World

US President Joe Biden said Wednesday that Israel has a right to defend itself but after speaking with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he hopes violent clashes with Palestinians will end quickly.

"I had a conversation with Bibi Netanyahu not too long ago," Biden told reporters. "My expectation and hope is that this will be closing down sooner than later, but Israel has a right to defend itself when you have thousands of rockets flying into your territory."

A jewellery set worn by French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte's adopted daughter sold for $1.65 million in Geneva on Wednesday, soaring way above the pre-auction estimate.

Marking the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's death, Christie's auction house sold the nine imperial jewels adorned with sapphires and diamonds, which were from the collection of his adopted daughter Stephanie de Beauharnais.

The Biden administration is reportedly blocking the release of a United Nations Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire as Israel continues its devastating assault on the occupied Gaza Strip, killing dozens of Palestinians and injuring hundreds more.

According to Reuters, which cited anonymous diplomats and sources familiar with the Biden administration's strategy, the United States is "delaying" the U.N. Security Council's "efforts to issue a public statement on escalating tensions between Israel and the Palestinians because it could be harmful to behind-the-scenes efforts to end the violence."

The United States said Tuesday it was reviewing the previous administration's withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty as Russia moved formally to leave the post-Cold War accord meant to build trust.

The United States officially left the pact in November after former president Donald Trump's administration said Russia was violating the agreement that allows the two powers and their allies to monitor one another's airspace.

Joe Biden entered the White House hoping to avoid entanglement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But, like US presidents before him, a crisis is dragging him in sooner than he would have liked.

The flare-up in violence is putting Biden on a tightrope not only diplomatically but at home where progressives in his Democratic Party are increasingly vocal in criticism of Israel, which enjoyed zealous support from former president Donald Trump.

Four decades after Bob Marley's death on May 11, 1981 from skin cancer, the reggae icon's legacy lives on.

The Jamaican singer, musician and songwriter was just 36 when he died, but four decades after his untimely demise — a period longer than the reggae icon's brief but potent life — his music is still heard and enjoyed across the world.

Pressed repeatedly by reporters during a briefing on Monday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price refused to condemn Israel's killing of children with airstrikes on Gaza, offering evasive and mealy-mouthed responses that members of Congress slammed as unacceptable.

"We cannot just condemn rockets fired by Hamas and ignore Israel's state-sanctioned police violence against Palestinians—including unlawful evictions, violent attacks on protestors, and the murder of Palestinian children."
—Rep. Mark Pocan

Joe Biden has chosen Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago and chief of staff to Barack Obama, as US ambassador to Japan, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.

There had been speculation that Emanuel would become envoy to China, but that job is expected to go to former top US diplomat Nick Burns, the report said, citing multiple sources familiar with the Biden team's discussions

A school shooting erupted Tuesday morning in the Russian city of Kazan, killing seven students and leaving 16 other people hospitalized with wounds, according to the governor of Russia's Muslim majority Tatarstan region. A 19-year-old boy was arrested as authorities launched a criminal investigation.

Rustam Minnikhanov, governor of the Tatarstan republic which has Kazan as its capital, said Tuesday that four male and three female eighth-grade students have died in the shooting. Twelve more children and four adults were hospitalized in the attack, Minnikhanov said.

Fears were growing in London on Monday for the fate of an infant whale that was rescued from the banks of the River Thames, only to swim upstream instead of out to sea.

The young minke whale, measuring three to four metres (10-13 feet), was first spotted in southwest London on Sunday and was washed ashore at a set of gates controlling water flow.