Kyiv: Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently embarked on a historic visit to Ukraine, becoming the first Indian leader to visit the war-torn nation after establishing diplomatic relations in 1992. However, the journey for Indian journalists covering the visit was filled with many challenges. A crew member on Mike Lynch's yacht has spoken of being thrown into the water and efforts to rescue passengers as a storm sank the vessel off Sicily this month, in a disaster that killed the British tech tycoon and six other people.
Matthew Griffiths, who was on watch duty on the night of the tragedy, told investigators that the crew members did everything they could to save those on board the Bayesian, according to comments reported by Italian news agency Ansa.
Griffiths, the boat's captain James Cutfield, and ship engineer Tim Parker Eaton have been placed under investigation by the Italian authorities for potential manslaughter and shipwreck. Being investigated does not imply guilt and does not mean formal charges will follow.
"I woke up the captain when the wind was at 20 knots (23 mph/37 kph). He gave orders to wake everyone else," Ansa quoted Griffiths as saying.
"The ship tilted and we were thrown into the water. Then we managed to get back up and tried to rescue those we could," he added, describing the events of the early hours of Aug. 19, when the Bayesian had been anchored off the Sicilian port of Porticello.
"We were walking on the walls (of the boat). We saved who we could, Cutfield also saved the little girl and her mother," he said, referring to passenger Charlotte Golunski and her one-year-old daughter. In all there were 15 survivors of the wreck.
Cutfield exercised his right to remain silent when questioned by prosecutors on Tuesday, his lawyers said, saying he was "worn out" and that they needed more time to build a defence case. Parker Eaton has not commented on the investigation.
Prosecutor Raffaele Cammarano said last week that the vessel was most likely hit by a "downburst", a very strong downward wind.
However, the sinking has puzzled naval marine experts, who said a vessel like the Bayesian, built by Italian high-end yacht manufacturer Perini, should have withstood the storm and, in any case, should not have sunk as quickly as it did.
Prosecutors in the town of Termini Imerese, near Palermo, have said their investigation will take time, with the wreck yet to be salvaged from the sea.
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Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday suggested his support for the decriminalization of marijuana, saying taxpayer dollars should not be wasted arresting people carrying "personal amounts."
"In Florida, like so many other states that have already given their approval, personal amounts of marijuana will be legalized for adults with Amendment 3," Trump said about an effort in his home state to legalize the possession and purchase of up to 3 ounces for adults over the age of 21.
"Whether people like it or not, this will happen through the approval of the voters, so it should be done correctly."
Trump, who is the Republican nominee for president, said state lawmakers should create laws that ban use of marijuana in public spaces.
He added that someone should not be a criminal in one state when marijuana use is legal in others.
"We do not need to ruin lives and waste taxpayer dollars arresting adults with personal amounts of it on them, and no one should grieve a loved one because they died from fentanyl laced marijuana," Trump said.
Marijuana is legal in some form in nearly 40 states.
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Washington: Former US President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump asked a federal court on Thursday (local time) to intervene in his New York hush money case, where he was convicted of all 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payment to an adult film star ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump is seeking the court's intervention to overturn his conviction and delay his sentencing scheduled for September 16.
New Delhi: An earthquake of a magnitude of 5.7 on the Richter scale hit Afghanistan on Friday, according to the National Center for Seismology. There have been no reports of earthquake-related casualties or damage as of now. In a post on X, the National Center for Seismology said, "EQ of M: 5.7, On 29/08/2024 11:26:38 IST, Lat: 36.51 N, Long: 71.12 E, Depth: 255 Km, Location: Afghanistan."
Quetta: A Pakistani truck driver, who rescuers initially thought was dead, was recovering on Tuesday after hospital staff receiving bodies realised he was alive despite being shot five times in one of the most widespread attacks by ethnic militants in years. On Monday, Munir Ahmed was driving with three colleagues in a convoy of four trucks through the southern province of Balochistan.Police in the Maldives are investigating an alleged attempt to topple President Mohamed Muizzu by stirring anger over the Indian Ocean archipelago's worsening financial conditions.
Last week, the main commercial bank in the upmarket tourist destination drastically reduced the foreign exchange spending allowed for Maldivians, sparking widespread anger.
Muizzu has slammed the move as an "illegal attempt" to overthrow his government, by making him unpopular and encouraging street protests.
"An investigation has been launched into the alleged coup attempt," the police said in a statement late Monday.
There have been no demonstrations in the capital Male, but scathing criticism of the government has erupted online.
"Hundreds of 'bot' accounts have been used on social media to encourage people to take to the streets to overthrow the government and incite public unrest," police said.
The bank said the changes, which they have since rescinded, came "in response to the escalating usage of foreign currency spent on cards and the static sale of foreign currency to the Bank".
The international credit rating agency Fitch downgraded the Maldives in June and warned it could be headed for a sovereign default after its foreign currency reserves dropped to $492 million in May.
The downgrade came weeks after the IMF warned the Maldives against a looming "debt distress", as the small but strategically placed country eyes further borrowing from main creditor China.
Official data showed the Maldives' foreign debt reaching $4.038 billion last year, about 118 percent of gross domestic product, an increase of nearly $250 million from 2022.
Fitch had noted the government's debt servicing obligations, amounting to $409 million this year, would add to severe stress.
The crisis escalated over the weekend, when the Bank of Maldives Limited (BML) stopped debit card transactions and allowed a maximum monthly credit card spend of $100 for online transactions.
Maldivians use their cards to pay for tuition and medical treatment abroad apart from online purchases.
Muizzu told supporters late Monday the bank decision was a plot to discredit him, and accused some BML directors of being loyal to the former government.
"There is room to believe that this (cap on spending) was an illegal attempt to overthrow a legitimate government," Muizzu said.
The bank on Sunday raised forex spending limits after the Maldives Monetary Authority intervened.
Political parties have called on the government to tax hotels in foreign currency.
Since winning office last year, Muizzu has reoriented his nation from traditional benefactor India and towards China.
As of June 2023, the Export-Import Bank of China owned 25.2 percent of the Maldives' external debt and was the country's biggest single lender, Male's finance ministry figures showed.
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Kyiv: The sound of explosions rang out in central Kyiv on Monday morning during rush hour as Ukraine's military warned of a massive Russian missile and drone attack following waves of drone attacks in the early hours. At least five people were killed in Ukraine during massive Russian air strikes on Monday, regional authorities said. The casualties were reported in western Lutsk, eastern Dnipro and southern Zaporizhzhia regions.Bangladesh's interim government chief Muhammad Yunus on Monday met the country's Hindu community leaders and vowed to promote interfaith harmony as he hosted a reception for them coinciding with Janmashtami.
The minority Hindu population has faced vandalisation of their business and properties and devastation of Hindu temples in the students' violence that ensued for days following the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India on August 5.
During the meeting, Mr Yunus said he wants to build a Bangladesh where everyone can practice their faith without any fear and where no temple needs to be guarded.
"Our responsibility is to establish the rights of every citizen. Our job is to ensure justice for every citizen," he told a group of Hindu leaders at the State Guest Jamuna in the capital.
"There can't be any divisions among people in our country. We are equal citizens. The interim government is determined to protect the rights of every citizen of the country," Mr Yunus was quoted as saying by the official BSS news agency.
"Bangladesh is a large family where the responsibility of the government is to protect the rights of every citizen," his office quoted him as saying on X.
Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad president Bashudeb Dhar, Ramkrishna Mission of Dhaka's principal Swami Purnatmananda Maharaj, and Hindu community leaders including Kajol Debnath and Monindra Kumar Nath were present during the meeting.
"We spoke with Professor Yunus for almost an hour and he said all Bangladeshis are members of a single family. We will eliminate any sense of communalism," Dhar told PTI.
Mr Yunus greeted the country's Hindu community leaders and promised to promote interfaith harmony, the statement said.
The CA office statement said the Hindu leaders greeted Mr Yunus on the auspicious occasion, saying they sought blessings of the Lord Sri Krishna for the harmony and prosperity of the nation and the interim government.
"Hindu leaders praised the Chief Adviser's recent comments at the Dhakeshwari Mandir, a sacred temple in Old Dhaka, saying it would help build a non-communal society in the country and ensure religious harmony in the society," the statement read.
During the meeting, they raised the issue of "Hindu property grabbing, including the land of Hindu temples".
The meeting between Mr Yunus and the Hindu leaders came as tens of thousands of Hindus celebrated Janmashtami by rallying at the famous Dhakeshwari Temple and other temples and Hindu monasteries by singing Vedic hymns, kirtans and bhajans.
Janmashtami is a public holiday in Bangladesh to mark the birth celebration of Lord Krishna.
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Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday, in a staunch message to Hezbollah said the country would take all measures necessary to defend itself. The stern message from Netanyahu came minutes after the Iranian-backed Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel in retaliation for the killing of a senior commander. "We are determined to do everything possible to defend our country, to return the residents of the north safely to their homes and to continue to uphold a simple rule: Whoever harms us – we harm him," he said in a statement.US rapper Macklemore has announced he is cancelling an upcoming show in Dubai over the UAE's involvement in the conflict in Sudan, charges the Gulf state has denied.
The rapper best known for hits like 2012's "Thrift Shop" made the announcement in a post on social media on Saturday.
"I have decided to cancel my upcoming show in Dubai this October," he said.
"Over the last several months I've had a number of people reach out to me, sharing resources and asking me to cancel the show in solidarity with the people of Sudan," he said.
"Until the UAE stops arming and funding the RSF I will not perform there," Macklemore added, referring to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that have been battling the Sundanese army.
War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese army, under the country's de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, which is commanded by Burhan's former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
For months, the army has accused the UAE of supporting the RSF.
In June, Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations Al-Harith Idriss al-Harith Mohamed called Abu Dhabi's financial and military support for the RSF the "main reason behind this protracted war".
The UAE has denied allegations of RSF support as "disinformation", saying that it's efforts are focused exclusively towards de-escalation and alleviating Sudan's humanitarian suffering.
Macklemore has released socially aware music in the past, supporting LGBTQ+ rights while also criticising ills including poverty and consumerism.
In his latest track released in May, Macklemore voices support for Palestinians and also praises students across the United States protesting against Israel's war in Gaza.
The song, "Hind's Hall", is named after a building at Columbia University that students recently occupied and renamed after Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza.
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Beekeepers across France say it has been a disastrous year for honey, with bees starving to death and production plummeting by up to 80 percent.
Mickael Isambert, a beekeeper in Saint-Ours-les-Roches in central France, lost 70 percent of his honey and had to feed his colonies sugar to help them survive after a cold, rainy spring.
"It has been a catastrophic year," said Isambert, 44, who looks after 450 hives.
A beehive typically produces 15 kilos (33 pounds) of honey a year, but this time, Isambert said his farm had only produced between five and seven kilos.
When it rains, bees "don't fly, they don't go out, so they eat their own honey reserves," said his co-manager and fellow beekeeper Marie Mior.
Low temperatures and heavy rainfall have prevented bees from gathering enough pollen, and flowers from producing nectar -- which the insects collect to make honey.
Bad weather has affected honey producers countrywide, with spring production dropping by 80 percent in some regions -- figures that summer harvests will struggle to offset, said the French national beekeeping union (Unaf).
Rainfall rose by 45 percent on the yearly average, Unaf said in a letter to its local branches.
"With weather conditions that have been catastrophic in many regions with abundant rain... and low temperatures until late, many beekeepers' viability is under threat," said Unaf.
Temperatures stagnated below 18 degrees Celsius (64 Fahrenheit), the minimum temperature needed for flowers to produce nectar, said Jean-Luc Hascoet, a beekeeper in Brittany in western France who lost about 15 colonies.
"For some of my colleagues it was worse," he said.
"In June, the bee population increases and the needs of the colonies grow but as nothing was coming in, some died of hunger," said Hascoet.
French beekeepers had already been reeling from dealing with several seasons of scorching heat and delayed frosts, according to Unaf president Christian Pons, making this "black year" even worse.
"Ten years ago, I made one and a half to two tons of honey per site, compared to 100 kilos today," said Pons, a beekeeper in the southern Herault region.
Honeymakers earlier this year protested against "unfair competition" by foreign producers, which led to the government releasing five million euros ($5.6 million) in aid.
French consumers eat on average 45,000 tons of honey per year, about 20,000 tons of which is produced in France, according to the left-wing Peasants Confederation union.
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PM Modi in Ukraine: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally arrived in Kyiv, becoming the first Indian leader ever to visit the country since establishing diplomatic relations. His visit comes at a highly crucial time as India seeks to strike a balance in its position on the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has left a deep impact on global geopolitics.U.S. President Joe Biden asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move Israeli troops back from Gaza's border with Egypt as part of an initial phase of a ceasefire deal so that talks could continue, Axios reported on Friday.
Netanyahu partially accepted Biden's request made in their call on Wednesday and agreed to give up an Israeli troop position along one part of the Egypt-Gaza border, three Israeli officials told Axios.
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Kenyan police offered a cash reward on Thursday for information leading to the arrest of a suspected serial killer who escaped from a Nairobi police cell.
Police launched a manhunt on Tuesday after Collins Jumaisi, who is accused of murdering and dismembering dozens of women, broke out of a police station in an upmarket area of the Kenyan capital along with 12 Eritreans.
Five officers appeared in court on Wednesday suspected of aiding Jumaisi's escape and have been freed on a 200,000 Kenyan shilling ($1,500) bond, despite prosecutors seeking an order to keep them in custody for 14 days.
The magistrate dismissed the prosecutor's arguments that the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) had yet to retrieve surveillance footage.
The 33-year-old Jumaisi, described by police as a "vampire, a psychopath", was arrested last month after the gruesome discovery of a number of mutilated female bodies in a rubbish dump in Mukuru slum area in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
Police say he has confessed to murdering 42 women over a two-year period from 2022, with his wife his first victim, but the suspect has claimed he was tortured after his arrest.
Officers said Jumaisi and the other men escaped by cutting through a wire mesh roof where he was being held, before scaling a perimeter wall.
"A significant cash reward will be provided to anyone with credible information leading to the suspect's arrest," the DCI said, without specifying an amount.
It is the second time in barely six months that a suspect in a high-profile case has escaped from custody in Nairobi.
The latest twist to the grisly story has appalled many Kenyans, with the bodies also found just 100 metres (yards) from a police station.
Kenya's police watchdog, the Independent Police Oversight Authority, has said it was looking into whether there was any police involvement or a "failure to act to prevent" the killings.
Kenyan police are often accused by rights groups of carrying out unlawful killings or running hit squads, but few have faced justice.
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The marine weather phenomenon blamed for sinking a British tech tycoon's yacht off Sicily, known as a waterspout, may have been strengthened by unusually warm waters in the Mediterranean, experts said.
The 56-metre (183-foot) "Bayesian", being used by Mike Lynch and his wealthy guests to celebrate a court victory, disappeared into the sea within minutes of being hit by the tornado-like storm off the Sicilian town of Porticello.
One body has been found and Lynch, his daughter, and Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, are among six people missing since the disaster at 4:00 am on Monday.
The British-flagged vessel was anchored some 700 metres from the port with 10 crew and 12 passengers on board when the waterspout struck, according to witnesses.
Karsten Borner, the skipper of a yacht anchored nearby, described a "very strong hurricane gust" that hit. He was battling to keep his vessel steady when suddenly "we noticed that the ship behind us was gone".
"First came the wind, then the water -- it was a tornado," said local fisherman Giovanni Lococco, describing the waterspout.
Investigators and experts have been poring over the weather conditions and the design of the "Bayesian", whose 75-metre mast was the world's tallest made from aluminium, according to the Charter World website.
"A waterspout is a narrow column of rotating air below a thunderstorm that occurs over water" and is "part of the same weather 'family' as tornadoes", said Peter Inness, a meteorologist at the University of Reading in Britain, in comments released by the UK's Science Media Centre.
Like tornadoes, they suck up air in a rotating motion, usually causing less damage than tornadoes over land, however.
"Changes in wind direction with height are also needed to set up the rotation of air within the waterspout," said Inness.
While many waterspouts are "fairly inconsequential", lasting just a few seconds, some can pack winds of more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) per hour, said Inness.
"Winds of this strength coinciding with the location of a boat are capable of causing damage or capsize, especially because the wind direction varies very rapidly," he said.
The Mediterranean could be the world's most likely place for waterspouts, due to a warm water surface and a vulnerability to thunderstorms in the summer and autumn, he said.
The Mediterranean this year reached its highest temperature on record, with a daily median of 28.90 degrees Celsius (84 Fahrenheit), according to Spain's leading institute of marine sciences.
Experts say the temperature has often hit 30 degrees Celsius or more, about three degrees above average.
"We could have had a superposition of air and water suction with shearing winds that ultimately created something that lifted up," said Jean-Marie Dumon, a former naval officer now with the GICAN, the French maritime industry association.
The conditions with winds of 100kph or more can "create completely anarchic sea conditions which can cause capsizing," said Dumon.
The tall mast may have had an "amplifier effect" in taking the yacht to its "tipping point", he explained.
Dumon said the "Bayesian" was certainly designed by naval architects to cope with extreme winds and heavy seas.
"Here we have wind shear which can cause instability."
"The fact that the vessel itself was not damaged... suggests that it was laid on its side", said the expert.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An intense storm sank a luxury yacht off Sicily's coast on Monday, killing one man and leaving six missing, including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter. Fifteen people escaped before the yacht sank.
Here are details about the missing passengers.
Tech entrepreneur Lynch built Britain's biggest software company, Autonomy. Often dubbed Britain's Bill Gates, the 59-year-old was lauded by shareholders, scientists and politicians when he sold it to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011.
But in late 2012, HP said it had found a massive accounting scandal at the business, and wrote off $8.8 billion of its value. Lynch spent the next 12 years trying to clear his name and was acquitted on all criminal charges just weeks ago in the United States.
After the sale of Autonomy, Lynch founded Invoke Capital, a technology venture capital fund.
Lynch's daughter Hannah, 18, is also missing. A Sunday Times profile of Lynch last month said Hannah was preparing to study English literature at the University of Oxford.
His wife, Angela Bacares, who owns the vessel, was also aboard it but was rescued.
Jonathan Bloomer appeared as a character witness in Lynch's legal case earlier this year. Bloomer has been non-executive chair of Morgan Stanley International since 2016, and is the chair of international specialist insurer, Hiscox.
He was also chief executive of insurance and investment company Prudential from 2000 to 2005.
He studied physics at London's Imperial College in the 1970s, according to his LinkedIn profile.
One of Bloomer's former employees wrote on LinkedIn he was "always a friendly, approachable and engaging man".
Hiscox Chief Executive Aki Hussain said in a statement on Tuesday they were deeply shocked and saddened and their thoughts were with all those affected, in particular Bloomer and his wife Judy, who was also aboard the yacht.
Judy, who studied English language and literature at Homerton College in Cambridge, has worked as a psychotherapist for nearly 30 years, specialising in anxiety and stress. She started her career as a teacher.
American Christopher Morvillo, a partner at law firm Clifford Chance in New York City, was part of Lynch's defence team, fighting a long legal battle to acquit his client. His first ever post on LinkedIn was around two months ago to celebrate the court victory.
"None of this would have been possible without your love and support," Morvillo wrote to his family in the post, including his wife, Neda Morvillo.
Before joining Clifford Chance in November 2011, Morvillo worked as a principal at Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello PC, providing advice on white collar criminal defence and regulatory matters.
Morvillo, who studied law at Fordham University, also worked as an assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York between 1999 and 2005, assisting in the criminal investigation arising out of the Sept. 11 attacks.
David Oscar Markus, a criminal defence lawyer and podcast host, interviewed Morvillo last week. He wrote a blog describing him as a "superstar lawyer".
"Chris dedicated over a decade of his career to obtaining justice for Mike Lynch," Markus wrote. "He got it and then for this to happen.... it's tough to find the right words."
Morvillo's wife, Neda, is the owner of a luxury jewellery line under her maiden name, Neda Nassiri. According to the company's website, she has been designing and hand-crafting jewellery in New York for over two decades.
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Islamabad: A Pakistani army helicopter rescued two Russians while one is missing after their team was hit by a pile of ice on a treacherous peak in the country's north, an official said Monday. Shigar Deputy Commissioner Waliullah Falahi told Dawn that five Russian climbers Sergei Nilov, Mikhail Mironov, Alexy Bautin, Sergei Mironov and Evgenii Lablokov had started their mission to ascend the peak on August 4.Donald Trump has shared doctored images on social media showing Taylor Swift and her fans supporting his presidential campaign, in an apparent effort to tap into the pop singer's mega star power in the US election.
Ms Swift has not yet publicly thrown her weight behind any presidential candidate in the November 5 election, but she backed President Joe Biden in 2020 and has previously been critical of Trump.
On Sunday, Trump shared screenshots of posts with manipulated images -- including some that an expert said appeared to be AI-generated -- suggesting that the pop star and her fans, popularly known as Swifties, support his campaign.
In his Truth Social post, which includes a poster of Swift clad in an Uncle Sam outfit and instructing her fans to vote for Trump, the former president wrote: "I accept!"
That poster is either "AI generated or just classically manipulated," Hany Farid, a digital forensics expert at the University of California, Berkeley, told AFP.
The post also includes photos of women wearing shirts with the slogan "Swifties for Trump," some of which Farid said had the "tell-tale signs of being AI-generated."
What makes the mash-up "particularly devious" is that is a combination of real and fake imagery, with at least one photo of a woman wearing such a shirt looking legitimate, Farid said.
There was no immediate comment from Swift about the post by Trump, who separately shared on Truth Social a video of a supporter voicing the dubious claim that "Swifties were rallying for Trump."
Swift's soaring popularity and sway over her fans could make her support valuable in the upcoming presidential election.
Both Republicans and Democrats have long wanted to count on her support, but the megastar has been largely reticent about her political leanings.
In a demonstration of her star power, when Swift encouraged her fans to register to vote last fall, directing them to the nonpartisan nonprofit Vote.org, her plea had an immediate impact.
Following her message, the institution said it recorded more than 35,000 new registrations, 23 per cent more than last year and the most since 2020.
Swift's feelers into politics have been heavily scrutinized, making her a ripe target for political misinformation and right-wing conspiracy theories.
Her reserve led many critics to speculate Swift was a closet Republican, until 2018, when she broke both her silence and the internet by endorsing the Democratic opponent of far-right US Senator Marsha Blackburn in Tennessee.
She has since spoken out in particular for the legal right to an abortion and LGBTQ+ rights.
In recent weeks, intense speculation has swirled on social media that Swift will endorse Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the November election.
The megastar has not commented publicly, but that has not stopped legions of fans from forming a group called "Swifties for Kamala," attracting tens of thousands of followers on platforms such as Instagram and X, formerly Twitter.
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A Boeing 777 aircraft operated by Swiss International Air Lines flying from Tokyo to Zurich made an emergency landing in Kazakhstan on Saturday due to a medical incident onboard, followed by issues after the aircraft landed, the airline said.Israel's prime minister, under pressure at home and from abroad to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas, on Sunday accused the Hamas operatives of obstinance in Gaza truce talks as top US diplomat Antony Blinken landed in Israel.
Making his ninth trip to the Middle East since the Gaza war began when Hamas attacked Israel in October, the US secretary of state is to meet Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders in a renewed bid to seal a deal that could help avert a wider conflagration.
Blinken is later set to travel on Tuesday to Cairo, where ceasefire talks will resume in the coming days.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday reiterated that it is Palestinian Islamist group Hamas that must be pressured.
"Hamas, up to this moment, remains obstinate. It did not even send a representative to the talks in Doha. Therefore, the pressure should be directed at Hamas and (Yahya) Sinwar, not at the Israeli government," Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting, referring to the Hamas chief.
Western ally Jordan, hostage supporters protesting in Israel, and Hamas itself have called for pressure on Netanyahu in order that an agreement be reached.
Far-right members crucial to his governing coalition oppose any truce.
Ahead of Blinken's visit, the foreign ministers of Britain and France were on Friday also in Israel to stress the urgency of a Gaza deal.
In late May, US President Joe Biden laid out a framework which he said was proposed by Israel. The UN Security Council later endorsed the proposal, which would freeze fighting for an initial six weeks as Israeli hostages are exchanged for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and humanitarian aid enters the besieged Gaza Strip.
Ahead of the truce talks in Doha last Thursday and Friday, Hamas called on mediators to implement the Biden framework rather than holding more negotiations.
Hamas also announced its opposition to what it called "new conditions" from Israel.
On Saturday, Netanyahu's office in a statement said Israeli negotiators have expressed "cautious optimism" about reaching a Gaza truce deal.
US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have also reported progress and a US official said remaining gaps were "bridgeable".
But after Biden said "we are closer than we have ever been" to a deal, Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri dismissed as "an illusion" such optimistic talk.
Previous announcements that a deal was close during the months of on-off truce negotiations proved unfounded.
But the stakes have risen since the late July killings in quick succession of Iran-backed militant leaders, including Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, and as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, deepened with a feared polio outbreak.
Israeli evacuation orders have "reduced the safe zone" in the south of the territory, leaving "no more space" for displaced Palestinians, said Samah Dib, 32.
Some people "are sleeping on the street" while clean water is scarce and "there's food at the markets, but it's very expensive and we have no money left", said Dib, who like almost all Gazans is among the displaced.
As efforts towards a long-sought truce continued, so has the violence in Gaza but also in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Lebanon, where Israeli forces and Hamas's Iran-backed ally Hezbollah have traded near-daily fire throughout the war. They did so again on Sunday.
The rumble of tanks
Civil defence rescuers in Hamas-run Gaza reported seven killed in Israeli bombardment of Deir el-Balah and four others in air strikes on the northern Jabalia refugee camp.
The latest killings helped push the Gaza health ministry's war death count to 40,099.
Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel that started the war resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
The Israeli military said troops continued operations in central and southern Gaza and "eliminated" operatives in Rafah, on the territory's border with Egypt.
From the Israeli-designated safe zone in southern Gaza's Al-Mawasi, Lina Saleha, 44, said she could hear "constant artillery shelling" and the rumble of tanks "getting closer."
"That's not a good sign and we're terrified and afraid," she said.
In the West Bank, Israel said late Saturday it had killed "two senior Hamas officials" in Jenin. Hamas's armed wing confirmed the deaths of two militants.
In Lebanon, the UN said three peacekeepers were lightly injured in a blast in the country's south.
Calls for 'pressure'
Iran and its regional allies have vowed retaliation for Haniyeh's death in Tehran -- which Israel has not claimed responsibility for -- and for an Israeli strike in Beirut that killed a top Hezbollah commander.
In Israel, Blinken will seek to "conclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees", the State Department said.
Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas's attack, 111 are still held in Gaza including 39 the military says are dead. More than 100 were freed during a one-week truce in November.
The Palestinian Prisoners' Club watchdog said that since the Gaza war began, Israeli forces have detained "more than 10,000 Palestinians" in the West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem, which Israel seized in 1967.
At a rally in the Israeli city of Haifa on Saturday, Guri Lotto, 51, said he was protesting to "put pressure on the government" to secure a hostage release deal and end the war.
A US official travelling with Blinken said on condition of anonymity that "the feeling is... that various sticking points that existed before are bridgeable, and that work's going to continue".
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Washington: In a major setback to Pakistan-origin businessman Tahawwur Rana, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that he is extraditable to India, where he is sought for his involvement in the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008, under the India-US Extradition Treaty. The court's ruling was in line with US attorney Bram Alden's remarks last month, who said Rana was extraditable under the non-bis provision of the treaty.Media platform X said on Saturday it would close its operations in Brazil "effective immediately" due to what it called "censorship orders" from Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes.
X claims Moraes secretly threatened one of its legal representatives in Brazil with arrest if it did not comply with legal orders to take down some content from its platform. Brazil's Supreme Court, where Moraes has a seat, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The X service remains available to the people of Brazil, billionaire Elon Musk's platform said on Saturday.
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Two teenagers suspected of alleged extreme right-wing terror offences will appear in court in London on Friday, with police saying they both face "extremely serious charges".
Metropolitan Police said that an 18-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman were charged on Thursday following a "proactive investigation" by its Counter Terrorism Command unit.
Rex William Henry Clark of Ilford, east London, was charged with the preparation of terrorist acts, contrary to the 2006 Terrorism Act.
Police charged Sofija Vinogradova of Cheshunt, north of London, with preparation of terrorist acts and two counts of collection of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
Both are in custody and will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.
Police said the investigation "is related to suspected extreme right-wing terrorism activity."
"These are extremely serious charges, but I would urge the public not to speculate any further about this case at this time and allow the criminal justice process to run its course unimpeded," said Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command.
"I want to reassure the public that at this time we do not believe that there is any wider threat related to this investigation, although our investigation very much continues," he added.
Far-right riots recently broke out across England and Northern Ireland following the stabbing to death of three girls at a dance class in Southport, northwest England.
Murphy said that the investigation had not come about "as a consequence of the disorder across the country which occurred following the terrible events in Southport."
Police initially arrested the woman on August 4 on suspicion of being in possession of a firearm.
She was bailed but arrested again on August 10. The 18-year-old man was also arrested at the same address and both were taken to a London police station.
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New York: Former US President Donald Trump has lost his third bid to have New York judge Justice Merchan step aside from the hush money case, in which the Republican presidential candidate was convicted of charges involving hush money payments to an adult film actress. Merchan dismissed Trump's claim of conflict of interest related to political consultancy work by the judge's daughter.Sweden said on Thursday it had confirmed a first case of mpox, a viral infection that spreads through close contact.
Earlier on Thursday, the World Health Organization declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to other countries.
"We have now also during the afternoon had confirmation that we have one case in Sweden of the more grave type of mpox, the one called Clade I," Health and Social Affairs Minister Jakob Forssmed told a news conference.
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M&M's and Snickers maker Mars said Wednesday that it would acquire snack food business Kellanova, marking a multibillion dollar agreement set to result in a new industry giant.
The all-cash transaction would value Kellanova -- which is behind snacks such as Pringles and Pop-Tarts -- at $35.9 billion, including debt.
"In welcoming Kellanova's portfolio of growing global brands, we have a substantial opportunity for Mars to further develop a sustainable snacking business that is fit for the future," said Mars chief executive Poul Weihrauch in a statement.
The announcement comes at a time when consumers feel the squeeze from rising costs of living, putting pressure on companies to rein in their price hikes.
The move could, however, attract scrutiny from US regulators who have taken a tough stance on consolidations.
The acquisition for $83.50 per share in cash "accelerates ambition to double Mars Snacking in the next decade, in alignment with global consumer demand trends," Mars said.
This would bring two new billion-dollar brands, Pringles and Cheez-It, into its business.
Already, the company said it has 15 billion-dollar brands.
"Snacking is a large, attractive and durable category that continues to grow in importance with consumers," Mars added.
Kellanova had net sales in 2023 of around $13 billion, and it is present in 180 markets with some 23,000 employees.
Shares of Kellanova were up by 7.3 percent in US pre-market trading.
The Mars statement added that most of Kellanova's snack brands outperform competitors, especially among Gen Z and millennial buyers.
The combined portfolio would also be suited to meet demand in fast-growing markets such as Africa and Latin America, given their supply chains and local operations, the company said.
The plan, according to Mars, is to grow Kellanova's brands further.
The deal, which is anticipated to close in the first half of 2025, will need the green light from Kellanova shareholders and also require regulatory approvals.
Mars plans to fully finance the acquisition via a combination of cash-on-hand and new debt, it said, adding that commitments have been secured.
Family-owned business Mars said it employs about 150,000 workers and has over $50 billion in annual sales.
Besides snacking and food products, the company is also involved in the pet care sector.
In 2022, Mars said it reached a deal to buy whole-fruit snacking brand Tru Fru. And two years before that, it announced its acquisition of Kind North America -- which specializes in healthier snacks.
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Bangladesh's interim government on Tuesday cancelled a national holiday on August 15, marking the assassination of the country's founder and deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina's father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
According to the press release issued by the Chief Advisor's Office, the cancellation of the August 15 holiday was approved in today's meeting of the Advisory Council.
This decision was announced on Tuesday through an official notification.
The sources said the decision came a day after Mr Yunus met with different political parties, excluding the Awami League. Some of them were in favour of keeping the day as a national holiday and some others were opposed to it.
Soon after Sheikh Hasina resigned and left the country, an angry mob virtually set a museum dedicated to Bangabandhu on fire.
The museum was originally Bangbandhu's private residence, where he was killed along with his family members in a military coup staged by a group of junior officers on August 15, 1975, while Sheikh Hasina, her two minor children, and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana were in Germany on a short visit.
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Bangladesh is grappling with a wave of protests and violence. The violence that started with the protests against the controversial quota system granting 30 per cent reservation to the descendants of the 1971 war, led to the collapse of Sheikh Hasina's government as she succumbed to public pressure, resigned from office and fled the country.A 13-year-old Chinese girl scripted history when she performed Bharatanatyam "Arangetram" in China, a landmark in the journey of the ancient Indian dance form that is gaining popularity in the neighbouring country.
Lei Muzi made her solo dance debut here on Sunday in front of the celebrated Bharatanatyam dancer Leela Samson, Indian diplomats and a large audience of Chinese fans.
For ardent Chinese fans of Indian classical art and dance forms who devoted their lives to learning and performing them for decades, her debut was a moment of history and a milestone as it was the first-ever "Arangetram" -- Bharatnatyam's graduation ceremony -- in China.
For the performers of the ancient dance from South India, Arangetram, as it is called in Tamil, is their debut performance on stage in front of teachers and experts besides the audience.
Only after Arangetram are the students allowed to perform on their own or train aspiring dancers.
"This is the first-ever Arangetram by a student fully trained in China and performed in China," said T S Vivekanand, the First Secretary of the Indian Embassy in charge of culture who attended the event.
It was a properly done Arangetram in a very traditional way, he told PTI here.
"Lei's Arangetram is the first time that Chinese students trained by a Chinese teacher have completed in China, which is a landmark in the history of Bharatanatyam inheritance," noted Chinese Bharatanatyam dancer Jin Shan Shan, who trained Lei, said.
Shruti Rawat, the wife of Indian Ambassador Pradeep Rawat, was the chief guest at Lei's Arangetram.
The event was attended by a large crowd of fans who cheered her over the two-hour-long performance during which she danced to several classical numbers.
Besides Leela Sampson, a team of musicians who were flown in from Chennai sang the classical numbers for Lei to perform.
She is due to perform in Chennai later this month.
Lei was trained for over 10 years at the Bharatanatyam school run by Jin, who herself was the first accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer to have held her Arangetram in 1999 in New Delhi.
Jin was one of the numerous Chinese students who were trained by eminent Chinese dancer Zhang Jun.
Lei, also known as Dudu, says she fell in love with Bharatanatyam since she joined Jin's school in 2014.
"I completely fell in love with it. I kept dancing till now. For me, Bharatanatyam is not only a beautiful art and dance form but also the embodiment of Indian culture," she told PTI.
"This fascinates me greatly, as well as the gorgeous and graceful movements during a dance item. Overall, I extremely love Bharatanatyam. For me, it is already a daily activity to do, and I am truly interested in the culture of India," she said.
Jin, who is widely known in China and India and has held numerous performances, said she is proud to see one of her students complete her Arangetram.
"Bharatanatyam has brought us close together. For ten years, Lei has come to my home every weekend to attend classes, which not only let me witness her growth but also made us family," she said.
"It reminds me of how my guru, Leela Samson, taught me when I did my Arangetram," she said.
Sunday's Arangetram is a festival for us, Jin said.
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Iran could launch a "significant" attack on Israel as soon as this week, the White House said Monday, as US President Joe Biden discussed the crisis with European leaders.
"We have to be prepared for what could be a significant set of attacks," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
"We share the same concerns and expectations that our Israeli counterparts have with respect to potential timing here -- could be this week," added Kirby.
Kirby's comments came as the United States is rushing an aircraft carrier strike group and a guided missile submarine to the region in a show of support for Israel.
Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah group have vowed to avenge last month's killings of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.
Biden called the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Britain on Monday to discuss the growing tensions, the White House added.
The call was "largely for all the leaders to repeat what they have said before in terms of reaffirming Israel's defense" and to "send a strong message that we don't want to see any rise in violence, any attacks by Iran or its proxies."
The leaders also called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, with difficult talks set for Thursday on halting the conflict that started when the Palestinian group attacked Israel on October 7.
The call came shortly after Biden returned to the Oval Office after a long weekend at his beach house in Delaware.
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Israel expanded evacuation orders in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza strip overnight, forcing thousands of Palestinians and displaced families to flee in the dark as explosions from tank shelling reverberated around them. According to the Israeli military, it was attacking militants from Hamas – which administered Gaza before the beginning of the war – who were using those areas to attack and fire rockets at the Jewish country.
Timor-Leste: President Droupadi Murmu was conferred the 'Grand Collar of the Order of Timor-Leste', the country's highest civilian award by her counterpart José Ramos-Horta of Timor-Leste for her achievements in public service and dedication to education, social welfare and empowerment of women. The Indian President said the award was a reflection of the ties of friendship between India and Timor-Leste.Crowds fleeing Khan Yunis after an Israeli evacuation order gave way to empty streets on Friday as Palestinian residents tried to escape a new Israeli military operation in Gaza's main southern area.
"They threw leaflets at us, ordering us to evacuate", Reem Abu Hayya told AFP, referring to the flyers that Israeli forces drop from planes to order the evacuation of areas ahead of a military operation.
The Khan Yunis area had already seen evacuation orders in late July, and heavy fighting that devastated the area earlier this year.
"We don't know where we're going, and we have sick and disabled people with us. Where can we go?" Abu Hayya asked AFP as she stood on the street in front of a building reduced to a pile of rebar and broken concrete.
In a besieged territory that has been consistently bombed over the past 10 months and where supplies enter with great difficulty, people carried all they could as they fled on Thursday.
AFP journalists saw one young man carrying planks of wood loosely tied in bundles, to be used as shelter structure or fuel in the near future.
With petrol scarce, only the most fortunate drove, often with mattresses piled high on the car roof. The vast majority walked. They carried their belongings in plastic and garbage bags, on donkey-pulled carts, bikes, strollers or wheelchairs.
By dusk, streets of Khan Yunis stood completely deserted and eerily quiet, AFP journalists reported. Only the ruins of buildings damaged in earlier strikes still stood.
The flyers dropped Thursday ordered residents to leave eastern towns of Khan Yunis governorate including Al-Salqa, Al-Qarara, Bani Suheila, and neighbourhoods in the city of Khan Yunis.
"Hamas and terrorist organisations continue to launch rockets from your areas", read the flyers which echoed past orders and warned that the Israeli army "will act forcefully against these elements".
Late last month Philippe Lazzarini, who heads the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on social media site X that only "14 percent of areas in Gaza" were not subject to evacuation orders.
On Friday, the military said it launched a new operation in Khan Yunis following "intelligence indicating the presence of terrorists and terror infrastructure" there.
"The troops are engaging in combat both above and below-ground to eliminate terrorists in the area while locating and dismantling weaponry and terrorist infrastructure," the military said in a statement.
'We are exhausted'
The military has often returned in Gaza to areas where it had previously completed major operations against Palestinian militants, only to find them resurfacing or to act on intelligence about the location of hostages.
"Enough! For both, the Jews and Hamas! Both of them should look at the people of Gaza, have mercy on us for God's sake," Ahmed al-Najjar, angry at the war and the prospect of yet another displacement, told AFP.
War in Gaza began when Hamas Palestinian militants on October 7 attacked southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 39,699 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry of the Hamas-run territory, which does not provide details of civilian and militant deaths.
Mohammad al-Farra, from Sheikh Nasser in the east of Khan Yunis, also expressed frustration at the several displacements his family has lived through.
"We were the first to return to our home... as soon as the military operation in our area ended, to escape the heat, the displacement, and the hardship", the 46-year-old told AFP.
"Then the occupation returned to drive us out again, making us suffer the tragedy multiple times over", he said, referring to Israel.
"We are exhausted. The war must end immediately so that we can feel human again, even just a little."
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Apple on Thursday changed its policy in the European Union to allow developers to communicate with their customers outside the app after the Commission charged the iPhone maker in June for breaching the bloc's tech rules.
The Commission had said that under most of the business terms, Apple allows steering only through "link-outs", meaning that app developers can include a link in their app that redirects the customer to a web page where the customer can conclude a contract.
Apple said developers will now be able to communicate and promote offers that are available anywhere, not just on their own website, from within their app.
However, Apple will introduce two new fees - an initial 5% acquisition fee for new users and a 10% store services fee for any sales made by app users on any platform within the 12 months of the app installation.
Currently, Apple charges three types of fees: a core technology fee for the less than 1% of apps, a reduced commission for all digital goods and services sold through the App Store, and an optional fee for the payments and commerce services.
The two new fees will replace the reduced commission for all digital goods and services sold through the App Store.
The Commission had earlier criticised the fees charged by Apple for facilitating via the App Store the initial acquisition of a new customer by developers, saying they went beyond what was strictly necessary for such remuneration.
The charge against Apple is the first by the Commission under its landmark Digital Markets Act which seeks to rein in the power of Big Tech and DMA violations could result in a fine of as much as 10% of a company's global annual turnover.
Apple said there has been an ongoing dialogue with the European Commission and the changes made were in response to the announcements made in June.
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Bangladesh unrest: As communal tensions have gripped Bangladesh following deadly protests that forced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee the country, hundreds of Hindu temples, businesses and houses have been vandalised since Hasina's ouster, a community association said on Tuesday. This comes as India has voiced concerns about the status of minorities and many have requested New Delhi's intervention in the crisis.
Bangladesh unrest: As violence continues in Bangladesh following the massive unrest that compelled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee the country, Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus, who has been chosen as the head of the interim government, is expected to arrive from Paris to Bangladesh as early as Thursday, according to a top source in Dhaka, as violence continues in the country.War-weary Gazans voiced concern on Wednesday after Hamas appointed Yahya Sinwar as its new supremo, fearing his past as the movement's military commander might hamper efforts for the ceasefire they yearn for.
"We don't know how Hamas is thinking or what led them to choose Yahya Sinwar as their chief, especially when his whereabouts are unknown", 29-year-old Mohammad al-Sharif told AFP in the central Gaza city of Deir el-Balah.
"He is a fighter. How will negotiations take place?", asked the displaced man originally from Gaza City, adding: "We want nothing but the end of the war".
Late on Tuesday, Hamas announced it had chosen Sinwar, 61, the man Israel says masterminded the October 7 attack that sparked the Gaza war, to replace Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran on July 31.
Sinwar has not been seen since the attack on Israel, with many reports claiming he is operating from one of several underground tunnels in Gaza.
Ibrahim Abu Daqa, 35, echoed Sharif's disappointment over the choice of Sinwar to succeed Haniyeh, who was regarded by some as a pragmatist.
"In my opinion, appointing Yahya Sinwar as the head of Hamas was inappropriate at this critical stage", he told AFP.
Also displaced in Deir el-Balah, and originally from the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Abu Daqa said that the decision "may lead to negative results on multiple levels, including halting negotiations or failing to make progress in them, especially since Israel is seeking him for assassination".
"The occupation killed the negotiator Ismail Haniyeh. What will happen with the fighter Yahya Sinwar?" he asked.
A senior Hamas official told AFP that the selection of Sinwar sent a message that the operative group "continues its path of resistance".
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has already called for Sinwar's killing.
Bashir Qarqaz voiced fears that Israel's determination to kill Sinwar would make his appointment an obstacle to peace.
"The war will not end in the near future because Israel rejects Sinwar," he said, adding that "they want a political figure to concede to them, and Sinwar is a stubborn man who may not concede".
Hani al-Qano was more hopeful. He underlined that unlike Haniyeh, who lived in self-exile in Qatar, Sinwar had lived in Gaza throughout the conflict and was more familiar with the daily reality of the war.
"He may have a positive impact on the negotiations and may be a challenge to Israel, given that Sinwar is living inside the Gaza Strip among the people under siege", he said.
"He is different from Haniyeh, who lived abroad."
Various Palestinian political factions in the occupied West Bank congratulated Hamas on its choice of Sinwar.
These included the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which "wished Sinwar success" in a statement published by Hamas.
Palestinian residents of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Hamas has been more popular than the ruling Fatah movement since the October 7 attack, showed more enthusiasm for the new Hamas supremo.
"Choosing Sinwar to lead the Hamas movement was an excellent decision because Sinwar lives in the heart of the battle, and therefore he knows exactly what he is negotiating," said Farah Qassem, a coffee shop owner in Ramallah, the seat of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority.
"His decisions will come from the suffering experienced by the people in Gaza", the 54-year-old added.
Emad Abu Fokheidah, a school administrator in a nearby village, echoed the sentiment.
"Choosing Sinwar was a wise decision and a message to the (Israeli) occupation that the political solution, which Israel rejected by assassinating Haniyeh, will only come from the barrel of a gun", Abu Fokheidah, 57, said.
"All wars end with negotiations, and today the negotiator will be the one leading the battle."
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Bangladesh protests: As violent protests engulfed Bangladesh on Monday, a former state minister of the ousted Awami League government was detained at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Tuesday while attempting to flee to India. This came after the massive protests culminated in the resignation of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation and departure. 
Baghdad: While the world and particularly the Middle East is on the edge over a possible all-out conflict between Israel and Iran following the killings of senior Hamas and Hezbollah members, a rocket attack at a military base in Iraq seriously injured five US personnel on Monday, according to US officials. Two Iraqi security sources told Reuters that two Katyusha rockets were fired at al-Asad airbase in Western Iraq.
Bangladesh turmoil: The death count from ongoing anti-government protests in Bangladesh surged to 440 on Tuesday, with an additional 100 fatalities reported following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s departure from the country, according to local media. The protests, which have gripped the nation, were sparked by widespread discontent over a controversial job quota system, and have resulted in unprecedented levels of violence. As unrest continued to sweep across the country, the Bangladeshi army intensified efforts to restore law and order, deploying troops to violence-hit areas.The discovery of a tiny arm bone suggests that an ancient human dubbed "hobbits" only shrank down to their diminutive size after they arrived on an Indonesian island a million years ago, scientists said on Tuesday.
Much about the pint-sized Homo floresiensis has been shrouded in mystery since the first fossils suggesting their existence were found on the island of Flores in 2003.
These tool-using hominins are believed to have been living on the island as recently as 50,000 years ago, when our own species homo sapiens was already walking the Earth, including in nearby Australia.
From some 60,000-year-old teeth and a jawbone found in an island cave, scientists had previously estimated the hobbits were around 1.06 metres (3.5 feet) tall.
But the discovery of part of an upper arm bone as well as some teeth at an open-air island site on the island suggests some hobbits stood just one metre tall around 700,000 years ago, according to a study in the journal Nature Communications.
The bone was so small, that at first the international team of researchers thought it must have been from a child.
Study co-author Adam Brumm, an archaeologist at Australia's Griffith University, told AFP that it was the smallest humerus fossil of an adult hominin ever found.
The discovery could tip the scales in a heated debate among scientists about how H.floresiensis became so small.
One side argues that the hobbits -- nicknamed after the little heroes in JRR Tolkien's fantasy novels -- descended from an already small earlier hominin which arrived on Flores around a million years ago.
Others believe that it was our ancestor Homo erectus, which were roughly our size and had spread throughout Asia, that became trapped on the island, only to then evolve into the smaller H.floresiensis over the next 300,00 years.
The researchers behind the latest discovery believe it strongly supports the latter theory.
These ancient humans "reduced drastically in body size according to a well known evolutionary phenomenon known as island dwarfism," Brumm said.
Under this process, larger animals tend to shrink over time to adapt to their limited surroundings.
The tropical island was home to other smaller-than-normal mammals, including a cow-sized relative of the elephant.
The newly discovered teeth also look like smaller versions of those from Homo erectus, the researchers said.
"If we are correct, it seems that Homo erectus was somehow able to cross formidable deep-sea barriers to reach isolated islands like Flores," Brumm said.
"We don't know how they were doing this," he said, adding that "accidental 'rafting' on tsunami debris" was one possibility.
Once these ancient humans were trapped on the island, they managed to survive for hundreds of thousands of years, evolving into "strange new forms," Brumm said.
Mark Moore, an archaeologist at Australia's University of New England not involved in the study, said the discovery means "we can now confidently say" that the Homo erectus theory is the more likely scenario.
Moore, who has studied the stone tools used by the hobbits, told AFP that this "technology did not shield our cousin species from the forces of biological evolution".
That the hobbits changed so much over just 300,000 years was "a reminder of the power of natural selection," he added.
"The evolutionary story of this group of hominins is truly epic."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
TikTok will permanently remove a feature in a spinoff app in France and Spain that rewards users for watching and liking videos, bowing to pressure from European regulators, the EU and the Chinese-owned company said Monday.
TikTok Lite arrived in France and Spain -- the only EU countries where it is available -- in April this year. Users aged 18 and over can earn points to exchange for goods like vouchers or gift cards through the app's rewards programme.
"We have obtained the permanent withdrawal of TikTok Lite Rewards programme, which could have had very addictive consequences," the EU's internal market commissioner, Thierry Breton, said.
TikTok Lite is a smaller version of the popular TikTok app, taking up less memory in a smartphone and made to perform over slower internet connections.
TikTok made commitments to remove the programme from the 27-country bloc and not to launch "any other programme which would circumvent the withdrawal", the European Commission said in a statement.
It is the first major victory for the European Union's landmark Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping new law that requires digital firms operating in the bloc to effectively police online content to protect users from harm.
The commission kickstarted an investigation into the Lite app in April amid concerns over "addictive" effects, which forced TikTok to temporarily suspend the programme.
The case is now closed after TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, made the binding commitments.
Any breach of the promises could lead to heavy fines under the DSA.
"We will carefully monitor TikTok's compliance. Today's decision also sends a clear message to the entire social media industry," said commission executive vice president, Margrethe Vestager.
TikTok confirmed it had "now withdrawn" the rewards programme.
"We always seek to engage constructively with the European Commission and other regulators. TikTok is pleased to have reached an amicable resolution," a company spokesperson said.
TikTok is still under investigation after a separate probe was launched in February amid concerns TikTok may not be doing enough to address negative impacts on young people.
TikTok is among 25 "very large" online platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, that must comply with the DSA's stricter rules since August 2023.
The rules also expect digital retailers to act effectively to protect shoppers online.
The DSA gives the EU the power to hit companies with fines as high as six per cent of their global annual revenues.
Repeat offenders can see their platforms blocked in the EU.
There are also ongoing investigations into X, formerly Twitter; Chinese online retailer AliExpress; and Meta over its Facebook and Instagram platforms.
TikTok also faces a litany of problems across the Atlantic.
It has filed a lawsuit to stop a US law that forces the app to be sold next year or face a US ban, claiming it violates First Amendment rights of free speech.
The United States upped the pressure on TikTok with a lawsuit last week, accusing the app of violating children's privacy by collecting data about them without their parents' permission when they use the platform.
TikTok said it disagreed with the allegations and that the company had safeguards to ensure age-appropriate experiences.
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Ramallah: An Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in the occupied West Bank killed a Hamas commander along with four other men on Saturday, according to Palestinian media. Hamas-controlled media said a vehicle carrying fighters had been struck in the airstrike carried out by Israel against a military cell around the city of Tulkarm in West Bank, killing one of the commanders of its Tulkarm brigades.Pakistan's jailed former prime minister, Imran Khan, who blames the military for his ouster and 12-month-old imprisonment on what he calls trumped-up charges, said on Sunday it would be "foolish" not to have "excellent" relations with the army.
Ahead of Monday's anniversary of his jailing on dozens of charges ranging from corruption to leaking state secrets, Khan also said in written responses to Reuters questions that he held no grudges against the United States, whom he has also blamed for his 2022 ouster from office.
"Given Pakistan's geographical position and the military's significant role in the private sector, it would be foolish not to foster such a relationship," Imran Khan wrote in replies relayed by his media and legal team.
"We are proud of our soldiers and armed forces," he said.
Imran Khan said his criticisms since his ouster had been directed at individuals, not the military as an institution. "The miscalculations of the military leadership shouldn't be held against the institution as a whole."
On Wednesday, Imran Khan offered to hold "conditional negotiations" with the South Asian nation's military - if "clean and transparent" elections were held and the "bogus" cases against his supporters were dropped.
Pakistan's army and government did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Imran Khan's remarks to Reuters. They have both repeatedly denied his assertions.
The United States denies any role in his ouster.
In his replies, the 71-year-old former cricket star did not specify what he wanted to discuss with the military.
'OPEN TO ANY DIALOGUE' WITH ARMY
The army, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half its 76-year independent history, plays an oversized role in the politics and governance of the nation of 240 million people.
No Pakistani prime minister has completed a full five-year term in office, and most have served time in jail. Analysts say most of those secured their release after striking deals with the military, a claim the army denies.
Imran Khan, who lost power in a parliamentary vote of no confidence after falling out with the generals, has said the army has been backing what he calls the politically motivated cases against him, which the military has denied.
Still, he said, there would be "no harm" in engaging with the generals if he should be released from jail and seek to return to power.
"We are open to any dialogue that could help improve the dire situation in Pakistan," he said, adding that it was useless to open any such talks with the coalition government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, which he says does not enjoy public backing because he claims it won a stolen election in February.
Rather, Imran Khan said, it would be "more productive to engage with those who actually wield power".
The military - which says Imran Khan and his party were behind attacks on military installations last year during widespread protests against his detention - has previously ruled out any talks with him.
Imran Khan's imprisonment has added to the political volatility in Pakistan, which has experienced a prolonged economic crisis and last month received a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
The political instability since Imran Khan's ouster from power helped force Islamabad to accept the IMF's painful fiscal consolidation requirements, which have burdened the people with heavy taxes, analysts say.
The IMF has called for political stability to help put the $350 billion economy on a recovery path.
Imran Khan rejected the idea of reaching an out-of-court settlement with the government or military, unless they accepted that his PTI party had won a majority in February's election.
"The elections were the most rigged in Pakistan's history," Imran Khan told Reuters.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
US President Joe Biden reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop bulls***ting me” during a tense phone conversation on Thursday.
The sharp exchange came after Mr Netanyahu informed Joe Biden that Israel was proceeding with negotiations on a hostages-for-ceasefire deal with Hamas, despite months of unfruitful talks. Biden has previously expressed suspicions that Netanyahu has been intentionally stalling for internal political reasons, Channel 12 reported.
At the end of the call, Mr Biden added a stern warning, “Don't take the president for granted.” Joe Biden also reportedly criticised the timing of the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, calling it “poorly timed.”
The US President reportedly was concerned that the operation jeopardised the potential culmination of ceasefire and hostage release negotiations, the NY Times reported. An unnamed US official indicated that Biden warned the assassination could lead to a broader regional conflict which Biden had been putting efforts to prevent.
Netanyahu's office issued a statement on Saturday night that said that “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not discuss what was said in closed conversations with the President of the US.”
Tensions in the Middle East have surged to a boiling point following the recent killings of senior Hezbollah leader Faud Shukr and Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh. Iran-backed Hezbollah retaliated by launching dozens of rockets at northern Israel on Sunday, with some breaching defenses in the Beit Hillel region.
A clip shared on X shows Israel's Iron Dome batteries firing multiple Tamir interceptors at Hezbollah rockets targeting the Jewish State.
An amazing clip from earlier tonight when Israel's Iron Dome batteries fired multiple Tamir interceptors at Hezbollah rockets targeting northern Israel. pic.twitter.com/lcbIH9shwM
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) August 4, 2024
US defense officials have arrived in Israel, bracing for potential retaliation from Iran and its allies. The Pentagon has bolstered its regional military presence in anticipation of further escalation.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the killings, which have sparked fears of a coordinated attack by Iran and Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has warned of "challenging days ahead" and vowed to be "prepared for any scenario." US President Biden hopes Iran will stand down despite its threats.
Meanwhile the Indian Embassy in Beirut has advised Indian nationals against travelling to or staying in Lebanon until further notice.
A U.S. military helicopter made an emergency landing in a rice paddy in Kanagawa prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, on Saturday, according to reports from national broadcaster NHK. The local fire department confirmed that no one was injured in the incident.At least 10 Palestinians were killed on Saturday in an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced persons in Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, the Hamas run-government media office said.
It came hours after two strikes in the occupied West Bank killed nine militants including a local Hamas commander, Hamas said.
The Israeli military said the first of two West Bank airstrikes hit a vehicle in a town near the city of Tulkarm, targeting a militant cell it said was on its way to carry out an attack.
A Hamas statement said one of those killed was a commander of its Tulkarm brigades, while its ally Islamic Jihad claimed the other four men who died in the strike as its fighters.
Hours later, a second airstrike in the area targeted another group of militants who had fired on troops, Israel's military said, during what it described as a counter-terrorism operation in Tulkarm.
Palestinian news agency WAFA said four people had died in that strike, and Hamas said all nine of those killed in the two Israeli attacks in the West Bank were fighters.
Violence in the West Bank was on the rise before the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and has risen since, with frequent Israeli raids in the territory, which is among those that the Palestinians seek for a state.
There has also been an increase in anti-Israeli street attacks by Palestinians.
GAZA STRIKES
In the Gaza Strip, a school sheltering displaced persons in Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood was struck, the Hamas run-government media office said.
The Israeli military said the school was being used as a command centre for Hamas, to hide militants and manufacture weapons. Hamas has denied Israeli accusations that it operates from civilian facilities such as schools and hospitals.
Earlier on Saturday, Israeli strikes in the enclave killed six people in a house in the southern area of Rafah and two others in Gaza City, Gaza health officials said.
The Israeli military said its forces had struck militants and destroyed Hamas infrastructure in Rafah and elsewhere in the enclave.
At least 39,550 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, according to Gaza health officials. The offensive was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 abducted, according to Israeli tallies.
A high-level Israeli delegation made a brief visit to Cairo on Saturday in an attempt to resume Gaza ceasefire negotiations, Egyptian airport authority sources said. The delegation returned to Israel hours later, Israeli media said.
Chances of a breakthrough appear low as regional tension has soared following the assassination of Hamas' leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday, a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, a top military commander from Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran.
Haniyeh's death was one in a series of killings of senior Hamas figures as the Gaza war nears its 11th month, and it fuelled concern that the conflict in Gaza was turning into a wider Middle East war.
Hamas and Iran have both accused Israel of carrying out the assassination of Haniyeh and have pledged to retaliate. Israel has neither claimed nor denied responsibility for the death.
Italy urged Iran on Saturday to show restraint.
"Italy makes an appeal to Iran, calling on it for restraint and to contribute to a phase of de-escalation throughout the Mediterranean region and the Middle East," the Foreign Ministry said, adding that the message had been delivered to the Iranian ambassador in Rome.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Manila: In a tragic incident, at least 11 people were killed after a fire ripped through a residential and commercial building in the Chinatown precinct of the Philippine capital Manila on Friday, according to officials. It was not immediately clear if more people had been trapped and were feared dead, the official said on the incident.
Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a hero's welcome to prisoners freed in a historic exchange with the West as they stepped off a plane in Moscow, promising them state awards and a conversation about their futures. The 71-year-old President thanked them for their 'loyalty to the Motherland' after striking the biggest East-West prisoner exchange deal in post-Cold War period.When eight Russian citizens including a convicted hitman touched down in Moscow on Thursday in a historic prisoner swap with the West, President Vladimir Putin greeted them like heroes.
"I want to congratulate you all on your return to your Motherland," Putin beamed, assuring the group that also included cybercriminals and spies that Russia had not forgotten them for "even a minute".
Putin's message -- both to those released on Thursday and his agents across the world -- was clear: Even if you get caught, the Kremlin has your back.
A total of 24 people were freed in Thursday's exchange -- 16 headed to the West and eight to Russia -- in the biggest prisoner swap deal since the Cold War.
Russia released US journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, ex-marine Paul Whelan as well as high-profile domestic dissidents.
In return, it secured the largest number of alleged Russian spies freed in a single exchange for over a decade, as well as FSB security service assassin Vadim Krasikov.
"For the target audience, Putin brought back his soldiers, the heroes of a hybrid Third World War," said Russian political analyst Konstantin Kalachev.
"And the audience is not just special services, but millions who feel like citizens of a country at war with a stronger enemy," he added.
Among those returning to Russia were two sleeper agents living on false documents in Slovenia, a prolific hacker and an alleged Russian colonel posing as a Brazilian researcher in Norway.
For Putin, the main prize was Krasikov -- an elite FSB officer arrested in Germany in 2019 for murdering a former Chechen separatist on what Berlin said was Moscow's orders.
Putin, previously director of the FSB and an officer in its Soviet incarnation the KGB, had long pushed for Krasikov to be included in a prisoner swap deal, an idea that Germany had resisted.
The deal will have "strengthened loyalty" among other spies and assassins, said Abbas Gallyamov, an independent political analyst and former Kremlin speechwriter.
"Putin can count on them to work with greater dedication," he added.
'Win-win'
For the West, the exchange has raised fears Putin could become even more emboldened to take prisoners in what it blasts as "hostage diplomacy".
The Kremlin said Friday it was determined to see the release of more Russians it believes are wrongfully imprisoned in the West.
Over the last two years, Russia had been "blatantly" detaining Westerners for a possible swap "as negotiations with the West stalled" amid the Ukraine offensive, said Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.
Russia and the West have a long history of swaps, including in 2022 when US basketball star Brittney Griner was exchanged with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
But with Thursday's deal involving not just foreigners but Russian dissidents, Moscow reminded "the whole world of its repression, lawlessness and cruelty against critics of the authorities," Stanovaya said in an article.
Before the 2022 agreements to free first US Marine Trevor Reed and then Griner, deals had usually involved swapping spies for spies.
Moscow has tried to present this deal in similar terms.
Gershkovich and Whelan were both convicted of "espionage" -- charges rejected as baseless by the White House -- and the FSB said on Thursday that the Russians it released had "acted in the interests of foreign states to the detriment of Russia's security."
But to the West, the arrest of Gershkovich in particular -- the first "espionage" charges levelled at a US reporter in Russia since the cold War -- showed the Kremlin was willing to cross red lines.
Russia may see the exchange as a great success and "wonderful victory", political analyst Ekaterina Schulmann said in an interview with Russia's independent TV Rain.
But the reality was more nuanced.
"Russia is getting eight clumsy losers who couldn't do their job and got caught," she said.
"While it is giving away people who, if they want to and if they are able, will become significant political public figures."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)