World
At least 50 people killed in Israeli strikes on homes, camps in Gaza
At least 50 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes across Gaza, Palestinian medics say, as Israeli tanks push into northern parts of the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza.
Medics said at least 20 people were killed and others wounded in an Israeli attack on Wednesday on a tent encampment in al-Mawasi near Khan Younis. The Palestinian Civil Defence said the attack set several tents housing displaced families ablaze.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said the death toll was expected to rise.
Patients who are in the hospital were “expected to lose their lives simply because there is no medical care, medical supplies and insufficient medical staff,” Mahmoud said.
“This is not the first time we’ve seen this happening. There’s a growing frustration among the displaced population in the al-Mawasi evacuation zone,” he said. “The Israeli military ordered them in the initial weeks of this genocidal war to evacuate in order to avoid being bombed, but they repeatedly find themselves the victims of these unpredictable attacks.”
At least 10 people were killed in an Israeli air strike that hit three houses in Gaza City, the Civil Defence said. Many victims were still trapped under the rubble with rescue operations under way.
Medics said 11 people were killed in three air strikes on areas in central Gaza, including six children and a medic. Five of the dead had been queueing outside a bakery, they said.
A further nine Palestinians were killed by tank fire in Rafah near the border with Egypt, medics said.
‘Extremely urgent’
Israeli forces also fired on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza for the fifth straight day, hospital Director Hussam Abu Safiya said. Three of his medical staff had been wounded, one critically, on Tuesday night, he said.
“Drones are dropping bombs filled with shrapnel that injure anyone that dares to move,” Abu Safiya said. “This situation is extremely urgent.”
He said more than 100 patients inside the besieged hospital are at risk of death and Israeli forces are preventing access to the nearby al-Awda Hospital.
Residents in the north’s main three towns – Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoon – said Israeli forces have blown up dozens of houses.
Palestinians said Israel’s army is trying to drive people out of the northern edge of Gaza by issuing threats that if residents do not flee, they risk death and by carrying out bombardments to create a buffer zone. The Israeli military has besieged the area since it began a renewed ground offensive there nearly two months ago.
The siege has worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis amid a looming famine.
Hamas said the bombings of homes in Beit Lahiya and the targeting of Kamal Adwan Hospital are “an insistence on the ongoing war” and “genocide” in Gaza.
The group said in a statement that Israel is showing it plans to keep disregarding international law “in light of the shameful failure of the international system to put an end to these horrific crimes”.
Hamas said Israeli actions “are carried out under the full cover and protection of the American administration and some Western capitals”.
In the Khan Younis area, residents told the Reuters news agency that Israeli tanks advanced a day after the military issued new evacuation threats, saying there had been rocket launches by Palestinian groups from the area.
With shells crashing near residential areas, families left their homes on Wednesday and headed westwards towards al-Mawasi, which was designated by the Israeli military as a “safe zone” but has since repeatedly come under attack.
Palestinian and United Nations officials said there are no safe areas left in Gaza and almost all of its 2.3 million residents have been displaced multiple times.
Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 44,500 Palestinians, injured many others and reduced much of the enclave to rubble since it began in October last year.
Israel agreed to a ceasefire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah last week that has halted most fighting in a conflict that has unfolded in Lebanon in parallel with the Gaza war.
But the war in Gaza has ground on with only a single ceasefire more than a year ago that lasted for one week.
World
'It was a joke,' Guardiola says after 'six titles' comment draws Mourinho response
Guardiola, who held up six fingers to Liverpool fans on Sunday, a gesture similar to Mourinho holding up three fingers in 2018 before getting sacked by Manchester United, had made the comment when asked if he could suffer a fate similar to the Portuguese.
“I hope not in my case… He won three, I won six… but we are the same like that,” Guardiola answered.
Mourinho responded to Guardiola’s comment on Friday, ahead of his team Fenerbahce’s clash with Besiktas.
“I won fairly and cleanly… I don’t want to win by dealing with 150 court cases,” Turkish outlet Hurriyet quoted Mourinho as saying.
City did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Mourinho’s statement.
Guardiola, speaking to reporters later on Friday, said he had no bad intentions when making the comment about Mourinho.
“If I have offended him, I am so sorry. But it was a joke. The fact is he has three and I have six, it is a fact. But the intention was completely fine,” he said.
“I think both with our teams – he with Chelsea, myself with Man City – we can sit in the table with Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, right? For the many, many titles we’ve won. And I’m pretty sure sooner or later they will congratulate us.”
Guardiola said there were many people around the world who wanted to see City at the bottom.
“We are innocent until proven as guilty. After that we’ll see what happens, but it is what it is,” he added.
Fourth-placed City visit Crystal Palace later on Saturday.
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Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
World
South Korean president apologizes for declaring martial law ahead of impeachment vote
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday apologized for his short-lived declaration of martial law earlier in the week, as he now prepares for a parliamentary vote on whether to impeach him.
Yoon said in a televised address Saturday morning that he will evade legal or political responsibility for the declaration and vowed not to make another attempt to impose it, according to The Associated Press. The president, a conservative, said he would leave it to his party to offer a path forward amid the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.”
“The declaration of his martial law was made out of my desperation,” Yoon said. “But in the course of its implementation, it caused anxiety and inconveniences to the public. I feel very sorry over that and truly apologize to the people who must have been shocked a lot.”
In his martial law declaration on Tuesday, Yoon called parliament a “den of criminals” blocking state affairs and pledged to eliminate “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces.”
SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT TO FACE IMPEACHMENT VOTE THIS WEEKEND OVER MARTIAL LAW ORDER, LAWMAKERS SAY
A National Assembly vote on an opposition-led motion to impeach Yoon is slated for Saturday afternoon. The opposition parties that jointly brought the impeachment motion hold 192 of the legislature’s 300 seats, meaning they need at least eight additional votes from Yoon’s conservative People Power Party to secure the needed two-thirds to pass the motion.
Yoon’s party called for his removal on Friday, although the party remained formally opposed to impeachment.
Opposition lawmakers say that Yoon’s declaration of martial law was a self-coup, so they drafted the impeachment motion on rebellion charges.
If Yoon is impeached, his powers will be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to remove him from office. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the second in command in the South Korean government, would take over his presidential responsibilities.
Should the president be removed, an election to replace him must be held within 60 days.
On Tuesday, special forces troops were observed encircling the parliament building and army helicopters were hovering over it. The military withdrew after the National Assembly unanimously voted to overturn Yoon’s declaration of martial law, forcing him to lift it just hours after it was issued.
The declaration of martial law was the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea.
Thousands of demonstrators have since protested in the streets of Seoul, waving banners, shouting slogans and singing along to K-pop songs with lyrics changed to demand Yoon’s removal.
Han said he had received intelligence that, during the period of martial law, Yoon ordered the country’s defense counterintelligence commander to arrest and detain key politicians based on accusations of “anti-state activities.”
SOUTH KOREAN LEADER FACING MOUNTING CALLS TO RESIGN OR BE IMPEACHED OVER MARTIAL LAW
After Yoon’s televised address, Han again called for the president to resign. Han said the president wasn’t in a state where he could normally carry out official duties.
“President Yoon Suk Yeol’s early resignation is inevitable,” Han told reporters.
Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that Yoon called after imposing martial law and ordered him to help the defense counterintelligence unit to detain key politicians including Han, the main liberal opposition Democratic Party’s leader Lee Jae-myung and National Assembly speaker Woo Won Shik, according to Kim Byung-kee, one of the lawmakers who attended the meeting.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Notre-Dame Cathedral reopens five years after devastating blaze
Notre-Dame Cathedral, situated on an island in the River Seine in Paris, France, is reopening this weekend after more than five years of intense reconstruction work to restore the medieval building to its former glory.
After a fire gutted the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019, the 12th-century Gothic masterpiece has now been masterfully restored and will reopen to the public on Sunday following a ceremony on Saturday, which will be attended by a lineup of heads of state and top-level delegates from around the world.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who promised to restore the cathedral within five years after the catastrophe, made a preopening visit to the site on November 29 with his wife, first lady Brigitte Macron. The president thanked the thousands of workers who had reconstructed the building.
“The inferno of Notre-Dame was a wound for the nation, … and you were its remedy,” the president said.
Here is what we know about this weekend’s reopening and what happened to the nearly 900-year-old cultural icon five years ago:
What caused the fire at Notre-Dame?
The blaze broke out on the evening of April 15, 2019, on the roof of the cathedral. The fire sent tongues of orange flames into the sky as smoke billowed from the building. The fire burned for 15 hours while more than 400 firefighters battled to extinguish it.
It is still unclear what caused the blaze, but authorities suspect an electrical fault or a burning cigarette was the likely culprit. No members of the public were hurt because security officials had sounded the alarm and evacuated the cathedral. However, three security officials were injured.
By the time the fire was extinguished the following day, the inside and roof of the cathedral had been largely destroyed. Its wooden and metal spire, which had been undergoing reconstruction work, collapsed.
Its lead roof melted, and the intricate wooden beams that supported it burned away, leaving a gaping hole over the building.
Some religious relics inside the building as well as exposed artwork on the exterior of the building were badly damaged. However, the vaulted stone ceiling acted as a barrier to the fire and prevented serious damage to the cathedral’s interior stone walls.
The cathedral’s wooden frame was centuries-old, and authorities had long marked it as a possible fire hazard. Still, it was a painful period for the French nation. Toxic lead dust spread and cast a gloom over a solemn Paris. Macron, in an emotional speech on April 17, 2019, promised to restore the monument within five years and make it more beautiful than ever. Notre-Dame did not hold a Christmas Mass that year – for the first time since 1803.
How was the cathedral rebuilt?
Hundreds of donors, including some of France’s richest businesspeople, contributed more than 840 million euros ($889m) to the medieval building’s restoration campaign, which was launched by Macron. About 150 countries, among them the United States and Saudi Arabia, also contributed.
The restoration involved the work of about 2,000 people, including craftspeople, architects and other professionals.
Construction workers used powerful vacuum cleaners and cleaning gels to remove the thickened soot, dust and years of accumulated grime from the lower stone walls of the cathedral. Carpenters then hewed giant oak beams by hand to rebuild the intricate roof frame and the spire. About 2,000 oak trees were felled to provide the wood to rebuild the roof.
Work has not entirely finished, and scaffolding will cover parts of the exterior for a few more years so decorative features on the facade can be fully restored.
When is the reopening ceremony?
Notre-Dame is set to host a high-profile ceremony on Saturday with more than 50 heads of state and government, dignitaries and VIPs attending under tight security.
Notable among them will be US President-elect Donald Trump, who has travelled to Paris on his first foreign trip since winning the November presidential election. Also attending are Prince William of the UK and Ukraine’s President Zelensky.
“President Emmanuel Macron has done a wonderful job ensuring that Notre Dame has been restored to its full level of glory, and even more so,” the president-elect said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday. “It will be a very special day for all!”
About 170 bishops from France are expected to attend the ceremony although Pope Francis will be notably absent.
Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich will strike the cathedral’s closed doors with a staff, formally opening them to commence the ceremony.
First, the great organ, which is France’s largest, will be “awakened”. The organ is made of 8,000 pipes and 115 stops.
Some events which had been planned to take place outdoors will now take place inside the cathedral because of the cold weather: A movie will be screened recalling the fire and the reconstruction and paying tribute to those who have participated in restoring the cathedral.
The Pope’s message to the French people will be read out, followed by poetry readings and Ulrich will give a final blessing. The choir will sing Te Deum, a Latin hymn, to round off the service.
Macron will make a short speech outside the cathedral to guests and heads of state at 6.30pm. At 8pm, a concert will begin.
When does the cathedral open to the public?
An inaugural Mass for dignitaries will begin at 10:30am (09:30 GMT) on Sunday. Macron is expected to be in the congregation.
The public can then attend a second evening Mass on the same day with tickets which were available on a first-come first-served basis. Guests were able to book tickets, which are free of charge, online.
Special Masses, twice daily, will be held for the next eight days, and many will be open to the public.
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