Global Pulse

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  • Palestine Action prisoner with muscular dystrophy says he is forced to ‘crawl like a wounded dog’

    Palestine Action prisoner with muscular dystrophy says he is forced to ‘crawl like a wounded dog’

    A remand prisoner linked to the activist group Palestine Action has laid bare damning allegations of systemic medical neglect and degrading treatment at a high-security London prison, detailing how failures to provide adequate mobility support and care have left him crawling across cell floors to access basic needs.

    Muhammad Umer Khalid, 23, is currently held at HMP Wormwood Scrubs awaiting trial over charges connected to a June 2023 break-in at a Royal Air Force base. Living with incurable progressive muscular dystrophy – a rare genetic condition that causes gradual muscle wasting, requiring consistent physical activity and specialized high-protein nutrition to slow deterioration – Khalid claims the UK prison service has systematically failed to meet his documented medical needs for months.

    Since being placed in 23-hour-a-day cell lockdown last October, Khalid says his mobility has declined sharply. What began as gradual weakness has progressed to a total loss of the ability to walk, forcing him to crawl through the prison to access medication, legal appointments, and family visits. In an interview with Middle East Eye (MEE) conducted through an intermediary, he described the humiliation of crawling past dozens of fellow inmates, saying staff treat him like a wounded animal rather than a human being entitled to dignity.

    Multiple failures in providing even basic adaptive equipment have compounded his condition. Khalid submitted repeated requests for a custom wheelchair, and even after a prison physiotherapist formally approved his need for the device on March 14, the prison only issued an ill-fitting chair two weeks later. The first wheelchair provided was too large to fit through his cell door or narrow prison corridors, leaving Khalid to crawl between his bed and toilet – a journey that can take up to an hour to complete. For more than 20 weeks, the prison also ignored requests for a shower chair, leaving him unable to bathe for nearly five months.

    Worse still, prison staff have cited internal health and safety rules to refuse any physical assistance to Khalid, and have barred fellow inmates from helping him. Staff cannot push his wheelchair, lift him, or support him with basic daily tasks, he says. During a facility-wide fire evacuation on April 23, Khalid was left locked in his cell alone while all other prisoners were moved to safety. Even after multiple requests, staff have refused to bring his daily medication to his cell, forcing him to crawl to the medication collection point regardless of his pain or mobility limits.

    Khalid added that prison staff, including a member of the facility’s medical team, have repeatedly accused him of faking his condition’s rapid deterioration, despite existing medical documentation confirming his diagnosis and progression. Over three months, he has only been seen by a doctor three times, and has missed two critical neurology appointments – one scheduled for April 7, which he was unable to attend because the prison failed to provide a wheelchair that could transport him to the clinic. Existing medical evidence submitted to courts confirms his condition has worsened dramatically since entering custody, directly linking the decline to his poor detention conditions.

    In April, Justice Cheema-Gubb denied Khalid’s most recent bail application, ruling that while there were legitimate concerns about the timeliness and quality of his care, his condition could still be managed in a custodial setting. The judge ordered that a copy of her ruling be sent to prison leadership, with instructions to urgently address the gaps in care identified in the medical evidence and conduct regular reviews. However, Khalid’s solicitor Laura O’Brien says little has changed in the weeks since the ruling.

    O’Brien told MEE that the full set of Khalid’s medical records were shared with the prison immediately after his remand, to help staff understand the needs of his progressive condition. “Despite incontrovertible medical evidence that he has a progressive genetic condition, and that it is getting worse, there has been a continued suggestion that he’s putting it on,” she said. O’Brien explained that prison officials have claimed they do not need to provide a full-time wheelchair because they have seen Khalid walking short distances, but they fail to understand that even small amounts of walking causes permanent micro-tear damage to his muscles that his condition prevents him from recovering from.

    “Those in a custodial setting have a right to be treated fairly and with dignity as much as anyone else,” O’Brien said. “With inadequate care from the prison, the damage could be significant if his medical needs, including being provided with a wheelchair, accessible spaces to shower, use of the toilet and access to physiotherapy, are not met.”

    In a minor update this week, the prison replaced the oversize wheelchair with a smaller model that can navigate prison corridors, though it still does not fit inside his cell. Prison officials have also finally issued a shower chair and ordered a new custom-sized wheelchair. O’Brien said the legal team welcomed the small steps but hopes further delays will not force Khalid to continue fighting for basic care.

    Khalid says that while he remains mentally resilient, he lives in constant pain and has begun experiencing breathing difficulties as the muscle wasting progresses to his arms. “My arms are beginning to waste away, which will stop me from even being able to operate my own wheelchair,” he said. The situation has also placed enormous strain on his family, who managed his condition carefully for nearly a decade after his 2014 diagnosis. His mother Shabana told MEE that during a recent visit, he showed her his legs, which had withered to the point of looking like “a skeleton with skin hanging off” – a sight she described as heartbreaking.

    Khalid was one of eight Palestine Action-linked prisoners who held a hunger strike last winter to protest poor detention conditions, ending the action in January. MEE reached out to the UK Ministry of Justice for comment on the allegations but did not receive a response ahead of publication.

  • Iran turns to Pakistan land corridor as US naval pressure disrupts Gulf trade

    Iran turns to Pakistan land corridor as US naval pressure disrupts Gulf trade

    Facing escalating US naval pressure that has crippled its maritime access to the Arabian Gulf and Persian Gulf, Iran has pivoted eastward, breathing new life into a decades-dormant overland trade corridor project with Pakistan that offers a critical alternative to blockaded sea routes. Now in its fifth week, the US blockade has thrown Iran’s regional trade into disarray: thousands of containers bound for the Islamic Republic have been stranded at Pakistan’s Karachi Port, war-risk insurance premiums for shipping passing through the Strait of Hormuz have skyrocketed, and most major carriers have suspended Iran-bound voyages entirely.

    In late April, just days after a second round of US-Iran negotiations collapsed, Pakistan’s Ministry of Commerce issued a little-noticed regulatory order, SRO 691, formally designating six new transit corridors that allow third-party cargo bound for Iran to travel overland across Pakistani territory from Pakistani ports. The move revives a bilateral road transport agreement first signed by the two nations in 2005 that sat idle for nearly 20 years, connecting Pakistan’s three major deep-water ports – Karachi, Port Qasim, and the China-backed Gwadar Port – to two Iranian border crossings in Balochistan: Gabd and Taftan. The shortest route, linking Gwadar to Gabd, cuts travel time to the border to just two to three hours, down from 18 hours over the route from Karachi.

    For years, Tehran refused to move forward with the project out of concern that expanding activity at Gwadar would draw trade away from Chabahar, Iran’s own Indian-funded deep-water port on the Gulf of Oman. But that strategic calculation shifted dramatically after the outbreak of regional conflict and the imposition of the US naval blockade, which left Chabahar exposed to growing instability. The urgency of the project was underscored by the timing of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s high-profile visit to Islamabad, where he met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Asim Munir just as the corridor order was announced.

    Beyond providing immediate relief for Iran’s import crunch, the corridors open a new long-term pathway for regional trade extending all the way to Central Asia. Trial shipments, including a refrigerated cargo of meat bound for Uzbekistan, have already traversed the route, with cargo moving north from the Iranian border through Iran’s domestic road network to Central Asian markets. Analysts note that the corridor exposes a key limitation of the US maritime blockade: goods shipped from China and other major trade partners to Pakistan can be unloaded outside Iranian jurisdiction and transported overland, bypassing blockaded Iranian waters and the Strait of Hormuz entirely. Currently, Tehran is increasingly relying on a network of alternate overland and maritime routes through Pakistan, Turkey, the Caucasus, and the Caspian Sea to keep import flows moving.

    The arrangement operates in a legally ambiguous space: Pakistan does not formally enforce US sanctions on Iran, and existing US sanctions frameworks allow for limited non-US trade with Iran as long as transactions avoid explicitly sanctioned entities. To date, the White House has not issued any formal public objection to the corridor; when asked about the project, US President Donald Trump only stated he “knows everything about it” without further elaboration.

    Analysts emphasize that the new corridors are an adaptive response to wartime pressure, not a fundamental fix for Iran’s deep-seated economic challenges under sanctions. “These land routes are less a major economic transformation for Iran than a form of economic breathing space under pressure,” explained Mostafa Modabber, a South Asia-based analyst. Fatemeh Aman, an independent specialist on Iran-South Asia relations, echoed that assessment, noting that “land routes cannot match the scale, speed or profitability of maritime trade. They may reduce vulnerability at the margins, but they are unlikely to fundamentally change Iran’s broader economic challenges under sanctions and conflict conditions.”

    The project also faces significant practical and political obstacles. Pakistan grapples with underdeveloped transport infrastructure in Balochistan, pervasive corruption within customs agencies, persistent insecurity in border regions, and widespread influence from informal smuggling networks. Islamabad also walks a delicate diplomatic tightrope, balancing its economic interests with Iran against its ties to Washington, Riyadh, and other Gulf states, and remains hesitant to openly confront the US should Washington choose to intensify pressure on Iran-related trade. Even after the corridor’s formal launch, many stranded containers in Karachi continue to move slowly, as Pakistani banks and logistics firms remain wary of potential US secondary sanctions.

    Despite these challenges, the corridor carries broader strategic significance for regional trade architecture. It links Iran directly to two major integrated trade networks: the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) that connects Iran to Russia and India. For China, Iran’s largest remaining major trading partner, the route offers a way to sustain critical supply chains without full dependence on maritime lanes vulnerable to US naval interdiction. For Pakistan, the project advances its long-held goal of positioning itself as a key transit hub connecting South Asia to Central Asia and the Middle East, while also boosting the commercial viability of Gwadar Port, the centerpiece of CPEC.

    The reactivation of the Iran-Pakistan corridors reflects a larger ongoing shift in regional trade patterns as traditional maritime lifelines through the Strait of Hormuz become increasingly contested. What began as a emergency workaround for a five-week blockade has emerged as a visible signal of how quickly regional powers are reworking trade routes to adapt to rising geopolitical tension.

  • Israel to sue New York Times for article describing its rape of Palestinians

    Israel to sue New York Times for article describing its rape of Palestinians

    A bitter legal clash is brewing between the state of Israel and one of the world’s most prominent newspapers, after The New York Times stood by a high-profile opinion column that documented allegations of systemic sexual assault and rape against Palestinian detainees held in Israeli custody.

    The confrontation moved forward this week after the paper reaffirmed its support for the reporting of veteran columnist Nicholas Kristof, prompting Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to announce it would move forward with a defamation lawsuit against the outlet, the agency confirmed in a post on the social platform X Thursday.

    Kristof’s deeply researched investigative opinion piece opens with a unifying call for readers: regardless of where they stand on the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, all people should be able to join in condemning sexual violence as a human rights abuse. The column centers on harrowing, first-hand testimonies from Palestinian survivors of assault by Israeli security personnel, including accounts of assault using military dogs, vegetables, and batons that left serious internal injury.

    One detailed account comes from 46-year-old Palestinian journalist Sami al-Sai, who told Kristof he was sexually assaulted by both male and female Israeli soldiers while they filmed the attack, describing being violently grabbed in his genitals until he begged for the assault to stop.

    In a statement defending the column, a New York Times spokesperson emphasized that Kristof’s work was the product of rigorous, in-depth reporting. But Israeli officials and public figures have pushed back fiercely, dismissing the allegations as a modern iteration of the medieval ‘blood libel’ – a centuries-old antisemitic falsehood that was used to justify mass violence against Jewish communities across Europe for hundreds of years.

    Following the paper’s decision to uphold the reporting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have formally ordered the MFA to launch the defamation proceeding against The New York Times. In an official statement, the MFA called Kristof’s piece one of the most ‘hideous and distorted lies’ ever published against the Israeli state by a major modern media outlet.

    This is not the first time such allegations have come to light: independent outlet Middle East Eye published a similar report last month, based on investigation from the West Bank Protection Consortium. The coalition of human rights groups documented a minimum of 16 separate cases of sexual violence perpetrated by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the occupied West Bank, in a report focused on how gender-based violence is used to force Palestinian displacement from the region.

    Kristof’s reporting draws on corroborating evidence from multiple independent human rights organizations that have documented sexual violence by Israeli personnel, including Euro-Med Monitor, Save the Children, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and leading Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. The columnist also interviewed Israeli legal professionals who confirmed that the sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees is a widespread, underreported problem.

    In his column, Kristof argued that decades of systemic dehumanization of Palestinians by Israeli institutions has created conditions that enable these abuses to continue with impunity. He added that the true scale of violence is almost certainly far higher than documented, because sexual assault is deeply stigmatized in conservative Palestinian society, leaving most survivors unwilling to come forward publicly. Very few of the survivors he interviewed agreed to be named, but Kristof noted overlapping patterns in their testimonies that point to a systemic, institutional problem rather than isolated incidents.

    Kristof also drew direct connection to United States policy, noting that American taxpayer funding subsidizes the Israeli security establishment, making the U.S. complicit in the sexual violence documented in the piece.

  • What happens next in the Alex Murdaugh case?

    What happens next in the Alex Murdaugh case?

    Once one of South Carolina’s most powerful legal figures, Alex Murdaugh, convicted of orchestrating the 2021 murders of his wife Maggie and son Paul, will face a retrial after the state’s highest court unanimously threw out his original murder convictions. The landmark ruling hinged on a finding of unfair trial bias, caused by improper interference from the trial court clerk that undermined the integrity of the first jury proceedings.

    In its unanimous decision, the South Carolina Supreme Court confirmed that court clerk Rebecca Hill improperly influenced the jury by instructing members to “watch [Murdaugh] closely” and discount his testimony. The ruling noted Hill had “placed her fingers on the scales of justice”, and months after the original conviction, she published a tell-all book about the high-profile proceedings. The case, which has gripped national public attention for years, has spawned a dedicated podcast, feature documentary, television miniseries and multiple books, cementing its status as one of the most followed true crime cases in recent U.S. history.

    Following the ruling, Murdaugh’s defense team has celebrated the decision and expressed full confidence in securing an acquittal at retrial. At 56 years old, Murdaugh was already serving two consecutive life sentences for the 2021 murders, and he remains incarcerated on separate, untouched convictions for extensive financial crimes that include a 27-year state sentence and 40-year federal sentence for stealing millions of dollars from client settlement funds to feed a years-long opioid addiction. Those financial convictions have not been challenged or overturned in this ruling. Defense attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin confirmed their client maintains his total innocence in the murders, and has ruled out any possibility of a plea deal to avoid a new trial.

    Speaking to media outlets, Griffin shared that Murdaugh feels “grateful” and “surprised” by the court’s decision, and is deeply relieved to have the label of convicted murderer of his wife and son formally removed. Harpootlian added that because the original jury was improperly lobbied to convict, a new, unbiased jury will give Murdaugh a fair shot at acquittal. The state supreme court’s ruling also placed critical new restrictions on the use of evidence related to Murdaugh’s financial crimes in the upcoming retrial, finding that original prosecutors overstepped by overemphasizing the financial convictions as a supposed motive for murder. The new trial must strictly limit discussion of financial wrongdoing to only what directly supports the prosecution’s case, and exclude inflammatory, non-relevant details of the fraud offenses, which Murdaugh has already admitted to committing.

    Prosecutors have confirmed they will move forward with a retrial rather than appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters told *Good Morning America* that retrying the case as soon as possible is the best path forward for justice. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson echoed that commitment in an official statement, vowing to “aggressively seek to retry Alex Murdaugh for the murders of Maggie and Paul as soon as possible”.

    Looking ahead to the proceedings, key procedural questions remain unresolved. A new trial will require an entirely new jury, but finding impartial jurors in Colleton County, the case’s original jurisdiction where nearly all residents followed the first trial closely, is expected to be extremely difficult. Legal experts note a change of venue to another county across South Carolina is highly likely, with some observers joking that only an off-world venue could guarantee a fully unbiased jury given the case’s massive global media coverage. It also remains unclear whether Murdaugh, who took the stand in his own defense during the first trial, will testify again in the retrial, with his attorney declining to confirm that detail.

    While Murdaugh remains behind bars for his intact financial convictions, there is a path to his eventual release if his legal team secures further victories: he could still appeal his financial convictions, and if those were overturned alongside an acquittal in the murder retrial, he would be eligible for immediate release. Prosecutors have not yet set a firm timeline for the new trial, noting that complex high-profile cases move slowly, comparing the legal process to a marathon rather than a sprint. For context, Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were found dead in June 2021, Alex Murdaugh was not arrested for their murders until July 2022, and his first trial began six months after that arrest.

  • Clashes erupt in Bolivia as miners set off dynamite and police fire tear gas

    Clashes erupt in Bolivia as miners set off dynamite and police fire tear gas

    Fresh violence has shaken Bolivia’s capital city of La Paz, where violent confrontations broke out Thursday between law enforcement and protesting miners, marking the second consecutive week of rolling nationwide civil unrest that threatens the young administration of President Rodrigo Paz.

    According to on-site reports, police deployed tear gas to scatter the crowd of thousands of mining workers, who had advanced toward the seat of national government, the Palacio Quemado, and set off small dynamite blasts to clear their path. The use of homemade explosives has grown increasingly frequent across recent days of unrest, as demonstrators escalate their tactics to push their demands.

    President Paz, who took office at the end of 2024, ended nearly two decades of uninterrupted single-party rule in the Andean nation when he was inaugurated, promising a new chapter of governance and reform. But just months into his term, he is facing a rapidly growing crisis that has paralyzed the capital and spread across the country.

    The mass mobilization of miners is the most high-profile in a wave of overlapping protests that have brought central La Paz to a standstill. Miners initially gathered to demand revisions to national labor policies and increased access to subsidized fuel, but as the demonstration dragged on, chants calling for Paz’s resignation grew louder among the crowd.

    The unrest has drawn in multiple groups in recent days, compounding pressure on the new government. Earlier on Thursday, thousands of rural public school teachers joined a separate march through the city center, calling for substantial pay increases. Combined with widespread road blockades erected by protest groups across the region, the overlapping mobilizations have completely choked off movement and normal activity in the capital.

    The current wave of demonstrations first began when rural farmers launched protests to oppose a recently passed law that allowed for private land to be used as collateral for mortgage loans. Responding to early pressure, President Paz announced a presidential decree Wednesday evening that formally annulled the controversial legislation and appealed directly to demonstrators to stand down and end their blockades and marches. Despite the concession, protests have only accelerated and expanded, with new groups joining the movement to push a broad set of additional grievances against the new administration.

  • Trump and Xi hold talks but no trade deal agreed

    Trump and Xi hold talks but no trade deal agreed

    When Air Force One touched down in Beijing on Thursday, the carefully choreographed welcome ceremony immediately set the tone for a US-China summit defined as much by deliberate symbolism as by tangible policy outcomes. What followed was more than two hours of closed-door talks between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, a meeting that framed the world’s largest bilateral economic relationship but ultimately failed to deliver the sweeping trade breakthrough many had anticipated.

    The most visually striking departure from standard diplomatic protocol came in the order of deplaning: Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia chief Jensen Huang stepped off the aircraft ahead of senior White House cabinet members, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Senator Marco Rubio and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Both tech leaders remained close to Trump throughout the official welcome at the Great Hall of the People, a placement that carried unavoidable symbolic weight. Musk and Huang represent the most contentious, high-stakes pressure points in the modern US-China economic relationship: electric vehicles, advanced artificial intelligence, and semiconductor manufacturing. Both companies also maintain deep, high-stakes exposure to the Chinese market. Tesla’s global production and revenue rely heavily on its Shanghai Gigafactory and domestic Chinese consumer demand, while Nvidia’s cutting-edge chips are the backbone of the global AI race, and have been the target of strict US export controls designed to block Beijing from accessing advanced computing capabilities. Notably, Huang was not included on the original US delegation list, a last-minute addition that fueled widespread speculation that AI and semiconductor access would hold a more central place in negotiations than previously publicly disclosed.

    Following the talks, both sides offered measured positive framing of the discussions. Trump called the meeting potentially “the biggest summit ever” and described the US-China partnership as “the world’s most consequential economic relationship”, with the White House ultimately characterizing the talks as “highly productive”. For his part, Xi noted that prior bilateral trade negotiations held in South Korea had delivered incremental progress, but paired that acknowledgment with a stark, unprecedented public warning that reshaped the framing of the summit. “If mishandled, the two nations could collide or even come into conflict,” Xi stated of the Taiwan question, according to China’s foreign ministry. This marked a clear shift from past negotiations, where Taiwan was treated as one of several friction points. At this summit, Beijing explicitly framed the Taiwan issue as a core condition for the future of the broader US-China trade and economic relationship. In Beijing’s official readout, Xi emphasized that “the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations”, and confirmed the two sides had agreed to a “new positioning” for ties centered on “constructive strategic stability”.

    Despite the optimistic rhetoric from both sides, no major new trade deals or structural economic agreements emerged from the meeting. The primary tangible outcome was an agreement to uphold the terms of the October trade truce, which saw Washington suspend planned steep tariff increases on a wide range of Chinese goods, while Beijing rolled back restrictions on rare earth exports to the US. Both leaders also agreed to establish a new “Board of Trade”, a permanent bilateral mechanism designed to manage trade frictions without reopening full, high-stakes tariff negotiations. US officials quickly cautioned, however, that extensive technical work remains to be done before the new board becomes fully operational.

    US negotiators had entered the summit hoping to see new commitments for increased Chinese purchases of American goods, with a particular focus on Boeing commercial aircraft, agricultural products, and energy exports. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had publicly predicted that “large Boeing orders” would be announced during the visit, and noted that Beijing had signaled it would expand purchases of US agricultural and energy goods. While Xi told a gathering of US business leaders that China “doors will open wider” and that American firms would have “broader prospects” operating in the Chinese market, no firm, concrete details for new purchase commitments were released. Bessent later downplayed expectations of major new agricultural breakthroughs, noting that many existing soybean purchase commitments were already covered under prior agreements, but added that there remains significant room for China to expand imports of US energy, including liquefied natural gas (LNG). US farmers have long sought greater access to the Chinese market for soybeans, beef, and poultry, a goal that remains unfulfilled with no new progress announced at the summit.

    Technology and advanced semiconductors remain the deepest unresolved divide between the two powers. The Trump administration’s strict export controls on advanced semiconductors and chipmaking equipment, implemented to slow China’s development of frontier AI capabilities, remain fully in place. Beijing continues to push for loosening these restrictions, while criticizing the controls as an unfair effort to constrain China’s industrial and technological development. Beyond economic issues, Trump also sought Chinese cooperation to stabilize global oil markets amid the ongoing Iran conflict. Volatility in oil prices and repeated disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical energy chokepoint, have driven up import costs for China and pushed global energy prices higher. Trump had publicly stated he hoped China would use its diplomatic influence to encourage Iran to stabilize energy flows through the strait. Chinese readouts confirmed the Middle East was discussed during the summit, but no details of any new agreements or commitments were released.

    For US multinational corporations, the summit left the status quo largely intact: China remains one of the world’s largest consumer markets, but continues to present a challenging operating environment shaped by strict regulation, bureaucratic red tape, and persistent geopolitical uncertainty. While the meeting laid the groundwork for a new ongoing trade dialogue, analysts note that core frictions ranging from semiconductor controls to Taiwan’s status remain unresolved, leaving the future of the bilateral relationship uncertain.

  • Five Italians die during cave dive in Maldives

    Five Italians die during cave dive in Maldives

    A catastrophic recreational scuba diving incident in the Maldives has claimed the lives of five Italian nationals, marking the deadliest single diving accident in the history of the popular Indian Ocean tourist destination, Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed this week.

    Authorities say the group of divers lost their lives while attempting to explore submerged cave systems off Vaavu Atoll, at depths reaching roughly 50 meters (164 feet). The Maldivian military, which is leading the recovery operation, announced that one victim’s body has already been recovered from a cave located around 60 meters underwater, and the remaining four victims are believed to be trapped within the same cave system. Specialized diving teams equipped with advanced deep-water recovery gear have been deployed to the site, but officials have stressed that the search and recovery mission carries extremely high safety risks for rescuers.

    According to local Maldivian media reports, the five Italian divers entered the water early Thursday morning. When the group failed to resurface at the scheduled time, the crew of their dive boat alerted authorities and launched an initial missing person alert. At the time of the incident, the Vaavu Atoll area, located roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of the Maldivian capital Malé, was experiencing rough sea conditions. Local authorities had already issued a yellow weather warning for small passenger vessels and local fishing crews prior to the dive.

    Among the victims are members of Italy’s academic marine science community: the University of Genoa confirmed that the group included one of its veteran marine biology professors, the professor’s daughter, and two early-career researchers from the institution. In an official statement posted to the social platform X, the university offered its “deepest condolences” to the families, friends, and colleagues of the deceased, calling the incident an immeasurable loss for the global marine research community.

    While the Maldives draws millions of diving and snorkeling enthusiasts each year for its crystal-clear waters and vibrant coral reef systems, serious fatal diving accidents remain relatively uncommon, though a small number of fatal incidents have been recorded in recent years. In December 2024, a highly experienced British female diver drowned during a dive off the resort island of Ellaidhoo; her husband died five days later after developing a sudden illness linked to the incident. Earlier in 2024, a Japanese lawmaker died while snorkeling in Lhaviyani Atoll, another popular tourist region in the archipelago.

  • Hundreds of illegal motorbikes bulldozed in New York City crime crackdown

    Hundreds of illegal motorbikes bulldozed in New York City crime crackdown

    New York City has launched a high-stakes crackdown on unregulated two-wheeled vehicles, crushing hundreds of illegally operated motorbikes and mopeds in a dramatic show of force targeting linked criminal activity. The operation comes in direct response to a devastating tragedy that shook the Brooklyn community last month, when a 7-month-old infant was killed by a stray bullet fired during an incident connected to an unregistered moped, city officials confirmed.

    For months, New York law enforcement has documented a rising pattern of criminal actors leveraging unlicensed motorbikes and mopeds to facilitate illegal activity, from drug trafficking to reckless street activity that endangers innocent bystanders. These unregistered vehicles, often uninspected and unlicensed, allow perpetrators to evade police detection and escape quickly after committing crimes, creating a persistent public safety hazard across the city’s five boroughs.

    The mass destruction of seized illegal vehicles marks a significant escalation in the city’s ongoing effort to root out this threat. Officials emphasized that the operation is not an isolated action, but part of a sustained strategy to crack down on vehicle-related crime and prevent further senseless loss of life, particularly for vulnerable residents going about their daily lives. The killing of the 7-month-old child, an entirely innocent victim caught in crossfire, has galvanized city leaders to accelerate these enforcement efforts and send a clear message that the use of unregulated vehicles to enable violent crime will not be tolerated.

    Community leaders have echoed the city’s commitment, noting that the tragedy highlighted the urgent need for stronger action against illegal motorbike operation. While some transportation advocates have raised questions about enforcement tactics, the overwhelming public response to the infant’s death has underscored broad support for measures that improve public safety for New Yorkers of all ages.

  • Netanyahu’s boast of secret visit to UAE sparks awkward denial from Abu Dhabi

    Netanyahu’s boast of secret visit to UAE sparks awkward denial from Abu Dhabi

    In a dramatic development that has thrown the already fragile normalization alliance between Israel and the United Arab Emirates into the global spotlight, conflicting official claims over an alleged secret summit between the two nations’ leaders emerged on May 13, 2026, deep amid Israel’s ongoing war against Iran. The stark disagreement between Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi has also drawn sharp condemnation from Tehran, which has directly accused the Gulf state of complicity in the military campaign against it.

    The chain of events began when Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office made an unprecedented public announcement confirming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had traveled secretly to the UAE for a closed-door meeting with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, held weeks into Israel’s Operation Roaring Lion, the official codename for its military offensive against Iran. The Israeli statement framed the unpublicized meeting as a historic breakthrough in bilateral relations between the two signatories of the 2020 Abraham Accords, the first normalization deal between Israel and a Gulf Arab state.

    Within hours, however, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a categorical rebuttal of the Israeli claim. In an official statement posted to social media, the Emirati foreign ministry denied all reports of a Netanyahu visit, as well as claims of any Israeli military delegation being hosted on UAE territory. The statement emphasized that all formal relations between the UAE and Israel are conducted openly under the framework of the officially declared Abraham Accords, with no place for non-transparent or off-the-books arrangements. It added that any claims of unannounced visits or undisclosed agreements are completely baseless unless confirmed via an official statement from Emirati authorities, and called on international media outlets to uphold professional standards of accuracy and avoid spreading unvetted information or misleading political narratives.

    Despite the UAE’s full denial, multiple independent sources and evidence have backed the core of the Israeli claim. Unnamed Israeli and Arab sources cited by Middle East Eye place the meeting on March 26, held in the oasis city of Al-Ain, located near the UAE-Oman border. Independent open-source intelligence checks corroborate this timeline: on March 27, one day after the alleged meeting, Haaretz national security and open-source editor Avi Scharf posted to social media noting that two Israeli business jets, regularly used for very important person (VVIP) special travel, had landed in Al-Ain on March 26 and returned to Israel just four hours later that same evening. Subsequent independent flight tracking data confirmed that two jets departed Tel Aviv for Al-Ain on the afternoon of March 26 and returned to Israel overnight. Risk advisory firm Basha Report further identified the two aircraft as a Bombardier Global Express XRS registered in the Isle of Man and a Bombardier Global 6000 business jet. Additional unconfirmed reporting even claims that Mohammed bin Zayed personally drove Netanyahu from the airport to the meeting palace in his own private vehicle.

    This is not the first reported high-level Israeli-Emirati contact during the war: The Wall Street Journal has previously reported that Mossad Director David Barnea has made at least two trips to the UAE since the outbreak of hostilities for war coordination purposes. Middle East Eye attempted to request additional clarification from the UAE foreign ministry on its denial but received no response by the time of publication.

    The disagreement over the meeting comes against a decades-long backdrop of quiet cooperation between the UAE and Israel that predates their 2020 formal normalization. As the first Gulf state to normalize ties with Israel, the UAE has developed extensive joint military and intelligence partnerships with Israel and the United States, including a shared intelligence-sharing platform codenamed Crystal Ball designed to boost regional intelligence capabilities. Even before formal diplomatic relations were established, Israeli military and intelligence officials helped the UAE construct a network of security outposts across islands in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, operating under the radar for years.

    Alon Pinkas, a veteran Israeli diplomat who served as an advisor to four Israeli foreign ministers, noted that the long-running quiet cooperation predating formal normalization means the current public disagreement over the meeting is unlikely to cause permanent, irreversible damage to bilateral ties — particularly given widespread expectations that Netanyahu will leave office before the end of 2026. That said, Pinkas acknowledged that the ongoing war on Iran has already strained the relationship, as the UAE and much of the region now view Israel as an aggressive force driving regional destabilization.

    The economic and security costs of the war have fallen disproportionately heavily on the UAE, a reality acknowledged even by senior U.S. officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Iran has targeted Gulf states it views as sympathetic to Israel and the U.S. in retaliation for the offensive, and the UAE has absorbed more missile attack damage than Israel itself since the war began in late February. While Israel deployed Iron Dome air defense batteries and operating personnel to the UAE to help defend against Iranian strikes — deepening practical security cooperation — the war has still hit the UAE’s core economic interests hard: its vital tourism sector has suffered sharp declines, and capital flight has hit the major financial hubs of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, even as the country maintains an alternative oil export route bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.

    On Thursday, the diplomatic fallout expanded when Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi used a BRICS summit meeting in New Delhi to directly accuse the UAE of being complicit in the war against Iran. Araghchi noted that he had previously avoided naming the UAE publicly to preserve regional unity, but confirmed that the UAE was directly involved in the aggression against Tehran, and failed to issue any condemnation of the offensive when it first launched.

    Despite the public dispute and war-related strains, regional analysts expect the bilateral relationship between Israel and the UAE to continue deepening in the long term. Jalel Harchaoui, a leading expert on regional political economy, told Middle East Eye that the UAE remains committed to the core strategic logic of the Abraham Accords it adopted in 2020, even amid the heavy costs it has incurred since the outbreak of the war. Harchaoui argues that the damage the UAE has sustained will not shift its overall strategic course, and that the country will likely double down on its normalization partnership with Israel moving forward.

  • Dior nods to Hollywood’s Golden Age with Cruise collection

    Dior nods to Hollywood’s Golden Age with Cruise collection

    French luxury fashion powerhouse Dior has brought old-school Hollywood glamour back to life with its highly anticipated 2027 Cruise collection, marking the brand’s first Cruise show under newly appointed creative director Jonathan Anderson. The star-studded event unfolded at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), where the iconic house wove together nods to Tinseltown’s golden era, California’s iconic natural beauty, and Dior’s decades-long historic relationship with cinema. A-list attendees from across the entertainment industry packed the venue, including singers Sabrina Carpenter and Miley Cyrus, and screen legends Al Pacino, Jeff Goldblum, Anya Taylor-Joy and Macaulay Culkin, all gathering inside LACMA’s newly opened David Geffen Galleries for the glitzy affair.

    Event designers transformed the museum’s striking concrete architectural curves into a atmospheric set straight out of a mid-century classic detective film, complete with vibrant vintage automobiles and moody, cinematic lighting. When models stepped out from a soft smoky haze to take their turns on the runway, they wore designs awash in warm, vibrant hues of golden yellow, rich purple and tangerine orange. The collection’s concept was rooted in a legendary chapter of Dior and Hollywood history, drawing inspiration from the iconic demand actress Marlene Dietrich made to director Alfred Hitchcock ahead of filming 1940s classic *Stage Fright*: “No Dior, no Dietrich!”

    True to the spirit of Dietrich’s legendary on-screen wardrobe, Wednesday evening’s show balanced unapologetic glamour with a core thread of female empowerment. Floral motifs emerged as a defining design element across the collection: a scattering of bright daffodils burst from the hem of one flowing skirt, while cascading red-orange poppy petals— a nod to California’s beloved state flower— spilled down the silhouette of a structured evening gown. Tailored outerwear also took a prominent turn on the runway, rendered in dramatic tones of jet black, shimmering gold and metallic silver. One standout piece, a tailored gray-striped coat, featured geometric shadow patterns that mirrored the effect of light slanting through vintage Venetian blinds, pulling directly from the visual language of 1940s black-and-white cinema. Even the brand’s iconic accessories joined in the theme: a reimagined version of Dior’s classic saddle bag drew design inspiration from mid-century American automobiles, perfectly complementing the collection’s nostalgic premise.

    Many guests in attendance highlighted the collection’s thoughtful nostalgic tone, praising Anderson’s juxtaposition of design influences that created loose, fluid silhouettes far from the heavily cinched shapes Dior is historically known for, echoing the elegant styles of 1940s Hollywood. Anderson, who previously served as artistic director for Spanish luxury brand Loewe, stepped into his expanded role at Dior in June 2025, making history as the first designer since founder Christian Dior himself to oversee the brand’s three core lines: women’s wear, men’s wear, and haute couture. Since taking the role, he has debuted a critically acclaimed first menswear collection in June 2025, a first women’s wear collection that received more mixed reception that October, an extravagant second menswear collection in Paris this past January, and a punk-inflected, floral-accented debut haute couture collection that stayed true to Anderson’s well-known rebellious creative identity.

    Just as Dior itself has deep ties to the film industry— the brand earned an Oscar nomination in 1955 for its costume work on *Indiscretion of an American Wife*— Anderson has already built strong connections to modern Hollywood, having created custom costumes for the 2024 hit sports drama *Challengers*, directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Zendaya. Dior’s annual Cruise, or resort, shows are known for being hosted in rotating iconic locations around the globe, bringing the luxury brand’s transitional designs to new audiences each year. Last year’s presentation was held in Rome, following previous shows in Scotland and Mexico, while the brand’s last Cruise show in Los Angeles dated back to 2017, making this week’s event a notable homecoming for the label on the West Coast.