Politics
Israeli authorities confirmed they received three Israeli men held hostage in the Gaza Strip on Saturday after Hamas handed them over to the Red Cross in exchange for more than 300 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. The three are Iair Horn, 46, Sagui Dekel Chen, 36, and Alexander (Sasha)
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The outgoing deputy commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon was injured Friday when protesters attacked a convoy taking peacekeepers to the Beirut airport, the force known as UNIFIL said in a statement. “We are shocked by this outrageous attack on peacekeepers who have been serving to restore security
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Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun condemned on Saturday an attack on a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon convoy in Beirut, saying security forces will not tolerate anyone who tries to destabilize the country, according to a statement by the president’s office. Lebanese authorities are set to hold an
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Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the administration of US President Donald Trump was making “wrong calculations” regarding the Middle East, adding that heeding “Zionist lies” would only exacerbate conflicts. Turkiye has rejected Trump’s plan to remove the more than 2 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, claim US control
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Israel said Friday it had received the names of three hostages to be freed by militants this weekend, after a crisis in the ceasefire threatened to plunge Gaza back into war. The hostages due for release Saturday are Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov, Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen and Israeli-Argentinian Yair Horn, the office
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A federal judge ordered the administration of US President Donald Trump to restore funding for hundreds of foreign aid contractors who say they have been devastated by his 90-day blanket freeze, Politico reported late on Thursday. The order blocks the Trump administration from canceling foreign aid contracts and awards that
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that a Russian drone had struck a cover built to contain radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, adding that “radiation levels have not increased.” The Ukrainian air force said that Russia had launched more than 100 drones across the country overnight — including attack
Politics
Russia will be “reintegrated” into the world economy and the European energy system once a peace deal is achieved and the war ends in Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told state radio on Friday. “If the US president comes and creates peace, there is a deal, I think Russia will
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Pope Francis is being hospitalized to treat his bronchitis and undergo some necessary diagnostic tests, the Vatican said Friday in confirming the latest threat to the 88-year-old’s pontiff’s health. Francis was diagnosed with bronchitis last Thursday, but he has continued to hold daily audiences in his Vatican hotel
Politics
France’s president urged the new authorities in the Syrian Arab Republic to consider a partnership with the Iraq-based international coalition fighting Daesh to prevent the country being destabilized in its transition period. Syria’s foreign minister attended an international conference in Paris on Thursday where regional and Western powers
Politics
Hamas said Thursday it would release Israeli hostages as planned, apparently resolving a major dispute that threatened the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The militant group said Egyptian and Qatari mediators have affirmed that they will work to “remove all hurdles,” and that it would implement the ceasefire deal. The
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Lebanon on Friday marked 20 years since former prime minister Rafic Hariri’s assassination, with seismic political changes underway that have weakened Hezbollah and its backers and could herald a comeback for Hariri’s son Saad. Rafic Hariri, a towering political figure who oversaw Lebanon’s reconstruction era after the
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The Israeli military is prepared to withdraw from Lebanese territory and hand over areas to the Lebanese army “within the timeline” set by a US-French-mediated ceasefire agreement, a senior Israeli security official said. Under the ceasefire that took effect November 27, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south
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An Afghan national has admitted to purposefully driving into a crowd in the German city of Munich and authorities have determined an Islamist motive for the crime, a prosecutor said on Friday. At least 36 people including a child were hurt on Thursday when the 24-year-old man plowed into demonstrators
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Supporters of Iran-backed Hezbollah group blocked the Beirut airport road and burned tires on Thursday to protest a decision barring two Iranian planes from landing in the Lebanese capital, state media and an airport official said. “Young men set tires on fire in front of the airport entrance, raising banners
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An Afghan asylum seeker was arrested after a suspected car ramming attack injured at least 28 people in the southern German city of Munich on Thursday, police said. The incident comes on the eve of a high-profile international conference in Munich and amid an election campaign in which immigration and