Yemen’s Houthis target US-linked ship with missiles
A Houthi military spokesman reiterated the threat that attacks from Yemen will persist until Israel halts its war in Gaza. Houthi fighters have fired on a ship that they identified as United States-owned while it travelled in waters off Yemen. The Iran-linked armed group said on Monday that the Star Iris was targeted with “a number of suitable naval missiles” in “accurate and direct” strikes. The Houthis have attacked numerous ships in the Red Sea in recent months, disrupting the key trade route between Europe and Asia, and called for an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Yahya Saree, the Houthis military spokesman said that the strike on the vessel, owned by the US-listed, Greece-based firm Star Bulk Carriers Corp, came “in vindication of the oppressed Palestinian people, in support and solidarity with our brothers in the Gaza Strip”. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) confirmed that a vessel was attacked by two missiles at 00:35 GMT some 40 nautical miles (74km) south of al-Makha (Mocha) in Yemen. “The crew are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to next port of call,” it said, advising transit through waters near Yemen with caution. UKMTO WARNING INCIDENT 029 Update 001 https://t.co/XsgrK5uW2N#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/DqP9vcptKg — United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) February 12, 2024 Saree also called the attack “retaliation to the American-British aggression on our country”. In recent weeks, the US and UK have responded to the ongoing attacks on maritime traffic by launching strikes on Houthi-held Yemeni territory. However, the Houthis appear undeterred. The spokesman reiterated that the group intends to continue to target vessels in the Red Sea until the war ends. The latest Houthi attack comes less than two days after the latest “self-defence strikes” by the US military, which has been pounding Yemen with munitions launched from aircraft and warships near Yemen. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Sunday that its newest attacks a day earlier had targeted two unmanned surface vessels and three mobile anti-ship cruise missiles. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 129
EXPLAINER Israel has carried out air strikes in Rafah where 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering, raising fears of a humanitarian disaster. Here’s how things stand on Monday, February 12, 2024: Humanitarian crisis in Gaza Israel has carried out overnight air strikes in Rafah in southern Gaza, killing at least 67 people. Israeli forces hit houses, hospitals and three mosques, Palestinian officials said. Rafah hosts 1.4 million Palestinians, most of whom were displaced by Israeli offensives in northern and central Gaza. The total death toll of Palestinians in Gaza stands at 28,340 since the start of the war on October 7. The Israeli military said it rescued two captives from the Gaza Strip early on Monday, during an Israeli raid that included the Rafah strikes. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has called for the protection of its staff after multiple incidents, including the killing of two ambulance officers who went to rescue six-year-old Hind Rajab. Rajab’s body was found inside a car. Regional tensions and diplomacy US President Joe Biden is hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Washington on Monday. The agenda for the meeting involves discussions about the Israeli military operation in Rafah, the release of captives in Gaza and growing concern over a possible Israeli ground operation in Rafah. A ship came under attack by two missiles in the key Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Monday, the latest assault carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has arrived in Doha for talks on securing a ceasefire in Gaza with the Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the two leaders would meet on Monday. US Senator Bernie Sanders has said “no one in Congress” should support the Biden administration sending military aid to Israel, in a post on X. Occupied West Bank A pro-settler organisation released a report on Sunday showing that the population of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank increased nearly 3 percent in 2023 and expecting growth to accelerate this year. The number of settlers in the West Bank now stands at 517,407, up from 502,991 a year earlier. Israeli forces detained a Palestinian man, Hassan al-Sayed, on Sunday evening and seized a vehicle from the city of Jenin, Wafa reported. Wafa also reported that Israeli forces shot and injured a young Palestinian on Sunday evening near the entrance to the town of Battir, west of Bethlehem. Israeli occupation forces on Sunday evening detained five Palestinian young men in the Old City of Hebron, Wafa reported. Adblock test (Why?)
Ivory Coast people ‘deserve’ dramatic 2023 AFCON title win against Nigeria
The Elephants of Ivory Coast came from behind to complete a dramatic recovery and redemption on home soil at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations as they claimed a third continental title by beating Nigeria 2-1 in Abidjan on Sunday. The Super Eagles had taken a first-half lead, against the run of play, through their captain William Troost-Ekong, but goals from Franck Kessie and Sebastian Haller condemned Nigeria to their fifth defeat in eight appearances in AFCON finals. For striker Haller, and for even the most ardent Nigeria fan, it was a fitting finale to a journey back to full health having been diagnosed with testicular cancer in July 2022. Ivory Coast were on the brink of elimination in the group stage, for which Haller was injured, and lost their coach Jean-Louis Gasset as a result. Their victory on Sunday, secured against a Nigerian side that were heavy favourites, also marked the first win by any hosts since Egypt claimed the crown in 2006. Let the Elephants’ party begin The triumph, all the sweeter for so many side stories, left the people of the West African nation, gripped by a five-year civil war until 2007, dancing long into the night. Heavy traffic jams with cars blaring horns and the sound of vuvuzelas, a horn instrument blown by football fans, took over a 3km radius of the Ebimpe area of Abidjan. “We are the champions of Africa. Long live the Elephants,” jubilant Ivorian fan Siaka Kouassi told Al Jazeera. “No team was better and we deserve to win against Nigeria. We are ready to party all night long,” a sweaty Maimouna Yaya added. Sebastian Haller, the man who converted a whole nation’s dream into the net. 🐘⚽️🇨🇮#TotalEnergiesAFCON2023Final pic.twitter.com/uD7FadwqUG — CAF (@CAF_Online) February 12, 2024 On the pitch, Nigeria had taken the lead through Troost-Ekong’s powerful first-half header before Kessie equalised with his aerial effort from a corner just past the hour-mark for the hosts. Haller, who returned to playing in January 2023 after four rounds of chemotherapy and surgery in November 2022, steered Simon Adingra’s cross into the net to break Nigerian hearts with less than 10 minutes to play. “It’s the power of the group and the mindset that put us through,” said Ivorian man of the match Adingra. “We had some challenging moments but we rescued ourselves, although it wasn’t easy. The mental fortitude saw us restore our chances and do what we achieved today. “Our people deserve this victory because they stood with us even when many thought we were dead.” Pressing problems for Nigeria The Super Eagles made surprise changes to the starting 11 with Samuel Chukwueze preferred over Moses Simon in attack, while the fit-again Zaidu Sanusi was picked ahead of Bright Osayi-Samuel on the flank. It meant Nigeria, unbeaten with four clean sheets in six matches previously in the tournament, adopted the same defensive approach they used until their semifinal against South Africa. As a result, they failed to press their dominant opponents on the night. “The Ivorians fought till the end. We should’ve pressed higher, but we didn’t,” Nigeria defender Kenneth Omeruo told Al Jazeera. “We conceded a goal and that’s where things went wrong. Congratulations to the Ivorians.” Disappointed, yet we make do with the Silver Medal#soarsupereagles #letsdoitagain pic.twitter.com/NNWKc5yfde — 🇳🇬 Super Eagles (@NGSuperEagles) February 12, 2024 The tournament’s most valuable player and Nigeria captain Troost-Ekong said he would trade his best player award for the AFCON trophy. “No one gave us a chance before the start of the tournament but we exceeded expectations,” he said. “It’s an unfortunate end to a great campaign and heartbreaking for us as a team. Ivory Coast wanted it more.” Brentford midfielder Frank Onyeka says most of the Nigerian players are shattered and broken. “I feel sad. We fought till the end. It just wasn’t our day, and we were made to pay for it. “We tried to play as the coach asked us to do by playing our game, but this was simply not a solid Super Eagles performance.” Nigeria coach Jose Peseiro, whose future is now in the air, as his two-year contract expired at the end of the tournament, admitted his side were second best. “Our team had a fantastic tournament but today Ivory Coast was better,” the 63-year-old said. “Our team didn’t show our level. That’s the truth. It was not the same job as we did in the previous rounds.” 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 😘🏆#TotalEnergiesAFCON2023Final pic.twitter.com/1dU9V5Zk04 — CAF (@CAF_Online) February 11, 2024 The Elephants stamp past the Super Eagles For Peseiro’s opposite number, Emerse Fae, the future is clouded for a very different reason. The 40-year-old was appointed as interim manager to replace Gasset following two defeats in the group stage. It was not so much a comeback for Fae, as in the sense of his side’s redemption and the recovery of their match-winning hero Haller, but rather the completion of an evolution following the cards life dealt him. The former Ivorian international, who played in the Premier League with Reading, focused on coaching at the age of 28 when he was forced to retire from playing due to Phlebitis, the inflammation of veins close to the skin. Fae said it was too soon to speak about his future and instead insisted he just wanted to celebrate a significant achievement in the history of Ivorian football. “Everyone suffered to achieve this, now we can celebrate being African champions,” he said. “This victory is for our people who stood by us and never stopped supporting us.” For Fae, Haller and the Ivorian team as a whole at the tournament, this AFCON was the story of mighty Elephants who never stopped marching through terrain that seemed ever inclining in front of them. Adblock test (Why?)
The AI Series: AI and the Global South
Nobel peace prize laureate Maria Ressa and Urvashi Aneja explore how current AI developments impact the Global South. While many of today’s headline-grabbing artificial intelligence (AI) tools are designed in Silicon Valley, much of the labour that fuels the boom is based in the Global South, raising questions over who stands to gain from the technology and at what cost. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa and the director of the Digital Futures Lab, Urvashi Aneja, explore the impact AI is already having on communities in the Global South – from labour conditions to democracy and the environment – and why countries need to move beyond “catching up with the North” when deciding what role AI can and should play in their societies. Adblock test (Why?)
For Ukraine’s defence industry ambitions, the sky’s the limit
As Ukraine approaches the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, it plans to produce more if its own ammunition and key weapons systems. The goal of greater self-sufficiency comes as Ukraine’s Western allies meet increasing political resistance to military aid and Russia ramps up weapons production. Last month, Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said the country plans to increase its domestic weapons production sixfold this year. Ukraine’s defence industry has already begun to expand. Strategic industries minister Oleksandr Kamyshin said Ukraine last year doubled its ammunition production for NATO-calibre artillery systems. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it had produced three times more equipment and weapons than in the first year of the war. That included armored vehicles and anti-tank missile systems. But it’s in unmanned systems that Ukraine aims to be a global pioneer. Almost 200 companies produced drones in Ukraine last year, up from seven in 2022, and their production increased 100-fold, said Shmyal. That meant Ukraine was already producing 90 percent of the drones it uses, Zelenskyy said during a meeting with the joint chiefs this month. The armed forces approved eight new models for procurement last month alone. INTERACTIVE-WHO CONTROLS WHAT IN UKRAINE-1707305135 (Al Jazeera) On Tuesday, Zelenskyy explained why. He founded the Unmanned Systems Forces, suggesting “special units” would be embedded in the army, air force and navy, and promised “constant scaling of production” to keep them supplied. “Our task this year is not only to bolster our sky shield and Ukraine’s long-range capabilities to the fullest extent possible, but also to inflict maximum systemic losses on Russia,” Zelenskyy said. As part of that goal, Ukraine plans to produce a million light drones and 11,000 medium- and long-range drones, the latter with a range of more than 1,000km (620 miles), said Kamyshin. Ukraine had “established production” and a “financing plan” to achieve this, Rustem Umyerov, defence minister, told a meeting of the G7 representatives in Kyiv last December. Days before he was dismissed, Valerii Zaluzhny, commander in chief, wrote that unmanned systems were “almost the only tool” to break the current stalemate, making up for Russia’s superiority in heavy equipment and personnel. Experts tell Al Jazeera Ukraine’s ambitions are realistic. “Kyiv certainly has the capacity to mass produce FPV [first person viewer] UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] given that many of these are based on commercial or hobbyist products,” Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a think tank, told Al Jazeera. “Manufacturing larger multi-role UAVs is more demanding, but again Kyiv has the ability to do this, if on a far smaller scale,” Barrie said. “After the fall of the USSR, [Ukraine] was one of few countries that had a functioning aircraft engine industry,” Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), told Al Jazeera. “They can use that knowledge to rebuild a missile or a drone production capacity. It’s not coming from nowhere,” said Wezeman, whose research focuses on arms transfers and military production. Early in the war, Ukraine repurposed commercially available FPV drones to drop grenades into the hatches of parked Russian tanks, instantly killing their crews. They offered an added propaganda bonus: drones could beam back video of the kills, allowing Ukraine to humiliate the Russian armed forces while boosting their own morale. Ukraine believes building these drones more cheaply by itself would offer it more bang for the buck, cycle military expenditure back into its tax base and one day produce export revenue. “Basically, they want to build a million flying munition pieces,” said Wezeman. “They will need some foreign components – a little chip, a camera like the one in a mobile phone… it’s not as extreme as it may sound.” Oleksiy Danilov, who heads Ukraine’s National Defence and Security Council, recently claimed that Ukraine was already among the top three drone manufacturers in the world. Russia’s plans to produce more than 32,000 drones each year by 2030 seem tame in comparison to Ukraine’s. Unable to match Ukraine’s production, Russia agreed to pay Iran $1.75bn for 6,000 Shahed drones, Ukrainian hackers recently revealed. Soviet stuff and other Ukrainian mysteries Suddenly last summer, Ukraine used a concert of unmanned systems to strike the occupied Crimean Peninsula with devastating effect. On August 23, it destroyed a Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile system 120km (74 miles) from the front line. On September 12, a combination of 10 drones and cruise missiles crippled a Russian submarine and a landing ship undergoing maintenance at the Sevastopol dry docks. Two days later, surface drones struck two patrol ships and a missile corvette, while missiles destroyed a second S-400 battery in western Crimea’s Yevpatoria. The reason for the escalation was Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allowed Ukraine to export agricultural goods. These are a lifeline for its economy and war effort, bringing it $23bn last year. An aerial view of the city of Sevastopol after a missile attack struck the headquarters of Moscow’s Black Sea fleet in annexed Crimea. Satellite image released on September 23, 2023 [Planet Lab/PBC/AFP] The most crippling strikes were yet to come. On September 20, Ukraine destroyed half the Black Sea Fleet’s communications headquarters in Verkhnosadove northeast of the fleet base in Sevastopol, and two days later hit the fleet command headquarters in Sevastopol itself, claiming to have killed 34 officers, including fleet commander Admiral Viktor Sokolov. Ukraine built up a sense of mystique around its weapons systems during this time, claiming to have developed a missile capable of travelling 700km (435 miles) and to have put variants of its naval drone into experimental operational use with success. “The missiles used against Crimea may very well go back to missiles Ukraine developed before the war started,” said Wezeman. Ukraine was known to be developing the Hrim-2, a short-range ballistic missile for Saudi Arabia. “They may have continued that project and used prototypes of that or other preproduction missiles,” said Wezeman. Ukraine’s ranged strikes have continued. Last month, Ukraine sent drones
Army-backed Nawaz Sharif fails to win Pakistan election. What went wrong?
Islamabad, Pakistan — When Nawaz Sharif, the three-time former prime minister, emerged on the balcony of his party’s headquarters in Lahore on Friday night, fireworks went off as he was given a rousing welcome by the crowd of nearly 1,500 people. Sharif started out with what has now become the staple of his public addresses, asking the crowd of his Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) supporters, “Do you love me?”. The response, “We love you!”, echoed among his adoring audience. Yet, more than three days after Pakistan voted in general elections, there is little evidence that the sentiment of Sharif’s core supporters is shared by the wider public in the nation of 241 million people that stunned analysts in their voting patterns on February 8. For weeks before the elections, the PMLN was viewed by experts as the favourite to secure a clear victory that would give the 74-year-old political veteran another chance to rule Pakistan. Once targeted by Pakistan’s military establishment, Sharif appeared to have won the favour of the generals for the 2024 vote. So confident were Sharif and the PMLN of their win that they had scheduled a victory speech from their leader for Thursday night, barely hours after polls closed. Then, the results started coming in, and the bubble was burst. “As the voting patterns emerged, it shocked and surprised the party, forcing a rethink which is why they were in complete silent mode for nearly 12 hours,” said Majid Nizami, a political analyst, and a specialist on elections. When Sharif finally addressed supporters on Friday, he claimed victory, but acknowledged that his party had failed to secure a simple majority and so would need coalition partners to form a government. “This was not the result the party was expecting. They thought they would achieve more than 85 percent of seats from Punjab province, but initial trends showed they were barely getting 50 percent of seats,” Lahore-based Nizami told Al Jazeera. Almost all of the remaining seats in Punjab, the bastion of Sharif’s PMLN, went to candidates backed by former PM Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) — a party that experts believed had been decimated by targeted political and legal attacks in recent months. What went wrong? As the dust settles on the election results, the PMLN has emerged with 75 seats in the national assembly, trailing PTI-backed independent candidates by 20 seats. The PTI alleges widespread manipulation and tampering, insisting that it has been denied a far larger majority and that their mandate has been “stolen” to benefit Sharif and his PMLN. So, what happened to the PMLN, a party that, as late as early 2022, was leading opinion polls in popularity over PTI and was considered the strongest party in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous and electorally important province? For Lahore-based political analyst and editor Badar Alam, the roots of PMLN’s disappointing performance in the polls can be traced back to April 2022 when Imran Khan, the PTI chief, and then-prime minister were ousted through a parliamentary vote of no-confidence. At the time, Sharif was in self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom, after a series of corruption-related convictions. His party allied with the country’s other traditional political force, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and others under what was called the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), to topple Khan’s government. They succeeded. But, said Alam, “once Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz’s younger brother, took over as prime minister, his attention went towards removing all the cases and convictions against his elder brother.” These are cases that have haunted the Sharif brothers for three decades. The elder Sharif, who ruled the country twice in the 1990s, has been dogged by corruption allegations since then. In 1999, he was ousted in a military coup. His third term in power, after the PMLN won the 2013 elections, was marked by intensifying rivalry with Khan, who eventually won the 2018 election, backed at the time by Pakistan’s powerful military establishment that has ruled the country directly for more than three decades and has influenced politics from behind the scenes for much of the rest of the country’s existence. Yet, since relations between Khan and the military soured, and he was ousted in 2022 — with the military now seemingly backing the PDM government — Pakistan has been through torrid political, economic and security crises. Salman Ghani, a political analyst who has been covering the PMLN for a long time, said that as the leading party of the PDM, the decisions of that government hung heavy around the Sharif brothers’ necks. “The 16-month rule of PDM caused almost irreversible damage to the PMLN. The tenure saw massive inflation, hitting the public everywhere, including their own vote bank,” Ghani told Al Jazeera. “Theirs is a party of development and the economy; people support them for delivery, not for ideology. That perception was destroyed in that time.” Pakistan was on the verge of defaulting on loans last year, with its foreign reserves depleting to less than $4 billion dollars, and its rupee depreciating rapidly against the US dollar. A $3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund helped stave off a default temporarily. PMLN supporters dance at the party’s Lahore headquarters on Friday. [Rahat Dar/EPA] Sharif returned home from his exile three months before the elections. Many analysts believe that Sharif’s return and the subsequent change in his legal fortunes — with convictions against him dropped and restrictions against contesting elections removed — were made possible only because the military had decided to back him in the 2024 vote. Meanwhile, Khan has been charged in more than 100 cases; was jailed in August and barred from contesting in the elections; and was sentenced in three separate cases just the week before the February 8 polls. His party faced a crackdown — senior party officials were arrested, many were apparently coerced to leave his movement, and the PTI was barred from even using its election symbol, the cricket bat, in the elections. Its candidates were forced to contest as independents.
Could new vaccines end malaria in Africa?
After decades of research and trials, a groundbreaking malaria vaccine is being rolled out across West Africa in a major attempt to eliminate the disease which is the second-biggest cause of death of children on the continent. On January 22, health workers in Cameroon began gathering babies and children below five years of age for the first doses of the RTS,S vaccine, which has been developed by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and PATH, a non-profit health organisation. The vaccine’s designation – RTS,S – refers to the genes of the parasite it was produced from. Children in Burkina Faso will be next to receive the jab, starting this month. A second vaccine, R21, was approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) in December and is likely to be rolled out in a matter of months. This vaccine is already being used in some African countries, Ghana being the first to approve it last year. These vaccines have been developed as part of a global push to stamp out malaria, a disease which can be deadly for children and pregnant women. Nearly all of the more than 200 million annual cases in the world occur in African countries. Here’s all you need to know about the new malaria vaccines: How do the vaccines work? Although research for a malaria vaccine has been ongoing since the 1980s and trials started as far back as 2004, the RTS,S vaccine was recommended by the WHO in 2021 as part of a process towards certification. In July 2022, WHO officially approved the vaccine for use. It has a 75 percent efficacy rate. Named Mosquirix, the vaccine is formulated to activate antibodies and target the infectious stage of Plasmodium falciparum, a malaria-causing parasite. This parasite is spread by the female anopheles mosquito when it bites. In trials carried out between 2009 and 2011 across seven African countries, the RTS,S vaccine prevented infants from developing malaria for at least three years after the first vaccination. Over the four years, malaria cases among children immunised with the vaccine when they were aged between five and 17 months dropped by 39 percent. Among those immunised between six and 12 weeks after birth, malaria cases dropped by 27 percent. In a pilot programme launched in Ghana, Malawi and Kenya in 2019, the WHO reported that the use of the vaccine had resulted in a 13 percent decline in the number of deaths from malaria among more than two million children monitored. R21, or Matrix-M, is a second malaria vaccine that was approved by the WHO in December 2023. It was developed by Oxford University and manufactured by Serum Institute of India. In test trials, R21 showed an efficacy rate of 75 percent over 12 months. There are plans to roll out this jab in Africa alongside the RTS,S vaccine in mid-2024. Wendy Prudhomme O’Meara, a professor at Duke University, told Al Jazeera the main drawback of the Oxford vaccine is that frequent boosters are required. “Efficacy wanes within a year [and] this makes it very effective for seasonal protection but we hope that as we continue to build the R&D [research and development] pipeline for malaria, we can improve on this,” O’Meara said. “I think the malaria community understands that this is an important first step, but it is not the end of the road.” Two vials of the Mosquirix vaccine inside a cold chamber in Nairobi, Kenya, October 2021 [Patrick Meinhardt/Getty Images] How dangerous is malaria? Severe malaria can cause complications such as organ failure and can result in death. It is the number two cause of toddler deaths in Africa after respiratory illnesses – nearly half a million children die from malaria in African countries every year. The disease is especially deadly for children because they are less likely to have built up any immunity to it. Pregnant women in their second and third trimesters are also particularly vulnerable to becoming infected with malaria because their immunity levels are reduced. People visiting high transmission areas from malaria-free zones are vulnerable too because they lack any built-up immunity that comes from living in endemic areas. Millions of malaria cases are recorded every year around the world. In 2022 alone, some 249 million cases were recorded, with a death toll of 608,000 across 85 countries. Nearly all – 94 percent – of these were in African countries. Why are African countries so vulnerable to malaria? A host of factors including weather patterns, poor sanitation and weak public healthcare systems contribute to the continent carrying nearly all of the world’s malaria burden. In 2022, nearly all deaths from malaria worldwide were recorded on the continent. Four countries – Nigeria (27 percent), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12 percent), Uganda (5 percent) and Mozambique (4 percent) – accounted for almost half of all cases. Malaria thrives in the tropics, where climatic conditions allow the anopheles mosquito to successfully produce malaria parasites in its saliva, which it transmits to humans when it bites them. Waterlogged, damp places are the insect’s favourite breeding ground. During the rainy season, therefore, malaria transmission rates tend to be higher. Some analysts describe malaria as “a disease of the poor”. Families living in mosquito-infested environments who cannot afford chemically treated mosquito nets or insecticides often bear the brunt of the disease. Treatments for the disease can be expensive. In Mozambique, a 2019 study found that one household will need to spend $3.46 for treatments for an uncomplicated case, but up to $81.08 for treatments for a severe case. The average household income in Mozambique is about $149 per month. Even without vaccines, malaria could be eliminated if more attention is paid to reducing poverty structures and providing better living environments, O’Meara of Duke University said. “Malaria was eliminated in the US before modern insecticide-treated nets, before DDT [insecticide] and certainly before artemisinin combination drugs or vaccines,” she said. “Malaria ecology in the US was of course much different than Africa, but still that was achieved by environmental
Qatar releases former Indian navy officers after dropping death sentences
Seven of the men have already been returned to India, but details of the case remain scant. Qatar has released eight former Indian naval officers previously sentenced to death on charges of spying for Israel. India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) thanked Doha on Monday as it announced that the octet had been freed. The details surrounding their arrest, sentencing, and commuting remain unclear. “We appreciate the decision by the Amir [Emir] of the State of Qatar to enable the release and home-coming of these nationals,” the ministry said in a statement in New Delhi. The men were reportedly arrested in August 2022, due to accusations that they had passed sensitive submarine-related information to Israeli intelligence. Neither Qatar nor India officially confirmed the charges. A preliminary court sentenced them to death last year, prompting India to express deep shock and file an appeal. The MEA confirmed in December that it had gained consular access to the prisoners. Later the same month, it said an appeals court had commuted their death sentence to varying prison terms. It said on Monday that seven of the men had already returned to India. No further details were given about the eighth man, the conditions of the release, or the current status of the case. Firm allies The arrest of the men last year made headlines in Indian and Arab media. The eight were senior employees of Dahra Global Technologies and Consulting Services, a company advising on a Qatari programme aimed at obtaining high-tech, Italian-made, submarines that could evade radar detection. The private firm has since been shut down. While briefly disturbing ties, the case appears unlikely to have a significant effect on relations between New Delhi and Doha, which are firm allies. The pair continue to have extensive economic ties. Last week, they signed a deal worth tens of billions of dollars that will secure exports of Qatari liquified natural gas until the end of 2048. Adblock test (Why?)
Kansas Chiefs beat 49ers in Super Bowl eclipsed by Taylor Swift mania
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman scores winning touchdown with three seconds left in overtime. The Kansas City Chiefs have defeated the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 to become back-to-back Super Bowl champions. Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman scored a touchdown with three seconds left in overtime to nab the title, after a 3-yard pass from quarterback Patrick Mahomes at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The victory makes the Kansas City Chiefs the first team to win the Super Bowl back-to-back in nearly two decades. For much of the game, Kansas City looked like they would be denied glory by San Francisco, who went into half-time leading 10-3. “With all the adversity we’ve been through this season to come through tonight. … I’m proud of the guys,” Mahomes said after the game. “This is awesome. Legendary.” The Super Bowl, the biggest event on the United States’s sporting calendar, drew particular attention this year thanks to the attendance of global pop sensation Taylor Swift, whose relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has been the focus of a media and pop culture frenzy. The 14-time Grammy winner on Saturday wrapped up the Japan leg of her Eras Tour with a sold-out show in Tokyo to dash back to the US on a private jet so she could cheer on Kelce. As the winning touchdown was scored, TV cameras panned to Swift to see her smothered by a mob of people at the viewing box she was sharing with Kelce’s family and her celebrity friends Blake Lively and Ice Spice. During the post-game celebrations on the side of the field, Swift and Kelce embraced and kissed in view of the crowd and the assembled media. Swift has attended numerous NFL games to watch Kelce play since they began dating last year, with NFL officials crediting her with driving a sudden surge in the popularity of the sport among young women. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel strikes Rafah, says two captives freed
Air raids come as Palestinians in Rafah brace for offensive that aid agencies fear would cause massive casualties. Israel has carried out air strikes in southern Gaza’s Rafah, killing dozens, according to health officials, as Palestinians brace for a major offensive on the densely crowded city. There were conflicting reports of the death toll following the predawn strikes on Monday. The AFP news agency reported that the strikes killed 52 people, while Reuters reported that 37 had been killed. Both outlets quoted health officials in Gaza. The Israeli strikes hit 14 houses and three mosques in Rafah, according to Palestinian officials. However, Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues have reported that at least 63 people were killed in the strikes on the mosques. A press statement from Hamas asserted that more than 100 had been killed in the city. Israel’s military said it had struck a number of “terror targets” in the Shaboura district of Rafah and the strikes had concluded. Israel’s military also said it had rescued two captives taken by Hamas in an overnight operation in Rafah. Military officials said the captives, named as Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Har, were in good condition. Hamas has warned that an Israeli ground assault in Rafah would “blow up” negotiations to release the group’s remaining captives in Gaza. The strikes on Rafah come as Israel is preparing to launch a major offensive that aid agencies fear would result in significant civilian casualties in the last relatively safe area of Gaza. About 1.4 million Palestinians, or more than half the population of Gaza, have crowded into Rafah to escape Israeli bombardment, which has reduced much of the rest of the enclave to ruins. Hamas has condemned Israel for the attacks, saying they represent an “expansion of the scope of the massacres it is committing against our people”. “The Nazi occupation army’s attack on the city of Rafah tonight… which [has] claimed the lives of more than a hundred martyrs so far, is considered a continuation of the genocidal war and the attempts at forced displacement it is waging against our Palestinian people,” the group said in a press release. United States President Joe Biden on Sunday warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to launch an offensive on Rafah without a “credible and executable plan” to ensure the safety of people sheltering in the city. Netanyahu has promised “safe passage” for Palestinians in Rafah, but the lack of clarity about evacuation plans has prompted fears that they may be pushed into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, stoking tensions with Cairo. Netanyahu on Sunday told Fox News that “there’s plenty of room” north of Rafah and that is “where we’re going to direct them”, without specifying which part of Gaza would be safe to evacuate to. Adblock test (Why?)