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China had called on all parties, Israel in particular, to fully comply with the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. “More than three months have passed since the first phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza was reached. However, military strikes are still ongoing, and civilian casualties continue to rise,” China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Fu Cong said during an open debate of the UN Security Council on the Middle East. China urges Israel to fulfill its obligations under international humanitarian law, open all border crossings, lift the restrictions on humanitarian access, and cease its suppression of humanitarian agencies, he said. Fu Cong also affirmed that “China will continue to support Palestine’s leading role in post-conflict governance in Gaza,” warning that the situation in the West Bank remains tense as Israel continues to expand settlements and condone settler violence, stressing that Israel should immediately halt settlement activities and curb Israeli settler violence. Meanwhile, he expressed China’s grave concern over Israel’s forcibly demolishing compound of the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in East Jerusalem. Source link
Two cases of the deadly Nipah virus in India have prompted authorities in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia to step up airport screening in an effort to prevent the infection from spreading.The virus, which is carried by fruit bats and animals, can cause fever and brain inflammation and has a fatality rate of between 40% and 75%. Although it can spread from person to person, transmission is not easy and typically requires prolonged contact with an infected individual.It more commonly spreads to humans from infected bats, or fruit contaminated by them.The infections were confirmed in India in late December. Small-scale outbreaks are not unusual and virologists said the risk to the general population remained low. Several vaccines are in development but are still undergoing testing.’While vigilance is warranted, there is no evidence to suggest a broader public health threat at this stage,’ said Efstathios Giotis, lecturer in molecular virology at the University of Essex in Britain.The two people infected in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal in late December were health workers and both are under treatment at a local hospital, a district health officer said.Authorities have identified and traced 196 contacts linked to the two cases with none showing symptoms and all testing negative for the virus, the Indian health ministry said in a statement.’Speculative and incorrect figures regarding Nipah virus disease cases are being circulated,’ the statement said. ‘Enhanced surveillance, laboratory testing, and field investigations were undertaken … which ensured timely containment of the cases.’Reports of the infections put authorities on alert in neighbouring Southeast Asian nations as well as Nepal and Hong Kong.Singapore's communicable diseases agency said Wednesday it will set up temperature screening at its airport for flights arriving from areas affected by the infections in India.’We are also reaching out to our counterparts in South Asia, to better understand the situation. Work is ongoing to establish a global platform for countries to report genome sequencing of detected cases,’ the agency said in a statement.A Hong Kong airport authority spokesperson said it was facilitating enhanced health screening measures enforced by the health department at Hong Kong International Airport, including temperature check at gates for passengers arriving from India.Thailand earlier this week tightened airport screening measures, with neighbouring Malaysia following suit.Thailand has assigned designated parking bays for aircraft arriving from areas with Nipah infections, its health ministry said, while passengers must complete health declarations before clearing immigration.Malaysia's health ministry said it was boosting preparedness through health screening at international ports of entry, particularly for arrivals from countries deemed at risk.China's disease control authority said on Tuesday that no Nipah infections had been detected in the country but there were risks of imported cases, state broadcaster CCTV said.Nepal, which shares a busy border with India, said it was on ‘high alert’ and had tightened screening for travellers. Source link
The deputy chief minister of India’s wealthiest state of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, died Wednesday, along with four other people on board, when his charter aircraft went down in flames, the aviation regulator said. Pawar, who hailed from a top political family, was en route to his home region to canvass in local body elections, media said. People look at the wreckage of the VSR Ventures-operated Learjet 45 aircraft in which Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others were killed…
Iran’s foreign minister warned yesterday its forces would respond immediately and forcefully to any US military operation after President Donald Trump declared time was running out to avoid one, but did not rule out a new deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme. The Islamic republic’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi warned its forces have their “fingers on the trigger” to “powerfully respond” to any US strikes, but also used language strikingly similar to Trump’s to describe a possible agreement to defuse the stand-off through a new nuclear deal. “Iran has always welcomed a mutually beneficial, fair and equitable NUCLEAR DEAL — on equal footing, and free from coercion, threats, and intimidation — which ensures Iran’s rights to PEACEFUL nuclear technology, and guarantees NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS,” Araghchi posted on X. “Such weapons have no place in our security calculations and we have NEVER sought to acquire them,” he added, restating Tehran’s long-standing insistence — dismissed by sceptical Western capitals — that its nuclear programme is focused only on research and civilian energy development. Earlier, before Trump’s latest declaration, Araghchi had said “conducting diplomacy through military threat cannot be effective or useful”. But if some saw his shift in tone as an opening, Ali Shamkani, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, posted more stark language warning of conflict and strikes on US ally Israel.“A limited strike is an illusion,” he posted on X. “Any military action, from America from any origin and at any level, will be considered the start of war, and its response will be immediate, all-out and unprecedented, targeting the heart of Tel Aviv and all supporters of the aggressor.” Source link
The US yesterday announced a major multi-day Air Force exercise in the Middle East, as Washington and Tehran face off. The announcement came a day after the US military said the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group had arrived in the Middle East, dramatically boosting American firepower in the region. The exercise will “demonstrate the ability to deploy, disperse, and sustain combat airpower across” the Middle East, the US Air Force component of Central Command, which is responsible for American forces in the region, said in a statement. No date or exact location for the exercise were released. Source link
Video sharing app TikTok has made an eleventh-hour deal to avoid a landmark US trial accusing it, along with Meta and YouTube, of addicting young people to social media, lawyers said yesterday. The deal was made as jury selection was to begin in a Los Angeles court that could establish a legal precedent on whether social media companies deliberately designed their platforms to addict children. The case being heard in the California state court is being called a “bellwether” proceeding because its outcome could set the tone for a tidal wave of similar litigation across the US. The remaining defendants in the suit are Alphabet and Meta, the tech titans behind YouTube and Instagram.Meta co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is slated to be called as a witness during the trial. “The parties are pleased to have reached an amicable resolution of this dispute,” the Social Media Victims Law Center said, noting that the terms of the settlement with TikTok are confidential. The case focuses on allegations that a 19-year-old woman identified by the initials K.G.M. suffered severe mental harm because she was addicted to social media. After joining YouTube at age six, Instagram at 11, Snapchat at 13, and TikTok at 14, the Californian claims to have developed an addiction to the sites that contributed to her depression, anxiety, body image issues and that stoked suicidal thoughts. Source link
The deputy chief minister of India’s wealthiest state of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, was killed on Wednesday, along with four people on board his charter aircraft that went down in flames, the aviation regulator said. Pawar, who hailed from a top political family, was en route to his home region to canvass in local body elections, media said. Two of his staff and two crew were also aboard the aircraft, the directorate general of civil aviation said. Source link
In a phone call on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald Trump discussed bilateral relations, along with regional and international issues. In a statement, the Turkish presidency said that Erdogan and Trump discussed the situation in Syria, the work of the “Board of Peace”, and other regional and international developments. The Turkish president stressed to his US counterpart the importance of a ceasefire and the full implementation of the integration agreement in Syria, and that Ankara is closely monitoring the situation with the Syrian and American authorities. Source link
Amazon on Tuesday said it is closing its Go and Fresh real-world stores to focus on its Whole Foods markets and online grocery delivery. Go and Fresh shops doubled as innovation centers for Amazon, which tested systems such as eliminating checkout stations and automatically billing customers for the items they have with them as they leave the store.”Go and Fresh showed what was technologically possible, but not what was viable economically,” said Emarketer senior analyst Zak Stambor.”The bet is that mass-market groceries sell more efficiently through same-day delivery, with Whole Foods as its primary physical retail brand. Grocery sales at Amazon’s same-day delivery service grew 40-fold in the past year and an option for ultra-fast delivery of fresh food and other items in 30 minutes or less is being tested, according to the company. Amazon will “continue inventing on behalf of customers to develop a mass physical store format that brings customers distinctive selection, value, and convenience,” the e-commerce giant founded by Jeff Bezos said in a blog post. Ideas being explored include a new retail supercenter where people can shop for groceries, household essentials and general merchandise, according to Amazon.Amazon aims to open more than 100 new Whole Foods stores in coming years, with some Go and Fresh shops being converted into Whole Foods outlets. Whole Foods sales have grown 40 percent, and the number of stores has increased to more than 550 locations, since the chain was bought by Amazon in 2017, the retail titan said.The deal was valued at $13.7 billion.Amazon ranked itself as one of the top three grocers in the United States.”We believe Amazon’s reallocation of resources towards the Whole Foods and fast delivery experience likely benefits the logistics flywheel,” Baird Equity senior research analyst Colin Sebastian said in a note to investors, reasoning that the grocery business is a large growth opportunity for the company Source link
A father and son sled near the US Capitol building in Washington, DC, after a winter storm swept across a large swath of the US. Reuters…