‘It’s like living in a prison’: inside the besieged Palestinian village isolated from the rest of the West Bank
Since the 7 October attack, and the ensuing war in Gaza, restrictions in Beit Iksa have become even more suffocating
By Bethan McKernan in Beit Iksa, West Bank
In January this year, four-year-old Ruqayya Jahalin, her mother and her five siblings were waiting in a taxi at the checkpoint that is the only way in and out of their home, the occupied West Bank village of Beit Iksa.
Inspections by the Israeli military or border police mean it often takes a long time for Palestinians to enter the besieged village, but everything seemed normal until, out of nowhere, the border police started shooting indiscriminately, hitting Ruqayya in the back.
According to a report by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Aisha, her mother, screamed for help, but could not leave the van for fear she would also be shot. The driver called for an ambulance, but the security personnel wouldn’t let the vehicle, nor the girl’s father, pass the checkpoint; after 15 minutes, Ruqayya died in her desperate mother’s arms.
Ukrainian troops clash with N. Korean units for the first time in Russia, official says
Ukrainian soldiers have clashed with North Korean units that were recently deployed to support Russia for the first time, Ukraine's defence ministry confirmed Tuesday. The fighting took place in Russia's Kursk border region.
Ukrainian troops have for the first time engaged with North Korean units that were recently deployed to help Russia in the war with its neighbor, Ukraine's defense minister said Tuesday.
Another Kyiv official said Ukraine's army fired artillery at North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk border region.
The comments were the first official reports that Ukrainian and North Korean forces have engaged in combat, following a deployment that has given the war a new complexion as it approaches its 1,000-day milestone.
Retrieved nuke fuel debris from reactor within safety limits
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
November 6, 2024 at 14:08 JST
The operator of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant reported on Nov. 5 that the radiation level of retrieved fuel debris from a reactor that melted down in 2011 is within the threshold for safe handling.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that the trial removal of debris from the No. 2 reactor will be completed on or after Nov. 7.
On Nov. 2, TEPCO placed the device that collected the fuel debris in an isolation box set up outside the containment vessel.
Israel’s wartime row: What’s behind the rift between Netanyahu and Gallant?
The prime minister has sacked his defiant defence minister in an attempt to settle a schism at the pinnacle of power.
Published On 6 Nov 20246 Nov 2024
As Americans cast their votes in a monumental presidential election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quietly ousted Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
The two figures shared an openly divisive relationship following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Netanyahu has long attempted to absolve himself of responsibility for the security lapse.
China welcomes Myanmar's embattled leader on first visit since coup
Jonathan Head
South East Asia Correspondent
Myanmar’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing is on his first visit to China since he ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
The significant losses his regime has suffered in the civil war at the hands of poorly-armed insurgents has raised questions over how long he will remain at the helm.
So, the invitation to visit China - an important ally, neighbour and Myanmar's largest trading partner - is significant, although it is not a state visit.
US cancels $1.1bn of Somalia’s debt in ‘historic’ financial agreement
Commitment by Mogadishu’s largest single lender is latest in series of deals to forgive ‘unsustainable’ $4.5bn debt
Somalia has announced that more than $1.1bn (£860m) of outstanding loans will be cancelled by the US, a sum representing about a quarter of the country’s remaining debt.
The announcement is the latest in a series of agreements in which Somalia’s creditors have committed to forgiving its debt obligations.
Most of Somalia’s debt had built up during the era of Siad Barre’s military dictatorship, which collapsed in the early 1990s and triggered a ruinous three-decade civil war.
