‘Don’t worry about me. I’m fine’: Kremlin critic Navalny from Arctic jail
Russian opposition leader says he has seen his lawyer after 20 days travelling to penal colony above the Arctic Circle. Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny has confirmed he is being held in a remote Arctic prison and has seen his lawyer after his spokespeople said they had lost touch with him for more than two weeks. Navalny on Tuesday said he was in good spirits after a “pretty exhausting” 20-day transfer from a prison in the Vladimir region, in a post on X, his account routinely updated via his allies. “I now live above the Arctic Circle. In the village of Kharp on Yamal. The nearest town has the beautiful name of Labytnangi,” he wrote, after announcing: “I am your new Santa Claus” and noting that he had grown a beard during the “20 days of my transportation”. His spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, on Monday said Navalny had been tracked down and was in the IK-3 penal colony in Kharp in the Yamal-Nenets region, about 1,900km (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow. The Kremlin critic’s whereabouts had not been known since December 6, triggering concern from his allies, rights groups and Western governments. “The 20 days of my transportation were pretty exhausting, but I’m still in a good mood,” Navalny said. “They brought me here on Saturday night. And I was transported with such precaution and on such a strange route (Vladimir – Moscow – Chelyabinsk – Ekaterinburg – Kirov – Vorkuta – Kharp) that I didn’t expect anyone to find me here before mid-January. “That’s why I was very surprised when the cell door was opened yesterday with the words: ‘A lawyer is here to see you.’” 1/9 I am your new Santa Claus. Well, I now have a sheepskin coat, an ushanka hat (a fur hat with ear-covering flaps), and soon I will get valenki (a traditional Russian winter footwear). I have grown a beard for the 20 days of my transportation. — Alexey Navalny (@navalny) December 26, 2023 Addressing his supporters, Navalny thanked them for being concerned about his wellbeing, adding: “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I’m totally relieved that I’ve finally made it.” While his whereabouts were unknown, there was speculation that he was undergoing a prison transfer, which can take weeks in Russia because prisoners are slowly moved by rail between far-flung facilities. Navalny’s lawyers and supporters had been preparing for his expected transfer to a “special regime” colony, the harshest grade in Russia’s prison system. His new home, known as the “Polar Wolf” colony, is considered one of the toughest prisons in Russia. Its inmates are convicted of grave crimes. Winters are harsh there with temperatures due to drop to about minus 28 degrees Celsius (minus 18 degrees Fahrenheit) over the next week. Navalny has been behind bars since January 2021 when he returned to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. Before his arrest, he campaigned against corruption and organised major anti-Kremlin protests. He has since received three prison terms and spent months in isolation in Penal Colony Number 6 for alleged minor infractions. A court extended Navalny’s sentence to 19 years on extremism charges and ruled that he be moved to a more secure, harsher prison. He has rejected all charges against him as politically motivated. “Since I’m Santa Claus, you’re probably wondering about the presents,” Navalny said on X. “But I am a special-regime Santa Claus, so only those who have behaved very badly get presents.” Adblock test (Why?)
Why do evangelical Christians support Israel?
Palestinian human rights activist Jonathan Kuttab explains how Christian Zionism affects US policy in the Middle East. In the evangelical Christian worldview, the 1948 creation of Israel was a fulfilment of Biblical prophecy and the Palestinians are either “non-existent” or “the enemies of God, because they are the enemies of the State of Israel”, explains Palestinian human rights defender Jonathan Kuttab. Kuttab tells host Steve Clemons that believers of this interpretation of holy scripture do not care about international law or catastrophic war in the region. “They say, ‘Bring it on. That’s the End Times. That’s the Second Coming. That’s wonderful.’” And if 30 percent of Americans hold these beliefs, what is the impact on US policy on Palestine and Israel? Adblock test (Why?)
Japan announces sanctions against three senior Hamas figures
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Yoshimasa says three individuals believed to have participated in October 7 attacks. Japan has announced sanctions against three senior members of the Palestinian armed group Hamas. Tokyo will freeze assets belonging to the three individuals and impose sanctions on payments and capital transactions, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Yoshimasa said on Tuesday. The sanctioned individuals, who were not named, are believed to have been involved in Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel and be in a position to use funds to carry out similar attacks in future, Yoshimasa said. The move comes after Tokyo in October imposed sanctions on nine people and a company over their alleged links to Hamas. Tokyo has attempted to walk a fine line on the war in Gaza war, striving to balance relations with the United States, its closest ally, and its ties to energy-supplying partners in the Middle East. Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio condemned the October 7 attacks on Israel and called for the immediate release of Hamas’s captives while expressing concern about civilian deaths and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza. Japan earlier this month supported a United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza, after abstaining from a similar vote in October. Last week, Japanese container shipper Ocean Network Express announced it would reroute vessels away from the Red Sea to avoid being targeted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have ramped up attacks on commercial shipping since the start of the war in Gaza. In November, the Houthis seized a British-owned vessel chartered by Tokyo-based Nippon Yusen, prompting the shipping line to stop accepting cargo bound for Israel. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel-Hamas war: List of key events, day 81
EXPLAINER Netanyahu says the war is not over and Israeli forces arrest a Palestinian politician – here are the key updates. Here’s how things stand on Tuesday, December 26, 2023: Latest developments Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the war is far from over, during his visit to Israeli soldiers in Gaza on Monday. He added that the remaining captives taken by Hamas during its October 7 attack on southern Israel cannot be freed without military pressure. Families of captives heckled Netanyahu during an address to parliament earlier on Monday. Both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have denounced Netanyahu’s statements in Gaza. Human impact and fighting Over 100 people were killed overnight in the Israeli air strike on the Maghazi refugee camp as some families are still trapped under the rubble. Palestinian authorities have reported that 250 people were killed in waves of Israeli bombardment over 24 hours on Christmas. The attacks have taken place in the al-Amal neighbourhood in the southern city of Khan Younis, as well as the Bureij and Nuseirat camps and Juhor ad-Dik in central Gaza. An Israeli air attack outside Syria killed a top Iranian military advisor, Sayyed Razi Mousavi, on Monday. WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Gaza’s health system is under “unbearable strain” in a post on X on Monday. Diplomacy Israel will not renew the visa of a United Nations staff member in the country and will also deny the visa request of another UN employee. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said “We will stop working with those who cooperate” with Hamas, in a post on X on Monday. As a response to Cohen’s criticism of the UN the recent visa denials, Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territories, said Israel’s “baseless attacks” on the “UN only proves moral cowardice”. 1/2. Baseless attacks agst the UN only proves moral cowardice. The UN has been weakened by decades of ISR impunity for breaches of Intl Law,incl colonisation of occup.territory & Pal. forced displacement.The UN must hold ISR to account if it is to salvage its reputation/purpose. https://t.co/Tk2qTcsBgl — Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) December 25, 2023 US acknowledged strikes on Iran-backed groups in Iraq as US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the “proportionate strikes” hit three sites used by the Iraqi group Kata’ib Hezbollah and other affiliated groups on Monday. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hosted a Christmas day lunch with the latest group of Palestinian-Brazilians to be repatriated from Gaza. Protestors in New York also held Christmas Day rallies in solidarity with Palestine. Escalation in the West Bank The Al Jazeera team in the occupied West Bank reports that Khalida Jarrar, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the political group, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been arrested in Ramallah. Israeli forces have raided different areas across the occupied West Bank, including the Tulkarem, Nablus and Hebron governorates. Israel’s ongoing attacks in Nur Shams, Tulkarem, have been described by locals as one of the largest since the war began, reported Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut from occupied East Jerusalem. At least one house was blown up by the Israeli military. In Nablus, a young man was injured after settlers attacked his vehicle near the Taneeb Junction, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Adblock test (Why?)
India’s navy deploys warships to Arabian Sea after tanker attack
Guided missile destroyers to ‘maintain deterrent presence’ after Israel-linked vessel hit off Indian coast. The Indian Navy has dispatched guided missile destroyers to the Arabian Sea after an attack on an Israel-linked chemical tanker off its coast, the Ministry of Defence said. Three stealth-guided destroyers were deployed “in various areas of the sea” to “maintain a deterrent presence” considering the “recent spate of attacks in the Arabian Sea”, the ministry said in a statement late on Monday. It was also using long-range maritime patrol aircraft for “domain awareness”, it said. The United States claimed that the December 23 strike on MV Chem Pluto in the Indian Ocean was “fired from Iran”, an accusation that Tehran has dismissed as baseless. The attack came as a US-led task force sought to counter similar threats to maritime shipping in the Red Sea posed by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels. Amid the uptick in maritime strikes, this was the first that the US has sought to directly pin on Iran. It was also the first on a vessel outside the Red Sea. “We can see that militarisation is increasing, not only in the Red Sea, but also in the Arabian Peninsula,” said Al Jazeera’s Resul Sardar, reporting from Djibouti. “These are the regional ramifications of the war on Gaza,” he reported on Tuesday. The Indian Navy said it was investigating the nature of the attack on MV Chem Puto, which “anchored safely” in the financial capital, Mumbai, on Monday. An initial assessment “pointed to a drone attack”, the ministry said. But “further forensic and technical analysis will be required to establish the vector of attack, including type and amount of explosive used”. The vessel had been “cleared for further operation” by its company, according to the ministry. Shipping under threat MV Chem Pluto, a Japanese-owned tanker carrying 21 Indians and one Vietnamese citizen, was hit on Saturday while travelling 200 nautical miles (370km) off the coast of India, according to the Pentagon. The attack sparked a fire, which was put out, but caused no casualties. The Houthis have pledged to target any Israel-linked vessel in the Red Sea, through which some 12 percent of all global trade passes, in solidarity with Gaza which has been bombarded by land, sea and air by the Israeli military. Sardar said that despite the new US-led task force, there still hasn’t been an increase in ships trying to pass through the Red Sea, adding that dozens of cargo ships remain stranded in Djibouti. Since October, the Houthis have waged attacks on more than a dozen vessels, pushing some of the world’s largest firms to abandon the route. The attack in the Indian Ocean, far away from the Red Sea, has raised concerns about even broader risks to maritime shipping amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Washington has accused Tehran of being “deeply involved” in the Houthi operations. But Iran insists that it is not coordinating with the Houthis and plays no role in the attacks. “The resistance [Houthis] has its own tools … and acts in accordance with its own decisions and capabilities,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri told the Mehr news agency on Saturday. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 671
As the war enters its 671st day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Tuesday, December 26, 2023. Fighting Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed Russian troops had gained full control of the eastern Ukrainian town of Marinka in what would be their first major breakthrough since the capture of Bakhmut back in May. Ukrainian military spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun denied the Russian claims. “It’s not correct to talk about seizing Marinka,” he told national television. “Our forces are within the city.” Five people were killed after Russian shelling of Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson and towns elsewhere in the region hit an apartment block and residential homes. Nine other people, including a 15-year-old, were wounded while gas and water supplies were partially cut off in the attacks. Russian-installed authorities, meanwhile, said one person had been killed and six wounded in Ukrainian shelling of the Russian-occupied eastern town of Horlivka. Ukraine said it shot down 28 of 31 drones launched by Russia overnight as well as two missiles mostly targeting the south of the country. Russian and Ukrainian military officials both reported bringing down enemy aircraft in different areas of the 1,000km-long (621-mile) front line. Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of Ukraine’s Air Force, said Ukrainian anti-aircraft units had hit a Russian Su-34 fighter bomber near the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Russia’s Defence Ministry, meanwhile, said its air defence systems shot down four Ukrainian military aircraft over the previous 24 hours. Ukraine is proposing lowering the age of those who can be mobilised for combat duty from 27 to 25, according to the draft text of a new law on conscription. Politics and diplomacy Ukraine celebrated Christmas on December 25 for the first time in part of an ongoing effort to distance itself from Russian influence. Russia marks the holiday in January. Ukraine received $1.34bn in funds from the World Bank. The money will be used to support non-security related financial and economic stability, Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance said. Hundreds of supporters of Igor Girkin, a jailed former commander of Russian-backed fighters in Ukraine who is better known by his alias Igor Strelkov, rallied in Moscow to back his bid to stand for president. Girkin was a key leader of fighters in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and has criticised Russia’s military strategy in Ukraine for being “too kind”. He was detained in July. Weapons Denis Manturov, the Russian deputy prime minister who oversees arms production, told the RIA news agency that Russia had the upper hand in weapons production over Western countries and intended to grow its arms industry. Manturov said that the volume of state defence orders in 2023 had doubled compared with the previous year, with production of “certain weapons” rising ten-fold. Adblock test (Why?)
Plane held in France over trafficking concerns lands in India
Airbus A340 carrying 276 Indian passengers arrives in Mumbai early on Tuesday. A plane carrying hundreds of Indian passengers that was grounded in France for four days amid a probe into possible human trafficking has arrived in India. The Airbus A340 carrying 276 Indian passengers landed in Mumbai early on Tuesday morning, flight tracking data showed. The flight, operated by Romania-based Legend Airlines, had been en route from the United Arab Emirates to Nicaragua when it was detained at a regional airport on Thursday following a tip-off that its passengers may be victims of trafficking. Passengers on the flight were confined at Vatry airport, about 150km east of Paris, while authorities turned the terminal into a makeshift courtroom to carry out emergency hearings. Among the 303 original passengers who stayed behind in France, 25, including five minors, requested asylum in the country and two others were initially detained as part of the trafficking probe before being released, local authorities said. The plane’s departure on Monday came after a French court ruled that authorities did not have legal authority to detain several of the passengers further. French authorities have said they did not find evidence of human trafficking but are continuing to investigate potential breaches of immigration laws. The Indian Embassy expressed thanks to French officials for the “quick resolution of the situation enabling Indian passengers to return home” in a post on X. Adblock test (Why?)
Ukraine proposes lowering age for military conscription from 27 to 25
Draft bill proposed as military looks for hundreds of thousands of new recruits in its fight to eject Russia. Ukraine has proposed reducing the age of those who can be mobilised into the armed forces from 27 to 25 after the military said it needed as many as 500,000 more soldiers in its now 22-month-long war against Russia. The age reduction was in the text of a draft law posted on the website of Ukraine’s parliament late on Monday. The text detailed which Ukrainian citizens would be subject to enrolment for military registration of conscripts and said it would apply to those “who have reached the age of 25”. An explanatory note signed by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov summarised key provisions of the draft law, saying they included the “change of conscription age from 27 to 25 years”. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed earlier this month that the military had proposed mobilising between 450,000 and 500,000 more Ukrainians but that it was a “highly sensitive” issue that the military and government would discuss before deciding whether to send the proposal to parliament. Zelenskyy, who has yet to back the proposal publicly, said on December 19 that he wanted to hear more arguments for mobilising additional people. “This is a very serious number,” he said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not yet backed the proposal publicly [Ukrainian Presidential Press Service via Reuters] Ukraine’s troop numbers are not known but in the past, it has been said the country has about 1 million people under arms. US officials estimate that hundreds of thousands have been killed and wounded since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Neither Ukraine nor Russia publishes its casualty figures. David Arakhamia, the head of Zelenskyy’s party in parliament, said the government was working on the bill at the request of the military and that it was due to be introduced on Monday. “The military needs a solution to its problems,” he said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. “Society wants to hear answers to all sensitive questions.” Adblock test (Why?)
Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp in ruins after deadly Israeli attack
Residents of Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp have returned to their neighbourhood to find only blocks of concrete lying where their homes had stood. “These houses are destroyed. Our house was bombed,” Abu Rami Abu al-Ais said on Monday, standing in the debris. “There’s no safe place in the Gaza Strip.” Late on Sunday, at least three houses in the camp were hit by Israeli air strikes, which killed more than 100 people, according to Al Jazeera correspondents. Officials in Gaza said seven families were among the casualties. Israel says it issues evacuation orders and warnings so civilians can get to safety before military attacks, but Zeyad Awad said there was no advisory before the strike. “What should we do? We are civilians, living peacefully and wanting only safety and security, yet we are suddenly struck by Israeli warplanes without any warning,” he said. The Israeli military said it was “reviewing the incident”. The Maghazi refugee camp is one of several in Gaza and was established in 1949, according to the United Nations, to shelter refugees who were forced to flee occupied Palestinian territories during the creation of Israel the year before. Many who fled Maghazi after Sunday’s strikes were displaced again after already escaping attacks in northern Gaza. Adblock test (Why?)
Armed groups kill 113 people in series of attacks across central Nigeria
Nigerian authorities say armed groups known as ‘bandits’ hit 20 communities and injure more than 300 people. Armed groups have killed more than 100 people in a string of attacks targeting towns across central Nigeria, another deadly episode in a region with persistent religious and ethnic tensions. Local officials on Monday said the toll of the weekend attacks by armed groups, sometimes called “bandits”, has risen to 113, increasing sharply from the government’s initial count of 16. “As many as 113 persons have been confirmed killed as Saturday hostilities persisted to early hours of Monday,” Monday Kassah, head of the local government in Bokkos in Plateau State, told the Agence France-Presse news agency. Kassah said the “well-coordinated” attacks, which also injured more than 300 people, targeted at least 20 communities across the region. “Proactive measures will be taken by the government to curb ongoing attacks against innocent civilians,” said Gyang Bere, a spokesperson for Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang. Kassah did not say who was responsible for the attacks but noted that the injured were taken to hospital. Plateau is one of several states that make up the ethnically and religiously diverse Middle Belt in Nigeria, where climate change and expanding agriculture has strained communities and increased tensions between Muslim herders and Christian farmers. Hundreds of people have been killed in cases of intercommunal violence in recent years. After the weekend attacks, the rights group Amnesty International said authorities in the West African nation “have been failing to end frequent deadly attacks on rural communities of Plateau state”. Conflict has continued to roil the country’s northern and central regions, where armed groups are active and government forces have been accused of committing abuses. This month, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu ordered an investigation after a military drone strike killed 85 civilians gathered for a religious celebration. Tinubu lamented what he called the “bombing mishap”. Kaduna Governor Uba Sani said at the time that the civilians were mistakenly killed by a drone targeting “terrorists and bandits”. Adblock test (Why?)