Simon Harris

According to a report, Simon Harris will become Ireland’s taoiseach on Tuesday. Reportedly, he has been a minister in the government of Ireland since 2016, serving as minister for higher education, research, innovation and science and has been a td for the Wicklow constituency since 2011. According to the report, Mr Harris first became involved in politics as a 15 year old when he lobbied to get children with autism spectrum disorders to be integrated into mainstream education. Reportedly, he began in fianna fáil but later joined fine gael. According to the report, he innitially studied journalism and french but dropped out after the first year.

Reportedly, Mr Harris takes over from Leo Varadker who has predicted irish unity in his lifetime but Mr Harris does not want to make this a priority. According to the report, he said, we have a peace process on this island but it is also a frosty peace, I don’t believe we’ve seen the full potential across the island of Ireland through the framework of the Belfast agreement.

Body of hostage recovered

According to a report, protesters in Tel Aviv and other cities demanded a hostage deal following the recovery of the body of Elad Katzir, an israeli hostage. Reportedly, the israeli defence force said following information that the body was buried in Khan Younis refugee camp the man’s body was exhumed and returned to Israel.

According to the report, Mr Katzir was abducted from Nir Oz kibbutz along with his mother, she was released along with 104 hostages during a 6 day ceasefire in November, his father Avraham was murdered in the kibbutz.

Reportedly, in January islamic jihad published a video of Mr Katzir speaking from captivity in Gaza. According to the report, in the video he said he had been close to dying more than once, that he loved and missed his family, and he called on the israeli authorities to stop the war and bring him and other hostages home. Reportedly, according to idf estimates he died soon after the video was published.

According to the report, 129 hostages are unaccounted for, 34 are presumed dead.

Reportedly, hamas are sending a delegation to Egypt for new ceasefire talks on Sunday but Israel are undecided whether to attend due to the lack of progress.

Former general accused of genocide

According to a report, a former general accused of ordering the murder of more than 1200 Ixil Maya people during Guatemala’s civil war is being tried from a prison hospital where he is serving a prior sentence for forced disappearance, rape and torture. Reportedly, Benedicto Garcia is charged with genocide crimes against humanity, it is alleged he planned and evecuted over 30 massacres, survivors said he killed babies and the elderly.

According to the report, the alleged crimes occurred between 1978-82 when Garcia’s brother was president of Guatemala, he denies the charges. Reportedly, a co-defendant died in 2020 and another was judged unfit to stand trial, he will face separate proceedings.

According to a report, the Ixil Maya people were the target of a genocide operation and systematic rape, forced displacement and hunger during the Guatemalan civil war. Reportedly, they were considered enemies of the state, an inferior race and were victims of racism.

Police arrest former vice president

According to a report, police broke into the mexican embassy in Ecuador’s capital, Quito to arrest a former vice president who was seeking political asylum. Reportedly, Jorge Glas was jailed for 6 years after being found guilty of accepting bribes from the brazilian construction firm, Odebrecht in exchange for awarding them government contracts. According to the report, he was released in 2022 but ordered back to prison in 2023 when he appealed the decision and asked for political asylum, saying he was being persecuted by the attorney general’s office.

Reportedly, Mexico’s president called the incident a flagrant violation of international law and said Mexico is cutting ties with Ecuador. According to the report, Mr Glas had just been granted political asylum.

News Middle East

According to a report, ceasefire talks are starting in Egypt this weekend and negotiators have been asked to put pressure on hamas to agree to a deal.

Reportedly, the u.s. said they were on high alert about the possibility of Iran targeting u.s. assets in the region. According to the report, after receiving a message from Iran following the strike on the iranian embassy in Damascus that killed a military commander, the u.s. who said they had nothing to do with the strike have asked Iran not to further escalate tensions in the region.

Reportedly, more than three dozen democrats have signed a letter to the u.s. president and the secretary of state asking them to halt weapons transfers to Israel.

Russia Ukraine

According to a report, atleast 6 people have been killed in a russian drone strike on the city of Kharkiv on Saturday. Reportedly, Ukraine’s second largest city and the closest big city to the russian border has been the subject of attacks in recent weeks. According to the report, ten people have been injured and there was damage to apartment blocks, petrol stations and administrative buildings.

Reportedly, Ukraine has carried out a drone attack on the Morozovsk airbase in the Rostov region of southern Russia. According to the report, the base was used by russian bombers that the russian airforce uses to fire bombs at ukrainian cities. Reportedly, Ukraine have increased their drone attacks on Russia in the past weeks, targeting oil refineries. According to the report, unable to quickly produce long range missiles Ukraine hopes to produce thousands of long range drones in 2024.

Investigation into aid workers strike

According to a report, the israeli defence force have8 released the result of a 72 hour investigation into strikes that killed seven aid workers and a young palestinian driver. Reportedly, the result was that the strikes were a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to mistaken identification, errors in decision making and an attack contrary to the standard operating procedures. According to the report, following an assessment of radio communication the conclusion was that the soldiers thought they were striking cars that had been seized by hamas, and their belief that the cars were carrying hamas gunmen was based on operational misjudgment. Reportedly, the idf have dismissed 2 senior officers.

Somalia

According to a report, an overhaul of Somalia’s constitution has handed the president more powers. Reportedly, a spokesperson for the semi autonomous region of Puntland said that the amendments risk worsening violence and has accused the president of using parliament to gather authority in to his hands, saying he is taking power from the state.

According to reports, the ongoing civil war in Somalia began in 1991 with resistance to the military government, the emergence of military groups exacerbated the situation. The u.n. who entered Somalia in 1992 in support of the government withdrew in 1995. Reportedly, millions of people have been displaced by fighting between factions and the army. According to the report, Puntland, one of Somalia’s five federal states was established as separate and self governing in 1998.

Reportedly, Puntland do not recognise the changes to the constitution, saying they were not allowed to participate in consultations – and they are not declaring independence but will stand alone until consulted; “Our government is federal which means powers are divided”.

According to the report, the amendments give the president the right to appoint and dismiss prime ministers and grant him increased control over appointments for the electoral commission, taking away imput from federal states.

New strategies to combat hunger

According to a report, Israel has agreed to receive aid in the israeli port of Ashdod which ensures the continuing delivery of aid by sea. Reportedly, the Erez crossing from Israel into northern Gaza will be functioning and there will be improvements to the speed and movement of aid entering Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing, possibly military trucks being allowed straight into Gaza.

According to the report, the changes were announced hours after the israeli prime minister spoke to the u.s. president over the phone. Reportedly, the u.s. president said, Israel must take concrete steps to prevent civilian harm and suffering if they want to maintain u.s. support.

Drone attack Myanmar

According to a report, the national unity government, a government in exile launched 29 drones on the airport, air force base and army headquarters in Myanmar. Reportedly, the nug is an elected civilian government previously led by Aung San Suu Kyi which was ousted in a military coup in 2021. According to the report, a spokesperson for the nug said it planned and strategised with several defence groups to conduct the drone attack. Reportedly, the military said it intercepted the drones, shooting down 7, there were no casualties.

Reportedly, according to the u.n. three years of civil war has killed thousands and displaced 2.6 million people in Myanmar. According to the report, the military have moved the capital to Nay Pyi Taw. Reportedly, earlier the nug said that more than 60% of the country was under the control of resistance forces. According to the report, in October people overran dozens of military outposts, the military has also lost territory along the Bangladesh and Indian borders.

Reportedly, opposition groups are using commercial drones carrying bombs to target the military. According to the report, the fighting led the military to introduce mandatory conscription in February, there have been reports of high defection rates.