Author: ALJAZEERA

Tokyo-based startup Space One was aiming to become the first private Japanese firm to put a satellite into orbit.A small Japanese rocket exploded shortly after launch in a blow to Tokyo-based startup Space One’s attempt to become the first local company to put a satellite into orbit. The 18-metre (60 feet), four-stage solid-fuel rocket called Kairos exploded into pieces seconds after liftoff at 11.01am (02:01 GMT) on Tuesday, filling livestream screens with pictures of flames and billowing clouds of smoke. Burning debris could be seen falling onto the surrounding mountain slopes as sprinklers began spraying water. Space One said the…

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An Al Jazeera social media experiment tests whether some platforms discriminate against pro-Palestinian, Arabic content.Al Jazeera investigates how social media moderation and censorship policies work and whether the treatment of pro-Palestinian content in Arabic is fair and impartial. Before the Israeli war on Gaza that began in October 2023, Al Jazeera investigated the disparity between Meta’s moderation of Israeli versus Palestinian posts. They set up two Facebook pages, one in Arabic and another in Hebrew, both posting the same stories with the same pictures, but each following their own narratives. The film sees the moderators in action – and offers…

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Sudan’s military posts videos online showing its soldiers inside the headquarters in the city of Omdurman.Sudan’s army has taken control of the country’s national radio and television headquarters from the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the army said in a statement. The military posted videos online showing its soldiers inside the headquarters on Tuesday in Omdurman, a city across the Nile from Khartoum that forms part of Sudan’s wider capital, where the army has claimed recent gains after a string of military losses. There was no immediate comment from the RSF. The conflict broke out in mid-April 2023 amid…

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Beirut, Lebanon – After Israel killed at least one person in an attack on Baalbek, its second attack on eastern Lebanon since October 7, a reported 100 rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, triggering sorties by Israeli fighter jets attacking various locations in Lebanon. The escalation on Monday night and into the day on Tuesday may well be fodder for more speculation by analysts who feel Israel may turn its full focus to the Lebanese front if a Gaza ceasefire is established. As attacks continued from Monday night into the day on Tuesday, including more attacks on Baalbek, the…

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Rifaat al-Assad is accused of ordering crimes as a commander in Hama in February 1982, Swiss attorney general says.Swiss federal prosecutors have referred Syria’s ex-Vice President Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of the country’s current president, for trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed more than four decades ago. The attorney general’s office said on Tuesday the 86-year-old was accused of the crimes in February 1982 while serving as commander of the defence brigades that carried out an attack in the Syrian city of Hama during a conflict between the military and the opposition. Security forces…

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For weeks in southern Gaza during a recent visit, I collected stories of women admitted to hospital, each of them there to recover from what they call “war wounds”. But it’s not a war, because only one side has an actual army. Only one side is a state with full military wares. These victims were mothers, wives and babies, whose slight bodies were pierced, torn, broken and burned. Their deeper injuries aren’t visible, until they open up about their lives over the past five months. Initially, they relay the broadbrush strokes: A bomb struck their homes, they were pulled from…

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Military exercises running through March 16 are to involve warships and aviation.The navies of China, Iran and Russia have begun joint drills in the Gulf of Oman, their fifth common military exercise in recent years. The war games starting on Tuesday coincide with heightened tensions in the region as Israel’s war on Gaza rages for a sixth month and Yemen’s Houthi rebels have launched attacks on ships in the Red Sea in response. Russia’s defence ministry said the exercises that will run through Friday and involve warships and aviation would focus on the protection of “maritime economic activity”. State media…

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