Users of president’s own social media site criticise video showing reimagined Gaza featuring Trump and Israeli PM sipping cocktails

Donald Trump is facing a backlash on his Truth Social platform after sharing an AI-created video of him sipping cocktails with a topless Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza, in a future imagining of the Palestinian territory devastated by Israel’s war.

The video presented a computer-generated vision of Trump’s property development plan for Gaza, under which he said he wants to “clean out” the population of about 2 million people. Named the “Riviera of the Middle East” plan, the proposal has been criticised as a blueprint for ethnic cleansing.

The ultimate cheesy indulgence in nine simple steps

Five years ago, I was worried that the pandemic had killed off fondue for ever. And, while it wasn’t my biggest concern back in February 2020, a world that couldn’t come together over molten cheese still seemed a bleak prospect. Clearly I wasn’t alone, because Swiss public health experts were later forced to issue reassurance – thankfully, the only risk here is overindulgence.

Prep 10 min
Cook 15 min
Serves 4

Workers at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fear crackdown will have global fallout

The Trump administration has set its sights on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the US’s pre-eminent climate research agency, with significant cuts and a political crackdown on climate science. As Trump takes aim at the agency, the impact is likely to be felt across the US and around the world.

Noaa provides essential resources to the public and has helped make the US a scientific leader internationally. Operating 18 satellites and 15 research and survey ships, the agency’s scientists, engineers and policy experts issue forecasts relied on by aviation, agriculture and fishing industries; ocean floor mapping depended upon for shipping; advises on species protection, and increasingly precise and accurate modeling on what to expect as climate crisis unfolds.

Cynical actors exploit the legal ambiguities around targeting healthcare facilities, as seen in Gaza. Unequivocal protections are needed

Hospitals in Gaza have “turned into battlegrounds”, the World Health Organization’s representative for the West Bank and Gaza stated at the UN security council in January. He warned that the healthcare system was being “systematically dismantled and driven to the brink of collapse”.

Israel’s attacks on medical centres in Gaza have prompted widespread condemnation from civil society, academics and news agencies, many labelling these strikes as breaches of international law or war crimes. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted that: “Any attack of healthcare facilities is a violation of international humanitarian law.”

The Milan star’s nine-episode docuseries is most notable in that it reveals anything at all

Deep into the third and most recent episode of the Paramount+ docuseries on Milan and United States men’s national team star Christian Pulisic – with the very does-exactly-what-it-says-on-the-tin title of Pulisic – a remarkable sight unfolds: Pulisic, coaxed by his girlfriend, reveals something of himself.

In that scene, Pulisic and Alexa Melton, a golfer on the second-tier Epson Tour, sit at a table in his house in Italy playing a card game. He looks uncomfortable. “What feelings are hard for you to communicate to me and how can I make it easier?” Melton asks, reading off a card.

Government employees fight the Trump administration’s chaos by organizing and publishing information on Bluesky

After seeing Elon Musk’s X post on Saturday afternoon about an email that would soon land in the inboxes of 2.3 million federal employees asking them to list five things they did the week before, a clandestine network of employees and contractors at dozens of federal agencies began talking on an encrypted app about how to respond.

Employees on a four-day, 10-hours-a-day schedule wouldn’t even see the email until Tuesday – past the deadline for responding – some noted. There was also a bit of snark: “bonus points to anyone who responds that they spent their government subsidy on hookers and blow,” one worker said.

The Ontario premier says he’s ready to stand up to Trump over tariffs – will that yield a third straight election win?

The day Donald Trump won the United States presidential election was a happy one for Doug Ford.

The conservative politician who oversees Canada’s most populous province – and its largest economy – made the admission to caucus and supporters, in off-the-cuff remarks accidentally caught by a nearby microphone.

Ellis Mee, who would not have registered with many before this tournament, has been one of the shining stars so far

Sure, it’s still early days but Wales’s upbeat performance against Ireland showed how quickly perceptions can change. Even a few weeks ago the name Ellis Mee would not have registered with many Six Nations fans. Now, after an eye-catching debut last weekend, the lanky 21-year-old is being tipped by no less an expert than Jamie Roberts to become a regular fixture for Wales. Less than a year ago the 6ft 4in Mee was playing for Nottingham in the Championship – memo to the Rugby Football Union: there is plenty of untapped talent out there – and was scouted by the former Wales international James “Cubby” Davies while playing for Nottingham Trent University. Then, after just 10 professional games for Scarlets, he was parachuted into the national team as part of a productive back three alongside his similarly positive clubmates Blair Murray and Tom Rogers. Suddenly it’s all Mee, Mee, Mee …

Exclusive: The bloody foundering of President Gustavo Petro’s ‘Total Peace’ strategy is a ‘national failure’, says Juan Manuel Santos, who ended war with Farc guerrillas in 2016

Colombia risks sliding back into its violent past as armed groups exploit the stumbling peace strategy of President Gustavo Petro, the architect of its landmark 2016 peace deal has told the Guardian.

In a rare interview, former president Juan Manuel Santos warned that gains from the peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) are quickly being undone as armed factions exploit negotiation efforts to recruit new combatants and seize control of new land.

Trump’s order to stop work on aid projects around the globe has left dedicated staff shocked and demoralised

In a village in Lesotho, a small country in southern Africa, Sasha teaches hundreds of children at a local primary school. A significant part of her work as an education volunteer at the US Peace Corps is to educate her students about HIV prevention. Almost a quarter of Lesotho’s 2.3 million population lives with HIV, giving it the second-highest level of HIV infection in the world.

At the beginning of February, Donald Trump halted virtually all US foreign aid. The 90-day pause left many agencies scrambling to follow the new guidance, affecting programs such as the one Sasha works for. In Lesotho, she and other volunteers work to mitigate the effects of HIV/Aids stigma through grant-funded programs like a soccer camp. All of that stopped.

Advocacy groups are better prepared than the first term for legal challenges – but will the administration obey rulings?

Amid spending freezes and policy rollbacks from Donald Trump, environmental advocacy groups are gearing up for a long series of legal showdowns with the administration.

The experience of suing Trump during his first term has left the movement better prepared, but the court battles will still be daunting, with the administration appearing to test the nation’s legal boundaries in an effort to consolidate power under the executive branch.

It’s time to rethink how climate action succeeds. The key is to acknowledge that it’s never the sole force driving political decisions

We are witnessing the most devastating climate disasters on record: wildfires ravaging Los Angeles, deadly floods in North Carolina, and global temperature records shattered month after month. We have officially surpassed 1.5C of warming, a critical threshold scientists have long warned against. At the same time, the US is scaling back policies, freezing critical programs and shifting priorities away from climate action.

But now isn’t the time to give up on climate action. Instead, it is high time to rethink how it succeeds.

The move has disturbing historical precedents, and retaliation against the Associated Press signals more restrictions to come

Last week, the Associated Press sued White House officials for violating its free press rights by punishing the organization for defying Donald Trump’s executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America”. Unfortunately, on Monday, a federal judge refused to immediately strike down the White House’s retaliatory treatment of the AP. But the case is far from over.

Granting access to the White House on the suppressive conditions set by the Trump administration is a blow to the first amendment and the free press. If the retaliation against the AP is allowed to stand, more restrictions on the press are certain to follow, creating Kremlin-like conditions that will affect all Americans who might question, or be suspected of questioning, the Trump party line.

At the height of the cold war, the west advanced its soft power through aid and development spending. If we cut that now, who will fill the vacuum?

• Halima Begum is the chief executive of Oxfam GB

The savagely deep cuts that Keir Starmer has announced to the international aid budget make a mockery of the pledge his party made to the British people in its manifesto. Then, it promised to restore development spending at the level of 0.7% of gross national income “as soon as fiscal circumstances allow”. On Tuesday the prime minister stood in front of parliament and announced that he will cut it from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP. In the same manifesto, Labour made a commitment to “rebuild Britain’s reputation on international development with a new approach based on genuine respect and partnership with the global south”. This week, the government turned its back on it.

Of course, I understand the argument that defence spending has to be increased, but cutting our aid budget still further when governments around the world are cutting theirs too will only increase division in our already deeply divided world. More than that, cutting aid amounts to a collective betrayal of the most vulnerable and dispossessed by western leaders.

Dr Halima Begum is the chief executive of Oxfam GB

The relationship between a predatory male comedian and a female producer rings true in this darkly funny debut

Ali is a radio producer; Ed is a comedian. Ali is vulnerable; Ed is charming. Ali is desperate to be loved; Ed is ready to love her.

And Ed is a predator. Ali is prey.

What to know about the actors nominated for the Academy Awards’ biggest acting prize, along with the Guardian’s reviews and interviews

• Full list of Oscar nominations
• Want more? Our guides to the best picture, best actor and best director races

Career wins and nominations: After a career marked more by box office records than silverware – bar a Golden Raspberry win – Moore, 62, has been hoovering up a lot of trophies for The Substance. She missed out on the Bafta earlier this month, and the independent spirit award, but won the Golden Globe for leading actress in a comedy or musical, as well as the Critics’ Choice trophy and the Sag award.

• Head coach also banned for Southampton game
• Slot sent off for behaviour after chaotic Merseyside derby

Arne Slot has received a two-game touchline ban for his behaviour after Liverpool’s draw at Everton, meaning he will be in the stands for Wednesday’s game at home to Newcastle and Southampton’s visit on 8 March. The Dutchman has also been fined £70,000.

Slot was shown a red card by the referee, Michael Oliver, and was charged by the Football Association with acting in an improper manner and/or using insulting and/or abusive words and/or behaviour towards both the match referee and an assistant referee after the 2-2 draw. Slot’s assistant, Sipke Hulshoff, has been banned for two games too and fined £7,000 with the team likely to be led by John Heitinga against Newcastle and Southampton.

Edward Berger will direct story of Wall Street Journal reporter who was held in Russia on espionage charges for over a year

Edward Berger, whose topical papal thriller Conclave is nominated for 10 Oscars, is to direct a film version of the forthcoming memoir of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Gershkovich was held in Russia for more than a year on false charges of espionage before being released as part of a prisoner swap last August.

What motivates younger voters may well decide the election. Do Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton speak your language? Or are you looking beyond Labor and the Coalition?

Almost 50% of voters at the 2025 federal election will be Generation Z and millennials, for the first time significantly outnumbering the baby boomers, who will make up about 33% of the electorate.

While the impact of such a demographic shift on the election outcome is yet to be seen, it seems Peter Dutton has got the memo. An ABC analysis found the Liberal party significantly outperformed Labor in engaging Gen Z viewers on TikTok, with almost 333,000 views to the party’s posts compared with Labor’s 6,000 in December. It found the two parties were much closer when comparing interactions on Instagram and Facebook, which skew towards older Australians.

Firm confirms plans to scale back green energy efforts and ‘fundamentally reset’ strategy

• Business live – latest updates

BP will abandon its green ambitions by increasing its oil and gas investment to $10bn a year as part of a fundamental reset of the troubled company’s strategy.

The company has confirmed that it will scrap its plan to cut its fossil fuel production and will instead grow production to 2.3m–2.5m barrels of oil a day by the end of the decade.

Walter Salles’s true-story drama reflects on a dark chapter from Brazil’s authoritarian past that has a chilling resonance for the world we live in today

There are many reasons Walter Salles’s heart-rending drama I’m Still Here should win the Oscar for best picture: its gorgeous Brazilian soundtrack, extraordinary, empathetic performances and poignant camerawork to name a few.

But surely one of the most compelling is the giant party such a victory would produce in the director’s native Brazil where, serendipitously, Oscar night falls slap bang in the middle of the country’s annual carnival.

Sergei Lavrov says UK and France ‘engaged in further fuelling conflict’; US president says Ukraine president will visit White House on Friday

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that expert level talks between the US and Russia were being prepared. In his daily media briefing Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there were no current plans for Vladimir Putin and US president Donald Trump to speak directly on the phone.

The Kremlin said it declined to comment on any aspect of a proposed US-Ukraine deal allowing the US to extract rare minerals from Ukraine in lieu of payment for military support until there were official statements. Russia’s president on Monday evening offered to sell Russian rare earth minerals to US companies, including minerals from the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine

Anger over blown calls is as old as baseball itself. But in Spring Training this year, players can ask technology for a little help

For the first time ever this month, major league players who disagree with an umpire’s rendering of the strike zone can do something about it. Something other than an exaggerated pantomime of disbelief or a testy reply liable to get them thrown out of the game entirely. They can do something effectual, productive, process-based. They can appeal to a higher power, one that has become revered within the sport for its ability to optimize anything and everything: Technology.

Major League Baseball is testing the challenge system version of the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS) in roughly 60% of Spring Training games this preseason. In layman’s terms: this spring, players can ask robot umps to review pitch calls.

Photographs from across the globe capture the impact of people on the climate – and of the climate on people

The word anthropocene has been proposed to denote an ongoing epoch in which human activity is a primary driving force of geological change. Although the word has caught on like wildfire in a colloquial sense, it was ultimately rejected as a descriptive scientific term, not so much because it was inaccurate but because of disagreements over when exactly it would have started – 1945, marking the unlocking of nuclear power; 1610, which may be the first time human activity affected the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; 1964, when the so-called Great Acceleration may have begun – or some other date altogether?

These questions point to deeper challenges in understanding just what the Anthropocene is: do we think of it in terms of nuclear fallout, the composition of the atmosphere, the size of the human population, or so many other worthy metrics? Hoping to help us better understand this substantial concept, the Cantor Arts Center’s new exhibition Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene brings together 44 photographic artists from across six continents, offering breathtaking and provocative looks at what humanity has wrought on this earth.

Tech company blames ‘phonetic overlap’ for problem where US president’s name appears

Apple has promised to fix a bug in its iPhone automatic dictation tool after some users reported it had suggested to them “Trump” when they said the word “racist”.

The glitch was first highlighted in a viral post on TikTok, when the speech-to-text tool sometimes briefly flashed up the word “Trump” when they said “racist”, and was later repeated by others on social media.

Peppy look at the rise of plant-based diets skates around the planet from Los Angeles to South Africa but doesn’t really pause to sift through the stats

This bright and proselytising documentary about veganism will no doubt win some new converts to the cause, with lots of sun-dappled footage of rescued farm animals restored to Edenic freedom. But it doesn’t delve seriously enough into still-debated issues to sway interested fence-sitters, let alone diehard carnivores that must be converted if animal agriculture’s carbon footprint is to be reduced to sustainable levels; this latter is surely the most universally compelling argument in the vegan arsenal.

Co-directors Dan Richardson and Giles Alderson, also appearing front of camera, initially present the film as a fanfare for veganism’s recent growth and new acceptability. But with the film skating superficially through various locations – a vegan fair in Croatia, a sanctuary farm in South Africa, vegan mecca Los Angeles, a Super Size Me-style 30-day challenge in the UK – there’s no real history of how this turnaround happened. So while the broad-brush ideas about meat-eating’s environmental and health impacts are bandied about, there’s no real examination of why underlying attitudes shifted, and how further inroads can be made.

Wildfires are devastating Patagonia. In response, Argentinian authorities are removing environmental protections and raiding Indigenous communities

Soraya Maicoñio lives in Mallín Ahogado, a rural area in the Comarca Andina,a region of sparkling rivers, mountains, lakes and lush forests in Argentinian Patagonia. It is an area well-known for its small-scale agriculture, forestry and tourism.

In recent weeks, however, the region, which spans the provinces of Rio Negro and Chubut, has been in the news for its large-scale wildfires – and the authorities’ crackdown on the local population.

The Canadian sports hero turned Maga cheerleader might have torpedoed a once-bulletproof image by fraternizing with Donald Trump at the worst time imaginable

Canada hockey legend Wayne Gretzky was already facing a strained relationship with the Canadian public when he emerged from the tunnel at last week’s 4 Nations Face-Off final against the United States in Boston.

But that strain reached a full-on breaking point on Thursday night when Gretzky gave an eager thumbs-up to the US players and wore no Canadian colors to the final game between the two countries at the inaugural tournament, where Gretzky was the honorary team captain for Canada.

• Champions Trophy updates from Lahore, 9am GMT start
• Sign up to get our newsletter, The Spin | And mail Daniel

Is Livingstone living on a prayer?

Yes, says John Starbuck:

Hi. Unless he produces a whizzo performance today, I suspect Livingstone will be omitted from Saturday’s game, in favour of the (now) extra spinner. What do you reckon?

Neither Antonio Conte nor Ange Postecoglou were convinced by Spence but he’s showing his value now

By Ben McAleer for WhoScored

Red Djed Redemption. Return of the Djedi. The Walking Djed. Call it what you like but, in a season of few success stories at Tottenham, Djed Spence’s emergence as a key player is the feelgood story of the campaign. He even scored his first goal in the Premier League at the weekend.

“A kid who had the wildest dreams to play in the Premier League. A kid who had the wildest dreams to score in the Premier League. That dream came true. Never stop believing,” wrote Spence on Instagram after Tottenham’s 4-1 win against Ipswich at Portman Road. Given the first two years of his time at Spurs, that dream did not seem likely to come true this season.

Plus: short men’s players scoring headers; Young Boys v Old Boys; and failing to go up with great goal differences

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Burnley’s 4-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Friday was the 12th consecutive Championship game in which they kept a clean sheet,” writes Graham Davidson. “Is this a record for a domestic men’s league?”

It’s now 1,090 minutes (plus added time, which is never included in such lists) since Burnley last conceded a league goal (Watford’s Kwadwo Baah scoring on 21 December). Since that match, which Burnley won 2-1, their record is eye-catching to say the least: P12 W6 D6 L0 F15 A0 Pts 24. We had a related question in 2009 when Manchester United and Edwin van der Sar were racking up clean sheets. That was for individual goalkeepers and, while James Trafford has been in goal throughout Burnley’s Fort Knox period, there are plenty of examples of teams putting together even longer runs in which they used more than one goalkeeper.

We used to have sex once a week on a Sunday, but since the menopause there has been no choice but to abstain. What can I do?

My wife and I are in our late 50s, have been married for 20 years and have two children. Our sex life dwindled for a while, then ground to a halt around three years ago. When we were younger, I was very much in love with her and willing to live with our very different levels of sexual need and adventurism. Sleeping together happened almost exclusively on Sunday nights in the dark. She has always found sex in any position other than missionary to be painful. She finds oral sex to orgasm “disgusting” and since the menopause hit there has been no alternative but to abstain. I have a healthy sex drive and want to have what I would regard as a normal sex life again. In addition, we have a very different sense of humour and have often argued. I am the one who has initiated talking about our problems and we have had couples counselling, but it was inconclusive (I believe because we never talked about the elephant in the room that is our sex life). I can’t see how we can become even slightly more compatible when we are so different. I ask myself how we survived for this length of time, but then feel guilty for wanting more, probably with someone else.

Couples counselling can help bring people together, but it can also help by being a path to separation. It seems as though that is secretly what you want, and in that case it would be only fair to tell your wife exactly how you are feeling. But also consider that your wife is experiencing menopause and needs your help and understanding. And experiencing pain during intercourse is something that should be investigated. Perhaps she would return to counselling or even agree to sex therapy, which could really help you both. There are many possible reasons why you have drifted apart but, like many other couples, you have simply tried to adapt and bury feelings that ideally should have been addressed some time ago. Being helped to truly understand each other better and appreciate each other’s current dilemma could be very beneficial to your relationship, so do your best to encourage her kindly to join you in seeking answers.

Pamela Stephenson Connolly is a US-based psychotherapist who specialises in treating sexual disorders.

If you would like advice from Pamela on sexual matters, send us a brief description of your concerns to private.lives@theguardian.com (please don’t send attachments). Each week, Pamela chooses one problem to answer, which will be published online. She regrets that she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Submissions are subject to our terms and conditions.

The Nigerian-American author returns with an astute and moving exploration of female experience

‘Novels had always felt to me truer than what was real,” declares a character in Dream Count, the highly anticipated new novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It is a statement echoed in the accompanying author’s note, which contends that the “point of art is to look at our world and be moved by it, and then to engage in a series of attempts at clearly seeing that world, interpreting it, questioning it”. Since the publication of her extraordinarily assured debut novel, Purple Hibiscus, in 2003, Adichie’s fiction has performed this task of seeing, interpreting and questioning to huge acclaim, garnering her major awards as well as a public profile far beyond most writers, whose work hasn’t been sampled by Beyoncé.

In keeping with her superstar status, Dream Count is billed as “a publishing event 10 years in the making” and is perhaps the surest bet so far for this year’s Women’s prize. However, its publication is also accompanied by difficult personal circumstances: Adichie’s father died in June 2020, followed in March 2021, less than a year later, by the death of her mother, after which, as she writes in the author’s note, her “life’s cover was ripped off”. Having already written about her father’s death in her extended essay Notes on Grief, Dream Count, Adichie asserts, is “really about my mother”. Composed of the interlocking stories of four women, Chiamaka (“Chia”), Zikora, Omelogor and Kadiatou, it is also quintessential Adichie: ambitious, astute and powered by an accumulation of feather-light sentences that build to devastating weight.

An anniversary edition of the 2013 martial arts animation is light on bombast, funny and mischievous

Here is a 10th-anniversary extended edition, with 20 added minutes, of the 18th theatrical outing for Dragon Ball, which was credited with revitalising the franchise. With original series creator Akira Toriyama apparently taking a stronger hand during production, this 2013 film hit the sweet spot where daffy character comedy powered up OTT anime smackdown, in the process laying the groundwork for the brand’s next phase, Dragon Ball Super.

“Such over-the-top naming. It ends up sounding tawdry,” comments a lackey to intergalactic god of destruction Beerus (Kōichi Yamadera) when the pair hear of a “Super Saiyan God” on the loose. Despite being a nap-centric sphynx cat in harem pants, Beerus is impatient for a worthy foe, so he decides to call in on any nearby Saiyans (a race of super-strong aliens) who might point him in the right direction. After wiping the floor with series hero Goku (Masako Nozawa) with just two blows, the apocalyptic kitty turns his hunt towards Earth with Armoggiedon on the cards.

Despite losing his studio contents in the recent Spanish floods, Ricardo Cases has a new solo exhibition that demonstrates his eye for an arresting image

The massacre in Bucha, the mass graves in Izium – it is as if these atrocities never happened. Now the truth is being taken out and shot

Orders and statements from the new US president come at us daily now, with unremitting speed, and international politics is reduced to an endless series of justifications and denials of unfounded accusations.

It’s hard to believe, but Ukrainian activists have had to write explainers for a global audience, reminding them who the true dictator is, that it was not Ukraine that started the war with Russia and that we are actually just trying to defend what is ours. And, you know, to survive a little bit.

When my rheumatoid arthritis became more aggressive, I clung to the idea of still being a ‘walking person’. Letting go of that gave me more freedom than I could have imagined

It started like any normal day – or normal for us, at least. My partner, Stewart, helped me out of bed and on to the wheeled office chair I kept next to it. Then I propelled myself to the top of the stairs before leaning precariously on my crutches as I made my way down, slowly and dangerously, with lots of swearing at the pain (I find it helps). Then, on the way out to the car, I missed my footing and fell.

Not for the first time, Stewart was caught between concern and frustration. Wasn’t it time, he asked, for me to consider using a wheelchair? Once again, I rejected the suggestion.

Rise comes from very low base and remains far below the 2.1 births per woman needed to stabilise population

South Korea’s birthrate rose last year for the first time in nine years, as a surge in marriages raised hopes that the country may be lifting itself out of its demographic crisis.

Preliminary data released by the government body Statistics Korea on Wednesday showed that the number of babies born per 1,000 people in 2024 stood at 4.7, the first rise since 2014.

Gardaí went on board after Stena Line ferry from Fishguard docked at Rosslare Europort

A woman has died following an incident on a ferry that docked at Co Wexford in Ireland on Tuesday.

One man was arrested after the death of the woman on board the passenger ferry.

Thousands of seafarers are left on board their vessels in foreign waters, unpaid, with scant supplies – and no way of getting home

When Vihaan* set off from his home in Tamil Nadu, south India, to work on a vessel crossing the Bay of Bengal into neighbouring Bangladesh, he told his family he would be gone a few months. After delivering his cargo of stone to Bangladesh’s Kutubdia Island, the marine engineer was due to head home in March 2024 to disembark at Thoothukudi port, India.

But that month, the rusting tug, the Navimar 3, which was being operated by Middle East Marine (MEM), was detained by the authorities in Bangladesh due to unpaid fees. For almost a year, Vihaan has become a virtual prisoner on board, he says, forced to work without pay to keep the vessel safe, amid strong currents where it is anchored off the island in the cyclone-prone bay. His passport and certification documents are being held by a local agent for the Dubai-based company. With no means of getting home, no visa to disembark and without supplies, he has to rely on food and water from charities and unions.