Suga, a rapper and songwriter in the global K-pop sensation BTS, has been discharged from South Korea’s mandatory military service, marking the official return of all seven members from their enlistment duties.

The label confirmed that Suga completed his alternative service duties on Wednesday after using up his remaining leave. His official discharge date is Saturday.

BTS’ management agency, Big Hit Entertainment, had said earlier that no events were planned for Suga’s release out of concern for overcrowding.

It is a momentous occasion for fans of the K-pop group BTS. The seven singers of the popular K-pop band plan to reunite as a group sometime in 2025 now that they’ve finished their service.

Last week, BTS superstars RM and V were discharged from South Korea’s military after fulfilling their mandatory service. Jimin and Jung Kook were discharged a day later. All four were enlisted in December 2023.

Six of the group’s seven members served in the army, while Suga fulfilled his duty as a social service agent, an alternative form of military service.

Jin, the oldest BTS member, was discharged in June 2024. J-Hope was discharged in October.

In South Korea, all able-bodied men aged 18 to 28 are required by law to perform 18-21 months of military service under a conscription system meant to deter aggression from rival North Korea.

The law gives special exemptions to athletes, classical and traditional musicians, and ballet and other dancers if they have obtained top prizes in certain competitions and are assessed to have enhanced national prestige. K-pop stars and other entertainers aren’t subject to such privileges.

However, in 2020, BTS postponed their service until age 30 after South Korea’s National Assembly revised its Military Service Act, allowing K-pop stars to delay their enlistment until age 30.

There was heated public debate in 2022 over whether to offer special exemptions of mandatory military service for BTS members, until the group’s management agency announced in October 2022 that all seven members would fulfill their duties.

Heineken has lost operational control and withdrawn its staff from its facilities in conflict-affected areas of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dutch brewer said on Friday.

The beverages giant said in March that its operations in three eastern cities would remain suspended until it was safe to reopen, after some of its breweries were hit and its depots raided during fighting between the army and rebels.

But on Friday, the beer maker said the situation had deteriorated further, and that armed personnel had taken control of its facilities in Bukavu and Goma – eastern Congo’s two biggest cities, now under rebel control – and nearby areas.

“The conditions required to operate responsibly and safely are no longer present and as of 12th June 2025, we have lost operational control,” it said in a statement.

Heineken’s Congo unit, Bralima, still operates in other parts of the country not affected by the conflict, the company said, adding that it would continue assessing the evolving situation.

The group owns four breweries in Congo, producing Heineken beer as well as other popular brands like Primus. The Bukavu facilities employed around 1,000 people both directly and indirectly, it had said previously.

“Our top priority is the safety and wellbeing of our employees,” its Friday statement said. “We have withdrawn all remaining staff from these sites and we have continued to support them financially.”

Nearly 14% of Heineken’s total revenues come from its businesses in the Middle East and Africa, where Congo, with its population of over 100 million, is a large market.

Its operations in the cities of Goma, Bukavu and Uvira had together previously accounted for roughly a third of Heineken’s business in Congo.

Fighting in eastern Congo escalated this year as the M23 rebel group staged a rapid advance that raised fears of a wider conflict.

Congo says Rwanda is supporting M23 by sending troops and arms. Rwanda has long denied helping M23.

The two countries and the United States said on Wednesday that their technical teams initialed a draft peace agreement that is expected to be signed next week.

Hungarian police said on Thursday in a statement that they were banning the Budapest Pride march of the LGBTQ+ community planned for June 28.

Hungary’s parliament, in which Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s right-wing Fidesz Party has a big majority, passed legislation in March that created a legal basis for police to ban LGBTQ marches, citing the protection of children.

Budapest’s liberal mayor Gergely Karacsony tried to circumvent the law when he announced on Monday that since the Budapest Pride march will be a municipal event “no permits from authorities are needed”.

Budapest metropolitan police, however, said the law applied to the event organised by the mayor and banned it.

The police ban has “no relevance” as authorities were not officially notified of the plans for the event, Karacsony said on Facebook.

“The Metropolitan Municipality will host the Budapest Pride Freedom Celebration on June 28, the day of Hungarian freedom, as a municipal event. Period,” the mayor wrote. Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the protest.

Orban faces a challenging election in 2026 where a new surging opposition party poses a threat to his rule.

His government has a Christian conservative agenda and its intensifying campaign against the LGBTQ community has aimed to please Fidesz’s core voters, mostly in the countryside.

Orban said in February that organisers should not even bother organizing Pride in Budapest this year.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra is facing increasing pressure to step down, after appearing to criticize the military in a 17-minute leaked phone call she had with Cambodia’s powerful former leader over an escalating border dispute.

The scandal, which sparked widespread anger in the country, brings fresh uncertainty to a country roiled by years of political turbulence and leadership shake-ups. Paetongtarn, 38, has only held the premiership for ten months after replacing another prime minister who was removed from office.

It also comes at a time when the Southeast Asian kingdom is struggling to boost its ailing economy, is negotiating a trade deal with the United States to avoid punishing tariffs, and is embroiled in an escalating border dispute with its neighbor Cambodia that has soured relations to their lowest point in years.

Paetongtarn apologized on Thursday and Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Cambodian ambassador to deliver a letter of protest, calling the leak of the private phone call “a breach of diplomatic etiquette.”

“Thailand views that these actions are unacceptable conduct between states. It contradicts internationally accepted practices and the spirit of good neighborliness” and “undermined the trust and respect between the two leaders and countries,” a ministry spokesperson said in a statement.

In a post on his official Facebook page, Hun Sen said he had shared a recording of the call with about 80 Cambodian officials and suggested one of them may have leaked the audio. The 72-year-old political veteran later posted a recording of the 17-minute call in its entirety.

In the leaked call, which took place on June 15, Paetongtarn could be heard calling former Cambodian strongman Hun Sen “uncle” and appeared to criticize her own army’s actions in after border clashes led to the death of a Cambodian soldier last month.

Paetongtarn, a relative political newcomer from a powerful dynasty who became Thailand’s youngest prime minister last year, appeared to signal there was discord between her government and the country’s powerful military.

In the call, the Thai prime minister can be heard telling Hun Sen that she was under domestic pressure and urged him not to listen to the “opposite side,” in which she referred to an outspoken Thai army commander in Thailand’s northeast.

“Right now, that side wants to look cool, they will say things that are not beneficial to the nation. But what we want is to have peace just like before any clashes happened at the border,” Paetongtarn could be heard saying.

She also added that if Hun Sen “wants anything, he can just tell me, and I will take care of it.”

Her comments in the leaked audio, which was confirmed as authentic by both sides, struck a nerve in Thailand, and opponents accused her of compromising the country’s national interests. The Bhumjaithai party, a major partner of the prime minister’s government, withdrew from the coalition on Wednesday, dealing a major blow to her Pheu Thai party’s ability to hold power.

“Paetongtarn compromised her position as prime minister and damaged Thai national interest by kowtowing to Hun Sen,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University. “Her exit is a matter of time and she could be liable for further charges.”

The handling of the border dispute has also stoked nationalist fervor in both countries. In Thailand, conservative forces have called for Paetongtarn to face charges and resign. In Cambodia, thousands of people joined a government-organized rally last week in solidarity with the government and military over the issue.

Thailand and Cambodia have had a complicated relationship of both cooperation and rivalry in recent decades. The two countries share a 508-mile (817-kilometer) land border – largely mapped by the French while they occupied Cambodia – that has periodically seen military clashes and been the source of political tensions.

Paetongtarn on Wednesday tried to downplay her remarks to Hun Sen, saying at a press conference she was trying to diffuse tensions between the two neighbors and the “private” call “shouldn’t have been made public.”

The prime minister said she was using a “negotiation tactic” and her comments were “not a statement of allegiance.”

“I understand now, this was never about real negotiation. It was political theater,” she said. “Releasing this call… it’s just not the way diplomacy should be done.”

Hun Sen, the veteran leader who ruled Cambodia with an iron-fist for almost 40 years, stepped down in 2023 and handed power to his son Hun Manet.

But he remains a hugely influential figure in Cambodian politics, he currently serves as senate president and is a friend and ally of Paetongtarn’s father, the former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Border dispute

Tensions between the two neighbors worsened last month, when a Cambodian solider was killed during a brief clash between Thai and Cambodian troops in which both sides opened fire in a contested border area of the Emerald Triangle, where Cambodia, Thailand and Laos meet.

Thai and Cambodian forces said they were acting in self-defense and blamed the other for the skirmish.

Although military leaders from Thailand and Cambodia said they wished to de-escalate, both sides have since engaged in saber-rattling and reinforced troops along the border.

Thailand took control of border checkpoints, imposed restrictions on border crossings and threatened to cut electricity and internet to Cambodia’s border towns. Cambodia in return stopped imports of Thai fruit and vegetables and banned Thai movies and TV dramas.

Cambodia also filed a request with the UN’s International Court of Justice to seek a ruling over disputed border areas with Thailand, including the site of the most recent clash.

However, Thailand does not recognize the ICJ’s jurisdiction and claims that some areas along the border were never fully demarcated, including the sites of several ancient temples.

In 2011, Thai and Cambodian troops clashed in a nearby area surrounding the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World heritage site, displacing thousands of people on both sides and killing at least 20 people.

A Nigerian university is facing backlash after a viral video appeared to show young women who were queuing for exams being checked for whether they were wearing bras before being allowed in.

In the video, one female student appeared to be removed from the queue after one of the women touched her.

Student union leader Muizz Olanrewaju Olatunji said in a post on X Tuesday that the check for bras “is not a new policy” in the school, which he stated, “promotes a dress code policy aimed at maintaining a respectful and distraction-free environment, encouraging students to dress modestly and in line with the institution’s values.”

Olatunji shared parts of what he said were the school’s policies, which described indecent dressing as that which shows sensitive body parts “such as breasts, buttocks, nipples and belly-buttons,” including “any dressing that is capable of making the same or opposite sex to lust after the student in an indecent manner.”

A ‘draconian’ policy

Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong described the OOU’s bra policy as “draconian” and “arbitrary,” and one that “might amount to some form of sexual harassment.”

“There could be medical explanations for why certain students may not feel comfortable wearing a bra at a particular time,” he said, adding that enforcing the policy “without exceptions, or without taking peculiarities into consideration is arbitrary,” and could lead to legal actions.

Student leader Olatunji said in another post on X Tuesday that talks were ongoing with OOU’s administration “to explore alternative approaches to addressing indecent dressing, focusing on respectful and dignified interactions between students and staff.”