Coventry: First woman and first African to lead IOC

According to Reuters, Kirsty Coventry smashed through the International Olympic Committee’s glass ceiling on Thursday to become the organization’s first female and first African president in its 130-year history.

The Zimbabwean swimming great, already a towering figure in Olympic circles, emerged victorious to replace Thomas Bach, securing the top job in world sport and ushering in a new era for the Games.

Coventry needed only one round of voting to clinch the race to succeed Bach, winning an immediate overall majority in the secret ballot with 49 of the available 97 votes.

She beat Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. into second place, the Spaniard winning 28 votes. Britain’s Sebastian Coe, considered one of the front runners in the days leading up to the vote, came third with eight votes.

The remaining votes went to Frenchman David Lappartient, Jordan’s Prince Feisal, Swedish-born Johan Eliasch, and Japan’s Morinari Watanabe.

"This is not just a huge honour but it is a reminder of my commitment to every single one of you that I will lead this organization with so much pride," a beaming Coventry told her fellow IOC members at the luxury seaside resort in Greece’s southwestern Peloponnese which hosted the IOC Session.

 

Backed by Trump, Israel Kills 400 Gazans

According to Reuters, Israeli airstrikes pounded Gaza and killed more than 400 people on Tuesday, ending weeks of relative calm after talks to secure a permanent ceasefire stalled.

Israel and Hamas each accused the other of breaching the truce, which had broadly held since January, offering respite from war for the 2 million inhabitants of Gaza, where most buildings have been reduced to rubble.

Hamas, which still holds 59 of the 250 or so hostages Israel says the group seized in its October 7, 2023 attack, accused Israel of jeopardising efforts by mediators to negotiate a permanent deal to end the fighting, but the group made no threat of retaliation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered strikes because Hamas had rejected proposals to secure a ceasefire extension during faltering talks.

"Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength," the prime minister's office said in a statement.

The strikes hit houses and tent encampments from the north to the south of the Gaza Strip, and Israeli tanks shelled from across the border line, witnesses said.

"It was a night of hell. It felt like the first days of the war," said Rabiha Jamal, 65, a mother of five from Gaza City.

Israel's sudden onslaught overwhelmed Gaza hospitals already reeling from weeks of an aid blockade, medics said, as ambulances ferried in hundreds of badly injured survivors.

Families in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip and eastern areas of Khan Younis in the south fled their homes, some on foot, others in cars or rickshaws, carrying some of their belongings after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders warning the areas were "dangerous combat zones".

Hours after the IDF renewed the strikes, Hamas hasn't managed to fire a single rocket into Israel.

"This return to violence does not come as a surprise, however," said Sara Haghdoosti, executive director of the US-based advocacy group Win Without War.

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has, from the beginning, signaled his intention to abandon the cease-fire process before it could become a lasting peace. From before his first day in office,

President Trump has endorsed the Netanyahu government's return to war. Indeed, we fear that Trump's vile plan for ethnic cleansing in Gaza, so welcomed by the far-right members of Netanyahu's government, will become the blueprint for the war as it goes forward."

 

Iran to be held responsible for attacks by Houthis

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would hold Iran responsible for any attacks carried out by the Houthi group that it backs in Yemen, as his administration expanded the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since Trump returned to the White House, reports Reuters.

Responding to the Houthi movement's threats to international shipping, the US launched a new wave of airstrikes on Saturday. On Monday, the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah and Al Jawf governorate north of the capital Sanaa were targeted, Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said.

"Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!" Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

The White House said that Trump's message to Iran was to take the United States seriously.

The Pentagon said it had struck over 30 sites so far and would use overwhelming lethal force against the Houthis until the group stopped attacks. The Pentagon's chief spokesperson, Sean Parnell, said the goal was not regime change.

Lieutenant General Alex Grynkewich, director of operations at the Joint Staff, said the latest campaign against the Houthis was different to the one under former President Joe Biden because the range of targets was broader and included senior Houthi drone experts.

Grynkewich said dozens of Houthi members were killed in the strike. The Biden administration is not believed to have targeted senior Houthi leaders.

The Houthi-run health ministry said on Sunday that at least 53 people have been killed in the attacks. Five children and two women were among the victims and 98 have been hurt, it said. Reuters could not independently verify those casualty numbers.

One US official told Reuters the strikes might continue for weeks. Washington has also ramped up sanctions pressure on Iran while trying to bring it to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.

The Houthis say their attacks, which have forced companies to re-route ships to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa, are in solidarity with Palestinians as Israel strikes Gaza.

Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said on Sunday the militants would target US ships in the Red Sea as long as the US continues attacks on Yemen.

Under the direction of al-Houthi, who is in his 40s, the ragtag group has become an army of tens of thousands of fighters and acquired an arsenal of armed drones and ballistic missiles.

While Iran champions the Houthis, the Houthis deny being puppets of Tehran, and experts on Yemen say they are motivated primarily by a domestic agenda.

The Houthis' military spokesman, without providing evidence, said in a televised statement early on Monday that the group had launched a second attack against the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea.

 

Houthis attack USS Harry S Truman

The Houthis launched an attack comprising of 18 ballistic and cruise missiles, along with drones, targeting the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier and its accompanying warships in the northern Red Sea on Sunday, reports the Saudi Gazette.

Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree stated that the attack was a response to more than 47 US airstrikes — ordered by US President Donald Trump — on rebel-controlled areas in Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and the province of Saada, which borders Saudi Arabia.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to target all American warships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea in retaliation for the aggression against our country,” Saree declared.

Both Washington and the Houthis have warned of further escalation following the US airstrikes, which aimed to deter the rebels from attacking military and commercial vessels in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told US media on Sunday, “We’re not going to have these people controlling which ships can go through and which ones cannot."

"And so your question is, how long will this go on? It will go on until they no longer have the capability to do that," he added.

He emphasized that these strikes would differ from the Biden administration's one-off attacks.

On Sunday, Iran denied any involvement in the Houthi attacks. General Hossein Salami, head of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said on state-run media that Tehran "plays no role in setting the national or operational policies" of the militant groups it is allied with across the region.

Houthis ban US vessels from entering Red Sea

According the Seatrade Maritime News, Houthis have banned the entry of the US vessels from navigation of the southern Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and Gulf Aden, and that it will target US Navy ships in response to US airstrikes on Yemen.

US attacks on Yemen on March 15 have claimed 53 lives, according to the Houthis, as US President Trump increased military action to reopen the Red Sea to commercial shipping.

Posting on Truth Social, the US President said, “The Houthis have choked off shipping in one of the most important Waterways of the World, grinding vast swaths of Global Commerce to a halt, and attacking the core principle of Freedom of Navigation upon which International Trade and Commerce depends.”

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the US would continue to target the Houthis until their threats to shipping were withdrawn.

The White House posted an article listing Houthi attacks on international shipping and their impact on world trade, including the drop in Red Sea and Suez Canal transits.

Ships continue to avoid the southern Red Sea due to the risk of escalation at short notice in the region, although no Houthi attacks on merchant ships have been reported this year.

The announcement of the Houthis’ ‘ban’ on US vessels follows a statement issued by the group last week that it was resuming a ‘ban’ on Israeli vessels in the Red and Arabian Seas, Bab al-Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden until Israel allows aid to flow into Gaza.

In January this year, the Houthis lifted its ‘ban’ on international shipping transiting the Red Sea as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas progressed, but warned that aggression against its forces in Yemen by the US or Britain would make the nations’ vessels subject to attack once again.

A further signal of progress was seen in January when the crew of car carrier Galaxy Leader were released after 14 months in Houthis captivity.

The US strikes and Houthi response are in line with expectations when the Israel-Hamas ceasefire was announced - security experts said at the time that the region remained volatile, the ceasefire was fragile, escalation could happen quickly, and Israeli, US and UK ships were particularly at threat.

Since November 2023, there have been 112 incidents recorded in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, including six serious incidents, 42 minor incidents, 46 attempted attacks, and four hijackings, according to the Joint Maritime Information Centre (JMIC).

Four mariners have been killed and two seriously injured in Houthi attacks on merchant ships.

 

Who is the terrorist: United States or Yemen?

According to media reports, the death toll from Saturday night’s joint airstrikes by United Stat and Britain on multiple Yemeni cities has risen to 31, with 101 others injured, mostly women and children.

Anis Al-Asbahi, the ministry’s spokesperson stated, “The massacres committed by the US aggression targeting civilian and residential areas in Sanaa, Saada, Al-Bayda, and Rada’a on Saturday resulted in 132 civilian casualties, including 31 martyrs and 101 wounded, mostly children and women.”

He added that the figures remain preliminary, as search efforts continue to recover victims following a series of US airstrikes targeting civilian sites.

Asbahi condemned the attacks, calling them a “full-fledged war crime” and a “blatant violation of all international laws and conventions.”

On Saturday, Yemen had initially reported that 24 people were killed and 23 others wounded in the strikes.

The Yemen had previously warned Israel on March 07 to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza within four days or face renewed maritime operations against Israeli-linked vessels.

The US launched the latest airstrikes on Yemen as President Donald Trump warned that “hell will rain down” if the group continued attacks on Red Sea shipping.

Since late 2023, Yemen has targeted Israeli-linked vessels in the Red Sea using missiles and drones, citing solidarity with Gaza.

The attacks were halted when a Gaza ceasefire was declared in January between Israel and Hamas but later threatened to resume operations when Israel blocked all aid into Gaza on March 02.

United States: The True Godfather of Terrorism

Once again, Washington plays its old game: accusing others of terrorism while fueling it to serve its interests. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent statements in Al-Quds with Benjamin Netanyahu are part of a longstanding American policy aimed at hiding its role in destabilizing West Asia through support for terrorist groups.

This isn’t just an accusation from US rivals—it’s a reality acknowledged by American officials. In 2016, Donald Trump declared, “Obama is the founder of ISIS, and Clinton is his co-founder,” a statement backed by evidence.

During the Syrian crisis, the CIA funneled financial and logistical aid to extremist groups under the pretext of supporting “moderate opposition.” Reports from The Washington Post repeatedly exposed this strategy. John Kerry, in a leaked recording, admitted the US allowed ISIS to grow in Syria, hoping to pressure Damascus into concessions.

In 2019, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard revealed the US was directly arming al-Qaeda in Syria. Former Senator Richard Black recently reaffirmed this, exposing continued US backing of groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS. United Nations reports over the last decade confirm US support for Jabhat al-Nusra (al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch) via Turkey and Qatar to overthrow Assad.

Rubio talks about Syrian “instability” while ignoring US backing for Abu Mohammed al-Julani, leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra). Once on America’s terrorist list, al-Julani now controls Syria’s northwest with American support, rebranded as a "moderate opposition leader."

US media, like PBS, have even given him a platform, whitewashing his extremist history. A RAND Corporation report exposed that Washington considers him a “potential partner” — a shocking display of double standards. Al-Julani, now known as Ahmad al-Sharaa, orchestrated massacres of over 22,000 Alawites along Syria’s coast. Instead of facing justice, he receives political and media backing from the US, ensuring Syria remains unstable and under Western influence.

Rubio’s remarks can’t be separated from unwavering US support for Israel, which engages in daily state terrorism. Since the latest Gaza aggression began, Israeli forces have killed tens of thousands of civilians, including children, while destroying hospitals and schools — all with Washington’s cover.

The US shields Israel in the UN, using its veto to block resolutions condemning war crimes, making it complicit. Washington labels groups resisting Zionist occupation as “terrorists” while backing extremist factions in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, revealing its hypocrisy.

The US narrative — branding Iran a “terror sponsor” for supporting Palestinian and Lebanese resistance — is bankrupt. Is defending one’s homeland terrorism? Washington’s twisted equation labels those who fight occupation as “terrorists” and those enabling occupation as “defenders of democracy.”

This propaganda no longer fools the world. The Zionist entity’s crimes are broadcast live, and America’s ties to the terrorists it claims to fight are increasingly exposed.

If Rubio seeks the “greatest source of instability,” he needn’t look far — Washington itself fuels terrorism while pretending to oppose it. History won’t forget who created terrorism, nor will people forget who stood for justice and who conspired against them.