Author: AFP
Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels claimed an attack on an American aircraft carrier on Sunday and warned of “consequences” for any retaliation during the coming Gaza ceasefire. “The Yemeni Armed Forces warn the enemy forces in the Red Sea of the consequences of any aggression against our country during the ceasefire period in Gaza,” the rebels said in a statement. “They will confront any aggression with specific military operations against those forces without a ceiling or red lines.” An initial 42-day truce in the Israel-Hamas war is scheduled to begin at 0630 GMT Sunday. The Huthis, who have attacked shipping in…
A Russian attack has killed four people and injured three in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, the city’s military administration said Saturday. “We already have four dead in Shevchenkivsky district,” said Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, in a Telegram post, adding that three people were injured. Hours earlier, Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko warned of a “ballistic missile threat” against the capital and said the city’s air defence was activated. He later said a building in Shevchenkivsky district had its windows broken, with smoke coming from it, while a water pipeline in the area was damaged. In addition, a…
Two Supreme Court judges were shot dead in Tehran on Saturday and another judge was wounded, the judiciary’s Mizan news website reported. It said the attacker killed himself after opening fire at the judges outside the Supreme Court. Iranian media said a bodyguard of one of judges was also wounded. The motive for the assassination was unclear. The judiciary identified the judges who were killed as ayatollahs Mohammad Moghiseh and Ali Razini. Opposition websites have in the past said Moghiseh was involved in trials of people they described as political prisoners.
Mediator Egypt said Saturday that Israel is to release more than 1,890 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages in the first phase of a Gaza truce. The foreign ministry said the prisoners would be freed during the first, 42-day phase of the ceasefire which is set to begin at 0630 GMT on Sunday. Qatar, which mediated the deal along with Egypt and the United States, had announced 33 hostages would be released by Hamas in Gaza during the first phase. Israel’s justice ministry had earlier said 737 Palestinian prisoners and detainees would be freed — none before 4:00…
Americans will be hit by a “Trump tariffs tax” if the US president-elect increases customs duties on Canadian products, the Canadian foreign minister said Friday, pledging a hard-hitting response in any trade war. Donald Trump, who returns to the White House next week, has said he plans to slap 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports as part of his economic and foreign policy plans that also target Mexico, China and other trade partners. “This would be the biggest trade war between Canada and the US in decades,” Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said. “The Americans would be starting a trade war…
In a sprawling tent city in central Gaza, Palestinians displaced by war to other parts of the territory are all waiting for one thing: a ceasefire so they can go home. Most of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once by the Israel-Hamas war to other parts of the territory. With a long-awaited truce deal due to take effect on Sunday, they may finally be able to return to their neighbourhoods. Umm Khalil Bakr has been living with her family in the Nuseirat camp, where displaced Palestinians have tried their hardest despite the war to lead a…
France’s president said Friday that Paris will soon host an aid conference to help rebuild Lebanon after the Israel-Hezbollah war last year, as he visited Beirut in a show of support for Lebanon’s new leaders. After a vacancy of more than two years, Joseph Aoun was elected president on January 9 and named Nawaf Salam as prime minister-designate. “In the middle of winter, spring has sprung,” Macron said at a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart. “You are this hope,” he said, referring to Aoun and Salam. The new prime minister faces the monumental task of forming a government…
President Joe Biden on Friday commuted the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of non-violent drug offenses in what the White House called the largest single-day act of clemency in US history. Those whose sentences were commuted were serving “disproportionately long sentences” compared to what they would receive today, Biden said in a statement. He called the move “an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families.” “With this action, I have now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in US history,” Biden said, adding…
French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Lebanon on January 17, Macron’s office said on Tuesday, more than a week after Lebanon’s parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun as head of state. “With this visit, the head of state wishes to underline France’s unwavering commitment to supporting Lebanon, its sovereignty and its unity,” said a statement from the French presidency.
At least 17 people were killed and 74 others injured on Sunday in a series of explosions that struck four gas stations in Yemen’s southern Al-Bayda province, according to the Health Ministry under the internationally unrecognized Houthi-led government. As many as 50 others are in critical condition, the ministry said in a statement. Late Saturday, the Interior Ministry’s media platform said the explosions occurred in the Nassefa area of Al-Zahir district. Houthi government spokesperson Hashem Sharafuddin said security forces are actively investigating the incident, though no further details were provided. The group extended “deepest condolences and sympathy to the families…