Tel Aviv, Israel — Israeli protesters expressed concern for the hostages in Gaza on Saturday, after Qatar said it was pausing as a key mediator for a cease-fire that would help bring the captives home. Thousands of people rallied in Tel Aviv holding signs reading "400," the number of days since the hostages were taken when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Efforts to broker a truce in the ensuing war between Hamas and Israel have proven fruitless, and on Saturday Qatar put its mediation on hold until the two sides showed "willingness and seriousness" in talks. Protester Ruti Lior said she was unsure how much sway Qatar had, but was still "very, very worried" by their decision to pull back from negotiations. "This is further proof for me that there really is no seriousness, and these deals are being sabotaged," the 62-year-old psychotherapist told AFP. Saturday's rally featured an installation of masks representing Netanyahu along with signs bearing the word "Guilty." Other placards read "Hostage deal now" and "Drop your weapon, stop the war." "How many more tears must fall and how much more blood must be shed before someone does what needs to be done and brings our children home?" Niva Wenkert, mother of hostage Omer Wenkert, was quoted as saying in a statement released by campaign group Hostage and Missing Families Forum. In the October 7, 2023, attack, Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and captured about 250 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza. Israel says it believes Hamas is still holding 101 hostages, including 35 the military says are dead. Hamas has been designated a terror group by the United States, the U.K. and other Western countries. Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people, according to the territory's health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. Israelis have been protesting weekly to pressure their government to do more to secure the captives' release. Qatar, which has hosted Hamas's political leadership since 2012 with U.S. blessing, has been involved in months of protracted diplomacy aimed at ending the war in Gaza. But the talks, also mediated by Cairo and Washington, have repeatedly hit snags since a one-week truce in November 2023 -- the only one so far -- with both sides trading blame for the impasse. 

An intercepted missile fired from Yemen sparked blazes near Jerusalem Monday, and later the Houthi rebels said they carried out a successful attack on central Israel. The Iran-backed militant group said it executed a "military operation targeting the Nahal Sorek military base" southeast of Jaffa, and that the "hit was accurate and led to a fire." Meanwhile, the main television news outlet operated by the Houthis said U.S. and British forces carried out a series of airstrikes targeting the Amran and Saada governorates in Yemen. The Israeli military told Agence France-Presse a projectile from Yemen was intercepted in the Bet Shemesh area west of Jerusalem, and debris from that interception caused fires. In a statement to the AFP, it said: "Following the sirens that sounded in the Shfelat Yehuda, Yehuda, and Lakhish areas of central Israel, the IAF (Israeli Air Force) intercepted one projectile that approached Israel from the direction of Yemen. "The projectile did not cross into Israeli territory. Sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol." An Iran-backed coalition, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, claimed to have carried out four drone attacks on “vital targets” in Israel Monday, but did not disclose details about the targets in a series of Telegram posts. Strikes in Gaza, Lebanon At least three people were killed Sunday when an Israeli strike hit a tent sheltering a displaced family in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials reported. Palestinians reported heavy bombing late Sunday in the western areas of Nuseirat camp, and least 24 people were wounded and taken to the Awda hospital in Nuseirat, the head of the hospital’s ambulance service told the Associated Press. Earlier Sunday in northern Gaza, an Israeli strike on a home sheltering displaced people in the urban refugee camp of Jabaliya killed at least 17 people including nine women, according to Dr. Fadel Naim, director of Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City. An Israeli airstrike killed at least 23 people, including seven children, in Aalmat village north of Beirut, far from the areas in the east and south where Hezbollah militants have a major presence. Lebanon's health ministry said another six people were wounded. There was no Israeli evacuation warning and no immediate Israeli comment on the attack. The United Nations children’s agency says the war between Israel and Hezbollah has killed more than 200 children in Lebanon.   Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 3,189 people have been killed and over 14,000 wounded in Lebanon in more than a year of conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. Some 1.2 million people have been displaced. The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, although about one-third of them are believed to be dead. Israel's counteroffensive has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities. The Israeli military says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas militants. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, the United Kingdom, European Union and others. Israeli President Isaac Herzog is scheduled to meet with outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday in Washington as the mid-month deadline approaches for Israel to meet a Biden administration ultimatum that it allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza to assist Palestinians or risk possible restrictions on U.S. military funding. Information from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters was included in this report.

Jerusalem/Beirut — Israel said on Monday there was progress in talks about a Lebanon cease-fire and indicated Russia could play a part by stopping Hezbollah rearming via Syria, although the Iran-backed group said it had not received any new truce proposals. Pummeled by Israel's offensive, Hezbollah said diplomatic contacts were under way involving its backers in Tehran, Washington and Moscow, whilst reiterating its readiness to fight on, saying it had enough weapons for a "long war." In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the war against Hezbollah was not yet over. The main challenge facing any cease-fire deal would be enforcement, he said, though there was "a certain progress" in talks. After previous rounds of fruitless U.S.-led diplomacy to secure a Lebanon truce, the comments indicate renewed focus on the issue as President Joe Biden prepares to leave office in January, with President-elect Donald Trump set to replace him. Hopes of a Gaza truce have meanwhile suffered a setback, with Qatar suspending its mediation role. Ignited by the war in Gaza, the conflict at the Lebanese-Israeli border had been rumbling on for a year before Israel went on the offensive in late September, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes and sending troops into the south. Saar, addressing a Jerusalem news conference, said Israel was working with the United States on a cease-fire. Israel wants Hezbollah north of the Litani river – some 30 km from the border - and unable to rearm, he said. Saar said a basic principle for any agreement had to be that Hezbollah would not be able to bring weapons into Lebanon from Syria. "It is vital to the success of any arrangement in Lebanon," he said. "And the Russians are, as you know, present in Syria. And if they are in agreement with this principle, I think they can contribute effectively to this objective." Russia deployed forces into Syria nearly a decade ago to support President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war there. Hezbollah also sent fighters to help Assad, and carved out big sway on the ground alongside other Iran-backed groups. Syria is widely seen as a major conduit for Iran to supply weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Israel has struck targets in Syria regularly during the conflict. An Israeli airstrike temporarily cut Syria's main Homs-Damascus highway on Monday, Syrian media reported. In Lebanon, relatives held funerals for 20 people killed in a strike on the southern town of Deir Qanoun-Ras al-Ain, including seven medics from rescue groups affiliated with Hezbollah and its Shiite ally Amal. 'Testing the waters' In Beirut, Hezbollah official Mohammad Afif linked intensified political contacts to the looming change of U.S. leadership. "There is a great movement between Washington and Moscow and Tehran and a number of capitals," he said. "We hear a lot of talk, but so far, according to my information, nothing official has reached Lebanon or us in this regard," he told a news conference. The contacts were "in the phase of testing the waters and presenting initial ideas." Israel Hayom reported on Sunday that substantial progress has been made in diplomatic negotiations over a proposed Lebanon cease-fire that would require Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani River, barring its military presence near the Israeli border, while the IDF would return to the international border. Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's best-selling newspaper, reported on Monday that Israel and Lebanon have exchanged drafts through U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, signaling progress in efforts to reach a final agreement. The Lebanese government, which includes Hezbollah, has repeatedly called for a cease-fire based on the full implementation of a U.N. resolution that ended a war between the group and Israel in 2006. The resolution calls for the area south of the Litani river to be free of all weapons other than those of the Lebanese state. Lebanon and Israel have accused each other of violating the resolution. Israel says its campaign aims to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people forced to evacuate the north due to rockets fired by Hezbollah, which opened fire on Oct. 8, 2003, in solidarity with Hamas. Israel's offensive has forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes in Lebanon in the last seven weeks. Since the eruption of hostilities a year ago, Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,189 people in Lebanon, the majority of them since late September, according to health ministry figures, which do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Hezbollah attacks have killed roughly 100 civilians and soldiers in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon over the last year.

BAKU, Azerbaijan — The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Tuesday he's hopeful that meetings this week with Iranian officials, including the country's new president, can lead to a breakthrough in monitoring the country's nuclear program, a longstanding issue that has gained new urgency as Israel has twice struck Iran amid rising tensions in the Middle East. Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will travel to Iran on Wednesday to meet for the first time with President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was elected in July. Grossi said he hopes to build on positive discussions he had with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during the U.N. General Assembly in September. "We have a problem that we need to solve," Grossi said in an interview at the U.N. climate conference in Azerbaijan. "That is this gap, this lack of confidence, which we should not allow to grow into a self-fulfilling prophecy of using nuclear facilities as targets." He added: "There has been a bit of a dire straits dynamic with Iran that we want to go beyond." Iran is rapidly advancing its atomic program while increasing stockpiles of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, all in defiance of international demands, according to the IAEA. Iran says its program is for energy purposes, not to build weapons. Grossi's visit comes as Israel and Iran have traded missile attacks in recent months after more than a year of war in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas, a group supported by Iran. Grossi noted that international law prohibits the attack of nuclear facilities and "it's obvious that is something that can have radiological consequences." The Biden administration said last month that it had won assurances from Israel that it would not attack nuclear or oil sites. A 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers put limits on Iran's nuclear program, which the West fears could be used to make nuclear weapons. The deal included the lifting of economic sanctions on Iran. But that deal collapsed after Donald Trump's administration in 2018 pulled the United States from it. That led Iran to abandon all limits put on its program and enrich uranium to up to 60% purity. When asked if the IAEA feared Iran may be developing a bomb, Grossi said he didn't "have any information that would sustain that." He added that inspectors' job was not to "judge intentions," but rather verify that what Iran says about its nuclear program was true. Trump's reelection last week raises questions about whether and how the incoming administration and Iran may engage. Grossi said he had worked with the first Trump administration, which he said engaged in "seamless, professional work," and looked forward to looking with Trump's second administration. "Circumstances have changed in that the problem has grown bigger than it was," said Grossi. "The problem of not finding a solution."

Judges of the Federal High Court of Nigeria are to proceed on 2024 Christmas Vacation on Monday December 16, this year. According to a circular signed by the Chief Judge of the Court, Hon. Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, the Judges are to return to work on Monday January 6, 2025. However, normal court sitting would […]

Federal High Court of Nigeria Judges begin Christmas Vacation Dec 16

Manchester United legend, Rio Ferdinand has suggested that new manager, Ruben Amorim may have made a mistake in not keeping former interim manager, Ruud van Nistelrooy at the club. Amorim arrived at Man United on Monday to officially take charge at Old Trafford having been named Erik ten Hag’s permanent replacement a few weeks ago. […]

Man Utd: Rio Ferdinand identifies first mistake Amorim has made

Ebonyi State House of Assembly has given a 24-hour ultimatum to all illegal motor park operators in Abakaliki to shut down operation or face the full wrath of the law. This was contained in a statement signed by the state Assembly’s Public Relations Officer, Sylvester Egede and made available to newsmen shortly after the Ebonyi […]

Ebonyi Assembly bans illegal motor parks