Iraq, Israel-Palestine, Liberia.

Today's three stories you should know.

Dec 18, 2022

Iraq

At least nine police officers travelling in a convoy were killed by an apparent roadside bomb near the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, according to several media reports. One police officer told the AFP news agency that the convoy was then attacked by gunmen. No group has yet claimed responsibility but remnants of the ISIS group are known to be active in the area. ISIS, as you will remember, captured a huge amount of territory across Iraq and Syria in 2014. It was largely defeated in 2017 but a small number of members exist in the shadows, emerging occasionally to carry out hit-and-run attacks.

Israel-Palestine

Salah Hammouri, a Palestinian-French human rights lawyer who was born in Jerusalem, has been deported from Israel after months of wrangling in a case that has caused unusual tension between France and Tel Aviv. Israel says Hammouri is active in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which it calls a terrorist organization. France’s foreign ministry had condemned the effort to deport him, saying it had “taken full action, including at the highest level of the state, to ensure that Mr. Salah Hamouri’s rights are respected, that he benefits from all legal remedies and that he can lead a normal life in Jerusalem, where he was born, resides and wishes to live.” Hammouri, speaking after landing in Paris, said: “I will continue my right to resist against this occupation until I have the right to go back to my country.”

Liberia

Hundreds of Liberians took to the streets of the capital Monrovia today to protest spiralling prices just as President George Weah was set to return from a 48-day trip abroad. In marches organized by opposition parties, demonstrators carried photos of Weah’s political opponents and held banners reading, “We tiyah [are tired of] suffering.” Weah’s long foreign tour, which included a trip to the World Cup to watch his soccer star son play for the United States, has caused some controversy at home with opponents calling it a waste of money. Government officials insist, though, that it benefited the country. About 64 percent of people in Liberia live in poverty and 1.3 million of those live in extreme poverty, according to the World Food Programme.