World

There is currently no obvious candidate to replace the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin after his death. So there will be an internal confrontation, as a military and political analyst for the Information Resistance Group, Oleksandr Kovalenko, said in a comment to RBC-Ukraine. He says that doesn't see any obvious successor to Putin for now. "Putin intentionally attracted many unremarkable, second-rate, and gray personalities to his circle so that they would appear even more worthless against his backdrop. For example, Shoigu. He was once called "number 2", but he cannot even speak clearly," the...

By Dan Williams, Michelle Nichols and Andrew Gray (Reuters) - Israel is rejecting calls for respite in Gaza as its closest allies in the West have coalesced around the idea of "humanitarian pauses", or temporary stops to the bombardment. Growing international distress at the conditions for 2.3 million people trapped under the heaviest air strikes Israel has ever unleashed on the Mediterranean enclave led major powers this week to call on Israel to allow such pauses to get aid in and Israeli hostages held by Islamist militant group Hamas out. The issue has opened the first public split between ...

By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA/MOSCOW (Reuters) -Israeli air and ground forces are stepping up operations in the Gaza Strip, Israel's chief military spokesperson said on Friday, amid reports of heavy bombing of the besieged enclave. Internet and mobile phone services were cut off in the Palestinian territory, a local telecoms firm and the Red Cross said. "In the last hours, we intensified the attacks in Gaza," Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a televised news briefing, raising expectations that the long-anticipated ground invasion of Gaza may be beginning. He said the air force was conducting extens...

By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Francis has ordered a review of the Church's handling of the case of an internationally known religious artist who was expelled from the Jesuit religious order after being accused of sexual, psychological and spiritual abuse of adult women. A statement on Friday said the pope had asked the Vatican's doctrinal office to review the case of Father Marko Ivan Rupnik and had lifted any statute of limitations, meaning he could eventually face a Church trial and be removed from the priesthood if found guilty. It said the pope made the decision after a V...

By Simon Lewis WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Overly stringent checks on trucks at the Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza were slowing the flow of humanitarian aid to a "dribble" as hunger grows among Palestinians there, U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain told Reuters on Thursday. The Rafah crossing, which is controlled by Egypt and does not border Israel, has become the main point of aid delivery since Israel imposed a "total siege" of Gaza in retaliation for an attack by Hamas militants from the coastal strip on Oct. 7. The United States is leading negotiations with Isra...

(Reuters) - Two U.S. fighter jets struck weapons and ammunition facilities in Syria on Friday in retaliation for attacks on U.S. forces by Iranian-backed militia as concerns grew that the Israel-Hamas conflict may spread in the Middle East. U.S. President Joe Biden ordered strikes on the two facilities used by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and militia groups that it backs, the Pentagon said, warning the U.S. will take additional measures if attacks by Iran's proxies continue. U.S. and coalition troops have been attacked at least 19 times in Iraq and in Syria by Iran-backed forces in the pas...