115 people sickened in norovirus outbreak on cruise ship: CDC
Passenger cruise ship Sky Princess leaves the French Mediterranean port of Marseille. (Gerard Bottino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — More than 100 people have been sickened in a norovirus outbreak on board a Caribbean Princess cruise, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the agency, 102 passengers and 13 crew members were reported sick so far, with symptoms including diarrhea and vomiting.
The outbreak was reported to the CDC on Thursday, during the cruise ship’s April 28 to May 11 voyage.
The ship is currently in the northwest Atlantic Ocean, headed towards Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, according to CruiseMapper. It is scheduled to arrive at Port Canaveral, Florida, on May 11.
There are 3,116 total passengers and 1,131 crew members on board the cruise ship, according to the CDC.
In response to the outbreak, the ship and crew increased cleaning and disinfection procedures, isolated people who had fallen ill and collected stool specimens for testing, the CDC said.
ABC News has reached out to Princess Cruises for comment.
Norovirus is quite common, especially on ships, and is not related in any way to the current hantavirus outbreak on board the MV Hondius cruise ship.
This is the fourth gastrointestinal illness outbreak reported on a cruise ship so far this year, according to the CDC.
Loaded cargo containers at the Torkham Border Terminal, along with vehicles carrying migrants bound for Afghanistan, are forced to turn back toward the Pak-Afghan Highway on the second day of clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan at the Torkham crossing in Pakistan on February 27, 2026. (Hijrat Ali/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Tensions remain high as Pakistan and Afghanistan exchange airstrikes over the last 24 hours with Pakistan’s defense minister calling it “open war.”
“Any further provocations by the Taliban regime, or attempts by any terrorist group to undermine the security and welfare of the people of Pakistan, will be met with a measured, decisive and befitting response,” Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Friday.
Casualties have been reported on both sides, with each side claiming larger enemy losses.
Pakistan claims the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan is providing support for terror groups that have carried out attacks inside Pakistan.
“Pakistan’s actions were undertaken in exercise of its right to self-defense and to ensure the safety and security of its citizens, as well as that of the wider region and beyond,” the statement said.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, said Afghanistan’s soil will not be used against any country and highlighted its fight against ISIS as evidence of its commitment to regional security.
Mujahid described Pakistan’s conflict with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as an internal issue that predates the current Afghan government, arguing it is unreasonable to blame Afghanistan for a long-running domestic conflict.
Despite the tensions, Mujahid said the Islamic Emirate prefers resolving disputes through dialogue and understanding, emphasizing that its actions have been in self-defense and that it remains open to peaceful negotiations.
ABC News’ Habibullah Khan and Aleen Agha contributed to this report.
Firefighters at the scene in Highfield Road, Golders Green, London, after an apparent arson attack on four ambulances belonging to the Jewish Community Ambulance service in London. The Metropolitan Police confirmed the incident is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime. Picture date: Monday March 23, 2026. (Photo by Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Two men were arrested in connection with an arson attack on a Jewish charity’s ambulances in the north London neighborhood of Golders Green, British police said on Wednesday.
The men — aged 47 and 45 — were taken into custody Wednesday morning at separate addresses in northwest and central London, police said.
Both were arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and have been taken to a London police station where they’re being held, according to London’s Metropolitan Police Service, which noted that its officers are conducting searches at the two addresses.
Four ambulances used by Hatzola, a volunteer-led ambulance service in north London, were set on fire just about 1:30 a.m. on Monday morning, police said. Three masked or hooded individuals were seen setting the fires, police said.
Investigators said that they were combing through hours of CCTV footage related to the case, in part to “trace the suspects’ movements.”
“This appears to be an important breakthrough in the investigation, but we’re also mindful that CCTV footage of the incident suggests there were at least three people involved,” Cmdr. Helen Flanagan, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, who is leading the investigation, said in a statement.
An investigations was still underway, Flanagan added, saying the Met would “seek to arrest all of those who may have been involved.”
Officials said that the arson attack was being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, although it had not as been designated a terrorist incident as of the police’s most recent update, which was published on Monday.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the attack as “horrifying,” saying on social media on Monday that it appeared to be a “shocking antisemitic arson attack.”
“An attack on our Jewish community is an attack on us all,” Starmer said. “We will fight the poison that is antisemitism.”
Thousands of people protest in Berlin, Germany for the overthrow of the current Iranian regime and the creation of a democratic government in Iran on February 7, 2026. (Omer Messinger/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — One month after Iran was rocked by the beginning of the deadliest crackdown in its modern history, the full toll of the regime’s response to nationwide protests is still coming into focus.
On Jan. 8 and 9, Iranian security forces launched what activists describe as the most brutal assault yet on citizens who had poured into streets across the country, chanting for regime change.
While international media coverage has gradually shifted toward renewed negotiations between the United States and the Islamic Republic over Tehran’s nuclear program, human rights groups and Iranians inside and outside the country warn that repression on the ground has intensified. They describe an atmosphere of fear, torture, and systemic violence ruling the country.
As of Monday, more than 6,400 protesters have been killed and over 51,500 arrested on charges linked to the demonstrations, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). Over 11,000 more related deaths remain under review. ABC News cannot independently verify these numbers.
Farsi-language social media remains flooded with images of the dead, missing and detained. Videos show families grieving loved ones killed in the streets, while others are pleas from relatives searching for missing family members in morgues and prisons, or seeking legal support for those behind bars.
Many wounded protesters still seek medical advice from doctors on social media on how to treat their injuries at home, because they fear getting arrested in hospitals by regime forces, who closely monitor hospitals in order to track wounded protesters. An Iranian lawyer told ABC News last week that several of doctors who provided home treatment to wounded protesters have been arrested.
The volume of such social media posts has shown no sign of slowing.
200 students were killed The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (CCITTA) published the names on Sunday of 200 students they said are confirmed killed during the protests.
“Each name carries a wish with it: I wish he were alive; I wish his school was still waiting for him,” CCITTA said in a statement on X, adding that “the empty benches are not just a sign of absence; they are a reminder of a crime that has reached the classroom.”
Mounting concerns over detainees Over the weekend, in a post on X, the Hengaw human rights organization warned of widespread sexual violence during this wave of arrests, citing interviews with former detainees. Hengaw described the mental condition of those still in custody as “dire,” because of the torture during detention.
Among those arrested is Iranian journalist and activist Vida Rabbani, who was detained after signing a joint statement declaring the downfall of the Islamic Republic “inevitable.” Her husband says she has been tortured after her arrest.
“There were many obvious bruises on Vida’s body. She had been severely beaten,” Hamidreza Amiri wrote on Instagram this weekend after visiting her in prison.
He said that when Rabbani refused to wear the compulsory hijab in prison, guards pulled out her hair.
“The artist girl had made a bracelet from a handful of her own hair,” he wrote. “The bracelet, next to the bruises on her hand, created a strange and deeply moving scene.”
Activists warn that if such abuse is inflicted on high-profile figures with media visibility, the treatment of ordinary protesters whose cases often go unreported may be far worse.
Waves of forced confessions According to HRANA, at least 331 forced confessions related to the protests have been broadcast so far.
One recent case involves Mohammad Ali Saedinia, a prominent business owner who had supported the protests by closing all branches of his well-known confectionery chain nationwide and joining strike actions.
On Monday, state-affiliated Fars News published a scanned letter allegedly signed by Saedinia, calling his decision to shut down his stores in January a “mistake,” condemning Israel and the U.S., and apologizing to the Iranian people. Earlier this month, the judiciary’s spokesperson confirmed Saedinia’s arrest, and that his properties were ordered seized by the Iranian regime.
Arrests of reformist figures The Iranian regime also arrested several prominent reformist figures on Monday, according to Fars News, after they allegedly criticized the authorities’ handling of the protests. They face charges including “attacking national unity” and “coordinating with enemy propaganda,” according to Fars News.
Speaking anonymously for security reasons, an Iranian analyst told ABC News on Monday that the arrests are “significant,” since the Trump administration might be weighing the possibility of engaging with some insiders of the Iranian government if the regime collapses.
The analyst added that the move could be hardliners aligned with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tightening their grip on power, given the uncertainty of the future of the ongoing negotiations with the U.S.
