Five people have been killed and three others have been hurt in a bombing that targeted a convoy of a group supported by Yemen, according to Yemeni authorities.
According to a statement released by Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, the attack on Wednesday targeted a convoy carrying Hamdi Shukri, a commander of the pro-government Giants Brigades.
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According to the Saudi-backed council, the bombing was a “desperate attempt” to undermine efforts to stabilize the country’s security situation at a time when “tangible progress” was being made with Saudi Arabia’s support.
According to the Saba News Agency, the council said that following the “treacherous terrorist attack,” taking “practical and decisive measures” would include prosecuting the perpetrators and dismantling related support networks.
The government did not name a specific group as the target of the attack.
The Yemeni government calls on all political and national organizations to unite under the guise of justice in the face of chaos, saboteurs, and terrorism, and to treat this crime as one that affects everyone, without exception, according to the council.
When the state is being targeted, it continued, “political differences do not justify silence or reluctance.”
As Shukri’s convoy passed by the Ja’awla area in the north of Aden, a security source claimed to have heard an explosion from a car bomb left on the side of the road.
Shukri was able to survive the attack despite having leg shrapnel wounds, according to a medical source who spoke to AFP.
What it called an “unprovoked attack against a Yemeni government-affiliated military convoy” was also condemned by the US embassy in Yemen.
Since Houthi rebels led by Iran-backed Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi removed the government from Sanaa in 2014, Yemen has been mired in a civil war.
Saudi Arabia and the neighboring United Arab Emirates have recently experienced armed conflict due to armed clashes between the internationally renowned government and the Southern Transitional Council, which is supported by the UAE.
The victims of last month’s mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, when two gunmen opened fire on a Jewish celebration, left 15 people dead, are the subject of a national day of mourning in Australia.
On Thursday, Australia’s flags will fly at half-staff to honor the victims of the shooting on December 14 (08:01 GMT), with a moment of silence set for 7:00 pm.
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The Sydney Opera House and Bondi’s Chabad House, a Jewish community center, will host memorial services. A 10-year-old child was one of the 15 victims of the attack, of which the majority were Jews.
Light will win, and the government will install lighting installations in Canberra and other cities with each of the 15 victims’ names on the memorials’ “Light will win” theme.
The events will also honor the numerous individuals who responded to the December attack, including first responders and Bondi shop owner Ahmed al-Ahmed, who allegedly wrestled a gun from an assailant.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated on Thursday that when people look to Bondi, they don’t just see the beach.
We interpret it as fulfilling our world promise. There is room for everyone in the famous crescent of sand and water, according to Albanese in a statement.
“A lot broke that night, but nothing else should break here, aside from the waves.” He claimed that it was a tragic attack on the Australian way of life as well as Jewish Australians.
One of Australia’s most well-known beaches can be found in Bondi, but the area’s large Jewish community has a history.
The most deadly attack of its kind in 30 years was the Bondi shooting.
Sajid Akram, 50, is suspected of being shot and killed by police in the attack at Bondi Beach. He was granted a visa to enter Australia in 1998 as an Indian national. His 24-year-old son, Naveed, an Australian-born citizen who is still imprisoned, is accused of terrorism and 15 murders.
According to police, the ISIL (ISIS) organization served as an inspiration for the pair.
In response to the attack, the Australian parliament approved tougher gun laws, including stricter gun licence checks and a buyback scheme.
The oldest paintings ever discovered by archaeologists on the Indonesian island of Muna could be up to 67, 800 years old, making them the oldest known paintings in the world.
Researchers from Indonesia and Australia discovered that the tan-colored drawings were created by rubbing pigment over hands against cave walls, leaving a outline, according to scientists’ findings on Wednesday.
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Since 2015, archaeologist Adhi Agus Oktaviana from Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) has been searching for hand stencils in the Muna island region of Sulawesi province.
In the cave where a person rides a horse alongside a chicken, Adhi discovered the hand stencils, which have since been dated, beneath more recent paintings.
Adhi initially said it was difficult to demonstrate to his coworkers that the stencils were human fingers, but he “finally discovered some spots that looked like human fingers.”
Additionally, some of the fingertips were altered to appear sharper.
The oldest hand stencil that has been studied here is distinctive because it was only discovered in Sulawesi, according to Maxime Aubert, an expert in archaeological science at Griffith University in Australia, who assisted in the study’s publication on Wednesday.
According to Aubert, “the tips of the fingers were carefully reshaped so that they appeared pointed.”
Adam Brumm, a co-author of Aubert’s book and an archaeologist at Griffith University, claimed it appeared that the people who painted the hands were attempting to represent something else.
[Maxime Aubert/AP Photo] This image, which Maxime Aubert provided, shows cave drawings of a human figure and a bird with a handprint that has faded in between them in Sulawesi province, Indonesia.
“It almost seemed as though they were purposefully trying to turn this image of a human hand into something else, perhaps an animal claw,” said Brumm.
We don’t know what that meant, but it is clear that they did have some deeper cultural significance. He said, “I think it had something to do with these ancient peoples’ complex symbolic relationship with the animal world.”
By examining the uranium content of the mineral layers that gradually formed atop the pigment, the researchers determined the image’s minimum age.
The researchers laser-zapped the layers of rock with a laser to compare the uranium-containing rock to a more stable radioactive element called thorium after collecting five-millimeter samples of small clusters of calcite that had formed on the walls of the limestone caves.
According to Aubert, this “very precise” method provided the scientists with a precise minimum age for the painting.
Additionally, the researchers discovered that numerous times over a long period of time rock art was performed in the Muna caves. According to Aubert, some of the ancient art was still visible 35, 000 years later.
The original art was discovered by the same team in the Sulawesi region in 2024, and it is also more than 15 000 years older.
Along with neighboring East Timor and Australia, the area around Indonesia is known for some of the world’s oldest archaeological discoveries.
Adhi said the cave paintings provide fresh proof for the theory that Sulawesi was a place for early humans.
According to the Jakarta Post, “it also shows that our ancestors were not only great sailors,” Adhi said, “but also artists.”
According to archaeological evidence that dates back at least 60 000 years, Aboriginal people living in Australia have one of the oldest continuous living cultures on earth.
Following earlier attacks on southern Lebanon that left at least two people dead and almost 20 others injured, Israel claimed it attacked four crossing points on the Syria-Lebanon border, claiming Hezbollah smuggled weapons.
Israel’s most recent violence on Wednesday comes in spite of a US-brokered ceasefire, which ended Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon in 2024 and that Israel has repeatedly violated.
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In a risky escalation that directly targets civilians, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in a statement late on Wednesday that Israel is “pursuing a policy of systematic aggression” by conducting air strikes on inhabited Lebanese villages.
President Aoun reaffirmed Israel’s refusal to comply with its obligations as a result of the cessation of hostilities agreement.
At least 19 people were hurt in Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese town of Qanarit, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
After an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday in the south of Lebanon’s Qanarit, people flee as smoke rises. [Mohammed Zaatari/AP Photo]
After the Israeli army issued warnings that it would launch attacks on targets inside the nation, Israeli warplanes bombed buildings in several villages and towns in south Lebanon, including al-Kharayeb, al-Ansar, Qanarit, Kfour, and Jarjouh, according to the state-run National News Agency.
One person was killed earlier in the day when an Israeli vehicle was struck by an Israeli vehicle in the Sidon district of Zahrani, according to the Health Ministry. Additionally, according to the ministry, another person was killed in an Israeli attack on a vehicle in Tyre’s Bazuriyeh neighborhood.
A charred car on a main road in Sidon, according to the AFP news agency, was seen by a correspondent who reported seeing emergency personnel and debris strewn across the scene. Two other journalists who were employed close to the site of a heavy Israeli strike in Qanarit, where 19 people were hurt, also suffered minor injuries, along with a photographer from the agency.
The Israeli military claimed on social media that it had “eliminated” a “key Hezbollah weapons smuggler” in the southern Sidon region and that it had targeted four border crossings used for “weapons transfer.”
In a “blatant violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty,” Israeli attacks were condemned in a statement released by the Lebanese army.
The Lebanese military added that these attacks “hod the army’s efforts” to finish the Hezbollah disarmament plan, which was a part of the ceasefire agreement.
The administration of President Donald Trump has made the most recent immigration enforcement announcement, this time in Maine, a state with northeastern borders.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed on Wednesday that “Operation Catch of the Day” had been conducting immigration raids the day before.
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A Trump administration spokesman said in a statement that the president’s and the state’s governor, Democrat Janet Mills, were engaged in a political conflict.
According to spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, “Governor Mills and her fellow sanctuary politicians in Maine have made it abundantly clear that they would rather stand with criminal illegal aliens than defend law-abiding Americans.”
However, rumors have been spreading that Maine was chosen for its significant Somali American population in Lewiston and Portland. According to estimates, there are about 3, 000 Somali Americans in the state overall.
At a cabinet meeting in December, Trump has repeatedly criticized the Somali community and compared its members to “garbage.” He recently referred to Somalis and Somali Americans as “a lot of very low IQ people” on his White House podium as recently as Tuesday.
Trump has frequently used racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric in his campaigns for office, and he has repeatedly criticized specific groups, including Haitians and Mexicans, for fabricating a link between impunity and criminal activity.
Portland, Maine’s mayor Mark Dion addresses a press conference on January 21. [Photo: Patrick Whittle/AP Photo]
Minnesota has similarities.
A few members of Trump’s team were implicated in a fraud scandal in Minnesota, a midwestern state, where immigration enforcement operations were launched in December, as a result of his focus on the Somali community.
In addition to the violent confrontations between federal agents and protesters, Renee Nicole Good, 37, was fatally shot in her car after engaging with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
A Wednesday news conference with Portland city officials on Wednesday was dominated by worries that those tensions might spread to Maine.
As ICE agents began their crackdown, the region’s mayor, Mark Dion, stated to reporters that immigrant communities were “anxious and fearful.”
They perceive this behavior as unanticipated and a threat to their families, he said.
He questioned whether a heavy-handed operation was required to stop immigration violations in the area, and he demanded that ICE use a different strategy than it did in Minnesota.
We disagree with the need for a paramilitary approach to the enforcement of federal laws, Dion said. “I want to emphasize one important point.
Federal immigration law is a good one. Its governance and enforcement are legitimate, he continued. What we’ve been concerned about as a council is the enforcement strategies used by ICE in other communities, which in our opinion appear to be threatening and intimidating populations.
Dion expressed hope that ICE would adopt a more targeted approach to apprehending local suspects, though.
The mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota, predicted that Maine would experience the same “massing of federal agents” as Minneapolis, where nearly 2, 000 immigration officers have flooded its streets.
“ICE is engaging in very individualized behavior. He said, “There is a person here, there is a neighborhood there.” Their behavior seems focused, at least in Maine, which would suggest to me that they are acting on the basis of a valid court order, and this is speculation.
He claimed that that was a departure from the “random, show-your-papers kind of experience” that Minnesotans had previously had.
Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis on January 20 at a makeshift memorial. [Angelina Katsanis/AP Photo]
ICE operations scandal atrocious
Despite Dion’s support for a wait-and-see approach to the ICE operation, other city officials took a different stance.
Wesley Pelletier, a councillor for Portland, described the ongoing raids as part of “an agenda of white nationalism and might makes right.”
The federal government is engaged in a “war of terror” against our city, according to Pelletier. “We’ve seen people of all ages being thrown into trucks and on the ground.”
According to ICE Deputy Assistant Director Patricia Hyde, who was quoted by Fox News as saying that the agency had already made 50 arrests as part of “Catch of the Day” so far. In Maine, according to Hyde, ICE has identified nearly 1,400 detainees.
Four arrests, depicting people from Sudan, Guatemala, Ethiopia, and Angola, were highlighted in the Department of Homeland Security’s statement on Wednesday.
The four defendants were described as “the worst of the worst” and accused of crimes ranging from aggravated assault to child abuse, though it was not clear in one case whether the accusation had led to a conviction.
In the statement, McLaughlin said, “We are no longer allowing criminal illegal aliens to terrorize American citizens.”
However, state Democratic officials claimed that the Trump administration had refused to coordinate ahead of “Catch of the Day,” which heightened local anxiety.
Governor Mills announced on social media on January 14 that she had “attended, unsuccessfully, confirm” the upcoming rise in federal immigration enforcement, almost a week before the operation was launched.
She claimed in a video statement that Portland and Lewiston’s local governments had been collaborating on the project. She continued, “angry” about the anticipated surge, too.
According to Mills, “our goal is always to safeguard the safety and rights of the people of Maine.”
Do not be alarmed, I tell the federal government, “Do not come here if your plan is to be provocative and to undermine the civil rights of Maine residents.” The people of Maine do not approve of those tactics.
She also lashed out at the practice of using masks and other facial coverings to cover one’s identity among federal agents.
Because our law enforcement adhere to high professional standards, Mills said, “Look, Maine knows what good law enforcement looks like.” They hold the law accountable. And I’ll let you know this: They don’t detain people to meet quotas, and they don’t wear masks to protect their identities.
Democratic Governor Janet Mills has publicly opposed the policies of the Trump administration.
A political conflict
Mills and Trump have a long history of political rivalry, beginning in a public forum. He hosted a White House gathering for governors in February of last year, shortly after Trump won a second term, and he personally criticized Mills.
Maine: Is it here? “The Maine governor” Trump outlined laws that prohibit transgender athletes from participating in sporting events. Are you going to break it, you ask?
Mills responded, “I’m adhering to state and federal law.” From there, the tension grew even more.
Trump retorted, “You’d better comply because otherwise you’re not getting any, any federal funding.”
Mills responded, “See you in court.”
“Good. In court, I’ll see you again. That’s something I’m anticipating. That ought to be a simple choice. And enjoy your life there after, governor, because you won’t likely be running for office, he said.
Trump demanded an apology and criticized the Democratic governor for months after the incident, which established a frosty relationship between the two leaders.
In addition, his administration stepped up its offensive against Mills, including suspending a marine research grant and freezing Maine’s allocation of other federal funds.
Mills acknowledged the Trump administration’s most recent efforts in a brief statement in response to the ICE deployment this week.
Together, we will prioritize Maine’s citizens’ safety and civil rights above all else, and we will continue to fight for the rule of law and fair trial,” she wrote.
In the middle of the state’s midterm election cycle, Maine will hold its next gubernatorial race in 2026.
On Thursday, January 22, 2018, this is the situation:
Fighting
According to the regional prosecutor’s office’s message on the Telegram messaging app, a 52-year-old woman was killed in a hospital after being hurt by Russian shelling in the Kherson region of Ukraine’s Dniprovskyi district.
According to Vadym Filashkin, head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, Russian forces have dropped 768 guided missiles and high-explosive aerial bombs in areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control over the past ten days, destroying almost all remaining infrastructure.
Following recent Russian attacks, Ukrainian energy company DTEK announced on Facebook that the country’s capital Kyiv’s power supply had been restored to “critical infrastructure,” but that the “city’s power system is still in deep emergency mode,” with daily outages now lasting for a month.
About 44, 000 homes in the Dniprovskyi and Desnyanskyi districts, where about 44, 000 homes are still without power, were also affected by the attacks on Kyiv’s power generation facilities, according to DTEK in a separate post on Telegram.
Without providing further details, the Ukrainian state’s power grid operator, Ukrenergo, reported a senior executive died while overseeing repairs at a power plant that had been damaged by a Russian strike.
According to the regional emergency services task force, Ukrainian forces reportedly attacked a port in the village of Volna in the southern Krasnodar region of Russia, killing three people and injuring eight, according to the country’s TASS state news agency.
Four oil storage tanks were “engulfed in flames,” according to Veniamin Kondratyev, the regional governor of Krasnodar, earlier on Telegram.
An Uzbek man was found guilty of killing top Russian general Igor Kirillov and his assistant in a 2024 bombing attack and was given a life sentence by a military court in Moscow.
Regional security
Ruben Brekelmans, the head of Dutch defense, claimed in a post on X that Dutch navy ships “escorted Russian vessels away from the North Sea for the second time in a short period.” We are aware that these Russian ships can be used to eavesdrop on and map important maritime infrastructure, according to the minister.
A German-Ukrainian woman was detained on Wednesday after being accused of spying for Russia through contacts with former German Defense Ministry employees, gathering information about drone production for Ukraine, and attending political events.
Due to the crisis in Greenland, NATO members are faced with difficult decisions, but Western allies must remember that Russia, which is increasing its military presence in the Arctic, is their common adversary, according to Norway’s defense minister Tore Sandvik, who spoke to foreign correspondents in Oslo on Wednesday.
Politics and diplomacy
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, is meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine for the World Economic Forum, adding that he believes both the Ukrainian leader and Vladimir Putin want to end the nearly four-year conflict in Ukraine and that a resolution is “reasonably close.”
According to the TASS news agency, President Trump also stated to reporters in Davos that he wanted to see powerful people join the initiative.
Putin stated on Wednesday that the Russian foreign minister would respond to Putin’s request to join the board in due course.
Putin, who was cited by Russian news outlets as saying at a meeting of Russia’s Security Council, said he thought the proposed “board of peace” was primarily intended to deal with a Middle Eastern peace settlement and that Russia was willing to pay Trump for long-term board membership in exchange for $1 billion in Russian assets that had been frozen in the US due to its war against Ukraine.
Rustem Umerov, the negotiator for Ukraine, announced on Telegram that he had a meeting with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s top envoys.
Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev and Witkoff met on Wednesday in Davos, according to TASS, and Witkoff described the meeting as “very positive.”
