Vladimir Putin, president of the EU, criticized their plan to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s defense, claiming that it would “violate the foundations of the financial world order.”
Published On 19 Dec 2025
After the death of prominent youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi on Thursday at Singapore’s General Hospital, violent protests have erupted in numerous Bangladeshi cities.
Hadi passed away last week from gunshot wounds sustained in a murder attempt in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital.
What we currently know is as follows.
Hadi, 32, was a well-known figure in Bangladesh’s student-led uprising in 2024.
In the upcoming elections, which are scheduled for February 2026, he planned to run for president of the city’s Bijoynagar district as a candidate for the “Platform for Revolution” or “Inquilab Mancha” or “Platform for Revolution.”
Hadi also publicly criticised India, where the ousted Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled following the uprising last year, and how it impacted domestic politics there.
Authorities in Singapore and Inqilab Mancha made the announcement on Thursday.
After being hurt in an assassination attempt on December 12, he died in a hospital in Singapore where he was receiving care. On a motorcycle that was mounted next to the battery-powered auto-rickshaw he was riding in, two assailants struck him in the head. He was taken to the hospital in Dhaka Medical College.
Hadi was discovered to have brain stem damage, and he was treated there on December 15 after being transported from Dhaka to Singapore General Hospital’s neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Hadi succumbed to his injuries despite the best efforts of the doctors, according to a statement from Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.
In a late on Thursday Facebook post, Inqilab Mancha stated that Allah had granted Osman Hadi the honor of martyr in the struggle against Indian hegemony.
According to Al Jazeera’s Moudud Ahmmed Sujan, on Friday, groups of mourners gathered in the Shahbag neighborhood in central Dhaka to await Hadi’s body, which was scheduled to arrive in the capital on Friday evening.
Bangladeshi police launched a search for Hadi’s killers on December 12.
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), the nation’s counterterrorism unit, is also involved in this manhunt.
Two important suspects were depicted in stills of the incident on CCTV in a news release on December 13 in a release. For information leading to their arrest, police offered a reward of five million taka (roughly $42,000).
The CCTV stills feature two men both sporting black glasses and clothes. One wears a black hoodie, the other a black dress shirt, and one wristwatch.
According to The Daily Star, Bangladeshi police and border guards have so far detained at least 20 people in connection with the incident, but the investigation is still ongoing.
Muhammad Yunus, the interim head of the nation’s interim government, expressed his condolences and described Hadi’s death as “an irreparable loss for the country.”
In a televised speech on Thursday, he said, “The country’s march toward democracy cannot be halted by fear, terror, or bloodshed.”
Following Friday prayers and a Saturday-long day of mourning, the government also made special prayers available at mosques.
The acting leader of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), Tareq Rahman, wrote on Facebook, “We are deeply saddened by Sharif Osman Hadi’s passing. We are deeply saddened by the passing of Sharif Osman Hadi, the spokesperson for Inqilab Manch and independent candidate for Dhaka-8 constituency.”
The National Citizen Party (NCP) expressed condolences to Hadi’s family in a news release to local media outlets.
Violence started to erupt on Thursday in Dhaka and other parts of the nation after the news of Hadi’s death, which was then expected to continue on Friday.
The ministry of home affairs and the ministry of law’s heads must resign, accusing the government of failing to protect Hadi’s safety. They also demand that the gunmen, who many believe have fled India, be returned.
Tanvir Chowdhury, a reporter for Al Jazeera from Dhaka, reported that “it’s mostly students, but there’s also people from all walks of life, with some political party elements.”
Their main thrust is “We want justice” for Osman Hadi’s murderer.
They claim that the shooter must be charged as soon as reasonably or they will continue to protest.
In Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar, a group of protesters gathered outside the head office of the nation’s top Bengali-language newspaper Prothom Alo, which they claimed is quoting as pro-India. According to the websites of various prominent media outlets, they then jumped into the building.
Another group of protesters pushed into the offices of the Daily Star, which were also viewed as being pro-Indian, and set the building on fire a few hundred meters (yards) away.
28 journalists and employees were reportedly stranded for four hours in the burning building, according to the outlet.
Soldiers and paramilitary border guards were stationed outside the two buildings to keep an eye on the situation, but they did not immediately intervene to disperse the protesters.
On Thursday, protesters reportedly threw stones at the Assistant High Commissioner of India in Chittagong, according to local media.
Students in Bangladesh took to the streets in July 2024 to protest the traditional job quota system, which in 1971 was largely viewed as the political elite today.
As the protests grew, Hasina set up a brutal crackdown. Nearly 1,400 people were killed and more than 20, 000 were injured before she was eventually ousted and fled to India, according to the nation’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT). She is still there today.
The former Bangladesh leader had ordered police to use “lethal weapons” against the protesters, according to records obtained by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit in July of this year.
Hasina was found guilty of crimes against humanity last month in absentia, and the Dhaka tribunal sentenced her to death. She will now be sent back to Bangladesh where India has not yet agreed to do so.
According to Al Jazeera’s Chowdhury, there is a strong anti-India sentiment in the crowd in Dhaka on Friday. They claim that India regularly interferes with Bangladesh’s affairs, particularly right before the elections, and that former Indian prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been making provocative statements there.
Many Bangladeshis are now posting rumors that the assailants have fled to India following Hadi’s death online. These assertions have been made by some youth party politicians.
The Indian High Commission will remain closed until the Indian High Commission returns assassins from Hadi Bhai, according to Sarjis Alam, a leader of the youth-led National Citizen Party (NCP). Never, Ever. We’re engaged in combat”!
Nadim Hawlader, 32, a volunteer activist for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, claimed Hadi had been “brutally murdered” to silence opposition. He is from Dhaka’s airport area.
We are here to protest his murder and what we perceive as Indian aggression, Hawlader said.
He claimed that India had abused its position in Bangladesh since 1971 and that New Delhi had supported Sheikh Hasina’s rule for the previous 17 years, leading to political repression and killings.
Joe Trejo Lopez feared that the immigration agent had separated him from Josue, allowing the officer to pose more questions during a check-in in New York City in March.
Jose and Josue, 20 and 19 years old at the time, had been to dozens of Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-ins in the nearly 10 years since they fled El Salvador as children with their mother. The appointments frequently required missing school and final exams and extended hours of the day. Joe knew he had to fulfill his immigration obligations, maintain good conduct, and keep a clean arrest record despite the fact that he had to tell his classmates and teachers where he was going.
“You have to follow the law, because when you follow the law things go well, right”? Joe stated.
Jose audibly resonant that day as handcuffs swayed. The officer told him not to make a scene. A different officer handcuffed him as he turned and observed his older brother restrained.
About two months into President Donald Trump’s second administration, when the brothers were arriving at ICE’s field office for their 8am appointment, rumors were circulating that immigration agents were detaining people during routine immigration check-ins. These appointments are typically for people with pending immigration cases who aren’t considered threats to the public.
One of Trump’s campaign promises for 2024 was to keep people at check-ins, which included putting people to sleep. However, the approach contradicted Trump’s and his administration’s assurances that immigration agents would always put “the worst of the worst” first.
“I’m talking about, in particular, starting with the criminals. On August 22, 2024, Trump  declared that these are some of the worst people in the world.
Norah O’Donnell, a CBS News correspondent, inquired about Trump’s October 31 statement that he had promised to “deport the worst of the worst, violent criminals.” Trump answered:  , “That’s what we’re doing”.
Jose and Josue have neither been found guilty of a crime. As of November, a , a , record number of detainees were in ICE detention, which is true of 73 percent of the more than 65, 000 immigrants. Nearly half of all immigrants in ICE detention have neither a criminal conviction nor pending criminal charges. According to the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, 5% of immigrants who have had criminal convictions have been found guilty of violent crimes, including murder and rape.
Despite what Trump said, violent criminals were not subject to widespread arrests during his administration’s mass deportation campaign.
In March, the Department of Homeland Security sent nearly 250 Venezuelan men to a maximum security prison in El Salvador. Only 32 of the men had US criminal convictions, the majority of which were for nonviolent offenses like traffic violations or retail theft, according to a ProPublica  investigation later.
According to a Chicago Tribune analysis, immigration officers detained 1,900 people during the first half of a months-long immigration crackdown known as “Operation Midway Blitz.” Two-thirds of those detained had no criminal convictions or pending charges.
When PolitiFact asked the White House whether its detention strategy was in line with what Trump and officials have said publicly, spokesperson Abigail Jackson said: “The Trump Administration’s top immigration enforcement priority is arresting and removing the dangerous violent, illegal criminal aliens that Joe Biden let flood across our Southern Border – of which there are many. Criminal illegal aliens who have been raped, pedophiled, and murdered have recently been detained by the ICE. However, if someone uses self-deportation opportunities and is illegally present in the country and thus violates US laws, they may be deported.
Jose and Josue were applying for legal status. They had appeared before immigration judges and ICE officers for years without hiding.
Jose and Josue were taken to El Salvador in May, where their rest of their family had already fled.
“We followed the law and we were punished”, Jose said.
Jose and Josue, who are 11 and 10 years old, and their mother Alma Lopez Diaz, both fled El Salvador and were threatened with gang violence in the US in summer 2016.
US officials stopped the family at the southern border and released them into the US while they sought asylum. In Georgia, the family moved in with the boys’ aunt.
The brothers continued to study English by using language-learning apps, reading books, and correcting themselves when their classmates teased them.
By 2020, judges had denied the family’s asylum case and appeals because gang extortion is not generally considered a reason for asylum, said Ala Amoachi, who became the brothers ‘ immigration lawyer in 2024. A deportation order had been issued for Joe and Josue.
When people appeal deportation orders, the appeal process is halted. Jose and Josue were appealing until 2020, when their appeals ran out, but they continued to appear at ICE check-ins. Because they had no criminal records at the time, Amoachi claimed, the government probably didn’t deport them because of “family unity” and the fact that their younger brother is disabled and a citizen of the US.”
According to their attorney, which they started in 2024, the brothers had a viable path to legal status by the time they were detained in 2025.
We contacted DHS to ask why the brothers were detained and deported while they had a pending immigration case and received no reply.
Trump has significantly slowed immigration legal pathways during his second term. He ended a Biden-era program in January that allowed people to schedule border immigration appointments and apply for asylum in the US. Under Trump, the Department of Homeland Security has stripped , hundreds of thousands of people of , temporary legal protections that let them live and work in the US.
Jose made an effort to realize what he had hoped would become an American dream, but his immigration status prevented him from getting a job and buying a car.
The brothers relocated to Long Island, New York, where their mother’s long-distance partner resided in 2024.
Amoachi initiated a process for them to apply for , Special Immigrant Juveniles Status, a protection for young immigrants who were abused, abandoned or neglected by a parent. According to court documents, the brothers’ father had abandoned them. The status allows immigrants to eventually apply for permanent residency once they are approved. The brothers ‘ previous lawyer in Georgia had failed to tell them this status was an option, Amoachi said.
Immigration recipients of Special Immigrant Juvenile Status were spared deportation under the Biden administration. The Trump administration began detaining people with Special Immigrant Juveniles status in June and ended their detention protection program. Immigrant advocacy groups are , suing , the government over the changes.
Jose had a short-lived dream to start fresh in New York.
At the March 14 appointment, an ICE officer asked whether the brothers were contesting their removal order, and when Jose handed over their paperwork, the officer said, “‘ This doesn’t work'”, Jose recounted.
The brothers were in handcuffs within a few seconds.
Although there is no information on how many people have been detained and separated from their families during the required ICE check-ins, there are numerous stories on social media and in news stories about immigrants who have been detained and separated from their families. Lawyers have warned clients about the tactic. Numerous immigrant people in San Diego are suing the government for their detention during check-ins.
Before Trump’s second term, Amoachi, a 15-year veteran immigration lawyer, said she had never seen a case like Jose and Josue, a young men without criminal convictions or gang affiliation and pending applications, end in detention.
About a week after the brothers were detained, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said the administration was prioritising criminals.
Homan  stated on March 23 that “we’re going to keep pursuing the worst of the worst,” which we’ve been doing since Day One, and deporting from the US.
Detention was the first leg in a two-month journey which would take the brothers back to El Salvador.
Immigration officers shackled the brothers and transported them to a detention facility in Buffalo, New York, within hours.
Jose and a detained pastor co-hosted weekly church services while he was in custody. Josue took a job in the kitchen – cleaning dishes and helping serve food – earning $1 a day. He paid for the ramen, a delicacy in detention, with the money to call his mother or purchase it. Additionally, Joe served as an immigration officer’s unofficial translator and taught English to other detainees.
On March 26, a New York family court judge ruled that Jose and Josue had been abandoned by their father and it was not in their best interest to return to El Salvador. They remained detained even in this circumstance.
According to Jose, officers called the brothers in early May for processing, which would result in their deportation or detention. Fellow detainees rooted for them.
The outcome was not as anticipated. The brothers were taken to Louisiana for adoption.
For several days, Jose and Josue stayed in holding cells dubbed “hieleras” – Spanish for “ice boxes” – with about 100 people in each. An officer called the brothers’ names to board a flight to El Salvador on May 7 for their mother’s birthday. A second list of names for those who could get off the plane was added after Jose reported. That was Jose’s last hope. However, the brothers’ names were not given.
I was aware that I was leaving behind my mother when the plane took off, Jose said. “Literally everything was staying behind. Our aspirations. Everything .
Jose and Josue, now 21 and 20, re-entered El Salvador nine years after fleeing their home country. They were taken when they applied for asylum, but the US immigration authorities never returned them because they had no passport.
Authorities gave each brother a piece of paper with his name on it as a form of identification. People were waiting for US deportees when Jose and Josue arrived at an immigration processing center. No one was present for them.
“I looked at my brother and said, ‘ Now what? What are we doing? Joe stated.
Their mother sent their grandmother’s childhood friend to pick them up. The brothers couldn’t sleep or eat for the first few nights. According to Amoachi, they have since been diagnosed with PTSD and depression.
A few weeks after Jose and Josue arrived in El Salvador, Josue’s high school in Georgia held its graduation ceremony. He cried in Jose’s arms as they announced his name from his phone rather than walking across the stage.
Jose and Josue long for the chance to reunite with their families after being deported for seven months. Amoachi has filed several appeals on their behalf.
According to Jose, the brothers adhered to the requirements for being in court, checking in with ICE, having good moral behavior, and having no criminal record.
What is the legal path, then? Jose asked. “There isn’t one,” the statement read.
Following Morocco’s victory in the Arab Cup final on Thursday in Qatar, it was a big night for Morocco fans. Andrew Richardson from Al Jazeera spoke with some of them.
Published On 19 Dec 2025
African football’s finest teams and brightest stars will take centre stage in Morocco when the continent’s premier showpiece, the Africa Cup of Nations, kicks off on Sunday.
Ivory Coast will look to defend the title they won in 2023, while Morocco, Egypt and Senegal are also among the pretournament favourites.
With high-profile players such as Mohamed Salah, Achraf Hakimi and Victor Osimhen set to feature, the 2025 edition is expected to deliver top-tier football and storylines that extend well beyond the pitch.
Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming AFCON:
The CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2025 will begin on Sunday, as host nation Morocco play Comoros in the opening game.
The final will be played on January 18 at the 69,500-capacity Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, marking the conclusion of the 52-match tournament.
The tournament in Morocco was due to be played in June, but that clashed with the expanded 32-team FIFA Club World Cup, which was held in the United States at the time.
It marks the first time AFCON will take place over the Christmas and New Year period.
Morocco is hosting the 35th edition of AFCON across nine venues in six cities – the most ever for an AFCON.
Guinea was initially due to host this edition, but the West African country, which is among the poorest on the continent, was stripped of hosting rights due to concerns about its readiness.
The 2025 edition marks the second time Morocco has hosted the African championships, having first done so in 1988.
Here’s a list of the venues and cities:
⚽ Agadir: Adrar Stadium (capacity: 45,480)
⚽ Casablanca: Stade Mohammed V (capacity: 67,000)
⚽ Fez: Fez Stadium (capacity: 45,000)
⚽ Marrakesh: Marrakesh Stadium (capacity: 45,240)
⚽ Rabat: Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium (capacity: 69,500)
⚽ Rabat: Moulay Hassan Stadium (capacity: 22,000)
⚽ Rabat: Rabat Olympic Stadium (capacity: 21,000)
⚽ Rabat: Al Barid Stadium (capacity: 18,000)
⚽ Tangier: Ibn Batouta Stadium (capacity: 75,600)
Twenty-four teams from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will play in the tournament.
Defending champions Ivory Coast, record seven-time winners Egypt, giants Morocco and Nigeria are among the participants.
The nations have been divided into six groups:
⚽ Group A: Morocco, Mali, Zambia, Comoros
⚽ Group B: Egypt, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe
⚽ Group C: Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda, Tanzania
⚽ Group D: Senegal, DR Congo, Benin, Botswana
⚽ Group E: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan
⚽ Group F: Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Gabon, Mozambique
The teams will play in a round-robin format, with the top two from each group, along with the best four third-placed teams, advancing to the knockout stage, which begins with the round of 16.
That is followed by the quarterfinals, semifinals and the final. There is also a third-place playoff between the two losing semifinalists.
In the knockout stages, if a match is level at the end of normal playing time, it will go to 30 minutes of extra time and, if required, penalties.
A full AFCON 2025 match schedule is available here.
FIFA announced in early December that clubs would only be obliged to release players from December 15 – a week later than the standard international window. The decision left AFCON teams less than a week to prepare once all players were available, posing a logistical challenge for coaches and organisers.
FIFA said the shortened release period, the same approach used for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, was agreed after consultations with CAF and other stakeholders to “reduce the impact on various parties”, without elaborating.
Mali coach Tom Saintfiet said it showed a lack of respect for African football and that European clubs were given a higher priority by FIFA. “Everyone in Europe thinks African football is not important,” he added. “It shows a lack of respect, and I’m angry.”
The late notification was also criticised by the coaches, given that the dates for the AFCON finals were announced in June last year, giving FIFA ample time to make its ruling.
Egypt are the most successful African nation with seven AFCON titles. However, the Pharaohs haven’t won the title since 2010.
Cameroon are the second-most successful team with five titles, followed by Ghana with four, though they will be absent from this year’s edition after failing to qualify.
Nigeria and the Ivory Coast have won three each, with the latter beating the former in the last edition’s final.
As many as 15 countries have won the championship since the tournament started in 1957.
The Africa Cup of Nations brings together some of the strongest teams on the continent, including several capable of making deep runs on the global stage at events like the FIFA World Cup.
Seven teams featuring at AFCON 2025 – Algeria, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia – have also qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
“AFCON is special because it reflects the rich cultures of our continent. Every edition has its own identity – from the fans to the rhythm of the matches,” ex-Zambia Christopher Katongo, who led them to the title in 2012, told CAFOnline.
“It’s not just about football; it’s about pride, history, and representing your people. The level of competition keeps growing because African football is constantly improving, and that makes every tournament a fresh challenge.
“AFCON has become a global showcase for African talent,” he added.
For host nation Morocco, this tournament doubles up as an opportunity to identify areas for improvement and a timely warm-up before the 2030 World Cup, which they will co-host with Spain and Portugal.
Host nation Morocco and defending champions Ivory Coast are among the frontrunners for the title.
Morocco, Africa’s highest-ranked nation at 11th in the world, are in great form, having extended their record-breaking run of successive victories to 18 last month.
The North Africans, whose squad is widely regarded as a golden generation and was the surprise package at the 2022 Qatar World Cup with a semifinal achievement, will also enjoy the advantage of playing in front of home crowds as they aim for their first title in 50 years.
After stunning Nigeria in the 2023 final on home soil, title holders Ivory Coast enter the tournament this year in high spirits. The Elephants sealed their ticket to the 2026 World Cup in remarkable fashion, finishing top of their group in the qualifying stage, without conceding a goal in their 10 games.
Egypt, spearheaded by Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah, could also be one to watch. Senegal, Tunisia and Algeria are among the other fancied teams.
The prize money remains the same as the last edition, with the winner receiving $7m, while the runner-up takes home $4m.
The total prize pot for the tournament is $32m.
Tickets went live on CAF’s official platform in mid-October, with the federation saying 298,000 tickets were sold during the first two phases, with buyers in 106 nations worldwide. A third phase was announced in mid-November.
Tickets for the final, starting from about $43, were sold out in the third phase. Overall, the cheapest ticket available for a game is priced at a little over $10.
Regional broadcasters, including Channel 4, beIN Sport, SuperSport and Canal+, will telecast the tournament.
A group of mothers and a scientist examine the water supply after three girls in a Mexican town pass away from cancer.
Authorities in a Mexican town insist that the water is uncontaminated when three young girls pass away from leukaemia within a year. A group to investigate the cause is formed after a teacher and two local mothers ask for answers. When they collaborate with a scientist, they discover that their water is extremely radioactive.
A layer of groundwater that has been poisoned by corporate agriculture for export has been left behind, causing a new layer of contamination. Despite the fact that some officials continue to maintain that the water is safe, the government shut off the town’s water supply in response to this revelation.
They have a difficult choice as the neighborhood rebels against the women. They must either abandon their activism or continue to fight for environmental justice and clean water.
Published On 19 Dec 2025