A young, internally displaced man is writing a book to express the acute suffering of the Palestinians and share stories that otherwise wouldn’t be known. Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza is continuing to cause unfathomable agony.
Witness to the Hellfire of Genocide, a book by Wasim Said, chronicles two years of unrelenting war and repeated forced displacement as a result of Israeli ground invasion, destruction, and forced starvation.
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The 24-year-old told Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud that he primarily writes inside a tent without any real protection from the scorching summer heat or the icy winter cold and heavy rains.
“Our lives have included displacement sites and tents,” he said. Even though it’s almost impossible, we have to find a way to cope with this suffering, he said.
Said’s book has chapters named after people, places, or memories he refuses to let go of.
He responded, “I don’t need your sympathy.” I require a human with a conscience that hasn’t rotted, a reader who won’t just sigh and then take their coffee, and so do I.
[Screengrab/Al Jazeera]
Because the Israeli military has nearly destroyed the entire infrastructure in Gaza, leaving the displaced population without electricity or internet, he has spent many nights writing in candlelight.
Said claimed that his intention was to express his emotions and bear witness to the atrocities rather than to be compensated.
“I was devastated,” My anger was impossible to contain. He claimed that writing was the only method for letting it out.
He initially wrote about his experiences, but he soon realized that many people had experienced even more heinous tragedies than the average person can imagine.
“People who were murdered and buried without the public’s knowledge.” Their final moments. their apprehension. The Untold Stories is the title of this chapter.
Every page serves as a quiet form of forgetting, according to Said. He claimed that in many situations death seemed “inevitable.”
“I wrote because I wanted to leave something behind, not just another martyr,” I wrote. If documents are not kept, stories vanish, he claimed.
[Screengrab/Al Jazeera]
The young man claimed to have questioned the purpose of writing or even the existence of being alive because there have been nearly 70, 000 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since October 2023 and countless hospitals, schools, and homes that have been destroyed.
However, human nature seeks a glimmer of hope. I still think writing matters, he said, despite the images of starvation and death. I could write nothing more than this. The remainder is currently being written in blood. If I continue to live, I’ll finish the story.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb-majority government, Republika Srpska, casts a snap presidential election on Sunday following the removal of separatist leader Milorad Dodik from office in August.
Dodik was removed after he was convicted for refusing to carry out decisions issued by Christian Schmidt, the international peace envoy who oversees implementation of the Dayton peace agreement that ended the 1992–95 Bosnian War.
Additionally, the court forbade him from running for president for six years and gave him a one-year prison sentence that he avoided by posting bail. The Supreme Court of Bosnia upheld that decision in early November.
In October, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska appointed Ana Trisic-Babic as an interim president until the Sunday election.
What is known about the vote and why it matters, as well.
When will there be a snap election in Republika Srpska?
According to Bosnia’s Central Election Commission (CIK), voting will be open on Sunday, November 23, between 7am (06: 00 GMT) and 7pm (18: 00 GMT). More than 1.2 million people, who come from Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs, are eligible to cast ballots. In previous presidential elections, turnout typically ranged between 50 and 55 percent.
Although Trisic-Babic was appointed as an interim president, the law still requires new elections within 90 days of a president’s removal.
The election resulted in a less than a year of service for Dodik’s successor until the general elections in October.
When will the results be made public?
Preliminary results are expected on election night, but the final official vote count by the Central Election Commission will be announced only after the body also validates all outcomes.
Republika Srpska: What is it?
Along with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, each of Bosnia’s two main political parties enjoys significant autonomy, is Republika Srpska. The two share equal rights over a small, third self-governing administrative unit within the country, known as the Brcko District.
Bosnian Serb leaders formally established the post-war constitutional structure of Bosnia in 1992 with the signing of the Dayton peace agreement. In 1992, Republika Srpska was established.
The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina forms the majority of Bosnia’s territory, while the Republic of Srpska accounts for about 49% of that territory.
Republika Srpska has its own government, parliament, judiciary and police, but not its own army.
According to the most recent census, which was conducted more than a decade ago in 2013, Serbia accounts for roughly 82 percent of its residents, along with smaller Bosniak and Croat minorities.
Due to the ethnic cleansing of non-Serb communities, it’s demographics dramatically changed during and after the war. Before the conflict, Bosniaks and Croats made up about half of the population in the area that is now Republika Srpska, today, they account for less than 17 percent.
Radovan Karadzic, the country’s first president, was given a life sentence in The Hague for the 1995 genocide against Bosniaks in Srebrenica, a town within Republika Srpska.
What makes elections significant?
The elections come at a highly sensitive time for Bosnia. Republika Srpska has increased its rhetoric to secede from Bosnia in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with Dodik, a close ally of Vladimir Putin, increasingly urging the country to secede, possibly joining Serbia.
After his removal from office and his longstanding rule over Republika Srpska’s politics, Dodik will be replaced by these elections. The vote is also a test of how much influence he can still exert, despite being banned from political activity.
The candidates are who?
Six candidates are running for president, four of whom are political parties, and two of whom are independents.
The main contenders are Sinisa Karan of Dodik’s ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), who is directly backed by Dodik, and Branko Blanusa of the opposition Serb Democratic Party (SDS).
Former Republika Srpska interior minister and long-time member of Dodik’s inner circle. In the current Republika Srpska government, he is minister for higher education and scientific and technological development.
According to Radio Free Europe, he was part of a group ‘ tasked ‘ to draft an SNSD plan for Republika Srpska to break away from Bosnia.
Dodik views Karan as an extension of his own authority, according to analysts. Dodik has frequently attended Karan’s rallies.
Blanusa, the SDS candidate, is a member of the party’s Banja Luka City Committee and a professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Banja Luka.
Karadzic was the original leader of the SDS, which is now Republika Srpska’s main opposition party. It has long competed for the same electorate as Dodik’s SNSD and is a Serb nationalist party.
While it is critical of Dodik’s style of governance and allegations of corruption, it broadly shares similar positions on key political issues, including relations with the capital Sarajevo and scepticism towards the international overseer of the peace agreement.
Dragan Dokanovic of the Alliance for New Politics (SNP) and Nikola Lazarevic of the Ecological Party of Republika Srpska are the other party-backed candidates.
On the ballot are two independent candidates, Igor Gasevic and Slavko Dragicevic, who have largely remained unaudited.
Who is Milorad Dodik?
Former Republika Srpska president Milorad Dodik, 66, is a.
He was supported by Western governments in the late 1990s when he became the organization’s prime minister in 1998. He was viewed as a promising alternative to Karadzic’s hardline nationalist government and the post-war regime’s ruling SDS. Then-US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright described Dodik as “a breath of fresh air”, and both the United States and the United Kingdom placed their hopes in him as a more moderate future option.
He was one of the first Republika Srpska leaders to acknowledge the genocide at Srebrenica. Dodik, the head of SNSD since its formation, claimed in a 2007 interview that “there was a genocide in Srebrenica” that he “perfectly knew what took place.
“That judgement was made by the court in The Hague, and that is an undeniable legal fact”, he said.
He has won again in 2022 after serving three terms as Republika Srpska’s president, winning twice in two separate mandates from 2010 to 2018. He was elected to Bosnia’s three-member presidency in 2018 as the Serb candidate.
During this period, however, Dodik adopted a far more nationalist stance, repeatedly calling for the entity’s secession, and denying the Srebrenica genocide – going back on his own earlier admissions.
Dodik signed two contentious bills in 2023 that stated that Republika Srpska would not be able to apply the rulings of the Bosnian constitutional court and the Dayton Agreement peace envoy. Those bills were blocked by the constitutional court and the peace envoy.
In March 2025, the constitutional court issued arrest warrants for Milorad Dodik and several of his allies on charges of undermining the constitutional order. However, a month later, Republika Srpska police prevented State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) agents from entering the Republika Srpska government’s administrative center to arrest Dodik, escalating the conflict even further.
Dodik was removed from office and barred from politics in Bosnia in August. He, however, remains the president of the SNSD party and continues to be its most powerful figure.
On Thursday, April 24, 2019, a member of the police of Republika Srpska’s Special Anti-Terrorist Unit guards a rectory building in Istocno Sarajevo, Bosnia.
Does Bosnia as a whole suffer as a result of the Republika Srpska political crisis?
Yes. The two countries have a strong relationship, and Bosnia is a nation that relies on a power-sharing system. The national level of stability may be impacted by the opposition to state institutions and the rise of secessionist threats.
The early election also strains Bosnia’s economy. In a nation with one of Europe’s smallest economies, the vote is funded by the state budget rather than the organization’s own institutions. The Bosnian Central Election Commission has allocated close to $4 million to the election, or more than six million Bosnian marks.
The UK government, one of the guarantors of , the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, said at a United Nations Security Council meeting on Bosnia in October that holding presidential elections in the Republika Srpska would give “an opportunity for formation of their new government”, insisting that “the constitutional order and rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina must be upheld”.
At the meeting, UK representative Jennifer MacNaughtan said, “We support a focus on constructive and cooperative politics, even between Bosnia and Herzegovina’s two entities.”
Russia, a staunch supporter of Republika Srpska, praised the interim president’s transition to Dodik in October, while also reaffirming Dodik’s position that the Office of the High Representative peace envoy (OHR) should be “permanently closed.”
In conversation with the media, the spokesperson of Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, said the Russian Federation “wholeheartedly supports” the struggle of the leadership of Republika Srpska against “eroding fundamental principles” of the Dayton peace treaty.
The US has not made an official comment on the elections, but the Department of Treasury has recently lifted sanctions against Dodik, his family, and his allies, including SNDS candidate Karan, for tampering with the Dayton peace agreement. Serb officials in Bosnia have suggested that they were pursuing a more cooperative relationship with the US while still maintaining their close ties with Russia.
Republika Srpska’s strongest ally, Serbia, has taken a more cautious stance than usual. Serbia’s president Aleksandar Vucic, who has been a subject of anti-government protests for almost a year, avoided directly commenting on the elections in an interview with the state-owned Radio Television of Serbia. He stated that he hoped for the Republic of Srpska’s “peaceful” outcome and that everything would “pass peacefully.” He added that Serbia would always be there to help with “infrastructure”.
What might occur following the election?
Dodik’s influence on the SNSD’s Karan would likely continue if he were to win. Speaking to Euronews Serbia, Karan said the vote had been “forced” onto Republika Srpska by the peace envoy Schmidt and that a vote for him is “a vote for President Dodik”.
The Republika Srpska National Assembly also has a sizable majority, thanks to the ruling SNSD.
Under the current leadership, Republika Srpska has become “impoverished, displaced, and isolated,” according to Blanusa of the opposition’s SDS party, and has pledged to make combating corruption in the organization its top priority.
Indeed, the entity faces deep economic challenges. Total gross domestic product (GDP) for the year 2023 was approximately 16 billion Bosnian marks (roughly $9 billion), making up a third of the country’s GDP, according to the Republika Srpska’s Database of Economic Indicators.
As the release of documents about the deceased convicted paedophile financier approaches, a group of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s decades-long sexual abuse have spoken out about receiving death threats, which they anticipate will grow.
The survivors of Epstein have demanded accountability and legal support in a statement with the title “What we’re bracing for” that was made public on Thursday.
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“Many of us have already been the subject of death threats and other harm threats. They said, “We are anticipating these to escalate.”
We request that every state and federal law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction over these threats conduct an investigation and protect us.
Additionally, they cautioned against repeating accusations of abuse against the victims.
Some of the survivors have recently made strides in their campaigning efforts to make their stories known in public.
President Donald Trump has backpedaled on his opposition to the Justice Department’s release of the files with a sudden about-face last week, dominating the country’s national agenda.
On Wednesday, Trump authorized the Justice Department to release all of the financial records related to the scandalized financier.
The US Senate unanimously approved the legislation one day later.
The department has 30 days to make them public after he passes the legislation.
“Keep fighting,”
Following weeks of heated political debate over whether or not to release Epstein-related records, the development comes.
Some of the most well-known figures in politics, entertainment, and business could be identified from the release.
According to the survivors’ statement demanding full disclosure of the files, “Years ago, Epstein got away with abusing us by portraying us as flawed and bad girls.”
The appeal, signed by 18 named survivors and 10 Jane Does, was written, “We cannot let his enablers use this tactic to escape accountability now.”
We urge our supporters in Congress and the general public to continue fighting to release all available information, not just selected information.
Marina Lacerda, a survivor, says the upcoming release of the files is more than just a chance to win justice.
Lacerda claims that Epstein began sexually abusing her at the age of 14 when she first encountered him at his New York mansion, but she is unable to recall much of what transpired because her life was so turbulent. She now hopes that the records will provide more information about the trauma that so severely altered her adolescence.
She told The Associated Press news agency, “I think the government and the FBI know more than I do, and that scares me because it’s my life and my past.”
In New York City jail cells where Epstein was awaiting trial, he was discovered dead in 2019. He admitted guilt and was found guilty in 2008 of prostitution-related procuring.
Virginia Giuffre, a survivor of the Epstein virus, was reportedly the subject of a campaign of intimidation and threats before she committed suicide in April. Her painful story has been one of the most well-known cases.
Jake Paul’s most recent boxing endeavor was significantly outshined by former two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua at their first fight on Friday before their December 19th bout, despite being vastly outnumbered by them.
The YouTuber-turned-boxer predicts the outcome of his upcoming eight-round Netflix heavyweight boxing match against Joshua will be as shocking as Buster Douglas’ famous knockout win over Mike Tyson on February 11, 1990.
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Paul even predicts that the fifth round of the match will end with a knockout victory at the Kaseya Center in Miami.
Paul said, “I’m here to shock the world.” I am aware of my potential. People complain that he’s insane. Delusional optimism helped me get where I am right now. Join the list and be prepared to be shocked because no one expects me to win.
Given that Paul won’t be facing a long-retired champion, former UFC champion, ex-NBA players, or a fighter who will surrender 50 pounds, those words are brash indeed.
Many boxers wonder why the Paul-Joshua match was rigged after the fighters’ size disparity was clearly apparent at their opening press conference in Miami.
The Briton, who stands 1.98 metres (6’6), towered over Paul, who is listed at 1.85 metres (6’1).
Joshua, who has traditionally weighed around 250 pounds for heavyweight fights in the past, will only be able to weigh 245 pounds against Paul, who typically fights in the 200-pound cruiserweight division.
Paul referred to him as “one of the best heavyweights ever”. However, I think a heavyweight fights against a smaller man frequently because of the angles, foot speed, and speed difference. That power is incredible. That one shot must be avoided for me. That is something I think I can do. I am aware of how to split him up and get points.
Next month’s fight between Paul and Joshua will take place at the Kaseya Center in Miami.
Joshua: “I need to cut him up.”
It will be Joshua’s first fight since his fifth-round, 5-0 defeat to fellow Englishman Daniel Dubois in September 2024. The 36-year-old Joshua also had elbow surgery during his ring break.
“You can’t underestimate anyone,” he said. Joshua declared, “I’m going to take him seriously.” I’ve changed a lot in my life after a year off. My focus has returned to its proper location.
Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs), acknowledged that any defeat to a quick knockout victory will only add to his standing among the best heavyweights.
It’s what I saw. He continued, “I’ve heard it.” I need to cut Jake up, I told him politely. He needs to be hurt and broken up with me. That is exactly what we do.
According to Reuters and local publications, Indonesia’s largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, has asked its chairman to step down after inviting an American scholar known for his unwavering support of Israel to a internal event earlier this year.
According to reports, the leadership of the largest Islamic organization in the world, the NU, has given Chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf three days to offer his resignation or have him resigned.
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Staquf’s invitation to a person “affiliated with an international Zionism network,” who attended an internal event in August, as well as alleged financial mismanagement, were both cited by the organization as reasons for his resignation.
Najib Azca, a NU official, claimed Staquf’s decision to invite former US State Department official and scholar Peter Berkowitz to a training session led to calls for their resignation.
According to his website, Berkowitz frequently writes in support of Israel’s occupation of Gaza, with one article published in September that seeks to discredit Israel’s role in the Palestinian territories.
Berkowitz claimed in an opinion piece in October that “formal recognition of an imaginary Palestinian state backs up security, stability, and peace” and “panders to the growing Muslim population in Western democracies.”
It “contains the progressive notion that Israel’s belligerence rather than Palestinian intransigence and Hamas bloodthirstiness” is the main obstacle to a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said.
Berkowitz praised the organization’s chairman Staquf and wrote about the seminars he gave to NU participants in Indonesia in August.
Staquf, who has been in charge of the NU since 2021, did not respond to a request for comment right away.
According to Reuters reports, Staquf has apologized for the invitation to Berkowitz, claiming that it was an error and that it was based on a lack of thorough investigation.
According to local Indonesian media outlet Kompas, NU’s Secretary-General Yusuf Saifullah has urged its members to “main calm” and refrain from judging the news as “potentially misleading” which might worsen the situation.
According to Saifullah, NU members should “maintain a conducive spirit” because senior members were “handling the issue” “in accordance with applicable internal mechanisms.”
United States President Donald Trump lavishly praised New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani after surprisingly cordial talks in the White House on Friday, defying expectations of a potentially tense meeting between the Republican billionaire and the self-proclaimed Democratic socialist.
The warmth displayed came in stark contrast to the barbs the pair have exchanged in recent months. Trump has caricatured Mamdani as an anti-Semitic communist, even threatening to strip him of his US citizenship, while Mamdani called Trump a “despot” in his election victory speech just weeks ago.
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But the pair appeared to put these seemingly irrevocable differences aside – for one day at least – with Trump describing the “great meeting” as “really productive” when talking to reporters in the Oval Office with Mamdani standing by his side.
With many left unsure of what to make of the bizarrely chummy meeting between the political polar opposites, here are a few key takeaways:
Finding common ground
Trump and Mamdani exuded friendliness in their first get-together since the 34-year-old beat Democratic establishment party figures earlier this month, notably former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, to become New York City’s mayor-elect.
Mamdani said ahead of his meeting with Trump that he was willing to “meet with anyone” to push forward his affordability agenda for the US’s largest city, saying that he and Trump shared some common ground in that they ran campaigns focused on the cost-of-living crisis.
“I will speak to everyone so long as it could stand to benefit an economic agenda for New Yorkers. And that’s where I will always make the case,” he said.
The approach appears to have paid off, with Trump saying he and Mamdani “agree on a lot more than I would have thought”, as he predicted success for his tenure leading New York.
“Some of his ideas are the same ideas I have,” said Trump, adding that some of his supporters also voted for Mamdani, who pitched in, saying “one in 10”.
Trump said of Mamdani: “He wants to have a safe New York, and ultimately, a safe New York in a great New York.” Later in the media conference, Trump doubled down on how Mamdani was keen to fight crime — echoing the emphasis on strong law enforcement that is a traditional Republican focus.
The US president also suggested that he agreed with Mamdani on housing.
“He said some very interesting things. He wants to see houses go up, a lot of apartments built,” Trump said. “People would be shocked, but I want to see the same thing.”
“I want to be helping him, not hurting him,” Trump said. “A big help”.
Praise and banter
But the apparent camaraderie extended beyond policy issues, with Trump also repeatedly praising Mamdani.
“I think this mayor can do some things that are going to be really great,” he said at one point.
At another point, Trump said: “The better he does, the happier I am. I feel very confident that he can do a very good job.”
Trump spoke of Mamdani’s election campaign and how he went from just 1 percent in the polls to upsetting Cuomo, first in the Democratic Party’s primary and then in the actual election. “It’s an amazing thing that he did,” the president said.
A reporter asked Trump if he would be comfortable living in New York City under Mamdani’s mayorship.
“Yeah, I would, I really would,” Trump responded instantly. “Especially after the meeting. Absolutely.”
Towards the end of the media conference, Trump described his impression of Mamdani after their meeting.
“I met with a man who is a very rational person. I met with a man who really wants to see New York be great again. I think he wants to make it greater than ever before.”
In one striking moment, Trump even gave Mamdani an easy out when the mayor-elect was asked by a reporter if he stood by his previous comments describing the president as a “despot” and “fascist”.
“That’s OK, you can just say ‘yes’,” Trump interjected. “It’s easier than explaining it.”
While striking a respectful tone when talking about Trump, Mamdani appeared to draw the line at actively praising him, with the compliments largely flowing one way.
Breaking from White House and GOP messaging
If the plan was to pivot away from boogeyman characterisations of Mamdani, key members of Trump’s administration and the Republican party weren’t given the message.
A day before the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that it “speaks volumes” that a “communist” was visiting the White House.
“That’s who the Democratic Party elected as the mayor of the largest city in the country,” she said.
Vice President JD Vance also joked on Thursday that he might “have a stomach bug” to avoid meeting Mamdani, who is set to take office on the first day of 2026.
Republican Senator Rick Scott also derided Mamdani as a “literal communist” on Friday morning, as he predicted Trump would “school” him at the White House later that day.
Trump, however, stayed away from any aggressive talk towards Mamdani, even going as far as to contradict members of his own party when he told reporters that he did not agree with Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s characterisation of Mamdani as a “jihadist”.
Following Trump’s comments, Stefanik, a New York Republican gubernatorial candidate, said, “We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one.”
“If he walks like a jihadist, If he talks like a jihadist, If he campaigns like a jihadist, If he supports jihadists, He’s a jihadist,” she wrote on X.
We all want NYC to succeed.
But we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one.
If he walks like a jihadist If he talks like a jihadist If he campaigns like a jihadist If he supports jihadists,
He’s a jihadist.
And he’s @KathyHochul’s jihadist. pic.twitter.com/JZaM29d82R
Why Trump took a more conciliatory approach in this meeting, starkly breaking from previous Republican messaging on Mamdani, is impossible to tell.
But the meeting and the talk of affordability as a shared concern occurred at a time when Trump faces growing scrutiny over rising prices following months of tariffs.
Major schisms have appeared in the Republican party and the Trump MAGA movement in recent days and weeks – notably over the Epstein files scandal and over US support for Israel. On Friday, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, for long one of Trump’s staunchest supporters, and a champion of the MAGA movement, said she would resign from the House of Representatives in January, after a public clash with the US president.
Sidestepping Israel
One topic which which raised the spectre of creating a more awkward, confrontational atmosphere between Trump and Mamdani was Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
Asked by a reporter about previous comments he had made about the US government’s complicity in Israel’s assault, including the current administration, Mamdani didn’t shy away from reiterating this criticism – despite an awkward-looking Trump sitting silently next to him.
“I have spoken about the Israeli government committing genocide [in Gaza] and I’ve spoken about our government funding it,” he said. It is the first known occasion that Israel has been accused of genocide in Gaza within the walls of the White House, even if from an opponent of the current administration.
Mamdani, however, quickly pivoted back to his core message of the cost-of-living crisis in New York.
“I shared with the president in our meeting about the concerns that many New Yorkers have of wanting their tax dollars to go towards the benefit of New Yorkers and their ability to afford basic dignity,” he said.
