As he lived in a tent and battled to provide for his family, Hussam al-Masri, a Reuters journalist killed by Israeli fire on Monday while running a live video feed at Gaza's Nasser Hospital, covered the suffering of civilians during the conflict. According to journalist colleagues, Masri, 49, was a seasoned cameraman who was well-liked by Gaza's close-knit community of reporters because of his upbeat demeanor in the most perilous circumstances. In the months before his death, he would say, "Tomorrow will be better," despite the fact that the Palestinian enclave was becoming increasingly desolate and hungry. That was the conclusion of his final discussion with Mohamed Salem, a senior Reuters visuals journalist who had collaborated with Masri in Rafah, in southern Gaza, last year and had known him since 2003. Salem, who left Gaza later in 2024 but stayed in daily contact with Masri until Monday morning, said he was a pleasure to work with because of his smiles and o...
According to the Defense Ministry, Russian forces have taken control of two settlements in eastern Ukraine.
Russia's Defense Ministry announced on Saturday that Russian forces had captured two additional communities along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. On Friday, the ministry reported that it had taken three villages as part of its gradual advance throughout the area. The military of Ukraine denied that any of the villages had been taken over. However, it claimed that its troops had retaken a settlement farther west on the outskirts of the Dnipropetrovsk region from Russian forces. Neither side's battlefield reports could be independently verified by Reuters. Moscow's forces have concentrated on capturing the eastern Donbas region, which is composed of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, since an abortive attempt to advance on the capital Kyiv in the first few weeks of the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. According to the Russian announcement, the final two villages to be taken are Seredne, which is nearer the administrativ...