International

Thousands of people took to the streets across the world yesterday to condemn violence against women on the international day highlighting the crime.On the UN-designated International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, protesters marched in Europe and the Americas.“The scourge of gender-based violence continues to inflict pain and injustice on too many,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement.“An estimated one in three women globally will experience physical violence, rape, or stalking at some point in their lifetimes. It’s an outrage.”“Particularly in areas of conflict, countless women and girls suffer at the hands of perpetrators who commit gender-based violence and use rape as a weapon of war.”“We know what is at stake: whenever and wherever women and girls are under threat, so too is peace and stability,” Biden said.In Guatemala, protesters kicked off commemorations on Friday evening, placing candles to write out 438 — the number of women killed so far this year.In Chile, protesters marched in Santiago, carrying portraits of victims.In Italy, which has been shaken by the murder of a 22-year-old university student allegedly by her former boyfriend, some 50,000 people, according to the AGI news agency, demonstrated in Rome, where the Colosseum was to be lit up in red later yesterday. The country has been horrified by the case of Giulia Cecchettin, who went missing for a week as she was due to receive her degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Padua.Her body was eventually found in a gully about 120km north of Venice and her former boyfriend, 22-year-old Filippo Turetta, was arrested in Germany.“This year...takes on particularly important connotations for us...for those in this country who care about the rights, claims and emancipation of all women, following yet another femicide, the killing of Giulia Cecchettin,” said Luisa Loduce, a 22-year-old librarian.In the year to November 12, there have been 102 murder cases with female victims in Italy, 82 of whom were killed by family members or current or former partners, according to the interior ministry.

Ukraine said yesterday it had downed 74 out of 75 drones Russia launched at it overnight, in what it said was the biggest such attack since the start of the invasion.The Ukrainian army said Russia had launched a “record number” of Iranian-made Shahed drones, the majority of which targeted Kyiv, causing power cuts as temperatures dipped below freezing.The drone attack came as Ukraine marked Holodomor Remembrance Day, commemorating the 1930s starvation of millions in Ukraine under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.“The enemy launched a record number of attack drones at Ukraine! The main direction of the attack is Kyiv,” said the commander of Ukraine’s air force, General Mykola Oleshchuk.The air force said it had downed “74 out of 75” Shahed drones.Kyiv authorities said five people — including an 11-year-old — were wounded in the capital, where the air raid lasted six hours.Falling drone debris had sparked fires and damaged buildings across the city, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said.AFP saw Kyiv residents clearing smashed windows and other damage in the city’s Dniprovsky district, with ambulances parked nearby.One of the buildings that was damaged housed a nursery and another had part of its top floor destroyed.Local resident Viktor Vasylenko said he had soothed his young daughter, who experienced “panic and nausea” during the long night-time attacks as they sheltered in a corridor.The 38-year-old said his family always has “everything prepared” in case of such attacks but this was the first time one had hit so close. “My wife thought that the house would collapse in half,” he said.Latvia’s president, Edgars Rinkevics, on a visit to Kyiv during the attack, posted a photo of himself on social media inside a dark bomb shelter.In a statement, the French foreign ministry condemned the drone barrage “with the utmost firmness”.More than 21 months into Moscow’s offensive, fighting is most intense in the east of Ukraine and is now centred around the city of Avdiivka, which is nearly encircled by Russian forces.Ukraine’s army said that while the “main target” of the attack was Kyiv, air defences had also been called into action across the south. Kyiv said it was “symbolic” that the capital had been the subject of such a large-scale attack on the day Ukraine marks Holodomor.“More than 70 Shahed on the night of the Holodomor Remembrance Day...The Russian leadership is proud of the fact that it can kill,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media. Zelensky attended a ceremony with Kyiv’s top military brass, holding candles, to mark the event.“We mark the solemn anniversary of the Holodomor as the brave people of Ukraine continue to defend their freedom and Ukraine’s sovereignty against Russia’s brutal war of aggression”, US President Joe Biden said in a statement.“Ninety years ago, the inhumane polices of Joseph Stalin and the Soviet regime created the ‘death by hunger’,” he said.“Today, Ukraine’s agricultural infrastructure is once more being deliberately targeted-this time by Vladimir Putin as part of his drive for conquest and power.”Ukraine says Holodomor — Ukrainian for “death by starvation” — was caused deliberately by Soviet agricultural policies.Moscow denies this, and says it was part of a wider famine that also affected Russian parts of the Soviet Union.Zelensky said it was “impossible” for Kyiv to forgive or forget the “horrific crimes of genocide” and thanked the growing number of countries that had recognised Holodomor as a deliberate crime against Ukraine.“They tried to subjugate us, to kill us, to exterminate us,” Zelensky said. “They failed”.Switzerland’s President Alain Berset was in Kyiv yesterday and paid homage to the victims of Holodomor that he said was “provoked by Soviet leaders”.The pair discussed “humanitarian demining, the use of frozen profits from the assets of the aggressor country and the peace formula”, according to Zelensky.Switzerland’s famous tradition of neutrality has been tested since Russia invaded Ukraine — the Alpine country has followed the EU’s lead on sanctions on Moscow, but has refused to allow countries that hold Swiss-made weapons to send them to Kyiv.Kyiv has set up a new corridor in the Black Sea since Moscow pulled out of the UN-brokered grain deal in July, but it continues to operate under risk.“We have already accumulated more than $100mn” (through the Kyiv-installed corridor), Zelensky said.Drones have been extensively used in the conflict, with Ukraine also launching drones into Russia and annexed Crimea.

Tens of thousands of protesters marched in London yesterday demanding a permanent ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas, as a temporary truce largely held in Gaza. It was the latest large pro-Palestinian demonstration in the British capital since October 7. “The occupation needs to end. We need a full ceasefire and not a four-day ceasefire,” Alaa Hassan, a 24-year-old well-being practitioner, told AFP. The demonstrators waved pro-Palestinian banners and chanted slogans as they walked through central London to the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. Some 1,500 police officers were on duty for the protest, including 500 that had been brought in from forces outside of London. There were no immediate reports of violence at the demonstration, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Stop the War Coalition. “We come to show our solidarity and tell the Palestinians they are not alone, we are thinking about them and we are not gonna stop until they are free,” said 25-year-old student Leila Talhi. In Gaza, a truce was largely being respected as Hamas and Israel’s government released Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli and foreign hostages held by Hamas. Israel launched an air, artillery and naval bombardment alongside a ground offensive to destroy Hamas, killing nearly 15,000 people, mostly civilians including thousands of children, according to the government in Gaza. Meanwhile, the UK will double its humanitarian aid to Gaza with a further £30mn for Palestinian civilians affected by the conflict between Israel and Hamas, foreign minister David Cameron said. Cameron met Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Thursday and held discussions with Palestinian officials, for talks on how UK efforts can help alleviate the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, his office said. “I can announce new £30mn of funding which will be spent on vital aid such as shelter and medical provisions,” Cameron said in a statement. “It is vital to protect civilians from harm, and we are urgently looking at all avenues to get aid into Gaza, including land, maritime and air routes.” London has already released two tranches of aid: £10mn and £20mn last month. Cameron will also discuss supporting the Palestinian Authority, “including through training and capacity building” and look towards a long-term political solution to the crisis. His meetings come after the start of a four-day truce in the Israel-Hamas war. Over the four days, at least 50 hostages are expected to be released, and in exchange, 150 Palestinians prisoners are expected to be released.

North Korean state media said yesterday leader Kim Jong-un reviewed images taken by his country’s new spy satellite of a US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and “major target” sites across South Korea.Pyongyang successfully put a military spy satellite into orbit this week, but Seoul said it was too early to determine if the satellite was functioning as the North claims. Experts have said putting a working reconnaissance satellite into orbit would improve North Korea’s intelligence-gathering capabilities, particularly over South Korea, and provide crucial data in any military conflict.Pyongyang previously claimed, within hours of the Tuesday launch, that Kim was shown photos of US military bases in Guam taken by the satellite, named ‘Malligyong-1’. Yesterday, the North claimed Kim inspected images taken as the satellite passed over Hawaii at around 5am, including those of “a naval base in the Pearl Harbor, the Hickam air force base in Honolulu”, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.Kim also reviewed the satellite’s images of the South Korean port city of Busan, which Pyongyang said were taken at around 10am on Saturday. The photos included ones of the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, Pyongyang claimed. The carrier had arrived at the Busan Naval Base on Tuesday, according to Seoul’s military. Kim also reviewed “major target areas in the enemy region” — referring to the South — including Jinhae, Busan, Ulsan, Pohang, Daegu and Gangneung, KCNA added.In an earlier report yesterday, KCNA said Kim had the day before reviewed the satellite’s images of “major target regions” in the South, including its capital and cities hosting US military bases. The Friday images also included some areas of North Korea, it added.Among the South Korean cities mentioned, Pyeongtaek — around 60km from Seoul — hosts Camp Humphreys, the largest overseas US military installation in the world. Pyeongtaek is also home to the Osan Air Base, which houses Seoul’s Air Force Operations Command as well as a US air force base.South Korean Defence Minister Shin Won-sik told a local radio station on Thursday that spy satellites cannot produce photographs on the first day of the launch, questioning the credibility of Pyongyang’s earlier claims, according to Seoul’s Yonhap news agency. “Even if the satellite enters the orbit (successfully), it takes a considerable amount of time to perform a normal reconnaissance mission,” he told the radio station, according to Yonhap. Pyongyang is barred by successive rounds of UN resolutions from tests using ballistic technology, and analysts say there is significant technological overlap between space launch capabilities and the development of ballistic missiles.The North’s satellite launch has since prompted the two Koreas to suspend— the South only partially — a five-year-old military accord established to de-escalate tensions on the peninsula. Separately, the top diplomats of South Korea, Japan and the United States on Friday “strongly condemned the launch for its destabilising effect on the region” after a joint phone call, the US State Department said in a statement.Seoul’s spy agency has said that Pyongyang, after two failed attempts to put a satellite in orbit earlier this year, received help from Moscow for this week’s successful launch. “If Russia had provided North Korea with a reconnaissance satellite camera this time, I think it would be possible to identify objects with a radius of at least 2m on the ground,” Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, told AFP.Now that Pyongyang has a spy satellite, the North’s next likely step will be to further develop its “strategic nuclear weapons” using space launch capabilities, he added.

At least four people were killed and dozens injured Saturday evening in a stampede at a university in southern India, local officials and media reported. The stampede occurred at an outdoor auditorium in the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) in southwest Kerala state, where a concert had been planned. In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, Kerala state governor Arif Mohammed Khan said he was "deeply shocked and grieved to know about the sad demise of four students" at CUSAT. "Heartfelt condolences to their families. Prayers for speedy recovery of injured," he added. State Health Minister Veena George said in a statement that four people had been brought dead to the Kalamassery Medical College Hospital while four more were in critical condition, the PTI news agency reported, adding that over 60 people had been injured. A local police official said that a crowd outside the auditorium had rushed to seek cover from a sudden downpour when a number of people slipped on some stairs and were subsequently trampled, according to PTI. One of the deadliest stampedes in recent history occurred a decade ago in India, when at least 115 people were killed on the sidelines of a religious festival in central Madhya Pradesh state.

An Israeli-owned cargo ship was damaged in a suspected drone attack by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the Indian Ocean, a US defence official said on Saturday."We are aware of reports that there was a suspected IRGC-initiated Shahed-136 UAV (that) struck a civilian motor vessel in the Indian Ocean," the official said, confirming the attack on Friday and adding that "the ship incurred minor damage" and there were "no injuries".Maritime security company Ambrey said the Malta-flagged, French-operated container ship was reportedly damaged when the unmanned aerial vehicle exploded close to the vessel."The vessel was managed by an Israeli-affiliated company, which was assessed to be the reason why it was targeted," Ambrey said, adding that in the days before to the attack, the ship's tracking transmissions had stopped shortly after departing port in the United Arab Emirates.The reported attack comes almost a week after Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels seized an Israel-linked cargo ship in the southern Red Sea.The Huthis, declaring themselves part of the "axis of resistance" of Iran-affiliated groups, have launched a series of drone and missile strikes targeting Israel since October, following an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants on Israel.Israel has vowed to "crush" Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, after the Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people and took around 240 hostages on October 7, according to Israeli authorities.Gaza's Hamas government says nearly 15,000 people have been killed in Israel's relentless aerial bombardment and ground operations in the Palestinian territory.

Zimbabwe’s government has started restricting public gatherings and food vending, while monitoring burials in all areas affected by cholera, after cases of the disease spiked this week.New cholera cases in the southern African country trebled from 437 to 1,259 this week, the biggest jump since the latest outbreak of the water-borne disease started in February. This has triggered panic in Zimbabwe, where more than 4,000 people died from cholera in 2008.To date, the country has recorded 155 deaths linked to cholera from 8,787 cases, according to the health ministry.The authorities last week declared a state of emergency in the capital Harare, which has the highest number of new infections. Yesterday, residents in Harare’s low-income Kuwadzana suburb, where seven of the capital’s 13 cholera deaths were reported, complained about erratic supplies of clean water, uncollected garbage and raw sewage flowing in the streets.Many residents have dug shallow wells to meet their household water needs.“The water from the boreholes has also become contaminated. They are encouraging us to treat the water before drinking and to come to the hospital if we feel sick,” a visibly frail Bertha Rwizi said as she received treatment at Kuwadzana polyclinic, where the authorities have set up three emergency cholera treatment tents.Health worker Mercy Chiweshe said clean water was key to treating cholera cases as well as preventing further infections.“We are appealing for boreholes because the shortage of water is affecting us and for residents to maintain good hygiene,” she said.Harare’s municipal authorities have been distributing water treatment tablets to residents as part of efforts to fight the diarrhoeal disease.

A tunnel which collapsed, trapping 41 workers in the Indian Himalayas this month, did not have an emergency exit and was built through a geological fault, a member of a panel of experts investigating the disaster said yesterday.Rescuers are still struggling to reach the construction workers 12 days after the 4.5km tunnel caved in. The men have been getting food, water and medicine through a pipe.In the days that followed, the government asked a group of experts to investigate what went wrong, look into the construction of the tunnel in Uttarakhand state, and make recommendations for the future. Preliminary findings indicated the collapse may have been caused by a geological fault, known as a “shear zone”, a member of the panel said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to talk to the media.There was also no escape passage, despite government guidelines recommending emergency exits for tunnels longer than 1.5km, he added. “Once the rescue operations are over, we will conduct detailed investigations to find out loopholes in the construction,” the panel member said.He declined to comment further before the full investigations were completed.The tunnel was being built by the state-run National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation which is under India’s ministry of road transport and highways.A ministry spokesperson, who speaks on behalf of the company, did not respond to a request for comment.The government said on Wednesday it had ordered the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to audit 29 tunnels being constructed across India.“Himalayan geology is not as predictable as we generally think,” NHAI member Vishal Chauhan told reporters when asked yesterday if the government could have been better prepared for such an emergency.“There are multiple obstacles and we are using the best technology to find solutions,” he added.The tunnel was being built as part of the ambitious, $1.5bn Char Dham project.

Shoppers took to stores across the world on a weekend sales event that appeared to be subdued compared to prior years, looking for discounted electronics, clothing and household goods in the kickoff to the holiday shopping season crucial to big retailers.Brokerage TD Cowen lowered its US holiday spending estimate to 2-3% growth, from 4-5%, as it forecast flat Thanksgiving sales traffic.Retailers’ early holiday discounts in October and November removed the excitement and urgency of the Thanksgiving weekend.“People have already got what they want,” David Klink, senior analyst at Huntington Private Bank, which owns shares of Walmart and Target. “There are only so many big screen TVs and Alexa [Amazon voice assistants] you can buy.”With many consumers squeezed by persistent inflation and high interest rates, US holiday spending is expected to rise at the slowest pace in five years.Most major retailers slashed their seasonal hiring. Retailers will likely continue to discount products throughout the holiday shopping season.A record 130.7mn people are expected to shop in stores and online in the US on Thanksgiving weekend this year, the National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates.The event is known for crowds lining up at big-box stores at dawn to scoop up discounted TVs and home appliances.However, at 6am on Friday at a Walmart in New Milford, Connecticut, the parking lot was only half full.“It’s a lot quieter this year, a lot quieter,” said shopper Theresa Forsberg, who visits the same five stores with her family at dawn every Thanksgiving weekend. She was at a nearby Kohl’s store at 5am.In Paramus, New Jersey, crowds at the Garden State Plaza mall were thinner than prior years, according to Michael Brown, a partner at consulting firm Kearney, who has checked shopping activity at major retail chains for the past 35 years.“It wasn’t the good old fashioned kick-the-doors-down-type” shopping event this year, he said.Mall goers “were carrying a bag or two, not the armfuls that you would see in pre-pandemic years. They are not blowing the budget today. They are holding out for a better deal”.US shoppers plan to spend an average $875 on holiday purchases – $42 more than last year – with clothing, gift cards and toys at the top of most shopping lists, according to a survey of 8,424 adults conducted in early November by the NRF, a US retail trade group.The Thanksgiving weekend sales tradition began in the US but has gone global, as well as moving online.In France, Italy, and Spain, most shoppers planned to buy clothing during the sales weekend, with electronic goods coming second, according to a PwC survey.On average, shoppers in France planned to spend €295 ($322), PwC found, with 65% of purchases expected to be made online.In the UK, transaction volumes were up just 1.4% in the week to Wednesday compared to a year ago, according to Barclays, a bank that sees nearly half the country’s credit and debit card transactions.“Recently, (the Thanksgiving sales weekend) hasn’t been the greatest,” said Naomi Ojomo as she browsed for dresses in a Zara store in Canary Wharf in east London, adding that discounts are less enticing due to many other sales throughout the year.The rise of online shopping has reduced the importance of the Thanksgiving promotion as a single-day event.Retailers from Macy’s to Amazon launch deals as early as October and often offer additional discounts closer to Christmas, Macy’s chief executive Jeff Gennette told investors this month.Shoppers spent a record $5.6bn online on Thanksgiving day, data from Adobe Analytics showed, a 5.5% increase in online spending compared to last year, in line with projections.Thanksgiving sales weekend discounts online peaked at about 28% for toys, while electronics had discounts as steep as 27%, Adobe said.Barbie dolls, Marvel action figures, Playstation 5 and videogame Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III were hot sellers.Adobe expects the Thanksgiving sales weekend to have the best deals on televisions, with discounts of 22%.Clothing, appliances, sporting goods and furniture will also have deep discounts but prices will go even lower by Cyber Monday.Some retailers hold their biggest markdowns for the Thanksgiving weekend, and big-box players including Walmart, Lowe’s and Home Depot maintained or deepened their advertised discounts.Whether those deals will attract inflation-weary consumers is the biggest worry for many retailers.Best Buy is offering between $100 and $1,600 off electronics including laptops, flat-screen TVs and KitchenAid mixers after telling investors this week that shoppers are holding off on big-ticket purchases.“Air fryers, energy efficient washing machines as people look to save cash on their energy bills, and upright vacuum cleaners are proving to be the most popular products,” said John Roberts, founder and chief executive of British online retailer AO World.British retailer Argos said the PlayStation 5 gaming console, Beats wireless headphones, and Apple AirPods were among its top-selling products during the Thanksgiving sales event.A downturn in luxury spending prompted department stores including Bergdorf Goodman and Nordstrom to offer steep discounts on items such as Balenciaga shoes and Oscar de la Renta earrings.“I think people are going to still spend on travel and leisure activities that might be online and not necessarily in stores,” said Jimmy Lee, chief executive of Wealth Consulting Group which holds Amazon shares. “The excitement of waiting in lines on (the Thanksgiving weekend sales event) – there’s not as much of that anymore. Many people...would rather just sit at home and look for deals.”

US President Joe Biden on Friday thanked Qatar and Egypt for the deal to release Israeli hostages.Biden said the chances were "real" of a truce between Israel and Hamas being extended and he expressed hope that US citizens taken hostage by the Palestinian militant group would be freed soon.Biden also praised US diplomacy behind the truce and Friday's release of 24 hostages who were taken by Hamas to Gaza in its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, saying it was the start of what he expected would be further releases in coming days.Asked whether the truce could be extended, Biden said: "I think the chances are real."Biden declined to speculate about how long the Israel-Hamas war would last. "I don't know how long it will take," Biden told reporters."My expectation and hope is that as we move forward, the rest of the Arab world and the region is also putting pressure on all sides to slow this down, to bring this to an end as quickly as we can."Biden said earlier that he had raised civilian casualties with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Just a few metres of rock and earth separate Indian rescue teams from 41 workers who have been trapped inside a collapsed road tunnel for nearly two weeks, officials said Friday, adding they were optimistic of success within hours.After a series of rapid advances, hopes that the men's freedom was imminent were dashed late Wednesday when the drilling machine powering through tonnes of rock and concrete ran into metal rods, but those have now been cleared.Rescue teams have stretchers fitted with wheels ready to pull the exhausted men through 57 metres (187 feet) of steel pipe once it has been driven through the final section of rubble blocking their escape."We have to (drill) 14 metres further inside the tunnel," Bhaskar Khulbe, a senior government official overseeing rescue efforts, told reporters on Friday."If everything goes well, we hope to reach them by today evening," he said, adding that the "trapped workers are in good frame of mind".But a government statement has also noted that any timeline is "subject to change due to technical glitches, the challenging Himalayan terrain, and unforeseen emergencies".Ambulances are on standby and a field hospital has been prepared to receive the men, who have been trapped since a portion of the under-construction tunnel in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand caved in 13 days ago.- 'Geology is the enemy' -The area outside the tunnel has been a flurry of activity, with worried relatives gathering and rescue teams stopping to pray at a Hindu shrine erected at the entrance.National Disaster Response Force chief Atul Karwal said his teams have been rehearsing how -- once the steel pipe breaks through -- they will bring the men out as quickly and safely as possible."The boys will go in first," he said Thursday. "We have put wheels under the stretchers so that when we go in, we can get the people out one by one on the stretcher -- we are prepared in every way."Rescue efforts have been hit with repeated delays caused by falling debris, fears of further cave-ins and drilling machine breakdowns.Arnold Dix, president of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association, who is at the site assisting the rescue, said engineers had even faced having to cut through construction vehicles buried in the earth when the roof first collapsed.Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said work was on a "war footing"."We are trying to overcome all the obstacles soon, and bring all the workers out safely," Dhami said Friday.Syed Ata Hasnain, a senior rescue official and retired general, said their efforts were "like battle"."Here, the land is your enemy," he said Thursday. "Himalayan geology is the enemy... it is very challenging work."Experts have warned of the impact of extensive construction in Uttarakhand, large parts of which are prone to landslides.

The Humanitarian Pause Agreement in the Gaza Strip, which was reached through the mediation of the State of Qatar in partnership with the Arab Republic of Egypt and the United States of America, went into force at 7am Palestine local time for four days, subject to extension.This is the first pause of its kind since the start of the violent Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip on October 7th, which has so far resulted in the killing of more than 15,000 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and more than 4,000 women, in addition to more than 36,000 wounded.The agreement generally stipulates the exchange of 50 civilian women and children prisoners in the Gaza Strip in the first stage, in exchange for the release of a number of Palestinian women and children detained in Israeli prisons, provided that the number of those released will be increased in later stages of implementing the agreement.The pause will also allow the entry of a larger number of humanitarian convoys and relief aid, including fuel designated for humanitarian needs.Regarding the details of implementing this agreement, the Official Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari stated in a press conference held Thursday that the first batch of civilian hostages would be handed over at around 4:00 pm on Friday, indicating that 50 Israeli hostages would be released over four days. The first batch will include 13 persons, including women and children.

The far-right, anti-Islam party of firebrand politician Geert Wilders has won a stunning victory in the Dutch election, near-complete results showed, a political bombshell that will resound in Europe and around the world.Wilders and his eurosceptic Freedom Party (PVV) beat all predictions on Wednesday night by winning 37 seats out of 150 in the Dutch parliament, well ahead of a Labour/Green combination and the outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s conservatives.Dutch Muslims expressed shock yesterday.“These election results are shocking for Dutch Muslims. We did not expect such a party with a programme that is against the basic principles of the rule of law to be so big,” said Muhsin Koktas of Muslim organisation CMO.Muslims make up around 5% of the Dutch population of almost 18mn people.“It was a blow I have to process,” Abessamad Taheri, a 45-year-old community worker in the multi-ethnic Schilderswijk neighbourhood in The Hague told Reuters.Mehdi Koc, a 41-year-old insulation installer, said he was shocked by the swing to the PVV, while Taheri said the vote sent different messages to Muslims, although the overwhelming emotion was of disappointment.“In part the message is that many people are xenophobic and don’t want foreigners or Muslims. But another message is that people are very disappointed in 13 years of Rutte,” he said.However, Taheri, a member of the Labour party, said he could not really separate that from all the “nasty things” Wilders had said about banning head scarves and closing mosques.After his surprise win, Wilders said he wanted to be prime minister for all Dutch people, but that appeared to do little to assuage concerns about what he might do later.“If you say yes to Wilders now, than you will have to say yes later when he closes down all the mosques, because then you cannot go back,” Koc said, warning that Wilders will not lose sight of his eventual goals.Some in the Netherlands think that the Dutch system of coalition government means Wilders will have to compromise on his most radical views, as political analysts also predict.“He will not make the laws alone (other parties) will join and they have to co-operate,” Kemal Yildiz, 54, said. “It will be fine.”The shock victory of Wilders’s eurosceptic party in Dutch elections sent a political tremor through Brussels, seven months ahead of crucial EU elections.Despite Wilders’s promise to hold a “Nexit” referendum, pro-European parties do not yet fear that the Netherlands is going to follow Britain in quitting the European Union.However, his first place finish in a core member of the union is a reminder that populist parties are expected to grow in strength in next year’s European Parliament elections.“The European Union is in danger of death from within and without,” socialist MEP Raphael Glucksmann said in an interview with the France 2 network, warning that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin would be celebrating Wilders’s triumph.“Elections take place at regular intervals in the member states. And this does not, per se, put in doubt in any way the membership of any country to the European Union,” European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said. “We continue to count on the Netherlands strong participation in in the European Union, obviously.”Wilders’s PVV may not be able to build a coalition to make him prime minister so he can join the other 26 EU members at their summits.And his hardline plans to expel immigrants would be unlikely to survive legal challenges in the Dutch or European courts.However, Europe’s support for Ukraine, grand plans to fight climate change and efforts to build a joint strategic position in the face of crises like the Gaza war could be endangered.European elections to be held in June will be a new test of Wilders’s popularity.The Netherlands is the seventh most populous EU country and its MEPs – along with right-wingers from countries like Poland, Italy, France and Hungary – could form a powerful group.“We can expect at least a consolidation of right-wing populists, even an increase in their number of seats in the European Parliament, said Nathalie Brack of Brussels Free University.The PVV does not have any seats in the current parliament, but next year they could join the National Rally (RN) of France’s Marine Le Pen and Germany’s AFD in the assembly’s Identity and Democracy group.That is what the European far-right hopes for.“Bring on June 2024!” exclaimed French RN MEP Jordan Bardella, in a social media post hailing Wilders’s win as a “beautiful defeat” for supporters of immigration and Islamism.The larger ECR group of eurosceptic parties, currently dominated by Poland’s PiS and Spain’s Vox, could also benefit from a populist surge, the political scientist Brack told AFP.The ECR already has 67 seats and could pass the Greens, currently on 72, thanks to what she called “a generalised discontent” with traditional centre parties.“There is even the chance that ECR becomes the third group in parliament if, for example, the liberals are punished at the polls,” she said.Traditionally, European legislation moves forward backed by a broad coalition of the pro-European centre right and centre left.If such groups did not have a working majority, law-making could grind to a halt and the most ambitious plans of supporters of the “ever closer union” would be halted or reversed.

Gaza's Hamas government said yesterday the death toll in the Palestinian territory had reached 14,854 since war began on October 7 between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters. The Hamas government said 6,150 children and 4,000 women were among the dead, with another 36,000 people wounded. Its health ministry has previously said it can no longer give exact tolls as intense fighting has prevented bodies from being recovered.

Turkey plans to evacuate some wounded or sick Gazan children and young people today as part of its third round of evacuation, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. Turkey has so far brought 150 people, mostly cancer patients and their companions, from Gaza to continue their treatment. Koca said three sick Gazan children had been brought to Turkey on Thursday. The third round of evacuations, consisting of a group of 50 people, has been delayed due to issues regarding permissions for their releases, the minister said, but added that those problems were now largely resolved and officials were working to complete the preparations.

The Israeli occupation forces continue to besiege the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, targeting any movement in its vicinity.According to the Palestinian news agency (WAFA), a local source reported that about 200 injured people, along with medical staff, remain trapped inside the hospital. Additionally, there are 65 bodies still in the hospital, which have not yet been buried.Israeli snipers are positioned on towers opposite the hospital, firing at anyone moving in the area, the source added.The medical teams are forced to transport 6 to 7 wounded individuals in each ambulance during evacuation operations, amidst continuous bombing targeting the hospital from all sides, the source pointed out.In a related development, the occupation forces arrested the Director of Al-Shifa Hospital Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, and several medical staff members during their evacuation.The Palestinian Red Crescent Society announced on Wednesday that it managed to evacuate 190 injured and sick individuals, along with their companions and some medical staff, from the Al-Shifa Hospital to hospitals in the southern Gaza Strip. However, several injured individuals and their companions remain in the hospital.The injured were transferred to the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, while kidney dialysis patients were moved to Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, it said.

The Israeli occupation has continued its bombardment of residential buildings across Gaza Strip, claiming more Palestinian lives and leaving scores injured.According to Palestinian news agency (WAFA), a photojournalist and his family members were martyred after the occupation warplanes shelled his house in the Nuseirat Camp.WAFA added that scores of Palestinians were martyred and wounded after the occupation launched violent air raids on the houses in the Nuseirat Camp.In the meantime, the occupation warplanes bombed two houses in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza Strip, leaving three martyrs and scores injured.In northern Gaza Strip, scores of Palestinians were martyred and injured in Israeli airstrikes targeted several houses in Jabalia Camp.The unprecedented brutal Israeli aggression against Gaza Strip continues for the 48th day in a row, leaving thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them children, women and the elderly, while hundreds of martyrs and wounded remain under the rubbles or on the streets amidst inability of rescue teams to reach them due to the dangerous field conditions.

The Gaza Strip is the "most dangerous place in the world to be a child," the head of the United Nations children's agency UNICEF said.Unicef Executive Director Catherine Russell told the UN Security Council that "more than 5,300 Palestinian children have been reportedly killed in just 46 days, that is over 115 a day, every day, for weeks and weeks.Based on these figures, children account for 40% of the deaths in Gaza. This is unprecedented. In other words, today, the Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child, Russell said."We are also receiving reports that more than 1,200 children remain under the rubble of bombed," she added.Russell expressed her concern about the epidemiological dangers, the near absence of drinking water, especially for infants, and the effects of malnutrition.Gaza's children are at extreme risk from catastrophic living conditions. One million children or really all children inside the territory are now food insecure; facing what could soon become a catastrophic nutrition crisis.She said that Unicef calls for an urgent humanitarian ceasefire with the aim of putting an immediate end to this massacre.For her part, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Natalia Kanem expressed her concern about the fate of pregnant women in the Gaza Strip and their newborns. She said that amid the battles and destruction, there are currently 5,500 pregnant women expected to give birth in the coming months in Gaza. Every day, approximately 180 women deliver under appalling conditions, the future for their newborns uncertain, she said.UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous said that before the current escalation, there were 650,000 women and girls in dire need of humanitarian assistance in Gaza. Now that estimate has gone up to 1.1 million, including the nearly 800,000 women internally displaced. She added that the world is looking to us to model its highest ideals, not to reflect its greatest failures.The death toll as a result of the ongoing occupation aggression against the Gaza Strip since October 7th has risen to 14,532, including more than 6,000 children and 4,000 women, in addition to more than 35,000 wounded, and more than 7,000 missing.

Tokyo’s well-kept streets may not be the most obvious place to do it, but competitive litter-hunters yesterday sifted through the Japanese capital in their first world championship.The Spogomi World Cup saw 21 countries battle it out to collect the most rubbish within a set time limit, scouring the streets in search of plastic, cigarette butts and other trash.Spogomi founder Kenichi Mamitsuka started to pick up litter on his morning runs and realised that setting targets could turn it into a fun activity.He organised his first competition 15 years ago, taking the title from the words “sport” and “gomi” — Japanese for rubbish.He said watching the event’s maiden world championship was “like a dream”, but he optimistically believes it can grow to an even bigger scale.“If you form national spogomi associations, my ambition is that it could become an Olympic demonstration event,” he told AFP in front of a portion of the almost 550kg of rubbish collected by participants.Armed with gloves, metal tongs and plastic rubbish bags, each team of three roamed a roughly five-square-kilometre collection area in Tokyo’s bustling Shibuya district.Running, ransacking existing litter bins and shadowing other teams were all forbidden, with each team followed by a referee to enforce the rules.In both of the morning and afternoon sessions, they had 45 minutes to hunt out rubbish and another 20 to sort it into categories.Points were awarded based on volume and type, with small items such as cigarette ends scoring highly. Australia’s Petrya Williams said that her team had “found some great spots that are like treasure maps”.“I think we’ve got it for the next round, we know where to look,” she said, as she and her team-mates waited to weigh their haul.Each team had to earn the right to represent their country in Tokyo by winning national competitions.Reasons for their involvement varied. Australia’s Jamie Gray said his team belonged to a meditation group and “clean-up is part of our philosophy”.France’s team arrived with something of an advantage — all three members work in the refuse collection industry.“We have a flair for it,” said Usman Khan, 32.At the end of the day, Britain were declared the winners after collecting 83 kg of rubbish.South Africa’s Philippe Louis de Froberville said Tokyo’s relatively clean streets made it “harder to find the rubbish than in the competition back home”.But he believes competitive collecting can “get really big”, and thinks schools are a good place to start.“That’s where you’re going to get your people,” said the 33-year-old from Durban, who says his passion for surfing and the ocean got him involved in collecting rubbish.“If you start when you’re young, you’re going to want to do it when you’re older and you’re going to want to look after your environment.”Spogomi founder Mamitsuka believes changing the way people think about rubbish is key.He says that people thought he was “making fun of activities that contribute to society” at first.But then he began to hear stories about people getting involved and passing on good habits to their children.“It made me think that I should keep going,” he added.“Our target is to have spogomi events in 50 countries by 2030.”

Altman returns as OpenAI CEO after tumultuous ousterOpenAI revamps board with Bret Taylor as new chairSam Altman (pictured) is returning as CEO of OpenAI just days after his ouster, capping frenzied discussions about the future of the startup at the centre of an artificial intelligence boom.The ChatGPT maker also unveiled a new initial board with former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor as chair and Larry Summers, former US Treasury Secretary, and Adam D’Angelo as directors. D’Angelo was part of the original board that had dismissed Altman.The return of Altman could potentially usher in a new era for the startup which had long juggled concerns among staff about AI’s dangers and its potential for commercialisation.“i’m looking forward to returning to openai,” Altman said in a post on the X social media platform late on Tuesday.The original board had given scant explanation for Altman’s firing on Friday other than his lack of candour and its need to defend OpenAI’s mission to develop AI that benefits humanity.Analysts said the reshuffle will favour Altman and Microsoft, which has pledged billions of dollars to the startup and is rolling out its technology to its customers globally.“There are still huge questions about why Altman was fired and why Microsoft had been kept in the dark about the decision,” said Danni Hewson, AJ Bell’s head of financial analysis.“What does seem clear is that Microsoft will now play a much bigger role, that the partnership will become stronger and the two companies more integrated.”Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella welcomed the changes.“We believe this is a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance,” he said on X.Microsoft shares rose nearly 1% in premarket US trading.It was not immediately clear if the previous board directors who hold no equity in OpenAI would retain their seats, or if the backers of its capped-profit subsidiary — such as 49% owner Microsoft — would ultimately win board appointments.Unlike most Silicon Valley startups, OpenAI is overseen by a nonprofit parent board designed to ensure AI safety is given priority alongside growth. It created the capped-profit unit in 2019 to raise funds and grant stock options to its employees.“The return of Altman consolidates his influence over the direction of OpenAI, and probably means it will be more bold and profit focused, but also potentially less risk averse,” said Kyle Rodda, analyst at Capital.com.Spokespeople for the startup did not immediately respond to a request for comment.OpenAI’s previous board consisted of Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner and OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever and Quora CEO D’Angelo, who is part of the revamped board.Reuters earlier reported some shareholders were exploring legal recourse after the turmoil threatened the future of OpenAI, recently expected to have an over $80bn valuation.Tuesday’s moves reassured some investors.“We believe this is the best outcome for the company,” said Thrive Capital, a backer of OpenAI.Altman’s dramatic turnaround drew comparisons in Silicon Valley lore to Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO who left the computer maker in a 1985 power struggle only to return 12 years later.Altman took back the CEO mantle after four days.His departure triggered a major upheaval at OpenAI, with President Greg Brockman quitting in protest. By Sunday, Altman was back at OpenAI’s offices expecting his swift reappointment, when the board surprised again by naming ex-Twitch boss Emmett Shear as interim CEO.In a post on X on Tuesday, Shear said he worked “72 very intense hours” to bring stability — and ultimately Altman — back to OpenAI. “This was the pathway that maximised safety alongside doing right by all stakeholders involved,” he said.Altman’s master stroke was made possible in part by Microsoft. When he was out of a job, CEO Nadella said Altman could head a new research team alongside Brockman and other colleagues departing from OpenAI. By Monday, nearly all of OpenAI’s over 700-strong staff had threatened to leave and join Microsoft’s effort unless the board stepped down and reinstated Altman, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.This threat was backed by Microsoft’s vast computing power, the key asset driving OpenAI’s technology along with its staff of computer scientists.Co-founder and President Brockman celebrated with a staff selfie late Tuesday night, having beaten the US Thanksgiving holiday deadline against which parties raced to negotiate.“We will come back stronger & more unified than ever,” he said.