President Donald Trump said he has no interest in committing U.S. forces to a distant conflict over Taiwan, signaling a cautious approach as tensions with China remain a central global flashpoint.
In an interview that aired Friday with Bret Baier on Fox News, Trump emphasized that he wants both China and Taiwan to ease tensions rather than escalate toward confrontation. He underscored the geographic distance involved, saying he is not inclined to send American forces thousands of miles into a potential conflict.
“I’m not looking to have somebody go independent and then we’re supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war,” Trump said, adding that he wants “both sides to cool down.”
The remarks come amid renewed diplomatic engagement between Washington and Beijing, including recent talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Taiwan remains one of the most sensitive issues in relations between the two powers.
China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has long vowed eventual unification. Taiwan, however, operates as a self-governing democracy, with public opinion largely favoring continued autonomy. The United States maintains a long-standing policy that acknowledges Beijing as the government of China while providing Taiwan with defensive support under the Taiwan Relations Act.
Trump downplayed suggestions that Beijing had issued threats during recent exchanges, describing the issue as historically significant but not newly confrontational. He framed the dispute as one requiring restraint rather than military escalation.
“We’ll see what happens,” he said when asked about continued U.S. weapons support for Taiwan.
Statements from Beijing have reiterated that Taiwan remains the most important issue in bilateral relations, warning that mishandling it could destabilize ties between the two nations.
Trump’s comments highlight a broader shift toward strategic restraint in U.S. foreign policy debates, particularly regarding conflicts that could draw the country into large-scale wars far from its borders. His emphasis on distance and reluctance to intervene militarily reflects ongoing domestic concerns about the cost and risks of overseas engagements.
At the same time, his stance introduces uncertainty into long-standing U.S. commitments to Taiwan’s defense. While avoiding direct confrontation may reduce immediate tensions, it could also embolden Beijing to increase pressure on the island, testing the limits of American resolve.
The remarks also come as global attention is divided across multiple geopolitical hotspots, increasing the stakes of any miscalculation involving China and Taiwan. Analysts note that even rhetorical shifts from U.S. leadership can influence military planning and diplomatic signaling in the region.
Balancing deterrence with de-escalation remains a central challenge. Trump’s call for both sides to “cool down” suggests a preference for stability, but the absence of a clear red line could complicate efforts to maintain the status quo in one of the world’s most sensitive security environments.
American and Nigerian forces killed the second-in-command of the Islamic State group globally in a joint operation in the Lake Chad Basin on Friday night, eliminating a Nigerian-born militant leader who had spent years organizing the terror network’s finances and plotting attacks against the United States while evading capture in the African interior.
President Donald Trump announced the mission in a late-night post on Truth Social, describing it as a precisely executed strike against what he called the most active terrorist in the world.
“Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield,” Trump wrote. “Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS globally, thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing.”
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu confirmed the operation Saturday in a personally signed statement, saying early assessments confirmed the killing of al-Minuki, also known as Abu-Mainok, along with several of his lieutenants during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin region.
“Nigeria appreciates this partnership with the United States in advancing our shared security objectives,” Tinubu said. “I extend my sincere gratitude to President Trump for his leadership and unwavering support in this effort.”
He praised the personnel on both sides for their professionalism and courage and said he looked forward to “more decisive strikes against all terrorist enclaves across the nation.”
Who al-Minuki Was
Abu-Bilal al-Minuki was born in Nigeria’s Borno State in 1982 and rose through the ranks of the Islamic State’s West African operations over more than a decade of violent activity across the Sahel and Lake Chad region. The Counter Extremism Project, which monitors militant organizations globally, said he took control of the Islamic State’s West Africa branch after the group’s previous regional leader, Mamman Nur, was killed in 2018.
Al-Minuki was considered the operational core of Islamic State’s West Africa Province. A U.S. official familiar with the operation told the Associated Press that he was the key figure in the organization’s financing and internal coordination and had been actively plotting attacks against the United States and American interests abroad. The official spoke without authorization to discuss sensitive details and requested anonymity.
The Biden administration designated al-Minuki a specially designated global terrorist in 2023 through the U.S. Federal Register, subjecting him to American sanctions. The Counter Extremism Project noted he was believed to have fought in Libya when Islamic State was active in North Africa more than a decade ago before returning to the Lake Chad Basin where he built and managed the group’s West African network.
Trump said al-Minuki would “no longer terrorize the people of Africa, or help plan operations to target Americans,” and added that with his removal, the Islamic State’s global operation was “greatly diminished.”
A Growing U.S.-Nigeria Security Partnership
Friday’s operation did not come without groundwork. In December, Trump directed U.S. forces to conduct strikes against Islamic State-linked militants in Nigeria, though few details of those missions were made public. In February, Washington deployed approximately 200 troops to Nigeria in an advisory and training capacity to assist the Nigerian military against Islamic State and al-Qaeda-linked insurgencies spreading across West Africa. In March, the U.S. also deployed surveillance drones to the region following Trump’s public accusations that Christians were being targeted in Nigeria’s security crisis.
Nigerian military officials had characterized the American troop presence earlier this year as operating strictly in a non-combat advisory role. Friday’s joint strike represents a step beyond that framing, with both governments openly acknowledging combined combat action resulting in the deaths of al-Minuki and multiple lieutenants.
Trump explicitly thanked Nigeria’s government for its partnership in the operation, a notable gesture given his previous criticism of Abuja over what he characterized as insufficient protection of Christian communities from Islamist militants in the northwest. Nigeria has consistently rejected those characterizations, maintaining that its security forces target armed groups without religious discrimination.
Tinubu’s statement framed the operation as a defining example of what effective bilateral security cooperation could achieve and signaled his intention to press forward with combined operations against remaining militant networks.
Nigeria’s Multilayered Security Crisis
The killing of al-Minuki addresses one dimension of a security environment in Nigeria that has no single source and no straightforward solution. Nigeria is simultaneously managing at least two Islamic State-affiliated groups, a separate Boko Haram network, banditry-driven kidnapping operations across the northwest, farmer-herder conflicts in the northcentral belt, and now, as Friday’s school attacks in Oyo State demonstrated, the southward creep of organized armed violence into regions historically insulated from insurgency.
The Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP, of which al-Minuki was a central figure, has been the more operationally sophisticated of the two IS-linked organizations operating in Nigeria’s northeast. A second IS-affiliated network known regionally as Lakurawa has concentrated its activity farther west in Sokoto and Kebbi states. Both have sustained pressure on military formations and civilian communities in the Lake Chad region despite years of Nigerian military operations.
The collapse of the Islamic State’s territorial caliphate in Syria and Iraq in 2017 accelerated the decentralization of the group’s global operations into affiliate networks in Africa, the Sahel, and Southeast Asia. West Africa’s IS affiliates have emerged as among the continent’s most active and lethal, filling power vacuums in ungoverned border zones that span multiple countries and resist single-nation military responses.
Friday’s strike reinforces the U.S. strategic posture across the Sahel, where Washington has been recalibrating its counterterrorism presence as French influence has receded and Russian military contractors have expanded their footprint in several countries. Nigeria, as Africa’s largest economy and most populous nation, represents a counterterrorism partner of particular strategic value to Washington in that context.
What One Strike Can and Cannot Achieve
The killing of a senior militant leader is operationally significant and immediately consequential for the targeted organization. Al-Minuki was not merely a figurehead. His role in financing and coordinating the Islamic State’s West African operations made him irreplaceable in the short term. Disrupting those functions will slow planning cycles, complicate funding flows, and create internal competition for succession that historically generates additional vulnerabilities for intelligence services to exploit.
But counterterrorism history across multiple theaters, from Afghanistan to Somalia to the Sahel, offers a consistent caution: decapitation strikes disrupt organizations without dismantling them. Mamman Nur was killed in 2018. Al-Minuki filled his role. Someone will attempt to fill al-Minuki’s role. The speed and quality of that succession will depend on how much intelligence was gathered in Friday’s operation and how aggressively follow-on actions target the transitional period when leadership structures are most fragile.
The more durable question is whether the military partnership Trump and Tinubu celebrated Saturday translates into the kind of sustained, intelligence-driven operational tempo that degrades militant networks over time rather than producing headline-generating strikes that are tactically real but strategically insufficient on their own.
Nigeria’s northeast has been a counterterrorism theater for more than a decade. Communities in Borno State have endured Boko Haram and ISWAP attacks, mass kidnappings, displacement, and famine-level food insecurity for years. The killing of al-Minuki matters to those communities, but what they need is governance, economic activity, and security that reaches their villages before the next group of motorcycle-riding gunmen does.
Friday’s joint operation shows the U.S.-Nigeria partnership can hit high-value targets with precision. The harder test is whether it can build the sustained presence and community-level security architecture that makes those targets rarer in the first place.
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Armed militants stormed a school in northeastern Nigeria on Friday morning and snatched dozens of students while classes were in session, and in a separate coordinated assault hundreds of miles south in Oyo State, gunmen raided three schools simultaneously, killing two people and abducting pupils, students, and a vice principal before setting a car ablaze and vanishing into nearby forest.
The twin attacks on the same day, in states separated by geography but connected by Nigeria’s deepening security failure, pushed the country’s school kidnapping crisis to a new threshold of geographic reach.
In Borno State, the assault on Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Askira-Uba Local Government Area began around 9 a.m. when motorcycle-riding gunmen rode onto the school grounds and began seizing students. Ubaidallah Hasaan, a resident who lives near the school, confirmed the attack to Reuters. A teacher at the school said some students managed to flee into surrounding bush but many were taken. Parents and local villagers put the number seized at between 35 and 43 children.
“Despite some students escaping to the bushes, I can tell you many were taken away,” the teacher told Reuters.
No organization immediately claimed responsibility. The attack bore characteristics consistent with the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which has maintained a foothold in the Sambisa Forest, a long-standing insurgent stronghold near the Mussa community. Nigeria’s military and police did not respond to requests for comment.
Local lawmaker Midala Usman Balami called the attack “heartbreaking” and demanded swift action from security authorities.
The last comparable school abduction in Borno State was in 2014, when Boko Haram seized more than 270 girls from a school in Chibok, an event that drew global condemnation and launched an international advocacy campaign. Friday’s attack marks the return of mass school kidnapping to a state that had been spared such an assault for more than a decade.
Oyo State: Three Schools, Two Dead, Multiple Abducted
The southern attacks were more complex. Armed men on motorcycles hit Baptist Nursery and Primary School in Yawota, near Alawusa, as well as Community Grammar School and L.A. Primary School in Esiele, all within Oriire Local Government Area in the Ogbomoso axis of Oyo State. The raids appeared coordinated, with attackers striking multiple locations in the same window before withdrawing toward a forest road.
An assistant headmaster identified as Mr. Adesiyan was killed during the assault. A motorcycle taxi operator was shot dead after he resisted the gunmen’s attempt to seize his bike. The vice principal of Community Grammar School, Mrs. Alamu Folawe, was among those abducted along with pupils and other staff members. The attackers took her Toyota Corolla vehicle and later set it on fire along the road leading into the forest.
Oyo State Police Command spokesperson Deputy Superintendent Ayanlade Olayinka confirmed the attacks in a statement Friday. “Preliminary investigations showed that the assailants carried out simultaneous attacks on the schools and surrounding communities, abducting pupils, students and members of staff,” Olayinka said. He confirmed no pupil or student had been killed as of the statement’s release, though the two adult deaths were confirmed.
Oyo State Commissioner of Police Abimbola Olugbenga traveled personally to the affected communities to assess the scene and coordinate the security response. Tactical teams, intelligence assets, and operational units were deployed to the area. Schools in Oriire Local Government Area were ordered closed while the manhunt continued.
“The Command assures residents that intensive operations are ongoing and urges members of the public to remain calm, vigilant and supportive by providing timely and credible information that could aid the investigation and rescue efforts,” Olayinka said.
Oyo’s Widening Security Problem
Friday’s school attacks did not emerge in isolation in Oyo State. The state has seen a pattern of escalating violence that security analysts have connected to armed bandit networks operating across state boundaries in southwestern Nigeria.
In January, five officers of the National Park Service were killed in a bandit attack on the National Park Office in Oloka Village, also in Orire Local Government Area. Governor Seyi Makinde said at the time that preliminary investigations indicated the attack was cross-border in nature, carried out by armed bandits from neighboring regions. Friday’s school raids in the same local government area suggest those networks have not been dismantled and may be expanding their targeting to include educational institutions.
Attacks on travelers along the Ibadan-Ijebu road have also been reported in recent months, building a picture of a state where armed groups are testing the limits of security coverage across rural and semi-rural areas.
A National Pattern With No Regional Boundary
Nigeria’s school kidnapping crisis has historically been associated with the northeast, where Boko Haram’s 2014 Chibok abduction first brought international attention to the tactic. But the geographic spread of Friday’s attacks tells a more current story. The northeast remains dangerous, as Borno State demonstrated. But the expansion of similar tactics into the southwest, a region that has been less associated with mass school abductions, signals that the methods pioneered by jihadist groups in the north have been adopted by criminal bandit networks operating in entirely different parts of the country with entirely different motivations.
In the northwest, banditry-driven school kidnappings for ransom have become routine. In the northcentral states, herder-farmer conflicts and criminal networks have targeted communities with increasing boldness. Friday added Oyo to the list of states where children sitting in classrooms are no longer safe from armed men on motorcycles.
Reuters confirmed the Borno attack through local sources. Premium Times and Punch Nigeria independently verified the Oyo State details through police statements and community contacts.
Schools as the Softest Target in a Failing System
Nigeria’s security establishment has been aware for years that armed groups across the country regard schools as strategically valuable targets. The reasons are straightforward. Schools concentrate large numbers of children in predictable locations at predictable times. They are typically in rural or semi-rural areas where police response times are measured in hours rather than minutes. The abduction of children generates immediate emotional and media impact, which amplifies the political pressure on governments to negotiate or pay. And in communities where poverty is widespread, ransom payments from desperate families represent reliable income for criminal networks operating at low risk.
The Borno attack is particularly significant because it breaks a decade-long pattern. After the international spotlight that followed the 2014 Chibok abduction, security deployments in Borno State were substantially increased and school kidnappings in the state had not recurred at mass scale. Friday’s assault suggests either that those security arrangements have deteriorated or that the militant networks operating near the Sambisa Forest have found new openings in rural areas that remain beyond consistent military reach.
The Oyo attack raises a different set of concerns. This is not insurgency territory. Oyo is a commercially active southwestern state, home to the ancient city of Ibadan and one of Nigeria’s most densely populated regions. If armed groups can execute coordinated simultaneous raids on three schools in Oyo’s Oriire Local Government Area, kill two people, abduct a vice principal, and withdraw into forest cover before security forces respond, the geographic reach of the school kidnapping threat has expanded in ways that no state government in Nigeria can treat as someone else’s problem.
Nigeria’s federal government has not issued a statement on Friday’s attacks as of this writing. The silence is itself part of the pattern. Attacks happen. Communities mourn. Local officials demand action. Security forces deploy. And then another set of motorcycle-riding gunmen rides onto another school compound, and the cycle continues.
Until the underlying economics of kidnapping change through consistent prosecution, dismantling of ransom payment networks, and security coverage that reaches rural schools before the attackers do, the children inside those classrooms will remain the most accessible targets in a country that has not yet found a way to protect them.
STRAIT OF HORMUZ — A ship anchored off the United Arab Emirates was seized and steered toward Iran on Thursday while a second vessel — an Indian-flagged cargo ship near Oman — sank after an attack sparked a fire aboard, as the Persian Gulf lurched into fresh turmoil and Iran’s foreign minister declared his country had no trust in the United States and would only negotiate if Washington proved it was serious.
The back-to-back maritime incidents unfolded as U.S. President Donald Trump sat with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and both governments agreed publicly that the Strait of Hormuz must stay open — a statement of shared principle that had no visible effect on what was happening in the waters it described.
Britain’s Maritime Trade Operations center confirmed the seizure, saying unauthorized personnel boarded and took control of a vessel anchored 38 nautical miles northeast of the UAE port of Fujairah — an oil export terminal that has been struck repeatedly during the Iran war. The British military said the ship was heading toward Iranian waters. The center did not identify the vessel and said an investigation was underway.
The sinking involved the cargo ship Haji Ali, which was traveling from Somalia to the UAE port of Sharjah when it was attacked Wednesday. A fire broke out aboard the vessel, which subsequently went down. All 14 Indian crew members were rescued by Oman’s coast guard and confirmed safe, Mukesh Mangal, a senior official in India’s shipping ministry, confirmed Thursday. India’s foreign ministry called the attack “unacceptable” and condemned ongoing assaults on commercial shipping and civilian mariners without identifying a perpetrator.
Neither incident was immediately attributed to a specific actor, but both occurred in waters Iran has claimed authority over and as Iranian officials were reiterating in public their assertion that the strait belongs to Tehran.
Iran’s Conditions and Its Claims
Iranian Senior Vice President Mohammadreza Aref left no room for ambiguity Thursday. The Strait of Hormuz belongs to Iran, he said on state television, and Tehran would not surrender that claim “at any price.” “It has always been our property,” Aref said.
Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir added a legal dimension to that territorial assertion, telling the state-owned Iran Daily that Iran holds the legal and judicial right to seize oil tankers in the strait connected to the United States, on the grounds that Washington had violated international maritime law and committed what Tehran characterizes as piracy with its naval blockade of Iranian ports. Jahangir did not directly reference the ship seized Thursday.
Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency, citing an informed source, said Tehran would not enter further negotiations with the United States unless five conditions were satisfied — including war reparations from Washington and formal American acceptance of Iranian sovereignty over the strait. Those demands, if accepted, would effectively ratify Iran’s wartime seizure of the waterway as a permanent legal reality, a position the White House has shown no willingness to entertain.
Iran also claimed that Chinese vessels began transiting the strait Wednesday night under newly established Iranian protocols, after China’s foreign minister and Beijing’s ambassador to Iran requested facilitation of their passage. The ships moved through as Trump landed in China — a detail Iranian officials did not appear to consider coincidental.
No Trust, Difficult Talks
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi put the diplomatic situation in stark terms Friday while speaking to reporters in New Delhi, where he was attending a BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting. Tehran has no trust in the United States, he said, and would only engage in talks if Washington demonstrated genuine seriousness rather than what he characterized as contradictory messaging.
“Contradictory messages had raised Iranian doubts about the Americans’ real intentions,” Araqchi said, adding that Pakistani-mediated negotiations had not formally collapsed but were in “difficulty.”
The ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran that took effect last month has held in a narrow technical sense while producing no progress toward a lasting agreement. Washington and Tehran each rejected the other’s most recent proposals, and the Pakistani mediation channel has been suspended since. The United States and Israel have launched two previous rounds of air strikes on Iran in the past 13 months, cutting short both prior diplomatic openings — a history that informs Tehran’s publicly stated skepticism about American intentions.
Araqchi said Iran was trying to preserve the current ceasefire to give diplomacy space to work but was prepared to resume full fighting if negotiations failed. He said all vessels except those “at war” with Iran could pass through the strait if they coordinated with the Iranian navy — a condition that the United States, whose blockade of Iranian ports Tehran considers an act of war, cannot practically meet.
Hours before Araqchi spoke, Trump said his patience with Iran was running out. On Chinese mediation, Araqchi said Beijing’s involvement would be welcomed. “We have very good relations with China. We are strategic partners, and we know that the Chinese have good intentions. So, anything they can do to help diplomacy would be welcomed,” he said.
What the U.S. Military Says
The top U.S. commander in the Middle East, Admiral Brad Cooper, told lawmakers in Congress Thursday that Iran’s military capabilities had been “dramatically degraded” by the strikes of the past several months. But he added a qualification that explained why the degradation has not translated into open shipping lanes: Iran does not need functioning military hardware to disrupt global commerce.
“Their voice is very loud, and the threats are clearly heard by the merchant industry and the insurance industry,” Cooper said. The combination of Iranian rhetoric, occasional seizures, and sporadic attacks has been sufficient to keep most commercial operators out of the strait regardless of what the U.S. Navy can and cannot intercept.
Cooper said the United States had the military capability to permanently reopen the strait and escort ships through it. He deferred to policymakers on the question of whether to do so, citing the sensitivity of ongoing negotiations.
That deference captures the central tension driving American strategy in the Gulf. The military says it can reopen the strait. The diplomats say doing so might collapse the talks. The result is a waterway that remains effectively closed while both governments insist they want it open.
Last week, U.S. forces fired on and disabled Iranian oil tankers attempting to breach the American blockade of Iranian ports. Iran seized the tanker identified as the Ocean Koi, which the U.S. had sanctioned in February as part of what Washington calls a shadow fleet transporting Iranian oil, saying the vessel was attempting to disrupt Iranian oil exports when it was taken to Iran’s southern coast, the official IRNA news agency confirmed.
Netanyahu’s UAE Visit and Its Fallout
Thursday’s maritime tensions unfolded hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disclosed that he had quietly visited the UAE during the war — a revelation the UAE promptly denied. The Gulf nation normalized relations with Israel in 2020, but the Gaza war and its civilian death toll have complicated that relationship considerably.
Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at Israel’s Institute of National Security Studies, said Netanyahu’s decision to publicize the sensitive visit was likely driven by domestic political calculation — an effort to project strength and alliance-building ahead of Israeli elections where his coalition has been struggling.
“It’s amazing, it’s the deepest cooperation we’ve ever had — that during a war, Israel is defending an Arab state against Iran,” Guzansky said. “It shows how complicated the Middle East is.”
He added that the UAE was working to distinguish between security cooperation with Israel broadly and association with Netanyahu’s specific government. “They’re trying to differentiate between security cooperation and cooperating with this government,” Guzansky said, noting that sentiment within the UAE against Israeli policies in Gaza ran deep.
A Strait That Controls Everything
The Strait of Hormuz has become the fulcrum on which the entire U.S.-Iran conflict rests, and Thursday’s events showed why resolving the standoff is so difficult. Before the war began in February, roughly one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil and gas supply moved through those narrow waters every day. That flow has been reduced to a trickle. The economic consequences ripple through fuel prices, inflation, and industrial costs in countries that have no involvement in the conflict and no ability to influence its outcome.
Iran understands this leverage intimately. Araqchi’s statement that the strait situation was “very complicated” understated what Tehran has actually achieved: it has converted physical geography into strategic power in a way that gives it a negotiating position disproportionate to its degraded military capabilities. Admiral Cooper’s own testimony — that Iran can disrupt shipping with rhetoric alone — is an unintentional acknowledgment of how thoroughly Tehran has won the psychological dimension of this maritime standoff.
The seizure of a ship and the sinking of another on the same day that Trump and Xi were publicly agreeing the strait must stay open illustrates the gap between declaratory policy and operational reality. Two of the world’s most powerful governments can agree in Beijing that something must happen. The boats in the Gulf will not stop being seized because of that agreement.
What changes the dynamic is not statements but incentives. Iran is asking for war reparations, sanctions relief, sovereignty recognition, and release of frozen assets — a package that amounts to winning the war at the negotiating table after losing it militarily. Washington is offering an end to active hostilities in exchange for nuclear concessions and open shipping lanes — a package Tehran reads as defeat with extra steps.
China sits between these positions with the most leverage of any external actor. Iranian crude moves to China. Beijing has economic relationships with both sides. If Xi chooses to apply pressure on Tehran rather than simply facilitate the optics of Trump’s Beijing visit, the calculation inside Iran changes. If Beijing plays both sides or prioritizes its own energy supply over American diplomatic goals, the stalemate continues indefinitely.
The ships in the Gulf will keep being seized until one of those larger calculations shifts.
Madonna, Shakira, and BTS will share a stage at the World Cup final halftime show on July 19 at New York New Jersey Stadium, FIFA and Global Citizen announced Thursday — the first time the sport’s biggest match has borrowed the American Super Bowl’s playbook and wrapped a full-scale pop concert around its most watched 15 minutes.
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin is curating the show and broke the news in a promotional video that leaned heavily on nostalgia and goodwill, featuring Elmo, Cookie Monster, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and Animal on the drums. Martin confirmed the lineup would include surprises beyond the three headliners. He described the event as being “all about togetherness — and everyone’s invited.”
The performance is not purely spectacle. It is anchored to a fundraising mission. The FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund aims to raise $100 million to expand access to quality education and football opportunities for children in underserved communities worldwide. More than $30 million has already been secured. One dollar from every ticket sold to any FIFA World Cup 2026 match will be directed toward social projects globally.
“Madonna, Shakira and BTS are global icons whose music transcends borders and generations, and we are proud to welcome them to the first-ever FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show curated by Chris Martin of Coldplay,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement. “This historic show will also shine a light on a greater purpose by supporting the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund and our shared mission to expand access to quality education and football opportunities for children worldwide.”
The Artists and What They Said
Each performer connected their participation to the education mission rather than the spectacle.
Madonna, the American pop institution whose career spans four decades, said the platform carried meaning beyond entertainment. “Without education, children are denied opportunity before they even have a chance,” Madonna said. “Every child deserves access to quality learning — because education expands possibilities and creates lasting change.”
Shakira, the Colombian singer who became globally synonymous with the 2010 World Cup through her song Waka Waka, returns to the tournament’s biggest stage in 2026. She is also a member of the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund advisory board — making her role at the halftime show both artistic and institutional. She said she would perform a new song called Dai Dai, written specifically for this World Cup and for the children the fund aims to reach. “I’ve spent my life doing two things — making songs and building schools,” Shakira said. “At the FIFA World Cup, those two paths come together.”
BTS, the South Korean group whose global fanbase has made them one of the most commercially dominant acts of the past decade, framed their participation in the language of music as a connector. “Music is the universal language of hope and harmony, and we’re honored to celebrate that power at the World Cup by connecting with millions of viewers around the world in support of children’s education,” the group said in a statement.
The Logistics and the Football Question
The show is being produced by Global Citizen in partnership with Live Nation and the production company Done and Dusted. Its length has not been officially confirmed, though it is widely understood to run approximately 11 minutes — a duration that creates an immediate practical tension with the structure of the sport it is interrupting.
A standard football halftime break runs roughly 15 minutes. That window exists for a combination of player recovery, tactical adjustments, commercial broadcasting, and analysis — the last of which matters enormously on the day of the World Cup final, when billions of viewers and the broadcasting teams serving them expect substantive review of what unfolded in the first half before the second begins. An 11-minute performance leaves almost no room for any of that.
Soccer has flirted with halftime entertainment before and the results have been cautionary. In 2017, German pop star Helene Fischer performed at halftime of the German Cup final in Berlin and was met with audible booing from the crowd. The criticism lasted weeks. The practice was dropped. FIFA is betting this attempt lands differently — on the biggest stage the sport has, in front of an American audience already conditioned by decades of Super Bowl halftime shows to expect exactly this kind of production.
Global Citizen Co-Founder and CEO Hugh Evans made the ambition explicit. “The FIFA World Cup is the most unifying event on Earth,” Evans said. “Together with FIFA and our curator Chris Martin of Coldplay, we wanted to create the first halftime moment in history focused on leaving a lasting legacy for children worldwide. My hope is that in a decade from now, we will see millions of lives impacted because of this historic moment.”
The Fund’s Advisory Board
The FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund has assembled an advisory board that spans sport, entertainment, and business. Members include FIFA President Infantino, Global Citizen’s Evans, Shakira, Australian actor Hugh Jackman, Ivanka Trump, Canadian artist The Weeknd, tennis great Serena Williams, Brazilian football legend Kaka, and Bank of America co-president Jim DeMare. FIFA and Global Citizen announced the first round of organizations receiving grants from the fund earlier this week, supporting programs combining education, sport, and community engagement across 10 countries.
When Football Borrows From the Super Bowl
The halftime show announcement is FIFA doing something it has resisted for most of its history — explicitly adopting an American entertainment format and grafting it onto the world’s most-watched sporting event. The Super Bowl halftime show has evolved over 60 years from a marching band performance into a televised cultural event that rivals the game itself in viewership and media coverage. FIFA is importing that model at the precise moment the World Cup comes to the United States for the first time since 1994.
The casting is deliberate and strategic on multiple levels. Madonna is American pop royalty — the home crowd act. Shakira is the voice the world already associates with the World Cup, a continuity link between the tournament’s history and its American present. BTS brings a global digital fanbase that crosses every demographic and geographic boundary FIFA’s sponsors care about.
Chris Martin as curator rather than performer is an interesting choice. Coldplay is currently one of the highest-grossing touring acts on the planet — their concerts are known for elaborate production and audience participation on a scale that translates well to stadium broadcasts. Using Martin as the architect rather than a headliner keeps the spotlight on the three acts while ensuring the production has someone with proven large-format event experience shaping it.
The Sesame Street and Muppets integration in the announcement video signals the show’s tonal ambition — nostalgic, inclusive, designed to land with children and parents simultaneously. That framing reinforces the education fund narrative and gives the show a purpose beyond celebrity spectacle, which matters for the portions of global football’s audience that remain skeptical of American-style entertainment infiltrating the sport.
The real test comes July 19 in New Jersey. If the show delivers and the football that follows it is great, the combination will be remembered as the moment the World Cup final became something bigger than 90 minutes of sport. If either element disappoints, if the show runs long, if the football suffers for the compressed analysis window, if the crowd in the stadium reacts the way Berlin reacted to Fischer in 2017 — FIFA will spend years answering for the experiment.
The fund’s $100 million target and the children it is meant to reach are real regardless of how the show lands artistically. What the halftime show does is put that cause in front of the largest single television audience on the planet. That is not nothing — it is, in fact, exactly what Global Citizen was built to do.
Authorities in Florida are investigating vandalism at a historic cemetery serving a predominantly Black community after multiple graves were damaged and political graffiti was scrawled across headstones.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said at least 17 burial sites at the Old Memphis Cemetery in Palmetto were disturbed, with several headstones knocked over and defaced with red spray-painted names referencing Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.
Investigators believe the damage occurred within the past several weeks. No arrests have been announced as detectives continue to examine the scene and gather evidence.
The cemetery, established in 1904, has long served Black residents in the Memphis neighborhood of Palmetto, a coastal community south of Tampa. For many families, it is a site of deep historical and personal significance.
Glenn Searls, whose relatives are buried there, described his reaction as one of anger and disbelief after seeing the vandalism firsthand. He said the presence of political names painted across graves raises concerns about intent, suggesting the act may have been driven by political motivations.
Another resident, Edrena Love Freeman, said she discovered her father’s grave marker had been moved. Standing at the site, she called the act disturbing and disrespectful, noting her father was a World War II veteran.
A spokesperson for the White House, Davis Ingle, condemned the incident, describing the actions as unacceptable and calling for accountability. The office of Governor DeSantis had not issued a public response at the time of reporting.
The investigation remains active as authorities work to determine those responsible and whether the vandalism may constitute a hate-related offense.
The defacement of a historic Black cemetery carries weight beyond property damage, touching on longstanding sensitivities around race, memory, and respect for burial sites in the United States. Such locations often serve not only as resting places but also as cultural landmarks preserving the history of marginalized communities.
The appearance of political names in the graffiti adds another layer of complexity, suggesting the possibility that broader national tensions may be spilling into local acts of vandalism. While investigators have not confirmed a motive, the timing — in a politically charged environment — is likely to draw heightened scrutiny.
Cemeteries have historically been targets in acts meant to intimidate or send symbolic messages. When those sites are tied to minority communities, the impact can resonate widely, raising concerns about community safety and social cohesion.
This incident also underscores challenges law enforcement faces in preventing and prosecuting crimes that occur in less monitored areas over extended periods. If confirmed as politically or racially motivated, the case could prompt calls for stronger protections for historic and culturally significant sites.
At a broader level, the episode reflects how divisions in public discourse can manifest in physical spaces, transforming places of remembrance into scenes of conflict. Community leaders and authorities may now face pressure to not only resolve the case but also reassure residents and preserve trust.
A Nigerian national has been sentenced to more than nine years in a United States federal prison after authorities uncovered his role in a long-running online fraud operation that targeted victims through romance and other financial scams.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Charles Nnamdi Emesim, 53, received a 115-month prison sentence from Robert Wier, a federal judge in Kentucky, following his conviction for conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors established that Emesim, a legal resident of Newark, New Jersey, handled funds generated from a range of fraudulent schemes conducted over more than a decade. Authorities described the operation as involving internet and telephone-based scams, including romance fraud, lottery deception, investment schemes, and impersonation tactics.
Investigators determined that from late 2013 through mid-2024, Emesim controlled at least 17 bank accounts tied to himself and his businesses. These accounts were used to receive and move money obtained from victims across the United States, with total losses exceeding $700,000.
Officials said at least 23 individuals were persuaded to send funds through various means, including cash deposits, wire transfers, and prepaid financial instruments. In one case outlined in court filings, an elderly widow in Kentucky was deceived into believing she was in a romantic relationship with a fictitious individual.
Authorities said the scheme escalated when the victim was introduced to a supposed government official who claimed he could assist in transferring funds. The victim later met the impersonator in person, handed over additional money, and even purchased electronic equipment for him. Investigators concluded that Emesim himself posed as that official during the encounter.
Federal prosecutors said the suspect routinely withdrew cash from accounts or redirected funds to associates and relatives, including individuals based overseas, in an effort to conceal the origin of the money.
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents led the investigation, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate Dieruf handled the prosecution. Officials emphasized that the crimes caused significant financial and emotional harm, particularly to vulnerable victims.
During sentencing, the court described the conduct as deeply harmful, noting that victims suffered not only monetary losses but also psychological distress from prolonged deception.
Under federal sentencing rules, Emesim must serve the majority of his prison term and will remain under supervision for three years following his release.
The case highlights the growing sophistication of romance scams, which increasingly combine emotional manipulation with structured financial operations. Unlike isolated fraud attempts, this scheme relied on sustained engagement with victims, building trust over time before introducing financial requests.
Law enforcement agencies have identified romance scams as one of the most damaging forms of cyber-enabled crime because they often target individuals who may be isolated or emotionally vulnerable. The inclusion of in-person meetings, as described in this case, marks a concerning evolution, blurring the line between digital and physical deception.
The scale of the operation, spanning more than a decade, also reflects the challenges authorities face in tracking financial crimes that cross jurisdictions and rely on multiple accounts and intermediaries. The use of legitimate business fronts and layered transactions can delay detection and complicate prosecution.
This sentencing signals a continued push by U.S. authorities to impose significant penalties on those involved in international fraud networks. It also underscores closer cooperation between financial institutions and investigators in identifying suspicious activity linked to scam operations.
At a broader level, the case serves as a reminder of the persistent risks associated with online relationships in an increasingly digital world. While enforcement actions can disrupt networks, experts say prevention efforts — including public awareness and financial safeguards — remain critical in reducing the impact of such crimes.
The Nigeria Police Force has transferred an alleged cyber fraud suspect to the United States to face prosecution over a long-running online romance scam operation that authorities say defrauded victims of large sums of money.
Police spokesperson Anthony Placid announced that the suspect, identified as Samuel Ugberease, also known by several aliases, “Putsammy”, “Putput”, and “Sammy” was handed over to U.S. authorities following the completion of legal proceedings and coordination between both countries’ law enforcement agencies. The account was detailed by Premium Times and corroborated by Punch Nigeria.
Authorities said the extradition was facilitated through the INTERPOL National Central Bureau in Abuja after a court in Lagos approved the request under Nigeria’s extradition laws.
Investigators allege that between 2014 and 2018, the suspect and associates ran a coordinated scheme that targeted women in the United States, particularly in North Carolina. The group is accused of creating false online identities and fabricated romantic relationships to gain victims’ trust before persuading them to send money under false claims, including staged emergencies.
Officials further indicated that proceeds from the scheme were routed through multiple bank accounts to disguise their origin and movement. In one instance outlined by police, the suspect is linked to losses exceeding $1.5 million from a single victim.
The suspect was first taken into custody at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in December 2025 after arriving from South Africa, following an international arrest alert issued by U.S. authorities.
Law enforcement officials emphasized that the extradition reflects expanding cooperation between Nigeria and international partners in tackling financial crimes that cross borders. The police said they continue to rely on intelligence sharing and global policing networks to pursue suspects involved in cyber fraud and organized crime.
The extradition underscores a broader shift in how countries confront cyber-enabled financial crime, particularly schemes built around emotional manipulation. Romance scams have become one of the fastest-growing forms of online fraud globally, largely because they exploit trust rather than technical vulnerabilities.
Nigeria has long faced international scrutiny over cybercrime networks, but recent high-profile arrests and extraditions suggest increased willingness by authorities to collaborate with foreign governments. This case signals a more assertive posture aimed at restoring confidence in Nigeria’s financial and digital systems.
The involvement of international policing frameworks such as INTERPOL highlights how transnational fraud cases are increasingly handled through coordinated legal channels rather than isolated national efforts. Such cooperation is critical, as victims, perpetrators and financial transactions often span multiple jurisdictions.
At the same time, the scale of alleged losses — including a single case exceeding $1.5 million — illustrates the financial and psychological toll these scams inflict. Victims are frequently drawn into prolonged interactions that blur the line between deception and emotional dependence, making recovery more complex.
The case may also serve as a warning to criminal networks that anonymity online is becoming harder to maintain as digital investigations grow more sophisticated. However, experts caution that enforcement alone will not eliminate the threat, as scammers continue to adapt tactics and exploit new platforms.
As the suspect prepares to face charges in the United States, the outcome could further define how aggressively cross-border fraud cases are prosecuted and may shape future cooperation between both countries in combating cybercrime.
Clarence Carter, the influential Southern soul singer and songwriter known for hits including Strokin’ and Patches, has died at the age of 90, his representatives confirmed Thursday.
Carter died Wednesday night in hospice care near Atlanta, according to a statement shared by associates. Rodney Hall, president of FAME Studios in Alabama, described the singer as a foundational figure in the studio’s legacy and a longtime member of its creative circle.
Health details provided through a spokesperson for Candi Staton, Carter’s former wife, indicated he had recently been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. Complications including sepsis and pneumonia contributed to his death.
Born in Montgomery, Alabama, Carter rose to prominence in the late 1960s and 1970s, blending emotional storytelling with a distinctive voice that helped define the Southern soul sound. He began his career alongside fellow blind musician Calvin Scott before launching a solo path that quickly gained national attention.
His early solo single “Tell Daddy” helped establish his songwriting reputation, later inspiring Etta James to record a response track. Carter’s breakthrough came with “Slip Away,” a 1968 release that climbed into the top tier of the pop charts and cemented his crossover appeal.
Known for his versatility, Carter balanced deeply emotional songs with bold, humorous tracks. His holiday-themed “Back Door Santa” became a seasonal favorite, while “Strokin’” gained cult status for its provocative lyrics and enduring popularity in nightlife settings. The song later reached new audiences through its inclusion in films such as The Nutty Professor and Killer Joe.
In contrast, “Patches,” released in 1970, showcased Carter’s storytelling depth with a narrative about hardship and resilience in rural Alabama. The song earned a Grammy Award for Best R&B song and remains one of his most celebrated works.
Throughout his career, Carter released a string of successful tracks, including “Snatching It Back,” “The Feeling Is Right,” and “Too Weak to Fight,” the latter achieving gold certification. He continued recording into later life, releasing his final album, “Mr. Old School,” in 2020 and a last single, “Danger Point,” in 2024.
Carter married Staton in 1970, and the couple had one son before separating three years later. He is survived by his children and extended family.
Hall said Carter’s influence extended far beyond his recordings, describing him as a defining voice in American music and a gifted guitarist and songwriter who shaped the sound of an era.
Clarence Carter’s career reflects a pivotal era in American music when regional sounds like those from Muscle Shoals gained national and global recognition. His work helped bridge traditional rhythm and blues with mainstream pop audiences, expanding the commercial reach of Southern soul.
His ability to shift between heartfelt storytelling and playful, boundary-pushing lyrics also mirrors broader cultural changes during the late 20th century, when music increasingly explored themes once considered taboo. Songs like “Strokin’,” while controversial, demonstrated how artists could challenge norms and still achieve lasting popularity.
Carter’s legacy is also notable for his longevity. Remaining active into his later years, he adapted to changing industry dynamics while maintaining a loyal fan base. His continued output into the 2020s highlights both personal resilience and the enduring appeal of classic soul music.
Beyond his catalog, Carter’s life story — including his success as a blind performer in a competitive industry — underscores a narrative of persistence that resonates across generations. His contributions to the Muscle Shoals sound, alongside collaborators at FAME Studios, helped shape a musical tradition that continues to influence artists today.
As the music industry reflects on his passing, Carter’s recordings remain a testament to the emotional depth and stylistic diversity that defined one of soul music’s most enduring voices.
KYIV, Ukraine — A nine-story apartment building in Kyiv’s Darnytsia neighborhood collapsed in a Russian missile strike before dawn Thursday, killing nine people including a 12-year-old girl and trapping dozens beneath concrete rubble, as Russia launched its third consecutive day of massive aerial bombardment in what Ukrainian officials called the largest aerial assault since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
Emergency workers picked through the debris as wisps of smoke rose from the building’s ruins in the early morning light. The structure’s entrance had been obliterated in the strike, trapping residents inside before they could escape. All 18 apartments in the building were destroyed. More than 30 people were pulled out injured. About 20 remained unaccounted for.
“There were people there, children. What happened to them? You have to understand, an entire building collapsed,” said Alla Komisarova, 74, a pensioner who lives across from the destroyed building. “I heard something flying, it’s flying nearby. And then there was such a terrible sound, and our house, which is opposite, jumped and staggered.”
Lyudmila Hlushko, 78, said she was jolted awake around 3 a.m. “Then the house shook violently and there was a loud bang, breaking the glass in my house,” she told the Associated Press. Windows shattered across the surrounding neighborhood.
“It was a terrible night,” said neighbor Nadiia Lobanova. “We’re used to this. Well, it’s impossible to get used to this, but somehow we held on.”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko declared Friday a day of mourning. Damage was recorded across six districts of the capital.
The Scale of the Assault
The overnight attack on Kyiv was part of a campaign that has grown in scale with each passing day. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had fired more than 1,560 drones at Ukrainian population centers since Wednesday — more than 670 drones and 56 missiles in Thursday’s overnight assault alone. In total, 180 sites across the country were damaged, including more than 50 residential buildings.
Ukraine’s air force said its defenses shot down or jammed 693 Russian targets overnight — 41 missiles and 652 drones — achieving an interception rate of more than 93 percent. Fifteen missiles and 23 drones still scored direct hits across 24 locations. Debris from downed drones fell across 18 additional areas.
Air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne the strain on air defenses was severe. “We are now experiencing the largest strikes since the start of the full-scale invasion,” Ihnat said.
Cities across Ukraine absorbed punishment through the night. Kremenchuk, Bila Tserkva, Kharkiv, Sumy, and Odesa were all struck. In Kharkiv, 28 people including three children were wounded and civilian infrastructure was targeted, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov confirmed. Strikes on energy infrastructure cut power to customers in Kyiv and 11 other regions, national grid operator Ukrenergo said. Port infrastructure in the southern Odesa region and railway lines were also hit.
A vehicle carrying United Nations humanitarian staff delivering aid to residents in the southern city of Kherson was struck by Russian drones, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha confirmed. The vehicle was clearly marked. It was hit twice, in two separate locations. Nobody was hurt.
Zelensky said initial analysis identified a recently manufactured Russian Kh-101 cruise missile as the weapon that destroyed the Kyiv apartment building and called for renewed international efforts to cut off Russian access to such technology.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed its military targeted Ukraine’s military-industrial complex — air bases, fuel facilities, and transport infrastructure — and said it hit all its intended targets. Among the weapons deployed, Moscow said, were Kinzhal hypersonic missiles capable of flying at 10 times the speed of sound. Russia made no immediate comment on the civilian casualties.
While Trump Was in Beijin
The timing of the assault was not lost on Ukrainian officials. U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing Wednesday for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping — a visit that had generated cautious hope that the two most powerful leaders in the world might apply combined pressure on Moscow to end the war.
Sybiha addressed both governments directly. “At the very time when leaders of the most powerful countries are meeting in Beijing, and the world hopes for peace, predictability and cooperation, Putin launched hundreds of drones, ballistic and cruise missiles at the capital of Ukraine,” he posted on X. “I am certain that the leaders of the United States and China have enough leverage over Moscow to tell Putin to finally end the war. Only pressure on Moscow can make him stop.”
Zelensky was less diplomatic. Russian President Vladimir Putin had said just days earlier, on Saturday, that the war was “coming to an end.” Zelensky’s response to Thursday’s carnage was pointed. “These are definitely not the actions of those who believe the war is coming to an end,” he said.
The attacks directly contradicted the ceasefire Trump said he had brokered for May 9 through 11. Fighting continued throughout that 72-hour window, though Ukrainian officials said it was reduced in intensity. The resumed full-scale bombardment following the ceasefire’s expiration made clear that the pause had changed nothing in Russia’s military posture or intentions.
British Defense Secretary John Healey called Thursday’s attack “shocking” and said he had accelerated United Kingdom deliveries of air defense systems to Ukraine.
Wednesday’s Attack Set the Stage
Thursday’s destruction followed a devastating Wednesday. A rare daytime attack on Kyiv that day killed at least six people in an assault involving 800 drones that struck approximately 20 regions across Ukraine in one of the longest single attacks of the war.
The Kyiv office of defense contractor Skyeton, which specializes in reconnaissance drones, was destroyed in the overnight strikes, though the company said it had anticipated such targeting and relocated its production beforehand.
More than 1,500 rescue workers were deployed across Ukraine to respond to the two-day assault’s aftermath, including nearly 600 in Kyiv alone. At least 22 civilians were killed across the two days combined, officials confirmed.
In a separate development, Hungary summoned the Russian ambassador over a drone attack near its border with Ukraine — a notably sharp shift in tone from new Prime Minister Péter Magyar toward Moscow after years of warm relations under his predecessor Viktor Orbán.
Latvia’s Prime Minister Evika Silina resigned Thursday after her coalition government lost its majority following pressure over the government’s handling of multiple incidents involving stray drones crossing into Latvian territory from the direction of Ukraine.
The Gap Between Putin’s Words and Russia’s Bombs
The three-day bombardment carries a specific message, and it is addressed as much to Washington and Beijing as it is to Kyiv. Putin told reporters Saturday that the war was coming to an end. Days later, Russia launched what Ukrainian officials called the largest aerial assault of the entire conflict. The gap between those two things is not an accident — it is a strategy.
Russia’s negotiating posture has consistently used escalation as leverage. When diplomatic momentum builds toward a settlement, Moscow intensifies military pressure to establish that any agreement must be made on Russian terms, not because Russia has run out of weapons or will. The timing of this week’s assault — synchronized with Trump’s Beijing trip and the post-ceasefire window — signals that Putin intends to keep fighting until he gets a deal that reflects the territorial and political gains Russia has made, not one imposed by outside pressure.
For Trump, the optics are difficult. He declared the May 9-11 ceasefire a success. Russia spent the days immediately following it flattening apartment buildings in Kyiv. His argument that he has leverage over Putin — and that engaging Moscow diplomatically will produce results — takes a significant credibility hit every time a Kh-101 missile destroys a nine-story building full of sleeping families.
Ukraine’s 93 percent interception rate is genuinely impressive and reflects years of investment in layered air defense. But the mathematics of the current campaign work against Kyiv in a specific way: when Russia fires 1,560 drones and missiles over 48 hours, the 7 percent that get through still kill people, collapse buildings, and cut power to millions. Quantity is its own quality, and Russia has demonstrated a willingness to sustain this volume of fire regardless of international condemnation.
Sybiha’s appeal to Trump and Xi is the clearest articulation of what Ukraine needs right now — not just weapons and solidarity, but the kind of direct great-power pressure on Moscow that neither government has yet chosen to fully apply. Whether that pressure materializes before another apartment building collapses in Kyiv is the question on which the war’s next chapter turns.
