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Hamas was expected Friday to name three hostages it will release this weekend as part of a planned exchange for Palestinian prisoners, local media said, after days of uncertainty in which Israel threatened to scrap a nearly month-old Gaza ceasefire deal.Israel warned Thursday that the Palestinian militants must release three living hostages this weekend or face a resumption of the war in Gaza, after Hamas said it would pause releases over apparent Israeli violations of the truce. The January 19 ceasefire, which largely halted 15 months of fighting in Gaza, has been under heightened pressure since US President Donald Trump proposed a US takeover of the territory. Israeli media reported Thursday that Hamas was set to name three hostages it would release on Saturday, after it reiterated its commitment to the ceasefire and to carrying out the next exchange “according to the specified timetable”.”We are keen to implement it (the ceasefire) and oblige the occupation to fully abide by it,” Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif al-Qanou said, adding that mediators were pushing for Israel “to resume the exchange process on Saturday”.Israel had insisted Hamas release “three live hostages” on Saturday.”If those three are not released, if Hamas does not return our hostages, by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end,” said government spokesman David Mencer.Hamas had previously accused Israel of holding up the delivery of heavy machinery needed to clear war debris, with bulldozers reportedly lining up at Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with Gaza waiting to enter. – ‘Power games’ -Trump, whose proposal to take over Gaza and move its 2.4 million residents to Egypt or Jordan sparked global outcry, warned this week that “hell” would break loose if Hamas failed to release “all” remaining hostages by noon on Saturday.If fighting resumes, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said it would end in the “defeat of Hamas and the release of all the hostages”.”It will also allow the realisation of US President Trump’s vision for Gaza,” he added.Katz last week ordered the Israeli army to prepare for “voluntary” departures from Gaza, and the military said it has already begun reinforcing its troops around the territory.Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels threatened Thursday to launch new attacks on Israel if it and the United States went ahead with Trump’s Gaza plan.The ceasefire’s six-week first phase has seen Israeli captives released in small groups in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody.The two sides, which have yet to agree on the next phases of the truce, have traded accusations of violations, spurring concern that the violence could resume.On Thursday, for the first time since the truce began, Israel’s military said it identified a rocket launch from Gaza. The rocket landed back inside the Palestinian territory and the military later said it had struck the launcher.Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group said despite their public disputes Israel and Hamas were still interested in maintaining the truce and have not “given up on anything yet”.”They’re just playing power games,” she said.In Israel, dozens of relatives of hostages held in Gaza blocked a highway near Tel Aviv, waving banners and demanding the terms of the ceasefire be respected, an AFP journalist said.Hamas has called for worldwide “solidarity marches” over the weekend to denounce “the plans to displace our Palestinian people from their land”.- ‘God almighty?’ – Trump reaffirmed his Saturday deadline for the hostage release while hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Washington this week.In a phone call Wednesday, Abdullah and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said they were united in supporting the ceasefire’s “full implementation”, and in their opposition to the displacement of Palestinians.Palestinians have also voiced opposition to the plan.”Who is Trump? Is he God almighty? The land of Jordan is for Jordanians, and the land of Egypt belongs to Egyptians,” said Gaza City resident Abu Mohamed al-Husari.”We are here, deeply rooted in Gaza — the resilient, besieged and unbreakable Gaza.”Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.Militants also took 251 hostages, of whom 73 remain in Gaza, including at least 35 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,239 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the UN considers reliable.The war has damaged or destroyed around 69 percent of Gaza’s buildings, according to the UN.Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the UN’s infrastructure agency, said Thursday that he had seen not only “immense human suffering” in Gaza but also massive destruction “and an overwhelming volume of rubble.” burs-tym/rsc

In a century-old building in Tehran, Saeed Anvarinejad turned the dial of a vintage radio to tune into some of Iran’s earliest recorded sounds, some serving as reminders of the seismic changes that shaped the country’s history.Along with a team of fellow enthusiasts, he spent months tracking down the earliest recordings of Iranian music, speeches, interviews, theatrical plays, radio broadcasts and even the hum of daily life from more than a century ago up to the present day. “Sound is a phenomenon we pay little attention to… although it’s very important,” said Anvarinejad, one of the organisers of the “SoundScape” exhibition.And “the era of early sound recording in Iran is a very important time in the socio-political history of the country”.He highlighted the emotional power of early voice recordings, saying they captured “in a very raw and pure way… the feeling that people have at that moment,” unlike written records.According to Anvarinejad, the oldest surviving sound recordings from Iran date back to 1898 and 1899, during the reign of Mozaffar al-Din Shah of the Qajar dynasty, which reigned over the country from the late 18th to the early 20th century.His rule saw the unfolding of the Constitutional Revolution, a pivotal moment in Iran’s political transformation that established a parliament and constitutional monarchy.”It was a time when… a new order was taking shape in the Iranian mind and very important things were happening politically, socially and culturally,” he added.”We thought it would be good to have a new approach to the sound (from that time) and engage audiences with it.”Upon tuning the wooden-framed antique radio, a chilling broadcast announced the overthrow of prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953, who had pushed for the nationalisation of Iran’s oil industry sparking a coup d’etat orchestrated by the United States and Britain.”This is Tehran! Good news! Good news! People of the cities of Iran, be awake and alert, the traitor Mosaddegh has fled!” crackled the voice of a radio anchor.- ‘Mysterious void’ -Other audio included Iran’s first recorded call to prayer in either 1912 or 1913, and the 1959 report on the death of Qamar, the first woman singer to perform in public in the country.One striking installation at the exhibition involved a mechanical device mounted on a concrete wall with gears, chains, wheels and a lever which played old recordings of the stringed tar instrument through retro telephone handsets.Another, “Mowj Negar”, featured printed sound waves arranged in three rows on one wall, with a metal device which moved along the waves. When moved, the device activates melodies from the Qajar and early Pahlavi (1925-1979) eras that once echoed through Iran’s grand palaces and bustling city streets.Nearby stood a wooden cabinet named “The Silent Closet”, displaying a series of photos from the First World War -— but without a single accompanying sound.”There are no sound recordings from Iran during this period, not because technology was unavailable, but likely because the country was in such turmoil that recording sound was not a priority,” said Atabak Axon, another exhibition organiser. “There was a 12-year silence that remains a mysterious void in Iran’s auditory history.”For centuries, sound has played a central role in Persian culture, connecting belief with poetry and identity.For 21-year-old Sarvin Faizian, visiting the exhibition with friends was a deeply moving experience “as if I was experiencing my parents’ past.”Similarly, Fatemeh Sadeghi described feeling overwhelmed by nostalgia, while 63-year-old Kamran Asadi found the exhibition unexpectedly personal.”It is a very good and intimate atmosphere for me,” he said, lingering on an old song playing in the background.”It is good for the younger generation to learn where Iran’s heritage of music and art came from.”

US President Donald Trump inked plans Thursday for sweeping “reciprocal tariffs” that could hit both allies and competitors, in a dramatic escalation of an international trade war that economists warn could fuel inflation at home.Since taking office, Trump has announced a broad range of tariffs targeting some of America’s biggest trading partners, arguing that they would help tackle unfair practices — and in some cases using the threats to influence policy.Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said Thursday he had decided to impose reciprocal duties, telling reporters that US allies were often “worse than our enemies” on trade.”Whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them,” Trump added.In particular, he called the European Union “absolutely brutal” in trade ties with Washington.The levies would be tailored to each US trading partner and consider the tariffs they impose on American goods, alongside taxes seen as “discriminatory,” such as value-added taxes (VATs), a White House official said on condition of anonymity.With the memo Trump signed Thursday, officials including the US trade representative and commerce secretary will propose remedies on a country-by-country basis.Trump’s commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick said Thursday that studies should be completed by April 1, and the president could start tariffs as early as April 2.Washington will begin by examining economies with which the United States has its biggest deficits or “most egregious issues,” the White House official added.”This should be a matter of weeks, in a few months,” the official said.- Inflation fears -Ahead of Trump’s Oval Office comments, Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro told reporters: “Major exporting nations of the world attack our markets with punishing tariffs and even more punishing non-tariff barriers.”Besides the EU, the White House also flagged differences in certain US tariff levels with India and Brazil, while noting Japan’s “high structural barriers.”Cost-of-living pressures were a key issue in the November election that saw Trump return to power, and the Republican has promised to swiftly reduce prices.But economists caution that sweeping tariffs on US imports would likely boost inflation, not reduce it, in the near term and could weigh on growth eventually.Trump acknowledged Thursday that US prices “could go up” due to tariffs, but he expressed confidence that they would ultimately ease.- ‘Unfair’ treatment -The White House official said the United States has been “treated unfairly,” saying a lack of reciprocity is a reason behind the country’s “persistent annual trade deficit in goods” which topped $1 trillion last year.One issue US officials pointed out was the EU’s 10 percent tariff on American autos, while the United States charges only 2.5 percent.But Sean Bray, policy director of Tax Foundation Europe, noted that the United States might have higher levies on other products, like a 25 percent rate on light truck imports.Trump also criticized “certain areas of Europe” for a VAT tax of about 20 percent, although some analysts have challenged the characterization that VATs provide unfair trade advantages.Trump’s announcement came shortly before he met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington, and the US president has since said he expected “wonderful trade deals” with India.Analysts have warned that reciprocal duties could bring a broad tariff hike to emerging market economies such as India and Thailand, which tend to have higher effective tariff rates on US products.Countries like South Korea that have trade deals with Washington are less at risk, analysts believe.New Delhi offered some quick tariff concessions ahead of Modi’s visit, including on high-end motorcycles.Christine McDaniel, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, told AFP that Trump does not appear constrained by World Trade Organization norms.His memo forces countries to renegotiate tariff schedules with Washington, she said, adding that this could turn out well if others come to the table.”But if countries refuse, and the US raises its tariffs, then it is bad for the US” as American importers will face higher prices, said McDaniel, a former official in George W. Bush’s administration. 

Major stock markets mostly rose Thursday on hopes for an end to the war in Ukraine and as US President Trump announced a trade policy shake-up but held off on specific new levies. London was a rare faller owing to sharp losses to share prices of big companies, including Unilever, Barclays and British American Tobacco, on …

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