Author: France 24

At least 112 Palestinians were killed and more than 750 others were injured on Thursday after Israeli troops opened fire on civilians gathered at a convoy of food trucks southwest of Gaza City, Palestinian health officials said. Israel denied it was to blame, saying that many victims were run over by aid trucks in a rush to obtain food. The massacre comes as the UN warns of an “almost inevitable famine” in the besieged Palestinian enclave amid increasing reports of children dying of starvation. At dawn on Thursday morning in Gaza City, photographer Mohammed Hajjar got word that trucks carrying food…

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to decide Donald Trump’s claim of immunity from prosecution on charges brought by a special counsel involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, further delaying Trump’s criminal case as he seeks to regain the presidency. Issued on: 29/02/2024 – 00:13Modified: 29/02/2024 – 00:19 4 min The justices put on hold the criminal case being pursued by Special Counsel Jack Smith and will review a lower court’s rejection of Trump’s claim of immunity from prosecution because he was president when he took actions aimed at reversing President Joe Biden’s election victory over…

Pro-Russian rebel officials in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria on Wednesday appealed to Russia for “protection”, amid fears the territory could become a new flashpoint in Moscow’s conflict with neighbouring Ukraine. Issued on: 29/02/2024 – 05:50Modified: 29/02/2024 – 08:36 3 min Russia said it was a priority to protect the sliver of land, which has been de facto controlled by pro-Russian forces since the collapse of the Soviet Union but is internationally recognised as part of Moldova.Moldova’s government rejected “propaganda statements” from pro-Russian separatists, adding that the region “benefits from the policies of peace, security and economic integration with the…

The organisers of the Paris Olympics took possession of the newly built athletes’ village on Thursday on schedule, reinforcing growing confidence that they will be ready for the Games. Issued on: 29/02/2024 – 11:41Modified: 29/02/2024 – 18:04 3 min At an inauguration ceremony in northern Paris, chief organiser Tony Estanguet received a symbolic key for the complex in front of VIPs including President Emmanuel Macron. The roughly 40 low-rise tower blocks will house around 14,000 people over the course of the Olympics, which kick off on July 26, and another 9,000 during the Paralympics afterwards.The handover target of March 1 for…

Kenya and Haiti signed a “reciprocal” agreement on Friday to deploy police from the East African country to lead a UN-backed law and order mission to the gang-plagued Caribbean nation, Kenyan President William Ruto said. Issued on: 01/03/2024 – 15:25 3 min Ruto said he and Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry had “discussed the next steps to enable the fast-tracking of the deployment”, but it was not immediately clear whether the agreement would counter a court ruling in January that branded the deployment “illegal”.Haiti’s government has pleaded for international help to confront violence that has cost thousands of lives, as…

Polling stations in Iran opened Friday for voting to select members of parliament and a key clerical body, amid fears of a low turnout and with conservatives expected to tighten their grip on power. Issued on: 01/03/2024 – 05:05Modified: 01/03/2024 – 06:26 4 min “Voting for the 12th term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (parliament) and the 6th term of the Assembly of Leadership Experts began following an order by the interior ministry,” state TV reported.Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was the first to cast his ballot on Friday at the Imam Khomeini Hussainia polling station in central Tehran,…

President Vladimir Putin warned Western countries on Thursday that there was a genuine risk of nuclear war if they sent their own troops to fight in Ukraine, and he said Moscow had the weapons to strike targets in the West. Issued on: 29/02/2024 – 12:08 1 min Addressing parliament and other members of the country’s elite, Putin, 71, repeated his accusation that the West is bent on weakening Russia, and he suggested Western leaders did not understand how dangerous their meddling could be in what he cast as Russia’s own internal affairs.He prefaced his warning with a specific reference to…

Issued on: 01/03/2024 – 11:20Modified: 01/03/2024 – 11:36 06:33 There were many accusations and rumours that spread in the hours after this incident, said Jordanna Miller, ABC News Correspondent. “The Israeli army has now said it did not fire on civilians who were trying to seek aid. They did not use tank fire, they did not carry out a strike on the convoy, they did not strike from the air or the ground”, she added.  Read more on related topics: Source link

Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian oligarch who is close to Vladimir Putin, found refuge in Russia after leaving Ukraine, where he faces treason charges. He runs a Russian-language portal pushing Kremlin narratives on Ukraine and the war, but his latest foray into disinformation has run into its own challenges. Every day, new phrases hammer home messages from Another Ukraine, a Russian-language portal launched in the summer of 2023: “Russia is Ukraine’s only salvation,” “They wanted NATO and are ready to die for Western interests.” The news is uniformly negative.The project is officially led by Viktor Medvedchuk, a leading figure pushing pro-Kremlin interests…

Issued on: 01/03/2024 – 07:47Modified: 01/03/2024 – 10:53 01:29 Andrew Hilliar on March 1, 2024. © France 24 This is a classic situation in which its almost imossible to say with certainty at this stage exactly what happened, said Andrew Hilliar, FRANCE 24’s correspondent in Jerusalem. “Hamas holds Israel entirely responsible for these deaths. The Israeli military for its part, speaks of two incidents: it says that in the first incident, crowds of people rushed towards a convoy of humanitarian aid trucks, surrounding it. It claims that the majority of people died in a stampede”, said Hilliar.  Read more on…