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Floyd Mayweather Denies Mob Attack After Confronted in London Over Israel Support
Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. speaking during a press conference previous for the Floyd Mayweather Jr v John Gotti III fight. on August 21, 2024 in Mexico City, Mexico. Photo: Carlos Tischler/ Eyepix Group via Reuters Connect
Retired boxing champion Floyd Mayweather issued a statement clarifying what happened when he was confronted by an angry crowd and forced to leave London’s Hatton Garden jewelry district on Tuesday night.
The undefeated boxer, 47, was shopping at the jewelry market in Central London when he was escorted out by his security guards and forced to drive away in a car after reportedly being confronted for supporting Israel.
Videos circulating online showed a rowdy crowd of people trying to reach Mayweather and attack him before he got into his car and sped away. Mayweather’s security guards prevented anyone from getting close enough to attack the former boxer, and footage showed that even when several people tried to push past the security and reach for Mayweather, he was quickly pushed into his vehicle by his security.
Even as his vehicle drove away, the angry crowd followed the car and yelled insults at Mayweather, including calling him a “pu—y.” A source close to Mayweather told The Sun that the crowd also shouted racial slurs at him.
Floyd Mayweather was chasted out at Hatton Garden over comments that he supports Israel.. pic.twitter.com/QfGWOFp0oc
— London & UK Street News (@CrimeLdn) December 10, 2024
In a statement posted on Instagram on Wednesday morning, Mayweather said he is “perfectly fine.”
“Let me set the record straight,” he told his 29.9 million followers. “I wasn’t punched or touched in any way. What you’re seeing is just my security doing their job to keep things under control. I was in the UK for a quick 48-hour stop to do some shopping, and unfortunately, people let jealously and negativity fuel false stories. I’m perfectly fine, and there’s really nothing more to it.”
A witness told The Sun that the incident began after one of the jewelers in the market at Hatton Garden shouted “he supports genocide” in reference to Mayweather, who officially retired in 2017 but is still boxing in exhibitions. The comment prompted others in the market to then push and try to get to Mayweather and attack him as he was shopping, but the ex-boxer was heavily guarded by security.
“A lot of the other jewelers got involved,” the witness said. “There was a massive argument going on. People were pushing trying to get him and slap his head. All these macho men were trying to fight him.”
The witness said that Mayweather, who has visited Israel several times this year, was also asked in the market why he supported Israel, and he responded by reiterating that he was proud to support the Jewish people. His response angered multiple observers, who then tried to attack him and push past his security guards, but to no avail.
The incident took place shortly after Mayweather launched a new initiative to give every orphan in Israel a gift for their birthday.
The post Floyd Mayweather Denies Mob Attack After Confronted in London Over Israel Support first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The post Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.