United Nations, May 1

 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an internal investigation of the newly found mass graves in Gaza.

“I am deeply alarmed by reports that mass graves have been discovered in several locations in Gaza, including Al Shifa Medical Complex and Nasser Medical Complex. In Nasser alone, over 390 bodies have reportedly been exhumed,” he said on Tuesday.

There are competing narratives around several of these mass graves, including serious allegations that some of those buried were unlawfully killed, he told reporters as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

“It is imperative that independent international investigators, with forensic expertise, are allowed immediate access to the sites of these mass graves, to establish the precise circumstances under which hundreds of Palestinians lost their lives and were buried, or reburied.”

The families of the dead and missing have a right to know what happened. And the world has a right to accountability for any violations of international law that may have taken place, the UN Chief said.

Hospitals, health workers, patients, and all civilians must be protected. The human rights of all must be respected, Guterres added.

The health system in Gaza has been decimated by the war. Two-thirds of hospitals and health centres are out of action. Many of those that remain are seriously damaged. Some hospitals now resemble cemeteries, he noted. AGENCIES

Kyiv/Moscow, May 1

 The Ukrainian government is increasing its spending on drones by an additional 15.5 billion hryvnia ($392 million), Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said, as the unmanned surveillance and combat aircraft become increasingly crucial assets for Kyiv in its fight against Russia.

“With the funds allocated today, 300,000 drones will be delivered to our security and defence forces,” he said at a Cabinet meeting in Kyiv on Tuesday. According to Shmyhal, Ukraine had previously budgeted 43.3 billion hryvnia for the purchase of drones this year.

Ukraine has rapidly expanded the development and production of drones of various types under pressure from Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion of the country more than two years ago. In recent weeks, it has also increasingly attacked the Russian hinterland with these weapons.

The Russian Ministry of Defence in Moscow said on Tuesday that three Ukrainian combat drones had been intercepted over the border regions of Belgorod and Kursk.

One woman was killed and another injured by unspecified Ukrainian fire in the Russian border village of Kosino, according to the governor of Kursk, Roman Starovoit.

The reports could not be independently verified.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defence Ministry said Ukraine has attacked Russian military bases in Crimea with US-supplied missiles.

It said Russian air defence systems repelled six long-range ATACMS missiles in the past 24 hours.

Independent media reported hits on three military bases on Monday night, injuring several people.

Several soldiers were reportedly injured after a fire broke out during an attack on an air defence position near the Crimean capital Simferopol, according to the independent website Astra.

Sergei Aksyonov, the Moscow-appointed governor of Crimea, said a missile attack on the village of Donske near Simferopol was intercepted. However, he warned of unexploded ammunition remnants.

Simferopol is more than 200 kilometres away from the front line.

The Dzhankoy airport in the north of Crimea, where a Russian helicopter regiment and air defence forces are stationed, also came under fire again. According to media reports, five soldiers were injured there.

Astra said four further soldiers were injured in an attack on a military target in the Chornomorske district in the northwest of the peninsula.

The US said it would be supplying long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine as part of the new weapons package agreed in Congress in April.

Previous US missile deliveries had a range of 165 kilometres.

Elsewhere, Latvia will provide Ukraine with a further military aid package, including anti-aircraft guns and unmanned surveillance drones.

“We must ensure Ukraine wins the war for the sake of Ukraine, European security, and the world order,” Prime Minister Evika Siliņa wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The air defence and drone systems will come from Latvian military stocks. AGENCIES

Kyiv/Moscow, May 1

 Ukrainian drones have damaged a refinery in Ryazan, some 200 kilometres south-east of Moscow, an unnamed representative of the Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR told the Ukrainska Pravda website.

“A military target in Ryazan was hit. There is considerable damage,” the website reported. Independent Russian media reported a fire at the Ryazan refinery.

The second target was an oil processing plant in the Russian region of Voronezh. The intelligence service did not officially confirm the information, but the Ukrainian press is informed of such attacks in secret.

The Russian Ministry of Defence in Moscow announced that Ukrainian combat drones had been intercepted during the night over the Russian regions of Voronezh, Ryazan, Belgorod and Kursk.

The Ukrainian armed forces have further developed their drones and have been attacking refineries far into the Russian hinterland for several weeks. The aim is to disrupt the fuel supply for the Russian army.

The US has criticised these attacks because it fears an impact on world oil prices. However, Kyiv is sticking to this tactic. Ukraine has been fending off a large-scale Russian invasion for more than two years.

On Wednesday, the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv was hit by several glide bombs fired by Russian aircraft from a safe distance. The governor there, Oleh Syniehubov, reported at least three deaths.

Overnight, Russia fired missiles at the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on the Black Sea. According to regional governor Oleh Kiper, three people were killed and three others injured. AGENCIES

Jakarta, May 1

 Authorities on Wednesday began evacuating about 12,000 residents after Indonesia’s Mount Ruang volcano erupted, spewing ash and rocks.

Mount Ruang, located in the Sangihe Islands arc in North Sulawesi province, has been increasingly active in recent weeks. Authorities on Tuesday raised the alert level to the highest possible after new eruptions, warning of potential pyroclastic flows, deadly ash surges and the possibility of a tsunami.

The eruption also caused a power outage on neighbouring Tagulandang island and forced the closure of Sam Ratulangi International Airport in Manado, disrupting air travel in the region, officials said.

“A total of around 6,500 people have been evacuated from five districts,” Feri Ariyanto, a search and rescue official in Manado City, told dpa.

Abdul Muhari, the spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, said 12,000 residents who live within a 7-kilometre radius around the volcano would have to be evacuated.

He said residents were being evacuated by ferries operated by the National Search and Rescue Agency, the Indonesian navy and police.

“We will ensure that they are prohibited from leaving the evacuation shelters to return home during the extended emergency response period of up to 14 days, or until conditions are completely normal,” he said in a statement.

Residents of Tagulandang were plunged into darkness following Tuesday’s eruption, while the airports in Manado and Gorontalo remained closed, said Ariyanto.

“All power has been cut off,” he said.

Ships provided the only source of illumination at the island’s port, local media reported.

“We panicked as showers of volcanic rocks, gravel, and ash rained down,” Yefti, a resident, was quoted as saying by medcom.id news portal.

The Indonesian archipelago sits on the seismically active “Ring of Fire” and is no stranger to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. AGENCIES

Seoul, May 1

 Wearing masks at hospitals in South Korea is not a must anymore as the government downgraded the infection level of Covid-19 and lifted last-remaining antivirus regulations, according to a report on Wednesday.

As per the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, the country will, effective from Wednesday, lower the four-grade Covid crisis level from the second-highest “alert” to the lowest “concern” in a move to fully return to pre-pandemic normalcy, Yonhap news agency reported.

The decision came more than four years after the country reported its first case of the new coronavirus on January 20, 2020.

Upon the move, mask mandates at hospitals and relevant facilities were completely lifted, and infection tests ahead of admission to nursing hospitals and other risk-prone facilities became a recommendation, rather than a must.

The government no longer fully supports Covid testing or hospitalisation costs, and patients need to pay for an oral antiviral pill, including Paxlovid.

The free vaccination programme continues to be available through the 2023-2024 season, which will later be limited to high-risk groups, such as senior citizens and those with immune-compromised health issues, the authorities said. AGENCIES

Cairo, May 1

 A Saudi women’s rights activist was sentenced to 11 years in prison because of her “choice of clothing and support for women’s rights,” two rights groups said, urging the kingdom to “immediately and unconditionally release” her.

In January, the counter-terrorism Specialised Criminal Court convicted Manahel al-Otaibi, more than a year after she was arrested, Amnesty International and the British-based ALQST group said.

The Saudi government confirmed al-Otaibi was found guilty of “terrorist offences,” in its formal reply to a request for information by UN special rapporteurs.

The two rights groups said in their statement that al-Otaibi’s charges related to her choice of clothing and her calls on social media for an end to the male guardianship system, which requires women to obtain the consent of a male relative for major decisions. Some rules have been eased, but the system is yet to be removed.

After her arrest in November 2022, al-Otaibi was subjected to physical and psychological abuse at the prison in Riyadh.

Last year, she forcibly disappeared for five months until April, when she contacted her family and said she was being held in solitary confinement, had a broken leg as a result of physical abuse and was denied health care, the rights groups said.

Since becoming crown prince in 2017, Mohammed bin Salman has championed economic and social reforms in the conservative kingdom. However, the kingdom continues to crack down on critics and rights activists.

Bissan Fakih, Amnesty International’s campaigner in Saudi Arabia, said the sentence “is an appalling and cruel injustice.”

“With this sentence, the Saudi authorities have exposed the hollowness of their much-touted women’s rights reforms in recent years and demonstrated their chilling commitment to silencing peaceful dissent,” said Fakih. AGENCIES

New York, May 1

 Police stormed Ivy League Columbia University, the ground zero of nationwide pro-Palestine protests, breaking up the occupation of a building by agitators and arresting scores of them.

University officials, who were under fire for inaction on the agitation, asked the police Tuesday night to clear protesters who took over the administration building after breaking windows to enter it and reinforcing the entrances with furniture and equipment to keep officials out.

The action came as the agitation in support of Palestine veered off into communalism with attacks on and threats to Jewish students based on their religion, with one of the leaders found to have called for “death to Zionists”.

Before the police action, New York Mayor Eric Adams said that “professional agitators”, who were not students, had infiltrated the protests and were behind the occupation.

Police released videos of people at the university who they said were the “outside agitators” clad in black who had been seen at other agitations in the past creating conditions for clashes with police.

CBS New York TV reported that according to city officials, the wife of a known terrorist was at the protests. (Other media identified the man as Sami Al-Arian who was charged with supporting the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and deported from the US.)

Riot police used special equipment with a ramp to dramatically climb in through windows on a higher floor of the building and used flash grenades, devices that set off spurts of bright lights and explosive sounds but without shrapnels, to stun the agitators.

Police also arrested students who had set up a tent encampment in the university quadrangle and had been ordered by the university to clear out.

Police clashed with students at the campus of local government-run City College, where agitators threw firecrackers, and arrested several people.

The pro-Palestine protests that started at Columbia, where students set up tent encampments, have spread like wildfire to scores of campuses across the country.

The students are demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, an end to US support for Israel, universities cut off ties to Israel, and dump investments in companies making weapons or have ties to that nation.

Several hundred students and faculty have been arrested during the protests coast to coast, with some of the confrontations turning violent.

Many universities have switched to remote learning, and in some cases locking out students from campuses, adversely affecting them as these are the final weeks of the academic year.

Republicans, led by Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House of Representatives, have demanded stern action by the eaderships of universities against the protestors and called for deploying the National Guard.

Johnson visited Columbia last week and demanded the resignation of its president – Nemat Minouche Shafik who took over the job last year after having led the London School of Economics.

Two weeks ago, she called in the police to oust the tent encampment, but within a day, the protesters returned.

Criticised by the faculty association for the action, she tried to hold discussions with the students for a peaceful end to the protests.

But it failed and a deadline was given for them to shut down the encampment by Monday afternoon, after which the agitators took over the administration building escalating the confrontation. AGENCIES

Ramallah, May 1

 The Palestinian presidency has said that Israel would not dare to continue its assault in Gaza without US support.

Palestinian Presidency spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh made the remarks in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statements earlier on Tuesday that an invasion of Rafah is imminent, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

“The blind US bias towards Israel, and its protection from punishment and submission to international legitimacy, has proven that the US administration has become a partner in Netanyahu’s crimes and bears full responsibility for the continuation of genocide,” said Rudeineh on Tuesday as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

He added that the US administration should intervene immediately and compel Israel “to stop its crimes, foremost of which is preventing the invasion of Rafah, which would have very serious repercussions on the region as a whole and the world”.

He also called on the international community to intervene to prevent Israel from continuing its aggression.

Earlier on Tuesday, Netanyahu pledged to launch a ground attack on Rafah “with or without” an agreement with Hamas.

During his meeting with the families of hostages held in Gaza, Netanyahu said that Israel had begun evacuating Palestinian civilians from Rafah, according to his office.

Israel considers Rafah the last major stronghold of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Located in the southernmost part of the Strip, Rafah shelters nearly 1.2 million Palestinians.

Netanyahu made these statements at a time when negotiators from Israel and Hamas are holding talks through Egyptian mediation to reach an agreement to cease hostilities in the ongoing conflict in Gaza for about seven months, which would ensure the release of hostages. AGENCIES

Gaza, May 1

 The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 34,535, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said in a press statement.

During the past 24 hours, the Israeli army killed 47 Palestinians and wounded 61 others, bringing the total death toll since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war to 34,535 and injuries to 77,704, Xinhua news agency reported.

Some victims remain under the rubble amid heavy bombardment and a lack of rescue crews, said the statement on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army reported attacking 24 targets in Gaza, including tunnel entrances and a missile launch platform, according to Israeli public radio.

The General Directorate of Civil Defence in Gaza estimated that there were more than 10,000 individuals in total still missing beneath the rubble of the demolished buildings in the Strip.

Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage. AGENCIES

Cairo, May 1

 Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani have pledged to resume efforts to end the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

During a phone conversation, the two leaders discussed the latest developments and joint efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the Egyptian Presidency said on Tuesday in a statement.

They also discussed efforts to exchange hostages and detainees and ensure the flow of humanitarian aid and relief in sufficient and adequate quantities into Gaza, Xinhua news agency reported.

The two leaders confirmed their commitment to continuing joint efforts and engaging with the various parties to end the war, protect the region from the ramifications of the expansion of the conflict, and restore security and stability in the region.

Egypt and Qatar, along with the US, are spearheading regional mediation talks to end the conflict and expedite humanitarian aid into the war-torn territory via Egypt.

Israel launched a large-scale offensive in Gaza to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza has risen to 34,535, the Hamas-run health authorities said in a press statement on Tuesday. AGENCIES