Four people have been handed suspended jail sentences of between 14 and 22 months by a Madrid court after being found guilty of a hate crime related to an effigy of Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior, Spain’s La Liga has said.
“The defendant who posted the video online received a special disqualification from working in education, sports, or recreational youth settings for four years and three months, while the others received three years and seven months,” a La Liga statement said on Monday.
They were all involved in hanging a banner reading “Madrid hates Real” and an inflatable black effigy in a replica of the Brazilian’s number 20 T-shirt on a bridge before a Copa del Rey match against Atletico Madrid in January 2023.
According to the ruling, one defendant was sentenced to 15 months in prison for a hate crime and an additional seven months for making threats, having distributed images of the act online. The other three were sentenced to seven months in prison for hate crimes and seven months for threats.
They will not serve prison time, however, after all four signed a letter of apology to Vinicius, Real Madrid, La Liga and the Spanish football federation (RFEF).
The first defendant was also fined 1,084 euros ($1,257) and the other three 720 euros ($835), with additional punishments including a 1km (0.6 miles) restraining order from Vinicius, his home and workplace, and a ban on approaching football stadiums during La Liga or RFEF matches.
They will all be required to participate in an educational programme on equal treatment and non-discrimination for the prison sentences imposed to be suspended.
There was no immediate confirmation from the court and no immediate reaction from Vinicius, who is currently playing in the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.
It is the fourth time that La Liga has filed complaints for hate crimes directed against Vinicius Jr [File: Denis Doyle/Getty Images]
Victim of repeated racial abuse
La Liga has filed complaints about various incidents of racial abuse and threats against the Brazilian international in recent years.
On June 10, 2024, three Valencia football fans were sentenced to eight months in prison for hate crimes directed against Vinicius in May 2023 in what was the first conviction for racist insults in a football stadium in Spain.
Last September, a Spanish court sentenced a Mallorca fan who racially abused Vinicius in February 2023, and former Villarreal player Samuel Chukwueze a week later, to a year in prison and issued a three-year stadium ban.
Many Israelis are in shock after the country’s air defence system failed to intercept Iranian missiles, shattering their sense of security. But Palestinian citizens of Israel say they never felt safe to begin with.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has warned that escalating hostilities between Israel and Iran, now in a fourth day, pose grave dangers to diplomacy and nuclear safety and has urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint.
Speaking at an emergency session of the United Nations nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors on Monday in Vienna, Director General Grossi stressed that the region is at a critical juncture.
“Military escalation threatens lives, increases the chance of a radiological release with serious consequences for people and the environment, and delays indispensable work towards a diplomatic solution for the long-term assurance that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon,” Grossi said.
The IAEA chief’s remarks came amid growing concern that the conflict could permanently damage efforts to revive nuclear talks with Tehran, already strained by years of mistrust and United States President Donald Trump’s torpedoing of the 2015 nuclear accord brokered by world powers with Iran.
Nuclear sites damaged
Grossi also delivered a technical update on the status of Iranian nuclear facilities after Israeli bombardments.
Natanz, Iran’s main uranium enrichment plant, was among the sites hit on Friday. While its underground section was spared a direct strike, Grossi warned that vital equipment may have been damaged due to a power outage triggered by the attack.
He noted that radiation levels outside the facility remained normal and, critically, there was no evidence of contamination spreading beyond the site.
“The level of radioactivity outside the Natanz site has remained unchanged and at normal levels, indicating no external radiological impact to the population or the environment from this event,” he said.
In addition to Natanz, four nuclear installations in Isfahan province were also damaged. However, the Fordow enrichment site, the Bushehr nuclear power plant and a reactor still under construction appeared unaffected.
IAEA personnel remain on the ground in Iran and are ready to resume full monitoring once the security situation allows, Grossi said.
Meanwhile, Iran’s government is facing pressure at home to take a harder line. A bill reportedly being prepared in parliament could pave the way for Iran to exit the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, a move that would deal a severe blow to global nonproliferation efforts.
Cambodia has threatened to halt imports of fruit and vegetables from Thailand unless its neighbour lifts border restrictions as tempers flare during a long-running dispute that turned deadly last month.
The ban will take effect if Thailand doesn’t lift all border crossing restrictions within 24 hours, Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen said in a televised speech on Monday. The announcement followed weekend talks that had aimed to defuse the tensions.
“If the Thai side does not open border crossings to normalcy today, tomorrow, we will implement throughout the border a ban on the imports of fruit and vegetables to Cambodia,” said Hun Sen, a former prime minister and father of the current premier.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra retorted that her country would not be bullied or threatened and warned that “unofficial” communication would harm diplomatic efforts.
“Messages via unofficial channels do not bring good results for both countries,” she said after meeting Thai military commanders and officials from the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs.
The rhetoric and diplomatic efforts come after decades of arguments over border territories have flared up.
On May 28, soldiers exchanged fire in a disputed area known as the Emerald Triangle, where the borders of Cambodia, Thailand and Laos meet. A Cambodian soldier was killed during the skirmish.
The Thai and Cambodian armies both said they acted in self-defence but agreed to reposition their soldiers in a bid to avoid future confrontations. However, heightened tensions remain.
Bangkok has tightened border controls since the clash and threatened to close the border and cut off electricity supplies to Cambodia.
Phnom Penh ordered troops on Friday to stay on “full alert” and announced it would cease buying Thai electric power, internet bandwidth and produce while also ordering local television stations not to screen Thai films.
Little progress
Amid the rise in diplomatic temperature, officials from the two countries met over the weekend in Phnom Penh to discuss their conflicting territorial claims.
While both sides said the meeting was held in a good atmosphere, it appears little progress was made.
The dispute dates back to the drawing of their 820km (510-mile) frontier, largely done during French colonial rule of Indochina from 1887 to 1954.
Parts of the land border are undemarcated and include ancient temples that both sides have contested for decades. The region has seen sporadic violence since 2008, resulting in at least 28 deaths.
Cambodia on Sunday formally asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to help resolve the dispute in four areas, including the site of last month’s clash and three others where ancient temples are located.
Cambodia has repeatedly asked Thailand to join the case, but Bangkok insists on a bilateral solution. It rejected a 2013 ICJ ruling that a disputed area next to the Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia.
Extreme hunger will intensify in 13 global hotspots over the coming months, with five states facing the immediate risk of starvation, according to a United Nations report.
The report, Hunger Hotspots, released on Monday by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP), blamed conflict, economic shocks, and climate-related hazards for the threat of starvation in Sudan, Palestine, South Sudan, Haiti and Mali.
The report, which predicts food crises in the next five months, calls for investment and help to ensure aid delivery, which it said was being undermined by insecurity and funding gaps.
The people living in the five worst-hit countries face “extreme hunger and risk of starvation and death in the coming months unless there is urgent humanitarian action”, warned the UN agencies.
“This report makes it very clear: hunger today is not a distant threat – it is a daily emergency for millions,” said FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu. “We must act now, and act together, to save lives and safeguard livelihoods.”
“This report is a red alert. We know where hunger is rising and we know who is at risk,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain. “Without funding and access, we cannot save lives.”
For famine to be declared, at least 20 percent of the population in an area must be suffering extreme food shortages, with 30 percent of children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or malnutrition and disease.
In Sudan, where famine was confirmed in 2024, the crisis is likely to persist due to conflict and displacement, with almost 25 million people at risk.
South Sudan, hit by flooding and political instability, could see up to 7.7 million people in crisis, with 63,000 in famine-like conditions, the report said.
In Palestine, Israel’s continued military operations and blockade of Gaza have left the entire population of 2.1 million people facing acute food shortages, with nearly half a million at risk of famine by the end of September, the report said.
In Haiti, escalating gang violence has displaced thousands, with 8,400 already facing catastrophic hunger. In Mali, conflict and high grain prices put 2,600 people at risk of starvation by the end of August.
Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, and Nigeria are also flagged as hotspots of very high concern. Other hotspots include Burkina Faso, Chad, Somalia, and Syria.
“Preemptive interventions save lives, reduce food gaps, and protect assets and livelihoods,” the report stresses.
In response to Israeli attacks on its nuclear sites and senior military figures, Iran has launched hundreds of ballistic missiles towards Israel, with some striking targets on the ground.
Although Israel intercepted many of the incoming missiles, several breached its defences, causing significant damage and casualties, including hits on central Tel Aviv and other areas.
The exact size of Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal is unclear, but it is widely considered one of the largest and most advanced in the region.
In the following visual explainer, Al Jazeera unpacks how ballistic missiles work and how they are being used in the ongoing conflict.
How do ballistic missiles work?
Ballistic missiles are long-range weapons designed to deliver conventional or nuclear warheads by following a ballistic, or curved, trajectory.
Launched using powerful rocket engines, these missiles shoot upwards into the upper atmosphere or even space, travelling at incredibly high speeds. Once their engines are cut off, the missile follows a predetermined path, re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere in a steep descent before striking its target.
How far can they travel?
Ballistic missiles can travel distances ranging from a few hundred kilometres to more than 10,000 kilometres across continents.
Ballistic missiles are classified based on their ranges:
Battlefield range ballistic missile (BRBM) – less than 200km (124 miles)
Short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) – less than 1,000km (621 miles)
Medium/Intermediate-range ballistic missile (MRBM/IRBM) – between 1,000km and 3,500km (621-2,175 miles)
Long-range ballistic missile (LRBM) – between 3,500km and 5,500km (2,175-3,418 miles)
Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) – greater than 5,500km (3,418 miles)
What speeds can they reach?
Ballistic missiles travel at extremely high speeds, allowing them to travel thousands of kilometres in just minutes.
The speed at which they travel is measured in Mach, a unit equivalent to the speed of sound; for example, Mach 5 means five times the speed of sound.
Some, usually shorter-range, ballistic missiles reach supersonic speeds (faster than Mach 1, or about 1,225km/h or 761 miles per hour), while others, usually longer-range missiles, can travel at hypersonic speeds – greater than Mach 5 (6,125km/h or 3,806mph).
A projectile, which according to Yemen’s Houthis is a hypersonic missile named Palestine 2, is pictured at an unknown location, in this screengrab from a handout video released on September 16, 2024 [Handout/Houthi Military Media via Reuters]
How long does it take for Iran’s missiles to reach Israel?
The distance between Iran and Israel is about 1,300km to 1,500km (800-930 miles). Ballistic missiles from Iran travelling at Mach 5 can reach Israel in roughly 12 minutes, though the exact time depends on the missile type and the launch site.
Why are ballistic missiles hard to intercept?
What makes ballistic missiles especially dangerous is their combination of long range, high speed, and how difficult they are to intercept.
Their fast, high flight path gives defence systems little time to react, and when they re-enter the atmosphere, they descend even faster, making interception even more difficult. Some missiles also deploy decoys or other countermeasures to trick radar and missile defences, making them harder to intercept.
What is the difference between ballistic and cruise missiles?
Iran has also used cruise missiles against Israel. Unlike ballistic missiles, cruise missiles fly low and steady like pilotless planes, which helps them sneak past air defences. Although they travel much slower than ballistic missiles, giving air defences more time to intercept, their low flight path makes them harder to detect. Their ability to manoeuvre allows them to change course, fly around obstacles and evade missile defences.
While ballistic missiles from Iran can reach Israel in about 12 minutes, cruise missiles may take almost two hours, and drones can take up to nine hours.
This picture, made available by the Iranian armed forces on June 18, 2020, shows a cruise missile being fired out to sea from a mobile launch vehicle during a military exercise [Iranian Army via AFP]
Iran’s missile arsenal
Iran has developed a range of ballistic and cruise missiles over the past three decades. The graphic below summarises some of Iran’s most prominent missiles and their ranges.
Israel’s missile arsenal
Israel has an advanced missile arsenal, including long-range and nuclear-capable systems, developed with decades of support from the United States. The graphic below highlights some of Israel’s most notable missiles along with their respective ranges.
What are Israel’s air defence capabilities?
The Israeli air defence relies largely on what is known as the Iron Dome system, which is equipped with a radar that detects an incoming projectile, as well as its speed and direction.
Other systems intercept medium- and long-range missiles. The David’s Sling intercepts missiles ranging between 40km (25 miles) and 300km (186 miles). The Arrow System intercepts missiles with a range of up to 2,400km (1,491 miles).
