World News

The United States is increasing the number of aircraft carriers deployed in the Middle East to two, keeping one that is already there and sending another from the Indo-Pacific, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, April 1. The Carl Vinson will join the Harry S. Truman in the Middle East "to continue promoting regional stability, deter aggression, and protect the free flow of commerce in the region," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.

"To complement the CENTCOM maritime posture, the secretary also ordered the deployment of additional squadrons and other air assets that will further reinforce our defensive air-support capabilities," Parnell said, referring to the US military command responsible for the region. "The United States and its partners remain committed to regional security in the CENTCOM (area of responsibility) and are prepared to respond to any state or non-state actor seeking to broaden or escalate conflict in the region," he added.

The Houthis began targeting shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the start of the Gaza war in 2023, claiming solidarity with Palestinians. Houthi attacks have prevented ships from passing through the Suez Canal, a vital route that normally carries about 12% of world shipping traffic. Ongoing attacks are forcing many companies into a costly detour around the tip of southern Africa.

Occasionally, an image from a conflict zone makes the world stop and take notice.

Like in September 2024, when a heart-breaking picture went viral online of 10-year-old Tala Abu Ajwa’s pink rollerblades protruding from her cloth-shrouded body.

Her parents in Gaza City said she had been killed by an Israeli airstrike as she went outside her home to skate.

But what about the huge quantity of online material from conflict zones that most of us don’t see?

Unless it's archived, it's at risk of being lost forever.

Archivists such as Dr Jamila Ghaddar seek to capture and preserve as much online material as they can, from videos shared on Telegram to viral posts on Instagram.

Australia has just sweltered through its hottest 12 months on record, a weather official said Thursday, a period of drenching floods, tropical cyclones and mass coral bleaching.

Senior government climatologist Simon Grainger said the rolling 12-month period between April 2024 and March 2025 was 1.61 degrees Celsius (34.9 degrees Fahrenheit) above average -- the hottest since records began more than a century ago.

"This is certainly part of a sustained global pattern," he told AFP.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.03-142440/https://www.ft.com/content/58169216-3853-496d-9c54-3fc56ad2e7a6

Oil prices tumbled on Thursday as Opec+ unexpectedly announced plans to boost production just as sweeping US tariffs stoked fears of a global economic slowdown.

Eight Opec+ members, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, said they would triple a planned increase in oilproduction in May, accelerating a commitment to reverse production cuts over the next 18 months.

The move came hours after US President Donald Trump set out a new tariff regime that investors said was more severe than expected.

Hundreds of men and women stand in rows, divided by nationality, in the courtyard of a white-walled compound, flanked by armed guards in fatigues.

“Do you want to go home?” a voice shouts in the video obtained by CNN. They raise their hands. “Yes,” they reply in chorus.

The group were among around 7,000 people recently released from scam centers run by criminal gangs and warlords operating along Myanmar’s border with Thailand, where many are held against their will and forced to work conning ordinary people, including American citizens, out of their life savings.

Some volunteer to work in the compounds. But many others are lured by promises of well-paying jobs or other enticing opportunities, before being trafficked across the border into Myanmar to carry out fraudulent investment schemes and romance scams.

For years, the scam centers and cyber fraud compounds - many run by Chinese crime syndicates – have proliferated along the mountainous frontier, raking in billions of dollars from scams, money laundering and other illicit activities. The Chinese and Thai governments finally launched a highly publicized crackdown in February.

Those included in the releases are a fraction of an estimated 100,000 people trapped along the border.

At least 17 Tesla cars were destroyed after a fire broke out at a dealership on the outskirts of Rome on Monday morning, according to Italian fire officials. No one was at the dealership when the fire broke out and no injuries have been reported.

The fire comes after a string of reports across Italy in recent weeks of Tesla vehicles being vandalized and defaced, with anti-Elon Musk and anti-Donald Trump sentiments written with spray paint.

Another car dealership burned down in northern Rome a week ago, destroying 30 cars, including used Teslas.

Also in Rome, several Teslas in the Garbatella neighborhood were defaced, according to police and social media posts.

Tesla dealerships in Milan have also been targeted by environmental groups in recent weeks.

Reports of Tesla vandalism have also surfaced in France and various parts of the United States, including the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Wednesday, April 2, a major expansion of a military operation in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, saying the army would seize "large areas" of the Palestinian territory.

The defense chief said in a statement that Israel would expand its presence in Gaza to "destroy and clear the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure." The expanded operation would "seize large areas that will be incorporated into Israeli security zones," he said, without saying how much territory Israel would take. The announcement comes after he warned last week the military would soon "operate with full force" in additional parts of Hamas-run Gaza.

In February, Katz announced plans to set up an agency for the "voluntary departure" of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. That came after Israel expressed a commitment to a proposal from US President Donald Trump to take over the territory after relocating its 2.4 million Palestinian inhabitants.

China announced Monday the discovery of a crude oil reserve estimated at 100 million tons in the northeastern part of the South China Sea, according to a statement from the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).

The reserve was located at the "Huicou 19-6" oil field, situated approximately 170 kilometers off the coast of Guangdong province in southern China. The field lies in waters averaging 100 meters in depth.

CNOOC said test drilling at the site yielded 413 barrels of oil and 68,000 cubic meters of natural gas per day.

Now, thousands of protesters have been detained and government-owned media appears to be running a blackout on any coverage of the protests. A number of journalists have been arrested and a BBC reporter has even been deported after his reporting of demonstrations.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters have gathered across Turkey in what was initially to express opposition to Imamoglu’s arrest, but have quickly bloomed into wider anti-government gatherings. However, Turkish state media has been accused of censoring any coverage of the protests. The Guardian reported that government owned channels broadcast interviews with ministers unrelated to the protests and that:

Substantive coverage of the protests has instead been the preserve of the small slice of newspapers and cable channels that exist outside the well funded and slick pro-government broadcasting networks.

https://archive.ph/1Ahrg

Lured by company recruiters and encouraged by Kenya's government, the women have reason for optimism. Spend two years in Saudi Arabia as a housekeeper or nanny, the pitch goes, and you can earn enough to build a house, educate your children and save for the future.

While the departure terminal hums with anticipation, the arrivals area is where hope meets grim reality. Hollow-cheeked women return, often ground down by unpaid wages, beatings, starvation and sexual assault. Some are broke. Others are in coffins.

As US President Donald Trump prepares to announce reciprocal tariffs on April 2, which he calls “Liberation Day,” attention is turning to the potential impact on global trade.

Trump’s tariff plans remain a major source of global uncertainty, with fears that countermeasures from other countries could deepen trade tensions.

His announcement that the US would impose 25% tariffs on car imports has brought renewed attention to Türkiye’s automotive exports to the American market.

According to data from the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), the US remains a key destination for Türkiye’s automotive sector.

Iranian authorities have escalated their crackdown on women’s rights defenders, journalists, singers and other activists demanding equality or who defy compulsory veiling using arbitrary detention, unjust prosecution, flogging, and even the death penalty in a bid to quash Iran’s women’s rights movement, Amnesty International said today.

Since International Women’s Day (IWD) on 8 March, the Iranian authorities have arbitrarily arrested at least five women’s rights activists. These arrests come amid an intensified crackdown that has included summoning women’s rights activists and journalists for interrogation, and arresting women singers for performing without the mandatory hijab while shutting down their social media accounts. In the lead up to IWD, the authorities flogged a male singer 74 times for performing a protest song against Iran’s discriminatory compulsory veiling laws and, in February 2025, sentenced a women’s rights activist to death.

Tuesday’s drills have differed slightly from more recent efforts, which have not been so explicitly linked to “punishing” Taiwan. They were also launched with little warning. Taiwan’s government and military have been ramping up their response training amid growing concern that Beijing might launch a real attack or blockade under the guise of a drill.

Amanda Hsiao, a director in Eurasia Group’s China practice, said Tuesday’s propaganda “makes it clear that China is breaking from what has been a relatively quiet approach since Trump’s election”.

“This is primarily about Lai’s 13 March speech which Beijing found provocative,” she said. “The publicity around the exercise likely also has the US in mind – they want to persuade the Trump administration that Lai is a troublemaker and to deter the US from maintaining high levels of support to Taiwan.”

The US secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth, has visited several Asian countries in recent days, emphasising that countering China and deterring it from attacking Taiwan was a key priority for the US.

No doubt with several emojis.

Meanwhile, in 2023, there was a massive jump in arms exports to Europe. Overall, the value of UK companies’ arms export contracts to Europe more than quadrupled between 2013–17 and 2019–23, reaching £16.15 billion in the latter period. This reflects a trend towards European rearmament that has been going on for many years, but which greatly accelerated with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Then, despite not being as high as in previous years, sales to human rights abusing regimes in Saudi Arabia and Qatar remain high. In 2023, the UK issued single licenses worth £515m (10.4% of the total) to Saudi Arabia, and £351m (7.1% of the total) to Qatar.

Social security failures coupled with structural gender inequality leave many people in Germany mired in poverty, especially single-parent families and older women.

Major gaps remain in the world’s third richest country between the amount of social security support received and the poverty risk threshold.

The parties in coalition talks should prioritize strengthening social security protections and addressing longstanding structural barriers to gender equality.

Hegseth’s visit to the Philippines comes in the midst of a critical mid-term election, scheduled to be held on May 12, that is functioning for the elite as a referendum on the geopolitical allegiance of the Philippines. The tariffs, spending freezes, and volatility of the Trump administration have thrown into sharp relief the question of Manila’s loyalty to its former colonial ruler. The Marcos administration, functioning as a proxy of US imperialism, has brought the Philippines to the brink of war with China.

The opposition to Marcos is headed by the Duterte family, which has sought to improve relations with China by distancing Manila from Washington. Over the past month, the Marcos government has overseen the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte and the arrest and extradition to The Hague of her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, on charges of crimes against humanity. The current political situation in the Philippines is deeply unstable.

Hegseth announced that the Trump White House was lifting its funding freeze on $500 million in military funding to the Philippines committed in the final year of the Biden administration. However, hundreds of millions of dollars in USAID grants, for malaria eradication, educational improvement, and HIV/AIDS prevention, remain frozen and are likely to be scrapped. The release of military funding is seen as shoring up the political prospects of the Marcos administration slate.

Clearly supportive of the Marcos administration, Hegseth declared, “There is a very real reason why our first trip and our first visit is here to your great country,” to which Marcos responded, “Your visit to the region, and especially the fact that you have come to the Philippines as your first stop, is a very strong indication and sends a very strong message.”

During his 10-day visit, Halevi advocated for reducing U.S. military aid, arguing that such assistance portrays Israel as weak and overly dependent. He met with Heritage leadership accompanied by Gideon Israel, head of the Jerusalem-Washington Center, an organization that advises Republican lawmakers on Israel policy.​

While Democratic-aligned pro-Israel groups like DMFI have vocally opposed the Heritage Foundation’s report, Republican-aligned elements of the Israel Lobby have remained notably silent. This silence suggests a potential divide centered around Netanyahu’s leadership, with some Israeli conservatives, including Halevi, acknowledging that overreliance on U.S. aid may harm Israel’s global image.​

themoscowtimes.com/2025/03/31/…

Anti-coup fighters in Myanmar declared a two-week partial ceasefire as the military began Sunday, March 30, to facilitate rescue operations and other relief work after a massive earthquake hit the war-torn country.

The People's Defence Force (PDF) will "implement a two-week pause in offensive military operations, except for defensive actions, in earthquake-affected areas starting March 30, 2025", the shadow "National Unity Government" said in a statement.

The government in exile said it would "collaborate with the UN and NGOs to ensure security, transportation, and the establishment of temporary rescue and medical camps" in areas that it controls, according to the statement, which was released on social media.

The Dutch environmental NGO Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) formally filed a lawsuit today against ING, the largest bank in the Netherlands, challenging the bank’s climate policies. The lawsuit seeks to compel ING to align its financing activities with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. By taking this action, Milieudefensie hopes to set a precedent for holding financial institutions accountable for their role in financing fossil fuel companies and high-carbon sectors that exacerbate the global climate crisis.

“If we succeed, this will be a major breakthrough in achieving climate stabilization globally,” Donald Pols, director of Milieudefensie, said during a press briefing last week. He noted that ING, as one of the 30 largest banks in the world, has a substantial impact on the broader financial sector.

“Milieudefensie is demanding that ING halve its emissions by 2030 and stop financing companies that start new oil and gas projects,” Pols said.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.27-074937/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2025/03/27/cocaine-prices-at-their-lowest-since-2014_6739558_7.html

Is it the result of a commercial strategy by drug trafficking networks or the start of a long-term trend? For the first time since 2014, the price of a gram of cocaine has dropped in France, according to a confidential memo from the French Anti-narcotics Office, seen by Le Monde. While a gram of the narcotic traded at between €65 and €66 for more than 10 years – with a peak at €70 in 2018 – the price fell in 2024 by more than 10% to an average of €58, an unprecedented price.

The abundance of the product partly explains the drop, as the global supply of cocaine seems to be continuing its upward trend since the record production levels in 2022. Published in January, the annual report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime showed that that year had seen "the manufacture of more than 2,700 tons [of cocaine], 20% more than the previous year and three times more than in 2013 and 2014."

The growing number of consumers may also contribute to this fall in prices, amid a context of strong competition between market players. On January 15, in its 10th edition of "key figures" relating to "drugs and addictions," the French Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) considered "the wider diffusion of psychostimulants," including cocaine, to be "one of the major trends of recent years." In 2023, the period studied for this overview, 1.1 million French people had used cocaine at least once.