Foreign News
AJ+ wins prestigious Emmy Award in Los Angeles
The AJ+ show, Eat This with Yara, has won “Outstanding Lifestyle Program” at the 50th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles.
Launched in 2018 by senior producer and host Yara Elmjouie, Eat This with Yara is a short documentary programme exploring the intersection of food and society.
The winning episode from the series is called, The Awful Truth About ‘No Trespassing’ Signs. With the help of TikTok star and expert forager Alexis Nikole Nelson – also known as “The Black Forager” – it tells the story of trespass laws which spread rapidly through the US following the abolition of slavery, in order to target newly freed Black Americans.
It is the first AJ+ programme to win a national Emmy Award and was up against competition from Netflix, NBC and Magnolia Network at the ceremony on Saturday, December 16.
Elmjouie accepted the award alongside his former co-producer Adrienne Blaine, who has since left AJ+, and executive producer Shadi Rahimi.
In his acceptance speech, Elmjouie called for the world’s attention to focus on the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza, on which Israel launched a war on October 7, and condemned the killing of his colleague, Al Jazeera Arabic cameraman Samer Abudaqa, who died during an Israeli drone attack on December 14, two days before the awards ceremony.
Elmjouie also mentioned Al Jazeera Arabic’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, who was injured in the same Israeli attack, as well as the late Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent, Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israeli snipers in 2022.
While on stage, executive producer Shadi Rahimi displayed a henna tattoo on her palms that read “Save Gaza”. She also briefly held up a sign near the end of Elmjouie’s speech which read: “Killing Journalists Is A War Crime.”
Following the ceremony, clips of Elmjouie’s speech have been shared widely on TikTok and Instagram.
The winning episode of Eat This with Yara can be viewed on You Tube, Instagram and Facebook, but short viral clips of it have also been published on X, TikTok and Instagram Reels.
In past years, Eat This with Yara has won a James Beard Award, two Webby Awards, and an award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
(Aljazeera)
North Korea has cancelled the Pyongyang marathon for unspecified reasons, a tour agency linked to the event has said.
British-owned Koryo Tours, which describes itself as the official partner of the marathon, said on Monday that it had received notice of the cancellation from North Korea’s athletics association.
A message it attributed to the association said the marathon was being cancelled “due to some reasons”.
The annual event was established in 1981 to celebrate the birth of North Korea’s founding leader Kim Il Sung. The 2026 race was set to take place on 5 April.
The message, purportedly from the North Korea athletics association’s general secretary, thanked “all the Elite Marathoners and Amateur Runners of the world who are interested in Pyongyang International Marathon”.
The message gave no further explanation on what the reasons for the cancellation were.
Koryo Tours said it understood the decision was final and had been taken “at a level above the organisers of the event itself”.
It said it would be seeking clarification on the circumstances surrounding the decision.
The tour company added that neither organisers nor event partners were involved in making the decision, and said it recognised “this announcement will be disappointing to many runners who had already registered or were planning to participate”.
Koryo Tours, based in Beijing, China, offers several marathon packages to foreigners, departing from Beijing, Shanghai and Shenyang.
Packages start from €2,190 ($2,529; £1,894) for 2.5 nights in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, including a marathon place and “highlights” of the capital and tickets were sold out this year, according to the agency’s website.
It said all deposits paid will be returned and runners have the option to retain their deposit for a future event or North Korea tour.
A date for the 2027 marathon has not yet been set.
The event had only returned last year after it was suspended for five consecutive years due to the Covid pandemic.
It is open to both amateur and some professional athletes and offers several race distances – 5km (3.1 miles), 10km (6.2 miles), half marathon (21.1km; 13.1 miles) or full marathon (42.2km; 26.2 miles).
[BBC]
Twenty-three people have been rescued by helicopter crews in Ontario, Canada, after the ice shelf they were standing on broke, sending the group floating into Lake Huron.
Ontario Provincial Police said on social media that the rescue began around noon (16:00 GMT) on Sunday after “winds and current moved the ice shelf away from shore” approximately 2km (1.2 miles).
The rescue involved two helicopters making multiple trips to pluck people off the shelf as it continued to fracture into more pieces in the Owen Sound, about 200km north-west of Toronto.
One member of the group said that he only realised the ice he was fishing on had detached from shore when he noticed that his GPS showed him moving.
Members of the rescued group described harrowing moments, with several of them becoming partially submerged in the cold waters as they sought out the thickest ice on the floe, or sheet.
“I looked at my GPS. We were moving,” fisherman Kevin Fox wrote, identifying himself on Facebook as one of those who were caught up in the incident. “I turned around and saw waves forming behind us.”
He said that he and several others started running towards a route that they hoped still connected to shore.
“We decided to run toward one side of the bay, but when we got there the ice had already separated from shore. We turned and ran the other way, but the ice there was breaking apart too,” he wrote.
Some started phoning their families, said Fox, adding: “It’s something I will never forget – seeing grown men crying while saying goodbye to the people they love.”
Fellow fisherman Alfie How told The Owen Sound Sun Times that they eventually “just sat down as a group and said this could be the end”.
Fox told the paper that the rescue occurred during high wind, and the group was concerned that the helicopters would not be able to fly.
“It was being eroded,” Fox said. “It kept getting smaller, and smaller.”
Police say several members of the group suffered hypothermia, but that everyone was expected to make a full recovery.
“Great teamwork and a quick response by all involved,” police added.
Last month in the US state of Vermont, police rescued a group of ice skaters who had also become trapped on floating ice.
Using kayaks and ferry boats, rescuers brought the group back from the icy Lake Champlain.
Officials warn that ice fishing conditions can change rapidly during the relatively warm daylight hours.
[BBC]
At least 23 people have been killed in Nairobi after heavy rain overnight caused severe flooding in Kenya’s capital city.
Police said about 30 people had been rescued but many others drowned after being swept into rivers – some have been electrocuted.
Kenya’s military has been deployed to help people trapped inside their cars as police described widespread damage to properties as well as road closures.
Several flights bound for Nairobi Airport had to be cancelled or diverted to the coastal city of Mombasa.
“The torrential rains have led to significant flooding, unfortunately resulting in 23 fatalities so far, the destruction of property, road closures, and the displacement of residents,” police said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.
[BBC]
Australia grants asylum to 2 more members of Iranian women’s football team
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