President Lee picks South Korea's first civilian defense chief in 64 years
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung nominated a five-term liberal lawmaker as defense minister Monday, breaking with a tradition of appointing retired military generals.
The announcement came as several prominent former defense officials, including ex-Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, face high-profile criminal trials over their roles in carrying out martial law last year under then-President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was indicted on rebellion charges and removed from office.
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Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Roknifard: Regime Change in Iran Unlikely
Israel woke up to a new reality Sunday after President Trump confirmed that the US had bombed Iran's main three nuclear sites. The attack has been lauded across Israel as a historic symbol of unprecedented cooperation with the US. However, now the concern is about how Iran will respond. Julia Roknifard, Senior Lecturer, School of Law & Governance at Taylor's University, Malaysia told Bloomberg's Horizons Middle East and Africa anchor Joumanna Bercetche expecting a regime change in Iran on the back of these attacks is extremely unlikely.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Building Tirana: The Bold Architectural Vision Reshaping Albania's Capital
Rising up from among Tirana's Soviet- and Fascist-era low-rise cultural monuments is a new wave of towering mixed-use buildings. ©2025 Mounir Taha/Shutterstock At 6 ft 7 inches tall, Edi Rama, the Albanian prime minister, casts quite a shadow over his fellow world leaders. At the recent European Political Community Summit in the Albanian capital of Tirana, Rama—a former pro basketball player, few will be surprised to hear—loomed head and shoulders over pocket-size presidents, leading some observers to ignore the pressing global issues of the day and instead muse: 'Who is that tall guy?' Well, opinions vary, of course. But for the half or so of the Albanian population who voted for him in May to continue to loom over them for an unprecedented fourth term, he's the man putting their country on the world stage at last. Dragging the Balkan nation out of the wilderness after decades of Communist dictatorship that—even long after its demise—has left Albania somewhat isolated from the rest of Europe. Tirana's National Historical Museum opened in 1981, pre-dating the fall of Communist rule in Albania by just under a decade. ©2015 RossHelen/Shutterstock And Tirana, Rama's testbed, is itself emerging as a towering presence with its changing skyline. The city's low-rise 20th-century Fascist- and Soviet-era buildings are fast becoming dwarfed by a swathe of experimental—and in some cases outrageously quirky—skyscrapers designed by high-profile international architects who have been handpicked by the PM (who is also a trained artist) to help put Albania back on the map. Around 150 such architects—from Europe, Asia, the U.S. and South America—gathered in Tirana earlier this month for the inaugural Bread & Heart Festival, a celebration of something the Albanian capital has rarely been fêted for previously: its pioneering built environment. Downtown One Tirana, by award-winning Dutch architectural firm MVRDV, exemplifies what's new, what's now, what's next for the Albanian capital's evolving skyline. Is that a map of Albania on its side? Indeed. ©MVRDV And this 'Albanian Arch Army', as Rama named this smorgasbord of visiting architects, are bestowed with a mighty purpose: 'to build, not monuments of stone, but spaces of meaning, not just structures of concrete but bones of understanding,' he announced at the Festival, displaying a distinct flair for the lofty language of architectese. They come, he adds, 'not as distant observers of an obscure culture, nor as solitary stars casting light on foreign ground, but as participants in a shared experiment. They arrive carrying the weight and grace of their traditions, with ideas shaped by their cities and their climates, their histories and their materials, and the burdens of crisis too, crisis back home, crisis felt across a world that is shrinking by the hour, crisis of their own making. And here in Albania, something special happens.' '[International architects come] to build, not monuments of stone, but spaces of meaning, not just structures of concrete but bones of understanding.' Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania Phew, indeed. Some have certainly let their imaginations run wild with their towers—most of which are located around the New Boulevard, the huge, newly landscaped linear park that cuts through the heart of the city, and soon to be home to the capital's first real luxury apartments, A-class office space, upmarket retail and global hotel brands. Among them is the 85-meter-tall Skanderbeg Building, which resembles a huge head—that of the titular 15th-century military commander, and Downtown One Tirana, with a pixelated map of Albania on its façade—both conceived by the renowned Dutch studio MVRDV. Dutch firm MVRDV's Skanderbeg Building. Who needs another statue honoring a 15th-century military commander when his profile can be hewn as mixed-used residential, office and retail? ©MVRDV Portugal's OODA studio has gone for the double too with the Bond Tower, whose lanky pair of buildings are likened to a ballet dancer's legs mid-plié, and Hora Vertikali, which will house hundreds of apartments within a towering stack of 13 huge Jenga-like cubes. Puzzle Tirana by Dubai-based NOA, meanwhile, sets a giant jigsaw of traditional village house façades at jaunty angles. Meanwhile, Tirana Vertical Forest by Stefano Boeri, the Italian pioneer of biophilic architecture, is cloaked in thousands of plants and trees. With Transformation Comes A New Real Estate Market 'Edi Rama's ambition is to attract architects who have their own crowd of followers in their respective countries. They are almost like celebrities,' comments Ilda Zaloshnja, CEO of Capital Point, a new member of Forbes Global Properties. She, for one, is thrilled about Tirana's transformation. Given the city's lack of a luxury real estate market until now, 'it has sometimes been a struggle to find properties to list,' she says. With the new high-rise apartments on offer, investors—so far, mainly locals and Albanians living overseas—are paying prices that would have been inconceivable just five years ago. And that's before they are even built. Downtown One Tirana is expected to complete as a mixed-use residential / commercial / retail structure in 2025. At 140 meters (460 feet), it will become the city's tallest tower. ©MVRDV When apartments went on sale a few years ago in the newly complete Book Building by 51n4e—a Brussels-based 'self-steering collective' of numerous European studios—starting prices were around €3,000 per square meter (~$3,450). 'Now those early investors are refusing offers of €5,500 per square meter, and in some buildings prices have hit €10,000 per square meter,' informs Brandan Mativi, Capital Point's founder. 'Since Rama's recent election win, all the big boys are shaking hands with Albania now. That's why Tirana is being built,' he adds. 'When I moved here from the United States eight years ago, there were buildings without windows in the city center. In five years, there will be 15 skyscrapers.' A 'New NYC' On The Adriatic? Not everyone loves Tirana's new look. 'Just another out of context building in a chaotically-built city,' comments one member of an architectural forum on Facebook, referring to Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill's Barcelona Tower, whose dynamic form emulates the swish of a traditional Albanian fustanella skirt. Others question who will pay such high prices for new homes. 'These square-meter costs can't last. It's a big bubble. Before these towers were built, top prices in Tirana were €6,000 per square meter,' comments Ludovic Laventure, founder of the mobile payment company MPay, who lives next to the emerging Downtown One tower. However, others are optimistic. 'A new Adriatic NYC,' trills one architecture-lover on Facebook. Mativi thinks Tirana could be 'the new Monaco,' with the highway between the capital and coastal Durrës—where Albania's first super-yacht marinas are being built—being upgraded, effectively turning Tirana into a modern metropolis with a sparkling coastline. 'What makes Tirana particularly inspiring for us as architects is the city's openness to experimentation and its bold commitment to public space as a catalyst for social change.' Michal Kristof, co-founder of CHYBIK + KRISTOF For architects, the city offers a blank canvas for their unfettered imagination. 'Tirana is one of the most exciting urban environments in Europe today because it is in the midst of profound social, cultural and architectural transformation,' comments Michal Kristof, co-founder of CHYBIK + KRISTOF, the London/Eastern Europe-based studio that won Albania's first private international competition for a development on the New Boulevard. If anything typifies Tirana's new look, it's off-piste quirkiness. Evidenced in the Multifunctional Tower by young international architects Chybik + Kristof. CHYBIK + KRISTOF The studio's Multifunctional Tower Tirana (a working title, hopefully) sits on a key corner 'where the Boulevard meets a major new public space planned in front of the future National Opera,' explains Kristof, whose cascading, terracotta-red building—punctuated by dozens of planted terraces and loggias, like holes in a huge, angular block of Swiss cheese—will house 20 floors of apartments set above shops and offices. 'As a young democracy, Albania is redefining its identity, and Tirana stands at the center of that process. What makes it particularly inspiring for us as architects is the city's openness to experimentation and its bold commitment to public space as a catalyst for social change,' he adds. Bold contemporary design, like this apartment in Tirana's Multifunctional Tower puts lifestyle at the heart of the city's newly created Culture Hub district. CHYBIK + KRISTOF From Innovation Comes National Identity The nation that, for four decades under dictator Enver Hoxha, shut itself off from the world, is now opening its arms through architecture. 'Inviting international architects definitely brings visibility and global interest,' Kristof believes. 'It's also an intriguing way to reshape Albania's national identity, by blending global innovation with local culture and environmental conditions.' 'If these developments deliver more than just luxury, they could help position Tirana as a vibrant and globally attractive destination for investment and relocation.' Michal Kristof, co-founder of CHYBIK + KRISTOF Whether Tirana's new high-end, high-rise living is sustainable—and finds a suitably wealthy fanbase—remains to be seen. Striking new architecture is one thing. Creating attractive, liveable, 'inclusive' environments is another, Kristof comments. 'If these developments deliver more than just luxury,' he says, 'they could help position Tirana as a vibrant and globally attractive destination for investment and relocation.' Capital Point's Mativi is characteristically bullish. 'Rama has set the road map for the next 10 years,' he comments, confident that the old 'build it and they will come' mantra will hold true for Tirana. The coming years will show whether the city's new skyline is built on more than just dreams. Capital Point is a member of Forbes Global Properties , an invitation-only network of top-tier brokerages worldwide and the exclusive real estate partner of Forbes.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
The China Wild Card
Andrew here. After President Trump's decision to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, there are a cascade of questions on Monday morning. The most pressing that has so far gone largely overlooked is this: What about China, one of Iran's biggest economic partners? Would Beijing quietly support efforts by Tehran to retaliate against American interests? Will it continue to prop up Iran's economy by buying the country's oil? If it stands by Iran, how could that impact the U.S. trade negotiations with China? And, perhaps most critically, what does this mean for President Xi Jinping's calculations about Taiwan, and how Trump might react to an effort to take the island? I spent the weekend talking and texting with policymakers and analysts in Washington to understand what may come next. Perhaps the most intriguing perspective I gleaned was that the U.S. action might actually grant China greater leverage in its broader negotiations with Trump — not less — over trade and nearly everything else. 'The U.S.'s call for China to counsel Iran to not close the Strait of Hormuz adds to the list of things Washington needs from Beijing, the others being its rare earth exports, cracking down on the fentanyl trade, and reducing its trade surplus,' Scott Kennedy of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told me. 'As a result, China's potential leverage grows and the costs to the U.S. from escalating in any domain against China grows.' Many in Washington say that China would prefer to de-escalate the situation as quickly as possible. Bonnie Glaser, who runs the Indo-Pacific program at the German Marshall Fund explained: 'Chinese interests are in a cease-fire, not a wider war. I don't think the Chinese will support Iranian strikes on the U.S.' Indeed, the truth is that 'China is much more important to Iran than vice versa,' Ryan Hass, a senior fellow and director at the Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution, told me. Consider: About 90 percent of Iran's oil exports go to China, Hass said — but that represents just 10 percent of China's oil imports. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
