Biden says Israel has agreed to stop Gaza attacks for Ramadan as Hamas mulls draft truce proposal

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US President Joe Biden walks to Marine One. (AFP)

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Biden says Israel has agreed to stop Gaza attacks for Ramadan as Hamas mulls draft truce proposal

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People find their way through a rubble-covered alley, following overnight Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 25, 2024, amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (AFP)

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This picture taken from Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip shows Israeli armoured personnel carriers moving out of Gaza on February 26, 2024, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (AFP)

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Palestinians mourn as they bury their dead following overnight Israeli air strikes, at a cemetery in east Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on February 26, 2024, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the militant Hamas movement. (AFP)

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Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, shelter at a tent camp, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 26, 2024. (REUTERS)

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President Joe Biden eats ice cream at Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, in New York, as Seth Meyers watches. (AP)

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Updated 27 February 2024

Reuters

February 26, 2024 22:46

Biden says Israel has agreed to stop Gaza attacks for Ramadan as Hamas mulls draft truce proposal

Under proposed deal, hospitals and bakeries in Gaza would be repaired, 500 aid trucks would enter into the strip each day
Hamas would free 40 Israeli hostages in exchange for 400 Palestinian prisoners

Updated 27 February 2024

Reuters

February 26, 2024 22:46

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said Israel has agreed to halt military activities in Gaza for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, as Hamas studied a draft proposal for a truce which includes a pause in fighting and a prisoner-hostage exchange.
The draft proposal, which a senior source close to truce talks in Paris told Reuters would allow hospitals and bakeries in Gaza to be repaired and 500 aid trucks to enter the battered enclave every day, is the most serious attempt in weeks to end the conflict which erupted in October last year.
Ramadan is expected to begin on the evening of March 10th and end on the evening of April 9th.
“Ramadan is coming up, and there’s been an agreement by the Israelis that they would not engage in activities during Ramadan, as well, in order to give us time to get all the hostages out,” Biden said during an appearance on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
He also warned that Israel risked losing international support due to the high death toll among Palestinians, adding that Israel had committed to make it possible for Palestinians to evacuate from Rafah in Gaza’s south before intensifying its campaign there to destroy Hamas.
Biden, whose remarks were recorded on Monday and broadcast on Tuesday, said there was an agreement in principle for a ceasefire between the two sides while hostages were released. He said he hoped to have a ceasefire in the conflict by the following Monday.
“There are too many innocent people that are being killed. And Israel has slowed down the attacks in Rafah,” Biden said, adding that a temporary ceasefire would jumpstart a process for Palestinians to have their own state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a two-state solution.
Under the draft proposal, the exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages would be at a ratio of 10 to one, the senior source said.
The draft also states Hamas would free 40 Israeli hostages including women, children under 19, elderly over 50 and the sick, while Israeli would release around 400 Palestinian prisoners and will not re-arrest them, the source told Reuters.
Mediators have ramped up efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, in the hope of heading off an Israeli assault on the Gaza city of Rafah where more than a million displaced people are sheltering at the southern edge of the enclave.
After Hamas killed 1,200 people and captured 253 hostages on Oct. 7, Israel launched a ground assault on Gaza, with nearly 30,000 people confirmed killed, according to Gaza health authorities.

Attempted jailbreak at a Congo prison kills 129 people as chaos erupts with a stampede and gunshots

Updated 15 sec ago

September 03, 2024 21:25

Attempted jailbreak at a Congo prison kills 129 people as chaos erupts with a stampede and gunshots

Updated 15 sec ago

September 03, 2024 21:25

A provisional assessment showed that 24 inmates were fatally shot by “warning” shots fired by guards as they tried to escape from the Makala Central Prison
It wasn’t immediately clear if all 129 fatalities were inmates and officials did not say how the stampede happened

KINSHASA: An attempted jailbreak in Congo’s main prison left 129 people dead, including some who were shot by guards and soldiers and others who died in a stampede at the overcrowded facility, authorities said Tuesday. One prominent activist put the death toll at more than 200.
A provisional assessment showed that 24 inmates were fatally shot by “warning” shots fired by guards as they tried to escape from the Makala Central Prison in the capital Kinshasa early on Monday, Congolese Interior Minister Jacquemin Shabani said on the social media platform X.
“There are also 59 injured people taken into care by the government, as well as some cases of women raped,” he said, adding that order had been restored at the prison, part of which was burned in the attempted jailbreak.
Shabani did not elaborate on the incidents of rape in the prison, which has both male and female inmates, as well as military personnel facing charges.
It wasn’t immediately clear if all 129 fatalities were inmates and officials did not say how the stampede happened.
However, Emmanuel Adu Cole, a prominent prison rights activist in Congo, told The Associated Press that he counted more than 200 people dead in the attack and many of them had been shot. He cited videos shared from the prison as well as inmates he spoke to. The AP was unable to independently verify the videos.
Inmates had increasingly grown frustrated with the poor conditions in the facility, including inadequate beds, poor feeding and poor sanitation. However, authorities failed to act despite warnings, said Cole, president of the local Bill Clinton Peace Foundation, which has in the past visited the prison.
Makala, Congo’s largest penitentiary with a capacity for 1,500 people, holds over 12,000 inmates, most of whom are awaiting trial, Amnesty International said in its latest country report.
The facility has recorded previous jailbreaks, including in 2017 when members of a religious sect stormed the prison and freed dozens of inmates.
Stanis Bujakera Tshiamala, a prominent Congolese journalist who was recently detained in the prison for months, spoke of its “deplorable and inhumane” conditions and how inmates constantly lack food, water and medical care. Among the inmates are nearly 700 women and hundreds of minors “treated in the same way as adults,” he said.
“Makala is a real chaos (and) every day is a battle for life,” Tshiamala said.
Gunfire inside the prison started around midnight on Sunday and lasted into Monday morning, local residents in the area said.
“Shots were ringing out everywhere,” said Stéphane Matondo, who lives nearby, adding that military vehicles arrived shortly after and the main road to the prison was blocked.
Videos posted online show bodies lying on the ground inside the prison, many of them with visible injuries. Another video shows inmates carrying bodies that appeared to be lifeless and loading them into a vehicle.
There were no signs of forced entry into the prison, which is located in the city center, 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the presidential palace.
The attempted escape was plotted from inside the prison by inmates in one of the wings, Mbemba Kabuya, the deputy justice minister, told the local Top Congo FM radio.
In the hours following the attack, officials visited the prison as authorities convened a panel to investigate the incident. Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who is in China on an official visit, has not publicly commented.
Calling for an independent investigation, rights groups and the opposition accused the government of using excessive force and covering up the true death toll. An earlier statement from a senior government official on Monday said that only two people died.
Martin Fayulu, an opposition leader, compared the death toll to “summary executions” and said it was an “unacceptable crime that cannot go unpunished.”
Makala — among other prisons in Congo — is so overcrowded that inmates often starve to death, activists say. Scores of prisoners have been released in recent months as part of efforts to reduce the number of inmates.
Justice Minister Constant Mutamba called the attempted jailbreak a “premeditated act of sabotage” and promised a “stern response.” His deputy, Samuel Mbemba Kabuya, blamed the country’s magistrates and judges for the overcrowding in prisons, saying people are quickly jailed at the early stage of their trials.
Mutamba announced a ban on the transfer of inmates from Makala and pledged that authorities will build a new prison, among other efforts to reduce overcrowding.

A boat with dozens of migrants rips apart in the English Channel off France, killing 12

Updated 03 September 2024

September 03, 2024 16:18

A boat with dozens of migrants rips apart in the English Channel off France, killing 12

“Unfortunately, the bottom of the boat ripped open,” said Olivier Barbarin, mayor of Le Portel near the fishing port of Boulogne-sur-Mer
“If people don’t know how to swim in the agitated waters ... it can go very quickly“

Updated 03 September 2024

September 03, 2024 16:18

PARIS: A boat carrying migrants ripped apart in the English Channel as they attempted to reach Britain from northern France on Tuesday, plunging dozens into the treacherous waterway and leaving 12 dead, authorities said.
Many didn’t have life preservers in what one official called the deadliest migrant accident in the channel this year.
“Unfortunately, the bottom of the boat ripped open,” said Olivier Barbarin, mayor of Le Portel near the fishing port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, where a first aid post was set up to treat victims. “If people don’t know how to swim in the agitated waters ... it can go very quickly.”
The mayor said 12 died after initially giving a toll of 13. Lt. Etienne Baggio, a spokesman for the French agency that oversees that stretch of sea, said rescuers pulled a total of 65 people from the waters in a search operation that lasted more than four hours. Doctors confirmed 12 died, he said.
Baggio called it the deadliest migrant boat tragedy in the English Channel this year. In July, four migrants died while attempting the crossing on an inflatable boat that capsized and punctured. Five others, including a child, in another attempt in April. And five dead were recovered from the seas or found washed up along a beach after a migrant boat ran into difficulties in the dark and winter cold of January.
Many of those aboard the vessel that broke up in the English Channel on Tuesday didn’t have life vests, Baggio said. It was not immediately clear what kind of boat it was. Three helicopters, a plane, two fishing boats and more than six other vessels were involved in the rescue operation.
In another sea tragedy Tuesday involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe, a boat carrying migrants capsized off the Libyan coast, leaving one person dead and 22 missing, Libyan authorities said.
The agency overseeing the rescue operation in the English Channel said the boat got into difficulty off Gris-Nez point between Boulogne-sur-Mer and the port of Calais further north. Sea temperatures off northern France were around 20 degrees C, or about 68 F.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin went to Boulogne-sur-Mer to meet those involved in handling what he described as the “terrible shipwreck.” He said the boat was frail and small — less than 7 meters (23 feet) long — and that smugglers are packing more and more people aboard such vessels.
Last week, the leaders of France and Britain agreed to deepen cooperation on illegal migration in the channel.
UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper called it “a horrifying and deeply tragic incident” and paid tribute to French rescuers “who undoubtedly saved many lives, but sadly could not save everyone.”
“The gangs behind this appalling and callous trade in human lives have been cramming more and more people onto increasingly unseaworthy dinghies, and sending them out into the Channel even in very poor weather,” she said.
“They do not care about anything but the profits they make, and that is why — as well as mourning the awful loss of life — the work to dismantle these dangerous and criminal smuggler gangs and to strengthen border security is so vital and must proceed apace.”
Europe’s increasingly strict asylum rules, growing xenophobia and hostile treatment of migrants have been pushing them north.
At least 30 migrants have died or gone missing while trying to cross to the UK this year, according to the International Organization for Migration. That figure doesn’t include the latest deaths.
At least 2,109 migrants have tried to cross the English Channel on small boats in the past seven days, according to UK Home Office data updated Tuesday. The data includes people found in the channel or on arrival.

Topics: English Channel migrants migrants UK France

A Russian missile strike kills 41 people and wounds 180 others in the Ukrainian city of Poltava

Updated 03 September 2024

September 03, 2024 15:11

A Russian missile strike kills 41 people and wounds 180 others in the Ukrainian city of Poltava

The strike occurred in the city of Poltava, the capital of the region of the same name, officials said
“One of the buildings of the Institute of Communications was partially destroyed,” Zelensky said

Updated 03 September 2024

September 03, 2024 15:11

KYIV: Two Russian ballistic missiles struck an educational facility and nearby hospital in a central-eastern region of Ukraine, killing at least 41 people and wounding 180 others, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday.
The strike occurred in the city of Poltava, the capital of the region of the same name, officials said. Poltava is located about 110 kilometers (70 miles) from the border with Russia and about 350 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Kyiv.
The strike appeared to be one of the deadliest carried out by Russian forces since the war began more than 900 days ago on Feb. 24, 2022.
“One of the buildings of the Institute of Communications was partially destroyed. People found themselves under the rubble. Many were saved,” Zelensky said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.
“All necessary services are involved in the rescue operation,” he added. He said he had ordered “a full and prompt investigation” into what happened. Zelensky didn’t provide any further details.
The missiles hit shortly after the air raid alert sounded, when many people were on their way to a bomb shelter, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said, describing the strike as “barbaric.”
Rescue crews and medics saved 25 people, 11 of them dug out from the rubble, a Defense Ministry statement said.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ballistic missiles Poltava

Pope Francis begins Asia trip with Indonesia, world’s largest Muslim-majority country

Updated 03 September 2024

Sheany Yasuko Lai

September 03, 2024 14:24

Pope Francis begins Asia trip with Indonesia, world’s largest Muslim-majority country

Pope Francis will also travel to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore
In Indonesia, he will visit Jakarta’s main mosque, hold a mass for some 70,000 people

Updated 03 September 2024

Sheany Yasuko Lai

September 03, 2024 14:24

JAKARTA: Pope Francis arrived in Indonesia on Tuesday, the first stop of the longest trip of his papacy where he is set to meet members of the Catholic community and participate in an interfaith meeting with religious leaders in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.

Francis, who will also visit Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore over the next 10 days, was seated in a wheelchair as a lift disembarked him from a chartered commercial aircraft at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport.

He was welcomed with a bouquet of local produce presented by two children dressed in traditional clothes and then greeted by Indonesia’s religious affairs minister, its Vatican envoy and a number of bishops on a red carpet flanked by honor guards.

The 87-year-old pontiff then climbed into a waiting car and was taken to the Vatican Embassy, where he is staying for the rest of his trip in Indonesia.

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo welcomed the pope, saying in a broadcast statement that the country and the Vatican “have the same commitment to fostering peace and brotherhood, as well as ensuring the welfare of humanity.”

Francis is the third pope to visit Indonesia, after Pope Paul VI in 1970 and Pope John Paul II in 1989.

“This visit is an extremely historic visit … On behalf of the Indonesian people, I warmly welcome and thank His Holiness Pope Francis (for this trip) to Indonesia,” Widodo said.

The pontiff’s first full day of activities will begin on Wednesday with meetings with the country’s political leaders — including Widodo — young people, diplomats and the Indonesian clergy.

A key highlight of Francis’ visit to Indonesia is his participation on Thursday in an interfaith meeting with representatives of the six religions that are officially recognized in the country: Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Catholicism and Protestantism.

The event will take place at Istiqlal mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia and a symbol of religious freedom and tolerance. It is linked via a “tunnel of friendship” to the capital’s main Catholic cathedral, Our Lady of Assumption, which Francis will visit with the grand imam, Nasaruddin Umar, before they sign a joint declaration.

Leaders of Indonesia’s second-largest Islamic group, Muhammadiyah, said Francis’ visit showcased his commitment “to build and strengthen relations” between Catholics and the Islamic world, as they urged the Indonesian government to raise the issue of Palestine in meetings with the pontiff.

“It is imperative for Indonesia to make the visit and meetings with Pope Francis a momentum to take initiative and … find a permanent solution for the future of Palestine by involving different stakeholders at the global level,” Muhammadiyah leaders said in a statement.

Catholics make up about 3 percent of the country’s 270 million population, compared to the 87 percent who are Muslim.

When Francis presides over a mass for some 70,000 people at Jakarta’s main stadium on Thursday, some of the attendees will have come from other parts of the archipelago nation, traveling long hours to see the head of the Catholic Church.

Aluysius Sigit, a pastor from Lampung province, will travel around 600 km to the Indonesian capital as part of a delegation of about 1,000 people from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tanjungkarang.

“We are overjoyed and happy … very grateful to God that we will be able to see Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of the Catholic Church,” Sigit told Arab News.

“His visit embodies the Catholic Church’s devotion to maintain peace and religious tolerance.”

Worshippers from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sanggau, located in West Kalimantan province, have also been arriving in Jakarta since Monday to attend the upcoming mass.

“There are about 240 of us … First we must drive to Pontianak, which takes about 3 to 4 hours, and then we take a flight to Jakarta,” Father Leonardus from the Sanggau diocese told Arab News.

Leonardus said his congregation was “very enthusiastic” to see Francis, as he was looking forward to the pontiff’s agenda in Indonesia and how it will impact the country’s Catholic community.

“We are very happy because the pope will visit Istiqlal and meet with religious groups, it shows how open and very tolerant we are,” he said.

“For Catholics, this is an opportunity to foster brotherhood, extending beyond our little community in Kalimantan to reach the whole of Indonesia, because we’ll get to meet our brothers and sisters from other provinces.”

Topics: Indonesia Pope Francis

Two children injured in knife attack at Czech school

Updated 03 September 2024

AFP

September 03, 2024 14:11

Two children injured in knife attack at Czech school

Updated 03 September 2024

AFP

September 03, 2024 14:11

PRAGUE: Czech police said two children were wounded in a knife attack by a pupil at a school in the western city of Domazlice on Tuesday.
Police said on X the alleged perpetrator was detained "within several minutes" and the two children's lives were not in jeopardy.
"A girl pupil attacked her schoolmates with a knife. Two children were injured and their parents have been informed," police said.
"Both injured children, whose lives are not threatened, are undergoing treatment, just like another child who was in shock," they added.
Regional governor Rudolf Spotak later told reporters that both children had been released into home care and their injuries were not serious.
The Blesk tabloid said the 13-year-old alleged perpetrator had stabbed a boy in the stomach and a girl in the back.
Regional police chief Petr Machacek said the girl's motives were unknown.
Domazlice deputy mayor Viktor Krutina told reporters the attack occurred just before school began.
"Owing to the rapid reaction of a teacher and the headmaster, there were no further attacks elsewhere in the building," he said.
Headmaster Ivan Rybar said the suspect attacked her schoolmates in a building for 12- to 15-year-olds.
He added that she was a Czech national and had never had discipline issues.
The school said on Facebook it had cancelled classes for older children "because of an extraordinary event", while younger children stayed in class in the school's other building.
The attack happened on the second day of the school year as teachers were planning to give pupils a lesson on safety, said Rybar.

Topics: police crime czech

Biden says Israel has agreed to stop Gaza attacks for Ramadan as Hamas mulls draft truce proposal

Biden says Israel has agreed to stop Gaza attacks for Ramadan as Hamas mulls draft truce proposal

Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of blocking aid to Palestinians in violation of a UN court order

UN voices alarm as Israel says preparing for Rafah invasion

Attempted jailbreak at a Congo prison kills 129 people as chaos erupts with a stampede and gunshots

Attempted jailbreak at a Congo prison kills 129 people as chaos erupts with a stampede and gunshots

A boat with dozens of migrants rips apart in the English Channel off France, killing 12

A boat with dozens of migrants rips apart in the English Channel off France, killing 12

Iraqi people smuggler who sent thousands across English Channel tracked down by BBC

6 dead, more than 50 rescued from capsized migrant boat in the English Channel

A Russian missile strike kills 41 people and wounds 180 others in the Ukrainian city of Poltava

A Russian missile strike kills 41 people and wounds 180 others in the Ukrainian city of Poltava

Zelensky says Kyiv test fired first Ukraine-made ballistic missile

Ukraine launches ‘one of largest ever’ drone attacks on Moscow, mayor says

Pope Francis begins Asia trip with Indonesia, world’s largest Muslim-majority country

Pope Francis begins Asia trip with Indonesia, world’s largest Muslim-majority country

Saudi Public Investment Fund begins selling green sukuk and bonds

Saudi Arabia’s 24 Fintech conference kicks off in Riyadh, highlighting sector’s rapid growth and ambitious future

Two children injured in knife attack at Czech school

Two children injured in knife attack at Czech school

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Biden says Israel has agreed to stop Gaza attacks for Ramadan as Hamas mulls draft truce proposal

Biden says Israel has agreed to stop Gaza attacks for Ramadan as Hamas mulls draft truce proposal

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Attempted jailbreak at a Congo prison kills 129 people as chaos erupts with a stampede and gunshots

A boat with dozens of migrants rips apart in the English Channel off France, killing 12

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A Russian missile strike kills 41 people and wounds 180 others in the Ukrainian city of Poltava

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Pope Francis begins Asia trip with Indonesia, world’s largest Muslim-majority country

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