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Israel says 93 UN aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday

Israel says 93 UN aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday
Trucks carrying aid wait to enter the Gaza Strip from the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing, May 20, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 20 May 2025

Israel says 93 UN aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday

Israel says 93 UN aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday
  • Announcement came amid international outcry over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory

JERUSALEM: Israel said 93 UN aid trucks entered war-ravaged Gaza on Tuesday, a day after the UN announced it had been cleared to send supplies for the first time since Israel imposed a total blockade on March 2.
COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body that oversees civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said “93 UN trucks carrying humanitarian aid, including flour for bakeries, food for babies, medical equipment and pharmaceutical drugs were transferred today (Tuesday) via the Kerem Shalom Crossing into the Gaza Strip.”
The announcement came amid international outcry over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, and as European countries ramped up pressure on Israel to abandon an intensified campaign and let more aid in.
A spokesman said on Tuesday that the UN had received permission to send “around 100” trucks of aid into Gaza after nine were authorized the day before.
UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said that the trucks allowed in on Monday were “a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed.”
The spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres said that “a few dozens” were allowed in on Tuesday, but spoke of difficulties receiving deliveries.
“Today, one of our teams waited several hours for the Israeli green light to... collect the nutrition supplies. Unfortunately, they were not able to bring those supplies into our warehouse,” Stephane Dujarric said.
“So just to make it clear, while more supplies have come into the Gaza Strip, we have not been able to secure the arrival of those supplies into our warehouses and delivery points.”
The Israeli army stepped up its offensive at the weekend, vowing to defeat Gaza rulers Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war.


Economic hardships subdue the mood for Eid Al-Adha this year

Economic hardships subdue the mood for Eid Al-Adha this year
Updated 6 min 1 sec ago

Economic hardships subdue the mood for Eid Al-Adha this year

Economic hardships subdue the mood for Eid Al-Adha this year
  • While sales increased ahead of Eid, Indonesian sellers say their businesses have lost customers in recent years
  • In New Delhi, sellers were busy tending to their animals while potential buyers negotiated prices with them

JAKARTA: Less spending, higher prices and fewer animal sacrifices subdued the usual festive mood as the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha was celebrated in many parts of the world.

In Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, Muslim worshippers were shoulder-to-shoulder in the streets and the Istiqlal Grand Mosque was filled for morning prayers Friday.

Eid Al-Adha, known as the “Feast of Sacrifice,” coincides with the final rites of the annual Hajj in Ƶ. It’s a joyous occasion, for which food is a hallmark with devout Muslims buying and slaughtering animals and sharing two-thirds of the meat with the poor.

Outside Jakarta, the Jonggol Cattle Market bustled with hundreds of cattle traders hoping to sell to buyers looking for sacrificial animals. While sales increased ahead of Eid, sellers said their businesses have lost customers in recent years due to economic hardship following the COVID-19 pandemic.

A foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in 2022 to 2023 also significantly dampened the typically booming holiday trade in goats, cows and sheep, though Indonesia’s government has worked to overcome that outbreak.

Rahmat Debleng, one of the sellers in the market, said before the pandemic and the FMD outbreak, he could sell more than 100 cows two weeks ahead of Eid Al-Adha. But on the eve of the celebration this year, only 43 of his livestock were sold, and six cows are still left in his stall.

“Though the foot-and-mouth outbreak threats remain loom large, but the declining in sales mostly because of economic hardship,” Debleng said.

Jakarta city administration data recorded the number of sacrificial animals available this year at 35,133, a decline of 57 percent compared to the previous year.

The government has made next Monday an additional holiday after Friday’s festival to allow people more time with their families. Eid momentum is expected to support economic growth in Indonesia, where household consumption helps drive GDP. It contributed over 50 percent to the economy last year, though analysts expect more subdued consumer spending in 2025.

Eid expected to come Saturday in South Asia

Eid Al-Adha commemorates the Qur’anic tale of Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice Ismail as an act of obedience to God. Before he could carry out the sacrifice, God provided a ram as an offering. In the Christian and Jewish telling, Abraham is ordered to kill another son, Isaac.

South Asian countries like India and Bangladesh will celebrate Eid Al-Adha on Saturday. Ahead of the festival, many Muslims in the region were turning to livestock markets to buy and sell millions of animals for sacrifice.

In New Delhi, sellers were busy tending to their animals at these markets, while potential buyers negotiated prices with them.

Mohammad Ali Qureshi, one of the sellers, said this year his goats were fetching as high as $640, some $60 more than the last year.

“Earlier, the sale of goats was slow, but now the market is good. Prices are on the higher side,” Ali said.

Preparations for the festival were also peaking in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where many Muslims dye sheep and goats in henna before they are sacrificed.

“We are following the tradition of Prophet Ibrahim,” said Riyaz Wani, a resident in Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar, as his family applied henna on a sheep they plan to sacrifice.


Under new World Bank threshold, over 44% Pakistanis now live below poverty line

Under new World Bank threshold, over 44% Pakistanis now live below poverty line
Updated 10 min 18 sec ago

Under new World Bank threshold, over 44% Pakistanis now live below poverty line

Under new World Bank threshold, over 44% Pakistanis now live below poverty line
  • Over 107 million Pakistanis live below poverty line, earning less than Rs1,200 a day
  • Over 39 million included in extreme poverty category, as per new poverty threshold

ISLAMABAD: Around 44.7% of Pakistan’s population is now considered to be living below the poverty line, according to the World Bank’s newly updated global poverty threshold set at $4.20 per person per day and released this week. 

Christina Wieser, senior economist at the World Bank and Tobias Haque, lead country economist for World Bank Pakistan, told media on Thursday the Bank was updating its global poverty lines to reflect changes in the cost of living and consumption habits of people around the world based on newly available data.

As price levels and the cost of basic needs across the world and within income groups evolve, global poverty lines are periodically updated to allow for global comparisons, Wieser said.

The new poverty lines are $3 per person per day for low-income countries (LIC), $4.20 for lower-middle-income countries (LMIC) and $8.30 for upper-middle-income countries (UMIC.)

Pakistan, with a population of over 240 million, is considered a lower-middle-income nation. 

“The revisions help position Pakistan’s poverty levels in a global context and underscore the importance of continued efforts to reduce vulnerability and improve resilience,” World Bank Country Director for Pakistan Najy Benhassine told media. 

“The new figures reflect updated international thresholds and improved data from other countries, not a deterioration in living standards.”

As a lower-middle-income country, Pakistan’s new poverty statistics reveal that the extreme poverty line, now at $3 per person per day, applies to 16.5% of its population, a substantial increase from 4.9% under the previous $2.15 benchmark. 

The upper-middle-income poverty line, established at $8.30 per person per day, applies to 88.4% of the country’s population.

As per the new poverty threshold, more than 107.95 million people in Pakistan are living below the poverty line, earning less than Rs1,200 a day, while more than 39.8 million people are included in the extreme poverty category.

The updated figures are part of the World Bank’s Global Poverty June Update 2025, an initiative aimed at enhancing the precision and relevance of global poverty assessments.


UK Labour gets rare boost with surprise election win

UK Labour gets rare boost with surprise election win
Updated 11 min 39 sec ago

UK Labour gets rare boost with surprise election win

UK Labour gets rare boost with surprise election win

LONDON: Labour scored a surprise win in a Scottish Parliament by-election on Friday, giving UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his government a rare moment of celebration.
Labour won with 8,559 votes, overturning the comfortable majority of 4,582 earned by the Scottish National Party (SNP) in 2021.
The SNP were favorites going into the election, but saw their vote collapse by almost 17 percent, netting them 7,957 votes and delivering a heavy blow to the party that runs Scotland.
“People in Scotland have once again voted for change,” Starmer wrote on X.
“Next year there is a chance to turbo charge delivery by putting Labour in power on both sides of the border,” he added.
Starmer and his government have seen their popularity plunge since coming to power last July.
Labour secured 31.6 percent of the vote, slightly down on the 2021 election.
But they capitalized on a fractured opposition, with the anti-immigration Reform UK party making inroads into Scottish politics for the first time with 26.1 percent of the vote.
The Conservative party continued its dismal recent electoral record, gaining just six percent of the vote.
The ballot was held following the death of SNP lawmaker and government minister Christina McKelvie in March.


Students in rebel-held eastern Congo brave insecurity to take exams

Students in rebel-held eastern Congo brave insecurity to take exams
Updated 25 min 55 sec ago

Students in rebel-held eastern Congo brave insecurity to take exams

Students in rebel-held eastern Congo brave insecurity to take exams
  • The Rwanda backed insurgents seized eastern Congo’s two largest cities in an offensive earlier this year

BUKAVU: Tens of thousands of secondary school students sat for state exams in rebel-held eastern Congo this week, a complicated logistical feat requiring rare cooperation between the government and M23 rebels.
The Rwanda-backed insurgents seized eastern Congo’s two largest cities in an offensive earlier this year and are now trying to show they can govern. African leaders along with Washington and Doha are meanwhile trying to broker a peace deal that would put an end to a conflict with roots in the Rwandan genocide more than three decades ago.
The state exams, administered across the sprawling central African country for students hoping to go to university, began on Monday and will continue through mid-June.
Administering them throughout the east of Democratic Republic of Congo required having education officials personally escort documents and other materials from the capital Kinshasa into M23-held cities and towns.
“We were among those who went to Kinshasa to collect the items,” said Jean-Marie Mwayesi, an education official in South Kivu province, where M23 claims considerable territory.
“Thanks to the combined efforts of our teams and partners, all 111 centers we cover have been served.”
President Felix Tshisekedi’s government announced last month it was waiving exam fees — which normally exceed $40 — for students in North and South Kivu provinces, citing insecurity.
While M23 has previously said it seeks the ouster of Tshisekedi’s government, the group’s leader Bertrand Bisimwa told Reuters that it still recognized Kinshasa as the administrator of national exams.
“Our presence in the eastern part of our country does not make this a separate country,” Bisimwa said.
“The education of our children is apolitical. It must be protected against any political divergence because we all work for the interest and well-being of our children.”
Human rights groups have repeatedly accused M23 of executing civilians including children — allegations the group has denied.
Exauce Katete was among the students who sat for exams at a school in the South Kivu regional capital Bukavu, which fell under M23 control in February and where insecurity including vigilante violence has increased since then.
“Yes, security is there. I can still see a few people outside, responsible for keeping us safe. There are no disturbances, no noise, everything is going well,” Katete said, referring to plainclothes officers positioned by M23 outside the school.
Mwayesi, the local education official, said that of 44,000 students who registered in his zone, nearly 42,000 showed up, speculating that the remainder may have been displaced by fighting.


Pakistani PM to meet Saudi Crown Prince today to bolster bilateral ties, discuss regional security

Pakistani PM to meet Saudi Crown Prince today to bolster bilateral ties, discuss regional security
Updated 42 min 14 sec ago

Pakistani PM to meet Saudi Crown Prince today to bolster bilateral ties, discuss regional security

Pakistani PM to meet Saudi Crown Prince today to bolster bilateral ties, discuss regional security
  • During his stay on June 5 and 6, Sharif will celebrate Eid Al-Adha, hold bilateral meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
  • Discussions are expected to focus on enhancing cooperation in trade, investment and regional security, welfare of Muslim Ummah

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is on a two-day visit to Ƶ this week where he will meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman today, Friday, and discuss trade and investment as well as regional security matters. 

The Pakistani prime minister will celebrate Eid Al-Adha in the Kingdom and hold a bilateral meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince that is expected to focus on enhancing cooperation in trade, investment and regional security.

Sharif reached Jeddah on Thursday evening and departed for Makkah to perform Umrah, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.

“The two leaders will discuss ways to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in various fields, including trade and investment, welfare of the Muslim Ummah, and regional peace and security,” PMO said about Sharif’s meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince later today, Friday. 

Sharif is also expected to express gratitude to the Saudi leadership for their role in de-escalating recent tensions between Pakistan and India. 

Last month, following the worst military confrontation between India and Pakistan in decades, Ƶ, along with other Gulf nations, played a key role in mediating between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, helping to avert a potential war. 

The visit also comes amid deepening economic ties between Pakistan and Ƶ. In recent months, the two countries have signed multiple agreements aimed at boosting bilateral trade and investment. Notably, Ƶ has committed to a $5 billion investment package to support Pakistan’s economy, which has been grappling with a balance of payments crisis.

Last year, Saudi and Pakistani businessmen signed 34 memorandums of understanding worth $2.8 billion, covering sectors such as industry, technology, and agriculture. Additionally, Ƶ’s Manara Minerals is in talks to acquire a 10-20 percent stake in Pakistan’s $9 billion Reko Diq copper and gold mining project, one of the largest of its kind globally.

Defense cooperation is also a key component of the bilateral relationship. The two nations have a history of military collaboration, with Ƶ providing support to Pakistan during times of regional tension and Pakistan training Saudi forces. 

Pakistan has a 2.7 million-strong diaspora in Ƶ, which accounts for the highest remittance inflow, a crucial lifeline for the country’s economy.