Author: Elizabeth Jenrola Oso

A photograph of eight students lying in the shape of a swastika on a high school football field in San Jose, California, has sparked shock and anger within the Bay Area Jewish community. The image was posted to social media on 3 December by a Branham High School student, accompanied by an antisemitic quotation from Adolf Hitler. A screenshot of the post began circulating on Reddit last Thursday, attracting more than 500 comments. Instagram removed the post and the account by Friday morning, according to J., the Jewish News of Northern California. Beth Silbergeld, principal of Branham High School, said…

President Donald Trump has authorised Nvidia to begin selling its advanced H200 artificial intelligence chips to approved customers in China, a move that marks a significant victory for the chipmaker and its chief executive, Jensen Huang. Until Monday’s announcement, US rules had barred sales of Nvidia’s most powerful chips to China on national security grounds. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he had informed President Xi Jinping that the United States would permit Nvidia to ship H200 products to approved customers in China and other countries, under conditions intended to preserve national security. He added that President Xi…

Israel’s chief of the general staff, Eyal Zamir, has described the “yellow line” dividing Gaza under Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan as a new border for Israel. Speaking to soldiers deployed in the territory, Zamir said the army would maintain its current positions, which give Israel control of more than half of Gaza, including most agricultural land and the border crossing with Egypt. “The ‘yellow line’ is a new border line, serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity,” Zamir told reservists in northern Gaza. He also visited the ruins of Beit Hanoun and…

Hong Kong recorded one of its lowest ever voter turnouts in Sunday’s Legislative Council elections, with fewer than 32% of eligible voters casting their ballots. The figure of 31.9% was only marginally higher than the record low of 30.2% in 2021, though the overall number of voters fell to 1.3 million compared with 1.4 million four years ago. The city’s population is about 7.5 million. The elections were held under the “patriots only” system introduced after an overhaul in 2021, which restricts candidacy to those vetted by a government committee. Of the 90 seats in the legislature, only 20 are…

A United Nations committee has issued its strongest warning yet to New Zealand, cautioning that government policies risk undermining Māori rights and entrenching long‑standing disparities for the Indigenous population. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) released a 14‑page report on 5 December following its eight‑year review of New Zealand’s compliance with the international convention. The findings represent the most critical assessment of the country’s record to date, raising alarm over recent reforms that, it said, could erode protections for Māori. Among the committee’s concerns were the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority, cuts to funding for…

Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau have confirmed their relationship after the singer shared photographs and videos of the pair during a trip to Japan. The Instagram post, published on Saturday to Perry’s account, which has more than 200 million followers, included a selfie of the couple smiling cheek to cheek and a video of them eating sushi. The carousel of images was captioned “Tokyo Times on tour and more”, accompanied by emojis including a red heart, appearing to confirm months of speculation about a romance between the pop star and Canada’s former prime minister. The announcement followed a post by…

Thailand has carried out airstrikes along its disputed frontier with Cambodia after both sides accused one another of breaching a ceasefire agreement brokered earlier this year by US President Donald Trump. The Thai military confirmed the strikes followed clashes on Monday morning in which one soldier was killed and four others wounded. The air force said aircraft had targeted Cambodian military positions, accusing Phnom Penh of deploying heavy weaponry and repositioning combat units. Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defence blamed Thailand for the escalation, stating that Thai forces had attacked Cambodian troops but insisted its own forces had not retaliated despite…

Benjamin Netanyahu has said the first stage of the UN‑endorsed Gaza ceasefire plan is close to completion, insisting that the next phase must involve the disarmament of Hamas. The Israeli Prime Minister confirmed he would discuss the next steps later this month in Washington with US President Donald Trump, whose proposals for Gaza were codified in a UN Security Council resolution on 17 November. “We’re about to finish the first stage,” Netanyahu said. “But we have to make sure that we achieve the same results in the second stage, and that’s something I look forward to discussing with President Trump.”…

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday defended U.S. military strikes on alleged drug cartel boats in the Caribbean, insisting President Donald Trump has the authority to act “as he sees fit” and dismissing concerns that the operations violate international law. Speaking at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Hegseth argued the strikes, which have killed more than 80 people since September, were necessary to protect Americans. He compared suspected drug smugglers to al-Qaida terrorists, declaring: “If you’re working for a designated terrorist organization and you bring drugs to this country in a boat, we will find you and we will sink…

Russia carried out one of its largest aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent months, unleashing more than 650 drones and 51 missiles overnight on Saturday. The strikes came as American and Ukrainian officials met in Miami for continued negotiations aimed at ending the nearly four-year-old conflict. Ukraine’s armed forces reported that the attacks targeted locations across the country, including western regions far from the frontlines. Air raid sirens also sounded in parts of eastern Poland, raising concerns about spillover effects of the war into NATO territory. Authorities in Kyiv confirmed that at least three people were injured in the capital…