WITH what remains of her wounded forearms, Nebal al-Hessi scrolls on her phone to follow news updates on the reopening of the Rafah land crossing from her family’s tent in an-Nazla, Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip. Nebal’s hands were amputated in an Israeli artillery attack on the home where she had taken shelter with her husband and her daughter in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, on October 7, 2024. More than a year later, the 25-year-old mother is one of thousands of wounded people placing their hopes on the reopening of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and…
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AT least 12 people have been killed in a Russian drone attack on a bus carrying miners in Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, the country’s energy minister said. “Today, the enemy carried out a cynical and targeted attack on energy sector workers in the Dnipro region,” Minister of Energy Denys Shmyhal posted on Telegram on Sunday. “As a result of the terrorist attack, 12 mine workers were killed and seven more were injured.” Police said the attack took place in the city of Ternivka. Footage posted by the State Emergencies Service showed a charred bus with shattered windows that had veered…
FOUR British people have died within four months after being struck down with stomach bugs while on holiday in Cape Verde, lawyers representing their families have said. Mark Ashley, 55, of Bedfordshire; Elena Walsh, 64, from Birmingham; 64-year-old Karen Pooley, from Gloucestershire, and a 56-year-old man all died last year after contracting severe gastric illnesses while on the islands off the coast of west Africa. They are four of six Britons who have died after holidays there since January 2023, and law firm Irwin Mitchell said the six families were making personal injury claims against holiday firm Tui. Ashley’s wife…
BURKINA Faso’s junta has announced a ban on all political parties, whose activities have been suspended since the military seized power in 2022. Junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traoré has been criticised for suppressing dissent and the move will be seen as the latest move to tighten control. According to Burkina Faso’s Interior Minister Emile Zerbo, the ban is part of plans to “rebuild the state” after what he said were “numerous abuses” in the country’s multiparty system. Zerbo said the system had been “promoting division among citizens and weakening the social fabric”. Parties were previously banned from holding public gatherings…
NONI Madueke starred as Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the table to seven points as they beat Leeds United to record their first league win in four Premier League matches. Madueke was not meant to start the game and was a late replacement for winger Bukayo Saka, who limped out of the warm-up with a hip problem. And Madueke, who has had to play the role of back-up for most of this season, took his chance to impress as he curled in an excellent cross for Martin Zubimendi to nod Arsenal in front. The home side had…
MORE than 200 people have been killed in a collapse at the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a spokesperson for the rebel-appointed governor of the province where the mine is located. The mine, located some 60km (37 miles) northwest of Goma city, the provincial capital of North Kivu province, collapsed on Wednesday after a landslide, Lumumba Kambere Muyisa said on Friday. “More than 200 people were victims of this landslide, including miners, children and market women. Some people were rescued just in time and have serious injuries,” Muyisa told the news agency…
AT least 31 Palestinians, including six children and several police officers, have been killed in relentless Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, a day before the Rafah border crossing is due to reopen. An Israeli air strike on Saturday on a tent sheltering displaced people in the Mawasi area to the northwest of Khan Younis city killed at least seven Palestinians, including three children, medical sources told Al Jazeera. Their bodies were taken to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. In Gaza City, emergency services reported that at least five Palestinians, including three children, were killed in an Israeli…
IRANIAN President Masoud Pezeshkian has said that United States President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Europe stirred tensions by “provoking” people during the recent protests that gripped the country. “They equipped and brought a number of innocent people along with this movement and poured them into the streets and incited them to tear this country apart, create fights and hatred between people, and create division,” Pezeshkian said in a televised speech on Saturday, according to Iran’s official Student News Network. “In any normal protest, they don’t pick up guns, they don’t kill military personnel, they don’t set…
THE military junta in Guinea-Bissau is no longer seeking to arrest a senior opposition politician who has been on the run, an opposition official said on Saturday. But another prominent opposition leader, whom the military released from prison only on Friday, has now been placed under house arrest. The junta imprisoned several senior politicians after overthrowing president Umaro Sissoco Embalo and seizing power on November 26, just days after the presidential election and before the official results were released. The military suspended the electoral process and Embalo fled the country. His main election rival, Fernando Dias, who said he had…
REAL Madrid were handed a quick rematch with Jose Mourinho’s Benfica in the draw for the Champions League play-off round on Friday, while reigning European champions Paris Saint-Germain will face domestic rivals Monaco. Benfica beat Real 4-2 in their final game of the league phase on Wednesday, with a 98th-minute goal by goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin proving decisive in allowing the Portuguese side to snatch the last play-off spot ahead of Marseille, who were eliminated altogether. The defeat also nudged Madrid out of the top eight places in the league standings, which give direct access to the last 16, forcing them…
AFTER 18 years as a teacher with an UNRWA-run school, Maryam Shaaban (name changed for safety reasons) fainted upon learning she was among 600 employees dismissed from their posts, the latest in a barrage of devastating blows borne out of Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged enclave. Earlier in January, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) announced a series of harsh austerity measures, including a 20 percent salary cut for local staff in Gaza, reduced working hours, and the termination of contracts for employees based outside Gaza who had been previously placed on “exceptional leave”. According to a…
THE United States Department of Justice has released a massive new tranche of investigative files related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. At a news conference on Friday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department was releasing more than 3 million pages of documents, as well as more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. He said the release means the department has met a legal requirement passed by Congress last year. “Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with…
THE ISIL (ISIS) armed group has claimed responsibility for an attack on an air force base at Niger’s main airport. The ISIL-affiliated Amaq News Agency reported on Friday that the group carried out a “surprise and coordinated attack” on the base at Diori Hamani International Airport near the capital, Niamey. It claimed the attack caused “significant damage”, without providing more details. The military government, which took power in a 2023 coup, said security forces killed 20 attackers in fighting after the attack, which took place shortly after midnight on Thursday. Four army soldiers were wounded in the violence. Niger’s authorities…
A MALIAN lawmaker has been jailed in neighbouring Ivory Coast for three years for insulting the 84-year-old Ivorian leader, who recently won a fourth term in office. Mamadou Hawa Gassama, who serves in the transitional parliament set up by Mali’s junta, was arrested last July while on a trip to Ivory Coast. Prosecutors said he described President Alassane Ouattara as a “tyrant”, “an enemy of Mali” and strongly criticised his leadership in interviews and on social media. Since Mali’s military took power in 2020, relations with Ivory Coast have been strained. Ouattara, an ally of France – the former colonial…
SENEGAL coach Pape Thiaw has been banned for five Confederation of African Football (CAF) matches after a chaotic Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final against Morocco this month, it was announced on Wednesday. A CAF statement said the tactician was guilty of “unsporting conduct” and “bringing the game into disrepute” during the decider in Rabat on January 18, which Senegal won 1-0 after extra time. Senegalese forwards Iliman Ndiaye and Ismaila Sarr, who play in the English Premier League, received two-match bans for “unsporting behaviour towards the referee”. The Senegal Football Federation (FSF) was fined a total of $615,000 for…
ISRAEL has handed over the bodies of 15 Palestinians to the International Committee of the Red Cross in exchange for the final Israeli captive, whose remains were recovered by Israeli forces earlier this week, closing the chapter on this part of its more than two-year genocidal war on Gaza. Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza, said Palestinian authorities are still trying to determine whether the bodies of the Palestinians will be released at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis or at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City later on Thursday. On Wednesday, Israel laid to rest policeman Ran Gvili, who was…
CHINA executed 11 people linked to telecom scam operations on Thursday, state media reported, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in the lawless borderlands of Myanmar. Initially, largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In recent years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation…
A BURST of heavy gunfire and explosions erupted early Thursday near the international airport in Niger’s capital Niamey before halting within hours, residents told AFP. Videos filmed by residents of the area showed streaks of light in the sky with the sound of loud explosions, while other images showed flames several metres high and charred cars. The capital’s Diori Hamani International Airport houses an air force base and is located about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the presidential palace. Niger, a country hit regularly by jihadist attacks, has been led for more than two years by Abdourahamane Tiani, the head…
PASSENGERS flights between Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, and cities in the northern Tigray region have been cancelled amid fears of a return to conflict, with reports of clashes in one area. Ethiopia Airlines, which operates all routes in the country, sent passengers a text message about the cancellations citing “unplanned circumstances”. Neither the airline nor the government has commented further. Airport staff in Tigray’s main city of Mekelle have reportedly been told not to go to work. A 2022 peace deal to end a brutal civil war in Tigray has been unravelling as tensions grow over disputed territory and ahead…
GOALKEEPER Anatoliy Trubin scored a stunning 98th-minute goal to send Jose Mourinho’s Benfica into the Champions League play-offs after beating Real Madrid. The Spanish giants also face the play-offs, and could face Benfica again, after dropping from third to ninth with defeat at Estadio da Luz. Benfica looked set to go out in agonising fashion, on goals scored, despite leading 3-2 with seconds remaining. However, a free-kick gave them one last chance. Trubin was sent up and the Ukrainian timed his run to perfection to meet the cross with a bullet header past opposite number Thibaut Courtois to spark wild…