Author: AFP

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “gravely concerned” about air strikes conducted by the United States in Yemen, a spokesman said Saturday, after rebels there said the attacks killed some 80 people and wounded 150. “The Secretary-General is gravely concerned about the air strikes conducted by the United States over the course of 17 and 18 April in and around Yemen’s port of Ras Issa, which reportedly resulted in scores of civilian casualties, including five humanitarian workers injured,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

An Iranian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Rome ahead of nuclear talks with the United States, according to images broadcast early Saturday by Iranian state television. Araghchi, who is slated to hold a second round of Oman-mediated talks with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, was shown disembarking from an Islamic Republic airplane.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed his commitment Saturday to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, declaring he would not waver in that effort. “I’m committed to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. I will not give up on this, I will not let go of it, and I will not retreat from it — not even by a millimetre,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement.

Thousands of protesters marched Saturday in New York and other cities across the United States for a second major round of demonstrations against Donald Trump and his hard-line policies. In New York, people rallied outside the city’s main library carrying signs targeting the US president with slogans like “No Kings in America” and “Resist Tyranny.” Many protesters took aim at Trump’s sweeping deportations of undocumented migrants, chanting “No ICE — no fear — immigrants are welcome here,” a reference to the role of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in arrests and deportations of migrants. “We are in a great…

The Israeli military announced that a soldier had been killed on Saturday in the fighting in Gaza, the first fatality since a ceasefire with Hamas collapsed in mid-March. The military said Sergeant Major Ghaleb Sliman Al-Nasasra, 35, fell during combat in northern Gaza, adding that three others were also wounded.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed his commitment Saturday to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, declaring he would not waver in that effort. “I’m committed to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. I will not give up on this, I will not let go of it, and I will not retreat from it — not even by a millimetre,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement.

Hezbollah “will not let anyone disarm” it, the Lebanese group’s leader Naim Qassem said Friday, as Washington presses Beirut to compel the Iran-backed movement to hand over its weapons. Hezbollah, long a dominant force in Lebanese politics, was left weakened by more than a year of hostilities with Israel sparked by the Gaza war, including an Israeli ground incursion and two months of heavy bombardment that decimated the group’s leadership. The fighting was largely brought to an end by a November ceasefire, but not before the group’s longtime leader and Qassem’s predecessor Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli air…

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Washington could quit talks to end the Ukraine war within days unless there is rapid progress from Moscow and Kyiv. The warning confirmed a sudden change of US messaging, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier saying in Paris that the United States would “move on” if peace was not “doable.” Trump has been pressing both sides for a truce, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin despite an ice-breaking call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and repeated negotiations with Moscow. “Yeah very shortly,” Trump told reporters in the…

The White House on Friday unveiled a revamped Covid-19 website that promoted the contentious theory that the virus leaked from a Chinese laboratory, framing it as the pandemic’s “true origins.” The Covid.gov website, previously focused on promoting vaccine and testing information, now includes a full-length image of President Donald Trump and criticizes the pandemic policies implemented under former president Joe Biden. The site also targets Anthony Fauci, Biden’s former chief medical advisor, for advancing what it calls the “preferred narrative that Covid-19 originated naturally.” It presents five bullet points aimed at bolstering the lab leak theory, noting that Wuhan, the…

French luxury group Hermes said Thursday it would hike its prices in the United States to offset the impact of 10-percent import tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. Famous for its Birkin handbag, silk scarves and leather goods, the increases would take effect on May 1, said the group’s finance chief, Eric Halgouet. Halgouet did not say by how much prices would be raised, but he said the move would “fully offset” the tariffs impact. “It will be a complementary price increase that we are currently finalising, but which will allow us to neutralise this impact,” he told reporters during…