Israeli drone attack kills four brothers during Jenin raid
NewsFeed A distraught mother searching a hospital found out four of her sons were killed in a drone strike during an Israeli raid on Jenin. An IED blast in the occupied West Bank city killed at least one Israeli soldier. Published On 7 Jan 20247 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
China sanctions five US arms manufacturers over Taiwan weapons sales
The move follows US approval of $300m in military aid for the self-ruled island, which holds elections in a week. China has announced sanctions against five US arms manufacturers over weapons sales to Taiwan. Beijing claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve its goals, while the United States is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. The sanctions come ahead of Taiwan’s January 13 presidential and parliamentary elections, which China has claimed are a choice between war and peace. Last month, the US State Department approved a $300m arms package to strengthen Taipei’s joint battle command and control system, prompting Beijing to say it would take unspecified “countermeasures” against the companies involved. China’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday sanctioned the companies BAE Systems Land and Armament, Alliant Techsystems Operation, AeroVironment, ViaSat and Data Link Solutions. “The countermeasures consist of freezing the properties of those companies in China, including their movable and immovable property, and prohibiting organisations and individuals in China from transactions and cooperation with them,” the ministry said in a statement. “The US arms sales to China’s Taiwan region… seriously harm China’s sovereignty and security interests,” it added. Beijing has increased pressure on Taiwan since Tsai Ing-wen was first elected president in 2016, claiming she wants independence. Tsai has said it is up to the people of Taiwan to decide their future. Her vice president, William Lai, is running for the top job against Hou Yu-ih of the more China-friendly KMT. Taiwan has reported regular sightings of Chinese warplanes and balloons around the island in the weeks running up to the election and has warned Beijing against seeking to influence the outcome of the poll. Adblock test (Why?)
All you need to know about the CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2023
Tournament format, venues, title favourites, groups and prize money for AFCON 2023 in Ivory Coast. The Confederation of African Football’s (CAF’s) highly anticipated African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2023 is set to kick off on January 13 in the Ivory Coast, where the continent’s biggest stars are expected to shine after an impressive showing for their respective clubs and the Qatar World Cup 2022. The tournament boasts five teams from the tournament in Qatar, with semifinalists at the global showpiece – Morocco – the red-hot favourites to become the champions of Africa. Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming AFCON: Who are the hosts? The African Cup of Nations takes place in Ivory Coast for a second time. Matches will be held at six stadiums across five cities. The capital, Abidjan, offers two venues – the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium and the Alassane Ouattara Stadium, which will also host the final. Yamoussoukro, Bouake, Korhogo and San Pedro will host the remaining fixtures. All-time #TotalEnergiesAFCON stats for the 2023 hosts Côte d’Ivoire. 📝 How will these change by the end of #TotalEnergiesAFCON2023? ☄️ pic.twitter.com/UVPxBtXYzp — CAF (@CAF_Online) November 5, 2023 Which teams have qualified? Group A – Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau Group B – Egypt, Ghana, Cape Verde, and Mozambique Group C – Senegal, Cameroon, Guinea, and The Gambia Group D – Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Angola Group E – Tunisia, Mali, South Africa, and Namibia Group F – Morocco, DR Congo, Zambia, and Tanzania When are the opening fixtures? Ivory Coast face Guinea-Bissau in the opening match at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium, Abidjan, on January 13 in Group A. The kickoff is at 20:00 GMT. The host nation will have the focus on the first day, but after that, there will be a minimum of two games per day through the group stage. On match-day two, Nigeria take on Equatorial Guinea at 14:00 GMT to complete the first round of fixtures in Group A, with the game again being played at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium. Abidjan remains the focus for the next two games of the day as Egypt meet Mozambique before Ghana open against Cape Verde. Both Group B games will be played at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium that day, with kickoff times of 15:00 GMT and 20:00 GMT, respectively. The newly built Alassane Ouattara Stadium will host the opening match and the final of the 34th edition of the African Cup of Nations [File: Luc Gnago/Reuters] How does the group stage work? The top two teams in each group and the four best-ranked third-placed teams will advance to the last 16. The bottom teams and the two worst-ranked third-placed teams in each group will be eliminated from the tournament. How does the knockout stage work? There will be three rest days from January 24 before the last-16 fixtures commence. This is how the last 16 stage looks: Group D winners vs third place Group B/E/F Group A runners-up vs Group C runners-up Group A winners vs third place Group C/D/E Group B second place vs Group F runners-up Group B winners vs third place Group A/C/D Group C winners vs third Place Group A/B/F Group E winners vs Group D runners-up Group F winners vs Group E runners-up Egypt have won a record seven Africa Cup of Nations titles, but Mohamed Salah has lost in both the 2017 and 2021 finals [File: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters] Who are the past winners? Egypt are the record winners in AFCON’s history with seven titles. They were also runners-up most recently, in 2017 and 2022 [or 2021? the caption above has 2021.]. Cameroon are the second most successful team with five wins. Ghana have lifted the trophy on four occasions but not since 1982. That still, however, will irk their West African rivals, Nigeria, who have claimed the title three times. Hosts Ivory Coast, Algeria (winners in 2019) and DR Congo have two wins each. Senegal are defending their only Africa Cup of Nations crown, while Morocco, the highest-ranked nation, have also only been crowned winners once, and that was in 1976. Tunisia, Zambia, Sudan, Ethiopia, South Africa and the Republic of the Congo have also lifted the title on one occasion. Constant #TotalEnergiesAFCON participants! 📝 Does your nation make it to the list? 👀 pic.twitter.com/nqPd3nkG1x — CAF (@CAF_Online) October 7, 2023 Who are the favourites? World Cup semifinalists Morocco are the clear favourites as they look to end a nearly 40-year wait for their second AFCON crown. The 1976 winners are the highest-ranked team at the tournament. Reigning champions Senegal and the team they defeated in the last edition, Egypt, are expected to be the teams to push them closest. Nigeria boast the squad with the most depth as you can read in our analysis of the favourites [link?]. How much is the prize money? There will be a 40 percent increase in the prize money for the winners of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. The winners of the latest edition in Ivory Coast will receive 5.5 million pounds ($7m). The runners-up will get 3.165 million pounds ($4m), with each of the two semifinalists receiving 1.979 million pounds ($2.5m) and the four quarterfinalists taking 1.029 million pounds ($1.3m) each. Where can the matches be watched? Global listings are available from livesoccertv.com. Adblock test (Why?)
Can Pakistan’s Indus River dolphins be saved?
Gliding through the waters of the Indus River, Pakistan’s river dolphins – known locally as “bulhan” – can be glimpsed as they rise up to gulp air before submerging once again into the murky waters. It was a rare sighting in 2004 that spurred the then-14-year-old Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to become a climate activist. Now 33, the acclaimed artist and grandson of his namesake, the former president of Pakistan, said that until that moment, he had only ever heard about the fabled dolphins from stories told by older family members. “I knew about them, and people knew that they existed in the river. To me, they were almost like unicorns,” he told Al Jazeera. The dolphins, whose numbers had dwindled severely since the early 1900s, started to make a slow comeback in the 1970s when the hunting of dolphins for their meat and blubber was outlawed. Now, more and more are being spotted in the river again. What are the Indus River dolphins? Unlike unicorns, the Indus River dolphins are very real. They are, however, at risk of extinction, and despite more of their number being identified in recent years, they remain on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of endangered species. Part of the cetacean family, a group of mammals that also includes whales and porpoises, these dolphins have distinct, elongated noses like blunt swords, which they use to find food along the bottom of the river. They have minuscule eyes – “as big as pinpricks to protect them from river silt that builds up in their freshwater habitats”, Bhutto explained. In fact, the dolphins are functionally blind – unable to see objects but able to detect shifts in light. One of the remaining 2,100 dolphins that live in the Indus River in Pakistan [Shutterstock] The Indus River dolphin (Platanista gangetica minor) and its cousin, the Ganges river dolphin – locally known as “susu” (Platanista gangetica gangetica) – are two river dolphin subspecies that are today the only surviving members of a once primitive and widespread group of archaic cetaceans that swam in the ancient Tethys Sea 50 million years ago. The Tethys Sea once covered what is now India, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean. As the lands shifted and sea levels dropped, the freshwater-only Indus River dolphins were left behind in inland rivers in what is now Pakistan. Back in the late 19th century, dolphins swam in the lower parts of the Indus in Pakistan and in the Beas River, a tributary of the Indus River in Punjab, India. In 1878 and 1879, a survey carried out by the British zoologist John Anderson tallied about 10,000 dolphins across what was then British India. In 2001, a survey by the Wildlife Department of Pakistan’s Sindh province found 617 dolphins remaining in the Indus River. This number rose to just under 1,000 in 2004. Today, there are 2,100 – an improvement, but not enough. The survival of these dolphins is crucial to the local ecostructure. They are considered an “indicator” species, acting as an indicator of the health of the rivers in which they live. “They are the canaries in the coal mine of freshwater,” Bhutto said. “If they are breeding and reproducing, it means they are doing well. If there is a drop, then it means something is wrong in the river’s ecosystem.” What caused the dolphin population to dwindle? Bhutto cited the work of Gill Braulik, a leader in the conservation of marine mammals who is based at St Andrews University in Scotland. In 2012, she proved that a series of dams and barrages (low-level dams) built by the British in the mid-20th century had led to the river dolphins’ decline. Barrages, in particular, were built to divert water into canals to irrigate farmland. This caused some areas of the river to become too shallow for the dolphins, which have also frequently been trapped by gates built into the barrages. The barrages have segmented the river and artificially isolated the dolphin population. When a barrage opens its gate, a dolphin may be swept downstream and is then unable to swim back upstream as it once could because of strong currents created by the barrages. Being trapped in the lower parts of the river is problematic because water extraction to the canals means the river dries up for several months each year. The barrages “systematically annihilated the dolphin populations in the tributaries”, Bhutto said. The Sukkar Barrage, built in Sindh, Bhutto’s home province, to control flooding and provide irrigation, was the first to open in 1932. Today, it feeds into the largest irrigation system in the world, providing irrigation to more than 7.63 million acres (nearly 31sq km) of land. Five more would follow from 1946 to 1971: the Guddu Barrage, the Kotri (also known as the Ghulam Muhammad) Barrage, the Taunsa Barrage, the Chashma Barrage and the Jinnah Barrage. The Indus River’s barrages have devastated the dolphin population [Creative Commons] The river dolphins, which once had free reign over the waterways, had been able to swim all 3,180km (1,976 miles) of the Indus, from the foothills of the Himalayas and Karakoram mountains to its delta in Sindh, where its waters empty into the Arabian Sea, and all of its tributaries. But these new structures meant they were now contained within the six smaller enclaves that existed between these barrages. While swimming along the canals, which were built following the natural pathways of the river’s tributaries, many became trapped, stuck in shallow canals or, worse, caught in fishing nets. “They need to come up for air every two to three minutes. If they get trapped in a net, then they can drown within five minutes,” Bhutto explained. “They are extremely fragile creatures.” “We don’t know how much of the population declined in those days [the mid-1900s] as they weren’t being tracked, but it declined, becoming almost extinct in the tributaries, so there was only a population left in the mainstream of the river.” By 1960,
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 683
As the war enters its 683rd day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Sunday, January 7, 2024. Fighting At least 11 people, including five children, were killed by a Russian missile attack in and around the Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk. Vadym Filashkin, the regional governor of Ukraine’s partially-occupied eastern Donetsk region, said eight people were injured in the attack. Ukraine’s military said it carried out a successful attack on the Saky military airbase in the west of the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula. “Saki airfield! All targets were hit!” Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on Telegram. He also published a photo appearing to show the airfield. Russia said earlier that its air defence units brought down Ukrainian missiles and drones targeting Crimea and the western part of the Black Sea. Russia invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Local officials in Belgorod – a Russian city some 40km (25 miles) from the border with Ukraine – said that an “air target” was shot down on approach to the city. As Russians prepared to celebrate Orthodox Christmas, Christmas Eve masses in Belgorod were cancelled due to the “operational situation”, Mayor Valentin Demidov said. Politics and diplomacy Speaking on the eve of the Russian Orthodox Christmas as he met families of soldiers killed in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin promised more support for soldiers who “with arms in hands” were defending Russia’s interests. In a rare public protest, about 15 Russian women whose husbands have been sent to fight in the Russian full-scale invasion symbolically laid flowers at the flame of the unknown soldier beneath the walls of the Kremlin in Moscow and demanded the men’s return from the front. About 244,000 Russians have been mobilised to fight in Ukraine out of a total force of about 617,000 troops. The remains of the suspected North Korea-supplied missile in the snow [Serget Bobok/AFP] Shalanda Young, United States President Joe Biden’s top budget official, warned about the rapidly diminishing amount of time for lawmakers in Congress to replenish US aid for Ukraine. The funding has been blocked by Republicans demanding the $106bn plan, which also includes support for Israel, be linked to immigration measures at the US-Mexico border. Young said the situation was “dire”. Weapons Ukraine provided further evidence that Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles supplied by North Korea, as the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office showed the media fragments of a weapon that hit the northeastern city on January 2. Spokesman Dmytro Chubenko said the missile was slightly bigger in diameter than the Russian Iskander missile, while its nozzle, internal electrical windings and rear parts were also different. Russia aims to produce more than 32,000 drones each year by 2030 and for domestic producers to account for 70 percent of the market, the state TASS news agency reported, citing First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov. Adblock test (Why?)
Thousands protest in Israel demanding captive release, government to resign
Mass protests have taken place around Israel, with demonstrators calling for the return of Israeli captives held in Gaza, the removal of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government and an end to the war in Gaza. Several thousand supporters, friends and families of the Israeli captives taken by Hamas on October 7 rallied in Tel Aviv’s “Hostage Square” on Saturday, Al Jazeera reporters on the ground said. “This is unprecedented because, throughout the beginning of this war, everyone had agreed, including the anti-government protesters, that they needed to be unified at a time when there is war, at a time when captives are still being held in Gaza,” said Al Jazeera’s Sara Khairat, reporting from Tel Aviv. The turnout of people in the square was much higher than in recent weeks when a few dozen to a few hundred people gathered. “Now, quite a few thousand people [are] gathered here,” our correspondent said. Protesters shouted: “Bushah bushah, bushah”, meaning “shame, shame, shame” in reference to the government, with some also blaming Netanyahu and other officials for the events of October 7. “This just gives you a sense of how angry some of these people are,” Khairat said. In Jerusalem, people gathered in front of the house of Israeli President Isaac Herzog to demonstrate, demanding the return of the more than 100 captives still held in Gaza. Adblock test (Why?)
Woman in her 90s pulled alive from rubble of Japan earthquake
The 7.6 quake struck on New Year’s Day, causing extensive damage to communities on the Noto Peninsula. A woman in her 90s has been pulled alive from a collapsed house in western Japan, 124 hours after the area was struck by a powerful earthquake that killed at least 126 people. The resident of Suzu on the northern tip of the hard-hit Noto Peninsula had survived for more than five days after the 7.6 magnitude quake. Nationally broadcast news footage showed helmeted rescue workers covering the view of the area with blue plastic, with the woman not visible. Her condition was unclear. Chances for survival drop sharply after the first 72 hours. About 200 people remain unaccounted for, according to authorities. Among the 126 dead was a 5-year-old boy who had been recovering from injuries he suffered when boiling water spilled on him during the quake. His condition suddenly worsened and he died on Friday, according to authorities in Ishikawa Prefecture, which includes the Noto Peninsula. Most of the deaths recorded so far have been in Wajima City, which is also in the north of the peninsula and was the site of a ferocious blaze, and in Suzu. More than 500 people have been injured, at least 27 of them seriously. Some communities on the Noto Peninsula have been devastated by the quake [Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP] In Suzu, where dozens of homes lie in ruins, a dog barked while an AFP team filmed the cleanup operation, the signal of a grim discovery. “Training for disaster rescue dogs begins with something similar to a game of hide-and-seek,” canine trainer Masayo Kikuchi told the news agency. “Finally, they are trained to bark when seeing a person under the rubble.” Houses containing any deaths that are discovered are being marked and left alone until a coroner can come with relatives to identify the body. ‘Really tough’ Continued aftershocks have threatened to bury more homes and block roads that are crucial for relief shipments. With rain and snow forecast for Sunday, officials warned that roads already buckled and cracked by the earthquake could collapse completely. For Shiro Kokuda, 76, the house in Wajima where he grew up was spared but a nearby temple went up in flames and he was still looking for his friends at evacuation centres. “It’s been really tough,” he said. Along Japan’s coastline, power was gradually being restored but water remained in short supply. Thousands of troops were flying and trucking in water, food and medicine to the more than 30,000 people who had evacuated to auditoriums, schools and other facilities. The nationally-circulated Yomiuri newspaper reported that its aerial study had located more than 100 landslides in the area and some were blocking major roads. Some communities, such as the coastal community of Shiromaru which was also hit by a tsunami, were still waiting for aid. A tsunami swept through the main street of Shiromaru, which is home to about 100 people [Philip Fong/ AFP] The wave, said to be several metres high, left a tangled mess of wooden, metal and plastic debris. “The tsunami came from the cove of Shiromaru through the river and then ran up through the street,” said Toshio Sakashita, one of its roughly 100 residents. “We have received no public support here. Look, the main street is still blocked due to the rubble, which has been left untouched,” the 69-year-old told AFP. “We cannot live in our house any more,” 82-year-old Yukio Teraoka said as he and his wife cleared heavy, sodden sand from their wrecked home. Adblock test (Why?)
Pro-Palestine protesters block bridge outside UK parliament
Hundreds of pro-Palestine demonstrators blocked access to a bridge near the British parliament on Saturday, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza in an act of civil disobedience. London, like other Western cities, has seen regular and sometimes large demonstrations calling for an end to Israel’s bombardment of the besieged strip. Police clashed with the protesters, who occupied surrounding roads after they were prevented from marching across Westminster Bridge, where they had planned to unfurl banners. Police said they had imposed a legal order limiting the location of the protests and that by 3pm (15:00 GMT) people had begun to disperse. Those who refused to comply with an order to leave could be arrested, police said. Saturday’s action, the first major demonstration of the new year, was smaller than previous mass marches but comes two days before the UK Parliament returns to work after its Christmas break. The protest was designed to push politicians to adopt a harder stance towards Israel in its war on Gaza, which has killed more than 22,700 Palestinians in three months. Adblock test (Why?)
FBI arrests three people linked to January 6, 2021, insurrection
The three Florida residents allegedly attacked officers during an assault on the United States Capitol three years ago. United States authorities announced the arrest of three people wanted in connection with the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol, as the country marked the third anniversary of the violent attack by Donald Trump’s supporters. The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Jonathan D Pollock, 24, his sister, Olivia M Pollock, 33 and Joseph D Hutchinson, 27, at a ranch in Groveland, Florida, the FBI said in a statement on Saturday. The three will be arraigned on Monday. All are charged with assaulting officers, violent entry into the Capitol and other felonies. The three had been indicted in April 2021. Jonathan Pollock had gone into hiding shortly after the attack while his sister and Hutchinson had been arrested in June 2021 and released on bond, but fled shortly before they were set to go on trial in Washington, DC last March. The FBI had offered a $30,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Jonathan Pollock, who they “considered armed and dangerous”. According to a 53-page indictment, Jonathan Pollock and Hutchinson are on video recordings, repeatedly punching officers during the riots. Pollock is also alleged to have grabbed riot shields from officers, and he and Hutchinson are accused of using the edge of one to strike an officer in the neck or face. In June 2021, the Pollocks’ brother, Gabriel, defended his siblings and Hutchinson in an interview with The Ledger, Lakeland’s newspaper, saying: “I do feel like it is a political move that’s being perpetrated, which – it’s sad.” “I think people are pretty fed up with the way the country’s being taken away from the people,” he added. January 6, 2021 Three years ago, a crowd of thousands attacked the US Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of the 2020 election results, spurred on by false claims the election had been “rigged” against Republican incumbent Trump. More than 2,000 people entered the Capitol building, smashing windows, ransacking offices, defecating in public spaces and searching for members of Congress. The assault was ultimately unsuccessful but it has set off alarm bells about the stability of US democracy and the growing influence of anti-democratic elements within the Republican Party. On Friday, US President Joe Biden took a jab at Trump, who was the country’s president at the time, calling him out for inaction on January 6 and election-related lies. “It was among the worst derelictions of duty by a president in American history,” Biden said in Pennsylvania. Trump hit back at Biden at a rally in Iowa on Friday. “Not one thing has gotten better under crooked Joe Biden. Everything’s a mess,” he said. But he only briefly addressed the events of January 6 repeating unfounded claims that the 2020 contest was marred by widespread voter fraud. The US continues to grapple with the fallout from the attack. More than 950 people have been charged with federal crimes relating to the riot, with some facing accusations of seditious conspiracy – a rare but serious offence. The US Department of Justice added that 192 of those defendants have been sentenced to time behind bars and 484 have pleaded guilty to various crimes. [embedded content] Adblock test (Why?)
Could infighting threaten Israel’s government?
Bitter divisions erupt between ministers on post-war plans for Gaza. Israel’s far-right coalition government is at war, not just in Gaza but with itself. Ministers are fighting about a possible inquiry into the army’s pre-October 7 role – and proposals to expel all Palestinians from Gaza. So, how fragile is Israel’s government? And what would its collapse mean? Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra Guests: Ofer Cassif – Member of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset Gideon Levy – Columnist at the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and author of, The Punishment of Gaza Daniel Levy – President of the US Middle East Project, political negotiator under the former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak Adblock test (Why?)