World Echo

The US Embassy in Jordan on Saturday urged Americans to consider leaving the Middle East if regional tensions escalate. “Americans currently in the Middle East should exercise caution and heightened vigilance and should be prepared for flight cancellations, periodic airspace closures, and potential travel disruptions,” the embassy said in a security alert on X. It also advised Americans outside the Middle East to “seriously reconsider travel to and through the region.” The embassy warned that “Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target other US interests overseas” and described the situation in the Middle East as “fluid.” Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Amman – August 1, 2026 Event: Due to heightened tensions in the Middle East, the security environment remains complex with the potential for unforeseen escalation. Americans currently in the Middle East should exercise caution and heightened… pic.twitter.com/LheYwC...

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held its first straw poll Thursday to assess candidates seeking to replace Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, whose second term is set to conclude at the end of the year. Speaking to reporters after the closed-door informal vote, Zenon Mukongo Ngay, the Democratic Republic of Congo's UN ambassador and current SC president, said the results would be communicated to the ambassadors of the countries that nominated candidates as well as to the General Assembly president. Ngay declined to disclose the results publicly, saying this is done to keep the process confidential and avoid speculation. "The thinking behind [it] is to keep everything close, and we want transparency at the same time, [and] efficiency, but we don't want speculations on that," he said. Read: UNGA moves stalled UNSC reform talks to its 81st session Asked whether withholding the results is compatible with transparency, Ngay said the procedure was ...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said early on Friday that Israeli forces had blown up a tunnel system used by the Hezbollah group in southern Lebanon. In a joint statement, they said the tunnels in the Beaufort area formed a key part of Hezbollah’s plan to infiltrate communities in the Galilee. They noted that around 700 tons of explosives were used in the operation, describing it as part of an ongoing campaign to dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure in southern Lebanon. The statement said the operation came after Hezbollah’s “blatant violation” of the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon. Earlier, Lebanese media reported a series of explosions as Israeli forces detonated explosives in the town of Hadatha, the outskirts of Deir Mimas near Beaufort Castle and the area between Arnoun and Yahmar. The developments came despite the signing of the US-sponsored "framework formula" agreement between Lebanon a...

A French teenager was fined in Singapore on Thursday after pleading guilty to a public nuisance charge for a straw-licking stunt that landed him in hot water in the city state. Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, 19, was handed a Sg$600 ($465) fine after admitting to posting to social media a video of himself putting a straw he had licked back into the dispenser on an orange juice vending machine. The clip went viral on Instagram shortly after the incident on March 12, triggering a backlash that led to his arrest in Singapore, which is known for its strict enforcement of public order and hygiene rules. Handing down the sentence, Judge Kelly Ho said given Maximilien's "age and nature of the offence", alternatives like probation or a community-based sentence would not be imposed. Prosecutors agreed to the defence's proposal for a fine, saying the offence was at the "lower end" of its seriousness and while hygiene was compromised, no member of the public u...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday admitted there was a decrease in popularity of Israel and his administration among the American public, blaming the change on social media. Public opinion toward Israel in the US has grown increasingly negative, according to several recent polls, reflecting mounting concern over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. One July survey by the Pew Research Centre found that Americans have become more critical of both the Israeli people and government in recent years. The poll said that in 2026, 42% of Americans viewed the Israeli people unfavourably, up from 28% in 2019. Favourable views of the Israeli government fell to 32% from 41% over the same period. Also Read: IRGC vows to carry out attacks on ‘aggressor’ after US struck Iran overnight In an interview with ABC News released on Wednesday, Netanyahu said “there's been a change because of the proliferation of social media, and the fact that sov...

Beijing's embassy in New Zealand said it had raised an official complaint Thursday after top diplomat Winston Peters told a lawmaker of Chinese descent to "go back to your own country". Populist NZ First leader Peters was asked by China-born Green Party member Lawrence Xu-Nan: "Are you vaccinated?" during a heated debate about New Zealand's response to the Covid pandemic on Wednesday. In response, Peters said the lawmaker, who was born in the Chinese city of Tianjin but grew up in New Zealand, had "come here five minutes ago". "Go back to your own country. That's where they lie like a flatfish, but they don't lie like that here," Peters said. "This is called a democracy, unlike what you're used to. Go back to where you've come from, you loudmouth." The comments sparked a rare intervention from the Chinese ambassador to New Zealand, Wang Xiaolong. Wang said on X on Thursday that while he preferred to st...

As the US and Israel went to war on Iran this year, a transformative moment seemed to have arrived for Reza Pahlavi, son of the autocratic shah who was overthrown in 1979. Despite not having set foot in Iran in almost half a century, Pahlavi had been actively campaigning in the US and Europe, giving speeches about a bright new future for his homeland, raising money and meeting elected officials. “The Iranian people have called on me to lead the transition after the regime is gone,” he declared on X shortly after the war began in late February. “I have accepted that responsibility.” In Texas this March, Pahlavi received one of the most enthusiastic receptions at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). As he took the stage, staunch supporters of President Donald Trump and a large contingent of Iranian Americans, many draped in the pre-revolution Iranian flag that flew during his father’s rule, lavished him with a 45‑second standing ovatio...