Interesting Global News

Nearly 50,000 people in Canada died of an apparent opioid overdose from January 2016 to June 2024, with fentanyl playing an increasingly prominent role in fatalities, the national health agency said Monday.

The prevalence of fentanyl in Canada has drawn additional attention after incoming US president Donald Trump cited the drug as part of his justification to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian imports. Trump has accused Ottawa of not doing enough to stem the flow of fentanyl into the United States and said his promised 25 percent tariff would remain in place until Canadian authorities address the problem.

Health Canada on Monday reported a total of 49,105 "apparent opioid toxicity deaths" from the start of 2016 to June of this year. Fentanyl was involved in 79 percent of opioid deaths so far this year, a figure that has increased by 39 percent since 2016, the agency said. Canadian authorities have acknowledged a significant spike in domestic fentanyl production.

The seizure of Canadian-made fentanyl in the United States, Australia and elsewhere indicates that domestic production exceeds demand and Canada has become a net fentanyl exporter, the foreign ministry has said. But experts do not believe Canadian-sourced fentanyl is a major player in the United States.

The seizure of Canadian-made fentanyl in the United States, Australia and elsewhere indicates that domestic production exceeds demand and Canada has become a net fentanyl exporter, the foreign ministry has said. But experts do not believe Canadian-sourced fentanyl is a major player in the United States.

Health Canada said that so far this year an average of 21 people have died each day from an apparent opioid overdose, 72 percent of whom were males. Those figures marked an improvement compared to same period in 2023, Health Canada said, but noted the figures are preliminary and subject to change.

Guatemalan authorities on Monday recovered several minors taken from a care center by members of an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect under investigation for alleged child sexual abuse.

Relatives belonging to the Lev Tahor sect broke into the shelter on Sunday to try to retrieve 160 children and adolescents who had been taken from their farm in a police raid two days earlier, authorities said. Some of the children were found the same day, and others were recovered by police and officials early Monday amid scuffles with adult sect members on a street in the capital, according to an AFP photographer.

A court is expected to order protective measures for the minors, according to the office of the procurator-general, who acts as the state's attorney. "Everything was done with a focus on human rights," it said in a statement.

On Friday, police raided a farm occupied by Lev Tahor in Oratorio, southeast of Guatemala City, due to allegations of forced pregnancy, mistreatment of minors and rape, the public prosecutor's office said. The skeleton of a minor was found during the raid, the office said.

Lev Tahor, which practices an ultra-Orthodox form of Judaism in which women wear black tunics covering them from head to toe, have accused authorities of religious persecution.

Members of the sect settled in Guatemala in 2013. Authorities estimate that the community is made up of roughly 50 families from Guatemala, the United States, Canada and other countries.

The man accused of gunning down a health insurance executive in a brazen hit in New York that sparked fierce debate about the industry pleaded not guilty Monday to state charges including "terrorist" murder.

Monday's hearing came after Mangione, 26, appeared in a New York court last week to face federal charges also including murder following his dramatic extradition by plane and helicopter from Pennsylvania, where he was arrested at a McDonald's restaurant. The suspect is charged in both state and federal court in the December 4 shooting of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson.

People demonstrating against the industry gathered outside court Monday brandishing banners reading "free Luigi" and "innocent until proven guilty."

If convicted in the state case, Mangione could face life imprisonment with no parole. In the federal case, he could technically face the death penalty.

Mangioni's attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo has previously sought clarity on how simultaneous federal and state charges would work, calling the situation "highly unusual."

Agnifilo raised concerns on Monday that Mangione could not receive a fair trial, and questioned why New York mayor Eric Adams had been present when Mangione was brought off a police helicopter at a Manhattan helipad last week. Aginifilo told local media Monday that officials "are treating him like he is like some sort of political fodder." She said the sight of Mangione flanked by rifle-wielding tactical officers during the final stage of his extradition that was widely broadcast was "utterly political."

NASA's pioneering Parker Solar Probe is poised to make its closest-ever approach of the Sun on Christmas Eve, a record-setting 3.8 million miles (6.2 million kilometers) from the surface.

Launched in August 2018, the spaceship is on a seven-year mission to deepen scientific understanding of our star and help forecast space-weather events that can affect life on Earth. Its closest approach to date will happen on Tuesday, December 24, at 6:53 am (11:53 GMT). If the distance between Earth and the Sun is the equivalent to the length of an American football field, the spacecraft would be about four yards (meters) from the end zone at that point.

"This is one example of NASA's bold missions, doing something that no one else has ever done before to answer longstanding questions about our universe," said Arik Posner, Parker Solar Probe program scientist, in a statement. "We can't wait to receive that first status update from the spacecraft and start receiving the science data in the coming weeks."

During this closest approach -- known as perihelion -- mission teams will lose direct contact with Parker, relying on a "beacon tone" this Friday to confirm the spacecraft's status. Although the heat shield will endure scorching temperatures of about 1,600 to 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit (870 to 930 degrees Celsius), the probe's internal instruments will remain near room temperature -- around 85F (29C) -- as it explores the Sun's outer atmosphere, called the corona.

Not only will the temperatures be extreme, but Parker will also be moving at a blistering pace of around 430,000 mph (690,000 kph), fast enough to fly from the US capital Washington to Tokyo in under a minute.

"UNIFIL strongly urges accelerated progress in the IDF's (Israeli military) withdrawal from and the LAF's (Lebanese army) deployment in south Lebanon," the force said in a statement. It called on "all actors to cease and refrain from violations of (Security Council) resolution 1701 and any actions that could jeopardise the fragile stability that currently prevails".

That came after Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the United States and France should put pressure on Israel to complete its withdrawal faster. The United States and France, along with Lebanon, Israel and UNIFIL, make up the committee tasked with maintaining communication between the parties to the ceasefire and ensuring any violations are identified and dealt with.

As part of the truce agreement, the Lebanese army and peacekeepers will deploy in southern Lebanon as the Israeli army pulls out over a period of 60 days.

"In order for the army to be able to fully accomplish its missions, the committee must... put pressure on the Israeli enemy to bring an end to all the violations" of the ceasefire, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in the town of Khiam during a tour of the south. "It is necessary to put pressure on the parties to the ceasefire agreement, namely the French and the Americans, to accelerate the process before the expiration of the 60-day period," he added, going on to accuse Israel of "dragging its feet".

On December 11, the Lebanese army reported that it had deployed around Khiam, five kilometres from the border, in coordination with UNIFIL, following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area.

Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported on Monday that "the Israeli enemy continues its invasion and attacks on southern Lebanese territories," where it has "raised the Israeli flag" on a hill between the towns of Bayada and Naqura. The NNA frequently reports instances of Israel dynamiting homes in border villages.

For its part, the Israeli army stated on Monday that it was continuing its "defensive activities" in the south "in accordance with the agreement", adding that it had "seized and dismantled various weapons and military equipment from a warehouse".

Mikati said that he wanted to resolve any questions over the Blue Line -- the UN-demarcated boundary between Lebanon and Israel -- "so there will be no justification for any Israeli occupation of our land". He also said he was working with "the World Bank, the European Union, Arab countries and our international partners to create a trust fund" for reconstruction efforts.

The World Bank estimated in October that the fighting had caused physical damage amounting to "at least $3.4 billion" in Lebanon.

Trump offered to buy the vast Danish territory during his first term in office -- receiving an abrupt refusal -- and he revived his push over the weekend when naming his ambassador to Copenhagen for his incoming administration.

Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede quickly sought to quash any chance of a deal. "Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom," Mute Egede said in a statement.

Greenland, the world's largest island, is an autonomous Danish territory with its own parliament, about 55,000 inhabitants, and a small pro-independence movement. It relies on Denmark to fund more than half of its public budget.

Trump on Sunday posted that "for purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity."

At least two people are confirmed dead from the collapse, which occurred late Sunday on the Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira bridge linking the states of Maranhao and Tocantins. When a section of the bridge went down, it took with it two cars, two motorbikes, and four trucks -- two of which were carrying sulphuric acid, a police spokesman told AFP.

Their dangerous cargo prompted officials to pause the search operation early Monday. Water supplies to communities in the region were also suspended because of the possible "toxic" acid pollution, the spokesman said.

Brazil's infrastructure and transport department said the causes of the collapse of the bridge, which was built in the 1970s, were being investigated. It said the central beam of the structure gave way. The collapse came on top of two other deadly transport accidents in Brazil over the weekend.

The United States said Monday it is opening an investigation into China's policies for its semiconductor industry, over concerns that Beijing is turning to "extensive anticompetitive and non-market means" to undermine other economies.

The probe centers on foundational semiconductors -- which go into everything from cars to medical devices -- and whether China's actions create burdens for US commerce, according to the US Trade Representative's (USTR) office.

The fear is that Beijing's practices undermine "the competitiveness of American industry and workers, critical US supply chains, and US economic security," the USTR's office added. "We have seen time and again, a pattern of harmful impact from nonmarket policies and practices across industries that the PRC has targeted for worldwide market dominance," said USTR Katherine Tai, referring to the People's Republic of China.

Previous instances have included steel, aluminum, solar cells, electric vehicles and now, semiconductors, Tai told reporters on Sunday. "This is enabling its companies to rapidly expand capacity and to offer artificially lower-priced chips that threaten to significantly harm and potentially eliminate fair, market-oriented competition," Tai added.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said that an analysis of the US semiconductor supply chain found two-thirds of US products contain Chinese-made foundational chips. "About half of companies didn't know whether they had Chinese chips in their products," she said, adding that this included firms making defense systems, critical infrastructure and consumer electronics.

In recent years, President Joe Biden has sought to shore up US chipmaking capabilities to reduce reliance on other countries. The latest probe will initially focus on China's foundational semiconductors production, including the extent that these are used in other products like medical devices and vehicles.

The probe is also expected to consider whether Beijing's policies on inputs for semiconductor fabrication contribute to "burden or restriction on US commerce," the USTR's office said.

"This investigation is part of our broader strategy to strengthen the resilience of our supply chains and revitalize domestic manufacturing," said National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard.

The investigation falls under Section 301 of the Trade Act, the same tool used during President-elect Donald Trump's first administration to impose tariff hikes on Chinese products. Officials will have a year to carry out the investigation and decide on responses.

Bangladesh has launched a probe into the alleged $5 billion embezzlement connected to a Russian-backed nuclear power plant by ousted leader Sheikh Hasina and her family, the anti-corruption commission said Monday.

Along with Hasina, the now-former prime minster who fled to India after being toppled by a revolution in August, those subject to the inquiry include her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and niece, Tulip Siddiq, a British lawmaker and government minister.

The allegations were raised by a writ seeking an investigation filed in the high court by Hasina's political opponent, Bobby Hajjaj, chairman of the Nationalist Democratic Movement party. "We seek justice through our court", Hajjaj told AFP on Monday.

Key allegations are connected to the funding of the $12.65 billion Rooppur nuclear plant, the South Asian country's first, which is bankrolled by Moscow with a 90 percent loan.

A statement Monday from the commission said it had launched an inquiry into allegations that Hasina and family members had "embezzled $5 billion" from the Rooppur plant via "various offshore bank accounts in Malaysia". It said its investigations were examining "questionable procurement practices related to the overpriced construction" of the plant. "The claims of kickbacks, mismanagement, money laundering, and potential abuse of power raise significant concerns about the integrity of the project and the use of public funds", the commission said.

Graft allegations also include theft from a government building scheme for the homeless.

Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter on August 5 into exile in India, infuriating many Bangladeshis determined that she face trial for alleged "mass murder". It was not possible to contact Hasina for comment.

Siddiq has "denied any involvement in the claims" accusing her of involvement in embezzlement, according to a statement from the British prime minister's office.

Joy, who is understood to be based in the United States, was also unavailable for comment.

Beijing on Monday promised to continue "cooperation" with regional authorities over a Chinese ship linked to the recent severing of two undersea cables in the Baltic Sea.

Sections of two telecom cables were cut on November 17 and 18 in Swedish territorial waters of the Baltic. Suspicions have been directed at a Chinese ship -- the Yi Peng 3 -- which according to ship tracking sites had sailed over the cables around the time they were cut. The Yi Peng 3 had been anchored in the international waters of the Kattegat strait between Sweden and Denmark.

Ship tracking site Vesselfinder showed the Yi Peng 3 steaming north out of the strait on Saturday and Sweden's coast guard confirmed that the vessel had weighed anchor.

Beijing on Monday confirmed the ship had left to "to ensure the physical and mental well-being of the crew". "The shipowner company, after a comprehensive evaluation and consultation with relevant parties, decided to resume operations," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said. "China has notified all relevant countries in advance," Mao said. "China is willing to maintain communication and cooperation with the countries involved to advance the follow-up handling of the incident," she added.

On Thursday, authorities from Sweden, Germany and Finland were invited aboard for an investigation led by China. A Danish representative also accompanied the group as the country had served a "facilitating role" by hosting meetings between the countries earlier in the week, its Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen had said. Sweden in late November requested China's cooperation in the investigation, but Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stressed that there was no "accusation" of any sort.

Like many of his fellow Tunisians, 23-year-old Amine Elhani has never been to the cinema, but now, thanks to a mobile theatre touring the country, he can finally enjoy the big screen.

The bright red truck of CinemaTdour, or "moving cinema", has transformed parking lots and factory grounds in underserved towns and neighbourhoods across the North African country into pop-up theatres.

In the central town of Djemmal, dozens of workers unloaded the expandable truck, easily setting up a fully equipped outdoor movie theatre with 100 seats.

"The screen is huge, and the sound effects are amazing," said Elhani, who had so far only watched films on his phone or computer. He had "never had the chance to go to a movie theatre", he told AFP. "It's a fantastic experience, especially because I'm watching with friends."

Movie theatres are scarce in Tunisia, numbering at just 15 and largely concentrated in major urban hubs. Recognising this gap, CinemaTdour was launched in May by private cultural network Agora and nonprofit Focus Gabes, with funding from private donors.

"We wanted a way to reach as many viewers as possible, in a short time and on a limited budget, while offering them an authentic cinematic experience," project director Ghofrane Heraghi told AFP. Mobile cinemas have long existed in other countries, but Heraghi said CinemaTdour was "unique" for turning a truck into a full-fledged theatre.

Without government funding, CinemaTdour relies heavily on partnerships with private companies to cover costs like film rights, maintenance and staffing. The truck itself was purchased on credit for about one million Tunisian dinars ($315,000), Heraghi said, with annual operating expenses of around 500,000 dinars.

For 10 days in Djemmal, residents could watch films for free thanks to a partnership with German car parts manufacturer Draxlmaier, which has a factory in the town. Jihene Ben Amor, Draxlmaier's communications manager in Tunisia, said the company wanted to "contribute to the development" of remote and underserved regions where it operates. For many workers, earning up to 1,000 dinars a month, the cost of tickets and the journey to a main city with a movie theatre can be prohibitive. "Having this cinema right outside their workplace also gives workers a sense of pride and belonging," said Ben Amor.

After Djemmal, CinemaTdour set up in Hay Hlel, an impoverished neighbourhood of the capital Tunis. Many children gathered around the pop-up theatre, eager for their turn. Yomna Warhani, 11, was beaming with excitement, anticipating her first ever movie screening. "I can't wait to see what it's like inside and what films they'll show," she said.

CinemaTdour's two-week stay in Hay Hlel was funded by the World Health Organization, with screenings themed on mental health, smoking and drug abuse, and violence against women. The shows were tailored for younger audiences as well as for viewers with hearing or visual impairments.

Heraghi, the project head, said that "what drives us is the social impact of culture." "We want to break stereotypes, shift mindsets, and promote values like social cohesion and community spirit."

In just a few months, CinemaTdour has reached more than 15,000 people, including 7,500 in the southern oasis town of Nefta where a month of free screenings was sponsored by a date exporter. The project now hopes to secure funding for additional trucks to expand its activities across the country. But Heraghli has even bigger aspirations, she said, "taking it to Algeria, Libya, and maybe even across Africa".

Tension was mounting in Mozambique Monday with judges about to rule on its disputed election, with the opposition leader vowing "chaos" if the ruling party is confirmed as the winner in a standoff that has already claimed at least 130 lives.

The southern African country has been rocked by unrest since the election commission said that the October 9 vote was won by the candidate of the Frelimo party, which has held power since independence from Portugal in 1975.

The Constitutional Council is expected to announce at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT) that it validates Frelimo's win, lining up Daniel Chapo to take over from President Filipe Nysui whose second term ends on January 15.

Businesses were shut and streets deserted in the capital Maputo early on Monday despite the fact that it is the height of the festive season. The main roads into the city centre were barricaded by police and access to the presidential palace and Constitutional Council office shut, AFP journalists saw.

Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane claims the vote was rigged in favour of Frelimo and that a separate count shows he won enough votes to take office, which he intends to do. Some had thought the opposition's challenge of the results was "a bluff...(that) we're joking," he told supporters on social media on Saturday. "So they will also be surprised on January 15 when they see Venancio Mondlane take office in Maputo."

Mondlane has been in self-imposed exile since the assassination of his lawyer on October 19, a killing he blames on security forces, and it was unclear if he intended to return. "Difficult days will come," said the 50-year-old, who appeals to disenchanted younger voters in a country of 33 million people marked by poverty despite its abundant resources. "The Constitutional Council's ruling will lead Mozambique either to peace or chaos," Mondlane said in an online address, promising a "new popular uprising at a level never seen before."

The dispute sparked an explosion of protests that have brought city centres to a standstill, disrupted industry and power plants, and halted operations at the main border with South Africa, causing its neighbour major losses in exports. Police have been accused of using live bullets against protesters, with at least 130 people killed, according to the civil society group Plataforma Decide, whose figures have been cited by Amnesty International.

The US government on Thursday raised its warning level against travel to Mozambique ahead of the Constitutional Council announcement. Pope Francis called Sunday for dialogue and goodwill to "prevail over mistrust and discord" in Mozambique.

President Nyusi and Mondlane had talked, both men confirmed last week, without announcing any outcome. In an address to the nation on Friday, Nyusi said he hoped that once the final results were proclaimed, all sides "will open their hearts to a constructive and inclusive dialogue."

The preliminary results put Mondlane as runner-up in the presidential vote with 20 percent compared to 71 percent for Chapo. Mondlane claims a separate count shows he won 53 percent to 36 percent for Chapo.

The protests have been the "most dangerous" ever seen in Mozambique, said analyst Borges Nhamirre, continuing despite the deaths and arrests, and intensifying with police stations and Frelimo offices torched. "Protests have already been called for Monday. The main cities, including Maputo, will be under siege because of the fear of protests," he said.

"I'm convinced that if Monday the Constitutional Council declares the election as free and fair, which I am 100 percent convinced it will, then the blood is going to flow," Maputo-based political and security risk analyst Johann Smith told AFP. "The whole game changes on Monday," said Smith. "It will be a lot more intense and bloody."

Mondlane had awakened resentment against Frelimo, he said, similar to discontent that voted out this year the party that governed Botswana since independence and had threatened to do the same in Namibia.

"It's almost like the Southern African Spring," Smith said, in a reference to the Arab Spring anti-government protests in North Africa in the 2010s.

Update 20241223

The highest court in Mozambique, the Constitutional Council, confirmed the disputed October election results that extended the Frelimo party's 50-year grip on power.

Daniel Chapo, Frelimo's presidential candidate, secured 65 percent of the vote, the seven-judge bench ruled, revising down the initial results of nearly 71 percent, announced in November by the National Electoral Commission (CNE).

Venancio Mondlane, the Podemos candidate, remained in second place with 24.19 percent of the votes (compared to around 20 percent according to the CNE results).

Some observers fear the Constitutional Council's ruling is likely to spark further protests in the country.

Amnesty International reported that the government has repeatedly cut internet access across the country and blocked social media sites for nearly a week.

https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20241223-mozambique-s-highest-court-confirms-ruling-party-election-victory-chido

The Philippines said Monday it planned to acquire the US Typhon missile system as part of a push to secure its maritime interests, sparking warnings from China of a regional "arms race".

The US Army deployed the mid-range missile system in the northern Philippines earlier this year for annual joint military exercises with its longtime ally, and decided to leave it there despite criticism by Beijing that it was destabilising to Asia.

Philippine Army chief Lieutenant-General Roy Galido told a news conference on Monday that the missile system would be "acquired because we see its feasibility and its functionality in our concept of archipelagic defence implementation". "I'm happy to report to our fellow countrymen that your army is developing this capability for the interest of protecting our sovereignty," he said, adding the total cost of the acquisition would depend on "economics".

The presence of the US missile launcher had angered Beijing, whose navy and coast guard forces have engaged in escalating confrontations in recent months with the Philippines over disputed reefs and waters in the South China Sea. Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

Manila and Washington, longstanding treaty allies, have deepened their defence cooperation since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos took office in 2022 and began pushing back on Beijing's claims to the South China Sea. And on Monday, China swiftly condemned the decision to acquire the system as a "provocative and dangerous move" and warned it risked triggering an "arms race".

"It is an extremely irresponsible choice for the history of its own people and the people of Southeast Asia, as well as for regional security," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Monday. "The region needs peace and prosperity, not missiles and confrontation," she added, urging Manila to "correct its wrong practices as soon as possible".

As a rule, it takes at least two or more years for the Philippine military to acquire a new weapons system from the planning stage, Galido said Monday, adding it was not yet budgeted for 2025. It took five years for Manila to take delivery of the BrahMos cruise missile last year, he added.

The land-based "mid-range capability" Typhon missile launcher, developed by US firm Lockheed Martin for the US Army, has a range of 300 miles (480 kilometres), though a longer-range version is in development. Galido said the Typhon system would enable the army to "**project force" outwards up to 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres), which is the limit of the archipelago nation's maritime entitlements under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

"You have to take note of the fact that at 200 nautical miles there is no land there and the army cannot go there," he said. The Typhon platform "will protect our floating assets", he said, a reference to ships of the Philippine navy, coast guard and other vessels.

Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun warned in June that the Typhon deployment was "severely damaging regional security and stability". But Galido dismissed the criticism of the Typhon system in the Philippines. "We should not be bothered by others' seeming insecurities because we don't have any plans to go outside of our country's interests," he said.

President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday pledged to "stop the transgender lunacy" on day one of his presidency, as Republicans -- set to control both chambers of Congress and the White House -- continue their push against LGBTQ rights.

"I will sign executive orders to end child sexual mutilation, get transgender out of the military and out of our elementary schools and middle schools and high schools," the president-elect said at an event for young conservatives in Phoenix, Arizona. He also vowed to "keep men out of women's sports," adding that "it will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female."

Speaking to the AmericaFest conference in a border state he easily carried in the November election, Trump further promised immediate measures against "migrant crime," vowed to designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and doubled down on his talk of restoring US control of the Panama Canal.

Transgender issues have roiled US politics in recent years, as Democratic- and Republican-controlled states have moved in opposite directions on policy such as medical treatment and what books on the topic are allowed in public or school libraries. Last week, when the US Congress approved its annual defense budget, it included a provision to block funding of some gender-affirming care for the transgender children of service members.

In his speech Sunday, which amounted to something of a victory lap, Trump made expansive promises for his second term -- and drew a dark picture of the four years preceding it, under President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the latter of whom he defeated in the 2024 election. "On January 20, the United States will turn the page forever on four long, horrible years of failure, incompetence, national decline, and we will inaugurate a new era of peace, prosperity and national greatness," Trump said, referring to his swearing-in.

Just 12 trucks distributed food and water in northern Gaza in two-and-a-half months, aid group Oxfam said on Sunday, raising the alarm over the worsening humanitarian situation in the besieged territory.

"Of the meager 34 trucks of food and water given permission to enter the North Gaza Governorate over the last 2.5 months, deliberate delays and systematic obstructions by the Israeli military meant that just twelve managed to distribute aid to starving Palestinian civilians," Oxfam said in a statement, in a count that included deliveries through Saturday.

"For three of these, once the food and water had been delivered to the school where people were sheltering, it was then cleared and shelled within hours," Oxfam added.

In a report focused on water, New York-based Human Rights Watch on Thursday detailed what it called deliberate efforts by Israeli authorities "of a systematic nature" to deprive Gazans of water, which had "likely caused thousands of deaths... and will likely continue to cause deaths."

Oxfam said that it and other international aid groups have been "continually prevented from delivering life-saving aid" in northern Gaza since October 6 this year, when Israel intensified its bombardment of the territory. "Thousands of people are estimated to still be cut off, but with humanitarian access blocked it's impossible to know exact numbers," Oxfam said. "At the beginning of December, humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza were receiving calls from vulnerable people trapped in homes and shelters that had completely run out of food and water."

Oxfam highlighted one instance of an aid delivery in November being disrupted by Israeli authorities. "A convoy of 11 trucks last month was initially held up at the holding point by the Israeli military at Jabalia, where some food was taken by starving civilians," it said. "After the green light to proceed to the destination was received, the trucks were then stopped further on at a military checkpoint. Soldiers forced the drivers to offload the aid in a militarized zone, which desperate civilians had no access to."

The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Thursday asking the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to assess Israel's obligations to assist Palestinians.

Exhausted by more than 14 months of war, the wives and mothers of Israeli soldiers are uniting in protest against exemptions from conscription for ultra-Orthodox men.

For several Saturday evenings, the bridge over a key highway that runs between Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox suburb of Tel Aviv, and Givat Shmuel, a bastion of religious Zionists whose sons and husbands proudly serve in the army, has been the scene of a tense standoff. Ultra-Orthodox residents passed by, some running, as protesters holding Israeli flags and banners shouted through megaphones demanding "conscription for all".

The military has asked for extra manpower in light of the war in Gaza and connected conflicts, while the Supreme Court ruled in June that the state must draft ultra-Orthodox Jewish men into military service.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition government includes members of two ultra-Orthodox parties, and he has feared that ending the exemption could break up his coalition. The coalition is moving ahead with legislation that would protect the exemption for the vast majority of Haredim (the Hebrew name for ultra-Orthodox Jews, meaning "God-fearing") from military service.

Political and religious ultra-Orthodox leaders, whose decisions are often binding on their followers, continue to strongly oppose service in the military. They say that prayer and religious study protects the country as much as combat.

Military service is mandatory in Israel, but under agreements forged at Israel's creation, when the Haredim were only a very small community, those who devote themselves to the study of sacred Jewish texts can avoid conscription. The ultra-Orthodox account for 14 percent of Israel's Jewish population, according to the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), representing about 1.3 million people. About 66,000 of those of conscription age are exempted, according to the army.

Michal Vilian, a 60-year-old resident of Givat Shmuel, has been participating in weekly demonstrations organised since last month by "Partners for Bearing the Burden", a religious women's collective. All four of her sons and her son-in-law have been called up as reservists, almost without leave since the war began, and been deployed to Gaza, Lebanon and, more recently, Syria. "We are here to ask for help from our brothers who live just across the bridge, to tell them to lend a hand, a shoulder, and to share the burden", said the doctor, sporting the turban worn by religious Zionist women.

Since October 7, 2023, 818 soldiers have been killed, including during the Hamas attack on Israel as well as in the Gaza ground operation, the Israeli offensive in southern Lebanon and operations in the occupied West Bank. With a disproportionately high number of combat deaths due to their above average participation in the military, they share the anger of the majority of Israelis on this issue, said Amotz Asa-El, a researcher at the Shalom Hartman Institute. That anger was now "overflowing," he said. The exemption is "perceived by the vast majority of the rest of the population as being at their expense in the most physical, existential sense of the term," he added.

At its peak, just days after Hamas's attack, up to 300,000 reservists were mobilised in the ranks of the army. This number has now dropped to 100,000, or around one percent of the total Israeli population, according to figures from the Reservists' Wives Forum.

One of the founders of the Forum, Rotem Avidar Tzalik, a 34-year-old lawyer, said she has been living in a "parallel reality" for more than a year, with her husband, a member of a special unit, called up for more than 200 days. A mother of three young children, she said the weight of mobilisation had become unbearable for families because of the economic and psychological difficulties it caused.

In the Israeli parliament, where she advocates for the rights of reservists' families, her approach to the issue of ultra-Orthodox conscription is pragmatic, emphasizing that it is only one aspect of broader changes needed. She points out, however, that any increase in their conscription, "even by just a thousand," beyond the few thousand who already serve, would have a "huge impact" for reservists by allowing them to reduce the burden.

Shvut Raanan, a 31-year-old lawyer, also an active member of the Forum, said the Haredim's arguments did not stand up to scrutiny. "It has never worked that way in religious history... it is clear that this is not the Torah," said the mother of four young children, citing various Jewish religious figures who called for Jewish people to fight.

The posts, allowed to spread unfettered across tech platforms, came in the wake of the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York on December 4 and lay bare a Wild West internet landscape that is largely bereft of guardrails.

"As much disagreement as there is about what content, if any, should be moderated -- at the top of most peoples' list would be 'explicit threats of violence,'" Jonathan Nagler, co-director of New York University's Center for Social Media and Politics, told AFP. "So seeing posts on social media that explicitly encourage violence against anyone including CEOs of health insurance firms, suggests that content moderation has failed."

Further exemplifying that failure, disinformation security company Cyabra identified hundreds of accounts across the Elon Musk-owned X and Meta-owned Facebook that spread a host of conspiracy theories related to the murder. They included the unfounded claim that Thompson's wife was involved in the killing as the couple was experiencing relationship issues. Other posts baselessly claimed that former House speaker Nancy Pelosi was behind the murder.

Many of these narratives were amplified by prominent influencers on X such as the conservative commentator Matt Wallace, with some of them garnering hundreds of millions of views, Cyabra said.

Thompson's murder has unleashed pent-up anger towards the nation's health insurance companies, which patients and advocacy groups say fail to provide affordable care. Many comments taking aim at the medical system quickly spiraled into targeted threats against high-profile CEOs. Hashtags such as "CEO Assassin" gained traction and multiple posts aimed at health insurance providers brazenly asked: "Who's next after Brian Thompson?"

One post targeting insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield said: "Let your CEO know... you're next!!!" Similar posts took aim at Humana's CEO Jim Rechtin and Andrew Witty from the UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of Thompson's firm.

"The danger here is clear: unchecked hate and disinformation online have the potential to spill over into real-world violence," Dan Brahmy, chief executive of Cyabra, told AFP

The companies did not respond to AFP when asked how they were dealing with the threats ricocheting online.

With the elevated risk, US corporations are increasing security personnel at offices and residences of senior executives, many of whom have been asked to delete their digital footprints, US media reported.

Fico is one of the few European leaders Putin has stayed friendly with since the 2022 eruption of hostilities with Ukraine. Russian TV journalist Pavel Zarubin, a Kremlin insider, posted a short video showing the two leaders smiling and shaking hands.

The visit by Fico, whose country is a NATO and European Union member, had not been previously announced. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told Zarubin that it had been arranged "a few days ago". Peskov did not give details of the talks but said it could be "presumed" that Russian gas supplies would be discussed. Later Peskov said the meeting had ended and that the two leaders would not make a comment.

Ukraine has said it will not renew a contract allowing the transit of Russian gas through its territory, which expires on December 31. Slovakia and Hungary, which rely on Russian gas, have raised concerns about the prospect of losing supplies.

Fico ended military aid to Ukraine when he became prime minister again in October 2023, and like Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban, he has called for peace talks. He also announced in November that he would go to Moscow in May for ceremonies to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Two US Navy pilots were shot down over the Red Sea early Sunday in "an apparent case of friendly fire," the US military said.

Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels said later on Sunday they had "targeted" the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman a day earlier in an operation that led to "shooting down an F-18 aircraft" and thwarting "American-British aggression" against Yemen.

United States Central Command said late on Saturday that both US pilots were recovered alive but "initial assessments indicate that one of the crew members sustained minor injuries". This incident, "was not the result of hostile fire, and a full investigation is underway," CENTCOM said.

The potentially disastrous mistake underscores the dangers of a mission the United States has been involved in for more than a year to counter Yemen's Huthi rebels. The Huthis have repeatedly targeted merchant vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, waterways vital to global trade.

CENTCOM said the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg "mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18" fighter aircraft, which Navy pilots had flown off the USS Harry S Truman. US forces also shot down multiple Huthi attack drones and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea, CENTCOM said.

"The operation involved US Air Force and US Navy assets, including F/A-18s," CENTCOM said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday vowed to bring more "destruction" to Ukraine in retaliation for a drone attack on the central Russian city of Kazan a day earlier.

Russia accused Ukraine of a "massive" drone attack that hit a luxury apartment block in the city, some 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the frontier. Videos on Russian social media networks showed drones hitting a high-rise glass building and setting off fireballs, though there were no reported casualties as a result of the strike.

"Whoever, and however much they try to destroy, they will face many times more destruction themselves and will regret what they are trying to do in our country," Putin said during a televised government meeting on Sunday. Putin was addressing the local leader of Tatarstan, the region where Kazan is located, in a road-opening ceremony via video link.

The strike on Kazan was the latest in a series of escalating aerial attacks in the nearly three-year conflict.

Ukraine has not commented on the strike.

Putin has previously threatened to target the centre of Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory. And the defence ministry has called Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities over recent weeks retaliatory hits for Kyiv using Western-supplied missiles to hit Russian air bases and arms factories.

Kyiv on Sunday also accused Russian forces of killing captured Ukrainian soldiers -- an alleged war crimes violation. A video posted by Ukraine's 110th separate mechanised brigade showed "the shooting of soldiers who surrendered," Kyiv's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said in a post on Telegram. He said the video -- aerial footage from a drone of an apparent confrontation between Russian and Ukrainian soldiers -- showed Russians shooting the Ukrainians at point-blank range after they had already surrendered. AFP could not verify the footage.

The visiting head of a UN investigative body for Syria said Sunday it was possible to find "more than enough" evidence to convict people of crimes against international law, but there was an immediate need to secure and preserve it.

The doors of Syria's prisons were flung open after an Islamist-led rebel alliance ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad this month, more than 13 years after his brutal repression of anti-government protests triggered a war that would kill more than 500,000 people. With families rushing to former prisons, detention centres and alleged mass graves to find any trace of disappeared relatives, many have expressed concern about safeguarding documents and other evidence.

"We have the possibility here to find more than enough evidence left behind to convict those we should prosecute," said Robert Petit, who heads the International Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) set up by the UN in 2016 to prepare prosecutions for major international crimes in Syria.

But he noted that preserving evidence would "need a lot of coordination between all the different actors". "We can all understand the human impulse to go in and try and find your loved ones," Petit said. "The fact is, though, that there needs to be a control put in place to restrict access to all these different centres... It needs to be a concerted effort by everyone who has the resources and the powers to do that to freeze that access, preserve it".

The organisation, known as the Mechanism, was not permitted to work in Syria under Assad's government but was able to document many crimes from abroad. Since Assad's fall, Petit has been able to visit the country but his team still require authorisation to begin their work inside Syria which they have requested.

He said his team had "documented hundreds of detention centres... Every security centre, every military base, every prison had their own either detention or mass graves attached to it". "We're just now beginning to scratch that surface and I think it's going to be a long time before we know the full extent of it," he told AFP.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, more than 100,000 people died in Syria's jails and detention centres from 2011. The Saydnaya complex, the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances, epitomised the atrocities committed against Assad's opponents.

Petit compared Saydnaya to the S-21 prison in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh, which came to stand for the Khmer Rouge's wider atrocities and now houses the country's genocide museum. The Saydnaya facility will become "an emblematic example of inhumanity", he said.

Petit said his team had reached out to the new authorities "to get permission to come here and start discussing a framework by which we can conduct our mandate". "We had a productive meeting and we've asked formally now, according to their instructions, to be able to come back and start the work. So we're waiting for that response," he said.

Even without setting foot in Syria, Petit's 82-member team has gathered huge amounts of evidence of the worst breaches of international law committed during the war. The hope is that there could now be a national accountability process in Syria and that steps could be taken to finally grant the International Criminal Court jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed in the country.

Huge queues spilled out of every station along the $1.7 billion line that runs almost 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the city centre -- with women in traditional "ao dai" dress, soldiers in uniform and couples clutching young children waiting excitedly to board.

"I know it (the project) is late, but I still feel so very honoured and proud to be among the first on this metro," said office worker Nguyen Nhu Huyen after snatching a selfie in her jam-packed train car. "Our city is now on par with the other big cities of the world," she said.

It took 17 years for Vietnam's commercial capital to reach this point. The project, funded largely by Japanese government loans, was first approved in 2007 and slated to cost just $668 million.

When construction began in 2012, authorities promised the line would be up and running in just five years. But as delays mounted, cars and motorbikes multiplied in the city of nine million people, making the metropolis hugely congested, increasingly polluted and time-consuming to navigate.

The metro "meets the growing travel needs of residents and contributes to reducing traffic congestion and environmental pollution", the city's deputy mayor Bui Xuan Cuong said. Cuong admitted authorities had to overcome "countless hurdles" to get the project over the line.

According to state media reports, the metro was late because of "slow capital disbursement, unexpected technical problems, personnel difficulties and the Covid-19 pandemic".

"The delays and cost overruns have been frustrating," said professor Vu Minh Hoang at Fulbright University Vietnam, who warned that with just 14 station stops, the line's "impact in alleviating traffic will be limited in the short run". However, it is still a "historic achievement for the city's urban development", he added. With lessons learnt, "the construction of future lines will be increasingly easier, faster, and more cost-efficient", Hoang told AFP.

Back on the train, 84-year-old war veteran Vu Thanh told AFP he was happy to experience below ground in a more positive way after spending three years fighting American troops in the city's famous Cu Chi tunnels, an enormous underground network. "It feels so different from the underground experience I had years ago during the war. It's so bright and nice here," he said. Reflecting on the delays, he added: "We built the tunnels to hide from our enemies in the past, so building a tunnel for a train should not be that hard," he added.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 28 Palestinians, including at one family's home and at a school building the military said was used by Hamas.

Civil agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said in a statement that at least 13 people were killed in an air strike on a house in central Gaza's Deir el-Balah belonging to the Abu Samra family. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has confirmed a separate strike further north, on a school in Gaza City.

Bassal said that eight people including four children were killed in the attack on the school, which had been repurposed as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the war. The Israeli military said it had carried out a "precise strike" overnight targeting Hamas militants operating there.

A military statement said that a Hamas "command and control centre... was embedded inside" the school compound in the city's east, adding that it was used "to plan and execute terrorist attacks" against Israeli forces. Contacted by AFP, an Israeli military spokesperson said they were unable to immediately comment on other reported strikes elsewhere in Gaza.

Bassal said an overnight strike killed three people in Rafah, in the south. And a drone strike early on Sunday hit a car in Gaza City, killing four people, Bassal said.

The pontiff made his remarks a day after the rescue agency in Gaza said an Israeli air strike had killed seven children from one family.

"Yesterday they did not allow the Patriarch (of Jerusalem) into Gaza as promised," the pope told members of the government of the Holy See. "Yesterday children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war. "I want to say it because it touches my heart."

In a statement, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman described the pope's remarks as "particularly disappointing as they are disconnected from the true and factual context of Israel's fight against jihadist terrorism -- a multi-front war that was forced upon it starting on October 7."

"Enough with the double standards and the singling out of the Jewish state and its people," he added. "Cruelty is terrorists hiding behind children while trying to murder Israeli children; cruelty is holding 100 hostages for 442 days, including a baby and children, by terrorists and abusing them," the Israeli statement said.

Gaza's civil defence rescue agency reported that an Israeli air strike had killed 10 members of a family on Friday in the northern part of the territory, including seven children.

The Israeli military told AFP it had struck "several terrorists who were operating in a military structure belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation and posed a threat to IDF troops operating in the area". "According to an initial examination, the reported number of casualties resulting from the strike does not align with the information held by the IDF," it added.