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A group of settlers who crossed the border from Israel into southern Syria in an attempt to establish new settlements have been apprehended and returned by the Israeli military.

On Thursday, some 13 settlers belonging to a group called the "Pioneers of the Bashan" cut through the border fence in two locations using angle grinders and drove into Syria with the aim of settling there.

Five of the group breached the border in the Mount Hermon area, and another eight near the Syrian village of Bir Ajam in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The Israeli military said in a statement that troops "rushed to the two locations, and shortly afterward the civilians were found" and that some "clashed" with the soldiers.

It confirmed that all of the suspects were "safely returned to Israeli territory under IDF escort", adding that the military "strongly condemns the incident and emphasises that it is a grave incident constituting a criminal offence" endangering both civilians and Israeli soldiers.

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At least 13 people, including children, have been killed and 25 were injured as Israel launched another incursion into Syrian territory in the Damascus countryside, according to state media, with several Israeli soldiers also reported wounded in clashes.

Syrian state media reported on Friday that two children were among those killed in the Israeli dawn raid and strikes, which forced dozens of families to flee from the town of Beit Jinn to nearby and safer areas.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned “the criminal attack carried out by an Israeli occupation army patrol in Beit Jinn. The occupation forces’ targeting of the town of Beit Jinn with brutal and deliberate shelling, following their failed incursion, constitutes a full-fledged war crime,” it said.

The remains of at least five Syrians, including two children, were taken to the Golan National Hospital in the city of al-Salam in Quneitra, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

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Palestinian sources reported that groups of settlers gathered at the entrance of Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah, while the IOF stormed both Deir Jarir and nearby Deir Dibwan. The incursions coincided with violent confrontations in Silwad as Palestinian youths resisted the simultaneous settler and military presence.

In Birzeit, near Ramallah, IOF arrested former prisoner Salama al-Qatawi after storming his home. In Nablus, troops raided the New Askar refugee camp and detained Shadi al-Rifai. Two children, Khaled and Sahlam Zein, were also arrested after their home was raided in Burin, south of the city.

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) entered Nablus through the Awarta checkpoint and expanded their operations to Kafr Qalil, east of the city, intensifying the military presence in the area.

In Tubas, military bulldozers were deployed in the town of Tammun, causing significant destruction to civilian property. Additional reinforcements were moved toward al-Faraa refugee camp from the al-Hamra checkpoint, escalating military presence in the area.

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On 10 October, following two years of Israeli genocide that have turned Gaza into the new benchmark of total destruction, after Israel has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and inflicted on all the people in Gaza “severe bodily or mental harm,” to quote from the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the Trump administration imposed a ceasefire, giving rise to the idea that the Gaza war has ended.

The ceasefire, however, seems to be designed mostly to move forward with the business deals of the mega rich in the Middle East, and the fire has never ceased: the Israeli government has continued its assault, killing and injuring hundreds of Palestinians since 10 OcMore...tober, destroying thousands of homes and buildings, and blocking the entry of sufficient aid.

The genocidal rhetoric, furthermore, has not ended. Take, for instance, Simcha Rothman, a member of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) for the Religious Zionist Party, who spoke on 28 October in an international summit in Hungary organized in support of Israel. “If we want to destroy the idea of genocide,” he said, “if we want to destroy [it] and we should destroy the idea of Muslim Brotherhood that takes over the entire west, the Middle East, but after that, the entire world, the entire western civilization, we have to define it as the enemy.” “The enemy in Gaza,” he continued, “are not the terror tunnels, the enemy in Gaza are not the missiles, the enemy in Gaza are not even the terrible people who took the hostages; the enemy in Gaza is the idea of a genocide, the same idea that echoes in mosques all around Europe, the same idea that echoes in mosques in the US, in campuses, in encampments, the same idea, this is the enemy.”

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A massive fire tore through a high-rise housing complex in Hong Kong on Wednesday into Friday, in one of the region's deadliest blazes in decades.

Hong Kong authorities say at least 128 people have died in the fire and dozens are still missing.

At least one of the dead is a firefighter who was combating the blaze. The Hong Kong fire department also said 76 people were injured.

The fire department chief said the fire alarms failed to operate properly when the fire broke out.

On Friday, police arrested eight people on suspicion of corruption over the renovation works. Earlier in the week, three men were taken away for alleged manslaughter in connection with the fire.

The fire was put out at 10:18am on Friday, according to a government press release.

The Wang Fuk Court complex in Hong Kong's Tai Po district is a cluster of eight public housing towers and home to about 4,600 people, according to a 2021 census.

Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, making it difficult to extinguish large fires, which can spread easily from building to building.

Because of the blaze, several adjacent roads were shut down, along with about 30 bus routes, which were diverted away from the fire. The fire also spread from the housing complex to the Wong Shiu Chi Secondary School about 500 yards away.

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Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will remain in detention at the International Criminal Court after appeals judges on Friday rejected a request to release him on health grounds.

The octogenarian is facing charges of crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in dozens of killings as part of his so-called war on drugs when in office, first as the mayor of a southern city and later as president.

Duterte’s lawyers failed to show that an October decision by lower chamber was unreasonable, Judge Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza said, addressing the full courtroom in The Hague.

The former president was not in court on Friday.

Last month, judges decided to keep Duterte in custody, finding that he was likely to refuse to return for trial and could use his freedom to intimidate witnesses.

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A college freshman trying to fly from Boston to Texas to surprise her family for Thanksgiving was instead deported to Honduras in violation of a court order, according to her attorney.

Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, 19, had already passed through security at Boston Logan international airport on 20 November when she was told there was an issue with her boarding pass, said attorney Todd Pomerleau. The Babson College student was then detained by immigration officials and within two days sent to Texas and then Honduras, the country she left at age seven.

“She’s absolutely heartbroken,” Pomerleau said. “Her college dream has just been shattered.”

The day after Lopez Belloza was arrested, a federal judge issued an emergency order prohibiting the government from moving her out of Massachusetts or the US for at least 72 hours. ICE did not respond to an email on Friday from the Associated Press seeking comment about violating that order. Babson College also did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Lopez Belloza, who is staying with her grandparents in Honduras, told the Boston Globe she had been looking forward to telling her parents and younger sisters about her first semester studying business.

“That was my dream,” she said. “I’m losing everything.”

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According to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an immigration judge ordered Lopez Belloza deported in 2015. Pomerleau said she wasn’t aware of any removal order, however, and the only record he has found indicates her case was closed in 2017.

“They’re holding her responsible for something they claim happened a decade ago that she’s completely unaware of and not showing any of the proof,” the lawyer said.