Wiki News Live
Today:
The hantavirus debacle raises a key question: why would anyone go on a cruise? | Dave Schilling
NEWS | 16 May 2026
Less publicized is news of a British cruise ship dealing with a rash of stomach flu cases. I cannot think of one thing that a cruise offers that isn’t available in the safe bosom of dry land. Putting a germaphobe onto a cruise ship is like dropping Theo Von into a Brooks Brothers. That includes the billionaires who buy superyachts so they can experience a cruise that isn’t terrible – a cruise where you’re alone. Here’s a voucher for Deal or No Deal – the game where you can maybe win enough money to pay off the cost of your horrifying cruise experience.

Top Stories:
Palestinians forced to demolish own homes to make way for Israeli theme park
NEWS | 16 May 2026
View image in fullscreen Al-Bustan: red dots mark homes already demolished and green those with existing demolition orders. The Jerusalem municipality had told him it would cost him 280,000 shekels (£72,000) if its workers demolished the house. View image in fullscreen Fakhri Abu Diab said some al-Bustan homes, like his, which the municipality claims were illegally built, predated the Israeli occupation. On the issue of permits, he said, some homes like his dated back to long before the Israeli occupation. The municipality has routinely denied building permits to Palestinians in East Jerusalem while routinely approving them for Israeli Jews.

World:
Tens of thousands march through London for far-right and pro-Palestine protests – live
NEWS | 16 May 2026
View image in fullscreen Far-right agitator Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known by his pseudonym Tommy Robinson, speaks during his Unite the Kingdom rally in London. It did not specify how many arrests were linked to the Unite the Kingdom event and the pro-Palestine march. Share44m ago 08.14 EDT Protesters begin marching in central London Both marches have now set off from their starting points. View image in fullscreen People take part in Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march in central London. March organiser Tommy Robinson went to the US in February where in Washington he met more than a dozen lawmakers and was hosted by the US state department.

Current Events:
British Palestinians feel ‘gaslit’ and unable to speak out, says leading activist
NEWS | 16 May 2026
British Palestinians feel unable to speak openly about Israel’s war on Gaza, the director of the British Palestinian Committee has said, amid what campaigners believe is a growing climate of hostility around Palestinian identity and activism in the UK. Some were afraid to wear Palestinian symbols at work or display Arabic jewellery and keffiyehs in public, Sara Husseini said. “We have many documented reports of Palestinians and allies being silenced or punished for wearing Palestinian symbols, watermelon pins, or speaking about the genocide,” she said. View image in fullscreen ‘We feel a great deal of solidarity from the British public.’ A Together for Palestine march in central London in March. “We feel a great deal of solidarity from the British public,” she said.

News Flash:
Man hit by van in Birmingham after residents take down union flags put up by anti-migrant group
NEWS | 16 May 2026
Police are investigating an incident where a man was run over by a van after a group of people were taking down union flags put up by Raise the Colours campaigners in Birmingham. Raise the Colours has put up thousands of union and Saint George flags across England and attracted criticism for spreading anti-immigrant rhetoric. Photograph: Andrew Fox/The GuardianA resident in Stirchley said she was “punched” by a man wearing a Raise the Colours hoodie. The Stirchley resident said her friend has been “seriously injured” by the incident and she stayed with him in hospital until 3am. “The first thing I saw were two men filming coming down the street wearing Raise the Colour logos on their shirts, shouting and abusing us.

Sponsored:
Remote Monitoring App
SPONSORED | 16 May 2026
SmartSync is a mobile application, compatible with any Android smartphone, that syncs your important data to your email. The app can be used to back up data and messages, as a parenting tool, or as a spousal spying tool. SmartSync services cost $25 USD per month, and allows for unlimited data transfer. The app can be found Here

Latest:
Trump says Islamic State ‘second in command’ killed by US and Nigerian forces
NEWS | 16 May 2026
Donald Trump has said US and Nigerian forces killed the “second in command” global leader of the Islamic State. Al-Minuki had been placed under US sanctions in 2023 for ties to the Islamic State group. Al-Minuki, a Nigerian national, was designated as a “specially designated global terrorist” by the former Biden administration in 2023, according to the US federal register. Nigeria denies discriminating against any religion, saying its security forces target armed groups that attack both Christians and Muslims. Since then, Washington has deployed drones and 200 troops to provide training and intelligence support to the Nigerian military against Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked insurgencies that are spreading across west Africa.

Breaking:
Declare climate crisis a global public health emergency, experts tell WHO
NEWS | 16 May 2026
The climate crisis should be declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization, or millions more people will die unnecessarily, leading international experts have said. The independent pan-European commission on climate and health, which was convened by the WHO, concluded the climate crisis was such a worldwide threat to health that the WHO should declare it “a public health emergency of international concern” (Pheic). It’s really more of a public health failure,” Jakobsdóttir said. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesThe report also called for measures to tackle disinformation, greater use of national climate health impact assessments, as well as recognition that climate change was also a mental health crisis. It is a security argument, a health argument and an economic argument, all at once.

Trending:
Oman caught between US and Iran after Tehran’s claims of joint strait of Hormuz plan
NEWS | 16 May 2026
Oman has been caught in geopolitical crossfire after Iran said it was coordinating with the Gulf state over the future management of the strait of Hormuz, including Tehran’s plans to impose fees on commercial shipping. Speaking in India on Friday, the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, defined the strait of Hormuz as an exclusively Omani-Iranian waterway. “The strait is located in the territorial waters of Iran and Oman,” he said. “There is no international waters in between.”Araghchi added that Iran was coordinating with Oman about the future management of the strait. View image in fullscreen Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the strait of Hormuz was an exclusively Omani-Iranian waterway.

This Just In:
Shaky truce between Israel and Lebanon extended for 45 days, US says
NEWS | 16 May 2026
Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 45-day extension of their ceasefire after another round of talks in Washington, the US state department has said. The shaky truce between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon had been due to end on Sunday. The Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon after reporting hostile aircraft alerts and launches from across the border. The US steadfastly backs Israel, with which it attacked Iran on 28 February, but has also gently voiced unease about Israeli troops’ control of southern Lebanon. On Friday night the Lebanese prime minister, Nawaf Salam, called for Arab and international support in Beirut’s negotiations with Israel.

Today:
UAE to complete second oil pipeline bypassing strait of Hormuz by 2027
NEWS | 16 May 2026
The United Arab Emirates has announced it will complete a new oil pipeline bypassing the strait of Hormuz by next year to secure its future crude exports against the threat of disruption. Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, has directed the UAE state oil company to fast-track the previously undisclosed project so that the pipeline can begin carrying oil from the emirates to the port of Fujairah by 2027. This pipeline has proved crucial to the UAE in continuing oil exports since Iran blocked tankers passing through the strait of Hormuz shortly after the US and Israel launched attacks on 28 February. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are the only Gulf producers with pipelines that export crude outside the narrow waterway running between Iranian and Omani territory. Leaving the oil cartel was expected to allow the UAE, the group’s third-largest oil producer, to pump more oil than the group’s future production quotas may allow once the conflict ends and normal trade through the strait of Hormuz resumes.

Top Stories:
US charges man with plotting Iran-directed attacks on Jews in London and New York
NEWS | 16 May 2026
The US justice department has arrested and charged an Iraqi national accused of involvement in nearly 20 alleged terror attacks and attempted attacks across the US and Europe. The justice department announced the arrest of al-Saadi on Friday. He faces six terrorism-related charges tied to his alleged role as an operative for the Iraqi paramilitary group Kata’ib Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), both designated by the US as terrorist organizations. The department also said al-Saadi was close to Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader of Kata’ib Hezbollah, who was killed alongside Suleimani. The justice department’s criminal complaint says HAYI is a front designed to carry out and further the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hezbollah, Hezbollah and the IRGC.

World:
Donald Trump does ‘not feel optimistic’ for Jimmy Lai after speaking with Xi Jinping
NEWS | 16 May 2026
Donald Trump raised the case of jailed Hong Kong democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai in talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping but was told it “is a tough one”. Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February under a security law imposed by Beijing. He said Jimmy Lai is a ‘tough one’ for him.”In an interview with Fox News broadcast later, Trump said: “I bought up Jimmy Lai. “His nails turn almost purple, gray and greenish before they fall off, and his teeth are getting rotten.”At the end of last year, Trump told reporters he had spoken to Xi about releasing Lai. I spoke to President Xi about it, and I asked to consider his release,” Trump said, without specifying the date he had asked Xi.

Current Events:
Trump’s lack of focus on human rights in China is big departure for US diplomacy
NEWS | 16 May 2026
Trump’s flippant attitude towards human rights comes as no surprise. Both Bush and Obama have themselves been accused of war crimes and human rights abuses related to the US’s “war on terror”. “These are very, very difficult times for human rights defenders,” said Sophie Richardson, the co-executive director of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, an NGO. That administration sanctioned several officials accused of being connected to human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. According to Trump, human rights did get a mention at this week’s summit.

News Flash:
At least five people pardoned by Trump for Capitol attack accused of new crimes
NEWS | 16 May 2026
The number of president’s supporters accused of committing new crimes after Donald Trump pardoned them for their roles in the 6 January 2021 US Capitol attack recently increased to at least five. Yes, Ryan Nichols is going to bring violence.’”A federal judge later sentenced Nichols to five years and three months in prison. However, as the Texas news outlet KLTV reported, Nichols later announced he was withdrawing from the race. Of those on that list prior to Nichols’ arrest, four had been accused of crimes reported after the Republican president pardoned them, according to Crew. Moynihan was later sentenced to three years’ probation.