Light News (LN)

  Rising costs and displacement following Israel’s years-long genocide erase Eid traditions, leaving Gaza residents struggling with sorrow and economic woes. On previous Eid holidays, the Baroud family would set out in the early light of dawn to kick off festivities, driving through the streets of Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, visiting homes of relatives, and sharing the meat of a sacrificial animal among family members. At the end of each holiday, they took an annual family photo – a fixed ritual every Eid – and shared it with relatives abroad. However, on Eid today, amid Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Walaa Baroud sits before the last version of that photo, holding it in his hands as the only memory of a time that has passed. Of the 22 faces that filled the frame, 13 are now gone. They were killed in successive Israeli strikes targeting the extended family, in which more than 80 members died. While the family once gathered for a single photograph, those who re...

  Egypt’s recent Eni-linked gas finds have lifted hopes of an upstream revival, but analysts say import pressure is unlikely to ease soon. Egypt has made a string of major gas discoveries over the past two months — capped by its biggest find in the Western Desert in 15 years — as the Iran war drives energy demands to record highs, poising Cairo for a return to its role as a major gas export hub. "I think the new discoveries will help address Egypt's challenging energy balances but are unlikely to be transformational," said Bill Farren-Price, head of gas research at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. "Rising power demand is still likely to outpace upstream gains, although the reforms are likely to pull in more international companies and reinvigorate those already in country," he continued. In the space of two months Egypt announced three significant gas finds, all linked to Eni, the Italian oil and gas supermajor who is the operator or founding member in t...

  The UFC bout at the White House marks the 250th anniversary of the US and President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. Yet another White House construction project is under way in the United States, though this one is meant to be only temporary. Crews are erecting an octagon-shaped cage on the South Lawn that will host next month’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bout, marking the nation’s 250th anniversary and President Donald Trump’s  80th birthday . Online renderings depict what the completed, wire-mesh-fence-ringed fight space is expected to look like before the June 14 event. It will be ringed by a red, white and blue stage under a towering arch featuring stars-and-stripes patterns and two large screens showing the action live. The cage and stage will themselves be surrounded by thousands of temporary seats, including ringside space for a full marching band that can set the entire scene to blaring music. The project is part of a series of events celebrating the semiquin...

  The PM is promising to strengthen EU ties at a time when the eurosceptic Reform party is on the rise.  For record stall owner Johnny Skates, leaving the European Union has made travelling to DJ in Europe harder as the tax implications of bringing his materials with him have tightened. “If I want to DJ and if I take records, I have to declare that. In the past, you could just go, and there [Europe], it was nothing,” the 66-year-old said. He spoke to Al Jazeera in the London borough of Lambeth, where about 80 percent of people like him voted in vain to remain in the EU in 2016. “Now I have to declare the value of the records I take because if I don’t, I get taxed because they say, ‘Oh, you’re taking in records to sell. There’s tax on them.’ If I send a record and I put the value, or vice versa, if I buy something and it’s the value, I’ve got to pay the tax when it comes into the country,” said Skates, who goes by his DJ name. Since the ruling Labour Party suffered  heavy ...

  Dozens of attacks since September have killed at least 194 people in US operation dubbed ‘Southern Spear’ A US military attack on what it called a drug trafficking boat in the Eastern Pacific has killed a person and left two others stranded at sea, officials said, in continuation of a pattern that has raised alarm among global rights organisations. “One male narco-terrorist was killed during this action and there were two survivors,” US Southern Command wrote in a post to X on Tuesday. It added that it “immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate the search and rescue system for the survivors”. A video posted on social media by the US Southern Command shows a boat speeding through water before exploding into flames. No survivors could be spotted in the video. US President Donald Trump has said that the country is “in armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels, which it says are responsible for the scourge of fatal drug overdoses plaguing many US communities. Dozens ...

The warning came just days after the Ukrainian capital faced one of the heaviest bombardments since the start of the Russian invasion. That is the warning Russia has issued the United States and other countries with diplomats in Kyiv, urging them to flee or face what it called “systematic strikes” on the Ukrainian capital. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he received a personal warning to that effect from his Russian counterpart and offered Washington’s renewed mediation in stalled talks to end the war. European countries rejected the Kremlin’s call to leave Kyiv, vowing to stay put and framing the threat as a “sign of desperation.” Some summoned Russian ambassadors in protest. But this threatened escalation follows a weekend bombardment that was perhaps the heaviest faced by the city since the start of the four-year war — including the use of the Oreshnik hypersonic missile. The new warning left many residents on edge. Lesia Homiak’s apartment shook when a missile hit within some 2...