Earthquake of magnitude 5.0 jolts Nepal, tremors felt in North India
An earthquake of magnitude 5.0 jolted Nepal on Friday evening, i.e., April 4, with light tremors felt across parts of Northern India, news agency ANI reported.
‘Just like that’: Yemeni families destroyed by US air strikes
Sanaa, Yemen – On the evening of March 15, Ammar Mohammed* strolled through the vibrant streets of a modern residential neighbourhood in northern Sanaa. The tall, slim man was nattily dressed and expecting a delicious meal at a relative’s home. The pleasant spring air, cooled after sunset, carried the rich aromas of home-cooked dishes as families prepared to break their fast on the last day of Ramadan. The two-storey house of his wife’s relatives, the al-Zeinis*, was lit up, as with the other tightly packed homes on that street. Even from a distance, he could see rows of windows glowing warmly and felt the hum of life radiating from behind closed doors he walked past, as people chatted, children squealed, and cutlery clattered. He was looking forward to iftar and to his wife joining him later at her relatives’ home for a post-iftar gathering. The street was bustling – mosque speakers echoed Quranic recitations, children chased each other barefoot over the asphalt, and the clatter of bustling kitchens spilled from open doorways. Advertisement He was a stone’s throw away when the evening was split apart. Shops in Aden – prepared before the beginning of Ramadan, a festive time in Yemen with families coming together for meals throughout the month, on February 25, 2025 [Fawaz Salman/Reuters] A deafening roar shattered the calm, a blinding orange flash turning everything into a terrifying artificial dawn. The ground convulsed beneath him, and he was hurled backwards, ears ringing as a shockwave of dust and debris swept over him, stinging his skin. For a moment, he could not breathe. When he lifted his head, the al-Zeini home was gone. “Just like that, the house had collapsed into a smouldering heap of rubble and twisted metal,” the 30-year-old civil servant said. “All 12 al-Zeinis – mostly women and kids – who were inside on a peaceful Ramadan evening, were killed,” he said in pain. The al-Zeini family had been killed in a raid ordered by United States President Donald Trump. Trump claimed he wanted to target Houthi fighters and military installations, to force them to stop attacking Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea – which the Houthis say they are doing in response to Israel’s ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip. The US raids continued, and have killed at least 53 people, while nearly 100 others were wounded. A neighbourhood shattered Mohammed, palms bleeding from the force with which he was hurled onto the asphalt, raced to the house to see if there were any survivors. The house had been demolished, along with the one right next to it. Advertisement He joined a crowd of neighbours pulling away bricks and iron rebar in search of people, to ultimately realise no one was alive. “I was swept away by emotions and thoughts, just like my surroundings. I was confused, scared, grateful, alarmed, happy to have survived, and devastated by what happened to this family. “This was a family breaking their fast together, not a military base. Americans make no distinction between a rebel and a child,” he told Al Jazeera. He could not say anything further about his slain relatives, only saying he dreaded what would come next. He vividly recalled how the joyful sounds of children playing were suddenly replaced by piercing screams as panicked parents rushed into the streets, desperately searching for their little ones. A man squats in the middle of an area struck by the US in Sanaa on March 20, 2025 [Mohammed Huwais/AFP] ‘They were there just a minute ago’ Like Khawla*, who was a few houses down from the al-Zeinis, setting the table and keeping an eye on her two sons, eight-year-old Usama and six-year-old Mustafa, playing outside. They were awaiting their father’s return before the family could sit down to break their fast. With the ground shaking and the explosive sound of the raid, the alarmed 30-year-old mother rushed outside in panic, looking for any trace of her little ones. “My children were there moments ago, and suddenly I couldn’t see them,” she said. “I staggered through the wreckage strewn across the street, the air was still full of dust. I was terrified. Advertisement “I screamed out their names … nothing,” she said, her voice cracking as she recalled that night. “A neighbour spotted two small bodies flung several metres away by the blast’s force,” Khawla, who asked to be referred to by her first name only, said. Children especially love the family-oriented, festive atmosphere of Ramadan [File: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters] The neighbour scooped them into his arms and carried them into Khawla’s home, afraid that another attack might follow, and feeling it would be safer to be indoors. “I chased after him, sobbing and trying to understand how badly my boys were hurt. They were too shocked to respond, but once inside, I frantically examined every inch of their bodies.” Luckily, the boys’ injuries were limited to bruises and cuts all over their bodies, and she was able to tend to them herself. “These are cuts that are curable, but there are scars too deep and much more difficult to fix. My kids haven’t been themselves since.” The boys keep asking if more bombs will fall on the neighbourhood, she added. “I hug them, avoid answering the question … but I can’t get over the sight of the household whose children didn’t make it.” * Names changed for the individuals’ safety This article was published in collaboration with Egab. Adblock test (Why?)
South Korea court formally removes President Yoon over martial law
[unable to retrieve full-text content] South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol was formally removed from office by the country’s Constitutional Court on Friday.
Israel has turned two-thirds of Gaza into no-go zones, UN says
The latest displacement orders in Rafah and Gaza City have forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee again. Israel has now restricted Palestinians’ access to roughly two-thirds of Gaza, either by declaring large areas as no-go zones or issuing forced displacement orders, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Among the restricted areas is a large swath of southern Rafah, where Israel’s military issued a new displacement order on March 31, declaring it was returning to “fight with great force”. The restrictions also cover parts of Gaza City, where Israeli troops launched a new ground offensive on Friday morning to expand their “security zone”. These escalations have triggered one of the largest mass displacements of the war, pushing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians – many already displaced multiple times – to flee yet again. “Our biggest struggle now is displacement,” Abu Hazem Khalef, an elderly man displaced from Gaza City’s east, told Al Jazeera. “We have no idea how to handle this situation. I’m heading west of Gaza City, looking for any street where I can set up a tent.” Advertisement “We are being forced to leave and we don’t even know where to go,” added Mahmoud al-Gharabli, another displaced Palestinian. “We are exhausted and completely broken.” ‘Dividing the Strip’ The military push follows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threat to intensify the offensive to pressure Hamas into further concessions. “We are now dividing the Strip and we are increasing pressure step by step so they will give us our hostages,” Netanyahu said in a video message on Wednesday. On Friday, Israeli forces continued devastating aerial attacks, killing at least 30 people since dawn, according to local medical sources and Gaza’s civil defence agency. This followed an intense day of bombardment on Thursday that left 112 dead – many of them women and children. Conditions inside Gaza City’s al-Ahli Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, where many victims in the north were taken, are “nothing short of apocalyptic,” Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said after visiting the facility. “We are seeing bodies laid on the ground and they are counted in the 10s,” Mahmoud said. “We’ve seen doctors, they are helpless. They don’t know what to do. They are unable to save lives given the dire situation inside the hospital.” Israel resumed its attacks in Gaza on March 18, shattering a two-month ceasefire after talks with Hamas broke down over the next phase of the agreement. Netanyahu wants Hamas to release the 59 remaining Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and aid, but without Israel committing to end the war or pull out troops. For a final ceasefire deal, Netanyahu insists Hamas must disarm – a demand the group calls a “red line” – and has openly backed plans for Israel to seize security control of Gaza and push Palestinians out. Advertisement Hamas calls for a return to the previously agreed three-stage ceasefire framework and has offered to free all the captives at once in return for a permanent ceasefire. Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s war in Gaza has killed 50,523 Palestinians and wounded 114,638. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led October 7 attacks and more than 200 taken captive. Adblock test (Why?)
DNA Verified: Video of Rahul Gandhi’s 2021 visit to Vaishno Devi falsely dubbed as his recent visit during Navratri
Multiple social media users have shared a video featuring the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, claiming that he visited Mata Vaishno Devi on the second day of Chaitra Navratri 2025.
Obama urges Americans to ‘possibly sacrifice’ in resisting Trump policies
Former President Barack Obama told a crowd Thursday night that some sacrifice might be necessary in order to resist President Donald Trump’s policies. Obama spoke at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, on Thursday and accused the Trump administration of trying to destroy the post-World War II international order, according to the Washington Post. During the speech, Obama called Trump’s behavior “contrary to the basic compact we have as Americans” and called on students to do more in order to resist Trump’s policies. “It has been easy during most of our lifetimes to say you are a progressive, or say you are for social justice, or say you are for free speech, and not have to pay a price for it…And now we’re in one of those moments when…it’s not enough just to say you’re for something. You may actually have to do something and possibly sacrifice a little bit,” Obama said. JAMES CARVILLE BLAMES SECRETIVE DEMOCRATIC MANEUVERING FOR ‘SELF-ENGINEERED DEFEAT’ IN 2024 Obama also said law firms and universities need to take a more active role in resisting Trump, arguing there would be massive pushback if he tried to sanction law firms. “It’s unimaginable that the same parties that are silent now would have tolerated behavior like that from me or a whole bunch of my predecessors,” Obama said. KAMALA HARRIS WAS ‘VERY ANNOYED’ WITH OBAMA AS SHE SOUGHT HIS ENDORSEMENT, BOOK REVEALS Obama said he is “deeply concerned with a federal government that threatens universities if they don’t give up students who are exercising their right to free speech.” “All of you have grown up in an international order that was created by America after World War II. … This is an important moment because in the last two months, the U.S. government has been trying to destroy that order,” Obama said. “Democracy is pretty recent in its vintage. An international order where you cooperate instead of fight is new. It’s fragile.” The Thursday night speech at Hamilton College was not recorded.
PHOTOS: Biden’s ‘ambitious climate goals’ go down in literal flames by popular American beach
A major part of a first-of-its-kind green energy project, which the Biden administration bragged about, is now lying in ruins and polluting some of America’s beautiful ocean and seashore in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Exclusive images obtained by Fox News Digital show the shattered remains of what is left of an ocean wind turbine constructed by Vineyard Wind in a green energy project touted by the Biden administration. The turbine was recently struck by lightning and destroyed just months after one of its blades dangerously fell into the Atlantic Ocean, dropping non-biodegradable fiberglass shards into the water, some of which washed ashore, forcing six Nantucket beaches to close. EX-BIDEN CAMPAIGN STAFFER SLAMS FORMER PRESIDENT’S TEAM FOR KNOWING HE WAS ‘NOT CAPABLE,’ FEELS ‘LIED TO’ The Cape Cod Times reported that the broken turbine was hit by lightning on Feb. 27 and “caught fire, and detached.” Today – just a few years after the Biden administration announced the project in 2021 – the turbine sits in ruins with its interior materials being exposed just about 14 nautical miles from Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. In May 2021, the Biden-era Department of Interior announced the approval of the construction and operation of the Vineyard Wind project, which it said would be the first large-scale, offshore wind project in the United States. The administration touted the project as contributing to their green energy goals. Former President Joe Biden’s Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland called the project an “important step toward advancing the Administration’s goals to create good-paying union jobs while combating climate change and powering our nation.” EX-BIDEN AIDE SAYS FORMER PRESIDENT WAS ‘FATIGUED, BEFUDDLED, AND DISENGAGED’ PRIOR TO JUNE DEBATE: BOOK She said it was “one of many actions we are determined to take to open the doors of economic opportunity to more Americans.” Biden’s Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, “This project is an example of the investments we need to achieve the Biden-Harris administration’s ambitious climate goals, and I’m proud to be part of the team leading the charge on offshore wind.” However, after the project went down in literal flames, local residents had much more choice words to say about the Biden administration’s “ambitious climate goals.” “Everybody wants a healthy planet, but when the ones advocating for a green planet are the ones damaging it, it makes you pause,” Barstool Sports President Dave Portnoy, a Nantucket homeowner, told Fox News Digital after the blade detached and fell into the ocean. ‘RUINED BY NEGLIGENCE’: DAVE PORTNOY BLASTS NANTUCKET WIND FARM AFTER BROKEN BLADE SHUTS DOWN BEACHES Portnoy lamented those who paid good money only to be unable to visit the closed beaches. “Families save up for years to take a vacation to Nantucket only to have it ruined by negligence,” he said. Mary Chalke, another local resident, posted on X on Mar. 23 that she was continuing to find blade fiberglass debris washing ashore on a Nantucket beach on the south side of the island. The Vineyard Gazette reported that the broken blade had a manufacturing defect that was not caught during inspections and that there were 66 other blades in the project that could potentially have the same problem. The outlet reported that Vineyard Wind has been ordered to remove all the potentially defective blades. DEMS MUM ON TRUMP’S COURT FIGHTS DESPITE TRYING TO LIMIT BIDEN-BLOCKING JUDGES The outlet said that as of January, only one turbine of the 62 planned was running. A source familiar with the project said its catastrophic failure is a “shining example of how these failed green energy projects pose a hazard to the environment.” “It wasn’t by chance that this wind turbine was struck by lightning just months after it fell apart into the ocean,” the source said. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump paused new or renewed approvals, rights-of-way, permits, leases or loans for offshore wind projects pending a review of federal wind leasing and permitting practices. He also issued a memorandum temporarily withdrawing the Outer Continental Shelf from offshore wind leasing.
How we got to Liberation Day: A look at Trump’s past comments on tariffs
For decades, President Donald Trump has remained a staunch advocate for tariffs — routinely declaring the word one of the most beautiful in the dictionary and regularly accusing foreign countries of ripping off the U.S. Following through on 2024 campaign promises and building upon policies his first administration introduced, Trump unveiled a series of historic tariffs at the White House’s Rose Garden on Wednesday for a “Make America Wealthy Again” event as part of a day his administration dubbed “Liberation Day” for the U.S. While some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have voiced concern over the policy, tariffs are an area where Trump’s views have remained incredibly consistent over the years, as he has routinely decried that other countries have treated the U.S. unfairly in trade deals. For example, Trump wrote in his 2011 book, “Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again!” that he backed a solid 20% tariff on all foreign items imported into the U.S. and singled out China as a high offender. “I want foreign countries to finally start forking over cash in order to have access to our markets,” Trump wrote in the book, according to an excerpt. “So here’s the deal: any foreign country shipping goods into the United States pays a 20 percent tax. If they want a piece of the American market, they’re going to pay for it. No more free admission into the biggest show in town — and that especially includes China.” HERE’S A CLOSER LOOK AT TRUMP’S TARIFF PLAN: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW DUTIES Trump also boasted about the benefits of tariffs during his campaign in the election for his first run at president, when he outlined his trade priorities during a June 2016 Pennsylvania speech. “Our original Constitution did not even have an income tax,” Trump said at the event. “Instead, it had tariffs emphasizing taxation of foreign, not domestic, production. Yet today, 240 years after the Revolution, we’ve turned things completely upside down. “We tax and regulate and restrict our companies to death, and then we allow foreign countries that cheat to export their goods to us tax-free,” Trump said. “How stupid is this? How could it happen? How stupid is this. As a result, we have become more dependent on foreign countries than ever before. Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to declare our economic independence once again.” Following Trump’s victory in the 2016 election, Trump moved to impose a series of tariffs on countries and various products, including 25% duties on steel and 10% duties on aluminum from most countries, and others targeting China. In response to these tariffs, China issued its own retaliatory tariffs that cost the U.S. federal government billions of dollars in government aid to farmers who suffered financial losses due to the retaliation on their agricultural exports. Critiques of other countries’ trade practices have continued into Trump’s second administration, and he has routinely blamed them for allegedly engaging in unfair trade practices against the U.S. He also argues that tariffs will help return manufacturing jobs to the U.S. As a result, he and his administration have called for employing tariffs to address the nation’s 2024 record $1.2 trillion trade deficit. TRUMP TOUTS RETURN OF ‘AMERICAN DREAM’ IN HISTORIC TARIFF ANNOUNCEMENT “For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said Wednesday. Earlier in 2025, the Trump administration imposed up to 25% tariffs on certain goods from Mexico and Canada, as well as a 20% tariff on shipments from China. The White House said that tariffs already imposed on Canada and Mexico will remain in place; however, new tariffs on China will be added on top of existing duties on Beijing. Tariffs function as a tax that governments collect on foreign goods and services that manufacturers import, and are collected while undergoing customs clearance in foreign ports, according to the International Trade Administration. The new tariff plan sets out a baseline duty of 10% on imports to the U.S., while customized tariffs are set for countries, like China, which have higher duties in place on American goods. “If you want your tariff rate to be zero, then you build your product right here in America,” Trump said Wednesday at the White House. The tariffs are slated to impact a variety of goods, including electronics like iPhones that are predominantly manufactured in China, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. They are also expected to hit goods like wine and other alcohols originating from European Union countries like Italy. Both parties in Congress have voiced opposition to the new tariffs and have warned that the tariffs will raise prices for American consumers. For countries considering implementing their own tariffs against U.S. products in retaliation, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a simple message: “Don’t.” “My advice to every country right now: Do not retaliate,” Bessent said in a Wednesday interview with Fox News Wednesday. “If you retaliate, there will be escalation.”
Rubio, in Europe, says US has to ‘reset the global order of trade’ and Trump is ‘absolutely right to do it’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed Friday that the U.S. has “to reset the global order of trade” and that President Donald Trump is “absolutely right to do it.” Rubio, speaking at NATO headquarters in Brussels, made the remark after taking issue with a reporter’s claim that world economies are “crashing” in the wake of Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. “We have to be a country to think we’re the largest consumer market in the world, and yet the only thing we export is services, and we need to stop that,” Rubio said. “We need to get back to a time where we are a country that can make things, and to do that, we have to reset the global order of trade.” “So the president rightly has concluded that the current status of global trade is bad for America and good for a bunch of other people. And he’s going to reset it, and he’s absolutely right to do it,” Rubio added. WORLD LEADERS REACT TO TRUMP’S SWEEPING TARIFFS: ‘TUMULTUOUS TIMES’ AHEAD The secretary of state said the “worst thing” the U.S. could do is leave the global trade system “the way it is forever.” “I mean, this is, just can’t continue. We can’t continue to be a country that doesn’t make things. We have to be able to make things to provide jobs for Americans… it’s that simple,” he added. “China, as an example. I mean, it’s outrageous. I mean, they don’t consume anything. All they do is export and flood and distort markets in addition to all the tariffs and barriers they put in place.” SENATE APPROVES RESOLUTION AGAINST TRUMP’S CANADA TARIFFS HOURS AFTER ‘LIBERATION DAY’ EVENT Rubio added “If you’re a company and you make a bunch of your products in China and all of a sudden shareholders or people that play the stock market realize that it’s going to cost a lot more to produce in China, your stock is going to go down, but ultimately the markets, as long as they know what the rules are going to be moving forward, and as long as you can sustain where you’re going to be, the markets will adjust.” “Businesses around the world, including in trade and global trade, they just need to know what the rules are. Once they know what the rules are, they will adjust to those rules,” he said. “So I don’t think it’s fair to say economies are crashing. Markets are crashing because markets are based on the stock value of companies who today are embedded in modes of production that are bad for the United States.”
Yunus-Modi Talks: Sheikh Hasina extradition raised as PM issues stark warning
Addressing a special briefing on PM Modi’s visit to Thailand to attend the BIMSTEC Summit, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri confirmed that Muhammad Yunus raised the issue of Sheikh Hasina’s extradition.