Trump Describes Russia’s Deadly Strike on Ukrainian City as a ‘Horrible’ ‘Mistake’ New York Times April 14, 2025 At least 35 people were killed in the attack on Sumy, which came as Ukraine’s leader urged President Trump to come witness the realities of war firsthand. It was not immediately clear what President Trump meant when he said he had been told Russia “made a mistake” with its missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy.CreditCredit...Roman Pilipey/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images VIDEO OF TRUMP INTERVIEW 0:00/0:34 Trump Says He Was Told Russia’s Deadly Strike Was a ‘Mistake’ It was not immediately clear what President Trump meant when he said he had been told Russia “made a mistake” with its missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy. Video t ranscript: “Do you have a reaction to Russia’s Palm Sunday attack?” “Oh, I think it was terrible and I was told they made a mistake. But I think it’s a horrible thing. I think the whole war is a horrible thing. I think the war is — For that war to have started is an abuse of power. This country would have never allowed that war to have started if I were president.” “You were told they made a mistake? Do you mean it was unintentional?” “They made a mistake. I believe it was — Look, you’re going to ask them. This is Biden’s war. This is not my war. I’ve been here for a very short period of time.” By  Constant Méheut Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine   President Trump has said Russia’s deadly missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy was “a mistake,” calling it a “horrible thing” even as members of his administration went further with condemnation that served as a rare critique of Moscow while the White House is pushing for a cease-fire. Two ballistic missiles killed at least 35 people and injured more than 100 in Sumy on Sunday morning. The attack was the  second in just over a week to inflict heavy civilian casualties  in Ukraine, which Kyiv has said shows that Moscow is not truly interested in a truce. “I think it was terrible. And I was told they made a mistake. But I think it’s a horrible thing,” Mr. Trump said about the Sumy attack when he was aboard Air Force One on Sunday. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, told the Kommersant newspaper on Monday that Moscow had targeted “a get-together of Ukrainian military chiefs with their Western counterparts” in Sumy. He declined to comment on the civilian deaths. Ukraine’s military did not say whether any service members were killed in the attack, and several videos of the aftermath showed only casualties in civilian clothes. But Ukrainian  news media , citing local military officials, reported that Col. Yuriy Yula, a commander in the 27th Brigade, had died in Sumy. It was not immediately clear what Mr. Trump meant when he said he had been “told” Russia “made a mistake” — a formulation that could also be interpreted as an attempt to make excuses for Moscow. Mr. Trump has generally avoided criticizing President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia since taking office in January.   The attack, which occurred while many in Sumy were celebrating Palm Sunday, killed at least 35 people and wounded more than 100.Credit ...Volodymyr Hordiienko/Associated Press Some top officials in the Trump administration were more explicit. Keith Kellogg, a retired U.S. general and Mr. Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine,  said  that Russian forces had crossed “any line of decency” by targeting civilians in Sumy. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also  condemned  what he described as a “horrifying Russian missile attack on Sumy.” “This is a tragic reminder of why President Trump and his Administration are putting so much time and effort into trying to end this war and achieve durable peace,” Mr. Rubio wrote on social media. The condemnations came as the U.S. efforts to broker a cease-fire have failed to yield results. In recent days, White House officials have said that Russia was  running out of time to convince the Trump administration that it is serious about striking a peace deal  — and not just playing for time. Ukrainian officials have said that Russia is slow-walking the negotiations because it has no interest in halting the fighting while its army retains the advantage on the battlefield. In an interview broadcast on Sunday but recorded before the attack on Sumy, President Volodymyr Zelensky invited Mr. Trump to Ukraine to witness the realities of the war firsthand. “Come, look, and then let’s move with a plan on how to finish the war. You will understand with whom you have a deal. You will understand what Putin did,” Mr. Zelensky  told “60 Minutes” on CBS . Mr. Zelensky was speaking with the broadcaster from Kryvyi Rih, his home city, where a  Russian missile strike killed 19 people, including nine children, earlier this month .   “We respect your position,” he added, apparently a reference to Mr. Trump’s efforts to restore ties with Russia. “But, please, before making any decisions or plans for negotiations, come to see the people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead.”   Mourners at a memorial in Sumy on Monday.Credit ...Roman Pilipey/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Ukrainian officials said that Russian missiles hit Sumy, just 18 miles from the Russian border, as many people were out on the streets celebrating Palm Sunday, a Christian holiday widely observed in Ukraine. Videos of the aftermath showed scenes of devastation, with bloodied bodies lying motionless in the street and charred cars. “There was a girl, maybe 14 years old — dead. A young woman — I won’t even describe the injuries, they were horrific. Another middle-aged woman had her jaw torn off,” said Volodymyr Boiko, a 69-year-old resident of Sumy who was in a bus hit by the blast wave. He suffered cuts to his face from flying shards. The strike came just two days after Mr. Trump’s special envoy,  Steve Witkoff, met with Mr. Putin  in St. Petersburg to discuss a potential cease-fire. The timing led some in Ukraine to suggest that Mr. Trump’s attempts to re-engage with Russia were only emboldening the Kremlin to continue its aggression. Memes proliferated on Ukrainian social media showing Mr. Witkoff shaking Mr. Putin’s hand with the carnage in Sumy as a backdrop. In his  nightly address on Sunday , Mr. Zelensky noted that it had been two months since Russia refused to agree to the unconditional cease-fire that Ukraine had accepted with U.S. urging. “They are not afraid. That’s why they keep launching ballistic missiles,” he said. Speaking to reporters on Monday during a visit to Kyiv, Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, said that the Sumy attack demonstrated “the treachery of Russia having started this war and continuing to maintain it” even as discussions about a cease-fire are ongoing. “It raises real questions about their good faith,” he said.   Nataliya Vasilyeva contributed reporting. Constant Méheut  reports on the war in Ukraine, including battlefield developments, attacks on civilian centers and how the war is affecting its people. Copyright 2025 The New York Times Company

James Waterhouse BBC Ukraine Correspondent Reporting from Sumy Barbara Tasch BBC News Reporting from London Two Iskander-variant ballistic missiles struck near the Sumy State University. Credit: Interior Ministry of Ukraine At least 34 people have been killed and 117 injured, including 15 children, after a Russian attack on the centre of Sumy, according to Ukrainian authorities. Two Iskander-variant ballistic missiles struck at around 10:15 local time (08:15 BST), both hitting the area around Sumy State University and its congress centre. Images and videos of the aftermath show bloodied bodies scattered in the streets around the impact of the missiles. At least two children were killed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said among the injured was a girl born this year, adding that medics were doing "everything they can" to save as many lives as possible. "The strike hit right in the heart of the city on Palm Sunday," he said in his evening video message. "Only completely deranged scum can do something like this." Moscow has not yet publicly commented on the attack. Ukrainian authorities told the BBC that 20 buildings were damaged, including four educational institutions, as well as cafes, shops and five apartment buildings. Ten cars and trams were also hit. Zelensky called for a "tough" response from other nations, adding that "talks have never stopped ballistic missiles and air bombs". "Russia wants exactly this kind of terror and is dragging out this war. Without pressure on the aggressor, peace is impossible," he said. The university's congress centre is often used for children's classes, according to BBC Ukrainian, with local residents saying that the space is an "educational hub for the entire city" and "very actively rented out for various courses, clubs, and master classes". Officials in Sumy have told the BBC that the missiles were packed with cluster munitions, which can kill indiscriminately over a wide area. They have caused burning vehicles and bent trees where the deaths seem to have been concentrated. Nataliia, who gave only her first name, had been taking her child and other children to a shelter when the second strike hit her car. "If we hadn't moved to the shelter on time we would have been in the car and we would be dead," she told the BBC. Nataliia said her and the children she was with "would be dead" had they not moved for shelter. Source: BBC Svitlana Smirnova, 51, told the BBC she had run for shelter when the strike took place, after attending church with her friends on Palm Sunday. "A friend of mine was injured in a bus which was hit here. She is seriously injured, she is in the hospital, was operated on, she is still unconscious. She was riding with her son who was also injured," she said. Sunday's strikes have been widely condemned by world leaders. Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy to Ukraine, said the attack "crosses any line of decency" and was why US President Donald Trump "is working hard to end this war". UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has also condemned the attack as "horrific". "President Zelensky has shown his commitment to peace, President Putin must now agree to a full and immediate ceasefire without conditions - as Ukraine has done," he said. French President Emmanuel Macron said the Sumy strikes highlighted the urgent need to impose a ceasefire on Russia. "Everyone knows: this war was initiated by Russia alone. And today, it is clear that Russia alone chooses to continue it - with blatant disregard for human lives, international law, and the diplomatic efforts of President Trump," the   French President posted on X. Both Starmer and Macron have been working together on plans for a so-called "coalition of the willing" to enforce any peace deal in Ukraine. The attack comes after US envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg on Friday. The Kremlin said the meeting lasted more than four hours and focused on "aspects of a Ukrainian settlement". The meeting, Witkoff's third with Putin this year, was described by Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev as "productive". Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.

The Associated Press news agency has verified footage from Ukrainian and Russian sources depicting the four soldiers. A member of the 65th Mechanized Brigade fires a RPG-7 rocket launcher which is mounted on an unmanned ground vehicle during training, in Zaporizhia region, Ukraine, on April 9, 2025 [File: Reuters] Ukraine has opened a war crime investigation into the alleged killing of four soldiers captured by Russian forces, according to the Ukrainian parliament’s human rights commissioner. Dmytro Lubinets wrote on X on Thursday that the four prisoners of war had no weapons as they walked out of a destroyed building with “their hands raised”. “They were shot dead on the spot. This is a clear violation of the Geneva Convention and a grave war crime,” he added. The alleged killing of the soldiers is believed to have occurred on March 13 in the southern Ukrainian village of Piatykhatky, according to The Associated Press news agency, which verified drone footage of the troops. The Ukrainian drone video taken by the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade, which was obtained from European military officials on condition of anonymity, shows soldiers with Russian uniform markings raising their weapons and shooting each of the four Ukrainians in the back. In the Russian drone video, which the AP located on pro-Kremlin social media, the footage cuts off abruptly with the alleged soldiers lying on the ground alive. The footage came just before Russian troops had planted their flag in Piatykhatky in the Zaporizhia region as Russia sought to take more land ahead of peace talks. It also took place as European officials told the AP that representatives from the United States landed in Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin. Calls for international probe Lubinets wrote on Telegram that he would report the case of the alleged killings of his troops to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations, for investigation. “These organisations must record the crime. I emphasise that such shootings are not an isolated case, but a systemic policy of the Russian Federation, which is encouraged at the highest level!” he wrote. “Therefore, it is necessary not only to document such cases, but to thoroughly investigate them and bring the criminals to justice,” Lubinets added. He also called for Ukrainians who have witnessed any human rights violations by Russian forces to report them to the police. Source: News Agencies © 2025 Al Jazeera Media Network

Vladimir Putin. Source: Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik By  Jorge Liboreiro Published on 10/04/2025 - 16:47 GMT+2 The special tribunal on the crime of aggression against Ukraine is expected to be hosted in the Hague, the Netherlands. The special tribunal that Western nations intend to establish to prosecute the crime of aggression against Ukraine will not try Vladimir Putin in absentia as long as he remains president of the Russian Federation. The same provision will apply to the Russian prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, and the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, according to two European officials with knowledge of the process who spoke with Euronews. The prosecution of these high-level officials will be allowed only if the defendants are physically present in the room - unlikely given Russia does not recognise the invasion of Ukraine as criminal and is firmly opposed to cooperating with the West. Alternatively, a trial in absentia could be conducted after Putin leaves office. The conditions are laid out in the draft agreement that would provide the legal basis to set up the special tribunal within the framework of the Council of Europe, a human rights organisation based in Strasbourg. The organisation is not part of the European Union but the bloc is closely involved in the process. Technical work wrapped up in late March during a meeting of the so-called "Core Group" in Strasbourg, which produced three separate draft documents: a bilateral agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe, the statute of the special tribunal and the agreement detailing the management of the special tribunal. The signature is pencilled to take place in Kyiv on 9 May, coinciding with Europe Day, although the exact timeline will depend on the political endorsement. The limitations on the trial in absentia are seen as a "compromise" between countries, an EU official indicated. Following months of deliberations, the provision is now a "done deal", with virtually no chance of being amended before the presentation. "At the end of the day, it's about politics and bargaining," the official said. Once Kyiv signs the agreement, the text will be put to a vote in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which gathers representatives of the 46 nations that are party to the organisation. Russia was expelled shortly after it launched the war. A two-thirds majority will be needed to ratify the deal, and is all but guaranteed thanks to the broad support for the initiative among member states. Some countries that have espoused Russian-friendly positions, such as Hungary and Serbia, might abstain or vote against it, although no individual vetoes will apply. Democratic nations outside the continent, like Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, are expected to join the initiative, broadening its legitimacy. Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov are currently under EU sanctions. Source: Pavel Bednyakov/Sputnik The United States, which has begun a rapprochement with Russia, is unlikely to participate. Under Joe Biden's administration, the country had endorsed the search for justice in Ukraine but, after Donald Trump's inauguration, the orientation changed. The US did not participate in the meeting of the Core Group in late March. It's unclear how Trump's push for a peace deal could affect the judicial proceedings. "Over 38 states have expressed political support for the establishment of the tribunal, as well as the European Union," a spokesperson for the Council of Europe told Euronews. Once the agreements are ratified, the tribunal is expected to be based in the Hague, the officials said, a city with a long tradition in international law that already hosts the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC has separately issued an arrest warrant against Putin and one of his deputies for the unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia. Search for justice The idea of setting up an ad-hoc tribunal for the crime of aggression has been championed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to ensure accountability for the full-scale invasion launched by Putin more than three years ago. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, which are applied to the individuals who commit the atrocities, such as military officers and mercenaries, the crime of aggression  is a leadership crime that targets the person ultimately in charge of controlling the aggressor state. The aggression can consist of an invasion, an occupation, an annexation, a blockade of ports or any other assault involving the use of weapons by one state against another. According to the ICC, the crime of aggression relates to "the planning, preparation, initiation or execution, by a person in a position effectively to exercise control over or to direct the political or military action of a State, of an act of aggression which, by its character, gravity and scale, constitutes a manifest violation" of the UN Charter. This makes Putin the likeliest defendant in a future trial. Although the ICC established jurisdiction over crimes of aggression under the so-called Kampala Amendments , this only applies to countries and nationals from countries that are party to the Rome Statute. Russia, like the US and China, is not a signatory. This is why Western allies have explored the option of creating an ad-hoc tribunal that would be empowered to prosecute the specific case of Russia's war on Ukraine. "Without the crime of aggression, there wouldn't be any war crimes either," High Representative Kaja Kallas said in early February . "Therefore, it's extremely important that there is also accountability for the crime of aggression. No one from Russia and no one from Russia's leadership is untouchable." "It is also very important to send a signal that unpunished crimes only encourage further aggression," she added, stressing the tribunal should be set up "before the war is over". Russia has been accused of war crimes against Ukraine. Source: Evgeniy Maloletka/Copyright 2025 The AP. All rights reserved Since the start of the discussions, the possibility of a trial in absentia has loomed heavily. Due to the Kremlin's refusal to hand over its high-ranking officials, proponents of this model believe this would be the only feasible way to provide a minimum of justice. Critics, however, contend a trial in absentia would be seen as an illegitimate sham. "I think there's more than symbolic importance of this tribunal. I think it's legal, I think it's political. I think it's important for it to be established and close the loophole of the crime of aggression," the EU official said. "I'm personally convinced it's not going to be a fake institution in the Hague with no impact but that it's actually going to serve for years to come, and history will judge this tribunal very positively." The immunity that heads of state, heads of government and foreign ministers enjoy is considered an additional, and formidable, obstacle to the in-person prosecution. "However, international law is evolving, and personal immunity is not a carte blanche for impunity," the spokesperson of the Council of Europe said. "The Council of Europe believes that the formula found for the Special Tribunal on this issue will suffice to ensure accountability and fight impunity." The last time the crime of aggression was brought to justice was during the Nuremberg trials held after World War II when the charge was known as "crimes against peace". Copyright © euronews 2025

The rulings of the International Court of Justice, which hears disputes between states, are final and binding but the court has no means to ensure compliance © Nick Gammon / AFP Khartoum has dragged the UAE before the ICJ, accusing it of complicity in genocide against the Masalit community through their backing of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that have been battling the Sudanese army since 2023. The UAE denies supporting the rebels and has dismissed Sudan's case as "political theatre" distracting from efforts to end the war that has killed tens of thousands. Opening the case, Muawia Osman, Sudan's acting justice minister, told the court that the "ongoing genocide would not be possible without the complicity of the UAE, including the shipment of arms to the RSF". "The direct logistical and other support that the UAE has provided and continues to provide to the RSF has been and continues to be the primary driving force behind the genocide now taking place, including killing, rape, forced displacement and looting," said Osman. Sudan wants ICJ judges to force the UAE to stop its alleged support for the RSF and make "full reparations", including compensation to victims of the war. But Reem Ketait, a top UAE official, described Sudan's case as a "blatant misuse of a respected international institution" and "entirely without legal or factual merit". "What Sudan needs now is not political theatre, but an urgent immediate ceasefire and a serious commitment from both warring parties to negotiate a peaceful resolution," said Ketait in a statement. The case comes a day after the United States and Saudi Arabia called on the Sudanese army and paramilitary forces to resume peace talks in the country's conflict. 'Important questions' Legal experts say Sudan's case may founder on jurisdictional issues. When the UAE signed up to the Genocide Convention, it entered a "reservation" to a key clause enabling countries to drag each other before the ICJ over disputes. Sudan's claims raise "important questions", Michael Becker, international law expert from Trinity College Dublin, wrote in a recent piece for Opinio Juris specialist website. "Because the UAE made a reservation to Article IX when it acceded to the Genocide Convention in 2005, the ICJ can be expected to conclude that it lacks jurisdiction over the dispute," wrote Becker. Sudan argued in its application that the UAE's reservation is "incompatible" with the purpose of the Genocide Convention, which emphasises global collective responsibility to prevent the world's worst crimes. The rulings of the ICJ, which hears disputes between states, are final and binding but the court has no means to ensure compliance. Judges ordered Russia to halt its invasion of Ukraine to no avail, for example. © 2025 AFP

Israel says soldiers fired on ‘terrorists’ in ‘suspicious vehicles’ but footage shows clearly marked ambulances Bethan McKernan Footage shows moment Israeli soldiers killed Palestinian paramedics Mobile phone footage of the last moments of some of the 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers killed by Israeli forces in an incident in Gaza last month appears to contradict the version of events put forward by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Watch full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyG701IYSp8 The almost seven-minute video, which the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Saturday was recovered from the phone of Rifat Radwan, one of the men killed, appears to have been filmed from inside a moving vehicle. It shows a red fire engine and clearly marked ambulances driving at night, using headlights and flashing emergency lights. The vehicle stops beside another that has driven off the road. Two men get out to examine the stopped vehicle, and then gunfire erupts before the screen goes black. The Israeli military has said its soldiers “did not randomly attack” any ambulances, insisting they fired on “terrorists” approaching them in “suspicious vehicles”. Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, a military spokesperson, said troops opened fire on vehicles that had no prior clearance to enter the area, and were driving with their lights off. The IDF said on Saturday that the incident was still under investigation and that “all claims, including the documentation circulated about the incident, will be thoroughly and deeply examined to understand the sequence of events and the handling of the situation”. Late on Saturday, Reuters cited an anonymous Israeli military official as telling journalists that the initial account of the vehicles not having emergency lights on was mistaken. Fifteen Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, including at least one UN employee, were killed in the incident in Rafah on 23 March, in which the UN says Israeli forces shot the men “one by one” and then buried them in a mass grave. According to the UN humanitarian affairs office (Ocha), the PRCS and civil defence workers were on a mission to rescue colleagues who had been shot at earlier in the day, when their clearly marked vehicles came under heavy Israeli fire in Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan district. A Red Crescent official in Gaza said there was evidence of at least one person being detained and killed, as the body of one of the dead had been found with his hands tied. The shootings happened one day into the renewed Israeli offensive in the area close to the Egyptian border after the breakdown of a two-month ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Another Red Crescent worker on the mission is still reported missing. © 2025 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (dcr)

"I firmly believe that the general public of India is neither intolerant nor violent innately. I take a sigh of relief to see people striving for unity and stability in such a highly polarised current world." An illustration of Gulfisha Fatima by Pariplab Chakraborty. Gulfisha Fatima was arrested on April 9, 2020, when she was 26 years old. She has been in jail for the last five years. Below is a letter she wrote to her friends from prison recently, talking about the last five years. Hello, At night I watch news and debates on TV. It does not only appear, but it is also evident to anybody having sanity that the shouting modified mainstream media is hell bent upon making general public feel that you were exploited, humiliated, tortured by a particular community not by an autocratic political regime. The partisan media portray that whatever unpleasant even today happens to you the only reason is a particular community. Not all minorities are vilified as overtly as “a particular community”. Despite all, I firmly believe that the general public of India is neither intolerant nor violent innately. I take a sigh of relief to see people striving for unity and stability in such a highly polarised current world. One more thing I have come to feel that religion and politics go parallel invariably. The last page of Gulfisha Fatima’s letter. Last time in the courtroom, noticing my father stuttering, I asked him since when you have started getting such difficulty? He whispered, “ Hamesha darr ka ehsaas hota rehta hai jaise abhi kuch bura honewala hai isliye atak jata hu bolte bolte [I am constantly afraid that something bad is going to happen, and so I get stuck while speaking].” His words which are inevitable have stuck in my mind and keep popping up intermittently. When my parents are invited to attend any seminar or programme organised in solidarity with our struggle, seeing that people still dare speak for unity, peace, justice and speak against suppression, demonisation, injustice. They feel less stressed for some time. The most applaudable aspect of their support is that they have not seen us, not even know us personally. Nevertheless, are standing by us for a common cause. Honestly speaking I get overwhelmed to receive such selfless affection from people having different or similar ideology, faith and belief system. There are such people that don’t let differences turn into dispute at large in the interest of humanity and united India. They deserve tremendous respect and love specially from “a particular community”. The coming Eid-ul-fitr will be my 6th Eid to be celebrated over here. For that day I have bought some jewellery designed [at the] stitching center and Kaajal. I don’t spare any chance of celebrating, be it Raksha bandhan, women’s day, Holi, easter etc. When I tie Rakhi, I ask my fellow inmates to protect me from ……….. in lieu of Rakhi. Hehehe… in fact I grab every opportunity to fill myself with auspicious vibes of festivity. Since I believe in full acceptance of reality so why too much worry.  I would do this and that if I were outside. The reality is that I am here in jail. Now it is solely my responsibility to take a call on as to how I should lead my mind and soul. Sometimes, I sound philosophical to myself but inadvertently the fact is that captivity has made me more spiritual. I wish [those] who consider themselves religious should also open their door for their soul to walk on the path of spirituality. Being spiritually aware doesn’t mean that one stops experiencing pain, disappointment, disorientation. It all happens indeed. I long for freedom crazily and feel excruciating darkness of interminable uncertainty for release. But it has helped me realise the sheer fragility of life. Last month I was reading Vivekananda sahitya in Hindi. I found many of his thoughts great. We need to understand his viewpoints in a broader context which can potentially convince common people about beauty of differences and diversity. Lastly, I must thank to my family, friends, lawyers and everybody who did not leave me behind, but rather remained stood by my side like a pillar to offer me solace, solidarity and support throughout the five years of nonsense imprisonment. Without their presence and love, this journey would have been extremely devastating. Thankfully on 16th April 2025 I will have completed five years of jail life. I shall celebrate this day also to mark my survival in the most bizarre circumstances of struggle. Though incarceration has done no harm to my body, yet it has successfully managed to inflict on my mental health. The retention power of memory has deteriorated so badly that I forget even to call my mom very often.  I am going somewhere to do something suddenly on the way I forget where I was heading to and for what. Then what to do, I just laugh at this condition. It really makes me laugh a lot. Hahaha… Khair! Faiz’s poetry seems to work for me in an unexpected way. Whenever I feel very low I resort to reading his poetry for two three days then it all vanishes in air. Thank you, Faiz <3 for your legacy. I leave you with two couplets composed by him. चलो आओ तुमको दिखायें हम, जो बचा है मक़तले शहर मेंये मज़ार अहले-सफ़ा के हैं, ये अहले-सिदक़ की तुर्बतें मेरी जान आज का गम न कर केः न जाने कातिबे वक्त नेकिसी अपने कल में भी भूलकर कहीं लिख रही हो मसरतें Come let us show you what is left of the slaughtered city. These are the graves of the people of purity, these are the tombs of the people of truth. My love, do not be sad for today: I do not know that the writer of time has forgotten and is writing about the joys of tomorrow. © The Wire

Strikes on al-Ahli hospital destroy the surgical building and oxygen production station Al-Ahli Hospital following an attack by the Israeli army (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar) Israel has struck the last functioning hospital in Gaza, further worsening an already critical lack of medical facilities in the enclave. Although the attack caused no direct casualties, Gaza's civil defence rescue agency said the strike on al-Ahli al-Arabi Baptist Hospital led to "the destruction of the surgery building and the oxygen generation station for the intensive care units". They told AFP the attack came "minutes after the [Israeli] army's warning to evacuate this building of patients, the injured and their companions". Missiles hit the hospital's main reception building, damaging or destroying essential departments such as the emergency care ward, laboratory and pharmacy, Wafa news agency reported. Eyewitnesses say the military threatened to bomb the hospital just minutes before the strikes, giving those in its compounds only 18 minutes to evacuate. Due to the rushed expulsion, critically ill patients were evacuated out in the cold without proper care.  At least three patients - including a child being treated for head injuries - died as a result. One woman was sleeping in the hospital overnight while she waited for her husbanded to be treated. Even before the attack happened, the hospital was filled with patients injured by Israel's more than a year long assault on Gaza. "I just wanted to rest, i just wanted to sleep - the whole day was filled with the screams of children with severed [body parts], their arms, their legs... these sights can drive a person to insanity," she told Middle East Eye. "We can't sit and sleep, we couldn't take it anymore." She said they tried to get some rest amid the chaos when, suddenly, calls began issuing from the Israeli military calling on those within the hospital to leave. She said they did not even specify where to flee. "My message to the world that is in a deep slumber, where are you going to find God? Where is Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey, where are you all," she said.  "Are you all just watching this fountain of blood, children who are being butchered everyday... fear God, what are you all going to say to God?" Hospitals targeted The Israeli army and Shin Bet internal intelligence agency later claimed, without providing evidence, that they had targeted a Hamas “command and control complex” within al-Ahli hospital. Israel has repeatedly struck hospitals across the Gaza Strip since the beginning of its assault on the enclave in October 2023. The Palestinian health ministry warned earlier this week that hospitals and medical centres in Gaza were facing “dangerous and unprecedented” shortages of essential medicines as a result of Israel's blockade. The ministry said that 37 percent of essential drugs and 59 percent of medical supplies were completely out of stock, along with 54 percent of medications used to treat cancer and blood diseases. People inspect the destruction following an Israeli strike on al-Ahli al-Arabi Baptist Hospital in Gaza City on 13 April 2025 (Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP) Emergency, surgical and intensive care units had been operating with severely depleted life-saving treatments, while around 80,000 diabetic patients and 110,000 with high blood pressure were no longer receiving care. The ministry said Israel's siege that cut off Gaza from food, fuel and medicine, among other vital supplies, is worsening the crisis and creating “catastrophic” challenges for treating patients and the wounded. A previous attack on al-Ahli hospital in October 2023 killed hundreds of people and led to international condemnations. Israel initially denied responsibility for the attack. However, open-source analysts have pointed the finger at Israel, which has subsequently attacked dozens of other hospitals in Gaza. A doctor from the Red Crescent told MEE that they were trying to redistribute the patients from al-Ahli, but they were already heavily stretched. "All the hospitals are overcrowded and are unprepared for providing full medical services, this will surely reflect on the health of the wounded, the patients and it could result in the loss of their lives, the loss of their body parts or could cause long-term disability," he said. He called on all rights groups, international organisations and health organisations to be "in solidarity and support" with the medical organisations in Gaza, so that they would not fail more patients. "The health of a civilian, in the first place, should be ensured by providing safety, and providing staff that ensure [medical] personnel, such as staff in hospitals or emergency and civil defense personnel, to ensure safe services for all the civilians." Copyright © 2014 - 2025 Middle East Eye. All rights reserved.

Trump's aid freeze means Yemen has lost its biggest donor, as the US ramps up military strikes on the country People displaced by conflict gather to receive humanitarian aid packages provided by Kuwaiti charities in the Hays area of Yemen's embattled western province in Hodeida, on 9 March 2025 (Khaled Ziad/AFP) Amnesty International warned on Thursday that US President Donald Trump’s aid cuts would put millions of Yemenis at risk of life-saving assistance, with malnutrition and hunger set to soar. “The abrupt and irresponsible cuts in US aid will have catastrophic consequences on Yemen’s most vulnerable and marginalized groups,” Diala Haidar, Amnesty International’s Yemen Researcher, said. “Unless the US immediately reinstates sufficient funding for lifesaving aid to Yemen and ensures the money is disbursed expeditiously, an already devastating humanitarian situation will further deteriorate, and millions of people in Yemen are going to be left without desperately needed support,” she added. An assessment of Yemen by the United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, released in January, said some 19.5 million people in the country rely on humanitarian assistance and protection services. That's half of the population, and a decade of civil strife and bombing campaigns are worsening the situation.  The Trump administration imposed a 90-day ban on all US foreign aid in January. The State Department said on Wednesday that it had reversed food aid cuts in Somalia, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Ecuador, but that the ban would remain in place for now on Afghanistan and Yemen.  That US cut-off marked a serious blow for war-ravaged Yemen, where the US is the largest donor. In 2024 alone, the US provided $768m worth of support, comprising half of Yemen’s coordinated humanitarian response plan, according to Amnesty International. The freeze has already forced the shutdown of dozens of safe spaces designed to prevent or respond to gender-based violence for Yemeni women and girls, Amnesty warned. Just two days after taking office in January, Trump re-designated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation. The White House confirmed that the decision would direct USAID to sever ties with entities that have funded or supported the Houthis or obstructed international efforts to address the group's actions. The Biden administration delisted the Houthis in 2021. When Biden entered office, he suspended US offensive military support for Saudi Arabia's war against the Houthis. The war in Yemen subsided when Saudi Arabia’s Yemeni allies agreed to a UN-brokered truce with the Houthis in April 2022. After the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel and the subsequent war on Gaza, the Houthis began attacking first Israeli vessels and then American and European ones in the Red Sea, in what they said was in solidarity with besieged Palestinians. Over 50,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The Houthi attacks all but stopped during the brief Gaza ceasefires. In March, Israel resumed attacking Gaza, and the US started a devastating bombing campaign on Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen. The Houthis control most of the country’s northeast, which includes 80 percent of Yemen’s population. Amnesty International warned that the US bombing campaign and aid cuts would be a double blow for Yemenis who have endured a decade of conflict. “Hungry, displaced, and exhausted by violence, people in Yemen already lived in one of the most dire humanitarian crises in the world,” Haidar said. “The military escalation in Yemen, along with the US aid cuts, will compound the humanitarian disaster already facing a population still reeling from the long-standing conflict,” she added. Even if US aid is restored, Yemen faces a dire situation. According to Amnesty, the country’s humanitarian response plan led by the UN has been “consistently and severely underfunded for years. As of April 2025, the plan was only 6.9 percent funded". Copyright © 2014 - 2025.%C2%A0Middle East Eye. All rights reserved.

The Myanmar army has carried out over 120 attacks after the deadly March 28 earthquake, with more than half of them after the warring sides declared a temporary ceasefire in the civil war on April 2, the UN rights office says. A broken Buddha statue is pictured inside a damaged pagoda following a strong earthquake in Amarapura township, Myanmar, April 4, 2025 [Reuters] The United Nations rights office has denounced Myanmar’s governing military for breaching the temporary truce in the civil war that was declared by warring sides last month following a deadly earthquake . Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Friday that the military attacks on armed resistance groups come when “the sole focus should be on ensuring humanitarian aid gets to disaster zones.” The ceasefire declared after the March 28 earthquake that killed more than 3,600 people in Myanmar was supposed to last until April 22. A multi-sided conflict has engulfed Myanmar since 2021, when Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s military declared a coup and wrested power from the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng had previously reported that many earthquake survivors suffer as the military government has blocked aid to rebel-held areas. Since the earthquake struck, Shamdasani said “military forces have reportedly carried out over 120 attacks. “More than half of them (were) after their declared ceasefire was due to have gone into effect on 2 April,” she added. UN rights chief Volker Turk, she said, “calls on the military to remove any and all obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian assistance and to cease military operations”. The UN rights office had determined that most of these involved aerial and artillery strikes, according to Shamdasani, “including in areas impacted by the earthquake”. “Numerous strikes have been reported in populated areas, many of them appearing to amount to indiscriminate attacks and to breach the principle of proportionality in international humanitarian law.” Shamdasani pointed out that areas at the epicentre of the quake in Sagaing, particularly those controlled by opponents of the military, “have had to rely on local community responses for search and rescue, and to meet basic needs”. Amid the devastation, Shamdasani has urged the military to announce a full amnesty for detainees it has imprisoned since February 2021, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi  and President U Win Myint. Amid the criticism of the military government, China announced an emergency humanitarian assistance of 1 billion yuan ($137m) to provide urgently needed food, medicines and prefabricated homes. China, which backs the military government, has also sent more than 30 rescue teams to Myanmar after the earthquake and provided about 1.5 million yuan ($205,000) in cash through the Chinese Red Cross. Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies © 2025 Al Jazeera Media Network

Extremists group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) had issued an ultimatum to the local administration, demanding the demolition of the Admadi worship places in Sangla Hill, district Nankana Sahib Published - April 11, 2025 10:01 pm IST - Lahore Police in Pakistan demolished and raided two Ahmadi worship places and demolished their minarets. File | Photo Credit: AFP Police in Pakistan demolished and raided two Ahmadi worship places and demolished their minarets in the country's Punjab province, an organisation representing the minority community said on Friday (April 11, 2025). Both worship places are located in the Nankana Sahib district, some 80 km from Lahore.  According to the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya Pakistan (JAP), Punjab police personnel raided both worship places on Thursday night and demolished the minarets and mehrabs under pressure from a radical Islamist party. "Extremists group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) had issued an ultimatum to the local administration, demanding the demolition of the Admadi worship places in Sangla Hill, district Nankana Sahib," it said in a statement. In response, a meeting was held between local Ahmadi representatives and Assistant Commissioner Sangla Hill Zaheer Ahmed along with police officer Ijaz Ahmed Dogar, during which the officials urged the Ahmadi community to voluntarily remove the architectural features — minarets and mehrabs — themselves. The Ahmadi community leaders refused, stating that they would neither demolish the structures themselves nor allow anyone else to do so. They said if the administration intended to proceed, they should provide a written legal order from a court of law, it said. However, the police raided both worship places and demolished them at Hamraj Pura and Kot Rehmat Khan.  "No written order from the court of law was shown while demolishing the structures," it said.  JAP spokesperson Aamir Mehmood strongly condemned the demolition of the Ahmadi worship places, saying it is deeply regrettable that to appease an extremist group, the police have illegally demolished the minarets and mehrabs of two Ahmadi places of worship.  "Under the guise of religious sentiments, extremist elements are intensifying their persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan, while the authorities have utterly failed to provide them protection," he said. Although Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims, Pakistan’s Parliament in 1974 declared the community as non-Muslims. A decade later, they were not just banned from calling themselves Muslims but were also barred from practising aspects of Islam. Under the law, the Ahmadis cannot construct or display any symbol that identifies them as Muslims such as building minarets or domes on mosques or publicly writing verses from the Quran. However, the Lahore High Court ruled that places of worship built prior to a particular ordinance issued in 1984 are legal and hence should not be altered or razed down. Published - April 11, 2025 10:01 pm IST Copyright© 2025, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

There can be no peace between the slaver and the enslaved, and the dreams of one are inevitably at the cost of the other. 'A house divided against itself cannot stand. Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty We have a long history of lecturing each other, Indians and Americans, and an equally long history of taking umbrage. This is not that. Some of you are family, blood of my blood, and some of you are friends from university, from work, from just sharing the same values and fighting similar fights over the decades. I have only sympathy to give, and empathy too, since we too rushed headlong into the abyss that you now find yourself in. We, too, thought it would never happen to us, that our democracy was too deeply ingrained, born out of the blood and fire of colonialism, deepened by a hundred thousand smaller protests as it widened to include those that had been kept out of the promises of equal rights. Yes, there are profound differences between us, and while you gloried in calling yourself the oldest democracy, we gloried in calling ourselves the largest. Both of us knew the appellations were more aspiration than reality, a pledge redeemed “not wholly or in full measure,” as Nehru put it. Too many of our own had neither security or freedom, and our history was – if anything – the history of our own people rebelling to snatch the rights that we so mockingly promised them on paper, but withheld in practice. Still, even that story is a positive one, in which we are slowly marching towards freedom for all. What we forgot, glossed over, is that as some were freed from exploitation others were no longer free to exploit. For those who had made their wealth on exploitation, whose very identity was forged on the idea that they were free to exploit others, freedom for all was not a dream, it was a nightmare. And, in turn, they reached for the symbols of our nightmares: a thuggish male bullying, caste hierarchy, slavery, and Nazism – which itself drew inspiration from colonialism and Jim Crow segregation. They did not hide these things, even if we shied away from acknowledging them for what they were. We dismissed them as deadenders, holdovers from a past that was fast slipping away even in memory. We thought them deluded, in bad taste, called them a ‘radical fringe’ when they were the heart and soul of a worldview that demanded that some people be dominated by other people, or face extermination. We offered equality to people who wanted subjugation, forgetting that liberty and justice are not open to debate in a democracy, but are the very framework that makes democracy possible. To be sure, not all were so sanguine. Those that had suffered under the jackboot in our flawed democracies. Those who had seen that the man with the gun was the law, and rights were written on pieces of paper that could not deflect a racist’s bullet, they knew, they heard, and they did not fool themselves into believing that there was any middle ground, because there was not. The idea that there could be compromise across this divide was false. There is no détente between freedom and its enemies because freedom in one place, freedom for one set of people, inspires freedom among others. And when they screamed, “We will not be replaced!” and we dismissed it as a paranoid fantasy, it was we who were wrong, not them. Because, really, did we aspire to live among bigots, did we aspire to live among the exploiters, did we desire to find some common ground with the corrupt and the vicious? Did we wish to be at peace with the Nazis? No, we did not, and for those whose fortunes and identity rested on just this – on bigotry and exploitation, on the contempt of this person or that – our efforts to provide justice for all were intolerable. There can be no peace between the slaver and the enslaved, and the dreams of one are inevitably at the cost of the other, or as one of your great men said, quoting from the Bible, “a house divided against itself cannot stand .” We duped ourselves, told ourselves that the frontiers of freedom, of democracy, could be expanded without making enemies. We were complacent, and we were wrong. Of course, we knew of medieval men in faraway caves, of dictators who spoke with heavy accents. Our media and academia were good at showing them up and exposing them, it was just as they turned inward that they faltered and equivocated. What we knew to be fascism when it spoke in a foreign tongue somehow became ‘traditional values’ when spoken in our own. Those were our relatives and friends, colleagues, and classmates, and if we were to acknowledge what they were saying, actually listen to them instead of smoothening their rough edges, excusing their lapses, and passing off dehumanisation as just a joke gone wrong, then we would have had to admit that we needed to fight, and we needed to fight our own. That requires moral courage. Few have ever stood in the face of a lynching. Fewer still have had the courage to simply speak up against their buddies when they have dehumanised or harassed others for simply being others, for existing. The rage against politically correct speech was always the rage of those wishing to dehumanise and dismiss the existence of marginalised groups. In our country it was the rage against secularism, in your country it has taken many forms, from rage against affirmative action to rage against diversity, equity, and inclusion. In all countries and in all languages it is one and the same thing: the unwillingness to believe that all humans are created equal, and everybody deserves a fair chance. Without this belief there is no democracy, and yet we continued to debate these people as if democracy itself was up for debate, and because the terms of the debate were inevitably framed by those with the most money, democracy turned out to be for sale. Your ordeal has just begun, ours continues, and while I hope you are quicker to confront and oust your petty tyrant than we have been with ours, I have to warn you that the fight is a long one. The issue is not just of one government or another, or one political party in power, it is about the type of government itself. The good news is that freedom survives even the bleakest circumstances, and liberty is a dream that has endured despite countless regimes declaring their victory, only to be undone and become only object lessons about the hubris of would-be tyrants. The only thing that I would say, that I would request, is that in your fight for freedom please listen to those who were first attacked, who understood how clearly liberty was threatened because their liberty was threatened first, and it is only when they are made secure will you have a freedom and democracy that lasts. It is a lesson that one of our own tried to teach us, to consider every policy through the lens of how it impacts the weakest amongst us, and only then go forward. His name was Gandhi, and we forgot that lesson of his and are having to painfully relearn it. As a friend, all I can offer is the example of our own mistake, and the hope that you learn faster than us. Omair Ahmad is an author. His last novel,  Jimmy the Terrorist , was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize, and won the Crossword Award. © The Wire