World

The United Arab Emirates’ President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan died aged 73 on Friday, state media said, after battling illness for several years.

“The Ministry of Presidential Affairs condoles the people of the UAE and the Islamic world… on the passing of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on Friday, May 13,” the official WAM news agency said.

The ministry announced 40 days of mourning with flags at half-mast from Friday, with work suspended in the public and private sector for the first three days.

Sheikh Khalifa took over as the UAE’s second president in November 2004, succeeding his father as the 16th ruler of Abu Dhabi, the federation’s richest emirate.

He has rarely been seen in public since 2014, when he had surgery following a stroke, although he has continued to issue rulings.

His brother, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, has been seen as the UAE’s de facto ruler in recent years.

Israel bolstered security in Jerusalem ahead of the funeral on Friday of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, two days after she was killed during an Israeli army raid.

Israel and the Palestinians have traded blame over the fatal shooting of the 51-year-old Palestinian-American during clashes in the Jenin refugee camp.

The body of Abu Akleh, a Palestinian Christian born in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, was transferred to the holy city from the occupied West Bank.

The funeral procession would begin at a hospital in east Jerusalem, and last respects would be paid at a church in the Old City, Al Jazeera said, with her body set to be buried alongside her parents in a nearby cemetery.

Thousands of mourners are expected to attend the funeral, an Israeli police spokeswoman told AFP.

Roads would be closed for the procession, the spokeswoman said, with extra forces deployed to “ensure the funeral takes place safely and without violence that could endanger participants or others”.

In a sign of Abu Akleh’s prominence, she was given what was described as a full state memorial on Thursday at Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s compound in Ramallah.

Thousands lined the route as her coffin, draped in the Palestinian flag, was driven through the West Bank city, where a street is to be renamed in her honour.

Many held flowers, wreaths and pictures of the journalist, who has been widely hailed for her bravery and professionalism.

“Her voice entered every home, and her loss is a wound in our hearts,” said mourner Hadil Hamdan.

– ‘Sister of all Palestinians’ –

The United States, European Union and United Nations have backed calls for a full investigation into what Al Jazeera labelled a deliberate killing “in cold blood”, but the Palestinian Authority has rejected holding a joint probe with Israel.

Immediately after the shooting, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had said it was “likely” Abu Akleh was killed by stray Palestinian gunfire.

But hours later, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said it could have been “the Palestinians who shot her” or fire from “our side”.

While reporting in Jenin, Abu Akleh was wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest emblazoned with the word “Press”.

She “was the sister of all Palestinians,” her brother Antoun Abu Akleh told AFP.

Israel has also issued a public call for a joint probe, stressing the need for Palestinian authorities to hand over the fatal bullet for forensic examination.

But Abbas said the proposal had been rejected.

“This crime should not go unpunished,” he said during the Ramallah memorial, adding the Palestinian Authority held Israel “completely responsible” for her death.

– New violence –

PA official Hussein al-Sheikh, a close Abbas confidant, said the Palestinian “investigation would be completed independently”.

An initial autopsy and forensic examination were conducted in Nablus in the West Bank hours after her death.

Fresh violence erupted on Friday in the northern West Bank during an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp.

The Palestinian health ministry said 13 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, one of them seriously.

An AFP photographer at the scene said Israeli forces had surrounded the home of a suspect, besieging two men inside and firing anti-tank grenades at the house in an effort to flush them out.

As the standoff continued, loudspeakers in the camp could be heard calling on others to “go out and stand up to occupation forces”, the photographer added.

The Israeli army said its forces were acting to “apprehend terrorist suspects”, circulating a video of what it said was “Palestinian gunmen near Jenin (firing) recklessly and indiscriminately” during the operation.

In a separate incident near Ramallah, soldiers “identified a suspect throwing a brick at an Israeli car and trying to open its doors near Beit El” settlement, the army said.

“The force called on him to stop and eventually opened fire at the suspect, who was wounded and taken to a hospital,” the army said, noting “a knife and bottle of acid were found on his person.”

Tensions had already risen with a wave of attacks that have killed at least 18 people in Israel since March 22, including an Arab-Israeli police officer and two Ukrainians.

A total of 31 Palestinians and three Israeli Arabs have died during the same period, according to an AFP tally, among them perpetrators of attacks and those killed by Israeli security forces in West Bank operations.

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Three burglars who carried out a record-breaking $637 million art heist in Hong Kong but remained oblivious to the value of their historic haul were jailed Friday, local media reported.

Hong Kong’s art community was rocked by the theft that included a two-metre tall scroll containing a 1929 Politburo report written by Mao Zedong valued at hundreds of millions of dollars — but was sold to an amateur collector for just HK$200 ($25).

When police recovered the parchment a month after it was stolen, they discovered it had been cut in half to make it easier to store by the collector, who also did not realise it was genuine.

The items were lifted in September 2020 from an apartment belonging to Chinese collector Fu Chunxiao in the city’s bustling Kowloon district.

The haul was worth an estimated total of HK$5 billion ($637 million), with Mao’s scroll alone valued at HK$2.3 billion, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), making it the city’s biggest heist by value.

Ho Yik-chiu, 46, Ng Wing-lun, 45, and Hui Ping-kei, 48, were jailed for up to two and half years after pleading guilty to being involved in the crime, SCMP reported.

The court heard how the three men were seasoned burglars who had deliberately targeted Fu’s apartment while he was overseas. 

Much of the haul has yet to be recovered. 

A calligraphy letter and handwritten poem by Mao remain missing, as do dozens of sets of highly prized Chinese stamps, the Post reported. 

A collector who received some of the goods alerted the police once he realised the items were stolen.

Kendrick Lamar, the rapper whose poignant lyricism has soundtracked the Black Lives Matter movement and compelled many to call him the voice of a generation, dropped his first solo album in five years on Friday.

His long-anticipated fifth studio album “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers” was released to streaming services overnight, and sees Lamar deliver raw self-reflection set against cutting social criticism.

The record is expected to dominate the charts and place the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lamar once again at the center of the American cultural conversation.

Born in Compton, California, the 34-year-old artist is renowned as one of contemporary music’s most impactful writers, with his verses offering personal insights while taking on systemic issues such as race relations and structural poverty.

Set to jazz-heavy instrumentals, the Grammy-winner’s music has made him a household name and a rare artist whose work is commercially successful but who is not dependent on constantly churning out content. 

“Kendrick is a true lyricist,” said Lakeyta Bonnette-Bailey, a professor at Georgia State University who has written extensively on the relationships between rap, politics and social justice.

“The way that he uses metaphors, the way that he hits on certain beats with certain verse… it’s an entire experience,” she told AFP. 

“He always has something profound to say.”

In 2018 Lamar became the first rapper to win the Pulitzer Prize for music, with the award’s board saying his album “DAMN.” was “unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African American life.”

– ‘Authenticity’ –

Following that historic win, he curated and contributed a number of songs to the soundtrack for the film “Black Panther,” including his Grammy- and Oscar-nominated collaboration with SZA, “All The Stars.”

Lamar also featured on a number of songs with fellow artists, including his cousin Baby Keem’s latest album.

But his five-year hiatus from producing solo work had some fans speculating about his possible retirement.

Lamar put those rumors to bed last month in announcing his fifth studio record — an 18-track double album that sees the rapper once more turn his socially conscious gaze to our tumultuous era.

Bonnette-Bailey said Lamar had a talent for “letting people inside his mind,” a quality that drew in his listeners.

“(He is) telling stories of his own personal struggles through his music, as well as documenting and telling the story of what is occurring in Black America, or in Compton, or in the whole Black diaspora,” she said.

– ‘Bare my soul’ –

The album’s first track “United In Grief” opens with a choir singing the line “I hope you find some peace of mind in this lifetime,” before Lamar comes in: “I’ve been goin’ through somethin’.”

Throughout the album, Lamar meditates on inner demons, repressed emotions, the struggles of family life and the trappings of fame.

Spoken-word track “We Cry Together,” which features actress Taylour Paige, portrays a fighting couple whose biting words see personal anger transition into structural rage.

“You the reason why strong women fucked up / Why they say it’s a man world / See, you the reason for Trump / You the reason we overlooked, underpaid, underbooked, under shame,” read the lyrics.

In “Auntie Diaries,” Lamar critiques society’s treatment of transgender people, while in “Savior” he warns against turning to celebrities for guidance.

The album’s cover is a photo of Lamar wearing a crown of thorns and holding a young child, while a woman who appears to be his partner Whitney Alford is in the background, holding an infant.

In the raw, soulful track “Mother I Sober,” Lamar lays bare stories of childhood trauma, infidelity and sexual abuse.

That track ends with a woman’s voice telling a child: “You did it, I’m proud of you / You broke a generational curse,” before the same choir that began the album closes the track.

“Before I go in fast asleep / Love me for me,” they sing. 

“I bare my soul and now we’re free.”

Russia faced mounting accusations of war crimes in Ukraine including forcing thousands of people into interrogation camps, while Britain on Friday urged more weapons for Kyiv to sustain pressure on Moscow.

The Russian invasion has also led to a seismic policy change by Finland, whose leaders said Thursday the previously neutral nation must apply to join NATO “without delay” — triggering a blunt warning of retaliation from the Kremlin.

Throughout the 11-week conflict, Russian forces have been accused of committing atrocities — including the killing of unarmed civilians, torture and rape.

CNN and the BBC on Thursday released what they said was security camera footage showing Russian soldiers with assault rifles shooting two Ukrainian civilians in the back.

The two men appeared unarmed — the footage showed the soldiers frisking them before allowing them to walk away at a business premises on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv.

One man died on the spot, the other shortly after, according to the outlets.

The killings took place on March 16 and are being investigated as a war crime, CNN said. AFP has not independently verified the footage.

Separately, investigators and witnesses interviewed by AFP Thursday accused Russian forces of shelling a residential home in an eastern Ukrainian village from a tank, killing three civilians.

The incident took place on March 27 in the village of Stepanki outside Kharkiv, the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said on Telegram.

Local resident Denys, 40, said he saw the barrel of the tank turn towards him.

“Someone said: let’s go hide inside the house,” Denys said.

“I entered last and as soon as I entered, the tank fired. Everything collapsed, I couldn’t see anything.”

The UN Human Rights Council voted 33-2 on Thursday to investigate alleged atrocities by Russian troops in Ukraine.

Ukrainian prosecutors say they have received reports of more than 10,000 alleged crimes.

– G7 ‘very strongly united’ –

Ukrainian forces managed to push Russian forces back from Kyiv in the early phase of the invasion, and its government is now pushing allies for more support.

Britain on Friday urged more weapons for Ukraine to keep up the pressure on Moscow.

“It is very important at this time that we keep up the pressure on (Russian President) Vladimir Putin by supplying more weapons to Ukraine, by increasing the sanctions,” said British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss as she arrived for a second day of talks with her Group of Seven counterparts.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the G7 countries were “very strongly united” in their will to “support Ukraine’s fight for its sovereignty until Ukraine’s victory”.

When launching the invasion, Putin had cited in part what he called the threat from NATO, which has expanded eastwards since the end of the Cold War.

Rather than containing the bloc, however, the war appears to have had the opposite effect.

The leaders of Finland, a declared neutral state in East-West crises for decades, said Thursday their country should join the bloc.

“As a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the entire defence alliance,” President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in a joint statement.

The Russian foreign ministry warned Moscow would be “forced to take reciprocal steps, military-technical and other, to address the resulting threats”.

A special committee will announce Finland’s formal decision on Sunday. Sweden, another neutral state, is widely expected to follow.

– ‘Brutal interrogations’ –

The UN refugee agency said Thursday more than six million people had fled Ukraine, more than half of them going to neighbouring Poland.

Women and children make up 90 percent of the refugees, UNHCR said.

The United States on Thursday accused Russia of forcibly taking tens of thousands of Ukrainians to “filtration camps” in Russia or Russian-controlled territory where they are subjected to “brutal interrogations”.

“These actions amount to war crimes,” said Michael Carpenter, the US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

“We must not allow this evil to stand.”

The remarks backed Kyiv’s allegation that 1.2 million people have been taken to Russia or Russian-controlled areas.

Fighting in Ukraine has been concentrated in the south and east since Russia abandoned attempts to seize the capital.

Ukraine’s presidency said shelling continued throughout Lugansk — part of the Donbas region where its forces are fiercely opposing Russian troops and Kremlin-backed separatists.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Russian forces had destroyed 570 healthcare facilities.

“What for? It’s nonsense. It’s barbarity,” he said.

In the northeastern region of Chernigiv, three people were killed and 12 others wounded early Thursday in a strike on a school in Novgorod-Siversky, the emergency services said. 

In the southern port city of Mariupol, troops at the Azovstal steelworks have been holding out against Russian bombardment for weeks, refusing demands to surrender.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said “difficult talks” were under way on the evacuation of 38 seriously wounded soldiers.

– Russian gas –

The flow of gas from Russia to Europe meanwhile fell, spurring fears for Germany and other economies heavily dependent on that source of energy.

Russian energy giant Gazprom announced it would stop supplying gas via the Polish part of the Yamal-Europe pipeline following retaliatory sanctions that Moscow imposed Wednesday on Western companies.

Gazprom also said gas transiting to Europe via Ukraine had dropped by a third.

Ukraine and Poland are major supply routes for Russian gas to Europe and the two sides have kept flows going despite the conflict.

Europe must end its reliance on Russian gas and cut off Moscow’s “energy oxygen”, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Thursday.

Kuleba has been invited to the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Germany.

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