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Related media - Latest news Israeli troops have overrun much of Gaza since their ground invasion began in late October. But they managed to save only seven living hostages in three separate military operations, with around 120 prisoners remaining in Gaza. Several proposed rescue missions did not go ahead for fear that hostages or law enforcement would die in the process, according to two Israeli defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive operation. In December, Israeli special forces attempted to rescue a hostage from Hamas captivity, according to the two defense officials. Sahar Baruch, an Israeli hostage, was killed during the firefight and two Israeli officers were seriously injured. According to one of the defense officials, Israeli intelli...

More news - Latest news Now, due to the lack of electricity and higher costs in the markets, Abdul Aziz has to buy food every day, depending on what is available and what he can afford. But the party isn't the only thing he'll miss this year, he said. “There are family visits and gatherings, money is given to children, new clothes are bought for everyone, sweets are baked, Eid prayers are said,” he said. “None of this is feasible this year. Everyone is sad and has lost someone or something." Aya Ali Adwan, 26, had become engaged before the war began. Her wedding, set for February, was postponed, another celebration interrupted by the conflict. Originally from northern Gaza, she and her family were forced to flee eight times during the war. They are now sheltering in a cramped te...

Related media - Breaking news The center of Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, a Balkan country born just 33 years ago as an independent state, is flooded with history. A statue of Alexander the Great looms over the central square. One of his fathers, Philip II of Macedon, stands on a large pedestal above a nearby square. The city is also dotted with bronze, stone and plaster tributes to generations of other heroes from what the country sees as its glorious and very long history. The problem, however, is that most of the history exposed is claimed by other countries. Modern-day North Macedonia, born out of the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, has no real connection to Alexander the Great, who lived 2,000 years ago down the road in what is now Greece, and many of the other ...

More news - Recent news Thai lawmakers voted to pass a marriage equality bill on Tuesday, a move that puts the country on track to become the first in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. Thailand's Senate passed the bill on Tuesday afternoon, nearly three months after it passed the House of Representatives. The legislation would come into force after being considered by a Senate committee and the Constitutional Court and receiving royal assent from the king, a formality widely expected to be granted. The bill's passage highlights Thailand's status as a relative haven for gay couples in Asia. Only Taiwan and Nepal have legalized same-sex marriage. Last year, just as India neared the finish line, the Supreme Court sent the decision back to Parliament. In some Asian countri...

More news - Breaking news K-pop juggernaut BTS is one step closer to a reunion. The first member of the boy band to enlist in South Korea's army, Jin, 31, was discharged Wednesday morning, BTS' label said. Over the next year, his bandmates are expected to complete their military service, which is required of nearly all South Korean men. BTS shocked their own army – as the seven-member group's fervent following is collectively known – in June 2022 when they said they would take time off to enlist. Jin, the group's oldest member, whose birth name is Kim Seok-jin, began his 18-month stint in the army that December. His enlistment came after a long public debate over whether BTS should get an exemption from the draft, as Olympic medalists and some classical musicians do. However, the ...

Related media - News 24 hours The biggest losers of the election appear to be the Greens, who have seen their support plummet by a quarter compared to five years ago. However, the Greens, with their 53 seats, could play an important role by strengthening centrist majorities as an alternative to far-right parties. Final data from all 27 EU countries is expected to be made public early Monday morning. The results appear to have largely maintained the balance of power in the European Parliament, which approves legislation, the bloc's budget and its top leaders, including the president of the powerful European Commission, the EU's executive branch. The first test for the weak centrist majority will be the approval of the new president of the European Commission, expected in July. Von de...

More news - Breaking news While the measures expand the scope of the U.S. sanctions program, the Biden administration has so far refrained from imposing sanctions on Chinese or European banks it believes are helping Russia. The new measures do not prevent banks from facilitating transactions related to Russia's energy exports, which the Biden administration has allowed to continue out of fear that restricting them could stoke inflation. Announcing the sanctions, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said in a statement that “Russia's war economy is deeply isolated from the international financial system, leaving the Kremlin's military desperate for access to the outside world.” At the heart of the measures is an expansion of “secondary” sanctions that give the United States the power t...

More news - Breaking news Christophe Deloire, whose nonpartisan organization to protect journalists saved dissidents from prison and championed a diversity of viewpoints in the profession around the world, died Saturday in Paris. He was 53 years old. The cause would be complications due to brain cancer, according to Reporters Without Borders, the media group of which he has been general secretary for 12 years. Deloire, who was himself a journalist and author, lobbied publicly and worked behind the scenes to promote a free press in countries that muzzled journalists. He helped negotiate freedom for those who had been threatened with arrest, imprisoned or held hostage. In 2023, Reporters Without Borders, known by its French initials RSF, coordinated the clandestine escape of Ma...

Related media - Latest news In the footage, edited to blur the soldiers' faces and remove gory images, the hostages are then seen leaving the building and climbing through tree-lined terrain as gunfire erupts around them. “Hamas members shot at them,” said al-Tahrawi, the shop owner. Other militants joined the fight, according to Admiral Hagari, "running through the streets with RPGs," an acronym for rocket-propelled grenades. "There was a lot of fire around us," he said. As Ms. Argamani was approaching the beach in one vehicle, the other truck used for the rescue broke down, according to Israeli officials, who requested anonymity to discuss a clandestine operation. To provide cover for the stalled truck, officials said, the Air Force began bombing the nearby area, effectively crea...

More news - News 24 hours Still battling Israel's external enemies on multiple fronts, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu awoke Monday to a new political battlefield at home.The departure this weekend of Benny Gantz and his centrist National Unity party from Israel's wartime emergency government is unlikely to immediately break Netanyahu's power. The prime minister's ruling coalition still holds a narrow majority of 64 seats in the 120-seat parliament. But Gantz's move means Netanyahu is now totally dependent on his far-right and ultra-Orthodox coalition partners as he pursues the war in Gaza despite growing international disapproval, leaving him increasingly isolated and exposed at home and abroad. . Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, another powerful National Unity member, also left Netanyah...