Author: admin@primenews

Hezbollah rockets have sparked days of bushfires in northern Israel, with swathes of forest reserve destroyed and 11 people hospitalised for smoke inhalation. Patches of scorched earth start to appear half an hour out from the Lebanon border, plumes of grey smoke mapping the route to either side across the hills. Local residents in Israel’s largely-deserted northern communities, have been battling scattered fires for several weeks. One member of a civil defence team said there had been 15-16 fires in the area since then. But high temperatures over the past few days have led to a sharp increase. Firefighters on…

A company that breeds animals for medical testing has been fined a record $35m (£27m) after 4,000 beagles were rescued from its facility in Virginia in 2022. The fine against Envigo RMS LLC for animal cruelty is the largest fine ever issued under the Animal Welfare Act, according to the US Department of Justice (DoJ). “Envigo promoted a business culture that prioritized profit and convenience over following the law,” Christopher Kavanaugh, the US attorney for the Western District of Virginia, said in a statement. “This callous approach led to dire consequences: the inhumane treatment of animals and the contamination of…

From the moment former Mayor of Mexico City Claudia Sheinbaum threw her hat in the ring for the presidency, the result was rarely in doubt. Throughout the long and often gruelling campaign, as she criss-crossed the nation on commercial flights, her double-digit lead in the polls would have reassured her that she was on track to make history. She has now done so, becoming Mexico’s first woman president by a huge margin. It is a watershed moment both for Mexico and her personally. She has already served as Mexico City’s first female mayor. Now, in a few months, she will…

China says its lunar probe has successfully taken off from the far side of the moon to begin its journey back to Earth carrying the first-ever samples collected from that region. State media says a module of the Chang’e-6 craft, named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology, successfully lifted off about 07:38 on Tuesday (23:38 GMT Monday) to begin the journey back. The craft had landed on Sunday close to the moon’s south pole in a world-first feat celebrated by the international science community. China is the only country to have landed on the far side of the moon,…

For the leaders of both Hamas and Israel, ending the war in Gaza has become a deadly game of survival. The terms on which the war finally ends could largely determine their political future and their grip on power. For Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, even his physical survival. It’s partly why previous negotiations have failed. It’s also why the question of how to permanently end the fighting has been put off to the last stages of the plan outlined by US President Joe Biden on Friday. That transition between talks on a limited hostage-for-prisoner deal to discussions about a permanent…

Israel’s military says it has established the deaths of four more people abducted by Hamas on 7 October. It says the four were killed while together during an Israeli operation in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, adding that their bodies were still being held by the militants. The men were named as British-Israeli Nadav Popplewell, 51, Chaim Peri, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, and Amiram Cooper, 85. IDF spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said intelligence gathered in recent weeks had led to the assessment. “We assess that the four of them were killed while together in the area of Khan Younis…

Hackers are attempting to sell what they say is confidential information belonging to millions of Santander staff and customers. They belong to the same gang which this week claimed to have hacked Ticketmaster. The bank — which employs 200,000 people worldwide, including around 20,000 in the UK — has confirmed data has been stolen. Santander has apologised for what it says is “the concern this will understandably cause” adding it is “proactively contacting affected customers and employees directly.” It told the BBC that “UK customer data was not affected or lost in the hack”. “Following an investigation, we have now confirmed…

Young voters in key election battlegrounds are being recommended fake AI-generated videos featuring party leaders, misinformation, and clips littered with abusive comments, the BBC has found. With TikTok emerging as a new social media battleground in this election, the political parties have begun a war of memes on the app in a bid to reach its audience of young voters. But a BBC project to investigate the content promoted by social media algorithms has found – alongside funny montages – young people on TikTok are being exposed to misleading and divisive content. It is being shared by everyone from students…

China has accused UK’s Secret Intelligence Service MI6 of recruiting Chinese state employees as spies. In a post on its official WeChat channel, China’s Ministry of State Security said MI6 operatives turned a Chinese man identified only by his surname Wang and his wife surnamed Zhou against Beijing. Both worked in “core confidential” departments in a Chinese state agency. The ministry alleged that MI6 started cultivating Mr Wang when he went to the UK for his studies in 2015, under a Sino-British exchange programme. The operatives took “special care” for him in the UK, such as by inviting him to…

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to win a third consecutive term in office, exit polls suggest. Analysts warn the polls, released by various news agencies, have often been wrong in the past and are not impartial. However, they have placed Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the frontrunner in the general election. The BJP, the main opposition Congress party and regional rivals battled it out in a fierce campaign over seven phases of polling. Results will be announced on 4 June. A party or coalition needs 272 seats in parliament to form a government. The BJP led-coalition,…