Author: Gulf News Week
Microsoft says the terminations followed serious breaches of company policies amid claims that its software is used by Israeli army in Gaza.Microsoft has fired four employees who participated in protests on company premises over the firm’s ties to Israel, including two who took part in a sit-in this week at the office of the company’s president.Anna Hattle and Riki Fameli received voicemails informing them that they were fired, the protest group No Azure for Apartheid said in a statement on Wednesday.It added on Thursday that two more workers, Nisreen Jaradat and Julius Shan, were also sacked.They were among demonstrators who…
Europe’s move to re-impose UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme will make diplomacy more difficult, experts say.Washington, DC – The decision by European countries to impose “snapback” sanctions against Iran may further exacerbate international tensions, experts say, as fears of a regional war loom over the Middle East.On Thursday, Germany, France and the United Kingdom – Europe’s largest economies – triggered a 30-day process to reimpose sanctions over what they called “significant” violations of a 2015 agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear programme.“What we’re heading toward is the snapback scenario where the sanctions come back and Iran is likely…
Hamas condemns far-right Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s remarks as ‘an official call to exterminate’ Palestinians.Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for Israel to annex the Gaza Strip if Hamas refuses to disarm, the latest push by an Israeli official to forcibly displace Palestinians and take complete control of the coastal enclave.During a news conference on Thursday, Smotrich said if Hamas does not agree to surrender, disarm and release Israeli captives, Israel should annex a section of Gaza each week for four weeks.He said Palestinians would first be told to move south in Gaza, followed by Israel imposing a…
Syrians – both refugees and internally displaced – are returning home in increasing numbers since the fall of al-Assad.Tremseh, Jubb Alis and Homs, Syria – Tremseh was celebrating. The streets of the small town north of Hama were packed.Despite the blazing sun and sweltering heat, all the residents had come out of their homes to witness a historic moment, the return of hundreds of exiled sons and daughters of the town.A convoy of colourful trucks carrying entire families was driving through the streets, packed to the brim with belongings – mattresses, furniture and even motorbikes and trees.Some passers-by filmed with…
Lebanese army says two other personnel wounded after crashed Israeli drone explodes during inspection in Naqoura area.The Lebanese military says two soldiers have been killed and two wounded as they investigated an Israeli drone crash in southern Lebanon.The army said the downed Israeli drone exploded on Thursday during an inspection at the crash site in the Naqoura area, not far from Lebanon’s border with Israel.Lebanese President Joseph Aoun offered condolences to the soldiers who were killed and injured, stressing that the military “is paying, in blood, the price of preserving stability in the south” of the country.The deadly incident came…
Tom Barrack says he was attempting to tell Lebanese journalists to ‘be civilised’ but notes that they were ‘just doing their job’.United States diplomat Tom Barrack has expressed regret for calling Lebanese journalists “animalistic”, days after his comments stirred outrage across the Middle East.However, in a Thursday interview with social media personality Mario Nawfal, Barrack repeated his call for Lebanese reporters to be “civilised”.He nevertheless conceded he should have been more “tolerant” in his remarks to the reporters who shouted questions after he met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun earlier this week.“‘Animalistic’ was a word that I didn’t use in a…
No immediate reports of casualties as Israel says it strikes military target. Houthis say civilians targeted.The Israeli military has attacked the Yemeni capital of Sanaa as tensions in the region continue to escalate amid Israel’s war on Gaza.The Israeli military said in a statement that its forces on Thursday struck a Houthi “terrorist regime military target in the area of Sanaa”. There were no immediate reports of casualties.Images verified by media’s Sanad fact-checking unit showed damage on Mount Attan, a prominent hill located southwest of Sanaa. The Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV earlier posted on X: “Israeli aggression on the capital…
Amid US pressure, vote extends peacekeeping mission but then calls for ‘orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal’.The United Nations Security Council has voted to extend the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon until the end of 2026 but to then terminate the mission in an “orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal” over the following year.The unanimous vote on Thursday came just before the mandate for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was due to expire on Sunday and as the United States and its close ally Israel have increasingly pushed for the mission’s termination.UNIFIL was initially created to oversee…
UN chief warns of ‘new and dangerous phase’ of war as Israeli forces target eastern and southern neighbourhoods of Gaza City.At least 61 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn on Thursday, including 19 aid seekers, medical sources told media, as residents report intensified military bombardment of the eastern and southern neighbourhoods of Gaza City.The Israeli military has been preparing to take Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban centre, despite international calls to reconsider the move over fears that the operation would cause significant casualties and displace the roughly one million Palestinians sheltering there.United Nations Secretary-General…
Shujayea once held our homes, stories and lives. Now it has been erased and with it a part of who we are.My neighbourhood in east Gaza, Shujayea, is gone! Reduced to rubble, with not a single stone left upon another. The streets that once echoed with the laughter of children, the calls of vendors, and the familiar rhythms of daily life now lie in silence, smothered by dust and destruction. What was once a vibrant community, full of stories and memories, has been erased in a matter of moments.A few days ago, my brother Mohammed went back to Shujayea to…