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AFP

  • Hamas, Islamic Jihad release videos of two hostages

    Hamas, Islamic Jihad release videos of two hostages

    Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed “profound shock” over videos showing two emaciated hostages in Gaza, with the EU also demanding the release of all remaining captives after nearly 22 months of war.

    Over the past few days, Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have released three videos showing two hostages seized during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.

    The images of Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David have sparked strong reactions among Israelis, fuelling renewed calls to reach a truce and hostage release deal without delay.

    A statement from Netanyahu’s office late Saturday said he had spoken with the families of the two hostages.

    Netanyahu “told the families that the efforts to return all our hostages are ongoing”, the statement added.

    Earlier in the day, tens of thousands of people had rallied in the coastal hub of Tel Aviv to urge Netanyahu’s government to secure the release of the remaining captives.

    In the clips shared by the Palestinian Islamist groups, 21-year-old Braslavski, a German-Israeli dual national, and 24-year-old David both appear weak and malnourished.

    There was particular outrage in Israel over images of David who appeared to be digging what he said in the staged video was his own grave.

    The videos make references to the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where UN-mandated experts have warned a “famine is unfolding”.

    Israel has heavily restricted the entry of aid into Gaza, which was already under blockade for 15 years before the war began.

    Many desperate Palestinians are left to risk their lives under fire seeking what aid is distributed through controlled channels.

    On Sunday, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed nine Palestinians who were waiting to collect food rations from a site operated by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) near the southern city of Rafah.

    “The soldiers opened fire on people. I was there, no one posed any threat” to the Israeli forces, 31-year-old witness Jabr al-Shaer told AFP by phone.

    There was no comment from the military.

    Five more people were killed near a different GHF aid site in central Gaza on Sunday, while Israeli attacks elsewhere killed another five people, said civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

    – ‘Emaciated and desperate’ –

    Israeli newspapers dedicated their front pages on Sunday to the plight of the hostages, with Maariv decrying “hell in Gaza” and Yedioth Ahronoth showing a “malnourished, emaciated and desperate” David.

    Left-leaning Haaretz declared that “Netanyahu is in no rush” to rescue the captives, echoing claims by critics that the longtime leader has prolonged the war for his own political survival.

    Braslavski and David are among the 49 hostages taken during Hamas’s 2023 attack who are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

    Most of the 251 hostages seized in the attack have been released during two short-lived truces in the war, some in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody.

    Hamas’s 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to a tally based on official figures.

    Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,430 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.

    The Palestine Red Crescent Society said one of its staff members was killed in an Israeli attack on its Khan Yunis headquarters, in southern Gaza.

    An AFP journalist aboard a French army plane airdropping aid on Saturday saw widespread destruction at the Gaza City port and elsewhere in the territory’s north, with entire neighbourhoods levelled.

  • Australian state seeks to enshrine work from home in law

    Australian state seeks to enshrine work from home in law

    SYDNEY: The premier of the Australian state of Victoria announced Saturday plans to enshrine working from home in law, saying it should be “a right, not a request”.

    Under Jacinta Allan’s plan, workers would be entitled to work from home at least two days per week, if the job allows.

    “We’re doing that because we know what the evidence tells us — workers are more productive, it saves time for families, it saves money for families,” Allan said, launching the proposed policy at the Labor Party’s state conference.

    “This change will mean that any worker who can reasonably do their job from home has the right to do so for at least two days a week.”

    Allan said the policy would now go out for consultation with workers, employers and unions.

    She said it was important to “get the details of this important change right”.

    Allan said the move could save the average worker $110 a week, cut congestion on roads, and keep more women in the workforce.

    During national elections in May, the opposition Liberal-National coalition’s plan to eliminate remote work was partly blamed for its poor performance.

    Victoria’s opposition leader, Brad Battin, said work from home arrangements had been valuable, and that he supported measures that promote better work-life balance.

    The measure is likely to come before the state parliament next year.

  • Assange joins pro-Palestinian protest on Sydney Harbour Bridge

    Assange joins pro-Palestinian protest on Sydney Harbour Bridge

    SYDNEY, Australia: Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters including WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday, closing the world-famous landmark.

    Assange, who returned to Australia last year after his release from a high-security British prison, was pictured surrounded by family and marching alongside former Australian foreign minister and New South Wales premier Bob Carr.

    France, Britain and Canada have in recent weeks voiced, in some cases qualified, intentions to diplomatically recognise a Palestinian state as international concern and criticism have grown over malnutrition in Gaza.

    Australia has called for an end to the war in Gaza but has so far stopped short of a decision to recognise a Palestinian state.

    But in a joint statement with more than a dozen other nations on Tuesday it expressed the “willingness or the positive consideration… to recognise the state of Palestine as an essential step towards the two-State solution”.

    The pro-Palestinian crowd braved heavy winds and rain to march across the bridge, chanting “ceasefire now” and “free Palestine”.

    New South Wales police said it had deployed hundreds of extra staff across Sydney for the march.

    Mehreen Faruqi, the New South Wales senator for the left-wing Greens party, told the crowd gathered at central Sydney’s Lang Park that the march would “make history”.

    She called for the “harshest sanctions on Israel”, accusing its forces of “massacring” Gazans, and criticised New South Wales premier Chris Minns for saying the protest should not go ahead.

    Dozens of marchers held up banners listing the names of thousands of Palestinian children killed since the Gaza war broke out after an October 2023 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

    Labor backbench MP Ed Husic attended the march and called for his ruling party, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, to recognise a Palestinian state.

    Assange did not address the crowd or talk to the media.

    Israel is under mounting international pressure to end the bloodshed that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

    Hamas’s 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures.

    Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

    The Harbour Bridge is over a kilometre long and was opened in 1932.

    Since then, its twin parabolic arcs have become world famous, a symbol of both Sydney and of Australia.

  • Dormant Russia volcano erupts for first time in 450 years

    Dormant Russia volcano erupts for first time in 450 years

    MOSCOW: A volcano erupted for the first time in 450 years in Russia’s eastern Kamchatka region, the nation’s emergency authority said Sunday, days after one of the strongest earthquakes on record hit the region.

    Pictures released by Russian state media show a towering plume of ash spewing from the Krasheninnikov volcano, which last erupted in 1550, according to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program.

    The plume is estimated to have reached an altitude of 6,000 metres (19,700 feet), Kamchatka’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a post on Telegram.

    “The plume is spreading eastward from the volcano toward the Pacific Ocean. There are no populated areas along its path, and no ashfall has been recorded in inhabited localities,” the ministry said.

    The volcano has been assigned an “orange” aviation hazard code, the ministry added, meaning flights in the area may be disrupted.

    It came after Klyuchevskoy, another volcano in the region — the highest active in Europe and Asia — erupted on Wednesday.

    Eruptions of Klyuchevskoy are quite common, with at least 18 occurring since 2000, according to the Global Volcanism Program.

    Both recent eruptions followed one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded, which struck on Wednesday, sparking tsunami warnings and evacuations of millions of people from coastal areas from Japan to Hawaii to Ecuador.

    The worst damage was seen in Russia, where a tsunami crashed through the port of Severo-Kurilsk and submerged a fishing plant, officials said.

    The magnitude 8.8 quake struck off Petropavlovsk on Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula and was the strongest since 2011 when a magnitude 9.1 quake off Japan caused a tsunami that killed more than 15,000 people.

  • China and Russia start joint drills in Sea of Japan

    China and Russia start joint drills in Sea of Japan

    BEIJING: China and Russia began joint naval drills in the Sea of Japan on Sunday as they seek to reinforce their partnership and counterbalance what they see as a US-led global order.

    Alongside economic and political ties, Moscow and Beijing have strengthened their military cooperation in recent years, and their relations have deepened since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

    The “Joint Sea-2025” exercises kicked off in waters near the Russian port of Vladivostok and would last for three days, China’s defence ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

    The two sides will hold “submarine rescue, joint anti-submarine, air defence and anti-missile operations, and maritime combat”.

    Four Chinese vessels, including guided-missile destroyers Shaoxing and Urumqi, are participating in the exercises alongside Russian ships, the ministry said.

    After the drills, the two countries will conduct naval patrols in “relevant waters of the Pacific”.

    China and Russia have carried out annual drills for several years, with the “Joint Sea” exercises beginning in 2012.

    Last year’s drills were held along China’s southern coast.

    The Chinese defence ministry said Friday that this year’s exercises were aimed at “further deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership” of the two countries.

    China has never denounced Russia’s more than three-year war nor called for it to withdraw its troops, and many of Ukraine’s allies, including the United States, believe that Beijing has provided support to Moscow.

    China insists it is a neutral party, regularly calling for an end to the fighting while also accusing Western countries of prolonging the conflict by arming Ukraine.

  • Myanmar junta air strike on ruby mine hub kills 13

    Myanmar junta air strike on ruby mine hub kills 13

    A Myanmar junta air strike on a rebel-occupied ruby mining hub killed 13 people on Saturday, according to a resident and a spokesperson for an armed opposition group.

    Civil war has consumed Myanmar since the military seized power in a 2021 coup, sparking resistance from pro-democracy guerrillas who found common cause with long-active ethnic armed groups.

    Their scattered forces initially struggled to make headway, but a combined offensive starting in late 2023 seized swathes of territory, including the town of Mogok — the centre of the ruby trade.

    Myanmar is rich in precious stones and rare earth elements coveted by all factions and sold off, mostly to neighbouring China, to boost war chests.

    A junta spokesperson could not be reached for comment.

    However, a local who declined to be named for security reasons said the strike took place around 08:15 am (0145 GMT), killing seven instantly, with six dying later of their wounds.

    He said among the dead were a Buddhist monk collecting alms and a father and son who were riding the same motorbike.

    “A car passing through the area was hit, too,” he added. “Seven people were wounded, including the driver.”

    A spokeswoman for the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, which has occupied Mogok since last summer, matched that death toll, but gave a figure of 14 wounded.

    “It was in the morning when the airstrike hit a public area,” said spokeswoman Lway Yay Oo.

    Read more: ULFA militants killed in Indian drone attack on Myanmar

    “There were a lot of people walking in the street; therefore, a lot of people were killed.”

    The military was initially backfooted by the rebels’ combined offensive, but has enacted conscription to boost its ranks.

    Its troops recently retook several key settlements in central Myanmar, including the gold mining hub of Thabeikkyin, which it seized late last month after a year-long battle.

    The junta on Thursday ended the state of emergency it had declared after toppling the government of Aung San Suu Kyi more than four years ago, and has touted elections in December as an off-ramp for the conflict.

    However, with Suu Kyi still jailed, opposition groups, including ousted lawmakers, are boycotting the poll. A UN expert in June described the exercise as a “fraud” designed to legitimise the junta’s continued rule.

  • More clashes and arrests at UK immigration protests

    More clashes and arrests at UK immigration protests

    Further scuffles broke out at anti-immigration protests in the UK on Saturday, with police making several arrests.

    Demonstrators calling for mass “remigration” gathered in central Manchester, northwest England, for a march organised by the far-right “Britain First” group, which was confronted by anti-racism groups.

    Meanwhile in central London, rival demonstrators converged outside a hotel housing asylum seekers, following similar recent events that have occasionally turned violent.

    In Manchester, the two groups clashed briefly at the start of the protest before police split them up, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.

    “Send them back, don’t let them in — just stop them coming in, we’ve got hotels full of immigrants and we’ve got our own homeless people in the streets begging for food but nowhere to live,” said protestor Brendan O’Reilly, 66.

    Counter-protestor Judy, a 60-year-old retired nurse, told AFP she was there “because I don’t want to see people full of hate on the streets of Manchester.”

    “Do they want them all to go back or is it just people with brown skin? I suspect it’s just people with brown skin that they want to re-migrate,” she added.

    In London, similar clashes erupted outside a hotel in the Barbican neighbourhood before police intervened.

    Metropolitan Police wrote on X that officers had cleared a junction where counter-protesters had assembled in breach of the conditions in place.

    “There have been nine arrests so far, with seven for breaching Public Order Act conditions,” added the force.

    There have been several flashpoints around the UK in recent weeks, most notably in the north-east London neighbourhood of Epping.

  • Germany says ‘very insufficient’ aid entering Gaza

    Germany says ‘very insufficient’ aid entering Gaza

    The amount of aid entering Gaza remains “very insufficient” despite a limited improvement, the German government said on Saturday after ministers discussed ways to heighten pressure on Israel.

    The criticism came after Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul visited the region on Thursday and Friday and the German military staged its first food airdrops into Gaza, where aid agencies say that more than two million Palestinians are facing starvation.

    Germany “notes limited initial progress in the delivery of humanitarian aid to the population of the Gaza Strip, which, however, remains very insufficient to alleviate the emergency situation,” government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said in a statement.

    “Israel remains obligated to ensure the full delivery of aid,” Kornelius added.

    Facing mounting international criticism over its military operations in Gaza, Israel has allowed more trucks to cross the border and some foreign nations to carry out airdrops of food and medicines.

    International agencies say the amount of aid entering Gaza is still dangerously low, however.

    The United Nations has said that 6,000 trucks are awaiting permission from Israel to enter the occupied Palestinian territory.

    The German government, traditionally a strong supporter of Israel, also expressed “concern regarding reports that large quantities of humanitarian aid are being withheld by Hamas and criminal organisations”.

    Israel has alleged that much of the aid arriving in the territory is being siphoned off by Hamas, which runs Gaza.

    The Israeli army is accused of having equipped Palestinian criminal networks in its fight against Hamas and of allowing them to plunder aid deliveries.

    “The real theft of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces,” Jonathan Whittall of OCHA, the United Nations agency for coordinating humanitarian affairs, told reporters in May.

    A German government source told AFP it had noted that Israel has “considerably” increased the number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza to about 220 a day.

    Berlin has taken a tougher line against Israel’s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in recent weeks.

    The source said that a German security cabinet meeting on Saturday discussed “the different options” for putting pressure on Israel, but no decision was taken.

    A partial suspension of arms deliveries to Israel is one option that has been raised.

  • Bangladesh to unveil democratic overhaul on revolt anniversary

    Bangladesh to unveil democratic overhaul on revolt anniversary

    DHAKA: Bangladesh’s interim government said Saturday it will release its slate of democratic overhauls on August 5, the one-year anniversary of the overthrow of the previous autocratic administration.

    The South Asian nation of around 170 million people has been in political turmoil since a student-led revolt ousted then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5, 2024, ending her 15-year rule.

    Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who is leading the caretaker government as its chief adviser until elections are held, has said he inherited a “completely broken down” system of public administration.

    Yunus previously pledged to unveil a “big package” to overhaul democratic institutions.

    But efforts to reach agreements have made slow progress as political parties jostle for power ahead of elections, slated for early 2026.

    Yunus’s government has warned that political power struggles risk jeopardising the gains that have been made.

    On July 29, Yunus said he was working to “build a broad national consensus around a renewed political system — one that delivers inclusive, participatory, and credible elections”.

    Yunus’s office said Saturday that the “July Proclamation” would be “presented to the nation… in the presence of all political parties involved in the mass uprising”.

    Hasina’s rule saw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.

    Her government was also accused of politicising courts and the civil service, staging lopsided elections and dismantling democratic checks on its power.

    Hasina, 77, fled to India, where she has defied court orders to attend her ongoing trial on charges amounting to crimes against humanity.

    Protests began on July 1, 2024, with university students calling for reforms to a quota system for public sector jobs.

    They culminated on August 5, 2024, when thousands of protesters stormed Hasina’s palace as she escaped by helicopter.

  • South Africa arrests 1,000 illegal miners

    South Africa arrests 1,000 illegal miners

    JOHANNESBURG, South Africa: South African police said Friday they have arrested some 1,000 undocumented migrants working in gold mines in the northeast of the country.

    A police spokesman for the Mpumalanga province, where the week-long sweep took place, told AFP there could be more arrests because there are still illegal miners underground.

    “As they are coming out, they have been taken,” said the spokesman, Donald Mdhluli.

    The police operation, which started on Monday, targeted clandestine mining near the village of Barberton, close to the borders of Eswatini and Mozambique.

    The Sheba Mine is owned by Barberton Mines who said in a statement: “Earlier this year there was outcry from the community and employees when Barberton Mines retrenched workers as the mine was unprofitable and facing closure. Now we know the reason why!

    “Food and supplies have been getting to a thriving illegal mining world underground, which had to be stopped, hence this intervention with the police and mine security. This message needs to be spread, and illegal mining will not be tolerated,” it added.

    “About 1,000 illegal miners who are also illegal immigrants have been arrested,” Mdhluli said, calling it a joint operation between mine security and the police.

    He said that “there are no fatalities recorded so far”.

    The arrests come less than a year after a similar operation conducted near the town of Stilfontein, west of Johannesburg, where at least 90 clandestine miners lost their lives before their mines were definitively shut in January.

    As in the Stilfontein operation, police near Barberton surrounded the illegal mine to prevent supplies entering, forcing those inside to come to the surface.