Solar storm produces stunning northern lights across US, UK, Russia
An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth produced stunning displays of colour in the skies across the Northern Hemisphere early on Saturday, with no immediate reports of disruptions to power and communications. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects of the northern lights, which were on display in the United Kingdom, were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week. Many in the UK shared phone snaps of the lights on social media early Saturday, with the phenomenon seen as far south as London and southern England. There were sightings “from top to tail across the country,” said Chris Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, the British weather agency. He added that the office received photos and information from other European locations including Prague and Barcelona. NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to take precautions. “For most people here on planet Earth, they won’t have to do anything,” said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. The storm could produce northern lights as far south in the US as Alabama and northern California, NOAA said. But it was hard to predict and experts stressed it would not be the dramatic curtains of colour normally associated with the northern lights, but more like splashes of greenish hues. “That’s really the gift from space weather: the aurora,” Steenburgh said. He and his colleagues said the best aurora views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye. The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in Central America and possibly even Hawaii. “We are not anticipating that” but it could come close, NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl said. This storm poses a risk for high-voltage transmission lines for power grids, not the electrical lines ordinarily found in people’s homes, Dahl told reporters. Satellites also could be affected, which in turn could disrupt navigation and communication services here on Earth. Adblock test (Why?)
US report punts on possible Israeli violations of international law in Gaza
A report from the administration of President Joe Biden has found that Israeli forces likely used United States-supplied weapons in a manner “inconsistent” with international law, but it stopped short of identifying violations that would put an end to the ongoing military aid. In the report, released on Friday after a delay, the US State Department indicated Israel did not provide adequate information to verify whether US weapons were used in possible violations of international law during its war in Gaza. The Biden White House had issued a national security memorandum, NSM-20, in February requiring Israel and other countries receiving military aid to provide written assurances that all US-supplied weapons were used in a manner consistent with international law. The US would then make a decision about future military aid based on those written assurances. Friday’s report is a byproduct of that memorandum. “It is reasonable to assess that defense articles covered under NSM-20 have been used by Israeli security forces since October 7 in instances inconsistent with its IHL [international humanitarian law] obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm,” the report said. The report nevertheless adds that the Biden administration believes Israel is taking “appropriate steps” to address such concerns. Political backlash The US has been a consistent ally to Israel throughout its seven-month-long military campaign in Gaza, which began on October 7. That war, however, has spurred international outcry as humanitarian concerns mount. Nearly 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, many of them women and children, and the head of the United Nations World Food Programme has declared a “full-blown famine” in the northern part of the narrow enclave. Still, Israel’s siege on Gaza continues, with access to food, water and electricity severely limited. UN experts have repeatedly warned of a “risk of genocide” in the territory. As a result, the Biden administration has faced pressure, particularly from the progressive flank of the Democratic Party, to address the humanitarian concerns by placing conditions on military aid to Israel. After the report’s release on Friday, progressive lawmakers expressed disappointment with its conclusions. Senator Chris Van Hollen, for instance, stated it “fails to do the hard work of making an assessment and ducks the ultimate questions that the report was designed to determine”. Meanwhile, Republicans blasted the report as undermining Israel in its campaign against the Palestinian group Hamas. Senator Jim Risch, for instance, called the document “politically damaging” and said it would do long-term harm to US allies beyond Israel. “NSM-20 is aimed squarely at Israel in the near-term, but the additional highly-politicized reporting requirements will eventually be aimed at other American allies and partners across the globe, further impeding the delivery of security assistance and undermining our ability to deter China and Russia,” he wrote in a statement. Impediments to the report Friday’s report acknowledges limits to the US State Department’s findings, pointing out that the information that Israel provided was not comprehensive. “Although we have gained insight into Israel’s procedures and rules, we do not have complete information on how these processes are implemented,” the report reads. It also said the war itself creates barriers to understanding what is happening on the ground. “It is difficult to assess or reach conclusive findings on individual incidents” in Gaza, the report said, citing a lack of US government personnel on the ground. It also echoed Israeli accusations that Hamas could be manipulating civilian casualties for its own gains. Gaza, the report said, represents “as difficult a battlespace as any military has faced in modern warfare”. Tracing the flow of aid The report also sought to assess whether Israel was impeding the flow of aid into Gaza, another possible violation of international humanitarian law, as well as US law. It found “numerous instances during the period of Israeli actions that delayed or had a negative effect on the delivery of aid to Gaza”. Nevertheless, the report concluded that it could not assess that the “Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of US humanitarian assistance within the meaning of section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act”. Humanitarian groups, however, have reported for months that Israel systematically blocks large portions of aid from entering the Gaza Strip. Overall, the report said that US intelligence agencies have “no direct indication of Israel intentionally targeting civilians”, but they assessed that “Israel could do more to avoid civilian harm”. In addition, the State Department pledged to continue to monitor the situation in Gaza, particularly with regards to the delivery of aid. “This is an ongoing assessment and we will continue to monitor and respond to any challenges to the delivery of aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza moving forward.” Adblock test (Why?)
South Africa asks ICJ to order Israel to withdraw from Gaza’s Rafah
South Africa seeks new emergency measures over Israel’s latest offensive against the southern city in Gaza. South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah as part of additional emergency measures over the war in Gaza, the United Nations’s top court said. In the ongoing case brought by South Africa, which accuses Israel of acts of genocide against Palestinians, the ICJ in January ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians. Israel has repeatedly said it is acting in accordance with international law in Gaza, and has called South Africa’s genocide case baseless and accused Pretoria of acting as “the legal arm of Hamas”. In filings published on Friday, South Africa is seeking additional emergency measures in light of the continuing military action in Rafah, which it calls the “last refuge” for Palestinians in Gaza. The city in the south of Gaza is crammed with hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians living in dire conditions and there have been warnings that an Israeli ground offensive would trigger a humanitarian catastrophe for civilians. South Africa’s application said Israel’s operation against Rafah poses an “extreme risk” to “humanitarian supplies and basic services into Gaza, to the survival of the Palestinian medical system, and to the very survival of Palestinians in Gaza as a group,” the UN court said in a statement. “Those who have survived so far are facing imminent death now, and an order from the Court is needed to ensure their survival,” South Africa’s filing said. South Africa also asked the court to order that Israel allow unimpeded access to Gaza for UN officials, organisations providing humanitarian aid, and journalists and investigators. PRESS RELEASE: South Africa submits an urgent request for the indication of additional provisional measures and the modification of previous provisional measures indicated by the #ICJ in the case #SouthAfrica v. #Israel https://t.co/Xixh0GhDAz pic.twitter.com/minw5GvpMK — CIJ_ICJ (@CIJ_ICJ) May 10, 2024 Israel’s 401st Brigade entered the Rafah crossing on Tuesday morning, a day after the Palestinian group governing Gaza said it accepted an Egyptian-Qatari mediated ceasefire proposal. Israel, meanwhile, insisted the proposal did not meet its core demands. Tanks and planes pounded several areas and at least four houses in Rafah overnight, killing 20 Palestinians and wounding several others, according to Palestinian health officials. Some 110,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah in recent days, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The UN also noted that the Israeli army’s takeover of the Rafah border crossing has shut down the entry of aid into Gaza for the past three days. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Rafah offensive was needed to defeat Hamas. At least 34,943 people have been killed and 78,572 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139, with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza. South Africa brought a case against Israel to the ICJ in January, accusing the country of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The top UN court has ruled that there was a plausible risk of genocide in the enclave and ordered Israel to take a series of provisional measures, including preventing any genocidal acts from taking place. The court rejected a second South African application for emergency measures made in March over Israel’s threat to attack Rafah. The ICJ, also known as the World Court, generally rules within a few weeks on requests for emergency measures. It will likely take years before the court will rule on the merits of the case. While the ICJ’s rulings are binding and without appeal the court has no way to enforce them. Adblock test (Why?)
This Indian historian fights the far-right, one makeup video at a time
Ghaziabad, India – It is close to midnight. Ruchika Sharma sits in her makeshift studio at her home in Ghaziabad, a city just outside India’s capital, New Delhi, a small mic hooked to her shirt. The 33-year-old historian and former professor is getting ready for her latest YouTube video show. The recording hours are odd, but it is a considered decision. There is little ambient noise at this time, she reasons. For an independent creator like Sharma, a studio with fancy audio setups and soundproofing is beyond reach – especially since she knows that each video she puts out makes it harder for her to land a job. Sharma looks at a phone that doubles as a teleprompter. Another phone serves as her recording rig. On two small wooden racks hung on the cream-coloured wall behind Sharma, sit a dozen history books. Also on the wall are a picture of Indian revolutionary icon Bhagat Singh, who was hanged by the British colonial regime in 1931, and a copy of the 17th-century painting of the Sasanian king Khosrow Parviz’s first sight of his Christian wife Shirin, bathing in a pool. On her wooden table, alongside tripods and ring lights is an eclectic mix of cosmetic products: brushes, mascara, concealer, powder puff, and, most important of all, eyeshadow. She hits the record button. Sharma starts with an introduction to Nalanda, a sixth-century Buddhist university in northern India that was home to nine million manuscripts and was burned down in a major fire in the 12th century. A widely held belief – promoted by sections of India’s Hindu right, amplified by a government-run modern-day version of Nalanda University, and referenced in multiple news articles – suggests that Nalanda was destroyed by a Muslim general named Bakhtiyar Khilji. [embedded content] Sharma calls this one of the “biggest myths of Indian history” before citing a slew of historical sources that she says buttress her assertion. These sources, which she says are often cited by those who paint Khilji as Nalanda’s villain, don’t actually refer to the university at all, she points out. Instead, she says, the sources suggest Khilji attacked another Buddhist university, where many people were killed in his attack. Midway through the narration, she picks up a bottle of concealer and applies it under her eyes. She drops a sarcastic joke – telling her viewers that she is citing the very same sources that WhatsApp forwards pushing dubious or fake history tend to quote. A sponge comes out to blend with the skin tone, and soon, a lilac eyeshadow is in place. At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and its Hindu nationalist allies face allegations of rewriting history, turning the past into a political battleground for the future, these unconventional history lessons, laced with makeup and satire, are Sharma’s attempt at setting the record straight. With more than 200 YouTube videos in just over two years, the historian is building a growing audience: Her YouTube channel, Eyeshadow & Etihaas, has nearly 20,000 subscribers, while on X, where she amplifies the arguments she makes in her videos, she has 30,000 followers. But perhaps the biggest testament to her mounting influence lies in the threats and abuse she routinely receives for her videos. They’re a badge of honour she shrugs off, but would rather not have to wear. “I often get such death threats. Rape remarks keep coming,” she says. “They no longer work on me.” A spread of makeup palettes, brushes and mascara in front of Sharma, which she uses during her recording [Md Meharban/Al Jazeera] Eyeshadow and history Sharma grew up surrounded by history, in a family shaped – like millions of others – by India’s modern tumult. A grandchild of partition refugees, Sharma spent her childhood in Mehrauli, New Delhi’s oldest surviving inhabited area. After India’s cleavage at independence in 1947, her grandparents, both Punjabis from present-day Pakistan, found sanctuary in the neighbourhood and bought land on which they built a home. She thinks of the stories of partition she heard from them as her first brush with history. From her terrace, she would watch Qutb Minar, a five-story red and buff sandstone tower built in the 12th and 13th centuries by Muslim rulers that is as much a landmark of New Delhi as the Eiffel Tower is of Paris. “I have a strong emotional connection with it. I think that monument is beautiful,” Sharma says. When she was 13, her parents decided they needed more space and moved out of the family house to Ghaziabad, a neighbouring district of Delhi, where she lives with her elder sister and her 61-year-old mother, a retired government official who worked at Indian Oil, a government oil and gas corporation. Sharma lost her father to cancer in 2017. Sharma says she was always interested in eye makeup. She would wear kohl in high school. She began using lip gloss in college, and during her PhD in 2020, she started applying eye makeup and lipstick to cope with an abusive relationship. “I was in a physically and mentally abusive relationship for 10 years, battling PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder], and scary thoughts of self-harm. I was in therapy for it,” she explains. Sharma saw an eyeshadow YouTube video that caught her attention. “Watching eyeshadow videos, seeing the colours arranged in palettes, and putting them on my eyelids was incredibly therapeutic for me. It would calm me down,” remarked Sharma. She was teaching in a college at the time and would buy eyeshadow palettes, though her mother disapproved of it. “I’ve never worn makeup in my life, even to parties or weddings. I don’t like her makeup and clothing style. I’m conservative and religious, and I come from a different generation and period,” said her mother, who requested anonymity. Her mother’s other concern was that Sharma was spending too much money on expensive eyeshadow palettes. As with makeup, Sharma’s academic pursuit of history was not something her parents supported initially. Sharma was in eighth
Are US graduation ceremonies the latest battleground for Gaza protests?
EXPLAINER Here’s how pro-Palestine campus protests and encampments are affecting graduation ceremonies at US universities. College graduates all over the United States this year are walking on stage to collect their degrees after donning Palestinian flags and keffiyehs with their caps and gowns. Graduation ceremonies are taking place in May during protests and encampments in solidarity with the nearly 35,000 Palestinians killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began more than seven months ago. Protesters who have set up encampments on campuses for the past several weeks are calling on their universities to cut academic and financial ties with Israel. Counterprotesters are making themselves heard as well with some carrying Israeli flags and displaying pro-Israel messages during commencement ceremonies. While students at some institutions are using graduation to further their protests, some universities – including Columbia University in New York, where the first encampment appeared in April – have cancelled ceremonies. Other universities have changed venues and put security measures in place. Which US universities have seen protests at graduations? These demonstrations include those at: University of Michigan: During the May 4 ceremony, some students held Palestinian flags and banners in protest. Police officers were present during the two-hour ceremony, which did not stop as a result of the protests. The protesters demanded that the university divest from companies associated with Israel. The institution has allowed students to set up an encampment on campus. However, during a dinner held for honorary degree recipients on the night of May 3, police assisted in breaking up a large gathering outside the dinner venue, and at least one person was arrested. Northeastern University: The Boston college held its commencement on May 5 at Fenway Park. The ceremony was peaceful, and some students held Palestinian and Israeli flags. Undergraduate student speaker Rebecca Bamidele also called for peace in Gaza. Last month, police arrested about 100 protesters at Northeastern after breaking up an encampment on campus. University of Illinois Chicago: Graduation speaker Aysha Affaneh used the occasion to speak about the killing of civilians, especially children and students, in Gaza. “I urge you all to acknowledge the class of 2024 of Gaza that no longer exists,” she said. “I urge you all to acknowledge the class of 2024 of Gaza…that no longer exists. Students that will not be walking their stage this year and 14,000 children who will never walk a stage again.” Looks like these students understand more than Hillary Clinton.pic.twitter.com/i94Hk1hnVa — Assal Rad (@AssalRad) May 9, 2024 Indiana University: Hours before the institute in Bloomington held its commencement on May 4, an alternate ceremony was organised by protesters in Dunn Meadow, where the university’s encampment had reached its 10th day. Students and faculty, including political science Professor Abdulkader Sinno spoke at the alternate ceremony. Sinno was temporarily suspended in December after he was found to have misrepresented an event organised by the Palestine Solidarity Committee as an “academic event” on an official university form. Protesters also gathered outside the venue for the official ceremony. The Indiana Daily Student newspaper reported that two planes circled in the sky above the venue with banners reading “Let Gaza Live” and “Divest Now – Whitten Resign”, referring to Pamela Whitten, the university’s president. Which universities have cancelled graduation? While most US universities are pressing ahead with their ceremonies as scheduled or tightening security, some have cancelled commencements altogether: Columbia University: On Monday, Columbia announced it had cancelled its main university-wide graduation, which had been scheduled for May 15. Instead, there will be smaller ceremonies for each school within the wider institution. Columbia became the epicentre for the pro-Palestine encampments after students pitched tents on April 17, faced a crackdown by police and reported events stage by stage from the ground via the student-run radio station. University of Southern California (USC): Like Columbia, USC cancelled its main ceremony in favour of smaller events for different schools. More than 100 commencement events started on Wednesday and will continue until Saturday. California State Polytechnic University: The campus in Humboldt, North Carolina, will host smaller ceremonies off campus. The institute called police onto the campus last week to arrest student protesters who were demanding divestment from Israel. The campus has been closed since then. How else have protests affected graduations? The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, had been scheduled to speak at the University of Vermont’s commencement on May 19. However, the institute has announced that Thomas-Greenfield will no longer be speaking. This followed a week of protesters at a student encampment demanding that she be removed as the speaker on the basis that she has, on behalf of the US, vetoed several UN Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Are US universities taking action against graduation protests? While some universities have chosen not to try to clear the encampments during graduation, including Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, some universities have tightened security and put rules in place that prevent protests. At the University of Pennsylvania, signs, posters, flags and artificial noisemakers will be prohibited at the May 20 graduation, the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper reported. At USC, students are allowed to carry only clear bags at ceremonies. Umbrellas, banners, selfie sticks and machines that make noise such as whistles or air horns have been forbidden. On Monday, the president of Emory University announced that its commencement a week later will take place off campus at an indoor complex called the Gas South District in Duluth, Georgia, due to “concerns about safety and security”. A student wears a graduation cap with the flag of Israel on top during the University of Michigan’s spring commencement [Nic Antaya/Getty Images/AFP] How has the US government responded to the graduation protests? US President Joe Biden said he welcomed peaceful protests at commencements, according to White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre. “We have been very clear. We believe all Americans should have the right to peacefully protest,” she said on Tuesday. “What we don’t want to see is hate speech, violence.” Biden is scheduled
United Nations General Assembly backs Palestinian bid for membership
Resolution does not give Palestine full UN membership, but recognises them as qualified to join and extends rights. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognising it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council “reconsider the matter favourably”. The vote by the 193-member UNGA on Friday was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member – a move that would effectively recognise a Palestinian state – after the United States vetoed it in the UN Security Council last month. The assembly adopted a resolution on Friday with 143 votes in favour and nine against – including the US and Israel – while 25 countries abstained. It does not give the Palestinians full UN membership, but simply recognises them as qualified to join. The UNGA resolution “determines that the State of Palestine … should therefore be admitted to membership” and it “recommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter favourably”. While the UNGA alone cannot grant full UN membership, the draft resolution on Friday will give the Palestinians some additional rights and privileges from September 2024 – like a seat among the UN members in the assembly hall – but it will not be granted a vote in the body. Reporting from the UN headquarters in New York, Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo said it was significant that such a high number of countries voted in favour of the resolution. “What we were hearing before the vote was anywhere perhaps between 120, 130 – at top end, 140. The fact that they got 143 meets and exceeds all expectations. It’s been overwhelmingly passed,” he said. “But they still only have observer status.” The Palestinian push for full UN membership comes seven months into a war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and as Israel is expanding illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Prior to the vote, Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s ambassador to the UN told the UNGA that “voting ‘Yes’ is the right thing to do and I can assure you, you and your country for years to come will be proud to have stood for freedom, justice and peace in this darkest hour.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the resolution’s passage showed that the world stands with the rights and freedom of the Palestinian people, and against Israel’s occupation. “I think strategically speaking, this [the vote] is not going to make any difference to Gaza,” Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said. “It is far more symbolic. It is an important milestone for Palestine for achieving status in the world arena.” Full result of the vote on enhancing @Palestine_UN‘s membership at the UN. pic.twitter.com/ejLHzz4P4M — Rami Ayari (@Raminho) May 10, 2024 Meanwhile, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, condemned the vote and said that the UN is now welcoming a “terror state” into its ranks. “The United Nations was founded with the mission of ensuring such tyranny [of the Nazis] never raises its ugly head again,” he said. “Today, you are about to do the exact opposite and advance the establishment of a Palestinian terror state, which will be led by the Hitler of our times.” An application to become a full UN member first needs to be approved by the 15-member Security Council and then the UNGA. If the measure is again voted on by the council it is likely to face the same fate: a US veto. Bishara said that stances towards the US likely affected Friday’s vote. “I think a good number of votes [in favour] were against the United States as much as they were for Palestine, and I think a good number of votes were abstaining under pressure from the United States.” Adblock test (Why?)
Mozambique’s president says northern town ‘under attack’ by armed groups
President Filipe Nyusi said the country’s army is battling ISIL-linked groups in gas-rich Cabo Delgado’s Macomia. Mozambique’s army is fighting armed groups who launched a major attack on the northern town of Macomia, President Filipe Nyusi has said in a televised address. The town is in Cabo Delgado, a gas-rich northern province where groups linked to the ISIL (ISIS) group, launched an armed uprising in 2017. Despite a large security response, there has been a surge in attacks since January this year. Two security sources told the Reuters news agency that hundreds of fighters are believed to be involved in the latest attack that took place on Friday morning. “Macomia is under attack since this morning. Fire exchange still continues,” Nyusi said at about 10:00 GMT, adding that the armed group fighters initially withdrew after about 45 minutes of fighting, but then regrouped and came back. Friday’s attack appeared to be the most serious attack in the area in some time. A regional force from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which deployed in Mozambique in 2021, started withdrawing last month as its mandate ends in July. Piers Pigou, head of the Southern Africa Programme at the Institute for Security Studies, said the attack on the Macomia district headquarters validates concerns over a security vacuum opening up with the drawdown of the Southern African troops. “Claims that the province has been for the most part stabilised are evidently not accurate,” he told Reuters. Nyusi said that attacks can take place in such periods of transition and that he hoped the SADC forces would be able to step in and help. It was unclear if they were still deployed in the area or involved in the fight. Rwanda has also deployed troops to Mozambique to help fight the armed groups. Figures released by the International Organisation for Migration in March show more than 110,000 people have been displaced since the end of last year, amid escalating violence in the province. The offensive comes as French oil company TotalEnergies is seeking to restart a $20bn liquefied natural gas terminal in Cabo Delgado that was halted in 2021 due to the violence. That project is some 200km (124 miles) north of Macomia, the town under attack. ExxonMobil, with partner Eni, is also developing an LNG project in northern Mozambique and said last week that it was “optimistic and pushing forward” as the security situation had improved. Adblock test (Why?)
Chad’s President Deby wins election against prime minister in heated race
Violence and questions of election-rigging, however, marred the provisional vote tally, which was announced earlier than expected. Military leader Mahamat Idriss Deby has won a closely watched presidential election in the country of Chad, according to provisional results released by its National Election Management Agency. Deby secured more than 61 percent of the vote, according to the numbers released on Thursday, eliminating the need for a runoff with his closest rival, Prime Minister Succes Masra, who received 18.5 percent. The victory allows Deby, the incumbent, to hold onto the presidency with a voter mandate. Previously, he led the country as its interim president, seizing power after his father, the late President Idriss Deby, was killed in April 2021 while fighting a rebel group in the north of the country. But his rival in the presidential race, Masra, has already indicated he will not accept the election results. Earlier on Thursday, Masra issued a live broadcast on Facebook declaring himself the winner. He also accused Deby and other government officials of rigging the election results to hold onto power. “A small number of individuals believe they can make people believe that the election was won by the same system that has been ruling Chad for decades,” Masra said. President Mahamat Idriss Deby casts his vote during the May 6 presidential election [Stringer/Reuters] Deby’s father had led the country for more than 30 years, from 1990 to 2021, when he was shot to death shortly after his sixth presidential victory. Critics have accused both him and now his son, the current President Deby, of stifling the opposition to maintain their grip on power. They have also pointed to circumstances leading up to the May 6 presidential vote that could have swayed its outcome. For instance, one of the leading opposition figures, Deby’s cousin Yaya Dillo, was killed when security forces engaged in a shootout at his party headquarters. Other opposition figures have been barred from running over “irregularities” in their applications to campaign. On Thursday, Masra called on his supporters and security forces to back his claim to the presidency and reject the election agency’s results. “To all Chadians who voted for change, who voted for me, I say: mobilise. Do it calmly, with a spirit of peace,” he said in his Facebook broadcast. A poll worker shows off a copy of the presidential ballot on May 6, showing all 10 candidates [Desire Danga Essigue/Reuters] Thursday’s results came earlier than expected, as the provisional results were originally thought to arrive on May 21. Chad is considered the first of the military-led countries in Africa’s Sahel region to hold a democratic election, though questions about the vote’s fairness and credibility have endured. Nearby countries like Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have weathered coups that have left military leaders in charge of their governments, too. Eight coups have struck the region since 2020 alone. This month’s presidential race was also the first time in the country’s history that an incumbent faced his prime minister in the polls. Upon taking office in 2021, Deby pledged to hold “free and democratic elections” within 18 months – but his government extended the transition period until 2024, allowing Deby to remain in office in the interim. During that time, he led a referendum on a new constitution that allowed him to mount his 2024 election bid. A lifelong soldier, Deby led the powerful DGSSIE, an acronym for the General Direction of the Security Services of State Institutions. In that role, he worked closely with French troops. Home to nearly 18 million people, Chad was under French colonial rule until 1960, and it remains the last country in the Sahel region to have a French military presence, with warplanes and troops stationed there. In the wake of Thursday’s announcement, security forces were stationed at intersections throughout the capital of N’Djamena, in case of unrest. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 806
As the war enters its 806th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Friday, May 10, 2024. Fighting Two people were killed in Russian shelling of Ukraine’s southern city of Nikopol, while Ukraine’s air force said air defence systems destroyed 17 out of 20 Russian attack drones targeting the southern Odesa region. No casualties were reported from those attacks. Eight people were injured and dozens of buildings damaged in a Ukrainian air attack on Russia’s Belgorod, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s army was facing “a really difficult situation” against Russian forces on the eastern front, but that the US’s $61bn military aid package was coming and would turn the tide. Ukraine’s state energy company Ukrhydroenergo said two hydropower plants were no longer operating after Russian attacks earlier this week caused “devastating damage”. Unnamed intelligence sources in Kyiv told the Reuters and AFP news agencies that a Ukrainian drone struck a major oil refinery in Russia’s Bashkortostan region on Thursday from some 1,500km (932 miles) away in the longest-range attack since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Russia’s emergency services said a building at Gazprom’s Neftekhim Salavat oil processing, petrochemical and fertiliser complex in Bashkortostan was damaged, the RIA state news agency reported. Politics and diplomacy Ukrainian President Zelenskyy fired the head of the state guards, the unit that provides protection to top officials, after the intelligence services said two of its members were involved in a Russian plot to assassinate him. Zelenskyy appointed Brigadier General Oleksandr Trepak as the commander of Ukraine’s special forces replacing Colonel Serhiy Lupanchuk. It is the second time in six months that the president has changed the head of the unit that operates in Russia-occupied territories. No reason was given. Ukraine’s popular former army chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who led Ukraine’s defence in the first two years of Moscow’s full-scale invasion, was named Kyiv’s ambassador to the United Kingdom. The previous ambassador was fired in July 2023 after criticising the president. Ukraine’s parliament backed a bill to crack down on voted-on draft dodgers. The legislation includes raising fines for anyone caught trying to avoid the call-up and allowing authorities to detain draft dodgers for up to three days. Speaking at Russia’s Victory Day military parade, President Vladimir Putin accused “arrogant” Western elites of forgetting the decisive role played by the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II, and of stoking conflicts across the world. Putin ordered Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022. Moscow currently occupies about 18 percent of the country. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Seoul would maintain strong ties with Ukraine and a “smooth” relationship with Russia but ruled out direct weapon shipments to Kyiv. Weapons German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Ukraine’s Western allies would deliver three more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS). The system can launch multiple guided missiles in quick succession. Adblock test (Why?)
Two mango seasons: A long wait for Pakistan families hit by May 9 violence
Islamabad, Pakistan – It’s summertime, and mango season in Pakistan. But 25-year-old Amber* can’t stand the sight of the fruit, one of the country’s most famous exports. Mangoes remind her of her jailed husband, Mohammad Zameer*. “My husband loves mangoes,” says the mother of three children from her home in Faisalabad, Pakistan’s third-largest city in the province of Punjab. On May 9, 2023, Zameer was on his way home after lunch with his brother late in the afternoon when he became one among thousands of people who were caught up in a maelstrom of protests that exploded on Pakistan’s streets after former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest. Khan’s supporters attacked government buildings and even military installations, after the former prime minister accused the country’s army of orchestrating his removal from power a year earlier. The military cracked down on protesters, who were accused of what Pakistan’s government later described as an “attempted coup.” But rights groups say that many of the more than 9,000 people arrested across the country in the wake of the May 9 riots were not political activists, and some were bystanders picked up because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Zameer, 33, was among those arrested in Faisalabad. His family was confident he would be released soon. So Amber bought her husband’s favourite fruit to greet him with a mango shake when he returned home. A year later, Amber — who was pregnant at the time — is effectively a single parent to their five-year-old son, three-year-old daughter and their youngest daughter, who was born after her husband’s arrest. And she’s still waiting to make a mango shake for Zameer. “That summer ended, then the winters came and went, and now a new mango season is here, but my husband is yet to return home,” she says. ‘Dark chapter’ On May 9, nationwide protests erupted after Khan, the cricketer-turned-founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was arrested during a court appearance in capital Islamabad over corruption charges. His supporters stormed the house of a military commander in Lahore, partially burning it. That night, a mob tried to enter the heavily secured military headquarters in Rawalpindi town. Faced with a scenario that Pakistan’s security establishment had never faced its history, law enforcement officials fired on attackers. At least 10 people were killed in the protests. And a country already reeling under a severe economic crisis found itself grappling with deepening political instability. The PTI supporters’ anger stemmed from Khan’s allegation that the “establishment” – a euphemism for the army – was behind his sacking in April 2022 when he lost a no-confidence vote in parliament and had to cede power to a coalition headed by current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Pakistan’s powerful military, which has directly ruled over the country for three decades and has enjoyed significant influence even under civilian governments, has consistently denied Khan’s allegations. The military called the May 9 protests a “dark chapter” in Pakistan’s history and pledged to take strict action against the protesters. Meanwhile, Khan — who was released on bail on May 12 — was eventually arrested in August, and has since been convicted in a spate of cases linked to corruption, state secrets and even the religious validity of his marriage. Those convictions in turn led to his disqualification from electoral politics. Khan could not contest in the national elections held in February this year, and remains in custody. The former prime minister has denied the charges against him, and has said they are politically motivated. In the aftermath of the May 9 riots, 105 out of those who were arrested were charged under a section of the Official Secrets Act (OSA), which the government amended to broaden its scope. The amended law punishes anyone who “approaches, inspects, passes over or is in the vicinity of, or enters, attacks, destroys or otherwise undermines any prohibited place”. These cases were heard in military courts, where the accused do not have the right to appeal verdicts in civilian courts. Access to lawyers in such cases is often at the discretion of the military, which otherwise provides a “friend of the accused” — a military official from the army’s legal department tasked to assist an accused person. All 105 of them were convicted. In April, under instructions by Supreme Court of Pakistan, 20 of them were pardoned since their convictions were of less than a year. The remaining 85 convictions — including Zameer’s — are currently on hold, due to a restraining order from the Supreme Court, which is currently hearing a case regarding the constitutionality of the military courts. But these 85 are still behind bars. ‘It’s my birthday next month’ It all began on the afternoon of May 9, Amber says. Zameer was almost home when he saw a large gathering of people outside a building near their house, which he realised was the local office of the Inter-Services Intelligence (Pakistan’s military intelligence agency). They were Khan’s supporters, protesting his arrest. Amber says Zameer took a video of the protest on his phone, then came back home. Later that day, Zameer, a real estate dealer who also owns a mobile phone shop, shared the video he had shot with some of his friends on WhatsApp. A week later, Zameer was at his shop when four officials, two of them in police uniform, arrested him. His family was still grieving the loss of Zameer’s father in March 2023. Now they had a new shock to deal with. “Zameer used to do a lot of social work and people in the area knew him,” Amber says. “He had never thought he could be arrested.” She said the officers were courteous during the arrest and the family believed Zameer would likely be released soon. Zameer was kept in a Faisalabad jail where his brothers would visit him, while Amber stayed at home. “He [Zameer] would send messages for me, asking me to stay strong and look after myself