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‘Neither MLA, nor MP…’: BJP slams CM Revanth Reddy for providing police convoy to brother

Earlier today, Bharat Rahstra Samiti (BRS) leader Krishank posted a video showing Anumula Krishna Reddy being escorted by the police and questioned the government over the same.

2024 showdown: Christie targets DeSantis and Haley for treating Trump with kid gloves

FIRST ON FOX – With a month to go until the first votes in the Republican presidential nomination race, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is turning up the heat on 2024 GOP rivals Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Tell It Like It Is, a super PAC supporting the former New Jersey governor’s presidential campaign, is launching a new multimillion-dollar ad blitz that takes aim at DeSantis and Haley for not forcefully making the case against former President Trump. Trump remains the commanding front-runner for the Republican nomination as he makes his third straight run for the White House. The spot, shared first with Fox News on Friday, includes a clip of Christie from last week’s fourth GOP presidential primary debate, where he repeatedly chastised his rivals for failing to verbally confront Trump. Christie is a one-time Trump ally turned vocal Republican critical of the former president. CHRISTIE PUSHES BACK ON CALLS TO GET OUT OF THE RACE: ‘I’M NOT GOING ANYWHERE’ “Folks like these three guys on the stage make it sound like his conduct is acceptable. Let me make it clear. His conduct is unacceptable. He’s unfit,” Christie says in the clip used in the commercial. The ad ends with the narrator emphasizing that Christie is “the only Republican with the courage to tell the truth. And the experience to get it done.” CHRISTIE UPS HIS GAME IN A KEY PRIMARY STATE Trump made history earlier this year as the first former or current president to be indicted for a crime, but his four indictments — including in federal court in Washington, D.C., and in Fulton County court in Georgia on charges he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss — have only fueled his support among Republican voters. Christie, who has been amplifying his attacks on Haley and DeSantis for weeks for taking it easy on Trump, charged during the debate at the University of Alabama that it was “ridiculous” that his rivals would not discuss Trump. “I’m in this race because the truth needs to be spoken,” he stressed. “He is unfit to be president.” The super PAC tells Fox News that they will spend $3 million to run the ad on TV starting Friday in New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary and second overall contest in the GOP nominating calendar. They showcase that they will spend an additional half a million dollars to run the spot digitally. “‘Unacceptable’ is designed as the first of a series of ads appealing to New Hampshire’s unique position to reset the course of the nomination process,” Tell It Like It Is Chairman Bill Palatucci said. “This ad starts the 30 Day march to January 23 when Granite State voters have the opportunity to send a message to their fellow Republicans that Chris Christie is the truth teller America deserves.” CHRISTIE TARGETS HALEY, DESANTIS, ON DEBATE STAGE FOR TAKING IT EASY ON TRUMP Just as he did in his unsuccessful 2016 White House campaign, Christie is once again devoting nearly all of his time and resources to New Hampshire, where independent voters and moderates have long played a crucial role in the state’s famed primary. The latest public opinion polls in New Hampshire indicate Trump holds a very large and formidable double-digit lead, but he has under 50% support, with Haley in the upper teens and Christie a few points back. Trump also holds a commanding lead in the most recent surveys in Iowa, whose Jan. 15 caucuses kick off the Republican nominating calendar, with DeSantis a distant second, followed by Haley. Christie, who has no plans to campaign in Iowa, and multimilionaire entrepreneur and first-time candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who is barnstorming through the Hawkeye State, are in the single digits in the polls. The Tell It Like It Is ad is being released on the same day that Christie’s campaign launched their first commercial of the 2024 election cycle. The campaign’s ad criticizes DeSantis and Haley for attacking each other rather than Trump. “There’s only one candidate trying to stop Trump,” the narrator says in the spot, which the Christie campaign says it’s spending six figures to run in New Hampshire. The campaign and the super PAC are barred by law from coordinating. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

House Dem calls for answers from Mayorkas over denial of border funding extension to Arizona county

FIRST ON FOX: A House Democrat lawmaker is questioning the Department of Homeland Security over what he says is an “unacceptable” decision by the federal government to deny an extension for the period in which an Arizona county hit hard by the migrant crisis can use millions in aid. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., has written to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas requesting clarification about the use of over $5 million in funds designated for Pima County, where the number of migrants has surged from around 7,000 per month in 2022 to nearly 15,000 in 2023.  The money was given to the county as part of the Emergency Food and Shelter Program-Humanitarian (ESFP-H) which has since been phased out and replaced by the Shelter and Services Program (SSP), but local governments are still permitted to spend the money given under the prior program. Gallego says Pima County still has $5.2 million remaining to spend for Fiscal Year 22, but that its request for an extension of the period in which it can spend the funds was denied for a second time by DHS. “At a time of increased arrivals to the border, this funding is crucial, and this lack of transparency is unacceptable,” he writes. STUNNING IMAGES SHOW ARIZONA BORDER OVERRUN BY MASSIVE SURGE OF ADULT MALE MIGRANTS FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE “Without this funding, Pima County will be forced to begin spending SSP allocations to avoid revenue deficits, leading to a far earlier fiscal cliff than initially projected — as soon as March of 2024,” he warns.  Pima County is in the Tucson Sector, which has recently seen a massive migrant surge, and Gallego says the financial costs to the county have increased significantly. “For example, Pima County’s monthly costs to serve asylum seekers increased from $2,779,891.88 to $3,983,396.16 (a 43.29% increase) between June and October 2023, using the most cost-efficient practices. Costs for food have increased by 293%, and costs for transportation have increased by 95% in that same window,” he says. He says that so far the county has handled over $65 million in ESFP-H awards and has acted as a fiscal agent for other entities in the sector. “To pivot from entrusting Pima County with significant funds and grant management responsibilities to ignoring their requests for how to spend their own money is inconsistent and requires explanation,” he says.  In response to a query from Fox News Digital, DHS said that the decision was made by an independent board, which had previously extended the spending period for all subrecipients but chose not to make additional extensions. “This decision was made by the EFSP National Board, which is an independent board that previously allocated EFSP-H funds to communities across the United States, regarding unused FY22 funds, consistent with the grant program requirements,” a spokesperson said. “The EFSP National Board previously extended the spending period for FY 2022 EFSP-H grants from Dec. 31, 2022 to March 31, 2023 in order to allow all subrecipients the equal opportunity to spend this funding. After this extension, the Board chose to not extend the spending period any further.” A DHS official said that, consistent with that decision, the board denied the Pima County request last month to further extend the period, and no other agencies have requested extensions. The official said that Pima County has informed the Board that the money from FY22 will be returned, and it will spend down the $26 million in FY23 funding before moving to the $11 million in SSP funding. The inquiry comes as the border is seeing a new wave of migrants, with multiple days of encounters exceeding 10,000 apprehensions this week. CONSERVATIVE GROUPS, EX-BORDER OFFICIALS DEMAND LAWMAKERS REJECT ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ BORDER COMPROMISE Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., lawmakers have been engaged in talks over a supplemental spending agreement that includes funding for the border, as well as aid to Ukraine and Israel. The White House had requested $14 billion in funding, including for border communities, but Republicans have demanded the inclusion of asylum limits in any potential agreement. 

Stefanik hits DC judge linked to Trump case with ethics complaint

The No. 3 House Republican is calling for an ethics probe into a Washington, D.C., judge who has issued decisions in cases related to both former President Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., lodged a misconduct complaint against DC District Judge Beryl Howell on Friday over a speech she gave in late November while accepting an award from the Women’s White Collar Defense Association. Without using Trump’s name, Howell blamed the violence at the Capitol on “big lies” and warned of “a very surprising and downright troubling moment in this country when the very importance of facts is dismissed, or ignored.” Stefanik called the speech “highly inappropriate,” accusing Howell of claiming that “re-electing President Trump will lead to fascism in America.” IVANKA TRUMP TESTIFIES SHE WAS NOT INVOLVED IN DISCUSSIONS ABOUT HER FATHER’S FINANCIAL STATEMENTS “As outlined in detail below, Judge Howell’s partisan speech is obviously highly inappropriate election interference by a federal judge that undermines the public’s trust in our courts. Moreover, the public display of the cozy personal relationships between Judge Howell and her partisan friends who appear before her undermines public trust in judicial independence,” she wrote. Howell was chief judge of the DC District Court from 2016 until March of this year. On her last day of the job, she turned over communications between Trump and his lawyer to Special Counsel Jack Smith in his investigation of the former president’s handling of classified documents, the Daily Beast reported in March. She also compelled the lawyer to testify before a grand jury. She has also criticized federal prosecutors for being too lenient in sentencing recommendations for Jan. 6 protesters.  In her letter, Stefanik pointed to Howell’s relationships with Obama-era Attorney General Loretta Lynch and current Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, who were also at the event. TRUMP LEGAL TEAM FILES MOTION TO PAUSE PROCEEDINGS PENDING APPEAL Lynch had praised Howell for her handling of “the COVID-19 pandemic that closed the world, the January 6th insurrection and the resulting caseload, and the flurry of activity spurred by the Office of Special Counsel.” “It’s particularly shocking to hear the former Attorney General of the United States praise a sitting federal judge for her handling of the grand-jury proceedings on pending federal criminal charges against a defendant (President Trump), the pending criminal cases against his January 6 supporters, and even make the legal conclusion that an ‘insurrection’ occurred on January 6–despite the fact even the over-the-top Biden Special Counsel Jack Smith never brought such charges against any January 6 defendant,” Stefanik wrote. Howell also praised Monaco, who oversees Jan. 6 prosecutors in her role, in her speech – a fact Stefanik seized on in her letter to the Judicial Council of the District of Columbia Circuit. SUPREME COURT: TRUMP MUST RESPOND TO SPECIAL COUNSEL’S PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY PETITION BEFORE CHRISTMAS “I’ve been in awe of how you remain a model of calm and grace when carrying enormous responsibility for the safety of so many,” the judge said of Monaco. Stefanik wrote, “Judge Howell’s 16 minutes of substantive remarks had little to do with women representing white-collar criminal defendants – and they were hardly apolitical, let alone politically neutral.”  Stefanik, perhaps Trump’s most vocal ally in Congress, previously filed an ethics complaint against New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron for his handling of a civil case brought against the former president and the Trump Organization by state Attorney General Letitia James. She told Fox News Digital of the most recent misconduct notice, “DC Obama Judge Beryl Howell gave a highly inappropriate speech in which she insinuated the election of President Trump will lead to fascism in America.” “She also inappropriately allowed a public display of her cozy personal relationships with her partisan friends who appear before her, including the Biden Deputy Attorney General who supervises the January 6 criminal prosecutions,” she said. Fox News Digital reached out to the Washington, D.C., court system for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Denmark stepping up terror probe amid suspicion of Hamas links

Two detentions coincide with arrests in Germany, where three people allegedly linked to Hamas have been detained. Denmark is holding two people in custody and targeting four more in an investigation that may have ties to others across Europe that are linked to Hamas. The two suspects detained have been ordered to remain in pretrial detention until January 9, prosecutor Anders Larsson said on Friday. The arrests coincide with detentions in Germany allegedly linked to Hamas and in the Netherlands. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service announced on Thursday the arrests of three people on suspicion of plotting to carry out “an act of terror”. Larsson revealed that one was released after a nightlong custody hearing at a Copenhagen court. The prosecutor did not say whether the released person was still considered a suspect. The whereabouts of the other four suspects is unknown. ‘Hamas infrastructure on European soil’ Larsson also did not specify whether there is a Hamas link in the Danish arrests. However, there have been strong suggestions that they may be connected. After the arrests on Thursday, Israel’s Mossad spy agency said Denmark had exposed “Hamas infrastructure on European soil”, according to a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. “It is, of course, in relation to Israel and Gaza, completely unacceptable for someone to bring a conflict elsewhere in the world into Danish society,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told the Ritzau news agency the same day. Danish police said they would increase their public presence in the coming days, in particular in Copenhagen and around Jewish localities. Prosecutors have said it is unclear whether the arrest of Dutch national Nazih R in the Netherlands is linked to the Hamas investigation in Germany, where Lebanon-born Abdelhamid al-A and Ibrahim el-R and Egyptian national Mohamed B have been detained. German prosecutors alleged that the three detainees were tasked with finding a previously established underground Hamas weapons cache in Europe. They added: “The weapons were due to be taken to Berlin and kept in a state of readiness in view of potential terrorist attacks against Jewish institutions in Europe.” “Following the terrible attacks by Hamas on the Israeli population, attacks on Jews in Jewish institutions have also increased in our country in recent weeks,” German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said in a statement. “We must, therefore, do everything we can to ensure that Jews in our country do not have to fear for their safety again,” he added. This month, the European Union’s home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, also warned that Europe faced a “huge risk of terrorist attacks” over the Christmas holiday period during the Israel-Hamas war. Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told the Reuters news agency: “We deny there are members of Hamas detained in Denmark, Germany or any other European country.” “Publishing these allegations aims to influence the mass rallies that are supportive of Palestine in Europe.” Adblock test (Why?)

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