Global Pulse

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  • Bystander video shows teen lifeguard’s dramatic ocean rescue

    Bystander video shows teen lifeguard’s dramatic ocean rescue

    On a sun-soaked Southern California beach, what started as a routine day of recreation quickly turned into a life-or-death emergency, when a 10-year-old child was pulled out to sea by a powerful rip current. In a remarkable display of quick thinking and courage, 16-year-old local lifeguard Jaxson Meeks sprang into action, launching an immediate ocean rescue that has since been immortalized in raw bystander footage shared across social media.

    Rip currents are a persistent, dangerous hazard at many California coastal destinations, capable of dragging even experienced swimmers far from shore in minutes. On the day of the incident, the young victim had been wading in shallow water with family when the unexpected current pulled him offshore. Witnesses on the beach reported panicked screams from the child’s relatives, drawing immediate attention to the struggling 10-year-old.

    Meeks, who had completed advanced lifeguard training just six months prior, did not hesitate. He grabbed his rescue buoy, sprinted into the surf, and swam out against the strong current to reach the child before he could be swept further into open ocean. The bystander video, filmed by a beachgoer waiting on the sand, captures the tense moments of the rescue: Meeks pulling the panicking child onto the buoy, then battling the pull of the current to bring both of them safely back to shallow water. Once on shore, the child was checked by waiting emergency medical personnel and found to be unharmed, aside from minor shock.

    Local lifeguard services have praised Meeks for his calm response and adherence to safety protocols, noting that his quick action likely prevented a tragic outcome. The video of the rescue has circulated widely online, with thousands of viewers celebrating the teen lifeguard’s heroism. Coastal safety officials have also used the incident as a reminder to beachgoers of the importance of swimming near lifeguard stations and heeding current safety warnings.

  • Zelensky and Netanyahu meet Trump as wars in Ukraine and Iran drag on

    Zelensky and Netanyahu meet Trump as wars in Ukraine and Iran drag on

    Two key Middle Eastern and European leaders traveled to Washington D.C. in late July 2026 for back-to-back closed-door meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump, held on the sidelines of the funeral of longtime Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a prominent cross-partisan advocate for both Israeli security and U.S. military assistance to Ukraine who passed away earlier that month.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used his high-profile White House meeting to press the Trump administration for progress on a longstanding Ukrainian defense priority: securing U.S. approval to domestically produce American-made Patriot air defense interceptors, a capability Kyiv says is critical to countering intensifying Russian aerial assaults on Ukrainian civilian and infrastructure targets. Zelensky noted ahead of the meeting that Trump had previously raised the possibility of granting production licensing at the recent NATO summit, and Ukrainian officials have repeatedly emphasized that expanding domestic access to the advanced interceptor systems would drastically improve Ukraine’s ability to shield its population from Russian drone, cruise missile, and ballistic missile attacks that have ramped up in recent months.

    Following the closed-door discussion, no formal binding commitment on the Patriot license or new U.S. military assistance packages was announced by either side. Still, Zelensky struck a constructive tone in a public post on the social platform X, thanking Trump for ongoing U.S. support and confirming that the pair had addressed the Patriot licensing request alongside other bilateral defense and diplomatic priorities. He added that the two leaders agreed on the need to reinvigorate diplomatic efforts to end the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

    Beyond his talks with Trump, Zelensky also held a separate meeting with executives from Lockheed Martin, the U.S. defense prime contractor that manufactures the Patriot system, to outline a path forward for deepening bilateral defense industrial cooperation. In a follow-up post, Zelensky noted that discussions covered joint production capabilities for Patriots and other air defense systems, with working-level teams already advancing concrete proposals to speed up the launch of co-production and expand Ukraine’s air defense capacity.

    The Ukrainian leader also planned to meet with a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators advancing new legislation that would impose harsh secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil and natural gas, a measure designed to increase economic pressure on Moscow for its ongoing invasion.

    Shortly after Zelensky concluded his White House visit, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived for his own one-on-one meeting with Trump, at a moment when U.S.-Israel relations have been strained by growing disagreements over policy toward Iran and ongoing cross-border conflict between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. In recent months, Trump has publicly criticized Netanyahu for refusing to pursue a ceasefire in Lebanon and for expanding Israeli strikes that risk triggering a broader regional conflict.

    After their closed-door discussion, Netanyahu told Israeli reporters that the meeting produced aligned outcomes on core shared priorities, most notably preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. He described the conversation as one of the most productive he has ever held with President Trump, and an official photograph released from the meeting showed the two leaders smiling together in the Oval Office, signaling at least a public reset of their previously tense relationship. The White House characterized both back-to-back meetings with Zelensky and Netanyahu as “positive and productive” in an official readout released after the sessions concluded.

  • Lindsey Graham remembered by Trump as ‘giant of the US Senate’ at funeral

    Lindsey Graham remembered by Trump as ‘giant of the US Senate’ at funeral

    A state funeral service for sitting US Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who passed away unexpectedly earlier this month at age 71 from an aortic dissection, was held Tuesday at Washington National Cathedral, drawing an extraordinary cross-section of domestic and international leaders to honor the outspoken foreign policy hawk. The South Carolina Republican died just days after returning from a diplomatic trip to Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – fitting, in the words of former President Donald Trump, who delivered the keynote eulogy, that Graham “died doing the work he was born to do.”

    In his 15-minute address to mourners gathered in the cathedral’s nave, Trump remembered Graham as a “giant of the United States Senate” and a “true American original” who left the nation far too soon. Trump reflected on the unlikely evolution of their relationship: the pair traded bitter public attacks during the 2016 Republican presidential primary, when both sought the party’s nomination, but Graham ultimately emerged as one of Trump’s most loyal congressional allies after Trump’s election victory. Trump recalled a viral 2015 incident where he shared Graham’s personal phone number with a rally crowd in retaliation for a profane insult Graham had leveled at him, joking that the senator’s device “exploded” – but quipped that Graham had the last laugh. “While I blew up his phone for one day, we became great friends and Lindsey did not stop calling me for the next 10 years,” Trump told the crowd, eliciting chuckles from assembled mourners. He added that no major global development occurred without Graham weighing in with a clear stance.

    Notably, the funeral drew heads of state from two nations Graham championed fiercely throughout his career: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky both attended the service to pay their respects. Throughout his four years in the Senate, Graham staked out a reputation as one of Washington’s most unapologetic foreign policy hawks: he was a leading advocate for robust US military aid to Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing invasion, even as congressional Republicans remained deeply divided over the scale of American intervention in global conflicts. He was also one of Israel’s most outspoken supporters in Congress, and pushed publicly for US military action against Iran in his final years in office.

    Vice President JD Vance, along with multiple senior officials from the Trump administration, also attended the service, and offered his own tribute that wove personal anecdotes with a summary of Graham’s career. Vance highlighted the pair’s shared love of golf, Graham’s relentless dedication to foreign policy work, and his famously magnetic personality, marked by consistent “vim and vigour.” Fox News host Sean Hannity, another featured speaker, called Graham a “force of nature” and a “true original,” addressing his remarks directly to Graham’s sister Darline Graham, who was appointed by state officials to fill her brother’s remaining Senate term shortly after his death. “You were his life,” Hannity told Darline, who sat in the front pew for the service. The pair shared a decades-long close bond after losing both parents by the time Darline was a teenager; Lindsey Graham, then a young adult, formally adopted his sister to raise her himself.

    Washington National Cathedral, the site of many of America’s most high-profile state memorials, has hosted funeral services for sitting senators and former presidents alike. Most recently, former President Jimmy Carter’s memorial service at the cathedral drew all five living former and sitting US presidents last year. In 2018, the cathedral hosted the memorial for John McCain, the late Arizona senator who was one of Lindsey Graham’s closest friends in Congress. While Tuesday’s service was more intimate than the packed funerals for former presidents, the breadth of attendees – ranging from sitting US leaders to foreign heads of state – underscores the outsize influence Graham wielded in Washington despite his relatively short tenure in the Senate. He won his first Senate election in 2022, and represented South Carolina until his unexpected death earlier this month.

  • Exclusive: Does the UK’s ‘don’t talk to the Muslim Council of Britain’ policy actually exist?

    Exclusive: Does the UK’s ‘don’t talk to the Muslim Council of Britain’ policy actually exist?

    Andy Burnham’s new UK administration has publicly pledged to uphold a long-stated policy of refusing formal engagement with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), the nation’s largest umbrella body representing British Muslim communities. But an in-depth investigation by Middle East Eye (MEE) has upended official claims, revealing the so-called non-engagement policy is effectively a phantom: no written government records confirm its existence as an official, codified measure.

    Multiple government departments and agencies have disclaimed any ownership of the policy when responding to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests filed by MEE. In responses dated mid-June, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Home Office both confirmed they hold no documents that outline or reference a formal non-engagement policy with the MCB. A May response from the Cabinet Office echoed this conclusion, stating searches of both physical and digital archives turned up no matching records. To date, no government body has stepped forward to claim responsibility for the policy, nor has any official justification for the ongoing boycott been made public.

    These questions around the policy’s shadowy origins come on the heels of a recent revelation that one UK mosque is targeted in an attack every five days, highlighting growing tensions around anti-Muslim hate across the country. The MCB, which remains the most expansive representative body for British Muslim groups, counts more than 500 affiliated organizations across the nation.

    Contradictions in the government’s stance have already emerged publicly. The Telegraph reported this month that new equalities minister Sir Stephen Timms appeared on a discussion panel alongside an MCB representative last December, months before Burnham’s government took office. Despite this, an official government spokesperson reaffirmed the line that “there has been no change to our non-engagement policy regarding the Muslim Council of Britain, and there are no plans for ministers to meet with the group.”

    When MEE reached out to the UK Office for Equality and Opportunity and its parent ministry for clarification on the policy’s basis and rationale, officials only repeated the standard non-engagement statement, adding that “the government recognises the importance of engaging meaningfully with faith and belief groups.”

    MCB spokespeople have dismissed the policy as a relic of anti-Muslim politics. “This so-called policy of non-engagement is a historic relic. It was built to appease those who trade in Islamophobia, and it survives only by recycling decades-old allegations that have never withstood scrutiny,” the organization said in a statement.

    Public records further unravel the official narrative of a long-standing policy dating back to 2009, a claim that circulates widely in UK political discourse. That year, Gordon Brown’s Labour government briefly boycotted the MCB after its then-deputy secretary general Daud Abdullah signed the Istanbul Declaration. The government at the time claimed the document endorsed attacks on Royal Navy vessels intercepting weapons shipments bound for Hamas in Gaza. Abdullah denied ever condoning attacks on British troops, and the MCB clarified he had signed the statement in a strictly personal capacity. After Abdullah stepped down from his role, the Brown government resumed formal engagement with the body.

    Coalition government ministers held regular meetings with MCB leadership between 2010 and 2015, and civil servants continued routine engagement with the organization until 2020. That year, the MCB published a detailed dossier documenting alleged Islamophobia linked to more than 300 people, including Conservative MPs, party councillors, members and Downing Street special advisers. Shortly after the dossier’s release, civil servants cut off formal contact for reasons that were never publicly explained.

    Even after 2020, low-key cooperation continued: the MCB served as a reference for imams applying to serve as military chaplains in partnership with the Ministry of Defence. This collaboration only became public in late 2023 via a Telegraph report, prompting ministers to order the MoD to immediately cut all ties with the organization.

    In 2024, the Inter Faith Network, a major UK interfaith charity, was forced to shut down after the previous Conservative government pulled its public funding, solely because one of the charity’s trustees was an MCB member. Keir Starmer’s Labour government retained the non-engagement approach after taking office earlier in 2024. MEE reporting from July 2024 revealed that the Starmer administration ignored all communications from the MCB during the far-right riots that swept the UK that summer, and blocked a government working group tasked with developing an official Islamophobia definition from consulting the organization.

    Multiple sources close to Burnham’s administration say the new prime minister is eager to repair ties with British Muslim voters, a large voting bloc that largely abandoned Labour during Starmer’s tenure. Burnham himself has a history of direct engagement with the MCB, including delivering a keynote speech at the organization’s 2015 Muslim Leadership Dinner, years after the policy was supposedly codified.

    Today, the MCB retains substantial influence across British Muslim civil society, with a democratically elected leadership and a broad network of affiliates. Whether Burnham will choose to formalize a shift away from the shadowy non-engagement policy that no government department can claim or document remains an open question.

  • Oman proposes joint control of Strait of Hormuz as mediators expect talks ‘breakthrough’

    Oman proposes joint control of Strait of Hormuz as mediators expect talks ‘breakthrough’

    The strategic Strait of Hormuz, a linchpin of global energy trade that carried 20 percent of the world’s total oil and liquefied natural gas supplies before open conflict erupted between the United States and Iran in February, has become the central sticking point in diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions. Now, Oman has stepped forward with a new proposal to Iran for a collaborative regional management framework for the critical waterway, as international mediators hold out hope for a breakthrough in peace negotiations following a high-stakes meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    Two anonymous sources familiar with the plan told Reuters the proposal, which has backing from other Gulf states, establishes a shared regional mechanism to oversee the strait’s operations. Under the framework, commercial vessels transiting the waterway would pay voluntary contributions to cover core operational costs, including navigation infrastructure upkeep, environmental protection initiatives, and search and rescue response capabilities. The plan draws direct inspiration from the long-standing cooperative model used for the Strait of Malacca, the key Indian Ocean-Pacific Ocean chokepoint that is jointly managed by neighboring states Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

    The current crisis around the strait traces back to a June memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. That agreement granted Tehran authority to “make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels” through the strait. In response, Iran established a designated commercial shipping corridor located entirely within its own territorial waters. Just three days after the MoU was signed, the U.S.-backed Joint Maritime Information Center announced commercial vessels could transit the Hormuz via a southern route under American guidance, a move that directly challenged Iran’s newly formalized authority over the waterway.

    Iran retaliated by targeting commercial vessels operating in the area, prompting the U.S. to launch military strikes against Iranian positions, reigniting open conflict that had been paused by the June agreement. Over the past two weeks, the U.S. conducted daily strikes against Iran, but those attacks came to a halt over the weekend, a shift that has fueled cautious optimism for a diplomatic resolution. U.S. Central Command confirmed Saturday that it would maintain its existing naval blockade of Iran, adding that American military forces remain “highly vigilant, focused, lethal, and ready” for any resumption of hostilities.

    Iran’s Foreign Ministry released a statement Monday confirming that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held discussions on the Omani proposal with his counterparts from Oman and Saudi Arabia. In the talks, Araghchi “emphasised the need to strengthen cooperation and advance joint diplomatic efforts to establish stability in the region, and lift the insecurity imposed on the Strait of Hormuz due to the aggressive actions of the United States,” the statement read. Tehran has also pledged to halt retaliatory attacks against neighboring Gulf states, but has warned that it will respond to any new threat posed by the U.S.

    Citing two anonymous sources familiar with internal mediation discussions, The Times of Israel reported that mediators expect Trump will issue a formal decision on the new joint management proposal following his meeting with Netanyahu Tuesday. Mediators reportedly anticipate a potential breakthrough that could restore the terms of the June MoU, which collapsed after the competing transit route announcement.

    Speaking after the weekend pause in strikes, Trump described recent talks with Tehran as “good talks,” hinting that a viable diplomatic agreement could be within reach while cautioning that military strikes would resume if negotiations fail. “I think there’s a good chance that something could happen, and if it does, good, if it doesn’t, we go back to doing what we were doing two days ago,” he told reporters.

  • The deaths of 15 elephants in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park spark investigation

    The deaths of 15 elephants in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park spark investigation

    In a development that has raised alarm across Kenya’s conservation community, wildlife authorities announced Tuesday that an official investigation is underway into the sudden, unexplained deaths of 15 African elephants over the past month near Amboseli National Park, one of the country’s most iconic wildlife habitats.

    The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), the government body responsible for managing the nation’s protected wildlife areas, shared key details about the unusual mortality event: 10 of the elephants showed visible symptoms of partial paralysis before succumbing within 48 hours of first showing signs of illness. The other five carcasses were discovered already decomposed after being scavenged by other animals in the region.

    Demographic breakdown of the dead animals shows a disproportionate impact on female elephants and juvenile calves: only one of the 15 fatalities was an adult male. All deaths were recorded in two unprotected areas adjacent to the national park, the Kimana Sanctuary and Kuku Ranch, landscapes that form critical migration corridors for Amboseli’s elephant population as they move between seasonal grazing grounds.

    Kenya has a long history of human-wildlife conflict and poaching activity, both of which have previously led to intentional poisoning of elephants. Poachers sometimes poison elephant carcasses to kill off responding rangers and vultures that would alert authorities to their illegal activity, while local herders may poison animals that destroy crops or kill livestock in retaliation. That means poisoning is a top working hypothesis for investigators in this case.

    Initial laboratory testing of tissue samples from the dead elephants, conducted by researchers at the University of Nairobi, identified a possible unconfirmed toxic substance present in the samples. However, parallel testing carried out by the Government Chemist, Kenya’s national forensic analytical body, returned negative results for all the specific toxins that examiners tested for. To resolve this discrepancy, KWS confirmed that additional rounds of testing are currently ongoing at multiple independent facilities.

    In addition to toxicological analysis of the elephant samples, authorities are conducting broad environmental surveys across the affected zone. “We are testing water sources, forage, and other potential environmental contaminants in the area to determine if all elephants were exposed to the same toxic source,” KWS explained in an official public statement released Tuesday.

    Authorities have moved quickly to reassure nearby local communities and visitors that there is currently no evidence that whatever caused the elephant deaths can spread to human populations. Local conservation groups have called for a swift, transparent investigation, noting that Amboseli’s elephant population is a major draw for the international tourism that supports tens of thousands of local jobs, and that unexplained mass mortality events threaten both conservation and economic outcomes for the region.

  • Australian swimmer celebrated gold with ‘no words – just a hug from my Scottish gran’

    Australian swimmer celebrated gold with ‘no words – just a hug from my Scottish gran’

    When Victoria, Australia announced its withdrawal from hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games earlier this year, hundreds of Australian athletes were left reeling, their dreams of competing for glory on home soil dashed. But for 20-year-old backstroke specialist Iona Anderson, the last-minute relocation to Glasgow, Scotland has turned into a fairy tale run that blended career-first success with a long-awaited family reunion.

    Named after the Scottish Inner Hebrides island of Iona, the rising swimming star stormed to her first senior individual international gold medal in the women’s 100m backstroke at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre on Sunday. Just two days later, she followed up the historic win with a silver medal in the 50m backstroke, cementing her status as one of Australia’s breakout talents of the Games.

    Waiting to wrap Anderson in a celebratory hug immediately after her gold medal win was her grandmother Pam, who alongside Anderson’s grandfather lives in Grangemouth, Scotland, just 20 miles west of Glasgow. The moment, captured by Swimming Australia photographers, has become one of the most heartwarming images of the 2026 Commonwealth Games so far.

    Speaking to BBC Scotland News after the win, Anderson joked about her grandmother’s overwhelming excitement: “I think my mum was having a heart attack worrying gran was going to get too excited watching it. It was really emotional – there weren’t a lot of words said when I went over, just a lot of emotion and a big hug.”

    Anderson, who was born in Australia to parents with deep Scottish roots – her mother’s side of the family hails from Grangemouth, while her father’s relatives are from Dumfries and Galloway – said she carried extra pressure into the race because she wanted to perform well for the family members who rarely get to see her compete. “I was so psyched. I maybe put extra pressure on myself beforehand as I wanted to do them proud, but it was so great to hug her as I don’t get to do that often.”

    This trip to Scotland marks only the fourth time Anderson has visited the country of her family’s origins, and it is just the second time many of her Scottish relatives have gotten to watch her race in person. Despite the limited number of visits, Anderson says she has always felt a deep connection to her Scottish heritage, even going so far as to paint her competition nails in a green and gold tartan design to celebrate the Games’ host nation. She also quipped that she has embraced local culinary traditions, saying “I do like black pudding and link sausages when here, they’re much better than what you get back home. I know they might be unhealthier too!”

    Anderson joked to Australian media after her gold medal win that the switch to Glasgow turned out better than hosting the Games in her home state of Victoria would have been, noting that the close proximity of the cheering crowd to the pool at Tollcross gave her an extra burst of energy during her race. The young swimmer added that bouncing back from the high of winning gold to compete in the 50m backstroke heats just one day later was a surprising challenge. “It’s been a whirlwind of emotions,” she laughed. “My roommate got bronze in the 1,500m on Sunday [Molly Walker] and we kind of pinged off each other a bit – so getting to sleep was pretty hard. But it’s a great atmosphere and that gets you going.”

    Anderson’s success comes as the Australian team continues to dominate the swimming competition at the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, with multiple medal wins across individual and relay events in the first week of competition.

  • Inside Turkey’s plan for world’s largest startup hub at Ataturk Airport

    Inside Turkey’s plan for world’s largest startup hub at Ataturk Airport

    Turn off the main highway onto the access road leading to the international departures wing of Istanbul’s long-decommissioned Ataturk Airport, and the clatter of construction drills mixed with bold new red signage above the entrance immediately sparks nostalgia for the site’s storied past. For more than six decades, from the 1950s through its full commercial closure in 2018, this sprawling aviation hub anchored Turkey’s connections to the world, welcoming and sending millions of passengers to every corner of the globe. Today, after sitting dormant for years at the core of Istanbul’s urban transport network, the empty terminal complex is undergoing a radical reinvention.

  • London council set to cut Haifa ties over Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians

    London council set to cut Haifa ties over Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians

    A Green Party-controlled local council in London is on track to terminate Hackney Borough’s 56-year-old civic twinning agreement with the Israeli coastal city of Haifa, a move driven by widespread condemnation of Israel’s ongoing occupation, systemic apartheid, and reported genocide against Palestinian people. The vote on the separation proposal, scheduled for Tuesday, will fulfill a key election pledge the Green Party made ahead of its May 2024 council election victory. The Greens currently hold 42 of the council’s 57 seats, leaving the proposal all but guaranteed to pass when put to a vote.

    The partnership between Hackney and Haifa was first established in 1968, and Palestine solidarity advocacy groups have spent years pushing previous Labour-led council administrations to end the arrangement. Advocacy pressure ramped up dramatically following the outbreak of Israel’s large-scale military campaign in Gaza starting in October 2023, which has been widely criticized by human rights groups for its devastating humanitarian impact on Palestinian civilians.

    Alongside calls to end the twinning agreement, campaigners have also pushed the council to divest its public employee pension fund from any corporations tied to Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian territories.

    The Palestine Solidarity Campaign, one of the leading groups organizing around the de-twinning demand, argues that ongoing formal civic ties between Hackney and Haifa effectively normalize the “racist domination” that Israel has imposed on Palestinian communities across the occupied territories. The organization also drew attention to Haifa’s key strategic role: it serves as the global headquarters of Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest private arms manufacturer and a primary supplier of military equipment to the Israeli Defense Forces.

    According to multiple human rights reports, Israel maintains a formal apartheid regime over Palestinian people living in the occupied West Bank, while Palestinian citizens of Israel also face widespread institutionalized discrimination across core sectors including land allocation, urban planning, municipal funding, and fundamental civil rights.

    In a public statement outlining its commitment to ending the twinning agreement, the Hackney Green Party noted that despite repeated mass calls from local residents and community groups for de-twinning, prior Labour-led council leadership consistently refused to cut formal ties with Haifa. “In Haifa, Palestinian people live under occupation and apartheid by the Israeli state; this is not a city that reflects Hackney’s values. Hackney’s current and future twinning relationships should reflect our values, rather than undermine them,” the party added.

    The proposal has drawn sharp criticism from pro-Israel political figures within the Labour Party. Michael Desmond, a sitting Labour councillor and self-identified avowed Zionist, previously characterized demands to end the twinning arrangement as an “appalling, abusive tirade” and has described Israel as an “inclusive” nation.

    Luke Akehurst, a pro-Israel Labour Member of Parliament who served 12 years as a Hackney councillor before his election to national office, said he was “disgusted” by what he called the Greens’ “performative and spiteful gesture politics.” Akehurst, who previously led the pro-Israel advocacy group We Believe in Israel, has publicly defended Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as proportionate.

    This report was originally covered by Middle East Eye, an outlet that provides independent, in-depth reporting and analysis on the Middle East, North Africa, and surrounding regions.

  • Ghana mourns its tallest man – a ‘generous and popular giant’

    Ghana mourns its tallest man – a ‘generous and popular giant’

    Ghanaians, particularly residents of the country’s northern region, are mourning the passing of Sulemana Abdul Samed, widely known as Ghana’s tallest man and a beloved local icon who died at 33.

    Samed, who went by the popular Hausa nickname Awuche meaning “Let’s Go”, passed away on a Monday morning at Tamale Teaching Hospital, a major medical facility located roughly 160 kilometers south of his home village of Gambaga. He had been admitted to the facility to treat infected sores that developed on his legs, a secondary complication linked to the genetic condition that defined his life.

    Born and raised in Gambaga, Samed did not begin experiencing unusual growth until his early 20s. While working at a butcher shop in Ghana’s capital Accra at age 22, he first noticed alarming changes to his body: his tongue swelled to the point that he struggled to breathe, followed by rapid, abnormal growth across his entire frame. He was eventually diagnosed with Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects the body’s connective tissue, which triggered extreme growth of his limbs and a diagnosis of gigantism in his late 20s. When a BBC measurement team documented his height in 2023, he stood at 223 centimeters (7 feet 4 inches) tall, and medical experts suspect he grew even taller in the years leading up to his death. It marked the first accurate official measurement of his height.

    The condition brought extensive, life-altering challenges. A curved spine, limited mobility, and persistent health complications forced Samed to abandon his dream of working as a professional driver just nine years after his symptoms first appeared, prompting him to return to his rural home village. He once shared that he had been an active, athletic young man who loved playing football with friends, but the disorder eventually left him unable to walk even short distances and curtailed his social life. For years, he also struggled to cover the cost of ongoing medical care. However, despite the constant hardships of his condition, Samed maintained a remarkably optimistic outlook on life and embraced his local celebrity status.

    Earlier in 202[EDIT: 2025, per context of the 2026 date of this report], a prominent Ghanaian businessman stepped forward to support Samed’s care. Ibrahim Mahama, brother of Ghanaian President John Mahama, agreed to cover all of his medical expenses at Tamale Teaching Hospital and shared an update on his planned treatment just weeks before his passing.

    Samed’s sudden death has come as a shock to his community, even after doctors had reported he was responding well to treatment for his leg infection. “Everyone knew how generous and kind he was. From when he died until now a lot of people are still coming to the house to find out what exactly happened,” his cousin Sulemana Abdul Kudus told the BBC. Kudus added that Samed’s fame put Gambaga on the map across Ghana, giving the small rural community a unique national identity. “Anywhere he found himself in the country and they asked him, he would say he is from Gambaga and people knew that was where the tallest man was from. It gave the community identity, and he was popular as well,” Kudus explained.

    In response to the expected outpouring of grief, Samed’s family has made the decision to hold his burial in Tamale rather than his home village of Gambaga, to avoid overwhelming the small community with the large number of expected mourners.