South Korea’s stunning comeback breaks Saudi Arabian hearts
Saudi Arabia dominated for much of the last 16 Asian Cup clash but it was South Korea who emerged victorious on penalties. Education City Stadium, Qatar – It was a case of so near yet so far for thousands of Saudi Arabia fans, whose team faltered in the penalty shootout in their round-of-16 match against South Korea and were knocked out of the AFC Asian Cup 2023. South Korea booked a quarterfinal date with Australia as their dogged display saw them win 4-2 on penalties after the match ended 1-1 following extra time at the Education City Stadium on Tuesday night. Saudi Arabia dominated the game for much of normal time and enjoyed a 1-0 lead up until the dying moments of stoppage time but ultimately could not withstand the relentless South Korean attacks on their goal. Cho Gue-Sung scored the equalising goal in the ninth minute of added time to the delight of the few hundred South Korean fans among the 42,000 spectators. He later slotted in his team’s third penalty to put them one kick away from a famous comeback win. Hwang Hee-chan made no mistakes from the spot to spark wild celebrations in the Korean camp. South Korea fans at the Education City Stadium [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera] The atmosphere and support were always going to be partisan in favour of the Green Falcons, whose supporters crossed Qatar’s only land border to make their presence felt in the country and the stadium. They sang and danced outside the venue before kickoff and occupied most of the seats inside it when the match was under way. The first half ended goalless but Saudi Arabia showed they were going to take the game to South Korea. There was hardly enough time for fans to settle back into their seats at the resumption of play when Abdullah Radif came off the bench to score for Saudi Arabia. If the Green Falcon’s army of fans were raucous before the goal, Radif brought the house down as he slotted past the South Korean goalkeeper. Saudi Arabia fans raucously cheered on their team [Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera] Saudi Arabia maintained the tempo on and off the pitch for the next half hour but then began to run out of steam. South Korea’s substitutes took advantage and kept up the pressure on the Saudi Arabia goal. The ball hardly left the Saudi Arabia half in the last 10 minutes but, backed by their fans’ noise and their goalkeeper’s heroics, the men in green somehow clung onto their slender lead well into stoppage time. Every time a Korean player touched the ball, the boos were so loud they could probably be heard all the way back in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia fans, some of whom had already bought tickets for their team’s likely quarterfinal and semifinal, were not in the mood to return home yet. But as soon as Cho’s strike hit the back of Saudi Arabia’s net, the supporters fell silent and sunk into their seats. It was as if they knew their best chance had fallen through their hands. “Our team often dominates games but then let it all slip because they run out of steam towards the end,” Saudi Arabia fan Faisal Al Muatiri told Al Jazeera after the match. “It is becoming an increasingly familiar sight for us and the new coach needs to do something about it,” he said referring to Roberto Mancini. Hyun-Seok Hong runs with the ball [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera] Both teams created chances in extra time and Saudi Arabia came very close to sealing the win with a dramatic goal in front of their supporters in the second half of extra time but it was not to be. South Korean fans grew in confidence once the match went to penalties. “Our team has the experience and confidence of making strong comebacks,” South Korea fan Darren Lim said after the win. She then paused to wave and say “goodnight” to the heartbroken Saudi Arabia supporters making their way out. The Green Flacons will rue their inability to hold onto their lead as they fly back home. And the Taegeuk Warriors live to fight another day, on Friday against the Socceroos. Son Heung-min celebrates South Korea’s win [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera] Adblock test (Why?)
Iran summons British ambassador as tensions soar
The UK has accused Iran-backed groups of attacking a US base in Jordan, and imposed sanctions on a network linked to Iran. Iran summoned the British ambassador to Tehran to protest against the “baseless accusations” and sanctions by London. “Following the continuation of the British regime’s accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran, Simon Shercliff, the British ambassador in Tehran, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs … and was informed of our country’s strong protest”, the IRNA state news agency said on Tuesday. While the statement did not explain the accusation against the United Kingdom, it said the director general of Western Europe at the Iranian foreign ministry, Majid Nili Ahmadabadi, criticised the British government and said its actions were another “destructive and unconstructive” act towards Iran. “This is a bitter historical irony that a country that is the founder and supporter of organised terrorist groups, drug trafficking, and criminal gangs wants to make accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its loyal and honest forces, who are at the forefront of fighting organised crimes,” the official, cited by IRNA, said. The summons came after the UK announced sanctions on Iranian officials it said were involved in threats to kill journalists on British soil and others it said were part of international criminal gangs linked to Tehran. The UK has also accused Iranian-linked groups of being behind a deadly attack on US troops in Jordan. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron condemned the “attacks by Iran-aligned militia groups against US forces” and urged “Iran to de-escalate in the region”. However, Iran denied the accusation that it had any links to the Jordan strike that killed three US personnel and that it was not looking for an “expansion” of the tensions in the Middle East. “As we have clearly stated before, the resistance groups in the region are responding [to] the war crimes and genocide of the child-killing Zionist [Israeli] regime and … they do not take orders from the Islamic Republic of Iran”, Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Nasser Kanaani was cited as saying by IRNA on Monday. “These groups decide and act based on their own principles and priorities, as well as the interests of their country and people.” US President Joe Biden told reporters on Tuesday that he had made a decision on responding to the attacks in Jordan and said he holds Iran “responsible, in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons to the people who did it”. Adblock test (Why?)
Northern Ireland agreement could end deadlock, restore government
Northern Ireland’s largest British unionist party has agreed to end a boycott that left the region’s people without a power-sharing administration for two years and rattled the foundations of a 25-year-old peace treaty. The breakthrough could see the shuttered Belfast government restored within days – with Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein holding the post of first minister for the first time. After a marathon late-night meeting, Democratic Unionist Party leader Jeffrey Donaldson said on Tuesday that the party’s executive branch had backed proposals to return to the government. He said agreements reached with the United Kingdom’s government in London “provide a basis for our party to nominate members to the Northern Ireland Executive, thus seeing the restoration of the locally elected institutions”. “The result was clear. The DUP has been decisive. I have been mandated to move forward,” Donaldson told reporters. The breakthrough after months of inconclusive negotiations came after the UK government last week gave Northern Ireland politicians until February 8 to restore the Northern Ireland Assembly and the local government or face new elections. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called it a “positive step” towards restoring the institutions and “delivering for the people of Northern Ireland,” his spokesman said. Sunak’s Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris told reporters that “all the conditions are now in place for the assembly to return”, with little opposition expected in Westminster. The deal contained “significant changes … to make sure our internal market works properly”, he added, saying he did not believe it would require renegotiations with the European Union. Reporting from Belfast, Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett said that while the deal had not been finalised, it was a major step towards the power-sharing executive at Stormont, the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly. An approved deal would allow the DUP and the nationalist pro-Irish Sinn Fein to elect a speaker for the Assembly as early as next week. It would also see Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill become first minister – the first time a nationalist has held the post after her party overtook the DUP in the last Assembly election in May 2022. Mary Lou McDonald, leader of Sinn Fein, said that was of “very great significance” and she was optimistic the Assembly would be back up and running before the February deadline. [embedded content] A key plank of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended three decades of sectarian violence over British rule in Northern Ireland, was to keep an open border with EU member the Republic of Ireland. But after the UK decided to leave the EU and its borderless trading bloc after decades of membership, Northern Ireland began experiencing a political deadlock. The DUP quit the government in opposition to new trade rules put in place after the UK left the EU in 2020 that imposed customs checks and other hurdles on goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK. The checks were established to maintain an open border between the north and the Republic of Ireland to the south. The DUP, though, says the new east-west customs border undermines Northern Ireland’s place in the UK. In February 2023, the UK and the EU agreed on a deal to ease customs checks and other hurdles for goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK. But it was not enough for the DUP, which continued its government boycott. The two-year hiatus also put pressure on stretched public services and led to a budget deadlock with London. That triggered the biggest public sector strike in a generation this month after Northern Irish workers failed to receive pay increases given to others across the UK. Steve Baker, a junior Northern Ireland minister, tried to pre-empt concerns that the changes might require the UK again to follow some EU regulations – which would infuriate advocates of Brexit. “There are no commitments of any kind … to align GB (Great Britain) with EU law; prevent GB from diverging from any retained EU law; or increase alignment in Northern Ireland beyond the strictly limited scope parliament has approved,” he said on the social media platform X. The Republic of Ireland’s prime minister, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, said his government and the European Commission still had to see the final deal to be confident it did not have any negative consequences for last year’s reworked post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland or the Good Friday Agreement. But following a “good” phone call with his British counterpart, Rishi Sunak, Varadkar told Ireland’s parliament that he hoped a new government would be formed by February 8. Adblock test (Why?)
Remains of dozens of Palestinians released for burial by Israel
NewsFeed A mass burial was held in Rafah for dozens of Palestinians whose remains were returned to Gaza by Israel. Although relatives of missing family arrived at the grave site, a proper burial was not possible for the dead as their bodies cannot be identified. Published On 30 Jan 202430 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
‘Strategic interests’, lobby power: What influences Biden’s Israel support?
This is the second instalment in a two-part series about how the administration of President Joe Biden developed its unequivocal support for Israel. To read part one, click here. Washington, DC – “It’s the price of waging a war.” Those were Joe Biden’s words in late October, when the United States president was asked about civilian casualties in war-stricken Gaza. Thousands of Palestinians had already been killed in Israel’s bombardment of the besieged enclave and United Nations officials were urging an immediate ceasefire amid a deepening humanitarian crisis. Yet, instead of calling on Israel to show more restraint, Biden – a committed supporter of Israel – instead cast doubt on the Gaza death toll. “I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed,” he said on October 25. The exchange was just one of many episodes since the war began on October 7 that observers say laid bare an unparalleled level of US diplomatic and military support for Israel. The two countries have enjoyed strong ties for decades under both Democratic and Republican presidents, and the US sends Israel at least $3.8bn in military aid each year. But anger over US foreign policy has reached a peak amid the Gaza war as the Biden administration pushes for increased arms sales and aid to Israel, despite serious human rights concerns over its military campaign. More than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, with UN experts warning of the potential for famine and genocide. A Palestinian man stands in front of a building destroyed during Israeli bombardment around the city of Rafah in southern Gaza [AFP] So what explains Biden’s current stance? Al Jazeera interviewed more than a dozen experts, rights advocates and former US officials about the many factors that underpin Biden’s present-day actions and his “unwavering” backing of Israel. “I don’t think there is a short answer to the question, ‘Why does Israel continue to enjoy exceptionalism in US foreign policy?’” said Raed Jarrar, the advocacy director at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), a think tank in Washington, DC. “There is an all-of-the-above kind of answer.” In this second instalment of a two-part series, we examine how history, domestic politics and US strategy in the Middle East influence the Biden administration’s policies. In part one, we explore Biden’s personal and professional ties to Israel and how his Gaza war policy could affect his political future. “It is very deeply entrenched,” Jarrar said of US-Israel ties. Israel, he said, has fundamentally built “a very well-oiled machine” – one that can withstand domestic and international pressure even amid the bloodshed in Gaza. Adblock test (Why?)
Israeli forces kill 3 Palestinians inside occupied West Bank hospital
NewsFeed Here’s what we know about the Israeli undercover raid at a hospital in the occupied West Bank, where three Palestinians were shot dead. Published On 30 Jan 202430 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Hamas studying Gaza truce plan as Israeli hardliners threaten PM
Hamas has confirmed that it is studying a proposal for a truce in Gaza, while hardline members of the Israeli government have threatened to collapse the coalition if any deal is not to their liking. The Palestinian group’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh confirmed on Tuesday that he is studying the proposal, thrashed out in Paris over the weekend, to halt the war and enable the exchange of Israeli and Palestinian prisoners. Haniyeh said in a statement that the group is “open to discussing any serious and practical initiatives or ideas, provided that they lead to a comprehensive cessation of aggression”. Hamas also said that the plan must ensure the “complete withdrawal of the occupation forces from the Gaza Strip”. The group’s leadership, he said, had received an invitation to Cairo to reach an “integrated vision” on the framework agreement. He also expressed appreciation for the role played by Qatar and Egypt in mediating the deal. Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, said on Monday that “good progress” was made on a possible deal during meetings between intelligence officials from Egypt, Israel and the United States over the weekend. The sides discussed a proposal that would include a phased truce. The release of women and children would follow, with humanitarian aid entering the besieged Gaza Strip. The Qatari prime minister noted that Hamas has previously demanded a permanent ceasefire as a precondition to enter negotiations. However, he suggested that there is hope its stance may have shifted. “I believe we moved from that place to a place that potentially might lead to a ceasefire permanently in the future,” he said. Escalation The proposals were circulated to Hamas as fighting intensified in Gaza. Heavy Israeli strikes and urban combat across the besieged enclave killed 128 more people overnight, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. An Israeli ‘hit squad’ also killed three men that it labelled as “terrorists” in an undercover operation at a hospital in the occupied West Bank. “The world must put pressure on the occupation to stop these massacres and war crimes, including the policy of torture to which our people are exposed in the areas of the West Bank, executions and arrests,” said Haniyeh. Amidst the uptick in fighting, Israel has charged that around a dozen staff of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) took part in the October 7 attack, leading key donor countries including the United States and Germany to suspend funding. Haniyeh said that the decision of countries to suspend contributions was a “clear violation” of last week’s International Court of Justice interim ruling, which called for increasing humanitarian aid to Gaza. Countries cutting aid support Israel’s “occupation through starvation and siege”, the Hamas chief asserted. ‘Government split’ The truce proposal has stirred division in the Israeli government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under significant pressure from the families of the remaining captives held by Hamas to reach a deal to secure their release. Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and took about 240 captives on October 7. However, he is also being pushed to continue the war by hardline coalition partners and has pledged that the assault on Gaza will continue until Hamas is destroyed. Commenting on the reported truce deal on Tuesday, far-right Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir appeared to suggest that a deal with Hamas would trigger a government collapse. “Reckless deal = Government split,” Ben-Gvir wrote on X. עסקה מופקרת = פירוק הממשלה — איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) January 30, 2024 The national security minister is known for his inflammatory commentary on the conflict. However, his Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) party is a major player in Israel’s ruling coalition. Adblock test (Why?)
Global corruption fight faltering as rule of law declines: Watchdog
Global efforts to fight corruption are faltering as the rule of law retreats, Transparency International (TI) said in its latest report. The watchdog reported on Tuesday, as it published the 2023 edition of its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), that 23 countries have fallen to their lowest-ever level in the global ranking index. “There has been a global decline in justice and the rule of law since 2016,” TI, which has issued the CPI annually for almost three decades, said. “Weakening justice systems that reduce the accountability of public officials is a key factor in allowing corruption to thrive globally.” “Corruption will continue to thrive until justice systems can punish wrongdoing and keep governments in check,” added the NGO’s Chair Francois Valerian in a statement. “Leaders should fully invest in and guarantee the independence of institutions that uphold the law and tackle corruption.” The organisation’s CEO Daniel Eriksson said corruption worsens social injustice and disproportionately affects the most vulnerable in society. “In many countries, obstacles to justice for victims of corruption persist,” he said. “It is time to break the barriers and ensure people can access justice effectively.” TI assesses the perception of corruption using 13 data sources, including the World Bank, the World Economic Forum and private risk and consulting firms. It assigns rankings on a scale from 0 (“highly corrupt”) to 100 (“very clean”) for 180 countries and territories. Notably, high-scoring democracies like Iceland, the Netherlands and Sweden experienced a decline in the 2023 index. Countries perceived as more authoritarian, such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela, also saw their scores drop. 🔵 OUT NOW! We analysed 180 countries to see how they scored in the fight against corruption. Check out your country’s score! #CPI2023 https://t.co/0ZNQZqjgrL — Transparency International (@anticorruption) January 30, 2024 Denmark led the index for the sixth consecutive year, with a score of 90. It was followed by Finland with 87 and New Zealand with 85. Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg rounded out the top 10. The United States’ rank was unchanged, scoring 69 points to remain in 24th place. At the other end of the scale, Somalia came in bottom with a score of 11 points. It was followed by South Sudan, Syria and Venezuela with 13 each. Yemen scored 16; Equatorial Guinea, Haiti, North Korea and Nicaragua were marked at 17. The global average for 2023 was unchanged at 43 for the 12th consecutive year. More than two-thirds of countries scored below 50. Only eight countries improved their ranking, including Ireland, South Korea, Maldives and Vietnam. In the Asia Pacific region, TI said there was “little to no meaningful progress” toward fighting corruption. It also expressed concerns about “opacity and undue influence” in justice systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. Arab countries’ average score on the index hit an all-time low of 34, while sub-Saharan Africa remained stagnant at 33. Even in Western Europe and the European Union, the best-performing region, TI found that “weak accountability and political corruption are diminishing public trust and enabling narrow interest groups to exert excessive control over political decision-making”. Ukraine, with a score of 36, continued an 11-year improvement despite Russia’s invasion, by focusing on reforms of the judicial system, which are an element of its bid to join the EU. However, the report said that “the existence of a significant number of high-level corruption cases remains a major concern”. Russia’s score dropped to 26. Transparency International said that the government’s “pervasive control of public institutions facilitates the widespread abuse of power without accountability” while judicial independence is eroding. Adblock test (Why?)
Could Trump lose his business empire in New York fraud case?
Former US President Donald Trump could be banned from the real estate business in New York, a potentially devastating blow to his real estate empire that catapulted him to fame long before winning the White House. Trump is accused of securing loans with false financial statements for several years. After a heated trial that lasted more than three months, a Manhattan court is set to announce its ruling this week. The New York fraud case is only one of several trials heating up against Trump even as he inched closer to securing the Republican presidential nomination following his decisive victory in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary earlier this month. Here’s what we know about this civil case and how it might affect Trump’s presidential campaign: What’s the case about? New York Attorney General Letitia James brought the civil lawsuit against the former president, The Trump Organization, and top officials at the business on September 21, 2023 – although an inquiry into the former president’s business dealings had been ongoing for about three years prior. In the filing, James accused Trump and officials at The Trump Organization – including his children, Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr – of “knowingly and intentionally” creating over 200 overly-inflated financial evaluations between 2011 and 2021 that helped the company secure favourable loans from banks and insurance companies to the tune of $250m. Those actions violated the antifraud New York Executive Law, James wrote in her suit, seeking a $250m penalty against Trump. Senior Trump Organization executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey Mcconney were also named as defendants, alongside companies and entities belonging to Trump such as 40 Wall Street, a skyscraper in Manhattan’s financial district. Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump are co-defendants in the case. What did the judge say about Trump? In a summary judgment on September 27, 2023, that essentially resolved the key claims in the suit, presiding Judge Arthur Engoron of the Manhattan Supreme Court ruled that Trump had committed years of fraud by massively inflating his real estate worth to lenders. His Mar-a-Lago estate, for example, was found to be inflated to about 2,300 percent of its actual price in one statement. Judge Engoron dissolved some companies belonging to the former president and also ordered to revoke the business licence of The Trump Organization, and appointed an independent monitor to oversee the company. Trump has denied wrongdoing and appealed the initial ruling. An appeal court in October temporarily halted the business dissolution part of the ruling. Trump’s lawyers argued some 1,000 employees could be affected. James’s team said it was willing to pause enforcement pending a final decision. In the charged follow-up trial to decide other claims in the attorney general’s lawsuit, Trump’s lawyers asked for the suit to be thrown out, arguing that it was politically motivated; that his accountants carried the blame for false financial statements; and that no particular individuals or entities had been hurt by said statements. Could this affect Trump’s political campaign? Trump’s presidential campaign has played on the civil suit – and the myriad of legal challenges that the Republican frontrunner faces, ahead of the presidential elections in November. The former president has appeared at court cases he is not legally required to attend, making impassioned speeches to rally his supporters behind opponents trying to block his re-election, targeting not just him but his supporters too. He has also used those court appearances to lash out at state officials. Trump accused James, the New York attorney general, of targeting him for political reasons, calling her a “political hack” who won her post because she promised to go after him. Despite the judge’s refusal, Trump spoke in court at the closing of the fraud trials on January 11, saying that the case was a “fraud on me”. “We have a situation where I’m an innocent man, I’ve been persecuted by someone running for office,” Trump said, referring to James, a Democrat who attempted to run for New York governor in the 2022 elections but later dropped out. “They want to make sure that I don’t win again,” he added. Throughout the three-month trial, Trump spoke insultingly of the judge to his supporters, saying Engoron was a biased “Trump hater.” He also attacked Allison Greenfield, Engoron’s law clerk, on his social media platform Truth Social, saying she was “politically biased and out of control”. Judge Engoron slapped a gag order on the former president and later fined him $15,000 for breaching it. Could Trump face criminal penalties? Civil cases like this usually result in monetary penalties and bans called injunctions, as opposed to criminal cases that often end up in jail time. James, in her suit against Trump, had recommended punishment: for the former president and his children to be stripped of their leadership roles at The Trump Organization, and for Trump and the business to be barred from any real estate buys in New York for the next five years. Additionally, the attorney general recommended that Trump and The Trump Organization be forbidden from accessing any loans for five years and that independent monitors and trustees be appointed for The Trump Organization. As Judge Engoron’s final ruling looms, it will likely complement his previous decisions that some of Trump’s companies have their licences revoked, some be dissolved and others be monitored independently. Adblock test (Why?)
Witness of war: Through Motaz’s lens
Motaz Azaiza, photojournalist from Gaza, joins us for a personal conversation about his experiences during the war. For 107 days, the world saw the horrors of Israel’s war on Gaza unfold through the lens of photojournalist Motaz Azaiza. Millions followed his work on social media platforms and many of his followers saluted him as a hero. But where to go from here? How does one heal if their home and people remain under attack? Presenter: Anelise Borges Guest: Motaz Azaiza – photojournalist Adblock test (Why?)