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Australian Mosque Protesters Heckle PM over Israel Stance

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits Lakemba Mosque for Eid al-Fitr in Sydney, Australia, March 20, 2026. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits Lakemba Mosque for Eid al-Fitr in Sydney, Australia, March 20, 2026. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
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Australian Mosque Protesters Heckle PM over Israel Stance

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits Lakemba Mosque for Eid al-Fitr in Sydney, Australia, March 20, 2026. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits Lakemba Mosque for Eid al-Fitr in Sydney, Australia, March 20, 2026. REUTERS/Hollie Adams

Protesters heckled and booed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday during a visit to Australia's largest mosque for Eid al-Fitr prayers, voicing anger over his stance on ally Israel's offensive in Gaza.

Some in Australia's Muslim and Jewish communities are angry over a fine line walked by the center-left government since the Gaza war began, expressing concern for Palestinians, repeatedly urging a ceasefire, and backing Israel's right to self-defense.

Video images showed protesters interrupting proceedings about 15 minutes after Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke joined worshippers at ⁠Lakemba Mosque in ⁠western Sydney to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Reuters reported.

Demonstrators booed, told Albanese and Burke to "Get out!" and called them "genocide supporters", referring to Israel's killing of Palestinians in Gaza, following an attack by Hamas militants in 2023.

"Dear brothers and sisters, keep calm a little bit," one ⁠of the organizers told the crowd, urging people to sit down and stop filming the exchange. "It is Eid. It is a joyful day."

A security guard was seen tackling one heckler to the ground before escorting him away.

"Shame on you!" yelled protesters who followed Albanese and Burke when they left.

The mosque event was "incredibly positive", Albanese said later, despite the incident.

"If you got a couple of people heckling in a crowd of 30,000, that should be put in that perspective," he ⁠told reporters, adding ⁠that the community had dealt with a couple of hecklers.

He added that some frustration stemmed from the government's designation this month of Islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir as a prohibited hate group on the basis of laws prompted by a deadly mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach on December 14.

Protesters also turned out in February, when Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited at Albanese's invitation to express solidarity with Jewish Australians allegedly targeted by gunmen inspired by ISIS during the Bondi attack.

Thousands attended a rally in Sydney, where 27 people were arrested after clashes with police.

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World

China Voices Concern Over US Seizure of Iranian Cargo Ship, Urges Further Talks

13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)
13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)
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China Voices Concern Over US Seizure of Iranian Cargo Ship, Urges Further Talks

13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)
13 April 2026, China, Beijing: Guo Jiakun, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, speaks to journalists. (dpa)

China has expressed concern over the "forced interception" by the US of an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, urging relevant parties to abide by the ceasefire agreement in a responsible ‌manner.

"The situation ‌in the Strait of ‌Hormuz ⁠is sensitive and complicated," ⁠said spokesman Guo Jiakun during a regular press briefing. Parties involved should avoid further escalation and "create the necessary conditions for normal transit through the strait ⁠to resume," he added.

The ‌US said ‌earlier it fired on and seized ‌an Iranian cargo ship that tried ‌to run its blockade of Iranian ports.

Iran's military said the ship had been travelling from China ‌and vowed retaliation against what it called "armed piracy by the US ⁠military."

Beijing ⁠on Monday also urged relevant parties to "continue to maintain the momentum of the ceasefire and negotiations".

"Now that a window for peace has opened, favorable conditions should be created to bring the war to an end as soon as possible," Guo said.

World

Russia Arrests German Woman in Alleged Bomb Plot

People visit the observation deck at Vorobyovy gory (Sparrow Hills) with the main building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in the background during a spring day in Moscow, Russia, 17 April 2026. (EPA)
People visit the observation deck at Vorobyovy gory (Sparrow Hills) with the main building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in the background during a spring day in Moscow, Russia, 17 April 2026. (EPA)
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Russia Arrests German Woman in Alleged Bomb Plot

People visit the observation deck at Vorobyovy gory (Sparrow Hills) with the main building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in the background during a spring day in Moscow, Russia, 17 April 2026. (EPA)
People visit the observation deck at Vorobyovy gory (Sparrow Hills) with the main building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in the background during a spring day in Moscow, Russia, 17 April 2026. (EPA)

Russia said Monday it had arrested a German woman found with a homemade bomb in her backpack in what it alleged was a Ukrainian-hatched plot to blow up a security services facility in the south.

Russia has arrested dozens of people throughout the four-year war, mostly its own citizens, on allegations of working for Ukraine to carry out sabotage attacks.

There has been a string of high-profile arrests of Western citizens since Moscow ordered its troops into Ukraine -- typically on espionage charges that are widely seen as baseless, with those detained later swapped in exchange for Russians jailed abroad.

Detentions of Western citizens for carrying out or preparing actual attacks are much rarer.

The FSB security agency said the woman, born in 1969, had been dragged into the alleged plot by a citizen from a Central Asian country, who was working on orders from Ukraine.

She was detained and found with an improvised explosive device in her bag in the Caucasus city of Pyatigorsk, the FSB said.

The FSB said it had "prevented a terrorist attack planned by the Kyiv regime against a law enforcement facility in the Stavropol region, involving a German citizen born in 1969," the agency said in a statement.

The FSB said the device -- which contained an explosive charge equivalent to 1.5 kilograms (three pounds) of TNT -- was supposed to be detonated remotely, killing the German woman.

The blast was prevented by electronic jamming, the FSB added.

- 'Radical ideology' -

A man from an unidentified Central Asian state, born in 1997 and "a supporter of radical ideology", was found and arrested near the targeted site, it added.

The pair face life in prison on terrorist charges.

There was no immediate reaction to the allegations in Kyiv or Berlin.

Video footage of the purported arrest published on state media showed armed Russian security agents approach the woman, who was lying face down dressed in all black in a car park.

Another video showed masked plainclothes agents pulling a man into a station, followed by a controlled explosion of the backpack.

Russia has previously accused Ukraine of working with fundamentalists to carry out terror attacks inside Russia, without providing evidence.

Officials initially alleged that the perpetrators of a 2024 massacre at a concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow that killed 150 people were ISIS members in coordination with Ukraine.

ISIS claimed responsibility for that attack, making no reference of any Ukrainian involvement, for which no evidence was presented by Moscow and which Kyiv denies.

World

Iran Foreign Ministry Says US Not Serious About Pursuing Diplomacy

An Iranian woman walks next to a wall painting of Iran’s national flag on a street in Tehran, Iran, 20 April 2026. (EPA)
An Iranian woman walks next to a wall painting of Iran’s national flag on a street in Tehran, Iran, 20 April 2026. (EPA)
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Iran Foreign Ministry Says US Not Serious About Pursuing Diplomacy

An Iranian woman walks next to a wall painting of Iran’s national flag on a street in Tehran, Iran, 20 April 2026. (EPA)
An Iranian woman walks next to a wall painting of Iran’s national flag on a street in Tehran, Iran, 20 April 2026. (EPA)

Iran's foreign ministry said Monday that the United States was not serious about pursuing diplomacy, citing what it called "violations" of their two-week ceasefire.

"While claiming diplomacy and readiness for negotiations, the US is carrying out behaviors that do not in any way indicate seriousness in pursuing a diplomatic process," said ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei in a weekly press briefing.

He said a US attack on an Iranian cargo ship early Monday, the US naval blockade on Iranian ports, and delays in implementing a ceasefire in Lebanon were all "clear violations of the ceasefire".

Iran has been at war with Israel and the United States since February 28 when strikes killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei, triggering a conflict that has engulfed the region.

Tehran and Washington have since held a round of negotiations which failed to culminate in a deal to end the war. It took place against the backdrop of a fragile two-week ceasefire which began on April 8.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday he had ordered US negotiators to travel to Pakistan on Monday to hold another round of talks, but Iran has yet to confirm its attendance.

"As of now, while I am at your service, we have no plans for the next round of negotiation, and no decision has been made in this regard," said Baqaei.

Key sticking points include Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium and the status of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely closed since the outbreak of the war.

"Regarding the issue of transferring enriched uranium, neither during this period of negotiations nor before has transferring it to the United States been discussed," Baqaei said.

"It was never raised as an option for us," he added.