MONEY

DEM Party expected to hold face-to-face meeting with Abdullah Ocalan, who has been in prison for 25 years.

Turkiye will allow parliament’s pro-Kurdish party to visit the jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on his island prison, setting up the first such visit in nearly a decade.

The Justice Ministry approved a request by the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) to meet Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving life in solitary confinement, a DEM spokesperson said late on Friday.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc confirmed the move in remarks to the TGRT news channel.

“We responded positively to DEM’s request for a meeting. Depending on the weather conditions, they will go to Imrali tomorrow [Saturday] or Sunday,” he said, referring to the prison island where Ocalan has been held for 25 years.

Friday’s decision came after DEM requested the visit last month, soon after a key ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expanded on a proposal to end the 40-year-old conflict between the state and Ocalan’s outlawed PKK.

Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, made the call a month after suggesting that Ocalan announce an end to the rebellion in exchange for the possibility of his release.

Erdogan described Bahceli’s initial proposal as a “historic window of opportunity”. After the latest call last month, Erdogan said he was in complete agreement with Bahceli on every issue and that they were acting in harmony and coordination.

“To be frank, the picture before us does not allow us to be very hopeful,” Erdogan said in parliament. “Despite all these difficulties, we are considering what can be done with a long-range perspective that focuses not only on today but also on the future.”

Bahceli regularly condemns pro-Kurdish politicians as tools of the PKK, which they deny.

Regional changes

DEM’s predecessor party was involved in peace talks between Ankara and Ocalan a decade ago, last meeting him in April 2015.

The peace process and a ceasefire collapsed soon after, unleashing the most deadly phase of the conflict.

DEM MPs Sirri Sureyya Onder and Pervin Buldan, who both met Ocalan as part of peace talks at the time, will travel to Imrali island to meet him this weekend, the party said.

Turkiye and its Western allies designate the PKK as a “terrorist group”. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the fighting, which in the past was focused in the mainly Kurdish southeast but is now centred on northern Iraq, where the PKK is based.

Growing regional instability and changing political dynamics are seen as factors behind the bid to end the conflict with the PKK. The chances of success are unclear as Ankara has given no clues on what it may entail.

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria this month, Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, which it sees as an extension of the PKK, must disband, asserting that the group has no place in Syria’s future.

The YPG is the main component of the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

SDF commander Mazloum Abdi (also known as Mazloum Kobani) acknowledged the presence of PKK fighters in Syria for the first time last week, saying they had helped fight ISIL (ISIS) fighters and would return home if a total ceasefire was agreed upon with Turkiye, a core demand from Ankara.

Authorities in Turkiye have continued to crack down on alleged PKK activities. Last month, the government replaced five pro-Kurdish mayors in southeastern cities for suspected PKK ties, in a move that drew criticism from DEM and others.

New technologies promise vast increases in growth and efficiency. For CFOs, they require balancing stability and transformation.

Disruptive technologies are not only reshaping the business landscape, but forcing CFOs to rapidly evolve their strategies and embrace innovation. From the various flavors of artificial intelligence (AI) to digital ledger technology (DLT) and cloud computing, these new tools offer immense potential for growth and efficiency but also present significant challenges.

As CFOs navigate this complex terrain and adapt their business processes, and decide how large a financial commitment to make to it, they must understand the implications for their financial models, risk management practices, and overall business operations.

“Disruptive technology is an accelerator to transformation,” says Kyle McNabb, vice president and principal, research at The Hackett Group. “It’s also an equalizer when it comes to transformation, and on the third end, it’s an incredible disruptor to this as well.”

Deirdre Ryan, global finance transformation leader at EY, says many EY clients have tested these technologies and developed proofs of concept, often in finance, marketing, and product development.

“It’s critical that finance executives get their hands dirty and understand these capabilities,” she argues. “They’re the ones who weigh in heavily on capital allocation, which is required to drive those programs. They need to understand what capabilities and return-on-investment will be delivered.”

Leading technologies like AI, machine learning, and generative AI (genAI) promise improved financial forecasting, better data-driven insights, and greater efficiency via automation.

“Generative AI is fundamentally changing the approach to business transformation by driving innovation, improving efficiency, and enabling entirely new business models,” says Monica Proothi, global finance transformation leader at IBM Consulting.

This year alone, market intelligence firm IDC estimates that AI spending could jump to $337 billion globally from $235 billion spent in 2024, or nearly a 50% year-on-year increase.

Meanwhile, DLT is increasing the transparency of supply chains and adding another level of information security. Precedence Research estimates that the global economy spent $27 billion on DLT investment last year and expects a 52.9% CAGR to 2034.

Cloud computing, the most mature of the disruptive technologies, has seen the greatest investment, with an anticipated global spend of $723 billion in 2025, for a 21.5% increase from last year. IDC estimates that 90% of organizations will have hybrid cloud deployments—mixture of public cloud, private cloud, or on-premise internal infrastructure—by 2027.

“Cloud computing is having a significant impact on organizations and especially the CFO, where it’s allowing for real-time access to financial data,” says Craig Stephenson, global head of Tech, Ops, Data/AI, and InfoSec Officers Practice at Korn Ferry.  “It’s improving reporting accuracy and it’s reducing time for turnaround on some of these reports and responsibilities for public company CFOs.”

Managing The Transformation

Implementing disruptive technology that delivers new business capabilities cannot be done effectively in a vacuum but must include a corresponding change in the company’s business model, EY’s Ryan argues.

“We don’t always see that happen,” she says. “Transformation is not just about slamming in some software. It’s about changing the mindset of the people in the organization to adopt the technologies and leverage the capabilities that the technologies deliver.”

CFOs will have a chance to change mindsets as approximately two-thirds of CEOs say that they need to rewrite their organizational playbook to stay competitive, according to a 2024 study of 2,000 CFOs across 26 industry sectors published by the IBM Institute for Business. These rewrites will require new skill sets, technologies, and operating models, the study’s authors contend.

They also note that CEOs expect their CFOs to balance stability and transformation while working closely with tech leaders to modernize their company’s technological infrastructure and create value.

CFOs, accordingly, are taking a more strategic role in technology adoption, often bringing the chief data officer and chief analytics officer, who typically have strong data science backgrounds, into their department as direct reports while leaving the chief information officer (CIO) the critical role of deploying the new technology.

Organizations that implement business transformations effectively work toward a clearly defined practical vision, says Ryan. Knowing the organization’s current process and what it wants to accomplish is “an important part of this practical vision.” This is also the point at which conversations should begin about which technologies will enable the transformation, which processes will be automated, and where human capital will be repositioned to create greater value.

According to McNabb, the best indicator of success is when the organization sets up a formal transformation office or reshapes C-suite and board expectations, moving away from the standard three-year plan.

“They’re doing a one-year set of targets and reviewing everything every quarter to see how they are going,” he says. “And so far, the firms that do that are finding themselves in a better position to navigate this change.”

Embracing The Journey

Successfully implementing a business transformation is not a once-and-done project. It requires a holistic conversation involving process, technology, and operating models, reinforcing the vision of transformation as a continuous process.

“What defines success today may look different tomorrow,” says IBM’s Proothi. “Rather than being defined by a specific outcome, successful transformation is about an organization’s ability to evolve, learn, and stay agile. Ultimately, it’s up to business leaders to look critically at how they can adapt their strategies to unlock sustainable growth and remain competitive in an ever-changing landscape.”

Fnancial firms like JPMorgan Chase and Jane Street Capital are constantly reimagining themselves, McNabb notes: “If you do not embrace it, you have just been disrupted.”

That said, smaller firms do not need to be listed in Fortune’s Global 2,000 to compete against larger companies. Smaller firms can move faster than some of their largest competitors, which typically have an extensive investment in legacy technology.

“If smaller firms can navigate that, they can find themselves in a position where they can leverage genAI to do something different and make a faster leap than a larger firm could,” McNabb argues.

A Moving Target

One of the greatest challenges to implementing disruptive technologies as part of business transformation is their rapid evolution. The 60-year-old Moore’s Law states that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles roughly every two years. AI has seen a faster exponential growth, as the computing resources needed to train AI models double every three to four months. The authors of a June research note from TechInsights estimate that “AI chips represent 1.5% of electricity use over the next five years.”

With such rapid evolution, organizations will need to retire the concept of “best practices,” with its stable, proven, and widely adopted approaches, in favor of “good” or “emerging” practices, McNabb predicts. Good practices, he says, are those used by multiple organizations that deliver demonstrable expected results. In contrast, emerging practices are used by a handful of organizations that deliver exceptional results but could become outdated in a year.

Similarly, organizations should expect any business transformation to encounter a significant obstacle. A study of 1,646 respondents across several industry sectors conducted by Oxford University’s Said Business School and EY describes these situations as “turning points” requiring leadership intervention to prevent the project going off-course. Almost all transformation initiatives (96%) will experience such a crossroads event, the researchers estimate.

All of which means deep changes in business leaders’ expectations, agility, and tolerance for risk. Successful interventions have raised the success rate for transformation projects from 6% to 72%, improved execution speed 80% of the time, and exceeded key performance indicators 31% of the time. On the other hand, unsuccessful interventions are 1.6 times more likely to result in underperformance and 3.5 times more likely to dampen employee morale.

“The heart of a successful transformation beats around creating and maintaining an environment where people can thrive, where they can experiment, learn, and take ownership of the work needed to deliver transformation, and ultimately feel good about their effort,” the Oxford/EY study’s authors conclude.

Parker Solar Probe is operating normally after passing just 6.1 million kilometres above the Sun’s surface, NASA says.

The United States space agency has confirmed its Parker Solar Probe is safe after making the closest approach to the Sun ever recorded by a human-made object.

The probe passed just 6.1 million kilometres (3.8 million miles) above the Sun’s surface on December 24, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said early on Friday.

It flew into the Sun’s outer atmosphere — known as the corona — “at a blazing 430,000 miles per hour [692km/h] — faster than any human-made object has ever moved”, the agency reported.

NASA said its team had received a beacon signal late on Thursday, confirming that the probe had made its approach successfully and was operating normally.

“Flying this close to the Sun is a historic moment in humanity’s first mission to a star,” Nicky Fox, head of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC, said in a statement.

Parker Solar Probe has made history.

After seven days of silence, Parker has resumed communication with Earth, confirming it’s healthy after soaring just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface — the closest a human-made object has ever been to a star.https://t.co/YgLBDsRlGy pic.twitter.com/UMCNq0BzhA

— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) December 27, 2024

Scientists are hoping that the probe, which was launched in 2018, will help them learn more about Earth’s closest star.

“By studying the Sun up close, we can better understand its impacts throughout our solar system, including on the technology we use daily on Earth and in space, as well as learn about the workings of stars across the universe to aid in our search for habitable worlds beyond our home planet,” Fox said.

The craft is equipped with a shield that protects it from extreme heat in the Sun’s corona and can withstand temperatures as high as 1,400 degrees Celsius (2,600 degrees Fahrenheit), NASA has explained.

With its close brush complete, the Parker Solar Probe is expected to circle the Sun at this distance through at least September.

The craft is expected to send detailed telemetry data about its status on January 1, NASA said.

Amitabha Ghosh, a NASA scientist, said experts still do not know so much about the Sun despite its monumental importance for life on Earth.

“If the Sun was to stop shining even for a day, all life on Earth would be destroyed. We are so very dependent on the Sun and yet we know so very little,” Ghosh told Al Jazeera.

He said the information that may be gleaned from the Parker Solar Probe could answer a series of important questions, including how the Sun heats up, how it transmits that heat, and what makes up what’s known as solar wind.

“These are very important scientific questions to understand,” Ghosh said.

Parker Solar Probe has phoned home!

After passing just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface on Dec. 24 — the closest solar flyby in history — we have received Parker Solar Probe’s beacon tone confirming the spacecraft is safe. https://t.co/zbWT7iDVtP

— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) December 27, 2024

With a second Trump administration starting up, 2025 may bring escalating tariffs, retaliatory trade measures, and a rearranging of the international trade order.       

The anticipated start of US President-elect Donald Trump’s second term positions 2025 as a defining year for global trade policy. If the United States unleashes a significant expansion of tariffs, it could provoke swift retaliatory measures from targeted countries and severely strain international trade relationships.

Uncertainty looms over how these tariffs will unfold. Their form, scope, and timing depend on various factors, including executive actions, congressional debates, and procedural requirements, such as adherence to trade law provisions or international obligations. Analysts predict the administration may deploy tariffs as strategic tools in negotiations on immigration, foreign currency policies, and Europe’s purchase of American liquefied natural gas.

For Europe, also dealing with political turmoil in France and Germany, uncertainty over a possible trade war leaves a big question hanging over the direction of policy. Joachim Nagel, President of Germany’s Central Bank, said, “At present, the biggest source of uncertainty for the Forecast is a possible global increase in protectionism.”

US corporations, many of which rely on complex global supply chains, are preparing for potential disruptions. Resistance to sweeping tariffs is expected from the business community and trade-dependent states.

Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics, which has been closely monitoring global trade shifts associated with Trump’s trade policies, told Global Finance in a phone conversation from London: “The key point, over and above everything else, is that we don’t really know exactly what tariffs will be put in place, when, and at what level.”

As the international community braces for the fallout, 2025 could either signal a reordering of trade relationships or deepen global economic uncertainty.

‘Tariff Man’ Returns To Center Stage

Trade tariffs have been a cornerstone of US policy since its earliest days, long before the 2018 tweet in which then-President Trump dubbed himself a “Tariff Man” and made them a central theme of his first administration. The first US president, George Washington, signed a law mandating a 5% tariff on most imports.

Trump stands out as the first modern US president to make tariffs a central pillar of trade policy, significantly shaping economic direction since the globalization of the 1990s. “The first wave of tariffs was a big shift in US trade policy,” says Michael Pearce, deputy chief US economist at Oxford Economics. “Until that point, tariff revenues had been a small and declining share of the economy. Then, tariff revenues more than doubled during Trump’s first term.”

Tariffs had reached record lows before the onset of the subsequent trade war. According to the World Bank, US tariffs were among the lowest in the world, with a simple-average Most-Favored Nation (MFN) rate of around 3.4%.

By 2018, however, the US role in global trade had shifted dramatically—from leading the charge in reducing tariffs to spearheading tariff increases.

“The trade war initiated by the Trump administration marked a sharp departure from [the previous] trend,” says Aakarsh Rattan Ramchandani, analyst and chief strategy officer at Bigdata.com, an artificial intelligence platform developed by RavenPack. Our “analysis highlights how the 2018 tariff increases reversed years of progress in trade liberalization, creating ripples across global markets.”

The tariffs introduced by Trump in 2018 prompted retaliatory measures from major trading partners, including China, the EU, Canada, and Mexico. Despite the change in leadership in 2021, the administration of President Joe Biden retained most of these Trump-era tariffs and, in some cases, expanded them. For example, tariffs on electric vehicles were increased from 25% to 100% in 2024, underscoring bipartisan support for the growing wave of US protectionism.

Tariffs are often viewed as the simplest tool to protect “Made in the USA” products, encourage reshoring production, and safeguard domestic jobs. Yet in a globalized world with intricate trade networks, the reality is far more complex. The diversity of products, companies, and supply chains means that unintended consequences are almost inevitable.

The 2018 tariffs hit a well-oiled global market, yet their ultimate impact on trade levels was muted. Pearce notes that the tariffs failed to reduce the US trade deficit, which remained consistent due to fiscal stimulus measures.

“I think the impact was relatively small. Also, the impact on inflation was blunted because we saw a big depreciation of the renminbi against the dollar,” Pearce adds. He says that the tariffs “were no more than sand in the wheels of global commerce.”

Target Is China, Europe Is Vulnerable

“In a second Trump administration, the proposed revocation of China’s permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status, coupled with a substantial increase in protectionist measures, could markedly intensify the ongoing deglobalization process,” states Verisk Maplecroft’s Political Risk Outlook published in November. “With proposals for 60% tariffs on goods from China and 10% to 20% on imports from the rest of the world, Washington’s approach would likely spark reciprocal actions that together could cause significant upheaval in global supply chains and trade flows.”

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported in December that since the pandemic, “Global trade volumes are recovering, with a projected increase of 3.6% in 2024.” But while the OECD expects the global economy to expand by 3.3% annually over the next two years, the organization’s Chief Economist Álvaro Pereira comments in the report that this growth faces “increasing risks related to rising trade tensions and protectionism, a possible escalation of geopolitical conflicts, and challenging fiscal policies in some countries.”

Europe faces heightened risks from potential US trade tariffs, largely due to its status as an open economy heavily reliant on international trade. European Central Bank (ECB) officials and other policymakers have voiced significant concerns about Trump’s statements. Some European leaders have hinted at potential retaliation if the proposed tariffs materialize.

“Eventually, this could turn into a trade war, which would be extremely detrimental to the world economy…. It would be a lose-lose situation for everyone,” said ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper.

The 20 countries sharing the euro are particularly vulnerable. Higher US tariffs could reduce European exports, which would limit economic growth across the eurozone. These outcomes would complicate the ECB’s efforts to stabilize the economy, particularly as it grapples with sluggish post-pandemic recovery and persistent geopolitical uncertainties.

This scenario underscores the broader implications of US protectionist measures, which could reverberate through global trade networks, with Europe among the most affected regions. The possibility of retaliatory measures raises the specter of a broader trade war, further straining transatlantic economic relations.

“All this put together makes me think that we will have a reduction in growth but also a reduction in inflation,” ECB executive board member Piero Cipollone said at a financial conference in December.

During the first wave of US tariffs in Trump’s initial term, Europe and the UK retaliated by targeting iconic American products, such as Harley-Davidson motorcycles and certain whiskey brands. These countermeasures strategically targeted symbolic industries and regions tied to US identity and economic strength. Harley-Davidson, already struggling with declining domestic demand, could once again find itself among the casualties of the anticipated tariff campaign.

Chinese Retaliation

China, often criticized for its protectionist policies and extensive government support for domestic industries, is widely regarded as the primary target of the evolving US trade policy. Future members of the Trump administration, including Marco Rubio—the nominee for secretary of state, known for his hardline stance on China—have emphasized that China remains the chief strategic rival to the US.

As in 2018, any increase in US tariffs would likely provoke retaliation from China. Based on past actions, Beijing could target US agricultural imports, including farm produce and cattle, while also diversifying its trade relationships. This might involve seeking alternative markets for Chinese goods and increasing investments in countries that maintain favorable trade conditions with the US.

Chinese policymakers are reportedly weighing the option of allowing the yuan to weaken in 2025 to offset the impact of heightened US tariffs. According to Reuters, the move reflects a broader strategy to bolster economic resilience in response to proposed punitive trade measures.

Countries like Mexico and Vietnam are particularly well positioned to benefit from these dynamics. With strong economic ties to both the US and China, these countries stand to gain from companies seeking to shift supply chains or reduce exposure to escalating trade tensions. Verisk Maplecroft notes this trend in its November report.

Meanwhile, Chinese companies are adapting to the shifting trade landscape by ramping up M&A with foreign partners. These efforts aim to solidify the companies’ foothold in international markets and mitigate the impact of potential trade barriers.

“The Chinese companies are likely to take two different kinds of actions, depending on their position in their respective industry. Some of them will try to explore oversea markets other than the US,” says Stanley Lah, Asia-Pacific and China M&A services leader at Deloitte in Hong Kong.

“For those that continue to target the US market, they will have to diversify their production location to other places that are less likely to suffer from the potential tariffs,” concludes Lah. “For those Chinese companies that are exploring new oversea markets, acquiring or forming a joint venture with local companies can help them penetrate those markets quickly. And for those Chinese companies diversifying their production outside China, M&A is usually more efficient than greenfield investment in terms of scaling up their production.”

Mexico And Canada Decipher US Rhetoric

Trump has threatened, on his Truth Social platform, to impose a 25% tariff on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada. While discussions with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appear to have softened his stance, uncertainties remain.

While such threats create uncertainty for investors in Mexico, they also underscore the importance of diplomatic engagement in mitigating potential trade conflicts. This back-and-forth underscores how policy shifts influence economic ties, and it highlights the need for agility among businesses.

“You know you must take Trump very seriously, but not literally,” says Arantza Alonso, a senior analyst at risk consultant Verisk Maplecroft in Mexico City. A 25% tariff could harm the Mexican economy in several ways, including a general decline in foreign direct investment from those corporations, including Chinese companies, planning to open factories in Mexico and export directly to the US, Alonso explains.

Reality often proves more complex than campaign rhetoric. When Trump entered the White House in 2017, he promised to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and build a border wall at Mexico’s expense. By the end of his first term, however, the wall remained incomplete and NAFTA had been replaced by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a deal that preserved many of the previous pact’s core provisions with only modest changes.

Despite the heated rhetoric, Mexico’s economy thrived during Trump’s presidency, attracting significant foreign investment, particularly in the automotive sector. The big question now is what will happen when the USMCA comes up for renegotiation in 2026.

S&P Global has warned that tariffs on Mexico and Canada could heavily impact US automakers’ profit margins.

Under the current agreement, 75% of a passenger car or light truck’s content, measured by value, must be sourced from North America; and 40% must come from manufacturers paying workers at least $16 an hour. “Intermediate goods cross the US-Mexico border multiple times before being converted into final products,” Alonso explains. “For example, of the cars Mexico exports to the US, around 70% of their parts come from the US itself.”

Additional tariffs on imports from Mexico would raise production costs for Mexican companies and US corporations with tightly interconnected supply chains, potentially undermining their competitiveness. Similar rules of origin apply to other industries, including chemicals, electrical products, machinery, and textiles.

If the US follows through with Trump’s proposed general tariff of 25% on all imports from Mexico, the repercussions could be severe. Mexico would likely retaliate, with agricultural products—one of the largest categories of US exports to Mexico—being a primary target. Such measures could disrupt trade, escalate tensions, and strain economic ties between the two nations.

“And those will affect mostly red states such as Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, and the Dakotas, where these farm products are cultivated, and that form a key part of Trump’s electoral base,” Alonso adds.

Tiff Macklem, Governor of the Bank of Canada, said, “No one knows how this will play out in the months ahead—whether tariffs will be imposed, whether exemptions get agreed, or whether retaliatory measures will be put in place. This is a major new uncertainty.

Economists have long criticized tariffs for increasing consumers’ costs, contributing to higher inflation, and distorting supply chains by encouraging production in less competitive locations. As a result, tariffs often deliver economic drawbacks that outweigh their intended protective benefits, impacting both producers and consumers.

“My view is that tariffs at a modest level, a relatively limited level, I don’t think will have a major impact on global trade. Most of those costs can get absorbed in exchange rates across supply chains,” says Capital Economics’ Shearing.

“That’s not to defend tariffs at all. I think that trade tariffs are not good economics; they’re poor economics,” Shearing concludes. “But I don’t think they’re as damaging as some say. This is not, to my mind, a sensible policy; and it’s not something that’s going to generate economic gains on the scale that Trump and his advisers believe.”

Article content

Transaction in Own Shares

Article content

27 December, 2024

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •        

Shell plc (the ‘Company’) announces that on 27 December 2024 it purchased the following number of Shares for cancellation.

Aggregated information on Shares purchased according to trading venue:

Article content

These share purchases form part of the on- and off-market limbs of the Company’s existing share buy-back programme previously announced on 31 October 2024.

In respect of this programme, Citigroup Global Markets Limited will make trading decisions in relation to the securities independently of the Company for a period from 31 October 2024 up to and including 24 January 2025.

The on-market limb will be effected within certain pre-set parameters and in accordance with the Company’s general authority to repurchase shares on-market. The off-market limb will be effected in accordance with the Company’s general authority to repurchase shares off-market pursuant to the off-market buyback contract approved by its shareholders and the pre-set parameters set out therein. The programme will be conducted in accordance with Chapter 9 of the UK Listing Rules and Article 5 of the Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014/EU dealing with buy-back programmes (“EU MAR”) and EU MAR as “onshored” into UK law from the end of the Brexit transition period (at 11:00 pm on 31 December 2020) through the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (as amended by the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020), and as amended, supplemented, restated, novated, substituted or replaced by the Financial Services Act, 2021 and relevant statutory instruments (including, The Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations (SI 2019/310)), from time to time (“UK MAR”) and the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 (the “EU MAR Delegated Regulation”) and the EU MAR Delegated Regulation as “onshored” into UK law from the end of the Brexit transition period (at 11:00 pm on 31 December 2020) through the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (as amended by the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020), and as amended, supplemented, restated, novated, substituted or replaced by the Financial Services Act, 2021 and relevant statutory instruments (including, The Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations (SI 2019/310)), from time to time.

In accordance with EU MAR and UK MAR, a breakdown of the individual trades made by Citigroup Global Markets Limited on behalf of the Company as a part of the buy-back programme is detailed below.

Enquiries

Media International: +44 (0) 207 934 5550

Media Americas: +1 832 337 4335

LEI number of Shell plc: 21380068P1DRHMJ8KU70

Classification: Acquisition or disposal of the issuer’s own shares

Attachment

• RNS Template 27-Dec-24 – complete

Share this article in your social network

Israeli soldiers have stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last remaining medical facility in the northern Gaza Strip, torching large sections and ordering hundreds of people to leave.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health said on Friday that contact had been lost with staff inside the hospital in Beit Lahiya, which has been under siege and heavy pressure from Israeli forces for weeks.

“The occupation forces are inside the hospital now and they are burning it,” Munir al-Bursh, the director of the ministry, said in a statement.

The Israeli army issued a statement confirming it launched a raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital, claiming without evidence that the medical facility “serves as a Hamas terrorist stronghold in northern Gaza”.

Israeli forces have throughout their assault on Gaza routinely besieged and attacked medical facilities – housing both patients and displaced families – under similar pretexts.

Fire erupts

Youssef Abu el-Rish, Gaza’s deputy health minister, said Israeli forces had set fire to the surgical department, laboratory and a storehouse in the hospital.

The fire has been spreading to the rest of the medical complex, according to a separate statement by the enclave’s Health Ministry.

It said Kamal Adwan is “suffering from a stifling siege, as the operating and surgery departments, laboratory, maintenance, ambulance units and warehouses have been completely burned”.

“The fire has now begun to spread to all buildings,” the statement added.

It also said, “the [Israeli] occupation army is forcibly transferring patients and the injured under the threat of weapons and gun barrels to the Indonesian Hospital, which lacks medical supplies, water, medicines, and even electricity and generators.”

Like the Indonesian and al-Awda hospitals, Kamal Adwan has been repeatedly attacked by Israeli forces, especially after they launched a renewed ground offensive in the area more than two months ago. The north, where a famine is looming, has been under total siege and cut off from the rest of the Strip since then.

Al-Bursh said the Israeli army had ordered 350 people to leave Kamal Adwan for a nearby school sheltering displaced families. This included 75 patients, their companions, and 185 medical staff.

Footage circulating on local media showed smoke rising from the area of Kamal Adwan Hospital.

Much of the area around the northern towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoon and Beit Lahiya has been cleared of people and systematically razed, prompting speculation that Israel intends to keep the area as a closed buffer zone.

‘Devastating blow’

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, said there has been a scarcity of information coming out of Kamal Adwan on Friday, but witnesses who were in the facility said they faced inspections from Israeli soldiers.

Witnesses also “confirmed that the Israeli military had conducted field executions in [the hospital’s] vicinity”, Abu Azzoum said, adding that the fate of the hospital’s director is unknown.

Kamal Adwan has been seeing a “gradual escalation” and “deliberate attacks” by the Israeli army, our correspondent said, adding that the forced evacuations and fires have dealt a “devastating blow to the already fragile northern Gaza’s healthcare system”.

On Thursday, health officials said five medical staff, including a paediatrician, were killed by Israeli fire at Kamal Adwan.

In a statement, Hamas blamed Israel and the United States for the fate of the hospital’s occupants.

“The [Israeli] occupation government is committing crimes in Gaza, relying on American cover and some Western capitals that are partners in the ongoing genocide,” it said on Telegram.

Spokesperson for the UN’s World Health Organization Margaret Harris expressed concern over the situation.

“We are witnessing the targeting of civilians and the health system in Gaza,” Harris told Al Jazeera. “What Gaza’s hospitals are exposed to is horrific, and what we are witnessing represents a punishment for the population.”

Elsewhere in Gaza, Israeli strikes killed at least 25 people, including 15 people in a single house in Gaza City, medics and the civil emergency service said.

Also on Friday, 14 countries joined or signalled their intention to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice.

Organisations including the UN, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have also found that Israeli actions in Gaza are compatible with the crime of genocide.

Israel’s assault has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians since October last year, according to health officials in the enclave. Most of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.

The year may be coming to an end, but the extraordinary political events of the United States election season will cast a long shadow into 2025 and beyond.

There were many historic moments: from President-elect Donald Trump’s unprecedented conviction in his New York hush-money trial, to President Joe Biden’s surprise – and very much delayed – exit from the race, to two assassination attempts against the soon-to-be president-elect.

And, of course, there was Trump’s victory in the November presidential election – a return to the very top for a man who many thought was finished politically when he lost the 2020 election, and refused to accept the result.

With the dust settling on Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, several trends have emerged over what does and does not motivate voters in one of the most influential countries in the world.

A commanding victory?

Trump did sweep the battleground states, making for an Electoral College map on election night that was strikingly red.

He took 312 Electoral votes, compared with Harris’s 226, and for the first time in his political career, won the national popular vote, improving on his 2020 results with several key demographics as well as in northern urban areas long considered Democrat territory.

But with the final results of the vote submitted on December 11, the “unprecedented and powerful mandate” Trump claimed on election night has proven to be a more subdued shift.

In the final count, Trump failed to win the support of a majority of US voters, taking 49.9 percent to Harris’s 48.4. That is one of the tightest margins of victory since 1968, second only to the razor-thin margin of George W Bush vs Al Gore in 2020.

It is far from the 8.5 percent margin of victory President Bill Clinton won in 1996, and further still from the 18.2 percent margin Ronald Reagan commanded in 1984, Seth Masket, the director of the Center on American Politics at the University of Denver, pointed out.

“This is still the era of polarisation,” said Masket, the author of Learning from Loss: The Democrats 2016-2020.

He predicted less of a large-scale realignment in the years to come and more of the entrenched partisanship – and incremental shifts – that have defined the US.

Masket further pointed to both parties’ attempts to highlight endorsements from across the aisle, notably Harris’s decision to campaign along with Republican hawk Liz Cheney.

“I think there was a time when that sort of thing might have mattered,” he said. “But I think that’s in the past.”

Pocket book over ‘democracy’?

Trump’s victory may not quite have been resounding but it has been illustrative, revealing a high tolerance among voters for both Trump’s criminal record and his record of seeking to undermine US democracy.

It was already well known that Trump’s four criminal indictments – and one conviction – had helped to stir up his base. This was widely expected, given Trump’s proven resilience within the Republican Party and his years-long brand-building as the victim of a political “witch-hunt”.

Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election result, an extraordinary campaign that cut to the very core of US democracy, also did not make him a political pariah. In the months and years after his supporters stormed the seat of the US legislature, the Republican Party instead coalesced around Trump’s unfounded claims that the vote had been marred by fraud.

So, why did the Democrats’ message not connect?

“One possibility is that arguments about the threat to democracy are a little bit too abstract or esoteric to make sense to people,” said Jennifer Victor, an associate professor of political science at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.

“Another way to read this is that there are just a lot of Americans who aren’t as interested in democracy any more, or are very attracted to… at least the rhetoric that goes along with more anti-democratic forms of government,” she said.

Then there is voter perception of the economy, an issue that exit polls consistently showed outpaced concerns over immigration, abortion, and indeed, democracy.

While voters grappled with the high cost of living in the US, macro indicators like job creation and earning growth have generally shown a relatively robust post-COVID recovery. The difference between individual experience and perception and those larger trends will inform the political years ahead, Victor said.

“The difference between what the macro indicators tell us and what people’s perception of the economy is, is really one of the big stories this year,” Victor said.

“The narrative that particularly Trump was putting out there about the US being in such bad shape is one that a lot of people seemed to internalise, even if it didn’t meet with some of the regular indicators that we would use to evaluate that,” she added.

Do US voters care about abortion?

Yes, but not necessarily in the way the Harris’s campaign – and Democrats in general – were hoping.

Like the protection of democracy, abortion rights had been a defining platform in Harris’s bid for the White House. Federal abortion protections were rolled back during Trump’s first term by a Supreme Court dominated by his appointees.

Harris had repeatedly warned that Trump, if elected, would work with Republicans to pass a federal abortion ban. Trump had softened from his previous support for such a ban in the final stretch of the election, saying the decision should instead be left up to state governments, although his statements have done little to allay concerns.

There was a gender gap in the presidential election: Harris won 53 percent of women voters compared with Trump’s 46 percent. But it was still far from the surge of women voters her campaign had hoped for.

Perhaps more frustratingly for Democrats, voters in three states – Arizona, Missouri and Montana – supported enshrining abortion in their state constitutions, while simultaneously voting for Trump.

“I think some of this is probably due to bullet voting – individuals who only voted in the presidential contest, but not on other ballot issues/contests,” said Kelly Dittmar, the director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University–Camden.

“But also, there might have been some voters who felt that preserving access to abortion through direct initiative was enough for them to feel ok about casting a ballot for Trump due to alignment or expectations on other issues, like the economy,” she said.

“The bet that at least some Democrats were making on abortion being a key galvaniser of votes didn’t appear to pan out, as reflected in lower turnout data,” she said.

Did US policy towards Israel’s war in Gaza matter?

The Democratic Party has faced a reckoning over the Biden administration’s unconditional support for Israel amid the war in Gaza. This became particularly clear as hundreds of thousands of voters cast “uncommitted” ballots in protest of Biden’s policy during the primary season.

To be sure, Arab and Muslim voters were among several demographics that shifted away from the Democratic presidential candidate this year when compared with 2020. Most starkly, in the city of Dearborn, Michigan, the largest Arab-majority city in the US, Harris won just 36 percent of the vote, down from the 69 percent Biden won in 2020.

Polls have repeatedly shown that the majority of Democrats support conditioning aid to Israel, but Harris hewed close to Biden’s policy when she entered the race.

James Zogby, the director of the Arab American Institute, warned against discounting how impactful that decision was. It was likely a factor that contributed to the lower-than-expected support Harris saw from young people, he said, among other groups.

“There’s no question that it had an impact. We see it in the polls, and we saw it in turnout,” Zogby told Al Jazeera. “What we saw was that there were groups that were affected by this war, by the Biden administration’s failure to act in a decisive way to deal with the humanitarian crisis and the genocide that was unfolding.”

“The net impact of that was a loss of votes among several component groups: Arabs, obviously, but also young people and Black and Asian voters,” he said.

“What it translated to was people staying home, people just saying it didn’t matter, people voting for down-ballot candidates but not voting for president,” he said.

Racial realignment?

Finally, the 2024 election saw Democrats continue to lose ground with white working-class voters – while increasing support from college-educated whites.

But the shift in support for Trump among Latino and Black voters, particularly men under the age of 45, has prompted the most analysis.

About three in 10 Black men under 45 voted for Trump – about double the share he got in 2020. Latino men in the age bracket broke about evenly for Trump and Harris, solidifying a years-long trend away from the Democrats.

Some analysts have pointed to the results as evidence that the racial coalition that has long been seen as the backbone of the Democratic Party is no more. Others have noted that the shift could have implications for federal laws meant to protect minority voting rights, as those laws are generally predicated on the notion that certain groups broadly vote in unison.

However, William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, warned against being too enthusiastic with any predictions of a wider party realignment. While significant, these shifts are still relatively gradual, and could be a temporary phenomenon related to global trends.

“This could be a ‘blip’ election trend toward Republicans for Black and Hispanic voters, who still mostly favoured Democrats,” Frey told Al Jazeera.

“It’s up to Trump to make this minority shift more permanent.”

An estimated 40,000 boxing fans watched Oleksandr Usyk beat Tyson Fury at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh earlier this month.

Millions tuned in over legal and illegal streams across the world to witness Usyk defend his title against Fury in an enthralling contest that reportedly earned the boxers a combined $191m in prize money.

Earlier this year, an estimated 60 million households watched the punch-up between ageing boxing legend Mike Tyson and YouTube celebrity fighter Jake Paul. This was in addition to the 72,000 people inside the arena in Texas that together paid a whopping $18.1m to watch the fight in person, according to the promoters.

Boxing: It’s a knockout

In 2024, the extraordinary number of eyeballs, online search queries and audience figures across viewing platforms confirmed boxing’s status as one of the most popular and followed sports in the world.

But given the brutal nature of boxing, should it even be considered a sport?

While other sports are working hard towards increased protection for participants, especially from concussion-related injuries, boxing promotes the very opposite: cause as much harm to your opponent as possible, leading to submission or knockout as a possible outcome, all of it intentional, celebrated and lauded with fame and financial rewards.

“Compared with other contact sports, boxing has been known to have some of the highest rates of concussion,” Dr Ejaz Shamim, a neurosurgeon and chair of Mid-Atlantic Kaiser Permanente Research Institute, told Al Jazeera.

“A concussion occurs when the brain thrusts back and forth hitting the inside of the skull. This causes damage to the brain and occurs every time a boxer is hit in the head. Each concussive event is akin to traumatic brain injury (TBI). With each TBI, there is irreversible brain damage.

“It is thought that in boxing, an individual gets a concussion about every 12.5 minutes of fight time alone. The protective headgear does not help much with the concussion. The internal trauma to the brain occurs every time a boxer is punched in the head, with or without external head protection.”

According to the Manuel Velazquez Collection which documents deaths in boxing, an average of 13 boxers are killed in the ring annually. Separate research conducted by the Association of Ringside Physicians said there were at least 339 deaths from 1950 to 2007, with a “higher percentage at lower weight classes”.

The surreal sight of a 58-year-old Tyson back in the ring delighted millions of his fans. But should the popularity, fame and revenue the sport brings absolve it of the risks and threats? And which outweighs the other?

“People may come into boxing to vent anger and frustration, but they quickly learn that these things have little or no place in the training gym or the ring,” Philip O’Connor, a sports journalist, said.

“Very, very few have what it takes to get in the ring to compete with another human being using a limited rule set where the objective is to knock your opponent unconscious or at least hurt them more than they hurt you.

“After a lifetime of watching boxing and various martial arts and practising more than my fair share, I can say that from my perspective, the mental and physical benefits far outweigh the risks, but we must always strive to improve safety and remove or reduce risk to the greatest extent possible.”

Nothing amateurish about boxing injuries

Studies show that up to 20 percent of boxers will suffer a concussion in their careers, though many are not reported, especially in amateur boxing.

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where boxing is classified as an amateur sport, it had the highest number of injuries, according to the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM). At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, it was second to BMX.  Overall, it sits fifth in the list of Olympic sports with the highest injury rates.

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons says 90 percent of boxers sustain a traumatic brain injury during their career. Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy reported that former boxers remain more vulnerable to the natural ageing of the brain and diseases of the brain.

While the World Boxing Federation (WBF) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) did not respond to Al Jazeera’s questions on the brutality of the sport and the safety aspects, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said “providing athletes and spectators with the best and safest conditions possible are top priorities for the IOC and the entire Olympic Movement”, adding that “Olympic-style boxing does not have knockouts as an objective, nor do knockouts have any scoring advantage”.

A WBF spokesperson had earlier stated that “boxing does so much good for young people, keeps them off the streets, away from drugs, teaches them discipline, self-confidence, that the good by far outweighs the bad”.

Boxing’s popularity

Given the history of the sport, the number of participants worldwide and the finances at play, boxing is unlikely to cease existing as a sport.

In the United States alone, the number of people participating in boxing reached about 6.7 million in 2021, according to market research company Statista, which added that the market size of the global boxing equipment industry amounted to over $1.6bn in the same year.

The total revenue of the World Boxing Council (WBC) from 2011 to 2020 was more than $32m.

Forbes reported that professional boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr pocketed $275m from his fight against MMA-turned-boxer Conor McGregor in 2017, with the latter taking home about $100m in the single biggest payout in the history of sports.

“In terms of global media popularity, boxing in 2024 is the fifth most popular sport in the world and the most popular combat sport,” Kamilla Swart-Arries, an associate professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, said.

“It has attracted legendary figures who have also transcended their sport to become global cultural icons. Many boxers achieve international fame. Coupled with the icons and role models, boxing also has low barriers to entry, is easily accessible and fosters community building with boxing gyms becoming integral to communities where youngsters can let off steam and practise sport as an alternative to social ills.”

The way forward

So rather than banning boxing, can increased safety protocols, stricter regulations and banning certain practices ensure the sport becomes safer?

“Significant safety improvements have been made in boxing over the years to enhance the protection of fighters and reduce the risk of serious injuries. While the nature of the sport makes it high-risk, these advancements aim to create a safer environment for fighters, minimising the likelihood of severe injuries and fatalities,” Swart-Arries added.

“I don’t think it [boxing] should be abandoned as there are many other sports that are also deemed to be dangerous. All these sports will continue to generate global interest and appeal thus they won’t be abandoned so it is important that they continually making improvements to make them safer.”

Another study published by the BJSM said there are about six to eight injuries per 1,000 rounds of boxing. Approximately 10 to 20 percent of injuries in boxing are severe or potentially life-threatening, according to the BJSM research.

O’Connor, who is also a martial arts coach, says “one boxer dying is one boxer too many”, adding that the sport “still has a long way to go in terms of fighter safety”.

“Boxing has, in some form, always been with us and will always be with us. The objective should be to ensure it is run in a fair, transparent and safe manner that ensures the physical wellbeing of the participants. Any and every change should be considered and implemented in order to uphold the integrity of the sport.”

Head injuries, including concussions, brain bleeds and skull fractures, are the most common and most serious injuries in boxing. Among other injuries are cuts, broken noses and eye damage, bringing to the fore the brutality of the sport.

While research is continuing, some studies have suggested that up to 50 percent of former professional boxers may show signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy – a chronic degenerative brain disorder – after their career has finished.

“Concussion prevention is very important in preventing the development of permanent brain damage in the future,” said Shamim, the neurosurgeon. “Each concussion has an additive effect and with every concussion you are more at risk of developing subsequent concussions.

“One-on-one combat as a spectator sport like boxing has existed for thousands of years and it’s unlikely that it would ever go away. But boxing carries with it a high risk of concussions and traumatic brain injury. With combat sports, the risk of concussion and other trauma will always be there.”

Russia’s war on Ukraine has raged for nearly three years, with Ukraine losing territory, and morale among its soldiers decreasing in 2024.

“A year ago, even, I would never hear soldiers say anything negative on record about their leaders,” said Samya Kullab, The Associated Press news agency correspondent in Ukraine. “Now people are not only saying it to me on record, they are going online on their social media, with their names, their rank, their units, and telling everyone they know about what is not working.”

The noncombatant population of Ukraine also struggles with the effects of a long war.

“The war is all-encompassing, so you can’t escape that it’s happening,” said Kullab.

“You walk down the street, you look at some lovely little things on sale, and you see a little sign that says, ‘Please buy these handmade things. I’m trying to raise money for my husband’s military unit,’” she said.

“There are donation boxes everywhere. The number of amputees I see walking on the street – I see them every single day,” she added.

Here’s a photo review of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2024:

Singh, one of the architects of India’s economic liberalisation in the early 1990s, held office from 2004 to 2014.

India has announced seven days of mourning and a state funeral for former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was hailed as one of the architects of the country’s economic liberalisation in the early 1990s.

The government declared on Friday that mourning would be observed until January 1, with a state funeral accorded “as a mark of respect for the departed dignitary”, who passed away on Thursday in a New Delhi hospital at the age of 92.

The official date for the state funeral was not announced immediately, however, a senior member of the Congress party suggested the event, which will see the national flag flown at half-mast on official buildings nationwide, would be held on Saturday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed Singh, who held office from 2004 to 2014, as one of the country’s “most distinguished leaders”, while The Times of India newspaper ran a front-page tribute describing him as the “man who liberated India’s dreams”.

India’s cricket team paid respects to Singh on Friday, wearing black armbands as they took to the ground in Melbourne to battle hosts Australia in the fourth Test.

Humble beginnings

Born in 1932 in the mud-house village of Gah in present-day Pakistan, Singh rose from humble beginnings to high office.

He studied economics to find a way to eradicate poverty in the vast nation, winning scholarships to attend Britain’s two prestigious universities – Cambridge, where he obtained a first in economics, and Oxford, where he completed his doctorate.

Singh worked in a string of senior civil service posts, served as a central bank governor and also held various jobs with global agencies such as the United Nations.

Tapped in 1991 to reel India back from the worst financial crisis in its modern history, he went on to oversee a significant economic boom in his first term as prime minister.

He also sealed a landmark nuclear deal with the United States that he said would help India meet its growing energy needs.

However, Singh’s second term ended with a series of major corruption scandals, slowing growth and high inflation.

Singh’s unpopularity in his second term and lacklustre leadership by Rahul Gandhi, the current opposition leader in the lower house, led to Modi’s first landslide victory in 2014.

Steve Smith’s heroics and India’s late batting collapse puts Australia firmly in control of the pivotal fourth Test.

Australia’s fiery pace attack destroyed India’s top order to put them in the driving seat of the fourth Test after they set a daunting first-innings target on the back of Steve Smith’s 34th Test century.

The visitors were 164-5 at the close of Friday’s play on day two at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, still 310 runs behind after Australia was out for 474 soon after lunch on the back of Smith’s stylish 140.

Rishabh Pant was not out six and Ravindra Jadeja on four, with three wickets in the final half-hour bursting India’s momentum after they were 153-2.

Scott Boland and Pat Cummins grabbed two wickets each.

Skipper Rohit Sharma reverted to his usual role as opener after dropping to six in the past two Tests.

But it did nothing to help his woeful recent form and he was out for three, spooning an attempted pull shot off Pat Cummins to Boland at mid-on for a simple catch.

Cummins pounced again to remove the in-form KL Rahul with the last ball before tea, bowling him for 24.

But opener Yashasvi Jaiswal stood firm with a high-quality innings, playing well off the front foot and crunching a series of stylish boundaries in his 82.

The 22-year-old, who scored 161 in the first Test at Perth, looked destined for another century but threw his wicket away in a comical mix-up with Virat Kohli.

Jaiswal set off for a quick single off Boland but his teammate said no, leaving the youngster stranded, ending a dangerous 102-run stand.

Kohli, who was fined 20 percent of his match fee for a day one shoulder charge on Australian debutant Sam Konstas, was caught behind by Alex Carey for 36 off Boland, who then removed nightwatchman Akash Deep without scoring.

Smith takes control

The hosts resumed on 311-6 after a dominant opening day and plundered another 163 runs, with the composed Smith slamming 13 fours and three sixes.

Smith padded up again on 68, with Cummins alongside him on eight.

They took 15 off one Deep over before Smith hooked Jasprit Bumrah for six to rub salt in the wounds, with India’s body language showing their frustration.

Smith reached his 34th Test century with a boundary off Nitish Kumar Reddy, which came on the back of a return to form in the last Test in Brisbane where he made 101.

With the landmark out of the way, both men began swinging the bat and Cummins paid the price, caught for a fine 49 by Reddy in the deep off Jadeja to end a 112-run stand.

Starc was bowled by Jadeja for 15 in the first over after lunch, with Smith following in a bizarre fashion.

Facing Deep, he danced down the wicket looking to drive but got an inside edge, with the ball bouncing off his pads and trickling onto a leg stump.

Nathan Lyon (13) was the final wicket to fall, lbw to Bumrah who ended with 4-99.

The five-match series is locked at 1-1 after India won by 295 runs in Perth before being crushed by 10 wickets in Adelaide. The rain-affected third Test in Brisbane was drawn.

Sometimes when the pain hits, Agnes* has to pause for several seconds to ride out the excruciating wave. It feels like someone has tied a rope to her insides and is pulling and twisting it, the 27-year-old Nigerian domestic worker says, making it hard to bend or stand up straight.

Agnes’s ordeal started in March in the Iraqi city of Basra when her boss raped her at gunpoint. She fell pregnant, and the man then forced her to undergo a painful abortion. It was so difficult, Agnes said, that she could not sit for three days. Since then, the severe abdominal pains won’t go away, and there’s no one to take her to a hospital.

“I just want to go home and treat myself, but I can’t do that,” Agnes said on a phone call from Basra, where she is holed up in a hostel belonging to the recruiting firm that hired her from Nigeria last year. “The man has refused to pay my salary. I don’t know if I am pregnant, but I have not seen my menstruation since then. I just want to go home and check myself and see what’s happening inside me,” she added, her voice breaking.

Al Jazeera is not mentioning Agnes’s real name because she fears reprisals from the staff of the so-called recruiting agency. She is one of hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are caught in a transnational labour network that often sees women from Nigeria and other African countries deceived into domestic servitude in Iraqi cities, activists said.

In Nigeria, the women are hired by a ring of local “agents” who sell them a dream of good pay and good conditions abroad. They get the women to agree, process visas and send them off to recruitment firms in Iraq for a commission of about $500 per woman, according to activists familiar with the system.

Once there, the Iraqi firms ask the women, called “shagalas” (meaning “house worker” in Arabic), to sign two-year contracts and assign them to families or labour-intensive institutions like spas, where they are often expected to work more than 20 hours a day for monthly pay of $200 to $250. In many homes, the women are subject to inhumane treatment: They go days without food, are beaten and are not provided living quarters.

Some, like Agnes, also face sexual abuse and rape. Several women told Al Jazeera stories of victims who had faced so much abuse and torture that they ended up dead although these cases have not been independently confirmed.

“It’s a form of modern slavery,” said Damilola Adekola, co-founder of Hopes Haven Foundation, a Nigerian NGO that helps track women in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries where abuse of African domestic workers is rife. “These Iraqi agents and the families [the women work for] often tell them, ‘We’ve bought you, so you have to work.’ The contracts they sign go against any type of international law because there’s no medical care and they have to work obscene hours.”

These women often lack knowledge of what a normal workplace should be like because the Nigerian recruiters target women from rural communities who are usually uninformed about the dangers, Adekola added. Although some have diplomas, they often don’t know about the realities of post-war Iraq or that Baghdad is not a country. “Once they hear they can get on an airplane, they just jump at the opportunity,” he said.

A chance to ‘hustle’ abroad goes badly

A native of Nigeria’s Ekiti, a small state northeast of the commercial capital, Lagos, Agnes was working as a domestic worker at home when she heard of an opportunity that could take her abroad.

She paid 100,000 naira ($64) to a local recruiting agent, a family friend whom she trusted, believing that she would be able to make much more money to send home to her ailing mother and nine-year-old son.

Soaring inflation in Nigeria has crippled the naira since 2019. The result has been that Nigerians, young and old, are leaving the country to seek better opportunities. According to an Afrobarometer report this month, more than half of the 200 million population indicated they want to leave the country due to economic hardship with most looking at Europe, North America and the Middle East.

For Agnes, domestic work anywhere else and with the promise of pay that was three times what she normally earned, was an answered prayer. She left for Basra from Lagos airport in September 2023 and arrived at the Iraqi recruitment firm she had been “sold” to after a day’s journey.

Once in Iraq, Agnes’s dreams of a comfortable life abroad turned into a nightmare. Her first shock was at the recruitment firm in Iraq. The firm assigned her a first home to work at, but Agnes was badly treated. She wasn’t given food regularly although her boss would force her to work all day, and her phone was seized, she said. When she complained and refused to work, the Iraqi man returned her to the agents, demanding a refund. Angered that she’d caused a loss, two employers from the firm descended on Agnes, she said, hitting her, punching her and smashing her mobile.

“I had to use a bandage on my eye for three days,” Agnes said. In a photo taken days after the beating and seen by Al Jazeera, Agnes’s right cheek is red and swollen. The firm then forced her to go to a second home, which is where she said the rape took place.

Now, Agnes is back in the firm’s hostel, penniless. After the pains in her abdomen rendered her unable to work, she said the boss who raped her abandoned her there and refused to pay six months of her salary.

“If I knew what this country is like, I wouldn’t have come here. If I knew it’s not safe and there is no respect for life, I wouldn’t have come. I just thought I could also come here and hustle. Please help me get out of here,” she pleaded.

Although she has a place to sleep and she, as well as dozens of women at the hostel, get some noodles and rice daily to cook, Agnes is fearful. The agency has refused to send her back to Nigeria, insisting that she has one more year to work on her contract, despite her debilitating pain.

Agnes said she tries not to aggravate staff of the firm to avoid beatings. Several women there have either been beaten or have been locked up for days without food because their bosses complained of their conduct, she said. Al Jazeera is not revealing the name of the company in order to protect the women, but we did seek official responses regarding the firm from the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, which is in charge of Iraq’s police. We have not yet received a response.

Trafficking of Africans rife in Middle East

Despite several laws against labour trafficking, the practice is rife in post-war Iraq. The country is both a source and destination country for trafficked victims with an estimated 221,000 people currently in slavery-like conditions, according to a November report from the International Organization of Migration (IOM). Most documented victims are from Iran and Indonesia.

The experiences of African female domestic workers in Iraq are largely undocumented, but the challenges they face have been going on for years. Black people have historically been seen as slaves in the country and still face discrimination today.

In 2011, news reports documented how dozens of Ugandan women were tricked by local agents into believing they would be working on United States army bases when the country was under American occupation after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government. Instead, the women were “sold” to Iraqi firms for about $3,500 and forced to work in dire conditions. Eventually, some escaped with the help of US army staff, but others were never accounted for.

Similar cases of exploitation are being reported across the Middle East, where hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from African and Asian countries are at higher risk of trafficking, according to the IOM.

Under the “kafala” system, which is legal in countries like Lebanon, employers pay for the documentation and travel costs of the foreign workers and use that as leverage to abuse them by confiscating their passports or seizing their pay, reports have shown. The system doesn’t give the worker the right to seek out another employer but does allow employers to transfer contracts to others. Recruitment agencies often use the legal system to employ many workers and then auction the contracts online for huge amounts of money.

It’s unclear to what extent Iraqi authorities investigate agents hiring and “selling” African workers or the individuals who maltreat these women. Authorities however appear to be investigating one case that has garnered widespread attention on Nigerian social media.

Eniola, 28, had, like her counterparts, jumped at the opportunity to earn more money abroad as a domestic worker and arrived in Baghdad in February 2023. However, her boss forced her to work most of the day and allowed her only three to four hours of sleep. When she complained, the woman routinely tortured her with tasers or hit her with an iron rod. She doused her with hot tea or water on several occasions too.

In videos Eniola sent to Al Jazeera, her fingers, which appear to be broken, are bandaged, and scars from burns and wounds dot her body. She found the courage to finally escape in August after more than a year of abuse. Al Jazeera is only using Eniola’s first name to protect her identity.

“She had just beat me when she put some water on the fire and told me to enter the bathroom,” Eniola told Al Jazeera. She feared her boss wanted to pour hot water on her, so she fled. “I don’t know where I got the courage, but I ran outside.”

Bleeding, Eniola ran to groups of locals who, shocked by her wounds, helped her get to a police station where she handed herself in. She was never paid by her boss.

In a statement, Iraq’s interior ministry told Al Jazeera it was not aware of the two women’s cases, but vowed to investigate the matter.

An officer at the country’s Directorate for Residence Affairs in charge of residency violations, and where Eniola has been transferred, told Al Jazeera the abusive boss had been “invited by government agencies for questioning and was bieng investigated”.

On Tuesday, Eniola confirmed she was arraigned in court alongside her former boss, and a years’ worth of salary was handed to her. Eniola, only willing to go home, said she declined to press charges against the Iraqi woman. Authorities plan to force the boss to pay for her ticket home, she said, but it’s unclear when that will happen.

There are several other Nigerian women in detention for various offences: fighting with their bosses, overstaying their residence permits or “taking salaries and running away,” said the Iraqi official, who is not authorised to speak to the press.

Nigerian domestic workers Al Jazeera spoke to however say their Iraqi bosses have been known to take advantage of language barriers and some wrongfully accuse the women of crimes.

Nigeria fails to act quickly, activists say

Activists blamed Nigerian authorities for failing to regulate the industry and allowing groups of women to head to Middle Eastern countries for domestic work without proper documentation or a system to track them. Some reports also accuse staff of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) of taking bribes from local agents and turning a blind eye at airports to clear cases of exploitation.

Al Jazeera put these allegations to the NIS via email. In a statement, the NIS said it would respond to the accusations but did not reply in time for publication.

“Immigration is never a crime, and we are not saying people should not find work abroad, but there should be a government system where these women are registered and taxed, even if it’s a small token,” Adekola of the Hopes Haven Foundation said. The organisation helped alert authorities to Eniola’s and Agnes’s cases.

“With that, the government can monitor the women’s information and work situation. If these employers torturing them know that the ladies are being monitored by their government, they’ll not try what they’re doing to them.”

Officials at the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), the Nigerian anti-trafficking agency, first sounded the alarm about the exploitative recruitment drives to Iraq in May 2023.

Some rogue agents who take part in recruiting and “selling” the women are known by NAPTIP and are under investigation, an official who had not been authorised to speak to the media and who we are therefore not naming, told Al Jazeera.

Agnes’s and Eniola’s cases are being investigated, the official said but did not give a timeline as to when the women might be repatriated. Nigeria does not have an embassy in Iraq, and the official said the agency was liaising with the Nigerian consulate in Jordan.

In Basra, Agnes is still holed up in her recruitment agency’s hostel, hoping for a way out. She can hardly stand up from her bed, she said. This week, some women arrived freshly from Nigeria and Uganda, and have been sent to their assigned homes to work, she said. The women, Agnes added, were fearful after seeing her condition but were forced to go.

“I just want to go home because I’m not OK,” she said. “I’m barely alive. Please help me get out. I’m too young to die here.”

*Name changed to protect anonymity

Article content

HONG KONG, Dec. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Wisson Robotics, a global pioneer in general-purpose soft robotics, will debut at CES 2025 with its Pliabot® technology, a revolutionary commercial and universal soft robotics with human-like muscles and embodied AI, and innovative Pliabot® robots for aerial operations and EV automatic charging. Visit Wisson at Booth #8262, Smart Cities, North Hall of LVCC.

Article content

Committed to free humans from harsh environments or repetitive tasks through disruptive innovation in robot core technology, Wisson leverages a decade of expertise in soft robotics to make Pliabot® technology commercially available and universally applicable to provide safe, dexterous, lightweight, resilient and affordable robots and solutions for various industries. With cost-effective robots highly adaptable to the complex and ever-changing environment, many more industries, rather than just manufacturing among a few, now could benefit from robots applications for better productivity and experience.

As the world’s leading general-purpose soft robotics, Wisson’s Pliabot® technology replicates characteristics of human muscles through its “soft muscles + neuronic intelligence” dual-propeller approach, bringing high adaptability, high load-to-weight ratio, safe interaction, high environmental resistance and significant cost advantages which the rigid robotics hard to offer. Besides, designed as a modular platform, Pliabot® bionic joints, arms and “neuronic-cerebellar-cerebral-cloud” AI systems could easily integrate with mobile chassis, lifts, assembly lines, wearable devices, unmanned aerial vehicles, robotic dogs and humanoid robots, best for meeting the needs in different scenarios or industries.

Article content

Powered by Pliabot®’s technological and commercial advantages, Wisson has led the industry in bringing general-purpose soft robotics to market. It was the first to achieve mass production and delivery of soft robots worldwide, and versatile Pliabot® robots have been developed and deployed to over 100 countries, regions and cities, serving industries such as facade cleaning, autonomous driving, new energy, logistics, urban management, marine services and power grid. These innovations have generated significant commercial and social value for our clients and the community.

At CES 2025, Wisson will showcase the unique capabilities, including Wisson’s popular AP3-P3 for facade cleaning, the versatile AP30-N1 aerial manipulator featuring the signature Pliabot® arm, and the one-of-a-kind Pliabot® EV charging robot. Wisson aims to demonstrate Pliabot®’s potential and partner with industries to explore new applications.

For more info: https://www.wissonrobotics.com/en/

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b2c101fd-1fce-4526-a2ff-7e9870ebafbf

Share this article in your social network

Seoul – South Korea’s National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik has emerged as an unlikely symbol of leadership during the country’s ongoing political turmoil, triggered by President Yoon Suk-yeol’s brief declaration of martial law on December 3.

Despite holding South Korea’s second-highest office after the presidency, the assembly’s speaker has historically had a low-profile role, operating behind the scenes of political life.

Unlike the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, who drives Washington’s legislative agenda as the leader of the majority party, South Korea’s parliamentary speaker is required by law to renounce party affiliation upon election to maintain neutrality. The majority of speakers also retire after their term.

But Woo’s decisive yet measured actions throughout the recent crisis appear to have upended the traditional view of the speaker and their role.

“Seeing someone like him step up and act decisively in such a critical moment was refreshing,” Yoo Junghoon, a lawyer and political columnist, told Al Jazeera.

“It allowed voters – both young and old – to realise that such capable politicians still exist,” Yoo said.

South Korean youth even gave Woo the nickname “National Assembly Thor” — a nod to his gavel of office and the Marvel superhero’s wielding of his mighty hammer.

A recent Gallup Korea poll showed that 56 percent of respondents expressed trust in Woo, an unusual figure in a country where trust in the National Assembly has fallen to just 20.6 percent, according to an OECD survey 2024.

Student protester to ‘Thor’ of constitutional procedure

As a young student activist, Woo was imprisoned for three years after protesting against the military dictatorship that expanded martial law in 1980, following the assassination of President Park Chung-hee in 1979.

The crackdown culminated in the deadly Gwangju Uprising of May 1980.

After President Yoon declared martial law on the night of December 3, the 67-year-old Woo scaled the National Assembly fence after police barricaded the entrance to try and prevent lawmakers from entering and holding a vote to overturn the president’s order.

“I knew we had the constitutional authority to lift martial law,” Woo recalled later in a news conference.

“I didn’t hesitate. I had to get inside the assembly, no matter what,” he said.

Even as South Korean special forces soldiers advanced on the assembly building, Woo insisted on following the correct legislative procedures despite mounting pressure from anxious politicians urging him to speed up the process by possibly cutting a few corners.

“In moments like this, following the correct procedure without error is even more vital,” Woo told his worried colleagues in the surrounding assembly chamber.

At one point, troops came dangerously close to entering the main chamber where lawmakers were voting, prompting a tense standoff with assembly staff.

The crucial vote proceeded, with all of the 190 lawmakers present – of the 300-seat Assembly – voting in favour of repealing martial law.

“There were many reactions on social media questioning why [Woo] was so fixated on following legislative procedures,” Yoo, the political columnist said.

“But now, even those opposing impeachment [against President Yoon] can’t find fault with the process he upheld,” Yoo said.

Bong Young-shik, a research fellow at Yonsei University’s Institute for North Korean Studies, attributed the peaceful resolution of the chaotic situation, without civilian casualties, to Woo’s emphasis on adhering diligently to constitutional procedures.

“In such an unexpected and grave situation, both conservatives and progressives found Woo trustworthy,” Bong said.

“We saw that this approach worked exactly as intended,” he said.

‘South Korea is strong. Its people are resilient’

Woo also adhered to strict constitutional procedures during the first, failed impeachment vote against President Yoon, on December 7, for declaring martial law and plunging the country into crisis.

With Yoon’s governing party boycotting the vote to block the impeachment attempt, Woo kept the legislative session open for hours, an unusual move, urging politicians to return and fulfil their constitutional duty to cast a vote.

Two governing party lawmakers did return to the chamber to cast their ballots.

Woo only closed the session at about 9:20pm, explaining that he could no longer let the protesters, who had gathered outside the assembly in freezing weather to demand Yoon’s impeachment, wait indefinitely for a result.

After the successful, second impeachment vote held a week later, Woo called for a return to normalcy in all aspects of life in South Korea and for the public to move forward together.

“I hope your year-end is a bit happier,” Woo said at the time, encouraging South Koreans to resume Christmas holiday celebrations and gatherings, mindful of the toll the turmoil had taken on struggling small businesses at a key time of year.

“His words conveyed meaning instantly,” said Yoo, the political columnist.

Woo has acknowledged his rising public profile and newfound popularity, but with rare humility.

“I heard young people call me the ‘National Assembly Thor’. I find it amusing,” he said during a recent news conference.

He attributed the newfound public attention on the speaker’s role in politics not to himself personally, but to the collective efforts of the assembly’s lawmakers, staff, as well as engaged citizens.

Asked about his own future ambitions, including a potential presidential bid, Woo dismissed the idea.

Instead, he emphasised the need for constitutional reform to address the recurring instability that has plagued South Korea’s presidencies since its transition to democracy in 1987.

“Our current constitution, drafted in 1987, is outdated,” he said, adding that it needed “reforms that reflect the societal changes of the past four decades”.

Woo also had a message for people around the world who had watched with shock as South Korean troops were deployed during President Yoon’s brief declaration of martial law.

“South Korea is strong. Its people are resilient,” he said.

“While the world may have been startled by the martial law declaration, South Korea remains secure, stable, and confident in its future,” he added.

The Middle East subsidiary of Delivery Hero, Talabat, raised $2 billion from an initial public offering on Dec. 10. Talabat sold more than 4.65 billion shares at AED1.60  ($0.44) per share. The sale of a 20% stake represents a market capitalization of around $10 billion.

Berlin-based Delivery Hero decided to increase the size of the offering from 15% to 20%, citing robust demand.

Tomaso Rodriguez, CEO of Talabat, a regional food ordering and convenience retail marketplace, confirmed that the offering garnered a double-digit oversubscription. “It is clear that Talabat’s offering presented both international and local investors with a unique opportunity to gain exposure to a leading player in MENA’s technology-driven and dynamic on-demand delivery market,” he said.

Talabat’s IPO is the UAE’s largest listing for 2024. Launched in Kuwait in 2004, the company is active in five of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as well as Egypt, Iraq and  Jordan. It does not operate in Saudi Arabia. Talabat, which boasts six million active customers, expects proceeds from the offering to pay down Delivery Hero’s debt, analysts say.

But Talabat’s December debut on the Dubai Financial Market was met with a subdued response, with shares sliding 7.5% on the first day of trading. This was due to its aggressive pricing, said George Pavel, general manager of trading app Naga Middle East. “The company and its underwriters priced the IPO at AED1.60, the top end of the marketed range, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 28 times—significantly higher than the Dubai Financial Market General Index’s average of nine times.”

That left no room for an upside move and likely led investors to question the valuation premium, he added.

IPOs in the GCC have raised close to $12 billion in 2024. Investors have been attracted to GCC capital markets amid a dull outlook for IPOs in markets in the US and Europe.

Doctor, lab technician and two maintenance workers among those killed as a fourth baby in three days dies of cold during Israel’s genocide.

Israel’s genocide has killed five staff members at one of northern Gaza’s last functioning hospitals, the facility’s director says, as yet another baby freezes to death in the besieged and bombed Palestinian enclave.

Hussam Abu Safia, head of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, on Thursday said the “martyrs included a doctor.”

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from central Gaza, said a laboratory technician and two maintenance workers were among those killed in the attack.

“We know that the hospital is one of the only medical facilities still operating, and it is working with the bare minimum human resources and a lack of medical supplies,” she said.

“Israeli forces have been attacking the surroundings of Kamal Adwan Hospital, sending quadcopters inside the hospital and shooting Palestinians.”

The hospital has been rendered nonoperational after weeks of near-daily attacks. Israeli forces previously killed the director of the hospital’s ICU, Dr Ahmed al-Kahlout, and wounded dozens of medical staff in attacks on and near the facility.

Khoudary said Palestinian rescue workers have been unable to reach the bodies of those killed at the hospital. “People are unable to bury those Palestinians who are being killed every single day by the Israeli forces in northern Gaza,” she added.

Israel launched a large-scale ground offensive in northern Gaza on October 5, saying it aimed to prevent the Palestinian group Hamas from regrouping.

Since then, no sufficient humanitarian aid, including food, medicine and fuel, has been allowed into the area, leaving the remaining population on the verge of famine.

The World Health Organization has described conditions at Kamal Adwan Hospital as “appalling” and said it was operating at a “minimum” level.

Another baby freezes to death

Meanwhile, a fourth infant has died due to extreme cold within 72 hours in Gaza, the Wafa news agency reported on Thursday.

Medical sources said the baby died due to a drop in temperature as the humanitarian conditions across the enclave are dire.

“The tents do not protect from the cold, and it gets very cold at night with no way to keep warm,” said Dr Ahmed al-Farra, the chief paediatric doctor at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis area.

In more than a year of Israeli attacks and lack of aid deliveries, many families in Gaza have been left without adequate shelter and resources to cope with the changing weather.

Local health officials told Wafa a lack of food among mothers was contributing to a rise in health issues among children, further straining medical facilities and emergency services.

Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children. The offensive has also caused widespread destruction and displaced about 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, often multiple times.

Hundreds of thousands of people are packed into tent camps along the coast as the cold, wet winter sets in. Aid groups have struggled to deliver food and supplies and said there are shortages of blankets, warm clothing and firewood.