Africa's week in pictures: 3-9 May 2024
A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent and beyond:
Images subject to copyright
A selection of the week's best photos from across the continent and beyond:
Images subject to copyright
The helicopter crash in which Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and other officials were killed is likely to reverberate across the Middle East, where Iran’s influence runs wide and deep. Tensions have never been higher than they were last month, when Iran under Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel in response to an airstrike on an Iranian Consulate in Syria that killed two Iranian generals and five officers.
Hamas' elusive military leader Mohammed Deif, one of the masterminds behind what Israel called its 9/11 moment, rarely speaks and never appears in public, a secretive existence that helped him survive seven assassination attempts. Now he is being sought outside of Gaza, from where he directed the Oct. 7 attack which took Israel by surprise, killing 1,200 people and creating a crisis for the far-right government by taking more than 250 people hostage. The International Criminal Court prosecutor's office said on Monday it had requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence chief and three Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes, including Deif.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Benny Gantz, a popular centrist member of Israel’s three-member War Cabinet, threatened Saturday to resign from the government if it doesn't adopt a new plan in three weeks' time for the war in Gaza, a decision that would leave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more reliant on far-right allies. The announcement deepens a divide in Israel’s leadership more than seven months into a war in which Israel has yet to accomplish its stated goals of dismantling Hamas and
Gaza Strip residents criticised on Monday the International Criminal Court prosecutor's decision to seek the arrest of Hamas leaders, saying it falsely equated them with the Israeli leaders waging war in the Palestinian enclave since October. Prosecutor Karim Kahn has applied for arrest warrants for Hamas' leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, the commander of the group's military wing Mohammed Deif, and its Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, as well as for Israel's prime minister and defence minister.
The U.N. calls it 'conflicted-related sexual violence.' Israel's Rape Crisis Centers calls it an "operational strategy." They agree that rape and other sexualized violence were part of Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s foreign minister says the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court’s decision to seek arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is “a historic disgrace that will be remembered forever.” Israel Katz said Monday he would form a special committee to fight back against any such action and would work with world leaders to ensure that any such warrants are not enforced. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. JERUSALEM (AP) — The chief pros
Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza who masterminded the bloodiest attack on Jews in a single day since the Holocaust, made no secret of his desire to strike hard against Israel, the country that imprisoned him for half his adult life. The International Criminal Court prosecutor's office said on Monday it was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence chief and three Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes in the Gaza war, including Sinwar. Israel has denied committing war crimes in the war, triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s president on Saturday vetoed the so-called “Russian law” targeting media that has sparked weeks of mass protests. The legislation would require media and non-governmental organizations to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad. Critics of the bill say it closely resembles legislation used by the Kremlin to silence opponents, and that it will obstruct Georgia’s bid to join the EU. Preside
Islamic State on Sunday claimed responsibility for an attack by gunmen on tourists in Afghanistan's central Bamiyan province, the group said on its Telegram channel. Three Spanish tourists were killed and at least one Spaniard was injured in the attack, Spain's foreign ministry said on Friday. Taliban interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qaniee four people had been arrested over the attack in which gunmen opened fire.
ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden on Sunday told the graduating class at Morehouse College that he heard their voices of protest over the Israel-Hamas war, and that scenes from the conflict in Gaza have been heartbreaking. “I support peaceful nonviolent protest," he told students, some who wore keffiyeh scarves around their shoulders on top of their black graduation robes. "Your voices should be heard, and I promise you I hear them.” The president told the crowd that it was a “humanitarian cris
A powerful ethnic armed group fighting Myanmar’s military government in the country’s western state of Rakhine claimed Saturday to have seized a town near the border with Bangladesh, marking the latest in a series of victories for foes of the country’s military government. Members of the state’s Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority, targets of deadly army-directed violence in 2017, appear to have been the main victims of fighting in the town of Buthidaung, where the Arakan Army claims to have chased out forces of the military government. Khaing Thukha, a spokesperson for the Arakan Army, told The Associated Press by text message from an undisclosed location that his group had seized Buthidaung after capturing all the military’s outposts there.
Student-led protests in response to US engagement in the Vietnam War mounted in the 1960s and led to a group called the Weather Underground that believed in direct confrontation with the state.
The UCLA Academic Senate rejected censuring and making a no confidence statement against university Chancellor Gene Block amid mounting criticism of his handling of a campus pro-Palestinian encampment that was violently attacked by counterprotesters.
Top officials in Israel and key militant leaders could face war crime charges.
Nine protesters from Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Spain, arrested during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the University of Athens School of Law last week are set to be deported from Greece, their lawyers said on Monday. Police last week detained a total of 28 Greek and foreign protesters occupying the building, on charges including disrupting the operation of a public entity and assistance in damaging foreign property, according to court documents. The protesters have denied any wrongdoing.
The University of Pennsylvania police arrested 19 pro-Palestinian protesters Friday night after they allegedly tried to occupy a campus building, the school said. The university's police department said the protesters, the majority of whom were not students, attempted to get into Fisher-Bennett Hall when campus officers and officers from the Philadelphia Police Department intervened. Officers were seen scuffling with protesters and several people were taken away in handcuffs.
Pro-Palestinian student protests against the war in Gaza have come to a head in France at Sciences Po – the prestigious international relations school – where students continue to stage demonstrations and the government has become involved, pressuring the university to forcibly shut them down. This comes as protests have erupted on campuses across the United States, but the scale, scope and politics are unique to France. Debates and demonstrations began at Sciences Po soon after Hamas’ attack on
Israeli planes and tanks pounded areas across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, residents said, as White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid US calls for a more focused military campaign. Read our liveblog to see how all the day's events unfolded. This live page is no longer being updated. For more coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, click here.Summary: US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is visiting Israel on Sunday for talks on the Gaza
House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik delivered remarks at the Israeli Knesset Sunday, saying victory for Israel in the war against Hamas starts with “wiping” those responsible for the October 7 terrorist attacks “off the face of the Earth” and calling for a return to former President Donald Trump’s policies.
"Now there is a military presence on the outskirts of the Rafah crossing and military operations that put aid convoys and truck drivers in danger," Sameh Shoukry told reporters after meeting his Greek counterpart in Cairo. "The procedures resulting from Israeli military operations affect the operation of the Rafah crossing," he said.