US President Joe Biden is unable to tell the American people "what the endgame is" of supporting Kiev in the Ukraine conflict, Florida Governor and 2024 US presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said on Thursday.
"Biden can't even tell us what the endgame is. He will not articulate this," the candidate said during a CNN Town Hall hosted by Kaitlan Collins.
The US should focus on defending its own southern border against pressuring migration and against China, but Washington is ignoring these security threats and keeps sending "an awful lot of money" to Ukraine, including money paying for "pensions for bureaucrats, salaries," DeSantis said while questioning "how is that something benefiting the American people."
DeSantis vowed not to allow US troops to be sent to fight in Ukraine if he becomes president in 2024.
"I think that the pitfall of the US foreign policy over the past 25 years really since the Cold War is getting involved in conflicts where we don't have a clear conception of what we're trying to achieve," DeSantis said, adding that "Biden's weakness invited a lot of the problems that we're seeing around the world."
Western countries, including member states of the European Union, have been providing military and financial aid to Kiev since the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. The Kremlin has consistently warned against continued arms deliveries to Kiev, saying it would lead to further escalation of the conflict. In April 2022, Russia sent a diplomatic note to all NATO countries on the issue of arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russian strikes.
Kecelakaan kereta terjadi di Cicalengka, Jawa Barat, hari Jumat pagi, 05/01/2024. Peristiwa ini melibatkan dua kereta api yakni KA Turangga dan KA lokal Bandung Raya.
"Terima Info telah terjadi KKA (Kecelakaan Kereta Api) antara KA 350 Commuter Line dengan KA 65 Turangga," tulis pesan yang diterima wartawan.
Hal ini pun dibenarkan Manajer Humas KAI Daop 2 Bandung Ayep Hanepi. Mengutip detik Jabar, kecelakaan kereta terjadi pukul 06.53 WIB.
Polda Jabar mengungkapkan bahwa jumlah korban tabrakan KA Turangga jurusan Surabaya-Gubeng Bandung dan commuter Bandung Raya sementara ini, berjumlah tiga orang. Sebelumnya kedua kereta bertabrakan hari Jumat pagi, 05/01/2024,sekitar pukul 06.03 WIB.
"Korban luka-luka 28 orang di evakuasi ke RSUD cicalengka sementara kapasitas Turangga 287 dan kapasitas KRD 191," kata Polda Jabar lagi.
Adapun kecelakaan terjadi di Kampung Babakan Desa Cikuya Kecamatan Cicalengka Kabupaten Bandung. Tepatnya di km 181 + 5/4.
Tabrakan kereta antara kereta lokal lokal Bandung Raya dengan KA Turangga. (Ist Tangkapan Layar Video)
Dalam data yang dipaparkan diketahui juga 28 orang dilaporkan luka-luka dalam peristiwa itu
Berikut data diduga korban :
Masinis KA KRD Lokal Padalarang Cicalengka a.n Julian Dwi setiono
Asisten Masinis KA KRD Lokal Padalarang - Cicalengka a.n Ponisan
Pramugara KA Turangga a.n Andrian 22thn
Kecelakaan kereta api ini menyebabkan jalur Haurpugur-Cicalengka tidak bisa dilintasi sementara waktu dan beberapa relasi kereta jarak jauh dialihkan melalui Cikampek dan akan menyebabkan keterlambatan hingga 2-3 jam.
Atap sekolah di SDN Polisi 1, Paledang, Kecamatan Bogor Tengah, Kota Bogor ambruk pagi tadi, pada hari Rabu, 03/01/2024. Akibatnya 4 ruangan kelas tidak bisa dipakai karena ambruknya atap sekolah tersebut.
Sementara itu, Kepala Pelaksana (Kalak) Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah (BPBD) Kota Bogor, Hidayatullah mengatakan ambruknya atap sekolah di SDN Polisi 1 ini disebabkan karena hujan deras disertai angin kencang melanda kawasan ini.
"Jadi kami mendapat informasi dari pak andi penjaga sekolah yang ada di sekolah ini bahwa atap sekolah ambruk. Kejadiannya sekitar pukul 05.30 WIB," kata Hidayatullah kepada pojokbogor saat berada dilokasi ambruknya atap sekolah SDN Polisi 1, hari Rabu, 03/01/2024.
Menurut Hidayatullah tidak ada korban jiwa dari peristiwa ambruknya atap sekolah di SDN Polisi 1 ini.
"Dan hari ini kami melakukam kegiatan evakuasi membersihkan reruntuhan bangunan guna mengatisipasi terjadinya korban jiwa tak kala sedang melakukan evakuasi barang barang berharga," ucap Hidayatullah.
Hidayatullah mengungkapkan kerugian dari ambruknya atap sekolah di SDN Polisi 1 mencapai Rp300 juta.
"Nanti akan langsung di invetarisir oleh dinas Pendidikan Kota Bogor. Total kerugiannya tadi berkisar itu dihitung kabid sarpas 300 juga," tutup Hidayatullah.
Wali Kota Bogor, Bima Arya meninjau langsung empat kelas di Sekolah Dasar Negeri (SDN) Polisi 1 yang ambruk diterjang angin puting beliung, Jalan Paledang, Kota Bogor, Rabu (3/1/2024).
Ambruknya genteng dan atap baja ringan empat ruang kelas ini terjadi pukul 05.30 pagi bersamaan dengan turunnya hujan deras. Penjaga sekolah yang menyaksikan kejadian ini langsung melapor ke BPBD Kota Bogor.
"Kerusakan atapnya cukup parah, diduga karena angin puting beliung yang sangat kuat seperti yang menerjang Bogor Selatan beberapa waktu lalu," ujar Bima Arya.
Bima Arya mengatakan, secara konstruksi bangunan kelas masih kokoh karena terakhir direnovasi 2016. Namun akan dilakukan pengecek lebih lanjut dari tim konstruksi bangunan Dinas PUPR Kota Bogor. Pihaknya akan segera melakukan proses perbaikan atap kelas dengan menggunakan anggaran Belanja Tidak Terduga (BTT).
"Selama proses perbaikan Disdik Kota Bogor akan mengatur shift belajar. Jika ruang kelas tidak cukup, bisa juga di ruangan-ruangan di Balai Kota Bogor sementara waktu jadi ruang kelas. Saya imbau juga untuk warga dan aparatur pemerintahan agar waspada cuaca ekstrem yang diprediksi BMKG masih akan terjadi di awal tahun ini," jelasnya.
Di tempat yang sama, Kepala Disdik Kota Bogor, Irwan Riyanto mengatakan, angin puting beliung yang berputar-putar diatas ruang kelas menghancurkan genteng dan baja ringan empat ruangan kelas. Saat ini sedang dihitung kebutuhan biaya perbaikannya yang kurang lebih sekitar Rp 200-300 juta, setelah itu baru diajukan di BTT.
"Sementara akan diatur menjadi shift tiga. Kalau ternyata ruangan tidak mencukupi pak wali menawarkan untuk menggunakan ruangan Paseban Sri Baduga," sebutnya.
Sementara itu, Kepala Pelaksana BPBD Kota Bogor, Hidayatollah mengatakan, informasi dari BMKG, semalam itu diprediksi curah hujan tinggi disertai angin di hampir semua titik Kota Bogor. Mitigasi dalam upaya kesiapsiagaan terus dilakukan dengan aktivasi di grup pengurus wilayah untuk menghadapi bencana cuaca ekstrem.
"SK Tanggap Darurat kami dalam hal bencana Hidrometeorologi atau cuaca ekstrem akan diperpanjang dan baru akan dihentikan setelah ada instruksi dari BMKG," jelasnya. (Prokompim)
Samir Sassi, Al Jazeera journalist in Tunisia, was arrested by police in Tunis on Wednesday night [Courtesy the Sassi family]
Al Jazeera journalist Samir Sassi has been arrested by Tunisian “anti-terrorism” officers at his home in Tunis.
According to Sassi’s wife, a squad of officers raided their home on Wednesday night, going through the family’s possessions and confiscating mobile phones from every member of the family as well as Sassi’s laptop and copies of novels he had written and published locally in Tunisia.
According to Al Jazeera Bureau Director Lotfi Hajji, a team of lawyers spent nearly 12 hours after Sassi’s arrest to try to ascertain where he had been taken.
Mysterious detention, worried family
“They went from one police station to another, one court to another, until finally they were able to find out that he had been taken to the anti-terrorism unit in Ariana,” Hajji said. Ariana is a province just north of the capital Tunis.
Thus far, Hajji added, the government has not provided any information regarding what Sassi might be charged with and it is not expected that there will be any such announcement before 48 hours have passed since his arrest.
Tunisia implements an automatic 48-hour period during which a detained person cannot access a lawyer if they have been arrested on “terrorism-related” charges.
Sassi’s wife and children are still shaken by the experience and are very worried about him, Hajji said. While Sassi is generally in good health, it is hard to guess what conditions he is being held in and what impact that will have on him physically, he said.
Sassi’s youngest child, Moayed el-Hak, is six years old and lives with chronic health issues. His three older siblings are his brother Mortadha, 19, sister Tuqa, 16, and brother Mohamed, 13.
Stifled freedoms
Freedom of the press has been dramatically curtailed in Tunisia, not least following the introduction of Decree 54 in September 2022.
While the law is ostensibly to target the spreading of false information online, it has been used to target journalists and online activists, with at least 20 journalists, critics and activists arrested under it so far, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said
Al Jazeera’s bureau was closed by President Kais Saied’s government in July 2021 when Saied was engaged in a power grab at the end of which he was ruling the country by decree and had hobbled all its institutions.
Al Jazeera journalists are still accredited in Tunisia and continue their work.
Tunisia has come under increasing international pressure since its racially charged crackdown on the undocumented Black migrants who travel from across Africa to enter the country, as well as its increasingly authoritarian responses to most forms of criticism.
Currently, many opposition members, including Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of the self-styled Muslim Democrats, Ennahda, are in prison.
Most recently, police arrested three journalists – Khalifa Guesmi of Mosaique FM; Chadha Hadj Mbarek; then well-known radio journalist Zied el-Heni on December 28, charging him with insulting the Tunisian commerce minister, Kalthoum Ben Rejeb, on his radio programme, Emission Impossible, the same day.
The National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists had held a meeting to discuss how to help Guesmi, Mbarek and el-Heni on January 3, hours before Sassi’s home was stormed.
Responding to the current wave of arrests, Salsabil Chellali, HRW’s Tunisia director, told Al Jazeera: “The arrest of these journalists is an ominous start to 2024.
“We’re still finding out the details of Sassi’s arrest, but it’s clear that, this year, the threats against the free press and journalists are becoming action.”
Since the escalation of the Ukrainian conflict in 2022, numerous videos have emerged online showing the exploits of Russian troops battling Kiev regime forces. This is one of them.
This short video released by Russia’s Ministry of Defense can be regarded as an object lesson of why it is a bad idea for Ukrainian troops to move a lone tank in view of the Russian forces.
In the video, the tank can be seen driving along a road when suddenly some kind of object (possibly a kamikaze drone) strikes the armored vehicle from above.
A powerful explosion ensues, prompting the tank to stop in its tracks. The Ukrainian crew is quick to abandon the tank and flee for their lives, moments before another blast rocks the already damaged armored beast.
Watch Russian Soldiers Ravage Ukrainian Sabotage Group Using Kornet Missile
Kornet is a man-portable anti-tank guided missile designed to destroy armored vehicles. The new modifications of the Kornet are equipped with an automatic target tracker and an improved warhead.
The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage showing a reconnaissance unit of the Zapad group of forces destroying a group of Ukrainian militants with the Kornet anti-tank guided missile (ATGM).
During the reconnaissance operation, Russian servicemen received information about a group of Ukrainian troops equipped with an FPV drone. The coordinates of the group were transmitted to the command post and the Russian Armed Forces used the Kornet ATGM to destroy the enemy's shelter with a precise strike. As a result, the Ukrainian sabotage group was annihilated.
Watch Russian Recon Group Decimate Ukrainian Outpost
Russia's Defense Ministry has released footage showing a reconnaissance group in combat action in the special military operation zone.
The servicemen used reconnaissance drones to locate the Ukrainian fortifications and transmit their location to Su-25 attack aircraft, which unleashed their firepower and obliterated the outpost.
"Usually we work with FPV drones, it is 100% guaranteed destruction. Also, we help our air forces by adjusting the target with reconnaissance UAVs and other tools of scouting the area," Russian servicemen explained.
The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the pilots used the pitch-up maneuver, which increases the range of the missiles and helps evade enemy air defenses.
Watch Russian Self-Propelled Artillery Operate in Ukrainian Conflict Zone
There is no rest for the Russian artillery units in Ukraine, firing salvo after salvo at enemy troop formations and fortifications as soon as target coordinates arrive.
Move into a designated position, fire at the target coordinates, move out before a retaliatory strike hits you, rinse and repeat – that is the daily routine of a self-propelled howitzer crew in a nutshell.
Methodically and incessantly, these artillery units of the Russian Armed Forces keep chipping away at the Kiev regime's military strength.
This video courtesy of the Russian Ministry of Defense shows one such Russian Msta-S self-propelled howitzer in action in the Ukrainian conflict zone.
248 Russian Soldiers Return Home From Ukrainian Captivity
In mid-December, President Vladimir Putin said that the number of Ukrainian prisoners of war had increased dramatically. 43 Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers surrendered to Russian troops in the last week of December, half of them in the direction of Kupyansk.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that 248 Russian servicemen were returned from captivity in Ukraine after difficult negotiations. The ministry added that the return of the Russian servicemen was made possible by the humanitarian mediation of the United Arab Emirates.
"On January 3, as a result of a difficult negotiation process, 248 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled by the Kiev regime. The return ... from captivity was made possible thanks to the mediation of the humanitarian character of the United Arab Emirates," the statement read.
All the released Russian servicemen will receive the necessary medical and psychological assistance. They will be transported by military transport aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces for treatment and rehabilitation in medical facilities of the Russian Defense Ministry, the statement added.
Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said 75 servicemen had been returned without exchange.
The UAE Foreign Ministry on Thursday thanked the Russian and Ukrainian governments for their cooperation in the prisoner exchange.
"The Ministry expressed their appreciation to the governments of Russia and Ukraine for their cooperation and response to the UAE's mediation efforts to make the exchange process a success," the UAE Foreign Ministry announced.
They noted that the successful prisoner exchange reflected the strong friendship of the United Arab Emirates, adding that it was one of the largest prisoner exchanges between the two sides since the start of hostilities.
The French Foreign Ministry has justified Russia’s historic dislike of France by declaring the Ukrainian massacre of civilians in Belgorod to be self-defense, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev claimed on Wednesday.
Ukrainian artillery struck the central square of the Russian city with cluster bombs on Saturday, injuring over 100 civilians and killing 25, including children. Asked about it on Wednesday morning, a spokesman of the Foreign Ministry in Paris said that Ukraine was “acting in self-defense” while Russia was “an aggressor state” responsible for any “human tragedies that accompany” the conflict.
“We never liked the French,” Medvedev said in a Telegram post. “The frogs fought a war against us,” he added, referring to Napoleon Bonaparte’s ill-fated 1812 invasion.
“Now we are convinced of this. The French Foreign Ministry said that the strike on Belgorod using cluster munitions was ‘self-defense’,” he added. “Scum. Bastards. Freaks.”
The French response to the Belgorod massacre echoed the official position of the European Union, which has fully endorsed Kiev.
“In general, Ukraine has the legal right to defend itself,” EU foreign policy spokesman Peter Stano said on Wednesday. “Regarding the specific incident in Belgorod, no information that comes from Russia can be considered trustworthy.”
Although Kiev’s forces have struck Russia’s border regions for months, the December 30 attack on Belgorod was the worst of its kind over the course of the conflict. Moscow has accused the US and the UK of helping plan the attack, while a security source told RT that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky personally ordered the massacre.
Russia has responded with drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian military industry facilities, repair shops and ammunition warehouses, including depots loaded with weapons donated to Kiev by the West.
Medvedev currently serves as President Vladimir Putin’s deputy on the national Security Council. Since the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022, the former president (2008-2012) and prime minister of Russia (2012-2020) has emerged as a hard-line critic of Kiev and the West, compared to the more moderate rhetoric coming from the Kremlin.
The remarks provoked a sarcastic reaction from Stano’s Russian counterpart, Maria Zakharova, who suggested that the official’s take on the Belgorod attacks was actually a perfect illustration of the so-called “rules-based world order” propagated by the West.
“Western countries have legalized lawlessness and come up with a name for it – the ‘rules-based world order,’” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told TASS when reached for comment about Stano’s take on Belgorod.
Four Ukrainian citizens have been arrested after posting videos of Russian airstrikes on the capital region, local authorities said, noting they could be charged for “adjusting enemy fire.” Moscow targeted multiple military sites around Kiev earlier this week, though the Ukrainian military claimed to have intercepted most of the missiles.
Ukraine’s SBU security service announced the arrests in a social media post on Wednesday, claiming the four unnamed bloggers had “made an unauthorized video recording” of Russian strikes and shared the footage online.
“The Security Service once again emphasizes the prohibition of shooting and publishing video and photo materials regarding the activities of the Defense Forces, as well as the consequences of enemy strikes,” the agency continued, adding “The publication of such media files is considered adjusting enemy fire, which is punishable by up to 12 years in prison.”
The SBU went on to note that the strikes in question took place on January 2 as part of a “massive Russian missile and drone attack” on Kiev.
Russia’s Defense Ministry described the operation as a “group strike with long-range precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles on enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine,” adding that it targeted arms-manufacturing sites around the capital area.
UAV "Lancet". New.
The SBU went on to note that the strikes in question took place on January 2 as part of a “massive Russian missile and drone attack” on Kiev.
Russia’s Defense Ministry described the operation as a “group strike with long-range precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles on enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine,” adding that it targeted arms-manufacturing sites around the capital area.
Alleged footage of the strikes has made the rounds online, though it remains unclear whether the videos were captured by any of those arrested on Wednesday. Some of the material appears to show strikes in progress, while other clips depict the aftermath of attacks.
On that day, the Ukrainian military claimed to have intercepted almost all incoming projectiles, including ten out of ten hypersonic Kinzhal missiles. Moscow previously ridiculed Kiev for exaggerating the effectiveness of its anti-aircraft defenses and claiming to intercept three times as many projectiles as Moscow actually launches. Moscow also repeatedly accused Kiev of deploying its air defense systems in residential districts, resulting in casualties among civilians.
Moscow’s missile and drone strikes intensified after Ukraine launched an attack on the Russian border city of Belgorod last week, killing 25 people, including several children, and injuring more than 100, according to local officials. In the early hours of January 1, Kiev also shelled Donetsk, a frequent target of the Ukrainian military since 2014, killing four people and injuring 13.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed a response to those “terrorist attacks,” promising to ramp up strikes on Ukrainian military facilities, though stressed that Moscow had no intention of targeting civilians.
