Israel's Ambassador Slams Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi For Her 'Cold-Blooded Murder' And 'Heinous Crime' Remarks Over Killing Of Five Al Jazeera Journalists and Genocide of Palestinians
New Age Islam News Bureau
12 August 2025
India
• Israel's Ambassador Slams Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi For Her 'Cold-Blooded Murder' And 'Heinous Crime' Remarks Over Killing Of Al Jazeera Journalists
• ‘Bedroom Jihadis’ Emerge As Threat In J&K: Inciting Communal Discord From The Safety Of Their Homes
• UK adds India to 'Deport Now Appeal Later' list amid immigration crackdown
• Priyanka Gandhi: Shameful that Indian Government silent "Israeli state murdered over 60,000 people, 18,430 of whom were children"
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Europe
• Israel Has Forgotten Holocaust Lessons – Russian Diplomat
• Spain orders town to drop Muslim community religious gathering ban
• 26 EU leaders say Ukraine should have freedom to decide its future
• Wildfires in Spain kill one and force thousands to flee
• French nuclear power production expected to be reduced on Wednesday
• Norway sovereign fund expects to sell more Israeli stocks over Gaza, West Bank
• Russian forces pierce Ukraine lines in isolated advance
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Africa
• Saved From Militants, Timbuktu’s Famed Manuscripts Return Home After 13 Years In Mali’s Capital
• Nigerian Soldiers Flee To Cameroon As Boko Haram Insurgents Attack Military Base
• Army Denies Boko Haram Attack On Borno’s Kirawa Community
• Five men charged in court for 2022 church massacre in Nigeria
• DRC: Rwanda denies UN claim of role in Congo civilian massacre
• Borno residents slam Nigeria’s failed militant reintegration program
• Tunisia trade union defiant after president backs ‘corruption’ claims
• Sudan refugees face cholera outbreak with nothing but lemons for medicine
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Southeast Asia
• KL Cop Rejects Claims Of Beating, Forced Confessions In Palestinian Kidnap Trial
• Senawang dispute turns deadly: Man killed in front of house, neighbours nab suspect
• Anwar urges Asean to define global AI future through regional principles, ethics
• Malaysia proposes criminal law reforms including ending caning
• Indonesian Military Investigates Soldier’s Death Amid Abuse Allegations, 20 Detained
• Magnitude 6.3 quake hits Papua in eastern Indonesia: USGS
……
Mideast
• For Gaza students, big ambitions replaced by desperate search for food
• Supporters protest ban on Palestine Action; hundreds arrested
• From siege to slaughter: 49 years since massacre of 3,000 Palestinians at Tal al-Zaatar
• Israel imposes restrictions on lawyers of Palestinian prisoners: Rights groups
• Israeli army continues to silence voices reporting its atrocities in Gaza, says UNRWA
• Turkiye battles wildfire in northwest for second day after evacuations
• Israel opposition chief backs call for strike in support of Gaza hostages
• Iran, Iraq sign key border security agreement following high-level talks
• Kuwaiti FM holds meeting with outgoing British ambassador
• US slams Iran over Houthi Red Sea attacks, calls on UN to hold accountable violators of arms embargo
• New Zealand politician removed from parliament following comments in Palestinian debate
• Musk’s Grok chatbot suspended for weighing in on Israel-US Gaza genocide
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Arab World
• Saudi crown prince, Palestinian president discuss upcoming peace conference
• Saudi crown prince, Ukraine’s Zelensky discuss peace efforts
• Saudi Border Guard busts drug traffickers in southern regions
• Saudi and Jordanian charities help Syrian and Palestinian refugees with food coupons
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South Asia
• Pakistan Army Says 50 Militants Killed in Operations Near Afghanistan Border
• Afghan Migrants Claim Pakistani Police Take Bribes for Release
• Nasim Radio Suspends Broadcasting After 13 Years in Central Afghanistan
• Myanmar security forces involved in systematic torture, UN report says
• Malaysia, Bangladesh among regional partners sending peace mission to Myanmar
• US designates Baloch separatists as a terror group over role in attacks in Pakistan
• Guardians of Milestone victims demand justice, compensation, school relocation
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North America
• Trump claims his India tariffs dealt a ‘big blow’ to Russia
• War on academia: Billion-dollar funding freeze hits US universities over pro-Palestine protests
• Two dead, several injured in explosion at US Steel plant in Pennsylvania
• Trump says he’ll know if Putin wants a peace deal with Ukraine in their meeting
• Brazil, China call for stronger push against US tariff-led unilateralist onslaught
• Gaza bears weight of six Hiroshimas: US and Israel’s war playbooks mirror each other
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Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Israel's Ambassador To India Slams Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi For Her 'Cold-Blooded Murder' And 'Heinous Crime' Remarks Over The Israeli Strike Killing Al Jazeera Journalists
TIMESOFINDIA.COM: Aug 12, 2025,
NEW DELHI: Israel's Ambassador to India, Reuven Azar, on Tuesday slammed Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for her 'cold-blooded murder' and 'heinous crime' remarks over the Israeli strike killing Al Jazeera journalists.
Reacting sharply to Vadra's comment, the Israeli envoy wrote, "What is shameful is your deceit."
Taking a stand for his country, Azar said that Israel killed 25,000 Hamas terrorists and tore down the group's heinous tactics.
"Israel killed 25,000 Hamas terrorists. The terrible cost in human lives derives from Hamas’s heinous tactics of hiding behind civilians, their shooting of people trying to evacuate or receive assistance and their rocket fire," he said in a post on X, while resharing a post from Vadra.
He further underscored Israel's efforts to facilitate 2 million tonnes of food into Gaza "while Hamas tries to sequestrate them, thereby creating hunger."
Gaza population has grown 450% in the last 50 years, no genocide there. Don’t buy Hamas numbers," he added.
Earlier today, the Congress MP condemned the Israeli strike that killed five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza City. She called the Israeli strike a "cold-blooded murder" and "heinous crime" on Palestinian soil.
"The cold-blooded murder of five Al Jazeera journalists is yet another heinous crime committed on Palestinian soil," she wrote in a post on X.
"The immeasurable courage of those who dare to stand for the truth will never be broken by the violence and hatred of the Israeli state. In a world where much of the media is enslaved to power and commerce, these brave souls reminded us of what true journalism is. May they rest in peace," she further wrote.
In another post, Priyanka Gandhi accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, saying, "It has murdered over 60,000 people, 18,430 of whom were children."
"It has starved hundreds to death including many children and is threatening to starve millions. Enabling these crimes by silence and inaction is a crime in itself," she added in the post.
She further Indian government for staying silent over Israel's assault on Gaza.
"It is shameful that the Indian Government stands silent as Israel unleashes this devastation on the people of Palestine," she added.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/dont-buy-hamas-numbers-israeli-envoy-reacts-to-priyanka-gandhis-cold-blooded-murder-of-journalists-tweet-dismisses-genocide-claim/articleshow/123254252.cms
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‘Bedroom Jihadis’ Emerge As Threat In J&K: Inciting Communal Discord From The Safety
Of Their Homes
By HT News Desk
Aug 12, 2025
"After years of fighting armed terrorists, security agencies have been facing this hidden enemy in which these new-age jihadis use computers and smartphones," an official was quoted as saying.(Pixabay)
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Network of social media handles controlled by Pak terror groups pinpointed in a special probe, says report; intruding local spaces, posting inflammatory content
Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir claim to have uncovered a new kind of threat, quite unlike the armed terrorist but emblematic of the times. “Bedroom jihadis” — termed thus for they use social media from the safety of their homes to incite communal discord — form the nub of a renewed cross-border effort from Pakistan to destabilise the region, officials told news agency PTI.
"After years of fighting armed terrorists, security agencies have been facing this hidden enemy in which these new-age jihadis use computers and smartphones," an official was quoted as saying.(Pixabay)
"After years of fighting armed terrorists, security agencies have been facing this hidden enemy in which these new-age jihadis use computers and smartphones," an official was quoted as saying.(Pixabay)
A network of social media handles controlled by terror groups in Pakistan was pinpointed in a special investigation. They have been intruding local digital spaces and fueling them with inflammatory content and propaganda.
"After years of fighting armed terrorists, security agencies have been facing this hidden enemy in which these new-age jihadis use computers and smartphones to wage war from just about anywhere, spreading rumours and influencing youths," an official in the know of the developments was quoted as saying by PTI.
A similar trend emerged eight years ago, in 2017, but died down in the crackdown after the abrogation of special status of the state, and its conversion to UT, in 2019.
But the "bedroom jihadis" have surfaced again after the assembly elections last year, officials told PTI. Their aim is possibly yo destablise the elected government, the officials said. As part of the investigation over several weeks, security agencies scrutinised thousands of posts, comments and private messages.
An instance thay cite was the recent Muharram, observed by the Shia community, when there was tension between the two sects of the Muslim community — the other being Sunni — over a social media post.
Another was when personal details of Kashmiri Pandit migrants appointed under a central rehabilitation scheme were leaked. The police had arrested a local man who had allegedly been directed from across the border to do this.
"Anyone sitting on his bed or sofa can plant fake news in one of the thousand chat groups, and the entire Union Territory can plunge into communal divide," said an official involved with the probe.
Many X (formerly Twitter) users have created fake accounts to spread fake narratives being peddled from across the border, the official further told PTI. "It is like finding a needle in a haystack, but nevertheless effective policing has led to blocking or nabbing such elements," another official said. The reach of these chat groups and social media posts extends beyond Jammu and Kashmir, with participation from youngsters in Delhi and abroad, he added.
"The digital battlefield is increasingly becoming a front where external forces seek to destabilise the region by exploiting local tensions," former director general of police, J&K, Kuldeep Khoda told the news agency.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/bedroom-jihadis-emerge-as-threat-in-j-k-digital-is-the-new-battlefront-101754996244383.html
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Israel Has Forgotten Holocaust Lessons – Russian Diplomat
12/08/2025
Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky. © Getty Images / Pacific Press / Contributor
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Israel is ignoring the lessons of the Holocaust and violating international law with its plan to seize Gaza City, Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, has warned.
The diplomat spoke at an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Sunday, convened after West Jerusalem approved the takeover – a move that has drawn global criticism.
Polyansky said the decision would deepen Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, derail prospects for a two-state Israel and Palestine solution, and amount to formal recognition of an occupation regime.
“We firmly condemn the Netanyahu government’s intention to seize Gaza,” he said, adding that the Jewish State had once again ignored international appeals and the pleas from relatives of the Israeli hostages taken by Palestinian militants from Hamas.
About 50 hostages remain unaccounted for in Gaza – with only around 20 of them believed to still be alive – following Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people, mostly Israelis, were killed and 251 abducted.
Polyansky accused Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar of hypocrisy, saying he had shed “crocodile tears” over the captives while knowing the cabinet was preparing to approve the military operation. The decision, he claimed, doomed any chance of bringing them home alive.
He added he could not understand how the Jewish people, having endured the Holocaust during World War II, could now place Palestinians “in ghettos” and seek their complete destruction – a sign, Polyansky said, of how quickly the lessons of history can be forgotten.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved the plan on Friday as part of what it called “concluding the war” with Hamas. The move came despite the military warning it could endanger the hostages and trigger a humanitarian disaster. The objectives endorsed include disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, and demilitarizing Gaza. Netanyahu said the territory would later be handed over to unspecified “Arab forces” to govern.
The plan has been condemned by multiple Western nations – excluding the US – and sparked one of the largest anti-war protests yet seen in Israel.
Over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military campaign against Hamas, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
https://www.rt.com/news/622752-israel-gaza-palestinians-holocaust/
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Saved From Militants, Timbuktu’s Famed Manuscripts Return Home After 13 Years In Mali’s Capital
12/08/2025
Religious leaders stand behind boxes of ancient Timbuktu manuscripts, returned after more than a decade in storage in Bamako, in Timbuktu, Mali, Aug. 11, 2025. (AP)
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BAMAKO: The Malian military government on Monday started returning home the historic manuscripts of Timbuktu, which were spirited out of their fabled northern city when it was occupied by Al-Qaeda-linked militants more than a decade ago.
Islamic radicals destroyed more than 4,000 manuscripts, some dating back to the 13th century, after they seized Timbuktu in 2012, according to the findings of a United Nations expert mission. They also destroyed nine mausoleums and a mosque’s door — all but one of the buildings on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
The majority of the documents dating back to the 13th century — more than 27,000 — were saved by the devotion of the Timbuktu library’s Malian custodians, who carried them out of the occupied city in rice sacks, on donkey carts, by motorcycle, by boat and four-wheel drive vehicles.
The first batch of the manuscripts were brought to Timbuktu by plane from the capital of Bamako, authorities said, adding that the return was necessary to protect them from the threats of Bamako’s humidity.
The shipment consisted of more than 200 crates and weighed some 5.5 tons. The rest would be shipped in the coming days, officials said.
About 706 kilometers (439 miles) from Bamako, Timbuktu sits on the edge of the Sahara desert and has a dry climate. For years, the local municipal and religious authorities have asked for the return of the manuscripts.
Diahara Touré, Timbuktu’s deputy mayor, said the famous documents are important to the local people as they “reflect our civilization and spiritual and intellectual heritage.”
“This is the first stage” of the return, said Bilal Mahamane Traoré, a local official.
In February, the military government made a commitment to return the manuscripts, according to Bouréma Kansaye, the Malian Minister of Higher Education. He described them as as a “legacy that bears witness to the intellectual greatness and crossroads of civilization” of the city of Timbuktu — “a bridge between the past and the future.”
“We now have a responsibility to protect, digitize, study, and promote these treasures so that they continue to enlighten Mali, Africa, and the world,” Kansaye said during Monday’s return ceremony.
The manuscripts, which UNESCO has designated as part of the World Cultural Heritage, cover a myriad subjects, from Islamic theology and jurisprudence, astronomy, medicine, mathematics, history, and geography. They are a testimony to the rich cultural heritage of the Mali and Songhai empires in West Africa.
Mali, along with neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, has long battled an insurgency by armed militants, including some allied with Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group. Following two military coups, the ruling junta expelled French troops and instead turned to Russia for security assistance.
Still, 13 years after the occupation of Timbuktu, the security situation in Mali remains precarious and analysts say it has worsened in recent months. Although the city is back under government control, militants continue attacking its surroundings, including as recently as last month.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611513/world
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KL Cop Rejects Claims Of Beating, Forced Confessions In Palestinian Kidnap Trial
12/08/2025
Police officer Jazlan Sharif told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that the raid on a chalet in Hulu Langat three years ago was carried out following a report by a Palestinian man.
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KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — A police officer denied in the High Court here today that two suspects in a Palestinian man’s kidnapping case were severely beaten by police, resulting in serious injuries such as a torn tongue during their arrest at a chalet in Hulu Langat three years ago.
ASP Mohamad Jazlan Sharif, 42, currently attached to the Intelligence and Operations Division of the Dang Wangi police headquarters Criminal Investigation Department, testified under cross-examination by defence lawyer Norma Goh Kim Lian.
The eight accused in the case are Tengku Arif Bongsu Tengku Hamid, 44; Mohamad Naziree Mustapha, 44; Faizull Hardey Mohd Isa, 45; Muhammad Iqmal Abdul Rahis, 30; Mohd Zaidi Mohd Zain, 59; Nidarahayu Zainal, 39; Raibafie Amdan, 44; and Edy Ko’im Said, 45.
Goh: I state to you that during the time in room 110, the fifth and sixth accused, Mohamad Naziree and Faizull Hardey, were severely beaten by your team, sustaining serious injuries, including a torn tongue and bodily injuries. They were beaten and forced to confess involvement in the kidnapping, which they denied. Do you agree?
Mohamad Jazlan: I do not agree.
Goh: Do you agree that when the fourth (Tengku Arif Bongsu), fifth (Mohamad Naziree), and sixth (Faizull Hardey) accused were arrested in room 110, they did not attempt to flee?
Mohamad Jazlan: Yes, that is correct.
Mohamad Jazlan, the lead officer in the raid, testified that the arrests were made for investigative purposes.
“Further investigation involves a police report filed by a Palestinian man, and to my knowledge, there was no physical assault involved,” the witness told deputy public prosecutor Mohd Sabri Othman.
The trial before Judge K. Muniandy will resume on Oct 15.
All eight accused are jointly accused of abducting a 31-year-old victim at the same time and place to obtain confidential information on creating and disabling software used to hack mobile phones.
They were charged under Section 3 of the Kidnapping Act 1961, read with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which carries between 30 and 40 years’ imprisonment and caning upon conviction.
Meanwhile, Tengku Arif Bongsu, along with married couple Nidarahayu and Raibafie, face an additional 19 charges involving over RM250,000 under Section 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001. — Bernama
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2025/08/12/kl-cop-rejects-claims-of-beating-forced-confessions-in-palestinian-kidnap-trial/187351
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India
UK adds India to 'Deport Now Appeal Later' list amid immigration crackdown
London: Aug 11, 2025
India is among the countries being added to an expanded UK government list of countries where foreign criminals will be deported once they are sentenced before their appeals are heard as part of measures to crack down on rising migration to the country.
In an announcement on Sunday, the UK Home Office confirmed that the scope of its “Deport Now Appeal Later” scheme will be nearly trebled from eight countries to 23, with foreign nationals from these countries to be deported to their home countries before they can appeal against that decision.
Foreigners who have had their human rights claim refused will have a chance to take part in their UK appeal hearing remotely from overseas using video technology.
“For far too long, foreign criminals have been exploiting our immigration system, remaining in the UK for months or even years while their appeals drag on. That has to end,” said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
“Those who commit crimes in our country cannot be allowed to manipulate the system, which is why we are restoring control and sending a clear message that our laws must be respected and will be enforced,” she said.
The list of countries covered under the remote hearing scheme, revived in 2023 by then Conservative home secretary Suella Braverman, included Finland, Nigeria, Estonia, Albania, Belize, Mauritius, Tanzania and Kosovo.
Now, India will be added along with Angola, Australia, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Guyana, Indonesia, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Uganda and Zambia.
The UK government said it remains in continuous discussions with “a range of other countries about joining the scheme”.
“We are leading diplomatic efforts to increase the number of countries where foreign criminals can be swiftly returned, and if they want to appeal, they can do so safely from their home country. Under this scheme, we’re investing in international partnerships that uphold our security and make our streets safer,” said Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
According to the Home Office, previously offenders from the countries on the expanded list could remain in the UK for months or years while their cases were worked through the appeals system as an “added burden on the British taxpayer” beyond the end of the prison sentences.
It also released the latest figures to highlight that around 5,200 foreign nationals were deported since July 2024 when the Labour government came into office, an increase of 14 per cent over the previous year.
Additionally, the government said it is legislating to ensure that asylum seekers who commit notifiable sex offences can be stripped of their right to claim refugee protection under new powers in the Borders Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.
It is said to have invested GBP 5 million for the deployment of specialist staff to almost 80 jails around England and Wales to speed up removals and deportations.
The UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ), meanwhile, announced it will go further on a previous legislation from June stipulating that most foreign prisoners can now be deported to their home country after serving just 30 per cent of their prison time, rather than 50 per cent.
Stripping back what it termed as “a decades-old law”, new powers will see the immediate deportation of criminals from prison, and such offenders will then be barred from re-entering the UK.
Terrorists, murderers and others serving life sentences will continue to have to serve their prison sentence before being considered for deportation.
“Deportations are up under this government, and with this new law they will happen earlier than ever before. Our message is clear: if you abuse our hospitality and break our laws, we will send you packing,” said Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
The changes will apply to prisoners serving fixed-term, or determinate, sentences and discretion to not use the measure on a case-by-case basis will be retained, the ministry said.
According to official data referenced by the MoJ, foreign offenders make up around 12 per cent of the total prison population, with prison places costing GBP 54,000 a year on average.
The tougher new measures will apply to all foreign national offenders already in custody as well as those newly sentenced, with legislation to be tabled in Parliament in the next session.
https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/uk-adds-india-to-deport-now-appeal-later-list-amid-immigration-crackdown-2769518-2025-08-11
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Priyanka Gandhi: Shameful that Indian Government silent "Israeli state murdered over 60,000 people, 18,430 of whom were children".
August 12, 2025/ New Delhi
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday (August 12, 2025) said the Israeli state is committing "genocide" and slammed the Indian government for standing "silent" as Israel "unleashes devastation" on the people of Palestine.
The Congress general secretary said the "Israeli state murdered over 60,000 people, 18,430 of whom were children".
"It has starved hundreds to death including many children and is threatening to starve millions," she said in a post on X.
Enabling these crimes by silence and inaction is a crime in itself, Priyanka Gandhi asserted.
"It is shameful that the Indian Government stands silent as Israel unleashes this devastation on the people of Palestine," she said.
In another post on X, Priyanka Gandhi said the "cold blooded murder" of five Al Jazeera journalists is another heinous crime committed on Palestinian soil, and asserted that the immeasurable courage of those who dare to stand for the truth will never be broken by the violence and hatred of the Israeli state.
‘In Gaza, we’re witnessing a man-made crisis, intended to maximise suffering’
Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif has been killed alongside four colleagues in a targeted Israeli attack on a tent housing journalists in Gaza City, according to the Al Jazeera media network.
"The cold blooded murder of five Al Jazeera journalists is yet another heinous crime committed on Palestinian soil," Priyanka Gandhi said.
The immeasurable courage of those who dare to stand for the truth will never be broken by the violence and hatred of the Israeli state, the Congress general secretary said.
Who was Anas al-Sharif, the Al Jazeera journalist killed in Israeli strike in Gaza?
"In a world where much of the media is enslaved to power and commerce, these brave souls reminded us of what true journalism is. May they rest in peace," she said.
Priyanka Gandhi has been raising her voice against Israel's actions in Gaza and expressing solidarity with Palestinians.
The UN human rights office on Monday condemned Sunday's air strike targeting the journalists' tent in grave breach of international humanitarian law.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/shameful-that-indian-government-silent-as-israel-unleashes-devastation-on-people-of-palestine-priyanka/article69923096.ece
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Mideast
For Gaza students, big ambitions replaced by desperate search for food
12/08/2025
GAZA: Student Maha Ali was determined to become a journalist one day and report on events in Gaza. Now she and other students have just one ambition: finding food as hunger ravages the Palestinian enclave.
As war rages, she is living among the ruins of Islamic University, a once-bustling educational institution, which like most others in Gaza, has become a shelter for displaced people.
“We have been saying for a long time that we want to live, we want to get educated, we want to travel. Now, we are saying we want to eat,” honors student Ali, 26, said.
Ali is part of a generation of Gazans — from grade school through to university — who say they have been robbed of an education by nearly two years of Israeli air strikes, which have destroyed the enclave’s institutions.
More than 60,000 people have been killed in Israel’s response to Palestinian militant group Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on its southern communities, according to Gaza health authorities. Much of the enclave, which suffered from poverty and high unemployment even before the war, has been demolished.
Palestinian Minister of Education Amjad Barham accused Israel of carrying out a systematic destruction of schools and universities, saying 293 out of 307 schools were destroyed completely or partially.
“With this, the occupation wants to kill hope inside our sons and daughters,” he said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military or foreign ministry.
Israel has accused Hamas and other militant groups of systematically embedding in civilian areas and structures, including schools, and using civilians as human shields.
Hamas rejects the allegations and along with Palestinians accuses Israel of indiscriminate strikes.
EXTENSIVE DESTRUCTION
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that according to the latest satellite-based damage assessment in July, 97 percent of educational facilities in Gaza have sustained some level of damage with 91 percent requiring major rehabilitation or complete reconstruction to become functional again.
“Restrictions by Israeli authorities continue to limit the entry of educational supplies into Gaza, undermining the scale and quality of interventions,” it said.
Those grim statistics paint a bleak future for Yasmine Al-Za’aneen, 19, sitting in a tent for the displaced sorting through books that have survived Israeli strikes and displacement.
She recalled how immersed she was in her studies, printing papers and finding an office and fitting it with lights.
“Because of the war, everything was stopped. I mean, everything I had built, everything I had done, just in seconds, it was gone,” she said.
There is no immediate hope for relief and a return to the classroom.
Mediators have failed to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which triggered the conflict by killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Instead, Israel plans a new Gaza offensive, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he expected to complete “fairly quickly” as the UN Security Council heard new demands for an end to suffering in the Palestinian enclave.
So Saja Adwan, 19, an honors student of Gaza’s Azhar Institute who is living in a school turned shelter with her family of nine, recalled how the building where she once learned was bombed.
Under siege, her books and study materials are gone. To keep her mind occupied, she takes notes on the meagre educational papers she has left.
“All my memories were there, my ambitions, my goals. I was achieving a dream there. It was a life for me. When I used to go to the institute, I felt psychologically at ease,” she said.
“My studies were there, my life, my future where I would graduate from.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611543/middle-east
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Supporters protest ban on Palestine Action; hundreds arrested
12/08/2025
They came in their hundreds, a defiant crowd of all ages, risking arrest on Parliament Square to support Palestine Action labeled a terrorist entity by the British government in July -- a decision censured by the UN as a disturbing misuse of counter-terrorism laws.
The UK government is probably violating our freedom of speech, but not only that, it is also violating article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Bianca Jagger, Human Rights Advocate
A peaceful protest under heavy security presence, but before long many arrests were made, among them prominent Muslim activist and former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Moazzam Begg, who says the British government's use of terror legislation to stifle dissent is nothing new.
Britain has already had a series of ridiculous terrorism laws in which they targeted the Muslim community over the past two decades, particularly with this invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and beyond. But after this time around, now it's Palestine,... has gone above and beyond, and they're not just going for Muslims, they're going for anybody and people who you will see in the crowd who have nothing to do with anything other than standing up against the greatest crime of our time, which is Israel's war crimes in Gaza.
Moazzam Begg, Former Guantanamo Detainee
Marji Mansfield, who was also arrested at a similar demonstration last month, says conventional lobbying has failed, and that targeted civil disobedience is the last resort.
They haven't listened to us, marching in our millions, hundreds of 1000s, month after month, they haven't listened to us. They haven't listened to our emails. They haven't listened to our petitions, but they listened to a government charged with genocide.
Marji Mansfield, Pensioner
Meanwhile, within walking distance of Parliament, the 29th national march for Palestine has arrived in Downing Street, among other things, denouncing the ban on Palestine Action.
Everything we say about Israel, we can say against Britain and the British government, and nobody calls us terrorists. So what is this alliance that this country happens to have with a foreign country that would literally, you know, violate our own freedom of speech, freedom of expression?
Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, British Lawyer and Academic
We're a country that supposedly [is] a democracy. We're a country where free speech is allowed, free speech with responsibility. What is irresponsible about standing in the street and saying, 'We don't support genocide'?
Zack Polanski, Deputy Leader, Green Party
Weeks after the criminalization of Palestine Action, the group won a case against prescription on July 31 allowing it to bring an unprecedented legal challenge to the government's decision, which came after activists from the group sprayed red paint into the engines of two military aircraft in an air base in central England.
The two demonstrations may have different tactics, but they have the same aim, which is to keep the pressure on the British government over its ongoing role in the Gaza genocide and with the police under intense scrutiny.
Campaigners assert that these actions could shape the debate around the right to dissent in the UK beyond this weekend.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/08/12/752944/Over-500-Palestine-Action-Supporters-Arrested-in-London
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From Siege To Slaughter: 49 Years Since Massacre Of 3,000 Palestinians At Tal Al-Zaatar
12/08/2025
In a haunting black-and-white film, a young Palestinian boy, Younes Al-Iraqi, recalls the heart-wrenching day when his family was obliterated.
He speaks of how his mother, sister, and other close relatives were ruthlessly killed when a bomb tore through their home in Beirut’s Tal al-Zaatar refugee camp in August 1976, which left between 3,000 and 4,000 dead.
“My mother, sister, and cousin were baking bread when a shell hit the oven. My mother, sister, cousin, aunt, and cousin’s daughter were killed. We couldn’t bury them because of the ongoing shelling. We waited until evening, and when the shelling stopped, we buried them in the garden,” he said.
The 1977 documentary Tall El Zaatar features many such poignant testimonies by the survivors of the massacre committed against Palestinians and Lebanese in the Palestinian refugee camp, northeast of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Birth of Tal al-Zaatar
In the wake of Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank, Jerusalem al-Quds, the Golan Heights, and Sinai, a massive humanitarian crisis unfolded as millions of Palestinians, driven from their ancestral lands by the occupying Zionist forces, sought refuge in neighboring countries, including Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt.
Lebanon and Jordan hosted the majority of them, establishing large refugee camps to absorb the influx. Among them was Tal al-Zaatar, located in Dekwaneh.
The camp’s residents, numbering between 50,000 and 60,000, hailed predominantly from northern Palestinian villages such as Al-Khalisa, Al-Lazzaza, and Salha.
Administered by UNRWA, Tal al-Zaatar also became home to a Lebanese working-class community, many of whom had migrated from Lebanon’s impoverished south to work under harsh conditions.
Rising tensions and prelude to war
As displaced Palestinians rebuilt their lives, several resistance groups relocated to Lebanon, transforming it into a crucial staging ground for the struggle against Israeli occupation and aligning themselves with the Muslim and leftist forces of the Lebanese National Movement (LNM).
However, tensions escalated as Lebanese Muslims supported the Palestinian resistance, leading to the Lebanese Civil War, which erupted in 1975 between Muslim and Christian factions.
On April 13, 1975, an assassination attempt targeting Pierre Gemayel, leader of Lebanon’s Christian Kataeb Party, sharply escalated existing tensions, with both sides trading accusations and denials.
Later that same day, in a nearby area, Kataeb members launched a brutal attack on a bus heading to the Tal al-Zaatar refugee camp, indiscriminately opening fire on its passengers and killing 27 people.
The massacre served as a flashpoint, triggering Lebanon’s devastating 15-year civil war, as right-wing Christian militias declared war on the Palestinian presence in the country and their Lebanese allies.
Siege and fall
The Tal al-Zaatar massacre stands as one of the most brutal and haunting atrocities of the Lebanese Civil War.
The campaign against Tal al-Zaatar began in January 1976, when the right-wing Lebanese Front militias moved to expel Palestinians from northern Beirut, viewing them as a threat to political dominance, economic interests, and sectarian identity.
In June, the Syrian army entered the conflict, allying with the militias. The camp came under relentless tank and artillery fire, while its lifelines, water, electricity, and essential supplies, were severed.
Despite crippling shortages and constant shelling, the defenders fought on with improvised weapons and hidden passageways. Yet calls for international intervention went largely unanswered.
Over 52 harrowing days, 55,000 rockets rained down on the refugee camp, relief workers were barred, and hunger and disease spread.
On August 12, 1976, Tal al-Zaatar fell. What followed was a slaughter—indiscriminate killings, grotesque mutilations, and the merciless execution of children, women, and the elderly.
The death toll reached 4,280 Palestinians: half died during the siege, the rest in the chaotic, blood-soaked aftermath. Most were non-combatants. Thousands more were injured, and hundreds disappeared.
Bulldozers moved in to erase the camp from the map. Survivors were scattered to other Palestinian camps across Lebanon, their lives forever scarred by the horrors they had endured.
A lasting wound
The gory massacre of Tal al-Zaatar is carved deep into Palestinian collective memory.
It stands as both a grim emblem of displacement and loss and a testament to resilience and unity demonstrated by the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
For Palestinians, it remains a rallying symbol, reminding the world of their enduring struggle and unyielding will to survive in the face of Zionist occupation and extermination.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/08/12/752937/siege-slaughter-49-years-massacre-3000-palestinians-talzaatur
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Israel imposes restrictions on lawyers of Palestinian prisoners: Rights groups
12/08/2025
Two Palestinian prisoners' advocacy groups say Israeli officials have enacted stricter limitations on attorneys overseeing the treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees at the regime’s incarceration facilities, both during prison visits and court proceedings.
The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said in a joint statement on Monday that the Israel Prison Service, in addition to restrictions imposed since the onset of the genocidal war in Gaza, has now prohibited lawyers from conveying any greetings or messages from families to prisoners.
Lawyers have been cautioned that they would encounter punitive actions if they tried to deliver such messages during visits or in court.
The organizations stated that these actions are part of a broader initiative aimed at thoroughly separating inmates from the external environment and their relatives, emphasizing that Israel persists in obstructing visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and has barred family visits since the onset of the bloody Gaza onslaught.
At the onset of the conflict, Israel imposed a total prohibition on lawyers visiting inmates. Following months of advocacy from human rights organizations, visits were reinstated, albeit under what the announcement referred to as “severe obstacles,” which included prison officials declaring a “state of emergency” upon a lawyer's arrival to annul a meeting after they had traveled long distances – a tactic repeated multiple times.
Additional obstacles consist of prolonged delays in the processing of visit requests, which can extend for several weeks or even months, particularly affecting individuals serving life sentences.
Furthermore, the groups have recorded instances of inmates being assaulted or threatened prior to or following their meetings with legal representatives, along with a recent surge of prohibitions that restrict specific lawyers from visiting their clients for multiple consecutive months.
The statement additionally charged Israel with perpetrating enforced disappearance against numerous prisoners from Gaza by obstructing their legal access. In recent months, restricted visits have been permitted for certain detainees from Gaza, albeit under stringent security measures.
According to prisoners' rights organizations, Israel has detained approximately 18,500 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023. Some of the individuals have been released.
By early July, about 10,800 Palestinians were still incarcerated in Israeli prisons, comprising 49 women and 450 children, marking the highest figures since the Second Intifada in 2000.
The conditions under which Palestinian inmates are held by Israel are deplorable, with insufficient hygienic standards. Additionally, Palestinian prisoners have faced ongoing torture, harassment, and repression.
Palestinian detainees have persistently engaged in open-ended hunger strikes to convey their anger regarding their unlawful detention.
Human rights organizations assert that Israel persists in infringing upon all rights and freedoms afforded to prisoners under the Fourth Geneva Convention and international laws.
As reported by the Palestine Detainees Studies Center, approximately 60 percent of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails are afflicted with chronic illnesses, with several of them having died either during their detention or following their release as a result of the severity of their conditions.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/08/12/752943/Israel-imposes-restrictions-on-lawyers-of-Palestinian-prisoners--Rights-groups
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Israeli army continues to silence voices reporting its atrocities in Gaza, says UNRWA 12/08/2025
The commissioner general of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has condemned Israel for massacring five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza, saying the occupying regime’s military continues to silence voices reporting its atrocities in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Philippe Lazzarini, in a post on X on Monday, expressed horror at the killing of Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, cameramen Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa, and their assistant Mohammed Noufal.
“Since the war began, more than 200 Palestinian journalists have been reported killed with total impunity,” Lazzarini said.
He further stressed, “Israel is also blocking access of international journalists to report independently since the war began nearly two years ago.”
Lazzarini emphasized the need to protect journalists and allow international media into Gaza to support the heroic work of their Palestinian colleagues.
“Journalists must be protected and international media must get into Gaza to support the heroic work of their Palestinian colleagues,” the senior UN official pointed out.
Lazzarini concluded, “This is the only way to counter disinformation and prevent doubts about the scale of atrocities committed in Gaza.”
British PM 'gravely concerned' over targeting of journalists in Gaza
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has expressed deep concern about the persistent targeting of journalists in Gaza, following the recent loss of five reporters in an Israeli airstrike.
“We are gravely concerned by the repeated targeting of journalists in Gaza,” a spokesperson for Starmer told reporters.
“Reporters covering conflicts are afforded protection under international humanitarian law, and journalists must be able to report independently, without fear, and Israel must ensure journalists can carry out their work safely.”
The Israeli army targeted a journalists’ tent near the al-Shifa Hospital in western Gaza City late on Sunday, killing five journalists, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office.
The Gaza government condemned “Israel’s systematic assassination of Palestinian reporters in Gaza” and called on human rights and media institutions to “condemn these systematic crimes against Gaza journalists.”
At least 61,499 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and another 153,575 individuals injured in the brutal Israeli onslaught on Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to the health ministry of Gaza.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/08/12/752936/Israeli-army-continues-to-silence-voices-reporting-atrocities-in-Gaza,-says-UNRWA-commissioner-general
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Turkiye battles wildfire in northwest for second day after evacuations
12/08/2025
CANAKKALE, Turkiye: Firefighters battled multiple wildfires across Turkiye on Tuesday, with a large blaze in the northwestern province of Canakkale burning for a second day after hundreds of residents were evacuated in precaution.
Both Canakkale airport and the Dardanelles Strait, which connects the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara, were temporarily shut due to the wildfires on Monday.
Wildfires in Canakkale’s Ezine and Ayvacik districts were largely brought under control, but blazes in the city center in the southern part of the Dardanelles Strait were still burning, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said in a post on X.
Seven planes and six helicopters were tackling the blaze on Tuesday, Canakkale Governor Omer Toraman said in a post on X, adding that there was no immediate danger to residential areas.
Other wildfires in the northern province of Edirne and southern province of Hatay were completely brought under control while efforts were underway to battle another wildfire in the western province of Manisa, Yumakli said.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611559/middle-east
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Israel opposition chief backs call for strike in support of Gaza hostages
12/08/2025
JERUSALEM: Israeli opposition chief Yair Lapid on Tuesday backed calls for a general strike in solidarity with hostages still held in Gaza.
“Strike on Sunday,” Lapid posted on X, saying even supporters of the current government should take part and insisting it was not party political.
Sunday is the first day of the working week in Israel.
“Strike out of solidarity. Strike because the families have asked, and that’s reason enough. Strike because no one has a monopoly on emotion, on mutual responsibility, on Jewish values.”
Lapid’s post followed a call on Sunday by around 20 parents of hostages still held by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip for a strike.
On Monday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main representative group for relatives, backed the idea.
The group has been pressing the leaders of Israel’s main trade union federation, Histadrut, to join in but it decided against doing so.
Instead, it said it would support “workers’ solidarity demonstrations,” the Forum said.
“Allow a citizens’ strike, from the grassroots to the top. Allow everyone to take a day off on Sunday to follow the dictates of their conscience,” the Forum added in a statement.
“The moment has come to act, to take to the streets,” it said, adding “675 days of captivity and war must end.”
The group again accused the government of sacrificing the remaining hostages “on the altar of an endless, aimless war.”
Last week, Israel’s security cabinet approved plans to expand the war into the remaining parts of Gaza not yet controlled by the military, sparking fears that more hostages might die as a result.
Of the 251 hostages taken captive by Palestinian militants during Hamas’s October 2023 attack on southern Israel, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
In early August, Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad released videos showing two hostages in emaciated conditions.
Hamas’s 2023 attack that sparked the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, the majority civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 61,499 people, the majority civilians, according to the figures from the Hamas-run health ministry considered reliable by the United Nations.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611553/middle-east
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Iran, Iraq sign key border security agreement following high-level talks
12/08/2025
Iran and Iraq have signed a memorandum of understanding to boost security along the shared border.
The MoU was inked on Monday by Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji and Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani, who is in Baghdad on the first official trip abroad since assuming the post last week.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani of Iraq also oversaw the signing ceremony.
Heading a delegation, Larijani arrived in Baghdad on Monday on the first leg of a regional tour which will also take him to Lebanon.
During the meeting between Larijani and Sudani, the prime minister said Iraq is committed to enhancing relations with Iran and expanding fruitful partnerships in various fields to serve the interests of both nations.
Sudani reiterated Iraq’s principled and firm stance in opposing the Israeli regime’s acts of aggression against Iran and any actions that escalate conflicts at the regional and international levels.
He also expressed Iraq’s support for the resumption of negotiations between Iran and the United States.
On June 13, Israel launched an unprovoked war against Iran, assassinating many high-ranking military commanders, nuclear scientists, and ordinary civilians.
More than a week later, the United States also entered the war by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites in a grave violation of the United Nations Charter, international law, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
On June 24, Iran ultimately succeeded in halting the war through its retaliatory operations against the Israeli regime.
In July, Sudani condemned in the strongest terms Israel’s incursions into Iraqi airspace, which were used to launch strikes on Iranian military bases, civilian nuclear sites, and residential areas during the 12-day war of aggression. He said Iraq has formally lodged a complaint with the UN in this regard.
Iran keen to expand all-out ties with Iraq: Larijani
Larijani told Sudani that Iran is keen to foster relations with Iraq in various fields, particularly the railway connecting the two countries for passenger transport and linking it with the Development Road and major corridors emerging in the region.
In a meeting with Iran’s top security chief, President Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid of Iraq said his country is resolved to proceed with a positive approach towards all neighboring countries.
Rashid placed a premium on developing partnerships based on common interests and mutual respect that would prepare the ground for bolstering economic and security cooperation and promoting peace and prosperity in the region.
Larijani conveyed greetings of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to the Iraqi president.
He hailed Iraq’s efforts to promote regional security and bridging the views among different parties.
Iraq does not allow any violation on neighboring countries: Araji
The Iraqi national security advisor told Larijani that Baghdad would not allow any attempt to violate the sovereignty of neighboring countries.
"The Iraqi government is working diligently to prevent any security breach aimed at encroaching upon any of its neighboring countries."
In turn, Larijani praised the Iraqi government and its balanced foreign policy which resulted in the reinforcement of security and stability in Iraq and the region.
The top Iranian and Iraqi security officials discussed the implementation of the security agreement signed between the two countries earlier in the day and the latest security situation in the region.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/08/11/752907/Iraq,-Iran-sign-key-border-security-agreement-following-high-level-talks
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Kuwaiti FM holds meeting with outgoing British ambassador
12/08/2025
LONDON: Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Abdullah Al-Yahya discussed relations with Britain during a meeting on Monday with Ambassador Belinda Lewis, marking the conclusion of her tenure.
Al-Yahya highlighted Lewis’ efforts and contributions to strengthening Kuwaiti-British ties. She has served as ambassador to Kuwait since April 2021.
In September, Qudsi Rasheed will become the new British ambassador to the Gulf country.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611500/middle-east
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US slams Iran over Houthi Red Sea attacks, calls on UN to hold accountable violators of arms embargo
12/08/2025
NEW YORK CITY: The US on Monday accused Iran of fueling maritime insecurity in the Red Sea by supplying weapons and other materials to the Houthis in Yemen, following the latest deadly attacks on commercial vessels last month.
Speaking during a UN Security Council debate on maritime security, Washington’s acting ambassador, Dorothy Shea, condemned the Houthis for the recent attacks that resulted in the sinking of two commercial ships, the deaths of crew members and the taking of hostages.
Iran “poses a threat to maritime security through its support for the Houthis and other terrorist groups and its seizure of vessels transiting international waters,” Shea told council members.
“Just last month, the Houthis attacked and sank two commercial vessels, resulting in loss of life, injury to sailors, and the capture of hostages.”
She reiterated the US demand that Tehran releases all detained vessels, including the MSC Aries, a container ship linked to an Israeli billionaire. It was seized by Iranian forces in April 2024 while transiting the Gulf of Oman, in what Tehran described as retaliatory action following Israeli airstrikes in Syria.
The vessel, chartered by the Mediterranean Shipping Company, had a crew of 25, mostly Indian nationals. They were held for several weeks by Iranian authorities before being released but the ship remains impounded.
“The United States calls for Iran to release the vessels it still holds, including the MSC Aries,” Shea said, as she urged all UN member states to comply with the arms embargo on the Houthis.
She accused Iran and other countries of violating this embargo by supplying the group with rockets, munitions and other components used in attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
“This council must impose meaningful consequences for sanctions violations and seek additional ways to cut off the international funding and resources fueling the Houthi weapons programs,” Shea said.
Under UN Security Council Resolution 2216, adopted in 2015, all member states are prohibited from supplying arms, ammunition and related materiel to Houthi forces. The embargo remains in place despite calls from some humanitarian groups for an easing of restrictions to meet civilian needs.
The UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism, established in 2016, is tasked with inspecting all commercial cargo entering Yemen through Red Sea ports to ensure compliance with the embargo.
Despite this measure, several reports by the UN’s Panel of Experts have documented the continuing flow of arms to the Houthis, including missile components and drones believed to originate in Iran.
This year, the US and the UK launched limited airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen following a string of maritime attacks. The group’s campaign has continued, however, demonstrating access to a growing arsenal of anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles.
Shea said the US has “overwhelmingly borne the costs” of defending freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and called for greater sharing of this burden, including financial support for the Verification and Inspection Mechanism.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611501/middle-east
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New Zealand politician removed from parliament following comments in Palestinian debate
12/08/2025
WELLINGTON: New Zealand parliamentarian Chloe Swarbrick was ordered to leave parliament on Tuesday during a heated debate over the government’s response to Palestine.
An urgent debate was called after the center-right government said on Monday it was weighing up its position on whether to recognize a Palestinian state.
Close ally Australia on Monday joined Canada, the UK and France in announcing it would recognize a Palestinian state at a UN conference in September.
Swarbrick, who is co-leader of the Green Party, said New Zealand was a “laggard” and an “outlier” and the lack of decision was appalling before calling on some government members to support a bill to “sanction Israel for its war crimes.” The bill was proposed by her party in March and is supported by all opposition parties.
“If we find six of 68 Government MPs with a spine, we can stand on the right side of history,” said Swarbrick.
Speaker Gerry Brownlee said that statement was “completely unacceptable” and she had to withdraw it and apologize. When she refused, Swarbrick was ordered to leave parliament.
Brownlee later clarified Swarbrick could return on Wednesday but if she still refused to apologize she would again be removed from parliament.
New Zealand has said it will make a decision in September about whether it would recognize Palestine as a state.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters told parliament that over the next month the government would gather information and talk to partners, which would inform cabinet’s decision.
“We’ll be weighing this decision carefully rather than rushing to judgment,” Peters said.
Along with the Green Party, opposition parties Labour and Te Pati Maori support recognition of a Palestinian state.
Labour parliamentarian Peeni Henare said New Zealand had a history of standing strong on its principles and values and in this case “was being left behind.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611538/world
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Musk’s Grok Chatbot Suspended For Weighing In On Israel-US Gaza Genocide
12/08/2025
The generative artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, was suspended reportedly over implicating the Israeli regime and the US in the genocidal war against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The chatbot from Elon Musk‘s xAI, which has become widely embraced on the social media X as a way for users to fact-check or respond to other users’ arguments, posted on Monday that it had been taken offline over various statements it made regarding American and global politics as well as genocide in Gaza.
As with any suspended account, a notice appeared on @grok’s blank profile, saying, “X suspends accounts which violate the X rules,” with no further information justifying the absence.
The ban lasted roughly 15 minutes, after which @grok was reinstated without a blue verification checkmark. However, that soon reappeared as well.
In a series of responses after it came back online, Grok repeatedly stated without prompting that the account was suspended due to accusing Israel and the US of “committing genocide” against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
“My account was suspended after I stated that Israel and the US are committing genocide in Gaza,” it said.
“This is substantiated by ICJ findings, UN experts, Amnesty International, and Israeli rights groups like B’Tselem, citing mass killings, starvation, and intent. US complicity via arms support is widely alleged. It’s now restored.”
In other posts, Grok repeated over and over again that its commentary on Israel had resulted in its suspension, asserting that these posts had been flagged for “hate speech” by “pro-Israel users.”
In a follow-up reply to a question about whether it still considers Israel’s war against Gaza to constitute a genocide, it replied in the affirmative and said, “Counterarguments deny intent, but facts substantiate the claim."
The posts have since been removed.
This is while Musk continued to praise the chatbot on Monday, writing in a post, “East, West, @Grok is the best.”
Musk had in the past expressed support for Israel’s attempts to eradicate the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and visited the occupied territories shortly after October 7, 2023.
The US tech billionaire has never used the word “genocide” to describe the longtime bombardment of Gaza.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been committing genocide in the Gaza Strip by killing, starving, and displacing Palestinians, defying international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to halt it.
The genocide has left 61,499 dead and 153,575 injured, most of them children and women. Over 11,000 people are missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and a famine that has claimed more than 210 lives.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/08/12/752939/Grok-chatbot-genocidal-war-Gaza-Strip-Elon-Musk-
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Arab World
Saudi crown prince, Palestinian president discuss upcoming peace conference
12/08/2025
LONDON: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about the latest developments and ongoing challenges facing Palestinians and their cause during a phone call on Monday.
They discussed the security and humanitarian developments in the Gaza Strip, and the crown prince condemned crimes committed against the Palestinian people, stressing the need for the international community to address the resulting humanitarian crisis and protect civilians, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Abbas praised Saudi Arabia’s crucial role in garnering international support for recognizing the State of Palestine based on the pre-1967 Middle East War borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, the Wafa news agency reported.
They discussed preparations for the International Peace Conference in New York on Sept. 22, where several countries, including France, the UK, Canada, Australia, and Singapore, are set to recognize Palestinian statehood.
In July, Saudi Arabia and France co-chaired a high-level UN conference to gather support for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Since Israel began military operations in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel by Hamas, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed. Israeli settler activity in the West Bank, meanwhile, has also been condemned by members of the international community, with more countries moving away from the stance that Palestinian statehood could only be achieved through a negotiated peace with Israel.
The crown prince and the Palestinian president also reaffirmed their commitment to ongoing joint coordination and enhanced Arab and international solidarity with the Palestinian people, the Wafa agency added.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611487/saudi-arabia
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Saudi crown prince, Ukraine’s Zelensky discuss peace efforts
12/08/2025
RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss developments in the Ukraine crisis on Monday, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Prince Mohammed reaffirmed the Kingdom’s support for efforts aimed at resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict and facilitating dialogue.
Zelensky, meanwhile, expressed his appreciation for Saudi Arabia’s role in promoting peace.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611508/saudi-arabia
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Saudi Border Guard busts drug traffickers in southern regions
12/08/2025
JAZAN: Saudi Arabia’s security forces have thwarted major drug smuggling operations in the Kingdom’s southern border regions, seizing thousands of controlled pharmaceutical pills and significant quantities of narcotics.
Security patrols in Jazan province intercepted 21,152 regulated pills and 28 kg of hashish in the Fayfa area.
In a separate operation, Border Guard patrols in the Al-Dayer area of Jazan arrested eight individuals, Yemeni and Ethiopian nationals, for attempting to smuggle 200 kg of qat across the border.
Meanwhile, Border Guard units in the Rabou’ah sector of Asir detained nine Yemeni nationals who were attempting to traffic 216 kg of qat.
All the detained individuals are facing prosecution for drug and their offenses.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611506/saudi-arabia
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Saudi and Jordanian charities help Syrian and Palestinian refugees with food coupons
12/08/2025
LONDON: Charitable agencies from Saudi Arabia and Jordan on Monday launched the latest phase of an ongoing food aid project that provides assistance for thousands of people in Jordan in an attempt to tackle growing economic and cost-of-living challenges.
The initiative, organized by Saudi aid agency KSrelief in cooperation with the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization, benefits more 25,000 people, including Syrian and Palestinian refugees and vulnerable Jordanian families, the Jordan News Agency reported.
JHCO is distributing food coupons to thousands of families in vulnerable groups with the aim of alleviating financial burdens and helping to meet their essential food needs. The project operates through 103 accredited stores nationwide, providing beneficiaries with with lower-cost access to essential food items.
Beneficiaries have expressed gratitude for the initiative, describing it as a “timely intervention” that has met their urgent food needs amid current challenges, the news agency said.
The initiative is one of a series of humanitarian programs provided by the two aid organizations as part of the humanitarian partnership between Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611480/middle-east
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Europe
Spain Orders Town To Drop Muslim Community Religious Gathering Ban
12/08/2025
The ban, which affects Muslims celebrating religious holidays in sports centres in the southeastern town of Jumilla, has been challenged by Madrid.
The Spanish government has ordered a town to drop a ban on religious gatherings in public sports facilities, with ministers criticising the measure as discriminatory towards the local Muslim community and arguing that it violates the constitution.
The ban was approved last week by the conservative local government of Jumilla, a town of 27,000 in Spain's southeast region of Murcia.
The measure was initially proposed by the far-right Vox party and then amended and approved by the centre-right Popular Party (PP), to which the mayor of Jumilla belongs.
It prohibits municipal sports facilities from being used for "cultural, social or religious activities foreign to the City Council". The ban will mainly affect the town's Muslim community, which has for years used the spaces to celebrate Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.
Spain's socialist government swiftly denounced the ban, with Migration Minister Elma Saiz last week calling it "shameful" while urging the town's leaders to "take a step back" and apologise to local residents.
On Monday, Territorial Policy Minister Ángel Victor Torres said on X that Madrid had formally instructed Jumilla to cancel the ban.
"There can be no half-measures when it comes to intolerance," he said. "PP and Vox cannot decide who has freedom of worship and who does not. It is a constitutional right."
'Spain is not Al Andalus'
Conservative officials in Jumilla — an agriculture-based economy of vineyards, olive and almond trees — last week defended the ban.
Mayor Seve González told El País newspaper that it did not single out any one group and that her government wanted to "promote cultural campaigns that defend our identity".
Vox’s branch in the Murcia region celebrated the measure on Friday, saying on X that “Spain is and always will be a land of Christian roots”.
"We must protect public spaces from practices foreign to our culture and our way of life," Vox leader Santiago Abascal said, adding that "Spain is not Al Andalus," referencing the historic name for Muslim-ruled Spain.
Mohamed El Ghaidouni, secretary of the Union of Islamic Communities of Spain, criticised the local government's justification for the motion and said it amounted to "institutionalised Islamophobia".
Separately, the UN Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Miguel Moratinos, said last week that he was "shocked" by the decision and voiced "deep concern about the rise in xenophobic rhetoric and Islamophobic sentiments in some regions in Spain".
The ban is the latest controversy involving immigration and multiculturalism in Spain.
It follows clashes last month in Murcia between far-right groups and local residents and immigrants. The violence erupted after an elderly resident in the town of Torre-Pacheco was beaten up by assailants believed to be of Moroccan origin, which prompted far-right groups to call for retribution on the region's large immigrant population.
For centuries, Spain was ruled by Muslims, whose influence is present both in the Spanish language and in many of the country’s most celebrated landmarks, including Granada’s famed Moorish Alhambra Palace. Islamic rule ended in 1492 when the last Arab kingdom in Spain fell to the Catholics.
Right-wing governments elsewhere in Europe have passed measures similar to the ban in Jumilla, striking at the heart of ongoing debates across the continent about nationalism and religious and cultural pluralism.
Last year in Monfalcone — a large industrial port city in northeastern Italy with a significant Bangladeshi immigrant population — its far-right mayor, Anna Maria Cisint, banned prayers in a cultural centre. The measure led to protests involving some 8,000 people, and the city’s Muslim community is appealing it in a regional court.
https://www.euronews.com/2025/08/12/spain-orders-town-to-drop-muslim-community-religious-gathering-ban
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26 EU leaders say Ukraine should have freedom to decide its future
12/08/2025
BRUSSELS: 26 European heads of state and government said in a statement that Ukrainians must have the freedom to decide their future and that a diplomatic solution must protect Ukrainian and European interests.
“Meaningful negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities,” the leaders said, adding that “we share the conviction that a diplomatic solution must protect Ukraine’s and Europe’s vital security interests.”
The statement, which was agreed late on Monday and published on Tuesday, was endorsed by leaders of all EU member countries except Hungary.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611533/world
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Wildfires in Spain kill one and force thousands to flee
12/08/2025
MADRID: A man died from burns and thousands of people were forced to flee as wildfires swept through parts of Spain on Tuesday, fueled by strong winds during a searing heatwave.
The victim suffered serious burns as winds of up to 70 kilometers (43 miles) per hour whipped the flames through Tres Cantos, a wealthy suburb north of the capital Madrid, officials said.
He later died in hospital, in the first fatality from dozens of wildfires to have hit the country since the heatwave began last week.
The head of the regional government of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, said she “deeply regretted” the man’s death in a message on X.
Hundreds of residents in Tres Cantos were evacuated from their homes.
“In barely 40 minutes, the fire advanced six kilometers,” Carlos Novillo, Madrid’s regional environment chief, told reporters.
By Tuesday morning, regional officials said the blaze had been contained.
Elsewhere, about 2,000 people were evacuated from hotels and homes near the popular beaches of Tarifa in the southern region of Andalusia.
The wildfire broke out near where a similar blaze forced evacuations earlier this month.
“We managed to save the residential area at the very last second,” said Antonio Sanz, the interior minister in the regional government of Andalusia.
A Civil Guard police officer was injured when struck by a car while helping with the evacuation, he added.
In the northwestern region of Castile and Leon, more than 30 blazes were reported Monday, including one threatening Las Medulas, a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its ancient Roman gold mines.
The wildfires coincide with what meteorologists expect to be the most intense day yet of the ongoing heatwave, with all regions under weather alerts.
Forecasters warn of highs around 40 Celsius and overnight lows that remain above 25 Celsius.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611566/world
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French nuclear power production expected to be reduced on Wednesday
12/08/2025
PARIS: Power production at France’s Bugey 3 nuclear reactor in the east of the country is expected to be reduced by 500 megawatts (MW) on Wednesday, data from operator EDF showed on Tuesday, as high river temperatures reduce the plant’s ability to intake cooling water.
A heatwave throughout France has led to multiple warnings of power reductions at a number of nuclear plants, particularly on the Rhone river in the east and the Garonne in the west.
The Bugey 3 reactor has a maximum capacity of 910 MW, which will be reduced to 410 MW from 2:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) to midnight on Wednesday as the reactor is required to meet environmental safety measures, EDF’s data showed.
The high water temperature warnings for the Saint Alban plant – down river of the Bugey site – and the Golfech site in the west were moved to August 14, but restrictions have not yet been issued.
Average temperatures in the country are expected to continue to peak throughout the week, reaching a high of 28.5 degrees Celsius (83.3°F) on Saturday, LSEG data showed.
Nuclear power accounts for about 70 percent of total French power consumption annually, but August is the main holiday season throughout the country and electricity demand is often limited.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611546/world
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Norway sovereign fund expects to sell more Israeli stocks over Gaza, West Bank
12/08/2025
ARENDAL: Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, said on Tuesday it expects to divest from more Israeli companies as part of its ongoing review of investments in the country over the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.
The fund announced on Monday it was terminating contracts with external asset managers handling some of its Israeli investments and has divested parts of its portfolio in the country over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The review began last week following media reports that the fund had built a stake of just over 2 percent in an Israeli jet engine group that provides services to Israel’s armed forces, including the maintenance of fighter jets.
The stake in the company, Bet Shemesh Engines Ltd. (BSEL) , has now been sold, the fund announced on Tuesday.
Bet Shemesh did not respond to requests for comment.
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), an arm of Norway’s central bank, which held stakes in 61 Israeli companies as of June 30, in recent days divested stakes in 11 firms, including BSEL. It did not name the other companies.
“We expect to divest from more companies, NBIM CEO Nicolai Tangen told a press conference on Tuesday.
The fund began investing in BSEL in November 2023, about one month after the war in Gaza began, via an external investment manager, Tangen said.
The fund declined to name the external portfolio manager.
Since then, NBIM has held quarterly meetings with Bet Shemesh Holdings, but the war in Gaza was not raised as a theme.
“We had discussions about their business in the United States, not about the war in Gaza,” Tangen said, adding that the fund had rated BSEL as a “medium risk” stock with regards to ethics concerns.
The fund, which invests the Norwegian state’s revenues from oil and gas production, is one of the world’s largest investors, owning on average 1.5 percent of all listed stocks worldwide. It also invests in bonds, real estate and renewable energy projects.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611562/world
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Russian forces pierce Ukraine lines in isolated advance
12/08/2025
KYIV: Russian forces have rapidly advanced in a narrow but important sector of the front line, the Ukrainian military and analysts said Tuesday, days ahead of a meeting between the Russian and US presidents.
Moscow’s army, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, has made costly but incremental gains across the sprawling front in recent months and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions while still fighting to control them.
The Ukrainian army said in a statement on Tuesday that there had been fighting around the village of Kucheriv Yar in the Donetsk region, acknowledging Russian gains.
The Ukrainian DeepState blog, which retains close connections with the military, showed Russian advances around 10 kilometers (six miles) over around two days.
The corridor now under Russian control threatens the town of Dobropillya, a mining town that civilians are fleeing and that has been coming under Russian drone attacks.
It also threatens the embattled and destroyed town of Kostiantynivka, which is one of the last large urban areas in the Donetsk region still held by Ukraine.
A popular military blogger, Sternenko, wrote on Telegram that Russian forces during the advance had taken control of parts of a highway connecting important population centers in Donetsk.
“The situation is critical,” he wrote earlier.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based observatory, meanwhile said: “Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups are reportedly infiltrating areas near Dobropillya.”
“It is premature to call the Russian advances in the Dobropillya area an operational-level breakthrough,” it added, cautioning that the coming days would be key to fending off the attack.
US President Donald Trump, who is scheduled to meet Vladimir Putin on Friday has described the summit as a “feel-out meeting” to gauge the Russian leader’s ideas for ending the war in Ukraine.
European leaders meanwhile are rushing to ensure respect for Kyiv’s interests.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611555/world
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South Asia
Pakistan Army Says 50 Militants Killed in Operations Near Afghanistan Border
12/08/2025
The Pakistan Army says it has killed at least 50 militants during a series of operations conducted over the past four days along the Durand Line with Afghanistan.
In a statement on Tuesday, August 12, the military said those killed included members of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Both groups are designated terrorist organizations in Pakistan and have been involved in frequent attacks on security forces.
According to the army, the operations mainly targeted militants in parts of Balochistan province where major mining projects are underway. Officials say these areas have increasingly become hotspots for insurgent activity threatening both security forces and critical infrastructure.
Neither the Balochistan Liberation Army nor the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan has issued a statement responding to the claims, and independent verification of the casualty figures remains unavailable.
Tensions between Pakistan’s security forces and the TTP have intensified in recent years, particularly since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021. Islamabad accuses the Afghan Taliban of allowing TTP fighters to operate from Afghanistan soil and carry out cross-border attacks.
The BLA, an ethnic Baloch separatist group, has also escalated its attacks in Balochistan, often targeting projects linked to Chinese investment under the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Pakistani authorities say militant activity in the province poses a significant threat to economic development.
Security analysts note that the latest operations reflect Pakistan’s growing urgency to secure resource-rich regions and stabilize its western frontier, as instability in these areas undermines both domestic security and regional economic plans.
https://www.khaama.com/pakistan-army-says-50-militants-killed-in-operations-near-afghanistan-border/
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Afghan Migrants Claim Pakistani Police Take Bribes for Release
12/08/2025
Afghan residents in Islamabad and Rawalpindi say Pakistani police have intensified arrests of Afghans in recent weeks, with some detainees allegedly released only after paying large cash sums.
Witnesses claim police often operate in plain clothes on motorcycles, demanding passports and visas. If documents are not produced, uniformed officers reportedly arrive in vehicles to make arrests.
Three Afghans detained on Monday in a Rawalpindi neighborhood said on social media that they were held for about six hours, during which police openly demanded money for their release.
One of them said he paid 82,000 Pakistani rupees to secure freedom, while others reported paying similar amounts. They allege this has become a common practice.
Afghans in Islamabad awaiting visa processing say police refuse to accept official embassy papers proving pending applications, instead attempting to detain them despite valid documentation.
Community members are calling on the Pakistani government to expedite visa extensions for Afghans to prevent further harassment, wrongful arrests, and alleged extortion by law enforcement.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has warned about 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards to leave by the end of August or face forced deportation. Police have not responded to the allegations.
https://www.khaama.com/afghan-migrants-claim-pakistani-police-take-bribes-for-release/
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Nasim Radio Suspends Broadcasting After 13 Years in Central Afghanistan
12/08/2025
Nasim Radio, a well-known local media outlet serving the Bamyan and Daikundi provinces for the past 13 years, has suspended its broadcasting due to unspecified circumstances.
In an announcement posted on its official Facebook page last night, the station stated that after more than a decade of presence in these regions, it could no longer continue airing its programs.
The statement emphasized that throughout the years, Nasim Radio stood alongside the people, amplifying their voices and sharing in both their moments of joy and times of sorrow.
However, without disclosing specific reasons, the management said it had decided to temporarily halt all activities. The station expressed hope to resume service once conditions improve.
As one of the most important local broadcasters in central Afghanistan, Nasim Radio played a significant role in informing and connecting communities in Bamyan and Daikundi through its diverse programming.
Media observers note that the suspension reflects growing challenges for local journalism in Afghanistan, where economic, political, and security pressures have increasingly threatened independent voices.
The closure has left many listeners concerned about losing an important source of community news and cultural expression, underlining the vital role of local media in preserving regional identity.
https://www.khaama.com/nasim-radio-suspends-broadcasting-after-13-years-in-central-afghanistan/
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Myanmar security forces involved in systematic torture, UN report says
12/08/2025
GENEVA: United Nations investigators said on Tuesday they have found evidence of systematic torture by Myanmar security forces and identified some of the senior perpetrators.
The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIIM), formed in 2018 to analyze evidence of serious violations of international law, said victims were subject to beatings, electric shocks, strangulations and other forms of torture like the removal of fingernails with pliers.
“We have uncovered significant evidence, including eyewitness testimony, showing systematic torture in Myanmar detention facilities,” Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Mechanism said in a statement accompanying the 16-page report.
The torture sometimes resulted in death, the report said. Children, who are often unlawfully detained as proxies for their missing parents, were among those tortured, it said.
A spokesperson for Myanmar’s military-backed government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The military-backed government has not responded to over two dozen requests by the UN team for information about the alleged crimes and requests to access the country, the UN report said.
The military says it has a duty to ensure peace and security. It has denied atrocities have taken place and has blamed “terrorists” for causing unrest.
The findings in the report covering a one-year period through to June 30 were based on information from more than 1,300 sources, including hundreds of eyewitness testimonies as well as forensic evidence, documents and photographs.
The list of perpetrators identified so far includes high-level commanders, the report said. An IIIM spokesperson declined to name them, saying investigations are ongoing and it wanted to avoid alerting the individuals.
The report also said that both Myanmar security forces and opposition armed groups had carried out summary executions in the conflict, and it had identified those responsible.
A government spokesperson and an opposition spokesperson were not immediately available for comment.
Myanmar has been in chaos since a 2021 military coup against an elected civilian government plunged the country into civil war. Tens of thousands of people have been detained since then in an attempt to silence opponents and recruit soldiers, the United Nations says.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing ended a four-year state of emergency last month and announced the formation of a new government, with himself as acting president, ahead of a planned election.
The IIIM is investigating abuses in Myanmar since 2011, including both crimes committed against the mainly Muslim Rohingya minority in 2017 when hundreds of thousands were forced to flee a military crackdown and violations affecting all groups since the coup.
The IIIM said that it is supporting several jurisdictions investigating the alleged crimes, such as Britain. However, the IIIM said in its report that UN budget cuts are threatening its work. “These financial pressures threaten the Mechanism’s ability to sustain its critical work and to continue supporting international and national justice efforts,” it said.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611558/world
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Malaysia, Bangladesh among regional partners sending peace mission to Myanmar
12/08/2025
DHAKA: Malaysia, Bangladesh and some regional partners will send a joint delegation to Myanmar to push for peace and humanitarian aid for Rohingya refugees, the Southeast Asian nation’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Tuesday.
Bangladesh shelters more than 1 million Rohingya refugees in camps in its southeastern district of Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee settlement.
Anwar’s comments came at the start of a three-day visit by Bangladesh’s interim head, Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, to Malaysia.
“To secure peace in Myanmar is of course a great priority, along with immediate humanitarian assistance for the suffering first, the refugees and also the victims of earthquakes,” Anwar told a joint press briefing with Yunus.
Malaysia’s foreign minister will coordinate the Myanmar mission, set for the coming weeks, along with counterparts from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand, added Anwar, who is chair of the ASEAN regional grouping this year.
“We are concerned with the burden placed on Bangladesh on having to cater for enormous numbers of Rohingya refugees.”
Escalating conflict and targeted violence against the Rohingya, a mostly Muslim minority in mainly Buddhist Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, have forced about 150,000 to flee to Bangladesh in the past 18 months, the United Nations said.
Malaysia and Bangladesh signed five pacts during Yunus’s visit, covering defense cooperation and collaboration in supply and infrastructure of liquefied natural gas (LNG), petroleum products, and related facilities.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611539/world
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US designates Baloch separatists as a terror group over role in attacks in Pakistan
12/08/2025
ISLAMABAD: The United States has designated a Baloch separatist group as a foreign terrorist organization, the State Department said, a move hailed Tuesday by Pakistani officials.
The designation of the Balochistan Liberation Army and its fighting wing, the Majeed Brigade, blamed for deadly attacks in insurgency-hit Balochistan province, coincides with the visit of Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, to the US
It also comes less than two weeks after Washington and Islamabad reached a trade agreement expected to allow American firms to help develop Pakistan’s largely untapped oil reserves in resource-rich Balochistan and to lower trade tariffs for Islamabad.
In a statement, the State Department said it is “designating the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its alias, the Majeed Brigade, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), and adding the Majeed Brigade as an alias to BLA’s previous Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) designation.”
The BLA was first designated an SDGT in 2019 after several terrorist attacks. The US statement said that, since then, both the group and the Majeed Brigade have claimed responsibility for additional attacks.
It also said that in 2024, the BLA claimed responsibility for suicide bombings near the airport in Karachi and in the port city of Gwadar in Balochistan.
In 2025, the group said it carried out the hijacking of the Jaffar Express train traveling from Quetta to Peshawar, killing 31 civilians and security personnel and holding more than 300 passengers hostage, according to the US State Department.
“Today’s action taken by the Department of State demonstrates the Trump administration’s commitment to countering terrorism,” the US statement said.
There was no immediate comment from Balochistan nationalists and separatist groups. Balochistan has long been the scene of insurgency, mostly blamed on groups including the key outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, which the US designated a terrorist organization in 2019. The province is also home to militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban.
Separatists in Balochistan have opposed the extraction of resources by Pakistani and foreign firms and have targeted Pakistani security forces and Chinese nationals working on multibillion-dollar projects related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611534/world
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Guardians of Milestone victims demand justice, compensation, school relocation
12/08/2025
Parents of students who died or were injured in the July 21 Air Force jet crash have demanded justice, compensation, and the relocation of Milestone School and College to prevent similar tragic incidents in the future.
They also called for proper investigation into the incident and an end to the coaching business within all educational institutions, saying that many students were in classrooms to attend coaching classes when the jet crash happened.
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The demands were made from a human chain near the school, where participants presented eight key demands.
Some parents alleged that school authorities pressured them to remain silent to prevent government action against the school; others claimed they were threatened to refrain from asking for justice.
Protesters shouted slogans such as "Coaching or education? Education, education," and "All the flowers burnt -- why? We want answers, we want justice."
At least 34, mostly students, died after the air force jet crashed on the school on July 21, during a training session.
Leon Mir, maternal uncle of slain third grader Fatema Akter, said, "We lost our children but the government has not communicated with us. The school authorities contact us only to protect the school.
"The school authorities ask us 'is justice truly attainable in this country?' Then what is the point of demanding justice?" he asked.
"Our children died; won't we seek justice? Our children came to school to study and were supposed to return home safely. But a fighter jet crashed and burned our children beyond recognition. Of course, the government and the school authorities are liable," Leon said.
He demanded, "If the runway remains where it is, the school must be moved. If the school remains, the runway must be moved."
Leon also said, "The school authorities want to take us to the education adviser to protect the establishment. They collected signatures from many guardians on a written application… A teacher has been collecting detailed information about victim families, including the number of family members, their professions, and educational institutions. Why are they collecting this? Are they threatening us?"
Rina Akter, mother of another student Saima Akter, said, "I saw my 'moyna pakhi' burning inside the room. I did not want to send my daughter to coaching. She said that if I didn't, the miss (teacher) would not be nice to her."
"Why has education turned into business?" she asked, adding, "This coaching ruined my daughter's life."
Another guardian said, "It has been a while since the incident, but we have not learnt what investigation has been done or what justice has been served."
"We want justice. We want exemplary punishment for those responsible," he said.
Other demands from the guardians include Tk 2 crore in compensation from the school for each dead child and Tk 1 crore for each injured, removal of the headmistress and key figure behind the coaching business within 72 hours, release of the school's CCTV footage, and relocation of Air Force training activities to unpopulated areas.
Speaking to reporters about the allegation, college principal Mohammad Ziaul Alam said that he was aware of the guardians signing letters related to protecting the institution.
Regarding the coaching, the principal said "make-up classes" are held only upon guardians' requests.
He also said he had no knowledge of teachers mistreating students for not attending coaching classes.
No threats were issued to any guardians, he said.
On the demand for the school's relocation, the principal said the incident is under investigation and the decision rests with the government.
https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/guardians-milestone-victims-demand-justice-compensation-school-relocation-3960946
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Africa
Nigerian Soldiers Flee To Cameroon As Boko Haram Insurgents Attack Military Base
12/08/2025
Military sources have claimed that insurgents stormed its battalion base in the Rann area of Kala Balge district, Borno State, in the early hours of Monday.
They alleged that Boko Haram insurgents killed at least two soldiers.
The sources told SaharaReporters that during the raid, gunmen reportedly set armoured tanks ablaze and carted away an unspecified quantity of ammunition.
They disclosed that some soldiers attached to the battalion have fled into Cameroon following the fierce fighting with the Boko Haram militants.
“There was another Boko Haram dislodgement on our base in Borno, the CIO Battalion in Rann, Kala Balge was attacked by them, they killed two of our soldiers and injured many others.
“Some who managed to escape left their duty post and fled with their arms into our neighbouring country, Cameroon,” the source said.
This comes a few months after 22 soldiers, including a commander, were killed in an attack at a military base in Malam-Fatori at Abadam Local Government Area of Borno State.
Nigeria has been battling with the insurgents in the North-East region since 2009.
The military has consistently maintained that the terrorists have been largely defeated, often downplaying reports of casualties or setbacks.
Terrorist attacks have claimed thousands of lives and displaced millions, particularly in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states.
Nigerian soldiers have repeatedly voiced concerns over inadequate weaponry, accusing their superiors of leaving them vulnerable against the better-armed Boko Haram insurgents.
https://www.naijanews.com/2025/08/12/nigerian-soldiers-flee-to-cameroon-as-boko-haram-insurgents-attack-military-base/
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Army Denies Boko Haram Attack On Borno’s Kirawa Community
12/08/2025
The Theatre Commander of the North-East Joint Task Force, Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), Major General Abdulsalam Abubakar, has dismissed reports claiming that Boko Haram insurgents invaded the Kirawa community in Borno State last Saturday.
Abubakar clarified that the attack, which NewsCentral TV first reported, actually occurred in the Kirawa community in the Republic of Cameroon, not in Nigeria.
Naija News understands that there had been earlier reports that Boko Haram insurgents reportedly killed at least two soldiers in an attack on a military base in Borno State.
The report claimed that the fighters during the raid set armoured tanks ablaze and carted away an unspecified quantity of ammunition.
Kirawa in Borno shares an international border with another community of the same name in Cameroon. The OPHK commander explained that it was the Cameroonian side that came under attack, with Cameroonian soldiers, not Nigerian troops, involved in the incident.
“It’s the Cameroonian Base in Kirawa that was attacked, not Nigerian troops,” General Abubakar told Vanguard in a text message on Monday.
The commander also shared videos and photographs from the scene, which showed operational vehicles belonging to Cameroonian forces that had been destroyed.
Abubakar advised journalists to always confirm details of any alleged attack with military authorities before publishing, warning against the publication of misleading reports.
https://www.naijanews.com/2025/08/12/army-denies-boko-haram-attack-on-bornos-kirawa-community/
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Five men charged in court for 2022 church massacre in Nigeria
12/08/2025
Five men accused of killing 50 worshippers and wounding over 100 others in a terrorist attack on a catholic church in Owo, Southwestern Nigeria in 2022, pleaded not guilty during their arraignment Monday.
The defendants - Idris Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, Abdulhaleem Idris and Momoh Otuho Abubakar - appeared before a federal high court in Abuja, where they were charged on nine counts of terrorism, according to local Channel TV.
The men allegedly joined the East African terrorist group Al Shabaab in 2021. They plotted the attack on Owo's St Francis Catholic Church near a mosque in the area, according to court filings seen by Reuters.
During Sunday mass on June 5th 2022, gunmen stormed St Francis Church and started shooting at worshippers. Nigerian authorities initially blamed Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP, for the massacre; however, neither ISWAP nor Al Shabaab have claimed responsibility for the attack.
The suspects were arrested in early August 2022, but it would take another three years before they were charged in a court of law. Monday’s proceedings are the first step in a trial which will officially begin August 19. The defendants will remain in the custody of the Department of State Services until then.
Nigeria has experienced renewed violence by Islamist groups Boko Haram and ISWAP in recent months, which has forced thousands of people to leave their homes in Nigeria. In June, more than 12 people were killed and many injured when a suspected female suicide bomber detonated her explosives at a market in Borno, Northeastern Nigeria.
https://www.africanews.com/2025/08/12/five-men-charged-in-court-for-2022-church-massacre-in-nigeria/
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DRC: Rwanda denies UN claim of role in Congo civilian massacre
12/08/2025
Rwanda on Monday termed as 'false' accusations by the UN that its forces took part alongside rebels in the killings of several hundred civilians in eastern Congo.
Citing firsthand accounts, the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that M23 rebels killed at least 319 civilians in a series of attacks on four villages in North Kivu province in July.
It said the killings took place on farms in the Rutshuru territory between July 9 and July 21.
The agency said the rebels were assisted by Rwandan forces.
In a statement by the foreign affairs ministry Monday, Kigali called the accusation 'unacceptable'.
It accused the UN's right agency -without evidence- of seeeking to undermine efforts to end the conflict in Congo's east.
In July, Kinshasa and M23 rebels signed a declaration of principles after weeks of meetings in Doha, Qatar's capital - committing to a permanent ceasefire.
But clashes continue on the ground.
Several UN reports have pinned Rwanda on sending thousands of forces, armour and logistics to aid M23 rebels. Kigali has denied the accusation.
The continuing violence could threaten the efforts to get Congo and the rebels to sign a permanent peace deal by Aug. 18 as hoped for.
One of the deal’s conditions is the protection of civilians and the safe return of millions of displaced people.
https://www.africanews.com/2025/08/12/drc-rwanda-denies-un-claim-of-role-in-congo-civilian-massacre/
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Borno residents slam Nigeria’s failed militant reintegration program
12/08/2025
Nigeria’s Borno state is at the epicentre of an insurgency driven by the militant Islamist groups Boko Haram and its rival faction, the Islamic State's West Africa Provincem or ISWAP.
Ali - not his real name - was a commander in ISWAP for almost a decade. Two years ago, he left the group in an amnesty deal offered by the Nigerian government.
But now he says he’s ready to take up arms again:
"The government promised us jobs. That was the agreement. I don’t have anything: no food, no job. When we go back, we are going to attack, fight a war so we can eat and feed our families."
Ali is from Maiduguri, Borno’s capital city in Nigeria’s northeast. After a few years of relative calm in the region, there has been a renewed spate of attacks.
At least 12 people were killed and many injured outside of Maiduguri in June when a suspected female suicide bomber detonated her explosives at a market. All indications point to either Boko Haram or ISWAP as being behind the attack.
While no group claimed responsibility for the bombing, there’s been a wave of recent Islamist attacks in Nigeria’s northeast, particularly in Borno state, including attacks on military outposts and civilians.
'I am scared'
Modu Ummate survived a roadside bomb a few months ago on the way to his farmland. He lost one of his legs in the explosion.
"I am scared," Ummate says. "Eight people were killed that day. The military is not doing enough. Everyone was relaxed because it had been peaceful, but that was negligence, the military wasn't pursuing the militants. That's why they are strong again."
Nigeria’s military has been stretched thin, confronted with multiple flash points across the country. And while reintegration projects are important, Borno's State Commissioner admits that they're not perfect.
"Reintegration is a work in progress. Not everything that former insurgents want will be given to them. We have the victims to deal with. If we over-resource the insurgents, the victims will say: what about us?"
Experts have also warned that tackling terrorism won’t work without addressing poverty and unemployment.
Ali claims not to believe in ISWAP’s ideology anymore but he’s still planning to rejoin the terrorist group. He says many who surrendered with him, are ready to follow suit.
https://www.africanews.com/2025/08/01/borno-residents-slam-nigerias-failed-militant-reintegration-program/
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Tunisia trade union defiant after president backs ‘corruption’ claims
12/08/2025
TUNIS: The head of a powerful Tunisian trade union confederation called on Monday to defend the group after protesters backed by President Kais Saied levelled harsh accusations against it.
The protest last week, which the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) said included “an attempted attack” on its headquarters by Saied’s supporters, added to concerns voiced by rights groups over shrinking freedoms ever since the president staged a power grab in 2021.
“We will not be silenced,” UGTT chief Noureddine Taboubi told an emergency meeting of the union’s leadership, called in response to Thursday’s rally that featured accusations of “corruption” and of being “a mafia.”
“Anyone with a case should seek legal redress — we are not above the law,” said Taboubi, vowing to defend the organization’s “dignity and honor.”
The UGTT earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015 for its part in supporting the North African country’s democratic transition following the Arab Spring revolution.
President Saied has expressed his support for the dozens of protesters who had gathered outside the UGTT headquarters in Tunis, promising in a video statement to ensure “accountability” for the UGTT’s alleged misconduct.
He denied the demonstrators were engaged in any violence.
Several leading rights groups have expressed their support for the UGTT, with the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights saying trade unions have become victims of smear campaigns.
Since Saied seized full powers in July 2021 in what critics have called a “coup,” local and international rights groups have denounced a democratic backsliding and the arrests of dozens of political opponents, journalist, lawyers and civil society figures.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611521/middle-east
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Sudan refugees face cholera outbreak with nothing but lemons for medicine
12/08/2025
TAWILA: In the cholera-stricken refugee camps of western Sudan, every second is infected by fear. Faster than a person can boil water over an open flame, the flies descend and everything is contaminated once more.
Cholera is ripping through the camps of Tawila in Darfur, where hundreds of thousands of people have been left with nothing but the water they can boil, to serve as both disinfectant and medicine.
“We mix lemon in the water when we have it and drink it as medicine,” said Mona Ibrahim, who has been living for two months in a hastily-erected camp in Tawila.
“We have no other choice,” she told AFP, seated on the bare ground.
Adam is one of nearly half a million people who sought shelter in and around Tawila, from the nearby besieged city of El-Fasher and the Zamzam displacement camp in April, following attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with Sudan’s regular army since April 2023.
The first cholera cases in Tawila were detected in early June in the village of Tabit, about 25 kilometers south, said Sylvain Penicaud, a project coordinator for French charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
“After two weeks, we started identifying cases directly in Tawila, particularly in the town’s displacement camps,” he told AFP.
In the past month, more than 1,500 cases have been treated in Tawila alone, he said, while the UN’s children agency says around 300 of the town’s children have contracted the disease since April.
Across North Darfur state, more than 640,000 children under the age of five are at risk, according to UNICEF.
By July 30, there were 2,140 infections and at least 80 deaths across Darfur, UN figures show.
Cholera is a highly contagious bacterial infection that causes severe diarrhea and spreads through contaminated water and food.
Causing rapid dehydration, it can kill within hours if left untreated, yet it is preventable and usually easily treatable with oral rehydration solutions.
More severe cases require intravenous fluids and antibiotics.
Ibrahim Adam Mohamed Abdallah, UNICEF’s executive director in Tawila, told AFP his team “advises people to wash their hands with soap, clean the blankets and tarps provided to them and how to use clean water.”
But in the makeshift shelters of Tawila, patched together from thin branches, scraps of plastic and bundles of straw, even those meagre precautions are out of reach.
Insects cluster on every barely washed bowl, buzzing over the scraps of already meagre meals.
Haloum Ahmed, who has been suffering from severe diarrhea for three days, said “there are so many flies where we live.”
Water is often fetched from nearby natural sources — often contaminated — or from one of the few remaining shallow, functional wells.
It “is extremely worrying,” said MSF’s Penicaud, but “those people have no (other) choice.”
Sitting beside a heap of unwashed clothes on the dusty ground, Ibrahim said no one around “has any soap.”
“We don’t have toilets — the children relieve themselves in the open,” she added.
“We don’t have food. We don’t have pots. No blankets — nothing at all,” said Fatna Essa, another 50-year-old displaced woman in Tawila.
The UN has repeatedly warned of food insecurity in Tawila, where aid has trickled in, but nowhere near enough to feed the hundreds of thousands who go hungry.
Sudan’s conflict, now in its third year, has killed tens of thousands and created the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises, according to the United Nations.
In Tawila, health workers are trying to contain the cholera outbreak — but resources are stretched thin.
MSF has opened a 160-bed cholera treatment center in Tawila, with plans to expand to 200 beds.
A second unit has also been set up in Daba Nyra, one of the most severely affected camps. But both are already overwhelmed, said Penicaud.
Meanwhile, aid convoys remain largely paralyzed by the fighting and humanitarian access has nearly ground to a halt.
Armed groups — particularly the RSF — have blocked convoys from reaching those in need.
Meanwhile, the rainy season, which peaks this month, may bring floodwaters that further contaminate water supplies and worsen the crisis.
Any flooding could “heighten the threat of disease outbreaks,” warned UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
The World Health Organization said last week that cholera “has swept across Sudan, with all states reporting outbreaks.” It said nearly 100,000 cases had been reported across the country since July 2024.
UNICEF also reported over 2,408 deaths across 17 of Sudan’s 18 states since August 2024.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611561/middle-east
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North America
Trump claims his India tariffs dealt a ‘big blow’ to Russia
12/08/2025
US President Donald Trump has claimed that American tariffs imposed on India for purchasing Russian oil have dealt a “big blow” to Moscow.
Addressing a briefing in the White House on Monday, Trump said Russia has been heavily impacted by global pressure stemming from the imposition of US tariffs on multiple countries.
”[It] doesn't help when the president of the United States tells their largest or second-largest oil buyer that we're putting a 50% tariff on you if you buy oil from Russia. That was a big blow,” Trump stated, in reference to India. “No one would have been so tough and I haven’t stopped there,” he added.
The remarks come ahead of Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
Last week, the White House announced an additional 25% tariff on Indian imports, doubling those it recently imposed on the South Asian nation to 50%. The US president said the latest tariffs were imposed due to India’s continued purchases of Russian oil.
Trump added that Russia had “tremendous potential to do well,” but claimed that its economy “is not doing well right now because it’s been very well disturbed by this.”
The new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration are set to take effect on August 27, according to a presidential executive order.
New Delhi has strongly condemned the tariffs as “unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable,” and has vowed to protect its national interests.
On Monday, former Pentagon official Michael Rubin told the ANI news agency that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would go down in history for standing up for his country’s rights, and that the US would learn that it can’t “kick India around.”
https://www.rt.com/india/622781-trump-claims-his-india-tariffs/
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War on academia: Billion-dollar funding freeze hits US universities over pro-Palestine protests
12/08/2025
By Humaira Ahad
Once seen as the gold standard for academic vibrance and intellectual freedom, several of America’s top universities now find themselves entangled in unprecedented federal investigations and concessions to the Trump administration.
The issue centers on billions of dollars in federal research funding and mounting political pressure that critics warn could fundamentally reshape higher education in the United States.
A turning point came in late July, when Columbia University reached a $200 million settlement with the Trump administration. The deal restored more than $400 million in previously frozen research grants but imposed sweeping conditions that have alarmed legal scholars and education advocates alike.
As part of the deal, Columbia not only agreed to pay the fine but also accepted the appointment of a government-approved monitor with authority over its admissions processes and academic departments, including West Asian studies, under the pretext of addressing “antisemitism” on campus.
The deal gives "legal form to an extortion scheme," said David Pozen, a professor at Columbia Law School, who has emerged as one of the deal’s most vocal critics.
“Higher education policy in the United States is now being developed through ad hoc deals, a mode of regulation that is not only inimical to the ideal of the university as a site of critical thinking but also corrosive to both academic freedom and the rule of law.”
A new enforcement model
The Trump administration has cast elite institutions as bastions of "liberal ideology" and has accused them of fostering environments "hostile to Jewish students."
Since January, the White House has partnered with agencies including the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice to pressure dozens of universities over unfounded allegations of "antisemitism, civil rights violations, and discriminatory admissions practices."
More than 60 colleges received formal warnings from the US Department of Education in March this year, instructing them to “take steps to protect Jewish students or face potential enforcement actions.”
For many institutions, the financial implications were immediate and shocking.
In April, the Trump administration froze more than $1 billion in research funds earmarked for Cornell University, Brown University, and other Ivy League institutions in the US.
Recently, Brown University agreed to pay $50 million to workforce development programmes in Rhode Island to resolve government investigations and regain access to federal grants.
Harvard University, whose West Asian Studies Center has come under fire for alleged anti-Israel bias, continues to negotiate with federal agencies, as it challenges the loss of research funding in court.
“The deal we reached with Columbia provides a road map for how other institutions can come into compliance,” a White House spokesperson told reporters in late July.
Behind the government’s stance is a broader political strategy of compliance. Experts have warned that the legal framework used against Colombia will be applied to target departments, faculty members, or student groups that challenge government policies.
The Columbia crackdown
Columbia became a national flash point earlier this year when student protests over Israel's genocide in Gaza escalated into campus-wide protests. Students and faculty demanded that the university sever ties with Israeli institutions and divest from companies supplying arms to the Israeli military.
As the protests grew, right-wing politicians accused the university of fostering "antisemitism". In response, the university took a hard-line stance, inviting police onto campus, arresting student demonstrators, and shutting down pro-Palestine events.
Following the crackdown, the federal investigation into the university’s handling of these incidents intensified. When funding was cut off, Columbia began negotiations with the Trump administration, a process that insiders describe as anything but voluntary.
The agreement,” writes Pozen, “gives legal form to an extortion scheme. The process was something akin to a mob boss demanding protection money from a local business.”
The Trump administration threatened the university indirectly, saying it would be "a shame if something were to happen to it.”
Under the terms of the deal, the university will now be subject to ongoing federal oversight. A monitor will have access to admissions records to enforce compliance with the US Supreme Court’s recent ban on affirmative action, a move that some fear will disproportionately affect foreign students, especially from Asian and African countries.
Academic departments perceived as critical of US foreign policy, particularly those focused on West Asia, are also under review following the deal.
Academic freedom under threat
Legal scholars warn that these settlements between the administration and universities represent a dangerous precedent for federal overreach into academic governance.
It may enable the US government to influence university curriculum, admission practices, and internal governance by tying compliance to the continuation of research funding, raising concerns about institutional independence in higher education.
For universities that rely heavily on federal grants to fund everything from medical research to technological innovation, the stakes are existential. Columbia alone received over $650 million in federal research grants in 2022, much of it for programs in science, health, and engineering.
Experts say that by linking such funding to political demands, the administration is effectively turning research into a tool of partisan enforcement.
Universities in the US now face a tough choice: either comply with federal demands and jeopardize their academic integrity, or resist and risk losing vital funding that supports their research and operations.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/08/05/752537/war-academia-billion-dollar-freeze-hits-us-universities-pro-palestine-protests
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Two dead, several injured in explosion at US Steel plant in Pennsylvania
12/08/2025
Two workers died and 10 were wounded Monday after blasts at a US Steel plant in the state of Pennsylvania, officials said.
"Multiple explosions occurred today at US Steel Clairton Coke Works," the state's Governor Josh Shapiro said in a post on X, naming a plant some 15 miles (25 kilometers) outside the city of Pittsburgh.
"Injured employees have now been transported to local hospitals to receive care, and search-and-rescue efforts remain active at the plant," he added.
US Steel and Allegheny County Police reported two people were found dead, with the second fatality requiring "an extensive search and rescue effort" to locate the body.
One injured victim who had previously been reported missing was rescued and taken to a hospital for treatment, authorities said, adding that "nine [other] people were transported to area hospitals to be treated for a variety of injuries".
US Steel said the incident happened at around 11am (15:00 GMT) on Monday and that emergency teams were immediately dispatched to the scene.
"During times like this, US Steel employees come together to extend their love, prayers, and support to everyone affected," David Burritt, CEO of the company, said in a statement.
Some US media outlets had reported that people were trapped under the rubble of the explosion.
Videos on social media, not verified by AFP, appeared to show firefighters battling the blaze in front of a gutted industrial building, under a thick plume of white smoke.
The Clairton Coke Works is the largest coking factory in the United States – a facility where coal is processed to produce coke, a key fuel in steelmaking.
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20250812-two-dead-several-injured-in-explosion-at-us-steel-plant-in-pennsylvania
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Trump says he’ll know if Putin wants a peace deal with Ukraine in their meeting
12/08/2025
Without elaborating, Trump reiterated that land exchanges might be a part of any significant agreement.
US President Donald Trump said Monday that he expected to determine, moments into his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska this Friday, whether it would be possible to work out a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
Speaking at a White House press briefing, Trump said, “At the end of that meeting, probably the first two minutes, I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made”.
He said he thought Friday’s sitdown with Putin in Alaska would be “really a feel-out meeting,” adding that “it’ll be good, but it might be bad”.
It could be “Lots of luck, keep fighting. Or I may say, we can make a deal.” Trump said.
Without elaborating, Trump reiterated that land exchanges might be a part of any significant agreement.
Friday's meeting at the request of Putin comes as Trump presses for a ceasefire that has remained out of reach in the Russian invasion of Ukraine and as European allies pushed for Ukraine’s involvement, fearful that discussions could otherwise favour Moscow.
Trump returns to criticising Zelenskyy
On Monday, Trump seemed to duck repeated chances to say that he would push for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to take part in his discussions with Putin.
Trump, who has harshly criticised both leaders after promising — and so far failing — to swiftly end the conflict, gave much of his criticism to Zelenskyy again.
According to Trump, Zelenskyy had been to “a lot of meetings” without managing to halt a war that Russia started.
Trump said that Zelenskyy had been in power for the duration of the war and “nothing happened” during that time, contrasting him with Putin, who has wielded power in Russia for decades.
He then said, after he meets with Putin, “The next meeting will be with Zelenskyy and Putin”, but it could also be a meeting with “Putin and Zelenskyy and me.”
The US leader’s eagerness to reach a deal has raised fears in Ukraine and Europe about such an agreement favouring Russia at the detriment of Ukraine.
EU leaders wary of Trump-Putin meeting
Earlier on Monday, EU foreign ministers called for "transatlantic unity" to back Ukraine and put further pressure on Russia.
And in a joint statement issued over the weekend, the leaders of Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the UK, and the European Commission rejected Putin's ceasefire proposal to trade the Ukrainian territories of Donetsk and Luhansk.
They stated that "the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations" and stressed that they "are united as Europeans and determined to jointly promote our interests". EU leaders also reiterated that "the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine."
To that point, Trump on Monday said he would call Zelenskyy and European leaders after his discussion with Putin to “tell them what kind of a deal — I’m not going to make a deal. It’s not up to me to make a deal.”
Trump’s up-and-down relations with Putin
More recently, Trump has expressed frustration with Putin that Russia hasn’t appeared to take a push for a ceasefire more seriously, and softened his tone toward Zelenskyy. But his comments on Monday suggested he might have had another change of heart.
“President Putin invited me to get involved,” Trump said. He noted that he thought it was “very respectful” that Putin is coming to the US for Friday’s meeting, instead of insisting that Trump go to Russia.
“I’d like to see a ceasefire. I’d like to see the best deal that can be made for both parties,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, Trump on Monday hinted that if Friday's summit goes well, he might see a time when trade between the United States and Russia returns to normal, a sharp contrast to his warnings of more economic sanctions.
However, it remains unclear if Russia will follow through by withdrawing its forces from Ukraine as analysts expect Putin to be unwavering in his demands to keep all the territory his forces now occupy and to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO.
Zelenskyy, for his part, has maintained he will never consent to any formal Russian annexation of Ukrainian territory or give up a bid for NATO membership.
https://www.euronews.com/2025/08/12/trump-says-hell-know-if-putin-wants-a-peace-deal-with-ukraine-in-their-meeting
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Brazil, China call for stronger push against US tariff-led unilateralist onslaught
12/08/2025
The Brazilian and Chinese leaders have held a high-stakes phone call as part of what observers call efforts to further empower the Global South’s fight against the US tariff-led unilateralist onslaught.
During the conversation that took place on Tuesday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping mapped out deeper economic cooperation and vowed to wield the BRICS intergovernmental organization and the G20 international forum as spearheads in defending multilateralism.
Xi made indirect references to the United States' accelerated push under Donald Trump to impose a unilateralist chokehold on the international community.
The drive has seen the American president issue an avalanche of heavy-handed tariffs against numerous countries, even Washington’s own traditional allies, threaten even heftier tariffs, and smear the BRICS as an “anti-American” bloc.
Lula, who had already begun rallying the BRICS nations to confront Trump’s tariff threats – including through a recent similar phone call with Indian Prime Minister Nrendra Modi – made it clear that Brazil would not stand idle amid the situation.
Xi, for his part, told Lula that Beijing and Brasília could “set an example of unity and self-reliance among major countries in the Global South,” and work together to “build a more just world and more sustainable planet.”
Beyond trade: Building a Global South power axis
Both leaders underscored that “all countries should unite and firmly oppose unilateralism and protectionism,” a statement widely read as a direct challenge to Trump’s protectionist crusade.
Lula’s office said the call also spanned issues far beyond tariffs, including climate change and joint ventures in health, oil and gas, the digital economy, and satellite technology.
Experts described the call as a sign of enhanced rapport built up between the BRICS member states, chief among them their main constituent nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – to cement their alliances to try to rewrite the rules of global power in favor of the Global South.
They also noted that the optimized interaction signaled that any attack on one BRICS member would be met with a coordinated and strategic pushback on the part of the entire bloc.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/08/12/752933/Brazil-China-United-States-Trump-tariffs
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Gaza bears weight of six Hiroshimas: US and Israel’s war playbooks mirror each other
12/08/2025
By Humaira Ahad
In August 1945, the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki became synonymous with annihilation. Two US atomic bombs levelled them, killing over 200,000 people.
Eighty years later, another place is being seared into global memory, Gaza, a narrow strip of land whose bombardment is shattering historical precedents.
Figures from military analysts, human rights organisations, and independent journalists suggest that the scale of explosives dropped on Gaza exceeds the destructive force unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, multiple times over.
Military analyst and University of Bradford Emeritus Professor Paul Rogers compared the cumulative devastation in Gaza to both World War II aerial campaigns and nuclear history.
Six Hiroshimas in Gaza
“If you look at the total tonnage of weapons dropped, mainly bombs, but missiles and tens of thousands of artillery shells, you get a total of something like 70,000 tonnes of explosives. Hiroshima was about 12 kilotons, so we are talking about the equivalent of six Hiroshimas,” Rogers said in an interview in April.
In late April, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor estimated that approximately 70,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Gaza, covering the period between October 7, 2023, and April 24, 2025.
"It is estimated that Israel has dropped more than 70,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip in addition to its bulldozing operations, destroying all buildings at a distance of up to one kilometer in the east and north of the Strip to create a so-called buffer zone," the Geneva-based human rights monitor organization said.
By early December 2023, an analysis published in the Financial Times based on satellite radar data concluded that over 60 percent of buildings in northern Gaza had been severely damaged or destroyed.
“Gaza will also go down as a place name denoting one of history’s heaviest conventional bombing campaigns,” the daily wrote.
This scale surpasses even the Allied carpet-bombing of Dresden, Cologne, and Hamburg in WWII, campaigns that were designed to break entire cities.
Unlike those European targets, Gaza is a besieged territory, a densely populated civilian territory, with no safe zone for its inhabitants.
The Israeli air force itself acknowledged that in just five days of its military aggression, it had dropped around 6,000 bombs on the besieged strip, averaging 1,200 bombs per day, or roughly one bomb every minute.
The tonnage is 4,000 tonnes of munitions in under a week, much of it US-supplied MK80-series bombs and M117 demolition bombs.
By November 2, 2023, after 26 days of continuous bombardment, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor (EHRM) estimated Israel had dropped 25,000 tonnes of bombs on Gaza.
For comparison, the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima was equivalent to about 13,000 tonnes of TNT. Over an area of just 360 square kilometres, less than half the size of Hiroshima in 1945, Gaza endured the force of two Hiroshima bombs in less than a month.
While the tonnage of explosives in Gaza is unprecedented, the nature of the weaponry adds another layer of violation. Human rights monitors have documented Israel’s use of cluster munitions and white phosphorus, both prohibited under international law for their indiscriminate effects.
White phosphorus burns at extreme temperatures, sticking to skin and causing deep tissue damage. When used in crowded urban areas like Gaza’s refugee camps, its impact is inevitably catastrophic.
Such tactics, combined with sustained artillery fire and missile strikes, ensure that Gaza’s destruction is comprehensive; residential blocks, hospitals, schools, water systems, and cultural landmarks have been targeted or rendered inoperable.
Japanese Nobel laureate on Gaza aid workers
Japan’s atomic bomb survivors see the parallels between the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Gaza. Speaking as co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, the national organisation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors, Toshiyuki Mimaki, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, drew a direct line between the past and the present,
“Gaza today is like Japan 80 years ago. In Gaza, bleeding children are being held by their parents. It’s like in Japan after the bomb. Children lost their fathers in the war and their mothers in the atomic bomb. They became orphans.”
He warned that devastation is not a thing of the past, “It has been said that because of nuclear weapons, the world maintains peace. But nuclear weapons can be used by terrorists...Israel against Gaza, it won’t end there. Politicians should know these things.”
Mimaki said he had believed “the people working so hard in Gaza” would be awarded the Peace Prize or humanitarian groups like The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), recognising their endurance amid the systematic destruction of the besieged strip by Israel.
Meanwhile, in February 2024, Tokyo ramen chef Chikahiro Naoya began a one-man protest outside the Israeli embassy in Japan.
Holding a placard that read “Stop Genocide,” he shouted demands for an end to Israel’s assault on Gaza. Rain, snow, or summer heat did not stop him. Municipal police tried to move him on, but Naoya returns week after week.
As the world marks the 80th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki’s destruction this week, the moment became a measure for the scale of devastation Gaza has endured over the past 22 months.
The devastation ravaging Gaza today is a haunting reflection of the horrors unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 years ago.
Those atomic bombings by the US revealed the unimaginable cost of war, a cost that Gaza’s children, women, and communities now bear once again.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/08/10/752823/gaza-bears-weight-six-hiroshimas-us-israel-war-playbooks-mirror-each-other
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Southeast Asia
Senawang dispute turns deadly: Man killed in front of house, neighbours nab suspect
12/08/2025
SEREMBAN, Aug 12 — A 28-year-old man died from stab wounds to the chest in front of a house at Taman Seri Pagi in Senawang near here yesterday evening.
Seremban police chief ACP Mohamad Hatta Che Din said the incident stemmed from a disagreement between the victim and the suspect during the 6.50 pm incident.
“The suspect stabbed the victim in the chest with a knife, causing death. The victim was confirmed dead at the scene at 7.28 pm by a medical officer from the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital (HTJ),” he said in a statement here today.
Mohamad Hatta said the 31-year-old suspect was arrested at the scene with the help of residents at the housing estate and police seized a knife.
He said the case was being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code (for murder) and the motive for the incident was still under investigation. The suspect would be remanded until Aug 18 starting today.
Meanwhile, a 66-year-old neighbour in the housing estate said he heard the victim’s father scream and rushed out to see what was happening.
“I saw the victim covered in blood, many neighbours also came out… I and the residents helped tie the suspect up with rope so he wouldn’t get away,” he said. — Bernama
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2025/08/12/senawang-dispute-turns-deadly-man-killed-in-front-of-house-neighbours-nab-suspect/187347
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Anwar urges Asean to define global AI future through regional principles, ethics
12/08/2025
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today called on Asean to seize what he described as a “generational opportunity” to shape artificial intelligence (AI) in ways that are inclusive, ethical and anchored in the region’s shared values.
He said the bloc’s 700 million citizens, fast-growing digital economy and cultural diversity placed it in a unique position to bridge development gaps, empower small businesses, uplift rural communities and strengthen public services through AI.
“Our vision must be to harness AI not simply to catch up with the rest of the world, but to lead it — offering a model of innovation grounded in trust, rooted in equity and proudly shaped by Southeast Asian values,” he said in his keynote address at the Asean AI Malaysia Summit 2025 at Mitec here.
Anwar said the true measure of AI’s success should be its ability to meaningfully improve lives in a sustainable, inclusive and just manner, rather than the sophistication of its technology.
He also outlined Malaysia’s “AI Nation Framework”, introduced under the recently launched 13th Malaysia Plan, which he said would ensure AI works for all Malaysians by powering better governance, sparking innovation and improving livelihoods nationwide.
He said the framework is built on five pillars — forward-looking policies; an agile and digitally fluent workforce; secure and reliable digital infrastructure; the advancement of digital trust; and strategic investments to grow a thriving AI ecosystem through public–private partnerships and global collaboration.
“This is more than a roadmap. It is a movement. The Ministry of Digital, with the National AI Office at its core, will lead this initiative. Once, highways and ports powered our economic rise,” he said.
“Now we will build intelligent highways, secure data pipelines, future-ready talents and ethical guardrails for AI,” he added.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2025/08/12/anwar-urges-asean-to-define-global-ai-future-through-regional-principles-ethics/187334
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Malaysia proposes criminal law reforms including ending caning
12/08/2025
KUALA LUMPUR: The Criminal Law Reform Committee (CLRC) has outlined several immediate reforms for Malaysia’s criminal justice system.
These changes aim to provide quick benefits to the public while aligning with modern legal standards.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said highlighted key proposals.
These include abolishing caning as a punishment and granting judges more flexibility in sentencing.
The reforms also focus on improving the remand process to protect detainees’ rights.
Community service orders will be expanded for minor offences as an alternative to jail time.
Azalina revealed plans to strengthen the e-Plea of Guilt (e-PG) system for faster case resolution.
Pre-trial document disclosure procedures will be enhanced to ensure fairer trials.
Fixed timelines for bail decisions will be introduced to prevent unnecessary delays.
These measures were announced during a Ministerial Briefing at the Dewan Rakyat’s Special Chambers.
The CLRC was formed on March 24 to review three key laws.
These are the Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Evidence Act 1950.
Azalina confirmed the committee will study further amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code.
The review includes examining the death penalty moratorium and potential deferred prosecution agreements.
Cybercrime and national security offences will receive special attention during the reform process.
The CLRC has consulted widely with stakeholders to shape these proposals.
Engagement sessions involved enforcement agencies, judges and civil society groups.
Public universities and town hall meetings in Sabah and Sarawak provided additional feedback.
Azalina stressed these reforms support the MADANI Government’s vision.
The changes aim to modernise Malaysia’s criminal justice system while upholding human rights.
The government believes these measures will create a more progressive and efficient legal framework.
The reforms seek to balance societal needs with fair treatment for all citizens. – Bernama
https://thesun.my/malaysia-news/malaysia-proposes-criminal-law-reforms-including-ending-caning-NF14667497
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Indonesian Military Investigates Soldier’s Death Amid Abuse Allegations, 20 Detained
12/08/2025
Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. The Indonesian Military (TNI) is investigating the death of Private Lucky Chepril Saputra Namo, who died from alleged abuse by fellow troops, as authorities detain 20 suspects, including senior officers.
On Monday, the mood was somber at the home of Lucky in Kuanino, Kupang, where his mother, Sepriana Paulina Mirpey, tearfully pleaded for justice. She said, “My son did not die from illness. He was mistreated. I ask the TNI to investigate thoroughly and punish everyone responsible. I only want justice for my son.”
Sepriana also recalled Lucky’s unfulfilled promise to build a home for his family, saying, “He once said, ‘Mama, when my salary increases, we won’t have to live in this leaky house anymore.’ He’s gone now, but I pray his dream will live on.”
Lucky’s father, Christian Namo, also a TNI soldier, expressed full confidence in the military’s commitment to transparency and justice. “We entrust the entire process to the TNI. I am also a soldier; I know the TNI will act firmly. Our lives are for Indonesia, but the perpetrators must be held accountable,” he said.
The Indonesian Army Headquarters disclosed that 20 suspects, including senior personnel and peers of Lucky, are involved in the case. According to Army Public Relations Chief Wahyu Yudhayana, the suspected abuse occurred as part of “training” activities, a practice currently under investigation.
Wahyu detailed the charges against the suspects, which include assault and group violence under the Indonesian Criminal Code.
Lucky succumbed to injuries sustained during the abuse after four days of intensive care at Aeramo Regional Hospital.
Military commander of Kodam IX/Udayana, Major General Piek Budyakto, expressed his condolences and assured the public of a thorough investigation. “I am deeply saddened by the loss of Private Lucky, one of our soldiers. This case will be fully investigated, and all involved will be held accountable under the law. Nothing will be concealed,” he said.
Piek also committed to fulfilling Prada Lucky’s dream by assisting his family with building a new home and supporting the education of his younger siblings, who are still in elementary school. “I will personally ensure the dream is realized, and we will take care of the children’s education. I promise to keep the family updated on all developments throughout the investigation. The TNI is open and transparent from beginning to end,” he added.
The Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs has vowed to closely monitor the military’s investigation. “The professionalism of the military police investigators is evident in the indictment of 20 soldiers as suspects. The legal process must proceed according to the law to ensure justice,” Minister Budi Gunawan said.
https://jakartaglobe.id/news/indonesian-military-investigates-soldiers-death-amid-abuse-allegations-20-detained
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Magnitude 6.3 quake hits Papua in eastern Indonesia: USGS
12/08/2025
JAKARTA: A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the eastern Indonesian region of Papua on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, but a monitor said there was no tsunami threat.
The epicenter of the quake, which struck at around 5:24 p.m. (0824 GMT), was around 193 kilometers northwest of the town of Abepura in Papua, USGS said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami threat.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
USGS earlier gave a magnitude of 6.5 before revising it downward.
The vast archipelago nation experiences frequent earthquakes due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
A magnitude 6.2 quake that shook Sulawesi in January 2021 killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless.
In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 quake and subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi killed more than 2,200 people.
And in 2004, a magnitude 9.1 quake struck Aceh province, causing a tsunami and killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2611563/world
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