WARS
Friday, 16 February 2024 04:34
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 133
Israeli forces storm the main hospital in southern Gaza, saying hostages were likely held there Israeli forces stormed the main hospital in southern Gaza on Thursday, hours after Israeli fire killed a patient and wounded six others inside the complex. The Israeli army said it was seeking the remains of hostages taken by Hamas. The raid on Nasser Hospital came after troops had besieged the facility for nearly a week, with hundreds of staff, patients and others inside struggling under heavy fire and dwindling supplies, including food and water. A day earlier, the army ordered thousands of displaced people who…
Friday, 16 February 2024 04:33
What to know after Day 722 of Russia-Ukraine war
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Ukraine withdraws units from parts of Avdiivka, sends in crack brigade Ukraine said on Thursday it was withdrawing troops from some parts of the eastern town of Avdiivka to better positions after months of heavy fighting, and battle-hardened reserve fighters from a crack brigade have joined the battle. Russia is trying to encircle and capture Avdiivka nearly two years after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Kyiv's foothold in the town appears increasingly shaky, with its supply lines threatened. Capturing Avdiivka is key to Russia's aim of securing full control of the two provinces that make up the…
Thursday, 15 February 2024 04:47
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 132
Gaza cease-fire and hostage release talks appear to stall as Netanyahu and Hamas trade blame International efforts to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas suffered a setback on Wednesday as Israel reportedly recalled its negotiating team and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of hobbling the high-stakes negotiations by sticking to “delusional” demands. Netanyahu’s remarks came hours after local media reported that the Israeli leader had ordered an Israeli delegation not to continue talks in Cairo, raising concerns over the fate of the negotiations and sparking criticism from the families of the roughly 130 remaining captives, about a fourth…
Thursday, 15 February 2024 04:46
What to know after Day 721 of Russia-Ukraine war
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE Russia should have begun Ukraine operation earlier – Putin Russia has for far too long trusted its opponents in a futile attempt to resolve the decade-old Ukrainian crisis diplomatically, and should have resorted to decisive actions earlier, President Vladimir Putin suggested on Wednesday. Following the 2014 coup in Kiev, Moscow had tried to settle the bloodshed in Donbass “by peaceful means,” namely the Minsk Accords, which envisaged a special autonomous status for the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics within Ukraine, Putin told journalist Pavel Zarubin. “The only thing we can regret is that we did not start our…
Wednesday, 14 February 2024 04:45
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 131
Israel and Hamas are making progress in cease-fire and hostage-release talks, officials say Israel and Hamas are making progress toward another cease-fire and hostage-release deal, officials said Tuesday, as negotiations went on and Israel threatened to expand its offensive to Gaza’s southern edge, where some 1.4 million Palestinians have sought refuge. The talks continued in Egypt a day after Israeli forces rescued two captives in Rafah, the packed southern town along the Egyptian border, in a raid that killed at least 74 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and caused heavy destruction. The operation offered a glimpse of what a…
Wednesday, 14 February 2024 04:44
What to know after Day 720 of Russia-Ukraine war
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE ‘No way in hell’ Russia will lose Ukraine conflict – Musk There is “no way in hell” that Russia will suffer defeat in its conflict with Ukraine, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said. Musk, one of the world’s richest men, made the comment on Monday during a discussion about a Senate bill aimed at providing additional US aid to Kiev on X Spaces – part of his social media platform, X (formerly Twitter). He was joined by a number of other people opposed to further funding for Ukraine, including Republican lawmakers Ron Johnson, JD Vance and…
Tuesday, 13 February 2024 04:47
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 130
Biden says 'key elements' of a Gaza deal are on the table as he meets with Jordan's King Abdullah Declaring that “every innocent life lost in Gaza is a tragedy,” President Joe Biden welcomed Jordan’s King Abdullah II to the White House Monday for talks on how to end the months-long war and plan for what comes afterward. The meeting with Abdullah comes as Biden and his aides are working to broker another pause in Israel’s war against Hamas in order to send humanitarian aid and supplies into the region and get hostages out. The White House faces growing criticism…
Tuesday, 13 February 2024 04:46
What to know after Day 719 of Russia-Ukraine war
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Russia uses Zircon hypersonic missile in Ukraine for first time, researchers say A preliminary analysis concluded that Russia hit Kyiv last week with the hypersonic Zircon missile, its first use in the nearly two-year-old war, the head of a Kyiv research institute said on Monday, presenting a new challenge to Ukraine's air defences. Oleksandr Ruvin, director of the Kyiv Scientific-Research Institute for Forensic Examinations, said on his Telegram channel that his institute completed a preliminary analysis of missile fragments from a Russian attack on Feb. 7. He included a video of alleged missile wreckage showing specific markings. "In…
Monday, 12 February 2024 04:47
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 129
The Israeli military says it has rescued 2 hostages from captivity in the Gaza Strip The Israeli military said it rescued two hostages from captivity in the Gaza Strip early Monday, marking a small but symbolically significant success in its quest to bring home over 100 captives believed to be held by the Hamas militant group. The hostages were released in a raid that included a series of Israeli strikes in Rafah, the city on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip where 1.4 million Palestinians have fled to escape fighting elsewhere in the Israel-Hamas war. At least seven people…
Monday, 12 February 2024 04:46
What to know after Day 718 of Russia-Ukraine war
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE Ukraine ‘must accept new reality’ – Kremlin Ukrainian authorities must accept the new conditions no matter how “painful” it might be for them, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. He was responding to a question on the prospects of new talks between the two warring countries. Peskov made the remarks in an interview released by Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin on Sunday. Should Russia and Ukraine ever actually get back to the negotiating table, the potential talks will not be the same as those held early in the ongoing conflict, Peskov suggested. “Should we begin the same negotiations, there’s…
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Sunday, 11 February 2024 04:54
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 128
Hamas had command tunnel under U.N. Gaza headquarters, Israeli military says Israeli forces have discovered a tunnel network hundreds of metres (yards) long and running partly under UNRWA's Gaza headquarters, the military says, calling it new evidence of Hamas exploitation of the main relief agency for Palestinians. Army engineers took reporters for foreign news outlets through the passages at a time of crisis for UNRWA, which has launched an internal probe and seen a string of donor countries freeze funding over allegations last month by Israel that some of its staff doubled as Hamas operatives. The Palestinians have accused Israel…
Sunday, 11 February 2024 04:53
What to know after Day 717 of Russia-Ukraine war
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Zelenskiy fills out rebooted Ukraine military team Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced five senior military appointments on Saturday, filling out a rebooted team after he named Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi this week as the new armed forces chief. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said he spent the day meeting his military leadership and government and that experienced "combat commanders of this war" would be taking on new duties. The country is closing in on two years of war since Russia's full-scale invasion. As deputy chiefs of staff under Syrskyi, Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi would take charge of unmanned…
Saturday, 10 February 2024 04:42
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 127
Israel seeks to evacuate Palestinians jammed into a southern Gaza city ahead of an expected invasion Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday said he has ordered the military to prepare a plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah ahead of an expected Israeli invasion of the densely populated southern Gaza city. The announcement came after heavy international criticism, including from the U.S., of Israeli intentions to move ground forces into the city that borders Egypt. Rafah had a prewar population of roughly 280,000, and according to the United Nations is now home to some 1.4 million additional people living with…
Saturday, 10 February 2024 04:41
What to know after Day 716 of Russia-Ukraine war
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Ukraine's Kharkiv swept by fire after Russian drones strike petrol station Russian drones struck a petrol station in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, late on Friday, triggering a vast fire that engulfed private homes, local officials said. Officials said drones also hit a hospital and a restaurant in the town of Velykyi Berluk, east of Kharkiv. In Kharkiv, the head of the local prosecutor's office, Oleksandr Filchakov, said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app that three drones hit the petrol station in Nemyshlianskyi district just before 11 p.m. "There was a great deal of fuel and…