This Week in Explainers: Has a full-scale war between Iran and Israel been averted?

Iran’s latest flare-up with Israel dominated April’s third week. The world has been on its toes amid the threat of a full-scale war between the two nemeses in West Asia.

However, a full-blown direct conflict seems to have been avoided for now. We will come back to this later.

Lawmakers in the United States approved new Israeli military aid on Saturday despite growing criticism of its ally’s war in Gaza. The House of Representatives also okayed aid to Ukraine, as it struggles to resist the Russian invasion.

The other big threat that the world faces is climate change. Heavy rains in Dubai brought it to a standstill. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) city saw the worst precipitation since 1949, leading to floods in the desert landscape.

All this and more in our weekly roundup of stories from around the world.

1. Iran has downplayed the Israeli military’s reported precision strikes near military and nuclear targets in the central province of Isfahan. While Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack yet, the Muslim nation has tried to soft-pedal the Friday attack.

Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian reportedly said that drones flew for a few hundred metres inside Iran before being shot down by its air defense systems. “They’re … more like toys that our children play with, not drones,” he said.

Israel has refrained from officially commenting on the strikes that hit deep in Iran. It is believed that Israel’s calibrated response has averted the possibility of a full-blown confrontation. Are further escalations between the two arch-rival nations over now? We explain .

2. Israel’s counterattack came after Iran launched a barrage of missiles and drones on the Jewish state last weekend. Tehran’s attack was a response to Israel striking its consulate in Syria earlier this month, killing seven Revolutionary Guards, including Iran’s most senior commander in the region.

A riposte was expected by the Benjamin Netanyahu government after this first-ever direct attack by Iran on Israel. The purported strikes in Iran came on the 85th birthday of its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei .

While a war appears to have been staved off for now, how capable are the militaries of the two foes? Read our explainer to find out.

3. Dubai is usually dry but “apocalyptic” scenes emerged from the city this week as it reeled from heavy rainfall and storms. The UAE’s financial centre reported widespread deluge as it received the heaviest rainfall in 75 years. Schools had to be closed, flights faced disruptions and many people were left stranded at the Dubai Airport without food and water.

While experts said cloud seeding, which is used to create artificial rain, was behind Dubai’s flooding, some have blamed climate change for the unprecedented rains. What is cloud seeding and is it responsible for the situation in Dubai? We explain in this report.

4. Australia was left shocked by another stabbing incident this week. After the mall attack in Sydney last weekend, a 16-year-old boy wounded a bishop and a priest with a knife during a church service on Monday (15 April) evening in the city. The Australian police deemed the knife attack at an Assyrian church a “terrorist act” that had a religious motive.

The knife attack also triggered a riot outside the church in Sydney, where an angry mob clashed with the police. This incident came just three days after a mass stabbing in a busy shopping mall in Sydney led to the death of six people and injured several others, including a baby. Is such violence common in Australia? Here’s our story delving into the issue.

5. Several Chinese cities are facing a sinking fate. After New York and Miami in the United States, now Chinese cities could be at risk. One-tenth of the Chinese population in coastal cities is likely to be living below sea level in less than a century.

From groundwater extraction to climate change, many factors are responsible for this unpleasant future. Read our explainer to find out what is happening.

6. Swiss food giant Nestle is in hot water. A recent report by the Swiss NGO Public Eye and the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) has revealed that the baby foods sold by the company in Asia, Africa and Latin America had added sugars. However, this was not the case in the products found in Europe.

After the report came to light, Nestle has been slammed by several users on X for ‘hypocrisy’. The Indian government has also taken cognisance of the matter, with the Union Consumer Affairs Ministry asking the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to “initiate appropriate action” against the Swiss company. Sugar is generally not suggested for infants. How bad are added sugars for kids? We explain in our report .

That’s it for this week. If you like our explainers, this is the page to bookmark .