Sky24 (2025)

17/09/2025

ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan, along with 15 other countries, on Tuesday voiced concern over the security of the Global Sumud Flotilla, in which their citizens are participating to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

"The foreign ministers of Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Ireland, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain and Türkiye express their concern about the security of the Global Sumud Flotilla — a civil society initiative in which citizens of their countries are taking part," Foreign Office spokesperson Ambassador Shafqat Ali Khan said in a statement.

He said the Global Sumud Flotilla has informed about its objective of delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and raising awareness about the urgent humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people and the need to stop the war in Gaza.

"Both objectives, peace and humanitarian aid delivery, together with the respect of international law, including humanitarian law, are shared by our Governments. We therefore call on everyone to refrain from any unlawful or violent act against the Flotilla, to respect international law and international humanitarian law," Ambassador Khan said.

He recalled that any violation of international law and human rights of the participants in the Flotilla, including attack against vessels in international waters or illegal detention, would lead to accountability.

16/09/2025

Congressional China hawks said Monday that they’re planning to scrutinize President Donald Trump’s promised deal to keep TikTok alive, insisting his “framework” for an agreement with China has to obey last year’s law to pry the app out of Chinese control.

“Any agreement must comply with the historic bipartisan law passed last year to protect the American people, including the complete divestment of ByteDance control and a fully decoupled algorithm,” a spokesperson for the House China Committee said.

On Monday, President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent teased a “framework” for TikTok’s divestment from Beijing-based parent company ByteDance — though Bessent said Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would have to agree to terms during a Friday phone call.

A White House official familiar with the negotiations told POLITICO that the deal would reduce ByteDance’s ownership to less than 20 percent, which would comply with the law. The official also said it would completely remove the Chinese Communist Party’s ability to access the user data of American citizens.

“I look forward to reviewing it,” House China Chair John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) told POLITICO on Monday. “We want to have an opportunity to read it, understand it, make sure it’s preserved for Americans under the law … I trust they’re negotiating a good solution.”

On Capitol Hill, where even hawks have largely dodged the issue of what happens after a Trump-negotiated deal, a few took a seemingly hard line.

“It’s a good idea that Congress passed a law that it’s either going to be done away with in the United States, or it’s going to be owned by an American company,” Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told POLITICO. “I don’t know what the framework says — but anything short of that, the President would be violating congressional intent.”

Other senior lawmakers, however, are taking a more cautious approach.

“I’ll just have to wait and see,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of GOP leadership. “It’s good if there’s a deal.”

11/09/2025

“The zone has neither the size nor scale of services to support those already there, let alone new arrivals,” he said.

Tedros pointed out that half of the functioning hospitals left in the Gaza Strip were in Gaza City, and the territory’s “crippled health system cannot afford to lose any of these remaining facilities.”

He urged the international community to “act”, saying that, in Gaza, “this catastrophe is human-made, and the responsibility rests with us all.”

Israel has been waging a war on Gaza since Hamas’s October 2023 attacks.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to figures from the health ministry in Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

The UN has declared famine in parts of Gaza, which Israel denies.

10/09/2025

Israel on Tuesday carried out an attack targeting senior Hamas leadership in Doha — prompting near-unanimous global criticism, including from the United States. “Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a Sovereign Nation and close Ally of the United States, that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker Peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals,” President Donald Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. Despite the strike, Qatar’s prime minister said the country would continue to seek a diplomatic resolution to the war in Gaza. Six people, including a Qatari security officer, were killed in the attack, Hamas said in a statement.

09/09/2025

One needs only to examine the actions and rhetoric of the Israeli government to fully appreciate the profound significance of the solidarity flotillas bound for Gaza. As the latest and most significant of these efforts, the Global Sumud Flotilla, set sail last week, Israel’s hostile discourse intensified, articulated most forcefully by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The extremist minister ominously declared that all the volunteers in the flotilla are “terrorists,” vowing that they will be treated as such. To grasp the chilling meaning of treating nonviolent activists as terrorists, one must consider a recent investigation by The Guardian newspaper. Its report exposed that all 6,000 Palestinians detained in Gaza during the first 19 months of the genocide were held under a law that classifies them as “unlawful combatants,” thus terrorists, allowing for indefinite imprisonment.

This investigation revealed that the vast majority of those incarcerated by Israel are in fact civilians, including medical workers, teachers, journalists, civil servants and children. The fact that Israel would extend this same draconian definition to international activists, whose declared mission is to break the siege on Gaza, powerfully underscores the political and strategic value of these missions in Israel’s eyes.

Israel’s deep-seated fear of civil society involvement in its military occupation and war on the Palestinian people is not a recent development. The ongoing genocide has merely highlighted the utter failure of the international legal and political system and, in turn, the rising importance of civil society.

Israel’s fear of civil society involvement in its war on the Palestinian people is not a recent development

Dr. Ramzy Baroud
When the first solidarity boat, sent by the Free Gaza Movement, reached Gaza in 2008, Israel was incensed. The activists served as crucial ambassadors,

05/09/2025

JERUSALEM/CAIRO, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Israel controls 40% of Gaza City, a military spokesperson said on Thursday, as its bombardment forced more Palestinians from their homes there, while thousands of residents defied Israeli orders to leave, remaining behind in the ruins in the path of Israel's latest advance.
Gaza health authorities said Israeli fire across the enclave had killed at least 53 people on Thursday, mostly in Gaza City, where Israeli forces have advanced through the outer suburbs and are now a few kilometres (miles) from the city centre.
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"We continue to damage Hamas' infrastructure. Today we hold 40% of the territory of Gaza City," Israeli military spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin told a news conference, naming the Zeitoun and Sheikh Radwan neighborhoods. "The operation will continue to expand and intensify in the coming days."
"We will continue to pursue Hamas everywhere," he said, adding that the mission will only end when Israel's remaining hostages are returned and Hamas' rule ends.
Defrin confirmed that army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir told cabinet ministers that without a day-after plan, they would have to impose military rule in Gaza. Far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have been pushing for Israel to impose military rule in Gaza and establish settlements there, which Netanyahu has so far ruled out.
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Israel launched the offensive in Gaza City on August 10, in what Netanyahu says is a plan to defeat Hamas militants in the part of Gaza where Israeli troops fought most heavily in the war's initial phase.
The campaign has prompted international criticism because of the humanitarian crisis in the area and has

03/09/2025

At least seven people have died, hundreds have been injured and public buildings have been burnt and looted after thousands of people took to the streets in anti-government protests across Indonesia over the past week.

The clashes between riot police and rock-throwing protesters that began in the capital and quickly spread beyond Jakarta have been seen as a major test for President Prabowo Subianto, a former general who has been in office for less than a year.

What sparked the Indonesia protests?
The protests began on 25 August, with thousands demonstrating outside parliament against a housing allowances for MPs that was nearly 10 times the minimum wage in Jakarta. Prabowo has simultaneously implemented strict austerity measures, including cuts to education, health and public works.

Demonstrators were also protesting against what they termed “corrupt elites” within the government and policies that benefit conglomerates and the military, according to a press releasee from the student group Gejayan Memanggil.

The statement was an apparent reference to the growing role of the military in civilian life under Prabowo’s government.

The demonstrations spread across the country and turned increasingly violent on Friday, after the death of a 21-year-old deliver driver in Jakarta. Footage showed a team belonging to the nation’s elite paramilitary police unit running him over late on Thursday as it drove an armoured car through a group of protesters.

What has happened since?
Government buildings and police headquarters have been set ablaze by protesters around the country, with demonstrations taking place in Gorontalo city on Sulawesi island, Bandung on the main island Java, Palembang on Sumatra island, Banjarmasin on Borneo island, Yogyakarta on Java, and Makassar on Sulawesi.

02/09/2025

Five terrorists who attacked the Federal Constabulary (FC) lines in Bannu on Tuesday morning have been killed, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Zulfiqar Hameed said during a media briefing, hours after security personnel began an operation against the attackers.

Over the past few months, multiple areas of KP — including Bannu, Peshawar, Karak, Lakki Marwat and Bajaur — have seen a series of attacks, particularly targeting police personnel in Bannu.

Today morning, su***de bombers rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the main gate of the FC lines, which caused an explosion, Bannu Regional Police Officer Sajjad Khan earlier told Dawn.com.

He further said the “attackers had infiltrated the premises, following which an operation was launched”, adding that Bannu District Police Officer Saleem Abbas was leading the operation inside the FC lines.

Later, KP police chief Hameed told during the media briefing that police, army and FC personnel swiftly responded to the attack and killed five terrorists.

“Four of the five terrorists were neutralised within an hour and later the fifth [attacker was also killed],“he said.

The IGP said a clearance and search operation was now underway at the site. The clearance operation was in its last stages, he added.

Initially, RPO Khan told Dawn.com that five policemen were also injured during the operation.

Pakistan has seen a surge in terrorism since the TTP ended its ceasefire deal with the government in November 2022, vowing to increase attacks.

Last month, police, alongside security forces in Hoveed and Wazirabad areas of Bannu, arrested “14 terrorist facilitators“ and destroyed their hideouts.

On August 3, a police constable was martyred in a terrorist attack on a checkpoint in Bannu, where an exchange of fire also left three terrorists dead and three policemen injured.

In July, terrorists used a quadcopter to attack a police station in Miryan, Bannu, making it the fifth such attack at the installation in a month.

02/09/2025

Meal delivery is a luxury city dwellers take for granted - but more options are opening up for non-urban residents.

Boasting nearly 700,000 islands collectively, Sweden, Norway and Finland are home to the most islands in the world, their coastlines dotted by archipelagos that have shaped their history and culture.

While a number of the islands are accessible by ferry and bridge to residents of the region's cities, there's one thing locals are often missing: hot food delivery to their door, a service their city cousins probably take for granted.

But Norwegian start-up Aviant wants to change that, by establishing the region's first food delivery service by drone - starting on the Swedish island of Värmdö.

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Värmdö is just eight miles (13km) from Stockholm as the crow flies, and accessible by car, bus and ferry. But its population of around 46,000 - rising to up to 100,000 in the summer - has few hot food delivery options.

During a video call, Aviant co-founder and CEO, Lars Erik Fagernæs, shows me a map of the islands closest to Stockholm.

"All of the white and blue squares are where (delivery services) Foodora and Wolt have a service, and all of the black squares are where they don't," says Mr Fagernæs, who is based in the Norwegian city of Trondheim.

"As you can see on the map, there are 87,000 people who don't have access to a home delivery service. These people live in what you would call suburbs, and would want to order takeaway food, but they just don't have an option."

Since February, though, residents of Gustavsberg, the main town on Värmdö, and surrounding areas, have been able to order freshly made burgers from Scandinavian chain Bastard Burgers directly to their door via drone, using Aviant's technology.

The cost of delivery is comparable to that of a car or bike service, as drones take out the cost of the driver.

At the moment Aviant is in a "beta phase" - only delivering 10 items a week, while they check everything works.

But the plan is to scale up as the year goes on.
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02/09/2025

Archaeologists have uncovered what appears to be an ancient human sacrifice site on the northern coast of Peru, shedding light on burial rituals that date back over 2,000 years.

The discovery includes more than a dozen human skeletons found face down with their hands tied behind their backs—evidence pointing to ritual violence in this once-sacred region.

The remains, dated to around 400 B.C., were excavated at the Puémape archaeological site in the San Pedro Lloc district. Researchers say the victims likely met violent deaths, as their skeletons show signs of blunt-force trauma, broken bones, and unnatural burial positions.

02/09/2025

DUBAI, Sept 1 (Reuters) - UN Security Council permanent members China and Russia backed Iran on Monday in rejecting a move by European countries to reimpose UN sanctions on Tehran loosened a decade ago under a nuclear agreement.
A letter signed by the Chinese, Russian and Iranian foreign ministers said a move by Britain, France and Germany to automatically restore the sanctions under a so-called "snapback mechanism" was "legally and procedurally flawed".
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China and Russia were signatories to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, along with the three European countries, known as the E3. U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement in his first term in 2018.
The Europeans launched the "snapback mechanism" last week, accusing Iran of violating the deal, which had provided relief from international financial sanctions in return for curbs to Iran's nuclear programme.
The letter published by Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X on Monday said that the course taken by Britain, France, and Germany "abuses the authority and functions of the UN Security Council".
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Iran has long since broken through the limits on uranium production set under the 2015 deal, arguing that it is justified in doing so as a consequence of Washington having pulled out of the agreement. The deal expires in October this year, and the snapback mechanism would allow sanctions that were lifted under it to take effect again.
Iran and the E3 held talks aimed at a new nuclear agreement after Israel and the U.S. bombed Iran's nuclear installations in mid-June. But the E3 deemed that talks in Geneva last week did not yield sufficient signals of readiness for a new deal from Iran.
"Our joint letter with my colleagues, the foreign ministers of China and Russia, signed in Tianjin, reflects the firm position that the European attempt to invoke snapback is legally baseless and politically destructive", Iran's foreign minister said in his post on X.

02/09/2025

A plan circulating in the White House to develop the “Gaza Riviera” as a string of high-tech megacities has been dismissed as an “insane” attempt to provide cover for the large-scale ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian territory’s population.

On Sunday the Washington Post published a leaked prospectus for the plan, which would involve the forced displacement of Gaza’s entire population of 2 million people and put the territory into a US trusteeship for at least a decade.

Named the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust – or Great – the proposal was reportedly developed by some of the same Israelis who created and set in motion the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation with financial planning contributed by Boston Consulting Group.

Tony Blair thinktank worked with project developing ‘Trump Riviera’ Gaza plan
Read more

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Image from the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust – or Great – proposal. Photograph: Supplied
Most controversially, the 38-page plan suggests what it calls “temporary relocation of all of Gaza’s more than 2 million population” – a proposal that would amount to ethnic cleansing, potentially a genocidal act.

Palestinians would be encouraged into “voluntary” departure to another country or into restricted, secure zones during reconstruction. Those who own land would be offered “a digital token” by the trust in exchange for rights to redevelop their property, to be used to finance a new life elsewhere.

Those who stay would be housed in properties with a tiny footprint of 323 sq ft – minuscule even by the standards of many non-refugee camp homes in Gaza.

It was not clear if the plan reflects US policy, and neither the White House nor the State Department responded to the Washington Post’s request for comment. But the prospectus seem to reflect Donald Trump’s previously stated ambition to “clean out” Gaza and redevelop it.

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