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A burnt paw of a brushtail possum is pictured as it is nursed by volunteers in Merimbula, Australia, 9 January 2020
A volunteer attends to the burnt paw of a brushtail possum in Merimbula, Australia. From July 2019 to March 2020, bushfires swept across 24 million hectares of the country, killing and injuring people and destroying homes – and killing or displacing nearly three billion animals.

A selection of some of the best photographs taken by news agency photographers around the world this year.

Film producer Harvey Weinstein arrives at New York Criminal Court for his sexual assault trial in the Manhattan borough of New York City, on 9 January 2020
Harvey Weinstein arrives at New York Criminal Court, in January, to face charges of rape and sexual assault. Once one of Hollywood’s most powerful figures, the film producer was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Italian alpine rescuers climb a frozen waterfall in Malga Ciapela, Italy, 11 February 2020
Members of the Italian Alpine Rescue Service climb a frozen waterfall in Malga Ciapela, Italy, in February.
Medical workers in protective suits attend to Covid-19 patients at an intensive care unit in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, 6 February 2020
Medical workers attend to Covid-19 patients at an intensive care unit in Wuhan, China, in February. The virus, thought to have originated at an animal market in the city, subsequently led to a pandemic that rocked the world.
An intensive care nurse takes a break in Brussels, Belgium, 24 April 2020
In Brussels, an intensive care nurse takes a break amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Workers carry a coffin in a cemetery complex for coronavirus victims in Jakarta, Indonesia, 22 April 2020
A coffin is brought into a cemetery complex for coronavirus victims in Jakarta, Indonesia. In late April, Johns Hopkins University reported that the global death toll had passed 200,000 people.
A mother and daughter embrace through a plastic sheet in Wantagh, New York, on 24 May 2020
A mother and daughter embrace through a plastic sheet, intended to protect them from Covid-19, in Wantagh, New York. Countries around the world introduced lockdowns and social-distancing measures to help prevent the spread of the disease.
A man chases a swarm of desert locusts in Samburu County, Kenya, on 21 May 2020
A man chases a swarm of desert locusts in Samburu County, Kenya, in May. Billions of the insects destroyed crops across East Africa, after higher than average rainfall resulted in favourable breeding conditions.
A man kneels in front of a memorial and mural for George Floyd
A man kneels in front of a memorial and mural for George Floyd in Houston, Texas. Mr Floyd died in May, in Minneapolis, when a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, sparking nationwide protests.
A competitor dives from Stari Most, also known as Old Bridge, on 26 July 2020, in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
A competitor dives from Stari Most, also known as Old Bridge, during the 454th traditional diving competition in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Men walk towards law enforcement with their hands up on 24 August 2020, in Kenosha, Wisconsin
Men approach law enforcement with their hands up, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Protests erupted in August after police shot a black man, Jacob Blake, multiple times while responding to what they said was a domestic incident.
A member of the Lebanese army walks past a wrecked grain silo at the site of a deadly blast in Beirut's port area, on 7 August 2020
A member of the Lebanese army walks past the remains of a grain silo following a deadly blast in Beirut’s port area. A warehouse containing nearly 3,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was blamed for the explosion that killed more than 200 people and injured about 5,000 others on 4 August.
A woman embraces a member of the Belarusian interior troop near the Government House in Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus, 14 August 2020
A woman embraces a member of the Belarusian interior forces during a demonstration in Minsk. Mass protests were triggered by a disputed presidential election on 9 August that saw long-time authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko re-elected despite widespread allegations of vote-rigging.
A woman takes in the view from the Embarcadero as smoke from various wildfires blankets San Francisco in darkness and an orange glow on 9 September 2020
In September, wildfire smoke blanketed San Francisco in an orange glow. Fires have burned millions of acres in the state of California this year, killing at least eight people.
US President Donald Trump speaks, with a flag behind him, during a campaign rally at Cecil Airport in Jacksonville, Florida, on 24 September 2020
US President Donald Trump speaks during a presidential election campaign rally in Jacksonville, Florida. A month before millions of Americans went to the polls, Mr Trump revealed that he and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for coronavirus.
Students wear protective face masks as they have their temperature checked before entering a class in Peshawar, Pakistan 23 September 2020
Students in Peshawar, Pakistan, have their temperatures checked before entering a class, after the government allowed the reopening of schools amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Fires rage at the Moria migrant camp on 9 September 2020, in Lesbos, Greece
Fire rages at the Moria camp, on the island of Lesbos. The blaze destroyed Greece’s largest migrant camp, leaving thousands of people without shelter.
A woman takes a selfie as her friend adjusts her makeup in a pink muhly grass field in Hanam, South Korea, 13 October 2020
A woman takes a selfie in a pink muhly grass field in Hanam, South Korea, in October.
US presidential nominee Joe Biden and his wife Jill, and vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her husband Doug, in Wilmington, Delaware, 7 November 2020
US presidential nominee Joe Biden reacts at a rally in Wilmington, Delaware, after news media announced his triumph in the 2020 presidential election. The Democrat won November’s contest with 306 electoral college votes to Republican Donald Trump’s 232.
A metro train rests precariously on an art installation of a whale in Spijkenisse, near Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2 November 2020
A metro train in the city of Spijkenisse, in the Netherlands, rests precariously on an art installation of a whale after crashing through a barrier at the end of the tracks. The sculpture stopped the train from plummeting 10m (32ft) into water below, and the driver walked away uninjured.
A man covered in mud in San Mateo, Rizal province, Philippines, 13 November 2020
A man takes a break from cleaning his house after flooding caused by Typhoon Vamco, in San Mateo, Philippines. November’s typhoon was the 21st storm to hit the country this year and left dozens dead.
A demonstrator paints the helmet visor of a riot police officer, in Mexico City, Mexico, 11 November 2020
A demonstrator paints the helmet visor of a riot police officer in Mexico City, during a protest against gender-based violence in the country.
Refugees from the Tigray region of Ethiopia wait to be transferred to a camp
Refugees from the Tigray region of Ethiopia wait to be transferred to a camp in neighbouring Sudan. Since 4 November, hundreds of people are thought to have been killed in fighting between Ethiopian government forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), while about 50,000 have fled to Sudan.
A capsule from Japan's Hayabusa-2 space probe streaks through the night sky
The capsule from Japan’s Hayabusa-2 space probe streaks through the sky before parachuting down near Woomera in South Australia. The spacecraft collected the first significant quantity of rock from an asteroid before returning the sample to Earth in December.

All photographs subject to copyright.

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Foreign

Israel’s War On Gaza: List of Key Events, Day 101

Published

3 years ago

on

15th January 2024

By

Israel's war on Gaza: List of key events, day 101 | Israel War on Gaza News | Al Jazeera

Dozens of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes in central and south Gaza as Red Sea tensions rise.

Here’s how things stand on Monday, January 15, 2024:

Latest updates and human impact

  • Israeli attacks continue unabated overnight killing and wounding dozens of civilians in central and southern Gaza. At least 22 people were killed and a large number injured as a result of Israeli forces targeting al-Thalatheni Street in the central Gaza Strip.
  • Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired an antiship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea, which was shot down by a US fighter jet, announced US Central Command (CENTCOM) on X.
  • This was the first US-acknowledged Houthi attack since the US strikes on Yemen on Friday.
  • Hamas released a 37-second video showing three Israeli captives held in Gaza on Sunday, saying they would reveal the fate of the captives on Monday and urging the Israeli government to stop the offensive.
  • The Israeli military says it has shifted to a new phase of the war focused on the southern end of Gaza, where almost 2 million internally displaced Palestinians are running out of safe spaces to shelter.
  • The Gaza Ministry of Health has said almost 24,000 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive. More than 60,000 people have been wounded in 100 days of war.

Diplomacy

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his country will pursue its war against Hamas until victory and will not be stopped by anyone, including the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
  • The White House said on Sunday that “it’s the right time” for Israel to scale back its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
  • Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) said in a statement on Sunday that one of the biggest obstacles to the timely delivery of sufficient aid to Gaza was Israeli inspection of the aid. The statement came after Israel blamed Cairo for the delay in aid delivery to Gaza during its defence at the ICJ.
  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken posted on X on Monday, calling for the release of the remaining captives held in Gaza on the 100th day since they were taken by Hamas. He did not mention the Palestinian casualties.
  • Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who described herself as a “friend of Israel” to the press, will travel to Jordan, Israel, the occupied Palestinian Territories and the United Arab Emirates this week, her office said on Monday.

West Bank raids and violence

  • Israeli forces arrested 25 students staging a sit-in in protest against high tuition fees at An-Najah University in Nablus. Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut reported that the protesting students received a text message from Israeli forces telling them to “surrender now”.
  • Israeli forces have reportedly raided the family home of Nael al-Barghouti, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, in the village of Kobar, in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
  • The Israeli army said on Friday that it killed three Palestinian men who infiltrated a West Bank settlement and fired upon soldiers.
  • The Israeli military killed two Palestinians after accusing them of ramming their car through a checkpoint near Hebron.
  • Local sources reported that Israeli forces bulldozed two Palestinian-owned houses during a Sunday midnight raid in the city of Qalqilya, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
  • Armed Israeli settlers broke into the village of Burin, south of Nablus, and attacked Palestinian residents’ houses and properties after midnight on Sunday, Wafa reported.
  • “Violent raids and arrests have become part of the fabric of daily life in the occupied West Bank,” Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said. At least 347 Palestinians have been killed and thousands have been arrested since October 7.

 

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
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Foreign

Hamas Says Will Kill Hostages if Israeli Attacks On Gaza Civilians Continue

Published

3 years ago

on

10th October 2023

By

Flames and smoke billow during Israeli attacks against Gaza on October 9, 2023

Human Rights Watch terms Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s call for a ‘complete siege’ on Gaza a ‘war crime’.

The Hamas movement has threatened to kill an Israeli hostage every time Israel bombs a Palestinian home without warning as Israel mobilised some 300,000 reservists and imposed a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, denying the enclave’s millions of residents access to food, water and fuel.

The warning from Hamas came on Monday as the death toll from the armed group’s surprise weekend attack climbed to 900 in Israel and revenge attacks by Israeli forces on the besieged Gaza Strip killed more than 700 people and left some 3,700 others wounded.

Residential apartment blocks, hospitals, schools and a mosque have been among the sites attacked by Israeli fighter jets, artillery and drones, according to media reports and witnesses.

Hamas spokesperson Abu Ubaida issued the threat to kill Israelis from the dozens held captive by the armed group. He said an Israeli hostage would be killed for every Israeli bombing of a civilian house without warning.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said more than 100 people were taken captive by Hamas during the deadly cross-border incursion over the weekend.

As Israeli forces conducted intense retaliatory attacks on Gaza on Monday, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant drew international condemnation by announcing a total blockade of the densely populated and besieged enclave, which is home to 2.3 million people.

Gallant said Israel would impose a “complete siege” on Gaza. “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – it’s all closed.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply distressed” by the siege announcement and warned that Gaza’s already dire humanitarian situation will now “only deteriorate exponentially”.

A mourner carries the body of Palestinian boy Saad Lubbad, who health officials said was killed in Israeli strikes, during his funeral in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 9, 2023. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
A mourner carries the body of Palestinian boy Saad Lubbad, who health officials said was killed in an Israeli attack, during his funeral in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on October 9, 2023 [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]

Guterres also said some 137,000 people were taking shelter with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) at schools across Gaza.

UNRWA said on Tuesday that almost 190,000 people have been displaced in Gaza amid the Israeli attacks and the figure is expected to grow further as the violence intensifies.

Nearly half a million people have also not received food rations this week in Gaza as UN food distribution centres have been forced to remain closed amid the Israeli onslaught, UNRWA said.

Human Rights Watch said Israel’s total blockade on the necessities of life for everyday people in Gaza was a war crime.

“Defense Minister Gallant’s statements are abhorrent,” Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

“Depriving the population in an occupied territory of food and electricity is collective punishment, which is a war crime, as is using starvation as a weapon of war. The International Criminal Court should take note of this call to commit a war crime,” he said.

Shakir also condemned the threat by Hamas to kill hostages, warning that such action was also a war crime.

“All hostages should be safely released to their families,” he said.

On the diplomatic front, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Hamas and Israel to immediately end violence and protect civilians, the Egyptian presidency said.

Erdogan urged Israel against “indiscriminately” attacking civilians and delivered measured criticism of Hamas, urging both sides to respect the “ethics” of war.

The United Kingdom, French, German, Italian and US governments issued a joint statement on Monday recognising the “legitimate aspirations” of the Palestinian people and supporting equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

INTERACTIVE_DEATH_TOLL_INJURED_ISRAEL_PALESTINE_OCT10_2023_0415
They said they would remain “united and coordinated” to ensure Israel can defend itself.

But the prospect that fighting could spread also alarmed the region and the world.

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in response to at least three of its members being killed in Israeli shelling of Lebanon.

Israel said one of its deputy commanders was also killed in an earlier cross-border raid from Lebanon.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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Foreign

Western Leaders Accused of Hypocrisy Over Response To Palestine, Ukraine

Published

3 years ago

on

10th October 2023

By

US President Joe Biden holds a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York City, the US, September 20, 2023

Social media users, including journalists and observers, are calling out what they call a ‘double standard’.

After Saturday’s surprise attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to the social media platform X to offer “condolences go out to everyone who lost relatives or close ones in the terrorist attack”.

He also stated, “Israel’s right to self-defence is unquestionable.”

Many world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, shared similar sentiments.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated, “Israel has the right to defend itself – today and in the days to come. The European Union stands with Israel.”

Accusations of Western ‘double standards’

Some social media users have criticised these statements, saying they highlight a double standard.

Ukraine’s right to defend itself is praised by most international leaders while Russia’s invasion is condemned, but commentators said the same cannot be said about Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Aaron Bastani, a leftist British journalist, said on X that there’s a “clear double standard in endorsing terrorism against civilian targets in Ukraine … and condemning it by Palestinians”.

Many users said Western diplomats and media support the Ukrainians who defend their land, but label the Palestinians fighting against Israel as “terrorists”.

https://twitter.com/KhaledBeydoun/status/1710787817415082349?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710787817415082349%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine

An illustration of a woman’s face, in which one eye is closed beside a Palestinian flag, and one eye open beside a Ukrainian flag, has been regularly shared as a symbol of the West’s alleged double standards in how the two conflicts are viewed.

https://twitter.com/OnlinePalEng/status/1710994682883273172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710994682883273172%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine

Clips also emerged on social media from a CNN interview with Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, in which he posed the rhetorical question, “Why does the United States support Ukraine in fighting occupation – while here they support the occupier, who continues to occupy us?”

It is not the first time Western nations have been accused of double standards in their stance on the Ukraine war.

Earlier in the year, Amnesty International published a report highlighting the West’s “double standards” on global human rights.

Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary-general, told Al Jazeera at the time that the occupation of Palestinian territory was a “particularly important one”.

“Without making any comparison between Russia’s aggression and Israel … it is clear the Palestinian people are under a regime of oppression – a regime of occupation and a regime of apartheid,” Callamard told Al Jazeera.

Over the last three days, X users recirculated earlier statements calling out what they called Western hypocrisy, sharing video by the Irish lawmaker Richard Boyd Barrett from March 2022 in which he berated the Irish government’s double standards regarding Ukraine and Palestine:

“You’re happy to use the most strong and robust language to describe the crimes against humanity of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, but you will not use the same strength of language when it comes to describing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.”

Barrett on Sunday again called out what he described as “shocking double standards of Western leaders supporting Ukraine resistance but condemning Palestinian[s].”

Meanwhile, others warned against comparing conflicts.

https://twitter.com/denfordauthor/status/1710993737738768607?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710993737738768607%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine

And some cautioned that Hamas and the Palestinians should not be seen as one and the same.

Ukrainian footballer Oleksandr Zinchenko, who plays for Arsenal, posted on Instagram, stating he “stands with Israel”.

Zinchenko has been a vocal supporter of his home country in its ongoing defence against Russia, and he participated in a Game4Ukraine charity match in London earlier this year to raise money for Ukraine.

After online backlash, with some questioning an alleged double standard in his support of Israel, the footballer removed the post and switched his social media account to private.

Several people claimed that Zinchenko’s football club, in not responding to his comments, was guilty of hypocrisy after they had distanced themselves from former player Mesut Ozil’s comments in 2019 over alleged human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in China.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
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