Category: 2. World

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israel’s military launched airstrikes early Monday targeting ports and facilities held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who responded with missile fire targeting Israel.

The strikes came after the Houthis attacked a Liberian-flagged ship in the Red Sea that caught fire and took on water, later forcing its crew to abandon the vessel. On Monday afternoon, the claimed the attack, which saw missiles and explosive-carrying drone boats set the vessel ablaze in the Red Sea.

The Magic Seas attack raised fears of a renewed Houthi campaign against shipping that could again draw in U.S. and Western forces to the area, particularly after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration targeted the rebels in a major airstrike campaign.

The ship attack comes at a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war hangs in the balance, and as Iran weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear program following American airstrikes targeting its most sensitive atomic sites during an Israeli war against the Islamic Republic.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also was traveling to Washington to meet with Trump.

Israeli strikes target Houthi-held ports

The Israeli military said that it struck Houthi-held ports at Hodeida, Ras Isa and Salif, as well as the Ras Kanatib power plant. It released footage showing an F-16 launching from Israel for the strike, which came after the Israeli military issued a warning for the area.

“These ports are used by the Houthi terrorist regime to transfer weapons from the Iranian regime, which are employed to carry out terrorist operations against the state of Israel and its allies,” the Israeli military said.

The Israeli military also said it struck the Galaxy Leader, a vehicle-carrying vessel that the Houthis seized back in November 2023 when they began their attacks in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war.

“Houthi forces installed a radar system on the ship and have been using it to track vessels in the international maritime arena to facilitate further terrorist activities,” the Israeli military said.

The Bahamas-flagged Galaxy Leader was affiliated with an Israeli billionaire. It said that no Israelis were on board. The ship had been operated by a Japanese firm, NYK Line.

The Houthis acknowledged the strikes, but offered no damage assessment from the attack. Their military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, claimed its air defense forces “effectively confronted” the Israelis without offering evidence.

Israel has repeatedly attacked Houthi areas in Yemen, including a naval strike in June. Both Israel and the United States have struck ports in the area in the past — including an American attack that killed 74 people in April — but Israel is now acting alone in attacking the rebels as they continue to fire missiles at Israel.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened to launch further strikes.

“What’s true for Iran is true for Yemen,” Katz said in a statement. “Anyone who raises a hand against Israel will have it cut off. The Houthis will continue to pay a heavy price for their actions.”

The Houthis then responded with an apparent missile attack on Israel. The Israeli military said that it attempted to intercept the two missiles launched by the Houthis, but they appeared to make impact, though no injuries have been reported. Sirens sounded in the West Bank and along the Dead Sea.

Saree on Monday claimed to launch missiles and drones targeting Israel in its attack.

“We are fully prepared for a sustained and prolonged confrontation, to confront hostile warplanes and to counter attempts to break the naval blockade imposed by our armed forces on the enemy,” Saree said.

Ship attack forces crew to abandon vessel

The attack on the Magic Seas, a bulk carrier heading north to Egypt’s Suez Canal, happened about 60 miles southwest of Hodeida, Yemen, which is held by the Houthis.

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, or UKMTO, center first said that an armed security team on the vessel had returned fire against an initial attack of gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, though the vessel later was struck by projectiles.

Ambrey, a private maritime security firm, said that the Magic Seas also had been attacked by bomb-carrying drone boats, which could be a major escalation. It said that two drone boats struck the ship, while another two had been destroyed by the armed guards on board.

UKMTO said the ship was taking on water and its crew had abandoned the vessel. They were rescued by a passing ship, it added.

A European Union anti-piracy patrol in the region, called Operation Atalanta, said that 22 mariners had been on board the Magic Seas.

Saree, the Houthi spokesman, claimed the attack and said the rebels used missiles and bomb-carrying drone boats to attack the ship.

“Our operations continue in targeting the depths of the Israeli entity in occupied Palestine, as well as preventing Israeli maritime navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas … until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege on it is lifted,” Saree said.

The Magic Seas’ owners didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Houthi attacks came over the Israel-Hamas war

The Houthi rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group’s leadership has described as an effort to end Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. Their campaign has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually. Shipping through the Red Sea, while still lower than normal, has increased in recent weeks.

The Houthis paused attacks until the U.S. launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. That ended weeks later and the Houthis haven’t attacked a vessel, though they have continued occasional missile attacks targeting Israel.

As soon as eight-year-old Sidra Al Bordeeni returned from the clinic with her prosthetic arm, she jumped on a bicycle in the Jordanian refugee camp where she lives, riding for the first time since a missile strike in Gaza took her arm a year ago.

Sidra was injured while sheltering at Nuseirat School, one of several Gaza schools converted into makeshift refuges from Israeli strikes. Her mother, Sabreen Al Bordeeni, said Gaza’s collapsed health services and the family’s inability to leave at the time made it impossible to save her hand.

A technician checks a prosthetic limb at the Bioniks, in Karachi, April 29, 2024. — Reuters

“She’s out playing, and all her friends and siblings are fascinated by her arm,” Al Bordeeni said on the phone, repeatedly thanking God for this day. “I can’t express how grateful I am to see my daughter happy.”

The arm was built over 4,000 kilometres away in Karachi by Bioniks, a Pakistani company that uses a smartphone app to take pictures from different angles and create a 3D model for custom prosthetics.

CEO Anas Niaz said the social enterprise startup had fit more than 1,000 custom-designed arms inside Pakistan since 2021 – funded through a mix of patient payments, corporate sponsorship, and donations – but this was its first time providing prosthetics to those impacted in conflict.

Sidra and three-year-old Habebat Allah, who lost both her arms and a leg in Gaza, went through days of remote consultations and virtual fittings. Then Niaz flew from Karachi to Amman to meet the girls and make his company’s first overseas delivery.

Sidra’s device was funded by Mafaz Clinic in Amman, while donations from Pakistanis paid for Habebat’s. Mafaz CEO Entesar Asaker said the clinic partnered with Bioniks for its low costs, remote solutions and ability to troubleshoot virtually.

Niaz said each prosthetic arm costs about $2,500, significantly less than the $10,000 to $20,000 for alternatives made in the United States.

A technician works on computers with prosthetic limb diagram at Bioniks in Karachi, April 29, 2024. — Reuters

While Bioniks’ arms are less sophisticated than US versions, they provide a high level of functionality for children and their remote process makes them more accessible than options from other countries such as Turkey and South Korea.

“We plan on providing limbs for people in other conflict zones too, like Ukraine, and become a global company,” Niaz said.

Globally, most advanced prosthetics are designed for adults and rarely reach children in war zones, who need lighter limbs and replacements every 12–18 months as they grow.

Niaz said they were exploring funding options for Sidra and Habebat’s future replacements, adding the cost wouldn’t be too high.

A technician works on computers with prosthetic limb diagram at Bioniks in Karachi, April 29, 2024. — Reuters

“Only a few components would need to be changed,” he said, “the rest can be reused to help another child.”

Bioniks occasionally incorporates popular fictional characters into its children’s prosthetics such as Marvel’s Iron Man or Disney’s Elsa, a feature Niaz said helps with emotional acceptance and daily use.

A technician checks a prosthetic limb at the Bioniks in Karachi, April 29, 2024. — Reuters

‘Finally hug my father’

Gaza now has around 4,500 new amputees, on top of 2,000 existing cases from before the war, many of them children, making it one of the highest child-amputation crises per capita in recent history, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in March.

An April study by the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics found at least 7,000 children have been injured since Israel’s war in Gaza began in October 2023. Local health authorities say more than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, nearly one-third of them children.

The World Health Organization has said Gaza’s health system is “on its knees” with Israel’s border closures drying up critical supplies, meaning the wounded cannot access specialised care, especially amid waves of wounded patients.

“Where it’s nearly impossible for healthcare professionals and patients to meet, remote treatment bridges a critical gap, making assessments, fittings, and follow-up possible without travel or specialised centres,” said Asadullah Khan, Clinic Manager at ProActive Prosthetic in Leeds, UK, which provides artificial limbs and support for trauma patients.

Bioniks hopes to pioneer such solutions on a large scale but funding remains a roadblock and the company is still trying to form viable partnerships.

Sidra is still adjusting to her new hand, on which she now wears a small bracelet. For much of the past year, when she wanted to make a heart, a simple gesture using both hands, she would ask someone else to complete it. This time, she formed the shape herself, snapped a photo, and sent it to her father, who is still trapped in Gaza.

“What I’m looking forward to most is using both my arms to finally hug my father when I see him,” she said.

Since Israel bombed Iranian cities for 12 days in a military campaign that breached international law, the prospect of a political shift away from the Islamic Republic has been dangled more explicitly and frequently than before. Potential contenders for leadership in a new regime in Tehran have been saying they are ready to lead a smooth and peaceful transition without engendering instability.

Powerful factions within the Iranian diaspora either endorsed Israel’s war effort or ignored the huge loss of civilian life lest their denunciation of violence overshadowed the imminence of a desired regime change. And some disgruntled Iranians inside the country, weary of corruption and repression, found themselves in agreement.

The conviction that the ultimate solution to the ongoing political, economic and social crises implicating Iran is the replacement of its government appears to have been embraced by pro-democracy voices globally as preordained. Domestically, the idea has been gaining traction and larger numbers of Iranian taxpayers say they don’t believe gradual reform can improve their lives. Still, the most vocal regime change campaigners are the exiles.

Silver bullet regime change?

Despite the multiplicity of diasporic opposition groups and advocacy organisations representing them, almost no structured study is available that captures the political allegiances of the wide spectrum of Iranian expats. Perhaps one statistical gauge of their sweeping antipathy to the ruling establishment is their reaction to Iran’s electoral races.

In the 2024 snap presidential election, of the nearly 3.5 million eligible voters overseas, only a total of 88 000 people cast their ballot at 234 polling stations set up at Iran’s consulates. Although a campaign of voter suppression orchestrated by transnational pressure groups prevented many potential voters from going to the polls, the abysmal turnout carried an unmistakable message.

Temperamental social media reactions to events, manipulated by AI algorithms, can highly likely alter our perception of reality. But if social media are to be seen as windows into communities, the outpouring of morbid curiosity in Israel’s attacks, often marked by schadenfreude, was the dominant thread in the online conversations of Persian expats. They were convinced the endgame would be regime change. But they weren’t the only ones relishing in Israel’s muscle-flexing.

The spectacle of the Revolutionary Guards commanders being killed in the first days of the attacks electrified some Iranians at home who were desperate and jaundiced. As the airstrikes expanded countrywide and ordinary citizens were killed indiscriminately, revulsion against the war and the denunciation of the aggressor grew in intensity.

For the past several months, rapid outages have caused Iran’s industries and businesses $219 million in damages every day.

Notwithstanding the present ceasefire, leaders of the diasporic opposition, including the well-known figureheads, icons of Iran’s former royal family and the more organised dissidents such as the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK) remain the champions of a putsch. They say such a political rearrangement will transform life in Iran, reversing a long stretch of isolation.

Arguments against the urgency of fundamental change are at best deficient. The status quo is beyond unsustainable. Nearly five decades of cultural crackdown, economic disarray caused by crushing sanctions and incompetent leadership, and the persistent climate of fear surrounding minorities and women have spawned a state of lingering misfortune.

While Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been able to secure the hosting rights of the different editions of the FIFA World Cup, Iran spent nearly $23 million on renovating its oldest football venue, only to acknowledge after its re-opening that the work was done partially. The Azadi Stadium was crippled by a 17-minute-long electricity blackout during an international match in March.

The embarrassment was not just the power grid going off at a soccer venue. For the past several months, rapid outages have caused Iran’s industries and businesses $219 million in damages every day. The challenge is the delusional thinking of an ambitious state that is not even equipped to supply reliable electricity to its citizens.

But if a democratic shift is inevitable, and if the proponents believe such a change is so urgent that it justifies foreign military intervention and increased economic punishment, there is a more substantive question to be answered first: How is the Iranian society going to reintegrate with the community of nations without any investment being made in the prerequisites?

The importance of civic education

Automatic assumptions about the aftermath of political transformation in Iran promise the vision of a country where the rule of law is swiftly restored, technological advances take off overnight, work ethics dominate the administrative setup, and human rights come to the forefront of policymaking. Iran’s trials are painted as being created entirely by one source, namely the ayatollah, and they will allegedly be resolved once he is toppled.

No counterproposal to this fallacy absolves Iran’s theocracy of the stagnation and mayhem it has wrought after years of failed governance. But the crusaders of change are yet to share their thoughts on how they plan to recalibrate the social fabric of a nation that has consistently been denied the chance to hear about the rule of law, civic engagement and tolerance.

Harrowing reports of honour killing, the continued practice of child marriage and the admissibility of polygamy in different regions of a country boasting an otherwise educated population are also part of the reality of the 21st-century Iran. These are condoned by the establishment, but don’t originate from the presidential office. They are happening across villages and towns with unique ethnoreligious profiles, and in Tehran.

Structural corruption has implanted unethical arrangements into the everyday routine of the functionaries who have become viscerally resistant to transparency.

Iran’s school curriculum includes little to no material about criminal justice, travel, climate change, racial equity, reproductive health and sex education. A senior female seminarian said in a 2023 interview that in line with Islamic teachings, children must be nurtured to be ‘ignorant’ about issues pertaining to sexuality and gender. Moreover, both the primary and secondary school curricula have been repeatedly modified to accommodate heavily-indoctrinated materials around contemporary politics. Yet, the absence of a national context on good citizenship does not end at the school where formal learning happens.

Last year, the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization reported that 19 435 people were killed in road accidents. In the World Health Organization’s regional subset of the Eastern Mediterranean consisting of 20 countries, Iran’s per-capita road traffic death rate is the seventh largest, even higher than Pakistan with a population three times the size of Iran.

The police dedicating the bulk of their resources to cultural surveillance has infantilised the value of safe driving in the national discourse, and a robust debate about responsible traffic behaviour has not ever happened.

Structural corruption

In addition, if the administrative bureaucracy is known for its sluggishness and inefficiency, it is not merely because the system cannot abjure excessive paperwork or innovate solutions. Structural corruption has implanted unethical arrangements into the everyday routine of the functionaries who have become viscerally resistant to transparency.

Draining sanctions that have blocked the presence of international organisations and non-profits in Iran mean corruption can metastasise when independent oversight is unavailable, afflicting the private sector and independent professionals, as well.

Physicians, lawyers and business owners are increasingly relying on under-the-table payoffs to do their daily tasks. Even foreign embassies in Tehran, which take instructions from their respective capitals, have become accustomed to these practices, accepting bribes from visa applicants to assign them appointments.

The TRACE Bribery Risk Matrix 2024, has listed Iran as the 185th country in a ranking of 194 nations assessed for the prevalence of bribery in their business and government sector and their compliance with anti-bribery measures.

The contenders for power in a free Iran have similarly refused to state their views on how they will save millions of Iranians consumed by corrupt structures if they have indeed diagnosed the roots of the problem.

Now, if there is a valid argument that the unreformable Islamic Republic needs to be succeeded by a democracy so that these challenges are overcome, the commitment of the proponents to the process remains uncertain. They have not clarified how the social amendments that ensure any political change would be lasting can be facilitated.

The contenders for power in a free Iran have similarly refused to state their views on how they will save millions of Iranians consumed by corrupt structures if they have indeed diagnosed the roots of the problem. We don’t know their perspective on the importance of civic education, engagement with discordant voices, and cultural and religious tolerance.

As they presently fulfil the role of the spiritual chieftains of the diasporic collectives, there is no indication that they are preparing their de facto constituents to become global citizens of a democratic Iran. If anything, these leaders haven’t honoured the notion of good citizenship by mobilising their staunch supporters to storm events and stifle speech online.

Let’s picture the immediate overthrow of the Islamic Republic and a transitional process bringing an exiled luminary to power. How is the new leader going to change the collective identity of a society in which for the past 46 years, observing the traffic light, taking turns in a bakery line, and interacting with religious and sexual minorities as colleagues have not ever been questions to reflect on?

WARSAW: The elegant 72-year-old Russian put her hand on her heart as the verdict fell. Five and a half years in prison for posts opposing the war in Ukraine.

Then, according to a witness who saw her in the dock, “her nose began to bleed.”

Yet only a few years before, Evgeniya Mayboroda had been an ardent fan of Russian leader Vladimir Putin and had celebrated his annexation of Crimea.

A photo taken in the court in Shakhty shows her shock as the sentence was pronounced — her punishment held up as an example of what can happen to even model citizens if they question the war.

Mayboroda — who comes from the Rostov region bordering Ukraine — was accused of sharing “false information” on the Russian army on social media and of “making a public appeal to commit extremist activities.”

Even before she was convicted in January 2024, the posts on her social media feed — thick with pictures of cats and flowers — had put her on the Russia’s “terrorist and extremist” watchlist.

Curious to discover how a pro-Kremlin pensioner could so quickly become an enemy of the state, AFP tracked her down to a penal colony where she said her faith and prayers were sustaining her.

We also talked to those who know her and were able to piece together a picture of this unlikely rebel, whose strange story says much about today’s Russia.

Evgeniya Nikolaevna Mayboroda was born on June 10, 1951 near the coal-mining town of Shakhty and met her husband Nikolai at the local technical institute.

They both got jobs at a facility just outside the city — he was a miner in an elite squad, while she worked in the power station above ground. They had a son, Sergei, in 1972.

The Mayborodas were the ideal Soviet family. As mine workers they occupied a privileged place in the communist hierarchy and were able to travel regularly across the Eastern Bloc.

But when the USSR collapsed in 1991 so did their world. Not only was there no money to pay their wages but the socialist values they believed in were replaced by a wild, cowboy capitalism.

Then on Miners’ Day 1997, an important date in the Soviet calendar, Sergei, their only child was killed in a car accident. He was 25.

“We were at the burial. Evgeniya was in such a state that she can’t remember it,” a friend of the family, too afraid to give her name, told AFP.

“Her son was everything to her.”

The mine shut down in 2002 and, less than a decade later, her husband died after a sudden illness and Mayboroda found herself alone.

She took refuge in religion and was soon back on her feet, again taking pride in her appearance. Photos show that even on a budget, she kept her sense of style, always with a little touch of mascara.

“She is a leader in life,” a friend said. “She is hard to break.”

At the end of 2017, she discovered social media and joined VK (Russia’s equivalent to Facebook). Her page shows her political evolution.

For five years she shared hundreds of pictures of cats and flowers, religious messages or nostalgic reminiscences about life in the good old USSR.

And she was effusive in her praise of President Vladimir Putin, posting some 30 photos of him from March to August 2018, hailing him as a marvellous leader who was making Russia great again.

In one of them, Putin tells Donald Trump that Russia would give Crimea back to Ukraine “if the United States gives Texas back to Mexico and Alaska back to Russia.”

She also called former Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko — who accused Putin of having him poisoned — a “moron.”

Like many Russians laid low by the crisis of the 1990s, Mayboroda was receptive to the Kremlin’s rhetoric that Russia had regained its power and stability under Putin.

Then something changed. In the summer of 2018, a sudden raising of the retirement age saw discontent with the government spread beyond the big cities.

“Normally Putin, as a great popular leader, likes to position himself as referee, guaranteeing the interest of the people,” said French sociologist Karine Clement, a specialist on Russian protest movements.

“But this was the first time he spoke up to defend a reform that, let’s say, went against the interests of the poor.”

While his popularity plummeted, there were no large protests.

At around the same time, the mood of Mayboroda’s posts about politics began to change.

She started to share posts denouncing poverty in Russia, contrasting it with the country’s vast natural resources.

Tatyana Vasilchuk, a journalist from the independent outlet Novaya Gazeta, said the Maiski area where Mayboroda lived was wracked by neglect and unemployment when she visited.

“It was drowning under rubbish,” she said.

In 2020, Mayboroda made clear her opposition to a change in the constitution allowing Putin to stay in power until 2036, reposting a message that said: “No to an eternal Putin… No to eternal lies and corruption.”

Then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“One of the motors” for Putin going to war, Clement said, was his need to silence opposition and “restore control.”

On her VK account, Mayboroda — who had family in Ukraine — criticized the invasion and even expressed support for the Azov Brigade, a Ukrainian unit founded by far-right militants.

While some Azov members were neo-Nazis, its dogged resistance on the battlefield, particularly during the siege of Mariupol in 2022, won it hero status in Ukraine and recruits beyond ultranationalist groups.

In Russia, where all opposition — particularly online — is tracked, her posts did not go unnoticed.

The security services have locked up hundreds of people for criticizing the conflict and Mayboroda’s turn came in February 2023.

Police raided her home and she got her first jail term and a fine. A more serious criminal investigation was also opened, which led to her conviction last year.

Investigators accused her of criticizing the Russian assault on Mariupol in which thousands of besieged Ukrainians died.

They also said she reposted a disturbing video in which a young girl, sat in front of a screen showing a swastika, holds a knife and declares in Ukrainian that Russians should have their throats cut.

The video seems to support the Kremlin line that Russia had gone into Ukraine to fight “neo-Nazis,” playing on the admiration some Ukrainian nationalist groups have for those who fought with the Germans against Soviet leader Joseph Stalin during World War II.

Mayboroda was accused of being a Nazi for reposting the video, which had in fact been published by a pro-Kremlin account on VK. Ukraine’s SBU security service claim the clip was part of a Russian “propaganda campaign.”

“She does not support that ideology,” a source close to the case told AFP.

Mayboroda, who regularly crossed the border to visit her Ukrainian relatives before the war, told the court that one was wounded in a Russian strike on a building in Dnipro in the summer of 2022.

Yet at the time Mayboroda did not see how dangerous her online comments were, a friend told AFP. She compared the pensioner — who is now 74 — to a “lost lamb” who she still loved despite being “in the wrong.”

Expert Clement said she could understand how Mayboroda became politicized once she saw through the Kremlin line.

Beyond prosecuting its opponents, the Kremlin tries to “scramble minds” with a fog of often contradictory disinformation to stop “the forming of mass political movements,” Clement said.

This strategy of confusion allows it to present the invasion as “a fight against Nazism,” she added, even though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish.

Russians are cynical about politics after watching oligarchs present their ultraliberal reforms that robbed the poor in the 1990s as an advance toward “democracy,” the expert argued, a distrust which now works in favor of Putin’s authoritarianism.

“You have to be very smart to navigate public life in Russia,” she said, adding that a “thirst for community” was part of the reason why so many have got behind the war.

Despite that, Mayboroda’s plight has garnered attention from opposition media and NGOs both in Russia and in exile. The banned group Memorial quickly recognized her as a “political prisoner,” and Kremlin critics said her jailing showed the growing intensity of repression.

Unlike thousands of Ukrainian prisoners who human rights groups say are being held in secret and sometimes tortured, as a Russian citizen Mayboroda’s prison conditions are much better.

Theoretically she can receive letters, though censored by prison authorities, and occasionally make phone calls.

In June, after a six-month wait, AFP was able to talk to her during a mediated and recorded 10-minute call from her prison in the Rostov region.

During the spring her friends said she was depressed and unwell. But her tone during this call was surprisingly upbeat given she has been behind bars for 18 months.

“The hardest thing for me was losing my freedom. It’s very hard… But my faith and prayers help me,” she told AFP, her voice sometimes cut by the crackly line.

Asked why she reshared the video of the girl calling for Russians to be killed, she said “it happened by accident. It was stupid.”

She insisted that she detested “hate” and “lies,” and that she believed in “love and the joy of living.”

Her opposition to the war was on simple moral grounds, she said. “I am a (Christian) believer. Thou shalt not kill.”

Nor could she see why the invasion had to happen. “Why all this? I don’t understand.”

President Donald Trump said the US will impose an additional 10% tariff on any countries aligning themselves with the “Anti-American policies” of the BRICS group of developing nations, whose leaders kicked off a summit in Brazil on Sunday.

With forums such as the G7 and G20 groups of major economies hamstrung by divisions and the disruptive “America First” approach of the US president, BRICS is presenting itself as a haven for multilateral diplomacy amid violent conflicts and trade wars.

In a joint statement from the opening of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro released on Sunday afternoon, the group warned the rise in tariffs threatened global trade, continuing its veiled criticism of Trump’s tariff policies.

Hours later, Trump warned he would punish countries seeking to join with the grouping.

“Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” wrote Trump in a post on Truth Social.

Trump did not clarify or expand on the “Anti-American policies” reference in his post.

Trump’s administration is seeking to finalize dozens of trade deals with a wide range of countries before his July 9 deadline for the imposition of significant “retaliatory tariffs”.

The original BRICS group gathered leaders from Brazil, Russia, India and China at its first summit in 2009. The bloc later added South Africa and last year included Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates as members.

Saudi Arabia has held off formally joining, according to sources, while another 30 nations have expressed interest in participating in the BRICS, either as full members or partners.

Indonesia’s senior economic minister, Airlangga Hartarto, is in Brazil for the BRICS summit and is scheduled to go to the US on Monday to oversee tariff talks, an official told Reuters. India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In opening remarks to the summit earlier, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva drew a parallel with the Cold War’s Non-Aligned Movement, a group of developing nations that resisted joining either side of a polarized global order.

“BRICS is the heir to the Non-Aligned Movement,” Lula told leaders. “With multilateralism under attack, our autonomy is in check once again.”

BRICS nations now represent more than half the world’s population and 40% of its economic output, Lula noted in remarks on Saturday to business leaders, warning of rising protectionism.

Growing clout complexity

Expansion of the bloc has added diplomatic weight to the gathering, which aspires to speak for developing nations across the Global South, strengthening calls for reforming global institutions such as the United Nations Security Council and the International Monetary Fund.

“If international governance does not reflect the new multipolar reality of the 21st century, it is up to BRICS to help bring it up to date,” Lula said in his remarks, which highlighted the failure of US-led wars in the Middle East.

Stealing some thunder from this year’s summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping chose to send his premier in his place. Russian President Vladimir Putin is attending online due to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court related to his war in Ukraine.

Still, several heads of state were gathered for discussions at Rio’s Museum of Modern Art on Sunday and Monday, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

However, there are questions about the shared goals of an increasingly heterogeneous BRICS group, which has grown to include regional rivals along with major emerging economies.

In the joint statement, the leaders called attacks against Iran’s “civilian infrastructure and peaceful nuclear facilities” a “violation of international law.”

The group expressed “grave concern” for the Palestinian people over Israeli attacks on Gaza, and condemned what the joint statement called a “terrorist attack” in India-administered Kashmir.

The group voiced its support for Ethiopia and Iran to join the World Trade Organization, while calling to urgently restore its ability to resolve trade disputes.

The leaders’ joint statement backed plans to pilot a BRICS Multilateral Guarantees initiative within the group’s New Development Bank to lower financing costs and boost investment in member states.

In a separate statement following a discussion of artificial intelligence, the leaders called for protections against unauthorized use of AI to avoid excessive data collection and allow mechanisms for fair payment.

Brazil, which also hosts the United Nations climate summit in November, has seized on both gatherings to highlight how seriously developing nations are tackling climate change, while Trump has slammed the brakes on US climate initiatives.

China and the UAE signaled in meetings with Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad in Rio that they plan to invest in a proposed Tropical Forests Forever Facility, according to two sources with knowledge of the discussions about funding conservation of endangered forests around the world.

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What trade deals has the US agreed?

Israeli air and ground attacks have killed at least 24 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Monday, according to medical sources cited by Al Jazeera.

Hospitals across the enclave continue to report growing casualties amid ongoing strikes.

An Israeli airstrike hit a clinic in Gaza City used as a shelter by displaced Palestinians, killing at least six people and wounding several others. Witnesses described scenes of devastation and bloodshed inside the facility.

A Palestinian inspects the damage in the aftermath of an overnight Israeli strike on Al-Remal clinic where displaced people take shelter, in Gaza City on July 7, 2025. — Reuters

Moreover, Israeli forces have arrested Nasser Laham, editor-in-chief of the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency, during a raid on his home in Al-Duheisha, near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, Middle East Eye reports.

Palestinians look on at the site in the aftermath of an overnight Israeli strike on Al-Remal clinic where displaced people take shelter in Gaza City on July 7, 2025. — Reuters

Laham, who also heads the West Bank office of Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen TV, was reportedly detained after soldiers ransacked his residence and confiscated mobile phones and electronic equipment. A message posted on his Facebook page confirmed the arrest.

Palestinians sit as they inspect damage in the aftermath of an overnight Israeli strike on Al-Remal clinic where displaced people take shelter in Gaza City on July 7, 2025. — Reuters

Israeli outlet Haaretz said Laham is expected to appear before a military court at Ofer on Thursday for a hearing on the possible extension of his detention.

Freedom Flotilla to sail for Gaza again

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition has announced it will set sail again for Gaza on July 13, despite a recent interception by Israeli forces, Middle East Eye reports.

In a post on X, the group confirmed its next vessel, Handala, will depart from the port of Siracusa, Italy, as part of a renewed bid to defy Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

The coalition said the mission is dedicated to the children of Gaza. The boat is named after Handala, the iconic cartoon child who symbolises Palestinian resistance.

BRICS declares Gaza ‘inseparable’ part of Palestinian state

BRICS has declared the Gaza Strip an “inseparable part of the occupied Palestinian Territory” and called for a unified Palestinian governance under the Palestinian Authority.

In a joint declaration, the bloc reaffirmed its support for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and an independent State of Palestine, reported Anadolu Agency on Monday. The statement also endorsed full Palestinian membership at the United Nations.

The member states expressed “grave concern” over Israel’s continued military operations in Gaza and the blocking of humanitarian assistance, strongly condemning the use of starvation as a weapon of war.

“We urge the parties to engage in good faith in further negotiations to achieve an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire,” the statement read.

BRICS also called for the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and all parts of the occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as the release of all hostages and detainees held in violation of international law.

BRICS, which originally included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has expanded its diplomatic reach in recent years and increasingly positioned itself as a counterweight to Western influence on global security issues.

Read: Gaza ceasefire takes priority over Israel ties, says Saudi FM

In central Gaza, a medical source at Al-Aqsa Martyrs and al-Awda Hospitals confirmed that two people were killed and several others wounded in a strike on a residential home in the Bureij refugee camp.

Ceasefire talks

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday there is a strong possibility of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal being reached with Hamas this week, according to Reuters.

Speaking to reporters before leaving for Washington, Trump said such a deal could see the release of “quite a few hostages” held in Gaza.

Trump is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday, where the war in Gaza is likely to be high on the agenda.

His comments come as indirect ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Qatar concluded their first session without a breakthrough, two Palestinian sources told Reuters.

Read more: Netanyahu hopes Trump talks will boost Gaza hostage deal efforts

“The Israeli delegation is not sufficiently authorised to reach an agreement with Hamas, as it has no real powers,” said one source, referring to the talks held in Doha.

Netanyahu, speaking ahead of his departure to Washington, said Israeli negotiators had been given “clear instructions” to pursue a ceasefire deal under terms already approved by Israel.

‘Gaza killings funded by taxpayer money’

Meanwhile, US mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has accused the American government of using taxpayer money to fund the killing of children in Gaza, drawing sharp reactions online and in political circles.

In a post on X, Mamdani wrote: “Sorry America, while you’re struggling to pay for your health care, rent, and education, remember that your government couldn’t help you because they have to give Israel billions of dollars in US citizen tax money to bomb and kill innocent children in Gaza”.

Israel’s war on Gaza

The Israeli army has launched a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing at least 57,481 Palestinians, including 134,592 children. More than 111,588 people have been injured, and over 14,222 are missing and presumed dead.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave. The proposed deal includes a pause in hostilities, increased humanitarian aid, and negotiations on the release of captives.