KABUL, May 27 – One person has been confirmed dead and eight others sustained injury as two families clashed over a land dispute in eastern Afghanistan’s Kapisa province, said a news release of the provincial police office on Tuesday.
The clash erupted after two families disputed over a piece of land in Malangkhil village of Kohband district on Monday evening. As a result, a man was killed in gunshots while four men and four women were injured, the news release added.
Police have arrested the alleged criminals and referred their cases to the judiciary for further investigation, the news release further said.
On Sunday, a similar clash between two families over land ownership claimed one life and injured seven others in eastern Afghanistan’s Khost province.
ZAGREB, May 27 – An explosive device was thrown on the Slavenskog Street here early Tuesday morning, damaging two cafes, the Zagreb Police Department said in a statement.
The unidentified perpetrator threw an explosive device at around 2:50 a.m. local time (0050 GMT), shattering the windows and damaging the inventory of both buildings, according to the statement.
No deaths or injuries were reported, as the buildings were unoccupied at the time of the explosion.
JINAN, May 27 – An explosion occurred at the workshop of a chemical company in the city of Gaomi, east China’s Shandong Province, at noon on Tuesday, with emergency response efforts currently underway, according to the municipal emergency management bureau.
JERICHO, May 27, 2025 – A young man was killed at dawn on Tuesday during an Israeli occupation forces raid on the city of Jericho.
Medical sources confirmed to WAFA that 20-year-old Mohammed Yahya Asi Jalaytah succumbed to his wounds after being shot by Israeli forces during the raid on the Arab neighborhood in central Jericho.
The Fatah movement in the Jericho organizational area declared a general strike in mourning for Jalaytah.
After midnight, Israeli occupation forces raided Jericho and fired live ammunition and sound bombs at residents of the Arab neighborhood in central Jericho.
They also raided a private home, during which Jalaytah was hit by live ammunition and later pronounced dead.
The slain youth’s body will be taken this afternoon from his family’s home on Qasr Hisham Street in central Jericho to the old Jericho mosque, and then to his final resting place.
GAZA, May 27, 2025 – Israeli bombing on Monday evening killed two Palestinian civilians and injured others across the war-torn Gaza Strip, according to WAFA correspondent.
He said that Israeli fighter jets conducted a strike targeting an area to the east of Az-Zawayda town in the central Strip, claiming the life of a civilian and injuring others.
He added that Israeli bombardment targeted a house in the Zeitoun neighborhood, south of Gaza City, claiming the life of another civilian.
Meanwhile, the occupying forces razed and blew up several houses to the east of Khan Younes and in the northern Strip, causing extensive destruction, and targeted anyone in the surrounding area, with the death toll exceeding 80 on Monday.
Israel unilaterally ended the Gaza ceasefire agreement and resumed its aggression on the Strip on Tuesday, March 18, carrying out a wave of bloody airstrikes across the Strip and killing hundreds of Palestinians.
WASHINGTON, May 27 – A mass shooting occurred in a park in the U.S. city of Philadelphia on Monday night, killing at least two people, local WPVI-TV reported.
At least eight others were wounded in the gunfire in the Fairmount Park, reported the TV channel, which is affiliated with the ABC News.
The report said the shooting happened on Lemon Hill Drive at Poplar Drive in the city.
Among the people shot were at least two juveniles, it said, citing the police.
NEW YORK, May 27 – A motorboat with 13 people on board exploded in Fort Lauderdale, U.S. state of Florida, on Monday afternoon, according to U.S. Coast Guard and media reports.
Up to 11 people, including two children, were injured and transported to hospitals.
The explosion took place when the anchored boat was trying to leave the New River Triangle sandbar.
People on board were tossed into water and the cause of the explosion is unknown yet, according to Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue spokesperson Frank Guzman.
Local fire investigators, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Fort Lauderdale Police are investigating the cause of the blast.
Muslim ethnic Fulani nomadic herders have long clashed with settled farmers, many of whom are Christian, in Benue over access to land and resources. AN-AP
JOS, Nigeria – More than 30 people have been killed in separate attacks in recent days in central Nigeria, a local government official said Monday, the latest raids in a region where herders and farmers often clash over land access.
The attacks occurred in three villages between Friday and Sunday, chairman of the Gwer West local government area of Benue state, Ormin Torsar Victor, told AFP.
“No less than 20 people were killed at Aondana village on Sunday,” he told AFP over the phone, adding that more than 10 others died in another village.
A resident of Aondona, Ruthie Dan Sam, told AFP that “20 people were killed here in Aondona.”
“Children of less than two are being killed. The worst sight is a baby macheted on its mouth,” she said.
She added that other people had been killed in neighboring villages, but she had no figures.
Victor said he and other locals had buried five people, including a father and two of his sons killed in the village of Tewa Biana “very close to a military base.”
Benue State Police spokesperson Anene Sewuese Catherine confirmed two attacks in the area but said her office had received “no report of 20 people” killed.
She said one raid resulted in the death of a policeman who had “repelled an attack” and that “three dead bodies were discovered.”
Motive for the violence was not clear, but Victor blamed the “coordinated attacks” on Fulani cattle herders.
Muslim ethnic Fulani nomadic herders have long clashed with settled farmers, many of whom are Christian, in Benue over access to land and resources.
The attacks in Nigeria’s so-called Middle Belt often take on a religious or ethnic dimension.
Benue has been one of the states hit hardest by such violence between nomadic herders and farmers who blame herdsmen for destroying farmland with their cattle grazing.
BEIJING, May. 27 – An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 jolted South of Java, Indonesia at 2025-05-27 00:55:05 GMT on Tuesday (2025-05-27 08:55:05 Beijing Time), the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said.
The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be at 10.39 degrees south latitude and 110.24 degrees east longitude.
SYDNEY, May 27 – Five people died in two separate crashes within hours in the Australian state of Queensland, one of which is the subject of a homicide investigation.
The Queensland Police Service (QPS) said in a statement that two people were killed when a car crashed into a tree near the small town of Brooloo, over 100 km north of Brisbane, shortly before 2 p.m. on Monday.
A man in the front passenger seat and a woman seated in the back were declared deceased at the scene. The driver, a 61-year-old male, was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries.
Following further investigations, he was arrested by detectives. The QPS said he was under police guard in hospital on Monday night and assisting detectives with an ongoing homicide investigation into the crash.
In a separate incident, three people were killed in a fiery highway crash between two vehicles near the town of Grosvenor, almost 300 km northwest of Brisbane, shortly after 5 p.m.
The QPS said that two vehicles were travelling in opposite directions on a highway when they collided. Emergency services arrived at the scene and found one of the vehicles engulfed in flames.
Two occupants of that vehicle as well as the sole occupant of the other, a 42-year-old woman, were declared deceased at the scene.
Police said that investigations into both crashes are ongoing.
Crowds greet the Liverpool soccer team during their Premier League winners parade in Liverpool, England, Monday, May 26, 2025. AP
LIVERPOOL, England, May 26 – A car ploughed into a crowd of Liverpool fans during a parade celebrating their side’s Premier League soccer title on Monday, hospitalising 27 people, with two seriously injured, but police said they did not believe the incident was terrorism-related.
Police said they had arrested a “53-year-old white British man from the Liverpool area,” whom they believed to be the driver of the vehicle which struck a large group of supporters who were celebrating in the city in northwest England.
Twenty people were treated at the scene. Ambulance officials said of the 27 taken to hospital, four were children. One child and one adult were in a serious condition. Four people trapped under the vehicle had to be released by fire fighters.
Videos on social media showed people thrown into the air as the car rammed into spectators.
When the car stopped, angry fans converged on it and began smashing the windows as police officers intervened to prevent them from reaching the driver.
“We believe this to be an isolated incident, and we are not currently looking for anyone else in relation to it. The incident is not being treated as terrorism,” temporary Deputy Chief Constable Jenny Sims told reporters.
Police and emergency personnel deal with an incident after a car collided with pedestrians near the Liver Building during the Premier League winners parade in Liverpool, England, Monday, May 26, 2025. AP
With most people off work for the Spring Bank Holiday, hundreds of thousands of fans gathered to watch the Liverpool team and its staff travel through the city centre on an open-top bus with the Premier League trophy.
The incident “cast a very dark shadow over what had been a joyous day,” Liverpool city council leader Liam Robinson said on social media.
In the aftermath, a Reuters photographer saw emergency services carrying victims on stretchers to ambulances and debris scattered on the road.
Police were unusually quick to give a description of the man they arrested.
Dal Babu, a former chief superintendent in London’s Metropolitan Police, told the BBC this was an effort to cool social media speculation that the episode was an Islamist attack.
The same police force oversaw the response to the murder of three young girls in the nearby town of Southport last year, an incident which sparked days of rioting, sparked by speculation online over the identity of the attacker.
An eyewitness to Monday’s incident who gave her name as Chelsea told BBC Radio that people packed onto the street were only alerted to the danger by screams from the crowd. That enabled some to jump out of the way as the driver showed no sign of slowing.
“With the commotion, that was the only reason we looked up, and thankfully, looked up and managed to jump out (of) the way in time,” the woman said.
Police and emergency personnel deal with an incident near the Liver Building during the Premier League winners parade, in Liverpool, England, Monday, May 26, 2025. AP
A Reuters witness said that before the incident, there was disorder in the city centre where the parade was due to pass, with overcrowding and spectators confused by a lack of signage about street closures or where they should go.
Liverpool last won the trophy during the COVID pandemic when celebrations were not permitted due to lockdowns.
Politicians in Britain and in Ireland, where the club is popular, thanked emergency services.
“My thoughts are with all those injured or affected,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on X, calling the scenes “appalling.” and saying that he was being updated about the events.
The team said on X it was in direct contact with police. “Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have been affected by this serious incident,” Liverpool FC said.
SANTIAGO, May 26 – Chile’s President Gabriel Boric was set to travel Monday to the southern city of Puerto Varas after an unusually strong tornado whipped through the town Sunday, injuring 19 people, damaging over 250 homes, and knocking down power lines and trees.
The intense tornado surprised the 45,000 residents of the city located at the edge of Lake Llanquihue, close to numerous volcanoes.
Following the incident, Boric announced the government will take emergency measures to expedite the survey of damage to homes and property, and said “various state agencies are collaborating in the removal of debris.”
Undersecretary of the Interior Victor Ramos provided the media with an assessment of the situation Monday, saying the injured were receiving treatment, and “the supply of drinking water has been restored to 100 percent and the electrical system has been 85 percent restored.”
Puerto Varas residents took to social media Sunday afternoon to report “hurricane-force winds” that sounded like “an airplane taking off.”
Residents also shared images of fallen trees, broken glass, damaged streets, and destroyed rooftops.
Chile’s meteorological service said the unusual phenomenon registered winds of up to 180 kilometers per hour.
The National Service for Disaster Prevention and Response (Senapred) has declared a red alert for the area to continue monitoring the meteorological event, leading local authorities to suspend school classes on Monday, in addition to providing shelters for those affected.
Palestinians wait to receive aid, in Gaza City, May 25, 2025. REUTERS
AMMAN, May 26 – Jordan and Norway on Monday urged an immediate, lasting ceasefire in Gaza and unrestricted humanitarian access, while reaffirming support for a two-state solution as the basis for lasting regional peace.
Following talks in Amman, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Norway’s recognition of Palestine underscored its commitment to international law and justice.
The minister stressed that peace and stability require the two-state solution, namely a sovereign Palestinian state along the 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Safadi praised Norway’s role as chair of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, which coordinates donor support for Palestinians, and commended its efforts to ease Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and revive peace talks.
He also condemned the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli extremist ministers, warning of escalating tensions.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide called the situation in Gaza “catastrophic” and pressed for an end to the 19-month conflict. Eide warned that conflicts in Gaza would continue to recur unless the underlying issue – the lack of a Palestinian state – is addressed.
The Norwegian diplomat also said Norway would continue promoting Palestinian recognition and welcomed the upcoming UN conference on the two-state solution in New York in June, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France.
Soccer Football – Premier League – Liverpool Victory Parade – Liverpool, Britain – May 26, 2025 Emergency services at an incident involving a car and supporters during the Victory parade. REUTERS/Action Images
LIVERPOOL, England, May 26 – A car ploughed into large crowds of Liverpool fans in the city centre during their side’s Premier League title celebrations on Monday, videos online showed, with police saying a man had been detained.
British police said they were responding to reports of a car hitting a “number of pedestrians” shortly after the team’s open-top coach carrying players and coaching staff drove through the city centre, where they were greeted by tens of thousands of fans.
An unverified video on social media purporting to show the incident showed a car driving at speed into large crowds of fans lining the street, at one point appearing to swerve away from the most densely crowded area.
Large numbers of police surrounded the vehicle shortly afterwards, with other videos showing that angry fans also tried to reach the driver. Some people were pictured lying in the road.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on X that the scenes were appalling and that he was being kept updated about the events.
“The scenes in Liverpool are appalling — my thoughts are with all those injured or affected. I want to thank the police and emergency services for their swift and ongoing response to this shocking incident,” Starmer said on social media.
Police said in a statement that the car had stopped at the scene and a male had been detained.
“Emergency services are currently on the scene,” they said.
A Reuters photographer said multiple ambulances were in the street, with a tent erected by nearby fire engines.
The Silver Spirit cruise-ship sailing off Saudi Arabia’s western coast. (AFP)
RIYADH – Claims carried by a number of foreign media outlets suggesting that Saudi Arabia is planning to license alcohol sales starting in 2026, are false. According to informed Saudi sources, “these claims lack any official confirmation from relevant authorities and do not reflect existing policies or regulations in Saudi Arabia.”
The sources told Arab News that Saudi Arabia, under its ambitious vision to develop the tourism sector, remains committed to offering a unique and culturally immersive experience. This approach has been well-received by international visitors who come to explore the Kingdom’s rich heritage and diverse natural landscapes.
Regarding alcohol regulations for non-Muslim diplomats, the sources clarified that Saudi Arabia has introduced a new framework aimed at preventing the unauthorized use of diplomatic shipments. Under these new measures, embassies of non-Muslim countries are no longer permitted to import alcohol and certain other items in diplomatic shipments. However, controlled access to such goods remains possible under strict regulatory guidelines to prevent misuse.
The sources also noted the significant growth of Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector. In 2024, the country welcomed 29.7 million international tourists, an 8% increase compared to 27.4 million in 2023. Additionally, total tourism spending—both domestic and international—reached 283.8 billion SAR with 168.5 billion SAR contributed by foreign visitors, underscoring the sector’s vital role in supporting the national economy.
A WFP truck, which will be sent into Gaza empty for logistical purposes, is transported at the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, May 26, 2025. AN-REUTERS
LONDON – UN World Food Programme chief Cindy McCain has rejected Israeli government claims that Hamas is looting aid trucks arriving in Gaza, The Independent reported.
The widow of late US Sen. John McCain has repeatedly advocated for Israel to allow more aid into the Palestinian enclave, which was placed under a months-long blockade in March.
The first aid trucks began arriving in the territory last week, but the Israeli government accused Hamas of disrupting the distribution process, claiming to have killed six people affiliated with the group near an aid point at the Kerem Shalom crossing on Friday. Hamas said the armed men were guarding against looting.
An Israeli military spokesperson told Reuters: “Hamas constantly calls the looters ‘guards’ or protectors’ to mask the fact that they’re disturbing the aid process.”
Speaking to “Face the Nation” on CBS on Sunday, McCain was asked by host Margaret Brennan: “Have you seen evidence that it is Hamas stealing the food?”
McCain replied: “No. Not at all. Not in this round. Listen, these people are desperate, and they see a World Food Programme truck coming in, and they run for it. This doesn’t have anything to do with Hamas or any kind of organized crime, or anything.”
She described the situation in Gaza as a “catastrophe,” and said the WFP would continue work urgently to transport food and fresh water into the enclave.
So far, the aid trucks that have entered Gaza are “a drop in the bucket as to what’s needed,” she told CBS.
“Right now, we have 500,000 people inside of Gaza that are extremely food insecure, and could be on the verge of famine if we don’t help bring them back from that.”
Contrary to Israeli claims that many of the aid trucks entering Gaza are being hijacked, McCain said they are being swarmed by “desperate” people. “Having been in a food riot myself some years ago, I understand the desperation,” she added.
Israelis gather with flags by Damascus Gate to Jerusalem’s Old City, as they mark Jerusalem Day, in Jerusalem May 26, 2025. REUTERS
JERUSALEM, May 26 – A large rally in Jerusalem marking Israel’s capture of the city’s east in a 1967 war descended into chaos on Monday as far-right Israeli Jews confronted and assaulted Palestinians, fellow Israelis and journalists, witnesses said.
The annual “Flag March” drew thousands chanting, dancing and waving Israeli flags shortly after far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a longtime flashpoint of Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
Violence broke out in the walled Old City of East Jerusalem shortly after midday, a Reuters witness said, when young marchers began harassing the few Palestinian shopkeepers who had yet to shutter their stores ahead of the rally.
The marchers, mostly young Israelis who live in settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, then began to target Israeli left-wing activists and journalists observing the rally.
The demonstrators shouted nationalistic slogans and called for violence against Palestinians, chanting: “Death to Arabs”.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Al-Aqsa compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, during Jerusalem’s Day, in Jerusalem’s Old City May 26, 2025 REUTERS
A Palestinian woman and journalists were spat on by a group of young settlers, and nearby Israeli police did not intervene, the Reuters witness said.
Police officials did not respond to a request for comment. No arrests were reported as of late afternoon.
A police officer at the scene said young Israeli marchers could not be arrested because they were under the age of 18.
Moshe, a 35-year-old Israeli settler from the West Bank and supporter of the current right-wing government, walked through a Palestinian neighbourhood of the Old City with a rifle slung over his shoulder and his daughter on his shoulders. It was a “very happy day” because all of Jerusalem was “under the government of Israel,” he said, declining to give his last name.
Left-wing opposition leader Yair Golan, a former armed forces deputy commander, described images of violence in the Old City as “shocking”. He said in a statement: “This is not what loving Jerusalem looks like. This is what hatred, racism and bullying look like.”
“We will keep Jerusalem united, whole, and under Israeli sovereignty,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting held in East Jerusalem earlier on Monday.
A spokesperson for the Palestinian presidency based in the West Bank condemned the march and Ben Gvir’s visit to Al-Aqsa.
Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, “repeated incursions into the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and provocative acts such as raising the Israeli flag in occupied Jerusalem threaten the stability of the entire region,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.
Israelis gather with flags by Damascus Gate to Jerusalem’s Old City, as they mark Jerusalem Day, in Jerusalem May 26, 2025. REUTERS
Clashes flared throughout the day as left-wing Israeli activists intervened to escort Palestinians away from young far-right Israeli Jews threatening passersby, witnesses said.
Journalists covering the rally were repeatedly harassed and in some instances assaulted, the Reuters witness said.
Tractors are parked in front of the French parliament, the Assemblee Nationale, as French farmers gather for a protest to call on lawmakers to adopt a bill that would loosen restrictions on pesticide and water use in farming, in Paris, France May 26, 2025. REUTERS
PARIS, May 26 – French farmers disrupted highway traffic around Paris and rallied in front of parliament with their tractors on Monday, protesting against amendments filed by opposition lawmakers to a bill that would loosen environmental regulations on farming.
The draft legislation proposes simplifying approvals for breeding facilities and irrigation reservoirs and re-authorising a banned neonicotinoid pesticide used in sugar beet cultivation that environmentalists say is harmful to bees.
It is part of a trend in numerous European Union states to unwind environmental legislation as farmers grapple with rising input costs and households struggle with the cost of living.
Environmental campaigners and some unions representing small-scale and organic farmers say the bill benefits the large-scale agro industry at the expense of independent operators.
President Emmanuel Macron’s opponents on the political left have tabled multiple amendments that the protesting farmers said threatened the bill.
“We’re asking the lawmakers, our lawmakers, to be serious and vote for it as it stands,” said Julien Thierry, a grain farmer from the Yvelines department outside Paris, criticising lawmakers from the Greens and left-wing France Unbowed (LFI).
Farmers across France and Europe won concessions last year after railing against cheap foreign competition and what they say are unnecessary regulations.
On Monday, farmers drove their tractors along at least half a dozen highways leading into Paris, slowing the morning rush-hour traffic.
Dozens gathered in front of the National Assembly on the banks of the river Seine as lawmakers debated the bill.
The FNSEA farmers union said regulations needed to be simplified for French farming to be more competitive.
The union and its allies also say the neonicotinoid pesticide acetamiprid is authorised in the rest of the EU and should be in France, as it is less toxic to wildlife than other neonicotinoids and stops crops being ravaged by pests.
Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson attends a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) in Oslo, Norway May 9, 2025. NTB/Terje Pedersen via REUTERS/File Photo
COPENHAGEN, May 26 – Sweden’s foreign ministry will summon Israel’s ambassador in Stockholm to protest against a lack of humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Monday.
Last week, under growing international pressure, Israeli authorities allowed a trickle of aid into the Palestinian enclave but the few hundred trucks carried only a tiny fraction of the food needed by a population of 2 million at risk of famine after nearly three months of blockade.
Kristersson told Swedish news agency TT that the European Union should impose sanctions and exert diplomatic pressure on Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“We have been incredibly clear about that, ourselves and together with many other European countries,” Kristersson told TT.
“That pressure is now increasing, no doubt, and for very good reasons,” he said. The Swedish prime minister’s office confirmed to Reuters that Kristersson had made the statement.
Israel launched an air and ground war in Gaza after Hamas militants’ cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed some 1,200 people by Israeli tallies and saw 251 hostages abducted into Gaza.
The Israeli campaign has since killed more than 53,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip. Aid groups say signs of severe malnutrition are widespread.
GENEVA, May 26 – The majority of supplies of medical equipment have run out in Gaza, while 42% of basic medicines including pain killers are out of stock, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
“We are at stock zero of close to 64% of medical equipment and stock zero of 43% of essential medicines and 42% of vaccines,” Hanan Balkhy, the WHO’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, told reporters in Geneva.
Balkhy said the WHO has 51 aid trucks waiting on the Gaza border that have not yet had clearance to enter the Palestinian enclave, where Israel last week slightly eased a total blockade on aid imposed in early March.
“Can you imagine a surgeon (fixing) a broken bone with no anaesthesia? IV fluids, needles, bandages – they do not exist in the quantities that are required,” she said, adding that basic medications such as antibiotics, pain killers and drugs for chronic diseases were in short supply.
After an 11-week blockade, Israel – at war with Gaza’s dominant militant group Hamas since October 2023 – allowed 100 aid trucks carrying flour, baby food and medical equipment into the Gaza Strip on May 21, none of them from the WHO.
Amidst ongoing shortages of medical equipment, the WHO confirmed that it would not take part in an alternative, U.S.-backed aid plan to distribute aid, proposed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
The United Nations has said the foundation is not impartial and its work could cause further displacement of civilians, exposes thousands to harm.
The GHF previously told Reuters its plan would enable aid to be delivered to people in need, without diversion to Hamas militants or criminal gangs.
Israel stopped all aid deliveries to Gaza on March 2 after accusing Hamas of stealing aid, which it denied, and demanding the release of all remaining hostages taken during Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel.
