Author: Prima News

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro are ​seen tied in a simulated run-off for ‌this year’s presidential election, a BTG Pactual/Nexus poll showed on Monday. FIRST ROUND Leftist Lula would take between 39% ​and 42% of the vote in three ​simulated first-round scenarios with different opponents. Right-wing challenger ⁠Flavio Bolsonaro, meanwhile, is seen taking between ​38% and 39% in the same scenarios. RUN-OFF Lula and ​Flavio Bolsonaro are seen tied at 46% in a potential run-off, the poll showed. About 7% of respondents said they ​would vote for neither of the candidates. ADDITIONAL ​CONTEXT Markets…

 Iran said on Monday its ambassador ‌to Lebanon would remain in his post in Beirut, defying the Lebanese Foreign Ministry, which has declared him persona non grata and told him to leave. With war raging in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel, the Iranian envoy’s status has ​emerged as a focal point of tension between the Iran-backed group and the Lebanese government, ​which has been heavily critical of Hezbollah for entering the regional war in ⁠support of Tehran and called for talks with Israel. The Lebanese Foreign Ministry last week said it had ​decided to withdraw accreditation for the ambassador-designate, Mohammad Reza Shibani, and asked him to…

U.S. ​President Donald Trump signaled he was reversing course on blocking oil shipments to Cuba on Sunday, saying he had “no problem” with any country sending in ‌crude as a Russian tanker neared a Cuban port with a badly needed shipment. A sanctioned Russian vessel, part of the country’s “shadow fleet,” was just off the coast of eastern Cuba on Sunday, according to ship tracking data, and was expected to reach port on Monday, a lifeline for the country’s economy that has nearly ground to a halt under a de facto oil blockade imposed by Washington. The U.S. cut off…

Iran fired multiple waves of missiles at Israel on ​Monday and vowed to “punish the aggressor” as Israeli forces pounded Tehran and oil prices rose after Yemen’s Houthis entered the war in the Middle East. Israel’s military said two drones ‌from Yemen had been intercepted on Monday, two days after the Iran-aligned Houthis, opens new tab fired missiles at Israel for the first time since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran that has spread across the region. The Israeli military said its forces were targeting what it described as military infrastructure in Tehran and had launched an attack on infrastructure in the…

Min Aung Hlaing stepped down as Myanmar’s armed forces chief on Monday to seek the presidency, the ​latest step in the generals’ efforts to maintain power behind the facade of a civilian administration, five years after they led a ‌coup against an elected government. The move follows a controversial election held in December and January that was won by a military-backed party but widely derided as a sham by the United Nations and many Western countries. The coup that ousted the democratically elected government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi prompted mass protests that developed into a nationwide uprising after…

Iran confirmed on ​Monday the ‌death of Revolutionary Guards Navy ​Commander Alireza ​Tangsiri following severe injuries, ⁠Iranian media ​reported, based ​on a statement by the guards. Israel’s ​Defence Minister ​Israel Katz said on ‌March ⁠26: “In a precise and lethal operation, the ​IDF ​eliminated ⁠the commander of the ​IRGC ​Navy, ⁠Tangsiri, along with senior naval ⁠command ​officials.”

 Kosovo on Monday approved sending troops to Gaza for an international security force ​as part of a U.S.-backed initiative after ‌last year’s ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Several nations including Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan and Albania have committed troops to the International ​Stabilization Force to keep peace and back ​a transitional administration in Gaza under U.S. President ⁠Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace.” Kosovo’s government said in ​a televised ministerial meeting on Monday the defence ​ministry had decided to send a force to Gaza after receiving a U.S. invitation in December. “We are ready to ​participate and help the people of Gaza, because ​we ourselves have…

World Trade Organization talks broke up on Monday with no agreement on a plan for reform or even on extending a moratorium on e-commerce, piling more pressure on the trade body that finds itself increasingly sidelined ​by economic nationalism. The four-day ministerial talks in Cameroon’s capital Yaounde ended in the early hours with Brazil blocking a bid by ‌the U.S. and others to prolong a moratorium on duties for electronic transmissions like digital downloads and streaming. Expectations for progress had been low before the talks but there had been hopes the moratorium at least would be renewed. In the end,…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he had ordered the military to further expand its operations in southern Lebanon, citing continued ​rocket fire by Hezbollah. Israel said last week it was enlarging a “buffer zone” up to ‌the Litani River. It was not immediately clear whether Netanyahu was referring to that area or to the seizure of additional territory. “I have now instructed to further expand the existing security zone in order ​to finally thwart the threat of invasion and to push the anti-tank missile ​fire away from our border,” Netanyahu said in a video statement from ⁠Israeli Northern…

Abdulaziz Aldarwish decided ​to take drastic action after his son Yahia’s young kidneys failed. The Syrian construction worker could not afford ‌the 1,200 euros ($1,380) per month needed for dialysis treatment and in any case the public healthcare system in Lebanon, where he worked, is in a state of near-collapse after years of conflict and neglect So Aldarwish managed to muster 5,000 euros from savings and family loans for them to board ​a boat ferrying migrants 200 km (120 miles) to Cyprus, hoping to find doctors who could give his son ​a new kidney and a new life. His wife and their…