A cargo ship in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz. File picture
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday deleted a social media image apparently depicting him as Jesus after an outcry from religious leaders that he was being blasphemous.

The image posted on Mr. Trump’s Truth Social platform showed him in flowing red and white robes, touching the forehead of what appeared to be a sick man and with light shining from his hand and head.

An American flag waved in the background while various figures gazed up at the president in reverence.

The AI picture was posted late on Sunday and removed on Monday.

Asked about the post, Mr. Trump denied that he was trying to look like Jesus Christ.

“I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do Red Cross,” he told journalists. “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better. And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”

The Israeli military said on Monday (April 13, 2026) its troops had completely surrounded a key town in southern Lebanon after killing more than 100 Hezbollah fighters there over the past week.

The announcement marks a significant advance in Israel’s ongoing invasion of southern Lebanon.

“The forces of the 98th Division have completed the encirclement of the town of Bint Jbeil and have begun an assault on it,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman Colonel Avichay Adraee said on X.

Over the past week, Israeli forces have killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters in and around the town in “face-to-face” clashes and with air strikes, he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting that since Sunday the fighting in southern Lebanon had been “concentrated” in Bint Jbeil.

“The fighting continues. It has not stopped — it is ongoing all the time. Yesterday and today it has been concentrated in Bint Jbeil,” he said, according to a video statement released by his office on Monday (April 13, 2026).

Mr. Netanyahu said that Israeli troops were pushing Hezbollah fighters away from the border.

“We are talking about a solid security belt, deeper than before, one that prevents the danger of infiltration and pushes back the anti-tank threat,” he said.

“They are also dealing with the terror villages that were right up against us — every terror position, and there were many, has simply been flattened.”

The Iran-backed Hezbollah said it has been engaged for days in clashes with Israeli forces in Bint Jbeil. — AFP

U.S. President Donald Trump forcefully criticized Pope Leo late on Sunday in ‌an unusual, direct attack on the leader of the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church that drew immediate rebuke from believers. 

The President, in an apparent response to the pope’s growing criticisms of the ⁠U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies, said Leo was “terrible”. 

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Mr. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. 

Catholics on social media quickly lambasted Mr. Trump for attacking the leader ‌of their Church, who they believe is the successor of St. Peter, one of Jesus’ 12 apostles. 

-Reuters

The price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), or jet fuel, was more than doubled to a record ₹2.07 lakh per kilolitre on Wednesday (April 1, 2026), while commercial LPG rates were raised by ₹195.50 per cylinder, mirroring the surge in global oil prices linked to the widening West Asia conflict.

The ATF price in Delhi was hiked by ₹1,10,703.08 per kilolitre, or 114.5%, to ₹2,07,341.22 per kl, according to state-owned fuel retailers.

This is the first time ever that ATF prices have crossed the ₹2 lakh per kl mark. The previous peak was in 2022 when rates were hiked by ₹1.1 lakh per kl after oil prices surged after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Gulf allies of the United States, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are urging President Donald Trump to continue prosecuting the war against Iran, arguing that Tehran hasn’t been weakened enough by the monthlong U.S.-led bombing campaign, according to US, Gulf and Israeli officials.

After private grumbling at the start of the war that they were not given adequate advance notice of the U.S.-Israeli attack and complaining the U.S. had ignored their warnings that the war would have devastating consequences for the entire region, some of the regional allies are making the case to the White House that the moment offers a historic opportunity to cripple Tehran’s clerical rule once and for all.

While regional leaders are broadly supportive now of the U.S. efforts, one Gulf diplomat described some division, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE leading the calls for increasing military pressure on Tehran.

The UAE has emerged as perhaps the most hawkish of the Gulf countries and is pushing hard for Trump to order a ground invasion, the diplomat said. Kuwait and Bahrain also favour this option.

Reuters

The Israeli police prevented Catholic leaders from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate a private Mass on the Christian holiday of Palm Sunday for the first time in centuries, setting off a wave of criticism from the United States and others.

Jerusalem’s major holy sites, including the church, are closed because of the ongoing Iran war, as the city has come under frequent fire from Iranian missiles.

Early Monday (March 30, 2026) morning, Israel’s police said it had approved a “limited prayer framework” for the church, in consultation with the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

-AP