World News

 Israeli forces and Hamas fighters abided by a truce for a fifth day on Tuesday, after a four-day ceasefire was extended at the last minute by at least 48 hours to let more hostages go free. A single column of black smoke could be seen rising above the obliterated wasteland of the northern Gaza war zone from across the fence ...

A “tragic…entirely avoidable surge” in child deaths is expected in Gaza where some 160 youngsters are already being killed every day, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday, after six weeks of aerial bombardment by Israeli forces in response to the 7 October Hamas terror attacks on southern Israel that claimed 1,200 lives and some 240 hostages. “About 160 children are killed ...

Lack of fuel is jeopardizing “the entire architecture of the humanitarian response” in Gaza, where raw sewage is now flowing in the streets, the head of the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said on Thursday.  In a wide-ranging briefing to journalists in Geneva, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini reiterated calls for a ceasefire and addressed misinformation targeting the agency, including claims that aid is being diverted. He said ...

More than 700 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the Hamas-run health ministry says. Israel’s military said it struck 400 “terror targets” and killed several Hamas commanders over the same period. It also declared that it would not reduce its attacks despite Hamas’s release of another two hostages. UN ...

A cross-section of South Africans took to the streets of Johannesburg on Wednesday in support of the people of Palestine, as the deadly conflict between Israel and the militant group, Hamas, continues. Some people said they were joining in the protest to show solidarity with Palestinians who have faced decades of oppression. “I did more and more research and I ...

Israel’s military ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip on Monday, halting entry of food, fuel and supplies to its 2.3 million people as it pounded the Hamas-ruled territory with waves of airstrikes in retaliation for the militants’ bloody weekend incursion. More than two days after Hamas launched its surprise attack from Gaza, the Israeli military said it had largely gained control ...

A grand jury in New York City voted Thursday to indict Donald Trump — the first time a former U.S. president has faced criminal charges. The historic indictment comes in a case centered on $130,000 in payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels claimed she slept with the married Trump in 2006, a claim he has denied. ...

February 24 marks one year since Russia launched its brutal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  Russia’s horrifying violence has killed thousands and destroyed entire cities. Here in Ghana, Putin’s war has driven up prices for fertilizer, food, and fuel. Russia is losing on the battlefield and in desperation is attacking schools, hospitals, churches, apartment buildings, and critical infrastructure to exact the ...

The death toll from earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria this week neared 16,000 on Thursday as hopes faded of many people being found alive 72 hours since the disaster and frustration simmered over the slow delivery of aid. A Turkish official said the disaster posed “very serious difficulties” for the holding of an election scheduled for May 14 in which President ...

Indonesia’s parliament has approved a new criminal code that bans anyone in the country from having extramarital sex and restricts political freedoms. Sex outside marriage will carry a jail term of up to a year under the new laws, which take effect in three years. The raft of changes come after a rise in religious conservatism in the Muslim-majority country. ...