“We can plunge Lebanon completely into the dark and take apart Hezbollah’s power in days,” former Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz declared Tuesday at a conference at Reichman University in Herzliya, Israel.

It was just the latest threat from a prominent Israeli public figure against Lebanon and Hezbollah as tensions flare.

It won’t be difficult for Israel to plunge Lebanon into darkness. The country’s power grid, already crippled by decades of mismanagement and the country’s economic collapse, barely functions as it is. A few well-aimed airstrikes will easily finish it off.

Taking apart Hezbollah’s military power in days, however, is a far taller task.

Since its inconclusive 2006 war with the Lebanese militant group, Israel has been planning for a re-match.

Hezbollah too has long been preparing for war.

Its arsenal includes, according to Israeli estimates, at least 150,000 missiles and rockets. Israel estimates the group has already fired 5,000 since October, which means, as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech last week, much of its arsenal remains intact.

These include systematic pinpoint strikes on Israel’s array of surveillance outposts along the border, shooting down high-flying top-of-the-line Israeli drones, and hits on Israel’s Iron Dome batteries and anti-drone defenses. Perhaps the biggest surprise for Israel, however, was the nine minutes of drone footage Hezbollah published online of highly sensitive civilian and military infrastructure in and around the northern city of Haifa.

Highly trained and disciplined

In addition to its weaponry, Hezbollah can probably field between 40,000 and 50,000 fighters – Nasrallah recently said more than 100,000. Many of these gained combat experience fighting alongside regime forces in the Syria civil war.

As a fighting force, Hezbollah is highly trained and disciplined, unlike many other guerrilla groups. During the 2006 war, in the experience of this correspondent, it was rare to encounter Hezbollah fighters. One day we came upon several of them in the ruins of a southern Lebanese village. They were polite but firm, devoid of boastful bluster and swagger, insisting we leave immediately for our own safety. They wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Unlike Gaza, Lebanon is not hemmed in by hostile neighbors. It has strategic depth, with friendly regimes in Syria and Iraq, allowing direct access to Iran.

Over the years Israel has regularly struck targets in Syria it believed were involved in trans-shipment of weapons to Hezbollah, but all indications are those strikes have been only partially successful.

In the event of war, full-scale war, both sides will be able to inflict significant pain on the other.

Fire and blood

Early this year the same Reichman University, where Gantz spoke, put out a report entitled “Fire and blood: The chilling reality facing Israel in a war with Hezbollah.” It laid out a grim scenario in which the Iranian-allied group would fire 2,500 to 3,000 rockets and missiles a day for weeks targeting Israeli military sites as well as densely populated cities in the center of the country. In the entire 34-day war of 2006 Hezbollah is estimated to have fired around 4,000 rockets – a daily average of 117.

It may not amount to mutually assured destruction a la Cold War, but enough destruction will be wreaked on Israel and Lebanon to make it costly for both.

At 6 a.m. on July 13, 2006 – less than 24 hours after the start of the war – Israeli warplanes bombed and knocked out Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport. It’s widely expected that if war breaks out now the airport will be one of Israel’s targets. But unlike 2006, in 2024 Hezbollah may be able to hit Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport.

In 2006, Haifa, Israel’s third largest city, was in range of Hezbollah’s missiles. This time those missiles are expected to reach much deeper into Israel.

Shifting strategic balance

Looking across the Middle East, the strategic balance that for so long favored Israel is changing.

Its foes are no longer corrupt and incompetent Arab regimes, but rather an array of non-state actors – from Hezbollah to Hamas to Islamic Jihad to the Houthis to militias in Iraq and Syria – in addition to Iran itself.

The Houthis in Yemen, once the epitome of a rag-tag tribal militia, are now, with Iran’s help, firing ballistic missiles toward Israel. The Houthis continue to target shipping in the Red Sea, despite the presence of a US-led armada off its shores.

The Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria have largely held their fire since a series of US strikes in the aftermath of a drone attack killed three US soldiers in Jordan.

But that could change if Israel and Hezbollah go to war.

Recently Qais Al-Khazali, the leader of the powerful Iranian-backed Iraqi militia Asa’ib Ahl Al-Haq, warned that if the US supports an Israeli attack on Lebanon “then America should know that it will put all its interests in the region, particularly in Iraq, at risk and make them a target.”

Throwing caution to the wind

And then there’s Iran. Traditionally Tehran lets others fight its fights and stays in the background, but that changed in April when, in retaliation for the Israeli strike on its diplomatic complex in Damascus, Tehran responded with a volley of hundreds of missiles and drones toward Israel.

In the event Hezbollah, Iran’s premier regional ally, its crown jewel, is attacked by Israel, and indeed is “taken apart” by Israel as Gantz threatened, an Iranian response is likely.

It could merely instruct its allies to throw caution to the wind and fire at will at US interests and Israel. But then there’s this: Iran sits on the Strait of Hormuz, the entry point into the Persian Gulf. In the event of a major conflict, it has long been feared that Iran would block the strait, a move that would send world oil prices skyrocketing.

Since October, tensions on the Lebanon-Israel border have fluctuated. In the last few weeks, however, those tensions have escalated and war is looking ever more likely. The rhetoric on both sides is heating up. Germany, Sweden, Kuwait, the Netherlands and others are calling on their nationals to leave Lebanon immediately. If ever there was a danger of a regional war in the Middle East, that moment is now.

People applying for naturalization in Germany will now be required to affirm Israel’s right to exist, under changes to the country’s citizenship law.

The legislation, which came into effect Thursday, is part of a larger citizenship overhaul from Berlin as the government grapples with rising antisemitism, a surge in popularity for the far right, and fierce debate over its response to Israel’s war in Gaza.

The country’s naturalization exam will now include a number of new questions, according to a statement from the interior ministry.

“In response to increasing antisemitism in Germany, the list of questions in the naturalization test has been expanded. New exam questions have been added on the topics of antisemitism, the right of the state of Israel to exist and Jewish life in Germany,” it said.

The war in Gaza, and Berlin’s strong support for Israel, has fueled much discussion in Germany. In the aftermath of the October 7 attacks, German lawmakers, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, reiterated that Israel’s security is Germany’s “reason of state,” or matter of national interest.

But other voices in the country have accused authorities of going too far, infringing on the rights of pro-Palestinians to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

‘A crystal clear red line’

The legislation is being introduced nationwide after the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt also required citizenship applicants to recognize Israel’s right to exist in December.

The implementation of the law on a federal level was advocated by the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party last year. The idea was also well-received by other parties in the Bundestag.

Under the changes, the process for obtaining citizenship has also been sped up. Those who work in Germany and are considered “well integrated” can now obtain citizenship after just five years instead of eight.

Applicants no longer need to give up the citizenship of their previous country – something that used to be a requirement in Germany for first-generation migrants.

Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has welcomed Thursday’s changes as a “commitment to a modern Germany.”

“Whoever shares our values and makes an effort can now get a German passport more quickly and are not required to give up a part of their identity with the former citizenship,” she continued.

“We have also made it just as clear: Whoever doesn’t share our values, will not be able to get a German passport. Here we have drawn a crystal clear red line and made the law much stronger than before. Anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of contempt for humanity rule out naturalization. There is no tolerance for that.”

The reform comes as a new report from RIAS, an organization monitoring antisemitism in Germany, found that antisemitic incidents in the country rose around 83% last year, significantly increasing after the attack on Israel on October 7 and Israel’s eight-month military offensive in Gaza. These incidents include everything from antisemitic graffiti, to threats, to violent attacks.

Prince Harry has opened up about bereavement and grief during a conversation with the founder of a charity that supports children who have lost a parent serving in the British armed forces.

“You convince yourself that the person you’ve lost wants you, or you need to be sad for as long as possible to prove to them that they are missed,” said the Duke of Sussex, whose mother, Princess Diana, died when he was 12 years old.

“But then there’s this realization of, no, they must want me to be happy,” he told Nikki Scott, founder of Scotty’s Little Soldiers, in a video released by the charity Thursday.

Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997. She was 36 years old.

Harry went on to underline the importance of talking about emotions during the grieving process.

“That’s the hardest thing, especially for kids, I think, which is, ‘I don’t want to talk about it because it will make me sad, but once realizing that if I do talk about it, and I’m celebrating their life, then actually, things become easier,’” he said.

Harry is a global ambassador for Scotty’s Little Soldiers, and sat down for a conversation with Scott ahead of Armed Forces Day on June 29.

Scott told the duke about the moment she had to tell her son, Kai, that his father, Cpl. Lee Scott, had been killed while serving in Afghanistan.

“It was the worst… How do you tell a 5-year-old this,” she said, recalling the feeling that she had “shattered his world” on that day in July 2009.

Scott went on to found the charity in 2010 to help other bereaved military children.

Each year, 2,100 children lose a parent who served in the UK military, according to Scotty’s Little Soldiers.

The charity currently supports more than 680 members and aims to support more than 1,000 people each year by 2030.

Harry praised Scott for her “incredible” work in setting up the charity.

“It is truly inspirational. I’m really honoured and privileged to be part of Scotty’s now and I really look forward to us doing everything we can to bring in more people, more interest, raise more funds and be able to get the message out there to get more kids the support they so desperately need,” he added in a press release.

A video of their full conversation can be watched on the charity’s website.

France’s snap parliamentary election is one of the most momentous in decades, for both the country and the rest of Europe. Within two weeks, France could have a hard-left or hard-right government – or descend into political deadlock if no bloc wins a majority, leaving Paris hamstrung as problems mount at home and abroad.

The election will take place over two rounds on June 30 and July 7. How will it work, who are the key players and what is at stake?

How did we get here?

Minutes after it was announced that his Renaissance party had been trounced in the European Parliament elections, President Emmanuel Macron called a snap national election – becoming the first president to do so since 1997. Renaissance had come a distant second, with less than half the votes won by the far-right National Rally (RN), the party of Marine Le Pen – and only marginally ahead of the left-wing coalition in third.

Macron is not afraid of bold decisions. The first time he ran for elected office, under a party he had created only the year before, he became president. But even by his standards, this is a huge risk.

Why did Macron call an election?

Macron’s decision took even his closest allies by surprise. France’s next elections were not scheduled until 2027. Politicians rarely call an election when their party trails in the polls and there is no need to do so.

Analysts have parsed his potential motives. Although Macron was elected to a second presidential term in 2022, his party failed to win an outright parliamentary majority. To pass controversial bills like his pension reform, Macron has increasingly had to bypass parliament and resort to presidential decree, to the outrage of opposition parties and much of the public.

One theory about why Macron called an election now is that France might soon have been forced to the polls anyway. Every time Macron passes a law by presidential decree, under Article 49.3 of the French constitution, the parliament can hold a vote of confidence in his government. With more spending bills slated for later this year, Macron’s government may not have survived another of these. Perhaps he judged it is better to jump than be pushed.

Another theory is that Macron is gambling that he can defeat extremist parties by exposing them to government. With Le Pen seeming increasingly likely to succeed him as president in 2027, this election may force her party to take up responsibility beforehand. Out of office, both the hard left and hard right have been able to rail against his policies and make outlandish promises of their own. Once in office, they will run into constraints and may find themselves unable to deliver on their promises – or simply risk being proved incompetent. Relinquishing some power now may give Macron’s platform a better chance of retaining it in 2027.

How does the election work?

France’s National Assembly has 577 seats, one for each of its electoral districts. For an absolute majority a party needs 289. In the outgoing government, Macron’s alliance had only 250 seats, and so needed support from other parties to pass laws.

If a candidate wins a majority of votes in the first ballot on a 25% turnout, they win the seat. But most elections go to a second round the following Sunday. Only those who won more than 12.5% of the votes of registered voters are allowed to stand in the second round, meaning it is often fought between two candidates, but sometimes three or four. At this stage, some candidates may drop out to give allies a better chance of victory.

What are the roles of the parliament and president?

The National Assembly is responsible for passing domestic laws – from pensions and taxation to immigration and education – while the president determines the country’s foreign, Europe and defense policy.

When the president and majority in parliament belong to the same party, things run well. When they don’t, the government can grind to a halt. With Macron’s party trailing in the polls and three years left on his presidential term, he may have to appoint a prime minister from an opposition party – in an arrangement known as “cohabitation.” Nonetheless, Macron has pledged to see out the remainder of his presidential term.

Other government ministers are appointed by the president on the prime minister’s advice. While Macron would in theory be free to nominate whomever he pleases, in practice he would be compelled to nominate ministers that reflect the will of the majority of the National Assembly.

Who are the key players?

In January, Gabriel Attal – Macron’s protege – became the youngest prime minister in French history, at the age of 34. Just seven months later, his record could be broken by Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old leader of the RN.

Bardella was handpicked by Le Pen to head the party in 2022, ending a 50-year-rule by the Le Pen family and continuing to detoxify the party from its antisemitic and jackbooted past. Bardella grew up as an only child in social housing in Seine-Saint-Denis, a working-class suburb in Paris. He joined the RN when he was 16 and briefly attended the prestigious Sorbonne university, before dropping out to climb the party ranks. If appointed, he will become Europe’s youngest prime minister in more than two centuries.

Bardella’s campaign was bolstered after Eric Ciotti, leader of the mainstream conservative party, the Republicans, said they would enter coalition with the RN. His announcement drew fury from his blindsided party, which has attempted to oust him – so far unsuccessfully. Ciotti’s endorsement may represent the death knell of France’s “cordon sanitaire” – the principle by which mainstream parties refuse to cooperate with the radical extremes.

On the left, four days after Macron called the election, a cluster of parties banded together to form the New Popular Front – a coalition meant to resurrect the original Popular Front that blocked fascists from gaining power in 1936. The capacious – and potentially fractious – alliance comprises three-time presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the France Unbowed party; the Socialists; the Communists; the Ecologists; and Place Publique, headed by the popular member of the European Parliament (MEP) Raphaël Glucksmann.

It is not clear who the bloc would nominate as prime minister, nor how lasting the coalition might prove to be. But it could deliver a blow to Macron’s Renaissance. Rather than several left-wing candidates appearing on the ballot, fragmenting the left-wing vote, there will now only be one in most constituencies, making it easier for the candidate to progress to the second round.

What problems might an incoming government face?

Since Macron called the election, the financial markets have taken fright – first at the prospect of an extremist government, then at the economic policies of the left and right. Earlier this month, the risk premium investors demand to hold French government debt reached its highest since 2022.

France is running one of the highest deficits in the Eurozone and now risks falling foul of the European Commission’s new fiscal rules, which had been suspended to help countries recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and energy crisis. French government spending could soon be brutally constrained by Brussels, despite the lavish promises of the RN and New Popular Front.

Although Bardella has recently tempered some of the RN’s spending plans, Rahman warned there could be a “major confrontation” between Brussels and an incoming French government.

While these spending constraints might prevent an incoming far-right government from making good on its electoral promises, this may harm rather than help Macron.

“It’s not clear that if there’s chaos, it necessarily arrests the momentum of the far right. It may also hurt Macron. The electorate may conclude that ultimately the far right wasn’t able to implement their program because Macron was a constraint – and that the way to get over the chaos is to ultimately give the far right a majority in 2027,” said Rahman.

“I think everyone’s going to end up with blood on their hands – not just the far right, but probably Macron as well.”

What might the outcome be?

The two-round voting system makes predictions difficult. If the RN reaches the second round in lots of constituencies, people may vote tactically to keep the party out. But their lead in the polls suggests they are on track to improve significantly on the 88 seats they had in the outgoing parliament – even if they fall short of an absolute majority.

The most likely scenario is a hung parliament, with a relative majority for the RN. But Bardella has said his party will only form a government if it wins an absolute majority. Macron might then have to search for a prime minister on the hard left, or somewhere else entirely. France might have to opt for a “technocratic” government – but these tend to fan the flames of populism rather than extinguish them.

Whatever the composition of the next Assembly, France’s next three years are likely to be marked by instability, as parties try to keep their hands clean ahead of the key presidential – and potentially parliamentary – elections in 2027.

“One possibility is that in anticipation of those elections, all the parties in the parliament will see reasons to block each other,” said Arceneaux. “If we arrive in that situation, we’re just going to have a paralyzed government that’s unable to do anything.”

This will likely raise constitutional questions, as domestic and foreign policy questions clash. Bardella has ruled out sending troops to Ukraine – an idea floated by Macron – and said he would not allow Kyiv to use French military equipment to strike targets inside Russia. In that situation, whose will would prevail – Bardella’s or Macron’s?

“This is a perfect example of what we don’t know,” said Arceneaux. “Macron could say, ‘As President of France, foreign affairs are my responsibility… so I’m not going to enforce that.’ But then you have a problem, right? You have a constitutional crisis.”

San Diego’s newest giant pandas are en route from China to California, according to Chinese state media – marking the first time Beijing has granted new panda loans to the United States in two decades.

The two pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, left the Bifengxia base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan province on Wednesday night, taking a chartered flight to their new home, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The rare loan was finalized in February, just months after Chinese leader Xi Jinping suggested sending pandas to the San Diego Zoo as “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.”

Xin Bao, a female born in July 2020, is a “gentle and well-behaved” panda, while Yun Chuan, a male born in July 2019, is “smart and lively,” CCTV reported.

They were given a celebratory farewell at the Chinese base, attended by American and Chinese dignitaries, including performances and a gift exchange, according to a statement from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

To ensure their health and safety on the journey, their team has prepared meals of fresh bamboo, bamboo shoots, fruits, vegetables and a specially-made cornbread known as “wotou,” CCTV reported.

Five breeders and veterinary experts from both countries are also on the flight, with the Chinese experts staying on for three months after the pair arrive to help them “adapt to the new living environment,” according to CCTV.

The pandas won’t be viewable to the public for several more weeks while they acclimate – and once veterinary teams confirm they’re ready to meet their excited American fans, the zoo will share their debut date, it said.

China loans pandas to more than 20 countries under a program often referred to as “panda diplomacy.” Its panda loans with Washington stretch back to 1972 – though the number of loans have decreased in recent years as US-China relations have worsened.

The San Diego Zoo, one of the world’s most renowned, was the first American institution to carry out cooperative research on giant pandas with China. Since 1994, it has worked with the Sichuan conservation center to study the species’ behavior, genetics, artificial breeding, nutrition and disease prevention.

Fewer than 2,000 giant pandas remain in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund, which lists the species as vulnerable.

But the zoo has had no pandas for the past few years – it returned its last two pandas to China in 2019, after its loan agreement ended.

Yun Chuan’s mother, Zhen Zhen, was born at San Diego Zoo in 2007 to parents Bai Yun and Gao Gao, according to a press release issued by San Diego Zoo in April.

Grandmother Bai Yun was born in China in 1991, and arrived at the San Diego Zoo in 1996. She returned to China in 2019 at the age of 27, according to Chinese state media.

The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC, also sent its three pandas back to China last November – marking the end of more than 50 years of Chinese pandas being housed at the zoo. The end of its program had left Zoo Atlanta as the only other US zoo to feature pandas.

Chinese leader Xi hinted at this newest loan last November, after extensive talks with President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in San Francisco.

“We are ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation, and do our best to meet the wishes of the Californians so as to deepen the friendly ties between our two peoples,” he said at the time.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will take a dip in the sea, get some proper rest and try much-missed food as “a free man,” his wife has revealed, a day after the Australian landed home after striking a remarkable plea deal with US prosecutors.

The 52-year-old on Monday left the British prison from where he had been fighting against extradition to the United States for the past five years. He had sought refuge at Ecuador’s London embassy for nearly seven years before that, in a bid to avoid spending the rest of his life behind bars.

He has not made a public comment since his return to the Australian capital on Wednesday.

But his wife, Stella Assange, on Thursday offered a glimpse of how her husband is planning to return to normal life, as she appealed to the public to give him space to “rest and recover.”

“He is just savoring freedom for the first time in 14 years,” she said. “Julian plans to swim in the ocean every day. He plans to sleep in a real bed, he plans to taste real food, and he plans to enjoy his freedom.”

Stella Assange wed the WikiLeaks founder while he was incarcerated at London’s Belmarsh prison in 2022 and they have two children together.

Assange has yet to be reunited with them. “But they were very excited when they found out that daddy was coming home,” Stella Assange said. “I had to tell them gradually. So they were very, very excited.”

Reluctant to step foot in the continental US, prosecutors from the Justice Department orchestrated for Assange’s plea deal to take place at a remote US federal court located in Saipan, the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands.

US officials had long pursued Assange, claiming that he and his whistleblowing organization endangered lives and put national security at risk by releasing mass tranches of sensitive classified material related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As part of the plea deal, Assange ultimately pled guilty to one charge of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information, as opposed to the 18 counts he faced originally. In exchange, he was given a “time served” sentence and allowed to fly onwards to Australia.

Stella Assange said a “breakthrough” between Assange’s legal team and US prosecutors came after the UK High Court ruled in May that he had the right to appeal in his final challenge against extradition to the US.

“The issue before the High Court was going to be his ability to rely on constitutional protections in the US for freedom of speech and freedom of expression, and it was only then that there was a breakthrough in the negotiations, and things started moving very quickly,” Stella Assange told reporters.

Roba Abu Jibba looked shell-shocked as the doctor delivered his news: She couldn’t have the operation she desperately wanted. She nervously scrunched the fabric of her dress, fighting off the tears that began flooding her one remaining eye.

The 19-year-old Palestinian woman had pinned all her hopes on getting a prosthetic eye after suffering life-changing injuries in an Israeli strike in Gaza. She was brought to Doha for treatment by the Qatari government.

But once again, her dreams were shattered.

Abu Jibba lost her right eye and the surrounding part of her face in early January when an Israeli bomb hit the warehouse in central Gaza where she and her family had been sheltering for months.

Three of her brothers and two of her sisters were killed. Her wounded mother and three surviving siblings tried to get help and left her behind, later believing she was dead. She spent more than three days surrounded by the bodies of her siblings before making it to a hospital – only to find out there were no doctors there to treat her because most of the medical staff had fled the fighting in the area.

“I blame (the Israelis) for killing the children. They spared no one,” she added.

Deep wounds

She said her one source of happiness was Mohammed, a friend of her brother. The two met after her family was displaced from their home in Gaza City and became close after the attack in January. When Abu Jibba and her family were separated, and she was hospitalized, Mohammed offered desperately needed emotional support. She said they were going to get engaged and married.

Seven days before Abu Jibba left Gaza for treatment, Mohammed was killed by an artillery shell while collecting firewood in Rafah, she said, adding that her cousin who was with Mohammed was injured in the attack and lost his leg.

Abu Jibba said she doesn’t even have a photo of Mohammed, having lost her phone in the carnage.

Difficult choices

Most of the 2.2 million Palestinians who live in Gaza have never left the strip. Before the war, some 18,000 Gazans had work permits that allowed them to work in Israel. But after Hamas launched its deadly terror attack from Gaza on October 7, Israel shut the borders, in general only allowing foreigners and a few hundred of the most seriously wounded to leave.

“It’s hard leaving your family especially at a time of war and in a difficult situation,” she said. “I’m worried something else (could) happen to them and I can’t bring them with me.”

But her stay in Doha has turned into yet another traumatic experience.

The doctor told her that Qatar did not offer orbital prosthetic implants and said that her issue was just “cosmetic.”

Research has long shown that ocular prosthesis leads to significant improvements in the patient’s physical and psychological health. The prosthetic consists of an artificial eye, eyelids, and any part of the eye socket or the surrounding area missing. It’s a cost-effective and less complicated alternative to reconstructive surgery and is performed routinely across the world.

As Abu Jibba left the doctor’s office, the weight of the moment crushed her. She shook and gasped. Panic set in, and she looked like she was reliving the worst moment of her life. She squeezed her hands against her ears, leaning against the wall.

Nurses eased her onto a stretcher. She curled up into a ball and hid under a blanket.

She is keeping the news away from her mother, fearing the shock might cause her even more pain.

“She pushed me to leave to get the surgery. I don’t want to go back to her with this patch,” she said. “I (need this) so my mother doesn’t see me like this and be depressed.”

“Yes, there’s a war in Gaza but at least you are with your family and loved ones,” she said. “I just hope to God this war is over… but even if there is war I want to go back.”

Washington was released on bail and transferred to the Kadena US Air Base in Okinawa for custody, according to a government spokesperson. His trial will begin July 12, according to the Naha District Court spokesperson.

The prosecution comes at a time when Washington and Tokyo are deepening their military alliance – in part as geopolitical tensions rise with both China and North Korea.

The alleged rape is the latest in a history of criminal cases involving US personnel in Okinawa, home to one of the largest US foreign military bases, and could exacerbate tensions with residents who have long opposed the presence of American troops and weaponry on the island.

The presence of V-22 Ospreys, a tiltrotor military aircraft, have also been a regular source of anger and protest in Okinawa following a series of recent crashes and noise complaints.

Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki told reporters Tuesday the allegations of rape and kidnap were “extremely regrettable,” adding it was necessary “to strongly protest against the US military and other related organizations.”

The governor also said his office will “take a tough stance in dealing with the situation.”

“We understand and share the local community’s concerns regarding this case,” Nelson said, adding that Wing leadership was “deeply concerned by the severity of this alleged crime,” and has been working with local authorities to investigate the allegations.

“All US service members are expected to uphold the highest standards, and the US military is committed to holding accountable those who are convicted of criminal acts,” the Wing spokesperson said.

The indictment comes nearly 30 years after three US servicemen raped a 12-year-old Okinawa schoolgirl in 1995, sparking a backlash against the US military on the island.

In 2016, the rape and murder of a 20-year-old woman by a former US base worker in Okinawa triggered mass protests in the island’s capital, with tens of thousands of residents demanding the US move its bases outside of Okinawa. The fallout resulted in curfews for US personnel on the island.

In another crime involving US personnel in Japan, a US Navy officer killed two Japanese nationals while driving down Mount Fuji in 2021.

Masataka Okano, Japan’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, called for stricter discipline and lodged a protest with the US Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, on March 27, the day Washington was indicted, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Japan and the US have a mutual defense alliance and a decades old military partnership that has only been deepened in recent years by regional threats, particularly North Korea and an ever more assertive China.

US President Joe Biden met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at Camp David in August 2023 in a show of solidarity and force against Beijing.

In what Biden hailed as a “new era of cooperation,” the three powers committed to a yearly trilateral summit, intelligence sharing and annual military exercises.

International banks are playing a significant role in the Myanmar military junta’s ability to carry out its systematic and deadly assault on its people, a new United Nations-backed report has found.

Thai banks have now become the main source through which the Myanmar military is buying weapons and military supplies – including parts for helicopter gunships – used to support its three-year civil war that has devastated the country and killed more than 5,000 civilians, the UN special rapporteur on human rights Tom Andrews said in a new report Wednesday.

Since seizing power in a coup in February 2021, the military has been fighting a deepening war against ethnic armed groups and people’s resistance forces across Myanmar. In recent months it has faced significant losses of territory and troops.

As it contends with widespread public opposition and an economic crisis that has sparked soaring levels of poverty, the junta has increased airstrikes and attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, displacing more than 3 million people.

The military’s brutal campaign of violence has prompted Western nations to impose wide-ranging sanctions on military leaders, family and cronies, state-owned companies, banks, and jet fuel suppliers.

“The junta, or State Administration Council (SAC), is counting on two primary resources from abroad: weapons and money,” Andrews said in the report.

The report, “Banking on the Death Trade: How Banks and Governments Enable the Military Junta in Myanmar,” found that 16 banks in seven countries have processed transactions linked to the military’s procurement in the past year.

Weapons, dual-use technologies, manufacturing equipment, and raw materials secured by the junta from abroad reached $253 million between April 2023 and March 2024, the report said.

“By relying on financial institutions that are willing to do business with Myanmar state-owned banks under its control, the junta has ready access to the financial services it needs to carry out systematic human rights violations, including aerial attacks on civilians,” Andrews said.

However, the volume of weapons and military supplies purchased by the junta through foreign banks has decreased by a third from 2023, with exports from Singapore dropping dramatically, according to the report.

“The good news is that the junta is increasingly isolated,” Andrews said. “The bad news is that the junta is circumventing sanctions and other measures by exploiting gaps in sanctions regimes, shifting financial institutions, and taking advantage of the failure of Member States to fully coordinate and enforce actions.”

The Thai connection

Singapore-based entities were Myanmar’s third largest source of weapons and military materials. But following a government investigation, the flow of weapons materials to Myanmar from Singapore-registered companies dropped by nearly 90% compared to the previous year.

In 2022, Singapore-based banks facilitated more than 70% of the junta’s purchases passing through the banking system. By 2023, that had dropped to under 20%, the report found.

Looking for other financial institutions, the junta found neighboring Thailand.

Between 2022 and 2023, exports of weapons and related materials from Thai-based entities more than doubled, from $60 million to nearly $130 million last year.

“Many SAC (junta) purchases previously made from Singapore-based entities, including parts for Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters used to conduct airstrikes on civilian targets, are now being sourced from Thailand,” the report said.

Siam Commercial Bank is among the Thai banks that have played a “crucial role” in the shift, the report found. In 2022, the bank facilitated just over $5 million in transactions relating to the military, by 2023 that figure ballooned to more than $100 million, according to the report.

“Many countries have been named and certainly these are countries where the majority of financial transactions in the region would pass through,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“Our banking and financial institutions follow banking protocols as any major financial hub. So we will have to first establish the facts before considering any further steps.”

Andrews said it was “critical” that “financial institutions take their human rights obligations seriously and not facilitate the junta’s deadly transactions.”

In addition, sanctioning the networks supplying jet fuel to the junta and the military’s “go-to bank” Myanma Economic Bank, “could play a decisive role in helping to turn the tide in Myanmar and saving untold numbers of lives,” he said.

Bolivia’s President Luis Arce denounced the “irregular mobilization of certain units of the Bolivian military” in La Paz on Wednesday in a post on X amid claims that the army was mounting a coup. “You need to respect democracy,” he said.

Military tanks were reportedly positioned around a main square in La Paz where the national executive and legislative offices are, according to state media agency ABI. It is unclear why military units are in the Murillo Plaza and how many there are.

The former President Evo Morales, who like the incumbent is in Bolivia’s Movement to Socialism (MAS) party, said on X that a “coup d’état is brewing.” Morales also called on “the social movements of the countryside and the city to defend democracy.”

Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), a pan-American organization, Luis Almagro, condemned the mobilizations in the “most energetic way” on X, saying the “army must submit to the legitimately elected civil power.”

According to ABI, the military mobilization began around 2:30 p.m. local time.

This is a developing story and will be updated.