Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that he had received successful treatment for early-stage prostate cancer, without specifying when the treatment took place.

In a statement on social media, as his annual medical report was released, Netanyahu, 76, said an early stage malignant tumor had been discovered during a routine checkup.

He said “targeted treatment” had removed “the problem” and left no trace of it.

According to the medical report, which otherwise said the prime minister was in good health, Netanyahu was treated with radiation therapy for early-stage prostate cancer.

Neither the medical report nor Netanyahu said when the treatment occurred.

Israel’s longest-serving prime minister said that he had delayed the release of the medical report by two months to prevent Iran from spreading “false propaganda against Israel”.

In March, during the US-Israeli war on Iran, rumors that circulated on social media and aired on Iranian state media alleged that Netanyahu had died.

The Israeli leader later recorded a video of himself visiting a Jerusalem cafe in March to refute the claims.

Netanyahu underwent surgery on his prostate in 2024 after he was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection resulting from a benign prostate enlargement. In 2023, he was fitted with a pacemaker.

Elections are due to be held in Israel by October.

The traditional global asset correlations that collapsed when the war in the Middle East erupted remain broken, leaving investors to piece together strategies to trade the road to resolution with a faulty instrument panel.

Record highs for Wall Street stocks belie concerns about fraught geopolitics, how long energy supplies might be disrupted for and long-term economic damage.

BMO chief FX strategist Mark McCormick reckons the next three to six months will not resemble the “pre-conflict normal”.

“The growth factor is recovering, but remains below late-2025 levels, the rates (monetary policy) factor remains elevated, correlations are shifting, and drawdown risk is rising. Something new is forming,” he said in a note.

Here’s a look at the disruption to classic correlations in stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities that have traditionally provided a steer on economic trends.

A hard test for fixed income

Stocks and bond yields usually move together, as investors tend to hedge economic growth worries, which hit stocks, by buying bonds, sending yields lower and vice versa. That relationship has been more erratic since the pandemic, as higher inflation and government debt undermine the ability of bonds to act as a hedge against equity risk.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a pre-war blog in February, warned that investors and policymakers must rethink risk management for “a new era” where traditional hedges fail.

Two-year bonds, sensitive to inflation and interest rate expectations, have been in the eye of the storm.

The one-month rolling correlation between two-year Treasury yields and the S&P 500 has collapsed to around -0.8 from an average of 0.23 over the last five years.

Since the war started, that metric is at -0.63. A near-identical pattern emerges for two-year German yields and European stocks.

“There definitely wasn’t a move into sovereign fixed income in March, which, at least at the front end, you might have expected,” said State Street head of macro strategy Michael Metcalfe.

“This was a hard test for fixed income, because it was an inflation shock and also potentially a growth shock, which doesn’t help the long-term fiscal concerns.”

Gold is misbehaving

Gold has ditched its safe-haven credentials since the war began, moving unusually closely with equities and even volatile crypto. It remains 10 per cent below pre-war levels.

Gold usually boasts a robustly negative correlation to the dollar. When volatility picks up to the point where investors ditch stocks, bonds and other markets, the dollar emerges as the main beneficiary, as has been the case during the war.

Since late February, the correlation between gold and the dollar has softened to around -0.19 from an average of -0.4, while the correlation between gold and stocks has been around 0.55, up from a five-year average of 0.22.

This probably speaks more to the correlation of the dollar to stocks, which has hit a record -0.94 this week, indicating an almost-perfect inverse relationship, versus a five-year average of -0.28.

Meanwhile, the bitcoin/stocks correlation is at a record 0.96, from an average of 0.4 pre-war, denting the case for crypto as a diversifier.

Extraordinary events have unusual effects

The prospect of an inflation shock has prompted traders to price in rate hikes, particularly in Europe, and to lower expectations of rate cuts in the United States.

Higher rates in one region than another usually imply strength for one currency over another, but even this relationship has broken down.

The European Central Bank is expected to hike rates twice this year, while the Federal Reserve leans towards a cut. Yet the euro, at around $1.17, has barely recovered its war-driven losses.

“Extraordinary events can have unusual effects on financial markets, often altering traditional relationships between financial variables,” UniCredit said, adding that the relationship between euro/dollar and rate differentials is one of those casualties.

Using the difference between two-year US and euro zone swap rates, the correlation between rate differentials and the euro itself is at 0.5, up from near 0 at the start of the year and compared with an average of -0.3 in the last two years.

“We do not think that rate differentials are likely to return to being the key driver for euro/dollar until the war-driven risk premium has dissipated,” UniCredit added.

Divorced from fundamentals

Rising oil prices would normally lift inflation expectations, but these have fallen since the war started. The five-year forward US inflation swap, a gauge of investors’ long-term inflation expectations, is around 2.4pc, from closer to 2.45pc. Oil prices are still around 40pc higher.

The correlation between the two is around -0.7, above the five-year average of 0.2. During the 2022 energy shock, it hit a high of 0.7 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Deutsche Bank says this switch could be partly down to an expected increase in US fiscal deficits as Washington funds the war.

“But another possibility is that forward inflation compensation has become increasingly divorced from fundamentals,” the bank said.

MILAN: The suggestion that Iran should be replaced by Italy at this year’s World Cup drew a mix of embarrassment and apathy from fans of Italy’s national football team on Thursday, with the Italian media reminding readers that the idea has a very familiar feel.

Donald Trump’s US special envoy Paolo Zampolli told the Financial Times that he made the suggestion to the US president and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

“I’m an Italian native and it would be a dream to see the Azzurri [Italy’s national football team] at a US-hosted tournament. With four titles, they have the pedigree to justify inclusion,” said Zampolli, an Italian-American who is Trump’s envoy for “Global Partnership” but has no official connection with the World Cup or Italian football.

The plan seems to be an effort to repair ties bet­ween Trump and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni after the two fell out amid the US president’s attacks against Pope Leo XIV over the Iran war.

Italy’s main sports news websites have given the story only a passing reference.

Sports Minister Andrea Abodi told the Italian news agency LaPresse: “Firstly it is not possible, secondly it is not appropriate … You qualify on the pitch.”

Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti went further, saying the idea was “shameful”.

Leading Italian coach Gianni De Biasi told Reuters it was an unlikely proposal with any theoretical Iranian absence logically filled by the team behind them in their qualification group.

“Furthermore, I believe Italy doesn’t need Trump’s support on an issue like this. I think we can manage on our own,” he said.

Soccer’s world governing body FIFA responded by pointing to Infantino’s previous comments on Iran’s participation.

“The Iranian team is coming, for sure,” he said last week: “Iran has to come if they are to represent their people. They really want to play, and they should play. Sport should be outside politics.”

The White House, the Italian Football Federation and Asian Football Confederation did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Currently there is no suggestion that Iran will withdraw or be banned from the tournament, which Italy missed out on after losing in a playoff for the third World Cup in a row.

Iran qualified for a fourth successive World Cup last year but, after the start of the war, requested that FIFA move the team’s three group matches from the US to Mexico — which was rejected.

Iran is seemingly proceeding as planned. “We are preparing and making arrangements for the World Cup, but we are obedient to the decisions of the authorities,” Iranian football federation President Mehdi Taj told reporters at a pro-government rally in Tehran on Wednesday.

The World Cup, which is also being co-hosted by Mexico and Canada, gets underway on June 11 with Iran scheduled to kick off their campaign against New Zealand in Los Angeles four days later.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2026

Navy Secretary John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general.

The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately.” But it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slow to implement reforms to speed shipbuilding and because he had fallen out with key Pentagon leadership.

One source cited bad relationships with Hegseth, Hegseth’s deputy, Steve Feinberg, as well as the Navy’s No 2 civilian, Hung Cao, who the Pentagon said will now take over as acting Navy secretary.

The source also cited an ethics investigation into Phelan’s office.

A billionaire seen as having close ties to President Donald Trump, Phelan is the first administration-picked service secretary to be fired since Trump came back into office last year.

His departure fits within a broader context of upheaval at all levels of leadership at the Pentagon under Hegseth’s watch, including the firing last year of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C Q Brown, as well as the chief of naval operations and Air Force vice chief of staff.

On April 2, Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff Randy George without citing a reason. Two US officials said the decision was tied to tensions between Hegseth and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll.

Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Phelan’s dismissal “troubling”.

“I am concerned it is yet another example of the instability and dysfunction that have come to define the Department of Defence under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth,” Reed said.

The latest departure comes during a tense ceasefire with Iran, as the US flows more naval assets into the Middle East.

The US military is relying on naval assets to carry out a blockade of Iran, which President Donald Trump is hoping will pressure Tehran to negotiate an end to the conflict on his terms.

The Navy is under intense pressure to expand its fleet. China’s shipbuilding industry now dwarfs the US, which was once a global powerhouse.

Trump’s $1.5 trillion defence budget request for fiscal year 2027 includes over $65 billion to procure 18 warships and 16 support ships made by General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls Industries.

It is part of what the Pentagon is calling the “Golden Fleet” initiative, which officials say is the largest shipbuilding request since 1962.

The US Department of Justice said on Thursday that it was immediately loosening restrictions on some marijuana products and accelerating the process of reclassifying the drug as less dangerous in one of the biggest changes to US drug policy in decades.

The Trump administration immediately moved FDA-approved marijuana products and state-regulated medical marijuana from a group of drugs classified as highly addictive to one that has a low to moderate potential for abuse.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the US government would also fast-track a broader consideration of marijuana under federal law, moving the psychoactive plant from a so-called Schedule I drug to a Schedule III.

The move would list marijuana alongside common painkillers, ketamine and testosterone rather than its current status with drugs like heroin and LSD.

The measures are likely to reshape the pot industry, lowering barriers to researching the drug’s potential health benefits, easing tax burdens and making it easier for firms to secure funding.

The announcement does not legalise marijuana across the United States.

“This rescheduling action allows for research on the safety and efficacy of this substance, ultimately providing patients with better care and doctors with more reliable information,” Blanche said in a statement.

The move follows a December executive order from President Donald Trump directing the Justice Department to loosen marijuana restrictions.

The measure is expected to be a boon to a growing cannabis industry in the United States, benefiting companies like Canopy Growth, Tilray Brands, and Trulieve Cannabis.

US-listed shares of cannabis companies jumped following the decision. Shares of Cronos Group, Aurora Cannabis, Canopy, and Tilray jumped between 6 and 13 per cent.

“Today marks a pivotal moment for the United States. With President Trump’s action to reschedule cannabis, federal policy is finally aligning with science, medicine, and most importantly, patient needs,” Irwin Simon, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Tilray, said in a statement.

Marijuana’s continued status as a Schedule I drug, meaning it has a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use, has been widely criticised as anachronistic, particularly as nearly half of US states have moved to legalise cannabis.

The drug is legal in some form in about 40 states. Legal sales are expected to top $47 billion in 2026, according to market researcher BDSA.

Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug in the world and the United States. Nearly one in five US residents use it every year, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Millions of Americans have been arrested for possession of the drug, even while growing businesses listed on stock exchanges sell cannabis-related products.

The Biden administration embarked on a similar move in 2024, but the measure was not finalised when Trump returned to office and the US Drug Enforcement Administration scrapped the effort.

Blanche, the acting attorney general, said a hearing will begin June 26 to gather evidence and expert opinion on reclassifying the drug.

Manchester City ended Arsenal’s six-month stay on the Premier League summit and condemned Burnley ​to relegation with a laboured 1-0 victory at Turf Moor on Wednesday.

Erling Haaland’s clinical finish after five minutes could have ‌paved the way for a boost to City’s goal difference but they lacked a cutting edge as Burnley dug deep.

Haaland hit the post and had other chances as City tried to give themselves a safety margin but Pep Guardiola’s side had to make do with a surprisingly narrow victory.

After reeling Arsenal in they now lead the ​table on goals scored with both sides on 70 points from 33 games and with an identical goal difference of plus ​37.

For Scott Parker’s Burnley the inevitable has now become a reality as they are stuck on 20 points, 13 ⁠points behind the safety zone with only four games remaining.

“We played a really good game, unfortunately we missed a lot of chances. We defended ​better in the second half. Second half we had less problems,” Guardiola, whose side face Southampton in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday, told ​Sky Sports.

“It was such a demanding game on Sunday. It is not easy after three days but in the Premier League you have to adjust. We are used to doing it. We competed really well, we made a really good game but it’s a pity the chances we had.”

Burnley produce spirited play

City’s fans sang “we are top ​of the league” at the final whistle as their team hit the top but it was with a mixture of relief as they could ​never truly relax as Burnley betrayed their lowly status with a spirited display.

Arsenal have led the race since early October but have stalled in April and Haaland’s winner ‌in a ⁠2-1 victory against them at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday has given City the edge.

With the race so tight, however, they would have expected to sweep Burnley aside by a wider margin on Wednesday and given themselves the edge on goal difference.

It certainly looked that way at the start as Burnley keeper Martin Dubravka made a great save from Rayan Cherki before Haaland was played through and the Norwegian advanced before dinking a subtle left-footed finish past ​the keeper.

City had 10 goal attempts ​before the break although Burnley ⁠were a threat with Jaidon Anthony having an early shot saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma while Zian Flemming shot wide.

Antoine Semenyo poked a chance over the bar early in the second half and Haaland drifted a shot against ​the post as City strained for a second goal.

In the end it was a nervous finale as ​Burnley won a corner ⁠deep in stoppage time with Dubravka sent forward, but City avoided any stumble to take the points.

While they may have hit the top after stretching their unbeaten league run to 11, City will need to play better in a relatively tough run-in to win a fifth title in six seasons.

They also ⁠are at a ​disadvantage with Arsenal playing twice in the league before City’s next league game away ​at Everton.

For Burnley it is a second relegation in three seasons, having come up from the Championship with 100 points.

“I came here with a dream to keep this club up,” ​Burnley captain Kyle Walker, a multiple title winner with City, said. “Hopefully we can do the fans proud next season.”

• Envoys’ meeting in Washington aims to extend ceasefire, halt Israel’s demolitions
• Beirut sees extension as first step to talks on forces’ withdrawal, return of detainees
• Israeli strikes kill five in Lebanon, including a journalist

WASHINGTON: Lebanese and Israeli envoys are set to meet in Washington on Thursday for a second round of talks aimed at extending a shaky ceasefire, even as a fresh Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed five people, including a journalist.

Lebanon hopes the US-mediated meeting will prolong the 10-day ceasefire, which is set to expire on Sunday, and pave the way for expanded negotiations.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Beirut’s envoy, Ambassador to Washington Nada Moawad, would seek an extension as well as a halt to demolitions being carried out by Israel in southern villages.

A Lebanese official said Thursday’s meeting would be focused on two main items: extending the ceasefire and exploring a date for negotiations beyond the ambassadorial level. Lebanon’s position is that a ceasefire extension is a prerequisite for moving to the next phase, which would push for an Israeli withdrawal, the return of Lebanese detained in Israel and a delineation of the land border, the official said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to attend the meeting. Israel will be represented by its ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter.

The talks come amid continued cross-border violence. An Israeli strike killed two people in a car in the southern Lebanese village of al-Tiri on Wednesday, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

Hezbollah said it launched an attack drone at an Israeli artillery position in the south in response to what it called an Israeli violation of the ceasefire. The Israeli military said it had intercepted “a hostile aircraft” launched by Hezbollah toward Israeli soldiers in south Lebanon.

The Israeli military said it had killed two people who crossed its “Forward Defence Line” in south Lebanon.

Meanwhile, another Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Yohmor killed two more people, NNA and Lebanon’s health ministry said.

Separately, Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon left one journalist dead and another trapped under rubble, with rescuers temporarily blocked from reaching her by ongoing Israeli fire, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

Journalist Amal Khalil and freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj were covering developments near the town of al-Tayri when an Israeli strike hit the vehicle in front of them. They ran into a nearby house, which was then also targeted by an Israeli strike. Lebanese rescuers were able to retrieve Faraj, who had suffered a head wound. When rescuers returned to help Khalil, the Israeli military dropped a sound grenade, blocking their access to the damaged building. Khalil later died of his wounds.

More than 2,400 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched a major offensive in the region, according to Lebanese authorities.

Israel has seized a belt of territory at the border where its troops remain, saying it aims to create a buffer zone.

The diplomatic track in Washington has been accompanied by sharp rhetoric. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a speech, said Israel had taken a “historic decision to negotiate directly with Lebanon after more than 40 years” but also called Lebanon a “failed state”.

“I call on the Government of Lebanon: Let’s work together against the terror state that Hezbollah built in your territory. This cooperation is needed by you even more than by us,” Saar said.

Lebanon’s leading Druze politician, Walid Jumblatt, said on Tuesday that the most Lebanon could offer is an update to a 1949 armistice agreement with Israel.

After a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is against face-to-face negotiations, Jumblatt said there should be a clear agenda for talks that includes a withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2026

Far-flung Pacific nations are reeling from the impact of a global fuel crisis as authorities scramble to manage energy supplies while families must grapple with fuel curbs and higher costs for food and access to healthcare.

Global oil supplies are running down as the US-Israeli war with Iran disrupts traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which typically carries about 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows.

Aid agencies have warned that the crisis has driven up prices for diesel, petrol and kerosene by as much as 70pc in Papua New Guinea since the start of the Iran war.

“Many of our communities, because they rely on boat transport for movement are … having challenges bringing food supplies to outlying centres,” said Godfrey Bongomin, programme operations director for World Vision in Papua New Guinea.

With transport to clinics now out of reach financially for some, people were skipping medical appointments and missing life-saving HIV and tuberculosis medicines, added Bongomin. “It is affecting their livelihoods.”

Pacific Island nations are the most reliant on diesel for power generation worldwide, the International Finance Corp said in 2024. Data from Zero Carbon Analytics showed it fuelled more than half of electricity output in 2022, except for Fiji.

Pacific countries imported about 2.2 million metric tons of gasoline, diesel, gasoil and jet fuel in 2025, largely from Singapore and South Korea, Kpler ship-tracking data showed.

But imports for the first half of April were just a quarter of the figure for all of March.

Broader threat lurks

The strain in Papua New Guinea, where nearly 40pc of people live below its poverty line, point to a broader threat across Pacific nations that rely heavily on imported fuel and maritime and air links.

“Even if the ceasefire holds, it will take a while for prices to come down to where they were before the conflict,” said Abdul Abiad, deputy chief economist of the Asian Development Bank.

“There’ll be a lot of pain.” The region was particularly vulnerable as fuel imports are worth between 8pc and 11pc of GDP in many countries, and 27pc in Tuvalu, he added.

If the conflict was resolved quickly, regional growth was expected to moderate by almost a full percentage point in 2026 to 3.4pc, Abiad said, but if the war continued, it would sap growth further.

“China is willing to maintain communication with all parties and work together to safeguard global energy security,” Guo Jiakun, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said last week in reply to a question on the plight of Pacific states, where the country wields increasing influence.

Across the Pacific, say staff of Catholic aid body Caritas Internationalis, the crisis is squeezing household budgets by driving up travel fares, food prices and costs of other essentials, with low-income families hit hardest.

“You have families that when they’re stretched financially, they’re asking themselves, can I afford to do this anymore or do I need to actually just spend more money on food?” said Kim Koch, regional director for Save the Children, based in Fiji.

Measures to cushion the impact

Last week the Pacific Islands Forum troika, a group of past, current and incoming chairs, agreed to invoke the region’s emergency response mechanism to tackle the unfolding crisis, for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.

In Kiribati, people are struggling to get to work, school and access healthcare, Caritas said. Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands have both declared states of emergency.

The Cook Islands, Nauru and Papua New Guinea have moved to subsidise or cap rising fuel costs, while governments have urged people not to stockpile or panic-buy items, even limiting purchases in some places.

In Fiji, ministers agreed to take a pay cut of 20pc to help shoulder some of the measures to offset fuel costs, though parliament must approve the change.

Visiting Washington this month, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to look at fuel deliveries for the Pacific, while New Zealand and Australian diplomats have discussed concerns with some nations.

Australia was looking at ways to assist, but domestic supplies were its first priority, Foreign Minister Penny Wong has told media.

But the problem is growing worse.

“The greatest burden is falling on ordinary wage earners and vulnerable communities,” said Lillian Bing, secretary general for the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific.

Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR is ready to supply liquefied ​natural gas (LNG) to Pakistan as soon ‌as it receives a request from Islamabad, the company told Reuters on Tuesday, ​as Islamabad seeks spot cargoes to ​ease a growing energy shortfall.

SOCAR said a ⁠framework agreement signed in 2025 ​between SOCAR Trading and Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) allows ​the Pakistani buyer to purchase LNG cargoes directly under an accelerated procedure.

“SOCAR is ready to ​provide LNG to Pakistan as ​soon as PLL submits a corresponding request,” the ‌company ⁠said in response to Reuters questions.

SOCAR did not say whether such a request had already been made, when a ​first delivery ​could ⁠take place, or whose LNG would be supplied under the ​agreement.

Pakistan, which relies heavily on ​gas ⁠for its energy needs, remains vulnerable to declining domestic production and swings ⁠in ​global LNG prices amid ​the supply disruptions related to the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Facing criticism over loadshedding even before the beginning of summer, the power division has already placed an order with the petroleum division to arrange around 400 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of LNG for power generation, amid hopes for the opening of international supply routes.

A day earlier, it had also emerged that Pakistan and Qatar were in an advanced stage of discussions for the supply of at least four LNG cargoes, which could pass through the Strait of Hormuz within a couple of days.

Qatar had declared force majeure early last month on all its global LNG contracts, including those with Pakistan.

Japan on Tuesday unveiled its biggest overhaul of defence export rules in decades, scrapping restrictions on overseas arms sales and opening the way for exports of warships, missiles and other weapons.

The move aimed at strengthening Japan’s defence industrial base marks another step away from the pacifist restraints that have shaped its postwar security policy. It has been made in tandem with efforts to deepen ties with other nations in Asia to counter China’s growing regional influence.

Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are also straining US weapons production, expanding opportunities for Japan. At the same time, US allies in Europe and Asia are looking to diversify suppliers as Washington’s long-held security commitments look less certain under President Donald Trump.

“No single country can now protect its own peace and security alone, and partner countries that support each other in terms of defence equipment are necessary,” Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in a post on X.

While countries such as the Philippines welcomed the change, China was not impressed.

“China is deeply concerned about this,” foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a daily press conference, adding that Beijing “will remain highly vigilant and resolutely resist any reckless actions by Japan towards a new form of militarism.”

Relations between Japan and China have been at a low ebb since Takaichi said in November that a Chinese attack on Taiwan threatening Japan’s survival could trigger a military response.

Philippines, US and Germany welcome the shift

The revision removes five export categories that had limited most military exports to rescue, transport, warning, surveillance and mine-sweeping equipment. Ministers and officials will instead assess the merits of each proposed sale.

Japan will keep in place three export principles that commit it to strict screening, controls on transfers to third countries and a ban on sales to countries involved in conflict. But in a presentation outlining the changes, the government said exceptions could be made when deemed necessary for national security.

Countries ranging from Poland to the Philippines are exploring procurement opportunities as they modernise their forces, Japanese officials and foreign diplomats have told Reuters.

One of the first deals could be the export of used warships to Manila, two of the sources said.

Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro welcomed Japan’s rule change, saying in a statement that it would provide access to defence “articles of the highest quality” that would “strengthen domestic resilience” and “contribute to regional stability through deterrence.”

The Philippines, together with Japan’s southwestern island chain, forms part of what military planners call the First Island Chain, a string of islands that hems in China’s access from its coastal waters to the Western Pacific.

Manila and Tokyo signed an agreement in September, making it easier for their forces to operate in each other’s territory and in January, eased rules for exchanging military supplies.

US Ambassador to Japan, George Glass, heralded the export rule change in a post on X as a “historic step” to strengthen collective defence.

Germany’s envoy to Tokyo, Petra Sigmund, said it created opportunities for deeper cooperation “with the aim of enhancing global stability”.

Japan also building up its own military

Tokyo hopes defence exports will shore up its industrial base by boosting production volumes, lowering per-unit costs and adding manufacturing capacity it could draw on in a military crisis.

Contractors such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries can build advanced systems, including submarines, fighter aircraft and missiles, but for decades have depended on small orders from a single customer, Japan’s Self-Defence Forces.

Japan is pressing ahead with unprecedented efforts to bolster its military — buying missiles, stealth jets and drones it says are needed to deter any threat posed by China, including around its islands near Taiwan.

Beijing has said its intentions in East Asia and elsewhere are peaceful.

Tokyo is also developing a next-generation fighter jet with Britain and Italy for deployment in the mid-2030s, part of a strategy to share development costs and gain access to new technology.

Japan has steadily increased defence spending in recent years to two per cent of GDP, and Takaichi’s government is expected to announce further rises this year when it releases a new security strategy.

Director of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Kash Patel, filed a defamation lawsuit against American magazine The Atlantic and its reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick following the publication of an article on Friday alleging the director had a drinking problem that could pose a threat to national security.

The magazine’s story, initially titled ‘Kash Patel’s Erratic Behavior Could Cost Him His Job’, cited more than two dozen anonymous sources expressing concern at Patel’s alleged conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences that alarmed officials at the FBI and the Department of Justice.

The article, which The Atlantic subsequently titled ‘The FBI Director Is MIA’ in its online version, alleged that the FBI had to reschedule early meetings as a result of Patel’s alcohol-fuelled nights and that he is often away or unreachable, delaying time-sensitive decisions needed to advance investigations.

In The Atlantic’s story, the White House, the Department of Justice and Patel denied the allegations. The article included a statement from the FBI attributed to Patel, saying: “Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court, bring your checkbook.”

Patel rejected the claims made in the article.

The Atlantic’s story is a lie, Patel claimed in an interview with Reuters. “They were given the truth before they published, and they chose to print falsehoods anyway.”

After Patel threatened to sue the publication on Sunday in an appearance on Fox News, The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg said in a statement to CNBC, “We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel.”

Reuters could not independently establish the accuracy of The Atlantic’s article or why the publication changed the title. The Atlantic and Fitzpatrick could not be immediately reached for comment.

Patel’s complaint says that while The Atlantic is free to criticise the leadership of the FBI, they crossed the legal line by publishing an article “replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office”.

The lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks $250 million in damages.

The lawsuit alleges The Atlantic ignored the FBI’s denials and did not respond to a Friday letter from Patel’s lawyer, Jesse Binnall, to senior editors and The Atlantic’s legal department, asking for more time to refute the 19 allegations the reporter told the FBI’s press office she would be publishing.

Reuters could not establish how or if The Atlantic responded to Binnall’s request.

The lawsuit alleges the publication acted with actual malice, a legal standard that requires public figures such as Patel to show the publisher knowingly printed false information or recklessly ignored doubts about its accuracy.

The lawsuit says defendants’ conscious decision to ignore the detailed, specific, and substantive refutations in the Pre-Publication Letter, and their refusal to give a reasonable amount of time for the FBI and Director Patel to respond, is among the strongest possible evidence of actual malice.

The lawsuit is the latest instance of a Trump administration figure suing a media outlet.

A judge earlier dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against CNN for describing election denialism as the “big lie”.

Judges also dismissed Trump’s lawsuits against the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Trump has refiled his lawsuit against the New York Times and may refile against the Wall Street Journal.

He has also secured some settlements. ABC News agreed to settle a case for $15m plus $1m in legal fees. Paramount Global agreed to pay $16m for what the Trump administration called deceptive editing of a CBS News interview with his opponent in the 2024 election, Kamala Harris.

India and South Korea said on Monday that they would boost their economic ties by expanding cooperation in energy, critical minerals, shipbuilding, semiconductors and steel as they seek to double their trade to $50 billion by 2030.

New Delhi and Seoul also agreed to resume and step up negotiations to give new energy to their 2010 trade agreement as India wanted their trade to be more balanced and South Korea wanted greater market access to the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is in India for a three-day visit, the first South Korean presidential state visit to the country in eight years.

“We decided to upgrade the framework of economic cooperation between the two countries to create a new engine for shared growth,” Lee told reporters after talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The two countries created a ministerial-level economic cooperation committee for the first time, Lee said, adding that they would strengthen cooperation in areas such as nuclear power plants, clean energy as well as trade and investment.

With the US-Israel war on Iran squeezing global energy supplies, India and South Korea would also continue to cooperate to ensure the stable supply of energy resources and key raw materials such as naphtha, Lee added.

Modi said Lee’s visit was extremely significant and that the two countries had taken important decisions to boost two-way trade to $50bn by 2030 from around $27bn at present.

“Today, we are laying the foundation for the success story of the next decade,” Modi said, as he recalled strong civilisational ties between the two countries that go back several centuries.

Big investment in India’s steel sector

Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said he held talks with his South Korean counterpart, Yeo Han-koo, and discussed ways to resume and revamp the trade pact and explored opportunities to deepen cooperation in the areas of industry, green energy and digital trade.

Lee will attend a joint business forum conference later on Monday where some 250 South Korean participants are expected, including leaders of household names in India such as Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor and LG Group, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said.

The two sides also plan to sign a total of 20 private-sector memoranda of understanding on the sidelines of the forum, covering areas including shipbuilding, digital technology and energy, Yonhap said.

Separately, South Korea’s POSCO Holdings said in a regulatory filing on Monday that its steelmaking unit plans to build a joint venture integrated steel plant with India’s JSW in Odisha state.

POSCO’s investment until end-2031 is expected to be about $1.09bn, the filing said.

The joint venture deal to set up a 6-million-ton-per-annum steel plant in Odisha was announced last week.

In a policy seminar at South Korea’s parliament last week, Maeng Hyun-chul, a research fellow at Seoul National University’s Asia Centre, noted India’s longstanding complaint of a widening trade deficit with South Korea and said that political ties had not kept pace with commercial ties.

South Korea had a $12.8bn trade surplus last year, with exports worth $19.2bn and imports of $6.4bn, according to Korea International Trade Association data.

Lee will be visiting Vietnam after India.