US vetoes ceasefire as north Gaza starves
- US envoy to UN uses third veto in Security Council to kill Algeria’s ceasefire resolution, saying it would harm truce negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
- World Food Programme has paused aid delivery in north Gaza, citing chaos caused by starvation and the “breakdown of social order”.
Rights group says ‘no respite for children’ after US vetoes ceasefire resolution
The group Save the Children has released a statement warning the price Gaza’s children will pay for the UN Security Council’s most recent failure to adopt a ceasefire resolution due to a US veto.
The group says that Israel’s war in Gaza has killed at least 12,400 children, one of the deadliest military campaigns in modern history in regard to its impact on children.
Save the Children said that at least one million children in Gaza remain at risk from fighting, starvation, disease, and the mental distress of the war. A recent UNICEF analysis found that 90 percent of children in Gaza under the age of five are suffering from at least one infectious disease.
“We are appalled to hear of this new low in an already deep pit of failures from the international community. After four months of relentless violence, we are running out of words to describe what children and families in Gaza are going through, as well as the tools to respond in any adequate way,” said the group’s director for the occupied Palestinian territories, Jason Lee.
Julian Assange risks ‘flagrant denial of justice’ if tried in US, London court told
Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder are seeking permission to appeal against his extradition at high court hearing
Julian Assange faces the risk of a “flagrant denial of justice” if tried in the US, his lawyers have told a permission to appeal hearing in London, which could result in the extradition of the WikiLeaks founder within days if unsuccessful.
Assange, who published thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, could be jailed for up to 175 years – “a grossly disproportionate punishment” – if convicted in the US, the high court heard on Tuesday.
His lawyers are seeking a full appeal hearing. However, if the two judges deny permission, all challenges in the UK courts will have been exhausted, leaving an intervention by the European court of human rights (ECHR) as Assange’s only hope to avoid extradition to the US.
Missak Manouchian: A stateless hero enters France’s Panthéon
Will India’s megaproject sink Great Nicobar island?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is planning to invest $9 billion (€ 8.38 billion) to transform India‘s Great Nicobar island into a massive military and trade hub. But the plans have raised concerns among environmentalists, scientists and civic organizations who believe the megaproject will ruin the unique ecology of the remote region.
Beyond ecological concerns, many fear the impact on indigenous communities — especially the Shompen people, a hunter-gatherer community who have lived on Great Nicobar for thousands of years with very little outside contact.
Architect Yano of the 100-yen store business model dies at 80
By TOMOHIKO KANEKO/ Staff Writer
February 20, 2024 at 18:05 JST
Hirotake Yano, the founder of the operator of Daiso, Japan’s first and largest 100-yen shop chain, died of cardiac failure on Feb. 12.
He was 80.
His funeral was attended by close family members, and a farewell ceremony for friends and colleagues will be held at a later date.
Born to a Japanese family in China in 1943, Yano returned to his home country after the war.
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