Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the diplomat with the thick glasses and gravely voice who dominated foreign policy as the United States extricated itself from Vietnam and broke down barriers with China, died Wednesday, his consulting firm said. He was 100.
With his gruff yet commanding presence and behind-the-scenes manipulation of power, Kissinger exerted uncommon influence on global affairs under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, earning both vilification and the Nobel Peace Prize. Decades later, his name still provoked impassioned debate over foreign policy landmarks long past.
Kissinger’s power grew during the turmoil of Watergate, when the politically attuned diplomat assumed a role akin to co-president to the weakened Nixon.
“No doubt my vanity was piqued,” Kissinger later wrote of his expanding influence. “But the dominant emotion was a premonition of catastrophe.”
A Jew who fled Nazi Germany with his family in his teens, Kissinger in his later years cultivated the reputation of respected statesman, giving speeches, offering advice to Republicans and Democrats alike and managing a global consulting business. He turned up in President Donald Trump’s White House on multiple occasions. But Nixon-era documents and tapes, as they trickled out over the years, brought revelations — many in Kissinger’s own words — that sometimes cast him in a harsh light.
Never without his detractors, Kissinger after he left government was dogged by critics who argued that he should be called to account for his policies on Southeast Asia and support of repressive regimes in Latin America.
For eight restless years — first as national security adviser, later as secretary of state, and for a time in the middle holding both titles — Kissinger ranged across the breadth of major foreign policy issues. He conducted the first “shuttle diplomacy” in the quest for Middle East peace. He used secret channels to pursue ties between the United States and China, ending decades of isolation and mutual hostility.
He initiated the Paris negotiations that ultimately provided a face-saving means — a “decent interval,” he called it — to get the United States out of a costly war in Vietnam. Two years later, Saigon fell to the communists.
And he pursued a policy of detente with the Soviet Union that led to arms control agreements and raised the possibility that the tensions of the Cold War and its nuclear threat did not have to last forever.
At age 99, he was still out on tour for his book on leadership. Asked in July 2022 interview with ABC whether he wished he could take back any of his decisions, Kissinger demurred, saying: “I’ve been thinking about these problems all my life. It’s my hobby as well as my occupation. And so the recommendations I made were the best of which I was then capable.”
Even then, he had mixed thoughts on Nixon’s record, saying “his foreign policy has held up and he was quite effective in domestic policy” while allowing that the disgraced president had “permitted himself to be involved in a number of steps that were inappropriate for a president.”
As Kissinger turned 100 in May 2023, his son David wrote in The Washington Post that his father’s centenary “might have an air of inevitability for anyone familiar with his force of character and love of historical symbolism. Not only has he outlived most of his peers, eminent detractors and students, but he has also remained indefatigably active throughout his 90s.”
Asked during a CBS interview in the leadup to his 100th birthday about those who view his conduct of foreign policy over the years as a kind of “criminality,” Kissinger was nothing but dismissive.
“That’s a reflection of their ignorance,” Kissinger said. “It wasn’t conceived that way. It wasn’t conducted that way.”
Kissinger was a practitioner of realpolitik — using diplomacy to achieve practical objectives rather than advance lofty ideals. Supporters said his pragmatic bent served US interests; critics saw a Machiavellian approach that ran counter to democratic ideals.
He was castigated for authorizing telephone wiretaps of reporters and his own National Security Council staff to plug news leaks in Nixon’s White House. He was denounced on college campuses for the bombing and allied invasion of Cambodia in April 1970, intended to destroy North Vietnamese supply lines to communist forces in South Vietnam.
That “incursion,” as Nixon and Kissinger called it, was blamed by some for contributing to Cambodia’s fall into the hands of Khmer Rouge insurgents who later slaughtered some 2 million Cambodians.
Kissinger, for his part, made it his mission to debunk what he referred to in 2007 as a “prevalent myth” — that he and Nixon had settled in 1972 for peace terms that had been available in 1969 and thus had needlessly prolonged the Vietnam War at the cost of tens of thousands of American lives.
He insisted that the only way to speed up the withdrawal would have been to agree to Hanoi’s demands that the US overthrow the South Vietnamese government and replace it with communist-dominated leadership.
Pudgy and messy, Kissinger incongruously acquired a reputation as a ladies’ man in the staid Nixon administration. Kissinger, who had divorced his first wife in 1964, called women “a diversion, a hobby.” Jill St. John was a frequent companion. But it turned out his real love interest was Nancy Maginnes, a researcher for Nelson Rockefeller whom he married in 1974.
In a 1972 poll of Playboy Club Bunnies, the man dubbed “Super-K” by Newsweek finished first as “the man I would most like to go out on a date with.”
Kissinger’s explanation: “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”
Yet Kissinger was reviled by many Americans for his conduct of wartime diplomacy. He was still a lightning rod decades later: In 2015, an appearance by the 91-year-old Kissinger before the Senate Armed Services Committee was disrupted by protesters demanding his arrest for war crimes and calling out his actions in Southeast Asia, Chile and beyond.
Heinz Alfred Kissinger was born in the Bavarian city of Fuerth on May 27, 1923, the son of a schoolteacher. His family left Nazi Germany in 1938 and settled in Manhattan, where Heinz changed his name to Henry.
Kissinger had two children, Elizabeth and David, from his first marriage.
Henry Kissinger, secretary of state under Presidents Nixon and Ford, dies at 100
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Henry Kissinger, secretary of state under Presidents Nixon and Ford, dies at 100
- Kissinger exerted uncommon influence on global affairs under Nixon and Ford, earning both vilification and Nobel Peace Prize
- He conducted first “shuttle diplomacy” in quest for Middle East peace, used secret channels to pursue ties between US and China
Ukrainian pea prices may rise amid expected exports to China, producers say
Farmers sowed 250,000 hectares of peas in 2025 compared with 212,000 hectares in 2024, farm ministry data shows.
“China has opened its market, and a significant part of the peas will probably go there,” UAC said in a statement.
UAC said an increase in demand could push pea prices up to as much as 16,000 hryvnias ($385.33) per metric ton ex works (EXW) in late summer against the current 14,000 hryvnias.
The farm ministry has said pea production in Ukraine could increase to 476,000 metric tons in the 2025/26 July-June season from 409,000 tons in 2024/25.
Ukraine exports its peas mostly to Turkiye, India, Italy, Malaysia, the ministry said.
Australia ‘confident’ in US nuclear sub deal despite review
- The 2021 AUKUS deal joins Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States in a multi-decade effort to balance China’s growing military might
SYDNEY: Australia said Thursday it is “very confident” in the future of a US agreement to equip its navy with a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, after the Trump administration put the pact under review.
The 2021 AUKUS deal joins Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States in a multi-decade effort to balance China’s growing military might.
It aims to arm Australia with a fleet of cutting-edge, nuclear-powered submarines from the United States and provides for cooperation in developing an array of warfare technologies.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has advised Australia and the United Kingdom that it is reviewing AUKUS, a spokesperson for the Australian Department of Defense confirmed Thursday.
Defense Minister Richard Marles said he was “very confident” Australia would still get the American submarines.
“I think the review that’s been announced is not a surprise,” he told public broadcaster ABC.
“We’ve been aware of this for some time. We welcome it. It’s something which is perfectly natural for an incoming administration to do.”
Australia plans to acquire at least three Virginia Class submarines from the United States within 15 years, eventually manufacturing its own subs.
The US Navy has 24 Virginia-class vessels, which can carry cruise missiles, but American shipyards are struggling to meet production targets set at two new boats each year.
In the United States, critics question why Washington would sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia without stocking its own military first.
Marles said boosting the US production of US Virginia Class submarines was a challenge.
“That’s why we are working very closely with the United States on seeing that happen. But that is improving,” he said.
Australia’s focus is on “sticking to this plan and on seeing it through,” Marles said.
He criticized Australia’s previous conservative government for “chopping and changing” its submarine choice.
On the eve of announcing its participation in AUKUS in 2021, the government of the time abruptly scrapped plans to buy diesel-powered submarines in a lucrative deal with France — infuriating Paris.
The AUKUS submarine program alone could cost the country up to $235 billion over the next 30 years, according to Australian government forecasts, a price tag that has contributed to criticism of the strategy.
Australia should conduct its own review of AUKUS, said former conservative prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, noting that Britain and now the United States had each decided to re-examine the pact.
“Australia, which has the most at stake, has no review. Our parliament to date has been the least curious and least informed. Time to wake up?” he posted on X.
Former Labour Party prime minister Paul Keating, a vehement critic of AUKUS, said the US review might “save Australia from itself.”
Australia should carve its own security strategy “rather than being dragged along on the coat tails of a fading Atlantic empire,” Keating said.
“The review makes clear that America keeps its national interests uppermost. But the concomitant question is: Why has Australia failed to do the same?”
Any US review of AUKUS carries a risk, particularly since it is a Biden-era initiative, said Euan Graham, senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
But it is “fundamentally a good deal for the US,” he said, with Australia already investing cash to boost American submarine production as part of the agreement.
“I just do not think it is realistic for Australia, this far backed in, to have any prospect of withdrawing itself from AUKUS,” Graham said.
“I don’t think there is a Plan B that would meet requirements and I think it would shred Australia’s reputation fundamentally in a way that would not be recoverable.”
Few minutes to pack up a lifetime: Pakistan’s foreigner crackdown sends Afghans scrambling
- The nationwide crackdown on foreigners has led to the departures of almost 1 million Afghans already
- Pakistan set several deadlines earlier this year for Afghans to leave or face deportation
TORKHAM, Afghanistan: The order was clear and indisputable, the timeline startling. You have 45 minutes to pack up and leave Pakistan forever.
Sher Khan, a 42-year-old Afghan, had returned home from his job in a brick factory. He stared at the plainclothes policeman on the doorstep, his mind reeling. How could he pack up his whole life and leave the country of his birth in under an hour?
In the blink of an eye, the life he had built was taken away from him. He and his wife grabbed a few kitchen items and whatever clothes they could for themselves and their nine children. They left everything else behind at their home in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
Born in Pakistan to parents who fled the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the ensuing war, Khan is one of hundreds of thousands of Afghans who have now been expelled.
The nationwide crackdown, launched in October 2023, on foreigners Pakistan says are living in the country illegally has led to the departures of almost 1 million Afghans already.
Pakistan says millions more remain. It wants them gone.
Leaving with nothing to beat a deadline
“All our belongings were left behind,” Khan said as he stood in a dusty, windswept refugee camp just across the Afghan border in Torkham, the first stop for expelled refugees. “We tried so hard (over the years) to collect the things that we had with honor.”
Pakistan set several deadlines earlier this year for Afghans to leave or face deportation. Afghan Citizen Card holders had to leave the capital Islamabad and Rawalpindi city by March 31, while those with Proof of Registration could stay until June 30. No specific deadlines were set for Afghans living elsewhere in Pakistan.
Khan feared that delaying his departure beyond the deadline might have resulted in his wife and children being hauled off to a police station along with him a blow to his family’s dignity.
“We are happy that we came (to Afghanistan) with modesty and honor,” he said. As for his lost belongings, “God may provide for them here, as He did there.”
A refugee influx in a struggling country
At the Torkham camp, run by Afghanistan’s Taliban government, each family receives a SIM card and 10,000 Afghanis ($145) in aid. They can spend up to three days there before having to move on.
The camp’s director, Molvi Hashim Maiwandwal, said some 150 families were arriving daily from Pakistan – far fewer than the roughly 1,200 families who were arriving about two months ago. But he said another surge was expected after the three-day Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha that started June 7.
Aid organizations inside the camp help with basic needs, including health care. Local charity Aseel provides hygiene kits and helps with food. It has also set up a food package delivery system for families once they arrive at their final destination elsewhere in Afghanistan.
Aseel’s Najibullah Ghiasi said they expected a surge in arrivals “by a significant number” after Eid. “We cannot handle all of them, because the number is so huge,” he said, adding the organization was trying to boost fundraising so it could support more people.
Pakistan blames Afghanistan for militancy
Pakistan accuses Afghans of staging militant attacks inside the country, saying assaults are planned from across the border – a charge Kabul’s Taliban government denies.
Pakistan denies targeting Afghans, and maintains that everyone leaving the country is treated humanely and with dignity. But for many, there is little that is humane about being forced to pack up and leave in minutes or hours.
Iran, too, has been expelling Afghans, with the UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, saying on June 5 that 500,000 Afghans had been forced to leave Iran and Pakistan in the two months since April 1.
Rights groups and aid agencies say authorities are pressuring Afghans into going sooner.
In April, Human Rights Watch said police had raided houses, beaten and arbitrarily detained people, and confiscated refugee documents, including residence permits. Officers demanded bribes to allow Afghans to remain in Pakistan, the group added.
Searching for hope while starting again
Fifty-year-old Yar Mohammad lived in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir for nearly 45 years. The father of 12 built a successful business polishing floors, hiring several workers. Plainclothes policemen knocked on his door too. They gave him six hours to leave.
“No way a person can wrap up so much business in six hours, especially if they spent 45 years in one place,” he said. Friends rushed to his aid to help pack up anything they could: the company’s floor-polishing machines, some tables, bed-frames and mattresses, and clothes.
Now all his household belongings are crammed into orange tents in the Torkham refugee camp, his hard-earned floor-polishing machines outside and exposed to the elements. After three days of searching, he managed to find a place to rent in Kabul.
“I have no idea what we will do,” he said, adding that he would try to recreate his floor-polishing business in Afghanistan. “If this works here, it is the best thing to do.”
UN: 122 million forcibly displaced worldwide ‘untenably high’
- UNHCR: A record 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes at the end of 2024
- Sudan is now the world’s largest forced displacement situation with 14.3 million refugees and IDPs
GENEVA: The number of people forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide has dropped slightly from a record high but remains “untenably high,” the United Nations said Thursday.
A record 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes at the end of 2024, said UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.
But that figure dropped to 122.1 million by the end of April this year, as Syrians began returning home after years of turmoil.
Nearly two million Syrians have been able to return home from abroad or from displacement within the war-ravaged country.
But the UNHCR warned that how major conflicts worldwide played out would determine whether the figure would rise once again.
The agency said the number of people displaced by war, violence and persecution worldwide was “untenably high,” particularly in a period when humanitarian funding is evaporating.
“We are living in a time of intense volatility in international relations, with modern warfare creating a fragile, harrowing landscape marked by acute human suffering,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
“We must redouble our efforts to search for peace and find long-lasting solutions for refugees and others forced to flee their homes.”
The main drivers of displacement remain sprawling conflicts like those in Sudan, Myanmar and Ukraine, UNHCR said in its flagship annual Global Trends Report.
Syria’s brutal civil war erupted in 2011 but president Bashar Assad was finally overthrown in December 2024.
The report said the first months of this year saw rising numbers of Syrians returning home.
As of mid-May, more than 500,000 Syrians are estimated to have crossed back into the country since the fall of Assad, while an estimated 1.2 million internally displaced people (IDPs) have returned to their areas of origin since the end of November.
UNHCR estimates that up to 1.5 million Syrians from abroad and two million IDPs may return by the end of 2025.
Sudan is now the world’s largest forced displacement situation with 14.3 million refugees and IDPs, overtaking Syria (13.5 million), which is followed by Afghanistan (10.3 million) and Ukraine (8.8 million).
“During the remainder of 2025, much will depend on the dynamics in key situations,” the annual report said.
“This includes whether peace, or at least a cessation in fighting, is possible to achieve, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Ukraine.”
It also depends on whether conditions for returns improve in Afghanistan and Syria.
Another factor was “how dire the impact of the current funding cuts will be” on responding to displacement and creating conditions for safe and dignified returns.
The number of people forced to flee persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing public order has almost doubled in the last decade.
The figure of 123.2 million worldwide at the end of last year was up seven million compared to the end of 2023.
“One in 67 people globally were forcibly displaced at the end of 2024,” UNHCR said.
In total, 9.8 million forcibly displaced people returned home in 2024, including 1.6 million refugees — the most for more than two decades — and 8.2 million IDPs — the second highest ever.
“We have seen some rays of hope over the last six months,” said Grandi.
But countries such as the DR Congo, Myanmar and South Sudan saw significant new forced displacements as well as returns.
Two-thirds of refugees stay in neighboring countries.
Iran (3.5 million), Turkiye (2.9 million), Colombia (2.8 million), Germany (2.7 million) and Uganda (1.8 million) host the largest refugee populations.
Australian mushroom murder suspect denies intent to kill
- Erin Patterson is charged with murdering her estranged husband’s parents and aunt in July 2023
- Patterson denies all charges in the trial, which has grabbed worldwide attention
SYDNEY: An Australian woman accused of murdering three lunch guests with a toxic mushroom-laced beef Wellington denied Thursday that she intended to kill them.
Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering her estranged husband’s parents and aunt in July 2023 by spiking the beef-and-pastry dish with death cap mushrooms.
She is also accused of attempting to murder a fourth guest — her husband’s uncle — who survived the lunch after a long stay in hospital.
Patterson denies all charges in the trial, which has grabbed worldwide attention.
She says the traditional English dish, which she cooked in individually sized portions, was poisoned by accident.
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers concluded her cross-examination of Patterson on Thursday by suggesting she deliberately sought death cap mushrooms and put them in the beef Wellington.
Patterson rejected each accusation.
Rogers put it to Patterson that she intended to kill her lunch guests.
Patterson replied: “Disagree.”
The court also heard about two mobile devices used by Patterson — phone A, which was the main device she used, and phone B, which was activated days after the lunch.
Patterson said she began using phone B when her main phone was damaged.
Rogers alleged the main phone had been used to view online posts about death cap mushroom sightings near Patterson’s home in the months before the fatal lunch.
Patterson disagreed.
While police were searching Patterson’s home on August 5, 2023, her main phone lost connection to the network. Police have not located the device since.
Instead, Patterson handed over phone B to authorities.
That device underwent a factory reset three times in the days after the lunch, Rogers said.
The prosecutor alleged that the resets were done “to conceal the true contents of phone B” and that Patterson had hidden her original phone from police because “the data on that device would incriminate you.”
Patterson disagreed with both statements.
She has previously said phone B belonged to her son and she conducted the resets to remove his data so she could use the device.
The lunch host originally invited her estranged husband Simon to join the family meal at her secluded home in the Victoria state farm village of Leongatha.
But Simon turned down the invitation saying he felt uncomfortable going, the court heard earlier. The pair were long estranged but still legally married.
Simon’s parents Don and Gail, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, attended the lunch. All three were dead within days.
Heather’s husband Ian fell gravely ill but recovered.
The trial in Morwell, southeast of Melbourne, is expected to last another two weeks.
