World reacts to ICJ ruling on South Africa’s genocide case against Israel
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has delivered its ruling on the emergency measures requested by South Africa in its genocide case against Israel over its war on the Gaza Strip. The World Court on Friday did not order a ceasefire in Gaza but told Israel to take measures to prevent and punish direct incitement of genocide in the besieged strip. ICJ President Joan Donoghue noted that the court had found sufficient evidence of dispute for the genocide case and said it will not throw it out. Israel has also been ordered to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and has been asked to report back to the court within a month about how it is upholding the court’s orders. Here are some global reactions to the pivotal ruling: Palestine Palestine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates welcomed the ICJ’s ruling, saying in a statement it is an “important reminder” that no state is above the law. Foreign Minister Riyadh Maliki noted that Israel failed to persuade the court that it is not violating the 1948 Genocide Convention. In a statement he said: “The ICJ judges saw through Israel’s politicisation, deflection, and outright lies. They assessed the facts and the law and ordered provisional measures that recognised the gravity of the situation on the ground and the veracity of South Africa’s application. … Palestine calls on all states to ensure respect for the order of the International Court of Justice, including by Israel.” Israel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the ruling as “outrageous”. In a video message shortly after the court order, he said Israel is fighting a “just war like no other”. He added that Israel will continue to defend itself and its citizens while adhering to international law. Meanwhile, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir mocked the ICJ after the court issued its interim ruling. “Hague shmague,” the minister wrote on the social media platform X. South Africa The South African government called the ICJ ruling a “decisive victory” for international law. In a statement, the government said it welcomed the provisional measures and said it sincerely hoped Israel would not act to frustrate the application of the court’s orders. It further said the ruling marked a significant milestone in the search for justice for the Palestinian people and added that South Africa will continue to act within global institutions to protect the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza. Outside the ICJ headquarters in The Hague, Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s minister of international relations, told reporters that Israel will have to halt fighting in Gaza if it wants to adhere to the orders of the UN’s top court. “How do you provide aid and water without a ceasefire?” Pandor asked. “If you read the order, by implication, a ceasefire must happen.” Hamas Hamas hailed the court’s “important” ruling, saying it “contributes to isolating Israel”. “The [International] Court of Justice’s decision is an important development which contributes to isolating Israel and exposing its crimes in Gaza,” it said in a statement. United States The United States said the ruling of the ICJ was consistent with Washington’s view that Israel has the right to take action, in accordance with international law, to ensure the October 7 attack cannot be repeated. “We continue to believe that allegations of genocide are unfounded and note the court did not make a finding about genocide or call for a ceasefire in its ruling and that it called for the unconditional, immediate release of all hostages being held by Hamas,” a State Department spokesperson said. Qatar In a statement the government of Qatar has welcomed the ICJ’s ruling to impose emergency measures against Israel over its war in Gaza. Egypt Egypt welcomed the ruling on implementing emergency measures. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement also said Egypt “was looking forward to the International Court of Justice demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as the court ruled in similar cases”, stressing the need to respect and implement the ICJ’s decisions. Turkey Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the ruling, saying he hoped it would halt attacks against civilians. “We hope that Israel’s attacks against women, children and the elderly will come to an end,” Erdogan said in a social media statement, called the ICJ ruling “valuable”. Iran Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian called for Israeli authorities to be “brought to justice” after the ICJ ruling, according to Iranian state media reports. Amirabdollahian also congratulated South Africa and the Palestinian people on “success” at the ICJ. “Today, the officials of the fake Israeli regime are the most hated people in the world’s public opinion who must be brought to justice immediately for committing genocide and unprecedented war crimes against Palestinians,” he wrote on X. “I must emphasise that the White House’s all-around support for the crimes of the Zionists will also never be forgotten and is considered and followed up by public opinion,” Amirabdollahian added. Spain Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez welcomed the ICJ decision and called on the parties to implement the interim measures the court decreed. “We will continue to advocate for peace and an end to the war, the release of hostages, access to humanitarian aid and the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, so that both nations can coexist in peace and security,” Sanchez said in a post on X. Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation said: “Once again, Spain reiterates its call for an immediate ceasefire, the unconditional release of the hostages, immediate and regular humanitarian access and the need to move towards establishing the two-state solution.” Ireland Micheal Martin, the Irish minister for foreign affairs, welcomed the court’s orders, which he said were “final and binding. He added that Ireland expects Israel to implement the court’s orders “in good faith and as a matter of urgency”. “Bringing about an end to this conflict and to the death and destruction in Gaza is a priority that must be pursued on all fronts – political, diplomatic, humanitarian and legal,”
Israel’s Netanyahu reacts to ICJ ruling
NewsFeed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects the ruling by the International Court of Justice and says Israel will continue to defend itself and its citizens while adhering to international law. Published On 26 Jan 202426 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
‘Voters are looking for a mini-Niinisto’: Finland braces for new president
When Sauli Niinisto became Finland’s president 12 years ago, he looked forward to developing a European defence policy, pursuing “opportunities” in China, and preserving “an operating environment as predictable as possible with Russia”, which, he said, “remains at the centre of our foreign policy”. All of that has changed, as the Nordic nation braces for a presidential vote that begins on Sunday to determine Niinisto’s successor. Russia has become highly unpredictable and a European deterrent has yet to emerge. The US, not the European Union, replaced Russia at the centre of Finnish foreign and defence policy last year as Finns abandoned seven decades of non-alignment to join NATO. Relations with China are fraught with suspicion after a Chinese cargo vessel’s anchor damaged the Baltic Connector gas pipeline and data cables in the Gulf of Finland last October. It may have been the same ship that damaged undersea data cables to Taiwan earlier last year. There has been suspicion of Russian-Chinese collusion. Finland has traditionally based its security on a careful relationship with Russia. Finnish presidents have cultivated Russian leaders as few Westerners have done, and Niinisto had a very long personal experience of dealing with Putin. Finland’s defence budget remained measuredly below 1.5 percent of GDP throughout the Cold War and until 2020, according to figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Finland even lent its name to this pragmatic self-containment – Finlandisation. ‘Look in the mirror’ Russia’s invasion of east Ukraine and Crimea in 2014 put the country on alert. Niinisto told parliament this demanded an investment in defence that is “perhaps greater than we have so far discussed” to protect its 1000km (621-mile) long land border with Russia, now NATO’s longest. The turning point was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ultimatum to NATO in December 2021 – to expel former Warsaw Pact members from the alliance and cauterise NATO expansion into eastern Europe. That, Niinisto told Bloomberg, “was a real game changer in Finnish thinking”. When Russia invaded Ukraine the following February, Finnish public opinion changed overnight. Asked by an Yle survey in the first week of the invasion if they favoured NATO membership, 53 percent of Finns said yes. If the president supported it, the majority rose to 63 percent. Following a border crisis in which Russia attempted to send asylum seekers en masse to Finland last autumn, approval for NATO membership rose to over 80 percent. Niinisto and Putin spoke for the last time in May 2022. “Niinisto only called Putin to inform him Finland is joining NATO, and that was this famous call where he said, ‘Look in the mirror… this is your doing’,” Minna Alander, a research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, told Al Jazeera. “After that he was asked, ‘What do you think about [German chancellor Olaf] Scholz and [French President Emmanuel] Macron calling [Putin] and why are you not calling Putin? Do you think you should call?’ – he was like, ‘Well I have nothing to say.’” Boosted defence strategies for a new era Finland’s defence posture has changed dramatically since then. This year defence spending is to reach 2.3 percent of GDP, surpassing NATO’s two percent recommended minimum for the first time. This will help pay for a “smart fence” along Finland’s border equipped with sensors and drones, a new set of corvettes for the navy and new howitzers for the army. Finland bought 64 F-35 Lightning II fighter-bombers from the US’s Lockheed Martin for $9.4bn in February 2022. These are fifth-generation stealth planes. In them, the Finns could in theory fly to Moscow undetected. Last November Finland sparked controversy when it bought the David’s Sling medium-range (40-300km, or 20-250 miles) air defence system from Israel’s Rafael. The system is designed to intercept antiballistic missiles, used to deliver nuclear bombs. Some strategists believe that undermines reciprocal nuclear deterrence. It was a similar move by US President George W Bush to place ballistic missile interceptors in front-line NATO states that sparked Russia’s ire in 2009. Beyond the capabilities Finland is developing on its own, it has signed a Defense Co-operation Agreement with the US that allows US forces to operate from its soil. In other words, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought the full might of the Pentagon to its doorstep. Niinisto was already the only Finnish president to be elected with an outright majority (62.7 percent) in a first voting round, in 2018. His shepherding of Finnish sentiment into concrete policy increased his stature, because the Finnish president is commander in chief of the armed forces and constitutionally leads defence and foreign policy. Since 2021 his popularity ratings have been over 90 percent. A citizens’ movement even tried to bend the rules to allow Niinisto to stand for a third term, a campaign he was not interested in. Unsurprisingly, the two frontrunners, former premier Alexander Stubb and former Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto have been trying to emulate him. “There is a sense that voters are looking for a mini-Niinisto,” said Alander. Nuclear weapons, future challenges and NATO politics Niinisto will now bequeath a presidency that is increased not only in stature but also in complexity. “Without a doubt, the Finnish presidency is becoming a stronger institution because of the president’s role in foreign policy,” SM Amadae, programme director for global politics and communication at the University of Helsinki, told Al Jazeera. About two-thirds of Finns are against reducing the president’s powers, which are largely discretionary and shaped by the force of each president’s personality and popularity. “The next president will play an important, precedent-setting, role in how Finland’s relationship with NATO will be conducted,” she said. Finland’s special relationship with and understanding of Russia has been its selling point in the EU and NATO until now. Its vantage point from which to spy on Russia, its cutting-edge 5G telecommunications industry and AI industry may now replace that as strategic advantages. For these reasons, the all-important relationship with the US is likely to flourish. “We can expect further
ICJ orders Israel to take steps to prevent killings in Gaza
NewsFeed Judges at the International Court of Justice have ordered Israel to take steps to limit killings and acts of genocide in Gaza and to allow in humanitarian aid, but the court did not insist on a ceasefire. Published On 26 Jan 202426 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
India’s Tata and Europe’s Airbus sign deal to manufacture helicopters
The agreement was signed during French President Macron’s state visit to the South Asian country. India’s Tata Group and Europe’s Airbus have signed an agreement to manufacture civilian helicopters together. The deal was signed during French President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to India, Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said on Friday. Tata and Airbus are already cooperating on making the C-295 transport aircraft in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat. “Industrial partnership [signed] between Tata and [France-based] Airbus Helicopters for production of H125 helicopters with a significant indigenous and localisation component,” Kwatra said at a media briefing. Airbus, in a statement announcing the final assembly line (FAL) for helicopters on Friday, said the machines produced would also be exported to some of India’s neighbouring countries. “The FAL will take 24 months to set up, and deliveries … are expected to commence in 2026,” Airbus said, adding that the location of the facility will be jointly decided by the companies. Further cooperation in the defence sector was also discussed during Macron’s visit, officials quoted by the Reuters news agency said, including the possibility of French engine maker Safran assisting in the manufacture of fighter jet engines in India. France is already India’s second largest arms supplier, and the South Asian nation has relied on its fighter jets for four decades. “Safran is fully willing to do it with a 100 percent transfer of technology in design, development, certification, production and so on,” India Ambassador to France Jawed Ashraf said, adding that discussions will continue. Guest of honour Macron was the guest of honour at India’s annual Republic Day parade in the heart of the capital, New Delhi – a highly choreographed event featuring tank columns, fighter jet fly-pasts, acrobatic motorbike stunts and mounted camel units. This year, it coincided with a two-day diplomatic tour that reflects a growing partnership between India and France after Macron hosted Modi at last year’s Bastille Day celebrations in Paris. Macron has pushed for greater French involvement in the Asia-Pacific at a time when the United States and its Western allies are courting India as a military and economic counterweight to China. Before his arrival in India, Macron’s office said India was “a key partner in contributing to international peace and security”. France hopes to build on its military contracts with India, which is already a buyer of French-made Rafale fighter jets and Scorpene-class submarines in multibillion-dollar deals. Adblock test (Why?)
Uganda’s first Oscar-nominated film tells story of Bobi Wine persecution
Kampala, Uganda – This January, when Bobi Wine learned that the film documenting his 2021 Ugandan presidential bid had been nominated for an Academy Award, he was hiding from the police. The swaggering popstar-turned-opposition leader had been on the run for five days, not sleeping or showering. This was after security forces cordoned off his home in response to his calls for protests over the poor road conditions in Uganda as the Non-Aligned Movement’s summit held in the capital Kampala. Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was shocked by the nomination. “I screamed,” he said. “If there was any police officer nearby, I would have been arrested immediately.” The nomination of Bobi Wine: The People’s President for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars marks the first time a Ugandan film has earned recognition from the Academy Awards. But while it has led to celebration within Wine’s camp, the film is also a surreal reminder of the many challenges the 41-year-old politician has had to confront in his relatively short political career. Filmed over five years, it begins with singer Wine’s election to the Ugandan parliament in 2017 and shows his meteoric rise through politics, becoming the face of a vibrant youth movement. In impassioned speeches, the newly minted politician decries a constitutional amendment abolishing presidential age limits. But despite his opposition, the bill passed and allowed incumbent Yoweri Museveni, who seized power in 1986, to run for another term. Another scene follows Wine through the Kamwookya slum where he grew up, as he sings of freedom and calls on people to rise. A year later, the documentarians are with as Wine as he recovers from torture and a failed assassination attempt, briefly travelling to the United States for treatment. “Museveni used to be my favourite revolutionary,” he tells filmmakers in a car rolling through downtown Washington, DC. “I would really love to have a frank and honest conversation with him.” A disputed election A desire for change propelled Wine to challenge Museveni for the presidency in what he hoped would be Uganda’s first democratic election, excitedly announcing his candidacy shortly after returning home in July 2019. But the result was a bloody and contested vote as the ruling party clamped down on the opposition. Even before the election, at least 54 people were shot after riots broke out following Wine’s temporary detention in the city of Jinja in November 2020. Other supporters were jailed or attacked on the campaign trail. In the film, the camera zooms in as Wine dodges bullets and teargas, wavering only when the documentarians have to duck for cover themselves. “I was arrested a few times. I was interrogated,” said Moses Bwayo, a Ugandan journalist and one of the film’s directors. In the final days of the campaign, he was shot in the face with a rubber bullet. Still, Bwayo kept recording. “All these threats and everything that was happening really emboldened me to tell this story, and carry the task forward,” he said. As election day approached, he moved into Wine’s home. Afterwards, Bwayo filmed Wine and his wife Barbie Kyagulanyi listening to a radio broadcast announcing Museveni as victor. Their faces are numb with shock and disbelief. Wine called for more protests over the election results, but large-scale demonstrations never materialised following a brutal campaign and disappointing result. Deciding he was no longer safe in Uganda, Bwayo captured a final scene of Bobi Wine once again singing songs of freedom in Kamwookya. Then, Bwayo escaped Uganda with his wife. “We fled like we were going on a small trip,” he said. “We landed in the United States, and we applied for political asylum.” They are still awaiting a decision. Ugandan opposition politician Bobi Wine stands near a mural of an associate killed during police raids in December 2020, in Kampala, Uganda [Sophie Neiman/Al Jazeera] Documenting repression This week, Wine told Al Jazeera that the film is a documentation of all he suffered and the challenges still facing his homeland. “We’ve been able to present the reality in Uganda, uncensored and unedited, to the international community,” the opposition leader said. “It showcases the brutality of the Museveni regime, but also the resilience of the Ugandan people in pushing back against impunity, against injustice,” added David Lewis Rubongoya, secretary-general of Wine’s National Unity Platform political party. The threat of harsh repression still hangs over the Ugandan population, analysts assert. But Museveni, who has now been in power for some 38 years, is becoming increasingly paranoid as another election looms on the horizon. “[Violence] may have succeeded in the short run, in terms of preventing … a wide protest movement from emerging after the polls,” Michael Mutyaba, a Ugandan academic at SOAS University of London, said of the 2021 vote. “But if you look at it in the long term, I don’t think it succeeded.” “What it did was expose the regime more to international criticism and reveal things that it had maybe successfully concealed for a long time,” Mutyaba told Al Jazeera. [embedded content] ‘Our story’ Meanwhile, Bwayo and Christopher Sharp, the film’s other director, trimmed 4,000 hours of footage to just a few hours of runtime The documentary debuted at the 79th Venice Film Festival in 2022. It was then acquired by National Geographic, which supported a theatrical release last year. The Oscar nomination followed this year. The filmmakers hope their work will bring renewed attention to Uganda and its citizens. “We’re fooling ourselves in the West, and we’re being very disrespectful to the people of Uganda, to pretend that they’re living in a democracy, that those elections are anything other than a sham,” said Sharp, who is also one of the documentary’s producers. For Wine, the film is a lifeline. “The more our story is out there, the more we are able to live and see the sun the following day,” he told Al Jazeera. On Friday, which also marks the anniversary of Museveni taking power, Wine and his followers attempted to mount
‘Illegal and invalid’: Kenya court halts deployment of police to Haiti
The court ruling comes despite the UN Security Council giving the go-ahead for the Kenya-led mission in Haiti. A Kenyan court on Friday ruled against the government’s plan to deploy police to Haiti to lead a UN-backed multinational mission aimed at restoring peace and security in the Caribbean nation struggling with gang violence. On Friday, judge Enock Chacha Mwita ruled that “any decision by any state organ or state officer to deploy police officers to Haiti… contravenes the constitution and the law and is therefore unconstitutional, illegal and invalid”. “An order is hereby issued prohibiting deployment of police forces to Haiti or any other country,” he said. The ruling comes as the Haitian government calls for the urgent deployment of a multinational force to help its overwhelmed police battle rampant violence. Haiti, the Western hemisphere’s poorest nation, has been in turmoil for years, with armed gangs taking over parts of the country and unleashing brutal violence, with the economy and public health system in tatters. Gang-related violence has spiked since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise almost three years ago. Between January and September 2023 alone, Haiti recorded 3,000 homicides and more than 1,500 kidnappings for ransom according to the UN. That has led to protests as citizens call for the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry over failure to tackle the insecurity. In October, the United Nations Security Council gave the go-ahead for the Kenya-led mission. President William Ruto had described the Kenyan undertaking as a “mission for humanity” in a nation ravaged by colonialism. But the planned deployment of 1,000 officers has faced criticism at home, with opposition politician Ekuru Aukot filing the petition at the Nairobi High Court last year. On Thursday, Haiti’s foreign minister pleaded for the deployment to be speeded up, telling the UN Security Council that gang violence in the country was as barbaric as the horrors experienced in war zones. “The Haitian people cannot take any more. I hope this time is the last time I will speak before the deployment of a multinational force to support our security forces,” Jean Victor Geneus told the council. The Haitian and Kenyan governments are yet to react to the ruling, as of time of publication. Adblock test (Why?)
India celebrates Republic Day showcasing military might, cultural heritage
Thousands of people lined a ceremonial boulevard in the heart of India’s capital to watch a colourful parade showcasing the country’s military power and cultural heritage to mark its 75th Republic Day. French President Emmanuel Macron attended the parade on Friday as the chief guest at the celebration of the adoption of the country’s Constitution on January 26, 1950, following India’s independence from British colonial rule. Indian President Draupadi Murmu escorted Macron in a ceremonial British-era horse-drawn carriage from the nearby president’s palace to the viewing stand. It was the first time the carriage has been used at the parade since it was abandoned by the government 40 years ago in favour of a car. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wearing a saffron-and-yellow turban, greeted Macron at the viewing stand. India traditionally invites foreign leaders to witness the spectacle. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was the guest of honour last year, former French President Francois Hollande in 2016 and former US President Barack Obama in 2015. Ten Southeast Asian leaders watched the parade in 2018. Tanks, missile systems, infantry combat vehicles and medium-range surface-to-air missile systems were displayed, with hundreds of police and military personnel marching with them. Stunt performers on motorbikes, including more than 250 women, also participated. Macron accepted India’s invitation at short notice after US President Joe Biden couldn’t make it, reportedly because of his State of the Union address and re-election bid. “A great honour for France. Thank you, India,” Macron said on X. Adblock test (Why?)
In Hong Kong, decades of wealth gains evaporate on China’s watch
Taipei, Taiwan – Like many Hong Kongers, accountant Edelweiss Lam spent the last week watching the city’s stock market wipe out 14 months of gains as the Hang Seng Index fell below the psychological threshold of 15,000 points. It was not the first time Lam, who has been investing on and off in Hong Kong stocks since the late 1990s, had seen it happen. The index dropped below 15,000 points during SARS in 2003, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, and zero-COVID lockdowns in 2022. But while ebbs and flows are part of the investment game, Lam said watching the key measure of Hong Kong’s stock market tumble “back to square one” felt different this time. “It seems I cannot see the future,” Lam told Al Jazeera by phone from Hong Kong. The reason, Lam said, is China. As Beijing increases its control over all aspects of life in Hong Kong, including the economy, and gloom persists about the state of China’s post-pandemic recovery, investors have been voting with their money and looking to other markets. More than a quarter-century after Hong Kong’s return to China, the Hang Seng is more or less back to where it was during its final days as a British colony. On Friday, the index hovered below 16,100 points – lower than it was on July 1, 1997, the day of the handover. Over the same period, stocks in the United States, Japan and other popular markets have flourished. Investors in the SP500, the most popular measure of the performance of the US market, have seen their money grow nearly 10-fold since 1997. Hong Kong’s stock market has seen big losses over the last year [Al Jazeera] “If there’s any new announcement from the Chinese government about regulations or the control of some industry, then the market can fluctuate very seriously,” said Lam, whose investment portfolio includes blue chip stocks, fixed-term deposits and property. “The relationship between Hong Kong and China is closer and closer, the control is tighter, so we cannot ignore what they are doing in China.” Hong Kong has had a front-row seat to China’s crackdowns in recent years, from the imposition of a draconian national security law on the city to tightening regulation of corporate giants such as Alibaba and Tencent and raids on foreign companies on the Chinese mainland. Many of China’s biggest companies are dual-listed in Hong Kong and China and make up a large portion of the Hang Seng Index along with Chinese banks and other tech companies. At the same time, China’s economy has struggled to recover from the impact of COVID-19 and Beijing’s harsh pandemic restrictions, amid nagging structural issues including a shrinking population, high local government debt, and a slow-moving real estate crisis. Gross domestic product officially grew 5.2 percent in 2023 – the weakest performance in decades, excluding the pandemic. Despite Beijing’s insistence that China is open for business, foreign investors’ confidence is waning. Last year, China recorded the first drop in foreign direct investment in 12 years, with inflows declining 8 percent to $157.1bn. “When we look at broader business sentiment both for the financial sector and for the general economy – first and foremost, economic fundamentals both in Hong Kong and in China are not doing very well at the moment,” Chim Lee, a China analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told Al Jazeera. Lee said China hitting its economic growth target last year was “not particularly impressive” as Beijing set a relatively weak target. Analysts estimate that some $6 trillion – the equivalent of over one-quarter of the output of the US economy – has been wiped off stock markets in China and Hong Kong since early 2021. China’s CSI 300 Index, which measures the top 300 companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, has fallen more than 40 percent over the past three years, while the Hang Seng has fallen 50 percent over the same period, according to Bloomberg data. Investors are instead flocking to other markets like Japan and the US where analysts predict a bullish 2024. The Nikkei 255 Index, an index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s top companies, posted highs not seen in over 30 years last week, while the S&P 500 in New York closed at an all-time high for the sixth day in a row on Thursday. Investor confidence in Hong Kong has taken a hit amid China’s crackdowns [File: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images] “[Hong Kong’s] economy may now be no more than a large rounding error on China’s GDP but it still plays an important role in finance and capital market transactions for and with the Mainland. So it’s self-evident that bearish sentiment and beaten up stock price valuations in China proper wash over into [Hong Kong] too,” George Magnus, an associate at Oxford University’s China Centre and Research Associate at SOAS, London, told Al Jazeera. Hong Kong’s declining rights and freedoms – which are supposed to be guaranteed until 2047 under an agreement known as “one country, two systems” – have added fuel to the crisis of confidence. Since the passage of the national security law in 2020, the city’s political opposition and independent media have been all but wiped out and hundreds of people have been arrested for non-violent offences related to activism and speech. Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers have left the city amid Beijing’s tightening control along with their money. Lam said she decided last year to move her pension fund overseas and she plans to sell her remaining stock investments in Hong Kong at a loss. “They say they want to do something, but we don’t see real action,” Lam said of the government’s policy on the economy. In October, Hong Kong slashed stamp duty on property sales and stock transfers, but consumption and tourism have yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels. The US stock market has seen big gains as Hong Kong’s bourse has stagnated [Al Jazeera] Analysts say that reviving both Hong Kong and China’s
Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 112
EXPLAINER An Israeli attack killed 20 waiting on aid in Gaza, heavy fighting is under way at the enclave’s hospitals. Here’s how things stand on Friday, January 26, 2024: Latest updates The International Court of Justice will deliver its response to South Africa’s request for emergency measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza from “irreparable harm” today at 1pm local time in The Hague (12:00 GMT) An Israeli overnight air attack on a house in the al-Hassayna neighbourhood of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza has killed at least 11 people, according to Al Jazeera Arabic. The United Nations trade body sounded an alarm on Thursday that global trade is being disrupted by attacks in the Red Sea, the war in Ukraine and low water levels in the Panama Canal. Lawmakers in Georgia, United States, passed a bill on Thursday that would define anti-Semitism in state law, The Associated Press news agency reported. The proposal seeks to adopt a definition of anti-Semitism that would help prosecutors identify hate crimes and illegal discrimination targeting Jewish people. Human impact and fighting Heavy fighting is under way in the vicinity of the Al-Aqsa, Nasser, al-Amal and al-Khair hospitals in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Thursday. On Thursday, a large group of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian assistance at a roundabout in Gaza City were fired on by Israeli forces. At least 20 were killed and 150 injured, many seriously, OCHA reported. At least 200 people were killed and 370 injured in Gaza in a 24-hour period between Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health. A least 13 people were killed and 56 injured after Israel struck a UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) training centre on Wednesday, the agency confirmed on Thursday. Israel said it was conducting an investigation into the incident, but has “currently ruled out” that Israeli aircraft or artillery were responsible. Diplomacy The heads of the intelligence services of Israel, Egypt and the US, along with Qatar’s prime minister, are negotiating a deal between Israel and Hamas for a pause in fighting and the release of captives, Al Jazeera correspondents in Jerusalem reported early on Thursday. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, via phone call on Thursday. Austin reiterated US support for Israel’s “right to defend itself” and the US’s endeavours to ensure aid is made accessible to Gaza, along with resolving tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border, according to a US Department of Defense statement. On Thursday, The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on US President Joe Biden to denounce the Israeli attack on people lining up to receive aid in Gaza City, which killed at least 20. Hamas official Osama Hamdan told reporters in Lebanon on Thursday that Israel’s efforts to create a buffer zone along its border with Gaza constitute a “crime” and act of “blatant aggression” against the Palestinian people. Adblock test (Why?)