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By Ramin Khanizadeh, AFP A general view of Tehran after several explosions were heard in Tehran on 26 October, 2024. Photo: AFP/Atta Kenare Iran warns it will defend itself after Israeli air strikes killed at least two soldiers and further stoked fears of a full-scale regional war in the Middle East. Israel warned Iran would "pay a heavy price" if it responded to the strikes, and the United States, Germany and Britain demanded Tehran not escalate the conflict further. US President Joe Biden said he hoped "this is the end" after the pre-dawn Israeli strikes, noting that "it looks like they didn't hit anything other than military targets". The European Union called for all parties to exercise utmost restraint to avoid an "uncontrollable escalation". Other countries, including many of I...

By Michael Williams, CNN US President Joe Biden gestures as he apologises for Native American boarding school atrocities at the Gila River Crossing School in the Gila River Indian Community, in Laveen Village, near Phoenix, Arizona. Photo: AFP / ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS President Joe Biden formally apologised to Native Americans for what he described as "one of the most horrific chapters in American history," government-funded boarding schools that abused indigenous children and forced them to assimilate over a 150-year period. "Quite frankly, there is no excuse that this apology took 150 years to make," Biden said in Laveen, Arizona, after calling for a moment of silence to "remember those lost and the generations living with that trauma." At least 18,000 children were taken from t...

A view of the city during a national scheduled fourteen-hour blackout in Quito, Ecuador. Photo: RODRIGO BUENDIA/AFP Ecuador has lengthened scheduled electricity rationing from eight to 14 hours per day due to the worst drought it has faced in six decades, the energy minister announced. "We have taken the painful but responsible decision to change the rationing plan, increasing it from eight to 14 hours a day," Energy and Mines Minister Ines Manzano said in a video posted on social networks at the crack of dawn on Friday (local time). Low water levels have caused the reservoirs of hydroelectric plants that cover 70 percent of national demand to fall to critical levels in recent months. In April Ecuador imposed electricity rationing of up to 13 hours a day. The outages have been adjusted ...