Harris pushes Netanyahu to ease suffering in Gaza: ‘I will not be silent’

Harris pushes Netanyahu to ease suffering in Gaza: ‘I will not be silent’
US Vice President Kamala Harris. (Reuters)
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Updated 26 July 2024
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Harris pushes Netanyahu to ease suffering in Gaza: ‘I will not be silent’

Harris pushes Netanyahu to ease suffering in Gaza: ‘I will not be silent’

WASHINGTON: US Vice President Kamala Harris pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to help reach a Gaza ceasefire deal that would ease the suffering of Palestinian civilians, striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden.
“It is time for this war to end,” Harris said in a televised statement after she held face-to-face talks with Netanyahu.
Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee after Biden dropped out of the election race on Sunday, did not mince words about the humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza after nine months of war between Israel and Hamas militants.
“We cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the suffering and I will not be silent,” she said.
Harris’ remarks were sharp and serious in tone and raised the question of whether she would be more aggressive in dealing with Netanyahu if elected president on Nov. 5. But analysts do not expect there would be a major shift in US policy toward Israel, Washington’s closest ally in the Middle East.
The conflict began on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 captives, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s retaliatory attack in Gaza has killed more than 39,000 people and caused a humanitarian calamity with most of the coastal enclave leveled, people displaced from their homes, famine and a shortage of emergency relief.
Biden met with Netanyahu earlier and told him that he needed to close gaps to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and remove obstacles in the flow of aid, according to a readout of the meeting provided by the White House.
Netanyahu will meet Harris’ Republican rival, Donald Trump, on Friday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
A ceasefire has been the subject of negotiations for months. US officials believe the parties are closer than ever before to an agreement for a six-week ceasefire in exchange for the release by Hamas of women, sick, elderly and wounded hostages.
“There has been hopeful movement in the talks to secure an agreement on this deal, and as I just told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done,” Harris said.
Although as vice president she has mostly echoed Biden in firmly backing Israel’s right to defend itself, she made clear on Thursday that she was losing patience with Israel’s military approach.
“Israel has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters,” Harris said.
In March, she bluntly stated that Israel was not doing enough to ease a “humanitarian catastrophe” during its ground offensive in the Palestinian enclave. Later, she did not rule out “consequences” for Israel if it launched a full-scale invasion of refugee-packed Rafah in southern Gaza.
The Gaza conflict has splintered the Democratic Party, and sparked months of protests at Biden events. A drop in support among Arab Americans could hurt Democratic chances in Michigan, one of a handful of states likely to decide the Nov. 5 election.
In a nod to those concerns, Harris urged Americans to help “encourage efforts to understand the complexity, the nuance and the history of the region.”
“To everyone who has been calling for a ceasefire and to everyone who yearns for peace, I see you and I hear you,” she said. “Let’s get the deal done so we can get a ceasefire to end the war.”
In an Oval Office address on Wednesday, Biden cited a desire for unity in the Democratic Party as it seeks to defeat Trump as a main reason he decided not to seek reelection but to instead support Harris for the 2024 race.
Harris maintains closer ties to Democratic progressives, some of whom have urged Biden to attach conditions to US weapons shipments to Israel out of concern for high Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza. The US is a major arms supplier to Israel and has protected the country from critical United Nations votes.
Biden and Netanyahu met together with the families of Americans held by Hamas, who expressed hope for a ceasefire including a release of hostages. “We came today with a sense of urgency,” said Jonathan Dekel-Chen, whose son is a captive.


How one Pakistani father defied conservative 20th-century norms to see his 13 daughters gain master’s degrees

How one Pakistani father defied conservative 20th-century norms to see his 13 daughters gain master’s degrees
Updated 10 sec ago
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How one Pakistani father defied conservative 20th-century norms to see his 13 daughters gain master’s degrees

How one Pakistani father defied conservative 20th-century norms to see his 13 daughters gain master’s degrees
  • Fazal Haq withstood family pressure to ensure his children had the opportunity to pursue education

PESHAWAR: For Fazal Haq, a Pakistani octogenarian academic who grew up in the country’s conservative northwest, acquiring education was a gateway to empowerment and self-reliance for his children, especially his daughters.

In an era when education was a rare privilege in Pakistan’s northwestern Karak district, Haq stood as a beacon of progressive thinking by sending his first-born daughter, Nighat Parveen, to school in the 1970s.

Although he never formally attended college himself, the 82-year-old has earned postgraduate degrees in Arabic, Urdu literature, and Islamic studies. And all of his children — 13 daughters and four sons — also have higher-education qualifications.

“Fewer men attended school during his time, and the notion of women pursuing education was virtually unheard of,” Haq told Arab News this week. “Yet, despite societal constraints, I made a pioneering decision to send my daughter Parveen to school.”

Haq said his daughters’ early education proceeded smoothly but as they grew older, murmurs of dissent within his family became louder. Relatives questioned his wisdom for allowing his girls to be educated and the resistance escalated to threats of disownment, but Haq said he remained resolute and Parveen’s results in exams in both the 8th and 10th grades were better than many in their area. Her academic success reinforced Haq’s belief in his decision.

“That was a big relief, I would say one of my happiest moments,” Haq said.

Parveen, who passed her matriculation exam in 1986, told Arab News that, initially, she did not grasp the necessity of education and only saw herself fulfilling her father’s wishes on a path fraught with obstacles.

“I would often find myself as the only girl in a classroom full of boys. Sitting in a corner, isolated from my peers, I faced the weight of societal scrutiny and the discomfort of being an ‘outsider,’” she said.

“The psychological toll of being the only girl in a boys’ class was immense, but I remained steadfast in the pursuit of education.”

Parveen now stands as a testament to the power of perseverance and the importance of education as she serves as the principal of Government Girls’ High School in Karak, shaping the minds of future generations.

She set the bar high for all 16 of her siblings, who now hold master’s degrees in disciplines including English literature, political science, history, botany, zoology, and physics. All of Haq’s daughters became teachers.

Haq has always seen education as a gateway to empowerment and self-reliance for women, contrary to the common perception in Pakistan’s rural communities, where most believed that investing in daughters’ education would only serve to benefit the household they joined when they married.

“Education equips women with knowledge and confidence to contribute actively to their family’s economic affairs, eliminating the need to depend on others for financial support,” he said.

Haq’s wife, Jahan Bano, had no formal education, but her ability to converse in English and engage in discussions about politics demonstrates her intellectual growth and self-confidence.

Both Haq and Bano feel proud that their perspective on women’s education, which was once widely disapproved by society, has now been embraced by those same critics.

“At this later stage of life, when I watch young girls in school uniforms going to school, college, and university from my balcony, I feel a strange sense of happiness,” Haq said.


Autopsy suggests tycoon Mike Lynch likely died of suffocation in yacht — source

Autopsy suggests tycoon Mike Lynch likely died of suffocation in yacht — source
Updated 7 min 15 sec ago
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Autopsy suggests tycoon Mike Lynch likely died of suffocation in yacht — source

Autopsy suggests tycoon Mike Lynch likely died of suffocation in yacht — source
  • Lynch, his daughter Hannah, 18, an onboard cook and four guests died when the British-flagged superyacht Bayesian sank
  • The bodies of the dead, except for the cook, were found in cabins on the left-hand side of the 56-meter vessel

PALERMO, Italy: British tech tycoon Mike Lynch died of suffocation after running out of oxygen, an investigative source said, citing initial examinations carried out on Saturday after his body was recovered from the family yacht that sank off Sicily’s coast last month.
Lynch, his daughter Hannah, 18, an onboard cook and four guests died when the British-flagged superyacht Bayesian sank during a severe and sudden weather event off the port of Porticello, near Palermo, on Aug. 19.
Initial results on Hannah Lynch’s body, whose examinations were carried out on Saturday, were inconclusive, the source told Reuters, only ruling out any traumas or wounds as the cause of death and leaving open the possibilities she either ran out of oxygen or drowned.
The bodies of the dead, except for the cook, were found in cabins on the left-hand side of the 56-meter (184-feet) vessel, where the trapped passengers may have tried to search for remaining bubbles of air, the head of Palermo’s Fire Brigade said last month.
Preliminary results from autopsies on four other victims — Morgan Stanley International Chairman Jonathan Bloomer, his wife Judith, lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda — indicated suffocation as the likely cause of death, judicial sources said earlier this week.
Fifteen people survived, including Lynch’s wife, whose company owned the Bayesian, and the yacht’s captain.
Initial examinations of the Canadian-Antiguan onboard chef Recaldo Thomas indicated he died by drowning, the investigative source said on Saturday.
Further forensic tests have been ordered all the victims, with results expected in the coming weeks, the source said.
The sinking has puzzled naval experts, who said a vessel like the Bayesian, built by high-end yacht manufacturer Perini, which is owned by The Italian Sea Group, should have withstood the storm and not have sunk as quickly as it did.


Ukraine mourns dead from major Russian strike, vows response with underground weapons production

Ukraine mourns dead from major Russian strike, vows response with underground weapons production
Updated 07 September 2024
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Ukraine mourns dead from major Russian strike, vows response with underground weapons production

Ukraine mourns dead from major Russian strike, vows response with underground weapons production
  • The funerals took place in the eastern Ukrainian city of Poltava for the victims of a Russian missile attack on a military training facility that left over 50 dead
  • Sobbing relatives, many holding red carnations, stood over caskets placed outside the church, draped in yellow-and-blue Ukrainian flags

POLTAVA, Ukraine: Funeral services were held Saturday for victims of one of the deadliest Russian airstrikes since the war in Ukraine began, as Ukraine’s president vowed to increase domestic military production by creating underground weapons factories.
The funerals took place in the eastern Ukrainian city of Poltava for the victims of a Russian missile attack on a military training facility that left over 50 dead and more than 300 injured.
Hundreds of mourners, including grieving families, local residents, and officials, gathered at the Cathedral of the Assumption in the city, some 350 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Kyiv, for the solemn ceremony. Sobbing relatives, many holding red carnations, stood over caskets placed outside the church, draped in yellow-and-blue Ukrainian flags. An air raid siren sounded during the service.
Local residents knelt in silent tribute as hearses carrying the victims passed by on their way to a military cemetery outside the city for burial.
Russia has intensified missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, targeting energy infrastructure across the country and causing deadly strikes in residential areas.
The attacks have underscored Moscow’s long-range capabilities as Ukraine braces for what will likely be another difficult winter as Russia continues to smash Ukraine’s power grid, knocking out some 70 percent of generation capacity and rupturing heat and water supplies.
The sound of explosions thundered over the Ukrainian capital overnight as multiple Russian attack drones were intercepted by the city’s air defenses. No injuries or serious damage were reported.
The Ukrainian Air Force said that 67 drones were launched over the country overnight, with air defenses active in 11 regions. Fifty-eight drones were shot down, with three more destroyed by electronic weapons systems, it said.
Debris from one drone was photographed on the street outside Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. Ukraine’s parliamentary press service confirmed that drone fragments had been found but said there were no casualties and no damage to the parliament building.
Elsewhere, a Russian artillery attack Saturday on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka killed three men and injured three other people, said Donetsk region Gov. Vadym Filashkin. He said the attack damaged a high-rise building and local power lines.
Late Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the death toll from the Sept. 3 strike at the Military Institute of Communications in Poltava had risen to 55, with 328 people injured.
“That includes people with severe injuries, such as amputations and internal organ damage,” Zelensky said, speaking at a conference outside the Italian city of Milan.
“Our people are under constant threat of Russian missile and drone strikes — every night and every day.”
Zelensky renewed his call for the removal of restrictions on using Western-supplied weapons to strike Russian territory, adding that Ukraine was ramping up its own weapons production.
“We are setting up underground weapons production facilities so Ukrainian soldiers can defend themselves, even if supplies from our partners are delayed,” he said.
“We have developed new drones and missiles, and we are gradually bringing this war back to Russia. Eventually, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin will feel the pressure to seek only one thing: peace.”
Kyiv has continued to launch its own strikes against Russia. In the Russian border region of Voronezh Saturday, Gov. Aleksandr Gusev said that a drone strike had sparked a fire and the detonation of “explosive objects.”
Writing on social media, he said that a state of emergency had been declared for the region’s Ostrogozhsky district and that several villages had been evacuated.
He did not provide the names of the villages affected and urged followers not to share photos or videos of the fire that could be geolocated. ___
Davies reported from Manchester, England. Evgeniy Maloletka and Alex Babenko in Poltava, Ukraine, and Derek Gatopoulos in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.


Ukraine concerned at reports of Iranian ballistic missiles being sent to Russia

Ukraine concerned at reports of Iranian ballistic missiles being sent to Russia
Updated 07 September 2024
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Ukraine concerned at reports of Iranian ballistic missiles being sent to Russia

Ukraine concerned at reports of Iranian ballistic missiles being sent to Russia
  • CNN and the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Iran had transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia

KYIV: Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Saturday it was deeply concerned by reports about a possible impending transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia.
In a statement emailed to reporters, the ministry said the deepening military cooperation between Tehran and Moscow was a threat to Ukraine, Europe and the Middle East, and called on the international community to increase pressure on Iran and Russia.
CNN and the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Iran had transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, citing unidentified sources.
Reuters reported in August that Russia was expecting the imminent delivery of hundreds of Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles from Iran and that dozens of Russian military personnel were being trained in Iran on the satellite-guided weapons for eventual use in the war in Ukraine.
On Friday, the United States, a key ally of Ukraine, also voiced concern about the potential transfer of missiles.
“Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York said on Friday that Tehran’s position on the Ukraine conflict was unchanged.
“Iran considers the provision of military assistance to the parties engaged in the conflict — which leads to increased human casualties, destruction of infrastructure, and a distancing from ceasefire negotiations — to be inhumane,” it said.
“Thus, not only does Iran abstain from engaging in such actions itself, but it also calls upon other countries to cease the supply of weapons to the sides involved in the conflict.”


Kosovo closes two border crossings with Serbia

Kosovo closes two border crossings with Serbia
Updated 07 September 2024
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Kosovo closes two border crossings with Serbia

Kosovo closes two border crossings with Serbia
  • The Kosovo government shut the border at Brnjak and the larger Merdare crossing overnight from Friday to Saturday
  • On Friday, dozens of demonstrators in Serbia blockaded the two border crossings to prevent traffic entering Serbia from Kosovo

PRISTINA: Kosovo has closed two of its four border crossings with Serbia following protests on the Serbian side that have blocked cross-border traffic, the interior minister said on Saturday.
The Kosovo government shut the border at Brnjak and the larger Merdare crossing overnight from Friday to Saturday.
Both are in the troubled north of Kosovo, where ethnic Serbs are the majority in several districts, outnumbering the ethnic Albanians who overwhelmingly populate the rest of the Balkan country.
Justifying the move, Kosovar Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said on Facebook “masked extremists” on the Serbian side of the border were “selectively stopping... citizens who want to transit through Serbia” to third countries.
“And all this in plain sight of the Serbian authorities,” he complained.
On Friday, dozens of demonstrators in Serbia blockaded the two border crossings to prevent traffic entering Serbia from Kosovo.
They said they were protesting against the closure of parallel administrations that ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo had set up to rival the official ones.
The Serbian government in Belgrade — which has never recognized the independence of Kosovo, its former southern province — finances a parallel health, education and social security system in Kosovo for the latter’s ethnic Serb population.
The Serbian demonstrators told the media their border blockade would last until Kosovo police were “withdrawn from the north of Kosovo and the usurped institutions are returned to the Serbs.”
They also demanded that the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo (KFOR) “take over control in the north of Kosovo.”
The border blockade began a few days after police in northern Kosovo raided and then closed five administrative offices linked to the Belgrade government.
On Saturday, Kosovo’s foreign ministry urged people to avoid trying to transit through Serbia because of the protests on the Serbian side.
Foreign Minister Donika Gervalla told reporters on Friday the Serbian protests were “yet more proof” that Belgrade was trying to provoke and destabilize its southern neighbor.
Animosity has persisted between Serbia and Kosovo since a war in the 1990s between Serbian armed forces and Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian separatists.
Kosovo declared independence in 2008. But Serbia has refused to recognize the move and has encouraged ethnic Serbs living in Kosovo to remain loyal to Belgrade.
Tensions ratcheted up a notch earlier this year, when Kosovo made the euro the only legal currency, effectively outlawing the use of the Serbian dinar.