分类： world

Three and a half years after the deadliest Chinese aviation disaster in decades, newly released U.S. investigation data has shed fresh light on the 2022 crash of China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735, which claimed all 132 lives on board when the Boeing 737 plummeted into a hillside in southern China.

According to data obtained by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) via a Freedom of Information Act request, fuel flow to both of the jet’s engines was intentionally cut while the aircraft was cruising at 29,000 feet, a finding that lends credibility to unconfirmed theories that the crash was deliberate. The data, pulled from one of the plane’s recovered black boxes that was sent to the NTSB’s Washington D.C. lab for analysis, confirms that both engine fuel control switches were manually moved to the “cut-off” position, after which the engines’ rotational speeds dropped sharply.

Fuel switches are purpose-built cockpit controls designed to regulate the flow of jet fuel into the engines, used almost exclusively by flight crew to start engines during pre-flight preparation or shut them down after landing. No mechanical malfunction is known to automatically shift both fully functional fuel switches into the cut-off position during cruise flight.

The timeline of the disaster, recorded by independent flight tracking service FlightRadar24, aligns with the new data: on March 21, 2022, the flight departed Kunming, Yunnan’s provincial capital, on a routine scheduled domestic trip to Guangzhou, southern China’s major trade hub. After more than an hour of uneventful flight, the aircraft suddenly entered an uncontrolled, rapid descent. In just two minutes and 15 seconds, it dropped from a cruising altitude of 29,100 feet to under 10,000 feet, with its final recorded altitude logged at 3,225 feet at 14:22 local time. Air traffic controllers made repeated attempts to contact the flight crew during the descent but received no response.

China’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA), which is leading the official investigation into the crash, has yet to publish a final public report, justifying the delay on grounds of national security concerns. Shortly after the crash, CAA officials confirmed that the flight crew held valid operating licenses, had passed required pre-flight health checks, and were properly rested, ruling out basic fatigue or certification issues. When media speculation emerged that the crash was an act of pilot suicide, the CAA issued an official denial, stating that such baseless rumors misled the public and disrupted the ongoing investigation.

As the aircraft was manufactured by American aerospace firm Boeing, the NTSB was granted authority to assign a senior investigator to assist the Chinese-led probe, a standard arrangement for international aviation accident investigations. Prior to the release of the NTSB data, the disaster’s cause had remained a subject of global speculation, with possible causes ranging from structural failure and mid-air collision to pilot error and deliberate action. The new NTSB findings are the first official verified data to publicly support the deliberate action theory, though Chinese authorities have not yet commented on the newly released information.

China has seen dramatic improvements in commercial aviation safety over the past three decades, with fatal air crashes remaining extremely rare. The 2022 MU5735 crash was the deadliest air disaster to occur in Chinese airspace since 1992.

Just one month after agreeing to a fragile ceasefire with the United States, Iran has dramatically escalated tensions across the Persian Gulf by launching a coordinated barrage of missiles and drones against the United Arab Emirates, marking the first major assault on a Gulf Cooperation Council state in the post-ceasefire era. The large-scale attack has triggered immediate warnings from Abu Dhabi that it reserves the right to launch retaliatory action, stoking fears of a wider regional conflict.

In an official statement released following the assault, the UAE’s foreign ministry condemned the operation as a reckless and unacceptable escalation that directly undermines the sovereignty, security and territorial stability of the country. “These attacks represent a dangerous escalation and an unacceptable transgression, posing a direct threat to the state’s security, stability, and the safety of its territories,” the statement read, confirming that the Emirates would exercise its full legitimate right to respond to the unprovoked aggression.

The assault unfolded shortly after the United States unveiled a new maritime security plan to escort commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the critical chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of the world’s global oil supplies pass daily. Iranian state-run Fars News Agency initially claimed that Iranian military forces had struck a U.S. warship with two anti-ship missiles while the vessel was traversing the strategic waterway. That claim was swiftly rejected by then-U.S. President Donald Trump, who clarified Monday that only a South Korean-flagged vessel had been damaged in the incident. Trump added that U.S. forces had destroyed seven Iranian fast-attack craft operating in the area, a statement that Tehran quickly denied. U.S. Central Command also issued a formal rebuttal of Fars News’ report of a struck American warship.

According to the UAE’s defense ministry, at least four cruise missiles were launched toward Emirati territory from Iranian soil. The country’s integrated air defense systems intercepted and destroyed three of the incoming projectiles, while the fourth missile impacted harmlessly in the open waters of the Gulf. A separate drone attack, however, ignited a blaze at an energy facility located in Fujairah, the UAE’s critical Indian Ocean port that serves as a key export hub for Emirati oil that avoids passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Local civil defense teams were deployed to the site within minutes of the attack. “Fujairah Civil Defence teams immediately responded to the incident and are continuing their efforts to control it,” the Fujairah media office confirmed in an update. Three Indian nationals working at the facility sustained moderate injuries in the strike, the Emirati federal government confirmed.

The spillover from the attack extended to neighboring Oman, where local authorities reported two people were injured after a strike targeted a residential building in Bukha. The town of Bukha, which lends its name to the surrounding Omani province, sits in an Omani exclave along the Gulf coast, just northwest of the Emirate of Fujairah, putting it in the direct path of projectiles launched toward the UAE.

Monday’s coordinated strikes have upended the tentative de-escalation that followed last month’s U.S.-Iran ceasefire, with regional powers already moving to reinforce military positions and issue diplomatic condemnations. The incident also underscores the persistent volatility of the Gulf region, even amid diplomatic efforts to reduce the risk of open conflict between Iran and Western-aligned Gulf states.

A landmark legal development has put four of Norway’s most senior current and former political leaders under formal criminal investigation over allegations they aided and abetted genocide in Gaza through their oversight of the country’s $2.2 trillion sovereign wealth fund. The complaint, filed by Norwegian activist groups, alleges the officials violated domestic Norwegian laws that integrate provisions of the Rome Statute banning genocide by allowing the Government Pension Fund of Norway (GPFG)—the world’s largest single sovereign investor—to maintain holdings in firms linked to Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Named in the primary complaint brought by Grandmothers Against Genocide (Grag) are sitting Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, current Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, former Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, and former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who also previously served as Norway’s finance minister. A complementary complaint submitted by the Palestine Committee of Norway adds two more senior figures: GPFG Chief Executive Nicolai Tangen and Ida Wolden Bache, governor of Norway’s central bank, which manages the fund.

In a reversal of an earlier dismissal, documents obtained exclusively by Middle East Eye confirm that Norway’s Prosecuting Authority has formally ordered the country’s national criminal investigation unit, Kripos, to open a full probe into the allegations. Prosecutors have also instructed Kripos to formally notify all respondents named in the complaint of the pending investigation.

The case centers on the GPFG’s controversial investment strategy related to firms operating in or linked to Israel. In 2025, the fund divested from 23 Israeli companies over documented violations of its internal ethical investment guidelines, a decision that drew fierce public backlash from the United States, with State Department officials stating they were “very troubled” by the move. Despite that divestment, the fund retained stakes in 29 other Israeli firms, and continues to hold shares in major multinational arms manufacturers including Leonardo and ThyssenKrupp—both of which supply military equipment directly to the Israel Defense Forces, which has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the outbreak of hostilities in October 2023, according to Gazan health authorities.

A parliamentary push for full, blanket divestment from all companies linked to Israeli war crimes was defeated in the Norwegian Storting (parliament) in June of last year, after the governing Labour Party joined conservative opposition parties to reject the proposal. Months earlier, United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese had written directly to Stoltenberg warning that the fund’s ongoing holdings put Norway at risk of violating binding international law.

Activists behind the complaint say the investigation is long overdue and would set a critical precedent for holding elected officials accountable for mass atrocities abroad. Kirsti Maehle, co-founder of Grag, argued that prosecuting responsible officials would establish a clear guiding principle for Norwegian representatives who have thus far ignored the suffering of Palestinian civilians. “They sit in our parliament, the Storting, and vote in favour of the investments. That amounts to voting to contribute to crimes against humanity, which is absolutely outrageous,” Maehle stated.

Legal analysis backing the complaint, prepared in a personal capacity by Terje Einarsen, a law professor at the University of Bergen, notes that explicit intent to enable atrocities is not required to establish legal liability under Norwegian law. Einarsen told Middle East Eye that senior Norwegian government leaders have almost certainly been aware of the core crimes committed in Gaza and the role that fund-invested companies play in enabling those abuses. “They may thus be legally responsible for aiding and abetting one or more crimes,” Einarsen explained.

Complaints have also been bolstered by a 118-page independent academic report from the group Historians for Palestine, published in June 2024, which documents the GPFG’s holdings in firms linked to human rights violations and war crimes. The report was submitted alongside the criminal complaint as key evidence. Co-author Pal Nygaard, a professor of economic history at the Norwegian Business School, emphasized that continuing these investments directly reinforces impunity for Israel. “It is important that the fund follows its own ethical guidelines and acts as a truly responsible investor, and that means divesting from all companies that contribute to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, their apartheid system, and their genocide,” Nygaard said. He added, “The continued investments in companies that actively contribute to Israel’s violation of international law equals accepting these mass atrocities. In the end, it is the politicians who designed this system for responsible investments, and they are then also ultimately responsible for ensuring that the fund and its Council on Ethics manage the fund’s investments accordingly.”

Earlier this week, Grag submitted updated evidence regarding the fund’s investments to Norway’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs. Middle East Eye has reached out to the Norwegian Prime Minister’s Office, GPFG, Kripos, and the Norwegian Prosecuting Authority for comment on the investigation, and had not received a response as of publication.

Leaked closed-door comments from the head of Israeli military forces in the occupied West Bank have laid bare the staggering scale of Palestinian fatalities under current operational policies, with the commander admitting killings have reached a level unmatched since the 1967 Six-Day War, Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz has reported.

Major General Avi Bluth, a West Bank settler who took command of the Israeli Army’s Central Command in 2024, made the explosive remarks during a closed forum, where he also defended relaxed rules of engagement that grant troops broad permission to open fire on unarmed Palestinian civilians. In a striking admission of systemic bias, Bluth confirmed that Israeli troops operate a discriminatory policy: Jewish Israelis who throw stones at security forces are never targeted with lethal force, while Palestinians who carry out the same actions are shot to kill.

Claiming credit for the high death toll, Bluth stated that over a three-year period, Israeli forces had killed 1,500 people he labeled as “terrorists” — a term his command applies broadly to Palestinian individuals. Puzzling over the absence of large-scale popular unrest against Israeli occupation, he said, “So how is there no intifada? Why aren’t they taking to the streets? Why is the Palestinian public indifferent? Why are there no disturbances?” He went on to attribute the lack of mass uprisings to the deterrence created by the harsh crackdown, arguing, “The Arabs understand that ‘if someone rises to kill you, kill him first’ is part of the rules of the Middle East, and therefore we are killing like we have not killed since 1967.”

Official data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) backs up the severity of the current surge in fatalities: since October 7, 2023 alone, Israeli forces have killed 1,081 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, including at least 235 children. Bluth explicitly linked the rising death toll to his own orders, which removed previous restrictions on soldiers opening fire on civilians. He detailed one policy that permits troops to shoot Palestinian people attempting to cross the West Bank separation barrier from the knee down, saying, “Today, there are many ‘limping memorials’ in Palestinian villages of those who tried to infiltrate and got hit, so there is a price that is paid.”

When pressed on the double standard applied to Jewish and Palestinian stone-throwers, Bluth cited “sociological implications” as the reason his forces do not target Israelis engaging in the same activity he frames as terrorism for Palestinians. He confirmed that in 2025 alone, Israeli forces killed 42 Palestinians accused of throwing stones. When shown footage of extremist Israeli settlers throwing stones at troops, he pointed to a single incident in which two masked Israelis were shot, noting that the incident sparked a massive public outcry that would prevent similar action going forward.

Bluth’s comments have emerged against a backdrop of growing tension between his command and extremist, hilltop settler militias that routinely carry out attacks on Palestinian communities in the West Bank. These militant settlers see Bluth as too soft, claiming he has bowed to pressure from left-wing Israeli groups and the international community. Last week, Haaretz reported that Bluth had publicly labeled rising settler violence against Palestinians as “terror,” and criticized unauthorized outposts built by hilltop youth without prior military coordination. Even so, Bluth also acknowledged that the military, working in coordination with settler groups, has established roughly 150 new unauthorized outposts in Area C of the West Bank over recent years. He claimed these outposts help prevent what he calls Palestinian “terror” and block Palestinian residential expansion.

The commander’s remarks have already sparked political backlash: Knesset Member Limor Son Har-Melech, a prominent backer of settler militias, has publicly called on Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz to immediately dismiss Bluth from his post.

Parallel to the political firestorm over Bluth’s comments, Israeli anti-settlement NGO Peace Now released a new report Sunday exposing that the Israeli government has allocated 130 million shekels (roughly $35 million) to the same settler groups responsible for frequent violence against Palestinians, under the false pretense of curbing settler violence. Official government documents frame the funding as aimed at “reducing risk situations and expanding positive responses for youth in the Judea and Samaria area” — the official Israeli terminology for the occupied West Bank. But Peace Now says the funding will in reality go toward expanding existing Israeli settlements and directing millions of public shekels to settler regional councils.

In an official statement, Peace Now said, “The government uses every excuse to justify pouring more and more millions into settlements. This is a programme to expand settlements under the guise of combating violence.” The organization added that the government is directing most of the budget to the very groups and activities that are the primary backers of the unauthorized outposts and settler farms from which most anti-Palestinian violence originates, and called on the government to cancel the funding allocation while demanding the military and police crack down on ongoing settler violence.

This report was originally carried by independent Middle Eastern news outlet Middle East Eye, which provides exclusive, unfiltered coverage of the Middle East and North Africa region.