Saudi Arabia on Sunday called for regional «stability», warning of the effects of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war on global economic sentiment at the start of a summit attended by a host of Gaza mediators. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Palestinian leaders and high-ranking officials from other countries trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are on the guest list for the summit in Riyadh, capital of the world's biggest crude oil exporter. The Gaza war along with conflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere put «a lot of pressure» on the economic «mood», Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said at one of the first panel discussions of the two-day World Economic Forum (WEF) special meeting. «I think cool-headed countries and leaders and people need to prevail,» Jadaan said. «The region needs stability.» The war in Gaza, which has sent regional tensions soaring, began with an unprecedented attack on southern Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7. The attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Israel estimates that 129 hostages seized by militants on October 7 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,454 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry. Speaking in Riyadh, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said the United States «is the only country capable» of preventing Israel's long-feared invasion of Rafah city in southern Gaza. «We appeal to the United States of America to ask Israel to stop the Rafah operation,» Abbas said, warning it would harm and displace civilians, and be «the biggest disaster in the history of the Palestinian people». - 'New momentum' in hostage talks - Saudi planning minister Faisal al-Ibrahim told a press conference on Saturday, previewing the summit, that the world is «walking a tightrope right now, trying to balance security and prosperity». «We meet at a moment when one misjudgement or one miscalculation or one miscommunication will further exacerbate our challenges.» WEF president Borge Brende said there was «some new momentum now in the talks around the hostages, and also for... a possible way out of the impasse we are faced with in Gaza». However there will be no Israeli participation at the summit. «This is more an opportunity to have structured discussions» with «the key players» including mediators Qatar and Egypt, he said. «There will be discussions, of course, on the ongoing humanitarian situation in Gaza» as well as on Iran, which backs Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah group, he added. The US State Department said Blinken will «discuss ongoing efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza that secures the release of hostages». Hamas said on Saturday it was studying the latest Israeli counterproposal regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza, a day after media reports said a delegation from mediator Egypt arrived in Israel in a bid to jump-start stalled negotiations. - Spotlight on Saudi - From the outset Saudi Arabia has worked with other regional and global powers to try to contain the war in Gaza and avoid the type of conflagration that could derail its ambitious economic reform agenda known as Vision 2030. The kingdom also remains in talks about a landmark deal under which it would recognise Israel for the first time while strengthening its security partnership with the United States, though analysts say the war has made it more difficult. Meanwhile the conservative Gulf kingdom, home to the holiest shrines in Islam, is trying to open up to the world, luring business leaders and non-religious tourists. Hosting international events such as the WEF meeting allows the kingdom to showcase social changes including the reintroduction of cinemas and the lifting of a ban on women driving. «Eight years into Vision 2030, we have demonstrated our willingness to lead the way towards a model of transformative growth that is innovative, inclusive and sustainable,» Ibrahim said on Saturday. Yet questions persist about just how much of Vision 2030 will be achieved and when, with special scrutiny falling on signature projects such as NEOM, a planned futuristic megacity. In December, Jadaan, the Saudi finance minister, said officials had decided to push the timeframe for some major projects past 2030, without specifying which ones, though he also noted that others would be accelerated. Saudi Arabia is projecting budget deficits through 2026 and GDP growth was nearly flat last year after a series of oil production cuts. Jadaan stressed on Sunday that non-oil GDP growth was «very healthy» at 4.4 percent and that «Vision 2030 is about, actually, the non-oil GDP». © Agence France-Presse

SINGAPORE - Retiree Calvin Yeo was driving in Teck Whye with his son on April 27 when they spotted a creature on the road jumping and appearing to bite the tyres of moving vehicles. Upon getting closer, the pair spotted a 2m-long python attacking at least five passing vehicles in the middle of a two-lane road near Block 136 Teck Whye Lane at 10.45pm. The 63-year-old said: “It’s my first time seeing a big snake in an urban area. It was quite scary and aggressive. The snake’s belly was bulging like it had just eaten an animal the size of a cat.” He added that there were “loud, popping noises” when the snake struck at the vehicles for over 30 minutes. Mr Yeo and his son parked nearby and stood about two to three metres away from the reptile. Vehicles slowed down and avoided the snake as they passed by the area, he added. When contacted, the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) said the python was sluggish in movement as it had just eaten.

The SNP's former Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, has sparked fury in party ranks over an audacious bid to enter the House of Lords, the Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Navigating between residents’ rage over Gaza and Democrats’ fears of Trump, Abdullah Hammoud must decide whether to back Biden in the fall

France-based Malawian football star Tabitha Chawinga has reached another milestone after winning the French Women’s First Division Player of the Month Award of March. The Malawian forward won the three-way vote which pitted her against her two teammates, Sakina Karchaoui and Katarzyna Kiedrzynek. The French Women’s Division 1 stated that the Paris Saint Germain (PSG) […] The post Tabitha Chawinga becomes the first African player to win the Player of the Season Award in France appeared first on Malawi Nyasa Times - News from Malawi about Malawi.

Tattoo enthusiasts in Malawi now have a reason to be more excited as Black Flame Ink, the “first professional tattoo studio” situated in Lilongwe’s Area 3 upmarket suburb, is set for grand opening and launch scheduled for 4th to 5th May, 2024. Gift Mwandama—a 24-year old Malawian who has always been a keen artist specializing in realistic […] The post Malawi’s ‘first professional tattoo studio’ set to open in Lilongwe appeared first on Malawi Nyasa Times - News from Malawi about Malawi.

Khonsolo ya mzinda wa Lilongwe m’bandakucha wa lero yagwetsa nyumba zomwe anthu ena anamanga ku Malangalanga mu mzinda wa Lilongwe. Malingana ndi mneneri wa khonsoloyi a Tamara Chafunya, nyumba zina zomwe eni ake anatenga chiletso ku khothi kuti asawagwetsere, azisiya kaye pakadali pano. Iwo ati ntchitoyi akhala akuyigwira m’malo ochitira malonda komanso okhala anthu, ngakhale […] The post Khonsolo ya Lilongwe yayamba kugwesa ma shop omangidwa malo osalolezedwa m’muzindawu appeared first on Malawi Nyasa Times - News from Malawi about Malawi.

Vladimir Zelensky reportedly lied about Ukraine losing only 31,000 troops since February 2022 to avoid derailing the mobilization drive Read Full Article at RT.com

Athletes and fans finished the Russian anthem after the music was cut off by a technical glitch at a sports event in Serbia Read Full Article at RT.com

US “lapdogs will whine” when the “judgment day” comes, Russia’s deputy UN envoy Dmitry Polyansky has warned Read Full Article at RT.com

A woman was killed, a source in the emergency services said

The military used sting grenades and tear gas, the news agency noted

It is important not to succumb, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said

It will kick off in the next couple of days, Mahmoud Abbas thinks

Mogadishu (HOL) - A suspected al-Shabab militant died along with his two children when an improvised explosive device (IED) he was making exploded in his house near Mogadishu on Saturday night. His wife was also injured in the blast.

CAIRO — After the latest attack in the Red Sea on a British oil tanker, a top Houthi official in the Yemeni capital is vowing to attack U.S. interests across the region, including military bases on the east coast of Africa in Djibouti, Eritrea and elsewhere. Some commentators think this is part of an Iranian strategy to increase Tehran's influence in the Middle East.

It would be an exaggeration to say Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith's video about carbon pricing is setting the internet on fire. But it's enough to say that Erskine-Smith has contributed to the hottest new trend in Canadian politics: talking at length and in some detail.

The Charity Commission last night confirmed that it had removed the supermodel's charity from the UK charity register while it continued its investigation into allegations of misconduct.

Abdul Usman, who claims to be a 17-year-old from Sudan, has been living in a tent 'jungle' for seven months at Loon-Plage, near Dunkirk. He insisted that nothing would deter him from reaching Britain.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused PM Modi of favoring Delhi billionaires and alleged Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik serves only elites. At a rally in Kendrapara, he claimed BJP and BJD collaborate behind the scenes. Rahul hinted at Patnaik's aide VK Pandian's influence, accusing Modi and Patnaik of plundering Odisha's wealth, referencing «PAANN» - Pandian, Amit Shah, Narendra Modi, Naveen Patnaik.

Forest officials reported that the fires in Marora and Khanana civil areas of the Narendranagar forest division's Maniknath range have been completely extinguished. Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, after reviewing the situation in the Kumaon region on Saturday night, stated that the forest blaze in Nainital and adjoining areas is gradually being brought under control following the deployment of an IAF Mi-17 V5 helicopter for firefighting operations.

Country Life is now warning townies not to be too captivated by the bucolic dream it promotes - by offering some home truths about the less charming parts of village life.

The UK Defense Ministry is considering sending the military to help deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, the BBC reports Read Full Article at RT.com

Europe must think about building “a credible European defense” backed by nuclear weapons, Emmanuel Macron has said Read Full Article at RT.com

Israel will never accept attempts to undermine its right to self-defense, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Read Full Article at RT.com

Since the beginning of the year, the coral reefs at the Aldabra Atoll, one of the Seychelles' UNESCO World Heritage sites, are experiencing a severe bleaching event. A marine researcher on Aldabra working for the Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF), Dr Anna Koester, said the bleaching event is even more severe than the one in 2016. Seychelles witnessed a mass coral-bleaching event from February to August 2016 after a particularly hot season coupled with an intense El Niño caused water temperatures to rise and exceed season averages by 1 to 2°C for several weeks, triggering the phenomenon of coral bleaching on the reef. «It is still too early to say anything specific about the scale of the damage as we are only now approaching the time of the year when water temperatures peak. However, already in February, the heat stresses the corals have experienced were by far higher than during the last bleaching event in 2016,» Koester told SNA. She said, «This heat stress is measured by adding up the weeks during which water temperatures have exceeded the usual maximum water temperature – this measure is called Degree Heating Weeks (DHW). The higher the DHW value, the higher the accumulated heat stress over the past weeks. For example, during the 2016 coral bleaching event, Aldabra's reefs experienced heat stress of a maximum of 6 DHW. Right now, they have experienced 3 DHW already.» Aldabra's reefs are an essential habitat to fish communities. (Fotonatura, Seychelles Islands Foundation) Photo License: All Rights Reserved  Koester said the heat stress «exceeds anything we have measured at Aldabra before, which clearly shows the severity of the current bleaching event. We have also observed some mortality already, however, we will only see the full scale of the mortality in a few months.» She added that they first began to see signs of bleaching at Aldabra at the beginning of January and emphasised the importance of reducing other stressors that affect coral reefs such as pollution, overfishing and physical damage through construction or anchors. «Marine protected areas, if well enforced, and appropriate coastal management are ways to address this. Nevertheless, we do have to be realistic about what can be achieved on the local level. Coral bleaching events such as the current one are triggered by global warming, which further and further reduces the time periods between severe bleaching events, leaving essentially no time for reefs to recover in between. Addressing climate change therefore remains the primary solution to safeguard coral reefs in the long term,» said Koester. She also talked about building more resilience in corals, especially concerning heat, and said, «There are no immediate options to mitigate the effects of this bleaching event, but we can utilise it to study the processes that make some corals more resilient than others. In the long term, this information can help to better conserve coral reefs and promote their resilience to heat stress.» Recently, the Minister for Blue Economy and Fisheries, Jean-Francois Ferrari, described Aldabra as being a living laboratory when talking about the preliminary results of the Monaco Explorations expedition and how experts at the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco had stated that about 82 percent of corals found elsewhere in the region could originate from Aldabra. During the Monaco Explorations expedition in November 2022, samples of corals from Aldabra were collected to be studied and preserved, and Ferrari said the samples are flourishing in several institutes. He said, «It's good that apart from the Oceanographic Institute, they are also being stored in three other laboratories in Europe. If one day we lose the corals at Aldabra because of a bleaching event, these samples will be crucial for their rehabilitation.»

RISHI SUNAK: In the past ten days we have taken decisive action to make sure work always pays, to control our borders and to make us more secure at home and stronger abroad.

Disgruntled fans admitted that they believed the show should be for British people because of its name and wanted to take the issue to the UK TV regulator.

The well-known Wan Smolbag (WSB) Theatre group celebrated its 35th Anniversary with the launching two new films, “Muv, Muv, Muv” and “Protektem Ol Gel,” on April 25 at the Tana Cine theatre.

Over 8,000 informal workers have joined the Vanuatu National Provident Fund (VNPF) as voluntary members since the Fund begun extending its coverage into the informal sector some years ago.

The President of the Union of Moderate Parties (UMP) and Leader of Opposition, Ishmael Kalsakau, recommended that the Prime Minister (PM) defer the referendum until next year to ensure that the information regarding the proposed amendments reaches everyone.