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NEW YORK (AP) — Airbnb on Tuesday donated a total of $10 million to more than 120 nonprofits in 44 countries on six continents, the short-term rental giant's latest outlays in its unusual distribution of $100 million through its Airbnb Community Fund. “Airbnb has a 21st century company view,” said Janaye Ingram, Airbnb’s director of community partner programs and engagement. By supporting nonprofits that its hosts find valuable, Airbnb can get more funding to groups that help keep their communities strong, Ingram said. The board solicited recommendations for nonprofits from the hundreds of Airbnb Host Club leaders around the world. However, the Airbnb Community Fund is operated separately from that.

Persons: — Airbnb, “ Airbnb, ”, Janaye Ingram, Ingram, Brian Chesky, “, ‘, ” Chesky, Nadia Giordani, George Floyd, ” Giordani, “ We’re, Airbnb, ” Airbnb’s Ingram Organizations: Fund, Japanese, Dog Resource, Atlanta Habitat, Humanity, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Airbnb Host Club, Corporate Purpose, Community Fund, Lilly Endowment Inc, AP Locations: Digify Africa, ” San Francisco, Airbnb, New York City, Atlanta, Minneapolis

☆ Israel Says Its Military Has Encircled Khan Younis in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Matthew Mpoke Bigg | Ameera Harouda | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Israel’s military said on Tuesday that it had encircled the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, part of a push that has resulted in intense fighting and bombardments in an area packed with civilians who have fled their homes in other parts of the territory. The Israeli military described the area as a “significant stronghold” of Hamas’s Khan Younis brigade and said that it had killed dozens of Hamas fighters over the previous 24 hours. “Ready-to-launch rockets, military compounds, shafts, and numerous weapons were located during the activity,” the military added. The fighting has involved heavy exchanges of gunfire and a surge of Israeli tanks and troops into areas around the city’s hospitals. Displaced civilians in the area say they have no safe place to go.

Persons: Khan Younis, Hamas’s Khan Younis, “ Locations: Khan, Gaza

☆ ‘We’re All Climate Economists Now’
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Lydia Depillis | More About Lydia Depillis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

There were papers on the local economic impact of wind turbine manufacturing, the stability of electricity grids as they absorb more renewable energy, the effect of electric vehicles on housing choices, how wildfire smoke strains household finances. Janet Currie, the incoming president of the American Economic Association, chose an environmental economist, Michael Greenstone of the University of Chicago, to deliver the conference’s keynote lecture. He focused on the global challenge of shifting to renewable energy and the corresponding potential to alleviate air pollution that is particularly deadly in developing countries like India and Indonesia. “This isn’t just a series of topics, but it’s a big, interrelated problem,” Dr. Currie said. “Not only economists but everybody else is realizing that this is a first-order problem, and it’s affecting most people in some way.

Persons: Monika Piazzesi, Janet Currie, Michael Greenstone, Dr, Currie, “ Organizations: American Finance Association, American Economic Association, University of Chicago Locations: Venice, India, Indonesia

☆ Plan for One-Month Gaza Truce Makes Progress as Israel Hits Khan Younis
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Jan. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +5 min

Meanwhile, in its biggest operation in a month, the Israeli military pressed ahead with encircling Khan Younis where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are sheltering. Israeli forces killed more than 100 militants in western Khan Younis in 24 hours, military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Tuesday evening. In southern Gaza, Israel has blockaded hospitals, which Palestinian officials say makes it impossible to rescue the wounded. At the European Hospital, reached by Reuters in southern Khan Younis, Ahed Masmah brought in five corpses, piled on a mattress on his donkey cart. At Khan Younis' main Nasser hospital, the biggest still functioning in the Gaza Strip, bodies were being buried on the grounds because it was unsafe to go to the cemetery.

Persons: Andrew Mills, Arafat Barbakh, Emily Rose DOHA, Khan Younis, Daniel Hagari, Benjamin Netanyahu, Eylon Levy, Antonio Guterres, Israel's, John Kirby, Brett McGurk, Kirby, Ahed Masmah, Nasser, Martin Griffiths, U.N, Younis, Nidal al, Mohamed Ahmed Hassan, Dan Williams, Ari Rabinovitch, Maayan Lubell, Kate Holton, Jonathan Landay, Simon Lewis, Jeff Mason, Cynthia Osterman, Stephen Coates Organizations: Hamas, Palestinian, U.S . State Department, White, Service, Reuters, Palestinian Hamas, United Nations, Security, Middle East, European Hospital Locations: GAZA, JERUSALEM, Israel, Gaza, Gaza's, Khan, Qatar, U.S, Egypt, Rafah, Palestinian, Cairo, Mughrabi, Doha, Bassam, Jerusalem, Washington

☆ It’s primary time in New Hampshire. Here’s a snapshot of the Granite State’s economy
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Alicia Wallace | Tami Luhby | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

New York CNN —New Hampshire, the “first-in-the-nation” primary state (which will hold those elections Tuesday), has been a relatively “better-off” state than most others nationally. Median income/povertyThe typical New Hampshire household has a higher income compared to the average in the United States, and a smaller share of state’s residents are in poverty. Southeastern New Hampshire — where three-quarters of the state’s residents live — benefits from being close to the Boston metropolitan area, said Phil Sletten, research director at the left-leaning New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute. Some 42% of New Hampshire residents approved of Biden on the economy, with 55% disapproving, according to a November CNN/University of New Hampshire poll. But when it comes to their personal finances, New Hampshire residents are downbeat.

Persons: ’ ”, Charlie Dougherty, ”, ” Dougherty, “ You’ve, Patricia M, Anderson, Patrick Connelly, ” Connelly, that’s, Brian Gottlob, “, Spencer Platt, Lori Harnois, Gottlob, Phil Sletten, Sletten, Joe Biden, Biden, Gina Ferazzi Organizations: New, New York CNN —, United States, of Labor Statistics, Wells, Labor, Reserve, Dartmouth University, CNN, Housing, Tax Foundation, Tourism, Census, Granite State, Survey, New Hampshire —, University of New, Commerce Department, University of New Hampshire Survey Center, Patrons, Los Angeles Times, Independents Locations: New York, New York CNN — New Hampshire, Granite, New Hampshire, Boston, , New Hampshire, “ New Hampshire, “, Hampshire, Chester , New Hampshire, Manchester, Devon, Bartlett , New Hampshire, Ohio, Washington, New, Canada, Pennsylvania, United States, Granite State, University of New Hampshire, Colebrook , New Hampshire

☆ Medical facilities battered amid Israeli assault in Khan Younis, say Palestinian officials in Gaza, as death toll rises
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Celine Alkhaldi | Ibrahim Dahman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Medical facilities in Khan Younis in southern Gaza have been battered amid an Israeli assault in the area Monday, Palestinian health officials said, as the number of people killed in Israel’s siege on Gaza continues to rise. Dozens of people have been killed and wounded in the latest offensive in western Khan Younis, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza. Medical facilities including the Nasser Medical Complex, Al Amal Hospital and the Palestine Red Crescent Society headquarters are located in the area. The Nasser Medical Complex is receiving more serious injuries than it can accommodate, the health ministry said, adding that intensive care units are currently at capacity. Ahmed Naseem, a resident of Al-Amal neighborhood in Khan Younis, told CNN Monday that “intense” shelling of the area started in the early hours of Monday.

Persons: Khan Younis, ” Ahmad Al Moghrabi, ”, Monday, Al, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “, Amal, Khair, –, Khan Younis –, ” OCHA, Kamal Adwan, Ahmed Naseem, ” Nassem Organizations: CNN —, Nasser, Al Amal Hospital, Palestine Red Crescent Society, IDF, CNN, Red Crescent Society, Amal, Al, WHO, – Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, Health Ministry Locations: Khan, Gaza, Palestine, Amal, Al, – Al Aqsa, Deir El, Nasser, ”

☆ Haiti's Police Force Shrinks Amid Gang Crisis -Union
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Jan. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

Police need significantly higher incentives to justify the dangers, the report said, amid a shrinking force and lack of equipment, training and infrastructure. Lazarre said the situation was difficult but police had made progress, recovering control of six neighborhoods and coming close to recovering another. Last November, the United Nations estimated some 3,960 had been killed through the year and 2,951 kidnapped. Haiti's government called for international reinforcements in October 2022 and the United Nations ratified sending a force composed of voluntary contributions late last year. Haiti's armed forces were disbanded in 1995 and reinstated in 2017, but the national police remains the main security force.

Persons: Lionel Lazarre, Lazarre, It's, Ariel Henry's, Harold Isaac, Sarah Morland, Stephen Coates Organizations: PORT, Reuters, Police, United Nations Locations: Kenya, Caribbean, Port, Mexico City

☆ The end of workplace loyalty
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Do that, and you generate the kind of trust and loyalty that leads to high productivity and low turnover. A world in which the psychological contract is profoundly broken. In the three decades following World War II, as Rick Wartzman documents in his book " The End of Loyalty ," a booming economy made American companies rich. Today, disillusioned workers might assume that the norm of workplace loyalty was nothing but a capitalistic ruse, a way for companies to exploit their employees. But the new loyalty would recognize that employees have to uphold their end of the bargain.

Persons: I've, Gen Xers, Gen Zers, they'll, Rick Wartzman, Wartzman, Denise Rousseau, Rousseau, who's, Mark, —, it's, I'm, he's, quitters, Nick Bloom, Stanford University who's, Anthony Klotz, Klotz, they're, It's, Aki Ito Organizations: Companies, Kodak, GE, Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, University College London, Employers, Business

On December 22, the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for further extended humanitarian pauses to allow more aid into Gaza. People carry some of their belongings as they walk to Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on January 4, fleeing central Gaza. But even as foreign aid to Gaza rose in the wake of the Hamas takeover, the amount of aid fluctuates annually, OECD data shows. In 2018, the Trump administration cut about $200 million in Palestinian aid and halted contributions to UNRWA. Medicine for Israeli hostages and Palestinians entered Gaza last Wednesday after Qatar brokered a deal with Israel and Hamas.

Persons: Khan Younis, —, Majdi, Fatah, Mohammed Abed, ”, Yara Asi, Israel, René Wildangel, Wildangel, ” Asi, Trump, Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, “, Netanyahu Organizations: CNN, United Nations, West Bank, UN Office, Humanitarian Affairs, Service, Aid, World Health Organization, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, UN, Assembly, UNRWA, IDF, UN Security, World Food, Palestinian, Statistics, World Bank, Palestine Liberation Organization, PLO, Palestinian Authority, Hamas, West Bank ., Getty, University of Central, “, International Hellenic University, Amnesty, Palestinian Central Bureau, European Union, Organization for Economic Co, Development, Obama, Qatar Locations: Israel, Gaza, East Jerusalem, UN, Rafah, South Africa, Oslo Accords, AFP, Palestine, University of Central Florida, Oslo, Thessaloniki, Greece, United States, Europe, Qatar

☆ Death Toll From Israeli Strikes in Gaza Passes 25,000, Gaza Health Officials Say
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-21 | by ( Jan. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ibraheem Abu MustafaDOHA/GAZA (Reuters) - The toll of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct. 7 has passed 25,000, health officials in the enclave said on Sunday, amid heavy Israeli strikes and street battles raging across the Hamas-run Strip. Gaza's health ministry said 178 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours, one of the deadliest days so far of the war. A total of 25,105 Palestinians have been killed and 62,681 have been injured in Israeli strikes since Oct. 7, the Gaza ministry said in a statement. Finding food for the family, for the children, has become a more challenging adventure than surviving war," Amer, 32, a father of three who lives in northern Gaza, told Reuters. The Palestinian Health Ministry there said Israeli forces have killed 360 Palestinians since Oct. 7.

Persons: Nidal, Abu Mustafa, Khan Younis, Amer, Gazans, Anas Al, Sami Abu Zuhri, Ali Sawafta, Ari Rabinovitch, Nidal al, Frances Kerry Organizations: Hamas, Reuters, West Bank, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian Health Ministry Locations: Abu Mustafa DOHA, GAZA, Gaza, Jabalia, Israel, Hamas, Gaza City, Palestinian, Sharif, Rafah, Ramallah, Jerusalem

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s Mount Merapi erupted Sunday, spreading searing gas clouds and avalanches of lava down its slopes as other active volcanoes flared up across the country, forcing the evacuation of thousands. A column of hot clouds blasted 100 meters (about 109 yards) into the air as ash blanketed several villages without casualties, he added. Merapi is the most active out of more than 120 volcanoes across the country. Also on Sunday, Mount Marapi in West Sumatra province erupted again, its third biggest flare-up this month, albeit without discharging lava. In December 2021, Mount Semeru, the highest volcano on Java island, erupted, leaving 48 people dead and 36 missing.

Persons: Agus Budi Santoso, Mount Lewotobi Laki, Mount Semeru, Niniek Karmini Organizations: Technology Research, Development, Volcanology, Mount, Associated Press Locations: YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia, Merapi, Java, Yogyakarta, East Nusa Tenggara, Marapi, West Sumatra, Semeru, East Java, North Maluku, Jakarta

☆ UN's Guterres Condemns Israel for 'Heartbreaking' Killings in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-21 | by ( Jan. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

By Elias BiryabaremaKAMPALA (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday denounced Israel for the "heartbreaking" deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and called it unacceptable to resist statehood for the Palestinian people. "Israel's military operations have spread mass destruction and killed civilians on a scale unprecedented during my time as secretary-general," Guterres said at the opening of a summit of the G77+China in the Ugandan capital Kampala. The Middle East is a tinder-box, we must do all we can to prevent conflict from igniting across the region." Israel's campaign has killed more than 25,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities on Sunday, and displaced most of the enclave's 2.3 million people from their homes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on Saturday to push back against U.S. President Joe Biden's remarks about Palestinian statehood after the war against Hamas ends.

Persons: Elias Biryabarema, António Guterres, Israel, Guterres, Benjamin Netanyahu, Joe Biden's, Biden, Netanyahu, Frances Kerry Organizations: Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA, United Nations, Hamas, U.S, Aligned Movement, NAM Locations: Gaza, China, Ugandan, Kampala, Israel, South Africa, Iran, Turkey, Cuba, India, Vietnam

☆ Live updates: The latest on Israel's war in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( Chris Lau | Andrew Raine | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

Intense Israeli bombardment and heavy fighting in the area around a large hospital in southern Gaza killed at least 29 people Friday, according to Palestinian state news agency WAFA. Khan Younis has been the epicenter of Israel's ground operation in recent weeks. The fighting has forced thousands of Gazans to flee the area, many of them already displaced from northern neighborhoods where Israel first launched its offensive. Displaced Palestinians continue to arrive in overcrowded Rafah, near the border with Egypt, by "the thousands," a United Nations human rights official said Friday. There, they shelter in makeshift tents with little food or clean water.

Persons: WAFA, Khan Younis Organizations: Nasser Hospital, United Locations: Gaza, Nasser, Khan, Israel, Rafah, Egypt, United Nations

☆ Israeli drones attack hospital in southern Gaza, Palestinian Red Crescent says
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A smoke plume erupts over Khan Younis from Rafah in the southern Gaza strip during Israeli bombardment on January 8, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. The Palestinian Red Crescent accused Israel of firing on Friday at a hospital in Khan Younis, as a major advance in the main city in the southern Gaza Strip threatened the few healthcare facilities still open. ]The Red Crescent said displaced people were injured "due to intense gunfire from the Israeli drones targeting citizens at Al-Amal Hospital" as well as the rescue agency's base. Nearby in the same city, Israeli tanks were also approaching Gaza's biggest remaining functioning hospital, Nasser, where people reported hearing shellfire from the west. Israeli officials have accused Hamas fighters of operating from hospitals, including Nasser, which staff deny.

Persons: Khan Younis, Nasser, shellfire, Mohammed al, Ghandour Organizations: Hamas, Palestinian, Crescent, World Health Organization Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Israel, Crescent, Khan, Al, Gaza's, Palestinian, Gaza City

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi was sworn in Saturday following a disputed December election, promising to unite the Central African country during his second five-year term and to protect lives in the conflict-hit eastern region. We want a more united, stronger and prosperous Congo,” Tshikedi, 60, said during the inauguration ceremony attended by several heads of state. His first inauguration in 2019 marked Congo’s first democratic transfer of power since the country's independence from Belgium in 1960. Tshisekedi won reelection with more than 70% of the vote, according to the election commission. Tshisekedi became president in 2019 after emerging from the shadow of his father, who was one of Congo's most population figures.

Persons: Felix Tshisekedi, ” Tshikedi, Tshisekedi, ”, “, Félix Tshisekedi, ” Patrick Mbembe, Etienne Tshisekedi Organizations: —, Troops, East Locations: KINSHASA, Congo, Central, “, Belgium, Kinshasa, Eastern Congo, East African, Congolese

☆ Unconditional aid to Israel is no longer the bipartisan certainty it once was as US senators begin to question Israel's campaign in Gaza and the West Bank
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( Peter Gelling | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The United States has provided Israel with military and economic aid since its founding 75 years ago. But it seems even the United States might have a breaking point. An amendment from Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, meanwhile, would prevent Biden from transferring weapons to Israel without congressional support. AdvertisementNet favorability for Israel only dropped 2.2 percentage points in the United States, but US support for Israel is taking a toll on global perceptions of the United States. In Egypt, for instance, the United States "went from having a positive favorability of 41.1 to a negative favorability of -14.9 from September to December," Time wrote.

Persons: —, euphemistically, Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Biden, Sen, Chris Van Hollen, Axios, Israel, Tim Kaine, Bernie Sanders of, flack, Sanders Organizations: Service, Business, United, State Department, Israel Defense Forces, CNN, Israel, Democratic Party Locations: Israel, United States, Gaza, Maryland, Virginia, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Washington, Egypt

☆ Israel’s Netanyahu rejects any Palestinian sovereignty in post-war Gaza, rebuffing Biden
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

US President Joe Biden (L) meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. The families want the government to take bold steps to free the hostages, fearing that Israel's military activity in Gaza further endangers their lives. Health authorities in Hamas-ruled Gaza say Israel's offensive has killed nearly 25,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. As part of its search for the hostages, Israel's military dropped leaflets on Gaza's southernmost town of Rafah. Israel's military didn't immediately comment.

Persons: Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Joe Biden's, Netanyahu, Biden, Gaza hasn't, Israel, Antonio Guterres, Gadi Eisenkot, We've, Yuval Bar, Keith Siegel, Eli Shtivi, Majd, Khan Younis, Halima Abdel, Rahman, Tawfiq, Hafez Ajaq Organizations: Israel's, Palestinian, Hamas, U.S, Israel, Health, United Nations, Police, Iranian, Revolutionary Guard, National News Agency, Associated Press, West Bank, . Locations: Tel Aviv, Israel, Gaza, United States, Uganda, Israeli, Caesarea, pita, Haifa, Rafah, Iranian, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Lebanese, Tyre, Jabaliya, Bani Suheila, Khan, Ramallah

☆ Israeli Tanks Renew Push Towards Biggest Hospital Still Working in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Jan. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +5 min

GAZA/DOHA/TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli tanks on Friday mounted a new push into southern Gaza's main city, which is sheltering hundreds of thousands of Palestinians driven there by Israeli bombardment, once more approaching the enclave's biggest functioning hospital. Twelve people were killed in Israeli strikes on a residential building near the largely non-functioning Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in the north of the enclave, Palestinian health officials said. Israeli forces have made limited withdrawals from northern Gaza this month, saying operations there were largely complete. But Palestinians in the southern Gaza City suburb of Tel Al-Hawa said Israeli tanks pushed back into the neighbourhood, forcing people taking shelter in some schools there to evacuate and head south. The Islamic Jihad militant group said it had fought with Israeli forces in the Al-Bureij and Al-Maghazi refugee camps in central Gaza and in Khan Younis, while Hamas's armed wing said its fighters had clashed with Israeli forces in several areas across Gaza overnight and on Friday morning.

Persons: Khan Younis, Hawa, Benjamin Netanyahu, NETANYAHU, Netanyahu, Matthew Miller, A'Hed's, Hani Bseiso, Bseiso, Nidal al, Ibraheem Abu, Henriette Chacar, Kevin Liffey, Philippa Fletcher Organizations: Reuters, Hospital, Nasser Hospital, Shifa, Islamic Jihad, . State Department, UNICEF Locations: GAZA, DOHA, TEL AVIV, Gaza's, Gaza, Gaza City, Tel Al, United States, Israel, Jordan, That's, Tel Aviv, Palestinian, Gaza . Washington, Al, Mughrabi, Doha, Ibraheem, Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Women and children are the main victims the Gaza war, with some 16,000 killed and an estimated two mothers losing their lives every hour since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel, the U.N. agency promoting gender equality said Friday. Of the territory’s 2.3 million population, it said, 1.9 million are displaced and “close to one million are women and girls” seeking shelter and safety. Previously, she said, 67% of all civilians killed in Gaza and the West Bank were men and less then 14% were women. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says nearly 25,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, 70% of them women and children. Bahous said there is a need for much more aid to get to Gaza, especially to women and children, and for an end to the war.

Persons: Sima Bahous, Antonio Guterres ’, ” Bahous, ”, Bahous, “ Organizations: UNITED NATIONS, UN, West Bank, United Nations, Hamas Locations: Gaza, Israel

☆ Opinion | Thomas Friedman on Why the War in Gaza ‘Has to Stop’
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( The Ezra Klein Show | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

I’ve never seen it so broken,” Thomas L. Friedman, a New York Times Opinion columnist who has been covering the Middle East for decades, tells me. It’s been just over 100 days since Hamas’s attack on Israel, and the costs of the war are staggering. In polling from late fall, 64 percent of Gazans reported that a family member had been killed or injured. Israel believes that more than 100 hostages are being held captive in Gaza, and polling reveals that Hamas has gained popularity among Palestinians while support for Israel has plummeted around the world. When this war ends, will Israel really be safer?

Persons: I’ve, ” Thomas L, Friedman, It’s, Gazans, “, Ezra Klein Organizations: New York, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google, Hamas Locations: East, Israel, Gaza

☆ As Climate Shocks Worsen, U.S. Disaster Agency Tries a New Approach to Aid
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Christopher Flavelle | More About Christopher Flavelle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Those changes would especially help renters and people with low incomes, according to Frank Matranga, who runs the agency’s aid programs for disaster survivors. And because people in those groups are more likely to be people of color, the changes should reduce the racial inequity in federal disaster aid, he said. About one million Americans each year receive some sort of direct aid from FEMA, according to the agency. Weather-related disasters pushed more than 3.3 million American adults out of their homes in 2022, census data shows. “We heard that survivors found it confusing and challenging to apply for an S.B.A.

Persons: Frank Matranga, “, ” Ms, Criswell Organizations: FEMA, Small Business Administration

☆ Opinion | Making Changes to U.S. Immigration Policy
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

That includes balancing the two principal objectives of immigration policy: to meet our legal and moral humanitarian obligations to persecuted individuals and to bolster our work force.”These two objectives need not be at odds. Pathways for displaced people who have skills needed by U.S. employers can benefit displaced people, employers and the communities that welcome new neighbors. The United States could adopt a program, modeled on Canada’s Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot, to address specific needs in states, cities and industries, while offering lasting refuge to displaced people. In fact, the Biden administration could adopt many changes to facilitate displaced people’s access to employment opportunities without legislation. But a humanitarian employment program should be additional to, and must not replace, systems of asylum and resettlement.

Persons: Jan, Steven Rattner, Maureen White, Biden Locations: United States

☆ Medicine for Israeli hostages and Palestinians arrives in Gaza under deal struck by Qatar
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-18 | by ( Helen Regan | Jennifer Hauser | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Medicine for Israeli hostages and Palestinians has entered Gaza, Qatar said Wednesday, after the Gulf nation brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas to provide vital medication to the war-torn enclave. The agreement mediated by Qatar Tuesday will see medication delivered to Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for medicine and humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians. Osama Hamdan, a Lebanon-based Hamas official, said the agreement was dependent on there being enough medication for Palestinians in Gaza in addition to the Israeli hostages. Hamas has stipulated that for every box of medication given to the hostages, Palestinians in Gaza must receive 1,000 boxes. However, the Israeli military said it does “not have the ability to guarantee” that medicine will reach the hostages.

Persons: Majed Al, Ansari, Osama Hamdan, Daniel Hagari, ” Hagari, “ There’s, I’ve, Dr, Nick Maynard, Martin Griffiths, “ Organizations: CNN, Medicine, Qatar, Qatari Foreign Ministry, Israel Defense Forces, Ministry, UNICEF, Al, Aqsa, United Nations, UN Locations: Gaza, Qatar, Israel, Doha, Egypt, Lebanon, British

☆ See the Rapid Expansion of Tent Camps in Southern Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-18 | by ( Leanne Abraham | Zach Levitt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

Gaza City Khan Younis Gaza Strip RafahSee the Rapid Expansion of Tent Camps in Southern GazaRecent satellite imagery shows an influx of displaced Palestinians into Rafah, the Gaza Strip’s southernmost region, where about 1.25 million people are now living in squalid, cramped conditions. A satellite image from Nov. 10 showing a portion of western Rafah in the Gaza Strip. There has been an expansion to the area of visible tents, mostly limited to the areas around the schools and the logistics base. The number of tents and makeshift structures sharply increased across this area of Rafah after Israel’s repeated orders to evacuate large portions of central and southern Gaza in December. With a vast majority of Gaza’s population displaced, aid groups and the U.N. have been struggling to keep up with the staggering demand for help in Rafah and across the Gaza Strip.

Persons: Tal, Israel’s, ”, Juliette Touma, Ibraheem Abu Mustafa, Shaina, Ms, Low, Al Qarya, Deir al Balah, Khan Younis, Touma, al Balah Khan Younis Organizations: Camps, Labs, Hamas, Planet Labs, United Nations Relief, Works Agency, Norwegian Refugee Council, United Nations, Reuters, Humanitarian Affairs, . Locations: Gaza, Khan, Rafah, Southern Gaza, Rafah’s, Ibraheem, Egypt, Egypt’s, U.N, Deir, al, al Balah Khan Younis Rafah, Israel

☆ These 11 senators supported Bernie Sanders's resolution to force a State Department report on Israeli human rights violations in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewJust 11 senators on Tuesday evening supported advancing a resolution from Sen. Bernie Sanders that would have significantly escalated congressional oversight of US military aid to Israel. AdvertisementUnder a relatively obscure provision within US law, the resolution would have forced the State Department to provide Congress with a report on human rights violations by Israel. "We will be voting on a very simple question: do you support asking the State Department whether human rights violations may have occurred using US equipment or assistance in this war?" However, it would be highly unusual for the State Department to fail to respond to an oversight request from Congress. "This should be the beginning of a broader human rights oversight process," said Chappell.

Persons: —, Sen, Bernie Sanders, Sanders, — Sen, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mitch McConnell, Israel, Gaza —, Chris Coons, Coons, John, Chappell, Tim Kaine, Chris Van Hollen, It's Organizations: Service, Business, Gaza Health Ministry, State Department, Israel, Senate Foreign Relations, Foreign Assistance, Department, Center for Civilians Locations: Israel, Gaza, Chris Coons of Delaware, Ukraine, Virginia, Maryland

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