Made in America
Fault Lines investigates civilian deaths in Lebanon and possible war crimes involving US-made bombs used by Israel. Made in America investigates the devastating impact of air attacks in Lebanon during Israel’s war last year. Israel claimed it was targeting Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure, but more than 4,000 Lebanese people, including women and children, were killed, many inside their homes and residential buildings. On September 23 alone, 558 people were killed — the deadliest day since Lebanon’s civil war — after Israel carried out one of the most intensive air attacks in modern warfare. Among them were a woman and her daughter, killed when their home in southern Lebanon was destroyed — one of several cases the film looks into. With extensive access to victims’ families and collaboration with forensic experts, Fault Lines uncovers evidence of unlawful killings and reveals the central role of US-made weapons in the attacks. The investigation extends to Washington, DC, in pursuit of answers and accountability. Adblock test (Why?)
Al-Shabab battles Somalia’s army for strategic military base
The armed group says it seizes control of Wargaadhi town and its military base, but the Somali army denies the claim. Al-Shabab fighters have battled Somali troops and allied forces for control of a strategic army base in southern Somalia, according to the government and a military official. Capturing the base in Wargaadhi town in the Middle Shabelle region, which houses soldiers, special forces and clan fighters, would enable the al Qaeda-linked group to sever a crucial road between the capital, Mogadishu, 200km (124 miles) to the southwest, and the central Galmudug State as it tries to extend recent gains made in the region. Al-Shabab has been fighting the Somali government for more than 16 years and frequently targets government officials and military personnel. It said in a statement that its fighters had captured the base and Wargaadhi town – a claim the government denied. The Ministry of Information said in a statement that government forces had killed more than 40 people after they tried to attack the base on Thursday morning. However, army officer Hussein Ali told the news agency Reuters that the armed group had taken the town of Wargaadhi after “fierce fighting”. Advertisement “Our forces lost 12 men, mostly [clan fighters]. Around 20 al-Shabab fighters were also killed,” Ali said. “But finally al-Shabab got more reinforcements and managed to capture the town.” He added that Somalia’s military was struggling to send reinforcements because it would need to use routes passing through al-Shabab-held areas. Two soldiers quoted by Reuters said government forces, backed by air strikes, had managed to recapture part of the town by midmorning. It was not possible to independently verify the claims made by either side. Ongoing offensive Last week, al-Shabab claimed to have seized control of nearby Adan Yabal, a town and logistical hub for government forces about 220km (130 miles) north of Mogadishu. However, Captain Hussein Olow, a military officer in Adan Yabaal, denied the report, telling Reuters government troops had pushed the group back. Both attacks are part of an offensive launched by al-Shabab last month. The group briefly captured villages within 50km (30 miles) of Mogadishu, raising fears among the capital’s residents that the city could be targeted. While Somali forces have since recaptured those villages, al-Shabab has continued to advance in the countryside as the future of international security support to Somalia appears increasingly precarious. A new African Union peacekeeping mission, the AU Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia, replaced a larger force in February, but its funding is uncertain as the United States remains opposed to transitioning to a United Nations financing model. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Family in Indonesia turns to mangrove trees to tackle climate change
Pasijah, a 55-year-old housewife in Indonesia’s Central Java province, wakes up every morning to the sound of the sea. If that sounds idyllic, it is anything but. Her home is the only one remaining in this part of Rejosari Senik, a small village on Java’s northern coast that was once on dry land but is now submerged in water. Over the past few years, Pasijah’s neighbours have abandoned their homes, vegetable plots and rice fields to the advancing sea, but she and her family have no plans to leave. “I do have every intention to stay here and my feelings for this house remain,” she said. Water laps around the walls of Pasijah’s house, where she has lived for 35 years, soaking her feet when she steps outside. The nearest land is two kilometres (1.24 miles) away, and the closest city, Demak, is further still at 19 kilometres (11.8 miles). The only way to get there is by boat. Indonesia, an archipelago of thousands of islands, has about 81,000 kilometres of coastline, making it particularly vulnerable to rising seas and erosion. Sea levels on the country’s coasts rose an average of 4.25 millimetres (0.16 inches) annually from 1992 to 2024, but the rate has accelerated in recent years, according to Kadarsah, a climate change official at Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency. Advertisement “One of the signs of climate change is the rising sea levels,” he said, adding that some small islands had disappeared. Kadarsah also pointed to the increased pumping of groundwater that has exacerbated land subsidence along Java’s northern coast. The problem is particularly bad in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, which is home to some 10 million people. Megaprojects Indonesian authorities have turned to megaprojects for a solution, including a 700-kilometre (434-mile) sea wall that would run along the northern coast between Banten and East Java provinces. Pasijah and her family, meanwhile, have turned to nature. She has planted about 15,000 mangrove trees a year over the past 20 years. Every day, she paddles out in a boat made from a blue plastic barrel to tend to the bushes and plant new saplings, lowering herself into the blue-grey water, which can be as high as her chest. “The floodwaters come in waves, gradually, not all at once,” Pasijah said. “I realised that after the waters began rising, I needed to plant mangrove trees so that they could spread and protect the house from the wind and the waves.” She and her family survive by selling the fish caught by her sons in the nearest market. They say they will stay as long as they can hold back the tides. “I’m no longer concerned about how I feel about the isolation here since I decided to stay, so we’ll take it one hurdle at a time,” Pasijah said. Adblock test (Why?)
DeepSeek transferred data without consent, South Korean watchdog says
Personal Information Protection Commission says AI model sent personal data to Beijing-based cloud service. South Korea’s data protection watchdog has accused DeepSeek, the Chinese start-up whose artificial intelligence-powered chatbot took the tech scene by storm earlier this year, of transferring personal data without users’ consent. The Personal Information Protection Commission said on Thursday that DeepSeek had been transferring information to several companies in China and the United States before its ChatGPT-like AI model was removed from app stores in February, pending a privacy review. Nam Seok, director of the commission’s investigation bureau, said during a news conference that the app had sent user prompts and device and network information to a Beijing-based cloud service called Volcano Engine. DeepSeek “acknowledged it had insufficiently considered Korea’s data protection laws” and “expressed its willingness to cooperate with the commission, and voluntarily suspended new downloads”, Nam said. DeepSeek did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Following the South Korean watchdog’s announcement, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it placed a high level of importance on data privacy and security. Advertisement “We have never – and will never – require companies or individuals to collect or store data through illegal means,” ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said during a regular news conference. DeepSeek’s R1 caused a sensation in January after its developers released a research paper claiming they spent less than $6m on computing power to train the model – a fraction of the multibillion-dollar AI budgets of US tech giants such as OpenAI and Google. The emergence of a Chinese startup capable of rivalling Silicon Valley’s leading players challenged assumptions about US dominance in AI and prompted scrutiny of the sky-high market valuations of companies such as Nvidia and Meta. Marc Andreessen, one of the most influential tech venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, hailed DeepSeek’s model as “AI’s Sputnik moment”. Adblock test (Why?)
China will talk trade, but US will need to make the first move, experts say
Taipei, Taiwan – As United States President Donald Trump plays up the prospects of a trade deal with China, experts say Beijing is unlikely to make the first move and may even demand preconditions before coming to the negotiating table. Trump has said he expects to see his 145 percent tariff on China “come down substantially” but that a lower rate would depend on Beijing’s next steps. “We’re going to have a fair deal with China,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday in his latest remarks, stirring hopes of a de-escalation in tensions between the sides. But given the high stakes in its standoff with the US, China “can’t afford to be the side that makes the first move because it can’t be viewed as capitulating to the Trump administration’s pressure campaign”, William Yang, a senior analyst on Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera. “As a result, China will firmly uphold its current position until it sees the US government make some credible concessions that can allow Beijing to consider coming to the negotiating table and claim victory.” Advertisement Beijing may even see Trump’s more optimistic rhetoric as a sign that “digging in its heels” is working, Yang said. US and Chinese officials have not formally announced the start of trade negotiations, though Trump said on Wednesday that his administration was “actively” negotiating with the Chinese side, without elaborating. On Thursday, China’s Ministry of Commerce rebuffed Trump’s remarks, saying there were no talks on trade taking place between the sides. “Any claims about the progress of China-US economic and trade negotiations are groundless and have no factual basis,” ministry spokesman He Yadong told a news conference. China has said the door is “wide open” to talks but insisted it will not shirk from a fight with the US if necessary. In contrast to Trump’s off-the-cuff remarks and vacillating statements on the possibility of relief from his tariffs, Beijing’s messaging, which has been largely communicated through the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been tightly controlled and consistent. “I would say that, at least on the surface, China has the upper hand,” Zhiwu Chen, a professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong’s Business School, told Al Jazeera. “It’s more in control, whereas President Trump and Secretary Bessent have been signalling and doing things that further help to weaken their hand,” Chen said, referring to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “I think the statement really shows he is anxious and panicking, whereas China has been pretty quiet and muted,” Chen added, referring to Trump’s comments that he intends to lower his tariffs at some point. Advertisement China has slapped US exports with a 125 percent tariff in response to Trump’s trade salvoes, as well as announcing various other “countermeasures”, including restrictions on rare earth exports and limits on the number of Hollywood film releases in China. If tensions continue to escalate, Beijing could potentially halt cooperation on issues like controlling fentanyl exports. In theory, it could also inflict pain on the US economy by dumping its more than $760bn in US government debt – a move that economists view as unlikely given that it would have serious ramifications for the Chinese economy as well. Unlike Trump, who prefers to negotiate face-to-face with world leaders, Beijing will want to engage in preliminary meetings before any meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the US president, said Tom Nunlist, an associate director of tech and data policy at Trivium China. “They will be looking to have secured a deal before the top leaders meet to confirm it. To reach out to Trump directly may look like Xi is caving to US pressure, and it also risks failure,” Nunlist told Al Jazeera. “Generally speaking, the US is the aggressor here, and China has calibrated its response to be forceful but avoid escalation,” Nunlist said. It is likely that discussions would address a wider array of concerns than just tariffs, according to analysts, especially now that Trump appears to have blinked first in the standoff. Potential areas for concessions include “tech export controls and Taiwan”, according to Dingli Shen, a Shanghai-based international relations scholar. Advertisement “Longstanding grievances about how China is treated within the global system” could be on the table, according to Marina Zhang, an associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney’s Australia-China Relations Institute. “In practice, it means no public humiliation, no unilateral ultimatums, and no compromises on four key ‘red lines’: Issues related to Taiwan, democracy and human rights, China’s political system, and its right to development,” Zhang told Al Jazeera. Zhang said US export controls on critical technology could be on the agenda, as well as the blacklisting of Chinese tech companies such as Huawei and Chinese chipmaker SMIC. “China may also push for the relaxation of investment screening rules, particularly in sensitive sectors like semiconductors, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing. Another likely ask is a degree of de-escalation over Taiwan,” she said. “While Beijing does not expect full concessions, it would welcome less overt political signalling from Washington – such as limits on high-level official visits and arms sales.” For Beijing, the wait could be worthwhile if it means achieving some of its longer-term goals, said the International Crisis Group’s Yang. “This is more than a pure trade negotiation for China at this point. It views the trajectory of this tariff standoff as a precursor to how bilateral relations with the US will develop over the next four years,” he said. “Beijing will want to see the Trump administration make the first move to reduce the tariffs imposed on imported Chinese products. The level of potential tariff reduction could potentially determine the Chinese government’s willingness to start high-level trade negotiation with the Trump administration.” Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Trump says lower tariffs depend on China, as US states sue over trade war
Wall Street rallies for second day on hopes of a de-escalation in trade tensions between world’s two largest economies. United States President Donald Trump has reiterated his intention to lower his crippling tariffs on China, but insisted the timeline for any relief will depend on Beijing. Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Trump said he could announce new tariff rates on US trading partners, including China, over the next few weeks, depending on the outcome of his administration’s negotiations with other countries. “That depends on them. We have a situation where we have a very, very great place. It’s called the United States of America, and it’s been ripped off for years and years,” Trump said when asked how soon he could lower the 145 percent tariff he has imposed on most Chinese goods. “In the end, what I think is going to happen is we’re going to have great deals, and by the way, if we don’t have a deal with a company or a country, we’re going to set the tariff.” Trump said he got on “very well” with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and he hoped to see the sides reach a deal. “Otherwise, we will set a price,” Trump said. Advertisement Asked earlier on Wednesday if his administration was “actively” talking to China, Trump said: “Actively. Everything is active. Everybody wants to be a part of what we’re doing.” Trump’s comments came as Wall Street rallied for a second straight day on hopes that Washington and Beijing will de-escalate tensions that have spiralled into an effective trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies. The benchmark S&P 500 closed 1.67 percent higher on Wednesday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished up 2.50 percent, adding to gains the previous day spurred by US Treasury Scott Bessent’s comments that a trade with China was “unsustainable”. On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration was considering slashing tariffs on Chinese goods by 50-60 percent in a bid to lower tensions. The report, which cited people familiar with the matter, said that Trump was considering a number of options for easing the duties but would expect to see Beijing lower its 125 tariffs on US goods in return. On Tuesday, Trump publicly acknowledged that his 145 percent tariff on China was “very high” and said the rate would “come down substantially” at some point. China has said it opposes protectionist measures such as tariffs, but that it is prepared to “fight to the end” if the US continues to escalate its trade salvoes. “We have made it very clear that China does not look for a war, but neither are we afraid of it. We will fight, if fight we must,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said during a regular media briefing on Wednesday. Advertisement “Our doors are open if the US wants to talk. If a negotiated solution is truly what the US wants, it should stop threatening and blackmailing China and seek dialogue based on equality, respect and mutual benefit.” The US-China trade war has raised fears of a global economic slowdown, with the International Monetary Fund earlier this week slashing its 2025 growth forecast from 3.3 percent to 2.8 percent. On Wednesday, a group of 12 US states, including Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois and New York, filed a lawsuit challenging Trump’s authority to impose the tariffs without the approval of the US Congress. In the suit filed at the US Court of International Trade in New York, the states said that Trump had “upended the constitutional order and brought chaos to the American economy”. “President Trump’s insane tariff scheme is not only economically reckless – it is illegal,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement. “Arizona cannot afford President Trump’s massive tax increase. No matter what the White House claims, tariffs are a tax that will be passed on to Arizona consumers.” Adblock test (Why?)
Real Madrid beat Getafe to keep LaLiga leaders Barcelona in sight
Arda Guler scores the only goal of the game as Real record crucial away win to keep title defence alive. Arda Guler struck the only goal as Real Madrid won 1-0 at Getafe to claw back to within four points of LaLiga leaders Barcelona. The young Turkey international fired in from outside the area midway through the first half on Wednesday as Carlo Ancelotti’s side stayed in title contention after Barcelona won by the same scoreline at Mallorca on Tuesday. Archrivals Madrid and Barcelona will meet in the Copa del Rey final in Seville on Saturday, with Kylian Mbappe poised to return from injury for the weekend Clasico – one of two remaining this season. In his absence on the outskirts of Madrid, 18-year-old Brazilian striker Endrick made his first league start as England international Jude Bellingham dropped to the bench. Left-back Fran Garcia twice went close for Madrid, his initial effort palmed away by David Soria before he blasted the rebound high and wide. It wasn’t long before Guler broke the deadlock after Brahim Diaz looked to have wasted the chance. Madrid worked the ball back out to Guler, whose powerful 20-yard drive flashed past Soria despite the Getafe goalkeeper getting a hand to it. Arda Guler of Real Madrid scores his team’s winning goal [Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images] Endrick thought he had scored only his second LaLiga goal after being put through by Vinicius Junior, but Soria took the sting out of his shot and Djene cleared off the line. Advertisement Getafe created opportunities of their own, the best of which fell in the second half to an unmarked Mauro Arambarri, who dragged wide with only Thibaut Courtois to beat. Courtois came to Madrid’s rescue in stoppage time as he smothered inside his six-yard box after Peter and Juanmi tried to force the ball home from close range. Getafe substitute Alvaro Rodriguez, who is on loan from Madrid, nearly snatched an equaliser at the death, but saw his low shot beaten away by Courtois. Inaki Williams fired Athletic Bilbao to a 1-0 home win over Las Palmas earlier on Wednesday to strengthen their chances of direct qualification for next season’s Champions League. The Basque side sit fourth with five games to go, eight points clear of fifth-placed Villarreal, who suffered a 3-0 defeat at Celta Vigo. Bilbao also have a Europa League semifinal against Manchester United to come, and should they win that, they will play the final in their home stadium. Five LaLiga sides qualify for the Champions League this season. Sixth-placed Betis are a point behind Villarreal ahead of their encounter with rock-bottom Valladolid on Thursday. A fifth-minute goal from the elder Williams brother after he turned a defender in the box and side-footed home with the outside of his boot was enough for all three points. Bilbao needed two sharp saves from Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon before half-time as relegation-threatened Las Palmas went down fighting. Adblock test (Why?)
What will the IMF and World Bank do in the latest economic crisis?
Global financial institutions meet as turmoil brings fears worldwide. Global financial turmoil tops the agenda as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank hold meetings in Washington, DC. The organisations face significant challenges, and criticism, too. Can they help vulnerable countries, or will Western interests take priority? Presenter: Nick Clark Guests: Ali Hasanain – Associate professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences Vicky Pryce – Chief economic adviser at the Centre for Economics and Business Research Daniel Gros – Board member at the Centre for European Policy Studies Adblock test (Why?)
‘It’s about time NATO be shut down’, says Vijay Prashad
Redi Tlhabi discusses NATO’s role and relevance in today’s conflicts with historian Vijay Prashad. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticised NATO, casting doubt on the alliance’s role in a shifting global order. NATO has suffered major setbacks in recent years, from its inability to prevent Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the end of a 20-year war in Afghanistan that saw the Taliban return to power. So, is NATO still relevant? Could it even stand a chance against any sort of confrontation with China? In this UpFront web extra, Redi Tlhabi sits down with historian and journalist Vijay Prashad to unpack these pressing issues. Adblock test (Why?)
US senator’s town hall turns chaotic over Trump, deportations
NewsFeed Anger flared and nearly turned into physical confrontation at a town hall hosted by US Republican Senator Chuck Grassley. Crowd members argued over the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the Trump administration is trying to avoid bringing back despite a court order. Published On 23 Apr 202523 Apr 2025 Adblock test (Why?)