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Sweida Hospital Struggles After Sectarian Clashes Rise In Syria
Nearly two weeks after deadly clashes involving the local Druze minority, Bedouin tribes and Syrian government forces, the main hospital in the southern city of Sweida is overwhelmed with trauma patients and struggling to operate due to a lack of power and water.
“Inside of Sweida, it’s a grim picture, with the health facilities under immense strain,” the World Health Organisation’s Christina Bethke told reporters in Geneva via video link from Damascus.
“Electricity and water are cut off, and essential medicine supplies are running out.”
Many medical staff cannot reach their workplace safely, and the main hospital’s mortuary was full at one point this week as it dealt with a surge of trauma cases.
Sectarian Violence
At least 903 people were killed in the sectarian bloodshed, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, after clashes between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes spilt into ferocious fighting between the Druze and government forces sent to quell the unrest.
The Network’s head, Fadel Abdulghany, has said the toll is not final and that his group documented field executions by Syrian troops, Bedouin tribal fighters and Druze factions.
Though the WHO has managed to deliver two convoys of aid in the last week, access remains difficult because tensions remain between the groups controlling various parts of the Sweida governorate, it said.
More than 145,000 people have been displaced by the recent fighting, the WHO said, with many sheltering in makeshift reception centres in Daraa and Damascus.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Thai-Cambodian Clashes Persist Despite Trump’s Ceasefire Call
Hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Cambodian and Thai leaders had agreed to pursue a ceasefire, both countries accused each other of launching artillery attacks across contested border areas early Sunday.
Cambodia said it fully endorsed Trump’s call for an immediate ceasefire. Thailand said while it was grateful to the U.S. President, it could not begin talks while Cambodia was targeting its civilians, a claim that Phnom Penh has denied.
“Our condition is that we do not want a third country but are thankful for his (Trump’s) concern,” Thailand’s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters before heading off to visit border areas.
“We’ve proposed a bilateral between our foreign ministers to conclude the conditions for a ceasefire and draw back troops and long-range weapons.”
Cambodia said Thailand had started hostilities on Sunday morning and that Thai forces were mobilising along the border. Thailand said it had responded to attacks from Cambodia.
“I made it clear to Honourable President Donald Trump that Cambodia agreed with the proposal for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire between the two armed forces,” Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet posted on Facebook, noting he had also agreed to Malaysia’s earlier ceasefire proposal.
Citizens Cries Peace
Four days after the worst fighting in more than a decade broke out between the Southeast Asian neighbours, the death toll stood above 30, including 13 civilians in Thailand and eight in Cambodia.
More than 200,000 people have been evacuated from border areas in the two countries, authorities said.
Cambodia’s Defence Ministry said Thailand had shelled and launched ground assaults on Sunday morning at a number of points along the border.
The ministry’s spokesperson said heavy artillery was fired at historic temple complexes.
“For me, I think it is great if Thailand agreed to stop fighting so both countries can live in peace,” a Phnom Penh university student, Sreung Nita, told Reuters.
The Thai army said Cambodian forces had fired shots into several areas, including near civilian homes, early on Sunday and were mobilising long-range rocket launchers.
The governor of Surin told Reuters artillery shells had been fired into the province.
“The soldiers will continue to do their job at full steam – so Thais do not worry – until the government has reached a clear agreement that there is no danger for the people and to ensure we maintain the country’s interests in order to bring the peace we want to see,” Phumtham said.
In the Thai province of Sisaket, Reuters reporters heard shelling throughout Sunday and said it was unclear which side of the border it was on.
“If there is a ceasefire, things will be better,” Sisaket resident Thavorn Toosawan told Reuters. “It’s great that America is insisting on the ceasefire because it would bring peace.”
Trump’s Ceasefire Call
Trump said on Saturday that he had spoken with the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia and they had agreed to meet immediately to quickly work out a ceasefire to end fighting that began on Thursday.
Bangkok and Phnom Penh each say the other started the hostilities last week.
“Both parties are looking for an immediate ceasefire and peace,” Trump wrote on social media, adding tariff negotiations with both countries were on hold until the fighting stopped.
The countries have faced off since the killing of a Cambodian soldier late in May during a brief skirmish.
Troops on both sides of the border were reinforced amid a full-blown diplomatic crisis that brought Thailand’s fragile coalition government to the brink of collapse.
Thailand-Cambodia Dispute
Thailand and Cambodia have bickered for decades over undemarcated points along their 817-km (508-mile) land border, with ownership of the ancient Hindu temples Ta Moan Thom and the 11th-century Preah Vihear central to the disputes.
Preah Vihear was awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice in 1962, but tension escalated in 2008 after Cambodia attempted to list it as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and skirmishes over several years brought at least a dozen deaths.
Cambodia said in June it had asked the world court to resolve its disputes with Thailand, which says it has never recognised the court’s jurisdiction and prefers a bilateral approach.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Trump Rejects Macron’s Palestinian Statehood Plan
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday rejected French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
“What he says doesn’t matter,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “He’s a very good guy. I like him, but that statement doesn’t carry weight.”
Macron said on Thursday that France intends to recognise a Palestinian state in September at the United Nations General Assembly in hopes of bringing peace to the region.
“Look, he’s a different kind of a guy. He’s okay. He’s a team player, pretty much. But here’s the good news: what he says doesn’t matter. It’s not going to change anything,” Trump said.
Paris Backs Palestine
When Macron visited the Egyptian town of Al-Arish on the border with Gaza in April, he was struck by the mounting humanitarian crisis and made clear on his return home that Paris would soon opt for recognition.
Working with Saudi Arabia, Macron came up with a plan to have France, plus G7 allies Britain and Canada, recognise Palestinian statehood while pushing Arab states to adopt a softer stance towards Israel through a United Nations conference.
But despite weeks of talks, he failed to get others on board.
Three diplomats said London did not want to face the wrath of the United States, and Ottawa took a similar stance, leaving Macron to go it alone.
“It became increasingly apparent that we could not wait to get partners on board,” said a French diplomat, adding France will work to get more states on board ahead of the conference on a two-state solution in September.
Domestically, Macron was under rising pressure to do something amid widespread anger at the harrowing images coming out of Gaza.
Although with both Europe’s biggest Muslim and Jewish communities and a polarised political landscape, there was no obvious course of action that would satisfy all sides.
Israel and its staunch supporter, the United States, have blasted France’s move, branding it a reward for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which ran Gaza and whose attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, triggered the current war.
Macron had discussed the matter extensively with both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in advance.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Israel Opens Aid Corridors, Declares Humanitarian Pause In Gaza
The Israeli military on Sunday announced a daily pause in operations in parts of Gaza and the opening of new aid corridors, following months of international pressure over a deepening hunger crisis in the Palestinian enclave.
Humanitarian Pause
The military said it would cease activity in Al-Mawasi, Deir al-Balah and Gaza City from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (0700-1700 GMT) until further notice in areas where it had not renewed ground operations since March, when it resumed its Gaza offensive.
Designated secure routes for convoys delivering food and medicine will also be in place permanently from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m., the military said.
The Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on Sunday that aid started moving towards Gaza from Egypt. Hours earlier, Israel began aid airdrops in what it described as an effort to ease the humanitarian conditions in the enclave.
On Thursday, the U.N. said humanitarian pauses in Gaza would allow “the scaling up of humanitarian assistance” and said Israel had not been providing enough route alternatives for its convoys, hindering aid access.
International alarm over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has increased and as Israel and the U.S. appeared on Friday to abandon ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, saying it had become clear that the militants did not want a deal.
Gaza Hunger Crisis
Aid organisations said last week there was mass hunger among Gaza’s 2.2 million people, with food running out after Israel cut off all supplies to the territory in March, before resuming it in May with new restrictions.
Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in the past few weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. A total of 127 people have died due to malnutrition, including 85 children, since the start of the war, the ministry said.
Israel says there is no starvation in Gaza and that the aid halt was meant to pressure Hamas into giving up dozens of hostages it is still holding in Gaza.
After letting in aid in May, Israel said there was enough food in Gaza but that the United Nations was failing to distribute it. The U.N. said it was operating as effectively as possible under Israeli restrictions.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza.
Since then, Israel’s offensive against Hamas has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced nearly the entire population.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Kailash Mansarovar Yatra: Spiritual Adventure On Top Of The World
Faith moves mountains, they say. Last fortnight in Tibet, the mystique and allure of Mount Kailash was pulling Neha and Nitin Gokhale through the rough Tibetan terrain as they climbed, with some help from the allotted ponies and their cheerful handlers, the 18,600 feet Dolma pass and then negotiated the steep descent for the next 6-7 km on foot as part of the parikrama around Kailash Parvat, one of the most difficult pilgrimages in Hinduism.
This was the toughest part of the 21-day sojourn 51 of us embarked upon. Variously described as abode of Shiv and Parvati, Centre of the Earth or Axis Mundi, Mount Kailash holds different significance for different people and faiths. Rising to 6,638 metres (21,778 feet) in the remote reaches of the Tibetan plateau, it is regarded as the spiritual axis of the world by multiple religions. Hindus believe Lord Shiv, the supreme ascetic and destroyer of evil, sits in eternal meditation atop the peak. In Jainism, it is known as Ashtapada, where the first Tirthankara, Rishabhadeva, is supposed to have attained moksh. Buddhists revere the mountain as the dwelling place of Demchok (Chakrasamvara), a wrathful manifestation of Buddha, while Bon, the indigenous Tibetan religion, considers it the seat of their founder, Tonpa Shenrab. A parikrama around the mountain that has never been climbed, is the apogee of spiritual and religious achievement. Some Tibetans think it is the mythical Mount Meru, considered to be the cosmic mountain located at the exact centre of the universe. Some others refer to the majestic mountain as Axis Mundi, a Latin term denoting the place where heaven and earth meet.
None of these details were at the top of their mind when they both decided to try their luck in the computerised lottery that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) decided to conduct in May 2025. India and Chinese officials had agreed to resume the yatra through two routes, Nathula and Lipulekh after six years as part of confidence building measures between the two neighbours, who are trying to repair their recent fraught relationship. But for Nitin the bigger motivation was personal. Having entered the 60s a couple of years ago and having undergone two spine surgeries in June 2022 and December 2024, Nitin wanted to test his physical fitness and mental strength. So did his wife Neha, who had last year started going on small treks and hikes. But this would be ultimate test, they thought.
As luck would have it, on May 27, a short official mail from the MEA confirming their selection in the 3rd batch scheduled to travel via Natula, the pass between India and Tibet in Sikkim, came as one of those pleasant surprises people rarely experience. Watch their journey to the roof of the world.
Japan May Fund Taiwan Chip Plant In US
Marking a key outcome of this week’s US tariff agreement, Japan’s $550 billion investment plan may support a Taiwanese company’s semiconductor manufacturing projects in the US, Japan’s top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said on Saturday.
Japan agreed to the sweeping US-bound investment initiative, which includes equity, loans and guarantees, in exchange for lower tariffs on its exports to the US.
However, the structure of the scheme remains unclear.
Japan, US, Allies Working Together
“Japan, the United States, and like-minded countries are working together to build supply chains in sectors critical to economic security,” Akazawa told public broadcaster NHK.
To that end, he said projects eligible for financing under the package are not limited to US or Japanese firms.
“For example, if a Taiwanese chipmaker builds a plant in the US and uses Japanese components or tailors its products to meet Japanese needs, that’s fine too,” he said, without specifying companies.
The US is significantly reliant on Taiwan’s TSMC for advanced chip manufacturing, raising economic security concerns due to geographic proximity to China.
$100B Investment
TSMC announced plans for a $100 billion US investment with US President Donald Trump at the White House in March, on top of $65 billion pledged for three plants in the state of Arizona, one of which is up and running.
Japan will use state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) for the investments. A recent law revision has enabled JBIC to finance foreign companies deemed critical to Japan’s supply chains.
Akazawa told NHK that equity investment would account for just about 1-2% of the $550 billion, suggesting that the bulk will come in the form of loans and guarantees.
When asked about the White House statement that the US would retain 90% of the profits from the package, he clarified that the figure refers only to returns on equity investment, which would represent a small fraction of the total.
While Japan initially hoped to secure half of the returns, a loss from the concession on the profit-sharing would be marginal compared to the roughly 10 trillion yen ($67.72 billion) in tariff costs that could be avoided under the deal, he said.
He added that Japan aims to deploy the $550 billion investments during Trump’s current term.
($1 = 147.6600 yen)
(With inputs from Reuters)
Sudan Conflict Deepens As RSF Unveils Rival Government
In a bold and contentious move, a Sudanese coalition led by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Saturday announced the formation of a parallel government — a step strongly opposed by the army and one that threatens to push the war-torn nation closer to partition amid an ongoing two-year civil war.
The government led by RSF General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, was announced west of the country.
The RSF and its allies signed in March a transitional constitution outlining a federal, secular state divided into eight regions.
The RSF controls much of the west of the country such as the vast Darfur region and some other areas but is being pushed back from central Sudan by the army, which has recently regained control over the capital Khartoum.
Military Condemns RSF
The military led by career army officer General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had condemned the idea of the RSF creating a parallel government and promised to keep fighting until it controls all of Sudan, which has been plagued by conflicts, coups, poverty and hunger.
In February, the RSF and other allied rebel leaders agreed in Kenya to form a government for a “New Sudan”, aiming to challenge the army-led administration’s legitimacy and secure advanced arms imports.
US Sanctions
Dagalo, a former militia leader and one of Sudan’s wealthiest people, was hit with sanctions by the US, which accused him of genocide earlier this year.
He had previously shared power with Burhan after veteran autocrat Omar al-Bashir’s ouster in 2019. However, a 2021 coup by the two forces ousted civilian politicians, sparking a war over troop integration during a planned transition to democracy.
Burhan was sanctioned in January by the US which accused him of choosing war over negotiations to bring an end to the conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.
The ongoing conflict has devastated Sudan, creating an “unprecedented” humanitarian crisis in the country, with half the population facing spreading hunger and famine, according to the United Nations.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Central African Republic’s President Touadera Announces Bid For Third Term
Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera announced on Saturday that he will seek a third term later this year, aiming to extend his rule into a second decade after scrapping term limits in 2023.
“Many of you have asked for me, and my answer is yes. I am your candidate for the presidential election of December 2025,” the 68-year-old said at a meeting of his party, the United Hearts Movement, in the capital, Bangui.
“We will continue the work of rebuilding our country.”
Since taking office in 2016, Touadera has enlisted outside forces to stay in power amid a persistent civil conflict, including mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner militia, who intervened in 2018 on the side of the government.
Landlocked Central African Republic, roughly the size of France and with a population of around 5.5 million, is deeply impoverished despite being rich in resources including gold, diamonds and timber.
It has witnessed waves of instability, including coups and rebellions, since its independence from France in 1960.
Touadera won a second term in 2020, though militants, including the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC), have fought to overturn that result.
The army, backed by United Nations peacekeepers and Russian and Rwandan troops, has been fighting the group for years.
Touadera’s current term was supposed to be his last, but in 2023, the country held a constitutional referendum that abolished the two-term limit and extended the presidential mandate from five to seven years.
Opposition parties and civil society groups have said the new constitution, which was backed by more than 95% of voters, could allow Touadera to stay in power for life.
The exact date of the December vote has not been announced.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Trump Struggles To Deflect Growing Backlash Over Epstein Scandal
President Donald Trump’s usual tactics of deflection and denial are faltering as his base voices growing anger over the Epstein scandal.
Trump has scolded reporters, claimed ignorance and offered distractions in an effort to quash questions about Epstein and the suspicions still swirling around the disgraced financier’s case years after his 2019 death in prison. The demand for answers has only grown.
“For a president and an administration that’s very good at controlling a narrative, this is one that’s been harder,” said Republican strategist Erin Maguire, a former Trump campaign spokeswoman.
Supporters Demand Transparency
Unlike political crises that dogged Trump’s first term, including two impeachments and a probe into alleged campaign collusion with Russia, the people propelling the push for more transparency on Epstein have largely been his supporters, not his political foes.
Trump has fed his base with conspiracy theories for years, including the false “birther” claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Trump’s advisers fanned conspiracies about Epstein, too, only to declare them moot upon entering office.
That has not gone over well with the president’s right-leaning base, which has long believed the government was covering up Epstein’s ties to the rich and powerful.
“Donald Trump’s been running a Ponzi scheme based on propaganda for the better part of a decade, and it’s finally catching up to him,” said Geoff Duncan, a Republican former lieutenant governor of Georgia and Trump critic. “The far right element is just dug in.
They’re hell bent on getting this information out.”
‘Fake News’
The White House has dismissed reporting about Trump’s ties to Epstein as “fake news,” though it has acknowledged his name appears in documents related to the Epstein case. Trump and Epstein were friends for years before falling out.
“The only people who can’t seem to shake this story from their one-track minds are the media and Democrats,” said White House spokesman Harrison Fields.
Before leaving for a trip to Scotland on Friday, the president again urged people to turn their attention elsewhere.
“People should really focus on how well the country is doing,” Trump told reporters, lamenting that scrutiny was not being given to others in Epstein’s orbit. “They don’t talk about them, they talk about me. I have nothing to do with the guy.”
The Art Of Distraction
Trump, in recent weeks, has employed a typical diversion playbook.
He chastised a reporter for asking about Epstein in the White House Cabinet Room. He claimed in the Oval Office that he was not paying close attention to the issue. And, with help from Tulsi Gabbard, his director of national intelligence, he explosively accused Obama of treason for how he treated intelligence in 2016 about Russian interference in the U.S. election.
On Thursday, Trump took his distraction tour to the Federal Reserve, where he tussled with Chair Jerome Powell about construction costs and pressed for lower interest rates.
That, said Republican strategist Brad Todd, was more effective than focusing on Obama in 2016, which voters had already litigated by putting Trump back in office.
“The Tulsi Gabbard look backwards, I think, is not the way for them to pivot,” Todd said, noting that Trump’s trip to the Fed highlighted the issue of economic affordability and taking on a Washington institution. “If I was him I’d go to the Fed every day until rates are cut.”
Democrats have seized on Trump’s efforts to move on, sensing a political weakness for the president and divisions in the Republican Party that they can exploit while their own political stock is low in the wake of last year’s drubbing at the polls.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll this month showed most Americans think Trump’s administration is hiding information about Epstein, creating an opportunity for Democrats to press.
Trump’s supporters and many Democrats are eager to see a release of government files related to Epstein and his case, which the Justice Department initially promised to deliver.
“Yesterday was another example of the Trump folks trying to throw as much stuff against the wall to avoid the Epstein files,” Mark Warner, a Democratic U.S. senator from Virginia, said in a post on X on Thursday about Gabbard’s accusations against Obama.
All-Out-There Strategy
Trump allies see the administration’s efforts to change the topic as a normal part of an all-out-there strategy.
“They are always going at 100 miles an hour. Every department, every cabinet secretary, everybody is out there at full speed blanketing the area with news,” Republican strategist Maguire said.
Trump has weathered tougher periods before, and his conservative base, despite its frustration over the files, is largely pleased with Trump’s work on immigration and the economy.
In a July Reuters/Ipsos poll, 56% of Republican respondents favoured the administration’s immigration workplace raids, while 24% were opposed and 20% unsure.
Pollster Frank Luntz noted that Trump had faced felony convictions and other criminal charges but still won re-election last year.
“We’ve been in this very same situation several times before, and he has escaped every time,” Luntz said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Greece Fights Raging Wildfires, Evacuates Multiple Villages
Firefighters battled wildfires near Athens and throughout Greece on Saturday, as the country endured its third summer heatwave, prompting evacuations in several villages and settlements.
Explosions could be heard as huge clouds of smoke covered Drosopigi village, 25 km north of Athens, where factories with flammable material are located. Helicopters dropped water, and 65 firefighters battled the flames, assisted by 26 vehicles and two aircraft.
Two houses caught fire, according to state ERT television, while residents of the nearby village of Krioneri were instructed by authorities to leave towards Athens.
High Temperature
Temperatures in Greece were forecast to reach up to 44 degrees Celsius on Saturday, the Greek weather service said.
On the island of Evia, 115 firefighters and 24 vehicles were deployed to put out fires, assisted by six aircraft and seven helicopters, but strong winds were hampering their efforts. Residents of the island’s Triada area were told to be ready in case they needed to leave.
The fire on Evia is the latest in a series of bushfires stoked by strong winds and dry conditions this month.
On the island of Kythera, authorities evacuated the villages of Aroniadika, Pitsinades and Aryoi. In the area of Messinia, west of Athens, residents of the Kryoneri and Sellas villages were also told to leave.
These sites were on a list of Greek regions on high alert for wildfires due to record-breaking temperatures and strong winds due on Saturday.
Tourism is a key earner in Greece, and the fires have hit since the start of the peak summer holiday season early in July.
Greece and other Mediterranean countries are in an area dubbed “a wildfire hotspot” by scientists, with blazes common during hot and dry summers. These have become more destructive in recent years due to a fast-changing climate, prompting calls for a new approach.
(With inputs from Reuters)