Skip to main content

Alive but weakened, Iran's Khamenei faces new challenges

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has re-emerged after the war with Israel but faces a struggle to maintain the authority he has wielded over the Islamic republic in over three-and-a-half decades of rule, analysts say.

After days of silence, Khamenei appeared on Thursday in a video address to proclaim "victory" and prove he is still alive following the 12-day conflict with Israel which ended with a truce earlier this week.

Khamenei was defiant but still did not appear in public

Doctors' aid group slams US-backed Gaza relief scheme over deadly roll-out

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Friday branded a controversial Israel- and US-backed food distribution effort in Gaza as "slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid", calling for it to be ended.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which began operating last month and has largely replaced established humanitarian organisations, "is degrading Palestinians by design, forcing them to choose between starvation or risking their lives for minimal supplies", MSF said in a statement.

Israel is working with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, rather than established aid organisation

Dying breed: Tunisian dog lovers push to save age-old desert hound

Nemcha, Zina and Zouina, three North African Sloughi hounds, play on the beach in Tunisia where their ancestors have long roamed desert plains, seemingly unaware of the existential threat to their dwindling breed.

The Sloughis, known for their speed and slender physique, have for many centuries accompanied nomadic societies across North Africa, and have been featured in art and lore dating back at least to the Roman era.

Unregulated crossbreeding and habitat shifts put the age-old North African Sloughi at risk

Syria's wheat war: drought fuels food crisis for 16 million

Rival Syrian and Kurdish producers are scrambling for shrinking wheat harvests as the worst drought in decades follows a devastating war, pushing more than 16 million people toward food insecurity.

"The country has not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years," said Haya Abu Assaf, assistant to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) representative in Syria.

Iran strikes damage hard to assess under Israeli military censorship

Israel has acknowledged being hit by more than 50 missiles during the 12-day war with Iran, but the true extent of the damage may never be known due to stringent press restrictions.

Such regulations are nothing new in Israel, where any written or visual publication deemed potentially harmful to the loosely defined concept of "national security" can be banned by law.

Censorship predates the creation of Israel in 1948, when the territory was under a British mandate.

Israeli security forces and media gather at the site of an Iranian strike that hit a residential neighbourhood in the Ramat Aviv area in Tel Aviv on June 22, 2025

Argentina to try 10 in absentia over 1994 bombing of Jewish center

Argentina will try in absentia ten Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people, a ruling seen by AFP on Thursday said.

The attack, which caused devastation in Latin America's biggest Jewish community, has never been claimed or solved, but Argentina and Israel have long suspected Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah group of carrying it out at Iran's request.

A Buenos Aires mural in honor of the 85 dead and more than 300 wounded in an 1994 attack on the Jewish community center of the Mutual Israelite Association of Argentina (AMIA)

Netanyahu seeks to postpone trial summons after Trump backing

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked a court on Thursday to postpone his testimony in his long-running corruption trial, after US President Donald Trump called for the case to be cancelled altogether.

Trump's move in support of Netanyahu over the case drew criticism from some Israeli politicians, including a member of the Israeli leader's own coalition and the leader of the opposition.

The trial of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges he denies has been delayed many times since it began in May 2020.

Cristiano Ronaldo to stay at Al Nassr until 2027

Cristiano Ronaldo inked a two-year extension with Saudi Arabia's Al Nassr, the club announced Thursday, following months of speculation over which team he would sign for next season.

"Cristiano Ronaldo is staying at @AlNassrFC until 2027," the club wrote in a post on X.

Minutes before the official confirmation, the team posted a teaser video, with the 40-year-old Ronaldo walking along a beachfront and saying: "Al Nassr forever".

Ronaldo ended as the Saudi Pro League's top scorer this season on 24 goals

Trump admin insists Iran strikes success, attacks media

The Trump administration went on the offensive against the media Thursday over coverage of strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, insisting the operation was a total success and berating journalists for reporting on an intelligence assessment that raised doubts.

American B-2 bombers hit two Iranian nuclear sites with massive GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs last weekend, while a guided missile submarine struck a third site with Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (L) speaks alongside top US military officer General Dan Caine during a news conference at the Pentagon on June 26, 2025

Iran vetting body okays bill suspending cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog

The Iranian body tasked with vetting legislation approved a bill to suspend cooperation with the United Nations nuclear watchdog on Thursday, citing recent US and Israeli strikes.

Iranian lawmakers voted in favour of the bill on Wednesday, a day after a ceasefire ended a 12-day war with Israel that saw Israeli and US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Since the start of the war on June 13, Iranian officials have sharply criticised the International Atomic Energy Agency for failing to condemn the strikes.

The Iranian body tasked with vetting legislation has approved a bill to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency despite an appeal from key ally Russia for cooperation to continue.