Tributes pour in after US President Jimmy Carter dies at 100
Jimmy Carter, the oldest living president of the United States, has died at the age of 100. Carter, who was president between 1977 and 1981, died on Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia, according to the Carter Center. “Our founder, former US President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the organisation, which Carter founded a year after leaving the White House, said in a post on X. The death was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. No cause of death was immediately given, although Carter had spent almost two years under hospice care at his home after being treated for a form of skin cancer. He celebrated his 100th birthday at his home in October. Rosalynn Carter, Jimmy Carter’s wife of 76 years, died in November 2023. Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia. pic.twitter.com/aqYmcE9tXi — The Carter Center (@CarterCenter) December 29, 2024 Despite serving only one term, the former peanut farmer from Georgia cast a long shadow during his post-presidential career. This included winning the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2002 for The Carter Center’s work in fighting the Guinea worm disease in Africa and tracking elections across the world. Advertisement He also continued to volunteer with the Habitat for Humanity home-building organisation late into his life, burnishing a reputation for community service and humility that earned him plaudits from across the political aisle. In a statement, US President Joe Biden called Carter “an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian”. “With his compassion and moral clarity, he worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always advocate for the least among us,” Biden said. “He saved, lifted, and changed the lives of people all across the globe”. In a separate statement, former US President Bill Clinton said Carter “worked tirelessly for a better world”. President-elect Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that “we all owe [Carter] a debt of gratitude”. Members of Congress from both political parties praised Carter. In a post on X, Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen wrote that Carter “represented the best of our country”. “His decades of distinguished service to America and humanity leave a towering legacy of good works,” he wrote. Republican Marsha Blackburn posted: “After his service as 39th President, Jimmy Carter spent his time helping others. He partnered with Habitat for Humanity for decades, even volunteering to build homes in Nashville [Tennessee] at age 95.” Tumultuous presidency Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a moderate Southern Democrat with little national name recognition. Nevertheless, he saw an unexpected surge amid anger over US involvement in the Vietnam war and the scandal-ridden presidency of Richard Nixon. Advertisement But Cold War pressures and economic woes at home burdened his presidency, which was further marred after 52 Americans were taken hostage at the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Republican challenger Ronald Reagan went on to handily defeat Carter in the 1980 election. Still, Carter oversaw some major diplomatic victories while in office, including helping to forge a deal between then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, which restored diplomatic and economic ties between the two countries, in 1978. The Camp David Accords were reached on the condition that Israel return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. While that agreement did not solve the Palestinian issue, Carter went on to be an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights. In 2006, he published the book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, using a label that major rights groups Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International would not adopt for more than a decade. In a post on X on Sunday, author Assal Rad described Carter as “one of the only US presidents who spoke honestly about Palestine”. Human Rights Watch said Carter “set a powerful example for world leaders to make human rights a priority, and he continued to fight for human rights after he left office”. Adblock test (Why?)
Jimmy Carter: Nobel-winning humanitarian and ex-US president dies aged 100
Among the maize, yam and peanut farms of Savelugu-Nanton, a remote district of northern Ghana, the legacy of Jimmy Carter is less complicated than it is back in the former US president’s homeland. Thanks to the work of his charity, The Carter Center, locals are nowadays spared the misery of Guinea worm disease – a parasite that breeds in the human belly and emerges through the skin before laying larvae in stagnant pools to await the next victim. Carter’s work in fighting the bug and tracking votes in poor countries won him a Nobel Prize for Peace in 2002. It followed a presidency that achieved a landmark Middle East peace deal, but was hamstrung by economic woes and the Iranian hostage crisis. He died on Sunday, aged 100, the Carter Center announced. He had entered hospice care in February 2023, electing to stay home after a series of short hospital stays. The former president had been diagnosed with cancer in 2015 but had responded well to treatment. At 100, he was the longest-lived president of the United States. Advertisement During six decades of politics, aid work and diplomacy, Carter “was committed to ideals like human rights, peace, and improving human life”, Steven Hochman, research director at The Carter Center, told Al Jazeera. “He didn’t just want talk, he wanted action,” Hochman said. “Whether this was through monitoring elections in Latin America or witnessing the terrible suffering from Guinea worm disease in Asia and Africa, and working to eradicate it.” [embedded content] Southern peanuts Carter grew up on the red clay soil of rural Georgia during the Great Depression. He sold boiled peanuts on the streets of Plains, his hometown, and ploughed the land with his family. His father James “Earl” Carter, was a peanut farmer and warehouseman; his mother, Lillian, was a nurse. He married Rosalynn Smith, a family friend, in 1946. The couple celebrated their 76th wedding anniversary in July 2022, a year before the former first lady died in November 2023. After a seven-year US navy career, Carter returned to his home state of Georgia, where he garnered national attention as a Democrat state governor for his prudent management, winning a spot on the cover of Time magazine as a symbol of the “New South”. Running for the presidency, Carter styled himself as an outsider to Washington politics, which were stained by the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War. His “Peanut Brigade”, a group of friends from Georgia, crisscrossed the US and trumpeted their candidate as a straight-talking man of principle. Then-Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter campaigns in Massachusetts in 1976 [File: Jeff Taylor/The Associated Press] “Carter’s election in 1976 promised to redeem the nation from the sins of Vietnam and Watergate,” Randall Balmer, a historian and author, told Al Jazeera. “He aspired to restore faith in government, but betrayal during the Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon years had already given way to cynicism.” Advertisement In the White House, Carter’s trademark candour did not always translate into political victories. Many of his progressive social and economic plans hit logjams in Congress; an inability to translate ideals into legislative reality sapped his popularity. The United States was mired in the stagflation woes of low economic growth, unemployment and high inflation, brought about by an energy crisis from the early 1970s. Carter’s solution, tackling US dependence on foreign oil via taxes and green energy, was quashed in the Senate. Better abroad Carter fared better overseas. He struck treaties that saw the Panama Canal brought under local control; established full diplomatic relations with China; and brokered a deal to limit nuclear weapons with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. His masterwork was bringing Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to his presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, in 1978, and hammering out a peace deal between the foes over 13 tense days. “He had credibility as a peace negotiator because he listened to both sides. He could think on his feet; and speak on his feet,” said Hochman. “He was a skilled negotiator who came up with ideas for overcoming conflict and tried them out. He took chances, even if that meant he might fail.” Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, US President Jimmy Carter, centre, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem meet for the first time at Camp David in 1978 [The Associated Press] The Camp David Accords led to full diplomatic and economic relations between the neighbours, on condition that Israel return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. They did not solve the Palestinian issue, but they have spared the region a repeat of the multi-state Arab-Israeli wars of 1948 and 1967. Advertisement “When Carter was considering the summit, and even after he announced it, just about every foreign-policy guru, Henry Kissinger included, counselled against it,” Gerald Rafshoon, the White House communications director under Carter, told Al Jazeera. “The wise men warned that a head of state should never go into a negotiation without knowing the outcome in advance. Carter rejected that advice – and did more to further the security of Israel than any US president before or since.” Middle East tumult The Middle East offered Carter a diplomatic win, but it also brought his downfall. In 1979, Iranian students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage – sparking a 444-day crisis that did not end until Carter had been kicked out of the White House. Carter’s efforts to secure the release of captives via the government of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini were a political liability that was spotlighted nightly on US television news. A botched US rescue mission in April 1980 epitomised Carter’s misfortunes. Later that year, Americans gave the Republican presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan, a former actor and governor of California, a landslide victory over Carter. Carter’s talk of a US “crisis of spirit” and national “malaise” may have been true, but it was no vote-winner. Former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter pose for a photo with President Joe
Why are US Republicans debating the future of H-1B high-skill work visas?
A debate over what shape hardline immigration policies will take regarding high-skilled work visas has become the first major policy dispute among prominent supporters of United States President-elect Donald Trump – just weeks ahead of the Republican’s new presidential term. On one side are members of Trump’s so-called “Make America Great Again”, or MAGA movement, who have called for a crackdown on the high-skilled H-1B visas as part of the president-elect’s wider pledge to tighten migration and immigration. Trump’s campaign pledges particularly focused on the US-Mexico border, although he has floated other restrictions. In the other camp are prominent Trump supporters – including tech billionaire Elon Musk – who have defended the visas as essential to US industrial and economic growth. Here’s what to know. How did this start? The latest debate sparked when Laura Loomer, a far-right personality who has had close ties to Trump in the past, took to social media to criticise the president-elect’s selection of an adviser on artificial intelligence, who has argued the US needs more foreign skilled workers to remain competitive in the technology industries. Advertisement The criticism from Loomer, who has been accused of racism and spreading conspiracy theories in the past, was quickly seized on by several high-profile figures in the tech industry. That included SpaceX and Tesla CEO Musk, who has been tapped by Trump to lead a government efficiency advisory board. In response, Loomer accused tech billionaires of influencing Trump for their own gains. “We have to protect President Trump from the technocrats,” Loomer said in a post on X on December 25. Who receives H-1B visas? H-1B visas are typically reserved for specialised foreign workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher who have been offered a temporary job paying an industry-standard wage in the US. The US authorities can issue 65,000 H-1B new visas a year, with a possible extra 20,000 for people with master’s degrees. The visas can also be extended upon expiration, with more than 309,000 approved for continuing employment in Fiscal Year 2022, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services. About 70 percent of H-1B visa recipients are from India and another 10 percent are from China. What have Musk and other defenders of H-1B said? Musk has said that the “number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low” and has described the H-1B programme as critical “for those who want America to win”. In a series of posts on X, which he also owns, Musk further pledged to “go to war on this issue”. Vivek Ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate who has been picked to work alongside Musk on the government efficiency board, has criticised the programme as “badly broken”, but does not support removing them completely, instead saying that the visas should be granted on merit. Advertisement Ramaswamy antagonised the hardline anti-immigration faction of Trump’s supporters after he posted on social media on Thursday that tech companies hired immigrants because “American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long”. “A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers,” he wrote. What about Trump? Trump weighed in on the issue for the first time on Saturday. He told the New York Post: “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B.” “I have used it many times,” he said, referring to his own real estate ventures. “It’s a great programme.” However, the statements were a departure for the president-elect. In the past, he has criticised the visas as “very bad” and “unfair” to US workers and his administration sought to increase barriers for applicants during his first term. Why does this matter? The back-and-forth underscores a growing fault line between many of the earliest supporters of Trump and those like Musk who only embraced him in the 2024 election campaign. Many of the latter – like Musk – are associated with the tech industry, and are less prone to amplifying nativist rhetoric. The infighting could inform the next four years of Trump’s presidency, with Musk already warning of a “MAGA civil war” over the issue. Several of Trump’s most prominent supporters during his first term have joined in, with strategist Steve Bannon condemning “Big Tech oligarchs” who support the visas. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
A Year of Youth Protests: Reclaiming Power
On The Stream: We look back at various student protest movements prompted by young people in 2024. We examine the moments when young people advocating for causes that matter to them made headlines this year. The US and UK university protests, demonstrations in Kenya and youth rallies in Bangladesh all come under the spotlight. Presenter: Anelise Borges Guests: Mahmoud Al Thabata – Harvard Out of Occupied PalestineKendall Gardner – Oxford University studentWanjira Wanjiru – Mathare Social Justice Centre co-founderPrapti Taposhi – Bangladeshi student activist Adblock test (Why?)
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?)