📹450,000 rally in Istanbul to condemn Gaza conflict and show solidarity with Palestine

Some 450,000 politicians and activists are taking part in a pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul on Wednesday, condemning Israel’s military operations, non-governmental organization TUGVA, one of organizers, said.

"There are 450,000 our citizens here today, adults and children, who stand with humanity and the Palestinian people," TUGVA’s chair, Beytullah Cicen, told the broadcaster Haberturk.

"We have come here today to condemn genocide in Gaza and to express our solidarity with Palestine. We have seen the Hagia Sophia reopened [for worship] and the Umayyad Mosque [in Syria] liberated, and we are here today in support of the Al-Aqsa Mosque," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son Bilal said at the rally.

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New Orleans car ramming attack: key details and updates

A pickup truck drove into a crowd on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans during New Year’s celebrations, resulting in a tragic loss of life and injuries.

What we know:

🔸 Casualties: Ten people have been confirmed dead and at least 35 others hospitalized with injuries, according to an official statement from the City of New Orleans.

🔸 The incident: A white pickup truck ploughed into revellers on Bourbon Street at high speed, eyewitnesses told CBS News.

🔸 Police statement: The suspect bypassed barricades designed to stop vehicle access to Bourbon Street in what was described as “very intentional behavior” by New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick, who noted that the driver appeared to be “trying to run over as many people as he could.”

🔸 Gunfire exchange: After ramming the crowd, the driver began firing a weapon from inside the vehicle. Police returned fire.

🔸 Injured officers: Two police officers were wounded in the firefight, but are in a stable condition, Kirkpatrick said.

🔸 Suspect's status: The driver was shot and killed by police, ABC News reported, citing authorities.

🔸 Explosives found: The FBI reported finding improvised explosive devices at the scene, though it remains unclear if they were connected to the attack, a bureau spokesperson told Fox News.

Reactions from officials:

🔹 Mayoress LaToya Cantrell called the attack a likely “terrorist act.”

🔹 Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry condemned the “horrific act of violence.”

The incident is under active investigation, with local, state and federal authorities working to uncover the driver’s motive and circumstances.

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❗️The FBI has confirmed the death of the suspect who drove a car into pedestrians in New Orleans, killing 10. The Bureau is classifying the event as a terrorist attack.

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📹 New graphic footage has emerged from the scene of the New Orleans terror attack.

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⚓️ Waterway war: Never-ending struggle for world’s strategic straits and canals PART 1 👉 PART 2

Major straits and canals have landed back in the news in recent weeks and months. What are the competing claims to the maritime arteries of global trade through history?

📍 Suez Canal

Built in the 1860s during the European imperialist conquest of wide swathes of Africa and Asia, the Suez Canal would go on to play a key role in the global conflicts of the centuries that followed:

🔸 Ottoman forces tried to seize the Suez in 1915 and 1916 during WWI, looking to cut the Entente off from its speediest maritime route to Asia.

🔸 In 1942 during WWII, Rommel’s Africa Corps approached to within 350 km of the canal before being driven back. Had the canal been captured, Allied naval operations in the Mediterranean would have been severely hampered, and Axis forces could drive on to the oil fields of the Middle East.

🔸 In 1956 during the early years of the Cold War, Gamal Abdel Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal triggered an invasion by France and the UK, seeking to return colonial control, and by Israel, incensed by Nasser’s anti-Zionist stance.

🔸 Fast forward to today, and the Suez has become a victim of the Israel-Houthi conflict, with Egypt losing $7 billion in transit revenues in 2024 alone.

📍 Panama Canal

🔹 Panama was part of Colombia until 1903, when pro-independence forces (conveniently) backed by US warships declared independence. “I made Panama,” President Teddy Roosevelt would later boast. Construction of the modern-day Panama Canal began shortly after in 1904.

🔹 In 1989, the US invaded Panama to oust erstwhile ally Manuel Noriega. Officially, the invasion was about “defending democracy” and fighting drug trafficking. In reality, Washington feared Noriega might scrap provisions to a treaty ensuring permanent US military presence in the region.

🔹 35 years later, President-Elect Trump has threatened to seize the Canal.

👉 PART 2

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