World

A week after Bosnia and Herzegovina secured a place in the FIFA World Cup with a dramatic penalty shootout victory over Italy, a 14-year-old ball boy, Afan Cizmic, has stolen the limelight in the Balkan nation. He was among the dozens of ball boys deployed at the Bilino Polje Stadium in Zenica for the UEFA playoff final on March 31, when Bosnia hosted the four-time champions for a spot in the 2026 World Cup.

Mourners have gathered in central Gaza for the funeral of Mohammed Wishah, an Al Jazeera journalist killed in an Israeli drone strike. The ceremony began at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, with dozens of relatives, friends, and colleagues joining the procession to the Bureij refugee camp, where they paid their final respects before burial in line with his wishes.

The Israeli military carried out a wave of air attacks on Lebanon on Wednesday, killing more than 250 people in the bloodiest day since the US-Israel war on Iran began nearly six weeks ago. The strikes came just hours after the announcement of a two-week United States-Iran ceasefire had raised hopes of de-escalation on all fronts in the conflict that has spread across the region.

New Israeli airstrikes on the town of Abbassiyeh in southern Lebanon killed at least seven people and wounded several others, with the total death toll expected to rise, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. The strikes occurred on Thursday, highlighting the continuation of Israeli bombardment despite a ceasefire agreement announced between the United States and Iran, which Tehran says includes Lebanon.

The war with Iran has placed Dubai's status as a 'dream city' under serious scrutiny. Numerous foreign media outlets, including US publications The New Yorker and The New York Times, have run articles declaring that the emirate's reputation as a 'safe haven' is unraveling and the so-called 'Dubai dream' is over. The British tabloid Daily Mail took evident pleasure in reporting that social media-savvy influencers and other foreigners are being forced to leave, publishing dozens of pieces on 'the great Dubai exodus' and how 'the glittering tax-free influencer fantasy is unravelling.'

US President Donald Trump and Iran’s Supreme National Security Council have accepted a Pakistani-brokered ceasefire following a 40-day war. The agreement includes a two-week cessation of hostilities and negotiations scheduled in Islamabad on April 11, 2026. Iran’s 10-point peace proposal is embedded in the deal, marking the first diplomatic roadmap since the conflict began on February 28, 2026, and allowing ships to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz for the first time in weeks.

Today, to borrow a phrase, we are all Iranians. We are Iranians, witnessing the failure of a thuggish logic practised by the United States and Israel, which operates on a single, crude premise: that enough pain can bend any nation to their imperial designs.

German actor Mario Adorf passed away on April 8, 2026, at the age of 95 in his Paris home after a short illness. Born on September 8, 1930, in Zurich to a German mother and an Italian father, he grew up in the rural Eifel region of western Germany. Adorf studied criminology but dropped out to pursue theater before transitioning to film.

In Pennsylvania, USA, in Armstrong County near the PennDOT driver's license center in Kittanning, officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 13 individuals. Law enforcement responded to reports from local residents about a large gathering of people outside the facility.

The Orion spacecraft of the Artemis II mission is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific Ocean in less than 48 hours. Crew members stated that what they witnessed in space will forever alter their perspective on the world.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem has reopened to Palestinian worshippers following a 40-day closure imposed by Israeli authorities. Video verified by Al Jazeera showed Palestinians streaming through its gates early on Thursday morning, with approximately 3,000 attendees at morning prayers.

The global energy market has faced another wave of instability: Iran has re-blocked the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all global oil trade passes. This occurred immediately after the collapse of a short-term ceasefire regime, triggering an immediate surge in oil prices. Throughout the period of military confrontation between the US and Israel on one side and Iran on the other, energy prices have shown sharp volatility, with rapid increases, short-term declines, and a current return to an upward trend.