Talks fail to let aid reach Gaza; Israel evacuates Lebanon border
Gaza/Jerusalem/Ismalia, Egypt Reuters Diplomatic efforts failed to get aid to the besieged Gaza Strip on Monday, and Israel ordered the evacuation of its villages in a strip of territory near its border with Lebanon, raising fears the war could spread to a new front. Israel has vowed to annihilate the Hamas movement that rules Gaza, […]
Serb gunmen battle police in Kosovo monastery siege; four dead
North Mitrovica, KosovoReuters Ethnic Serb gunmen in armoured vehicles stormed a village in north Kosovo on Sunday, battling police and barricading themselves in a monastery in a resurgence of violence in the restive north that killed four people. The siege centred on a Serbian Orthodox monastery near the village of Banjska in the Serb-majority region […]
“We’re holding on”, says deputy mayor of besieged Ukrainian city
Bakhmut, UkraineReuters Residents of the besieged eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut are living in dire conditions, with civilians killed and wounded daily, the deputy mayor said on Saturday, as fighting between Russian troops and Ukraine’s forces rages around the city. Bakhmut has been an important target for Russia’s military in its slow advance through the […]
Updated: Ukraine pleads for more weapons, cholera spreads in Mariupol
Updated: 12:50pm (AEST)Kyiv, Ukraine Reuters Ukraine pleaded to Western countries for faster deliveries of weapons as better-armed Russian forces pounded the east of the country, and for humanitarian support to combat growing outbreaks of deadly diseases. In Sievierodonetsk, the small city that has become the focus of Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine and one of […]
Yemenis face daily struggle to survive in besieged Taiz
Taiz, Yemen Reuters Yemeni cancer patient Mohsen al-Najdi has to drive more than three hours along narrow mountain roads to receive chemotherapy he can barely afford in Taiz, a city which has been largely cut off from the rest of Yemen during a seven-year war. Like other residents of the south-western governorate, Najdi misses easier […]
Ukraine rejects ultimatums as conflict intensifies
Mariupol/Lviv/Kyiv, Ukraine Reuters Ukraine said it would not accept ultimatums from Russia after Moscow demanded it stop defending besieged Mariupol, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are suffering through Russian bombardments laying waste to their city. Mariupol has become a focal point of Russia’s assault on Ukraine, but attacks were also reported to have intensified […]
Dead buildings tower over uncollected corpses in Mariupol, on the front line of Ukraine’s war
Mariupol, Ukraine Reuters In Mariupol daily life is a series of harrowing escapes from bomb blasts and basic survival rituals, amid the rubble that lies everywhere. Uncollected corpses wrapped in blankets, coats or any available covering lie in courtyards cleared of debris. Those killed are often buried in common graves. A woman reacts while speaking […]
As rabbi was held hostage in Texas synagogue, interfaith colleagues gathered to help end the standoff
RNS If there’s a word that comes up repeatedly when friends discuss Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, the rabbi who was taken hostage with three others at his Reform synagogue Saturday, it’s “kind.” “Kind doesn’t begin to cover it,” said Lindsey Weiss, who attended Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, since she was 11. “He’s the nicest […]
Number of children living “under siege” in Syria doubles to almost 500,000 in less than a year
The number of children living “under siege” in Syria has more than doubled in less than a year to almost 500,000, says UNICEF. Anthony Lake, the child-focused organisation’s executive director, said children are being killed and injured, and are “too afraid to go to school or even play, surviving with little food and hardly any […]