Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Six In The Morning Tuesday 30 April 2024

 

In Rafah, lack of clarity on ceasefire deal leaves people ‘in limbo’

Reporting from Rafah, southern Gaza

Netanyahu’s comments that Israel will invade Rafah whether there is a deal or not is very concerning and frustrating for the vast majority of people here – there are 1.5 million displaced across crowded Rafah city.

People are losing hope for a potential ceasefire. What makes it worse right now is people feel like they are in limbo: They don’t know whether there is a deal, and in case there is a deal, Netanyahu promised he would invade Rafah, which makes the whole point of going to a deal pointless.

There’s a great deal of anguish, worry, concern and frustration as things are not clear. People say it’s similar to past narratives of moving people and herding them from one place to another for the purpose of evacuating them to safe zones that eventually happen not to be safe at all.


How climate policies are becoming focus for far-right attacks in Germany

Politicians fear perceived costs of green transition are driving poor and rural voters to parties such as AfD

Raising his voice above the pounding drums and honking tractors, Lutz Jankus, a city councillor from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), distanced himself from the furious protest unfurling before him.

“They’re rightwing extremists,” he said about Free Saxony, a loose political movement that includes neo-Nazis and skinheads, as his colleagues began to pack up their tent on the side of the square in the centre of Görlitz.

“We don’t want anything to do with them, but we’re here because there’s also a lot of people who vote AfD.”


In Indian tech hub Bengaluru, water crisis gets political

Bengaluru is running out of drinking water, with an estimated daily deficit of 500 million liters. The shortages have become a hot-button political issue during the 2024 election.

Once a week, Chitra Jayaraju and her children get up early in the morning to wait in line at a community water tap near a housing complex in the southern tech hub of Bengaluru.

"Earlier we used to get water twice a week, now we only get it once," she said. "In the past three to four months, the price of drinking water has also doubled," she told DW.

Bengaluru, one of India's most populous cities, primarily sources its water from the Kavery river and borewells. However, the wells are drying up as groundwater levels drop amid persistent droughts.

US warns of impending 'large-scale massacre' in capital of Sudan's North Darfur

The US ambassador to the United Nations on Monday warned of an impending "large-scale massacre" in the Sudanese city of El-Fasher, a humanitarian hub in the Darfur region.

The city had until recently been relatively unaffected by fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but bombardment and clashes have been reported both there and in surrounding villages since mid-April.

El-Fasher "is on the precipice of a large-scale massacre. This is not conjecture. This is the grim reality facing millions of people," Linda Thomas-Greenfield told journalists following a UN Security Council meeting on Sudan.

"There are already credible reports that the RSF and its allied militias have razed multiple villages west of El-Fasher, and as we speak, the RSF is planning an imminent attack on El-Fasher," which "would be a disaster on top of a disaster," Thomas-Greenfield said.


Philippines accuses China of damaging its vessel at hotly contested shoal

The Philippines on Tuesday accused China's coast guard of harassment and damaging one of its boats in a disputed area of the South China Sea, and rejected Beijing's position that it had expelled two vessels from the hotly contested shoal.

The Philippine coast guard said its two vessels stood their ground at the Scarborough Shoal, a key battleground in the South China Sea, but one sustained damage from use of water cannon by two Chinese coast guard ships.

"This damage serves as evidence of the forceful water pressure used by the China coast guard in their harassment of the Philippine vessels," Philippine coast guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said in a statement.


Gaza: Israeli PM Netanyahu says Rafah attack will happen regardless of deal

By Matt Murphy,BBC News


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will launch an invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah regardless of truce talks with Hamas.

It comes amid ongoing attempts to try to reach an agreement for a ceasefire and hostage releases.

But at a meeting of hostages' relatives, Mr Netanyahu said he would invade "with or without" a deal.

His comments follow renewed warnings by the US against a Rafah invasion unless civilians were properly protected.

In a phone call with Mr Netanyahu on Sunday, US President Joe Biden "reiterated his clear position" on Rafah, a White House statement said. Mr Biden has previously described an invasion of Rafah as a "red line".





No comments:

Translate