At least 120 killed in S Korea as plane crashes on landing at Muan airport
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY, The crash occurred as the Jeju Air flight from Bangkok, Thailand, landed at Muan International Airport in South Korea. At least 124 people have been killed when a passenger plane caught fire after skidding off a runway and crashing at an airport in South Korea’s Muan city, the country’s National Fire Agency said. The accident occurred on Sunday at 9.03am local time (00:03 GMT) as the Jeju Air flight, carrying 175 passengers and six crew from the Thai capital Bangkok, landed at Muan International Airport located about 289km (179 miles) southwest of the capital Seoul. The National Fire Agency confirmed that 124 people – 57 women, 54 men and 13 others whose genders weren’t immediately identifiable – have been killed, and two people have been rescued – both crew members. The fire that engulfed the plane has been extinguished, the agency said. Citing fire agency officials, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said that hopes are fading for survivors. “There seems to have been some kind of malfunction with the landing gear and images which have been on the media here do appear to show the plane landing on its belly, skidding along the runway, followed then by a huge explosion,” Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Seoul, said. Advertisement “Eyewitness accounts have talked then about a series of explosions and certainly images that we have been seeing have shown a catastrophic fire,” he said. The plane, a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet, was reported to be carrying two Thai passengers and the rest were believed to be South Koreans. Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has expressed deep condolences to the families of the crash victims. Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been ordered to investigate if Thai passengers were on the plane and to provide “assistance immediately”, the prime minister said in a post on social media. One photo shared by local media showed thick clouds of black smoke coming out of the plane. Another showed the tail section of the jet engulfed in flames on what appeared to be the side of the runway, with firefighters and emergency vehicles nearby. The Yonhap news agency reports that the crash is believed to have been caused by “contact with birds, resulting in malfunctioning landing gear” as the plane attempted to land at the airport. The country’s News1 agency reported that a passenger texted a relative to say a bird was stuck in the wing. The person’s final message was, “Should I say my last words?” Black smoke billows into the air from the airport in Muan, South Jeolla Province, South Korea, after the plane crash on December 29, 2024 [Yonhap via Reuters] An official from South Korea’s Transport Ministry’s aviation department said a bird strike was among several theories for the accident that have not been verified and that an investigation was ongoing. Advertisement South Korea’s Acting President Choi Sang-mok, meanwhile, ordered “all-out efforts for rescue operations” at Muan airport. “All related agencies… must mobilise all available resources to save the personnel,” he told officials in a statement. Jeju Air, one of South Korea’s largest low-cost carriers, which was set up in 2005, issued an apology for the crash, saying it would “do everything in our power in response to this accident”. The crash is the first fatal accident for Jeju Air, though in August 2007, a Bombardier Q400 operated by the airline and carrying 74 passengers came off the runway due to strong winds at the southern Busan-Gimhae airport, resulting in a dozen injuries. Experts say that South Korea’s aviation industry has a solid track record for safety. A woman watches a TV screen broadcasting footage of the aircraft crash at Muan International Airport, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, December 29, 2024 [Kim Soo-hyeon/Reuters] Adblock test (Why?)
Chad votes in first parliamentary election in over a decade: What to know
Chadians are voting in parliamentary, regional and municipal elections for the first time in more than a decade, continuing the former military-turned-civilian government’s push to put the Central African country on a democratic path. But opposition party members are sceptical. Officials in N’djamena say Sunday’s vote will formally end a three-year “transitional period” that followed the 2021 death of longtime leader Idriss Deby Itno and the forceful takeover by his son, Mahamat Idriss Deby, who was confirmed as the country’s president after an election in May. However, many opposition parties are boycotting the polls, calling them a “masquerade” and accusing the Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) government of trying to legitimise what they call a political dynasty. Chad, one of Africa’s poorest countries, is the first in a string of coup-hit states in the Sahel to hold elections as promised, even if polls were severely delayed. The country is no stranger to coups or repressive governments and has been ruled by the Deby family since 1991. Advertisement Sunday’s vote comes amid a barrage of security challenges: Sudan’s war is raging along the eastern border; the Boko Haram armed group is attacking security locations around Lake Chad; and N’Djamena recently broke a military pact with former colonial master and strong ally, France. Rights groups say without full opposition participation, the election is not likely to be fair. “It will be difficult to have a credible election without inclusivity,” Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International’s country director in neighbouring Nigeria, told Al Jazeera. “That some are boycotting the election shows that there must be a review of the process and system to ensure that a level playing field is provided to accommodate all Chadians.” Here’s what you need to know about the parliamentary elections and why the country’s fledgling steps towards democracy are controversial: A supporter of the Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) waves a party flag as he attends a political rally, in N’Djamena in 2021 [File: Marco Longari/AP] How will voters elect? Some 8.3 million registered voters of the country’s 18-million population will vote for legislators in the country’s 188-seat parliament. Parties need 95 seats for a majority. More than 100 political parties have put forward some 1,100 candidates for the parliamentary elections. Winners are elected by a first-past-the-post or a more-than-half majority method, depending on the constituency size. Voters will also choose regional and local governments across 22 regions and the capital, N’Djamena. The Transformers Party, as well as dozens of other opposition parties, are boycotting the elections, arguing that the vote will neither be free nor fair. Advertisement Why were there no parliamentary elections in more than a decade? Parliamentary elections were last held in 2011. Although the term for the legislators was meant to end in 2015, the government indefinitely postponed polls, claiming there were no funds to organise elections. Although the landlocked country is an oil producer, it ranks fourth from the bottom in the United Nations Human Development Index due to years of stagnant economic activity and harsh climate conditions. Despite a clamour by opposition members to hold the elections promptly, former President Deby continued to postpone them. In 2019, the newly established National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) finally promised to hold elections in 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted those plans. Following his father’s death at the hands of rebels in May 2021, General Mahamat Idriss Deby, 40, seized power, despite loud calls for elections from opposition parties. The military disbanded parliament and put a one-year Transitional Military Council in place, headed by Deby. In October 2022, the leader disappointed many Chadians when he extended the transition period to 2024. Thousands, especially youth, took to the streets in protest, but security forces opened fire on them, killing more than 100 people. Succes Masra, the young leader of the opposition Transformers Party, was at the forefront of the protests. Masra fled to the United States following the killings. Mahamat Idriss Deby speaks at a stadium in the Dombao district, in Moundou, Chad, in April 2024 [File: Joris Bolomey / AFP] Have there been other elections? Yes, authorities held a successful referendum in December 2023 that supported a new constitution and, in effect, new elections. Advertisement In May this year, Deby swept to victory in controversial presidential elections, amid claims his party rigged the vote with the help of the National Election Management Agency (ANGE). Critics also accused Deby of murdering opposition candidates before the elections. Chadian security forces killed Yaya Dillo, Deby’s cousin and a leading opposition member of the Socialist Party Without Borders (PSF) in February. He was widely seen as the president’s biggest challenger at the time. Officials claimed Dillo led a deadly attack on the headquarters of the country’s intelligence agency on February 28, but Dillo denied the allegations. Dillo was killed in a shootout the following day, along with several other PSF members. Many members are still detained in the notorious Koro Toro maximum security prison, according to Amnesty International. Organisations like Human Rights Watch in 2022 documented how prison officials tortured and murdered detained protesters in the facility. Deby won 61.3 percent of the vote to the anger of opposition groups who claimed the elections were rigged. International rights groups, such as the International Federation for Human Rights, said the presidential elections were “neither credible, free, nor democratic”. The president placed well ahead of his biggest opponent, candidate Masra of the Transformers Party, who came second with 18.5 percent of the vote. Masra had returned to the country in January this year following a peace agreement and was named prime minister in what many saw as Deby’s attempt to win over opposition members. Tensions returned, however, when the two faced each other in the elections. Masra resigned as prime minister and has since returned to leading the opposition. Advertisement Which parties are running in this election? Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS): Led by agricultural expert and former Prime Minister Haroun Kabadi, who currently heads the Transitional Council, the MPS is the governing party. It was
Passenger plane crashes at South Korean airport, killing 120
At least 120 people have been killed when a passenger plane caught fire after skidding off a runway and slamming into a concrete fence at a South Korean airport. Two crew members were rescued after the accident that occurred on Sunday at 9:03am local time (00:03 GMT). The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the plane – a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 jet – was returning from Bangkok and its passengers included two Thai nationals. The National Fire Agency said rescuers raced to pull people out of the Jeju Air plane carrying 181 passengers at the airport in the town of Muan, about 290km (180 miles) south of Seoul. The fire agency deployed 32 fire trucks and several helicopters to contain the fire, it said. At least 120 people – 57 women, 54 men and nine others whose genders weren’t immediately identifiable – died in the fire, the fire agency said. The death toll is expected to rise further as the rest of the passengers on board the plane remain missing about six hours after the incident – making it one of the worst airline disasters to hit South Korea. Advertisement Footage of the crash aired by YTN television showed the Jeju Air plane skidding across the airstrip, apparently with its landing gear still closed, and colliding head-on with a concrete wall on the outskirts of the airport. Other local TV stations aired footage showing thick pillars of black smoke from the plane engulfed in flames. Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station, told a televised briefing that rescue workers are continuing to search for bodies scattered by the crash impact. The plane was destroyed, with only the tail assembly remaining recognizable among the wreckage, he said. Workers were looking into various possibilities about what caused the crash, including whether the aircraft was struck by birds that caused mechanical problems, Lee said. Senior Transport Ministry official Joo Jong-wan separately told reporters that government investigators arrived at the site to investigate the cause of the crash and fire. Adblock test (Why?)
When burning hospitals are no longer news
This morning, I opened social media to search for Gaza news. I had to scroll for a while through my newsfeed before seeing the first mention of my homeland. Yet, the news we receive from Gaza through friends, family and social media is no less grim than it was a year ago. Its people continue to cry out for help, hoping the world would hear them. For three months, Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, sent appeals for help to the world, as the Israeli army besieged the hospital, cut off supplies, bombarded it, slaughtered people in its vicinity and injured some of the medical staff and patients inside. In a video appeal posted on December 12, Dr Abu Safia lamented: “We are now without any capacity and providing a low-level service. I hope that there are listening ears. We hope that there is a living conscience that hears our plea and facilitates a humanitarian corridor to the hospital so that Kamal Adwan Hospital continues its work to provide services.” Advertisement But his cries for help fell on deaf ears. The day after Christmas, Israeli bombardment killed a woman at the hospital’s front gate and five medical workers: Dr Ahmed Samour, a paediatrician; Esraa Abu Zaidah, a laboratory technician; Abdul Majid Abu al-Eish and Maher al-Ajrami, paramedics; and Fares al-Houdali, a maintenance technician. Shrapnel shattered the skull of nurse Hassan Dabous inside the hospital, putting his life in danger. Yesterday, Israeli soldiers stormed the hospital and set it on fire, expelling 350 patients and kidnapping Dr Abu Safia and other medical staff. This horrific news barely made a blip in international media; there were no reactions from foreign governments or leading institutions, except a few Middle Eastern states and the WHO. Israel has clearly been successful in normalising its brutal attacks, destruction of Palestinian hospitals, and killing of Palestinian patients and medical staff. There was also no reaction from the world when earlier this month, Dr Said Joudeh, the last remaining orthopaedic surgeon in north Gaza, was assassinated on his way to work at the barely functioning al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia refugee camp. Dr Joudeh was a retired surgeon who felt compelled to return to work because of the desperate shortage of doctors caused by Israel’s targeted killings. Just a week before his murder, he had learned that his son, Majd, had been killed. Despite his grief, Dr Joudeh continued his work. Israel is seeking to eliminate all aspects of civilian life in northern Gaza as part of a policy to depopulate it. For this reason, it is targeting civilian infrastructure across the north and obstructing its functioning. The few medical facilities were the last remaining vestiges of civilian life. Advertisement Apart from trying to exterminate medical workers, the Israeli army is also systematically blocking civil defence teams and ambulances from saving lives in the north, often hitting and killing them when they try to do so. And it is not just appeals from the north that are being ignored. The whole of Gaza has been stricken by famine as Israel has dramatically decreased the number of humanitarian and commercial trucks entering the Gaza Strip. Hunger is omnipresent and is affecting even those who may have some means to buy food but cannot find any. My cousin, an UNRWA teacher, recently told me about his visit to his sister, who was ill and displaced in Deir el-Balah. While he was visiting, he could not sleep. He had not eaten bread for 15 days, but it was not his own gnawing hunger as a diabetic that kept him up. It was the cries of his sister’s children who begged for just a piece of bread. Desperate to comfort them, my cousin told them story after story until they drifted to sleep. But he remained awake, haunted by their hunger and his own. Apart from food, Israel is also blocking the delivery of much-needed materials to build shelters. Four babies have already frozen to death since the start of this month. Amid the famine and harsh winter, Israeli bombardment of homes and tents of the displaced has not stopped. On December 7, a distant relative, Dr Muhammad al-Nairab, lost his wife and three daughters when the Israeli army hit their home in Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, west of Gaza City. Two of his daughters, Sally and Sahar, were doctors, helping save lives. They no longer can. Advertisement When my niece, Nour, a mother of two, reached out to her uncle, Dr Muhammad, to extend her condolences, she found the pain of his loss intolerable. I spoke to her shortly after. Her words pierced through the despair like a scream: “When will the world hear us and see us? When will these massacres matter? Are we not human?” On December 11, another family was hit not far from Dr Muhammad’s home in Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood. That Israeli attack killed Palestinian journalist Iman al-Shanti, along with her husband and three children. Days before her murder, Iman shared a video of herself reflecting on the reality of genocide. “Is it possible for this level of failure to exist? Is the blood of the people of Gaza so cheap to you?” she asked the world. There was no answer. Just like war crimes against Palestinians have been normalised, so has Palestinian death and pain. This normalisation not only silences their suffering but also denies their humanity. Yet for Palestinians, the pain of loss is anything but normal – it lingers, sinking into the soul, raw and unrelenting, carried in the echoes of those they have lost, both inside and outside Gaza. It is a transnational pain, a grief that crosses borders and defies boundaries, binding Palestinians in exile to those enduring the horrors of genocide. In a December 3 social media post, journalist Dayana al-Mughrabi, who is currently displaced in Egypt, captured the unending grief of Gaza’s people: “Our loved ones don’t die once, they die many times after
Voting begins in Chad as opposition parties call for election boycott
Opposition parties urge Chadians to boycott the vote, calling it a sham aimed at entrenching the governing party’s power. Voting has begun in general elections in Chad, which President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno has portrayed as a key step in a transition to democracy but are being boycotted by the country’s opposition parties. Members of the armed forces and nomadic tribes in Chad were summoned to vote on Saturday for logistical reasons. But most people in the African nation of about 20 million people will vote on Sunday to select a national parliament, regional assemblies and local councils. The polls will be open from 6am to 5pm local time (05:00 to 16:00 GMT). Reporting from the capital N’Djamena on Saturday afternoon, Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi said many Chadians described feeling “indifferent” in the lead-up to the vote. “They say they don’t expect to see any changes. They say that they believe that the ruling party is going to win no matter what,” she said. “A lot of them are just talking about … bread-and-butter issues: They say the cost of living is extremely high. They’re talking about corruption and nepotism that is rife.” Members of the Chadian security forces vote at a barrack in Koundoul [Joris Bolomey/AFP] The country’s opposition parties have called on people to boycott the vote, which they described as a sham. Advertisement “No campaign, no vote on December 29. Stay at home and ask others to do the same,” the main opposition Transformers party said in a post on Facebook. Still, about 45 percent of the country’s 200,000 nomadic tribespeople and 45,000 soldiers had cast their ballots by midday on Saturday, according to initial estimates. Military personnel began arriving early at a polling station in the Koundoul barracks near N’Djamena, the AFP news agency reported. “Voting is proceeding normally. The military are voting freely,” senior election management official Ousmane Houzibe said. ‘Serious concern’ The elections are taking place against a backdrop of recurring attacks by rebel group Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region. Chad also recently ended a military accord with its former colonial power, France, and the country has faced accusations that it is interfering in the conflict ravaging neighbouring Sudan. President Deby’s government has presented the weekend elections as a key stage in the transition to democratic rule. The 40-year-old leader took power in 2021 after the death of his father, Idriss Deby Itno, who had ruled the country with an iron fist for three decades. Analyst Mamadou Bodian said while the elections marked a “significant milestone”, bringing to a close a three-year transition period, they are nonetheless highly contested and seen as favouring the governing Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS) party. “Even the electoral management body is seen as dominated by individuals loyal to the ruling party,” Bodian told Al Jazeera. “And this raises serious concern not only about the process, but also the independence of the whole electoral system.” Advertisement A lack of international observers and an “opaque” voting-counting process also exacerbate a longstanding distrust in Chadian elections, Bodian said. The opposition boycott “reflects a widespread belief that these elections are neither free nor fair”, he added. “And this also casts doubt on Chad’s democratic prospects.” Deby won a five-year presidential mandate in May after a vote that the opposition denounced as fraudulent. The last legislative elections date back to 2011. Adblock test (Why?)
Leicester City vs Man City: EPL preview, team news, how to follow, stream
Who: Leicester City vs Manchester CityWhat: English Premier LeagueWhere: King Power Stadium, Leicester, United KingdomWhen: 12:30pm (12:30 GMT) on SundayFollow Al Jazeera’s live text and photo build-up and commentary stream. Pep Guardiola insists he will not walk out on troubled Manchester City as he strives to stop the champions’ stunning decline. The Spaniard, whose side visit Leicester City on Sunday, only recently signed a two-year contract extension but City’s dismal form has raised questions about his future. A nightmare run of nine defeats in 13 games, with just one win in that woeful spell, triggered suggestions the City boss could decide to quit if he cannot find an answer to his team’s problems. Having led City to six Premier League titles in the past seven seasons, however, Guardiola is adamant he still has the hunger to turn the situation around. “I will try, I will keep going. Sometimes you think the bad run will be ended earlier or it would be easier to fix it, but it takes more time,” he told reporters in the run-up to Sunday’s match. “I will not give up. I want to be here. I want to do it and, with the situation that we have, we have to do it. Advertisement “Of course, I want it, everyone wants it. I don’t want to disappoint my people in terms of the club, the fans, the people who love this club. I think all of us in our job want to do it well and please the people. That is undeniable, not a question mark. “The biggest test is to come back again, but we have done that before.” Pep Guardiola has not previously endured such a barren run in his career [Carl Recine/Getty Images] Guardiola won’t criticise in City crisis Injuries have been a major factor in City’s decline, leaving them languishing in seventh place in the Premier League. Most especially, the gaping hole left by Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, as he recovers from a long-term knee injury. Nor have matters been helped by the erratic form in an inconsistent season by the usually prolific Erling Haaland, who missed a penalty that could have sealed a City win against Everton in their last match. Haaland has scored just once in his last seven games, but Guardiola refused to blame the Norway striker or any of his teammates. “I don’t have it in my education to start complaining, to point at people. It’s happened, it’s life, it’s football, so let’s try it again,” he said. “That’s why we have had success, because always it is never enough, we will try it again and again and again. That’s why we won a lot of titles. “Every three days it was a game and win, win, win for many, many months and years. Now, we have to do the same when results are not good.” Plenty of movement ⬆️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/yumQgXPdfA — Premier League (@premierleague) December 28, 2024 Advertisement City still have doubts about the fitness of several players as they bid to get back to winning ways at struggling Leicester, who have won only one of their last 11 “Sometimes you have injuries,” Guardiola said. “For how many years we were incredibly consistent but now, yes, we’re a little bit down and the main reason is having so many important players injured. “But I saw the team spirit, how we trained this week, how focused they are, how they try to practise.” Manchester City’s draw with Everton ended their three-game losing streak [Molly Darlington/Getty Images] Leicester City team news Jordan Ayew, who is suspended after the forward was booked for the fifth time this season during the defeat by Liverpool in Leicester’s last outing. Captain Jamie Vardy should be fit to return from a minor knock, but Wout Faes misses out again in defence. Man City team news Long-term absentee Rodri was joined on the sidelines by Ruben Dias, John Stones, Ederson, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish and Matheus Nunes for the 1-1 draw with Everton. Head-to-head This is the 128th meeting between the clubs, of which City have won on 64 occasions, while Leicester have come away the spoils following 32 of the encounters. City have won the last five league meetings, scoring 10 goals in the last three of those, while Leicester could only break up that run with a Community Shield victory following the 2020-21 title-winning season. Leicester’s last league win came in that campaign with a 5-2 victory at City, and included a hat-trick from Vardy. The reverse game at King Power Stadium resulted in a 2-0 scoreline that gave City the three points and began their current dominant streak over the Foxes in the league. Where do your side currently sit?#FestiveFixtures pic.twitter.com/AT9MZPPnz2 — Premier League (@premierleague) December 28, 2024 Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
North Koreans die in droves even as Russia unleashes firepower on Ukraine
Ukrainian forces have killed or wounded more than 1,000 North Korean troops Russia has sent to fight them, according to Kyiv and officials in South Korea. “According to preliminary data, the number of killed and wounded North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region already exceeds 3,000 people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening address on December 23. South Korean intelligence put the North Korean dead and wounded at 1,100, and said the North was preparing to send more troops. North Korea sent 11,000 troops to fight in the Russian region of Kursk, which Ukraine counter-invaded in August. North Korean troops were evidently untrained in dealing with Ukrainian drones, which took a high toll. In one instance, Ukrainian drone operators recorded how a North Korean soldier accidentally shot his comrade as they tried to shoot down the drone that was filming them. They may have been trying to execute a tactic described in a notebook recovered from the body of a North Korean soldier. Advertisement “When detecting a drone, you need to create a trio, where the one who lures the drone keeps a distance of seven metres, and those who shoot it, 10-12 metres,” it read. “If the one who is luring stands still, the drone will also stop its movement. At this moment, the one who is shooting will eliminate the drone.” Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces said on Telegram their 8th regiment had killed 77 North Koreans in Kursk and wounded 40 over three days, without specifying the location. A video collage released by the regiment showed drones bearing down on individual enemy troops. Their signal cuts out at point-blank range, indicating the moment when the drones detonate. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been embarrassed by the first capture of Russian land since World War II and had initially pledged to push Ukrainian forces out by October 1. As the deadline drew near, his spokesman changed the Kremlin position, saying Ukraine’s forces would be ejected “in a timely manner”. Putin reinforced that vagueness in an annual news conference on December 19. “I cannot and do not want to name a specific date when they will be knocked out,” he said. Some analysts suggested this could indicate a change in the Kremlin’s priorities, but Russia also seemed to make a concerted effort to improve its tactics on Christmas Eve. Oleg Chaus, a Ukrainian sergeant fighting in Kursk, said that whereas for the past month, the Russian assaults were “chaotic” and “disorganised”, three units attacked in an organised manner and with air support on December 24. Advertisement “All the servicemen of these three groups had very high-quality ammunition. Each of them had disposable grenade launchers, they had night vision devices, they had small assault backpacks with them,” said the sergeant of Ukraine’s 17th Heavy Mechanised Brigade. “If one of those three groups had not been destroyed, they would have continued moving.” It appeared that these units included North Korean troops. Russia creeps forward in Donetsk Ukraine’s other hot front – its eastern region of Donetsk – saw intensified fighting during the Christmas holiday. Russia launched 248 assaults on Ukrainian positions on December 24, said Ukraine’s general staff, an unusually high number, followed by more than 200 assaults on Christmas day. During this time, geolocated footage suggested Russian forces broke through to the western part of the city of Kurakhove, which they had first entered in late October, completing its conquest. Anastasia Bobovnikova, spokesperson for Luhansk Technical University, said fierce battles were also ongoing for the Central Mine in the city of Toretsk. The most intense fighting, however, appeared to take place around the town of Pokrovsk, where a quarter to a fifth of the Russian assaults took place. “Pokrovsk is a vital road and rail hub, facilitating the movement of troops and supplies across eastern Ukraine,” Demetries Andrew Grimes, a former US naval officer, aviator and diplomat, told Al Jazeera. “Capturing Pokrovsk would disrupt Ukrainian supply lines and enhance Russian operational capabilities in the transportation and distribution of supplies across the entire front line,” he said. Advertisement “The objective is likely to secure the rest of the Donbas and Zaporizhia,” said Michael Gjerstad, a land warfare research analyst for the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “This means possibly capturing Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, which have industrial and economic sites that are important for Ukraine, possibly moving towards Zaporizhia along the N15 road from the Kurakhove pocket, which would also bypass a lot of the Ukrainian defences, which face south,” he told Al Jazeera. These assaults, while clawing away land, were also costly. Bobovnikova said Russian forces were losing a mechanised battalion a week and a brigade a month in Toretsk. In the 10 days between December 17 and December 26, Ukraine’s general staff estimates Russia lost 17,400 soldiers, which translates to 52,200 a month. Russian recruitment capacity is considered to be not more than 30,000 a month. Nonetheless, Putin sounded bullish in his news conference. “We are not talking about advancing 100, 200, 300 metres; our fighters are reclaiming territory in square kilometres,” he said. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, assessed that Russia had captured 3,306sq kilometres (1,276sq miles) of Ukrainian land during 2024. “The position of the front line is not going to be what determines this war,” said Keir Giles, a Eurasia expert for Chatham House. “In the economic and political domains, in Russia’s campaign against Ukrainian critical infrastructure and the systems for keeping people alive through the winter, it is also a picture of Russia holding an advantage, particularly after the arrival of Donald Trump,” he told Al Jazeera, referring to Trump’s win in the US presidential election in November. Trump has said that he wants to end the war immediately, and senior members of his team, including Vice President-elect JD Vance, have suggested that Ukraine would need to concede territory currently held by Russia as part of a ceasefire. Advertisement Russia demonstrated its command of the air on December
‘This horror must end’: WHO condemns Israeli assault on key Gaza hospital
The World Health Organization has condemned Israel’s storming of a vital hospital in northern Gaza, saying assaults on medical facilities are a “death sentence” for thousands of Palestinians and that “this horror must end”. An Israeli military assault on the Kamal Adwan Hospital on Friday put the last major health facility in northern Gaza out of service, the WHO said. “Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burned and destroyed during the raid,” the WHO said in a statement on X on Friday evening. The Israeli military said in a statement that it had launched a raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital as it “serves as a Hamas terrorist stronghold”, but failed to provide evidence. Hamas said it “categorically” denied the claims. As of Friday morning, the hospital housed about 350 people, including 75 patients, along with 180 medical staff. The WHO said 60 health workers and 25 patients in critical condition, including those on ventilators, reportedly remain in the hospital. Advertisement The patients in moderate to severe condition were forced to evacuate to the destroyed and non-functional Indonesian Hospital, the United Nations health agency said, adding that it was “deeply concerned for their safety”. The WHO reiterated its call for a ceasefire. “This raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital comes after escalating restrictions on access for WHO and partners, and repeated attacks on or near the facility since early October,” the WHO said. “Such hostilities and the raids are undoing all our efforts and support to keep the facility minimal functional. The systematic dismantling of the health system in Gaza is a death sentence for tens of thousands of Palestinians in need of healthcare. “This horror must end and healthcare must be protected.” This morning’s raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital has put this last major health facility in North #Gaza out of service. Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid. 60 health workers and 25 patients in critical condition,… pic.twitter.com/bD5eJgnVkR — World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) December 27, 2024 Israel’s military began a renewed ground offensive in northern Gaza in October and claimed, also without evidence, that the hospital had become “a key stronghold for terrorist organisations and continues to be used as a hideout for terrorist operatives”. Before initiating the latest attack on the hospital, the Israeli military said its soldiers had “facilitated the secure evacuation of civilians, patients, and medical personnel”. Advertisement Hamas denied its fighters were present in the hospital, and urged the UN to set up an investigation committee “to examine the scale of crime being committed in northern Gaza”. “We categorically deny the presence of any military activity or resistance fighters in the hospital,” Hamas said in a statement. “The enemy’s lies about the hospital aim to justify the heinous crime committed by the occupation army today, involving the evacuation and burning of all hospital departments as part of a plan for extermination and forced displacement.” Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said the Israeli military has often accused Hamas fighters of operating from medical facilities, but has never proven these claims. “Most notable was the raid on al-Shifa Hospital back in 2023 when the military said Hamas was using al-Shifa as a command and control centre, claims that to this day have still never been proven,” she said, reporting from Amman, Jordan, because Al Jazeera has been banned from operating in Israel and the occupied West Bank. “Now, Kamal Adwan was the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza, but again, it was barely functioning because of the siege that was put forward by Israeli forces – a siege on food, water, and all other sorts of medical supplies.” Gaza health officials said on Saturday that Israeli forces had detained the director of the hospital. “The occupation forces have taken dozens of the medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital to a detention centre for interrogation, including the director, Hussam Abu Safia,” the Palestinian Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory said in a statement. Advertisement The Gaza civil defence agency also reported that Abu Safia had been detained. The ministry had earlier quoted Abu Safia as saying that the military had “set on fire all surgery departments of the hospital”. Abu Safia said there were “a large number of injuries” among the medical team. On Thursday, Abu Safia said five staff members had been killed in an Israeli air attack. Israel’s assault has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians since October last year, mostly children and women, according to health officials in the enclave. The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins. In recent days, Abu Safia has repeatedly raised concerns about the hospital’s situation. “The world must understand that our hospital is being targeted with the intent to kill and forcibly displace the people inside,” he said in a statement on Monday. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,038
Here are the key developments on the 1,038th day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Here is the situation on Saturday, December 28: Fighting: Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Saturday it had foiled a plot by Ukrainian intelligence services to kill a high-ranking Russian officer and a war blogger, the Interfax news agency reported. Ukrainian forces have killed or wounded more than 1,000 North Korean soldiers Russia has sent to fight them, according to Ukraine and South Korea. “Their losses are significant, very significant. We see that neither the Russian military nor their North Korean overseers have any interest in ensuring the survival of these North Koreans,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Friday. United States National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, meanwhile, said a “human wave” of North Korean troops was being sent to their deaths in “hopeless” attacks by generals who saw them as expendable. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Friday that its forces had taken control of two eastern Ukrainian villages, Ivanivka in the Donetsk region and Zahryzove in the Kharkiv region, the RIA state news agency reported. RIA also cited the ministry as claiming it had downed four British-made Storm Shadow missiles in the past week. A North Korean soldier, who was fighting for Russia, has died in Ukrainian captivity due to severe wounds, according to South Korea’s spy agency. Ukrainian air defence shot down 13 out of 24 Russian drones launched in an overnight attack, the air force said on Friday. The air force said the other 11 Russian drones were “lost” without causing damage. Advertisement Deals and diplomacy: The administration of US President Joe Biden pledged to approve fresh military aid to Ukraine, including air defence systems. Kirby said the US security assistance package was expected to be announced “in the next couple of days”. “If someone wants to organise peace talks in Slovakia, we will be ready and hospitable,” said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in a post on Facebook late on Friday. His remarks come after Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he was open to a Slovakian proposal to host peace talks with Ukraine. Ukraine received its first batch of liquefied natural gas from the US, a deal that Kyiv says is key to boost Ukrainian and European energy security as a major gas transit deal with Russia ends. “Dtek, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, has today taken delivery of its first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States,” the company said on Friday. Dissent: A Russian court sentenced Eduard Sharlot, 26, a singer who burned his passport in protest against Russia’s Ukraine war, to five and a half years in prison, according to Russian news agencies. Sharlot was found guilty of “publicly insulting” the religious feelings of believers and “rehabilitating Nazism” by a court in the Volga city of Samara in a case over videos he published online, the state news agency RIA Novosti reported. Adblock test (Why?)
Leaving X: The right move or a leap into the unknown?
Recent decisions by major news outlets like The Guardian and La Vanguardia and more niche publications such as Sex Tech Guide to leave X put under the spotlight a new dilemma experienced by global media: Should they stay on a popular platform that has become a primary source of fake news and hate speech to maintain relevance, or should they leave to uphold ethical responsibilities? Once the go-to place for any and all global discourse, X (formerly Twitter) has seen its reputation turn to rubbish under South African multibillionaire and self-declared free-speech absolutist Elon Musk. The ethical decline of X has gained momentum in the run-up to the 2024 US presidential election, as Musk made his political alignment with Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again movement clear, turning the platform into a megaphone for hate, racism and xenophobia. As neo-Nazi, white-nationalist accounts started to gain prominence, and racist pile-ons, doxxing and other abuse became a daily occurrence on the platform, several media outlets – but also millions of everyday users – made the decision to leave X for good. For them, leaving X clearly represented a moral stand against racism and hate, and the misappropriation of a platform that was once accepted widely as the global public square. But is media organisations migrating to alternatives, like Bluesky, a genuine solution, or does it risk creating new problems, such as ideological bubbles, financial losses, and diminished influence? Advertisement For many, remaining on X feels like tacit approval of the direction the platform took under Musk. For some news outlets, especially those whose corporate identity of progressive values take pride in their journalistic ethics, perceived association with the controversy-ridden platform of a far-right Trump surrogate is obviously unacceptable. However, X’s vast audience – still unrivalled by any other similar social media platform – remains an undeniable asset. The platform’s global reach and its ability to amplify messages cannot be ignored. Leaving it entirely may mean severing ties with a massive, global audience still relying on the platform for news, potentially leaving a vacuum that would be happily filled by less credible voices – or outright fake news machines. For those outlets fleeing X, Bluesky has emerged as an attractive alternative. A decentralised platform, it offers an environment where hate speech and misinformation are less prevalent. Its structure promises healthier, more values-aligned discourse. The point of Bluesky is not that it is free of disinformation, hate speech and fake news, but that its operation naturally reduces the reach of such content instead of promoting it – and that it offers additional tools to users to better control the information and content they consume. But Bluesky is not without flaws. Its user base is much smaller and its geographical reach much more moderate than X. Meanwhile, its design, critics say, risks creating ideological echo chambers: If Bluesky becomes a refuge primarily for liberal-leaning users and journalists, it could perpetuate the same insular dynamics critics say plague other alternative platforms. Advertisement The argument, however, falls apart when one considers the alternative X offers to Bluesky’s supposed ideological bubbles: social media that is open to all ideologies, but is driven by hate. As journalist and professor Marcelo Soares wrote, X “is not a public square, it’s a shopping centre. There are no debates in a shopping centre.” Unlike X, which thrives on conflict to drive engagement, Bluesky lets users take control of their experience, and select what goes on their own feeds without algorithmic manipulation. If someone chooses a bubble, it’s a personal choice, not a structural imposition. Meanwhile, X’s so-called alternative to bubbles replaces connection with hostility, turning the platform into a battlefield rather than a space for dialogue. There are other arguments against a collective move by media from X to Bluesky. As journalist Sophia Smith Galer observed on LinkedIn, Bluesky is a platform designed to cater to journalists rather than their audiences. It recalls an earlier era when journalists dominated Twitter’s ecosystem, engaging primarily with one another. This dynamic, while comfortable for those in the media, might not translate to meaningful audience engagement in a world where users are moving towards video-driven platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. So opening up an account on Bluesky, where they could interact with like-minded colleagues directly, without facing much abuse from neo-Nazis and conspiracy theorists, would undoubtedly be a positive for journalists. Yet, does it offer a clear alternative to X for the organisations that want and need to share their content with wider and ever more diverse audiences? X, tragically, remains the only platform where media outlets can reach a vast – if not the best-behaved and receptive – global audience. Advertisement Leaving X also has practical, monetary implications for media organisations. Musk’s platform is still a major advertising revenue generator. X’s vast reach and user base make it a critical platform for driving traffic to news sites and attracting advertisers. Abandoning it risks shrinking audience engagement, which could affect revenue streams. Bluesky, Threads, and other alternative platforms are still in their infancy. Their smaller audiences and limited advertising opportunities make them less viable for organisations that rely on scale to sustain their operations. Media outlets must navigate this trade-off carefully: prioritising ethics while finding ways to maintain financial viability. Luckily for ethically concerned but cash-poor media outlets – and the entire humanity – Musk’s behaviour on X, and on the global political stage, is driving a lot of people away from X. Many of these people are finding refuge on Bluesky, meaning one day this new platform may actually become as profitable and useful as X for media organisations. Once the migration out of X is complete, and everyone who has an objection to the passing of disinformation, propaganda and hate as “news” has left the platform, serious media organisations would have no reason to remain there either. The exodus from X represents more than just a shift in social media strategy — it’s a reflection of the broader challenges facing journalism