Pakistani forces kill 145 fighters in Balochistan after deadly attacks
Pakistani security forces have killed at least 145 fighters in the restive Balochistan province in a manhunt launched after a series of coordinated gun and bomb attacks that left nearly 50 people dead. The announcement on Sunday came a day after the attacks, which began early on Saturday at multiple locations across southwestern Balochistan and left 31 civilians, including five women, and 17 security personnel dead. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The assault, claimed by the banned separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), prompted authorities to impose months-long security restrictions on the province, banning public gatherings, demonstrations and limiting traffic movement. The measures also ban the use of face coverings that conceal the identification of individuals in public places, the Dawn newspaper reported. Sarfraz Bugti, the provincial chief minister, told reporters in Quetta that troops and police officers responded swiftly to the attacks, killing 145 members of “Fitna al-Hindustan,” a phrase the government uses for the BLA. The number of fighters killed over the past two days was the highest in decades, he said. “The bodies of these 145 killed terrorists are in our custody, and some of them are Afghan nationals,” Bugti said. He claimed that the “Indian-backed terrorists” wanted to take hostages, but failed to make it to the city centre. Pakistan’s military said 92 fighters were killed on Saturday, while 41 were killed on Friday. “We had intelligence reports that this kind of operation was being planned, and as a result of those, we started pre-operations a day before,” Bugti said. Advertisement Bugti also accused Afghanistan of backing the assailants, and said senior leaders of the BLA were operating from Afghan territory. Both New Delhi and Kabul deny the allegations. ‘Baseless allegations’ In a statement on Sunday, India denied the assertion, accusing Islamabad of deflecting attention from its own internal problems. “We categorically reject the baseless allegations made by Pakistan,” the spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said, adding that Islamabad should instead address the “longstanding demands of its people in the region”. Balochistan, which is also Pakistan’s poorest province, has faced decades-long violence and separatist attacks by ethnic Baloch seeking greater autonomy and a larger share of the area’s natural resources. The BLA regularly targets Pakistani security forces and has attacked civilians, including Chinese nationals, who are among thousands working on various projects in the province. Officials said the latest assaults on Saturday were launched almost simultaneously across the Quetta, Gwadar, Mastung and Noshki districts, with armed men opening fire at security installations, including a Frontier Corps headquarters, attempting suicide bombings and briefly blocking roads in urban areas. Outside a damaged shop, private security guard Jamil Ahmed Mashwani said the attackers struck shortly after midday. “They hit me on my face and head,” he said. Burned vehicles stand inside a torched police station on the outskirts of Quetta following the series of attacks carried out by Baloch separatists [Banaras Khan/AFP] ‘Audacious operation’ Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from the Baloch capital, Quetta, reported that the BLA targeted at least 12 locations during what he described as an “audacious” operation. “The attackers were able to strike at the heart of the provincial capital, penetrating the centre of the city while also blocking major highways,” he said. In Quetta, the aftermath was visible in burnt-out vehicles at a police station, bullet-riddled doors and streets sealed off with yellow tape, as security forces tightened patrols and restricted movement following the attacks. Businesses were also forced to shutter, with residents telling Al Jazeera they fear more attacks. According to Pakistan’s junior interior minister, Talal Chaudhry, the attackers dressed as civilians entered hospitals, schools, banks and markets on Saturday before opening fire, “In each case, the attackers came in dressed as civilians and indiscriminately targeted ordinary people working in shops,” he said, claiming that the fighters also used civilians as human shields. Advertisement Pakistani Minister of Defence Khawaja Asif said that two of the attacks involved female fighters. He noted that the attacks were now increasingly targeting civilians, labourers and low-income communities. The United States condemned the attacks, with its charge d’affaires, Natalie Baker, calling them acts of terrorist violence and saying Washington stood in solidarity with Pakistan. The BLA is designated by the US as a foreign terrorist organisation. Pakistan has also faced periodic attacks by armed groups elsewhere in the country, including factions linked to the Pakistan Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Adblock test (Why?)
Mbappe’s late penalty gives edgy Real Madrid 2-1 win over Rayo Vallecano
Real Madrid earn a hard-fought football victory over their local rivals to move to within one point of league leaders Barcelona. By News Agencies Published On 1 Feb 20261 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Kylian Mbappe stayed calm to roll home a 100th-minute penalty and grab Real Madrid a 2-1 win over nine-man Rayo Vallecano in a spicy La Liga football derby on Sunday. Los Blancos cut Barcelona’s lead back to one point at the top of the table a day after the Spanish champions beat Elche. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Vinicius Junior scored early on for Madrid after Jude Bellingham limped off with an apparent hamstring injury. Jorge de Frutos pulled Rayo level early in the second half as Madrid fans showed their anger at their team. But after Rayo’s Pathe Ciss was issued a red card, Mbappe netted from the spot at the death. Pep Chavarria was also sent off for 17th-placed Rayo, who took a shaky Madrid to the wire before falling short. After the hosts’ midweek defeat at Benfica, which forced them into the Champions League playoff round, the Santiago Bernabeu crowd was in an unforgiving mood. Mbappe and Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa had begged fans to support the team, but, just as they did two weeks ago against Levante, they whistled at their own players. Former Barcelona winger Ilias Akhomach fired narrowly wide early on, and the atmosphere would have been further soured had his effort crept inside Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois’ post. Los Blancos suffered an early setback as England international Bellingham pulled up holding the back of his thigh, going off in agony. Vinicius fired the hosts ahead in the 15th minute, showing tidy footwork just inside the area before firing high over Augusto Batalla and into the net. Vinicius Junior scores the opening football goal for Real Madrid [Thomas Coex/AFP] Arda Guler came close to getting a second, with Batalla saving his effort and Vinicius turning the rebound wide. Advertisement Los Blancos were in charge, but though they took the lead, their fans were not appeased, and whistled the team in at the break. Four minutes into the second half, Rayo pulled level. Alvaro Garcia nodded a cross down for de Frutos, a former Madrid youth player, to reach and drill home. The visitors should have taken the lead after an hour, when Andrei Ratiu ran through on goal with only Courtois to beat. But the Belgian stopper made a superb save to deny him. Mbappe came centimetres away from putting Madrid in front when Batalla rushed out of his goal, with the French forward knocking the ball around him but then hitting the bar from distance. Kylian Mbappe rounds Augusto Batalla only to miss an open goal from distance [Manu Fernandez/AP Photo] Rayo made life harder for themselves when midfielder Ciss was sent off for an ugly foul on Madrid’s Dani Ceballos. Eduardo Camavinga headed against the post as Arbeloa’s side turned the screw, before nine minutes of stoppage time were added on. With the clock ticking down, Madrid were awarded a penalty when Nobel Mendy clumsily fouled Brahim Diaz, and La Liga’s top scorer Mbappe dispatched the ball to snatch three points for his side. Rayo finished the match with nine men after Chavarria was shown a second yellow card for shoving Rodrygo Goes. Adblock test (Why?)
LA Olympics chief Wasserman issues Maxwell apology, but denies Epstein ties
Files published by the US Department of Justice included flirtatious emails between Casey Wasserman and Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell. By News Agencies Published On 1 Feb 20261 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Los Angeles 2028 Olympics chief Casey Wasserman has apologised for communicating with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell more than 20 years ago, after the publication of a series of personal emails between the two. New files related to late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell’s former boyfriend, published by the United States Department of Justice on Friday, included flirtatious email exchanges between Wasserman, who was married at the time, and Maxwell dating from 2003. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty in 2021 by a jury in New York on charges including sex trafficking of a minor. Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial. “I never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,” Wasserman said in a statement on Sunday. “I am terribly sorry for having any association with either of them.” Maxwell was arrested in 2020 after being accused by federal prosecutors of recruiting and grooming girls for sexual encounters with Epstein between 1994 and 2004. “I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell,” said Wasserman, adding that it took place before her and Epstein’s crimes “came to light”. The International Olympic Committee, which works very closely with Wasserman in preparation for the Summer Olympic Games, refused to comment on the matter. “I believe Mr Wasserman has put out his statement and we have nothing further to add,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry said in a press conference before the start of next week’s Milano-Cortina Olympics. Advertisement Asked whether the Wasserman emails were a distraction shortly before the Milano Games, Coventry said there had been past Olympics that were dogged by stories prior to their start, such as the Zika virus before the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics. “Anything that is distracting from these Games is sad,” Coventry said. “But we have learned over the many years … there has always been something that has taken the lead, leading up to the Games. What is keeping my faith alive is when the opening ceremony happens … suddenly the world remembers the magic and spirit the Games have,” she said. Wasserman is a sports and entertainment executive who has been leading the LA28 Olympic project from the bidding phase and currently serves as chairman of the organising committee, which is due to deliver a progress report to the IOC session on Tuesday. The 2028 Summer Olympics were awarded to the city in 2017. Adblock test (Why?)
Venezuela rights activist freed from jail amid prisoner release
Tarazona freed after four years in prison on ‘terrorism’ and conspiracy charges. Published On 1 Feb 20261 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Venezuelan rights activist Javier Tarazona has been freed in a prisoner release, his family says, more than four years since he was arrested. “After 1675 days, 4 years and 7 months, this long-awaited day has arrived. My brother Javier Tarazona is free,” Jose Rafael Tarazona posted on X on Sunday. “One person’s freedom is everyone’s hope.” Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Legal rights group Foro Penal said several other prisoners had been released with Tarazona from the Helicoide detention centre in Caracas. The group said it has verified more than 300 political prisoners freed since the government announced a series of releases on January 8. Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday unveiled a proposed “amnesty law” covering hundreds of prisoners and said the Helicoide prison – long condemned by rights groups as a site of prisoner abuse – will be transformed into a sports and social services complex. Translation: Today, #1Feb, after 1675 days, 4 years and 7 months, this long-awaited day has arrived. My brother Javier Tarazona is FREE. THANKS BE TO GOD ALMIGHTY. Thank you to everyone who made this moment possible. One person’s freedom is everyone’s hope. #FreeToLiberate Tarazona is the director of FundaRedes, which tracks alleged abuses by Colombian armed groups and the Venezuelan military along the countries’ border. He was arrested in July 2021 and accused of “terrorism” and conspiracy. Government officials – who deny holding political prisoners and say those jailed have committed crimes – have given a much higher figure for the releases, saying there have been more than 600, but have not been clear about the timeline and appear to be including releases from previous years. The government has never provided an official list of how many prisoners will be released or who they are. Advertisement Families of prisoners said the releases have progressed too slowly, and Foro Penal said more than 700 political prisoners remain jailed, an updated count including prisoners whose fearful families had not previously reported their detentions. Families and rights advocates have long demanded the charges and convictions against detainees who are considered political prisoners be revoked. Opposition politicians, journalists and rights activists have long been subject to charges like “terrorism” and treason, which their families have called unjust and arbitrary. The proposed amnesty law could affect hundreds of detainees who remain behind bars in the South American country as well as former prisoners who have already been conditionally released. The releases were announced as the top United States envoy for Venezuela arrived in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, to reopen a US diplomatic mission seven years after ties were severed. Last month, the US abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from the presidential palace in Caracas on the orders of US President Donald Trump. Maduro was then taken to a prison in New York and is facing drug trafficking and “narcoterrorism” conspiracy charges. Adblock test (Why?)
US judge orders release of five-year-old and father from ICE detention
A federal judge in the United States has ordered the release of a five-year-old boy and his father from a facility in Texas amid an outcry over their detention during an immigration raid in Minnesota. In a decision on Saturday, US District Judge Fred Biery ruled Liam Conejo Ramos’s detention as illegal, while also condemning “the perfidious lust for unbridled power” and “the imposition of cruelty” by “some among us”. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The scathing opinion came as photos of the boy – clad in a blue bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers took him away in a suburb of the city of Minneapolis – became a symbol of the immigration crackdown launched by President Donald Trump’s administration. “The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children,” Biery wrote in his ruling. “Ultimately, Petitioners may, because of the arcane United States immigration system, return to their home country, involuntarily or by self-deportation. But that result should occur through a more orderly and humane policy than currently in place.” The judge did not specify the deportation quota he was referring to, but Stephen Miller, the White House chief of staff for policy, has previously said there was a target of 3,000 immigration arrests a day. The ongoing crackdown in the state of Minnesota is the largest federal immigration enforcement operation ever carried out, according to federal officials, with some 3,000 agents deployed. The surge has prompted daily clashes between activists and immigration officers, and led to the killings of two American citizens by federal agents. Advertisement The deadly operation has sparked nationwide protests as well as mass mobilisation efforts and demonstrations in Minnesota. According to the Columbia Heights Public School District in Minneapolis, Liam was one of at least four students detained by immigration officials in the suburb this month. Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik said ICE agents took the child from a running car in the family’s driveway on January 20, and told him to knock on the door of his home, a tactic that she said amounted to using him as “bait” for other family members. The government has denied that account, with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claiming that an ICE officer remained with Liam “for the child’s safety” while other officers apprehended his father. Vice President JD Vance, who has vigorously defended ICE’s tactics in Minnesota, told a news conference that although such arrests were “traumatic” for children, “just because you’re a parent, doesn’t mean that you get complete immunity from law enforcement”. The Trump administration has said that Conejo Arias arrived in the US illegally in December 2024 from Ecuador, but the family’s lawyer says they have an active asylum claim that allows them to remain in the country legally. Following their detention, the boy and his father were sent to a facility in Dilley in Texas, where advocacy groups and politicians have reported deplorable conditions, including illnesses, malnourishment and a fast-growing number of detained children. Texas Representatives Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett visited the site earlier this week. Liam slept throughout the 30-minute visit, Castro said, and his father reported that he was “depressed and sad”. Biery’s ruling on Saturday included a photo of the boy, as well as several Bible quotes: “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these’,” and “Jesus wept”. The episode, Biery wrote, made apparent “the government’s ignorance of an American historical document called the Declaration of Independence”. Biery drew a comparison between Trump’s administration and the wrongdoings that then-author, future President Thomas Jefferson, mounted against England’s King George, including sending “Swarms of Officers to harass our People” and creating “domestic Insurrection”. There was no immediate comment from the Department of Justice and DHS. The Law Firm of Jennifer Scarborough, which is representing Liam and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, said in a statement that the pair will soon be able to reunite with the rest of their family. Advertisement “We are pleased that the family will now be able to focus on being together and finding some peace after this traumatic ordeal,” the statement said. Minnesota officials have been calling on the Trump administration to end its immigration crackdown in the state. But a federal judge on Saturday denied a request from Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and other officials to issue a preliminary injunction that would have halted the federal operation. Trump, meanwhile, has ordered DHS to, “under no circumstances”, get involved with protests in Democratic-led cities unless they ask for federal help, or federal property is threatened. Adblock test (Why?)
Fela Kuti becomes first African to get Grammys Lifetime Achievement Award
Three decades after his death, the ‘father of Afrobeat’ Fela Kuti has made history by becoming the first African to get a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys. The Nigerian musician, who died in 1997, posthumously received the commendation along with several other artists at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Saturday, on the eve of the 68th Annual Grammy Awards. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list For his family and friends – some of whom were in attendance – it is an honour they hope will help amplify Fela’s music, and ideology, among a new generation of musicians and music lovers. But it is an acknowledgement they also admit has come quite late. “The family is happy about it. And we’re excited that he’s finally being recognised,” Yeni Kuti, Fela’s daughter, told Al Jazeera before the ceremony. “But Fela was never nominated [for a Grammy] in his lifetime,” she lamented. The recognition is “better late than never”, she said, but “we still have a way to go” in fairly recognising musicians and artists from across the African continent. Lemi Ghariokwu, a renowned Nigerian artist and the designer behind 26 of Fela’s iconic album covers, says the fact that this is the first time an African musician gets this honour “just shows that whatever we as Africans need to do, we need to do it five times more.” Ghariokwu said he feels “privileged” to witness this moment for Fela. “It’s good to have one of us represented in that category, at that level. So, I’m excited. I’m happy about it,” he told Al Jazeera. But he admits he was also “surprised” when he first heard the news. Advertisement “Fela was totally anti-establishment. And now, the establishment is recognising him,” Ghariokwu said. The front cover of Fela Kuti’s Beasts of No Nation, designed by Lemi Ghariokwu [Courtesy of Lemi Ghariokwu] On what Fela’s reaction to the award would have been if he were alive, Ghariokwu says he imagines he would be happy. “I can even picture him raising his fist and saying: ‘You see, I got them now, I got their attention!’” But Yeni feels her father would have been largely unfazed. “He didn’t at all [care about awards]. He didn’t even think about it,” she said. “He played music because he loved music. It was to be acknowledged by his people – by human beings, by fellow artists – that made him happy.” Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, Fela’s cousin and head of the Kuti family, agrees. “Knowing him, he might have said, you know, thanks but no thanks or something like that.” She laughs. “He really wasn’t interested in the popular view. He wasn’t driven by what others thought of him or his music. He was more focused on his own understanding of how he should impact his profession, his community, his continent.” Though she believes the award may not have meant much to him personally, she told Al Jazeera that he would have recognised its overall value. “He would recognise the fact that it’s a good thing for such establishments to begin the process of giving honour where it’s due across the continent,” Ransome-Kuti said. “There are many great philosophers, musicians, historians – African ones – that haven’t been brought into the forefront, into the limelight as they should be. So I think he would have said, ‘OK, good, but what happens next?’” Fela Kuti performs on March 16, 1981, with his band “Africa 70” at the Hippodrome in Paris, France [File: Herve Merliac/AP] ‘Fela’s influence spans generations’ Fela was born in Nigeria’s Ogun State in 1938 as Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti (later renaming himself to Fela Anikulapo Kuti), to an Anglican minister and school principal father and an activist mother. In 1958, he went to London to study medicine, but instead enrolled at Trinity College of Music, where he formed a band that played a blend of jazz and highlife. After returning to Nigeria in the 1960s, he went on to create the Afrobeat genre that fused highlife and Yoruba music with American jazz, funk, and soul. That has laid the groundwork for Afrobeats – a later genre blending traditional African rhythms with contemporary pop. “Fela’s influence spans generations, inspiring artists such as Beyonce, Paul McCartney and Thom Yorke, and shaping modern Nigerian Afrobeats,” reads the citation on the Grammys list of this year’s Special Merit Award Honorees. Advertisement But beyond music, he was also a “political radical [and] outlaw”, the citation adds. By the 1970s, Fela’s music had become a vehicle for fierce criticism of military rule, corruption, and social injustice in Nigeria. He declared his Lagos commune, the Kalakuta Republic, independent from the state – symbolically rejecting Nigerian authority – and in 1977 released the scathing album, Zombie, with lyrics that painted soldiers as mindless zombies with no free will. In the aftermath, troops raided Kalakuta, brutally assaulting its residents and causing injuries that led to Fela’s mother’s death. Frequently arrested and harassed during his life, Fela became an international symbol of artistic resistance, with Amnesty International later recognising him as a prisoner of conscience after a politically motivated imprisonment. When he died in 1997 at age 58 from an illness, an estimated one million people attended his funeral in Lagos. Portraits of Late Afrobeat Legend Fela Kuti, on display at Kalakuta Museum in Lagos, Nigeria [File: Sunday Alamba/AP] Yeni – together with her siblings – is now custodian of her father’s work and legacy. She runs Afrobeat hub, the New Afrika Shrine in Ikeja, Lagos and hosts an annual celebration in Fela’s honour called “Felabration”. She remembers growing up with her larger-than-life father as something that felt “normal”, as it was all she knew. But “I was in awe of him”, she also says – as an artist and a thinker. “I really, really admired his ideologies. The most important one for me was African unity … He totally worshipped and admired [former Ghanaian President] Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who was fighting for African unity.
US envoy arrives in Venezuela to reopen mission after seven years
Laura Dogu’s visit comes as Venezuela moves to privatise its oil sector under pressure from Trump. By News Agencies Published On 1 Feb 20261 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share The top United States envoy for Venezuela has arrived in Caracas to reopen a US diplomatic mission seven years after ties were severed. Laura Dogu announced her arrival in a post on X on Saturday, saying, “My team and I are ready to work.” Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The move comes almost one month after US forces abducted Venezuela’s then-president, Nicolas Maduro, from the presidential palace in Caracas, on the orders of US President Donald Trump. Maduro was then taken to a prison in New York, and is facing drug trafficking and narcoterrorism conspiracy charges. The move has been widely criticised as a violation of international law. Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs Yvan Gil wrote on Telegram that he had received Dogu, and that talks would centre on creating a “roadmap on matters of bilateral interest” as well as “addressing and resolving existing differences through diplomatic dialogue and on the basis of mutual respect and international law”. Dogu, who previously served as US ambassador to Honduras and Nicaragua, was appointed to the role of charge d’affaires to the Venezuela Affairs Unit, based out of the US Embassy in Bogota, Colombia. Venezuela and the US broke off diplomatic relations in February 2019, in a decision by Maduro after Trump gave public support to Venezuelan lawmaker Juan Guaido, who claimed to be the nation’s interim president in January that year. Minister of the Popular Power for Interior Diosdado Cabello, one of Venezuela’s most powerful politicians and a Maduro loyalist, said earlier in January that reopening the US embassy in Caracas would give the Venezuelan government a way to oversee the treatment of the deposed president. Advertisement Although the Trump administration has claimed that Maduro’s abduction was necessary for security reasons, officials have also repeatedly framed their interests in Venezuela around controlling its vast oil reserves, which are the largest in the world. Since the abduction, Trump has pressured Interim President Delcy Rodriguez to open the country’s nationalised oil sector to US firms. The two countries have reached a deal to export up to $2bn worth of Venezuelan crude to the US, and on Thursday, Rodriguez signed into law a reform bill that will pave the way for increased privatisation. The legislation gives private firms control over the sale and production of Venezuelan oil, and requires legal disputes to be resolved outside of Venezuelan courts, a change long sought by foreign companies, which argue that the judicial system in the country is dominated by the governing socialist party. The bill would also cap royalties collected by the government at 30 percent. The Trump administration said on the same day that it would loosen some sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector, and allow limited transactions by the country’s government and the state oil company PDVSA that were necessary for a laundry list of export-related activities involving an “established US entity”. Trump has announced that he ordered the reopening of Venezuela’s commercial airspace and “informed” Rodriguez that US oil companies would soon arrive to explore potential projects in the country. On Friday, Rodriguez announced an amnesty bill aimed at releasing hundreds of prisoners in the country, and said she would shut down El Helicoide, an infamous secret service prison in Caracas, to be replaced with a sports and cultural centre. That move was one of the key demands of the Venezuelan opposition. Adblock test (Why?)
US approves $6.6bn sale of attack helicopters, assault vehicles to Israel
The approved sale includes 30 Apache helicopters, which Israeli forces have used to attack Palestinians amid the genocide in Gaza. Published On 31 Jan 202631 Jan 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Washington has approved $6.67bn in United States arms sales to Israel amid a fragile ceasefire in Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. The US Department of State said on Friday that Israel has been cleared to buy US-made weapons, including 30 Apache attack helicopters for $3.8bn and infantry assault vehicles to a value of $1.98bn. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The Apache helicopters will be sold to Israel by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the Reuters news agency reports. A third military contract was also awarded for $740m, according to Reuters, and another $150m will be spent on light utility helicopters. Israeli forces have widely used Apache helicopters to fire on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, where at least 71,662 people have been killed in Israel’s war on the enclave since October 2023, according to Gaza health officials. “The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,” the State Department said in a statement on Friday. “This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives,” the department said. The US also sends billions of dollars worth of military supplies each year to Israel, weaponry which is largely sent as aid rather than sales. Rights groups and United Nations experts have consistently called on the US to halt weapons shipments to Israel, which they say fuelled Israel’s ability to wage a genocidal war in Gaza. While the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip has largely held since taking effect on October 10, 2025, Israeli forces continue to launch attacks on Palestinians in the war-torn territory, killing almost 500 people despite the agreement to end fighting. Advertisement The State Department also said on Friday that it had approved a $9bn sale to Saudi Arabia for 730 Patriot missiles and related equipment, which is used to defend against incoming attacks. “This enhanced capability will protect land forces of Saudi Arabia, the United States, and local allies and will significantly improve Saudi Arabia’s contribution” to the integrated air and missile defence system in the region, the State Department said. The sale of the US missile defence equipment comes as US President Donald Trump has said that a large “armada” of US warships has been repositioned close to Iran, in anticipation of a possible US attack on Tehran. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian in a call earlier this week that the kingdom would “not allow its airspace or territory to be used for any military actions against Iran or for any attacks from any party, regardless of their origin”. Adblock test (Why?)
US Senate approves spending package, but short government shutdown likely
US gov’t funding impasse driven by Democratic anger over federal agents killing two people during immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. Published On 31 Jan 202631 Jan 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share United States senators have approved a last-minute deal to avert the worst impacts of an imminent government shutdown, after Democratic anger over the killing of two people by immigration agents derailed government funding talks. After hours of delay, the US Senate passed the compromise spending package on Friday by a bipartisan vote of 71 to 29. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list But a shutdown is still set to begin on Saturday because the House of Representatives is out of session until Monday, meaning it cannot ratify the Senate’s agreement before the midnight deadline on Friday – making a weekend funding lapse unavoidable. Senate leaders say the legislation approved on Friday will nonetheless greatly increase the chances that the shutdown ends quickly, potentially within days. “Technically, there will be a partial government shutdown come midnight on Saturday,” Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan said, reporting from Washington, DC. “The earliest that the House of Representatives can take a look at the changes, which the US Senate approved late on Friday, is not before Monday. That’s because they’ve been in recess all this week. They should be coming back to Washington this weekend,” Jordan said. “The assumption right now from the Trump administration, which was in support of this compromise bill passed in the Senate on Friday, is that this can all be worked out very quickly early next week,” she said. But there is also a concern the shutdown could drag out longer, given political polarisation around President Donald Trump’s administration’s harsh immigration raids and the killing of US citizens at those operations. Advertisement “So there is the expectation that this could be resolved early next week. But there is the possibility that it may not be,” Jordan added. The funding impasse has been driven by Democratic anger over aggressive immigration enforcement following the fatal shootings of two US citizens – Alex Pretti and Renee Good – by federal agents in separate incidents this month in the northern city of Minneapolis amid a violent operation against undocumented migrants. The killings in Minneapolis have become a flashpoint that has hardened opposition to approving new money for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without changes to how immigration agencies operate. Under the deal negotiated between the White House and Senate Democratic leaders, lawmakers approved five outstanding funding bills to finance most of the federal government through the end of the fiscal year in September. The deal approved by the Senate separates funding for the DHS – which oversees immigration agencies – from the broader government funding package, allowing lawmakers to approve spending for agencies such as the Pentagon and the Department of Labor while they consider new restrictions on how federal immigration agents operate. Funding for the DHS has now been split off and extended for just two weeks under a stopgap measure intended to give lawmakers time to negotiate changes to the department’s operations. Senate Democrats had threatened to hold up the funding package entirely in an effort to force President Trump to rein in the DHS and his immigration crackdown. Democrats want an end to roving patrols by immigration enforcement agents, require immigration agents to wear body cameras and prohibit them from wearing face masks. They also want to require immigration agents to get a search warrant from a judge, rather than from their own officials. Republicans say they are open to some of those ideas. Much of the US media interpreted the White House’s flexibility as a recognition that it needed to moderate its crackdown on immigration following the Minneapolis killings. Adblock test (Why?)
Myanmar election delivers walkover win for military-backed political party
Myanmar’s military rulers say polls were free and fair as UN reports 170 killed in air attacks during election period. Published On 31 Jan 202631 Jan 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Myanmar’s military-backed party secured a sweeping victory in the country’s three-phase general election, according to state media, following the tightly controlled voting held amid civil war and widespread repression. The final of three rounds of voting last weekend wrapped up an election that began on December 28, more than four years after the military seized power in a coup that overturned the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Dominating all phases of the vote, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won an overwhelming majority in Myanmar’s two legislative chambers, state media reports. The USDP secured 232 of the 263 seats up for grabs in the lower house and 109 of the 157 seats announced so far in the upper chamber, according to results released on Thursday and Friday. A spokesman for the country’s military rulers, Zaw Min Tun, said Myanmar’s parliament is now expected to convene to elect a president in March, with a new government set to take over in April, according to a report in the pro-military Eleven Media Group. Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been in political turmoil since the 2021 coup, with the crushing of pro-democracy protests prompting a nationwide rebellion. Thousands have been killed, and about 3.6 million people have been displaced, according to the United Nations. Local newspapers feature headlines covering the conclusion of Myanmar’s general election on January 26, 2026, in Yangon, Myanmar [Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images] ‘Vote purely out of fear’ The 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has said it will not endorse Myanmar’s electoral process, and human rights groups and some Western countries have also expressed concerns about the credibility of the election. Advertisement The UN human rights office said that large segments of the population, including minorities such as ethnic Muslim-majority Rohingya, were excluded from voting since they have been denied citizenship, and many have also been displaced outside the country. At least 170 civilians were killed in air strikes during the election period, and about 400 people were arrested, according to the UN. “Many people chose either to vote or not to vote purely out of fear,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said. Myanmar’s military rulers insist the polls were free and fair, and supported by the public. A spokesperson for the United States Department of State, which has muted its critiques of foreign elections in the second Trump administration, said it was monitoring the situation and “will assess the military regime’s next steps”. Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy was dissolved along with dozens of other parties, and some others declined to take part, drawing condemnation from critics who say the process was designed to legitimise military rule. Under Myanmar’s political system, the military is also guaranteed 25 percent of parliamentary seats, ensuring continued control even if power is formally transferred to a civilian-led administration. Adblock test (Why?)