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The family of an American-Turkish activist have described their “shock and grief” and demanded an independent investigation into her “unlawful killing” after she was reportedly shot by Israeli forces.

Palestinian and Turkish officials said Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was shot in the head in the village of Beita, near Nablus, during a protest on Friday against the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Israel said troops had “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them”.

On Friday Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the United Nations secretary general, called for a “full investigation” and for people to “be held accountable” adding that “civilians must be must be protected at all times”.

In a statement released on Instagram by Ms Eygi’s family, they described their “shock and grief” adding “she was gentle, brave, silly, supportive, and a ray of sunshine”.

Pic: Provided by ISM from Eygi's family
Image:
Pic: Provided by ISM from Eygi’s family

Ms Eygi, who was a volunteer at the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was a “fiercely passionate human rights activist” and “strong, beautiful and nourishing” who was “taken needlessly, unlawfully and violently by the Israeli military”, her family said.

“Aysenur just turned 26 and graduated three months ago from the University of Washington, where she studied Psychology and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures… Aysenur felt compelled to travel to the West Bank to stand in solidarity with Palestinian civilians who continue to endure ongoing repression and violence.”

Her family has also insisted that “an Israeli investigation is not adequate” and demanded the US intervene “to order an independent investigation into the unlawful killing of a US citizen and to ensure full accountability for the guilty parties”.

The White House said it was “deeply disturbed” by the death of Ms Eygi and called on Israel to investigate.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken called it a “tragic loss” and said American officials are “intensely focused” on establishing the facts.

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US ‘deplores’ citizen death in West Bank

Turkey describes death as ‘murder’

Turkey‘s foreign ministry described her death as “murder”, with President Tayyip Erdogan saying he would “continue to work in every platform to halt Israel’s policy of occupation and genocide”.

Israel denies its actions in occupied Palestinian territories amounts to genocide.

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Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli participating in Friday’s protest, said the shooting happened shortly after dozens of Palestinians and international activists gathered on a hillside outside the northern West Bank town of Beita, overlooking the Israeli settlement of Evyatar.

Shots heard from rooftop

Mr Pollak said Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and live ammunition at Palestinians who were throwing stones, and later two soldiers on the roof of a nearby home aimed a gun in the group’s direction and fired.

Mariam Dag, another ISM activist at the protest, also said she saw an Israeli soldier on a rooftop, then heard two shots and saw blood coming from Ms Eygi’s head.

Palestinians walk on a damaged road following an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
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Palestinians survey the damage following Israel’s military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday. Pic: AP

Israeli military vehicles maneuver during an operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
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Israel’s military operation continues in Jenin which has been sealed off by forces since last week. Pic: AP

Two doctors confirmed to the Associated Press news agency that Ms Eygi was shot in the head – Dr Ward Basalat, who administered first aid at the scene, and Dr Fouad Naffa, director of Rafidia Hospital in Nablus where she was taken.

ISM claimed 17 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces at the weekly Beita protests since March 2020.

Tried to stop her

Aria Fani, a professor of Middle Eastern languages and cultures at the University of Washington where Ms Eygi recently graduated, recalled how he had tried to talk her out of going to the West Bank.

Mr Fani said she told him “she needed to bear witness for the sake of her own humanity”.

Last week, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched raids across the occupied West Bank and sealed off the city of Jenin in what the Israeli foreign minister described as a “full-fledged war” against “Islamic-Iranian terrorist infrastructures”.

The armed wings of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah said in separate statements that their gunmen were fighting Israeli forces in the three West Bank areas.

In August, dozens of Israeli settlers, some wearing masks, attacked a West Bank village and torched homes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he viewed it with the “utmost severity” – but his military has been accused of standing by as attacks take place.

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Wildlife Photographer Of The Year: Tadpoles take the top prize from almost 60,000 entries of world’s greatest animal and nature pictures

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Wildlife Photographer Of The Year: Tadpoles take the top prize from almost 60,000 entries of world's greatest animal and nature pictures

A marine conservation photojournalist’s “magical” picture shining a light on the underwater world of a tadpole species has earned him the title of Wildlife Photographer Of The Year.

Shane Gross, from Canada, captured the western toad tadpoles while snorkelling through lily pads in Cedar Lake on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

He managed to snap a cloud of the amphibians, which are a near-threatened species due to habitat destruction and predators, while avoiding the visibility-reducing layers of silt and algae covering the bottom.

Titled The Swarm Of Life, the photograph has been crowned the winner of the Natural History Museum’s prestigious Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2024 competition out of a record-breaking 59,228 entries, from 117 countries and territories.

Kathy Moran, chair of the jury, said they were “captivated by the mix of light, energy and connectivity between the environment and the tadpoles”.

This is the first time the species has been featured in the competition, which is now in its 60th year, she added.

Life Under Dead Wood

Life Under Dead Wood.
Pic: Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, from Germany, was awarded the title of Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year, for an up-close image featuring slime mould on the right, and a macroscopic animal called a springtail on the left, taken in Berlin.

Tinker-Tsavalas used a technique called focus stacking, combining 36 images with different areas of focus together.

Judges said it showed great skill and “incredible attention to detail, patience and perseverance”.

Here are some of the other category winners.

Free As A Bird – Alberto Roman Gomez, Spain (10 and under)

Free As A Bird - Alberto Roman Gomez/ Wildlife Photographer Of The Year

Alberto watched from the window of his father’s car at the edge of the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, in Cadiz, Andalusia, to take this picture – managing to capture the stonechat bird as it was perched, between trips to gather insects.

An Evening Meal – Parham Pourahmad, USA (11-14)

An Evening Meal.
Pic:Parham Pourahmad/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Parham visited the Ed R Levin County Park in Milpitas, California, most weekends over a summer to take photographs showing the wildlife living in a busy city park. This picture shows a young Cooper’s hawk eating a squirrel in the last rays of sunset.

Frontier of the Lynx – Igor Metelskiy, Russia

Frontier of the Lynx.
Pic: Igor Metelskiy/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

A lynx stretches in the early evening sunshine in the Lazovsky District in Primorsky Krai, Russia. The remote location and changing weather conditions meant access was tricky, and it took more than six months of waiting for Metelskiy to capture the image of the elusive animal.

On Watch – John E Marriott, Canada

On Watch.
Pic: John E Marriott/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

This image also features a lynx, this one with its fully grown young sheltering from the wind behind it. Marriott had tracked the family group for almost a week through snowy forests in Yukon.

Practice Makes Perfect – Jack Zhi, USA

Practice Makes Perfect 
Pic: Jack Zhi/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

A young falcon practises its hunting skills on a butterfly above its sea-cliff nest. This was taken in an area in Los Angeles, California, visited by Zhi over the past eight years.

A Tranquil Moment – Hikkaduwa Liyanage Prasantha Vinod, Sri Lanka

A Tranquil Moment.
Pic: Hikkaduwa Liyanage Prasantha Vinod/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

This picture shows a young toque macaque sleeping in an adult’s arms, taken after a morning of photographing birds and leopards at the Wilpattu National Park. Vinod spotted a troop of the macaques moving through trees above, and used a telephoto lens to frame this moment as a young monkey slept between feeds.

Wetland Wrestle – Karine Aigner, USA

Wetland Wrestle.
Pic: Karine Aigner/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Karine Aigner was leading a tour group when she noticed an odd shape in the water along the Transpantaneira Highway, in Mato Grosso, Brazil – binoculars confirmed she was looking at a flash of a yellow anaconda, coiling itself around the snout of a yacare caiman.

The Demolition Squad – Ingo Arndt, Germany

The Demolition Squad.
Pic: Ingo Arndt/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Arndt’s image shows the dismemberment of a blue ground beetle by red wood ants – carving the dead animal into pieces tiny enough to fit through the entrance to their nest in Hessen, Germany.

The Artful Crow – Jiri Hrebicek, Czech Republic

The Artful Crow
Pic: Jiri Hrebicek/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

This perching carrion crow, pictured in Basel, Switzerland, looks almost like an impressionist painting, judges said. To create the effect, Hrebicek moved his camera in different directions, while using a long shutter speed.

Under the Waterline – Matthew Smith, UK/Australia

Under the Waterline 
Pic: Matthew Smith/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Smith used a specially made extension he designed for the front of his underwater camera housing to create this split image of a leopard seal beneath the Antarctic ice in Paradise Harbour. The young seal made several close, curious passes, he said. “When it looked straight into the lens barrel, I knew I had something good.”

Tiger in Town – Robin Darius Conz, Germany

Tiger in Town.
Pic: Robin Darius Conz/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

A tiger sits on a hillside against the backdrop of a town where forests once grew in Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, India. Conz was following the big cat as part of a documentary team filming the wildlife of the Western Ghats.

Dusting for New Evidence – Britta Jaschinski, Germany/UK

Dusting for New Evidence
Pic: Britta Jaschinski/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Jaschinski spent time at the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) border force department, where confiscated animal products are tested. This image shows a crime scene investigator from London’s Met Police dusting for prints on a confiscated tusk at Heathrow Airport.

Dolphins of the Forest – Thomas Peschak, Germany/South Africa

Dolphins of the Forest.
Pic: Thomas Peschak/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Peschak documents the relationship between endangered Amazon river dolphins, which are also known as botos or pink river dolphins, and the people with whom they share their home in the waters of both Brazil and Colombia.

The Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2024 exhibition opens at the Natural History Museum, London, on Friday 11 October

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Fugitive dad and children spotted in countryside years after going missing

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Fugitive dad and children spotted in countryside years after going missing

A father and his three children who have been missing for three years have been spotted walking through a rural area of New Zealand.

Police said officers had launched a major search following the “credible sighting” of Tom Phillips, along with his two daughters and son.

They were seen hiking through a bush area near Marokopa on the country’s North Island.

Phillips, along with Jayda, 11, Maverick, nine, and Ember, eight, were spotted from a distance by a 16-year-old pig hunter, according to local media.

They were wearing camouflage gear and large camping backpacks – while the fugitive father was also reportedly seen holding a gun.

The foursome have been missing since December 2021, when police say Phillips took his children to an “unknown location”.

The children’s mother Cat said she was overjoyed by the sighting but also “overwhelmed” – as she called on Phillips to hand himself in to the police.

She told the New Zealand Herald newspaper: “It doesn’t get any easier… It’s been nearly three years.

“It was like Christmas come early and I really thought they would be coming home this time.”

Cat – mother of missing children Jayda, Maverick and Ember Phillips. Pic: New Zealand Police
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The children’s mother Cat said the response to the sighting had been too slow. Pic: New Zealand Police

However, after Phillips and the children were spotted on Thursday, police are yet to locate them despite deploying a military helicopter and other resources.

Cat hit out at the official response to the sighting, describing it as “lacking”.

She added: “More should have been done, instantly… How can there not be more effort put in?

“It’s a confirmed sighting and yet nothing has come of it.”

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Earlier this summer police offered $80,000 (£37,000) for information about the missing family members, although the deadline for the reward has now expired.

Since 2021 there have been numerous sightings, including in November 2023 when a suspect thought to be Phillips was caught on CCTV stealing a quad bike from outside a rural home.

Police also suspect he was involved in an armed robbery of a bank in Te Kuiti in May 2023, with officers later issuing a warrant for his arrest.

Fugitive father Tom Phillips. Pic: New Zealand Police
Image:
Tom Phillips. Pic: New Zealand Police

Detective Inspector Andrew Saunders said: “While we cannot go into detail, we want to reassure the public that we have the resources in place to respond to any information or reports of sightings that come in.

“Our focus is very much on the safe return of Jayda, Maverick and Ember to their whānau [family] and we are doing all that we can to make that happen.”

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Spanish tennis star Paula Badosa apologises for ‘shocking’ chopsticks photo while playing in China

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Spanish tennis star Paula Badosa apologises for 'shocking' chopsticks photo while playing in China

Former world number two tennis player Paula Badosa has apologised after being accused of racism over a picture that appeared to show her pulling her eyes back with chopsticks while playing in China.

The picture was reportedly posted on Instagram by her coach Pol Toledo Bague after she lost in the semi-finals of the China Open on Saturday.

In it, Badosa, 26, was in a restaurant holding chopsticks up to her eyes and squinting.

Among the criticisms levelled at her, one social media user asked if the picture was “supposed to be funny”. Another accused her of “casual racism”, while a third asked if she thought “I have Asian friends” was a “legitimate defence for racism”.

One comment simply said “I am offended” and another user called it “quite shocking” that Badosa herself had liked the photo.

Badosa initially responded saying she had not been “imitating Asian people”, but was instead “playing with my face and wrinkles. I love Asia and I have many Asian friends. They are the kindest”.

She then posted an apology on X which read: “Really sorry didn’t know this was offensive towards racism [sic]. My mistake. I take full responsibility. This mistakes [sic] will make me learn for next time.”

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That message appeared on Monday, and on Tuesday morning Badosa – who is now the world number 15 – withdrew from this week’s event in Wuhan saying she had gastroenteritis.

In another post, she said: “There are times that are managed better and others worse… I continue to learn from each one of them. I continue to rise from each situation. I remain proud of each step forward.”

In 2008, before the Beijing Olympics, Spain’s basketball federation published an advert for their men’s team that showed players using their fingers to pull at the sides of their eyes.

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