| | | | | | | In the last hour or so, the US Department of Defense has announced the names of the three soldiers killed in Sunday's drone attack on a base in Jordan. BBC Arabic’s Feras Kilani recalls what he saw on a rare trip to the desert site. Meanwhile, as farmers in Europe protest about falling incomes and environmental regulations, we explain the background. And scroll down to find out why taking a nap at work might not be such a bad thing. |
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| | | | Get up to speed | | • | South Africa's former President Jacob Zuma has been suspended from the ANC party he once led, after refusing to vote for it and launching a rival organisation. | | • | King Charles has left hospital after a three-night stay for treatment for an enlarged prostate, being discharged hours after the Princess of Wales. | | • | The writer who won $83.3m (£65m) won in a defamation case against Donald Trump says she plans to spend it on something he hates. Meanwhile, a US tax worker who leaked the former president's personal records has been jailed for five years. |
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| | AT THE SCENE | Tower 22, Jordan | | The US base targeted by drone attack | | | | Tower 22 is in north-eastern Jordan, near the Syrian border, the Pentagon has revealed. Credit: Planet Labs/Reuters | | The US says it will take "all necessary actions" to protect its troops after a drone attack on a base in Jordan killed three soldiers. The presence of the base, established in 2016 and known as Tower 22, had previously been kept secret. However, the BBC was given rare access in 2017. | | | We flew there by helicopter from a Jordanian military base in Amman. From the air, it was clear how close the base was to the Syrian border. On the other side, I saw thousands of improvised tents put up in the middle of the desert by displaced Syrians fleeing the Islamic State group (IS). The small base was surrounded by fortified barbed wire-topped walls with military cameras, and protected by the Jordanian army from all sides. I noticed that some of the personnel were in civilian clothes, and saw light vehicles, bunkers and communications towers.
The area, including the camp, was known as Rukban. Shia militia groups and the Syrian army were getting closer in their fight against IS. And the danger of attacks by the jihadist extremist group was still high. IS had targeted the American base in June 2016 with a car bomb, killing six Jordanian soldiers who were guarding the entrance to the base. The Jordanian army said at the time that it was its base. |
| | | | • | Biden's options: Failure to act decisively risks sending a message of weakness - act too forcefully and things could escalate, says our security correspondent Frank Gardner. | | • | Get the latest: The number of people known to have been injured has risen above 40, according to the Pentagon. Follow our live page. |
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| Questions Answered | | Europe’s rural revolt explained | | | | French authorities say 15,000 police have been mobilised to stop tractors entering the capital and other cities. Credit: Reuters |
| | French farmers have begun moving hundreds of tractors in an effort to blockade key routes into cities including the French capital, termed the "siege of Paris". Similar protests have been happening in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. | | | | What has prompted the farmers’ action? | | They were already struggling with the cost of living crisis and they have now come out in force to air their grievances, from the European Union's sustainability policies to the effects of the war in Ukraine. The agricultural sector has always viewed with suspicion measures brought in by the EU to revamp its €55bn (£47bn) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and make it more sustainable. More than 70% of that money is spent on direct payments to farmers as a safety net. | | What do the changes involve? | | The revamp includes an obligation to devote at least 4% of arable land to non-productive features, as well as a requirement to carry out crop rotations and reduce fertiliser use by at least 20%. | | What are farmers’ concerns? | | Many farmers have long argued these measures will make the European agricultural sector less competitive against imports. They are also worried that inflation has dramatically reduced the value of their direct payments. "Farmers are having to do much more... with less support," Luc Vernet of Brussels-based think tank Farm Europe told the BBC. "They don't see how they can cope any longer." | | | | | | |
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| | The big picture | | A court’s red rag to animal rights groups | | | | Bullfighting remains legal in many areas of Mexico. Credit: AFP |
| | Bullfighting has returned to Mexico City for the first time in nearly two years, after the Supreme Court revoked a judge's indefinite suspension of the practice. And it has prompted protests outside the bullring from animal rights activists. Inside, there were chants of "long live freedom" from some of the thousands of spectators. | | | | |
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| | | For your downtime | | The case for power naps | | Siesta scientists say daytime sleep could be good for us. | | |
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| | And finally... in the UK | | In what sounds like a recipe for back pain, a British runner is training to take on the London marathon while carrying a fridge. To each their own. However, police in Stevenage, slightly north of London, mistook the jogger for a burglar and stopped him in his running routine. Here’s how it went down. |
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| | | | | | | | US Election Unspun newsletter | | Cut through the noise in the race for the White House, every Wednesday to your inbox. | | |
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