📷: Palestinians line up for food distribution in Deir al Balah, Gaza, May 10, 2024.
In what they are calling an “unprecedented emergency,” U.N. agencies are warning that humanitarian operations thro... View More📷: Palestinians line up for food distribution in Deir al Balah, Gaza, May 10, 2024.
In what they are calling an “unprecedented emergency,” U.N. agencies are warning that humanitarian operations throughout the Gaza Strip will cease within a matter of days if Israel does not reopen border crossings and allow critical fuel supplies to enter the Palestinian territory.
“For five days, no fuel and virtually no humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip, and we are scraping the bottom of the barrel,” said Hamish Young, UNICEF’s senior emergency coordinator in the Gaza Strip, on Friday. Speaking from Rafah, Young told journalists in Geneva that “This is already a huge issue for the population and for all humanitarian actors but in a matter of days, if not corrected, the lack of fuel could grind humanitarian operations to a halt.”
The UNICEF official said that he has been working on large-scale humanitarian emergencies for the last 30 years but that he has “never been involved in a situation as devastating, complex or erratic as this.”
ℹ️ The recent Israel-Hamas conflict began after the October 7 Hamas terror attack killed 1,200 people in Israel.
📷: AP
The U.S. expressed optimism that a cease-fire agreement in Gaza is within reach, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a version of the deal that Hamas said it has accepted.
"A clos... View MoreThe U.S. expressed optimism that a cease-fire agreement in Gaza is within reach, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a version of the deal that Hamas said it has accepted.
"A close assessment of the two sides' positions suggests that they should be able to close the remaining gaps," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Tuesday. "We're going to do everything we can to support that process and achieve that outcome."
CIA Director William Burns is in Cairo, Kirby said, acting as an interlocutor for the United States in negotiations involving Israel, Hamas, Egypt and Qatar. The talks are aimed at achieving a temporary cease-fire accompanied by the release of some Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The Biden administration’s apparent willingness to engage North Korea is causing a rare public rift with one of Washington’s key allies in Asia over how to achieve Pyongyang’s denuclearization.
Last... View MoreThe Biden administration’s apparent willingness to engage North Korea is causing a rare public rift with one of Washington’s key allies in Asia over how to achieve Pyongyang’s denuclearization.
Last week, the two allies, on separate occasions, showed differences about whether to consider “interim steps” toward North Korea’s complete denuclearization.
South Korean national security adviser Chang Ho-jin said, “U.S. senior officials confirmed several times that there are no such thing as interim steps” toward denuclearization. He made the remarks in an interview with South Korean media outlet KBS, aired on April 27.
However, a U.S. National Security Council spokesperson confirmed in an email to VOA’s Korean Service on April 30 that “by saying that the United States is willing to consider interim steps, we are making clear that we recognize that building trust with the DPRK and making progress toward denuclearization will take time.”
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is North Korea’s official name.
Hong Kong’s appeals court has ruled that a protest song is illegal to sing or play in the city.
“Glory to Hong Kong” emerged as an anthem for protesters during the massive anti-government protests i... View MoreHong Kong’s appeals court has ruled that a protest song is illegal to sing or play in the city.
“Glory to Hong Kong” emerged as an anthem for protesters during the massive anti-government protests in 2019.
Judge Jeremy Poon sided in favor of the government in his ruling Wednesday, saying the composer intended for the song to be used as a “weapon.”
The ban covers anyone who either broadcasts or distributes the song with the intention of promoting Hong Kong’s independence or misrepresents it as the city’s official anthem.
The song has mistakenly been played at sporting events as the official anthem of Hong Kong. The city does not have its own anthem, instead using mainland China’s official anthem “March of the Volunteers.”
📷: Residents are evacuated from an area flooded by heavy rains in Porto Alegre, Brazil, May 7, 2024, a week after major flooding in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul that has left at least 90 pe... View More📷: Residents are evacuated from an area flooded by heavy rains in Porto Alegre, Brazil, May 7, 2024, a week after major flooding in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul that has left at least 90 people dead and more than 130 others missing.
Pakistan said Tuesday that recent militant attacks in the country, including a deadly suicide car bombing on Chinese engineers, were planned from “terrorist sanctuaries” in Afghanistan.
Major-Genera... View MorePakistan said Tuesday that recent militant attacks in the country, including a deadly suicide car bombing on Chinese engineers, were planned from “terrorist sanctuaries” in Afghanistan.
Major-General Ahmed Sharif, spokesperson for Pakistan’s military, leveled the allegations during a live broadcast news conference. He said Afghanistan’s Taliban government has failed to prevent the use of Afghan soil for cross-border terrorism despite repeated protests and sharing of “solid evidence” with them through diplomatic channels.
In late March, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a convoy of Chinese engineers and workers in northwestern Pakistan, killing five of them and their local driver. The slain Chinese nationals were working on a major dam project.
“This attack was planned in Afghanistan, and terrorists and their facilitators were also being controlled from there,” said Sharif. “The car used in it was readied in Afghanistan, and the suicide bomber was also an Afghan national.”
The sounds from guitars strumming and drums beating sears through the air. Crowds dance in circles while thumping their heads back and forth.
Some 38,000 fans attended Hammersonic this past weekend,... View MoreThe sounds from guitars strumming and drums beating sears through the air. Crowds dance in circles while thumping their heads back and forth.
Some 38,000 fans attended Hammersonic this past weekend, according to organizers of Southeast Asia’s largest annual heavy metal music festival. Featuring 55 bands, the event is held in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim majority country.
One of the groups performing, Lamb of God, was barred from performing in neighboring Malaysia in 2013 after Islamic leaders there said some of the band’s songs were blasphemous. Interestingly, the current president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, talks openly about his passion for heavy metal and says he’s a fan of Lamb of God.
📷: U.S. President Joe Biden addresses rising levels of antisemitism, during a speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Annual Days of Remembrance ceremony at the U.S. Capitol building in Washing... View More📷: U.S. President Joe Biden addresses rising levels of antisemitism, during a speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Annual Days of Remembrance ceremony at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, May 7, 2024.
President Joe Biden has condemned the "ferocious surge of antisemitism in America and around the world." Tuesday's speech came as the Hamas attack on Israel and controversy over the war in Gaza have sparked new waves of violence and hateful rhetoric toward Jews.
Biden's remarks at the Capitol play out as pro-Palestinian protests rock college campuses across the United States. Some of the protests have involved antisemitic chants and threats toward Jewish students and supporters of Israel.
The Democratic president has struggled to balance his support for Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack with his efforts to constrain Israel's war on the militant group in Gaza.
ℹ️ The recent Israel-Hamas conflict began after the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack killed 1,200 people in Israel.
The warning notice, signed by five civil society groups and a former chairman of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, came Friday in an open letter to Nigeria’s president and the Natio... View MoreThe warning notice, signed by five civil society groups and a former chairman of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, came Friday in an open letter to Nigeria’s president and the National Assembly.
The coalition, without providing evidence, accused the United States and France of lobbying authorities in the Gulf of Guinea countries, especially Nigeria, to redeploy troops expelled from the Sahel states.
It said the alleged move could have “wide ranging implications for defense and internal security" and that hosting a military base in Nigeria could potentially divert state funds and resources away from important local projects such as education, health care and infrastructure development.
Kabiru Adamu, founder of Beacon Security and Intelligence Limited, said the letter has a political undertone.
"It looked like it was just based on the desire to create a political outcome," Adamu said. "There's no fact supporting the allegation that either the U.S. or France has approached Nigeria for the establishment of a base anywhere in Nigeria, even though that is likely to happen. Of course, because we've seen the influence of both countries reducing in the Sahel region, Nigeria will offer a likely fallback option for both countries, especially the U.S."
Ukrainian counterintelligence investigators said Tuesday that they thwarted a plan by Russian agents to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other high-level officials.
Two colonels in the ... View MoreUkrainian counterintelligence investigators said Tuesday that they thwarted a plan by Russian agents to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other high-level officials.
Two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine, which protects top officials, were arrested on suspicion of treason for enacting the plan, Ukraine's state security service said in a prepared statement, which added that the plot was drawn up by Russia's Federal Security Service.
Moscow did not immediately comment on the reports.
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