South Africa’s Ramaphosa names new cabinet as deadlock broken
National unity government formed following weeks of deadlock. South Africa’s president has announced the formation of a new cabinet over a month after elections stripped his African National Congress (ANC) party of its majority. President Cyril Ramaphosa named 32 ministerial positions of the government of national unity late on Sunday, following weeks of deadlock that delayed the formation of an historic governing coalition. The announcement sees 20 of the 32 posts going to the ANC. Another six will be filled by the Democratic Alliance (DA) party, with the remainder split among a crowd of smaller coalition parties. Ramasopha was forced into the unprecedented power-sharing arrangement with DA and others after his party, a dominant force in South African politics since the end of the apartheid era, lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since 1994 in elections on May 29. Accustomed to comfortable victories of more than 60 percent, the ANC won just 40 percent of the vote in the May 29 election, as South Africans turned away from the party amid frustration over poverty, poor services, and some of the world’s highest rates of inequality and unemployment. The rival DA took the second-largest share with 21 percent. Ramaphosa said Sunday that those issues would be priorities for the new government. “We have shown that there are no problems that are too difficult or too intractable that they cannot be solved through dialogue,” said Ramaphosa. ‘Major shake-up’ It took more than a month of complex political manoeuvring, and concessions from the ANC, to piece together the government. In a nod to the DA, its leader John Steenhuisen was appointed minister of agriculture. At the same time, Ramaphosa maintained the ANC’s hold on the ministry of trade and industry, a key portfolio that the DA was also seeking. The ANC’s Paul Mashatile will also continue as deputy president. Steenhuisen, in a statement following the announcement, said: “We look forward to being part of a new era in South Africa’s democratic journey, and to bringing real and tangible change to the millions of citizens who voted for it.” Leader of South Africa’s main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party John Steenhuisen (C) reacts before casting his ballot, in Durban North, Durban, on May 29, [Gianluigi Guercia/AFP] Melanie Verwoerd, political analyst and former South African diplomat, told the Reuters news agency that the overhaul would help open up the political scene to new leaders and encourage compromise. “It is a major shake-up with very few of the old faces still in there, which is a good thing,” said Verwoerd. “I think in general it’s a very positive step and of course very positive that they could actually get this done.” What’s next? Whether the current loose coalition of former enemies can improve on the ANC’s record may depend on the extent to which they can put aside their ideological differences. The DA wants to scrap some of the ANC’s black empowerment programmes, saying that they have mostly made a politically connected business elite fabulously wealthy, and scrap the minimum wage. It also opposes the ANC’s desire to expropriate land – most of which is in white hands as a legacy of conquest by colonists and subsequent entrenched white minority rule – without compensation and give it to black farmers. Adblock test (Why?)
Ultra-Orthodox Jews clash with Israeli police over military conscription
NewsFeed Israeli police have cracked down on thousands of ultra-Orthodox men protesting against compulsory military service which they say goes against Jewish law. Israel’s High Court ruled last week that they are not exempt from conscription. Published On 1 Jul 20241 Jul 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Will Iran’s foreign policy change under a new president?
The two remaining candidates vying for the Iranian presidency, Saeed Jalili and Masoud Pezeshkian, offer voters distinct visions for the country’s future. However, experts say their differing views are unlikely to lead to a significant change in Iran’s foreign policy. Pezeskhian, a former health minister and surgeon, came first in Friday’s election but did not secure the 50 percent needed for an outright victory, forcing him into a run-off against second-placed Jalili to be held on July 5. Friday’s snap election was to pick a successor to President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in late May. Pezeshkian stands out in the race as the only non-conservative candidate allowed to run. He had the backing of reformists like former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, whose involvement likely indicates Pezeshkian will pursue a key reformist foreign policy goal: renegotiating a nuclear deal to alleviate sanctions on Iran’s economy and ease tensions with the West. The 2015 agreement between Iran and China, the European Union, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, United States, to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief, was signed under the centrist presidency of Hassan Rouhani. [embedded content] But three years later, then-US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal, crushing the hopes of those who believed it would have paved the way for Iran’s economic renaissance. Instead, the US imposed harsh new sanctions, and Iranian hardliners found new ground to say the West could not be trusted. Talks over the deal’s revival have since largely stalled. On the other side of the political spectrum, Jalili is considered the most rigid representative of conservative politics. A victory for this staunch hardliner – with the backing of other conservative first-round candidates – would mark an even more confrontational approach towards the West, especially the US, analysts say. Having served as the chief nuclear negotiator between 2007-2012, Jalili opposed the idea that Iran should discuss or compromise with other countries about its uranium enrichment programme – a stance he kept for the 2015 deal. Not the only decision-maker Regardless of the candidates’ markedly different stances, Iran’s president operates within a limited mandate. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) under him hold most of the say when it comes to foreign policy. “If you get 180-degree change between a Trump or a [current US President Joe] Biden administration on the general trajectory of the US, in Iran, with a change of presidency, you get a 45 percent difference – it’s not insignificant but not as impactful as in other countries,” said Ali Vaez, chief of International Crisis Group’s Iran programme. “There are elements of continuity that limit how much change one can see.” This has been floated as one of the reasons behind the 40 per cent turnout in Friday’s election – the lowest in Iran’s history since the 1979 Islamic Revolution – as voters appear to have lost hope that much can improve with a change of president. A reformist president would have to face the ultra-conservative forces dominating Iran’s parliament, while his ability to engage with the West would be tested by the country’s regional engagement, which has pitted it against allies of the West. In April, Iran launched a missile and drone attack against Israel in retaliation for an Israeli assault on the Iranian consular building in Damascus, Syria, which killed senior IRGC commanders. The unprecedented tit-for-tat came amid heightened regional tensions as Israel’s war on Gaza drags on and the potential of an all-out war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon looms larger. But while regional policies have long been strictly handled by the IRGC, nuclear negotiations with world powers are still on the table. On this matter, the president can set the tone and attitude, even if it is only for marginal changes, said Vali Nasr, a professor of Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University. “When it comes to the nuclear deal, the president can be very important in exploring possibilities for different kinds of outcomes,” Nasr said. “Pezeshkian would make a case to start talks with the US while Jalili would not.” Nuclear diplomacy is central to Iranians as it directly affects the country’s economy – the top concern of most Iranians. Successive governments have failed to tackle currency depreciation and inflation, which they have blamed on the Western sanctions regime. “For sanctions to be lifted, one needs to be interested in talking with the West – whether you have… an intransigent president, it does make a difference,” Nasr said. Iranian women on the day of an election to choose a successor to Ebrahim Raisi following his death in a helicopter crash, in Tehran on June 28, 2024 [Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters] The hardline approach A Jalili presidency would be in line with the late Raisi’s approach, who promised in his three-year tenure not to link the economy to nuclear talks with foreign powers. Instead, the government decided to rely on Iran’s internal capabilities, while pivoting its business towards the East, strengthening ties with China, Russia and neighbouring countries. Under the so-called “resistance economy”, Iran last year signed a China-brokered deal with Saudi Arabia ending a years-long cold war between the regional rivals. Raisi also pushed for Iran to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the country became a member of the BRICS bloc earlier this year. But the so-called turn to the East did not produce tangible results in terms of improving the economy – something the conservative camp has acknowledged – leaving any future president in need of striking a balance when it comes to direction. “Jalili won’t be able to completely avoid talks with the West, as Pezeshkian won’t focus just on nuclear talks,” said Hamid Reza Gholamzadeh, the director of DiploHouse, a think tank focused on foreign policy. He added that Iran’s foreign policy will also depend on external factors – most importantly, the US election in November. “The challenge is not from inside Iran but from
Paris 2024 Olympics 100m: Farzaneh Fasihi – Iran’s record-breaking sprinter
Tehran, Iran – It’s 2021, in Konya, Turkey, at the fifth edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games. Farzaneh Fasihi’s heart races as she bends into position at the start line, the lingering effects of a COVID-19 infection still wearing her down. Her chest is tight, but she’s determined to compete. The starter’s gun goes off, and she lunges forward as swiftly as she can, her legs churning faster than ever before. When she crosses the finish line, she collapses; not from exhaustion, but from the overwhelming emotion of breaking her own 100-metre sprint record, clocking a lightning-fast time of 11.12 seconds to win the silver medal. “On the night before a race, memories of my life gush through my mind. All the hardships I’ve endured and all my successes pass before my eyes like a film reel,” Fasihi told Al Jazeera, speaking in a Zoom interview from Belgrade, Serbia. She is at a training camp ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics, which kick off July 26, and where Iran’s fastest female runner of all time will compete in her favourite event, the 100-metre sprint. Fasihi is no stranger to challenges, but a strong support system in her personal life has seen her through it all. Farzaneh Fasihi of Iran wins a sliver medal in the 100-metres at the fifth Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya, Turkey on August 09, 2022 [Mustafa Ciftci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images] “I didn’t want to do it’ Born in 1993 in Isfahan, Iran, Fasihi, 31, hails from an athletic family. Her father was a volleyball player, and her brother a swimming and diving champion. “Before I got married, my father attended all my training sessions,” she recalls. “My mother also attended all my competitions. Without their support, I could not have succeeded.” From age five to 12, Fasihi did gymnastics. She recalls how her first foray into competitive sprinting was more by chance than design. “In middle school, my gym teacher forced me to participate in a running competition. I didn’t want to do it,” Fasihi remembers. That day, she broke the Isfahan provincial record, igniting her passion for track and field. In 2016, she made her international debut. Fasihi’s team performed well above expectations, winning the silver medal in the 4×400 metre relay at the Asia Indoor Athletics Championship in Doha, Qatar. But her standout performance did not catapult her sprinting career to new heights. With little support from the Iranian track and field federation, she left it all behind and became a personal fitness trainer. That all changed in late 2018, when she decided to give competitive sprinting a second try. A year later, that decision led to an unexpected outcome: she married one of her coaches, Amir Hosseini, who has been her staunchest supporter. Farzaneh Fasihi during a training session with coach and husband Amir Hosseini at Aftab Enghelab Sports Complex in Tehran, Iran [Maryam Majd ATPImages via Getty Images] Fasihi constantly works on her technique and power, which are essential for an elite 100-metre sprinter. Athlete training facilities in Iran are not up to the same standards as other nations that invest heavily in sport [Maryam Majd ATP Images via Getty Images] In 2020, with a support structure now firmly established with Hosseini, Fasihi’s career literally took off. She participated in the World Athletics Indoor Championships, where the relatively unknown runner scorched the track with a sensational entry record time of 7.29 seconds in the 60-metre sprint held in Belgrade, Serbia. Not only had Fasihi come out of nowhere to post a fast time – but she had also created history by becoming the first Iranian woman to compete at the championship. Her shock performance in Belgrade was where she was first given the nickname “Jaguar,” a testament to her ferocious speed off the starting block. A year later, in 2021, she signed with the Serbian athletics club BAK, becoming the first female legionnaire – which effectively means a club signs and sponsors a foreign athlete to relocate and compete for them – in Iran track and field history. “Becoming a legionnaire was a new path. It was a great risk, but I felt deep inside that I had to do it,” she said, hoping that it would inspire other female Iranian athletes. Setting the record straight – this one’s ‘for the people’ In 2023, Fasihi would then go on to win gold at the 60-metre race at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, clocking a scintillating time of 7.28 seconds. As outstanding and celebratory as that personal-best performance was – the setting of a new Asian 60-metre sprinting record would ordinarily be cause for wild celebrations – the day would be remembered for something far more profound. As Fasihi walked to the podium, she turned directly to the camera and shouted: “For the people of Iran. For the happiness of the people of Iran!” Her moment of protest went viral on social media, with Fasihi declining to carry the Iranian flag and instead bowing her head as she shed silent tears, refusing to sing the national anthem on the victory dias. This was her statement, or way, to express the tragedy of the young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who in 2022 collapsed and died, allegedly after she was detained by Iran’s morality police for wearing an “improper hijab” (headscarf). Amini’s death made international news headlines and galvanised female activists all over the world through the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement. Fasihi has broken the Iranian 60 and 100-metre sprinting record on multiple occasions and is currently the number one ranked sprinter in Asia for 60-metres. She lives and trains in the capital, Tehran [Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters] Olympic dreaming Two years earlier, Fasihi had already taken the first step towards her Olympic dream when she was selected through the so-called universality placement to participate in Tokyo 2020. Universality placement is a policy set by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) allowing athletes from underrepresented countries to participate, even if they
At least seven dead as fierce storms lash France, Switzerland, Italy
Authorities say hundreds evacuated as torrential rains cause flooding and landslides. Ferocious storms and torrential rains that lashed France, Switzerland and Italy this weekend have killed seven people, local authorities have said. Three people in their 70s and 80s died in France’s northeastern Aube region on Saturday when a tree crushed the car they were travelling in during fierce winds, the local authority told the AFP news agency on Sunday. A fourth passenger was in critical care, it added. In neighbouring Switzerland, four people have died and another two are missing, according to local police, after violent thunderstorms and melting snow caused flooding and landslides in two southern cantons. Three of the victims were killed early on Sunday in a landslide in the remote Maggia valley, in the Italian-speaking Alpine canton of Ticino, police said in a statement. The three bodies were recovered in the Fontana area of the Maggia valley and they were currently being identified, while another person was missing in the Lavizzara side arm of the valley, Ticino authorities said. Difficult rescue efforts The civil security services said “several hundred” people were evacuated in Valais and roads closed after the Rhone and its tributaries overflowed in different locations. Emergency services were assessing the best way to evacuate 300 people who had arrived for a football tournament in Peccia, while almost 70 more were being evacuated from a holiday camp in the village of Mogno. The poor weather was making rescue work particularly difficult, police had said earlier, with several valleys inaccessible and cut off from the electricity network. The federal alert system also said part of the canton was without drinking water. Extreme rainfall also struck southeastern Switzerland last weekend, killing one person and causing major damage. In northern Italy’s Aosta valley, internet users shared images of spectacular floods and swollen rivers rushing down mountain slopes. Scientists say climate change driven by human activity is increasing the severity, frequency and length of extreme weather events such as floods and storms. Adblock test (Why?)
Six Palestinians killed as Israeli forces pound southern, northern Gaza
At least six Palestinians have been killed in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), and several homes have been destroyed as Israeli forces pushed deeper into the city and pressed further into Shujayea in northern Gaza. Israeli tanks, which re-entered Shujayea four days ago, fired shells towards several houses, leaving families trapped inside and unable to leave, residents said. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that “60,000 to 80,000 people were displaced” from Shujayea in recent days. For those who remain, “our lives have become hell”, said 50-year-old resident Siham al-Shawa. She told the AFP news agency that people were trapped as strikes could happen “anywhere” and “it is difficult to get out of the neighbourhood under fire”. “We do not know where to go to protect ourselves,” she said. Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said residents who managed to flee the neighbourhood say the scale of destruction is “massive”. He said the central areas of Gaza City have also been “pounded” by Israeli forces. “In the past hour, a residential flat was targeted. Medical sources we’ve talked to say at least 15 people have been killed today in the north after people’s homes were directly hit by artillery shells,” Abu Azzoum said. He noted that in Rafah, there was a continuation of “indiscriminate Israeli attacks as residents flee for their lives”. “In the al-Mawasi district – declared a ‘safe zone’ by Israel’s military – they’ve been setting fire to makeshift tent camps where displaced Palestinians have been sheltering,” he added. Speaking at a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his stance that there was no substitute for victory in the war against Hamas. “We are committed to fighting until we achieve all of our objectives: Eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages, ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel and returning our residents securely to their homes in the south and the north,” he said. ‘Empty shells’ Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan meanwhile said there’s been no progress in ceasefire talks. He said on Saturday that the Palestinian group is still ready to discuss any truce proposal that ends the nearly nine-month assault. While the offensive focused on Gaza, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, one man was killed and five were wounded in an Israeli strike near the city of Tulkarem, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The armed wing of Hamas and the allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad reported fierce fighting in both Shujayea and Rafah, saying their fighters had fired antitank rockets and mortar bombs against Israeli forces operating there. Arab mediators’ efforts, backed by the United States, have stalled. Hamas says any deal must end the offensive and bring a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in the fighting until Hamas, which has governed Gaza since 2007, is eradicated. The Palestinian health ministry said 43 bodies of slain Palestinians arrived at hospitals in the last 24-hour reporting period. At least 111 others were wounded. Israel’s offensive has so far killed at least 37,877 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, and has left the heavily built-up coastal enclave in ruins. Israeli tanks pushed deeper into several districts in the east, west and centre of Rafah, near the border with Egypt, on Sunday, and medics said six people had been killed in an Israeli strike on a house in Shaboura, in the heart of the city. Six bodies from the Zurub family were transferred to Nasser Hospital in the nearby city of Khan Younis, where dozens of relatives paid their respects. 🚨The Palestine Red Crescent crews retrieved the bodies of six martyrs from the Zourab family after their home was targeted by Israeli occupation forces in western Rafah, southern #Gaza Strip. 📷Filmed by PRCS volunteer: Mohamed Al-Saksik. pic.twitter.com/lpxJGfJaew — PRCS (@PalestineRCS) June 30, 2024 Residents said the Israeli army had torched the Al-Awda mosque in the centre of Rafah, one of the city’s best known. Israel has said its military operations in Rafah are aimed at eradicating the last armed battalions of Hamas. It continues to severely restrict the entry of much-needed humanitarian aid, medicine, and fuel into the enclave, which is on the verge of famine. The United Nations and other relief agencies have voiced alarm over the dire humanitarian crisis and the threat of starvation that the assault and Israeli siege have brought for Gaza’s 2.4 million people. “Everything is rubble,” said Louise Wateridge from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), speaking Friday from the city of Khan Younis. “There’s no water there, there’s no sanitation, there’s no food. And now, people are living back in these buildings that are empty shells.” Adblock test (Why?)
The hidden dangers of Zimbabwe’s informal savings clubs
Harare, Zimbabwe – It was two days before Christmas in the low-income neighbourhood of Mabvuku in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare. Music played, people chatted and most were in a festive mood. But not the small group of women marching down a narrow, pothole-ridden street on their way to the house of their savings club’s treasurer. They had a much more serious matter in mind. The previous day, the women were meant to share out money they had been saving together for the last six months to use for Christmas shopping. But when they called the mobile number of their club’s treasurer, they got an automated response: “The number you have dialled is not available.” They tried his number multiple times, but to no avail. Informal savings clubs have gained popularity in Zimbabwe in recent years, especially among women and people in the informal economy who may not trust banks or have access to traditional savings and loan options, experts say. Known locally as mukando, meaning contribution, these clubs usually have about a dozen members who come together to save money. Some clubs have a central member who collects everyone’s contribution and keeps it until the saving cycle has ended, after which it is distributed. Throughout the cycle, members are allowed to borrow money from the pot and pay it back to the club with interest. In a slightly different version of the savings club, contributions are collected and the full amount is given to a different member at certain intervals. When the member pays back the money, they do so with interest. In both cases, the interest gets added to the full pot of money, which is then shared out at the end of a savings cycle – letting members get their original savings with an extra amount added. While many who join these clubs find this system an essential source of support, these clubs are also unregistered, unregulated and depend on good faith between members, something experts say, leaves members open to being swindled. Women sell books in a low-income neighbourhood in Harare [File: Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters] ‘I regret it’ One of the women marching down the street in Mabvuku that day in December 2023 in search of her saving club’s treasurer was Carol Madzimo, a 24-year-old hairdresser from the area. She had joined the club together with her mother so they could save money for Christmas groceries. “My aunt invited us to join the savings club,” Madzimo told Al Jazeera. “The savings club was supposed to run from July to December, at which point we were supposed to share the money we had been contributing to the club every month [plus the extra earned from interest].” But things didn’t go quite as planned. The treasurer, who had all the money the 20 members had been saving for six months – $1,200 – plus an additional unknown interest amount, disappeared on the day they were supposed to share out the proceeds. That’s when some of the members, including Madzimo, decided to go to his house to confront him. “Christmas was just two days away and we hadn’t received a single cent to buy the Christmas groceries we had saved so hard for,” Madzimo told Al Jazeera. “So you can imagine the frustrations we carried to the treasurer’s house that day.” The treasurer, however, was not home. His wife said she hadn’t seen or heard from him in two days. The savings club was in disarray; nobody knew what to do. Some suggested filing a police report, but the club never followed through because people were hesitant to report a fellow member of their community to the police. It was already well into January before the club heard from the treasurer again. “He gave us an excuse for his unavailability,” Madzimo said, adding that what he said “made no sense”. It turned out that the treasurer had been using the members’ savings and the interest money for his own use, Madzimo said. She wasn’t sure exactly how much interest was accrued because the treasurer kept all the books, and the other members had simply trusted him. Carol Madzimo regrets joining the informal savings club [Zachariah Mushawatu/al Jazeera] Eventually, he returned to each member the amount they had input over the six months – $60 – but did not give them any of the profits from the loans or interest. “I regret [joining the savings club],” Madzimo told Al Jazeera, upset at the ordeal they all had to endure. “However, at least I got back all the money I put in as monthly contributions,” she added. Tanaka Mutyori, who joined a different savings club, wasn’t as fortunate. ‘I thought it was a good idea’ In 2023, Mutyori, 26, used to run her own business in a building in Harare’s city centre. “I had my own thing going,” she told Al Jazeera. “I sold drinks and refreshments from big fridges. Business was booming!” But things took a turn after Mutyori joined a savings club last April. “I joined a savings club in the building I ran my business from. I used to contribute $50 every week.” The club was supposed to save money for a period of 18 weeks and share the savings equally among its five members. It was also supposed to distribute the interest gained from loaning out money to members throughout the saving period. “Before I joined the club, I witnessed some members buy cars using money they got from the club, so I genuinely thought it was a good idea,” Mutyori said. After she joined, however, when the time came to share the club’s money, the group’s leader kept shifting dates. “Initially, we were supposed to share the money on Heroes’ Day [August 12], but the leader kept changing the date. It wasn’t long till we came to the conclusion that he didn’t have our money,” Mutyori lamented. When the club confronted him, the leader said he had lent all the money to his pastor at church who had
What’s at stake in France’s snap elections?
NewsFeed People in France are set to vote in snap parliamentary elections described as a major gamble by President Macron as he tries to combat a surge by the far-right. Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler takes a look at what’s at stake. Published On 30 Jun 202430 Jun 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 856
As the war enters its 856th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Sunday, June 30, 2024. Fighting Four employees of Russia’s Ministry of Civil Defence, Emergencies and Disaster Relief have been injured in Ukrainian shelling of the Donetsk region, the ministry said. Russia’s air defence systems destroyed 36 drones launched by Ukraine overnight targeting several regions in the southwest, according to the Russian Ministry of Defence. Fifteen drones were destroyed over the Kursk region, nine over the Lipetsk region, four each over the Voronezh and Bryansk regions and two each over the Oryol and Belgorod regions, the ministry said. Separately, the Kursk governor said the Ukrainian forces shelled parts of the region through Saturday. The Russian Defence Ministry also said its forces had taken control of the settlement of Shumy in eastern Ukraine, according to state media. Moscow’s forces fired missiles at the town of Vilniansk, outside the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing seven people, including two children, and injuring 31 others, Ukrainian officials say. Diplomacy and politics A speech by Nigel Farage, the British right-wing leader, was interrupted when a banner of Russian President Vladimir Putin descended from the ceiling at an election rally. Ukraine and Russia say priests were among the dozens of captured soldiers and civilians they had exchanged earlier this week. Weapons Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for “accelerated” Western arms deliveries after deadly Russian strikes, saying, “any delay in decisions in this war means the loss of human lives”. Belarus says it has deployed additional air defence forces to its border with Ukraine to protect “critical infrastructure facilities” due to increased Ukrainian drone activity in the area. Adblock test (Why?)
Iraq: 5 big ISIL bombs found hidden in Mosul’s al-Nuri Mosque
Iraqi authorities requested UNESCO halt all reconstruction operations at al-Nuri Mosque and evacuate the entire complex until the devices are disarmed. Five large bombs were discovered hidden in the walls of the historic al-Nuri Mosque in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, a remnant of the armed group ISIL’s (ISIS’s) rule over the region. The mosque – famous for its 12th-century leaning minaret – was destroyed by ISIL in 2017 and has been a focal point of the UN cultural agency UNESCO’s restoration efforts since 2020. The UN agency said five large-scale explosive devices, designed for significant destruction, were found inside the southern wall of the Prayer Hall on Tuesday. “These explosive devices were concealed within a specially rebuilt section of the wall,” a UNESCO statement said on Saturday. “Iraqi authorities were promptly notified, secured the area, and the situation is now fully under control. One bomb has been defused and removed while the remaining four are interconnected and will be safely disposed of in the coming days.” Iraqi authorities requested UNESCO halt all reconstruction operations at al-Nuri Mosque and evacuate the entire complex until the devices are disarmed. ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared “a caliphate” from the mosque a decade ago on June 29, 2014, leading to its destruction when fighters blew it up during the battle to liberate Mosul in 2017. Mosul remains in ruins The discovery of the bombs underscores ongoing challenges in clearing Mosul of explosives and revitalising its devastated urban areas. International efforts, supported by the United Nations, focus on mine clearance and aiding in the city’s recovery. Despite progress, much of Mosul’s old city remains in ruins, marked by minefield warning signs, highlighting the complexity of post-conflict reconstruction. UNESCO aims to complete the full reconstruction of al-Nuri Mosque by December, “finally erasing the stigma of the Daesh occupation,” the statement said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL’s name. A decade after the armed group declared its caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria, ISIL no longer controls any land, lost many prominent leaders, and is mostly out of the news headlines. Still, the group continues to recruit members and claim responsibility for deadly attacks around the world, including lethal operations in Iran and Russia earlier this year that left many dead. Adblock test (Why?)