World Echo

Israeli strikes killed at least 60 people across Gaza on Monday in some of the heaviest attacks in weeks, as Israeli officials prepared to travel to Washington for a new ceasefire push by U.S. President Donald Trump. A day after Trump called to "Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back," Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was en route to Washington for talks on Gaza and Iran, according to an Israeli official and a source familiar with the matter. Dermer is expected to begin meetings with Trump administration officials on Tuesday, the Washington source said. But on the ground in the Palestinian enclave, there was no sign of the fighting letting up. The Israeli military issued evacuation orders on Monday to residents in large districts in the northern Gaza Strip, triggering a new wave of displacement. "Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes," said Salah, 6...

Some 935 people were killed in Iran during the 12-day air war with Israel, based on the latest forensic data, a spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary said on Monday, according to state media. Among the dead were 38 children and 132 women, the spokesperson, Asghar Jahangir, said. The death toll was a sharp increase from a previous Iranian health ministry tally of 610 killed in Iran before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday last week. Jahangir also revised the number of people killed in an Israeli strike on Tehran's Evin Prison to 79, up from 71. Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq. Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei s...

Israel carried out dozens of air strikes on Gaza on Monday, targeting Gaza City and its eastern districts, after ordering fresh evacuations, which have raised concerns of a renewed offensive. At least 27 Palestinians were killed across the enclave, including 10 people seeking food aid who were struck while gathering near a distribution warehouse in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighbourhood, according to Gaza health officials. Al-Ahli Hospital confirmed the deaths and said others were wounded in the blast. People collect their belongings from the rubble at Yafa School after the Israeli attack. Photo: Anadolu Agency Two more Palestinians were reportedly shot and killed near an aid distribution point in southern Rafah, medical staff at Nasser Medical Complex told Al Jazeera. Among the buildings hit was the Yafa School in the Tuffah neighbourhood of eastern Gaza City, which was destroyed in a direct strike. The school had also been sheltering displaced families, according to local sources. Rea...

Russian forces have taken control of the first village in the east-central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk, Russian state media and war bloggers said on Monday, after Russia took 950 square kms of territory in two months. There was no immediate confirmation from Ukrainian sources or from the Russian Defence Ministry. As Moscow and Kyiv talk of possible peace, the war has intensified with Russian forces carving out a 200 square kilometre (77.22 square miles) chunk of Ukraine's Sumy region and entering the Dnipropetrovsk region last month. The authoritative Ukrainian Deep State map shows that Russia now controls 113,588 square kms of Ukrainian territory, up 943 square km over the two months to June 28. Russia's state RIA news agency quoted a pro-Russian official, Vladimir Rogov, as saying that Russian forces had taken control of the village of Dachnoye just inside the Dnipropetrovsk region. from Latest World News, International News | Breaking World News https://ift.tt/Rn4g8...

A Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilot was killed while repelling a Russian attack that involved hundreds of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles, authorities said on Sunday, as Moscow intensifies night time air barrages in the fourth year of war. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for more support from the West to bolster Ukraine's air defences after the attack, which damaged homes and infrastructure and injured at least seven people, according to local authorities. Ukraine lost its third F-16 fighter jet since the start of the war while repelling the attack, the military said. Kyiv has not revealed how many of the jets it operates, but they have become a central and heavily used part of Ukraine's air defences. "Moscow will not stop as long as it has the capability to launch massive strikes. Just this week alone, there have been more than 114 missiles, over 1,270 drones, and nearly 1,100 glide bombs," Zelenskiy said on X platform. Almost all night long, air raid alerts so...

Serbian police on Saturday evening clashed with anti-government protesters demanding snap elections and an end to the 12-year rule of President Aleksandar Vucic. Police deployed scores of officers in riot gear around government buildings, parliament and nearby Pionirski Park, where throngs of Vucic's backers from across the country gathered in a counter-protest. After the protest ended at around 10 p.m. (2000 GMT), some protesters who wanted to confront Vucic's backers threw bottles, rocks and flares at the police, who used force to disperse them in several locations across Belgrade's city centre. The protesters shouted: "Keep the shields down," calling on the police to stop intervening. Police detained several dozen protesters, while six police officers were reported injured in clashes, Dragan Vasiljevic, the director of police, told a press conference late on Saturday. Vucic said protesters attempted to topple the state. "They (protesters) wanted to topple ...

Heavy rain struck China's southwestern Guizhou province again on Saturday, half-submerging the already flood-stricken riverside city of Rongjiang for a second time this week and prompting the evacuation of residents to higher ground. Located at the confluence of three rivers and home to 300,000 residents, Rongjiang was inundated earlier this week by record downpours that left six dead and forced more than 80,000 people to flee their homes. The amount of rain that fell over 72 hours was double the city's average for June. In response to the new round of flooding, authorities raised the city's flood emergency response level to the highest level on Saturday. The benchmark hydrological station on one of the rivers estimated that the peak water level would hit 253.50 metres (832 ft) at around 5 p.m. (0900 GMT), exceeding the safety threshold by 2 metres, state broadcaster CCTV said. More than 40,000 residents in Rongjiang had been urgently evacuated as of 6 p.m. (1000 GMT) on Sa...

The British government has distanced the incoming head of its foreign intelligence service from her grandfather following reports he was a Nazi spy known as "the butcher". Blaise Metreweli will in the autumn become the first woman to lead MI6 in its 116-year-old history, the British government announced earlier this month. The Daily Mail newspaper reported this week that her grandfather Constantine Dobrowolski defected from the Soviet Union's Red Army to become a Nazi informant in the Chernigiv region of modern-day Ukraine. The newspaper said German archives showed Dobrowolski was known as "the Butcher" or "Agent No 30" by Wehrmacht commanders. "Blaise Metreweli neither knew nor met her paternal grandfather," a Foreign Office spokesperson said in a statement. "Blaise's ancestry is characterised by conflict and division and, as is the case for many with eastern European heritage, only partially understood. "It is precisely this c...

US President Donald Trump dismissed media reports that said his administration had discussed possibly helping Iran access as much as $30 billion to build a civilian-energy-producing nuclear program. CNN reported on Thursday and NBC News reported on Saturday that the Trump administration in recent days had explored possible economic incentives for Iran in return for its government halting uranium enrichment. The reports cited sources. CNN cited officials as saying that several proposals were floated and were preliminary. "Who in the Fake News Media is the SleazeBag saying that 'President Trump wants to give Iran $30 Billion to build non-military Nuclear facilities.' Never heard of this ridiculous idea," Trump wrote on Truth Social late on Friday, calling the reports a "HOAX." Since April, Iran and the US have held indirect talks aimed at finding a new diplomatic solution regarding Iran's nuclear program. Tehran says its program is peaceful and Washington ...

Gaza's civil defence agency said that Israeli forces killed at least 62 people on Friday, including 10 who were waiting for aid in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. The reported killing of people seeking aid marks the latest in a string of deadly incidents near aid sites in Gaza, where a US- and Israeli-backed foundation has largely replaced established humanitarian organisations. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 62 Palestinians had been killed Friday by Israeli strikes or fire across the Palestinian territory. When asked by AFP for comment, the Israeli military said it was looking into the incidents, and denied its troops fired in one of the locations in central Gaza where rescuers said one aid seeker was killed. Bassal told AFP that six people were killed in southern Gaza near one of the distribution sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), and one more in a separate incident in the centre of the territory, where the army denied shooting ...

The US Supreme Court dealt a blow on Friday to the power of federal judges by restricting their ability to grant broad legal relief in cases, as the justices acted in a legal fight over President Donald Trump’s bid to limit birthright citizenship. The court ordered lower courts that blocked the policy to reconsider the scope of their orders. However, the court’s 6-3 ruling, authored by conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, did not let Trump’s policy go into effect immediately and did not address the policy’s legality. The justices granted a request by the Trump administration to narrow the scope of three nationwide injunctions issued by federal judges in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington state that halted enforcement of his directive while litigation challenging the policy plays out. With the court’s conservatives in the majority and its liberals dissenting, the ruling specified that Trump’s executive order cannot take effect until 30 days after Friday’s ruling. “No one dispute...

Japan executed on Friday a man who killed nine people after contacting them on social media, the first use of capital punishment in the country in nearly three years. Takahiro Shiraishi had been sentenced to death for his 2017 strangling and dismembering of eight women and one man in his apartment in Zama city in Kanagawa near Tokyo. He was dubbed the "Twitter killer" as he contacted victims via the social media platform. Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, who authorised Shiraishi's hanging, said he made the decision after careful examination, taking into account the convict's "extremely selfish" motive for crimes that "caused great shock andunrest to society." It followed the execution in July 2022 of a man who went on a stabbing rampage in Tokyo's shopping district Akihabara in 2008. It was also the first time a death penalty was carried out since Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's government was inaugurated last October. In September last yea...

China has taken a series of actions in the past week on counter-narcotics, in a sign of cooperation with US demands for stronger action on the synthetic opioid fentanyl, a key irritant in the bilateral relationship. US President Donald Trump imposed 20% tariffs on Chinese imports in February over Beijing's alleged failure to curb the flow of precursor chemicals for fentanyl, which has caused nearly 450,000 US overdose deaths. Those tariffs have remained in effect despite a fragile trade truce reached in Geneva in May. Beijing has defended its drug control record and accused Washington of using fentanyl to "blackmail" China. Both sides were in a stalemate over the issue for months, despite China sending its vice public security minister to the Geneva talks. China has balked at some of Washington's demands which include publicising the crackdown on precursors on the front page of the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily, educating Party members and tightening r...

US President Donald Trump wants a pay raise for troops, more high-tech missiles and drones in next year's defense budget, while cutting Navy jobs, and buying fewer ships and fighter jets to save money, according to budget materials posted Wednesday. At $892.6 billion, the defense and national security budget request is flat compared with this year. The budget, which also includes nuclear weapons-related activities carried out by the Department of Energy and increases funding for homeland security, puts Trump's mark on the military by pulling funds away from weaponry and services to fund his priorities. The White House said the funding will be used to deter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, and revitalize the defense industrial base. Most of the funding for Trump's marquee Golden Dome missile defense shield was included in a separate budget request and is not part of the latest proposal sent to Congress. In the 2026 budget Trump requested fewer F-35 jets made by Lockhe...

Efforts are underway to reconstruct the sequence of events leading to the Air India plane crash this month that killed 260 people, and identify contributing factors, India's civil aviation ministry said on Thursday. The London-bound BoeingBA.N787 Dreamliner crashed moments after takeoff from India's Ahmedabad city on June 12, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and the rest on ground in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. The black boxes of the plane - the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) - were recovered in the days that followed, one from the rooftop of a building at the crash site on June 13, and the other from the debris on June 16. They were transported to national capital Delhi on Tuesday, where a team led by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau began extracting their data, the ministry said in a statement. "The Crash Protection Module (CPM) from the front black box was safely retrieved, and...the memory mo...

A political commentator was arrested by Iraqi authorities on Wednesday over a post alleging that a military radar system struck by a drone had been used to help Israel in its war against Iran. After a court issued a warrant, the defence ministry said that Iraqi forces arrested Abbas al-Ardawi for sharing content online that included "incitement intended to insult and defame the security institution". In a post on X, which was later deleted but has circulated on social media as a screenshot, Ardawi told his more than 90,000 followers that "a French radar in the Taji base served the Israeli aggression" and was eliminated. Early Tuesday, hours before a ceasefire ended the 12-day Iran-Israel war, unidentified drones struck radar systems at two military bases in Taji, north of Baghdad and in southern Iraq, officials have said. The Taji base hosted US troops several years ago and was a frequent target of rocket attacks. Read: Iran's parliament passes bill to halt coop...

Iranian authorities on Wednesday announced the gradual easing of internet restrictions imposed during the 12-day war with Israel, following the implementation of a ceasefire between the longtime foes. Strict internet curbs had been gradually imposed since June 13, when Israel launched a major attack on Iran, which hit back with waves of missile strikes. A ceasefire that came into force on Tuesday appears to be holding. "The communication network is gradually returning to its previous state," the Revolutionary Guards' cyber unit said in a statement carried by state media. Read More: Iran's parliament passes bill to halt cooperation with IAEA It said Israel had waged a "widespread cyber war" with the goal of disrupting digital services and "abusing the network infrastructure to collect information and intensify the aggression". Iran's communications minister, Sattar Hashemi, also said in a post on X: "With the normalisation of conditions, th...

Iran's parliament approved a bill on Wednesday to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), state-affiliated news outlet Nournews reported. Iran parliament votes to suspend cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency Follow Press TV on Telegram: https://t.co/LWoNSpkc2J pic.twitter.com/QBo2O9NP9B — Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) June 25, 2025 The move, which needs the final approval of Iran's Supreme National Security Council to be enforced according to Nournews, follows an air war with Israel in which its longtime enemy said it wanted to prevent Tehran developing a nuclear weapon. Read: Iran declares end to 12-day 'Israel-imposed' war Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was quoted by state media as also saying Iran would accelerate its civilian nuclear programme. Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says a resolution adopted this month by the IAEA declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations p...

Iraq said on Tuesday it will investigate suicide drone attacks on radar systems at two military bases, adding that its forces intercepted several other attempted incursions. There has been no claim of responsibility for the attacks, and the government has not yet identified any perpetrators. Sabah al-Numan, the military spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister, described the attacks as "cowardly and treacherous". He said that early Tuesday "several small suicide drones targeted multiple Iraqi military sites and bases." "The assault severely damaged radar systems at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad, and Imam Ali Base in Dhi Qar Province" in southern Iraq, he added. Iraqi forces also thwarted other attacks against "four additional sites across various locations", Numan said, adding that the drones were downed "before they could reach their intended targets". Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered the formation of "a high-level"...

Iran’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz has raised alarms across global markets given concerns over potential disruptions to one of the world’s most critical energy corridors amid escalating conflict with the United States and Israel. The warning follows US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend. On Sunday, Iran’s parliament voted in favour of shutting down the waterway — a move seen as possible retaliation. Any final decision, however, rests with the Supreme National Security Council and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow 31-mile-wide channel between Iran and Oman, is responsible for the transit of nearly 20 million barrels of oil daily — about a fifth of global supply. It also carries a significant portion of global liquefied natural gas (LNG), primarily from Qatar. While no formal closure has occurred, analysts say even verbal threats have unsettled energy markets. Deutsche Bank estimates oil prices could spik...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed Pakistan’s unwavering solidarity with Saudi Arabia and Qatar on Tuesday, as the regional security situation in the Middle East escalated after Iran's missile attacks on a United States military base in Qatar. PM Shehbaz met separately with the ambassadors of Saudi Arabia and Qatar in Islamabad to discuss the rapidly evolving situation in the region. Both engagements took place in the aftermath of Monday night’s missile strike, widely reported to have targeted a US facility in the Gulf, according to the Prime Minister's Office.  Shehbaz met Saudi Ambassador Nawaf bin Saeed Al Malkiy to exchange views on ongoing developments and reiterated Pakistan’s strong support for the Kingdom. In a post on social media platform X, the prime minister wrote: “Met the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today and discussed the rapidly evolving situation in the Middle East…Pakistan will continue to work closely with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for ...

Meta Platforms' WhatsApp messaging service has been banned from all US House of Representatives devices, according to a memo sent to all House staff on Monday. The notice said the "Office of Cybersecurity has deemed WhatsApp a high risk to users due to the lack of transparency in how it protects user data, absence of stored data encryption and potential security risks involved with its use". The memo, from the chief administrative officer, recommended using other messaging apps, including Microsoft Corp's Teams platform, Amazon.com's Wickr, Signal, and Apple's iMessage and FaceTime. Meta disagreed with the move "in the strongest possible terms," a company spokesperson said, noting that the platform provides a higher level of security than the other approved apps. In January, a WhatsApp official said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions had targeted scores of its users, including journalists and members of civil society. "Protecting the peop...

South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung named veteran lawmaker Ahn Gyu-back as the country's first civilian defence minister in 64 years on Monday, making good on a campaign promise made after December's martial law shook faith in the military. Lee, who took office on June 4 after winning a snap election called when former President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office over the martial law attempt, also named 10 other cabinet ministers including former UN ambassador Cho Hyun as foreign minister and a North Korea diplomacy advocate, Chung Dong-young, as unification minister, his office said. Read: Lee Jae-myung wins South Korea presidency months after martial law protest Yoon's defence minister, Kim Yong-hyun, played a leading role in recommending and planning martial law, and is in jail amid an ongoing trial on insurrection charges. The nominations, which do not require parliamentary approval but will be reviewed in at-times contentious hearings, come as Lee works to for...

Iran’s long-range Sejjil ballistic missile is in the spotlight following its reported deployment during the recent “True Promise 3” operation targeting Israel, underscoring Tehran’s advancing missile capabilities, Mehr news agency reported. What is Sejjil? The Sejjil, a solid-fuel, two-stage ballistic missile, is widely regarded as one of the most sophisticated assets in Iran’s arsenal. Capable of carrying a 650 kg warhead, the missile has a reported range that enables it to strike targets such as Tel Aviv from Iranian territory in under 10 minutes, according to military analysts. The missile's use of solid propellant reduces launch preparation time, making it more difficult for enemy defence systems to intercept. Significance Its speed and range place it among the most strategic weapons in Iran's inventory, playing a central role in the country's deterrence doctrine. Military experts consider the Sejjil a key symbol of Iran’s regional missile power, with its development ma...

Iran said on Monday that the United States' attack on its nuclear sites expanded the range of legitimate targets for its armed forces after US President Donald Trump hinted at a regime change in Tehran. Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya central military headquarters, said the US should expect heavy consequences for its actions. "Mr Trump, the gambler, you may start this war, but we will be the ones to end it," said Zolfaqari at the end of a recorded video statement. #BREAKING Spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya base: Powerful operations with heavy consequences await the US. pic.twitter.com/th83NlSOf8 — Tehran Times (@TehranTimes79) June 23, 2025 Iran and Israel traded air and missile strikes as the world braced for Tehran's response to the US attack on its nuclear sites over the weekend, which Trump suggested could lead to the overthrow of the Iranian government. Commercial satellite imagery indicated Saturday's attack on Iran’s For...

FedEx Corp's founder and former CEO Frederick Smith, who started the global delivery conglomerate with more than a dozen planes in the 1970s, has died, the company's CEO Raj Subramaniam said in memo to staff posted on its website on Saturday. Born in 1944, Smith was most recently serving as the firm's executive chairman and focused on board governance, as well as issues of global importance, including sustainability, innovation and public policy, according to his profile on FedEx's website. Smith died Saturday evening after reportedly suffering a heart attack according to 1226 news. It’s a very sad day in the @FedEx family. Our boss and founder of this great company has passed away. Everything we do today & everyday is because of Fred Smith. RIP BOSS 💔💔 pic.twitter.com/4jYpUxghQQ — Alex 🇭🇲 (@speedbird020) June 22, 2025 He launched the original Federal Express network in 1973. The delivery company has since grown into an $87.7 billion global enterprise that serve...

With his unprecedented decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites, directly joining Israel’s air attack on its regional arch foe, U.S. President Donald Trump has done something he had long vowed to avoid - intervene militarily in a major foreign war. The US attack, including the targeting of Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear installation deep underground, marks the biggest foreign policy gamble of Trump’s two presidencies and one fraught with risks and unknowns. Trump, who insisted on Saturday that Iran must now make peace or face further attacks, could provoke Tehran into retaliating by closing the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important oil artery, attacking US military bases and allies in the Middle East, stepping up its missile barrage on Israel and activating proxy groups against American and Israeli interests worldwide, analysts said. https://ift.tt/k9caC0A Such moves could escalate into a broader, more protracted conflict than Trump had envisioned, evoking echoes of...

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned a US military strike on its nuclear facilities, calling the action an unprecedented breach of international law and a grave violation of the UN Charter. In a statement, the Islamic Republic of Iran accused the United States of a “brutal military aggression” against its peaceful nuclear infrastructure. Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of #Iran concerning the #UnitedStates military aggression against Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the… pic.twitter.com/GhSjSTtzx2 — Foreign Ministry, Islamic Republic of Iran 🇮🇷 (@IRIMFA_EN) June 22, 2025 Tehran held Washington fully responsible for what it called a “heinous crime” and warned of “dangerous consequences” stemming from the attack. The strike, which took place in the early hours of the 10th day of Israel’s military attack against Iran, was described by Tehran as a joint effort between the US and...