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India’s Muslims See Discrimination in New Religion-Based Citizenship Law

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FILE - Students in Kolkata protest against the CAA and NRC, Dec. 27, 2019. Violence erupted during weekslong protests against the controversial citizenship law across the country in 2019-2020, with more than 100 people killed. (Shaikh Azizur Rahman for VOA)   The Indian government’s recent announcement of rules to implement a 2019 citizenship law has sparked protests in India, with many accusing it of polarizing the society ahead of general elections scheduled for next month. Under the Citizenship Amendment Act or, CAA, “persecuted” religious minorities from Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, who entered India before December 2014, will be allowed to claim Indian citizenship on a fast-track basis. Since the law applies only to non-Muslims, critics — including rights groups, opposition political parties and Muslim community leaders — say it discriminates against Muslims. After last week’s announcement, Amnesty International described the CAA as “a discriminatory law t

Halabja massacre survivors seek compensation from Iraqi gov

  Kurds   in the   Iraqi  Kurdistan region have commemorated the 36th anniversary of the Halabja gas attack on Saturday calling on authorities to compensate the massacre's survivors. During the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), the former Iraqi regime of  Saddam Hussien  attacked the people of Halabja with chemical weapons on 16 March 1988, killing more than 5,000 people, and wounding tens of thousands.  The event stood as one of the most horrific instances of chemical warfare targeting civilians. Thirty-six years since the attack, relatives of the victims and survivors held the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) responsible for failing to gain any compensation. "After 36 years from the massacre, I still have health issues in my lungs, unfortunately, I am yet to be registered by the KRG as a victim of attacking Halabja with chemical weapons," Omed Hama Ali Rashid told  The New Arab , a survivor and now an employee at Halabja Monument. He recalle

Israel blocks thousands of Palestinians from visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque

  Israeli authorities have blocked thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank from reaching the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem for prayer during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, adding to mounting tensions. Despite tight Israeli restrictions on access to Al Aqsa Mosque, 80,000 worshippers made it to the holy site for the first Friday prayers of Ramadan, the Quds News Network reported, citing the Islamic Waqf that manages the mosque compound. KEEP READING list of 4 items list 1 of 4 Prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque after first day of Ramadan list 2 of 4 Israeli forces beat worshippers outside Al-Aqsa on Ramadan eve list 3 of 4 Israel to restrict access to Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan list 4 of 4 Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque complex on fifth day of Sukkot end of list But thousands more Palestinians from the occupied West Bank were denied entry to occupied East Jerusalem, where a heavy Israeli security presence surrounds the mosque. Only men over the age of 55 or w

Australia to unfreeze UNRWA funding as Israel attacks Gaza aid seekers

  Australia says it will restore funding to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees weeks after it lost millions of dollars in international support following allegations by Israel that some of its staff in the Gaza Strip were involved in the October 7 Hamas-led attacks. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Friday that the country was “unpausing” funding to the  UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees  (UNRWA), refuting Israel’s accusations that 450 members of the agency’s staff had participated in the attacks in southern Israel that sparked the current war. “The best available current advice from agencies and the Australian government lawyers is that UNRWA is not a terrorist organisation,” Wong told reporters in Adelaide while she announced a new aid package. As well as reinstating $6m in stalled funding for UNRWA, Australia has pledged an additional $2.6m to UNICEF, the UN’s agency for children, to provide urgent services in Gaza. It will also deploy a

In Gaza, there are no more 'normal-sized babies': UN official

  The humanitarian situation in Gaza is a "nightmare" for mothers and babies, with doctors reporting small and sickly newborns, stillbirths and women forced to undergo C-sections without adequate anesthesia, a UN official said Friday. "I'm personally leaving Gaza this week terrified for the one million women and girls of Gaza... and most especially for the 180 women who are giving birth every single day," Dominic Allen, UN Population Fund (UNFPA) representative for the state of Palestine, said in a video news conference from Jerusalem. "Doctors are reporting that they no longer see normal-sized babies," Allen said after visiting hospitals still providing maternity services in the north of Gaza, where need is especially great. "What they do see though, tragically, is more stillborn births... and more neonatal deaths, caused in part by malnutrition, dehydration and complications." The numbers of complicated deliveries are roughly twice what the

‘We Lost the War with Hamas’ – Israeli Major General Yitzhak Barik

  Israel cannot lie to its people for a long time and has already lost the war with the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas, according to an  analysis  by retired Major General Yizkhak Barik and published in the Israeli newspaper Maariv on Sunday. “What is happening in the Gaza Strip and against Hezbollah in Lebanon will blow up in our faces sooner or later, and then the truth will be revealed in all its hiddenness,” Barik wrote, accusing the Israeli leadership of living “in an illusion”. Barik warned that Israel is not ready for a regional war, which would be “thousands of times more difficult and serious than the war in the Gaza Strip”. “Every day our soldiers are killed and seriously injured (in Gaza -PC) by booby traps and explosives when they enter (…) houses without any inspection, and without using appropriate measures,” he wrote. Barik accused the Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi of being “detached and silent” and of “appointing colonels and lieutenant colonels” after

92 Palestinians Killed in 24 Hours – Israeli Strikes Continue

  In the early morning hours of Sunday, Israeli warplanes and artillery targeted several areas in the south and northeast of Khan Yunis, as well as in the north of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli airstrikes in Khan Yunis coincided with artillery shelling and gunfire in the northeast of the city, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA. Israeli warplanes also carried out an airstrike in the northeast of the city of Rafah, in the south of the besieged enclave. Israeli warplanes also bombed a house on Mansoura Street in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, as well as areas west of Gaza City. Late Saturday night, twelve civilians, mostly children and women, were killed, and scores were injured as a result of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house belonging to the Thabet family in the Bushara neighborhood, in Deir al-Balah city, in central Gaza. Ambulance and rescue teams are still unable to reach many casualties and dead bodies trapped under the rubble or s