In Gaza, 'the need to catch up to an enormous lack' of food imposed by the Israelis
30/07/2025
US proposes revoking law regulating gas emissions
30/07/2025
Prominent Israeli rights groups 'acknowledge genocidal character of what own state is perpetrating'
Middle East
30/07/2025
Japan's Fukushima plant evacuates workers as Russian quake sparks tsunami warnings
Asia / Pacific
30/07/2025
Russian strikes kill 27 across Ukraine
30/07/2025
Gaza 'on the brink of a full-scale famine', says UN agencies
30/07/2025
UK will recognize Palestinian state unless Israel takes 'substantive steps' in Gaza, says Starmer
29/07/2025
Starvation in Gaza: 'Western public opinion is starting to find this absolutely intolerable'
Middle East
29/07/2025
Ex-FRANCE 24 Gaza producer denounces civilian suffering: 'Hamas, Israel must accept ceasefire deal'
Middle East
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Euronews
37 minutes ago
- Euronews
Russia's missile and drone strike on Kyiv kills six and injures 52
Russia hits Kyiv with missile and drone attack, killing 6 and injuring 52 Russia attacked Ukraine's capital with missiles and drones overnight on Thursday, killing at least six people, including a 6-year-old boy, Ukrainian authorities said. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said at least 52 other people were injured in the attacks, and that the number was likely to rise. A large part of a nine-story residential building collapsed after it was struck, Tkachenko added. Rescue teams were at the scene to rescue people trapped under the rubble. "The main target of the massive attack was the capital. Significant damage was inflicted on residential infrastructure. An entire section of a residential building was destroyed in one of the residential areas," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on his official Telegram. "Missile strike. Directly on a residential building. People are under the rubble. All services are on site." "Today the world has once again seen Russia's response to our desire for peace, which we share with US and Europe," he added. Images from the scene showed plumes of smoke emanating from a partially damaged building and debris strewn on the ground. The force of the blast wave was strong enough to leave clothes hanging limply from trees. Residents defied police orders not to return to the scene of the attacks to retrieve their belongings. Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko arrived at the scene. At least 27 locations across Kyiv were hit by the attack, Tkachenko said, with the heaviest damage seen in the Solomianskyi and Sviatoshynskyi districts. Zelenskyy said that Russian overnight strikes also targeted Dnipro, Poltava, Sumy and Mykolaiv regions with some 300 drones and eight missiles launched. US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he has shortened the deadline he gave his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin from the original 50 days to 8 August for peace efforts to make progress or Washington will impose punitive sanctions and tariffs. Western leaders have accused Putin of dragging his feet in US-led peace efforts in an attempt to capture more Ukrainian land.
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Myanmar junta ends state of emergency in election run-up
The military declared a state of emergency in February 2021 as it deposed the civilian government of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a many-sided civil war which has claimed thousands of lives. The order gave junta chief Min Aung Hlaing supreme power over the legislature, executive and judiciary -- but he has recently touted elections as an off-ramp to the conflict. Opposition groups including ex-lawmakers ousted in the coup have pledged to snub the poll, which a UN expert last month dismissed as "a fraud" designed to legitimise the military's continuing rule. "The state of emergency is abolished today in order for the country to hold elections on the path to a multi-party democracy," junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said in a voice message shared with reporters. "Elections will be held within six months," he added. Analysts predict Min Aung Hlaing will keep a role as either president or armed forces chief following the election and consolidate power in that office, thereby extending his tenure as de facto ruler. "We have already passed the first chapter," Min Aung Hlaing said in a speech in Naypyidaw reported in state newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar on Thursday. "Now, we are starting the second chapter," he told members of the junta's administration council at what the newspaper called an "honorary ceremony" for its members. "The upcoming election will be held this December, and efforts will be made to enable all eligible voters to cast their ballots," the newspaper reported, paraphrasing another part of his speech. No date set No exact date for the poll has yet been announced by the junta, but political parties are being registered while training sessions on electronic voting machines have already taken place. On Wednesday, the military government said it enacted a new law dictating prison sentences up to 10 years for speech or protests aiming to "destroy a part of the electoral process". But a census held last year as preparation for the election estimated it failed to collect data from 19 million of the country's 51 million people, provisional results said. The results cited "significant security constraints" as one reason for the shortfall -- giving a sign of how limited the reach of the election may be amid the civil war. Analysts have predicted rebels will stage offensives around the election as a sign of their opposition. But this month the junta begun offering cash rewards to those willing to lay down their arms and "return to the legal fold" ahead of the vote.
AFP
2 hours ago
- AFP
Posts falsely claim new Philippine law taxes bank savings
"Savings in banks now have a 20 percent tax," reads the overlaid text on an image of Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, shared in a July 16, 2025 post on X with more than 1,400 shares. "This is something else. Isn't this discouraging people from saving up? Let me just take out my 345 pesos (US$6) now before it gets taxed hahaha!" the caption says. Recto is a key figure in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s economic team, whose members were retained despite a cabinet revamp aimed at reviving his administration's popularity after disappointing midterm election results (archived link). Image Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on July 29, 2025, with a red X added by AFP Similar posts circulated across social media, drawing concerns from users who believed the government had begun taxing all personal savings. "It's already hard to save, and now they're imposing a 20 percent tax?" one user said. Another commented: "Let's just put our money in a piggy bank. Recto is out of his mind." Taxing interest income The posts surfaced nearly two weeks after the Capital Market Efficiency Promotion Act (CMEPA) -- -- took effect in July (archived link). But Carina Laforteza, head tax lawyer at SyCipLaw firm, said the law does not "impose a new tax on savings per se, as only the interest income -- not the principal -- is subject to tax" (archived link). Laforteza explained that a 20 percent final withholding tax on interest income ith some exemptions: foreign currency deposit unit (FCDU) accounts were taxed at 15 percent, while long-term deposits of five years or more were exempt (archived link). "CMEPA removed these exceptions," she said. The Department of Finance (DOF) also rebuffed the false posts in a July 17 statement, clarifying it does not impose a new levy on money saved but standardises the tax rate on interest income to correct an "unfair system that favoured the wealthy" (archived link). It noted that the law is not retroactive, so time deposits made before July 1 will continue to enjoy the preferential tax rates until maturity. Mon Abrea, the chief tax advisor of Asian Consulting Group, said the removal of the tax exemption "brings both gains and drawbacks" (archived link). "While it boosts government revenue, it also increases the tax burden on depositors, especially conservative, middle-income savers who relied on long-term deposits as a safe, tax-free option," he told AFP on July 29. "With the exemption gone, these products lose their financial appeal." Terence Conrad Bello, a lawyer with the taxation and commercial law firm Baniqued & Bello, said the repeal "will obviously create a disincentive for long-term savings" and will "likely dampen the market" (archived link). Laforteza noted that while some may continue with long-term deposits despite the removal of tax exemptions, others might turn to alternatives with higher returns or lower taxes. "If a person is a 'saver', the removal of the tax incentive should not affect [their] decision to save, but it may affect where the savings are made," she added. AFP has previously debunked claims about Philippine economic policies here and here.
