Headline
Israel’s Netanyahu Says Iran Will ‘Pay Heavy Price’ After Hospital Hit
Published
1 month agoon
By
Editor
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran would “pay a heavy price” after a hospital in southern Israel was hit during an Iranian missile attack on Thursday, while his defence minister said Iran’s supreme leader would be “held accountable”.
“This morning, Iran’s terrorist dictators fired missiles at Soroka Hospital… and at civilians in the centre of the country. We will make the tyrants in Tehran pay a heavy price,” Netanyahu said in a post on X.
The Soroka Hospital in the southern town of Beersheba was left in flames following an early morning barrage of “dozens” of Iranian ballistic missiles, with impacts also reported in two Israeli towns close to coastal hub Tel Aviv.
Speaking at the scene of the hospital, director Shlomi Kodesh said that a surgical building which had been evacuated in the past few days was hit, adding that 40 people had sustained injuries.
“Several wards were completely demolished and there is extensive damage across the entire hospital with damage to buildings, structures, windows, ceilings across the medical centre,” he told journalists.
Iran said it was targeting an Israeli military and intelligence base, not the health facility.
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The latest escalation came on the seventh day of deadly exchanges between the two countries, with US President Donald Trump maintaining suspense about whether Washington will enter the war alongside Israel.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected Trump’s demand for an “unconditional surrender”, despite claims from the US leader that “Iran’s got a lot of trouble and they want to negotiate”.
– ‘Never surrender’ –
Trump has left his intentions on joining the conflict deliberately ambiguous, saying Wednesday: “I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
“The next week is going to be very big,” he added, without further details.
Any US involvement would be expected to involve the bombing of a crucial underground Iranian nuclear facility in Fordow, for which special bunker-busting bombs have been developed.
The White House said Trump would receive an intelligence briefing on Thursday, a US holiday. Top US diplomat Marco Rubio is set meet his British counterpart for talks expected to focus on the conflict.
READ ALSO:Netanyahu Says Israel’s Strikes On Iran Have ‘Clear Support’ Of Trump
“I have ideas as to what to do, but I haven’t made a final (decision),” Trump said. “I like to make the final decision one second before it’s due, because things change. Especially with war.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had told aides on Tuesday he had approved attack plans but was holding off to see if Iran would give up its nuclear programme.
Trump told reporters that Iranian officials “want to come to the White House”, a claim denied by Tehran.
The US president had favoured a diplomatic route to end Iran’s nuclear programme, seeking a deal to replace the 2015 agreement he tore up in his first term.
But since Israel unleashed the campaign against Iran last week, Trump has stood behind the key US ally.
– Nuclear sites –
On Thursday morning, Israel said it had carried out dozens of fresh raids on Iranian targets overnight, including the partially built Arak nuclear reactor and a nuclear facility in Natanz that has been struck previously.
READ ALSO:Netanyahu Announces Readiness For Gaza ‘Temporary Ceasefire’
The Israeli military said the Arak site on the outskirts of the village of Khondab in central Iran had been hit “to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development”.
There was also a “near-total national internet blackout” in Iran on Wednesday, a London-based watchdog said, with Iran’s Fars news agency confirming heavier internet restrictions after initial curbs imposed last week.
The military campaign has sparked calls for a return to diplomacy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that a deal to guarantee both Israel’s security and Iran’s desire for a civilian nuclear programme was possible.
“I believe it would be good for all of us together to look for ways to stop the fighting and seek ways for the participants in the conflict to find an agreement,” he told foreign journalists at a televised event.
He said Iran had not asked Russia for military help.
– Daily barrages –
An Israeli military official, who asked not to be named, said Wednesday that Iran had fired around 400 ballistic missiles and 1,000 drones since the conflict began on Friday.
READ ALSO:Netanyahu To Meet Trump As Israel, Hamas Eye Gaza Truce Talks
About 20 missiles had struck civilian areas in Israel, the official added.
Iranian strikes have killed at least 24 people and injured hundreds since they began, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Monday.
Iran said Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians.
Both countries have not issued an updated official toll since then.
Israel says its surprise air campaign is aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Iran had been enriching uranium to 60 percent — far above the 3.67-percent limit set by the 2015 nuclear death but still short of the 90-percent threshold needed for a nuclear warhead.
Israel has maintained ambiguity on its own atomic activities, but the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says it has 90 nuclear warheads.
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Headline
We’ll Deny You Visa If You’re Traveling To Give Birth, US Tells Nigerians
Published
5 days agoon
July 28, 2025By
Editor
The United States Mission in Nigeria has warned Nigerians planning to travel to the US primarily to give birth to secure American citizenship for their children.
In a post on X, the US Mission stated that using a visa for the main purpose of childbirth is prohibited under US immigration policy.
“Using your visa to travel for the primary purpose of giving birth in the United States so that your child will have U.S. citizenship is not permitted. Consular officers will deny your visa application if they have reason to believe this is your intent,” the US Mission said.
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This warning is coming following the rising scrutiny of visa applications and growing enforcement around what is informally referred to as “birth tourism”, the practice of traveling to the US to give birth so the child obtains automatic citizenship.
Recall that the United States Department of State had also revised its visa reciprocity policy, announcing that most non-immigrant, non-diplomatic visas issued to Nigerian citizens will now be single-entry visas with a three-month validity period.
The US maintained that its visa policies are based on global technical and security benchmarks aimed at protecting the integrity of its immigration systems.
Headline
Three Dead, Several Injured As Train Derails In Germany
Published
5 days agoon
July 28, 2025By
Editor
Three people were killed and several others injured when a regional passenger train derailed in a wooded area in southwestern Germany on Sunday, police said.
About 100 passengers were aboard the train, when the accident occurred at around 6:10 pm (1610 GMT) near the town of Riedlingen in Baden-Wuerttemberg state.
Contacted by AFP, police initially said four people had been killed before correcting their statement to three victims.
Authorities declined to elaborate on the number of injured or how seriously hurt they were, though tabloid Bild cited emergency workers saying there were 50 injured.
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German rail operator Deutsche Bahn confirmed several deaths and numerous injured. Two train carriages had derailed “for reasons yet unknown”, it added.
Authorities were currently investigating the circumstances of the accident, the operator said, and traffic had been suspended over a 40-kilometre (25-mile) stretch of the route.
German media reported that a landslide might have caused the accident as severe storms swept through the region, according to weather services.
The passenger train was travelling from the German town of Sigmaringen to the city of Ulm when it derailed in a forested area.
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– Outdated train infrastructure –
In a post on social media, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed his condolences to the families of those killed.
He added that he was in close contact with both the interior and transport ministers, and had asked them to “provide the emergency services with all the support they need”.
Footage from the scene of the accident showed yellow-and-grey-coloured train carriages lying on their sides, as firefighters and emergency services tried to get to the passengers.
According to local TV station SWR, helicopters arrived shortly after the accident to transport the injured to hospitals in the area, and emergency doctors from nearby hospitals were alerted.
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German transport is regularly criticised by passengers for its outdated infrastructure, with travellers facing frequent train delays, and various technical problems.
The government has pledged to invest several hundred billion euros over the next few years, in particular to modernise infrastructure.
In June 2022, a train derailed near a Bavarian Alpine resort in southern Germany, killing four people and injuring dozens.
Germany’s deadliest rail accident happened in 1998 when a high-speed train operated by state-owned Deutsche Bahn derailed in Eschede in Lower Saxony, killing 101 people.
AFP

At least 11 people were injured in a stabbing at a Walmart store in the Midwestern state of Michigan on Saturday, with police saying it appeared to be a random attack.
A 42-year-old male suspect was in custody, Grand Traverse County Sheriff Michael Shea told a press conference.
“Based on the information that we have at this time, it appears they were random acts,” Shea said of the attack in Traverse City, Michigan.
“The victims were not predetermined,” Shea said, adding that the suspect, a Michigan resident, apparently acted alone and used a “folding knife.”
READ ALSO:
Six victims were in critical condition late Saturday, and five were in serious condition, Munson Healthcare said in a statement.
At least three of the victims were undergoing surgery, according to Shea. The victims included six men and five women.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said she was in touch with law enforcement regarding the “horrible news.”
“Our thoughts are with the victims and the community reeling from this brutal act of violence,” Whitmer said in an X post.
READ ALSO:Woman Stabs 80-year-old Trader To Death In Ogun Market
Eyewitness Julia Martell told The New York Times she heard screaming and saw a man with a knife running through the store’s pharmacy section.
Martell said she saw the man shoving and stabbing people as he moved through the store.
The 30-year-old witness described seeing three people with stab wounds and “blood everywhere.”
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Shea said the stabbing spree initially started near the checkout area of the store.
“It is very uncommon for our area,” he said of the violence, adding that citizens in the Walmart “assisted” in apprehending the suspect.
Traverse City is a popular tourist destination located on the shore of Lake Michigan.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said agents were providing “any necessary support to the Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office in their investigation of the attacks at the Walmart.”
AFP
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