US to provide passport services to citizens in illegal settlements in West Bank
The United States will for the first time provide consular services and passport facilities to American citizens in the Israeli settlement of Efrat in the occupied West Bank, a move that was criticized by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas as a violation of international law and as diminishing the possibility of an independent Palestinian state.
The US Embassy in Jerusalem said the initiative is linked to the 250th anniversary of US independence and that similar services will be offered in other settlements, while Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar welcomed the decision.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank, where over 500,000 settlers live among around 3 million Palestinians, are considered illegal under international law and the move comes at a time of heightened tensions and violence in the area.
'A destructive force': how recent Mediterranean storms turned into tragedies
A series of powerful storms have battered the western Mediterranean in recent weeks, causing devastating floods and dozens of deaths in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, where record rainfall and strong winds toppled houses, flooded towns and left thousands of people without power.
Scientists are investigating the role of global warming, while preliminary analysis shows that higher sea temperatures and climate change have increased the intensity of rainfall and made storm surges more likely.
Authorities in some areas were praised for timely evacuations, but many residents said no one was prepared for such a destructive force, which could have caused even more casualties.
North Korea shies away from relations with South, while Kim Jong-un says he can "get along" with US
North Korea stated that it rules out any rapprochement with South Korea, calling it a hostile entity.
Leader Kim Jong-un warned that they could "totally destroy" the South if their security is threatened and called for the development of new missile systems, including intercontinental ballistic missiles and tactical nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, he left open the possibility of dialogue with Washington, emphasizing that the future of relations depends on the American stance.
New photo of the Milky Way, "window to understanding how stars form"
The European Southern Observatory has released a spectacular image of the central molecular region of the Milky Way, revealing in previously unseen detail the cold cosmic gases where stars form.
The image, covering a region over 650 light-years across, was taken by the 66-antenna ALMA array in the Atacama Desert in Chile and depicts the extreme conditions near the center of our galaxy.
According to researchers, this view offers a rare "window" into understanding how stars and planets form when they are very close to each other, as is thought to have happened in most of the universe.
