Category World News

On Tuesday morning, Israeli drones were reportedly dropped close to peacekeepers removing roadblocks that were preventing them from reaching a UN position near the southern Lebanese border with Israel (UNIFIL).

Since the cessation of the hostilities agreement in November last year, this is one of the most serious attacks on UNIFIL personnel and assets, according to a statement released on Wednesday.

One grenade struck UN personnel and vehicles within 20 meters and three within 100 meters.

Israel has been violating the ceasefire that it signed in November of this year with Hezbollah, carrying out near-daily attacks on Lebanon, claiming to target Hezbollah members and sites, as well as killing numerous civilians, displaced communities, and destroyed infrastructure and residential structures.

According to UNIFIL, the Israeli army was informed of the location’s southeastern road clearance work.

According to UNIFIL, any actions that put an end to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and interfere with their legitimate duties are unacceptable and a serious violation of Resolution 1701 and international law.

UNIFIL patrols Israel’s southern border with Lebanon since it was established in 1978.

The UN Security Council approved a year-long, orderly and secure drawdown and withdrawal of Lebanon last week until the end of 2026.

Israel and the United States have heavily pushed for UNIFIL’s closure, despite the fact that UNIFIL has not fulfilled its stated purpose. They claim that the organization has provided political cover for Hezbollah since the 2006 war.

In addition to its invasion of south Lebanon in October, Israel is still occupying at least five locations on Lebanese territory. Israeli troops should leave south of Lebanon, according to the November ceasefire agreement, but that has not yet been done.

Naim Qassem, the group’s secretary-general, has criticized growing pressure to disarm the organization and warned that achieving Lebanon’s sovereignty could only be achieved by putting an end to Israel’s “aggression.”

Before talks on a national defense strategy can begin, Qassem claimed last month that the Lebanese government must first ensure that Israel adheres to the ceasefire agreement from November 2024.

The Hezbollah leader said that the resistance would continue to serve as a “strong barrier” that would prevent Israel from achieving its objectives and that it would be impossible for Israel to remain in Lebanon or carry out its expansionist project there.

World leaders, including Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un of North Korea, watched China display its most recent military equipment in a massive parade in Beijing.

The capital’s Tiananmen Square, the entrance to the historically Forbidden City and the heart of President Xi Jinping’s show of force to the world, was a gathering place from dawn on Wednesday.

With their parade invitations posed with eager faces in front of Tiananmen, a backdrop adorned with Chinese national flags and thousands of red and green seats set up for the occasion.

The square’s giant, golden numerals “1945” and “2025” serve as reminders of the 80 years since Japan’s surrender and World War II ended.

As soldiers marched in the square, military bands blared their trumpets in concert.

Kim and Putin were pictured greeting Xi and the other foreign leaders as they crossed paths for a group photo in a rarely seen moment.

As Xi passed troops waiting for attention along Chang’an Avenue while wearing a dark gray Mao suit, he waited in an open-topped black limousine.

“Comrades, you are working hard,” yelled the soldiers! Before joining his guests in a grandstand above the famed Mao Zedong portrait on Tiananmen, including Putin and Kim, he repeatedly yelled into four microphones.

The ceremony took place in mid-to-mid-90s Fahrenheit, which was challenging for many spectators who had to sweat profusely outside the unshaded stands. Some staff members helped those who felt unwell to leave.

Local official Ijaz Ulhaq Yaad told the AFP news agency on Wednesday that victims in Kunar’s Nurgal district were still confined to their homes and were difficult to save. He claimed that there are some villages that haven’t received aid yet.

Residents of the mountainous region near Pakistan were huddled in the open air for fear of strong aftershocks and desperately trying to rescue people from submerged buildings on Sunday as a result of a magnitude 6 earthquake.

According to the ruling Taliban government, the earthquake was one of the deadliest to hit the impoverished nation in decades and claimed the lives of at least 1, 411 people and 3, 124 others.

In nearby Nangarhar and Laghman provinces, hundreds of people were killed and hundreds of others were hurt, with the majority of the casualties occurring in Kunar province.

Gul Bibi, an 80-year-old survivor from Kunar, told the Reuters news agency that “I lost everything,” adding that her family was buried beneath the mud and debris of their home.

When Bibi gestured to the tiny child in her arms, “Just this grandson survived,” she said.

Access to already-distant villages has been obstructed by the earthquake’s landslides.

One of its aid teams “had to walk for 20 kilometers [12 miles] to villages cut off by rock falls, carrying medical equipment on their backs with the aid of community members,” according to Save the Children, a humanitarian organization.

The World Health Organization warned that the number of people who were killed by the earthquake was likely to rise because many were “still trapped in destroyed buildings.”

The Ministry of Defense of the Taliban government announced in two days that it had organized 155 helicopter flights to transport about 2, 000 injured and their families to regional hospitals.

No tents were constructed to house survivors in Mazar Dara, despite the fact that a small mobile clinic was stationed there to provide emergency care to the injured, according to AFP.

Without providing further details, a commission of the Defence Ministry announced on Tuesday that it had instructed “the relevant institutions to take measures in all areas to normalize the lives of the earthquake victims.”

A camp was established in Khas Kunar district, according to deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat, to coordinate emergency aid, while two additional centers were opened close to the epicentre “to oversee the transfer of the injured, the burial of the dead, and the rescue of survivors.”

The disaster could have an impact on hundreds of thousands of people, according to the UN.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated on Tuesday that the UN’s humanitarian office raised $5 million from its emergency fund to help with the UN response, and that amount will be matched by $5 million from the Afghan Humanitarian Fund.

Numerous nations have also pledged assistance, despite concerns raised by NGOs and the UN over funding shortfalls brought on by severe aid cuts.

Instead of going to the Taliban government, which the United Kingdom does not acknowledge, it has pledged to split 1 million pounds ($1.3 million) between humanitarian organizations.

One million euros ($1.16 million) will be sent by the European Union, along with 130 tonnes of emergency supplies. The United Arab Emirates and India are two of the nations that have pledged assistance for disaster relief.

On Wednesday, the Chinese embassy in Kabul announced that it had provided Afghanistan with earthquake relief assistance.

In the years since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, the country has experienced severe drought, endemic poverty, and the influx of millions of Afghans forced back into the country by neighboring Pakistan and Iran.

In a statement released late on Tuesday, Jagan Chapagain, the Red Cross’ secretary-general, said, “This earthquake couldn’t have come at a worse time.”

A motorcycle taxi driver was killed on August 28 after being run over by an armoured police vehicle in Jakarta, which has caused at least 10 people to attend the demonstration on Wednesday.

The incident sparked a lot of outcry, which has since morphed into protests all over the country over rising taxes, lower wages, and higher salaries for politicians.

President Prabowo Subianto was forced to reverse plans to increase benefits for members of parliament during the rallies, and he also gave orders to the military and police to intervene against rioters and looters after political party members’ state buildings and homes were seized or set on fire.

According to student groups and authorities, police in Bandung continued to obstruct students on Tuesday as they fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters near two universities. At least 10 people were killed in the clashes as a result of the demonstrations.

At the rally on Wednesday in Jakarta, API leaders demanded that Prabowo be ordered to resign from security forces and stop using the military and police against civilians.

They urged the president, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, the president’s defense minister, and Agus Subiyanto, the commander of the National Armed Forces, to withdraw troops from the police force. Additionally, the group demanded that all detainees held without charge be released and that National Police Chief Listyo Sigit resign.

The coalition called for the arrest of all those who were detained to end the practice of dissent and demand that all detained be freed.

They pressed the government to grant Indonesians the right to organize, associate, and protest peacefully without fear of intimidation or violence, and said troops should return to the barracks.