The feast of Saint Patrick is upon us, and to celebrate, I’m going to feast on some corned beef and my zillionth rewatch of The Fugitive.
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Photo: Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
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1. At least 28 Palestinians waiting for aid killed by Israeli forces, says health ministry
Nearly 30 Palestinians waiting for aid were killed by Israeli forces in two separate incidents in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to the Gaza health ministry.
In the first incident, eight people were killed in an airstrike on the al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
In the second, at least 20 people were killed and more than 150 injured at the Kuwait Roundabout in northern Gaza, where Gazan authorities say that Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of people waiting for aid trucks.
“We were sitting there, and there was nothing. Suddenly, they bombarded us with shells. There are a lot of martyrs and injuries. We were there to bring food for our children,” a man named Ibrahim Al-Najar told CNN at Al Shifa hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces denied the latter incident in a statement, saying that armed Palestinians were responsible for the shooting and that some of the people were run over by the aid trucks.
In other Israel-Gaza news:
- On Friday, Australia announced it will restore funding to UNRWA, the main Palestinian relief agency. Australia and several other countries, including the U.S., suspended funding to UNRWA in late January amid Israel’s allegations that a dozen of the organization’s employees were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks.
- Hamas presented its cease-fire proposals to Israel through Qatari and Egyptian mediators on Thursday. The deal includes the release of women, children, and elderly hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, in exchange for several hundred Palestinian detainees. The Israeli prime minister’s office called the proposals “preposterous.”
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2. Ghana’s president under pressure to veto strict anti-LGBTQ bill
Last week, a former member of the Ghanaian parliament called the bill “brutal, harsh, and unjust” and urged President Nana Akufo Addo to veto it.
In late February, Ghana’s parliament passed a strict anti-LGBTQ bill that would punish being gay or supporting LGBTQ rights with a prison term of up to five years. The bill would also criminalize not reporting gay people or anyone supporting gay people on social media to authorities.
The foreign ministry has also weighed in — on the economic implications of the bill becoming law.
“In total, Ghana is likely to lose US$3.8 bn in World Bank financing over the next five to six years. For 2024, Ghana will lose US$600 mn in budget support and US$250 mn for the Financial Stability Fund,” a leaked document from the ministry to Akufo Addo said.
The president has not indicated whether or not he’ll sign the bill, but he’s said that gay marriage will never come to pass while he’s in office. He also said he won’t make a decision until the Supreme Court hears a challenge to the bill brought by a Ghanaian lawyer.
The bill is called the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021.
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3. Japan’s largest trade union wins biggest pay hike in 30 years, and other global labor news
As you (hopefully) say goodbye to the workweek, here’s a look at three stories of collective worker action — and what’s the status of those actions — from around the world. (Plus one bonus story!)
- Started: Four thousand doctors at Kenya’s public hospitals began a strike on Thursday. They say the government has not held up its end of the collective bargaining agreement it signed in 2017, which included providing medical coverage for the doctors themselves.
- Stalled: German airline Lufthansa and its workers’ union will head into arbitration, after negotiations over the union’s demand for a 12.5% pay increase for about 25,000 employees have stalled. The airline’s ground crews walked off the job twice last month at major airports.
- Resolved: Affiliates of Japan’s largest trade union — which represents about 7 million workers in several industries including car and steel manufacturing — secured an average wage increase of 5.28% for 2024. It’s the highest pay hike the union has seen since 1991.
Bonus: The European Commission is expected to significantly roll back environmental protections in the Common Agricultural Policy on Friday, after months of farmers across Europe protesting the proposed regulations. They say the restrictions will make their work more difficult and expensive. The Common Agricultural Policy is part of the European Green Deal, which aims to enable EU member states to become carbon neutral by 2050.
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In other news
- At least eight people have been arrested in Russia for vandalizing ballot boxes in the country’s national election, including pouring green dye into the boxes. [CBS]
- Three soldiers were killed and 27 people injured after al-Shabab militants took control of a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Thursday. A police spokesperson said that, after a 13-hour standoff, “All the five terrorists were shot dead and their bodies displayed.” [Reuters]
- In Afghanistan, low cultivation of poppies — the plant from which heroin is derived — could result in an uptick of “more harmful synthetic opiates, such as fentanyl derivatives or nitazenes,” the European Drug Monitoring Center warned in its annual drug report. The Taliban banned the cultivation of poppies after regaining control of Afghanistan, which produces 80% of the world’s opium. [El País]
- Argentinian President Javier Milei is cutting off food aid to local NGOs in an attempt to meet his government’s “zero deficit” goal. [Le Monde]
- Not the kind of climate news you usually hear: Germany is on track to meet its climate goal of cutting emissions by 65% by 2030 compared with 1990. [Reuters]
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Say that again
“I saw the sky and there were thousands flying, stuck in my hair, going to me … I’m a little bit afraid of them. I had to stay safe, and I was running everywhere,” said Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday.
The Wimbledon champion was stung on his face by a bee during his quarter-final match against Germany’s Alexander Zverev at the Indian Wells Open in California. “For sure the most unusual match I have ever played in my career.” [BBC]
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TikTok is back in the hot seat
Blue Marble’s own Kyra Dahring takes us through which countries have banned TikTok and why. It remains to be seen if the U.S. will follow suit.
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What we’re listening to
The Nigerian musician William Onyeabor is one of my favorite artists. Buying the “Who is William Onyeabor?” compilation a few years back compelled me to seek out even more African funk — and blues and psych rock and jazz — and it’s no exaggeration to say it’s changed my life for the better.
Onyeabor was a real synth-head, and his funky, upbeat instrumentation is utterly infectious — as are his political, often dark lyrics. Start with the fantastically funky “Fantastic Man” and be sure to take the energy of “Heaven and Hell” (below) into your weekend.
—Laura Adamczyk, staff writer
Thanks for reading. We’ll see you Monday.
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