According to a statement from their families, two British volunteers who had been reported missing in eastern Ukraine were killed while attempting to evacuate aid workers from Soledar.
Early this month, 48-year-old Andrew Bagshaw and 28-year-old Christopher Parry vanished while travelling to Soledar, a salt mining town where Russian and Ukrainian forces were engaged in a fierce battle for control.
Both men’s deaths were confirmed by Parry’s family in a statement issued by the British Foreign Office.
“It is with great sadness we have to announce that our beloved Chrissy has been killed along with his colleague Andrew Bagshaw whilst attempting a humanitarian evacuation from Soledar, eastern Ukraine,” said the statement, which was released on Tuesday.
Ukrainian police said on January 9 that they had lost contact with Bagshaw and Perry after the two men left Kramatorsk for Soledar on January 6.
Sky News reported Bagshaw’s family as saying the two men were killed while trying to rescue an elderly woman.
The statement gave no details on the circumstances of the men’s deaths, adding that Parry “found himself drawn to Ukraine in March in its darkest hour at the start of the Russian invasion and helped those most in need, saving over 400 lives plus many abandoned animals”.
Former US Vice-President Mike Pence’s home has been found tocontain classified documents, marking the latest instance of top-level government officials’ homes being found to contain classified documents.
The documents, which were found by Mr. Pence’s attorney last week at his Indiana home, have been given to the FBI.
Investigators are already looking into the possession of documents by Vice President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Because of alleged paper handling violations, Mr. Trump is under criminal investigation.
Representatives for Mr. Pence informed the National Archives of the documents in a letter.
The FBI came to the former vice-president’s home to collect the documents, bypassing “standard procedures” and requesting “direct possession” of them, lawyers added in a separate letter.
Under the Presidential Records Act, White House records are supposed to go to the National Archives once an administration ends. Regulations require such files to be stored securely.
A “small number of documents bearing classified markings” were “inadvertently boxed and transported” to Mr Pence’s home at the end of Mr Trump’s presidency, his lawyer wrote in a letter shared with US media.
The latest development emerged after Mr Pence sought legal help from specialists in handling classified documents “out of an abundance of caution”.
He asked for help “after it became public that documents with classified markings were found in President Joe Biden’s Wilmington residence”, the letter read.
Lawyers found “a small number of documents that could potentially contain sensitive or classified information”, which were locked by the former vice-president in a safe.
An aide to Mr Pence told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that the documents were stored in boxes in an insecure area of Mr Pence’s home. The aide said they were taped shut.
According to US media, the documents are believed to have first been taken to Mr Pence’s home in Virginia before later being sent to Indiana.
After the letter became public, Mr Trump came to Mr Pence’s defence, taking to his Truth Social social media platform to say that he is “an innocent man”.
“He never did anything knowingly dishonest in his life,” Mr Trump wrote. “Leave him alone!!!”
Mr Pence had repeatedly said over the last months that he did not believe he was in possession of classified documents.
Earlier this month, he told CBS that he was confident reviews of documents in his home were done “in a thorough and careful way”.
President has no regrets about classified documents
Mr Biden previously said he had “no regrets” about not going public before the midterm elections with the news that classified documents had been discovered in his private office.
Six more classified files were found during a 13-hour search of President Biden’s home in Delaware on Friday, his lawyer Bob Bauer said in a statement on Saturday.
The documents unearthed so far are believed to be related to Mr Biden’s eight-year tenure as vice-president under former President Barack Obama.
Mr Biden offered access “to his home to allow DoJ [the Department of Justice] to conduct a search of the entire premises for potential vice-presidential records and potential classified material,” Mr Bauer added.
Earlier this month, Mr Biden’s lawyers said a first batch of classified documents had been found on 2 November at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank that the president founded in Washington DC.
A second batch of records was found on 20 December in the garage at his Wilmington home, while another document was found in a storage space at the house on 12 January, his lawyers said.
Representatives for former Presidents Obama and George W Bush told Reuters on Tuesday that their administrations had turned over all documents to the National Archives after leaving office.
Hundred of classified records were found at Mr Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago residence – Mr Trump and his lawyers resisted handing over the documents until the FBI raided the Florida holiday home last August.
He denied any wrongdoing, alleging that President Biden was being treated more favourably by the FBI.
Document discovery timeline
2 November 2022 – First batch of classified documents found at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank that President Joe Biden founded in Washington DC
20 December – Second batch of records found in the garage of Joe Biden’s Wilmington home
12 January – Document found in a storage space at Mr Biden’s Wilmington home
19 January – FBI agents come to Mike Pence’s Indiana home to collect files
20 January – Department of Justice investigators discover six more classified documents during a 13-hour search of Biden’s home in Delaware.
Two documentaries, All That Breathes and The Elephant Whisperers, as well as the catchy Naatu Naatu song, make the cut.
Getting three nominations for the 2023 Oscars, including one for the best original song and two for documentaries, is a big deal for Indian cinema.
The three-hour Telugu epic RRR’s catchy musical number Naatu Naatu was included in the nominations revealed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Tuesday.
The nomination serves as an additional boost for the song, which earlier this month also took home the Golden Globe for best song, marking the first time an Indian film had won an honour at the ceremony.
“I feel like I’m on top of the world. This is the best feeling,” said music director M M Keeravaani, who added that he was not surprised with the nomination because he was “very confident in his work”.
Despite not being submitted as India’s official Oscars pick, RRR, an unapologetically over-the-top action flick, has built grassroots support to become a hugely popular favourite in Hollywood in recent months.
Its fans include Avatar director James Cameron, who was seen praising Rajamouli in a recent video that went viral on social media, prompting hopes of a best picture Oscar nomination.
The film India instead submitted for best international feature, Gujarati-language Chhello Show (Last Film Show) by filmmaker Pan Nalin, failed to land a nomination.
“No shade to the movie they did choose, which is actually very good, but RRR was a slam dunk,” Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis said.
Two Indian-made documentaries also made it to the Oscars nominations: All That Breathes for the best documentary feature film and The Elephant Whisperers for the best documentary short.
All That Breathes, a story of two brothers trying to protect Delhi’s black kites, is only the second Indian-made documentary to be nominated in the long documentary format after Writing With Fire in 2021.
Shaunak Sen told India’s NDTV broadcaster it took his team three years to make the documentary, which he called an “ecological, emotional and sociopolitical history” of the older quarters of the city.
The 92-minute documentary, co-directed by Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer, has also been nominated for the prestigious BAFTA awards.
The Elephant Whisperers, by filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves, depicts the caretakers of abandoned elephants in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state.
The mostly Tamil-language film follows Bomman and Bellie, members of an Indigenous tribe, treating two elephants Raghu and Ammu as their own children, “bringing to their jobs an intuitive understanding of the forest and its irreplaceable riches”, the film suggests.
“How on earth will Oscar voters find the strength to resist a documentary about two adorable baby elephants and their equally lovable elderly caretakers? Indeed, it will take a pachyderm’s hide – and a heart of stone – to ignore a 41-minute montage of ‘awwww’,” a piece in India’s Scroll.in website said.
We will know on March 12 when the Oscar awards ceremony will be held in Los Angeles.
In relation to the downing of Flight MH17 in 2014, the European Court of Human Rights is about to say whether it will hear a Dutch case against Russia.
Russian misinformation regarding Moscow’s part in the incident, according to the Dutch government, violates the human rights of the relatives.
The accusations are rejected by Russia.
The decision will be read out at 14:30 local time (13:30 GMT).
The Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was hit by a surface-to-air missile in July 2014 during a conflict between pro-Russia rebels and Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region of Ukraine.
The Netherlands argues that Russia played a key role in the air disaster and the case hinges on whether or not Moscow had “effective control” over the area of Ukraine where the missile was fired from.
At this stage, the ECHR will only rule on whether the criteria has been met for it to deal with this application.
Even if it decides to hear the Dutch case, it could be years before a ruling is issued. However, if the ECHR issues a guilty verdict against Russia, Moscow could be obliged to pay damages to the victims’ relatives.
Last September, Russia stopped being party to the European Convention on Human Rights, but the court can still deal with claims against Russia regarding actions up until that date.
In November, a Dutch court at the Schiphol Judicial Complex found three men – two Russians and a Ukrainian – guilty of murder in absentia for their part in the downing of MH17.
The court concluded that the missile had been fired deliberately to bring down a plane, even if the target had been military rather than civilian.
The three men were sentenced to life in jail but are all thought to be in Russia.
Since Moscow condemned the verdict as scandalous and politically motivated it is extremely unlikely that they will be handed over to face justice.
Russia has repeatedly denied involvement in the attack.
We are acting in a closely coordinated manner internationally.”
The goal is to establish two battalions with Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine quickly, the statement said, adding Germany would first step in and provide 14 Leopard 2 tanks from military stocks.
Training of Ukrainian troops in Germany will begin soon, and Germany will also provide logistics and ammunition.
Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki in a tweet expressed gratitude to the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his decision to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
“Thank you @Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz,” Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Twitter.
“The decision to send Leopards to Ukraine is a big step towards stopping Russia.”
Students at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) claimed administrators stopped the screening on Tuesday night by turning off the electricity and internet.
Officials from the university have not yet responded to the allegation.
According to India, the BBC documentary is “propaganda” and lacks objectivity.
It has invoked emergency laws to block the documentary on YouTube and Twitter.
The JNU administration had earlier asked the students’ union not to hold the screening, as it could “disturb the peace and harmony of the university campus”.
Although the power cut prevented the public screening, student leaders distributed QR codes to people and asked them to stream the video on their laptops and phones.
There was a heavy police presence on campus. A BBC Hindi reporter who was there said while students were watching the documentary, stones were thrown at them by “a group of 20-30 people”. Students say they have filed a police complaint.
The first episode of India: The Modi Question – a two-part series – aired in the UK on 17 January. The second part was broadcast on Tuesday.
India’s foreign ministry has criticised the documentary, calling it “a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative”.
The BBC said the series examines “the tensions between India’s Hindu majority and Muslim minority and explores the politics of Mr Modi in relation to those tensions”. In a statement it added that the Indian government was offered a right to reply, but had declined.
Image caption,The 2002 riots began after a fire on a passenger train in Godhra town killed 60 Hindu pilgrims
The first episode of the documentary tracked Mr Modi’s first steps into politics, from his rise through the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to his appointment as chief minister of the western state of Gujarat.
It highlighted a previously unpublished report, obtained by the BBC from the British Foreign Office, which raises questions about Mr Modi’s actions during the religious riots that broke out in Gujarat in 2002 after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was set on fire, killing dozens. More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in the violence, one of the worst since Independence.
The report claims that Mr Modi was “directly responsible” for the “climate of impunity” that enabled the violence.
Mr Modi has long rejected accusations that he had any responsibility for the violence and has not apologised for the riots. In 2013, a Supreme Court panel ruled there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.
Although the documentary was not aired in India, several opposition leaders and government critics shared links to it on social media.
Twitter confirmed to the BBC that it had blocked 50 tweets based on a request by India’s ministry of information and broadcasting on 20 January under the country’s information technology law.
A YouTube spokesperson said the video had been “blocked from appearing by the BBC due to a copyright claim”. A BBC spokesperson said: “As is standard practice, we follow procedure to have illegal uploads of any BBC content removed.”
The JNU students’ union has said it will hold another screening of the documentary. Several other organisations have also held screenings or announced plans to do so.
Pope Francis has called homosexuality laws “unjust,” saying God loves his children exactly as they are, and has urged Catholic bishops who support the laws towelcome LGBTQ people into the church.
“Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” Francis said during an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday.
He acknowledged Catholic bishops in some parts of the world support laws criminalising homosexuality or discriminate against the LGBTQ community – and referred to the issue in terms of “sin”.
But he attributed such attitudes to cultural backgrounds and said bishops in particular need to undergo a process of change to recognise the dignity of everyone.
“These bishops have to have a process of conversion,” he said, adding that they should apply “tenderness, please, as God has for each one of us”
Some 67 countries or jurisdictions worldwide criminalise consensual same-sex sexual activity, 11 of which can or do impose the death penalty, according to The Human Dignity Trust, which works to end such laws.
Experts say even where the laws are not enforced, they contribute to harassment, stigmatisation and violence against LGBTQ people.
In the US, more than a dozen states still have anti-sodomy laws on the books despite a 2003 Supreme Court ruling declaring them unconstitutional.
Gay rights advocates say the antiquated laws are used to harass homosexuals, and point to new legislation, such as the so-called “don’t say gay” law in Florida, which forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity from nurseries through to school year four, as evidence of continued efforts to marginalise LGBTQ people.
The United Nations (UN) has repeatedly called for an end to laws criminalising homosexuality outright, saying they violate rights to privacy and freedom from discrimination and are a breach of countries’ obligations under international law to protect the human rights of all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Being homosexual is not a crime. It’s not a crime. Yes, but it’s a sin. Fine, but first let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime. It’s also a sin to lack charity with one another.
Declaring such laws “unjust”, Francis said the Catholic Church can and should work to put an end to them.
“It must do this. It must do this,” he said.
Francis quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church in saying gays must be welcomed and respected and should not be marginalised or discriminated against.
“We are all children of God and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity,” Francis said, speaking from the Vatican hotel where he lives.
Such laws are common in Africa and the Middle East and date from British colonial times or are inspired by Islamic law.
Some Catholic bishops have strongly upheld them as consistent with Vatican teaching that considers homosexual activity “intrinsically disordered”, while others have called for them to be overturned as a violation of basic human dignity.
Rolando Jimenez, leader of a Chilean gay rights organisation, holds a flaming Vatican flag during a protest by gay activists against the Roman Catholic Church’s rejection of same-sex marriages, in front of a cathedral in Santiago, Chile, in 2003 (Santiago Llanquin/AP)
In 2019, Francis had been expected to issue a statement opposing criminalisation of homosexuality during a meeting with human rights groups that conducted research into the effects of such laws and so-called “conversion therapies”.
In the end, the pope did not meet with the groups, which instead met with the Vatican number two, who reaffirmed “the dignity of every human person and against every form of violence”.
On Tuesday, Francis said there needs to be a distinction between a crime and a sin with regard to homosexuality.
“Being homosexual is not a crime,” he said.
“It’s not a crime. Yes, but it’s a sin. Fine, but first let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.”
“It’s also a sin to lack charity with one another,” he added.
Pope Francis ponders a question during the interview (Andrew Medichini/AP)
Catholic teaching holds that while gay people must be treated with respect, homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered”.
Francis has not changed that teaching but he has made reaching out to the LGBTQ community a hallmark of his papacy.
Starting with his famous 2013 declaration, “Who am I to judge?” when asked about a purportedly gay priest, Francis has gone on to minister repeatedly and publicly to the gay and trans community.
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, he favoured granting legal protections to same-sex couples as an alternative to endorsing gay marriage, which Catholic doctrine forbids.
Despite such outreach, Francis was criticised by the Catholic LGBTQ community for a 2021 decree from the Vatican’s doctrine office that the church cannot bless same-sex unions “because God cannot bless sin”.
The Vatican in 2008 declined to sign onto a UN declaration that called for the decriminalisation of homosexuality, complaining the text went beyond the original scope and also included language about “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” it found problematic.
Authorities in North Korea have issued warnings about severe weather as a cold wave sweeps the Korean peninsula.
The poorest region of the country, the northern regions, are expected to experience temperatures below -30C, according to the state radio broadcaster.
High winds are also anticipated for coastal areas, according to state media.
Additionally, a cold wave warning has been issued for South Korea, and record-low temperatures have been recorded in northern China.
Temperatures are also expected to drop to their lowest in a decade in Japan this week.
While North Korea has been affected by extreme or adverse weather much like other places, little is known about the impact of this on its people.
Ryanggang, North Hamgyong and South Hamgyong, the country’s poorest provinces and those expected to be most vulnerable to climate shocks, are all located in the north.
Electricity is uncommon outside the capital Pyongyang, and households in these places reportedly burn wood, and dried plants for warmth during the winter, NK News has reported. It also says many merely use plastic wrap around their doors and windows for insulation.
Radio Free Asia reported in December that “large numbers” of people in the country had gone missing late last year during another extremely cold spell – many are thought to have either starved or frozen to death, as the mercury dipped below freezing and food became scarce.
Food insecurity in North Korea is said to be at its worst since a widespread famine in the 1990s, according to Lucas Rengifo-Keller, a research analyst at Peterson Institute for International Economics in the US.
In 2019, North Korea said it was suffering its worst drought in nearly four decades. This comes after the UN said that up to 10 million North Koreans were “in urgent need of food assistance,” reporting that the people had been surviving on just 300 g (10.5 oz) of food a day that year.
In 2020, North Korea was struck by five major typhoons, which caused major structural damage to buildings, roads, factories and water systems and displaced thousands of citizens.
Scientists say extreme weather, including cold waves, is becoming more common because of climate change.
Tuesday’s cold wave alerts come as Pyongyang prepares to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Korean People’s Army next week.
Elon Musk testified in court that, at the time he sent out the contentious tweet, he thought he had the support necessary to take Tesla private.
After investors claimed the 2018 tweet cost them millions of dollars when a deal fell through, the CEO of the electric car company is currently on trial.
According to Mr. Musk, a Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund told him they would support a deal during their meeting.
He added that if he needed money, he would have sold his shares in the rocket company SpaceX.
Mr Musk is accused of defrauding investors after he tweeted on 7 August 2018 that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 per share, and that “investor support is confirmed”.
Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.
The tweet sent shares in Tesla soaring, but weeks later they fell back when Mr Musk said the plan was no longer going ahead, causing a significant backlash for the billionaire.
He was forced by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US regulator, to step down as Tesla’s chairman and had to have any tweets related to Tesla vetted by an independent committee.
He and Tesla were also fined $20m each to settle a claim by the SEC that he had committed securities fraud.
On Monday, Mr Musk told a court in San Francisco that he had met with people from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund on 31 July, 2018.
He said that while a price for taking Tesla private was not discussed, he claimed that the representatives from the fund made it clear they backed a deal.
Mr Musk claimed Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the fund’s governor, then appeared to backpedal on the pledge.
“I was very upset because he had been unequivocal in his support for taking Tesla private when we met and now he appeared to be backpedaling,” he said.
‘Not a joke’
Mr Musk was also questioned about how he decided on a price of $420 a share and whether it was a reference to marijuana.
But, according to the SEC’s legal documents: “He rounded the price up to $420 because he had recently learned about the number’s significance in marijuana culture and thought his girlfriend ‘would find it funny, which admittedly is not a great reason to pick a price’.”
In American counterculture, 20 April is a day when thousands of people gather to celebrate marijuana. In the US, dates are written with number of the month first, then the day – in this case 4/20.
In court, Mr Musk said: “420 was not chosen because of a joke; it was chosen because there was a 20% premium over the stock price.
He added that there was “some karma around 420”, though “I should question whether that is good or bad karma at this point.”
Fernandez, the president of Argentina, and Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, are considering the possibility of a common currency.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, has arrived in Argentina for a summit where the two countries will collaborate to strengthen their trade relations.
Lula’s arrival on Monday followed the publication of a joint article by him and Alberto Fernandez, in which they stated that studies on a common South American currency were part of their goal for greater economic integration.
Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad downplayed the idea of Argentina and Brazil adopting a single common currency, saying late on Sunday that the nations were looking at ways to promote bilateral trade without eradicating their respective national currencies.
Haddad, who had floated the possibility of a common currency in an article last year, said removing trade barriers between the two largest economies in South America could involve using a single currency for commerce, given a lack of United States dollars in Argentina. But that does not spell the end of the Brazilian real, he said.
“Trade is really bad and the problem is precisely the foreign currency, right? So we are trying to find a solution, something in common that could make commerce grow,” Haddad told reporters as he arrived in Buenos Aires.
Haddad said Argentina’s trade with Brazil had suffered due to a lack of dollars in the southern neighbour, where an economic crisis has left the government battling to replenish foreign currency reserves, with an inflation rate of nearly 100 percent last year.
Haddad noted Argentina was an important buyer of Brazilian industrial goods and that “several possibilities” were being floated to circumvent its currency problems, though no decision had been made.
Asked if he could provide further details on the currency issue, Haddad confirmed he would clear the matter up in the coming days, “especially because some people are saying the real will end”
Brazil is Argentina’s largest trade partner, according to official figures published last week by the INDEC national statistics institute.
Brazil is the top destination for Argentine exports, amounting to 14.3 percent and $12.7bn in 2022.
Close to 20 percent of Argentina’s imports are from Brazil, worth just over $16bn last year.
“Argentina is the most important country in our diplomatic relations,” Feliciano de Sa Guimaraes, academic director for the Brazilian Center for Diplomatic Relations, told AFP.
Likewise, Fernandez’s government “depends a lot on Brazil”, not least in its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with whom Argentina has a $44bn debt.
Earlier on Sunday, Lula and Fernandez said in an article published on the Argentine website Perfil that they would “advance discussions on a common South American currency that can be used for both financial and commercial flows”.
The Financial Times had previously reported, citing Argentina’s Economy Minister Sergio Massa, that the neighbouring nations would announce this week they were starting preparatory work on a common currency.
Brazil and Argentina will sign a bilateral agreement creating a guarantee fund to stimulate Brazilian exports, a Brazilian government source told the Reuters news agency on Monday, as officials from both governments meet for a summit in Buenos Aires.
Under the deal, Argentina will have to provide a collateral guarantee for Brazil’s trade financing with international liquidity, the source said, adding that the two largest economies in South America will also establish a working group to study creating a single clearing account in the continent, Reuters reported.
The nation’s equality council issues a warning about the prevalence of sexual violence, noting that younger generations are the most vulnerable.
In its annual report, an equality watchdog established by the government claims that five years after the #MeToo movement began, French society “remains very sexist in all of its spheres.”
A national “emergency plan” was demanded on Monday by the High Council for Equality between Women and Men in order to combat “the massive, violent, and sometimes lethal consequences” of sexism. The council also raised concerns about the high rates of sexual violence that women report.
One-third of women who responded to a survey the council had commissioned said their partners had pressured them into having sex they did not want to have.
About one in seven respondents said men had forced sex on them, and a similar number reported having been hit and shoved by their partners, the council said.
Sylvie Pierre-Brossolette, the council’s president, expressed particular concern about sexism among younger men who had “bathed in social media, digital [technology], pornography”.
She said sexism must be ”fought from the youngest of ages”.
The council will present its findings to French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday.
“Young people in particular are brought up digitally on these scenes of mundane violence, of relations between men and women that are completely of domination and dominated and that has impregnated society,” Pierre-Brossolette said, speaking to the broadcaster France Inter.
“Uprooting sexism is very hard,” she said.
The council found that at least80 percent of women believe they are treated worse than men on account of their sex.
It said the number and severity of these incidents were rising in the public, professional, private and digital spheres. It saw a paradox in public opinion, which recognised the existence of sexism but did not reject it in practice.
Among men aged 25 to 34, almost a quarter said they sometimes feel compelled to use force to be respected.
Across all age groups, 40 percent of men thought it was normal for women to stop working to look after children.
Progress in some areas
The council proposed a 10-point plan of action, which includes tougher regulation of online content.
Other suggestions included making training against sexism obligatory in workplaces and banning adverts that suggest some children’s toys are for boys and others for girls.
While the findings seemed grim, France has made significant progress in some areas.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne is only its second woman to hold the post, and parliament’s lower house also installed its first female president, Yael Braun-Pivet, in June.
Macron’s government has increased police resources against domestic violence and offered free birth control to all women up to age 25.
Politicians are also working to constitutionally guaranteeFrance’s abortion rights with a bill intended to prevent any of the rollbacks in reproductive rights seen elsewhere, including in the United States.
Still, the equality council described the overall situation for women in France as “alarming”.
“Sexism is not retreating in France,” the council’s report said. “On the contrary, some of its most violent manifestations are getting worse, and the young generations are the most affected.”
Gambia bids farewell to Vice-President Alieu Badara Joof at the country’s parliament after his death last week at the age of 66.
He passed away while receiving treatment in India for an undisclosed illness.
Joof had only been Adama Barrow’s vice-president for nine months.
Thousands of mourners, including the president, attended the funeral to pay their respects to a man who was described as “modest and blunt.”
Mr Barrow remembered one of the late vice-president’s controversial statements and quoting him as saying: “You cannot make omelette without breaking the eggs. I will talk to the truth, if you want, let the president get me out. But I will say it as it is and I have been saying as it is in the cabinet.”
A rights organisation has warned that Andrey Medvedev, who is requesting asylum in the Nordic country,be sent back to Russia.
A former Wagner Group fighter who recently fled to Norway in search of asylum has been detained.
Andrey Medvedev might be deported to Russia, according to Gulagu.net, a Russian rights organisation that assisted in his escape.
The 26-year-old was detained on suspicion of entering the country without proper documentation, according to Jon Andreas Johansen, a police official in charge of immigration matters, who spoke to the Associated Press on Monday.
“It is being assessed whether he should be produced for detention,” Johansen said.
Medvedev crossed into Norway from neighbouring Russia on January 13, looking for shelter in the Nordic nation.
He claims to have climbed through barbed-wire fences at the 198 kilometre-long (123-mile) frontier, and evaded border patrol officials with dogs.
After witnessing the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners brought to the front lines in Ukraine to fight for the Wagner Group, Medvedev feared for his life.
The shadowy paramilitary organisation is closely aligned with the Kremlin and has been heavily involved in Russia’s invasion.
‘He has seen the light’
Gulagu.net, which campaigns for prisoners’ rights and has been in contact with Medvedev since he fled, said he had been detained and handcuffed on Sunday evening and told he was being taken to a detention centre for subsequent deportation.
There was no confirmation from Norwegian authorities of any plan to deport him.
Gulagu.net said Medvedev would face “brutal murder and death” for speaking out against Wagner if he was returned to Russia.
“We do not whitewash Medvedev. He has done many bad things in his life,” the rights group said.
“But he has seen the light, he has realised this, he is ready and willing to cooperate with the world, with the international investigation and with the authorities of Norway, he wants to live and testify” against Wagner and its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, it added.
Medvedev is an orphan who joined the Russian army and served time in prison before joining the Wagner Group last July on a four-month contract.
He has reportedly told Gulagu.net that he is ready to expose everything he knows about the force of mercenary fighters, which Washington has said will be considered a criminal entity.
Airlines in Nigeria said on Monday that flights were being disrupted after ground staff began an indefinite strike to demand higher pay.
Air Peace, which has the biggest fleet in Nigeria, and smaller domestic carrier Dana Air said the strike by the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) was delaying flights and they hoped the issue would be quickly resolve.
“The strike has affected all operations of all airlines being handled by the company [NAHCO],” Air Peace said in a statement.
British Airways and Qatar Airways, among the foreign airlines frequently flying to Nigeria, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The National Union of Transport Employees and Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria issued a notice last week that its members would go on strike from Monday to press NAHCO for better pay.
Flight disruptions are common in Nigeria due to issues surrounding logistics, labour union strikes and fuel scarcity.
In May 2022, the Airline Operators of Nigeria, an umbrella organisation of domestic airlines, suspended flights for days saying the price of jet fuel had jumped from 190 to 700 Nigerian naira per litre (from $0.45 to almost $1.70). The rise was primarily caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.
Following Moscow’s announcement that it was demoting diplomatic relations with Estonia, Estonia and Latvia instructed theirRussian envoys to depart.
According to Latvia’s top diplomat, the country will sever diplomatic ties with Russia in support of its neighbour Estonia and as a result of Moscow’s ongoing conflict with Ukraine.
“Due to the ongoing brutal Russian aggression against Ukraine and in solidarity with Estonia, Latvia will lower level of diplomatic relations with Russia effective February 24, demanding Russia to act accordingly,” Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said on Twitter on Monday.
Earlier, Russia announced that it had downgraded diplomatic relations with Estonia and ordered its ambassador to leave, citing the Baltic nation’s “total Russophobia” following Tallinn’s recent decision to drastically reduce staff levels at the Russian embassy.
Moscow’s move on Monday marks the first time it has expelled an ambassador of an EU country since the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.
“The Russian side decided to downgrade the diplomatic representative in both countries to charge d’affaires ad interim,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “The ambassador of the Estonian Republic will have to leave the Russian Federation on February 7.”
Responding to Russia’s decision, Estonia on Monday said it would also expel the Russian ambassador from Tallinn in retaliation.
“We stand by the principle of parity in relations with Russia,” the Estonian ministry of foreign affairs said in a tweet.
#Estonia takes note of today’s decision by Russia to reduce diplomatic presence to the level of chargé d’affaires.
We stand by the principle of parity in relations with Russia, which means that the Russian Amb. will leave at the same time as the Estonian Amb. to Russia.
— Estonian MFA 🇪🇪 | 🌻 #StandWithUkraine (@MFAestonia) January 23, 2023
In a January 11 statement, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu outlined plans to ease relations with Russia “to the absolute minimum”.
“Now we are setting a limit to the number of Russian diplomats working in Estonia in order to achieve parity. Today’s step is in correlation with the low point of our relations in general,” he said, referring to ties that have been harmed by Moscow’s invasion.
Estonian Ambassador Margus Laidre was informed of the decision after being summoned to the foreign ministry in Moscow, the ministry said, as it accused Estonia of “purposefully destroying” relations with Moscow.
Russia slammed Estonia’s “total Russophobia” and the “the cultivation of hostility” by Tallinn to the “rank of state policy”.
Commenting on the downgrading of ties, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the Estonian government “got what it deserved”.
Estonia is a staunch ally of Ukraine and has called for Western countries to send tanks to Kyiv to counter Moscow’s offensive. In October, its parliament adopted a statement declaring Russia a “terrorist regime”.
The chief of EU foreign policy says that the bloc won’t classify the IRGC as a ‘terrorist’ organization for now.
The European Union will increase sanctions against Iranian officials thought to be involved in the nation’s ongoing crackdown on anti-government protesters, but it will hold off on designating Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist” group until after additional legal procedures are finished.
“Ministers adopted a new package of sanctions against Iran, targeting those driving the repression,” the EU Presidency said in a tweet on Monday. “The EU strongly condemns the brutal and disproportionate use of force by the Iranian authorities against peaceful protesters.”
The decision saw 37 additional Iranian officials and entities placed on the sanctions list.
However, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, had earlier told reporters that listing the IRGC could not happen until the designation had gone through a legal process first.
“It is something that cannot be decided without a court, a court decision first. You cannot say I consider you a terrorist because I don’t like you,” Borrell said.
In Iran, the government was adamant that any attempts to proscribe the IRGC were illegitimate.
“Based on the United Nations Charter and international law, blacklisting this state entity would constitute a clear violation of the Charter,” Nasser Kanani, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, said, touting the IRGC as an organisation that significantly contributes to the security of Iran and the region.
“Any violation of the IRGC would be a violation of Iran’s national security, and the repercussions would be directed at the violator,” Kanani added.
The European Parliament last week overwhelmingly voted for a resolution that called for the IRGC to be proscribed, in addition to the imposition of sanctions on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi, among others.
The resolution condemned Tehran’s response to the country’s protests, which began last September, the executions linked to the protests, and drone sales to Russia. It is not binding and needs to be approved by the European Council’s consensus mechanism before being enforced.
In response, Iran’s parliament on Sunday tabled legislation to designate European armed forces as “terrorists”, which would be put to a vote if the bloc moves forward with its proposal.
Speaking to state media on Sunday, foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian claimed that he was assured in phone calls with Borrell and his counterpart from Sweden, the current presidency of the bloc, that the EU would not push the proposal through.
Iran has also warned that blacklisting the IRGC in its entirety would mean the death of stalled talks to restore the country’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, with Amirabdollahian saying on Sunday that he could not rule out an exit from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if that happens.
The Iranian foreign minister also said on Monday that the United States has “constantly” sent messages in an effort to facilitate a return to the accord, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“The Americans found out sooner than the E3 [France, Germany and the United Kingdom] that there is nothing behind the riots in Iran. They sent a message sooner and insisted on returning to the JCPOA,” Amirabdollahian said, in line with Tehran’s repeated stance that the West has been behind the country’s unrest.
The foreign minister’s comments come as Washington continues to publicly maintain that the talks are currently not a priority.
The US unilaterally abandoned the JCPOA in 2018, imposing harsh sanctions. If restored, the deal would lift sanctions on Tehran while re-introducing strict limits on its nuclear programme.
Lithia Motors is in advanced talks to acquire one of the largest groups of luxury car dealerships in Britain according to Sky News.
One of the largest automotive retail groups in Britain, Jardine Motors, is being considered for acquisition by a major American auto dealer for about £300 million.
Sky News has learned that Lithia Motors, which has a market capitalization of more than $6.5 billion on the New York Stock Exchange, is close to concluding a deal to acquire its UK-based rival.
One insider issued a warning that a deal was still being discussed and might still fall through.
If successfully completed, it would see Jardine Motors being sold by Jardine Matheson Holdings, the historic Hong Kong-headquartered conglomerate.
Jardine Matheson owns assets including the Mandarin Oriental hotel chain and Hong Kong Land.
Sources said a takeover would give Lithia a substantial foothold in the UK, with access to luxury car brands including Ferrari and Maserati.
Lithia is committed to using the Jardine Motors business as a platform for growth, they added.
It would be the latest in a string of attempted deals in the sector, with Pendragon recently having ended talks about a takeover by its largest shareholder.
Lithia itself also tried to buy Pendragon last year.
Other big players in the sector include Lookers, while major online competitors such as Cazoo have suffered from the global sell-off in technology stocks.
Jardine Motors was acquired as a single East Anglia dealership by Jardine Matheson in the early 1990s.
Brands sold at its dealerships include Ferrari, Jaguar, McLaren and Porsche.
Responding to an enquiry from Sky News on Monday, a Lithia spokesman said: “Lithia has a stated desire to expand into the UK market and has held discussions with Jardine Matheson with a view to investing in Jardine Motors Group UK.
“Jardine Motors Group UK is one of the UK’s leading automotive retailers and Lithia firmly believes that a combination of the two businesses will help to deliver significant value for employees, partners and customers.
“Lithia views the potential acquisition of Jardine Motors as a platform for future growth in the UK and plans to invest in the business, working with Jardine Motors’ market-leading management team to build on the strong momentum the Group has generated in recent years.
“Discussions around a potential transaction are ongoing and a further update will be issued in due course.”
Jardine Motors has yet to reveal financial results for 2022, but saw revenues rise 19% in 2021, with an operating profit of £28m.
A Jardine Motors spokesman declined to comment.
It was unclear whether its London-listed parent company would also issue a statement confirming the talks.
Rothschild is advising Jardine on the talks, while Deloitte is advising Lithia.
Israel intends to use a corridor in the occupied West Bank near Khan al-Ahmar to connect its illegal settlements.
At least 180 people live in the Palestinian Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar, which is located on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem. Top Israeli politicians have threatened to forcibly evict this community.
After far-right politician and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir declared he would push forward with the village’s forcible removal, and after plans for a visit to the site by far-right ministers, including Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, emerged, the protest took place on Monday.
Politicians from Likud, the largest party in the Israeli parliament, eventually gathered nearby the village before dispersing.
Ben-Gvir on Saturday said the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will not hold Jews to one legal standard and Arabs to another” after an illegal Jewish settlement outpost in the northern occupied West Bank was cleared by Israeli forces.
However, Palestinians have decried what they argue is the false equivalency between Khan al-Ahmar and Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law.
“Since 1967, there have been military orders for demolishing homes, closed military zones and others, and then these areas are transformed into illegal settlements and nature reserves,” Eid Jahalin, who described himself as a spokesperson for the village, said at Monday’s protest.
“Our fate is to remain in this area,” Jahalin argued. “Whoever thinks that it is just Khan al-Ahmar – there are demolitions in the Jordan Valley, demolitions in Masafer Yatta, in Jerusalem city – it is something constantly happening across all of Palestine.”
The fate of Khan al-Ahmar has captured international attention for its years-long legal battle with Israeli authorities over its survival.
In September 2018, the Israeli Supreme Court greenlit the village’s removal, leaving it open to being demolished at any time, but demolition plans have been put on hold several times since then.
The government has until February 1 to explain to the Supreme Court why the village has not been demolished yet and to put forward a plan.
The Israeli government said the village was “built without a permit”, but authorities make it extremely difficult for Palestinians to obtain building permits in occupied East Jerusalem and in what’s known as Area C, which covers more than 60 percent of the occupied West Bank. Palestinians and human rights organisations say the policy is part of a larger Israeli strategy to strengthen and maintain a Jewish demographic majority in the area.
The forcible transfer of protected people in occupied territory is classified as a war crime under international law.
Amnesty International has previously called efforts to remove the residents of Khan al-Ahmar as “not only heartless and discriminatory [but also] illegal”.
“The forcible transfer of the Khan al-Ahmar community amounts to a war crime,” Amnesty said in 2018. “Israel must end its policy of destroying Palestinians’ homes and livelihoods to make way for settlements.”
Khan al-Ahmar is located in the West Bank, a few kilometres from Jerusalem and between two major illegal Israeli settlements, Maale Adumim and Kfar Adumim.
It lies along a key corridor stretching to the Jordan Valley where Israel aims to expand and link settlements, effectively cutting the West Bank into two.
“Our main message is to the Palestinian leadership: … If this village is uprooted. we will have the northern West Bank and the southern West Bank,” Jahalin said. “This is the importance of Khan al-Ahmar.”
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Maarouf Rifai, the legal adviser for the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, said the PA would not allow the village to be demolished.
“This is Palestinian land. It is private Palestinian land,” he said. “There is no excuse for the Israeli government, other than to develop the ‘Greater Jerusalem’ plan and to link the settlements surrounding East Jerusalem in order to clear this area from Palestinian Arabs. We are here to raise our voices to say that we will not allow this to happen.”
Since its occupation of the West Bank began in 1967, Israel has forcibly evicted and displaced entire communities and demolished more than 50,000 Palestinian homes and structures, according to Amnesty International.
Another Palestinian community – a collection of villages known as Masafer Yatta, home to more than 1,000 Palestinians near Hebron in the southern West Bank – is also facing imminent forced displacement by the Israeli government.
Palestinian activist Khairy Hanoun, who was at the protest at Khan al-Ahmar, said, “We came here to challenge Ben-Gvir’s decision and the decisions of all of the right-wing government.”
“We came here to tell them, you demolished our villages, you demolished our cities and our homes, but you will not demolish our perseverance,” he told Al Jazeera.
Using the example of al-Araqib, a village that was demolished and rebuilt 211 times, Hanoun said: “If you demolish Khan al-Ahmar, even if you demolish it 100 times, we will keep rebuilding it.”
According to Bloomberg News, the Swedish audio streaming giant Spotify Technology is getting ready to announce layoffs as soon as this week, adding to the industry-wide carnage that has already cost thousands of jobs at Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Unnamed sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg on Monday that it is unclear how many positions at the well-known streaming service will be eliminated.
In October, Spotify, which has about 9,800 employees, let go of 38 employees from its podcast studios Gimlet Media and Parcast.
Spotify, which saw its share price plunge 66 per cent last year, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tech firms have cut thousands of jobs in the last year as slowing advertising revenues and recession fears prompt reassessments of headcounts that ballooned during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In recent weeks, Google parent Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon have let go of a combined 40,000 employees, after Meta and Twitter cut more than 18,000 staff combined late last year.
Smaller tech players such as UK-based cybersecurity firm Sophos and cryptocurrency players such as Coinbase have also announced job cuts affecting up to 20 percent of their workforce.
More than 55,000 tech employees worldwide have been laid off during 2023 so far, according to data collected by the Layoffs.fyi website.
For the first time in more than five years, dolphins are once again swimming in the Bronx River in New York.
The animals haven’t been spotted in the Bronx River since 2017 despite being recently spotted in the city’s East River.
Authorities maintain a healthy fish population in the river, which they think may have attracted the dolphins.
A video of the dolphins was shared on Twitter by the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation.
It’s true—dolphins were spotted in the Bronx River this week! This is great news—it shows that the decades-long effort to restore the river as a healthy habitat is working. We believe these dolphins naturally found their way to the river in search of fish. (Video: Nick Banco) pic.twitter.com/40ZNgBjJZs
However, the joyous reception of the mammals’ arrival came with a warning. “Make sure that they’re comfortable during their visit by giving them space and not disturbing them,” wrote the department.
The Bronx River flows through Bronx borough, just north of Manhattan, and is the only freshwater river in the city.
The sightings were also confirmed by the Bronx River Alliance, a non-profit that works to protect and restore the waterway.
“There seems to be more dolphin pods swimming near NY Harbor!” it wrote on social media. “We are not sure why but authorities are further investigating their presence and we will keep you updated as we get more info.
Pollution and habitat destruction have caused numbers of bottlenose dolphins, which are found off both the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines, to drop. Some are also injured by fishing nets and die.
As a consequence, they are protected throughout the United States under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which makes it illegal to feed or harass them.
Dolphinsare one of the most intelligent animals on the planet. The US military uses them to locate underwater mines and identify enemy military personnel.
Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency said, a warship outfitted with hypersonic cruise missiles will participate in joint exercises with the navies of China and South Africa in February.
The participation of the Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov of the Fleet of the Soviet Union was first mentioned in an official report on Monday.
The frigate is equipped with Zircon missiles, which have a range of more than 1,000 km and can travel at nine times the speed of sound (620 miles).
The missiles and the Avangard glide vehicle, which entered combat service in 2019, are the centerpiece of Russia’s hypersonic arsenal.
“‘Admiral Gorshkov’ … will go to the logistic support point in Syria’s Tartus, and then take part in joint naval exercises with the Chinese and South African navies,” TASS said in its report, citing an unidentified defence source.
The South African National Defence Force has said the drills will run from February 17-26 near the port cities of Durban and Richards Bay on South Africa’s east coast.
It said on Thursday that the joint exercise aims “to strengthen the already flourishing relations between South Africa, Russia and China”.
The exercise will be the second involving the three countries in South Africa, after a drill in 2019, the defence force added.
The Gorshkov held exercises in the Norwegian Sea earlier this month after President Vladimir Putin sent it to the Atlantic Ocean in a signal to the West that Russia would not back down over the war in Ukraine.
Putin has previously said the frigate and its Zircon missiles have “no analogues in the world”.
The Russian president sees the weapons as a way to pierce the United States’s increasingly sophisticated missile defences.
Russia, the US and China are in a race to develop hypersonic weapons, seen as a way to gain an edge over any adversary because of their speed and their manoeuvrability, features which make them harder to detect.
Sally Azar,will lead the English-speaking congregation at the Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem.
She was ordained in a Lutheran Church ceremony in Jerusalem, making her the first Palestinian woman to serve as a pastor in the Holy Land.
According to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), Azar will be in charge of the Church of the Redeemer’s English-speaking congregation.
She was ordained on Sunday in front of a crowded audience inside the Old City church in occupied east Jerusalem.
“The rite of ordination is an honour. The chance to be ordained as a woman in my church is an added honour. I am happy to be a part of history and gender equity in my church. It is exciting, but there is some uncertainty, as well. I do not expect this to be an easy road,” Azar told The Lutheran World Federation last week ahead of her ordination.
In 2018, Azar graduated from the Near East School of Theology in Lebanon before heading to Germany where she studied Intercultural Theology at the University of Gottingen.
“I will be assigned to the ELCJHL English-speaking congregation in Jerusalem. I will also be responsible for bridging the Arabic-speaking congregation with the English-speaking congregation and working with the youth, which is important to me,” she added.
Azar is also a council member of the Lutheran World Federation.
LWF Congratulates Rev. Sally Azar and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.#GenderJustice@ELCJHL
— The Lutheran World Federation (@lutheranworld) January 22, 2023
The occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip were home to about 47,000 Christians as of 2017, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Most Palestinian Christians belong to denominations that do not allow female clergy.
A very small minority belong to Protestant congregations that have women as ministers.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church says it has approximately 3,000 adherents in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Jordan.
Azar will be one of five ordained women in the Middle East, joining one in Syria and three in Lebanon, according to the Middle East Council of Churches.
Sally Azar, centre, is applauded by clergy after her ordination as the first female pastor in the Holy Land, in the Old City of Jerusalem [Maya Alleruzzo/AP]
Police in Spain have demolished three illegal tobacco factories run by a motley crew that employed low-wage Ukrainian refugees.
27 people have been detained after the operations were discovered in three different regions of Spain.
The gang is accused of smuggling sizable amounts of tobacco that were used to make fake cigarettes.
The factories had the capacity to produce more than 500,000 cigarette packs per day, which were sold both domestically and abroad.
Police said the Ukrainians, who had fled Russia’s invasion of their country, were living “crammed” into prefabricated shelters within the factories.
They were working long hours and were not leaving, to avoid detection, as some had entered the country illegally.
Meanwhile, the bosses of the organization enjoyed a “life of luxury,” allegedly laundering money for their tobacco smuggling operation.
The authorities seized tobacco products worth €37.5m ($41m; £33m), luxury vehicles, jewellery and large quantities of cash during their raid. More than 20 homes, industrial buildings and shops were searched.
The first clandestine factory was found in a chicken shed near Seville in the south at the end of 2021 – leading the authorities to uncover two other operations, in the eastern Valencia region and La Rioja in the north.
Police said the gang was also diversifying production by developing large marijuana plantations.
The investigation got assistance from the European policing agency Europol.
According to the United Nations, there are nearly eight million recorded Ukrainian refugees across Europe, who fled Russia’s February 2022 invasion. More than 160,000 have been registered in Spain.
In November, lawmakers at the European Parliament reported that labor exploitation ofUkrainians was on the rise, saying the urgency of their situation and language barriers sometimes forced refugees to take on informal and underpaid work.
The parent company ofGoogle, Alphabet, will eliminate 12,000 positions, the most recent round of layoffs to affect the tech sector.
In an internal email, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and Alphabet, stated that he accepted “full responsibility” for the cuts.
6% of Alphabet’s employees worldwide, including those in the engineering and recruitment teams, will be affected by the layoffs.
This comes after Amazon cut 18,000 jobs and Microsoft cut 10,000 jobs, respectively, in recent weeks.
Mr Pichai thanked staff for “working so hard” in their roles, adding that their “contributions have been invaluable”.
He wrote: “While this transition won’t be easy, we’re going to support employees as they look for their next opportunity.
“Until then, please take good care of yourselves as you absorb this difficult news. As part of that, if you are just starting your work day, please feel free to work from home today.”
According to a recent filing with Companies House, Google has more than 5,500 staff in the UK. But it is unclear how many of these will be affected by the cuts.
‘Unsustainable’
Mr Pichai announced severance packages for US employees, who will receive at least 16 weeks of salary, their 2022 bonus, paid vacations and six months of health coverage.
He said he remained “optimistic about our ability to deliver on our mission, even on our toughest days”.
Wall Street welcomed the cuts – Alphabet shares rose by 3.5% in electronic trading before the stock market opened.
Analysts have said tech’s big guns had previously overspent, not seeing a slowdown on the horizon.
Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities said the layoffs highlight irresponsible spending across a sector basking in “hypergrowth”.
“The reality is tech stalwarts over-hired at a pace that was unsustainable and now darker macro is forcing these layoffs across the tech space,” he said.
According to tech site Layoffs.fyi, nearly 194,000 industry employees have lost their jobs in the US since the beginning of 2022, not including those announced by Alphabet on Friday.
Hewlett Packard and cloud computing giant Salesforce also announced major cuts this month, as rampant inflation and rising interest rates have slowed growth.
US tech giants have also been facing scrutiny in the European Union, which has started enforcing regulations to stop them avoiding tax, stifling competition, profiting from news content without paying and serving as platforms for disinformation and hate.
Amina Mohammed, the deputy secretary-general, has been in Kabul for four days in an effort to persuade the Taliban to change their minds.
The nation’s Islamist leaders outlawed all women from working for non-governmental organisations last month (NGOs).
Several aid organisations had to halt operations as a result of the action.
At the conclusion of her trip, Ms. Mohammed told the BBC that the majority of senior Taliban figures she encountered were eager to discuss women’s and girls’ rights.
However, she described the talks as tough and cautioned that it would be a very long journey before the leadership took the fundamental steps required for international recognition of their rule.
“I think there are many voices we heard, which are progressive in the way that we would like to go,” Ms Mohammed said. “But there are others that really are not.”
“I think the pressure we put in the support we give to those that are thinking more progressively is a good thing. So this visit, I think, gives them more voice and pressure to help the argument internally.”
Ms Mohammed also criticised the international community, including other Islamic states, for not doing enough to engage on the issue.
Since seizing back control of the country last year, the Taliban has steadily restricted women’s rights – despite promising its rule would be softer than the regime seen in the 1990s.
As well as the ban on female university students – now being enforced by armed guards – secondary schools for girls remain closed in most provinces.
Women have also been prevented from entering parks and gyms, among other public places.
It justified the move to ban Afghan women from working for NGOs by claiming female staff had broken dress codes by not wearing hijabs.
Ms Mohammed’s comments come as Afghanistan suffers its harshest winter in many years.
The Taliban leadership blames sanctions and the refusal of the international community to recognise their rule for the country’s deepening crisis.
Ms Mohammed said her message to Afghanistan’s rulers was that they must first demonstrate their commitment to internationally recognised norms and that humanitarian aid cannot be provided if Afghan women are not allowed to help.
“They’re discriminating against women there. for want of a better word, they become invisible, they’re waiting them out, and that can’t happen,” she said.
“They believe that… the law applies to anyone anywhere and their sovereign rights should be respected,” she said.
The Taliban health ministry has clarified that women can work in the health sector, where female doctors and nurses are essential, but Ms Mohammed said this was not enough.
“There are many other services that we didn’t get to do with access to food and other livelihood items that that will allow us to see millions of women and their families survive a harsh winter, be part of growth and prosperity, peace,” she said.
This visit by the most senior woman at the UN also sends a message that women can and should play roles at all levels of society.
Burkina Faso is dealing with rebel fighters associated with al-Qaeda and ISIL.
Two suspected attacks in Burkina Faso have killed at least 18 people, including 16 army supporters, according to security sources on Friday.
The attacks on Thursday in the country’s north and northwest were the latest to target a civilian auxiliary force that aids the military in its seven-year fight against rebels.
Burkina Faso, located in West Africa, is one of the world’s poorest and most volatile countries.
It has been grappling with violence spearheaded by rebel fighters affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) groups since 2015, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly two million people.
The country is now the epicentre of a conflict that spilled over from Mali.
Thursday’s “first attack targeted an advance party of Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland [VDP] in Rakoegtenga”, a town in the northern province of Bam, a VDP official said.
Six auxiliaries and a woman died in the attack, the official said.
About 10 people were wounded, including some seriously, who were “evacuated to Ouagadougou for appropriate care”, he said.
The VDP official said the second attack killed about 10 vigilantes and a person in Nayala province in the northwest in the afternoon when a convoy they and soldiers were escorting was ambushed on the Siena-Saran road.
Security sources confirmed two “jihadist attacks” but gave no precise death toll, referring only to “a number of losses”.
The VDP, set up in December 2019, comprises civilian volunteers who are given two weeks of military training and then deployed alongside the army, typically carrying out surveillance, information-gathering or escort duties.
A surge in violence
Commentators worry that the poorly trained volunteers are easy targets for rebel fighters – and may dangerously inflame ethnic friction without proper controls.
Last week, about 60 women, girls and babies were abducted in the northern Djibo region while gathering wild fruit and other food, investigators said.
Violence targeting security forces and civilians has increased in recent months, especially in northern and eastern regions bordering Mali and Niger.
The escalating toll unleashed two military coups last year, launched by officers angered at failures to stem the bloodshed.
The latest strongman is Captain Ibrahim Traore, who on September 30 overthrew Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.
A hearing to decide whether 140,000 women and children from Zambia can file a class action lawsuit against the mining corporation Anglo-American is currently underway in the High Court of South Africa.
Residents of the town of Kabwe, the alleged victims, assert that after nearly 50 years of metal mining and smelting operations by the company, they have experienced extremely high levels of lead pollution.
They contend that children living in one of the world’s most polluted areas have suffered serious brain damage.
A study in 2020 found average levels of lead in the blood to be nine times above internationally accepted thresholds.
Anglo-American contests the claim, which it calls opportunistic. It says it’s not responsible for lead poisoning.
The BBC has received reports from locals in various areas of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region that soldiers from neighboring Eritrea are leaving the areas they have been in charge of in large numbers.
Eritrean army vehicles have been driving through Adwa town since Friday morning, a local witness told the BBC.
“They [soldiers] have been travelling in a lot of vehicles,” he said.
Describing the number of soldiers as “like ants” the resident said the vehicles “were sounding trumpets” and the soldiers were singing.
“They were singing with flags and also posting various slogans on their vehicles,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian federal army was guarding the outskirts of the town, the resident said.
According to the peace agreement between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the withdrawal of foreign forces and non-federal armed groups from Tigray would take place when Tigray forces handed over their heavy weapons to the federal government, which they have.
Another resident of Aksum town also told the BBC that dozens of vehicles transporting Eritrean troops and weapons have been passing through the town.
“I have counted 70 vehicles, 12 tanks, and many others. The soldiers were in different vehicles. They are coming in the direction of Adwa and heading towards the city of Shire,” said Berihu Kahsay, who was among residents who lined the streets to witness the withdrawal.
Several sources in Eritrea have also confirmed the mass withdrawal of the troops and military equipment.
Eritrean soldiers were deployed in November 2020 to back the Ethiopian government’s offensive in Tigray.
Well-known journalist and government critic died in a car accident in Kigali, the country’s capital according to police
The Chronicles news site editor John Williams Ntwali passed away on Tuesday night when the motorbike taxi he had boarded was struck by a car in the Kimihurura neighborhood. The police informed his brother Emmanuel Masabo.
In order to confirm the identity of the body in a mortuary, Mr. Masabo claimed that he was contacted by the police on Thursday afternoon.
“When I arrived, they took me to the mortuary. I saw that it was him and I confirmed to them,” Mr Masabo told the BBC.
He added: “They did not provide with me more details… maybe they will later. I also had no energy to ask for more [at that moment].”
The Chronicles news site has also confirmed the death of the 43-year old journalist in a tweet. He had been the publication’s editor since 2021.
Mr Ntwali was critical of the government and the ruling party in his reports that focused on injustice and social issues facing Rwandans through his YouTube channel, Pax TV-Ireme news.
Government sympathisers criticised him of being “an extremist” and repeatedly attacked him on social media.
A BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi that questions his leadership during the deadly riots in Gujarat in 2002 has been dismissed as “propaganda” by India’s foreign ministry.
When communal riots in Gujarat, a state in western India, left more than 1,000 people dead, the majority of them Muslims, Modi served as the state’s chief minister. After a train carrying Hindu pilgrims caught fire and killed 59 people, violence broke out.
The report of a United Kingdom inquiry showcased in the documentary refers to the events as a “systematic campaign of violence” which has “all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing”, and places direct responsibility on Modi.
For me, the revelational and damaging part of the BBC documentary is former UK foreign secretary Jack Straw speaking on record for the first time about the finding of his own officials in Gujarat during the 2002 anti-muslim pogrom pic.twitter.com/i8asr4wA5h
The UK government report was never made public until it was revealed in the documentary.
According to the documentary, released on Tuesday, the inquiry team claimed that Modi had prevented the police from acting to stop violence targeted at Muslims and cited sources as saying Modi had specifically ordered authorities not to intervene.
Modi denied the accusations and was exonerated in 2012 following an inquiry by India’s top court. Another petition questioning his exoneration was dismissed last year.
Terming the BBC documentary a “propaganda piece” meant to push a “discredited narrative”, India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said “bias”, “lack of objectivity” and “continuing colonial mindset” is “blatantly visible” in it.
“It makes us wonder about the purpose of this exercise and the agenda behind it, and we do not wish to dignify such efforts,” he told a news conference.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to his supporters in Gujarat state [File: Amit Dave/Reuters]
The BBC, contacted for comment, said the documentary was “rigorously researched” and involved a “wide range” of voices and opinions, including responses from people in Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“We offered the Indian government a right to reply to the matters raised in the series – it declined to respond,” a BBC spokesperson said.
Ongoing discrimination
The documentary also features a former top UK diplomat as saying the violence had been planned by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) – an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist paramilitary organisation. Modi joined the RSS at a young age in his home state of Gujarat.
The VHP “could not have inflicted so much damage without the climate of impunity created by the state government”, the inquiry team said.
Jack Straw, who was the UK’s foreign secretary at the time of the violence, was also interviewed in the documentary and said allegations against Modi undermined his reputation.
“These were very serious claims – that Chief Minister Modi had played a pretty active part in pulling back the police and in tacitly encouraging the Hindu extremists,” Straw said. “That was a particularly egregious example.”
“What we did was establish an inquiry and have a team go to Gujarat and find out for themselves what had happened. And they produced a very thorough report,” he added.
The report also claimed there was widespread rape of Muslim women during the 2002 violence. It added that the riots’ objective was to “purge Muslims from Hindu areas” – something critics today say has become state policy under the BJP’s Hindu nationalist agenda.
Under Modi, whose party has been in power since 2014, Muslims in India have repeatedly been subjected to violence and lynchings as well as blatant discrimination, which is often politically motivated.
Hindu supremacist groups and supporters of the governing BJP have also intensified calls to turn the country into an exclusive Hindu state.
The systematic, state-sponsored discrimination against Muslims includes laws that ban the hijab, a headscarf worn by many Muslim women, in certain parts of the country. Other controversial laws passed over the years include the Citizenship Amendment Act, which grants nationality to non-Muslim minorities from neighbouring countries.
The UK inquiry, according to the BBC documentary, shows that “reconciliation will be impossible” as long as Modi remains in power.
The Serbian-language videos were produced by the Russian Wagner mercenary group to promote recruitment for the conflict.
Aleksandar Vucic, the president of Serbia, responded angrily on public television.
“Why do you, from Wagner, call anyone from Serbia when you know that it is against our rules?” he said.
Critics frequently accuse Serbia of prioritising its long-standing friendship with Russia over its ambition to join the EU. But what has emerged in recent days in Belgrade shows that the picture is not so black and white.
Hinting at less-than-rosy relations with Moscow, President Vucic said that not only was Serbia “neutral” regarding the war in Ukraine, but that he had not spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin for “many months”.
It is illegal for Serbians to take part in conflicts abroad.
The number of Serbian recruits involved does not appear be significant. Some did fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine in 2014, but not with any sort of official endorsement.
In fact, Serbian courts convicted more than two dozen people for taking part in “fighting on foreign battlefronts”.
On Thursday, a Belgrade-based lawyer and anti-war groups filed criminal complaints against the Russian ambassador as well as the head of Serbia’s state security and information agency (BIA) for allegedly recruiting Serbians for the Wagner group.
In Belgrade, where provocative murals are numbingly common, the Wagner death’s head emblem appeared on a city-centre wall last week. It was signed by the People’s Patrols, an extreme right-wing organisation which has previously staged sparsely attended pro-Russia rallies.
Image caption,Serbia’s president Aleksandar Vucic made clear this week that his country’s trajectory was towards the West
None of the mainstream political parties have even hinted at support for the invasion of Ukraine.
Indeed, Serbia has consistently voted in favour of resolutions at the United Nations condemning Russia’s aggression.
President Vucic this week made Belgrade’s position crystal clear: “For us, Crimea is Ukraine, Donbas is Ukraine, and it will remain so.”
But Mr Vucic’s stance has not been enough to impress the European Parliament, because Serbia has repeatedly refused to impose sanctions on Russia.
For the second time, MEPs have passed a resolution calling for the suspension of membership negotiations until Serbia agrees to sanctions.
For as long as the EU showed little enthusiasm for expanding the bloc to include the countries of the Western Balkans, it made sense for Serbia to maintain friendly ties with Moscow.
It reminded Brussels that Belgrade had other options. Cheap gas supplies, Gazprom’s majority ownership of Serbia’s oil company NIS and Russia’s refusal to recognise Kosovo’s independence were practical reasons to stay on good terms.
But the invasion of Ukraine has shifted perceptions. Belgrade was not impressed when President Putin referred to Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence as justification for recognising the independence of areas of occupied eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Brussels belatedly realised that its reticence towards the Western Balkans was leaving room for Moscow to meddle. Accession talks for Albania and North Macedonia were swiftly unblocked – and Bosnia received candidate status.
So if Serbia’s president has been waiting for a moment to pivot decisively to the west, it might just have arrived.
He has been warning of “very difficult” conversations with EU and US special envoys – and says he will address Serbians over the weekend to tell them “what is required and expected from Serbia regarding Kosovo and sanctions against Russia”.
Mr Vucic has made similar remarks before – without ever committing to a major policy change. But this week he once again reiterated that Serbia’s trajectory was towards the West.
“I know that the EU is our path,” he told Bloomberg News. “There are no other paths.”
More weapons have already been promised by the US and Europe.
At the Ramstein airbase, Mr. Zelensky remarked to the defence ministers, “Hundreds of thank yous are not hundreds of tanks.”
Particularly Germany is coming under increasing pressure to send its Leopard 2 tanks and to allow other nations to provide their own Leopards to Ukraine.
Before nations like Poland or Finland agree to commit to re-exporting them, the nation of manufacture must first give its consent.
Defence colleagues from more than 50 countries gathered at the airbase on Friday, a day after several nations pledged more equipment to help Ukraine fend off further Russia campaigns. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told them it was time to “dig deeper”.
Almost 11 months into Russia’s war in Ukraine, Nato military figures believe Moscow is planning a renewed spring offensive with troop numbers bolstered by a partial mobilisation since the end of September.
Western officials believe there’s a “window of opportunity” in the coming weeks for Ukraine to push Russia forces back. They say Moscow is running short of ammunition and trained troops – despite efforts to replenish stocks and mobilise additional forces.
For its part, Russia has warned Western countries that providing tanks to its enemy would mark an “extremely dangerous” escalation in the conflict.
The UK has already announced it will send 14 Challenger 2 battle tanks. But Kyiv wants more tanks and UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said he hoped that the 50 allies would “all hear the message that unlocking the tank is part of 2023”.
Germany’s Leopard tanks are key to that equation. They’re in more plentiful supply than the British tank, and are operated by more than a dozen other nations.
Ahead of the Ramstein meeting Mr Zelensky criticised Germany’s hesitant attitude to sending tanks, assuring Berlin that the Leopards would only be used in self-defence and not go through Russia. “If you have Leopard [tanks], then give them to us,” he told German public TV.
Polish deputy foreign minister Pawel Jablonski indicated on Friday that Warsaw might be prepared to provide Ukraine with Leopards regardless of Berlin’s views. “We’ll see. I think if there is strong resistance, we’ll be ready to take even such non-standard action. But let’s not anticipate the facts,” he told Polish radio.
“Tanks for Ukraine are tanks for freedom,” Ukrainians defence ministry adviser Yuriy Sak told the BBC. If they were not sent, other countries might one day “have to use them themselves” against Moscow, he warned.
Image caption,German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is under pressure to allow Kyiv a supply of the Leopard 2 tank – pictured here last year
Berlin said this week that a decision on the Leopard was conditional on the US agreeing to send Abrams tanks, which it is not intending to do. But the new German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said he was not aware of “such stipulation”.
There are fears of escalation in Berlin and of going it alone. Until recently Germany refused requests to send a Patriot air defence battery, but it relented as soon as the US did the same. On tanks too, Berlin would like to see the US take the lead.
Ben Wallace has rejected talk of escalation. Germany along with the US and UK, he argued, had already supplied artillery systems, like Himars, with a much longer range.
Mr Zelensky has repeatedly taken aim at Berlin’s perceived hesitancy and on Thursday criticised suggestions that the US and Germany were only planning to commit vehicles if the other nation did the same.
Retired US Army general David Petraeus said there was “legitimate reluctance” in Washington on the issue of sending Abrams tanks because it was difficult to maintain and had a jet turbine.
He told the BBC it was “imperative” that any Western tank donations were made “early enough, so [Ukrainian soldiers] can actually train on them”.
On Thursday, Western nations pledged to send more vehicles, artillery and munitions to bolster the Ukrainian war effort.
The US committed a new package worth $2.5bn (£2bn), saying this took its spend on Ukrainian support to $26.7bn since last February’s full-scale invasion by Russia.
Tanks were not included in the offer, but the Pentagon did promise an extra 59 Bradley armoured vehicles, 90 Stryker personnel carriers and Avenger air defence systems, among other provisions.
The announcement came after nine European nations promised more support of their own following a meeting in Estonia. This included:
UK – 600 Brimstone missiles
Denmark – 19 French-made Caesar self-propelled howitzers
Estonia – howitzers, ammunition, support vehicles and anti-tank grenade launchers
Latvia – Stinger air-defence systems, two helicopters, and drones
Lithuania – anti-aircraft guns and two helicopters
Poland – S-60 anti-aircraft guns with 70,000 pieces of ammunition
Czech Republic – produce further large calibre ammunition, howitzers and APCs
Netherlands – support expected to be detailed on Friday
His announcement coincided with Netflix’s end-of-year disclosure of a significant increase in subscriber numbers.
People were expected to cut back on streaming services when money was tight.
Netflix, however, defied expectations and added more than seven million new subscribers, bucking the trend.
The film Glass Onion, the new Addams Family spin-off series Wednesday, and Harry and Meghan’s revelations all attracted a lot of viewers.
“2022 was a tough year, with a bumpy start but a brighter finish,” the company said in a statement.
Mr Hastings’ long-planned move means he is leaving Netflix in a crowded market, with challenges ahead, but with 231 million viewers signed up around the globe.
Mr Hastings, who was an early pioneer in the streaming business and is seen as one of the original tech industry disruptors, will stay on as executive chairman.
The firm will now be run by Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, both already in senior executive positions.
“Reed Hastings stepping down from his current role raises a lot of questions about Netflix’s future strategy,” said Jamie Lumley, analyst at research firm Third Bridge.
“Incoming Co-CEO Greg Peters will have a number of major decisions on his plate from managing high levels of expenses, password sharing, and cracking the code to find the next Stranger Things.”
Image caption,Reed Hastings and a former colleague Marc Randolph founded Netflix in 1997
Mr Peters has been given a strong start, with total subscribers for the last three months of 2022 up 7.66 million, when the firm had predicted a rise of around 4.5 million.
Alicia Reese from Wedbush Securities said there were two reasons Netflix had managed to keep subscribers from cancelling.
“First, viewership trends indicate better retention on popular shows; second, Netflix offering an ad-supported tier to anyone looking to cancel or pause their membership,” she said.
Both those factors limited customer “churn” she said.
Revenue rose to $7.9bn (£6.37bn) in the fourth quarter. However, profit was lower in this quarter than the same period a year earlier, and profit for the year as a whole was down from 2021.Although Netflix remained “ahead of its competitors” on profitability, said Ms Reese.
In early 2022, Netflix faced an uphill battle. It was facing increased competition from rivals such as Amazon, HBO, Apple TV and Disney. It cut hundreds of jobs, but still found it had to put up prices to customers to cover rising costs.
That dealt a blow to its subscriber numbers in the first half of the year.
In November, it introduced a cheaper ad-supported option in 12 countries, including most of Europe, the UK and the US,and signalled it would be less tolerant of password sharing in future. Netflix said it was “pleased with the early results” from the service.
But Paolo Pescatore at PP Foresight said that, as the new ad-funded service had only been introduced in November, most of the additional customers in the last three months of 2022 would be paying full price.
However, the coming year would be challenging for Netflix, he said, with a “significant slowdown” expected in the ad market.
“The year ahead is unlikely to be plain sailing as all media companies will have to contend with uncertainty,” he said.
Netflix shares, which had fallen by nearly 38% in the past year, rose in after-hours trading following the results announcement.
Netflix started out in 1997 as a mail-order film service. Customers ordered via the website and DVDs were posted to them at home.
Mr Hastings has sometimes said the idea for Netflix was sparked when he owed a large fine for forgetting to return a video cassette to rental shop Blockbuster and thought a model more like gym membership, with a monthly fee for renting films, would be better.
However, his co-founder Marc Randolph reportedly disputed this version, saying the pair had simply aimed to emulate Amazon.
Paramedics and the man’s family claim that Israeli forces killed a 57-year-oldPalestinian teacher who went to treat a militant who was fatally wounded.
Father of six and Jenin refugee camp resident Jawad Bouaqneh was assassinated outside his home.
It happened during a night of raids by the Israeli army in the West Bank’s occupied territory.
His passing brings the total number of Palestinians killed this month to 17, both militants and civilians.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that after receiving a lot of live fire from Palestinian assailants, their troops were under heavy fire.
It said it was aware of a report that a civilian was killed “in the area of the exchange of fire” and the incident was being “reviewed”.
Mr Bouaqneh’s son Farid said they heard a man – later confirmed to be the fatally wounded militant – calling for help outside their home.
“My father went out to help the man, to provide first aid,” he said.
“We dragged him inside and… they shot my father in the upper body and I moved him inside as he was covered in blood,” he told Reuters news agency, standing at a doorway with a blood-stained floor.
Image caption,Blood was visible on the steps outside Jawad Bouaqneh’s home
Palestinian paramedics said Mr Bouaqneh and a medic were both approaching the wounded militant outside the house.
“At that moment the Israeli soldiers shot high velocity bullets at them and a bullet hit the teacher… in the chest while he was trying to help the injured,” the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) said in a statement to the BBC.
“[The medic] said he was wearing a clear first aid vest when the shooting happened,” it said, adding both the men who were shot were declared dead at hospital.
The Palestinian health ministry confirmed the death of Adham Jabareen, 28, who was later identified by Palestinian Islamic Jihad as one of its members. Local reports said he was a commander in Jenin for the group, which is listed by Israel and the West as a terrorist organisation.
Video from Thursday morning’s raid shows armoured troop carriers and a military digger entering Jenin, while repeated gunfire can be heard in other footage.
Palestinian media reported that Israeli snipers were deployed on rooftops of several homes overlooking the camp, while an undercover Israeli unit entered a building at the camp entrance and detained residents.
The IDF said its forces faced gunfire and that explosive devices were thrown, adding that an Israeli soldier suffered minor injuries and was taken to hospital. It said troops seized weapons and arrested an individual “suspected of involvement in terrorist activity”.
It is the latest in a near-nightly campaign of Israeli military search, arrest and intelligence gathering raids that intensified from last April, as violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank reached levels unmatched in years.
Last year in the West Bank more than150 Palestinians were killed, nearly all by Israeli forces. The dead included unarmed civilians, militant gunmen and armed attackers. A series of Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis, as well as militant gunfire at troops during arrest raids, killed more than 30 people including civilians, police and soldiers.
Also on Thursday US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan visited the region, meeting Israeli and Palestinian officials, amid growing concern about a further deterioration in the security situation.
It is the first trip by a senior US official since Benjamin Netanyahu returned to office leading the most right wing and religious coalition in Israel’s history.
In order to record a video for social media,Rishi Sunak disengaged his seatbelt while a passenger in the back seat of a moving car.
The PM’s spokesman claimed that he made a “error of judgement” by momentarily unbuckling his seatbelt during a trip to the north of England.
Mr. Sunak posted the video to his Instagram page to promote the most recent round of “leveling up” purchases.
The PM “believes everyone should wear a seatbelt,” the spokesman continued.
Mr. Sunak can be seen speaking to the camera for about a minute as the car moves along and police motorcycles briefly appear in the background.
Passengers caught failing to wear a seatbelt when one is available, unless covered by a valid exemption, can be given an on-the-spot £100 fine.
The fine can increase to £500 if the case goes to court.
‘Painful viewing’
Exemptions include having a doctor’s certificate for a medical reason, or being in a vehicle used for a police, fire and rescue service.
Labour said Mr Sunak’s video added to “endless painful viewing” after he was seen struggling to make a contactless payment with his card last year.
“Rishi Sunak doesn’t know how to manage a seatbelt, his debit card, a train service, the economy, this country,” a spokeswoman said.
“This list is growing every day, and it’s making for endless painful viewing.”
The incident followed criticism of the prime minister for travelling in an RAF jet for a series of official visits on Thursday.
Mr Sunak made the 230-mile journey to Blackpool from London in the plane, before later flying 120 miles to Darlington.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “It seems like the PM is getting too used to flying around in private jets that he’s forgotten to wear a seatbelt in a car.”
Tehran is upset that South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol referred to Iran as an “enemy” of the United Arab Emirates.
As a result of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol comparing Tehran to the threat posed by North Korea and the “enemy” of the United Arab Emirates, Tehran and Seoul have summoned their respective embassies.
Yoon referred to the UAE as a “brother nation” of South Korea, citing the two countries’ expanding economic and military cooperation, while touring South Korean special forces stationed in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
The threat that Iran is allegedly posing to the UAE was then contrasted by Yoon with the danger that North Korea’s nuclear weapons pose to South Korea.
“The enemy of the UAE, its most-threatening nation, is Iran, and our enemy is North Korea,” Yoon said.
Yoon’s remarks triggered a stiff response from Iran’s foreign ministry, which said it was investigating Yoon’s “interfering statements”.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister on legal affairs, Reza Najafi, summoned the South Korean ambassador on Wednesday to protest against Yoon’s remarks, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said.
Najafi also accused Seoul of pursuing an “unfriendly approach” towards Iran, and noted the issue of Iranian funds frozen in South Korean banks. Iran has repeatedly demanded that Seoul release some $7bn of its funds frozen under US sanctions
On Thursday, South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong called in Iranian ambassador Saeed Badamchi Shabestari to explain Seoul’s stance “once again”, ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk said in a briefing.
“As we explained several times, [Yoon’s] reported comments were meant to encourage our troops serving their duties in the UAE, and had nothing to do with Iran’s foreign relations, including South Korea-Iran relations,” Lim said.
“Our government’s will to develop relations with Iran remains unchanged,” he said.
Yoon then compared the threat UAE supposedly faces from Iran to the threat South Korea faces from nuclear-armed North Korea.
“The enemy of the UAE, its most-threatening nation, is Iran, and our enemy is North Korea,” Yoon said.
Yoon’s remarks triggered a stiff response from Iran’s foreign ministry, which said it was investigating Yoon’s “interfering statements”.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister on legal affairs, Reza Najafi, summoned the South Korean ambassador on Wednesday to protest against Yoon’s remarks, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said.
Najafi also accused Seoul of pursuing an “unfriendly approach” towards Iran, and noted the issue of Iranian funds frozen in South Korean banks. Iran has repeatedly demanded that Seoul release some $7bn of its funds frozen under US sanctions.
On Thursday, South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong called in Iranian ambassador Saeed Badamchi Shabestari to explain Seoul’s stance “once again”, ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk said in a briefing.
“As we explained several times, [Yoon’s] reported comments were meant to encourage our troops serving their duties in the UAE, and had nothing to do with Iran’s foreign relations, including South Korea-Iran relations,” Lim said.
“Our government’s will to develop relations with Iran remains unchanged,” he said.
According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, the foreign ministry in Seoul had stressed that Yoon’s comments were “irrelevant” to Seoul-Tehran relations, and also urged Iran against “unnecessary overinterpretation”.
Described by Yoon’s political opponents in South Korea as “diplomatically disastrous”, the spat comes as the UAE attempts to manage its relationship with Iran, which is an important business partner.
The UAE is also home to about 3,500 American soldiers and has spent billions of dollars buying South Korean surface-to-air missile systems as a means to protect itself against aerial attacks. Those threats include long-range drone attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
South Korea was once one of Iran’s biggest crude buyers in Asia and has now found itself squeezed by the tensions over Iran’s collapsed nuclear deal with world powers. Billions of dollars in Iranian funds remain frozen in South Korean banks after Washington reimposed sanctions on Tehran in 2018.
Iran held a South Korean oil tanker for months in 2021 amid the dispute. Both sides have been in talks over ways to unfreeze the funds and resume the oil trade.
According to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, the foreign ministry in Seoul had stressed that Yoon’s comments were “irrelevant” to Seoul-Tehran relations, and also urged Iran against “unnecessary overinterpretation”.
Described by Yoon’s political opponents inSouth Korea as “diplomatically disastrous”, the spat comes as the UAE attempts to manage its relationship with Iran, which is an important business partner.
The UAE is also home to about 3,500 American soldiers and has spent billions of dollars buying South Korean surface-to-air missile systems as a means to protect itself against aerial attacks. Those threats include long-range drone attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
South Korea was once one of Iran’s biggest crude buyers in Asia and has now found itself squeezed by the tensions over Iran’s collapsed nuclear deal with world powers. Billions of dollars in Iranian funds remain frozen in South Korean banks after Washington reimposed sanctions on Tehran in 2018.
Iran held a South Korean oil tanker for months in 2021 amid the dispute. Both sides have been in talks over ways to unfreeze the funds and resume the oil trade.
Bondholders’ inclusion in the debt exchange programme without further consultation, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu warned, could destroy the middle class.
Professor Stephen Adei, an educationist and economist, has condemned Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu’s recent remark on domestic debt exchange as regrettable.
Last week, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu issued a dire warning, saying that including bondholders in the programme without further discussion would mean the end of Ghana’s middle class.
Adei responded to the Asaase 99.5 Accra comment by saying that duty bearers should be cautious when making comments about the domestic exchange program.
“I was actually honestly mad at the Majority Leader’s comment about destroying the middle class after receiving the petition of aggrieved bondholders,” Adei said.
“We must be very careful.”
Professor Adei also suggested that the government revise the threshold for pensioners who may be affected by the ongoing Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.
Adei argues that this will ensure that those who are vulnerable and financially unstable are exempted from the programme.
The Ministry of Finance on Monday extended the deadline to register for its domestic debt exchange to 31 January 2023, in order to “secure internal approvals” from the financial sector.
Speaking on Asaase 99.5 Accra on Monday (16 January), Adei warned that the country risks losing lives in the coming weeks if the government fails to review the threshold for pensioners.
“The pensioners – my colleagues – it is because when we got our lump sum, our life investments, we invested it into government bonds. So that is what is now at stake …” he said.
“There must be a threshold, so that there is a certain minimum. Other than that, some of my colleagues will physically die in a [few] weeks … it is a very serious matter.”
Poor communication
The economist wants the government to step up efforts in educating Ghanaians on which categories of individuals are likely to be affected by the debt exchange programme.
“So much is being said without people understanding it,” Professor Adei said.
“We are talking about young people like you who are yet to go for pension and have invested in the bonds for their future.
Online viewers pointed out that some of the pre-owned items weren’t a deal because they were going for prices higher than retail.
The most expensive item ever sold was a statue of the iconic bird logo from Twitter, which sold for $100,000 (£81,000).
Online viewers pointed out that some of the pre-owned items weren’t a deal because they were going for prices higher than retail.
Following his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter last year, owner Elon Musk is cutting expenses at the company with the sale.
Since taking over in late October, Musk has laid off around half of the company’s 7,500 staff. He has also ended many of Twitter’s perks, such as free meals.
Heritage Global Partners, the auction’s administrator, did not publish the auction’s final results, but the BBC has collected several prices just before closing.
A 190cm (6ft) planter in the shape of an @ symbol finished near $15,000 (£12,160).
A planter shaped like the @ symbol
There was also a custom reclaimed wood conference room table that closed near $10,500 (£8,510).
Wooden table in Twitter office
From its former coffee bar, Twitter sold a high-end La Marzocco Strada 3 espresso machine, retail $30,000 (24,300), for around $13,500 (£10,940).
A high-end La Marzocco espresso machine
On the lower end, Polycom conference call speaker phones were going for about $300.
Polycom phone
A still-in-box ergonomic standing desk kit was looking to fetch about the same with two hours left to bid.
But some items seemed to sell for more than their street value – a moulded plywood Eames chair from designer Herman Miller that normally retails for $1195 went for at least $1400.
Musk tweeted in November that the company had seen a “massive drop in revenue” following the departure of several advertisers.
Nick Dove, a representative of Heritage Global Partners, the company administering the auction, told Fortune magazine the sale had nothing to do with recouping costs for the $44bn purchase, however.
“If anyone genuinely thinks that the revenue from selling a couple computers and chairs will pay for the mountain there, then they’re a moron,” he said.
Shatta Wale has been seen in several videos warning President Nana Akufo-Addo’s critics to be careful what they say.
Dancehall artist Shatta Wale claims that anyone who believes that the New Patriotic Party (NPP)-led government has paid him to speak on their behalf is mistaken.
Shatta Wale has been seen in several videos telling President Nana Akufo-detractors Addo’s to be careful what they say about his leadership style.
His remark relates to the American rapper Meek Mill’s music video, which featured footage of Jubilee House and received negative public reaction as a result.
Many faultfinders blamed poor leadership for the perceived blunder which they argued undermined Ghana’s seat of government.
In one of the videos, Shatta Wale said no one knows what transpired between Meek Mill and the President adding that the President has the wisdom to run the country and also allow which guest to welcome at the Jubilee House.
In a video posted on his Facebook wall today, January 18, Shatta Wale said the NPP has not paid him to defend them adding that the last time he saw the President was when he visited him at the Jubilee House years ago.
“Some people are saying NPP has given Shatta Wale money to speak on their behalf because he is the outspoken person and the best person to do that. You are wrong in saying that because I have not received money from anyone,” he said in the video
Touching on other matters, Shatta Wale said people should stop wasting their time since God keeps blessing him despite the negative vibes.
“Anyone who has evil thoughts against me will fall and it is a fact. God is blessing me because I don’t think evil of anyone so I always succeed,” he said.
The Dancehall King maker added that he made good money at last year’s Christmas and any event that he wasn’t billed for was because the organisers could not afford his price.
An emotional Ardern announced that her last day in office will be February 7 and that she will not run for reelection this year.
Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, has announced that she won’t run in this year’s general elections and will step down from office the following month.
Ardern announced on Thursday that her final day in office would be February 7 while fighting back tears in the city of Napier.
“I am not leaving because it was hard. Had that been the case I probably would have departed two months into the job,” she said.
“I am leaving because with such a privileged role, comes responsibility, the responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead and also when you are not,” she said.
“I know what this job takes and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It is that simple.”
New Zealand’s next general election will be held on October 14, she added.
New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern fought back tears as she announced that she will be stepping down next month after five years in office.
Ardern’s decision to step down came as her Labour Party looked set to face a tough election campaign this year.
While Labour won re-election two years ago in a landslide of historic proportions, recent polls have put it behind its conservative rivals.
Political commentator Ben Thomas said Ardern’s announcement was a huge surprise as polls still ranked her as the country’s preferred prime minister even though support for her party had fallen from the stratospheric heights seen during the 2020 election.
Thomas said that there was not a clear successor.
‘Jacinda-mania’
Ardern, 42, said on Thursday that a vote to elect the next Labour leader would be held on Sunday and that she believed the party would win the vote.
New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson, who also serves as finance minister, said in a statement he would not seek to stand as the next Labour leader.
Ardern became prime minister as the head of a coalition government at the age of 37 in 2017.
Her initial election made a big splash on the global stage because of her gender and youth, coining the phrase “Jacinda-mania”.
During her five and a half years in office, she has been lauded globally for New Zealand’s initial handling of the coronavirus pandemic after the country managed for months to stop the virus at its borders.
She was also widely praised for the way she embraced New Zealand’s Muslim community in the wake of a white supremacist attack in 2019 that killed 51 people at two mosques in the city of Christchurch. The prime minister swiftly labelled the attacks “terrorism” and wore a hijab as she met with the Muslim community a day after the attack, telling them the whole country was “united in grief”.
She also promised and delivered major gun law reform within a month.
But her popularity has waned over the past year as inflation has risen to nearly three-decade highs, the central bank has aggressively increased the cash rate and crime has risen. The country has also become increasingly politically divided over issues such as a government overhaul of water infrastructure and the introduction of an agricultural emissions programme.
“Ardern will be remembered as a crisis leader and an able one as that,” wrote Tim Watkin, executive producer at Radio New Zealand.
“From this place in time, it would be churlish in the extreme to not acknowledge her remarkable capacity for compassion, her sure-footedness in crises when others have panicked or stumbled,” he wrote. “The question now becomes whether the voting public – who have been steadily losing faith in Ardern and her government in the past 12-18 months – accept her sacrifice or want the whole party to follow suit.”
Ardern said on Thursday that despite stepping down as prime minister she would stay on as a lawmaker until the general election.
She also made a point of telling her daughter, Neve, that she was looking forward to being there when she started school this year and told her longtime partner, Clarke Gayford, that it was time they married.
‘Intellect, strength’
World leaders paid tribute to Ardern following her announcement.
Australian Prime Minister said “Ardern has shown the world how to lead with intellect and strength” and has “demonstrated that empathy and insight are powerful leadership qualities”.
Jacinda Ardern has shown the world how to lead with intellect and strength.
She has demonstrated that empathy and insight are powerful leadership qualities.
Jacinda has been a fierce advocate for New Zealand, an inspiration to so many and a great friend to me. pic.twitter.com/QJ64mNCJMI
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thanked Ardern for her partnership and friendship, as well as her “empathetic, compassionate, strong and steady leadership over the past several years”.
“The difference you have made is immeasurable,” he tweeted.
Thank you, @JacindaArdern, for your partnership and your friendship – and for your empathic, compassionate, strong, and steady leadership over these past several years. The difference you have made is immeasurable. I’m wishing you and your family nothing but the best, my friend. pic.twitter.com/72Q5p9GZzg
Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown meanwhile expressed gratitude for the assistance his country received from New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Zealand’s “support saved our lives and enabled us to get back on our feet quicker than expected,” he said.
Critics indicate that Iván Velásquez’s accusations represent the newest assault on Guatemala’s anti-corruption officials.
After Guatemala announced it would look into a former anti-corruption investigator assigned to the nation, the UN released a statement expressing “concern.”
According to Guatemalan prosecutors, Iván Velásquez, a Colombian who oversaw the UN’s anti-corruption initiatives in Guatemala from 2013 to 2019, is being looked into for “illegal, arbitrary, and abusive acts.”
But detractors have cautioned that the investigation represents the latest attempt by Guatemala’s government to abandon its anti-corruption initiatives.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres “expresses his concern at the numerous reports suggesting that criminal prosecution is being exercised against those who sought to shed light on cases of corruption and worked to strengthen the justice system in Guatemala”, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The UN also underscored that “justice operators and officials” from its former anti-corruption campaign continue to “enjoy privileges and immunities” even after their positions have come to a close.
The campaign started in 2006 when the UN and Guatemala agreed to launch the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). The aim of the commission was to root out “criminal groups believed to have infiltrated state institutions” in the wake of Guatemala’s decades-long civil war.
In 2007, at the time when the commission was ratified, Guatemala was in the grip of a police scandal, with reports of extrajudicial killings, and there were fears corruption could erode the country’s democratic gains.
Velásquez, a Colombian who formerly served as an auxiliary magistrate to his country’s Supreme Court, was appointed to head the CICIG on August 31, 2013.
Under his leadership, the commission pursued investigations into some of Guatemala’s highest authorities, including the administration of then-President Otto Perez Molina.
Both Molina and his vice president ultimately resigned amid accusations they participated in a corruption scheme known as “La Linea”, which allegedly used customs officials to solicit bribes in exchange for evading import duties.
Molina was sentenced last month to 16 years on fraud and conspiracy charges. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The UN commission’s investigations are estimated to have led to the sentencing of more than 400 people, as well as the disruption of at least 60 criminal networks.
But the CICIG’s work came to a sudden halt in 2019, when Guatemala announced it would withdraw from the 2006 agreement with the UN. The government had previously tried to declare Velásquez a “persona non grata” and deny him entry to the country.
The move prompted fears that 12 years’ worth of government reform would be reversed. “The old actors that have manipulated the judicial system are empowered and will look to debilitate the system again,” a constitutional lawyer from Guatemala told Al Jazeera at the time. But proponents of the move said the CICIG had become a tool of political persecution.
In the years since, the Guatemalan government has faced criticism that it has retaliated against former members of the CICIG, as well as other anti-corruption figures. The Associated Press estimates that about 30 judges, magistrates and prosecutors have been forced into exile from Guatemala under its current administration.
One of the most high-profile cases was that of Juan Francisco Sandoval. Formerly the head of the Guatemalan Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity, he was sacked and fled the country in 2021.
And just this past February, another prominent anti-corruption prosecutor in Guatemala, Virginia Laparra, was arrested. Charged with abuse of authority, she was given a four-year sentence in December.
“The targeted prosecution of justice and media actors undermines Guatemalan rule of law, democracy and prosperity,” the US State Department’s spokesperson Ned Price said in response to Laparra’s sentencing.
Guatemala is now investigating Velásquez, the former CICIG head, in connection to a cooperation agreement with the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht, a company previously involved in an international bribery scandal.
The case is being led by Guatemalan prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche Cacul, whom the US State Department has previously accused of “disrupting high-profile corruption cases against government officials and raising apparently spurious claims”. He succeeded the exiled Sandoval as leader of the Guatemalan Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity.
The investigation has sparked tensions between Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro, who appointed Velásquez as defence minister.
Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Petro said he would not accept an arrest warrant for the defence minister.
Giammattei, meanwhile, told the Spanish news agency EFE that Velásquez is facing an investigation and not a criminal prosecution at this time.
“It would be nice if someone enlightened Mr Petro on the difference,” Giammattei said. Both presidents have summoned their ambassadors to each other’s country to discuss the diplomatic incident.
“I am deeply grateful to the president [Gustavo Petro] for his expressions of solidarity and trust,” Velásquez wrote.
Referring to corruption as a monster, Velásquez emphasised that he and Petro shared a common goal: “We know the monster, we have seen it up close and, from different trenches, we have fought it. We know how it transforms and the methods it uses, but it doesn’t scare us.”
After spending 40 years in Israeli prisons, Maher Younis, Karim Younis’ cousin, was finally set free.
Maher Younis, the second-longest-held Palestinian prisoner, was freed after 40 years inIsraeli jails.
On Thursday, just before 7 a.m. (05:00 GMT), Maher, 65, was freed from Eshel prison, close to Beer Sabe’ (Beer Sheva) in southern Israel.
He was detained in 1983 and later found guilty in Israeli courts, along with his cousin Karim Younis, of murdering an Israeli soldier in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in Syria in 1980.
Karim, released two weeks ago, was the longest serving Palestinian prisoner, having been arrested earlier than Maher.
The cousins are from the Palestinian village of Ara in Israel, where large crowds of relatives and friends greeted Maher on Thursday.
Upon his release, Maher visited the grave of his father, who died in 2008. His mother showered him with petals when he arrived at his home, where he was arrested at 25.
She told Al Jazeera journalists before he son’s arrival that she would not cry but would spend every moment celebrating.
Maher Younis was convicted in 1983 of killing an Israeli soldier in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights [Ammar Awad/Reuters]
Maher and Karim were originally sentenced to death by hanging. Their sentence was changed to life in prison, which was then commuted to 40 years in 2011.
Dozens of Israeli police, who had warned people in Ara against holding any kind of celebration for days before his release, surrounded the house on Thursday morning.
The Palestinian flag was not allowed to be raised, according to new orders banning it in public by Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was recently appointed National Security Minister under a new right-wing government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
While the vast majority of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are from the occupied West Bank, the Younis cousins are Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Ministers in Israel’s new government have been pushing for harsher measures against Palestinians in Israel and in occupied East Jerusalem who have carried out attacks in which Jewish Israelis are killed, such as revocation of residency and citizenship.
A heated exchange took place last week about the issue when a far-right minister said she “prefers Jewish murderers over Arab murderers”.
A report on the alleged wealth of General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the former army chief, and his family led to Shahid Aslam’s arrest last week.
In a case involving the alleged disclosure of tax information for former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and his family, a court in Islamabad has ordered the release of journalist Shahid Aslam on bail.
Aslam, a Bol News reporter, was detained by the Federal Investigation Agency last week in the eastern city of Lahore before being transported to Islamabad.
Aslam was accused of giving the news website FactFocus information about General Bajwa’s and his family’s personal tax information, which was then published in November, just before the army chief’s retirement.
Aslam denied that he was behind the leak.
The FactFocus report accused Bajwa and his family of amassing assets worth nearly $52m and presented official tax records and wealth statements to substantiate the allegations.
Aslam’s arrest was condemned by media and civil rights groups, who accused the government of pressuring the media into silence. The Committee to Protect Journalists criticised the arrest.
“The arrest of reporter Shahid Aslam underscores the dangerous environment for journalists in Pakistan,” Beh Lih Yi, its Asia programme coordinator, said in a statement.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said the arrest not only restricted Aslam’s freedom of expression, but “such tactics set the dangerous precedent of obstructing the work of investigative journalists”.
This month, Human Rights Watch warned, “Space for free expression and dissent in Pakistan is rapidly shrinking.”
“Pakistan’s politicians are locked in a power struggle in which a free media and vibrant civil society are the casualties,” it said.
Pakistan was ranked 157 out of 180 countries on the 2022 press freedom index, published annually by Reporters Without Borders. It represented a decline of 12 positions from the 2021 rankings.
Islamabad-based lawyer Aftab Alam, an expert on media laws, said, “Sedition laws in other countries are being removed, but we still use it.”
“This is a legacy of colonial-era laws, and repeatedly we have seen their usage in the name of national interests or to prevent so-called fake news,” he told Al Jazeera.
“These actions by authorities are a way to control the masses,” he said. “Our laws require reforms.”
A day before allies gather to discuss military assistance, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet with the new German Defense Minister.
As the defence chiefs of the United States and Germany prepare for a showdown over weapons that Kyiv claims could determine the outcome of the war, Ukraine has stepped up its call for the West to finally send heavy tanks.
A day before they host a meeting of dozens of allies to pledge weapons for Ukraine, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will visit Germany on Thursday to meet its new defence minister.
The aim of the meeting, which will take place at the US Ramstein air base in Germany, is to provide the weapons necessary to change the course of the war by 2023.
Top of the agenda is heavy tanks, which Kyiv says it needs to fend off a new Russian onslaught and launch counter-offensives to recapture its occupied territory.
“We have no time, the world does not have this time,” Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Thursday.
“The question of tanks for Ukraine must be closed as soon as possible,” he said.
“We are paying for the slowness with the lives of our Ukrainian people. It shouldn’t be like that.”
A Leopard 2 tank is pictured during a demonstration event held for the media by the German Bundeswehr in Munster near Hannover, Germany, September 28, 2011 [Michael Sohn, AP Photo]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a similar plea by video link to leaders gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, urging them to supply his country before Russia mounts its next missile and armoured ground attacks.
“The supplies of Western tanks must outpace another invasion of Russian tanks,” Zelenskyy said.
But for the West to send tanks, Washington will have to resolve a standoff with Berlin, which has so far demurred from authorising countries to send its Leopard 2 tanks, the workhorse of militaries across Europe.
Washington and many Western allies say the Leopards – which Germany made in the thousands during the Cold War and exported to its allies – are the only suitable option available in big enough numbers.
A German government source said Berlin would lift its objections if Washington sends its own Abrams tanks.
But US officials say the Abrams is inappropriate for Ukraine because it runs on turbine engines that use too much fuel for Kyiv’s strained logistics system to keep them supplied at the front.
Poland and Finland have already said they would send Leopards if Germany lifts its veto, and other countries have indicated they are ready to do so as well.
Britain added to the pressure by breaking the taboo on heavy tanks last week, offering a squadron from its fleet of Challengers, though far fewer of these are available than Leopards.
Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s top policy adviser, said on Wednesday Abrams tanks were not likely to be included in Washington’s next $2bn military aid package, which will include Stryker armoured vehicles.
“I just don’t think we’re there yet,” Kahl said.
“The Abrams tank is a very complicated piece of equipment. It’s expensive. It’s hard to train on. It has a jet engine.”
Germany replaced its defence minister this week and said the tank decision is the first item on the agenda of the new minister, Boris Pistorius, due to meet Austin.
Ukraine, which has relied primarily on Soviet-era T-72 tank variants, says the new tanks would give its troops the mobile firepower to drive out Russian troops in decisive battles.
Western tanks have more effective armour and better guns than Soviet-era counterparts, which have been destroyed in their hundreds on both sides during the 11 months of war in Ukraine.
Fighting has been concentrated in the south and east of Ukraine after Russia’s initial assault from the north aimed at taking Kyiv was thwarted during the first months Russia’s “special military operation”.
After major Ukrainian gains in the second half of 2022, the front lines have largely been frozen in place over the past two months, with neither side making big gains despite heavy casualties in intense trench warfare.
“The situation on the front line remains tough,” Zelenskyy said in a video address on Wednesday.
“We are seeing a gradual increase in the number of bombardments and attempts to conduct offensive actions by the invaders.”
Some opposition leaders and Sonko’s supporters believe the president of Senegal is trying to get rid of a potential rival by bringing this case.
According to a judge conducting the investigation, Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko will go on trial in 2021 on charges of rape and threatening to kill a worker at a beauty parlour.
According to a letter from the judge dated January 17 and obtained by the Reuters news agency on Wednesday, the case has been referred to Senegal’s criminal chamber for trial.
Sonko’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the 48-year-old politician has previously denied all the charges.
A trial could jeopardise his intention to compete in the 2024 presidential election. Sonko, who came third in the 2019 election, has announced he will run.
It could also stoke political tensions in Senegal. Clashes broke out in the country in March 2021 when Sonko was initially summoned by the investigating judge and arrested.
Sonko is accused of sexually assaulting a woman who worked in a massage parlour and later threatening her. He and his backers say the trial is politically motivated to eliminate him from the presidential race.
He enjoys widespread support among Senegalese youth, many of who are frustrated with the government as unemployment and economic hardship have remained high, leading to sporadic and sometimes violent protests.
Cries of “Macky Sall is a dictator” rang out in Dakar during one protest in July 2022.
El Hadj Diouf, lawyer for the plaintiff, said his client was delighted by the judge’s decision.
“It does not come as a surprise. We have nothing to hide,” he told Reuters by telephone.
The Palm Trunk Stadium stampede in Basra resulted in two fatalities and about 80 injuries, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry.
Before the game even started, the Iraqi Football Federation reported that about 90% of the tickets had already been sold. Many Iraqi football fans, especially those who had traveled from other provinces, were incensed by that, according to Abdelwahed.
The final tournament match between Iraq and Oman attracted fans from all over the Gulf, further taxing Basra’s already overburdened infrastructure.
Decades of sanctions and political instability in Iraq had prevented the country from hosting any sport activities. “Authorities say we are lucky to host such special event, but the city is not as prepared as it should be,” Abdelwahed said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has arrived in Basra for an urgent meeting with officials.
The final between Iraq and Oman is likely to be postponed if the casualties at Basra’s stadium are confirmed, Al Jazeera’s Samer Youssef has reported.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani is holding urgent meetings in the southern city ahead of the game. According to government sources, the match may be postponed or transferred to another neutral country if casualties are confirmed.
Youssef said the interior ministry had issued warnings ahead of the game, calling on non-ticket holders to avoid heading to the stadium.
Journalist Ismael Adnan, reporting from near the stadium, described the situation around Basra’s international stadium as “very chaotic”.
Al Jazeera’s Samer Yousef said videos filmed inside the stadium showed the facility at capacity, with security personnel asking the crowd to retreat.
He said it remained unclear if the final would go ahead.
The T-6B Texan II aircraft, which took off from Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field in Florida on Tuesday morning, crashed near Naval Outlying Landing Field Barin in Foley.
According to NAS Whiting Field public affairs, the Navy instructor pilot and student aviator in the plane were forced to eject at around 10:50 a.m. local time, with only minor injuries reported.
The cause of the crash was unknown at the time, and the incident is being investigated.
The T-6B, a two-seat turboprop used to train Navy and Marine Corps pilots, has been involved in several mishaps in the past few years, including an October 2020 crash that killed the two occupants aboard. That accident also happened near Foley.
Prior to that, a trainer plane from Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, crashed in May 2019 in Oklahoma, with both pilots ejecting.
The Navy in 2022 had 17 Class A manned aviation mishaps — incidents in which someone is killed or that involves damages of $2.5 million or more — up from 10 mishaps in 2021, according to Naval Safety Command data.
The 2022 number reflects the service’s highesttotal Class A manned mishaps since 2014’s 15 mishaps.
Following a vote by members to reject a 4% pay offer because they believed it represented a “massive real terms pay cut,” GMB union bosses claimed that the government’s “cold dead hands” were preventing the creation of a proper pay offer.
Six additional strike dates have been set by ambulance workers as their ongoing dispute over pay, jobs, and working conditions.
On February 6 and 20, as well as March 6 and 20, more than 10,000 GMB union members who work as paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers, and other ambulance staff at eight NHS trusts are planning to strike.
Workers at West Midlands ambulance service will also strike on 23 January and North West Ambulance Service will walk out on 24 January.
The dates have been announced after talks with the government broke down, with the union saying their members are “angry” and “are done”.
GMB union members voted against the government’s 4% pay rise, saying it was “another massive real terms pay cut”.
Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said: “Our message to the government is clear – talk pay now.
“Ministers have made things worse by demonising the ambulance workers who provided life and limb cover on strike days – playing political games with their scaremongering.
“The only way to solve this dispute is a proper pay offer. But it seems the cold, dead hands of Number 10 and 11 Downing Street are stopping this from happening.
“In the face of government inaction, we are left with no choice but industrial action.
“GMB ambulance workers are determined, they’re not going to back down. It’s up to this government to get serious on pay. We are waiting.”
The ambulance services that workers will be walking out in February and March from are: South West, South East, North West, South Central, North East, East Midlands, Welsh, and Yorkshire.
Unite, which represents 100,000 NHS workers, said its ambulance committee is meeting later on Wednesday to set new strike dates that will then be put to members to confirm.
According to Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the previous administration of Prime Minister Imran Khan was accused of taking the “wrong approach” toward the armed group Pakistan Taliban (Tahreek-e-Taliban, or TTP).
In an interview with Al Jazeera on Tuesday, Zardari said, “Its policy of appeasement towards the Taliban has created problems for the people of Pakistan.” He added that his government has abandoned the previous strategy.
“We recently had a national security meeting of the top political and military leadership our country where it was decided that we would not tolerate terrorist groups and anybody who violates the law in Pakistan,” the foreign minister said.
Pakistan has seen rise in attacks by the Pakistan Taliban after the armed group unilaterally ended an Afghan Taliban-brokered ceasefire agreement in November.
The Pakistani Taliban, which claims to have thousands of fighters and supporters, shares some ideological affinity with the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan but it comprises of mostly local fighters.
Islamabad repeatedly accuses the Taliban government in Afghanistan of sheltering Pakistan Taliban leadership on Afghan soil – an allegation denied by Kabul.
“We recently had a national security meeting of the top political and military leadership our country where it was decided that we would not tolerate terrorist groups and anybody who violates the law in Pakistan,” the foreign minister said.
Pakistan has seen rise in attacks by the Pakistan Taliban after the armed group unilaterally ended an Afghan Taliban-brokered ceasefire agreement in November.
The Pakistani Taliban, which claims to have thousands of fighters and supporters, shares some ideological affinity with the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan but it comprises of mostly local fighters.
Islamabad repeatedly accuses the Taliban government in Afghanistan of sheltering Pakistan Taliban leadership on Afghan soil – an allegation denied by Kabul.
Pakistan Taliban threat
Earlier in January, Pakistan Taliban warned the country’s main ruling parties of “concrete action” against their top leadership in the government for “declaring war” against it.
A statement released by the Pakistan Taliban in first week of January explicitly named Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Zardari.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government was against taking military action against the Pakistan Taliban before using consuming other options.
Earlier in January he blamed the government of his successor, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, for making “dangerously irresponsible” statements against the Afghan Taliban authorities and causing strains in bilateral ties rather than seeking cooperation over the Pakistan Taliban threat
The Pakistani foreign minister also reiterated on the need to engage with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers despite the group’s hardline policies vis-a-vis women. Last month, the Taliban banned women from universities. Shortly after the group also banned women from working in NGOs.
Some aid groups have resumed operations after women healthworkers were allowed to work.
“The solution is to engage the Afghan government and try to convince them to live up to their promises to the international community whether it is to do with women’s rights or the issue of terrorism,” Zardari told Al Jazeera.
In the interview with Al Jazeera, foreign minister Zardari also confirmed that he has not recalled the Pakistani ambassador in Afghanistan back home after an attack on its mission in Kabul last month.
“He was due back for some briefings and dialogues. I hope we will have the security necessary to send him soon,” he said.
