World Echo

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was still in effect after the Israeli military carried out deadly strikes on Gaza over apparent truce violations by the Palestinian armed group. "Yeah, it is," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked if the ceasefire was still in place. He also suggested that Hamas leadership was not involved in any alleged breaches and instead blamed "some rebels within." "But either way, it's going to be handled properly. It's going to be handled toughly, but properly," Trump added. Israel said it had resumed enforcing the Gaza ceasefire after it struck Hamas positions Sunday, having accused the group of targeting its troops in the most serious violence since the nine-day-old truce began. Gaza's civil defense agency, which operates under Hamas authority, said at least 45 people had been killed across the territory in Israeli strikes. Israel's military said it wa...

Two Hong Kong airport security staff were killed early on Monday after a cargo plane from Dubai skidded off the runway on landing, collided with their security patrol vehicle and pushed it into the sea, the city’s airport operator said. The Boeing 747 involved in the deadliest airport incident in the financial hub in more than 25 years also fell into the water and was partially submerged, but all four crew members on board escaped. The airport security staff were not breathing when rescued from the water, with one confirmed dead at the scene and another later at hospital, said Steven Yiu, executive director of airport operations at Airport Authority Hong Kong. Authorities still investigating exact cause of crash The accident at the world’s busiest cargo airport involved a plane operated by Turkish freight carrier ACT Airlines on behalf of Emirates, the Dubai-based airline said in a statement. Authorities are still investigating the exact cause of the crash, with weather, runway conditi...

A migrant boat carrying around 35 people sailing from Libya capsized in the central Mediterranean leaving one confirmed dead and two dozen missing, UNICEF country coordinator for Italy said on Sunday. The rescue operation was carried out on Friday off the coast of Italy's Lampedusa island by the Italian Coast Guard, which saved 11 migrants, including four children travelling alone, and recovered the body of a pregnant woman, UNICEF's Nicola Dell'Arciprete said. The survivors and the body were brought to Lampedusa, while the remaining passengers remain unaccounted for. The boat capsized after two days at sea, Dell'Arciprete said. More than 32,700 migrants have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean since 2014, including an estimated one in five who were children, according to data from United Nations agencies, Dell'Arciprete said. Commenting on the news of the shipwreck on social media platform X, Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesperson for the United Nations' Inte...

Iran executed on Saturday an individual accused of spying for Israel, the judiciary's Mizan news agency reported on Sunday citing an Iranian prosecutor. The individual had links to the Israeli intelligence service Mossad and had leaked classified information, Mizan cited the judiciary official as saying. Entangled in a decades-long shadow war with Israel, Iran has executed many people it accused of having links with Israel's intelligence service and facilitating its operations in the country. Read More: Israel keeps Rafah crossing shut, ties reopening to hostages’ bodies In June, Iran also executed nine members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), convicted of orchestrating a series of planned attacks targeting civilians, the country's judiciary has confirmed. The executions were carried out following a final ruling by Iran’s Supreme Court, according to the judiciary’s official Mizan News Agency. The men had been detained in 2018 during an armed confrontation...

China on Sunday accused the United States of conducting cyberattacks on Beijing's national time centre that could have caused severe damage to critical financial and telecommunications infrastructure. Beijing has stepped up espionage warnings in recent years as relations with the United States and other Western nations have worsened. Chinese authorities found "irrefutable evidence" of efforts by the US National Security Agency (NSA) to hack the National Time Service Center, between 2022 and 2024, according to a statement published on the official Ministry of State Security WeChat account. Also Read: Pakistan successfully launches first hyperspectral satellite from China The facility is responsible for coordinating clocks around the country used by everything from computer servers to train stations and power grids. The ministry accused the NSA of exploiting weaknesses in the messaging service of an unspecified foreign mobile phone brand in order to steal login credentials ...

The Israeli military launched an attack on Gaza on Sunday, Israeli media reported, dimming hopes that a week-old US-mediated ceasefire would lead to lasting peace in the enclave as Israel traded blame with Palestinian militant group Hamas. An Israeli military official said on Sunday that Hamas had carried out multiple attacks against Israeli forces inside Gaza, including a rocket-propelled grenade attack and a sniper attack against Israeli soldiers. "Both of the incidents happened in an Israeli-controlled area...This is a bold violation of the ceasefire," the official said. Read: Israel to reopen Rafah crossing as ceasefire violations continue Senior Hamas official Izzat Al Risheq said on Sunday that the Palestinian militant group remained committed to the ceasefire, which he accused Israel of repeatedly violating. Neither Al Risheq nor the Israeli military official made any mention of the reported Israeli strikes in Gaza. The government media office in Gaza said on Saturday ...

More than 2,600 “No Kings” protest events are scheduled to take place on Saturday in all 50 US states, a mass mobilization against President Donald Trump’s policies on immigration, education and security that organizers say are pushing the country toward autocracy. The protests -- big and little, in cities, suburbs and small towns across the US -- follow similar demonstrations in June and will gauge the frustration level of opponents of a conservative agenda that has rolled out quickly. Since Trump took office 10 months ago, his administration has ramped up immigration enforcement, moved to slash the federal workforce and cut funding to elite universities over issues including pro-Palestinian protests against Israel's war in Gaza, campus diversity and transgender policies. Read More: Trump administration halts $11bn infrastructure works in Democratic states Residents in some major cities have seen National Guard troops sent in by the president, who argues they are needed to protect...