People watch as smoke billows from an oil warehouse in the Kani Qirzhala area on the outskirts of Erbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, following a suspected drone strike, on April 1, 2026.
The sentence that has sparked debate across Germany was uttered almost casually: At the Chancellery in Berlin on Monday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his guest, Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, addressed journalists after their meeting. A journalist asked, how many of the Syrians currently in Germany should now return to their homeland.
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There is little doubt that the nuclear threat in the Middle East has grown during the current conflict. During the war, which started in late February when the US and Israel attacked Iran, nuclear sites in both Iran and Israel have been targeted.
Just as optimists sensed that the United States-Israel war with Iran was on the verge of winding down, the monthlong crisis takes yet another twist.
Over the years, there have been several attempts to revive capital punishment in Israel, but they didn't get very far — until now. On Monday, Israel's parliament, the Knesset, passed the "Penal Bill (Amendment ― Death Penalty for Terrorists)," making the controversial legislation the law of the land. The death penalty has previously existed in Israel for war crimes.
Israel's parliament, the Knesset, on Monday passed legislation making the death penalty by hanging the default punishment for West Bank Palestinians found guilty of murdering Israeli citizens.
Pakistan has intensified its diplomatic outreach to become a key mediator in the US-Israel war with Iran, using its strategic relationships with Iran and the US to serve as a mediator.
It was a grand reception for the former leader of an Islamist militia: The government district around the chancellery in central Berlin was largely cordoned off this Monday, and Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was received by both Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and the head of state, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
A resident gestures from an upper floor of a ruined residential building that was hit in an airstrike earlier this morning on March 30, 2026 in the west of Tehran, Iran.
Over the years, there have been several attempts to revive capital punishment in Israel, but they didn't get very far. Until now. Last week, on March 25, 2026, the parliamentary committee approved the final version of the "Penal Bill (Amendment – Death Penalty for Terrorists)".
The Israeli police prevented Catholic leaders from marking Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre "for the first time in centuries," church officials there said, with Israel citing security concerns amid the war with Iran.