Israel-Gaza briefings: No let-up for Gazans while world focused on Iran attack
By Yolande Knell,BBC News, Jerusalem
While the media's glare in the Middle East this past week was diverted to Iran's dramatic missile and drone attack on Israel, there has been no let-up in fighting in Gaza.
Dozens of Palestinians were killed daily - including many children, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry. It now says Israel has killed more than 34,000 people in Gaza since the start of the war.
As Israel's forces continue with their efforts to destroy Hamas, they have conducted small-scale, often deadly operations, from the top to the bottom of the territory over the past week.
Chinese students in US tell of ‘chilling’ interrogations and deportations
As tensions with China rise, scientists at America’s leading universities complain of stalled research after crackdown at airports
Stopped at the border, interrogated on national security grounds, laptops and mobile phones checked, held for several hours, plans for future research shattered.
Many western scholars are nervous about travelling to China in the current political climate. But lately it is Chinese researchers working at US universities who are increasingly reporting interrogations – and in several cases deportations – at US airports, despite holding valid work or study visas for scientific research.
Earlier this month the Chinese embassy in Washington said more than 70 students “with legal and valid materials” had been deported from the US since July 2021, with more than 10 cases since November 2023. The embassy said it had complained to the US authorities about each case.
Mexico: 2 more mayoral candidates killed ahead of election
The two mayoral candidates were reported killed on the same day. Their deaths bring the number of local politicians killed in the lead up to Mexico's June elections to 17.
Two mayoral candidates were killed in two different parts of Mexico as the country heads to elections in June, authorities said.
Center-right mayoral candidate Noe Ramos of Ciudad Mante was fatally stabbed in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, said state attorney general Irving Barrios. Authorities are searching for the suspect.
Local media reported Ramos, who was seeking reelection, was meeting with residents in the street on Friday when the suspect stabbed him with a knife.
Meanwhile, in the southern state of Oaxaca, another mayoral candidate Alberto Antonio Garcia, was also found dead on Friday, according to the state prosecutor.
Ecuadorans to vote in anti-crime referendum as death toll from violence mounts
Millions of Ecuadorans will cast ballots in a referendum on Sunday to decide whether or not to green-light stricter measures against organised crime in a country gripped by bloody gang wars
Once a bastion of peace situated between major cocaine producers, the South American country has been plunged into crisis after years of expansion by the transnational cartels that use its ports to ship the drug to the United States and Europe.
The mayor of a mining town in violence-riddled Ecuador was shot dead Friday in the second such killing in recent days ahead of Sunday's referendum, when voters will be asked to approve tougher measures against organised crime, said police.
Jorge Maldonado, the mayor of Portovelo, “fell victim to gunshots that resulted in his death”, police said on X.
He was gunned down by two attackers on a motorcycle.
Japan's lower house passes child care aid bill to tackle falling births
Japan's lower house passed a bill Friday to expand monthly child allowances and parental leave in an effort to tackle the country's persistently declining birthrate.
The bill is expected to be enacted during the current Diet session through June following deliberations at the upper house. A new funding scheme will be set up with higher monthly health insurance premiums from fiscal 2026.
The legislation aims to expand child allowances to those aged between 16 and 18 and remove the income limit. The current monthly allowance for a third or subsequent child will be doubled to 30,000 yen.
US agrees to withdraw troops from Niger amid Sahel region’s pivot to Russia
The US built a base in the desert city of Agadez at the cost of $100m for manned and unmanned surveillance flights.
The United States will withdraw its soldiers from Niger as the West African nation is increasingly turning to Russia and away from Western powers.
The US Department of State agreed to pull out about 1,000 troops from the country that has been under military rule since July 2023, US media reported late on Friday.
US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Nigerien Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine met on Friday, the reports said, with Washington committing to begin planning an “orderly and responsible” withdrawal of its troops from the country.
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