Foreign News

Israel to bar 37 aid groups from Gaza

Published

2 months ago

2025/12/31

Priyan

Israel is to revoke the licenses of 37 aid groups working in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, saying they failed to meet requirements under new registration rules.

Well-known international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) such as ActionAid, the International Rescue Committee and the Norwegian Refugee Council are among those that will have their licenses suspended on 1 January, with their operations to end within 60 days.

Israel said the groups, among other things, had failed to hand over “complete” personal details of their staff.

The move was heavily criticised by foreign ministers from 10 countries including the UK, who said the new rules were “restrictive” and “unacceptable”.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of the UK, France, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland said the forced closure of INGO operations would “have a severe impact on access to essential services including healthcare”.

They added that the humanitarian situation in Gaza remained “catastrophic” and called on Israel’s government to ensure INGOs were able to operate “in a sustained and predictable way”.

Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, which is in charge of registration applications, said the new measures would not impact the flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

It added that aid continued to be delivered through “approved and vetted channels”, including UN agencies, bilateral partners, and humanitarian organisations.

It said the primary reason aid groups were having their licences revoked was “the refusal to provide complete and verifiable information regarding their employees,” which it said was critical to preventing “the infiltration of terrorist operatives into humanitarian structures”.

Earlier this month, UN-backed experts said there had been improvements in nutrition and food supplies in Gaza since a ceasefire was brokered between Israel and Hamas in October, but 100,000 people still experienced “catastrophic conditions” the following month.

Israeli military body Cogat, which controls Gaza’s crossings, said the organisations that will be suspended “did not bring aid into Gaza throughout the current ceasefire”.

It added that “even in the past their combined contribution amounted to only about 1% of the total aid volume”.

The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs said that fewer than 15% of organisations providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza were found to be in violation of the new regulatory framework.

That framework includes several grounds for rejection, including:

Denying the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state

Denying the Holocaust or the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023

Supporting an armed struggle against Israel by an enemy state or terrorist organisation

Promoting “delegitimisation campaigns” against Israel

Calling for a boycott of Israel or committing to participate in one

Supporting the prosecution of Israeli security forces in foreign or international courts

The Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory – a forum that brings together UN agencies and more than 200 local and international organisations – previously warned that the new registration system “fundamentally jeopardises” the operations of INGOs in Gaza and the West Bank.

“The system relies on vague, arbitrary, and highly politicised criteria and imposes requirements that humanitarian organisations cannot meet without violating international legal obligations or compromising core humanitarian principles,” it said.

It added: “While some INGOs have been registered under the new system, these INGOs represent only a fraction of the response in Gaza and are nowhere near the number required just to meet immediate and basic needs.”

According to the Humanitarian Country Team, INGOs currently run or support most of Gaza’s field hospitals and primary healthcare centres, emergency shelter responses, water and sanitation services, nutrition stabilisation centres for children with acute malnutrition, and critical mine action activities.

In a statement, Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, said: “The message is clear: humanitarian assistance is welcome — the exploitation of humanitarian frameworks for terrorism is not.”

Other organisations to be suspended include CARE, Medico International and Medical Aid for Palestinians.

[BBC]

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Foreign News

Two Britons among three dead in French Alps avalanche

Published

20 hours ago

2026/02/14

Priyan

Two Britons and one French person have died in an avalanche in the French Alps on Friday.

The British pair were part of a group of five people skiing off-piste with an instructor in the Manchet valley, near Val d’Isère, a spokeswoman for the resort told the BBC.

The French national was skiing alone when the avalanche struck at 11:30 local time (10:30 GMT), Albertville prosecutor Benoit Bachelet said in a statement announcing the deaths.

Another British person has minor injuries, he added.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office told the BBC they are aware of the death of the two British men and they are “in contact with the local authorities and stand ready to offer consular assistance”.

A manslaughter investigation has now been launched by the Albertville public prosecutor’s office and will be carried out by CRS Alpes mountain rescue police.

The ski instructor, who was unharmed, tested negative after taking alcohol and drug tests, according to Bachelet.

Val d’Isère already experienced avalanches this winter, with one person dying in the resort of Tignes nearby last month.

France’s national weather service had issued a red alert for avalanche risk across the Savoie region on Thursday, which was then lifted on Friday. But the risk level remained high across the Alps with “very unstable snow cover”.

The avalanche comes in the wake of Storm Nils, which passed through France the day before, leaving between 60cm and 100cm of snow, the weather service said.

There have been a number of fatal avalanches in the region in recent weeks, including the death of a British man off-piste skiing at the La Plagne resort in January.

“We have had some very complicated, very unstable snow since the beginning of the season,” Luc Nicolino, slopes manager at La Plagne, told AFP.

“It’s a kind of mille-feuille with many hidden, fragile layers.”

[BBC]

Foreign News

Mexican ships arrive in Cuba with humanitarian cargo amid US oil blockade

Published

2 days ago

2026/02/13

Priyan

A Mexican-flagged ship, the Papaloapan, arrives in Havana, Cuba, on February 12 loaded with humanitarian supplies [Aljazeera]

Two Mexican ships bearing humanitarian aid have docked in the harbour of Cuba’s capital Havana, as the United States continues its efforts to cut the island off from outside fuel supplies.

On Thursday, pedestrians on Havana’s seawall watched as the ships, one of which was the Papaloapan, unloaded white pallets on shore.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum addressed the delivery in her morning news conference, promising that more help was on the way.

“We are sending different forms of help, different forms of support,” Sheinbaum said. “Today, the ships arrive. When they return, we are going to send more support of a different type.”

She also described her country’s role as “opening the doors for dialogue to develop” between Cuba and the US, but she insisted that maintaining Cuba’s sovereignty would be paramount among her priorities.

Since January, the administration of US President Donald Trump has sought to cut off the oil supplies that power Cuba’s energy grid and other critical infrastructure.

The campaign is part of a long-running series of sanctions imposed by the US on the Caribbean island nation, stretching back to the Cold War.

But the latest effort, under Trump, has experts at the United Nations warning of an imminent humanitarian “collapse” in Cuba, as oil supplies dwindle.

The oil embargo began on January 3, when Trump authorised a US military operation to attack Venezuela and abduct its then-leader, President Nicolas Maduro, and his wife Cilia Flores.

[Aljazeera]

Foreign News

Kim Jong Un chooses teen daughter as heir, says Seoul

Published

2 days ago

2026/02/12

Priyan

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has selected his daughter as his heir, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers on Thursday.

Little is known about Kim Ju Ae, who in recent months has been pictured beside her father in high-profile events like a visit to Beijing in September- her first known trip abroad.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it took a “range of circumstances” into account including her increasingly prominent public presence at official events” in making this assessment.

The NIS also said it would keep close tabs on whether she will attend the North’s party congress later this month – its largest political event that is held once every five years.

The party Congress is where Pyongyang is expected to give more details about priorities like foreign policy, war planning and nuclear ambitions for the next five years.

On Thursday lawmaker Lee Seong-kwen told reporters that Ju Ae, who was previously described by the NIS as being “trained” to be a successor, was now at the stage of “successor designation”.

“As Kim Ju Ae has shown her presence at various events, including the founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army and her visit to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, and signs have been detected of her voicing her opinion on certain state policies, the NIS believes she has now entered the stage of being designated as successor,” Lee said.

Ju Ae is the only known child of Kim Jong Un and his wife, Ri Sol Ju. The NIS believes Kim Jong Un has an older son, but this son has never been acknowledged nor shown on North Korean media.

News of Ju Ae’s existence first emerged through an unlikely source: the American basketball player Dennis Rodman, who revealed to The Guardian newspaper back in 2013 that he “held baby Ju Ae” during a trip to the secretive state.

Ju Ae – who is believed to be 13 – made her first appearance on state television in 2022. She was shown inspecting North Korea’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile while holding her father’s hand.

She has since made frequent appearances on on state media, softening her father’s image of a ruthless dictator. She accompanied him to Beijing for China’s largest-ever military parade, where she was seen stepping off his armoured train at Beijing Railway Station.

She is often seen wearing her hair long, which is forbidden for her peers, and wearing designer clothes, which are out of reach for most in her country.

Another lawmaker, Park Sun-won said the role Ju Ae had taken on during public events indicated that she has started to provide policy input and is being treated as the de facto second-highest leader.

The North Korean power had passed down the three generations of the Kim family, and it is widely believed that Kim Jong Un will pass on the throne to Ju Ae.

In recent months, she was shown standing taller than her father, walking beside him, rather than following him.

In North Korea, where photos published by the state media are believed to carry a great symbolic weight, it is rare for individuals other than Kim Jong Un to be positioned equally prominently in the frame.

Although the South Korean spy agency now believes Ju Ae is the designated heir, it still raises questions.

It is puzzling why Ju Ae, a daughter, would be selected as the heir above an older son in North Korea’s deeply patriarchal society.

Many defectors and analysts had previously dismissed the idea of a woman leading North Korea as an unlikely scenario, referring to the country’s entrenched traditional gender roles. But Kim Jong Un’s sister – Kim Yo Jong – does offer a precedent for female authority in the regime.

Kim Yo Jong currently holds a senior position in the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and is reported to have influence over her brother.

However, it is also a mystery why Kim Jong Un, who is still young and appears relatively healthy, is already designating a 13-year-old child as his heir now.

It is unclear what changes Ju Ae’s succession may bring to North Korea.

Many North Koreans hoped that Kim Jong Un, a Western-educated young man, would open their country up to the outside when he succeeded his father.

Yet such hope was unfulfilled. Whatever plans this teenager may have for her country, she would likely have the singular power to shape it however she likes.

[BBC]