During the war, Israel severely damaged some of Gaza’s most important landmarks. Priority is given to restoration work at the Pasha Palace Museum and the Omari Mosque. Additionally, experts are attempting to recover the missing thousands of ancient artifacts.
Published On 4 Dec 2025
Joe Root’s first Ashes century for England came on the opening day of the second Test in Brisbane, beating Mitchell Starc, who had six wickets to go.
After a late flogging of the pink ball under the Gabba floodlights on Thursday, Root led England 325 for nine after captain Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to bat. The team finished unbeaten on 135 off 202 balls.
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In the final test, number 11 batter Zak Crawley fumbled off a pair of ducks from Perth to score a respectable 76, while number 11 batter Jofra Archer scored a handy 32 not out in a never-broken 61-run partnership.
After Starc’s disastrous start, opener Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope both fell for ducks in the space of four balls, and the pair came together to rally England in a 117-run partnership.
Joe “keeps it simple,” Crawley told TNT Sports, “he just concentrates on the runs that needed to be scored on the day.”
“With or against him, he is the best player I’ve ever played.”
England enjoyed tea at 196 for four for dinner with Root and Crawley in charge at 98 for two on a hot, sunny afternoon.
The brilliant Starc, who defeated Wasim Akram to become the most prolific left-arm seamer in Tests with 415 dismissals when he took his third wicket after Harry Brook was caught in the slips for 31 against, thwarted their hopes of putting together a sizable total.
After the first game, there was a significant gap, but I felt calm today and was able to unclog my nerves, according to Crawley, who also scored two in the opening test.
“I made an effort to keep it simple. Because the pitch was getting a little flatter, I was gutted to leave when I did.
I adhered to my own clear plan. If they entered my area and onto my pads, I made an effort to hit the ball hard.
“I need to leave a little more outside the off stump, but there were still some loose shots in there, and I felt like I could play a few more on that side when I was in, and the ball was soft.”
Starc then slammed through the lower order to finish the day’s 6-71.
Starc described his accomplishment of moving above the former Pakistan seamer as “one of the best ever with the ball” as “one of the best ever with the ball”.
“I believe the pink ball still reminds me of a white ball, it was a good-paced wicket, and Root has batted well.”
When the ball goes soft, it is difficult to bowl with, according to the statement.
Australia surprised the world when they eliminated Nathan Lyon from their first home test since 2012 and selected Michael Neser for a four-pronged seam attack.
Steve Smith, the skipper of Australia, confirmed Travis Head will start for the hosts after his match-winning 123 in Perth, with Usman Khawaja out injured.
Josh Inglis, the wicketkeeper-batter, occupies Head’s customary middle-order spot.
Will Jacks, a spin-bowling all-rounder, was chosen to replace Mark Wood as England’s four-pronged seam attack.
The Afghan refugee who shot two US national guardsmen in Washington, DC, was a member of the CIA’s enigmatic Zero Units. Despite facing charges of war crimes, Soraya Lennie explains that thousands of Afghan commandos were relocated to the US after Kabul’s fall.
Published On 4 Dec 2025
Watch this explanation of the conflict in Sudan.
The world’s worst humanitarian crisis has been brought on by the conflict in Sudan. What year did the 2023 fighting start? The two main sides are who? And what are the main causes of the current conflict?
Watch Sandra Gathmann’s explainer for Start Here Sudan to learn what’s going on.
This episode includes:
Tahrir Institute for Middle Eastern Policy’s Mahitab Mahgoub – Nonresident fellow
Writer and activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Al Jazeera English correspondent Hiba Morgan covering Sudan
Ahmed Soliman, Senior Research Fellow, Chatham House Africa Programme
Confluence Advisory founder and director Kholood Khair
German Institute for Global and Area Studies, PhD researcher, Hager Ali
Horn of Africa Project Director, International Crisis Group, Alan Boswell
Published On 4 Dec 2025
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, doubled down on the maximalist demands and territorial designs that are preventing a solution while saying recent discussions with American negotiators about ending the war with Ukraine were “very useful.”
Putin confirmed to Kremlin reports that no agreement had been reached during the day’s discussions with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in advance of a trip to New Delhi on Thursday. He stated in advance of his planned for a trip to New Delhi on Thursday that he would take control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region by force.
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In remarks made by him in the interview that were released by the state news agency Tass on Thursday, he said, “Either we will liberate these territories by force or Ukrainian troops will leave these territories and stop fighting there.”
After eight years of fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists in the Donbass, which includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
His renewed resolve to conquer the area appeared to contradict US President Donald Trump’s earlier claim that Witkoff and Kushner believed the Russian leader wanted to “end the war.”
Trump said, “They had a very strong impression that he wanted to make a deal.”
According to reports, Putin made the comments as a follow-up to the five hours of talks that took place on Tuesday in Moscow. Special envoy Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Kushner will meet with Rustem Umerov in Florida on Thursday.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the embattled leader of Ukraine, claims he does not have the authority to annex Ukraine and that Russia should never be compensated for its invasion. Zelenskyy has been embroiled in a domestic corruption scandal and has been hampered by Russia’s advance. The Ukrainian Constitution also forbids territory ceding.
Russia has stated repeatedly in discussions with the US about the possible terms of a peace deal to end the conflict that Washington should formally acknowledge Moscow’s control of the entire Donbass.
When Trump released his 28-point plan to end the war, which initially envisaged giving up on NATO, restricting the size of its military, and giving in to the Kremlin narrative, it appeared to be in ascendancy.
However, during discussions in Geneva, Switzerland, Ukrainian negotiators pushed for revisions after receiving harsh criticism for what many perceived as a Moscow wish list, cutting back the draft to 19 points.
Following the discussions in Moscow, it wasn’t known what version of the draft had been discussed. Yury Ushakov, Putin’s advisor, claimed that several documents were being discussed.
Tass cited Putin’s remarks to India Today as saying that the 28-point plan was “still in discussion and being discussed” and was based on agreements reached at the Russia-US summit in Alaska in August.
“They simply divided these 28 or 27 points into four packages,” they said. And they suggested we have them talk about these four packages. They are actually the same points, Tass claims, though.
Yulia Shapovalova, a journalist from Moscow, reported on Al Jazeera that Moscow was unlikely to cross its “red lines.” Putin claimed that Russia won’t sign any agreements until its interests are respected, and that it will pursue its objectives on the battlefield.
Senior correspondent Jonah Hull in Kyiv reported that there had been a “breakup based on a clash of red lines that is, at this point, insurmountable.” He characterized recent discussions, which have seen the US moving between parties, as a “round Robin of “It’s not us, it’s them”
The government of Ukraine does consider this procedure to be valuable, he said. Now that Ukraine’s interests have been heard and included, and as long as pressure is maintained on Russia, they believe it can produce results.
Russian assaults on Ukrainian civilian areas continued into Thursday night.
According to city administrator Oleksandr Vilkul, a ballistic missile struck Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday night, injuring six people, including a three-year-old girl.
Vilkul claimed that Zelenskyy’s hometown of the city, which has more than 40 residential buildings, a school, and domestic gas pipes, was the target of the attack.
After being struck by Russian artillery the day before, a six-year-old girl died in Kherson, a southern port city.
According to Oleh Kiper, head of the regional military administration, Russia also struck Odesa with drones, injuring eight people and damaging the region’s infrastructure.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, claimed that Ukraine had harmed peace talks by attacking the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal in Novorossiysk and oil tankers in the Black Sea on Thursday.
According to the Reuters news agency, Russia currently controls 19.2% of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, plus all of Luhansk, more than 80% of Donetsk, about 75% of Kherson and Zaporizhia, and slivers of the regions of Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk.
The northern portion of Donetsk, according to the army chief of Ukraine, is still under Ukrainian control, according to the country’s ambassador to Ukraine on Thursday.
Published On 4 Dec 2025
On Wednesday, Flamengo won the Brazilian title against Ceara at Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Maracana stadium with a 1-0 victory over Palmeiras to win their fourth Copa Libertadores.
The most well-known Brazilian football team won the ninth consecutive crown, and it was their third consecutive win.
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With only one game left, Samuel Lino, the club’s record signing, scored the only goal of the game against Ceara to keep Flamengo’s now unassailable five-point lead over Palmeiras in Serie A.
The newly crowned champions won the Copa Libertadores final on Saturday in Lima, Peru, with a 1-0 victory.
The Brazilian side completed the Serie A-Copa Libertadores double in 2019 only to join them as the fifth Brazilian side in history.
The players will realize what they have accomplished, according to Flamengo coach Filipe Luis. They “are eternal”!
Botafogo led the double in 1962 and 1963 under the leadership of Pele, and Botafogo led it last year.
In addition, Neymar scored a hat-trick for Santos in their 3-0 victory over Juventude, helping the Sao Paulo-based club avoid falling to the bottom.
With one match left, Santos could still take second place against Cruzeiro, who is just two points clear of the bottom four relegation spots.
Flamengo can still earn a treble by winning the Intercontinental Cup, but the season is not over.
The Carioca club will face Mexican team Cruz Azul on Wednesday of the following week before the winner of that match will travel to Cairo, Africa’s Pyramids, to qualify for the December 17 final against Paris Saint-Germain in Doha.