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After an Iranian strike early Monday gouged a gaping hole in his apartment building in central Israel, Idan Bar said he feared for his family as the air war between the longtime foe escalated.A tangle of metal protruded from the charred section of a high-rise building in Petah Tivka near Tel Aviv, as rescuers wheeled elderly residents away from the damage.One woman’s mouth hung open as she was taken away in a wheelchair.”My building got bombed from Iran,” Bar told AFP.”It was very scary while I have four children, four boys. We’re very scared, but everyone is ok.”Inside the building, first responders in orange helmets scoured the blown-out apartments. Debris from the blast littered the ground below, where plastic patio furniture lay overturned.Iran unleashed a missile barrage on Israeli cities after Israel hit deep inside the Islamic republic, pressing a major offensive that began in the early hours of Friday.On the fourth day of the escalating air war, the death toll in Israel rose to 24 after authorities announced on Monday 11 dead. In Iran, officials said the Israeli attacks had killed at least 224 people since Friday.The scenes of devastation witnessed in Petah Tikva on Monday are relatively rare in Israel, whose advanced air defence systems usually intercept incoming threats.The country has long been used to rockets and drones fired by Iran-backed militant groups like Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, but volleys of ballistic missiles launched from the Islamic republic have left the population feeling vulnerable.Since Friday, air raid sirens have sent people across Israel running to bomb shelters on a nightly basis.The latest Iranian attack followed Israeli strikes in central Iran, which Israel’s military said targeted surface-to-surface missile launchers.Israel has said that its surprise attack launched on Friday — after decades of enmity and a prolonged shadow war — targets Iran’s nuclear programme and military facilities.The deaths in Iran have included top military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians, according to authorities.AFP images showed fires blazing next to gutted buildings and charred cars in the coastal hub of Tel Aviv, after the military warned people to take cover from incoming Iranian missiles.Henn, a Petah Tivka resident who declined to give his last name, said he ran to take shelter after hearing sirens.The 39-year-old said he heard a loud explosion, “and after a few minutes we saw all the damage, all the houses broken”.Israeli officials said four people were killed in Petah Tivka and some 35 others taken to hospital with injuries.Families with young children wandered amongst cars whose windows had been smashed by the blast impact. Despite the destruction, Henn said “we hope for good days”.

France on Monday blocked access to the stands of five Israeli arms manufacturers at the Paris Air show for displaying “offensive weapons”, according to a French government source.A black wall blocked off stands run by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Rafael, Uvision, Elbit and Aeronautics for showing “offensive weapons”, including those used in Gaza, which allegedly violated terms made with Israel, said the source. Rafael, Elbit and IAI produce guided bombs and missiles, while Uvision and Aeronautics produce drones.Israeli President Isaac Herzog condemned the move on Monday as “outrageous” and called for it to be “immediately corrected”.”Israeli companies have signed contracts with the organisers…it’s like creating an Israeli ghetto,” he said on French television channel LCI.The Israeli Ministry of Defence also denounced the decision in a statement, calling it a form of “segregation” against the Israeli companies.”This outrageous and unprecedented decision reeks of policy-driven and commercial considerations,” it added.Some 75 companies related to weapons production were set to participate at the show which opened on Monday, with military jets, helicopters and drones on display.Nine Israeli companies — fewer than in the past — were expected to have displays after a French court rejected a bid by NGOs to ban them over their alleged role in the Gaza conflict.More than 2,400 companies from 48 countries are showing off their hardware at the weeklong event at the Le Bourget airfield on the outskirts of the French capital.Four other Israeli stands remained open on Monday.

Iran unleashed a missile barrage on Israeli cities Monday after Israeli strikes deep inside the Islamic republic, leaving streets in ruins and the death toll in Israel climbing by 11 amid a spiralling air war.After decades of enmity and a prolonged shadow war, Israel on Friday launched aerial attacks on Iran in a surprise campaign it said was aimed at stopping its arch-foe from acquiring atomic weapons — an allegation Tehran denies.So far, Israel’s strikes have killed at least 224 people inside Iran, including top military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians, according to authorities in the Islamic republic.In retaliation, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Monday it had “successfully” struck Israel with a salvo of missiles and warned of “effective, targeted and more devastating operations” to come.The latest Iranian onslaught left a trail of destruction across Israeli cities — including Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak, Petah Tikva and Haifa — with shattered homes, smouldering wreckage and stunned residents picking through the debris.”We heard a strong bomb,” said Henn, a father of four in Petah Tikva. “It was very scary,” he told AFPTV.The death toll in Israel rose by 11 on Monday, the prime minister’s office said, bringing the total since Friday to 24.The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said the missile barrage also lightly damaged a building used by the American embassy in Tel Aviv.- ‘I will not leave’ -Iran’s attack followed a wave of intense Israeli air raids that struck targets across the Islamic republic — from the western border with Iraq to the capital Tehran and as far east as Mashhad, where the airport was hit.Despite reports of civilians fleeing Tehran, some vowed to stay.”It is natural that war has its own stress, but I will not leave my city,” Shokouh Razzazi, 31, told AFP in the Iranian capital.The rapid escalation has drawn mounting international concern and calls for de-escalation.China urged both sides to “immediately take measures to cool down the tensions” and “prevent the region from falling into greater turmoil”.European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen also appealed for calm, saying she had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “a negotiated solution is, in the long term, the best solution”.While critical of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, von der Leyen blamed Iran for the latest crisis, citing the UN nuclear watchdog’s findings that it was not in compliance with its obligations.”In this context, Israel has the right to defend itself. Iran is the principal source of regional instability,” she said.Iran, meanwhile, called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to condemn the Israeli strikes on its nuclear sites.”We expect the (IAEA) Board of Governors and the director general to take a firm position in condemning this act and holding the regime (Israel) accountable,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in Tehran.- ‘A heavy price’ -Residential areas in both countries have suffered deadly strikes since the hostilities erupted, with Netanyahu accusing Iran of deliberately targeting civilians.”Iran will pay a very heavy price for the premeditated murder of civilians, women and children,” he said while visiting a bombed-out apartment block in Bat Yam.The military said Monday it had destroyed one third of Iran’s surface-to-surface missile launchers.In a televised address, Iranian armed forces spokesman Colonel Reza Sayyad vowed a “devastating response” to Israeli attacks.”Leave the occupied territories (Israel) because they will certainly no longer be habitable in the future,” he said, adding shelters would “not guarantee security”.Addressing Iran’s parliament, President Masoud Pezeshkian urged citizens to “stand strong against this genocidal criminal aggression with unity and coherence”.- ‘Make a deal’ -US President Donald Trump insisted Washington had “nothing to do” with Israel’s military campaign but warned any Iranian attack on American interests would trigger “the full strength and might” of the US military.On Sunday, Trump urged both sides to “make a deal” while expressing doubts about near-term peace prospects.”Sometimes they have to fight it out, but we’re going to see what happens,” he said.A senior US official told AFP Trump had intervened to prevent Israel from carrying out an assassination of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.”We found out that the Israelis had plans to hit Iran’s supreme leader. President Trump was against it and we told the Israelis not to,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.Asked by Fox News whether regime change in Iran was one of Israel’s objectives, Netanyahu said: “It certainly could be the result, because the Iran regime is very weak.”As hostilities intensified, Iran said it was scrapping planned nuclear talks with the United States, calling dialogue “meaningless” under bombardment.burs-dv/jsa

Nepal said Monday it has begun regular commercial electricity exports to Bangladesh, marking its entry into the international power market beyond neighbouring India.The landlocked Himalayan nation started transmitting 40 megawatts (MW) of electricity to Bangladesh via India on Sunday under a five-year agreement.”Nepal will continue supplying electricity to Bangladesh during the monsoon season from mid-June …

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Iran unleashed a barrage of missile strikes on Israeli cities early Monday, after Israel struck military targets deep inside Iran, with both sides threatening further devastation. AFP images showed gutted residential buildings in Tel Aviv and fires smouldering outside the coastal city of Haifa, after Israel’s army warned people to take cover from incoming Iranian missiles.In Jerusalem, an AFP journalist heard loud explosions, while footage showed Israeli air defences lighting up the night sky.After decades of enmity and a prolonged shadow war fought through proxies and covert operations, Israel’s surprise assault on Iran last week has touched off the most intense fighting yet and triggered fears of a lengthy conflict that could engulf the Middle East.Israel says its attacks have hit military and nuclear facilities, and killed many top commanders and atomic scientists — but a senior US official said Sunday that US President Donald Trump told Israel to back down from a plan to kill supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Trump has urged the foes to “make a deal”, but told reporters Sunday that “sometimes they have to fight it out” first.Monday’s Iranian missile attack followed Israeli strikes in central Iran, which Israel’s army said targeted surface-to-surface missile sites.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, in a statement quoted by the official IRNA news agency, said Monday they had “successfully” struck Israel and vowed “effective, targeted and more devastating operations” to come. Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said five people had been killed and 92 wounded following the latest Iranian attack. – ‘A heavy price’ -Residential areas in both countries have suffered deadly strikes since the hostilities broke out Friday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slamming Iran Sunday for allegedly targeting civilians.”Iran will pay a very heavy price for the premeditated murder of civilians, women and children,” he said while visiting a residential building struck by a missile in the coastal city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv.Iranian strikes since Friday have killed more than a dozen people in Israel.Iran’s health ministry reported at least 224 people killed and more than 1,200 wounded in Israeli attacks since Friday.Iranian state television reported at least five people were killed Sunday by an Israeli strike that hit a residential building in central Tehran.Colonel Reza Sayyad, a spokesman for Iran’s armed forces, threatened a “devastating response” to Israel’s attacks.”Leave the occupied territories (Israel) because they will certainly no longer be habitable in the future,” he warned in a televised address, adding shelters will “not guarantee security”.Addressing parliament on Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged citizens to “stand strong against this genocidal criminal aggression with unity and coherence”.Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz later warned that Tehran’s residents would “pay the price” for Iranian attacks on Israeli civilians.Despite reports of people fleeing the Iranian capital, some were determined to stay. “It is natural that war has its own stress, but I will not leave my city,” Shokouh Razzazi, 31, told AFP.- ‘Make a deal’ -Trump said Washington “had nothing to do” with Israel’s bombing campaign but threatened to unleash “the full strength and might” of the US military if Iran attacked American interests.On Sunday, he urged the two foes to “make a deal” but expressed scepticism about the prospects for peace. “But sometimes they have to fight it out, but we’re going to see what happens,” Trump told reporters at the White House.A senior US official told AFP that Trump had urged Israel to drop a plan to assassinate Khamenei.”We found out that the Israelis had plans to hit Iran’s supreme leader. President Trump was against it and we told the Israelis not to,” said the US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.Asked in an interview with Fox News whether regime change in Iran was one of the objectives of Israel’s strikes, Netanyahu said that “it certainly could be the result, because the Iran regime is very weak”. Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi maintained Tehran had “solid proof” that US forces had supported Israel in its attacks.He also told a meeting of foreign diplomats that Iran’s actions were a “response to aggression”.”If the aggression stops, naturally our responses will also stop,” he added. Iran scrapped planned nuclear talks with the United States, saying it was “meaningless” to negotiate while under fire.Iranian judiciary said a convicted agent for Israel’s Mossad spy agency was hung on Monday.Israel has said it had taken two individuals into custody over alleged links to Iranian intelligence.burs-tym/jsa

Growth in China’s factory output hit a six-month low last month as trade war pressures bit, official data showed Monday, while a bump in a key gauge of domestic consumption offered a rare bright spot for the economy.The United States and China this month agreed to a temporary truce in a standoff that saw tariffs hiked …

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A German court will rule Monday on the case of a Syrian doctor accused of crimes against humanity under former dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Alaa Mousa, 40, is accused of torturing detainees at military hospitals in Damascus and Homs on 18 occasions between 2011 and 2012, including setting fire to a teenage boy’s genitals. The accused is also alleged to have administered a lethal injection to a patient who had resisted being beaten, according to federal prosecutors.Prosecutors have asked judges at the higher regional court in Frankfurt to hand down a life sentence in the case, which comes to a conclusion after Assad’s ouster in December. The accused denies all the charges against him.Mousa arrived in Germany in 2015 on a visa for highly skilled workers at the same time as hundreds of thousands of Syrians were fleeing the civil war at home. He continued to practise medicine in Germany, working as an orthopaedic doctor until he was arrested in June 2020.A former employer told German media they knew nothing of his past in Syria’s military hospitals, and that colleagues described him as someone who was “unremarkable”.- Witness statements -According to prosecutors, Mousa worked at military hospitals in Homs and Damascus, where political opponents detained by the government were brought for treatment.Instead of receiving medical assistance, the patients were tortured and “not infrequently killed”, they said.In one case, Mousa is accused of pouring flammable liquid on a prisoner’s wounds before setting them on fire and kicking him in the face so hard that three of his teeth had to be replaced.He also allegedly doused a teenage boy’s genitals in alcohol before setting them alight.Other inmates were kicked and beaten, sometimes with medical tools, according to prosecutors.During the trial, the court heard testimony from colleagues and detainees, who said they recognised the accused, according to German weekly Der Spiegel.One former inmate said he had been forced to carry the bodies of patients who had died after they were injected by Mousa, Der Spiegel reported.Another witness said the military hospital where he was held in Damascus had been known as a “slaughterhouse”.At the opening of the trial in 2022, Mousa told the court he had witnessed beatings but denied striking patients himself.The accused however said he was too afraid of the military police “in control” at the hospital to speak out.”I felt sorry for them, but I couldn’t say anything, or it would have been me instead of the patient,” he said.Germany has tried several supporters of Assad’s regime under the legal principle of “universal jurisdiction”, which allows for serious crimes to be prosecuted even if they were committed in a different country.The first global trial over state-sponsored torture in Syria under the Assad government opened in Koblenz in 2020. The accused in the trial, a former army colonel, was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in jail in 2022.

Israel unleashed a new wave of attacks against Iran on Monday, targeting missile sites after Tehran carried out deadly overnight strikes and both sides threatened more devastation.After decades of enmity and a prolonged shadow war fought through proxies and covert operations, Israel’s surprise assault on Iran last week has touched off the most intense fighting yet and triggered fears of a lengthy conflict that could engulf the Middle East.Israel says its attacks have hit military and nuclear facilities, and killed many top commanders and atomic scientists — but a senior US official said Sunday that US President Donald Trump told Israel to back down from a plan to kill supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Residential areas in both countries have suffered deadly strikes since the hostilities broke out, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slamming Iran on Sunday for allegedly targeting civilians.”Iran will pay a very heavy price for the premeditated murder of civilians, women and children,” he said, during a visit to the site of a missile strike on a residential building in the coastal city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv.His remarks came hours after Iranian missile fire killed at least 10 people, according to authorities, pushing the death toll in Israel up to 13 since Iran began its retaliatory strikes Friday.Iranian state television reported at least five people were killed Sunday by an Israeli strike that hit a residential building in downtown Iran.Colonel Reza Sayyad, a spokesman for Iran’s armed forces, threatened a “devastating response” to Israel’s attacks.”Leave the occupied territories (Israel) because they will certainly no longer be habitable in the future,” he warned in a televised address, adding shelters will “not guarantee security”.Iran’s health ministry reported at least 224 people killed and more than 1,200 wounded in Israeli attacks since Friday.Israel has claimed strikes as far away as Mashhad in Iran’s far east, 2,300 kilometres (1,430 miles) from Israel, while a likely Iranian drone killed a woman in Syria, a Britain-based war monitor said, in what would be the first death on Syrian soil since the current hostilities between Iran and Israel began. The drone struck the woman’s home in western Tartus province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.The Israeli military said early Monday that it was striking surface-to-surface missile sites in central Iran, adding it was “operating against this threat in our skies and in Iranian skies”.- ‘I will not leave’ -A heavy cloud of smoke hung above Tehran after Israeli aircraft struck two fuel depots. Local media also reported an Israeli strike on the police headquarters in the city centre.”We haven’t been able to sleep since Friday because of the terrible noise,” said a Tehran resident who gave her name as Farzaneh. “Today, they hit a house in our alley, and we were very scared. So we decided to leave Tehran and head to the north of the country.”Some, however, were determined to stay. “It is natural that war has its own stress, but I will not leave my city,” Shokouh Razzazi, 31, told AFP.AFP images from the Israeli city of Haifa, meanwhile, also showed a column of smoke rising on Sunday evening following an Iranian missile barrage.The military said rescue teams “have been dispatched to several hit sites in Israel”, while the fire services reported rescuers heading to a building on the coast that sustained a “direct hit”.Earlier in the day, in Bat Yam, first responders wearing helmets and headlamps picked through a bombed-out building.”There was an explosion and I thought the whole house had collapsed,” said Bat Yam resident Shahar Ben Zion.”It was a miracle we survived.”- ‘Make a deal’ -Trump said Washington “had nothing to do” with Israel’s bombing campaign but threatened to unleash “the full strength and might” of the US military if Iran attacked American interests.On Sunday, he urged the two foes to “make a deal”, adding, however, that “sometimes they have to fight it out” first.A senior US official told AFP that Trump had urged Israel to drop a plan to assassinate Khamenei.”We found out that the Israelis had plans to hit Iran’s supreme leader. President Trump was against it and we told the Israelis not to,” said the US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.Asked in an interview with Fox News whether regime change in Iran was one of the objectives of Israel’s strikes, Netanyahu said that “it certainly could be the result, because the Iran regime is very weak”. Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi maintained Tehran had “solid proof” that US forces had supported Israel in its attacks.He also told a meeting of foreign diplomats that Iran’s actions were a “response to aggression”.”If the aggression stops, naturally our responses will also stop,” he added. Iran scrapped planned nuclear talks with the United States, saying it was “meaningless” to negotiate while under fire.Iranian media reported Sunday that police had arrested two suspects over alleged links to Israel’s Mossad spy agency.Israel, in turn, said it had taken two individuals into custody over alleged links to Iranian intelligence.burs/ds/tym/lb