Shaharyar Khalid

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is preparing for a new spell of heavy rainfall and a sharp drop in temperatures just weeks after devastating floods, raising fresh concerns for recovery efforts, agriculture, and transport across the country.&nbsp;According to WeatherWalay, the weather system, linked to a developing low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal, will impact large parts of Pakistan, northern India, and eastern Afghanistan from this weekend. Nighttime temperatures could fall by 8 to 10 degrees Celsius in some regions, accompanied by widespread showers, gusty winds, and even snowfall in mountainous areas.&nbsp;The forecast comes as Pakistan continues to recover from catastrophic flooding that displaced over 2.5 million people and killed more than 1,000, according to Reuters. The renewed rainfall threatens to complicate relief operations, particularly in flood-hit Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan, where damaged infrastructure and waterlogged fields remain critical challenges.&nbsp;Danish Baig, Head of Meteorology at WeatherWalay, said rainfall is expected across Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan, with urban centres like Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad likely to experience downpours, cooler nights, and travel delays. Mountainous areas such as Naran, Hazara, and Kalam may also see snowfall.&nbsp;In Punjab, the wet spell could last three to four days, with strong winds and hail possible. Islamabad&rsquo;s temperatures may dip to 14&ndash;15&deg;C. Traffic on major motorways (M-2, M-3, and M-4) is expected to slow due to slippery conditions, while crops in central and southern Punjab are at risk of damage from hail and waterlogging. In KP, tobacco crops may also be threatened.&nbsp;Health experts warn that stagnant water may trigger a rise in mosquito-borne diseases, including dengue. Authorities have urged intensified vector-control measures. In Gilgit-Baltistan, snow and rain could disrupt transportation on routes such as Babusar Top and the Karakoram Highway, potentially isolating remote communities.&nbsp;While the cold spell signals an early seasonal transition, forecasters stress that it does not mark the onset of winter. However, the development of La Ni&ntilde;a conditions could bring cooler-than-normal temperatures across the region later this year.

Climate & Environment

Pakistan braces for a new wave of heavy rain, hail, and snowfall, threatening flood recovery, crops, and transport. The Bay of Bengal weather system may drop temperatures by up to 10°C and trigger health risks.

Pakistan braces for heavy rains, temperature drop amid recovery

MUNICH: Holders Paris Saint-Germain booked a Champions League final against Arsenal as a 1-1 draw in their semi-final second leg at Bayern Munich on Wednesday sealed a 6-5 aggregate victory. Leading 5-4 after last week&#39;s thrilling first leg in Paris, Luis Enrique&#39;s side stretched their overall advantage early on through Ousmane Dembele. Harry Kane struck in added time for Bayern, but it was too late for a comeback. PSG will be favorites against Premier League leaders Arsenal on May 30 in Budapest after an excellent defensive display at the Allianz Arena, also the scene of their maiden Champions League final triumph over Inter Milan last year. The French giants are hoping to become only the second back-to-back winners since 1990, after Real Madrid. Bayern were angered by some first-half refereeing decisions but were largely toothless in attack. The six-time European champions have still not reached the final since beating PSG in the 2020 showpiece in Lisbon. PSG extended their aggregate lead to two goals in just the third minute, as Dembele fired the ball into the roof of the net from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia&#39;s cutback. Manuel Neuer made fine second-half saves from Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue to keep Bayern in the tie. Kane drilled in his 14th goal in the competition this season in the fourth minute of injury time, but it was too little, too late for the home team.

Football

PSG will be favorites against Premier League leaders Arsenal on May 30 in Budapest after an excellent defensive display at the Allianz Arena, also the scene of their maiden Champions League final triumph over Inter Milan last year.

PSG knock out Bayern to set up Champions League final with Arsenal

GAZA CITY: Gaza health officials said Israeli strikes killed six people across the Palestinian territory on Wednesday and wounded several others, including the son of Hamas&#39;s chief negotiator. Despite an October ceasefire, Gaza remains gripped by daily violence as Israeli strikes continue, with both the military and Hamas accusing one another of violating the truce. &quot;Five people have been killed since this morning in strikes by the occupation on the Gaza Strip,&quot; the civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue service under Hamas, said. Gaza City&#39;s Al-Ahli hospital reported receiving &quot;three dead and a number of wounded following an Israeli drone strike on the Zeitoun neighbourhood, southeast of Gaza City&quot;. A separate strike on the Al-Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City killed one person and wounded 10 others, including the son of Hamas&#39;s chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, the hospital and a security source said. Azzam Khalil Al-Hayya has been &quot;seriously wounded in the Israeli airstrike&quot;, the security source told AFP. Two more people were killed and more than a dozen wounded in Israeli attacks in other parts of the territory, the civil defence agency and hospitals said. One of the two was a Hamas police officer, according to a security source. The ceasefire has largely halted the Gaza war that began after Hamas&#39;s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. But violence has persisted, with at least 837 Palestinians killed since the truce began, according to Gaza&#39;s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations. Over the same period, the Israeli military said five soldiers have been killed in Gaza.

Middle East

Despite an October ceasefire, Gaza remains gripped by daily violence as Israeli strikes continue, with both the military and Hamas accusing one another of violating the truce.

Gaza health officials say Israeli strikes kill 6

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United States are further strengthening their economic partnership through expanding trade and investment engagement, as senior officials from both countries highlighted the growing importance of commercial cooperation during engagements held under the SelectUSA program.&nbsp;According to a statement issued by the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, Pakistan&rsquo;s Ambassador to the United States Rizwan Saeed Sheikh hosted a dinner at Pakistan House in honor of leading Pakistani business representatives visiting the US under SelectUSA, where Pakistani and American officials underscored the increasing centrality of economic cooperation in bilateral relations.&nbsp;The reception was attended by US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Paul Kapur, US Consul General in Karachi Charles Goodman, and senior officials from the US State Department and Department of Commerce.&nbsp;The Pakistan embassy said 16 representatives from nine major Pakistani companies from diverse sectors are currently visiting the United States under the SelectUSA program to explore investment opportunities and strengthen business partnerships.&nbsp;The visit comes amid renewed momentum in Pakistan-US relations, particularly in trade, investment and strategic economic cooperation.&nbsp;Recent high-level engagements between the leadership of the two countries, including interactions involving Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan military chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, with US President Donald Trump, have contributed to broadening bilateral engagement beyond traditional security cooperation toward economic connectivity and investment facilitation.&nbsp;According to the statement, Ambassador Sheikh said Islamabad and Washington were entering a new phase in bilateral relations anchored in economic cooperation and long-term commercial partnerships.&nbsp;The embassy quoted him as saying that bilateral political and economic relations between Pakistan and the United States were &ldquo;not optional but inevitable&rdquo; given the size, strategic relevance and economic potential of both countries.&nbsp;Ambassador Sheikh, according to the statement, said Pakistan&rsquo;s national security policy had increasingly adopted geo-economics as a central pillar in recent years, reflecting Islamabad&rsquo;s strategic focus on economic stability and connectivity.&nbsp;Referring to recent regional developments, the ambassador said increased commercial activity at Karachi Port during the Middle East crisis had further highlighted Pakistan&rsquo;s geographic and strategic importance.&nbsp;&ldquo;The business communities of both countries should fully benefit from Pakistan&rsquo;s geographical importance and the economic opportunities available in the country,&rdquo; Ambassador Sheikh said.&nbsp;He added that the leadership of both countries remained committed to promoting bilateral economic cooperation and utilizing the full potential of the relationship.&nbsp;The Pakistan embassy said US Assistant Secretary Paul Kapur told participants that Pakistan-US relations had remained important despite historical fluctuations and that the present phase offered significant opportunities for economic cooperation.&nbsp;&ldquo;While the security dimension remains important, economic relations now hold central importance in bilateral ties,&rdquo; Kapur said, according to the embassy statement.&nbsp;Kapur said economic security had become increasingly intertwined with national security and noted that there were &ldquo;countless opportunities&rdquo; to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries.&nbsp;&ldquo;As friends and partners, we must work together to capitalize on these opportunities,&rdquo; Kapur said. &ldquo;That is our future.&rdquo;&nbsp;Separately, the US Embassy in Islamabad highlighted the growing economic engagement through a video message shared on its official Facebook account from the 2026 SelectUSA Investment Summit in National Harbor, Maryland.&nbsp;In the video message, Consul General Charles Goodman said the Pakistani delegation was actively engaging with American businesses and exploring new opportunities in the US market.&nbsp;&ldquo;From Pakistan to the US, business leaders are making connections here at SelectUSA 2026 in National Harbor, Maryland,&rdquo; Goodman said in the video released by the US embassy.&nbsp;&ldquo;Pakistan&rsquo;s delegation is meeting with partners from across the US, exploring new markets and taking meaningful steps to expand their footprint here in the world&rsquo;s largest economy,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;The US embassy quoted Goodman as describing the summit as a practical example of expanding bilateral economic cooperation.&nbsp;&ldquo;This is what US-Pakistan economic cooperation and partnership looks like&hellip; driving investment and building shared prosperity,&rdquo; Goodman said.&nbsp;&ldquo;We look forward to these conversations turning into lasting collaborations and genuine business deals,&rdquo; he added.&nbsp;The diplomatic mission said the SelectUSA initiative was creating new pathways for Pakistani businesses to access the American market and build long-term partnerships with US companies.

Economy

Pakistan and the United States are further strengthening their economic partnership through expanding trade and investment engagement, as senior officials from both countries highlighted the growing importance of commercial cooperation during engagements held under the SelectUSA program

At SelectUSA Summit, Pakistani firms explore US market opportunities

BEERSHEVA: An Israeli court on Wednesday rejected an appeal contesting the detention of two foreign activists seized by Israeli forces from a Gaza-bound flotilla, with the rights group representing them denouncing the ruling as &quot;unlawful.&quot; Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national of Palestinian origin, and Brazilian Thiago Avila were among dozens of activists aboard a flotilla intercepted in international waters off the coast of Greece on Thursday. The two were seized by Israeli forces and brought to Israel for questioning, while the others were taken to the Greek island of Crete and released. On Tuesday, an Israeli court extended their detention until Sunday to allow police more time to interrogate them, according to their lawyers. The lawyers then filed an appeal at the Beersheva district court against the detention, but it was rejected. &quot;Today, the district court of Beersheva denied our appeal and basically accepted all of the arguments that the state or the police have represented before the court and kept the previous decision,&quot; lawyer Hadeel Abu Salih said. The two activists, who are on a hunger strike, had appeared in the district court with their feet shackled, an AFP journalist saw. Abu Keshek looked exhausted and sat with his hands clasped in his lap, while Avila appeared calm. Abu Salih said her clients had been subjected to &quot;an illegal arrest that took place in international waters where the activists were kidnapped by the Israeli navy without any authority.&quot; She went on to accuse the courts of &quot;giving a free hand for the Israeli forces... to do it again and again.&quot; &#39;Unlawful and unreasonable&#39;Israeli rights group Adalah, which is representing the pair, called Wednesday&#39;s court decision &quot;unlawful and unreasonable&quot;. &quot;This is especially egregious given that the activists were abducted from an Italian-flagged vessel, placing them under Italian jurisdiction,&quot; it said. Adalah has also accused the authorities of subjecting the men to continuous abuse in detention, including keeping Avila in a cold cell. Abu Salih said Abu Keshek reported giving up water as well as food, and that the two men said authorities &quot;keep interrogating them for most of the time, most of the day&quot; about the flotilla, she added. Israeli authorities have rejected the allegations of abuse but have filed no charges against the men. Adalah said authorities have accused the pair of &quot;assisting the enemy during wartime&quot; and &quot;membership in and providing services to a terrorist organisation.&quot; Israel says both men were affiliated with the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), a group accused by Washington of &quot;clandestinely acting on behalf of&quot; Palestinian militant group Hamas. Spain, Brazil and the United Nations have called for their swift release. &quot;It is not a crime to show solidarity and attempt to bring humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population in Gaza, who are in dire need of it,&quot; UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement. The flotilla had set sail from France, Spain and Italy with the aim of breaking Israel&#39;s blockade of Gaza and delivering humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. Israel controls all entry points into Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007.

An Israeli court on Wednesday rejected an appeal contesting the detention of two foreign activists seized by Israeli forces from a Gaza-bound flotilla, with the rights group representing them denouncing the ruling as "unlawful."

Israeli court rejects flotilla activists' appeal challenging detention

WASHINGTON: Elon Musk&#39;s SpaceX plans to invest at least $55 billion to build a semiconductor manufacturing facility in Texas, according to a public notice Wednesday, producing chips for artificial intelligence, robotics and data centers in space. The world&#39;s richest person has said the facility, dubbed Terafab, would be run jointly by his electric-vehicle firm Tesla and his rocket company SpaceX. Initial investment would be &quot;$55 billion, with an estimated total capital investment (if additional phases are constructed) of $119 billion&quot;, according to a notice of public hearing in Grimes County, Texas, where the facility will be located, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) northwest of Houston. Terafab &quot;would represent a transformative investment in domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity&quot;, according to a description of the project in the notice. Musk, who has no prior experience in semiconductors, has said Terafab is necessary because Tesla and SpaceX&#39;s demand for computing power is expected to far exceed that of global chip suppliers. Eventually, the project aims to make chips to support 100 to 200 gigawatts of computing power on Earth, and a terawatt in space. The Grimes County commissioners court was set to meet on June 3 to discuss approving a property tax abatement for the project, according to the notice.

Business

Elon Musk's SpaceX plans to invest at least $55 billion to build a semiconductor manufacturing facility in Texas

Musk to spend $55B on SpaceX AI chip project in Texas: Notice

ISLAMABAD: Indian cinema superstar Vijay has made a dramatic political debut, as his two-year-old party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, emerged as the largest party in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. The party won 108 seats in the 234-member assembly, falling just 10 seats short of the 118 needed for a simple majority, NDTV reported. Congress, which won five seats, has decided to back Vijay, taking his support to 113 seats.&nbsp; Vijay is now expected to form the government with support from smaller parties and former allies of the defeated Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. NDTV reported that TVK leaders are also counting on backing from the CPI, CPM and VCK, each of which has two seats. The result marks a major rupture in Tamil Nadu politics, which has for decades been dominated by the DMK and AIADMK. The DMK won 59 seats, while the AIADMK secured 47, according to NDTV&rsquo;s reported tally.&nbsp; The defeat was particularly striking for Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who lost his Kolathur stronghold to a TVK candidate. For Vijay, known to millions of fans as &ldquo;Thalapathy,&rdquo; the result has transformed star power into real political authority. Economic Times reported that TVK&rsquo;s campaign relied heavily on a digital-first strategy, using teaser-style messaging, viral videos and tightly controlled online outreach to energize younger voters and convert fan networks into a political base.&nbsp; The Times of India reported that TVK&rsquo;s performance was not uniform across the state, noting that the party won only two of 18 seats in the Cauvery delta region. However, even there, it finished second or third in several constituencies, showing that its influence extended beyond traditional urban pockets.&nbsp; Party leaders hailed the win as historic. K.A. Sengottaiyan, chief coordinator of TVK&rsquo;s high-level steering committee, said the party had secured a massive victory in its debut election without distributing cash to voters.&nbsp; The result has immediately made Vijay one of India&rsquo;s most-watched regional leaders.&nbsp;

Talapathy Vijay - (Photo: Vijay's Instagram )

India

Actor-turned-politician Vijay’s TVK emerges as Tamil Nadu’s largest party in its first election, disrupting status quo dominance and positioning the superstar to form the next government.

Indian superstar Vijay scores blockbuster win in debut election

JAKARTA: Indonesia&#39;s government is mulling an e-commerce ban for under-16s, the communications minister told AFP Wednesday, hot on the heels of Jakarta imposing a sweeping social media prohibition for teens. &quot;E-commerce (platforms) are next, because we found children who became scam victims through e-commerce,&quot; Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid said in an interview in Jakarta, without providing further details. In March, app-addicted Indonesia started enforcing a social media ban for under-16s in a bid to shield some 70 million children from the threats of online pornography, cyberbullying, and internet addiction. The policy followed Australia&#39;s landmark move in December to stop teenagers from holding accounts on many popular platforms. The Indonesian regulation initially targeted eight &quot;high risk&quot; platforms: YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox. But it will eventually apply to &quot;all digital platforms&quot;, Meutya said Wednesday, including online shopping sites. The Southeast Asian archipelago of more than 284 million people boasts one of the highest concentrations of social media users in the world. Meutya said the government aimed to help parents take on the &quot;big platforms&quot; to protect their children. &quot;Letting them face off against (the platforms) alone, without rules, is like letting parents play chess against a grandmaster. They won&#39;t win, or it will be very hard to win,&quot; Meutya told AFP. Global reckoning&nbsp;Roblox became the latest platform to comply with the new regulations, introducing age-verification technology and restricting content based on users&#39; ages, the government said last week. More than half of Roblox&#39;s 45 million Indonesian users are children under 16, the government said. Social media giants are facing a global reckoning as governments increasingly worry about their impact on users&#39; well-being. The Turkish parliament last month approved a law to prevent children under 15 from accessing social media platforms. Some European countries, including Norway, Greece, France, Spain, and Denmark, have said they will introduce similar restrictions. Like in Australia, the Indonesian rules place the onus on platforms to regulate teen access. Non-compliance with the ban, which will be phased in over time, will put defaulters at risk of a fine or even suspension of their services in the country.

This illustration photograph taken on October 30, 2023, shows the X (former Twitter) logo on a smartphone in Mulhouse, eastern France. (AFP/File)

The policy follows Australia's landmark move in December to stop teenagers from having accounts on many popular platforms.

Indonesia eyes e-commerce ban for under-16s: Minister to AFP

GENEVA:&nbsp;Three people believed to have been infected with hantavirus have been evacuated from a cruise ship off Cape Verde and are being taken to the Netherlands, the WHO chief said Wednesday. World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that &quot;the overall public health risk remains low&quot; from the alert over the rare disease usually spread from infected rodents, typically through urine, droppings and saliva &quot;Three suspected hantavirus case patients have just been evacuated from the ship and are on their way to receive medical care in the Netherlands,&quot; Tedros said on X. The MV Hondius cruise ship has been at the centre of an international alert since Saturday, when the WHO was informed that three passengers had died and the suspected cause was hantavirus. The Dutch-flagged ship set sail from Ushuaia in Argentina on April 1 on a voyage through the Atlantic Ocean and has been anchored off Cape Verde since Sunday. It counted 88 passengers and 59 crew members, with 23 nationalities onboard, the WHO said. To date, three hantavirus cases have been confirmed, including one of the fatalities, and five others are suspected. Wednesday&#39;s evacuation of two crew members and one other person believed to have contracted the virus took place in coordination with the WHO, the ship&#39;s Dutch operator Oceanwide Expeditions and national authorities from Cape Verde, Britain and the Netherlands, Tedros said. &quot;WHO continues to work with the ship&#39;s operators to closely monitor the health of passengers and crew, working with countries to support appropriate medical follow-up and evacuation where needed,&quot; he said. &quot;Monitoring and follow-up for passengers on board and for those who have already disembarked has been initiated in collaboration with the ship&#39;s operators and national health authorities,&quot; he added. &quot;At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low,&quot; he said.

This aerial picture shows a general view of the cruise ship MV Hondius stationary off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 3, 2026. An outbreak of "severe acute respiratory illness" on board a cruise ship in the Atlantic has left two peopl

Europe

Three suspected hantavirus patients were evacuated from a cruise ship near Cape Verde for treatment in the Netherlands, while the World Health Organization says overall risk remains low.

Three suspected hantavirus cases evacuated from cruise ship: WHO

ISLAMABAD: Oil prices dived again Wednesday on fresh hopes for an end to the Iran war, while Samsung blasted past the $1 trillion valuation mark in an equity markets rally stoked by the AI tech boom. Investors welcomed Donald Trump&#39;s decision to pause efforts to help stranded ships through the crucial Strait of Hormuz, which drew Iranian attacks, threatening an already fragile ceasefire. The US president, who had been quoted as warning that Iran would be &quot;blown off the face of the Earth&quot; if it attacked US ships, appeared to take a more conciliatory tone Tuesday. &quot;Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed,&quot; he wrote in a social media post. He cited &quot;the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran&quot; for the decision, adding that it came at the request of mediator Pakistan. The US blockade of Iranian ports remained, however. The announcement came hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the offensive side of the US campaign, called &quot;Operation Epic Fury&quot;, had concluded. &quot;The operation is over Epic Fury as the president notified Congress. We&#39;re done with that stage of it,&quot; Rubio told reporters at the White House. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth had said the United States was &quot;not looking for a fight&quot;, but warned attacks would face &quot;overwhelming and devastating&quot; force. Oil prices sank around four percent Tuesday, and on Wednesday they continued to fall as much as three percent, with West Texas Intermediate back below $100 a barrel. The cheaper oil prices provided support to equities, with investors taking their cue from another record day for the S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq, fuelled again by tech firms. Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Taipei, Bangkok, Manila and Jakarta were all up with London, Paris and Frankfurt. &quot;Investors found some reassurance in comments from President Donald Trump ... despite ongoing disruption to shipping routes,&quot; said Fiona Cincotta, a senior market analyst at City Index. &quot;Investors are also finding some reassurance in the fact that the diplomatic push to resolve the conflict continues.&quot; She added that strong US earnings were also boosting risk appetite as they had largely been in line with forecasts. However, she added: &quot;Sentiment remains vulnerable. Even US entities could face serious headwinds should the Strait of Hormuz remain closed for an extended period.&quot; The standout performer was Seoul&#39;s Kospi index, which piled on more than five percent to pass 7,000 points for the first time. That came on the back of an eye-watering surge by Samsung, which rocketed 14.4 percent to hit a market capitalization above $1 trillion thanks to huge demand for its AI chips. That makes it just the second Asia firm after Taiwan&#39;s TSMC to reach the figure. Rival SK hynix soared more than 10 percent. Samsung&#39;s shares have risen around 300 percent over the past year as the AI boom boosts South Korean growth. The more risk-on atmosphere also weighed on the dollar, which has been a safe haven from turmoil during the Middle East crisis. The yen continued to hold its gains after surging last week on what is thought to have been an intervention by Japanese authorities to support the struggling currency. Key figures at around 0810 GMT&nbsp; West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 3.1 percent at $99.12 a barrel Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.6 percent to $107.01 a barrel Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.2 percent at 26,213.78 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.2 percent at 4,160.17 (close) London - FTSE 100: UP 1.6 percent at 10,382.35 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: Closed for a holiday Dollar/yen: DOWN at 156.00 yen from 157.85 yen on Tuesday Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1734 from $1.1696 Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3596 from $1.3544 Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.31 pence from 86.36 pence New York - Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 49,298.25 (close)

A man walks past a board showing numbers of the TAIEX Index (C) and other markets at the Taiwan Stock Exchange in Taipei on May 4, 2026. (Photo by I-Hwa Cheng / AFP)

Oil prices fell on easing Iran tensions while AI-driven gains pushed Samsung past a $1 trillion valuation and lifted global markets.

Oil tumbles and stocks rally on peace hopes, Samsung tops $1 trillion

Geneva: The United Nations on Wednesday called on Israel to immediately release two activists taken from a Gaza-bound flotilla, and demanded an investigation into &quot;disturbing accounts&quot; they had been severely mistreated. Spanish national Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Avila, who are held in a prison in Ashkelon, were among dozens of activists on a Gaza-bound flotilla intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters off the coast of Greece last Thursday. &quot;Israel must immediately and unconditionally release Global Sumud Flotilla members Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Avila, who were detained in international waters and brought to Israel where they continue to be held without charge,&quot; UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement. &quot;It is not a crime to show solidarity and attempt to bring humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population in Gaza, who are in dire need of it,&quot; he insisted. The flotilla&#39;s vessels set sail from France, Spain and Italy with the aim of breaking Israel&#39;s blockade of Gaza and delivering humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. Representatives for Avila and Abu Keshek have accused Israeli authorities of abusing the two men, who have been on hunger strike for the past six days. Kheetan decried the &quot;disturbing accounts of severe mistreatment&quot;, calling for an investigation and insisting &quot;those responsible must be brought to justice&quot;. &quot;We call for an end to Israel&#39;s use of arbitrary detention and of broadly and vaguely defined terrorism legislation, inconsistent with international human rights law,&quot; he said. &quot;Israel must also end its blockade on Gaza, and allow and facilitate the entry of humanitarian assistance to the besieged Palestinian strip, in sufficient amounts,&quot; the spokesman said.

The UN urged Israel to release two Gaza flotilla activists held without charge, investigate alleged mistreatment, end arbitrary detention practices and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Articles by Shaharyar Khalid