Protests by Pro-Israel and Pro-Palestinian Demonstrators Span the World as War Escalates

Protestors wave the national flag of Palestine as they shout slogans during an anti-Israel demonstration in Dhaka on October 10, 2023. (AFP)
Protestors wave the national flag of Palestine as they shout slogans during an anti-Israel demonstration in Dhaka on October 10, 2023. (AFP)
TT

Protests by Pro-Israel and Pro-Palestinian Demonstrators Span the World as War Escalates

Protestors wave the national flag of Palestine as they shout slogans during an anti-Israel demonstration in Dhaka on October 10, 2023. (AFP)
Protestors wave the national flag of Palestine as they shout slogans during an anti-Israel demonstration in Dhaka on October 10, 2023. (AFP)

From Bangladesh to Las Vegas and Brazil to Rome, demonstrations by supporters of Israel and the Palestinians were held around the world as people took to the streets to expresses their views and often outrage as the war escalated between Israel and Hamas militants.

Demonstrators have taken to the streets of Rome, Barcelona, Brasilia, Buenos Aires, Vancouver and other cities and towns to show support for one side or the other.

In San Francisco and other cities, demonstrators from the opposing sides faced off across main streets.

In Paris, people gathered to support Israel as the Eiffel Tower was lit in the colors of that country, and in Rome more gathered at the Emperor Tito’s Arch as it was also light up in blue and white.

In Karachi, Pakistan, people burned Israeli and American flags while in London people held candle light vigils for Israeli victims.



EU Commission Chief Has 'Severe Pneumonia'

FILE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference at the end of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)
FILE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference at the end of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)
TT

EU Commission Chief Has 'Severe Pneumonia'

FILE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference at the end of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)
FILE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses a media conference at the end of an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is ill with “severe pneumonia” and has canceled her appointments for the next two weeks, her office announced Friday.

According to The Associated Press, spokesman Stefan De Keersmaeker said her agenda had to be cleared of meetings in Lisbon and in Poland, which has just taken over the EU's rotating presidency of the 27-nation European Union.

“She is dealing with severe pneumonia,” De Keersmaeker said in a statement, giving no further details about her conditions or how she fell ill.

Von der Leyen, 66, only recently started her second five-year stint at the top of the EU's powerful executive office.