Author: ALJAZEERA

When Sudan’s second largest city, Wad Madani, fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on December 18, Afnan Hind and her family fled to a nearby town to stay with relatives. But the paramilitary group came there too and prevented residents from leaving. Hind and her family were trapped by a group that kills civilians, rapes women and girls, and loots citizens of their wealth. Days later, she said, RSF fighters stormed their apartment to steal a car parked outside. “My uncle just gave them the keys without resistance. He feared for [the girls in the house],” Hind, 21, told…

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Penang, Malaysia – For foreigners hoping to relocate to Malaysia or extend their stay, the announcement of new terms for one of the most coveted residential and retirement visas prompted mixed emotions. Many expats drawn to the Southeast Asian country, which offers a sunny climate, famed cuisine and a mix of Malay, Chinese, Indian and Indigenous influences, breathed a sigh of relief at the rollout of “relaxed” requirements for Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H). But after nearly a year of anxious waiting for clarity about changes to the scheme, some prospective applicants were disappointed to see key details left unmentioned…

Guided missile destroyers to ‘maintain deterrent presence’ after Israel-linked vessel hit off Indian coast.The Indian Navy has dispatched guided missile destroyers to the Arabian Sea after an attack on an Israel-linked chemical tanker off its coast, the Ministry of Defence said. Three stealth-guided destroyers were deployed “in various areas of the sea” to “maintain a deterrent presence” considering the “recent spate of attacks in the Arabian Sea”, the ministry said in a statement late on Monday. It was also using long-range maritime patrol aircraft for “domain awareness”, it said. The United States claimed that the December 23 strike on MV…

Residents of Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp have returned to their neighbourhood to find only blocks of concrete lying where their homes had stood. “These houses are destroyed. Our house was bombed,” Abu Rami Abu al-Ais said on Monday, standing in the debris. “There’s no safe place in the Gaza Strip.” Late on Sunday, at least three houses in the camp were hit by Israeli air strikes, which killed more than 100 people, according to Al Jazeera correspondents. Officials in Gaza said seven families were among the casualties. Israel says it issues evacuation orders and warnings so civilians can get to…

More than 100 people have been killed in an Israeli strike on the Maghazi refugee camp with families still trapped in rubble.Israel has intensified its assault on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 100 people at the Maghazi refugee camp, with Palestinian authorities reporting that 250 people have been killed in a wave of strikes over 24 hours. “My entire family is gone. All five of my brothers are gone. They didn’t leave me any brothers. … All of them!” a wailing woman said on Monday at the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Palestinians lined up to…

Prime minister booed when he promises to bring the captives home but adds that ‘more time’ needed.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been heckled and booed by the families of captives held by Hamas in Gaza during an address to parliament. “Now! Now!” the families chanted from the gallery on Monday when Netanyahu promised to bring the captives home but added that he has been told by Israeli field commanders that “more time” was needed. “We wouldn’t have succeeded up until now to release more than 100 hostages without military pressure,” Netanyahu said. “And we won’t succeed at releasing all…

Egypt has presented what is described as an ambitious plan to end the war in Gaza with a ceasefire. The proposal, which was presented to Israel, Hamas, the United States and European governments on Monday would see Israel fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip, all captives held by Hamas, and many Palestinian prisoners, freed, and a united technocratic Palestinian government installed in the enclave. The proposal, developed with the Gulf state of Qatar, includes several rounds of captive and prisoner exchanges, reports Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith from Tel Aviv. In the first phase, Hamas would free all civilian captives in…

In Christmas message, Pope Francis says Israeli strikes are reaping an ‘appalling harvest’ of innocent civilians.Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is reaping an “appalling harvest” of innocent civilians, Pope Francis said in his Christmas message. In his Christmas Day “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and world) address on Monday, the head of the Catholic Church also called the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas “abominable” and again appealed for the release of about 100 hostages still being held in Gaza, as he appealed for an end to hostilities. Speaking from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica to thousands of…

The attack is one of the deadliest of the nearly three-month-long war.More than 100 people have been killed in Israeli air raids overnight in central Gaza. At least 70 people were killed in strikes in central Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said late on Sunday. Attacks on the Bureij refugee camp saw the number of casualties rise to more than 100. Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said the death toll at the Maghazi refugee camp was likely to rise. “What is happening at the Maghazi camp is a massacre that is being committed on a crowded…