Tag Archives: Terror

Lifestyle

Gaza: Palestinian UN envoy blasts Israel for deliberately blocking aid

Maravi Post Reporter

Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, blasted Israel on Tuesday for its continued blockade in the Gaza Strip.

Israel began blocking all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza after a ceasefire deal ended more than 10 weeks ago.

“Israel has been openly and brazenly blocking humanitarian aid for over two months now — this is engineered starvation,” Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, told the U.N. Security Council.

“It is the most inhumane form of torture and killing.”

Danny Danon, Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N., responded to the criticism by reiterating the country’s claim the aid was being used to “prop up” Hamas.

“Israel will not accept a humanitarian mechanism that props up the Hamas terror organization that butchered our people in their homes and communities.”

Famine

Food security experts said Monday that Gaza will likely fall into famine if Israel doesn’t lift its blockade and stop its military campaign.

Nearly half a million Palestinians are facing possible starvation, living in “catastrophic” levels of hunger, and 1 million others can barely get enough food, according to findings by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises.

Source: Africanews

Lifestyle

Iran denies role in missile attack by Houthi rebels

Maravi Post Reporter

Iran rejected accusations it’s behind attacks by Houthi rebels, calling them “baseless”.

Speaking at a regular briefing Monday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei said a recent attack by the group against Israel was an “independent decision”.

“The Yemeni people, because of their humane feelings and religious solidarity with the Palestinians, and also to defend themselves in the face of continuous aggression by America, have taken some measures. This is an independent decision and all accusations against Iran in connection with what Yemenis are doing are baseless,” Baghaei said.

A missile launched by the Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at Israel’s main international airport on Sunday after its impact near an access road caused panic among passengers.

The attack on Ben-Gurion International Airport came hours before Israeli Cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify military operations in Gaza.

The army was calling up tens of thousands of reserves, Israel’s chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the U.S. was supporting Israeli operations against the Houthis.

In a later statement, he said that Israel would respond to the Houthis “and, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”

Baghaei said any country from which an attack against Iran is initiated will be considered a legitimate target.

“If an assault is made against the Islamic Republic of Iran from any country’s soil, based on international law that spot will be considered a legitimate target,” he said.

Source: Africanews

https://video.euronews.com/mp4/ED/14/03/12/08/ED_PYR_1403128_20250505121729.mp4
Lifestyle

Haiti protests escalate

Maravi Post Reporter

Dozens of protesters marched up the hills of Haiti’s capital on Sunday, demanding an end to persistent gang violence as they called on the country’s prime minister and transitional presidential council to resign. It’s the latest such protest as Haitians grow increasingly angry and frustrated over a surge in violence as gangs try to seize full control of Port-au-Prince.

“We need security, we need food, we need a place to sleep, we need healthcare. If you are the head of the state and you feel you can’t take the responsibility, turn away and leave,” said Hip Hop singer and demonstrator Stevenson Telfort Artis known as A.T.R.O.S. Sunday’s demonstration comes a day after hundreds of people gathered in the capital, Port-au-Prince, to honour several community leaders killed in recent clashes with gangs.

The demonstration and recent protests were organized to decry the country’s spiralling crisis, with more than 1,600 people killed and another 580 injured from January to March. In mid-March, hundreds of people armed with sticks and machetes, accompanied by members of an armed environmental brigade, successfully ousted more than 100 suspected gang members that had seized control of a Catholic school, according to a new report issued by the U.N. political mission in Haiti.

But the ouster is only one of a handful of successful fights against powerful gangs backed by certain politicians and some of Haiti’s elite. Last year, more than 5,600 people across Haiti were killed, according to the U.N. Gang violence also has left more than one million people homeless in recent years. Meanwhile, Hait’s National Police, bolstered by a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police, has struggled in its fight against gangs as the mission remains underfunded and understaffed, with only 1,000 personnel of the 2,500 envisioned.

In a push to crack down on gangs, the U.S. government on Friday officially designated Viv Ansanm, a powerful gang coalition, and Gran Grif, the largest gang to operate in Haiti’s central region, as foreign terror organizations. Critics warn the move could affect aid organizations working in Haiti at a critical time, since many have to negotiate with gangs to supply people with basic goods, including food and water.

Source: Africanews

https://video.euronews.com/mp4/ED/13/99/48/00/ED_PYR_1399480_20250505052227.mp4
Lifestyle

The Sunday Story: An Indian Political Scandal

Maravi Post Reporter

Starting in 2018, sixteen people were arrested in India for allegedly plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They included professors, a poet, trade unionists and members of an improv acting troupe. Even an elderly Jesuit priest.

The evidence against them, discovered on their electronic devices, appears damning: minutes of terror cell meetings, emails to banned Maoist rebels and a letter suggesting a suicide attack on Modi.

Today, fifteen defendants continue to await trial. They all say they were falsely accused and that the evidence against them was fabricated and planted by hackers in order to silence them. Digital forensic investigators not only agree but say Modi’s own government may be involved.

In this episode of The Sunday Story, NPR’s Lauren Frayer follows the twists and turns of what Indian police say was a complex plot to sabotage Modi’s government, and that defendants say was a setup. One of the defendants, the Rev. Stan Swamy, died while fighting to clear his name.

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Terror in Europe: Worries and Fears

MaraviPost
Anis Amri
Anis Amri arrived in Germany last year CREDIT: BKA

For over five years I have been living in Europe, and I have never at any time been as worried as I am right now for humankind. I have never had any reason to be more apprehensive or more disturbed about the future than I am today, at this very moment. This is because the trend of events seems to be whittling away hope for a better and brighter future for humanity. The recent spate of attacks, killings and bloodshed in Zurich,Ankara and Berlin in recent days worries me immeasurably.

These attacks disturb me because they portend a dismal future for humanity. These assaults play into the hands of right-wing politicians and other racist and xenophobic ideologues in Europe and the western world. The killings provide justifications for their anti-immigration stance.
These attacks breed and legitimise fear, suspicion and mistrust between people who regard these cities and countries as their home and foreigners and immigrants who live and reside there. These killings make one fear for one’s safety since nobody knows where the next attack would take place. Will it happen on the plane or the train, in a bus or in a park, at the airport or at the train station, at the market or at the stadium, in a restaurant or in a nightclub, in a church or in a mosque?

Nobody knows who the next attacker is – is it that driver or that pilot? Is it that police officer standing beside me or that passerby? Is it the co-passenger or co-traveler in a bus? Is it the person sitting beside me in train or in an aeroplane? Nobody knows who the next victim would be. It could be me. It could be you. We all are potential victims. I am worried because there is so much fear and uncertainty in the land. Nobody is safe. Nowhere is safe.

I am afraid the situation is likely to get worse especially for immigrants and foreigners because these countries and their citizens are going to take urgent measures to defend and protect themselves, and to forestall future attacks. I am worried that these measures would be used to justify racism and xenophobia because people will be made to go through some processes merely because of how they look or where they come from, and yes because of the religion they profess.

Religion is especially a critical issue in this case. These attacks will lead to a profiling of muslims and Arabs who are living in Europe. I am worried because many innocent people are going to suffer because of this. But let’s face it, the religious and ‘racial’ markers of the attackers warranted this. I mean most of the terrorist attacks and killing in parts of Europe recently were carried out either by Muslims or by persons from Middle Eastern or North African origin. Each spate of attacks or killings affirms a strong link with jihadists, Islamists or aggrieved persons from Middle East and North Africa. Some of the militants did not disguise their intention to conquer Europe and impose sharia law.

Now think about the fact that these assaults and killings were often followed by shouts and yellings of “Allahu” Akbar, an expression in Arabic which means “God is great”. Not any other religious god but the god of Islam.

The attackers in France, Belgium and Turkey shouted Allahu Akbar during or after their operations. That was apparently a statement that what they did was in praise of Allah. I am afraid that the yelling of Allahu Akbar has lost its ‘religious prayerful meaning’. It has become as a jihadist war song, a rallying cry to commit murder and violence.

I am concerned that any yelling of Allahu Akbar today in parts of Europe will lead to some security operations. People are likely to scamper for safety and take cover if they are in public squares because they would be expecting a gunshot or a bomb explosion. Police may have be to be invited to carry out a search for explosives. Yellers of Allahu Akbar may have to be questioned in case they belong to any jihadist group or are intending to perpetrate violent acts. I worry because Allahu Akbar has become an insignia for bloodshed in Europe and in other parts of the world.I worry, yes I worry for the future of humanity and the prospects of peace in the world.