Gaza ceasefire hopes hang in balance as Hamas delegation leaves Cairo
Hamas has rejected new Israeli conditions put forward in Gaza ceasefire talks in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, casting further doubt on the chances of a breakthrough in the latest United States-backed effort to end the 10-month-old war. A Hamas delegation left Cairo on Sunday after meeting with mediators and receiving an update on the latest round of negotiations. Two Egyptian security sources told the Reuters news agency that the talks had ended without an agreement with neither Hamas nor Israel agreeing to compromises proposed by mediators. Key sticking points in the talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar include an Israeli presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow 14.5km-long (9-mile-long) stretch of land along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt. In Cairo, Hamas’s delegation demanded that Israel be bound by what was agreed upon on July 2, in accordance with a plan laid out by US President Joe Biden and a UN Security Council resolution. While the group confirmed its readiness to implement that deal to achieve the interests of the Palestinian people and stop the destruction of the Gaza Strip, it stressed the need for any agreement to include a permanent ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Hamas also said any agreement should include the freedom of return for Gaza residents to their homes, relief and reconstruction, and a captive-prisoner exchange deal. Meanwhile, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority quoted officials as saying there is a small chance that the Cairo talks would lead to progress in the swap negotiations. However, there was no sign of any breakthrough on the issues dividing Israel and Hamas. The Palestinian group blames Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the lack of progress during the talks. Netanyahu is accused of imposing new demands and not being serious about reaching a ceasefire. Netanyahu has insisted that the war in Gaza will continue until a total victory against Hamas has been won, even if a deal is reached. That objective has been rubbished by many top Israeli officials, including his own defence minister, and family members of captives have accused Netanyahu of abandoning their loved ones in Gaza. ‘No time to lose’ Months of on-off talks have failed to produce an agreement to end Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza or free the remaining captives seized by Hamas in the group’s October 7 attacks on Israel. Continuing the war, in which Israel has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, will worsen the plight of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, nearly all of them homeless in tents or shelters among the ruins, with malnutrition rampant and disease spreading, and risk the lives of the remaining Israeli captives. UN peace envoy Tor Wennesland said in a social media post: “There is no time to lose.” “Ongoing ceasefire/hostage release talks in Cairo are crucial to saving civilian lives, reducing regional tensions and enabling the UN, in cooperation with the PA [Palestinian Authority], to accelerate efforts to address the pressing needs of Gaza’s long-suffering population,” he said. Meanwhile, US General CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, began an unannounced visit to the Middle East on Saturday to discuss ways to avoid any new escalation in tensions that could spiral into a broader conflict as the region braces for a threatened Iranian attack against Israel. On Sunday, Israel and Hezbollah engaged in a heavy exchange of fire as part of a response by the Lebanese group to the Israeli assassination of its senior commander Fuad Shukr last month in a Beirut suburb. Hezbollah has said it would halt its attacks along the border if there is a ceasefire in Gaza. Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah since October 8 has ramped up recently, including Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon and into the Bekaa Valley and more Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 913
As the war enters its 913th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Monday, August 26, 2024. Fighting At least 18 people were killed and 37 injured in Russian missile and drone attacks on Sunday which targeted the front-line Ukrainian regions of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk. The Reuters news agency said its safety adviser Ryan Evans was killed and two Reuters journalists injured, one of them seriously, in a Russian attack that hit a hotel in Kramatorsk, about 20km (13 miles) from the front line in Ukraine’s east, on Saturday night. Three other members of the team escaped unharmed. Russian officials said six civilians were killed in Ukrainian attacks on Russian border regions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s forces advanced up to 3km (1.86 miles) in Russia’s Kursk region, taking control of two more settlements there. Ukraine called on Belarus to pull back what it described as significant levels of Belarusian forces and equipment, including tanks and artillery, deployed in the Gomel region at their common border. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned Belarus against making “tragic mistakes” while under pressure from Moscow. Politics and diplomacy Zelenskyy said negotiations were continuing with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Switzerland on a second summit for peace. Zelenskyy also said he had told India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Kyiv, that he would support India hosting the event. Pope Francis condemned the Ukrainian government’s move to ban a Russia-linked branch of the country’s Orthodox Church. “Do not touch churches,” the pope said in his weekly prayers, one day after Zelenskyy signed the ban into law. Weapons Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it sent more missiles and artillery to the Kursk region where thousands of Ukrainian troops advanced across the Russian border on August 6. Adblock test (Why?)
Pilgrims among dozens killed in two separate bus accidents in Pakistan
Pakistan’s leaders expressed sorrow over the road accidents, frequent occurrences in the country largely due to poor infrastructure. At least 34 people have been killed in two separate bus accidents in northeast and southwest Pakistan, according to local authorities. Twelve people died on the Makran Coastal Highway in the southwest province of Balochistan, the Ministry of Interior said on Sunday, while a rescue official said 22 people were killed when a bus plunged into a deep ravine near Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The first accident occurred overnight, when a bus carrying Shia pilgrims returning from Iran for a religious commemoration veered off the road. Thirteen people were also injured and were reported to be in critical condition, the provincial government said. Four people remained trapped inside the coach, and a crane was ordered to evacuate them, local police authorities said, according to Pakistani news outlet Dawn. The second accident took place in the Kahuta district in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province. Rescue coordinator Rawalpindi Muhammad Usman told the Reuters news agency that that bus was carrying 25 passengers, including six women and a child. Among these passengers, 22 had died and one was critically injured. All of the bodies from the crash have been recovered from the ravine, he said. The Interior Ministry, however, said 29 had died in that crash. “The accident was caused due to the coaster’s failed brakes,” rescue official Usman Gujjar told Dawn. Volunteers and relatives prepare to load the body of a woman, who was killed as a passenger bus fell into a ravine, into an ambulance at a hospital in Kahuta, Pakistan [Mohammad Yousaf/AP] Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi expressed his “heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the families of the deceased in both accidents”. Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also issued separate statements expressing their sorrow. Thousands killed each year Earlier this week, a bus carrying Pakistani pilgrims flipped over in central Iran, killing 28 passengers and injuring another 23 people. The passengers were Pakistani pilgrims heading to Iraq for the Arbaeen commemoration, one of the biggest events of the year for Shia Muslims globally. Thousands of Shia Muslims travel to Iraq’s holy city of Karbala to commemorate the occasion, marking the end of the annual 40-day mourning period after the death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein, a central figure in the sect of Islam. The overturned bus caught fire in front of a checkpoint in the Yazd province on Tuesday night, Iranian state TV reported. The bodies of those victims were brought home on a Pakistani military plane on Saturday and buried in the southern province of Sindh. Road accidents occur frequently in Pakistan due to inadequate infrastructure, poorly maintained vehicles, and reckless driving. Each year, 9,000 incidents are reported on average, leading to more than 5,000 deaths. Adblock test (Why?)
At least eight people killed in Israeli air attack in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah
Israeli army ramps up attacks on Deir el-Balah over the weekend as authorities say 40,405 Palestinians now killed across Gaza. At least eight Palestinians have been killed in an overnight Israeli air attack in the eastern part of Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Medical sources in Gaza told Al Jazeera on Sunday that six of those killed were from the same family. Witnesses reported that there was a drone strike before an Israeli jet dropped a giant bomb. The Wafa news agency reported, quoting local sources in Gaza, that the Israeli artillery launched a heavy barrage of attacks amid a series of intense air raids on the enclave. They struck a house belonging to the Maammar family in al-Hekker, resulting in the killings of the family members. Last week, the Israeli army called on Palestinians seeking shelter in the eastern part of Deir el-Balah to move westwards as the area had been declared a “red zone”. Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said this “weekend has been quite violent, [and] quite bloody”. “This has been one-sided. The Israeli military has the upper hand in all of this in terms of the level of destruction, and it has caused further civilian casualties, including women and children,” Mahmoud said. He added that as the attacks took place, the Israeli army withdrew “partially” from the eastern part of Deir el-Balah. “According to witnesses, they left trails of destruction and devastation, including homes, mosques and public buildings,” he said. But the destruction continued, with reports from Wafa on Israeli drones firing at civilians near al-Aanan football field, killing three people and injuring several more. In Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, rescue teams have also recovered the body of a person from al-Qarara, north of the town, despite artillery shells being fired towards the area. Israeli artillery also targeted a home belonging to the Ayad family in the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City, Wafa reported. Meanwhile, a child succumbed to their wounds 10 days after being hit by an Israeli strike on a group of civilians in the Batn as-Sameen area of Khan Younis. According to health authorities in Gaza, at least 59 people have been killed across the Strip since Saturday. The continuing attacks come as Hezbollah launched drones and rockets into Israel and Israeli forces conducted “preemptive strikes” on Lebanon. It also comes as Egypt is hosting a new round of talks aimed at ending Israel’s war on Gaza, now in its 11th month. Since the war began, at least 40,405 Palestinians have been killed in intense Israeli bombardments, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health. At least 93,356 Palestinians have been wounded in these attacks. Adblock test (Why?)
Mayweather dominates Gotti again in Mexico City exhibition boxing rematch
Former world boxing champion Floyd Mayweather has again outmatched John Gotti III, the grandson of the late New York crime boss, in an exhibition fight rematch that left the Mexico City crowd unimpressed. Mayweather, 47, dominated Gotti from start to finish on Saturday despite confusion when a round-ending bell did not sound and the referee left the ring mid-fight. The eight-round bout included two-minute rounds with two-minute rest periods. Gotti showed little effort during the fight, provoking the 22,000-strong audience’s disdain. Mayweather came out throwing rights to Gotti’s head in the first round, Gotti limiting himself to containing the punishment. There was a moment of confusion after two minutes because the bell did not ring and the fight continued until complaints were heard from Gotti’s corner. There was more bewilderment in the second round when, after a forbidden punch by Mayweather, Panamanian referee Hector Afu left the ring, apparently annoyed by Mayweather’s actions. Mexican referee Alfredo Uruzquieta then took over. It was not until the fourth that Gotti threw some serious punches to Mayweather’s body, although with little effect. Mayweather rained blows on Gotti, who did little to defend himself, in the sixth and seventh rounds, leaving fans even more annoyed. Mayweather cornered Gotti in the final round but his opponent held on until the final bell. There was no official winner because it was an exhibition match. Saturday’s rematch followed a June 2023 exhibition in South Florida that was stopped after a brawl broke out between the two fighters’ camps. Mayweather retired from boxing in 2017, unbeaten in 50 bouts, but continues to appear in fights that do not count towards his career record. The 31-year-old Gotti, who had a 5-1 record in mixed martial arts (MMA) fights before switching to boxing, is the grandson of John Gotti, the head of the Gambino crime family who died in prison in 2002. Floyd Mayweather Jr (L) and John Gotti III in action during their exhibition match in Mexico City, Mexico, on August 24, 2024 [Henry Romero/Reuters] Adblock test (Why?)
Boeing’s Starliner astronauts to return from space next year, NASA says
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson says bringing astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back to Earth on faulty Starliner is too risky. Two NASA astronauts who flew to the International Space Station (ISS) in June aboard Boeing’s faulty Starliner capsule will return to Earth on a SpaceX vehicle early next year, NASA chief Bill Nelson has said. He told reporters on Saturday that issues with Starliner’s propulsion system are too risky to carry its first crew home. Veteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, both former military test pilots, became the first crew to ride Starliner on June 5 when they were launched to the ISS for what was expected to be an eight-day test mission. But Starliner’s propulsion system suffered a series of glitches beginning in the first 24 hours of its flight to the ISS, triggering months of cascading delays. Five of its 28 thrusters failed and it sprang several leaks of helium, which is used to pressurise the thrusters. “NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with Crew-9 next February, and that Starliner will return uncrewed,” Nelson said at a news conference in Houston. He added that he discussed the agency’s decision with Boeing’s new CEO Kelly Ortberg. “He expressed to me an intention that they will continue to work the problems once Starliner is back safely,” Nelson said of Ortberg. Since Starliner docked to the ISS in June, Boeing has scrambled to investigate what caused its thruster mishaps and helium leaks. The company also arranged tests and simulations on Earth to gather data that it has used to try and convince NASA officials that Starliner is safe to fly the crew back home. But results from that testing raised more difficult engineering questions and ultimately failed to quell NASA officials’ concerns about Starliner’s ability to make its crewed return trip – the most daunting and complex part of the test mission. Amy Thompson, a Florida-based space and science journalist, said NASA is putting the safety of the crew first by deciding against returning the astronauts on the Boeing Starliner. “The big concern about that is: During re-entry, what will the leaks do to the spacecraft? What happens if it gets superheated in the atmosphere? Same with the thrusters … These are things NASA can test now without putting the crews at risk,” Thompson told Al Jazeera. NASA’s decision, and Starliner’s now-uncertain path to certification, will add to the crises Ortberg is facing. The CEO started his tenure this month with the goal of rebuilding the planemaker’s reputation after a door panel dramatically blew off a 737 MAX passenger jet in midair in January. Adblock test (Why?)
What do the Taliban’s new rules mean for Afghans?
Afghanistan’s Taliban government formally adopts a set of morality laws, including requiring women to cover their faces. When the Taliban swept back into power three years ago, it took over a country in which the civil and political rights of Afghans were enshrined in the constitution. But since then, many of those rights have been eroded – especially for women and girls. Now, Taliban officials have published a new set of morality laws – which will in their words “promote virtue and prevent vice”. The new laws in Afghanistan range from requiring women to cover their faces and men to grow beards to banning music in cars. So, will this latest crackdown further isolate the Taliban? And what impact will it have on the lives of millions of Afghans who are already struggling to survive? Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra Guests: Mariam Solaimankhil – Member of Afghanistan’s Parliament in Exile and a board member of Afghan Peace Watch NGO Bahar Jalali – Assistant teaching professor at Loyola University Maryland Mursal Wardak – Education and women’s rights advocate and law student in Germany Adblock test (Why?)
ISIL claims responsibility for stabbing attack in Germany’s Solingen
Authorities continue to search for perpetrator of knife attack that killed three people in western Germany. ISIL (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for a knife attack in Solingen, Germany that killed three people and wounded eight others, according to the group’s Amaq news site. In a statement on Saturday, the group said the perpetrator targeted Christians and was a “soldier of the Islamic State” who carried out the attack “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere”. The attack took place on Friday evening as thousands gathered at a central square for celebrations to mark Solingen’s 650th anniversary on Friday. The slain victims included one woman and two men. Markus Caspers, from the counterterrorism section of the public prosecutor’s office, told a news conference on Saturday that authorities have not found the perpetrator. “So far, we have not been able to identify a motive, but looking at the overall circumstances, we cannot rule out” the possibility of terrorism, Caspers said, though he did not offer further details. A 15-year-old boy was arrested early on Saturday. Caspers said he was arrested after two female witnesses contacted police. They said they had listened to a conversation between the boy and an unknown person before the attack, speaking about intentions that corresponded to the events that followed. Police, including special forces, also raided a home for asylum seekers in Solingen’s city centre, the German news agency DPA reported. “We have received tips and therefore, we are currently conducting police activities,” a police spokesperson said. Thorsten Fleiss from the German police, the chief of operations on Friday night, said it was a “big challenge” to bring together available evidence and testimony from witnesses to come up with an overall picture. Meanwhile, police have warned people to stay vigilant until the perpetrator is found. Police officers secure the area after the attack in Solingen, Germany [File: Thilo Schmuelgen/Reuters] Germany’s Minister of the Interior and Community Nancy Faeser paid a visit to Solingen on Saturday evening. She said the government would do everything possible to support the city and its people. “We will not allow that such an awful attack divides our society,” she said, appearing alongside Minister-President of the State of North Rhine Westphalia Hendrik Wust and State Minister for Internal Affairs Herbert Reul. Wust described the attack as “an act of terror against the security and freedom of this country”. But Faeser, the country’s top security official, has not classified it as a terror attack. At its peak, ISIL controlled large stretches of territory in Iraq and Syria and carried out several deadly attacks across the world. But the group faced a territorial defeat in 2017, and its brutal rule collapsed after it lost all of the areas it controlled to the Iraqi government and various parties in the Syrian civil war. The group has previously claimed responsibility for attacks that it was not involved in, including a mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017. In Solingen, the police cordoned off the square on Saturday and passers-by placed candles and flowers outside the barriers. Authorities also established an online portal where witnesses could upload footage and any other information relevant to the attack, while churches in Solingen opened their doors to offer a space for prayer and emergency pastoral care. “We are full of shock and grief,” Solingen Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach told journalists. The Festival of Diversity, marking Solingen’s 650th anniversary, began on Friday and was supposed to run through Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics. Authorities have now cancelled the remainder of the festival. Adblock test (Why?)
Philippines demands China halt ‘dangerous actions’ in South China Sea
The Philippines accuses China of firing flares at one of its aircraft as it patrolled over the contested waterway. The Philippines has demanded that China “cease all provocative and dangerous actions” after accusing it of recently firing at aircraft conducting patrols over the South China Sea. The same aircraft also “faced harassment” from a Chinese jet fighter while on a surveillance flight near Scarborough Shoal on August 19, the Philippines’s South China Sea Task Force said on Saturday in a statement. The two nations have had heightened maritime confrontations in recent months, causing fears of a conflict that could draw in the United States, a military ally of the Philippines. “Such actions undermine regional peace and security, and further erode the image of the PRC [People’s Republic of China] with the international community,” the interagency task force said. The aircraft, which belonged to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), in coordination with the coastguard, monitors and intercepts poachers encroaching on the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone. The task force said the Chinese jet fighter, which was not provoked, deployed flares multiple times “at a dangerously close distance” from the BFAR aircraft. “Its actions demonstrated hazardous intent that jeopardized the safety of the personnel onboard the BFAR aircraft,” the task force said. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday said it conducted “countermeasures” against two Philippine military aircraft that flew into its airspace over Subi Reef – a fishing atoll that China has transformed into a militarised island base – on August 22, but did not comment on the August 19 event. The incidents come the same week as the both countries accused each other of ramming vessels and other dangerous actions in the South China Sea, among the world’s busiest trade routes. Tensions have been escalating between the two despite them reaching a deal in July to better manage some maritime disputes to “restore trust” and “rebuild confidence”. China claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, and has a number of coastguard vessels in the waters to protect what it considers its territory. The Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei all contest China’s claims. An international tribunal in 2016 said China’s claim has no basis under international law, awarding a landmark victory to the Philippines which filed the case. China has built seven artificial islands in the South China Sea, equipping them with radar, runways and surface-to-air missiles. It has bristled at military deployments by the US and its allies in the disputed region, saying their presence is a danger to regional security. Adblock test (Why?)
Police say 20 abducted Nigerian medical students freed
The students were on their way to a convention in Benue State when they were kidnapped by gunmen. Twenty Nigerian medical students who were kidnapped on their way to a convention have been freed more than a week after their abduction, police said. Gunmen seized the students on August 15 as they travelled to a conference in Benue State, in the centre of the country, and later demanded a ransom. “We confirm the release on Friday of our brothers and sisters and some other Nigerians who have been in captivity in Ntunkon forest, Benue State,” Nigerian police spokesman Olumuyiwa Adejobi said on Saturday. State police said in a statement that they had “confirmed the release of the 20 students from the University of Maiduguri and University of Jos”. The students were freed “without any ransom paid”. The group was “rescued tactically and professionally”, according to Adejobi. The country’s police chief had this week deployed a “tactical squad” in Benue State as part of efforts to find the latest victims of a rising wave of abductions in Africa’s most populous country. Fortune Olaye, secretary-general of the Nigerian Medical Students’ Association (NIMSA), also confirmed the release to the AFP news agency. “We’ve spoken to them on the phone. They are safe,” Olaye said. The students were abducted while on the road in a convoy of two buses near the town of Otukpo, less than 150km (93 miles) from Enugu, which often witnesses attacks and kidnappings. Armed gangs have been kidnapping villagers, students and motorists for ransom in northern Nigeria, with security forces unable to end the practice. Thousands of people are abducted for ransom in Nigeria each year, though there are few reliable statistics as many cases are not reported. Cases of kidnapping have increased significantly due to a severe economic crisis which is pushing more people towards crime. The Nigerian consultancy, SBM Intelligence, said it had recorded 4,777 kidnappings in the country between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu taking power in May 2023 and January 2024. Adblock test (Why?)