Gaza still in ruins, a year after the war
Besieged territory struggles to recover from last summer's war with Israel, as pledges of aid fail to materialise.
08 Jul 2015 08:48 GMT
The people of Gaza are marking a year since the Israeli air raids that heralded the start of a war that left 2,251 Palestinians dead and thousands more wounded.
The anniversary on Wednesday of last summer's war comes as the besieged territory struggles to rebuild its infrastructure, and tens of thousands of its people struggle to access basic amenities.
Al Jazeera spoke to Palestinians who said little was being done to help them recover and go on with their lives.
One survivor, Ibrahim Abdeldaem, lost his legs in an Israeli air strike while his family was sheltering at a UN school in Gaza City. His father and brother were killed in the attack and one year later he said he had no hope that his life would get any better.
"I am completely destroyed. I've lost my legs. I've lost my job. I can't leave Gaza because we are under siege on all sides. All I want is at least one artificial limb to feel like a normal person again," Abdeldaem said.
Iran ex-president says lifting sanctions would be a 'giant step' after US hostility
In a rare interview, Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani hails direct negotiations with US over nuclear programme saying it had ‘broken a taboo’
Agreement on lifting the sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear programme would be a “giant step” forward after decades of hostility by the United States, according to Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Islamic republic’s former president and its greatest political survivor.
Rafsanjani, a close confidante of Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic revolution, and a heavyweight leader himself for 40 years, hailed Iran’s decision to negotiate directly with Washington. “We have broken a taboo,” he told the Guardian in a rare and exclusive interview in his Tehran office.
Rafsanjani is a highly influential supporter of the current president, Hassan Rouhani, whose election in 2013 paved the way for nuclear talks. He was speaking on Tuesday before it was announced that the Vienna negotiations between Iran, the US and five other world powers had been extended for an additional three days after missing a second deadline. The first deadline on 30 June also passed without agreement.
Nadiya Savchenko: Ukrainian pilot has charges upgraded to murder as she awaits trial in Russia
Controversial Japan sites get UNESCO status
The UNESCO World Heritage committee has inscribed 23 sites in Japan, considered examples of the country's historic industrial revolution - despite protest from South Korea, which links the sites to Japanese imperialism.
Despite diplomatic wrangling by South Korea, the Meiji-era industrial sites in Japan have been awarded UNESCO World Heritage status, announced Sunday (05.07.2015) during the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee in the German city of Bonn. The move marks a historic step in relations between Japan and South Korea, with Japan acknowledging for the first time that it forced South Koreans into harsh working conditions during World War II.
The 23 inscribed sites on 11 different locations include steelworks, shipbuilding yards and a coal mine on the island of Hashima (pictured), and are all considered invaluable representations of Japan's own industrial revolution - testimony to the first non-Western industrialization.
Moroccan women prosecuted for wearing tight dresses
July 8, 2015 - 1:52PMRichard Spencer
Hundreds of lawyers have mobilised to defend two women in Morocco who are being prosecuted for indecency after wearing "tight" summer dresses in a souk.The two young women, hairdressers aged 19 and 23 who worked in the nearby city of Agadir, were harassed by a group of traders as they walked through a souk, or market, in the district of Inezgane.
They were taken to a police station for their own safety, but ended up being forced to stay the night and were brought before a court on charges of "offending public morals".
The case has prompted a strong reaction in Morocco, which is divided between a relatively conservative majority and a more Westernised minority, who are proud of Morocco's traditions of openness.
The country also depends on tourism, including beach tourism, which has brought about culture clashes in more conservative towns and villages. Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition demanding that charges be dropped, and 200 lawyers showed up at court for the first full hearing on Monday after news circulated about the arrests, to offer to defend the women.
Alarm in India over dozens of deaths of people linked to Vyapam scandal
Updated 0104 GMT (0804 HKT) July 8, 2015
TV journalist Akshay Singh had spent about an hour talking to the family he had traveled to central India to interview when he started losing consciousness.
Singh foamed at the mouth and fell from his chair, according to colleagues. His TV crew took him unconscious to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead.
The next day, police in New Delhi found the body of a college dean, Arun Sharma, in a hotel room.
On the face of it, the two deaths over the weekend, which happened hundreds of kilometers apart, have nothing to do with each other.
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