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World Monthly Headline News Page 1
By Andrew Macaskill and Muvija M

LONDON, April 2 (Reuters) - Britain will host talks ​on Thursday aimed at forming a coalition of countries to explore ways to reopen ‌the Strait of Hormuz after U.S. President Donald Trump said securing the vital waterway was a problem for other nations to resolve.

British foreign minister Yvette Cooper will chair the virtual meeting of about 35 countries including France, Germany, Italy, Canada and ​the United Arab Emirates around midday in London to explore ways to restore freedom of ​navigation in the area. The United States is not due to attend.

The meeting takes ⁠place after Trump said in an address to his nation on Wednesday evening that the Strait could open "naturally" ​and it was the responsibility of countries that rely on the waterway to ensure it was open.

An undersea magnitude -7.4 earthquake toppled buildings in parts of northern Indonesia, sent people fleeing from their homes, killed at least one person and generated a small tsunami Thursday.

Waves up to 30 inches above normal tides were recorded at several monitoring stations about a half-hour after the earthquake, which was centered in the Molucca Sea. Indonesia's meteorological agency lifted its tsunami warning hours after the quake, and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said there was no destructive threat to the country, which is north of the quake's epicenter.

Strong shaking lasting 10 to 20 seconds was felt in Bitung in North Sulawesi province as well as in Ternate city in neighboring North Maluku province, according to Indonesia's Disaster Management Agency.
Yuli Novak

This week, Israel passed a law that institutionalises the execution of Palestinians. The country’s courts can now impose death sentences on Palestinians “convicted of fatal attacks”, expanding a legal system designed to target them, strip them of rights, subject them to systematic abuse, and, ultimately, shield Israeli perpetrators of crimes against Palestinians from accountability. While this legislation does not create a whole new reality, it marks the beginning of a troubling new phase of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians by enshrining into law a longstanding policy of using lethal force against them. Disturbingly, this reality is already normalised in Israel.

Long before this law, Palestinians were being systematically killed. In Gaza, mass killing has continued even after the declaration of a “ceasefire”. In the West Bank, Palestinians are killed on a daily basis by the Israeli military in raids, shootings and, increasingly, by violent settler militias aimed at driving them from their land and out of their communities. For some time, Israeli soldiers and settlers have been able to act with near-total impunity.
Celebrations in the Israeli parliament mark the passing of legislation intended to apply to Palestinians only.
By Simon Speakman Cordall

When Israel passed a death penalty law that solely targets Palestinians, it was to be expected that the country’s far right would celebrate. Even as much of the international community roundly condemns Israel for the law – with the United Nations human rights chief calling it a possible “war crime” – there has been little pushback inside Israel.

According to Israeli rights groups and analysts, the introduction of a death penalty targeting people by their ethnicity is just the latest iteration in a long line of legal measures described as having normalised an “apartheid” legal system under which Palestinians are subject to codified discrimination to the benefit of their Israeli neighbours and occupiers.
Statement by FMs, many from countries which also enforce death penalty, decries law’s discriminatory nature toward Palestinians, says it risks ‘exacerbating tensions’
By AFP and ToI Staff

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Islamic nations, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Indonesia, lambasted Thursday the approval of a death penalty bill for West Bank Palestinians convicted of carrying out deadly terror attacks, saying the move threatened “regional stability.”

The statement was released by foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

“This legislation constitutes a dangerous escalation, particularly given its discriminatory application against Palestinian prisoners, and stressed that such measures risk further exacerbating tensions and undermining regional stability,” the joint statement read.

Under the law passed by the Knesset late on Monday, West Bank Palestinians convicted by military courts of carrying out deadly attacks classified as “acts of terrorism” will face the death penalty by default. While judges can opt for life imprisonment under vaguely defined “special circumstances,” the death penalty would otherwise be mandatory and be carried out within 90 days of sentencing.

The law has been criticized by the United Nations and European Union, while the United States came out in support of “Israel’s sovereign right to determine its own laws.”
Story by IntelliNews

Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on April 2 it had launched its 90th wave of operations since the war began, striking US steel and aluminium interests in the UAE and Bahrain, Israeli defence manufacturer Rafael, and US military bases across the region in retaliation for strikes on Iran's steel industry, according to information released.

The Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters spokesperson said targets included US-linked steel and aluminium facilities in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, a covert US personnel gathering near Manama, and Israeli air bases at Tel Nof, Palmachim and Ben Gurion. Military concentrations in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Eilat, the Negev and Beersheba were also targeted, the statement said.

The IRGC's Ebrahim Zolfaghari claimed strikes on three US bases: Ahmed al-Jaber and Ali al-Salem in Kuwait, and al-Kharj in Saudi Arabia.

He added that an early warning radar system at Al-Dhafra air base in the UAE was destroyed.
Posted By Shelby E.

President Donald Trump can’t seem to help himself when it comes to saying anything that comes into his mind without any restraint whatsoever. But his latest controversial comments were so egregious that the White House even removed the video of him making them from its website, but not before social media got hold of it.

At an Easter luncheon at the White House on Wednesday, April 1, Trump did another astounding 180 on a campaign promise, similar to his pledge as a candidate vowing to make “America first” and take the U.S. out of foreign conflicts and wars, which he has violated repeatedly in just 14 months in office.

This time, he called daycare “a scam” and said “it’s not possible” for the federal government to help American families, that the states should handle it, after telling Americans on at least two different occasions during the 2024 presidential campaign that daycare was an important issue and that he planned to help families cover the costs.
Iran has intensified strikes on territories associated with America and Israel, launching what it calls the 92nd wave of attacks.
Story by JONATHAN SPYER

On March 28, the Houthis organization (known also as Ansar Allah), which controls around 30% of Yemen’s territory and governs the majority of the population, joined Iran’s war against the US and Israel. The organization launched two ballistic missiles at southern Israel. Both were intercepted.

In a statement issued after the attacks, the organization’s spokesman, Yahya Saree, said that “The Yemeni Armed Forces, with the help of Allah Almighty and relying upon Allah, have carried out the first military operation using a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting sensitive Israeli military sites in southern occupied Palestine.

“This operation coincided with the heroic operations carried out by our mujahideen brothers in Iran, and Hezbollah in Lebanon. By the grace of Allah Almighty, the operation successfully achieved its objectives.’

The decision by the Houthis to enter the fight (albeit currently in a less than total way) means that the entirety of the Iran-led regional alliance, with the notable exception of its severely damaged Palestinian components, is now engaged in the war against Israel.

Still, the most significant potential contribution of the Houthis to Tehran’s war effort has yet to be activated. During the course of the war in Gaza, the Houthis kept up a steady stream of missile and drone attacks on Israel. But while these did cause a civilian fatality, in Tel Aviv in July 2024, they were mainly relatively minor detail set against the backdrop of the much larger conflict taking place between Israel and Hamas/Hezbollah/Iran.
Story by Stephen Kalin, Robbie Gramer, Alexander Ward

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—An Iranian drone attack last month on the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia did more extensive damage than previously disclosed, current and former American officials said, showing Iran’s ability to hit Washington’s assets in the kingdom.

The attack happened March 3, when an Iranian drone evaded the air defenses guarding Riyadh’s gated Diplomatic Quarter and slammed into the American compound. A minute later, a second drone flew into the hole made by the first one and also exploded, the officials said.

The nighttime strikes penetrated a secure part of the embassy where several hundred people would have been working in the day and heavily damaged three floors, current and former officials said. The Central Intelligence Agency station was among the areas hit, people familiar with the matter have said.

While the Saudi Defense Ministry then said the attack had resulted in a limited fire and minor damage, current and former officials said it was worse, sparking a blaze that raged for half a day. Parts of the embassy were damaged and not recoverable, one person briefed on the matter said.

More drones were intercepted that night a few hours later, and debris fell near a preschool. One was thought to be targeting the residence of the highest-ranking U.S. diplomat in Saudi Arabia, located a few hundred feet from the embassy.

The embassy attack struck at 1:30 a.m. If it had occurred during working hours, it could have been a mass-casualty event, the officials said. Instead, the attack sent a message that Iran could hit Americans in places they thought were protected.
Iran begins striking US big tech companies, with Oracle as the first victim
Story by Jai Hamid

Iran on Saturday opened a new front in this war by putting U.S. tech operations in the region under direct threat. Missile and drone attacks kept moving across the Middle East, and the United Arab Emirates said it intercepted dozens of incoming threats in the past 24 hours.

In Dubai, debris from one interception hit the Oracle building in Dubai Internet City. The Dubai Media Office said authorities dealt with a minor incident after debris fell on the facade of the building. It also said no one was injured.

The damage was limited, but Iran was still firing projectiles across the region as retaliation for U.S. and Israeli strikes, and American corporate sites were no longer sitting outside the blast zone.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard had threatened a wider group of U.S. tech companies operating across the Middle East, including Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, and Google.

Iran expands the battlefield as U.S. aircraft losses and search missions grow
Meanwhile, the U.S. military kept searching for a missing American airman after an F-15E was shot down over southwestern Iran on Friday. One crew member was rescued. The second was still missing. Both U.S. and Iranian forces were searching the area.

Iran and the United States both confirmed that Tehran downed the two-seat jet. In a separate incident, two U.S. officials said the pilot of an A-10 Warthog ejected after the aircraft crashed in Kuwait when it was hit by Iranian fire.
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