More than 20,000 sailors are stuck on around 2,000 vessels in the Gulf, many of them unable to leave ship, lacking adequate supplies of food and fresh water, and fearful of an uncertain future at sea in a war zone

International News via Reuters:

Iran’s publication of a new map asserting its control over the Strait of Hormuz risks extending an already punishing ordeal for thousands of mariners trapped on ships in the Gulf.

More than 20,000 sailors are stuck on around 2,000 vessels in the Gulf, many of them unable to leave ship, lacking adequate supplies of food and fresh water, and fearful of an uncertain future at sea in a war zone.

Sailors interviewed by Reuters in recent weeks have described the hardships and anxieties of their experience, and a federation representing them warns of dire conditions.

“The only thing we do here is plan how to spend the night and pray to God that we do not get hit during an attack,” Indian sailor Salman Siddiqui said by phone from his stranded ship last month.

ISOLATED LIVES 

When Reuters travelled on a resupply boat to vessels moored off the Saudi coast this week, sailors on a tanker gathered by the handrail to wave, a rare moment of contact with the outside world. 

For nearly three months, the sailors trapped in the Gulf have led isolated lives, each with a small group of shipmates, moving between tiny living quarters, communal dining areas and scorching, sun-baked decks. 

Tehran closed the strait, a global oil supply route, after U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran began on February 28. Thousands of ships were trapped in the Gulf and, with peace negotiations stalled, Iran is doubling down on the effective blockade.

The Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a body Iran has set up to manage requests for passage, published a map on Wednesday reaffirming Tehran’s claims to a wide stretch of water either side of the choke point. 

Ship owners seeking to extricate their vessels – and often precious cargoes – must navigate a labyrinthine system of payments and permissions set up by Iran, a Reuters report showed. 

“Seafarers’ vulnerability and exposure is more, let’s say, extreme because of the war,” said Mohamed Arrachedi, network coordinator for the Arab World and Iran at the International Transport Workers’ Federation.

He described cases where there had been pay delays, refusals to help repatriate sailors, a lack of provisions and the fear of missiles and drone strikes. Some seafarers called him in tears, he said. 

The ITF has been contacted by more than 2,000 sailors in the Gulf seeking help or advice to resolve disputes ranging from abandonment and pay delays to lack of supplies since the war began, he said. 

STUCK AT SEA

From the Saudi port of Dammam, about seven large ships were visible moored out at sea – an unusually large number in normal times. As the resupply ship bobbed alongside the tanker in a stiff wind, the sailors aboard called out across the water while they winched aboard large sacks of medical goods.  

Mohit Kohli, the captain of a large cargo vessel caught in the Gulf when the war began after sailing from Singapore, said that when he first heard the Strait could be closed he “could not even fathom that this was remotely possible”.

His German-owned ship managed to secure a safe anchor off Dammam, but just over a week into the war the crew started to see and hear the missiles and drones Iran was directing at Gulf states. 

“The crew who was usually loud and happy were now silent. Meals got shorter. Conversations were more guarded,” he said, describing the atmosphere on board in a Reuters interview this month after his return to India. 

Kohli and his shipmates were on a ship whose owners helped bring in a relief crew, he said. 

Many sailors face far worse, Arrachedi said. In some of the cases he is dealing with, sailors have not been paid their meagre salaries of $100 to $200 a month since last year and shipowners are refusing to help them return home, or only doing so if they forfeit back pay, he said. 

Some sailors say they have only a single meal of rice or lentils each day, and have only brief moments of internet connection to contact loved ones or seek outside help, Arrachedi added.

“They need a collective intervention because they are key for our economies, for the supply chains, but also because they are active seafarers and they are civilians,” he said. 

Gulf states are making some efforts to assist sailors by facilitating supplies and crew transfers. 

“Seafarers stuck on a vessel in uncertain waters, the most important thing in the world is knowing that there is a shore open to reach,” said Suliman Almazroua, president of the Saudi Ports Authority. 

The authority has helped hundreds of vessels resupply with food, fresh water, fuel and medicines, and has aided more than 500 sailors to transfer from their ships, Almazroua said, describing messages of thanks from sailors he has helped leave as the most rewarding part of his job.  

Reporting by Mohammed Benmansour and Imad Creidi, additional reporting by Sunil Kataria, Writing by Angus McDowall, Editing by Peter Graff and Timothy Heritage

Lula had a basal cell lesion removed on April 24

International News via Reuters:

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has started preventive radiation treatment after being diagnosed with early-stage skin cancer, doctors treating the 80-year-old leftist leader and his office said on Monday.

Lula had a basal cell lesion removed on April 24.

“It was decided to proceed with complementary treatment with preventive, superficial radiotherapy on the scalp,” doctors at the Sirio-Libanes Hospital said in a medical note, adding Lula will maintain his daily activities without restrictions.

A spokesperson for Brazil’s presidency told Reuters the “small” lesion was diagnosed as early-stage cancer and Lula would undergo 15 radiotherapy sessions to prevent further lesions.

Lula is expected to run for a fourth non-consecutive term in October and currently leads right-wing challenger Flavio Bolsonaro in several opinion polls for a potential second-round runoff.

He is Brazil’s oldest sitting president and has had some health scares, including emergency surgeries in 2024 to treat and prevent bleeding in his head. Lula was treated for throat cancer in 2011.

Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia and Gabriel Araujo in Sao Paulo; Writing by Isabel Teles; Editing by Deepa Babington

At least three such incidents have occurred in the northeastern province of Ituri where the first Ebola cases were reported, including two at the weekend targeting the same hospital that permitted more than two dozen patients to run away

International News via Reuters:

Doctors operating on the front lines of the fight against Ebola in Congo, already grappling with shortages of basic supplies, are now also having to deal with attacks on their facilities and fleeing patients as the virus spreads rapidly.

At least three such incidents have occurred in the northeastern province of Ituri where the first Ebola cases were reported, including two at the weekend targeting the same hospital that permitted more than two dozen patients to run away.

The attacks recall the widespread violence targeting health facilities during a 2018-2020 outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that killed more than 25 health workers. 

Some were perpetrated by civilians who were angry about not being able to bury their loved ones or were convinced that the outbreak was a hoax. The influx of money and manpower into an area that had felt neglected during decades of conflict and humanitarian crisis has spurred local suspicions about the real motives for the sudden spike of interest. 

A similar dynamic seems to be playing out now, said Dr Richard Lokodu, medical director of the Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital, which came under attack first on Saturday and again on Sunday.

“There is denial of the disease within the population, with some members wanting to claim the bodies of suspected and/or confirmed cases,” he said.

The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo ​strain of Ebola, the third-largest such outbreak on record, a public health ​emergency ⁠of international concern.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday there had been ⁠more ​than 900 suspected cases in ​the outbreak so far, including 101 confirmed cases.

On Monday, Tedros said there had been 220 suspected deaths in the current Ebola outbreak and that a delay in detecting cases meant responders were now “playing catch-up”.

PATIENT DIED WHILE TRYING TO FLEE

At the Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital, located in Mongbwalu town where many cases have been reported, 18 Ebola patients fled on Saturday after “unidentified individuals” burned tents, erected by medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, where patients were being isolated, Lokodu said.

Four lab results from those patients have come back – three negative results and one positive result, he said.

“So we have one confirmed case of Ebola that continues to circulate in the community and evade the response,” Lokodu said.

On Sunday, the hospital came under four waves of attacks by young people mobilised by relatives of a Christian religious leader who died of Ebola, he said.

Seven other patients escaped and Congolese police and soldiers had to mobilise to restore order, he said.

A suspected Ebola patient who was in critical condition with hemorrhaging died in the second attack while trying to flee from his bed, Lokodu added.

The perpetrators of the attacks wanted dead Ebola victims’ bodies released for burial, Lokodu said.

The bodies of Ebola victims are highly infectious after death, and unsafe burials – in which family members handle ⁠the body without proper protective equipment – are a leading driver of transmission.

LONG HISTORY OF ATTACKS ON EBOLA TREATMENT CENTRES

Health workers faced a handful of attacks by angry mobs during the 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the largest on record, some of whom accused them of spreading the virus.

But the phenomenon exploded during the 2018-2020 outbreak in eastern Congo, a region marked by rampant insecurity and mistrust of formal authorities. 

In addition to more spontaneous outpourings of anger by local communities, many attacks were carried out by militia groups looking to exploit the outbreak for political and financial gain, researchers found. 

The current outbreak is believed to have originated in Ituri before spreading to North and South Kivu provinces – including areas under the control of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels – and across the border into neighbouring Uganda.

On Monday Uganda reported two more confirmed cases of Ebola, bringing the total number of cases in the country to seven.

Reporting by Gradel Muyisa, Fiston Mahamba and Aaron Ross; Writing by Robbie Corey-BouletEditing by Gareth Jones

Murrell is the former husband of ex-SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, who suddenly resigned in 2023, shortly before she was arrested as part of the probe into the party’s finances

International News via Reuters:

Former Scottish National Party chief executive Peter Murrell on Monday pleaded guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 ($540,000), admitting diverting funds from the party which were used to buy items such as cars, a motorhome and luxury goods.

Murrell is the former husband of ex-SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, who suddenly resigned in 2023, shortly before she was arrested as part of the probe into the party’s finances. She was cleared of wrongdoing in March last year.

The police probe and the arrest of the SNP’s longest-serving leader were deeply embarrassing for the pro-independence party which has dominated Scottish politics for most of the last two decades. 

Police had been investigating what had happened to money raised by Scottish independence campaigners in 2017 which was supposed to have been ring-fenced but had allegedly been used for other purposes.

In written terms of his guilty plea, Murrell admitted embezzling £400,310.65 from the SNP between August 12, 2010, and January 13, 2023, about £60,000 less than he was originally charged with.

“Peter Murrell has shown utter contempt for the high public trust placed in him as the Chief Executive of a political party and his position in the wider political establishment in Scotland for many years,” said Police Scotland’s Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Houston.

“He abused his privileged position with access to Scottish National Party funds to divert cash into his own accounts and bankroll the lavish lifestyle he craved but could not afford.”

The details of the indictment showed he had used the funds to buy several vehicles, as well as items from luxury brands such as Estee Lauder and Harrods.

Murrell was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on June 23.

($1 = 0.7412 pounds)

Reporting by Alistair Smout, additional reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Gus Trompiz

The comments came during public hearings in the wide-ranging inquiry known as a ​Royal Commission that focus on events prior to last December’s Bondi attack, which killed 15 attending a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at the famed Sydney beach

International News via Reuters:

Australian state police did not prepare a threat assessment for the event where the Bondi Beach mass shooting occurred and denied a request from the Jewish community to station officers there, an inquiry into the attack heard on Monday.

The comments came during public hearings in the wide-ranging inquiry known as a ​Royal Commission that focus on events prior to last December’s Bondi attack, which killed 15 attending a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at the famed Sydney beach.

A New South Wales police officer said no threat assessment was prepared for the event, but agreed in hindsight that one would have been appropriate.

“I see no reason why a threat assessment could not be completed for that event,” said Assistant Commissioner Leanne McCusker, adding that such an exercise would have enabled security arrangements that matched the threat level.

Threat assessments are generally limited for gatherings classed as major events, including Jewish high holy days, but not Hanukkah.

The inquiry also heard that state police were warned of the risks by CSG, a Jewish private security service group, before the attack.

CSG gave them its own threat assessment, warning of a heightened risk of violent or antisemitic incidents at Hanukkah, the inquiry heard.

This stemmed from “the anticipated visibility of identifiably Jewish individuals in public spaces and the prominence of the festival”, such as the Bondi event, the inquiry heard.

An anonymous CSG member said he requested “static” police officers at the event in view of the risk, the numbers expected to attend and the fact that it was to be held in the open air, where CSG could not carry arms.

But police did not believe they were required, he added.

“I said that there would be a lot of unease from the community not having a static police presence on the ground.”

TERROR THREAT LEVEL RAISED

The inquiry was also told that antisemitism in Australia was left unchecked after the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, which fuelled violence against Jewish people and led the spy agency to raise the national terrorism threat level to “probable” from “possible” in August 2024.

“The war in the Middle East invoked a range of emotions in Australia,” said Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

“Some of those violent aspects … and those behaviours, including antisemitism that, in our view, were left unchecked, were therefore normalised and gave more permission for violence … and Jewish Australians were on the receiving end.”

From late 2024, Burgess said, antisemitism also escalated from threats and intimidation to direct targeting of people, businesses and places of worship.

Such incidents included vandalism and arson targeting homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles before the Bondi attack.

Burgess said the agency concluded that Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was behind two antisemitic attacks, on a kosher restaurant in Sydney and Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue.

Iran was probably involved in more attacks, but the agency “just can’t quite get there” in its efforts to nail down responsibility, he added.

“There was absolutely a concern that the antisemitism could escalate to actual terrorist acts” after the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, said Stephen Nutt, an assistant commissioner of the Australian Federal Police.

The commission’s first series of hearings earlier this month focused on the nature and prevalence of antisemitism, taking testimony from members of the Jewish community.

Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

Among the group’s suspected leaders were two accountants and state employees who assisted farmers with submitting applications to receive EU farm funds based on false declarations of farm land, police officials said

International News via Reuters:

Greek police arrested 20 people on the island of Crete on Monday, saying they had dismantled a criminal gang suspected of defrauding the European Union of agricultural subsidies – the latest case in a growing scandal that has shaken the government.

Among the group’s suspected leaders were two accountants and state employees who assisted farmers with submitting applications to receive EU farm funds based on false declarations of farm land, police officials said.

Since starting to operate in 2019, the network’s illegal revenue topped €3 million ($3.49 million), police said in a statement.

Monday’s arrests are the latest in a series of local cases linked to a wider probe by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office – an independent EU office – into alleged crimes in Greece against the bloc’s financial interests.

Last year, European prosecutors charged dozens of Greek stock-breeders with faking ownership of grazing land to claim millions of euros in EU subsidies, with the alleged help of state employees and conservative politicians.

The scandal has made political waves in Greece, prompting parliamentary probes – which were inconclusive – as well as ministers’ resignations and calls for early elections by opposition parties.

At the request of the European chief prosecutor, parliament voted in April to lift the ‌parliamentary immunity of 13 lawmakers from the ruling New Democracy party, so they can be investigated over their suspected role in separate cases.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis urged EU prosecutors to decide swiftly whether to indict the lawmakers, as he seeks to stem the political fallout from the probe before the next parliamentary election due by spring 2027.

($1 = 0.8589 euros)

Reporting by Yannis Souliotis; Writing by Renee Maltezou;Editing by Helen Popper