Category World News

At least four people have been killed when two boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers capsized off Libya’s coast, according to the Libyan Red Crescent.

In a statement on Saturday, the organisation said the incident occurred off the coastal city of al-Khums on Thursday night.

It said the first boat was carrying 26 people from Bangladesh, four of whom died.

The second boat carried 69 people, including two Egyptians and dozens of Sudanese, the Red Crescent added, without specifying their fate. Eight of them were children, it said.

Al-Khums is a coastal city, some 118km (73 miles) east of the capital, Tripoli.

Libya has become a transit route for migrants and asylum seekers fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe since the 2011 fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi during a NATO-backed uprising.

Pictures released by the Libyan Red Crescent showed a line of bodies in black plastic bags laid out on the floor, while the volunteers are seen providing first aid to the survivors.

Other pictures show the rescued people wrapped in thermal blankets sitting on the floor.

The statement added that coastguards and Al-Khums Port Security Agency participated in the rescue operation. Adding that the bodies were handed over to the relevant authorities based on instructions by the city’s public prosecution.

On Wednesday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that at least 42 migrants went missing and were presumed dead after a rubber boat sank near the Al Buri oilfield, an offshore facility north-northwest of the Libyan coast.

In mid-October, a group of 61 bodies of migrants were recovered on the coast west of Tripoli. In September, IOM said at least 50 people had died after a vessel carrying 75 Sudanese refugees caught fire off Libya’s coast.

Thousands of people in Mexico City have taken part in protests against growing crime, corruption and impunity, which, though organised by members of Generation Z, ended up being mostly backed and attended by older supporters of opposition parties.

Saturday’s march was attended by people from several age groups, with supporters of the recently killed Michoacan Mayor Carlos Manzo, attending the protest wearing the straw hats that symbolise his political movement.

Earlier in the week, some Gen Z social media influencers said they no longer backed Saturday’s protests, while mainstream figures like former President Vicente Fox and Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego published messages in support of the protests.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also accused right-wing parties of trying to infiltrate the Gen Z movement, and of using bots on social media to try to increase attendance.

In several Asian and African countries this year, members of the Gen Z demographic group have organised protests against inequality, democratic backsliding and corruption.

The largest Gen Z protests took place in Nepal in September, following a ban on social media, and led to former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s resignation.

Madagascar also saw major protests that same month, initially driven by severe, prolonged water and electricity shortages that exposed wider government failures and corruption. The weeks of unrest led to the dissolution of the government, forcing President Andry Rajoelina to flee the country last month and regime change.

Saturday’s protests quickly turned violent, as “protesters accuse the federal government of repression”, reported Mexican news outlet El Universal.

Security forces fired tear gas and threw stones at protesters as they entered the perimeter of the National Palace, located in the city’s main square of Zocalo, El Universal reported.

“With their shields and stones, they [security forces] physically assaulted young people demonstrating in … Zocalo, who ended up injured and assisted by doctors who were also marching and ERUM [Emergency Rescue and Medical Emergencies Squadron] personnel,” said El Universal.

Police officers, after “chasing and beating protesters on the Zocalo plaza” for a few minutes, “forced people to leave the area and dispersed the last remaining protesters”, it added.

In Mexico, many young people say they are frustrated with systemic problems like corruption and impunity for violent crimes.

“We need more security,” said Andres Massa, a 29-year-old business consultant, who carried the pirate skull flag that has become a global symbol of Gen Z protests, told The Associated Press news agency.

Claudia Cruz, a 43-year-old physician who joined the protests, said she was marching for more funding for the public health system, and for better security because doctors “are also exposed to the insecurity gripping the country, where you can be murdered and nothing happens”.

Cold temperatures and heavy rainfall have worsened already dire conditions for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian families across the Gaza Strip, as Israel continues to block deliveries of tents and other critical shelter supplies to the besieged territory.

Humanitarian groups have been warning for weeks that Palestinians living in tent camps and other makeshift shelters do not have what they need to withstand blistering winter conditions in the coastal enclave.

Many have been forcibly displaced multiple times as a result of Israel’s two-year bombardment of Gaza, which damaged and destroyed more than 198,000 structures across the Strip, according to United Nations figures.

“I have been crying since morning,” a displaced Palestinian mother of two told Al Jazeera from Gaza City on Saturday, pointing to her family’s tent, which had been flooded as a result of heavy rainfall overnight.

The woman, who did not provide her name, said she was struggling to provide for her children after several members of her family, including her husband, were killed in Israel’s genocidal war, which began in October 2023.

“I am asking for help to get a proper tent, a mattress and a blanket. I want my children to have suitable clothes,” she said. “I don’t have anyone to turn to … There is no one to help me.”

The UN and other humanitarian groups have urged Israel to lift all restrictions on aid to the Strip, where more than 69,000 people have been killed in more than two years of Israel’s war.

But the Israeli government has maintained its severe restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid despite a ceasefire deal with the Palestinian group Hamas that came into effect on October 10.

Aid groups said earlier this month that about 260,000 Palestinian families in Gaza, totalling almost 1.5 million people, were vulnerable as the cold winter months approached.

‘Misery on top of misery’

At the same time, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said it has enough shelter supplies to help as many as 1.3 million Palestinians – but cannot bring them into Gaza due to the Israeli restrictions.

On Saturday, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said deliveries were more critical than ever as this winter coincides with Gaza’s displacement crisis.

“It’s cold and wet in Gaza. Displaced people are now facing a harsh winter without the basics to protect them from the rain and cold,” he said in a social media post.

Describing the humanitarian toll as “misery on top of misery”, Lazzarini noted that Gaza’s fragile shelters “quickly flood, soaking people’s belongings”.

“More shelter supplies are urgently needed for the people,” he added.

Reporting from az-Zuwayda in central Gaza, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary also said many Palestinians have no other option but to remain in flooded and flimsy tents since their neighbourhoods were destroyed by Israel and shelters are full.

“Parents are unable to [buy] their children winter clothes, shoes and slippers,” she said. “Families are left helpless, without knowing what to do.”

Late on Saturday, the Israeli military fired flares in areas southeast of Khan Younis city, sources in southern Gaza told Al Jazeera. Armies generally launch flares to highlight enemy positions and indicate incoming attacks.

United States federal officials have confirmed that an immigration crackdown – the latest by President Donald Trump’s administration – is under way in North Carolina’s largest city, Charlotte, as agents were seen making arrests in multiple locations.

“Americans should be able to live without fear of violent criminal illegal aliens hurting them, their families, or their neighbors,” Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement on Saturday, according to The Associated Press news agency.  “We are surging DHS [Department of Homeland Security] law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed.”

Local officials, including Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, criticised such actions, saying in a statement they “are causing unnecessary fear and uncertainty”.

“We want people in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to know we stand with all residents who simply want to go about their lives,” said the statement, which was also signed by County Commissioner Mark Jerrell and Stephanie Sneed of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg education board.

Charlotte is a racially diverse city of more than 900,000 residents, including more than 150,000 who are foreign-born, according to local officials.

The federal government hadn’t previously announced the push. But Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden said earlier this week that two federal officials had told him that customs agents would be arriving soon.

Paola Garcia, a spokesperson with Camino – a bilingual nonprofit serving families in Charlotte – said she and her colleagues have observed an increase in Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents pulling people over since Friday.

“Basically, what we’re seeing is that there have been lots of people being pulled over,” Garcia said. “I even saw a few people being pulled over on the way to work yesterday, and then just from community members seeing an increase in ICE and Border Patrol agents in the city of Charlotte.”

Local organisations responded by holding trainings, trying to inform immigrants of their rights, and considering peaceful protests.

Trump’s administration has defended federal enforcement crackdowns in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago as necessary for fighting crime and enforcing immigration laws.

Trump’s drive to deport millions of immigrants has prompted allegations of rights abuses and myriad lawsuits.

But Governor Josh Stein, a Democrat with a Republican-majority legislature, said Friday that the vast majority of those detained in these operations have no criminal convictions, and some are American citizens.

He urged people to record any “inappropriate behavior” they see and notify local law enforcement about it.