Tag: World News

Jerusalem (TIP): Israel on Thursday released Palestinian youth Ahmad Manasra, who was arrested at the age of 13, under horrific circumstances and was allegedly subjected to brutal torture and denied medical care in custody, leading to the development of serious mental illnesses, including schizophrenia.
Manasra was arrested at the age of 13, for being with his 15-year-old cousin Hassan Manasra, who allegedly stabbed two Israeli settlers near the illegal settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev in occupied East Jerusalem in 2015.
Hassan was shot dead by an Israeli settler while Ahmad was run over by a car, beaten and taunted by Israeli passers-by. A video showing Ahmad lying in the street, bleeding from the head and pleading for help while Israelis taunted him, garnered widespread attention.
Another video of Manasra undergoing harsh interrogation in Israeli custody also sparked outrage.
He was later convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to nine and a half years in prison, despite not being directly involved in any crime. According to doctors, Manasara developed schizophrenia in solitary confinement and has repeatedly tried to harm himself.
Palestinian activists has accused Israel of subjecting Ahmed to harsh incarceration that led to serious and potentially permanent mental illness. His lawyer, Khaled Zabarqa, said he was released after completing his nine-and-a-half-year sentence.
Appeals to Israel’s Supreme Court for his early release were repeatedly denied. The courts ruled that he was ineligible, regardless of age or mental condition, because he was “convicted of terrorism.”
Zarbarqa said he did not have immediate information about Manasra’s condition after his release, but said he was with his parents.
“We know in jail he’s been very ill. We’re waiting to know his health situation now,” Zabarqa said.
Authorities first moved Manasra to isolation in November 2021, following a scuffle with another inmate. In interviews the following year, his family and lawyers said he was locked in a small cell for 23 hours a day and suffered from paranoia and delusions that kept him from sleeping. His lawyer said Manasra had tried to slit his wrists.
His family said he was transferred to the psychiatric wing of another prison every few months, where doctors gave him injections to stabilize him. A physician who was allowed to visit him when he was 18 diagnosed him with schizophrenia and attributed it to the toll of being in prison, warning that continued incarceration could lead to permanent disability.
Rights groups say conditions inside Israeli prisons have become far more harsh since the beginning of Israel’s recent genocidal war on Gaza. Palestinian prisoners released during a recent ceasefire often appeared gaunt and ill, and many went straight to local hospitals for treatment.
A teenager from the occupied West Bank who was held in an Israeli prison for six months without being charged died last month after collapsing in unclear circumstances, becoming the first Palestinian under 18 to die in Israeli detention.
Several Palestinain detainees were released by Israel today, according to Al Jazeera. At least ten of them were in poor health and have been hospitalised at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir el-Balah.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s health ministry on Thursday issued an urgent plea for medicine, stating Israel’s more than a month-long blockade of the Strip has left hospitals with ‘dangerous’ and ‘unprecedented’ low stocks.
At least 35 Palestinains were killed on Wednesday, in Israel’s latest attack on the Shujayea district in northern Gaza City. At least 55 Palestinians were wounded in the attack while another 80 remain missing.
Israel has so far killed at least 1,523 people and wounded another 3,834 after it broke a ceasefire with the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on March 18, 2025. (With inputs from AP)

BUDAPEST (TIP): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Hungary’s capital early Thursday to red carpet treatment despite a warrant for his arrest issued by the world’s top war crimes court. Hungary’s government, led by its populist prime minister and Netanyahu ally, Viktor Orbán, used the occasion of the Israeli leader’s visit to announce it will begin the procedure of withdrawing from the International Criminal Court.
Just as Netanyahu met with Orbán for a welcome with full military honors in Budapest’s Castle District, Orbán’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyás, wrote in a brief statement that “the government will initiate the withdrawal procedure on Thursday, in accordance with the constitutional and international legal framework.”
At the welcoming ceremony kicking off Netanyahu’s visit, only his second foreign trip since the ICC issued the warrant against him in November, he stood alongside Orbán as a military band played and processions of soldiers on horseback and carrying swords and bayoneted rifles passed by.
The two leaders were set to hold talks later on Thursday. Netanyahu will spend several days in Hungary before departing on Sunday.
The ICC, based in The Hague, Netherlands, said when issuing its warrant there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas — charges that Israeli officials deny.
Member countries of the ICC, such as Hungary, are required to arrest suspects facing a warrant if they set foot on their soil, but the court has no way to enforce that and relies on states to comply.
After the ICC issued the warrant in November, Orbán accused the world’s only permanent global tribunal for war crimes and genocide of “interfering in an ongoing conflict for political purposes,” saying the move undermined international law and escalated tensions.
His invitation to Netanyahu was in open defiance of the court’s ruling. Hungary joined the court in 2001 during Orbán’s first term as prime minister.
Reacting to Hungary’s decision to leave the court, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar thanked Orbán for the move, writing on X: “I commend Hungary’s important decision to withdraw from the ICC.”
“The so-called ‘International Criminal Court’ lost its moral authority after trampling the fundamental principles of international law in its zest for harming Israel’s right to self-defense,” Saar wrote. “Thank you Hungary for your clear and strong moral stance alongside Israel and the principles of justice and sovereignty!”
Netanyahu in February met US President Donald Trump in Washington, where Trump suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the US take “ownership” in redeveloping the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Neither the United States or Israel are signatories to the ICC. Trump in February issued sanctions against the court for its investigations into Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, many of them children.

The ICC has criticized Hungary’s decision to defy its warrant for Netanyahu. The court’s spokesperson, Fadi El Abdallah, said it’s not for parties to the ICC “to unilaterally determine the soundness of the Court’s legal decisions.” (AP)

BEIJING (TIP): China concluded its two-day high-intensity military drills around Taiwan on Wednesday, saying that it completed all designated tasks of the joint exercises.
The Strait Thunder-2025A drills in the central and southern Taiwan Strait focussed on blockade enforcement of the estranged island. China claims Taiwan as part of its mainland.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theatre Command has successfully completed all designated tasks of the joint exercises carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday, a spokesperson for the theatre command, Senior.
Colonel Shi Yi, was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency. The drills tested the troops’ integrated joint operation capabilities, Shi said, adding that the troops of the theatre command remain on high alert at all times and will continue to strengthen combat readiness with intensive training to resolutely thwart all separatist activities seeking “Taiwan independence.
” The PLA said earlier that drills, which began on Tuesday, were aimed at showing Beijing’s anger against separatist statements by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te. The drills serve as a “stern warning and forceful deterrence” against those seeking the island’s independence.
China has been angered by Lai’s move to prevent China’s infiltration and espionage activities in the self-ruled territory, categorising China as a “foreign hostile force” last month.
The drills, the first during the second tenure of US President Donald Trump, were strongly criticised by the US, EU and Japan, who said they were opposed to unilateral changes to the status quo, including through force or coercion.
They said there is no justification for China’s irresponsible threats and military pressure operations near Taiwan.
Refuting the criticism against the drills, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said the accusation of a handful of countries and organizations against China is a mischaracterisation of the facts and truth and an interference in China’s internal affairs.
“China deplores and opposes this. The Taiwan question is purely China’s internal affairs that brook no external interference,” he said at a media briefing on Wednesday.
“Taiwan independence separatist activities and external forces that abet and aid them are the ones that undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. (AFP)

ATHENS (TIP): Two boats carrying migrants sank in the early hours of Thursday in the narrow stretch of sea between Turkey and a nearby Greek island, leaving at least 16 people dead, one missing and more than 40 survivors, Greek and Turkish officials said. At least three children were among the dead.
The two accidents reportedly occurred several hours apart in the narrow stretch of the Aegean Sea between the Greek island of Lesbos and the Turkish coast, with authorities on either side unaware of the other nation’s rescue efforts.
On the Greek side, the country’s coast guard said that in the early hours of Thursday, one of its patrol boats came across a small dinghy of about five meters in length that was taking on water, with many of its passengers having already fallen into the sea. Twenty-three people – 11 minors, eight men and four women – were rescued, while survivors told authorities that 31 people had originally been in the dinghy.
A sea and land search and rescue operation was launched, including helicopters, vessels from the coast guard and the FRONTEX European border agency, as well as vehicles and a diver. Authorities later recovered the bodies of seven people – three women, two boys, one girl and one man.
The coast guard said the search and rescue operation was continuing into Thursday evening for a young girl who survivors had reported as missing.
One of the survivors, identified only as a 20-year-old man, was arrested on suspicion of being a migrant smuggler after other passengers allegedly identified him as having piloted the dinghy, the coast guard said.
Weather in the area was reported to have been good. The nationalities of those on board were not immediately known.
Separately in Turkey, the Canakkale governor’s office said the Turkish coast guard received an emergency call for help from a migrant boat early Thursday morning and deployed three boats and a helicopter. The statement said that nine bodies had been recovered and the search for one missing person continued, while 25 people were rescued. Turkish media said the survivors were taken to a hospital in Turkey. Greece is one of the main entry points into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, with many making the short but often treacherous journey from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands in inflatable dinghies or other small boats. Many are unseaworthy, or set out in bad weather, and fatal accidents have been common. The Greek government has cracked down with increased patrols at sea, and many smuggling rings have shifted their operations south, using larger boats to transport people from the northern coast of Africa to southern Greece. Last year, more than 54,000 people used what has become known as the eastern Mediterranean route heading to Greece, and more than 7,700 crossed Greece’s small land border with Turkey, according to figures from the U.N. refugee agency. There were 125 people reported dead or missing.
By March 30, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said there had been just over 8,000 people arriving in Greece by sea and 755 by land since the start of 2025. (AP)

CHEONGSONG (TIP): Helicopters dumped water over a burning forest in South Korea on Thursday as authorities struggled to contain the country’s worst-ever wildfires, which have killed 26 people, forced at least 37,000 others to flee their homes and destroyed more than 300 structures.
Multiple wildfires have been raging across South Korea’s southeastern regions since last Friday. The government has mobilized thousands of people, dozens of helicopters and other equipment to extinguish the blazes, but officials said strong winds are hampering their efforts.
Korea Forest Service chief Lim Sang-seop said “a small amount” — less than 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) — of rain was expected in the area on Thursday, not enough to play a meaningful role in extinguishing the wildfires.
The fatalities include a pilot whose helicopter crashed during efforts to contain a fire and four firefighters and other workers who died after being trapped by fast-moving flames driven by strong winds.
Authorities haven’t disclosed details of the civilian dead, except that they are mostly in their 60s and 70s. They suspect human error caused several of the wildfires, including cases where people started fires while clearing overgrown grass from family tombs or with sparks during welding work.
The wildfires have burned 36,010 hectares (88,980 acres) of land in the southeast, the government’s disaster response center said in a report Thursday. Observers say that’s the worst figure of its kind in South Korea.
The report said the blazes have also injured 30 people, eight of them seriously, destroyed 325 buildings and structures and forced more than 37,180 people to evacuate.
As of Thursday morning, the center said authorities were mobilizing more than 9,000 people and about 120 helicopters to battle the wildfires.
In Cheongsong, one of the fire-hit areas, thick plumes of smoke were bellowing from Juwang Mountain. Helicopters repeatedly hovered over the mountain, dropping water. The amount of smoke later appeared to have diminished.
At a Buddhist temple near the mountain, workers covered a stone pagoda and other structures with fire-resistant materials, while firefighters poured water on sites near the temple.
“Damages are snowballing,” acting President Han Duck-soo said in a televised address on Wednesday. “There are concerns that we’ll have wildfire damages that we’ve never experienced, so we have to concentrate all our capabilities on putting out the wildfires this week.”
The hardest-hit areas include Andong city and the neighboring counties of Uiseong and Sancheong, and the city of Ulsan.
On Wednesday night, strong winds and smoke-filled skies forced authorities in the southeastern city of Andong to order evacuations in two villages, including Puncheon, home to the Hahoe folk village — a UNESCO World Heritage Site founded around the 14th-15th century. Hikers were advised to leave the scenic Jiri Mountain as another fire spread closer.
Officials said earlier this week that firefighters had extinguished most of the flames from the largest wildfires in key areas, but wind and dry conditions allowed them to spread again.
Destroyed in the blazes were houses, factories, vehicles and some historic structures. In Uiseong, about 20 of the 30 structures at the Gounsa temple complex, which was said to be originally built in the 7th century, have been burned. Among them were two state-designated “treasures” — a pavilion-shaped building erected overlooking a stream in 1668, and a Joseon dynasty structure built in 1904 to mark the longevity of a king. (AP)

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (TIP): A Bosnian court said Thursday it was seeking an international arrest warrant for Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik, who is facing legal action for his separatist policies. The Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina said in a statement that it issued the demand on Wednesday and that the decision is now in the hands of Interpol. Pro-Russia Dodik, who leads the Serb-run half of Bosnia, has repeatedly called for the separation of the territory from the rest of Bosnia, fueling fears of instability.
He has faced US and British sanctions for his separatism, but he has had the support of Moscow.
Defying Bosnia’s court, Dodik has refused to appear for questioning on suspicion that he violated the country’s constitution. He traveled this week to neighboring Serbia, where he attended an gathering with populist President Aleksandar Vucic, before proceeding to Israel.
Vucic has said Serbia would not arrest Dodik and has criticized legal proceedings against him.
The Bosnia court statement also said it is seeking the arrest of Bosnian Serb parliament speaker Nenad Stevandic, who also briefly visited Serbia.
There have been fears of clashes between the police loyal to Dodik and the Bosnian police forces, stoking tensions that have pushed Bosnia to the biggest crisis since more than 100,000 people were killed in an ethnic war from 1992 to 1995.
The conflict in Bosnia ended in a US-brokered peace deal that created two administrations bound by central institutions.
Bosnia’s Serbs took up arms after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s’ to create a state with an aim to join neighboring Serbia.
Bosnia has been seeking European Union membership, but progress has been slow because of constant ethnic and political disputes. (AP)

CAIRO (TIP): A tourist submarine taking dozens of people, mainly Russians, to see the Red Sea’s coral reefs sank off the Egyptian resort town of Hurghada, leaving six people dead and others injured, two municipal officials said Thursday. Emergency crews were able to rescue at least 38 Russians, the Russian consul in Hurghada told the country’s state news agency RIA Novosti. The report said 14 of them were hospitalized and the rest returned to their hotel. Russian and Egyptian officials did not immediately say what caused the submarine to sink.
Russia’s Tass news agency said five Russians were confirmed dead, including two children. The two Egyptian municipal officials said the total toll was six, but the nationality of the sixth was not immediately known. The officials spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Russia’s consulate in Hurghada said in a statement that 45 Russians were on board the submarine, “Sindbad,” which operated from a hotel of the same name. It was not immediately known how many crew members or other tourists were on board, but the submarine has a capacity of 50 people.
Hurghada is a major destination for divers, snorkelers and other tourists drawn by the extensive coral reefs in Red Sea. Several outlets offer tours in submarines with large windows in the bottom to allow groups to view the reefs and marine life, usually cruising at around 20 meters (60 feet) in depth.
In November, a tourist yacht sank in the Red Sea after warnings of rough waters, Egyptian officials said. At least four people drowned, while 33 were rescued.
Tourism is an important sector of Egypt’s economy but many tourist companies have stopped or limited traveling on the Red Sea due to the dangers from conflicts in the region. (AP)

OTTAWA (TIP): In a dramatic shift in Canada’s foreign policy, Prime Minister Mark Carney declared on Thursday that the long-standing economic and security relationship between Canada and the United States has come to an end. This statement followed US President Donald Trump’s announcement of new auto tariffs that could severely impact Canada’s economy, Politico reported.
“The old relationship we had with the United States, based on deepening economic integration and tight security and military cooperation, is over,” Carney said on Parliament Hill after breaking from his federal campaign trail to respond to Trump’s latest threats.
Trump announced on Wednesday that his administration would impose a 25% tariff on auto imports from Canada, the European Union, Japan, and South Korea. He also threatened to introduce additional tariffs targeting other major US trading partners.
In response, Carney said he would speak with Trump in the coming days but emphasised that any discussions must respect Canada’s sovereignty. “We must fundamentally reimagine our economy. We need to ensure that Canada can succeed in a drastically different world,” he said.
Carney convened his Cabinet’s committee on Canada-US relations upon returning to Ottawa. Canada has indicated it is prepared to retaliate, but the government has not revealed specific countermeasures. “We are facing a comprehensive and broad negotiation,” Carney said, adding that he would not disclose Canada’s response strategy prematurely.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association of Canada, warned that if the tariffs go forward, both countries’ auto industries could be paralyzed within a week.
“One day, two days, three days where you hope the president shows you mercy. You’re a publicly traded company whose share price is taking a beating, and you have a fiduciary obligation to shareholders,” Volpe told Politico.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford spoke with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday about the potential impact on his province.
According to Ford, Lutnick explained that tariffs on vehicles from Canada and Mexico would be adjusted based on US content. For example, if a car built in Mexico contains 50% American parts, the tariff rate would be reduced to 12.5%, rather than the full 25%.
“He’s reassuring us that there’ll be no plant closures. My response was Ronald Reagan’s response: Trust but verify,” Ford said. “If they’re opening or closing, it’s going to be up to the CEOs.”
Ford also confirmed that he spoke with Carney and both agreed that Canada would fully retaliate if necessary. Ottawa has previously stated it could impose up to CAD 155 billion in counter-tariffs on US goods.
Trump responded on Truth Social early Thursday, warning that if Canada and the EU coordinated against the tariffs, the US would introduce even harsher trade measures. “If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large-scale tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had!” Trump wrote. (ANI)

ISTANBUL (TIP): Turkey braced for a third day of protests on Friday, as anger simmered over Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu’s arrest in a graft and terror probe and ministers fired warnings over the mass rallies. The popular Imamoglu, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, was arrested at dawn on Wednesday, just days before he was to be formally named the candidate for the main opposition CHP party in the 2028 presidential election. His party has denounced the detention as a “coup” and has vowed to keep up the demonstrations.
Huge crowds have defied a ban on demonstrations and have gathered outside City Hall for two nights running.
So far, police have largely shown restraint in handling the protests but on Thursday night, they fired rubber bullets and teargas as they scuffled with students near City Hall.
In Ankara, riot police used pepper gas, rubber bullets and water canon to disperse large crowds of protesters who rallied in the Turkish capital, an AFP correspondent said. In a post on X, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 53 people had so far been arrested in the protests, which began in Istanbul but have since spread to at least 29 of Turkey’s 81 provinces, according to an AFP count.
He said 16 police officers had been injured, and another 54 people detained for online posts deemed as “incitement to hatred”. CHP party leader Ozgur Ozel warned Erdogan on Thursday that the opposition planned to keep up its protests, saying: “We will be on the streets from now on. Be afraid of us, the streets are ours, the squares are ours.” (AFP)

CAIRO (TIP): When the first explosions in Gaza this week started around 1:30 a.m., a visiting British doctor went to the balcony of a hospital in Khan Younis and watched the streaks of missiles light up the night before pounding the city. A Palestinian surgeon next to him gasped, “Oh no. Oh no.” After two months of ceasefire, the horror of Israeli bombardment was back. The veteran surgeon told the visiting doctor, Sakib Rokafiya, they’d better head to the emergency ward.
Torn bodies soon streamed in, carried by ambulances, donkey carts or in the arms of terrified relatives. What stunned doctors was the number of children.
“Just child after child, young patient after young patient,” Rokafiya said. “The vast, vast majority were women, children, the elderly.”
This was the start of a chaotic 24 hours at Nasser Hospital, the largest hospital in southern Gaza. Israel shattered the ceasefire in place since mid-January with a surprise barrage that began early Tuesday and was meant to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages and accepting changes in the truce’s terms. It turned into one of the deadliest days in the 17-month war.
The aerial attacks killed 409 people across Gaza, including 173 children and 88 women, and hundreds more were wounded, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, whose count does not differentiate between militants and civilians.
More than 300 casualties flooded into Nasser Hospital. Like other medical facilities around Gaza, it had been damaged by Israeli raids and strikes throughout the war, leaving it without key equipment. It was also running short on antibiotics and other essentials. On March 2, when the first, six-week phase of the ceasefire technically expired, Israel blocked entry of medicine, food and other supplies to Gaza.
Nasser Hospital’s emergency ward filled with wounded, in a scene described to The Associated Press by Rokafiya and Tanya Haj-Hassan, an American pediatrician — both volunteers with the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians. Wounded came from a tent camp sheltering displaced that missiles set ablaze and from homes struck in Khan Younis and Rafah, further south. (AP)