World News

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.19-090302/https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-army-says-it-targeted-hamas-military-site-with-strikes-killing-five-gaza-2025-03-19/

CAIRO, March 19 (Reuters) - Israeli strikes killed at least five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, health officials in the enclave said, and the Israeli army, which resumed attacks against the territory, said it targeted a Hamas military site in the north.

Three people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in the Sabra suburb in Gaza City, while another airstrike left two men dead and wounded six others in Beit Hanoun town in the north, the Gaza health officials said.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.18-183250/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/03/18/in-lebanon-and-syria-israel-continues-its-war-of-attrition_6739279_4.html

In parallel with the resumption of operations in the Gaza Strip, which shattered the fragile truce signed with Hamas on January 19, Israel is pursuing a war of attrition on its northern borders against Hezbollah, an ally in Lebanon of the Palestinian Islamist movement, as well as against the new Syrian government, which it has described as a "threat to the State of Israel." Having become the target of regular bombings by the Israeli air force, Lebanon and Syria suffered new deadly strikes on Monday, March 17.

Despite the truce agreement signed with Lebanon on November 27, 2024, which put an end to more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, the Israeli army has been carrying out almost daily strikes against the Shiite party's positions. The aim is to prevent Hezbollah, which opened a front against Israel in support of Hamas in the Gaza Strip on October 8, 2023, from rebuilding its military arsenal and redeploying to southern Lebanon.

On Monday, one person was killed and three others wounded in an "Israeli enemy raid" in Yohmor, southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said. The Israeli army said it had carried out a strike on two Hezbollah members "who were serving as spotters and directing terrorist activities" in the area.

Israel says it has 'resumed fighting' in Gaza, launching its heaviest airstrikes since January and killing at least 330 people, after accusing Hamas of obstructing hostage negotiations. Hamas, in turn, condemned the strikes as a breach of the ceasefire that jeopardizes hostage talks.

Late last year, China broke its own record for the world’s fastest train, clocking in at 281 miles per hour. But in Japan, testing is underway for another type of train — one that levitates and can top 300 miles per hour, showing that the race for the fastest train isn’t just a competition. It could revolutionize the future of travel.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.16-051824/https://www.ft.com/content/49fe2291-1d1e-4a3d-ae04-7348e3258874

Saudi Arabia has arrested more than 50 suspects for crimes including prostitution and begging after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the creation of a unit to police “immoral acts”, following years of loosening the kingdom’s hardline social restrictions.

The Ministry of Interior — set up to address “community security and human trafficking” — has arrested 11 women for prostitution, the first time Saudi authorities have publicly acknowledged the existence of the practice in more than a decade.

It has also rounded up dozens of foreigners for “immoral acts” in massage parlours and for forcing women and children to work as street beggars.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.15-194044/https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-launches-military-strikes-in-yemen-3e9d1d4b

President Trump said he had ordered U.S. strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels after the group vowed to resume attacks on commercial ships transiting the Red Sea, saying that “hell will rain down” until the strikes stop. 

“Our brave Warfighters are right now carrying out aerial attacks on the terrorists’ bases, leaders, and missile defenses to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom,” Trump posted Saturday on his Truth Social platform. “No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World.”

The U.S. will hold the Houthis “fully accountable,” the president said.

The Houthis are among the combatants in Yemen’s long-running civil war.

Updates to follow as news develops.

Archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/ZOTAu

The US and Israel have approached countries in east Africa about taking in Palestinians from Gaza, as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to evict residents from the war-torn enclave and build a “Riviera of the Middle East”, said three people familiar with the matter.

Israeli officials led by strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer have sounded out the governments of Somalia and Sudan, countries wracked by civil war, while US diplomats have been in contact with the breakaway province of Somaliland, the people said.

One said Israel was “in conversations” with countries around the world, including in Africa, about taking in Gazans, although they cautioned that the talks “are not that advanced at the moment”.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.14-232113/https://www.ft.com/content/214ff57c-ed99-4faa-8c66-b6c7365c8a70

The US has imposed visa restrictions on current and former Thai officials who were involved in the forced repatriation of Uyghur Muslims, as part of a new policy to support groups subject to torture in China.

The policy will target foreign officials who are complicit in efforts to forcibly return ethnic or religious minorities at risk of persecution to China.

Greenland's centre-right opposition has won a surprise general election victory - in a vote dominated by independence and US President Donald Trump's pledge to take over the semi-autonomous territory.

The Democratic party, which favours a gradual approach to independence from Denmark - achieved around 30% of the vote, near-complete results show.

"Greenland needs us to stand together in a time of great interest from outside," party leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen told local media. "There is a need for unity, so we will enter into negotiations with everyone."

His party will now have to negotiate with other parties in order to form a coalition.

romania-insider.com/calin-geor…