World Echo

Since the start of Israeli attacks in October 2023, the total death toll in Gaza has risen to 72,328, while the number of injured has reached 172,184. The Ministry of Health in Gaza released a written statement sharing updated information regarding Israel's attacks, which have been ongoing since October 2023. The statement said that in the last 48 hours, the bodies of 11 Palestinians who died in Israeli attacks and 26 injured people were brought to hospitals in Gaza. Since the ceasefire was declared in Gaza on October 10, 749 Palestinians have lost their lives, 2,082 have been injured, and the bodies of 759 have been recovered. According to reports in the Palestinian press, the Israeli army, once again violating the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, targeted the police station in the Bureij Refugee Camp with warplanes. Six people were killed in an Israeli army attack on a police station in the camp. The Global Sumud Flotilla is setting sail from Barcelona towards Gaza this time with twi...

US President Donald Trump told reporters ​on Friday that the US will have the Strait of Hormuz "open ‌fairly soon", but did not elaborate and acknowledged that it will not be an easy step. Trump also suggested that other countries were offering help, ​but did not identify any nation. "Other countries use the ​strait. So we do have other countries coming up, ⁠and they'll help out," Trump said. "It won't be easy ... I ​would say this - we will have that open fairly soon," he ​added. The blockade of the Strait by Tehran since the start of the Iran war has caused the worst disruption to global energy supplies in history. The strait ​is a chokepoint for about 20% of global oil and ​liquefied natural gas shipments. Trump has been upset at NATO allies' failure to help ‌secure ⁠the Strait of Hormuz. Reuters reported on Thursday that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, after meeting Trump, told European governments that the US president wants concrete co...

Djibouti's President Ismael Omar Guelleh has won re-election with 97.8% of the vote, state-owned Radio Television Djibouti said on Saturday, handing him a sixth term that extends his 27-year rule over the small but strategically located East African country. Guelleh posted an image of himself with the French word "RÉÉLU" on X, which translates to "re-elected". Résultat des élections présidentielles du 10 avril 2026 pic.twitter.com/YcpabHo80h — Ismail Omar Guelleh (@IsmailOguelleh) April 10, 2026 The country of less than 1 million people sits on the Gulf of Aden at the entrance to the Red Sea and hosts United States, Chinese, French, Italian and Japanese military bases. Since 2023, several commercial ships damaged in attacks by Yemen's Houthi militants have docked in the country. Victory for the 78-year-old Guelleh, who was handpicked in 1999 to succeed his uncle Hassan Gouled Aptidon and whose party dominates national institutions, was never in doubt. Last O...

It was a war JD Vance never wanted. Now the United States vice president has been tasked with ending it. Vance headed to Pakistan today with orders from President Donald Trump to turn the shaky Iran ceasefire into a lasting peace deal. For the 41-year-old Vance, who has kept a notably low profile during the Middle East conflict, it will be one of the biggest moments of his career. But the man widely regarded as a leading contender in the 2028 US presidential election will face huge challenges too when talks begin Saturday in Islamabad. “I cannot think of a case where the vice president ran formal negotiations like this,” Aaron Wolf Mannes, a lecturer at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and an expert on the American vice presidency’s role in foreign policy, told AFP. “This is high risk, high reward.” Vance built his political brand as an avowed anti-interventionist who wanted to keep America out of any more foreign wars, such as in Iraq, where he ser...

Lebanon is facing a food security crisis as the Iran war disrupts supplies of goods inside the country, the United Nations World Food Programme said on Friday. A fragile two-day-old ceasefire has halted the campaign of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, but it has not so far calmed a parallel war waged by Israel against Iran's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon. "What we're witnessing is not just a displacement crisis; it is rapidly becoming a food security crisis," said World Food Programme country director Allison Oman, speaking via video link from Beirut. She warned that food was becoming increasingly unaffordable due to rising prices and demand among displaced families. Price of vegetables has soared The price of vegetables has soared by more than 20% and bread prices have increased by 17% since March 2, the WFP said. "What we're now seeing is a very worrying combination: prices are rising, incomes are disrupted, and demand is increasing as displacement continue...

Multiple people on social media platform X have been sharing a clip of military aircraft since Wednesday, claiming that it shows the deployment of United States troops in the Middle East amid the current tensions. However, the clip is old from June 2023 and shows a deployment homecoming ceremony in California. Backchannel diplomatic efforts by Pakistan paid off, as the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on Wednesday, after weeks of escalating hostilities triggered by US-Israeli strikes on February 28, which quickly spiralled into a wider regional conflict. Pakistan emerged as a central diplomatic actor in securing the ceasefire between the US and Iran, actively facilitating communication between the two sides at a critical stage of the conflict. The effort resulted in a two-week ceasefire. Pakistan will now host talks between the two sides on Friday, with delegations from Iran and the US arriving in Islamabad. How it started On Wednesday, an account on X shared a vid...