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Eighteen people were injured in an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon.The Lebanese Ministry of Health’s emergency operations center stated that Israeli airstrikes on the town of Al-Bazouriyah in the Tyre district wounded 18 citizens, three of whom are in critical condition.In a related development, the death toll from an Israeli airstrike on the town of Tuffahta in the Sidon district of southern Lebanon on Saturday, rose to nine, with 13 others injured. Source link
Singapore has flatly rejected any suggestion it would pay transit fees to Iran for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, with Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan telling parliament the right of free navigation is enshrined in international law — not a toll concession for Tehran to extract. Responding to a parliamentary question, Balakrishnan said Singapore would continue engaging Iran diplomatically but ruled out any negotiation over safe passage fees. “It is not a privilege to be granted by the bordering state, it’s not a licence to be supplicated for, it is not a toll to be paid,” he said. The remarks come as Iran has imposed what shipping sources describe as a de facto toll system — administered by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps — in the wake of US and Israeli strikes on Iranian infrastructure. Reports suggest demands of up to $2mn per vessel, payable in cryptocurrency or yuan, ostensibly to fund reconstruction. Traffic through the strait plummeted by an estimated 90% during peak hostilities, with only partial recovery following a tentative ceasefire. Tehran, which signed but never ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), maintains it is not bound by its transit passage provisions and retains the right to regulate movement through its territorial waters on security grounds. Balakrishnan dismissed that argument, saying non-ratification was not a “get-out-of-jail-free card” and that the principle of free transit applied universally as customary international law. Singapore’s hard line is rooted as much in strategic interest as legal principle. Balakrishnan drew an explicit parallel with the Strait of Malacca and the Strait of Singapore — chokepoints that carry roughly a quarter to two-fifths of global seaborne trade, including nearly half of China’s oil imports. Were Hormuz tolls to go unchallenged, he warned, similar demands could follow on the very waterways Singapore depends on for its economic existence. The shipping industry has broadly backed Singapore’s stance, with insurers and major operators advised against payment to avoid legitimising the practice. A clip of Balakrishnan’s remarks, posted to social media on April 11, drew more than 3mn views and sharp debate over the tension between legal norms and geopolitical realities. Related Story Source link
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has decided that the national cricket team will not go to India to…
Venezuelan migrants around the world erupted in celebration Saturday following the US-led deposition of President Nicolas Maduro, whose government oversaw one of the world’s largest migration exoduses in recent history.Chants celebrating Maduro’s capture were heard in the streets of Chile’s capital, where Venezuelans gathered to share their joy.”We are free. We are all happy that the dictatorship has fallen and that we have a free country,” said Khaty Yanez, a Venezuelan woman who has spent the last seven years in Chile.”My joy is too big,” her compatriot Jose Gregorio said. “After so many years, after so many struggles, after so much work, today is the day. Today is the day of freedom.”Since 2014, some 7.7mn Venezuelans or 20% of the population have left the country, unable to afford food or seeking better opportunities abroad, according to the UN International Organisation for Migration.Neighbouring Colombia has received the largest share of the diaspora, with around 2.8mn Venezuelans, followed by 1.7mn in Peru, according to the R4V platform, a group of regional non-governmental organisations (NGOs) assisting migrants and refugees from Venezuela set up by the UN migration agency.In Peru’s capital Lima, dozens of Venezuelans gathered, many wrapped in their country’s flag, to mark Maduro’s deposition.Venezuelan migrant Milagros Ortega, whose parents are still in Venezuela, said she hoped to go back.”Knowing that my dad was alive to see the fall of Nicolas Maduro is very emotional. I would like to see his face,” she said.Peruvian President Jose Jeri said on X that his government would facilitate the immediate return of Venezuelans, regardless of their immigration status.For years, the US was a haven for Venezuelans but many were branded criminals and forced to seek refuge elsewhere during President Donald Trump’s second term.In Spain, thousands of people gathered at central Madrid’s Puerta del Sol and applauded as they watched Trump’s press conference live.In the afternoon, groups of Venezuelans are also expected to gather to celebrate in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires.After the initial joy, doubts about Venezuela’s future also set in, as Venezuelans abroad wondered what the future would hold for their country and its citizens.Andres Losada, who has lived in Spain for three years and is among the 400,000 Venezuelans residing in the country according to official data, said he is struggling between worry and joy about the situation in Venezuela.”Although what people are going through in Caracas is tough, I believe that beyond that there is a light that will lead us to freedom,” he added.Venezuelan security forces patrolled largely empty streets at dawn in the capital, Caracas, Saturday.Most residents stayed home, devouring the latest information on their phones, while some went to stock up on groceries in case they need to hunker down for a prolonged period.A lingering smell of explosives hung over Caracas where a few hundred Maduro supporters gathered to clamour for his freedom.”I felt the explosions lift me out of bed. In that instant I thought: ‘My God, the day has come,’ and I cried,” Maria Eugenia Escobar, a 58-year-old resident of the city of 6mn people, told AFP.The strikes started around 2am local time, with dozens of detonations some at first mistook for fireworks.Windows rattled from the shockwaves and residents rushed out onto terraces and balconies as military aircraft zoomed overhead.”It was horrible, we felt the planes flying over our house,” said a resident of the Coche neighbourhood, near the city’s largest military complex, which was targeted in the raid.Residents saw columns of smoke rising from several parts of the city, which was soon cloaked in a fog-like haze.Witnesses spoke of bombings in La Guaira, Caracas’s airport and port, in Maracay to the west, and in Higuerote to the east.A few hundred supporters gathered in Caracas to demand news of their leader’s fate.”Long live Nicolas Maduro,” echoed a rally cry from a hastily-erected stage with speakers blaring revolutionary music.”Long live!” retorted the crowd.Katia Briceno, a 54-year-old university professor, came out to protest what she described as US “barbarism”.”How is it that a foreign government comes into the country and removes the president? It’s absurd!” she told AFP.Apart from the protesters, there were few Venezuelans out and about, and just an occasional car on the usually bustling streets.Those who did venture out did so under the watchful eye of black-clad agents patrolling the centre with long guns.Many stores were shuttered in the hours after the attack, while queues formed at others that were letting people in a few at a time.Damage from the explosions was mostly limited to military installations, where vehicles stood riddled with bullet impacts, others smouldering and charred. Related Story Source link
Three rockets hit the Mazzeh area of the Syrian capital Damascus on Saturday, local authorities said, adding that one damaged a mosque and another landed near a military airport.Syria’s official SANA news agency had earlier reported that an unidentified missile had struck the area without causing any casualties.”Random rockets fell in the Mazzeh area… One struck the dome of the Al-Muhammadi Mosque, another hit a telecommunications building, and the third landed near Mazzeh Military Airport,” local authorities said in a statement.State television quoted a security source as saying the “three rockets struck simultaneously” and that one of them caused “material damage” to the mosque. Source link
Soccer Football – CAF Africa Cup of Nations – Morocco 2025 – Round of 16 – Senegal v…
