From Jordan, Jill Biden arrives in Cairo as part of Mideast tour aiming to empower women, youth

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US first lady Jill Biden, accompanied by Egyptian first lady Entissar Mohameed Amer, is greeted by children as arrives at Cairo International Airport in Cairo (REUTERS)
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US first lady Jill Biden is greeted by Egyptian first lady Entissar Mohameed Amer as she arrives at Cairo International Airport (REUTERS)
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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (C) and First Lady Entissar Amer (R) welcome US First Lady Jill Biden in Cairo (AFP)
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Egyptian first lady Entissar Amer (R) welcomes US First Lady Jill Biden at Cairo international Airport (AFP)
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Updated 02 June 2023
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From Jordan, Jill Biden arrives in Cairo as part of Mideast tour aiming to empower women, youth

  • The tour marks Biden’s first visit to the Middle East as first lady
  • Her six-day trip across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe seeks to empower women and promote education for young people

CAIRO: Jill Biden arrived in Cairo on Friday, on the second leg of her six-day trip across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe that seeks to empower women and promote education for young people.
The first lady arrived in the Egyptian capital from Amman, Jordan, where she attended the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein and Saudi architect Rajwa Alsei f on Thursday. She is traveling to Morocco on Saturday before heading to Portugal, the final stop of her tour, on Monday.
The nuptials in Jordan drew a star-studded list — headlined by Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate — but also held deep significance for the region, emphasizing continuity in an Arab state prized for its long standing stability.
Egypt is one of the largest recipients in the Mideast of American economic and military aid and a longstanding US ally. However, in recent years, US lawmakers have sought to condition that aid on human rights improvements and reforms.
Biden was greeted on the tarmac by Entissar Amer, Egypt’s first lady, and was later to meet with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi before visiting a technical school in the capital.
Biden’s spokesperson, Vanessa Valdivia, told The Associated Press last week that the first lady’s visit to Egypt will also focus on US investments that support education programs.
Since coming to power in 2013, El-Sisi’s government has overseen a wide-ranging crackdown on dissent, jailing thousands. The government have targeted not only Islamist political opponents but also pro-democracy activists, journalists and online critics.
The tour marks Biden’s first visit to the Middle East as first lady. She traveled to Namibia and Kenya in February.


Irish PM demands Israel ‘stop firing’ at UN peacekeepers

Updated 7 sec ago
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Irish PM demands Israel ‘stop firing’ at UN peacekeepers

 

DUBLIN, Ireland: Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris on Saturday urged Israel to heed “the concerns of the international community” and not repeat recent firing on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.
“Israel must stop firing on UN peacekeepers serving with UNIFIL in Lebanon,” Ireland’s leader said in a statement, his latest comments on the recent incidents that have sparked a fierce diplomatic backlash.
“Israel must listen to the voice and the concerns of the international community,” he added.

Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol in Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon on October 11, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (AFP)

Ireland accounts for 347 of the 10,000 soldiers serving in the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, which is charged with maintaining peace in the south of Lebanon.
Israel said its forces fired at a threat near a UNIFIL position in Lebanon Friday, acknowledging that a “hit” was responsible for wounding two Blue Helmets.
The two Sri Lankan peacekeepers were hurt at UNIFIL’s main base in Naqura, southern Lebanon, according to the mission.
It follows two Indonesian soldiers suffering injuries when tank fire hit a watchtower the previous day, the mission said.
The Irish Defense Forces has said none of its staff were hurt in Thursday’s incident.
Harris, who visited US President Joe Biden earlier in the week, said in the statement he and Biden “agreed that those who serve in Blue Helmets on behalf of the UN must always be afforded full protection.”
 


Nicaragua breaks diplomatic relations with Israel

Updated 24 min 10 sec ago
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Nicaragua breaks diplomatic relations with Israel

  • The conflict, the Nicaraguan government said, now also “extends against Lebanon and gravely threatens Syria, Yemen and Iran”

MANAGUA: Nicaragua is breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel, the Central American nation said on Friday, calling the Israeli government “fascist” and “genocidal.”
Nicaragua’s government, in a statement, said the break in relations was due to Israel’s attacks on Palestinian territories.
The nation’s congress had, earlier in the day, passed a resolution requesting Nicaragua take action to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the Gaza war.
The conflict, the Nicaraguan government said, now also “extends against Lebanon and gravely threatens Syria, Yemen and Iran.”
The Middle East is on high alert for further regional escalation after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel on Oct. 1. Iran backs Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, which Israel has targeted in a series of recent deadly attacks.
Iran is also an ally of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s administration. Nicaragua has become increasingly isolated in recent years after Ortega cracked down on anti-government protests in 2018, which rights groups say left around 300 dead.

 


Hezbollah warns Israelis to stay away from army in residential areas

A young boy uses binoculars to watch the port of Haifa from a lookout on October 11, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 9 min 41 sec ago
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Hezbollah warns Israelis to stay away from army in residential areas

  • After almost a year of cross-border fire, Israel has increased its strikes on what it says are Lebanese militant group Hezbollah sites since September 23

BEIRUT, Lebanon: Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Friday warned Israelis to stay away from Israeli army sites in residential areas in the north of the country.
“The Israeli enemy army uses the homes” of Israelis in north Israel, and has military bases inside residential “neighborhoods in major occupied cities such as Haifa, Tiberias, Acre,” it said in a statement in Arabic and Hebrew.
It warned Israelis “from being near these military gatherings in order to preserve their lives.”
After almost a year of cross-border fire, Israel has increased its strikes on what it says are Lebanese militant group Hezbollah sites since September 23.
The escalation has killed more than 1,200 people and displaced around a million from their homes.
Hezbollah has repeatedly announced it has fired rockets at areas in northern Israel.
 

 


Many Palestinian camps in Lebanon ‘empty after Israeli strikes’

UNIFIL vehicles drive in Marjayoun, near the border with Israel. (Reuters)
Updated 51 min 18 sec ago
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Many Palestinian camps in Lebanon ‘empty after Israeli strikes’

  • Israel has ramped up strikes across southern Lebanon and on Beirut’s once-densely populated southern suburbs

BEIRUT: Most Palestinian refugees living in camps in southern Lebanon or near Beirut have fled following escalating Israeli strikes, the head of the UN agency on Palestine refugees said on Friday, drawing parallels with mass displacement in Gaza.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said that the agency continued to provide services to the most vulnerable left behind — and that repeatedly fleeing was sadly “part of the history” of Palestinians. “Now, that’s part, unfortunately, of the plight, but if you compare it with what happened also in Gaza recently, you might have heard me describing how people are constantly being moved like pinballs. And one of the fears is that we replicate a situation similar to the one we have seen until now in Gaza,” he said.
Israel has ramped up strikes across southern Lebanon and on Beirut’s once-densely populated southern suburbs over the last three weeks, issuing evacuation warnings for more than 100 towns in southern Lebanon and neighborhoods near the capital.
They include evacuation warnings and strikes on the Burj Al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Rashidiyeh Palestinian refugee camp near the south coastal city of Tyre. Many of the Palestinians who arrived in Lebanon after Israel’s creation in 1948, and their descendants, were living in 12 refugee camps around the country, which hosted about 174,000 Palestinian refugees.
Israeli leaders have accused UNRWA staff of collaborating with Hamas militants in Gaza, leading many donors to suspend funding.
The UN launched an investigation into Israel’s accusations and dismissed nine staff.
In July, the Israeli parliament gave preliminary approval to a bill that would declare UNRWA a “terrorist organization.”
Asked about the move, Lazzarini said the agency “has never, ever been as much under assault and attack.”
“A year ago, it was primarily a financial existential threat, but today it’s a combination of a political and financial threat. 2025 will be, again, a difficult year,” he said. He said he would have more clarity early next year on whether the US would resume funding.


Gaza civil defense agency says 30 killed in Israeli strikes in Jabalia on Friday

Updated 11 October 2024
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Gaza civil defense agency says 30 killed in Israeli strikes in Jabalia on Friday

  • A strike that occurred before 9:40 p.m. local time had left “12 dead, including women and children“

GAZA: Gaza’s civil defense agency Friday said at least 30 people have been killed by Israeli strikes throughout the day in northern Gaza’s Jabalia town and refugee camp amid intense combat operations by the Israeli army in the area.
The agency’s spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said that a strike that occurred before 9:40 p.m. local time (1840 GMT) had left “12 dead, including women and children” in the town.
Before that incident, Ahmad Kahlout — director of the agency in northern Gaza — said 18 people had been killed by several strikes, including hits on “eight schools” in the camp that were serving as shelters for displaced people.