Millions of people in South Asia celebrated Holi, the Hindu festival of colours, by smearing each other with brightly coloured powder, dancing to festive music and feasting on traditional sweets prepared for the occasion.
The raucous spring festival sees Hindus take part in a kaleidoscopic celebration of the end of winter and the triumph of good over evil. The festival is a national holiday in India, while in Nepal it’s a two-day event that began on Thursday. It’s also observed in other South Asian countries as well as among the Indian diaspora.
Holi has its origins in Hindu mythology and celebrates the divine love between the Hindu god Krishna and his consort Radha, signifying a time of rebirth and rejuvenation.
Across the country, people dressed mostly in all-white clothes celebrated the festival by hurling coloured powder at each other. Children, perched on rooftops and balconies, flung water balloons filled with coloured pigments at passersby.
Groups of young men also used water guns to chase people down in public parks and on the roads, while others danced on the streets to music blaring from speakers.
In some places, people hurled marigolds, roses and jasmine petals instead of coloured powder.
The United States and Israel have discussed with three East African governments the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza to Sudan, Somalia and its breakaway region of Somaliland, according to US and Israeli officials quoted by The Associated Press news agency.
Friday’s report said officials from Sudan claimed to have rejected overtures from the US, while officials from Somalia and Somaliland told AP they were unaware of any contacts.
Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a secret diplomatic initiative, US and Israeli officials confirmed the contacts with Somalia and Somaliland, while the US officials confirmed Sudan as well. They said it was unclear how much progress the efforts made or at what level the discussions took place.
The development comes more than a month after US President Donald Trump floated the idea of forcibly displacing Palestinians and “taking over” the Gaza Strip. It was roundly rejected by Palestinians and countries in the Middle East, with many describing it as ethnic cleansing.
Separate outreach from the US and Israel to the three potential destinations began last month, days after Trump floated the Gaza plan alongside Netanyahu, according to the US officials, who said Israel was taking the lead in the discussions.
There was no immediate reaction to the report from the US or Israel.
But Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a longtime advocate of what he calls “voluntary” emigration of Palestinians, said this week that Israel is working to identify countries to take them in. He also said Israel is preparing a “very large emigration department” within its Ministry of Defense.
‘ Red line ‘
Tamer Qarmout, an associate professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera the forced displacement of Palestinians is “a red line that should not be crossed”.
He said governments around the world have a responsibility to stop the “outrageous” proposal and “should not be engaging with Israel on any of these scenarios”, especially the displacement of Palestinians to African countries, “many of which continue to struggle from colonial legacies”.
“Sudan and Somalia are still ravaged by wars due to the colonial legacy. They]the Israeli government] have to be exposed and put on a shame list”, Qarmout , added.
In exchange for accepting resettled Palestinians, it is thought that a variety of incentives – financial, diplomatic and security – would be offered to the East African governments.
A US official involved in the efforts confirmed to AP that the US was “having a quiet conversation with Somaliland about a range of areas where they can be helpful to the US in exchange for recognition”.
The US could offer the breakaway region of more than 3 million people international recognition, which is a priority for Somaliland’s new president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi.
Meanwhile, it is difficult to understand why Somalia would want to host Palestinians given the country’s strong support for Palestinian self-rule, Sambu Chepkorir, a lawyer and conflict researcher in Nairobi, told AP.
“The realignments keep changing, and so maybe there is a hidden agenda in why Somalia”, Chepkorir said.
Two Sudanese officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic matter, confirmed the Trump administration has approached the military-led government about accepting Palestinians.
One said the contacts began even before Trump’s inauguration, with offers of military assistance against the RSF paramilitary group, assistance with postwar reconstruction and other incentives.
The Philippines ‘ former President Rodrigo Duterte will make a first appearance at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face charges of crimes against humanity in The Hague over his deadly war on drugs.
“The Chamber considers it appropriate for the first appearance of Mr Duterte to take place on Friday, 14 March 2025 at 14: 00 hours (13: 00 GMT)”, the court said in a statement late on Thursday.
Duterte stands accused of the crime against humanity of murder over his years-long campaign against drug users and dealers that rights groups said killed as many as 30, 000 people.
The 79-year-old former leader was turned over by the Philippines to The Hague-based court on Wednesday, becoming the first-ever Asian leader to be charged before the international tribunal.
During the hearing on Friday, Duterte will appear before judges and be informed of the crimes he is alleged to have committed, as well as his rights as a defendant.
As he landed in the Netherlands on Wednesday, the former leader appeared to accept responsibility for his actions, saying in a Facebook video: “I have been telling the police, the military, that it was my job and I am responsible”.
Duterte’s swift arrest in Manila and turnover to the ICC came amid a spectacular meltdown in relations between his family and the Marcos family, who had joined forces in the Philippines presidential elections in 2022 and won in a landslide.
Current President Ferdinand Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte – Rodrigo’s daughter – are at loggerheads, with the latter facing an impeachment trial over charges, including an alleged assassination plot against Marcos.
Sara Duterte is in the Netherlands to support her father, after labelling his arrest “oppression and persecution”.
Gilbert Andres, a lawyer representing victims of the drug war, said Duterte’s arrest “is a great signal for international criminal justice. It means that no one is above the law”.
Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan also hailed Duterte’s arrest as a key moment for victims and international justice as a whole.
“It’s important to underline, as we now start a new stage of proceedings, that Mr Duterte is presumed innocent”, said Khan.
People from the Filipino community in the Netherlands hold banners during a protest against former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, in front of the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands, March 12, 2025]Marta Fiorin/Reuters]
Watch as Chicago Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki slices baseballs in half as he practices his swing with a samurai sword ahead of matches against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the MLB’s season opening Tokyo Series.
Meta has said that its “Community Notes” feature intended to replace third-party fact checkers will use the open-source algorithm developed by Elon Musk’s X.
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced the moderation shake-up in January amid a flurry of moves by Big Tech to ingratiate itself with United States President Donald Trump’s administration.
The move followed years of accusations by conservatives that fact-checking efforts often labelled legitimate viewpoints as misinformation for political or ideological reasons.
While Meta’s announcement was welcomed by Trump and many conservatives, misinformation scholars warned that the move would add to the tidal wave of false claims and fake news online.
In a blog post on Thursday, Meta said that using X’s technology for the crowdsourced fact-checking tool would allow it to “improve it for our own platforms over time”.
“As our own version develops, we may explore different or adjusted algorithms to support how Community Notes are ranked and rated”, Meta said.
“We’re building this in the open while learning from contributors and seeing how it works in practice in our products. We don’t expect this process to be perfect but we’ll continue to improve as we learn”.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads, said that it would begin testing the feature on March 18 and that 200, 000 potential contributors had signed up so far to help assess the accuracy of content on its platforms.
The California-based tech giant said notes would not be published unless they are deemed accurate by contributors with a diverse range of viewpoints.
“We expect Community Notes to be less biased than the third party fact checking program it replaces, and to operate at a greater scale when it is fully up and running”, Meta said.
“When we launched the fact checking program in 2016, we were clear that we didn’t want to be the arbiters of truth and believed that turning to expert fact checking organizations was the best solution available”.
