Foreign News

Israelis praise Trump at huge rally ahead of expected hostage release by Hamas in Gaza

Published

3 months ago

2025/10/12

Priyan

Crowds at the Tel Aviv rally unfurled a banner praising Trump [BBC]

Hundreds of thousands of people have held a rally in Tel Aviv, ahead of the expected release of Israeli hostages by Hamas.

Addressing the crowds, US special envoy Steve Witkoff said the hostages “are coming home” and praised Donald Trump for making a Gaza ceasefire and hostage return deal possible.

In Gaza, Palestinian officials said about 500,000 people had returned to northern Gaza – which lies in ruins – in the past two days, following the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Meanwhile Egypt confirmed it would host a summit on Monday to finalise an agreement aimed at ending the war.

More than 20 leaders including Trump would attend the summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, an Egyptian presidential spokesperson said. French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are confirmed to be travelling to Egypt on Monday.

Trump is expected to visit Israel on Monday before heading to Egypt. His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner also addressed the Tel Aviv rally on Saturday.

Under the ceasefire and hostage release deal announced on Thursday, Hamas was given 72 hours – until 12:00 local time (09:00 GMT) on Monday – to release all the 48 hostages it is still holding after two years of war, 20 of whom are assumed to be alive.

A top Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, told AFP news agency that “according to the signed agreement, the prisoner exchange is set to begin on Monday morning as agreed, and there are no new developments on this matter”.

He said Hamas militants on the ground had not yet notified the movement’s leadership about the logistics of the handover.

Aviv Havron, whose family members were murdered and others kidnapped in the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas, told the BBC in Tel Aviv: “It’s so important for the community… that they come back. Without this, we can’t restart our lives.

“My sisters and two brothers in law were murdered. Seven of my family members were kidnapped – my older sister was kidnapped, her daughter, her grandchildren. Four bodies of Be’eri [community] members are still in Gaza,.”

Shulamit and David Ginat, who also attended the Tel Aviv rally, told the BBC all the hostages must be saved.

“They’re our brothers and sisters. We want to heal again. We want to stop the war, stop the pain and heal again,” Shulamit said.

Many in the crowd yelled “Thank you, Trump!” – but also booed when Witkoff mentioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Speaking just afterward, the couple said they were angry at him over the failure to prevent the 7 October attack, the war and the failure to bring the hostages home sooner.

“He wants to continue the war only because he wants to stay prime minister,” David said.

In Gaza, Hamas has called up thousands of fighters to reassert control over areas of Gaza recently vacated by Israeli troops, according to local sources.

The Hamas mobilisation had been widely anticipated amid growing uncertainty about who will govern Gaza once the war ends and fears of internal violence. There have also been reports of armed clashes between Hamas and Gaza clans.

Displaced Palestinians have continued to move north in Gaza in large numbers, in many cases arriving to find their homes destroyed.

“There is no house anymore. Everything is gone,” lawyer Mosa Aldous said over the phone from Gaza City.

EPA gaza city ruins 11 oct — *About 500,000 Palestinians have now returned to Gaza City, the civil defence says [BBC]*

Raja Salmi, 52, told AFP she reached Gaza City’s Rimal neighbourhood to find her home also gone.

“I stood before it and cried. All those memories are now just dust,” she said.

Under the terms of the ceasefire and hostage release deal, the amount of aid entering Gaza is due to be scaled up but the World Food Programme (WFP) told the BBC that a surge of aid lorries had “not yet” entered Gaza, reporting only two to three lorries entering the territory daily.

With full access, WFP, a UN agency, said it intended to restore its regular food distribution system, boosting aid through 145 distribution points across Gaza.

Cogat, the Israeli military body overseeing the entry of aid into Gaza, said 500 trucks had entered on Thursday of which around 300 were distributed inside Gaza by the UN and other organisations.

A recent report by the world’s leading hunger monitor Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), backed by the UN, estimated that 500,000 people in Gaza – a quarter of the territory’s population – were suffering from famine.

Israel has repeatedly denied that starvation is taking place in Gaza, and Netanyahu has said that where there is hunger, it is the fault of aid agencies and Hamas.

About 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage in the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023 on southern Israel.

Israel responded by launching a military offensive that has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

[BBC]

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Foreign News

Naqvi casts uncertainty on Pakistan’s participation in T20 World Cup after Bangladesh ouster

Published

1 hour ago

2026/01/25

Priyan

Mohsin Naqvi said the decision to play in the T20 World Cup or not now rests with the Pakistan government [Cricinfo]

Pakistan’s participation at the upcoming Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 has been thrown into uncertainty after the PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi said a final decision would be made after talking to Pakistan’s government. Speaking shortly after the ICC officially removed Bangladesh from the T20 World Cup owing to their refusal to play in India, Naqvi accused the ICC of “double standards” favouring India, and termed what happened to Bangladesh “an injustice”.

“Our stance on World Cup participation will be what the government of Pakistan instructs me,” he said. “The Prime Minister is not in Pakistan right now. When he returns, I’ll be able to give you our final decision. It’s the government’s decision. We obey them, not the ICC.”

Over the past week or so, Pakistan has firmly thrown its support behind Bangladesh in their dispute with the ICC demanding a venue outside of India to play their T20 World Cup matches. At an ICC meeting last week, the PCB was understood to be the only board to back the BCB in their stance. The tournament is jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka, but Bangladesh’s games were all scheduled in India. Bangladesh, however, have said it is no longer safe for them to play in India after the BCCI, on January 3, instructed Kilkata Knight Riders to release Mustafizur Rahman rom their IPL 2026 squad.

Though no reason was stated for that directive, it came amid deteriorating relations between India and Bangladesh. On January 4, the BCB wrote to the ICC after consultation with the government that the Bangladesh team would not travel to India for its T20 World Cup matches due to security concerns, a stance it stuck to through several subsequent discussions with the ICC.

The ICC has repeatedly refused Bangladesh’s request, and earlier this week gave them an ultimatum demanding them to accept the schedule as it was, or face being removed from the tournament. On Saturday, with Bangladesh sticking to their position, the ICC formally announced Bangladesh would not be part of the T20 World Cup, and would be replaced instead by Scotland.

Naqvi was critical of the decision, calling it an injustice to Bangladesh. “I think Bangladesh has been hard done by,” he said. “You can’t have double standards. You can’t say for one country [India] they can do whatever they want and for the others to have to do the complete opposite. That’s why we’ve taken this stand, and made clear Bangladesh have had an injustice done to them. They should play in the World Cup, they are a major stakeholder in cricket.”

While there have been local, unverified reports that the PCB would refuse to participate in the World Cup in solidarity with Bangladesh should they be removed, the PCB has declined to confirm to ESPNcricinfo when approached. Naqvi’s comments to the media on Saturday was the first time anyone at the PCB has directly addressed the issue, where he repeatedly said the decision was no longer in the hands of the PCB.

“If the government of Pakistan says we mustn’t play, then maybe the ICC will bring in a 22nd team (after Scotland). It’s up to the government.”

No specific reason was given by Naqvi other than to support Bangladesh, as to why government permission would now be required for an event that starts in two weeks. Last year, both BCCI and PCB, with the approval of ICC, signed up to a hybrid model agreement by which both countries would play each other on neutral territory for all global events in the 2024-27 rights cycle.

Pakistan play all their games in Sri Lanka for this event (which already was a co-hosted event) and are scheduled to play the opening game of the tournament, against Netherlands on February 7. They are scheduled to play India on February 15 in Colombo in their group stage clash.

[Cricinfo]

Foreign News

Indonesia landslide kills 7, dozens more missing

Published

13 hours ago

2026/01/24

Priyan

At least seven people have died and more than 80 others are missing after a landslide hit Indonesia’s West Java province, officials said.

The landslide occurred in the West Bandung region, south-east of the capital Jakarta, following days of intense rainfall.

More than thirty homes were destroyed after “landslide material buried residential areas, causing fatalities and affecting local residents”, Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said in a statement.

Flooding, landslide and extreme weather alerts have also been issued for the broader region.

The landslide hit the village of Pasirlangu around 02:30AM on Saturday [24] (19:30 GMT).

Two dozen people were evacuated safely from the affected region, according to Abdul Muhari, communication chief of the National Search Agency.

Images shared by local news outlets showed homes buried under mud and debris.

[BBC]

Foreign News

Alleged drug kingpin and ex-Olympian Ryan Wedding arrested after years on the run

Published

20 hours ago

2026/01/24

Priyan

Wedding, seen in an undated photo released by the FBI

Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder and alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding has been arrested in Mexico and will be extradited to the US after years on the run, FBI Director Kash Patel has said.

Wedding, who had been on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, is accused of running a transnational drug trafficking operation that moved tonnes of cocaine across international borders.

Wedding, 44, was also wanted on murder charges. US officials had said they believed Wedding was living in Mexico under the Sinaloa drug cartel’s protection.

The head of Canada’s federal police force, which assisted in the investigation, spoke alongside Patel on Friday to praise the law enforcement operation.

Wedding is accused of running a vast drug trafficking operation responsible for importing some 60 metric tonnes of cocaine a year.

The organisation operated across North America, as well as several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and was also the largest supplier of cocaine to Canada, bringing in an estimated $1bn a year.

Before he was arrested, Wedding was accused of killing a federal witness in a case against him. Officials say he has also ordered the murders of several others.

Wedding is now facing a slew of felony charges, including witness tampering and intimidation, murder, money laundering and drug trafficking.

The FBI had previously placed a $15m (£11m) reward for information leading to his arrest. Patel declined to comment on whether anyone would be claiming the reward money.

US officials have released limited details regarding how Wedding was captured, except to say that his arrest took place on Thursday night in Mexico City.

Mexico’s top security official, Omar García Harfuch, said in a post on X that Patel had visited Mexico City on Thursday, and departed with two fugitives on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list.

He did not name the men arrested, but said one was a “Canadian citizen who voluntarily surrendered” at the US embassy in Mexico.

The Associated Press, citing an unnamed Mexican Security Cabinet member, reported that Wedding is the Canadian who turned himself in at the US embassy.

In his remarks at a news conference, Patel described Wedding as a “modern-day Pablo Escobar”, referring to the Colombian cartel leader. US officials have also compared him to Mexican drug dealer Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

“When you go after a guy like Ryan Wedding, it takes a united front,” Patel said, thanking Canadian and Mexican authorities for their help in the investigation.

Patel also thanked the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, who participated in taking Wedding into custody.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Patel praised the team, which had also been involved in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro weeks earlier.

“This was a complex, high-stakes operation with zero margin for error,” Patel told the magazine.

“I was on the ground with our team in Mexico and witnessed extraordinary teamwork, precision, and trust between our agents and partners in Mexico.”

Wedding’s aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant,” “Public Enemy,” “James Conrad King,” and “Jesse King”, the FBI said. He has reportedly had plastic surgery to change his appearance while on the run.

Officials allege that he launched his criminal enterprise following his release from a US federal prison in 2011, where he was serving a sentence for cocaine distribution.

Authorities allege he has ordered dozens of murders across the globe, including in the US, Canada and Latin America.

Getty Images Sign showing $15m reward for Ryan James Wedding — *The FBI had offered a $15m reward for Ryan Wedding (BBC)*

It is unclear to whom the medals belong. Wedding competed for Canada in the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, but did not win any medals. He came in 24th place in the men’s giant parallel slalom ski event.

In November, the FBI seized his rare 2002 Mercedes CLK-GTR, which had been valued at $13m.

Patel also spoke about the recent arrest of another man in Mexico who had been on the FBI’s most wanted list.

American man Alejandro Castillo was wanted for the murder of his ex-girlfriend. According to the FBI, he has been in hiding in Mexico for nearly 10 years, and will now be extradited back to North Carolina for trial.

(BBC)