Aerial video captures the devastating impact of the explosion that left dozens dead and thousands injured in the Lebanese capital. The full scale of the blast is yet to be felt as rescue efforts continued the morning after the explosion flattened much of the city's port
Continue reading...Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa
‘It’s a catastrophe’: Beirut residents and mayor react to deadly blast – video
Beirut’s mayor, Jamal Itani, struggled to describe what he saw as he toured parts of the Lebanese capital the day after an explosion killed at least 100 people. Footage from the blast zone showed extensive damage, with residents moving through rubble and cleaning up broken glass and overturned furniture in their homes
- Visual guide: how explosion caused mass casualties and devastation across Beirut
- Beirut explosion: latest updates
Donald Trump claims Lebanon explosion ‘looks like a terrible attack’ – video
The US president Donald Trump says an explosion that killed dozens of people in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, looks like an attack. 'We will be there to help. It looks like a terrible attack,' he said at a press briefing. Trump was later asked why he called the explosion an attack, not an accident, saying he met with generals who felt it was 'a bomb of some kind'
Continue reading...Beirut explosion: scores dead and thousands hurt as blast rips through city – video report
Beirut has been rocked by a huge explosion, devastating parts of the city and injuring thousands of people. Eyewitness footage shared widely on social media showed a section of the city's port area on fire before a huge blast engulfed nearby neighbourhoods, flattening buildings and leaving streets littered with broken glass and debris.
The Lebanese security chief, Abbas Ibrahim, later blamed combustible chemicals stored in a warehouse. Lebanon's prime minister, Hassan Diab, said those responsible would 'pay a price' for the disaster.
- Lebanon: at least 73 killed as huge explosion rocks Beirut
- 'We're cursed': shock and despair in Beirut as explosion devastates city
Beirut explosion: over half the city damaged in blast that killed at least 100 and wounded 4,000 – live updates
Lebanon PM Hassan Diab appeals for international assistance as search continues for missing in devastated city
- Full report: Lebanon in mourning
- ‘We’re cursed’: shock and despair as explosion devastates city
- Crisis upon crisis: blast rocks a Lebanon already on its knees
- Ammonium nitrate: what is the chemical blamed for blast?
- Tell us: how have you been affected by the explosion in Beirut?
The French Presidency has just confirmed that Emmanuel Macron will to travel to Beirut tomorrow (Thursday).
Pallets of aid are being loaded in Dubai to be flown to Beirut:
23 tonnes of aid will be sent via air to Beirut from the World Health Organisation warehouse in Dubai.
Items include medical trauma kits carrying syringes, bandages and gauze @TheNationalUAE pic.twitter.com/JoYpfklQDd
‘We’re cursed’: shock and despair in Beirut as explosion devastates city
Lebanese capital in state of chaos as people grapple with scale of blast that has injured thousands
As a ghostly brown haze began to clear, the streets of east Beirut emerged in apocalyptic ruin. Even 4km from the centre of the blast each building had lost some, if not all, of its windows. It was just after 6pm. Smoke, dispersed with pockets of pink gas, shrouded some of the carnage. Huge shards of glass covered roads – some jagged pieces had ripped through cars. Trees were shredded, and pools of blood formed puddles in the streets.
Continue reading...Beirut explosion – in pictures
An explosion has rocked central Beirut in Lebanon, shattering windows and shaking buildings for several hundred feet. The source of the blast is still unclear
- Beirut explosion – live updates
- Full report: huge explosion in Beirut
- Video: Beirut footage shows massive blast
Beirut explosion: footage shows massive blast – video
Video circulating on social media shows a massive explosion rocking central Beirut - shattering windows, knocking down doors and shaking buildings several hundred feet away.
Lebanon’s health minister told journalists a ship carrying fireworks had blown up in the port, though the size of the blast heard across the country raised suspicions it might have resulted from a rocket strike or detonation of explosives - deliberate or otherwise. The source of the blast has not been confirmed
Continue reading...‘We drink from the toilet’: migrants tell of hellish Saudi detention centres
Kingdom urged to rethink mass deportation policy as crowded and insanitary conditions spark Covid-19 fears
Ibraahin’s* first week of work at a market in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was also his last. As the sun set on the fifth day, the police descended upon the crowds and rounded up the 40-year-old Somali, along with several other undocumented migrant workers. They were transported to the nearby al-Shumaisi detention centre where many, including Ibraahin, remain months later, awaiting deportation.
Saudi authorities regularly arrest those found to be working illegally in the kingdom without a visa. Many are held in al-Shumaisi, a huge complex designed to hold 32,000 inmates. It has four grey-walled wings for male inmates, two for females and one for children. Detainees are held in a crowded series of bunk bed-filled halls, which each hold around 80 people.
Continue reading...Iran’s Covid death toll three times higher than admitted, says report
BBC says government papers reveal total is more than 42,000 – far above official toll of 17,000
One person is dying from Covid-19 every seven minutes in Iran, state television in the country has said, as a report claimed the overall toll from the virus was three times higher than authorities have admitted.
A health ministry spokeswoman said on Monday that 215 people had died in the past 24 hours, on top of more than 200 the previous day – the country’s highest figures in nearly a month.
Continue reading...Israel protests: thousands join weekend protests against Netanyahu’s government – video
Thousands of Israelis took to the streets over the weekend to protest against Benjamin Netanyahu's alleged corruption and against his government's handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Israeli media estimated that about 15,000 protesters arrived at the prime minister's state residence in Jerusalem, where they carried banners calling on him to resign.
The weekend's protests were reported to be the biggest in a series of weekly demonstrations near Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem. Protesters also arrived outside his private house in the Israeli city of Caesarea and hundreds gathered in Tel Aviv
Continue reading...Inside Lebanon’s economic crisis – podcast
Scenes of economic despair are visible across Lebanon – from shops to homes, businesses to hospitals. Guardian journalist Martin Chulov discusses why the country is verging on financial collapse
Across all pockets of a country conditioned to hardship over decades of war and tumult, the effects of a catastrophic economic implosion were evident when the Guardian’s Middle East correspondent Martin Chulov took a road trip across Lebanon. Since March, the prices of most goods have nearly tripled, while the value of the national currency has fallen by 80% and much of the country has ground to a halt. Those who still have work are surviving month to month. Poverty is soaring, crime is rising, and streets are incendiary. The country has defaulted on one bond payment and a second is due soon.
Martin tells Rachel Humphreys about how government corruption and financial mismanagement have lead to Lebanon finding itself on the brink of financial collapse.
Continue reading...Israel protests may dent Netanyahu’s ego, but do they threaten his power?
Israeli PM says media makes demonstrations seem more significant than they are – he could have a point
Images of thousands of people in the streets and police scuffling with protesters paint a picture of an increasingly isolated prime minister whose lengthy grip over Israel may finally be loosening.
The visuals are striking, and the protests have certainly grown in size, yet whether they can hurt more than Benjamin Netanyahu’s ego is still to be seen.
Continue reading...Coronavirus global report: ‘response fatigue’ fears as Mexico hits 9,000 daily cases
Many countries that believed they were past the worst are grappling with new outbreaks, says WHO
Mexico has recorded more than 9,000 daily coronavirus cases for the first time, as the country overtook the UK with the world’s third-highest number of deaths from the pandemic after the US and Brazil.
The surging numbers were reported as the World Health Organization warned of “response fatigue” and a resurgence of cases in several countries that have lifted lockdowns.
Continue reading...MI6, the coup in Iran that changed the Middle East, and the cover-up
Documentary reveals evidence confirming a British spy’s role in restoring the Shah in 1953 – and how the Observer exposed the plot
The hidden role of a British secret service officer who led the coup that permanently altered the Middle East is to be revealed for the first time since an Observer news story was suppressed in 1985.
The report, headlined “How MI6 and CIA joined forces to plot Iran coup”, appeared in the 26 May edition but was swiftly quashed. It exposed the fact that an MI6 man, Norman Darbyshire, had run a covert and violent operation to reinstate the Shah of Iran as ruler of the country in 1953. Yet just a few days after the newspaper came out, all fresh evidence of this British operation and of Darbyshire’s identity disappeared from public debate.
Continue reading...Gaddafi’s prophecy comes true as foreign powers battle for Libya’s oil
A showdown looms in the fight for control of the country – with Africa’s largest oilfields as the prize
In August 2011, as Libya’s rebels and Nato jets began an assault on Tripoli, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi delivered a speech calling on his supporters to defend the country from foreign invaders.
“There is a conspiracy to control Libyan oil and to control Libyan land, to colonise Libya once again. This is impossible, impossible. We will fight until the last man and last woman to defend Libya from east to west, north to south,” he said in a message broadcast by a pro-regime television station. Two months later, the dictator was dragged bleeding and confused from a storm drain in his hometown of Sirte, before being killed.
Continue reading...Thousands demonstrate against Netanyahu as Israel protests gain strength
Crowds gathered in central Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and outside the PM’s beach house amid anger at his handling of the virus crisis and corruption
Thousands of demonstrators have gathered outside the official residence of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and thronged the streets of central Jerusalem, as weeks of protests against the Israeli leader appeared to be gaining steam.
The demonstration in central Jerusalem on Saturday, along with smaller gatherings in Tel Aviv, near Netanyahu’s beach house in central Israel and at dozens of busy intersections nationwide, was one of the largest turnouts in weeks of protests.
Continue reading...Libyans fear regional war as rival powers vie for control, says envoy
UN representative has two months to secure ceasefire but warns that risks are rising
The Libyan people are increasingly scared that their future is being taken out of their hands by external actors, and that the risk of a regional war is rising, Stephanie Williams, the acting UN special envoy for Libya, said on Saturday.
Williams said on a visit to London: “The Libyan people are exhausted and scared in equal measure. They are tired of war, and want peace, but they fear this is not in their hands now. They want a solution and a ceasefire. The alternative to a ceasefire and an inclusive political solution is essentially the destruction of their country.
Continue reading...Algeria needs an apology and reparations from France – not a history lesson | Nabila Ramdani
Emmanuel Macron has set a historian to investigate colonial brutality – but yet more evidence is no substitute for action
Clarifying the past is a notoriously difficult task at the best of times, but exceptionally so in relation to the intensely bloody history of Algeria.
France, its former coloniser, has a long record of covering up the atrocities it committed, so the facts are frequently disputed. This has prolonged anger and resentment among the victims of an imperial adventure that continues to divide the two nations.
Continue reading...Kylie Moore-Gilbert granted meeting with Australian ambassador to Iran
Exclusive: British-Australian academic will meet diplomat for first time since sudden move to a new notorious prison
The imprisoned British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert is set to be granted a meeting with Australia’s ambassador to Iran as soon as Sunday.
Following reports in the Guardian that Dr Moore-Gilbert was seriously unwell in Qarchak prison and had been removed from quarantine because she was attempting to write to the ambassador for help, the state-run Mizan news agency reported she was in “perfect health”.
Continue reading...