United News of Bangladesh

French President Emmanuel Macron has dismissed speculation around a viral video showing his wife, Brigitte Macron, seemingly pushing him away as they landed in Vietnam, saying the couple was simply joking. The footage, which quickly gained attention in France, captured the first lady placing both hands on Macron’s face — one over his mouth and nose, the other on his jaw — just as the airplane door opened in Hanoi on Sunday. Macron briefly turned his head, then smiled and waved after noticing the camera. French media, including Le Parisien, speculated over the exchange, with headlines questioning whether it was a "slap or squabble." Macron addressed the buzz on Monday, saying the moment was exaggerated and taken out of context. French President Macron to make state visit to UK in July “We were just joking,” he told reporters. “People are blowing this up as if it’s some global catastrophe.” The president, who met Brigitte when she was his high school drama teacher, said the couple was sharing a lighthearted moment before beginning their Southeast Asia tour. His office echoed the explanation, calling it a moment of "playful bonding" that conspiracy theorists had seized on. Brigitte, dressed in red, later descended the airplane stairs beside her husband, opting not to take his offered arm. Macron also used the incident to highlight how easily misinformation can spread in the digital era, urging the public to “calm down” over the harmless exchange.

A regional association of Southeast Asian nations is set to hold a three-way summit Tuesday with China and six Gulf countries in what officials called an effort to bolster economic resilience as they grapple with global volatility and U.S. tariffs. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, opening a summit in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur between the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Gulf Cooperation Council, said a stronger ASEAN-GCC relationship would be key to enhancing interregional collaboration, building resilience and securing sustainable prosperity. ASEAN, China, and GCC cooperation will boost global stability and growth: Experts Chinese Premier Li Qiang will join the two blocs in their first such meeting later Tuesday, as Beijing seeks to present itself as a reliable ally to the region. “I believe the ASEAN-GCC partnership has never been more important than it is today, as we navigate an increasingly complex global landscape marked by economic uncertainty and geopolitical challenges,” Anwar said. Malaysia is the current chair of ASEAN, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Kuwait's Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Sabah said the two blocs, which held their first summit in Riyadh in 2023, would build on their momentum to deepen cooperation and “improve our ability to face crisis.” He said the GCC is ASEAN's seventh largest trade partner, with total trade reaching $130.7 billion in 2023. The GCC comprises the oil-producing nations of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Anwar said last week the GCC already has strong links with the U.S. and “wants to be close to China too.” ASEAN has maintained a policy of neutrality, engaging both Beijing and the United States, but U.S. President Donald Trump's threats sweeping tariffs came as a blow. Six of the bloc's members were among the worst hit, with tariffs between 32% and 49%. Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs in April for most of the world, and this month struck a similar deal with key rival China, easing trade war tensions. Anwar is seeking an ASEAN summit with Trump on the tariffs. Premier Li Qiang to visit Indonesia, attend ASEAN-GCC Summit to boost regional cooperation Collins Chong Yew Keat, a foreign affairs, strategy and security analyst with Universiti Malaya, said ASEAN is seen as tilting towards China and has failed to take strong action against Beijing's aggression in the disputed South China Sea. ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei have overlapping claims with China, which asserts sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea. While relying on U.S. defense support, ASEAN is increasing reliance and partnership with China and other U.S. rivals, Chong said. “If this continues under the current Trump administration, it will create further room for Washington to distance itself from the region, which will spell disaster and create an even deeper Chinese presence,” he said.  

Famed Sherpa guide Kami Rita reached the summit of Mount Everest for the 31st time Tuesday, breaking his own record for the most climbs to the top of the world's highest mountain. Kami Rita, 55, guided a group of clients reaching the summit in the early morning, according to Mingma Sherpa of the Kathmandu-based Seven Summits Treks. He was in good health and descending from the summit with other climbers to the base camp, he said. Before heading to the mountain, Kami Rita had told The Associated Press he would try to climb to the top for the 31st or even possibly 32nd time. He made two successful climbs last year. He had attempted to climb to the summit a few days ago but was forced to turn back due to bad weather. Hundreds of climbers have attempted to climb Mount Everest from the Nepali side of the peak in the south this season, which ends this weekend. Most climbing of Everest and nearby Himalayan peaks is done in April and May, when weather conditions are most favorable. Kami Rita, 55, first climbed Everest in 1994 and has been making the trip nearly every year since. He is one of many Sherpa guides whose expertise and skills are vital to the safety and success of foreign climbers aspiring to stand on top of the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) mountain each year. Famed Sherpa guide will attempt to climb Mount Everest for a 31st time and break his own record His father was among the first Sherpa mountain guides. In addition to Everest, Kami Rita has climbed other peaks that are among the world’s highest, including K2, Cho Oyu, Manaslu and Lhotse. His closest competitor for the most climbs of Mount Everest is fellow Sherpa guide Pasang Dawa, who has made 29 successful ascents of the mountain. Everest was first climbed in 1953 by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.

“Everything will be all right.” Ukrainian soldier Serhii Hryhoriev said this so often during brief phone calls from the front that his wife and two daughters took it to heart. His younger daughter, Oksana, tattooed the phrase on her wrist as a talisman. Even after Hryhoriev was captured by the Russian army in 2022, his anxious family clung to the belief that he would ultimately be OK. After all, Russia is bound by international law to protect prisoners of war. When Hryhoriev finally came home, though, it was in a body bag. A Russian death certificate said the 59-year-old died of a stroke. But a Ukrainian autopsy and a former POW who was detained with him tell a different story about how he died – one of violence and medical neglect at the hands of his captors. Hryhoriev is one of more than 200 Ukrainian POWs who have died while imprisoned since Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago. Abuse inside Russian prisons was likely a contributing factor in many of these deaths, according to officials from human rights groups, the U.N., the Ukrainian government and a Ukrainian medical examiner who has performed dozens of POW autopsies. The officials say the prison death toll adds to evidence that Russia is systematically brutalizing captured soldiers. They say forensic discrepancies like Hryhoriev's, and the repatriation of bodies that are mutilated and decomposed, point to an effort to cover up alleged torture, starvation and poor health care at dozens of prisons and detention centers across Russia and occupied Ukraine. Russian authorities did not respond to requests for comment. They have previously accused Ukraine of mistreating Russian POWs — allegations the U.N. has partially backed up, though it says Ukraine's violations are far less common and severe than what Russia is accused of. ‘Alive and well’ Hryhoriev joined the Ukrainian army in 2019 after he lost his job as an office worker at a high school. When the war began three years later, he was stationed with other soldiers in Mariupol, an industrial port city that was the site of a fierce battle — and far from his home in the central Poltava region. On April 10, 2022, Hryhoriev called his family to reassure them that “everything will be all right.” That was the last time they ever spoke to him. Two days later, a relative of a soldier in Hryhoriev’s unit called to say the men had been captured. After Mariupol fell to Russia, more than 2,000 soldiers defending the city became Russian prisoners. Soon his family got a call from the International Committee of the Red Cross, which confirmed he was alive and officially registered as a POW, guaranteeing his protection under the Geneva Conventions. “We were told: ‘that means everything is fine … Russia has to return him,’” Hryhoriev’s wife, Halyna, recalled. In August 2022, she received a letter from him, that addressed her by a nickname. “My dear Halochka,” he wrote. “I am alive and well. Everything will be all right.” Russia and Ukraine swap hundreds more prisoners hours after a massive attack on Kyiv Desperate for more information, his daughter Oksana, 31, scoured Russian social media accounts, where videos of Ukrainian POWs regularly appeared. Eventually, she saw him in one — looking gaunt and missing teeth. His gray hair was cropped very short, framing gentle features now partially covered by a beard. In the video, likely shot under duress, Hryhoriev said to the camera: “I’m alive and well.” “But if you looked at him, you could see that wasn’t true,” Oksana said. The truth was dismal, said Oleksii Honcharov, a 48-year-old Ukrainian POW who was detained with him. Honcharov lived in the same prison barracks as Hryhoriev starting in the fall of 2022. Over a period of months, he witnessed Hryhoriev absorb the same severe punishment as every other POW at the Kamensk-Shakhtinsky Correctional Colony in southwest Russia. “Everyone got hit -- no exceptions,” said Honcharov, who was repatriated to Ukraine in February as part of a prisoner swap. “Some more, some less, but we all took it.” Honcharov endured months of chest pain while in captivity. Even then, the beatings never stopped, he said, and sometimes they began after his pleas for medical care, which were ignored. “Toward the end, I could barely walk,” said Honcharov, who was diagnosed with tuberculosis once back in Ukraine – an increasingly common ailment among returning POWs. A 2024 U.N. report found that 95% of released Ukrainian POWs had endured “systematic” torture. Prisoners described beatings, electric shocks, suffocation, sexual violence, prolonged stress positions, mock executions, and sleep deprivation. “This conduct could not be more unlawful,” said Danielle Bell, the U.N.’s top human rights monitor in Ukraine. The report also said some Russian POWs were mistreated by Ukrainian forces during their initial capture -- including beatings, threats and electric shocks. But the abuse stopped once Russian POWs were moved to official Ukrainian detention centers, the report said. Hryhoriev was physically strong and often outlasted younger prisoners during forced exercises, Honcharov recalled. But over time, he began showing signs of physical decline: dizziness, fatigue and, eventually, an inability to walk without help. Yet despite his worsening condition, prison officials provided only minimal health care, Honcharov said. Piecing together how POWs died In a bright, sterile room with the sour-sweet smell of human decomposition, Inna Padei performs autopsies on Ukrainian soldiers repatriated by Russia, as well as civilians exhumed from mass graves. Hundreds of bodies zipped up in black plastic bags have been delivered in refrigerated trucks to the morgue where she works in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Those who died in battle are still wearing military fatigues and often have obvious external wounds. The bodies of former POWs are dressed in prison uniforms and are often mutilated and decomposed. It is the job of Padei and other forensic experts to piece together how soldiers like Hryhoriev died. These reports are often the only reliable information the soldiers’ families get — and they will be used by Ukraine, along with testimony from former POWs, to bring war crimes charges against Russia at the International Criminal Court. The body of a former POW recently examined by Padei had an almond-sized fracture on the right side of its skull. That suggested the soldier was struck by a blunt object – a blow potentially strong enough to have killed him instantly, or shortly after, she said. “These injuries may not always be the direct cause of death,” Padei said, “but they clearly indicate the use of force and torture against the servicemen.” Earlier this year, Amnesty International documented widespread torture of Ukrainian POWs in Russia. Its report was especially critical of Russia's secrecy regarding the whereabouts and condition of POWs, saying it refused to grant rights groups or health workers access to its prisons, leaving families in the dark for months or years about their loved ones. Russia launches biggest drone attack on Ukraine since start of war Of the more than 5,000 POWs Russia has repatriated to Ukraine, at least 206 died in captivity, including more than 50 when an explosion ripped through a Russian-controlled prison barracks, according to the Ukrainian government. An additional 245 Ukrainian POWs were killed by Russian soldiers on the battlefield, according to Ukrainian prosecutors. The toll of dead POWs is expected to rise as more bodies are returned and identified, but forensic experts face significant challenges in determining causes of death. In some cases, internal organs are missing. Other times, it appears as if bruises or injuries have been hidden or removed. Ukrainian officials believe the mutilation of bodies is an effort by Russia to conceal the true causes of death. Extreme decomposition is another obstacle, officials say. “They hold the bodies until they reach a state where nothing can be determined,” said Petro Yatsenko, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian government agency in charge of POW affairs. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the prompt exchange of POWs must be part of any ceasefire agreement, along with the return of thousands of Ukrainian civilians, including children forcibly deported to Russia. A major prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine took place over the weekend. The Associated Press interviewed relatives of 21 Ukrainian POWs who died in captivity. Autopsies performed in Ukraine found that five of these POWs died of heart failure, including soldiers who were 22, 39 and 43. Four others died from tuberculosis or pneumonia, and three others perished, respectively, from an infection, asphyxia and a blunt force head wound. Padei said cases like these — and others she has seen — are red flags, suggesting that physical abuse and untreated injuries and illness likely contributed to many soldiers' deaths. “Under normal or humane conditions, these would not have been fatal,” Padei said. In one autopsy report, coroners said an individual had been electrocuted and beaten just days before dying of heart failure and extreme emaciation. Other autopsies noted that bodies showed signs of gangrene or untreated infections. “Everything the returned prisoners describe … we see the same on the bodies,” Padei said. ‘Angel in the sky’ Months into Hryhoriev’s detention at the Kamensk-Shakhtinsky prison – and after his daughter saw him in the Russian army’s social media video -- his health deteriorated significantly, according to Honcharov. But instead of being sent to a hospital, Hryhoriev was moved to a tiny cell that was isolated from other prisoners. Another Ukrainian captive, a paramedic, was assigned to stay with him. “It was damp, cold, with no lighting at all,” recalled Honcharov. He died in that cell about a month later, Honcharov said. It was May 20, 2023, according to his Russian death certificate. Trump says he will call Putin, then Zelenskyy, on Monday to push for Ukraine ceasefire The Hryhoriev family didn't learn he had died until more than six months later, when a former POW reached out. Then, in March 2024, police in central Ukraine called: A body had arrived with a Russian death certificate bearing Hryhoriev’s name. A DNA test confirmed it was him. An autopsy performed in Ukraine disputed Russia’s claim that Hryhoriev died of a stroke. It said he bled to death after blunt trauma to his abdomen that also damaged his spleen. Hryhoriev’s body was handed over to the family last June, and soon after he was buried in his hometown of Pyriatyn. To honor him, Hryhoriev’s wife and older daughter, Yana, followed Oksana's lead and tattooed their wrists with the optimistic expression he had drilled into them. “Now we have an angel in the sky watching over us,” Halyna said. “We believe everything will be all right.”

Shares were mostly lower in Asia on Tuesday, trading in a narrow range after U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. U.S. futures were and oil prices slipped. Data on consumer confidence and housing prices were due out later on Tuesday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.2% to 37,451.60 after the governor of the central bank said he anticipated raising interest rates in coming months due to inflationary pressures. Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda said in a speech that Japan was facing pressure from rising food prices, with rice prices doubling in the past year. Inflation in Japan is now higher than in the U.S. or Europe and above the BOJ's target level.  China to jointly usher in new "Golden 50 Years" for bilateral ties with Malaysia: Li But the central bank also has to take into account trade policies, he said without directly mentioning U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff hikes, that complicate its goal of raising its very low benchmark interest rate of 0.5%. “We are now closer to the target than at any time during the last three decades, though we are not quite there. Our recent path has been affected in a unique way by supply shocks,” Ueda said. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.3% to 23,359.94, while the Shanghai Composite index was little changed, at 3,346.48. In South Korea, the Kospi lost 0.4% to 2,632.93. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 held steady at 8,359.20 and Taiwan's Taiex lost 0.6%. In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 23 cents to $61.30 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 20 cents to $63.92 per barrel. The U.S. dollar fell to 142.23 Japanese yen from 142.85 yen. The euro rose to $1.1403 from $1.1388. The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.9% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.8%. On Monday, European shares closed higher and U.S. futures surged after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would delay a threatened 50% tariff on goods from the European Union to July 9. Germany’s DAX added 1.5% to 23,977.83 and the CAC 40 in Paris rose 1% to 7,810.49. Markets were closed in Britain for a holiday. The impact on markets from U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to delay a threatened 50% tariff on imports from the European Union was relatively muted as investors are growing inured to such policy changes, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. “Investors know this act by heart,” Innes wrote. “The volatility is still there, but like a horror franchise on its fifth sequel, the jump scares are losing their bite. Panic-selling into a Trump pirouette doesn’t pay like it used to — markets have seen this dance before.” The European Union’s chief trade negotiator said Monday he had “good calls” with Trump administration officials and that the EU was “fully committed” to reaching a trade deal by the July 9 deadline. Just last week, Trump had said on social media that trade talks with the European Union “were going nowhere” and that “straight 50%” tariffs could go into effect on June 1. On Friday, U.S. stocks fell as traders weighed whether Trump’s latest threats were just negotiating tactics. Israel's latest strikes in Gaza kill 38 people including children The S&P 500 lost 0.7% to end its worst week in the last seven. The Dow dropped 0.6% and the Nasdaq composite sank 1%.

President Donald Trump said Monday that he is pardoning a former Virginia sheriff who was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a jury convicted him on federal bribery charges for deputizing several businessmen in exchange for cash payments. Former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins, 53, was found guilty on fraud and bribery charges and sentenced in March. But on Monday, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that Jenkins and his family “have been dragged through HELL by a Corrupt and Weaponized Biden DOJ." “This Sheriff is a victim of an overzealous Biden Department of Justice, and doesn’t deserve to spend a single day in jail. He is a wonderful person, who was persecuted by the Radical Left “monsters,” and “left for dead,” Trump said in the post. “He will NOT be going to jail tomorrow, but instead will have a wonderful and productive life." Messages seeking comment were left with Jenkins' lawyers. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia was closed for the Memorial Day holiday. Jenkins is the latest pardon Trump has given to loyal supporters. In April, he pardoned Nevada Republican Michele Fiore, who was awaiting sentencing on federal charges that she used money meant for a statue honoring a slain police officer for personal costs, including plastic surgery. In January, Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground website for selling drugs. Ulbricht had been sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after a high-profile prosecution that highlighted the internet's role in illegal markets. He also pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, including people convicted of assaulting police officers.  Former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz Cleared of Perjury Charges by Court Jenkins was indicted in 2023 on 16 counts — including conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery — concerning programs receiving federal funds. In December, a jury found him guilty of one count of conspiracy, four counts of honest services fraud, and seven counts of bribery. Jenkins took the stand in his own defense and said there was no connection between the payments he received and the badges he handed out, according to news reports. Testifying against Jenkins were two undercover FBI agents who were sworn in as auxiliary deputies in 2022 and immediately thereafter gave Jenkins envelopes with $5,000 and $10,000 cash, respectively. Jenkins appealed his conviction in April. Trump said Jenkins tried to offer evidence in his defense, but U.S. District Judge Robert Ballou, a Biden appointee, “refused to allow it, shut him down, and then went on a tirade.”  Trump hints at ‘good news’ on Gaza Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee said at the time that Jenkins violated his oath of office “and this case proves that when those officials use their authority for unjust personal enrichment, the Department of Justice will hold them accountable.”  

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was diagnosed with labyrinthitis Monday after suffering from vertigo, hospital officials said. The 79-year-old leftist leader has already returned to the country's presidential residence, where he is resting. The Sirio-Libanes Hospital said in a statement that Lula underwent imaging and blood tests, and its results came within normal limits. Labyrinthitis is an inflammation of the labyrinth in the inner ear, which is responsible for hearing and balance.  Sri Lanka and New Zealand discuss ways to deepen bilateral trade and investment ties The health scare adds to Lula's recent medical worries, which are also part of his allies' concerns ahead of his likely bid for reelection next year. The most serious is a fall he had in the bathroom of the presidential residence in Brasília on Oct. 19. Almost two months later, he was transferred to São Paulo for surgery after suffering headaches caused by new a bleeding in his head. He was discharged Dec. 15.  

Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria announced Monday they have reached an agreement with the transitional government in Damascus to evacuate Syrian citizens from a sprawling camp in the desert that houses tens of thousands of people with alleged ties to the militant Islamic State group. Sheikhmous Ahmed, an official in the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast, said an agreement was reached on a “joint mechanism” for returning the families from al-Hol camp after a meeting among local authorities, representatives of the central government in Damascus and a delegation from the U.S.-led international coalition fighting IS.  Syria welcomes US move to ease sanctions imposed on it Ahmed denied reports that administration of the camp will be handed over to Damascus in the near future, saying “there was no discussion in this regard with the visiting delegation or with the Damascus government." Human rights groups for years have cited poor living conditions and pervasive violence in the camp, which houses about 37,000 people, mostly wives and children of IS fighters as well as supporters of the militant group. They also include Iraqis as well as nationals of Western countries who traveled to join IS. The U.S. military has been pushing for years for countries that have citizens at al-Hol and the smaller, separate Roj Camp to repatriate them. Iraq has taken back increasing numbers of citizens in recent years, but many other countries have remained reluctant. As for Syrians housed in the camp, a mechanism has been in place for several years to return those who want to go back to their communities in the Kurdish-controlled areas, where centers have been opened to reintegrate them. Before now, however, there had not been an agreement with the government in Damascus to return them to areas under the central government’s control. The new agreement comes amid attempts to increase the cooperation between Kurdish authorities and the new leaders in Damascus after former President Bashar Assad was unseated in a rebel offensive in December. Trump calls Syria’s al-Sharaa ‘great’, ‘tough guy’ Under a deal signed in March between Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the SDF is to be merged into the new government armed forces. All border crossings with Iraq and Turkey and airports and oil fields in the northeast are to come under the central government’s control. Prisons where about 9,000 suspected members of the Islamic State group are held are also expected to come under central government control. The deal marked a major step toward unifying the disparate factions that had carved up Syria into de facto mini-states during its civil war that began in 2011 after the brutal crackdown by Assad's government on massive anti-government protests. However, implementation has been slow. Washington has been pushing for its enactment and, in particular, for Damascus to take over management of the prisons in northeast Syria.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang said Monday that China is ready to work with Malaysia to deepen exchanges and collaboration across various fields, and jointly usher in a new "Golden 50 Years" for bilateral ties guided by the principles of mutual respect and trust, equality and mutual benefit for win-win outcomes. Li made the remarks when meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Recalling that Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Malaysia last month, Li said that both sides agreed to build a high-level strategic China-Malaysia community with a shared future and mapped out the strategic direction for the development of bilateral relations. China is willing to work with Malaysia to implement the important outcomes of this historic visit, he said. China, Indonesia reaffirm Bandung Spirit, pledge to strengthen cooperation Li noted that China is willing to maintain close high-level exchanges with Malaysia, enhance strategic communication, and consolidate the foundation of political mutual trust for the China-Malaysia community with a shared future. He urged the two sides to continue expanding trade and investment cooperation with a focus on cutting-edge areas, including the digital economy, the green economy and artificial intelligence, promote the integrated development of industrial and supply chains and value chains, and steadily advance major projects such as the "Two Countries, Twin Parks" and the East Coast Rail Link, so as to strengthen the economic growth engine of the China-Malaysia community with a shared future. China is ready to implement well the mutual visa exemption agreement with Malaysia, deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges and cooperation in culture, education, health, sports and other fields, and strengthen the people-to-people bond of the China-Malaysia community with a shared future, Li said. ASEAN, China, and GCC cooperation will boost global stability and growth: Experts He also urged the two sides to organize well Confucian-Islamic civilizational dialogue, among other activities, and jointly build a platform for cultural exchanges not only between the two countries but also across the region. In the face of rising unilateralism and protectionism and a sluggish global economic recovery, China, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, all participants in and beneficiaries of economic globalization, should enhance coordination and jointly uphold open regionalism and true multilateralism, Li said. He noted that the convening of the ASEAN-GCC-China Summit carries special significance. Li highlights China-Indonesia as example of cooperation for developing countries Noting that Malaysia is both the rotating chair of ASEAN and the host of the trilateral summit, Li said that China is ready to work closely with Malaysia to take the event as an opportunity to push for closer economic cooperation among the three sides, build a model of global cooperation and development, jointly safeguard free trade and the multilateral trading system and address global challenges together, so as to contribute greater stability, certainty and positive energy to a turbulent world. 

At least 52 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Monday, with 36 of the casualties occurring in a school that had been converted into a shelter, according to local health officials. The strike, which took place while many were asleep, triggered fires that burned victims' belongings. The Israeli military claimed it was targeting militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad who were operating a command center from inside the school. Fahmy Awad, head of Gaza’s emergency services, confirmed the deaths and said dozens were injured in the strike on the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City. Among the victims were a father and his five children. Footage from the scene showed rescuers battling flames and pulling charred bodies from the debris. In a separate airstrike in the northern Gaza town of Jabalya, 16 members of the same family, including five women and two children, were killed. The bodies were brought to Shifa Hospital, officials said. The Israeli military blames civilian casualties on Hamas, alleging the group uses civilian infrastructure to shield its operations — a claim the militant group denies. Meanwhile, three projectiles were fired from Gaza on Monday. According to the Israeli military, two fell inside the enclave, and the third was intercepted. Renewed Offensive and Mounting TollIsrael resumed its military offensive in March after a ceasefire with Hamas collapsed. Officials say operations will continue until Hamas is either dismantled or disarmed and until all remaining hostages from the October 7, 2023, attack are returned. Of the 251 people abducted, Israel believes 58 are still in captivity, about a third of them alive. The Gaza Health Ministry says nearly 54,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, with more than half being women and children. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its reporting. Vast swathes of Gaza have been reduced to rubble, displacing nearly 90% of the population. Hundreds of thousands now live in overcrowded shelters or tent camps. Controversial Aid Plan Faces ResistanceLast week, Israel began allowing limited humanitarian aid into Gaza after blocking all goods for over two months. Aid agencies say the supplies fall far short of what's needed to stave off famine. A new aid distribution initiative, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is expected to begin operations this week. The group, backed by Israel and the U.S., plans to establish distribution points protected by private security contractors. However, the United Nations and major aid organizations have refused to cooperate, saying the plan violates humanitarian principles by giving a warring party control over aid. Hamas has also urged Palestinians not to engage with the new aid system, claiming it supports Israel's goal of displacing Gaza’s population of over 2 million. Israel has suggested it wants to facilitate what it calls the "voluntary migration" of Gazans — a stance widely rejected by Palestinians and the international community. The American heading the aid foundation, Jake Wood, abruptly resigned on Sunday, stating the organization would not be able to operate independently. It remains unclear who is funding the initiative. East Jerusalem Tensions RiseIn Jerusalem, tensions flared during an annual ultranationalist march marking Israel’s 1967 capture of East Jerusalem. Some participants chanted anti-Arab slogans and reportedly harassed Palestinian residents. A small group, including an Israeli lawmaker, entered the compound of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which Israel has barred from operating. The compound has remained mostly empty since January due to security concerns. The U.N. maintains it still holds the premises, which are protected under international law. Israeli police have not issued a statement on the incident.