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Barry.
Israel-Palestine
In yesterday’s Proximities, we highlighted that people trapped in Gaza’s Rafah city feared an imminent ground assault from Israeli troops. Today, that eventuality seems a lot closer. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has indicated that an invasion of the city is close and said civilians should leave. The problem? More than one million people are crammed into Rafah, which is up against the Egyptian border. The key line from an Associated Press piece today: “It remains unclear where civilians can go.” Aid agencies and the UN have said that an assault on Rafah would be a humanitarian catastrophe, and the White House has said it would be a “disaster.”
More from AP here.
Senegal
Riot police in Senegal’s capital Dakar today fired tear gas, stun grenades and what appeared to be rubber bullets at protesters who threw stones and set up flaming road blocks. The unrest was prompted by a decision to postpone until December an election that had been set for February 25th, which has sparked fears the country’s democracy is at risk. President Macky Sall, who has now reached his constitutional limit of two terms, said the delay was necessary due to issues with the candidate list.
More from Reuters here.
The Asante kingdom
King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the king of Ghana's traditional Asante kingdom, has received seven artefacts that were looted from his kingdom by British forces nearly 150 years ago. The items - a gold necklace, an ornamental chair, two gold stool ornaments, two bracelets, and an elephant tail whisk - were handed over by the Fowler Museum, based at the University of California in the US. In recent years, pressure has been growing on Western governments, museums and institutions to repatriate priceless objects looted from around the world during colonial times.
More from BBC here.