Thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters gathered in central London Saturday, on the eve of the start of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, hoping to put “pressure” to ensure the ceasefire holds. “We desperately want to be optimistic” about the truce, Sophie Mason told AFP. “And so we need to be out on the streets in order to make sure the ceasefire holds,” said the 50-year-old, who is a regular at the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the British capital. The ceasefire, which comes into effect Sunday morning (0630 GMT), involves the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners…
Author: Osas Monday
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NATO on Saturday said it had strengthened its peacekeeping force in Kosovo amid mounting tensions ahead of parliamentary elections early next month. The Western military alliance said the 200 additional Italian soldiers would further buttress the NATO-led KFOR force in the coming months. “Today, Italian troops from KFOR’s reserves completed their arrival … reinforcing KFOR’s presence in Kosovo,” a press release said. KFOR consists of approximately 4,500 troops provided by 29 Allied and partner countries. NATO said the newly-arrived “Italian mechanised infantry brigade ‘Sassari’, will carry out a range of activities, together with KFOR troops”. The force “will be…
Thousands gathered in northern Liberia on Saturday for the funeral of warlord-turned-politician Prince Johnson, a notorious face of the country’s brutal civil wars who died without facing trial. Back-to-back conflicts devastated the small west African country from 1989 until 2003, claiming around 250,000 lives and resulting in massacres, mutilation, rape, cannibalism and the widespread use of child soldiers. Johnson became infamous in 1990 after appearing in a video sipping beer as he calmly watched his fighters mutilate and torture president Samuel Doe to death. The former rebel leader was identified as having the highest number of violations by any…
US President-elect Donald Trump has launched his own cryptocurrency, appropriately called $TRUMP, sparking feverish buying that sent its market capitalization soaring on Saturday to several billion dollars. In a message posted on his Truth Social platform and X, Trump unveiled the so-called meme coin, which is designed to capitalize on the popularity of a certain personality, movement or viral internet trend. Meme coins have no economic or transactional value, and are often seen as a means of speculative trading. “This Trump Meme celebrates a leader who doesn’t back down, no matter the odds,” says the coin’s official site, which…
When Donald Trump presented his 2020 plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it included the Israeli annexation of swathes of the occupied West Bank, a controversial aspiration that has been revived by his reelection. In his previous stint as prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu pushed for partial annexation of the West Bank, but he relented in 2020 under international pressure and following a deal to normalise relations with the United Arab Emirates. With Trump returning to the White House, pro-annexation Israelis are hoping to rekindle the idea. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler in the Palestinian territory, said…
Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attended court for the first time on Saturday to fight a request by investigators to extend his detention as they probe his failed martial law bid. Tens of thousands of Yoon’s supporters rallied outside the court and scuffled with police as they chanted support for the suspended leader, who plunged South Korea into its worst political chaos in decades with his bid to suspend civilian rule. The president’s December 3 martial law declaration lasted just six hours, with lawmakers voting it down despite him ordering soldiers to storm parliament to stop them.…
The United States announced Saturday it would donate more than $117 million in security assistance for Lebanon’s armed forces, as the crisis-hit country seeks to implement a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. The State Department said in a statement that it had convened a “virtual donors meeting” on Thursday “with partners and allies to discuss critical security assistance needed for Lebanon to fully implement the cessation of hostilities.” It said the new assistance to Beirut would support both the country’s armed forces and internal security forces “as they work to assert Lebanese sovereignty across the country.” Lebanon has…
Kenya said Saturday it was sending another 217 police officers to Haiti to bolster a multinational force seeking to restore order to the violence-ridden Caribbean island. Criminal gangs still control some 85 percent of the capital Port-au-Prince, the United Nations estimates, despite the deployment last June of the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) under UN auspices. “The 217 officers will reinforce the first batch of 400 officers who were deployed last year to the Caribbean nation to restore peace,” Kenya’s Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said in a statement. “The Kenya-led mission has made tremendous progress in reducing gang…
1 hour ago President Bola Tinubu has congratulated Adewale Adeniyi, the 14th Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), who marks his 59th birthday, today, Sunday. This is as the President applauded Adeniyi’s leadership which has enabled the NCS to surpass revenue targets substantially and bolstered trade facilitation, yielding widespread positive effects on the national economy. President Tinubu… 1 hour ago The Lagos State Government says an illegal turning point impeding traffic at Fidelity Bank/Ikota on Lekki-Ajah Expressway have been temporarily blocked by HITECH. Mrs Bolanle Ogunlola, Deputy Director, Public Affairs, Lagos Ministry of Transportation, made the disclosure in a…
Telegram founder Pavel Durov has told investigating magistrates in France, where he is charged with multiple infractions linked to enabling organised crime, that he “realised the seriousness of all the allegations”, according to a source close to the case. Extracts from Durov’s questioning in December through an interpreter after his August arrest, seen by AFP, show that he initially blamed French authorities for failing to alert Telegram to alleged criminal activity. “My location and my personal Telegram account were known to the French authorities” including “the president’s office and the French consul in Dubai”, Durov said, also mentioning “an…