NewsUS halts foreign aid; Israel-Palestine prisoner swap resumes
US halts foreign aid; Israel-Palestine prisoner swap resumes
While you were sleeping. Here’s what global agencies reported overnight from Friday to Saturday.
- U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the freezing of nearly all foreign aid programmes for at least 90 days. According to The Guardian, this is expected to also affect U.S. support for Ukraine, although assistance for Israel will not be impacted.
- On Saturday, there will be another exchange of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip for Palestinian prisoners, despite Hamas breaking previous agreements regarding the order of exchange, according to Israeli media reports on Friday evening (Greenwich Time).
- Since the start of the war with Israel, Hamas has recruited between 10,000 and 15,000 new fighters, Reuters reported on Friday, citing two anonymous sources in the U.S. Congress familiar with American intelligence findings. "According to two congressional sources briefed on U.S. intelligence, [it] suggests the Iran-backed fighters could remain a persistent threat to Israel," Reuters assessed. According to sources, the number of Hamas fighters killed since the beginning of the war is similar.
- In North Macedonia, four individuals suspected of forming a terrorist group ideologically linked to Islamic State (IS) were arrested. Firearms, including rifles and pistols, were found in the homes of each of the detainees, authorities in Skopje reported.
- More than 600 people detained in connection with looting escaped from military custody in Juba District, South Sudan, a police spokesman reported, adding that some of the escapees have already returned to custody. In the issued statement, the police reported that "550 are civilians and 50 are members of organised forces."
- The former director of Portugal’s Immigration and Borders Service (SEF) was sentenced on Friday to 2.5 years in prison in a case concerning the murder of Ukrainian citizen Ihor Homeniuk by employees of this government agency at Lisbon airport in March 2020.
- In Jagodina in central Serbia, a rally of supporters of the government and President Aleksandar Vučić took place on Friday. Several thousand people participated. The president, commenting on the weeks-long demonstrations in the country, stressed that "there will be no change of power in the streets."
