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Israeli police released Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal on Tuesday, after detaining him a day earlier for “hurling rocks” following what activists described as an attack by settlers in the occupied West Bank.Basel Adra, who worked with Ballal on the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land”, posted a photo of Ballal on X after his release with blood stains on his shirt.”After I won the Oscar, I did not expect to be exposed to such attacks,” Ballal said in a video by AFPTV.”It was a very strong attack and the goal was to kill.”According to the Israeli military, three Palestinians were apprehended on Monday for “hurling rocks” during a confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians in the southern West Bank village of Susya.”Following this, a violent confrontation broke out, involving mutual rock hurling between Palestinians and Israelis,” the military statement said.The village is located near Masafer Yatta, a grouping of hamlets south of Hebron city where “No Other Land” is set.The best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards tells the story of forced displacement of Palestinians by Israeli troops and settlers in Masafer Yatta — an area Israel had declared a restricted military zone in the 1980s.A police spokesperson confirmed Ballal had been detained, while a later statement from the force said three people had been released on bail.The statement said they were being investigated “on suspicion of rock hurling, property damage and endangering regional security”.- ‘Hitting me all over’ -Ballal said he had been attacked by a settler.”He was hitting me all over my body and there was also a soldier with him hitting me.”Yuval Abraham, who co-directed “No Other Land”, said Ballal has injuries to the “head and stomach, bleeding”.Activists from the anti-occupation group Center for Jewish Nonviolence said they witnessed the violence in Susya while there in an effort to deter settler violence.”This type of violence is happening on a regular basis,” said Jenna, an American activist who declined to share her full name out of security concerns.She said that before Israeli forces arrived, a group of 15 to 20 settlers attacked the activists as well as Ballal’s house in the village.Foreign activists regularly stay in Masafer Yatta’s communities to accompany Palestinians as they tend to their crops or shepherd their sheep, and document instances of settler violence.Rights groups have said that since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza — a separate Palestinian territory — there has been a spike in attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.Occupied by Israel since 1967, the West Bank is home to around three million Palestinians, as well as nearly half a million Israelis who live in settlements that are illegal under international law.

In a matter of days, US President Donald Trump has extended a hand to Iran and bombed Tehran’s allies in Yemen. His administration has both demanded that Iran dismantle its nuclear program and offered more flexibility.Trump has for years dangled force as a means to get his way in negotiations. But on Iran, some observers see less a strategy than mixed messaging, with a real debate on how the norms-breaking president will handle a US adversary of nearly half a century.”There is a lot of contradiction within the Trump administration on Iran,” said one Western diplomat, who asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of the issue. “Sooner or later, it will have to come to a head.”Trump said on March 7 that he had written a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offering talks on Iran’s contested nuclear program, but also warning of potential military action if he refuses — a threat also made by Israel.Trump, who in his first term ripped up a 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by predecessor Barack Obama, returned to office saying he would resume his “maximum pressure” policy of sanctions but openly said he was doing so reluctantly out of deference to hawkish advisors.Steve Witkoff, a friend of Trump who has quickly become his roving global envoy, hinted at compromise with Iran in a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, the conservative pundit and critic of military interventionism who dissuaded Trump from military action against Iran in his first term.Witkoff said Trump was proposing a “verification program” to show Iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapon — in line with Obama’s deal, which was backed by European allies.Trump’s national security advisor, Mike Waltz, quickly said the goal remained “full dismantlement.” Iran insists it is not seeking a nuclear bomb, but US intelligence believes it could build one quickly if it decided to do so.- Trump surrounded by hawks -Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group, which supports peaceful resolutions, said a maximalist position of ending the nuclear program was a non-starter with Iran.”The Iranians are never going to negotiate with a gun to their heads,” he said.Both Witkoff and the president himself are “not ideologically opposed to a mutually beneficial deal” with Iran, but no one else in the administration appears to agree, Vaez said.While Trump is the chief decision-maker, he has not shown he is focused on Iran, and Witkoff is spread thin as he also negotiates on Gaza and Ukraine, Vaez said.Khamenei already will struggle to accept negotiations with Trump due to his past track record, including ordering the killing of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in 2020.Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, voiced more optimism about diplomacy. He said Iran could even seek a deal of the sort Trump relishes, such as agreeing to buy US products after years of sanctions.”If Iran was smart, they would take this opportunity and say, well, here’s an American president who really doesn’t seem that heavily involved in this issue,” Vatanka said.”He just wants to be able to say that he got a better deal than Obama did in 2015.”- Play for time? -Trump’s outreach comes at a weak point for the Islamic republic after Israel decimated two of its allies — Hamas, the Palestinian militants who attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Iran’s main regional ally, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, fell in December after an offensive led by Sunni Islamists.Trump in recent days has unleashed major attacks on Yemen’s Iranian-linked Huthi insurgents who have been attacking Black Sea shipping in avowed solidarity with the Palestinians.Hanging over diplomacy is the prospect of military action by Israel, which already struck hard at Iran’s air defenses last year.Israel has sought to join forces on Iran with Gulf Arab nations, although Israel’s renewed Gaza offensive could jeopardize any open alliance.Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that a “credible American and Israeli military threat is instrumental” in dealing with Iran’s nuclear program, including in leveraging a strong agreement.”There is a great amount of cognizance within folks in the administration that Tehran is trying to play the administration to stall for time, and that there needs to be some real benchmarks if diplomacy is going to be an option here,” he said.

A US federal judge on Tuesday set a trial date of June 23 in the Justice Department’s criminal case against aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing over two deadly 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019.In two court filings in Texas, Judge Reed O’Connor said he was vacating an April 11 deadline for Boeing and prosecutors to announce …

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Iran became the second Asian side to secure their place at the 2026 World Cup after twice coming from behind to draw 2-2 with Uzbekistan in Tehran on Tuesday, handing organisers a likely diplomatic headache.Iran, the second-highest ranked AFC side in the FIFA standings, needed only a point to join Japan in qualifying for the finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico.Iran will, however, head to North America with relations strained as US President Donald Trump takes a hard line over opening new nuclear talks with Tehran.The Group A leaders were made to work hard at the Azadi Stadium by upward-trending Uzbekistan, with Mehdi Taremi scoring seven minutes from time – his second of the match – to seal the point.”We have to thank the fans who filled the stadium today, and thank God they did not leave empty-handed,” said Iran captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh.Seeking to qualify for a first World Cup, Uzbekistan opened the scoring on 16 minutes through Khojimat Erkinov, before Inter Milan striker Taremi scored his first of the night shortly after half time.Parity lasted only one minute, with Abbosbek Fayzullaev restoring Uzbekistan’s lead. Again, Taremi was the man to pull his team back into the game and ultimately book a spot in North America, when he finished past goalkeeper Utkir Yusupov late on. Iran will be appearing at a fourth successive World Cup and seventh in all.Taremi expressed his “happiness” with the result but admitted his team had “tactical problems” after conceding twice.Uzbekistan remain on course for an inaugural appearance at the finals. Sitting second on 17 points, they require a win from the concluding double-header in June either away to third-placed UAE or at home to Qatar, in fourth.The UAE climbed to four points behind Uzbekistan following their 2-1 victory in injury time against North Korea in Riyadh, with Qatar three points further back after their 3-1 defeat to Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek.The top two go straight to the World Cup, with teams finishing third and fourth in the three Asian groups entering a further round of qualifying.- Knife edge race -Earlier on Tuesday, Australia beat China 2-0 to boost their chances of automatic qualification, but Saudi Arabia stayed in touch in Group C with a goalless draw in Japan.Australia’s victory, courtesy of first-half goals from Jackson Irvine and Nishan Velupillay, left the Socceroos second in Group C on 13 points with two to play, three points ahead of Saudi Arabia with a much better goal difference. Japan are already sure to finish top.Australia host Japan and travel to Saudi Arabia for their final qualifiers in June, leaving the race for the second direct qualification place on a knife edge. China stay bottom on six points, but they can progress to a further qualifying stage by finishing third or fourth. Indonesia moved into fourth on nine points thanks to a 1-0 win over Bahrain.Oxford United forward Ole Romeny scored his second goal in as many games to give Netherlands and Barcelona great Patrick Kluivert his first victory since becoming manager.In Group B,  Son Heung-min’s South Korea remain top and favourites to progress, but they put in another toothless performance as they were held at home for the second match in a row – this time 1-1 by Jordan.Iraq could have gained ground but conceded late twice to lose 2-1 to Palestine in Amman.One-nil down from the 34th minute, Palestine equalised two minutes from time before grabbing a winner in the 97th minute, for their first victory of the third round.Iraq stay third and one point behind second-placed Jordan, who are three off the summit.Leaders South Korea face a tricky trip to Basra in June before a final home clash against Kuwait. Oman are fourth on 10 points following their 1-0 win against Kuwait in Ardhiyah, with Palestine fifth and Kuwait rooted to the bottom.

Global equities eked out some gains Tuesday with Wall Street largely advancing while European stocks made modest progress as concerns eased over upcoming tariffs from US President Donald Trump.The Dow closed little-changed while the broad-based S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day slightly higher following a rally fueled by technology stocks the previous day.Europe …

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President Donald Trump and top US intelligence officials raced Tuesday to stem a growing scandal after a journalist was accidentally added to a group chat about air strikes on Yemen’s Huthi rebels in a stunning security breach.Trump brushed off the leak as a “glitch,” while the CIA director and the White House intelligence chief both claimed during a Senate hearing that no classified information was divulged in the conversation on the Signal messaging app.The president also defended his National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who added Atlantic’s magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat by mistake ahead of the airstrikes.Trump told broadcaster NBC that the breach was “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.” Waltz “has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” he added.Trump’s Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe — who were both reported to be in the chat — both endured a stormy Senate Intelligence Committee hearing over the leak.”There was no classified material that was shared,” Gabbard, who has previously caused controversy with comments sympathetic to Russia and Syria, told the committee.She refused however to comment on whether Signal had been installed on her personal phone.Ratcliffe confirmed he was involved in the Signal group and had the app installed on his work computer, but said the communications were “entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information.”- ‘Sloppy, careless, incompetent’ -Democrats on the committee called on Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to resign.Senator Mark Warner blasted what he called “sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior.”Journalist Goldberg said that Hegseth sent information in the Signal chat about the Yemen strikes including targets, weapons and timing ahead of the strikes on March 15.He said he was added to the group chat two days before the Yemen strikes but did not publish sensitive information on the attacks.Hegseth, a former Fox News host with no experience running a huge organization like the Pentagon, launched the fightback by saying that “nobody was texting war plans.”The White House then went into full damage control mode on Tuesday, attacking Goldberg and describing the story as a “coordinated effort” to distract from Trump’s achievements.”Don’t let enemies of America get away with these lies,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said on X, describing the row as a “witch hunt.”Trump and his aides have repeatedly used the same term to dismiss an investigation into whether the Republican’s 2016 election campaign colluded with Moscow.Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X on Tuesday that “no ‘war plans’ were discussed” and “no classified material was sent to the thread.”She also attacked Goldberg as being “well-known for his sensationalist spin.”- ‘European free-loading’ -But the report has sparked concerns over the use of a commercial app instead of secure government communications — and about whether US adversaries may have been able to hack in.Trump’s special Ukraine and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was in Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin when he was included in the group, CBS News reported.The report also revealed potentially embarrassing details of what top White House officials think about key allies.A person identified as Vance expressed doubts about carrying out the strikes, saying he hated “bailing Europe out again,” as countries there were more affected by Huthi attacks on shipping than the United States.Contributors identified as Hegseth and Waltz both sent messages arguing that only Washington had the capability to carry out the strikes, with the Pentagon chief saying he shared Vance’s “loathing of European free-loading” and calling the Europeans “pathetic.”The Huthi rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza war, saying they were carried out in solidarity with Palestinians.