Israel, in a move that follows the US’s announcement to end its membership earlier this week, says it “will not participate” in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
In response to Thursday’s announcement by Israel’s foreign minister, UNHRC spokesperson Pascal Sim said Israel has observer state status within the rights body and, therefore, could not withdraw from the council.
The Geneva-based council is made up of 47 UN member states, which are elected by other UN members to serve four-year terms on a rotating basis. Additionally, the US is currently not a council member.
Gideon Saar, the foreign minister of Israel, charged the UNHRC with anti-Semitism on Thursday, and said that Israel “joins the United States and won’t be a part of it.”
Saar added that the Human Rights Council has been consistently biased against Israel, which has been ongoing and unrelenting since its inception in 2006, and that the decision was made.
Earlier, Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, accused the body of “moral failure”.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, said Israel’s decision was “extremely serious” and “shows the hubris and the lack of realisation of what they]Israel] have done”.
“They insist in self-righteousness that they have nothing to be held accountable for, and they are proving it to the entire international community”, , she added.
The UNHRC is also in charge of appointing human rights experts to serve as independent UN special rapporteurs, conducting periodic reviews of the human rights records of UN member states.
Israel has participated in periodic reviews that UN members are required to submit to the UNHRC. For several years, however, it has boycotted debates on the “human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories”.
Israel’s decision on Thursday is the most recent in a line of diplomatic ties with the UN.
Palestinians in Gaza are suffering even more as a result of heavy rain, wind, and winter, with thousands of people living in worn-out tents after Israel’s bombardment of the coastal enclave.
Since a ceasefire was declared last month, allowing Israel to stop its 15-month offensive against northern Gaza, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have since resurrected the area.  , But most people found their homes destroyed or heavily damaged.
Families have since found it difficult to find shelter amid the besieged enclave’s mounds of destruction.
In addition, hundreds of tents and shelters were flooded by sewage and rainwater, according to a spokesperson for the Gaza City municipality, telling Al Jazeera that the city did not have enough resources to assist the displaced people in the wake of the storm.
Mahmoud Riyad Khalil al-Fayoumi claimed to have been living in a tent with three other families while speaking to Al Jazeera from a makeshift camp in the courtyard of a school in Gaza City.
“The blankets are very wet”, said al-Fayoumi, explaining that he sent his two-month-old baby and his brother, who has a spinal cord injury, to stay with other people due to the harsh weather conditions.
“We don’t know what to do. We don’t know where to go. This is our situation here”.
According to Hani Mahmoud, a journalist from Gaza City, many Palestinians were forced to leave a camp in the city’s western area due to heavy rain and wind.
Basic supplies such as warm clothing also are not widely available, worsening the situation.
According to Mahmoud, “People are currently without shelter, as well as the very essential supplies that provide them with some warmth and protection from these terrible weather conditions.”
In its latest update on Wednesday, the United Nations humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) said with more than 500, 000 people returning to the Gaza and North Gaza governorates, “the need for food, water, tents and shelter materials in that area remains critical”.
Since the ceasefire ended on January 19, only limited humanitarian aid has been delivered.
The Gaza Government Media Office claimed earlier this week that Israel had slowed down the entry of aid and shelters into the area.
“Securing shelters has become a pressing humanitarian need that cannot be ignored. It stated in a statement earlier this week that it is the most urgent need at this time.
Palestinians in Gaza are ill-equipped to withstand the cold because they have lost so much during the war, according to Tess Ingram, a communications manager at UNICEF.
Ingram, a resident of Gaza City, told Al Jazeera that the situation is particularly dangerous for children.
“For kids in these conditions, it’s not only frightening to be outside, exposed and in the cold, but it’s also very dangerous for their wellbeing”, she said. It’s obvious when you meet with families that they don’t have what they need to keep them from the cold, according to , “We’ve had a number of children in Gaza die of hypothermia.” Children don’t have warm clothing in families. There’s many children without shoes”.
Other parts of Gaza are still in harsh conditions for Palestinian refugees.
Saqer Abdelal, who lives in Deir el-Balah in the center of the enclave, told Al Jazeera that “the tent flew away and the people were disorganized.” We’re now bringing our belongings to a man who has agreed to host us until the winter is over.
“This is more difficult to us than displacement”, said Anwar Hellis, another Palestinian in Deir el-Balah. “We found our tents destroyed by the wind when we woke up at night.” Our food and clothing were sand-filled.
In southern Gaza, the Rafah municipality has called for 40, 000 additional tents and emergency shelter units for residents. Despite having destroyed homes elsewhere, the city is still home to thousands of internally displaced people.
This Sunday will host the National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl, arguably the biggest single sporting event in the country and a major international event.
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 American football championship, including who is performing at halftime:
Which teams will compete in the 59th Super Bowl?
In Super Bowl LIX, the Kansas City Chiefs will face the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Chiefs will face the Eagles in the final game of the NFL season for the second time in three years.
The Eagles are aiming for a second NFL title overall while the Chiefs are chasing an unprecedented third consecutive Super Bowl title.
How were the Super Bowl teams decided?
Fourteen teams competed in the NFL playoffs, seven from each conference.
In a single-elimination competition, six wild-card teams, the four division champions from the NFC, the four from the AFC, and the four from the NFC competed. The wild-card teams were the three non-division winners with the best records in each conference.
On January 26, the AFC and NFC championship teams’ teams advanced to the Super Bowl.
In the AFC Championship Game, Kansas City defeated the Buffalo Bills 32-29, while Philadelphia defeated the Washington Commanders 55-23 in the NFC Championship Game.
Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver AJ Brown, left, catches a pass for a touchdown as Washington Commanders cornerback Mike Sainristil defends during the NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]Matt Slocum/AP]
When will the Super Bowl be played?
In New Orleans, the Super Bowl is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. (23:30 GMT).
Football fans who are interested in the halftime show and the most expensive advertisements to air on US television are drawn to this highly anticipated event on the American sports calendar as well.
The 2024 Super Bowl drew an estimated 210 million viewers.
Where is the location of the 59th Super Bowl?
The New Orleans Saints’ home stadium, Caesars Superdome, will host the NFL championship game. It has a capacity of 83, 000 spectators.
This is the 11th time the event has taken place in New Orleans.
The stadium in downtown New Orleans provided shelter for tens of thousands of residents after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city in 2005.
Caesars Superdome will host Super Bowl LIX between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs on February 3, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana]Michael Owens/Getty Images]
Who should you watch for the most famous players on each team?
Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs):
Mahomes is the quarterback for Kansas City, which has a 15-2 win-loss record overall.
The 29-year-old starter is one of only five quarterbacks in NFL history to have won three or more Super Bowls.
Mahomes is regarded as one of the greatest quarterbacks who ever lived.
Saquon Barkley (Eagles):
Barkley, who was Philadelphia’s major offseason signing, has put together one of the best statistical seasons for a running back.
His historic season included becoming only the ninth player to reach 2, 000 rushing yards (1, 829 metres) and finished just 100 yards (91 metres) shy of Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record (2, 105 yards, or 1, 925 metres).
Barkley, 27, needs just 30 yards (27 metres) to surpass Terrell Davis for most rushing yards (2, 476, or 2, 264 metres) in a single season, including the playoffs.
Running back Saquon Barkley attends the Philadelphia Eagles Send Off Party for Super Bowl LIX on February 2, 2025, in Philadelphia]Chris Szagola/AP]
Where can you watch the 2025 Super Bowl?
The Super Bowl will be broadcast on Fubo TV and Fox Sports in the US.
You can watch the game with subscriptions from Dazn and other services if you’re outside the US.
On Sunday, 19:30 GMT, Al Jazeera Sport will provide all the pre-game updates, live commentary, and photos from Super Bowl LIX.
Who will play during the halftime show of the Super Bowl?
The halftime show, a 12- to 15-minute musical extravaganza and one of the most coveted slots on the US music calendar, will feature Grammy-winning hip hop artist Kendrick Lamar.
The halftime show features Lamar as the first solo rapper.
The 37-year-old from Compton, the heart of the Los Angeles rap scene, has 17 Grammy wins and performed during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2022 along with Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and Mary J Blige.
Past Super Bowl halftime performers have included The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney and Beyonce. Last year’s performance featured Grammy-winning artist Usher.
Kendrick Lamar collected awards for record of the year, best rap performance, best rap song, best music video and song of the year at the Grammy Awards on February 2, 2025, in Los Angeles, California]Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP]
What is the price of Super Bowl tickets?
Super Bowl tickets are notoriously difficult to find and among the most sought-after in all of sports, and their prices are affected by the venue and the teams’ playing times.
According to ticket marketplace TickPick, the cheapest get-in price for Super Bowl LIX is about $6, 600 while the average ticket price is $9, 500.
The two Super Bowl teams split 35 percent of the tickets. The remaining 29 NFL teams receive about 1%, while the host team receives 5%, and the host team receives lottery prizes for their season-ticket holders.
The NFL’s media, business, and community partners receive 25% of the tickets. The league also gives away 500 tickets.
Will Taylor Swift make an appearance?
The popstar’s boyfriend Travis Kelce plays for Kansas City, making Swift’s appearance at the Super Bowl highly probable.
Due to her commitments to travel in Japan, she missed out on watching Kelce and the Chiefs’ victory at Super Bowl LVIII last year.
Due to her global profile, the “Taylor Swift effect” is widely credited with promoting the NFL to millions of more fans worldwide.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce and his girlfriend Taylor Swift celebrate their AFC championship victory over the Buffalo Bills on January 26, 2025 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
What is the cost of advertising during the Super Bowl?
Given its enormously anticipated audience, the Super Bowl is among the most sought-after televised events in the world for advertisers, and because of this, creativity is prioritized above all else.
Multiple reports claim that Fox has sold a record $ 8 million worth of 30-second commercial spots for the 2025 Super Bowl.
What does the Super Bowl trophy go by?
In honor of Green Bay Packers coach Lombardi, who won the first two Super Bowl games, the Vince Lombardi Trophy, which is presented annually to the Super Bowl winner, is named in honor of him.
After winning Super Bowl LVIII in 2024, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Opposition members have disrupted an Indian Parliament session by questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration’s response to the alleged abuse of 104 of its citizens while they were being deported from the US.
As lawmakers chanted slogans and demanded that the Modi government address the deportation process, which was deemed “degrading,” the proceedings were adjourned on Thursday.
Gaurav Gogoi, a member of the opposition’s Congress Party, wrote in a notice to the lower house of Parliament’s secretary general that the deportation procedure was “degrading” and raised “serious concerns about their human dignity and rights.”
One week prior to the meeting with Modi in Washington, D.C., the deportation occurred. In Trump’s discussions with Modi, a topic of course will also be brought up.
As part of Trump’s plan to deport millions of people, a US military plane carrying undocumented immigrants touched down in Punjab state’s Sikh holy city Amritsar on Wednesday.
The farthest deportation flight ever conducted by military transport, according to USBP chief Michael Banks in a post on X on Wednesday, was the return of illegal aliens by USBP (US Border Patrol) and partners.
“If you cross illegally, you will be removed”, he said in the post, which had a video showing some men being led into a military plane in handcuffs and with their legs in chains.
All immigrants, barring children, were handcuffed during the flight, The Times of , India , and the , Indian Express newspapers reported, quoting unnamed officials in Punjab who said they had spoken to the deportees.
One of the deportees, Jaspal Singh, claimed that deportedees’ handcuffs and leg chains were only removed after arriving in Amritsar, according to a press release from the Press Trust of India news agency.
Singh, 36, claims that they initially believed they were being transported to a different US camp.
He was quoted as saying, “Then a police officer told us that we were being taken to India.”
Before police escorted the deportees out in small groups in police vehicles, they had to spend more time at Amritsar airport looking after they had arrived in India.
On Thursday, some deportees were brought closer to their homes on a regular flight to Ahmedabad, Gujarat state.
In protest of the alleged mistreatment of Indian immigrants during their deportation from the US, India’s opposition lawmakers, some of whom are wearing shackles, demonstrate outside the New Delhi Parliament.
India’s foreign minister responds
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the country’s foreign minister, responded by saying that New Delhi is working with the US to prevent mistreatment of undocumented Indian immigrants while they are deported.
According to Jaishankar, the deportation procedure used by the US authorities is not new and allows for restraints on immigrants who are returning to their home countries.
He continued, “Any nations are required to take back their citizens if their lives are discovered to be illegally living abroad.”
Om Birla, the speaker of the parliament, added that “the foreign country also has its own rules and regulations.”
Outside Parliament, opposition lawmakers, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, continued their protest as they demanded a response from Modi’s government. Some of them wore handcuffs and carried placards that read: “Humans, not prisoners”.
Washington used a military aircraft for the first time in the history of the US, despite previous US administrations’ deportations of Indian immigrants.
After verification, India cooperated with the US and indicated that it is ready to accept the deported Indians.
New Delhi claims to oppose undocumented immigration, citing a number of forms of organized crime as well.
According to a representative for the US Embassy in Delhi, enforcement of immigration laws was “crucially important” for the country’s security and public safety.
The spokesperson continued, “It is the United States’ policy to faithfully enforce the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens.”
In response to South Korea’s worst aviation disaster ever, the country’s government has mandated that all of its airports install bird detection radars and cameras.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport made the new plans available on Thursday as part of a comprehensive inspection of airport facilities that are particularly attractive to birds.
On December 29, the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800, which was carrying 181 passengers and crew from Thailand to Muan in South Korea’s southwest, belly-landed at Muan airport and descended into a fireball after slamming into a concrete barrier.
The crash left 179 people dead and only two survivors.
The Ministry of Land stated that “almost all airports will have thermal imaging cameras installed,” adding that the rollout is scheduled to begin in the spring of next year.
Mobile sonic devices will also be implemented mainly to deal with “medium- and large-sized birds”.
All airports will have “bird detection radars installed,” according to the ministry, “to enhance early detection of distant birds and enhance aircraft response capabilities.”
The pilot will be notified of the bird’s size and movement path if the radar detects both the bird’s size and movement pattern.
Additionally, the ministry stated that it will “establish legal bases” to relocate facilities that attract birds, such as those that receive food from orchards, and to place new distance restrictions on new facilities.
According to Deputy Minister for Civil Aviation Joo Jong-wan, “the top priority is to implement comprehensive reform measures across aviation safety to stop the recurrence of aircraft accidents.”
Currently, only four airports in Incheon, Gimpo, Gimhae and Jeju Island have thermal imaging cameras for bird detection, according to state news agency Yonhap.
With the plan, the government intends to have at least one camera installed at each of the 15 domestic airports. The procurement process is scheduled to start in March.
Before attempting to land on a second landing, the pilot received warnings about a bird strike at the time of the Jeju Air accident. When the landing gear failed to emerge, the plane crashed on its second attempt.
Investigators from South Korea and the United States are still looking into the crash’s cause, which caused nationwide mourning with memorials set up all over the country.
According to South Korean media reports, a bird strike may have been the cause of the damage found in both engines of the Jeju Air flight.
Four minutes before the crash, the transport ministry claimed the black boxes holding the cockpit voice recorders and flight data stopped recording four minutes before the accident.
Marcelo, a former defender for Real Madrid and Brazil, announced his retirement from the game, bringing the end to a glittering career that included five UEFA Champions League victories.
Marcelo, 36, played for Real from 2007-2022 and left the Spanish club with 25 trophies in 546 games, including six LaLiga titles.
In the 2014 Champions League final, the defender scored, launching a ten-year reign of dominance for Real, which was followed by five more victories, in the long-awaited 10th European crown.
Marcelo was also part of the squad that won three Champions League titles in a row between the 2015-16 and 2017-18 seasons.
In a video posted on Instagram on Thursday, he said, “My journey as a player ends here, but I still have so much to give football.” “Thank you for everything”.
At the conclusion of his time with Real, Marcelo also led the team to two Copa del Rey titles, five Spanish Super Cup victories, four Club World Cup victories, and three European Super Cup victories.
One of the best left backs in Real Madrid and world football history, according to Real Madrid president Florentino Perez in a statement.
Real Madrid is and will always be his home, according to one of our greatest legends.
Marcelo last played for Brazilian Serie A side Fluminense, where he first began his professional and youth career, where he won the 2023 Copa Libertadores before resigning on mutual consent in November.
He also won the Confederations Cup in 2013 and a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics and bronze in 2008, making 58 appearances for Brazil.
Marcelo won 25 trophies with Real Madrid, including six LaLiga titles and five Champions League trophies]File: Denis Doyle/Getty Images]
