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Tag: Middle East

  • U.S. Backs EU Using Frozen Russian Assets to Help End War, U.S. Source Says

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    (Reuters) -The United States fully backs the European Union using frozen Russian assets as a tool to support Ukraine and end the war with Russia, a U.S. source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Friday.

    As the West seeks to ramp up pressure on Moscow, the European Commission has proposed a plan allowing EU governments to use up to 185 billion euros ($217 billion) – most of the 210 billion euros worth of Russian sovereign assets currently frozen in Europe – without confiscating them.

    Washington “absolutely supports (the EU) and the steps they’re taking right now to be in a position to make use of those assets as a tool,” the source said, requesting anonymity to discuss an ongoing issue.

    After Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, the United States and its allies prohibited transactions with Russia’s central bank and finance ministry, immobilizing around $300 billion of sovereign Russian assets.

    The European proposal is being held up due to concerns from Belgium, where most of the assets are located.

    Germany suggested on Friday that recent drone sightings over airports and military bases in Belgium were a message from Moscow not to touch the frozen assets. Moscow has denied any connection to the incidents and has promised a “painful response” if its assets are seized.

    In a renewed attempt to end Russia’s war, U.S. President Donald Trump hit Rosneft and Lukoil, its two biggest oil companies, with sanctions late last month, adding to an unprecedented basket of economic sanctions that seek to pressure Moscow and those doing business with it.

    The move underlined Washington’s intent to squeeze Russia’s finances and force the Kremlin towards a peace deal in its 3-1/2-year-old full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    Washington is watching the fallout from the Rosneft and Lukoil move and “there are more things we could do to try to up the pressure,” the source said.

    (Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • ‘Fifty or Sixty People in a Single Street’: Witnesses Describe Civilian Killings in Sudan’s Al-Fashir

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    AL-DABBA, Sudan (Reuters) -Civilians in al-Fashir were shot in the streets, targeted in drone strikes and crushed by trucks, witnesses to the first days of the RSF’s takeover described to Reuters, providing a glimpse into the violent capture of one of Sudan’s largest cities.

    The fall of al-Fashir on October 26 has cemented the Rapid Support Forces’ control of the Darfur region in its two-and-a-half-year war with the Sudanese army. Videos of soldiers killing civilians on the outskirts of the city and reports of attacks on those escaping have raised international alarm.

    But less is known about what happened inside al-Fashir, which has been cut off from telecommunications since the start of the RSF offensive. Reuters spoke to three people who fled to the city of al-Dabba, more than 1,000 km away in northern Sudan, and one person who fled to the nearby town of Tawila.

    One witness said he was in a group trying to flee intense shelling when RSF trucks surrounded them, and sprayed civilians with machine-gun fire and crushed them with their vehicles.

    “Young people, elderly, children, they ran them over,” said the witness, who did not want to give his name for fear of retribution, speaking by phone from Tawila. Some civilians were abducted by RSF fighters, he said.

    Asked for comment, an RSF leader told Reuters investigations were underway and anyone proven to have committed abuses would be held accountable, but that reports of violations in al-Fashir had been exaggerated by the army and its allies.

    ‘FIFTY OR SIXTY KILLED IN A SINGLE STREET’

    The killings continued on the second day of the RSF offensive, said another witness named Mubarak, now in al-Dabba. RSF fighters raided homes in residential areas having captured the army’s base the day before, he said.

    “Fifty or sixty people in a single street… they kill them bang, bang, bang. Then they would go to the next street, and again bang, bang, bang. That’s the massacre I saw in front of me,” Mubarak said. Many people, often injured or elderly, didn’t leave the city and were killed in their homes, he said.

    Local resistance fighters, largely armed young men, were in the streets fighting the offensive, with army soldiers and allied fighters in bases or retreating.

    “They were the ones who died more,” he said.

    Anyone out in the street was “targeted by the drones and a lot of bullets,” Mubarak said. Al-Fashir residents have reported drones following civilians and targeting any gatherings in recent months.

    Another eyewitness, Abdallah, who spoke to Reuters in al-Dabba, said he also saw fleeing civilians targeted by drones. He said he saw 40 dead bodies on the ground in one location in al-Fashir.

    Reuters could not independently verify their accounts, though they broadly correspond to reports from aid officials, the United Nations and verified social media videos.

    Satellite imagery reported by Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab last week showed objects consistent with dead bodies in several parts of al-Fashir. Further images showed earth disturbances that suggested mass graves and the disappearance of objects and presence of large vehicles that suggested the movement of bodies, people, or looting, it said this week.

    Imagery also indicated the RSF had closed off a main exit point from the city, leading to the town of Garney.

    Traumatised civilians are still trapped inside al-Fashir, said U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk on Friday. “I fear that the abominable atrocities such as summary executions, rape and ethnically motivated violence are continuing,” he said.

    On Thursday, the RSF said it had agreed to a proposal from the United States and Arab powers for a humanitarian ceasefire and said it was open to talks on a cessation of hostilities. On Friday morning, the paramilitary force launched drone attacks on the capital Khartoum and the city of Atbara, eyewitnesses said.

    Both the RSF and the Sudanese army have agreed to various ceasefire proposals during their war, which has created widening pockets of famine, including in al-Fashir. None have succeeded.

    Those who managed to leave al-Fashir have reported treacherous journeys with violent RSF searches, the disappearance of men, and kidnappings for ransom.

    Umm Jumaa made it to al-Dabba with four of her grandchildren, but hasn’t been able to find her two sons, both army soldiers, or her daughter. Before she fled al-Fashir she witnessed RSF fighters beating civilians to death, she said.

    “Those who didn’t die, they would say, ‘finish them off, finish them off, this one isn’t dead, finish him off.’”

    (Reporting by Eltayeb Siddig in al-Dabba, Nafisa Eltahir, and Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Ros Russell)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Four Arrested After Protesters Disrupt Israeli Concert in Paris

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    PARIS (Reuters) -Four people were arrested after protesters used flares to disrupt a concert by the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra in Paris on Thursday night, the latest in a wave of anti-Israel incidents linked to the Gaza conflict, French officials said on Friday.

    In footage posted on social media, protesters were seen lighting flares and chanting pro-Palestinian slogans in La Philharmonie concert hall in northern Paris as some audience members and security personnel tried to remove them.

    Despite the chaos and several interruptions, the concert went ahead after the protesters were evacuated.

    “I strongly condemn the actions committed last night during a concert at the Philharmonie de Paris. Nothing can justify them,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on X.

    “I thank the personnel from the Paris police who enabled the rapid arrest of several perpetrators of serious disturbances inside the venue and contained the demonstrators outside. Four people have been placed in custody,” he added.

    The Paris prosecutor’s office said three women and a man were in custody, on charges ranging from violence, destruction and organising an unauthorised protest.

    Culture Minister Rachida Dati on X condemned the disruptions as going against the “fundamental rights of our Republic.”

    The Philharmonie said it had filed a criminal complaint.

    (Reporting by Dominique VidalonEditing by Alexandra Hudson)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Trump signals shift on Iran

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    President Donald Trump has said Iran has asked whether U.S. sanctions could be lifted, calling the current measures “very heavy” and noting he is “open to hearing that, and we’ll see what happens.”

    Speaking at the White House late Thursday, Trump offered no timeline or conditions for engagement but signalled a potential opening for dialogue between the longtime rivals.

    Newsweek has reached out to the State Department and Iran’s Foreign Ministry for comment.

    Why It Matters

    Any easing of U.S. sanctions would mark a significant shift in American foreign policy toward Tehran. Trump’s administration has pursued a “maximum pressure” campaign, including strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and tight economic restrictions.

    Negotiations between the U.S. and Iran stalled after a 12-day war sparked by a surprise Israeli attack earlier this year. Any change in policy could influence the balance of power in the Middle East, affect global oil markets, and reshape relations with U.S. allies in the region.

    What to Know

    Trump told reporters: “Iran has been asking if the sanctions could be lifted. Iran has got very heavy U.S. sanctions and it makes it really hard for them to do what they’d like to be able to do. And I’m open to hearing that, and we’ll see what happens, but I would be open to it.”

    The president has not committed to any specific steps, but his openness indicates a potential recalibration of U.S. strategy toward Tehran.

    The “maximum pressure” strategy, reinstated early in his second term, was designed to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions and limit its regional influence. Previous negotiations, including the 2015 nuclear deal, collapsed after the U.S. withdrew, citing inadequate oversight.

    Trump on Israel-Iran Conflict

    Trump also addressed the recent conflict between Israel and Iran, providing new details on U.S. involvement.

    “Israel attacked first. That attack was very, very powerful. I was very much in charge of that,” he said. “When Israel attacked Iran first, that was a great day for Israel because that attack did more damage than the rest of them put together.”

    The Israeli assault on June 13 killed several top Iranian generals and nuclear scientists, along with numerous civilians. Iran responded with hundreds of missile strikes against Israel, after which the U.S. joined the conflict by bombing Iran’s three major nuclear facilities.

    Iran’s Stance

    Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaking in Tehran on Monday ruled out cooperation with Washington as long as the U.S. maintains military forces in the region and supports Israel.

    Iran has also resisted international demands to limit uranium enrichment, a key sticking point that has derailed past nuclear negotiations. Any movement toward easing sanctions would likely require verifiable guarantees from Tehran—a condition it has so far refused to meet.

    What People Are Saying

    Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaking in Tehran on Monday: “Only if the United States completely cuts its backing for the Zionist regime, removes its military bases from the region, and ceases interfering in its affairs, their request for cooperation with Iran, not in the near future but much later, could be examined.”

    What Happens Next

    While Trump’s remarks open the door for dialogue, progress will depend on Tehran providing concrete assurances about its nuclear program. Negotiations are expected to proceed slowly, with extensive diplomatic maneuvering before any tangible change in U.S. sanctions policy.

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  • Piles of Garbage and Seeping Sewage Pollute Devastated Gaza

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    KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (Reuters) -Stinking mounds of fly-covered garbage lie strewn throughout Gaza amid the rubble from Israel’s devastating military campaign, spilling out along roadsides and between the tents where most of the shattered enclave’s people live. 

    Government services such as rubbish collection ceased as soon as the war began and although they are partially returning since the truce last month, the massive extent of destruction means any more thorough cleanup lies far in the future. 

    “I don’t smell any fresh air. I smell a foul odour in my tent. I can’t sleep. My children wake up in the morning coughing,” said Mahmoud Abu Reida, gesturing at the dumpster by the tent he shares with his wife and four children in Khan Younis. 

    Rotting garbage, sewage-filled pools, hazardous waste from bomb sites and noxious smoke from burning cloth and plastic have birthed a fetid environment for Gazans. 

    “The scale of the waste problem in Gaza is huge,” said Alessandro Mrakic, head of the Gaza office of the U.N. development agency UNDP. 

    Waste landfill sites were already full before the start of the war and three major dump sites were located along the border with Israel in areas that are now off limits to Palestinians, he said. 

    “We’re talking about 2 million tons of waste – untreated – all across Gaza,” Mrakic said, adding that the risks to the environment, to the aquifer that much of Gaza’s water comes from, and to the population’s health were “immense”.

    Many people complain of gastric diseases and skin complaints from diarrhoea to rashes, sores, lice and scabies, and doctors in the tiny, crowded Palestinian territory say pollution is to blame. 

    “Skin diseases have spread a lot because of overcrowding in tents and the tents are next to garbage dumps,” said Sami Abu Taha, a dermatologist at the Kuwaiti field hospital in Khan Younis, lamenting the lack of medicine to treat such ailments. 

    One of Abu Reida’s children has been repeatedly to the hospital, he said, where doctors had told him the boy was suffering from a bacterial infection that likely came from the rubbish container by the tent. 

    BOMBARDMENTS SMASH INFRASTRUCTURE

    In another part of Khan Younis, Mahmoud Helles was sitting in his tent with his children – a sewage-filled pond standing nearby. 

    “We find nowhere to stay but in such places,” he said, showing a rash of red spots on his arm and hand. 

    “This place is very, very difficult – it is full of diseases and epidemics because of war remnants, piles of garbage, and the lack of sewage treatment,” he said. 

    Much of Gaza’s wastewater and sewage infrastructure was badly damaged by Israel’s bombardment and ground operations, leaving people to use open latrines that flood when it rains. 

    The United Nations is developing plans to deal with the waste problem, including considering options for processing plants that can generate electricity from waste, Mrakic said. 

    “Immediate action is needed, mainly through access of machinery, equipment, that will allow us to properly perform the job on the ground,” he added.  

    (Reporting by Ramadan Abed in Khan Younis and Mahmoud Issa in Deir al-Balah; writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Sharon Singleton)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Opinion | Trump Changed the Stakes in the Middle East

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    In the 77 years since the formation of the Jewish state, and for the 2,000 years since the destruction of the Second Temple, the West has understood peace in the Middle East—peace between Arabs and Jews—as impossible.

    Semantically, the “Peace Process” was the continuing enjoyment of a process which could be ended only by peace. What, then, have the West, the world and the United Nations been doing in regard to the Mideast since 1948?

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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  • UN Security Council Removes Sanctions on Syria’s President and Interior Minister

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    UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United Nations Security Council removed sanctions on Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is due to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday.

    The U.S.-drafted resolution on Thursday also lifted sanctions on Syrian Interior Minister Anas Khattab. It received 14 votes in favor, while China abstained. 

    Washington has been urging the 15-member Security Council for months to ease Syria sanctions.

    After 13 years of civil war, Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December in a lightning offensive by insurgent forces led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

    Formerly known as the Nusra Front, HTS was al Qaeda’s official wing in Syria until breaking ties in 2016. Since May 2014, the group has been on the U.N. Security Council’s al Qaeda and Islamic State sanctions list.

    A number of HTS members are also under U.N. sanctions – a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo – including its leader Sharaa and Khattab.

    Trump announced a major U.S. policy shift in May when he said he would lift U.S. sanctions on Syria.

    United Nations sanctions monitors have seen no “active ties” this year between al Qaeda and HTS, according to a U.N. report seen by Reuters in July.

    (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Daniel Wallis)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Sudan’s RSF Agrees to U.S. Proposal for Humanitarian Ceasefire

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    (Reuters) -Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces agreed to a proposal from the United States for a humanitarian ceasefire, they said on Thursday in a statement.

    The war erupted in April 2023 when the Sudanese army and the RSF, then partners in power, clashed over plans to integrate their forces.

    (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir; Writing by Enas Alashray; Editing by Alex Richardson)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Dutch Appeals Court Rejects Bid to Stop Arms Exports to Israel

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    THE HAGUE (Reuters) -A Dutch appeals court on Thursday confirmed a decision to throw out a case brought by pro-Palestinian groups to stop the Netherlands exporting weapons to Israel and trading with Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.

    The court said it was up to the state to decide what actions to take and not judges. 

    In a written ruling, the court said it could not order a blanket ban because the pro-Palestinian groups had not shown that the government was routinely failing to consider whether exported arms or dual-use goods would be used to violate rights.

    The court in The Hague added that the Dutch government already did enough to discourage companies from working in the occupied territories.

    The plaintiffs, citing high civilian casualties in Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, had argued that the Dutch state, as a signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention, has a duty to take all reasonable measures at its disposal to prevent genocide.

    Israel has repeatedly dismissed accusations of genocide and said its Gaza campaign was focused solely on fighting Hamas.

    The court said the Netherlands did have that obligation under the Genocide Convention and that there was “a grave risk” that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.

    But it backed a decision by a lower court in December last year. In that case, the judges sided with the Dutch state which had said it continually assesses the risk around exported arms, and that it has refused some exports.

    The pro-Palestinian NGOs had said the Netherlands had exported radar systems, parts for F-16 fighter jets and warships, police dogs and cameras and software for surveillance systems.

    The Dutch government says that it has halted most arms exports to Israel and only allows parts for defence systems such as the Iron Dome.

    (Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Kurdish Leader Barzani Pushes for Leverage With Baghdad in Iraq Vote

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    BAGHDAD Reuters) -Masoud Barzani, the Iraqi Kurdish leader who first took up arms against Saddam Hussein as a teenage guerrilla, remains a towering figure in Kurdish politics as Iraq heads into its November 11 election.

    Though he no longer holds an official post, Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is urging a strong Kurdish turnout to safeguard regional interests and strengthen its hand in fraught negotiations with Baghdad.

    Barzani’s political journey has been shaped by decades of rebellion, betrayal, and uneasy truces with successive Iraqi governments. Now in his late 70s, he continues to wield influence behind the scenes, often referred to as “President” in Kurdish media and diplomatic circles.

    His legacy looms large over the race for seats in the national parliament in Baghdad, a contest that could either reinforce Kurdish autonomy or expose deepening fractures within the Kurdish political landscape.

    A strong KDP performance would give Barzani’s camp more leverage in disputes with the central government over oil revenues and budget allocations — issues that have sharply escalated tensions between Erbil and Baghdad in 2025.

    A weak showing, however, could embolden rival Kurdish factions and strengthen the central government’s position.

    FROM MOUNTAIN FIGHTER TO POLITICAL POWER BROKER

    Barzani’s long career has been marked by cunning and patience, qualities that helped the Kurds in northern Iraq to survive brutality under Saddam.

    Following the 1991 Gulf war, the Kurds rose up against Saddam’s dictatorship, and Barzani and his peshmerga fighters came down from the mountains and captured several cities.

    But the victorious U.S.-led allies balked at the prospect of a Kurdish split from Baghdad and initially gave Saddam’s troops a free hand to put down the uprising.

    Facing strategic defeat, the quietly spoken Barzani was forced to do the unthinkable and negotiate with Saddam, who had gassed the Kurds and buried them in mass graves years before.

    Barzani was saved by a U.S. and British no-fly zone over the north which allowed him and his Kurdish rival Jalal Talabani to retake the area. The longest period of Kurdish autonomy in modern history followed, but the experience was scarred by war between Barzani and Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

    Barzani invited Iraqi government tanks into the enclave in 1996 to seize the regional capital Erbil, sending not only Talabani but CIA agents and their local employees fleeing.

    GAMBLE ON INDEPENDENCE ENDS IN FAILURE

    After decades of struggle, and Saddam’s overthrow in a 2003 U.S.-led invasion, critics say Barzani made one of his biggest errors by seeking a referendum on Kurdish independence in 2017.

    The Baghdad government rejected it as illegal and sent troops to seize the oil city of Kirkuk, which the Kurds regard as the heart of any future homeland. A bitter Barzani stepped down as president of the regional government.

    “I am the same Masoud Barzani, I am a Peshmerga and will continue to help my people in their struggle for independence,” Barzani said in a televised address.

    “Nobody stood up with us, other than our mountains.”

    Barzani was born in 1946, soon after his legendary father, Mulla Mustafa Barzani, known as the Lion of Kurdistan, founded a party to fight for the rights of Iraqi Kurds.

    Masoud Barzani became a guerrilla as a teenager, and over time he would become familiar with an abiding theme in Kurdish history – betrayal by regional and Western powers.

    Exiled and dying of cancer in a U.S. hospital in 1976, Mulla Mustafa lamented that he had ever trusted the United States.

        A year earlier, Mulla Mustafa had been fighting a guerrilla war against Baghdad backed by Iran’s pro-Western shah, but he was cut adrift when then-U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger brokered a deal that allowed Saddam to crush the Kurds.

    During the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, Barzani allied the KDP with Tehran once more. As a result, some 8,000 Barzani tribesmen were rounded up and paraded through Baghdad before being executed. In Saddam’s words: “They went to hell.”

    In March 1988 Saddam’s warplanes bombed the Kurdish town of Halabja with poison gas killing up to 5,000 people.

    Despite the massacres, Barzani retained enough of a fighting force to respond to President George Bush’s appeal for an uprising during the 1991 Gulf War, when a U.S.-led coalition routed Saddam’s army in Kuwait.

    After Saddam’s fall, Barzani became a central figure in the drive to create an autonomous Kurdish state in northern Iraq. Kurdish leaders kept their territory relatively free of the sectarian bloodshed that plagued most of Iraq. Western oil executives flocked to the region seeking deals.

    STRAINS WITH BAGHDAD OVER OIL RESURFACE

    Kurds showed their military capability by joining Iraqi government troops and Iranian-backed paramilitary forces to drive Islamic State militants out of Mosul.

    Confident that the time was right for an independent homeland, Barzani pursued the disastrous referendum. A day after the vote he recalled the Kurds’ seemingly endless suffering.

    “I’ve been fighting for half a century. With my people I have been through mass killings, deportations, gassings. I remember times when we thought we were done for, headed for extermination,” he told the Kurdish Rudaw news agency.

    “I remember times, as in 1991 after the first war against Saddam, when the democracies came to our rescue but left the dictatorship in place, thus casting us back into the shadows.”

    Barzani’s arch-enemy Saddam was executed in 2007. But tensions persist between the Kurds and Baghdad authorities.

    Relations soured once again in February 2022 when Iraq’s federal court deemed an oil and gas law regulating the oil industry in Iraqi Kurdistan unconstitutional and demanded that Kurdish authorities hand over their crude oil supplies.

    Barzani criticised the move as a “completely political decision” aimed at opposing the Kurdistan region.

    Barzani has kept a hand in politics through his KDP. The party swept the Kurdish vote in a 2021 election after forming an alliance with Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

    (Writing by Michael Georgy, Editing by William Maclean)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • From Africa to Iran: Mamdani’s mayoral win draws praise from unexpected quarters, sharp criticism

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    Zohran Mamdani’s historic win as New York City’s first Muslim mayor has sparked global reactions — from pride in Uganda to anxiety in Israel, to jubilation among leftists in Europe, and even praise from an Iranian lawmaker and a Hamas social media channel.

    The 34-year-old Democratic Socialist, born in Uganda to Indian parents, has become a symbol of a new, intersectional left — and a flashpoint for debates over socialism, Israel and U.S. foreign policy. 

    Uganda

    In Uganda’s capital of Kampala, Ugandans told Fox News Digital that Zohran Mamdani’s victory as New York City’s first Muslim mayor “felt like a homegrown win.” Although his family left Uganda when he was an infant, many in the East African nation say they view him as one of their own — proof that Ugandans and immigrants alike can rise to global leadership.

    Siraje Kifamba Nsamba, a social worker at Uganda’s Islamic Center for Education and Research, said Mamdani “has made history for Uganda.”

    MAMDANI TAKES COMMANDING 22-POINT LEAD OVER CUOMO IN NEW POLL

    Zohran Mamdani delivers a victory speech at a mayoral election night watch party, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in New York City.  (Yuki Iwamura/AP)

    “He did not hide his identity as Ugandan by birth,” Nsamba said. “Against all odds, he broke every record. He showed the world that you can come from here and lead anywhere.”

    Nsamba added that Mamdani’s campaign — built on promises of rent freezes, free public transit, and affordable living — resonated not only with struggling New Yorkers but also with Ugandans who saw in him an example of immigrant success.

    “It motivates so many young people here,” he said. “He’s an example that you can come from home and become a leader in any field.”

    Another Ugandan citizen said: “I want to cry out load because we lost such a great leader to New York. We’ve missed out because we believe in a system where there is a classless society where rich work for the poor… New York, I want to tell you there are more Mamdani here in Kampala, more for you”.

    A Kampala rapper and local politician echoed that pride, calling Mamdani’s victory “a triumph for artists, dreamers, and immigrants.” Tom Mayanja, a musician known by his stage name The Myth UG, recalled interviewing Mamdani years ago and remembering him as “focused, witty, and deliberate.”

    MAMDANI RIPPED BY RIVALS FOR UNPOPULAR STANCE DURING FIERY NYC DEBATE: ‘YOU WON’T SUPPORT ISRAEL’

    Supporters of New York City Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani celebrate

    Supporters of New York City Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani celebrate during an election night event at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater in Brooklyn, New York on Nov. 4, 2025.  (Angelina Katsanis/AFP via Getty Images)

    Elsewhere, global reactions to Mamdani’s win were mixed, reflecting both admiration and alarm.

    Middle East

    Jusoor News, a pan-Arab media outlet, shared content from Hamas-affiliated Telegram channels hailing Mamdani’s win as “a moral victory for humanitarian politics.”

    The Hamas-linked channel Kol al-Hakika described Mamdani as “a supporter of Hamas and a hater of Israel,” claiming “everyone is cheering after the great winning of Mamdani.” Other terrorist-affiliated accounts framed the result as “a change in Western power structures.”

    SOCIALIST SHOCKWAVE: ZOHRAN MAMDANI STUNS NYC AS VOTERS HAND POWER TO DEMOCRATS’ FAR-LEFT FLANK

    Zohran Mamdani celebrating

    Socialist Zohran Mamdani won his New York City mayoral race, beating former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

    In Israel, reactions were far more severe. Amichai Chikli, Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs, said New York “handed over its keys to a supporter of Hamas,” warning that “New York will no longer be the same, especially for its Jewish community,” and urging Jewish New Yorkers to move to Israel.

    Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that Mamdani’s election “will be remembered forever as a moment when antisemitism triumphed over common sense,” calling him “a supporter of Hamas” and “a hater of Israel.”

    In Iran, lawmaker Abolqasem Jarareh told Iran International that Mamdani’s win was “a sign of the strength of the slogan ‘Death to Israel.’”

    Europe

    In the U.K., London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan congratulated Mamdani on X stating, “New Yorkers faced a clear choice – between hope and fear – and just like we’ve seen in London – hope won.”

    Former Labour Party leader and hard-left politician Jeremy Corbyn, who has been embroiled in accusations of antisemitism and who volunteered for Mamdani’s campaign, wrote, “This is a seismic victory — not only for the people of New York, but for all those who believe that humanity and hope can prevail.”

    French MEP Manon Aubry, co-chair of the Left bloc in the European Parliament, called the victory “a huge breath of hope in the world of Trump.”

    Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani

    Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and New York City Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani hold hands during the town hall “Fighting Oligarchy” event at Brooklyn College on Sept. 6, 2025.  (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

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    “He overcame the media, economic, and political establishment that spent tens of millions of dollars to block his path,” Aubry wrote, praising his refusal to “turn a blind eye to racism and Gaza,” she wrote.

    Canada

    In Canada, leader of the leftist NDP, Jagmeet Singh tweeted, “At a time when the odds feel so stacked against working-class people, the people of New York made history.”

    Adriana James-Rodil contributed to this article.

    Efrat Lachter is an investigative reporter and war correspondent. Her work has taken her to 40 countries, including Ukraine, Russia, Iraq, Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan. She is a recipient of the 2024 Knight-Wallace Fellowship for Journalism. Lachter can be followed on X @efratlachter.

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  • Hundreds of Hamas Fighters Are Stuck in Tunnels in Israeli-Controlled Gaza

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    A detachment of Israeli engineering troops was demolishing tunnels behind the withdrawal line in Gaza last month when Hamas militants sprang from a hidden shaft, fired an antitank missile toward their excavator and killed two soldiers.

    A little over a week earlier, Israel and Hamas had agreed to a cease-fire. Israel responded to the deadly encounter with a round of airstrikes on Gaza that killed dozens of people.

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  • Israel Extends Arrest of Military’s Former Top Legal Officer, Source Says

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    (Corrects paragraph five to reflect that the video surfaced before the indictments)

    JERUSALEM (Reuters) -The detention of the Israeli military’s former chief legal officer, who was arrested on Sunday, has been extended until Friday, a police source told Reuters on Wednesday.

    Advocate General Major-General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi resigned last week over a criminal inquiry into the leaking of a video that appeared to show soldiers abusing a Palestinian detainee arrested during the Gaza war.

    Tomer-Yerushalmi, who said she was quitting because she had approved the video’s leak in August 2024, was briefly reported missing on Sunday, but was later found and taken into custody.

    Police did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the source’s remarks to Reuters.

    The video surfaced during an abuse investigation that led to the Israeli military prosecutor filing indictments against five reservists, alleging severe abuse and injury of a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli prison, included cracked ribs, a punctured lung and a torn rectum.

    The inquiry drew condemnation from right-wing politicians, and protesters stormed two military compounds after investigators sought troops for questioning in the case.

    A week after the break-in at the bases, a security camera video showing the moments of the alleged abuse was leaked to Israel’s N12 News.

    It showed soldiers taking a prisoner aside and crowding around while holding a dog and blocking visibility of their actions with their riot gear.

    Tomer-Yerushalmi said her actions were an attempt to fend off propaganda against the military’s legal department entrusted with upholding the rule of law.

    Rights groups have reported grave abuses of Palestinians in Israeli detention during the war. Israel’s military is investigating dozens of cases but says abuse is not systematic.

    (Reporting by Pesha Magid, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Hamas Returns Last Dead American-Israeli Hostage to Israel

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    TEL AVIV—The body of the last dead American hostage in Gaza was returned by Hamas after more than two years, marking the close of a painful chapter for U.S. families whose relatives were taken by the militant group.

    Itay Chen, 19, an Israeli-American soldier who also holds German citizenship, was killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack while fighting off militants with his tank crew in southern Israel. Chen was one of around 250 hostages taken during the attack, including around a dozen U.S. nationals, according to the Hostages Families Forum, an advocacy group.

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  • Exclusive-Saudi Arabia’s Request to Buy F-35 Jets Clears Key Pentagon Hurdle, Sources Say

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    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration is considering a Saudi Arabian request to buy as many as 48 F-35 fighter jets, a potential multi-billion-dollar deal that has cleared a key Pentagon hurdle ahead of a visit by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, two sources familiar with the matter said.

    A sale would mark a significant policy shift, potentially altering the military balance in the Middle East and testing Washington’s definition of maintaining Israel’s “qualitative military edge.”

    Saudi Arabia made a direct appeal earlier this year to U.S. President Donald Trump and has long been interested in Lockheed Martin’s fighter, one of the people and a U.S. official said. The Pentagon is now weighing a potential sale of 48 of the advanced aircraft, the U.S. official and the person familiar with the talks told Reuters. The size of the request and its status have not been previously reported.

    The U.S. official and a second U.S. official, who acknowledged the weapons deal was moving through the system, said no final decision has been made and several more steps are needed before the ultimate nod, including further approvals at the Cabinet level, sign-off from Trump and notification of Congress. 

    The Pentagon’s policy department worked on the potential transaction for months, and the case has now progressed to the secretary level within the Defense Department, according to one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

    The Pentagon, White House and State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Lockheed Martin spokesperson said military sales are government-to-government transactions and the matter is best addressed by Washington.

    Washington weighs weapons sales to the Middle East in a way that ensures Israel maintains a “qualitative military edge”. This guarantees that Israel gets more advanced U.S. weapons than regional Arab states. 

    The F-35, built with stealth technology that allows it to evade enemy detection, is considered the world’s most advanced fighter jet. Israel has operated the aircraft for nearly a decade, building multiple squadrons, and remains the only Middle Eastern country to possess the weapons system.

    Saudi Arabia, the largest customer for U.S. arms, has sought the fighter for years as it looks to modernize its air force and counter regional threats, particularly from Iran. The kingdom’s renewed push for what would constitute two squadrons comes as the Trump administration has signaled openness to deepening defense cooperation with Riyadh. The Saudi Air Force flies a mix of fighter aircraft including Boeing F-15s, European Tornados and Typhoons.

    The F-35 issue has also been intertwined with broader diplomatic efforts. The Biden administration previously explored providing F-35s to Saudi Arabia as part of a comprehensive deal that would have included Riyadh normalizing relations with Israel, though those efforts ultimately stalled.

    Trump has made arms sales to Saudi Arabia a priority since returning to office. In May, the United States agreed to sell the kingdom an arms package worth nearly $142 billion, which the White House called “the largest defense cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done.

    Congressional scrutiny could also pose challenges to any F-35 sale. Lawmakers previously questioned arms deals with Riyadh following the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and some members of Congress remain wary of deepening military cooperation with the kingdom.

    The potential sale also comes as Saudi Arabia pursues ambitious economic and military modernization plans under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 agenda. The kingdom has sought to diversify its defense partnerships in recent years while maintaining its decades-long security relationship with Washington.

    (Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Chris Sanders and Lisa Shumaker)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Hamas Says Body of Israeli Soldier Hostage Found in Gaza, Will Be Handed Over

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    CAIRO (Reuters) -The armed wing of Hamas said on Tuesday it had found the body of an Israeli soldier who had been held hostage by Palestinian militants in Gaza, and that arrangements were underway to hand it over to Israel.

    Hamas said the body was found in Shejaia, an eastern suburb of Gaza City in an area still occupied by Israeli forces, after Israel granted access to the location for teams from Hamas and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

    Under a ceasefire deal that took effect on October 10, Hamas turned over all 20 living hostages held in Gaza in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian convicts and wartime detainees held in Israel. Hamas also promised to turn over the remains of deceased hostages but says Gaza’s war devastation has made locating bodies difficult. Israel accuses Hamas of stalling.

    Before Tuesday, Hamas had returned 20 of the 28 bodies of hostages that had been buried in Gaza. In return, Israel handed over 270 bodies of Palestinians it had killed since the war erupted in October 2023, Gaza health authorities said.

    Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages in their cross-border attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in the Gaza Strip killed over 68,000 Palestinians, health officials in the enclave say.

    The U.S.-brokered ceasefire has broadly held through repeated incidents of violence. Palestinian health authorities say Israeli forces have killed 239 people in strikes since the truce took effect, nearly half of them in a single day last week when Israel retaliated for a militant attack on its troops.

    Israel says three of its soldiers have been killed and it has targeted scores of militants it says have approached lines behind which Israeli troops have withdrawn under the truce.

    Earlier on Tuesday, Gaza health authorities said Israeli fire killed a man in Jabalia in northern Gaza. Israel’s military said it killed a “terrorist” who crossed into areas the army continues to occupy and posed an imminent threat.

    (Reporting by Nidal Almughrabi and Ahmad Elimam; writing by Elwely Elwelly; editing by Andrew Heavens and Mark Heinrich)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Dick Cheney, Powerful Former Vice President Who Served Four Republican Presidents, Dies at 84

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    Dick Cheney, who served four Republican presidents and whose role as an architect of the post-9/11 war on terror made him one of the most powerful—and controversial—U.S. vice presidents in history, died on Monday. He was 84.

    He died due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said in a statement.

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  • Names of 5 Million of 6 Million Jews Killed in Holocaust Now Identified

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    JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Five million of the more than six million Jews killed in the Holocaust have now been identified, and with the further help of artificial intelligence (AI), even more names could be recovered, Israeli researchers said on Monday.

    Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, said the milestone marks seven decades of work and is at the heart of its mission to recover the identities of those murdered by the Nazis during World War Two.

    Some one million Jewish victims are still unknown “and many will likely remain so forever,” Yad Vashem said. But with tools such as AI and machine learning, it believes it could recover another 250,000 names by analysing hundreds of millions of documents that have been too extensive to research manually.

    With the number of Holocaust survivors shrinking and the world soon to be without first-hand witnesses, Yad Vashem chairman Dani Dayan said reaching the five million milestone was a reminder of an unfinished obligation.

    “Behind each name is a life that mattered – a child who never grew up, a parent who never came home, a voice that was silenced forever,” Dayan said. “It is our moral duty to ensure that every victim is remembered so that no one will be left behind in the darkness of anonymity.”

    In May 2024, Yad Vashem had said it had developed its own AI-powered software to comb through piles of records to try to identify hundreds of thousands of Jewish people killed in the Holocaust whose names are missing from official memorials.

    At the time, it had tracked down information on 4.9 million individuals by reading through statements and documents, checking film footage, cemeteries and other records.

    The names of Holocaust victims, as well as personal files that tell about the lives of many of them, are compiled in an online Yad Vashem database in six languages.

    This database, it noted, has helped countless families reunite with lost relatives and families to commemorate loved ones, particularly as most victims were left without graves.

    “The Nazis aimed not only to murder them, but to erase their existence. And by identifying five million names, we are restoring their human identities and ensuring that their memory endures,” said Alexander Avram, director of Yad Vashem’s Hall of Names, who heads the central database of victims’ names.

    (Reporting by Steven ScheerEditing by Peter Graff)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Hamas returns remains of 3 more Israeli hostages, leaving 8 in Gaza, including an Israeli American

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    Jerusalem – Palestinian militants have so far released the remains of 20 hostages that were held in Gaza for the past two years as part of the ceasefire agreement in the Israel-Hamas war. But the process of returning the bodies of the last eight remaining hostages, as called for under the U.S. peace plan, is progressing slowly, with militants releasing just one or two bodies every few days.

    Hamas says it has not been able to reach all of the remains because they are buried under rubble of buildings destroyed by Israel’s two-year offensive in the Gaza Strip. Israel’s government and the families of the hostages have accused Hamas of dragging its feet, however, and officials have threatened to resume military operations or withhold humanitarian aid if all of the remains are not returned.

    In the most recent release, Hamas returned the bodies on Sunday of three troops killed during its Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on southern Israel. Israel’s military confirmed that the remains belonged to hostages Omer Neutra, Oz Daniel and Col. Assaf Hamami.

    An International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) vehicle transports the bodies of three Israeli hostages that were handed over by Hamas’ armed wing in Gaza, under a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas, Nov. 2, 2025.

    Stringer/Anadolu/Getty


    In return, Israel has so far released the bodies of 270 Palestinians back to Gaza, including 45 handed over on Monday, according to Palestinian media. Israel has not provided any details on their identities, and it is unclear if they were killed in Israel during the attack on Oct. 7, or if they were Palestinian detainees who died in Israeli custody, or bodies that were taken from Gaza by Israeli troops during the war.

    Health officials in Gaza have struggled to identify the bodies without access to DNA kits.

    Who are the 8 hostages whose remains have not been returned?

    Itay Chen was an Israeli American originally from Netanya, in central Israel, who was abducted along with two other members of his tank battalion: Daniel Peretz, who also died, and Matan Angrest, who survived and was released from captivity on Monday. Chen loved basketball and studying human biology, according to the Israeli Hostages Families Forum.

    Chen was killed on Oct. 7 and his body was taken to Gaza. His father, Ruby Chen, has met frequently with American leaders about bringing all of the hostages back to Israel, including the remains of the dead. Itay Chen is survived by his parents and two brothers.

    ISRAEL-FRANCE-PALESTINIAN-CONFLICT-HOSTAGES-CEREMONY

    Ruby Chen holds up a portrait of his 19-year-old son, American-Israeli IDF soldier Itay Chen, who was then believed to be a hostage in Gaza, as people watch a tribute to victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack against Israel, in Tel Aviv, Feb. 7, 2024.

    AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty


    Meny Godard was a professional soccer player before enlisting in the Israeli military and serving in the 1973 Mideast War, according to Kibbutz Be’eri. He served in a variety of different positions in the kibbutz, including at its printing press.

    On the morning of Oct. 7, Godard and his wife, Ayelet, were forced out of their home after it was set on fire. She hid in the bushes for a number of hours before militants discovered her and killed her. She was able to tell her children that Meny had been killed before she died. The family held a double funeral for the couple. They are survived by four children and six grandchildren.

    Hadar Goldin’s remains are the only ones that have been held in Gaza since before the war. The Israeli soldier was killed on Aug. 1, 2014, two hours after a ceasefire took effect ending that year’s war between Israel and Hamas. The military said it was determined that he had been killed in the Oct. 7 attack.

    Goldin is survived by his parents and three siblings, including a twin. He had proposed to his fiancée before he was killed. Earlier this year, Goldin’s family marked 4,000 days since his body was taken. The military retrieved the body of another soldier who was killed in the 2014 war earlier this year.

    Ran Gvili, who served in an elite police unit, was recovering from a broken shoulder he sustained in a motorcycle accident but rushed to assist fellow officers on Oct. 7. After helping people escape from the Nova music festival, he was killed fighting at another location and his body was taken to Gaza. The military confirmed his death four months later. He is survived by his parents and a sister.

    Joshua Mollel was a Tanzanian agricultural student who arrived at kibbutz Nahal Oz only 19 days before Oct. 7. He had finished agricultural college in Tanzania and hoped to gain experience in Israel he could apply at home. Two smaller Palestinian militant groups posted graphic footage on social media showing their fighters stabbing and shooting Mollel, according to a Human Rights Watch report. He is survived by two parents and four siblings in Tanzania.

    Dror Or was a father of three who managed the dairy farm on Kibbutz Be’eri and was an expert cheesemaker. On Oct. 7, the family was hiding in their safe room when militants set the house on fire. Dror and his wife, Yonat, were killed. Two of their children were abducted and released during the November 2023 ceasefire.

    Sudthisak Rinthalak was an agricultural worker from Thailand who had been employed at Kibbutz Be’eri. According to media reports, Rinthalak was divorced and had been working in Israel since 2017. A total of 31 workers from Thailand were kidnapped on Oct. 7, the largest group of foreigners to be held in captivity. Most of them were released in the first and second ceasefires. Rinthalak is the last of three Thai hostages whose bodies were held in Gaza. The Thai Foreign Ministry has said in addition to the hostages, 46 Thais have been killed during the war.

    Lior Rudaeff was born in Argentina and moved to Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak at age 7. He volunteered for more than 40 years as an ambulance driver and was a member of the community’s emergency response team. He was killed while battling militants on the morning of Oct. 7 and his body was brought to Gaza. Rudaeff is survived by four children and three grandchildren.

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  • Red Cross Head Says ‘History Repeating’ in Sudan After Reported Killings

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    RIYADH (Reuters) -The head of the Red Cross says history is repeating itself in Sudan’s Darfur region after reports of mass killings during the fall of the city of al-Fashir to the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary last week.

    The RSF’s capture of al-Fashir – the Sudanese army’s last holdout in Darfur – marked a milestone in Sudan’s civil war, giving the paramilitary force de facto control of more than a quarter of the country’s territory.

    Hundreds of civilians and unarmed fighters may have been killed during the city’s fall, the U.N. human rights office said on Friday. Witnesses have described RSF fighters separating men from women and children, with gunshots ringing out afterwards. The RSF denies harming civilians.

    CIVILIANS TRAPPED WITHOUT FOOD AND WATER

    The situation in Sudan is “horrific,” International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Mirjana Spoljaric told Reuters in a weekend interview during a visit to Riyadh.

    She said tens of thousands of people had fled al-Fashir after the RSF seized the city and it was likely that tens of thousands more were trapped there without access to food, water or medical assistance.

    “It’s history repeating, and it becomes worse every time a place is taken over by the other party,” she said.

    A crackdown on Darfur rebels in the 2000s led to years of ethnically driven violence that killed hundreds of thousands in what was widely labelled genocide. The RSF has its roots in the “Janjaweed” militias mobilised by the government at the time.

    Spoljaric also said the ICRC was “extremely concerned” about reports of a suspected massacre at the Saudi Hospital, the last-known functioning medical facility in al-Fashir, although it could not yet substantiate what happened there. 

    ICRC staff in the nearby town of Tawila had heard reports that people fleeing were “sometimes collapsing and even dying out of exhaustion or because of their wounds,” Spoljaric said, calling the situation “absolutely beyond what we can consider acceptable.”

    The United States has said the RSF had committed genocide in the Darfur city of Geneina during an earlier stage of the two-and-a-half-year civil war, which the group denies. Rights groups and U.S. officials have also accused the RSF and allied militias of ethnic cleansing in the region.

    APPEAL FOR RESTRAINT AND PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS

    Asked about her messaging to alleged foreign backers of parties to the conflict, Spoljaric said: “Especially those states that have an influence on parties to conflict are under responsibility to do the necessary to restrain them and to make sure that they protect civilian populations.”

    The United Arab Emirates has been accused of sending the RSF substantial military support but has repeatedly denied doing so. The rival Port Sudan-based authorities have foreign backers including Egypt and deployed Iranian-made drones to try to turn the tide of the conflict last year. 

    More than 70,000 people have fled al-Fashir since October 26, according to the International Organisation for Migration, but little is known about the fate of almost 200,000 others thought to have remained there during the 18-month RSF assault and siege of the city.

    Spoljaric said the world was living through a “decade of war,” with armed conflicts doubling in the past 15 years to approximately 130, and urged parties to conflicts from the Gaza Strip to Ukraine to uphold the rules of war.

    She said the proliferation of conflicts was being accelerated by rapidly evolving military technology, particularly drones, which “create an environment where nowhere is safe anymore.”

    In the lead-up to the RSF’s takeover of al-Fashir, residents told Reuters they had been taking refuge in underground bunkers to try to protect themselves from drones and shells after intensifying attacks on displacement shelters, clinics and mosques.

    (Reporting by Timour Azhari in Riyadh; Editing by Alex Dziadosz and Timothy Heritage)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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