Israel says Sanaa airport ‘fully disabled’ in strikes on Yemen’s capital
NewsFeed Israel’s military unleashed a second wave of attacks on Yemen, claiming to have “fully disabled” Sanaa’s airport in response to a Houthi missile that targeted Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport on Sunday. Published On 6 May 20256 May 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Conclave explained: How is the next pope chosen?
NewsFeed The papal conclave to elect Pope Francis’s successor begins Wednesday in Vatican City. 133 cardinals from around the world will vote in secret until one secures a two-thirds majority. Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull explains the process. Published On 6 May 20256 May 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Pakistan blames India after seven soldiers killed in Balochistan blast
Pakistan says Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) armed group targeted vehicle with an improvised explosive device. Seven Pakistani army soldiers have been killed when their vehicle was targeted by an improvised explosive device in the southwestern province of Balochistan, Pakistan’s military says, blaming India for the attack amid rising tensions. Pakistan’s military said members of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) armed group targeted the vehicle carrying the soldiers in the province bordering Iran and Afghanistan on Tuesday. It described the group as an “Indian proxy”, but it did not provide any evidence to support its claim. There was no immediate comment from New Delhi or the BLA. An unnamed senior local government official told the AFP news agency the vehicle that was hit was part of a convoy on its way to a security operation. He said five people were wounded and taken by helicopter to a military hospital in the provincial capital, Quetta. More than 200 people, mostly members of the security forces, have been killed in 2025 by armed groups in Balochistan and neighbouring Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, according to an AFP tally. Advertisement At least 31 people, many of them soldiers, were killed in March when the BLA hijacked a train carrying more than 400 passengers while travelling from Quetta to the northern city of Peshawar. The bombing of the military convoy was carried out amid heightened tensions between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India after a shooting attack in India-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam region on April 22 that killed 25 Indian tourists and one Nepalese citizen. India blamed Pakistan for backing the “terrorist” group that carried out the attack, a charge Islamabad has denied. After the Pahalgam attack, India and Pakistan have taken a series of steps against each other with Pakistan warning that India may be preparing to launch military attacks. The two countries have suspended trade, shut down a land border crossing, closed off their airspace to one another, expelled citizens and diplomats, and India has suspended a key water treaty. On Tuesday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif along with the deputy prime minister, foreign and defence ministers, and the military chiefs visited the headquarters of the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, the country’s top spy agency, to attend a security briefing. Pakistan has conducted two missile tests in three days while India has announced plans for civil defence drills across several states on Wednesday that will include air raid sirens and evacuation plans. The two countries also aired their grievances during a United Nations Security Council meeting in New York on Monday. Advertisement UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has emphasised the need to avoid a military confrontation that could “easily spin out of control”. “Now is the time for maximum restraint and stepping back from the brink,” he said on Monday. Pakistani soldiers stand outside a tunnel where a train was attacked by secessionist fighters in Bolan, Balochistan, on March 15, 2025 [File: Reuters] Adblock test (Why?)
Canada trade shifts away from US amid trade tensions
New data show both imports and exports with US fall as Canada expands trading relationships with other countries. Canada’s trade with the United States has tumbled in March, but a surge in exports to other countries have helped make up the downward shift. Exports to the US dropped by 6.6 percent during the month while imports from the US fell by 2.9 percent amid growing public discontent towards Canada’s longstanding ally and top trading partner, according to data released by Statistics Canada on Tuesday. Total exports fell by 0.2 percent in March mainly on lower prices whereas imports tumbled by 1.5 percent. Canada’s trade deficit shrank from 1 billion Canadian dollars (US$1.4bn) in February to 367 million Canadian dollars (US$506m) in March. Its trade surplus with the US fell to 6.1 billion Canadian dollars (US$8.4bn) . “This decline was almost entirely offset by a significant rise in exports to countries other than the United States,” the agency said, highlighting a 24.8 percent surge in overseas shipments. Canada increased exports of gold to the United Kingdom, crude oil to the Netherlands and various goods to Germany. Advertisement Exports of motor vehicles and parts also increased amid US tariffs targeting the auto sector. Exports of pharmaceuticals and uranium to the US as well as pork to Asian markets declined. Natural gas exports also fell. Steel exports dropped while aluminium exports rose for a fourth straight month. Imports of steel declined, but imports of aluminium grew as both products face 25 percent US tariffs. Analysts have warned that the full effects of the tariffs have yet to be seen. Canada should “brace for increasing headwinds to trade as the worst of the trade conflict is expected to take place over the coming quarters”, TD Economics analyst Marc Ercolao said in a research note. Carney and Trump meet The trade data was released the day Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met with US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, to discuss strained trade and security ties. Carney won last week’s elections on a pledge to stand up to Trump and his America First agenda. He said the strained relationship between the two countries can never be the same again. The US imposed broad tariffs on Canadian goods at the beginning of March before announcing several reductions and exemptions even as tariffs on cars, aluminium, steel and potash stayed in place. Canada has hit back with countermeasures. “Canada and the United States are strongest when we work together – and that work starts now,” Carney said on the social media platform X as he arrived in Washington, DC, on Monday night. Adblock test (Why?)
Palestine and the decline of the US empire
It has been 19 months now since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza. The International Court of Justice is investigating a “plausible genocide”, while the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes. Scholars of genocide, major human rights organisations, and United Nations experts have identified what is going on in Gaza as genocide. People across the world have marched to call on their governments to act to stop it. There is a single power that stands in the way of putting an end to this genocide: the United States. One administration has handed over to another, and yet there has been no change in policy. Unconditional support for Israel seems to be a doctrine that the US political establishment is unwilling to touch. Various analyses have suggested that at the root of this “special relationship” are Judeo-Christian values and a shared democratic path; others have argued that it has to do with the two-party system and the donor class dominating US politics. Advertisement But the reality is far simpler. The US views Israel as a critical ally because it helps promote US global supremacy at a time when it is facing inevitable decline. Israel’s survival in its current settler-colonial form – the US elites believe – is closely tied to maintaining US supremacy. The supremacy of US empire Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the US has been leading a unipolar world as the sole superpower. As a continuation of Western imperial global dominance, the US empire holds much sway over global economic, political, and cultural matters, often with devastating consequences for the lives of millions of people around the world. Like all empires, the US solidifies and expands its position of supremacy and hegemony in the world through its overwhelming military force. Through the US infrastructure of organised imperial violence, it is able to secure access to and control of resources, trade routes, and markets. This, in turn, guarantees continuous economic growth and dominance. But in recent years, we have seen signs that US supremacy is being challenged. The momentum to do so built up in the aftermath of the 2008-2009 US financial crisis, which turned into a global one. It demonstrated the negative impact of US supremacy on the world economy and motivated powers such as China and India to take action to protect themselves from it. The BRICS coalition of economies emerged as their shared response on the economic front. In the following years, various US foreign policy mishaps, including the US failure in Afghanistan, its waning influence in Africa and its inability to prevent the Russian invasion of Ukraine, also demonstrated the limits of US global power. Advertisement The rise of US President Donald Trump and far-right populism in the United States reflected the fact that cracks were appearing in the very core of the US-led so-called liberal order. No empire has ever easily accepted its decline, and neither will the US. It intends to hold onto its status as the unquestionable superpower, and for that, it needs imperial outposts to stand loyally by its side. Israel – the most reliable imperial ally Throughout the Cold War, Western Europe and Israel stood as the US’s junior partners in its confrontation with the Soviet Union in Europe and the Middle East. Today, while the decades-old transatlantic alliance seems to somewhat falter, the US-Israeli relationship appears as strong as ever. Israel has demonstrated loyalty as an imperial outpost. It has played a key role in supporting US imperialism in two ways. First, Israel helps the US secure its access to and control over one of the most critical markets for any empire: the energy market. The Middle East is an important force in the global energy trade, and its oil and gas policies can have a tremendous impact on the world economy. What the US fears the most is losing its dominance in the global energy markets to a competing power, which is why it wants to secure its interests by establishing a regional order in the Middle East that overwhelmingly favours its imperial power. This new order is about giving the US a major advantage over any competitor seeking to make inroads into the region, namely China. Advertisement For the administration of former US President Joe Biden and its successor, the Trump administration, the Israeli genocide of Palestinians and aggression against neighbouring countries are about establishing this new security reality in the region by eliminating hostile groups and governments. That is why US support for them has not stopped. Second, Israel plays a critical role in advancing US military supremacy. The US provides Israel with billions of dollars in aid, which is in fact a form of self-investment in developing military capabilities and expanding sales. The Israeli state uses these funds to buy weapons from US arms manufacturers, which then use Israel’s deployment of that weaponry in the Middle East as testing and marketing tools. The US military-industrial complex is thus able to sell more weapons and continue to innovate and grow to ensure the US has a military edge over its rivals. In this sense, Israel is one of the most critical parts of the US imperial machinery. Without it, the US would find it challenging to maintain its imperial power in the Middle East. It is for this reason that Biden once famously proclaimed that if Israel did not exist, the US would have to invent it. Free Palestine and global decolonisation Over the past year, we have witnessed an unprecedented attack on the Palestine solidarity movement in the US, which has affected all public spheres, including education and healthcare. We have also seen an intensification of US threats against states, such as South Africa, for their support for Palestine. Advertisement Based on the magnitude of the resources and energy that the US empire expends on the elimination
Activist reportedly held by Uganda’s military chief shows signs of torture
Justice minister says Eddie Mutwe shows signs of abuse at court appearance, and his lawyer says he was tortured daily. An opposition activist whom Uganda’s military chief, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, claimed to have held captive in his basement has appeared in court “visibly weak” and showing signs of torture, according to the justice minister. Eddie Mutwe, who acts as the chief bodyguard for Uganda’s leading opposition figure, Bobi Wine, went missing on April 27 after being grabbed near the capital, Kampala, by armed men, according to Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) party. Chief of Defence Forces Kainerugaba, longtime President Yoweri Museveni’s eldest child, said last week that he had detained Mutwe, writing on X that he had captured him “like a grasshopper” and was “using him as a punching bag”. Kainerugaba also alluded to Mutwe being tortured, saying he had beaten him and shaved his head. “If they keep on provoking us, we shall discipline them even more,” he said of the opposition. Facing robbery charges Mutwe was presented in court on Monday and remanded into custody on robbery charges, his lawyer said. In a statement released late on Monday, Justice Minister Norbert Mao said Mutwe appeared in court “in a visibly weak condition and showing signs of having been tortured”. “Bringing illegally detained, brutalised and tortured suspects before the courts of law is an abuse of judicial processes,” said Mao, the leader of an opposition party who was appointed justice minister in 2022. Advertisement Mao did not say who was responsible for Mutwe’s condition but called on the courts to deal swiftly with the opposition figure’s case. Mutwe’s lawyer, Magellan Kazibwe, told reporters outside court on Monday that his client had been tortured daily and electrocuted while being detained. He is in my basement. Learning Runyankore. You are next! https://t.co/8pMgdGCru2 — Muhoozi Kainerugaba (@mkainerugaba) May 1, 2025 Opposition crackdown The court case comes amid an escalating crackdown on the Ugandan opposition as Wine has been preparing to launch a “protest vote” campaign in advance of a general election in January. On Friday, Wine – a former singer whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi and who has become Museveni’s leading opponent – said on X that security forces had “just raided and cordoned off our headquarters”. He also condemned the abduction of Mutwe, telling the AFP news agency that it was “a reminder to the world as to how law and order has broken down in Uganda”. Ugandan musician-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine [File: Badru Katumba/AFP] Kainerugaba, who is widely viewed as being groomed to succeed his 80-year-old father, frequently makes incendiary comments on social media and has written on X that he wanted to behead Wine. The Ugandan government has faced international condemnation over the abduction of opposition figures, including veteran leader Kizza Besigye, who was seized in Kenya last year and forcibly returned to face treason charges. Advertisement Museveni, who has ruled since 1986 and plans to seek re-election in January, has denied allegations of human rights abuses. But the Uganda Law Society said the abduction of Mutwe was not an isolated incident. Instead, it is “part of a systematic campaign to silence dissent and crush the aspirations of young people yearning for freedom”, the group said in a statement. The Uganda Human Rights Commission, which is tasked with investigating abuses and monitoring the government’s human rights record, said it issued an order on Friday directing the authorities to release Mutwe. Adblock test (Why?)
How much of what’s inside a US home is actually “Made in America”?
[unable to retrieve full-text content] The average US home is packed with products from around the world. Trump’s tariffs would hit nearly all of them.
What we know about Israel’s new plan for Gaza
NewsFeed Israeli Prime Minister says Palestinians in Gaza will be relocated to the south during a ‘new phase’ of intense military operation, with reports suggesting that Israel is considering occupying the entire enclave and taking control of aid distribution. Published On 6 May 20256 May 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Trump administration bars Harvard from future research grants
US Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon halts funding in escalation of dispute centred around anti-Semitism claims. The administration of United States President Donald Trump has announced that Harvard University will no longer receive public funding for research in a sharp escalation of its dispute with the top university. In a letter to Harvard on Monday, US Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon said the elite university had made a “mockery” of higher education and should no longer seek federal grants, “since no will be provided”. “Harvard will cease to be a publicly funded institution, and can instead operate as a privately-funded institution, drawing on its colossal endowment, and raising money from its large base of wealthy alumni,” McMahon wrote in the letter. The move comes after the Trump administration last month froze nearly $2.3bn in federal funding to Harvard over what it claimed was its failure to tackle rampant anti-Semitism on campus. The administration announced the freeze after Harvard rejected a series of demands that it said would subject the university to undue government control, including that it accede to external audits of faculty and students to ensure “viewpoint diversity”. Advertisement In her letter, McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, outlined a series of grievances often made by conservatives against the university, including that it had fostered lax academic standards and admitted foreign students who “engage in violent behaviour and show contempt toward the United States of America”. “Where do many of these ‘students’ come from, who are they, and how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country – and why is there so much HATE?” McMahon wrote in the letter, emulating Trump’s use of all-capital letters to emphasise certain words. “These are questions that must be answered, among many more, but the biggest question of all is, why will Harvard not give straightforward answers to the American public?” Harvard, which is fighting the Trump administration’s earlier funding freeze in court, said in a statement that McMahon’s latest demands would have “chilling implications for higher education”. “Today’s letter makes new threats to illegally withhold funding for lifesaving research and innovation in retaliation against Harvard for filing its lawsuit on April 21,” a university spokesperson said. “Harvard will continue to comply with the law, promote and encourage respect for viewpoint diversity, and combat antisemitism in our community. Harvard will also continue to defend against illegal government overreach aimed at stifling research and innovation that make Americans safer and more secure.” US universities have faced controversy over alleged anti-Semitism on their campuses since the eruption last year of nationwide student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. Advertisement In two reports released last month, separate Harvard task forces said that students and staff had faced both anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim bias on campus. In response to the reports, Harvard President Alan Garber expressed concern that some students had been pushed “to the periphery of campus life because of who they are or what they believe”, and pledged to redouble efforts to ensure the university was a place where “mutual respect is the norm”. Trump and prominent conservatives in the US have also long accused Harvard and other universities of propagating extreme left-wing views and stifling right-wing perspectives. Adblock test (Why?)
US Defense Secretary Hegseth orders 20% cut in ranks of top officers
Pentagon chief says cuts will maximise ‘strategic’ and ‘operational readiness’. United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has announced steep cuts in the number of top-ranked officers in his latest move to streamline the world’s most powerful military. In a memo on Monday, Hegseth ordered a 20 percent reduction in the number of four-star generals and admirals – currently the highest-ranked personnel in the US military – as well as a 10 percent reduction in the number of general and flag officers. Hegseth’s memo also ordered a 20 percent cut in the number of general officers in the National Guard. The US military had 38 four-star generals or admirals as of March 31, 2025, according to US Department of Defense data. In a video explaining the “Less Generals More GIs Policy”, Hegseth said the US military currently has one general for every 1,400 troops, compared with one for every 6,000 during World War II. “More generals and admirals does not equal more success,” Hegseth said in the video posted on X. “Now this is not a slash-and-burn exercise meant to punish high-ranking officers. Nothing could be further from the truth. This has been a deliberated process, working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with one goal: maximising strategic readiness and operational readiness by making prudent reductions in the general and flag officer ranks.” Advertisement Hegseth did not specify which positions would be cut. The nearly 40 active four-star generals in the US military include the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief of staff of the army, the chief of naval operations, and the chief of staff of the Air Force, as well as the heads of US Africa Command, US European Command and US Forces Korea. The cuts come as part of a broader drive by President Donald Trump’s administration to reduce the size of the federal government and purge perceived political enemies. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump or his underlings have fired several top military leaders, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q Brown and Navy chief Admiral Lisa Franchetti. Adblock test (Why?)