Seventh Palestinian baby freezes to death as thunderstorms loom

A seventh Palestinian baby has frozen to death as more than a million displaced Gazans struggle to survive in freezing winter conditions, with more thunderstorms forecast to batter the besieged territory.

Most families in Gaza, displaced multiple times over the past year by the Israeli assault on the territory, are living in makeshift shelters that provide little protection against the cold, with humanitarian aid failing to meet even the most basic needs.

Jumaa al-Batran, one month old, died of hypothermia in a tent in Deir al-Balah on Monday, just a day after her twin brother Ali suffered the same fate, the British news agency Reuters reported.

Ali died at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, with doctors quoted by the Palestinian news agency Wafa attributing the death to freezing temperatures.

The twins are the sixth and seventh Palestinian babies to die of severe cold in Gaza within a week. Their father told Reuters he found Jumaa’s lifeless body “frozen like ice”.

The Palestinian Meteorological Department has forecast more rainfall and thunderstorms across Gaza on New Year’s Eve, and temperatures are expected to remain cold to very cold.

Humanitarian agencies estimate that 1.6 million Gazans are living in makeshift shelters, with half a million in flood-prone areas. Most children eat only one meal a day, further reducing their ability to withstand the cold.

The war has displaced over two-thirds of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, with many families forced to flee repeatedly as Israeli forces have expanded their operations in the north.

The UN relief agency for the Palestinians, Unrwa, said on Sunday that aid is nowhere near enough and a ceasefire is desperately needed to deliver food as a famine looms.

In addition to the cold, heavy rainfall in recent days flooded many camps, leaving families scrambling to repair their damaged shelters or move to areas that offer even less protection.

“The water seeped inside and onto the mattresses and my children’s clothes. Everything is soaked—the blankets, the pillows, everything,” Sabreen Abu Shanab told Reuters as she described her three children waking up drenched and freezing.

Gaza’s civil defence reported hundreds of distress calls from families whose makeshift tents have been flooded. “Our crews can only evacuate citizens from their damaged shelters to other places that are mostly unsuitable to shelter, and they remain in the open – under the rain and bitter cold,” it said on Telegram.

Hamas, which governs Gaza, has appealed to the international community for urgent relief. They have called on the UN to send “relief supplies and tents to protect hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians from the cold and the disastrous effects”.

“The humanitarian and legal duty of the international community and the UN requires urgent action to provide relief to our people in the Gaza Strip, who have been subjected to a Zionist crime of genocide and ethnic cleansing,” the group said in a statement.

Palestinian authorities, meanwhile, announced on Monday that five more detainees from Gaza have been killed in Israeli prisons.

The deaths are “clear evidence of the extent of the occupation’s brutality and its detachment from all human values,” they added.

Hamas also accused Israel of “the crimes of enforced disappearance, the policy of medical negligence, the acts of torture, abuse and deprivation” towards Palestinian prisoners. The group said the crimes it alleges are the results of “international impotence” and “the unjust American bias against our people”.

The worsening winter conditions come as Gaza’s healthcare system is in near-total collapse as Israeli forces intensify attacks on hospitals. On Sunday, an Israeli airstrike on Al Wafa hospital in Gaza City killed seven people. The military claimed that the strike was targeted at Hamas militants.

Earlier, on Friday, Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, detaining over 240 people, including dozens of medical staff.

The hospital has since been rendered non-operational, leaving northern Gaza with a single small functioning medical facility.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, said on Monday that hospitals in Gaza have become a “battleground”.

China says it has shared most Covid data of any country

China defended its approach to sharing Covid data and collaborating with global agencies after the World Health Organization urged the country to provide more information to help uncover the origins of the virus.

Mao Ning, a foreign ministry spokesperson, told reporters on Tuesday that China had shared more data and research results on Covid than any other country.

“China is the only country that organised experts to share traceability progress with the WHO on many occasions,” Mr Mao said during a press briefing.

The comments came after the WHO released a statement on Monday reiterating its appeal for access to additional data to better understand the origins of the virus. The UN agency stressed that uncovering how Covid emerged was critical to preventing future pandemics.

The first cases of Covid were confirmed in Wuhan in late 2019 and the virus soon spread throughout the world. Beijing was soon facing international scrutiny over transparency of its early data and cooperation with global research efforts.

The WHO recorded almost 760 million Covid cases and 6.9 million deaths worldwide. The agency declared the pandemic over in 2023, but stressed that the disease would be a permanent reminder of the potential for new viruses to emerge with devastating consequences.

China pushed back against the call for additional investigations inside the country. It said research into the origins of the virus should be expanded to other countries.

“On the issue of Covid traceability, China has shared the most data and research results and made the greatest contribution to global traceability research,” Mr Mao said.

In early 2023, Chinese scientists uploaded data from the initial days of the pandemic to a global database revealing DNA from several animal species, including raccoon dogs, in environmental samples that had tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It supported the hypothesis that raccoon dogs could have been key conduits for the virus.

An international team of researchers analysing the data suggested the presence of raccoon dogs at Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Market, a major early outbreak site, was a significant clue to the virus’s origins.

China insisted that it had fully cooperated with investigations into the origins of the pandemic. Mr Mao said that WHO experts who visited China in 2021 “went to all the places they wanted to go and met all the people they wanted to see”.

Additional reporting by agencies.

Arrest warrant issued for South Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol

A warrant has been issued to detain South Korea’s impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol for questioning over his shortlived attempt to impose martial law earlier this month.

The country’s anti-corruption agency said on Tuesday that a Seoul court granted the arrest warrant sought by prosecutors investigating Mr Yoon over the martial law declaration.

The warrant came after the president ignored multiple summons for questioning over charges of insurrection and abuse of power.

Mr Yoon’s lawyers called the warrant and the charges “unlawful”.

Yoon Kab Keun, one of the lawyers, said the president had “no reason to avoid the investigation” but his conduct should be judged by the constitutional court and not through criminal proceedings.

He said Mr Yoon would be present personally at constitutional court hearings.

The constitutional court is preparing to rule on the validity of Mr Yoon’s impeachment by the National Assembly. If it clears the parliamentary decision, Mr Yoon will be removed from office.

The latest development deepens South Korea’s political crisis which started on 3 December when the president declared martial law, sparking widespread protests and the impeachment of Mr Yoon as well as his acting successor Han Duck Soo.

The warrant, valid until 6 January, could see Mr Yoon detained at the Seoul Detention Center if executed, the state news agency Yonhap reported.

Mr Yoon is South Korea’s first sitting president to face arrest.

The leader of a rebellion can face the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted under South Korean law. Mr Yoon has presidential immunity from most criminal prosecution, but the privilege doesn’t extend to allegations of rebellion or treason.

However, experts suggest the warrant is unlikely to be executed.

“Unless Yoon voluntarily lets them detain him, there is no way to detain him,” Choi Jin, director of the Institute of Presidential Leadership in Seoul, told the Associated Press news agency. “Should investigators have hand-to-hand fights with the security service?”

Mr Yoon is likely to ignore the warrant. But investigators could visit his residence to show they are strictly and fairly carrying out their work.

The presidential security service, which previously blocked a police raid on Mr Yoon’s office, said in a statement it will follow due process in handling the warrant.

India launches satellites for docking test key to future moon missions

India successfully launched its first space docking test on Monday in a historic mission that could put it in an exclusive league of nations to have achieved the feat.

The Space Docking Experiment, or SpaDeX, went up aboard the indigenously developed PSLV rocket from space agencyIsro’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh at 10pm local time on Monday.

The launch suffered an unusual two-minute delay due to what Isro described as a “traffic jam” in space caused by “conjunctions with other satellites in the same orbit”.

“PSLV-C60 successfully launches SpaDeX and 24 payloads,” Isro said about 15 minutes after the launch as the spacecraft reached an altitude of around 470 km.

“The rocket has placed the satellites in the right orbit,” Isro chairman S Somnath said.

The mission to test satellite interlinking in space is seen as vital for Isro’s future missions, including the development of its own space station.

“This technology is essential for India’s space ambitions such as Indian on Moon, sample return from the moon, the building and operation of Bharatiya Antariksh Station, etc,” the agency said in a blog post.

“Through this mission, India is marching towards becoming the fourth country in the world to have space docking technology.”

So far, only the US, Russia and China have successfully demonstrated space-docking technology.

If successful, the mission could also open up a market for Isro to help launch global missions requiring “docking facilities or assembly in space”, astrophysicist Somak Raychaudhary from Ashoka University told Reuters.

The mission is deploying two satellites, each weighing about 220 kg, into orbit and showing power transfer between them once they link together.

Each of the satellites carries advanced payloads, including an imaging system and a space radiation-monitoring device to obtain data for future crewed missions.

Experts say such in-space docking of two crafts is vital for operating space stations, spacecraft control, and payload operations.

The pivotal docking test is slated to take place in about a week around 7 January, according to Isro.

It will involve careful manoeuvers to adjust the relative velocities of the two spacecrafts “with progressively reduced inter-satellite distances of 5km, 1.5km, 500m, 225m, 15m, and 3m”, ultimately leading to their docking, the space agency said.

The mission is expected to be “even more challenging” due to the small sizes and masses of the two crafts which would require finer precision for rendezvous compared to larger probes.

“After successful docking and rigidisation, electrical power transfer between the two satellites will be demonstrated before undocking and separation of the two satellites to start the operation of their respective payloads for the expected mission life of up to two years,” Isro said.

The space agency hopes the mission will be a forerunner for autonomous docking needed for India’s Chandrayaan-4 moon sample return mission planned for 2028.

Monday’s launch marked the first time in India that the rocket and the satellites were integrated and tested by a private company – Ananth Technologies – instead of a state institution.

Worst climate disasters of 2024 that caused billions in damage

The climate crisis took a hefty economic toll in 2024, with just 10 disasters causing over $200bn in damage, according to a new report by Christian Aid.

The report, released on Monday, lists the storms, hurricanes, floods, and typhoons which caused the most damage in monetary terms this year.

Top of the list is Hurricane Milton, which caused $60bn in damage when it tore through the US in October and killed 25 people.

Hurricane Helene, which struck the US, Cuba and Mexico in September, caused at least $55bn in losses as well as 232 fatalities.

Floods in China caused a loss of $15.6bn and claimed 315 lives. Storm Boris and flooding in Spain and Germany combined for at least $14bn in damage and 258 fatalities.

The growing intensity of such disasters, scientists say, is being “supercharged” by fossil fuel emissions. “There is nothing natural about the growing severity and frequency of droughts, floods, and storms,” said Christian Aid CEO Patrick Watt. “Disasters are being supercharged by decisions to keep burning fossil fuels, and to allow emissions to rise.”

The charity analyses insurance payouts to calculate losses from disasters every year. For the first time since it started compiling the list in 2018, there have been two disasters in a year amounting to losses of over $50bn in a year.

The US alone suffered almost 71 per cent of the losses from 10 worst disasters.

The country was hit by so many costly storms throughout the year that, even when hurricanes are removed, they caused over $60bn in damage.

Since the figures are based mostly on insured losses, the true costs are likely to be even higher, Christian Aid said.

Scientists, however, note that while the financial costs of climate disasters are staggering, they tell only part of the story. Many of the worst-affected regions are in poorer nations, where fewer people have access to insurance, and the human toll is much harder to quantify.

Cyclone Chido, which struck the French territory of Mayotte in December, may have killed over 1,000 people. In Colombia, a severe drought caused the Amazon river to drop by 90 per cent, jeopardising the livelihoods of Indigenous communities who depend on it for food and transport.

Heatwaves in Bangladesh affected 33 million people, while in Southern Africa, a historic drought left 14 million struggling for survival across Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.

“This report is just a snapshot of climate devastation in 2024,” Dr Mariam Zachariah, World Weather Attribution researcher who analyses extreme events to discern the role of climate change at Imperial College London, said.

“There are many more droughts, heatwaves, wildfires and floods not included that are becoming more frequent and intense. Most of these disasters show clear fingerprints of climate change. Extreme weather is clearly causing incredible suffering in all corners of the world. Behind the billion-dollar figures are lost lives and livelihoods.”

A year of record heat

The report comes as 2024 is set to become the hottest year on record, surpassing 2023, with global temperatures edging dangerously close to the 1.5C threshold above pre-industrial levels.

Scientists warn that breaching this limit – set as a goal in the Paris Agreement – will bring even more catastrophic consequences.

Hurricane Helene, for example, was fuelled by unusually warm sea temperatures that scientists say were made 200-500 times more likely by climate change.

Politicians who “downplay the urgency of the climate crisis only serve to harm their own people and cause untold suffering around the world”, climate expert Joanna Haigh said.

Scientists say a rapid shift away from fossil fuels to renewable energy is crucial, but governments also need to increase investment in climate adaptation for the most vulnerable communities.

“The economic impact of these extreme weather events should be a wake-up call,” professor Haigh, emeritus professor of atmospheric physics at Imperial College London, said.

“The good news is that ever-worsening crises don’t have to be our long-term future. The technologies of a clean energy economy exist, but we need leaders to invest in them and roll them out at scale.”

Has Bangladesh’s revolution been a success?

The 6 August marked a new beginning for more than 170 million people in Bangladesh, as the authoritarian government of prime minister Sheikh Hasina was finally toppled after weeks of bloody protests that saw hundreds killed.

The protests began as a student movement against plans to reform recruitment for public sector jobs, but quickly snowballed into a popular revolution against the Awami League government. Hasina fled to India on a helicopter as an angry mob marched towards the presidential palace.

Her ousting created a power vacuum in Bangladesh that was quickly filled by a new caretaker government, as Hasina critic and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus returned to the country to be named interim leader. The 84-year-old microfinance pioneer faced an almighty task – restoring democracy to a nation scarred by violence and whose economy was floundering.

Almost five months on and the streets of Dhaka have come alive, schools and colleges have reopened, a police force which refused to work in the days immediately after Hasina’s ouster has returned, and remittances from abroad – worth around 5 per cent of GDP – have stabilised.

But Bangladesh is still on edge, with growing discontent over the Yunus government’s failure to solve the economic crisis and international concern over attacks on religious minority groups. The UK government this month revised its travel guidance,cautioning that “terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks” in Bangladesh as it advised citizens against “all but essential travel”.

For better or worse, Hasina’s ouster was necessary, says Rafiqul Islam, a 19-year-old Dhaka University student who was one of the thousands who took part in demonstrations that led to her downfall. He and others braved confrontations with a police force ordered to shoot at protesters to quash the unrest.

It was the rising death toll among students, and the security forces’ eventual refusal to carry out those orders, that made it clear Hasina could not continue. The Yunus administration revealed in November that about 1,500 people died in protests and as many as 3,500 may have been forcibly abducted during Hasina’s rule.

Islam says he has more faith in the interim government to turn the country’s fortunes around than the 15-year Hasina regime capable of such brutality, but admits he is disappointed at the Yunus administration’s handling of the economy and the rising tensions with neighbour India, a strong ally that played a pivotal role in Bangladesh’s liberation in 1971.

“We knew it would not be a miraculous change of situation in Bangladesh but it is not getting any better,” he tells The Independent. “We need an elected government.”

Islam is pointing to the fact that the Yunus administration has no legal grounds for existing – Hasina amended the constitution in 2011 to remove a provision for interim governments. It is an irregularity backed by the army and the people’s faith, Islam says, and once that initial optimism fades the country could again plunge into chaos.

Sehnaz Khan, a resident of Chittagong city, which has witnessed a spate of clashes between religious groups in recent weeks, hopes the sacrifice of hundreds of protesters will not be in vain. She is excited for the future but says soaring food prices and rampant electricity cuts have added another worry for her family of four, who survive on her income.

“If [we don’t get] a better life, we want our old lives to be returned to us,” the primary school teacher says. “I used to able to feed my entire family three meals a day. Given the cost of rice and other necessities, we barely make it to two meals.”

Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves fell by $1.23bn to $18.61bn by the end of November this year, according to the central bank. The country recorded the highest inflation in four months in November at 11.38 per cent, driven mainly by higher food prices, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics found.

Hailed as the fastest-growing economy in South Asia in recent years, Bangladesh’s development success story was called into question after a white paper concluded that the Hasina administration massaged GDP figures. Researchers put GDP growth at around 3 per cent in 2018-2019, compared to the 7 per cent claimed in official statistics.

Beyond economic troubles, critics say Yunus has failed to set out a timeline for holding new elections and not done enough to protect either religious minorities in the Muslim-majority nation, or members of the Awami League.

The targeted violence has driven hundreds of Bangladeshi minorities and members of the former ruling party out of the country, with many of them taking refuge in India. The authorities say there have been 88 cases of violence against minorities in the five months since Hasina’s ousting, though they have received widespread coverage, particularly in neighbouring India.

Yunus has described this as “exaggerated propaganda” from a country whose government had closely backed Hasina for many years.

“The transitional government certainly could have done more in the days and weeks after Ms Hasina’s ouster to establish order and provide security for Hindu communities. The violence that we have seen hardly came as a surprise,” Dr Ian Hall, professor at Brisbane’s Griffith University, tells The Independent.

Political parties including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia have been pressing the interim government for a clear plan to hold a national election.

Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman in September told Reuters that democracy should be restored within a year to a year-and-a-half, but urged patience.

Yunus this month insisted that polls can be held only after electoral reforms are put in place. He suggested elections could be arranged in the first half of 2026.

“It’s been four months since the prime minister’s ouster but Yunus’s promise of polls being held within six months of the takeover has already been exposed as hollow,” says a senior Awami League member hiding in India, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “He seems to be in no hurry to let go of the power. He is enjoying it. He always wanted to have a political party but failed, so now this is his moment to shine,” the former minister adds.

Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who is based in the US, has given interviews to Indian media saying his mother will return to Bangladesh “the moment the interim government decides to hold an election”.

Yunus has said “the past is gone”, but he has also responded to public anger against Hasina by cancelling national holidays honouring her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, one of the nation’s founding leaders. Last month his portrait was removed from the Bangladesh president’s office, and new currency notes have been issued with his likeness removed.

Some Bangladeshis say there has been too much focus on righting past wrongs. “These are misplaced priorities,” says Raju Poddar, a clothing shop owner in Dhaka. “No one wants to remember the brutal past but the government needs to focus on making the present peaceful. The never-ending protests, the attacks need to stop.”

The success of Bangladesh’s revolution and the Yunus government that has followed will be judged first and foremost on whether lives for ordinary Bangladeshis get better – but there are still calls for accountability for a regime that systematically repressed opposing voices over 15 years.

Another point of contention with India is the Yunus government’s formal calls for Hasina to be extradited back to Bangladesh to face trial for alleged crimes against humanity committed during the protests. India has confirmed it received the request but refused to comment further.

“Yunus has been quite measured with New Delhi,” Dr Hall says. “It is time for New Delhi to reevaluate its tendency to take sides in the domestic politics of its neighbours.”

WHO chief calls for end to Israeli attacks on Gaza hospitals

The World Health Organization has called for an end to attacks on Gaza’s hospitals after Israeli forces struck a medical facility and raided another over the weekend.

Noting that hospitals in the besieged Palestinian territory have “once again become battlegrounds”, WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for an immediate ceasefire and unhindered access to healthcare for the Palestinian people.

“The health system is under severe threat. We repeat: stop attacks on hospitals,” he said on Monday. “People in Gaza need access to health care. Humanitarians need access to provide health aid. Ceasefire!”

The WHO chief’s remarks came after Israeli forces struck Gaza City’s Al-Wafa hospital on Sunday, killing seven people, according to the Palestinian civil defence.

The Israeli forces claimed the strike targeted Hamas militants operating a command centre within the hospital.

Earlier, on Friday, Israeli forces raided the Kamal Adwan hospital, one of the last remaining health facilities in northern Gaza, and detained patients and medical staff, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

The military claimed they interrogated 950 people during the raid and found 240 to be militants. The hospital’s director, Hussam Abu Safiya, was detained for questioning as he was suspected of being a “Hamas operative”, the military alleged.

The Israeli raid rendered the hospital non-operational and left northern Gaza with a solitary functioning medical facility.

Israeli forces, meanwhile, ordered the remaining residents of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza to leave, triggering a fresh wave of displacement.

The area, under Israeli siege since October, is now almost entirely depopulated, with 325,000 people having fled south in recent months.

The WHO said it delivered emergency supplies to the Indonesian Hospital in north Gaza and moved 10 critically ill patients to Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Four patients were detained by the Israeli military during the transfer, the WHO chief said and urged Israel to uphold their healthcare needs and rights.

“Seven patients along with 15 caregivers and health workers remain at the severely damaged Indonesian Hospital, which has no ability to provide care,” he added.

The Israeli war on Gaza has left its healthcare system and humanitarian infrastructure in a state of near-total collapse. Freezing winter conditions have worsened the situation for the 2.3 million people of the Palestinian territory, most of whom are displaced and living in squalid conditions.

At least 45,514 Palestinians have been killed and over 108,000 wounded since Israel launched its military assault on Gaza following a Hamas attack that killed over 1,150 Israelis last October, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Gaza’s officials accuse Israel of deliberately blocking aid deliveries, an accusation Israel denies. Israel continues to insist its military actions are necessary to target Hamas militants and prevent them from regrouping.

Palestinian authorities and international human rights organisations say Israel is enforcing a “surrender or starve” campaign aimed at depopulating northern Gaza.

The WHO chief’s call for a ceasefire has since been echoed by several global leaders and humanitarian groups that have warned of the devastating consequences of continued violence in Gaza.

“The scientific evidence of the lethal toll this conflict is taking on people and planet is incontrovertible,” he said.

Taliban threaten to shut down NGOs that employ women

The Taliban have said they will shut down all national and foreign NGOs in Afghanistan that employ women, escalating the clampdown against women and aid agencies.

In a letter published on X on Sunday night, the country’s economy ministry warned that any NGO failing to comply with the directive to stop employing women will lose its licence to operate.

“In case of lack of cooperation, all activities of that institution will be canceled, and the activity license of that institution, granted by the ministry, will also be canceled,” the letter read.

The Taliban government ordered NGOs two years ago to stop employing Afghan women, claiming they were not adhering to the mandated dress code, including the wearing of headscarves.

The latest announcement comes amid reports that female Afghan humanitarian workers are being prevented from carrying out their duties, despite widespread recognition of the critical need for aid in the country.

The Taliban deny allegations of obstructing aid agencies or interfering with relief operations.

Afghan women have already been barred from most jobs, excluded from public spaces, and prohibited from accessing education beyond the sixth grade.

The Taliban recently passed orders restricting women from getting paramedical and midwifery training.

In a separate decree, Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has ordered property owners to obscure windows overlooking areas where women might sit or stand, such as yards or kitchens. The directive applies to both new and existing buildings, requiring walls, fences, or screens to block such views.

The decree, also published on X, instructed municipalities to ensure that future constructions adhere to the order.

The Taliban’s tightening restrictions on women and NGOs have drawn widespread international condemnation. The latest decree targeting NGOs comes as Afghanistan remains dependent on humanitarian aid, with millions of Afghans facing food insecurity and other crises.

The Taliban’s policies have repeatedly disrupted aid delivery and created logistical challenges for international organisations operating in the country. The UN and other humanitarian agencies have warned that excluding women from NGO roles could cripple efforts to provide essential services in the already struggling nation.

Additional reporting by agencies.