US to deploy additional military resources to the Middle East
Pentagon announces deployment as tensions build between Iran and Israel after the high-profile Haniyeh assassination. The United States military has announced the deployment of additional resources to the Middle East, including an aircraft carrier, amid growing concerns about the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. On Friday, the Pentagon revealed it would send an additional fighter jet squadron, Navy cruisers and destroyer ships to the Middle East. “We’ve demonstrated since October and again in April [that] the United States’s global defense is dynamic, and the department retains the capability to deploy on short notice to meet evolving national security threats,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters on Friday. “As a result, the secretary will be directing multiple, forthcoming force-posture moves to bolster force protection for U.S. forces region-wide, to provide elevated support to the defense of Israel and to ensure the United States is prepared to respond to this evolving crisis.” The announcement comes after the recent, high-profile killings of officials of Hamas and Hezbollah, two groups linked to Iran. Israeli forces are believed to be behind the assassinations, and media reports indicate that Iran appears likely to retaliate, particularly after one of the killings took place on its soil. That, in turn, has heightened fears of a widening conflict that could unleash destruction across the region. Singh told reporters on Friday that the decision to increase the US’s military capabilities in the Middle East came after high-level calls with Israeli officials. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin held a call with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant earlier that morning, she explained. An earlier call had occurred between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. Austin “committed to Minister Gallant — and the president committed to Netanyahu — that we will be bolstering our force protection in the region,” Singh said on Friday. “We will stand with Israel in their self-defence, and that is something that the secretary reiterated to Minister Gallant on his call this morning.” The increased military presence is the latest effort from the US to discourage attacks on Israel and avoid a regional war. But it comes at a tense time. Israel’s controversial war in Gaza will soon enter its 11th month, amid continued fears of genocide and famine in the Palestinian territory. The Biden administration has already signalled full support for Israel in the event of a wider war. While it has criticised civilian suffering in Gaza, US officials have thus far refused to openly pressure Israel to bring the war in Gaza to a close. Biden, however, did address the consequences of the assassinations on Friday, describing them as a setback to the ongoing ceasefire talks. “It doesn’t help,” he said in a short statement to reporters. The Pentagon’s announcement comes less than three days after Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran. He had been one of the chief negotiators in the effort to secure a ceasefire, and his death is viewed as a serious setback for negotiations. Haniyeh had been in Iran to attend the swearing-in ceremony for the country’s new president. Reports indicate an explosive device had been planted in the residence where he was staying. A day before Haniyeh’s death, on July 30, Fuad Shukr — a commander with the powerful Lebanon-based group Hezbollah — was also killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut. The Israeli Air Force claimed responsibility for that attack. Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group, has exchanged fire with Israel across Lebanon’s border since the war in Gaza began in October. However, the Biden administration has expressed hope that tensions can still be lowered. “I don’t think war is inevitable. I maintain that. I think there’s always room and opportunities for diplomacy,” Austin said earlier this week. Adblock test (Why?)
A comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution is still achievable
The landmark ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on July 19 calls for the immediate end of Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid rule. This ruling reinforces a clear pathway to peace – based on a sovereign State of Palestine in the context of the two-state solution. According to the ICJ, Israel must withdraw from all of the occupied Palestinian territory, cease all settlement activities, evacuate all settlers and pay damages. Ending the illegal occupation is not conditional upon a bilateral peace process between Israel and Palestine. In his declaration, ICJ President Nawaf Salam stated: “[Israeli] withdrawal cannot be conditional on the success of negotiations whose outcome will depend on Israel’s approval. In particular, Israel cannot invoke the need for a prior agreement on its security claims for such a condition may lead to perpetuating its unlawful occupation.” The ICJ ruling is a vindication of the rights of the Palestinian people, who have endured decades of oppression. It is also a rejection of the position of the United States, which insists on Israel’s agreement on a political settlement as a condition for ending the occupation. The sovereignty of Palestine, based on the two-state solution and the borders of June 4, 1967, cannot be held hostage to Israel’s apartheid policies. The two-state solution is a matter of international law, not of Israel’s domestic politics, much less its extremism. Diplomatic negotiations, under the auspices of the United Nations, can and should focus on the implementation of Israel’s withdrawal from occupied territory and mutual security arrangements of the two states living side by side. The US has been a decades-long proponent of a cynical “peace process” between Israel and Palestine that is designed to fail. The obvious truth is that the occupying power, Israel, and the people under occupation, Palestine, will never be on a fair footing in negotiations. Palestinians have been forced to negotiate under extreme duress while Israel has continued its blatant violations of international law. Yet the inequality of bargaining power has been far worse than the gross inequality of power between the occupier and the occupied. The US has held the cards for decades and has consistently been a dishonest broker. The US political elite is pro-Zionist to the hilt as it is notoriously financed by the Israel lobby (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, and others) and deeply entwined with Israel’s military and security apparatus, especially CIA-Mossad links. The US blames Palestine for every failure in negotiations, even when Israel’s intransigence and opposition to the two-state solution are the obvious, indeed blatant, obstacles to peace. Most recently, the Israeli Knesset voted to reject the two-state solution. The latest display of the US politics was the reception given to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the US Congress. Despite – or more accurately because of – the call by the ICC prosecutor for Netanyahu’s arrest for war crimes, Congress received Netanyahu’s lies with repeated ovations. The obeisance of Congress to the Israel lobby was especially vile given that the UN, the ICJ and the International Criminal Court have all recently concluded that the Israeli military is systematically targeting civilians, starving them, inflicting collective punishment and deliberately destroying the infrastructure of Gaza. A devastating regional war is just around the corner unless the international community acts quickly and decisively to secure the two-state solution. In Lebanon, cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel have intensified. The conflict also grows with attacks between Israel and Yemen’s Houthis. The US could end the war now if it chose. Without American financial and military support, Israel does not have the means to fight a war on multiple fronts. After rejecting multiple ceasefire proposals, even US-backed ones, it is clear that the Israeli government is not interested in ending the war. Israel’s extremist government wants a wider conflict that lures the US into an open war with Iran. The latest outrage is Israel’s assassination of Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. This is a dangerous escalation, on foreign soil, that deliberately and flagrantly undermines negotiation efforts and a peaceful diplomatic resolution to the conflict. While Congress cheered Netanyahu’s lies, the more important story of US politics was occurring outside Congress on the streets of Washington (and the campuses across the nation). The American people, especially America’s young people, are tired of the US government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide. By March, a majority of Americans had turned against Israel’s actions in Gaza. They want the war to stop, not to expand. The world’s governments are rallying on the side of justice as in the UN General Assembly’s overwhelming support for Palestine to become the 194th UN member state. Palestinian political factions have also joined together, supported by Chinese diplomacy, to form a national unity government. The world community has broadly welcomed the ICJ’s decision to end Israel’s illegal occupation. A comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution is achievable and within reach. According to the recent decision of the ICJ and the votes of the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council (but for the US veto), the path to peace is clear: Palestine should immediately be welcomed as a UN member state with the borders of June 4, 1967, and with its capital in East Jerusalem. Peace, in short, is much closer than it may seem, built on the unity of the people of Palestine; the strong and repeated backing of the Arab and Islamic states for the two-state solution; the goodwill of almost all of the world community, including the American people; and the support of international law and the United Nations. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. Adblock test (Why?)
Gaza and the death of Western journalism
On Wednesday, the Israeli army killed two more Palestinian journalists in Gaza. Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi were working when they were struck by Israeli forces in Gaza city. Al-Ghoul, whose Al Jazeera reports were popular among Arab audiences, was wearing a press vest at the time he was killed. The latest killings bring Israel’s world-record journalist kill total to at least 113 during the current genocide in Gaza, according to the more conservative estimate. No other world conflict has killed as many journalists in recent memory. Israel has a long history of violently targeting journalists, so their Gaza kill total is not necessarily surprising. In fact, a 2023 Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) report documented a “decades-long pattern” of Israel targeting and killing Palestinian journalists. For example, a Human Rights Watch investigation found that Israel targeted “journalists and media facilities” on four separate occasions in 2012. During the attacks, two journalists were killed, and many others were injured. In 2019, a United Nations commission found that Israel “intentionally shot” a pair of Palestinian journalists in 2018, killing both. More recently, in 2022, Israel shot and killed Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the West Bank. Israel attempted to deny responsibility, as it almost always does after it carries out an atrocity, but video evidence was overwhelming, and Israel was forced to admit guilt. There have been no consequences for the soldier who fired at Abu Akleh, who had been wearing a press vest and a press helmet, or for the Israelis involved in the other incidents targeting journalists. CPJ has suggested that Israeli security forces enjoy “almost blanket immunity” in incidents of attacks on journalists. Given this broader context, Israel’s targeting of journalists during the current genocide is genuinely not surprising, or out of the ordinary. However, what is truly surprising, and even shocking, is the relative silence of Western journalists. While there has certainly been some reportage and sympathy in North America and Europe, particularly from watchdog organisations like the CPJ, there is little sense of journalistic solidarity, and certainly nothing approaching widespread outrage and uproar about the threat Israel’s actions pose to press freedoms. Can we imagine for a moment what the Western journalistic reaction might be if Russian forces killed more than 100 journalists in Ukraine in under a year? Even when Western news outlets have reported on Palestinian journalists killed since the start of the current war, coverage has tended to give Israel the benefit of the doubt, often framing the killings as unintentional casualties of modern warfare. Also, Western journalism’s overwhelming reliance on pro-Israel sources has ensured the avoidance of colourful adjectives and condemnations. Moreover, overreliance on pro-Israel sources has sometimes made it difficult to determine which party to the conflict was responsible for specific killings. A unique case? One might assume here that Western news outlets have simply been maintaining their devotion to stated Western reporting principles of detachment and neutrality. But, in other situations, Western journalists have shown that they are indeed capable of making quite a fuss, and also of demonstrating solidarity. The 2015 killing of 12 Charlie Hebdo journalists provides a useful case in point. Following that attack, a genuine media spectacle ensued, with seemingly the entire institution of Western journalism united to focus on the event. Thousands of reports were generated within weeks, a solidarity hashtag (“Je suis Charlie,” or “I am Charlie”) went viral, and statements and sentiments of solidarity poured in from Western journalists, news outlets and organisations dedicated to principles of free speech. For example, America’s Society of Professional Journalists called the attack on Charlie Hebdo “barbaric” and an “attempt to stifle press freedom”. Freedom House issued a similarly harsh commendation, calling the attack “horrific,” and noting that it constituted a “direct threat to the right of freedom of expression”. PEN America and the British National Secular Society presented awards to Charlie Hebdo and the Guardian Media Group donated a massive sum to the publication. The relative silence and calm of Western journalists over the killing of at least 100 Palestinian journalists in Gaza is especially shocking when one considers the larger context of Israel’s war on journalism, which threatens all journalists. In October, around the time the current war began, Israel told Western news agencies that it would not guarantee the safety of journalists entering Gaza. Ever since, Israel has maintained a ban on international journalists, even working to prevent them from entering Gaza during a brief November 2023 pause in fighting. More importantly, perhaps, Israel has used its sway in the West to direct and control Western news narratives about the war. Western news outlets have often obediently complied with Israeli manipulation tactics. For example, as global outrage was mounting against Israel in December 2023, Israel put out false reports of mass, systematic rape against Israeli women by Palestinian fighters on October 7. Western news outlets, including the New York Times, were suckered in. They downplayed the growing outrage against Israel and began prominently highlighting the “systematic rape” story. Later, in January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued provisional measures against Israel. Israel responded almost immediately by issuing absurd terrorism accusations against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). Western news outlets downplayed the provisional measures story, which was highly critical of Israel, and spotlighted the allegations against UNRWA, which painted Palestinians in a negative light. These and other examples of Israeli manipulation of Western news narratives are part of a broader pattern of influence that predates the current war. One empirical study found that Israel routinely times attacks, especially those likely to kill Palestinian civilians, in ways that ensure they will be ignored or downplayed by US news media. During the current genocide, Western news organisations have also tended to ignore the broad pattern of censorship of pro-Palestine content on social media, a fact which should concern anyone interested in freedom of expression. It’s easy to point to a handful of Western news reports and
Mourners attend Hamas leader’s funeral in Qatar
NewsFeed Thousands of mourners including official representatives of several nations gathered in Doha to pay their respects to Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh who was assassinated in Iran this week. Published On 2 Aug 20242 Aug 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
‘Opening horizons’: Why Indonesian star Dian Sastrowardoyo champions women
Jakarta, Indonesia – Indonesian actor and filmmaker Dian Sastrowardoyo started her career as a model when she was just a teenager, hoping to save up enough money to study overseas. Her entertainment career took off and Dian never did get that degree from a foreign university. But now, more than 20 years later, dozens of other Indonesian women are furthering their studies, and it is all thanks to Dian. In an interview with Al Jazeera, the 42-year-old said she “needed to pave the way” for women in “rural Indonesia to have access to higher education”, inspired by Raden Adjeng Kartini, Indonesia’s national hero who fought for women’s rights more than a century ago. More than 30 women have been through Dian’s namesake undergraduate scholarships since she began the initiative in 2015. Some have worked as startup managers and paralegals, while others earned their degrees in informatics and veterinary medicine. Dian also collaborates with Markoding, a local nonprofit, to run free coding lessons and programmes for hundreds of Indonesian women. “If you want to invest in education, one of the key areas to invest in is women because mothers are basically the first teachers in a human’s life. If you invest in women, you are also investing in their children and grandchildren,” she said. “We are opening the horizons of these girls, and now many of them have succeeded.” Dian Sastrowardoyo as Dasiyah in Netflix’s Cigarette Girl. The show was in the Top 10 of Netflix’s non-English language content when it was released last November [Courtesy of Netflix Indonesia] Cigarette Girl With more than 9.2 million followers on Instagram, Dian is one of Indonesia’s most celebrated actors. She is also the face of Netflix’s Gadis Kretek (Cigarette Girl), a period drama based on a 2012 novel that is an epic, and tragic, romance set against the backdrop of Indonesia’s clove tobacco industry in the 1960s. Popular in Indonesia, clove cigarettes, known locally as kretek, are made using tobacco, cloves and other ingredients. The National Cancer Institute in the United States has warned kretek “contain nicotine and many cancer-causing chemicals”. Dian plays Dasiyah – the lead character and a woman in an industry dominated by men – experimenting to create the best formulas for the family’s clove cigarettes as she battles a patriarchal society. Feby Indirani, author of 10 fiction and non-fiction books – whose own work is in the process of being adapted by an Indonesian production house – said: “More and more filmmakers and creators are concerned and care about women’s issues and minority groups”, but the challenge was how to best represent and depict such issues. “For me, [Cigarette Girl] is very appealing. And of course, there is a women’s story in it. The irony is that it is a story from the past, but even now, we are still familiar with stories like that,” she told Al Jazeera. “How women find it hard to stand out in industries considered very masculine. In this case, it is the clove cigarette industry, with its discrimination,” she added. “I am quite pleased with the presence of a story like this.” In preparation for the role, Dian stopped playing sports like tennis and did not meet her usual group of friends for some time “just to get into the rhythm of getting into Dasiyah’s world because she’s such a loner”. “She really enjoys being by herself and with all her trinkets and, you know, all these aromas in her laboratory. And, I think, one needs to be able to know how good it feels to be on your own in order to portray that enjoyment,” Dian said. “I am a very social person, and I really needed to alter my personality 180 degrees for this.” On its release last November, Cigarette Girl reached the global Top 10 list for non-English language content, with 1.6 million views in a week. Dian, shown here in the series Ratu Adil, made her acting breakthrough in 2002 [Courtesy of Frontier Pictures] Dian said it was “a very local story” with “a lot of cultural values” given the significance of clove cigarettes within Indonesian society. “There is something very universal here, which is the love story. But it fascinates me so much that something very local becomes something that crosses over,” she said, referring to Soeraja, Dasiyah’s love interest. Cover star to philosophy graduate Dian has been a household name in Indonesia since the late 90s. It was back in 1996 that she won the Indonesian GADIS magazine’s teenage cover girl contest, before making her acting breakthrough in the 2002 hit drama Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? (What’s Up with Love?), among other titles. Even as her acting career took off, Dian found time to earn a degree in philosophy from Universitas Indonesia, as well as a master’s in management. Her undergraduate thesis focused on the beauty industry from a socio-philosophical perspective. “The definition of beauty is always fluid – and it is open to us to define it as well,” Dian said. “So we shall not have only one beauty ideal like being thin, tall, fair-skinned … that’s relative. There cannot be just one definition.” For her, social media has increased the public’s awareness around beauty standards, but has also shaped their perspectives. “There are also many influencers who seem to set the beauty standard too high, so they are very familiar with filters, very familiar with editing,” Dian said. “So their viewers or their audience, who are actually much more diverse, feel like they do not fit into the definition of what is considered good.” However, Dian, who has a young son and daughter, is concerned about the emergence of toxic masculinity and its impact on young people. According to TikTok, some 125 million people in Indonesia were using the app every month as of June last year. The archipelago is one of the world’s biggest markets for TikTok. “It’s like we’re seeing a trend that wants to revert its way of thinking back to degradation.
What is the controversy behind Louisiana’s new surgical castration law?
Baton Rouge, Louisiana – Louisiana has become the first state in the United States to impose surgical castration as a criminal punishment. The new law, which came into effect on Thursday, allows the court to order surgical castration — the removal of a man’s testes or a woman’s ovaries — as punishment for adults convicted of first or second-degree aggravated rape in cases involving child victims under 13. Some states already impose chemical castration, a reversible procedure, as punishment. But only Louisiana mandates surgical castration. The measure comes amidst a spate of “tough-on-crime” legislation passed this year by Louisiana’s conservative supermajority and signed into law by Republican Governor Jeff Landry, who took office in January. Critics, however, warn that such laws are radically punitive and ultimately ineffective in preventing crimes. Among those outspoken against the law is George Annas, the director of Boston University’s Center for Health Law, Ethics and Human Rights. He described the measure as “anti-medicine” and unconstitutional: “It just makes no sense.” Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed a bill in June allowing for surgical castration [File: Michael Johnson/The Advocate/Pool via AP Photo] Legal challenges anticipated Louisiana and several other states, including California and Florida, already have laws that impose chemical castration for certain sex crimes. That procedure usually entails injections of Depo Provera, a birth control medication that temporarily lowers testosterone in both men and women. Even that procedure has its detractors, though. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has never approved the drug for the treatment of sex offenders, and critics decry putting physicians in the position of meting out punishments for the criminal justice system. Such laws have already been repealed in Oregon and Georgia and ruled unconstitutional in South Carolina. But unlike chemical castration, surgical castration is permanent. Lawyers like Annas have raised questions about whether surgical castration violates the US Constitution’s prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment”. Annas warns the law is also unconstitutional as it denies the right to reproduce and the right to bodily integrity. Under Louisiana’s new law, an offender can refuse the procedure, but if they do, they would instead receive an additional three- to five-year prison sentence. “If you can get out of jail by volunteering your testicles,” Annas said, “that’s coercive.” He believes the law will not survive the inevitable court challenges from rights groups. “It is blatantly unconstitutional,” said Annas. “There is no way any judge in this country, even in Louisiana, would find this to be a valid punishment.” Giacomo Castrogiovanni, a lawyer who administers the reentry programme at Loyola University’s Law Clinic, described the new law as “very aggressive” and agrees it will face legal challenges. “I expect that is going to be a really strong challenge,” said Castrogiovanni — but he is less certain than Annas that it will be successful in striking down the law. “I really don’t know what’s going to come of that. It’ll be interesting.” Lawmakers in Louisiana voted to approve surgical castration for offenders convicted of aggravated sex crimes against children younger than 13, including rape and molestation [File: Stephen Smith/AP Photo] Questions of efficacy But beyond its legal merits, the surgical castration law has raised scrutiny about its efficacy in combatting sex crimes. Annas argued that the law would simply be ineffective. “It’s very hard to find a physician who thinks this makes any medical sense,” he said. The urge to commit sexual violence, he explained, “is not necessarily related to the amount of testosterone you have”. Dr Katrina Sifferd, a criminal justice researcher and former legal analyst for the National Institute of Justice, likewise expressed scepticism. “Sometimes there are claims that this is going to either rehabilitate, deter or incapacitate,” she said. “And it looks like that isn’t the case.” Sifferd explained that people who commit sex crimes against children do so for many different reasons: “trauma, aggression, a need for love — all sorts of things” that castration wouldn’t address. And castration doesn’t necessarily dampen sexual urges or prevent erections. “There’s no scientific evidence that this is going to ‘work’ to save anybody. And it’s certainly not going to cure the person of being a paedophile,” Annas said. For her part, Sifferd said she understands the reluctance to protect the rights of people who have committed grave crimes against children. But she stressed that corporal — or physical — punishment is not meant to be part of the US criminal legal system. “The criminal justice system has to maintain its moral authority. And every punishment that’s applied has to be justified,” she said. “Otherwise, it’s a real slippery slope in what we allow the state to do.” Advocates have criticised Louisiana for its hard-handed approach to crime and punishment, including through a slate of new laws [File: Judi Bottoni/AP Photo] A punitive approach The new law highlights longstanding concerns about the punitive nature of Louisiana’s criminal justice system. Louisiana has been called the “prison capital of the world”. It has the highest incarceration rate of any state in a country that already tops all other democracies for the proportion of people behind bars. Out of every 100,000 people in Louisiana, approximately 1,067 people are locked up in jails, prisons and detention centres. Louisiana’s surgical castration law comes into effect as part of a spate of legislation that creates even more crimes to prosecute. Among the laws taking effect on Thursday is a measure that makes it a crime to remain within 7.6 metres — or 25 feet — of a police officer after being warned to retreat. Another law will make the possession of unprescribed abortion medication punishable by up to five years behind bars. Another eliminates parole. The experts who spoke with Al Jazeera largely interpreted the new castration law as a Republican effort. Castrogiovanni, the lawyer, described it as “a new implementation of conservative policies”, which tend to reflect more punitive approaches to addressing crime. He pointed out that, until recently, Louisiana had a Democratic governor who could veto some of the
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 889
As the war enters its 889th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Friday, August 2, 2024. Fighting A mother and her daughter were killed by Russian shelling that hit the town of Nikopol in Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk region. Local governor Serhiy Lysak said private houses, a fire station, a college, a school and buses were damaged. Nikopol sits on the right bank of the Dnipro River Two people were injured by debris as Ukraine repelled a Russian drone attack on the region outside Kyiv. One of those hurt was Ilya Ponomaryov, a former Russian lawmaker who has lived in Ukraine for years and is a critic of the Kremlin. He wrote on Facebook that a drone exploded outside his front door, inflicting shrapnel wounds and causing a fire. Politics and diplomacy Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and a number of prominent Russian opposition politicians and activists who were jailed for criticising the war in Ukraine were among 26 people freed in the biggest prisoner swap between Russia and the West since the Cold War. Russia got back Vadim Krasikov, a Russian jailed in Germany for the assassination of a former Chechen rebel commander in 2019. Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, awarded two Ukrainian athletes – rower Anastasiia Kozhenkova and diver Oleksii Sereda – with the Grand Vermeil Medal, the French capital’s highest distinction, in a show of solidarity. Weapons The Kremlin said that Russian forces would shoot down US-built F-16 fighter jets sent to Ukraine, and claimed the aircraft would have no significant impact on the course of the war. The first planes arrived in Ukraine this week. Adblock test (Why?)
Hundreds protest across Nigeria over soaring cost of living, fuel prices
Demonstrators voice discontent over government reforms they say have triggered high inflation and devalued the currency. Nigerian troops and police have tightened security in Lagos and the capital, Abuja, as nationwide protests over the rising cost of living kicked off and are expected to continue for 10 days. Africa’s most populous country is struggling with soaring inflation and a sharply devalued naira currency after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu introduced reforms a year ago aimed at reviving the economy. Tagged #EndbadGovernanceinNigeria, the protest movement has won support with an online campaign among Nigerians who are battling with food inflation at 40 percent and fuel prices that have tripled since Tinubu introduced his reforms. On Thursday, police fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Abuja, the Reuters news agency reported. In the northern city of Kano, protesters tried to light bonfires outside the governor’s office and police responded with tear gas, the AFP news agency said. Security forces blocked roads leading to Abuja’s Eagle Square – one of the planned demonstration sites – while in Lagos, police and soldiers were placed at strategic points, including at the Lekki toll gate, where protests in 2020 against police brutality ended in bloodshed. “Duty is very clear: to ensure that the protest is peaceful, devoid of violence, devoid of the horrific things that happened during the rising in 2020,” Adegoke Fayoade, the state police commissioner in Lagos, told Al Jazeera. To ease the economic pain, the government on Wednesday announced some measures including delivering grain to states across the country and aid to the most needy. But in markets across Nigeria, residents stocked up on food and essentials amid concerns over the likelihood of growing violence during the demonstrations. “The police are brutalising the Nigerian people and people want that to stop,” activist Ismail Olushola Oladare, who participated in the 2020 protests, told Al Jazeera. “Today, this particular protest and bad governance protest is about the standard of living of people,” he said. Protest leaders, a loose coalition of civil society groups, promised to press on with rallies despite what they said were legal challenges trying to limit their rallies to public parks instead of marches. Omolola Pedro, a protest organiser, told Al Jazeera that the idea of the rallies was to let the government know that Nigerians have had enough of the government’s “abuse of human rights, unstable economic situation [resulting from] the policies that they have made”. The organisers have presented a list of 19 demands. At the core of their grievances is the removal of a state subsidy on petroleum products, which they blame for the crisis. The demonstrations come after weeks of unrest and antigovernment protests that turned violent in Kenya, where President William Ruto was forced to repeal planned tax hikes. In Uganda, police detained dozens of people as they took part in banned anticorruption protests organised online by young activists inspired by Kenya’s rallies. “Some groups of people, self-appointed crusaders and influencers, have been strategising and mobilising potential protesters to unleash terror in the land under the guise of replicating the recent Kenya protests,” said Kayode Egbetokun, Nigeria’s inspector general of police. “We will, therefore, not sit back and fold our arms to watch violent activities unleash violence on our peaceful communities or destroy any of our national critical infrastructure and assets again,” Egbetokun said after meeting senior officers in Abuja. Adblock test (Why?)
North Korea’s fleeing defectors
As China cracks down on North Korean defectors, 101 East follows two families’ desperate searches for freedom. China is expelling record numbers of North Korean defectors, instilling fear and desperation in this vulnerable community. In October 2023, 600 North Koreans were forcibly deported in the largest repatriation in years. Human rights groups say the defectors, who North Korea calls “traitors” and “criminals”, have disappeared since their return, and warn they may face imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, and even execution. 101 East has exclusive access inside this secretive world, where defectors share harrowing stories of survival, human trafficking and their fragile dreams of finding a safe haven. Adblock test (Why?)
Starmer meets police as far-right violence spikes after Southport stabbing
PM to offer ‘full backing’ to police chiefs as far-right activists attempt to stoke anger against Muslims and immigrants. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has convened police leaders for an emergency meeting following a second night of violent far-right protests after a stabbing spree in the town of Southport earlier in the week. Starmer called the meeting at Downing Street on Thursday to demonstrate the government’s “full backing” for police amid “multiple high-profile incidents of extreme violence and public disorder on our streets”, said an official statement. The Prime Minister’s Office said Starmer would tell police leaders that “while the right to peaceful protest must be protected at all costs”, he would make it clear that criminals exploiting that right to “sow hatred” and carry out violent acts would “face the full force of the law”. The country is reeling since the stabbing on Monday at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the English seaside town of Southport, which killed three girls – Bebe King, six; Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven; and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine. Eight other children and two adults were also wounded. The 17-year-old suspect, named as Axel Rudakubana, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday, facing three counts of murder and 10 of attempted murder following the killings. Prior to his court appearance, the suspect’s identity had been withheld owing to his age, but Liverpool judge Andrew Menary allowed the details to be released, justifying the decision on grounds of him turning 18 next week. Even though little was previously known about the suspect other than that he was born in Britain, the stabbing had been used by far-right activists spreading misinformation online to stoke anger at immigrants and Muslims. Protests led by the far-right on Wednesday night took place in three cities – London, Hartlepool and Manchester. In London, crowds massed outside Starmer’s 10 Downing Street official residence in London, throwing beer cans and bottles and chanting “Shame on you”, launching flares at a nearby statue of wartime leader and former Prime Minister Winston Churchill. More than 100 people were arrested. In Hartlepool, demonstrators set police cars on fire and threw bottles and eggs at the officers, with police saying eight arrests were made. A smaller disturbance was reported in Manchester. The previous night, more than 50 police officers were injured in violent clashes in Southport, in which bricks were thrown at a mosque and rubbish bins and vehicles were set on fire, hours after a peaceful vigil for the stabbing victims. Fifty-three police officers were injured. Police have blamed members of the far-right English Defence League grouping, an Islamophobic organisation founded 15 years ago whose supporters have been linked to football hooliganism. Adblock test (Why?)