World

Gaza: Hamas Releases New Video of Israeli Hostage
Gaza: Hamas Releases New Video of Israeli Hostage

Hamas has released a propaganda video featuring Edan Alexander, a 20-year-old hostage,the first such video in several months. The three-and-a-half-minute video is undated, but Alexander states he has been in captivity for over 420 days, suggesting the footage was filmed this week if accurate. Alexander, a US citizen and soldier, was stationed ...

What’s Behind the Syrian Rebels' Push to Retake Aleppo ?
SpotlightWhat’s Behind the Syrian Rebels' Push to Retake Aleppo ?

Rebel forces opposing President Bashar al-Assad have launched their biggest offensive in years this week, controlling a majority of Syria's second city of Aleppo according to a monitor. Government forces offered little resistance, the war monitor said, and the army admitted that rebels had entered "large parts" of the city. Syrian ...

Syrian Rebels Advance Towards Hama After Capturing Aleppo
Syrian Rebels Advance Towards Hama After Capturing Aleppo

War monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that jihadists and allied rebel factions had taken most of Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city, in a lightning offensive that left more than 320 dead, a crushing blow to Bashar al-Assad's rule. Syrian rebels are now advancing towards the city of Hama, claiming to already ...

Gaza: Three Humanitarian Workers Killed in Israeli Strike
Gaza: Three Humanitarian Workers Killed in Israeli Strike

The Gaza Strip Civil Defense announced on Saturday that three humanitarian workers were killed in an airstrike in Khan Younis (south), while the Israeli army stated it had targeted "a terrorist." The humanitarian workers, all Palestinians, were employed by the American NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK), according to the Civil Defense. The ...

Teenage girls, the first victims of HIV
Teenage girls, the first victims of HIV

Seventy percent of young people aged 15 to 19 infected with HIV in 2023 were girls, a rate that reaches 90% in sub-Saharan Africa and could undermine recent progress in the fight against the disease, UNICEF said on Friday. While the number of children and adolescents infected with HIV has been declining globally over the past decade, adolescent ...

Syria: Jihadists, Allies Seize Five Aleppo City Neighbourhoods
Syria: Jihadists, Allies Seize Five Aleppo City Neighbourhoods

Jihadists and their Turkish-backed allies reached Syria's second city of Aleppo Friday, as they pressed a lightning offensive against forces of the Iranian- and Russian-backed government. The fighting is some of the deadliest in years, with 255 people killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Most of the dead have been ...

Lithuania Expels Three Chinese Diplomats Amid Tensions Over Taiwan
Lithuania Expels Three Chinese Diplomats Amid Tensions Over Taiwan

Lithuania announced on Friday that it was expelling three staff members of the Chinese embassy, as relations between the Baltic nation and Beijing deteriorate over Lithuania’s support for Taiwan and the suspected involvement of a Chinese ship in the damage to undersea telecommunications cables. Earlier this month, two Baltic Sea ...

Police in Georgia Arrest Dozens in Clash With Pro-EU Protesters
Police in Georgia Arrest Dozens in Clash With Pro-EU Protesters

Police in Georgia arrested dozens of people overnight and early Friday in a violent crackdown on protests against the government's decision to delay EU membership talks. The Black Sea nation has been rocked by turmoil since the ruling party declared victory in October parliamentary elections that the pro-EU opposition decried as ...

Iran and Europeans Continue Discreet Talks on Nuclear
Iran and Europeans Continue Discreet Talks on Nuclear

Iran, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom will "continue their diplomatic dialogue in the near future," a senior Iranian diplomat said on Friday following highly discreet talks in Geneva. "We are firmly committed to defending the interests of our people, and our preference is for dialogue and engagement," Kazem Gharibabadi, deputy to the ...

Israel Extends Banking Waiver with Palestinian Banks for One Year
Israel Extends Banking Waiver with Palestinian Banks for One Year

Israel extended for one year a waiver allowing Israeli banks to work with Palestinian ones just days before it was due to expire, threatening to paralyse Palestinians financial institutions. The extension was approved Thursday during a security cabinet meeting ahead of expiration of the waiver at the end of the month, a spokesman for far-right ...

West Bank: Hamas Claims Shooting That Injured Eight
West Bank: Hamas Claims Shooting That Injured Eight

A shooting at a bus near an Israeli settlement injured at least eight people on Friday in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli rescue service said. The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, claimed responsibility for the attack, which left more than a dozen bullet holes in the windshield of the bus. The attack occurred at an ...

Iran's Nuclear Ambitions \
Iran's Nuclear Ambitions "Threaten Us All", Says MI6 Chief

Iran's nuclear ambitions pose a major global security threat even after setbacks dealt to Hamas and Hezbollah, the UK's foreign intelligence chief said Friday. "Iran's allied militias across the Middle East have suffered serious blows," Secret Intelligence Service chief Richard Moore said in a speech in Paris. "But the regime's nuclear ambitions ...