Attack launched from Houthi-held Yemen hits cargo ship in Red Sea
Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacked a cargo ship in the Red Sea, near the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait, causing a fire on deck in the latest of a near-daily series of raids in the commercially vital waterway. The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control much of Yemen but are not recognised internationally, have said that they are targeting shipping to pressure Israel during its offensive on Gaza, which has killed more than 18,700 people in the two-month-old war against Hamas, which governs the enclave. “We are aware that something launched from a Houthi-controlled region of Yemen struck this vessel which was damaged, and there was a report of a fire,” a US defence official told the AFP news agency on Friday. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, also confirmed the attack to The Associated Press news agency. Speaking in Tel Aviv, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said, “While the Houthis are pulling the trigger, so to speak, they’re being handed the gun by Iran.” The ship was identified as the Liberia-flagged Al-Jasrah, a 370-metre (1,200-foot) container ship built in 2016. Private intelligence firm Ambrey said the vessel, owned by German transport company Hapag-Lloyd, “sustained physical damage from an aerial attack” north of the Yemeni coastal city of Mokha. “The projectile reportedly hit the port side of the vessel and one container fell overboard due to the impact. The projectile caused a fire on deck” that was reported over radio, Ambrey said. The Houthis have said they will target any ship travelling to Israel, irrespective of its nationality, and are now launching regular attacks, although they are mostly unsuccessful. The ship was en route from the Greek port of Piraeus to Singapore. There were no casualties and the vessel was now travelling on towards its destination, a Hapag-Lloyd spokesman told AFP. ‘Threat to commercial shipping’ Sullivan, who is visiting Israel, said the Houthi rebels were threatening freedom of movement in the Red Sea, vital for massive oil and goods shipments. “The United States is working with the international community, with partners from the region and from all over the world to deal with this threat,” he told reporters. The attack occurred near Bab al-Mandab, the narrow strait between Yemen and northeast Africa through which much of global commerce flows. Some 40 percent of international trade passes through the area, which leads to the Red Sea, Israel’s southern port facilities, and the Suez Canal. Insurance costs for ships transiting the area have jumped in recent days, amounting to increases in the tens of thousands of dollars for larger ships like oil tankers, reports say. While warships passing through the Red Sea are well equipped and can retaliate, commercial vessels do not have the same protections. Crews under fire by heavy weapons typically abandon the bridge and control their vessels remotely from an armoured citadel. Israel’s regional rivals have cited the high Palestinian death toll and occupation of much of Gaza as motivating their attacks, raising the risk of the conflict spreading further. The rebels have tried to hijack and capture several ships, succeeding at least once in November. They typically order them to surrender and head to a Yemeni port, and open fire if they do not comply. US, French and British warships are patrolling the area and have shot several missiles out of the sky. Adblock test (Why?)
‘We barely make ends meet’: In Italy, some women are postponing motherhood
Giada, a 30-year-old writer, lives in central Italy with her boyfriend, a shop assistant also in his thirties. After several unpaid internships, she finally secured a more reliable position this year. As a writer specialising in science, she earns about 800 euros ($876) a month on a one-year part-time contract. “They said they are going to renew it, but it’s a small company and everything is very unstable,” Giada told Al Jazeera. For this reason, she is postponing motherhood. “Having kids has never been a question for me, and my boyfriend and I discuss it as he would also like to have them. But then we think about our precarious situation and realise that becoming parents now would not be sustainable. We barely make ends meet – imagine with a child.” Working in Italy as a woman is fraught with challenges. The country is home to the lowest female employment rate in the European Union and a steep gender pay gap. Women are also often more likely to be employed in “non-standard” arrangements, such as part-time and temporary jobs. And it is mothers and young women who are the most affected. “We are lucky in other ways,” Giada said. “Our families support us so we know that if we need help we can ask them. “[But] what if I get pregnant and my company decides to not renew my contract? It is not so unrealistic that this could happen.” Chiara, a 26-year-old social media strategist living in Padua with her boyfriend, said given their salaries, they cannot plan for a family yet. “I left my parents’ home when I was 19 and almost immediately became financially independent by working while studying,” she said. “All my wages have always been used for daily living, not allowing me to save any money.” Chiara is working on an apprenticeship contract, earning about 1,200 euros ($1,314) per month. Looking ahead, she does not expect her salary to rise by much. “Our desire to become parents is strong, but it is never stronger than knowing that a kid deserves to live comfortably,” she said. “With groceries, rent and bills going up, while our salary remains the same, it is basically impossible to do so. “Of course, this is not something that makes me happy: not knowing whether our financial situation will ever allow us to have children scares me, because this day may never come”. Motherhood postponed According to a recent Department of Health report, Italian women are, on average, older than 31 when they have their first child. About 62 percent of babies in 2022 were born to mothers aged between 30 and 39. Those aged between 20 and 29 accounted for 26 percent of births, compared with 30 percent in 2012. The average number of children per woman is now 1.24, one of the lowest rates in Europe. To compare, France’s rate, which is considered high, was 1.8 in 2021 while Greece’s was 1.4, according to the World Bank. The Department of Health said the trends are partly down to a “decrease in the propensity to have children”. While women are under less societal pressure to have children, in Italy, the biggest obstacle to motherhood for some is being able to afford it. Official figures show that 72 percent of resignations in 2021 were submitted by women. Most of those who quit cited the difficulties associated with juggling work and childcare duties. “Care work is still all on women’s shoulders, even for couples where both have jobs,” Chiara Daniela Pronzato, professor of demography at the University of Turin, told Al Jazeera. While women get five months’ maternity leave, fathers are entitled to just 10 days. Good quality and affordable childcare is in short supply. There are not enough state-run nursery places and private preschools are very expensive. Plans to use 4.6 billion euros of the EU’s COVID-19 recovery funds to build new nurseries are lagging. “The most expensive aspect of parenthood is children’s time. Caring for them costs money,” Pronzato said. “When a woman has kids and a low salary, it is likely she would resign to take care of the family, setting her up in a state of poverty that certainly does not help the country to grow. “Increasing the fertility rate is not important because ‘we are shrinking as a population’, but rather to maintain economic prosperity,” Pronzato explained. “If women worked more, they could have more children, as shown by France, Sweden and Norway, where fertility and female employment rates are both high.” Presenting the government’s 2024 budget, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has made clear her desire to increase the birth rate, announced measures for families with children, including free nursery care for a second child, the temporary exemption of women with two or more children from social security contributions, and benefits for companies that hire mothers on permanent contracts. “A woman who gives birth to at least two children … has already made an important contribution to society,” Meloni said in October. But Pronzato warned that while incentives could be helpful, “there should be more focus on services instead of money, as it is hard for people to trust that these bonuses will remain for a long time”. “Building new kindergartens and offering full-time education and after-school activities in schools would rather be a more forward-looking step,” she explained. “We should begin to consider children as precious and important to everyone, because the future depends on them, and it should be the community, the public – not the individual household – that take care of them.” Adblock test (Why?)
Parliament attack accused Lalit Jha sent to 7-day police remand by Delhi court
The Delhi Police while seeking 15-day custody of Jha told the court, “He is a mastermind. We need his custody to unearth the whole conspiracy and main motive behind the incident. We need to travel and take him to different cities and places. We need custody to recover the mobile devices also.”
AK Gov. Mike Dunleavy proposes $3,400 payment for residents amid nearly $1 billion budget gap
Alaska Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy unveiled a budget plan Thursday that would pay residents an oil-wealth dividend of about $3,400 next year using a formula that lawmakers have all but abandoned and use savings to plug an estimated $990 million deficit. The proposal does not include an increase in the per-student K-12 school funding formula, though Dunleavy, a former educator, said he expected education to be at the fore of discussions when lawmakers convene for their new legislative session next month. He said he wanted lawmakers to consider his proposal from last session that would provide bonuses to teachers as a way to help recruit and retain them. Dunleavy blasted the federal government and groups that have challenged oil, mining and other development projects in Alaska, saying it has left the state with choices such as having to make budget cuts, tax residents and businesses, or reduce the size of the yearly dividend. Alaska has no state sales tax or personal income tax, and for years, without resolution, lawmakers have talked about the need for a fiscal plan that moves away from the boom-bust cycles of budgeting tied to the state’s reliance on a volatile commodity: Oil. ALASKA LAWMAKERS PASS SPENDING PACKAGE, ENDING SPECIAL SESSION IN ONE DAY Central to a fiscal plan is how much the yearly dividend should be. For years, until 2015, the dividend was paid according to a formula that many lawmakers have since come to view as unsustainable and unaffordable. In 2016, amid deficits, then-Gov. Bill Walker vetoed about half the amount available for dividends, and the state Supreme Court later decided the dividend program must compete for annual funding like any other state program. The amount has since been set by what can get enough votes to get a budget passed, with debate over the size of the check often overshadowing other issues. This year’s dividend was $1,312 and cost about $880 million, with a potential for a bonus check of up to $500 next year if oil prices exceed forecasts. Dunleavy on Thursday proposed a dividend for next year in line with the formula last used in 2015, at a cost of about $2.3 billion for checks to residents of about $3,400 each, his budget office estimated. The toll of inflation is “taking a bite out of everybody’s pocketbook. So we’re hoping that we can keep the PFD as high as possible to help Alaskans afford groceries, afford fuel, etc.,” Dunleavy said at a news conference, referring to the Permanent Fund Dividend. AK GOV. MIKE DUNLEAVY PROPOSES $8.3M FUNDING BOOST TO ADDRESS CASELOAD, STAFFING ISSUES FOR PUBLIC DEFENDER The budget proposal is a starting point. The House and Senate will each have a chance to craft their own versions of the budget, which typically get reconciled through negotiations near the end of a legislative session. The 40-member House has a Republican-led majority. The 20-member Senate is controlled by a bipartisan majority. Senate Finance Committee Co-chair Bert Stedman, a Sitka Republican, in a statement said a focus “will continue to be a balanced budget without having to dip into our significantly low reserves. It’s our job to allocate resources wisely while addressing the needs of our communities.” Administration officials on Thursday outlined other items in the budget plan for the fiscal year starting July 1 and as supplemental items for the current year, including funding for additional staff to process a backlog in food stamp benefits. As part of the budget for the current year, the Legislature approved a one-time, $175 million funding boost for schools in response to pleas from local officials seeking a more permanent funding increase. School officials have said that inflation and fixed costs like heating were taking a toll on their budgets and in some cases forcing program cuts or requiring increased class sizes. But Dunleavy vetoed half that extra funding. GOV. DUNLEAVY WANTS TO MAKE AK THE ‘MOST PRO-LIFE STATE’ IN THE US On Thursday, some education leaders said they were disappointed Dunleavy didn’t include in his proposal an increase in the school funding formula. Jharrett Bryantt, superintendent of the Anchorage School District, said Alaska districts “are struggling to attract and retain teachers and classroom support positions due to wages and benefits that cannot compete with those offered in the Lower 48. This directly results in lower student outcomes and larger class sizes.” He said his district has “hundreds of open positions that it struggles to fill because of how prospective educators view current conditions of the profession in Alaska.”
Emaciated but alive: Gaza mothers, premature babies reunited in Egypt
Central Gaza Strip – When Noor Reyhan gave birth to her baby boy, the 20-year-old had no idea it would be the first and last time she would see him for two months. Noor had gone into labour eight months into her pregnancy and gave birth on October 6 at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. “Because he was premature, I didn’t have the chance to see him,” Noor said. “The doctors took him immediately to put him in an incubator. I only have a photo of him.” The next day, all hell broke loose. Israeli forces bombarded northern Gaza indiscriminately, a few hours after Hamas fighters attacked army outposts and Israeli towns just outside the strip. Living in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, Noor and her husband, Huthaifa Marouf, knew from previous Israeli offensives that their area would be targeted. So they left their home and took refuge at a school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, where Noor could not even find a mattress and instead slept on a blanket on a cold classroom floor with 40 other people. Noor and her husband, Huthaifa, look at photos of their baby boy on her phone. They have not seen him for weeks [Suleiman al-Farra/Al Jazeera] “We have been displaced since the beginning,” Noor said. “Our house was destroyed in the first week after the Israelis targeted our neighbourhood. Even before I became pregnant, we had prepared the nursery room in our home. That’s all gone now.” The new parents tried to take their baby with them but were told they would be risking his life. Besides, relatives and doctors told them that, according to the rules of war, a hospital would be the safest place. They named their son Ayman – which means blessed, righteous or lucky – weeks after he was born. For the next several weeks, they wouldn’t know if he was even alive. Babies left behind In the second week of November, Israeli forces besieged al-Shifa Hospital. Over the course of several days, the hospital was targeted several times, terrorising thousands of displaced families sheltering there and forcing them to leave. Among the dozens of premature babies in the hospital were Ayman and twin girls Rateel and Raseel. Unlike Noor and Huthaifa, Sawsan Abu Odeh, the mother of Rateel and Raseel, was sheltering in al-Shifa. But as the bombardment of the hospital intensified, the 20-year-old had to leave. Rateel and Raseel Abu Odeh were born on October 13 at al-Shifa Hospital [Suleiman al-Farra/Al Jazeera] “That was the day the Israelis threw leaflets telling people to head south,” Sawsan said. “I saw them [the twins] every day for a month and would pump milk to give to them, but I couldn’t hold them.” A week earlier when the fifth-floor maternity ward of the hospital was hit by an air strike, Sawsan told the doctor at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) that she wanted to take her twins out of the incubators and head south. “He said it was too dangerous to move them and that they would die if I took them with me because they were still taking nutrition intravenously,” she said. “He pointed out that the gunpowder in the air and the dust and dirt in general would impact their health even more and assured me that the safest place for them was the hospital.” As they talked, the hospital grounds next to the NICU were bombed. The doctor took his wife and children, who were staying with him in the hospital, and fled. The next day, Sawsan and her father, Khaled, were coming back to the hospital after going to the market to buy clothes for the twins. As they made their way towards the entrance gate, an Israeli missile struck it. “A man only a few metres away from me was injured in his leg – there was a big chunk missing,” Sawsan said. “Another man close to us was wounded in his shoulder. My father grabbed me, and we fled from the hospital.” The young mother was hysterical. She had given birth just a few weeks before with some complications and now found herself on the road leading to the southern Gaza Strip with thousands of other people. “I kept stopping and crying and told my family that I didn’t want to go on, that they should continue without me,” she said. “We passed by the soldiers and their tanks and saw many bodies lying on the road. One of the bodies was burned black, and I saw two decomposing bodies in an abandoned car as well.” Her mother flagged down a donkey cart and put her daughter on it until they reached the Maghazi refugee camp, where once again they took shelter in another school. “It was horrible,” Sawsan said. “The bathrooms were filthy. There was no food. I wasn’t in a good state, and I blamed my dad for making me abandon my babies.” As she spoke, her father, Khaled, let out a sad chuckle. After they arrived at Maghazi, worried about his daughter’s state of mind, he set about asking around for news of the premature babies left at al-Shifa Hospital. Sawsan Abu Odeh and her father, Khaled, sit outside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital waiting for the ambulance that will take her to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt to be reunited with her twin baby girls [Suleiman al-Farra/Al Jazeera] “For weeks, we had no idea where the girls were,” he said. “We called every hospital, but they gave us conflicting news. Some said they were taken to an Israeli hospital, others to the hospital in Ramallah.” Sawsan’s fear intensified after reports emerged that several of the premature babies at the hospital had died. She got in touch with the ambulance services, who referred her to the Red Crescent. It told her to contact the Red Cross, which eventually referred her along to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. After many attempts because of the bad phone lines, she
Video said to show Palestinian detainees being paraded
NewsFeed Video shared on social media appears to show blindfolded Palestinian detainees being paraded by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, to a soundtrack of an Israeli children’s song. The Israeli military has been contacted for comment. Published On 15 Dec 202315 Dec 2023 Adblock test (Why?)
China’s big freeze blamed for Beijing subway crash
Extending recent erratic weather patterns, China has been hit by sudden freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall. More than 500 people have been hospitalised after two subway trains collided amid heavy snowfall in Beijing. Authorities in the Chinese capital said on Friday that 102 people had suffered broken bones. The accident happened in west Beijing on an above-ground portion of the sprawling Changping subway line on Thursday evening. China has been in the grip of harsh winter weather over recent days. Snow has been building in Beijing since Monday, with temperatures expected to slide further to minus 12 degrees Celsius (10.4 Fahrenheit). Further north, cities such as Shenyang could drop to a 2023 low of minus 27C (minus 16.6F), state broadcaster CCTV said. Due to the weather conditions, slippery tracks prompted a braking on the leading train. The train following from behind was on a descending section and went into a skid and was unable to brake in time, the city transport authority said in a statement on social media. Emergency medical personnel, police, and transport authorities responded, and all passengers were evacuated by about 11pm. By Friday morning, 423 people had been released from hospital, 25 passengers were under observation and 67 remained hospitalised. No deaths were recorded. On social media, images of the collision showed passengers on the floor and partial lighting outages. Some commuters used emergency hammers to try to break the train windows to escape. In other videos, firefighters were seen helping to evacuate an elderly passenger while others made their way through the deep snow to leave the scene. A worker operates a machine sweeping snow on a street amid snowfall in Beijing, China [Tingshu Wang/Reuters] “We sincerely apologise for the accident that occurred this evening,” Beijing Subway, the train’s operator, said on the Weibo social media platform. “Passengers who left the premises unaccompanied during the evacuation and who are not feeling well can contact us at any time. We will take on the cost of care,” it added. Alerts remain in place in Beijing for icy roads, extreme cold and heavy snowfall. Temperatures were due to fall to minus 11C (12F) overnight on Friday. The heavy snow began falling in Beijing on Wednesday, leading to the closures of schools and train operations. However, no deaths have been reported from the winter storms that have hit a large portion of northern China. The sudden cold snap in the capital, contrasting with autumnal temperatures last week, continues a recent trend of sharp swings in temperatures. Beijing experienced one of its warmest Octobers in decades in a year of extreme weather patterns. Adblock test (Why?)
BJP hits back after JD(U) cancels Nitish Kumar’s rally in Uttar Pradesh, says ‘it is because…’
JD(U) leader and Bihar Rural Development Minister Shrawan Kumar on Thursday told PTI that Nitish Kumar’s rally had to be cancelled as the Jagatpur Inter College administration in Varanasi’s Rohania, where the event was to be held, refused to grant permission for it.
Texas’ statewide poverty rate declines, but several rural counties see increase in poor residents
An influx of highly educated people from other states helped shift the state’s economic fortune. But in many parts of Texas, residents are struggling as jobs dry up.
We ranked Texas House members along the ideological spectrum based on their 2023 votes
Here’s a look at House members, ranked from most conservative to most liberal, based on their votes cast during the 2023 regular session and four special sessions.