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QUITO, Ecuador — The Mexican president quickly moved to break off diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police broke into the Mexican Embassy to arrest a former vice president who had sought political asylum there after being indicted on corruption charges. In an extraordinarily unusual move, Ecuadorian police on Friday forced their way into the embassy in the capital, Quito, to arrest Jorge Glas, who had been residing there since December. On Saturday, he was taken from the attorney general's office to a detention facility in an armored vehicle followed by a convoy of military and police vehicles. People who had gathered outside the prosecutor's office yelled “strength” as the vehicles began to move. The raid prompted Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to announce the break of diplomatic relations with Ecuador Friday evening. Glas has been convicted on bribery and corruption charges. Ecuadorian authorities are still investigating more allegations against him. “This is not possible. It cannot be. This is crazy,” Roberto Canseco, head of the Mexican consular section in Quito, told local press while standing outside the embassy. “I am very worried because they could kill him. There is no basis to do this. This is totally outside the norm.” Defending its decision, Ecuador's presidency said in a statement: “Ecuador is a sovereign nation, and we are not going to allow any criminal to stay free.” Lopez Obrador fired back, calling Glas' detention an “authoritarian act” and “a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico." Alicia Barcena, Mexico's secretary of foreign relations, posted on the social platform X that several diplomats suffered injuries during the break-in, adding that it violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Diplomatic premises are considered “inviolable” under the Vienna treaties and local law enforcement agencies are not allowed to enter without the permission of the ambassador. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange lived inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for seven years because British police could not enter to arrest him. Barcena said that Mexico would take the case to the International Court of Justice “to denounce Ecuador’s responsibility for violations of international law.” She also said Mexican diplomats were waiting for the Ecuadorian government to offer the necessary guarantees for their return home. Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry and Ecuador’s Ministry of the Interior did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Mexican Embassy in Quito remained under heavy police guard late Friday. A day earlier, tensions between the two countries escalated after Mexico's president made statements that Ecuador considered “very unfortunate” about last year's election, won by Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa. In reaction, the Ecuadorian government declared the Mexican ambassador persona non grata.

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Tehran, Iran — Iranian police have arrested three suspected members of the Islamic State group who were plotting attacks at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, state media reported Saturday.  Those arrested in the city of Karaj in the northwestern province of Alborz included Mohammed Zaker, who was identified as "a senior member" of the group, according to the official IRNA news agency.  "The police in Alborz province arrested three members of the Islamic State group who were planning a suicide attack during the end of Ramadan celebrations," IRNA said.  It was not immediately clear when the arrests took place or whether they included foreign nationals.  IRNA also reported the arrest of eight "accomplices" but did not elaborate.  Local media reported Tuesday about the arrest of two alleged IS members in the holy city of Qom.  In January, IS claimed responsibility for twin bombings in the southern Iranian city of Kerman that killed more than 90 people.  The attacks took place at a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the death of Qasem Soleimani, a top Revolutionary Guards general killed in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq in 2020.  Iran has been battling jihadi and other militant groups for years.   On Saturday, IRNA reported that the number of "martyrs" killed in recent attacks by jihadis near the border with Pakistan had risen to 16, all members of the security forces.  It said the toll, one of the deadliest in years, includes members of law enforcement, Guards, and paramilitary Basij forces.  State media had earlier reported that 10 security personnel and 18 members of the Jaish al-Adl jihadi group were killed in the clashes.  The Sunni Muslim rebel group Jaish al-Adl was formed in 2012 and is listed by Iran and the United States as a "terrorist" organization. 

JERUSALEM — It’s the last wish of a dying mother, to be with her daughter once more. But six months into Israel's war against Hamas, time is running out for Liora Argamani, who hopes to stay alive long enough to see her kidnapped daughter come home. “I want to see her one more time. Talk to her one more time,” said Argamani, 61, who has stage four brain cancer. “I don’t have a lot of time left in this world.” Noa Argamani was abducted from a music festival October 7 when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking about 260 hostages. The video of her abduction was among the first to surface, images of her horrified face widely shared — Noa detained between two men on a motorcycle, one arm outstretched and the other held down as she screams “Don't kill me!” There's been little news about Noa, 26. But in mid-January, Hamas released a video of her in captivity. She appears gaunt and under duress, speaking about other hostages killed in airstrikes and frantically calling on Israel to bring her and others home. Half a year into Israel’s war, agonized families such as the Argamanis are in a race against time. In November, a weeklong cease-fire deal saw the release of more than 100 hostages. But the war is dragging on, with no end in sight and no serious hostage deal on the table. Israel says more than 130 hostages remain, with about a quarter of those believed dead, and divisions are deepening in the country over the best way to bring them home. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to both eliminate Hamas and bring all the hostages back, but he's made little progress. He faces pressure to resign, and the U.S. has threatened to scale back its support over the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Israelis are divided into two main camps: those who want the government to put the war on hold and free the hostages, and others who think the hostages are an unfortunate price to pay for eradicating Hamas. “They have these two goals and the assessment of the type of risk they’re willing to take to get the hostages back — this is where you see divisions,” said Shmuel Rosner, a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute and analyst for Israeli public television station Kan News. On-and-off negotiations mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt have yielded little. If a viable deal emerges, decisions will become harder and the divisions sharper, Rosner said. But for most families and friends whose loved ones are in captivity, there is no choice but to bring them home. Many are concerned in particular about the women held in Gaza and say, based on testimonies from freed hostages, they fear those remaining could be suffering from sexual abuse. Before a recent parliamentary committee meeting, attendees held posters showing the hostages. Yarden Gonen, whose 23-year-old sister, Romi, also was taken from the October 7 music festival, criticized what she said was the government's inaction. “What are we fighting for?" she said. "What is more important than this?” Outside an art installation mimicking the Gaza tunnels where some hostages are believed to be held, Romi’s mother said she can’t believe it’s been half a year, with much of the world wanting to forget or ignore such a horrible situation. “We are doing everything we can so the world will not forget," Merav Leshem Gonen said. “Every day we wake up and take a big breath, deep breath, and continue walking, continue doing the things that will bring her back.” When Yonatan Levi saw the video of his friend Noa Argamani in captivity, he said he could barely recognize the smart, free spirit of the woman who loved parties and traveling and was studying computer science. “When I saw that video, I thought maybe she’s living physically but has died inside,” said Levi, who met Argamani during a diving course in the southern Israeli city of Eilat. A few months before her abduction, Argamani asked Levi to help navigate insurance issues for her mom, he said. As an only child, she was a big part of her mother's life and care, and she seemed hopeful she would be OK, Levi said. But Liora Argamani's cancer has worsened, according to a video released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. In it, Liora and her husband tearfully thumb through childhood photos of Noa. From her wheelchair, Liora addresses the camera — and U.S. President Joe Biden directly. Behind her rests an enlarged photo of Noa's pained face as she's dragged into Gaza, on a posterboard with her words overtop: “DON'T KILL ME!” “My heart really hurts,” Liora, a Chinese immigrant, says slowly in accented Hebrew. “I am asking you, President Joe Biden. ... I am really begging you." The stress of missing a loved one like Noa is hard on the healthiest of people, and it will only exacerbate a condition like cancer, said Ofrit Shapira Berman, a psychoanalyst who heads a group of health professionals treating freed hostages, families and survivors.

CAIRO — Two basic mistakes, according to the Israeli military. First, officers overlooked a message detailing the vehicles in the convoy. Second, a spotter saw someone boarding a car, carrying something — possibly a bag — that he thought was a weapon. Officials say the result was the series of Israeli drone strikes that killed seven aid workers on a dark Gaza Strip road. The Israeli military has described the deadly strike on the World Central Kitchen convoy as a tragic error. Its explanation raises the question: If that's the case, how often has Israel made such mistakes in its six-month-old offensive in Gaza? Rights groups and aid workers say Monday night’s mistake was hardly an anomaly. They say the wider problem is not violations of the military’s rules of engagement but the rules themselves. In Israel’s drive to destroy Hamas after its October 7 terror attacks, the rights groups and aid workers say, the military seems to have given itself wide leeway to determine what is a target and how many civilian deaths it allows as “collateral damage.” More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says that it is targeting Hamas fighters and infrastructure and that it tries to minimize civilian deaths. It blames the large number of civilian casualties on militants and says it's because they operate among the population. Israel says each strike goes through an assessment by legal experts, but it has not made its rules of engagement public.  Other strikes  In the thousands of strikes Israel has carried out, as well as shelling and shootings in ground operations, it's impossible to know how many times a target has been wrongly identified. Nearly every day, strikes level buildings with Palestinian families inside, killing men, women and children, with no explanation of the target or independent accountability over the proportionality of the strike. Sarit Michaeli, spokeswoman for the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, said the World Central Kitchen strike drew world attention only because foreigners were killed.  “The thought that this is a unique case, that it’s a rare example — it’s an insult to the intelligence of anyone who has been following the situation,” she said. She said a broader investigation is needed into the rules of engagement. “The relevant questions aren’t asked because the investigations only deal with specific cases, rather than the broader policy.” Israel’s chief military spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, acknowledged, “Mistakes were conducted in the last six months.” “We do everything we can not to harm innocent civilians,” he told reporters. “It is hard because Hamas is going with civilian clothes. … Is it a problem, is it complexity for us? Yes. Does that matter? No. We need to do more and more and more to distinguish.” But the military hasn't specified how it will achieve this. Brigadier General Benny Gal, who was part of the investigation into the World Central Kitchen strikes, was asked whether more questions should be asked before a strike is authorized. “This was not our standards,” he said. “The standard is more questions, more details, more crossing sources. And this was not the case.”  White flags  Palestinian witnesses have repeatedly reported people, including women and children, being shot and killed or wounded by Israeli troops while carrying white flags. Several videos have surfaced showing Palestinians being fired at or killed while seeming to pose little threat to Israeli forces nearby.  In March, the military acknowledged it shot dead two Palestinians and wounded a third while they were walking on a Gaza beach. It said troops opened fire after the men allegedly ignored warning shots. It reacted after the news channel Al Jazeera showed footage of one of the men falling to the ground while walking in an open area and then a bulldozer pushing two bodies into the garbage-strewn sand. It said at least two of the three men were waving white flags.  Aid groups have also reported strikes on their personnel.  Medical Aid for Palestine said its residential compound in the southern area of Muwasi — which the military had defined as a safe zone — was hit in January by what the United Nations determined was a 1,000-pound bomb. Several team members were injured and the building damaged, the group said.  The group said the Israeli military gave it multiple explanations — denying involvement, saying it was trying to hit a target nearby and blaming a missile that went astray. “The variety of responses highlights a continued lack of transparency,” the group said.  The medical charity Doctors Without Borders said a tank shelled a house sheltering its staff and their families in Muwasi in February, killing one staffer's wife and daughter-in-law.  Both groups said they had informed the military repeatedly of their locations and clearly marked the buildings.  Israeli admissions of mistakes are rare.  In December, after a strike killed at least 106 people in the Maghazi camp, the military said buildings near the target were also hit, likely causing “unintended harm to additional uninvolved civilians.” It also admitted soldiers mistakenly shot to death three Israeli hostages who were waving white flags after getting out of Hamas captivity in Gaza City.  “The pattern”  In Israel’s ground assaults, troops are operating in urban environments, searching for Hamas fighters while surrounded by a population hunkering in their homes and in motion, trying to flee or find food and medical care.  Some Israeli politicians and news outlets regularly proclaim there are no innocents in Gaza. And in some videos circulated online, soldiers talk of getting vengeance for the October 7 Hamas terror attacks that sparked the war.  In that atmosphere, Palestinians and other critics say, soldiers on the ground appear to have wide liberty in deciding whether to target someone as suspicious. Residents and medical staff in Gaza say they see the result.  Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a doctor with Medical Aid for Palestinians who just returned from two weeks at a Gaza hospital, said staff regularly treated children and elderly shot by snipers.  “It’s not an anomaly. It’s actually the pattern,” she told journalists in a briefing this week. “I don’t think it’s that children in particular are singled out as targets. The understanding and kind of the conclusion you reach … is that everybody’s a target.”  Chris Cobb-Smith, a former British army and weapons expert who's done research and security missions in Gaza, said that if there was a breakdown in communication in the case of the World Central Kitchen strike, “for a professional army, this is inexcusable.”  “There seems to be a consistent pattern of utterly reckless behavior,” said Cobb-Smith, who helped investigate the Doctors Without Borders shelling.

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TAIPEI, TAIWAN — The United States and China have agreed to hold talks and create two economic groups focused on a wide range of issues — including addressing American complaints about China’s economic model, growth in domestic and global economies and efforts against money laundering — according to a statement released Saturday by the U.S. Treasury Department. The agreement comes on the second day of an official visit to China by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, during which she has urged Chinese leaders to change their domestic manufacturing policies. The two sides are set to hold “intensive exchanges” on cultivating more balanced economic growth and combating money laundering. Yellen said the efforts would establish a structure for Beijing and Washington to exchange views and address Chinese industrial overcapacity, its ability to supply more product than is demanded. “I think the Chinese realize how concerned we are about the implications of their industrial strategy for the United States, for the potential to flood our markets with exports that make it difficult for American firms to compete,” she told journalists after the announcement Saturday. Yellen was en route to Beijing after beginning her five-day visit in the southern city of Guangzhou, which is a key manufacturing and export center for China. While the issue of China’s industrial overcapacity will not be resolved instantly, Yellen said Chinese officials understand it’s an “important issue” for Americans, adding that her exchanges with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will facilitate a discussion around macroeconomic imbalances and their connection to overcapacity. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported Chinese officials “comprehensively responded” to the issue of industrial overcapacity raised by the Americans. “Both sides agreed to continue to maintain communication,” an official readout said. The announcement came a day after Yellen urged Beijing to reform its trade practices and create “a healthy economic relationship” with the U.S. It also follows Chinese state media’s warning that Washington may consider rolling out more protectionist policies to shield U.S. companies.” Some analysts say the announcement reflects Yellen’s effort to push forward on collaboration in areas the U.S. and China agreed on during U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s San Francisco summit last November. “When Xi met Biden in November, they agreed to set up working groups, so Yellen is continuing to push that forward with the meeting,” Dexter Roberts, director of China affairs at the University of Montana's Mansfield Center, told VOA by phone. While he called the announcement a positive development, Roberts said he does not think Beijing and Washington will reach agreement on contentious trade issues during Yellen’s trip. “There could be temporary things like China easing off on subsidizing electric vehicles a bit, but it’s unclear how either side is going to change what's happening in a way that allows the tension over trade to lessen,” he said. Beijing’s displeasure While Washington highlighted threats posed by China’s industrial overcapacity, Beijing focused on its concerns about U.S. export controls on Chinese companies during the meeting between Yellen and He. “The Chinese side expressed serious concerns over Washington’s restrictive economic and trade measures against China,” read the Chinese readout published by Xinhua. Some experts say the United States and China could make progress on U.S. export restrictions on Chinese companies. “Some U.S. businesses are calling for the government to remove some of the export restrictions, especially for chips [integrated circuits],” Victor Shih, director of the 21st Century China Center at the University of California in San Diego, told VOA by phone. Since China is either already making, or is on the cusp of making, some of the computer chips on the sanctions list, Shih said he thinks restricting U.S. companies from selling some of the chips to China will only hurt American interests. “It’s really not hurting China that much,” he said. In addition to U.S. controls on exports to Chinese entities, Shih said the other big topic Chinese officials are likely to raise in meetings with Yellen is potential tariffs Washington may impose on Chinese products. “Since China is the largest exporter in the world, it’s not in its interest for there to be a lot of tariffs around the world, especially for major importers like the U.S.,” he said, adding that talking to Washington about lowering tariffs and not enacting new ones will be an important agenda item for Beijing. While she has not explicitly promised to impose new sanctions on Chinese products, Yellen said she would not rule out the possibility of adopting more measures to safeguard the American supply chain for electric vehicles, batteries or solar panels from heavily subsidized Chinese green energy products. During a phone call Tuesday with Biden, Xi warned that if the United States is “adamant on containing China's high-tech development and depriving China of its legitimate right to development, China is not going to sit back and watch.” Bilateral communication Despite persistent differences over contentious trade issues, Yellen and He underscored the importance for China and the U.S. to “properly respond to key concerns of the other side” to build a more cooperative economic relationship. “It also remains crucial for the two largest economies to seek progress on global challenges like climate change and debt distress in emerging markets in developing countries, and to closely communicate on issues of concern such as overcapacity and national security-related economic actions,” Yellen said Friday. Based on Yellen and He’s comments and signals from the Biden-Xi call Tuesday, some analysts say the U.S. and China will continue to put guard rails around the bilateral relationship to prevent it from further deteriorating. “The two sides have come to the realization that they will have to live together, perhaps uncomfortably at times,” said Zhiqun Zhu, an expert on Chinese foreign policy at Bucknell University. While the relationship will remain highly competitive, Zhu said he thinks Beijing and Washington will “stay engaged and seek cooperation in areas of common interest.” “Maintaining stability is the priority for both Xi and Biden now,” he said. Yellen is scheduled to have meetings with other senior officials Sunday and Monday in Beijing.

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GENEVA — Warning that the war in Sudan risks triggering the world’s worst hunger crisis, the World Food Program said Friday that it finally has managed to bring desperately needed food aid into the war-wracked Darfur region for the first time in months. The U.N. food agency said two convoys crossed the border from Chad into Darfur late last week, carrying food and nutrition assistance for about a quarter-million people in north, west and central Darfur. It said the long-delayed mission was given the go-ahead following lengthy negotiations to reopen convoy routes after the Sudanese Armed Forces had revoked permission for humanitarian corridors from Chad in February. “Cross-border operations from Chad to Darfur are critical to reach communities where children are already dying of malnutrition,” said Leni Kinzli, the WFP communications officer for Sudan. Speaking in Nairobi, Kenya, she said that “All corridors to transport food must remain open, particularly the one from [the city of] Adre in Chad to West Darfur, where levels of hunger are alarming.” While expressing relief that lengthy negotiations to reopen the routes have paid off, she warned that unless the people of Sudan receive a constant flow of aid through all possible humanitarian corridors, “the country’s hunger catastrophe will only worsen.” Since the rival Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces plunged the country into war nearly one year ago, the United Nations says more than 8.5 million people have become displaced — 6.5 million within the country. The WFP says 18 million people are facing acute hunger, 90% of them in hard-to-reach areas. A World Health Organization Public Health Situation Analysis of the Sudan conflict finds a record 24.8 million people — almost every other person — need urgent humanitarian assistance in 2024. “This is 9 million more than in 2023. So, how catastrophic is that,” said Margaret Harris, a WHO spokesperson. “People have been forced to flee their homes due to the humanitarian situation and the destruction of essential infrastructure, such as roads, hospitals, medical facilities and schools. “Also, power, water, communication services, everything — all the infrastructure you need to lead a normal life” has been destroyed, she said. The WHO says at least 14,600 people have been killed and 33,000 injured. It says two-thirds of the population lack access to medical care, noting that disease outbreaks, including cholera, measles, malaria, poliovirus type 2 and dengue, are increasing. “Food insecurity is also at a record high, with nearly half of children acutely malnourished,” said the WHO, underscoring that “urgent action is needed to prevent further catastrophe.” The WFP’s Kinzli said it was critical that aid be quickly and easily delivered to needy people in Darfur through the Tine border crossing or across conflict lines from within Sudan. She said, however, that “fierce fighting, lack of security and lengthy clearances by the warring parties” have led to delays in the distribution of assistance. She noted it was impossible for aid workers to provide help “to people trapped in Sudan’s conflict hotspots.” The “WFP needs aid to be consistently reaching war-ravaged communities through every possible route,” Kinzli said, warning that hunger in Sudan will increase as the lean season starts — the period of the year when food stocks are at their lowest. “Our greatest fear is that we will see unprecedented levels of starvation and malnutrition sweep across Sudan this lean season, and that the Darfur region will be particularly hard hit.” She pointed out that crop production is at an all-time low because the fighting is preventing farmers from harvesting their crops. “Recent crop reports show that the harvest for cereals in Darfur this year was 78% below the five-year average,” she said. “That is why WFP is deeply concerned about how serious the hunger crisis will get this lean season.” Kinzli expressed deep concern that the lean season, which normally runs from May to September, could begin as early as next week and last much longer than usual.

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JERUSALEM — Israeli commandos have recovered the body of a hostage held in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the military said on Saturday, three months after he pleaded for his release in a video issued by his Islamic Jihad captors. Elad Katzir, a 47-year-old farmer from Kibbutz Nir Oz, was among 260 people dragged into Gaza during an October 7 cross-border rampage by Hamas-led gunmen that triggered Israel's ongoing offensive in the enclave. Katzir was killed by Islamic Jihad, the military statement said, citing intelligence information that it did not detail. There was no immediate comment on the Telegram channel used by Islamic Jihad during the war. Katzir's father, Avraham, was among some 1,200 people killed in Israel on October 7, according to official tallies, while his mother, Hanna, was also taken hostage but freed in November under a cease-fire with the terrorist group Hamas. Qatari and Egyptian mediators have been trying, so far fruitlessly, to secure another truce that might return some of the 130 remaining hostages. Hamas wants any deal to end the war, which Gaza health officials say has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians. But Israel intends to fight on until Hamas falls. In a Jan. 8 video posted by Islamic Jihad online, Katzir said: "I was close to dying more than once. It's a miracle I'm still alive. ... I want to tell my family that I love them very much, and I miss them very much." Based on various sources of information, Israel has declared at least 35 hostages as dead in Gaza captivity. Palestinian factions have said some were killed in Israeli strikes. While confirming this in several cases, Israel says that, in others, hostages whose bodies were recovered bore signs of execution.

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GAZA STRIP — American and Israeli negotiators were expected in Cairo over the weekend for a renewed push to reach a cease-fire-hostage deal in a war that has raged for nearly half a year. Ahead of the talks, U.S. President Joe Biden wrote to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar urging them to dial up pressure on Hamas to "agree to and abide by a deal," a senior administration official told AFP on Friday night. The United States, Qatar and Egypt have engaged for months in behind-the-scenes talks to broker a cease-fire and an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners but have made no headway since a week-long truce in November. The White House confirmed that negotiations would occur this weekend in Cairo but would not comment on U.S. media reports that CIA Director Bill Burns would be attending, along with Israel spy chief David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel. Israel and Hamas, which negotiate through intermediaries, have traded blame for the lack of progress. "This basic fact remains true: There would be a cease-fire in Gaza today had Hamas simply agreed to release this vulnerable category of hostages -- the sick, wounded, elderly, and young women," the senior Biden administration official said. Hamas officials and Qatari mediator al-Thani have previously accused Israel of stymying the truce with objections over the return of displaced Gazan civilians and the ratio of prisoners to hostages. During a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, Biden pushed him to "fully empower" his negotiators to reach a deal. A staunch backer of Israel, Biden's patience with the immense toll inflicted by the war on Gaza appears to be waning, especially after the killing of seven aid workers. With both international and domestic outrage mounting, Biden has warned of a reassessment of U.S. support if more is not done to protect civilians. Allies have been pressing Biden to leverage the billions of dollars in U.S. military aid to Israel. More than three dozen U.S. lawmakers on Friday signed a letter to Biden urging him to reconsider the "recent decision to authorize the transfer of a new arms package to Israel, and to withhold this and any future offensive arms transfers until a full investigation into the airstrike is completed." 'Inhumane ferocity' The Israeli army, known as the IDF, announced it was firing two officers after finding a series of "grave mistakes" led to the drone strikes that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers Monday. It was a rare admission of wrongdoing by Israel in its campaign to root the militant group Hamas out of the Gaza Strip, where the Hamas-run health ministry says more than 33,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed. In response to the IDF's preliminary findings on the strike, Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Saturday it was "not sufficient." World Central Kitchen said Israel "cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza," noting that its staff was attacked despite having "followed all proper communications procedures." WCK said its operations in Gaza remain suspended after the attack, while top global aid groups said relief work has become almost impossible. "In its speed, scale and inhumane ferocity, the war in Gaza is the deadliest of conflicts -- for civilians, for aid workers, for journalists, for health workers and for our own (U.N.) colleagues," U.N. chief Antonio Guterres told a U.N. Security Council briefing on Friday. At the same briefing, Israeli ambassador Gilad Erdan insisted the "only reason" aid fails to reach Gazan civilians "is because Hamas loots it and the UN is incapable of handling the capacity of supplies." Following the Biden-Netanyahu call, Israel said it would allow "temporary" deliveries through additional aid routes, without specifying when that would begin. For the 2.4 million Gazans, simply procuring food and water in the relentlessly bombarded strip has become a torturous struggle. Since January, Palestinians in famine-threatened northern Gaza have eaten an average of just 245 calories per day -- less than a can of beans -- since January, according to Oxfam. "Living in tents is difficult, everything is hard. Securing water and food is difficult," said Gazan Siham Ashour, who like more than a million others has been displaced to the sprawling encampment in the strip's southernmost city Rafah. Wider conflict The war has also consumed much of the wider region, with hostilities between Israel and Iran and its proxies triggering fears of a broader conflict. In Iran, thousands of people chanted "Death to Israel" at a funeral in Tehran on Friday that coincided with annual commemorations in support of Palestinians. Iran has blamed Israel for a strike on its consulate in Damascus that killed seven Revolutionary Guards and has vowed retaliation. Hezbollah said Friday that three of its fighters had been killed in exchanges with Israel. Its ally Amal said it had also lost three fighters to an airstrike in southern Lebanon. The Israeli army said in a communique that it had bombed a "military complex" used by Amal and targeted several regions of southern Lebanon. The war in Gaza began with Tehran-backed Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, which left 1,170 people, mostly civilians, dead in southern Israel. Palestinian militants also took around 250 hostages, about 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the army says are dead. Tehran has denied any direct involvement in the attack.

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PHILADELPHIA — He surveyed the Arizona crowd that had paid to catch a wrestling glimpse of the planet's mightiest heavyweight, as measured in both box-office heft and ink-stained muscles. Then The Rock let the abuse fly. And as with so many public outbursts these days, attacking his opponents wasn't enough. He had to insult the people, too. "The Rock did a little bit of research, and here's what he found out. This is the truth. This is a fact. The No. 1 city in America for cocaine and meth use is Phoenix, Arizona," The Rock said to a roaring crowd that seemed to revel in the insults. Then and only then did he lay the smack down on his WrestleMania opponents. Were The Rock's assertions true? Or just an engine for vigorous trash talk? Most importantly: Does anyone really care, as long as the entertainment value is cranked to 11 and WWE churns out more fans to watch and fork over cash for its signature spectacle, WrestleMania, unfolding in Philadelphia this weekend? Along the murky lines that intertwine sports, entertainment and, yes, politics, the ethos of being bad has never been so good. Say what you want. Do you want. The public eats it up. And for decades, somehow, the garish world of professional wrestling has sat smack in the middle of it all. Outside the ring, the Superman spandex traded for Clark Kent glasses and a leather jacket, Dwayne Johnson crafts his good-guy image to plug his movies, his tequila label, his men's care line, his football league — business interests where the bottom line doesn't require calling the competition a bunch of "roody-poo candy-asses." But under the house lights each week on live TV, Johnson knows storylines are sold on his Hollywood heel persona. "I feel like everybody wants to be the good guy, the good girl. Everyone wants to be loved and cheered and considered the hero, which is great and it's natural," he says. "But, I have felt in my career, the rare air is when you have the opportunity to grab it by the throat, you don't let it go. And that's the opportunity to be a great bad guy." Wrestlemania and its cultural pull The Rock is set to headline one of two nights of the annual WrestleMania event this weekend in Philadelphia, where more than 70,000 fans each night are expected to pack the NFL stadium that is home to the Eagles. Banners of your favorite wrestlers, or the ones you love to hate, have smothered city street poles. Philly has been overrun by wrestling conventions, autograph signings, independent wrestling shows, podcast tapings, a 2K24 gaming tournament and all the other trappings that have turned the industry into a mainstream cultural phenomenon. From the start, WrestleMania was born to be different. Mr. T and Muhammad Ali helped pack Madison Square Garden in 1985, and "The Showcase of the Immortals" quickly turned a night of wrestling usually reserved for smoky arenas into the Super Bowl of entertainment. As WrestleMania approaches 40, it's never been bigger — even with brainchild Vince McMahon a pariah and ousted from the company in the wake of a sex abuse lawsuit. Yes, McMahon and Donald Trump even tangled at WrestleMania in 2007 in a "Battle of the Billionaires" match. "Donald Trump, to a certain extent, represents a great deal of Americana," McMahon said in 2007. "He's larger than life, which really fits into what the WWE is." Maybe wrestling really does represent who we are as a nation. But even if you still scrunch your nose like you took a whiff of curdled milk over the very idea that anyone would like this flavor of wrestling, odds are you've still heard of The Rock and Hulk Hogan. Andre the Giant and John Cena. You've snapped into a Slim Jim because Randy Savage ordered you to, or let out a "Woooo!" at a hockey game like Ric Flair. Dave Bautista won a WrestleMania championship before he ever guarded the galaxy. "Look at the way it was marketed in the 80s, when Vince McMahon really changed the whole industry forever," said author Brad Balukjian, whose new book is on 1980s WrestleMania stars. "He's got the action figures, he's got the cartoon and the bedsheets and the lunch boxes. He turned these guys into the Batmans and the Marvel Cinematic Universe of the 80s, in a way." Revel in the universally accepted fakery Fans have long been in on the con — and embraced it. It's a mutual agreement forged for even paying customers to play their own roles in the four-sided ring performance. So they cheer. They boo. And despite all evidence to the contrary, they openly accept that each move is as legitimate a sporting action as anything found in a weeknight ballgame. Wrestling pretended for so long to be on the up-and-up. Comedian Andy Kaufman drew gasps when he was slapped by wrestler Jerry Lawler on Late Night with David Letterman. But the curtain was yanked open long ago. On Wednesday, Johnson and WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns appeared on the The Tonight Show without any manufactured theatrics on their final hype job ahead of WrestleMania. Former WWE star Dave Schultz slapped a 20/20 reporter in the 1980s for calling wrestling fake. Now ESPN, The Athletic, Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports have dedicated pages that report on both storylines and behind-the-scenes news, where the real drama is more likely found. Wrestling news is treated as seriously as any other sport's. But is it? A sport, that is. Debate the definition all you want. Wrestling — a precursor to reality TV and all the Real Housewives — isn't going anywhere. And its biggest fans are often the athletes who want to emulate the super-sized stars. This week, Joel Embiid was about to divulge that he suffered from depression during an injury that cost him two months of his NBA career. But before the Philadelphia 76ers big man unburdened himself, he pulled on a WWE T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan of the wrestling company's most boorish faction, Degeneration X: "Suck It." For pro wrestling, momentum is at hand. WWE's weekly television show Raw will move to Netflix next year as part of a major streaming deal worth more than $5 billion. That's some serious cash that even the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase would envy. So go ahead. Sneer at wrestling. Or let go, turn a blind eye to the subterfuge and embrace Hulkamania and the frenzy that followed as a staple of the global sports landscape. Because it's not leaving the building anytime soon. Consider John Kruk, retired Phillies star and team broadcaster. You'd think that the pinnacle moment of baseball each year would be a must-see for him. But if pro wrestling is coming to town, as he told wrestler Kofi Kingston on TV recently, other priorities prevail. "If it was a World Series game, if the Phillies aren't participating, and wrestling was on," Kruk said, "I'm watching wrestling."

washington — In recent weeks, the United States, Britain and the European Union have issued the strictest regulations yet on the use and development of artificial intelligence, setting a precedent for other countries. This month, the United States and the U.K. signed a memorandum of understanding allowing for the two countries to partner in the development of tests for the most advanced artificial intelligence models, following through on commitments made at the AI Safety Summit last November. These actions come on the heels of the European Parliament’s March vote to adopt its first set of comprehensive rules on AI. The landmark decision sets out a wide-ranging set of laws to regulate this exploding technology. At the time, Brando Benifei, co-rapporteur on the Artificial Intelligence Act plenary vote, said, "I think today is again an historic day on our long path towards regulation of AI. … The first regulation in the world that is putting a clear path towards a safe and human-centric development of AI." The new rules aim to protect citizens from dangerous uses of AI, while exploring its boundless potential. Beth Noveck, professor of experiential AI at Northeastern University, expressed enthusiasm about the rules. “It's really exciting that the EU has passed really the world's first … binding legal framework addressing AI. It is, however, not the end; it is really just the beginning.” The new rules will be applied according to risk level: the higher the risk, the stricter the rules. “It's not regulating the tech,” she said. “It's regulating the uses of the tech, trying to prohibit and to restrict and to create controls over the most malicious uses — and transparency around other uses. “So things like what China is doing around social credit scoring, and surveillance of its citizens, unacceptable.” Noveck described what she called “high-risk uses” that would be subject to scrutiny. Those include the use of tools in ways that could deprive people of their liberty or within employment. “Then there are lower risk uses, such as the use of spam filters, which involve the use of AI or translation,” she said. “Your phone is using AI all the time when it gives you the weather; you're using Siri or Alexa, we're going to see a lot less scrutiny of those common uses.” But as AI experts point out, new laws just create a framework for a new model of governance on a rapidly evolving technology. Dragos Tudorache, co-rapporteur on the AI Act plenary vote, said, "Because AI is going to have an impact that we can't only measure through this act, we will have to be very mindful of this evolution of the technology in the future and be prepared." In late March, the Biden administration issued the first government-wide policy to mitigate the risks of artificial intelligence while harnessing its benefits. The announcement followed President Joe Biden’s executive order last October, which called on federal agencies to lead the way toward better governance of the technology without stifling innovation. “This landmark executive order is testament to what we stand for: safety, security, trust, openness,” Biden said at the time,” proving once again that America's strength is not just the power of its example, but the example of its power.” Looking ahead, experts say the challenge will be to update rules and regulations as the technology continues to evolve.

BRASILIA, Brazil — Many Yanomami, the Amazon's largest Indigenous tribe in relative isolation, have been contaminated with mercury coming from widespread illegal gold mining, according to a report released on Thursday by Brazil's top public health institute. The research was conducted in nine villages along the Mucajai River, a remote region where illegal mining is widespread. Mercury, a poison, is commonly used in illegal mining to process gold. The researchers collected hair samples from nearly 300 Yanomami of all ages. They were then examined by doctors, neurologists, psychologists and nurses. The vast majority, 84% of Yanomami tested, had contamination equal to or above 2 micrograms per gram, a level of exposure that can lead to several health problems, according to standards by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and World Health Organization. Even more worrying, a smaller part of this group, 10%, surpassed the 6 micrograms per gram threshold, a contamination level often associated with more severe medical conditions. Research teams also tested fish in the area, finding high levels in them. Eating fish with high mercury levels is the most common path of exposure. Exposure studies usually test for methylmercury, a powerful neurotoxin formed when bacteria, in this case in rivers, metabolize inorganic mercury. Ingestion of large amounts over weeks or months damages the nervous system. The substance also can pass through a placenta of a pregnant woman, exposing a fetus to developmental abnormalities and cerebral palsy, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health effects can include decreased sensitivity in the legs, feet, and hands, overall weakness, dizziness, and ringing in the ears. In some cases, a compromise of the central nervous system can lead to mobility issues. "Chronic exposure to mercury settles in slowly and progressively," Paulo Basta, an epidemiologist with the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, which led the testing, told The Associated Press. "There's a wide spectrum of clinical actions that range from mild to severe symptoms." Concerted global efforts to address mercury pollution led to the 2013 Minamata Convention, a U.N.-backed agreement signed by 148 parties to curb emissions. The treaty is named after the Japanese city of Minamata, whose population was contaminated by decades-long emissions of mercury dumped along with wastewater. Brazil and the United States were among the signatories. The Brazilian government report has not been peer reviewed but synthesizes three papers published recently in the journal Toxics, all based on the same field work. One of the studies noted that determining what long-term mercury exposure levels constitute a significant risk for health remains a challenge. The study's findings align with prior research in other areas of the Amazon, said Maria Elena Crespo López, a biochemist at the Federal University of Pará who was not involved in the report and has studied the subject for 20 years. "The mercury problem is widespread throughout the Amazon," she told the AP. "Since the 1970s, when the first major gold rush happened here, mercury has been released for decades and ends up being transported over long distances, entering the food chain." A global review of mercury exposure in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives in 2018 identified Amazon river tributary communities as one of four communities of most concern. The World Health Organization ranks small-scale gold mining as the single largest source of human-led contamination. The Yanomami territory, which spans the size of Portugal and has a population of 27,000, has endured decades of this illegal activity. The mining problem significantly expanded during the four-year term of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, which ended in 2022. He defanged Brazil's environment protection agencies amid rising gold prices. The combination caused a rush of thousands of miners onto Yanomami lands. Basta said that during the fieldwork, which took place near the end of Bolsonaro's term, Mucajai was teeming with illegal miners. Upon arrival by plane, the 22-strong team had to wait for about hours to proceed by boat due to heavy gold barge traffic in the Mucajai River. During ten days of testing, researchers were guarded by four military police carrying machine guns and grenades. Basta recalls counting 30 to 35 small planes flying to and from illegal mining sites each day. "The tension was present throughout our entire stay in the village. I have been working in Indigenous villages for 25 years, and it was the most tense work I have done," he said. Current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has pledged to expel gold prospectors from Yanomami territory and improve health conditions, but the task is far from complete. "Mining is the biggest threat we face in Yanomami land today," Yanomami leader Dário Kopenawa said in a statement. "It's mandatory and urgent to expel these intruders. If mining continues, so will contamination, devastation, malaria, and malnutrition. This research provides concrete evidence of it."