China races to find landslide survivors in sub-zero temperatures
At least nine people have been confirmed dead in the pre-dawn disaster in southwestern Yunnan, with dozens still missing. Rescuers in China have stepped up efforts to find dozens of people who were buried in a landslide in southwestern Yunnan. The landslide struck two villages in mountainous Zhengxiong County in the early hours of Monday morning when many people were asleep, burying 18 homes and at least 47 people. At least nine people had been found dead, according to state broadcaster CCTV, while two were pulled from the rubble and taken to hospital. “The mountain just collapsed, dozens were buried,” a witness, named Gu, told state-owned television. He said four of his relatives were among those beneath the rubble. “They were all sleeping in their homes,” he said. State news agency Xinhua said rescue workers were in a “race against time” to find those missing after a night of sub-zero temperatures. Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered “all-out” rescue efforts. The agency quoted Wu Junyao, the director of the natural resources and planning bureau of Zhaotong, which includes the affected villages, as saying the disaster “resulted from a collapse in the steep cliff area atop the slope”. Hundreds of rescue workers including soldiers have been sent to the area, which is known for its steep rugged mountains that are covered with snow in winter. The two affected villages were built towards the foot of the mountains and more than 500 residents were evacuated after the disaster. State media showed rescuers climbing over concrete blocks and collapsed roofs dusted with snow to find survivors. Luo Dongmei was sleeping when the landslide struck. “I was asleep, but my brother knocked on the door and woke me up. They said there was a landslide and the bed was shaking, so they rushed upstairs and woke us up,” 35-year-old Luo told the Associated Press news agency. Luo, her husband and their three children were evacuated to a school along with many other residents. Luo said she had been unable to contact her sister and aunt, who lived closer to the site of the landslide. “The only thing I can do is to wait,” she said. Rescuers search through the remains of village houses to try and find survivors [AFP] Yunnan is among several provinces in China currently experiencing bitterly cold temperatures, according to the National Meteorological Centre. Last week, rescuers evacuated tourists from a remote skiing area in northwestern China where dozens of avalanches triggered by heavy snow had trapped more than 1,000 people for a week. The avalanches blocked roads, stranding both tourists and residents in a village in the Xinjiang region, close to China’s border with Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan. There was no immediate official explanation for what might have caused Monday’s landslide. Zhengxiong County lies about 2,250km (1,400 miles) southwest of Beijing, with altitudes ranging as high as 2,400 metres (7,900 feet). Landslides, often caused by rain or unsafe construction work, are not uncommon in China. At least 70 people were killed in landslides last year, including more than 50 at an open pit mine in the Inner Mongolia region. Adblock test (Why?)
UK’s upper house votes to delay plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda
House of Lords defies Rishi Sunak by voting to delay ratification of treaty with Kigali. The United Kingdom’s upper house of parliament has voted to delay Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s controversial plan to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda. The vote by the unelected House of Lords on Monday came despite Sunak urging its members to back his plan, which he has characterised as the will of the people. The upper house voted 214 to 171 to delay the ratification of a related treaty London signed with Kigali until the government can demonstrate that Rwanda is a safe country for asylum seekers to be sent to. The chamber does not have the power to block the so-called Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill indefinitely, but could delay the legislation for up to a year. The move comes after the more powerful House of Commons on Wednesday narrowly passed the bill after some Conservative MPs threatened to vote against the government on the grounds the legislation was not robust enough to survive legal challenges. Sunak has made the controversial immigration plan a key plank of his bid to return to power in an expected general election this year that the centre-left Labour Party is strongly tipped to win. Sunak introduced the legislation after the UK Supreme Court last year ruled that the safety of asylum seekers deported to Rwanda could not be guaranteed. The bill would make it harder for courts to challenge the Rwanda policy by allowing the government to set aside certain provisions of human rights law and asking the House of Commons to declare by majority vote that the African country is safe for asylum seekers. Sunak has said he wants deportations to begin within months to meet his pledge to “stop the boats” carrying asylum seekers across the English Channel. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson first announced the Rwanda plan in 2022 to deny people arriving by “irregular means” the opportunity to apply for asylum in the UK. The first Rwanda-bound flight from the UK was halted in June of that year after a last-minute intervention by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which ruled that one of the asylum seekers on board was at “real risk of irreversible harm” in the East African nation. Adblock test (Why?)
Qatar storm to the knock-out stage with perfect record
Hosts Qatar stormed to the knock-out stage of the AFC Asian Cup 2023 with a 1-0 win against China. AFC Asian Cup hosts Qatar finished their group stage in style on Monday with a spectacular volley from Hassan Al-Haydos for a 1-0 win over China, which is on the brink of elimination from the tournament. The deadlock at the Khalifa International Stadium was broken midway through the second half with an unforgettable strike. Akram Afif’s corner was immediately met outside the area by Al-Haydos, who confidently volleyed into the top corner. Both players had just been introduced as substitutes. Qatar, who had already secured its spot in the knockout stage, topped Group A with nine points and advanced with Tajikistan, who beat last-place Lebanon 2-1 to take second place with four points. China finished with just two points and failed to score in any of their three games. They have never won the Asian Cup and must now wait for other results but have only the faintest of chances of squeezing into the next round as one of the four best-performing third-place teams in the six groups. 🔝 Record-breaker💪 Captain on the field🔥 Scores, creates, and dazzles The historic Hassan Al-Haydos 🇶🇦😍#AsianCup2023 pic.twitter.com/EDbso57vg2 — Qatar Football Association (@QFA_EN) January 22, 2024 Qatar may have lost all three games on home soil at the 2022 World Cup but have been perfect in the Asian Cup, advancing to the round of 16 by winning all three games without conceding a goal. Already certain of the top spot heading into the match, defending champions Qatar made nine changes from the previous game, handing the initiative to China who created better chances in the first half. Wei Shihao had three opportunities to score his team’s first goal. After just seven minutes, he side-footed wide from just inside the area and later, his low shot from close range was saved by Qatar’s Saad Al Sheeb. Wei went close again right before the break with a header that just cleared the bar. After Al-Haydos’s superb goal in the 66th, China had the ball in the net with three minutes remaining but Jiang Shenglong’s shot was ruled out as the ball had gone out of play in the buildup. A full mark in the group stage 🇶🇦✔️#AlAnnabi #AsianCup2023 pic.twitter.com/Ve2rGQa0DV — Qatar Football Association (@QFA_EN) January 22, 2024 In the group’s other fixture, Tajikistan rallied to beat Lebanon and advance to the knockout stage for the first time. “We made history today and this is the biggest thing for the Tajikistan people,” coach Petar Segrt said. “It was difficult but we kept fighting and we did it.” Lebanon took the lead early in the second half with a curling shot from Bassel Jradi but were reduced to 10 men after 54 minutes because of a foul by Kassem El Zein. Tajikistan had two goals ruled out for offside but finally scored with 10 minutes remaining. Parvizdzhon Umarbaev scored, then Nuriddin Khamrokulov headed home a winning goal in the second minute of second-half stoppage time. Adblock test (Why?)
Fashion giant H&M pulls ad after claims it sexualised under-age girls
Swedish brand apologises after ad campaign in Australia sparks backlash online. H&M, the Swedish fashion giant, has pulled an advertisement for school clothing after complaints it sexualised underage girls. The advertising campaign launched in Australia featured two young girls in school uniform with the caption, “Make those heads turn in H&M’s Back to School fashion”. “We have removed this ad,” an H&M spokesperson said on Monday. “We are deeply sorry for the offence this has caused and we are looking into how we present campaigns going forward.” The move comes after social media users accused the clothing brand of sexualising young girls. “The little girls’ parents generally prefer heads don’t ‘turn’ when others see their daughters walking to school, on a bus or in class,” Melinda Tankard Reist, an Australian writer known for campaigning against pornography, said in a post on X. “Why would you want to fuel the idea that little girls should draw attention to their looks, bodies and ‘style’? Perhaps have a word to your marketing team and come up with something that doesn’t draw attention to pre-pubescent girls already struggling to thrive in a culture that values ‘lookism’ as an aspirational goal?” The backlash is the latest in a series of controversies involving fashion brands’ advertising campaigns. Last month, Zara dropped a campaign featuring a model standing among rubble and mannequins wrapped in shrouds after social media users claimed it was insensitive to victims of the war in Gaza. Paris-based luxury fashion brand Balenciaga last year apologised for running adverts that featured children holding teddy bears wearing bondage-style attire and a printout of a Supreme Court decision that upheld laws against child pornography. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 699
As the war enters its 699th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Tuesday, January 23, 2024. Fighting Russia said it would take all “necessary measures” to defend its citizens and key infrastructure from Ukrainian attacks. On Sunday, two alleged Ukrainian drones hit a major Baltic Sea terminal starting a fire. Towns near the border, including Belgorod, have also come under fire with at least 21 people killed in an attack at the end of last year. Kyiv said it shot down eight Russian attack drones launched against southern and central regions of the country. Politics and diplomacy Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov clashed with the United States and Ukraine at a United Nations Security Council meeting where Moscow ruled out any peace plan backed by Kyiv and its Western allies, and China warned that further global chaos could impact the slowing global economy. Lavrov dismissed Kyiv’s peace plan as a “road to nowhere”. On a visit to Kyiv, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk promised to keep supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, which he described as a battle between “good and evil“. He also said he wanted to resolve differences over grain shipments and trucking that had recently soured ties between the neighbours. The website for Russian politician Boris Nadezhdin, who has criticised the invasion of Ukraine as a “fatal mistake”, said he had so far secured some 85,000 signatures backing him as a candidate in the March presidential election. Under Russian electoral law, Nadezhdin needs 100,000 signatures by the end of January to be allowed to run. Russia’s parliament began considering a bill that would allow the state to seize the property of those convicted of defamation of the security forces, including by criticising the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Ukrainians abroad for their support during Russia’s invasion and proposed changing the constitution to allow for dual citizenship. Weapons The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a leading think tank, said the war in Ukraine had undermined Russia’s confidence in its conventional forces and increased the importance of non-strategic nuclear weapons (NSNWs) as a means of deterring and defeating NATO in any potential future conflict. NSNWs include all nuclear weapons with a range of up to 5,500km (3,400 miles). IISS said the logic of using such weapons would be to escalate a conflict in a controlled fashion, “either to prevent the US and NATO from engaging, or to coerce them into war termination on Russian terms”. Adblock test (Why?)
US denies Yemen’s Houthis claim of attack on US military cargo ship
The armed group says it conducted its attack on the Ocean Jazz in response to US and UK attacks on Houthi positions. The United States has rejected a claim made by Yemen’s Houthi rebels that they attacked the US military cargo ship Ocean Jazz in the Gulf of Aden. “The Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists’ report of an alleged successful attack on M/V Ocean Jazz is patently false,” the US Naval Forces Central Command said in a statement on Monday. “NAVCENT has maintained constant communications with M/V Ocean Jazz throughout its safe transit.” The Iran-aligned armed group, which controls much of Yemen, did not say when or precisely where the attack took place, or if any damage was caused. “The Yemeni Armed Forces affirm that retaliation against American and British attacks is inevitable, and any new aggression will not go unpunished,” the Houthis said earlier in a statement. British maritime security firm Ambrey said the vessel named by the Houthis on Monday had been contracted by the US military. US and United Kingdom forces have launched attacks across Yemen against Houthi forces in recent weeks in response to months of Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping that the Iran-backed fighters say is a response to Israel’s war on Gaza. Since November, the Houthis have attacked dozens of commercial vessels navigating on the Red Sea, disrupting international maritime trade. The group initially said it was attacking vessels affiliated with Israel, but has since widened its targets to include vessels linked to the US and UK. The Houthis say their attacks in the Red Sea are part of their support for Palestinians under siege and bombardment by Israeli forces in Gaza for more than three months. Israel’s bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza have killed more than 25,000 people, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian officials in the territory. Israel launched the assault and imposed a siege on Gaza after Hamas fighters carried out a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,139 people, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on official Israeli statistics. Some 240 others were seized as captives during the attack. So far, Houthi activity has been concentrated in the narrow strait of Bab al-Mandeb, which connects the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea. Approximately 50 ships sail through the strait daily, heading to and from the Suez Canal – a key artery for global maritime trade. Some of the world’s largest shipping companies have suspended transit in the region, forcing vessels to sail around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. Adblock test (Why?)
Can the EU develop a shared foreign policy?
The divisions between EU member states over Israel’s war on Gaza contrast with near unity on the Russia-Ukraine war. European Union foreign ministers have met to discuss the Red Sea crisis, the Gaza war and Ukraine. There’s unity on some issues – but sharp division on others. Is it possible for the bloc of 27 states to have a shared or meaningful foreign policy? Presenter: Nastasya Tay Guests: Suzanne Lynch – chief Brussels correspondent, Politico Julien Barnes-Dacey – director of the Middle East and North Africa programme of the European Council on Foreign Relations Ben Aris – founder and editor-in-chief of bne IntelliNews, a business media company focusing on emerging markets Adblock test (Why?)
US demands ‘urgent’ Israeli probe into Palestinian-American child’s death
US calls for a quick investigation into the killing of 17-year-old Tawfiq Ajaq in the occupied West Bank. The United States has urged Israel to launch an investigation into the death of Tawfiq Ajaq, a 17-year-old Palestinian-American who Palestinian authorities say was killed by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank. At a press briefing in Washington, DC on Monday, US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters that the US is “devastated about the killing” and is continuing “to engage closely with the Government of Israel to ascertain as much information as possible”. “We have called for an urgent investigation to determine the circumstance of his death,” Patel said. He added that the head of the US Office of Palestinian Affairs had visited Ajaq’s family to offer condolences and would continue assisting them together with the US Embassy in Jerusalem. Ajaq was born in Gretna, Louisiana, near New Orleans, and was brought to the West Bank by his parents last year. Ajaq’s relative, Joe Abdel Qaki, said Tawfiq and a friend were having a barbecue in a village field when he was shot. Speaking at his son’s funeral on Saturday, Tawfiq’s father, Hafez Ajaq, said Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank were “killer machines”. Israeli police have said they received a report on Friday regarding a “firearm discharge, ostensibly involving an off-duty law enforcement officer, a soldier and a civilian”. Police did not identify who fired the shot, though they said the shooting targeted people “purportedly engaged in rock-throwing activities along Highway 60″, the main north-south thoroughfare in the occupied West Bank. “This is not the first time Defense for Children Palestine hasn’t been able to confirm whether a settler or soldier killed a child. One aids and abets the other,” Miranda Cleland, an advocacy officer with Defense for Children Palestine, said in a post on X. Tawfiq is an American child who was chased & shot at by an Israeli settler, THEN Israeli forces pulled up and continued shooting. This is not the first time @DCIPalestine hasn’t been able to confirm whether a settler or soldier killed a child. One aids and abets the other. https://t.co/hvwD8LYuZM — Miranda Cleland (@MirandaCleland) January 20, 2024 At least 369 people have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers in the occupied West Bank since October, including 95 children. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also noted that 2023 was the deadliest year for children in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, with 124 Palestinian and six Israeli children killed there since the start of the year. Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative party, told Al Jazeera that the growing raids and attacks in the occupied West Bank are an attempt by Israel to reoccupy the territory “completely”. “This is a clear message from [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” Barghouti said. “He’s saying there’s no place anymore for any independent Palestinian authority here. He’s reoccupying the West Bank as he is trying to reoccupy Gaza.” Adblock test (Why?)
Could a divided Jewish base upend US Democrats’ presidential hopes?
Dearborn, Michigan – Raised in a Jewish American household, Dana Kornberg was in her early 20s when she started to become critical of the Israeli government. It was 2006, and Kornberg was touring Israel, as part of what is called a birthright trip, a tradition for Jewish teens and young adults. During her travels, she saw Israeli construction workers building a tall concrete barrier to fence in parts of the occupied West Bank, a landlocked Palestinian territory. She also heard Israeli comments about Palestinians that made her uncomfortable: “They were alluded to as being dangerous.” Those experiences made her concerned about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians — something that evoked in her parallels to Jewish oppression throughout history. “To me, it was horrific,” said Kornberg, now a 41-year-old assistant sociology professor. “What lessons have we learned from what our people have gone through?” Dana Kornberg addresses protesters in front of a federal building in Detroit, Michigan, in October [Stephen Starr/Al Jazeera] Now, as Israel’s war in Gaza continues to rage, Jewish American voters such as Kornberg are grappling with the US’s role in the conflict — and how it will affect their voting preferences in the upcoming presidential election. Jewish American voters have long been seen as a reliably Democratic voting bloc: The Pew Research Center dubbed them “among the most consistently liberal and Democratic groups in the US population”. During the last presidential election cycle, eight out of 10 Jewish people identified as Democratic. But US policy towards Israel and the war in Gaza has since divided Jewish Americans, as well as the broader Democratic base, leading to fears of a depressed turnout. On one hand, President Joe Biden has continued to rally strong support among Jewish voters by pledging his “rock-solid and unwavering” support to Israel, as it leads a months-long military campaign in Gaza. That stance, however, has provoked outcry among more progressive Jewish organisations, as the death toll in the Palestinian enclave soars past 25,200. Questions of rising anti-Semitism in the US have also mobilised Jewish advocacy groups, ahead of what is expected to be a tightly fought race for the White House in November. A January poll from USA Today and Suffolk University showed narrow margins separating Biden from his chief Republican rival, former President Donald Trump. Biden received 37 percent support in the poll, compared with Trump’s 39. Other surveys have shown foreign policy to be a top issue for voters this year, with a majority of Americans backing a ceasefire in Gaza, something Biden has refused to call for. Kornberg, a member of the progressive organisation Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), is among those protesting Biden’s stance on the war in Gaza, where United Nations experts have warned of the risk of genocide and famine. In recent months, Kornberg has travelled from Michigan to Washington, DC, and Chicago to join demonstrations calling for a ceasefire. She was one of nearly 100 protesters arrested in November for blocking the Israeli consulate in Chicago. Kornberg questioned whether Biden would be able to rally Jewish American voters before the general election. Even the prospect of a second Trump presidency, she warned, might not be enough to unite the Democratic base. “I’m just not convinced that the fear of Trump is going to be enough to get [Democratic voters] to go to the polls,” Kornberg said. She also criticised Biden for statements he made downplaying the Palestinian death toll and tying Jewish wellbeing worldwide to Israel. “When Biden says things like, ‘The only place Jews can feel safe is Israel’, that’s a severely anti-Semitic comment because a lot of us heard it as if Jewish people shouldn’t be safe in this country,” she said of the US. President Joe Biden has rallied support among the majority of Jewish voters, but younger voters are more sceptical of his track record in Gaza [Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo] But the question of how Israel is perceived — and whether its actions in Gaza are justified — is an issue that has split Jewish American communities along generational lines. A poll in November from the Jewish Electorate Institute found that Biden retains strong Jewish support overall: Three-quarters of participants approved of his handling of Israel’s war in Gaza. That number dropped, however, when young Jewish Americans were viewed in isolation. Only 53 percent of Jewish voters ages 18 to 35 approved of Biden’s stance, compared with 82 percent for other voting age groups. Still, participants overwhelmingly backed Biden. An estimated 68 percent said they would vote for the Democratic incumbent, compared with 22 percent for Trump and 11 percent who were undecided. Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, a pro-Israel advocacy group, credited that high level of support to shared values. “Overwhelmingly, Jewish voters support President Biden because he represents the interests and values of the Jewish community, including — but not limited to — support of Israel,” Soifer told Al Jazeera. She also named “abortion, democracy, gun safety, climate change, the economy [and] anti-Semitism” as “key issues driving the Jewish vote”. But Soifer added that she saw renewed party engagement after October 7, the day the Palestinian group Hamas launched attacks on southern Israel, killing an estimated 1,200 people. “Jewish voters self-identify as Democrats over Republicans by a nearly 50-point margin. This has only been solidified in the aftermath of October 7,” Soifer explained. Her organisation has also seen an uptick in support following the Hamas attack, she added. Progressive and anti-Zionist Jewish American advocacy groups have likewise reported a significant bump in membership following the start of the war in Gaza. “Since October 7, our following and base has doubled or more by nearly every measure,” said Liv Kunins-Berkowitz of Jewish Voice for Peace. “We now have over 1.8 million followers on our social media accounts and over 720,000 people that JVP counts as our base. They subscribe to our email list and regularly engage in JVP’s campaigns, demonstrations and workshops.” House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority
Russian lawmakers consider bill to seize property of Ukraine war critics
The bill would allow the state to seize property from Russians who might have left the country and criticised the war in Ukraine. Russia’s parliament has begun considering a bill that would give the state the power to seize the property of those convicted of defamation of the security forces. “The State Duma has introduced amendments to the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes on the confiscation of property for public calls for activities directed against the security of the state, for discrediting the army and a number of other articles,” a statement by the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said on Monday. The statement said multiple officials, including Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the State Duma, co-authored the bill. The bill would allow the state to seize property from Russians who might have left the country and have criticised the war in Ukraine but still rely on revenue from renting out their houses or apartments in Russia. Since the beginning of the war in February 2022, criticising what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine has effectively become a crime. Still, the new bill aims to make penalties harsher. Volodin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, has called the new bill “the scoundrel law”. Vyacheslav Volodin speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament [File: State Duma via AP] “Everyone who tries to destroy Russia, betrays it, must suffer the deserved punishment and compensate for the damage inflicted on the country at the cost of their property,” Volodin said. He added that under the law, those found guilty of “discrediting” the army also face being stripped of honorary titles. The existing law against “discrediting” the Russian military, which covers offences such as “justifying terrorism” and spreading “fake news” about the army, is regularly used to target Putin’s critics. Multiple activists, bloggers and other Russians have received lengthy jail terms due to the law. Last month, Russian state media reported that one of the country’s best-selling novelists, Boris Akunin, had been charged under the law and added to a register of “extremists and terrorists”. Another famous writer, Dmitry Glukhovsky, was given an eight-year sentence in absentia after a Moscow court found him guilty of spreading false information about the army in August. Adblock test (Why?)