Cuban President Diaz-Canel says talks held with US amid Trump threats
Miguel Diaz-Canel says discussions held to find solutions 'through dialogue' as Washington tightens oil blockade.
From Gaza to LA, hopes rise as The Voice of Hind Rajab heads to the Oscars
Acclaimed docudrama reconstructing killing of five-year-old girl in Gaza is nominated for best international feature.
Suspect in Michigan synagogue attack had lost family in Israeli strike on Lebanon
Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, who was born in Lebanon and became a naturalized US citizen, lost two brothers, a niece and a nephew in the airstrike
The armed suspect who drove a vehicle into the hallway of a large Michigan synagogue complex that includes a school had lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike in his native Lebanon just last week, an official said on Friday.
A potential mass-casualty event was averted when security guards already in place at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township on the outskirts of Detroit killed the driver before any harm could come to the synagogue’s staff, teachers and 140 children at the early childhood center there on Thursday afternoon.
Continue reading...Destroy, displace, dismantle: Israel’s Gaza doctrine comes to Lebanon
The strategy used to depopulate Gaza - displacement, destruction and fragmentation - is now being deployed on Lebanon.
NATO intercepts third Iranian missile heading toward Turkey – politico.eu
- NATO intercepts third Iranian missile heading toward Turkey politico.eu
- Turkey Says NATO Defenses Shot Down a Third Iranian Missile The New York Times
- Turkiye says NATO defences intercepted third missile from Iran Al Jazeera
- Sirens heard at Türkiye’s Incirlik Air Base Anadolu Ajansı
- US Navy destroyers are firing top interceptors to bring down Iranian missiles flying into NATO airspace Business Insider
IEA announces release of 400 million barrels of oil. But is it enough?
Global energy watchdog pledges largest release from oil reserves amid war on Iran. But is 'one-shot' tactic sufficient?
France returns sacred talking drum looted from Côte d’Ivoire over 100 years ago
Djidji Ayôkwé was handed to Ivorian officials in Paris earlier this month
A sacred artefact looted by French colonial authorities more than a century ago has been returned to Côte d’Ivoire in one of the most significant cultural restitutions to a former French colony in years.
The Djidji Ayôkwé, a talking drum confiscated in 1916 by French administrators, landed at 8.45am on Friday at the airport in Port Bouët on the outskirts of the economic capital, Abidjan. It was handed over to Ivorian officials in Paris earlier this month after being removed from the Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac Museum.
Continue reading...‘I don’t give a shit about Iran. I don’t want to pay higher gas’: Motor City motorists feel pinch as gas prices surge
Drivers in Detroit are unhappy with the spike in gas prices, even if reactions are mixed to the US-Israel war on Iran
On a rainy Detroit afternoon at a gas station off Interstate 75, Victor Rodriguez watched the pump tally tick up as he filled up his F-250 diesel pickup truck for $4.19 per gallon. It totaled $110. “Ridiculous,” he said.
The US-Israel war on Iran has crippled major portions of the oil supply chain, sending gas prices soaring as the conflict enters its third week. Rodriguez said he supports “getting rid of this thug”, referring to Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by the US, but the cost is too high.
Continue reading...Four killed in US military plane crash in Iraq
Four killed in US military plane crash in Iraq
Israeli-backed Palestinian militias step up operations against Hamas in Gaza
Armed groups appear to have increased their firepower as they carry out raids deep in Hamas-controlled territory
Pro-Israel Palestinian militia have launched repeated raids, clandestine assassination and abduction operations deep inside parts of Gaza controlled by Hamas in recent months, with new operations launched recently despite the outbreak of conflict with Iran.
The militia, which are all based in eastern parts of Gaza that are under Israeli control after a ceasefire came into effect in October, have received significant logistic support from Israel since last year but appear to have increased their firepower, allowing new and more aggressive attacks in recent weeks.
Continue reading...Clerics question Khamenei Jr’s leadership role | Iran International – ایران اینترنشنال
- Clerics question Khamenei Jr’s leadership role | Iran International ایران اینترنشنال
- Iran’s new supreme leader has yet to appear, and the system may not need him to CNN
- Iran’s new leader issues first statement: Strait of Hormuz must remain closed until war ends The Hill
- Hegseth claims Iran's supreme leader is "wounded and likely disfigured" Axios
- The New Khamenei Foreign Affairs
Two wounded as Hezbollah continues attacks on Israel’s North – The Jerusalem Post
- Two wounded as Hezbollah continues attacks on Israel’s North The Jerusalem Post
- After Friday airstrikes, IDF says over 110 Hezbollah command centers hit since escalation The Times of Israel
- 'Just Follow the Money': How Hezbollah Recovered and Resurged in Lebanon Haaretz
- Hezbollah’s Gamble Phenomenal World
- Another front in the war with Iran: the Israel-Lebanon border NPR
Who are the key figures in the sewage crisis, and where are they now?
With anger stoked by Channel 4’s drama Dirty Business, we look at what has happened to some of the main players
Water companies have been in the public eye for the wrong reasons again recently. South West Water was in the dock pleading guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption, while the regulator fined South East Water £22.5m for repeated supply failures that affected more than 280,000 people over three years.
As the full scale of the sewage pollution scandal has been revealed to the public over the past six years, key figures working for the regulators and the privatised companies have been heavily criticised. Channel 4’s drama Dirty Business has focused attention on individuals at the heart of the scandal.
Continue reading...‘No-one will hire women’ – India’s top court rejects menstrual leave petition
The subject has polarised India for long, though some states and private companies offer menstrual leaves.
FBI investigates attacks in Michigan and Virginia. And, Senate passes housing bill – NPR
An environmental activist and her family escaped death threats in Honduras. ICE deported her husband anyway
Oscar, Ana and their children fled violence for safety in the US. Now Oscar, afraid and alone, is back in Honduras – ‘at the mercy of God and his will’
As soon as Oscar’s deportation flight landed at the La Lima airport in Honduras, he put on his baseball cap. On the airport shuttle toward the terminal, he pulled his cap even lower – trying to obscure his face at various police checkpoints.
His parents picked him up in a car, and drove him to a lodging they had arranged for him – miles away from his family home. He has hardly stepped outside since. “Because I can’t trust anyone – not the authorities, not the government, not a police officer,” he said. He has visited his mother a handful of times since the US deported him three weeks ago, and only under the cover of night. “They will kill anyone here. There is death everywhere.”
Continue reading...‘A minefield’: taoiseach prepares for St Patrick’s Day visit to Washington
Traditionally jovial affair poses potential debacle for Irish leader at odds with US over foreign policy, tax and immigration
For Ireland’s leaders, it has long been the highlight of the political calendar: a love-fest in Washington with hosts who sport shamrocks and toast Saint Patrick.
Irish delegations are traditionally received on Capitol Hill and at the White House in a blaze of goodwill and backslapping that has them wishing every day was 17 March.
Continue reading...Bodies of 84 Iranian sailors killed in US torpedo strike to be repatriated
The seamen died when Iranian warship the Iris Dena was sunk on 4 March by a US submarine near Sri Lanka.
US defends Israel against South Africa’s allegation of genocide in top UN court – The Times of Israel
- US defends Israel against South Africa’s allegation of genocide in top UN court The Times of Israel
- Netherlands Joins South Africa's ICJ Case Accusing Israel of Genocide in Gaza Haaretz
- Israel's ICJ genocide defense brief likely delayed by war The Jerusalem Post
- US defends Israel in new ICJ intervention in South Africa genocide case Middle East Eye
- Six countries intervene in ICJ genocide case against Israel thenationalnews.com
Romania’s Eurovision song criticised for ‘glamorising sexual strangulation’
Calls for Alexandra Căpitănescu’s Choke Me to be banned as campaigners say lyrics are ‘dangerous’ and ‘reckless’
Romania’s Eurovision entry Choke Me has been labelled “dangerous” and “reckless” for appearing to glamorise sexual strangulation, an unsafe practice that can lead to brain injury and death.
Campaigners against sexual violence said the entry, in which the words “choke me” are repeated 30 times during the three-minute song, was “playing fast and loose with young women’s lives”.
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