Zelensky says Ukrainian forces ‘holding the line’ in Kursk

Zelensky says Ukrainian forces ‘holding the line’ in Kursk
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that Moscow had attempted to push back Ukrainian positions in the Russian Kursk region but that Kyiv was "holding the line." (Getty Images/File)
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Updated 12 October 2024
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Zelensky says Ukrainian forces ‘holding the line’ in Kursk

Zelensky says Ukrainian forces ‘holding the line’ in Kursk
  • Ukraine has held on to swathes of Russia’s Kursk region since early August
  • “Regarding the Kursk operation, there were attempts by Russia to push back our positions, but we are holding the lines,” Zelensky said

KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that Moscow had attempted to push back Ukrainian positions in the Russian Kursk region but that Kyiv was “holding the line.”

Ukraine has held on to swathes of Russia’s Kursk region since early August.

“Regarding the Kursk operation, there were attempts by Russia to push back our positions, but we are holding the lines,” Zelensky said.

Russia earlier this week said it had recaptured two villages in the Kursk region, and vowed to continue to push Ukrainian forces out of its territory.

Ukraine has said its offensive is intended to create a buffer zone in the region to stop shelling of its border areas.

Zelensky also acknowledged that the situation for Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donetsk region and southern Zaporizhzhia region was “very difficult.”

Kyiv said earlier that Russian attacks Saturday had killed two people in the eastern Donetsk region: a 19-year-old traveling in a civilian car and an 84-year-old pensioner.


Somalia-Jubaland power struggle benefits Al-Shabab militants

Somalia-Jubaland power struggle benefits Al-Shabab militants
Updated 13 sec ago
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Somalia-Jubaland power struggle benefits Al-Shabab militants

Somalia-Jubaland power struggle benefits Al-Shabab militants
  • Jubaland severed relations with Mogadishu last year after its leader, Ahmed Madobe, a former warlord in power since 2012, was elected for a third term in polls that the central government labelled “unlawful”

NAIROBI: Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for extremist militant group Al-Shabab to gain ground.

Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital Mogadishu.

But ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for Al-Shabab infiltration.

Last week, two Somali soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and Jubaland loyalists, days after both sides called for mobilization in the area. Five Somali soldiers had already died in July.

The Horn of Africa nation has battled Al-Shabab since the mid-2000s, with its fortunes rising and falling over the years. This year, the Al-Qaeda-linked group has won back major towns.

“Once the attention shifted from the fight against Al-Shabab to politics we started seeing losses and setbacks in the battlefield,” Samira Gaid, a security analyst in the Horn of Africa, told AFP.

According to Gaid, the group is using the power struggle as a “recruitment drive.”

“It really doesn’t favor anyone when these sort of incidents happen,” she said.

The deadly clashes have underscored the weakness of Somalia’s federal government, analysts said.

“There wasn’t enough political agreement at the time of the formation of the Somali federal government in 2012 and that’s why you have this constant struggle and tension within the federal model,” said International Crisis Group’s senior analyst Omar Mahmood.

Jubaland severed relations with Mogadishu last year after its leader, Ahmed Madobe, a former warlord in power since 2012, was elected for a third term in polls that the central government labelled “unlawful.”

An arrest warrant was issued against Madobe, who is based in the de facto state capital of Kismayo.

“The reason why this is spiking up now is because we are heading into the election,” Mahmood said.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has been pushing for the country to hold its first-ever one-man, one-vote election next year — a move opposed by Madobe.

Jubaland’s Gedo region, where last week’s clashes took place, appears to be critical for the central government.

Both Madobe and Mohamud “want to exert control over Gedo, which they also can then use to exert control over the election process,” Mahmood said.

Last month, Mohamud appointed Madobe’s former security minister, Abdirashid Hassan Abdinur, known locally as Janan, as the head of security operations in Jubaland.

Janan, seen as an influential power broker in Gedo, has previously been accused by the United Nations of serious human-rights violations.

After last week’s clashes, he announced the takeover of a key border town in Gedo, Beled Hawo, saying a new administration will be formed in the region.

The violence has taken a toll on the population. Since June, clashes in the Gedo region have displaced 38,000 people internally and forced 10,200 across the border to Kenya, according to official data.

Clan politics generally play a key role in Somalia, Jubaland included.

“The clan that resides in Gedo area has never been politically aligned to the leadership of Ahmed Madobe,” security analyst Gaid said, as the dominant clan feels marginalized by him.

In the government’s eyes, that divide could be a way to unseat Madobe. But the opposition to him is also split, and the federal government does not enjoy absolute support.

Mohamed Jumale, a traditional elder in Jubaland, is convinced Mogadishu will fail.

“We are hearing that the federal government is trying to annex Gedo from the rest of the Jubaland-administered territories before they can form a loyal administration. It will not work,” he said.


Cockfighting livestreams thrive in Philippines despite ban, murders

Cockfighting livestreams thrive in Philippines despite ban, murders
Updated 28 min 15 sec ago
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Cockfighting livestreams thrive in Philippines despite ban, murders

Cockfighting livestreams thrive in Philippines despite ban, murders
  • Easy access, anonymity of the online world, and sheer volume of betting sites can lead to e-sabong addiction

MANILA: Divers have spent more than a month searching a lake south of Manila for the bodies of men with links to the Philippines’ bloody national obsession: cockfighting.

They were murdered by rogue police, a government witness said, allegedly for rigging matches at the height of the country’s pandemic-era craze for betting on live-streamed cockfights, or “e-sabong.”

The disappearances led then President Rodrigo Duterte to announce a total ban, but three years later, the e-sabong industry is still thriving.

On a recent Saturday in the Manila suburb Bulacan, cockfighters, or “sabungeros,” cracked grim jokes about their missing compatriots.

Inside the “tarian,” a crowded room where blades are attached to each bird’s leg, sabungero Marcelo Parang insisted the murders had nothing to do with the legal cockfighting world.

“We don’t know if (the men killed) did something bad,” said the 60-year-old.

“We’re not scared ... In here, we’re peaceful. In here, the matches are held fairly,” he said of the deadly contests.

Outside, the crowd in the 800-seat arena roared as another bout ended with the losing rooster unceremoniously dumped in an empty paint bucket.

Cockpits like the one in Bulacan were once a second home for Ray Gibraltar, who grew up in a family of cockfight enthusiasts. One uncle was a breeder.

When the fights moved online during the COVID-19 pandemic, the former director-turned-painter began wagering on them as well.

But the easy access, anonymity of the online world, and sheer volume of betting sites can lead to e-sabong addiction, and within a year, Gibraltar was winning and losing upwards of $15,000 a day.

“I wasn’t eating. I was just drinking coffee and smoking ... I had no sleep,” he said of a three-day session.

“In terms of money that I lost on e-sabong ... I could have bought a house and car,” he said, adding he “borrowed money from everyone.”

Before checking into rehab, he wagered the last 300 pesos in his e-wallet.

The story is a familiar one for Reagan Praferosa, founder of Recovering Gamblers of the Philippines, who said few clients show up before hitting rock bottom.

“They won’t call us if they still have money,” he said.

His first e-sabong addicts began arriving in 2020. Since then, about 30 percent of his caseload has revolved around the livestreamed fights.

“(At arenas) you had to go somewhere to cash out. Now ... it’s connected to an e-wallet,” he said, adding other forms of gambling were now taking their cues from e-sabong.

“Most of the sites have replicated their platforms.”

Jay, a graphic artist, still logs onto an illegal website every time he gets his paycheck.

The 24-year-old, who asked to use a pseudonym as he fears his family’s judgment, showed how wagers for as little as 10 pesos (about 18 US cents) could be placed on two roosters shown on his phone.

Authorities estimate gamblers like Jay are fueling an industry that generates millions of dollars in revenue each week.

“It’s not the money I’m after, it’s the thrill,” he said of an addiction he said he is trying to control.

“It’s easier to chase that in (e-sabong) because it’s available on my cellphone.”

While gambling for relatively low stakes, Jay has found himself forced to make excuses after losing the money meant for his younger brother’s school supplies.

Since the e-sabong ban was initiated, the country’s telecoms commission has blocked more than 6,800 e-sabong websites, police Brig. Gen. Bernard Yang told AFP.

But the use of VPNs makes pinpointing the streams’ true origins nearly impossible.

Asked for examples of IP traces that had led to raids, he pointed to a successful operation in the central Philippines’ Cebu province — though it had taken place years earlier.

While conceding that current penalties — with fines as low as 1,000 pesos ($17) — provide little deterrent, Yang insisted the problem was simply “not so grave anymore.”

But Senator Erwin Tulfo on Friday told Congress e-sabong remained a menace as he pushed the country’s central bank for action against a range of online gambling sites.

Hours later, the monetary authority issued a directive that e-wallet firms remove their links to illegal websites within 48 hours.

Congressman Rolando Valeriano, who told AFP the situation remains “very alarming,” has authored an anti-online cockfighting and gambling bill that would dramatically increase fines and jail terms.

“In every community, you can see children who know how to (bet on) e-sabong. That’s what was worrying me,” he said.

“This might be a lonely battle, but we will keep on fighting.”

The fight could be lonely indeed.

A day after the new session of Congress began, a photograph began circulating in local media.

The image was of a congressman staring at his smartphone during the vote for House speaker.

He was watching a cockfight.


Most Americans believe countries should recognize Palestinian state, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

Members of the Global Movement for Palestine wave a giant Palestine flag during a rally against Israel’s actions. (File/AFP)
Members of the Global Movement for Palestine wave a giant Palestine flag during a rally against Israel’s actions. (File/AFP)
Updated 20 August 2025
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Most Americans believe countries should recognize Palestinian state, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

Members of the Global Movement for Palestine wave a giant Palestine flag during a rally against Israel’s actions. (File/AFP)
  • Reuters/Ipsos poll also showed that 59 percent of Americans believe that Israel’s military response in Gaza has been excessive
  • latest Reuters/Ipsos survey, conducted online, gathered responses from 4,446 US adults nationwide

WASHINGTON: A 58 percent majority of Americans believe that every country in the United Nations should recognize Palestine as a nation, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, as Israel and Hamas considered a possible truce in the nearly two-year-long war.

Some 33 percent of respondents did not agree that UN members should recognize a Palestinian state and 9 percent did not answer. The six-day poll, which closed on Monday, was taken within weeks of three countries, close US allies Canada, Britain and France, announcing they intend to recognize the State of Palestine. This ratcheted up pressure on Israel as starvation spreads in Gaza.

The survey was taken amid hopes that Israel and Hamas would agree on a ceasefire to provide a break in the fighting, free some hostages and ease shipments of humanitarian assistance. Two officials said on Tuesday Israel was studying Hamas’ response to a potential deal for a 60-day truce and the release of half the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. Britain, Canada, Australia and several of their European allies said last week that the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn Palestinian enclave has reached “unimaginable levels,” as aid groups warned that Gazans are on the verge of famine.

The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday Israel was not letting enough supplies into the Gaza Strip to avert widespread starvation. Israel has denied responsibility for hunger in Gaza, accusing Hamas of stealing aid shipments, which Hamas denies.

A larger majority of the Reuters/Ipsos poll respondents, 65 percent, said the US should take action in Gaza to help people facing starvation, with 28 percent disagreeing. The number disagreeing included 41 percent of President Donald Trump’s Republicans. Trump and many of his fellow Republicans take an “America First” approach to international relations, backing steep cuts to the country’s international food and medical assistance programs in the belief that US funds should assist Americans, not those outside its borders.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led fighters stormed into Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Israel’s offensive has since killed more than 62,000 Palestinians, plunged Gaza into humanitarian crisis and displaced most of its population, according to Gaza health authorities.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll also showed that 59 percent of Americans believe that Israel’s military response in Gaza has been excessive. Thirty-three percent of respondents disagreed.

In a similar Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in February 2024, 53 percent of respondents agreed that Israel’s response had been excessive, and 42 percent disagreed.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos survey, conducted online, gathered responses from 4,446 US adults nationwide and had a margin of error of about 2 percentage points.


US targets more ICC judges including over Israel

Judge Nicolas Guillou of France is presiding over a case in which an arrest warrant was issued for Netanyahu.
Judge Nicolas Guillou of France is presiding over a case in which an arrest warrant was issued for Netanyahu.
Updated 20 August 2025
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US targets more ICC judges including over Israel

Judge Nicolas Guillou of France is presiding over a case in which an arrest warrant was issued for Netanyahu.
  • Rubio said the four people targeted from the tribunal had sought to investigate or prosecute nationals from the US or Israel “without the consent of either nation”

WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on four more International Criminal Court judges or prosecutors, including from allies France and Canada, in a new effort to hobble the tribunal particularly over actions against Israel.

“The Court is a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare against the United States and our close ally Israel,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, using a term popular with President Donald Trump’s supporters.

Rubio said that the four people targeted from the tribunal based in The Hague had sought to investigate or prosecute nationals from the United States or Israel “without the consent of either nation.”

The four include Judge Nicolas Guillou of France, who is presiding over a case in which an arrest warrant was issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The case was brought forward by the State of Palestine, which is not recognized by Washington but, unlike Israel or the United States, has acceded to the statute that set up the tribunal in The Hague.

Guillou, a veteran jurist, had worked for several years in the United States assisting the Justice Department with judicial cooperation during Barack Obama’s presidency.

Also targeted in the latest US sanctions was a Canadian judge, Kimberly Prost, who was involved in a case that authorized an investigation into alleged crimes committed during the war in Afghanistan, including by US forces.

Under the sanctions, the United States will bar entry of the ICC judges to the United States and block any property they have in the world’s largest economy — measures more often taken against US adversaries than individuals from close allies.

Rubio also slapped sanctions on two deputy prosecutors — Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal.

The State Department said the two were punished by the United States for supporting “illegitimate ICC actions against Israel,” including by supporting the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.

The Trump administration has roundly rejected the authority of the court, which is backed by almost all European democracies and was set up as a court of last resort when national systems do not allow for justice.

Trump on Friday welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to Alaska even though Putin faces an ICC arrest warrant, a factor that has stopped him from traveling more widely since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

Rubio slapped sanctions on four other ICC judges in June.


Italian funeral for Palestinian woman evacuated from Gaza becomes call to ‘make noise’

Mourners attend the funeral of 19-year-old Palestinian woman Marah Abu Zhuri in Pontesserchio, near Pisa, Italy.
Mourners attend the funeral of 19-year-old Palestinian woman Marah Abu Zhuri in Pontesserchio, near Pisa, Italy.
Updated 20 August 2025
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Italian funeral for Palestinian woman evacuated from Gaza becomes call to ‘make noise’

Mourners attend the funeral of 19-year-old Palestinian woman Marah Abu Zhuri in Pontesserchio, near Pisa, Italy.
  • Zuhri, 19, had been evacuated to Italy with what Israel had called leukemia
  • Italian doctors said they found no initial evidence of that and instead found “profound wasting” and an undiagnosed or misdiagnosed condition

PONTASSERCHIO, Italy: Funeral services were held Wednesday for a young Palestinian woman who died in Italy shortly after being evacuated from Gaza last week, exposing Italians to the desperate plight of Palestinians in the besieged territory.

The funeral of Marah Abu Zuhri, attended by several hundred people, was interrupted repeatedly by chants of “Free Palestine” and featured speeches by local authorities denouncing Israel’s policy in Gaza and expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people.

As Palestinian flags fluttered, mourners stood in prayer before Zuhri’s coffin, which was was draped in a Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh scarf in the town of Pontasserchio, near Pisa.

Zuhri, 19, had been evacuated to Italy with what Israel had called leukemia, but Italian doctors said they found no initial evidence of that and instead found “profound wasting” and an undiagnosed or misdiagnosed condition.

The United Nations and partners have said 22 months of war have devastated Gaza’s health system, and food security experts have said the “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out.” Israel is moving ahead with a new military offensive on some of the territory’s most populated areas,

Mayor Matteo Cecchelli said he wanted to honor Zuhri’s life with a public service in the town’s Park of Peace, to “make noise” about what he called a political and humanitarian “catastrophe” in Gaza.

“The reality is that every day in the Gaza Strip, people are dying in the deafening silence of world governments,” he said to applause. “We cannot remain silent today in this field of peace. There are those who have decided to make noise and have decided to be here to express their dissent toward this genocide.”

Israel asserts that it abides by international law and is fighting an existential war in Gaza after Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed some 1,200 people and took more than 250 others hostage. Israel has rejected genocide allegations related to its war in Gaza and called them antisemitic.

Zuhri arrived in Italy overnight on Aug. 13-14 as one of 31 sick or injured Palestinians evacuated on an Italian humanitarian airlift that has brought nearly 1,000 ill Palestinians and their families to the country since the war began.

Israel said she had leukemia and had been offered an evacuation earlier but claimed that Hamas had exploited her case, without offering evidence. The UN World Health Organization, which coordinates patients’ evacuations, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Gaza’s Health Ministry has asserted that evacuations are often delayed or canceled by Israeli authorities. It says over 18,000 patients and wounded require treatment outside Gaza.

Zuhri was admitted to the hematology ward of Pisa University’s Santa Chiara Hospital, a known oncological hospital in Tuscany, but died there on Aug. 15.

The hospital said she arrived with a “very complex/compromised clinical picture and in a state of profound wasting.” She suffered a sudden respiratory crisis and subsequent cardiac arrest, which killed her, it said.

The head of the hematology department at the Pisa hospital, Dr. Sara Galimberti, said Zuhri arrived with a diagnosis of suspected acute leukemia, but tests the hospital conducted came back negative, with no signs of the “bad cells” that would indicate leukemia.

Galimberti told reporters that Zuhri likely had been misdiagnosed, and that her condition was nevertheless seriously compromised and had been for a while.

“The patient was in a complete condition of wasting, and completely bedridden despite being 19 years old,” she said.

The hospital conducted a nutritional consultation and began a hypercaloric therapy and transfusional support, but Zuhri died before a full diagnosis was possible, Galimberti said.

The doctor said the woman’s mother, Nabeela Abu Zuhri, declined an autopsy on religious and personal grounds.

The mother, who accompanied her daughter on the flight, spoke briefly at the funeral, thanking Italy for trying to save her daughter and asking for prayers for Palestinians. She said she was “leaving a part of my heart, a part of me, with you” before returning to Gaza.

The imam of Pisa, Mohammad Khalil, who translated for her, tried to calm the crowd and focus on Zuhri, but he also spoke of food shortages and hunger in Gaza.

The United Nations has said starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest levels since the war began. The UN says nearly 12,000 children under 5 were found with acute malnutrition in July — including more than 2,500 with severe malnutrition, the most dangerous level. The World Health Organization says the numbers are likely an undercount.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly asserted that no one in Gaza is starving, with “no policy of starvation in Gaza.”

AP reporting has found that malnourished children were arriving daily at a Gaza hospital, with some dying from hunger, including ones with no preexisting conditions.