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The Walt Disney Company announced plans Wednesday for a new theme park in the United Arab Emirates, highlighting the country’s growing prominence as a global financial and entertainment hub.The waterfront resort will be located on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island and developed in partnership with local firm Miral. Disney stated that it aims to attract tourists from “the Middle East and Africa, India, Asia, Europe, and beyond.”The announcement comes ahead of US President Donald Trump’s upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week.”Disneyland Abu Dhabi will be authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati,” said Disney CEO Robert Iger in a statement, promising “an oasis of extraordinary Disney entertainment at this crossroads of the world.”The company stated that the new resort will blend Disney’s “iconic stories, characters and attractions with Abu Dhabi’s vibrant culture, stunning shorelines, and breathtaking architecture.”Disneyland Abu Dhabi will be the seventh Disney resort since the original Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California in 1955. Other Disney destinations are located in Florida, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai.Iger told analysts that the location was chosen to bring the Disney experience closer to hundreds of millions of customers for whom visiting its other six locations “was pretty lengthy in nature and expensive.”He also noted the success of existing attractions in Abu Dhabi, including the Louvre museum and the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim, which is currently under construction.Miral group operates numerous hotels, resorts, and amusement parks in Abu Dhabi including Warner Brothers World, Ferrari World and Sea World.In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Disney Experiences chairman Josh D’Amaro described the new park and resort as the company’s most “modern” and “tech-forward” destination. He added that in an unusual arrangement for Disney, the park would be funded, built, and ultimately operated by the Miral group “with oversight of course from us.””But we’re very confident in this part of the world, with this partner, that this is the appropriate business arrangement,” he added.The new park announcement coincided with Disney reporting a robust increase in quarterly revenues, which sent its shares skyrocketing.The company said overall sales increased seven percent to $23.6 billion in the January to March period. Crucially, subscribers to its Disney+ streaming service grew to 126 million, adding 1.4 million new subscriptions, contrary to analysts’ expectations of a decline. The Experiences segment, which includes theme parks, saw revenue increase to $8.9 billion.

A US warplane plummeted into the Red Sea when trying to land on the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, a defense official said Wednesday, the second jet lost from the ship in just over a week.The F/A-18F Super Hornet — which cost about $67 million — went overboard Tuesday due to a failure in the procedure for aircraft to catch a wire with a hook to help them stop after landing.”The arrestment failed, causing the aircraft to go overboard,” the defense official said.”Both aviators safely ejected and were rescued,” the official said, adding that they had minor injuries.It is the second F/A-18 operating off the Truman to be lost in recent days.On April 28, a similar F/A-18E fell off the carrier when the crew that was towing it in the hanger lost control of the plane.One sailor sustained a minor injury in that incident, which also saw a tow tractor lost overboard.Late last year, another F/A-18 operating off the Truman was lost after it was mistakenly shot down by the USS Gettysburg guided missile cruiser. Both pilots survived that incident.And in February, the Truman itself suffered damage when it collided with a merchant vessel in the Mediterranean Sea near Egypt’s Port Said.- Yemen ceasefire -In addition to the lost warplanes and damage, a US official said last week that seven MQ-9 Reaper drones — which cost around $30 million apiece — had been lost in the Yemen area since March 15.The Truman is one of two US aircraft carriers operating in the Middle East, where US forces have been hammering Yemen’s Huthi rebels with strikes since mid-March.The Iran-backed Huthis began attacking merchant vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in late 2023, claiming solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, which has been devastated by the Israeli military following a shock Hamas attack in October of that year.The United States started targeting the Huthis in 2024 under Joe Biden, and President Donald Trump’s administration on March 15 launched a new wave of near-daily strikes.On Tuesday, Trump said that the Huthis had agreed to stop their attacks and that Washington would in turn halt strikes on the rebels, which have left 300 people dead, according to an AFP tally of Huthi figures.”They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore,” the US president said, before mediator Oman said the two sides had agreed a ceasefire.

Hamas insisted Wednesday on a “comprehensive” agreement to end its war with Israel, as rescuers said Israeli bombardment of Gaza killed at least 26 people amid a growing humanitarian catastrophe.A two-month ceasefire in the war collapsed in March, with Israel resuming intense strikes and imposing a total aid blockade on the Palestinian territory.Israel demands the return of all hostages seized in Hamas’s unprecedented October 2023 attack and Hamas’s disarmament, which the group has rejected as a “red line”.Hamas has consistently demanded that a truce deal must lead to the war’s end, a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a surge in humanitarian aid.”Hamas and the resistance factions insist on reaching a comprehensive agreement and a full package to end the war and aggression, along with a roadmap for the day after,” political bureau member Bassem Naim told AFP Wednesday.”There are desperate attempts ahead of (US President Donald) Trump’s visit to the region… to force through a partial deal that would return some Israeli captives in exchange for a limited number of days of food and water — without any guarantees from any party to actually end the war,” he said.Trump is due in the Gulf next week for talks with the heads of state of powerful monarchies.Israel this week drew widespread condemnation over its plans for an expanded Gaza offensive, which an official said would entail the “conquest” of the Palestinian territory.- ‘We die of hunger’ -Before that phase begins, a senior Israeli security source had said that the timing of troop deployments allowed a “window of opportunity” for a possible hostage deal coinciding with Trump’s Middle East trip.”We want to try and get as many hostages saved as possible,” Trump said at the White House, without elaborating.In Gaza, rescuers said strikes killed 26 people, 15 in a strike on a school.”Our teams retrieved 15 martyrs and 10 injured individuals after Israeli occupation aircraft targeted the Al-Karama school, which shelters displaced persons… in the Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City,” spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP.He had earlier reported a toll of 11 killed in strikes on the territory.One strike hit a house in the southern city of Khan Yunis, where eight members of the Al-Qidra family were killed and 12 wounded, Bassal said.The ages of the dead ranged from two to 54, he added.AFP footage from Khan Yunis’s Nasser Hospital showed wounded children crying on hospital beds while bodies covered in blankets arrived in ambulances.”They were sleeping and the house collapsed on them,” said Abir Shehab, adding her brother had been killed.”We die of hunger, we die of war, we die of fear, we die of everything, and the whole world stands by and watches us die,” she said.Israel’s military did not immediately comment on the strikes.- ‘More deaths and injuries’ -The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Wednesday at least 2,545 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign, bringing the war’s overall toll to 52,653.Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Militants also abducted 251 people, 58 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.On Tuesday, Hamas said it was pointless to continue ceasefire talks with Israel, accusing it of waging a “hunger war” on Gaza.France’s President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that the situation in Gaza was “the most critical we have ever seen”.In Madrid, Spain, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway and Slovenia in a joint statement said they “firmly reject any demographic or territorial change in Gaza”.UN rights chief Volker Turk voiced concerns Wednesday that Israel’s plans to expand its offensive aim to create conditions threatening Palestinians’ “continued existence” in Gaza.”There is no reason to believe that doubling down on military strategies, which, for a year and eight months, have not led to a durable resolution, including the release of all hostages, will now succeed,” he said.”Instead, expanding the offensive on Gaza will almost certainly cause further mass displacement, more deaths and injuries of innocent civilians, and the destruction of Gaza’s little remaining infrastructure.”Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Mustafa, not affiliated to Hamas, urged the world to put a stop to the “deliberate humanitarian crime” of famine, which he said was being perpetrated in Gaza.”We appeal to the conscience of humanity. Do not let the children of Gaza starve to death,” he said.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Wednesday that Israeli bombardment killed at least 26 people, 15 of them in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City.Israel has drawn international condemnation over its plans to expand its military offensive in the Palestinian territory, ravaged by 19 months of war. Israel’s far-right finance minister called Tuesday for Gaza to be “entirely destroyed”.”Our teams retrieved 15 martyrs and 10 injured individuals after Israeli occupation aircraft targeted the Al-Karama school, which shelters displaced persons… in the Tuffah neighbourhood, east of Gaza City,” spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.He had earlier reported a toll of 11 killed in strikes on the territory.One strike hit a family home in the southern city of Khan Yunis, where eight members of the Al-Qidra family were killed and 12 others wounded, Bassal said.The ages of the dead ranged from two to 54, he added.AFP footage from Khan Yunis showed wounded children crying on hospital beds while bodies covered in blankets arrived in ambulances at the city’s Nasser Hospital. “They were sleeping and the house collapsed on them,” said Abir Shehab, adding her brother had been killed.”We die of hunger, we die of war, we die of fear, we die of everything, and the whole world stands by and watches us die,” she said. An Israeli air strike on a home in the Jabalia refugee camp, in northern Gaza, killed three people and wounded eight, Bassal said. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes.Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on March 18 after a two-month truce in its war against Hamas, which was triggered by the Palestinian group’s October 2023 attack.The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Wednesday that at least 2,545 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign, bringing the war’s overall toll to 52,653.Hamas’s attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Militants also abducted 251 people, 58 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.On Tuesday, Hamas said it was pointless to continue ceasefire talks with Israel, accusing it of waging a “hunger war” on Gaza.The United Nations has warned repeatedly of the potential for a humanitarian catastrophe, with famine again looming after more than two months of aid blockade by Israel.