We are sorry, the requested page does not exist
Australia s reputation among Pacific neighbours weakening
From carrying the Coalition's AUKUS pact to supporting Israel's self-defence initiative, Labor's reputation is souring among voters. Bilal Cleland reports.ASIA IS SENSITIVE to memories of the White Australia Policy, the f.....»»
Australia s reputation among Pacific neighbours weakening
From carrying the Coalition's AUKUS pact to supporting Israel's self-defence initiative, Labor's reputation is souring among voters. Bilal Cleland reports.ASIA IS SENSITIVE to memories of the White Australia Policy, the f.....»»
UN Security Council fails to pass US resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire
In a recent session at the United Nations Security Council, Russia and China vetoed a US draft resolution calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s ongoing.....»»
After conflict’s won, what happens next?
In the wake of the coordinated, well-planned savage attack mounted by the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which stunned Israel on 7 October, a seething Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed the total annihilation of Hamas. A “mighty vengeance” is what he promised against what he described as a “cruel enemy, worse than ISIS.” Likewise enraged by the slaughter of scores of Israelis, including over 200 revelers who were mowed down by armed paragliders and foot soldiers as they made merry at an electronic music festival outside the Re’im kibbutz, about 3.3 miles (5.3 kilometers) from the wall that separates Gaza from southern Israel, Netanyahu’s words were echoed by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant who declared, “We will wipe this thing called Hamas, ISIS-Gaza off the face of the earth. It will cease to exist.” Hamas didn’t spare any of the nearly 1,500 Israelis they felled —men, women, children, old people — they also took with them over 200 hostages. Within a week of the attack, Israel retaliated with an intense bombing of Central and Northern Gaza, with Israel striking over 7,000 targets, including rocket launchers, command centers, munitions factories, and leaders of Hamas. It has been nearly three weeks since the 7 October attack by Hamas, and it remains unclear if or when Israel will conduct a ground invasion of Gaza. Even as Israel continues to blast enemy targets, Western leaders and the UN are pleading for a pause to give aid a chance to get through the blockade and into Gaza and for the safe release of the hostages in Hamas’s hands. On Thursday, Israel said it had briefly sent tanks into Gaza to “prepare the battlefield ahead of the next stages of combat.” Again, on Wednesday, Netanyahu vowed Israel would exact a price for the terrorist assault, which killed over 1,400. Despite these statements by Netanyahu and the Israeli defense minister to decimate Hamas to kingdom come, there is no exact clarity as to when Israel will begin its ground invasion. For sure, the challenges of a ground war are gargantuan. If or when such a ground invasion is finally mounted, what awaits the Israeli defense force will be sustained urban warfare in enemy territory in pursuit of an objective that, other than the total demolition of Hamas, leaves so many other vital matters hanging in the air. The Israelites will confront at least four critical challenges in carrying out a major ground offensive. For Council for Foreign Relations expert Max Boot, these include urban fighting, an inherently different form of warfare where buildings provide positions for defenders, and the multiplication of difficulties for Israeli combatants due to the presence of a large number of Palestinian civilians and even the hostages seized by Hamas who could be used as human shields. Then there are all the underground tunnels built by Hamas over the years, enabling them to hide from Israeli troops and emerge at unexpected moments. There, too, is the challenge of a possible second front, with the Hezbollah in Lebanon poised on Israel’s northern border. The Hezbollah has an estimated arsenal of some 150,000 missiles and rockets. So far, Hezbollah has not mounted a major assault on Israel, but analysts fear it could do so once Israeli ground forces get into Gaza. “A two-front conflict would be a nightmare for Israel,” says Boot. A third critical challenge consists of post-combat stabilization operations. Known in the US military as “Phase IV,” this is where US efforts in both Washington and Iraq foundered badly for lack of preparation. Israeli media have reported that the Israeli government has been struggling to develop a Phase IV plan of its own and, Boot points out, “no wonder because there are no good options.” If Israel simply attacks Hamas and then leaves — as it had done in the past — the terrorist group would just regenerate itself. If to prevent that from happening, a Palestinian Authority government would be established in place of Hamas, with help from Arab states, that could be an option. But if that fails, Israel may have no choice but to re-occupy Gaza — a situation that could leave Israeli soldiers vulnerable to a grinding guerrilla war of the kind they faced in Lebanon in the early 1980s all through 2000. Even as they do get into Gaza, there are many unknowns, according to Boot: how will Israel deal with the Hamas tunnel network; how skillfully will Hamas fight; will a toll on civilian lives in Gaza force Israel to suspend its offensive; will Hezbollah join the war; will this war spread across the region and draw into the fray Hamas’s biggest supporter, Iran? If Hamas is indeed physically decimated — what then should be done to stabilize Gaza after the enemy has been vanquished? Who takes over Gaza once the guns have been stilled and the smoke of war clears? What happens next? Israel’s leaders say those matters, for the moment, are not of immediate concern to them. But at a certain point, they will become unavoidable; Israel will have to grapple with complex questions and carve out a workably resolute path through the din for its continued survival. The post After conflict’s won, what happens next? appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Netanyahu says Israel ‘preparing’ Gaza ground war
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel is readying a ground war in Gaza, pressing ahead with plans that have troubled allies and threaten to worsen an already cascading humanitarian crisis. Facing ever-louder international calls to temper Israel's ferocious 19-day bombing campaign in the Hamas-controlled territory, Netanyahu delivered a nationally televised address. He told fellow Israelis still grieving and angry after Hamas's bloody attacks: "We are in the midst of a campaign for our existence," while insisting Israel will decide how the war is prosecuted. On 7 October, throngs of Hamas gunmen poured from Gaza into Israel, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 222 more, according to official tallies. US President Joe Biden is among the foreign leaders stepping up public calls for Israel to "protect innocent civilians" and to follow the "laws of war" as it pursues Hamas targets. Thousands of Gazans are already believed to have died in Israel's aerial assault, with the toll expected to rise substantially if tens of thousands of Israeli troops massed around Gaza move in. Biden on Wednesday said he had privately suggested Israel should get hostages out if possible before any ground invasion. "It's their decision, but I did not demand it", Biden said, as he called on Congress to allocate more money for Israeli defense. Speaking in Cairo, French President Emmanuel Macron warned: "A massive intervention that would put civilian lives at risk would be an error." But boasting of "raining down hellfire on Hamas" and killing "thousands of terrorists", Netanyahu said his war cabinet and the military would determine the timing of a "ground offensive" to "eliminate Hamas" and "bring our captives home." "I will not detail when, how, or how many," he said. 'It's a massacre' Gaza's Hamas-controlled health ministry puts the number of Palestinian deaths at 6,500, including many children and 700 people killed in a single 24-hour window this week. AFP could not independently verify the ministry's claims, and US President Biden has stated he has "no confidence" in the Hamas ministry figures. While the exact toll from the war in Gaza is unclear, the depth of the suffering is not in question. Entire neighborhoods have been razed, overflowing hospitals carry out procedures without anesthetic, and residents have been forced to use ice cream trucks as makeshift morgues. "They're not waging war on Hamas, they're waging war on children," raged Abu Ali Zaarab, after his family home was bombed in the southern town of Rafah. "It's a massacre." About 1.4 million people -- more than half the population -- have been displaced, according to the United Nations. The UN says 12 of the territory's 35 hospitals have closed due to damage or insufficient fuel, and a key UN aid agency serving almost 600,000 Palestinians "began to significantly reduce its operations." Israel has cut off Gaza's normal supply corridors for water, food, and other necessities, and fewer than 70 relief trucks have entered the impoverished territory since the war began. None contained fuel, which Israel fears Hamas will use for rockets and explosives. Aid agencies have warned that more people will die if medical equipment, water desalination plants, and ambulances stop operating because of a lack of fuel. Once the generators stop, hospitals will "turn into morgues", the Red Cross has warned. Hospitals are also struggling with a shortage of medicines and equipment. "There's not enough anesthetic," said Ahmad Abdul Hadi, an orthopedic surgeon working at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. "The wounded are in severe pain but we can't wait for the procedure, so we're forced to do the operation. We performed a number of surgeries without anesthetic. It's tough and painful, but with the lack of resources, what can we do?" A regional 'explosion' The war has sparked fears of a regional conflagration if it draws in more of Israel's enemies. Since October 7, Israel has launched thousands of reprisal strikes in Gaza, but it has also hit targets in Lebanon and Syria. Late Wednesday, Lebanon-based Hezbollah fired what Israel said was a surface-to-air missile at an Israeli drone. Israel's military said it had intercepted the missile and "struck the source of the launch" in retaliation. Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria's government are backed by Iran, which denies Israel's right to exist. Tehran's top diplomat on Wednesday accused Israel of carrying out "genocide" in Gaza. Jordan's King Abdullah became the latest leader to warn that ongoing violence could "lead to an explosion" in the region. His wife Queen Rania accused Western leaders of a "glaring double standard" for not condemning Israel's killing of Palestinian civilians in its bombardment of Gaza. Violence has also risen sharply in the occupied West Bank, where health officials said more than 100 Palestinians had been killed, mostly in raids by Israeli troops or in clashes with Israeli settlers. The post Netanyahu says Israel ‘preparing’ Gaza ground war appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Russian strike on Ukraine mail depot kills six
Kyiv, Ukraine (AFP) — At least six postal workers were killed while 17 were wounded after Russian missile strikes hit a mail depot in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, officials said. The strike in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Saturday came as Kyiv declared its positions in the embattled city of Avdiivka were “protected” despite Russian attacks, while Moscow said it had downed Ukrainian missiles targeting the Crimean Peninsula. The six killed in the depot attack were all workers at the Ukrainian postal operator Nova Poshta in Korotych, a village on the outskirts of Kharkiv city, regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said. “The victims, aged between 19 and 42, received shrapnel wounds and blast injuries,” he said. Of the injured being treated in hospital, seven were in a serious condition, according to Sinegubov, who said “doctors are fighting for their lives.” The regional prosecutor’s office later updated the number of injured to 17. President Volodymyr Zelensky shared a video on social media of what appeared to be a heavily damaged warehouse surrounded by rubble and a container with the Nova Poshta logo. Sergiy Nozhka, who works for Nova Poshta, described the condition of some his colleagues as “mild to moderate severity,” adding that “there are some people in a very serious condition.” He said that a rocket “flew into the neighboring depot, but at ours too — the windows and shutters flew out. This is not the first time.” According to the prosecutor’s office, Russian forces in the Belgorod region north of Kharkiv fired S-300 missiles, two of which hit the warehouse. “Debris analysis continues at the site in order to establish the exact number of injured and dead,” office spokesperson Dmytro Chubenko told Ukraine’s state broadcaster Suspilne. Separate Russian attacks on villages near the war-battered Ukrainian city of Bakhmut killed at least two people on Sunday, officials said. Both Kyiv and Moscow are preparing for a grueling winter ahead, as Ukraine warns of renewed strikes on its energy infrastructure and Russia contends with a Ukrainian counteroffensive to regain territory. In the eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine’s positions around the frontline city of Avdiivka were “protected”, Zelensky said in his evening address Sunday. The city has been the center of intense fighting in recent weeks as each side struggles to make advances. Ukraine’s general staff said on Friday that Russia had stepped up its military assault on Avdiivka in an ongoing bid to encircle and capture it. “The Avdiivka and Maryinka directions are particularly tough”, Zelensky said. “Numerous attacks by Russians. But our positions are protected.” Avdiivka has been a symbol of Ukrainian resistance since 2014, after it briefly fell to Russian-backed separatists. It lies just 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the Moscow-held city of Donetsk, capital of the Donetsk region that Russia said last September it was annexing. Ukrainian soldiers had been bracing for a new assault after a failed Russian offensive earlier this month using columns of armored vehicles and tanks from three sides. Built around a huge coke plant, Avdiivka had a pre-war population of around 30,000 people. Around 1,600 remain, according to local authorities, living in basements converted into bomb shelters. The city center has been all but destroyed through daily Russian artillery shelling and a months-long aerial bombing campaign. Also on Sunday Russian forces shot down three missiles targeting the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, a Russian official said. The peninsula is crucial to Russia’s offensive, both for supplying troops in southern Ukraine and for carrying out missile strikes from the sea. The post Russian strike on Ukraine mail depot kills six appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Israel says tank fire ‘accidentally’ hit Egyptian post
The Israeli military said Sunday that one of its tanks had "accidentally fired and hit an Egyptian post" near the border with Gaza as the army bombards the Palestinian enclave. The Egyptian military said the blast had caused "minor injuries" but did not give details. "The IDF (Israeli military) expresses sorrow regarding the incident" near the Kerem Shalom area, an army statement said. "The incident is being investigated and the details are under review," the statement added. The Egyptian army said Israel had "immediately expressed its regret over the unintentional incident and an investigation is underway". Egyptian media said the Israeli strike would not disrupt the passage of aid to Gaza, citing witnesses. Since Saturday, 37 trucks carrying vital supplies have crossed to Gaza through its Rafah border post with Egypt, which lies around three kilometers (two miles) from Israel. Crossings between Gaza and Israel have been shut since the outbreak of war on 7 October. The United Nations has estimated about 100 trucks per day are needed to meet the needs of Gaza, where more than 4,650 people have been killed in Israeli strikes, according to the Hamas government. The bombardment follows attacks by Hamas militants which killed more than 1,400 people in Israel. The post Israel says tank fire ‘accidentally’ hit Egyptian post appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Drones attack U.S. forces in Iraq
Drones attacked American and coalition forces in Iraq in the last 24 hours but all unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down with troops suffering only minor injuries. The United States Central Command reported the attacks Wednesday but did not say the source of the drones. Pro-Iranian forces have threatened to attack American troops in Iraq because of Washington’s support for Israel in its war with Hamas. “In western Iraq, US forces engaged two drones, destroying one and damaging the second, resulting in minor injuries to coalition forces. Separately in northern Iraq, US forces engaged and destroyed a drone, resulting in no injuries or damage,” CENTCOM said. There are around 2,500 American soldiers and a thousand troops from other members of the anti-Islamic State coalition in Iraq in a training and advisory role, after the official end of their combat mission in December 2021. A US defense official said earlier on Wednesday that two “one-way drones” had been downed when they attempted to attack American and coalition forces in Iraq, while Kurdish counter-terrorism forces said in a statement that an explosives-laden drone had crashed Wednesday in the Arbil governorate in the country’s north. The drone shootdowns came a day after a strike on a hospital in Gaza left hundreds dead, with Hamas blaming Israel, which in turn said another Palestinian armed group was responsible. Hamas launched a surprise assault inside Israel on 7 October, killing more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and taking hostages back into Gaza. After Israel declared war and began retaliatory strikes, nearly 3,500 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians as well, according to Hamas health authorities. Pro-Iranian factions in Iraq have accused Israel and the US of carrying out a “massacre” in Gaza, with one of them — the powerful Ketaeb Hezbollah group — demanding that American forces leave Iraq or face attack. The post Drones attack U.S. forces in Iraq appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Medics recount shocking toll of child deaths in Gaza war
Eight sleeping children killed in one strike, doctors fighting but failing to save an unborn child -- such were the stories recounted by Gaza medics on Thursday as Israel stepped up its air strikes. Gaza's Hamas-run government said that children made up 1,524 of the 3,785 people killed since Israel launched a relentless barrage on Gaza in retaliation for the October 7 Hamas attacks. Grief-stricken parents carrying the bodies of children in white shrouds through Gaza streets have become a familiar sight since the war started. Doctors say they are fighting a losing battle against a lack of medicines, water and fuel to keep hospitals running. Eight children aged between two and five were among 10 people from the same family killed in an air strike on a house in the city of Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, early on Wednesday, relatives said. "The children were asleep when they destroyed the house," their 67-year-old grandfather, Abu Mohammad Wafi al-Bakri, said. Father escaped Diyala, Ayman, Hamada, Zaher, Uday, Jamal, Nabil and Acil all came from one extended family and all slept on the ground floor. It took an hour after the raid to find their bodies, rescuers said. "None of my children were linked to Palestinian organisations and no men were in the house at the time," said Jihad al-Bakri, father of three of the children. He had left his home an hour before the missile hit to try to find water. At Najjar hospital in Rafah, doctors mourned the unborn child of a woman killed by a missile strike early on Thursday. Arij Marwan al-Banna, seven months pregnant, and her daughters, Sarah and Samya, both aged under 10, were killed on the spot, medical sources told AFP. Banna had fled to her parents' house from northern Gaza after Israel warned its 1.1 million people to head south. Doctors operated but could not save her child. She was posthumously named Fatima and her tiny body bag placed atop that of her mother, doctors said. The Israeli military said on Thursday it had carried out hundreds of air raids in 24 hours, targeting Hamas military infrastructure. Terrified Gaza residents have flocked to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, the only possible escape route from the besieged territory, but it has remained closed. Scores of people waited forlornly about 100 metres (yards) from the crossing hoping that it would reopen to let aid in and refugees out. US President Joe Biden announced after visiting Israel on Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to let some food, water and medicines into Gaza. He said some deliveries could be made on Friday. Wary inhabitants kept away from the gates fearing that they would again be a target for Israel's relentless strikes after the crossing was hit four times last week. "I have been waiting for three days with my family in a house 10 minutes away. We are ready with our bags but we just don't know if or when the crossing will open," said Mohammed, a 40-year-old working for an Italian group. Majed, 43, who works for a German organisation, told AFP: "I came on my own this morning. If the crossing opens, I will get my wife and family -- they're ready." He estimated there were about 400 foreigners, dual nationals and employees of international organisations waiting near Rafah. The Hamas government media office said it had no details on aid deliveries. It said the crossing's head of operations, Fuad Abu Btihan, had been killed in the Israeli strikes. Israel intensified its air strikes after Biden flew home and clouds of black smoke again rose over Gaza City. "It's been tough for three nights, but tonight was the hardest," 60-year-old Umm Mohamed Abu Ziada told AFP. The post Medics recount shocking toll of child deaths in Gaza war appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Israel says at ‘war’ after rocket barrages, militant infiltration
Palestinian militants have begun a "war" against Israel, the country's defense minister said Saturday after a barrage of rockets were fired and fighters from the Palestinian enclave infiltrated Israel, a major escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Violence between Israel and the Palestinians has been surging for almost two years, with fatalities in the occupied West Bank hitting a scale not seen in years. At least two people were killed in Israel, officials said. Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Palestinian militant group Hamas has "launched a war against the State of Israel." "Troops are fighting against the enemy at every location," he said in a statement. AFP journalists said Israel's military began air strikes on Gaza, following the rocket barrage from inside the territory which is sealed off from Israel by a militarized border barrier. "Dozens of IDF fighter jets are currently striking a number of targets belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip," the military said. Rockets had earlier streamed across the sky repeatedly after the first launches from multiple locations across the Palestinian territory from 6:30 am (0330 GMT), AFP journalists in Gaza City reported. The armed wing of Hamas, which controls Gaza, said it was behind the aerial assault, saying its militants had launched thousands of rockets and its fighters seized an Israeli tank. Israel's army did not immediately comment on the tank claim when contacted by AFP. Israeli security chiefs convened over the violence, which occurred on Shabbat and during a Jewish holiday. Air raid sirens wailed across southern and central Israel, and the army urged people to stay near bomb shelters. AFP journalists in Jerusalem heard multiple rockets being intercepted by Israeli air defense systems. Sirens blared across the city on more occasions than in any Gaza conflict in the past three years. "We decided to put an end to all the crimes of the occupation (Israel). Their time for rampaging without being held accountable is over," the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said. "We announce Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and we fired, in the first strike of 20 minutes, more than 5,000 rockets." Hundreds of Gazans flee Hundreds of residents fled their homes in eastern Gaza to move away from the border with Israel, an AFP correspondent said. Men, women and children carrying blankets and food left their homes, mostly in the northeastern part of the territory, the reporter said. Israel's military said Hamas launched "massive shooting of rockets", while at the same time "terrorists infiltrated into Israeli territory in a number of different locations". Hamas "will face the consequences and responsibility for these events", it said in a statement. In Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, some Palestinian residents cheered and blew their car horns as sirens blared. A regional council for Israeli communities northeast of Gaza said its president was killed in an exchange of fire with attackers from Gaza. Separately, a woman in her 60s was killed "due to a direct hit" in Israel, the Magen David Adom emergency services said. Fifteen others were wounded, two of them seriously, medics said. An AFP photographer in the coastal city of Tel Aviv saw a gaping hole in a building, with residents gathered outside. Hamas calls to 'join battle' Hamas called on "the resistance fighters in the West Bank" as well as "our Arab and Islamic nations" to join the battle, in a statement posted on Telegram. The United States condemned the Hamas fire and urged "all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks." "Terror and violence solve nothing," the US Office of Palestinian Affairs wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza since 2007 after Hamas took power. Palestinian militants and Israel have fought several devastating wars since. The latest violence follows heightened tensions in September, when Israel closed the border to Gazan workers for two weeks. The shutdown of the crossing came as Palestinian demonstrators along the border burned tires and threw rocks and petrol bombs at Israeli troops, who responded with tear gas and live bullets. Resuming workers' passage on 28 September had raised hopes of calming the situation in impoverished Gaza, home to 2.3 million people. In May, an exchange of Israeli air strikes and Gaza rocket fire killed 34 Palestinians and one Israeli. So far this year at least 247 Palestinians, 32 Israelis and two foreigners have been killed in the conflict, including combatants and civilians on both sides, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials. The vast majority of fatalities have occurred in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. There has been a rise in army raids, Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis and Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and their property. The rising violence this year came against the backdrop of divisive judicial reforms introduced by the hard-right government of President Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges he denies. Several far-right ministers in Netanyahu's cabinet live in West Bank settlements deemed illegal under international law. The post Israel says at ‘war’ after rocket barrages, militant infiltration appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
France to withdraw ambassador, troops from Niger after coup
President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday announced that France would withdraw its ambassador from Niger, followed by the French military contingent in the coming months, a move welcomed by Niger's military leaders as a "step towards sovereignty". Macron's announcement comes two months after a coup in the West African country that ousted the pro-Paris president. "France has decided to withdraw its ambassador. In the next hours our ambassador and several diplomats will return to France," Macron told French television in an interview, without giving details about how this would be organized. Macron added that military cooperation was "over" and French troops would withdraw in "the months and weeks to come" with a full pullout "by the end of the year". Niger's military rulers responded swiftly in a statement read out on national television, "This Sunday, we celebrate a new step towards the sovereignty of Niger," said the statement from the military rulers, who seized power by overthrowing President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26. "This is a historic moment, which speaks to the determination and will of the Nigerien people," the Niger statement added. Ban on French aircraft Earlier Sunday the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) said on its website that the military rulers had banned "French aircraft" from flying over the country's airspace. It was not clear if this would affect the ambassador being flown out. In his comments, Macron said, "In the weeks and months to come, we will consult with the putschists, because we want this to be done peacefully," he added. France keeps about 1,500 soldiers in Niger as part of an anti-jihadist deployment in the Sahel region. Macron said the post-coup authorities "no longer wanted to fight against terrorism". Niger's military leaders had told French ambassador Sylvain Itte to leave the country after they overthrew Bazoum in July. But a 48-hour ultimatum for him to leave, issued in August, passed with him still in place as the French government refused to comply, or to recognize the military regime as legitimate. Earlier this month, Macron said the ambassador and his staff were "literally being held hostage" in the mission eating military rations with no food deliveries taking place. In Sunday's interview, Macron in the interview reaffirmed France's position that Bazoum was being held "hostage" and remained the "sole legitimate authority" in the country. "He was targeted by this coup d'etat because he was carrying out courageous reforms and because there was a largely ethnic settling of scores and a lot of political cowardice," he argued. 'Very worried about region' The coup against Bazoum was the third such putsch in the region in as many years, following similar actions in Mali and Burkina Faso in 2021 and 2022 that also forced the pullouts of French troops. But the Niger coup is particularly bruising for Macron after he sought to make a special ally of Niamey and a hub for France's presence in the region following the Mali coup. The US also has over 1,000 troops in the country. Macron regularly speaks by phone to Bazoum who remains under house arrest in the presidential residence. The French president has repeatedly spoken of making a historic change to France's post-colonial imprint in Africa but analysts say Paris is losing influence across the continent, especially in the face of a growing Chinese, Turkish, and Russian presence. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) threatened military action to restore Bazoum but so far its threats, which were strongly supported by France, have not transferred into action. "We are not here to be hostages of the putschists," said Macron. "The putschists are the allies of disorder," he added. Macron said that jihadist attacks were causing "dozens of deaths every day in Mali" after its coup and that now such assaults had resumed in Niger. "I am very worried about this region," he said. "France, sometimes alone, has taken all its responsibilities and I am proud of our military. But we are not responsible for the political life of these countries and we draw all the consequences." The post France to withdraw ambassador, troops from Niger after coup appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Ghana bus strapping kills 9
Gunmen killed nine people when they opened fire on a bus in a northern Ghana district struggling with ethnic tensions and concerns over Islamist violence from across the border in Burkina Faso, a local official said Friday. The attack on Thursday morning targeted a bus carrying mostly women on their way to a local market and escorted by police, because of the tensions, in Pusiga district near the volatile Bawku area of Ghana’s Upper East Region. Pusiga district chief Zubeiru Abdulai, a local mayor, told AFP that the nine victims died from gunshot wounds when their bus was ambushed near a remote forest close to the border with both Burkina Faso and Togo. “The vehicle was occupied by mostly women and was being escorted by the police due to the volatile situation in Bawku,” he said. “The police are investigating the incident now and it will be difficult for me to establish the main reason behind the attack.” Police did not immediately respond to calls seeking more details on the attack. Upper East Region has struggled with a decades-long conflict between ethnic Kusasi and Mamprusi communities over the right to choose a new chieftain and over land rights in the mostly Muslim Bawku region, where there is a heavy police and army presence. Those tensions often flare into violence. Jihadist violence in Burkina Faso has also forced people to flee across the frontier into Ghana. Earlier this year, Ghana sent 1,000 more troops and police to Bawku to reinforce security after gunmen killed an immigration officer and wounded two more. Officials did not blame any group for that attack. Ghana’s northern frontier is also an area with well-established smuggling routes, porous borders and illegal gold mining — a combination local officials and experts worry could benefit jihadists. With Islamist militants controlling large parts of Burkina Faso over the border, Western partners are looking to help Ghana and coastal West African neighbors Togo, Benin and Ivory Coast strengthen their defenses to prevent jihadist attacks. With AFP The post Ghana bus strapping kills 9 appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Sikh exile’s slay mars Canada-India ties
Canada and India expelled each other’s diplomat Tuesday after Ottawa linked a Sikh exile’s killing near Vancouver in June to Indian spies. “Today we have expelled a senior Indian diplomat from Canada,” Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in Ottawa. The diplomat was only identified as the head of the Research and Analysis Wing of India’s foreign intelligence agency in Canada. Before Joly’s announcement of the expulsion, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told an emergency parliamentary session, “The involvement of any foreign government in the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.” Trudeau, who was referring to Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, demanded that India cooperate in clearing the matter. New Delhi rejected the claims and said it ordered an unnamed senior Canadian diplomat to leave the country within five days. “Allegations of Government of India’s involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd,” the ministry said in a statement, adding: “We are a democratic polity with a strong commitment to rule of law.” Nijjar, whom India had declared a wanted terrorist, was gunned down on June 18 in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver that is home to a large Sikh community. Canada has the largest population of Sikhs globally outside of India. Nijjar advocated for the creation of an independent Sikh state to be carved out of parts of northern India and perhaps part of Pakistan. New Delhi had accused Nijjar of carrying out terrorist attacks in India, a charge he denied. Tensions between India and Canada have been simmering over the unsolved slaying, and Indian unhappiness over how Ottawa has handled right-wing Sikh separatists. India will join “the group of nations that assassinate political opponents” abroad, much as Saudi Arabia orchestrated the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in 2018, former Trudeau adviser Jocelyn Coulon, said. WITH AFP The post Sikh exile’s slay mars Canada-India ties appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
More heavy weapons, Ukraine pleads
Ukraine’s leaders have renewed calls on Western allies to increase deliveries of heavy weapons as 32 kamikaze drones from Russia attacked Kyiv overnight into Sunday. Air defenses shot down 25 of the attack drones with debris falling in several districts, damaging an apartment in a multi-story building, as well as road surfaces and power lines, Sergiy Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, wrote on Telegram. Popko added that one person was injured. Russia also said Sunday that it destroyed three military speedboats carrying Ukrainian soldiers in the Black Sea which Moscow claims were headed toward annexed Crimea. The attacks follow President Volodymyr Zelensky's statement in a cabinet conference on Saturday that slow weapons deliveries were hindering his troops’ counter offensive. New Defense Minister Rustem Umerov also called for more heavy weapons during the same conference. “We need them today. We need them now,” he said. “Ukrainian warriors today are sacrificing their lives for the core values of democracy and freedom. They need back up from you, dear partners. And this back up is weapons,” Umerov added. Deputy Intelligence Chief Vadym Skibitsky said Saturday that more than 420,000 Russian soldiers are deployed in occupied territories in the east and south of Ukraine. The figure “does not include the Russian National Guard and other special units that maintain occupation authorities on our territories,” he said. Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in June after stockpiling Western weapons, but has made limited gains as its troops encounter heavily fortified Russian defensive lines. Meanwhile, Russia’s forces in Ukraine have organized several days of voting in four regions — Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — that Moscow claims to have annexed. Hastily arranged mobile booths have been placed despite a gruelling Ukrainian counteroffensive and amid widespread reports that locals have been forced to take up Russian passports. Kyiv has denounced it as a sham and called on allies to condemn the “fake” vote. Its SBU security service warned it has a list of “collaborators” helping organize the voting, promising punishment. But Kremlin-installed officials pressed on with the vote, seeking long-term office in areas Kyiv has vowed to re-capture. WITH AFP The post More heavy weapons, Ukraine pleads appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Russia, Ukraine attacks kill six
Kyiv continued its drone attacks on Russia on Wednesday killing three people in the Belgorod region as Russian shelling killed three civilians in two Ukraine villages while its fighter jets destroyed two boats in the Black Sea and Crimea areas. “Three civilians have been killed,” Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a social media post. “The Ukrainian forces launched an explosive device through a drone when people were on the street.” Air defenses downed one Ukrainian drone in Mozhaisky district and one in Khimki district of Moscow, the sixth straight day of drone attacks on the capital region, Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement. A third drone crashed into a building in the Moscow City business district around five kilometers from the Kremlin after being “suppressed” by air defenses, it said. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram there were no reports of casualties. In Khimki district, the wreckage of a downed drone had partially collapsed the roof of a private house and damaged a non-residential building, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. There were no casualties, it reported. The ministry said Tuesday that one of its Sukhoi Su-30sm jets destroyed a Ukrainian “reconnaissance boat” near Russian gas production facilities in the Black Sea. It later said it also destroyed a United States-made speedboat carrying Ukrainian troops east of Snake Island, without providing further detail. Separately, the ministry said its forces had downed two Ukrainian drones, 40 kilometers northwest of the Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea. It later said that two fighter jets had been scrambled to intercept two drones over the Black Sea, without specifying which countries had deployed them. Meanwhile, Russian artillery hit two villages near the eastern Ukraine city of Lyman, killing three people and wounding two others late Tuesday, authorities said. “Three people were killed and one wounded in Torske, another civilian was wounded in Zakitne,” the head of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, posted on Telegram. The Donetsk prosecutor’s office said on Facebook that artillery strikes first hit Torske at around 6:50 p.m., and then Zakitne a half-hour later. The people killed in Torske were two women and a man, aged 63 to 88, who were seated on a bench when shells hit, it said. In a separate attack, four people were wounded by shelling and a residential building was struck by two explosive drones in Seredyno-Buda, a village in northeast Ukraine near the border with Russia, the regional military authority said on Facebook. WITH AFP The post Russia, Ukraine attacks kill six appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Russia thwarts drones, offers free grain
Russia thwarted a drone attack in the Moscow region as its president promised to give six African countries free grain at a summit in Saint Petersburg, 703 kilometers northwest of the capital. The unmanned aerial vehicle was destroyed by air defense and there were no casualties or damage, according to Russia’s defense ministry. On Monday, a drone crashed near the ministry in the center of Moscow while another hit an office building in a southern district. Ukraine claimed responsibility for the attack. Moscow and its environs, lying about 500 kms from the Ukrainian border, had been rarely targeted until several drone attacks this year. The drone attack follows announcement by President Vladimir Putin that 25,000 to 50,000 tons of Russian grain will be shipped to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Central African Republic and Eritrea. He promised the free grain during the two-day summit with African countries in Saint Petersburg as substitute for Ukrainian grain. Seventeen African leaders including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa were expected at the Russia-Africa summit taking place until Friday at the Expoforum. Russia previously allowed Ukrainian grain ships to deliver wheat overseas via the Black Sea but did not renew the deal and started bombing Ukraine’s grain facilities in Odesa port. Moscow also warned that ships going to and sailing from Ukraine ports will be attacked. Ukrainian army spokesperson Nataliya Gumenyuk told Agence France-Presse that Russia imposed a blockade of “virtually all” its ports “to close Ukraine as a country that can feed the world.” Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army has recaptured the village of Staromaiorske from Russian forces on the southern front, as it ramps up its counter-offensive, Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar said on Thursday. “Staromaiorske in the Donetsk region has been liberated. Our defenders are currently carrying out clearing operations” of Russian troops, she said on Telegram. The post Russia thwarts drones, offers free grain appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Missile barrage hits Ukraine, Russia repels attack
Two people were killed in separate overnight airstrikes on Ukraine, authorities said on Thursday. A missile struck port infrastructure in the southern Odesa region on the Black Sea coast killing one person, the regional governor said Thursday. Oleg Kiper said Russian forces “fired Kalibr missiles from a submarine in the Black Sea.” “A civilian guard born in 1979 died as a result of the hit. Equipment of one of the cargo terminals was damaged, a small security building and two cars were destroyed,” Kiper said on social media. The other fatality was in the town of Kivsharivka in the eastern Kharkiv region, governor Oleg Synegubov said. The attacks followed the downing of 36 cruise missiles by the Ukrainian Air Force. “On 26 July, 36 enemy cruise missiles were destroyed,” Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk said Wednesday on the air force’s official Telegram channel. Three Kalibr missiles were fired in the afternoon while 33 X-101 and X-555 missiles were fired in the early evening by eight Tu-95 bombers from the southeast heading towards western Ukraine, it said. The air force mentioned another strike by Russian MiG-31s which launched four hypersonic Kinjal missiles targeting the Khmelnytsky region in western Ukraine on Wednesday evening. In the Dnipro central region of Ukraine, the governor said Wednesday on Telegram that the debris of a downed Russian missile caused a fire which was brought under control without causing any casualties. Meanwhile, Russia’s FSB security service said Thursday that a cargo ship bound for the Russian port of Rostov-on-Don was turned back “from Russian territorial waters” after “traces of explosives” were found on the ship. The FSB said in a statement that the ship coming from Turkey had previously sailed to the Ukrainian port of Reni. Earlier, the Russian army said it turned back several hundred Ukrainian soldiers near the town of Orikhiv in the south, one of the areas where Kyiv has been carrying out its counteroffensive. Ukraine “conducted a massive attack by the forces of three battalions reinforced by tanks. All attacks of the Armed Force of Ukraine were repelled. Positions were held,” the ministry said. The Russian military also said it progressed in the direction of Lyman, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, after reporting an advance of up to two kilometers on Tuesday. WITH AFP The post Missile barrage hits Ukraine, Russia repels attack appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Tanks and armed Wagner rebels deploy in southern Russia town
The sound of ambulance and police sirens filled the air on Saturday in Rostov-on-Don -- a hub for Russia's Ukraine campaign -- where the rebellious Wagner mercenary force said it had taken over key facilities. At a major intersection in the city center, an armored car with a machine gun and around a dozen men in military fatigues with silver armbands could be seen. Armored personnel carriers and tanks were positioned in other parts of the center, including outside a toy shop and a circus, journalists in the city reported. Passers-by stopped to look at the military vehicles, including transport trucks, and more armed men with silver armbands carrying rifles in resting positions. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has said his troops had taken control of Russia’s main military command center for Ukraine operations as well as an airbase in the city, vowing to topple Moscow's top military leaders. He said he commanded around 25,000 fighters. A port city located just over 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, Rostov-on-Don was founded in the 18th century and is the headquarters of Russia's southern military command. Unlike other large Russian cities further from the front lines, Rostov-on-Don -- with a population of just over one million people -- has experienced the ripple effects of Russia's large-scale military operation in Ukraine. One person was killed in March at an FSB building fire in Rostov-on-Don and the Rostov region has also been targeted over recent months in several drone attacks. Regional governor Vasily Golubev called on residents not to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary and said any planned mass gatherings in the city had been canceled. He also asked the public not to use the M4 motorway -- the main road connection between Moscow and southern Russia -- as sections have been closed and large queues of cars have formed along it. Golubev said public transport in the city was still functioning but routes had been changed to avoid the city center. "The situation that has arisen requires a maximum concentration of efforts to keep order," he said on social media. "Law enforcement agencies are doing everything necessary to ensure the security of our region's residents." The post Tanks and armed Wagner rebels deploy in southern Russia town appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
China-linked cyber spies attacked 16 countries
A group of cyber spies believed to be working for China has targetted hundreds of organizations in 16 different countries since October, a cyber security firm has revealed. Google subsidiary Mandiant’s chief technology officer Charles Carmakal said on Thursday that UNC4841 hackers were detected in May breaching computer defenses to steal “emails of prominent employees dealing in matters of interest to the Chinese government.” Its email messages were booby-trapped with malicious code and exploited a vulnerability in Barracuda software for screening such missives to make sure they are safe, according to the Mandiant report. The targeting focused on issues of high policy importance to the Chinese government, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region and Taiwan, according to Mandiant. Victims included foreign ministries, research organizations and foreign trade missions based in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the firm added. Mandiant recalled that the same group were behind the 2021 hack of Microsoft Exchange that affected at least 30,000 organizations in the United States, including businesses and local governments. Washington has frequently accused Beijing of cyberattacks against US targets, with the issue contributing to a deterioration in relations between the two powers in recent years. China has consistently denied the claims, and has railed against alleged US cyber espionage, last year accusing the US National Security Agency of carrying out “tens of thousands of malicious attacks on network targets in China.” The latest hacking revelations come as Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to China for talks on Sunday and Monday, the first visit by a top US diplomat in nearly five years. The post China-linked cyber spies attacked 16 countries appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Pat Robertson, who made Christian right a political force, dead at 93
Pat Robertson, the soft-spoken televangelist who helped make America's Christians a powerful political force while demonizing liberals, feminists, and gays as sinners, died Thursday at the age of 93, his organization announced. The longtime host of "The 700 Club" on his huge Christian Broadcasting Network and one-time presidential candidate died at his home in Virginia Beach, according to a network statement. Robertson promoted "a worldview that believes in the inerrancy of the Bible," CBN said. "Today, his influence and legacy crisscross interests and industries that have broken barriers for countless Christian leaders and laypeople." Broadcasting "The 700 Club" daily since 1966, the avuncular Robertson promoted a literal belief in "end of times" prophecies of the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel that forecast the destruction of the world to become a Christian paradise. In practice, he advocated for an extremely conservative Christianity focused on "traditional" families and a country founded on the Bible, rejecting the longstanding US principle of separation of church and state. He defined the world as riven by an epochal fight between Islam and Christianity, and meanwhile spearheaded US Christian support for Israel as the land of the "chosen" Jewish people. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once called Robertson "a tremendous friend of Israel and a tremendous friend of mine." But he also drew loathing from progressives with his condemnations of feminism and LQBTQ culture as destroying America. His powerful support in 2016 for Donald Trump -- arguably helping seal Trump's presidential victory -- further widened the cultural chasm dividing the country. Marine, lawyer, minister Robertson was born on 22 March 1930 in Lexington, Virginia, the son of a conservative Democratic member of the US House of Representatives and then the Senate for 34 years. After graduating from Virginia's Washington and Lee University, in 1948 he joined the US Marines, serving in Korea. He then graduated from Yale Law School, was ordained a Baptist minister, and in short order launched in 1961 what became the massive CBN empire from a small television station in Tidewater Virginia. After CBN's early financial struggles, he named "The 700 Club" for an early core of 70 supporters who pledged $10 each month. The program mixed news, spiritual and lifestyle stories along with interviews of public figures, and became a hit, especially in rural communities across the country. That made it a mainstream stop for political candidates courting Christian voters: guests included Republican Ronald Reagan and Democrat Jimmy Carter. Robertson expanded into other media businesses, launching what became the popular, conservative "Family Channel" on cable television, and the influential Christian-based Regent University in Virginia Beach. Push into politics In 1987, he launched the Christian Coalition, seeking to bring together different Christian denominations as a force for the conservative values he espoused. Ever since, the organization has been at the forefront of the US culture wars, pressuring Congress and the White House on moral and religious issues such as abortion and the separation of church and state. In 1990, he launched the American Center for Law and Justice, a legal lobby to advance Christian religious rights against secularism in the courts. Robertson himself sought political office, running unsuccessfully in the Republican presidential primary in 1988. But what he built had a lasting impact: a conservative Christian voter bloc instrumental in bringing Trump to power and still exercising enormous influence over the Republican Party. "He shattered the stained glass window," TD Jakes, a Dallas pastor said in CBN's statement. "People of faith were taken seriously beyond the church house and into the White House." Controversies But there were controversies along the way. He courted Democratic Republic of the Congo dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, hoping to convert their countries to Christian states where gay people were banned -- while investing in diamond mining in a deal with Mobutu. In 2001, as America reeled from the September 11 attacks, Robertson endorsed the view that tolerance for lesbians, gays, and doctors carrying out abortions had drawn God's wrath on the country. In 2005, he called for the United States to assassinate then-Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war," he quipped on "The 700 Club." And last year, he said Russian President Vladimir Putin was "compelled by God" to attack Ukraine because it was predicted in the Book of Ezekiel as a step toward the end of times. Washington's political establishment was remarkably quiet Thursday in response to Robertson's death. Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, said Robertson "touched so many lives and changed so many hearts." "He stood for America -- and more importantly, for truth and faith," she said. But on the left, there was little sympathy. "Robertson's death doesn't mean we must overlook his long record of extremist rhetoric," wrote Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "Robertson spent most of his time spreading hate, conspiracy theories, and lies," he said. The post Pat Robertson, who made Christian right a political force, dead at 93 appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»