IndustryStandard

LONDON -- The Israel Defense Forces issued evacuation warnings for three ports in Houthi-controlled Yemen after intercepting two of three ballistic missiles fired by the Iran-backed group in the past 24 hours. The IDF said one Houthi missile misfired on Tuesday.

The IDF said in a post to X that the third missile launched toward Israel on Wednesday was intercepted just before 8 a.m. local time. Air raid sirens rang out from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, sending several million Israelis rushing for cover. About two hours later, IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee ordered those present at the Red Sea ports of Ras Isa, al-Hudaydah and al-Salif ports to evacuate the area.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Delegations from Ukraine and Russia traveled to Turkey Thursday for peace talks, but while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was present, his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin stayed away, prompting criticism from Western officials that the Kremlin isn’t serious about the efforts to end the war.

Zelenskyy said the Russian delegation appeared to be merely “decorative.” Speaking at the airport in the Turkish capital, Ankara, he said the next steps for talks would be decided after his upcoming meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to Putin, will lead the Russian team that will also include three other senior officials, the Kremlin said. Putin also appointed four lower-level officials as “experts” for the talks in Istanbul.

The Israeli army said on Monday that it had uncovered a terror tunnel at the European Hospital in Khan Yunis following an assassination attempt on senior Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, but aerial footage released by the military shows a tunnel located beneath a nearby school.

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit responded by saying that the tunnel extended beneath both the hospital and the adjacent area highlighted in the footage. However, no evidence has been presented to substantiate this claim.

The IDF released the footage on Tuesday, just hours after the strike, under the title "The European Hospital." The video shows a building marked with signs of what is described as exposed underground infrastructure following the attack. In the statement accompanying the footage, the army claimed that "the IDF and Shin Bet security service destroyed a Hamas underground terror infrastructure located beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip."

However, a review of the maps and aerial footage reveals that the structure is not the hospital but the nearby Jenin School. The school's Facebook page features numerous photos of its courtyard, which is the exact location where the IDF claims the tunnel was dug.

In November, AP published an investigation reviewing the evidence the IDF presented regarding three hospitals in northern Gaza – Al-Shifa, Al-Awda and the Indonesian Hospital. The report said that Israel provided minimal, if any, evidence of a significant Hamas presence in these hospitals.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa to join the Abraham Accords normalizing relations with Israel, the White House said, as the two leaders met in Riyadh, in a first encounter between leaders of the countries in 25 years.

Trump also asked Sharaa to “deport Palestinian terrorists” and tell foreign fighters to leave the country, as well as to take control of camps for captured ISIS fighters, currently run by Kurdish militants opposed by Turkey, the White House said.

The United Nations has called for urgent de-escalation in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, as rival gunmen exchanged fire in the city’s southern districts after the killing of a powerful militia leader, prompting authorities to impose an emergency lockdown warning.

Residents reported hearing heavy gunfire and explosions across multiple neighbourhoods from about 9pm local time (19:00 GMT), according to journalists on the ground.

Before signing its lucrative and controversial Project Nimbus deal with Israel, Google knew it couldn’t control what the nation and its military would do with the powerful cloud-computing technology, a confidential internal report obtained by The Intercept reveals.

The report makes explicit the extent to which the tech giant understood the risk of providing state-of-the-art cloud and machine learning tools to a nation long accused of systemic human rights violations and wartime atrocities. Not only would Google be unable to fully monitor or prevent Israel from using its software to harm Palestinians, but the report also notes that the contract could obligate Google to stonewall criminal investigations by other nations into Israel’s use of its technology. And it would require close collaboration with the Israeli security establishment — including joint drills and intelligence sharing — that was unprecedented in Google’s deals with other nations.

“They’re aware of the risk that their products might be used for rights violations,” said León Castellanos-Jankiewicz, a lawyer with the Asser Institute for International and European Law in The Hague, who reviewed portions of the report. “At the same time, they will have limited ability to identify and ultimately mitigate these risks.”

The University of Toronto Faculty Association (UTFA) has voted to divest from Israel, the association announced on Friday.

This decision stems from Israel’s “illegal occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the UTFA said.

The motion, which passed by 52% of the vote, calls on the Ontario University Pension Plan (UPP) to produce a rapid timeline for complete divestment from all direct and indirect holdings in entities that support or sustain Israel’s “occupation and/or which manufacture” or distribute arms, ammunition, or munitions of war where “there are reasonable grounds to suspect they may have been used by Israel in Palestine.”

Hamas has announced that it will release Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander.

In what appears to be a major disinformation campaign, several major Indian media outlets are claiming to have damaged or destroyed the Port of Karachi and other Pakistani targets, airing video evidence that many have proven to be fabricated.

Throughout Thursday night, a multitude of Indian news channels with broad local audiences, such as Aaj Tak, India Today, Zee News, and Business Today, among others, broadcast various videos of the supposed attack.

After the reports on the destruction of the port emerged, social media users seemingly debunked the claims as fake news and expressed their anger towards Indian media outlets.

"We are becoming a global joke," one social media user posted on X. "There are global observers watching closely and this is the show we put up?! Shameful."

While many social media users from India are frustrated with India's claims, others have employed a dose of irony when commenting on the faulty news reports.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) is calling on New York City officials to cancel a Central Park performance at a city-sponsored event by Kehlani, a performer who has called for the destruction of Israel and Zionism.

Kehlani is set to perform in June at a Pride event sponsored by the City Parks Foundation, an independent nonprofit that receives city funding to promote arts, sports, education and other programming in city parks. But Mayor Eric Adams has disputed whether the mayor’s office has any ability to cancel the performance or withhold funds.

Kehlani has posted repeatedly on her Instagram stories calling to “DISMANTLE ISRAEL. ERADICATE ZIONISM,” and calling Zionists “the scum of the Earth.” The performer has also reposted content expressing support for “resistance in all of its forms,” describing Zionists as “evil,” saying that “no one should feel comfortable or safe until Zionism is extinguished” and characterizing all Israelis as settlers.