Web Desk/AFP

This live blog follows the latest developments across the Middle East crisis, including regional diplomacy, maritime security, ceasefire negotiations, and economic fallout.<hr>Catch up: Yesterday&rsquo;s top developments<ul style="list-style-type: square;"><li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Oil prices continue to slide as investors monitor US-Iran negotiations</li><li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Hezbollah says it carried out 37 attacks on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon</li><li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Trump claims &lsquo;nobody&rsquo;s going to control&rsquo; the Strait of Hormuz</li><li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Iran&#39;s president appreciates Pakistan&#39;s peace efforts</li><li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Israel kills chief of Hamas armed wing in Gaza strike</li></ul><hr> US military conducts new strike in southern Iran: US mediaPublished: May 27, 2026 | 00:51 GMT | by AFP The US military shot down four drones launched from Iran and struck a control center in the port city of Bandar Abbas, US media reported Wednesday evening, citing unnamed officials. The strike in Bandar Abbas prevented a fifth drone from being launched, CNN and The New York Times reported, and follows what the US military described as &quot;self-defense&quot; attacks overnight Monday to Tuesday on Iranian missile sites and mine-laying boats. <hr>

Americas

Middle East

The US military shot down four drones launched from Iran and struck a control center in the port city of Bandar Abbas, the media reports, citing unnamed officials; The strike in Bandar Abbas prevented a fifth drone from being launched and follows what the US military described as "self-defense" attacks overnight on Iranian missile sites and mine-laying boats.





US military conducts new strike in southern Iran: US media

Maryam Shah

ISLAMABAD: As Eid al-Adha approaches, millions of Muslims living in conflict zones and displacement camps continue to observe the festival despite circumstances shaped by war, hunger and displacement. In the besieged and bombarded territories of Palestine, famine-hit regions of Sudan, and camps scattered across Syria and Yemen, the rituals of Eid persist even where normal life has largely collapsed. According to the Elham Fund, Gaza resident Nahidh Abu Armaneh said his family woke up to the sound of Takbeer, wore their best clothes &ldquo;even if they weren&rsquo;t new,&rdquo; and gathered for Eid prayers. &ldquo;We started by greeting everyone we met, whether we knew them or not, because people especially need kindness and peace in these times,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;After that, we visited relatives to extend our Eid wishes, ate sweets and drank coffee, though the coffee tasted as bitter as our lives.&rdquo; Nahidh and millions of others across conflict zones, displacement camps and war-damaged cities continue observing Eid al-Adha each year under conditions that would ordinarily make celebration unimaginable. In peaceful societies, Eid al-Adha is built around abundance and sharing.&nbsp; To commemorate Prophet Ibrahim&rsquo;s willingness to sacrifice his son in obedience to Allah, Muslims slaughter livestock animals and traditionally divide the meat into three portions: one for the household, one for relatives and neighbors, and one for the poor. The ritual centers on generosity flowing outward from the family to the wider community. But in war zones where many families have lost homes, livelihoods and livestock, the practice increasingly depends on humanitarian aid. According to Islamic Relief Worldwide, Sudan is facing the world&rsquo;s largest displacement crisis, with nearly 14 million people uprooted by conflict and famine conditions reported in parts of Darfur. The organization said Eid al-Adha meat distributions had become the only source of meat for many displaced families, with its Qurbani program reaching 3.2 million people across 29 countries in 2025. &ldquo;Eid al-Adha means everything to me,&rdquo; displaced Sudanese resident Halima said in a statement released by the organization, adding that she did not expect to eat meat this year. In Syria and Yemen, where wars have stretched on for more than a decade, Eid al-Adha has become an annual confrontation with memory and loss. According to Al Jazeera, Umm Ghadi, a displaced Syrian mother living in an Idlib camp, gathered with neighbors to prepare sweets for children ahead of Eid despite harsh camp conditions. &ldquo;At the camp, there is no joy for the Eid, but we need to make the children happy,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Eid al-Adha in the villages is nicer.&rdquo; In Yemen, Abdul-Raqeeb al-Samey traveled through front-line areas to return to his home village in Taiz after purchasing a traditional jambiya &mdash; a ceremonial dagger worn during Eid celebrations &mdash; in Sanaa, according to Al Jazeera. Meanwhile in Syria, former residents of the remote Rukban displacement camp returned home for Eid only to find destroyed houses and devastated neighborhoods. According to Al Jazeera, Yasmine al-Salah returned home during Eid al-Adha 2025 after spending nine years in the camp. &ldquo;Even though our house is destroyed, and we have no money, and we are hungry, still, it&rsquo;s a castle in my eyes,&rdquo; she said. Across these conflict zones, Eid functions not as denial of suffering but as an insistence that interrupted lives are not extinguished lives. What unfolds during Eid al-Adha in such places reflects something central to the story of Prophet Ibrahim: the ability to move through catastrophe while refusing to surrender hope entirely. This is not simple optimism. While optimism assumes improvement, people living through war often continue their traditions fully aware of destruction around them, choosing meaning despite devastation. For many trapped in conflict, the acts of washing, dressing, praying and sharing whatever food remains become assertions of dignity and humanity against conditions designed to strip both away. None of these moments erase the catastrophes surrounding them. Hunger, displacement and violence persist. Yet the prayers are still offered, sweets are still prepared and families still gather where they can. In places shaped by siege and loss, Eid al-Adha becomes more than a religious celebration.&nbsp; For many, it is also a quiet declaration that war has not succeeded in erasing faith, memory or the will to endure.

Across conflict zones and displacement camps, Muslims observe Eid al-Adha despite war and famine, turning sacrifice and shared traditions into acts of resilience, dignity and hope amid devastation and loss.


Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha across war zones despite devastation and displacement

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund&#39;s board on Wednesday approved two reviews of Sri Lanka&#39;s loan program, making $695 million in additional loans immediately available to the crisis-hit island nation. It is the latest tranche in the country&#39;s four-year $3 billion bailout, with the Fund warning of further risks due to the economic impact of the Iran war. Surging oil prices due to the war, launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, have heavily impacted many import-dependent Asian countries. &quot;Sri Lanka&#39;s strong implementation under the EFF arrangement has continued despite challenging circumstances,&quot; said Kenji Okamura, the IMF&#39;s Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair. &quot;Gains from the economic reform program helped preserve economic resilience and provided room to respond to cyclone Ditwah and the Middle East war. The latter, however, has significantly worsened Sri Lanka&#39;s economic outlook and tilted risks to the downside.&quot; The IMF projects 2026 growth to slow to 3%, with higher oil prices increasing inflation and weighing on the current account balance. The board&#39;s approval was contingent on Sri Lanka adjusting certain energy market subsidies issued in the wake of the war. Wednesday&#39;s statement said the Sri Lankan authorities had met the Fund&#39;s requirements on fuel and electricity prices, meeting cost-recovery criteria. Criteria on ensuring no new external debts and on not imposing or intensifying import restrictions &quot;were not observed,&quot; however.

Sri Lanka

It is the latest tranche in the country's four-year $3 billion bailout, with the Fund warning of further risks due to the economic impact of the Iran war.


IMF approves $695M for crisis-hit Sri Lanka

KAMPALA, Uganda: Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo is complicating efforts to rein in a deadly Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organization chief warned Wednesday, while Uganda announced it was shutting its border. The WHO has recorded 10 confirmed and 223 suspected Ebola deaths in the DRC since the outbreak was declared in mid-May, out of more than 1,000 confirmed and suspected cases. Its chief fears insecurity in the eastern DRC, which has been plagued for three decades by conflict involving a litany of armed groups, is making it extremely difficult to contain the outbreak. &quot;Eastern DRC now faces a catastrophic collision of disease and conflict with the Ebola outbreak in Ituri province outpacing the response,&quot; the UN agency&#39;s head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X. No vaccine or treatment exists for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which is behind the DRC&#39;s 17th recorded outbreak of the disease. State services in rural Ituri province, where it was first detected, have been largely absent for decades. In Rwampara, one of the epicentres of the outbreak, AFP saw a symptomatic woman being brought to hospital on a motorbike, squeezed between her sister and the driver. A health worker recorded a high fever and bleeding from her nose, a common symptom of Ebola, which causes a haemorrhagic fever. He rushed to spray chlorine on the bike and driver, who wore a surgical mask but little else to protect him against a virus that spreads through bodily fluids. With no ambulances available, &quot;people make do with motorbikes&quot;, the health worker, Dieudonne Sezabo, told AFP. The hospital has set up a temporary isolation centre but is still awaiting crucial equipment deliveries. Uganda shuts borderNeighbouring Uganda, which has recorded one death confirmed to be from Ebola and six additional cases, announced it was shutting its border with the DRC with immediate effect. It also said it was imposing a 21-day quarantine on anyone arriving from the DRC, under the supervision of the Ministry of Health and district surveillance teams. The WHO said the case fatality rate was under 25 percent -- much lower than in other recent outbreaks. But experts suspect the virus was circulating under the radar for some time and the true extent of the health crisis has yet to be seen. The WHO chief lamented that clashes were &quot;driving mass displacement, pushing exposed contacts into overcrowded camps and severing critical containment corridors&quot;. &quot;Frontline workers are risking everything, while attacks on health facilities make tracking cases and their contacts nearly impossible,&quot; Tedros warned. &quot;We cannot build community trust or isolate the sick while bombs are falling,&quot; Tedros said, urging &quot;all warring parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire to contain this outbreak&quot;. The United States plans to open a quarantine centre in Kenya, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, primarily intended for Americans who need to leave the DRC quickly and quarantine. Kenya said it had screened some 55,000 people crossing the border from Uganda and had yet to confirm an Ebola case.

Response team members are helped to wear protective suits before burying a person suspected of having died from Ebola in Bunia, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 25, 2026. (AFP)

Africa

The World Health Organization chief warns that conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo is complicating efforts to rein in a deadly Ebola outbreak, while Uganda shuts its border.

WHO warns of 'catastrophic collision' of Ebola and war in DR Congo

PARIS: YouTube will in the future automatically detect AI-generated content and flag the information to viewers on its platform, the Google-owned company said Wednesday. The move reverses a previous policy of relying on video creators to self-report if they had used generative AI tools. &quot;If a creator doesn&#39;t specify whether or not they used AI, but our systems detect significant photorealistic AI use, we will now automatically apply a label,&quot; YouTube said in a blog post. The video platform&#39;s last steps on generative AI date back to 2024, when it requested that creators flag content where they had used the technology. Since then there have been major strides in producing photorealistic images and video, with widely available AI models including Google&#39;s Veo 3.1 and Seedance from Tiktok&#39;s parent company Bytedance. Creators will be able to challenge the new flags if they think their content has been unfairly labelled as AI, Youtube said. The platform added that the flags would have no impact on its algorithm for recommending videos to users. Other platforms and social networks to introduce automatic flagging of AI content recently include music streamer Spotify. Many online spaces are flooded with AI-generated images, video or audio, which is growing increasingly difficult to tell apart from human creations as the tools become more capable.

Artificial Intelligence

YouTube to automatically detect AI-generated content and flag the information to viewers on its platform, the Google-owned company says.

YouTube says will flag AI-generated content

Shizza Jasmin

Renowned vloggers&nbsp;<a href="https://globie.io/products/esim-pakistan" style="color:#0073e6;">Luke Damant</a>,&nbsp;associated with&nbsp;<a href="https://globie.io/products/esim-pakistan" style="color:#0073e6;">Globie.io</a>,&nbsp;and Don Rob joined Chatroom with Shizza for a conversation about Pakistan&#39;s food, people and hospitality.&nbsp;<a href="https://globie.io/products/esim-pakistan" style="color:#0073e6;">Luke</a>&nbsp;explained what &#39;Burger&#39; means in Pakistani culture, showed off his Urdu skills, and reacted to a surprise cheese paratha. His verdict on Pakistan versus India on hospitality was direct and unfiltered.&nbsp;

Chatroom with Shizza

Renowned vloggers Luke Damant, associated with Globie.io, and Don Rob joined Chatroom with Shizza for a conversation about Pakistan's food, people and hospitality

'Cheese paratha guy' Luke Damant and Don Rob on Pakistan's food, people, and hospitality

NEW DELHI: Hundreds of people in India&#39;s border region with Bangladesh have fled to the frontier, police said Wednesday, after the government ordered the construction of detention centres for undocumented Bangladeshi migrants and Rohingya refugees. Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#39;s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power in West Bengal state in early May with a hardline policy to &quot;detect, delete and deport&quot; illegal migrants. India&#39;s right-wing have long argued that illegal migration is a national security threat, and warned of changing demography in India&#39;s border states. West Bengal government&#39;s last week ordered the setting up of &quot;holding centres&quot; for &quot;apprehended foreigners&quot;, singling out both Bangladeshis and Rohingya. The decision has fuelled anxiety among West Bengal&#39;s roughly 35 million Muslims, many of whom share linguistic and cultural ties with neighbouring Bangladesh. Indian police officer Shirshendu Pati, from the Swarupnagar Police Station about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Bangladesh border, said streams of people had arrived since Tuesday. &quot;People who say they are from Bangladesh and want to return home have been coming here since yesterday,&quot; Pati told AFP. &#39;Holding centre&#39;Pati said that the process had &quot;been peaceful and smooth so far&quot;, and they received about 200 people on Tuesday and 40 people early Wednesday. &quot;While we verify their identities and complete the necessary paperwork, all of them are in a holding centre,&quot; he said, noting they will be handed to India&#39;s border security force and sent to Bangladesh. &quot;The local administration is catering to all their needs including food, water and lodging,&quot; Pati added. On Tuesday, Home Minister Amit Shah announced the formation of a special committee on demographic change. &quot;Illegal migration and other reasons for unnatural demography change are a big challenge for any country&#39;s present and future,&quot; Shah said in a speech. &quot;Demographic change is a serious issue linked not only to our sovereignty but also to national security, law and order (and) profound changes in social structure,&quot; Shah added. Top BJP members have previously referred to Bangladeshi migrants as &quot;termites&quot; and &quot;infiltrators&quot;. Critics say BJP&#39;s rhetoric and policies have added to the unease and marginalisation of India&#39;s estimated 200 million Muslims, accusing the party of conflating religious identity with illegal migration. The West Bengal centres have drawn particular concern because of the state&#39;s porous border with Bangladesh and its long history of migration. Relations between India and Muslim-majority Bangladesh soured after a 2024 revolution in Dhaka ended the autocratic rule of then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina, an ally of New Delhi who subsequently fled to India. The detention order&#39;s apparent inclusion of Rohingya refugees -- &nbsp;a mainly Muslim group who fled Myanmar during a brutal military crackdown in 2017 -- has also drawn criticism.

Bangladesh

India

Hundreds of people in India's border region with Bangladesh flee to the frontier after the government ordered the construction of detention centres for undocumented Bangladeshi migrants and Rohingya refugees.

Hundreds flee India migrant crackdown towards Bangladesh

KOLKATA: A giant statue of football superstar Lionel Messi erected in India to mark his visit last year is &ldquo;swaying in the wind&rdquo; and will be removed, a lawmaker told AFP on Wednesday. Workers have scrambled up the 21-meter (70-foot) golden-colored statue in the eastern city of Kolkata in West Bengal, throwing ropes around its shoulders to secure it. The sculpture showing the 38-year-old Argentina and Inter Miami star raising the World Cup trophy was unveiled during Messi&rsquo;s so-called GOAT Tour of India in December. But West Bengal state legislator Sharadwat Mukherjee said it was no longer safe. &ldquo;The statue of the Argentine football legend in the city of Kolkata was found unsafe by engineers of the West Bengal government,&rdquo; he said.&ldquo;We have noticed that the statue is swaying in the wind.&rdquo; Workers on Wednesday used ropes to attempt to secure the statue, which looms over a busy road. Mukherjee said it was not clear when it would be brought down. &ldquo;Removal has proved easier said than done,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We are planning to remove the statue at the earliest opportunity.&rdquo; He did not say whether the statue would be re-erected at another site. Argentina is set to begin its World Cup campaign on June 16 against Algeria in Kansas City. Messi has not formally confirmed his plans to play in the World Cup, but is widely expected to return for what would be a record-matching sixth appearance at the tournament. He remains the side&rsquo;s talisman for the defense of the title they won in Qatar four years ago. India &mdash; a nation of 1.4 billion &mdash; is a cricket powerhouse, but struggles on the football pitch and is 142nd on the FIFA rankings. Football, however, is the country&rsquo;s second favorite sport, according to research by data company Nielsen released on Wednesday.

Kolkata’s towering Lionel Messi statue, unveiled after his India visit, is set to be removed after engineers declared it unsafe. The 70-foot structure has reportedly begun swaying in strong winds, prompting urgent safety measures and planned dismantling by authorities.

Giant Messi statue in India to be removed over safety concerns

NEW DELHI: Air India said Wednesday it will temporarily reduce or cut several domestic routes after making similar international cuts due to rising fuel prices from the Middle East war. Iran&rsquo;s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz following US-Israeli strikes on Tehran on February 28 has sent aviation fuel prices soaring, raising concerns over carrier profitability and leading to a rise in airline fares. &ldquo;In continuation of our previously announced adjustments to select international services between June and August 2026, we have temporarily rationalized operations on certain domestic routes,&rdquo; Air India said Wednesday. &ldquo;These adjustments are driven by the sustained impact of high fuel prices on overall operations,&rdquo; it added. Air India did say which routes or how many flights would be affected. The Press Trust of India news agency, citing sources, suggested more than a fifth of the airline&rsquo;s domestic flights could be impacted. The airline said that the passengers hit by changes will be rebooked on alternative flights or offered full refunds. &ldquo;Air India will continue to monitor demand and operating conditions closely, with a view to restoring frequencies as conditions stabilize,&rdquo; it said. Air India announced earlier in May that it was suspending routes to Chicago, Shanghai, Male and Singapore from Indian cities including New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai between June and August. It also announced a cut in the frequency of flights to San Francisco, Paris, Milan and Sydney. Since taking over Air India in 2022, the Tata conglomerate has embarked on an ambitious overhaul, ordering hundreds of aircraft and upgrading its aging fleet. The Middle East war has proven to be the latest in a series of setbacks. The biggest blow to the airline&rsquo;s image came in June 2025, when Air India Flight 171 &mdash; a London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner &mdash; crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad, killing all but one of the 242 people on board and 19 people on the ground.

Mounting fuel costs triggered by escalating Middle East tensions have pushed Air India to temporarily scale back several domestic routes alongside earlier international flight reductions.

Air India slashes domestic flights amid Iran war fuel price spike

Simran Siraj

On the nights before Eid al-Adha, neighborhoods across Pakistan shift outdoors. Families sleep beside sacrificial animals, elders gather on charpais under open skies and children stay awake feeding and caring for livestock.&nbsp; As homes spill onto streets and pavements, entire communities turn public spaces into shared living rooms &mdash; a uniquely Pakistani scene blending festivity, tradition and neighborhood life ahead of Qurbani.

Shorts

Families gather outside homes across Pakistan ahead of Eid al-Adha as neighborhoods transform into lively communal spaces filled with sacrificial animals, late-night conversations and festive preparations.

US military conducts new strike in southern Iran: US media

Latest News

US military conducts new strike in southern Iran: US media

Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha across war zones despite devastation and displacement

IMF approves $695M for crisis-hit Sri Lanka

WHO warns of 'catastrophic collision' of Ebola and war in DR Congo

YouTube says will flag AI-generated content