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Items by Reuters
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Minutes to leave: Syria’s Alawites evicted from private homes at gunpoint
Early one evening in late January, 12 masked men stormed the Damascus home of Um Hassan’s family, pointed AK-47 assault rifles in their faces and ordered them to leave. When they presented ownership documents, the men arrested Um Hassan’s oldest brother and said they could only have him back...
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The US campaign against Yemen’s Houthis
The United States intensified strikes on Yemen’s Houthis, this year, to stop attacks on Red Sea shipping, but rights activists have raised concerns over civilian casualties. Here are some facts about the US campaign and a list of some of the biggest strikes. What is behind the US strikes? ...
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Gaza’s amputees face life in a war zone with little treatment, and even less hope
Farah Abu Qainas hoped to become a teacher, but an Israeli air strike last year injured her so badly that she lost her left leg, throwing all her future plans into doubt and adding the 21-year-old to a list of thousands of new amputees in devastated Gaza. Still living...
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In Saudi debut, Tesla faces desert heat, few chargers
Tesla TSLA.O starts selling cars in Saudi Arabia tomorrow, a country where on a 900-kilometre (559 mile) stretch of its main east-west highway linking the capital Riyadh and the holy city of Makkah there isn’t a single charging station. Electric vehicle sales in the kingdom totalled just 2,000 last...
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6 weeks since Israel imposed its total Gaza blockade, food is running out
The bombs still haven’t killed Rehab Akhras and her family. But if the border crossings that Israel has sealed off since the start of March are not opened soon, she says that hunger surely will. Six weeks since Israel completely cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million Palestinian...
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Trump’s remarks on plan to take over Gaza, displace Palestinians
President Donald Trump has proposed a US takeover of Gaza while also suggesting a permanent displacement of Palestinians from the enclave. The plan has been condemned globally, with Palestinians, Arab nations, the UN and rights experts saying it was tantamount to the war crime of “ethnic cleansing.” Following is...
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The uneasy ties between Palestinians and Arab states
Arab states formally support the Palestinian cause but security, regional and sectarian tensions have strained their ties with the Palestinians scattered across the Middle East, leading to political and military crises. Jordan Jordan was one of the countries to receive large numbers of Palestinian refugees when at least 700,000...
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Which countries are quitting a key landmine treaty and why?
NATO members Poland, Finland and all three Baltic states have queued up over the past few weeks to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines, in the face of what they say are growing military threats from Russia. The moves threaten to reverse decades of campaigning by activists who...
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What is the International Criminal Court?
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, begins a four-day visit to Hungary on Thursday, defying an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over allegations of war crimes in Gaza. Israel has rejected the accusations, which it says are politically motivated and fuelled by anti-Semitism. Here are some facts about the ICC: When was...
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‘There is no blank cheque’: Syria leader told to rein in jihadis
Syria’s President, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, has a lot to prove to win over Western powers. If the first few week of his rule are anything to go by, he may be heading in the wrong direction. The West is watching Syria’s leaders closely to ensure they rein in the Islamist jihadis who...
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Landmines imperil camel herders in Yemen
A landmine warning sign in Yemen’s Marib province reminds camel herders that their next step could be their last. After being displaced or confined to smaller areas because of war, the Bedouins hope to reclaim their traditional nomadic way of life. But finding safe land to graze is perilous....
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Turkiye could be a vital partner as Europe and Ukraine seek a new security framework
Turkiye has emerged as a key potential partner in restructuring European security, diplomats and analysts say, as Europe scrambles to bolster its defence and find guarantees for Ukraine under any forthcoming ceasefire deal urged by the United States. European countries have been unsettled by US President Donald Trump’s plan...
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The wife of detained Palestinian Columbia student says she was naive to believe he was safe from arrest
‘Khalil was kidnapped for standing up for his people’ The wife of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and former Columbia University graduate student who was forcibly taken by ICE from his New York City home on 8 March, described his arrest as ‘a kidnapping’, which has left… pic.twitter.com/l79ginkWDw —...
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What is driving the bloodshed in Syria?
Syria has suffered its worst bloodshed since Bashar Al-Assad was ousted in December, with more than 1,000 people reported killed in violence that has swept the coastal region of the country since Thursday. The violence has pitted the Islamist-led government’s security forces against fighters from Assad’s Alawite minority. The...
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Israel’s settler pressure on West Bank villages stirs annexation fear
Just metres from the last houses in Bardala, a Palestinian village at the northern end of the occupied West Bank, Israel’s army has been bulldozing a dirt road and ditch between the community and open grazing land on the hills behind it. The army told Reuters that the works...
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How a key ingredient in Coca-Cola, M&M’s is smuggled from war-torn Sudan
Gum arabic, a vital ingredient used in everything from Coca-Cola to M&M’s sweets, is increasingly being trafficked from rebel-held areas of war-torn Sudan, traders and industry sources say, complicating Western companies’ efforts to insulate their supply chains from the conflict. Sudan produces around 80 per cent of the world’s...
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Who is Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish militant leader urging peace with Turkiye?
The 75-year-old militant leader Abdullah Ocalan has spent a quarter of a century in jail after leading his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to take up arms against the Turkish state to fight for a Kurdish homeland. Now he is calling for peace. On Thursday, Ocalan called on the PKK...
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EXPLAINER – Why Trump’s proposal on Gaza is ringing alarm bells in the region
US President Donald Trump has infuriated the Arab world by saying that Palestinians would not have the right of return to the Gaza Strip under his proposal to redevelop the enclave, which has been devastated by an Israeli offensive. From the earliest days of the Gaza war, Arab governments, particularly Egypt and Jordan,...
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‘No forgetting’: Turks lament reconstruction delays two years after deadly earthquake
Two years after the deadliest and most destructive earthquake in modern Turkish history, hundreds of thousands of people remain displaced, with many still living in temporary housing, as rebuilding efforts lag behind initial targets. Residents of Antakya, the city hardest hit, gathered at 4:17 am (0117 GMT) on Thursday...
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EXPLAINER – How Trump’s Gaza proposals could violate international law
US President Donald Trump said he wants to resettle Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and Jordan, demolish remaining buildings to make way for a Riviera-style development project and place the Occupied Territory under US “ownership”. Forcing people to leave their land and taking over territory are prohibited by long-standing...
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‘No to Trump’s plan!’ Palestinians vow to stay in Gaza
Gazans slammed US President Donald Trump’s plan to take over the Gaza Strip and resettle Palestinians elsewhere, vowing to never leave the ruins of their homes in the coastal enclave that Trump wants to turn into a “Riviera of the Middle East“. “Trump can go to hell, with his...
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QUOTES – Global reaction to Trump’s Gaza Strip takeover plan
President Donald Trump said the United States would take over the Gaza Strip after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere. Here are some global reactions to the announcement. Saudi Arabia Foreign Ministry “Saudi Arabia rejects any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land. Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, has affirmed the Kingdom’s...
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Bereaved Gazans dig out bodies from city ruins, give them graves
Guns may have fallen silent in Gaza, but for Mahmoud Abu Dalfa, the agony is not over. He is desperately searching for the bodies of his wife and five children trapped under the rubble of his house since the early months of the war. Abu Dalfa’s wife and children...
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FACTBOX – Who are the most prominent Palestinians held in Israeli jails?
Under the Gaza ceasefire deal, Israel has agreed to release Palestinians held in Israeli jails in return for freeing hostages taken by the Hamas group in their 7 October, 2023 attack. There is no final agreement on which prisoners will be released in return for hostages, in part because it is unclear...