Al Jazeera

Jan. 4 (UPI) — Saudi-backed government forces have reclaimed oil-rich territory from United Arab Emirates-supported, armed separatists in Yemen.

The Southern Transitional Council, which seeks to create a new state called South Arabia, seized the provinces of Hadramout and al-Mahra in Southern Yemen last month.

But Yemeni information minister Moammar al-Eryani, who represents the Presidential Leadership Council, told The New York Times by phone Sunday that government forces have since re-taken Hadramout, “assumed positions” in al-Mahra and are optimistic about securing the de facto capital of Aden soon.

Al-Eryani also urged the separatists in the region to surrender as “the state reasserts authority.”

Al Jazeera said the Yemeni government has invited the STC to a conference in Saudi Arabia and that STC representatives see this as a “genuine opportunity for serious dialogue.”

The tension between Saudi Arabia and the UAE is taking place more than a decade after the two powerful countries joined forces to stop the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen.

Over the years, however, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have supported different factions and agendas within Yemen.

The UAE is helping the separatists’ crusade for independence, while Saudi Arabia wants its neighbor Yemen to be unified and stable.

The image of abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro bound and blindfolded aboard the USS Iwo Jima posted by Donald Trump prompted shock and condemnation.

Jamil Azar, 89, was the author of Al Jazeera’s motto, ‘The opinion and the other opinion’.

Longtime Al Jazeera Arabic anchor and journalist Jamil Azar, a pioneer of the network since its establishment three decades ago, has passed away.

Director-General Sheikh Nasser bin Faisal Al Thani lauded Azar, 89, in a statement on Sunday as a “distinguished linguist” and the author of the network’s motto, “The opinion and the other opinion”.

“Jamil Azar leaves behind a remarkable and lasting media legacy, a reputation defined by integrity and excellence, and a deep influence on generations of journalists who learned from him at Al Jazeera and other institutions where he served and helped shape professional standards,” Sheikh Nasser said.

“He was, in every sense, a living school of journalism and a trusted reference in editorial practice, the Arabic language, television presentation, and newsroom leadership. Always generous with his guidance and advice, he was known for his humility and openness, and remained steadfastly loyal to Al Jazeera, deeply committed to its values, standing and reputation.”

With Azar’s passing, Sheikh Nasser emphasised, Arab media “loses one of its most respected figures and Al Jazeera bids farewell to one of its brightest and most influential stars”.

Born in the town of al-Husn in Irbid, Jordan, in 1937, Azar began his career in journalism at the BBC’s Arabic Service, where he worked between 1965 and 1996 as a news translator and presenter.

During his time at the BBC, Azar held different positions, including producing programmes such as Politics Between the Questioner and the Respondent and Arab Affairs in the British Press.

In 1996, Azar joined Al Jazeera at its launch on July 30, playing a key role in the network’s early years as a news anchor and presenter, hosting the programme The Week in the News.

The Jordanian journalist stepped down from the network in 2011.

Protesters have rallied worldwide after Donald Trump announced the US would ‘run’ Venezuela following the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Demonstrators from Paris to Sao Paulo are denouncing what they call US aggression and imperialism.

Jan. 2 (UPI) — Saudi Arabia’s military struck United Arab Emirates-backed separatists in Yemen on Friday, prompting an unofficial declaration of “war” from the Southern Transitional Council.

Representatives of the separatist Southern Transitional Council in Yemen’s Hadramout Governorate accused Saudi forces of bombing their fighters while they were near Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia.

They say a state of war exists in the province, but no casualty reports were provided for the military strike that involved Saudi ground and air forces.

The Hadramout province is situated in eastern Yemen and about 500 miles east of Yemen’s capital city of Sanaa, with Saudi Arabia to its north and the Gulf of Aden to its south.

Hadramout Gov. Salem al-Khanbashi dismissed the STC’s war declaration and said the military operation by Saudi Arabia sought to “peacefully and systematically” regain military bases controlled by the STC, Al Jazeera reported.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have become involved in the internal conflict in Yemen, with the Saudis backing the Yemeni government and the UAE the STC.

Saudi and Yemeni officials have accused the UAE of arming STC separatists and encouraging them to seize parts of southern Yemen’s Hadramout and al-Mahra provinces.

STC representatives have said they intend to hold a voter referendum in two years to decide if an official declaration of an independent state will be delivered.

Yemen already is in a deadly civil war that started in 2014, and the STC’s planned vote could make the fighting more frequent and intense and worsen conditions in what is considered one of the world’s most impoverished nations.

The civil war has created famine conditions within the nation that already has experienced many deadly conflicts since the civil war began.

Sina Azodi, a professor at George Washington University, discusses escalating protests in Iran and how sanctions and corruption are deepening the country’s economic crisis.

Dec. 26 (UPI) — Taiwan President William Lai Ching-te and Premier Cho Jung-tai face impeachment proceedings filed by opposition party leaders accusing them of constitutional and legislative violations.

Members of Taiwan’s KMT and TPP parties and two independent lawmakers secured enough support on Friday to advance impeachment proceedings to go before Taiwan’s Constitutional Court, Al Jazeera reported.

The impeachment effort is viewed as symbolic because a two-thirds majority is needed to impeach an official holding public office in Taiwan.

“It’s not possible to have a real impeachment,” Yen-tu Su, a constitutional law and democratic theory expert at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, told Al Jazeera.

“They want to make a record that President Lai would be the first president considered impeached in the history of Taiwan’s democracy,” he said. “It’s a way to register their protest.”

The Legislative Yuan approved an impeachment motion with a 60-51 vote on Friday, but it would take 76 of its 113 seated members to impeach the president and premier.

The conflict arises from Lai’s administration refusing to enact a legislatively approved amendment that would give more public funding for local units of government, according to the South China Morning Post.

The Legislative Yuan is controlled by opposition parties, but Lai’s refusal to enact the law change created conflict, and Cho Jung-tai declined to sign the amendment.

Lai became president in 2024, but Taiwan’s legislature has been divided and mostly deadlocked since.

Dec. 26 (UPI) — Nigerian President Bola Tinubu gave the U.S. government the “go-ahead” to carry out airstrikes on ISIS targets, Nigeria’s foreign minister said Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the strikes Thursday, calling them retaliation against “ISIS terrorist scum” for violence on “primarily, innocent Christians.”

Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar told Al Jazeera the country cooperated with the U.S. Defense Department on the “fight against terrorism” in the northwestern region.

Citing local news sources, the news outlet said at least one missile landed in the village of Jabo in Sokoto state. Residents told Al Jazeera there were no casualties in the village.

“The bomb fell and burst into many pieces. There were two big pieces of debris. One of them was carried by two people,” resident Abdulrahman Mainasara said.

Resident Ismail Umar told the outlet the village hadn’t received any armed attacks from ISIS in more than two years.

Tuggar said the Nigerian government provided intelligence to the U.S. government, and he spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the phone twice before the strikes. He added that Tinubu was also involved in the decision-making process.

“Now that the U.S. is cooperating, we would do it jointly, and we would ensure, just as the [Nigerian] president emphasized yesterday before he gave the go-ahead, that it must be made clear that it is a joint operation, and is not targeting any religion nor simply in the name of one religion or the other,” Tuggar said in an appearance on Channels Television‘s Sunrise Daily program.

Tuggar and other officials, though, took issue with Trump’s rhetoric saying that ISIS violence targets only Christians in Nigeria.

“We are a multi-religious country, and we are working with partners like the U.S. to fight terrorism and safeguard the lives and properties of Nigerians,” Tuggar said.

Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, the director of the non-profit organization Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, said suggestions that ISIS is primarily targeting people based on religion could incite ethnic and religious tensions in Nigeria.

“Muslims are being killed and harassed every day by the same criminals,” Rafsanjani said, according to the local news outlet Leadership. “This conversation should be about human life, not religion or geography.”

More than 8,000 candidates sat for a government exam on a runway in Odisha in India, to compete for only 187 positions with the state’s Home Guard. Drones were used to monitor examinees. 18% of Indians under 24 are unemployed, according to the ILO.

Hong Kong’s highest court has found former media mogul Jimmy Lai guilty of sedition and conspiring to collude with foreign powers. The 78-year-old is known as the territory’s most outspoken critic of Beijing and could face life in prison.