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BREAKINGBREAKING,

US officials tell news agencies that Israel has started attacking sites in Iran as blasts reported in Tehran.

Explosions have been reported northeast of Iran’s capital Tehran, according to the state-run news agency Nour News.

The Israeli Air Force has reportedly conducted a strike in Iran, the Axios news agency reports, citing two unnamed sources with knowledge of the operation.

Two unnamed US officials have also told the Reuters news agency that Israel has carried out an attack in Iran. The officials said Washington did not assist in the attack and declined to provide further details.

The Israeli military is yet to publicly confirm the attack. But in a post on X, the military announced that Israel’s civil and public security guidelines had been changed to “essential activity” as of 03:00 local time (00:00 GMT).

“The guidelines include: a ban on educational activities, gatherings, and workplaces, except for essential businesses,” it said.

More to follow shortly …

Israel has been pushing to strike Iran for months, if not years. Signs this week that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities was potentially imminent have ratcheted up fears of a regional conflict, particularly in light of the US withdrawal of some diplomatic staff and their dependents from Iraq and the wider region.

US President Donald Trump’s comments have added to the sense that a military confrontation is coming, saying on Thursday that a strike “could very well happen”.

And yet, at the same time, Trump said that he would not call the strike imminent, and wanted to avoid a conflict.

Earlier in the week, Israeli media reported that Trump had also asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dial down talk of a strike against Iran, adding to the sense that Trump himself wanted to avoid any conflict with Iran, especially as nuclear talks between Iran and the US are ongoing – with the next round set to take place on Sunday.

Whether an Israeli strike will take place in the short term is thus still unclear.

“One way of looking at this is that it may be part of the larger picture,” Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, said of the role the threat of unilateral action from Israel may play in US negotiations with Iran. “It may be that the US is using their ‘crazy friend’ as a tactic to bring pressure upon Iran … On the other hand, it may be that the crazy friend means business.”

Possibility of a strike

Israel’s opposition to Iran is longstanding.

Through the course of its 20-month-long war on Gaza, Netanyahu has seized on the opportunity to confront a foe he has consistently pitched as his country’s ultimate nemesis.

In addition to boasting that he was responsible for Trump’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal limiting Iran’s nuclear programme in 2018, Netanyahu has also ordered air strikes, assassinations and cyberattacks designed to either slow or halt Iran’s nuclear programme.

The Israeli right-wing, led by Netanyahu, has long considered Iran an existential threat and believes that the country seeks a nuclear weapon, despite Iranian denials.

Iran also supports anti-Israeli groups across the region, including the Lebanese group Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis. With many of Iran’s allies, particularly Hezbollah, severely weakened after fighting Israel since 2023, some in Israel view this as the perfect opportunity to also deliver a knockout blow to Iran itself.

Speaking to the New York Times on Wednesday, a senior Iranian official said that military and government officials have already met in anticipation of a potential Israeli strike.

According to the unnamed official, any strike by Israel would be met with the immediate launch of hundreds of ballistic missiles.

“Logically, and I’m stressing ‘logically,’ Israel shouldn’t strike at Iran,” Mekelberg said, “Even with US support, it likely wouldn’t be a good idea.”

“However, in this environment, there are no voices that are going to restrain Netanyahu: not the foreign minister, not the defence minister,” he said.

“The head of the Shin Bet [domestic intelligence service], who would normally counsel Netanyahu, has been forced out, and the attorney general, who might also advise him, [Netanyahu is] trying to get dismissed,” Mekelberg added. “That leaves no one, perhaps other than some voices in the military and Mossad, that could act as a check on Netanyahu.”

In need of a friend

Internationally, both Israel and Netanyahu have become increasingly isolated, throwing their relationship with the US into sharp focus.

In the last few weeks, many Western states have increased their opposition towards Israel’s war on Gaza.

Earlier in the week, five countries – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom – sanctioned two of Netanyahu’s government ministers, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leaving Israel more reliant upon US support than ever, observers said.

“I can’t see Israel taking any action without the US,” Mitchell Barak, an Israeli pollster and former political aide to several senior Israeli political figures, including Netanyahu, told Al Jazeera.

“Something is definitely going on, but I can’t see Israel doing anything without the tacit or active support of the US.”

“This could be a negotiating tactic on the part of Trump. He’s entered negotiations, and he wants results. Now, he sees Iran stalling, the IAEA report condemning them, and suddenly, he’s got Netanyahu threatening to strike if they don’t cut a deal,” he said.

Other observers questioned the timing of both reports of Trump restraining Netanyahu’s threat of strikes, as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency report – which determined that Iran was not complying with its commitment to international nuclear safeguards – falling so close to Sunday’s talks.

“Right now, every taxi in Tel Aviv will tell you that Israel’s about to strike at Iran,” Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador and consul general in New York, told Al Jazeera. “I may be wrong, but I really doubt it.

“Netanyahu’s unlikely to do anything without the US’s greenlight. It’s not the way he or Israel works,” he said.

“I don’t think that’s going to let up,” Pinkas said of negotiations likely to continue beyond Sunday, “I fully expect Trump to again speak of having to restrain Netanyahu. It’s just another means of exerting pressure on Iran.”

However, that is not to rule out a strike from Israel altogether.

“There may be one, but if there is, it’ll come at the US’s request and be of some peripheral target with no real value.”

The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 kicks off in the United States on Saturday, with 32 teams vying for the title in the new-look expanded intercontinental club competition.

Here’s everything you need to know about the tournament:

What is the FIFA Club World Cup?

Until 2023, the FIFA Club World Cup was staged as an annual tournament every December and participation was limited to the winners of the continental club competitions, with the number ranging between six to eight clubs.

Starting in 2025, football’s governing body expanded the tournament to 32 teams and decided to run the revamped competition on a quadrennial cycle instead, similar to its showpiece FIFA World Cup.

A new FIFA Intercontinental Cup replaced the old Club World Cup as an annual competition in December 2024 with Real Madrid winning the inaugural edition held in Qatar.

How does the new Club World Cup work?

Historically, the Club World Cup has featured no more than eight teams, but the 2025 edition is vastly different.

This year’s edition on US soil will be the first in the tournament’s 24-year history to feature 32 clubs – the same number of teams as recent FIFA World Cups – including the winners of the four previous continental championships.

The teams will be divided into eight groups of four competing in a round-robin group stage with the top two clubs from each group advancing to the knockouts, which begin with the round of 16 and end with the final.

When is the FIFA Club World Cup?

The competition will begin on June 14, with the final scheduled for July 13. Here’s a breakdown of the schedule.

• Group stage: June 14 to 26
• Round of 16: June 28 to July 1
• Quarterfinals: July 4 and 5
• Semifinals: July 8 and 9
• Final: July 13

Which teams will participate in the Club World Cup?

“Soccer” fans in the US will have the chance to watch some of the most popular clubs, including last season’s UEFA Champions League winners Real Madrid, Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, 10-time English champions Manchester City and Italian heavyweights Inter Milan.

Qualified teams were determined by the winners of the continental club competitions, such as the Champions League, and the confederation’s four-year rankings.

Outside of Europe, Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami is also part of the tournament, having controversially earned a spot as a representative of the host nation. Inter Miami won the Supporters’ Shield, handed to the team with the best regular-season record.

Of the 32 clubs, Europe (UEFA) is the best-represented confederation with 12 teams, followed by South America (CONMEBOL) with six. Asia (AFC), Africa (AFC) and North, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF) have four teams each.

Oceania is represented by one club, while the final slot has been allocated to the host nation’s representative, Inter Miami.

Mexican club Leon had qualified by winning the CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2023, but were removed by FIFA due to an ownership rule breach. FIFA said that Club Leon and another Mexican club in the tournament, Pachuca, did not meet regulations on multi-club ownership. Pachuca’s spot in the competition was unaffected.

After the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Leon’s appeal, FIFA confirmed a playoff between Los Angeles FC and Mexican side Club America that was won by LAFC.

Here is a list of the eight groups:

• Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami
• Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle Sounders
• Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica
• Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, LAFC
• Group E: River Plate, Urawa Red Diamonds, Monterrey, Inter Milan
• Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan HD FC, Mamelodi Sundowns
• Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus
• Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, FC Salzburg

Why are Chelsea, Inter Miami in, and Barcelona, Liverpool out of the FIFA Club World Cup?

FIFA rules for the Club World Cup state that only two teams from each country can play in the tournament, and European clubs’ participation was decided by their performances in the Champions League over the last four seasons.

Man City (2023) and Chelsea (2021) won the Champions League during that four-year window, taking up the two spots.

Other popular clubs such as Napoli, AC Milan, Barcelona, RB Leipzig and Sevilla also missed out due to UEFA’s four-year club coefficient rankings and two-team restrictions.

Where are the Club World Cup venues?

The 63 matches will be played across 12 venues in 11 cities. The opening match, Al Ahly vs Inter Miami, will be played at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, which has a spectator capacity of 65,000.

The MetLife Stadium, which serves as the home for the New York Giants and New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL), will host both the semifinals and the final. MetLife is an 82,500-seat venue and was also chosen as the venue of the 2026 FIFA World Cup final.

Pasadena’s Rose Bowl, best known as a college American football venue, is the biggest stadium with a capacity of 88,500. It is no stranger to hosting big events: the Rose Bowl was the site for the football gold medal match at the Los Angeles Games in 1984, as well as the men’s World Cup final a decade later. It will also be a venue for the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028.

Here’s the full list of venues:

• MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, New Jersey)
• Hard Rock Stadium (Miami, Florida)
• Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta, Georgia)
• Lumen Field (Seattle, Washington)
• Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte, North Carolina)
• TQL Stadium (Cincinnati, Ohio)
• Rose Bowl Stadium (Los Angeles, California)
• GEODIS Park (Nashville, Tennessee)
• Camping World Stadium (Orlando, Florida)
• Inter&Co Stadium (Orlando, Florida)
• Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
• Audi Field (Washington, DC)

Will Messi and Ronaldo play in the FIFA Club World Cup?

Messi will, thanks to Inter Miami’s surprise qualification.

Messi’s club found a place as the club with the most points in Major League Soccer’s (MLS) regular season, instead of LA Galaxy, who won the MLS Cup, which is regarded as the highest prize in the MLS.

FIFA announced Miami’s addition to the Club World Cup in October after they broke MLS’s regular-season points record with a 6-2 win over New England Revolution to reach 74 points. New England had set the previous record in 2021 with 73 points.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo and his Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr did not qualify for the tournament, but it didn’t stop FIFA President Gianni Infantino from suggesting that the Portugal star could switch to one of the teams participating in the tournament.

“Cristiano Ronaldo might play in the Club World Cup,” Infantino told online streamer IShowSpeed in late May. “There are discussions with some clubs, so if any club is watching and is interested in hiring Ronaldo for the Club World Cup, who knows? Still, a few weeks’ time, will be fun.”

However, Ronaldo cleared his position by saying, “You can’t take part in everything.”

“You have to think about the short, medium and long term. It’s a decision practically made on my part not to go to the Club World Cup, but I’ve had quite a few invitations to go.”

How much is the prize money for the Club World Cup?

The total prize pot is $1bn, with the champions earning up to $125m.

About half of the $1bn will be divided between the 32 clubs, with the amount per club based on sporting and commercial criteria. It means that clubs such as Manchester City and Real Madrid will receive a greater percentage than smaller clubs in a model FIFA developed with the European Club Association.

A further $475m will be awarded on a performance-related basis. Hence, the team with the most wins over a potential seven matches will bank more cash, with a maximum pot of $125m available.

How to follow and stream the Club World Cup live

Al Jazeera Sport will run a live photo and text commentary stream for a selection of the biggest group stage and knockout games.

Online provider DAZN will stream the tournament worldwide, with territorial sublicensing to local free-to-air linear broadcast networks a possibility.

Protests take place almost a year after several killed and seized by Kenyan police in finance bill protests.

Protesters took to the streets of Kenya’s capital Nairobi to express their fury over the death of a blogger arrested by police last week, as the country’s police watchdog reported that 20 people had died in custody over the last four months.

Police used tear gas to disperse crowds gathered close to the capital’s parliamentary building on Thursday to protest against the death of Albert Ojwang, a 31-year-old blogger arrested in the western town of Homa Bay last week for criticising the country’s deputy police chief Eliud Lagat.

Police had initially said Ojwang died “after hitting his head against a cell wall”, but pathologist Bernard Midia, part of a team that conducted an autopsy, said the wounds – including a head injury, neck compression and soft tissue damage – pointed to assault as the cause of death.

On Wednesday, President William Ruto admitted Ojwang had died “at the hands of the police”, reversing earlier official accounts of his death, saying in a statement that it was “heartbreaking and unacceptable”.

Kenyan media outlets reported on Thursday that a police constable had been arrested over Ojwang’s death.

Reporting from the protests in Nairobi, Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb said that Ojwang, who wrote about political and social issues, had posted online about Lagat’s alleged role in a “bribery scandal”, in which the deputy police chief had already been implicated by a newspaper investigation.

“It’s angered people that he was detained for that, and then days later, dead in a police station,” said Webb, who added that people were calling for Lagat to be held to account, and “persisting in throwing stones at the police in spite of one volley of tear gas after the next being fired at them”.

Finance bill protests: one year on

The case has shone a light on the country’s security services, who have been accused of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances for years.

On Thursday, Independent Policing Oversight Authority chairperson Issak Hassan told lawmakers that there had been “20 deaths in police custody in the last four months”.

The authorities are now conducting an official investigation into Ojwang’s death.

On Wednesday, Inspector General Douglas Kanja apologised for police having previously implied that Ojwang died by suicide, telling a Senate hearing: “He did not hit his head against the wall.”

Ojwang’s death comes almost a year after several activists and protesters were killed and taken by police during finance bill protests – many are still missing.

The rallies led to calls for the removal of Ruto, who was criticised for the crackdown.

Amnesty International said Ojwang’s death in custody on Saturday “must be urgently, thoroughly and independently investigated”.

Video shows Indian Coast Guard crews dropping dry chemical powder and taking other steps to try to douse a blaze that’s been burning for days on a cargo ship carrying hazardous materials. The ship was off the Kerala coast en route to Mumbai when explosions sparked the blaze. Four crew members are missing.

Protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, which began on June 6 in Los Angeles, have spread beyond the California city, across the United States.

This comes days before a military parade scheduled on Saturday in Washington, DC, which marks the US Army’s 250th anniversary. More protests across the US are scheduled on Saturday.

Here is what we know about what is happening and where.

Why are there protests in LA?

On June 6, ICE carried out immigration enforcement raids in LA, in which uniformed ICE agents arrived at various sites in LA in groups of unmarked vehicles, arresting 44 people in a military-style operation.

The operation triggered protests in LA on the same day, and crowds rallied outside a facility where some of the detainees were believed to be held. They were dispersed by police, but protests began again soon after.

US President Donald Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops into the city on June 8, a move condemned as an “illegal takeover” by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who then filed a lawsuit to try to prevent their deployment onto the city streets. The next day, Trump doubled the number of active National Guard troops in the city to 4,000.

On Monday, Trump also ordered 700 marines to be deployed from the Twentynine Palms base east of Los Angeles, describing the city as a “trash heap” that was in danger of burning to the ground.

A federal court hearing about whether or not Trump can legally deploy the National Guard and marines to assist with immigration raids in LA is scheduled for Thursday.

Marines arrived in the city on Tuesday. However, as of Wednesday, they had still not completed training, The Hill reported, citing an unnamed US Northern Command official. The marines are now expected to join the National Guard troops on the streets of LA on Friday.

On Tuesday night, LA Mayor Karen Bass announced a curfew in downtown LA, and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) made several arrests.

A sixth day of protests continued on Wednesday. These were mostly peaceful but featured occasional outbursts of violence.

Where have the protests spread to?

By June 9, protests against the ICE raids and Trump’s deployment of the military had spilled over to several other US cities in solidarity with the LA protesters.

By Wednesday, protests had appeared in 12 other cities across several states. Here is the situation in each city:

California

LA is not the only city in California which is experiencing protests.

San Francisco

Soon after the start of the LA protests, a peaceful protest began in San Francisco with demonstrators gathering outside an ICE building on financial hub Sansome Street in the north of the city.

Local media reported that police arrived in riot gear and made arrests.

On Sunday, June 8, San Francisco police arrested about 60 people, and declared the protest an “unlawful assembly”.

On Monday, the San Francisco police released a statement on X, saying the demonstrations had been “overwhelmingly peaceful” but that “two small groups broke off and committed vandalism and other criminal acts”. It said police had made more arrests, without specifying the number of people arrested. Local media reports suggest the number could be above 150.

Local media reported that ICE agents were also arresting migrants in San Francisco. The city’s mayor, Democrat Daniel Lurie, shared this news on X on Monday, saying: “I have been briefed on the ongoing immigration enforcement actions taking place downtown.”

Lurie added: “I have been and will continue to be clear that these federal immigration enforcement tactics are intended to instil fear, and they make our city less safe.”

He stated the police force would not be involved in making immigration arrests. “Under our city’s longstanding policies, local law enforcement does not participate in federal immigration enforcement. Those are our policies, and they make our city safer.”

On Tuesday, 200 protesters rallied outside the San Francisco Immigration Court. Protests were also reported in the nearby city of Oakland.

Santa Ana

On Monday, protests broke out in Santa Ana in Orange County, a largely Mexican-American city just south of LA.

The protests broke out following reports of ICE raids in the city.

Local media reported that several hundred people were protesting outside the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and court.

The Santa Ana Police Department released a statement on X saying it was aware of the immigration enforcement actions and would not participate in them.

However, the police department posted another statement on X later on Monday saying: “When a peaceful demonstration escalates into rocks, bottles, mortars, and fireworks being used against public service personnel, and property is destroyed, it is no longer a lawful assembly. It is a violation of the law.” Local media reported that several arrests were made.

Police chief Robert Rodriguez said peaceful protesters would be protected but urged residents not to participate in violent protests or vandalism. “Those who participate in unlawful activities will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

On Tuesday, National Guard troops were deployed to Santa Ana and clashes with protesters were reported.

Washington State

Protests have broken out in Seattle, Washington State’s most populous city.

Seattle

About 50 protesters gathered outside the immigration court in downtown Seattle on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, hundreds of protesters marched downtown from Capitol Hill. According to the Seattle Police Department, this demonstration was mostly peaceful, but some individuals set fire to a dumpster, which prompted police intervention.

Several clashes were also reported between protesters and the police, who arrested eight people for assault and obstruction.

Spokane

Protests also broke out in Spokane, a city towards the eastern side of Washington State.

The police arrested more than 30 protesters and dispersed the crowd using pepper balls, Spokane police chief Kevin Hall told a news conference.

Mayor Lisa Brown imposed a night curfew in the city, which was set to last until 5am (12:00 GMT) on Thursday.

Texas

Protests have broken out in several cities in Texas. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott wrote on X on Tuesday: “Texas National Guard will be deployed to locations across the state to ensure peace & order. Peaceful protest is legal. Harming a person or property is illegal & will lead to arrest.”

San Antonio

On Tuesday, Abbott deployed the National Guard ahead of protests in San Antonio. The city’s mayor, Democrat Ron Nirenberg, said on Wednesday that he had not been informed in advance about the National Guard deployment and had not requested it.

More than 400 protesters gathered outside the city hall on Wednesday in a largely peaceful protest.

Austin

Hundreds of protesters gathered on Monday between the Texas State Capitol building and a federal building which holds an ICE staff office.

More than a dozen people were arrested, Abbott wrote in an X post. The police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse protesters. Some protesters threw rocks at officers and graffitied a federal building, according to local media reports.

Protesters also gathered in the Texas cities of Dallas and Houston.

Denver, Colorado

Protesters gathered outside the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on Tuesday. Police said they arrested 18 people when protesters tried to cross Interstate 25, a highway that runs through New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming.

Chicago, Illinois

On Tuesday, thousands of protesters gathered near an immigration centre in Chicago and marched downtown, blocking a plaza.

Some 17 people were arrested, according to the police and some clashes between protesters and police were reported. On the same day, a 66-year-old woman was treated for a fractured arm after she was hit by a car that drove through the protest. No other injuries have been reported.

Omaha, Nebraska

On Tuesday morning, immigration authorities raided a meat production plant in Nebraska’s Omaha city, taking dozens of workers away with them in buses.

Local media reported that about 400 people protested against this raid on Tuesday along the 33rd and L streets.

Boston, Massachusetts

On Monday, hundreds of people gathered outside Boston City Hall, calling for the release of trade union leader David Huerta, who was arrested during the LA protests. Huerta was released on Monday afternoon on a $50,000 bond. However, he remains charged with conspiracy to impede an officer, a felony which could result in a maximum of six years in prison, according to the office of the US Attorney.

New York

Thousands of people protested in Lower Manhattan in New York City on Tuesday. The protesters rallied near an ICE facility and federal courts.

On Tuesday, New York police took 86 people into custody. Some 34 of them were charged, while the rest received a criminal court summons. The police took more people into custody on Wednesday, but did not specify how many.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

On Tuesday afternoon, about 150 people gathered outside the Federal Detention Center and marched between the centre and ICE’s headquarters in the city.

After a group defied police orders to disperse from a major road, 15 people were arrested.

Washington, DC

Demonstrators marched past the Justice Department building in the US capital on Monday. The protesters were calling for the release of union leader David Huerta. There have been no reports of violence or arrests.

Will more protests take place?

Yes. On Saturday, protests opposing Trump’s policies in general are planned in nearly 2,000 locations from parks to cities to small towns.

They will coincide with a military parade in Washington, DC, commemorating the US army’s anniversary, and with Trump’s 79th birthday. No protests are planned in Washington, DC.

At least 26 people were killed in Israeli drone strikes while waiting for basic aid distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Israeli attacks have killed at least 42 people across Gaza since dawn, medical sources told Al Jazeera, as the United Nations General Assembly prepares for a vote urging an unconditional ceasefire in the besieged enclave.

Sources told Al Jazeera that at least 26 of the people killed on Thursday died in Israeli drone attacks while waiting for food and basic supplies being distributed by the controversial United States and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Gaza civil defence official Mohammed el-Mougher told AFP news agency that al-Awda Hospital received at least 10 bodies and about 200 others who were wounded “after Israeli drones dropped multiple bombs on gatherings of civilians near an aid distribution point around the Netzarim checkpoint in central Gaza”.

El-Mougher said that Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital also received six bodies after Israeli attacks on aid queues near Netzarim and in the as-Sudaniya area in northwestern Gaza.

Since the GHF began its operation in Gaza in late May, dozens of Palestinians have been killed while trying to reach the aid distribution points, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency.

The previously unknown GHF has come under intense criticism from the United Nations, which says its distribution model is deeply flawed.

“This model will not address the deepening hunger. The dystopian ‘Hunger Games’ cannot become the new reality,” Philippe Lazzarini, the chief of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), wrote on X.

“The UN including @UNRWA has the knowledge, expertise & community trust to provide dignified & safe assistance. Just let the humanitarians do their jobs,” he added.

Separately, a medical source at al-Shifa Hospital told Al Jazeera that two Palestinians were killed as a result of Israeli shelling targeting the Bir an-Naaja area west of Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Meanwhile, Hamas condemned on Thursday the decision of Israel to cut off communication lines in Gaza, describing it as “a new aggressive step” in the country’s “war of extermination”.

“We call on the international community to assume its responsibility to stop the aggression and ensure the protection of civilians and humanitarian and civilian facilities.”

The disruption of communications has resulted in the UNRWA losing contact with its colleagues in the agency in Gaza, the UN’s main humanitarian provider in Gaza said.

The latest developments come as the UN General Assembly is set to vote on a draft resolution that demands an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza.

The 193-member General Assembly is likely to adopt the text with overwhelming support, diplomats say, despite Israel lobbying countries this week against taking part in what it called a “politically motivated, counterproductive charade”.

Last week, the United States vetoed a similar effort in the Security Council.

“Food has become an opportunity for killing, I’ve never heard of such a thing”

Former UN aid chief Martin Griffiths slammed Israel’s killing of Palestinians seeking aid. In an interview with Al Jazeera, he said the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was luring people to their deaths.

An Air India passenger plane bound for London with more than 240 people on board has crashed in India’s northwestern city of Ahmedabad, the airline says.

Firefighters doused the smoking wreckage of the plane, which would have been fully loaded with fuel shortly after takeoff on Thursday, and an adjacent multistorey building.

The airline said the Gatwick Airport-bound flight was carrying 242 passengers and crew. Of those, Air India said, there were 169 Indians, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese and one Canadian.

Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, told The Associated Press news agency that Air India Flight 171 crashed into a residential area called Meghani Nagar five minutes after taking off at 1:38pm (08:08 GMT). He said 244 people were on board the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and it was not immediately possible to reconcile the discrepancy with Air India’s numbers.

All efforts were being made to ensure medical aid and relief support at the site, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu posted on X.

The 787 Dreamliner is a wide-body, twin-engine plane. This is the first crash ever of the aircraft, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.

Boeing said it was aware of the reports of the crash and was “working to gather more information”.

The last major passenger plane crash in India was in 2020 when an Air India Express Boeing 737 skidded off a hilltop runway in southern India, killing 21 people.

The deadliest air disaster in India was on November 12, 1996, when a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight collided midair with a Kazakhstan Airlines flight near Charki Dadri in Haryana state, killing all 349 people on board the two planes.

China’s export of rare earth elements is central to the trade deal struck this week with the United States.

Beijing has a virtual monopoly on the supply of the critical minerals, which are used to make everything from cars to drones and wind turbines.

Earlier this year, Beijing leveraged its dominance of the sector to hit back at US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, placing export controls on seven rare earths and related products.

The restrictions created a headache for global manufacturers, particularly automakers, who rely on the materials.

After talks in Geneva in May, the US and China announced a 90-day pause on their escalating tit-for-tat tariffs, during which time US levies would be reduced from 145 percent to 30 percent and Chinese duties from 125 percent to 10 percent.

The truce had appeared to be in jeopardy in recent weeks after Washington accused Beijing of not moving fast enough to ease its restrictions on rare earths exports.

After two days of marathon talks in London, the two sides on Wednesday announced a “framework” to get trade back on track.

Trump said the deal would see rare earth minerals “supplied, up front,” though many details of the agreement are still unclear.

What are rare earths, and why are they important?

Rare earths are a group of 17 elements that are essential to numerous manufacturing industries.

The auto industry has become particularly reliant on rare-earth magnets for steering systems, engines, brakes and many other parts.

China has long dominated the mining and processing of rare earth minerals, as well as the production of related components like rare earth magnets.

It mines about 70 percent of the world’s rare earths and processes approximately 90 percent of the supply. China also maintains near-total control over the supply of heavy rare earths, including dysprosium and terbium.

China’s hold over the industry had been a concern for the US and other countries for some time, but their alarm grew after Beijing imposed export controls in April.

The restrictions affected supplies of samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium, and required companies shipping materials and finished products overseas to obtain export licences.

The restrictions followed a similar move by China in February, when it placed export controls on tungsten, bismuth and three other “niche metals”.

While news of a deal on rare earths signals a potential reprieve for manufacturers, the details of its implementation remain largely unclear.

What has been the impact of the export restrictions?

Chinese customs data shows the sale of rare earths to the US dropped 37 percent in April, while the sale of rare earth magnets fell 58 percent for the US and 51 percent worldwide, according to Bloomberg.

Global rare earth exports recovered 23 percent in May, following talks between US and Chinese officials in Geneva, but they are still down overall from a year earlier.

The greatest alarm has been felt by carmakers and auto parts manufacturers in the US and Europe, who reported bottlenecks after working their way through inventories of rare earth magnets.

“The automobile industry is now using words like panic. This isn’t something that the auto industry is just talking about and trying to make a big stir. This is serious right now, and they’re talking about shutting down production lines,” Mark Smith, a mining and mineral processing expert and the CEO of the US-based NioCorp Developments, told Al Jazeera.

Even with news of a breakthrough, Western companies are still worried about their future access to rare earths and magnets and how their dependence on China’s supply chain could be leveraged against them.

The Financial Times reported on Thursday that China’s Ministry of Commerce has been demanding “sensitive business information to secure rare earths and magnets” from Western companies in China, including production details and customer lists.

What have the US and China said about rare earth exports?

Trump shared some details of the agreement on his social media platform, Truth Social, where he also addressed concerns about rare earths and rare earth magnets.

“We are getting a total of 55% tariffs, China is getting 10%. The relationship is excellent,” Trump said, using a figure for US duties that includes levies introduced during his first term.

“Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China. Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities (which has always been good with me),” Trump said.

Ahead of the negotiations in London, China’s Ministry of Commerce had said it approved an unspecified number of export licences for rare earths, and it was willing to “further strengthen communication and dialogue on export controls with relevant countries”.

However, an op-ed published by state news outlet Xinhua this week said rare earth export controls were not “short-term bargaining tools” or “tactical countermeasures” but a necessary measure because rare earths can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

NioCorp Developments’ Smith said Beijing is unlikely to quickly give up such powerful leverage over the US entirely.

“There’s going to be a whole bunch of words, but I really think China is going to hold the US hostage on this issue, because why not?” he said.

“They’ve worked really hard to get into the position that they’re in. They have 100 percent control over the heavy rare earth production in the world. Why not use that?”

Deborah Elms, the head of trade policy at the Hinrich Foundation in Singapore, said it was hard to predict how rare earths would be treated in negotiations, which would need to balance other US concerns like China’s role in exporting the deadly opioid fentanyl to the US.

Beijing, for its part, will want guarantees that it can access advanced critical US technology to make advanced semiconductors, she said.

Published on
12/06/2025 – 8:00 GMT+2

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The EU is wrangling over a provision of Donald Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” for the US budget that could see European companies taxed higher than others in retaliation for certain taxes imposed on US enterprises overseas, the vice-chair of the European Parliament’s tax subcommittee has told Euronews.

The German European People’s Party MEP Markus Ferber said the European Commission has raised the proposed legislation—already approved by the House of Representatives—in ongoing tariff negotiations with the Trump administration.

“We are concerned because within this ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ there are special taxes aimed at jurisdictions that impose taxes on the US,” Ferber told Euronews.

He added that jurisdictions like the EU, which have already implemented the OECD agreement establishing a global minimum tax of 15% on multinationals, are directly targeted.

“It could also affect member states that have introduced a digital services tax,” he noted.

The OECD agreement, approved by 140 countries – though as yet unratified by the US – introduced a global minimum tax of 15% on the profits of multinational companies, regardless of where those profits are declared, with effect from 1 January 2024. The EU has transposed the agreement into law and applies it to multinationals operating within the Union, to the ire of the Trump administration.

Meanwhile countries such as Denmark, Portugal and Poland have implemented digital services taxes targeting US tech giants, while others are in the process of creating one.

The US is now looking to retaliate against taxes it deems unfair through a provision of the “Big Beautiful Bill” which would hit foreign investors with a bump in US income tax by five percent points each year, potentially taking the rate up to 20%, in addition to existing taxes.

The Commission is concerned, officials said.

According to Ferber, the EU executive has put this provision of the US budget bill on the negotiating table. “But we are not sure yet that the US agreed to put it in the basket,” the MEP said.

For several weeks, the EU and the US have been discussing a resolution to the trade dispute that has been ongoing since mid-March.

The US impose 50% tariffs on EU steel and aluminium, 25% on cars and 10% on all EU imports.

For its part, the EU has prepared countermeasures targeting around €115 billion worth of US products. These measures are either suspended until July or still awaiting approval by EU member states.

In a speech to Israel’s parliament, the Argentinian leader criticised Swedish activist Greta Thunberg’s advocacy for Palestinian rights.

Argentinian President Javier Milei has announced that his country will move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem next year, as the populist leader signalled his support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s increasingly isolated government.

Argentina’s embassy is currently located in Herzliya, just outside Tel Aviv. But in a speech to Israel’s parliament on Wednesday, staunchly pro-Israel Milei said he was “proud to announce” his country will move its “embassy to the city of west Jerusalem” in 2026.

“Argentina stands by you in these difficult days,” Milei said.

“Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about a large part of the international community that is being manipulated by terrorists and turning victims into perpetrators,” he told the Knesset.

The Argentinian leader, currently on his second state visit to Israel since taking office in 2023, said Buenos Aires will continue to demand that Israeli captives held in Gaza be released, including four with Argentinian citizenship taken during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack.

Milei also criticised Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who was detained and deported by Israeli authorities this week after being taken with other activists from a Freedom Flotilla Coalition ship attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza.

Thunberg has been a vocal critic of Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and deliberate starvation of the territory’s Palestinian population.

“[Thunberg] became a hired gun for a bit of media attention, claiming that she was kidnapped when there are really hostages in subhuman conditions in Gaza,” Milei said, according to a translation of his remarks from Spanish provided by the Knesset.

Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, with the overall death toll after more than 20 months of war surpassing 55,000 Palestinians.

Delicate issue

Milei had pledged to move Argentina’s embassy during his first visit in February 2024, in which he also prayed at the Western Wall, a revered religious site for Jews in Jerusalem.

Speaking in advance of Milei’s address to parliament this week, Prime Minister Netanyahu said “the city of Jerusalem will never be divided again”.

The status of Jerusalem is one of the most delicate issues in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, with Israel claiming the entirety of the ancient city as its capital, while Palestine claims its occupied eastern sector as the site of any future Palestinian state.

Israel first occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War, before unilaterally annexing it in 1980 in a move rejected by the United Nations Security Council. Due to its disputed status, the vast majority of the 96 diplomatic missions present in Israel host their embassies in the Tel Aviv area to avoid interfering with peace negotiations.

Currently only six countries – Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and the United States – have embassies located in West Jerusalem.

During his first term in 2017, President Donald Trump made the shock decision to unilaterally recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital before moving the US embassy there a year later, prompting Palestinian anger and the international community’s disapproval.

This status was not revoked under the Biden administration and Washington continues to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital today.

Australia says the plan to deliver nuclear submarines remains unchanged, despite opposition to the pact from a top Trump official.

Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles said he is “very confident” that the AUKUS security pact between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom will continue to move forward despite news that the Pentagon is reviewing the 2021 deal between the three nations.

News of the review was first reported on Thursday as US defence officials said re-assessing the pact was necessary to ensure that the military deal, agreed to with much fanfare under former US President Joe Biden, was in line with US President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda.

The pact includes a deal worth hundreds of billions of dollars to provide Australia with closely-guarded nuclear propulsion technology. Only five other countries besides the US can build nuclear submarines: the UK, China, Russia, France and India.

“The meetings that we’ve had with the United States have been very positive in respect of AUKUS,” Defence Minister Marles told the ABC network.

A review of the deal is “something that it’s perfectly natural for an incoming administration to do … It’s exactly what we did”, Marles said.

“There is a plan here. We are sticking to it, and we’re going to deliver it,” he said.

Under the terms of the AUKUS deal, Australia and the UK will work with the US to design nuclear-class submarines ready for delivery to Australia in the 2040s, according to the US Naval Institute.

The three countries are already close military allies and share intelligence, but AUKUS focuses on key strategic areas, such as countering the rise of China and its expansion into the Pacific.

Due to the long lead time in building the submarines under the AUKUS deal, Australia also agreed to buy up to three Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines during the 2030s. The US and UK also plan to start the rotational deployment of their submarines out of Australia in 2027.

But some Trump administration officials, such as Pentagon policy adviser Elbridge Colby, say the submarine deal puts foreign governments ahead of US national security.

“My concern is why are we giving away this crown jewel asset when we most need it?” Colby said last year.

Other officials, including US Representative Joe Courtney from Connecticut – a US state which has an industry focused on building submarines for the US Navy – say the deal is in the “best interest of all three AUKUS nations, as well as the Indo-Pacific region as a whole”.

“To abandon AUKUS – which is already well under way – would cause lasting harm to our nation’s standing with close allies and certainly be met with great rejoicing in Beijing,” Courtney said.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to discuss the deal when he meets Trump next week during a meeting of the G7 leaders in Canada.

Earlier this year, Australia made a $500m payment towards AUKUS and plans to spend $2bn this year to speed up the production process in the US of the Virginia-class submarines.

The UK, like Australia, has downplayed concerns that the Trump administration could renege on the pact.

A UK official told the Reuters news agency that the deal is “one of the most strategically important partnerships in decades” that will also produce “jobs and economic growth in communities across all three nations”.

“It is understandable that a new administration would want to review its approach to such a major partnership, just as the UK did last year,” the official said.

These are the key events on day 1,204 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here’s where things stand on Thursday, June 12:

Fighting

• A concentrated, nine-minute-long Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv in the middle of the night killed six people and injured 64, including nine children, Ukrainian officials have said.
• The Ukrainian military said it had struck a major Russian gunpowder plant in the western Tambov region overnight, causing a fire at the site.
• Russian mechanised infantry units have reached the western border of Ukraine’s Donetsk region and, along with a tank division, are continuing their offensive against the adjacent Dnipropetrovsk region, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said.
• Russia’s air defence systems destroyed 32 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday. Half of the drones were downed over the southern Voronezh region, while the rest were intercepted over the Kursk, Tambov, Rostov region and the Crimean Peninsula.
• Ukraine has brought home the bodies of 1,212 soldiers killed in its war against Russia, Kyiv officials said. The Kremlin said Ukraine returned the bodies of 27 Russian soldiers.

Regional security

• Russia sent long-range Tu-22M3 bomber planes on a flight over the Baltic Sea, Russia’s Defence Ministry said, in what appeared to be a mission aimed at sending a message of business-as-usual following the stunning June 1 Ukrainian attack on Russian airbases in Siberia.
• Russia’s nuclear capability did not suffer significant damage due to the Ukrainian attacks on its airfields, and the scale of the damage has been exaggerated, the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov claimed.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking on state television, said 95 percent of weapons in Russia’s strategic nuclear forces were fully up to date.

International relations

• The United States ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, said the Ukrainian drone attack on Russian strategic bombers at their airbases earlier this month was “badass” but also “a little bit reckless, and a little bit dangerous”.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, addressing a conference of southeast European leaders in the Black Sea port of Odesa, said Russia was determined to destroy the south of his country as well as nearby Moldova and Romania, as he called for increased pressure on Moscow to prevent further military threats.
• Serbia’s Kremlin-friendly populist President Aleksandar Vucic travelled to Odesa for the regional summit. It is the first time the leader has visited Ukraine during his 12 years in power.
• Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs said it had summoned a Russian diplomat over a suspected June 10 violation of Finnish airspace by Russian aircraft, the second such event in under three weeks.
• Slovakia will not back the European Union’s 18th package of sanctions against Russia unless the European Commission provides a solution to the situation the country faces if the bloc phases out Russian energy as planned, the country’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has said.
• Germany’s imports of goods from Russia fell by 95 percent in the 2021-2024 period, while its exports of goods to Russia were cut by 72 percent, the country’s statistics office Destatis has reported.
• The EU as a whole cut its imports from Russia by 78 percent and exports by 65 percent over the same timeframe, leading to a trade deficit of 4.5 billion euros ($5.1bn) in 2024 compared with 147.5 billion euros ($170bn) in 2022, Destatis added.

Russian affairs

• A court in western Russia has ruled that opposition politician Lev Shlosberg be placed under house arrest for two months and face unspecified restrictions on his activities for “discrediting” the Russian army after describing the war in Ukraine as a game of “bloody chess”. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
• Russian dissident Leonid Volkov, a prominent ally of late opposition leader Alexey Navalny, was sentenced in absentia to 18 years in prison for spreading fake news about the war in Ukraine and “justifying terrorism”.

While the ruling does not order Khalil’s immediate release, it does undermine the US government’s case against Khalil.

A federal judge in New Jersey has ruled the administration of United States President Donald Trump cannot use an obscure law to detain Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil for his pro-Palestine advocacy.

The ruling from US District Judge Michael Farbiarz on Wednesday cut to the core of the Trump administration’s justification for deporting Khalil, a permanent US resident. But it came short of ordering Khalil’s immediate release from detention.

Instead, Judge Farbiarz gave the administration until 9:30am local (13:30 GMT) on Friday to appeal. After that point, Khalil would be eligible for release on a $1 bail.

Nevertheless, the judge wrote that the administration was violating Khalil’s right to free speech by detaining and trying to deport him under a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. That provision allows the secretary of state to remove foreign nationals who bear “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States”.

Judge Farbiarz has previously signalled he believes that provision to be unconstitutional, contradicting the right to free speech.

“The petitioner’s career and reputation are being damaged and his speech is being chilled,” Farbiarz wrote on Wednesday. “This adds up to irreparable harm.”

Khalil was arrested on March 8 after immigration agents showed up at his student apartment building at Columbia University in New York City. After his arrest, the State Department revoked his green card. He has since been held at an immigration detention centre in Louisiana.

The administration has accused Khalil, a student protest leader, of anti-Semitism and supporting Hamas, but officials have offered no evidence to support their claims, either publicly or in court files.

Critics have instead argued that the administration is using such claims to silence all forms of pro-Palestine advocacy.

Like other student protesters targeted for deportation, Khalil is challenging his deportation in immigration court, while simultaneously challenging his arrest and detention in federal proceedings.

The latter is called a habeas corpus petition, and it asserts that the Trump administration has violated his civil liberties by unlawfully keeping him behind bars.

While students in the other high-profile cases — including Mohsen Mahdawi, Rumeysa Ozturk and Badar Khan Suri — have all been released from detention as their legal proceedings move forward, a ruling in Khalil’s case has been slower coming.

In April, an immigration judge had ruled that Khalil was deportable based on the State Department’s interpretation of the 1952 law, despite a written letter from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio providing no further evidence for the allegations made against him.

Immigration judges fall under the executive branch of the US government and are generally considered less independent than judges in the judicial branch.

Also that month, immigration authorities denied Khalil’s request for temporary release for his son’s birth.

In the case before the New Jersey federal court, meanwhile, the Trump administration has argued that Khalil was not fully transparent in his green card application, something his lawyers deny. But Judge Farbiarz indicated on Wednesday that it was unusual and “overwhelmingly unlikely” for permanent residents to be detained on such grounds.

The nightclub is being replaced with a permanent memorial to one of the US’s worst mass shootings in modern history.

Survivors and family members of the 49 victims killed at an LGBTQ+ friendly nightclub in the United States have gotten their first chance to walk through it before it is demolished and replaced with a permanent memorial to what at the time was considered the worst mass shooting in modern US history.

In small groups over four days starting Wednesday, survivors and family members of those killed plan to spend half an hour at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where Omar Mateen opened fire during a Latin night celebration on June 12, 2016, leaving 49 dead and 53 wounded. Mateen, who had pledged allegiance to ISIL (ISIS), was killed after a three-hour standoff with police.

The Pulse shooting‘s death toll was surpassed the following year when 58 people were killed and more than 850 injured among a crowd of 22,000 at a country music festival in Las Vegas.

The city of Orlando purchased the Pulse property in 2023 for $2m and plans to build a $12m permanent memorial that will open in 2027. These efforts follow a fumbled attempt to create a memorial over many years by a private foundation run by the club’s former owner.

The existing structure will be razed later this year.

“None of us thought that it would take nine years to get to this point, and we can’t go back and relitigate all of the failures along the way that have happened. But what we can do is control how we move forward together,” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said two weeks ago, when county commissioners pledged $5m to support the city of Orlando’s plan.

The opportunity to visit the nightclub comes on the ninth anniversary of the mass shooting.

About 250 survivors and family members of those killed have responded to the city’s invitation to walk through the nightclub this week. Families of the 49 people who were killed can visit the site with up to six people in their group, and survivors can bring one person with them. The club has been cleaned, and lighting has been installed ahead of the walk-throughs.

The people invited to visit are being given the chance to ask FBI agents who investigated the massacre about what happened.

Mental health counsellors will be available to talk to those who walk through the building in what could be both a healing and traumatic moment for them.

“The building may come down, and we may finally get a permanent memorial, but that doesn’t change the fact that this community has been scarred for life,” said Brandon Wolf, who survived the massacre by hiding in a bathroom as the gunman opened fire. He does not plan to visit the site.

“There are people inside the community who still need and will continue to need support and resources.”

Officials say death toll expected to rise as authorities launch search operation in the country’s Eastern Cape province.

At least 49 people have died in heavy flooding in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province after an extreme cold front brought torrential rain and blanketed snow in parts of the country, officials said.

Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane said on Wednesday that the death toll, provided by police, is expected to rise as authorities continue to search for the missing.

“As we speak here, other bodies are being discovered,” Mabuyane told reporters at a briefing.

In one tragic incident, authorities reported the deaths of six high school students who were washed away on Tuesday when their school bus was caught in floodwaters near a river. Four other students were among the missing, Mabuyane said.

Authorities found the school bus earlier Wednesday, but it was empty. Three of the students were rescued on Tuesday when they were found clinging to trees, the provincial government said.

Disaster response teams have been activated in Eastern Cape province and the neighbouring KwaZulu-Natal province after torrential rain hit parts of southern and eastern South Africa over the weekend. Power outages have affected hundreds of thousands of homes, authorities said.

Eastern Cape officials said at least 58 schools and 20 hospitals were damaged by the floods. Approximately 500 people were taken to temporary shelters after their homes were washed away or damaged, they added.

“I have never seen something like this,” Mabuyane said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa offered his condolences to the affected families in a statement. His office said South Africa’s National Disaster Management Centre was now working with local authorities in the Eastern Cape.

Weather forecasters had warned for days prior that an especially strong weather front was heading for the eastern and southern parts of South Africa, bringing damaging rains in some parts and snow in others.

Renewed violence by armed groups Boko Haram and ISIL (ISIS) has forced thousands of people to leave their homes in Nigeria.

Despite repeated government pledges, the military has been unable to end the unrest.

So why is it continuing – and what threats does it pose?

Presenter: 

Elizabeth Puranam

Guests: 

Kabir Adamu – Managing director at Beacon Security and Intelligence in Abuja

David Otto – Deputy director of counterterrorism training at the International Academy for the Fight Against Terrorism in Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Ovigwe Eguegu – Peace and security policy analyst at Development Reimagined in Abuja