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India steel plans threaten global emissions goals: report
India’s plans to massively expand coal-based steel and iron production threaten global efforts to reduce the sector’s carbon emissions, a key contributor to climate change, a report said Tuesday.The sector accounts for 11 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, and India aims to double production by 2030.Switching from coal-dependent blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces …
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YouTube star educator Ms Rachel draws ire over Gaza appeals
At first glance, the Instagram profile of Ms Rachel fits the image an influencer who has won millions of devoted subscribers for her sing-songy educational content for toddlers and parenting tips.In a pink hairband and denim dungarees, the 42-year-old mother-of-two doles out advice on potty training kids and moral support for struggling parents — always with a reassuring smile.So it was an abrupt shift last year when she began speaking out about the plight of children in Gaza, peppering her account with appeals for aid that sowed discord among followers and spurred calls for a federal investigation.”I think it should be controversial to not say anything,” she said a recent interview with independent anchor Mehdi Hassan, of the mounting backlash against her fundraising and advocacy.”It’s sad that people try to make it controversial when you speak out for children that are facing immeasurable suffering. Silence wasn’t a choice for me,” she added.That compulsion has put a spotlight on the beloved figure in millions of households, the American early childhood educator and social media sensation known offline as Rachel Accurso.The fallout comes at a perilous moment for children in the war-battered Palestinian enclave, where aid has only just begun to trickle in after Israel cut it off for weeks, and where aid groups have sounded the alarm over food shortages and famine.But the backlash against her activism — which she has aimed at parents on social media, rather than in her videos for children — reflects broader polarization in the United States over the war that has swept campuses, offices and society at large.- ‘All children, in every country’ -In May last year, Accurso launched a fundraising drive that gathered $50,000 for Save the Children.But she spoke also spoke tearfully about the vitriol and “bullying” that came streaming in the form of allegations of anti-Israeli bias.”Palestinian children, Israeli children, children in the US — Muslim, Jewish, Christian children — all children, in every country,” she wrote in response. “Not one is excluded.”Allegations of anti-Israeli bias and anti-Semitism have only mounted since.And so too the toll among children in Gaza, where the Hamas-run health ministry says more than 10,000 children have died since the October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas that left 1,218 people on the Israeli side dead.A privately funded pro-Israel lobby group last month urged US Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether Accurso “is being funded by a foreign party to push anti-Israel propaganda to skew public opinion.”The organization StopAntisemitism, which describes itself as a grassroots watchdog, alleged Accurso was spreading “Hamas propaganda.”But it also acknowledged that Accurso had posted in support of Israeli children, including Ariel and Kfir Bibas who were the youngest hostages taken by Hamas and died in captivity.Accurso told The New York Times the accusation she is being funded by Hamas was “absurd” and “patently false.””The painful reality,” the newspaper quoted her as saying, “is that Palestinian children in Gaza have been killed by the thousands and continue to be killed, maimed and starved right now. The idea that caring about one group of children prevents us from caring about another group of children is false.”- ‘You should be ashamed’ -Accurso has deactivated comments on some of her posts urging support for Palestinian children. But commentators on other posts reflect the depth and breadth of emotions that have erupted over her posts.”Love your show. Not your politics,” one user wrote under a Ms Rachel Instagram post promoting an interview on her activism. Another commentator says: “Ms Rachel is a national treasure.”Among those voicing support for the megastar was Tommy Vietor, who worked with former president Barack Obama and hosts the popular Pod Save America podcast.”Antisemitism is a real problem and cynically and dishonestly making those allegations for political purposes makes things worse, not better,” Vietor wrote, dismissing the anti-Semitism allegations.Accurso has ultimately doubled down, despite the criticism.She recently posted images of her meeting with Rahaf, a three-year-old girl from Gaza who lost both her legs in an attack.”We know treating children like they are being treated in Gaza isn’t right morally and ethically. We know it in our souls and hearts,” she wrote along with a picture of the two embracing.”Leaders who are silent and not helping these children, you should be ashamed. Your silence will be remembered.”
Israel PM vows to ‘take control of all’ of Gaza
Israel said Monday it would “take control” of the whole of Gaza as it intensified attacks across the territory, where aid trickled in for the first time in over two months after the easing of a total blockade.With supply shipments blocked by Israel since March 2, the World Health Organization warned Gaza’s “two million people are starving”.Israel, facing mounting criticism over the humanitarian crisis, announced it would let limited aid into Gaza and said the first five trucks entered Monday carrying supplies “including food for babies”.UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement that nine trucks had been “cleared to enter… but it is a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed”.UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who was unable to confirm the number of trucks inside Gaza, said that “none of the aid has been picked up” at a designated zone as it was “already dark” and due to “security concerns, we cannot operate in those conditions”.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said aid had resumed because “images of mass starvation” could harm the legitimacy of Israel’s war effort.The leaders of Britain, France and Canada issued a harsh condemnation of Israel’s conduct of the war, slamming its “egregious actions” in Gaza, particularly the expanded offensive and the “wholly inadequate” resumption of aid.They warned of “concrete actions” if Israel did not ease its stepped up offensive. Netanyahu called their joint statement a “huge prize” for Hamas.A group of 22 countries, including France, Britain, Canada, Japan and Australia said in a joint statement that Gaza’s population “faces starvation” and “must receive the aid they desperately need”.- ‘Methodical destruction’ -In southern Gaza, the Israeli military issued an evacuation call to Palestinians around Khan Yunis city ahead of what it described as an “unprecedented attack”.Gaza’s civil defence agency said 91 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the territory on Monday.Netanyahu, in a video posted on Telegram, said that “the fighting is intense and we are making progress”. “We will take control of all the territory of the strip,” he added.Israel’s military said on Monday it had struck “160 terror targets” in Gaza over the past day.The UN’s OHCHR rights office said Israel’s actions were “in defiance of international law and tantamount to ethnic cleansing”.Netanyahu said that Israel “will not give up. But in order to succeed, we must act in a way that cannot be stopped”, justifying to his hardline supporters the decision to resume aid.- Famine risk -Israel has said its blockade aimed to force concessions from Hamas — whose October 2023 attack triggered the war — but UN agencies say there are critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel and medicines.”Tonnes of food is blocked at the border, just minutes away,” World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.”The risk of famine in Gaza is increasing with the deliberate withholding of humanitarian aid.”Last week US President Donald Trump, a key ally of Netanyahu, acknowledged that “a lot of people are starving”.Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir argued against any resumption of aid, saying on X that “our hostages receive no humanitarian aid”.But Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, also of the far right, defended the decision, saying it would “allow civilians to eat and our friends in the world to keep giving us diplomatic protection”.- ‘Like apocalypse’ -Khan Yunis resident Mohammed Sarhan told AFP that Gaza’s main southern city “felt like the apocalypse”.”There was gunfire coming from every apartment, fire belts, F-16 warplanes and helicopters firing,” he said.Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee called on Gazans in the city and nearby areas to “immediately” leave the “dangerous combat zone”.AFPTV footage from Khan Yunis’s Nasser Hospital showed a young boy in a tracksuit being treated as two other boys, both barefoot and bleeding, sat on the floor.Further north in Deir el-Balah, Ayman Badwan mourned the loss of his brother in an attack.”We are exhausted and drained — we can’t take it anymore,” he told AFP.Hamas’s October 2023 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the military says are dead.Gaza’s health ministry said Monday at least 3,340 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,486.With negotiators meeting in Qatar in recent days, Netanyahu has signalled that Israel was open to a deal that would include “ending the fighting”, with all hostages released, Hamas leaders exiled and Gaza disarmed.