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China’s first domestically built 300-megawatt heavy-duty gas turbine – used for generating electricity and powering warships – has passed an ignition test.

It marks a key milestone for the Chinese technology, which was said to lag behind that of the West by about 30 years when the project began in 2016. The team’s rapid progress has closed that gap in less than a decade.

Developed by China United Heavy-Duty Gas Turbine Technology Co, the first prototype of the gas turbine was completed in February.

The biggest gas turbine currently operating is the SGT5-8000H made by German company Siemens. It weighs in at 390 tonnes – about the same as an Airbus A380 – and its 375MW capacity is equal to the combined turbocharged engine power of 1,300 Porsche 911 cars. Yet the precision of its core blades is maintained within the thickness of a hair.

The gas turbine ignited on Monday is comparable to the mainstream models in service globally, known as F-class. It has an operating temperature of around 1,400 degrees Celsius (2,552 Fahrenheit) and a capacity of 300MW.

The goal of building an F-class 300MW heavy-duty gas turbine was listed in the government’s “Made in China 2025” plan to upgrade hi-tech industries and reduce dependency on imports, and an even more advanced 400MW turbine is targeted by 2030.

“We must persistently continue our efforts and leverage the advantages of China’s national system,” Jin said. “[Also] ensure the research resources are there, allow researchers to focus solely on tackling key problems, and fully commit to validating the overall performance and reliability of the system.”

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Brazil's Supreme Court cleared X to resume service in the country on Tuesday, after the social media platform reversed course and started complying with court rulings billionaire owner Elon Musk had previously vowed to resist.

In the decision, Moraes said X had met all the necessary requirements to start operating again in the country.

Musk, who had denounced the orders as censorship and called Moraes a "dictator," started to reverse his position in recent weeks, with his social media network blocking accounts flagged by the court, tapping a local representative and paying pending fines.

"We showed the world that here our laws should be respected, by whomever it may be," Filho said in a statement.

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Al Jazeera cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi has been injured by Israeli gunfire in northern Gaza, becoming the second Al Jazeera cameraman to be injured in an Israeli attack this week.

A new documentary from Al Jazeera takes a look at evidence of war crimes in Gaza in the form of social media posted by Israeli soldiers recording and celebrating their own attacks on Palestinians. We play excerpts from the film Investigating War Crimes in Gaza, now available online, and speak to two of the journalists involved in its production, director Richard Sanders and Gaza-based correspondent Youmna ElSayed. “Israelis themselves were telling us precisely what they were doing and why they were doing it,” says Sanders about the evidence the team reviewed. “They don’t think it’s complicated. They don’t think it’s nuanced. Their rhetoric is often overtly genocidal.” ElSayed adds, “They’ve had all the courage to do that because they know that they are not even going to be condemned.”

The entire staff of Marjayoun public hospital in south Lebanon were evacuated on Friday morning after an Israeli drone strike killed four paramedics, putting the hospital out of service, Lebanon’s national news agency reported.

The hospital was one of the major medical providers in south Lebanon, particularly as Israel’s intensified aerial campaign which started on 23 September displaced many medical staff from the region.

Israel also carried out a strike on the Islamic health organisation’s center in Khirbet Selem, causing injuries on Friday afternoon, according to Lebanon’s national news agency.

An additional member of the ambulance service was killed and one injured while carrying out rescue services in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which was intensely bombed the night prior, according to Hezbollah-affiliated media.

At least 102 Lebanese paramedics have been killed since the beginning of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah a year prior.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has told Ireland to remove its peacekeepers from an outpost on the border with Lebanon as its invasion of the country continues.

Sources confirmed the request was made to the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) and individual countries contributing troops, including Ireland. Israel has been told the troops will remain in place.

There is one Irish outpost on the Lebanese-Israeli border, which is known as the Blue Line. This outpost, designated post 6-52, is manned by a single Irish platoon who are responsible for observing the border and reporting on incursions.

The area was the scene of intense fighting between the IDF and the militant Lebanese group Hizbullah earlier in the week, during which Israel suffered heavy casualties. Some of the fighting took place less than 2km from the Irish outpost.

The warning to remove peacekeepers from the border raises the prospect of Israel launching a full-scale invasion across the extent of the border. Incursions to date have been more limited in scale.

It is understood the Irish Government has informed Israeli officials that Unifil troop movements are a matter for the UN and its force commander on the ground. Unifil has told Israel it will not be removing the troops.

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According to a senior Teledyne manager, contamination of their clean rooms could stop production for up to 12 months.

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Senior White House figures privately told Israel that the U.S. would support its decision to ramp up military pressure against Hezbollah — even as the Biden administration publicly urged the Israeli government in recent weeks to curtail its strikes, according to American and Israeli officials.

Not everyone in the administration was on board with Israel’s shift, despite support inside the White House, the officials said. The decision to focus on Hezbollah sparked division within the U.S. government, drawing opposition from people inside the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence community who believed Israel’s move against the Iran-backed militia could drag American forces into yet another Middle East conflict.

Officials in the intelligence community, in briefings and talks with members of Congress last week, had said they were increasingly worried about the potential for a direct ground confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah. Similar conversations were occurring in the State Department, where officials were concerned about the mounting civilian death toll in Lebanon.

The internal administration division seems to have dissipated somewhat in recent days, with top U.S. officials convening Monday at the White House with President Joe Biden to discuss the situation on the ground. Most agreed that the conflict, while fragile, could offer an opportunity to reduce Iran’s influence in Lebanon and the region.

Still, the White House is walking a fine line, U.S. and Israeli officials said. The Biden administration wants to support Israel’s actions against a U.S.-designated terrorist group that has killed Americans and threatens the region. But it is not comfortable endorsing Israel’s campaign completely — or publicly — because it is worried it will creep too far into Lebanese territory, instigating an all-out war, one of the U.S. officials said.

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