Author: AFP

Israel said it conducted an air strike on a Hezbollah weapons facility on Thursday, the first since a ceasefire in the war in Lebanon took effect. The truce, which came into force on Wednesday, seeks to end a war that has killed thousands in Lebanon and sparked mass displacements in both Lebanon and Israel. The war began with Hezbollah firing into Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas and its unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel. Israel shifted its focus from Gaza to Lebanon in September to secure its northern border from Hezbollah attacks, dealing the Iran-backed Shiite Muslim…

Russian President Vladimir Putin apologised to former German chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday, saying he did not mean to scare her when he brought his pet Labrador to a meeting with her in 2007. Merkel, who has a well-documented fear of the animals, recalled the tense encounter in her memoir released Tuesday, accusing Putin of inviting the pet as a “demonstration of power” and taking glee in her discomfort. “I did not know that she was afraid of dogs,” the Kremlin chief said Thursday at a press conference in the Kazakh capital Astana. “I once again appeal to her via…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday called on allies to give a tough response to Russia’s “blackmail”, hours after President Vladimir Putin threatened to strike Kyiv with a new ballistic missile. “Any blackmail by Russia must be met with a firm response,” said Zelensky in his daily address broadcast on social networks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed he was prepared to do “everything” to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons in an interview broadcast on Thursday. “I will do everything to prevent it from becoming a nuclear (power), I will use all the resources that can be used,” Netanyahu told Israeli broadcaster Channel 14.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday ruled out a trade war with the United States after speaking with President-elect Donald Trump, who has threatened stiff tariffs to halt illegal immigration. “There will not be a potential tariff war,” Sheinbaum, who has been scrambling to head off threatened tariffs of 25 percent on Mexican goods, told a daily news conference. She was speaking a day after a telephone call with Trump, who has threatened to slap tariffs on Canada and China in addition to Mexico over illegal immigration and drug trafficking. After their call, Sheinbaum and Trump offered differing accounts of…

The WHO warned Thursday of dire shortages of medicines, food, shelter and fuel in Gaza, especially in the north, demanding that Israel allow in more aid and facilitate humanitarian operations. The World Health Organization described a “catastrophic” situation on the ground. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that when the war in Gaza erupted more than a year ago following Hamas’s deadly October 7 attack inside Israel, almost all of those displaced by the conflict sheltered in public buildings or with family members. “Now, 90 percent are living in tents,” he told a press conference at the WHO’s headquarters in…

US President Joe Biden will launch a renewed drive Wednesday for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal after Israel and Hezbollah began a truce in Lebanon, his national security adviser said. Jake Sullivan said Hamas faces increased pressure to cut a deal now that Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement is no longer fighting in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance group. Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu right before the US- and French-brokered truce with Hezbollah was announced Tuesday and they agreed to try again for an elusive Gaza truce, Sullivan said. “President Biden intends to begin that work…

Provisions for immunity from prosecution at the International Criminal Court apply to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the French foreign ministry said Wednesday. It said the Israeli leader was covered by immunity rules that apply to states which are not a party to the ICC. Israel is not an ICC member. “A state cannot be held to act in a way that is incompatible with its obligations in terms of international law with regards to immunities granted to states which are not party to the ICC,” the French statement said. “Such immunities apply to Prime Minister Netanyahu and other ministers…

Russia gave a belated welcome to Wednesday’s ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, saying it hoped the agreement would be “actually effective”. The truce, which entered into force Wednesday morning, came after almost 14 months of fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed group that has killed thousands in Lebanon and triggered mass displacement on both sides of the border. “We look favourably on any agreement, potential or concluded, that would stop the spiral of violence, stop the bloodshed in Lebanon… but they have to be actually effective,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. “Despite the efforts…

Israel’s military said Tuesday at least 20 projectiles had been identified crossing from Lebanon into northern Israel, as the security cabinet met to discuss a potential ceasefire with Hezbollah. “Following the sirens that sounded between 17:26 (1526 GMT) and 17:35 in the Western Galilee area, approximately 10 projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon,” the army said in a statement, adding that some were intercepted. It also said that in a separate incident, a “suspicious aerial target was identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory”, but that no injuries were reported. Earlier, the military said it had identified another 10 projectiles…