ALJAZEERA - 27 August 2025 - Weekly Highlights - how Russia is getting thousands of people to join the army by offering generous salaries, tapping into patriotic sentiments

 

27 August 2025 Weekly Highlights ­

Hello.   Here’s the world this week…   We look at how Russia is getting thousands of people to join the army by offering generous salaries, tapping into patriotic sentiments and telling Russian prisoners their sentences will be commuted if they fight.   The US is sending warships towards Venezuela, and US President Donald Trump says this is to fight drug cartels. We unpack the tense relations between Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.   Israel attacked a Gaza hospital, killing 20 people, including journalists and medics. It was an internationally outlawed “double-tap” - Israel attacked, waited for rescuers to come to the scene, then attacked again. We explain everything.

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Despite huge manpower losses, how is Russia replenishing its military? Moscow's tactics, on the battlefield and domestically, are incentivising men to join and stick to the army.

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US warships head to Venezuela: Fight against cartels or imperial ambition? Venezuela is sending troops to its border with Colombia to fight drug trafficking, amid mounting US pressure.

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What are double-tap strikes that Israel used to hit a hospital? Israel's two strikes on Nasser Hospital are part of a pattern that has run the length of the war, monitors say.

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Why Ethiopia’s Tigray could be on the brink of another conflict Fears of instability rise again as the TPLF and the federal government appear to be gearing up for a showdown.

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Why has Pakistan launched a new rocket command after India conflict? Experts say India found holes in Pakistan's strategic defence options during the May fight. Pakistan wants to fix them.

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The Take : Famine has been declared in Gaza. Will anything change? Famine declared in Gaza City, with over half a million Palestinians facing catastrophic hunger as Israel advances.