Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 146
EXPLAINER The number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s war on Gaza is nearing 30,000 while children are suffering from malnutrition and dehydration. Here’s how things stand on Thursday, February 29, 2024: Fighting and humanitarian crisis Israeli air strikes killed at least 25 people in the Nuseirat and Bureij camps in central Gaza overnight, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported. Two hospitals in northern Gaza have no fuel to run generators as they treat children suffering from malnutrition and dehydration. The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Ahmed al-Kahlout, told Al Jazeera Arabic that seven children died on Wednesday at the hospital due to malnutrition. The Ministry of Health in Gaza has also reported that two children have died of dehydration and malnutrition at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s war on Gaza is nearing 30,000, with 76 people killed between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, bringing the death toll to 29,954, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Regional tensions and diplomacy British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that “mob rule is replacing democratic rule” in the UK, as politicians face abuse for airing their views on Israel’s war on Gaza, leaving some fearing for their safety. Meanwhile, in the European Parliament, a Swedish member has spent most of her allotted speaking time at an EU parliamentary session in silence to protest against Israel’s war on Gaza. Canada’s international development minister Ahmed Hussen has said that the country is exploring options for delivering humanitarian aid, and “airdrops of aid into Gaza, in partnership with like-minded countries like Jordan”, were possible. New Zealand on Thursday listed Palestinian group Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist entity and imposed travel bans on “extremist” Israeli settlers whom it said had committed violent attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. In the Middle East, Israel’s military has released video footage purporting to show recent attacks by jet fighters on targets in southern Lebanon’s Kafra and Siddikine areas. In Syria, air defences intercepted Israeli strikes in the vicinity of the capital, Damascus, state media said on Wednesday. Syrian state media gave no further details about the attacks or the intended targets. Violence in the occupied West Bank Israeli forces have shot and killed a Palestinian man during their storming of the town of Beit Furik, east of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reported. Israeli forces have conducted raids elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, including in the following locations: The town of Arraba and the village of Jalbun in Jenin governorate, the town of Qaffin, north of Tulkarem city, the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya city, the city of Hebron and the town of Bani Naim, east of Hebron. Adblock test (Why?)
Can AI mediate conflict better than humans?
Doha, Qatar – Diplomats whizzing around the globe. Hush-hush meetings, often never made public. For centuries, the art of conflict mediation has relied on nuanced human skills: from elements as simple as how to make eye contact and listen carefully to detecting shifts in emotions and subtle signals from opponents. Now, a growing set of entrepreneurs and experts are pitching a dramatic new set of tools into the world of dispute resolution – relying increasingly on artificial intelligence (AI). “Groundbreaking technological advancements are revolutionising the frontier of peace and mediation,” said Sama al-Hamdani, programme director of Hala System, a private company using AI and data analysis to gather unencrypted intelligence in conflict zones, among other war-related tasks. “We are witnessing an era where AI transforms mediators into powerhouses of efficiency and insight,” al-Hamdani said. The researcher is one of thousands of speakers participating in the Web Summit in Doha, Qatar, where digital conflict mediation is on the agenda. The four-day summit started on February 26 and concludes on Thursday, February 29. Already, say experts, digital solutions have proven effective in complex diplomacy. At the peak of the COVID-19 restrictions, mediators were not able to travel for in-person meetings with their interlocutors. The solution? Use remote communication software Skype to facilitate negotiations, as then-United States envoy Zalmay Khalilzad did for the Qatar-brokered talks between the US and the Taliban in 2020. For generations, power brokers would gather behind doors to make decisions affecting people far and wide. Digital technologies can now allow the process to be relatively more inclusive. This is what Stephanie Williams, special representative of the United Nations’ chief in Libya, did in 2021 when she used a hybrid model integrating personal and digital interactions as she led mediation efforts to establish a roadmap towards elections. That strategy helped her speak to people living in areas deemed too dangerous to travel to. The UN estimates that Williams managed to reach one million Libyans. However, practitioners are now growing interested in the use of technology beyond online consultations. Geographic information systems (GIS) store information in maps to monitor ceasefire agreements. Virtual reality (VR), meanwhile, creates immersive environments that can provide diplomats with a deeper understanding of what is happening in faraway crises they are mediating. In 2021, the UN invited a group of diplomats to try out VR to understand the work of its verification mission in Colombia on the country’s peace process. Ambassadors said they were given an extraordinary glimpse of the context, fear and feelings that people in the country were going through. “It’s more direct, more emotional, it’s less letters and papers,” said one of the diplomats. “It could increase your awareness and that can make diplomacy more effective,” said another one. AI technology also enables the speedy analysis of large volumes of data, crunching months of work into minutes for a machine to read public sentiments and flag emerging threats to peace processes. Machine learning can discern patterns or correlations and help create scenarios about what stakeholders could do and when. A UN initiative developed a pilot project in Uganda that used AI tools – such as speech recognition technology – to analyse large amounts of information from radio broadcasts so that researchers could get a sense of public sentiments on issues ranging from climate change to refugees fleeing from South Sudan. But it’s not all rosy. AI is developed by engineers who, as like every human being, have their own biases. The technology is fed with data from the internet, which can reinforce or amplify existing social prejudices and promote discrimination, experts warn. Meanwhile, authenticating information and collating complex evidence is paramount at a time when faking images or news has become extremely easy. “In any conflict resolution, you need a shared basis of evidence so that both parties are coming into that mediation saying, ‘this is what we all know is true’,” said Mansoor Ahmed-Rengers, founder of OpenOrigins, an app that helps detect whether a picture is human or AI-generated. “If there’s no basis for a shared belief or a shared understanding of a situation, there’s no mediation that can happen,” said Ahmed-Rengers, who is also attending the Web Summit. Technology can help. Information, online legal resolutions or voting records must be authenticated and stored in a secure place to not be corrupted. A bank’s ultra-secure vault deep underground is of no use in the Web 3.0 era. Today, the goal is to store digital material in as many places as possible, say analysts. This is what blockchain technologies do. They keep the material in an immutable and decentralised system. Digital technologies are becoming more common in peacemaking, and they allow mediators to see conflicts from new angles, said Richard Gowan, UN’s director for the International Crisis Group. “But I also think that we should remember that the heart of any political process remains wheeling and dealing between individuals who have deeply held prejudices, fears and ideologies,” said Gowan. “Unless we develop the technology from the Men in Black films that wipes out people’s memories, the human dimension of peace will remain crucial.” Adblock test (Why?)
Reliance, Disney announce $8.5bn merger to create Indian media powerhouse
India’s entertainment market is already one of the world’s biggest, with the merger expected to further shake up the multibillion-dollar industry. India’s Reliance Industries and Walt Disney of the United States have announced the merger of their India TV and streaming media assets, creating an $8.5bn entertainment powerhouse far ahead of rivals in the world’s most populous nation. Reliance, led by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, will inject $1.4bn in the merged entity, with the company and its affiliates holding a more than 63 percent stake. Disney will hold about 37 percent, the companies said in a joint statement late on Wednesday. For Disney, the merger follows a long struggle to arrest a user exodus from its bleeding India streaming business and the financial strain caused by billions of dollars in Indian cricket rights payments, in another example of how foreign businesses can struggle to grow in India. The merger values the India business of the US entertainment giant at just about a quarter of the $15bn valuation when Disney acquired it as part of its Fox deal in 2019, sources have told the Reuters news agency. The companies said the transaction values the merged venture at about $8.5bn on a post-money basis. They did not explain how they arrived at such a valuation. “This is a landmark agreement that heralds a new era in the Indian entertainment industry,” said Ambani, whose wife Nita Ambani will serve as the chairperson and former top Disney executive Uday Shankar will be the vice chair. Together, the Reliance-Disney merged entity will have 120 TV channels and two streaming platforms, helping Ambani eclipse rivals in the country’s $28bn media and entertainment sector. “The JV will be one of the leading TV and digital streaming platforms for entertainment and sports content in India, bringing together iconic media assets across entertainment,” the companies said in a joint statement. The agreement will also help Reliance and Disney stave off competition from traditional rivals such as India’s Zee Entertainment and Japan’s Sony, as well as streaming competition from Amazon and Netflix. The announcement comes less than a month after Sony and Zee called off a $10bn merger that would have been a formidable force against Reliance and Disney. The deal also comes as Disney is facing pressure globally to streamline its businesses. Bob Iger returned as Disney’s chief executive in November 2022, less than a year after he retired, and has since restructured the company to make the business more cost-effective. Still, Disney is up against activist billionaire investor Nelson Peltz who is pushing the home of Mickey Mouse to cut costs, create a profitable streaming business globally, improve the performance of its movie studio, and clean up its succession planning. Iger in November said the company would like to stay in India, but it was considering its options. “Reliance has a deep understanding of the Indian market and consumer,” Iger said in the statement on Wednesday, adding the deal will allow “us to better serve consumers with a broad portfolio of digital services and entertainment and sports.” Adblock test (Why?)
US Supreme Court to hear Trump’s immunity claim in 2020 election case
The Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to hear former President Donald Trump’s claim of immunity from prosecution, further delaying his criminal trial on charges of conspiring to overturn his election loss in 2020. The justices on Wednesday put on hold the criminal case being pursued by Special Counsel Jack Smith and will review a lower court’s rejection of Trump’s claim he cannot be prosecuted for actions aimed at reversing his loss because he was president at the time. The court will hear arguments in late April, with a decision likely no later than the end of June. That timetable is much faster than usual, but even if the justices deny Trump’s immunity bid, it is not clear whether a trial can be scheduled and concluded before this year’s presidential election. Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Joe Biden, a Democrat, in the November 5 election. The former president’s lawyers have sought to put off a trial until after the vote. If Trump regains the presidency, he could seek to use his powers to force an end to the prosecution or potentially pardon himself for any federal crimes. The Supreme Court, in an unsigned statement, said it will consider a single question: “Whether and if so, to what extent does a former President enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office.” The question is an untested one in US jurisprudence because until Trump, a former US president had never been charged with a crime. The case once again thrusts the nation’s top judicial body, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump, into the election fray. Trump, in a post on his social media platform, hailed the court’s decision. “Without Presidential Immunity, a President will not be able to properly function, or make decisions, in the best interest of the United States of America,” Trump wrote. “Presidents will always be concerned, and even paralyzed, by the prospect of wrongful prosecution and retaliation after they leave office. This could actually lead to the extortion and blackmail of a President.” There was no immediate comment from the special counsel’s office. Smith was appointed by US Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022. In August 2023, Smith brought four federal criminal counts against Trump in the election subversion case. A March 4 trial date was postponed as Trump pressed his immunity claim, with no new date yet set. Smith’s charges accused Trump of conspiring to defraud the US, obstructing the congressional certification of Biden’s electoral victory and conspiring to do so, and conspiring against the right of Americans to vote. The charges also claim Trump and his allies made false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and devised a plan to use false electors to thwart congressional certification of Biden’s victory. Trump also sought to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence not to allow the certification to go forward. Trump’s supporters attacked the Capitol in a bid to prevent the certification. Trump last October sought to have the charges dismissed based on his claim of immunity. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected that claim in December. During January arguments in his appeal at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, one of Trump’s lawyers told the judges that even if a president sold pardons or military secrets or ordered a Navy commando unit to assassinate a political rival, he could not be criminally charged unless he is first impeached and convicted in Congress. The panel on February 6 ruled 3-0 against Trump’s immunity claim, rejecting his bid for “unbounded authority to commit crimes that would neutralize the most fundamental check on executive power – the recognition and implementation of election results”. They added, “We cannot accept that the office of the presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter”. Trump has three other pending criminal cases, with a trial in New York state court concerning hush money paid to an adult film actress set to begin on March 25. Trump has pleaded not guilty in all of them, seeking to portray them as politically motivated. The Supreme Court also is due to issue a ruling on whether to overturn a judicial decision that barred Trump from Colorado’s Republican primary ballot based on a constitutional provision regarding insurrection. Supreme Court justices during arguments on February 8 signalled scepticism towards a ruling by Colorado’s top court that barred Trump from the state’s Republican primary ballot, based on the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment, after finding he engaged in an insurrection related to the Capitol attack. The Colorado and immunity cases put the Supreme Court in the election spotlight in the most direct way since its 2000 ruling that effectively handed the presidency to Republican George W Bush over Democrat Al Gore. In a separate case to be argued on April 16, the Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a man involved in the Capitol attack can be charged with obstructing an official proceeding – the congressional certification of the 2020 election results. That case has potential implications for Trump because Smith brought two obstruction-related charges. Adblock test (Why?)
Northern Ireland judge rules ‘Troubles’ violence amnesty breaches rights
A new law that gives immunity from prosecution for most offences committed during Northern Ireland’s decades of sectarian violence is not compliant with human rights, a judge in Belfast has ruled. The British government’s Legacy and Reconciliation Bill, passed in September, stops most prosecutions for alleged killings by armed groups and British soldiers during “the Troubles” – the period in Northern Ireland from the 1960s to the 1990s during more than 3,500 people died. The law has been widely opposed by people in Northern Ireland, as critics say it shuts down access to justice for victims and survivors. Ruling on Wednesday in a legal challenge brought by victims and their families, Justice Adrian Colton said the law’s provision for conditional immunity from prosecution breaches the European Convention on Human Rights. The judge also said the law will not contribute to peace in Northern Ireland. “There is no evidence that the granting of immunity under the act will in any way contribute to reconciliation in Northern Ireland; indeed the evidence is to the contrary,” he said at Belfast High Court. However, Colton ruled that a new body set up to probe Troubles killings, to be loosely modeled on South Africa’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission, could carry out human rights-compliant investigations. The United Kindom’s government said it will consider the ruling carefully but added that it remained “committed” to implementing the legacy bill. Northern Ireland was the only part of Ireland to remain in the UK after the partition of the island in 1921. However, Catholics – who were once a minority but now form the majority of the population of Northern Ireland – generally wished to join the Republic of Ireland, whereas Protestants predominantly wished to remain in the UK. That divide eventually lead to the Troubles, and to sectarian divisions that splintered towns and cities, and continue – in less entrenched forms – to this day. John Teggart – the son of Daniel Teggart, who was killed during the Ballymurphy massacre in Belfast in 1971 – holds a banner in support of relatives and victims of the conflict known as ‘The Troubles’ in Belfast, Northern Ireland [Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters] ‘Big questions’ for the UK government Amnesty International said there were “significant questions” for the UK’s government to answer, and urged officials to repeal the law. “The core part of this legislation was the immunity from prosecution. That has now been stripped out, struck out from the law. So it’s back to Parliament and back to the UK government about what they are going to do next,” said Grainne Teggart of Amnesty. “There are big questions for the secretary of state for Northern Ireland to answer how he plans to proceed,” Teggart told Al Jazeera. “As Amnesty, we would urge him to now go back to the drawing board, to think again, to repeal this legislation and replace it with something that actually prioritises and respects victims’ rights.” Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from Belfast, said there is potentially further action in the court. “There is another action being brought in Europe by the Irish government as well, so this is not over yet,” Fawcett said. “The judge did endorse that view, that by not addressing the claims for justice by victims, that itself could inhibit reconciliation going forward.” In December, the government of the Republic of Ireland launched a separate legal case against the UK government over the Troubles law at the European Court of Human Rights. The 1998 Good Friday peace accord largely ended violence in Northern Ireland, and British authorities say the law will allow the country to move on. But those who lost loved ones have said the law would airbrush the past and allow killers to get away with murder. Dozens of legacy inquests have yet to be heard. Martina Dillon, who was among those who brought the case, said she will “fight until I get truth and justice”. Her husband, Seamus, was shot dead in 1997. Ongoing lawsuits include a case brought against Gerry Adams – the former leader of the nationalist political party Sinn Fein, which seeks the reunification of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland – by three people who were wounded in bombings attributed to the Irish Republican Army more than 50 years ago. The case is likely to be one of the last court efforts by victims seeking justice. Adblock test (Why?)
US McConnell to step down from leadership post
NewsFeed US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was emotional as he announced plans to step down as Republican leader in November. The 82-year-old is the longest-serving Senate leader in history. He plans to serve out his Senate term through January 2027. Published On 28 Feb 202428 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
‘Groundbreaking’: Michigan’s uncommitted vote for Gaza should ‘worry’ Biden
In the Michigan city known as the capital of Arab America, United States President Joe Biden came second in the Democratic primaries, in a vote hailed as “groundbreaking”. Most Democratic voters in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn chose “uncommitted” over the incumbent, as part of an organised effort to denounce his “unwavering” support for Israel’s war on Gaza. And it wasn’t just Dearborn. Initial results, released early on Wednesday, reveal that more than 101,000 people across the state joined the protest campaign at the ballot box. Advocates said the numbers serve as an enormous rebuke to Washington’s backing of Israel, not to mention a warning sign for Democrats heading into the general election in November. “It’s huge,” Palestinian-American human rights lawyer Huwaida Arraf said of the “uncommitted” tally. But Arraf, who is based in the Detroit area, said Tuesday’s 101,000 votes do not fully convey the growing frustration at Biden’s policies. She pointed out that some voters opted to cast their ballots for other candidates also to display displeasure with the incumbent president. Both Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips, who challenged Biden for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, have previously called for a ceasefire. Phillips won 20,000 votes while Williamson, who dropped out of the race ahead of Tuesday’s voting, received more than 22,000. In the aftermath of the state primary, Williamson has announced she would relaunch her campaign. Arraf added that many people chose not to participate in the process altogether. She explained that the “uncommitted” campaign was working with limited resources and started only a few weeks before the election. “Tuesday’s showing of no confidence in Biden, anger with Biden and people’s willingness to use their vote to express that extreme discontent should have the Biden team and all Democrats very, very worried,” she told Al Jazeera. One of the groups behind the effort to vote “uncommitted”, the Listen to Michigan campaign, celebrated the results in a social media post. “Our movement emerged victorious tonight and massively surpassed our expectations,” it wrote. The group promised to continue the pressure at least until the Democratic National Convention in August when the party will officially choose its candidate after the individual state primaries and caucuses. It has not, however, released an announcement about its stance on the general election — and whether it will encourage voters to boycott Biden then. ‘Historic’ vote The adage of “every vote counts” rings especially true in Michigan. That’s because in November’s general election, presidential candidates compete in individual state contests for Electoral College votes. Those Electoral College votes then decide who wins the White House. In recent general elections, the victor has come down to just a handful of key “swing states”, which can tilt either Republican or Democrat. Michigan, home to more than 10 million people, is one such state. It is often won by small margins. For instance, in 2016, former President Donald Trump beat his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, in Michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes. The state was crucial to putting Trump in the White House. In 2020, Biden beat Trump by about 150,000 votes in Michigan — roughly equal to the number of voters who did not support Biden in this primary election. Recent polls have shown an even tighter general election race in the likely event of a rematch between Biden and Trump. The electoral math, according to Sally Howell, the director of the Center for Arab American Studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, means the Biden campaign “has to be concerned about Michigan”. Howell said the significance of Tuesday’s vote cannot be understated with the Arab American and Muslim voters in the state showing their electoral leverage despite representing a relatively small proportion of overall voters. The Arab American community makes up about 2 percent of the electorate in Michigan, she explained. Together with the Muslim electorate, which overlaps with the Arab American community, they represent about 3 percent. “I think it’s historic,” she told Al Jazeera. “And for Arab American political participation, it’s really groundbreaking. I don’t think they’ve ever gotten the attention of a presidential campaign like they have it now.” ‘Not over yet’ In Arab American- and Muslim-dominated areas like Dearborn, the story is in the numbers. For instance, in Hamtramck, a Detroit-area town that is believed to be the only Muslim-majority city in the country, the ballot category “uncommitted” received 61 percent of the votes, compared with 32 percent for Biden. But even in areas with no significant Arab and Muslim presence, the uncommitted campaign made a strong showing, underscoring that the movement has extended beyond individual communities. For example, in Washtenaw County west of Detroit — a liberal stronghold that is home to the main campus of the University of Michigan — 17 percent of Democrats voted uncommitted. Overall, 13.3 percent of voters cast “uncommitted” ballots in Tuesday’s state primary with nearly all votes counted, far outpacing the Arab American and Muslim representation in the state. Howell explained those results offer a forecast for other state races, particularly as Super Tuesday — the day with the most state primary contests — approaches next week. “It’s also not over yet,” Howell said. “There are other swing states with an Arab American community or a Muslim American community or an African-American community that is in solidarity with Palestinians or a young, educated population.” “All of these groups are going to have paid attention to what’s happening in Michigan.” Advocates in nearby Minnesota, which has a large Muslim and Somali American population, have already upped their efforts to urge residents to vote “uncommitted” in the state’s Super Tuesday primary. The Michigan campaign “has just shown us that we CAN alter the course of Biden’s actions with added pressure”, Asma Nizami, an advocacy director at the Minnesota-based organisation Reviving Sisterhood, wrote in a post on social media. Still, what happens next remains unclear with some “uncommitted” voters saying a policy pivot from Biden could still win their vote. Others, including those who have rallied behind
Six children die of malnutrition in Gaza hospitals: Health Ministry
Six children have died from dehydration and malnutrition at hospitals in northern Gaza, the Health Ministry in the besieged Palestinian territory has said, as the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave worsens. Two children died at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the ministry said on Wednesday. Earlier it reported that four children died at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, while seven others remained in critical condition. “We ask international agencies to intervene immediately to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in northern Gaza,” Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement, as Israel’s attacks on Gaza continue. “The international community is facing a moral and humanitarian test to stop the genocide in Gaza.” Kamal Adwan Hospital’s Director Ahmed al-Kahlout said that the hospital had gone out of service due to a lack of fuel to run its generators. On Tuesday, Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia also went out of service for the same reason. In a video posted on Instagram and verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification unit, journalist Ebrahem Musalam shows an infant on a bed inside the pediatric department at Kamal Adwan Hospital, as power comes in and out. Musalam said the children in the department are suffering from malnutrition and a lack of infant formula, and that necessary devices have stopped working due to the constant power outages as a result of fuel shortages. Palestinian group Hamas on Wednesday said that the closure of Kamal Adwan Hospital would exacerbate the health and humanitarian crisis in Northern Gaza, which is already teetering on the brink of famine as Israel continues to block or disrupt aid missions there. ‘Killing and starvation’ On Wednesday, Israel said a convoy of 31 trucks carrying food had entered northern Gaza. The Israeli military office that oversees Palestinian civilian affairs, the Coordination of Government Activity in the Territories (COGAT), also said nearly 20 other trucks entered the north on Monday and Tuesday. These were the first major aid deliveries in a month to the devastated, isolated area, where the United Nations has warned of worsening starvation. Israel has held up the entry of aid into Gaza for weeks, with Israeli protesters taking part in demonstrations calling for no aid to be allowed into the territory, even as hunger and disease spread. UN officials say Israel’s months-long war, which has killed nearly 30,000 people in Gaza, has also pushed a quarter of the population of 2.3 million to the brink of famine. Project Hope, a humanitarian group operating a clinic in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, has said that 21 percent of the pregnant women and 11 percent of the children under the age of five it has treated in the last three weeks are suffering from malnutrition. “People have reported eating nothing but white bread as fruit, vegetables, and other nutrient-dense foods are nearly impossible to find or too expensive,” Project Hope said. Qatar, France Reaffirm in Joint Communique Depth, Breadth of Their Strategic Partnership 🔗To learn more: https://t.co/7sF2yFaDpl#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/cLsoIKdFdy — Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Qatar (@MofaQatar_EN) February 28, 2024 In a joint communique on Wednesday, Qatar and France stressed their opposition to an Israeli military offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza and underlined their “rejection of the killing and starvation suffered by the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip”. They called for the opening of all crossings into Gaza, including in the north, “to allow for humanitarian actors to resume their activities and notably the delivery of food supply and pledged jointly $200m effort in support of the Palestinian population”. Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, also said Israel must allow aid trucks into Gaza in order to address the dire humanitarian crisis. “Hundreds of aid trucks wait in line to cross into Gaza at the Rafah and Kerem Shalom [Karem Abu Salem] crossings to a starving civilian population,” Egeland said in a social media post, with a video showing scores of aid trucks lined up. “There has not been a single day we have gotten the needed 500 trucks across. The system is broken and Israel could fix it for the sake of the innocent.” Hundreds of aid trucks wait in line to cross into Gaza at the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings to a starving civilian population. There has not been a single day we have gotten the needed 500 trucks across. The system is broken and Israel could fix it for the sake of the innocent pic.twitter.com/dMb9gTbchJ — Jan Egeland (@NRC_Egeland) February 28, 2024 Medical aid group Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), has meanwhile said that medical workers are struggling to serve hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Gaza who are living in dire conditions with nowhere to go. “Healthcare has been attacked, it’s collapsing. The whole system is collapsing. We are working from tents trying to do what we can. We treat the wounded. With the displacements, people’s wounds have been infected. And I’m not even talking about the mental wounds. People are desperate. They don’t know anymore what to do,” MSF’s Meinie Nicolai said. Adblock test (Why?)
Mitch McConnell to step down as head of Republicans in US Senate
The 82-year-old Kentucky lawmaker is the longest-serving Senate leader in history. United States Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has said he will step down from his leadership role, leaving a power vacuum atop the party he has piloted for nearly 17 years, more than any other party leader in the chamber’s history. “I turned 82 last week. The end of my contributions are closer than I prefer,” McConnell said on the Senate floor on Wednesday, his voice breaking with emotion. “Father Time remains undefeated. I’m no longer the young man sitting in the back hoping colleagues remember my name. It’s time for the next generation of leadership.” The 82-year-old Kentucky lawmaker played an outsized role in helping former President Donald Trump cement a 6-3 conservative majority in the Supreme Court, paving the way for landmark rulings cheered by conservatives ending the recognition of a constitutional right to abortion and expanding gun rights. That belied McConnell’s personal opposition to Trump at times – particularly Trump’s conduct in advance of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol – as well as McConnell’s continued vocal support for trying to pass aid to Ukraine in its fight against a Russian invasion over the opposition of hardline Republican opponents. Democrats hold a slim majority in the Senate, with McConnell now serving as minority leader after previously holding the post of majority leader. McConnell said he will not run for Senate Republican leader in November’s party elections, meaning he will end his time as leader when a new Congress convenes in January. McConnell’s departure from the leadership will remove a central character in negotiations with Democrats and the White House on spending deals to keep the federal government funded and avert a shutdown. Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rittansi, reporting from Washington, DC, said that McConnell was known as “someone who could count the votes and make sure he had the votes, an effective party leader in keeping his caucus together”. “Of course, a big part of being a leader in Congress isn’t so much about policy, but raking in the cash. He was good at fundraising, making sure that the Republican Party and congressional Republicans had the money to keep things moving,” Rattansi added. His steady command of his caucus stood in contrast to relatively newly minted Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, who has struggled to lead his thin majority. McConnell twice froze up last year while making remarks in public, raising questions about his ability to continue to carry out the duties of his high-powered job. Those concerns were not assuaged by an August 31 note from the congressional physician that cleared McConnell to go on working. He indicated that he plans to serve out the rest of his term in the Senate, which extends through to January 2027. But his exit from the leadership will mark the step back of an orderly counterpart to the tumultuous approach of Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden, and the hardline House Freedom Caucus before the November 5 US election for president, the full House and a third of the Senate. Now, with Republicans having to elect a new party leader, conservative pressure to hang tough against a moderate spending deal with Democrats could weigh more heavily on the budget negotiations and the leadership election. McConnell announced his plans on the Senate floor the morning after Trump won the Michigan Republican primary, continuing his sweep towards the party’s nomination. “I think the Trump chapter reopening is his cue to exit stage left,” a former high-ranking Senate Republican aide said when asked about the timing of McConnell’s move. John Thune of South Dakota, the second most senior Senate Republican, is expected to vie for the top party job, as well as John Cornyn, a senator from Texas, and John Barrasso, from Wyoming. Adblock test (Why?)
Funeral of Kremlin critic Navalny to be held in Moscow on Friday
Widow of the Russian opposition leader unsure whether his funeral will pass off peacefully after Russia blocked memorial service plans. The funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who died earlier this month in a remote Arctic penal colony, will be held in Moscow on Friday, his family and spokesperson have said. Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya announced the funeral date on Wednesday, but she said she was unsure if it would pass off peacefully and that plans for a civil memorial service had been blocked. “The funeral will take place the day after tomorrow and I’m not sure yet whether it will be peaceful or whether police will arrest those who have come to say goodbye to my husband,” Navalnaya said in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday. The funeral will be held at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God in Moscow’s southeast Maryino district on Friday afternoon, Navalny spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said on the social media platform X, after several locations declined to host the service. He will then be buried at the Borisovskoye cemetery, about 2.5km (1.5 miles) away on the other side of the Moskva River. Navalny’s allies have accused the Kremlin of thwarting their attempts to organise a separate civil memorial service in a hall which could have accommodated more people. The Kremlin has said it has nothing to do with such arrangements. “Two people – Vladimir Putin and [Moscow Mayor] Sergei Sobyanin – are to blame for the fact that we have no place for a civil memorial service and farewell to Alexei,” Navalnaya wrote on X. “People in the Kremlin killed him, then mocked Alexei’s body, then mocked his mother, now they are mocking his memory.” The Kremlin has denied any involvement in Navalny’s February 16 death at age 47 and his death certificate – according to his supporters – says he died of natural causes. Alexey Navalny and his wife Yulia during an opposition rally in Moscow, on October 27, 2013 [File: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters] ‘Putin killed my husband’ Yarmysh spoke of the difficulties his team encountered in trying to find a site for a “farewell event” for Navalny. Writing on X, she said most venues said they were fully booked, with some “refusing when we mention the surname ‘Navalny’”, and one disclosing that “funeral agencies were forbidden to work with us”. Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, said the funeral was initially planned for Thursday – the day of Putin’s annual address to Russia’s Federal Assembly – but no venue would agree to hold it then. “The real reason is clear. The Kremlin understands that nobody will need Putin and his message on the day we say farewell to Alexey,” Zhdanov wrote on Telegram. In Navalnaya’s Wednesday speech before European lawmakers, she said, “Putin killed my husband … On his orders, Alexey was tortured for three years. He was starved in a tiny stone cell, cut off from the outside world and denied visits, phone calls and then even letters.” In the 12 days since her husband’s death, Navalnaya has staked a claim to take on the leadership of Russia’s fragmented opposition, saying she will continue his work. Speaking in English, her voice sometimes faltering, she described Putin as a “bloody monster” and told lawmakers it was not possible to negotiate with him. “You cannot hurt Putin with another resolution or another set of sanctions that is no different from the previous ones,” she said, calling for more effective action against the money flows of Russia’s ruling elite. Navalny’s allies have accused Putin of having him murdered because the Russian leader could allegedly not tolerate the thought of Navalny being freed in a potential prisoner swap, but they have not published proof to back up that accusation. The Kremlin has denied state involvement in his death and has said it was unaware of any agreement to free Navalny. Adblock test (Why?)