Category World News

Missile launched from Yemen hits Israel’s Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv

By in News, World News

According to photos and video that Al Jazeera has verified, a ballistic missile launched from Yemen has struck the perimeter of Israel’s Ben Gurion airport, injuring cars, causing traffic to halt, and causing traffic to stop.

Despite making numerous attempts to intercept the projectile, the Israeli military confirmed on Sunday morning that an investigation was being conducted. According to paramedics, eight people were hurt.

Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have launched rockets at Israel’s busiest airport in protest of its war and blockade of the Gaza Strip, took responsibility for the missile launch. Palestinian officials claim that 57 people have died as a result of the Israeli siege total since March 2, with at least 52 of the 495 killed in Israel’s more than 18-month-long attacks on Gaza.

Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military spokesman, warned airlines that Ben Gurion airport was no longer “safe for air travel” in a televised statement.

Flights at the airport in central Israel were briefly suspended as a result of the attack, with some having to be rerouted. While trains were halted as they approached the airport, all entrances were briefly closed.

According to Israeli media, sirens blared all over central Israel, forcing many people to seek shelter.

The missile struck a connecting road inside the Ben Gurion airport, according to online videos that were circulated, along with some debris strewn across the surrounding roads.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened severe retaliation. In an ostensibly biblical passage about severe punishment or divine justice, Katz said, “Whoever attacks us, we will hit back sevenfold.”

Former member of the Israeli Resilience party and leader of the Israel Resilience party Benny Gantz suggested that Tehran should bear responsibility for the missile attack.

Without providing any proof, he claimed in a social media post that “It is Iran that is firing ballistic missiles at the state of Israel.” A “severe reaction in Tehran is bound to follow the shooting at the state of Israel.”

Leading opposition figure Yair Golan claimed that millions of Israelis are now living in shelters, that families are being harmed by the war, and that reservists are “collapsing under the burden” of the conflict, which was started after an attack by the Palestinian-armed group Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, that reportedly resulted in the capture of 1, 139 people, with more than 200 others being taken captive.

He said about the prime minister, “This is big for Netanyahu, this is big for the government.” “We must end the war and bring the kidnapped people back home.”

Despite the US military bombarding areas throughout Yemen almost daily, the Houthi attacks are still on. In the early hours of Sunday, Yemen’s media reported numerous additional US air raids.

According to Al Masirah TV, US aircraft carried out three attacks on the Marib governorate and 10 raids on the al-Hazm district of the al-Jawf governorate.

Nuggets eliminate Clippers in Game 7 to advance in NBA playoffs

By in News, World News

The Denver Nuggets dominated the Los Angeles Clippers 120-101 in their do-or-die Game 7 of their NBA playoff series to set up a second-round clash with Western Conference top-seed Oklahoma City.

Aaron Gordon scored 22 points, Christian Braun added 21 and NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Nikola Jokic had 16 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Nuggets, whose balanced attack and stout defence were too much for the Clippers on Saturday.

The Clippers, who roared into the playoffs winning 18 of their last 21 regular-season games, had fended off elimination with a convincing Game 6 victory on Thursday.

But any momentum they had evaporated amid another dismal performance from James Harden.

Harden scored just seven points, connecting on two of his eight shot attempts.

Kawhi Leonard scored 22 points to lead the Clippers, who emerged from a tight first quarter with a 26-21 lead.

It briefly looked like it would be another close game between teams that finished the regular season with identical 50-32 records.

But the Nuggets put up 37 points in the second quarter to seize control and continued to pile it on in the third, when a 17-0 Nuggets run pushed the lead to 75-50.

The Nuggets led 93 – 66 going into the fourth quarter, and even with Jokic sitting down after he was whistled for his third, fourth, and fifth fouls late in the third period, the Clippers could make no meaningful inroads.

The Nuggets led by as many as 35 points. They out-scored the Clippers 54-42 in the paint and, with a 46-36 advantage in rebounds, grabbed 22 second-chance points to the Clippers’ 10.

“Everybody came to play,” said Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, who scored 16 points. “Everybody was ready, the home crowd was into it, and we were able to get the job done.”

Russell Westbrook rubbed it in against his former team, coming off the bench to score 16 points with five rebounds, five assists and five steals.

He underscored his message midway through the fourth quarter, coming up with a steal, racing for a dunk, and then hanging on the rim to purposely draw a technical foul and using the moment to rile up the crowd even more.

The Nuggets advanced despite a tumultuous finish to their regular season, with David Adelman taking over as interim head coach when Michael Malone was sacked with just three games left.

Denver will play Game 1 of their second-round playoff series against the Thunder, who won a league-best 68 games, on Monday.

The series will pit MVP finalists Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander against each other.

Russell Westbrook (#4) of the Denver Nuggets drives to the basket against Kawhi Leonard (#2) and Ivica Zubac (#40) of the LA Clippers during Game 7 of the Western Conference first round NBA Playoffs at Ball Arena on May 3, 2025, in Denver, Colorado, US [Matthew Stockman/Getty Images via AFP]

The woman braving tigers, crocodiles and pirates in Bangladesh’s mangroves

By in News, World News

Mahfuza’s day begins at 5am. She wakes for dawn prayer and quickly gets ready to head out. There’s no time for a proper breakfast, just a cup of tea or maybe some leftover fish if she’s lucky. Usually, by the time the sun starts to rise, she’s already out on her boat, gliding over the river.

At the end of the day, her hair flecked with sand from the river and dust from the road, she comes home and bathes in the pond close to her house. Sometimes she swims for fun.

Mahfuza catches about five kilos of fish a month. She keeps 1kg for herself and Lavlu and sells the rest, earning about 10,000 taka ($10), which the two must survive on.

Some fish, like sardines and mola carplet, are found all year round. But her work otherwise changes with the seasons. In warmer months, she catches shrimp and hilsa, and in the cooler months, she goes after bigger fish and crabs.

“The seasons dictate everything,” she says. “You have to keep up with the water, or you’ll fall behind.”

On a good day, she makes a few hundred taka, enough to cover her expenses, which include the constant burden of renting her boat. The work is always unpredictable. “Some days are good, some are empty,” she shrugs.

The seasons pose other challenges. Annual government bans lasting a total of five months during fish breeding seasons to prevent over-extraction make things harder. In those months, Mahfuza and Lavlu are often forced to borrow rice or money or sometimes go hungry. “If the government wants to protect the species, then they should protect us too,” she says.

From May to October, the monsoon season, Mahfuza risks being caught in a cyclone. She is adept at reading the weather, relying on the wind, the colour of the sky and the patterns of the waves to gauge whether a storm is coming. “The sky darkens, the wind shifts – then I know I need to get back to shore,” she says. Sometimes the weather turns quickly. “You can feel it in the air before you see it,” she explains, “but there are times when the wind changes and you know it’s already too late.”

When she’s been caught in a storm, she has had no choice but to hunker down in her boat and wait for it to pass, bobbing helplessly in the churning waters.

Mahfuza has been caught on the water in some of the worst storms, including Cyclone Aila in 2009, which killed more than 100 people and caused tidal surges and flooding, displacing half a million people.

Sometimes she has had no choice but to fish, even when the weather doesn’t look promising. “The sea doesn’t wait for you to feel ready,” she says. “I have to fish to survive – cyclone or no cyclone.”

Pirates also prey on small fishing boats in the remote waterways, especially those with lone fishers like Mahfuza. They often demand money and fish, and though raids aren’t daily, they’re enough to keep villagers on edge. Sometimes, they hold fishers for ransom. “They usually are here for money. They think that we have money. How foolish they are!” says Mahfuza.

Seven years ago, Mahfuza and her older brother Alamgir were fishing when they were surrounded by five unmasked men in boats armed with guns. They demanded 12,000 taka ($98). Mahfuza and Alamgir said they didn’t have it, so the pirates forced them onto another boat close to the shore. “They are very dangerous. They kidnap and sometimes even kill people if they refuse to pay money. I was very scared,” she says. They were held for hours until a coastguard vessel appeared in the distance, and the panicked raiders pushed Mahfuza and her brother into the shallow shore waters.

To this day, sudden noises in the water from another fisher make her jumpy.

But as the sole provider for her children since the age of 30, she has had no choice but to fish. “When my children cried for food, I did not care about the pirates,” she says.

She now jokes about that experience, but her laughter is brief. Even now, she hides her earnings in different places and rows faster when the sun starts to go down and raiders tend to strike.

For the last 44 years, she has braved tigers, crocodiles, cyclones and pirates and stood up to her own community to provide for her family.

Romania votes in crucial presidential election rerun

By in News, World News
Romanians are casting ballots in the presidential election after an earlier vote in November was canceled due to Russian allegations.

Polls started at 7 a.m. local time (04:00 GMT), and will end at 9 p.m. (00 GMT), with exit polls anticipated shortly after. According to opinion polls, George Simion, a far-right politician, is expected to win the first round.

The Constitutional Court overturned Calin Georgescu’s previous victory, which has been forbiddied from the rerun.

Following a massive TikTok campaign and accusations of Russian interference, which sparked sometimes violent protests, Georgescu was exempt from the rerun. In the first round of Sunday’s election, Simion, one of 11 presidential hopefuls vying for the largely ceremonial but significant foreign policy position, has effectively taken his place.

Simion says he supports the “Make America Great Again” movement of US President Donald Trump, criticizes the leadership of the European Union, and opposes military aid to the neighboring Ukraine.

He currently leads by about 30%, which is a respectable lead if he wants to avoid a run-off on May 18.

Two centrist candidates, including former Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan, 55, who is running as an independent on an anticorruption platform, are Simion’s main rivals.

Both support Ukraine and support the EU. Fourth-ranked Victor Ponta, a former leftist prime minister who has since become a conservative nationalist, is a potential dark horse.

Aurelia, 66, a pensioner who declined to give her last name, told the Reuters news agency that she felt “humiliated” by the cancellation of November’s first round. “George Simion equals Calin Georgescu, he gets my vote,” she said.

“This is where everything is lacking,” he said. Did my children leave to go to work abroad because things are so good here?

Eugenia Niculescu, 65, a pensioner in Bucharest who has struggled to pay for her medication and other bills, said to the AFP news agency: “We want a capable person who knows how to speak up for the Romanian people in the EU.”

The president of Romania has a semi-executive role that includes chairing the security council that decides whether to approve military aid and serving two five-year terms.

The president appoints the prime minister, chief judges, prosecutors, and secret service heads, and holds the power to veto significant EU votes.

Sudan’s RSF carries out drone attack near Port Sudan airport: Army

By in News, World News

A military airbase and other facilities in the Port Sudan airport’s immediate vicinity were attacked by Sudan’s army’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

In the first attack by the RSF on the eastern city, the army claimed on Sunday that the airbase was targeted using a drone, a cargo warehouse, and some civilian facilities.

Some damage was reported after drones struck a depot for ammunition.

The airports for both the military and the civilian sectors are located in one location. Residents of the port city are aware that five drones were launched by the RSF and targeted the airbase, according to Hiba Morgan of Al Jazeera, who is based in Khartoum.

“There is a section of the airport dedicated to civilian flights, but military aircraft also take off from there.” So, it’s unclear whether the drones were aiming at military or civilian targets, or both, she said.

It’s unclear whether the RSF was trying to target the fighter jet that was displayed at an air force show on Saturday afternoon and whether there have been any reports of civilian casualties yet.

According to Flight Radar’s navigation data, a Sudanese passenger plane was diverted to Jeddah Airport after failing to land at Port Sudan Airport.

According to the information, the aircraft made an emergency landing at King Abdulaziz International Airport after departing from Dubai International Airport. Before returning to Jeddah, the plane made a circular maneuver over the Red Sea.