World News
Georgia's leader vows to veto 'Russia law' aimed at curbing foreign influence, calling it unacceptable
A controversial media bill passed this week by Georgia's parliament is "unacceptable" and will be vetoed, President Salome Zourabichvili said Thursday, reaffirming her opposition to a measure that critics say is a threat to free speech.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Zourabichvili harshly criticized the ruling Georgian Dream party for pushing the bill that also is widely seen as a threat to Georgia’s aspirations to join the European Union.
The bill, passed Tuesday, requires media and nongovernmental organizations and other nonprofit groups to register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad. The government says the bill is needed to stem what it deems to be harmful foreign actors trying to destabilize politics in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people.
"It’s unacceptable because it reflects a turn of the Georgian attitudes towards the civil society, towards the media and towards the recommendations of the European Commission that are not consistent with what is our declared policy of going towards a European integration," Zourabichvili told the AP.
She reaffirmed her intention to veto it because it "goes directly against the spirit or the letter of EU recommendations."
Zourabichvili is increasingly at odds with the Georgian Dream party, which has a majority sufficient to override her veto. She has until May 28 — 14 days after its passage — to act.
She emphasized it’s her "duty under the constitution to make everything in my capacity possible to support the European integration and to consolidate it."
Huge crowds of protesters have blocked streets in the capital of Tbilisi and milled angrily outside the parliament building after lawmakers approved the measure 84-30 despite strong criticism from the U.S and the EU.
"The authorities are not doing what the country expects, and the country is reacting because the country wants Europe and wants not to lose the possibility at the end of the year of seeing the opening of these accession negotiations," Zourabichvili said.
The bill is nearly identical to one that the Georgian Dream party was pressured to withdraw last year after street protests. Renewed demonstrations have rocked Georgia for weeks, with demonstrators scuffling with police, who used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them.
The opposition has denounced the bill as "the Russian law" because Moscow uses similar legislation to crack down on independent news media, nonprofits and activists critical of the Kremlin.
European Council President Charles Michel said Tuesday that if Georgians "want to join the EU, they have to respect the fundamental principles of the rule of law and the democratic principles."
Zourabichvili emphasized that after Georgia received the status of a candidate last fall to join the EU, the government should have focused on passing the necessary laws to qualify for the launch of accession talks at the end of the year.
"The parliament should be working day and night to satisfy the recommendations that we have on the table on the justice reform, on the corruption agency’s independence and things like that," she told AP. "And instead of that, instead of doing what is expected from us, the parliament is working on a law that was rejected last year that all our partners, European partners, have said that it’s not consistent with the European values and the European objectives."
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the U.S. was "deeply troubled" by the legislation, which she said "runs counter to democratic values and would move Georgia further away from the values of the European Union. And let’s not forget also NATO."
Enacting it "will compel us to fundamentally reassess our relationship with Georgia," Jean-Pierre added.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia Affairs James O’Brien met Tuesday with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and told journalists that "if the law goes forward out of conformity with EU norms, and there’s undermining of democracy here and there’s violence against peaceful protesters, then we will see restrictions coming from the United States."
France grapples to regain control of violent unrest in New Caledonia as death toll rises to 4
France hopes to regain full control of events in New Caledonia "in the coming hours", Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Thursday, after a third night of riots that have killed four people amid anger over a contested electoral reform.
Rioters have burnt businesses, torched cars and looted shops, and road barricades put up by protesters were causing a "dire situation" for access to medicine and food in the French-ruled Pacific island, authorities said.
France declared a state of emergency in New Caledonia that came into force on Wednesday, and went on to put at least 10 people under house arrest and ban TikTok.
"Sending significant reinforcements, via airlift, will allow for a return to order and guarantee the availability of essential goods on the island," Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said.
Rioting erupted over a new bill, adopted by lawmakers in Paris on Tuesday, that will let French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years vote in provincial elections - a move some local leaders fear will dilute the indigenous Kanak vote.
"Everything's burning, people have literally no limits, because they are literally shooting at each other, I've never seen this much violence," said New Caledonia student Olivia Iloa.
Electoral reform is the latest flashpoint in a decades-long tussle over France's role in the mineral-rich southwest Pacific island, which lies some 1,500 km (930 miles) east of Australia.
FRANCE'S MACRON CONSIDERS IMPOSING STATE OF EMERGENCY IN NEW CALEDONIA OVER VIOLENT UNREST
French President Emmanuel Macron's government has come under harsh criticism from the opposition and past prime ministers, who say they should not have pressed ahead with the reform.
New Caledonia's Pacific neighbors also called for a return to dialogue and for the reform to be canceled.
"These events could have been avoided if the French government had listened," said Vanuatu's prime minister, Charlot Salwai, chairman of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, which also includes Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the situation was "of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region".
The French government says it has always been open to dialogue and wants to meet pro- and anti-independence leaders soon in Paris. It has opened the door to suspending the reform bill if there is a new deal soon on the future of the island.
France annexed New Caledonia in 1853 and gave the colony the status of overseas territory in 1946. New Caledonia is the world's No. 3 nickel miner, but one in five residents live under the poverty threshold.
The protests were organized by Field Action Co-ordination Cell (CCAT), which was condemned on Thursday by France's High Commissioner Louis Le Franc, who drew a distinction between the organization and the major pro-independence political party, FLNKS, which has called for calm.
Armed forces were protecting New Caledonia's two airports and port, he said, adding that main and secondary roads in Noumea were blocked by barricades of burning cars and car carcasses, some rigged with booby traps.
There were also confrontations overnight between CCAT members and self-defense groups who are also in breach of the curfew and a weapons ban, he said.
Darmanin said numbers of police and gendarmes in New Caledonia would rise from 1,700 to 2,700 by Friday evening, with a small number of soldiers assisting.
A representative of CCAT said they did not know who was under house arrest.
Three young Kanak have died in the riots, and a 22-year-old police official died after being shot in the head as he was talking to protesters, Darmanin said. Another gendarme died in an accidental shooting while preparing to deploy, the interior ministry said.
Noumea resident Yoan Fleurot said he has seen looting and destruction of property. Some store owners willingly let their shelves be raided, pleading that their shops not be destroyed.
"The truth is that at night you can't even try to go out," he said. "Caledonia will have a hard time recovering from this crisis."
Ukraine military claims to have halted Russia's offensive in key town
Ukrainian units locked in street battles with the Kremlin’s forces in a key northeastern Ukraine town have halted the Russian advance, military officials in Kyiv claimed Thursday, though a senior Moscow official said the frontline push had enough resources to keep going.
Russian attempts to establish a foothold in the town of Vovchansk, which is among the largest towns in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region with a prewar population of 17,000, "have been foiled," Ukraine’s general staff said in a midday report.
It was not possible to independently verify the claim.
PUTIN AND XI REAFFIRM 'NO-LIMITS' PARTNERSHIP AS MOSCOW INTENSIFIES OFFENSIVE IN UKRAINE
Vovchansk, located just 3 miles from the Russian border, has been a hotspot in the fighting in recent days. Russia launched an offensive in the Kharkiv area late last week, significantly adding to the pressure on Ukraine’s outnumbered and outgunned forces which are waiting for delayed deliveries of crucial weapons and ammunition from Western partners.
Russia has also been testing defenses at other points along the roughly 620-mile front line snaking from north to south through eastern Ukraine. That line has barely changed over the past 18 months in what became a war of attrition. Recent Russian attacks have come in the eastern Donetsk region, as well as the Chernihiv and Sumy regions in the north and in the southern Zaporizhzhia region. The apparent aim is to stretch depleted Ukrainian resources and exploit weaknesses.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with his top military commanders in Kharkiv on Thursday and said the region "is generally under control." However, he acknowledged on social media that the situation is "extremely difficult" and said Ukraine was again strengthening its units in Kharkiv.
"We clearly see how the occupier is trying to distract our forces and make our combat work less concentrated," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address Wednesday.
Ukrainian authorities have evacuated some 8,000 civilians from Vovchansk. The Russian army’s usual tactic is to reduce towns and villages to ruins with aerial strikes before its units move in.
Former Russian defense minister and now the head of the presidential Security Council Sergei Shoigu insisted Russian troops are pushing the offensive in many directions and that "it’s going quite well."
"I hope we will keep advancing. We have certain reserves for the purpose, in personnel, equipment and munitions," he said in televised remarks.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, calculated that Russian forces attacking in Kharkiv have advanced no more than 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the shared border.
It reckons Moscow’s main aim in Kharkiv is to create a "buffer zone" that will prevent Ukrainian cross-border strikes on Russia’s neighboring Belgorod region.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a two-day visit to Kyiv this week, sought to reassure Ukraine of continuing American support. He announced a $2 billion arms deal, with most of the money coming from a package approved last month.
Ukrainian officials say their needs are urgent, and Western partners have vowed to expedite deliveries of military hardware.
NATO Military Committee Chair Rob Bauer on Thursday urged senior officers from the 32-nation alliance to send more arms and ammunition to Ukraine, even if that means ignoring weapons stock guidelines.
"If faced with a choice between meeting the NATO capability targets or supporting Ukraine, you should support Ukraine," he told a meeting of top defense brass in Brussels. "Stocks can and will be replenished. Lives lost are lost forever."
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to consolidate ties with China with an official visit to Beijing.
China has backed Russia diplomatically over its invasion of Ukraine and is now an important export market for Russian oil and gas. Russia also has turned to China for high-tech products.
Fires expected to die down near Canada's oil sands, but summer fire season approaches
The threat from a wildfire near Canada's oil sands hub of Fort McMurray, Alberta, appeared to be easing on Wednesday, a day after it forced thousands of residents to evacuate and stirred memories of a damaging blaze nearly a decade earlier.
Favorable winds were expected to push the fire away from the city of about 68,000 in northwest Canada, where many residents earn a paycheck from the nearby oil industry. The Fort McMurray fire comes as Canada is just entering a new fire season after last year’s record number of wildfires sent choking smoke across parts of the U.S. and forced more than 235,000 Canadians to evacuate their communities.
But scientists have said it's not clear that wildfire smoke will be the same problem it was last year, when unusual weather patterns drove the haze southward.
TRUDEAU'S BUNGLED WILDFIRE RESPONSE MADE CANADA MOST POLLUTED COUNTRY ON CONTINENT: CRITICS
In Fort McMurray, about 6,600 residents fled parts of the city's southern end while others were on alert. It was familiar terrain for the Albertan city, which survived a catastrophic blaze in 2016 that destroyed 2,400 homes and forced more than 80,000 people to flee.
Jay Telegdi, who lost his home to that wildfire, watched from his balcony on Tuesday as the sky over downtown turned orange and black. It "burned your eyes" to walk outside, Telegdi said in a phone interview, adding that it was slightly easier to breathe on Wednesday.
"You can grow accustomed to it," said Telegdi, who works for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. "We’ve come to accept columns of smoke blocking out the whole sky and yet we’re still drilling for oil."
Canada is the world’s fourth-largest producer of oil and fifth-largest producer of gas, a reality that sits uncomfortably with the nation’s pledges to protect biodiversity and lead the global fight against climate change. When burned, oil and gas release heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, intensifying the very conditions that help wildfires scorch millions of acres.
In Canada last year, they burned an area larger than New York state, releasing nearly three times the emissions produced by the country's entire economy in a year, and sending hazardous air to U.S. cities thousands of miles away. No civilians died, but at least four firefighters died.
Dave Phillips, senior climatologist at Environment Canada, a government agency, said the smoke that reached the U.S. East Coast last year largely came from Eastern Canada.
"That was odd in the sense most wildfires in Canada are in British Columbia and Alberta. You rarely see a fire in Quebec and the smoke travels to the United States," Phillips said, adding that Eastern Canada has seen a lot more rain this spring and has been much cooler.
Mike Flannigan, a professor of wildland fire at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, said "legacy effects" of last year's season are spilling over to 2024. Ongoing drought in Western Canada, higher temperatures due to El Nino and so-called "zombie fires" that burn underground through the winter in organic matter and reappear once the snow melts in the spring are factors driving wildfires in some parts of the country.
Alberta, the province that includes Fort McMurray, draws significant revenue from the fossil fuel industry. Suncor Energy said Wednesday its operations outside the city were not affected by the fires, but that some of its employees and contractors were. Fire officials said evacuation orders would likely be in place in Fort McMurray until Tuesday.
Charlie Angus, a member of Parliament from the leftist New Democrats party, said on X that oil companies including Exxon Mobil and Shell "predicted the climate catastrophe that is upending life today," which studies from journalists, scientists and advocacy groups have confirmed in subsequent years.
"They just never bothered to tell the people in Fort McMurray who are living with the consequences of peak C02," Angus wrote.
In the neighboring province of British Columbia, a low-pressure system moving into the northern part of the province was expected to dampen activity at a blaze that has forced several thousand people to flee their homes in and around Fort Nelson, a town of about 4,700, the province's wildfire service said.
In Manitoba, about 500 people have been forced out of their homes in the remote northwestern community of Cranberry Portage ahead of a fire measuring more than 300 square kilometers. Officials said Wednesday the fire was about 80% contained and residents might be allowed to return to their homes this weekend.
3 confirmed dead after fire at residential building in Germany, authorities say
A fire at a residential building in western Germany left three people dead and two others with life-threatening injuries Thursday, authorities said.
The blaze broke out during the night in a kiosk that was part of the building in Duesseldorf.
It spread to the entrance and second floor, the fire service said in a statement.
2 DEAD IN GERMAN CAPITAL AFTER 12-STORY JUMPS FROM BURNING APARTMENT BUILDING
Firefighters used ladders to rescue several people from balconies.
Sixteen people were taken to hospitals, the fire service said.
The cause of the fire was unclear, according to police.
South Korean court denies request from striking doctors to block plan boosting medical school admissions
A South Korean court ruled in favor of the government’s contentious plan to drastically boost medical school admissions on Thursday.
A standoff between the government and doctors opposed to the plan has shaken the country’s medical system for months. More than 10,000 junior doctors have been on strike since February in protest.
The Seoul High Court rejected a request from striking doctors and other opponents for an injunction to block the plan, which would raise the medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 next year, from the current cap of 3,058.
SOUTH KOREA DOCTORS' STRIKE ESCALATES AS SENIOR DOCTORS RESIGN
Lee Byung-chul, a lawyer for the doctors, said he will prepare to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, the country’s top court. He said he will issue an official statement on Thursday's ruling after reviewing details of the verdict.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo welcomed the decision, saying the government appreciates "the wise ruling by the judicial branch." He said the government will take steps to finalize medical school admission plans for the 2025 academic year.
The striking doctors represent a fraction of all doctors in South Korea, estimated to number between 115,000 and 140,000. But in some major hospitals, they account for about 30% to 40% of doctors, assisting fully qualified doctors and department chiefs during surgeries and other treatments while training. Their walkouts have caused cancellations to numerous surgeries and other treatments at their hospitals.
Officials say the plan is aimed at adding more doctors, because South Korea has one of the world’s fastest-aging populations and its doctor-to-population ratio is among the lowest in the developed world.
Doctors say schools aren’t ready to handle an abrupt increase in students and that it would ultimately undermine the country’s medical services. They say the government plan would also result in doctors performing unnecessary treatments because of greater competition. But critics argue that many doctors are mainly worried that more competition would lower their incomes.
Government officials earlier threatened to suspend the licenses of the striking doctors but later halted related administrative steps to facilitate dialogue with the strikers.
Suspect who shot Slovakia PM Fico reveals possible motive: report
The 71-year-old suspect who allegedly shot Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico has appeared in an undated Facebook video that may offer clues into his motive, in which he is heard saying "I do not agree with government policy," reports say.
Fico, 59, is expected to survive after being shot multiple times Wednesday while he was greeting supporters at an event outside a cultural center in the town of Handlova, Defense Minister Robert Kalina says.
A suspect was swiftly arrested following the attack and an initial investigation found "a clear political motivation," Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok added.
In a video that has surfaced on Facebook, a person who matched images of the man taken into custody Wednesday was heard saying "I do not agree with government policy," according to Reuters.
"Liquidated mass media. Why is [public broadcaster] RTVS being attacked?" the man reportedly continued, while also questioning the removal of the chairman of a state judicial council.
Slovakia’s government in late April had approved a controversial overhaul of the country's public radio and television services, a move that critics say would result in the government taking full control of the media.
Fico said the changes are needed because RTVS is politically biased and "is in conflict with the Slovak government." The proposed changes would mean it is replaced by a new organization.
But thousands rallied in Slovakia’s capital in March to condemn the plan, which was widely criticized by local journalists, the opposition, international media organizations and the European Commission, The Associated Press reports.
SLOVAKIA PRIME MINISTER IS SHOT MULTIPLE TIMES
Media in Slovakia say the suspect is a former shopping mall security guard and a member of a Slovak Society of Writers, according to Reuters.
He reportedly has been charged with attempted murder and could face 25 years to life if convicted.
President Biden and other international leaders have condemned the shooting, with Slovakia President-elect Peter Pellegrini calling it an "assassination attempt."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Japan, US to develop missile defense system to counter hypersonic weapons threat
Japan and the United States on Wednesday signed an arrangement to jointly develop a new type of missile defense system as the allies seek to defend against the growing threat of hypersonic weapons, which are possessed by China and Russia and being tested by North Korea.
The project was initially agreed between Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden at their summit last August and reaffirmed between the leaders during Kishida's April visit to Washington. The Glide Sphere Interceptor is planned for deployment by the mid-2030s.
Wednesday’s agreement determines the allocation of responsibility and decision-making process, a first major step in the project, Japanese defense ministry officials said. They hope to decide on Japanese contractors and start the development process by March 2025.
US, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA RUN MILITARY DRILLS IN DISPUTED EAST CHINA SEA
Hypersonic weapons are designed to exceed Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, posing a threat to regional missile-defense systems with their speed and maneuverability. Developing interceptors of them is a challenge.
Japan's defense ministry called it a "pressing issue" and noted that hypersonic weapons in the region have dramatically improved in recent years.
Under the arrangement, Japan is responsible for developing a part at the interceptor's tip that separates in space to destroy the incoming warhead, as well as its rocket motors, officials said.
Japan has earmarked $490 million for initial development and testing of the interceptor, according to the defense ministry.
The cost includes making components for the two companies, Raytheon Technologies and Northrop Grumman, that are developing the weapon in a competition led by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. One will be chosen for the project.
The MDA has estimated the cost to develop the hypersonic missile interceptor will exceed $3 billion, including Japan's share of $1 billion.
The interceptors will be deployed on Aegis-class destroyers, like the ship-to-air Standard Missile-3 that Japan previously co-developed with the United States.
Japan has been accelerating its miliary buildup as it stresses the need to fortify its deterrence against growing threats. Japan has also significantly eased its weapons export policy to allow co-developed lethal weapons to third countries.
Putin and Xi reaffirm 'no-limits' partnership as Moscow intensifies offensive in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Chinese leader Xi Jinping for his effort to resolve the Ukraine conflict at a Beijing summit Thursday, where the two leaders reaffirmed a "no-limits" partnership that has grown deeper as both countries face deepening tensions with the west.
Putin’s two-day state visit to one of his strongest allies comes as his country’s forces are pressing an offensive in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region in the most significant border incursion since the full-scale invasion began.
The largely symbolic visit stressed partnership between two countries who both face challenges in their relationship with the U.S. and Europe.
PUTIN SIGNS DECREE NAMING NEW RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, INCLUDING REPLACEMENT OF DEFENSE MINISTER
"Both sides want to show that despite what is happening globally, despite the pressure that both sides are facing from the U.S., both sides are not about to turn their backs on each other anytime soon," said Hoo Tiang Boon, a professor who studies Chinese foreign policy at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
While both leaders said they were seeking an end to the war in Ukraine, they offered no new specifics in their public remarks Thursday afternoon. China has significant influence as a key supporter of Russia its invasion.
The country claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed Moscow’s contentions that Russia was provoked into attacking Ukraine by the West, and continues to supply Russia with key components that Moscow needs for its productions of weapons.
China proposed a broadly worded peace plan in 2023, but it was rejected by both Ukraine and the West for failing to call for Russia to leave occupied parts of Ukraine.
PUTIN TO VISIT CHINA THIS WEEK TO MEET WITH XI, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SAYS
"China hopes for the early return of Europe to peace and stability and will continue to play a constructive role toward this," Xi said, speaking alongside Putin.
His words were an echo of what China said last year when it first offered a broad plan for peace outlining general principles for ending the war in Ukraine.
Putin said he will inform the Chinese leader in detail about "the situation in Ukraine," and said "we appreciate the initiative of our Chinese colleagues and friends to regulate the situation." He added that the two planned to engage in further foreign policy discussions at an informal meeting later Thursday.
After Russia’s newest offensive in Ukraine last week, the 2-year-old war has entered a critical stage, as Ukraine’s depleted military waits for new supplies of anti-aircraft missiles and artillery shells from the United States after months of delay.
Before their remarks, the two leaders signed a joint statement on deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership between their two nations on their 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties, after their initial meeting. Xi said China and Russia will continue to uphold a position of non-alliance and non-confrontation.
Thursday’s meeting was yet another affirmation of the friendly "no limits" relationship they signed in 2022, just before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, Russia has become increasingly economically dependent on China as Western sanctions cut its access to much of the international trading system. China’s increased trade with Russia, totaling $240 billion last year, has helped the country mitigate some of the worst blowback from sanctions.
Moscow has diverted the bulk of its energy exports to China and relying on Chinese companies for importing high-tech components for Russian military industries to circumvent Western sanctions.
"I and President Putin agree, we should actively look for convergence points of the interests of both countries, to develop each’s advantages, and deepen integration of interests, realizing each others’ achievements," Xi said.
In their meeting, Xi congratulated Putin on his election to a fifth term in office and celebrated the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations forged between the former Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China, which was established following a civil war in 1949. Putin faced no credible opposition in the presidential race, and, like Xi, has not laid out any plans for any potential successors.
On the eve of the visit, Putin said in an interview with Chinese media that the Kremlin is prepared to negotiate over the conflict in Ukraine. "We are open to a dialogue on Ukraine, but such negotiations must take into account the interests of all countries involved in the conflict, including ours," Putin was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.
Putin said a Chinese proposal made in 2023, which Ukraine and the West rejected, could "lay the groundwork for a political and diplomatic process that would take into account Russia’s security concerns and contribute to achieving a long-term and sustainable peace."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said any negotiations must include a restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops, the release of all prisoners, a tribunal for those responsible for the aggression and security guarantees for Ukraine.
Putin has blamed the West for the failure of negotiations in the opening weeks of the war and praised China’s peace plan.
Russia-China military ties have also strengthened during the war in Ukraine. They have held a series of joint war games in recent years, including naval drills and patrols by long-range bombers over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. Russian and Chinese ground forces also have deployed to the other country’s territory for joint drills.
China remains a major market for Russian military, while also massively expanding its domestic defensive industries, including building aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines.
Putin has previously said that Russia has been sharing highly sensitive military technologies with China that helped significantly bolster its defense capability. In October 2019, he mentioned that Russia was helping China to develop an early warning system to spot ballistic missile launches — a system involving ground-based radar and satellites that only Russia and the U.S. possessed.
Slovakia's prime minister expected to survive assassination attempt as shock reverberates across Europe
Slovakia’s prime minister is expected to survive after he was shot multiple times and gravely wounded during an attempted assassination on Wednesday, according to his deputy.
Doctors fought for several hours to save Prime Minister Robert Fico's life after he was shot in the abdomen while he was greeting supporters at an event outside a cultural center in the town of Handlova, Defense Minister Robert Kalina told reporters.
"I guess in the end he will survive," Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba told the BBC, adding: "He’s not in a life-threatening situation at this moment."
A suspect was swiftly arrested following the attack Wednesday and an initial investigation found "a clear political motivation," Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said.
The 59-year-old’s attempted assassination just weeks before an election shocked the small country and reverberated concern across Europe.
"A physical attack on the prime minister is, first of all, an attack on a person, but it is also an attack on democracy," said outgoing President Zuzana Caputova, Fico’s political rival. "Any violence is unacceptable. The hateful rhetoric we’ve been witnessing in society leads to hateful actions. Please, let’s stop it."
President-elect Peter Pellegrini, an ally of Fico, called the shooting "an unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy. If we express other political opinions with pistols in squares, and not in polling stations, we are jeopardizing everything that we have built together over 31 years of Slovak sovereignty."
US MILITARY CONSTRUCTS HULKING METAL PIER AMID BIDEN'S $320 MILLION GAMBLE TO GET AID INTO GAZA
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also denounced the violence.
"Every effort should be made to ensure that violence does not become the norm in any country, form or sphere," he said.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala chimed in with other world leaders and wished the prime minister a swift recovery, saying "we cannot tolerate violence, there’s no place for it in society."
The Czech Republic and Slovakia formed Czechoslovakia until 1992.
Fico, a divisive figure in Slovakia, returned to power last year after campaigning on a pro-Russian, anti-American platform.
At the time, European Union members expressed worry that he could potentially lead Slovakia – a nation of 5.4 million that belongs to NATO – to abandon its pro-Western course.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Chances of Cyprus peace talks restart look dimmer as Turkish Cypriot leader sees no common ground
Chances of restarting formal talks to mend Cyprus’ decades-long ethnic division appeared dimmer Wednesday as the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots told a U.N. envoy that he saw no common ground with Greek Cypriots for a return to negotiations.
Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar said that he conveyed to the U.N. secretary general’s personal envoy, María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar, that talks can’t happen unless separate Turkish Cypriot sovereignty in the island’s northern third first gains the same international recognition as the Cyprus republic in the Greek Cypriot south.
CYPRUS' PRESIDENT CALLS ON EU TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST INFLUX OF SYRIAN REFUGEES FROM LEBANON
Tatar was quoted by Turkish Cypriot media as saying that a permanent Turkish military presence coupled with military intervention rights are prerequisites to any peace deal, despite Greek Cypriot attempts to "remove Turkey" from the settlement equation.
Tatar also expressed irritation with Holguín’s contacts with civil society groups that support an accord that would reunify Cyprus as a federation made up of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot zones, in line with a U.N.-endorsed framework.
The majority of Greek Cypriots reject a deal that would formalize a partition through a two-state deal, the permanent stationing of Turkish troops on the island, the right for Turkey to militarily intervene as well a demand for a Turkish Cypriot veto on all federal-level government decisions.
The Turkish Cypriot leader’s remarks don’t waver from a line that he’s consistently kept since his 2022 rise to power. But the fact that he remains unyielding despite four months of Holguín’s shuttle diplomacy doesn’t bode well for a talks restart.
Holguín was appointed at the start of the year to determine what the chances are of resuming formal talks seven years after the last major push for a deal collapsed amid much acrimony.
An agreement has defied numerous, U.N.-facilitated rounds of talks since 1974 when the island was cleaved along ethnic lines following a Turkish invasion preceded by a coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes a Turkish Cypriot declaration of independence, and although Cyprus is a European Union member, only the south enjoys full membership benefits.
Holguín has refrained from speaking at length about her contacts over the last few months, but she noted in an interview with Kathimerini newspaper that it was up to the leaders to "listen to the people" and that she had been surprised at Tatar’s rejection of her proposal for a three-way meeting with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.
Holguín will "soon" prepare a report for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres about her findings over the last five months, according to U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.
Christodoulides struck a more upbeat note on Wednesday, saying that efforts for a resumption of talks continue and that time should be given for diplomacy to work.
Raging bull attacks woman on Mexican beach as tourists scream in horror: video
A wild and violent bull that was loose on a popular Mexican beach attacked a woman several times as panicked onlookers screamed in horror, a terrifying new video shows.
The heart-stopping video, which was shot Saturday at Cabo San Lucas, shows the black beast charging and ramming the woman more than six times after she tries to snatch her bags away from the animal. Cabo San Lucas is a resort city on the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula and is popular among tourists.
The video first shows the black beast under a canopy with the woman who appears to be feeding the horned animal food from a bag and then from a silver bowl.
Dressed in a loose dress and beach hat, the woman appears unperturbed by the dangers the incredibly strong bovine possesses. Bulls can weigh well over 2,000 pounds depending on the breed and are well known to be aggressive.
In the next clip, the bull can be seen trotting away from the canopy after spotting several bags belonging to the woman.
She then goes face to face with the beast in an attempt to retrieve the bags as one man shouts, "You are really playing with it right now."
"Please don’t do that, please," the onlooker screams.
"Please get away," he yells as the bull devours the contents of the bags. Another beachgoer can be heard calling the woman a "moron" as she refuses to get to safety.
As the crowd continues to warn the woman away from the bull, the unidentified woman drops her hands and turns her back on the predator as if she was giving up on her mission to recover the bags.
That’s when the bull sees red, lowering its head and charging at the woman, ramming its head into the side of her and causing her to fall onto the sand, the video shows.
She gets up, but the bull charges again and seemingly strikes her in the face with one of its horns, causing her to crumble to the sand again.
The woman then finds herself on her knees with her back to the bull, which plows into her again, pushing her forward as others on the beach look on with terror.
"We tried to f---ing tell you," the man shouts as the bull continues its onslaught, ramming the woman several more times across the sand.
Another woman, who appears to be in the same party, then comes to her aid and tries to throw a bucket of water at the bull, who eventually moves away.
Despite the shocking attack, the woman quickly gets to her feet and walks away. It is unclear what injuries she suffered.
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The beach is close to several ranches which makes close encounters with livestock a common occurrence in the area, Torres García, an official with the Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone, told local outlet El Sudcaliforniano.
He said that it is also common to see donkeys wandering around the area and tourists are known to try and feed them.
"However, we make the recommendation that they do not do so in order to prevent a situation similar to that of the bull attack from happening because a donkey can bite a person," García said.
Guatemalan court orders release of journalist jailed for nearly 2 years on money laundering charges
A Guatemalan court ordered the release Wednesday of journalist José Rubén Zamora, jailed for nearly two years on money laundering charges.
Zamora, the 67-year-old founder of El Periodico newspaper, was sentenced to six years in prison last June for alleged money laundering. But that conviction and sentence were overturned by another court and a new trial ordered.
PROSECUTORS IN GUATEMALA ASK COURT TO LIFT PRESIDENT-ELECT'S IMMUNITY; OAS CITES 'COUP ATTEMPT'
For nearly two years, he has been kept in jail.
But on Wednesday, a judge ruled that there was no longer justification to keep him in jail, noting that he was not considered a flight risk or a threat to the investigation. Zamora will spend the rest of his time before a new trial on a conditional release.
He was ordered to post a bond of nearly $4,800.
"During my entire life I have been the victim of attacks, abductions, aggressions for the work that I do," Zamora said during Wednesday's hearing.
Cristina Gómez, his defense attorney, said that his detention was arbitrary.
Guatemala's former human rights ombudsman Jorge Duque agreed to guarantee Zamora's appearance at future hearings. "It is the least I can do," Duque said. "I know him and I know that he will continue facing the process against him."
Press freedom groups had decried his prosecution as politically motivated.
El Periodico published numerous investigations critical of former President Alejandro Giammattei.
The charges stemmed from Zamora, 66, asking a friend to deposit a $38,000 donation to keep the newspaper going rather than depositing it himself. Zamora has said he did so because the donor did not want to be identified supporting an outlet in the sights of Giammattei.
The foundation of Nobel Prize winning writer Gabriel García Márquez awarded its excellence in journalism prize to Zamora on Tuesday.
WHO approves second vaccine against the mosquito-borne disease dengue as outbreaks intensify
The World Health Organization on Wednesday authorized a second dengue vaccine, a move that could provide protection for millions worldwide against the mosquito-borne disease that has already sparked numerous outbreaks across the Americas this year.
In a statement on Wednesday, the U.N. health agency said it approved the dengue vaccine made by the Japanese pharmaceutical Takeda, recommending its use in children between six to 16 years old living in regions with high rates of dengue. The two-dose vaccine protects against the four types of dengue.
Takeda’s dengue vaccine, known as Qdenga, was previously given the nod by the European Medicines Agency in 2022.
UNDERSTANDING THE SEVERITY OF THE MOSQUITO-BORNE DISEASE DENGUE
WHO’s approval now means that donors and other U.N. agencies can purchase the vaccine for poorer countries.
Studies have shown Takeda’s vaccine is about 84% effective in preventing people from being hospitalized with dengue and about 61% effective in stopping symptoms.
WHO’s Rogerio Gaspar, director for the agency’s approvals of medicines and vaccines, said it was "an important step in the expansion of global access to dengue vaccines." He noted it was the second immunization the U.N. agency had authorized for dengue.
The first vaccine WHO approved was made by Sanofi Pasteur, which was later found to increase the risk of severe dengue in people who had not previously been infected with the disease.
There is no specific treatment for dengue, a leading cause of serious illness and death in roughly 120 Latin American and Asian countries. While about 80% of infections are mild, severe cases of dengue can lead to internal bleeding, organ failure and death.
Last week WHO reported there were 6.7 million suspected cases of dengue in the Americas, an increase of 206% compared with the same period in 2023. In March, authorities in Rio de Janeiro declared a public health emergency over its dengue epidemic and the country began rolling out the Takeda vaccine, aiming to inoculate at least 3 million people.
Last year WHO said cases of dengue have spiked tenfold over the last generation, with climate change and the increasing range of the mosquitoes that carry dengue partly to blame for the disease’s spread.
Child soldiers used by Islamist group in Mozambique attacks, says Human Rights Watch
An Islamist group operating in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province used boys as young as 13 in attacks on a town last week and residents who were forced to flee the fighting recognized some of the child soldiers as their missing relatives, advocacy group Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.
Al-Shabab, which is affiliated to the Islamic State group, has previously been accused by UN agencies of kidnapping children and using them as soldiers in its insurgency in the region, which began in 2017. A surge of attacks by insurgents in March left at least 70 children missing, according to local authorities and a group of aid agencies.
Witnesses told the rights group that dozens of child soldiers were used in the attacks and were seen carrying AK-style assault rifles and ammunition belts. Two people from the same family said they recognized their 13-year-old nephew among the children.
CHRISTIANS IN AFRICA FACE WORRYING RISE IN KILLINGS, PERSECUTION AND DISPLACEMENT
"I saw him with my own eyes," Abu Rachide, a resident of the town, told Human Rights Watch. He said the boy waved at him but marched on. Rachide’s sister said the boy, who went missing earlier in the year, appeared to be taking instructions from older fighters.
"I kept wondering how he became a fighter like that in just four months," she told HRW.
The latest attacks on the town of Macomia began Friday and continued until the next day. Islamist fighters looted shops and warehouses for food and exchanged fire with Mozambican and South African soldiers before retreating, HRW and Mozambican media reports said.
At least 10 people, mostly soldiers, were reportedly killed in the latest fighting and about 700 residents fled to nearby forests to escape the attacks, according to the HRW report.
Recruiting children under the age of 15 as soldiers is a war crime under international law. In February, judges at the International Criminal Court granted reparations of more than $56 million to thousands of victims of a convicted commander of a Ugandan rebel group, which included former child soldiers.
The attacks in Mozambique came days before the nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency, which investigates environmental crimes, published a multi-year investigation alleging that millions of tons of timber had been exported illegally from Cabo Delgado to China since 2017 and the profits had been used to finance the insurgency.
The EIA said Tuesday that its investigation found that Chinese traders purchase "conflict timber" from insurgents in Cabo Delgado "and export it alongside other wood" in violation of Mozambique's log export ban.
South Africa deployed soldiers to Cabo Delgado as part of a regional force to stem the insurgency, which began in 2017. In 2020, Islamist fighters beheaded dozens of people, many of them children, as the violence spiraled. After a period of relative inactivity, the insurgents launched a new wave of attacks this year.
The regional troops announced that they had begun withdrawing from their positions ahead of a July deadline, although soldiers from Rwanda are expected to remain under a separate bilateral deal with Mozambique.
Aid agencies say the conflict forced more than a million people to flee their homes since it started in October 2017 and thousands have been killed. The insurgency also threatens a $20 billion natural gas project in Cabo Delgado.
China's military monitors route taken by Filipino activists sailing toward disputed shoal
Chinese coast guard ships shadowed a group of Filipino activists and fishermen sailing on wooden boats toward a disputed shoal in the South China Sea which Beijing has fiercely guarded from what it regards as intruders.
The Philippine coast guard deployed three patrol ships and a light plane to keep watch from a distance on the group of about 100 people who set off from western Zambales province to assert Manila’s sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal and surrounding waters. Dozens of journalists joined the three-day voyage.
The navy also dispatched a ship to help keep an eye on the participants.
US AND PHILIPPINE MILITARY FORCES SINK SHIP DURING LARGESCALE DRILLS IN DISPUTED SOUTH CHINA SEA
The four wooden boats carrying the Filipinos were still far from the shoal when at least two Chinese coast guard ships began shadowing them at nightfall, said Emman Hizon, one of the organizers, adding that the participants remained in high spirits and would not turn back.
Some chanted "Atin Ito" — the name of the group, which means "This is ours" in Tagalog — repeatedly after they spotted the Chinese coast guard ships.
"Atin Ito contingent will continue with its course," Hizon said.
"Our boats are exercising evasive maneuvers while the Philippine coast guard continues to maintain its close distance to the convoy to thwart any further attempt from Chinese coast guard vessels," Hizon said
PHILIPPINES REFUSES TO ALLOW CHINA TO REMOVE FILIPINO MILITARY OUTPOST ON DISPUTED SHOAL
The convoy was expected to reach the area of the shoal Thursday morning, the organizers said, adding they would seek to avoid confrontations but were ready for any contingencies. The group plans to lay down symbolic territorial buoys and provide food packs and fuel to Filipino fishermen in the high seas near the shoal.
"Our mission is peaceful, based on international law and aimed at asserting our sovereign rights," said Rafaela David, a lead organizer. "We will sail with determination, not provocation, to civilianize the region and safeguard our territorial integrity."
In December, the group mounted an expedition to another disputed shoal but cut the trip short after being tailed by a Chinese ship.
China effectively seized Scarborough Shoal, a triangle-shaped atoll with a vast fishing lagoon ringed by mostly submerged coral outcrops, by surrounding it with its coast guard ships after a tense 2012 standoff with Philippine government ships.
Angered by China’s action, the Philippine government brought the territorial disputes to international arbitration in 2013 and largely won, with a tribunal in The Hague ruling three years later that China’s expansive claims based on historical grounds in the busy seaway were invalid under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The ruling declared Scarborough Shoal a traditional fishing area for Chinese, Filipino and Vietnamese fishermen. In the past, fishermen have anchored in the shoal to avoid large waves in the high seas in stormy weather.
China refused to participate in the arbitration, rejected the outcome and continues to defy it.
Two weeks ago, Chinese coast guard and suspected militia ships used water cannons on Philippine coast guard and fisheries ships patrolling Scarborough Shoal, damaging both vessels.
The Philippines condemned the Chinese coast guard’s action on the shoal, which lies in the Southeast Asian nation’s internationally recognized exclusive economic zone. The Chinese coast guard said it took a "necessary measure" after the Philippine ships "violated China’s sovereignty."
Asked about the Atin Ito convoy on Wednesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, "If the Philippine side abuses China’s goodwill and infringes on China’s territorial sovereignty and jurisdiction, China will safeguard its rights and take countermeasures in accordance with the law, and the responsibilities and consequences incurred will be borne entirely by the Philippine side."
In addition to the Philippines and China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have also been involved in the territorial disputes.
Chinese coast guard ships have also ventured into waters close to Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia in the past, sparking tensions and protests, but the Southeast Asian nations with considerable economic ties with China have not been as aggressively critical of Beijing's increasingly assertive actions.
The Philippines has released videos of its territorial faceoffs with China and invited journalists to witness the hostilities in the high seas in a strategy to gain international support, sparking a war of words with Beijing.
The increasing frequency of the skirmishes between the Philippines and China has led to minor collisions, injured Filipino navy personnel and damaged supply boats in recent months. It has sparked fears the territorial disputes could degenerate into an armed conflict between China and the United States, a longtime treaty ally of the Philippines.
After dozens die in floods, Indonesia seeds clouds to block rainfall
Indonesian authorities seeded clouds on Wednesday, trying to prevent further rain and flash floods after deluges that hit the country's Sumatra Island over the weekend left at least 59 people dead and another 16 missing.
Monsoon rains triggered a landslide of mud and cold lava from Mount Marapi, eventually causing rivers to breach their banks. The deluge tore through mountainside villages in four districts in West Sumatra province just before midnight on Saturday.
The floods swept away people and dozens of homes and submerged hundreds of houses and buildings, forcing more than 1,500 families to flee to temporary government shelters, according to National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari.
SUMATRAN TIGER ON THE LOOSE, BELIEVED TO HAVE KILLED MAN IN INDONESIA
National Search and Rescue Agency said that 59 bodies had been pulled from mud and rivers by Wednesday, mostly in the worst-hit Agam and Tanah Datar districts, while rescuers are searching for 16 people who are reportedly missing, revising earlier data that put the number of missing at 35. About 33 villagers were injured.
Cloud seeding involves dispersing particles into clouds to create precipitation, thereby modifying the weather.
National Disaster Management Agency chief Suharyanto said the aim of Wednesday's action was to redirect the rain elsewhere and keep the search operation free of downpours, which could hamper the rescuers' progress.
Suharyanto, who goes by a single name like many Indonesians, said the emergency response will last until May 25. Authorities are evaluating which areas are no longer inhabitable and which residents need to be relocated "from the danger zone."
Suharyanto spoke during a visit to the devastated villages in hard-hit Tanah Datar district on Wednesday.
Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency head Dwikorita Karnawati has said that more rain was forecast for West Sumatra in the coming days, and that extreme rainfall could continue until next week.
Karnawati said an air force plane was sent up to shoot salt flares into the clouds on Wednesday to get the clouds to release water and break up before they reach the devastated areas in West Sumatra province. About 15 tons of salt have been prepared for the seeding operation, she said.
Muhari, the disaster agency spokesperson, said Indonesia’s air force teamed up with the country’s technology agency to carry out two rounds of cloud seeding Wednesday each using a ton of sodium chloride, or salt.
Rescue workers meanwhile combed through rivers and the rubble of devastated villages where roads were transformed into murky brown rivers and villages were left covered by thick mud, rocks, and uprooted trees.
Heavy rains cause frequent landslides and flash floods in Indonesia, an archipelago nation of more than 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near floodplains.
Marapi has been active since an eruption late last year that killed 23 climbers. It is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia. The country is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
Palestinian man who fatally stabbed 2 teens on train sentenced to life in prison by German court
A court in Germany convicted a man of murder and sentenced him to life in prison Wednesday for carrying out a fatal stabbing on a train last year.
The state court in Itzehoe convicted the 34-year-old, who has been identified only as Ibrahim A. in line with German privacy rules, of murder and attempted murder, German news agency dpa reported.
It found that he fatally stabbed two teenagers and wounded another four passengers seriously in the Jan. 25, 2023 incident in the northern town of Brokstedt, before being overpowered by others on board the regional train traveling from Kiel to Hamburg.
STABBING ON GERMAN TRAIN KILLS 2, INJURES 7; MOTIVE REMAINS UNKNOWN
The Palestinian defendant grew up in the Gaza Strip and came to Germany in 2014.
A psychiatric expert testified during the trial that the defendant had psychotic symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder, but could be held criminally responsible for his actions. The defense lawyer had called for his client to be moved to a psychiatric institution.
Investigators have said the man had a previous criminal record and had been in pretrial custody in another case before being released days ahead of the attack. He had traveled to an appointment with immigration authorities in Kiel and prosecutors have said he appears to have acted out of frustration.
The severity of the case meant that he likely won’t be eligible for release after 15 years as is usually the case in Germany.
Turkey converts ancient church into mosque, sparking debate on heritage preservation
Turkey has opened the ancient Chora church, one of Istanbul's most celebrated Byzantine buildings, to Muslim worshipers after it was used as a museum for more than 70 years, making it the second such major conversion under President Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan, a champion of pious Muslims in Turkey and head of a party with Islamist roots, turned Istanbul's world-renowned Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque in 2020 in a ceremony attended by tens of thousands of people.
That move was criticized by church leaders and some Western countries, who said reconverting Hagia Sophia risked deepening religious rifts. Erdogan said this was interference in sovereign rights and that he was determined to protect Muslims' rights.
TURKEY’S DECISION TO CONVERT HAGIA SOPHIA INTO MOSQUE STRIKES FEARS FOR OTHER HOLY SITES
The original Chora, or Kariye, church dates back to the 4th Century and was turned into a mosque by the Ottomans. It became a museum in 1945 and Erdogan signed an order in 2020 converting it back into a mosque. It reopened on Monday after restoration.
The outer halls were preserved as a museum, with visitors able to view the prized mosaics that dot the ceiling unhindered. Curtains concealed the mosaics in the building's prayer section, in line with Muslim traditions.
People were seen lifting the coverings to look at the mosaics of Jesus and of Mary with the infant Jesus.
Ferdy Simon, a British tourist, said he would have preferred the building to remain as a museum so that people could see the mosaics and frescoes there. "It seems to be a political gambit," he said, speaking outside the Chora.
"It's a bit of a shame when you see devout women who have come here to pray, and they are told they can't go into the main narthex area," he added, referring to the fact that the main prayer section is reserved for males, as in all mosques.
Ugur Gokgoz, a Turkish man who came to pray, said it was Turkish people's right to use the Chora as a mosque, adding that the artifacts inside the museum were preserved.
"There was a small section reserved for prayer. At the end, they didn't tear everything down and turned it into a mosque," he said.
A church was first built at the site in the 4th century, but most of the existing building dates to an 11th century church that was partly rebuilt 200 years later following an earthquake.
The Church of the Holy Savior in Chora, built near the ancient city walls of Constantinople, contains 14th century mosaics and frescoes showing scenes from biblical stories.
They were plastered over after the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453 but brought to light when - like Hagia Sophia - it was converted into a museum by Turkey's secular republic in 1945.
Burcin Altinsay Ozguner, Turkey head of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, said the Chora artifacts are unique and the best way to make them available for researchers is to maintain the building as a museum.
"Of course, there are political gains behind it," she said, adding there was no obvious need for a mosque in the case of both Hagia Sophia and Chora, with mosques right next to them.
IDF claims photos show Hamas combatants inside UN compound in Rafah
Israeli leaders claim photos and video show Hamas terrorists inside the United Nations Relief & Works Agency.
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) released on Tuesday drone footage and photos captured above the UNRWA compound in the Gaza city of Rafah.
"Today, we revealed unusual footage of armed terrorists next to UN vehicles, which we located a few days ago, and shooting inside an UNRWA compound in eastern Rafah," IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Tuesday evening.
ISRAEL RELEASES NEW GAZA CIVILIAN DEATH TOLL, SAYS HAMAS' NUMBERS ARE 'FAKE AND FABRICATED'
He went on to say that the IDF had contacted UNRWA leadership about the incident and urged an investigation.
"We forwarded the findings to senior members of the international community, and called on the UN to urgently investigate the connection between UNRWA’s logistics centers to Hamas operatives by their vehicles," Hagari said.
Fox News Digital was not able to confirm the identity or affiliation of three individuals marked by the IDF in its release.
UN REVISES GAZA DEATH TOLL, ALMOST 50% LESS WOMEN AND CHILDREN KILLED THAN PREVIOUSLY REPORTED
Footage shows the three individuals carrying firearms and interacting with individuals driving United Nations-branded vehicles inside the compound.
Another piece of footage shows a group of individuals bursting out of the entrance of the compound and firing at people the IDF claims were civilians.
"Following the event of which terrorists were seen armed inside an UNRWA logistics compound in eastern Rafah, we conveyed the findings to senior officials in the international community and called on the UN to conduct an urgent investigation into the matter," Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) wrote in a release on social media. COGAT is an agency within the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
Fox News Digital reached out to the United Nations Relief & Works Agency for comment but did not receive a response.
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