[World] 'As Palestinian youths, the political process has failed us'

“For the longest time, I was an advocate for the ‘one democratic state’ solution [encompassing Israel and the Palestinian territories],” he says. “Over at least the last decade, there have been so many attempts to voice our discontent with this current form of governance, which have been completely repressed. I can say with a full heart, the PA does not represent the voice of not only my generation, but Palestinians at large.”

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[Sport] BBC Weather on when smoke may clear

When will the Canada wildfire smoke clear?

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With smoke from wildfires in eastern Canada affecting cities hundreds of miles away, forecaster Chris Fawkes looks at how far it might spread and when it might clear.

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[Sport] Gianluca Vialli: Former Chelsea, Juventus, Sampdoria and Italy striker dies aged 58

Former Chelsea striker and manager Gianluca Vialli, who has died at the age of 58, was “a gorgeous soul” as well as “a wonderful footballer and a warm human being”, his former Sampdoria team-mate Graeme Souness has said.

Vialli was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2017. In 2020 he revealed he had been given the all-clear, but was diagnosed with it again in 2021.

Souness told Sky Sports: “People will say things about his magnificent football ability, and correctly so, but above all that what a human being.”

Former Scotland defender Souness added: “My condolences go to his family – the kids were blessed to have a dad like that, his wife was blessed to be married to a man like that.

“He was just fabulous to be around. He was such a fun-loving guy, full of mischief, a wonderful footballer and a warm human being.

“Forget football, he was just a gorgeous soul.”

Vialli, who played 59 times for Italy, left a role with Italy’s national team in December 2022 to focus on his health.

He helped the Azzurri win Euro 2020 with victory over England at Wembley in July 2021 after being appointed to Italy’s backroom staff by manager and former Sampdoria team-mate Roberto Mancini in October 2019.

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) confirmed that a minute’s silence in memory of Vialli will be held before all Italian matches this weekend.

“Gianluca was a splendid person and he leaves a void that cannot be filled,” FIGC president Gabriele Gravina said.

“I hoped until the end that he would be able to perform another miracle. Yet I am comforted by the certainty that what he did for Italian football and the blue shirt will never be forgotten.”

An FIGC statement added: “That photo on the Wembley lawn, that hug with Mancini after Federico Chiesa’s goal against Austria in the round of 16 of the 2021 European Championship, will be one of the images of Vialli that we will carry in our hearts forever.”

Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini celebrating at Wembley
Vialli was reunited with former team-mate Mancini with Italy in 2019 and helped the Azzurri win Euro 2020

Vialli made his Italy debut in 1985, a year after joining Sampdoria, where he would win the Serie A title and European Cup Winners’ Cup during eight seasons with the club.

Sampdoria said: “We won’t forget your 141 goals, your overhead kicks, your cashmere shirts, your earring, your platinum blonde hair, your Ultras bomber jacket.

“You gave us so much, we gave you so much: yes, it was love, reciprocal, infinite. A love that will not die today with you.”

Vialli helped Sampdoria reach the 1992 European Cup final but after losing to Barcelona, he moved to Juventus for a then world record fee of £12m. Vialli spent four seasons with Juve, winning the Champions League, Uefa Cup and Serie A titles.

Juve said: “We loved everything about you, absolutely everything – your smile, your being a star and leader at the same time, on the pitch and in the dressing room, your adorable swashbuckling ways, your culture, your class, which you showed until the last day in the black and white stripes.”

Chelsea player-manager Gianluca Vialli lifts the European Cup Winners' Cup after the 1998 final against Parma
Gianluca Vialli was Chelsea’s player-manager when they won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1998

Vialli joined Chelsea on a free transfer in 1996 and became player-manager in 1998 – the first Italian to manage a Premier League side, taking over from the sacked Ruud Gullit late in the season – and went on to lead the Blues to victory in the League Cup, Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup and Uefa Super Cup.

He also guided Chelsea to victory in the 2000 FA Cup final and Charity Shield but was sacked early the following season after a poor start.

Chelsea said: “A brilliant striker, a trophy-winning manager and a wonderful man, Luca’s place in the pantheon of Chelsea greats is assured. He will be deeply missed.”

Vialli subsequently spent the 2001-02 season as manager of Watford, then in the second tier, but was dismissed after the Hornets finished 14th.

‘My captain, forever’ – Vialli tributes

Vialli’s former team-mates and managers led the tributes to the former Italy striker.

Gianfranco Zola, who both played alongside Vialli and then under him when he was manager at Chelsea said: “Together we won many matches and shared some of the best moments of our lives.

“For the love of our ball we have often clashed. With no quarter, but always with the utmost respect. Because, in the end, we were always ourselves: two Italian boys and a ball.”

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti, who played alongside Vialli with Italy, tweeted in Italian: “Ciao amico mio” – thank you my friend.

Alessandro del Piero, a Champions League winner alongside Vialli with Juventus posted: “Our captain. My captain. Forever.”

Former Blues manager Gullit posted an image on Instagram of himself with Vialli on the day he signed for Chelsea in 1996 with the caption: “RIP Gianluca Vialli. We will miss you.”

Tottenham assistant Cristian Stellini said manager and fellow Italian Antonio Conte was “upset and sad” following the news, adding Vialli was an “important person” who “opened the door for Italian managers” in the Premier League.

“For us he was a great player but first of all he was a great man. He taught us a lot of things, also not only when he played but when he spoke with everyone,” Stellini said.

“Now we have to say thanks to Vialli for opening the door and letting us understand how important football is in Europe to open doors and create, because also Italian managers came into the Premier League and improved it so we did it together. It is a great thing.”

Writing on Twitter, BBC Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker said: “Deeply, deeply saddened to hear that Gianluca Vialli has left us. One of the loveliest people you could possibly meet. A truly magnificent footballer who will be hugely missed. RIP Luca.”

Former Chelsea captain John Terry tweeted: “Heartbroken. RIP Luca. A proper legend and a great man. I will forever be grateful for you giving me my debut.”

Former Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini told BBC Radio 5 Live: “He played a very important part in what has become the best league in the world.

“He always had such a positive energy. He had a big aura. You could feel his presence as soon as he walked into a room.”

Former England captain Alan Shearer tweeted: “RIP Gianluca Vialli. What a lovely lovely man and a wonderful player he was.”

And ex-England striker Peter Crouch wrote on Twitter: “I’m genuinely gutted about this. I had Sampdoria home and away shirts because of him. I tried to replicate his volleys In the park and such a lovely man when I met him. Rip”

The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust described Vialli as a “foundational pillar” upon which the club built a new trophy-filled era.

A statement read: “He was loved by everyone at our football club. Thank you, Gianluca. We will miss you.”

League Managers’ Association chief executive Richard Bevan described Vialli as “one of the kindest and most charismatic men we have ever met in the world of sport”.

Aleksander Ceferin, president of European football’s governing body Uefa, added: “All members of the football family will feel real pain and a sense of profound dismay.

“Gianluca was more than a champion; he was kind, measured, respectful and above all courageous, in life even more than on the pitch, as he has taught us in recent years through his dignified fight against his illness.

“We will always remember his radiance at the many trophies that he won, right up to the final image when he embraced his friend Roberto Mancini in the middle of the pitch at Wembley – a moment of joyful emotion at the most beautiful and brilliant of all triumphs. He will be greatly missed.”

Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini celebrating at Wembley
Vialli was reunited with former team-mate Mancini with Italy in 2019 and helped the Azzurri win Euro 2020

Gianluca Vialli’s career – in pictures

Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini at Sampdoria
Gianluca Vialli began his career at Cremonese before joining Sampdoria in 1984, where he formed a prolific strike partnership with Roberto Mancini
Italy team photo before a match at the 1990 World Cup
Vialli played 59 times for Italy and was part of the Azzurri squad that finished third at the 1990 World Cup on home soil
Gianluca Vialli lifting the Champions League trophy
Vialli joined Juventus for a then world record fee of £12m in 1992, winning five major trophies including the Champions League in 1996
Gianluca Vialli with the League Cup
Vialli became Chelsea player-manager in 1998 and led the Blues to victory in the League Cup, Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup and Uefa Super Cup.
Gianluca Vialli and Ray Wilkins at a Watford game
Vialli’s final managerial role was with Watford during the 2001-02 season with former Chelsea coach Ray Wilkins as his assistant
Gianluca Vialli celebrates with the trophy after Italy win Euro 2020
Vialli was part of Italy’s backroom team during their Euro 2020 success


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[World] Can Biden's new border plan end the migrant crisis?

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Watch: Biden tells migrants ‘don’t just show up at the border’

US President Joe Biden has announced a new plan to accept up to 30,000 migrants each month, while also expanding a Trump-era policy to make it easier to send many back to Mexico. How will this impact the crisis at the border?

Mr Biden believes the new policy – which will apply to asylum seekers from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela – will “substantially reduce” the number of people who attempt to cross the US-Mexico border illegally.

“This new process is orderly, it’s safe and it’s humane,” Mr Biden said in a speech at the White House.

While experts and immigration advocates believe it may be effective, many expressed concerns that an increased number of migrants may be sent to unsafe or inhumane conditions in Mexico.

“The administration is shifting its overall policy to a carrot and stick approach,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, of the American Immigration Council. “And the emphasis is on the stick”.

What’s in the new plan?

Citizens from the four countries will be offered an expanded legal pathway to apply to enter the US, where they will be allowed to live and work for up to two years. To be eligible, migrants must have financial sponsors already in the US, and pass security vetting.

Applications can be done through an application, CBP One, which allows would-be asylum seekers to schedule an arrival at a port of entry into the US. Those who are denied or attempt to cross illegally will be ineligible for the programme in the future.

“Stay where you are and apply legally. If your application is approved…you have access,” Mr Biden said on Thursday. “But if your application is denied or you attempt to cross into the United States unlawfully, you will not be allowed to enter.”

US officials say that migrants who do attempt to cross the border illegally will rapidly be sent back to Mexico under Title 42, which gives the government power to automatically expel undocumented migrants seeking entry, with Mexico agreeing to 30,000 more returns each year.

Previously, Mexico’s government only accepted the return of its own citizens under Title 42, along with citizens of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. In October, the programme was expanded to include Venezuelans.

US officials said that the previous initiative led to a 90% drop in the number of Venezuelans arriving at the US-Mexico border, and a “dramatic” drop in the number of migrants who choose to risk their lives by using human smugglers.

Migrant in MexicoImage source, Getty Images
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More than 2.5 million migrants have been expelled under Title 42 since 2020.

Can Biden’s new plan work?

Record number of migrant detentions at the US-Mexico border have presented a growing political headache for Mr Biden. More than two million people were detained at the order in the 2022 fiscal year that ended on 30 September – a 24% jump from the previous year. In December, detentions at the border averaged between 700 and 1,000 each day.

Mr Reichlin-Melnick told the BBC that he believes the creation of alternate pathways is a “positive step” – albeit one that represents a “real return to the Trump-era policies that attempted to deter asylum seekers from getting here in the first place.”

He said there could be a drastic reduction in the number of apprehensions at the border, especially among Cubans and Nicaraguans, but he warned that could be offset by migration flows from elsewhere.

Rebecca Solloa, from the Catholic Charities at the Diocese of Laredo – which operates migrant shelters at the border – told the BBC the new application process would slow the influx of migrants. “If it’s in an orderly manner, it will help them in the long run and it won’t be such a crisis,” she said.

But the process has to be credible to stop migrants considering an illegal border crossing, said Andrew Selee of the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.

“If the legal pathways aren’t effective, and the only consequences are being dropped back in a Mexican border town, and you’re a Nicaraguan trying to get out of Nicaragua, there’s still a good incentive to try and cross multiple times until you make it.”

Some advocates are also concerned that the application process may be difficult for some to access in remote or impoverished areas of their home countries, or that potential migrants may not be aware of it before they leave.

Safety concerns in Mexico

The success of the programme ultimately will rest on Mexico’s ability to take care of the migrants it has now agreed to take back.

“Northern Mexico is a dangerous place for migrants,” Mr Reichlin-Melnick said. “We know that this will strand some of the most vulnerable people in the world in Mexico with few good options for ever being able to seek safety in the United States.”

In the short-term, he believes that the border region will see new migrant encampments at the border as migrants already there weigh their options, as well as “potentially significant anger and unrest as migrants wait to see what happens next.”

The announcement comes a day after Mr Biden said he would visit the border next week on his way to Mexico, where he will participate in the North American Leaders’ Summit.

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Watch: No tree or gifts for thousands in this US city this Christmas.

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[World] Africa's week in pictures: 30 December 2022 – 5 January 2023

A selection of the week’s best photos from across the continent:

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People attend swimming event on the first day of new year as daily life continues in Nabil, Tunisia on January 01, 2023Image source, Getty Images
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Swimmers in Tunisia’s coastal town of Nabeul take a New Year’s Day dip in the Mediterranean.
Nairobi residents gather outside the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (K.I.C.C) for the new years radical prayers on January 01, 2023 in Nairobi, KenyaImage source, Getty Images
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In the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, some see in 2023 with an outdoor prayer service…
A reveller spins burning-steel wool to spread sparks of fire during the New Year's Eve celebrations in Nairobi, Kenya January 1, 2023Image source, Reuters
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While others in the city celebrate the new year by spinning burning steel wool to create a shower of sparkles.
Junior Lambrechts has his face painted in preparation for the Cape Minstrel Carnival in Cape Town, South Africa January 2, 2023Image source, Reuters
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A young boy gets his face painted in Cape Town, South Africa, in readiness for Monday’s annual Cape Minstrel Carnival, back after a two-year break caused by Covid…
The T.V Stars from Heideveld in action during the Tweede Nuwe Jaar celebration in Bo-Kaap on January 02, 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. The Klopse parade is back after a two-year hiatus due to Covid-19. About 20 000 performers and tens of thousands of audience members flocked to the city to see the performances which dates back to the days of slavery in the CapeImage source, Getty Images
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Different troupes parade through the streets and perform for the thousands of visitors in a tradition that dates back to the days of slavery.
Members of the 'Ekum Baba' escort their hunting costume during the annual hunting festival in Banjul on January 2, 2023. - This hunting festival occurs every new years in Banjul. The two groups 'Ekum Baba' and 'Odilleh' come to the streets of Banjul every year to battle for the title of best animal heads,masques and costumesImage source, AFP
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Monday also sees an annual hunting festival in the Gambian capital, Banjul, as people compete for the title of best animal heads, masques and costumes.
Catholic faithful gather inside the Basilica of the Uganda Martyrs to pray after receiving news about the death of former Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in Namugongo, Kampala, Uganda, on December 31, 2022Image source, AFP
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Catholic mourners in Uganda come together at the Basilica of the Uganda Martyrs in Namugongo following the death of Pope Benedict XVI on 31 December.
A view of the statue of the Virgin Mary inside of the Mariam Dearit shrine on January 02, 2023 in Keren, Eritrea. Mariam Dearit is a Shrine or church named for the Virgin Mary and is constructed in the trunk of a 500 year old, 75 foot baobab tree. The site which is just two kilometres outside of the city of Keren is a destination for devout pilgrims of all faithsImage source, Getty Images
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In some rare images coming from Eritrea, on Tuesday a photographer snaps the statue of the Virgin Mary in a shrine inside the trunk of a baobab tree in the town of Keren…
School children travel a path to their homes in the Durfo valley eight kilometers outside of the city of Asmara on December 30, 2022 in Asmara, Eritrea. The region is marked by high mountains and deep valleys which are often enveloped in thick clouds during midday as clouds make their way inland from the Red Sea and the port city of Massawa which is a few hours beyond Durfo by car.Image source, Getty Images
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Pupils make their way to school on Friday in Eritrea’s Durfo valley, which is just outside the capital, Asmara.
A woman collects cockles along the edge of the Sine Saloum Delta in Simal on January 3, 2023. - The Sine Saloum Delta is a recognised world heritage site, celebrated for its mangroves, bird life and rich culture of fishing, salt mining and agricultureImage source, AFP
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A woman in Senegal collects cockles in the Saloum Delta on Tuesday – the three-river delta is listed as a UN world heritage site for its natural beauty and the way it represents the traditional coastal lifestyle of shellfish gathering and fishing.
A Sudanese woman weaves palm leaves (al-Zaaf), a traditional skill of making baskets, food trays and other household items, in the village of Al-Saqqai, some 57km north of the capital Khartoum, on January 4, 2023Image source, AFP
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A Sudanese palm-leaf weaver uses her traditional basket-making skills on Wednesday in the village of al-Saqqai, about 60km (37 miles) north of the capital, Khartoum.
A woman shows her hands painted with henna, in Yaounde, Cameroon on December 30, 2022. Muslims in Cameroon show their happy moments such as weddings, religious holidays, reciters of the Qur'an and hafiz ceremonies with henna paintings applied on their bodies. Henna is made from dried up henna tree leaves, after the leaves turned into powder, water and oil are added; also some plants can be added to the henna applied in this state to obtain different colors upon requestImage source, Getty Images
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A woman in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, has her hands painted with henna to get ready for a festival on Friday.
An Egyptian farmer makes tea on his farmland in the Egyptian countryside on January 3, 2023 in Giza, EgyptImage source, Getty Images
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After a tough day at work on Tuesday, an Egyptian farmer sits down for a cigarette and a cup of sweet tea.

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