Israel has intensified its attacks on Lebanon this week, hitting areas outside of Hezbollah's control on Tuesday.

Strikes without warning hit a vehicle north of Beirut and the Jnah neighbourhood in the heart of the capital.

Attacks also continued in the city's southern suburbs and the country's south, both where Hezbollah has a strong presence.

A building was destroyed on the road to Beirut's airport after an evacuation order, and in the south, a strike hit a health facility, killing a paramedic, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

Israel's military said it had hit Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut and killed a senior commander and another senior figure from the Iran-backed armed group.

Hezbollah joined the ongoing regional war on 2 March, sending missiles towards Israel, after the US and Israel attacked the armed group's ally Iran on 28 February.

Israeli attacks have kept bombarding Lebanon as its troops have moved into the country's south.

On Tuesday, a vehicle was targeted in the Mansourieh area, a predominantly Christian residential neighbourhood north of Beirut.

Meanwhile, the Jnah neighbourhood in the heart of the capital was attacked after midnight. The Lebanese health ministry said the Al-Zahraa Hospital had received and treated "a number of those injured in the air strike".

Hassan Jalwan, who lives near Jnah, told AFP he heard several "big explosions" overnight.

"Nobody knows what's happening," he said, adding that "displaced people have been sleeping in the open" in the area.

The Dahieh neighbourhood to the south of Beirut, where Hezbollah has a strong presence, continues to be a target. A building was destroyed on Tuesday in Ghobeiry on the road to the airport following an evacuation order.

Also on Tuesday, Lebanon's health ministry said at least seven people had been killed by Israeli strikes in the country's south, including the paramedic.

The number of health workers who have been killed since the start of the war has now reached 53.

Earlier, the Lebanese army cleared its last positions in the south, pulling out from Ain Ibel and Rmeish villages a day after an army checkpoint was hit and a soldier was killed by an Israeli air strike, according to the Lebanese Armed Forces. The Israeli military has not appeared to have commented yet on the reported death.

However, some residents of the villages refuse to leave.

In the predominantly Christian village of Rmeish, Father Najib Al Amil appeared in a video on social media, where he said: "There is grass and soil. We rely on God and will stay in our village. We either all die together and lose our land or live and our villages will live with us."

Israel has announced its decision to control large swathes of land in southern Lebanon - up to the Litani River, about 30km from the border with Israel - to create a buffer security zone.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel would keep security control over the territory even after the end of the current war against Hezbollah. The plan has drawn criticism from the UN.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave the south, but there are still tens of thousands who have refused to go.

Supply lines to the south have been cut by Israel targeting bridges and infrastructure, making villages in the south uninhabitable.

Katz said more than 600,000 displaced Lebanese residents would be "completely prohibited" from returning to that area until the safety of residents of northern Israel was guaranteed.

The Israeli defence minister also said all houses in villages near the border in Lebanon will be destroyed "according to the model of Rafah and Beit Hanoun in Gaza".

In total, 1,268 people in Lebanon have been killed since the beginning of the attacks, the country's health ministry said on Tuesday.

More than one million people have been displaced, the UN reported.

This is critical time for Lebanon and the residents of the south. Many see Israel's strategy in the south mimicking that of Gaza - destruction, depopulation and occupation.

The government said earlier that this constitutes a violation of the country's sovereignty.

South Lebanon previously lived under Israeli occupation for nearly 18 years, between 1982 and 2000.

Some Lebanese have lived the displacement and loss of land generation after generation.

Many in Lebanon believe that Israel is more powerful than Hezbollah and capable of destroying the south with its advanced missiles and drones. At the same time, if Israel is to stay in the south, Hezbollah is more powerful on the ground and can engage in a guerrilla war to wear out the Israelis and prevent them from staying put.

In short, for the hundreds of thousands who have been forced out of their homes, this war is not ending anytime soon.

A Russian military plane has crashed in the occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, killing 29 people on board, the Russian defence ministry has said.

Wreckage of the An-26 aircraft was found on Tuesday after the plane lost contact with authorities during a "routine flight", according to the ministry.

It blamed a "technical failure" and reported no external damage to the aircraft, implying that missiles, drones or birds are not suspected of causing the crash.

Seven crew members and 23 passengers had been on board as it flew over the Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

Russia's Investigative Committee confirmed the crash and said it had opened an inquiry into a flight safety violation.

News agency Tass reported that communication with the plane was lost at about 18:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Tuesday, and the wreckage was found following a search and rescue effort.

Ukraine has not commented on the crash.

The An-26 is a Soviet-era aircraft mainly used in a military capacity to transport heavy cargo and smaller numbers of passengers over a short-to-medium distance. It is manufactured by the Ukrainian aerospace company Antonov.

The planes have been used since the late 1960s, and have been involved in several deadly crashes.

Twenty-six people, mostly cadets, were killed when a Ukrainian An-26 came down in Kharkiv in 2020. The following year, 28 people were killed in a crash in the Russian Far East and in 2022, one person was killed in a crash in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region.

Fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces has been ongoing in Crimea since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion four years ago.

Ukrainian strikes have largely targeted Russian military bases in the peninsula, which borders the partly Russian-occupied Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly demanded Russia withdraw from Crimea as part of a ceasefire. In November, a US-backed peace plan proposed Kyiv would cede control of Crimea.

Authorities in the Democratic Republic Congo have declared Wednesday a public holiday after the national football team qualified for their first World Cup in 52 years.

The Leopards reached the finals on Tuesday when Axel Tuanzebe's extra-time goal gave them a 1-0 win over Jamaica in the play-off.

DR Congo's ministry of labour and employment said that as a result of the "historic" victory, the nation could have the day off work to "celebrate in unity, fervour and national pride".

The central African nation has only played in the World Cup once before - in 1974 when the country was named Zaire.

Tuesday's match was an intense affair, with former Manchester United player Tuanzebe only breaking the deadlock in the 100th minute.

Videos of elated football fans celebrating in the capital, Kinshasa, have been circulating on social media. In the neighbourhood of Kingabwa, supporters took to the streets chanting "Christiano Ronaldo is next".

DR Congo's first match will be against Ronaldo's Portugal in the US city of Houston on 17 June.

They will also play Colombia and Uzbekistan in the group stages.

DR Congo are the 10th African nation to reach this year's expanded World Cup finals, hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada.

Additional reporting from Emery Makumeno in Kinshasa

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

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Divorced couples in Japan are now allowed to share custody of their children, after a landmark revision to Japan's Civil Code took effect on Wednesday.

Before the amendment was approved by parliament in 2024, Japan was the only G7 country that did not recognise the legal concept of joint custody.

Custody was typically granted to one parent - in most cases the mother - who had power to cut off the other parent's access to their children.

Domestic and international criticism has been mounting against the sole custody system in Japan, which critics say led many divorcees to become estranged from their children after losing custody of them.

Previously, divorcing couples in Japan were free to decide custody and visitation arrangements. But if they went to court over it, custody would only be awarded to one parent.

Under the new law, a family court can decide whether to grant sole or joint custody to divorcing couples.

Parents who divorced under the old system are also now eligible to have their custody arrangement reviewed by the family court.

The Civil Code revision also mandates child support payments after divorce, allowing the parent living with the child to claim 20,000 yen (£95; $125) from their ex-spouse every month.

Some are hopeful that the changes will help prevent cases of parental abduction, which have come into the spotlight in recent years - especially after allegations made by foreigners with Japanese ex-spouses.

In 2023, Japanese table tennis star Ai Fukuhara was accused by her Taiwanese ex-husband of abducting their son. He said she had cut off contact with him and refused to bring their son back to Taiwan. The pair later came to a settlement.

During the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, a French father who was based in Japan staged a hunger strike, calling attention to what he said was the kidnapping of his children by his ex-wife.

While some see the joint custody bill as a way to solve such controversies, not everyone is supportive of the revision. Some previously told BBC that they feared joint custody would force women to maintain ties with husbands even in cases of domestic violence.

Under the new law, the court will grant sole custody to divorcing couples if it finds instances of domestic violence or abuse.

Australia's Prime Minister has warned the economic shock from the war involving Iran will "be with us for months", as he delivered a rare televised address to the nation.

Speaking on Wednesday, Anthony Albanese said the conflict had driven the biggest spike in petrol and diesel prices in history, and households were already feeling the strain.

"Australia is not an active participant in this war. But all Australians are paying higher prices because of it," he added.

Addresses of this kind have been used at moments of international importance, last seen in the country during the Covid pandemic and before that the 2008 financial crisis.

Australia is among a host of nations that have seen fuel prices increase sharply since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The near-total blockade of international shipping in the vital waterway - through which around 20% of the world's oil and natural gas flows - has led governments around the world to begin implementing measures to conserve fuel.

Albanese has previously sought to reassure motorists following reports of panic-buying and petrol stations running dry.

During the address, he acknowledged that the "months ahead may not be easy", and said that no government could fully shield Australians from the global pressures.

The Australian government has announced a series of temporary measures aimed at easing immediate cost pressures, including halving fuel excise - a sales tax - and scrapping road user charges for heavy vehicles for three months.

Officials are also seeking to shore up domestic supply and increase fuel imports through regional partners as part of a newly agreed National Fuel Security Plan.

Alongside government action, Albanese urged Australians to limit unnecessary usage of fuel, including switching to public transport where possible to preserve supplies for essential industries.

"You should go about your business and your life, as normal", he said.

"Enjoy your Easter. If you're hitting the road, don't take more fuel than you need - just fill up like you normally would. Think of others in your community, in the bush and in critical industries.

"And over coming weeks, if you can switch to catching the train or bus or tram to work, do so".

The address ended on a note of unity and said the country will "deal with these global challenges, the Australian way".

"Working together - and looking after each other. As we always have".

Tech giant Oracle made "significant" job cuts on Tuesday, according to senior employees posting online, as it makes big investments in artificial intelligence (AI).

Some 10,000 people are believed to have lost their jobs so far, one employee told the BBC, citing a drop in the number of staff active on Oracle's internal messaging system Slack.

Oracle declined to comment, but one senior staff member said online the cuts were not performance based.

Oracle has been using AI tools internally and executives have previously said they are seeing fewer employees able to do more work.

"The use of AI coding tools inside Oracle is enabling smaller engineering teams to deliver more complete solutions to our customers more quickly," Mike Silicia, Oracle's other co-chief executive, said earlier this month.

Silica noted at the time that such AI tools had helped create new ways of generating sales leads and the automatic selling of Oracle services. He said the company recently used AI to build out its new company website.

Oracle is one of the largest tech companies in the world and it offers software and cloud computing infrastructure to other companies.

Larry Ellison, one of the richest people in the world, is Oracle's co-founder, chairman, and chief technology officer.

Michael Shepard, a senior manager, was not affected by the job cuts but wrote on LinkedIn on Tuesday "senior engineers, architects, operations leaders, program managers, and technical specialists" had been let go.

Shepard said the "significant reduction in force" was not based on employee performance.

"The individuals affected were not let go because of anything they did or didn't do," he added.

His was one of dozens of such posts describing the layoffs.

Former Oracle employee Kendall Levin said on LinkedIn her role was "eliminated as part of the company's mass reduction in force".

She added that she remains "a genuine believer" in where the firm is headed.

Several others described receiving early morning emails informing them they were no longer employed and would receive one month of severance pay.

Talk inside Oracle of a significant layoff began earlier this year.

Similar claims of being able to use AI tools to do more worth with fewer employees have come from tech leaders like Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Jack Dorsey of Block.

Both executives have also overseen layoffs at their companies already this year.

However, such leaders in the tech industry have been conducting mass layoffs every year for the last several years. Previous rounds of cuts have not been blamed on AI.

Other tech companies that have cut jobs this year include Amazon, Pinterest and Epic Games.

Stargate Initiative

The job cuts at Oracle come as it has invested heavily in AI, spending both on its own infrastructure and on partnerships with other companies like OpenAI.

It plans to spend at least $50bn (£37.8bn) on infrastructure this year, and it has also raised $50bn in debt in order to "meet demand" for even more AI infrastructure.

Oracle is also part of the Stargate initiative, alongside OpenAI, Softbank and MGX, an AI investment fund backed by US President Donald Trump.

Stargate is a $500bn project to build up data center capacity in the US, which backers say is needed for planned increases in AI processing and power requirements over the next several years.

"Investing in AI infrastructure is capital-intensive, but our operating model is optimized to ensure profitability," Clayton Magouyrk, Oracle's co-chief executive, said earlier this month.

"It's unprecedented to scale a capital-intensive business so quickly."

A man who was charged after a car hit a group of pedestrians in Derby city centre has appeared in court.

Seven people were seriously injured when they were hit by a black Suzuki Swift in Friar Gate at about 21:30 GMT on Saturday.

Sandhu Ponnachan, 36, from Alvaston, who only spoke to confirm his name and address, has been charged with six counts of grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent and one count of attempted GBH with intent, one count of dangerous driving, and one count of possession of a bladed article.

Ponnachan, who police said was originally from India, appeared at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, where he was remanded to appear at Derby Crown Court on 29 April.

Derbyshire Police said four men and three women, aged between 36 and 52, suffered serious but non life-threatening injuries during the incident.

Four have since been released from hospital, the force added.

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Dissident republican groups still have the capacity, ability and desire to carry out attacks on police despite their small numbers, Northern Ireland's justice minister has said.

It comes after a delivery driver was hijacked and told he would be killed if he did not drive a bomb, which was placed into the boot of his car, to the police station in Lurgan.

The device was found to be a "crude, but viable improvised explosive device", and police believe it is "highly likely" that dissident republicans are behind the attack.

Naomi Long said while there have been no concerns about an uptick in activity, those involved are "wedded" to destruction and violence.

"If they weren't intent in causing harm, then they wouldn't be in those groups, it's the only purpose that they serve," she told BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster programme.

"From our perspective, we take it seriously. I know the PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland] work very hard to keep people safe, to suppress the activities of these organisations and where they can do so, bring the people involved to justice.

"But we can't be complacent about the risks."

Long said there were "not large numbers" of people still involved in these groups, but the attack in Lurgan is a "demonstration for anyone who has any doubt that these are people who are completely wedded to destruction, to disruption".

"We are talking about people who have been fairly committed to what they're doing over many years, and I think we can see that they remain wedded to violence and they're not in any sense trying to depart from that," she said.

"I think it's more likely that this is some kind of rallying the troops sort of issue ahead of Easter, but no consideration for an innocent person going to deliver pizza and end up being hijacked at gunpoint and forced to drive a bomb through the town."

She continued: "No regard whatsoever for the people who could have been killed had it exploded prematurely and no regard for the delivery driver and the PSNI who then had to deal with the aftermath of this."

The justice minister said while those responsible may try and "dress it up" as an attack on police, the incident is a "reckless attack on the people of Lurgan".

Lurgan attack 'shocking'

Sinn Féin assembly member John O'Dowd said it was a "shocking" incident, particularly for the delivery driver.

He said thousands of people had gathered in Lurgan weeks ago to celebrate St Patrick's Day, and that the "starkness of this event" casts a shadow on the town.

When asked about the potential of dissident republicans being involved in the attack, O'Dowd, who represents Upper Bann, said he did not see support for the groups.

"What they class themselves or what they call themselves is a matter for themselves, but I do think and I know that the vast majority of people in Lurgan want to move on and we have seen huge progress over this last 20, 25 years," he told Good Morning Ulster.

"I would appeal to anyone who believes there's going to be a return to the past to think again and to follow the course that has been set out by the people."

Tánaiste (Irish Deputy Prime Minister) Simon Harris said the attempted bomb attack was "deeply chilling".

Speaking to reporters in Dublin on Wednesday morning, Harris said: "The dark history needs to be left just there, and it is a reminder of the fact that we can never ever let our guard down in relation to that.

"We have a peace process on the island of Ireland, an enduring one, an ongoing one, and this chilling event is deeply concerning."

What happened in Lurgan?

At about 22:30 BST on Monday, a delivery driver in a white Audi was stopped by two masked men - one of whom was armed with a pistol - on Deramore Drive in the Kilwilkie estate.

He was threatened at gunpoint and ordered to drive his car to the police station on Church Place in the town.

When he arrived he told security staff there was a bomb in the car, which later triggered a security operation. About 100 homes were evacuated overnight, with residents taking refuge in Lurgan town hall and a number of roads in town centre were closed.

A controlled explosion was also carried out.

At a press conference on Tuesday, police confirmed that the device, while crude, was viable.

Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said: "As unsophisticated as it was, it posed a significant risk to the terrified delivery driver, our security staff and the local community."

Who are dissident republicans?

The term "dissident republicans" describes a range of individuals who do not accept the Good Friday Agreement - the 1998 peace deal which ended the worst of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

The Provisional IRA - the main armed republican paramilitary group for most of the Troubles - declared a ceasefire in the run up to the agreement and officially ended its violent campaign in 2005.

Dissident republicanism is made up of various groups which broke away from the Provisional IRA in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, including the Continuity IRA and New IRA.

The groups are much smaller than the Provisional IRA, although they have access to high-calibre weapons and have used improvised explosive devices and mortars in attacks and attempted attacks.

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