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World Monthly Headline News May 2024
Story by Reuters

(Reuters) - A New York jury found Donald Trump guilty of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn star, making him the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime.

Here is some international reaction:

HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR ORBAN ON X:
"I’ve known President @realDonaldTrump to be a man of honour. As President, he always put America first, he commanded respect around the world and used this respect to build peace. Let the people make their verdict this November! Keep on fighting, Mr. President!"

BRITISH OPPOSITION LABOUR PARTY LEADER KEIR STARMER:
"First and foremost, we respect the court's decision in relation to the decision in the Trump case. There's sentencing still to go and possible appeal, but we respect the court process.
"...We have a special relationship with the U.S. that transcends whoever the president is, but it is an unprecedented situation, no doubt about that."

MATTEO SALVINI, ITALY'S DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND HEAD OF THE LEAGUE PARTY:
“Solidarity and full support for @realDonaldTrump, victim of judicial harassment and a process of political nature. In Italy, we are sadly familiar with the weaponisation of the justice system by the left, given that for years attempts have been made to eliminate political opponents through legal means. I hope Trump wins; it would be a guarantee of greater balance and hope for world peace.”
By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -Israeli forces have taken control of a buffer zone along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, the country's military said on Wednesday, giving Israel effective authority over the Palestinian territory's entire land border.

Israel also continued deadly raids on Rafah in southern Gaza despite an order from the International Court of Justice to end attacks on the city, where half of Gaza's 2.3 million people had previously taken refuge.

In a televised briefing, chief military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces had gained "operational" control over the "Philadelphi Corridor", using the Israeli military's code name for the 14 km-long (9 mile) corridor along the Gaza Strip's only border with Egypt.

"The Philadelphi Corridor served as an oxygen line for Hamas, which it regularly used to smuggle weapons into the area of the Gaza Strip," Hagari said. Hamas is the armed Palestinian group that governs the blockaded territory.
By Mohammad Al Sawalhi, Abeer Salman, Kareem Khadder, Sarah El Sirgany and Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday an airstrike that killed dozens of people at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, Gaza, was a “tragic error.”

“Despite our best effort not to harm those not involved, unfortunately a tragic error happened last night. We are investigating the case,” Netanyahu said in a speech at the Israeli Knesset.

At least 45 people were killed and more than 200 others injured after a fire broke out at the camp following the strike, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Palestinian medics. No hospital in Rafah had the capacity to take the number of casualties, the ministry said.

Footage obtained by CNN showed the camp in flames, with scores of men, women and children frantically trying to find cover from the nighttime assault. Burned bodies, including those of children, could be seen being pulled by rescuers from the wreckage.

“Several civilians are still trapped inside the camp, which was attacked without warning,” a Palestinian man filming the fire said. “This was declared a safe zone.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antònio Guterres issued a blistering condemnation on Monday. “I condemn Israel’s actions which killed scores of innocent civilians who were only seeking shelter from this deadly conflict,” he said on X. “There is no safe place in Gaza. This horror must stop.”
Story by Laurence Norman

The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, a move that Israeli officials have warned could scuttle efforts to end the conflict in the enclave.

An ICC court would need to decide whether to issue a warrant for their arrests.

The court’s prosecutor said there were “reasonable grounds to believe that” Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “bear criminal responsibility” for a series of “war crimes and crimes against humanity,” committed since at least Oct. 8, the day after the Hamas-led attack on Israel.

Among the alleged crimes the court listed against the Israeli leaders was the willful killing of civilians, starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and persecution as a crime against humanity. More than 35,000 people have died in Gaza since the outbreak of fighting last year, most of them civilians, according to Palestinian officials. The figure doesn’t specify how many were combatants.

The Biden administration has opposed an ICC move against Israeli leaders, saying it doesn’t believe the court has jurisdiction to rule on the case. A number of U.S. lawmakers have warned that if the court goes for Israeli officials, they would seek to sanction the court’s senior officials.
By Mohammad Salem and Nidal Al-Mughrabi

RAFAH, Gaza Strip/CAIRO, May 7 - Israeli forces seized the main border crossing between Egypt and southern Gaza on Tuesday, shutting down a vital aid route into the Palestinian enclave that is already on the brink of famine.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas accused Israel of trying to undermine efforts to secure a ceasefire in the seven-month-long war that has laid waste to Gaza and left hundreds of thousands of its people homeless and hungry.

Israeli army footage showed tanks rolling through the Rafah crossing complex and the Israeli flag raised on the Gaza side.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said seizing the crossing was a "very significant step" towards its stated aim of destroying Hamas's military capabilities.

Residents reported heavy tank shelling on Tuesday evening in some areas of eastern Rafah.

"They have gone crazy, tanks are firing shells and smoke bombs cover the skies and with smoke over Al-Salam and Jneinah neighborhoods," said Emad Joudat, 55, a Gaza city resident displaced in Rafah.
By Michele Kelemen, Vincent Ni

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel's cabinet has voted to shut down the offices of the Al Jazeera network operating in the country with immediate effect.

Writing on X – formally known as Twitter – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government had decided "unanimously" to close Al Jazeera in Israel. He accused the Doha-headquartered network as an "incitement channel" against Israel.

Al Jazeera, which broadcasts in both English and Arabic, has previously vehemently denied such an allegation and said the Israeli leader had made a "false accusation in a disgraceful manner."
By Rob Picheta, Thom Poole, Amarachi Orie and Adrienne Vogt, CNN

A Hamas delegation is in Cairo for talks on a hostage and ceasefire deal. Egyptian media has reported on “noticeable progress,” but an Israeli source said they had not yet gotten word that Hamas has changed its “extreme” positions.

The latest framework calls for the release of 20 to 33 hostages over several weeks in exchange for a temporary ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners. CIA Director Bill Burns is also taking part in talks, a source said.

Meanwhile, fighting continues across Gaza. At least nine people have been killed in the latest Israeli airstrikes, according to authorities in the strip. The death toll in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7 attacks has climbed over 34,000, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. CNN cannot independently verify the ministry’s casualty figures.
‘No delays, no excuses,’ says US secretary of state during meeting with President Herzog; diplomat also set to meet war leadership, visit Kerem Shalom and Ashdod Port
By Lazar Berman

Standing alongside President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem on Wednesday, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken placed the blame squarely on Hamas for the failure to reach a hostage deal since November.

The Gaza terror organization is “the only reason that that wouldn’t be achieved,” said the top US diplomat, who is in Israel for the seventh time since the massive Hamas attack on October 7.

“No delays, no excuses,” said Blinken. “The time is now.”

Israel conveyed its latest offer to Hamas through Egyptian mediators late last week, and is expecting a response Wednesday evening, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel.

A report from the Lebanese news outlet al-Akhbar indicated that Israel’s offer would see at least 33 hostages released in the first phase, followed by later stages that would establish a sustainable calm and possible full withdrawal of IDF troops.
A law to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda if they arrived in Britain without permission was approved in April, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants the first flights to take off in July.
By Reuters

LONDON — British authorities have started to detain migrants in preparation for them to be sent to Rwanda in the next nine to 11 weeks, the government said on Wednesday, laying the groundwork for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s flagship immigration policy.

A law to pave the way for sending asylum seekers to Rwanda if they arrived in Britain without permission was approved by parliament in April, and Sunak wants the first flights to take off in July.

More than 7,500 migrants have arrived in England on small boats from France so far this year, and the government says the policy will deter people from making dangerous journey across the Channel. Five people died trying to make the crossing last week.

Human rights charities and unions opposed to the policy are expected to launch fresh legal challenges to stop the flights from taking off after the UK Supreme Court declared the policy unlawful last year.
Joel Guinto,BBC News

Twenty-four people have died after a section of a mountainside highway collapsed in China's Guangdong province, following days of heavy rain.

Thirty others were taken to hospital after a 17.9m (58 feet) stretch of the Meilong expressway crumbled at 02:10 local time (19:10 BST) on Wednesday.

Authorities have yet to state the cause of the incident.

Images on state media showed a massive gash in the forested mountainside below the highway.
CBS News

A section of a highway collapsed early Wednesday in southern China, sending cars tumbling and leaving at least 24 people dead, according to state media.

Eighteen cars fell down a slope after a 59-foot section of the highway collapsed, according to a statement from authorities in Meizhou city in Guangdong province. The incident occurred around 2 a.m.

The death toll had risen to 24 by Wednesday afternoon, according to China's official Xinhua News agency.
Natalie Neysa Alund | USA TODAY

At least 50 people have died and mass search and rescue operations were underway in Kenya Wednesday following severe flooding in the East African county, the Red Cross reported.

In all, more than 100,000 people have been affected by the deluge in the country's capital city of Nairobi, which destroyed homes, swept away bridges and left dozen injured, officials in the country are reporting.

According to the non-profit organization, crews were searching for people trapped by floodwaters in more than 14 tourist camps in Talek, Narok, after the Talek River broke its banks.
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