In connection with the 10 fatalities in a stampede on New Year‘s Eve at a concert in the nation’s capital, Kampala, a music promoter in Uganda has been charged with nine counts of negligence.
On Tuesday night, Abbey Musinguzi appeared before the Makindye Chief Magistrate’s Court. He was remanded to Luzira prison after denying the accusations.
The prosecution claims that when he shut down the mall’s entrances, leaving only one gate open for more than 20,000 people to leave, he started a stampede at Freedom City Mall.
The 52-year-old was arrested on Monday.
His lawyer claims his client is being targeted because he is a known supporter of opposition National Unity Platform leader Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine.
Meanwhile, the police have summoned more people, including the owner of the building, to record statements over the deadly incident.
Mozambique replaced Kenya at the UN Security Council on Tuesday with a promise to prioritise the fight against terrorism.
The country will serve at the council as a non-permanent member for the next two years.
“We are going to deal a lot with terrorism,” said Mozambican ambassador to the UN, Pedro Comissário.
Mozambique has been battling an Islamist insurgency in its northern Cabo Delgado province for the past five years. The conflict has displaced over one million people and killed around 4,000 others, according to official data.
Mr Comissário said the country would also push for reforms at the Security Council to address “African concerns”.
“It is necessary to pay attention to reforming the Security Council to reflect African concerns, a region that has suffered historical injustice. We have no permanent member on the Security Council,” said Mr Comissário.
The Security Council has five permanent members – the United States of America, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and China – and 10 non-permanent members.
The three men were accused of conspiring to commit a crime and concealing treason. They dispute the accusations.
They have been accused of plotting and concealing information about the attempted overthrow of President Adama Barrow in October and December 2022 in Banjul, the nation’s capital, and other locations.
They were also accused of failing to alert the appropriate authorities after learning of a plot to remove President Barrow from office from the alleged ringleader.
Last week, a national security adviser said civilians were involved with their role being to finance the alleged foiled coup.
In December, the government said it had thwarted an attempt to stage a coup and arrested some soldiers.
This is the first time the accused people have been taken to court. The military personnel will be taken to a court martial.
Republican leader Kevin McCarthy repeatedly failed in his bid to be elected Speaker of the US House of Representatives on a day of political drama not witnessed in Congress in a century.
On Tuesday evening, the House adjourned without electing a speaker, the first time this had happened since the first round of elections in 1923.
The beginning of a new Congress was meant to be the Republican Party’s victory lap after winning control of the lower chamber in the elections held in November. Instead, he encountered an internal uprising and made history for all the wrong reasons.
The California congressman has lost three consecutive votes for Speaker so far, and it’s unclear what his path to victory could be when the House returns on Wednesday to try all over again. They will keep voting until someone wins a majority.
And even if Mr McCarthy finds a way, analysts warn, the turmoil on the floor of the House foreshadows a tumultuous two years of moderate and right-wing Republicans at war with each other.
‘Negotiations made him look weak’
Republicans narrowly won control of the House in November, so Mr McCarthy only had a few votes to spare in his bid to become Speaker. That allowed a group of hardline conservatives to band together to oppose his nomination.
The rift was a long time coming, according to Republican observers.
“Kevin McCarthy has not made friends with certain segments of the caucus for a while; he’s made a lot of enemies,” said one Republican lobbyist, who requested anonymity to speak frankly about Tuesday’s vote. “There’s people who don’t like him for political reasons, for personal reasons.”
Mr McCarthy entered into negotiations with his detractors – who see him as too mainstream and power hungry – offering concessions to try to win their vote. At one point, he reportedly agreed to change the House rules to make it easier to oust a sitting Speaker, handing his opponents an enormous check on his power.
“The fact he was negotiating with the Republicans at all made him look very, very weak to the point of being desperate,” the Republican lobbyist said.
His opponents feel emboldened
The futility of that approach became clear on Tuesday.
In three consecutive votes, Mr McCarthy failed to reach the required 218 vote threshold. Though Republicans hold 222 seats, a bloc of 19 hard-right Republicans had solidified in opposition to him. They oppose Mr McCarthy on ideological and personal grounds, but also see an opportunity to exploit Republicans’ narrow majority to force further concessions from him.
They would “never back down,” Representative Rob Good, a Virginia Republican, told reporters on Tuesday.
In one of the day’s most dramatic moments, they even nominated Representative Jim Jordan to challenge him, just moments after Mr Jordan himself nominated Mr McCarthy for Speaker.
Even after Mr Jordan – who is a leading figure in the hard-right Freedom Caucus – urged Republicans to “rally around” Mr McCarthy in the third round of voting, 20 Republicans voted for Mr Jordan, again denying victory to Mr McCarthy.
Meanwhile, Democrats remained unified behind their party’s new leader, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
A few could not help publicly teasing their Republican counterparts about their party’s difficult afternoon. One congressman, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, tweeted that Democrats were “breaking the popcorn out,” and as evidence included a photo of the snack.
What are McCarthy’s options now?
Political observers in Washington have begun spinning out various theories about how this all could end. Their predictions to the BBC ranged from the feasible (Mr McCarthy holds out and wins, but walks away seriously weakened) to the entirely possible (he bows out and backs his second in command, Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana). One suggestion verged on fantasy (five Republicans decide to vote for Mr Jeffries, a Democrat, and deliver him control of the House).
As it stands, Mr McCarthy is “essentially hostage to one side of his party,” said Ruth Bloch Rubin, a political scientist at the University of Chicago who studies partisanship.
Mr McCarthy has pledged not to make any more concessions, but may not have a choice. He could try to win over obstinate lawmakers with plum committee assignments or new leadership roles.
“He’s got to give the people who are against him something to hang their hat on,” said Aaron Cutler, a lobbyist who once worked for former congressman Eric Cantor, another politician who was ousted by conservative opposition. The other Republican lobbyist, however, believed there was “no path to victory, at all, period.”
Members will reconvene for a fourth time on Wednesday, though it’s unclear if the stalemate will break.
“We haven’t heard anything new from McCarthy,” one of the conservative holdouts, Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, told reporters. “So I guess we’ll just keep doing this.”
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has signed into law a budget of more than $45 billion (£37 billion) for 2023.
It is his administration’s final budget.
According to the budget, the government intends to sell some public assets in order to reduce the massive deficit, which amounts to just less than 5% of GDP.
Along with the main budget, there is an additional budget to deal with the aftermath of the recent nationwide floods, which damaged critical infrastructure.
A large portion of the budget is funded by the earnings from crude oil, but volatility in the oil price has meant that borrowing has increased and forced the government to look for other ways to raise funds.
Mr Buhari’s two terms in office will come to an end after voters elect hissuccessornext month.
Ministers argue that it makes sense to ask adults to wear masks when they have a respiratory infection and must venture outside.
Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, stated that he fully supported the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) recommendations.
The UKHSA reiterated the guidance, which has been in effect in England for months, as businesses and educational institutions reopened after the Christmas holiday.
It happens as pressure on the NHS is increasing, which is in part due to high rates of the flu and cholera.
Mr Harper said he recognised staff were under “tremendous pressure” and the government had offered more resources to the NHS and social care to help services cope.
This includes a £500m winter fund targeted at helping hospitals discharge patients who are medically fit to leave but cannot because of a lack of support available in the community.
“I hope these resources are going to help in the coming months to relieve some of the pressure on our hard-worked health and care staff,” Mr Harper said
It was “sensible” to ask ill adults to wear masks if needed to go out, he said, but best to stay home if possible.
The UKHSA has also asked parents to keep children off school if they have a fever.
There have been sharp rises in the numbers of people in hospital with Covid and flu in recent weeks – about one in eight beds inEngland is now occupied by patients with these infections.
Senior doctors have described the NHS as on a knife edge, with some accident and emergency units in a “complete state of crisis”.
In recent days, a number of hospitals have declared critical incidents, suggesting they cannot function as usual because of extraordinary pressure.
‘I had to sleep in my car while waiting for an emergency op’
Having gone to A&E with stomach pain, Michael Woodcock, from Harrogate, was told he needed an emergency operation because his appendix was at risk of bursting.
It was late at night and he was booked in for surgery the following day – but with no beds available, asked nurses whether he could sleep in his car rather than a waiting-room chair.
“I ended up getting some blankets from the nurses and sleeping in the car for a few hours and then heading back into the hospital in the morning for the operation,” Mr Woodcock said.
Labour criticised the government’s management of the health service, while the Liberal Democrats called for Parliament to be recalled early.
MPs are due back at Westminster next Monday, following their Christmas break.
Prof Phil Banfield, who chairs theBritish Medical Association, which represents doctors, called on the government to “step up and take immediate action”.
The situation was “intolerable and unsustainable”, he said, with the NHS’s survival on a knife edge and patients needlessly dying because of a political choice.
Richard Webber, of the College of Paramedics, said the current situation was the worst in his 30-year career.
Delays were causing patients “significant harm”, he said, with ambulance services now struggling to find available crews for cardiac arrests – the highest category of emergency call.
“I’ve never known anything like it,” Mr Webber said.
In Mexico, a shootout has claimed at least seven lives as authorities look for 30 prisoners who staged a bloody prison break on Sunday.
At least two state investigators were killed when gunmen opened fire on them as they searched for the fugitives.
Although it is still unclear if any of the escapees were among those killed, five gunmen also perished in the shoot-out.
The Sinaloa cartel is suspected of being behind the violence, along with the Los Mexicles gang.
Sunday’s prison break in Ciudad Juárez was one of the deadliest in recent times, leaving 10 guards and seven inmates dead.
Suspected members of Los Mexicles took advantage of the busy visiting hours on Sunday morning as relatives flocked to the jail to wish their loved ones a happy new year.
They arrived in several armoured cars and opened fire on the guards at the entrance, according to local media.
At the same time, inmates set mattresses alight inside their cells to create confusion and distract the guards.
At first, officials said two dozen inmates had escaped, but the head of the state prison system has since announced that the number was “at least 30.”
Among those who escaped is the leader of Los Mexicles, Ernesto Piñón de la Cruz, also known as El Neto.
El Neto, 33, has been in prison for 14 years serving a sentence for kidnapping and murder. An attempt by his gang to free him during a prison transfer in 2010 failed and he was injured.
Image caption,El Neto began his criminal career as a teenager, kidnapping locals for ransom
He appears to have wielded enormous power from behind bars, where he enjoyed a more luxurious life than less well-connected prisoners.
Mexico’s defence minister said 10 “VIP cells” had been “discovered” during a search of the jail.
El Neto’s cell boasted a jacuzzi, a plasma TV and a safe containing 1.7m pesos ($87,000; £73,000).
Police also found 16kg of marijuana, 4kg of crystal meth and 1.5kg of heroin, as well as several weapons.
Image caption,Police managed to secure some of the weapons used in the prison break
Federal officials say the state of Chihuahua, in which theprison is located, is to blame for the lack of oversight, while Chihuahua officials say their requests to have El Neto moved to a federal institution with higher levels of security have been turned down.
Residents of Ciudad Juárez told local media they were terrified after the breakout, as El Neto is believed to have been behind a wave of killings in August 2022 known as “Black Thursday,” in which 10 people without any links to criminal gangs were killed across the city.
Police are carrying out checks at nearby airports and on main highways to try and prevent him and his fellow escapees from leaving the state.
Nearly four years after filing a case of criminal conspiracy andfraud against him, Venugopal Dhoot, one of India’s most well-known business tycoons, was arrested earlier this week.
His arrest followed the detention of Chanda Kochhar, the former head of ICICI Bank, and her husband Deepak for an alleged fraud in which it is alleged that in 2009, Kochhar approved high-value loans to Dhoot’s company in exchange for investments in her husband’s renewable energy company.
The third-largest lender in India is ICICI, and Kochhar, its legendary CEO, served as a role model for female bankers.
Kochhar and her husband have denied allegations of quid pro quo, saying the investment from Dhoot’s company was a genuine one.
These arrests mark a crucial turning point in a case that has seen its first arrests since the alleged offences were recorded by investigators in January 2019.
According to local media reports, Dhoot, who has been denying the allegations, has offered to turn approver (give evidence).
“This could open a Pandora’s box,” Arvind Gupta, an ICICI shareholder who blew the whistle on the alleged scam in 2016, told the BBC.
“The investigation is a start in the right direction, but its scope needs to be widened since Kochhar wasn’t the only person on the ICICI credit committee that approved the loan,” Mr Gupta said.
He added that the complexity of the alleged fraud would require inter-departmental coordination between all of India’s investigative agencies to get to the bottom of the case.
The rise of Venugopal Dhoot
Through the 1990s and the early years of the new millennium, Venugopal Dhoot was a ubiquitous presence at industry events, corporate soirees and budget consultations.
He was a darling of business journalists because of his accessibility and willingness to give a quick byte or quote, and his views were much sought after.
Born in an agrarian family that had the licence to distribute Bajaj scooters in Aurangabad city and other parts of the western state of Maharashtra, Dhoot was instrumental in Videocon’s spectacular transformation into a consumer goods firm by the 1990s.
The company was among the first to introduce colour television sets in India and gradually expanded into manufacturing other consumer appliances such as washing machines, air conditioners and refrigerators, earning Dhoot the moniker “king” of India’s white goods market.
Image caption,Dhoot was instrumental in Videocon’s spectacular transformation into a consumer goods firm by the 1990s
Dhoot came from a small town and initially struggled with speaking English ,but that didn’t get in the way of him building good relationships with politicians and other businessmen.
Until the 1990s, he reaped the benefits of sky-high import duties on global firms, which made it hard for those brands to compete with Videocon, according to Arvind Singhal, chairman of retail consultancy Technopak Advisors.
But an aggressive branding and distribution strategy was also a key reason why it outlasted other homegrown brands in the market for nearly two decades.
“They roped in cricketers and film stars and invested in a pan-India network of distribution and service stores,” Mr Singhal says. “They were number one in the market, and then a respectable number two and number three right until 2008-09.”
The downfall
It was the combination of intense competition from South Korean brands such as Samsung and LG, and Videocon’s unnecessary diversification into “fantasies” such as oil and gas and telecom at a time when they should’ve been protecting their core turf, that precipitated Dhoot’s downfall, Mr Singhal says.
After winning spectrum to launch commercial operations, Videocon Telecommunications was among the companies that saw their licences being cancelled following the 2G spectrum scam – relating to alleged irregularities in the selling of telecom spectrum licences.
It won the licence back in some states, but eventually wound down operations after selling the spectrum to Bharti Airtel.
Dhoot’s ambition of metamorphosing into an oil and gas giant didn’t materialise either. His insurance business met a similar fate.
By 2012, Videocon was one among a list of other highly indebted firms – including the Essar Group, GVK, GMR, and Reliance ADAG – that Credit Suisse’s House of Debt report said posed a “concentration risk” to Indian banks.
The aggregate debt of these 10 groups was equal to 13% of bank loans and 98% of the banking system’s net worth.
Image caption,Dhoot was once a ubiquitous presence at industry events, corporate soirees and budget consultations
A review of the situation three years later by Credit Suisse found that that despite attempts by groups like Videocon and GMR to reduce debt through asset sales, their financial stress had “intensified further”, with Dhoot’s company seeing among the largest increase in debt levels.
By 2018, India’s bankruptcy court had initiated insolvency proceedings against Videocon. In under a year, Dhoot was also battling federal investigations into the ICICI Bank loan, for which he is in custody.
The endgame
As a probe begins into the alleged wrongdoings, ICICI Bank remains a resilient force, and barring Kochhar, seems to have put the crisis behind itself and moved on.
But for Dhoot, a comeback to the pole position he once commanded will be a tall order.
His meteoric success, and dramatic downfall, are in many ways no different from a number of other Indian industrialists who through the 2000s diversified through borrowings, says Amit Tandon, founder and managing director of IiAS, an institutional advisory.
“Diffused focus and macro-economic headwinds hit many who either lost theirbusinesses or are a pale shadow of themselves.”
Tesla, an electric car manufacturer, claims it delivered a record 1.3 million vehicles in 2018, a 40% increase from 2021.
It follows the company’s more than 405,000 vehicle deliveries in the final three months of 2022.
That number, however, fell short of Wall Street predictions of 430,000 deliveries for the time period.
The demand for automobiles is anticipated to slow this year as potential customers fret over the recession and rising interest rates.
In a statement to investors, Tesla said it had to deal with “significant COVID and supply chain related challenges throughout the year”.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, authorities in South Korea said they would fine Tesla $2.2 million (£1.8 million) for failing to tell its customers about the shorter driving range of its electric vehicles in low temperatures.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission said the company had exaggerated the “driving ranges of its cars on a single charge, their fuel cost-effectiveness compared to gasoline vehicles, as well as the performance of its superchargers.”
Tesla did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.
Highlighting the logistics issues faced by the world’s most valuable car maker, deliveries in the fourth quarter of the year were about 34,000 fewer than what Tesla produced.
The shortfall is unusual for Tesla, as it had previously managed to deliver about as many vehicles as it produced.
In October, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said he was working to resolve the issue.
Like other car makers, Tesla faces the potential challenge of slowing demand for vehicles as customers deal with rising borrowing costs and concerns about an economic slowdown.
Tesla also faces competition from traditional motor manufacturing giants such as Ford and General Motors, as well as newer entrants to the market like Rivian and Lucid in the US and China’s BYD and Nio.
The company is scheduled to announce financial results for the fourth quarter of 2022 and the year as a whole on 25 January.
Tesla said in a separate statement that it plans to host its Investor Day on 1 March and livestream the event from its Gigafactory in Texas.
“Our investors will be able to see our most advanced production line as well as discuss long-term expansion plans, the Generation 3 platform, capital allocation, and other subjects with our leadership team,” the company said.
Tesla’s shares fell by 65% in 2022 – its worst year since going public in 2010 – as investors worried about disruptions to production, concerns over a slowdown in demand and Mr Musk’s focus on Twitter.
The multi-billionaire bought thesocial media platform at the end of October for $44 billion (£36.4 billion) and has spent much of his time since then trying to turn the business around.
An investigation into a fatal fire that occurred at a hotel in Perth has been started by police and fire personnel.
Early on Monday morning, a fire at the New County Hotelclaimed the lives of three people.
At its peak, there were nine fire appliances, 21 ambulance crews, and 60 firefighters on the scene after the alarm was raised at approximately 05:10.
Two residents of nearby apartments and hotel guests were evacuated.
Eleven people were treated at the scene by the Scottish Ambulance Service.
The fire was extinguished at about 06:30 and three bodies were discovered in a subsequent search.
A dog also died in the blaze, according to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).
Police Scotland said officers were conducting a joint investigation with the fire service.
Ch Supt Phil Davison added: “Our thoughts are very much with the families and loved ones of those who have died at what is a very difficult time for everyone.”
Police confirmed that three people died at the scene of the fire.
Jason Sharp, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service area commander for Perth, Kinross, Angus and Dundee, described it as a “very complex incident”.
“Our firefighters worked extremely hard in a very complex and challenging environment to prevent the further spread of fire and damage where possible,” he said on Monday afternoon.
“At its height, we had nine fire appliances in attendance with over 60 firefighters.
“We’re currently still in attendance to make sure the scene is safe. I would like to thank our crews and our other emergency partners and local authority for their support.”
Image caption,The emergency services were called to the scene shortly after 05:00
Residents of the city center street spoke of a sense of shock that such a tragedy could have happened on the second day of the new year.
“We were wakened at 05:00 when the alarms went off and the lights were flashing in my room,” one resident told BBC Scotland.
“Obviously as we were watching it unfold, police incident units were arriving.” The fire brigade and 21 ambulances were outside.
“It was pretty horrendous to watch. It was frightening. When I saw the private ambulance, I knew it only meant one thing. Then I realized it was major.”
Deputy First Minister John Swinney, who is the local MSP, paid tribute to the work of the emergency services.
“The news of the major fire at the New County Hotel in Perth and the loss of life that has been associated with that has been an absolutely tragic start to 2023 in the city of Perth,” he said.
“I extend my deepest sympathies to everybody who has been involved in this tragedy and affected by this tragedy.
“There has been a huge effort by the emergency services to try to avoid the loss of life and address the very serious fire that has emerged, and a whole host of support work has been put in place to assist those who have been affected, and I’m grateful to everybody for their efforts in these very sad circumstances.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon described it as a “sad and shocking incident”.
In a post onTwitter,she added: “My deepest condolences are with the bereaved and my thoughts are with all those involved.
“I am also hugely grateful to the firefighters who responded and to our other emergency services.”
After several tense exchanges with the military junta that have strained relations between the two nations, Burkina Faso has requested that France recall its ambassador, Luc Hallade, according to the Paris-based pan-African publication Jeune Afrique, which cited unnamed sources in Paris.
Olivia Rouamba, the foreign minister of Burkina Faso, is said to have written to theFrench presidency “at the end of December” requesting a change of representative.
The change occurs less than two weeks after Barbara Manzi, the UN resident coordinator, was expelled by Burkina Faso.
In November, the French embassy in Ouagadougou accused Burkina Faso of failing to provide adequate protection to its premises, which were attacked during anti-French protests last year.
In July, Ambassador Hallade was forced to apologise for comparing militant violence in Burkina Faso to a civil war.
Burkina Faso is increasingly embracing Russia, seemingly under the influence of Mali which cut diplomatic ties with France last year after Paris condemned Bamako’s use of Russian mercenaries.
The deaths of 28 people, whose bodies were discovered in the town of Nouna in the country’s northwest, are being investigated by the Burkinabe authorities.
The killings were discovered the night of December 30, according to a statement from the government, which also denounced the “unacceptable violence.”
According to prosecutors, the victims were shot to death, but neither the identity of the perpetrators nor the nature of the attacks were revealed, according to the Reuters news agency.
The authorities have called for calm pending the outcome of the investigation.
“This drama occurs at a time when Burkina Fasohas initiated an operation of mobilisation of the whole people for unity of action in the fight against terrorism,” the government statement said.
The West African country is battling an Islamist insurgency has already displaced nearly two million people, and prompted two military coups within a year.
Egypt has received a looted ancient Egyptian sarcophagus that was previously on display in a US museum.
The 2.9-meter (9.5-foot)-long “Green Coffin” belonged to a priest by the name of Ankhenmaat and is from the Late Dynastic Period, which lasted from 664 BC to 332 BC.
An international network of art smugglers stole it from the Abu Sir Necropolis in northernEgypt and smuggled it into the US in 2008.
A collector loaned it to the Houston Museum of Natural Science in 2013.
The sarcophagus was repatriated after an investigation that lasted several years and was formally handed over by US diplomats at a ceremony in Cairo on Monday. The event was attended by Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Tourism and Antiquities Minister Ahmed Issa.
Image caption,Mostafa Waziri, the top official at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, inspected the sarcophagus
“Today’s ceremony is emblematic of the long history of co-operation between the United States and Egypt on antiquities protection and cultural heritage preservation,” said US chargé d’affaires in Egypt, Daniel Rubinstein.
Mr Issa said the return of the sarcophagus showed Egypt’s strenuous efforts to recover smuggled artefacts.
In September, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the Green Coffin, which was valued at over $1m (£830,000), was illegally trafficked out of Egypt by a multinational network of antiquities smugglers.
The network was also responsible for trafficking the “Gold Coffin”, which was which was returned to Egypt in 2019, the Stele of Pa-di-Sena, which is also from the Late Dynastic Period and was handed over in 2020, and five pieces seized from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art last year.
The US is not the only country to have returned antiquities to Egypt recently.
In 2021, Israel handed over 95 relics which had been smuggled into the country or found for sale in Jerusalem.
Last month, a university in theRepublic of Ireland said it was planning to repatriate a sarcophagus, mummified human remains and canopic jars.
The 2023 Oscars ceremony inFrance will not allow anyone who is potentially facing a prison sentence for sexual assault.
Next month’s César Awards said its actions were motivated by respect for any potential victims.
It denotes that French actor Sofiane Bennacer, who is being investigated for alleged rape and denies it, will not be attending the ceremony.
If Mr. Bennacer attended, there would have been concerns about protests.
It follows a backlash in 2020, when Roman Polanski, wanted in the US for statutory rape, won best director.
The César Academy, which hands out the awards, took Mr. Bennacer off the list of nominees in November and announced it was thinking about changing the rules regarding eligibility.
Now it has been announced that anyone being investigated for violent crimes punishable by imprisonment, especially those of a sexual nature, will be barred from attending this year’s ceremony on February 25.
The rule also applies to anyone who has been convicted of such an offence.
The Academy will vote on whether to make a permanent change to eligibility criteria.
“Out of respect for the victims… it has been decided not to highlight people who may have been implicated by the judiciary in acts of violence,” it said in a statement, noting that this included “presumed” victims in cases under investigation.
Mr Bennacer, 25, had been nominated for his role in Les Amandiers – titled Forever Young abroad – before police launched an investigation into allegations of rape and sexual assault.
He denied the accusations, and the film’s director, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, said he was the victim of a “media lynching”.
Her sister, former French First Lady Carla Bruni, said the treatment of the actor undermined the presumption of innocence.
The Academy is facing an ongoing reckoning over accusations of sexual violence in the film industry.
The entire board resigned in 2020 after Mr Polanski was nominated for best director. When he won, there was significant outcry, with several actresses walking out of the ceremony.
Mr Polanski has been wanted in the US for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl since the 1970s. He admitted unlawful sex with a minor in 1977 and served six weeks in prison, but later fled the US over concern that a plea bargain deal would be scrapped.
In 2019 former model Valentine Monnier accused him of raping her in 1975. A lawyer for Mr Polanski said he disputed the allegation “in the strongest terms”.
Rail workers are continuing their strike action this week in a dispute over pay, jobs, and conditions, and passengers in Scotland and Wales have been warned to expect significant disruption.
The RMT union has declared that on January 3, 4, 6, and 7, employees at Network Rail will go on strike.
Transport for Wales and ScotRail, who are not parties to the dispute, have both issued warnings that the walkouts in England will have a negative impact on their services.
According to ScotRail, this is due to the fact that many of the Network Rail employees protesting in safety-sensitive positions.
David Simpson, ScotRail service delivery director, said: “It’s really disappointing to see more widespread disruption across the whole Great Britain rail network as a result of the dispute between Network Rail and the RMT at a time when we need to be encouraging more people back to the railway.
“For ScotRail, it’s going to mean that we won’t be able to operate the vast majority of our services between 3 and 7 January, which we know will be really frustrating for our customers.”
Meanwhile, Transport for Wales told the BBC that asNetwork Rail owns and operates the track, stations, and signaling in Britain, the strikes mean only a limited number of trains can run.
It said, “The industrial action resulting from the dispute between the unions and Network Rail means we’ll be unable to operate rail services on Network Rail infrastructure.”
In the center ofMozambique, elephant herds have destroyed homes, granaries, and crops.
The animals were in desperate need of water, according to Safala province officials, as their usual sources had completely dried up.
They claimed that because the elephants were destroying everything in their path, some families had to leave their homes and relocate.
Elephants encroaching on areas of human settlement are an increasing problem in Mozambique, and they are leaving conservation areas in search of food and water.
The national environmental body says nearly 100 people have been killed by wild animals in the past two years.
Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria, is at the center of a political uproar after supporting Peter Obi, an opposition candidate for president, ahead of the general election scheduled for next month.
Mr. Obasanjo described Mr. Obi of the Labour Party in his endorsement as a “mentee” with an “edge over other candidates.”
He added that the nation of West Africa had “moved from [the] frying pan into [the] fire and from the mountain top to the valley” in regards to its current situation.
Mr Obasanjo governed Nigeria between 1999 and 2007 as the flag bearer for the now-main opposition PDP party. But he has since distanced himself from the party.
In an angry response, President Muhammadu Buhari’s office said the former leader was “being jealous” and represented the “dark days of Nigeria’s democracy.”
The former president thinks “he is the best ever to lead Nigeria and there will never be another one better than him,” a statement from a presidential aide said.
MORALLY SQUALID OBASANJO ATTACKS LEADERS OUT OF FRUSTRATION
Peter Obi is seen as one of the three main contenders. The others are Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the governng APC and Abubakar Atiku of the opposition PDP.
Local outlets quote Mr Tinubu’s campaign as saying that their candidate “will not lose sleep” over Mr Obasanjo’s endorsement, while Mr Atiku’s camp said the “endorsement of an individual no matter how highly placed does not translate to victory at the polls”.
A far-right Israeli minister’s visit to a contentious holy site in Jerusalem has been denounced by Palestinians as a “unprecedented provocation.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister of national security who has called for a tougher stance against the Palestinians, toured the area while being guarded by law enforcement.
Israel and the Palestinians are bitterly divided by competing claims to the compound.
With the election of Israel’s new nationalistic government, tensions have increased.
Mr Ben-Gvir’s visit was his first public act since the government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was sworn in five days ago.
The hilltop site is the most sacred place in Judaism and third holiest in Islam. It is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, site of two Biblical temples, and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, the site of Muhammad’s ascent to Heaven.
Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to go there but not pray, though Palestinians see visits by Jews as attempts to change the delicate status quo.
The most religious and hard-line government in Israel’s history has been sworn in.
Benjamin Netanyahu returns as prime minister, after his Likud party formed a coalition with ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies.
There is domestic and international concern it will inflame the conflict with the Palestinians, damage the judiciary and restrict minority rights.
Mr Netanyahu has promised to pursue peace and safeguard civil rights.
Addressing a special session of the Knesset (parliament) in Jerusalem, he stated that his administration would “restore governance, peace and personal security to the citizens of Israel”.
“I hear the opposition’s constant laments about ‘the end of the state’, ‘the end of democracy’, members of the opposition, losing the elections is not the end of democracy – this is the essence of democracy.”
Mr Netanyahu was heckled by his opponents, some of whom chanted “weak”.
They suggest he has been forced to sign deals with hard-line parties because more liberal ones refuse to sit in government with him while he is on trial on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He denies any wrongdoing.
Several hundred protesters meanwhile gathered outside, waving Israeli flags, rainbow flags bearing the Star of David, and signs reading “shame”, “danger” and “down with racism”.
Mor, a woman from Jerusalem, told the BBC: “I’m here because my country’s falling apart from its democratic values.”
Image caption,Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the Knesset ahead of the swearing-in ceremony
This is a record sixth term as prime minister for Mr Netanyahu, who was ousted by his opponents 18 months ago, but his coalition partners are pledging to lead the country in a new direction.
The first guiding principle of the new government, published on Wednesday, declares that “the Jewish people have an exclusive and unquestionable right to all areas of the land of Israel”. It says that includes the occupied West Bank and promises to “advance and develop” settlements there.
About 600,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967. Most of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
There are also some 100 outposts – small settlements built without the Israeli government’s authorisation – across the West Bank.
In a coalition deal with the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party he signed last week, Mr Netanyahu agreed to retroactively legalise the outposts. He also promised to annex the West Bank while “choosing the timing and weighing all of the State of Israel’s national and international interests”. Such a step would be opposed by Israel’s Western and Arab allies.
Image caption,Far-right politicians Itamar Ben-Gvir (L) Bezalel Smotrich (R) will hold key positions in the new government
Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich, a West Bank settler, will be finance minister and also oversee the Civil Administration, which approves settlement building in the West Bank and controls important aspects of Palestinians’ lives.
Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir, another settler and ultranationalist politician who has previously been convicted of racism and supporting a terrorist organisation, will be national security minister, responsible for the police.
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned that the plans to develop West Bank settlements would have “repercussions for the region”.
Mr Netanyahu’s coalition partners reject the idea of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict – the internationally backed formula for peace which envisages an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank alongside Israel, with Jerusalem as their shared capital.
There have also been expressions of concern both inside and outside Israel about some ministers’ very rigid views on the application of Jewish law and LGBTQ rights.
Avi Maoz, head of the anti-LGBTQ Noam party, will serve as a deputy minister in the prime minister’s office. He has called for Jerusalem’s Gay Pride event to be banned, disapproves of equal opportunities for women in the military, and wants to limit immigration to Israel to Jews according to a strict interpretation of Jewish law.
Activists, doctors and business leaders have meanwhile warned that discrimination against LGBTQ individuals could potentially be legalised if the anti-discrimination law is changed to allow businesses to refuse services to people on religious grounds.
Image caption,Daniel Johnas said he was concerned about future of life in Israel for himself, his husband and children
Although the coalition deal between Likud and the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party calls for such an amendment, Mr Netanyahu has said his administration will not allow any harm to the LGBTQ community. He has also chosen an openly gay member of Likud, Amir Ohana, to be parliamentary Speaker.
Critics have expressed concern at the coalition’s intention to pass legislation that would give a parliamentary majority the ability to override Supreme Court rulings.
Mr Netanyahu’s coalition partners have also proposed legal reforms that could end his corruption trial.
At Thursday’s protest, a woman from Tel Aviv, who did not want to give her name, said: “I refuse to accept what I feel is the possibility of the beginning of a fascist regime and I want to protect the rights of every citizen living in this country.”
Daniel Johnas, an activist in the religiousLGBTQ community, said he was worried for the first time to go on the street with the rainbow flag. He was also concerned about the future of life in Israel for himself, his husband and children.
It fired more missiles than ever before in a single year. In fact, a quarter of all missiles North Koreahas ever launched will hit the skies in 2022. It was also the year that Kim Jong-un declared that North Korea had become a nuclear weapons state and that its weapons were here to stay.
This has raised tensions on the Korean peninsula to their highest since 2017, when then-US President Donald Trump threatened North Korea with “fire and fury.”
So, what comes next?
Nuclear weapons development
In 2022, North Korea made significant progress on its weapons. It began the year by testing short-range missiles designed to hit South Korea, followed by mid-range ones that could target Japan.
By the end of the year, it had successfully tested its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile to date, the Hwasong 17, which in theory is capable of reaching anywhere on the US mainland.
Mr Kim also lowered his threshold for using nuclear weapons. After announcing in September that North Korea had become an irreversible nuclear weapons state, he revealed that these weapons were no longer designed just to prevent war, but that they could be used pre-emptively and offensively, to win a war
As the year drew to a close, he gathered the members of his ruling Workers’ Party, to set out his goals for 2023.
Top of his list is to “exponentially increase” the production of nuclear weapons. This must include, he said, the mass production of smaller, tactical nuclear weapons, which could be used to fight a war againstSouth Korea.
This is the most serious development, according to Ankit Panda, a nuclear weapons expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Image caption,North Korea launched its most powerful ICBM to date in late 2022
To make tactical nuclear weapons, North Korea first must produce a miniaturised nuclear bomb, which can be loaded onto a small missile. The world is yet to see proof that Pyongyang has been able to do this. The intelligence community spent most of 2022 waiting for it to test such a device, but the test never came – 2023 may well be the year.
Other items on Mr Kim’s new year list are a spy satellite, which he claims will be launched into orbit this spring, and a sturdier solid-fuelled ICBM, which could be fired at the US with less warning than his current model.
We can therefore assume 2023 will have a distinctly 2022 feel, with Pyongyang continuing to aggressively test, refine and expand its nuclear arsenal, in defiance of UN sanctions.
Indeed, less than three hours into the new year it had already conducted its first missile test.
But, Mr Panda says, “most missile launches in the coming year may not be tests, but training exercises, as North Korea now prepares to use its missiles in a possible conflict”.
Any talking?
With such an extensive list of goals to work through, it is unlikely the North Korean leader will choose this year to return to talks with the US. The last round of denuclearisation negotiations collapsed in 2019, and ever since Mr Kim has shown no sign of wanting to talk.
One line of thinking is that he is waiting until he has maximum leverage. Not until he has proven beyond doubt that North Korea is capable of inflicting destruction on the US and South Korea will he return to the table to negotiate on his terms.
Instead, over the past year, North Korea has drawn closer to China and Russia. It could well be in the process of fundamentally changing its foreign policy, said Rachel Minyoung Lee, who worked as a North Korea analyst for the US government for 20 years, and is now with the Open Nuclear Network.
“If North Korea no longer views the US as necessary for its security and survival, it will profoundly impact the shape and form of future nuclear negotiations,” she said.
Tensions on the peninsula
In the meantime, a volatile situation is developing on the Korean peninsula.
For every perceived “provocation” by the North, South Korea – and sometimes the United States – retaliates.
This began in May 2022, with the arrival of a new South Korean president, who promised to be tougher on North Korea. President Yoon Suk-yeol is guided by the belief that the best way to stop the North is to respond with military strength.
He re-started large-scale joint military exercises with the United States, against which the North protested and launched more missiles. This set off a tit-for-tat cycle of military action, which has involved both sides flying warplanes near to their border, and firing artillery into the sea.
Image caption,In his new year address Mr Kim vowed to exponentially increase the production of nuclear weapons
Last week, the situation escalated, when the North unexpectedly flew five drones into South Korean airspace. The South failed to shoot them down, exposing a weak spot in its defences and triggering concern among ordinary South Koreans, who are usually unfazed by the North’s activities.
The president vowed the South would retaliate and punish the North for every provocation.
Chad O’Carroll, CEO of Korea Risk Group, an analysis service which monitors North Korea, predicts that in 2023, this could likely lead to a direct confrontation between the two Koreas, which could even result in deaths.
“Responses by either the North or South could escalate to the point where we see the exchange of actual fire, intentional or otherwise,” he said.
One mistake or miscalculation and the situation could spiral.
Inside North Korea
Just as pressing a question is what does 2023 hold for the people of North Korea?
They have been subjected to three years of strict pandemic-related border closures. Even trade was suspended in an attempt to keep the coronavirus out, which humanitarian organisations believe has led to severe shortages of food and medicine. Last year, in a rare admission, Mr Kim spoke of a “food crisis”.
Then in May 2022, North Korea admitted its first outbreak of the virus, but mere months later claimed to have defeated it.
So will 2023 be the year it finally reopens its border with China, and allows people and supplies back in?
Image caption,In November 2022 Mr Kim publicly revealed his daughter for the first time
China’s reopening brings hope. North Korea is reportedly vaccinating people living along the border in preparation, but given its precarious healthcare, Ms Lee is cautious.
“Barring an emergency, such as its economy on the brink of collapse, it is unlikely North Korea will fully reopen its borders until the pandemic can be considered over globally, particularly in neighbouring China,” she said.
One more development to watch for are clues about who will lead North Korea after Mr Kim. His succession plan is unknown, but last year he publicly revealed one of his children for the first time: a girl, thought to be his daughter Kim Chu-ae.
She has been pictured now at three military events, with more photos released on New Year’s Day, leading some to speculate whether she is the chosen one.
Of course, North Korea is anything but predictable, and 2023 looks set to be as unpredictable and unstable ayear as the last.
In an interview conducted ahead of the publication of his book Spare, Prince Harry stated, “I would like to get my father back; I would like to have my brother back.”
It’s unclear to whom he is referring when he says “they’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile.”
He made the remarks during an interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby, as well as an interview with CBS in the United States.
Buckingham Palace has declined to comment.
Both interviews will be broadcast on January 8, two days before the autobiography is published.
Speaking to CBS News 60 Minutes journalist Anderson Cooper in a chat the broadcaster described as “explosive,” Prince Harry claims he was “betrayed” with “briefings and leakings and the planting of stories against me and my wife.”
He said: “The family motto is ‘never complain, never explain’, but it’s just a motto.
“They will feed or have a conversation with a correspondent, and that correspondent will literally be spoon-fed information and write the story, and at the bottom of it, they will say they have reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
“But the whole story is Buckingham Palace commenting.
“So when we’re being told for the last six years, “We can’t put a statement out to protect you,” but you do it for other members of the family, there becomes a point when silence is betrayal.”
ITV said its interview will cover Prince Harry’s personal relationships and “never-before-heard details” surrounding the death of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales.
Filmed in California where the Sussexes live, the ITV interview will also see Harry refer to “the leaking and the planting” of stories, before adding: “I want a family, not an institution”.
“They feel as though it is better to keep us somehow as the villains,” he adds.
Harry: The Interview, an exclusive in-depth discussion with Tom Bradby.
Prince Harry’s autobiography Spare, which is anticipated to give details about disagreements with his brother the Prince William, will be released on January 10.
Publisher Penguin Random House calls it “a landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief”.
The autobiography follows the release of Netflix documentary Harry and Meghan, in which Prince Harry said it was “terrifying” to have his brother “scream and shout” at him during a summit to discuss the couple’s future in the Royal Family. Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the claims made in the programme.
The Sussexes also talked about why they decided to give up royal duties and move to the US, criticising the British press and the inner workings of the royal institution.
Amy Ndiaye Gniby, a fellow MP, was awarded more than $8,000 in damages from Amadou Niang and Massata Samb.
Two lawmakers in Senegal have been given six months in prison for assaulting a pregnant coworker on December 1 during a heated parliamentary debate that turned into a full-fledged brawl.
Amadou Niang and Massata Samb of the opposition Party for Unity and Rally (PUR) were also ordered by the Dakar court to pay Amy Ndiaye Gniby of the ruling Benno Bokk Yakaar coalition a total of 5 million CFA francs ($8,144) in restitution.
In a chaotic televised scene that shocked Senegal,Samb slapped Gniby in the face during a budget debate in the National Assembly after she scoffed at his remarks in criticism of her.
Gniby responded by throwing a chair at Samb and was then pushed to the ground by other lawmakers and kicked in the abdomen by Niang.
The fight has worsened political tensions in Senegal that flared when the governing party lost its comfortable majority in a July legislative election.
The loss was widely seen as a rebuke of President Macky Sall amid uncertainty over whether he will seek a third term in 2024, a move the opposition says would be in breach of term limits and an earlier promise.
Sall, 60, has refused to state clearly whether he plans to run again.
As the economies of the US, EU, and China slow, 2023 will be “tougher” than last year, according to Kristalina Georgieva.
The global economy is currently being weighed down by the conflict in Ukraine, rising prices, higher interest rates, and the spread of Covid in China.
The IMF revised down its forecast for 2023 global economic growth in October.
“We expect one third of the world economy to be in recession,” Ms Georgieva said on the CBS news programme Face the Nation.
“Even countries that are not in recession, it would feel like they for hundreds of millions of people,” she added.
Katrina Ell, an economist at Moody’s Analytics in Sydney, gave the BBC her assessment of the world economy.
“While our baseline avoids a global recession over the next year, the odds of one are uncomfortably high. Europe, however, will not escape recession, and the US is teetering on the verge,” she said.
The IMF cut its outlook for global economic growth in 2023 in October, due to the war in Ukraine as well as higher interest rates as central banks around the world attempt to rein in rising prices.
Since then, China has scrapped its “zero-COVID” policy and started to reopen its economy, even as coronavirus infections have spread rapidly in the country.
Ms Georgieva warned that China, the world’s second-largest economy, would face a difficult start to 2023.
“For the next couple of months, it would be tough for China, and the impact on Chinese growth would be negative, the impact on the region will be negative, the impact on global growth will be negative,” she said.
The IMF is an international organization with 190 member countries. They work together to try to stabilize the global economy. One of its key roles is to act as an early economic warning system.
Ms Georgieva’s comments will be alarming for people around the world, not least in Asia which endured a difficult year in 2022.
Inflation has been steadily rising across the region, largely because of the war in Ukraine, while higher interest rates have also hit households and business.
Figures released over the weekend pointed to weakness in the Chinese economy at the end of 2022.
The official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for December showed that China’s factory activity shrank for the third month in a row and at the fastest rate in almost three years as coronavirus infections spread in the country’s factories.
In the same month home prices in 100 cities fell for the sixth month in a row, according to a survey by one of the country’s largest independent property research firms, China Index Academy.
On Saturday, in his first public comments since the change in policy, President Xi Jinping called for more effort and unity as China entered what he called a “new phase.”
The downturn in the US also means there is less demand for the products that are made in China and other Asian countries including Thailand and Vietnam.
Higher interest rates also make borrowing more expensive – so for both these reasons companies may choose not to invest in expanding their businesses.
The lack of growth can trigger investors to pull money out of an economy and so countries, especially poorer ones, have less cash to pay for crucial imports like food and energy.
In these kinds of slowdowns, a currency can lose value against those of more prosperous economies, compounding the issue.
The impact of higher interest rates on loans affects economies at the government level too – especially emerging markets, which may struggle to repay their debts.
For decades, the Asia-Pacific region has depended on China as a major trading partner and for economic support in times of crisis.
Now Asian economies are facing the lasting economic effects of howChina has handled the pandemic.
The manufacture of products such as Tesla electric cars and Apple iPhones may get back on track as Beijing ends zero-Covid.
But renewed demand for commodities like oil and iron ore is likely to further increase prices just as inflation appeared to have peaked.
“China’s relaxed domestic Covid restrictions are not a silver bullet. The transition will be bumpy and a source of volatility at least through the March quarter,” Ms Ell said.
Bill Blaine, strategist and head of alternative assets at Shard Capital, described the IMF’s warning as “a good wake up and smell the coffee moment”.
“Even though labour markets around the world are fairly strong, the kind of jobs being created are not necessarily high paying and we’re going to have a recession, we are not going to see interest rates fall as rapidly as the markets think,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“That’s going to create a whole series of consequences that will keep markets on tenterhooks for at least the first half of 2023.”
While cholera is an annual issue in Malawi from November to March, this outbreak is anticipated to be the worst yet.
The health minister announced on Monday that Malawi has postponed the opening of public schools in its two largest cities, Blantyre and Lilongwe, in an effort to reduce an increase in cholera deaths.
Since cases were first reported in March, the total number of cases has increased to 17,824 and the death toll to 595, with the mortality rate rising to 3.34 percent, according to the Ministry of Health.
Cholera is an annual problem during Malawi’s rainy months from November to March, when the number of deaths is around 100 a year. But the current outbreak is expected to be the worst yet.
“Due to the continuing increase of cholera cases and deaths in the cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe, primary and secondary schools in the two cities will not start on 3rd January as earlier advised,” Health Minister Khumbize Chiponda said in a statement.
A new reopening date will be announced later, she said.
The United Nations health agency says fatality rates are rising in about 30 countries around the world that reported cholera outbreaks in 2022, about a third higher than in a typical year.
Cholera is spread by contaminated food or water and can cause acute diarrhoea. Many people have mild symptoms, but it can kill within hours if untreated.
Victims in Malawi include medics at public health centres.
Chiponda called on authorities to tighten control measures, including spraying chlorine to disinfect congested places such as markets and schools and stepping up inoculations.
The office of the US Trade Representative stated that the decision was taken because of worries about “unconstitutional change” in the political system.
According to the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) office, Burkina Fasohas been removed from the US’s trade preference programme due to serious concerns over an “unconstitutional change” in the country’s government.
Two military coups in Burkina Faso occurred in 2022 as a result of frustration with the government’s inability to stop armed group activity. Although efforts to increase security have been made by both the previous and current military governments, the attacks have persisted.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) provides sub-Saharan African nations with duty-free access to the US if they meet specific eligibility requirements, including making progress towards political pluralism.
The USTR’s office said Burkina Faso had failed to meet the requirements of the AGOA statute and would be given “clear benchmarks” for a pathway towards reinstatement to the trade programme, adding that Washington would work with Ouagadougou.
On Monday, the Burkinabe Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted to the decision by repeating a November statement saying the timetable for a return to democracy had not changed.
Burkina Faso had committed to returning to constitutional rule in 24 months in a July agreement with the West African regional bloc ECOWAS.
Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest countries, has been in the grip of a conflict in which armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) have killed thousands of civilians and created one of the continent’s fastest-growing humanitarian crises.
Nearly two million people have been displaced who reside in makeshift camps, many run by the United Nations, that dot the arid countryside.
The violence, which has rumbled on for about seven years, has been focused in the north and east, crippling local economies, causing mass hunger, and restricting access to aid organisations.
Just before Christmas, Burkina Faso’s military government asked a seniorUN official to exit the country. The UN contested the decision saying “the doctrine of persona non grata does not apply to United Nations officials”.
Ghanaian midfielder Kudus Mohammed, made his comeback on Friday for his Dutch team Ajax, in a friendly match against Telstar.
After his efforts at the2022 FIFA World Cup, where he scored twice for Ghana and contributed one assist in three games, his coach Alfred Schreuder withdrew him after an hour.
In a friendly match at the De Toekomst training facility, Ajax defeated Telstar 5-1.
After the regular 90 minutes, the game was extended by half an hour.
Coach Alfred Schreuder was therefore able to give a large part of his selection a lot of playing time in the run-up to the resumption of the season next Sunday in Nijmegen against NEC.
Davy Klaassen opened the score after 20 minutes, after a cross from captain Dusan Tadic.
The Serb formed an attacking trio with Mohammed Kudus and striker Lorenzo Lucca.
After an hour, Schreuder changed almost his entire team.
With Steven Berghuis, Brian Brobbey, Kenneth Taylor and Steven Bergwijn on the field, among others, Ajax played a lot better and more convincingly than in the first hour. Brobbey quickly increased the score to 3-0 with two goals.
Telstar, the number 11 of the Kitchen Champion Division, did something back in theextra half hourafter defensive fumbling at Ajax.
Olivier Aertssen headed in the 4-1 from a Berghuis free kick, after which Brobbey scored his third goal of the afternoon.
Abdul Samed Salis, a member of the Black Stars, was in excellent shape at his club. RC Lens was defeated 3 to 1 at home by champions Paris Saint-Germain.
Frankowski’s goal gave the home team the lead after five minutes, and Ekitike’s goal for PSG made it level three minutes later.
To start 2023 with a victory, Lens added two more goals in the 28th and 48th minutes via Openda and Claude-Maurice.
Salis lasted the entire game with impressive statistics that showed, among others, that he completed 46/50 passes, won 100% of his tackles with a chance created, and 11 recoveries.
“In his last two games since the World Cup, Salis Abdul Samed has not dropped below 92% passing accuracy,” journalist Gary Al-Smith noted.
Salis was part of Ghana’s team that played at the 2022 World Cup inQatar.
Andre Ayew had a great year in 2022, and one of his standout accomplishments was earning the most caps for Ghana.
The 33-year-old is currently concentrated on 2023, a year in which he hopes to accomplish great things with his club Al Sadd as well as the national team.
Andre Ayew hopes to kick off the year with a win for Al Sadd against Qatar SC on Wednesday in their first home game.
The Qatari champions had a difficult year and must regroup to contend for the league crown; the team is anticipated to heavily rely on Ghanaians.
Andre Ayew is nonetheless eager to reprise his starring role from last season, when he scored 15 goals to help Al Sadd win the championship.
The Black Stars captain has only scored two league goals this season, and that has coincided with Al Sadd’s struggles in the Qatar Stars League.
Andre Ayew understands that he is the main man and that people at the club look up to him to create magic, and he is ready to answer that call once more, as he has done so many times in his illustrious career.
Al Sadd are currently nine points behind the leaders and know they can’t afford to lose points, starting this week againstQatarSC.
Anita Pointer passed away in her California home in Beverley Hills, surrounded by her loved ones.
Her family expressed their profound sorrow at her passing. They stated in a statement, “Heaven is a more loving, beautiful place with Anita there.
Ms. Pointer, the second-oldest of the four sisters, gained popularity with songs like Jump (For My Love) and Fire.
The group’s self-titled debut album was released in 1973, fusing funk, soul, and R&B. The album’s breakthrough hit was the funky song “Yes We Can Can,” which at a time of racial unrest in the US encouraged tolerance and unity.
And in 1975, their hit song, “Fairytale,” won a Grammy award for Best Country Vocal Performance. The win remains a rarity in a category dominated by white acts.
The group almost disbanded in 1979 afterBonnie Pointer left to pursue a solo career, but the remaining sisters regrouped and went on to shed their previously retro image for a modern pop sound.
Throughout the 1980s, they remained a powerhouse in the US charts, and their hits, which included He’s So Shy, Jump (For My Love) and Neutron Dance, have stood the test of time, remaining heavily streamed to this day.
But Pointer’s personal life was marked by tragedy. In 2003, her only child – Jada Pointer – died from cancer aged just 37. She went on to raise her granddaughter, Roxie McKain Pointer.
Her family said they were “comforted in knowing she is now with her daughter Jada and her sisters June and Bonnie and at peace.”
Staffing issues at TransPennine Expresshas caused problems for several months. The business reported today that there were numerous unforeseen cancellations and disruptions as a result of a “significant” problem with the rostering system.
Do not travel advice has been issued by a train operator that operates services through northern England and into Scotland because a “system issue” is seriously disrupting its network.
Due to a “significant” problem with the rostering system, TransPennine Express (TPE) reported a significant number of unanticipated cancellations.
Rostering software, which is used to make sure that employees and trains are in the right place at the right time to run services, experienced an overnight fault that led to the problem.
It expects to cancel around a third of the 325 services planned for Wednesday.
TPE admitted that this will have a big impact on customers and has apologised.
The operator has advised them not to travel on TPE and to use alternative transport.
TPE said it does not know when the problem will be resolved, and disruption is expected to continue for the rest of the week.
‘Government needs to step in’
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham wrote on Twitter: “This can’t carry on. The government needs to step in – now.”
And Labour’s shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh MP, said: “This fiasco is causing untold damage and ministers are missing in action.
“After 12 years, the Conservatives have left the north with crumbling infrastructure and failing operators. Enough is enough, passengers have been taken for a ride for too long.
“It’s time for ministers to finally hold operators to account for appalling performance, and a failure to recruit and invest in the long-term future.”
Company spokesperson Kathryn O’Brien said: “Due to a significant rostering system issue, today we are experiencing a high level of unplanned cancellations and disruption across our network.
“We know this will have a significant impact on customers travelling with us today and sincerely apologise for any disruption caused.”
“We are doing all we can to keep customers on the move but while problems persist, we advise customers not to travel and to seek alternative means of transport.”
The company’s routes include Liverpool to Edinburgh via Manchester, and Liverpool to Glasgow.
TPE, which is owned by FirstGroup, has suffered problems for several months because of staffing issues.
The operator has previously blamed a combination of problems, such as high levels of train crew sickness and a training backlog, for causing prolonged disruption.
It has also been hit by workers not volunteering to do paid overtime on rest days and infrastructure faults.
TPE workers who are members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and Aslef are repeatedly striking in long-running disputes.
Anthony Smith, chief executive of watchdog Transport Focus, told the Commons’ Transport Select Committee earlier this month “the industrial relations issues have been very corrosive and have clearly undermined (TPE’s) ability to provide a reliable service”.
A man’s body was discovered in an airplane’s undercarriage that was flying from the Gambia to Britain.
A black male passenger’s unidentified body was discovered on a TUI Airways flight from Banjul, the capital of the Gambia, to Gatwick Airport in London, according to a statement released by the country’s government on Tuesday.
According to Sussex Police, the body was found at Gatwick on December 7 around 4 am.
In a statement, the force said: “Police were called after the body of a man was found in the undercarriage of an aircraft at Gatwick Airport, arriving from Gambia, at about 4am on December 7.
“Officers are investigating and a report will be prepared for HM Coroner.”
However, this is not the first time – Stowaways on planes and ships have happened before.
In 2015, Dutch authorities discovered a body in the landing gear of a plane from Africa in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.
In November, three stowaways were found on a ship’s rudder in the Canary Islands after an 11-day ocean voyage from Nigeria.
In 2019, Stowaway reportedly fell from a Heathrow plane and landed next to sunbather.
The body was found on the undercarriage of a Kenya Airwaysflight that left from Nairobi.
The murder of Olivia, who was fatally shot by a gunman who chased a convicted burglar into herLiverpool home, was charged against Thomas Cashman, 34, at Liverpool Crown Court.
The accused killer of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel entered a not-guilty plea.
On Wednesday, 34-year-old Thomas Cashman made a videolink appearance at Liverpool Crown Court.
A shooter who chased Joseph Nee, a convicted burglar, into Olivia’s Dovecot, Liverpool, home in August fatally shot Nee.
Image:Thomas Cashman
The victim’s mother, Cheryl Korbel, 46, was also injured in the shooting.
Cashman, from West Derby, entered not guilty pleas to Olivia’s murder, the attempted murder of Nee, the wounding with intent of Ms Korbel, as well as two counts of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Ms Korbel was in court along with other family members, some of whom shook their heads as the not-guilty pleas were entered.
An “El Nino” climate pattern in the Pacific pushed up sea temperatures and consequently global temperaturesin 2016, the current hottest year on record, on top of global warming trends. The opposing “La Nina” cooling effect that has been present in the Pacific in recent years is about to come to an end.
According to experts, next year is expected to be one of the warmest years ever recorded and even warmer than 2022.
According to Met Office scientists, 2023 will mark the tenth year in a row that global temperatures will be at least 1C higher than pre-industrial levels, which are defined as the years between 1850 and 1900.
The current hottest year on record is 2016, a year that saw an “El Nino” climate pattern in the Pacific, pushing up sea temperatures and therefore global temperatures on top of global warming trends.
In recent years, the Pacific has experienced the opposite effect, “La Nina”, which has kept temperatures lower.
However, this is set to come to an end, says Dr Nick Dunstone, who has led the Met Office’s 2023 global temperature forecast.
“The global temperature over the last three years has been influenced by the effect of a prolonged La Nina – where cooler than average sea-surface temperatures occur in the tropical Pacific,” he said. “La Nina has a temporary cooling effect on global average temperature.
“For next year our climate model is indicating an end to the three consecutive years with La Nina state, with a return to relative warmer conditions in parts of the tropical Pacific.
“This shift is likely to lead to global temperature in 2023 being warmer than 2022.”
The Met Office’s forecast predicts global average temperatures in 2023 will be around 1.2C above what they were before humans started to drive climate change.
Last year, experts predicted 2022’s global temperature would be between 0.97C and 1.21C above pre-industrial levels, with a central estimate of 1.09C. Data for the year to October suggests the temperature is around 1.16C above the pre-industrial era.
At the COP27 climate summit, held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in November, countries agreed a historic dedicated fund to help vulnerable nations hit by climate disasters, but failed to step up efforts to tackle the damaging emissions that cause them.
Professor Adam Scaife, the Met Office’s head of long-range prediction, said that while 2023 might not break the 2016 record it will likely see further high temperatures.
“Without a preceding El Nino to boost global temperature, 2023 may not be a record-breaking year, but with the background increase in global greenhouse gas emissions continuing apace it is likely that next year will be another notable year in the series,” he said.
Image:The Howden Reservoir, at the top of Derwent Valley in the Peak District, pictured earlier in 2022
Dr Doug Smith, a climate prediction expert for the national weather service, said some parts of the world had seen greater increases than others.
“The fact that global average temperatures are at or above 1C for a decade masks the considerable temperature variation across the world,” he said.
“Some locations such as the Arctic have warmed by several degrees since pre-industrial times.”
In the midst of a power transition, Fiji’s police force has appealed for peace and asked “all Fijians to respect the political process.”
Following national elections, which resulted in the formation of a coalition government by three parties to replace longtime Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, Fiji is anticipating the election of a new leader for the country’s first time in 16 years.
After elections produced a hung parliament, the Social Democratic Liberal Party, which has three seats and has assumed a leadership role, declared on Tuesday that it had chosen to form a coalition with Sitiveni Rabuka’s People’s Alliance and the National Federation Party.
After days of discussions and conflicting presentations by the incumbent Bainimarama’s Fiji First party and Rabuka’s People’s Alliance party intended to end the impasse, the coalition was finally formed.
Television broadcaster FBC said the new coalition government would hold 29 seats in parliament, and the party of Bainimarama – who seized power through a 2006 coup and then legitimised his government with outright election wins in 2014 and 2018 – would hold 26 seats.
Fijians took to the streets of the capital Suva in celebration on Tuesday night, cheering ”the new PM” and setting off fireworks.
But parliament delayed its first sitting on Wednesday when it had been expected that Rabuka would be sworn in as prime minister. The constitution requires that legislators elect the prime minister from the parliament floor if no single party has won more than 50 percent of the seats required.
Parliament’s secretariat confirmed to the Reuters news agency in an email that the body did not sit because President Wiliame Katonivere has not yet issued a proclamation to hold the session.
In a statement on Wednesday, the police force called for calm and urged “all Fijians to respect the political process”.
Bainimarama has not spoken in public since casting his vote in the election last Wednesday. Although he has previously promised to respect the election result, Fiji has been upended by four coups in the past 35 years, so Fijians are awaiting Bainimarama’s response nervously.
His Fiji First party on Wednesday claimed a deal among opposition parties to form a government was illegitimate.
“Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama is still the prime minister, so get that right,” said Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, the party’s general-secretary and the attorney-general under Bainimarama’s administration.
“They are creating disquiet in the community, their motivation is not humble, their motivation is not trying to create stability,” Sayed-Khaiyum claimed.
He told a press conference that the coalition agreement was “legally immaterial”, and insisted parliament would have to vote to elect the prime minister.
The Pacific island nation, with a population of 900,000, had a history of military coups before constitutional reform in 2013 removed a race-based voting system that favoured Indigenous Fijians over a large Indian ethnic group.
Bainimarama has dominated Fiji’s politics for close to 20 years. While not an outright hardliner, his government has frequently used the legal system to sideline opponents, silence critics and muzzle the media.
Rabuka himself led two coups in 1987 as head of the military and then became prime minister before being removed at the polls in 1999.
Sayed-Khaiyum said the president could dissolve parliament, which must sit before January 2, and call a new election if the candidate for prime minister fails to win support from 50 percent of legislators after three attempts.
“Rabuka can’t be prime minister unless he gets elected on the floor of parliament,” he added.
While New Zealand’s foreign minister congratulated Rabuka on emerging victorious – even before Bainimarama had officially conceded – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern offered a more measured response saying that Auckland would “wait” for the dust to settle on the election.
Congratulations to PA-NFP-SODELPA/ Sitiveni Rabuka on forming a coalition to lead the 🇫🇯 people. 🇳🇿 looks forward to working together to continue strengthening our warm relationship #duavata#mahitahi#kotahitanga
“My understanding is there are a few extra things the (Fijian political) system will continue to go through,” Ardern told reporters.
“Let’s allow the process to run its course,” she said. “I have faith in Fiji’s ability to conduct the remaining stages of this process and stand ready to acknowledge their new leader.”
Beijing faces a surge in severe COVID-19cases over the next two weeks, a respiratory expert in China has said, amid global concerns over possible mutations and knock-on effects for the world economy after the recent surprise lifting of China’s strict zero-COVID policies.
The easing of restrictions across China has coincided with a jump in infections experts say will likely gather pace through the winter, with some projections even suggesting China could face more than a million deaths next year, the Reuters news agency has reported.
“We must act quickly and prepare fever clinics, emergency and severe treatment resources,” Wang Guangfa, a respiratory expert from Peking University First Hospital, told the country’s state-run Global Times on Tuesday.
Wang said hospitals should expand ICU beds as a priority and that the COVID-19 peak will likely last until the end of China’s Spring Festival, which will fall on January 22.
COVID-19 cases will then fall off and life should gradually return to normal around the end of February and the beginning of March, Wang said.
After the peak, people must not let their guard down, Wang added, describing the “dire consequences” if the virus were again to transfer between humans and animals.
“The current COVID-19 strain may be less virulent, but it may not go the same way on animals. Maybe it seems less severe for animals but at some point, the virus can still jump to humans, with dire consequences,” Wang said.
Following widespread protests in China earlier this month, the country of 1.4bn people started dismantling its “zero-COVID” lockdowns and testing, which had largely kept the virus away for three years at great economic and psychological costs.
Narrow definition of COVID-19 deaths
China, which uses a narrow definition of what can be classified as COVID fatalities, reported no new COVID deaths for December 20, compared with five the previous day.
The nation’s overall fatalities since the pandemic began were revised to 5,241 after removing one death in Beijing.
Amid doubts over China’s very low COVID death toll by global standards, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) on Tuesday clarified that only deaths caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure after contracting the virus are classified as COVID deaths.
A heart attack or cardiovascular disease causing death in an infected person will not get that classification.
Benjamin Mazer, an assistant professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins University, said China’s classification system would miss “a lot of cases”, especially as people who are vaccinated, including with the Chinese shots, are less likely to die of pneumonia.
Blood clots and sepsis – an extreme response to infection – have caused countless deaths among COVID patients around the world.
“It doesn’t make sense to apply this sort of March 2020 mindset where it’s only COVID pneumonia that can kill you, when we know that in the post-vaccine era, there’s all sorts of medical complications,” Mazer said.
The NHC also played down concerns raised by the United States and some epidemiologists over the potential for the virus to mutate in China, saying the possibility of new strains that are more pathogenic is low.
Several leading scientists and World Health Organization advisors said it may be too early to declare the end of the global COVID pandemic emergency phase because of a potentially devastating wave to come in China.
The US said on Tuesday that it stands ready to assist China with its outbreak, warning an uncontrolled spread in the world’s second-largest economy may have implications for global growth.
The full effects of ditching “zero-COVID” remain highly uncertain given China’s patchy vaccine coverage, fragile health system and lack of clarity about the real extent of infections as cases start to surge.
Some hospitals in China have already become inundated with patients and some cities are dealing with medicine and blood shortages as pharmacy shelves are stripped bare and crematoriums are overwhelmed in the wake of the lift of years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing.
From the country’s northeast to its southwest, crematorium workers have told Agence France-Presse that they are struggling to keep up with a surge in deaths.
Beijing last week admitted the scale of the outbreak has become “impossible” to track following the end of mandatory mass testing.
Israel’s next Netanyahu-led coalition government may be the most extremist in its history.
Fascism has been on the minds of Israel’s friends and foes alike since “the Jewish State” held its latest elections and its former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began negotiations to form a new coalition. Warnings about Israel “heading toward a fascist theocracy” or “sleep walking into Jewish fascism” have multiplied.
But all these warnings appear to fall on deaf ears, as Netanyahu charts a path back to the premiership in coalition with Israel’s fascist parties. He dismisses concerns over the potential demise of Israel’s democracy and its worsening reputation in the West, especially in the United States, insisting that when it comes to the future of the Jewish State, it is he, Netanyahu, who will have the last word – in Israel as in America.
That’s probably true. But it is not reassuring. It is catastrophic.
Washington has thus far remained largely silent even as several prominent American Jews spoke against the fascist menace that emerged from the Israeli ballot box. Rather than addressing concerns directly, the Biden administration spinelessly suggested that it would judge Netanyahu’s next government “based on its policies, not personalities”.
If Trump was, well, reckless, Biden is an accomplice. As for the Arab regimes which congratulated Netanyahu for his victory, I can’t quite find an appropriate word.
But make no mistake, the problem of fascism in Israel lies less with the extremist parties that will be part of the next government and more with their enablers – Netanyahu and his chauvinistic Likud party which long strove for a Jewish state dominating both sides of the Jordan River.
In his autobiographical monstrosity, Bibi, My Story, which is part self-aggrandisement, part propaganda and part fascist manifesto,Netanyahu dedicates a chapter to his late father, Benzion. He boasts of his record as editor of a publication aptly named Hayarden (The Jordan), and as a leading voice in the militant revisionist movement which insisted upon the Jewish right to sovereignty over the whole of historic Palestine. Revisionist fighters, who eventually founded Likud’s predecessor Herut, were infamous for their terrorist operations before and during the 1948 war of independence.
That year, a number of leading Jewish voices, including Albert Einstein, Hannah Arendt and others, described the Herut Party in a public statement published in the New York Times newspaper as a “political party closely akin in its organisation, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to Nazi and Fascist parties”.
Like father like son. As preached by his father’s revisionist guru Vladimir Jabotinsky in his infamous 1923 essay, The Iron Wall, Netanyahu also believes that Jewish settlers must use military force to persuade the Palestinian Arabs to give up their rights to their homeland.
Netanyahu entered into politics with this conviction and slowly built himself up as the father of modern Israeli fascism. He started by demonising then-Prime Minister Yizhak Rabin for signing the Oslo Peace Accords and helping pave the way for his assassination by a Jewish fanatic. Once he became prime minister in 1996, he started grooming a new generation of fascist and racist leaders. The likes of Avigdor Lieberman, Gideon Sa’ar, Naftali Bennett, and Ayelet Shaked all matured under his wing in the Likud party and went on to form and lead their own far-right parties.
Ahead of the last election, Netanyahu also godfathered a new relationship between fascist-religious parties Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism, inviting their leaders, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, to his family home to personally help bridge their differences. Netanyahu wanted to unite them into one electoral list so that they can enter the parliament and help carry him back into the prime minister’s office.
And he succeeded. Spectacularly.
While polls had predicted the two parties would fall short of the threshold necessary to enter the Knesset individually, united they went on to win 11 percent of the vote and 14 parliamentary seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Worse, Ben Gvir, who is like a Netanyahu on steroids, has fared particularly well among Israeli youth.
Netanyahu has also cultivated close relationships with Israel’s two main ultra-religious parties – ultra being the operating word – Shas and United Torah Judaism, which seek authority over religious, educational and social affairs in the Jewish state. Now, they will get everything they ever wanted and more.
In return, his new extremist partners have agreed to use their parliamentary majority to curtail the role of the judicial branch and end the supreme court’s oversight over the Knesset. This will not only allow Netanyahu to tighten his grip over the country, but also help him escape legal accountability following his indictment on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. These parties have already used their Knesset majority to pave the way for the head of Shas party, Aryeh Deri, to become a minister despite his conviction for bribery and tax evasion.
Corruption aside, Israel’s far-right fanatics are defined by some basic fascistic characteristics, such as belief in a divine and historic nationhood and tradition that is superior to any notion of modern democracy and citizenship; a pronounced sense of aggrievance and victimhood; militaristic tendencies; and cult worship with a golden Netanyahu medallion of loyalty to go with it.
They are also driven by an avowed racism towards the Palestinians, whom they view as interlopers in their promised land. Indeed, the new Netanyahu-led government vehemently opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, supports the expansion of illegal Jewish settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories, strives to annex part if not all of the West Bank, and denies equality to the native Palestinian minority in the Jewish State. It will demand that the Palestinians admit their historic defeat and recognise the Jews’ exclusive ownership of the country in order to live in peace.
Much of this was predicted by the late professor Zeev Sternhell, a Holocaust survivor and Israel’s foremost authority on fascism, who explained in his 2018 essay titled “In Israel, Growing Fascism and a Racism Akin to Early Nazism” that these fascists “don’t wish to physically harm Palestinians. They only wish to deprive them of their basic human rights, such as self-rule in their own state and freedom from oppression.” Though the appointment of the sadistic Ben Gvir as minister of National Security is about wishing the Palestinians physical harm.
In short, those who continue to doubt that fascism is an impending danger for Israel, are not paying attention to how its coalescing chauvinistic forces are planning on ravaging whatever is left of Israel’s liberal institutions in order to turn the Jewish state into a full-fledged fascist theocracy.
DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author’s, and do not reflect those of The Independent Ghana
A sixth round of direct bilateral discussions that could take place at the level of foreign ministershas been postponed due to a number of factors.The Iranian foreign minister said after meeting his Saudi counterpart in Jordan that Saudi Arabia is open to having more conversations with Iran.Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian claimed in an Arabic tweet posted on Wednesday that he spoke on the sidelines of an Iraq-focused conference in Jordan on Tuesday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud as well as other counterparts from the region and from France.
“The Saudi minister assured me of his country’s readiness to continue dialogue with Iran,” he wrote.
Amirabdollahian did not disclose more details, and Saudi officials have yet to comment publicly.
The two regional rivals cut diplomatic ties in 2016 after a crowd stormed the Sunni-majority kingdom’s embassy in Tehran following the execution of a prominent Shia leader.
Since April 2021, Iraq has hosted five rounds of direct talks between the two, the latest of which came in April this year. A sixth round has been anticipated for months, with speculation that it could for the first time happen at the level of foreign ministers, but there have been several roadblocks.
For one, Iraq, which has mediated between the two sides, has been undergoing its own political turmoil, with current Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani coming into power in October following infighting that ultimately saw the Iran-backed Coalition Framework emerge on top.
On the other hand, Iran has significantly intensified its rhetoric against Saudi Arabia, accusing it of bankrolling media channels that, according to Tehran, have “incited terrorism” during the country’s unrest since nation-wide protests began in mid-September.
The apparent meeting between the foreign ministers in Jordan is a sign that neither side wants to shut the door to dialogue completely, but should not raise expectations for immediate tangible results either, according to Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
“The renewed mutual suspicions and increased threat perceptions make a real breakthrough in diplomatic relations very unlikely,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that the empowerment of factions close to Iran in Iraq makes Baghdad’s role as mediator more difficult as well.
“In such circumstances, the best outcome the two sides may achieve in the short term is to maintain a minimum of their diplomatic communication channels and try to manage the tensions. In that sense, I don’t think we should expect a new round of talks at the level of foreign ministers or any type of rapprochement.”
In the longer term, Azizi said things would depend on the domestic situation in Iran and Tehran’s relations with the West.
“At the moment, the Saudis seem to be comfortable with the fact that the Iranian government is under enormous pressure domestically and internationally and is in no rush to give any concessions for resuming normal relations with Tehran.”
Azizi said a potential direct or indirect military assault by Iran on Saudi assets would signal a “game-changer” for bilateral and regional ties.
Separately, in a speech on Tuesday, Esmaeil Qaani, the commander of the Quds Force, which is the foreign operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), suggested Saudi Arabia was an extension of US efforts in the region.
“The main enemies are the criminal US and the Zionist regime [Israel],” he said. “The rest, like the criminal Saudi Arabia, are dregs and are not even worth being considered enemies.”
Qaani delivered the remarks during an event held to mark the first anniversary of the death of Hassan Irloo, the country’s top envoy to war-torn Yemen, who died after contracting COVID-19. Tehran had accused Saudi authorities of refusing to cooperate in time to secure his air transfer, something which they denied.
Tehran backs the Houthi rebels in the war in Yemen, while Riyadh backs the Yemeni government.
Tehran and Baghdad, on the other hand, have also seen increased tensions in bilateral relationsas the IRGC has launched multiple rounds of artillery, missile and drone attacks on northern Iraq since September, in an effort to target “secessionist terrorist” Kurdish groups based there.
Iran accuses them of smuggling weapons into its territory with the aim of using them during the country’s unrest. Iraqi Prime Minister al-Sudani visited Tehran last month and met Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi to discuss the issue.
The president of Ghana alleged thatBurkina Faso had employed Wagner mercenaries from Russia to assist in fighting armed groups.
The president of Ghana claimed that Burkina Faso’s northern neighbour had paid Russian mercenaries by granting them access to a mine, but the country’s minister of mines has refuted this claim.
“We have not granted any permit to a Russian company in southern Burkina,” Minister of Mines Simon Pierre Boussim told reporters on Tuesday, after a meeting with civil society groups that were concerned about the allegations.
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo caused controversy by stating last week that Burkina Faso had hired mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group to help it fight armed non-state actors.
“I believe a mine in southern Burkina has been allocated to them as a form of payment for their services,” Akufo-Addo said, speaking to reporters alongside the United States’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the US-Africa Summit.
Burkina Faso’s government has not formally confirmed or denied the allegation that it has made an agreement with Wagner, but it summoned the Ghanaian ambassador for a meeting on Friday to explain the president’s remarks.
“We made a list of all the exploitation or research permits for large industrial mines in the south, so they can see clearly that there is no hidden site,” Boussim said.
The Burkinabe government did recently award a new exploration permit to Russian firm Nordgold for a gold mine in Yimiougou, in the centre-north region, Boussim said, but the company has been active in Burkina Faso for more than 10 years.
Burkina Faso’s neighbour Mali hired Wagner last year to help it fight armed groups in the Sahel. The prospect of the group expanding its presence in Africa has troubled Western countries such as France and the United States, who say it exploits mineral resources and commits human rights abuses in countries where it operates.
EU citizens with pre-settled status are required by the EU Settlement Scheme to reapply every five years or risk losing their ability to live, work, receive healthcare and education, and apply for housing and benefits.
The High Court has ruled that the government’s Brexit plan, which requires EU citizens to reapply for the right to live and work in the UK, is illegal.
All EU citizens who desired to stay in the UK after the Brexit transition period ended on December 31, 2020, had to submit an application for residency by June 2021 under the EU Settlement Scheme, which opened in March 2019.
If they had lived in the UK for a continuous five-year period at the time, they were given settled status but those who had been in the UK for less time were given pre-settled status.
EU citizens with pre-settled status have to reapply for settled status on reaching five years’ continuous residence in the UK or risk losing their residence rights, meaning they could not work, receive healthcare and education and apply for housing and benefits.
The Independent Monitoring Authority (IMA), a body set up to oversee citizens’ rights, took legal action against the Home Office in December as it argued the government is breaching the withdrawal agreement it made with the EU.
On Wednesday, Lord Justice Lane ruled the scheme is unlawful.
The Home Office is intending to appeal the decision and said the status of EU citizensremains the same while that is taking place.
No EU citizen is currently affected as the five years they will have had to be in the UK before having to reapply for settled status does not expire until August 2023.
Those already with settled status do not have to reapply anyway so are not affected.
Home Office minister Lord Murray said: “EU citizens are our friends and neighbours, and we take our obligations to securing their rights in the UK very seriously.
“The EU Settlement Scheme goes above and beyond our obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement, protecting EU citizens’ rights and giving them a route to settlement in the UK.
“We are disappointed by this judgment, which we intend to appeal.”
Dr Kathryn Chamberlain, IMA chief executive said: “I am pleased that the judge has recognised the significant impact this issue could have had on the lives and livelihoods of citizens with pre-settled status in the UK.
“When we brought this judicial review, our intention was to provide clarity for citizens with pre-settled status, of which there were over 2.4 million when we filed this case in December 2021.
This judgment that the current system is unlawful provides that clarity. We will now liaise with the Home Officeon the next steps.”
As government borrowing increased to £22 billion last month, Chancellor Jeremy Huntcited the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as causes.
According to official data, government borrowing reached its highest level for November since records have been kept since 1993.
According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), net public sector borrowing last month totaled £22 billion, excluding borrowing from public sector banks.
The amount was £13.9 billion higher than November 2021 and almost £9 billion higher than October’s total.
The increase occurred as the Energy Bill Support Scheme was expanded and interest payments increased to £7.3 billion.
The Energy Bills Support Scheme – which is paying out £400 to households over a six-month period – cost the government £1.9bn in November.
It also confirmed that the Energy Price Guarantee, which has capped energy costs to £2,500 for a typical household, was the main driver of a £4.7bn year-on-year increase in subsidies.
Interest rate payments rose and were £2.4bn higher than a year ago.
As inflation drove up prices, it also drove up the cost of government borrowing.
As the retail price index rose so too did the government bonds linked to inflation, index-linked gilts. Payments on those index-linked gilts accounted for £4.2bn of the total interest rate payments made by the government last month.
Debt as a whole across the public sector – excluding public sector banks – was £2,477.5bn at the end of last month.
That is up £125.9bn on the same period last year but is now a lower portion of gross domestic product (GDP) – a measure of economic output. The amount of debt accounts for around 98.7% of GDP.
Borrowing will only increase, according to economic research group Pantheon Macroeconomics.
“We continue to expect public borrowing to overshoot the OBR’s (Office of Budget Responsibility’s) forecast in future years,” the group said.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt blamed the figures on the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Faced with the twin global emergencies of a pandemic and Putin’s war in Ukraine, we have taken significant action to support millions of businesses and families here in the UK,” he said.
Despite the increasing debt, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales said there is cause for relief in the figures.
“Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will be relieved that the deficit for the year-to-date only exceeded £100bn by £5bn, on track to stay within the Office for Budget Responsibility’s latest forecast of £177bn for the full year,” it said.
Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin spoke yesterday in Minsk, sparking rumours that Putin may be trying to convince Belarus to join the conflict.
According to experts, Belarus will not directly enter the conflict because Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko “likely deflected” Mr. Putin’s efforts.
Belarus needs to defend its borders against the West and NATO, according to US-based think tank The Institute for the Study of War, which claimed Mr. Lukashenko was doing this to avoid taking part in the invasion.
In a joint news conference after the talks, both presidents refrained from discussing the invasion.
The ISW said that if Mr Lukashenko were planning on joining the war, he would likely “adjust his rhetoric to create some plausible explanation to his own people about why he was suddenly turning away from the fictitious NATO invasion threat”.
This is not to say the Kremlin hadn’t planned to pressure Belarus.
According to the think tank, Moscow has “attempted to conceal Putin’s likely original intentions to pressure Lukashenko”.
The ISW pointed out that Kremlinspokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the speculation as “foolish” – and that he had avidly denied Russia’s intention to invade days before the war.
“But this denial is more likely an attempt to cover up Putin’s desperation to involve Lukashenko in the war and apparent failure – again – to do so,” the ISW said.
Peru has ordered the Mexican ambassador to leave within 72 hours after Mexico granted asylum to the family of ousted Peruvian President Pedro Castillo.
Castillo attempted to dissolve Congress, which led to his removal from office earlier this month.
On suspicion of rebellion and conspiracy, he is being looked into in Peru.
However, Mexico has backed the deposed president and initially indicated that it was thinking about giving him asylum.
President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador referred to Mr. Castillo’s removal as being undemocratic.
The government of Mexico, according to Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, is negotiating a safe exit for Mr. Castillo’s family, who are currently lodged in the Mexican embassy in Lima, the capital of Peru.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Tuesday the government was negotiating safe passage for the family of Mr Castillo, who were inside Mexico’s embassy in the Peruvian capital Lima.
But Mexico’s decision to grant asylum caused further anger in Peru, and Mexican Ambassador Pablo Monroy has now been declared “persona non grata” by the government.
Peru’s foreign ministry said in its social media accounts that it was expelling Mr Monroy because “of the repeated statements by that country’s highest authorities about the political situation in Peru”.
Peruvian opposition legislator Maria del Carmen Alva accused Mexico of “sheltering the corrupt”.
Mr Castillo, who is in custody in Peru, was removed from office after he tried to dissolve Congress.
Facing an impeachment vote, Mr Castillo had announced he was dissolving the opposition-controlled legislative body.
But Congress defied him, voted overwhelmingly to remove him from office, and his bodyguards stopped him from seeking refuge at the Mexican embassy in Lima.
Just hours later, Congress swore in his vice-president, 60-year-old Dina Boluarte, as the new president.
She has been pushing for early elections, and they edged closer on Tuesday as lawmakers voted in favour of the proposals.
This would bring elections forward to April 2024, two years ahead of elections currently scheduled for 2026.
Prior to admitting their manslaughter, Damien Bendall, 32, had previously denied killing Terri Harris, 35, and her 11-year-old daughter her 13-year-old son John Paul Bennett, and Lacey’s 11-year-old friend Connie Gent.
A man has admitted to killing a woman and three kids who were discovered dead at a home in Derbyshire.
Prior to admitting to their manslaughter, Damien Bendall, 32, had previously denied killing Terri Harris, 35, her 11-year-old daughter Lacey Bennett, her 13-year-old son John Paul Bennett, and Lacey’s 11-year-old friend Connie Gent.
Bendall made his latest plea as he appeared at Derby Crown Courton Wednesday.
He has also admitted raping one of the youngsters.
Image: Terri Harris died along with her children Lacey and John Paul Bennett
Image: Lacey’s friend Connie Gent was also among the victims. Pic: Derbyshire Constabulary
Ms Harris and the three children were found dead in Chandos Crescent, Killamarsh, near Sheffield, on 19 September last year.
Bendall, of Chandos Crescent, is said to have committed the murders at some point between 17 September and the time the four victims’ bodies were discovered.
According to police, the teenage girls, most of whom were under the age of 16, met on social mediaand acted in a “swarming mob mentality” when they allegedly attacked a 59-year-old man.
After a man was stabbed to death in Toronto, eight teenage girls who apparently met on social media were charged with murder.
Investigators believe the girls assaulted and stabbed the 59-year-old man in the downtown district of the Canadian city early Sunday morning.
The man was taken to the hospital by medics, where he died.
Three 13-year-old girls, three 14-year-old girls, and two 16-year-old girls were arrested near the scene of the attack, according to police.
Detective Sergeant Terry Browne said investigators think the girls were trying to take a bottle of alcohol from the man.
He said they were all “equally culpable”.
“There is no doubt in our minds that they were all working as a singular entity in a swarming mob mentality when they chose to attack this man,” DS Browne added.
He said a number of weapons were seized, but declined to say what kind. He also said three of the girls had prior encounters with the police.
The girls met on social media but DS Browne said police “don’t know how or why they met on that evening”.
“It’s bizarre that they would all have hooked up together and found their way to downtown Toronto. Their primary residences are all over the place,” he said.
“I’ve been in policing for almost 35 years and you think you’ve seen it all,” DS Browne said.
“Anyone who isn’t shocked with hearing something like this has clearly just thrown in the towel and just said that anything is possible in this world.
“Eight young girls and most under the age of 16. If this isn’t alarming and shocking to everyone, then we’re all in trouble quite frankly.”
DS Browne said police have spoken to the parents of the teens.
“I can tell you it was a shock to find out that their children were involved in an event like this,” he said.
The victim was living in a homeless shelter and has not yet been named, DS Browne said.
He added that they would investigate whether “swarming” had seen a resurgence in popularity on social media.
The officer said 20 or 30 years ago, young teen boys in Toronto would swarmothers and try to steal Dr Martens boots or Air Jordan shoes but that trend faded away.
Canadian authorities cannot release the girls’ names because they are underage. They have made their first court appearance and remain in custody.
The girls’ next court appearance is on 29 December.
It is fair to say that the World Cup in Qatar this year has been defined by controversy like no other tournament before.
From the controversial decision to grant Qatar the privilege of hosting the event despite its poor human rights record to the very last moment when the Emir of Qatar put an Arab cloak on the shoulders of the Argentinian football legend, Lionel Messi, as he was about to lift the trophy on Sunday.
But there is one controversy that attracted little or no attention outside North Africa. It started with the simple question: how do you describe the Moroccan team, the Atlas Lions, which stunned the whole world by its sterling performance – defying the odds to beat heavyweights such as Spain and Portugal? The “first Arab” or “African” team to reach the semi-final?
Culturally many Moroccans see themselves more as Arabs than Africans – and some sub-Saharan Africans in Morocco complain that racist attitudes are never far from the surface.
But comments by Moroccan winger Sofiane Boufal after their World Cup victory over Spain brought the debate about the country’s continental identity to the fore. He thanked “all Moroccans all over the world for their support, to all Arab people, and to all Muslim people. This win belongs to you.”
After a social media backlash, he took to Instagram to apologise for not mentioning the African continent’s backing of the team – expressed at one stage by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari when he said Morocco had “made the entire continent proud with their grit and dexterity”.
IMAGE SOURCE,AFP Image caption, Morocco garnered support from the rest of Africa – including from this crowd in Senegal – as they took on France
Chastened, Boufal posted: “I also dedicate the victory to you of course. We are proud to represent all our brothers on the continent. TOGETHER.”
The furore reflects recent efforts by the monarch to encourage closer ties with the rest of the African continent. “Africa is my home, and I am coming back home,” King Mohammed VI said in 2017 as Morocco was re-admitted to the Africa Union after a 30-year absence in a row over the disputed territory of Western Sahara. This rapprochement has allowed business links to flourish, especially with West Africa.
But Morocco is also a member of the Arab League – so officially belongs to both cultural spheres.
While the adjective “African” to describe Morocco is a geographical fact, the use of “Arab” has also alienated many Moroccans who do not identify as such.
Morocco has a substantial population of Berbers, or Amazigh as they prefer to be called – some estimates put it at nearly 40% of the country’s population of more than 34 million. One major Amazigh language – Tamazight – is now recognised as an official language alongside Arabic.
But this was a controversy long time in the making. Immediately after Qatar was awarded the right to host the 2022 World Cup, its media framed the event as a “Victory for Islam and pan-Arabism”, as headline put it back in 2010.
As the tournament got under way, the vocabulary of pan-Arabism and Islamism crept back to the front. In the conflict over the ban on alcohol or the use of the OneLove armband of the LGBTQ, advocates of Islamism and pan-Arabism came to the defence of Qatar, Islam and traditional values against “the imperialist West”.
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, The Amazigh are the indigenous people of North Africa
But the initial framing of the event by the Qatari media as an “Islamic or Arab Conquest“, which had gone largely unnoticed, provoked an angry reaction when it became part of the language of running commentary on the games.
So, when the Atlas Lions made history by becoming the first men’s team from Africa and the Middle East to qualify for the World Cup semi-final, it was hailed as a victory for the Muslim and Arab nations.
After other teams from the region – Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – were disqualified early in the race, it was only natural that football lovers in neighbouring countries would rally behind Morocco.
But some vocal groups sought to portray the Moroccan success as something much larger, more ideological and political. Consequently, the Moroccan team was assigned the role of the standard-bearer of Islam and pan-Arabism.
This argument was strengthened when some of the Moroccan team’s players celebrated their successes by unfurling a Palestinian flag on the pitch.
This kind of rhetoric outraged many in North Africa, but particularly among Moroccans who do not subscribe to these ideologies and their worldviews.
‘Culture war’
In an hour-long tirade, one dissident Moroccan YouTuber blasted those who sought to politicise the game and turn it into a global culture war.
Brother Rachid also reminded his 385,000 subscribers that half of the Moroccan team, including their coach, were in fact born and bred in Europe, the children of Moroccan migrants who learned the game and became professional footballers in Europe.
“If you were to do a DNA analysis of the Moroccan team, you would find that most of them are Amazigh. Most of them don’t speak Arabic. And if they did it will be ‘broken Arabic’ because they grew up in the West,” he said.
“Morocco is different from the Middle East, because it is fundamentally a Berber society, the Arabs came as outsiders in the 7th Century. Today in Morocco there are Arabs, Berbers, Muslims, Jews, atheists, non-religionists and Baha’is, there are Shias and Sunnis.”
Considering this Moroccan success “a victory for Arabism and Islam is an attack on the various components of the Moroccan society”, he went on to say.
In response to the pan-Arabists or Islamists seeking to hijack the Moroccan triumph for their own use, posts on social media proliferated to claim back the team as Morocco’s. Some posted pictures of the team emblazoned with Amazigh symbols.
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Some Moroccan fans draped themselves in the Amazigh flag
Other critics highlighted the absurdity of turning a game of football into a religious or ethnic war, arguing that it is inconceivable that a win by France, Brazil or Argentina could be considered a triumph of Christianity.
They pointed out that would be impossible, given the ethnic and religious mix of some of the national football teams in Europe for example.
The controversy over the true identity of the Moroccan team is the latest manifestation of a “culture war” that has raged for decades across North Africa and the Middle East.
National identity has been central to the two ideologies – Islamism and pan-Arabism– that shaped political discourse in the region for decades.
While they made sense during the struggle for national liberation, prioritising social cohesion over individual freedom, they seem to have outlived their usefulness and become irrelevant in an increasingly globalised world – as the row over a football match clearly demonstrates.
DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author’s, and do not reflect those of The Independent Ghana
With its epicentre just off the coast and about 10 miles (16 km) deep, the “insane” 6.4-magnitude earthquake struckat 2.34am local time (10.34am UK time), but there was no tsunami threat.
After a powerful earthquake struck northern California, at least two people have died and tens of thousands of homes and businesses are without electricity.
The “insane” 6.4 magnitude earthquake, with its epicentre just off the coast and about 10 miles (16 km) deep, struck on Tuesday at 2.34am local time (10.34am UK time), but there was no tsunami threat.
The shaking reportedly lasted up to 20 seconds, according to the locals.
In Humboldt County, the earthquake occurred close to the town of Ferndale.
More than a dozen smaller quakes appeared to hit parts of the region afterwards, the US Geological Survey said.
Two people, aged 72 and three, died from medical emergencies after the quake, Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal told US media.
Emergency services had been unable to get them to the appropriate facility in time, he said.
Several people were also injured.
The main earthquake caused widespread damage to roads and homes, along with a bridge, while power lines were brought down and there were numerous gas leaks.
Ferndale is home to about 1,400 people and located 261 miles (420km) north of San Francisco.
More than 72,000 homes and businesses were without power there and elsewhere in the county, according to tracking website Poweroutageus.com.
And the California highway patrol was responding to reports of cracks in the Ferndale bridge over the Eel River in and out of Ferndale.
‘That was big’
Caroline Titus, a Ferndale resident, tweeted a video in her darkened home of toppled furniture and smashed dishes.
“Our home is a 140-year-old Victorian. The north-south shaking is very evident in what fell,” she tweeted.
“That was a big one,” she said in another message.
Road Closure: State Route 211 at Fernbridge, Humboldt County is CLOSED. The bridge is closed while we conduct safety inspections due to possible seismic damage. pic.twitter.com/601oOQRz2o
Our home is a 140-year-old Victorian. The north/south shaking is very evident in what fell. This was our coffee station. Sorry for dark video. Power still out. #ferndaleca#earthquakepic.twitter.com/md1WKCS58Z
President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has announced that he will meet with Joe Biden, the president of the United States, on Wednesday in Washington.
His journey abroad marks his first since Russia’s invasion in February.
The White House has additionally confirmed the visit and stated that it will give Ukraine a Patriot missile battery, greatly enhancing its air defence capabilities.
Mr. Zelensky will also meet with various people and address Congress.
“On my way to the US to strengthen resilience and defense capabilities of Ukraine,” he wrote on Twitter.
The Ukrainian president has also spoken frequently to world leaders over the telephone and by video call – often from his office in Kyiv.
But the surprise visit to a foreign country marks a first since the war began and also signals the importance of Ukraine’s relationship with the US, which has played a leading role in providing military support.
In its briefing ahead of Mr Zelensky’s visit, the White House confirmed a new package of nearly $2bn (£1.6bn) of security assistance for Ukraine.
That includes a new Patriot missile system, which will help Ukraine to protect its infrastructure against Russian attacks. Ukrainian officials have long been appealing for more powerful air defence systems from the West.
Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s energy sector, plunging millions into darkness in winter with temperatures several degrees below freezing.
The White House said it will train Ukrainian troops on how to use the Patriot system in a “third country” and that this “will take some time”.
Work is also currently under way in the US to push through a bill that would give Ukraine more than $40bn (£33bn) in extra funding heading into 2023.
In terms of overall spending on direct military support since the start of the conflict, the US has committed far more than any other country.
President Zelensky says the monthly cost of defence for Ukraine was about $5bn (£4.1bn).
His visit to Washington comes a day after he made an unannounced visit to the front-line city of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian and Russian forces have fought a fierce, months-long battle.
He met troops and handed out awards to soldiers, the presidency said.
The visit was a significant show of defiance – and a demonstration of support for Ukrainian forces engaged in some of the fiercest battles in recent weeks.
Soldiers gave Mr Zelensky a Ukrainian flag with their names signed on it and asked him to give it to President Biden and the US Congress, in a moment that was captured on camera.
On the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded medals inside the Kremlin to figures involved in the Russian invasion.
IMAGE SOURCE,REUTERS Image caption, Vladimir Putin awarded National Guard Sergeant Lev Makeyev the Order of Courage
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, the US military estimates that at least 100,000 Russian and 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or injured, along with some 40,000 civilian deaths.
The UN has recorded 7.8 million people as refugees from Ukraine across Europe, including Russia. However, the figure does not include those who have been forced to flee their homes but remain in Ukraine
The applicant’s minimum age would also be lowered to 16 and the applicant’s time living in their acquired gender would be reduced from two years to three months (or six months for those between the ages of 16 and 17), though there would be a three-month reflection period.
After a lengthy session of parliament yesterday, MSPs will discuss the final of the 153 amendments submitted at stage three of the bill before a final vote this afternoon.
The sitting was disrupted by protests from the public gallery, with opponents of the bill shouting “shame on all of you” as an amendment that would make it harder for sex offenders to apply for a GRC was voted down.
The Scottish Tories also appeared to be trying to make the proceedings last as long as possible by tabling four amendments to the agenda, forcing a vote on the timetable for the consideration of amendments, raising a further motion for MSPs to vote on and several points of order – all before the debate on the amendments began.
The party also opted to push amendments to a vote – even when the proposer of the changes did not.
It has been one of the most controversial bills in Holyrood since devolution.
Opponents have raised concerns about its impact on the safety of women and girls, while the Scottish government has insisted it will not impact the Equality Act – which allows for trans people to be excluded from single-sex spaces such as changing rooms and shelters.
Health officials have cautioned that during today’s ambulance strike in England and Wales, patient safety cannot be guaranteed.
However, according to NHS England, emergency care will still be offered.
People are urged to use services “wisely” and to use 111 online as a backup plan before calling 999 unless the situation is truly life-threatening.
There is a severe strain on A&Es, and ambulance response times are already twice as long as they were two years ago.
Eight of the top ten ambulance services in England have reported critical incidents, a sign of the extreme pressure they are already facing.
Ministers have advised the public to exercise extra caution and to stay away from contact sports and pointless car trips.
Unions say life-threatening callouts will continue to be responded to over the next 24 hours but some urgent calls, for example for late-stage labour or a fall in the home, might not be answered.
No industrial action is taking place in Northern Ireland and Scotland, and there will be no strikes in the east of England or the Isle of Wight.
But elsewhere, there is likely to be major disruption as paramedics, call handlers, emergency care assistants and technicians go on strike.
About 750 armed forces staff are being drafted in to cover the walkouts, however their role will be limited. They will not be sent on call-outs involving critical care, nor will they provide any clinical care.
What do I do if I’m hurt?
Patients who are seriously ill or injured, or whose lives are in danger, are being advised by the NHS to call 999.
For all other healthcare needs, the NHS is advising people to contact NHS 111 online or via the NHS 111 helpline, or to contact their local GP or pharmacy.
In the run-up to the strike, rhetoric from both sides has intensified.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: “We now know that the NHS contingency plans will not cover all 999 calls. Ambulance unions have made a conscious choice to inflict harm on patients.”
But union boss Christina McAnea, from Unison, told Talk TV’s First Edition the government’s refusal to open any kind of negotiations with them was irresponsible.
Asked whose fault it would be if people died, she said: “Absolutely the government’s.”
In a letter to the prime minister, the NHS Confederation, which represents healthcare systems in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said there was now “deep worry among NHS leaders about the level of harm and risk that could occur to patients”.
“This is not something NHS leaders would ever say lightly,” the letter stated, “but many now tell us that they cannot guarantee patient safety”.
The letter has now also been signed by NHS Providers, the body which represents hospital trusts, mental health and ambulance services.
What’s happening in my area?
Not all unions are striking for the same hours on Wednesday, and it is difficult to say how many workers at each individual service will strike.
You can use our interactive tool to find out which unions are on strike at your local ambulance service:
The industrial action by ambulance workers follows two days of strikes by nurses this month over pay. It has also been some of the busiest months on record for people attending Accident and Emergency departments.
Long waits for ambulances after an emergency 999 call have become a regular occurrence, as have queues of ambulances outside A&E waiting to offload patients.
Rachel Harrison, national secretary of the GMB Union, said ambulance staff were tired of spending all day in an ambulance outside a hospital with a patient because of delays in handing over patients to A&E.
“We’ve been raising these issues for years and [have] been ignored,” she added.
Ambulance workers are asking for a pay rise above inflation – although not a precise figure – and a plan for recouping lost earnings over many years.
Mr Barclay met union representatives on Tuesday afternoon but there were no discussions around pay – only what care would still be provided during the strike.
Onay Kasab, from Unite, said the meeting was “entirely pointless” because the health secretary refused to discuss pay.
Mr Barclay called the strikes “deeply regrettable” and urged the public to take extra care and check in on vulnerable friends, family and neighbours.
He said most ambulance staff have received a pay rise of at least 4%, taking average earnings to £47,000. A further pay increase would mean taking money from frontline services, he added.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has insisted he will not back down against striking workers. He has said the best way to help the workforce would be to reduce inflation as quickly as possible.
Not all Conservatives agree and want to see some flexibility from the government. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, MP for the Cotswolds, said: “These things have got to be solved by negotiation. There are people who are desperately likely to need this service over Christmas.”
NHS England says it will have more staff answering 999 calls and is helping individual trusts speed up the process of handing over emergency patients and discharging those well enough to go home.
London Ambulance Service will not dispatch an ambulance to all 999 callouts. Instead, a team of clinicians will call patients back to see if they can be helped in other ways.
They expect there to be 200 ambulances compared to the normal 400. Most will be staffed by the military, with a clinician alongside that may or may not be a paramedic. Taxis may also be used for some patients.
If there are not enough ambulances to get to all life-threatening emergencies, staff will leave the picket line to respond, the head of the service, Daniel Elkeles, said.
On Tuesday, eight ambulance services declared critical incidents, including North East Ambulance Service, South East Coast Ambulance Service, the East of England Ambulance Service, Yorkshire Ambulance Service and South Central Ambulance Service, because of pressure on services.
A critical incident allows services to prioritise certain patients and cancelnon-urgent demands on staff such as training. It can happen because of a very high number of calls, for example.
ITV’s head of media and entertainment has called Jeremy Clarkson‘s remarks about the Duchess of Sussex in a column for the Sun “awful.”
As the host of the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Kevin Lygo stated that there were “at the moment” no plans to replace him.
He claimed that Mr. Clarkson’s remarks did not reflect the principles of ITV.
After writing on Friday that he “hated [Meghan] on a cellular level,” Clarkson received more than 20,000 complaints to the press regulator.
The column has now been removed from the Sun’s website, at Clarkson’s request, and replaced with a tweet in which he says he is “horrified” after “causing so much hurt”.
In his message to followers, posted on Monday, he described a reference he made to a scene in Game of Thrones as “clumsy”.
Speaking at a Broadcasting Press Guild event in London on Tuesday, Mr Lygo said he had “no control” over what Mr Clarkson wrote in his newspaper columns.
“We hire him as a consummate broadcaster of the most famous quiz on television, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” he said.
“So it’s not quite in our wheelhouse but I don’t know what he was thinking when he wrote that. It was awful.”
Calls for apology
Conservative MP Caroline Nokes has written to Sun editor Victoria Newton calling for action to be taken against Mr Clarkson, and for an “unreserved apology” to be issued to the duchess.
The letter has been signed by more than 60 MPs.
I welcome Jeremy Clarkson’s acknowledgement that he has caused hurt #notanapology– but an editorial process allowed his column to be printed unchallenged pic.twitter.com/pFhdSGn071
SNP MP John Nicolson, who sits on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, has written to chief executive of ITV Dame Carolyn McCall asking for Mr Clarkson to be removed as a host of the quiz show.
Mr Nicolson said he had also written to Amazon, which broadcasts Clarkson’s Farm and The Grand Tour, where the presenter appears alongside James May and Richard Hammond.
In a call to Shelagh Fogarty’s Monday show on LBC, the mother of late television presenter Caroline Flack condemned the comments.
Responding to Mr Clarkson saying he would like to see the duchess humiliated, Christine Flack said it had “upset her so much that Jeremy Clarkson was not only allowed to think that but to put it in print”.
Caroline Flack’s death in February 2020 was ruled a suicide by the coroner.
An inquest in August 2020 heard “her trauma was played out in the national press” and that was “incredibly distressing for her.”
Writing in his original column, Clarkson said: “At night, I’m unable to sleep as I lie there, grinding my teeth and dreaming of the day when she [Meghan] is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her.
“Everyone who’s my age thinks the same way,” he added. “But what makes me despair is that younger people, especially girls, think she’s pretty cool. They think she was a prisoner of Buckingham Palace, forced to talk about nothing but embroidery and kittens.”
His column followed the release of the last three episodes of Netflix’s docuseries Harry & Meghan on Thursday.
In light of uncertainty regarding the true scope of the disease’s effects, China has described how it counts Covid-19 deaths.
According to the statement, the number only accounts for fatal respiratory conditions like pneumonia.
Only five Covid deaths were reported officially on Tuesday, two on Monday, and none in the two weeks prior.
The method of counting contravenes World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, and as a result, the number of deaths is much lower than in many other nations.
According to the WHO, countries use various testing and reporting procedures for Covid-19 deaths, making cross-national comparisons challenging.
It is why many countries record Covid-19 deaths as excess mortality – how many more people died than would normally be expected based on death figures before the pandemic hit.
These calculations also take into account deaths which were not directly because of Covid but were caused by its knock-on effects – including people being unable to access hospitals for the care they require.
By contrast, China has strict criteria for confirming Covid-19 cases, which include evidence in patients of lung damage caused by the virus. This must be confirmed in a scan.
But, the country is currently experiencing a surge in cases since the lifting of its most severe restrictions earlier this month.
Official figures show a relatively low number of new daily cases and deaths. This has led to fears the numbers are an underestimate due to a recent reduction in Covid testing.
In a bid to address the concerns the State Council held a news conference on Tuesday.
Infectious disease expert Prof Wang Gui-qiang clarified that only pneumonia and respiratory failure caused by the coronavirus were counted as Covid deaths.
Deaths caused by underlying diseases are not included in the official count, state-owned China News Service reported.
Strict lockdowns are said to account for China’s official death toll staying so low since the start of the pandemic – the official figure is just over 5,200.
This is equal to only three Covid deaths in every million in China, compared with 3,000 per million in the US and 2,400 per million in the UK.
China has faced challenges with vaccines being used and particularly getting them to the most vulnerable people.
Overall, China says more than 90% of its population has been fully vaccinated. However, less than half of people aged 80 and over have received three doses of vaccine. Elderly people are more likely to suffer severe Covid symptoms.
China has developed and produced its own vaccines, which have been shown to be less effective at protecting people against serious Covid illness and death than the mRNA vaccines used in much of the rest of the world.
Prof Wang’s comments come as hospitals in the capital Beijing and in other cities struggle to cope with the latest Covid surge.
The latest wave has also hit postal and catering services hard.
Meanwhile, China’s largest city, Shanghai, has ordered most of its schools to take classes onlineas cases soar.
