Author: Elizabeth Jenrola Oso

A flotilla attempting to break Israel’s aid blockade of Gaza has claimed it was targeted by a drone for the second time in less than a day. The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), carrying pro-Palestinian activists including Greta Thunberg, said in a statement early on Wednesday that one of its vessels, the British-flagged Alma, was struck while moored in the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou Said. The group alleged that a drone dropped an incendiary device onto the boat, causing a fire on its top deck. No injuries were reported and the vessel sustained no structural damage. A video posted by…

Six people have been shot dead in two days in a crime-ridden area of Cape Town, intensifying concerns over the city’s entrenched gang-related violence. Police said that at 11.30pm on Monday, two women aged 19 and 25 were killed and a 24-year-old woman injured in a shooting in Wallacedene, an informal settlement on the city’s north-eastern outskirts. Around ten minutes later, two other women in their 20s were found shot in the head in a bedroom in the same area. Investigators believe the incidents may be linked. The killings followed the deaths of two people, aged 20 and 22, in…

The World Health Organization Foundation has accepted an increasing volume of undisclosed corporate donations since its creation in 2020, prompting warnings from public health experts and campaigners about the potential influence of big business on the UN agency’s work. According to a new report by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, the foundation received approximately $83m (£65m) from corporate donors by the end of 2023, with the identities of contributors withheld for around 60 per cent of that sum. The proportion of anonymous donations has grown sharply, accounting for 80 per cent of the foundation’s income in 2023, compared with…

Apple is preparing to unveil what is expected to be its thinnest iPhone yet during its annual product event on Tuesday. The presentation, promoted under the tagline “awe-dropping”, will take place at the Steve Jobs Theatre at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, at 10am Pacific Time. The forthcoming iPhone 17 range is anticipated to include the standard, Pro and Pro Max models, alongside a new addition named the iPhone Air. Industry observers believe the iPhone Air will be the lightest flagship handset Apple has produced, drawing comparisons with the company’s slim MacBook Air laptops. Apple has not confirmed the…

A Gaza-bound flotilla carrying humanitarian aid and pro-Palestinian activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, has alleged that one of its vessels was struck by a drone while docked in Tunisia. The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) released footage appearing to show a flaming object hitting the Family Boat at Sidi Bou Said port, near Tunis. The Portuguese-flagged vessel was carrying six passengers and crew, all of whom were unharmed. Dozens of supporters gathered at the port following the incident, waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Free Palestine”. Organisers said Thunberg had been aboard the vessel earlier in the mission but was…

It added that Israeli forces would “continue to operate with determination” to defeat Hamas.

The image, published on social media by Democrats on the US House oversight committee, shows Epstein with Joel Pashcow, a longtime member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and a third person, apparently a woman, whose face has been redacted.

France has been plunged into fresh political turmoil after Prime Minister François Bayrou.

Nepal’s Prime Minister, KP Sharma Oli, has resigned following some of the most severe unrest the country has witnessed in decades, triggered by a controversial ban on social media and mounting anger over political corruption and nepotism.

The United States’ refusal to grant visas to the Palestinian delegation for the United Nations General Assembly has prompted calls for a key one-day conference on a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel to be relocated from New York to the UN’s European headquarters in Geneva. The White House has denied entry to Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other Palestinian officials ahead of the General Assembly session, which opens on Tuesday. There is speculation that, citing anti-terrorism legislation, Washington may also bar diplomats from Brazil, Iran, Sudan and Zimbabwe. In 1988, the US barred Yasser Arafat, then…