 55 countries as part of what it describes as a “mission of solidarity.”

Calabria’s governor, Roberto Occhiuto, makes for an unlikely champion of the Cuban program. He is a senior figure in a political party with deep anti-Communist roots — yet he has embraced the Cuban doctors as a practical necessity.

The deal even earned coverage in Cuba’s Communist Party newspaper, Granma. “Can you imagine, I got my photo in Granma?” Occhiuto said with a smile.

The arrangement also drew a direct visit from U.S. officials. The charge d’affaires to Cuba, Mike Hammer, flew to Calabria in February along with the U.S. consul-general in Naples. While the talks were described as cordial, Hammer made it clear that Washington would prefer Calabria find alternative sources of international medical staff.

“I had some pressures also during the Biden administration. But pressure grew under Trump,” Occhiuto said. He told Hammer his government is working on incentives to bring Calabrian-born doctors back home.

“But at the same time, I have also reiterated to the U.S. Ambassador Hammer that I needed to keep hospitals open and that I intend to keep the Cuban doctors who are currently in Italy in their posts,” Occhiuto said.

He told the AP he would like to expand the Cuban medical workforce to around 1,000 but has held back on doing so to avoid further friction with Washington.

Rather than funneling payments through the Cuban government agency that oversees medical missions, Calabria structured individual contracts directly with the doctors and deposits their pay into Italian bank accounts. Even so, Cuban doctors told the AP they voluntarily send as much as half their earnings back to the Cuban government.

“We are all aware of the economic situation Cuba is going through. It’s a contribution that we make voluntarily because Cuba trained us, educated us and made us doctors,” Arevalo Cruz said.

Cuban cardiologist Daisy Luperon Loforte rejected the characterization of the doctors as victims: “We do not consider ourselves modern-day slaves at all, as somebody called it. We love our country, we give an economic contribution and we are happy to do so.”

Occhiuto also confirmed that 63 Cuban doctors — some of whom had previously participated in Cuba’s international mission — recently applied to work independently within Calabria’s healthcare system. The Cuban government declined to comment on those applications.

For local patients, the diplomatic tensions are largely invisible. “They’re smart, they have empathy and they’re also humble — something you don’t often see with Italian doctors,” said area resident Maria Morano. “We are lucky they came, otherwise our hospital would have been closed.”

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — American forces carried out a sweeping new round of airstrikes against Iran in the early hours of Thursday, striking approximately 90 targets across the country. Iran wasted little time firing back, launching attacks against three Gulf Arab nations — Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar — in an escalation that put a fragile interim peace agreement in serious jeopardy.

The latest military exchange followed President Donald Trump’s declaration that recent Iranian attacks on shipping vessels in the Strait of Hormuz had effectively ended the ceasefire. Just a day earlier, U.S. forces had struck Iranian military sites and port facilities after Iran targeted multiple merchant ships off the coast of Oman, which also prompted Iranian retaliation at the time.

Thursday’s fighting appeared to be on a larger scale. Air raid sirens went off at least twice in Bahrain, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters. No immediate reports of damage emerged from the three targeted Gulf nations. Kuwait’s military announced it was actively working to intercept incoming drones and missiles, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guard publicly claimed responsibility for the strikes on Bahrain and Kuwait.

The U.S. military’s Central Command released black-and-white video footage appearing to show strikes on an airport runway and missile launch sites. In a statement, Central Command declared: “U.S. forces remain vigilant, lethal, and prepared to execute operations directed by the Commander in Chief.”

American officials stated the strikes were designed to further weaken Iran’s capacity to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas trade flowed before the war began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on February 28.

Iranian state media reported explosions at multiple locations, including Bushehr, where Iran’s nuclear power plant complex is located, as well as the southern port cities of Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Abbas, and Sirik. In Iranshahr, local authorities said a firefighter at an airport was killed in a strike.

In what appeared to be the first such action since April, U.S. strikes also appeared to target Iranian bridges. State media reported a hit on a railway bridge in Iran’s northeastern Golestan province. The Revolutionary Guard separately said two bridges had been struck along the route to Mashhad, where officials were planning to bury the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday. It was unclear whether the Golestan strike and the Guard’s account referred to the same incident.

After departing a NATO summit in Turkey, Trump shared videos on his social media platform that he said showed explosions inside Iran, along with a stark warning to Tehran. “This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!” Trump wrote.

Earlier Thursday, Trump suggested the renewed fighting would not lead to prolonged military engagement. “Anything that happens is going to happen very fast,” he said, though he also hinted that the U.S. military might “just finish the job.” He also revived earlier threats to strike Iranian civilian infrastructure — including power plants and desalination facilities — and to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export hub, through which about 90% of Iranian oil passes.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a key figure in negotiations toward a permanent peace agreement, took a defiant tone on social media Thursday morning. “America still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free. Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you’ll get hit,” he posted on X.

Trump openly cast doubt on the ceasefire’s survival. “For me, I think it’s over,” he said when pressed on the agreement’s status, though he added that U.S. negotiators could continue talks. “They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time,” he added. Oil prices surged following his remarks, reflecting market fears that a full resumption of the conflict could shut down energy shipments through the strait once again.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, also a senior negotiator, pushed back on X, writing that Trump’s comments “are not a sign of power but an admission of the failure” of Washington’s approach toward Iran.

Analysts suggest the renewed attacks on shipping may reflect a split within Iran’s own leadership — with hard-liners seeking permanent control over the strait as leverage against the West, while pragmatists favor a lasting peace deal that would lift international sanctions and provide economic relief to a struggling Iranian economy.

Formal negotiations toward a final settlement had been scheduled to begin after the funeral for Ayatollah Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 at the outset of the war. The funeral period, which concludes Thursday, was supposed to be a time of reduced hostilities. The planned talks were expected to address the most difficult issues, including fully reopening the strait and reining in Iran’s contested nuclear program.

WELLINGTON — New Zealand is weighing whether to become a member of a newly formed defence alliance between Australia and Fiji, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced Thursday.

Australia and Fiji formalized the agreement, known as the Ocean of Peace Alliance, on Monday. Under the treaty, each country pledges to assist the other if either faces an attack, as Australia seeks to push back against China’s expanding presence in the region.

The alliance is a historic first for Fiji, which has never before entered a formal military pact. For Australia, Fiji becomes its fourth official ally, joining the United States, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. The agreement also includes a provision allowing other Pacific nations to become members.

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters noted in a statement that Pacific leaders have long followed a principle of allowing Pacific nations to lead responses to regional security matters — and said this alliance reinforces that tradition.

“Elevating our long-standing relationship with Australia and Fiji — and other Pacific nations — to the next level through an alliance would mean we become even closer partners,” Peters said.

At present, New Zealand counts only Australia as a formal ally, though it participates in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network and maintains a close partnership with NATO.

According to the statement, the New Zealand government will now open discussions with Australia and Fiji about the possibility of joining, with any official decision ultimately resting with the cabinet.

The announcement comes in the wake of China’s military test-firing of a missile launched from a nuclear-powered submarine into the Pacific Ocean on Monday — a move that has drawn expressions of concern from leaders throughout the region.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — American forces launched a fresh wave of airstrikes against Iran in the early hours of Thursday, prompting Tehran to strike back at three Gulf Arab nations — Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar — in a dangerous escalation that has thrown a fragile ceasefire into serious doubt.

The latest strikes came just hours after President Donald Trump declared that recent Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz had effectively ended the shaky peace agreement that had been in place. Earlier in the week, U.S. forces had already struck Iranian military installations and port facilities following Iran’s targeting of multiple merchant vessels off the coast of Oman, which also triggered Iranian retaliation at the time.

Thursday’s round of fighting appeared to be larger in scale. Air raid sirens sounded at least twice in Bahrain, where the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet is headquartered. No immediate reports of damage emerged from the three Gulf nations, though Kuwait’s military announced it was actively working to intercept incoming drones and missiles.

U.S. military officials stated in a social media post that the goal of the strikes was to “further degrade” Iran’s capacity “to threaten freedom of navigation” through the strait. Before the war began on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli attacks, roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas moved through that waterway.

Iranian state media reported explosions at multiple locations, including Bushehr — where Iran’s nuclear power plant complex is located — as well as the southern port cities of Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Abbas, and Sirik.

After departing a NATO summit in Turkey, Trump shared videos on his social media platform that he said showed explosions inside Iran and issued a stern warning to the country. “This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!” Trump wrote.

Earlier Thursday, Trump suggested the ongoing fighting would not lead to prolonged military involvement. “Anything that happens is going to happen very fast,” he said, while also hinting the U.S. military might “just finish the job.” He also repeated past threats to strike Iranian civilian infrastructure — including power plants and desalination facilities — and to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export hub.

Trump cast serious doubt on the ceasefire’s survival, saying the interim agreement to pause the fighting was “over,” though he left the door open to continued diplomacy. “For me, I think it’s over,” Trump said when asked about the status of the deal. He added that U.S. negotiators could keep talking, but expressed skepticism: “They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time.”

Trump has previously threatened to take Kharg Island, including last month when he questioned whether the U.S. “has the stomach for it.” Approximately 90% of Iran’s oil exports flow through the island.

Analysts suggest the renewed attacks on shipping — even amid ongoing negotiations — may point to a split within Iran’s leadership. Hard-line factions are believed to want permanent control over the strategically vital strait, while more pragmatic leaders are seeking a lasting peace agreement that would lift international sanctions and provide much-needed economic relief to the country.

Peace talks aimed at reaching a final settlement had been scheduled to begin following the funeral of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on Feb. 28 at the very start of the conflict. The funeral concludes Thursday and was supposed to mark a period of reduced hostilities. The planned negotiations were set to tackle the most difficult issues, including fully reopening the strait to international shipping and addressing Iran’s contested nuclear program.

Oil prices climbed on Thursday after the United States carried out additional military strikes against Iran, dimming hopes for a negotiated end to the conflict and casting doubt on whether the Strait of Hormuz — a vital passage for roughly one-fifth of global pre-war oil supplies — would fully reopen anytime soon.

Brent crude futures gained 78 cents, or about 1%, reaching $78.80 per barrel as of 0054 GMT. Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 74 cents, or 1.01%, to $74.26 per barrel.

Both major oil benchmarks — WTI and Brent — had already jumped more than a dollar during after-hours trading on Wednesday, once the U.S. military began its latest round of strikes. Earlier that day, the benchmarks had closed at their highest levels in more than two weeks, following threats from President Donald Trump that new strikes could come as early as Wednesday night.

The U.S. military announced the new offensive was aimed at keeping the Strait of Hormuz open to commercial vessel traffic. The strikes came just hours after President Trump declared that a temporary agreement to end the war was effectively “over.”

IG analyst Tony Sycamore noted in a written assessment that the surge in oil shipments through the strait seen in recent weeks has now come to a halt, with vessel owners expected to adopt a more cautious approach going forward.

According to U.S. officials, the latest attacks were a direct response to Tuesday’s assault on three tankers that were passing through the strait. The strikes reverberated across multiple cities along Iran’s southern coastline, leaving some areas without electricity.

Iran, for its part, said Wednesday that it had struck U.S. military installations in Bahrain and Kuwait in retaliation for earlier American attacks on Iranian infrastructure.

Insurance industry sources confirmed Wednesday that some war risk underwriters have urged shipping companies to hold off on trips through the Strait of Hormuz, while others are re-examining their policy terms following Iran’s renewed attacks on vessels.

At 6 a.m. on Wednesday, as the sun rose over the mountains of central Mexico, cartel drones began dropping bombs on a cluster of rural communities known as Guajes de Ayala.

For weeks, residents of those communities had been reaching out to law enforcement in the state of Guerrero, alerting them to growing threats from the advancing cartel La Nueva Familia Michoacana. But those warnings were ignored as World Cup celebrations dominated major cities including Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey.

Twenty-four-year-old Marilu Solorio found herself huddled inside a nearby abandoned medical clinic alongside 70 other women, children, and elderly residents, listening to the relentless sounds of drone explosions and gunfire as the cartel clashed with the community’s self-defense group.

“While some are celebrating goals, others are getting massacred by drones carrying bombs,” Solorio said by phone from her makeshift shelter. “Instead of protecting people in the places where they’ve been playing the World Cup, (Mexico’s government) should be protecting people like us, who have never done anything wrong.”

Mexican authorities quickly moved to deny the attacks were happening in the violence-plagued Guerrero region — even as locals livestreamed video showing gunfire and plumes of smoke rising from mountain lookout posts residents had established to watch for cartel movements.

The violence erupted amid months of effort by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to confront widespread criminal violence across the country. While homicide rates have dropped under her leadership, pressure has intensified over the past year as Mexico worked to present an image of safety and stability ahead of the World Cup. That pressure was compounded by a wave of violence in February in the host city of Guadalajara, along with threats from U.S. President Donald Trump to take military action against cartels and various internal political tensions.

In response, Mexico deployed 100,000 security personnel primarily to the three World Cup host cities — Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara. The portion of the tournament held in Mexico concluded Sunday without any major security incidents.

But while soccer fans filled city streets and social media buzzed with celebration, cartel violence continued unabated in many other parts of the country.

Mexican security analyst David Saucedo connected the Guajes de Ayala attacks to the government’s World Cup security approach.

“There was heavy security in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey. Lots of military and National Guard officers from other states were transferred to fortify World Cup hosts,” Saucedo said. “But in doing that, they also left a number of regions that weren’t host cities unprotected.”

Violence elsewhere in the country underscored the point. In northern Sinaloa, weekend clashes between criminal organizations left one naval officer and 10 suspected gang members dead. The previous week, authorities in southern Veracruz announced the discovery of the body of a kidnapped journalist, believed to have been killed by criminal groups. On Wednesday in Chiapas — a southern state increasingly gripped by cartel power struggles — eight bodies were found together bearing cartel messages.

Residents of Guajes de Ayala had not only called authorities with their concerns but also posted videos online showing cartel drones flying over their community and tracking the movement of cartel fighters approaching their homes. They feared an attack was imminent. According to Solorio, no assistance ever came.

When the assault finally began Wednesday morning, Solorio and her group took cover in the abandoned clinic while others fled to local churches for shelter.

Local and federal officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. However, after the Associated Press reached out for information, Mexico’s Security Cabinet posted on the social media platform X stating that “events described in news articles have been ruled out” by authorities. The post also said state security forces were heading to the area to assess conditions and bolster their presence.

Authorities had previously rejected claims that they abandoned the Guerrero communities, but a recent visit to the region by the AP found no state security presence anywhere near the affected communities.

La Nueva Familia Michoacana has been pushing deeper into Guerrero for years. The Trump administration designated the cartel — along with other Mexican cartels and several Central and South American gangs — as a foreign terrorist organization last year.

Faced with ongoing attacks and what residents described as an absence of government protection, hundreds of people have fled their homes in recent years. Men remaining in the community formed a vigilante group to defend against the cartel. That group was armed by rival cartels competing with La Nueva Familia Michoacana for territory, and carried military-grade weapons smuggled from the United States, grenades, and drones used to track the encroaching cartel’s movements.

For the people of Guerrero, a region long scarred by warring criminal factions, residents have said for years that another attack was never a matter of if — only when.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi touched down in Melbourne, Australia on Wednesday evening, receiving a red-carpet welcome ahead of a high-profile meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese scheduled for Thursday.

The two leaders are expected to cover a broad range of topics, including critical minerals, trade, defence cooperation, and security matters. Modi had previously made a visit to Australia in 2023.

According to a report published Wednesday by the Australian Financial Review, the two countries may finalize an agreement on uranium exports to India. While both nations reached a nuclear cooperation agreement back in 2014, actual uranium exports have remained limited due to concerns over ensuring the nuclear fuel is used exclusively for peaceful purposes, such as generating electricity.

When reporters asked Albanese about the possibility of a uranium export deal, he offered a measured response. “I’ll have more to say about that with Prime Minister Modi,” he said, adding, “But we’ve engaged constructively, and so I look forward to — there’ll be a range of announcements that we make together.”

India ranks as Australia’s fifth-largest trading partner, behind China, Japan, the United States, and South Korea. Approximately one million people living in Australia claim Indian heritage.

On Thursday evening, Modi is expected to attend an event at one of Melbourne’s largest sports stadiums, where thousands of expatriate Indians are anticipated to gather. Australian media reported that security has been increased near the venue following word of potential protests.

Modi has a well-established tradition of drawing massive crowds at overseas events, having addressed packed stadiums in the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries home to large Indian diaspora communities. During his last Australian visit three years ago, thousands of supporters packed one of Sydney’s largest indoor arenas.

Before arriving in Australia, Modi made a stop in Indonesia, where he signed a series of agreements covering agriculture and defence, including a deal involving the BrahMos cruise missile system. He is scheduled to depart for New Zealand on Friday afternoon before heading back to India.

CARACAS — The death toll from a pair of earthquakes that struck Venezuela has climbed to 3,811, according to updated figures presented Wednesday by lawmaker Jorge Rodriguez.

The new numbers also show that at least 16,740 people sustained injuries in the disaster. Additionally, the count of those left without homes has grown to 17,907, underscoring the widespread destruction caused by the twin quakes.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun announced Wednesday that his planned trip to Washington is designed to push forward efforts to end the ongoing conflict between Lebanon and Israel through diplomatic negotiations. He expressed optimism that discussions with President Donald Trump would lead to meaningful results.

In a statement released by the Lebanese presidency, Aoun said, “I expect that my upcoming visit to Washington and my meeting with US President Donald Trump will bring positive outcomes for Lebanon … to find a permanent solution to the cycle of wars and Israeli attacks on our country.”

Aoun described the goal of the negotiations as stopping Israeli military operations in Lebanon and bringing an end to what he referred to as the “Israeli occupation.” He also noted that most Lebanese citizens are in favor of pursuing a negotiated resolution.

American officials confirmed Tuesday that Aoun will travel to the White House on July 21. The visit will be his first official trip to Washington since he assumed the presidency.

The announcement comes as diplomatic activity between Israel and Lebanon continues to build. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar stated Tuesday that the next round of talks between the two countries is set to be held in Rome next week.

The most recent round of negotiations took place in Washington in late June and wrapped up with a framework agreement aimed at reinforcing the ceasefire and easing tensions along the border shared by Lebanon and Israel.

A team that would have seemed almost unthinkable in Caracas just weeks ago has arrived in Venezuela: Israeli army officers, engineers, and Foreign Ministry staff from a nation that has had no formal diplomatic relationship with Venezuela since 2009.

Leading the delegation is Yoed Magen, Israel’s ambassador-designate to Mexico, who told The Media Line the group includes roughly 30 Israelis on the ground — most from the military and Foreign Ministry. An additional 20 specialists are working remotely from Israel, reviewing field data and helping develop recommendations for a national emergency response plan. The team is expected to remain in Venezuela for approximately 10 days.

Magen said the delegation’s role is not traditional search-and-rescue. Instead, their focus is on answering a critical question for local authorities and displaced residents: which buildings are still safe? Drawing on the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command’s experience in disaster zones around the world, the team is conducting a structure-by-structure assessment — identifying which buildings can be re-entered, which pose a collapse risk, and which may be salvageable once engineers determine what repairs are needed.

Magen characterized the Israeli presence as humanitarian in nature and was careful not to frame the visit as a political gesture. He acknowledged that the two countries have no diplomatic ties, but said the scale of the disaster made some form of cooperation unavoidable.

Much of the team’s work has been concentrated in Caracas, but Magen said the coastal city of La Guaira, just north of the capital, presents a different and more severe picture. Entire neighborhoods show damage from one building to the next. Some structures have been completely destroyed, others remain standing but are severely compromised, and thousands of families are still waiting to learn the fate of missing loved ones. Magen said the number of missing could be in the thousands, possibly higher.

Venezuelan authorities have released sobering official figures: 3,535 people killed, 16,740 injured, and close to 18,000 left without homes. Officials have also recorded 855 damaged buildings and 189 total collapses.

Prof. Shmuel Marco, a geologist at Tel Aviv University, explained to The Media Line that the destruction stemmed from a combination of geological, structural, and human factors. He noted that what struck Venezuela was not a single earthquake but two, occurring roughly 40 seconds apart.

“This was a double earthquake, and that means the ground was hit twice in a very short period of time,” Marco said. “The second shock came before buildings, infrastructure and people had any real time to recover from the first.”

Marco added that Caracas sits in a valley that can amplify seismic waves, compounding the damage. He also pointed to the direction of the forces involved as a key factor.

“The most destructive waves are the horizontal ones,” Marco said. “Buildings are naturally designed to resist gravity, but earthquakes push them sideways. If a structure is not designed for that kind of force, it can fail very quickly.”

Looking at photographs and aerial images, Marco observed that many buildings appeared to have toppled in a single direction, similar to a collapsing stack of cards — a sign, he said, that they lacked reinforcement against strong lateral movement. He noted that Venezuelan geologists had long warned that a major earthquake near the Boconó fault system, north and west of Caracas, was a matter of when, not if. “This earthquake was expected and yet surprising,” Marco said. “Venezuelan geologists had warned for years that this kind of event was likely, but the country was not ready for it.”

Marco was quick to add that no nation could have easily managed a disaster of this magnitude. He drew a comparison to a much smaller building collapse in northern Tel Aviv years ago, where recovering just two bodies from a parking structure took roughly a week, about 100 workers, and heavy equipment. In Venezuela, that challenge is replicated across hundreds of buildings. “No country in the world can respond immediately and fully to hundreds of collapsed buildings,” Marco said. “Even wealthy and well-prepared countries would struggle with a disaster on that scale.”

The Israeli government delegation represents only one piece of a broader Israeli and Jewish humanitarian effort. Rabbi Yosef Garmon, former Chief Rabbi of Guatemala and CEO and President of the International Humanitarian Coalition, began mobilizing contacts as soon as the earthquakes struck — reaching out to the same networks he had activated after disasters in Nepal, Haiti, Turkey, Syria, Mexico, and Central America. Some volunteers were trained through ZAKA International; others came from Jewish volunteer networks in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Colombia.

The first contingent from Central America arrived in Venezuela just two days after the quake. Teams from Colombia followed, including physicians connected to the local Jewish community. From Colombia alone, Garmon said, volunteers brought more than a ton of supplies. They partnered with local organizations including the Central University of Venezuela.

By the time the volunteers arrived, Garmon said, the window for live rescues had largely closed. The focus shifted to providing food, tents, medicine, masks, gloves, and other essentials to people left without shelter — and in some cases, helping families with the painful task of recovering the remains of those who had died. “Sadly, by the time we arrived, we were no longer rescuing people alive,” Garmon said. “But families still needed help recovering the bodies of their loved ones. Some of them told us, with tears in their eyes, that they never imagined brothers from Israel would come to help them in that moment.”

Garmon described the response as operating on three levels: the Venezuelan government, which helped facilitate access and security; ordinary Venezuelan citizens, who greeted the Israeli and Jewish teams with unexpected warmth in the streets, at universities, and online; and the local Jewish community, which opened its institutions and became an active part of the relief operation.

Over one Shabbat, the Jewish community hosted Israeli state officials, uniformed IDF soldiers, and Jewish volunteers from multiple countries together — a gathering that Magen said carried special significance given how long such a meeting would have been unthinkable. Garmon noted that Club Hebraica opened its doors, community members organized a large donation collection center, and Venezuelan Jews of all ages pitched in to prepare supplies for earthquake-affected families.

Garmon was clear that the official Israeli government mission and the volunteer efforts serve different purposes. “The official Israeli delegation has a different mission,” he said. “They are looking toward Venezuela’s future reconstruction. Their work and ours are separate, but they complement each other.”

Other organizations have also been part of the response. IsraAID has concentrated on psychological support, children’s needs, and water and sanitation, while additional Israeli and Jewish groups have contributed supplies, expertise, and volunteers.

“For us, there is no difference between Jews and non-Jews,” Garmon said. “We help human beings. Wherever there is a need, that is where we try to be.”

The diplomatic backdrop makes this moment particularly striking. Venezuela severed ties with Israel in January 2009 under Hugo Chávez during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, and that rupture continued under Nicolás Maduro. For years, Caracas maintained one of Latin America’s most openly hostile official positions toward Israel while strengthening its relationship with Iran. Against that history, a public statement from acting President Delcy Rodríguez drew considerable attention. She thanked the Israeli team, credited coordination to the local Jewish community and Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Cohen, and acknowledged the Israeli delegation’s role in launching the infrastructure assessment and rehabilitation process.

Magen said both Venezuelan authorities and the general public have been extremely welcoming. Even so, Israeli officials are not portraying the mission as a formal diplomatic turning point. The message from Jerusalem remains measured: cooperation is happening because the situation demands it, and Israel is there because Venezuela is facing a humanitarian emergency. Any deeper political significance, officials say, is premature to discuss.

The earthquake did not restore relations between Israel and Venezuela. It forced the two sides to work together amid the wreckage. For Venezuelan families still waiting for answers about their homes and their missing, that distinction may feel secondary. For Jerusalem and Caracas, it may carry far greater weight down the road. For now, the most honest description of what is happening is also the most restrained: a humanitarian mission, an uncommon public opening, and a moment of contact between two countries that had almost none.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has scrapped a planned trip to Israel following a fresh outbreak of military hostilities between the United States and Iran, according to CNN.

Hegseth was attending the NATO summit in Ankara alongside President Donald Trump when the visit was called off. He had been scheduled to sit down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz — meetings that would have marked his first trip to Israel since assuming his role.

One of the central topics on the agenda was Israel’s strong objection to a potential American sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. In a CNN interview, Netanyahu said he had personally urged Washington to block the deal, warning that it would upset the balance of power across the region.

Netanyahu also used sharp language to describe Turkey, calling it “a regime that’s infected with the Muslim Brotherhood, which hates the United States.”

Relations between Israel and Turkey have been strained since the Hamas-led assault on Israel on October 7, 2023. In the aftermath, Turkey halted all trade with Israel, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened military action, and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan referred to Israel as a “burden humanity can no longer bear.”

At the NATO summit, President Trump signaled that the U.S. was open to revisiting the fighter jet sale, speaking warmly about Turkey’s relationship with Washington. Trump called Turkey “loyal” and said ties between the two nations were stronger than ever, hinting that the strong relationship could pave the way for the sale to move forward.

The cancellation of Hegseth’s Israel visit came as military tensions between Washington and Tehran escalated. The friction was triggered by the U.S. decision to reimpose sanctions on Iranian oil following Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The standoff quickly turned into direct military exchanges, with U.S. Central Command announcing strikes against Iranian targets while Tehran claimed it had launched its own attacks on American military installations.

As of now, no new date has been announced for Hegseth’s visit to Israel.

Pakistani authorities launched a search operation Wednesday after a cargo aircraft carrying five crew members vanished off the coast of Karachi while traveling from the United Arab Emirates, officials confirmed.

According to Pakistan’s airport authority, the Boeing 737 lost contact with air traffic controllers at 9:21 p.m. local time (4:21 p.m. GMT) Tuesday, shortly after departing Sharjah bound for Karachi. Officials reported the plane dropped rapidly in altitude before all communication was cut off.

Just before the aircraft disappeared, a problem with its navigation system had been reported. Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the plane experiencing dramatic swings in altitude before entering a steep downward descent.

Pakistan’s navy and air force have both been deployed to search for the missing aircraft, officials said.

The plane was operated by K2 Airways, a private cargo carrier headquartered in Karachi. In a statement released Wednesday, the airline identified the five crew members on board and said it was cooperating with investigators.

“We continue to pray, earnestly, for the safety of our colleagues,” the airline said in its statement.

K2 Airways also said it was “fully cooperating with the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and other government agencies” as the search effort pressed on.

As of Wednesday, officials had not identified a cause for the disappearance, and no information was available about the status of the crew members.

The Boeing 737 joined K2 Airways’ fleet in 2024, though the aircraft itself has a long operational history spanning more than two decades. It first took to the skies with Russian airline Aeroflot in 1999, then flew for Garuda Indonesia starting in 2004. The plane was converted to a cargo aircraft in 2012 and later operated under TNT Airways and ASL Airlines before being transferred to the Pakistani carrier.

In its most recent role, the aircraft had been used to haul cargo across the Arabian Gulf and surrounding region.

The search was still ongoing Wednesday as Pakistan’s military and civil aviation officials worked to locate the aircraft and piece together what occurred in the plane’s final moments before radar contact and communications were lost.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney touched down in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, marking the first time a Canadian head of government has set foot in the kingdom in 26 years. The visit is part of Carney’s push to broaden his country’s economic relationships and reduce its heavy reliance on the United States as a trading partner.

During the trip, Carney is scheduled to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — the kingdom’s de facto ruler — on Thursday. He will also speak at the Saudi Arabia-Canada Investment Forum and take part in a signing ceremony.

The journey reflects Ottawa’s broader strategy to diversify trade and draw in new investment at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement have put a spotlight on just how dependent Canada is on its southern neighbor.

Saudi Arabia, for its part, has been working to attract outside investment as Crown Prince Mohammed pursues a sweeping plan to shift the kingdom’s economy away from its reliance on oil revenue.

Nelson Wiseman, a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, said that Trump’s unpredictable trade and foreign policies have pushed Carney to reach out “to others in a new and evolving world order.”

Canada and Saudi Arabia only recently repaired their diplomatic relationship, restoring full ties in 2023 after a years-long falling out. That dispute began in 2018 when Saudi Arabia expelled Canada’s ambassador and recalled its own after Canada’s Foreign Ministry publicly called for the release of imprisoned women’s rights activists. In response, Riyadh froze new trade and investment deals, sold off certain Canadian assets, and directed thousands of Saudi students studying in Canada to enroll elsewhere. Those activists have since been freed.

Also in 2018, Crown Prince Mohammed’s international standing took a serious hit following the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. A U.S. intelligence assessment that was declassified in 2021 concluded that the crown prince had likely approved the operation.

Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said the timing of Carney’s visit carries significance not only because of efforts to “diversify trade and help attract new foreign investments to Canada,” but also “because of the ongoing geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East” and the war in Iran.

“It seems increasingly clear that, for Mark Carney, trade and security are much more pressing concerns than human rights,” Béland said.

Wiseman offered a different perspective, noting that “Carney says he is taking the world as it is.” He added: “It doesn’t mean looking beyond human rights; it means being realistic about what preaching about it to authoritarian leaders can accomplish.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is sending conflicting signals about the state of the U.S.-Iran conflict, declaring the ceasefire finished while simultaneously insisting that fresh military strikes don’t amount to a return to all-out war.

Trump publicly stated he believes the ceasefire agreement has collapsed and suggested he may no longer be interested in reaching a deal, saying American forces might “just finish the job.” Yet the back-to-back military strikes he has authorized are leaving major questions unanswered about where this conflict is heading — particularly given how difficult it was to reach even the initial agreement between the two longtime adversaries just weeks ago.

The rapidly shifting rhetoric could be a calculated pressure tactic aimed at forcing Tehran to stop targeting ships carrying oil and natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz and to comply with U.S. demands on its nuclear program — an approach Trump has employed before.

Whether the statements represent a negotiating strategy or a genuine escalation, mediators are scrambling to rescue the interim deal. The renewed tensions also carry political risks for Republicans, who face midterm elections in November and could be hurt if fuel prices remain elevated.

On Wednesday, Trump warned that another round of U.S. strikes was coming, even while brushing aside comparisons to a full-scale war. Shortly after, the military confirmed it had launched new strikes against Iran aimed at further reducing the country’s ability to threaten shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

“Anything that happens is going to happen very fast,” Trump said. “We’re not looking for a long time.”

A regional intelligence official involved in the mediation process described the situation as having reached a critical turning point, with mistrust running high on both sides. Still, high-level communications are continuing around the clock in an effort to preserve the ceasefire, according to the official, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the behind-the-scenes efforts.

The foreign ministers of Pakistan and Qatar, along with Egypt’s intelligence chief, are spearheading those efforts. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — whose country hosted the NATO summit that concluded Wednesday — and Saudi Arabian leaders are also participating, the official said.

According to the official, the U.S. is frustrated over the ongoing ship attacks in the Strait of Hormuz and accuses Iran of stalling on discussions about limiting its nuclear program, which was supposed to be a key next step toward converting the interim deal into a permanent end to the conflict.

Iran, for its part, accuses Washington of violating the agreement related to the strait and failing to ensure that a ceasefire in Lebanon — including an Israeli military withdrawal — is being honored, the official said.

Michael Eisenstadt, a former U.S. military analyst who now leads the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, suggested the situation remains in a negotiating phase despite Trump’s heated language.

“We’re still in negotiating mode, no matter what the president says,” Eisenstadt said. “This is part of negotiating, and declaring that the MOU is over is part of the negotiation as well,” he added, referring to the memorandum of understanding that formed the foundation of the ceasefire.

Trump, however, has been direct in his public statements, saying he has lost interest in keeping the ceasefire alive: “I think it’s over.”

“We can play games, but I’m not sure I want to make a deal,” he said at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, adding that U.S. forces might “just finish the job.”

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, who serves as the country’s lead negotiator, accused the Trump administration of repeatedly breaking the terms of the initial agreement, saying Iran had no choice but to respond accordingly.

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

Pakistan, one of the countries that helped broker the ceasefire, called renewed conflict “no one’s interest” and urged both sides to honor their commitments. “There is no alternative to continued engagement, dialogue and diplomacy to achieve shared goal of peace in the region,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Trump, meanwhile, dismissed Iran’s leadership in sharp terms, calling them “scum” and “sick people” — a stark reversal from just last month, when he described the same leaders as “very rational” and “nice to deal with,” while also calling them “smart people.”

Vice President JD Vance, who played a central role in reaching the initial agreement with Tehran, spoke at an event in Milwaukee on Wednesday. He said Iran “was well behaved for about a week” before resuming attacks on shipping in the strait. “If they shoot at ships, we’re going to knock the hell out of them,” Vance said.

Before the U.S. and Iran reached their first two-week ceasefire in April, Trump had ratcheted up threats, vowing to bomb Iranian bridges, roads, and power plants. He even posted online, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” He repeated similarly stark warnings before a tentative 60-day deal to end the war was reached last month.

While Trump tends to seek leverage through a position of strength, openly declaring the ceasefire dead could also give Iran more military freedom — which in turn risks disrupting oil prices and rattling financial markets.

Ali Vaez, Iran director at the International Crisis Group, cautioned that escalating threats may carry greater risks this time given what’s at stake domestically and internationally for the U.S.

“It certainly looks like an effort to turn up the military heat without yet closing the diplomatic door. But coercive bargaining is a dangerous game: at some point, a pressure campaign can acquire a momentum of its own and become the war it was ostensibly meant to avoid,” Vaez said.

He noted, however, that Iran still has strong incentives to return to negotiations because the country badly needs the economic relief promised under the interim agreement.

Trump has also sent conflicting messages about the economic fallout. He long maintained that rising gas prices for American consumers had no bearing on his Iran decisions — but later acknowledged that avoiding an “economic catastrophe” was part of why he agreed to the interim deal in the first place. He has since highlighted the drop in oil prices that followed the deal’s announcement.

The president has also renewed his previous threats to strike Iranian civilian infrastructure, potentially including electrical plants and desalination facilities, and even to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s major oil production hub.

“We may take over Kharg Island,” Trump said. “There’s not a thing they could do about it.”

With midterm elections less than four months away — and Republicans hoping to hold onto control of both the House and Senate — renewed uncertainty about the war is likely to keep gas prices elevated for American consumers.

Trump tried to minimize those concerns, saying, “Any time we hit them, it goes up a little bit — $2.” In reality, U.S. oil futures jumped significantly higher and may continue to climb. Trump himself acknowledged, “As oil goes, so goes everything else.”

“If we hit Iran, oil goes up a little bit,” he said, arguing the trade-off was justified to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. “It’s all right.”

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has launched a new wave of strikes against Iran, U.S. Central Command confirmed on Wednesday. The military action came just hours after President Donald Trump announced that an interim agreement designed to bring an end to the conflict with Iran was “over.”

According to U.S. Central Command, the strikes are specifically aimed at weakening Iran’s ability to threaten the free flow of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical international waterway used for global commerce.

In a statement posted to X, U.S. Central Command said: “The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway.”

NUUK — People gathered at a traditional kayaking championship in Nuuk, Greenland, made their feelings clear on Wednesday: U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest push to take control of their island is unwelcome, and the island’s future belongs to its own people.

Trump renewed his call to gain control of Greenland — a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark — while speaking at a NATO summit held in Ankara, Turkey this week. He argued that controlling the island is critical to U.S. national security.

But at the kayaking championships taking place in Nuuk harbour, where athletes wowed crowds by flipping their kayaks completely upside down and rolling back upright, spectators were quick to dismiss Trump’s ambitions. Many said they believed he was more interested in the island’s natural resources than in the well-being of its people.

“He only thinks of commodities and oil,” said Frederik Larsen, 72, a retired Greenland native. “I think we can manage without him.”

Birgithe Geisler, 60, a public school teacher, put it simply: Greenland belongs to Greenlanders.

“No one else should decide for us,” she said.

Hans David Ezekiassen, an instructor at the Greenland Maritime Center, offered perhaps the most direct response of all.

“I think it’s shit, to put it mildly,” he said. “He can’t even control his own country, so why must he try to take over other countries?”

Even an American visitor had reservations about Trump’s push. Andy Thon, 49, an engineer and member of Qajaq USA who traveled from the United States to take part in the championships, noted that Greenland is already working toward greater independence from Denmark.

“With Denmark, they’re making their way towards full autonomy and the U.S. wouldn’t need Greenland as a strategic point if the U.S. was playing nicely with our allies,” he said.

The remarks from Trump also drew sharp responses from officials. Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen stated Wednesday that no matter how many times the call to take over the island is repeated, the answer remains the same — Greenland is not for sale.

NEW YORK (AP) — The possible collapse of an already fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran has reignited fears Wednesday that fuel prices could climb again if ongoing conflict prevents oil tankers from safely navigating the Persian Gulf.

Oil prices surged to their highest levels in several weeks after President Donald Trump declared the U.S. ceasefire with Iran finished, citing Iranian strikes on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on American military installations in other Gulf nations. Higher crude oil costs typically translate into more expensive fill-ups at gas stations, just as drivers across many countries had been catching a break from the elevated prices the war had caused.

“Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has essentially stopped, which tells you more about risk perception right now than any statement from Washington or Tehran,” said Jorge Leon, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy, in an email. “Oil markets reacted quickly to the renewed geopolitical risk.”

According to motor club federation AAA, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States ticked up slightly Wednesday to $3.80, compared to $3.79 the previous day. That said, it remains considerably lower than the month-ago average of $4.16.

Because crude oil accounts for the largest share of what goes into the price of gasoline, rising oil costs eventually push pump prices higher. However, it can take several weeks before consumers feel the full effect. Refiners typically purchase oil in advance, and the finished gasoline product must travel through a network of pipelines and tanker trucks before reaching local gas stations.

Gas station operators set their own prices at the pump and sometimes choose to absorb higher oil costs rather than immediately passing the burden on to customers in order to stay competitive.

Starting in March, the U.S. and other nations began tapping their emergency oil reserves to help keep prices in check during the conflict. Those reserves, however, are not unlimited.

As of July 3, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve stood at 319.5 million barrels — the lowest level recorded since 1983, when the reserve was first being built up.

“Unfortunately, the drawdown of strategic stocks means that there is a lot less ammunition in Trump’s holster,” said Michael Lynch, a distinguished fellow at Energy Policy Research Institute in Amherst, Massachusetts.

On Wednesday, a barrel of U.S. benchmark crude was trading at $75.80, marking the highest price in over two weeks. Brent crude, the global standard, climbed to nearly $79 per barrel, its highest point since June 19.

The market’s response “highlights how sensitive prices remain to any escalation around the strait, given its role as a critical transit route for global oil flows,” Leon added.

One day after the U.S. accused Iran of attacking three commercial ships and stripped the country of its ability to openly trade crude oil on the world market, shipping industry officials were being urged to reconsider the safety of sending crewed vessels through the Strait of Hormuz and the broader Middle East region.

International Maritime Organization Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez spoke out strongly against the attacks on ships in the strait.

“As long as the safety and security of crews cannot be assured, I urge flag states, shipowners, operators and all relevant authorities to avoid exposing seafarers to unnecessary danger by transiting the strait,” Dominguez said Wednesday. “The situation in the region remains volatile.”

Data and analytics company Kpler reported that some vessels did cross the strait on Tuesday, recording 41 crossings compared to 36 on Monday. It remains unclear whether those crossings occurred before or after the strikes took place. Some ships have also been turning off their location broadcasts while passing through the strait, making an accurate count even more difficult.

With the main central route through the strait blocked by mines, ships have been rerouting through two alternative paths — a smaller northern route through Iranian waters and a southern route through Omani waters. The three vessels struck on Tuesday appeared to have been using the Omani route.

An economist at advisory firm Oxford Economics suggested the ceasefire would likely continue in an on-and-off pattern, and that Washington and Tehran might still find a way to ease the latest tensions short of returning to full-scale conflict.

“The question is whether the latest developments merely represent a bump in the road or if we’re emerging from the ‘eye of the storm,’” wrote Ben May, the firm’s director of global macroeconomic research. “While Trump said negotiations with Iran were a ‘waste of time’, he maintained an off-ramp by noting that U.S. negotiators would continue talks with Iran, suggesting the truce hasn’t been irrevocably broken.”

The renewed uncertainty over the Strait of Hormuz comes just days after two of the world’s largest shipping companies, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, announced Monday through their Gemini Corporation joint venture that they would gradually restart service through the Suez Canal, which had been suspended because of attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthis.

Recent stability in the Middle East had made that decision possible, but “the recent deterioration could put this resumption in jeopardy once again,” said Judah Levine, head of research at freight booking platform Freightos.

Hapag-Lloyd confirmed in a Wednesday statement that the joint decision was made following “thorough assessments of the security situation in the Red Sea area,” and noted that “if the situation changes or deteriorates, contingency plans are in place.”

WASHINGTON — The United States is pushing back against China after Beijing provided only a few hours of advance warning before firing a ballistic missile from a nuclear-powered submarine into the Pacific Ocean on July 6, a State Department official announced Wednesday.

Chinese state media confirmed the missile launch took place Monday, triggering criticism from the U.S., Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan.

A State Department official said the warning China gave was far too little and lacked critical detail. “China’s notification to the United States came only a few hours before the launch and failed to provide sufficient detail, falling considerably short of standards adopted by all other P5 nuclear weapon states,” the official stated. The P5 refers to the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — the only countries officially recognized as nuclear-weapon states under the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The official went on to say the test was deeply troubling given China’s ongoing military expansion. “The test occurred amid China’s rapid and opaque nuclear weapons buildup and is of great concern to the region,” the official added.

In a statement to Reuters, the official described the launch as “irresponsible,” noting that China failed to use the standard diplomatic channels for advance notification that other nations follow when conducting such tests.

The official also called on Beijing to engage in constructive talks, saying, “We urge Beijing to engage in meaningful discussions on strategic stability and arms control,” while affirming that the U.S. “remains steadfast in its defense commitments to our allies and partners.”

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency characterized the launch as a “routine arrangement” tied to annual military training exercises, emphasizing it was not aimed at any particular country or target. China’s embassy in Washington had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

While China did not identify the specific missile used, state-controlled tabloid Global Times, citing a military expert, suggested it was likely the JL-3 — China’s most advanced submarine-launched ballistic missile. According to a Pentagon report, that missile is capable of reaching the continental United States from Chinese coastal waters.

China has been rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal and has repeatedly rejected U.S. attempts to start arms control negotiations. Beijing has long maintained that the U.S. already holds a significantly larger nuclear stockpile. In 2024, China suspended early-stage talks with Washington over the issue, citing U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory despite Taiwan’s democratic self-governance.

ANKARA — Turkey rolled out an elaborate welcome for President Donald Trump at a NATO summit in Ankara, staging a red, white, and blue aerial display and even naming a new airport terminal in his honor — all in a bid to strengthen ties between Washington and Ankara at one of the alliance’s most high-profile gatherings.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan personally greeted Trump at the airport on Tuesday, and the two leaders walked arm-in-arm. Trump, referring to Erdogan as his “dear friend,” later pledged to lift sanctions he had personally imposed on Turkey during his first term in office six years ago — a period widely regarded as one of the lowest points in U.S.-Turkish relations.

The warmth between the two leaders only deepened over the course of the two-day summit, which wrapped up Wednesday. Trump indicated he was open to selling Turkey F-35 fighter jets — though he later walked that back slightly, saying he hadn’t fully made up his mind. He repeatedly praised Erdogan throughout the summit, and the two shared smiles, laughter, and embraces while communicating through interpreters.

For many diplomats, simply getting Trump to show up had been Turkey’s biggest hurdle. Trump, who has long criticized NATO allies for not spending enough on defense, said the only reason he attended was because Erdogan was the host. That statement alone was considered a diplomatic achievement for Turkey, which has been working to raise its standing within the alliance and resolve longstanding friction with the United States.

“It was valuable that Trump emphasised the importance he places on myself and our friendship,” Erdogan said as the summit came to a close. “I thank my dear friend once again.”

Despite the warm bilateral atmosphere, Trump stirred controversy on Wednesday — the day after his cordial meetings with Erdogan — by calling on the U.S. to sever trade ties with Spain and repeating his claims over Greenland, which irritated NATO ally Denmark. He later described the leaders’ meeting as full of love and “a lot of unity,” offering some reassurance to an alliance that has grown uneasy with an unpredictable American president who has at times questioned NATO’s worth.

Trump also took the unusual step of publicly defending Erdogan against criticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had warned against the potential F-35 sale to Ankara. Trump made the defense while seated alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Earlier, in front of reporters, Trump signaled he would remove U.S. sanctions that were put in place after Turkey’s 2019 purchase of Russian S-400 air defense systems — a move that drew a thumbs-up from Erdogan. He also hinted at a willingness to sell Turkey the F-35s that had been blocked as a result of those sanctions and other U.S. laws.

Turkey had been pushing for both of those steps for years, even as it refused to back away from the S-400 acquisition, which had at the time angered the U.S. and other NATO members and damaged trust within the alliance.

Even so, Trump’s pledge is expected to run into resistance in the U.S. Congress, where existing laws require Turkey to no longer possess the S-400 systems. The move could also create complications with Russia, which has end-user conditions attached to the original purchase agreement.

The diplomatic progress, even if largely symbolic at this stage, comes just weeks after a U.S. court brought to a close a lengthy criminal case involving Turkish state bank Halkbank — a case Erdogan had publicly criticized as unjust.

The developments could also provide a domestic political boost for Erdogan, who has led Turkey for 23 years and whose popularity has been under pressure amid an unprecedented legal crackdown on the country’s main opposition party. Critics have pointed to that crackdown as a significant test of Turkey’s democratic standing.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, when asked about a series of arrests in Turkey just before the summit — including journalists and a well-known comedian — said that democracy encompasses more than just elections, noting it also means the right to protest and freedom of the press.

“Never before in our history has there been a government so deeply dependent on the U.S. administration,” said Ozgur Ozel, the ousted leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party, speaking on Tuesday.

Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, had kept Erdogan at a distance largely due to concerns over human rights and civil liberties in Turkey. Since then, Western nations have largely gone quiet on those concerns as Turkey has grown into a significant defense industry power and a key buffer against Russian aggression along NATO’s southeastern border.

The pageantry of Trump’s arrival at the 1,100-room presidential palace in Ankara on Tuesday underscored the importance Turkey placed on the visit. He was escorted by 100 horsemen and greeted by a ceremonial guard that, in a first for the palace, included soldiers dressed as historical Ottoman warriors. As Trump and Erdogan walked side by side, Turkish military jets streaked overhead, leaving trails of red, white, and blue in the sky.

BEIRUT — A Lebanese pop star who abandoned his music career to become a militant has walked free on bail, according to judicial officials, after spending months behind bars awaiting a new trial.

Fadel Shaker turned himself in to Lebanese military intelligence last October, ending more than a decade on the run. He had been hiding inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh, located near the port city of Sidon.

In 2020, Shaker was convicted in absentia and handed a 22-year prison sentence for supporting what was classified as a “terrorist group.” The charges stemmed from violent street fighting that broke out in 2013 between Sunni militants and soldiers from the Lebanese army in the area around Sidon.

Four judicial officials told The Associated Press — speaking anonymously in accordance with regulations — that Shaker paid 500 million Lebanese pounds, equivalent to roughly $5,500, to secure his release. Before being freed Wednesday, he was questioned about multiple allegations, including participation in an armed group, financing armed factions, money laundering, and most critically, direct involvement in the 2013 Sidon clashes.

Those cases remain open as investigators continue their work. Following his release, Shaker departed a military facility located in a suburb of Beirut, where he had been held, and has since moved into a rented apartment, the officials said. Neither Shaker nor his attorney responded to requests for comment.

After his October surrender, Lebanese law required that his original conviction be set aside and a new trial be initiated. That retrial began in January. During his testimony, Shaker acknowledged having been close to Sunni Muslim cleric Ahmed al-Assir and said he had received threats from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and from backers of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Al-Assir was found guilty in 2017 and sentenced to death for his role in the 2013 clashes, which left 18 soldiers dead. That trial lasted two years, and al-Assir remains on death row.

During his January testimony, Shaker said his relationship with al-Assir had cooled and that the two had disagreements before the 2013 violence erupted. He firmly denied any personal involvement in the fighting near Sidon.

Despite those denials, a video posted to YouTube during the 2013 clashes shows a bearded Shaker hurling insults at his enemies and taunting the military. In the footage, he says “we have two rotting corpses that we snatched from you yesterday,” an apparent reference to two pro-Hezbollah fighters killed during the clashes.

The 2013 violence deepened the sectarian divide between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Lebanon, tensions that were being stoked by the civil war raging in neighboring Syria, where Hezbollah fighters had joined forces with Assad against predominantly Sunni rebel and militant groups.

Before his transformation into a militant figure, Shaker had been a celebrated entertainer across the Arab world, rising to fame with a major hit in 2002. His fans were stunned when he began appearing at rallies beside al-Assir, and he later announced he had given up singing to draw closer to God.

Even while living as a fugitive, Shaker continued releasing music. A song recorded with his son Mohammed last July spread widely across the Arab world after going viral.

MAIQUETÍA, Venezuela — Weeks after a catastrophic pair of earthquakes rocked Venezuela, thousands of survivors in the hardest-hit region are now facing a growing crisis over access to clean water and basic sanitation.

In La Guaira state, desperate families have turned to the Caribbean shoreline to bathe and use the bathroom, leaving human waste scattered across beaches that were once popular gathering spots. Those with a small amount of water still remaining in their home storage tanks are stretching it as far as possible for washing dishes and personal hygiene. With 190 buildings completely collapsed and 856 more left damaged by the June 24 earthquakes — according to Venezuelan officials — many residents have been forced into temporary shelters or are sleeping outside. The death toll from the twin quakes stands at 3,685.

Juliani Herrera, 20, described how the earthquakes wiped out the water supply that families had carefully stored. “We always have water in the tank — water reserved — but with the earthquake, most of the tanks in the houses broke,” she said, referring to the large blue plastic containers many Venezuelan households rely on to collect water during the infrequent days when the state utility delivers service. “Now, we have to wait to see if a tanker comes and fills buckets.”

The situation is particularly grim because some of these communities were already receiving potable water only once every month or two before the disaster struck. In Maiquetía — the city best known for housing Venezuela’s primary international airport — residents gathered Wednesday to collect boxes marked with the United States flag, each containing food, water, and a hygiene kit with soap, a toothbrush, and body cleansing towelettes.

Herrera was among those who received one of the aid boxes at a temporary shelter set up near the beach. She carried the box several blocks home, her chin, upper arm, and hands bearing iodine-stained scratches — injuries she suffered when she was thrown from a motorcycle as the violent shaking from the quakes hit.

Beatriz Ochoa, who serves as regional head of advocacy for Latin America at the Norwegian Refugee Council, issued a warning that the crowded, hot, and rainy conditions survivors are enduring could quickly lead to the spread of illness. She said better sanitation conditions must be established without delay.

“I have seen families doing everything they can to maintain dignity in extremely difficult conditions,” Ochoa said. “In one temporary shelter, I saw families organizing themselves to keep common spaces clean, including through makeshift toilets and basic waste management arrangements. Their determination is remarkable, but families should not have to shoulder this burden alone.”

MARACAY, Venezuela — Inside a fashion workshop normally filled with sketches of elegant dresses and bolts of colorful fabric, something very different is being made these days.

Designer Efrain Mogollon sits at his desk surrounded by his usual dress designs, but his team of workers bent over sewing machines are not crafting his signature bright, playful clothing. Instead, with solemn expressions, they are assembling dark plastic sheaths to be used as body bags — a response to earthquakes that struck two weeks ago and claimed more than 3,500 lives, pushing disaster response services to their limits. Each bag carries a single embossed image of Jesus Christ near the zipper.

“It is a completely different feeling,” Mogollon said, as he loaded several of the finished bags into the back of an ambulance in Catia la Mar, a coastal neighborhood in La Guaira state near Caracas that was among the areas hardest hit by the June 24 tremors, which registered magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5.

“At the same time it fills us with satisfaction to know that, from our small contribution and from our platform, we are helping,” he added, speaking on a street where buildings had been reduced to piles of concrete, brick, and twisted metal.

Much of the rescue and recovery work on the ground has been carried out by ordinary citizens, alongside professional rescue teams from across the globe, firefighters, and army volunteers. In the early days following the quakes — particularly in La Guaira — civilians also supplied a large portion of in-kind assistance such as food and clothing. Global humanitarian organizations, including the International Rescue Committee, have stated that the relief effort has not kept pace with the scale of need.

Back at the crowded workshop, Mogollon’s crew rolls out sheets of black polyethylene across a wide table. Colorful bolts of pink, red, and blue fabric lean against the walls, and dress mannequins have been pushed out of the way.

Seamstress Mary Castillo has been sewing body bags every single day for the past two weeks. She describes the work as heartbreaking, yet meaningful.

“It is very sad. But we have to keep working and make the effort to move forward,” she said.

Speaking to reporters in Ankara following a NATO summit on Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he does not believe a full-scale conflict with Iran will reignite despite recent military exchanges between the two countries.

“I don’t think it’s going to start again. I think it’s going to go very quickly. They hit a couple of ships, and so we hit them much harder,” Trump said.

The president added that any future hostilities would be short-lived and would ultimately benefit stability, including energy markets. “Anything that happens is going to be over very quickly … and will only make it safer, including for oil,” he said.

Trump also brought up what he described as a personal threat from Tehran, reiterating comments he has made previously on the subject. “I’m number one on the kill list for Iran,” the president told reporters.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian federal police conducted a search of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s residence on Wednesday, looking for weapons and ammunition, but walked away without seizing anything, according to his attorney.

Bolsonaro is currently confined to house arrest in the nation’s capital, Brasilia, where he is serving a 27-year prison sentence for attempting a coup following his loss to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the 2022 presidential election.

His attorney, João Henrique Nascimento de Freitas, posted on X that he had personally witnessed the police search. “I just left the residence of (Bolsonaro) after witnessing yet another search and seizure by the federal police,” he wrote. “Nothing was found.”

A federal police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, confirmed that no items were taken during the search.

The Brazilian Supreme Court authorized the search after a mismatch was identified between the number of firearms legally registered under Bolsonaro’s name and the number of weapons actually surrendered to the appropriate authorities. The order was signed by Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Tuesday.

The search comes just weeks after police discovered one of Bolsonaro’s registered firearms in the hands of a military officer at a checkpoint. Despite that incident, Justice De Moraes allowed Bolsonaro to remain under house arrest rather than return to a detention facility.

Bolsonaro was convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices in September and began his sentence in November. He was moved to house arrest in March after concerns arose about his health.

The case attracted significant international attention when U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods, citing — among other reasons — what he called a “witch hunt” against his political ally Bolsonaro.

Adding to the legal troubles surrounding the family, Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo was also convicted this year for illegally lobbying the U.S. government in an effort to pressure Brazilian officials into halting his father’s trial.

While many of the tariffs Trump imposed were later removed, the U.S. administration has since threatened additional trade penalties over what it describes as unfair commercial practices — even as the United States maintains a significant trade surplus with Brazil.

French President Emmanuel Macron declared Wednesday that Europe has significantly stepped up its role within NATO, and said he plans to announce new defense initiatives and joint military exercises at an upcoming summit of Ukraine’s allies next week.

Speaking at NATO’s annual gathering in Ankara, Macron said Europe has demonstrated it is investing more in its own defense, protecting its sovereignty, and building what he calls strategic autonomy — all while remaining firmly within the NATO alliance.

The summit, set for July 13 and expected to draw roughly 35 leaders from the Coalition of the Willing, will address Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, new military capabilities for Ukraine, expanded mobilization of defense industries, and deeper cooperation among the countries backing Kyiv, Macron said.

Macron has long pushed for greater European independence in defense matters. He argued that Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, combined with uncertainty about long-term American military commitments, has pushed Europe to accelerate its own defense buildup — even as it stays anchored within NATO.

More than seven years ago, Macron sparked a heated debate among alliance members when he declared NATO was experiencing “brain death,” pointing to what he viewed as poor strategic coordination and the unpredictability of the then-U.S. president at the time. Now, as he enters the final year of his presidency, Macron used the Ankara summit to argue that the changes he has long called for are finally taking shape — including higher European defense spending, a greater operational role within the alliance, and a stronger European defense industrial base.

“France has long advocated that Europeans must support and defend a European defence industry. If we spend more, it should not simply be to buy non-European equipment,” he said.

Macron outlined that Europe is now developing its own missile-defense systems, long-range precision-strike weapons, early-warning networks, and artificial-intelligence-driven command systems.

He also sought to ease concerns about Washington’s dedication to NATO, noting that the U.S. president had privately reaffirmed support for the alliance despite occasional public criticism of European allies.

“The United States has announced a redeployment of its efforts, which seems entirely legitimate to me, and Europeans must organise themselves accordingly,” Macron said. “But we should not do this because someone asks us to. We should do it for ourselves.”

France’s history with NATO has been complicated. Though a founding member of the alliance, France pulled out of NATO’s integrated military command structure in 1966 before fully rejoining in 2009. Since taking office, Macron has worked to deepen France’s role within the alliance while also strengthening what he describes as a European pillar of NATO.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has only reinforced that push. Despite financial pressures at home, France has kept its defense spending in line with NATO targets, expanded its military footprint along the alliance’s eastern flank, and offered greater cooperation with European partners on nuclear deterrence. French forces are currently deployed in Romania and the Baltic states.

On Wednesday, Macron announced that France will participate in NATO force rotations in Finland alongside Finnish and Swedish forces — making France one of the first alliance members to contribute to the newly established deployment near NATO’s border with Russia.

DUBAI — Eight Iranian military personnel lost their lives following U.S. strikes on southern areas of Iran in the early hours of Wednesday, according to reports from Iranian state media.

The deceased were members of the Iranian air force and navy, and their deaths resulted from attacks carried out in the cities of Bandar Abbas and Bushehr, state media reported.

German police arrested a 16-year-old boy Wednesday after he allegedly wounded two 13-year-old girls at a high school in the Bavarian town of Schongau, located southwest of Munich.

Bavarian police said the suspect was found in possession of both a knife and a firearm when he was taken into custody. Investigators said it was not immediately clear exactly how he injured the two girls at Welfen high school.

Authorities stated that the suspect is believed to have acted alone, and that neither of the victims’ lives is considered to be in danger.

Bavaria’s state interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, told the German news agency dpa that the teenage suspect had previously received psychiatric treatment, though he did not elaborate on the details. Herrmann also noted that the suspect is a Croatian national who had been living with his parents in the area.

Schongau is a community of more than 12,000 residents situated to the southwest of Munich.

NATO has agreed to transform its long-running Baltic air policing operation into a full-scale air defense mission, giving allied pilots broader authority — including the power to destroy “objects that pose a threat” — Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda announced Wednesday.

The air policing mission covering Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia — three Baltic nations near Russia that do not maintain their own fighter jet fleets — has been in operation since 2004, when all three countries joined the NATO alliance.

Under the current mission, allied aircraft intercept and escort Russian military planes flying near the three nations. Earlier this year, those jets shot down suspected stray Ukrainian drones over Estonia and Latvia — events NATO described as the first time the mission had ever fired weapons in defense of the alliance.

“(The current) air policing mission is meant for peacetime, when fighters react to incidents by escorting. This way, we show that we take note of the incidents. It’s a kind of deterrence,” Nauseda told reporters in Ankara.

“But what is happening today is not a totally peaceful environment,” he added.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna announced on X that the upgraded mission would bring “greater flexibility and faster response to air threats.”

At present, Baltic Air Policing jets are dispatched to intercept and identify every Russian military aircraft flying over international waters near the three Baltic states — a stretch of airspace running from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to the Gulf of Finland, extending to the border of Russia itself.

The mission was previously expanded in 2014 following Russia’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. It currently involves more than a dozen fighter jets from up to three rotating NATO member nations, operating out of two airfields in the region.

Last year, the mission jets were scrambled after Russia sent a Su-35 fighter to escort a shadow oil fleet tanker that Estonia had attempted to detain. The NATO aircraft did not engage the Russian Su-35.

A senior official with Donald Trump’s Board of Peace has revealed that the group is developing plans for a pilot humanitarian zone in Gaza — a move intended to revive the U.S. president’s stalled peace initiative, even if no agreement is reached with Hamas on the plan’s second phase.

The official did not disclose where the zone would be located, but said the Trump-appointed board has already identified secure areas capable of sheltering tens of thousands of Gazans. Those areas would see an expansion of goods and services designed to meet the humanitarian needs of residents willing to relocate there.

Gaza continues to suffer the devastating aftermath of two years of full-scale warfare, which began following the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Following a ceasefire agreement, Trump put forward a peace plan calling for a significant increase in humanitarian aid, governance by a group of Palestinian technocrats, the disarmament of Hamas, and a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory.

However, the plan has hit a wall. The technocrat group — formally known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, or NCAG — has yet to enter Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel has continued carrying out military strikes in the territory, where more than 2 million people are struggling with hunger, disease, and displacement. Israel has also announced plans to expand its control over 70% of the enclave.

A separate aid effort run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was shut down after the ceasefire following intense criticism from the United Nations and others over Palestinian deaths that occurred near its food distribution sites.

According to the Board of Peace official, the pilot zone would give the NCAG a chance to exercise governing authority. A newly trained police force would serve as a law enforcement presence, alongside an International Stabilization Force made up of multinational peacekeeping troops.

Three Hamas officials reached by reporters declined to comment on the proposal, and Israeli authorities did not respond to requests for comment.

Negotiations over the second phase of Trump’s Gaza plan — involving Hamas leaders, mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, and Board of Peace Gaza envoy Nickolay Mladenov — have not yet produced an agreement, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

The board official stressed that the pilot humanitarian zone would not depend on reaching a deal with Hamas, though he acknowledged that such an agreement would accelerate and expand the effort.

Entry into the pilot zone would be on a voluntary basis, with vetting carried out by the NCAG and supported by the International Stabilization Force. Land ownership rights would also factor into the process, though the official did not detail how the vetting would work.

Aid organizations have long maintained that humanitarian assistance should be distributed based on need alone, without any form of discrimination.

The official said dedicated funding would be raised for the pilot project but stopped short of giving a timeline, saying only that speed was a priority.

On Monday, Hamas announced it had dissolved its de facto governing body in Gaza and signaled a willingness to hand control over to the NCAG, framing the move as pressure on Israel to fulfill other parts of the stalled peace agreement.

The Board of Peace acknowledged Hamas’ announcement in a statement but cautioned that “ultimately, our assessment will be guided by actions, not promises, to meet the critical needs of the people of Gaza.” Israel dismissed Hamas’ move as a “stunt.”

TIRANA — Albania’s prime minister is standing behind his government’s choice to spend €4 million — roughly $4.56 million — to host a concert by American rapper Kanye West, as public anger over the decision adds fuel to weeks of ongoing street protests and growing calls for him to step down.

Kanye West, who also goes by the name YE, has been barred from performing in several European nations this summer after making statements that included praise for Adolf Hitler and using imagery associated with the Nazi regime.

The concert is set for July 11 at a temporary stadium built specifically for the event, located just outside the Albanian capital of Tirana.

Prime Minister Edi Rama took to Facebook to explain the expenditure, writing: “We allocated €4 million at the last minute to avoid embarrassing Albania in the eyes of nearly 25,000 foreign visitors from 80 countries who had already purchased tickets to see Kanye West, while many others were wary that the concert might be cancelled.”

Rama also argued the event is projected to bring in at least €100 million in economic benefit to the country, citing a significant spike in lodging reservations tied to the concert dates.

The prime minister’s Facebook post quickly drew a wave of critical responses from the public. “Albania is disgraced when it welcomes a singer who admires Hitler,” wrote one commenter. Another added simply: “Shame, not with my money!”

Demonstrations have been held daily in Tirana for more than a month, originally triggered by a proposed luxury resort connected to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Protesters have since expanded their grievances to include other development projects near environmentally protected coastal areas, and have called on Rama to resign over corruption allegations — charges his government rejects.

While Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed NATO leaders to Ankara on Wednesday, his most prominent political opponent was across the country in a courtroom, fighting serious corruption allegations.

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a member of the Republican People’s Party — known as the CHP — was taken into custody back in March 2025. Over the past two years, hundreds of CHP members and elected officials have also been detained in what critics describe as a deliberate effort to dismantle Turkey’s largest opposition party.

The court proceedings took place in a specially constructed facility adjacent to the Silivri prison complex on the outskirts of Istanbul. Imamoglu pushed back against the judge’s decision to bar him from attending hearings for nearly a week, citing what he called “disruptive behavior.” He argued that his legal rights had been ignored in the process.

Addressing the presiding judge directly, Imamoglu challenged the optics of the situation. “How can you explain to world leaders at the NATO summit, in Turkey, in Ankara, the silencing of Ekrem Imamoglu?” he said, according to the opposition-aligned Cumhuriyet newspaper.

Shortly after his arrest, the CHP chose Imamoglu as its candidate for a future presidential run. He is broadly viewed as the strongest threat to Erdogan’s grip on power, which has now lasted 23 years. Adding to the political turmoil, a court order in May nullified the CHP’s 2023 congress and removed the party’s leadership.

Turkish authorities maintain that the country’s courts operate independently and without political influence.

Wednesday’s proceedings centered on the most serious case Imamoglu is facing. Prosecutors allege he used his position as head of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality to run a criminal organization engaged in widespread corrupt activity. He is confronting 142 charges in total, including allegations that he built what prosecutors dubbed the “Imamoglu criminal organization for profit” dating back to 2015, when he served as mayor of Istanbul’s Beylikduzu district.

The indictment, spanning 3,900 pages, claims the scheme was designed not only to financially enrich Imamoglu and his 413 co-defendants through bid rigging and bribery, but also to funnel money into his political rise within the CHP — a climb that ultimately led to his presidential candidacy.

Responding to the charges on Wednesday, Imamoglu insisted that prosecutors had failed to back up their claims, saying “not a single piece of evidence or document … Not a single audio recording could be presented” to support their case.

Should he be found guilty, the combined potential prison time he faces would exceed 2,000 years.

The court announced that the submission phase will wrap up Thursday, leaving Imamoglu just a single day to lay out his defense.

In a separate development Wednesday, the Bakirkoy Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul announced a new criminal investigation into Imamoglu, accusing him of “threatening a public official” based on remarks he made during the hearing. Specifically, prosecutors cited his statement that he would “judge those who prepared the indictment” against him.

On Monday, the 62nd session in the corruption case was scheduled at the same time as two other separate hearings involving Imamoglu — one concerning allegations that he fraudulently obtained his college degree in 1994, and another accusing him of political and military espionage.

The European Parliament’s rapporteur for Turkey, Nacho Sanchez Amor, drew attention to the overlap in timing with the NATO gathering. “These hearings are happening today because there’s a NATO summit in Ankara,” he told reporters gathered outside the courthouse Monday. “It’s statistically impossible that there can be three hearings for the same person for three cases on – a great surprise – the same day that attention is on Ankara with another summit.”

Imamoglu first rose to national prominence in 2019 when he delivered Istanbul to the CHP, wresting Turkey’s largest city away from Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party — known as the AKP — and its predecessor parties for the first time in a quarter century.

He successfully held onto the mayoral seat in the 2024 local elections, during which the CHP posted further notable gains against the AKP across the country.

Turkey’s next scheduled presidential and parliamentary elections are set for 2028, though the government has the option to call for earlier elections.

LONDON — More than seven decades after being hanged for shooting her abusive partner outside a London pub, Ruth Ellis — the last woman ever executed in Britain — is set to receive a conditional pardon, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy announced Wednesday.

Ellis was a 28-year-old single mother who worked as a nightclub hostess when she shot race-car driver David Blakely outside the Magdala pub in London’s Hampstead neighborhood on April 10, 1955. She was executed by hanging on July 13, 1955.

“While the pardon does not claim she was innocent of killing David Blakely, it replaces the death penalty with a sentence of life imprisonment to recognize a profound injustice in this exceptional case,” Lammy said.

The case gripped the nation at the time, turning Ellis into a widely discussed public figure. On the day she was executed, a crowd of 1,000 people gathered outside Holloway Prison in north London to hold a silent vigil.

Her case is widely credited with reshaping British law. During her trial, she was prohibited from arguing that the emotional toll of the abuse she suffered influenced her actions. Just two years after her execution, Parliament passed legislation allowing defendants to use a diminished responsibility defense.

The push for a pardon came from Ellis’s grandchildren, who spent years fighting to have her conviction reduced. They argued that the repeated sexual, emotional, and physical abuse she endured was never taken into account — not during the trial and not afterward, when she could have been spared from execution.

“Justice has finally been done,” said Laura Enston, a granddaughter of Ellis, in a written statement. “This pardon does not undo what happened 71 years ago. It does not restore the lives that were broken — the children left behind, the years lost. But it says, formally and finally, that Ruth should not have been executed; that the justice system failed her. That acknowledgment matters profoundly to our family.”

Lawyers for the family filed for the pardon last year, presenting evidence that Ellis likely suffered from what is now referred to as “battered woman syndrome.”

According to the Mishcon de Reya law firm, which represented the family, Ellis and multiple witnesses — including friends and medical professionals — described how Blakely threatened to kill her and repeatedly assaulted her in public, including pushing her down stairs. At one point, she was reportedly struck in the abdomen with such force that it caused a miscarriage.

Despite all of this, jurors were specifically instructed not to take into account that Ellis had been “badly treated by her lover.” The trial lasted barely more than a day, and the jury returned its verdict in under 30 minutes.

Attorneys who sought the pardon argued that if the diminished responsibility defense had existed at the time, Ellis would have faced a manslaughter conviction at most and would not have been sentenced to death.

Britain suspended capital punishment in 1965 and permanently abolished it in 1970.

Enston also spoke about the lasting damage the execution caused to Ellis’s two children — her mother and uncle.

“My uncle took his own life; my mother’s trauma left her unable to be the parent we needed,” Enston said. “The shadow of Ruth’s execution has fallen across two generations. We have carried shame that was never ours to bear.”

The story of Ruth Ellis has been told on screen multiple times, including in the 1985 feature film “Dance with a Stranger” and a miniseries that aired on ITV last year titled “A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story.”

Civilian and naval search teams off the coast of Pakistan located and recovered wreckage Wednesday from a cargo plane that disappeared while on approach to the southern port city of Karachi, with the hunt for five missing crew members still ongoing, officials confirmed.

The aircraft, belonging to private carrier K2 Airways, had taken off from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. Before contact was lost, the crew reported a problem with the plane’s navigational system. Radar and radio contact went silent late Tuesday night.

Pakistan’s Airports Authority announced on X that navy vessels and civilian aircraft and ships found the wreckage after roughly 12 hours of searching in the Arabian Sea. The effort to locate the five people who were on board continues.

Three officials with knowledge of the search operation, speaking anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the situation, said rescue teams are facing major obstacles — including a vast search zone and turbulent monsoon-season waters.

Pakistan’s Airports Authority previously reported that radar data captured the plane making a sudden change in direction and dropping rapidly before disappearing from radar at approximately 9:21 p.m., at a point roughly 155 nautical miles — about 178 miles — west of Karachi.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered his condolences to the families of the missing crew members and ordered the government to commit every available resource to the search, according to a statement from his office.

K2 Airways released a statement identifying the five missing crew members as Capt. Muhammad Rizwan Idris, First Officer Faisal Jatoi, flight engineers Muhammad Hamid and Muhammad Arif Siddiqui, and aircraft loader Muhammad Taufiq Khan. “We continue to pray earnestly for the safety of our colleagues,” the airline said.

Aviation expert Imran Aslam, speaking to local broadcaster ARY News on Tuesday night, said the cause of the disappearance remained unknown. He noted that even a complete engine failure would typically allow a plane to glide rather than drop abruptly from radar. He added that investigators would need to gather more evidence before the true cause could be determined.

Pakistan has experienced notable aviation disasters in recent years. In May 2020, a Pakistan International Airlines flight carrying 98 passengers and crew went down in a heavily populated area near Karachi’s airport while attempting to land. All but one of the 99 people on board lost their lives. A subsequent government inquiry determined that mistakes made by the pilots and air traffic controllers were responsible for the crash.

Pakistani search and rescue teams discovered the wreckage of a missing Boeing cargo plane Wednesday following a 12-hour deep-sea search operation off the coast of Karachi, as crews continued working to locate the five people who were on board, officials confirmed.

The Pakistan Airports Authority reported that the wreckage of the K2 Airways Boeing 737 was found approximately 53 nautical miles — or about 98 kilometers — south of Ormara port.

The Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency deployed what authorities described as “various air and sea borne assets” to locate the debris field. The search for the crew members was still ongoing, officials said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had previously ordered authorities to accelerate the search effort for the 27-year-old converted freighter, which disappeared over the Arabian Sea after the crew reported a problem with the aircraft’s navigational system.

K2 Airways identified the five people on board as two pilots, two engineers, and one support staff member. While no official determination has been made regarding their fate, Prime Minister Sharif offered his “heartfelt condolences” to the families of those on board.

According to flight-tracking service Flightradar24, the aircraft may have gone down in the sea southwest of Karachi following a series of dramatic altitude changes that culminated in a steep final dive.

The plane’s navigational system issue was first reported at 9:18 p.m. Pakistan Standard Time — 1618 GMT — while the aircraft was heading toward Karachi, the airports authority said. Local air traffic controllers attempted to assist the crew, but just three minutes later, radar showed the plane dropping rapidly and all communication was lost. At that point, the aircraft was approximately 155 nautical miles, or 287 kilometers, west of Karachi.

Flightradar24’s final tracking data painted a chaotic picture of the plane’s last moments — dropping roughly 5,000 feet in under a minute, then climbing about 6,000 feet in just 30 seconds, before entering a catastrophic plunge from an altitude of 36,550 feet. The last data point recorded the plane at 1,100 feet above sea level, descending at a vertical rate of minus 22,400 feet per minute — equivalent to approximately 400 kilometers per hour — an extraordinarily steep and abnormal rate of descent.

The aircraft involved is a Boeing 737-400, a model two generations older than the 737 MAX that has been at the center of a separate aviation safety controversy. Its engines were manufactured by CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aerospace and France’s Safran.

According to Flightradar24, the plane was originally delivered as a passenger aircraft to Russia’s Aeroflot in 1999 and was later converted to a freighter in 2012. It was K2 Airways’ sole aircraft and had only entered service with the carrier in 2024. The plane’s most recent previous flight was recorded on June 28.

K2 Airways stated it is cooperating fully with the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and other government agencies. Boeing has not issued a comment at this time.

If confirmed as a fatal crash, it would mark Pakistan’s first aviation disaster of this kind since 2020, when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A320 fell short of the runway in Karachi, claiming the lives of 97 people.

Car ownership in Singapore just got even more out of reach. The price of a government-issued certificate required to own a small car in the city-state has climbed to an all-time high, approaching $100,000 — a record for smaller vehicle categories.

Singapore controls the number of vehicles on its roads through a system that auctions a set number of “certificates of entitlement,” each granting the holder the right to own a car for ten years. The program keeps the total number of vehicles in the country at roughly 1 million — a significant limit for a nation of 6.1 million people that can be driven across in under an hour.

These auctions have already earned Singapore the title of the world’s most expensive place to purchase a car, and the latest figures suggest that distinction isn’t going away anytime soon.

Certificates for small vehicles — those with engines under 1.6 litres — have jumped to four times what they cost before the pandemic, with no indication that prices will ease. Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow addressed the issue in parliament back in May, explaining that demand remains high due to competitive pricing on electric vehicles, while the number of small-car certificates being offered at auction has been shrinking.

To put the certificate price in perspective: that single document now costs the equivalent of four Toyota Corollas purchased in the United States. When you factor in the certificate, registration fees, and taxes, buying that same Toyota Corolla in Singapore carries a total price tag of S$179,888 — roughly $139,000 U.S. dollars.

That figure is staggering when compared to the typical household income in Singapore. The median annual household salary stands at S$149,352, and even a small government-subsidized apartment starts at around S$139,000.

The current record for small-car certificates comes after a gradual climb. Back in October 2023, certificates for larger vehicles crossed the $100,000 threshold while small-car certificates were sitting at about $77,500. Prices for the smaller category started this year at $78,844 (S$102,009) at the first auction and have risen steadily since.

In response to the high costs, many automakers adjust the engines on popular models specifically for the Singapore market, tuning them down so the vehicles qualify for the less expensive small-car certificate category.

(Exchange rate: $1 = 1.2938 Singapore dollars)

At least five children lost their lives Wednesday when a landslide fueled by monsoon rains crashed through an Islamic school inside a Rohingya refugee camp in the Cox’s Bazar district of southeastern Bangladesh, according to a local fire official.

The camp is home to more than one million refugees. Dollar Tripura, the area’s top fire and civil defense official, confirmed that the landslide struck while children were in the middle of their classes.

Tripura said rescuers were able to pull five additional children from the rubble with injuries, though officials feared more victims could still be trapped beneath the debris.

Search and rescue efforts were still underway as of Wednesday evening.

The tragedy follows a separate series of landslides just three days prior, which claimed the lives of at least eight people at other Rohingya camps in the same region.

Weather forecasters in the nation’s capital, Dhaka, warned that additional rainfall is expected over the coming days.

Officials said they have been working to move refugees away from dangerous hillside areas, with more than 1,000 people already relocated. However, authorities noted that many refugees are hesitant to abandon their temporary shelters, even when warned of the risks.

Bangladesh has long called on the international community to support efforts to return Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, but that repatriation process remains at a standstill.

Global markets and oil prices have been thrown into turmoil after the United States and Iran exchanged new strikes, with President Donald Trump suggesting that fragile peace negotiations between the two nations may be finished.

The stakes are enormous — the lives of Iranians and people throughout the broader region, including those in Israel and Lebanon, foreign nationals living in Gulf countries, American military personnel stationed across multiple nations, and thousands of sailors aboard ships hoping to pass through the Strait of Hormuz all hang in the balance.

Below is a chronological look at how the conflict and diplomatic efforts have unfolded:

The war began when Israel and the U.S. launched attacks on Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei along with other senior officials. Iran responded swiftly with strikes against Israel and targets across the Gulf region, while also asserting control over the Strait of Hormuz — a critical passage for the world’s oil and natural gas supplies.

Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, joined the fighting by launching rockets into Israel. Israel struck back, eventually launching a ground invasion that came to occupy large portions of southern Lebanon.

In the wake of Khamenei’s death, Iran named his son Mojtaba as the new supreme leader. Mojtaba has not appeared publicly and is believed to be in hiding, reportedly having been injured during the initial strikes that started the war.

A shaky two-week ceasefire was negotiated — though Israel was left out of those discussions entirely.

The U.S. and Iran held historic face-to-face talks in Pakistan’s capital, but the hours-long session concluded without any agreement being reached.

Trump announced that the U.S. had begun blocking Iranian ports in an effort to pressure Tehran into relinquishing its hold on the strait.

For the first time in decades, Lebanon and Israel held direct diplomatic talks in Washington.

Iran announced it had reopened the strait to shipping traffic, but that opening proved short-lived.

Trump declared he was extending the ceasefire indefinitely.

Trump also announced a U.S. effort to escort ships through the strait — an initiative that also did not hold.

Israel’s ground campaign in Lebanon pushed further than it had in more than 25 years, even as Hezbollah kept up rocket attacks on northern Israel.

Israel and Lebanon said they had agreed to renew their fragile ceasefire and establish security zones designed to keep Hezbollah out — but both sides quickly resumed firing at one another.

Iran launched strikes at Israel for the first time since a ceasefire had taken effect in early April, and Israel returned fire.

Trump announced that an interim agreement had been reached with Iran and would be signed within days. Iran maintained the deal also meant an end to fighting in Lebanon.

Trump signed a formal agreement with Iran requiring Tehran to reduce its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The deal also waived U.S.-backed sanctions, immediately allowing Iran to sell its oil on the open market.

Vice President JD Vance said new discussions with senior Iranian officials held in Switzerland had created a “good foundation for a successful final deal.”

Israel and Lebanon announced a U.S.-backed framework agreement, described as an initial step toward lasting peace.

Host nation Qatar reported that U.S. and Iranian negotiators met separately with mediators from Qatar and Pakistan, with “positive progress made.”

Iran’s joint military command issued a warning that all oil tankers moving through the strait must follow its approved shipping routes or face a “forceful response.”

Iran held a multi-day funeral for the late Supreme Leader Khamenei. Talks aimed at reaching a final deal on both the war and Iran’s nuclear program were expected to pick back up after the ceremonies concluded.

Iran was then accused of striking three vessels in the strait on a single day — the highest number since late April. The U.S. responded by hitting dozens of targets inside Iran and reinstating sanctions on Iranian oil sales. Iran’s chief negotiator declared that “The era of bullying and extortion is over.”

Trump then announced that the ceasefire itself was “over,” though he left open the possibility that negotiations could continue — a statement that has raised serious fears the broader conflict could reignite.

The International Monetary Fund has once again trimmed its outlook for global economic growth in 2026, bringing the forecast down to 3.0% while flagging continued risks tied to the ongoing war in the Middle East, the fragmentation of international trade, and the possibility of a market correction tied to artificial intelligence expectations.

The Washington-based lending institution said the world economy had managed to avoid a more severe downturn despite the war, with strong demand in the technology sector helping to make up for reduced energy supplies caused by the conflict. Growth is expected to climb back to 3.4% in 2027 — though that figure still falls short of the 3.5% average recorded in both 2024 and 2025.

The IMF also bumped up its 2026 global inflation forecast by 0.3 percentage points compared to its April projection, bringing it to 4.7%. Inflation is then expected to ease to 3.9% in 2027. Energy prices are currently running 25% higher than they were before the war broke out on February 28 and are expected to stay elevated. The updated forecast assumes the Strait of Hormuz will begin reopening in mid-July, with conditions returning to prewar levels by March 2027.

“The global economy as a whole has, so far, weathered the shock from the war better than feared,” the IMF wrote in its updated World Economic Outlook. The fund noted that energy-exporting nations and countries deeply connected to the tech sector are faring better, while commodity-importing nations with little exposure to AI-related growth have generally seen their forecasts cut.

Global trade growth is expected to slow sharply — from 5% in 2025, a year when businesses rushed to get ahead of U.S. tariffs, down to 3.5% in 2026, before recovering to 4.3% in 2027.

Deniz Igan, who leads the World Economic Studies division of the IMF Research Department, said the global economy is showing more resilience than analysts expected back in April, even as the war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz continue to create challenges. She said higher prices and weaker confidence have been partially offset by the release of strategic oil reserves and commercial stockpiles, along with improvements in energy efficiency. Businesses have also adapted by finding new shipping routes and alternative supply sources.

“So far things have been okay, but that doesn’t take away the risk factors that are there, particularly with the war,” Igan told Reuters. She warned that if the current peace deal collapses and fighting resumes, the consequences could be severe — especially since most countries have already drawn down their reserves and have limited flexibility to respond.

Adding to those concerns, the U.S. military launched a fresh round of strikes against Iran on Tuesday and revoked a license that had allowed the country to sell oil, following attacks on three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The moves have put additional strain on an already fragile ceasefire.

“A renewed conflict in the region is going to catch the global economy in a worse position than it was the first time,” Igan said. She also cautioned that if many countries simultaneously try to rebuild their oil reserves, that could drive prices sharply higher.

“If there is a perception that this is going to be more prolonged, then both the incentive and the room to use those reserves is going to shrink very fast,” she added.

Igan noted that while inflation and inflation expectations have risen, the increase has been mostly short-term, with little sign so far that medium-term expectations are shifting.

The IMF’s updated report dropped the three separate war scenarios it had published in April — before the U.S. and Iran reached a ceasefire — and returned to a more conventional single baseline forecast. Comparisons are drawn against the April reference forecast, which had assumed a shorter conflict.

On individual economies, the IMF left its U.S. growth forecast for 2026 unchanged at 2.3% and nudged its 2027 projection up by 0.1 percentage point to 2.2%. The euro area’s 2026 forecast was cut to 0.9% from 1.1% in April, while the 2027 outlook held steady at 1.2%.

Japan’s 2026 growth estimate dipped 0.1 percentage point to 0.6%, while its 2027 forecast was raised by the same margin to 0.7%. Emerging market and developing economies saw their 2026 forecast trimmed by 0.1 percentage point to 3.8%, with 2027 raised by 0.3 points to 4.5%.

China’s 2026 growth is now projected at 4.6%, up from 4.4% in the April forecast, with 2027 expected at 4.1%, slightly above the prior estimate of 4.0%. India, one of the world’s fastest-expanding economies, saw a small downgrade to 6.4% for 2026 from 6.5% in April, but the IMF raised its 2027 forecast for India to 6.7% from 6.5%.

The Middle East and Central Asia region, which has been hit hardest by the war, had its 2026 growth forecast slashed by 1.2 percentage points to just 0.7%. However, the IMF also raised that region’s 2027 forecast by 1.9 percentage points to 6.5%, reflecting expectations of a significant recovery once the conflict subsides.

Speaking from Ankara, Turkey, where he was attending a NATO summit, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that the United States was preparing to launch another wave of strikes against Iran — just hours after he declared the existing ceasefire was finished.

When reporters asked about the possibility of returning to open hostilities, Trump did not hold back. “We hit them very hard last night,” he said. “We’ll probably hit them hard again tonight.”

Trump framed the ongoing strikes as retaliation for Iran’s attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, accusing the country of launching drones and a missile at ships. “They are behaving very badly,” he said of Iran.

While acknowledging that fears of a full reignition of the war were understandable, Trump declared the interim pause in fighting “over” — though he left the door slightly open for continued diplomacy. “For me, I think it’s over,” he said when asked about the ceasefire’s status. He added that U.S. representatives could keep talking, but expressed little confidence in the outcome. “They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time,” he said.

Formal negotiations toward a final agreement had been expected to begin after the multi-day funeral for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on Feb. 28 in the opening moments of the war. That funeral period, which concludes Thursday, was supposed to be a time of reduced hostilities. The planned talks were set to address the most difficult issues, including fully reopening the strait and rolling back Iran’s contested nuclear program.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf responded defiantly on social media platform X. “The era of bullying and extortion is over,” he wrote. “It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”

US Military Strikes Hit Iranian Targets

The U.S. military’s Central Command confirmed that American forces carried out strikes designed to “impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.” The military said it struck Iranian air-defense systems, radar installations, and more than 60 small watercraft operated by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Those vessels had been central to Iran’s strategy of threatening ships in the strait, a waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas flowed before the war began. Iran’s ability to choke off shipping there proved to be its most powerful strategic tool, and the resulting spike in energy, fertilizer, and food prices created pressure on the U.S. to negotiate. On Wednesday, the international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped more than 5% following Trump’s remarks.

The U.S. military stated it remains “prepared to hold Iran accountable when the agreement is not adhered to or obeyed,” and indicated this particular round of attacks had concluded.

Iranian state media reported explosions at multiple locations, including Bandar Mahshahr, where one member of the Revolutionary Guard was killed. Attacks were also reported near Bushehr, the site of Iran’s nuclear power plant complex.

Earlier Wednesday morning, both Bahrain — home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet — and Kuwait, where U.S. Army forces are stationed, activated missile alerts. The Revolutionary Guard issued a statement acknowledging it had targeted American military installations in both countries. Kuwait said it intercepted two ballistic missiles and 13 drones launched by Iran, and the country’s Electricity Ministry reported that power lines were knocked out after shrapnel fell on them.

A similar exchange of Iranian attacks on shipping and U.S. retaliatory strikes had taken place late last month, which also prompted Iranian attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait. Wednesday’s U.S. strikes occurred while Trump was in Turkey for the NATO summit.

Anwar Gargash, a senior diplomat from the United Arab Emirates, condemned Iran’s attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait, calling them “a clear indicator that Tehran remains incapable of committing to the requirements of de-escalation and turning the page on war.”

US Pulls Oil Sales License Granted to Iran

Prior to the latest strikes, the U.S. revoked a special license that had — for the first time in years — permitted Iran to conduct oil sales openly in U.S. dollars as part of the interim deal. Iran had long been suspected of selling sanctioned crude oil to China at below-market rates.

The license was pulled following the attacks on shipping. One tanker was struck and caught fire off the coast of Oman, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. Iranian state television said the vessel had been attacked after ignoring warnings but stopped short of claiming direct responsibility.

A spokesperson for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry, Majed al-Ansari, confirmed the tanker was carrying Qatari natural gas and called the attack an “unacceptable attack” on international navigation and global energy security. He said Qatar — which has served as a key mediator alongside Pakistan in the ongoing talks — holds Iran “fully legally responsible.” Two additional ships suffered minor damage but no injuries were reported, and both vessels continued on their routes, according to the U.K. agency.

Under the terms of the interim agreement, Iran and the U.S. had agreed to allow ships to pass through the strait without fees for 60 days. However, Tehran has insisted it must control the routes those vessels take and has pledged to eventually charge passage fees — a move that would overturn decades of established practice in the waterway. The ships struck Tuesday all appeared to be traveling a route near Oman’s coastline rather than one dictated by Iran. Both the U.S. and a number of Gulf Arab nations have made clear they will not accept Iran imposing charges for passage through the strait.

Funeral Services for Khamenei Held in Iraq

Funeral ceremonies for Khamenei were held Wednesday in the Iraqi city of Najaf. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attended, along with other Iranian and Iraqi officials including Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falah al-Zaidi. Funeral prayers were also planned at the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala. Khamenei’s remains are set to be returned to Iran for burial Thursday at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace.

WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund issued a downgraded outlook for the global economy on Wednesday, pointing to the energy shock triggered by the ongoing conflict involving Iran as a major drag on growth. However, a wave of investment in artificial intelligence and other technologies is helping to cushion some of that economic pain.

The IMF now projects the world economy will grow at a modest 3% pace in 2026 — a step back from 3.5% growth recorded last year and below the 3.1% the organization had predicted back in April.

The trouble began when Iran responded to U.S. and Israeli military strikes on February 28 by closing off the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping passage through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s crude oil and natural gas travels. The move sent energy prices sharply higher, putting pressure on both businesses and consumers around the world. The IMF now anticipates oil prices will climb nearly 32% this year, and that global consumer prices will rise 4.7% in 2026 — up from 4.1% in 2025. That would mean two years of hard-won progress against inflation has effectively stalled.

Nations that produce and export their own energy and are benefiting from the AI investment boom are largely shielded from the worst of the war’s economic fallout. The United States is one of those countries. The IMF expects the American economy — still the largest in the world — to grow a healthy 2.3% this year, an improvement over the 2.1% recorded in 2025 and in line with what the IMF had forecast in April. President Donald Trump’s 2025 tax cuts, productivity gains, and a strong stock market are all contributing to the U.S. economy’s resilience.

In contrast, the 21 European nations that share the euro currency are feeling the pinch of higher energy costs. Those countries combined are expected to grow just 0.9% this year, compared to 1.4% in 2025.

China, the second-largest economy in the world, is forecast to expand 4.6% this year — slower than the 5% seen in 2026 but slightly ahead of what the IMF had anticipated in April. While China is being weighed down by elevated energy prices and a collapse in its property market, government infrastructure spending, a rise in high-tech manufacturing, and strong export activity are helping to offset those headwinds.

India is once again on track to be the fastest-growing major economy in the world, with projected growth of 6.4% this year. That figure is down from a remarkable 7.7% last year but is still being driven by robust consumer spending.

The IMF is a 191-member lending institution focused on encouraging economic growth, maintaining financial stability, and reducing poverty worldwide.

LONDON (AP) — Nigel Farage has long claimed the political establishment is working against him. His latest effort to prove that point, however, has not unfolded as he may have hoped.

Facing mounting scrutiny over his personal finances, the anti-immigration Reform UK leader made a dramatic announcement: he is stepping down from his parliamentary seat to force a special election, then immediately declared his intention to run for that same seat again. Critics wasted no time calling it a calculated maneuver to escape a parliamentary ethics investigation. Farage framed the upcoming vote as a battle of “people versus the establishment.”

His political rivals, though, have refused to cooperate with the narrative. Every major political party has announced it will not put forward a candidate to run against Farage, meaning he will face little real opposition at the ballot box.

The strategy carries significant risk. If the parliamentary standards inquiry into his finances continues after he wins — which appears likely — and concludes he broke the rules, a second special election for his seat could be required within months.

Farage only entered Parliament two years ago after seven previous failed attempts to win a seat. Despite that rocky road, he is widely considered one of the most consequential British politicians of the past several decades. His relentless push to remove the United Kingdom from the European Union helped transform Brexit from a fringe idea into reality. More recently, he has channeled public anxiety about immigration and social change in ways that mirror the approach of his ally, U.S. President Donald Trump, and various European populist figures.

Farage has made political hay — his critics say he has deliberately inflamed tensions — over migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, referring to the phenomenon as an invasion. He has also claimed that white people face discrimination at the hands of police.

Reform UK holds just eight of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, yet the party consistently tops opinion polls and scored major victories in local and regional elections in May. Those results contributed to Prime Minister Keir Starmer being pushed out by members of his own Labour Party. If the current political trajectory continues, Farage could find himself in position to become prime minister following the next general election, which must be held by 2029.

Beyond his lawmaker’s salary, Farage draws income from a variety of sources, including selling gold bullion, hosting a television current affairs program, delivering paid public speeches, and recording personalized video messages through the Cameo platform.

Parliament’s standards watchdog is currently examining a donation of 5 million pounds — roughly $6.7 million — from Christopher Harborne, a cryptocurrency billionaire based in Thailand. Farage maintains the money was a personal gift used to cover the cost of his private security, and that it was given before he was elected to the House of Commons. Under parliamentary rules, newly elected members must disclose gifts exceeding 300 pounds (about $400) received in the prior 12 months if those gifts are connected to political activities.

Farage is also under scrutiny for his financial ties to George Cottrell, an aristocratic entrepreneur in the crypto-gambling space who previously served a U.S. prison sentence for fraud.

A finding that Farage violated parliamentary rules could result in his suspension, which would itself trigger a special election for his seat — the coastal constituency of Clacton in eastern England.

Rather than wait for the investigation to run its course, Farage chose to force that election himself.

But political observers note that if he wins — as most expect — the standards inquiry will likely pick up where it left off. A finding of wrongdoing could then set off a second Clacton election in short order.

Farage has publicly expressed frustration and exhaustion with political life, and he has a track record of walking away from parties he once led. He previously stepped down from both the UK Independence Party and its successor, the Brexit Party, over the past decade.

Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, believes Farage will ultimately stay in the fight to lead Reform into the next general election.

“Fighting and winning a by-election is perhaps his best hope of suggesting to people that he is still very much a man alone, fighting the establishment,” Bale said.

Farage insists he has “done nothing wrong” and portrays himself as the target of dirty tricks by political enemies and “constant demonization” by media outlets. He says his need for substantial funds is partly driven by serious threats to his personal safety that require private security.

Bale acknowledged the strategy offers Farage some cover, saying it “allows him to distract from the details of that story and those allegations.” But he cautioned that Farage risks coming across “as a self-pitying, angry guy on an ego trip who is determined to distract people from some awkward facts.”

Political opponents called the resignation a stunt and a sign that Farage is struggling. Reform UK has dropped three consecutive special elections it had hoped to win, raising questions about whether the party’s support is beginning to soften. The most recent defeat came against Labour’s Andy Burnham, who is widely expected to succeed Starmer as prime minister within weeks.

With Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, and the Green Party all declining to run candidates against Farage, the field is essentially open to single-issue campaigners and novelty candidates — including a comedian known as Count Binface, who campaigns with a trash can over his head.

The person behind the costume is Jon Harvey, who describes himself as a 5,000-year-old intergalactic space warrior. Harvey is a recurring presence in high-profile British elections, with no serious expectation of winning. His past opponents have included former Conservative Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and most recently, Burnham.

Dressed in the style of a low-budget science fiction film, Binface mixes absurdist humor with hyper-local policy proposals, such as synchronizing traffic lights on a congested street or relocating the hand dryer in the Crown & Treaty Pub in Uxbridge “to a more sensible location.”

In his most recent race against Burnham, his top campaign promise was to “cut your taxes, and raise everyone else’s.” He also maintains a standing pledge to cap the price of croissants at 1.10 pounds, or about $1.47.

Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday, Binface said his central pitch to Clacton voters would be simple: “I’m not Nigel Farage.” He suggested that the absence of mainstream candidates said more about those parties than about him.

“Are they running scared from old Binny, or do they think that Nigel’s running a cunning stunt?” he said.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani military announced Wednesday that insurgents killed 18 police officers who had been held captive since earlier in the week, along with 11 soldiers who died in a separate attack in the troubled southwestern part of the country.

The bloodshed represents the latest flare-up in a region where armed groups have been intensifying their assaults on both security forces and civilians.

Military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry stated at a televised press conference that the combined death toll since Monday has reached 42 people, with most of the victims being soldiers and police officers. He added that security forces had killed 54 insurgents across multiple operations during that same timeframe.

According to Chaudhry, the 18 officers had been in captivity since late Monday, when dozens of militants stormed a police post in Ziarat district in Balochistan province, killing nine additional officers in that initial assault. He identified the attackers as members of what the Pakistani government refers to as “Fitna al-Khawarij” — a label the government applies to the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army, or BLA, which Pakistan claims receives backing from India. India has denied any support for insurgent organizations operating inside Pakistan.

The 11 soldiers who died Wednesday were killed when insurgents ambushed the vehicle they were traveling in along a highway in Balochistan, Chaudhry said, adding that armed groups have struck at civilians and security personnel across several areas since Monday.

His statements came shortly after the BLA claimed credit for a series of recent attacks on security forces in Balochistan, a province where the Pakistani Taliban — known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan — also holds a significant presence.

Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province by land area but its least populated. It has been the site of a long-running separatist insurgency as well as repeated attacks by the Pakistani Taliban. The BLA, which was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States in 2019, has taken responsibility for a large number of attacks targeting both security forces and civilians in the province over recent years.

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Eight children lost their lives and five others were hurt Wednesday when torrential monsoon rains caused a landslide that buried a madrassa at a Rohingya refugee camp in southeastern Bangladesh, according to officials.

Rescuers pulled 13 children from beneath the mud and debris that had engulfed the religious school. Eight of those children did not survive, while the remaining five were taken to medical facilities within the camp for treatment.

The tragedy follows a series of deadly weather events in the same area earlier this week. Separate rain-triggered landslides had already claimed the lives of eight Rohingya refugees — including women and children — in the camps just days before Wednesday’s disaster.

More than 1.2 million Rohingya refugees are crowded into camps in Cox’s Bazar, which is recognized as the world’s largest refugee settlement. The population fled to Bangladesh after a military crackdown in neighboring Buddhist-majority Myanmar in 2017.

The vast majority of families there live in temporary shelters constructed from bamboo and tarpaulins, perched on steep, deforested hillsides that offer little protection against the landslides that threaten the region each monsoon season.

Authorities have been working to move families away from the most dangerous areas as rainfall continues to intensify the risk. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department has predicted additional rain in the days ahead, and officials say they are remaining on high alert for further landslides and flash flooding.

SAO PAULO — Brazilian federal police descended on the home of former President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday, conducting a search for weapons and ammunition that ultimately turned up nothing, according to one of his attorneys.

Lawyer Joao Henrique de Freitas shared the outcome in a post on X, writing: “The defense had already previously informed the whereabouts of all the weapons. Result: Nothing was found.”

The Brazilian newspaper Estadao first broke the story, reporting that Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had authorized the search.

Bolsonaro, who is 71 years old, has been behind bars since November, serving a 27-year prison sentence after being convicted of plotting to overthrow the government following his loss to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the 2022 election.

Just last Friday, Justice Moraes granted Bolsonaro permission to serve his sentence under house arrest, citing health concerns. The former president has dealt with significant medical issues in recent years stemming from a stabbing he suffered while campaigning back in 2018.

Adding to the legal complications, a gun belonging to Bolsonaro was confiscated from one of his security team members at a police checkpoint last month. Despite that incident, Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet — in an opinion sought by Moraes — recommended that Bolsonaro be allowed to remain under house arrest.

A Qatari tanker carrying liquefied natural gas, known as LNG, faced the possibility of an explosion after sustaining serious damage during an attack on the Omani side of the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, according to one source.

Although the LNG industry has seen accidents at land-based facilities over the years, a catastrophic explosion of an LNG cargo tank aboard a commercial vessel at sea has never occurred. Still, growing concerns have emerged as warring parties in both the Ukraine and Iran conflicts have increasingly targeted energy shipping vessels.

Tuesday’s attack on the tanker Al Rekayyat is the second time this year an LNG ship has been drawn into a war-related incident. Back in March, a Russian LNG tanker called the Arctic Metagaz caught fire in the Mediterranean Sea after being struck by Ukrainian naval drones, forcing its crew to abandon ship — an account provided by Russia’s transport ministry.

What exactly is LNG, and how is it transported?

LNG is natural gas that has been chilled to approximately minus 162 degrees Celsius, or minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit. That extreme cooling converts the gas into liquid form and reduces its volume by roughly 600 times, which makes it far more practical and cost-effective to ship across oceans.

The liquid is held in heavily insulated cryogenic tanks that maintain those extremely cold temperatures. At export terminals, the LNG is loaded onto specialized carrier ships built with double hulls and insulated cargo tanks engineered to keep the gas cold for the entire journey.

During transport, a small portion of the LNG naturally evaporates. If not managed, this so-called boil-off gas builds up pressure inside the tanks. Ships typically capture this gas and use it as fuel for their engines.

What dangers does LNG pose?

In its liquid state, LNG does not burn. The danger emerges if LNG leaks, warms up and converts back to gas, blends with air at the right ratio, and then encounters an ignition source.

To guard against these risks, LNG vessels are equipped with double-hull construction, multiple containment barriers, gas detection systems, pressure-relief equipment, emergency shutdown systems, firefighting tools, and strict operational protocols backed by thorough crew training.

Could the Al Rekayyat actually explode?

The Al Rekayyat reported a fire in its engine room, and a source indicated the ship was at risk of exploding — though there was no sign that the LNG cargo tanks had been breached. All crew members were evacuated without injury.

In theory, any LNG carrier could face catastrophic risk if damage causes a large LNG release, forms a flammable gas cloud, and that cloud reaches an ignition source. However, modern LNG vessels are built with multiple layers of protection specifically designed to stop any ignition from reaching the cargo tanks. Industry experts emphasize that an engine room fire does not automatically lead to an explosion.

The danger would grow significantly if the fire were to spread to the cargo systems, damage the containment tanks, or trigger a major LNG leak.

One industry source said Wednesday that as long as the Al Rekayyat does not come under any additional attack, the vessel would likely remain in its current condition and not explode.

Pakistan’s military announced Wednesday that 42 members of its security forces — including both police and army personnel — have been killed following three separate militant attacks in Balochistan, a troubled province in the country’s southwestern region.

The attacks took place beginning July 6, according to military officials. In addition to the security personnel who died, the military reported that 54 militants were also killed during the course of the three incidents.

Balochistan has long been a region of unrest, and the latest wave of violence marks a significant loss for Pakistani security forces in a short period of time.

(Note: The views expressed in this analysis are those of the author, Reuters Breakingviews columnist Pierre Briancon.)

French courts have already sent a former president to prison. Now they have handed down a detention sentence to a potential future one — far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Unlike that former president, who actually served prison time, the most Le Pen can expect is home confinement with an electronic ankle bracelet, a situation she is hoping to overturn through an appeal.

Regardless of her legal troubles, Le Pen announced Tuesday that she plans to enter the presidential race scheduled for April 2027. This time, she stands a genuine chance of reaching the Élysée Palace. Bond markets appear largely unconcerned about the populist economic proposals her party is advancing, or her capacity to handle the country’s finances. That calm may be misplaced.

Whoever steps into the presidency after Emmanuel Macron will face a country in deep financial difficulty. Recent French governments have repeatedly failed to rein in out-of-control budget deficits. The national public debt has now climbed to €3.6 trillion — a 60% jump since Macron took office more than nine years ago. According to the IMF, that debt is on pace to hit 120% of GDP next year. Budget deficits have exceeded 5% of economic output for three straight years and are unlikely to shrink significantly in the near term. The 2027 budget debate is expected to be a fierce battle, given a fragmented parliament and a crowded field of nearly 20 declared presidential candidates so far.

Over the years, Le Pen has pulled back from some of her more extreme earlier positions. She has abandoned her push to exit the euro, softened her pro-Russia stance on Ukraine, and even took aim at U.S. President Donald Trump, calling his approach to Iran “erratic.” Still, core elements of her economic agenda have stayed in place. She has consistently opposed government efforts to raise the retirement age to shore up the pension system. Her central argument — that reducing immigration will generate enough savings to pay for tax cuts for both households and businesses — is widely viewed as unrealistic.

Le Pen and her protégé Jordan Bardella, the 29-year-old she elevated to party leader while dealing with her legal battles, have been making overtures to the business community. In April, they sent a letter to business leaders saying they wanted to “listen” to them and identify what was holding back economic growth. This has fueled speculation that Le Pen might follow the example of Italy’s right-wing prime minister, who surprised many in Europe by managing her country’s finances with unexpected restraint over the past four years — even with a debt load of 140% of GDP. Italy’s borrowing costs have gradually moved closer to France’s, with both countries’ 10-year bond yields now within a percentage point of Germany’s.

While nothing is off the table, Le Pen remains committed to an interventionist economic approach centered on government benefits aimed at her core supporters in France’s struggling industrial regions. She has a long way to go before she can offer a convincing roadmap for addressing France’s serious fiscal challenges.

BACKGROUND: A French appeals court on July 7 upheld Le Pen’s conviction for misappropriating European funds but reduced the length of her ban from holding elected office, potentially reopening the door for her 2027 presidential run. The court imposed a three-year jail sentence, suspending two years of it, and ordered her to wear an electronic ankle tag for one year — a condition that could make running a presidential campaign both politically and practically difficult.

Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right movement, received a mixed welcome Wednesday as she took her presidential campaign to the streets of La Fleche, a small town in western France’s Loire Valley — just one day after an appeals court ruled she could still run despite confirming her criminal conviction.

As Le Pen worked the crowd at a local street market, some bystanders shouted “Give the money back!” and “Go to jail!” while others rallied behind her with chants of “Marine, President!” — a vivid snapshot of the deep divisions her candidacy is stirring across the country.

On Tuesday, the Paris appeals court upheld Le Pen’s March 2025 conviction for misappropriating European Parliament funds to pay staff members of her party. However, the court reduced the length of her ban from seeking public office, clearing the path for her campaign.

At 57, Le Pen has made three previous bids for the French presidency. Her anti-immigrant party, the National Rally, currently leads opinion polls, giving her a renewed push toward what would be a historic win as France’s first far-right president in modern times.

The appeals court had also ordered Le Pen to wear an electronic ankle tag for one year — a requirement that would have forced her to return home each night during the campaign. However, Le Pen announced she is taking the case to France’s highest court, and that appeal has temporarily suspended the ankle tag requirement.

Le Pen’s political protégé, 30-year-old Jordan Bardella, had been prepared by the National Rally to serve as the party’s candidate in her place. Now that Le Pen is back in the race, she has said that if she wins the presidency, Bardella will serve as her prime minister.

Bardella joined Le Pen in La Fleche on Wednesday — a town that has traditionally leaned left but elected a 25-year-old National Rally mayor, Romain Lemoigne, back in March. Supporters eagerly sought photos with Le Pen, with one exclaiming, “Marine, you’re the best!”

Le Pen appears to be drawing a parallel to former U.S. President Donald Trump, banking on voters setting aside her legal troubles and focusing instead on her promise to strengthen French sovereignty.

Her campaign team had already unveiled a new website earlier in the day, featuring an image of Le Pen with arms outstretched on a stage and the slogan: “For France, Revival.”

Speaking to reporters in La Fleche, Le Pen explained the meaning behind that message, saying it stood for “the revival of education, the revival of the justice system, the revival of security for our fellow citizens, the revival of control over our borders, and the revival of our sovereignty.”

Polling analyst Adélaïde Zulfikapasic of BVA pollsters said she believes Le Pen will likely advance to the second-round runoff of the presidential election, scheduled for May 2, due to her strong and loyal voter base.

“There is a degree of ambivalence among French voters: when asked which qualities they most want in a president, they point to honesty and probity. In practice, however, they tend to be less demanding,” Zulfikapasic said.

Still, the analyst noted that Le Pen’s bigger challenge will be expanding beyond her existing supporters, and that the guilty verdict could make winning over new voters more difficult.

Officials at France’s highest court, known as the Cour de Cassation, have previously indicated they aim to issue a ruling in early 2027, ahead of the election. If that court upholds Tuesday’s judgment, Le Pen could be required to wear the electronic monitoring device during the final stretch of her campaign.

CAIRO — More than 20 civilians have been killed in a series of drone strikes on civilian vehicles in Sudan over recent days, according to human rights organizations, as the use of unmanned aircraft grows increasingly widespread in the war-torn nation.

The Sudan Doctors Network reported Wednesday that a drone struck the outskirts of Khartoum, killing 10 civilians — among them five women from the same family — who were on their way to a wedding. The medical aid organization, which has been documenting violence between Sudan’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces throughout the conflict’s four-year span, attributed Tuesday’s attack to the RSF. The strike occurred on a road west of Omdurman, a city neighboring the capital, Khartoum. Everyone aboard the vehicle, which burst into flames, died.

The group described the strike as “deliberate and carried out using a guided drone” and urged the international community to put pressure on RSF leadership to end attacks on civilians.

A separate incident on Tuesday saw a drone hit a transport vehicle near a water facility in the province, claiming two more lives, according to Emergency Lawyers, a group that monitors violence across Sudan. The day before, 13 civilians — including five women — were killed when a drone struck their vehicle as they traveled to a wedding in the town of al-Shaatout in North Kordofan province, the same group reported.

Emergency Lawyers described the violence as part of a troubling trend, stating: “This attack is part of an escalating pattern of drone attacks on civilians as drones continue to fly over the northern parts of the province…monitoring residents’ movements.”

North Kordofan province has experienced a significant increase in drone strikes, amid repeated warnings from international observers about RSF forces advancing on the strategically important city of el-Obeid, which is home to the army’s 5th Infantry Division. According to the United Nations, drone attacks on the city have damaged civilian infrastructure, including power facilities and residential neighborhoods, as well as bridges and critical supply routes.

The war in Sudan erupted in April 2023 following long-standing tensions between the national army and the RSF. Since then, the conflict has claimed the lives of at least 59,000 people, forced roughly 13 million from their homes, and driven large portions of the country into famine. More than 30 million people are currently in need of humanitarian aid.

CLACTON, England — Nigel Farage, the 62-year-old leader of Britain’s populist Reform UK party, has made a bold political wager by triggering a special election for his own parliamentary seat. The unusual move could result in his only competition coming from Count Binface — a satirical character who wears a silver trash can as a helmet.

Farage, currently under investigation by parliament over millions of pounds in gifts from wealthy supporters, announced Tuesday that he wanted voters in his Clacton district in southeast England to weigh in on his conduct themselves. He described the parliamentary standards committee examining him as a “political tool” wielded by those threatened by his electoral rise, and characterized the scrutiny as coming from a liberal “establishment” determined to bring him down. He has denied any wrongdoing.

However, within hours of his announcement, every major political party declared they would sit out the Clacton vote, calling it a “stunt” meant to shift focus away from questions about his personal finances.

That decision left the field open for Count Binface — the creation of comedian Jonathan Harvey — who announced his candidacy on X. The character, who previously went by the name Lord Buckethead, has run against three prime ministers over the past decade as a way of poking fun at politics while, he says, honoring democracy.

“I will be a unity candidate and pledge to build at least one affordable house,” Count Binface posted on X.

Dressed in a silver outfit with a matching cape and his signature trash can helmet, Binface called on Clacton residents to give “your friendly neighbourhood intergalactic space warrior” the 10 nominations required to appear on the ballot.

Reactions from Clacton residents on Wednesday were varied. While some expressed confusion over the move, and a few said it confirmed their belief that Farage makes everything about himself, the majority said they still supported the longtime Brexit campaigner on issues they care most about, including immigration.

Zoe Banks, a 53-year-old office worker who did not vote for Farage in 2024 — saying she felt no politician could truly change things — told reporters she had no issue with the money in question as long as it was obtained legally, and that she believed he was being targeted by the political establishment.

“He’ll walk it,” she said of the upcoming vote. “This time I might actually vote for him, because if he’s not broken any rule … then, yeah, he’s got a right to complain.”

Bus driver Ray Lynaugh, 54, took a sharply different view.

“I dislike the man immensely,” he told Reuters. “What he stands for, what he’s done to the country. He is self-serving, self-centred. He’s an abysmal human being. Why people vote for him, I don’t know.”

For members of the governing Labour Party, the opposition Conservatives, and other parties, the prospect of Count Binface being Farage’s lone challenger underscores what they view as the ridiculousness of the whole situation.

“Nigel Farage vs Count Binface neatly illustrates the farce that is the Clacton by-election,” said Conservative lawmaker Ben Obese-Jecty.

Reform UK, however, sees the mainstream parties’ boycott as proof of their fear of facing Farage directly. Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs policy chief, argued on BBC News that established parties believe it is “their birthright to have a stranglehold over British politics, and that is why Nigel Farage is so threatening to that.”

ROME — A new legislative proposal introduced Wednesday by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party would fast-track the removal of foreign nationals convicted of crimes and expand the government’s ability to strip them of Italian citizenship.

Under the draft bill, any non-EU citizen sentenced to more than one year behind bars would be sent back to their home country, whether or not they agree to go. Party members unveiled the measure at a parliamentary press conference.

The deportations would be carried out through bilateral agreements that Italy would negotiate with the offenders’ home nations. Those facing removal would have very few options to fight deportation — limited mainly to cases where they could face inhumane treatment or the death penalty upon return. Anyone sent back under the program would be permanently banned from re-entering Italy.

Brothers of Italy lawmaker Sara Kelany said the bill would also widen the list of crimes that could result in the loss of Italian citizenship for those born outside the country.

Separately, Italy’s parliament is already debating a related measure put forward by coalition partner the League, which would tighten the rules around obtaining citizenship and make it easier to strip people of Italian nationality.

Both Brothers of Italy and the League are facing electoral pressure heading into next year’s parliamentary vote. An emerging far-right anti-immigration movement called Futuro Nazionale is gaining traction in polls, reportedly pulling support away from both established parties.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Four people, including a prominent Palestinian aid official who played a key role in setting up public World Cup viewing events throughout Gaza, were killed in an Israeli airstrike moments before the Egypt-Argentina match got underway Tuesday, local health officials report.

The explosion transformed what many Gazans had hoped would be a joyful, communal moment — watching a possible upset of Argentina by an Arab team — into yet another grim reminder that deadly Israeli strikes continue to claim civilian lives despite a ceasefire that was reached in October.

The bomb struck a vehicle in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City at dusk Tuesday. Among those killed were Mohamed al-Wahidi, director of public relations for the Egyptian Committee in Gaza; 10-year-old Hamza al-Deri and his 8-year-old brother Fari; and the car’s driver, Ahmed Daghmush, 33. Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, director of Shifa Hospital, which received all four bodies, confirmed the deaths.

The Israeli military stated that al-Wahidi, who was involved in coordinating the soccer screenings, was not the intended target. According to the military, the strike was aimed at a Hamas militant, and it said it was investigating whether Daghmush was the person they were targeting.

Abu Selmiya said Daghmush was a taxi driver with no known ties to any militant organization.

A separate Israeli strike had hit the same street about 30 minutes earlier, resulting in no casualties.

The Egyptian Committee, where al-Wahidi served, functions as the humanitarian arm of the Egyptian government, delivering food, shelter, and other aid to Palestinians in Gaza. The committee also spearheaded the effort to set up large screens across the territory for residents to watch World Cup matches together.

A large portion of the Palestinian diaspora lives just across the border in Egypt, which played a central role in brokering the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. Support for Team Egypt among Gaza residents has surged throughout the tournament, largely because coach Hossam Hassan has repeatedly used press conferences and on-field moments to draw attention to the suffering of the Palestinian people. After his team’s win over Australia on Friday, he dedicated the victory to both Egyptians and Palestinians and waved a Palestinian flag on the pitch.

During a Monday press briefing ahead of the Argentina match, Hassan called on the global community to take greater action on behalf of Palestinians.

When it comes to Greenland, President Donald Trump keeps returning to the same argument: the United States needs to control it. Rising international tensions, a warming planet, and shifting global trade patterns have thrust this remote Arctic island into the center of a major geopolitical debate — and Trump wants America to come out on top.

Greenland’s position above the Arctic Circle has long made it a cornerstone of North American defense strategy. About 80% of the island lies within the Arctic Circle, and roughly 56,000 people — most of them Inuit — call it home. Until recently, the island received little global attention. That has changed dramatically.

Greenland is a self-governing territory belonging to Denmark, a longstanding U.S. ally. Both Denmark and Greenland’s own government have pushed back firmly against Trump’s advances, with Greenland’s leaders insisting that the island’s people will determine their own future.

Trump’s persistent calls for U.S. ownership of Greenland — including earlier suggestions that taking it by military force was not off the table — have unsettled NATO allies and raised alarms among European partners who have long counted on the U.S. for their defense. He has since said military options are no longer being considered.

At a recent NATO summit, Trump made his position clear: “Greenland is very important to the United States, but it’s not important to Denmark. We need it for protection of the world, not just the United States.”

Trump has also claimed, without evidence, that Russian and Chinese military forces are operating near Greenland’s shores. He argues that controlling the island is essential to countering threats from both nations.

Greenland’s strategic value stretches back to World War II, when the U.S. moved to occupy the island to prevent Nazi Germany from seizing it and to protect vital North Atlantic shipping routes. During the Cold War, the Arctic was largely a zone of international cooperation. But melting sea ice is now opening up potential new trade routes — including a northwest passage — and reigniting competition over the region’s vast natural resources.

China declared itself a “near-Arctic state” in 2018 in a bid for greater regional influence, and has announced plans to develop what it calls a “Polar Silk Road” as part of its broader global infrastructure initiative. Then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed back sharply, asking: “Do we want the Arctic Ocean to transform into a new South China Sea, fraught with militarization and competing territorial claims?”

Russia, meanwhile, has been asserting dominance over large swaths of the Arctic, rebuilding old Soviet-era military infrastructure and constructing new facilities. Since 2014, Moscow has opened several Arctic military bases and worked to restore airfields in the region. Russia’s Northern Fleet is based there, and Russian military officials have indicated the area could once again be used for nuclear weapons testing if deemed necessary.

European anxiety deepened after Russia launched its war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged concern over NATO’s Arctic activities and pledged to bolster Russian military capabilities in the region — while also saying Moscow remains open to broader international cooperation there.

The U.S. already has a significant military footprint in Greenland. The Department of Defense operates Pituffik Space Base in the island’s northwest, established after the U.S. and Denmark signed the Defense of Greenland Treaty in 1951. The base supports missile warning systems, missile defense operations, and space surveillance for both the U.S. and NATO.

Greenland also plays a key role in monitoring what is known as the GIUK Gap — named for Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom — a stretch of ocean where NATO tracks Russian naval movements in the North Atlantic.

Despite all this, at least one defense expert argues that outright U.S. ownership of Greenland would offer no real security benefit. Thomas Crosbie, an associate professor of military operations at the Royal Danish Defense College, told The Associated Press: “The United States will gain no advantage if its flag is flying in Nuuk versus the Greenlandic flag. There’s no benefits to them because they already enjoy all of the advantages they want.”

Crosbie added: “If there’s any specific security access that they want to improve American security, they’ll be given it as a matter of course, as a trusted ally. So this has nothing to do with improving national security for the United States.”

Denmark’s parliament passed a bill last year allowing U.S. military bases on Danish soil, expanding a 2023 agreement with the Biden administration that gave American troops broad access to Danish air bases. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen also noted last summer that Denmark would have the right to end the agreement if the U.S. attempts to annex all or part of Greenland.

Beyond security, Greenland holds enormous economic appeal. The island is home to significant deposits of rare earth minerals — essential ingredients in cellphones, computers, batteries, and other high-tech products expected to drive the global economy for decades to come. Western nations are eager to reduce their dependence on China, which currently dominates the rare earth market.

However, developing those resources is no easy task. Greenland’s extreme climate makes extraction difficult, and strict environmental regulations have added further obstacles for potential investors.

KYIV, Ukraine — Three people were killed across Ukraine during overnight Russian attacks on Wednesday, including one fatality in Kyiv, where powerful blasts rocked the capital for the second consecutive night.

Multiple explosions were heard shortly after midnight — before officials had even issued an air raid warning. That unusual sequence raised concerns, as alerts are normally sent out ahead of strikes so that residents have time to seek shelter.

In the city of Kharkiv, two people were killed and 20 others were wounded in a string of overnight strikes, according to Mayor Ihor Terekhov.

Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russia launched 169 long-range strike drones and seven missiles — including five ballistic missiles — at the country overnight. Air defenses managed to shoot down or electronically jam 139 of the drones, and two anti-radar missiles failed to reach their intended targets. However, all five ballistic missiles and 20 drones successfully hit targets at 15 different locations, highlighting the ongoing pressure on Ukraine’s air defense network.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed its military struck arms production sites in Kyiv, saying it hit a factory manufacturing components for Flamingo cruise missiles and another facility that assembles medium- and long-range drones.

Russia’s Defense Ministry also reported that its air defenses brought down 415 Ukrainian drones between late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said a Ukrainian drone strike killed one person, injured several others, and caused damage to unspecified industrial facilities in the region.

Nizhnekamsk Mayor Radmir Belyayev reported that Ukrainian drones damaged industrial sites in his city and left several people injured, though he did not identify which facilities were affected.

Yuri Slyusar, the governor of Russia’s Rostov region, said Ukrainian drones struck and damaged two oil tankers in Taganrog Bay, injuring two crew members. One of the vessels had to be evacuated. Slyusar noted there was no oil spill, as both tankers were empty and heading toward the port of Rostov-on-Don.

Back in Kyiv, one woman was killed and two others were injured in the Russian assault, according to city administration head Tymur Tkachenko. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said the attack damaged several administrative buildings, warehouses, a garage complex, and multiple city trams.

In the Zaporizhzhia region, a Russian guided bomb injured an elderly man and a woman overnight, according to regional head Ivan Fedorov.

Rescue crews in the southern Indian state of Kerala are in a race against time to find five people still unaccounted for, one day after powerful monsoon rains triggered a deadly landslide, according to officials.

The disaster struck near a tunnel construction site in Wayanad district — a hilly area recognized for its dense forests and sweeping green terrain — claiming the lives of at least three workers. Seven additional workers sustained injuries and are currently receiving hospital care.

Search teams, including disaster response units and sniffer dogs, fanned out across the area, which authorities divided into search zones. A local police official named Devamanohar told reporters that ongoing heavy rainfall has made the search effort significantly more difficult.

Video footage captured the moment a massive wall of mud collapsed during the downpour, tearing trees from the ground and demolishing metal and fabric barriers surrounding the construction site.

Kerala’s home minister T. Siddique spoke with reporters and characterized the event as something other than a natural disaster. According to the Press Trust of India news agency, he stated it was “not a natural landslide but a man-made one caused by the unscientific dumping of earth,” and alleged that construction debris had not been removed despite warnings from officials.

The construction company involved pushed back against those claims, asserting that the slide began well above the area where workers were operating, according to the same news agency.

Authorities have opened a formal investigation into the incident.

This latest disaster follows a pattern seen across India in recent years, with cloudbursts, floods, and landslides causing widespread loss of life and property damage.

Climate scientists warn that human-driven climate change is making South Asia’s monsoon seasons increasingly unpredictable. The monsoons, which traditionally occur from June through September and again from October through December, are now arriving in sudden, intense bursts that drop extreme amounts of rainfall in brief windows — followed by periods of little to no rain.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to sit down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to talk through a controversial proposal to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, according to a source familiar with the discussions who spoke to Reuters.

The source, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the topic, also said Hegseth is expected to meet with Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz during the visit, with Iran anticipated to be a key subject in those talks.

Netanyahu made his position on the F-35 sale clear in a CNN interview on Tuesday, saying he had already communicated his opposition directly to President Trump. “It would destroy the power balance in the Middle East because Turkey has aggressive aspirations,” Netanyahu said.

Turkey, which is a NATO member, has been a vocal critic of Israeli military operations in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. The country has also repeatedly accused Israel of working to undermine a U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement brokered by Pakistan.

President Donald Trump, who traveled to Turkey to attend a NATO summit, announced Tuesday that he intends to lift U.S. sanctions that had been placed on Ankara following its 2019 purchase of Russian air defense missiles. Trump also signaled he was open to selling Turkey F-35 jets — a move that is expected to face significant pushback both in Congress and from Israel.

The relationship between the U.S. and Turkey had soured considerably after Ankara acquired the Russian S-400 missile defense system, which led Washington to impose sanctions on a major Turkish defense contractor and remove Turkey from the F-35 program entirely. Relations between the two countries have improved noticeably since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, though current U.S. law still blocks the jet sales.

Speaking ahead of a NATO summit in the Turkish capital of Ankara, U.S. President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that the memorandum of understanding reached with Iran to end the ongoing conflict is finished.

“To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them,” Trump said at the gathering.

The temporary ceasefire agreement, which had been brokered through Pakistan’s mediation between Washington and Tehran, was designed to open a 60-day window for both sides to work toward a permanent resolution. However, indirect negotiations held in Qatar wrapped up last week without any meaningful progress, and the U.S. military launched a new round of strikes against Iran on Tuesday.

Standing alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump went further in his criticism of Iranian leadership. “They’re scum. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them.”

Adding to the escalating tensions, the United States also moved Tuesday to cancel a license that had allowed Iran to sell oil on the international market. That action came after three oil tankers were struck by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz.

The license in question had been issued by the U.S. Treasury on June 22 as part of the interim agreement, permitting the sale of Iranian crude oil and petrochemical and petroleum products through August 21. By revoking it Tuesday, the Treasury gave Iran a deadline of July 17 to complete or wind down any existing transactions under that authorization.

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.”