Category Archives: World
Full Story: Who is Naftali Bennett new Isreal Prime Minister
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Naftali Bennett, who was sworn in Sunday as Israel’s new prime minister, embodies many of the contradictions that define the 73-year-old nation.
He’s a religious Jew who made millions in the mostly secular hi-tech sector; a champion of the settlement movement who lives in a Tel Aviv suburb; a former ally of Benjamin Netanyahu who has partnered with centrist and left-wing parties to end his 12-year rule.
Fight talk: Floyd Mayweather,Logan Paul ,Tony Fury
In a packed Fight Talk this week we look at how the boxing world reacted to Floyd Mayweather’s exhibition bout with Logan Paul in Miami on Sunday.
We also review Daniel Dubois and Tommy Fury’s wins on Saturday night and discuss the latest social media spats, with lightweight champion Devin Haney and rival Ryan Garcia involved in a Twitter back-and-forth, while Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and his former promoter Oscar de la Hoya exchange words
Copa America in trouble :Brazil needs vaccine not Copa America
Last week, David Neres of Ajax and Sao Paulo’s Robert Arboleda were arrested at a clandestine party with more than 100 people in attendance. Such secret events are a common theme in Brazil, where each state governor sets its own rules.
“The pandemic is completely out of control here,” said Suleiman. “The public hospitals are full, the private hospitals are full, everyone is working to their maximum capacity. Drugs for patients intubated in Sao Paulo will run out at the latest next week with no restock forecast. It’s not a comfortable situation.
“Football is a great sport, an emotional game, but the country doesn’t need the Copa America at this moment. What the country needs is a vaccine.”
Canada: an act of ‘islamophodia’ unfolds
Police say a driver ran over a family in Ontario ‘because they were Muslim’, killing four people, including a teenage girl.
![Abdullah Alzureiqi and his daughter Hala say a prayer at the fatal crime scene where a man ran over a Muslim family in London, Ontario, in what police say was a 'premeditated act motivated by hate' [Carlos Osorio/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-06-07T230644Z_994249252_RC2ZVN9IVHRR_RTRMADP_3_CANADA-ATTACK.jpg?resize=770%2C513)
Police in the Canadian province of Ontario say a driver intentionally struck a family because they were Muslim, killing four people and seriously injuring a nine-year-old boy in what has been denounced as an “act of unspeakable hatred” and Islamophobia.
The victims, all members of the same family, were hit on Sunday evening while waiting to cross a street in the city of London, about 200km (124 miles) southwest of Toronto, Canadian news outlets reported on Monday.
Police said the victims were two women aged 77 and 44, a 46-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl. A nine-year-old boy also was seriously injured and is recovering in hospital. Local authorities did not release the names of the victims.
Villages empty as civilians armed groups rise in jungle
Military attacks including on churches have forced villagers into the jungle and stiffened the resolve of those fighting against the coup.
No one is left in Mi Meh’s village.
After the military began launching indiscriminate air attacks and shelling on her township of Demoso in Myanmar’s southeastern Kayah State, also known as Karenni, everyone fled to the jungle.
With only the clothes on her back and a small tarpaulin for ground cover, Mi Meh and the others from her village set up camp. When Al Jazeera spoke to her on May 27, she was running out
Two drones shot down above Iraq base housing us troops
The US’s C-RAM defence system shoots down the drones above the Ain al-Asad base in Iraq’s western desert, the Iraqi army says.
![Since the start of this year there have been 39 attacks against US interests in Iraq [File: Ayman Henna/AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/000_1NO34I.jpg?resize=770%2C513)
The Iraqi army has said that two drones were destroyed above a base housing United States troops, one month after the same base was targeted by an armed drone.
The US military’s C-RAM defence system was activated to shoot down the drones above the Ain al-Asad airbase, located in Iraq’s western desert, the Iraqi military said on Sunday.
Several hours earlier a rocket was shot down above Baghdad airport, “without causing casualties or damage,” said Colonel Wayne Marotto, spokesman for the US-led military coalition in Iraq.
17 killed as Houthi missile hit Yemen
The attack comes as Omani delegation arrives for mediating peace talks between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels.
![Fighters loyal to Yemen's internationally recognised government mans a position near the front line facing Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the country's northeastern province of Marib [File: AFP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/000_99W9AK.jpg?resize=770%2C513)
At least 17 people, including a five-year-old girl, have been killed after a ballistic missile targeted the Yemeni city of Marib in an attack the government blamed on the Houthi rebels.
The missile hit a petrol station in the Rawdha neighbourhood, said Ali al-Ghulisi, the provincial governor’s press secretary.K
Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said the attack wounded at least five others and all casualties were civilians.
He called on the UN and the US to condemn the attack, saying it amounted to a war crime.
Israel domestic security warns of violence as netanyahu faces axe
The head of Israel’s domestic security service issued a rare warning on Saturday of possible violence during one of the most politically charged periods in decades, with the country on the verge of unseating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, its longest serving leader.
Netanyahu is facing the prospect of an end to his 12-year run as premier after Israel’s centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid announced on Wednesday that he had succeeded in forming a governing coalition following a March 23 election.
The new government, yet to be sworn in, is an unlikely patchwork of left-wing, liberal, rightist, nationalist and religious parties, as well as – for the first time in Israel’s history – an Arab Islamist party.
Why Sicilians still turn to mafia to settle scores
A notorious Sicilian Mafia boss responsible for some 150 murders – Giovanni Brusca – was released last week, causing much anger in Italy. He detonated the bomb that killed Giovanni Falcone, Italy’s legendary anti-Mafia judge, in 1992.
Here Federico Varese, Professor of Criminology at Oxford University, describes how the Mafia – or Cosa Nostra – continues to influence Sicilian life, despite the state’s successes against it in recent years.
Italy’s use of Mafia turncoats – so-called collaboratori di giustizia – remains a crucial tool in the fight against serious and organised crime. That tool was the brainchild of Judge Falcone.
Arrested in 1996, Brusca was a key ally of Cosa Nostra boss Salvatore “Toto” Riina. But later Brusca’s testimony was instrumental in key anti-Mafia investigations, magistrates noted
Israel releases Al Jezira journalist
Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Givara Budeiri has been released from custody several hours after she was arrested by Israeli police while covering a demonstration in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
Israeli police assaulted the Doha-based media network’s Jerusalem correspondent while arresting her on Saturday and destroyed equipment belonging to Al Jazeera cameraman Nabil Mazzawi. Budeiri’s arrest drew sharp condemnation from press freedom advocates and media watchdogs.
African journalists slam UAE ‘ over manipulation’ of World Cup
Federation of African Journalists condemns what it says are attempts by the UAE to pressure African journalists into campaigning against next year’s football event.
![Qatar will be the first country in the Middle East to stage world football's biggest tournament when the event kicks off in November 2022 [File: Ibraheem al-Omari/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2019-09-03T175918Z_1754076299_RC14F4385C30_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-WORLDCUP.jpg?resize=770%2C513)
The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) has condemned what it calls attempts by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to “manipulate” African journalists into speaking out against the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
In a resolution released on Wednesday, the FAJ expressed “dismay” over efforts by the UAE to “manipulate journalists’ organisations in Africa to issue public statements or campaign against the 2022 FIFA World Cup”
23 hurt as israel police attack Palestine ‘7850’ face expulsion
At least 23 hurt as Israeli police attack run in support of Palestinians facing forced expulsion in East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said 23 runners were injured when Israeli police fired tear gas and stun grenades at an activist-organised run in solidarity with Palestinian families facing forced expulsion in occupied East Jerusalem
Hundreds of runners took part in the event on Friday which began in Sheikh Jarrah and ended 3.5km (2 miles) away in Silwan. Dozens of Palestinians living in the two neighbourhoods face the threat of losing their homes to Israeli settlers.
Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel Hamid, reporting from East Jerusalem, said the runners were wearing white T-shirts with “7,850” printed on them, representing the number of people activists say are facing forced expulsion in the city.
Abdel Hamid said Israeli security forces had attacked the protesters with stun grenades to disperse them, even though the run was peaceful.
“The young people were simply singing and cheering and were happy that they had done a marathon,” she added.
On social media, people posted videos of Israeli forces beating protesters.
One of the runners, Jalal Abu Khater, posted images of his bruised leg and tweeted: “I was beaten six times, attacked by Israeli forces, for running in my ancestral town & city.”
Protests in May against the forced expulsions of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah frequently drew violent responses by the Israeli security forces.
On May 9, amid growing tensions, the Israeli High Court delayed a ruling on the expulsion of four Palestinian families. A new court date would be announced in 30 days, it said.
An Israeli crackdown on protesters also spread to Al-Aqsa Mosque, which Israeli security forces stormed several times during the holy month of Ramadan, wounding hundreds of Muslim worshippers.
Hamas, the Palestinian group that rules Gaza, fired several rockets at Israel on May 10 following the expiration of the group’s ultimatum demanding Israel stand down its security forces from the mosque compound.
Israel then bombarded Gaza for 11 days, killing at least 253 people, including 66 children. Rockets fired by armed groups in Gaza killed at least 12 people in Israel.
Rights groups say expulsions could still proceed in the coming months, potentially igniting another round of fighting.
Israeli rights group Ir Amim, which closely follows the court cases, estimates that at least 150 households in the neighbourhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan have been served with expulsion notices and are at various stages in a long legal process.
The settlers are using a 1970 law that allows Jews to reclaim properties lost during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation, a right denied to Palestinians who lost property in the same conflict, including Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Israel captured East Jerusalem, home to holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not recognised internationally.
Israel views the entire city as its capital, while Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
Meanwhile, some 20 people were injured in separate demonstrations that took place on Friday against illegal Israeli military outposts and settlements near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.
Beralus .Roman protasevich, journalist appears on state TV
Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich, who was arrested in Minsk after being taken off a diverted flight last month, has appeared in a tearful interview on state television.
In the interview, he confessed to organising anti-government protests and praised President Alexander Lukashenko.
Mr Protasevich’s family say the interview was conducted under duress.
The reporter, 26, was editor of the opposition Nexta channel on the Telegram messaging app until last year
He was put on a list of “individuals involved in terrorist activity” last year.
Mass protests erupted across Belarus after long-time leader Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in a 9 August presidential election widely condemned as rigged, and a crackdown followed.
The protests have been curbed and opposition leaders have been sent to prison or into exile.
What did he say?
In the interview broadcast on Thursday evening, Mr Protasevich admitted to attempting to topple Alexander Lukashenko and said that he was speaking to the television channel by choice.
He said that he had criticised President Lukashenko a lot but “began to understand that he was doing the right thing and I certainly respect him”.
At the end of the interview, he burst into tears and said he hoped one day to marry and have children.
The journalist’s father told AFP news agency that it pained him to watch the interview.
“I know my son very well and I believe that he would never say such things. They broke him and forced him to say what was needed,” he said.
Thursday’s interview was Mr Protasevich’s third appearance on state television since he was detained.
In one interview, he said there was no use in the opposition calling for further street protests.
How was he arrested?
The journalist and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega were flying back to Lithuania, where they were both living, when their jet was made to land in Minsk over a fake bomb threat.
He faces serious charges. The charge of causing mass unrest can be punished by up to 15 years in jail. But terror offences carry higher sentences and as he was taken off the plane, passengers quoted him saying “I’ll get the death penalty here”.
Mr Protasevich and Ms Sapega were led away by police and later appeared in videos where they were shown making what appeared to be forced confessions to crimes against the Belarusian authorities.
Their arrests prompted the European Union to last month agree on sanctions on Belarus including banning the country’s airlines from using the bloc’s airspace and airports. Sanctions have also been placed on officials linked to the flight’s diversion.
“We won’t tolerate that one can try to play Russian roulette with the lives of innocent civilians,” EU Council chief Charles Michel said.
Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, described the incident as “an attack on democracy”.
