Author: France 24

Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published…

Atom bomb epic “Oppenheimer” won seven prizes, including best picture, director and actor, at the 77th British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, cementing its front-runner status for the Oscars next month.  Gothic fantasia “Poor Things” took five prizes and Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest” won three.Christopher Nolan won his first best director BAFTA for “Oppenheimer,” and Cillian Murphy won the best actor prize for playing physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.Murphy said he was grateful to play such a “colossally knotty, complex character.”Emma Stone was named best actress for playing the wild and spirited Bella…

The main hospital serving southern Gaza was completely out of service after a week-long Israeli siege, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Sunday, adding that a WHO team was not permitted access to the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Algeria launched a new push for a UN Security Council resolution on an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, a move the US signaled it would veto. Read our live blog for all the latest developments on the Israel-Hamas war.  Source link

Russian courts have sentenced dozens of people detained at events commemorating Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to short prison sentences, official court announcements showed, with 154 sentenced in Saint Petersburg alone. Issued on: 18/02/2024 – 23:24 2 min Details of rulings published by the city’s court service on Saturday and Sunday showed 154 people had been given jail time of up to 14 days for violating Russia’s strict anti-protest laws. Rights groups and independent media outlets reported a handful of similar sentences in other cities across the country.The 47-year-old Kremlin critic died on Friday at the Arctic prison colony where he was…

Issued on: 18/02/2024 – 13:44Modified: 18/02/2024 – 14:00 02:55 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “brought to the table a declaratory statement which they voted through unanimously, which acutually rejects calls for unilateral recognition for some members of the international community for a Palestinian state”, reported FRANCE 24’s Senior Reporter in Israel Catherine Norris Trent. There is also growing frustration inside Israel, with lots of people questioning Netanyahu’s position as prime minister.  Read more on related topics: Source link

Some 900 tonnes of lithium batteries were on fire at a battery recycling plant in southern France, authorities said on Sunday, sending a cloud of thick black smoke into the sky above the site.  Issued on: 18/02/2024 – 18:53 1 min  The fire broke out on Saturday in a warehouse owned by French recycling group SNAM in Viviez, north of Toulouse, local councillor Pascal Mazet said in a statement on X.Lithium batteries are vital in electrical devices from phones to electric cars, but contain combustible materials which, combined with the energy they store, can make them vulnerable to catching fire…

Issued on: 18/02/2024 – 14:35Modified: 18/02/2024 – 15:39 04:07 Russia has invited Palestinian factions to meet in Moscow on Monday, February 26, for talks on the Israel-Hamas war and other issues in the Middle East. The factions include the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as well as representatives of Fatah and the broader Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). FRANCE 24’s Philip Turle explains that the aim of the meeting is to try to hammer out some kind of agreement on a future Palestinian leadership after the Gaza war ends. But it’s a tall challenge. Read more on related topics: Source…

Over 400 people were detained in Russia while paying tribute to opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died at a remote Arctic penal colony, a prominent rights group reported.  Issued on: 18/02/2024 – 11:00 3 min The sudden death of Navalny, 47, was a crushing blow to many Russians, who had pinned their hopes for the future on President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe. Navalny remained vocal in his unrelenting criticism of the Kremlin even after surviving a nerve agent poisoning and receiving multiple prison terms. The news reverberated across the globe, and hundreds of people in dozens of Russian cities streamed to…

Issued on: 18/02/2024 – 09:16Modified: 18/02/2024 – 09:58 01:42 Trent in Jerusalem 18 02 2024 © France 24 “Israel has said that it wouldn’t carry out a major ground offensive until it has managed to evacuate civilians from Rafah”, said Catherine Norris Trent, FRANCE 24’s correspondent in Israel. “Something which aid agencies have told us they believe is impossible- they simply don’t have the means to deliver aid to them and that would mean displacing people who have already been displaced several times.” Read more on related topics: Source link

Russia claimed the capture of the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka after Ukraine withdrew, but Moscow said that some Ukrainian troops were still holed up in a vast Soviet-era coke plant after one of the most intense battles of the war.  Issued on: 18/02/2024 – 11:31 4 min  The fall of Avdiivka is Russia’s biggest gain since capturing the city of Bakhmut in May 2023, and comes almost two years to the day since President Vladimir Putin triggered a full-scale war by ordering the invasion of Ukraine.Ukraine said it had withdrawn its soldiers to save troops from being fully surrounded after…