Global Pulse

分类： world

  • Australian man dies after falling down ravine on hike to Machu Picchu

    Australian man dies after falling down ravine on hike to Machu Picchu

    A 53-year-old Australian man has lost his life in a tragic hiking accident on Peru’s iconic Inca Trail leading to the ancient citadel of Machu Picchu, after he fell hundreds of meters down a steep ravine when a wooden railing he grabbed for support collapsed, local law enforcement and rescue authorities confirmed.

    The victim has been identified as Matthew Cameron Paton, a serving member of Victoria’s police force in Australia who had traveled to Cusco, the gateway city to Machu Picchu, roughly 12 days prior to the incident alongside his wife. The accident unfolded on Wednesday, when Paton was hiking the famous mountain route as part of a group that included other tourists and a local trail guide. According to initial accounts from regional police, Paton tripped while crossing an aging wooden footbridge along the route. When he reached out to steady himself by grabbing the adjacent wooden railing, the structure broke away entirely, sending him plummeting into the deep ravine below.

    Local police received immediate reports of the missing hiker moments after the fall, and a full-scale search operation was launched that same afternoon by regional authorities, led by the Cusco High Mountain Rescue Unit. Recovery teams located Paton’s body on Thursday, roughly 300 meters (984 feet) down the steep slope near the trail’s well-known “50 Gradas” section, a rugged stretch popular among trekkers heading toward Machu Picchu.

    In comments to Peruvian state news outlet Andina, General Virgilio Velasquez, chief of the Cusco Police Region, confirmed the details of the operation and the accident. “We have information indicating that he apparently tripped while crossing a wooden bridge and he likely tried to hold onto the wooden railing,” Velasquez said. “But it gave way and he slipped into the abyss along with it. Unfortunately, he fell down the ravine.”

    Paton’s body is currently being prepared for transfer to a nearby municipal mortuary in the region, and local authorities have launched an official investigation into the root causes of the accident, including an assessment of the condition of the trail infrastructure where the collapse occurred.

    News of Paton’s death has prompted an outpouring of grief from his colleagues back in Australia. In an official statement, The Police Association of Victoria (TPAV) said its staff and membership were stunned and deeply saddened by the passing of one of their own in the overseas accident. “Matt’s contribution to policing, through both his role in training police and as a TPAV Assistant Delegate, was representative of the care and concern he had for his colleagues and his want to give back to policing,” the association said.

    Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed it is providing full consular support to Paton’s family, who are now navigating the process of repatriating his remains back to Australia. “We send our deepest condolences to the family at this difficult time,” a department spokesperson said.

  • Sudan’s war has left thousands missing. Many are buried in unmarked graves

    Sudan’s war has left thousands missing. Many are buried in unmarked graves

    Three years into Sudan’s brutal civil conflict, more than 8,000 people remain unaccounted for, leaving their relatives trapped in a torturous limbo of not knowing whether their loved ones are alive or dead. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirms these missing persons numbers, a devastating byproduct of a war that has ripped apart countless households across the nation. People have disappeared while fleeing violence, fallen victim to unrecorded combat deaths, or been secretly detained, leaving their families in perpetual psychological agony.

    For Azaher Abdallah, that agony has stretched for more than a year. Her husband, 38-year-old Fahmy al-Fateh — a farmer and merchant who joined Sudan’s national army when the war broke out — left their home before sunrise in January last year. He called her on his way out, saying he would stop at the market before returning home after completing his assignment for the day. Al-Fateh was last seen riding a motorcycle away from a Khartoum military base, and he never came back. Today, the couple’s 3-year-old son runs screaming after every passing motorcycle, convinced his father has finally come home.

    “He was the most precious thing in my life,” Abdallah said through sobs, hiding her face in her hands. “I would feel more at peace if I knew anything. It is better than this endless uncertainty, never knowing if he is alive or dead.” Abdallah has searched every hospital morgue across Khartoum, pleaded with army officials for information, and still keeps scrolling through old photos of her husband in uniform, refusing to abandon hope. “That is what my heart tells me — he will come home one day,” she said.

    Psychological experts warn that this ambiguous loss inflicts long-term, profound harm on surviving family members. “Families of missing persons experience additional layers of vulnerabilities due to hostilities, displacement and the unresolvable grief of ambiguous loss,” explained Nathalie Nyamukeba, a psychologist working with the ICRC. The organization has managed to resolve just over 1,000 missing person cases to date, but has declined to share how many of those cases ended with confirmation of life or death.

    Across Khartoum state, authorities believe many missing people now lie in unmarked graves scattered across the capital. When the army retook full control of Khartoum from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group last year, tens of thousands of hastily buried bodies were discovered across the city. During the height of combat, it was too dangerous to transport bodies to formal cemeteries, so residents buried their dead wherever they could: in neighborhood soccer fields, along road sides, beside abandoned gas stations, and even in front of family homes. During a recent reporting trip through Khartoum, Associated Press journalists encountered overflowing formal cemeteries and unmarked dirt mounds scattered across public spaces, many with no identifying information at all.

    For Sulafa Mustafa, the search for her 18-year-old son Suleiman Abdalsid has stretched across two years. The shy teen left home to visit a friend on the outskirts of Khartoum and never returned. Even when artillery shelling echoed through city neighborhoods, Mustafa walked door to door, showed Suleiman’s photo to strangers, visited every hospital and prison, and even rented a public address microphone to call out his name through the streets. Like Abdallah, she has not given up. “I haven’t lost faith in finding you,” she said.

    Locating and identifying missing people remains an enormous challenge amid the ongoing conflict. Most forensic DNA testing laboratories in Khartoum have been destroyed in fighting, and few specialist forensic personnel remain in the country. So far, Khartoum state authorities have relocated nearly 30,000 of the roughly 50,000 hastily buried bodies scattered across the capital to formal burial sites. Roughly 10% of these remains remain unidentified, according to Hisham Zienalabdien, director general of Khartoum’s forensic medicine department. His team is currently storing DNA samples from all unidentified bodies, in the hope that future technology and access will allow them to match remains to grieving relatives.

    Even for families who have recovered their loved ones’ remains, the trauma of the conflict leaves permanent scars. Abubakar Alswai waited more than a year to move his 73-year-old brother Mohamed’s remains from a hasty grave in front of their family home to a formal public cemetery. Mohamed was killed by RSF fighters, who waited three weeks before allowing neighbors to bury his bullet-ridden, decomposing body. Under majority-Islamic Sudanese tradition, funerals are held as soon as possible, ideally within 24 hours of death. As gravediggers exhumed Mohamed’s remains to move him, Alswai wiped tears from his cheeks. At least now, he said, his brother will receive the dignified burial he deserves, and his family can find a small measure of peace. “What happened has left a permanent mark on my heart,” he said.

  • At least 24 killed in two separate attacks in Honduras

    At least 24 killed in two separate attacks in Honduras

    On Thursday, two shocking acts of violence ripped through different regions of Honduras, leaving a minimum of 24 people dead and sending fresh ripples of concern across the Central American nation already grappling with a generations-long public safety crisis.

    The first and deadliest assault unfolded on a remote ranch located on the outskirts of Trujillo, in northern Honduras. Official reports confirm that at least 19 farm workers were gunned down in the attack. As of Friday morning, the full, final death toll for this incident remains unconfirmed. Edgardo Barahona, spokesperson for Honduras’ National Police, told the Associated Press that family members of the victims had already begun recovering and removing victims’ bodies from the crime scene before forensic teams could complete a full count. In a separate briefing with reporters, Honduran Security Minister Gerzon Velasquez offered a different account to Reuters, suggesting that many bodies were likely carried off by either the attackers’ associates or individuals with criminal connections before law enforcement could secure the site.

    A second, coordinated shooting took place just hours later in Omoa, a small coastal town sitting hard against Honduras’ northern border with Guatemala. Four active-duty police officers and one civilian were killed in this attack. Authorities confirmed the officers were en route to Omoa from the country’s capital, Tegucigalpa, as part of a pre-planned anti-gang operation when they were ambushed.

    To date, no suspects have been taken into custody in connection with either attack. Investigators have not yet established a clear motive for the mass killing of ranch workers in Trujillo, but the region has been a hotspot for simmering, long-running agrarian conflict that has occasionally spilled over into lethal violence for decades.

    In response to the back-to-back attacks, Honduras’ National Police released an official statement announcing that it would launch a “direct intervention” operation in both affected regions to restore order and advance investigations.

    The violence has cast renewed attention on Honduras’ persistent struggle with violent crime, rooted in widespread gang activity and the country’s strategic role in transnational drug trafficking routes between South American producers and North American consumers. While recent years have seen a gradual decline in the national homicide rate, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights still ranks Honduras as holding the second-highest homicide rate in the Americas, outpaced only by one other nation in the region.

  • Leading NGOs slam ‘Board of Peace’ for ‘failing’ to deliver Gaza aid pledges

    Leading NGOs slam ‘Board of Peace’ for ‘failing’ to deliver Gaza aid pledges

    On Thursday, three of the world’s most prominent international aid organizations issued a scathing rebuke of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” for Gaza, declaring the initiative a clear failure due to ongoing, widespread Israeli obstruction of humanitarian aid deliveries into the besieged enclave. Speaking at a press briefing at United Nations headquarters in New York, leaders from Oxfam, Refugees International, and Save the Children US outlined the gaping chasm between the ceasefire agreement’s promises and the grim reality on the ground six months into the deal’s implementation.

  • US pins hopes on mediator Pakistan in push to end Iran war

    US pins hopes on mediator Pakistan in push to end Iran war

    Nearly three months after the United States and Israel launched large-scale military strikes on Iran that opened a full-scale conflict reshaping the Middle East, Washington is pinning its latest hopes on Pakistani mediation to break a months-long negotiation deadlock and reach a lasting peace agreement.

    The conflict, which began on February 28, triggered widespread regional instability, sent global energy and commodity prices soaring, and pushed the international economy to the edge of new turmoil. A ceasefire agreed on April 8 paused large-scale open fighting, but repeated rounds of talks have failed to produce a permanent deal that can fully end the crisis. On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that Washington expected new diplomatic momentum from Pakistani mediators, who were set to travel to Tehran the same day to advance talks.

    Pakistan has already emerged as a key third-party broker in the conflict, hosting the only direct face-to-face negotiations between U.S. and Iranian officials last month that were facilitated by Pakistan’s powerful Army Chief Asim Munir. Those high-stakes talks ultimately collapsed after Iran rejected what it called Washington’s “excessive demands.” In a sign of continued diplomatic push, Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi — a figure widely seen as close to Munir — made his second visit to Tehran in as many weeks on Wednesday. Iranian state media has cited anonymous sources suggesting Munir could travel to the Iranian capital as soon as Thursday, though Pakistani officials have so far offered no confirmation of the army chief’s travel plans.

    Beyond Pakistan’s mediation, China — another actor that has participated in regional efforts to end the war — announced Saturday that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will visit Beijing for discussions linked to the diplomatic process.

    The current standoff remains razor-thin, with U.S. President Donald Trump confirming Wednesday that negotiations are balanced on a “borderline” between a final deal and a resumption of full-scale attacks. “If we don’t get the right answers, it goes very quickly. We’re all ready to go,” Trump told reporters, adding that a deal could be reached “very quickly” or within days, but insisted Iran must provide “100 percent good answers” to U.S. demands to avoid renewed hostilities.

    Trump’s fresh pressure on Iran comes as the president faces growing domestic political pressure to resolve the conflict, as U.S. consumers face soaring energy costs tied to the ongoing regional disruption. Rubio also publicly criticized U.S. NATO allies this week for declining to back the U.S.-led campaign against Iran, saying “We were very upset about that” after allies refused to take even non-military action in support of the effort.

    For its part, Iran has remained firm in its own demands and warned it will respond aggressively if hostilities resume. Iranian chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Wednesday that “The enemy’s movements, both overt and clandestine, show that despite economic and political pressure, it has not abandoned its military objectives and is seeking to start a new war,” adding that Iran would launch a “forceful response” to any new attack. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei confirmed Tehran is still reviewing latest proposals from Washington, but repeated Iran’s core demands: the full release of billions of dollars in Iranian assets frozen abroad and an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian territory.

    The most critical unresolved sticking point remains the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic global waterway that carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s daily oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, and one-third of global fertilizer shipments. While the April ceasefire paused open fighting, it did not reopen the strait, which Iran closed as a retaliatory measure after the war began. Only a tiny volume of shipping has been allowed through in recent weeks under a new Iranian toll system, and Iran’s new regulatory body for the strait has claimed territorial control extending into Emirati waters — a move that drew an immediate sharp rebuke from Abu Dhabi. Tensions between Iran and the United Arab Emirates have remained severely strained since the war began, after Iran launched missile and drone strikes on Gulf states in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli offensive.

    As global pre-war oil stockpiles continue to deplete, fears are growing that the prolonged closure will trigger further increases in energy and food prices, worsening existing strains on the world economy. In addition to the core Iran-U.S. standoff, conflict continues to simmer on a second front in Lebanon. Lebanese state media reported Thursday that an Israeli strike damaged a hospital in southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces have continued to carry out operations, demolitions and evacuation orders even after an April 17 truce. Israel says its strikes target Hezbollah, which has continued to launch its own attacks on Israeli territory in turn.

    Hezbollah entered the war after the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in U.S.-Israeli strikes, launching retaliatory rocket fire that dragged Lebanon into the broader regional conflict. Lebanon’s health ministry says Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,089 people in the country since March 2. On Thursday, the U.S. announced new sanctions targeting nine individuals with alleged links to Hezbollah, accusing them of “obstructing the peace process in Lebanon.”

  • Record 274 climbers scale Everest via Nepal in one day

    Record 274 climbers scale Everest via Nepal in one day

    Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak at 8,849 meters above sea level, has hit an unprecedented milestone in Nepal’s 2025 spring climbing season: on May 21 (local time), 274 climbers successfully summited the mountain via its southern Nepali route in a single day. This single-day summit count shatters the previous 2019 record of 223 ascents from the southern side, capping off a season that has seen overall interest in climbing the iconic peak surge despite Nepal’s first permit fee increase in nearly a decade. The 2025 season got off to an unusually slow start, after a massive detached ice block blocked the standard climbing route, delaying summit attempts for days. Once the path cleared, however, climbers rushed to take advantage of a narrow window of stable, clear weather. According to Khimlal Gautam, an official with Nepal’s Department of Tourism, the summit push began at 3:00 a.m. local time and stretched across 11 consecutive hours of steady climbing. This year, Nepal issued a record-breaking 500 permits to international climbers aiming for the peak – a figure that does not include the mandatory Nepali guide that nearly every climber hires, meaning the total number of people attempting the ascent this season is far higher. China, which manages Everest’s northern route through Tibet, has closed the path to foreign climbers this season, directing all international summit attempts to Nepal’s southern corridor. Photographs circulating widely on social media this week have laid bare the growing problem of overcrowding, showing long snaking lines of mountaineers packed along the slopes of Everest’s infamous “death zone” – the section of the mountain above 8,000 meters where oxygen levels are barely sufficient to sustain human life. Even with supplemental oxygen, which nearly all climbers rely on at this altitude, mountaineering safety experts warn that extended time in the death zone raises the risk of fatal altitude sickness, frostbite, and accidents. A longer wait in a queue of climbers translates directly to more time exposed to these lethal hazards. What makes this record season even more notable is that it comes even after Nepal raised Everest permit fees by more than 36% last September. For the first time in nine years, the government increased the permit cost from a longstanding $11,000 per climber to $15,000. The fee hike was designed in part to curb excessive overcrowding and generate more revenue for mountain safety infrastructure, but it has done little to dampen global demand for summiting the world’s highest peak. Expedition organizers argue that the risks of congestion can be mitigated with proper preparation. Lukas Furtenbach, founder of Austria-based expedition outfitter Furtenbach Adventures, told reporters that as long as teams carry enough supplemental oxygen for unexpected delays, overcrowding does not have to be a catastrophic problem. He noted that popular alpine peaks in the Alps regularly see thousands of climbers summiting in a single day, and that 274 climbers on a mountain 10 times the size of those peaks is a manageable number. Beyond the overall summit record, this season has already seen a series of historic individual achievements. On May 18, 56-year-old legendary Nepali guide Kami Rita Sherpa extended his own world record for the most Everest summits, reaching the top for the 32nd time. That same day, 52-year-old Lhakpa Sherpa, widely known as the “Mountain Queen,” broke her own record for the most Everest summits by a female climber with her 11th ascent. On May 22, 34-year-old Russian double leg amputee Rustam Nabiev made history by reaching the summit without using prosthetic legs. For all the milestones, however, the 2025 season has already brought tragedy, with three confirmed deaths linked to climbing attempts on Everest. The most high-profile casualty was 35-year-old Bijay Ghimere, the first climber from Nepal’s marginalized Dalit community to reach the Everest summit, who died after developing severe altitude sickness. On May 19, 21-year-old guide Phura Gyaljen Sherpa fell into a deep crevasse near Camp 3 after slipping on ice. The first fatality of the season came on May 3, when 51-year-old veteran guide Lakpa Dendi Sherpa died while traveling to Everest Base Camp. As the spring climbing season progresses, the record numbers have reignited long-running debates about balancing Nepal’s lucrative Everest tourism industry – which generates hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue for the country – with growing safety risks from unchecked overcrowding.

  • ‘No means no’: Greenlanders protest against Trump outside new US consulate

    ‘No means no’: Greenlanders protest against Trump outside new US consulate

    On a crisp Friday in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, hundreds of local residents gathered outside the newly inaugurated American consulate to push back against what they see as growing United States overreach in the semi-autonomous Danish territory, sparked by former President Donald Trump’s long-stated ambition to expand U.S. influence over the Arctic island.

    The demonstration capped a tense week that included the first official visit to Greenland by Jeff Landry, Trump’s special envoy for the region and the sitting Governor of Louisiana, a close ally of the U.S. president. Landry’s uninvited trip stirred immediate controversy, coming as high-stakes negotiations continue to resolve a diplomatic crisis triggered by Trump’s repeated public calls to acquire full control of Greenland for U.S. national security purposes. Landry departed for Washington D.C. on Wednesday evening and met with Trump at the White House Thursday, according to reporting from the BBC, though no readout of the closed-door meeting has been released.

    Organizer Aqqalukkuluk Fontain made the crowd’s position clear from the start: Greenland’s elected government has already repeatedly rejected any U.S. claims to the territory, and that rejection remains unchanged. “Our government already told Donald Trump and his administration that Greenland is not for sale,” Fontain told reporters. Protesters marched through central Nuuk chanting “Greenland is for Greenlanders”, before gathering outside the new consulate to turn their backs on the building and stand in a united, silent demonstration against the U.S. presence. “Our message is for the American people and to the rest of the world,” Fontain, 37, told the BBC. “That in a democratic world, no means no.”

    Many protesters echoed Fontain’s frustration, saying Landry’s trip and the opening of the new consulate represented a clear disregard for Greenlandic sovereignty. Inge Bisgaard, a protester in the crowd, told the BBC that residents were still recovering from the initial shock of Trump’s 2025 declaration that the U.S. should “own” Greenland, only for the debate to reignite early this year. “We get this fear from the United States. People were just recovering from last time, when it all began again in January,” she said. Twenty-five-year-old protester Parnuna Olsen went a step further, questioning why the U.S. required a large new diplomatic mission in Greenland at all.

    The 3,000 square-meter consulate, a major upgrade from the United States’ previous small, cabin-sized diplomatic outpost, occupies a prominent central spot in downtown Nuuk. Locals have already nicknamed the high-rise building “Trump towers”, a nod to the president’s personal role in pushing for expanded U.S. presence, and for many Greenlandic residents, the new facility is an unwelcome marker of growing American influence at a deeply sensitive moment for regional relations. While U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Kenneth Howery opened the mission last week with a ukulele performance of the American national anthem and a plaque unveiling, Greenland’s top political leaders largely boycotted the event. Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen declined the invitation to attend, and no members of his cabinet were present. Naaja Nathanielsen, one of two Greenlandic members of the Danish parliament, also turned down her invitation, noting that the boycott was an intentional signal to Washington.

    During his three-day trip, Landry attended a scheduled business summit but spent minimal time at the event, instead holding meetings with Nielsen, current and former Greenlandic foreign ministers, and local business leaders as part of what the U.S. describes as an effort to “build ties and make friends”. This so-called “charm offensive” failed to win over many local stakeholders, however, with multiple Greenlandic figures turning down meeting requests from Landry. In an interview with local newspaper *Sermitsiaq*, Landry stoked existing tensions by openly backing Greenland’s long-held hopes of full independence from Denmark, claiming “I think Greenland could have an equally good or even better economy as an independent country.” When pressed on whether the Trump administration would respect Greenland’s clearly stated red lines on sovereignty, Landry gave a provocative response: “There is only one line for us. It is red, white and blue.”

    In a statement to the BBC following Landry’s meeting with Trump, a White House spokesperson offered only a vague, optimistic update on U.S. goals in the region, saying “The United States is optimistic that we are on a good trajectory to address U.S. national security interests in Greenland.” The spokesperson also praised Landry’s work, calling him “a strong asset to the world-class team that President Trump has put together.”

    Trump has repeatedly framed his push for greater control over Greenland as a matter of critical U.S. national security, pointing to the island’s strategic location in the Arctic, where the U.S. competes for influence with Russia and China. A bilateral working group has been meeting to negotiate a new agreement that would expand U.S. military presence in Greenland, but no final deal has yet been reached. At the height of the Cold War, the U.S. maintained 17 active military bases across Greenland; today it only operates one, the Pituffik Space Base. Earlier this year, a U.S. Northern Command spokesperson confirmed the military is pursuing infrastructure upgrades at Pituffik, and is also evaluating additional potential base sites at Narsarsuaq and Kangerlussuaq.

    While Greenland’s prime minister suggested this week that the working group talks were making gradual progress, a New York Times report published earlier this week laid bare deep sovereignty concerns among Greenlandic leaders and residents. According to the report, U.S. negotiators are demanding two key concessions: the right for U.S. troops to remain in Greenland indefinitely, and authority to veto major third-party infrastructure investments in the territory to block Chinese and Russian influence. The growing tensions come ahead of a key NATO security summit in Sweden Friday, where U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to meet allied ministers to discuss Arctic regional security.

  • Father of Gaza flotilla activist says UK ignored call for help after son seized by Israel

    Father of Gaza flotilla activist says UK ignored call for help after son seized by Israel

    The tense fallout of an Israeli military raid on a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla in international waters has left a British family pleading for government intervention, with the father of the detained student activist saying official UK authorities have largely ignored their pleas for help.

    Twenty-four-year-old Hasnain Jafer, a student organizer at King’s College London originally from Birmingham, was taken into custody by the Israeli navy earlier this week when Israeli forces intercepted the Gaza Sumud Flotilla off the coast of Cyprus, in international waters. Jafer was among dozens of international peace and humanitarian activists on board the convoy, which set out to challenge Israel’s years-long naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and deliver badly needed aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave.

    In an emotional interview with Middle East Eye, Jafer’s father Jafer Taasleem described his family’s overwhelming distress, saying they have received no official updates on their son’s condition or whereabouts since the raid, which flotilla organizers have labeled an act of illegal high-seas aggression.

    Taasleem last spoke to his son roughly one hour before Israeli commandos boarded the vessel on Monday. Since that conversation, all contact has been cut off. “We’re totally distressed, worried and in extreme emotional and personal pain right now,” Taasleem said. “I just hope he’s well, sound and good and not being hurt in any way physically or mentally. At this present moment, I doubt that hasn’t happened.”

    Taasleem singled out his local member of parliament Shabana Mahmood for failing to offer any assistance to the family, noting that only two UK MPs – veteran pro-Palestine campaigner Jeremy Corbyn and Ayoub Khan – have stepped up to offer support. The father added that while ordinary students at King’s College London have reached out to express solidarity, university leadership has not directly contacted the family to offer information or support. In a brief public statement issued on May 20, the university told student outlet Roar News it was coordinating with the student union and British Consulate to monitor the situation and work to secure Jafer’s well-being, but Taasleem said the institution’s silence has been disappointing. “Hasnain really, deep down from his heart and soul, loves and values King’s,” he said. “The university leadership has to say something, has to do something.”

    The family’s anxiety deepened after far-right Israeli Interior Minister Itamar Ben Gvir published footage and photos online showing detained activists being held in an Israeli facility. The images showed more than 100 activists handcuffed and forced to crouch, while guards manhandled some detainees and waved Israeli flags directly in their faces, in what was widely seen as a taunting display. The provocative post drew formal condemnation from multiple Western governments, including the UK, the U.S., France, Italy and Canada.

    Israeli officials have attempted to frame the flotilla as a provocative operation aligned with Hamas, claiming Gaza already receives an abundance of humanitarian aid despite widespread international reports of critical shortages and a unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the blockaded territory. In an unusual split within the Israeli government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu distanced himself from Ben Gvir’s actions, saying the footage was “not in line with Israel’s values” and ordered that all detained activists be deported “as soon as possible.” Current reports indicate the activists are on track to be transferred to Turkey by the end of Thursday.

    Despite this development, Taasleem said he has seen little meaningful action from the UK government to secure the immediate release of his son and other British detainees, even after the incident was raised in the House of Commons earlier this week. The perceived lack of urgency from official authorities, he said, has shaken his long-held trust in the British state, where generations of his family have lived. “It makes me feel like nobody’s doing anything… Is this really my country? Are these people really mine?” he asked. Taasleem has made an urgent plea for the UK government to step in immediately and use diplomatic channels to secure the safe return of his son and all other detained British citizens.

  • Jailed Vietnamese tycoon’s Birkin bags sells for more than $550K

    Jailed Vietnamese tycoon’s Birkin bags sells for more than $550K

    In a high-profile state-led auction held in Ho Chi Minh City, two ultra-luxury Hermès Birkin handbags seized from imprisoned disgraced Vietnamese businesswoman Truong My Lan have sold for a combined total of more than $535,000, after just half an hour of competitive bidding. The sale, part of a broader effort to liquidate thousands of Truong’s confiscated assets to cover court-ordered reparations, has drawn global attention for the extraordinary price fetched by the rare designer goods, highlighting the enduring hype and investment value of Hermès’ most exclusive product line.

    Of the two Birkins sold on Monday at the Ho Chi Minh City Asset Auction Service Center, the larger 30-centimeter model brought in $94,858, while a smaller, embellished 25-centimeter version—adorned with rhinestones on its clasp and trim—sold for an eye-watering $440,144, nearly seven times its original opening bid. The bags were among roughly 1,200 seized assets put up for auction as authorities move to recoup billions in stolen funds tied to Truong’s massive financial fraud scheme.

    Truong My Lan, once one of Vietnam’s most high-profile business figures, was convicted in April 2024 for orchestrating a decade-long embezzlement scheme centered on her secret control of Saigon Commercial Bank, Vietnam’s fifth-largest lender. Over more than 10 years, she siphoned $44 billion from the bank through a complex network of shell companies, and courts ordered her to repay $27 billion in reparations to cover the missing funds. Originally sentenced to death, Truong’s sentence was commuted to life in prison in June 2024, when Vietnam abolished capital punishment for a range of financial and non-violent crimes.

    Throughout her trial, Truong fought to retain ownership of the two handbags, telling courts she had purchased one during a trip to Italy and received the second as a gift from a Malaysian business executive. She argued the bags were intended to be passed down as personal keepsakes for her children and grandchildren, but courts ultimately ordered the assets seized as part of her reparations ruling. Back in January, Ho Chi Minh City’s Civil Judgment Enforcement Agency announced it would bring in independent luxury experts to appraise the rare crocodile-skin Birkins ahead of the planned auction, signaling the high value placed on the items.

    Industry experts note that the extraordinary final price paid for the bags aligns with a years-long trend of rising values for rare Hermès Birkin bags, which have become popular alternative investment assets for wealthy collectors. Nicholas Parnell, founder of Agency Parnell, a leading wholesale luxury fashion agency, explained that Hermès’ intentional limited distribution strategy has kept demand far outstripping supply for the iconic line for decades. “It is one of the most sought-after bags and that has been achieved primarily by Hermès restricting access to people,” Parnell noted, adding that rare and custom Birkins are widely viewed as tangible works of art rather than just accessories. “The price is quite limitless in a way because there are so many special editions,” he said, noting that many collectors view the bags as long-term holdings that hold or gain value over time.

    The auction sale comes just months after another historic Birkin sale that underscored the market’s sky-high appetite for rare examples: in July 2025, Sotheby’s Paris sold an original prototype Birkin bag for €8.6 million (equivalent to $10.1 million at the time), marking the highest price ever paid for a handbag at auction up to that point. Major auction houses including Sotheby’s now regularly list rare Birkins for tens of thousands of dollars, with special editions and custom pieces regularly selling for hundreds of thousands or even millions.

  • Exclusive: Sudan’s Burhan open to talks with UAE but ceasefire not imminent

    Exclusive: Sudan’s Burhan open to talks with UAE but ceasefire not imminent

    More than two years into Sudan’s devastating civil conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), diplomatic overtures are stirring tentative movement between the SAF-aligned transitional government and the United Arab Emirates, a major backer of the RSF. In an exclusive interview with Middle East Eye, Burhan laid out clear preconditions for any formal dialogue with Abu Dhabi: the UAE must immediately end its military and logistical backing for the RSF, honor Sudan’s territorial sovereignty, and conduct all negotiations on terms set by Khartoum’s recognized military leadership.

    MEE can exclusively confirm that Burhan’s high-profile visit to Bahrain last week was not a routine diplomatic stop: it formed the core of a deliberate mediation push by Manama, which leverages its long-standing close political ties to Abu Dhabi to act as a trusted intermediary between the Sudanese government and Emirati officials. Multiple sources, including a senior Sudanese intelligence official and four European diplomatic figures with direct knowledge of the talks, confirm that while efforts to open a sustained communication channel remain ongoing, they have yet to yield any tangible breakthrough.

    Burhan’s recent Gulf tour, which also included stops in Oman and Saudi Arabia, comes amid growing cautious optimism among SAF leadership based in Port Sudan that the UAE could eventually be pressured to curb or end its support for the RSF, a force that has faced widespread international accusations of perpetrating genocide in the Darfur region. This tentative optimism has been fueled in large part by a wave of high-profile defections from the RSF in recent months, with every departing senior commander publicly corroborating claims of ongoing Emirati military and financial support for the paramilitary group.

    Even as new mediation efforts get underway, however, veteran regional diplomats warn that there is little sign Abu Dhabi is prepared to alter its core stance in the near term. This comes after Burhan launched a rare public rebuke of both the UAE and Ethiopia in recent weeks over their ongoing backing of the RSF. MEE previously confirmed that the RSF operates from an Ethiopian army base, plunging already fraught relations between Khartoum and Addis Ababa to a new low, with the UAE also implicated in channeling weapons to the RSF through Ethiopian territory.

    Abu Dhabi has repeatedly rejected all accusations of support for the RSF, dismissing claims from the Sudanese government as “unfounded accusations and deliberate propaganda.” In an official statement to MEE, the Emirati foreign ministry claimed the allegations were a deliberate deflection tactic by the SAF, designed to shift blame for the continuation of the war away from military leadership and obstruct genuine peace efforts.

    This is not the first attempt to open direct dialogue between Burhan’s leadership and the UAE. Over the past three years, multiple initiatives have been launched to bridge the divide, with only rare limited successes. The most recent successful contact came in July 2024, when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed mediated a direct phone call between Burhan and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. A separate effort was launched during indirect Quad mechanism talks between the SAF and RSF in Washington last year: the Quad, which includes the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt, arranged a closed-door face-to-face meeting between Sudanese military delegates and senior Emirati officials to de-escalate tensions. But the talks collapsed within minutes, far ahead of the scheduled one-hour timeline.

    According to three sources briefed on the collapsed meeting, the SAF delegation arrived with documented evidence of Emirati military and logistical support for the RSF, a set of accusations Abu Dhabi continues to publicly deny. Led by UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Shakhboot bin Nahyan Al Nahyan, the Emirati delegation cut the discussion short after the Sudanese side focused exclusively on the support allegations. “The atmosphere became tense very quickly,” one participating diplomat recalled. “The Sudanese side focused almost entirely on accusations regarding Emirati support for the RSF, and the Emiratis saw no basis for continuing the discussion.”

    Senior regional figures say the collapse of that meeting reflects a deeper, persistent rift: Abu Dhabi remains deeply distrustful of Burhan’s leadership, clinging to the perception that the SAF is heavily influenced by Islamist political networks and has grown increasingly aligned with Iran, a regional rival of the UAE. Burhan’s recent Gulf tour was in part designed to counter this narrative, with multiple stops in key Gulf Cooperation Council states intended to signal that his administration does not side with Tehran in regional tensions.

    One senior regional diplomat explained that broader geopolitical alignments are the primary driver of the UAE’s intransigence, noting that meaningful change will only come if external powers pressure Abu Dhabi to alter its course. “Without a major change in the approach taken by Washington and Tel Aviv towards the region, there is unlikely to be enough pressure on Abu Dhabi to reconsider its current strategy in Sudan,” the source said. Both the U.S. and Israel maintain close strategic alliances with the UAE, even after a recent public disagreement when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office unilaterally revealed a “secret meeting” between Netanyahu and Mohammed bin Zayed weeks after Israel launched its war on Iran.

    Sudan’s April 2023 outbreak of conflict has long since evolved from an internal power struggle into a proxy battleground, with competing regional powers including Gulf states, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and Turkey backing rival factions to advance their own strategic interests. Despite repeated public denials from Abu Dhabi, a growing body of open-source evidence – including testimony from defected RSF commanders, satellite imagery, flight tracking data, weapons serial numbers, and on-the-battlefield evidence – confirms ongoing Emirati support for the RSF. Emirati academic Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, who has close ties to Abu Dhabi’s leadership, has pushed back on international criticism, arguing that the RSF receives support from multiple regional states including Uganda, Ethiopia, and Chad, and that the UAE is being unfairly singled out.

    The four diplomatic sources interviewed by MEE uniformly agree that there is currently no unified consensus among international and regional actors on a path to end the war, with deep divisions emerging within the Quad mediation framework that have left each member pursuing its own separate interests inside Sudan. “The problem is that everyone officially wants peace, but they all imagine a different Sudan after the war,” one European diplomat explained. “That makes coordinated pressure almost impossible.”

    Another senior diplomatic source assessed the current fragmented diplomatic landscape as unlikely to produce any major breakthrough before the final quarter of 2025, an assessment that aligns with recent comments from U.S. Special Envoy for Africa and Arab countries Massad Boulos, who openly acknowledged the severe challenges of bringing Sudan’s warring factions to the negotiating table.

    Parallel to Bahrain’s mediation efforts, Saudi Arabia has recently ramped up its own diplomatic engagement in Sudan, seeking to counter growing Emirati influence over both civilian and military actors in the country. According to a senior regional diplomat and a Sudanese political figure with direct knowledge of Riyadh’s recent outreach, Saudi officials have quietly expanded contacts with Sudanese civilian political groups over the past several months, hosting a series of closed-door meetings since Ramadan that included members of the Sumoud civilian coalition led by former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok (currently based in the UAE) and delegates from the Democratic Bloc.

    These meetings are part of a broader Saudi strategy to build political leverage inside Sudan comparable to the extensive influence the UAE has cultivated across sections of Sudan’s civilian political sphere since the war began. Riyadh is also working to build a broad civilian political coalition aligned with Burhan’s SAF-aligned administration. One Sudanese political figure familiar with the discussions said Saudi officials have privately expressed regret over their approach to Sudan following the 2019 popular uprising that toppled long-time ruler Omar Hassan al-Bashir, acknowledging that Riyadh and other Gulf states overrelied on Emirati guidance when backing the country’s post-revolution transitional military leadership.

    “The Saudis increasingly believe that their previous approach helped deepen instability rather than contain it,” the source said. Today, Saudi officials are prioritizing the formation of a civilian-led governing structure, a position that came to the fore during recent debates over Burhan’s appointment of a new civilian prime minister. Multiple sources confirm that Riyadh pushed Burhan aggressively to appoint a civilian premier before he ultimately named Kamil Idris to the role. That push created public tensions with Cairo, which favors a slower, more deliberate transition process and is cautious about rapid restructuring of Sudan’s wartime government. “The Egyptians opposed the idea,” one diplomat confirmed. “But the Saudis pushed hard for Burhan to move ahead with appointing a civilian prime minister.”

    The competing approaches taken by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt underscore the growing zero-sum competition among regional powers for influence over Sudan’s war and its uncertain post-conflict future. While all Gulf states continue to publicly voice support for diplomatic initiatives to end the conflict, diplomats privately acknowledge that competing strategic interests are the primary driver of their engagement with Sudan’s military and civilian factions.

    For the immediate future, diplomats broadly agree that Bahrain’s indirect mediation is unlikely to produce a quick breakthrough between the SAF and the UAE. Even so, the resumption of backchannel contacts signals that despite high-profile public hostility between the two sides, lines of communication remain open behind closed doors, as regional powers continue to jockey for position in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more across Sudan.