Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,054
Here is the situation on Monday, January 13: Fighting The Russian Ministry of Defence said its soldiers had captured the Ukrainian village of Yantarne in the eastern Donetsk region and the village of Kalinove in the northeastern Kharkiv region. Russian shelling damaged electrical equipment in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, leaving about 23,000 homes without power, according to the local military administration. “The Russian military shelled social infrastructure and residential areas of the region’s settlements, in particular, damaging 2 multistorey buildings and 8 private houses,” Kherson’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram. Russia’s Defence Ministry also said that its forces launched 139 missile, drone and artillery attacks on Ukrainian military targets within 24 hours. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was ready to hand over captured North Korean soldiers to Pyongyang in exchange for the return of Ukrainian prisoners of War held by Russia. Politics and Diplomacy Advertisement Sweden announced it would send three warships and an ASC 890 surveillance aircraft to the Baltic Sea in the latest response to allegations an oil tanker from Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” was involved in sabotaging undersea power and telecommunications cables. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has offered to host a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and United States President-elect Donald Trump, according to the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation. Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, told US news network ABC that “preparations are under way” for a meeting between Trump and Putin. Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Szijjarto said his country would hold talks with regional allies to work out its response to new US sanctions on Russian oil and gas, which raise “severe challenges for central Europe”. Environment An emergency task force arrived in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, more than a month after two storm-stricken Russian oil tankers caused an an oil spill in the Kerch Strait, which separates Krasnodar from the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula, which Russia occupied and annexed in 2014. Adblock test (Why?)
UK’s Starmer touts plan to ‘turbocharge’ living standards with AI
British Prime Minister says AI has the potential to ‘transform the lives of working people’. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to unveil a 50-point plan to turn the United Kingdom into a “world leader” in artificial intelligence (AI) and deliver a “decade of national renewal”. The AI Opportunities Action Plan, set to be outlined in a speech by Starmer on Monday, will create dedicated AI growth zones to “turbocharge growth” and “boost living standards”, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Prime Minister’s Office said in a joint statement on Sunday. The growth zones, the first of which will be established in Culham, Oxfordshire, will have faster planning approvals for data centres and better access to the energy grid, the statement said. The blueprint, which adopts all 50 recommendations made by venture capitalist Matt Clifford in a report commissioned by the Labour Party government last year, also proposes a 20-fold increase in state-owned AI computing capacity as well as the establishment of a National Data Library and a dedicated AI Energy Council. Advertisement “Artificial Intelligence will drive incredible change in our country. From teachers personalising lessons, to supporting small businesses with their record-keeping, to speeding up planning applications, it has the potential to transform the lives of working people,” Starmer said. “But the AI industry needs a government that is on their side, one that won’t sit back and let opportunities slip through its fingers. And in a world of fierce competition, we cannot stand by.” Starmer’s announcement comes as his Labour government is haemorrhaging support after just six months in office amid sluggish economic conditions. The UK economy recorded 0 percent growth during the third quarter of 2024, raising fears the country could be headed for its second recession in the span of a year. Starmer’s government has estimated that AI could be worth 47 billion pounds ($57m) in economic gains each year over a decade, based on an analysis by the International Monetary Fund that found the technology could boost productivity by as much as 1.5 percentage points a year. The UK ranks third in AI prowess globally, after China and the United States, according to the 2023 Global AI Vibrancy Ranking compiled by Stanford University. “Our plan will make Britain the world leader. It will give the industry the foundation it needs and will turbocharge the Plan for Change,” Starmer said, referring to six milestones he has set out for his government, including raised living standards for households and reduced hospital waiting lists. Advertisement “That means more jobs and investment in the UK, more money in people’s pockets, and transformed public services. That’s the change this government is delivering.” Adblock test (Why?)
Trump ally Steve Bannon blasts Elon Musk as ‘truly evil’ in MAGA split
Former Trump adviser tells Italian newspaper that Tesla CEO intends to implement ‘techno-feudalism on a global scale’. United States President-elect Donald Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon has promised to have Elon Musk “run out” of the White House, in the latest escalation of tensions within the MAGA (Make America Great Again) populist movement. In an interview with an Italian newspaper, Bannon said he had made it his personal mission to ensure Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, does not have access to Trump’s incoming administration and is treated “like any other person”. “He is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy. I made it my personal thing to take this guy down. Before, because he put money in, I was prepared to tolerate it – I’m not prepared to tolerate it any more,” Bannon told the Corriere della Sera newspaper, excerpts of which were republished over the weekend by Bannon’s former media outlet Breitbart News. Bannon also said that Musk, a South African-born naturalised US citizen, should “go back” to his place of birth after the billionaire publicly defended the use of the H-1B visa programme to recruit highly-skilled foreign tech workers. Advertisement “Why do we have South Africans, the most racist people on earth, white South Africans, we have them making any comments at all on what goes on in the United States?” Bannon’s broadside comes amid a public rift among Trump’s followers over the role of foreign employees in Silicon Valley. The divisions burst into view last month after Trump’s decision to name Indian American venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence unleashed a wave of invective from far-right and nationalist MAGA followers, who interpreted the appointment as an endorsement of H-1B visas. Musk, who held an H-1B visa before obtaining US citizenship, hit out at the criticism of foreign workers in Silicon Valley, promising to “go to war on this issue” to a degree “you cannot possibly comprehend”. Despite taking steps to restrict H-1B visa issuances during his first term, Trump sided with Musk’s comments, calling the visas a “great programme.” In his newspaper interview, Bannon, who served as White House chief strategist during Trump’s first term, accused Musk of having the “maturity of a little boy” and attempting to establish “techno-feudalism on a global scale”. “We’ve seen peak Elon, his intrusive nature, his lack of understanding of the true issues, and, quite frankly, his support of just himself, the sole objective is to become a trillionaire. That’s his objective,” he said. “He will do anything related to make sure that any one of his companies is protected or has a better deal or he makes more money. His aggregation of wealth, and then – through wealth – power: that’s what he’s focused on. The American working people in this country are not going to tolerate it.” Advertisement Musk, who is a prolific commentator on news events on his social media platform X, has not publicly responded to Bannon’s remarks. Ranked as the world’s richest person with a net worth of more than $400bn, Musk has become one of Trump’s most powerful and influential allies since he publicly endorsed the Republican following his attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. Trump has included the tech billionaire in meetings with lawmakers and foreign leaders, and tapped him to co-lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency alongside bio-tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Adblock test (Why?)
How strategic is Wad Madani city, retaken by Sudanese army?
PeoplSudan’s army has recaptured Wad Madani, a strategically important city some 200km (124 miles) southeast of the capital Khartoum, in a major blow to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). “The leadership of the Armed Forces congratulates our people on the entry of our forces into Wad Madani this morning. They are now working to clean up the remaining rebel pockets inside the city,” an army statement read. This comes as the army advanced into the country’s second-largest city Omdurman last week after making steady gains in recent months. Wad Madani – the crossroads of key supply highways linking several states – had been under RSF control since December 2023. RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, however, insisted that the battle was not over. “Today we lost a round, we did not lose the battle,” said Dagalo, who is also known as Hemedti. Since fighting erupted in April 2023 between the army and the RSF over control of this North African nation, more than 12 million people have been displaced, creating one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Advertisement So how significant is the recapture of Wad Madani by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)? Can the army repeat its recent success as it aims to recapture territories still under RSF control? How strategically placed is Wad Madani? Where is it located? The city is the capital of Gezira state, located in the centre of the country and south of Khartoum. According to Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, whoever has control of the agricultural and trading hub has easier access to other parts of the country. “When the RSF took over Wad Madani in December 2023, that gave it the ability to be able to move to other parts of the country such as Sennar in the southeast, Blue Nile in the east, and the White Nile in the south as well,” Morgan said, reporting from the Sudanese capital. The city is also at “a very important point” through which supplies and other “logistical arrangements” can be made into the capital, according to Hamid Khalafallah, a Sudan policy analyst and PhD candidate at the University of Manchester. “Whoever controls Madani [has] a lot more flexibility in terms of different stuff into Khartoum and out of Khartoum,” Khalafallah told Al Jazeera. In the early days of the conflict, before the RSF took over, the city was a safe haven for displaced families. Since the RSF’s takeover, it has been one of the sites of the paramilitary force’s bloodiest attacks on civilians, as well as the burning of fields, looting of hospitals and markets, and flooding of irrigation ditches. Has the Sudanese army captured the entire Gezira state? No, the RSF still retains control of most of the state, as well as nearly all of Sudan’s western Darfur region and large parts of the country’s south. Advertisement The army’s takeover of the strategic city follows its bolstered campaign to retake Gezira in recent months, after retaking Sennar state in the south. The army was helped by the turn of events in October, when RSF’s top commander in the state defected to the SAF. The commander’s troops took part in Saturday’s operations. Last week, the army advanced in the second-largest city Omdurman, capturing several areas from the RSF. How significant is the recapture of Wad Madani city? This represents a significant turn of events in the war and another blow to the RSF, which has had an upper hand against the military in the nearly two-year conflict. The army’s capture will allow it to access other parts of the country that the RSF will now be cut off from, such as the Sennar, Blue Nile, and White Nile states. “Now that [the RSF] lost that territory, that progress that it was able to make will not be possible, and its forces in those areas will be trapped between forces of the Sudanese army,” said Morgan. “Wad Madani is also where the army’s first infantry division is located, so that is going to give the army a morale boost,” she added. When the RSF took over the city, there were a lot of complaints among officers and soldiers that the leadership was not meeting the standards of the Sudanese army and that there should be a replacement of the leadership, explained Morgan. “Now that Wad Madani is back under the control of the Sudanese army, the army is likely to gain – especially its leadership – is likely to gain more support, not just from the soldiers and officers but also from the Sudanese citizens as well,” she said. Advertisement Additionally, the city’s recapture could aid in Sudan’s hunger crisis, as the state is home to Sudan’s most fertile lands and agriculture schemes – with most farming prohibited under the RSF, said Khalafallah, the researcher. “Now there will be room for people to grow, and to farm, and for food to be produced, and so on, to address Sudan’s unfolding famine and food security crisis,” he said. The turn of events may also offer long-awaited respite to the city’s residents, who “have been experiencing the most horrific human rights violations and atrocities committed by the [Rapid] Support Forces”, Khalafallah said. Still, there has been a pattern of the army targeting pro-democracy activists in the cities they have already recaptured, Khalafallah warned, which could be a worrying development if repeated in Wad Madani. How much territory does the army control now? Beyond Wad Madani, the Sudanese army also controls the north and east of the country, as well as parts of the capital. The map below indicates areas of control between the SAF and the RSF, as of October 2024. How did Sudanese people react to the capture? In Wad Madani, Sudanese troops garbed in camo-print uniforms waved their rifles in the air as they rode through town on the back of their trucks, flashing smiles after claiming to “liberate” the city, social media footage verified by Al Jazeera shows. The local resistance committee, one of hundreds
Russia claims to have seized new villages in eastern Ukraine
Russia claims it has captured two villages in eastern Ukraine where its forces have been steadily advancing for months, as Ukraine’s president urged allies to deliver all the weapons they have promised to send to Kyiv. The Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday that soldiers have captured the village of Yantarne in the eastern Donetsk region, about 10km (six miles) southwest of Kurakhove, a key logistics hub that Moscow claimed to have seized last week – a day after Russia’s army said it had also taken new territory northwest of Kurakhove. The Defence Ministry added that soldiers had also captured the village of Kalinove in the northeastern Kharkiv region. The village is on the western bank of the Oskil River, which for a long time formed the front line between the two armies in the region. A Ukrainian official, quoted by the AFP news agency, said on Thursday that Russian forces had managed to establish a bridgehead on the western bank after crossing the river. Russia’s army has spent months making attempts to cross the river, which also cuts through Kupiansk, a city recaptured by Ukraine in its 2022 counteroffensive. Advertisement Separately, the Russian Defence Ministry said that over the past 24 hours, Russia’s forces have carried out strikes on Ukrainian military airfields, personnel and vehicles in 139 locations using the air force, drones, missiles and artillery. Ukrainian air defences downed 60 out of 94 drones launched by Russia overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force. It said that 34 drones were “lost”, in reference to Ukraine’s use of electronic warfare to redirect Russian drones. Falling drone fragments damaged houses in the Kharkiv, Sumy and Poltava regions, but no one was hurt, the air force said. In the southern Kherson region, three people were injured by drones on Sunday, regional authorities said, and about 23,000 households were left without electricity after Russian shelling damaged power equipment in the city. The attack targeted the Dniprovskyi district along the Dnipro River, an area of Kherson that is regularly shelled by Russian forces on the opposite bank. Kherson’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said Kherson city and about 50 settlements in the surrounding region had been shelled by Russian forces over the past 24 hours. “The Russian military shelled social infrastructure and residential areas of the region’s settlements, in particular, damaging two multistorey buildings and eight private houses,” Prokudin said on Telegram. In the Russian-controlled section of the Kherson region, a Ukrainian drone attacked a car, killing a 76-year-old woman outside her house, Russian-installed Governor Vladimir Saldo said on Telegram. Advertisement Zelenskyy appeals to allies In a statement on Sunday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on allies to honour all promises to supply Ukraine with weapons, including those to counter Russian air attacks. Zelenskyy said that over the past week, Russian forces had launched hundreds of attacks on Ukraine and nearly 700 aerial bombs and more than 600 attack drones were used. “Every week, the Russian war continues only because the Russian army retains its ability to terrorise Ukraine and exploit its superiority in the sky,” Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app. “The decisions made at the NATO summit in Washington, as well as those adopted during the Ramstein meetings regarding air defences for Ukraine, have still not been fully implemented,” Zelenskyy said. Ukraine’s leader this week said he had discussed with partners and the United States the possibility of granting Ukraine licences to produce air defence systems and missiles. Task force for oil spill Meanwhile, Russian officials said an emergency task force arrived in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region on Sunday as an oil spill in the Kerch Strait from two storm-stricken tankers continues to spread a month after it was first detected. The task force, which includes Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov, was set up after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called on authorities to ramp up the response to the spill, calling it “one of the most serious environmental challenges we have faced in recent years”. Advertisement Kurenkov said that “the most difficult situation” had developed near the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region, where fuel oil continues to leak into the sea from the damaged part of the Volgoneft-239 tanker. Kurenkov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that the remaining oil will be pumped out of the tanker’s stern. In response to Putin’s call for action, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi accused Russia of “beginning to demonstrate its alleged ‘concern’ only after the scale of the disaster became too obvious to conceal its terrible consequences”. “Russia’s practice of first ignoring the problem, then admitting its inability to solve it, and ultimately leaving the entire Black Sea region alone with the consequences is yet another proof of its international irresponsibility,” Tykhyi said on Friday. The Kerch Strait is an important global shipping route, providing passage from the inland Sea of Azov to the Black Sea. It has also been a key point of conflict between Russia and Ukraine after Moscow annexed the peninsula in 2014. In 2016, Ukraine took Moscow to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where it accused Russia of trying to seize control of the area illegally. In 2021, Russia closed the strait for several months. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy’s office, described the oil spill last month as a “large-scale environmental disaster” and called for additional sanctions on Russian tankers. Adblock test (Why?)
Fact check: LA fires drive falsehoods, including by Trump about water use
President-elect Donald Trump and some social media users and pundits blamed Los Angeles’ deadly fires on California Governor Gavin Newsom, saying the Democrat’s environmental policies enabled the blazes’ danger and wreckage. As of January 12, authorities counted at least 16 people dead, more than 14,000 hectares (35,000 acres) burned and thousands of structures damaged or destroyed. Some social media users reposted Trump’s 2018 and 2019 criticism of California’s forest management policies, including false statements the then-president posted as firefighters battled previous wildfires. It is not uncommon for Trump to make false claims about his political opponents during natural disasters. In 2018, he falsely said “Democrats” had inflated Hurricane Maria’s death toll in Puerto Rico. In October 2024, he fabricated a claim that North Carolina’s Democratic governor had blocked federal aid from flowing into the state after Hurricane Helene. As Los Angeles wildfire victims reeled from the destruction, we fact-checked these viral claims to see how, or if, California water policy and forest management factored this disaster. Advertisement Trump misleads about California water policy As Los Angeles firefighters raced to contain blazes in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood on January 7 and January 8, the area’s hydrant water pressure ran low, and some hydrants stopped producing water. Trump, in a January 8 Truth Social post, blamed Newsom’s management for the water issues and said Newsom had refused to allow “beautiful, clean, fresh water to flow into California”. “Governor Gavin [Newsom] refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Trump said. “He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid.” Trump’s posts seemed to blame the water constraints on statewide water management plans that capture rain and snow as it flows from Northern California. But experts said those plans would not have affected the fire response. Southern California has plenty of water stored, said Mark Gold, the water scarcity solutions director at the Natural Resources Defense Council and a Southern California Metropolitan Water District board member. The local water shortages happened because the city’s infrastructure wasn’t designed to respond to a fire as large as the one that broke out in the Palisades and elsewhere, experts said. Advertisement “It doesn’t matter what’s going on at the Bay-Delta or the Colorado (River) or Eastern Sierra right now,” Gold said. “We have all this water in storage right now. The problem is, when you look at something like firefighting, it’s a more localised issue on where your water is. Do you have adequate local storage?” Trump’s reference to a “water restoration declaration” that Newsom refused to sign is puzzling, as such a document does not appear to exist. Newsom’s press team said on social media, “There is no such document as the water restoration declaration – that is pure fiction.” Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to an email asking for clarification. After publication, a Trump spokesperson emailed PolitiFact referencing a plan from Trump’s first term that would have directed more water from the federal Central Valley Project to farmers in the San Joaquin Valley. Newsom and then-California Attorney General Xavier Becerra sued the Trump administration over the plan, which they said violated protections for endangered species, including Chinook salmon and Delta smelt – a slender, 2- to 3-inch fish that is considered endangered under California’s Endangered Species Act. But here’s the kink in Trump’s logic: The Central Valley Project provides no water to Los Angeles. The regional water district receives some water from the State Water Project, which also collects water from the Delta-Bay area and shares some reservoirs and infrastructure with the Central Valley Project. But most of the extra water from Trump’s plan would have been sent to the San Joaquin Valley, and it’s wrong to connect water management further north to the firefighting challenges in Los Angeles. Advertisement The local water system failed because the city’s infrastructure was built to respond to routine structure fires, not huge wildfires across multiple neighbourhoods, experts said. Ann Jeffers, a University of Michigan civil and environmental engineering professor who studies fire engineering, said she doesn’t know of any industry standard for designing city water supplies to fight the kind of fire that erupted in the Palisades. Dryness and high winds meant that “these fire events would be likely to exceed a given design basis, if one even existed,” Jeffers said. Chris Field, a Stanford University professor and climate scientist, said climate change worsens these conditions. Three main water tanks near the Palisades, each holding about 1 million gallons (3.8 million litres), were filled in preparation for a fire because of dangerous weather. The tanks were all depleted by 3am on January 8, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power CEO and Chief Engineer Janisse Quinones said during a January 8 news conference. Although water continued to flow to the affected areas, demand for water rose faster than the system could deliver it. “There’s water in the trunk line, it just cannot get up the hill, because we cannot fill the tanks fast enough,” Quinones said. “And we cannot lower the amount of water that we provide to the fire department in order to supply the tanks, because we’re balancing firefighting with water.” A reservoir near the Pacific Palisades that is part of the city’s water supply had been closed for repairs when the fires broke out, which may have slowed the water pressure issues had it been operable, the Los Angeles Times reported on January 10. Advertisement Other social media users claimed slow construction of California’s reservoir had led to the hydrants running dry. But local infrastructure failures, not regional water storage, caused the hydrant problems, so it’s
Firefighters race to contain LA wildfires as winds expected to pick up
Evacuation orders throughout the Los Angeles area cover 153,000 residents, with 57,000 structures at risk. Firefighters are racing to cut off spreading wildfires around Los Angeles before potentially strong winds return, while new evacuation warnings left more homeowners on edge. An intense effort was under way on Saturday in the upscale Los Angeles neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades, after the wildfire there expanded into additional areas overnight. Residents were warned of potential worsening weather conditions over the coming days that could further stoke the blaze. Cal Fire official Todd Hopkins told reporters at a news conference that the Palisades Fire had spread into the Mandeville Canyon neighbourhood and threatened to jump into Brentwood, an upscale neighbourhood. Cal Fire Operations Chief Christian Litz said a main focus on Saturday would be the Palisades Fire burning in the canyon area, not far from the UCLA campus. “We need to be aggressive out there,” Litz said. Meanwhile, evacuation orders throughout the Los Angeles area now cover 153,000 residents, with 57,000 structures at risk. Advertisement Another 166,000 residents have been warned that they may have to evacuate, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. Luna added that his agency has dispatched 40 search-and-rescue team workers to work jointly with other agencies, including the use of cadaver dogs to search for remains of victims and to help reunite families that have been separated. A plane makes a drop as smoke billows from the Palisades Fire at the Mandeville Canyon in Los Angeles [Shannon Stapleton/Reuters] At least 11 killed Six simultaneous blazes that have ripped across Los Angeles County neighbourhoods since Tuesday have killed at least 11 people, and damaged or destroyed 10,000 structures – a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. At least 13 people are estimated to be missing so far. The death toll is expected to mount when firefighters are able to conduct house-to-house searches. The fierce Santa Ana winds that fanned the infernos eased on Friday night. But the Palisades Fire on the city’s western edge was heading in a new direction as winds came off the Pacific Ocean and threatened the heavily populated San Fernando Valley foothills. The fire, the most destructive in the history of Los Angeles, has razed whole neighbourhoods to the ground, leaving just the smouldering ruins of what had been people’s homes and possessions. Before the latest flare-up, firefighters had reported progress in subduing the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire in the foothills east of the metropolis after it burned out of control for days. Advertisement On Saturday, the Palisades Fire was 11 percent contained and the Eaton Fire in the east was 15 percent contained, state agency Cal Fire said. The two big fires combined had consumed more than 36,000 acres (14,500 hectares), or 56 square miles (145.6sq km) – 2.5 times the land area of Manhattan. Seven neighbouring states, the federal government and Canada have rushed aid to California, bolstering aerial teams dropping water and fire retardant on the flaming hills and crews on the ground attacking fire lines with hand tools and hoses. Winds predicted to slow The National Weather Service said that conditions in the Los Angeles area would improve through the weekend, with sustained winds slowing to about 20mph (32km/h), gusting between 35mph and 50mph (56-80-km/h). “It’s not as gusty, so that should help firefighters,” NWS meteorologist Allison Santorelli said, adding that conditions were still critical with low humidity and dry vegetation. Officials have declared a public health emergency due to the thick, toxic smoke. Private forecaster AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic loss at $135bn to $150bn, portending an arduous recovery and soaring homeowners’ insurance costs. President Joe Biden has declared the fires a major disaster and said the US government would reimburse 100 percent of the recovery for the next six months. Adblock test (Why?)
What’s next for Yemen as Israel attacks again?
Air strikes across the country as Houthis target US naval ships in Red Sea. Israeli warplanes struck Yemen on Friday – with a power station, ports and residential areas among the targets. The same day, Houthi forces say they attacked a US aircraft carrier and naval vessels in the Red Sea. What’s the risk of further escalation? Presenter: Imran Khan Guests: Mustapha Noman – Former deputy foreign minister of Yemen Yousef Mawry – Political analyst based in Yemen Farea Al Muslimi – Research fellow at the Middle East and North Africa programme of Chatham House Adblock test (Why?)
Israel steps up Gaza attacks amid renewed ceasefire push
At least eight people have been killed in an Israeli attack on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza, as Israel sent several senior officials for talks on a potential ceasefire. An Israeli attack on Saturday hit the Zainab al-Wazir school in northern Gaza’s Jabalia al-Balad area, killing eight civilians, including two women and two children, according to the Palestinian civil emergency service. “The Israelis have targeted us without any prior warning,” a mother told Al Jazeera, as she searched through the debris. “They attacked us with a missile. I don’t know where our children are. I don’t know anything about them, whether they’re wounded or killed.” Al Jazeera’s Moath al-Kahlout described the scenes at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, where dozens of the wounded were taken, as “bloody” and “dire”, noting the dearth of medical supplies under Israel’s ongoing siege of northern Gaza, which has been in place for more than 80 days. Later on Saturday, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported strikes on various locations across Gaza, including an attack on a house in the Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City, which killed four Palestinians and wounded several others. Advertisement Israeli fighter jets also bombed a tent sheltering displaced families in Deir el-Balah, located in the centre of the enclave, killing three people, Wafa reported. Additional strikes reportedly killed one person near the Bureij refugee camp, also in central Gaza, and another in the southern town of Khan Younis. The intensified attacks came as Egypt, Qatar and the United States made renewed efforts to reach a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and free remaining Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. ‘Tough sticking points’ On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who had travelled to Qatar earlier in the week. Witkoff had reassured Egyptian and Qatari mediators that the US would continue to work towards a fair deal to end the war soon, said Egyptian security sources cited by news agency Reuters. After the meeting, Netanyahu dispatched a high-level delegation, including the head of the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency, to Qatar in order to “advance” talks, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office. “There are a lot of moving parts here,” said Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from the Jordanian capital, Amman. “Donald Trump said that he would be quite aggressive in trying to get a ceasefire if it didn’t happen before he took office … But you have to remember that there are tough sticking points on each side,” she said. “The Israelis say that they’re not going to end the war, and Hamas says that they want to see a comprehensive ceasefire that sees an end to the war and a withdrawal of Israeli troops. Advertisement “And you also have the Israeli public, which is constantly demonstrating against Benjamin Netanyahu, against the Israeli government, saying that he’s neither capable nor willing to make a deal fifteen months into this war,” she said. Israelis protest against the government, showing support for captives who were seized during the Hamas-led attack on Israel, on October 7, 2023 [Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters] Families of Israeli captives welcomed Netanyahu’s decision to dispatch the officials, with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters describing it as an “historic opportunity”. ‘Impossible to stay alive’ As mediators prepare for more ceasefire talks, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said that Palestinians under attack in Gaza were also contending with severe food shortages, with Israel continuing to ignore United Nations demands on lifting its restrictions on supplies entering the Strip. “We’re seeing children with empty pots every single day searching for community kitchens, talking with families saying they are barely able to feed their children one meal per day,” said Khoudary, reporting from Deir el-Balah. “It’s not only the continuous air strikes, but also malnutrition is killing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” she said. Palestinians gather to receive aid food being distributed along the roadside at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on January 11, 2025 [Eyad Baba/AFP] Vibe Klarup, head of Amnesty Denmark, said that Israel was committing “genocide”. “When we say Israel is committing genocide, it is not an opinion, it’s a conclusion on the basis of a legal, thorough analysis,” she told The European Palestinian Network conference in Copenhagen. Advertisement “It is increasingly impossible to stay alive in the Gaza Strip … Our role as people is to stop the genocide,” she added. At least 46,537 people have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to Palestinian health authorities. Adblock test (Why?)
Monfils becomes the oldest player to win an ATP Tour singles title
At 38, Gael Monfis becomes the oldest winner of an ATP title by beating Zizou Bergs in New Zealand. French veteran Gael Monfils has become the oldest player to win an ATP Tour title after beating Zizou Bergs 6-3, 6-4 in Auckland. Monfils claimed his 13th tour title 20 years after his first and at the age of 38 years, 132 days. He took over from Roger Federer, who was 38 years, 74 days old when he won the final tour title of his career, the Swiss Indoor title at Basel in 2019. Monfils is currently ranked 52 and is the oldest player in the ATP Tour’s history to be ranked in the top 100. Pancho Gonzalez was 44 years, 7 months and 4 days old when he won a Kingston, Jamaica singles title in 1972, before the formation of the ATP Tour in 1990. Gael Monfils won his first ATP title at the age of 18 [Phil Walter/Getty Images] The Auckland final was delayed on Saturday by a medical emergency in the crowd, but Monfils showed the same mixture of aggression and tenacious defence to claim his first title since the Stockholm Open in 2023. Prior to the start of the Auckland tournament, Monfils spoke about how his love of tennis kept him going. “I love tennis. I love what I’m doing so, of course, all the sacrifices you do, they are a little bit easier. When you love something, it’s easier to keep pushing,” he said. “I’ve been enjoying myself since the first day I played tennis and [at] 60 years old I will still have this joy. Practice, it’s easy. It’s in the DNA. Stay in shape, it’s easy. It’s more the travel.” Advertisement After collecting the Auckland trophy, Monfils headed straight to the airport for a flight to Melbourne where he will face Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round of the Australian Open. Zizou Bergs of Belgium, left, and Gael Monfils of France pose with their trophies following their men’s singles final on Day 13 of the ASB Classic [Phil Walter/Getty Images] Adblock test (Why?)