Author: ALJAZEERA

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has confirmed reports that the United States paused a weapons shipment to Israel, as President Joe Biden’s administration faces growing pressure to condition aid to the top US ally amid the war in Gaza. Testifying before a US congressional subcommittee on Wednesday, Austin said the Biden administration had paused “one shipment of high payload munitions” amid concerns about the Israeli military’s push to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah. “We’ve been very clear … from the very beginning that Israel shouldn’t launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians…

Boeing 767 cargo plane landed at Istanbul Airport without its front landing gear, says a transport ministry official.A Boeing 767 cargo plane has landed at Istanbul Airport without its front landing gear, a Turkish Transport Ministry official said. The official said there were no casualties and authorities had launched an investigation, the Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday. A video on social media showed the Boeing 767 belonging to FedEx Express using the back landing gear and then dipping its nose with the front portion of the fuselage. The plane was on the last leg of its flight from Paris…

PodcastPodcast, The TakeWith Gaza’s universities in rubble, Palestinians find hope in student protests. Student protests worldwide are resonating with Palestinians, who face the destruction of all universities in Gaza. Palestinian university presidents signed an open letter saying the protests serve as a “beacon of hope”. We look at what has been lost and what remains. In this episode:  Jehad Abusalim (@JehadAbusalim), executive director, The Jerusalem Fund Heigo Parsa, student, University of Toronto Jasmine Al-Rawi, (@studentsforpalestinesydneyuni), student, University of Sydney Sesek Duran, student, National Autonomous University of Mexico Sundos Hammad, Right to Education Campaign coordinator, Birzeit University Episode credits: This episode was…

Move comes after launch of AI-enabled laptop drew fire from Republican lawmakers.The United States has revoked some licences that allow companies to ship goods, such as chips, to sanctioned Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei Technologies. Some companies were notified on Tuesday that their licences were revoked effective immediately, according to one person familiar with the matter. The move comes after the release last month of Huawei’s first AI-enabled laptop, the MateBook X Pro powered by Intel’s new Core Ultra 9 processor. The laptop launch drew fire from Republican lawmakers, who said it suggested that the US Department of Commerce had…

Israel claims it is reopening the main crossing point for humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip as its military launched new attacks across the Palestinian territory and was building its offensive on southern Rafah despite ongoing talks for a ceasefire. The Karem Abu Salem crossing, known as Kerem Shalom to Israelis, was taken over by Israeli forces and closed after a Palestinian rocket attack killed four of their soldiers. Despite signalling the opening of the vital frontier in Rafah on the border with Egypt, aid trucks were yet to start entering the enclave on Wednesday. Israeli tanks took control…

Tesla CEO last month made an unannounced visit to Beijing for talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.Elon Musk suggested testing Tesla’s full self-driving feature in China by deploying it in robotaxis, Chinese state media has reported. During Musk’s visit to China last month, officials told the Tesla CEO that Beijing “welcomes Tesla to do some robotaxi tests in the country” and hopes it can “set a good example”, the state-backed China Daily reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Chinese authorities, however, did not immediately approve Tesla’s widespread use of the Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature, the newspaper said.…

Sweltering Earth endures 11-month warming streak as global air and sea surface temperatures soar.The world experienced its hottest April on record, continuing an 11-month streak of unprecedented high temperatures, the European Union’s climate change monitoring service has said. Each month since June 2023 has ranked as the planet’s hottest on record, compared with the corresponding month in previous years, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Wednesday. The exceptionally warm conditions occurred despite a weakened El Nino – the weather phenomenon that warms the Pacific Ocean and leads to a rise in global temperatures – leading the researchers to…

Japanese car giant says net profit reached 4.94 trillion yen ($31.9bn) in the year to March.Toyota has reported record profit and sales figures on the back of the weak yen and strong demand for hybrid vehicles. The Japanese car giant said on Wednesday that it netted a record profit of 4.94 trillion yen ($31.9bn) in the year to March on revenues of 45.1 trillion yen, double the previous year’s income. Global sales topped 10.3 million units, an all-time high, buoyed by strong demand in the home market and in North America and Europe. Sales of hybrid vehicles jumped 31 percent…

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Washington, DC – The United States has played down the deadly Israeli assault on Rafah, saying the offensive appears to be “limited” despite concerns over the fate of the more than 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in the southern Gaza city. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday that the US still opposes a major Israeli offensive against Rafah. Israel had stepped up its bombardment of Rafah on Monday, killing dozens of people after ordering about 100,000 residents in its eastern areas to evacuate. Israeli troops also stormed the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip…