G7 leaders to kick off summit in Italy’s southern Apulia
Additional aid to Ukraine, the war in Gaza and investment in Africa will dominate the agenda of the three-day forum. Bari, Italy – Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries are gearing up for a three-day summit to discuss global affairs in the southern region of Puglia (Apulia). The event will start on Thursday in Borgo Egnazia, a luxurious resort surrounded by olive trees in the style of a medieval village and very much loved by celebrities including popstar Madonna. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the host of this year’s summit, will be welcoming the heads of state of the seven members – the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and the United Kingdom – as well as the chiefs of the European Council and the European Commission. As the “like-minded” group tries to shake off its reputation of being a club just for the wealthy West, Italy has extended an invitation to more than 10 other countries for sideline discussions. These include UAE’s Mohamed bin Zayed, Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Notable absentees are Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who, according to a list seen by Al Jazeera, had been invited. The timing could not be better for Meloni, who will preside over the summit as Europe’s rising star following her far-right party’s victory at the recent European Parliament elections that saw a turn to the right across the continent. “I’m proud to be heading to the G7 with the strongest government of all,” the prime minister said on her way to Puglia. The luxurious Borgo Egnazia resort is a contemporary take on a medieval village [Giuseppe Lami/EPA] Africa and the Mediterranean – two key national security issues – will feature prominently in the summit. Meloni is expected to expand her flagship foreign policy, the so-called Mattei Plan. The project aims to position Italy as a major energy hub between Europe and the African continent in the hope of boosting growth in Africa and, in turn, curbing immigration to Europe. Support for Ukraine is also top of the agenda. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to arrive on the summit’s first day for two sessions dedicated to the war-torn country. The G7’s most anticipated outcome is an agreement over a $50bn loan for Ukraine backed by profits accrued on Russian assets frozen in the West soon after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. An Italian source told Al Jazeera there was political will to announce a deal at the summit, even if some technical issues need ironing out. Such an agreement, the source said, would send a strong message of unity with Kyiv at a time when Ukrainian soldiers are on the back foot, and Moscow is making steady gains in the east and north of the country. A potential change in the White House in the US’s November elections has added to the urgency. Another session is on the Middle East, where Israel’s war on Gaza is expected to dominate talks. Observers say leaders are likely to reiterate past positions, from calling on Hamas to accept a ceasefire deal laid out by US President Joe Biden, to acknowledging the importance of a two-state solution for peace in the region. Among the guests, there will also be Pope Francis – marking the first time a pontiff has been invited to the summit – for a session dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI). Other specific sessions will then be on migration, financial issues and the situation in the Asia Pacific. A final statement is expected on Saturday. This is usually a document that indicates the direction the group’s members intend to follow – crafting future policies while offering the rest of the world a window into their priorities. Adblock test (Why?)
From Bellingham to Mbappe: 10 top players to watch at UEFA Euro 2024
Euro 2024 kicks off in Germany when the hosts take on Scotland at Munich’s Allianz Arena in Group A on June 14, Friday. High-profile players and breakout stars from the best leagues in the world will compete in the month-long Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) championship. Here’s a look at our top 10 players to watch during the tournament: ⚽ Jude Bellingham (England) Jude Bellingham’s stunning debut season at Spanish mega club Real Madrid has rapidly turned the attacking English midfielder into one of the hottest commodities in European football. Bellingham took the Spanish giants by storm with 18 league goals in the 2023-24 season, helping Madrid win the La Liga title and reach the Champions League final. Apart from his impressive statistics, the 20-year-old’s leadership qualities and winning mentality have earned him the status of a hero among the Bernabeu faithful. Bellingham will be keen to build on his spectacular club performance and could be the X factor in England’s Euro 2024 campaign, as they look to claim a maiden European nations title. England’s chances at Euro 2024 may rest with how well star midfielder Jude Bellingham performs in Germany [Matthew Childs/Reuters] ⚽ Florian Wirtz (Germany) Florian Wirtz was named the Bundesliga’s Player of the Year for his key role in Xabi Alonso’s revolutionary 2023-24 title-winning team at Bayer Leverkusen, as the attacking midfielder racked up the joint second-most assists (11) and scored an equal number of goals. Wirtz is one of the brightest stars to emerge out of Germany in the last decade, with a rare talent to control and dominate the midfield in a way few other players in world football can. If host Euro 2024 nation Germany is to have any chance of winning the trophy on home soil, Wirtz will need to be at his impactful best in order for them to succeed. Germany’s hopes of securing a home Euros title rest on the 21-year-old shoulders of attacking midfield sensation Florian Wirtz [Thilo Schmuelgen/Reuters] ⚽ Xavi Simons (Netherlands) Xavi Simons is a product of Barcelona’s La Masia Academy and his game boasts admirable traits of ‘Total Football’ – a tactical system common in Dutch and Spanish football in which any outfield player can take over the role of any other player – allowing the 21-year-old to impact a game from a multitude of positions. At RB Leipzig, Simons operated on both wings and also as an attacking midfielder, carrying the ball around, maximising possession and creating goal-scoring opportunities for his teammates. If given the game time and attacking liberty by manager Ronald Koeman, Simons can be a standout player for the Netherlands, allowing the Dutch a puncher’s chance to defeat the main contenders at Euro 2024. Xavi Simons’ sublime talent on the Dutch national team elevates the Netherlands from pretenders to contenders at Euro 2024 [Piroschka Van De Wouw/Reuters] ⚽ Rasmus Hojlund (Denmark) Having joined Manchester United as their most expensive signing in the summer of 2023, Rasmus Hojlund fully justified his price tag, scoring 10 English Premier League goals and at just 21 years old, becoming the youngest player to reach double-figure goals in the 2023-24 EPL season. After overcoming injury issues and a form slump, Hojlund emerged as a promising attacking talent in the final months of the Premier League and will be keen to carry that form into Euro 2024. In the past year, Hojlund has also thrived at an international level, leading Denmark’s attack with a sizzling seven goals during the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign. Euro 2024 could be forward Rasmus Hojlund’s breakout party as Denmark dare to dream of their first European championship since their miraculous Euro 1992 title [Liselotte Sabroe/Reuters] ⚽ Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium) Playmaker Kevin De Bruyne was the midfield maestro behind Manchester City’s victorious 2023-24 English Premier League (EPL) title charge, orchestrating the Sky Blues’ charge to their fourth straight EPL title. The Belgian was almost unstoppable in the second half of the season for City and is on form at the right time with Euro 2024 beginning mid-June. Belgium will hope De Bruyne is fit and firing for the Euros, where they could benefit from his experience in a new-look squad that is hoping to improve on the team’s quarterfinal appearances at Euro 2016 and Euro 2020. Victorious Manchester City captain Kevin De Bruyne, in white, will be hoping to lead Belgium to Euro 2024 glory, as well [Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters] ⚽ Kenan Yildiz (Turkey) Eighteen-year-old Kenan Yildiz transformed Max Allegri’s dull Juventus side in Italy’s Serie A, helping the defensive-minded team score far more than expected. His presence improved not only his fellow striker Dusan Vlahovic’s form, but also Juve’s wingbacks, allowing them space between the lines. As one of Serie A’s most exciting attackers, Yildiz stands on the brink of stardom for Turkey, for whom he scored his first international goal against Germany in November last year. Euro 2024 will be a homecoming of sorts for the lanky forward: Yildiz was born in Regensburg, Germany to a Turkish father and a German mother. He will be hoping to elevate Turkey to at least the quarterfinals after the country was disappointingly knocked out at the group stage in the last two Euros. Talented Turkish forward Kenan Yildiz will return to his place of birth in Germany with one thing on his mind: winning his country’s first Euro title [Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters] ⚽ Lamine Yamal (Spain) At just 16 years old, Lamine Yamal already has set a list of extraordinary records in his young career: youngest scorer for Barcelona, youngest scorer in La Liga history and youngest scorer for the Spanish national team. This Spanish wonderkid’s explosive nature on the wings and unique ability to find the back of the net makes him one of the best options the national team will have in attack at Euro 2024 in Germany. Euro 2024 may turn out to be the global coming-out party for the player many believe is one of the greatest 16-year-old prospects to ever
More than 80 people dead in DR Congo after boat capsizes
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY, President Felix Tshisekedi calls for investigation after boat accident on Kwa River in Mai-Ndombe province. More than 80 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have died after the boat they were travelling on sank, President Felix Tshisekedi has announced. The accident on Wednesday occurred on the Kwa River, about 70km (43 miles) from the city of Mushie in Mai-Ndombe province. “The President of the Republic is calling for an investigation into the true causes of this unfortunate incident, to prevent such a disaster from happening again in the future,” the presidency said in a post on X. Deadly boat accidents are common in the DRC, where vessels are frequently loaded well beyond their capacity. Adblock test (Why?)
Can Trump rein in his own base on abortion?
With the presidential campaign well under way in the United States, abortion rights are shaping up to be one of the defining issues of the 2024 election. President Joe Biden has placed it at the top of his electoral agenda, seeking to rally progressive and women voters. Polls have consistently shown a majority of Americans support abortion remaining legal while a number of legislative initiatives to pass abortion bans in Republican-dominated states have failed. That has caused former President Donald Trump to rethink his own campaign strategy on the issue. Fearing he may alienate moderate voters, he has significantly toned down his rhetoric on abortion rights, recently indicating that he would not sign a national abortion ban. This is not the first time Trump has flip-flopped on a key issue of public interest. He did so during the COVID-19 pandemic when he dressed his endorsement of vaccines in caveats about “personal freedoms” to please his support base. But this time, this strategy may backfire. To be clear, Trump doesn’t substantively care about abortion rights. He seems to have gone from being “very pro-choice” in 1999 to being “pro-life” in 2011 to advocating legal punishment for women who had abortions during his 2016 campaign. However, Trump does care about winning, or more precisely about being perceived as a winner. That is why as recently as last year, he was taking credit for “killing” Roe v Wade, the landmark case that guaranteed abortion rights until the Supreme Court overturned it in 2022. “After 50 years of failure with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform last year, adding: “Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing.” The problem that Trump now has is that the MAGA crowd sit far to the right of him on the issue of abortion and he does not seem able to rein them in. In fact, moderating his rhetoric on abortion may alienate some of his supporters, especially the white conservative evangelical base. For evangelicals, the fight against abortion has been the centrepiece of their unspoken bargain with Trump: We’ll ignore your many moral and legal failings as long as you push forward our agenda. They may perceive Trump’s moderation of rhetoric as a betrayal of this bargain at a time when they have built momentum towards eliminating all legal abortions in Republican-controlled states. Trump might try to hold onto these voters with other issues, such as LGBTQ rights, exaggerated narratives about urban crime and so on. But those may not be enough. Already Trump is feeling the heat from conservatives. In April, Republicans in the Arizona State Legislature blocked a Democrat-led effort to repeal an 1864 law banning abortion, defying Trump, who had said the ban “went too far”. Days later, former Vice President Mike Pence, a devout Christian, criticised his former boss in a New York Times opinion piece, accusing him of “retreating” on the abortion issue, displaying “weakness” and “leading other Republicans astray” by encouraging moderation. In early May, moderate Republicans in Arizona joined Democrats to repeal the 1864 law, but conservatives continued to defend abortion bans. The eagerness of state-level Republicans to restrict abortion and their recalcitrance against calls for moderation, even from fellow Republicans, create a challenge for Trump. So he may change strategy and avoid confronting abortion hardliners. This seems to be in play already. Trump was recently scheduled to virtually address supporters at an event hosted by the Danbury Institute, an ultraconservative organisation that seeks to completely ban abortion, which it considers “child sacrifice”. However, instead of doing a speech, his campaign sent a two-minute recorded message to be played to the audience in which he made one passing reference to protecting “innocent life” but otherwise sidestepped the issue of abortion entirely. As much as he tries, Trump will be unable to avoid an issue that is mobilising voters against the Republican Party, especially as the Biden campaign has already started to hang the abortion albatross around his neck. The topic will almost certainly come up in one or both of the debates the two candidates have agreed to have, and a number of states like Florida will have abortion measures on the ballot in November. Trump may also try to sell his supporters the idea that it’s politically expedient to moderate, at least until after the election. But many of his most fervent anti-abortion supporters are eager to capitalise on the successes they have had during and after his first term in office. Trump may, therefore, find it difficult to contain the political forces that he has unleashed, a reality that could end up costing him and his anti-abortion supporters victory in November. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 838
As the war enters its 838th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Wednesday, June 12, 2024. Fighting Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv, said the number of Russian attacks on the city had fallen since Ukraine’s army struck missile launch positions in Russia. While missile and drone attacks were continuing, Terekhov told the Reuters news agency that enabling Ukrainian forces to target sites across the border had helped bring relative “calm”. Russia claimed to have seized two more Ukrainian villages – Myasozharivka in the Luhansk region and Tymkivka in the northeastern Kharkiv region – Russia’s state TASS news agency reported, citing the Ministry of Defence. India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said two Indian nationals recruited by the Russian army were killed recently on the battlefield. The ministry urged the Russian ambassador in New Delhi and authorities in Moscow to quickly release and return all Indian nationals who are with the Russian army, and stop any further recruitment of Indian nationals, it added in a statement. Politics and diplomacy White House spokesman John Kirby said the United States will announce new “impactful” sanctions and export controls during the G7 summit in southern Italy later this week, targeting entities and networks helping Russia fight its war against Ukraine. “We’re going to continue to drive up costs for the Russian war machine,” Kirby said. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jin said Beijing would oppose all unilateral sanctions after new warnings from G7 countries on small Chinese banks about their links to Russia. Germany’s far-right AfD and far-left BSW parties boycotted a parliamentary address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who earlier had warned that pro-Russian rhetoric posed a growing threat to the European Union. The AfD and BSW, which are both opposed to military support for Ukraine, made huge gains in the EU parliamentary elections. The US said the Azov brigade of 2024, pictured on the front lines in January, is different from the militia that was set up in 2014 and later disbanded [Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo] The United Nations annual Children in Armed conflict report said the Russian army and its “affiliated armed groups” had killed 80 children in Ukraine in 2023 and injured 339. The report, due to be published on Thursday but seen by multiple news agencies, said violence against children in armed conflict reached “extreme levels” in 2023. The Moscow Regional Court upheld a ruling that 19-year-old Maksim Lypkan, who was arrested in February 2023 as he planned a protest against the Ukraine offensive, must remain in a psychiatric hospital and be subjected to involuntary psychiatric treatment, according to SOTA independent media. Lypkan was charged with spreading “fake [information] on the Russian army”. Russian President Vladimir Putin will keep demoted ally Nikolai Patrushev, a Cold War warrior who crafted the Kremlin’s national security strategy, on Russia’s national Security Council, according to a decree. The council is a consultative body chaired by Putin. Weapons Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on allies to increase their air defence support to help protect Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, telling delegates at an international conference on rebuilding Ukraine that at least seven Patriot missile systems were needed. The US State Department said it had conducted a “thorough review” of Ukraine’s Azov brigade and found “no evidence” of human rights violations, clearing the way for the unit to receive training and weapons from the US. Washington said the current brigade was different from the “Azov battalion” that was established a decade ago and “disbanded in 2015” and was blighted by accusations that some members held openly far-right and extremist views. Adblock test (Why?)
Malaysia’s Mahathir denies corruption, says most of his money ‘now gone’
Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has denied engaging in corruption, saying he earned his money from his salary during his decades-long political career and most of it is “now gone”. In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Mahathir, who is under investigation by the country’s anticorruption agency, hit out at current Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim over remarks that implied that he had used his time in office to enrich himself and his family. “I am curious as I have not seen this money and don’t know where they are. If I had taken the money, tell the court how you [Anwar] conclude that I had taken the money,” said Mahathir, 98, who is pursuing a 150 million ringgit ($32m) defamation action against his protégé-turned-rival. Mahathir, who led Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and again from 2018 to 2020, said he was willing to go to Switzerland with Anwar to look for banks where he could have stashed away his money. “If we can find such a bank, I will withdraw 100 percent of the money and give it to the Malays,” Mahathir said. Mahathir also accused Anwar of targeting his two eldest sons, Mirzan Mahathir and Mokhzani Mahathir. Anwar, who served as Mahathir’s deputy during the 1990s, has denied targeting political rivals and said he does not intervene in the legal process. “As he [Anwar] stated, he had files, boxes, documents which shows I have taken money. Well show, if you have the boxes, show them. But until now, he has not shown [the boxes]. Instead, he has tried to bypass [that] and now, he is going after my children Mokhzani and Mirzan,” Mahathir said. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim served as Mahathir’s deputy during the 1990s [Franck Robichon/pool via AFP] In January, the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) ordered Mirzan Mahathir and Mokhzani Mahathir to declare their assets as part of inquiries prompted by the Pandora and Panama Papers leaks. The anticorruption agency in April confirmed that it was investigating Mahathir as part of the probe. Mahathir said he does not benefit from his sons’ business activities. “They don’t give me money from their business,” he said. Malaysia’s long-serving leader said he forbade his sons from doing business in the country while he was in office as he did not want to be accused of nepotism. “Mokhzani only succeeded in business after I stepped down. During the time I was prime minister, he was not well-known for being a successful businessman. He was employed by petroleum companies as he was trained in that field,” Mahathir said. Addressing the source of his wealth, Mahathir said that he earned a monthly salary of 8,000 ringgit ($1,700) when he first became prime minister, rising to 20,000 ringgit ($4,240) by the time he stepped down in 2020. “For me, that was a fantastic sum… a very big sum of money,” said Mahathir, adding that he was paid 2,000 ringgit ($420) a month when he started out as a medical doctor in private practice in the 1950s. Mahathir said that he was also provided with benefits, including a house and a car, which helped him to spend little while in office. “They paid for my electricity, water bill… government gives me transportation, cars and drivers. I don’t have to pay anything,” Mahathir said. “Even flying, the planes were at my disposal. So what I needed in terms of doing my work as a prime minister were all provided for by the government and the salary I got. I saved it for over 29 years – from being a minister of education to retiring as a prime minister.” In 2018, Mahathir declared assets worth 32.35 million ringgit ($6.9m). Mahathir said that when he first stepped down as prime minister in 2003, he rejected an offer from the government for a free piece of land in Putrajaya, a city about 25km (15.5 miles) south of Kuala Lumpur. “I said no, I don’t take free land. So I bought the land. I paid 1 million ringgit [$212,000] for 5 acres [2 hectares] of land. It is on record that I did not take a single cent from the government,” Mahathir said. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in April confirmed that it was investigating former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad [Reuters] Mahathir said he spent most of his money coming out of retirement in a bid to remove then-Prime Minister Najib Razak from power as the multibillion dollar 1MDB financial scandal unfolded. The elder statesman contested the 2018 general elections under the banner of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party, which he founded after leaving his longtime political vehicle UMNO, the largest party in the then-governing Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. At the age of 92, Mahathir went on to lead the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition to a stunning victory over BN, which had governed the Southeast Asian country without interruption since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1957. Mahathir resigned in 2020 amid internal tensions within his PH government. In 2022, Anwar was elected prime minister following two short-lived premierships under the banner of Perikatan Nasional (PN). “Unfortunately, when I was out of the government and I was involved in politics, I don’t have any other source of money except my own… I spent most of the money on politics,” he said. “My party had no money. People don’t donate to the opposition party.” On Najib, who is seeking to serve the remainder of a six-year prison sentence under house arrest after being convicted for his role in the 1MDB scandal, Mahathir said the former prime minister should not receive special treatment. “Staying at home means you are free. You don’t come out of your house, but you are free. When you steal billions and you are very well-treated, it is a bad example for future leaders,” Mahathir said. In February, Malaysia’s pardons board halved Najib’s jail sentence to six years and reduced his 210 million ringgit ($60m) fine to 50 million ringgit ($10.7m). “They are going to
Hong Kong cancels passports of six pro-democracy activists in exile in UK
The six, including former legislator Nathan Law, are also banned from any business dealings and financial transactions. Hong Kong has cancelled the passports of six pro-democracy activists who are in exile overseas under its newly-enacted domestic security law, calling them “lawless wanted criminals”. The government said that in addition to the cancellation of the “absconders’” travel documents, the six were also banned from any business dealings in Hong Kong, including financial transactions from cash to gold. “These lawless wanted criminals are hiding in the United Kingdom and continue to blatantly engage in activities that endanger national security,” a government spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday. “They also make scaremongering remarks to smear and slander the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. More so, they continue to collude with external forces to protect their evil deeds. We therefore have taken such measure to give them a strong blow.” The six men, accused of national security crimes in Hong Kong and wanted by police, include former legislator Nathan Law and British consulate worker Simon Cheng who was detained for 15 days in China in August 2019. The others are activist Finn Lau, labour rights activist Christopher Mung, Fok Ka-chi and Choi Ming-da, according to the statement. Writing on the social media platform X, Lau said the move was “an explicit act of transnational repression” but it would not stop him from campaigning for what he believed in. He said he had never applied for, or had, a passport for the HKSAR, Hong Kong’s official name. “The act of repression does not deter me from advocating for human rights & democracy,” he wrote. “The fighting spirit of Hongkongers, including mine, remains.” The territory’s legislature passed the security law, known as Article 23, in March, adding to a security law imposed by Beijing in July 2020 in the wake of mass protests which sometimes turned violent. Hong Kong and Beijing say the laws have helped bring stability to the territory. Critics say they have decimated Hong Kong’s freedoms. The government statement also warned people in Hong Kong that providing any kind of financial assistance to the six, or having business dealings with them, was an offence with a potential seven-year jail term. Some of the activists have Patreon accounts. Hong Kong police have offered to pay as much as 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($128,000) to anyone providing information leading to the arrest of 13 pro-democracy activists living overseas, including the six men whose passports have been cancelled. Adblock test (Why?)
UEFA Euro 2024: full football match schedule, start times, format and teams
The UEFA Euro 2024 tournament is hosted by Germany and will kick off on June 14, with the final on July 14. In the opening match of the tournament, Germany take on Scotland in Munich on June 14. The Euro 2024 final will take place on July 14 in the capital, Berlin. Ten cities have been chosen as venues across Germany – Berlin, Cologne, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart. A total of 24 teams divided into six groups will be taking part in the tournament, with 51 matches in total. The group stage of the tournament will run until June 26, with the 16-team knockout stage scheduled to begin on Saturday, June 29. To qualify for the knockout stage, nations must finish top two in their group to automatically qualify, while four third-place finishers will also advance. Here are the details on the teams, groups, match fixtures, kickoff times and venues for Euro 2024: Groups and teams ⚽ Group A: Germany, Scotland, Hungary, Switzerland⚽ Group B: Spain, Croatia, Italy, Albania⚽ Group C: Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, England⚽ Group D: Poland, Netherlands, Austria, France⚽ Group E: Belgium, Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine⚽ Group F: Turkey, Georgia, Portugal, Czech Republic Format Teams will be divided into six groups, consisting of four teams each. The top two sides from each group along with the best four third-placed teams will advance to the round of 16. Winners of the last-16 will proceed to the quarterfinals followed by the semifinals and the final. In the knockout stage, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time (two periods of 15 minutes each) will be played. If still tied after extra time, the match will be decided by a penalty shoot-out. Al Jazeera has a dedicated fixtures page listing the entire Euro 2024 match schedule, featuring all the kickoff times, venues and real-time goal updates. Match Schedule ⚽ Group Stage 14 JuneGroup A: Germany vs Scotland (Munich Football Arena, Munich, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 15 JuneGroup A: Hungary vs Switzerland (Cologne Stadium, Cologne, 3pm local/13:00 GMT)Group B: Spain vs Croatia (Olympiastadion, Berlin, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)Group B: Italy vs Albania (BVB Stadion, Dortmund, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 16 JuneGroup D: Poland vs Netherlands (Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, 3pm local/13:00 GMT)Group C: Slovenia vs Denmark (Stuttgart Arena, Stuttgart, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)Group C: Serbia vs England (Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 17 JuneGroup E: Romania vs Ukraine (Munich Football Arena, Munich, 3pm local/13:00 GMT)Group E: Belgium vs Slovakia (Frankfurt Arena, Frankfurt, 6pm local16:00 GMT)Group D: Austria vs France (Düsseldorf Arena, Düsseldorf, 9pm local19:00 GMT) 18 JuneGroup F: Turkey vs Georgia (BVB Stadion, Dortmund, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)Group F: Portugal vs Czech Republic (Leipzig Stadium, Leipzig, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 19 JuneGroup B: Croatia vs Albania (Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, 3pm local/13:00 GMT)Group A: Germany vs Hungary (Stuttgart Arena, Stuttgart, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)Group A: Scotland vs Switzerland (Cologne Stadium, Cologne, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 20 JuneGroup C: Slovenia vs Serbia (Munich Football Arena, Munich, 3pm local/13:00 GMT)Group C: Denmark vs England (Frankfurt Arena, Frankfurt, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)Group B: Spain vs Italy (Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 21 JuneGroup E: Slovakia vs Ukraine (Dusseldorf Arena, Dusseldorf, 3pm local/13:00 GMT)Group D: Poland vs Austria (Olympiastadion, Berlin, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)Group D: Netherlands vs France (Leipzig Stadium, Leipzig, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 22 JuneGroup F: Georgia vs Czech Republic (Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, 3pm local/13:00 GMT)Group F: Turkey vs Portugal (BVB Stadion, Dortmund, 6pm local16:00 GMT)Group E: Belgium vs Romania (Cologne Stadium, Cologne, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 23 JuneGroup A: Switzerland vs Germany (Frankfurt Arena, Frankfurt, 9pm local/19:00 GMT)Group A: Scotland vs Hungary (Stuttgart Arena, Stuttgart, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 24 JuneGroup B: Croatia vs Italy (Leipzig Stadium, Leipzig, 9pm local/19:00 GMT)Group B: Albania vs Spain (Dusseldorf Arena, Dusseldorf, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 25 JuneGroup D: Netherlands vs Austria (Olympiastadion, Berlin, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)Group D: France vs Poland (BVB Stadion, Dortmund, 6pm local16:00 GMT)Group C: England vs Slovenia (Cologne Stadium, Cologne, 9pm local/19:00 GMT)Group C: Denmark vs Serbia (Munich Football Arena, Munich, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 26 JuneGroup E: Slovakia vs Romania (Frankfurt Arena, Frankfurt, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)Group E: Ukraine vs Belgium (Stuttgart Arena, Stuttgart, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)Group F: Czech Republic vs Turkey (Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, 9pm local/19:00 GMT)Group F: Georgia vs Portugal (Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) Rest days on 27 and 28 June Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt is one of the 10 host stadiums for Euro 2024 [Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP] ⚽ Round of 16 29 June 2A vs 2B (Olympiastadion, Berlin, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)1A vs 2C (BVB Stadion, Dortmund, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 30 June 1C vs 3D/E/F (Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)1B vs 3A/D/E/F (Cologne Stadium, Cologne, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 1 July 2D vs 2E (Dusseldorf Arena, Dusseldorf, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)1F vs 3A/B/C (Frankfurt Arena, Frankfurt, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 2 July 1E vs 3A/B/C/D (Munich Football Arena, Munich, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)1D vs 2F (Leipzig Stadium, Leipzig, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) Rest days on 3 and 4 July ⚽ Quarterfinals 5 July Quarterfinal 1 (Stuttgart Arena, Stuttgart, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)Quarterfinal 2 (Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 6 July Quarterfinal 3 (Dusseldorf Arena, Dusseldorf, 6pm local/16:00 GMT)Quarterfinal 4 (Olympiastadion, Berlin, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) Rest days on 7 and 8 July ⚽ Semifinals 9 July Semifinal 1 (Munich Football Arena, Munich, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) 10 July Semifinal 2 (BVB Stadion, Dortmund, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) Rest days on 11, 12 and 13 July ⚽ Final 14 July Final (Olympiastadion, Berlin, 9pm local/19:00 GMT) Berlin’s Olympiastadion will be the venue for the Euro 2024 final on July 14, 2024 [Annegret Hilse/Reuters] You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s dedicated Euro 2024 tournament page with all the match build-up and live text commentary, and keep up to date with group standings and real-time match results and schedules. 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At least 49 dead, 140 missing in migrant boat sinking off Yemen: UN
Refugees and migrants are increasingly taking the dangerous route despite instability in Yemen and the fallout of the war on Gaza. At least 49 people have been killed and 140 more are missing after a boat carrying refugees and migrants from the Horn of Africa to Yemen sank, according to the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM). The vessel that capsized on Monday was carrying some 260 people, mostly from Ethiopia and Somalia, who had set off from the northern coast of Somalia to travel 320km (200 miles) across the Gulf of Aden to reach Yemen. Refugees and migrants from the Horn of Africa and East Africa are increasingly braving the dangerous journey to reach Saudi Arabia and other Arab states of the region via Yemen. The IOM said in a statement on Tuesday that 71 people had been rescued, eight of whom were taken to hospital. At least six children and 31 women were among the dead. In April, at least 62 people died in two shipwrecks off the coast of Djibouti as they tried to reach Yemen. The IOM said at least 1,860 people have died or disappeared along the route, including 480 who drowned. More refugees and migrants are taking the route despite the devastating effects of a nearly decade-long war in Yemen, which erupted after the Houthi group rebelled and took control of large areas of the country, including the capital, Sanaa. The flow of migration has been undeterred in the aftermath of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, as well. The Iran-aligned Houthis have for months carried out attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Gulf of Aden, demanding that Israel end the war on Gaza, with the United States and the United Kingdom responding with air raids on Yemen in a stated effort to protect international interests. The number of migrants arriving in Yemen annually tripled from 2021 to 2023, soaring from about 27,000 to more than 90,000, the IOM said last month. The agency reports that about 380,000 migrants are currently in Yemen. The sinking of the boat on Monday “is another reminder of the urgent need to work together to address urgent migration challenges and ensure the safety and security of migrants along migration routes,” said IOM spokesperson Mohammedali Abunajela. Adblock test (Why?)
Nuseirat, anatomy of Israel’s massacre in Gaza
It was hailed as a great success in Israel. A bloody, violent ambush that turned into a massacre of nearly 300 displaced people who were going about their day as best they could. Suddenly, they found themselves “descending into the depths of hell”, Al Jazeera’s Maram Humaid wrote on June 8. An Israeli raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp, ostensibly to free four Israeli captives held there, but reportedly resulted in the death of three more including one US citizen, according to the Qassam Brigades. That is, besides the at least 274 Palestinians killed. What happened in Nuseirat? How did Israel kill so many people? Here is a breakdown of the attack: What happened? The attack on Nuseirat was ostensibly to free four captives taken on October 7: Noa Argamani, 25, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40. It began around 11am, with what witnesses say were several civilian trucks and cars entering a neighbourhood near the camp’s market. [Al Jazeera] One was loaded with furniture to appear it was moving displaced people, while another had commercial markings on its exterior. There were what appeared to be civilian vehicles in the group, as well. To provide air cover, Israeli forces started bombing from above, hitting the busy market area the hardest, likely to spread as much panic and distress as possible, as well as to inflict maximum casualties. [Al Jazeera] Telegram channels began circulating news that bombings could be heard in the camp at around 11:35am. At a certain point, the convoy separated into two groups of vehicles. Later, investigation revealed that each group had headed towards a location where Israeli captives were held. The three male captives were at one location, where Al Jazeera believes that a witness account details how soldiers got to the house. There, heavily armed soldiers jumped out of the vehicles and ran through a cluster of makeshift tents put up by displaced people. The witness describes how everyone cowered in fear inside their flimsy shelters, little more than a piece of fabric between them and the armed soldiers. [Al Jazeera] At the end of their run, they arrived at a garden wall, through which they punched a hole to approach a quiet apartment building from the back. Al Jazeera has not been able to ascertain whether this was the only access point to this building, which is surrounded by a garden on at least two sides and likely faces onto a road. Noa Argamani was held at another location, in a building facing a narrow, tree-lined street. There, a truck pulled up, supported by soldiers who were shooting on sight, killing one person at the entrance of the building. From footage Al Jazeera has reviewed, there were no weapons to be seen near or on the killed individual. A ladder was extended from the truck to allow soldiers to clamber into an apartment through its balcony. All reports Al Jazeera has gathered indicate that Israeli soldiers were shooting people on sight in buildings they entered, as well as on the streets that the soldiers moved through. To support the operation on land, the Israeli army reportedly moved armoured vehicles in from the other side of Salah al-Din Road at the line between Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps. At a certain point during the raid, more Israeli soldiers landed in a helicopter on Gaza’s shore, not far from the US-built pier. [Al Jazeera] Analysis would indicate that these were to provide backup, if needed and to evacuate the captives. After the four individuals were retrieved, the convoy of disguised trucks and civilian vehicles headed out of the camp towards the sea, taking the Nuseirat road. From there, the four were loaded onto the Israeli military helicopter and lifted off, leaving carnage behind as the bewildered people of Nuseirat tried to comprehend what had happened. What did the people in Nuseirat do when this horror was over? The wounded were taken to Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Balah, quickly overwhelming both medical and morgue facilities. A widely shared video on social media shows the few remaining medics in the hospital standing in the middle of countless people lying on the floor, in agony, bleeding and screaming. The medic in the middle of the shot is bereft. He can no longer move around because there are so many patients lying on every square inch of the tile floor, there is nowhere for him to put his feet. It is not clear how he continued that day, how he triaged wounds, and how he made the decision of who to allocate the nearly nonexistent hospital resources to. *الإصابات تفترش ممرات مستشفى شهداء الأقصى بعد المجزرة التي ارتكبها جيش الاحتلال الإسرائيلي في مخيم النصيرات في ظل تدميره للقطاع الطبي في كل مناطق قطاع غزة* pic.twitter.com/HyFRmlfux2 — Tariq Jaber (@TariqJaber14041) June 8, 2024 Translation: In light of what the Israeli occupation army has done to decimate the Gaza healthcare sector, injured people cover the corridors of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after the massacre that the Israeli occupation army committed in the Nusierat refugee camp. Within the hour, as staff frantically tried to treat the overwhelming number of wounded, the hospital received an evacuation order from Israel’s military. The hospital was in an area previously designated by Israel’s military as a safe zone. But the operation, deemed by the Israelis and their international allies as a resounding success, not only killed numerous Palestinians, but a few hostages as well. The Qassam Brigades posted a video to its Telegram channel on Sunday that showed three unidentified corpses, their faces covered, claiming they belonged to three captives, including one who was a US citizen, whom Israel killed during its raid. Wait… Israeli soldiers snuck in how? Israeli forces were “perfidiously hiding in an aid truck”, UN Special Rapporteur of the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese said. “This is ‘humanitarian camouflage’ at another level,” she wrote on X. Israel has denied the accusation. How many people were killed or