Daily News Brief TRT World

*) Israeli army tells Palestinians to evacuate eastern Rafah

https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/live-blog-israeli-army-tells-palestinians-to-evacuate-eastern-rafah-18049490

The Israeli army has initiated evacuations in certain neighbourhoods near the border in the East of Rafah.

An Israeli army spokesperson urged Palestinian residents and displaced persons in several areas east of Rafah to evacuate immediately towards the al Mawasi area, according to state television KAN.

Despite growing international opposition, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed Israel will invade Rafah, home to more than 1.4 million displaced Palestinians.

*) Israeli police raid Al Jazeera office after decision to close broadcaster

https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/israeli-police-raid-al-jazeera-office-after-decision-to-close-broadcaster-18039282

Israeli police have conducted a raid on the office of Qatar-owned Al Jazeera television in occupied East Jerusalem.

The police seized Al Jazeera’s equipment shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his government had decided to close its operations in Israel.

Global human rights organisations and press bodies have criticised the decision, accusing the government of silencing dissent amid Israel's Gaza war.

*) US police arrest nearly 2,500 students at pro-Palestine rallies

https://www.trtworld.com/us-and-canada/us-police-arrest-nearly-2500-students-at-pro-palestine-rallies-18049713

Nearly 2,500 people have been arrested at pro-Palestinian rallies held at college and university campuses across the United States.
According to CNN's latest report, the number of arrests since April 18 has exceeded 2,200, while Fox News's report says over 2,400 arrests have been made in total.
As demonstrations are expected to continue in the coming weeks, particularly during graduation ceremonies, campus officials are adding extra police security.
*) Russian strikes on Kharkiv kill one, injures dozens — Ukrainian officials

https://www.trtworld.com/europe/russian-strikes-on-kharkiv-kill-one-injures-dozens-ukrainian-officials-18049179

On Orthodox Easter Sunday, Russian drone and aerial bombs attacks resulted in casualties and injuries in Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv and its surrounding region.
Regional officials reported that a woman lost her life after being buried under rubble, and 24 individuals were injured in the assaults.
And finally…

*) Hundreds protest Israel's participation in Eurovision Song Contest
https://www.trtworld.com/arts-and-culture/hundreds-protest-israels-participation-in-eurovision-song-contest-18031454

Protests against Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest on May 11 have emerged in the Swedish capital of Stockholm.
Hundreds of demonstrators assembled in front of the Swedish Foreign Ministry, calling for a boycott of Israel's involvement in the Eurovision event scheduled to take place in Malmo, Sweden.

Two more demonstrations are planned to be held in Malmo, in which thousands of activists supporting Palestine from various European cities are expected to join.

*) Türkiye halts trade with Israel until uninterrupted aid to Gaza

Türkiye has stopped all exports and imports to and from Israel, as a punitive measure against Tel Aviv's brutal war on Gaza that has killed around 34,600 Palestinians in just over six months.

The Turkish trade ministry said until the Israeli government allows uninterrupted humanitarian aid flow to Gaza, Türkiye will decisively and resolutely implement the new measures in question.

The ministry added that the second phase of state-level measures has been implemented, and all export and import transactions with Israel have been halted.

*) Israel tortures to death al-Shifa hospital orthopaedic surgeon

Israeli forces have killed Adnan al Bursh who was the head of the orthopaedic department at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.

According to the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Al Bursh was arrested by the Israeli army last December as he was treating patients at al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza.

He was killed at the Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank and his body is still withheld by the Israeli forces.

The NGO said one more detainee identified as Ismail Khader has also died at Israeli prisons.

*) Ukraine intel official 'doesn't see way' for Kiev to win war against Moscow

A senior Ukrainian intelligence official has said that Ukraine will, at some point, have to enter into talks with Russia to bring an end to their more than two-year-old war.

Major-General Vadym Skibitsky, deputy chief of Ukraine's HUR military intelligence directorate, told the Economist magazine that talks would eventually be needed, as would be the case with any war.

The magazine wrote, "General Skibitsky says he does not see a way for Ukraine to win the war on the battlefield alone. Even if it were able to push Russian forces back to the borders, it wouldn't end the war."

*) 2,100+ seized, ribs broken, students threatened: Latest on US campus demos

The pro-Palestinian protests on the US campuses, the biggest and most prolonged since the Vietnam demonstrations in the 1960s and 70s, continue despite pro-Zionism rioters attacking students and police cracking down on anti-war students and staff.

Tent encampments of protesters are calling on universities and colleges to stop doing business with Israel or firms they say support the brutal war in Gaza.

More than 2,100 protesters have been arrested over the last two weeks at universities across the US, including the University of Texas at Austin, the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt.

*) Palestinian journalists win World Press Freedom Prize for Gaza war coverage

UNESCO — the UN body that promotes world peace and security — has awarded its World Press Freedom Prize to all Palestinian journalists covering the war in Gaza, where Israel has turned the tiny Palestinian enclave into the "deadliest" place for journalists.

Audrey Azoulay, director general at UNESCO, said the prize paid "tribute to the courage of journalists facing difficult and dangerous circumstances."

*) 57 Democrats urge Biden to prevent Israeli invasion of Rafah

US President Joe Biden's administration has faced renewed pressure from his fellow Democrats to influence ally Israel not to launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah.

Fifty-seven of the 212 Democrats in the House of Representatives signed a letter calling on the administration to take every possible measure to dissuade hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government from an all-out assault on the city.

"We urge you to invoke existing law and policy to immediately withhold military aid to the Israeli government to preempt a full-scale assault on Rafah," said the letter.

*) Australia tiptoes around Indian spy scandal revelations

A string of senior Australian ministers have refused to confirm reports that Indian spies had been uncovered in the country and expelled.

Australia's prime minister as well as other ministers dodged questions about allegations that Indian spooks tried to steal defence secrets and monitor expatriate communities in 2020.

However, Intelligence bosses have revealed that in 2021 they had rumbled what they call a "nest of Indian spies" sent to Australia to steal defence secrets and monitor their country's expats.

*) Colombia cuts diplomatic ties with Israel over Gaza war

President Gustavo Petro has said that Colombia will cut all diplomatic ties with Israel.

"Diplomatic relations with the state of Israel will be severed, for having a genocidal president," Petro told a May Day rally in Bogota.
Petro has been a harsh critic of Tel Aviv's war on Gaza.

*) US accuses Russia of using chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops

The United States has accused Russia of having used "the chemical weapon chloropicrin against Ukrainian forces" in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

In addition, Russia has used "riot control agents as a method of warfare in Ukraine, also in violation of the CWC," a statement from the State Department said.

*) Female ex-employees sue BBC for discrimination

Four female journalists have initiated a gender and age discrimination case against the BBC, claiming they lost their jobs following a "rigged" recruitment exercise.

The female journalists who presented on the BBC's television channels were present at a preliminary hearing in London for the employment tribunal.

The four women claim that they were paid less than men in equivalent roles and that they unfairly lost their jobs at the BBC News Channel.

*) China says Hamas and Fatah met for Palestinian reconciliation talks in Beijing

China has said that two rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah recently met in Beijing for "in-depth and candid talks on promoting intra-Palestinian reconciliation".

"Representatives of the Palestine National Liberation Movement and the Islamic Resistance Movement recently came to Beijing," the Chinese foreign ministry said.

"The two sides fully expressed their political will to achieve reconciliation through dialogue and consultation, discussed many specific issues and made positive progress," it added, without specifying when the sides had met.

*) Paris suspends regional funding for Sciences Po over pro-Palestine protests

The Paris region authority has sparked outrage after suspending funding for Sciences Po, one of the country's most prestigious universities, over pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Valerie Pecresse, the right-wing head of the region, said on social media that she had decided to suspend all regional funding for Sciences Po until calm and security are restored at the school.

*) Several killed in mosque attack in western Afghanistan

At least six people have been killed and several others injured in an attack on a mosque in western Afghanistan, local media reported.

Unknown gunmen targeted worshipers at a Shia mosque in Herat province during evening prayers.

The interior ministry reported that an unknown armed person shot at civilian worshippers in a mosque.

*) Sunak govt reportedly deports first asylum seeker from UK to Rwanda

Britain has deported its first asylum seeker to Rwanda.

The flight was part of a voluntary scheme separate from a forced deportation programme that Britain is about to embark on in the next few months, seeking to deter asylum seekers from coming to the UK.

Under the voluntary scheme, the government has said it would pay asylum seekers up to 3,000 pounds each to move to Rwanda to help clear the backlog of refugees who have arrived in the country in recent years.

*) ICJ rejects Nicaragua's plea to stop German arms exports to Israel

The International Court of Justice has voiced concern over the "catastrophic living conditions” in Palestine’s Gaza, but refrained from issuing emergency measures to stop Germany’s arms exports to Israel.

At a hearing in The Hague, the ICJ President said Germany has been a party to major international arms control treaties, and German authorities have already declared that they have limited arms exports to Israel.

*) Top UN court to rule in Germany 'genocide' case over Gaza

The United Nations' top court will rule on charges by Nicaragua that Germany if facilitating genocide in Gaza by supplying arms to Israel.

Nicaragua initiated proceedings against Germany at the International Court of Justice, accusing Berlin of breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention.

At a hearing earlier this month, Nicaragua requested the court issue emergency measures for Germany to stop its arms exports to Israel.

*) Living conditions worsen in Gaza's Rafah amid rising heat, trash piles

Meanwhile, garbage piles up and the heat rises in war-torn Gaza as life becomes even more grim for displaced Palestinians living in tents.

Last week, temperatures already topped 30°C, turning the makeshift shelters made from plastic tarps and sheets into sweltering ovens.

Rafah hosts about 1.5 million displaced, more than half of Gaza's population which has been besieged and bombarded by Israel for nearly seven months.

*) Security deal ready for Saudi if it normalises ties with Israel: Blinken

The United States is nearly ready with a security package to offer Saudi Arabia if it normalises relations with Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.

Blinken was visiting the kingdom on his seventh trip to the region since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which has then launched a relentless offensive in Gaza.

President Joe Biden's administration, while supporting Israel, has sought moderation from its government by dangling the prospect of formal relations with Saudi Arabia.

*) Scores of people dead in western Kenya after dam collapses

At least 42 people have died when a dam burst its banks near a town in Kenya's Rift Valley, as heavy rains and floods battered the country.

The dam bust in Nakuru county, washing away houses and cutting off a road, with rescuers digging through debris to find survivors.

Monday's dam collapse raises the total death toll over the March-May wet season to 120 as heavier than usual rainfall pounds East Africa.

*) Scotland's first minister Yousaf steps down after a year

Humza Yousaf has announced his resignation as Scotland's first minister, before he was due to face two confidence votes this week.

The 39-year-old quit following a turbulent year as head of the devolved administration, during which support for his pro-independence Scottish National Party has fallen.

Yousaf had been facing growing calls to resign since unceremoniously ending the party’s power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens in the Scottish parliament.

*) Israel kills over a dozen Palestinians in Rafah — medics

Israeli air strikes have targeted three houses in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, killing at least 13 people and wounding numerous others, according to medics.

Additionally, Israeli planes struck two houses in Gaza City in the north of the enclave, which health officials say resulted in several casualties.

These strikes occurred amid ongoing Israeli violence and tension, with over a million people in Rafah seeking shelter from previous bombardments.

*) World Central Kitchen to resume Gaza ops after Israel killings

World Central Kitchen has resumed operations in Gaza after seven of its aid workers were killed in an Israeli strike earlier this month.

In a statement, the charity's chief executive officer emphasised the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and their commitment to providing food assistance with renewed energy and focus.

The organisation plans to deliver food to as many Palestinians as possible, including in the northern region, by utilising various transport methods: land, air, or sea routes.

*) Heat wave kills two Palestinian children in Gaza

The UN refugee agency UNRWA has reported that at least two Palestinian children have lost their lives due to a severe heat wave in Gaza.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini expressed deep concern, highlighting the challenges faced by Palestinians in Gaza: death, hunger, disease, displacement, and now extreme heat conditions.

This situation compounds the ongoing difficulties caused by a deadly Israeli offensive that killed more than 34,400 people and injured thousands.

*) Ukraine signals worsening front amidst Russia's new gains

Ukraine's army leader has acknowledged a deteriorating situation on the battlefield as Russian forces seized another village in eastern Ukraine.

In a Facebook post, Oleksandr Syrsky admitted that Ukrainian troops had retreated westwards to establish new defensive lines along the front near Donetsk.

He noted that Russia holds a significant advantage in manpower and ammunition, allowing them to make advances despite heavy fighting.

*) Palestinian writer wins Arabic Fiction Prize after 20 years in Israeli jail

Palestinian writer Basim Khandaqji, who was imprisoned in Israel 20 years ago, has been awarded the prestigious 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction.

He won for his novel "A Mask, the Colour of the Sky” at a ceremony held in Abu Dhabi.

Khandaqji was born in Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 1983 and began writing short stories until his arrest at the age of 21.