Italian police have arrested nine people accused of raising around €7m (£6m) for Hamas over more than two years.
The money was ostensibly collected as humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians, a police statement said, but was instead sent to the militant group via a “complex fundraising system”.
Alongside the arrests, police say they have seized more than €8m (£7m) in assets as part of the investigation.
Police say the suspects are “specifically accused of carrying out financing operations believed to have contributed to terrorist activities”.
The arrests were made as part of a joint initiative between Italy’s counter-terror police and financial police.
The investigation began after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack in southern Israel.
Police say they analysed “a series of reports of suspicious financial transactions” involving some of the suspects in the lead up to the attack.
Investigators uncovered a “complex” system of fundraising, which was headquartered in Genoa with branches in Milan, the statement adds.
“The suspects collected donations intended for the civilian population of Gaza, however, it emerged that over 71% of these funds were diverted to Hamas’s coffers to finance its military wing and support the families of suicide bombers or those detained for terrorism,” the police statement says.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the most well-known of the arrested suspects was Mohammad Hannoun, the president of the Palestinian Association in Italy.
Piantedosi thanked police for their work in a post on X, but also noted that “the presumption of innocence… must always be recognised at this stage”.
Mr Hannoun said that he is “neither closely nor remotely” related to Hamas but has always supported them.
“I have always declared with utmost transparency that I am a Palestinian citizen and publicly support the legitimate resistance of the Palestinian people,” he told reporters. (BBC)
Two people have been killed in what police say was a “rolling terror attack” in northern Israel.
Police said the attacker ran over a pedestrian in the eastern city of Beit Shean, then drove on before stabbing a woman near Ein Harod, about 8 miles (12.5km) to the west. The suspect was eventually shot and wounded by a civilian outside the city of Afula, according to police.
Shimshon Mordechai, a 68-year-old man, was killed and a 16-year-old boy was hurt in Friday’s ramming, officials said, while the stabbing victim was Aviv Maor, aged 18.
A day before the attack, an Israeli reservist was fired after video emerged of him ramming a praying Palestinian with a quad bike.
The suspect in the attack came from the village of Qabatiya, in the northern occupied West Bank, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
Following the incident, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was preparing to carry out an operation in the Qabatiya area. Katz said he had instructed the IDF to act “forcefully and immediately”.
The IDF said the suspect had “infiltrated into Israeli territory several days ago”.
Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster said the 37-year-old man had been working illegally in Israel and had used his employer’s vehicle in the attack.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed “deepest condolences” to the victims’ families.
In a post on X, he also praised “the heroic citizen who neutralised the terrorist”.
The incident comes a day after the army reservist drove a quad bike into a Palestinian man who was praying on a roadside in the West Bank.
Video shows the man, dressed in civilian clothes but with a firearm, ramming the victim with the vehicle. Reports say the victim was unhurt.
The Israeli military said the soldier – who had earlier opened fire in a nearby village – had been fired and his weapon confiscated.
Attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians have surged in the West Bank in recent years, according to the United Nations, with more than a thousand killed since the Hamas attacks on Israel of 7 October 2023 in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 abducted into Gaza.
More than 70,600 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. (BBC)
Israel has become the first country to formally recognise Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland as an independent nation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel intended to immediately expand cooperation in agriculture, health, and technology. Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, called the development “a historic moment”.
Recognition by Israel could encourage other nations to follow suit, increasing the region’s diplomatic credentials and access to international markets.
Somalia’s prime minister, Hamza Abdi Barre, said his country categorically and unequivocally rejected what he called a deliberate attack by Israel on its sovereignty.
Abdullahi said in a statement that Somaliland would join the Abraham Accords, in what he called a step toward regional and global peace.
Somaliland was committed to building partnerships, boosting mutual prosperity and promoting stability across the Middle East and Africa, he added.
The decision has been condemned by the foreign ministers of Somalia, Egypt, Turkey and Djibouti, who in a statement affirmed their “total rejection” of Israel’s announcement.
The two countries had agreed to establish “full diplomatic ties, which will include the appointment of ambassadors and the opening of embassies”, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a statement on X.
“I have instructed my ministry to act immediately to institutionalise ties between the two countries across a wide range of fields,” he said.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s foreign minister held separate phone calls with his counterparts in Somalia, Turkey and Djibouti to discuss issues including Israel’s declaration.
In a statement, Egypt’s foreign ministry said the four countries reaffirmed their support for Somalia’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and warned against unilateral steps that could undermine stability or create what they called “parallel entities” to Somalia’s state institutions.
They also argued that recognising the independence of parts of sovereign states would set a dangerous precedent under international law and the United Nations Charter.
The statement added that the ministers reiterated their rejection of any plans to displace Palestinians outside their homeland.
Israel has for years been trying to bolster relations with countries in the Middle East and Africa, but recent wars including in Gaza and against Iran have been seen as a hindrance to democracy.
Historic deals struck late in Trump’s first term in 2020, known as the Abraham Accords, saw several countries including Muslim-majority United Arab Emirates and Morocco normalise relations with Israel, with other countries joining later.
Somaliland has a strategic position on the Gulf of Aden, and has its own money, passports and police force. Born in 1991 after a war of independence against former dictator General Siad Barre, it has grappled with decades of isolation ever since.
With a population of almost six million, the self-proclaimed republic has recently been at the centre of several regional disputes involving Somalia, Ethiopia and Egypt.
Last year, an agreement between landlocked Ethiopia and Somaliland to lease a stretch of coastline for a port and military base angered Somalia. (BBC)
The United States says that it has carried out an air strike against ISIL (ISIS) fighters in northwest Nigeria that residents say caused buildings to shake and the sky to glow red.
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria,” President Donald Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday evening.
Trump, who has previously threatened greater US intervention in Nigeria over dubious claims that a “genocide” of Christians is taking place there, said ISIL fighters had been “viciously” killing and targeting Christians at levels unseen for “centuries”.
“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,” Trump said.
The US military’s Africa Command (AFRICOM), which is responsible for operations in Africa, said in a post on X that the air strike was carried out “at the request of Nigerian authorities” and had killed “multiple ISIS terrorists”.
Residents of Jabo have said that the strikes caused alarm and that their village has never experienced an attack by ISIL.
“As it approached our area, the heat became intense,” Abubakar Sani, who lives just a few houses from the scene of the explosion, told the news service Associated Press.
“Our rooms began to shake, and then fire broke out,” he said. “The Nigerian government should take appropriate measures to protect us as citizens. We have never experienced anything like this before.”
Another resident, 40-year-old farmer Sanusi Madabo, said that the attacks made the night sky glow red and appear “almost like daytime”.
“Grateful for Nigerian government support and cooperation,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media, warning also of “more to come”, without providing details.
In a statement, AFRICOM said the strike occurred in “Soboto state,” an apparent reference to Nigeria’s Sokoto State.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Yussuf Tuggar confirmed on Friday that the strike had been carried out in coordination with the country’s authorities, but said it was not aimed at targeting members of any particular religious community.
“Nigeria is a multi-religious country, and we’re working with partners like the US to fight terrorism and protect lives and property,” Tuggar told Nigeria’s Channels Television.
The US military action comes weeks after Trump said he had ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria following claims of Christian persecution in the country.
Nigeria’s government had dismissed Trump’s assertions, saying armed groups target both Muslim and Christian communities in the country, and US claims that Christians face persecution do not represent a complex security situation and ignore efforts by Nigerian authorities to safeguard religious freedom.
Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement shortly after Trump announced the US strike, confirming early on Friday that Nigerian authorities were “engaged in structured security cooperation with international partners, including the United States of America, in addressing the persistent threat of terrorism and violent extremism”. (AlJazeera)
The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to let Donald Trump send National Guard troops to the Chicago area as the Republican president expands the use of the military for domestic purposes in a growing number of Democratic-led jurisdictions, a policy critics call an effort to punish adversaries and stifle dissent.
The justices denied the Justice Department’s request to lift a judge’s order that has blocked the deployment of hundreds of National Guard personnel in a legal challenge brought by Illinois state officials and local leaders. The department had asked to allow the deployment while the litigation plays out.
The National Guard serves as state-based militia forces that answer to state governors except when called into federal service by the president.
Trump ordered troops to Chicago, the third-largest U.S. city, and to Portland, Oregon, following his earlier deployments to Los Angeles, Memphis and Washington, DC.
The case has been characterized by starkly different portrayals of the protests against Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement in and around Chicago.
Trump and his allies have described Democratic-led cities as lawless, crime-ravaged and plagued with vast, violent protests. His administration has said troops are needed to protect federal property and personnel.
Democratic mayors and governors, along with other Trump critics, have said these claims are a false account of the situation and a pretext for sending troops, accusing Trump of abusing his power.
Federal judges have expressed skepticism over the administration’s dire view of protests that local law enforcement officials have called limited in size, largely peaceful and manageable by their own forces – far from the “war zone” conditions described by Trump.
Trump has relied on a law that lets a president deploy state National Guard troops to suppress a rebellion, repel an invasion or if he is “unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
Illinois and Chicago sued after the administration federalized 300 Illinois National Guard troops and also ordered Texas National Guard troops into the state, calling the actions unlawful. Officials have since announced the administration was sending home hundreds of National Guard troops who were dispatched to Portland from California, and to Chicago from Texas.
Chicago-based U.S. District Judge April Perry temporarily blocked the move on October 9, finding that the claims of violence during protests at an immigration facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Illinois, where a small group of demonstrators had gathered daily for weeks, were unreliable.
Perry, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden, found that there was no evidence of rebellion or that the law was not being enforced, faulting officials for “equating protests with riots and a lack of appreciation for the wide spectrum that exists between citizens who are observing, questioning and criticizing their government, and those who are obstructing, assaulting or doing violence.”
A National Guard deployment would “only add fuel to the fire,” Perry said.
A three-judge panel of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to lift Perry’s order blocking the deployment, concluding that “the facts do not justify the president’s actions in Illinois.” Two of the three judges were appointed by Republican presidents, including one by Trump.
The Justice Department told the Supreme Court that the assessment by local officials of the protests was “implausibly rosy,” and that federal agents “have been forced to operate under the constant threat of mob violence.”
Lawyers for Illinois and Chicago told the justices that the local protests have “never hindered the continued operation” of the Broadview facility, and that state and local authorities have responded to every request for assistance and contained any sporadic disruption.
Officials from Portland and Oregon are pursuing a separate legal challenge to Trump’s planned deployment to that city. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, permanently blocked that deployment in a November 7 ruling. The administration has appealed that ruling.
The Supreme Court in October asked the administration as well as Illinois and Chicago to provide written arguments over how to interpret the words “regular forces” in the law at issue in the case.
In an October 10 written ruling, Perry said that historical sources indicate that “regular forces” means only members regularly enlisted in the military, including the Army and Navy, as opposed to the National Guard.
Trump’s administration “made no attempt to rely on the regular forces before resorting to federalization of the National Guard,” Perry said, adding that there are other limits on the use of the military for domestic law enforcement purposes.
The administration repeatedly has sought the Supreme Court’s intervention to allow implementation of Trump policies impeded by lower courts. The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has sided with the administration in almost every case that it has been called upon to review since Trump returned to the presidency in January. (JapanToday)
Nine people were killed when gunmen opened fire at a bar outside Johannesburg early Sunday, police said, in the second such shooting in South Africa this month.
Ten more were wounded in the early morning attack at the tavern in the impoverished Bekkersdal township in a gold mining area around 40 kilometres (25 miles) southwest of the city.
It follows a shooting at a tavern near Pretoria on December 6 when gunmen killed a dozen people, including a three‑year‑old child.
Police initially said 10 people were killed when the Bekkersdal bar was attacked just before 1:00 am (2300 GMT), but later revised the toll downwards.
Most of the attackers were armed with pistols and one had an AK-47 rifle, deputy provincial police commissioner Major General Fred Kekana told SABC television from the scene.
“They entered the tavern and randomly shot at the patrons, unprovoked,” he said.
Three people were killed inside the bar and others as they fled the scene, with the attackers continuing to shoot as they left, he said.
“It’s also reported that after they shot the people, they searched them. They took their valuables, including cell phones,” Kekana said.
The dead included a driver from an online car-hailing service who was driving past.
“It’s pure criminality,” Kekana said. Police launched a manhunt for the attackers and appealed for public assistance.
South Africa, the continent’s most industrialised nation, is grappling with a high crime rate, much of it driven by organised networks and gangs.
The country is awash with legal and illegal firearms and shootings are common, often fuelled by gang rivalry and competition between informal businesses.
The tavern hit in the Pretoria attack earlier this month was an unlicenced outlet in a hostel for migrant workers at Saulsville township.
The dead included children aged three, 12 and 16.
The country was also shocked by the daylight assassination in central Johannesburg last week of a popular former radio presenter known as DJ Warras.
The 40-year-old, whose real name was Warris Stock, was gunned down on December 16 outside a building that he had visited as part of his work with a private security company.
In another high-profile killing, a witness in a corruption inquiry was shot dead in front of his family on December 5, just weeks after testifying against a municipal police chief.
The murder of Marius Van der Merwe, 41, reignited a debate about the targeting of whistleblowers who provide information related to crime and corruption, including the public sector and cases implicating government officials.
South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, with an average of 63 people killed each day between April and September, according to police data.
The victims, who had gathered for a traditional ceremony, were aged 14 to 64 years old, and 15 were women. Several men have been arrested. (RFI)
The United States has signed a five-year health cooperation agreement with Nigeria aimed at strengthening the country’s health system, with a specific focus on supporting Christian faith-based healthcare providers, Washington announced on Saturday.
Under the bilateral agreement, the United States will contribute nearly $2.1 billion to programmes targeting HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and polio, as well as initiatives to improve maternal and child health, a US State Department spokesperson said.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has committed to increasing its national health spending by almost $3 billion over the same five-year period, according to the spokesperson.
The agreement includes what the State Department described as “a strong emphasis on promoting Christian faith-based health care providers”.
The announcement comes amid heightened attention from Washington to the security situation facing Christian communities in Nigeria.
Last month, President Donald Trump said the United States was prepared to take military action in Nigeria in response to attacks on Christians, comments that drew international attention.
Trump has repeatedly said Christianity faces what he described as an “existential threat” in Nigeria and other countries, framing the issue as part of a broader concern about the global persecution of Christians.
His administration has placed Nigeria back on the US list of countries of “particular concern” over religious freedom and has imposed restrictions on the issuance of visas to Nigerian nationals.
According to the State Department, the health agreement signed on Saturday was negotiated in connection with reforms undertaken by the Nigerian government to prioritise the protection of Christian populations from violence.
Nigeria is roughly divided between a predominantly Christian south and a largely Muslim north. (ThisDay)
The Vatican has announced that Richard Moth will be the new Archbishop of Westminster, making him the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
He succeeds Cardinal Vincent Nichols, who has held the role since 2009 and has stepped down aged 80.
For the past 10 years Richard Moth has been Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, and before that served as Bishop of the Forces.
As Archbishop of Westminster he will become president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and lead an estimated four million Catholics.
Cardinal Nichols reached retirement age when he was 75, but was asked to stay on by Pope Francis. In May he took part in the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.
The search for a replacement for Cardinal Nichols was led by the Apostolic Nuncio, or papal ambassador to the UK, who presented a list of potential candidates to Pope Leo.
Earlier this week, Archbishop Moth released a joint statement calling for empathy for “those who come to this country for their safety”, reminding Catholics that Jesus’s family fled to Egypt as refugees.
He has been one of the bishops leading the Church’s response to social justice issues in the UK, including praising the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap.
Speaking at a news conference on Friday, outgoing Cardinal Nichols said his successor would bring “experience and practical wisdom to the life of the diocese”.
Archbishop Moth said: “My first task here is to get to know everybody… to get to know priests and people, to get to know schools, to get to know the life of this wonderful diocese here in Westminster”.
He said his focus had “consistently been in the area of social justice”, adding he had a “particular concern for prisons”.
Archbishop Moth will face the challenge of declining numbers of people attending churches nationally, though there is growth in some churches with immigrant Catholics.
In response to the growing use of Christian symbols at, for example, rallies organised by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson, Bishop Moth has talked of his concern.
Last weekend, Robinson held an event in London saying he wanted to “reclaim” the country’s heritage and Christian identity.
“We are concerned about the tensions that are growing in society and the desire by some groups to sow seeds of division within our communities. This does not reflect the spirit or message of Christmas,” Bishop Moth said in a statement with the Archbishop of Birmingham.
The Catholic Church has been heavily involved in providing assistance to those who have suffered in the cost of living crisis.
As archbishop, Richard Moth will also lead the Church’s constant challenge of dealing with safeguarding issues.
In 2020, a wide-ranging inquiry into child sexual abuse found that between 1970 and 2015 the Catholic Church in England and Wales received more than 3,000 complaints of child sexual abuse against more than 900 individuals connected to the Church.
In fact, the leadership of Archbishop Moth’s predecessor, Cardinal Nichols, was criticised in the inquiry report, which said he cared more about the impact of abuse on the Church’s reputation than on the victims.
At the time, Cardinal Nichols apologised and said he accepted the report, adding: “That so many suffered is a terrible shame with which I must live and from which I must learn.”
Cardinal Nichols retires having led the Church in England and Wales for 16 years, during which it faced enormous change.
He is the son of two teachers and was born in Crosby. The lifelong Liverpool FC fan took up his first role as a priest in Wigan.
In 2010, he welcomed Pope Benedict XVI to England on an official visit. (BBC)
Tourists from dozens of countries including the UK could be asked to provide a five-year social media history as a condition of entry to the United States, under a new proposal unveiled by American officials.
The new condition would affect people from dozens of countries who are eligible to visit the US for 90 days without a visa, as long as they have filled out an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) form.
Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has moved to toughen US borders more generally – citing national security as a reason.
Analysts say the new plan could pose an obstacle to potential visitors, or harm their digital rights.
Asked whether the proposal could lead to a steep drop-off in tourism to the US, Trump said he was not concerned.
“No. We’re doing so well,” the president said on Wednesday.
“We just want people to come over here, and safe. We want safety. We want security.
“We want to make sure we’re not letting the wrong people come enter our country.”
The US expects a major influx of foreign tourists next year, as it hosts the men’s football World Cup alongside Canada and Mexico, and for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The proposal document was filed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its component agency Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
It was published in the Federal Register, the official journal of the US government.
The proposal says “the data element will require ESTA applicants to provide their social media from the last 5 years”, without giving further details of which specific information will be required.
The existing ESTA requires a comparatively limited amount of information from travellers, as well as a one-off payment of $40 (£30). It is accessible to citizens of about 40 countries – including the UK, Ireland, France, Australia and Japan – and allows them to visit the US multiple times during a two-year period.
As well as the collection of social media information, the new document proposes the gathering of an applicant’s telephone numbers and email addresses used over the last five and 10 years respectively, and more information about their family members.
The text cites an executive order from Trump in January, titled “Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats”.
The new proposal regarding ESTA data collection for tourists invites views from the public for 60 days.
“Nothing has changed on this front for those coming to the United States,” a spokesperson for CBP said in a statement.
“This is not a final rule, it is simply the first step in starting a discussion to have new policy options to keep the American people safe.”
Sophia Cope, of digital rights organisation the Electronic Frontier Foundation, criticised the plan, telling the New York Times it could “exacerbate civil liberties harms”.
Meanwhile, immigration law practice Fragomen suggested there could be practical impacts as applicants could face longer waits for ESTA approvals. (BBC)
A Ukrainian drone attack in southwestern Russia killed two people on Saturday as parts of Ukraine went without power following Russian assaults on energy infrastructure hours before peace talks were to restart in Germany.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian, U.S. and European officials will hold a series of meetings in Berlin in the coming days, adding that he will personally meet with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys.
“Most importantly, I will be meeting with envoys of President Trump, and there will also be meetings with our European partners, with many leaders, concerning the foundation of peace — a political agreement to end the war,” Zelenskyy said in an address to the nation late Saturday.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are traveling to Berlin for the talks, according to a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
American officials have tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia’s war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including the possession of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, mostly occupied by Russia but parts of which remain under Ukrainian control.
“The chance is considerable at this moment, and it matters for our every city, for our every Ukrainian community,” Zelenskyy said. “We are working to ensure that peace for Ukraine is dignified, and to secure a guarantee — a guarantee, above all, that Russia will not return to Ukraine for a third invasion.”
The drone attack in Russia’s Saratov region damaged a residential building and several windows were also blown out at a kindergarten and clinic, said Gov. Roman Busargin. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had shot down 41 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight.
In Ukraine, Russia launched overnight drone and missile strikes on five Ukrainian regions, targeting energy and port infrastructure. Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that over a million people were without electricity.
Zelenskyy said Russia had sent over 450 drones and 30 missiles into Ukraine overnight.
An attack on the Black Sea city of Odesa caused grain silos to catch fire at the port, Ukrainian deputy prime minister and reconstruction minister Oleksiy Kuleba said. Two people were wounded in attacks on the wider Odesa region, according to regional head Oleh Kiper.
Kyiv and its Western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the cold. (JapanToday)
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