Author: ALJAZEERA

Under US pressure to reform the PA, Mahmoud Abbas has appointed a new prime minister.Amid mounting pressure from the United States, the Palestinian Authority is shaking up its leadership. President Mahmoud Abbas has named his financial adviser as the new prime minister. Sixty-nine-year-old Mohammed Mustafa has ample experience in economics, but little in politics. The move has surprised many – violence is escalating in the occupied West Bank and Israel’s war on Gaza shows no sign of ending. So, how could this appointment shape the future of the PA? And does it have enough backing from Palestinians to move forward?…

Since October 7, scores of writers have authored scores of columns pleading – to no avail – with prominent politicians who wield transformative power to stop the genocide unfolding with such obscene lethality in the apocalyptic remnants of occupied Gaza. The same dynamic applies to a gallery of preening artists who claim that they are not only allergic to conformity, but also reject as tantamount to censorship any call from any quarter not to entertain audiences in Israel. Rather than beseeching Nick Cave, the Australian troubadour, or the British band, Radiohead, finally to heed the petitions of Brian Eno, Roger…

Nod for long-threatened invasion of Rafah, home to 1.4 million displaced people, comes as Israel to send team to Qatar.Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved plans for an attack on Rafah, where 1.4 million displaced Palestinians have sought shelter, while planning to send a team to further truce talks in Qatar after mocking a ceasefire proposal by Hamas as “ridiculous”. Israel’s allies and critics warned Netanyahu against the invasion of Rafah fearing mass civilian casualties, but the Israeli government claims that the area in southern Gaza is one of the last strongholds of Hamas which it has pledged to…

‘System failure’ shutters some restaurants for hours, leading to complaints from customers on social media.Fast food giant McDonald’s has experienced systems failures in several countries that led to some of its restaurants being shuttered for hours, but ruled out cybersecurity issues as a potential cause of the problem. The United States-based chain said the “technology outage” on Friday affected operations in outlets around the world, including Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. McDonald’s in Japan wrote on X that “operations are temporarily out at many of our stores nationwide” and called the incident a “system failure”. Patrik Hjelte, owner of…

Israeli authorities have blocked thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank from reaching the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem for prayer during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, adding to mounting tensions. Despite tight Israeli restrictions on access to Al Aqsa Mosque, 80,000 worshippers made it to the holy site for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan, the Quds News Network reported, citing the Islamic Waqf that manages the mosque compound. But thousands more Palestinians from the occupied West Bank were denied entry to occupied East Jerusalem, where a heavy Israeli security presence surrounds the mosque. Only men…

Turkish officials say they have found the bodies of 22 people, including seven children, off Gokceada island.At least 22 people, including several children, have died after the rubber dinghy they were travelling on capsized off the Turkish island of Gokceada in the Aegean Sea. “The Turkish coastguard found the bodies of 22 people including seven children,” the local governor’s office said in a statement on Friday. Information on the victims’ nationalities has not yet been released. Governor Ilhami Aktas told the state-run Anadolu Agency that the Turkish coastguard rescued two people from the sea off the town of Eceabat in…

Japanese carmakers have struggled to keep up with their Chinese rivals in the fast-growing EV market.Japan’s Nissan and Honda have agreed to study the possibility of a partnership focused on electric vehicles, as the carmakers struggle to challenge the dominance of Chinese manufacturers. Nissan and Honda’s potential partnership will focus on technology that helps accelerate efforts towards “carbon neutrality and zero traffic-accident fatalities,” the carmakers said on Friday. The feasibility study will include components related to EVs and automotive software platforms, the companies said. “It is important to prepare for the increasing pace of transformation in mobility in the mid-to-long-term,…

PodcastPodcast, The TakeWhy should Syria’s war matter 13 years on? Thirteen years ago, Syrians took to the streets to stand up against the government of Bashar al-Assad. The war that followed has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced more than 12 million. Today, al-Assad is still in power. Has the world abandoned Syria? In this episode:  Alia Malek (@AliaMalek), journalist, lawyer and author of The Home That Was Our Country: A Memoir of Syria Episode credits: This episode was produced by David Enders, Chloe K Li, Negin Owliaei and Amy Walters with our host, Malika Bilal. Khaled Soltan…

Russia’s success in evading Western sanctions has helped its economy far outperform expectations ahead of Vladimir Putin’s all but certain re-election on Sunday. Ever since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian economy has consistently defied the dire predictions of critics. That resilience appears to be holding firm as Russians head to the polls between Friday and Sunday for a presidential election that is set to ensure Putin’s rule until at least 2030. At the start of the war, the International Monetary Fund expected a prolonged recession, forecasting the economy to contract by 8.5 percent in 2022 and 2.3 percent…

An Israeli strike has killed five Palestinians and injured 22 after it hit a UN aid distribution centre in Rafah.Here’s how things stand on Wednesday, March 14, 2024: Fighting and humanitarian crisis An Israeli strike on a United Nations aid distribution centre in Rafah killed five Palestinians and injured 22 people on Wednesday. The facility is one of the last operating food distribution centres in the enclave, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is now calling for an independent inquiry. Separately, on Thursday morning, Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians…