World

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a 32-hour ceasefire for Orthodox Easter, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirming that Ukraine will honor it. The Kremlin stated on Thursday that the pause in fighting will begin at 4:00 PM Moscow time (13:00 GMT) on Saturday and run until midnight on Sunday, covering Easter celebrations observed in both countries. The Kremlin's statement claimed, "We proceed on the basis that the Ukrainian side will follow the example of the Russian Federation."

Voters in the East African nation of Djibouti are heading to the polls on Friday to elect their next president. Incumbent leader Ismail Omar Guelleh, 78, is expected to secure a sixth term after politicians scrapped presidential age limits last year. His only opponent is Mohamed Farah Samatar, leader of the Unified Democratic Centre (CDU), a party with no parliamentary representation.

Myanmar's military leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, was sworn in as the country's new president in a ceremony in the capital Naypyidaw. This event occurred five years after he ousted an elected government in 2021, triggering a civil war. In his inauguration address, he claimed that "Myanmar has returned to the path of democracy and is heading towards a better future", while acknowledging the nation still faces many "challenges to overcome".

The White House administration last month warned staff against using insider information to place bets on prediction markets, according to an email sent to employees on March 24. The warning came just one day after US President Donald Trump announced a five-day pause on his threat to attack Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure, highlighting the sensitive timing of such market activities.

NASA's Artemis II mission, a critical step in the agency's lunar return program, is approaching its final stage. The Orion spacecraft, named "Integrity" by its crew, is scheduled to re-enter Earth's atmosphere on April 11 at approximately 00:07 GMT (evening of April 10 ET) and splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. This represents the most hazardous and pivotal phase of the mission, testing systems intended for future crewed Moon landings, including Artemis III.

US and Iranian negotiators are set to meet in Islamabad, Pakistan this weekend in an attempt to cement a two-week ceasefire agreed upon after nearly six weeks of conflict. These high-stakes negotiations remain precarious as Israel and the Iran-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon continue to exchange fire, underscoring the volatile regional context.

Gaza City, Palestine – Six months after a ceasefire agreement was signed on October 10, 2025, the reality on the ground in the Gaza Strip remains fragile, with no tangible improvement in humanitarian or security conditions for Palestinian civilians. The agreement between Israel and Hamas was brokered internationally after a devastating two-year war that resulted in over 72,000 Palestinian deaths. It stipulated an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire, gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces, opening of border crossings, and a reconstruction framework under international supervision.

A convicted German right-wing extremist, Marla-Svenja Liebich, who identifies as transgender and had been on the run for months, has been arrested in the Czech Republic. The arrest took place in Krásná, approximately 100 km east of Prague, based on a European arrest warrant issued by German authorities.

NASA's renewed push for human missions to the Moon and Mars under the Artemis program is neither cheap nor straightforward, raising questions about costs and benefits for those on Earth. While the agency commands a substantial annual budget, its scientific and technological spin-offs, such as memory foam or scratch-resistant lenses, have permeated daily life, yet quantifying their value remains challenging.

A six-month ceasefire agreement signed on October 10, 2025, for the Gaza Strip in Palestine has effectively failed in practice. The deal, brokered internationally between Israel and Hamas after a devastating two-year war that resulted in over 72,000 Palestinian deaths and tens of thousands of injuries, was supposed to mark a turning point. It stipulated an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire, gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Strip, opening of border crossings, and expanded humanitarian aid delivery.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has declared that he will not yield to pressure from the United States to step down, stating in an interview with US broadcaster NBC News on Thursday that "stepping down is not part of our vocabulary." He described communist-ruled Cuba as a "free sovereign state" with the right to "self-determination," emphasizing that the island is not "subject to the designs of the United States." Diaz-Canel added that in Cuba, leadership positions are not elected by the US government, reinforcing the nation's stance against external interference.

The Egyptian Pro League announced on Thursday that Al-Ahly goalkeeper and Egypt international Mohamed El-Shenawy has been handed a four-match ban and fined 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($942) for assaulting a referee. This decision follows an incident where the player struck the referee on the head after a 1-1 draw with Ceramica Cleopatra on Tuesday.