UN Warns of Growing Threat to Global Trade Due to Convergence of Challenges

UNCTAD is raising the alarm on the disruptions the the Suez Canal and elsewhere in the world (SCA)

PUBLISHED JAN 26, 2024 6:47 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

UN officials are sounding the alarm on the growing global impact to trade from the mounting problems ranging from the Black Sea to the Suez and Panama Canals, and now the security problems in the Red Sea.  The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) issued a statement expressing its “profound concern” over the escalating disruptions in global trade, making its statement hours before a Houthis missile strike started a fire on a product tanker and set off new fears in the energy community.

“UNCTAD underscores the far-reaching economic implications of these disruptions,” the group said in its statement. “Developing countries are particularly vulnerable to these disruptions and UNCTAD remains vigilant in monitoring the evolving situation. The organization emphasizes the urgent need for swift adaptations from the shipping industry and robust international cooperation to navigate the rapid reshaping of global trade dynamics.”

The organization is seeking to highlight what it sees as the near “perfect storm” emerging in the growing disruptions around the globe. They point to the ongoing conflict in the Ukraine which is nearing its second anniversary saying it has triggered substantial shifts in oil and grain trades reshaping established trade patterns. They highlight that the war in Ukraine compounded with the new problems around the globe are “reverberating in global food prices.”

Added to the problems from the Black Sea, they point to the dramatic decline in transits at the Panama Canal due to climate change and the ongoing drought in Panama. They point out that daily transits are down by “a staggering 36 percent reduction” in December versus the year earlier.

“The crisis in the Red Sea, marked by Houthi-led attacks disrupting shipping routes, has added another layer of complexity,” UNCTAD writes.  The Chief of Trade Logistics at UNCTAD Jan Hoffmann told reporters it is having a “dramatic impact” severely disrupting shipping.

By UNCTAD’s calculations, containership transits are down 67 percent at the Suez Canal versus a year ago. Even before today’s Houthi attacks, UNCTAD warned the problem was expanding to tankers and gas shipments, which they said have stopped passing through the Suez Canal since January 16. UNCTAD estimates Suez Canal transits are down by 42 percent over the last two months.

UNCTAD underscores the critical role maritime transport plays as the backbone of international trade, responsible for over 80 percent of the global movement of goods saying the disruptions from the Red Sea plus the pre-existing disruptions to global trade caused by the war in Ukraine and the abnormally low water levels in the Panama Canal are combining to drive up prices and threaten trade. They use as examples the fact that average shipping costs from Shanghai have more than doubled since early December while those to Europe have more than tripled.  

They express concern that energy prices are witnessing a surge as gas transits are discontinued. They worry this is also directly impacting energy supplies, especially in Europe.

“The cumulative effect of these disruptions translates into extended cargo travel distances, escalating trade costs, and a surge in greenhouse gas emissions from shipping having to travel greater distances and at greater speed,” warns UNCTAD. 

They conclude that the current challenges underscore trade's vulnerability to geopolitical tensions and climate-related challenges, demanding collective efforts for sustainable solutions especially in support of countries more vulnerable to these shocks. 
 

Photos: Fire Aboard Tanker Hit by Houthi Missile

Fire was still burning on Saturday morning but later extinguished (Indian Navy)

PUBLISHED JAN 27, 2024 12:09 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

The fire aboard the Marshall Islands registered tanker Marlin Luanda caused by a Houthi missile strike is reported to be out and the vessel is proceeding to an unspecified safe harbor. Trafigura, who chartered the vessel, provided the update confirming that the crew of 23, including 22 Indians and one person from Bangladesh, is safe and dispelling multiple rumors circulating on the Internet.

“We would like to recognize the exceptional dedication and bravery of the ship’s master and crew who managed to control the fire in highly difficult circumstances, as well as the essential assistance provided by Indian, United States, and French Navy vessels to achieve this outcome,” the company wrote in its official statement.

 

 

The Marlin Luanda, a 110,000 dwt product tanker, appears to have been targeted twice by the Houthi on Friday, January 26 with reports earlier in the day that the vessel saw an explosion closer to the crude oil tanker Achilles, a 109,000 dwt, registered in Panama. Both vessels were southbound with the UK Maritime Trade Organizations reporting their position at approximately 60 nautical miles south of Aden, Yemen in the Gulf of Aden.

The Marlin Luanda was hit by a single anti-ship missile according to USCENTCOM at approximately 2000 local time last night, January 26. Trafigura reports that there was a fire in one cargo tank on the starboard side, confirmed by the photos released by the Indian and French navies. The French frigate Alsace, the INS Visakhapatnam, and the USS Carney, all responded to a call for assistance from the tanker.

 

France released photos showing the fire shortly after the missile strike (French forces in the United Arab Emirates)

 

Pictures appear to show that the crew attempted to use foam to stop the fire and were successful in containing it to a limited area of the vessel. The fire appears not to have spread, however it took approximately 20 hours to put it out. Unconfirmed reports are that the vessel is carrying a highly flammable cargo of Naphtha loaded in Russia. The vessel was displaying Singapore as its destination.

Trafigura reported that the company has no other vessels in the region and said it would “continue to assess carefully the risks involved in any voyage.” The Houthis’ in their statement boasting about the successful attack said it was because it was a British tanker. Databases list the vessel’s owner as Oceonix Services, headquartered in London.

Hours after the attack, U.S. Central Command reported that its forces had destroyed another Houthi missile on its launcher in Yemen. They reported that it was pointed at the Red Sea and prepared to launch when the U.S. struck.

Trafigura Tanker on Fire After Being Hit by Houthi Missile in Gulf of Aden

UKMTO places the attack 60 nm southwest of Aden, Yemen (UKMTO)

PUBLISHED JAN 26, 2024 1:47 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

A Houthi missile has struck a product tanker operated for Trafigura, the commodity trading firm with the company confirm the vessel is on fire. It is the second report of attacks by the rebel group against tankers today. UK Maritime Trade Organization also confirmed the reports saying assistance is being provided.

UK-based digital solutions provider Vanguard was first to report that the Marshall Islands-flagged Marlin Luanda was struck during the second attack. The vessel is a 110,000 dwt product tanker traveling from Morocco and reported having transited the Suez Canal last weekend. The AIS signal shows the vessel heading to Singapore. Unconfirmed reports are that the vessel was carrying a load of highly flammable naphtha loaded in Russia.

UK Maritime Trade Organizations confirmed that it received a report saying the vessel was on fire and requesting assistance. They put the location as 60 nautical miles southeast of Aden, Yemen, similar to the location of the first report of an explosion earlier in the day observed by the Marlin Luanda.

A spokesperson from Trafigura later confirmed to The Maritime Executive that the Marlin Luanda, a petroleum product tanker vessel operated on behalf of company, was struck by a missile as it transited the Red Sea. They reported that "Firefighting equipment on board is being deployed to suppress and control the fire caused in one cargo tank on the starboard side." The company said it remains in contact with the vessel and the top concern is the safety of the crew.  

The Houthi spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree also released a taped video statement in which he says, "Yemeni naval forces carried out a targeting operation on the British oil ship (Marlin Luanda) In the Gulf of Aden, using a number of appropriate naval missiles, the strike was direct, and resulted in the burning of the vessel. Yemeni Armed Forces persist with their military operations: enforcing a blockade on Israeli navigation in the Red and Arabian seas until a ceasefire is achieved in Gaza, and food and medicine are allowed in to the besieged Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip."

The USS Carney as well as other coalition vessels were dispatched to provide assistance. U.S. Central Command is reporting that the vessel was struck by a single anti-ship missile. There are multiple unconfirmed reports and a broad range of purported photos (many clearly false) circulating on social media.

Earlier today it was the same vessel, the Marlin Luanda, that relayed information on the earlier attack. In the first instance, they reported an explosion in the air approximately 200 to 300 meters above the waterline of another tanker, the Panama-flagged Achilles. The explosion occurred about one nautical mile away from the tanker. The projectile did not make contact with either vessel, according to Vanguard. A French warship was reported to be patrolling in the area at the time.

The Achilles, a 109,000 dwt crude oil tanker, was also southbound in the Red Sea. The vessel's AIS signal shows that it was sailing from Primorsk, Russia, and displaying the message “No Link With Israel.” This tanker is reportedly under contract to an Indian shipper.

U.S. Central Command had also reported earlier on Friday shooting down a missile fired from Yemen that was heading toward the USS Carney. Early on Saturday local time, the U.S. reported it destroyed yet another missile on a launcher ready to be fire by the Houthis.

EURONAVFOR has been cautioning ships over the escalating attacks and saying the Houthis appeared to be threatening a broader array of ships beyond those with known ties to Israel, the U.S., or the UK. They also noted that the Houthis “might be capitalizing on outdated information regarding ship ownership in certain instances.”

Nazi death camp survivors mark anniversary of Auschwitz liberation on Holocaust Remembrance Day

A group of survivors of Nazi death camps marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp during World War II in a modest ceremony Saturday in southern Poland.

Issued on: 27/01/2024 - 

Holocaust survivors and relatives arrive at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, January 27, 2024. 

© Czarek Sokolowski, AP

By: NEWS WIRES


About 20 survivors from various camps set up by Nazi Germany around Europe laid wreaths and flowers and lit candles at the Death Wall in Auschwitz.

Later, the group will hold prayers at the monument in Birkenau. They were memorializing around 1.1 million camp victims, mostly Jews. The memorial site and museum are located near the city of Oswiecim.

Nearly 6 million European Jews were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust — the mass murder of Jews and other groups before and during World War II.

Marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the survivors will be accompanied by Polish Senate Speaker Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska, Culture Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz and Israeli Ambassador Yacov Livne.

The theme of the observances is the human being, symbolized in simple, hand-drawn portraits. They are meant to stress that the horror of Auschwitz-Birkenau lies in the suffering of people held and killed there.

Holocaust victims were commemorated across Europe.

In Germany, where people put down flowers and lit candles at memorials for the victims of the Nazi terror, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that his country would continue to carry the responsibility for this “crime against humanity.”

He called on all citizens to defend Germany’s democracy and fight antisemitism, as the country marked the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

"Never again’ is every day,” Scholz said in his weekly video podcast. “Jan. 27 calls out to us: Stay visible! Stay audible! Against antisemitism, against racism, against misanthropy — and for our democracy.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose country is fighting to repel Russia's full-scale invasion, posted an image of a Jewish menorah on X, formerly known as Twitter, to mark the remembrance day.

“Every new generation must learn the truth about the Holocaust. Human life must remain the highest value for all nations in the world," said Zelenskyy, who is Jewish and has lost relatives in the Holocaust.

"Eternal memory to all Holocaust victims!” Zelenskyy tweeted.

In Italy, Holocaust commemorations included a torchlit procession alongside official statements from top political leaders.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni said that her conservative nationalist government was committed to eradicating antisemitism that she said had been “reinvigorated” amid the Israel-Hamas war. Meloni’s critics have long accused her and her Brothers of Italy party, which has neo-fascist roots, of failing to sufficiently atone for its past.

Later Saturday, leftist movements planned a torchlit procession to remember all victims of the Holocaust — Jews but also Roma, gays and political dissidents who were deported or exterminated in Nazi camps.

Police were also on alert after pro-Palestinian activists indicated that they would ignore a police order and go ahead with a rally planned to coincide with the Holocaust commemorations. Italy’s Jewish community has complained that such protests have become occasions for the memory of the Holocaust to be co-opted by anti-Israel forces and used against Jews.

In Poland, a memorial ceremony with prayers was held Friday in Warsaw at the foot of the Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto, who fell fighting the Nazis in 1943.

Earlier in the week, the countries of the former Yugoslavia signed an agreement in Paris to jointly renovate Block 17 in the red-brick Auschwitz camp and install a permanent exhibition there in memory of around 20,000 people who were deported from their territories and brought to the block. Participating in the project will be Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia.

The gate with "Arbeit macht frei" (Work sets you free) written across it is pictured at the Auschwitz-Birkenau former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp during events marking the 79th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in Oswiecim, Poland on January 27, 2024. 

© Bartosz Siedlik, AFP

Preserving the camp, a notorious symbol of the horrors of the Holocaust, with its cruelly misleading “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“Work Makes One Free”) gate, requires constant effort by historians and experts, and substantial funds.

The Nazis, who occupied Poland from 1939-1945, at first used old Austrian military barracks at Auschwitz as a concentration and death camp for Poland’s resistance fighters. In 1942, the wooden barracks, gas chambers and crematoria of Birkenau were added for the extermination of Europe's Jews, Roma and other nationals, as well as Russian prisoners of war.

Soviet Red Army troops liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau on Jan. 27, 1945, with about 7,000 prisoners there, children and those who were too weak to walk. The Germans had evacuated tens of thousands of other inmates on foot days earlier in what is now called the Death March, because many inmates died of exhaustion and cold in the sub-freezing temperatures.

Since 1979, the Auschwitz-Birkenau site has been on the UNESCO list of World Heritage.

(AP)

Tens of thousands of Germans mark Holocaust Memorial Day

Berlin (AFP) – Tens of thousands of Germans turned out across the country on Saturday to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, just days after a string of protests against right-wing extremists.


Issued on: 27/01/2024 - 

Holocaust Day, marking the Nazis' murder of six million Jews, falls on the date the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp was liberated  (ITS IN POLAND)

© BARTOSZ SIEDLIK / AFP

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who earlier this month joined a march against the far right, on Saturday welcomed what he said were "millions of fellow citizens marching in the streets" of Germany.

"Never again," Scholz vowed Saturday as police in the western city of Duesseldorf said about 100,000 people joined the peaceful protest there.

Demonstrations were planned in 300 towns and villages across the country this weekend, according to the alliance "Together against the extreme right".

In the northern city of Kiel, police said 11,500 people had gathered before midday.

"Democracy is not for the timid", read placards alongside others saying, "Red card for the AfD" party of the extreme right.

Physiotherapist Johannes Boecker, aged 29, told AFP, "It was important to demonstrate in memory of the victims of national socialism and also against the rise of the extreme right."

In Stuttgart, where a couple of thousand people gathered, 60-year-old Margrit Walter told AFP: "I want to create a Nazi-free zone for my grand-daughter."
'Never again is every day'

Scholz, who had turned out at a protest two weeks ago in Potsdam, close to the capital, said he was delighted to see people "stand up".

"Never again requires everybody's vigilance. Our democracy is not a gift from God, it is made by men," the chancellor said. "Never again is every day."

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius joined the protesters in his northwestern hometown of Osnabrueck, where he was born.

"There are three times as many demonstrations as last week, particularly in the east of Germany," said in a statement the citizen's alliance Campact, which is among the organisers of the protest movement.

It is in the east, formerly communist East Germany, where the AfD finds its biggest following.

Holocaust Day, commemorating the murder of six million Jews during World War Two, falls on the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp by Soviet troops on January 27, 1945.

In Poland, site of the former camp, Auschwitz survivor Halina Birenbaum, aged 95, lamented anti-Jewish protests around the world and the "barbaric and long Russian attack against Ukraine... the barbaric terrorist attacks by Hamas and war on every side.

"For me it makes the Holocaust go on," she said.

In Germany, this year's 79th Holocaust anniversary came shortly after a report by investigative outlet Correctiv that revealed that AfD members had discussed the mass expulsion of immigrants and "non-assimilated citizens" at a November meeting with extremists.

The news sent shockwaves across Germany at a time when the AfD is soaring in opinion polls, just months ahead of three major regional elections in eastern Germany where their support is strongest.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser compared the extremist meeting on foreigners with the 1942 Wannsee conference when the Nazis plotted to exterminate European Jews.

© 2024 AFP

Milan display Martin Luther King quote in racism protest

Milan (AFP) – AC Milan brought their match with Bologna to a brief halt on Saturday, summoning inspiration from American civil rights icon Martin Luther King to demonstrate solidarity with goalkeeper Mike Maignan who was racially abused last weekend.

Issued on: 27/01/2024 - 

Power of words: A quote by Martin Luther King is displayed on a giant screen at the San Siro © Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP

The fixture was stopped in the 16th minute in honour of Maignan's shirt number while a famous King quote was displayed on the San Siro's big screens.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that," read the message.

Fans held up their phone lights while warm applause spread across the stands at the stadium.

France international Maignan was abused by Udinese fans last weekend, an incident that made international headlines despite similar episodes being a regular occurence in Italian football.

Udinese have banned a small number of supporters identified as having racially insulted Maignan, but they are appealing a one-match stadium closure handed down as punishment.

The Udinese match was not the first time that Maignan has been racially abused by supporters in Italy after he was targeted by a Juventus fan in September 2021.

Last weekend the 28-year-old challenged Italy's football authorities by saying that "if you do nothing, you will also be complicit".

Italy, a country governed by a coalition led by the far-right Brothers of Italy party, is rife with fascist football fan groups, in particular among the hardcore "ultras" who make most of the atmosphere at stadiums.

© 2024 AFP

Civilians trapped by fighting in Gaza

Gaza Strip (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Thousands of civilians were trapped in southern Gaza by bombardment and fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters on Saturday, a day after the top UN court ruled Israel must prevent genocidal acts.

Issued on: 27/01/2024

An Israeli tank moves behind Palestinians fleeing Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip © - / AFP

Growing alarm has focused on Khan Yunis, the biggest city in Gaza's south, where the two main hospitals were barely functioning under the weight of the relentless bombardment and the press of thousands in need.

Witnesses reported more overnight strikes on Khan Yunis, the current epicentre of Israel's assault on Gaza, and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said some of the dead and wounded had been taken to the city's barely functioning Al-Amal hospital.

The strikes came after the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that Israel must prevent possible acts of genocide in its war against Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza.

The court, which has virtually no enforcement power, stopped short of calling for an end to the fighting but also said in its ruling that Israel must facilitate "urgently needed" humanitarian assistance.

"This is the first time the world has told Israel that it is out of line," said Maha Yasin, a 42-year-old displaced Palestinian woman in Gaza.

"What Israel did to us in Gaza for four months has never happened in history."

Fighting at Khan Yunis 

© Sophie RAMIS, Nalini LEPETIT-CHELLA, Anibal MAIZ CACERES / AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the case as "outrageous".

Israel's relentless bombardment and siege of the Palestinian territory began soon after Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attacks that resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized about 250 hostages and Israel says around 132 of them remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 dead captives.

Israel has vowed to crush Hamas and the health ministry in Gaza says the Israeli military offensive has killed at least 26,083 people, about 70 percent of them women and children.

Hospital services 'collapse'


Fierce fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters has raged for days around Khan Yunis, forcing tens of thousands to flee further south to Rafah on the border with Egypt.

With a humanitarian crisis growing in Khan Yunis and northern areas of Gaza, UN agencies say most of the estimated 1.7 million Palestinians displaced by the war are crowded into Rafah.
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip © - / AFP

At Khan Yunis's Nasser Hospital, the largest in the besieged city, Doctors Without Borders said surgical capacity was "virtually non-existent".

The international medical aid organisation said in a news release that medical services at the hospital had "collapsed" and the few staff who remained "must contend with very low supplies that are insufficient to handle mass casualty events".

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media platform X that 350 patients and 5,000 people displaced by the fighting remained at the hospital and that fighting in the vicinity continued.

He said the Nasser Hospital was "running out of food, fuel and supplies" and called for an immediate ceasefire so they could be replenished.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Israeli tanks were targeting Al-Amal hospital, another of the few remaining medical facilities in Khan Yunis, and that it was "under siege with heavy gunfire".

The Israeli military accuses Hamas of having tunnels under hospitals in Gaza and of using the medical facilities as command centres.

Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, accused the WHO this week of collusion with Hamas by ignoring Israeli evidence of Hamas's "military use" of Gaza hospitals.

Tedros rejected the accusation, saying it could "endanger our staff who are risking their lives to serve the vulnerable".
Diplomatic relations sour

Relations between Israel and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees soured after the UNRWA said tanks had shelled one of its shelters in Khan Yunis on Wednesday, killing 13 people.

UNRWA said on Friday it had sacked several employees accused by Israel of involvement in the October 7 attack.

The ruling in The Hague was based on an urgent application brought by South Africa but a broader judgment on whether genocide has been committed could take years © Remko de Waal / ANP/AFP

The UN Security Council will meet on Wednesday to discuss the ICJ's ruling, the council's presidency announced.

The European Union called for the "immediate" application of the ICJ's decision.

The ruling in The Hague was based on an urgent application brought by South Africa, long a supporter of the Palestinian cause, but a broader judgment on whether genocide has been committed could take years.

A security source told AFP on Friday that the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency will meet officials from Israel, Egypt and Qatar "in the coming days in Paris" to try to reach a deal with Hamas.

The war has led to fears of wider conflict, and US forces said they had struck a target in Huthi-held Yemen after an attack on a British tanker in the Gulf of Aden.

© 2024 AFP

UNRWA UNDER ATTACK

UN agency essential for millions of Palestinians

Jerusalem (AFP) – The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), shaken by accusations of staff involvement in Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, has provided essential aid for Palestinian refugees since 1949.

AFP
Issued on: 27/01/2024 - 21:27

A truck from the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) carrying fuel arrives at the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on November 22, 2023, during fighting between Israel and Hamas militants 

© Khaled DESOUKI / AFP

UNRWA, financed almost entirely by voluntary state contributions, has long been criticised by Israel. The agency on Friday said it had sacked several employees accused by Israel of involvement in Hamas's attack, promising a thorough investigation into the claims which were not specified.

- Health care, education -

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency was established in December 1949 by the United Nations General Assembly after the first Arab-Israeli conflict, which broke out immediately after Israel's creation in May 1948.

The agency is charged with supplying humanitarian aid and protection for Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, while "pending a just and lasting solution to their plight."

Palestinian refugees are "persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict," UNRWA says on its website.

Their descendents also have refugee status.

UNRWA became their sole guarantor by default of their international status.

At its founding, UNRWA served about 750,000 Palestinian refugees. Now around 5.9 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA and can access health care, social services, microfinance and emergency aid, including during times of armed conflict.

The UN agency manages a total of around 60 camps, 19 of them in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967.

More than 540,000 children study in UNRWA schools.

UNRWA in Gaza

In the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas since 2007, the humanitarian situation was already critical before the war between Israel and Hamas began in October.

According to UN data from August, 63 percent of Gazans suffered from food insecurity and were dependent on international aid.

More than 80 percent lived below the poverty line.

Palestinians receive bags of flour at the UNRWA distribution center in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza, during the Israel-Hamas war 

© SAID KHATIB / AFP

The territory, squeezed between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean, counts eight camps and around 1.7 million refugees, the overwhelming majority of the population of 2.4 million, according to the UN.

Among the 30,000 people employed by UNRWA, 13,000 work in the Gaza Strip, across 300 installations in an area of 365 square kilometres (140 square miles), according to the UNRWA website.

The 2018 crisis

In 2018, then-president of the United States Donald Trump, the largest contributor to UNRWA, cut its annual contribution by $300 million.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was also in power at that time, lauded Trump and said UNRWA "is an organisation that perpetuates the Palestinian refugee problem".

He also criticised the "absurd situation" under which descendants can register as refugees.

In 2019 Trump's Middle East adviser told the UN Security Council that UNRWA should be dismantled.

The same year, an internal ethics report alleged mismanagement and abuses of authority at the highest levels of the UN agency. In November 2019 the agency's chief resigned as the UN investigated.

Washington restarted its donations to UNRWA in 2021, after the election of President Joe Biden.

October 7 attack

On Friday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini announced: "The Israeli authorities have provided UNRWA with information about the alleged involvement of several UNRWA employees in the horrific attacks on Israel on 7 October."

As a result, he said, the staffers have been fired and an investigation begun.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that UNRWA must play no role in Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war. He said it "must be replaced with agencies dedicated to genuine peace and development."

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, shown in December 2023, announced the firing of several staffers 

© JEAN-GUY PYTHON / POOL/AFP/File

The US State Department said 12 UNRWA employees "may have been involved," and announced it was suspending additional funding to the agency. Several other donor countries followed.

In 2022, the United States provided almost $344 million to UNRWA. Germany was the second biggest contributor with more than $202 million, followed by the European Union, Sweden, Norway, Japan, France, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and Turkey in the top 10.

© 2024 AFP

FRANCE 24's correspondent in Jerusalem Irris Mackler said, 

"UNRWA is an interesting organisation — it's funded independently, it has been running since 1950, and it functions in many ways as a second government in the Palestinian territories".

IT IS THE GOVERNMENT

20,000 march in Spanish capital against Gaza 'genocide'

Madrid (AFP) – Around 20,000 people marched in Madrid Saturday in support of Palestinians, a day after the UN's top court said Israel must prevent genocidal acts in its war with Hamas.

Issued on: 27/01/2024 - 

Many carried Palestinian flags or placards denouncing what they said was the 'genocide' in Gaza 

© LLUIS GENE / AFP

Many of the marchers carried banners and placards denouncing the "genocide" in Gaza, which has been under relentless bombardment and siege since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.

Some carried Palestinian flags and shouted slogans denouncing Israel. Others had banners thanking South Africa for having brought the case against Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

South Africa accused Israel of breaching the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, set up after World War II and the Holocaust.

In its ruling on Friday, the ICJ said Israel must prevent genocide in its war with Hamas and allow aid into Gaza, but stopped short of calling for an end to the fighting.

The ruling was denounced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as "outrageous" and while many countries welcomed the ruling, others, such as Britain expressed reservations.

Spain's government has been one of the most critical voices in Europe of Israel's offensive against Hamas   GAZA

© JAVIER SORIANO / AFP

Spain, one of the most critical voices in Europe of Israel's offensive against Hamas, was one of those to welcome Friday's ruling.

Relations between the two countries have soured over Madrid's position on the issue.

Israel recalled its top diplomat in Madrid in November after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed doubts about the legality of Israel's war in Gaza. She returned in January.
'Children are dying'

"They have been without water, without food, without anything, for almost 110 days," one Madrid demonstrator, 54-year-old Lobna Elnakhala, said of the situation in Gaza.

"Children are dying and living in a very difficult situation."

Some banners called for sanctions to be levied against Israel.

The Madrid authorities put the turn-out at 20,000.

Israel's military campaign began soon after Hamas's October 7 attack that resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

The Madrid authorities put the turn-out at 20,000 

© Pierre-Philippe MARCOU / AFP

Militants also seized about 250 hostages and Israel says around 132 of them remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 dead captives.

Israel has vowed to crush Hamas, and Hamas-ruled Gaza's health ministry says the Israeli military offensive has killed at least 26,257 people, most of them women and children

© 2024 AFP

Macron administration promulgates controversial immigration law

The administration of French President Emmanuel Macron published the formal text of a new immigration law in its Official Journal on Saturday, with the first instructions on applying the legislation already presented to officials.


AFP 27/01/2024 - 

French President Emmanuel Macron attends the French community meeting at the French Embassy in New Delhi, India on January 26, 2024. © Ludovic Marin, AFP

By:NEWS WIRES

The law's promulgation comes after France's Constitutional Council censured 35 of its 86 articles, including contentious additions insisted on by the right, such as measures restricting access to social benefits and the introduction of immigration quotas.

While the bill was seen as one of the signature reforms of Macron's second term, some in his camp had baulked at the stricter version, with about a quarter of his allies in parliament voting against it or abstaining.

The final text upheld by the council retains key elements initially desired by the government, with a large part of it dedicated to simplifying procedures for expelling delinquent foreigners -- one of the objectives of Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin.

Read moreFrench immigration law: What are the measures deemed unconstitutional?

An article on the regularisation of undocumented workers in industries facing shortages was also kept in the text.

After the Constitutional Council's decision, Macron had called on Darmanin to do "everything in his power" to "implement the immigration law as quickly as possible", a member of the president's team told AFP.

Darmanin, who had previously said some measures were "clearly contrary to the constitution", described the council's ruling as a win for the government.
Anger on the right

The decision, however, sparked condemnation from the right, with Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally party, criticising what he called a "coup by the judges, with the backing of the president" in a post on social media platform X.

He called for a referendum on immigration as the "only solution".

The president of the conservative Republicans, Eric Ciotti, accused the council of colluding with Macron against the "will of the French people, who want less immigration".

Only three of the articles censured by the council were rejected based on their content, with the rest tossed out because they were deemed to be outside the scope of the law.


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As such, nothing is stopping parliament from voting on them again later as part of different legislation.

The Republican head of the Senate, Gerard Larcher, urged the administration to "resubmit a text that conforms to the agreement" reached with the right.

The head of the far-left LFI party, Manuel Bompard, also called for the law to be withdrawn, saying "the text validated by the Constitutional Council corresponds to the text rejected by the Assembly" and therefore has "no legitimacy".

But Interior Minister Darmanin poured cold water on the possibility of further legislation, saying the executive "will not present a bill" on the subject.

(AFP)

ICYMI

These fierce, tiny marsupials drop dead after lengthy sex fests

The Conversation
January 18, 2024 

A yellow-footed antechinus. tracylouise/Getty Images

If you are exploring our beautiful Australian wilderness this year, keep an eye out for animals behaving in interesting ways. You never know what you might see, as our research team discovered.

In 2023, our colleague from Sunshine Coast Council, Elliot Bowerman, took a two-night trip to New England National Park – its 1,500 metre-high mountain peaks are some of the loftiest on Australia’s mid-east coast.

On the afternoon of 17 August, Elliot trekked the path to Point Lookout. While inspecting some plants on the trail, he heard a rustle in the bushes ahead and peering more closely, saw something of interest. A small mammal had abruptly appeared, dragging the carcass of another mammal, which it then began to devour.

At first glance, this was not so strange. Mammals eat each other all the time. However, it is unusual to see small mammals during the day at such close quarters, so Elliot recorded the scene, taking a video on his mobile phone.

It was only several days later when looking over the footage that our research team realised it featured something rarely seen in the wild, the record of which is now published in the journal Australian Mammalogy.

A native marsupial… cannibal

The furry critter on film was an antechinus, a native marsupial denizen of forested areas in eastern, south-western and northern Australia. Antechinuses usually eat a range of insects and spiders, occasionally taking small vertebrates such as birds, lizards, or even other mammals.

But this camera footage clearly showed a mainland dusky antechinus (Antechinus mimetes mimetes), and it was eating a dead member of its own species!

Antechinuses are perhaps best known for exhibiting semelparity, or “suicidal reproduction”. This is death after reproducing in a single breeding period. The phenomenon is known in a range of plants, invertebrates and vertebrates, but it is rare in mammals.

Each year, all antechinus males drop dead at the end of a one to three week breeding season, poisoned by their own raging hormones.

This is because the stress hormone cortisol rises during the breeding period. At the same time, surging testosterone from the super-sized testes in males causes a failure in the biological mechanism that mops up the cortisol. The flood of unbound cortisol results in systemic organ failure and the inevitable, gruesome death of every male.


A mainland dusky antechinus during the mating period, with fur loss visible on the shoulder, eating another antechinus. Elliot Bowerman

Mercifully, death occurs only after the males have unloaded their precious cargo of sperm, mating with as many promiscuous females as possible in marathon, energy-sapping sessions lasting up to 14 hours. The pregnant females are then responsible for ensuring the survival of the species.

So, exactly what was happening that day at Point Lookout – why had an antechinus turned cannibal?

Cheap calories

August is the breeding period for mainland dusky antechinuses at that location. Intense mating burns calories, and at the end of winter it is cold and there isn’t as much invertebrate food about.

If there are male antechinuses dropping dead from sex-fuelled exhaustion, our thinking is that still-living male and female antechinuses are taking advantage of the cheap energy boost via a hearty feast of a fallen comrade.

After all, animal flesh provides plenty of energetic bang for the buck, particularly if its owner does not have to be pursued or overpowered before being devoured.

In many areas of Australia, two antechinus species (of the known fifteen) occur together, and usually their breeding periods are separated by only a few weeks. One can imagine a scenario where individuals may not only feed on the carcasses of their own species but consume the other species as well.

An endangered silver-headed antechinus, Antechinus argentus. Andrew Baker

Each species may benefit from eating the dead males of the other. For the earlier-breeding species, females may be pregnant or lactating, which is a huge energy drain.

For the later-breeding species, both sexes need to pack on weight and body condition before their own breeding period commences.

Plausibly then, antechinus engage in orgiastic breeding and, when opportune, cannibalistic feeding.

So, the next time you are out and about in the bush, keep your eyes and ears peeled – you never know what secrets nature might reveal to you just around the next corner.

The author would like to acknowledge the co-authors of the paper, Elliot Bowerman from Sunshine Coast Council, and Ian Gynther from the Queensland Department of Environment, Science and Innovation.

Andrew M. Baker, Associate Professor in Ecology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

 

Mini marsupial goes from sex fests to cannibal feasts

These male marsupials give up sleep for sex

Research into holograms could improve forensic fingerprint analysis

The Conversation
January 18, 2024

'A man being fingerprinted on a legal document' [Shutterstock]

When you use your fingerprint to unlock your smartphone, your phone is looking at a two-dimensional pattern to determine whether it’s the correct fingerprint before it unlocks for you. But the imprint your finger leaves on the surface of the button is actually a 3D structure called a fingermark.

Fingermarks are made up of tiny ridges of oil from your skin. Each ridge is only a few microns tall, or a few hundredths of the thickness of human hair.

Biometric identifiers record fingermarks only as 2D pictures, and although these carry a lot of information, there’s a lot missing. A 2D fingerprint neglects the depth of the fingermark, including pores and scars buried in the ridges of fingers that are difficult to see.

I’m an educator and scientist who studies holography, a field of research that focuses on how to display 3D information. My lab has created a way to map and visualize fingermarks in three dimensions from any perspective on a computer – using digital holography.

Fingermark types

Scientists categorize fingermarks as either patent, plastic or latent, depending on how visible they are when left on a surface.

Patent fingermarks are the most visible type – bloody fingerprints at crime scenes are one example. Plastic fingermarks are found on soft surfaces, such as clay, Play-Doh or chocolate bars. The human eye can see both patent and plastic fingermarks quite easily.

The least visible are latent fingermarks. These are usually found on hard surfaces such as glass, metals, woods and plastics. To make them out, a fingerprint examiner has to use physical or chemical methods such as dusting with powder, creating chemical reactions with appropriate reagents or cyanoacrylate fuming.

Cyanoacrylate makes super glue in its liquid form, but as a gas it can make latent fingermarks visible. Researchers develop the prints by letting cyanoacrylate vapor molecules react with components in the latent fingerprint residue.

The geometric details on fingermarks are categorized into three levels. Level 1 encompasses visible ridge patterns, so loops, whorls and arches. Level 2 refers to minutiae or small details, such as bifurcations, endings, eyes and hooks.



Fingerprints have visible ridge structures, such as arches (left), whorls (middle) and loops (right), but at the microscopic level they have much finer patterns and structures. ValeriyPolunovskiy/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Finally, Level 3 features, such as pores, scars and creases, are too small for the human eye to resolve. This is where optical techniques like holography come in handy, since optical wavelengths are in the order of microns, small enough to make out small details on an object.

Developing fingermark holograms

Since fingermarks are usually collected as 2D pictures, and holograms display 3D information, my team wanted to develop a technique that can show all the 3D topological characteristics of a fingermark.

To do this, we’ve been collaborating with Akhlesh Lakhtakia’s group at Penn State. They developed a specialized technique that deposits a nanoscale columnar thin film layer, called a CTF, on top of the fingermark to develop and preserve it.

Columnar thin films are dense pillars of glassy material that uniformly cover the fingermark, like a dense growth of identical trees in a forest. Just as the tops of these trees would reflect the topology of the ground, the tops of these columnar thin films replicate the 3D structure of the fingermarks on which they are deposited.



Samples collected using CTF film. Banerjee Lab

To make a hologram of something like a 3D fingermark, researchers split light from a laser into two parts. One part, called the reference wave, shines directly on a digital camera. The other wave shines on the object, in this case the fingermark.

If the object is reflective, the reflected light is also directed to the digital camera and superimposed on the reference wave.

The superposition of waves – both from the reference and the object – creates an interference pattern, which is called a hologram. In digital holography, this hologram, which is a 2D picture, is recorded in the digital camera. Researchers then import the hologram to a computer, where they can use the physical laws of wave propagation to figure out where the light waves from the laser bounced off different parts of the object.

This process allows them to reconstruct the object as a 3D picture.

So, the reconstructed hologram has all the 3D details of the object, and you can now visualize the 3D object on a laptop from any perspective.

Picking up fingermarks

In 2017, our collaboration reported our first results, where we made 3D pictures of latent fingermarks using the CTF technique. We recorded holograms of the CTF-developed fingermarks with two different wavelengths of light – green and blue – generated from a laser. Using two different wavelengths allowed us to make out tiny details such as pores in the 3D reconstructions.

Lakhtakia’s research group has deposited hundreds of fingermarks on glass, wood and plastic. They’ve then let them age in different environments, at various temperatures and humidity levels, before coating them with CTF film to pick up the fingerprint. My group records the digital holograms of these fingermarks and visualizes them in 3D on a computer.

We have also started working on a better 3D fingermark analysis plan to help identify crime suspects.

The Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab in Dayton, Ohio, has graded the quality of the fingermarks captured by Lakhtakia’s research group. It will also help us develop a new method for grading the 3D holographic reconstructions, something that does not currently exist. This may involve creating categories to classify how clear the 3D renderings of the fingermarks are.

The use of fingerprints as unique identifiers has a long history, going back to ancient Babylonian and Chinese civilizations. They’ve been used for forensic purposes since the late 1890s, starting in Calcutta, India. Our work aims to build on this rich history and use cutting-edge technologies to improve fingermark analysis.


Partha Banerjee, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Dayton

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.