Jeruslem, Jan 8,2024: Israel’s military chief said on Sunday that the conflict in Gaza, persisting for three months already, would likely last throughout 2024 and spill over to other fronts.
Herzi Halevi, the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), made the remarks during a visit to the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
Halevi said 2024 would be “challenging” and that Israel would “certainly be involved in fighting in Gaza throughout the year,” implying that the current full-scale conflict with Hamas, the Palestinian faction that rules Gaza, could ease but not end.
He also warned of a possible flare-up in violence “on other fronts, especially the West Bank,” where tensions have risen since the start of the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which started on Oct. 7, 2023, following a surprise attack from Hamas.
Halevi also said the IDF would increase “the pressure it exerts” on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where it has traded fire with Hezbollah, a Shi’ite militant group, in recent months.
“Hezbollah has decided to join this war. We are increasingly exacting a toll on them,” he said, adding that the army had “a responsibility, a duty, to securely return northern residents to their homes.”
The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip rose to 22,835, and the injuries have reached 58,416, the Gaza-based Health Ministry said Sunday. Additionally, around 1,200 people in Israel have lost their lives due to the Hamas attack.
New Delhi, Jan 7,2024: The government of Maldives on Sunday “denounced” the statement made by its politicians on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Lakshadweep, saying “These opinions are personal and do not represent the views of the Government of Maldives.”
In an official statement, the Maldives government said, “The freedom of expression should be exercised in a democratic and responsible manner, and in ways that do not spread hatred, negativity, and hinder close relationships between the Maldives and its international partners”.
A massive row erupted between India and Maldives after Maldives Deputy Minister of Youth Empowerment Mariyam Shiuna made some derogatory remarks against PM Modi over his recent visit to the Union Territory of Lakshadweep.
Shiuna’s now deleted post featured photos of Modi from his recent visit to Lakshadweep.
Former Foreign Ministers of Maldives Abdulla Shahid termed the comments against PM Modi as “reprehensible and odious” and called upon the government to reprimand these officials.
On Social media post on X, Abdulla Shahid said “Public figures must maintain decorum”.
He added that, “India is a time-tested friend and an unwavering ally. They have historically been the first to respond in our time of need”…. adding that our close relationship has been bound by mutual respect, history, culture and strong people-to-people relations.
In the wake of the ongoing controversy, celebrities and online influencers have joined calls to boycott Maldives.
The latest to join the bandwagon is former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra. On Saturday, Chopra took to X and posted: “‘India Out’ was a part of the manifesto. Maldives voted for it.
Actor Akshay Kumar also condemned the comments from the junior minister of the island nation and reiterated the importance of dignity.
He also emphasised the need to support Indian tourism and explore islands in the country.
“Came across comments from prominent public figures from Maldives passing hateful and racist comments on Indians. Surprised that they are doing this to a country that sends them the maximum number of tourists” he said on X.
Cairo, Jan 5,2024: Kuwaiti Emir Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah appointed former Foreign Minister Mohammed Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah as the country’s new prime minister, the Kuwaiti state news agency KUNA reported Thursday.
Earlier, the Kuwaiti government submitted its resignation to the country’s new emir shortly after he was sworn in before parliament.
According to the news agency, the emir issued a decree to appoint Sheikh Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah as prime minister. He was instructed to appoint new government members.
The new prime minister of Kuwait earlier served as foreign minister and deputy prime minister.
Emir Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah died at the age of 86 on December 16, 2023.
Tokyo, Jan 5,2024: The death toll from a powerful earthquake and a series of strong aftershocks that hit Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture on New Year’s Day has risen to 91, while another 179 are still missing, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported on Friday.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has earlier said that the earthquake in Ishikawa claimed the lives of 78 people, while 29 people were seriously injured and another 231 sustained minor injuries.
There are 179 people listed as missing, but the list could also include people who moved to another place but were not listed as having moved, the report said.
Over 40 people have been reportedly buried alive under the rubble in the city of Wajima and the death toll may therefore increase.
Some 89,000 households in three earthquake-hit prefectures, namely Ishikawa, Toyama and Niigata, remain without water supply, and more than 30,000 households have been cut off from electricity supply. Authorities have established 370 evacuation points in Ishikawa and have so far evacuated 33,000 people, the report said.
The report added that 4,600 servicepeople of Japan’s self-defense forces are taking part in search and rescue operations.
Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported Thursday, citing a senior Japanese government official, that Japanese authorities were planning to work with the US military to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake in Ishikawa, which would include transportation of humanitarian supplies and people displaced by the disaster. Other countries have also offered their help to Japan, but Tokyo plans to get support only from the United States for now, the report said.
US Defense Department spokesperson Pat Ryder said Thursday that US forces in Japan stand ready to provide all necessary assistance following the deadly earthquake.
On Thursday, Kishida on X expressed gratitude to world nations, including the G7 Countries, the US, China and Taiwan, for the condolences and offers of assistance from abroad in the wake of the devastating earthquake.
On Monday afternoon, a powerful 7.6 magnitude earthquake, followed by a series of aftershocks, struck near the city of Suzu on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, resulting in casualties and buildings collapsing, although no nuclear power plant failures were registered.
The earthquake on January 1, 2024, became the most powerful for the Noto Peninsula region since records began in 1885.
New Delhi, Jan 4,2024: The Indian government has 60 days to appeal in the highest court against the varying quantum of sentences awarded by the Qatar’s Court of Appeal which has commuted the death sentence handed down to the 8 Ex-Navy personnel in an alleged espionage case a week ago, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Thursday.
The verdict of Qatar’s Court of Appeal came weeks after the family members of the Indians filed an appeal against the earlier order by another court.
The Navy veterans were on October 26 given death sentences by Qatar’s Court of First Instance in the case.
Addressing a weekly press conference, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “The legal team has the order of the court, and the government is in touch with the legal team and family members for further action.”
“The court order clarifies that the death penalty is overturned and there are varying quantums of sentences. We have 60 days to appeal in the highest court,” said Randhir Jaiswal.
The statement comes after the death sentence of eight former Indian Navy officials commuted by a court of appeal in Qatar on December 28.
The former Indian Navy officers were employees of Al Dahra Global Technologies. It is a private firm that provides training and other services to Qatar’s armed forces and security agencies.
DHAKA, Jan 2,2024: As general elections approach this week in Bangladesh, opposition leader Abdul Moyeen Khan says he had to hide out in the homes of a string of acquaintances until nominations closed, trying to escape a government crackdown.
The former minister and his Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) are not running in the Jan. 7 vote, in which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is chasing a fourth straight term, despite a bleak economy that needed an IMF bailout last year.
“We’re not even in the election, but they are still not sparing us,” Khan, 77, said in Dhaka, the capital, on his return home in December after nominations closed and removed any risk that he could pose an electoral threat.
His party boycotted the vote after Hasina refused to cede power to a caretaker government to run the poll. Now it says 10 million party workers are on the run after the arrests of nearly 25,000 following deadly anti-government protests on Oct. 28.
“Police and other government agents were hunting for our leaders, particularly in their homes,” said Khan. “The situation instilled fear in our minds.”
Conditions were worse than at the time of the last election in 2018, when attacks on party workers kept him from holding even a single rally, he added.
Bangladesh’s interior minister, Asaduzzaman Khan, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hasina and her Awami League have repeatedly condemned the BNP as troublemakers out to sabotage the elections, rebuffing warnings by rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) that the crackdown aimed to subdue the opposition.
The BNP contested the last election but kept out of the fray in 2014. And New York-based HRW has said Bangladeshis will again be denied the right to freely choose their leaders.
In a November report, the rights group put the number of arrests of BNP activists at 10,000, with two police officers among at least 16 dead and about 5,500 injured in the violence.
“The jails are overcrowded, with statistics showing the number of inmates is double capacity,” said Khan, who wore a mask, cap and sunglasses to obscure his identity as the pace of arrests picked up.
Police ransacked the homes of BNP leaders and workers in frequent nighttime raids, he said, even detaining family members of those who evaded them. Some hid out in forests, paddy fields and cemeteries to escape, two other party leaders said.
However, police say they arrested only those involved in the violence, with one senior officer rejecting the opposition estimates as incorrect.
“Police are arresting only those involved in killings and attacks, vandalism and arson,” said the officer, who sought anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The crackdown comes at a time when the opposition leadership finds itself in disarray, as ailing party president Khaleda Zia, herself a former prime minister famed for a bitter, decades-long rivalry with Hasina, keeps out of active politics.
Although her son has temporarily taken the mantle, he is in exile, and the party’s next most senior leader, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, has been in jail since Oct. 29.
Tokyo, Jan 1,2024: The death toll has risen to 30 after a series of powerful earthquakes hit the area in central Japan and the vicinity, national news agency Kyodo citing local authorities.
A series of building collapses and fires left at least 30 people dead in the most-hit Ishikawa prefecture.
As more damage reports and information about people trapped continued to come in regarding other municipalities, injuries were reported in Niigata, Toyama, Fukui and Gifu prefectures due to collapsed or damaged buildings.
Calling the rescue of those impacted by the earthquakes a battle against time, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that the government has already dispatched a number of self-defense force troops to the impacted areas and will continue to provide assistance.
A series of strong earthquakes, with major ones of up to a preliminary 7.6 magnitude, hit on Monday at a shallow depth on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture. The Japan Meteorological Agency has officially named it the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake.
Since Monday, Japan has been hit by at least 155 quakes.
Seoul, Jan 1,2024: Lee Jae-myung, chief of South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party, was attacked by an unidentified man with a knife during his visit to the country’s southeastern port city of Busan Tuesday, according to multiple local media reports.
While taking questions from reporters in Busan at about 10:27 a.m. local time (0127 GMT), Lee was stabbed on the left side of his neck and collapsed on the floor with blood.
The attacker approached Lee asking for an autograph and stabbed him in the left neck, video footage showed.
People around Lee wrestled the attacker to the ground before the police arrested him at the scene.
According to Yonhap news agency, the knife possessed by the attacker was at least 20 centimeters long.
About 20 minutes after the attack, Lee was taken to a hospital in a conscious state.
New Delhi, Dec 28,2023: The death sentence of eight former Indian Navy officials have been reduced by the Court of Appeal of Qatar in connection with an alleged case of espionage, Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.
“We have noted the verdict of the Court of Appeal of Qatar in the Dahra Global case on Thursday, in which the sentences have been reduced” MEA said in an official statement.
On October 26, 2023, Qatar court has sentenced eight former Indian Navy officials to death after detaining them for more than a year earlier.
The development comes weeks after Qatar’s Court of First Instance accepted the appeal filed by the Indian government against the death sentence awarded to the Navy veterans.
“The detailed judgement is awaited. We are in close touch with the legal team as well as the family members to decide on the next steps” the Ministry said.
The Ministry said, “Our Ambassador to Qatar and other officials were present in the Court of Appeal today, along with the family members. We have stood by them since the beginning of the matter and we will continue to extend all consular and legal assistance. We will also continue to take up the matter with the Qatari authorities”.
“Due to the confidential and sensitive nature of proceedings of this case, it would not be appropriate to make any further comment at this juncture” it added.
The Indian Nationals were arrested by the Qatari intelligence agency in August 2022, on alleged charges of spying on submarine program on behalf of Israel.
The eight men, were working for Al Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services, a private firm that provided training and related services to Qatar’s armed forces and security agencies.
Dec 25,2023: An Israeli air strike outside the Syrian capital of Damascus has killed a senior adviser in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to reports from Iranian state media.
Sayyed Razi Mousavi, one of the top IRGC commanders in Syria, was killed on Monday.
He was responsible for coordinating the military alliance between Syria and Iran, an important part of Iran’s regional network of allies and proxies known as the “Axis of Resistance”.
Mousavi “was killed during an attack by the Zionist regime a few hours ago in Zeinabiyah district in the suburbs of Damascus,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported, using a different name for Sayyida Zeinab south of the Syrian capital.
In a statement read on state TV, the IRGC said that the “usurper and savage Zionist regime will pay for this crime”.
Iran’s state television interrupted its regular news broadcast to announce that Mousavi had been killed, describing him as one of the most experienced IRGC advisers in Syria.
The strike comes amid fears that Israel’s war with the Palestinian armed group Hamas in Gaza could expand into a wider regional conflict, pulling in Iran-backed groups such as Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
Yangjiang, Guangdong, Dec 26,2023: China on Tuesday successfully launched a Long March-11 carrier rocket into space, sending three satellites into planned orbit.
The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center launched the rocket from waters off the coast of Yangjiang, south China’s Guangdong Province, at 6:39 a.m. (Beijing Time).
The satellites, Shiyan-24C, will be mainly used for space science and technology experiments.
It was the 503rd mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.
Dec 23,2023: The United States has accused Iran of being “deeply involved” in attacks by Houthi rebels on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
Tehran’s support for the Yemeni rebel group includes both weapons and tactical intelligence, the White House said on Friday as it presented newly declassified intelligence purporting to show Iranian involvement in the attacks.
Tehran’s support for the Yemeni rebel group includes both weapons and tactical intelligence, the White House said on Friday as it presented newly declassified intelligence purporting to show Iranian involvement in the attacks.
“We know that Iran was deeply involved in planning the operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea,” White House national security spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
“This is consistent with Iran’s long-term material support and encouragement of the Houthis’ destabilising actions in the region.”
“This is an international challenge that demands collective action,” Watson said.
The White House said that visual analysis showed nearly identical features between Iran’s KAS-04 drones and the unmanned vehicles used by the Houthis, as well as consistent features between Iranian and Houthi missiles.
The Houthis, who control large parts of Yemen including the capital Sanaa, have launched dozens of drone and missile attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea in what the group has described as a show of support for Palestinians facing Israeli bombardment in Gaza.
The attacks have effectively rerouted a large portion of global trade by forcing freight companies to sail around Africa, imposing higher costs and delays to deliveries of energy, food and consumer goods.
More than a dozen shipping companies, including the Italian-Swiss giant Mediterranean Shipping Company, France’s CMA CGM and Denmark’s AP Moller-Maersk, have suspended transit through the Red Sea due to the attacks.
Last week, a US guided-missile destroyer shot down 14 attack drones believed to have been fired from Houthi-controlled regions of Yemen.
The Houthi leadership has warned that they will strike back at “American battleships” and “American interests” if they are attacked.
Tehran has said it supports the Houthis politically but denies sending the group weapons.
Central Gaza Strip,Dec 23,2023: Israel has ordered Palestinians to evacuate from parts of central Gaza, its latest such directive as it pushes more of the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million-strong population into a smaller area while widening its bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military on Friday ordered families to flee for their “safety” to shelters in southern Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, from Bureij and areas of Nuseirat in central Gaza.
The announcement has incensed the region’s weary and exhausted residents, many of whom have already been internally displaced several times since October 7.
Scenes of mass displacement once again filled Salah al-Din Street that is linked to the entrance of the Bureij refugee camp.
Salah al-Din, a road stretching across the length of Gaza, has been dubbed the “death corridor” by many in the Strip. In previous evacuations, Palestinians fleeing parts of northern Gaza have been arrested, shot at and even killed – despite it being declared as a safe route by the Israeli army.
On Friday, hundreds of people carrying what is left of their personal belongings poured onto the street on foot. Others loaded pick-up trucks and donkey carts with mattresses, blankets, plastic chairs and whatever else they could grab.