Global Pulse

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  • Victim or enabler? Epstein girlfriend who could face questions despite plea deal

    Victim or enabler? Epstein girlfriend who could face questions despite plea deal

    For nearly a decade after Jeffrey Epstein’s death in prison while awaiting sex trafficking charges, one of his closest partners has remained out of the public eye – but new scrutiny of court documents, private emails and first-hand accounts is pulling Nadia Marcinko into the center of ongoing questions about Epstein’s criminal network.

    Marcinko, a former Slovakian model who trained as a professional pilot, was Epstein’s primary romantic partner for seven years following the end of his sexual relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell, newly analyzed correspondence from Epstein’s personal files confirms. Their connection began in 2003, when 18-year-old Marcinko, then working for a modeling agency run by Epstein’s close associate Jean-Luc Brunel, was introduced to the 50-year-old financier at a New York birthday party. Brunel arranged Marcinko’s U.S. visa, and Epstein funded Brunel’s agency to the tune of $1 million, creating an immediate power imbalance that would shape their entire relationship.

    Born into a stable, upper-middle-class Slovakian family, Marcinko was described by childhood classmates as deeply reserved – a “little grey mouse” who was pushed into modeling as a teenager. Within days of their first meeting, Epstein invited her to his Palm Beach mansion, then to his private Caribbean island Little St. James, and the pair quickly became constant companions. Emails show the pair marked September 17 as their relationship anniversary for years, and by 2009, Epstein acknowledged to a third party that he was “in love with nadia.”

    But the warm exchanges in their correspondence are paired with clear evidence of Epstein’s coercive, controlling behavior. He dictated every detail of Marcinko’s life, requiring her to master domestic skills, complete a fixed reading schedule, and get his approval for any item brought into their shared home, according to a 2009 email. In a heavily redacted Department of Justice document released earlier this year, Marcinko (identified by matching testimony details) told investigators Epstein controlled her weight and clothing, forced her to undergo multiple plastic surgeries, and physically abused her – including choking her and throwing her down a flight of stairs. In one archived email, Marcinko herself accuses Epstein of “abusive partner behavior.”

    A recurring theme through years of emails is Epstein’s demand that Marcinko recruit other women to satisfy his sexual desires. Marcinko complied with these requests, writing in a 2006 message: “I will do what I can, even though if this is simply about you having sex with someone else, I don’t know how it makes our relationship better. I will try to find girls whenever we are in New York.” The BBC’s review of the files found no direct evidence Marcinko ever recruited underage girls, but legal experts note that deceptive recruitment of adults for sexual exploitation can still qualify as trafficking. Even at the height of her involvement, Marcinko acknowledged her discomfort with the dynamic, writing in 2006: “Since I met you, my life revolves around you, there is nothing else I have and it makes me feel very uneasy.”

    During Epstein’s 13-month 2008-2009 prison sentence for a 2008 conviction of soliciting sex from a minor, prison records show Marcinko visited him at least 67 times. That same period, Epstein paid for her to train as a commercial pilot, a skill she pursued enthusiastically, earning multiple certifications and working toward financial independence. After Epstein’s release, their relationship intensified, with emails revealing the pair attempted to start a family together in 2009. They finally split in 2010 after a particularly violent assault, Marcinko told investigators, though she remained connected to Epstein for years afterward: she worked as a co-pilot for his private jet starting in 2012, and Epstein agreed to double her annual income from aviation work as late as 2015.

    In a striking turn, Marcinko began cooperating with the FBI’s Epstein investigation in 2018, a year before Epstein’s second arrest and death in prison. In 2022, when her U.S. visa expired, the FBI supported her application for permanent residency, stating in court filings that she had been “recruited, harbored and obtained by Jeffrey Epstein and others for purposes of a coercive sexual relationship.” Since that ruling, she has dropped out of public view, with public records linking her to a New York Zen Buddhist center as recently as 2024. Her legal team has previously stated she is a victim of Epstein’s abuse, working through trauma and plans to speak out publicly to support other survivors one day.

    Today, Marcinko finds herself facing new calls for investigation. She was one of four women granted immunity from prosecution as part of Epstein’s controversial 2008 plea deal, and while two of the other women – Sarah Kellen and Lesley Groff – are set to be questioned by U.S. congressional investigators this year, Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican member of the House Oversight Committee, has called for all four women (including Marcinko and Adriana Ross) to be probed, claiming all were complicit in the trafficking of minors.

    The case of Marcinko raises a nuanced, critical question that legal experts are still grappling with: Can a person who was a victim of coercive control also be considered an accomplice to crimes committed under that coercion? Bridgette Carr, a clinical law professor at the University of Michigan who specializes in human trafficking victim advocacy, says the key distinction lies in whether a victim was able to escape the perpetrator’s power before committing criminal acts. “The line I draw is whether the victim has ever been away from the power and control of the perpetrator,” Carr explains. “What matters is whether it’s reasonable that [the victim] would believe that that perpetrator [still] has power over them.”

    For outsiders, the full scope of the choices Marcinko made during her 15-year association with Epstein can never be fully known, but one 2012 email she sent to Epstein offers a rare glimpse into her own conflicted conscience: “I do not want to be with you, but it upsets me to see you use the same exact patterns to seduce, manipulate, and ultimately control and hurt other girls. I don’t even like them and I actually feel guilty about knowing how they will end up. I know what you are capable of and I will always be protective of you out of pure loyalty and stubbornness, but my conscience is far from clear.” The BBC reached out to Marcinko for comment for this report, and received no response.

  • Spanish fashion magnate’s son arrested on suspicion of involvement in his death

    Spanish fashion magnate’s son arrested on suspicion of involvement in his death

    In a major development in a high-profile case that has gripped Spanish business and legal circles, Catalan regional police have arrested Jonathan Andic, 45-year-old vice chairman of Spanish fast fashion giant Mango and eldest son of the brand’s billionaire founder Isak Andic, in connection with his father’s fatal cliff fall in late 2024.

    The incident first unfolded last December, when 71-year-old Isak Andic fell approximately 150 meters (nearly 500 feet) from a cliff while hiking in mountain terrain outside Barcelona. At the time, Jonathan Andic was the only person accompanying the retail tycoon and the sole witness to the accident. Law enforcement initially launched an inquiry into the death but closed the case within weeks, only to reopen the probe last March. By October, regional police confirmed they were re-examining the death as a suspected homicide, leading to this week’s arrest.

    A spokesperson for the Catalan regional police force Mossos d’Esquadra, who requested anonymity in line with department protocol, confirmed Tuesday that the suspect has been transferred to court facilities in Martorell, the eastern Spanish city where the investigation is currently based. The spokesperson also noted that a court-ordered nondisclosure order remains in effect for the case, barring the release of additional details about the ongoing probe.

    Beyond the legal investigation, the case casts an unexpected shadow over a landmark year for Mango, the retail empire built by Isak Andic over four decades. Born to a Turkish family, Andic relocated to Spain in his youth and opened the brand’s first boutique in Barcelona in 1984. Under his leadership, Mango expanded from a single local store to one of Europe’s most dominant fast fashion players, with a global footprint spanning 2,900 locations across 120 international markets. Most recently, the company announced a record-breaking 2025 fiscal performance, with total annual revenue climbing 11% year-over-year to nearly 3.8 billion euros (equivalent to 4.4 billion U.S. dollars).

    As heir to his father’s estate and a top executive at the firm, Jonathan Andic has held a key leadership role at Mango for years. The arrest marks an unprecedented twist in a case that has drawn widespread public attention across Spain, as the investigation proceeds under court-ordered secrecy.

  • Two bodies of missing Italians recovered from inside Maldives cave

    Two bodies of missing Italians recovered from inside Maldives cave

    A deadly scuba diving incident off the coast of the Maldives last week has left five people dead, with recovery teams continuing the grim work of retrieving the remaining victims trapped in a deep underwater cave. On Tuesday, a team of specialized Finnish divers successfully pulled the bodies of two Italian divers from the third chamber of the infamous local site known as Shark Cave, capping a difficult two-hour retrieval operation, Maldivian government spokesperson Mohamed Hossain Shareef confirmed to the BBC.

    The two recovered remains are now being transported to the Maldivian capital Male for formal identification. The tragedy unfolded last Thursday near Vaavu Atoll, when a group of divers entered the unapproved cave system, which reaches depths of up to 60 meters (197 feet). The first victim, Italian diving instructor and boat operations manager Gianluca Benedetti, was recovered shortly after the accident, according to local reports.

    The disaster claimed a fifth life on Saturday, when a Maldivian rescue diver died during an initial search effort for the missing divers. On Monday, Finnish specialist divers located four of the missing divers in the cave chamber furthest from the entrance, clearing the way for Tuesday’s retrieval of two of the bodies. Recovery operations for the two still-trapped victims are scheduled to resume Wednesday, with local officials expressing cautious optimism that both will be recovered by the end of the day.

    Investigators hope that full retrieval of all victims will help shed light on the exact sequence of events that led to the accident. The recovery operation has been classified as highly complex from the start, due to the cave’s extreme depth, tight interior corridors, and extremely poor visibility. The cave’s entrance already sits 47 meters below the surface, with its interconnected chambers ranging to even greater depths. Complicating matters further, weather conditions on the day of the accident were rough, with local authorities having already issued a yellow warning advising against activity for passenger boats and fishing vessels.

    New details have also emerged about the dive team’s background: four of the Italian divers were affiliated with the University of Genoa, but institutional representatives told the BBC the university never authorized any deep-sea diving activity as part of the team’s research mission in the region. “Any requests submitted to the Maldivian authorities were evidently made outside the scope of the mission authorised by the University,” a university spokesperson said. Maldivian government officials confirmed the team held a permit to dive to a maximum depth of 50 meters, but never disclosed their plan to explore Shark Cave in their permit application.

  • Mango founder’s son arrested in Spain over father’s death

    Mango founder’s son arrested in Spain over father’s death

    In a stunning development that has rocked the global fashion industry, Catalan regional police confirmed Tuesday that Jonathan Andic, eldest son of Mango clothing empire founder Isak Andic, has been taken into custody in connection with his father’s fatal December 2024 hiking accident.

    The 71-year-old retail tycoon, whose net worth was estimated at $4.5 billion by Forbes at the time of his passing, plunged to his death while hiking in the rugged Montserrat mountain range near Barcelona. Jonathan Andic was the only person present with his father when the fall occurred near the Salnitre caves in Collbato, a region known for its sharp cliff faces and deep ravines.

    When the incident first occurred, investigators categorized Isak Andic’s death as a tragic accident, with early evidence pointing to an accidental slip on uneven terrain. A Spanish judge closed the case entirely in January 2025 after finding no proof of criminal conduct. However, the investigation was reopened in October 2025 after authorities flagged significant inconsistencies in Jonathan Andic’s official testimony, according to local media reports.

    Shortly after Isak’s death, Spanish national newspaper El Pais revealed that investigators had seized Jonathan Andic’s mobile phone as part of evidence gathering. The outlet also published testimony from Isak Andic’s partner, professional golfer Estefania Knuth, which detailed a history of tense relations between the father and son. Sources cited in the report indicate the pair clashed repeatedly over Jonathan Andic’s leadership role within the global fashion brand.

    The history of their corporate conflict dates back to 2014, when Isak Andic transferred substantial day-to-day operational control of Mango to his son. Just 12 months later, the founder retook full, tight control of the company after Mango faced widespread operational and financial challenges. Knuth herself is also enmeshed in a separate legal financial dispute with Isak Andic’s three children over the terms of the fashion billionaire’s will.
    Catalonia’s High Court noted Tuesday that few public details about the active investigation are available, as the proceedings remain under judicial seal. Jonathan Andic has repeatedly rejected any claims of wrongdoing, and continues to assert that his father’s death was a purely accidental fall.

    Jonathan Andic joined the family-founded fashion brand in 2005, following his studies in audiovisual communication in the United States and business administration in Spain. Two years after joining the firm, he took over leadership of the popular Mango Man menswear line, and held the position of vice-chair of Mango’s board of directors at the time of his father’s death. A reclusive figure who rarely speaks to media, Jonathan Andic offered a rare public comment in a 2023 Mango promotional YouTube video, saying: “If you are clear about where you want to go and keep moving forward, you will end up achieving your goals.”

    To understand the scope of the empire at the center of this case, Isak Andic’s life and career transformed global fast fashion. Born in Istanbul, Turkey, Andic moved with his family to Barcelona as a teenager in the late 1960s. In 1984, he and his older brother Nahman opened the first Mango store on Barcelona’s iconic luxury shopping boulevard, Paseo de Gracia. The store was an immediate hit: Spain had only emerged from Francisco Franco’s decades-long dictatorship a decade prior, and Spanish consumers were eager for accessible, modern, on-trend clothing that broke from the limited styles of the Franco era.

    From that first store, Mango expanded rapidly across Spain, eventually growing into one of the world’s largest fashion retail groups. Today, the brand operates roughly 2,850 stores across more than 120 global markets, employs more than 16,400 workers worldwide, and offers a full range of casual and professional apparel for consumers across demographics.

  • San Diego mosque attack: Police explains how it unfolded

    San Diego mosque attack: Police explains how it unfolded

    Law enforcement officials have released new details outlining the sequence of a deadly shooting at a San Diego, California, mosque that claimed four lives, including the two teenage attackers. According to police accounts, the two young suspects carried out a premeditated attack inside the place of worship, opening fire on worshippers and killing three men before turning the guns on themselves. Investigators are currently working under the working theory that the violence was motivated by hate, a classification that points to the targeting of the Muslim community based on religious bias. As the investigation continues, authorities are working to piece together a full picture of the attackers’ backgrounds, potential radicalization pathways, and any prior warning signs that could have been missed. The attack has sent shockwaves through the local San Diego community and sparked renewed national conversations about religious tolerance, gun violence prevention, and the growing threat of domestic extremism targeting minority faith groups. Local faith leaders have called for unity across religious communities in the wake of the tragedy, while law enforcement has pledged to increase security patrols at houses of worship across the region to prevent further acts of violence.

  • Two dead in Spain shooting, with babies reportedly among injured

    Two dead in Spain shooting, with babies reportedly among injured

    A shocking act of gun violence has rocked the small southern Spanish town of El Ejido, located near the city of Almería, leaving two people dead and four others seriously wounded. Spain’s national law enforcement agency, the Guardia Civil, has confirmed that a 25-year-old man has been taken into custody on suspicion of carrying out the fatal attack that targeted his own parents and several other victims.

    Local emergency dispatch received the first report of the shooting at 23:00 local time on Monday evening, which equates to 22:00 British Summer Time. Emergency responders quickly arrived at the scene, and all four injured victims were immediately transported to area hospitals for urgent medical care. Among those hurt are two young children, a 60-year-old man, and an additional adult, according to unofficial local media accounts. One of the injured children is the 25-year-old suspect’s own seven-month-old son, while the other injured child is an 18-month-old toddler, the reports add.

    As of Tuesday, Spanish authorities have not released the formal identities of the suspect or the two slain victims, citing ongoing investigative procedures. Following the shooting, the suspect fled the scene and was briefly at large before turning himself in voluntarily at a local police precinct, according to Spanish news agency Europa Press.

    Guardia Civil officials have confirmed that they have launched a full investigation into the attack, with investigators currently working to piece together a clear motive for the violence. What makes this attack particularly notable for Spain is that mass shootings remain an extremely rare occurrence in the country. Data from Project Insight, an organization that tracks gun violence across the European continent, shows that only four mass shootings were recorded in Spain between 2000 and 2023, making this incident an anomaly for the nation’s typically low rates of mass gun crime.

  • Malians tell of torture and killings by army, Russian fighters

    Malians tell of torture and killings by army, Russian fighters

    Across windswept refugee camps in eastern Mauritania’s arid Hodh Chargui region, hundreds of thousands of Malians who fled years of unrelenting violence have shared harrowing firsthand accounts of murder, torture and collective cruelty at the hands of Malian government troops and Russian paramilitary fighters. These testimonies, collected by Agence France-Presse from 10 displaced civilians, paint a grim picture of widespread civilian harm that has followed the Malian junta’s deepening military partnership with Russian forces.

    For 62-year-old Cherifa — a pseudonym used to protect her from retaliation — the grief of losing her son remains raw and unhealed. Last summer, her son left their home to trade goods across central Mali, only to encounter a joint patrol of Malian soldiers and fighters from the Russia-controlled Africa Corps, the rebranded successor to the infamous Wagner Group mercenary force. Herders hiding in nearby dunes watched as the patrol detained Cherifa’s son and four other traveling companions, tied them up, beheaded them, and burned all their merchandise, Cherifa recounted. No community members dared return to collect the bodies for 24 hours, terrified of ambushes or hidden explosive traps.

    “His death is my greatest pain,” Cherifa said, her voice shaking as she sat in her spartan brick shelter in the refugee camp. “They pour their hatred on innocent, defenceless people.”

    Nomadic Fulani and Tuareg communities have borne the brunt of these abuses, according to multiple testimonies, with residents regularly targeted on unproven accusations of ties to jihadist insurgents or separatist movements. Mali’s ruling military junta, which seized control of the country in a 2020 coup, has turned to Russian paramilitaries to counter a decade-long jihadist insurgency that has destabilized large swathes of the Sahel nation. Rights organizations have repeatedly condemned the violent tactics employed by the joint forces, and data from conflict tracking project Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) analyzed by AFP underscores the scope of civilian harm.

    Since the junta took power in 2020, government military operations have killed more than 8,500 people, nearly half of whom are civilians. When Russian fighters accompany Malian troops, 60 percent of those killed are unarmed civilians; when Russian forces operate independently, that share jumps to 90 percent.

    Fear hangs over every conversation in the Mauritanian refugee camps, where even mentioning Russian fighters — still most commonly referred to by their former Wagner branding — triggers visible anxiety. Nedoune, a 50-year-old Tuareg herder, shared his own experience of arbitrary detention and torture that began when he was spotted fetching water two years ago in Mali’s northern Timbuktu region.

    After being beaten, bound, and forced to accompany the fighters for two days as they rounded up civilians and burned nomadic camps to the ground, Nedoune was transferred to a detention facility in central Mali, where he was tortured for four consecutive days during interrogations about alleged jihadist activity. “They pour water on your body, then put wires in your ears and send an electric current until you pass out,” he explained, his expression blank as he recalled that they burned all his belongings and slaughtered his entire herd. He was only released after his family paid a ransom of 310,000 CFA francs, roughly $550. Nedoune also witnessed other detainees being killed: he watched through a gap in his turban as one man was beaten nearly to death before his throat was cut and his body dumped from a moving military vehicle.

    Medical teams working with Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which provides care to traumatized refugees in border towns like Fassala, say they have collected even more alarming accounts of brutality. “We have testimonies of torture, including people who say they were buried alive,” said MSF coordinator Mayoury Savant. “We also see sexual violence, affecting both women and men.”

    More than 300,000 Malians have now fled across the border into Mauritania’s Hodh Chargui region to escape the ongoing violence. The conflict that has torn Mali apart since 2012 includes a jihadist insurgency by groups aligned with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, separatist unrest, and clashes between criminal gangs, but refugees say the worst abuse has come from joint Malian-Russian operations. In recent months, a fresh wave of refugees has arrived after jihadist groups issued ultimatums ordering civilians to leave targeted areas within 24 hours or face execution.

    Human rights groups have now brought a case before the African Union demanding accountability for the alleged abuses committed by Malian and Russian forces. Late last month, coordinated attacks by Tuareg separatists and jihadist fighters delivered a major setback to the junta, culminating in separatists capturing the key northern town of Kidal. For many refugees in Mauritania, most of whom support the Tuareg separatist movement, the subsequent withdrawal of Russian fighters from northern bases has sparked cautious hope that they may soon be able to return to their homes.

    Thirty-year-old Fatima, who fled her Timbuktu region village three years ago after government airstrikes, says many women who stayed behind have suffered unspeakable harm. “Everything happened to them except death… we know some were tortured,” she said. “Before the Russians came, we lived in peace. If they take back Timbuktu and the other towns, I can go home.”

  • IEA chief: Only weeks of oil inventories left thanks to Iran war

    IEA chief: Only weeks of oil inventories left thanks to Iran war

    As the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz—sparked by the United States’ conflict with Iran—shows no sign of de-escalation, top energy and economic officials are sounding the alarm over imminent threats to global energy security, spiraling inflation, and a potential worldwide recession.

    Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of this week’s G7 summit in Paris on Monday, International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol warned that global oil reserves are dwindling at a dangerous pace, with only weeks of strategic and commercial inventories remaining to offset the current supply disruption. Birol noted that oil stockpiles are “declining rapidly,” and highlighted a critical misalignment between physical and financial energy markets: futures prices have not yet adjusted to reflect the impending supply crunch, leaving markets underprepared for sudden volatility.

    The supply disruption extends far beyond oil, Birol added, with fertilizer shortages—also rooted in the conflict—set to drive a fresh wave of food price hikes that will push global inflation even higher. “That might give a big push to inflation numbers,” he warned.

    His warnings echo a recent analysis from the *Financial Times*, which reported Sunday that global energy markets are nearing a critical “tipping point” that could trigger another sudden price surge, tipping the already fragile global economy into recession. Paul Diggle, chief economist at asset management firm Aberdeen, told the outlet his team is modeling the economic fallout of oil prices spiking to $180 per barrel—a scenario that would ignite a full-blown global inflation crisis. “We are taking that outcome very seriously,” Diggle said. “We are living on borrowed time.”

    The current standoff stems from Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint through which roughly 20% of global oil supplies pass, implemented in retaliation for US-Israeli military strikes on the country. A temporary ceasefire announced between Washington and Tehran last month briefly pulled oil prices lower, but the strait has remained closed throughout the truce, and tensions are now rapidly escalating as President Donald Trump has threatened to resume offensive operations if no deal to reopen the waterway is reached quickly.

    In a Sunday post on his Truth Social platform, Trump issued a stark new threat to Iran, promising the country would be completely destroyed if it did not meet his demands. “For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them,” Trump wrote. “TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!”

    Last week, Trump rejected Iran’s latest peace proposal. Tehran has offered major concessions on uranium enrichment, but has demanded that broader nuclear negotiations be delayed until after a peace deal is reached and the Strait of Hormuz is reopened. Since the start of the conflict, Trump has demanded Iran fully dismantle both its missile program and its nuclear activities— which Iran insists are entirely peaceful—and cut all diplomatic and military ties to its regional allies. In a report Sunday, Iran’s state-owned Mehr News Agency argued that Washington has offered “no tangible concessions” in return for Iran’s proposed compromises, leaving negotiations deadlocked. “The United States wants to obtain concessions that it failed to obtain during the war, which will lead to an impasse in the negotiations,” the outlet noted.

    Speaking to Fox News during a visit to Beijing over the weekend, Trump defended his rejection of the proposal, claiming “the Iranians are crazy, and you know what? Because of that, they cannot have a nuclear weapon.” He added that he finds it unacceptable to delay nuclear talks until after a peace deal is finalized.

    Multiple reports confirm Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday about resuming offensive strikes on Iran, a move that would end the month-long ceasefire. Security analysts say the only path to a diplomatic breakthrough requires Washington to compromise on Tehran’s core priorities. “Iran’s priorities remain consistent: ending what it views as economic siege conditions, reopening maritime access and reducing pressure in the Gulf, negotiating an end to the broader conflict, and only afterward addressing the nuclear issue,” explained Danny Citrinowicz, a senior researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies. “At the present moment, it is difficult to see the Iranian leadership agreeing to any framework that does not meaningfully engage with those core demands.”

    Iranian officials have pushed back hard against Trump’s latest threats, which come after he previously declared in April that he would destroy Iran’s entire entire civilization “never to be brought back again,” and recently posted an image of himself on a military ship with the caption “It was the calm before the storm.” Abolfazl Shakarchi, a spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces, told Mehr that any new aggression to compensate for the US’s failure in the conflict will only result in harsher retaliation. “Repeating any folly to compensate for America’s disgrace in the Third Imposed War against Iran will result in nothing but receiving more crushing and severe blows,” he said.

    Almigdad Alruhaid, a correspondent for Al Jazeera reporting from Tehran, noted that Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric has only galvanized Iranian public defiance, even as observers acknowledge the window for diplomatic resolution is rapidly closing. “The kind of language displayed by Trump on Sunday is not acceptable here in Tehran. They are projecting defiance rather than [giving] an immediate response to this kind of rhetoric,” Alruhaid said. “Behind all of this rhetoric, there is awareness that the diplomatic window right now is narrowing.”

    Not all US voices are pushing for escalation. Senior Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has publicly urged Trump to follow through on his threats to bomb Iran’s energy infrastructure, but foreign policy experts warn such a move would trigger catastrophic global consequences. Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, explained why Trump has so far refrained from launching such strikes: “Tehran would retaliate and take out the energy infrastructure in the [Gulf Cooperation Council] states. This would lead to a far worse oil crisis—one rooted in production problems, not just a bottleneck in the Persian Gulf. The global economy would be thrown into a deep recession. Fuel shortages would lead to food shortages worldwide. Trump’s presidency would be destroyed,” Parsi said. “None of this matters to Lindsey. He’ll burn the entire planet as long as he gets his war. Trump’s biggest mistake has been to listen to Lindsey and his allies.”

  • ‘No longer fit for purpose’: Politicisation of aid endangers millions, medical researchers warn

    ‘No longer fit for purpose’: Politicisation of aid endangers millions, medical researchers warn

    A landmark report published in *The Lancet* by a panel of 38 leading global health experts has delivered a stark condemnation of the current state of the international humanitarian aid system, warning that deep funding cuts and pervasive politicization have reduced life-saving support to intentional rationing that leaves hundreds of millions of vulnerable people without critical care, and demanding an immediate, transformative restructuring of how aid is delivered globally.

    The analysis, led by the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health and *The Lancet* Commission on Health, Conflict, and Forced Displacement, argues that the global aid architecture has degraded into little more than “survival triage”, where only the most extreme, high-profile needs are addressed while millions of unmet needs are pushed entirely out of formal response plans. The report identifies growing politicization of aid — where funding is tied to donor nations’ national security and foreign policy priorities rather than on-the-ground need — as the core driver of the system’s collapse, pointing to the 2025 dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under the second Trump administration as a defining catalyst for the current crisis.

    For decades, the United States held the position of the world’s largest single donor to international humanitarian programming. What began as a 90-day temporary freeze on all foreign assistance after Trump took office in January 2025 quickly escalated into a near-total dissolution of U.S. global humanitarian efforts. By July 2025, USAID had been fully shut down, and its remaining functions were absorbed into the U.S. State Department, a restructuring that gutted longstanding aid operations across the globe.

    Paul B. Spiegel, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health and chair of the commission that produced the report, explained to *Middle East Eye* that while the administration’s stated goal of cutting wasteful aid spending had some surface legitimacy, the chaotic and ideologically driven method of dismantling USAID caused irreversible damage to the global system. Beyond the restructuring of U.S. aid, Spiegel highlighted two other critical contributing factors: the rise of anti-refugee populist sentiment across Western donor nations, and a widespread global erosion of international humanitarian law, with little push for accountability from major world powers.

    New data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) underscores the scale of the funding collapse: total humanitarian aid from the world’s richest nations dropped nearly 25% in 2025 compared to 2024, with more than half of that decline directly attributable to U.S. aid cuts. Citing UN figures, the *Lancet* report notes that global unmet humanitarian need fell from a projected $44 billion to just $29 billion in allocated response funding in 2025, and by the end of the year, only half of that reduced allocation had actually been funded. For 2026, global need is pegged at $33 billion, with $23 billion earmarked exclusively for the most immediately life-threatening crises — a figure that equals just 1% of total annual global military spending. By 2026, an estimated 239 million people across the globe will require humanitarian aid, the report projects, but only one-third of that population will actually receive any support.

    The report stresses that public health financing must never be treated as a tool of statecraft. When aid is structured around political priorities rather than need, the system cannot self-correct: exclusion of vulnerable populations becomes normalized, accountability is reduced to mere bureaucratic compliance, and life-saving humanitarian health support becomes increasingly selective and unreliable, the authors warn.

    The ongoing crisis in the Gaza Strip serves as a devastating case study of the system’s failure, the report argues. Despite an October 2024 ceasefire, ongoing Israeli military operations have left more than 172,000 Palestinians wounded, with the UN confirming that at least one-third of those injured live with permanent, life-altering disabilities. Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, nearly 600 aid workers have been killed by Israeli fire, and only 14 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially operational. While the UN, leading academic scholars, and major human rights organizations have recognized the conflict in Gaza as a genocide, a 2024 *Lancet* study placed the total Palestinian death toll at over 186,000, far higher than the official count of more than 72,500. Backed by the U.S., Israel has conditioned approval for humanitarian aid convoys entering Gaza on Hamas meeting its demand for full disarmament, a policy that intentionally blocks aid from reaching hundreds of thousands of vulnerable civilians.

    “I think Gaza was a huge turning point, where people said enough is enough,” Spiegel told *Middle East Eye*. The crisis in Gaza laid bare the core failures of the current system: politicization strips international law of any meaningful consequence, core humanitarian principles are applied only when politically convenient, and access to survival is deliberately rationed. The report concludes that the current system is devoid of its founding principles and is “no longer fit for purpose.” The core objective of reform, Spiegel says, must be to remove political influence from humanitarian funding as much as possible and refocus the entire system on measured, on-the-ground need.

    Unlike many previous reports that offer scattered, optional policy recommendations, the commission frames its proposals as a cohesive, actionable framework designed to be implemented, measured, and enforced, even in the face of political resistance and unequal global power dynamics. The authors argue that incremental tweaks to the current system will not be enough; a full, long-term structural overhaul is required.

    The first core reform is a radical shift in power: instead of control resting with Western lawmakers and senior leaders of international aid organizations, decision-making authority should be transferred to local communities and the people who actually receive aid. International organizations that operate in crisis zones should be required to clearly justify their involvement, set explicit timelines for exiting, and transfer full authority to local leaders as quickly as possible. Spiegel noted that the UN currently suffers from redundant, overlapping humanitarian operations, with agencies competing against one another for funding and influence. To address this, the report recommends consolidating all UN humanitarian emergency operations into a single, streamlined unified agency focused exclusively on operational response.

    Additional key recommendations include the creation of a new Global Health Protection Alliance tasked with preventing attacks on healthcare infrastructure and holding perpetrators accountable for violations, the adoption of measurable health outcomes — such as preventable death rates and continuity of care — as core indicators of compliance with international humanitarian law, and the establishment of an independent, global pooled humanitarian fund that is fully insulated from donor political pressure. The report also calls for expanding direct cash assistance to affected populations, which bypasses inefficient and politically compromised traditional aid delivery systems.

    At its core, the report argues that the right to health must be the central, non-negotiable principle guiding all humanitarian decision-making. Spiegel argues that the current confluence of geopolitical shifts and massive funding cuts creates a rare, once-in-a-generation opportunity for transformative change. While global leaders may not embrace reform voluntarily, the scale of the current crisis will force change across the board. “Our goal is to try to find and provide a pathway to make it so it’s transformative,” Spiegel said.

  • Bolivia protest sees violent clashes, looting in La Paz

    Bolivia protest sees violent clashes, looting in La Paz

    Weeks of growing civil unrest in Bolivia boiled over into violent confrontation in the capital La Paz on Monday, as thousands of demonstrators demanding the resignation of center-right President Rodrigo Paz stormed key government sites, triggering tear gas barrages from security forces and widespread disruption across the Andean nation. The unrest comes as Bolivia grapples with its most severe economic crisis in 40 years, deepening public anger over soaring prices, failed policy reforms, and growing inequality after a shift away from two decades of socialist governance.

    The diverse coalition of protesters is led by workers, Indigenous communities, farmers, miners, and teachers, who have united around three core demands: immediate wage hikes to offset runaway inflation, concrete measures to restore long-term economic stability, and a reversal of moves to privatize Bolivia’s state-owned enterprises. Inflation in the country hit 14% year-on-year in April, the highest level in a generation, eroding household purchasing power and leaving many struggling to afford basic necessities.

    Paz, a conservative leader who took office less than six months ago after 20 years of socialist rule, has drawn sharp criticism for his early policy moves. Most notably, he eliminated long-standing fuel subsidies that had drained the national treasury’s international dollar reserves, a reform intended to shore up public finances that has instead left the country facing persistent fuel supply shortages.

    Monday’s clashes erupted early in the day, when riot police deployed tear gas to block a group of protesting miners from entering La Paz’s main central square, where the seat of national government is located. In response, demonstrators hurled stones and homemade explosives back at security forces. Official government imagery released after the confrontation confirmed that protesters had looted a government office, stealing furniture, computers, monitors and other office equipment. While authorities have not officially reported any casualties from the day’s violence, reporters from Agence France-Presse (AFP) on the ground observed at least two injured protesters. Deputy Interior Minister Hernan Paredes also confirmed that one protester died in clashes over the weekend, after falling into a ditch during skirmishes that broke out when security forces temporarily cleared protest blockades.

    On Monday afternoon, calm began to gradually return to La Paz’s streets, but the aftermath of the unrest was visible everywhere: thick clouds of tear gas still hung over major thoroughfares, most local businesses remained shuttered, and basic supplies were running critically low after weeks of road blockades that have cut off supply routes into the capital. As of Monday, the Bolivian Highway Administration counted at least 28 active blockades on major highways across the country. Prosters retook their blockade positions over the weekend after security forces briefly opened access routes Saturday, and resumed cutting off traffic to the capital on Monday. The government has been airlifting emergency food supplies into La Paz since May 10 to address widespread shortages of food, medicine, and fuel.

    In a significant escalation of the government’s response to the unrest, Attorney General Roger Mariaca announced Monday that authorities had issued an arrest warrant for Mario Argollo, secretary-general of the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), Bolivia’s largest trade union federation, which has joined the calls for Paz’s resignation. Argollo faces charges of terrorism and inciting criminal activity, and the warrant is already in the hands of national police command. The government’s crackdown on the union leader has done little to dampen protester resolve, however.

    “We want him to resign because he’s incompetent. Bolivia is going through a moment of chaos,” 60-year-old farmer Ivan Alarcon, who traveled 60 miles from his home in Caquiaviri in western Bolivia to join the protests, told AFP.

    Supporters of former socialist President Evo Morales, who held power from 2006 to 2019, added further momentum to the protests on Monday, arriving in La Paz after a seven-day march from Oruro, a city roughly 180 kilometers south of the capital. While the government has already reached deals to end protests with some smaller groups, including urban teachers and certain mining factions, hardline factions of the movement have vowed to escalate their actions until Paz steps down.