KYIV: Ukrainian attacks on southern Russia’s Belgorod region killed six people on Friday, officials said.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said four bodies had been pulled from the rubble of a multi-floor apartment building hit by Ukrainian shelling in the border town of Shebekino.
A ministry statement posted after midnight said 50 percent of the rubble from the site had been cleared. Pictures on the ministry’s Telegram channel showed a crane clearing debris and the building’s facade shattered, with one stairwell collapsed.
Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a Ukrainian drone had struck a car in a village near Shebekino, killing the driver. He said a woman was killed in her home when it was struck by rocket fire in the village of Oktyabrsky, further west.
Ukraine has staged frequent attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions in recent months.
President Vladimir Putin cited attacks on Belgorod as grounds for a cross-border incursion last month into Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.
The Russian military said its troops seized about a dozen settlements, while Ukrainian officials say the advance has been contained.
On the Ukrainian side of the border, military officials in Sumy region said a Russian air strike on Friday killed one person in the town of Shostka, about 45 km (28 miles) inside Ukrainian territory.
Towns and villages in Sumy region, west of Belgorod, are subject to daily Russian attacks.
Ukrainian attacks kill six in Russia’s Belgorod region, officials say
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Ukrainian attacks kill six in Russia’s Belgorod region, officials say
- On the Ukrainian side of the border, military officials in Sumy region said a Russian air strike on Friday killed one person in the town of Shostka
France, UK mull migrant swaps in bid to stem Channel crossings
The United Kingdom is seeking to crack down on migrants crossing the Channel from France to England on flimsy rubber dinghies in search of a better life.
France and Britain have pledged to step up the fight against people smugglers who enable the sometimes deadly crossings.
Both sides are discussing “a trial,” France’s interior ministry said.
It would be carried out “on a one-for-one basis of a legal entry for family reunification in exchange for (France) readmitting undocumented migrants who managed to cross” the Channel to the United Kingdom.
“Setting up legal routes, as well as re-entries (to France) to discourage migrant smuggling networks, are part of possible solutions,” it added.
Asked for comment, the British Home Office said the United Kingdom, France and other European countries were “exploring fresh and innovative measures to dismantle the business models of the criminal smuggling gangs.”
Last year, more than 36,800 people crossed the Channel, up 25 percent from 2023, according to British figures.
According to French authorities, 78 migrants died in 2024 while trying to reach England aboard small boats, a record since the start of the trend in this area in 2018.
The United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands in December agreed to boost cooperation against irregular migration.
F1 and local organizations hold media briefing ahead of Saudi Grand Prix 2025
- Workshop reviewed the latest preparations, updated organizational measures, and media rules and regulations for 2025 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Formula One race
- Workshop also reviewed history of F1 races, acquainting participants with modus operandi of Grand Prix, points scoring in races etc.
JEDDAH: Formula One (F1) in cooperation with the Ministry of Sports, the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, and Saudi Motorsports Company, organized a workshop, Thursday, for local media representatives participating in media coverage of the Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2025.
The workshop reviewed the latest preparations, updated organizational measures, and media rules and regulations for the STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Formula One 2025 race, scheduled to take place from April 18-20.
The workshop, which was held at Media Island, addressed several aspects, including the mechanism of accrediting media outlets and how to conduct media interviews with racers, in addition to explaining laws of communication with participating teams and racers and ways to conduct remote interviews and the top media sources specialized in F1 races.
It also reviewed the history of F1 races, acquainting participations with the modus operandi of Grand Prix, explaining the points system, and an account on the teams and racers participating in the current edition and top safety measures followed in organizing the event.
Pakistan hopes for more joint ventures with China through newly inaugurated BRI trade center
- Belt and Road Economic and Trade Center was officially launched this week in Changshu City
- Center features dedicated country display zones and liaison offices for BRI member nations
ISLAMABAD: The Belt and Road Economic and Trade Center (BRETC) will provide Pakistan with a “one stop solution” for joint ventures with Chinese companies, a Pakistani adviser for the newly inaugurated platform said this week.
BRETC was officially launched this week in Changshu City, a key hub in the Yangtze River Delta economic zone in Jiangsu Province. Among the platform’s core objectives is facilitating joint ventures, providing project and trade financing, and helping BRI partner countries access China’s market. The center features dedicated country display zones and liaison offices for key partners, including Pakistan, Jordan, Nigeria and others.
BRETC adviser, Moin Ul Haque, a former Pakistani ambassador to China, said the platform would serve as a “one-stop platform for trade, investment and cultural exchanges, facilitating deeper integration between China and partner countries” like Pakistan.
“The basic purpose of setting up the center was to provide a platform for the countries which are members of Belt and Road for their business connectivity, to improve, to facilitate international trade, to provide a one stop solution for joint ventures with Chinese companies,” he was quoted by Pakistani state news agency APP as saying at the inauguration of BRETC.
The center will provide Belt and Road partner countries with free office space for three years, a free display corner and legal support, and help them set up business branch offices in China.
It will also serve as a platform to enable Belt and Road countries to procure Chinese exports, including commodities and advanced technologies.
Ibrahim Munir, the chairman of the IBI International Group, which initiated and funded BRETC, spoke about the reasons he chose the newly built High-Tech Zone in Changshu as the location for the center.
“It gives you all solutions when it comes to business. It has all kinds of industry – textiles, solar manufacturing, biotech and name of any industry you can have it here,” Munir said.
“And also, the connectivity toward the ports, Changshu port and Suzhou port and Shanghai port. It’s all in one solution, 2ZA3 BXQ and also the incentives, the government policy for the businesses is perfect.”
He said BRETC aimed to connect with over 30 countries and had already engaged with more than 20 to discuss future collaborations and shared visions.
Once put into operation, the center will offer comprehensive solutions spanning bilateral bulk trade, supply chain management, engineering procurement and construction (EPC), transfer-operate-transfer (TOT) projects, production line setup and financing services for both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) engagements.
Immigration judge denies bond for Tufts University student from Turkiye, her lawyers say
- Rumeysa Ozturk’s lawyers filed a new request with a federal judge in Vermont considering whether to take jurisdiction of her detention case
- The lawyers asked the judge to order her to be brought to the state by Friday
VERMONT, USA: An immigration judge denied bond for a Tufts University student from Turkiye who has been detained by authorities in Louisiana for three weeks over what her lawyers say is apparent retaliation for an op-ed piece she co-wrote in the student newspaper.
Meanwhile, Rumeysa Ozturk’s lawyers filed a new request with a federal judge in Vermont considering whether to take jurisdiction of her detention case. The lawyers asked the judge to order her to be brought to the state by Friday and hold a hearing next week. They said that would allow better communication with her legal team and a doctor to evaluate her. They say Ozturk has suffered five asthma attacks in detention.
Lawyers for Ozturk, 30, had asked an immigration judge that she be released on bond as her immigration case proceeds. That judge denied her request Wednesday, the same day Ozturk had a hearing, they said in a statement released Thursday morning.
The Department of Homeland Security presented one document to support their opposition to Ozturk’s bond request: a one-paragraph State Department memo revoking her student visa, her lawyers said in the new court filing.
The memo says that Ozturk’s visa was revoked on March 21 following an assessment that she had been involved in associations ”‘that may undermine US foreign policy by creating a hostile environment for Jewish students and indicating support for a designated terrorist organization’ including co-authoring an op-ed that found common cause with an organization that was later temporarily banned from campus.”
Ozturk’s lawyers said the immigration judge denied bond based on the “untenable conclusion that Ms. Ozturk was both a flight risk and a danger to the community.”
Messages seeking comment Thursday were emailed to the department and to ICE.
Ozturk, a doctoral student studying child development, was taken by immigration officials as she walked along a street in the Boston suburb of Somerville on March 25. After being taken to New Hampshire and then Vermont, she was put on a plane the next day and moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Basile, Louisiana.
Ozturk is among several people with ties to American universities whose visas were revoked or have been stopped from entering the US after they were accused of attending demonstrations or publicly expressed support for Palestinians. A Louisiana immigration judge has ruled that the US can deport Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil based on the federal government’s argument that he poses a national security risk.
Ozturk’s lawyers are challenging the legal authority for ICE’s detention. They also have asked US District Judge William Sessions in Vermont, where her detention case was transferred after lawyers first petitioned for her release in Massachusetts, to take jurisdiction of it and release her.
Sessions, who held a hearing Monday, has not ruled yet.
“The government’s entire case against Rümeysa is based on the same one-paragraph memo from the State Department to ICE that just points back to Rümeysa’s op-ed,” Marty Rosenbluth, one of Ozturk’s attorneys, said in a statement.
Ozturk was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in the campus newspaper, The Tufts Daily, last year criticizing the university’s response to student activists demanding that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.
Ozturk’s lawyers say her detention violates her constitutional rights, including free speech and due process. They said they didn’t know for hours where she was after she was taken. They said they were unable to speak to her until more than 24 hours after she was detained. Ozturk herself said she unsuccessfully made multiple requests to speak to a lawyer.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said last month, without providing evidence, that investigations found that Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a US-designated terrorist group.
Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to mark Passover holiday
- Settlers entered the site through the Mughrabi Gate in groups and performed Jewish prayers
- Israeli forces implemented strict security measures, preventing Palestinians from entering
LONDON: Thousands of Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Compound in the Old City of East Jerusalem to mark the Jewish holiday of Passover on Thursday.
The Jerusalem Governorate, a body affiliated with the Palestinian Authority, said that Israeli settlers entered the site through the Mughrabi Gate in groups and performed Jewish prayers at the site. Settlers also toured Bab Al-Rahma on the eastern wall of the compound, which was a site of conflict between Israeli police and Muslim worshippers in 2019.
Passover is observed from April 12 to 20, when Jewish communities commemorate the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt more than 3,000 years ago.
Far-right Israeli lawmaker Zvi Sukkot, from the Religious Zionism Party, performed in Al-Aqsa the Talmudic ritual known as “epic prostration,” in which the worshipper bows low to the ground in a display of humility and reverence.
Thousands of Jewish worshippers performed the Priest’s Blessing at the Western Wall, a plaza outside the western wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque, on the fifth day of Passover.
Israeli forces implemented strict security measures, turning the Al-Aqsa area into a military zone and preventing Palestinians from entering, the Wafa news agency reported.
On Tuesday, Israeli authorities closed the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, south of the occupied West Bank, as part of security measures during Passover.
The closure meant Palestinians were barred from accessing the site for two days as Israeli settlers celebrated Passover, Wafa added.
