Regional
Palestinian Authority suspends broadcast of Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV temporarily
The Palestinian Authority temporarily halted operations of Qatar’s Al Jazeera television in the territory including its broadcasts, citing the network’s dissemination of “inciting material,” the Palestinian news agency WAFA said on Wednesday.
The culture, interior and communications ministers made the decision jointly because the channel broadcast material that was “deceiving and stirring strife,” WAFA said without providing details on the subject matter, Reuters reported.
The order said the decision was temporary but did not specify an end date.
The Palestinian Authority criticised Al Jazeera last week over its coverage of the weeks-long standoff between Palestinian security forces and militant fighters in the Jenin camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Al Jazeera denounced Wednesday’s decision as “an attempt to discourage it from reporting spiraling events in the occupied territories,” according to a statement.
It called on the Palestinian Authority to rescind the decision and allow its journalists to report freely from the West Bank without intimidation.
The decision was not expected to be implemented in Hamas-run Gaza where the Palestinian Authority does not exercise power.
Fatah, the faction that controls the Palestinian Authority, said the broadcaster was sowing division in “our Arab homeland in general and in Palestine in particular”. It encouraged Palestinians not to cooperate with the network.
The Israeli military in September raided Al Jazeera’s bureau in the West Bank city of Ramallah and ordered it shut.
Israel in May issued an order barring the channel from operating and broadcasting in the country, saying it posed a threat to Israeli security. A court subsequently upheld the ban.
United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrived in Islamabad on Friday on his first official visit to Pakistan, at the invitation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Geo News reported.
He was received by Prime Minister Sharif and senior officials, with his aircraft escorted by Pakistan Air Force jets upon entering Pakistani airspace. The UAE president is accompanied by a high-level delegation.
According to Pakistan’s Foreign Office, the visit aims to review bilateral relations and discuss regional and international issues of mutual interest.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has signaled that the country will continue developing missiles over the next five years, following visits to major munitions enterprises in the last quarter of 2025, state media KCNA reported on Friday.
Kim said the country’s missile and shell production sector is “of paramount importance in bolstering war deterrence,” according to KCNA.
The report said Kim ratified draft documents on the modernization of key munitions enterprises, which will be submitted to a major ruling party congress expected to be held in early 2026. The congress is set to outline North Korea’s development plan for the next five years.
KCNA’s report follows Thursday’s disclosure that Kim oversaw the construction of an 8,700-ton nuclear-powered submarine alongside his daughter, widely seen as a potential successor, as well as the test-firing of long-range surface-to-air missiles.
Turkish authorities have detained 115 suspected Daesh members they said were planning to carry out attacks on Christmas and New Year celebrations in the country, the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office said on Thursday.
Istanbul Police obtained information that Daesh members had planned attacks in Turkey, against non-Muslims in particular, during Christmas and New Year celebrations, the prosecutor’s office posted on X, Reuters reported.
The police raided 124 places in Istanbul, capturing 115 of the 137 suspects they were seeking, the statement said. Several pistols and ammunition were seized, it said.
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