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By Christian Edwards, CNN

(CNN) — The bodies of two of the four remaining Italians who died in an underwater cave in the Maldives were recovered by divers on Tuesday, an official said, as efforts continue to retrieve the remains of the two others.

Five Italians died while exploring the Vaavu Atoll caves last week, prompting a multinational effort to locate and retrieve their remains.

That effort was briefly paused after one of the military divers attempting to locate the bodies also died, underscoring the dangers of operating tens of meters underwater. Authorities believe the death was caused by decompression sickness.

When the search resumed Monday, the divers found the bodies of the four Italians in the deepest part of the sea cave. Authorities said they planned to retrieve two of the bodies on Tuesday, and two on Wednesday.

Mohamed Hussain Shareef, the chief spokesperson for the Maldives’ government, told CNN that the two bodies – one male, one female – were found in the third chamber of the cave, and that they were being brought to the mortuary in the capital, Malé, by police.

The Italian government brought in three experienced Finnish divers to help recover the bodies, according to Maldivian state media. The Maldives National Defense Force said the divers – from the Divers Alert Network (DAN), a global scuba safety group – were specialists who had previously worked on similar missions around the world.

The Italian scuba divers were reported missing early Thursday afternoon. Later that day, the body of the diving instructor, Gianluca Benedetti, was found at the mouth of a cave.

The four others killed were Monica Montefalcone, an associate professor of ecology at the University of Genoa; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal; Federico Gualtieri, a marine biologist; and Muriel Oddenino, a researcher. A sixth diver decided not to enter the water, authorities said previously.

Efforts to locate the four remaining bodies were paused over the weekend after Sgt. Mohamed Mahudhee, 43, died Saturday during a second recovery mission into the cave. At its deepest point, the cave is 70 meters (230 feet) below the surface – about as deep as a 20-story building is tall – and 200 meters long.

Shareef noted that the legal depth for recreational diving in the Maldives is 30 meters (100 feet).

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Laura Sharman contributed reporting.

The post Bodies of two Italian divers recovered from sea cave in Maldives appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By Christian Edwards, CNN

(CNN) — The bodies of two of the four remaining Italians who died in an underwater cave in the Maldives were recovered by divers on Tuesday, an official said, as efforts continue to retrieve the remains of the two others.

Five Italians died while exploring the Vaavu Atoll caves last week, prompting a multinational effort to locate and retrieve their remains.

That effort was briefly paused after one of the military divers attempting to locate the bodies also died, underscoring the dangers of operating tens of meters underwater. Authorities believe the death was caused by decompression sickness.

When the search resumed Monday, the divers found the bodies of the four Italians in the deepest part of the sea cave. Authorities said they planned to retrieve two of the bodies on Tuesday, and two on Wednesday.

Mohamed Hussain Shareef, the chief spokesperson for the Maldives’ government, told CNN that the two bodies – one male, one female – were found in the third chamber of the cave, and that they were being brought to the mortuary in the capital, Malé, by police.

The Italian government brought in three experienced Finnish divers to help recover the bodies, according to Maldivian state media. The Maldives National Defense Force said the divers – from the Divers Alert Network (DAN), a global scuba safety group – were specialists who had previously worked on similar missions around the world.

The Italian scuba divers were reported missing early Thursday afternoon. Later that day, the body of the diving instructor, Gianluca Benedetti, was found at the mouth of a cave.

The four others killed were Monica Montefalcone, an associate professor of ecology at the University of Genoa; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal; Federico Gualtieri, a marine biologist; and Muriel Oddenino, a researcher. A sixth diver decided not to enter the water, authorities said previously.

Efforts to locate the four remaining bodies were paused over the weekend after Sgt. Mohamed Mahudhee, 43, died Saturday during a second recovery mission into the cave. At its deepest point, the cave is 70 meters (230 feet) below the surface – about as deep as a 20-story building is tall – and 200 meters long.

Shareef noted that the legal depth for recreational diving in the Maldives is 30 meters (100 feet).

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Laura Sharman contributed reporting.

The post Bodies of two Italian divers recovered from sea cave in Maldives appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By David Wright, CNN

(CNN) — State Supreme Court races are normally quiet affairs in Georgia. Not anymore.

Two liberal-backed challengers will attempt Tuesday to unseat conservative-supported incumbents. Former state Sen. Jen Jordan is running against Justice Sarah Warren, and personal injury attorney Miracle Rankin is facing Justice Charlie Bethel. Justice Benjamin Land is unopposed.

Former President Barack Obama has endorsed Jordan and Rankin, while two-term GOP Gov. Brian Kemp has thrown his support behind the incumbents, his leadership PAC dropping $500,000 on the race.

Republican governors appointed eight of the nine judges on the court. But if the two Democratic-backed candidates win in Tuesday’s election, that raises the possibility of flipping the ideological balance of the court in 2028, when three more GOP-appointed members face reelection.

Years of high-profile election litigation in Georgia have trained a spotlight on the state’s high court, which has issued key rulings on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, the scope of state voting laws, and state-level efforts to prosecute President Donald Trump for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

The US Supreme Court’s recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais gutting a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, opening the door to a fresh wave of mid-decade redistricting, has supercharged the stakes of the contest, with state judiciaries poised to play a pivotal role approving new maps. Kemp has called Georgia lawmakers to a special session to consider redrawing US House maps for 2028.

“I believe Callais is a powerful reminder that state courts matter,” Rankin told CNN. “So, when the US Supreme Court changes the federal legal landscape, more questions about voting rights, fair representation, election rules and constitutional protections will be heard and dealt with in our state court.”

Jordan, meanwhile, marveled at Obama’s engagement. “I tell you, I was blown away. We had no clue that it was coming.”

“You get a little notification in your Instagram,” she said. “I checked it, and I’m like, ‘Why in the world is the former president mentioning me?’”

“But look, he gets it. He’s always gotten it,” she added. “And I was just humbled, but I was also, like I said, this was a heavy lift coming in to try to communicate just what was at stake in this election.”

State supreme court races are becoming more important nationally

State supreme court races have been growing in political importance even before the US high court’s recent ruling.

Supreme court races in two other swing states, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, drew tens of millions of dollars in spending last year — notably including campaign trail appearances by Elon Musk in Wisconsin.

Democratic-backed justice candidates won in Wisconsin last year and this year, and in Pennsylvania in November.

The contest in Georgia hasn’t risen to the financial level of the races in Wisconsin, but more than $4 million has been spent on advertising, split about evenly between support for the incumbents and support for their challengers.

“This is the first time we’ve gone on offense, and we have raised a bit of money for it,” said Charlie Bailey, the state Democratic Party chair.

He pointed to the party’s successful efforts last fall defeating two incumbents on the

By David Wright, CNN

(CNN) — State Supreme Court races are normally quiet affairs in Georgia. Not anymore.

Two liberal-backed challengers will attempt Tuesday to unseat conservative-supported incumbents. Former state Sen. Jen Jordan is running against Justice Sarah Warren, and personal injury attorney Miracle Rankin is facing Justice Charlie Bethel. Justice Benjamin Land is unopposed.

Former President Barack Obama has endorsed Jordan and Rankin, while two-term GOP Gov. Brian Kemp has thrown his support behind the incumbents, his leadership PAC dropping $500,000 on the race.

Republican governors appointed eight of the nine judges on the court. But if the two Democratic-backed candidates win in Tuesday’s election, that raises the possibility of flipping the ideological balance of the court in 2028, when three more GOP-appointed members face reelection.

Years of high-profile election litigation in Georgia have trained a spotlight on the state’s high court, which has issued key rulings on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, the scope of state voting laws, and state-level efforts to prosecute President Donald Trump for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

The US Supreme Court’s recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais gutting a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, opening the door to a fresh wave of mid-decade redistricting, has supercharged the stakes of the contest, with state judiciaries poised to play a pivotal role approving new maps. Kemp has called Georgia lawmakers to a special session to consider redrawing US House maps for 2028.

“I believe Callais is a powerful reminder that state courts matter,” Rankin told CNN. “So, when the US Supreme Court changes the federal legal landscape, more questions about voting rights, fair representation, election rules and constitutional protections will be heard and dealt with in our state court.”

Jordan, meanwhile, marveled at Obama’s engagement. “I tell you, I was blown away. We had no clue that it was coming.”

“You get a little notification in your Instagram,” she said. “I checked it, and I’m like, ‘Why in the world is the former president mentioning me?’”

“But look, he gets it. He’s always gotten it,” she added. “And I was just humbled, but I was also, like I said, this was a heavy lift coming in to try to communicate just what was at stake in this election.”

State supreme court races are becoming more important nationally

State supreme court races have been growing in political importance even before the US high court’s recent ruling.

Supreme court races in two other swing states, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, drew tens of millions of dollars in spending last year — notably including campaign trail appearances by Elon Musk in Wisconsin.

Democratic-backed justice candidates won in Wisconsin last year and this year, and in Pennsylvania in November.

The contest in Georgia hasn’t risen to the financial level of the races in Wisconsin, but more than $4 million has been spent on advertising, split about evenly between support for the incumbents and support for their challengers.

“This is the first time we’ve gone on offense, and we have raised a bit of money for it,” said Charlie Bailey, the state Democratic Party chair.

He pointed to the party’s successful efforts last fall defeating two incumbents on the

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Trump frena ataque contra Irán, pero mantiene amenaza si no hay acuerdo. Neymar jugará el Mundial 2026. ¿Qué pasó en el tiroteo en la mayor mezquita de San Diego? Esto es lo que debes saber para comenzar el día. Primero la verdad.

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El presidente de Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, afirmó este lunes que las “amenazas de agresión militar” de Estados Unidos a la isla constituyen “un crimen internacional” y advirtió que, en caso de concretarse, “provocará un baño de sangre de consecuencias incalculables”, en medio de la renovada tensión entre La Habana y Washington.

• Cómo las nacionalizaciones en Cuba durante la revolución siguen condicionando la relación con EE.UU.
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El presidente de EE.UU., Donald Trump, dijo el lunes que “se abstendrá” de ejecutar un plan para atacar a Irán el martes y aseguró que las negociaciones para poner fin a la guerra se han vuelto más “serias”. No obstante, afirmó en Truth Social que ordenó a las fuerzas estadounidenses estar preparadas para lanzar un ataque total y a gran escala si no se alcanza un acuerdo.

La Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera de México informó este lunes que bloqueó las cuentas bancarias de los 10 funcionarios y exfuncionarios del estado de Sinaloa a quienes el Gobierno de Estados Unidos acusó de narcotráfico a finales de abril. Hasta ahora, todos los involucrados han rechazado los cargos.

• Sheinbaum dice que “no hay ningún riesgo” en que funcionarios y exfuncionarios acusados se entreguen en EE.UU.

El Gobierno de Venezuela se refirió a Alex Saab como un “ciudadano colombiano” deportado a EE.UU., pese a que durante años lo presentó como venezolano, lo recibió con honores tras un intercambio de prisioneros y le otorgó un cargo ministerial. ¿A qué se debe esto? Análisis.

• Muere la madre de Víctor Quero días después de enterrar a su hijo, preso político en Venezuela

Tres personas murieron tras un tiroteo en el Centro Islámico de San Diego, según el jefe de la Policía de San Diego, Scott Wahl. La policía está considerando el incidente como un crimen de odio. Los sospechosos serían dos adolescentes que fueron hallados muertos en un vehículo, según la Policía.

¿Qué ley invocó Estados Unidos ante el reciente brote de ébola?

A. El Título 42

B. La Ley de Enemigos Extranjeros

C. La Ley de Prevención de Epidemias

D. La Vigésima Enmienda

Read more