Video: China sends warships to surround Taiwan in invasion drill
NewsFeed Video: China sends warships to surround Taiwan in invasion drill
Chinese warships and air forces have been conducting an invasion drill around Taiwan, which sent its own warships to respond. Al Jazeera's Katrina Yu explains what's going on and why now.
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Al Jazeera
3 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
UN demands probe as Israeli forces kill more people near aid site in Gaza
Israeli forces have opened fire again on Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid from a distribution site in Gaza, killing at least three people and injuring more than 30, as the United Nations demands an independent investigation into the repeated mass shootings of aid seekers in the strip. The shooting erupted at sunrise on Monday at the same Israeli-backed aid point in southern Gaza where soldiers had opened fire just a day earlier, according to health officials and witnesses. 'The Israeli military opened fire on civilians trying to get their hands on any kind of food aid without any kind of warning,' Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza. 'This is a pattern that's been widely condemned by international aid organisations because it enhances the breakdown of civil order without ensuring humanitarian relief can be received by those desperately in need.' Witnesses said Israeli snipers and quadcopter drones routinely monitor aid sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by Israel and the United States. A Red Cross field hospital received about 50 people wounded in the latest shooting, including two who were dead on arrival, said Hisham Mhanna, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross. Most had been hit by bullets or shrapnel. A third body was taken to Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Younis. Moataz al-Feirani, 21, said he was shot in the leg while walking with thousands of others towards the food site. 'We had nothing, and they [the Israeli military] were watching us,' he told The Associated Press news agency, adding that surveillance drones circled overhead. The shooting began about 5:30am (02:30 GMT) near the Flag Roundabout, he said. The pattern of deadly violence around the GHF aid distribution site has triggered mounting international outrage, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday demanded an independent inquiry into the mass shooting of Palestinians. 'It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,' he said. 'I call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable.' The Israeli military has denied targeting civilians, claiming its soldiers fired 'warning shots' at individuals who 'posed a threat'. The GHF has also denied the shootings occurred although doubts about its neutrality have intensified since its founding executive director, former US marine Jake Wood, resigned before operations even began after he questioned the group's 'impartiality' and 'independence'. Critics said the group functions as a cover for Israel's broader campaign to depopulate northern Gaza as it concentrates aid in the south while bypassing established international agencies. Aid is still barely trickling into Gaza after Israel partially lifted a total siege that for more than two months cut off food, water, fuel and medicine to more than two million people. Thousands of children are at risk of dying from hunger-related causes, the UN has previously warned. Elsewhere in the territory, Israeli air attacks continued to hammer residential areas. In Jabalia in northern Gaza, Israeli forces killed 14 people, including seven children, in an attack on a home, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence agency. At least 20 people remained trapped under the rubble. Two more Palestinians were killed and several wounded in another attack in Deir el-Balah, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, while a drone attack in Khan Younis claimed yet another life. Gaza's Ministry of Health reported that at least 51 Palestinians have been killed and 503 injured in Israeli attacks across the territory in the latest 24-hour reporting period alone. Despite growing international condemnation, Israel's military on Monday ordered the displacement of even more civilians from parts of Khan Younis, warning it would 'operate with great force'. Roughly 80 percent of the strip is now either under Israeli military control or designated for forced evacuation, according to new data from the Financial Times, as Gaza's 2.3 million residents are crammed into an ever-shrinking patch of land in southern Gaza near the Egyptian border. Israel has made little secret of its aim to permanently displace Gaza's population as officials openly promote 'voluntary migration' plans. The Financial Times reported that the areas Palestinians are being pushed into resemble a 'desert wasteland with no running water, electricity or even hospitals'. Satellite images showed Israeli forces clearing land and setting up military infrastructure in evacuated areas. Analysts who reviewed dozens of recent forced evacuation orders said the trend has accelerated since the collapse of a truce in March. 'The Israeli government has been very clear with regards to what their plan is about in Gaza,' political analyst Xavier Abu Eid told Al Jazeera. 'It is about ethnic cleansing.'
Al Jazeera
14 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Turnout low as Mexico votes in controversial judicial election
A landmark vote to select judges in Mexico has been labelled a 'success' by the president despite a sparse turnout and widespread confusion. Just 13 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in Sunday's vote to overhaul the court system. President Claudia Sheinbaum proclaimed that the election would make Mexico more democratic, but critics accused her of seeking to take control of the judiciary, while analysts warned it could open the way for criminals to seize influence. The vote, a cornerstone policy of Sheinbaum and predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, aimed to fill about 880 federal judicial positions, including Supreme Court justices, as well as hundreds of local judges and magistrates. But many voters said they struggled to make informed choices among a flood of largely unknown candidates, who were barred from openly disclosing party affiliations or engaging in widespread campaigning. Al Jazeera's John Holman reported from Mexico City that polling stations were 'largely empty'. 'On what the government planned to be a historic day, the majority of Mexicans prefer to do something else,' he said. Still, Sheinbaum hailed the election as 'a complete success' that makes the country a democratic trailblazer. 'Mexico is a country that is only becoming more free, just and democratic because that is the will of the people,' the president said. The reform, defended by supporters as necessary to cleanse a corrupt justice system, was originally championed by Sheinbaum's predecessor, Lopez Obrador, who frequently clashed with the old judiciary. Experts had warned that turnout would be unusually low due to the sheer number of candidates and the unfamiliarity of judicial voting. To be properly informed, voters 'would have to spend hours and hours researching the track record and the profiles of each of the hundreds of candidates', said David Shirk, a professor at the University of San Diego. That concern was echoed by voters at the polls. 'We are not very prepared,' said Lucia Calderon, a 63-year-old university teacher. 'I think we need more information.' Francisco Torres de Leon, a 62-year-old retired teacher in southern Mexico, called the process 'painstaking because there are too many candidates and positions that they're going to fill'. Beyond logistical challenges, analysts and rights groups raised fears that powerful criminal groups could use the elections to further infiltrate the judiciary. While corruption already exists, 'there is reason to believe that elections may be more easily infiltrated by organised crime than other methods of judicial selection', said Margaret Satterthwaite, the United Nations special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. Although all candidates were supposed to have legal experience, no criminal record and a 'good reputation', several have been linked to organised crime and corruption scandals. Rights group Defensorxs identified about 20 candidates it considers 'high risk', including Silvia Delgado, a former lawyer for Sinaloa cartel cofounder Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman. Another candidate, in Durango state, previously served nearly six years in a US prison for drug offences. Election results are expected in the coming days. A second round of judicial elections is scheduled for 2027 to fill hundreds more positions.
Qatar Tribune
a day ago
- Qatar Tribune
Trade tensions set to cool off as Trump, Xi eye breakthrough call
Agencies Abreakthrough in stalled U.S.-China trade talks could be near, U.S. officials said Sunday, expressing hope that a call between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping – expected soon, might break the deadlock. Tensions flared Friday when Trump accused Beijing of backtracking on a recent Geneva agreement that paused tit-for-tat tariffs for 90 days. Adding to the strain, The Wall Street Journal reported China was dragging its feet on export licenses for rare earths critical to car and chip manufacturing – a claim later confirmed by U.S. officials. Still, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent struck a more optimistic tone on CBS's Face the Nation, saying the remaining gaps 'could soon be bridged.' 'I'm confident that when President Trump and Party Chairman Xi have a call, this will be ironed out,' Bessent said, noting that China was 'withholding some of the products that they agreed to release during our agreement.' When asked if rare earths were among those products, Bessent said, 'Yes.' 'Maybe it's a glitch in the Chinese system. Maybe it's intentional. We'll see after the president speaks with Xi,' he said. Asked when the Trump-Xi call might take place, Bessent said: 'I believe we will see something very soon.' Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told ABC that the call could happen 'this week,' but said he had no confirmation of a scheduled time. Since Trump returned to the presidency, he has imposed sweeping tariffs on most U.S. trading partners, with especially high rates on Chinese imports. New tit-for-tat levies on both sides reached triple digits before the recent de-escalation, when Washington agreed to temporarily reduce additional tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to 30%. China, meanwhile, lowered its added duties from 125% to 10%. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox News Sunday that China was 'slow-rolling the deal,' adding: 'We are taking certain actions to show them what it feels like on the other side of that equation.' 'Our president understands what to do. He's going to go work it out,' Lutnick said. Lutnick also said a U.S. court battle over Trump's tariff strategy – one court ruling to block the tariffs has been stayed pending appeal – would ultimately end in a win for the president.'Tariffs are not going away,' Lutnick said. Separate from the China deal, Trump said Friday he would double sector-specific tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50% starting June 4 – sparking ire from the European Union, which said it would retaliate. Hassett said China's dumping of low-cost steel was hurting U.S. industry – which in turn was hindering military preparedness.'The bottom line is that we've got to be ready in case things don't happen the way we want, because if we have cannons but not cannonballs, then we can't fight a war,' Hassett told This Week. 'And if we don't have steel, then the U.S. isn't ready, and we're not preparing ourselves for something,' he added. 'We have to have a steel industry that's ready for American defense.'
