Tuesday, April 1, 2025

BIG Wrap

At least 32 killed in Mogadishu beach attack

(Al Jazeera Media Network) At least 32 people have been killed and many more wounded in a suicide bombing and gun attack on a popular beach in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, according to officials. Al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-linked armed group, claimed responsibility for the attack on Lido Beach late on Friday via an affiliated radio station. The assault began when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of Beach View Hotel. Several other attackers tried to...

Qassam Brigades commander among 9 killed in Israeli attacks in West Bank

(Al Jazeera Media Network) At least nine people, including a local commander of Hamas’s military wing, have been killed in two separate Israeli air strikes near Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank. Medical sources confirmed to Al Jazeera on Saturday that one of the people killed in the first attack was Haitham Balidi, leader of the Qassam Brigades in the Nablus area. Another person was identified by a relative as one of the leaders of...

U.S. urges citizens to leave Lebanon on ‘any available ticket’

(BBC News) The US embassy in Beirut has urged its citizens to leave Lebanon on “any ticket available,” amid soaring tensions in the Middle East. The advisory follows a similar warning from UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who said the regional situation “could deteriorate rapidly.” Iran has vowed “severe” retaliation against Israel, which it blames for the death of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday. His assassination came hours after Israel killed Hezbollah commander...

U.S. to deploy additional military resources to the Middle East

(Al Jazeera Media Network) The United States military has announced the deployment of additional resources to the Middle East, including an aircraft carrier, amid growing concerns about the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. On Friday, the Pentagon revealed it would send an additional fighter jet squadron, Navy cruisers and destroyer ships to the Middle East. “We’ve demonstrated since October and again in April the United States’s global defence is dynamic, and the department retains...

Why Putin thinks he is the winner in prisoner swap

(BBC News) It is something Vladimir Putin does rarely: go to the airport to meet people off of a plane. Personally. <p dir="auto"But he was there last night: on the Tarmac at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport to meet and greet those Russians whose release he had secured from foreign jails; part of the largest prisoner swap between Russia and the West since the Cold War. Out of the plane and down the steps came 10 people, including...

Gershkovich, Whelan among 26 freed in Russia-West prisoner exchange

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Russia has freed Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-US Marine Paul Whelan as part of an extensive prisoner swap between Moscow and the West, US President Joe Biden has confirmed. “Today, three American citizens and one American green-card holder who were unjustly imprisoned in Russia are finally coming home: Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza,” Biden said in a statement on Thursday. “The deal that secured their freedom was...

Observers invited by Venezuela condemn election

(BBC News) A renowned NGO that was invited by Venezuelan officials to monitor Sunday's presidential poll has said the election "cannot be considered democratic." The US-based Carter Center deployed 17 experts and observers to Venezuela after being asked to monitor the election by the National Electoral Council (CNE). On Monday, the CNE – which is dominated by government allies – declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner, but the result has been disputed by the opposition, which...

Thugs hijacked UK community and families’ grief, says MP

(BBC News) "Thugs" who travelled to Southport to use the deaths of three children "for their own political purposes" were to blame for the violence that saw dozens of police officers injured, the town's MP has said. Unrest broke out in the Merseyside town hours after a vigil to honour the victims of Monday's knife attack at a dance school in which three young girls were killed and eight other children injured. Patrick Hurley said the disturbance close...

Will attack on occupied Golan Heights push Israel, Hezbollah toward all-out war?

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Concerns about all-out regional war are once again rising after a projectile fell on a football field in a Druze community in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, killing 12 young people and injuring 30 others. Hezbollah emphatically denied being responsible, but Israel has blamed the Lebanese group for the deadly attack. On Sunday, Israel said it targeted several Hezbollah sites across Lebanon, as it said the armed group had crossed a “red line” and will...

Paris Olympics: Canadian women’s soccer team docked six points over drone incident

(Al Jazeera Media Network) FIFA deducted six points from Canada in the Paris Olympics women’s football tournament and banned three coaches for one year each in a drone spying scandal. The stunning swath of punishments, announced late on Saturday, includes a 200,000-Swiss-franc ($226,000) fine for the Canadian football federation in a case that has spiralled at the Summer Games. Two assistant coaches were caught using drones to spy on opponent New Zealand’s practices before their opening game on Wednesday. Head coach Bev Priestman,...