March 7, 2025

Palestinians point to Israel's retention of 600+ bodies after Trump's remark "Palestinians are pushing back against US President Donald Trump's fiery demand that Hamas return Israeli captives and bodies of those killed, reminding him that Israel has long been keeping hundreds of bodies of Palestinians. According to multiple media sources, Israel is holding 665 bodies, including those of 59 children. Israeli officials say they keep Palestinian bodies as leverage — to deter attacks, to trade in future negotiations. Palestinians and human rights groups call it something else — collective punishment." Ukraine, US to hold talks next week to end war "President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would travel to Saudi Arabia and his team would stay on to hold talks with US officials about ending the war between Ukraine and Russia. The talks follow a letter from Zelenskyy to US President Donald Trump. "There was an apology, there was an acknowledgment that the United States has done so much for the country of Ukraine, and a sense of gratitude,"" US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters in describing the tone of Zelenskyy's letter." EU leaders agree to boost defence following decades of hesitation "European Union leaders have committed to a massive step in defence cooperation following decades of hesitation. The 27 leaders signed off on a move on Thursday to loosen budget restrictions so willing EU countries can increase military spending. They also urged the European Commission, the EU's executive branch, to explore new ways to facilitate significant defence spending in all member states, a statement said." CAIR urges Muslim immigrants not to leave US ahead of potential Trump ban "The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) warned regular immigrants in the US not to travel overseas this month ahead of potential President Donald Trump's Muslim travel ban. CAIR Government Affairs Director said they do not know ""for sure"" whether the administration will issue a new ban or which countries would be targeted. CAIR encourages the Trump administration to reconsider any plans to impose any new total travel bans on Muslim-majority countries under the guise of protecting national security, the official said." Turkish researcher to study women astronauts’ health on all-female spaceflight "Begum Aydogan Mathyk, an obstetrics and gynecology researcher at the University of South Florida, will investigate the health of an all-women flight team scheduled for 2026. Underlining the lack of studies on women’s health in space, she pointed out that while animal reproduction studies have been conducted in space, her approach is different. Mathyk highlighted the importance of moving women’s health studies from Earth to space, as the long-term effects of space on women astronauts’ reproductive health and hormonal systems remain unknown."