Ministers quit as Japan’s PM Kishida battles for trust amid fraud scandal | Politics News

Escalating scandal involving allegations of unreported kickbacks from ruling party fundraising claims key ministers.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is revamping his government as a major corruption scandal in the ruling party has forced the resignations of several ministers including close ally and government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno.

Matsuno, whose official title is Chief Cabinet Secretary, announced his resignation on Thursday after Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura also quit.

Jiji Press and other Japanese media said Internal Affairs Minister Junji Suzuki and Agriculture Minister Ichiro Miyashita were also stepping down and that five deputy ministers would be let go.

The ministers all come from the so-called Abe faction, which is named after the assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and is the biggest and most powerful faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Japanese prosecutors have begun a criminal investigation into the faction over allegations of receiving about 500 million yen ($3.5m) in fundraising proceeds missing from party accounts, news outlets reported.

“In light of the various allegations made regarding political funds, which have shaken the public trust in politics, and the various allegations made regarding my own political funds, I have submitted my resignation,” Matsuno said at a press conference. He will be replaced by Yoshimasa Hayashi, who was the foreign minister until September.

Kishida announced late on Wednesday that he would revamp his government as he battles to control the fallout from the scandal in the party, which has led Japan almost uninterrupted since the end of World War II.

He said he regretted that the scandal had deepened political distrust and insisted he would take urgent steps to tackle it.

“We will tackle the various issues surrounding political funds head-on… I will make efforts like a ball of fire and lead the LDP to restore the public’s trust,” he told reporters.

Investigators are expected to start searching lawmakers’ offices for evidence as early as next week, according to broadcaster NTV, and to examine whether other LDP factions – including one led by Kishida until last week – are involved, according to the reports.

Nishimura was quoted as telling reporters on Thursday: “The public’s doubts are around me over political funds, which is leading to distrust in the government. As an investigation is going on, I thought I wanted to set things right.”

Since news of the latest scandal broke a few weeks ago, Kishida has seen his public support drop to about 23 percent, the lowest since he came into office in October 2021, according to a recent poll by national broadcaster NHK.

Support for the LDP has also slumped.

The prime minister, who has already reshuffled his cabinet twice, does not need to hold an election until October 2025, and a fractured and weak opposition has historically struggled to make sustained inroads against the LDP.

Opposition groups led by the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDPJ) of Japan led an unsuccessful no-confidence motion against Kishida on Wednesday.

“The LDP has no self-cleansing ability,” CDPJ leader Kenta Izumi said. “It is questionable if they can choose anyone who is not involved in slush funds.”

Japanese Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii called the scandal “a bottomless, serious problem”.

Matsuno allegedly diverted more than 10 million yen ($70,600) over the past five years from money he raised from faction fundraising events to a slush fund, while Nishimura allegedly kept 1 million yen ($7,000), according to media reports.

While most senior figures mentioned in the media remained mum, Vice Defence Minister Hiroyuki Miyazawa said on Wednesday that he was told by the Abe faction that “it’s OK to not enter” his first kickbacks in 2020-2022 in the funds’ records and that he assumed it was a practice that had been going on for years and was legal.

Miyazawa also said that while he had been ordered to keep quiet, he felt compelled to speak out. The amount he accepted was reportedly just 1.4 million yen ($9,800).

Collecting proceeds from party events and paying kickbacks to lawmakers are not illegal in Japan if recorded appropriately under the political funds law. Not reporting such payments carries a penalty of as many as five years in prison but prosecution is difficult because it needs proof of a specific instruction to an accountant to not report the transfer.

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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 659 | Russia-Ukraine war News

As the war enters its 659th day, these are the main developments.

Here is the situation on Thursday, December 14, 2023.

Fighting

  • At least 53 people, including six children, were injured after Russia launched a missile attack on Kyiv, the second in a week. The city’s air defences shot down the missiles – Iskander-M and S-400s – but the falling debris blew out windows of apartment blocks as well as a children’s hospital and destroyed parked cars. Of the injured, 18 were taken to hospital.
  • A group of hackers called Solntsepyok claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on Kyivstar, Ukraine’s biggest mobile phone network, after millions of people were left without phone access or air raid alerts. Kyiv believes the group is affiliated with Russian military intelligence. Kyivstar began restoring voice services to some people on Wednesday.

Politics and diplomacy

  • With European Union leaders due to meet on Thursday to decide whether to formally open Ukraine membership talks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was on a visit to Norway after returning to Europe from the United States, said that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had no reason to block Kyiv’s membership of the 27-member grouping. Zelenskyy said he had been “very direct” when he had a brief chat with Orban in Argentina on Sunday.
  • Orban, a conservative nationalist who is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the EU and is blocking 50 billion euros in financial aid for Kyiv, appeared unmoved. “Our stance is clear. We do not support Ukraine’s quick EU entry,” Orban wrote in a post on Facebook, claiming Ukrainian membership would not serve the interests of Hungary or the EU.
  • Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, meanwhile, promised Zelenskyy they would “stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes”. The five countries have provided Ukraine with aid worth some 11 billion euros since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022 and said they were ready to continue giving extensive military, economic and humanitarian support. “Russia must end its aggression and withdraw its forces immediately and unconditionally from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders,” they said in a joint statement.
  • Other EU leaders, including EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, reiterated their support for Ukraine, with Scholz suggesting the EU take enlargement decisions by majority vote rather than unanimity. Newly-elected Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he would try to persuade Orban to change course. “Apathy on Ukraine is unacceptable,” Tusk said, adding that he will try to convince “some member states”.
  • A German court heard that Russia paid Carsten Linke, a former soldier working for Germany’s foreign intelligence agency (BND), at least 450,000 euros in return for information about weaponry with which the West was arming Ukraine. Linke and his accomplice, a Russian-born German diamond trader named Arthur Eller, are charged with high treason.

Weapons

  • Germany’s Scholz stressed that the aim of the West’s continuing military support for Ukraine was to strengthen Kyiv’s defence to such an extent that Russia would “never again dare to attack”.

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‘Fighting is all around’: Myanmar faces deepening humanitarian crisis | Conflict News

In late October, Sai Lam had an uneasy feeling.

The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), an ethnic armed organisation operating in Myanmar’s northern Shan State, was massing forces near his village on the Chinese border and he sensed that fighting was imminent.

So the 27-year-old, who had already secured a job in the construction sector in China’s Yunnan province in order to support his family, decided to expedite his plan.

He travelled from his village near the town of Mong Ko up to the border gate of Muse, and then crossed into China province using a temporary border pass.

His wife and mother, meanwhile, stayed behind to look after their farmland and newborn baby.

Days later, the MNDAA, together with its allies the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Arakan Army, launched Operation 1027, a joint offensive on military outposts in northern Shan State. Sai Lam’s family were forced to flee at dawn on October 27. They returned 10 days later, after the MNDAA had declared control over Mong Ko and the surrounding villages.

Although the situation around Mong Ko has calmed, the military has relentlessly attacked other areas where it has lost ground, including the nearby town of Namkham, which it bombed on December 1 and again a week later. Worrying that the military could also attack Mong Ko, Sai Lam wants to bring his family to China, but they are unable to flee, because the roads out are now inaccessible due to the fighting.

“They are still very scared and alert at all times because the military often fires heavy artillery and bombs from jets,” he said.

Despite the challenges his family has endured, Sai Lam continues to support the ongoing resistance to the military, which seized power from the elected government in February 2021. “We are being oppressed, so we don’t want the military to win,” he said. “We expect that if the military loses and local resistance forces gain control, we may have more freedom and opportunities.”

The Loikaw Local People’s Defence Force (PDF) preparing to go to the front line in Myanmar’s east [File: AFP]

He and others interviewed for this report have been given pseudonyms due to the risk of military retaliation.

Since the start of Operation 1027, Myanmar has seen the most significant escalation in hostilities across the country since the coup, which sparked a widespread armed uprising. Resistance forces have in recent weeks managed to overtake hundreds of military outposts, including strategic border crossings with China and India. They are also closing in on Loikaw, the Karenni State capital, as well as Laukkai, an enclave notorious for transnational human trafficking and online scams.

Analysts now say that the military is at its weakest since the coup, with some even suggesting its imminent collapse. But alongside resistance gains, there has been a serious humanitarian cost. From October 26 to December 8, more than 578,000 people were newly displaced on top of nearly 2 million who were already displaced before the surge in fighting according to the United Nations, which said 363 civilians had been killed and 461 injured since late October.

And at a time when UN agencies and international nongovernmental organisations have struggled to reach affected populations, it is community-based organisations, charity groups and local volunteers who are taking life-threatening risks to help civilians.

“We all know that doing this kind of work is very dangerous, but if we don’t do it, there’s no one,” said Nway Thitsar, who works with a Christian faith-based organisation operating in northern Shan State to deliver food aid. “I can hear the sounds of bombing and gunfire all the time,” she added. “[But] I’m still safe enough that I can help people facing danger.”

No refuge

Even before the start of Operation 1027, Myanmar was experiencing unprecedented levels of armed conflict and a humanitarian crisis. Within months of the coup, autonomy-seeking ethnic armed organisations had joined forces with newly-formed groups, commonly known as people’s defence forces, to drive the military from power and establish a federal democracy.

In response, the military scaled up its use of “four cuts,” a strategy it has long employed against ethnic minorities in the country’s border areas and which seeks to starve resistance groups of food, funds, intelligence and recruits by going after their civilian support base.

Since the coup, it has bombed schools, hospitals and displacement camps across the country, burned tens of thousands of homes, and committed widespread atrocities including torture and mass executions, according to the UN. In March this year, its human rights office found that the military’s use of four cuts was driving a “perpetual human rights crisis” across Myanmar.

The crisis has only worsened in recent weeks.

In Shan State, some of the most intense fighting has been near Laukkai, one of several criminal hubs along Myanmar’s eastern border run by Chinese gangs.

Capitalising on China’s desire to crack down on the industry, which also involves the large-scale trafficking of Chinese nationals, resistance groups have declared combating cybercrime as one of their goals. As they close in on Laukkai, the city has seen a mass exodus, but those fleeing face a perilous journey. On November 11 and 22, shelling killed multiple civilians as they attempted to leave by car.

There are also few places of refuge. About 40,000 people have taken shelter in an autonomous region run by the United Wa State Army, Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic armed organisation, but most displaced people are stranded.

About 50,000 are camping under tarpaulin sheets at the border, where China built an electrified metal fence topped with razor wire during the pandemic. On November 25, Chinese authorities fired tear gas to disperse the displaced, but most have nowhere else to go.

Some people also remain trapped in Laukkai, where many are squatting in unfinished construction sites, according to Nway Thitsar, whose organisation is working to send them food in spite of roadblocks, checkpoints, telecommunications outages and active conflict.

Their funds are also being syphoned off on inflated fuel costs. “If we go to one site which has around 100 migrant workers, the cost of petrol to get there could have fed another 100 people,” said Nway Thitsar. “We feel like it’s a waste.”

Many UN agencies and international organisations, meanwhile, remain confined to their offices in northern Shan State’s largest city, Lashio, according to a national staff member of an INGO who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak on behalf of his organisation.

Karenni resistance forces claim the military has conducted at least 477 air strikes on the Loikaw area since November 11 [Supplied]

He said that safety precautions and operational challenges had left many international organisations unable to respond to needs in the worst-affected areas.

“Our organisation avoids risks, so we only work inside Lashio,” he said. Most international organisations and UN agencies, he added, regard the military as the de facto authority and rely on its permission to travel or distribute aid even though it commonly restricts access. “They only go and do activities which the military allows,” he said.

‘Screaming for cross-border aid’

Fighting has also escalated in Myanmar’s southeastern Karenni State and in northwestern Chin State, where, as in other parts of the country, the military has responded with disproportionate force.

As soon as resistance forces began capturing military bases in the Karenni State capital of Loikaw, the military began bombing the city and surrounding areas in an ongoing campaign that has displaced thousands and resulted in the destruction of the city’s market and other infrastructure. In total, Karenni resistance forces claim that since they scaled up their operations on November 11, the military has conducted at least 477 air strikes on the Loikaw area.

In Chin State, it has acted similarly, bombing the towns of Lalienpi, Paletwa and Rezua following resistance gains, and causing significant hardship for residents even though most had already fled. Salai Thomas, who serves as secretary of the Zotung Federal Council, a resistance-affiliated civilian administration in central and southern Chin State, said the military’s air attack on Rezua on November 29 destroyed 60 homes.

“We announced to the villagers to evacuate three days in advance, so when we seized the military base and police station…villagers were not there,” he said. “When people fled from the village, they couldn’t bring much with them. We are trying our best to bring them back, but they aren’t able to return yet because the price of petrol has increased a lot.”

In other cases, the military has targeted villages far from the fighting. On November 15, its air attack on Waylu village in the Matupi township killed 11 civilians including eight children, according to the township’s resistance-affiliated civilian administration.

According to Myengei, who works with a women-focused humanitarian and advocacy organisation operating in central and western Myanmar, and who is going by a nickname, it has become increasingly difficult and dangerous to reach many areas affected by the crisis because of roadblocks, telecommunications outages and military surveillance.

Still, she said that local responders were finding a way to operate by maintaining a low profile, at times in collaboration with anti-coup groups, nonprofit organisations, charity groups and volunteers across the India border – despite the reluctance of international donors to support such activities. “We’re screaming for cross-border aid but donors, foreign governments and the international community don’t take it seriously,” she said.

The situation for those who fled to Mizoram, India is also precarious. On November 13, stray artillery fire from the fighting in Chin State’s border town of Rikhawdar hit a refugee camp in the town of Zokhawthar, killing one man and injuring two children.

Locally-based volunteer groups are helping provide assistance to people displaced by the fighting  [Supplied]

And although Mizoram has offered refuge and informal support to the roughly 50,000 Myanmar nationals who have taken refuge there since the coup, the state receives no support from the central Indian government, and humanitarian resources were already stretched thin before the recent influx. “When the refugees arrived unexpectedly, there were many challenges,” said Myengei. “We’re lucky that we received help from churches and youth, but [the situation] is not very good in the long run.”

Fighting for survival

Humanitarian needs are also climbing in the country’s western Rakhine State, where a year-long ceasefire between the Arakan Army and military collapsed last month. Even before that, some 200,000 people were living in camps, mostly Rohingya who have been denied freedom of movement since 2012.

Then in May of this year, a deadly cyclone hit the Rakhine coast. “We didn’t even have a chance to properly respond to the victims of Cyclone Mocha and then we have war again,” said Ko Zaw, a humanitarian worker from Rakhine State who is going by his nickname.

He and others expressed particular concerns about food security. Not only has farming been affected by the conflict and displacement; but since the resumption of conflict, the military has also blocked roads and waterways and shelled the markets in the towns of Pauktaw and Ponnagyun.

A vendor at the Ponnagyun market, who fled the town with the rest of its residents and whose shop lot burned down with the rest of the market, told Al Jazeera that she is sheltering with relatives in a nearby village. “All I want for the future is peace and a safe place,” she said.

In the Minbya township, where at least four civilians have been killed by shelling and the main hospital was hit by artillery fire on November 17, a Rohingya woman also described living in fear and uncertainty.

“We can’t get out of Minbya right now. The fighting is all around,” she said. “I can hear bombing and gunfire every day, but I don’t know where they’re fighting. There’s no internet and the phone also often doesn’t work. I worry about everything.”

Hla Sein, a local humanitarian responder based in northern Rakhine State, who is going by a pseudonym, described working to distribute rice and supplies in areas where there has been limited international assistance. “We don’t get aid from any big organisations. We’re running our support with the donations we receive from individual and small local groups,” he told Al Jazeera from the top of a hill, which he climbed to get a faint signal on the only operating mobile network.

He said he has struggled to access cash amid ongoing banking restrictions, while the military has also blocked the movement of goods. “Before, they only had ‘four cuts’, but now, they cut everything,” he said “We only hope that civilians can pass through this period alive.”

Fighting has intensified in the long-troubled Rakhine State where a ceasefire between the Arakan Army and the military has collapsed [File: AFP]

He also has to work with a low profile, because he is delivering aid in coordination with a humanitarian office established through the Arakan Army’s political wing. “We can’t do our work openly. Even donors are afraid to donate openly,” he said.

Ko Zaw, who coordinates informal networks delivering aid across the state, said it is largely local organisations, individuals and charity groups like Hla Sein’s that are able to meet needs on the ground, while international organisations are hindered by more rigid protocols and policies that favour engagement with the military. “The international humanitarian community could not prepare enough [for] the emergency response,” he said. “Even though the situation in Myanmar is changing… the humanitarian response is still traditional.”

Despite the extensive challenges, Ko Zaw said that his experience has shown it is still possible to deliver aid by taking a flexible and pragmatic approach, and called on international donors to put more faith in the local response. “This is our land. We know what we can do. We know where we can send the supplies,” he said. “Our priority is how we can send emergency assistance to the people who are in need.”

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No evidence but US Republicans approve Biden impeachment inquiry | Joe Biden News

Vote means investigation is likely to extend well into 2024 when Biden will be running for reelection, probably against Donald Trump.

The United States House of Representatives has voted to launch a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, despite an ongoing investigation finding no evidence of wrongdoing by the Democrat.

The Republican-controlled House voted 221-212 on Wednesday to approve the investigation, which is examining whether Biden improperly benefitted from his 53-year-old son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.

The vote came hours after the younger Biden refused a call to testify behind closed doors and three months after Republicans informally began the probe.

“We do not take this responsibility lightly and will not prejudge the investigation’s outcome,” Speaker Mike Johnson and his team said in a statement after the vote. “But the evidentiary record is impossible to ignore.”

Authorising the inquiry ensures that the impeachment investigation extends well into 2024 when Biden will be running for reelection and seems likely to be squaring off against former President Donald Trump who was twice impeached during his time in the White House, including for inciting the January 2021 assault on the Capitol.

Trump, who also faces four criminal trials, has pushed his allies in Congress to move swiftly on impeaching Biden, part of his broader calls for retribution against his political enemies.

The White House has dismissed the initiative as unsubstantiated by facts and politically motivated. Biden swiftly condemned the vote.

“Instead of doing their job on the urgent work that needs to be done, they [Republicans] are choosing to waste time on this baseless political stunt that even Republicans in Congress admit is not supported by facts,” Biden said in a statement following the vote.

Hunter Biden offered to testify publicly to the Republican-led House Oversight Committee rather than in a closed-door session [Jack Gruber/USA Today Network via Reuters]

The decision to hold a vote came as Johnson and his team faced growing pressure to show progress in their investigation, which has raised ethical questions but uncovered no evidence that Biden acted corruptly or accepted bribes either in his current role or when he was vice president between 2009 and 2017.

Congressional investigators have obtained nearly 40,000 pages of subpoenaed bank records and dozens of hours of testimony from key witnesses, including several high-ranking Justice Department officials currently investigating the president’s son, Hunter Biden, on firearms and tax charges.

The effort will almost certainly fail to remove Biden from office. Even if the House backs impeachment, the Senate would then have to vote to convict him on the charges by a two-thirds vote – a near-impossibility in a chamber where Biden’s fellow Democrats hold a 51-49 majority.

“By endorsing this impeachment inquiry, the Republican Conference is signing up for another year of a ‘Do Nothing’ Congress: No substantive legislation or policy progress, all political fantasy and conspiracy theory,” Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, said in a statement after the vote.

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Letter accuses US security agency of turning ‘blind eye’ to Gaza suffering | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Washington, DC – More than a hundred staff members from the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have signed an open letter to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas denouncing the department’s handling of the war in Gaza.

The letter, exclusively obtained by Al Jazeera, expresses frustration with the “palpable, glaring absence in the Department’s messaging” of “recognition, support, and mourning” for the more than 18,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the war on October 7.

“The grave humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the conditions in the West Bank are circumstances that the Department would generally respond to in various ways,” the letter, dated November 22, said.

“Yet DHS leadership has seemingly turned a blind eye to the bombing of refugee camps, hospitals, ambulances, and civilians.”

The letter’s signatories include 139 staff members from DHS and the agencies it manages, like Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

But some staff members “elected to sign this letter anonymously” for fear of backlash, the document explained. It called for DHS to “provide a fair and balanced representation of the situation, and allow for respectful expression without the fear of professional repercussions”.

DHS did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment by the time of publication.

The letter is the latest indication of fractures within the administration of President Joe Biden, who has faced internal criticism for his government’s stance on the Gaza war.

Last month, more than 500 officials from 40 government agencies issued an anonymous letter pushing Biden to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Another letter, signed by 1,000 employees from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), expressed a similar appeal.

But Biden has been reluctant to criticise Israel’s ongoing military offensive in Gaza, instead pledging his “rock solid and unwavering” support for the longtime US ally.

In an internal message on November 2, Mayorkas echoed Biden’s stance. He denounced the “horrific terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7”, perpetrated by the Palestinian group Hamas, but made no mention of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“The impacts [of October 7] continue to sweep through Jewish, Arab American, Muslim and other communities everywhere,” Mayorkas wrote.

“I am heartened knowing that our Department is on the front lines of protecting our communities from antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bigotry and hate.”

US President Joe Biden has expressed ‘unwavering’ support for Israel as it conducts a months-long military offensive in Gaza [Leah Millis/Reuters]

But two DHS staff members who spoke to Al Jazeera on the condition of anonymity felt that department leadership should be going further to address the mounting death toll in Gaza, where civilians remain under Israeli siege.

United Nations experts have already warned of a “grave risk of genocide” in the territory, as supplies run low and bombs continue to fall.

“I’ve been very dedicated to the federal government,” one anonymous DHS official said. “I’ve served in different capacities. I very much believed in our mission.

“And then, after October 7, I feel like there has just been a drastic shift in this expectation of what we’re supposed to do when there’s a humanitarian crisis and what we’re actually doing when there’s politics involved, and that has a very, very scary, chilling impact.”

The staff’s open letter calls for DHS to take actions in Gaza “commensurate with past responses to humanitarian tragedies”, including through the creation of a humanitarian parole programme for Palestinians in the territory.

That would allow them to temporarily enter the US “based on urgent humanitarian or significant public benefit reasons”.

The letter also pushed DHS to designate residents of the Palestinian territories eligible for “temporary protected status” or TPS. That would permit Palestinians already in the US to remain in the country and qualify for employment authorisation.

Such programmes have been put in place for other conflicts, including for Ukrainians facing full-scale invasion from Russia.

Last month, 106 members of Congress — including Senator Dick Durbin and Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Jerry Nadler — even sent a letter to Biden, urging a TPS designation for the Palestinian territories.

Biden has been criticised for offering temporary protected status for Ukrainians but not for Palestinians in Gaza [Evan Vucci/AP Photo]

But one of the anonymous DHS officials who spoke with Al Jazeera said that, although there has been discussion about a possible TPS designation, action seems unlikely.

“There have been a lot of serious systemic and programmatic obstacles driven purely by politics,” she said.

Part of the challenge is that the US does not recognise Palestine as a foreign state, putting its eligibility for TPS in doubt.

“We don’t recognise Palestine as a state. We don’t code them with that,” the DHS official explained. “And that’s something across Customs and Border Protection, ICE and USCIS. There have just been obstacles raised at the highest levels of those agencies.”

The official suspects she knows why. “They’re worried about their own operations in terms of removing or deporting people to Gaza and the West Bank, if they were to change these codes.”

But that inaction has levied a steep toll on employees’ mental health, according to the DHS officials Al Jazeera spoke to.

One described how colleagues with family in Gaza had received no support from DHS leadership as they tried to bring their relatives to safety.

The other, a senior staff member who has spent more than a decade working for the federal government, described having nightmares of losing his own children.

He said he wakes up “with the knowledge that we’re not actually doing all that we can to provide programmes and relief for the Palestinians”.

“It’s definitely distressing and dispiriting to feel like, for political considerations, we’re not addressing [the conflict] in the same way that we would other previous, recent humanitarian crises, for instance, like Ukraine.”

Houses are left in ruin after an Israeli air strike in Rafah, part of the southern Gaza Strip, on December 12 [Fadi Shana/Reuters]

The senior official voiced dismay that Biden’s immigration policies have remained similar to that of his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.

Biden has faced pressure to limit the number of arrivals in the US, particularly as migration across the US-Mexico border spikes.

“The issue is, honestly, that the Biden administration has been really tepid about moving too far in front on immigration and is focused almost entirely on the southern border and how that impacts the administration politically. That has informed a lot of the decision-making with respect to new programmes,” the official said.

That tepidness has left many of the anonymous DHS officials feeling demoralised, questioning their sense of mission.

“We have the ability to do anything, something, and we’re just not,” one of the officials said.

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What to know about Turkey’s football crisis after attack on referee | Football News

Turkey is set to resume its league football on Tuesday, ending a brief suspension in the domestic competition caused by an attack on a referee by a club’s president who was later arrested by local authorities.

Turkish football’s “night of shame” has caused the country’s most popular sport to spiral into a crisis and has raised questions about on-pitch violence towards match officials.

Here’s a look at the events that unfolded since the violent incident in Ankara:

What happened during and after the match?

The Turkish Super Lig match between MKA Ankaragucu and Caykur Rizespor ended in a 1-1 draw on Monday after the visitors equalised in the last minute of added time. After the full-time whistle was blown, Ankaragucu President Faruk Koca rushed onto the pitch with a group of men and knocked out referee Halil Umut Meler with a blow to the left side of his face.

Meler was kicked several times in the ensuing melee, which occurred when fans invaded the pitch. The 37-year-old match official was shown standing minutes later with a black eye that had swelled up the left part of his face.

He eventually made it to the dressing room with the help of the police.

Why was the referee attacked?

Koca appeared to be incensed at Meler for sending off one of his players and then awarding a stoppage-time goal that allowed Rizespor to leave Ankara with a draw.

Meler released a statement on Tuesday saying Koca had threatened his life.

“Faruk Koca punched me under my left eye, and I fell to the ground. While I was on the ground, they kicked my face and other parts of my body many times,” Meler said.

“[He] told me and my fellow referees: ‘I will finish you.’ Addressing me in particular, he said: ‘I will kill you.’”

Meler was released from hospital in Ankara on Wednesday after undergoing observation and receiving a phone call from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Meler, a respected referee with accreditation to officiate international matches, is expected to recover and join the refereeing crew of the Euro 2024 championship, to be held from June to July in Germany.

Halil Umut Meler leaves the hospital in Ankara on December 13, 2023 [Cagla Gurdogan/Reuters]

Who is Faruk Koca?

MKE Ankaragucu’s Koca is a politician, former parliamentarian, aspiring Ankara mayor and member of Erdogan’s AK Party.

“If I am entrusted with the task of being the metropolitan municipality mayor, I will do what is necessary,” Koca said this year. However, the ruling party has initiated procedures to expel Koca.

Since the incident, Koca has resigned as club president – a role he took up in 2021 – but insists that his team was cheated by the referee.

“No matter how great an injustice or how wrong [the officiating] was, nothing can legitimise or explain the violence that I perpetrated,” Koca said in a club statement.

“I apologise to the Turkish refereeing community, the sports public and our nation,” he added.

Turkish Football Federation (TFF) chief Mehmet Buyukeksi said the sport’s governing body will announce penalties for the altercation.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said Koca and two others were formally arrested for “injuring a public official” after prosecutors took statements from them.

“The investigation is continuing meticulously,” he said on the social media platform X.

Turkey’s president was also quick to condemn the incident.

“Sports means peace and brotherhood. The sport is incompatible with violence. We will never allow violence to take place in Turkish sports,” Erdogan wrote on X.

What has FIFA said?

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the events after the match were “totally unacceptable and have no place in our sport or society”.

“Without match officials, there is no football,” he added.

European football’s governing body, UEFA, also condemned the incident.

“We urge the authorities and the responsible disciplinary bodies to take decisive and necessary action against anyone involved in acts of abuse and violence against referees,” UEFA said.

Matches were suspended indefinitely hours after the incident, but on Wednesday, the TFF said action will resume next week.

Is there a history of violent attacks on referees and match officials?

Violence in football is commonplace in Turkey despite efforts to clamp down on it although direct attacks on top-level referees are rare. Still, Buyukeksi blamed the attack on a culture of contempt towards referees.

“Everyone who has targeted referees and encouraged them to commit crimes is complicit in this despicable attack,” he said.

“The irresponsible statements of club presidents, managers, coaches and television commentators targeting referees have opened the way for this attack.”

Pierluigi Collina, chairman of FIFA’s referees committee, said the incident was horrific.

“Neither the referee nor the man deserved to live the experience he lived yesterday in Ankara. He was doing his job when he was assaulted on the field of play at the end of a match he just officiated,” Collina said on Tuesday.

Hugh Dallas, Turkish Super Lig’s head of referee education, was in the stadium when the incident happened and has called for governments to take action.

Referees in Turkey are often criticised by club managers and presidents for their decisions.

“I think a lot of club presidents, media and others will take a look at themselves today and realise when you whip up that type of mass hysteria regarding refereeing, this is the result,” he told the BBC.

“There has to be legislation and punishments put in place for clubs, players, owners or whoever when they behave in such a manner because it definitely can’t continue.”



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Tesla recalls nearly all US vehicles over autopilot system defects | Automotive Industry News

The firm’s largest-ever recall comes after a two-year investigation by federal safety regulator focused on autopilot function.

Tesla is recalling more than two million cars in the United States, nearly all of its vehicles sold there, after a federal regulator said defects with the autopilot system pose a safety hazard.

In a recall filing on Wednesday, the carmaker said autopilot software system controls “may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse”.

“Automated technology holds great promise for improving safety but only when it is deployed responsibly,” said a spokesperson for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has been investigating the autopilot function for more than two years.

“Today’s action is an example of improving automated systems by prioritizing safety.”

The decision marks the largest-ever recall for Tesla, as autonomous vehicle development in the US hits a series of snags over safety concerns. The company has said that it will install new safeguards and fix current defects.

The recall covers models Y, S, 3 and X produced between October 5, 2012, and December 7, 2023.

Speaking before the US House of Representatives on Wednesday, acting NHTSA Administrator Ann Carlson said she was happy Tesla had agreed to a recall.

She said that the agency first started investigating Tesla’s autopilot function in August 2021 after hearing about several fatal crashes that occurred when the autopilot was on.

“One of the things we determined is that drivers are not always paying attention when that system is on,” she said.

Documents posted on Wednesday by the agency said the current autopilot design can lead to “foreseeable misuse of the system,” and that the changes to be instituted will “further encourage the driver to adhere to their continuous driving responsibility”.

Some experts have raised questions over whether such steps go far enough.

“The compromise is disappointing,” Phil Koopman, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University who studies autonomous vehicle safety, told The Associated Press.

“Because it does not fix the problem that the older cars do not have adequate hardware for driver monitoring.”

Driverless cars, exalted by supporters as an exciting technological advancement, have faced a series of setbacks in recent months.

In October, California suspended testing by the self-driving car firm Cruise, after California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) raised questions about safety concerns.

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Displaced Palestinians “don’t have anything to survive on” | Israel-Palestine conflict News

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“They are suffering right now. They don’t have anything to survive on.” Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum observed the deteriorating conditions many Palestinians are being forced to endure after being told to evacuate to so-called safe areas by Israel.

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Australia cricketer Khawaja will ‘fight’ to wear Palestine solidarity shoes | Cricket News

Australian cricket player Usman Khawaja has promised to “fight” a ruling by the sport’s governing body that he says has stopped him from displaying messages in support of “those who don’t have a voice”.

In an emotional video posted on his social media, Khawaja clarified that his message was “not political” and that the “bigger problem” was people calling him up to berate him for his stance.

The opening batter was seen wearing cricket boots with “all lives are equal” and “freedom is a human right” written on them in the colours of the Palestinian flag during Australia’s training session prior to their Test series against Pakistan.

The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) rules do not allow players to display “non-compliant” wording or logos on clothing or equipment worn during international matches.

It means that the batter will not be able to wear the boots during Australia’s first Test match against Pakistan, starting on Thursday, December 14.

“I will respect their view and decision, but I will fight it and seek to gain approval,” Khawaja said.

“I’m just speaking up for those who don’t have a voice.”

The ICC has declined Al Jazeera’s request for a comment.

‘I imagine my two girls – what if it were them’

Khawaja said he was speaking up for the thousands of children that are being killed [in Gaza] “without any repercussions or remorse” and that his message was not “political” as seen by the ICC.

At least 7,700 children have been killed in Gaza since the war began in October, according to government and health officials in the besieged strip.

“This is close to my heart,” he said in the video with a quivering voice.

“When I see thousands of children dying without any repercussions or remorse, I imagine my two girls – what if this was them?”

Khawaja has two daughters, Aisha and Ayla, with his Australian-born wife Rachel whom he married in 2018.

“No one chooses where they are born, and then I see the world turning their backs on them, my heart can’t take it,” he went on to say in the video.

The 36-year-old, who was born in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad before moving to Australia as a child. He has often spoken of his experience and the problems he has faced moving through the Australian cricket circuit.

“I already felt my life wasn’t equal to others when I was growing up,” he said.

“But luckily for me, I have never lived in a world where the lack of inequality was life or death.”

Usman Khawaja gives an on-field interview holding his daughter Aisha [File: Paul Childs/Action Images via Reuters]

Khawaja questions backlash

Khawaja, who has represented Australia in 115 international matches in a 12-year career, said he wanted to ask those people who got offended by his act of solidarity, “Is freedom not for everyone?”

“To me, personally, it doesn’t matter what race, religion or culture you are – but if me saying ‘all lives are equal’ has offended people to the point of  – these people obviously don’t believe in what I have written.”

“What I have written is not political, I’m not taking sides. Human life to me is equal. One Muslim life is equal to one Jewish life, is equal to one Hindu life, and so on.”

Despite Khawaja’s revelation about a shocking number of people calling him up to tell him off, he has found support from Australia’s Sport Minister Anika Wells.

“Usman Khawaja is a great athlete and a great Australian,” Anika Wells told local media.

“He should have every right to speak up on matters that are important to him. He has done so in a peaceful and respectful way.”

Meanwhile, Australia captain Pat Cummins said he spoke with Khawaja and confirmed that the batter won’t display the messages despite them “not being divisive.”

“On his shoes he had ‘all lives are equal’. I think that’s not very divisive. I don’t think anyone can really have too many complaints about that,” he told reporters in his pre-match news conference.

“I don’t think his intention is to make too big of a fuss, but we support him,” Cummins said.

‘Political messaging makes regulatory bodies nervous’

Experts believe how the ICC reacts to Khawaja’s appeal will set a precedent for the handling of such issues by sport bodies.

“I think many eyes in the sporting world will look at how this matter is resolved,” Ian Bayley, a senior lecturer in media and public relations at the University of Staffordshire, told Al Jazeera.

When asked if Khawaja had approached them to seek approval to wear the messaging on his boots, they had “no comment, nothing has happened.”

“The ICC code of conduct on this issue is quite explicit,” Bayley said.

“But Khawaja’s counter-argument that his messages are not political but are, in fact, humanitarian is an interesting one.

The academic said, “Sport has always offered a strong and powerful platform for political messaging.”

“But it is a fact that, rightly or wrongly, political messaging tends to make regulatory bodies nervous.

“Setting aside the arguments about free speech, it is not surprising that many [sports bodies] have rules in place which effectively limit, or even ban, competitors from displaying political messages.”

Former England cricketer Moeen Ali has also been at the receiving end of the ICC’s warning for showing support for Palestinians.

In the middle of the 2014 war in Gaza, Ali was asked to stop wearing wristbands showing support for Gaza during a Test match against India.

More recently, Pakistan wicketkeeper Muhammad Rizwan dedicated his country’s win against Sri Lanka at the Cricket World Cup in India to the people of Gaza but did not face any sanctions as the comments were made after the match.

‘Double standards’

Cricket fans and experts have slammed the ICC’s decision and have drawn comparisons when the sport has shown support to other causes in the past.

Cricket writer Ayaz Memon said Khawaja was “brave and right”.

“What’s objectionable in the cause he’s espousing? ICC, which (rightly) supported Black Lives Matter, is being shamefully duplicitous in this instance,” he wrote in a post on X.

 



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US Supreme Court to decide on access to abortion pill in major case | Women’s Rights News

The Biden administration aims to preserve access to the abortion pill mifepristone, which has been approved by the FDA.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a bid by President Joe Biden’s administration to preserve access to the abortion pill, setting up another major ruling on reproductive rights set to come in a presidential election year.

The court made the decision Wednesday, two years after it ended its recognition of a constitutional right to abortion.

The justices took up the administration’s appeal of an August decision by the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals that would curb how the pill, called mifepristone, is delivered and distributed, barring telemedicine prescriptions and shipments by mail of the drug.

The high court also agreed to hear an appeal by the drug’s manufacturer, Danco Laboratories.

The 5th Circuit’s decision is currently on hold pending the outcome of the appeal at the Supreme Court in a challenge to the pill brought in Texas by anti-abortion rights groups and doctors.

The justices are expected to hear arguments in the coming months and issue a decision by the end of June in the middle of a heated presidential race.

The Department of Justice in its filing to the Supreme Court said that allowing the 5th Circuit’s restrictions to take effect would have “damaging consequences for women seeking lawful abortions and a healthcare system that relies on the availability of the drug under the current conditions of use”.

Abortion a key election issue

Anti-abortion rights groups want to see mifepristone banned, claiming it is unsafe, despite the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s approval of it back in 2000, and that adverse effects of the drug are rare.

The US government argues the use of mifepristone should be left to FDA, but at a hearing in May, the three judges in the lower court pushed back against the government’s arguments.

As such, the case could put at risk the authority of the FDA.

It stems from a ruling by a conservative US District Court judge in Texas that would have banned mifepristone.

Biden’s administration is seeking to defend the pill in the face of abortion bans and restrictions enacted by Republican-led states since the Supreme Court in June 2022 overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision that had legalised the procedure.

Since the overturning, at least 14 US states have put in place outright abortion bans while many others prohibit abortion after a certain duration of pregnancy.

Abortion rights are a divisive issue in the 2024 presidential race.

Biden’s main challenger, former President Donald Trump, appointed three members of the Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority – all three of whom voted to overturn Roe.

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