An army airstrike on a village in western Myanmar has killed at least 40 people, reports say

Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — An army airstrike on a village in western Myanmar has killed at least 40 people, reports say.

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  • Journalist disrupts Blinken press conference: ‘How does it feel for your legacy to be genocide?’

    Two journalists disrupted Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s last press briefing Thursday with criticism over his handling of the war in Gaza. “Your father-in-law was an Israel lobbyist. Your grandfather was an Israel lobbyist. Are you compromised by Israel? Why did you allow the Holocaust of our time to happen?” Max Blumenthal, editor of the blog Grayzone, asked…

  • Mysterious airstrip appears on a Yemeni island as Houthi rebel attacks threaten region

    A mysterious airstrip being built on a remote island in Yemen is nearing completion, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show, one of several built in a nation mired in a stalemated war threatening to reignite. The airstrip on Abd al-Kuri Island, which rises out of the Indian Ocean near the mouth of the Gulf of Aden, could provide a key landing zone for military operations patrolling that waterway.

  • Israel-Hamas ceasefire live: Security cabinet recommends approving deal as hostage release to begin on Sunday

    The ceasefire deal will now be discussed by Netanyahu’s wider cabinet ahead of Sunday’s hostage release

  • North Korea stands to lose all 12,000 of its troops in Kursk by mid-April if its casualty rate holds, analysts say

    A South Korean lawmaker said Seoul's intelligence showed some 3,000 North Korean troops have been wounded or killed in Kursk.

  • Gazans shed tears of joy, disbelief at news of ceasefire deal

    Palestinians burst into celebration across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday at news of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, with some shedding years of joy and others whistling, clapping and chanting "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest). "I am happy, yes, I am crying, but those are tears of joy," said Ghada, a mother of five displaced from her home in Gaza City during the 15-month-old conflict. "We are being reborn, with every hour of delay Israel conducted a new massacre, I hope it is all getting over now," she told Reuters via a chat app from a shelter in Deir Al-Balah town in central Gaza.

  • Iran says Gaza ceasefire is a 'victory' for Palestinian resistance

    The ceasefire in Gaza represents a "great victory" for the Palestinian resistance, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday, warning against any possible breach by Israel. Palestinian armed group Hamas and Israel reached a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza that mediators said would take effect on Sunday. "The end of the war and the imposition of a ceasefire on the Zionist regime (Israel) is a clear and great victory for Palestine and a greater defeat for the Zionist regime," a statement by the Guards said.

  • Ukraine-Russia latest: Putin’s forces locked onto French plane as North Korea troops may ‘be dead by April’

    “This aggressive Russian action is not acceptable,” the French defense minister said

  • US says Gaza ceasefire to start as planned despite 'loose end'

    The Gaza Strip ceasefire should begin on Sunday as planned, despite the need for negotiators to tie up a "loose end" at the last minute, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday. With longstanding divisions apparent among ministers, Israel delayed cabinet meetings to ratify the ceasefire with Hamas, and media reports said voting could occur Friday or even Saturday, although the deal is expected to be approved. Israel blamed the militant group for the hold-up, even as Israeli warplanes pounded Gaza in some of the most intense strikes for months.

  • Netanyahu says deal to release hostages held in Gaza has been reached after last minute snags

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday a deal to return hostages held in the Gaza Strip has been reached, after his office said earlier there were last minute snags in finalizing a ceasefire that would pause 15 months of war. Netanyahu said he would convene his security Cabinet later Friday, and then the government to approve the long-awaited hostage deal. Netanyahu's pre-dawn statement appeared to clear the way for Israeli approval of the deal, which would pause the fighting in the Gaza Strip and see dozens of hostages held by militants in Gaza released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

  • Gaza ceasefire deal reached between Israel, Hamas

    STORY: BIDEN: “I can announce a ceasefire and a hostage deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas."U.S. President Joe Biden - in the final days of his presidency - confirmed the successful negotiation of a ceasefire in Gaza, after more than 15 months of bloodshed.BIDEN: "The deal is structured in three phases. Phase one will last six weeks. It includes a full and complete cease fire, withdrawal of Israeli forces from all the populated areas of Gaza and and the release of a number of hostages held by Hamas, including women and elderly and the wounded. // In exchange, Israel release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.”The U.S. and fellow mediator Qatar said the ceasefire would take effect on Sunday.It comes after months of on-and-off negotiations by Egyptian and Qatari mediators with the backing of the United States.At a news conference in Doha, Qatar's Prime Minister said the deal includes the release of 33 Israeli hostages, including all women, children and men over 50 years old.Israel's acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the country's security cabinet and government. An Israeli official said votes were slated for Thursday.On the streets of Tel Aviv and in Khan Younis, Israelis and Palestinians both celebrated the news.DISPLACED FROM GAZA, ABU SUFYAN: “We are here happy with this victory because the Palestinian people simply want their freedom. Freedom for the Palestinian people. We don't want anything but freedom and to live with dignity without occupation.”United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the priority now must be on getting humanitarian aid into Gaza.“The humanitarian situation is at catastrophic levels and I call on all parties to facilitate rapid, unhindered, and safe humanitarian relief for all civilians in need.”On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led gunmen broke through security barriers and burst into Israeli border-area communities, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting over 250 foreign and Israeli hostages.In response, Israel's air and ground war in Gaza has since killed over 46,000 people, according to Gaza health ministry figures. Despite Wednesday's breakthrough, residents and medics said Israeli airstrikes killed several people Wednesday evening in Gaza, just hours after the ceasefire deal was reached.

  • Blinken’s final press conference interrupted by protesters

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s final press conference at the State Department was interrupted by two protesters, who were escorted out of the briefing room after protesting against the US sending weapons to Israel.

  • Israelis, Palestinians, celebrate Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal

    STORY: :: Israelis and Palestinians celebrate ceasefire and hostage deal:: January 15, 2025:: Tel Aviv, Israel:: Khan Younis, Gaza StripNegotiators reached a phased deal on Wednesday to end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, an official briefed on the negotiations said, after 15 months of conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and inflamed the Middle East.The accord, which has not yet been formally announced, outlines a six-week initial ceasefire phase and includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, the official told Reuters.Phase one entails the release of 33 Israeli hostages including all women, children and men over 50.Negotiations on implementing the second phase will begin by the 16th day of phase one and it is expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.The third phase is expected to address the return of all remaining dead bodies and the start of Gaza's reconstruction supervised by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.The agreement follows months of on-off negotiations conducted by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with the backing of the United States, and comes just ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

  • Israel accuses Hamas of backtracking on fragile ceasefire deal

    Israel accused Hamas on Thursday of backtracking on parts of a fragile ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Gaza war, and carried out fresh air strikes ahead of an expected vote by the cabinet.But the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Hamas had "reneged on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an effort to extort last-minute concessions".

  • Satellite photos show the Gaza Strip before and after the devastation of the Israel-Hamas war

    The Israel-Hamas war, now nearing a potential ceasefire, has devastated the Gaza Strip. Satellite photos offer some sense of the destruction in the territory, which has been largely sealed off to journalists and others. In all, the strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea is about 360 square kilometers (139 square miles), and Palestinians hope it will be part of a future state, along with the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

  • ‘The next nightmare is just beginning’: Ceasefire raises new fears for Gazans

    In Gaza, Palestinians fear the last hours before the fighting is expected to stop on Sunday will be ‘bloody and dangerous’

  • How long will it take and how much will it cost to rebuild Gaza?

    Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are eager to leave miserable tent camps and return to their homes if a long-awaited ceasefire agreement halts the Israel-Hamas war, but many will find there is nothing left and no way to rebuild. Israeli bombardment and ground operations have transformed entire neighborhoods in several cities into rubble-strewn wastelands, with blackened shells of buildings and mounds of debris stretching away in all directions. The agreement for a phased ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas-led militants does not say who will govern Gaza after the war, or whether Israel and Egypt will lift a blockade limiting the movement of people and goods that they imposed when Hamas seized power in 2007.

  • Israel conducted the worst bombardment of the 21st century. Now Iran and its proxies face a new reality

    Four hundred and sixty-six days since Hamas fighters massacred over 1,000 Israelis and kidnapped hundreds more, the guns may finally be falling silent.

  • Israel's security Cabinet recommends approval of ceasefire in Gaza; deal now goes to full Cabinet

    Israel’s security Cabinet recommended approval on Friday of a ceasefire deal after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed an agreement had been reached that would pause the 15-month war with Hamas in Gaza and release dozens of hostages held by militants there. Mediators Qatar and the U.S. announced the ceasefire on Wednesday, but the deal hung in limbo for more than a day as Netanyahu insisted there were last-minute snags he blamed on Hamas. The militants maintained they were “committed” to the deal, while residents of Gaza and families of the hostages anxiously waited to see if it would materialize.

  • Israel, Hamas reach ceasefire agreement designed to end 15-month Gaza war, official says

    Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, an official briefed on the deal told Reuters on Wednesday, opening the way to a possible end to a 15-month war that has upended the Middle East. The agreement follows months of on-off negotiations brokered by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with the backing of the United States, and came just ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. Israeli troops invaded Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen broke through security barriers and burst into Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting more than 250 foreign and Israeli hostages.

  • Getting a truce between Hamas and Israel was excruciating. Now comes the hard part

    The contrasting reactions between Palestinians and Israelis to the long-awaited news of an impending hostage exchange and ceasefire have been telling.As word of an agreement spread across Gaza, there was jubilation and joy that the devastation inflicted by Israel's bombs might finally end and that hundreds of thousands of displaced people might be able to return to their former neighbourhoods, even if their dwellings have been turned to rubble.The United Nations estimates more than two-thirds of