Author: ALJAZEERA

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), considered a lifeline for two million people in the besieged enclave, has suffered funding cuts after several of its staff were accused by Israel of involvement in the October 7 Hamas attack. The UN on Saturday said that it had terminated nine out of 12 staff over the allegations and vowed to hold its employees accountable, but expressed its shock at the swift funding cut by several Western countries amid a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, which has been devastated by nearly four months of Israel’s aerial and ground war. “It would be…

The shootings come as Tehran and Islamabad work to normalise ties after recent tit-for-tat attacks.Gunmen have killed nine Pakistanis in a restive southeastern border area of Iran, Pakistan has said, amid efforts by the two countries to mend ties after recent tit-for-tat attacks. “Deeply shocked by horrifying killing of 9 Pakistanis in Saravan. Embassy will extend full support to bereaved families,” the Pakistani ambassador to Tehran, Muhammad Mudassir Tipi, said on the social media platform X on Saturday. “We called upon Iran to extend full cooperation in the matter.” Earlier in the day, Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency reported the…

People fleeing Khan Younis are sleeping in streets flooded with sewage in Rafah as 7 countries suspend UNRWA funding. Source link

Currently, there are about 2,500 US troops still deployed in Iraq as part of the coalition formed in 2014 to help defeat ISIL.The United States and Iraq have held a first round of talks on the future of US and other foreign troops in the country, with Baghdad expecting discussions to lead to a timeline for reducing their presence. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as well as top-ranking officials from both the Iraqi armed forces and the US-led coalition met in Baghdad on Saturday. The joint commission began “the commencement of the first round of bilateral dialogue between Iraq…

Italy, Australia, US, Canada halt support after Israel accused UNRWA staff of involvement in Hamas’s October 7 attacks.Top Palestinian officials and Hamas have criticised the decision by some Western countries to suspend funding to the United Nations relief agency for Palestinians and called for an immediate reversal of the move that entails “great” risk. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) earlier said it had opened an investigation into some employees that Israel alleges were involved in the October 7 attacks that triggered the current conflict. On Saturday, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary-General…

This is the second article in a two-part series about the alleged exploitation of Filipino migrant workers. Part one can be read here.  Hong Kong, China – It only took a few minutes of searching online for Divina*, a domestic worker in Hong Kong, to find a recruiter offering the tempting opportunity to work in Poland. Before long, Divina found herself attending a two-hour orientation session on the 17th floor of a building in the city’s bustling Mong Kok district. There, she listened as agents listed opportunities in workplaces ranging from hotels to a chicken processing plant and a car…

The trip was meant to be a homecoming: a chance for Tawfiq Ajaq, a 17-year-old born and raised in the United States, to connect with his Palestinian roots. Instead, his family’s ancestral village of al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya became his final resting place. On January 19, Palestinian officials say Ajaq was fatally shot after an off-duty Israeli police officer and an Israeli settler opened fire. Ajaq is one of the latest victims of the soaring violence perpetrated by Israeli security forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank, following a Hamas attack in southern Israel last year. His uncle Mohammad Abdeljabbar told…

This story was produced with support from the Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Network. Rohtak and New Delhi, India: Dhuli Chand was 102 years old on September 8, 2022, when he led a wedding procession in Rohtak, a district town in the north Indian state of Haryana. As is customary in north Indian weddings, he sat on a chariot in his wedding finery, wearing garlands of Indian rupee notes, while a band played celebratory music and family members and villagers accompanied him. But instead of a bride, Chand was on his way to meet government officials. Chand resorted to the antic…

Palestinians in Gaza say they are devastated by the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) decision not to order Israel to cease its near-four-month bombardment and ground invasion of the strip during a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide. On Friday, the World Court issued a series of provisional measures requiring Israel to comply with the 1948 Genocide Convention, allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza and act against those who issue genocidal statements. But the court fell short of ordering an immediate ceasefire or insisting that Israel cease all military activity in the strip. Many in Gaza…

Taipei, Taiwan – Like many Hong Kongers, accountant Edelweiss Lam spent the last week watching the city’s stock market wipe out 14 months of gains as the Hang Seng Index fell below the psychological threshold of 15,000 points. It was not the first time Lam, who has been investing on and off in Hong Kong stocks since the late 1990s, had seen it happen. The index dropped below 15,000 points during SARS in 2003, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, and zero-COVID lockdowns in 2022. But while ebbs and flows are part of the investment game, Lam said watching the…