Tensions high after Pakistan launches cross-border attacks into Afghanistan
Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan has launched overnight air attacks inside Afghanistan, while the Taliban claimed hours later to have fired across the border. Tensions flared on Monday between Islamabad and Kabul following the overnight raids. Pakistan said the attack had targeted armed groups hiding out in border regions. The Taliban said eight women and children were killed. The Afghan defence ministry claimed later on Monday to have fired across the border at Pakistan positions. Islamabad has not yet commented on the claim. Pakistani military and foreign ministry sources confirmed to Al Jazeera that the “retaliatory” attacks had targeted the hideouts of commanders of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban, due to “terrorist activities being sponsored and conducted from across border”. They offered few details. However, on Saturday, a group of suicide bombers targeted a military check post in Pakistan’s North Waziristan district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which neighbours Afghanistan, killing seven soldiers. Afghanistan’s interim government said the Pakistani jets had hit the houses of “ordinary people” in Paktika and Khost provinces. They reported that at least eight people were killed; five women and three children. In a statement issued on X, government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the individual Pakistan claimed to have targeted continues to live in Pakistan. Kabul “strongly condemns” the “reckless action” which is a violation of Afghanistan territory, he continued. “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which has a long experience of freedom struggle against the superpowers of the world, does not allow anyone to invade its territory,” the post read. په افغانستان باندې د پاکستاني الوتکو د تجاوز په اړه د اسلامي امارت د ویاند څرګندونې https://t.co/pbCqKiJF36 pic.twitter.com/OZYsWWojLh — Zabihullah (..ذبـــــیح الله م ) (@Zabehulah_M33) March 18, 2024 Tension has risen between Pakistan and Afghanistan since the Taliban government seized power in 2021. Islamabad claims that hostile armed groups carry out regular attacks from across the border. Afghanistan reported in April 2022 that Pakistani air strikes in the east of the country killed 47 people. Analysts suggest that Monday’s strike can be linked to the suicide attack two days ago, which was claimed by a newly formed group, Jaish-e-Fursan-e-Muhammad, which is led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, leader of a Pakistani Taliban faction based in North Waziristan. In response, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif repeated the claim that armed groups are using Afghan soil from which to launch terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. “Terrorism against us is mostly being conducted from Afghanistan,” he said on Sunday. It’s a charge the Afghan Taliban has repeatedly denied. “We reject the presence of any … foreign groups in Afghanistan and they are not allowed to operate on Afghan soil. In this regard, we have made our utmost effort and continue to do so; but one thing we must accept is that Afghanistan shares a very long border area with Pakistan, and there are places with rugged terrain including mountains and forests, and places that might be out of our control,” Mujahid said in response. Bloody year Last year was bloody in Pakistan, with more than 650 attacks reported across the country, resulting in the deaths of nearly 1,000 people, most of whom were security personnel. Most attacks targeted the western provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, which border Afghanistan. While there have been various armed groups which have conducted acts of violence in Pakistan, the state’s main adversary has been the TTP, which is ideologically aligned with the Afghan Taliban. Since its founding in 2007, the TTP has targeted civilians and law enforcement personnel in Pakistan, resulting in thousands of deaths. The group demands the imposition of their hardline interpretation of Islamic laws, as well as a reversal of Pakistan’s decision to merge their tribal areas with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Abdul Sayed, a Sweden-based researcher on armed groups in South and Central Asia, says Pakistan’s air strikes on Monday appear to be a response to the suicide attack two days previously. “The attack in North Waziristan was extraordinarily large, reportedly involving six suicide bombers and a large truck bomb. The presence of top Pakistani officials, including the president and army chief, at the funerals, suggested potential future cross-border actions by Pakistan,” he told Al Jazeera. Muhammad Amir Rana, an Islamabad-based security analyst and director of the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS) says it is not unusual for the TTP or other armed groups to launch attacks during the month of Ramadan. “The state institutions have now adopted a tit-for-tat response to any threats. The Taliban are known to support the TTP, and there have been instances of their own members being involved in attacks in Pakistan,” he told Al Jazeera. It has also been noted that the sharp response of Pakistan against targets in Afghanistan is similar in nature to its reaction to January’s cross-border attacks by Iran. However, Rana suggests that the possibility of retaliatory attacks on targets in Pakistan following Monday’s air raids cannot be dismissed. “Unless diplomatic channels are activated, tensions between the two countries are likely to escalate in the coming weeks,” he cautioned. Adblock test (Why?)
Spanish protesters’ tribute to Gaza war victims
NewsFeed Hundreds of protesters in Spain’s San Sebastian lay together on the ground in a tribute to victims of Israel’s war on Gaza, next to a banner inspired by Picasso’s famous anti-war painting ‘Guernica’. Published On 18 Mar 202418 Mar 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Scottie Scheffler closes with a 64 to repeat at The Players Championship
The world number one becomes the first player in tournament’s 50-year history to win at TPC Sawgrass in consecutive years. Already the best in the world, Scottie Scheffler added another layer to his legend on Sunday. The American became the first player to win back-to-back in 50 years of The Players Championship by matching the biggest comeback and the lowest closing round by a winner. Scheffler holed out for eagle from the fourth fairway and had four birdies in a five-hole stretch around the turn, sending him to an 8-under 64 and a one-shot victory that was not decided until the final putt. Xander Schauffele, Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark all had a chance to force a playoff with a birdie on the daunting 18th hole at the TPC Sawgrass. Clark had the last shot, a putt just inside 18 feet that dipped into the cup on the left side and came out on the right side, leaving him stunned as he placed his hand over his mouth. “I don’t know how that putt doesn’t go in,” Clark said. “Even when it kind of lipped, I thought it would lip in. I’m pretty gutted it didn’t go in.” Scheffler, who started the final round five shots behind, was on the practice range preparing for a three-hole playoff when he got the word and showed more emotion than usual for someone who is getting used to winning. “It’s tough enough to win one Players,” Scheffler said. “So, to have it back-to-back is extremely special. Yeah, really thankful.” Scheffler finished at 20-under 268 and won $4.5m, pushing the 27-year-old from Dallas over the $50m mark in his career. His 64 matched the lowest final round by a Players champion, last done by Davis Love III in 2003, and he tied Justin Leonard (1998) with his five-shot comeback. The Players Championship, despite not being a major, has been promoted by the PGA Tour as golf’s “fifth major” due to its reputation as the next most prestigious tournament in golf and lucrative $25m prize purse. Adblock test (Why?)
Israeli forces storm Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital
Gaza officials report mounting casualties; Israeli military claims Hamas using medical complex to plan attacks. Israel’s military forces have stormed al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City with tanks and heavy gunfire, resulting in deaths and injuries, Palestinian officials have said. The Israeli military said in a statement on Monday that it is conducting a “precise operation” at the medical facility. Gaza’s Ministry of Health said about 30,000 people, including displaced civilians, wounded patients and medical staff are trapped inside the complex. Israel, which wound down many of its operations in northern Gaza some weeks ago claiming to have destroyed Hamas’s military infrastructure, said in the statement that Hamas – which governs the enclave – has “regrouped” inside al-Shifa and is “using it to command attacks against Israel”. In a message in English on Telegram, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said anyone “who tries to move is targeted by sniper bullets and quadcopter”. It added that the raid, which began at 2am (00:00 GMT), has resulted in a “number of martyrs and wounded”. Al Jazeera Arabic reported that the hospital’s surgical building was on fire following the Israeli bombing. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a video posted earlier on X that the Israeli military would be conducting a “humanitarian effort” during the assault, providing food and water. He also insisted that there is “no obligation” for patients and medical staff to evacuate the hospital. However, Al Jazeera Arabic correspondents on the ground reported that Israeli forces used loudspeakers to order hundreds of people sheltering at the hospital to evacuate. Footage verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification unit shows dozens of Palestinians fleeing the hospital as Israeli forces launched operations in the area. الجيش الإسرائيلي يجبر مئات العائلات على النزوح من مجمع الشفاء الطبي غربي مدينة غزة #حرب_غزة #فيديو pic.twitter.com/yxK9KQi2my — الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) March 18, 2024 Translation: The Israeli army forces hundreds of families to flee al-Shifa Hospital, west of Gaza City. Palestinian journalist Wadea Abu Alsoud, trapped inside the medical complex, described the situation in the facility as “catastrophic” and reported “intense clashes”, in a video posted to Instagram. “This might be my last video,” he said. “We’re now besieged inside al-Shifa Hospital. We’re being heavily shot at. The occupation suddenly raided the hospital and its vicinity. As you can hear now, there are intense clashes in the vicinity of al-Shifa Hospital. We’re hearing sounds coming from the gate. There is shrapnel falling over the hospital’s yard.” Al Jazeera’s Willem Marx, in occupied East Jerusalem, quoted an Israeli statement saying its forces “encountered fire inside the hospital, responded with live fire and individuals were hit”. Marx noted that this is the fourth Israeli raid on al-Shifa since October 7. A long siege of the facility in November earned Israel an international outcry. The Government Media Office in Gaza condemned the operation, calling the attack a “war crime”. “The Israeli occupation is still using its fabricated narratives to deceive the world and justify the storming of al-Shifa,” it said in a statement. Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of running military operations from hospitals and other medical centres, claims the group denies. The Health Ministry said it had received calls from people in the area around the hospital claiming there were dozens of casualties. “No one could transport them to the hospital due to the intensity of gunfire and artillery shelling,” the ministry said. According to the UN, 155 health facilities in the Gaza Strip have been damaged since the war began. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 753
As the war enters its 753rd day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Sunday, March 17, 2024. Fighting One person was killed and another injured in the Velykopysarivska community of Ukraine’s Sumy region, which borders Russia, according to the region’s military administration. The attack was one of 60 reported shelling incidents of border territories and settlements, which damaged buildings including a hospital, kindergarten, library and a gas pipeline, Sumy officials said. Earlier on Sunday, one man was killed and at least eight people were wounded in a Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv, Ukrainian officials said, after an overnight strike on the port city of Odesa. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said his armed forces in Ukraine were “just tearing them – the enemy – apart right now”, after Russia claimed to have captured a string of towns and villages in the east of Ukraine. Ukrainian shelling in the southern Russian city of Belgorod killed two people and injured eleven others, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app. Five people were also wounded when a Ukrainian drone hit a car in the village of Glotovo, some 2km (1.25 miles) from the Ukrainian border, Gladkov said. The attack on Belgorod was one of many over several days of Ukrainian strikes that Moscow described as election sabotage. A Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at a Russian oil refinery on Saturday, which burned for hours before it was brought under control. Politics and diplomacy President Putin has claimed victory after early election results in Russia showed he was heading for another six-year term with some 87 percent of the vote. Responding to the results, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Putin a “dictator”, “sick from power” and “doing everything he can to rule forever”. Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who died in a Russian prison colony last month, said, “Obviously I wrote Navalny’s name” on the ballot, after she voted in the Russian Embassy in Berlin. Rights group Amnesty International has decried Russia’s attempts “to alter the ethnic makeup” of Crimea by suppressing Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar identities. “These policies appear to be a blueprint for Russia’s designs on other areas of Ukraine it occupies,” Amnesty said. Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. Adblock test (Why?)
North Korea fires ballistic missiles as Blinken visits Seoul
Launches come days after South Korea and the US wrapped up military drills Pyongyang sees as an invasion rehearsal. North Korea fired short-range ballistic missiles towards its eastern waters as United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to open a democracy summit in neighbouring South Korea, officials have said. “North Korea fired an unspecified ballistic missile toward the East Sea,” the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Monday, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan. Japan’s Coast Guard, which confirmed the launches, said the objects appeared to have already fallen. The launches come days after the US and South Korea wrapped up 11 days of so-called Freedom Shield joint military drills. North Korea has long condemned joint US-South Korea military drills, calling them rehearsals for an invasion. Pyongyang earlier this month warned that Seoul and Washington would pay a “dear price” for this year’s Freedom Shield drills, which involved twice as many troops as last year. About 27,000 US soldiers are stationed in South Korea, where the drills took place. South Korea recently wrapped up joint military drills with the United States [Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters] North Korea’s test on Monday was the latest in a series of weapons demonstrations this year, including a missile tipped with a manoeuvrable hypersonic warhead on January 14. Democracy Summit Shortly after the missile launches, Blinken and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol took to the stage at the opening of the Summit for Democracy, which is this year being hosted by South Korea. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned of the risks technology poses to democracy [Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/Reuters] Both Blinken and Yoon spoke about how technology could be used to encourage democracy, but also to undermine it. Blinken’s comments came after the US House of Representatives last week passed a bill that could see the popular social media app TikTok, which is owned by Chinese developer ByteDance, banned. The democracy summit, an initiative of US President Joe Biden, has attracted criticism in past years due to its selective invitation list, with countries including Thailand and Turkey reportedly excluded. Adblock test (Why?)
Uber pays $178m to settle lawsuit with taxi drivers in Australia
Law firm behind class action says outcome among most successful legal actions ever taken against the ride-sharing giant. Uber has agreed to pay $178m to settle a lawsuit with taxi and hire car drivers in Australia who say they lost earnings to the ride-hailing app, a law firm has announced. Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, which filed the class action on behalf of more than 8,000 taxi and hire car owners and drivers in 2019, said the outcome was one of the most successful legal actions ever taken against the ride-sharing giant. “Uber fought tooth and nail at every point along the way, every day, for the five years this has been on foot, trying at every turn to deny our group members any form of remedy or compensation for their losses,” Maurice Blackburn Lawyers Principal Michael Donelly said in a statement on Monday. “But on the courtroom steps and after years of refusing to do the right thing by those we say they harmed, Uber has blinked, and thousands of everyday Australians joined together to stare down a global giant.” “This will be one of the top five class action settlements in Australian legal history – putting beyond any doubt that Uber has been held to account for its actions,” Donelly added. Uber said that it had made “significant” contributions to various state-level taxi compensation schemes since 2018 and that the settlement put “these legacy issues firmly in our past”. “When Uber started more than a decade ago, ridesharing regulations did not exist anywhere in the world, let alone Australia. Today is different, and Uber is now regulated in every state and territory across Australia, and governments recognise us as an important part of the nation’s transport mix,” the company said in a statement. “The rise of ridesharing has grown Australia’s overall point-to-point transport industry, bringing with it greater choice and improved experiences for consumers, as well as new earnings opportunities for hundreds of thousands of Australian workers.” Uber will continue focusing on helping the millions of Australians who use the service to “get from A to B in a safe, affordable and reliable manner”, the company added. Adblock test (Why?)
Could Haiti be on the brink of collapse?
Gangs control the capital, aid is blocked, and a political transition has stalled. People in Haiti are bracing for more violence, weeks after powerful gangs launched an offensive to topple the government. Food is running out, essential goods are in short supply and nothing is coming in or out of the capital. The United Nations is warning that more than one million people are on the brink of famine. There’s essentially no government in place, and plans to establish a transitional governing council have caused disputes and controversy. So, how can Haiti overcome this crisis? Is foreign involvement helping or is it fuelling instability? Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra Guests: Jean Eddy Saint Paul – Founding director of the City University of New York’s Haitian Studies Institute and a professor of sociology at Brooklyn College Emmanuela Douyon – Executive director of Haitian think-tank Policite and social justice activist John Packer – Director of Human Rights Research and Education Centre at Ottawa University; has advised the UN in numerous peace processes around the world, including in Haiti Adblock test (Why?)
Over 13,000 children killed in Gaza, others severely malnourished: UNICEF
The UN agency says surviving children do not ‘even have the energy to cry’ as famine looms in the besieged enclave being bombarded for months. Israel has killed more than 13,000 children in Gaza since October 7 while others are suffering from severe malnutrition and do not “even have the energy to cry”, says the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). “Thousands more have been injured or we can’t even determine where they are. They may be stuck under rubble … We haven’t seen that rate of death among children in almost any other conflict in the world,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell told the CBS News network on Sunday. “I have been in wards of children who are suffering from severe anaemia malnutrition, the whole ward is absolutely quiet. Because the children, the babies … don’t even have the energy to cry.” Russell said there were “very great bureaucratic challenges” moving trucks into Gaza for aid and assistance as famine stalks more than two million Palestinians since Israel’s “genocidal” war began. Moreover, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), one in three children under the age of two in northern Gaza is now acutely malnourished. The agency also warned that famine is looming in the besieged enclave facing relentless Israeli bombing for more than five months. International criticism has mounted on Israel due to the death toll of the war, the starvation crisis in Gaza, and allegations of blocking aid deliveries into the enclave. On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his threat of a ground assault on Rafah, the town bordering Egypt where more than a million Palestinians have taken refuge. “No amount of international pressure will stop us from realising all the goals of the war: eliminating Hamas, releasing all our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat against Israel,” Netanyahu said in a video released by his office. “To do this, we will also operate in Rafah,” he said. Since October 7, Israel’s military campaign has killed at least 31,645 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and displaced nearly two million of its residents. The Israeli operation has also led to accusations of genocide, being probed at the UN’s International Court of Justice. Israel has repeatedly denied the genocide charges and stressed that it is acting in self-defence after the October 7 attack by Hamas that it says killed more than 1,130 people and took more than 200 as captives. Adblock test (Why?)
Putin poised to win Russian presidential election by a landslide
Early results show Putin winning some 87 percent of the vote, the highest-ever result in Russia’s post-Soviet history. President Vladimir Putin is set to win a record post-Soviet landslide victory in Russia’s election, cementing his grip on power, despite a large number of opponents staging a noon protest at polling stations. Shortly after the last polls closed on Sunday, early returns pointed to the conclusion everyone expected: that Putin would extend his nearly quarter-century rule for six more years. According to Russia’s Central Election Commission, he had some 87 percent of the vote with about 60 percent of precincts counted. The result means Putin, 71, will overtake Josef Stalin and become Russia’s longest-serving leader in more than 200 years. Communist candidate Nikolai Kharitonov came second with just under 4 percent, newcomer Vladislav Davankov third and ultra-nationalist Leonid Slutsky fourth, early results suggested. Nationwide turnout was 74.22 percent when polls closed, election officials said, surpassing 2018 levels of 67.5 percent. For Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel who first rose to power in 1999, the result is intended to underscore to the West that its leaders will have to reckon with an emboldened Russia, whether in war or in peace, for many more years to come. The United States said the vote was neither free nor fair. “The elections are obviously not free nor fair given how Mr. Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him,” said the White House’s National Security Council spokesperson. In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “this election fraud has no legitimacy and cannot have any”. The election came more than two years after Putin’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. On Sunday, thousands of Putin’s opponents staged a protest against him, although there was no independent tally of how many of Russia’s 114 million voters took part in the demonstrations. Supporters of Putin’s most prominent opponent, Alexey Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison last month, had called on Russians to come out to a “Noon against Putin” protest. Putin was first nominated as acting president when former Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned. He then won his first presidential election in March 2000 and a second term in 2004. After two stints as president, Putin switched back to being prime minister in 2008 to circumvent a constitutional ban on holding more than two consecutive terms as head of state. But he returned to the presidency in 2012 and won a fourth term in 2018. Adblock test (Why?)