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Families Voice Fears For Hostages After Israel’s Doha Strike Targeting Hamas Leaders
Families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza expressed deep fears for the safety of their loved ones following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to strike Qatar targeting Hamas leadership, a move that coincided with renewed efforts to secure a ceasefire.
Qatar has been hosting leaders of the Palestinian militant group, which is still holding 48 hostages in Gaza, and is one of the mediators, along with the United States, trying to secure a ceasefire deal that would include the captives’ release.
Some hostage families said they were outraged by Tuesday’s assassination attempt in Doha, fearing Hamas could take retribution against their loved ones.
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan was kidnapped from his Kibbutz in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks that triggered the war in Gaza, said she was trembling with fear that her son’s fate had now been sealed.
“Why does the prime minister insist on blowing up every small chance for a deal? Why?” she said in a video she sent to journalists. “The people of Israel are tired of this war. End it already and bring everyone back.”
Matan Zangauker is one of 20 hostages believed to still be alive after almost two years in captivity. Families of those believed to have died in Gaza are fearful they will never have the chance to bury their loved ones if their remains are lost forever in the shattered enclave.
“I’m horrified at the idea that when we finally had an American-led deal that could have led to the release of our hostages, this is the action that took place,” Udi Goren, whose cousin Tal Haimi’s body is still in Gaza, told Reuters.
“I have no regret in seeing these people punished. They are all a part of the people that massacred, that planned what happened on October 7. However, the only way that my cousin Tal will be back for burial is by a negotiated deal,” said Goren.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said on Tuesday: “The Israeli government must explain how the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) operation will not lead to the killing of the hostages, and whether the risk to their lives was taken into account in the decision.”
End Of The War?
Hours after the attack in Doha, Netanyahu said the strike could speed up the war’s end. A message by his hostage liaison, Gal Hirsch, to the families said that the Hamas leadership abroad has been an obstacle to reaching a ceasefire agreement.
In Gaza on Wednesday, Palestinian families continued to stream out of Gaza City along the coastal road in anticipation of a major Israeli offensive.
While some critics say that the attack in Doha points to Netanyahu not wanting to end the war any time soon, others say it may actually mark the beginning of the war’s conclusion.
Amos Nadan, director of the Moshe Dayan Centre for Middle Eastern and African Studies, said that Tuesday’s strike could be a similar move to the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanese militia and Hamas ally Hezbollah a year ago, which was followed by an Israel-Lebanon ceasefire two months later.
“In Israel, we have to remember that the vast majority of the people now are in favour of ending the war and bringing back the hostages,” Nadan told Reuters. “So that might look like the concluding remarks of the war.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
US Indicts Mexican Megachurch Leader For Sex Trafficking, Racketeering
The head of a Mexican megachurch with 5 million global followers has been charged with sex trafficking in the US, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Naason Joaquin Garcia, the self-styled apostle of the Guadalajara-based evangelical church La Luz del Mundo (Light of the World), was taken into federal custody in California, where he is serving a sentence of 16 years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty in 2022 to state-level charges of sexually abusing three girls.
Possible Life In Prison
In a separate indictment unsealed on Wednesday, the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office said Joaquin, 56, for decades trafficked women and girls for sex, produced child pornography, and destroyed evidence of his crimes. He faces six counts, including racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, and could face life in prison if convicted.
Five alleged co-conspirators, including Joaquin’s mother, were also charged.
‘Exploited The Faith Of Their Followers’
“They exploited the faith of their followers to prey upon them,” US Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement.
Neither Joaquin’s lawyers nor La Luz del Mundo immediately responded to requests for comment.
Carrying The Tradition
La Luz del Mundo was founded by Joaquin’s grandfather, Eusebio Joaquin Gonzalez, in 1926 and was later led by Joaquin’s father, Samuel Joaquin Flores. All three men took advantage of their positions of power to rape girls and young women, often by telling them they could earn a special “blessing” by engaging in sexual activity with them, prosecutors said.
Joaquin’s father and grandfather are both dead.
The younger Joaquin dissuaded congregants from reporting his abuse to law enforcement by discouraging them from associating with outsiders and teaching them from birth that they would be eternally damned if they questioned him, prosecutors said.
Many of Joaquin’s accusers decried his state-level plea deal with the California Attorney General’s Office as too lenient.
(With inputs from Reuters)
NASA Rover Detects Possible Evidence Of Ancient Life In Martian Rock Sample
Scientists said a rock sample collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover, formed billions of years ago from lakebed sediment, shows potential traces of ancient microbial life on Mars. However, they cautioned that the minerals identified could also arise from nonbiological processes.
The discovery, detailed in research published on Wednesday, represents one of the best pieces of evidence to date about the possibility that Earth’s planetary neighbour once harboured life.
Since landing on Mars in 2021, the six-wheeled rover has been exploring Jezero Crater, an area in the planet’s northern hemisphere that once was flooded with water and home to an ancient lake basin, as it seeks signs of ancient life.
Perseverance has been collecting samples of rock and loose material called regolith and analyzing them with its various onboard instruments.
The rover obtained the newly described sample, called the Sapphire Canyon sample, in a place called the Bright Angel rock formation. This formation consists of fine-grained mudstones and coarse-grained conglomerates, a kind of sedimentary rock composed of gravel-sized particles cemented together by finer-grained sediments.
Potential Evidence Of Microbial Life
Stony Brook University planetary scientist Joel Hurowitz, who led the study published in the journal Nature said that a “potential biosignature” was detected in multi-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks.
This came in the form of two minerals that appear to have formed as a result of chemical reactions between the mud of the Bright Angel formation and organic matter also present in that mud, Hurowitz said. They are: vivianite, an iron phosphate mineral, and greigite, an iron sulfide mineral.
“These reactions appear to have taken place shortly after the mud was deposited on the lake bottom. On Earth, reactions like these, which combine organic matter and chemical compounds in mud to form new minerals like vivianite and greigite, are often driven by the activity of microbes,” Hurowitz said.
“The microbes are consuming the organic matter in these settings and producing these new minerals as a byproduct of their metabolism,” Hurowitz said.
But Hurowitz offered some words of caution.
“The reason, however, that we cannot claim this is more than a potential biosignature is that there are chemical processes that can cause similar reactions in the absence of biology, and we cannot rule those processes out completely on the basis of rover data alone,” Hurowitz said.
Change Of Environment In Mars
Mars has not always been the inhospitable place it is today, with liquid water on its surface in the distant past. Scientists have suspected that microbial life once could have lived in Jezero Crater.
They believe river channels spilled over the crater wall and created a lake more than 3.5 billion years ago.
The Sapphire Canyon sample was collected in July 2024 from a set of rocky outcrops on the edges of Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley carved by water rushing into Jezero crater.
The sample collected and analyzed by Perseverance provides a new example of a type of potential biosignature that the research community can explore to try to understand whether or not these features were formed by life, Hurowitz said, “or alternatively, whether nature has conspired to present features that mimic the activity of life.”
“Ultimately, follow-on research will provide us with a suite of testable hypotheses for how to determine whether biology is responsible for the generation of these features in the Bright Angel formation, which we can evaluate by examining the Sapphire Canyon sample if it is returned to Earth,” Hurowitz added.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Signs Of A Royal Thaw? Harry And King Charles Reunite In London
Prince Harry met King Charles for tea on Wednesday, marking their first meeting in 20 months and a possible step towards mending their widely reported rift.
Harry, the Duke of Sussex, last saw his father in February 2024, shortly after it was announced that the king was undergoing treatment for an unspecified form of cancer.
Buckingham Palace confirmed that Charles, 76, had a private tea at Clarence House in London with his younger son on Wednesday.
Critical Of The Royals
Harry, 40, flew into Britain on Monday for a series of engagements, and earlier on Wednesday visited a research centre which specialises in improving treatment for victims with blast injuries.
Since Harry and his American wife Meghan moved to California in 2020 where they now live with their two children, they have been highly critical of the royal family and the institution in interviews, TV documentaries and Harry’s autobiography “Spare”.
Harry had some particularly barbed comments for Charles and his elder brother, heir-to-the-throne Prince William, leading to a total breakdown in his relationship with his family.
‘No Point In Continuing To Fight’
But after losing a legal battle with the British government over his security in May, Harry said he wanted a rapprochement.
“Of course some members of my family will never forgive me for writing a book. Of course they will never forgive me for lots of things. But you know … I would love reconciliation with my family … There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore. And life is precious,” he told the BBC.
“I don’t know how much longer my father has. He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff, but it would be nice to reconcile.”
‘A Lot Of Anguish’
Both Buckingham Palace and Harry’s representatives had been tight-lipped ahead of the prince’s visit to Britain about whether there would be a meeting with the king.
However, Charles’ communications chief and Harry’s media representatives were pictured in July at a secret meeting in London in what newspapers suggested might be the first steps towards a reconciliation.
Historian and author Anthony Seldon said mending their relationship was important for the monarchy and for both Charles and Harry as individuals.
“The king is the king, but he’s also a human being and a loving father,” Seldon told Reuters.
“I think the rift will have caused both of them a lot of anguish. So if that can be healed, at least in part, now or subsequently, then that’s all to the good.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
Poland Drone Incursion Linked To Russia’s Gerbera UAVs: What We Know
A suspected incursion by Russian drones into Polish airspace on Wednesday has raised serious concerns, as Moscow’s war in Ukraine appears to have extended into the territory of a NATO member. According to a Polish army official, the incident involved the use of Gerbera drones.
Poland’s military command said drones repeatedly violated Polish airspace during the Russian attack across the border in Ukraine, and the defence minister said NATO command had been briefed.
Here is what we know about the Gerbera:
It is a cheap long-range drone which Ukrainian intelligence says is made of materials like plywood and foam and assembled at Russia’s vast Yelabuga facility.
It has a broad wingspan of 2.5 m, maximum weight of 18 kg, maximum speed of 160 kph, maximum range of 600 km, and small engine at the back spinning a wooden propeller, according to Ukrainian intelligence.
Ukraine and Western analysts say Russia uses the Gerbera as a cheap way to saturate Ukraine’s air defences.
It can be used as a decoy, drawing the attention of air defences away from much pricier Shahed drones, which carry powerful warheads. However, analysts say that since its introduction, other versions of the Gerbera with light warheads or reconnaissance equipment have emerged.
“Gerberas are usually employed as part of a mix of systems,” said Fabian Hinz, research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “It therefore seems possible that the incursion featured other Unmanned Aerial Vehicle systems of which we have not yet seen debris.”
According to Ukraine, the Gerbera is assembled in Russia from kits supplied by Chinese manufacturer Skywalker Technology.
Beijing insists it is neutral in the war and denies supplying military assistance to Russia.
Ukraine’s intelligence agency also says it found electronic components from US and European manufacturers in the Gerbera, despite restrictions on exports of dual-use technologies to Russia.
(With inputs from Reuters)
EU Unlikely To Hit India, China With Crippling Tariffs At Trump’s Request
The European Union is seen as highly unlikely to impose crippling tariffs on India or China—Russia’s top oil buyers—despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s calls for such action, according to EU sources.
An EU delegation, including the EU’s Russia sanctions chief, flew to Washington this week to discuss how the two sides can coordinate on sanctions against Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Officials said Trump urged the EU to hit India and China with up to 100% tariffs in order to put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who relies on energy revenues to fund his country’s war in Ukraine.
The European Commission did not respond to a request for comment.
Extensive Russia Sanctions
The European Union has imposed extensive sanctions on Russia and also listed two Chinese banks, as well as a major Indian refinery, in its last package in July.
However, the EU treats tariffs in a different way to sanctions and only imposes them after an investigation typically lasting months to establish a legally sound justification, the sources said.
The bloc has so far only imposed tariffs in the context of the Ukraine war on Russian and Belarusian fertilisers and farm products. The justification for the measures was to prevent creating a dependency that could be exploited and to avoid harm to EU fertiliser producers.
“So far, there is no discussion on possible tariffs, neither on India…nor with China,” an EU diplomat said.
Furthermore, the EU is in the midst of finalising a trade deal with India, which the bloc is unlikely to want to jeopardise.
Trump’s position on India also appeared to ease by Wednesday, when he said he was looking to reset trade relations with New Delhi.
Another EU source said such tariffs were risky and could be too broad, and it was easier to sanction specific entities and open the door to delisting them if they ended their business with Russia.
Up to now, the EU had limited itself to listing small and unknown entities in third countries, which were often shell companies used to funnel military equipment or dual-use goods for use by Russia’s military.
The EU is planning to list banks in two central Asian countries in its 19th package of sanctions, as well as Chinese refineries, which could be proposed as soon as Friday.
(With inputs from Reuters)
EU Commission Chief Prepares Proposal For Fresh Measures Against Israel
The European Commission will propose sanctions against extremist Israeli ministers and the suspension of trade-related measures in a European Union (EU) agreement with Israel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.
The proposals, announced by von der Leyen in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, reflect growing EU criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza and increased pressure on the bloc’s executive body to take action.
The proposals would need broad or unanimous support among the EU’s member states, which is likely to be hard to achieve as the bloc is deeply divided on the Middle East. But von der Leyen made clear the proposal was also meant to be a political signal.
“What is happening in Gaza has shaken the conscience of the world,” von der Leyen said in her State of the Union speech, an annual address setting out her priorities for the year ahead.
EU Targets Israeli Hardliners
Von der Leyen acknowledged the divisions within Europe on Gaza but pledged the Commission would do what it could on its own.
“We will propose sanctions on the extremist ministers and on violent settlers. And we will also propose a partial suspension of the Association Agreement on trade-related matters,” she said.
She did not name the ministers or outline which “trade-related measures” the Commission would propose to suspend.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Wednesday that von der Leyen’s comments were “regrettable”, adding that the president is aware of Israel’s efforts to assist humanitarian aid and that suffering in Gaza is due to Hamas.
“The President of the Commission errs in yielding to the pressures of elements that seek to undermine Israel–Europe relations,” the minister wrote in a post on social media platform X.
The European Union is Israel’s biggest trading partner, with trade in goods between the two amounting to 42.6 billion euros ($49.9 billion) last year, according to the EU.
According to a July options paper prepared by the EU’s diplomatic service, a suspension of the entire trade chapter of the Association Agreement governing relations with Israel would withdraw trade preferences for Israeli products entering the EU.
It would require a qualified majority vote among EU governments – the support of 15 out of 27 EU members representing 65% of the EU population.
Divisions On Israel Policy
EU members, including Ireland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, have called for the suspension of an EU free trade pact with Israel. But others, such as Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic, have opposed such steps.
EU sanctions on individuals require unanimous backing from member states. Hungary has blocked an existing proposal to sanction violent settlers.
“I am aware it will be difficult to find majorities. And I know that any action will be too much for one, and too little for others. But we must all take our own responsibility,” von der Leyen said.
Spain welcomed the Commission president’s announcement.
“We Europeans cannot have normal relations with Israel when there is a flagrant, systematic, daily violation of human rights in Gaza,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said.
Support For Israel ‘On Hold’
Von der Leyen also said that the Commission will put its bilateral support for Israel on hold, without affecting work with Israeli civil society and Yad Vashem, Israel’s main Holocaust memorial centre.
She did not provide details on how much funding would be impacted.
The Commission had previously proposed curbing Israeli access to its flagship research funding programme but failed to garner sufficient support from EU member countries for the move.
Diplomats say Berlin’s view on the proposal is key, and Germany has said it is so far unconvinced.
The Commission chief said the body will set up a Palestine Donor Group next month, including an instrument for Gaza reconstruction.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Australian Opposition Leader Sacks Senator Over Anti-Indian Remarks
Australian Opposition Leader Sussan Ley on Wednesday dismissed a senator from her shadow ministry for making “deeply hurtful” remarks about Indian immigrants and subsequently refusing to support her leadership.
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, a senator for the Northern Territory in the centre-right Liberal Party, singled out Indian immigrants during a radio interview last week.
Price, who held the portfolios of defence industry and defence personnel in the shadow cabinet, refused to apologise for the comments despite condemnation by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and members of her own party and the Indian community.
Price ‘Failed The Test’
Ley said she had sought Price’s resignation because she “failed the test” of high standards expected of a shadow minister.
“Senator Nampijinpa Price made comments that were deeply hurtful to Indian Australians,” she told a press conference on Wednesday.
“The comments were wrong and should not have been made. And despite being given the time and space to apologise, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price did not offer an apology.”
In a statement, Price said she had accepted Ley’s decision and emphasised that she did not intend to disparage the Indian community but raise concerns over “the magnitude of migration”.
Price’s comments about one of Australia’s largest minority groups followed nationwide anti-immigrant protests that, in part, blamed Indian immigrants for cost-of-living pressures.
She suggested they were arriving in unsustainable numbers because they tended to vote for Albanese’s centre-left Labour Party.
In an earlier press conference on Wednesday, Price had vowed not to be “silenced” on immigration, and then refused to say whether she backed Ley’s leadership.
Hours later, Ley said, “Confidence in the leader is a requirement for serving in the shadow ministry.”
Price defected to the Liberal party from the Nationals following the defeat of Australia’s conservative opposition coalition in May’s general election.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Italian PM Meloni Praises Ties With Indian PM Narendra Modi While Avoiding U.S. Tariff Request
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in a phone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, praised the “excellent” relations between the two countries but did not address Washington’s push for the EU to impose tariffs of up to 100% on Indian goods.
According to officials, U.S. President Donald Trump urged the European Union this week to hit China and India with new import duties as part of a strategy to put pressure on Russia, a key supplier of oil for the two nations.
Trump also encouraged the European Union to slap India with similarly expansive tariffs, said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.
China and India are major purchasers of Russian oil and, as such, they play a vital role in keeping Russia’s economy afloat as it continues to pursue its expanded invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022.
The U.S. request, if heeded, would result in a change of strategy for the EU, which has preferred to isolate Russia with sanctions rather than tariffs.
‘Excellent Bilateral Relations’
In their call, Meloni and Modi welcomed “the excellent state of bilateral relations” and reaffirmed a shared commitment to deepen cooperation on trade, investment and connectivity, the Italian premier’s office said in a statement.
The statement made no mention of Trump’s demands.
The two leaders also discussed Ukraine, saying they support “all international efforts to promote a ceasefire and a resumption of negotiations aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace”, the statement added.
As Europe and the U.S. have shunned Russian oil over Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, India has taken advantage of discounts on Russian output to become the largest buyer of Russian seaborne crude.
India has made clear it would continue buying Russian oil as it proves economical, despite the Trump administration’s decision to impose heavy import tariffs on Indian goods.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Brazilian Judge Backs Annulment Of Bolsonaro Case, Diverging From Colleagues
Supreme Court Justice Luiz Fux voted to annul the case against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday, citing improper jurisdiction, a move that set him apart from fellow justices and strengthened the chances of an appeal after this week’s verdict.
The high court still seems likely to convict Bolsonaro of plotting a coup to remain in power after he was voted out of office in 2022. Two judges already voted to convict, and the remaining two were appointed by leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in the 2022 election.
But Fux’s vote could bolster the argument of Bolsonaro’s defence that the case should be decided by the high court’s full bench of 11 justices, including two who were appointed by the former president.
The divergence on the court adds tension to a case that has already polarized the nation and drawn thousands of Bolsonaro supporters to the streets in protest.
A lengthy appeals process would also push proceedings closer to the 2026 presidential campaign, in which Bolsonaro still insists he will be a candidate. The former president was barred from running for office in a separate case over his spreading of unfounded claims about Brazil’s electronic voting system.
The former president stands accused of taking part in an armed criminal organization, attempting to violently abolish democracy, organizing a coup, and damaging government property and protected cultural assets.
His lawyers have maintained his innocence on all counts and argued that his trial involved several procedural mistakes.
Fux’s Arguments
Fux agreed on Wednesday with several of the defence’s arguments. In his vote during the trial’s final deliberations, Fux said the case should have been heard by lower courts because Bolsonaro had left office.
“I vote … that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to judge this case because the defendants had already lost their (political) positions,” Fux said.
Once involved, he added, the full Supreme Court should have handled the trial rather than the five-judge panel, because it involves crimes committed while Bolsonaro was president.
Fux also said the defence was not given enough time to prepare their case, noting that the investigation generated around 70 terabytes of documents, which he called a “tsunami of data” and “document dumping.”
“I’m not an expert in this area, but the volume reached 70 terabytes — I couldn’t believe it, because that’s billions of pages. Yet it was only on April 30, 2025, that a decision was issued granting access to the media and materials seized during the investigative phase,” he said.
(With inputs from Reuters)