Huge fire after explosion at Guinea fuel depot
NewsFeed A huge fire has broken out in Guinea’s capital Conakry after an explosion at a fuel depot. There are reports that dozens of injured people have been taken to two of the city’s main hospitals. Published On 18 Dec 202318 Dec 2023 Adblock test (Why?)
Iraq heads to the polls to vote for powerful provincial councils
The first council elections in a decade are expected to strengthen the grip of pro-Iran groups. Iraqis are headed to the polls to elect provincial councils for the first time in 10 years, with thousands vying for seats in the powerful assemblies. Ballots will be cast in 15 of Iraq’s 18 provinces on Monday. The elections are a prelude to a parliamentary vote in 2025, which will test the strength of pro-Iran groups that have been raising their profile in recent years. Overall, 285 candidates will be elected to the councils, whose duties include appointing regional governors and allocating health, transport and education budgets. Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, which includes three provinces, will decide their provincial councils next year. Turnout the ‘ultimate gage’ Monday’s vote is seen as a key test for the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who rose to power a year ago on the back of a parliamentary coalition of pro-Tehran parties. Since taking office, al-Sudani has struggled to develop public services and infrastructure ravaged by decades of conflict. He is hoping for a high turnout, which would give his administration a boost. “Turnout is the ultimate gage of satisfaction,” said Renad Mansour, a senior research fellow at Chatham House. It will show, he said, “whether the Sudani government’s economic populism – the policy of giving out [public sector] jobs – can be successful and can capture the young population”. Voting started at 7am (04:00 GMT) on Monday under tight security and was set to continue until 6pm (15:00 GMT). Some 17 million of Iraq’s 43 million people are eligible to vote, with 6,000 candidates in the race. However, voter apathy has been on the rise among a mostly young population who feel that they have not seen the benefits of Iraq’s massive oil wealth, much of which is misdirected or stolen in a country ranked among the world’s most corrupt. Hassan Qabas, a member of Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), told Al Jazeera that around 1,800 international observers had been invited to participate. Boycott The vote is expected to consolidate the position of the ruling Coordination Framework coalition. The Iran-aligned bloc features Shia Islamist parties with factions of Hashed al-Shaabi, a network of former paramilitary units integrated into the regular army. However, critics say the councils are sure to be nests of corruption and enable clientelism. Influential Shia scholar and political kingmaker Muqtada al-Sadr, whose rivals blocked his bid to form a government after he emerged as a winner in the 2021 parliamentary polls, is boycotting the election. Manaf Almusawi, a member of his Sadrist movement, told Al Jazeera the boycott is intended to “voice rejection of the government’s policies” and “deprive the government of legitimacy”. A supporter of Shia scholar Muqtada al-Sadr marches with an Iraqi national flag with others during a protest calling for a boycott of provincial council elections, Najaf, Iraq, December 14 [Qassem al-Kaabi/AFP] Iraq’s provincial councils were established after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein. The councils were initially abolished in late 2019 as a concession to massive antigovernment protests, but al-Sudani’s government later re-established them. To reflect Iraq’s multi-confessional and multiethnic population, 10 seats are reserved for minorities, namely Christians, Yazidis and Sabians. A 25 percent quota also ensures that 1,600 of the candidates are female. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 663
[unable to retrieve full-text content] As the war enters its 663rd day, these are the main developments.
Jimmy Lai’s security trial starts in Hong Kong, UK calls for his release
BREAKINGBREAKING, The media tycoon and democracy supporter, now 76, has been in jail for three years, accused of ‘collusion with foreign forces’. Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has gone on trial for alleged national security offences, hours after the United Kingdom joined calls for his immediate release. Lai, who has been imprisoned since December 2020, is arrived in court at 10am (02:00 GMT) where he is charged with conspiring to collude with foreign powers under the national security law imposed on the territory by China in June 2020. Journalists inside the court said the 76-year-old looked like he had lost weight, but appeared in good spirits. The publisher of the now-defunct Apple Daily is one of China’s most vocal critics and was arrested initially in August 2020 as police raided the newspaper’s officers. Lai and the Apple Daily also face charges under a sedition law dating from the British colonial era. In a statement late on Sunday, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he was “gravely concerned” about the trial and joined the United States and European Union in calling for Lai’s immediate release. “As a prominent and outspoken journalist and publisher, Jimmy Lai has been targeted in a clear attempt to stop the peaceful exercise of his rights to freedom of expression and association,” Cameron said, noting that the security law was in breach of the commitments made to Hong Kong when it resumed sovereignty over the territory in 1997. “I urge the Chinese authorities to repeal the National Security Law and end the prosecution of all individuals charged under it. I call on the Hong Kong authorities to end their prosecution and release Jimmy Lai.” Hong Kong’s pro-democracy politicians, once vibrant civil society and media came under pressure in the wake of mass demonstrations in 2019, which began over concerns about a planned extradition bill with mainland China and evolved into calls for greater democracy. Amnesty International has described the security law as “decimating” Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms. The US also called for Lai’s immediate release and condemned the prosecution. “Lai has been held in pre-trial detention for more than 1,000 days, and Hong Kong and Beijing authorities have denied him his choice of legal representation,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. “We call on Hong Kong authorities to immediately release Jimmy Lai and all others imprisoned for defending their rights.” Security on Monday was tight after Secretary for Security Chris Tang warned it would be enhanced because previously, “these kinds of cases” had attracted people wanting to disrupt proceedings and harass prosecutors. People began queueing early for tickets with just 70 seats in the main venue at the West Kowloon court building open to the public. Lai has already been found guilty and jailed over separate cases related to the management of Apple Daily and his involvement in a vigil to mark the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The final edition of the Apple Daily rolled off the presses in June 2021. Other publications critical of the administration have also folded, while elections have been overhauled to ensure only so-called “patriots” are able to hold public office in the territory. Last week’s elections for district councils saw a record-low turnout of just 27.5 percent. The number of directly elected seats was cut to just 88 compared with 462 previously, and all candidates had to secure official approval before they could stand. “Actions that stifle press freedom and restrict the free flow of information – as well as Beijing and local authorities’ changes to Hong Kong’s electoral system that reduce direct voting and preclude independent and pro-democracy party candidates from participating – have undermined Hong Kong’s democratic institutions and harmed Hong Kong’s reputation as an international business and financial hub,” Miller said in his statement. Adblock test (Why?)
At least 90 killed in latest Israeli attacks on Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp
The first responders and locals are searching for the wounded as more bodies are believed to be under the rubble. At least 90 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in the latest Israeli attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. The enclave’s Health Ministry said Sunday’s strikes hit a residential block belonging to the al-Barsh and Alwan families in the town of Jabalia, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. Women and children were among the dead, with dozens still missing, Wafa said in its report. The first responders and locals were searching for the wounded and more bodies were believed to be under the rubble. Many of those injured, including children, were taken to nearby medical centres, which are already overwhelmed with patients. The son of Dawoud Shehab, the spokesman for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, was among the dead, an official from the group told the Reuters news agency. “We believe the number of dead people under the rubble is huge but there is no way to remove the rubble and recover them because of the intensity of Israeli fire,” he said by phone. Medics in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah said at least 12 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded, while in Rafah in the south, an Israeli air attack on a house left at least four people dead. About 19,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7. Israel says 1,147 people were killed on its territory that day. Meanwhile, Israel has also ramped up its artillery shelling in southern Gaza, hitting the cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, where the majority of displaced Palestinians are sheltering. The stepping up of bombardments in the south has worsened the humanitarian situation, with starving people scrambling for food and water, grabbing them from aid trucks in desperation. Israel on Sunday said it will reopen the Karem Abu Salem Crossing in the east but it is unclear whether supplies have crossed through there yet. The United Nations estimates that 1.9 million people – about 80 percent of Gaza’s population – have been displaced by the war. “I would not be surprised if people start dying of hunger, or a combination of hunger, disease, weak immunity,” said Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. Adblock test (Why?)
Serbia’s ruling SNS ahead in snap election, exit polls show
Ruling populists claim sweeping victory in the parliamentary election, which was marred by reports of significant irregularities. Exit polls say the ruling right-wing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of President Aleksandar Vucic is in the lead in a snap parliamentary election widely regarded as a referendum on his government. According to projections by the pollsters Ipsos and CeSID on Sunday evening, the SNS won 47 percent of the vote and is expected to hold about 130 seats in the 250-member assembly. The main opposition Serbia Against Violence (SPN) alliance, a centrist coalition vying to unseat the populists who have ruled the Balkan state since 2012, won about 23 percent of votes, said the projections. The projections are based on a partial count of a representative sample of polling stations. Official results are set to be announced late on Monday. Serbs cast their vote at a polling station in the town of Raca [Valdrin Xhemaj/Reuters] The election did not include the presidency but governing authorities backed by the dominant pro-government media have run the campaign as a referendum on Vucic. Two mass shootings in May, resulting in 18 deaths, including nine elementary school students, led to protests that shook Vucic and the SNS’s decade-long grip on power. The discontent was made worse by rising inflation, which hit 8 percent in November. Opposition parties and rights watchdogs also accuse Vucic and the SNS of bribing voters, stifling media freedom, violence against opponents, corruption and ties with organised crime. Vucic and his allies deny the allegations. “My job was to do everything in my power to secure an absolute majority in the parliament,” Vucic told reporters on Sunday as he celebrated what he said was the SNS’s victory. Allegations of irregularities The elections were marred by reports of major irregularities, both during a tense campaign and on the voting day. CeSID and Ipsos, which jointly monitored Sunday’s vote, reported irregularities including organised arrivals of voters at polling stations, photographing of ballots and procedural errors. The state Election Commission said election monitors from the Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA) watchdog were attacked in northern Serbia. “There were a lot of irregularities,” said opposition leader Radomir Lazovic, citing alleged “vote buying” and “falsification of signatures”. “We may have had the dirtiest electoral process,” he added. Posts on social media also fuelled rumours that the government was allowing unregistered voters from neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina to cast ballots illegally in the election. Prime Minister Ana Brnabic dismissed the claims, accusing the reports of spreading chaos. Adblock test (Why?)
Will Israel reach a deal on captives with Hamas?
Netanyahu insists the war on Gaza will continue – despite growing anger over the Israeli army’s killing of three captives. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has again declared its military campaign in Gaza will not stop until Hamas is defeated. But with more than 100 Israeli captives being held in Gaza, he is facing growing public anger – and pressure to do more to secure their release. To make matters worse, Israel’s army says it mistakenly killed three of them – one was holding a white flag – during a military offensive in the strip. That has led to thousands of Israelis protesting in Tel Aviv. The head of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad has now met senior Qataris in Europe in another attempt to secure a prisoner swap. So, can Netanyahu agree on a deal after failing to secure the release of all the captives? And how is he dealing with their families’ anger? Presenter: Folly Bah Thibault Guests Alon Liel – Former Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and adviser to the families of the Israeli captives Yossi Mekelberg – Associate fellow of the MENA Programme at Chatham House Sultan Barakat – Professor of Public Policy at Hamad bin Khalifa University Adblock test (Why?)
Thousands flee as war reaches Sudan’s second-largest city
Thousands of displaced people have fled the formerly safe city of Wad Madani in Sudan, as the war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) reaches the city. Paramilitary forces established a base in the east of Sudan’s second-largest city and the capital of al-Jazirah state, the AFP news agency reported on Sunday, forcing thousands of already displaced people to escape. The RSF attack has opened a new front in the eight-month-old war, in what had previously been “one of Sudan’s few remaining sanctuaries”, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) Sudan director William Carter. Crowds of people – many of whom had taken refuge in the city from violence in the capital Khartoum – were seen packing up belongings and leaving on foot in videos posted on social media. “The war has followed us to Madani so I am looking for a bus so me and my family can flee,” 45-year-old Ahmed Salih told the Reuters news agency by phone. “We are living in hell and there is no one to help us,” he said, adding that he planned to head south to Sennar. People displaced by the conflict in Sudan get on top of the back of a truck moving along a road in Wad Madani, the capital of al-Jazirah state, on December 16, 2023 [AFP] Sudan’s army, which has held the city since the start of the conflict, launched air strikes on RSF forces as it tried to push back the assault that started on Friday, witnesses told Reuters. The RSF responded with artillery and RSF reinforcements were seen moving in the direction of the fighting, the witnesses added. RSF soldiers have also been seen in villages to the north and west of the city in recent days and weeks, residents said. Sudan spiralled into war after soaring tensions between army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo exploded into open fighting in mid-April. The war broke out due to disagreements over plans for a political transition and the integration of the RSF into the army, four years after former ruler Omar al-Bashir was deposed in an uprising. More than 12,000 people have been killed, according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict and Event Data Project, while the United Nations says nearly 6.8 million have been forced to flee their homes. The UN on Sunday said 14,000 people have fled Wad Madani so far, and a few thousand had already reached other cities. Half a million people had sought refuge in al-Jazirah, mainly from Khartoum. Wad Madani alone houses more than 86,000 displaced people, according to the UN, which has suspended all humanitarian field missions in al-Jazirah state. More than 270,000 of the city’s 700,000 residents had been dependent on humanitarian aid, the UN said. The United States Ambassador John Godfrey urged the RSF to “cease their advance” on al-Jazirah state. “A continued RSF advance risks mass civilian casualties and significant disruption of humanitarian assistance efforts,” Godfrey said in a statement on Sunday. ‘Nowhere to hide from violence’ Families scrambled on Sunday to once again flee to safety but found bus tickets had quadrupled to $60 a head, and many had nowhere to go. “A continuous flow of people, many of them who already ran for their lives just a few months ago, are now rushing towards already heavily burdened and resource-depleted cities in neighbouring states,” the NRC’s Carter said. “We are also extremely worried for highly vulnerable families in Wad Madani who have been crammed into displacement sites in schools for months and have nowhere to hide from violence, no means to escape and nowhere else to flee,” Carter added. Sudan’s doctors’ union said on Sunday the situation in the city has become “catastrophic” after pharmacies were forced shut. The army and RSF last week cast doubt on an East African mediation initiative aimed at ending a war that has triggered the largest internal displacement in the world and warnings of famine-like conditions. In Khartoum and cities in Darfur that the RSF has already taken, residents have reported rapes, looting and arbitrary killing and detention. The group is also accused of ethnic killings in West Darfur. The RSF has denied those accusations and said anyone in its forces found to be involved in such crimes would be held accountable. Adblock test (Why?)
Starving Palestinians loot aid trucks as desperation mounts in Gaza’s Rafah
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to worsen after more than two months of Israeli bombing and forced displacement of people to the enclave’s south. On Sunday, hungry and desperate Palestinians were seen jumping onto aid trucks in order to get food and other supplies in Gaza’s Rafah area near the border with Egypt. Dozens of Palestinians surrounded the aid trucks after they drove in through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, forcing some to stop before climbing aboard, pulling food and water boxes down, and carrying them off or passing them off to crowds below. Some trucks appeared to be guarded by masked people carrying sticks. “The humanitarian situation has become very desperate, not only for the residents of Rafah city but also for the one million displaced Palestinians here who are becoming hungry, thirsty and traumatised as the war pounds on,” said Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah. Mahmoud said the amount of aid being allowed inside the strip is not enough and has forced the Palestinians into a “survival mode”. “People are without anything – without a home, without access to food, without water and without medical supplies,” he said. “So, the scenes at Rafah crossing are a natural response: When people starve to death, when they are hungry, this is what we will see happening.” ‘Desperate for food’ The United Nations this week warned that people in Gaza are so “desperate for food” that they are stopping aid trucks and immediately eating what they find. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA who visited the strip recently, said the residents, despite their long and difficult history of suffering under Israeli siege, have “never, ever experienced” hunger of this kind. “I saw it with my eyes that people in Rafah have started to decide to help themselves directly from the truck out of total despair and eat what they have taken out of the truck on the spot,” Lazzarini said on Thursday. Palestinians loot a humanitarian aid truck in Rafah on Sunday [Fatima Shbair/AP Photo] On the same day, Carl Skau, the deputy head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), confirmed that nearly half of the people in Gaza are starving, with no idea where their next meal is coming from. The WFP said half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million is starving as the Israeli military’s assault on the southern part of the enclave expands and people are cut off from supplies. Drone footage from southern Gaza on Sunday showed volunteers from the Gaza Emergency Relief prepare a giant stew. Aid deliveries crossing into Gaza via Rafah, the sole entry point on the Egyptian border, are only a fraction of pre-conflict levels, despite the surge in needs. Aid coming through the border crossing has been slow to deliver what the Gaza Strip population needs because of delays from truck inspections. Rafah is sheltering more than 12,000 people per square kilometre, housing an estimated 85 percent of people displaced across Gaza since the attacks began on October 7. That day, Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing some 1,140 people and taking another 240 captives. Israel’s bombardment has since killed 18,787 people and injured another 50,897, while thousands are believed to be buried under the rubble. Despite thousands sheltering at the crossing, Rafah continues to be the target of Israeli air strikes. A massive explosion took place overnight in the Geneina district of Rafah, with two people killed and residential homes targeted and destroyed, said Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud. “A large number of injured have been brought to the Kuwaiti hospital here,” he said. “We are talking about more than 50 people injured.” Adblock test (Why?)
South Korea says North fired short-range ballistic missile into sea
The launch came as Pyongyang marks the anniversary of the death of leader Kim Jong Un’s father and predecessor Kim Jong Il. South Korea has accused the North of firing a short-range ballistic missile amid tensions in the peninsula. Sunday’s launch came as North Korea condemned the United States-led military’s shows of force, including the arrival of a submarine in South Korea as tantamount to “a preview of a nuclear war”. The missile was launched from the Pyongyang area towards the East Sea at around 10:38pm (13:38 GMT) on Sunday and flew about 570km (354 miles) before falling into the ocean, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan. The launch followed warnings from officials in Seoul and Tokyo that nuclear-armed North Korea was preparing to test-fire a missile, including one of its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) this month. Japan’s Ministry of Defence also said North Korea launched “what appears to be a ballistic missile”, with its coastguard adding that it seemed to have already fallen. South Korean and Japanese naval ships conduct missile defence drills with the US Navy in the Sea of Japan [File: Samantha Oblander/US Navy/Handout via Reuters] JCS said Seoul, Washington and Tokyo have “closely shared information regarding North Korea’s ballistic missile”, which was launched two days after the US and South Korea held their second session of the Nuclear Consultative Group in Washington on Friday, where they discussed nuclear deterrence in the event of conflict with the North. A spokesperson for the North’s Defence Ministry on Sunday slammed the allies’ plans to expand a key annual joint military drill next year to include a nuclear operation drill and warned of “a preemptive and deadly counteraction”. “This is an open declaration on nuclear confrontation to make the use of nuclear weapons against the DPRK a fait accompli,” the statement carried by the KCNA news agency said, using the official acronym for North Korea. “Any attempt to use armed forces against the DPRK will face a preemptive and deadly counteraction.” All of North Korea’s ballistic missile activities are banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions, though Pyongyang defends them as its sovereign right to self-defence. The missile launch also came as Pyongyang marks the anniversary of the death of leader Kim Jong Un’s father and predecessor Kim Jong Il, who died on December 17, 2011. North Korea last year declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power and has repeatedly said it will never give up its nuclear programme, which the regime views as essential for its survival. Last month, Pyongyang successfully put a military spy satellite into orbit. It has since claimed its eye in the sky was already providing images of major US and South Korean military sites. The UN Security Council has adopted many resolutions calling on North Korea to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes since it first conducted a nuclear test in 2006. Washington and its allies have also expressed concerns about a potential arms alignment between North Korea and Russia. They worry that Kim is providing badly needed munitions to help Russian President Vladimir Putin wage the war in Ukraine in exchange for Russian technology assistance to upgrade his nuclear-armed military. Adblock test (Why?)