WARS
Friday, 26 January 2024 04:31
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 112
Israel vows to fight Hamas all the way to Gaza's southern border. That's fueling tension with Egypt Israel faces a growing risk of damaging its peace with neighboring Egypt as its military pushes the offensive against Hamas further south in the Gaza Strip. Already, the two sides are in a dispute over a narrow strip of land between Egypt and Gaza. Israeli leaders say that to complete their destruction of Hamas, they must eventually widen their offensive to Gaza’s southernmost town, Rafah, and take control of the Philadelphi Corridor, a tiny buffer zone on the border with Egypt that is…
Friday, 26 January 2024 04:30
What to know after Day 701 of Russia-Ukraine war
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE Kiev ‘deliberately’ sabotaged prisoner swap – Moscow Ukrainian troops have shot down a Russian military plane carrying Ukrainian soldiers in order to derail an upcoming prisoner swap, Moscow’s envoy told the UN Security Council on Thursday. The Il-76 cargo aircraft crashed in Russia’s border region of Belgorod on Wednesday morning, killing everyone on board. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the plane was transporting 65 Ukrainian POWs slated for exchange that was to take place later that day. “All currently available data points to a deliberate, premeditated crime,” said Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s deputy representative to the UN. “The…
Thursday, 25 January 2024 04:47
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 111
Israel denies attack on UN refuge in Gaza that drew rebuke from Washington The United Nations said on Wednesday that Israeli tanks struck a huge U.N. compound in Gaza sheltering displaced Palestinians, causing "mass casualties", but Israel denied its forces were responsible and suggested Hamas may have launched the shelling. The attack, which the U.N. said hit a vocational training centre housing 30,000 displaced people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza's main city, prompted rare outright condemnation from the United States. "Mass casualties have taken place, some buildings are ablaze and there are reports of deaths. Many people are trying to…
Thursday, 25 January 2024 04:47
What to know after Day 700 of Russia-Ukraine war
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Russia accuses Ukraine of killing 65 of its own PoWs by shooting down plane Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday of deliberately shooting down a Russian military transport plane carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers to a prisoner exchange in what it called a barbaric act of terrorism that had killed a total of 74 people. Ukraine called for full clarification of the circumstances of the incident and did not directly confirm it had shot down the plane. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his evening address said: "It is clear that the Russians are playing with the lives of Ukrainian…
Wednesday, 24 January 2024 04:45
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 110
21 Israeli troops are killed in the deadliest attack on the military since the Gaza offensive began Palestinian militants carried out the deadliest single attack on Israeli forces in Gaza since the Hamas raid that triggered the war, killing 21 soldiers, the military said Tuesday, a significant setback that could add to mounting calls for a cease-fire. Hours later, the military announced that ground forces had encircled the southern city of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second largest, and thick, black smoke could be seen rising over the city as thousands of Palestinians fled south. Witnesses said Israeli tanks and troops had…
Wednesday, 24 January 2024 04:44
What to know after Day 699 of Russia-Ukraine war
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities kill 18, Zelenskiy says Russian missiles hit Ukraine's two largest cities, killing 18 people, injuring more than 130 and damaging homes and infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said as Moscow's war approaches its third year. The eastern city of Kharkiv suffered three waves of attacks. There were strikes on Kyiv and in central Ukraine and the southern region of Kherson, subject to constant shelling. Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, said Russia had launched nearly 40 missiles of different types in "another combined strike to try to circumvent our air defence system". More…
Tuesday, 23 January 2024 04:55
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 109
Families of hostages held in Gaza storm Israel's parliament meeting demanding deal for release Dozens of family members of hostages held by Hamas stormed a committee meeting in Israel’s parliament Monday, demanding a deal to win their loved ones’ release, as European foreign ministers joined growing international calls for Israel to negotiate on the creation of a Palestinian state after the war. The developments showed the increasing pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has dug in on both fronts. He has insisted to the Israeli public that pursuing the devastating offensive in Gaza is the only way to…
Tuesday, 23 January 2024 04:53
What to know after Day 698 of Russia-Ukraine war
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Ukraine's Zelenskiy hails diaspora, proposes dual citizenship President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked Ukrainians abroad on Monday for their support during Russia's invasion, and proposed changing the constitution to allow dual citizenship. Zelenskiy said he was submitting legislation to parliament on dual citizenship, in what appeared a symbolic gesture on Unity Day, the anniversary of the shortlived 1919 unification of eastern and western Ukrainian lands in an independent state. Zelenskiy also marked the day by issuing a decree protecting the rights and identity of some 4 million ethnic Ukrainians in Russia -- by far the largest diaspora group. Ukraine's constitution…
Monday, 22 January 2024 04:47
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 108
Palestinian death toll in Gaza surpasses 25,000 while Israel announces the death of another hostage The Palestinian death toll from the war between Israel and Hamas has soared past 25,000, the Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip said Sunday, while Israel announced the death of another hostage and appeared far from achieving its goals of freeing more than 100 others and crushing the militant group. The war’s deaths, destruction and displacement are without precedent in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The war has divided Israelis while the offensive threatens to ignite a wider conflict involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq…
Monday, 22 January 2024 04:46
What to know after Day 697 of Russia-Ukraine war
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Russia suspends operations at fuel export terminal after suspected Ukrainian drone attack Russian energy company Novatek said on Sunday it had been forced to suspend some operations at a huge Baltic Sea fuel export terminal due to a fire started by what Ukrainian media said was a drone attack. The giant Ust-Luga complex, located on the Gulf of Finland about 170 km (110 miles) west of St. Petersburg, is used to ship oil and gas products to international markets. It processes stable gas condensate - a type of light oil - into light and heavy naphtha, kerosene and…
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Sunday, 21 January 2024 04:45
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 107
Israeli soldiers uncover Gaza tunnel that once held hostages, army says At the end of a kilometer-long, booby-trapped tunnel in the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers discovered cramped cells where the military said Hamas kept about 20 hostages. They found a holding area, five narrow rooms behind metal bars, toilets, mattresses, and even drawings by a child hostage who was freed during a November truce, military spokesman Daniel Hagari said. No hostages were there when it was discovered. The military released photos from the underground labyrinth and said it brought in journalists to document the tunnel before it was destroyed. The…
Sunday, 21 January 2024 04:44
What to know after Day 696 of Russia-Ukraine war
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Zelenskiy counts on more Western defence aid for Ukraine in next two months President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that he expected a number of new Western defence packages for Ukraine to be signed this and next month. "We are preparing new agreements with partners - strong bilateral agreements," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. "January and February should bring corresponding results. There are already specific dates when new and strong documents can be expected." After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv's Western allies united in providing unprecedented military and other aid…
Saturday, 20 January 2024 05:02
Ethnic killings in one Sudan city left up to 15,000 dead - UN report
Between 10,000 and 15,000 people were killed in one city in Sudan's West Darfur region last year in ethnic violence by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied Arab militia, according to a United Nations report seen by Reuters on Friday. In the report to the U.N. Security Council, independent U.N. sanctions monitors attributed the toll in El Geneina to intelligence sources and contrasted it with the U.N. estimate that about 12,000 people have been killed across Sudan since war erupted on April 15, 2023, between the Sudanese army and the RSF. The monitors also described as "credible" accusations…
Saturday, 20 January 2024 04:54
Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 106
Biden and Netanyahu have finally talked, but their visions still clash for ending Israel-Hamas war President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally spoke Friday after a glaring, nearly four-week gap in direct communication during which fundamental differences have come into focus over a possible pathway to Palestinian statehood once the fighting in Gaza ends. Biden and his top aides have all but smothered Netanyahu with robust support, even in the face of global condemnation over the mounting civilian death toll and humanitarian suffering in Gaza as the Israelis have carried out military operations in the aftermath of…