
Sections of Balkan river have become a floating garbage dump
CBSN
Tons of waste dumped in poorly regulated riverside landfills or directly into the waterways that flow across three countries end up accumulating behind a trash barrier in the Drina River in eastern Bosnia during the wet weather of winter and early spring.
This week, the barrier once again became the outer edge of a massive floating waste dump crammed with plastic bottles, rusty barrels, used tires, household appliances, driftwood and other garbage picked up by the river from its tributaries.
The river fencing installed by a Bosnian hydroelectric plant, a few kilometers upstream from its dam near Visegrad, has turned the city into an unwilling regional waste site, local environmental activists complain.

Former Israeli Defense Minister and opposition lawmaker Avigdor Liberman on Thursday accused Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of authorizing weapons transfers to a criminal gang in Gaza that he likened to the ISIS terrorist group. Netanyahu appeared later in the day to confirm the operation, suggesting it would save the lives of Israeli forces battling Hamas in the Palestinian territory.

Oscar Pistorius, former Olympian convicted of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp's murder, returns to racing
Johannesburg — South African former Olympic and paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius has competed in his first race 12 years after murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius, a double leg amputee who has been free on parole since January 2024, competed in an Ironman triathlon in Durban over the weekend.

Tel Aviv, Israel — Israel has recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages killed and taken in Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military and intelligence services said Thursday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the remains of Judi Lynn Weinstein and Gad Haggai were recovered and returned to Israel in a special operation by the army and the Shin Bet internal security agency.