Author: ALJAZEERA

Short-term spending bill averts shutdown of agencies that would have kicked in on Saturday.The United States Congress has approved a short-term spending package to avoid a government shutdown, the fourth such stopgap measure in several months. The bill, which passed the Senate in a bipartisan 77-13 vote, provides funding for some federal government agencies to keep running through March 8 and others through March 22, preventing a shutdown that would have kicked in on Saturday. The funding will avert disruption to numerous government functions, including food safety inspections and air traffic controllers’ pay. US President Joe Biden must now sign…

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Israel has used it as justification for the slaughter of more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza – with thousands more lost under the rubble and presumed dead – in under five months. And, now, the United States has used it to justify its air strikes on Houthi fighters in Yemen. The right of a sovereign state to act in self-defence, under international law, has been thrust into the spotlight in recent months as four concurrent conflicts and humanitarian crises – in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen – threaten all-out war in the Middle East. This week, however US Senator for…

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Canberra blasts Meta’s decision as a ‘dereliction of its commitment to the sustainability’ of the media industry.Facebook parent company Meta has announced that it will no longer enter deals to pay news publishers in Australia, prompting condemnation from the government and the media industry. To ensure that Meta can “continue to invest in products and services that drive user engagement”, the company will not renew its funding deals with traditional news content and “will not offer new Facebook products specifically for news publishers in the future”, the tech giant said in a blog post on Friday. Meta said the move…

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At least 112 Palestinians have been killed and more than 750 wounded after Israeli troops opened fire on hundreds waiting for food aid southwest of Gaza City. Here is what we know: What happened and when? The incident unfolded at about 04:30 local time (02:30 GMT) on Thursday, when people congregated at Harun al-Rashid Street in Gaza, where aid trucks carrying flour were believed to be on the way. A convoy of aid trucks passed through the checkpoint, heading north, as people started gathering in large groups. According to the Israeli military, a convoy of 31 trucks entered Gaza but…

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Directive 24 also urges officials to push back against foreign influence, The 88 Project says.Taipei, Taiwan – Vietnam’s Communist Party leaders have issued a sweeping directive aimed at clamping down on civil society, including trade unions and labour activism, even as it pledges to uphold human rights at the United Nations, according to a rights watchdog. Among the many provisions of the order known as Directive 24, officials are asked to closely monitor trade unions and labour disputes, and ensure that new labour groups are not established based on ethnicity or religion, Bangkok-based The 88 Project, which obtained the directive,…

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This week, more than 40 organisations working on health justice around the globe put out an urgent call to the global health and human rights community. In an open letter, we issued a call to global health bodies, health institutions, professional associations and the World Medical Association (WMA) to take immediate action on the Israeli government’s continuing onslaught on Gaza – because the war on Palestine is an issue of health justice, too. Israel’s onslaught – which the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled “plausibly” meets the conditions of genocide – has claimed the lives of more than 30,000…

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Bengaluru, India — After years of working at a salon in Bengaluru, Shakeela Banu made a major life change in 2018 and joined Urban Company (UC), an app-based home services platform that has more than 52,000 workers across Indian cities, one-third of whom are women. At first, Banu was happy with the working conditions. Her manager treated her well, she said, and she got plenty of work as a beautician on call. She estimates that she’s worked with 3,000 customers since she joined the company and has turned down many requests from those who would ask for her services privately.…

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Company to try raising and lowering prices throughout the day based on demand, prompting backlash.Wendy’s, a United States fast food chain, is looking to test having the prices of its menu items fluctuate throughout the day based on demand, a strategy that has already taken hold with ride-sharing companies and ticket sellers. During a conference call this month, Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner said the Dublin, Ohio-based burger chain will start testing dynamic pricing, also known as surge pricing, as early as next year. “Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing and daypart…

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