A 20-year-old was taken to the hospital after an Orange County deputy returned fire while serving a search.The sheriff’s office says deputies from the felony unit were stationed near the 2200 block of Buchanan Bay Circle around 9:40 p.m. Friday doing surveillance of a homicide suspect.Deputies were preparing to serve a DNA search warrant in a murder that happened earlier this week, when the suspect and a 20-year-old man exited the house.They say the 20-year-old opened fire at the deputies, hitting an unmarked vehicle, while the suspect tried to run back into the residence.A deputy returned fire, striking the 20-year-old shooter.Deputies rendered aid until paramedics were able to get to the scene and transport the man to the hospital, where he underwent surgery. Deputies say he will face charges for the shooting.The suspect in the homicide case was quickly detained and was questioned by detectives later Friday evening.No deputies were injured in this shooting.As is standard procedure, the deputy who fired his weapon is on temporary, paid administrative leave pending the initial FDLE review.
A 20-year-old was taken to the hospital after an Orange County deputy returned fire while serving a search.
The sheriff’s office says deputies from the felony unit were stationed near the 2200 block of Buchanan Bay Circle around 9:40 p.m. Friday doing surveillance of a homicide suspect.
Deputies were preparing to serve a DNA search warrant in a murder that happened earlier this week, when the suspect and a 20-year-old man exited the house.
They say the 20-year-old opened fire at the deputies, hitting an unmarked vehicle, while the suspect tried to run back into the residence.
A deputy returned fire, striking the 20-year-old shooter.
Deputies rendered aid until paramedics were able to get to the scene and transport the man to the hospital, where he underwent surgery.
Deputies say he will face charges for the shooting.
The suspect in the homicide case was quickly detained and was questioned by detectives later Friday evening.
No deputies were injured in this shooting.
As is standard procedure, the deputy who fired his weapon is on temporary, paid administrative leave pending the initial FDLE review.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters is photographed in Washington, May 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to reallocate federal Homeland Security funding away from states that refuse to cooperate with certain federal immigration enforcement.
U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy’s ruling on Monday solidified a win for the coalition of 12 attorneys general that sued the administration earlier this year after being alerted that their states would receive drastically reduced federal grants due to their “sanctuary” jurisdictions.
In total, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency reduced more than $233 million from Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. The money is part of a $1 billion program where allocations are supposed to be based on assessed risks, with states then largely passing most of the money on to police and fire departments.
The cuts were unveiled shortly after a separate federal judge in a different legal challenge ruled it was unconstitutional for the federal government to require states to cooperate on immigration enforcement actions to get FEMA disaster funding.
In her 48-page ruling, McElroy found that the federal government was weighing states’ police on federal immigration enforcement on whether to reduce federal funding for the Homeland Security Grant Program and others.
“What else could defendants’ decisions to cut funding to specific counterterrorism programming by conspicuous round numbered amounts — including by slashing off the millions-place digits of awarded sums — be if not arbitrary and capricious? Neither a law degree nor a degree in mathematics is required to deduce that no plausible, rational formula could produce this result,” McElroy wrote.
The Trump-appointed judge then ordered the Department of Homeland Security to restore the previously announced funding allocations to the plaintiff states.
“Defendants’ wanton abuse of their role in federal grant administration is particularly troublesome given the fact that they have been entrusted with a most solemn duty: safeguarding our nation and its citizens,” McElroy wrote. “While the intricacies of administrative law and the terms and conditions on federal grants may seem abstract to some, the funding at issue here supports vital counterterrorism and law enforcement programs.”
McElroy notably cited the recent Brown University attack, where a gunman killed two students and injured nine others, as an event where the $1 billion federal program would be vital in responding to such a tragedy.
“To hold hostage funding for programs like these based solely on what appear to be defendants’ political whims is unconscionable and, at least here, unlawful,” the Rhode Island-based judge wrote in her ruling, issued little more than a week after the Brown shooting.
Emails seeking comment were sent to the DHS and FEMA.
“This victory ensures that the Trump Administration cannot punish states that refuse to help carry out its cruel immigration agenda, particularly by denying them lifesaving funding that helps prepare for and respond to disasters and emergencies,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell in a statement.
Aidan Tavor, center, directs traffic as volunteers help load vehicles during a food distribution at the San Antonio Food Bank for SNAP recipients and other households affected by the federal shutdown, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
(AP) – A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration Thursday to find the money to fully fund SNAP benefits for November.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. gave President Donald Trump’s administration until Friday to make the payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, though it’s unlikely the 42 million Americans — about 1 in 8 — will see the money on the debit cards they use for groceries that quickly.
The order was in response to a challenge from cities and nonprofits complaining that the administration was only offering to cover 65% of the maximum benefit, a decision that would leave some recipients getting nothing for this month.
“The defendants failed to consider the practical consequences associated with this decision to only partially fund SNAP,” McConnell said. “They knew that there would be a long delay in paying partial SNAP payments and failed to consider the harms individuals who rely on those benefits would suffer.”
McConnell was one of two judges who ruled last week that the administration could not skip November’s benefits entirely because of the federal shutdown.
It has been a week of twists and turns for SNAP beneficiaries Last week’s rulings ordered the government to use one emergency reserve fund containing $4.6 billion to pay for SNAP for November but gave it leeway to tap other money to make the full payments, which cost between $8.5 billion and $9 billion each month.
On Monday, the administration said it would not use additional money, saying it was up to Congress to appropriate the funds for the program.
The next day, Trump appeared to threaten not to pay the benefit s at all unless Democrats in Congress agreed to reopen the government. His press secretary later said that the partial benefits were being paid for November — and that it is future payments that are at risk if the shutdown continues.
Late Wednesday, the USDA, which runs the program, said in a filing in federal court in Rhode Island that it had done further analysis and found that the maximum benefit will be 65% of the usual amount.
Speaking at the Greater Boston Food Bank in Massachusetts Thursday morning, Democratic Gov. Maura Healey said the Trump administration is sending mixed messages: “Come on. You know, you’re going to partially fund food for Americans? You’re going let people starve?”
Argentine President Javier Milei secured a decisive victory Sunday in midterm elections, expanding his control of Congress and giving his government fresh momentum to push forward with deep spending cuts and sweeping free-market reforms.
The result gives Milei’s libertarian movement a boost and marks another sharp turn for one of Latin America’s largest and most volatile economies.
Milei’s party, La Libertad Avanza, won about 41.5% of the vote in Buenos Aires province, a historic upset in a region long dominated by the Peronist opposition. The rival coalition took 40.8%, according to figures cited by Reuters and The Associated Press.
Argentina’s president Javier Milei gestures as he delivers a speech on stage.(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)
Nationwide, La Libertad Avanza increased its seats in the lower house from 37 to 64, positioning Milei to more easily defend his vetoes and executive decrees that have defined his economic agenda.
“The result is better than even the most optimistic Milei supporters were hoping for,” Marcelo Garcia, Americas director at the risk-analysis firm Horizon Engage, said in comments reported by Reuters. “With this result, Milei will be able to easily defend his decrees and vetoes in Congress.”
Political consultant Gustavo Cordoba told Reuters the outcome reflected a cautious optimism among voters who appear willing to give Milei’s economic policies more time.
Argentina President Javier Milei speaks during a ceremony to commemorate Holocaust and Heroism Day, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, May 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
“Many people were willing to give the government another chance,” Cordoba said. “The triumph is unobjectionable, unquestionable.”
Reuters reported that inflation has fallen from 12.8% before Milei’s inauguration to 2.1% last month. His government has also posted a fiscal surplus and pushed through broad deregulation measures — a dramatic reversal after years of economic turbulence.
According to The Associated Press, the U.S. government under President Donald Trump offered Argentina a $40 billion aid package, including a $20 billion currency swap and a proposed $20 billion debt-investment facility, after tying future U.S. support to Milei’s performance in the midterms.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Argentina’s President Javier Milei share a joke as they arrive for the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump at the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
President Donald Trump congratulated Milei on Truth Social Sunday night, writing: “Congratulations to President Javier Milei on his Landslide Victory in Argentina. He is doing a wonderful job! Our confidence in him was justified by the People of Argentina.”
Investors reacted positively to the results. Reuters reported that Argentine bonds and stocks are expected to rally as Milei’s stronger hand in Congress gives him the political capital to accelerate his reforms
Milei called the election “a turning point for Argentina,” according to AFP via the Times of Israel.
Israel’s army said Saturday that it would advance preparations for the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza and return all the remaining hostages, after Hamas said it accepted parts of the deal while others still needed to be negotiated.Related video above: President Trump announces ceasefire proposal to end Gaza conflictThe army said it was instructed by Israel’s leaders to “advance readiness” for the implementation of the plan. An official who was not authorized to speak to the media on the record said that Israel has moved to a defensive-only position in Gaza and will not actively strike. The official said no forces have been removed from the strip.This announcement came hours after Trump ordered Israel to stop bombing Gaza once Hamas said it had accepted some elements of his plan. Trump welcomed the Hamas statement, saying: “I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE.”Trump appears keen to deliver on pledges to end the war and return dozens of hostages ahead of the second anniversary of the attack on Tuesday. His proposal unveiled earlier this week has widespread international support and was also endorsed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.On Friday, Netanyahu’s office said Israel was committed to ending the war that began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, without addressing potential gaps with the militant group. Netanyahu has come under increasing pressure from the international community and Trump to end the conflict. The official told the AP that Netanyahu put out the rare late-night statement on the sabbath, saying that Israel has started to prepare for Trump’s plan due to pressure from the U.S. administration.The official also said that a negotiating team was getting ready to travel, but there was no date specified.A senior Egyptian official says talks are underway for the release of hostages, as well as hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention. The official, who is involved in the ceasefire negotiations, also said Arab mediators are preparing for a comprehensive dialogue among Palestinians. The talks are aimed at unifying the Palestinian position towards Gaza’s future.On Saturday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second most powerful militant group in Gaza, said it accepted Hamas’ response to the Trump plan. The group had previously rejected the proposal days earlier.Also on Saturday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said that the death toll in the nearly two-year Israel-Hamas war has topped 67,000 Palestinians. The death toll jumped after the ministry said it added more than 700 names to the list whose data had been verified.Gaza’s Health Ministry does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says women and children make up around half of the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.Progress, but uncertainty aheadYet, despite the momentum, a lot of questions remain.Under the plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages — around 20 of them believed to be alive — within three days. It would also give up power and disarm.In return, Israel would halt its offensive and withdraw from much of the territory, release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and allow an influx of humanitarian aid and eventual reconstruction.Hamas said it was willing to release the hostages and hand over power to other Palestinians, but that other aspects of the plan require further consultations among Palestinians. Its official statement also didn’t address the issue of Hamas demilitarizing, a key part of the deal.Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general and chairman of Israel’s Defense and Security Forum, said while Israel can afford to stop firing for a few days in Gaza so the hostages can be released, it will resume its offensive if Hamas doesn’t lay down its arms.Others say that while Hamas suggests a willingness to negotiate, its position fundamentally remains unchanged.This “yes, but” rhetoric “simply repackages old demands in softer language,” said Oded Ailam, a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. The gap between appearance and action is as wide as ever and the rhetorical shift serves more as a smokescreen than a signal of true movement toward resolution, he said.Unclear what it means for Palestinians suffering in GazaThe next steps are also unclear for Palestinians in Gaza who are trying to piece together what it means in practical terms.Israeli troops are still laying siege to Gaza City, which is the focus of its latest offensive. On Saturday, Israel’s army warned Palestinians against trying to return to the city, calling it a “dangerous combat zone.”Experts determined that Gaza City had slid into famine shortly before Israel launched its major offensive there aimed at occupying it. An estimated 400,000 people have fled the city in recent weeks, but hundreds of thousands more have stayed behind.Families of the hostages are also cautious about being hopeful.There are concerns from all sides, said Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is held in Gaza. Hamas and Netanyahu could sabotage the deal or Trump could lose interest, he said. Still, he says, if it’s going to happen, it will be because of Trump.”We’re putting our trust in Trump, because he’s the only one who’s doing it. … And we want to see him with us until the last step,” he said.Magdy reported from Cairo.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) —
Israel’s army said Saturday that it would advance preparations for the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza and return all the remaining hostages, after Hamas said it accepted parts of the deal while others still needed to be negotiated.
Related video above: President Trump announces ceasefire proposal to end Gaza conflict
The army said it was instructed by Israel’s leaders to “advance readiness” for the implementation of the plan. An official who was not authorized to speak to the media on the record said that Israel has moved to a defensive-only position in Gaza and will not actively strike. The official said no forces have been removed from the strip.
This announcement came hours after Trump ordered Israel to stop bombing Gaza once Hamas said it had accepted some elements of his plan. Trump welcomed the Hamas statement, saying: “I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE.”
Trump appears keen to deliver on pledges to end the war and return dozens of hostages ahead of the second anniversary of the attack on Tuesday. His proposal unveiled earlier this week has widespread international support and was also endorsed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On Friday, Netanyahu’s office said Israel was committed to ending the war that began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, without addressing potential gaps with the militant group. Netanyahu has come under increasing pressure from the international community and Trump to end the conflict. The official told the AP that Netanyahu put out the rare late-night statement on the sabbath, saying that Israel has started to prepare for Trump’s plan due to pressure from the U.S. administration.
The official also said that a negotiating team was getting ready to travel, but there was no date specified.
A senior Egyptian official says talks are underway for the release of hostages, as well as hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention. The official, who is involved in the ceasefire negotiations, also said Arab mediators are preparing for a comprehensive dialogue among Palestinians. The talks are aimed at unifying the Palestinian position towards Gaza’s future.
Abdel Kareem Hana
Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli army strike, outside Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025.
On Saturday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second most powerful militant group in Gaza, said it accepted Hamas’ response to the Trump plan. The group had previously rejected the proposal days earlier.
Also on Saturday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said that the death toll in the nearly two-year Israel-Hamas war has topped 67,000 Palestinians. The death toll jumped after the ministry said it added more than 700 names to the list whose data had been verified.
Gaza’s Health Ministry does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says women and children make up around half of the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.
Progress, but uncertainty ahead
Yet, despite the momentum, a lot of questions remain.
Under the plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages — around 20 of them believed to be alive — within three days. It would also give up power and disarm.
In return, Israel would halt its offensive and withdraw from much of the territory, release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and allow an influx of humanitarian aid and eventual reconstruction.
Hamas said it was willing to release the hostages and hand over power to other Palestinians, but that other aspects of the plan require further consultations among Palestinians. Its official statement also didn’t address the issue of Hamas demilitarizing, a key part of the deal.
Ohad Zwigenberg
People look at photos of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, in Jerusalem, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. A Hebrew sign reads, “don’t forget us.”
Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general and chairman of Israel’s Defense and Security Forum, said while Israel can afford to stop firing for a few days in Gaza so the hostages can be released, it will resume its offensive if Hamas doesn’t lay down its arms.
Others say that while Hamas suggests a willingness to negotiate, its position fundamentally remains unchanged.
This “yes, but” rhetoric “simply repackages old demands in softer language,” said Oded Ailam, a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. The gap between appearance and action is as wide as ever and the rhetorical shift serves more as a smokescreen than a signal of true movement toward resolution, he said.
Unclear what it means for Palestinians suffering in Gaza
The next steps are also unclear for Palestinians in Gaza who are trying to piece together what it means in practical terms.
Israeli troops are still laying siege to Gaza City, which is the focus of its latest offensive. On Saturday, Israel’s army warned Palestinians against trying to return to the city, calling it a “dangerous combat zone.”
Experts determined that Gaza City had slid into famine shortly before Israel launched its major offensive there aimed at occupying it. An estimated 400,000 people have fled the city in recent weeks, but hundreds of thousands more have stayed behind.
Families of the hostages are also cautious about being hopeful.
There are concerns from all sides, said Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is held in Gaza. Hamas and Netanyahu could sabotage the deal or Trump could lose interest, he said. Still, he says, if it’s going to happen, it will be because of Trump.
“We’re putting our trust in Trump, because he’s the only one who’s doing it. … And we want to see him with us until the last step,” he said.
Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 33 Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday, including people sheltering in tents or seeking scarce food, local hospitals said as a famine in Gaza’s largest city sparks new pressure on Israel over its 22-month offensive.Israel’s defense minister has warned that Gaza City could be destroyed in a new military operation perhaps just days away, even as famine spreads there.Aid groups have long warned that the war, sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, and months of Israeli restrictions on food and medical supplies entering Gaza are causing starvation.Israel has rejected the data-based famine declaration as “an outright lie.” Hamas recently agreed to the terms for a six-week ceasefire, but hopes for a ceasefire that could forestall the offensive are on hold as mediators await Israel’s next steps. Women and children struck and killed in tentsIsraeli strikes killed at least 17 people in southern Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to morgue records and health officials at Nasser Hospital. The officials said the strikes targeted tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis.“Awad, why did you leave me?” a small boy asked his brother’s plastic-wrapped body.Another grieving relative, Hekmat Foujo, pleaded for a truce.“We want to rest,” Foujo said through her tears. ‘’Have some mercy on us.”In northern Gaza, Israeli gunfire killed at least five aid-seekers near the Zikim crossing with Israel, where U.N. and other agencies’ truck convoys enter the territory, health officials at the Sheikh Radwan field hospital told the AP.Six people were killed in attacks elsewhere, according to hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.Israel’s military said it was not aware of a strike in Khan Younis at that location and was looking into the other incidents.Braving gunfire and crowds for foodMohamed Saada was among thousands of people who sought food from a delivery in the Zikim area on Saturday — and one of many who left empty-handed.“I came here to bring food for my children but couldn’t get anything, due to the huge numbers of people and the difficulty of the situation between the shootings and the trucks running over people,” he said.Some carried sacks of food like lentils and flour. Others carried the wounded, including on a wooden pallet. They navigated fetid puddles and the rubble of war as temperatures reached above 92 degrees Fahrenheit.Friday’s report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said Gaza City is gripped by famine that is likely to spread if fighting and restrictions on aid continue. It said nearly half a million people in Gaza — about one-fourth of the population — face catastrophic hunger.The rare pronouncement came after Israel imposed a 2 1/2-month total blockade on Gaza earlier this year, then resumed some access with a focus on a new U.S.-backed private aid supplier, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Over 1,000 people have been killed near GHF distribution sites.In response to global outrage over images of emaciated children, Israel has also allowed airdrops and a new influx of aid by land, but the U.N. and others say it’s still far from enough.AP journalists have seen chaos on roads leading to aid deliveries, and there have been almost daily reports of Israeli troops firing toward aid-seekers. Israel’s military says it fires warning shots if people approach troops or pose a threat.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office asserts it has allowed enough aid to enter during the war. It also accuses Hamas of starving the Israeli hostages it holds.An increase in Israeli airstrikes this monthWith ground troops already active in strategic areas, the military operation in Gaza City could start within days in an area that has hundreds of thousands of civilians.Aid group Doctors without Borders, or MSF, said its clinics around Gaza City are seeing high numbers of patients as people flee. Caroline Willemen, MSF project coordinator in the city, noted a marked increase in airstrikes since early August.“Those who have not moved are wondering what they should do,” she told the AP. “People want to stay; they have been displaced endlessly before, but they also know that at some point, it will become very dangerous to remain.”Israel’s military has said troops are operating on the outskirts of Gaza City and in the city’s Zeitoun neighborhood. Israel says Gaza City is still a Hamas stronghold, with a network of militant tunnels.Ceasefire efforts await Israel’s responseMany Israelis fear the assault on Gaza City could doom the 20 hostages who are believed to have survived captivity since 2023. A further 30 are thought to be dead. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested a week ago for a deal to end the war and bring everyone home.Netanyahu said Thursday he had instructed officials to begin immediate negotiations to release hostages and end the war on Israel’s terms. It was unclear if Israel would return to talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar after Hamas said earlier this week it accepted a new proposal from Arab mediators.Hamas has said it will release hostages in exchange for ending the war, but rejects disarming without the creation of a Palestinian state.U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed frustration with Hamas’ stance, suggesting the militant group is less interested in making deals with few hostages left alive.“I actually think (the hostages are) safer in many ways if you went in and you really went in fast and you did it,” Trump told reporters Friday.Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 62,622 Palestinians have been killed in the war, including missing people now confirmed dead by a special ministry judicial committee.The total number of malnutrition-related deaths rose by eight to 281, the ministry said.Israeli protest against far-right security ministerA small group of Israelis protested against the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, as he walked to a synagogue in Kfar Malal, north of Tel Aviv. Videos showed the minister arguing with the protesters.“We don’t want him in our village. Our message is to bring back the hostages,” one of the protesters, Boaz Levinstein, told the AP.Ben-Gvir is a key partner in Netanyahu’s political coalition and a staunch opponent of reaching a deal with Hamas, which hostages’ families see as the only way to secure the release of loved ones. Magdy reported from Cairo. Sam Mednick in Jerusalem and Michelle Price in Washington contributed.
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip —
Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 33 Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday, including people sheltering in tents or seeking scarce food, local hospitals said as a famine in Gaza’s largest city sparks new pressure on Israel over its 22-month offensive.
Israel’s defense minister has warned that Gaza City could be destroyed in a new military operation perhaps just days away, even as famine spreads there.
Aid groups have long warned that the war, sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, and months of Israeli restrictions on food and medical supplies entering Gaza are causing starvation.
Israel has rejected the data-based famine declaration as “an outright lie.”
Hamas recently agreed to the terms for a six-week ceasefire, but hopes for a ceasefire that could forestall the offensive are on hold as mediators await Israel’s next steps.
Women and children struck and killed in tents
Israeli strikes killed at least 17 people in southern Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to morgue records and health officials at Nasser Hospital. The officials said the strikes targeted tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis.
“Awad, why did you leave me?” a small boy asked his brother’s plastic-wrapped body.
Another grieving relative, Hekmat Foujo, pleaded for a truce.
“We want to rest,” Foujo said through her tears. ‘’Have some mercy on us.”
In northern Gaza, Israeli gunfire killed at least five aid-seekers near the Zikim crossing with Israel, where U.N. and other agencies’ truck convoys enter the territory, health officials at the Sheikh Radwan field hospital told the AP.
Six people were killed in attacks elsewhere, according to hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Israel’s military said it was not aware of a strike in Khan Younis at that location and was looking into the other incidents.
Braving gunfire and crowds for food
Mohamed Saada was among thousands of people who sought food from a delivery in the Zikim area on Saturday — and one of many who left empty-handed.
“I came here to bring food for my children but couldn’t get anything, due to the huge numbers of people and the difficulty of the situation between the shootings and the trucks running over people,” he said.
Some carried sacks of food like lentils and flour. Others carried the wounded, including on a wooden pallet. They navigated fetid puddles and the rubble of war as temperatures reached above 92 degrees Fahrenheit.
Friday’s report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification said Gaza City is gripped by famine that is likely to spread if fighting and restrictions on aid continue. It said nearly half a million people in Gaza — about one-fourth of the population — face catastrophic hunger.
The rare pronouncement came after Israel imposed a 2 1/2-month total blockade on Gaza earlier this year, then resumed some access with a focus on a new U.S.-backed private aid supplier, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Over 1,000 people have been killed near GHF distribution sites.
In response to global outrage over images of emaciated children, Israel has also allowed airdrops and a new influx of aid by land, but the U.N. and others say it’s still far from enough.
AP journalists have seen chaos on roads leading to aid deliveries, and there have been almost daily reports of Israeli troops firing toward aid-seekers. Israel’s military says it fires warning shots if people approach troops or pose a threat.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office asserts it has allowed enough aid to enter during the war. It also accuses Hamas of starving the Israeli hostages it holds.
An increase in Israeli airstrikes this month
With ground troops already active in strategic areas, the military operation in Gaza City could start within days in an area that has hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Aid group Doctors without Borders, or MSF, said its clinics around Gaza City are seeing high numbers of patients as people flee. Caroline Willemen, MSF project coordinator in the city, noted a marked increase in airstrikes since early August.
“Those who have not moved are wondering what they should do,” she told the AP. “People want to stay; they have been displaced endlessly before, but they also know that at some point, it will become very dangerous to remain.”
Israel’s military has said troops are operating on the outskirts of Gaza City and in the city’s Zeitoun neighborhood. Israel says Gaza City is still a Hamas stronghold, with a network of militant tunnels.
Ceasefire efforts await Israel’s response
Many Israelis fear the assault on Gaza City could doom the 20 hostages who are believed to have survived captivity since 2023. A further 30 are thought to be dead. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested a week ago for a deal to end the war and bring everyone home.
Netanyahu said Thursday he had instructed officials to begin immediate negotiations to release hostages and end the war on Israel’s terms. It was unclear if Israel would return to talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar after Hamas said earlier this week it accepted a new proposal from Arab mediators.
Hamas has said it will release hostages in exchange for ending the war, but rejects disarming without the creation of a Palestinian state.
U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed frustration with Hamas’ stance, suggesting the militant group is less interested in making deals with few hostages left alive.
“I actually think (the hostages are) safer in many ways if you went in and you really went in fast and you did it,” Trump told reporters Friday.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 62,622 Palestinians have been killed in the war, including missing people now confirmed dead by a special ministry judicial committee.
The total number of malnutrition-related deaths rose by eight to 281, the ministry said.
Israeli protest against far-right security minister
A small group of Israelis protested against the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, as he walked to a synagogue in Kfar Malal, north of Tel Aviv. Videos showed the minister arguing with the protesters.
“We don’t want him in our village. Our message is to bring back the hostages,” one of the protesters, Boaz Levinstein, told the AP.
Ben-Gvir is a key partner in Netanyahu’s political coalition and a staunch opponent of reaching a deal with Hamas, which hostages’ families see as the only way to secure the release of loved ones.
Magdy reported from Cairo. Sam Mednick in Jerusalem and Michelle Price in Washington contributed.
OVER THE GAZA STRIP — The Jordanian air force C-130 Hercules cargo plane banked in a slow arc over the Mediterranean, pointing its nose toward Gaza for its approach — the final stage of the intricate ballet that is dropping aid over the war-ravaged enclave.
Earlier, in a cavernous hangar at a Royal Jordanian Air Force base, soldiers from Jordan, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, United Arab Emirates and Singapore assembled to prepare the 79 tons of rice, sugar, pasta, tomato paste, dates and other basic foodstuffs set for the day’s drop.
Despite the sweltering heat, the soldiers stationed at King Abdullah II Air Base worked quickly, the hangar an ants’ nest of activity as they secured 1-ton piles of aid boxes to pallets, wrapped them in protective fabric, then tightened the rigging before using a forklift to hoist a parachute above each one.
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No less active were the crews of the seven dark-gray C-130s arrayed on the tarmac nearby, their bellies open as loadmasters prepared the planes for their cargo.
“We have to get a 100% success rate for the drops,” said Phille, a Belgian soldier whose tattoos, muscular build and clean-shaven head belied the gentle way he spoke as he tied a low-velocity parachute to a pallet. He gave his nickname, in line with the Belgian military’s policy.
“Everyone works in a chain, and knows exactly what they need to do,” he said.
Despite all that effort, everyone at the base that day knew that the multinational air bridge to Gaza was a wildly inefficient solution to a problem that by rights should never have existed.
Since March, Israel has kept the enclave under a near-total blockade, justifying the move as necessary to prevent aid from benefiting Hamas. The United Nations, dozens of aid organizations and Western officials have all rejected that claim and accuse Israel of deliberately starving the enclave’s 2.1 million people.
In May, Israel created, with U.S. assistance, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and charged it with delivering aid to Gaza. Aid groups and governments have excoriated the GHF’s efforts as paltry, inefficient and haphazard.
Health authorities in the Strip say more than 1,800 people have been killed near GHF sites, with rights groups describing the GHF’s methods as “orchestrated killing.” Israel and the U.S. insist the GHF is working.
In the face of blistering international pressure and daily reports of deaths from starvation — aid groups said last weekend that more than 100 children have died from malnourishment — Israel allowed airdrops to resume last month.
A number of world governments have signed on for air deliveries, their thinking being that some aid entering Gaza is better than nothing. But humanitarians generally view the drops as a last resort. The U.N. and aid groups say the best option is overland — a tried-and-true method that before the war brought 500 truckloads into the Strip per day from Jordan and Egypt.
The contrast with air deliveries is stark. A truck carries 25 tons, but planes can handle only a little more than half that amount, and even less in the case of hot weather due to strain on the engines.
Cost is another issue: Operating a C-130 cargo plane — the most common type of aircraft in the Gaza airlift — amounts to roughly $15,000 per hour of flight. A truck costs a fraction of that. The result is that an average food delivery by truck costs $180 per ton, while airdropping is a whopping $16,000 per ton, according to a U.S. Air Force study from 2016.
This isn’t aid. It’s chaos
— Nasra al-Rash, Gaza Strip resident
Once the 18 pallets were loaded, the C-130 heaved itself into the air, then circled lazily over Amman, the Jordanian capital, while the pilots waited for Israeli authorities to coordinate their entry into Gazan airspace.
Roughly 30 minutes later, the plane headed southwest toward Tel Aviv — the cue for the crew to secure the pallets to the long steel cables running along the body of the C-130 that would deploy the chutes once dropped. Loadmaster Mohammad clipped a line to the cable, then secured himself and waited for the green light as the plane flew over the Mediterranean and positioned itself for the flight somewhere over central Gaza and lowered its altitude to 1,500 feet.
“Ten minutes to drop,” the loadmaster said.
The C-130’s cargo doors yawned open, letting in a rush of sea air before Gaza came into view. Moments later, it emerged as a landscape denuded of all color save brown and gray and the occasional red-rimmed maw of a destroyed brick rooftop. Almost every structure appeared damaged or in ruins.
It was a sobering sight. Though all of the crewmen had seen it many times — Jordan alone has run more than 150 airdrops since July — they pressed their faces to the windows to glimpse the devastated landscape.
Dropping the aid is a delicate process. The attached parachutes have no GPS guidance systems, and though the pallets descend at a relatively slow 5 meters per second, their weight — 1 ton in most cases — makes them potentially lethal. This weekend in central Gaza, 14-year-old Muhannad Eid was crushed by an aid pallet as he ran toward it.
“We have to perform the airdrop as a surprise, so people don’t gather below,” Phille said earlier. “If we see people under the plane, we don’t give the green light.”
When the signal came, one line of pallets raced down the hold’s railing, their chutes ripping open in a flurry of motion as they fell out of the back, one after another. The sound of the engines increased as the pilot climbed higher and swung his way toward the King Abdullah II Air Base once more.
The parachutes floated down toward the coastline, not far from a cluster of makeshift tents, grapevines, fig trees and the outer edge of residential buildings.
Waiting for them on the ground was a group of men and boys. Once they saw the parachutes’ bloom, they sprinted toward the landing site. One of the pallets smashed onto the roof of a building. The rest settled nearby.
That building was private property, but some of the men rapidly scaled the walls. Two reached the roof, cut the parachute cords and dragged down supplies. They divided them. Minutes later, they each walked away, carrying small shares.
Not far from there, in al-Amer tent camp, dozens of families — about 50 in total — watched in despair.
“I’m an old man with 10 children and grandkids. What can these airdrops do for us? The poor, the elderly — they get nothing,” said Mutlaq Qreishi, a 71-year-old man displaced from the al-Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City, tears streaking down his face.
“It’s only the strong ones, the looters,” he added. “Every time I try, I can’t make it. My wife just wants tea, some milk — anything from a can. Look at that pallet — it fell in someone’s yard. People are fighting over it like wild dogs.”
Nearby was Nasra al-Rash, 48, who was displaced from Gaza City with her three boys and two girls.
“We’re not even allowed to run for them. Every time they drop food, we get nothing,” she said, a quiet rage in her voice. She added people needed a “fair distribution system,” like the one used by the U.N. and other groups.
“This isn’t aid,” she said. “It’s chaos. A performance for cameras. I’ve never received a single sack of flour, not one can of food, not a spoonful of sugar. We’re being starved, tortured. Enough.”
Four more planes appeared above and dropped their loads. Several of the pallets, residents said, landed on tents; others snagged on rooftops.
Standing near her tent, Hanan Hadhoud, 40, shouted at the sky.
“This can’t go on. I sent my kids to get something — anything — for us. But the young men, they just push children aside,” she said. Now, when she sees the planes coming, she added, she and her family run from their tents.
“That’s how we live now.”
Its cargo dispatched, the plane with the loadmaster Mohammad made good time back to base. Though the distance to Gaza could be covered by air in 15 or so minutes, the trip had taken an hour and 50, at an estimated cost of $200,000 to $250,000.
Mohammad and the other crewmen secured the loose rigging and packed their equipment before walking to their pickup truck for the ride home. They drove off, giving one last look at the plane as the ground crew scurried around, readying it for the next day’s drop. In the hangar, the ballet started anew.
Times staff writer Bulos reported from Jordan. Shbeir, a special correspondent, from Gaza.
Opinion by Danielle Nierenberg (baltimore, maryland usa)
Inter Press Service
BALTIMORE, Maryland USA, Oct 14 (IPS) – World Food Day 2024
World Food Day seems like it should be a time to celebrate. A day to eat delicious meals and enjoy the rich traditions and cultures of food around the globe.
But it’s difficult to celebrate when conflict, the climate crisis, and our biodiversity loss crisis leave at least 733 million people hungry around the world. Dr. Evan Fraser from the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph calls these cascading crises. And the results are dire.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in 2023, one in 11 people worldwide faced hunger last year. And one in five people in Africa experience hunger.
If current trends continue, more than 582 million people will be chronically undernourished in 2030, with half of these folks living on the continent of Africa, according to FAO and four additional United Agencies. That’s less than 6 years away, which means we have a lot of work to do.
Fortunately, we already know what works. The theme of this year’s World Food Day is Right to Foods for a Better Life and a Better Future. Everyone deserves healthy, nutrient rich, safe, and delicious food.
And the United Nations says, “A greater diversity of nutritious foods should be available in our fields, in our markets, and on our tables, for the benefit of all.” I would add that we also need a diversity of people, practices and thought to help feed the world.
This year the prestigious World Food Prize will be awarded to the Special Envoy for Food Security, Dr. Cary Fowler, and agricultural scientist Dr. Geoffrey Hawtin. These two individuals, according to the World Food Prize Foundation, are being awarded for “their extraordinary leadership in preserving and protecting the world’s heritage of crop biodiversity and mobilizing this critical resource to defend against threats to global food security.”
And Dr. Fowler is working to encourage farmers and governments to grow “opportunity crops” like cowpea, millet, sorghum, and other ancient and resilient foods. These crops have often been overlooked in favor of maize, rice, and other so-called staples, but they have, again, the opportunity to solve a multitude of problems. They build soil health and if storage and processing can improve in places like sub-Saharan Africa, they can be profitable.
Another solution—and it should be obvious—is empowering women and girls. We are systematically underutilizing at least 50 percent of the world’s population. Equal rights for women are not only an ethical and moral imperative, but can help solve the hunger crisis.
According to FAO, if women had the same access to resources as men—education, access to credit and financial services, extension, and respect—they could lift as many as 100 million people out of hunger. And equal rights are good for the economy. And according to Betty Chinyamunyamu of the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi, “gender integration makes good business sense.”
In addition, women are often growing the foods that are actually nutritious—including those opportunity crops, but also fruits and vegetables that contribute to agrobiodiversity. “Women’s empowerment has a positive impact on agricultural production, food security, diets and child nutrition,” states FAO’s Status of Women in Agrifood Systems. Making sure that women are empowered in all aspects of their lives just makes common sense.
Moreover, farmers—small, medium, and large—literally need a seat at the table, from in person input at international dialogues like COP29, the U.N. Climate Change Conference, to co-creating technologies with scientists and entrepreneurs that will actually solve the problems that farmers are experiencing in fields and ranches.
Good Nature Agro in Zambia, for example, is developing with farmers ways to prevent post-harvest losses and more sustainably manage their farmland. And the organization Global Alliance of Latinos in Agriculture aims to create a world where farmers and ranchers thrive globally—and they plan to bring hundreds of producers to COP30 in Belem, Brazil next year.
This World Food Day (October 16), the Arrell Food Institute is bringing together agri-food leaders and experts dive into solutions like diversity, empowering women, and putting farmers in the drivers’ seat to create a more safe and sustainable global food system. A food system that works for everyone.
Hopefully, in the not-so-distant future, World Food Day will actually be a day to celebrate.
Danielle Nierenberg is President and Founder, Food Tank, which describes itself as a global community that inspires, motivates, and activates positive transformation in how we produce and consume food.
Students interact with ECW’s Executive Director, Yasmine Sherif, as they participate in an art therapy session at an ECW-supported school in Kyiv, Ukraine. In partnership with UNICEF Ukraine and Caritas Ukraine, the school offers vital mental health and psychosocial support. Credit: ECW
by IPS Correspondent (united nations)
Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 17 (IPS) – Education Cannot Wait (ECW) has delivered quality education to children in crisis “against all odds,” ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif said at the United Nations today. “And you can imagine the odds. We are seeing more armed conflict, a growth of climate-induced disasters and the biggest refugee movement since World War 2.”
Education Cannot Wait’s ‘Results Against All Odds: 2023 Annual Results Report‘ launched today (September 17, 2024) gives details of the dire need for additional funding because, while the number of children in urgent need of education support has nearly tripled since 2016, for the first time in a decade funding for funding for education in emergencies and protracted crises dropped.
The global community is falling behind on its promise to ensure ‘quality education for all‘ by 2030, the report says, as armed conflicts, forced displacement, climate change, and other emergencies and protracted crises have left more than 224 million crisis-affected children in urgent need of education support, a sharp rise from 75 million in 2016.
Overall humanitarian funding for education decreased by 3% last year, from US$1.2 billion in 2022 to US$1.17 billion in 2023, according to the report.
Despite this, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises within the United Nations, and its strategic partners continue to deliver life-saving, life-sustaining and multi-year investments in education to the world’s most vulnerable children and adolescents.
Sherif thanked ECW’s partners and the global community that supports education for children in crisis.
“Mostofall,wehavetothankthechildrenwhoareclingingontohopedespitethedarknessandtheoddsagainstthem,stillwantingtogotoschool,wantingtolearnandwantingtochangetheirlives.Now,despiteallthesealarmingtrendsandrealities,educationcannotwait,” Sherif said, noting that this report gave details of many children that had been reached sinceECWbecameoperationalin2017.
“That’ssixyears,11millionwithaholisticqualityeducation,aneducationthatischild-centeredandthatentitlestheentirespectrumofschoolmeansacademictraining,artsandmentalhealthandpsychosocialservices,protection,teachertrainingandteachersupport,amongstsomanyotherthings.” In 2023 alone, 5.6 million girls and boys were reached, she noted.
More Funding Needed to Meet 2026 Goal
To date, the fund has mobilized more than US$1.6 billion from public and private donors. However, US$600 million is urgently needed in donor contributions for ECW and its strategic partners to reach a total of 20 million children and adolescents with inclusive, quality education by the end of its 2023-2026 strategic plan period.
“For our 25 strategic donor partners, these transformative investments deliver a quality child-centered and holistic education, and thus represent a commitment to sustainable development, human rights, economic resilience and global security,” said Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education and Chair of ECW’s High-Level Steering Group.
“Education is the most powerful tool to restore hope in a world marred by brutal conflicts, human rights violations and inequality. It is our investment in a new generation of leaders.”
From Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gaza, the West Bank, to Haiti, the Sahel, Sudan, Ukraine and other hotspots around the globe, ECW’s report highlights the profound impact of education in crisis settings.
Funding Education: A Moral Choice
“Girls and boys in crises are enduring the worst impacts of brutal man-made conflicts, forced displacement, climate change and other disasters. Our new report proves that despite these challenges, it is possible to provide them with the protection, hope and life-changing opportunity of a quality holistic education. To do this, we urgently call for US$600 million to meet our strategic plan targets and ensure a better future for 20 million girls and boys by the end of 2026,” said ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif. “This is the time to make a moral choice that is aligned with political action.”
The new report shows ECW’s strong focus on the world’s most vulnerable and at-risk children: of the children reached in 2023, more than half were girls (51%), 17% were internally displaced and 22% were refugees.
The quality and impact of the education delivered—even in the most difficult of circumstances—are also improving. In all, 9 out of 10 programmes reported improved school enrollment and 72% showed gender-equitable progress. ECW reported that, among programmes able to monitor learning outcomes, 80% of its investments demonstrated academic improvements and 72% showed improvements in children’s social and emotional learning and well-being.
ECW investments also improved the continuity of learning, with notable increases in the number of girls and boys reached through the Fund’s investments in early childhood education and secondary school, disability inclusion, gender-transformative approaches, mental health support, and agile, holistic solutions that address whole-child needs.
The climate crisis is an education crisis. The number of children reached through First Emergency Responses resulting from climate-induced hazards nearly doubled from 14% in 2022 to 27% in 2023.
The report lays out ECW’s distinct approach and results in improving coordination at the humanitarian-development nexus, joint programming, increasing localization and community engagement, and building stronger data and evidence systems.
It demonstrates ECW’s efforts with partners to deliver on key United Nations initiatives and reforms, including the Grand Bargain agreement, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Secretary-General UN reform. The report shows that the systems are in place and that Education Cannot Wait has brought a revival through bold support to make the systems work at its best. But funding is required to achieve the goals.
“Education is a public good and a fundamental right. To achieve our goals, global leaders must align policies, funding and humanitarian principles. Multilateral aid funding must immediately be increased to reverse the current downward trend, and partnerships and collaboration must be strengthened across humanitarian, development and peace efforts. Education Cannot Wait has shown us that the seemingly ‘impossible’ is indeed possible—provided that the funding is made available,” said Brown.
A student participates in an art therapy session at an ECW-supported school in Kyiv, Ukraine. In partnership with UNICEF Ukraine and Caritas Ukraine, the school offers vital mental health and psychosocial support, alongside essential learning materials, helping children recover from trauma and promoting social cohesion between host communities and displaced children and families. Credit: ECW
by Joyce Chimbi (kyiv kyiv & nairobi)
Inter Press Service
KYIV Kyiv & NAIROBI, Sep 13 (IPS) – In a major escalation of a conflict that started in 2014 and which is the largest in Europe since World War II, Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, thousands of Ukrainian civilians—many of them women and children—have lost their lives. Countless others have been displaced from their homes, clinging to what remains of the education system as their communities disintegrate.
On a high-level UN mission to Ukraine this week, Education Cannot Wait (ECW)—the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises within the United Nations—met with children affected by the war and local partners. The mission took stock of the impact of the conflict on approximately 4 million children across Ukraine whose schooling has been severely disrupted.
“We visited a school in Kyiv, where classes continue despite the constant threat of attack. Alarms frequently signal imminent danger. The school has a bomb shelter for 500 children, but there are over 1,000 students enrolled. To ensure everyone has access to the shelter when needed, primary school children attend in the morning, and secondary school children attend in the afternoon,” Yasmine Sherif, ECW’s Executive Director, told IPS.
“We also spoke with psychologists and parents, including single mothers displaced from the east, north, and south of the country. They’ve come to Kyiv, leaving behind the fathers and grandparents of their children. We were able to see how a strong focus on mental health and social services is helping children and families cope with these challenges, with excellent collaboration between teachers, psychologists, parents, and the broader community. The Ministry of Education is working tirelessly to ensure safe learning environments for all children,” Sherif added.
Yasmine Sherif, Education Cannot Wait Executive Director and children participate in an art therapy session at an ECW-supported school in Kyiv, Ukraine. In partnership with UNICEF Ukraine and Caritas Ukraine, the school offers vital mental health and psychosocial support, alongside essential learning materials, helping children recover from trauma and promoting social cohesion between host communities and displaced children and families. Credit: ECW
According to Sherif, children in Ukraine continue their education in core subjects like reading and mathematics, alongside arts education, even under these difficult circumstances. ECW was among the first to invest in education in Ukraine, starting in 2017, with an initial emergency response supporting children along the front lines in eastern Ukraine.
Since then, ECW has provided USD 27 million in funding to support quality, holistic education programmes in Ukraine since 2017. As conflict continues to escalate and education needs multiply, ECW has received much-needed donations from additional donors, including Germany and Japan, to support education in Ukraine.
At last year’s Education Cannot Wait High-Level Financing Conference, the Global Business Coalition for Education pledged to mobilize USD 50 million from the business community to support ECW’s four-year strategic plan. In partnership with GBCE, TheirWorld, HP and Microsoft, USD 39 million in partnership and device donation for ECW has already been mobilized, and over 70,000 laptops have been shared with schools, teachers and other people in need, both inside Ukraine and in neighboring countries.
This is a huge investment in expanding educational opportunities for children who are unable to access in-person learning. Delivered by a consortium of partners including Finn Church Aid, the Kyiv School of Economics, Save the Children and UNICEF—in coordination with Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science—ECW’s education programmes have thus far reached more than 360,000 children, about 65 percent of whom are girls.
Yasmine Sherif, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Executive Director, mission delegation, school staff, children and their parents during a visit to an ECW-supported school in Kyiv, Ukraine. Credit: ECW
Against this backdrop, Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Representative to Ukraine, emphasized that the “support from Education Cannot Wait is critical for children, their parents and teachers who are doing everything they can to keep classrooms open and to continue in-person learning despite the impact of the war across the country.”
However, more funding is urgently needed. Over 1,300 educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed, and nearly 600,000 children remain unable to access in-person learning since the start of the school year in early September, due to ongoing deadly and destructive fighting, attacks and displacement.
“This atrocious war must stop now! For as long as the children, adolescents and teachers in Ukraine suffer this unfathomable horror, schools must be protected from attacks. As a global community, we must rise to the challenge before us to ensure that every girl and every boy in Ukraine impacted by this brutal war and the refugees have access to the safety, hope and opportunity that only a quality education can provide,” Sherif said.
ECW and its strategic partners are calling for USD 600 million in additional funding from private and public donors to deliver on the global targets outlined in the Fund’s 2023-2026 Strategic Plan. This funding would provide 20 million children in crisis-impacted countries around the globe with safe, inclusive, and quality education, and the hope for a better tomorrow.
A young learner at an ECW-supported school in Kyiv, Ukraine, welcomes Education Cannot Wait’s high-level mission delegation. Credit: ECW
According to Sherif, ECW’s investment in education is an investment in recovery, peace, security, and justice for Ukraine and beyond. It is an investment in the vast potential of future generations. Earlier this year, ECW announced an USD 18 million allocation to roll out a Multi-Year Resilience Programme in Ukraine. The investment aims to raise an additional USD 17 million to reach over 150,000 children across 10 of the country’s most affected areas.
The programme aims to improve learning outcomes in safer, more accessible environments while expanding digital learning options as an alternative. There is also a strong emphasis on mental health, psychosocial support, and targeted assistance for girls and children with disabilities.
The UN high-level mission concluded at the Fourth Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen, where ECW called on world leaders to commit to protecting education from attack and to scale up funding to provide life-saving access to safe education, both in-person and through remote learning opportunities, when necessary, as well as catch-up classes for children who have fallen behind.
All six African sub-regions have experienced an increase in the temperature trends over the past six decades, leading to severe water stresses, not enough food and deepening poverty. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS
by Joyce Chimbi (nairobi)
Inter Press Service
NAIROBI, Sep 05 (IPS) – With fewer than 100 days to go to COP29, the highest decision-making body on climate issues under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is getting shorter and the need for creative and innovative solutions to protect lives and livelihoods is extremely urgent.
The State of the Climate in Africa 2023 report shows all six African sub-regions have experienced an increase in the temperature trends over the past six decades. In Africa, 2023 was one of the three warmest years in 124 years, leading to unprecedented climatic carnage. The consequences are such that there is not enough food, deepening poverty, damage, displacement and loss of life.
But where many see challenges, there are also opportunities.
Speaking to the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, today, Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, said “climate action is the single greatest economic opportunity of this century. It can and should be the single greatest opportunity for Africa to lift up people, communities, and economies after centuries of exploitation and neglect.”
“The opportunity is immense. But so too are the costs for African nations of unchecked global heating. The continent has been warming at a faster rate than the global average. From Algeria to Zambia, climate-driven disasters are getting worse, inflicting the most suffering on those who did least to cause them.”
Jointly launched by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the African Union Commission on September 2, 2024, at the 12th Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA12) Conference, the climate report shows Africa is disproportionately affected by the climate crises as the continent is warming at a rate that is slightly faster than the global average.
The year 2023 was the warmest on record in many countries, including Mali, Morocco, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Uganda. The warming has been most rapid in North Africa, with Morocco experiencing the highest temperature anomaly.
The report indicates that parts of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Zambia, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo experienced severe drought in 2023. Following severe droughts in the Greater Horn of Africa, three countries, including Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, experienced extensive and severe flooding, with at least 352 deaths and 2.4 million displaced people reported.
Amidst the far-reaching devastating loss and damage, the UN Climate Chief emphasised that in Africa, as in all regions, the climate crisis is an economic sinkhole, sucking the momentum out of economic growth and that in fact, many African nations are losing up to 5 percent of GDP as a result of climate impacts. It is African nations and people who pay the heaviest price.
Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), says COP29 in Baku must signal that the climate crisis is core business for every government, with financial solutions to match. UN Photo/Loey Felipe
Placing additional burden on poverty alleviation efforts, which could in turn significantly hamper growth, the report shows many countries are diverting “up to 9 percent of their budgets into unplanned expenditures to respond to extreme weather events. By 2030, it is estimated that up to 118 million extremely poor people—or those living on less than USD 1.90 per day—will be exposed to drought, floods and extreme heat in Africa if adequate response measures are not put in place.”
Putting it into perspective, Stiell said, “Consider food production being hit hard, contributing to the re-emergence of famine, while also pushing up global prices, and with them inflation and the cost of living. Desertification and habitat destruction are driving forced movements of people. Supply chains are already being hit hard by spiralling climate impacts,” he said.
Further cautioning that “it would be entirely incorrect for any world leader—especially in the G20—to think: although incredibly sad, ultimately it is not my problem. The economic and political reality—in an interdependent world—is we are all in this crisis together. We rise together, or we fall together. But if the climate and economic crises are globally interlinked. So too are the solutions.”
In sub-Saharan Africa alone, it is estimated that climate adaptation will cost USD 30 billion to USD 50 billion, which translates to two to three percent of the regional GDP per year over the next decade. With COP28 having concluded the first-ever stocktake of global climate action—a mid-term review of progress towards the 2015 Paris Agreement—COP29 has been dubbed the ‘finance COP’—an opportunity to align climate finance contributions with estimated global needs.
COP29 will also be an opportunity to build on previous success, especially in the heels of a most successful COP28, whose ambitious commitments include: to transition away from all fossil fuels quickly but fairly; to triple renewable energy and double energy efficiency; and to go from responding to climate impacts to truly transformative adaptation.
While recognizing these big commitments, Stiell said delivering on them will unlock a goldmine of human and economic benefits that includes cleaner, more reliable and affordable energy across Africa. More jobs, stronger local economies, underpinning more stability and opportunity, especially for women. That electrification and lighting at night in the home means children can do homework, boosting education outcomes, with major flow-on productivity gains driving stronger economic growth.
“Cooking with traditional fuels emits greenhouse gases roughly equivalent to global aviation or shipping. It also contributes to 3 million premature deaths per year. It would cost 4 billion US dollars annually to fix this in Africa—an outstanding investment on any accounting,” he said.
Further stressing the need to link nature-based climate solutions with biodiversity protection and land restoration, as this will drive progress right across the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, he reiterated, African nations’ vast potential to drive forward climate solutions is being thwarted by an epidemic of underinvestment.
“Of the more than USD400 billion spent on clean energy last year, only USD2.6 billion went to African nations. Renewable energy investment in Africa needs to grow at least fivefold by 2030. COP29 in Baku must signal that the climate crisis is core business for every government, with finance solutions to match,” Stiell emphasized.
“It is time to flip the script. From potential climate tipping points to exponential changes in business, investment, and growth. Changes that will further strengthen African nations’ climate leadership and vital role in global climate solutions, on all fronts. Your role at COP29—and your voices in the lead-up—are more important than ever, to help guide our process to the highest-ambition outcomes the whole world needs.”
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is probing the death of a military officer whose body was found at the Twentynine Palms Marine base, officials said.
Maj. Gen. William F. Mullen was found dead at the Twentynine Palms base Saturday, according to San Bernardino County coroner’s records.
Mullen, at one time the commanding general of the base, retired in 2020.
San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokesperson Mara Rodriguez confirmed that NCIS is investigating the death at the facility, which is the world’s largest Marine Corps training base.
NCIS is the investigative law enforcement entity of the Department of the Navy. The agency leads criminal investigations and, according to its website, also investigates noncombat deaths of Navy or Marine Corps members.
NCIS officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Major General Mullen’s dedicated service to our nation and the Marine Corps will always be remembered,” said Maj. Gen. Thomas Savage, commanding general of the Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones.”
Marine officials confirmed NCIS is investigating the cause of death.
San Bernardino coroner’s officials are handling the autopsy, Rodriguez said. That investigation is ongoing.
Before his retirement, Mullen served as commanding general of the Training and Education Command, according to the U.S. Marine Corps. His extensive military background includes tours of duty in the Middle East, leading a counter-narcotics mission in the Los Padres National Forest and serving as Marine aide to President Clinton.
Renewable energy for small island states formed part of the debate at the Fourteenth Session of the IRENA Assembly in Abu Dhabi. Credit: Amitava Chandra / Climate Visuals
by Aimable Twahirwa (abu dhabi)
Inter Press Service
ABU DHABI, Apr 24 (IPS) – Small Island Developing States (SIDS), a distinct group of 39 states and 18 associate members, are making efforts to promote the blue economy as they possess enormous potential for renewable energy relying on the sea.
Experts predict that switching to renewables will help SIDS countries decarbonize power generation as an appropriate option for islands to cut their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, fulfill Paris Agreement pledges and contribute to the global fight against climate change.
In addition, ocean energy technologies, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), are likely to offer high predictability, making them suitable to provide a continuous supply of power.
Dr Vince Henderson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business, Trade, and Energy, Dominican Republic, told IPS that the key has been prioritizing the development of various forms of renewable energies, focusing on clean and efficient energy exploration and exploitation.
While SIDS have shown climate leadership through 100 percent renewable energy ambitions, experts believe that realizing these ambitions is critical.
“Renewable energy innovations are a winning formula for our blue economy’s development,” said Henderson, whose country generates 85 percent of its electricity from imported fossil fuels.
A delegation of Ministers from SIDS member countries addressed a press briefing at the Fourteenth Session of the IRENA Assembly in Abu Dhabi. Experts predict that the widespread use of renewable energy among SIDS could have a positive impact on reducing the cost of renewable energy. Credit: Aimable Twahirwa/IPS
By 2030, the renewable energy generation output for the whole SIDS member states is anticipated to reach 9.9 GW from current 5 GW.
“Improving a new system for mobilizing the much-needed financing to implement effective decarbonization actions is crucial,” Henderson said in an exclusive interview.
While some experts believe that the widespread use of renewable energy among SIDS could have a positive impact on reducing the cost of renewable energy, such as solar photovoltaic, wind, and bioenergy, providing reliable and affordable electricity is considered an important step to ensure that the SIDS population is accessible to reliable social services such as health, education, public transport, and housing services.
Arieta Gonelevu Rakai, Regional Programme Officer, Islands, at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), told IPS that despite progress achieved in decarbonizing the electricity sector, challenges remain in transport, industry, tourism, and services for islands.
The ambitious target means that Island states will continue to upgrade renewable technologies to stimulate the rapid expansion of renewable energy installation while improving the efficiency and stability of power generation
“International cooperation and collaborations between governments, regional and multilateral institutions, and the public and private sector are needed to drive this transformation,” said Rakai during an exclusive interview.
Through established partnerships such as the SIDS Lighthouses Initiative (LHI), which is coordinated by IRENA, small islands saw a steady increase in the newly-installed capacity of clean energy thanks to a partnership with various stakeholders working with donor agencies to provide streamlined access to grants.
While new efforts seek to explore energy for the benefits of blue economic resources, some experts believe that renewable technologies, although not yet cost competitive with fossil fuels, are set to become less costly over time.
Miriam Dalli, Malta’s Minister of Environment, Energy, and Regeneration of the Grand Harbour, stressed that for small islands to meet their internal electricity demand while reducing their imports of electricity and fossil fuels, the development of alternative energy sources is crucial.
For example, Malta, being an archipelago situated in the Mediterranean Sea, in which the islands generally use diesel generators to produce electrical power, is emphasizing increasing the share of primary energy consumption that comes from renewable technologies, with a major focus on solar and wind that sweeps its coasts and land.
Sea wave energy happens to be another source of renewable energy in Malta, using the energy released by the wave to produce energy.
“Marine energy is turning to be the most viable means for Small Island’s energy generation,” Dalli told IPS of the initiatives currently undertaken by the Mediterranean Archipelago to shift from fossil fuels to clean energy.
Scientists and decision-makers gathered earlier last week in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for the 14th Session of the IRENA Assembly. Current global efforts to decarbonize both energy supply and demand from renewable sources such as wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, and biomass can help small islands reap the benefits of a rapidly growing ocean economy.
According to the latest IRENA’s projections, ocean energy can provide clean, local and predictable electricity to coastal countries and island communities around the world, with the potential to generate a total capacity of 350 gigawatts (GW) by 2050.
The deployment of ocean energy technologies, according to experts, can also facilitate new revenue streams and higher cash flows for territories, helping to reduce the levelized cost of electricity in these locations.
Kerryne James, Minister of Climate Resilience, Environment, and Renewable Energy of Grenada, points out that some islands, such as Grenada, are perfect for solar and geothermal power.
Grenada’s clean energy goals for increasing energy efficiency and implementing renewable energy from geothermal, wind, and solar technologies are matched by its renewable resources, which more than exceed current electric sector capacity.
“We are currently implementing appropriate plans to further explore various renewable energy sources and support grid resilience,” she told IPS.
The House swiftly approved $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies in a rare Saturday session as Democrats and Republicans banded together after months of hard-right resistance over renewed American support for repelling Russia’s invasion.With an overwhelming vote, the $61 billion in aid for Ukraine passed in a matter of minutes, a strong showing as American lawmakers race to deliver a fresh round of U.S. support to the war-torn ally. Many Democrats cheered on the House floor and waved blue-and-yellow flags of Ukraine.Aid to Israel and the other allies also won approval by healthy margins, as did a measure to clamp down on the popular platform TikTok, with unique coalitions forming to push the separate bills forward. The whole package will go to the Senate, which could pass it as soon as Tuesday. President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.“We did our work here, and I think history will judge it well,” said a weary Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who risked his own job to marshal the package to passage.Biden, in a statement, thanked Johnson, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and the bipartisan coalition of lawmakers “who voted to put our national security first.”“I urge the Senate to quickly send this package to my desk so that I can sign it into law and we can quickly send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to meet their urgent battlefield needs,” the president said.President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said he was “grateful” to both parties in the House and “personally Speaker Mike Johnson for the decision that keeps history on the right track,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.“Thank you, America!” he said.Video below: Speaker Johnson holds press conference after House passes Ukraine, Israel aid packagesThe scene in Congress was a striking display of action after months of dysfunction and stalemate fueled by Republicans, who hold the majority but are deeply split over foreign aid, particularly for Ukraine. Johnson relied on Democrats to ensure the military and humanitarian funding — the first major package for Ukraine since December 2022 — won approval.The morning opened with a somber and serious debate and an unusual sense of purpose as Republican and Democratic leaders united to urge quick approval, saying that would ensure the United States supported its allies and remained a leader on the world stage. The House’s visitor galleries were crowded with onlookers.“The eyes of the world are upon us, and history will judge what we do here and now,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs CommitteePassage through the House cleared away the biggest hurdle to Biden’s funding request, first made in October as Ukraine’s military supplies began to run low.The GOP-controlled House struggled for months over what to do, first demanding that any assistance for Ukraine be tied to policy changes at the U.S.-Mexico border, only to immediately reject a bipartisan Senate offer along those very lines.Reaching an endgame has been an excruciating lift for Johnson that has tested both his resolve and his support among Republicans, with a small but growing number now openly urging his removal from the speaker’s office. Yet congressional leaders cast the votes as a turning point in history — an urgent sacrifice as U.S. allies are beleaguered by wars and threats from continental Europe to the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific.“Sometimes when you are living history, as we are today, you don’t understand the significance of the actions of the votes that we make on this House floor, of the effect that it will have down the road,” said New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “This is a historic moment.”Opponents, particularly the hard-right Republicans from Johnson’s majority, argued that the U.S. should focus on the home front, addressing domestic border security and the nation’s rising debt load, and they warned against spending more money, which largely flows to American defense manufacturers, to produce weaponry used overseas.Still, Congress has seen a stream of world leaders visit in recent months, from Zelenskyy to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, all but pleading with lawmakers to approve the aid. Globally, the delay left many questioning America’s commitment to its allies.At stake has been one of Biden’s top foreign policy priorities — halting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advance in Europe. After engaging in quiet talks with Johnson, the president quickly endorsed Johnson’s plan, paving the way for Democrats to give their rare support to clear the procedural hurdles needed for a final vote.“We have a responsibility, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans to defend democracy wherever it is at risk,” Jeffries said during the debate.While aid for Ukraine failed to win a majority of Republicans, several dozen progressive Democrats voted against the bill aiding Israel as they demanded an end to the bombardment of Gaza that has killed thousands of civilians. A group of roughly 20 hard-right Republicans voted against every portion of the aid package, including for allies like Israel and Taiwan that have traditionally enjoyed support from the GOP.At the same time, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has loomed large over the fight, weighing in from afar via social media statements and direct phone calls with lawmakers as he tilts the GOP to a more isolationist stance with his “America First” brand of politics.Ukraine’s defense once enjoyed robust, bipartisan support in Congress, but as the war enters its third year, a majority of Republicans opposed further aid. Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., offered an amendment to zero out the money, but it was rejected.The ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus has derided the legislation as the “America Last” foreign wars package and urged lawmakers to defy Republican leadership and oppose it because the bills did not include border security measures.Johnson’s hold on the speaker’s gavel has also grown more tenuous in recent days as three Republicans, led by Greene, supported a “motion to vacate” that can lead to a vote on removing the speaker. Egged on by far-right personalities, she is also being joined by a growing number of lawmakers including Reps. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who is urging Johnson to voluntarily step aside.The package included several Republican priorities that Democrats endorsed, or at least are willing to accept. Those include proposals that allow the U.S. to seize frozen Russian central bank assets to rebuild Ukraine; impose sanctions on Iran, Russia, China and criminal organizations that traffic fentanyl; and legislation to require the China-based owner of the popular video app TikTok to sell its stake within a year or face a ban in the United States.Still, the all-out push to get the bills through Congress is a reflection not only of politics, but realities on the ground in Ukraine. Top lawmakers on national security committees, who are privy to classified briefings, have grown gravely concerned about the tide of the war as Russia pummels Ukrainian forces beset by a shortage of troops and ammunition.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced the Senate would begin procedural votes on the package Tuesday, saying, “Our allies across the world have been waiting for this moment.”Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, as he prepared to overcome objections from his right flank next week, said, “The task before us is urgent. It is once again the Senate’s turn to make history.”
WASHINGTON —
The House swiftly approved $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies in a rare Saturday session as Democrats and Republicans banded together after months of hard-right resistance over renewed American support for repelling Russia’s invasion.
With an overwhelming vote, the $61 billion in aid for Ukraine passed in a matter of minutes, a strong showing as American lawmakers race to deliver a fresh round of U.S. support to the war-torn ally. Many Democrats cheered on the House floor and waved blue-and-yellow flags of Ukraine.
Aid to Israel and the other allies also won approval by healthy margins, as did a measure to clamp down on the popular platform TikTok, with unique coalitions forming to push the separate bills forward. The whole package will go to the Senate, which could pass it as soon as Tuesday. President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.
“We did our work here, and I think history will judge it well,” said a weary Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who risked his own job to marshal the package to passage.
Biden, in a statement, thanked Johnson, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and the bipartisan coalition of lawmakers “who voted to put our national security first.”
“I urge the Senate to quickly send this package to my desk so that I can sign it into law and we can quickly send weapons and equipment to Ukraine to meet their urgent battlefield needs,” the president said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said he was “grateful” to both parties in the House and “personally Speaker Mike Johnson for the decision that keeps history on the right track,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.
“Thank you, America!” he said.
Video below: Speaker Johnson holds press conference after House passes Ukraine, Israel aid packages
The scene in Congress was a striking display of action after months of dysfunction and stalemate fueled by Republicans, who hold the majority but are deeply split over foreign aid, particularly for Ukraine. Johnson relied on Democrats to ensure the military and humanitarian funding — the first major package for Ukraine since December 2022 — won approval.
The morning opened with a somber and serious debate and an unusual sense of purpose as Republican and Democratic leaders united to urge quick approval, saying that would ensure the United States supported its allies and remained a leader on the world stage. The House’s visitor galleries were crowded with onlookers.
“The eyes of the world are upon us, and history will judge what we do here and now,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
Passage through the House cleared away the biggest hurdle to Biden’s funding request, first made in October as Ukraine’s military supplies began to run low.
The GOP-controlled House struggled for months over what to do, first demanding that any assistance for Ukraine be tied to policy changes at the U.S.-Mexico border, only to immediately reject a bipartisan Senate offer along those very lines.
Reaching an endgame has been an excruciating lift for Johnson that has tested both his resolve and his support among Republicans, with a small but growing number now openly urging his removal from the speaker’s office. Yet congressional leaders cast the votes as a turning point in history — an urgent sacrifice as U.S. allies are beleaguered by wars and threats from continental Europe to the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific.
“Sometimes when you are living history, as we are today, you don’t understand the significance of the actions of the votes that we make on this House floor, of the effect that it will have down the road,” said New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “This is a historic moment.”
Opponents, particularly the hard-right Republicans from Johnson’s majority, argued that the U.S. should focus on the home front, addressing domestic border security and the nation’s rising debt load, and they warned against spending more money, which largely flows to American defense manufacturers, to produce weaponry used overseas.
Still, Congress has seen a stream of world leaders visit in recent months, from Zelenskyy to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, all but pleading with lawmakers to approve the aid. Globally, the delay left many questioning America’s commitment to its allies.
At stake has been one of Biden’s top foreign policy priorities — halting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s advance in Europe. After engaging in quiet talks with Johnson, the president quickly endorsed Johnson’s plan, paving the way for Democrats to give their rare support to clear the procedural hurdles needed for a final vote.
“We have a responsibility, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans to defend democracy wherever it is at risk,” Jeffries said during the debate.
While aid for Ukraine failed to win a majority of Republicans, several dozen progressive Democrats voted against the bill aiding Israel as they demanded an end to the bombardment of Gaza that has killed thousands of civilians. A group of roughly 20 hard-right Republicans voted against every portion of the aid package, including for allies like Israel and Taiwan that have traditionally enjoyed support from the GOP.
At the same time, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has loomed large over the fight, weighing in from afar via social media statements and direct phone calls with lawmakers as he tilts the GOP to a more isolationist stance with his “America First” brand of politics.
Ukraine’s defense once enjoyed robust, bipartisan support in Congress, but as the war enters its third year, a majority of Republicans opposed further aid. Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., offered an amendment to zero out the money, but it was rejected.
The ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus has derided the legislation as the “America Last” foreign wars package and urged lawmakers to defy Republican leadership and oppose it because the bills did not include border security measures.
Johnson’s hold on the speaker’s gavel has also grown more tenuous in recent days as three Republicans, led by Greene, supported a “motion to vacate” that can lead to a vote on removing the speaker. Egged on by far-right personalities, she is also being joined by a growing number of lawmakers including Reps. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who is urging Johnson to voluntarily step aside.
The package included several Republican priorities that Democrats endorsed, or at least are willing to accept. Those include proposals that allow the U.S. to seize frozen Russian central bank assets to rebuild Ukraine; impose sanctions on Iran, Russia, China and criminal organizations that traffic fentanyl; and legislation to require the China-based owner of the popular video app TikTok to sell its stake within a year or face a ban in the United States.
Still, the all-out push to get the bills through Congress is a reflection not only of politics, but realities on the ground in Ukraine. Top lawmakers on national security committees, who are privy to classified briefings, have grown gravely concerned about the tide of the war as Russia pummels Ukrainian forces beset by a shortage of troops and ammunition.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced the Senate would begin procedural votes on the package Tuesday, saying, “Our allies across the world have been waiting for this moment.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, as he prepared to overcome objections from his right flank next week, said, “The task before us is urgent. It is once again the Senate’s turn to make history.”
Did a pandemic-related financial crunch leave you with mortgage troubles? The state may be able to help, but not for much longer.
The California Mortgage Relief Program offers up to $80,000 to low- and moderate-income homeowners hurt financially by the pandemic who missed mortgage payments, deferred some monthly installments or have overdue property taxes. Having awarded more than $823 million of its $1-billion budget, however, the program could run out of money in a couple of months, state officials say.
So far, the program has helped more than 33,500 homeowners across the state, most of whom have incomes at or below their county’s median. The aid isn’t a loan, but a payment made on the borrowers’ behalf to clear their mortgage or property-tax debt so they can keep their home.
“When you look at who received those funds, it’s been a real success,” said Rebecca Franklin, president of the California Housing Finance Agency’s Homeowner Relief Corporation. By using about 75% of the funds to help families earning no more than their county’s median income, and 55% of the money in communities that are historically disadvantaged, “we really were successful at getting the money to those populations who really were hit harder by the pandemic,” she said.
“We weren’t trying to help everybody. We were trying to focus the funds on those who needed it the most” — and the ones who couldn’t afford to become homeowners again if they were foreclosed on, considering the state’s current housing market, Franklin said.
The 2021 American Rescue Plan Act put almost $10 billion into a Homeowners Assistance Fund to help prevent low- and moderate-income Americans suffering pandemic-related financial hardships from losing their homes. California was one of the first states to use HAF dollars to launch a mortgage relief program, said Stacey Tutt, homeowner assistance fund coordinator and senior staff attorney at the National Housing Law Project.
During the Great Recession, Tutt said, distressed homeowners often avoided foreclosures through loan modifications. But during the pandemic, rising interest rates and property values left many homeowners unable to obtain modifications that reduced their monthly payments.
The Homeowners Assistance Fund was “essential to keeping people in their homes,” she said, adding, “I can’t imagine what our housing market would look like right now without these HAF dollars getting out the door.”
“As someone who has watched HAF be implemented across the country … I do think California did an amazing job,” Tutt said. Not only was California one of the first states to mortgage relief dollars out to homeowners, she said, it also expanded the program to more types of relief as needs evolved.
State assistance is available to qualified homeowners who’ve missed at least two mortgage payments by Feb. 1 and are still in arrears, or who’ve missed at least one property tax payment by Feb. 1. Various restrictions apply, but the main ones are that aid is available only for owner-occupied homes and that an applicant’s total household income must be no more than 150% of the area median income. In Los Angeles County, that’s $132,450 for an individual and $189,150 for a family of four.
Even if you do not qualify for a grant — your mortgage may be too large, for example — the state program has provided grants to legal service organizations and housing counselors to help you navigate your way to a solution, Franklin and Tutt said.
Here are more details on who’s eligible for a grant, how to apply and what’s covered.
Who qualifies for relief?
Under federal law, households earning up to 150% of the median income in their county who suffered a pandemic-related financial hardship are eligible for up to $80,000 in relief. The limit rises as the number of people in your household increases; to find the limit for your household, consult the calculator on the program’s website.
The program defines a financial hardship as either reduced income or increased living expenses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to its website, qualifying expenses include “medical expenses, more people living in the household or costs for utility services.”
There are a few more limitations, however:
The home in question must be your principal residence.
You may own only one property, although it may have up to four units on it.
Your mortgage may not be more than $80,000 in arrears. The program can’t make partial payments on your debt.
If you’ve already paid off your mortgage or tax debt, you can’t recoup that money by applying for state aid.
You will not qualify if your mortgage is a “jumbo” loan bigger than the limits set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
You can’t obtain the state’s help if you have more than enough cash and assets (other than retirement savings) to cover your mortgage or tax debt yourself.
Your mortgage servicer must be participating in the program.
What kinds of help are available?
The program will cover past-due mortgage payments and property tax debt for eligible households, but it doesn’t stop there. Funds also can be used for:
A second shot of relief. The mortgage relief program was originally seen as one-time-only assistance. Now, however, California homeowners who’ve already received help can apply for more if they have missed more payments and remain eligible. No household may collect more than $80,000 over the course of the program.
Reverse mortgages. Homeowners with reverse mortgages can apply for help with missed property tax or home insurance payments.
Partial claim second mortgages and deferrals. This applies to certain borrowers who fell behind on loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Department of Veterans Affairs. Rather than demanding larger payments to cover the past-due amount, the agencies encouraged lenders to split off the past-due portion into a second, interest-free mortgage called a partial claim. That way, a borrower could stay current by paying just their usual monthly payment.
The partial claim second mortgage could be ignored until the house was sold, the mortgage was refinanced or the first mortgage was paid off, at which point the partial claim would have to be paid in full. In the meantime, it’s a real debt that affects the borrower’s ability to obtain credit.
Similarly, some lenders offered deferrals that bundled the missed payments into a sum that was tacked on to the end of the loan. Borrowers wouldn’t face higher monthly payments, but they would have to pay off the deferred amount (a “balloon payment”) when they refinanced, sold their house or reached the end of their loan.
The mortgage relief program offers up to $80,000 to pay all or part of a COVID-related partial claim or deferral received during or after January 2020.
How do you apply?
Applications are available only online at camortgagerelief.org. For help filling one out, you can call the program’s contact center at (888) 840-2594, where assistance is available in English and Spanish.
If you don’t have access to the internet or a computer, you can ask a housing counselor to assist you. For help finding a counselor certified by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, call (800) 569-4287. You may also get help from the company servicing your mortgage.
The online application process starts with questions to determine your eligibility. If you meet the state’s criteria, you can complete an application for funds. Here’s where you will need some paperwork to establish how much you earn and how much you owe.
According to the program’s website, among the documents you will need to provide are a mortgage statement, bank statements, utility bills and records that show the income earned by every adult in your household, such as pay stubs, tax returns or a statement of unemployment benefits. If you don’t have access to a digital scanner, you can take pictures of your documents with your phone and upload the images.
You’ll also need to provide a California ID or a Social Security number.
The site provides links to the application in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Tagalog.
Who has received aid?
According to statistics kept by the program, about three-fourths of the money has been used to help households at or below the area median income. In fact, half of the funding has gone to families whose incomes are no more than 30% of the area median, which in L.A. County would be about $26,500 for a single person or $37,830 for a family of four.
About 52% of the aid has gone to Latino and Black Californians, who together make up about 29% of the state’s homeowners.
The money will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, with two important caveats: According to the California Housing Finance Agency, 60% of the aid must go to households making no more than the area median income, and 40% must go to “socially disadvantaged homeowners.” Those are residents of the neighborhoods most at risk of foreclosure, based on the Owner Vulnerability Index developed by UCLA’s Center for Neighborhood Knowledge.
United States and Jordan troops air-dropped aid to Palestine civilians, according to US Central Command. However, no water or medical supplies were reportedly included.
Joe Biden is standing on business just one day after promising to pull out “every stop” to get more aid to hungry and displaced Gazan residents, CNN reports.
The US Air Force and the Royal Jordanian Air Force united in a tag team operation. CENTCOM reports US C-130 aircraft carried and released 38,000 meals along the Gazan coast. A total of three aircraft carried 22 bundles each, a US official reported, per CNN.
CENTCOM said, “These airdrops are part of a sustained effort to get more aid into Gaza, including by expanding the flow of aid through land corridors and routes.”
White House officials stated Saturday’s aid operation was “successful.”
“The fact that today’s airdrop was successful is an important test case to show that we can do this again in the coming days and weeks successfully,” a senior administration official told reporters.
President Biden Promises More Aid
Furthermore, the official reportedly stated that the Defense Department is planning to implement additional drops in the coming days but declined to detail the operations.
President Biden announced the upcoming drops alongside Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office. Additionally, Biden shared he is working to negotiate a ceasefire that would allow more supplies to enter Gaza.
What’s more, the President said he would “insist” that Israel allow more vehicles and routes for aid to enter Gaza.
“We’re going to insist that Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need, no excuses,” Biden asserted. “Innocent lives are on the line, and children’s lives are on the line.”
This is the President’s first time delivering aid to Gaza, while the United Arab Emirates and France have previously dropped aid to citizens.
Before the US and Jordan airborne operation, several aid agencies stated aid by air is ineffective, as the United Nations alerts that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are on the edge of famine, as previously reported.
Yasmine Sherif, Education Cannot Wait Executive Director, speaks with students at the
ECW-supported Pompomary Primary School in Maiduguri, North-East Nigeria.
Credit: ECW
by Joyce Chimbi (maiduguri, nigeria & nairobi)
Inter Press Service
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria & NAIROBI, Feb 23 (IPS) – Nigeria is home to 15 percent of the world’s out-of-school children. More than 7.6 million girls are not in school, and only nine percent of the poorest girls in the country are in secondary school. The Boko Haram insurgency and other armed groups fuel the out-of-school crisis in northeast Nigeria, disrupting the education of nearly two million school-age children.
Grave violations of children’s rights prevail in northeastern areas, including the abduction of thousands of children and young people; girls are enslaved and sexually exploited, and boys forced to become child soldiers. Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Executive Director Yasmine Sherif visited communities affected by the conflict and interconnected crises, witnessing first-hand the positive impact of ECW’s initial Multi-Year Resilience Programme (2021-2024).
“We visited a primary school, a transitional center for boys that fled Boko Haram areas, and one non-formal education center that provides vocational skills training. We have seen the power of holistic education to rehabilitate and reintegrate boys who have fled from Boko Haram areas back into society. ECW and partners, the national Ministry of Education, the Federal State Government, local organizations, teachers, students, and psychologists are all working hand-in-hand, leveraging education to heal children from traumatic experiences—providing them with better life prospects,” Sherif told IPS.
Yasmine Sherif, Education Cannot Wait Executive Director, speaks with students at the ECW-supported Pompomary Primary School in Maiduguri, North-East Nigeria. Credit: ECW
Sherif met with senior government officials, including the Minister of Education, Dr. Tahir Mamman, and Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, and aid partners, all working to ensure the right to education for boys and girls. She stressed that ECW’s expanded funding for crisis-affected girls and boys in north-east Nigeria is “an investment in a more stable, prosperous, and peaceful future for the whole region. ECW’s plans to continue providing safe, quality holistic education and learning opportunities towards protecting children and youth from exploitation—empowering them to achieve their dreams of touching humanity.”
Sherif was also accompanied by a high-level delegation from UNICEF and the governments of Germany and Norway. Germany is ECW’s leading donor with USD 366 million in total contributions, and Norway is the Fund’s fifth largest donor with total contributions of USD 131 million. Building resilient education systems is both critical and urgent for Nigeria’s crisis-impacted children.
ECW’s initial Multi-Year Resilience Programme, delivered by the Norwegian Refugee Council, Save the Children, and UNICEF, has consistently achieved its targets, and has so far reached nearly 500,000 children and adolescents with quality, holistic education in areas affected by the crisis in north-east Nigeria.
The school provides girls, boys, and adolescents with holistic education support, including the provision of learning materials, teacher training, and classroom rehabilitation. Credit: ECW Education Cannot Wait (ECW) mission delegation and strategic partners on the ground during a visit to Pompomary Primary School in Maiduguri, North-East Nigeria. The ECW-funded school provides girls, boys, and adolescents with holistic education support, including the provision of learning materials, teacher training, and classroom rehabilitation. Credit: ECW
“We need additional funding to reach all two million children in north-east Nigeria and end the out-of-school crisis. Meanwhile, the rest of the world cannot wait—we have dire needs in the Middle East, the refugees in Latin America , across the Sahel region, and in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, where nine in 10 children cannot read simple sentences,” Sherif emphasizes.
“ECW appeals for additional strategic donor partners—governments, the private sector, philanthropic foundations, and high-net-worth individuals—to join our efforts in mobilizing an additional US$600 million to reach our target of US$1.5 billion for ECW, allowing our partners to reach, by 2026, a total of 20 million girls and boys in crises-affected areas of the world quality education.”
Dr. Heike Kuhn, Co-Chair of the ECW Executive Committee and Head of Education Division at Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, agrees, saying that building “resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive, quality, and lifelong learning is crucial for Nigeria, as half of its population are children and youth. Educating children means changing their lives and letting them participate in building peaceful, sustainable societies.”
Merete Lundemo, Co-Chair of the ECW Executive Committee and Special Envoy for Education in Crisis and Conflict for Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also emphasized that education is a lifeline for crisis-impacted children and that education projects bring much needed relief and normalcy to children in affected areas. Welcoming strengthened cooperation with ECW to ensure that no child is left behind and that this is part of Norway’s wider engagement for children living in armed conflict.
“This joint program and the education needs and dreams of Nigeria’s crisis-impacted children align with the African Union’s call on all governments to ensure that all children access quality education, officially declaring 2024 as the ‘Year of Education.’ We must all come together with urgency and commitment to make this a reality for the poor, vulnerable children in Africa living on the margins of abject poverty, fleeing from the traumas of violent conflict and interconnected crises,” Sherif observed.
The delegation also met with survivors of conflict-related sexual violence who are co-creating a new innovative project launched by the Global Survivors Fund with funding support from ECW. The initiative provides formal and non-formal education as a form of reparation for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and their children.The expanded funding for the planned Multi-Year Resilience Programme shall build on ECW’s USD 23.6 million investments in the north-east of Nigeria since 2018. The investments are delivered in partnership with the Ministry of Education, UN agencies, and international and local civil society partners.
With a focus on building lasting solutions applying the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, ECW investments in the north-east of Nigeria have provided children with learning materials, supported teacher training and incentives, school feeding, provided essential mental health and psychosocial support for girls and boys impacted by the conflict, and worked with national authorities to get children back to school through permanent community-based programmes.
As part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the federal government awarded California $1 billion to help homeowners who fell behind on their mortgage payments during the pandemic. The state has used the money to offer up to $80,000 to low- and moderate-income homeowners with mortgage debt, overdue property taxes and deferred monthly payments.
These are not loans that must be repaid. Instead, they’re payments the state makes on the borrowers’ behalf to clear their mortgage or property-tax debt.
The thing is, homeowners haven’t exactly beaten down the state’s doors for the free help — not because they don’t need it, but because they may not know about it or know how to get it. So the California Mortgage Relief program has repeatedly extended the aid to more homeowners, and is now offering help to borrowers whose troubles began long after the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.
In the latest extension, assistance is available to qualified homeowners who’ve missed at least two mortgage payments by Feb. 1 and are still in arrears, or who’ve missed at least one property tax payment by Feb. 1. Various restrictions apply, but the main ones are that aid is available only for owner-occupied homes and that an applicant’s total household income must be no more than 150% of the area median income. In Los Angeles County, that’s $132,450 for an individual and $189,150 for a family of four.
State officials have said the program will keep operating until all $1 billion has been awarded. According to the program’s data dashboard, a little less than a quarter of the money remains. Nearly 30,700 households statewide have seen their debts reduced by an average of $25,000.
James An, president of the Korean American Federation of Los Angeles, said the lingering effects of the pandemic are still causing problems for homeowners, especially elderly ones. Many of them had modest businesses that didn’t survive the pandemic, or they got sick, or their marriages crumbled under the stress, An said.
“A lot of horrible things happened during the pandemic that were either directly or indirectly related to COVID,” he said. “It caused long-lasting damage that a lot of people are never going to recover from.”
An said his organization has helped more than 400 people, many of whom didn’t have the tech savvy required to participate in the program. Elderly homeowners in particular can have trouble finding, scanning and submitting online the documents required to qualify for aid, he said.
The Korean American Federation continues to help applicants across Southern California on a voluntary basis, An said. The mortgage relief program’s website also offers support via phone and email, or through referrals to federally certified housing counselors.
Here are more details on who’s eligible, how to apply and what’s covered.
Who qualifies for relief?
Under federal law, households earning up to 150% of the median income in their county who suffered a pandemic-related financial hardship are eligible for up to $80,000 in relief. The limit rises as the number of people in your household increases; to find the limit for your household, consult the calculator on the program’s website.
The program defines a financial hardship as either reduced income or increased living expenses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to its website, qualifying expenses include “medical expenses, more people living in the household or costs for utility services.”
There are a few more limitations, however:
The home in question must be your principal residence.
You may own only one property, although it may have up to four units on it.
If you’ve already paid off your mortgage or tax debt, you can’t recoup that money by applying for state aid.
You will not qualify if your mortgage is a “jumbo” loan bigger than the limits set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
You can’t obtain the state’s help if you have more than enough cash and assets (other than retirement savings) to cover your mortgage or tax debt yourself.
Your mortgage servicer must be participating in the program.
What kinds of help are available?
The program isn’t limited to helping people with mortgage and property tax debt. Funds also can be used for:
A second shot of relief. The mortgage relief program was originally seen as one-time-only assistance. Now, however, California homeowners who’ve already received help can apply for more if they have missed more payments and remain eligible. No household may collect more than $80,000 over the course of the program.
Reverse mortgages. Homeowners with reverse mortgages can apply for help with missed property tax or home insurance payments.
Partial claim second mortgages and deferrals. This applies to certain borrowers who fell behind on loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Department of Veterans Affairs. Rather than demanding larger payments to cover the past-due amount, the agencies encouraged lenders to split off the past-due portion into a second, interest-free mortgage called a partial claim. That way, a borrower could stay current by paying just their usual monthly payment.
The partial claim second mortgage could be ignored until the house was sold, the mortgage was refinanced or the first mortgage was paid off, at which point the partial claim would have to be paid in full. In the meantime, it’s a real debt that affects the borrower’s ability to obtain credit.
Similarly, some lenders offered deferrals that bundled the missed payments into a sum that was tacked on to the end of the loan. Borrowers wouldn’t face higher monthly payments, but they would have to pay off the deferred amount (a “balloon payment”) when they refinanced, sold their house or reached the end of their loan.
The mortgage relief program offers up to $80,000 to pay all or part of a COVID-related partial claim or deferral received during or after January 2020.
How do you apply?
Applications are available only online at camortgagerelief.org. For help filling one out, you can call the program’s contact center at (888) 840-2594, where assistance is available in English and Spanish.
If you don’t have access to the internet or a computer, you can ask a housing counselor to assist you. For help finding a counselor certified by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, call (800) 569-4287. You may also get help from the company servicing your mortgage.
The online application process starts with questions to determine your eligibility. If you meet the state’s criteria, you can then complete an application for funds. Here’s where you will need some paperwork to establish how much you earn and how much you owe.
According to the program’s website, among the documents you will need to provide are a mortgage statement, bank statements, utility bills and records that show the income earned by every adult in your household, such as pay stubs, tax returns or a statement of unemployment benefits. If you don’t have access to a digital scanner, you can take pictures of your documents with your phone and upload the images.
You’ll also need to provide a California ID or a Social Security number.
The site provides links to the application in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Tagalog.
Who has received aid?
According to statistics kept by the program, about two-thirds of the money has gone to households at or below the area median income. In fact, half of the funding has gone to families whose incomes are no more than 30% of the area median, which in L.A. County would be about $26,500 for a single person or $37,830 for a family of four.
About 52% of the aid has gone to Latino and Black Californians, who together make up about 29% of the state’s homeowners.
The money will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, with two important caveats: According to the California Housing Finance Agency, 60% of the aid must go to households making no more than the area median income, and 40% must go to “socially disadvantaged homeowners.” Those are residents of the neighborhoods most at risk of foreclosure, based on the Owner Vulnerability Index developed by UCLA’s Center for Neighborhood Knowledge.
Farmers checking the saffron flowers on their farm in Pampore, Kashmir. Credit: Athar Parvaiz/IPS
by Athar Parvaiz (srinagar, india)
Inter Press Service
SRINAGAR, India, Feb 07 (IPS) – Saffron, the expensive spice from the Kashmir Himalayas, has been facing challenges for years, mostly related to yields and inadequate irrigation compounded by the climate crisis.
While the government launched the 4.1 billion rupee National Saffron Mission (NMS) in 2010 to mitigate these challenges and rejuvenate saffron cultivation in Kashmir, its efficacy remains questionable, farmers say.
Saffron is one of Kashmir’s major industries, along with horticulture and agriculture, supporting some 17,000 families in the region. India contributes 5% of the world’s total production, of which 90% is supplied from the Kashmir Himalayan region.
The spice has been cultivated since 500 AD in the Kashmir valley and reached its peak in the 1990s at an annual average yield of around 15.5 tonnes from 5,700 hectares (14,085 acres), but both the land farmed for saffron and yields have declined since then.
According to a study, prolonged periods of drought have caused significant concerns among saffron farmers.
“Since the crop heavily relies on rainfall, insufficient precipitation has resulted in the region experiencing its lowest saffron productivity in the past three decades,” the study says.
“In addition to the challenges posed by drought, the region is also facing issues related to urbanization and increasing population growth,” the study further says. According to Kashmir’s agriculture department, saffron land has reduced from 5,700 hectares in the 1990s to 3,715 hectares in 2016 due to land-use conversions.
Saffron farmers, who grow the “king of spices” in fields sprawling across several thousand hectares, mainly in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, have been complaining for years that lack of rainfall at crucial times has led to a decline in saffron production.
One or two spells of rain in September and October are vital for the crop to flower, farmers say. But in most years since the late 1990s, it either hasn’t rained in those months or has rained too much, damaging the crop, says farmer Mohammad Reshi, adding that farmers still rely on the weather in the cropping season.
“The sprinkle irrigation system, which the government claims has been put in place, should have been functional by now. But it is not working. You can see for yourself what has happened to these pipes and the bore wells. They are not serving any purpose,” Reshi tells IPS while pointing at the defunct sprinkle irrigation system in a saffron field in Pampore, where saffron cultivation is concentrated in Kashmir.
Though, Reshi says, tube wells have been dug and pipes have been laid in saffron fields for years now, “we are yet to see the water in saffron fields.”
According to him, the project was supposed to be completed years ago, but it still lingers. Denying the allegations of saffron farmers, Ghulam Mohammad Dhobi, Joint Director of Kashmir’s agriculture department, who is also the Nodal Officer for NMS, says that the government is trying its best to help the farmers get good yields.
“The farmers have not to wait for long to see the positive results of the irrigation infrastructure, as we are expecting its completion soon after it will function properly,” Dhobi tells IPS.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which has given saffron cultivation in Kashmir a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) status, “saffron cultivation has been facing severe challenges of sustainability and livelihood security, with an urgent need to adopt appropriate technologies to address water scarcity, productivity loss, and market volatility.”
Scientific research has established that irrigation plays the most important role in saffron cultivation in Kashmir. Firdous Nahvi, a former agriculture scientist at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, says that saffron yields have traditionally depended on rainfall in the crucial months from August to October in Kashmir, and saffron yields have fallen in recent years because of the irrigation problem.
According to Nahvi, until 1999-2000, Kashmir received well-distributed precipitation of 1,000 to 1,200 mm per year in the form of rain and snow, but that has now decreased to 600 to 800 mm.
“In any part of the world, farming is unthinkable without water,” Nahvi says and adds: “Creating irrigation facilities was the critical part of the project because we have observed in recent years that it doesn’t rain when the crop needs the moisture.” Nahvi was the expert who advised the NMS implementers about the need for installing the sprinkle irrigation system for saffron cultivation in Kashmir.
Solutions in Farming Methods
Bashir Allie, an agricultural scientist who heads Kashmir’s Saffron Research Station, says that he has also advised the agriculture and irrigation departments of the Kashmir government that creating drip irrigation facilities is crucial for improving saffron yields.
“But we are also working with farmers through our field awareness program to enhance saffron yield,” Allie tells IPS, adding that he and his team are telling the farmers to plant the optimum number of corms in the saffron fields rather than planting them haphazardly.
For example, Allie says, the farmers mostly plant up to 300,000 corms per hectare, “whereas we advise them to go for 500,000 to one million corms per hectare (or 50 corms per square meter).” This, he says, will help the farmers increase their yields, provided they uproot the old corms every four years and plant new corms.
“What we have also observed is that the farmers keep the corms in the fields for up to 20 years and leave them unattended,” he tells IPS, adding that this affects the yield as the older corms keep producing new corms, which increases the competition for nutrients within the population and the entire population underperforms (in producing flowers), thus affecting the yield.
“So, the solution we are offering to the farmers is to plant the optimum number of corms (50 corms per square meter) and replace the corms after every four years,” Allie informs.
To mitigate the impact of drought conditions on saffron crops, Allie says that he and his team have advised the farmers to start growing almond trees in saffron fields at a distance of four to five meters so that they provide shade and help the farmers retain moisture in their saffron fields.
“Once the almond trees produce branches, they will provide shade to saffron fields, as saffron is a shade-loving plant. Also, the moisture in the soil will be retained,” Allie says, adding that the almond trees, besides providing shade, will also produce almonds, thereby helping the farmers increase their income.
Displaced families living in an UNRWA school-turned shelter in Deir al-Balah, Middle Areas, The Gaza Strip, January 2024. Credit: Mohamed Hinnawi/UNRWA
by Naureen Hossain (united nations)
Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 02 (IPS) – South Africa’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Mathu Joyini, said the country would take further legal action should Israel ignore the provisional measures set out by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
She was speaking at the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People this week. The meeting saw the adoption of its agenda for 2024, for which the Committee will engage with member states and regional groups to support the realization of the rights and dignities of the Palestinian people. This has become all the more relevant in the face of the current humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
The ICJ ruled that Israel should take all measures within its power to prevent a genocide in the Gaza Strip. It stopped short of ordering a ceasefire. According to the Hamas Health Ministry, 7,000 people have been killed and 66,000 wounded in Gaza since Israel started it’s military offensive in reaction to the October 7, 2023, attack.
The Permanent Representative of Senegal, Cheikh Niang, who was re-elected to his position as Committee Chair, lamented that the current war between Israel and Hamas spoke to a “collective failure” to realize the rights of the Palestinian people and expressed hope that the Security Council “will hear the many voices” that are calling for a ceasefire.
“It is time to begin to heal the wounds that have been reopened in so many places,” he said as he advocated for a two-state solution, wherein Israel and Palestine would co-exist in peace and security within recognized borders based on the pre-1967 border lines.
Secretary-General António Guterres convened the meeting and delivered the opening statement, beginning with reiterating his condemnation of Hamas and other extremist groups and calling for the safe release of the Israeli hostages while also condemning the ensuing violence that has afflicted the people of Gaza.
“There is no justification for the intentional killing, injuring, torture, or kidnapping of civilians, using sexual violence against them, or launching rockets towards civilian targets,” he said. “At the same time, nothing can justify the collective punishment of the people in Gaza.”
He reiterated his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, warning that the “humanitarian system in Gaza collapsing. The current hostilities have lasted over 120 days, and the casualties and devastation on the Gaza Strip and West Bank stand as a “scar on our shared humanity and conscience.”
Guterres also noted that the recent hostilities in the Red Sea, Iraq, and Syria signal the impact the ongoing violence has on the region and that this could trigger “broader escalation, risking regional stability.”
Gréta Gunnarsdóttir, Director of the UNRWA Representative Office in New York, appealed to the Committee and to donor states that had made the decision to suspend their funding of UNRWA.
“Every day, our staff is making a direct impact on the ground for the people of Palestine,” she said.
She added that other humanitarian organizations, including its UN partners, depend on UNRWA to deliver humanitarian aid. As the largest humanitarian agency in the region, it has been made particularly vulnerable. UNRWA facilities, notably schools, shelters, and health care centers, have not been spared from bombardments. Disease outbreaks and the risk of famine in the region are as likely to be the cause of deaths for civilians as gunfire and bombardments.
Gunnarsdottir warned that if UNRWA were to collapse, then all humanitarian operations in Palestine would collapse.
Recently, the agency has faced allegations that some of its staff were actively involved in Hamas attacks on October 7. As a result, at least 17 major donor countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, and the European Union, have suspended donations.
The dossier Israeli intelligence shared with the United States, which details the allegations, had not been presented to UNRWA, according to Gunnarsdottir.
She told the Committee that UNRWA’s Commissioner General has terminated the contracts of eight out of the twelve staff members accused; two were confirmed dead, one has not been identified, and one does not match with the staff lists.
Joyini accused Israel of continuing “to behave in a manner that is contrary to the court order” and said that if Israel did not comply with the court’s order, then South Africa would be willing to take legal measures to enforce that ruling.
Joyini asked the Committee to extend public support to South Africa’s case to strengthen it further in the ICJ through Article 63 of the ICJ’s Statute of the Court of Justice, which would allow member states to request permission from the court to intervene if the state holds an interest that may be affected by the decision of the court case.
Riyad H. Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, noted that Israeli leaders and the military should “face justice… and accountability in every place possible, including the international legal system.” When speaking of the situation in Gaza, he remarked that the crimes were “beyond description,” adding that it was the international community’s “collective duty” to prevent any further trauma.
Mansour called for Palestine to become a full-fledged member of the United Nations, aligning with the demand for a two-state solution that the Committee and the Secretary-General have made. He proposed that an international peace conference should be convened, which would put the status of Palestine at the forefront. A draft resolution will be brought forward to the General Assembly with support from Nigeria.
![People look at photos of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, in Jerusalem, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. Hebrew sign reads, "don't forget us". (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)](https://kubrick.htvapps.com/htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/images/ap268e10993d930c.jpg?resize=660:* "People look at photos of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, in Jerusalem, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. Hebrew sign reads, "don't forget us". (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)")
