Current Final

Category: FOREIGN

  • Israel bombs Gaza after US criticises high civilian toll

    Israel bombs Gaza after US criticises high civilian toll

    Authorities in Gaza said dozens of Palestinians were killed in three separate strikes, as Israel pounded the territory despite renewed US criticism of the high civilian toll.

    Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said the three air strikes killed at least 44 people and wounded dozens within an hour across the war-torn Palestinian territory. Israel confirmed it carried out two of the strikes.

    The health ministry said a strike on a fuel station in Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza killed 17 people, and the Palestinian Red Crescent said a separate strike almost simultaneously hit the UN-run Al-Razi School in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing five people.

    The civil defence agency said the third strike was on a gathering of people near a roundabout in northern Gaza, but did not provide a breakdown of casualties.

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier conveyed Washington’s “serious concern” to two senior Israeli officials regarding deadly Israeli strikes in Gaza, his spokesman said.

    “We have seen civilian casualties come down from the high points of the conflict… but they still remain unacceptably high,” spokesman Matthew Miller said after Blinken met Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi.

    Washington has been pushing for a truce between Israel and Hamas.

    A senior Hamas official said Sunday the group was pulling out of indirect talks for a deal in protest at Israeli “massacres”, including a major strike that Gaza’s health ministry said killed at least 92 people on that day.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a commemoration ceremony for soldiers killed during the 2014 Gaza war at the Memorial Hall on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on July 16, 2024

    Hamas was ready to return to the indirect talks once Israel “demonstrates seriousness in reaching a ceasefire agreement and a prisoner exchange deal”, he said.

    On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to ramp up pressure on Hamas.

    “This is exactly the time to increase the pressure even more, to bring home all the hostages -– the living and the dead –- and to achieve all the war objectives,” he said.

    Prisoner abuse allegations

    Israel’s military said aircraft struck about “40 terror targets” in Gaza, including “sniping posts, observation posts, Hamas military structures, terror infrastructure, and buildings rigged with explosives”.

    This picture released by the Israeli army shows a soldier taking part in military operations in an unspecified area of Gaza

    It said troops were continuing targeted raids in the southern city of Rafah and in central Gaza.

    The UN humanitarian office OCHA said multiple strikes across Gaza on Tuesday killed and wounded dozens.

    Hamas seized 251 hostages after October 7, 116 of whom are still in Gaza including 42 the Israeli military says are dead.

    Israel has killed at least 38,713 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry.

    The Palestine Red Crescent said they had retrieved the bodies of five people after Israeli air strikes in Al-Maghazi refugee camp, central Gaza

    Israel’s military has also detained scores of Gazans, who have made allegations of torture, rape and other abuses in custody that Israeli authorities have denied.

    Palestinian lawyer Khaled Mahajna said Monday that prisoners had recounted guards using “electric prods” on inmates.

    In one prisoner’s case, a “fire extinguisher tube was inserted into his buttocks and the fire extinguisher was turned on,” Mahajna said after visiting detained Palestinian journalists.

    Mass displacement

    Indirect talks on ending the devastating war have been brokered by Qatar and Egypt, with US support, but months of negotiations have failed to bring a breakthrough.

    Palestinians survey the damage following Israeli bombardment of a UN-run school in Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp

    At the end of May, US President Joe Biden outlined a ceasefire roadmap he said had been drawn up by Israel that triggered an intensification of the talks.

    But despite meetings in both Cairo and Doha, there has been no sign of progress on how this might be implemented.

    Critics in Israel, including tens of thousands of demonstrators demanding a deal to bring home the hostages, have accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war.

    The conflict has forced 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.4 million people to flee their homes. Many have sought refuge in UN-run schools, seven of which have been hit by Israeli strikes since July 6.

    “Why do they target us when we are innocent people?” asked Umm Mohammed al-Hasanat, sheltering with her family at a UN-run school in Nuseirat, which was among those hit.

    “We do not carry weapons but are just sitting and trying to find safety for ourselves and our children.”

    The war has also sparked near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, which says it is acting in support of Hamas.

    Lebanese official media said Israeli strikes Tuesday on southern Lebanon killed five people, including three Syrian children, with Hezbollah announcing rocket fire at Israel in retaliation.

    Meanwhile near Tel Aviv ultra-orthodox Jewish protesters fought police, hours after the Israeli military said it would begin issuing draft notices for men in the community from Sunday.

    Historically exempt from compulsory military service, ultra-Orthodox seminary students are being called up as the Gaza war and potential conflict with Hezbollah sap resources and fuel resentment against those who do not have to serve.

  • Iran rejects accusations implicating it in plot to kill Trump

    Iran rejects accusations implicating it in plot to kill Trump

    Iran on Wednesday rejected what it called “malicious” accusations by US media implicating it in a plot to kill former US president Donald Trump.

    CNN reported Tuesday that US authorities received intelligence from a “human source” weeks ago on an alleged Iranian plot against the former president, prompting his protection to be boosted. Other US outlets also reported the alleged plot.

    CNN said the alleged plot was not linked to Saturday’s shooting at a Trump campaign rally in Pennsylvania, in which the former president was wounded and a supporter killed.

    The US National Security Council said it had been “tracking Iranian threats against former Trump administration officials for years” after Tehran threatened revenge for the 2020 killing of Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in neighbouring Iraq.

    Iran’s mission to the United Nations called the accusations “unsubstantiated and malicious”.

    Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Iran “strongly rejects any involvement in the recent armed attack against Trump”.

    He added however that Iran remains “determined to prosecute Trump over his direct role in the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani”.

    Soleimani headed the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, overseeing Iranian military operations across the Middle East.

    Trump ordered his killing in a drone strike just outside Baghdad airport.

  • BBC slammed for misleading headline about Israeli army dogs attacking Palestinian man

    BBC slammed for misleading headline about Israeli army dogs attacking Palestinian man

    British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), known for its support of Israeli war crimes, is yet again under fire for a misleading headline that portrayed the killing of a Palestinian man with Down’s Syndrome as a “lonely death”.” In contrast, he died after being attacked by a dog trained by the Israeli Defence Forces.

    The details of the report outline Mohammed Bhar’s killing. His mother told BBC that he was left to die by Israeli soldiers after being brutally attacked by the IDF’s dog. His parents later found his decomposed body on the street.


    However, the caption on X said, “The lonely death of Gaza man with Down’s Syndrome.”


    Netizens lambasted the choice of words, morphing the whole incident into a mere lonely death instead of a murder.


    A user quoted Middle East Eye for its appropriate headline, saying, “Gaza: Palestinian with Down syndrome ‘left to die ‘ by Israeli soldiers after combat dog attack.” The tweet read, “This is the headline a real news organisation would write. Why would you try to sanitise a brutal attack on a disabled man?”


    Another user stressed that BBC is not a credible source anymore because it avoids at all cost to hold Israel accountable. “An embarrassment for a national broadcaster,” he asserted.


    This is not a lonely death; it is a violent murder, another user emphasized.


    “You mean he was separated from his family, deliberately mauled by an IDF attack dog within earshot of them and left to die. His parents found his decomposing body later. That’s called murder,” a user named Natalie Holme Elsberg tweeted.


    In one of the responses, BBC was criticised for the choice of words. “Lonely? Strange adjective to describe the death of someone who was murdered by an armed gang.”

  • World’s rarest whale washes up on New Zealand beach

    World’s rarest whale washes up on New Zealand beach

    The remains of the obscure, five-metre (16.4 foot) long, beaked creature were found near a river mouth in southern Otago province on July 4, government researchers said.

    It was identified by marine-mammal experts from New Zealand’s Department of Conservation and the national museum, Te Papa, as a male spade-toothed whale.

    A DNA investigation has been launched to confirm its classification, the scientists said.

    “Spade-toothed whales are one of the most poorly known large mammalian species of modern times,” said the conservation department’s coastal Otago operations manager, Gabe Davies.

    “Since the 1800s, only six samples have ever been documented worldwide, and all but one of these was from New Zealand,” Davies said in a statement Monday.

    “From a scientific and conservation point of view, this is huge.”

    The find was fresh enough to offer the first opportunity for a spade-toothed whale to be dissected, the conservation department said.

    The species is “so rare next to nothing is known about them”, it said.

    Since the spade-toothed whale was first described in 1874, just six samples have been documented worldwide © Handout / New Zealand Department of Conservation/AFP

    ‘International importance’

    The body of the whale has been placed in cold storage and genetic samples have been sent to the University of Auckland as curators of the New Zealand Cetacean Tissue Archive.

    It may take several weeks or months for the DNA to be processed and a final identification confirmed.

    “The rarity of the whale means conversations around what to do next will take more time because it is a conversation of international importance,” the conservation department said.

    The species was first described in 1874 from just a lower jaw and two teeth collected from the Chatham Islands off the east coast of New Zealand.

    That sample, along with skeletal remains of two other specimens found in New Zealand and Chile, enabled scientists to confirm a new species.

    Marine scientist Vanessa Pirotta said researchers would study the whale’s stomach contents, genetics, and how this sample compared to previous ones.

    This could shine light on the whales’ behaviour, their population and why they are so rare, Pirotta told AFP, describing the discovery as “like hitting the jackpot”.

    Because so few specimens have been found and there have been no live sightings, little is known about the spade-toothed whale and it is classified as “data deficient” under New Zealand’s Threat Classification System.

    The first intact specimen was from a mother and calf stranding in Bay of Plenty in 2010, the New Zealand conservation department said.

    A further stranding in 2017 in Gisborne added one more specimen to the collection.

  • Trump appears at convention with bandaged ear after shooting

    Trump appears at convention with bandaged ear after shooting

    Donald Trump received a hero’s welcome Monday as he entered the Republican National Convention arena with a bandaged right ear in his first public appearance since being wounded in a weekend assassination attempt.

    Hours after winning the formal nomination to be the Republican presidential candidate and announcing right-wing Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate, Trump marched into Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum flanked by aides and waved at supporters on the opening day of what is expected to be a triumphalist gathering.

    Trump, who is due to give a formal acceptance speech on Thursday, took his seat to the sound of country singer Lee Greenwood’s patriotic hit “God Bless the USA” without delivering any remarks but appeared markedly moved by the rapt ovation he received from a packed venue.

    “It was absolutely amazing. I mean, just thinking what he’s been through, and to come here today because he really cares,” Illinois delegate Susan Sweeney told AFP on the convention floor.

    It was the second huge moment of the day for the Republican crowd, which erupted into cheers earlier as Trump announced Vance, just 39, as his vice presidential pick, rewarding a one-time harsh critic who has become one of his most uncompromising supporters.

    While Trump, 78, is increasingly confident of a shock return to the White House — despite multiple legal problems and two impeachments clouding his first term — President Joe Biden.

    The standard-bearer for a new kind of populism that has come to the fore under Trump, Vance is also one of the least experienced VP picks in modern history.

    But he embraces the ex-president’s isolationist, anti-immigration America First movement and is even further to the right than his new boss on some issues — including abortion, where he embraces calls for federal legislation.

    Strong polling

    He initially made his name with the 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” a best-selling account of his Appalachian family and modest Rust Belt upbringing that gave a voice to rural, working-class resentment in left-behind America.

    Turning his back on previous Republican opposition to Trump, whom he once said might be “America’s Hitler,” Vance reinvented himself and ultimately won the ex-president’s endorsement in the 2022 Ohio Senate race, launching his meteoric rise.

    Some 50,000 Republicans descended on the shores of Lake Michigan for the four-day convention, four months before election day.

    The gathering comes with the country reeling from a botched attempt by a gunman to kill Trump at a rally in Butler, western Pennsylvania on Saturday.

    The attack — which killed one bystander and left Trump with the bloodied ear that required the bandage — was expected to dominate proceedings.

    Leading in multiple polls, despite being convicted in his hush-money criminal case in New York, Trump is exuding confidence.

    At 81, Biden meanwhile is facing calls from his own side to quit the race over concerns around his age.

    His campaign released a statement saying the Trump-Vance agenda would “take away Americans’ rights, hurt the middle class, and make life more expensive — all while benefiting the ultra-rich and greedy corporations.”

    Message of unity

    Trump told the New York Post he had “prepared an extremely tough speech” about Biden’s “horrible administration” to deliver at the convention.

    As some Republicans — including Vance — sought to blame Democrats’ anti-Trump rhetoric for the attack, Trump said he had torn up that version in favor of one he hopes will “unite our country.”

    Still, that means him having to rein in the instinct to settle scores — demonstrated by his cry for supporters to “fight” in the seconds after Saturday’s attack.

    A diminished figure after his 2020 election loss and a subsequent riot at the Capitol by his supporters, Trump has spent much of the last four years reshaping Republican politics.

    Installing loyalists, including his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, atop the Republican National Committee, the billionaire has effectively crushed dissent within the party.

    He scored another victory Monday as a judge dismissed one of the criminal cases against him concerning accusations he endangered national security by holding on to top secret documents after leaving the White House.

  • 4 killed in shooting near Oman mosque: police

    4 killed in shooting near Oman mosque: police

    “The Royal Oman Police have responded to a shooting incident that occurred in the vicinity of a mosque in the Al-Wadi Al-Kabir area,” police said in a statement.

    The force gave an initial toll of four killed and “several others” wounded at the mosque in eastern Muscat.

    Such an attack is rare in the Sultanate, which has regularly played the role of mediator in regional conflicts.

    The United States embassy in Muscat issued a security alert following the shooting and cancelled all visa appointments Tuesday.

    “US citizens should remain vigilant, monitor local news and heed directions of local authorities,” the embassy wrote on social media platform X.

    Footage verified by AFP shows people fleeing near Imam Ali Mosque, its minaret visible, as gunshots ring out.

    A voice can be heard saying “oh God” and repeating “oh Hussein”, referring to the imam who Shiites view as the rightful successor to the Prophet Mohammed.

    Shiites this week mark Ashura, an annual day of mourning that commemorates the 7th-century battlefield martyrdom of Hussein.

    Police said that “all necessary security measures and procedures have been taken to handle the situation” in their statement.

    “The authorities are continuing to gather evidence and conduct investigations to uncover the circumstances surrounding the incident,” the force said on X.

  • ‘No Safe Place’: Gazans race to collect wounded after Israeli strike

    ‘No Safe Place’: Gazans race to collect wounded after Israeli strike

    Israel had declared Al-Mawasi a “safe zone” as it pushed into Rafah near the Egyptian border. Still, on the weekend, Palestinians raced to collect dozens of casualties from the military’s latest strike.

    Sirens wailed, and women screamed as children were pulled bloody and unmoving from the wreckage.

    “What have they done? they’re children, children,” one woman cried. “Seven-year-old and 12-year-old children.”

    Al-Mawasi, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people sought refuge, was left a chaos-strewn wasteland by one of the deadliest Israeli strikes since the start of the war.

    The Gaza health ministry said at least 90 people were killed, half of them women and children. It said another 300 people were wounded in the “massacre”.

    Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an attack in the Khan Yunis area targeted Hamas military strategist Mohammed Deif and Rafa Salama, a brigade commander, but there was “no certainty that the two were eliminated”.

    Located near the city of Khan Yunis, Al-Mawasi was designated a humanitarian area after Israel in May ordered civilians to evacuate other parts of the Gaza Strip.

    “We have been warning for months that there is no safe place for anyone in Gaza amid Israel’s military bombardment,” said UK-based Medical Aid for Palestinians, which operates health sites in the area.

    It said hundreds of thousands of displaced people were sheltering in the “safe zone”, which had been targeted before.

    Black smoke billowed behind a wide, ash-strewn street in Al-Mawasi, where bodies lay in pools of blood, some covered by sheets.

    Men struggling to carry the wounded wove through those beyond help to reach ambulances waiting with open doors. Others were piled onto donkey-pulled carts.

    “There are people who have lost limbs everywhere. It’s a scene the mind cannot even imagine,” Mahmoud Chahine said near a market struck in the attack.

    Despite the Nasser Hospital reportedly saying it was at full capacity, ambulances kept arriving, carting in the wounded on orange stretchers, including a man with a towel tied around his leg as a makeshift tourniquet.

    A woman outside the hospital could be heard pleading, ” Please, enough, for God’s sake.”

    The Israeli military said the attack against Deif “struck an open area” that “was not a tent complex but an operational compound”.

    “According to our information, only Hamas terrorists were present, and there were no civilians,” it said.

    According to Netanyahu’s office, he had discussed the strike with security and military officials as part of his goal “to eliminate senior Hamas officials”.

    Hamas called the claim that Deif had been targeted “false allegations” intended “to cover up the magnitude of the horrific massacre” in Al-Mawasi.

    Gaza’s civil defence agency said heavy fire was preventing its teams from reaching the “many bodies” scattered in the streets.

    Mahmoud Abu Akar, an eyewitness, described repeated missiles raining down on them.

    “Every time people tried to get close to rescue others, they would strike,” he said.

    “There was no warning at all, it happened all of a sudden.”

    Since telling people to relocate to Al-Mawasi in May, the Israeli military has been accused of repeatedly striking the area in deadly attacks.

    In June when the International Committee of the Red Cross said 22 people were killed by shelling that damaged its office.

    Returning from Nasser Hospital Saturday, Louise Wateridge, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), said children had suffered life-changing injuries and people were angry there was no reprieve from the fighting.

    “There is no safety here, no matter where people go,” she said.

    Israel’s military strikes has killed at least 38,443 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from Gaza’s health ministry.

  • Suspect held over bodies in suitcases at UK Bridge

    Suspect held over bodies in suitcases at UK Bridge

    UK police on Saturday arrested a man after two suitcases believed to contain the remains of two men were dumped on a famous bridge.

    The suitcases were discovered Wednesday after police got a report of a man behaving suspiciously on the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, southwest England.

    “Detectives have arrested a man in connection with an investigation into the discovery of human remains on Clifton Suspension Bridge,” said Metropolitan Police.

    The 24-year-old suspect was detained at a major train station in Bristol and will be taken to London for questioning later on Saturday.

    “Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident,” they said.

    The London-based force took over the investigation after evidence suggested that the wanted man had travelled to Bristol from the UK capital earlier on Wednesday.

    While searching a flat in west London, officers found more human remains.

    Police believe that they are connected to the human remains found in Bristol and that there are two male victims, both known to the arrested man.

    Clifton Suspension Bridge, designed by the pioneering engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is one of the oldest surviving suspension bridges in the world.

    Opened in 1864, the bridge over the Avon Gorge is one of Bristol’s top tourist attractions and a symbol of the city.

  • Delta Airlines fires employee who posted from airline’s account against Palestine

    Delta Airlines fires employee who posted from airline’s account against Palestine

    A recent post of a Zionist Twitter user went viral where he compared Palestine flag pins that Delta Airlines wore with Hamas.

    In his tweet, the bigoted user expressed disappointment at the display of solidarity with Palestine, stating that he was required to take his shoes off in every airport as per security protocols. “Now imagine getting into a Delta flight and seeing workers with Hamas badges in the air.” He posed the question to American Airlines by tagging their official handle.

    An hour later the airline responded, “I hear you as I’d be terrified as well, personally. Our employees reflect our culture and we do not take it lightly when our policy is not being followed.”

    This created an uproar on social media.

    Religious scholar and speaker Omar Suleiman shared a screenshot of the exchange online and asked people to boycott Delta Airlines. “These airlines won’t learn until you stop giving them business,” he stressed.

    However, Delta removed the tweet recently. “On Wednesday, we removed a reply that was not in line with our values. We strive for an environment of inclusivity and respect for all, in our communities and our planes. The employee responsible no longer supports Delta’s social channels We apologize for this hurtful post.”


    The flight attendant in the picture also posted a picture of him making a victory sign with the caption, “Thank you to everyone for all of the kinds messages. It has been an overwhelming few days but I’m grateful for all of the love and support. See you in the skies!”.

  • Meta lifts restrictions on Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts

    Meta lifts restrictions on Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts

    Meta said Friday it was lifting restrictions on US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, ending measures put in place after his supporters violently stormed the US Capitol in 2021.

    It said that “former President Trump, as the nominee of the Republican Party, will no longer be subject to the heightened suspension penalties.”

    Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended indefinitely a day after his supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and it was determined he had praised people engaged in violence on social media.

    His accounts were reinstated in February 2023 but with a threat of penalties for future breaches — an additional restriction that Meta lifted on Friday.

    “In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for President on the same basis,” Meta wrote in a blog post.

    It added that US presidential candidates “remain subject to the same Community Standards as all Facebook and Instagram users, including those policies designed to prevent hate speech and incitement to violence.”

    Trump, the first former president to be convicted of a crime, was also banned from Twitter and YouTube.

    While those restrictions were later lifted last year, Trump now mainly communicates on his own social media platform, Truth Social.

    His Facebook profile, which has 34 million users, includes messages originally published on Truth Social as well as invitations to rallies and videos from his campaign.