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October
Palestinian Americans fundraise for Gaza, as aid groups receive record donations
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOI, Jakarta - Palestinian Americans and aid groups in the United States are raising funds for Gaza, which faces a deepening humanitarian crisis as the Israel-Hamas war enters its fourth week - but they have as yet limited ability to get supplies into the besieged enclave.
Aid organizations that serve civilians in Gaza say they are receiving record amounts of donations in a sign of public support for relief efforts even as a growing stock of supplies remain stalled at Egypt's Rafah border crossing.
In the Gaza Strip, where 2.3 million people live, civilians are in dire need of clean water, food and medicine, emergency medics say. Half of Gaza's population was already living in poverty before the crisis.
"We've seen a significant increase in donations, unlike we've ever seen before," said Steve Sosebee, president of the U.S.-based Palestine Children's Relief Fund, which has a staff of 40 in Gaza that provide medical support. He said the fund, which usually has an annual budget of around $12 million, had raised $15 million in just 10 days.
However, with a web of political and logistical obstacles on getting aid in, much of the money and supplies intended for Gaza is in limbo, forcing aid groups to wait as they amass truckloads of goods.
Hamas militants burst over the Gaza border and rampaged through Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people and taking 229 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. In response, Israel launched its most intense air bombardment campaign on the tiny enclave, along with a "total siege," banning food, water and fuel imports.
Aid groups say they are building up supplies in hopes of eventually getting them through to civilians in Gaza, nearly half of whom are children.
There has been "a five-fold increase in the total number of donors versus typical past emergencies," said Derek Madsen, chief development officer of Anera, a nonpartisan emergency relief group for refugees throughout the Middle East. The organization, which maintains the privacy of individual donors, said it had recently received the largest single donation from an individual in its 55-year-old history.
The majority of support comes from donors based in the United States, he added, with individual donations averaging around $138. The efforts mirror those of Jewish groups in the U.S. and Canada who also fundraised millions for Israel.
Anera was using the last of its stocks this week to distribute meals and vegetable parcels in Gaza. Its staff of 12, like everyone in Gaza, were facing "unbelievable, unimaginable trauma," he said.
GLUED TO THE TELEVISION
In Ann Arbor, Michigan, Rabia Shafie, national director of the Palestine Aid Society, said her group was speaking to student and Muslim groups on local university campuses and community centers to spread awareness and raise donations for the Red Crescent and UNRWA, the UN aid agency that serves Palestinian refugees.
"The money is needed to help people survive at this point of time. Medical support is so essential," she said.
"People are glued to the television ... watching the news moment to moment and very stressed out over the situation," said Shafie, adding that it was difficult as a Palestinian American to watch "the massacre and injustice done to our people back home."
Hamas-governed Gaza is one of the most densely packed places on earth and its medical authorities say over 8,000 Palestinians have been killed since airstrikes began, including more than 3,000 children.
Anera's Madsen called for a ceasefire and establishment of a humanitarian corridor "so that people literally do not starve to death, literally do not die of dehydration."
Last week, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, home to one of New York's largest Muslim and Arab communities, hundreds of protesters called for a ceasefire with signs written in Arabic, Spanish, Hebrew and Korean.
In Clifton, New Jersey, the Palestinian American Community Center's priority is advocating for U.S. officials to support a ceasefire and for the hundreds of Americans trapped in Gaza, said Basma Bsharat, the education director of the center.
The center has also been collecting cash donations to send on to UNRWA. It has asked people not to donate supplies, which it has no easy way of sending to those in need in Gaza.
Last week, a woman came to the center anyway, hauling bags filled with goods.
"We didn't know how to say no," said Bsharat. "She was like, I just want to do something. I just want to help somehow."
"It's a very difficult time, and the fact that we do see the support coming in it, it gives some relief," she said. "It gives some kind of solace." (Reuters)
October
Pakistan's Plan to Expel Over 1 Million Afghans Living in the Country Illegally
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - Pakistan set a Nov. 1 deadline for all foreigners without legal documents, including more than a million Afghans, to leave the country or face forcible expulsion.
Here are key facts about Islamabad's plan to deport hundreds of thousands back to its western neighbour Afghanistan:
- Pakistan announced the Wednesday deadline on Oct. 3, giving more than a million people about four weeks to move.
- The sudden expulsion threat came after suicide bombings this year that the government said involved Afghans, though without providing evidence. Islamabad has also blamed them for smuggling and other militant attacks as well as petty crimes.
- Islamabad says Afghan nationals were found to be involved in attacks against government and the army, including 14 of this year's 24 suicide bombings.
- Pakistan is home to more than 4 million Afghan migrants and refugees, about 1.7 million of them undocumented, according to Islamabad, although many have lived in Pakistan for their entire lives.
- About 600,000 Afghans have crossed into Pakistan since the Taliban took over in 2021, joining a large number present since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the ensuing civil wars.
- More than 60,000 Afghans returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan between Sept. 23 and Oct. 22, ahead of the deadline, with thousands more expected to have been on the move last week.
- Islamabad says deportation will be orderly, carried out in phases and start with those who have criminal records. Authorities have vowed raids in areas suspected of housing "undocumented foreigners" after Wednesday.
- Authorities have set up "holding centres" to process deportees before they return to Afghanistan. Reuters could not determine how long they might be detained in the centres. (Reuters)
October
Thailand to Waive Visas for Taiwan and India to Boost Tourism
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - Thailand will waive visa requirements for arrivals from India and Taiwan from next month to May 2024, a government official said on Tuesday, in a bid to draw in more tourists as high season approaches.
Thailand in September scrapped visa requirements for Chinese tourists, the country's top pre-pandemic tourism market with 11 million of the record 39 million arrivals in 2019.
From January to October 29, there were 22 million visitors to Thailand, generating 927.5 billion baht ($25.67 billion), according to the latest government data.
"Arrivals from India and Taiwan can enter Thailand for 30 days," spokesperson Chai Wacharonke said.
India has been Thailand's fourth largest source market for tourism so far this year with about 1.2 million arrivals after Malaysia, China and South Korea.
Inbound tourism from India showed signs of growth as more airlines and hospitality chains targeted that market.
Thailand is targeting about 28 million arrivals this year, with the new government hoping the travel sector can offset continued weak exports that have constrained economic growth.
($1 = 36.1300 baht) (Reuters)
October
Afghans Return to Taliban Rule as Pakistan Moves to Expel 1.7 Million
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - As the clock ticked down to the Nov. 1 deadline Pakistan set for undocumented migrants to leave the country, Muhammad Rahim boarded a bus from Karachi to the Afghan border.
"We'd live here our whole life if they didn't send us back," said the 35-year-old Afghan national, who was born in Pakistan, married a Pakistani woman and raised his Pakistan-born children in the port city - but has no Pakistani identity documents.
The Taliban government in Afghanistan said some 60,000 Afghans returned between Sept 23 to Oct 22 from Pakistan, which announced on Oct 4 it will expel undocumented migrants that do not leave.
And recent daily returnee figures are three times higher than normal, Taliban refugee ministry spokesman Abdul Mutaleb Haqqani told Reuters on Oct 26.
Near Karachi's Sohrab Goth area - home to one of Pakistan's largest Afghan settlements - a bus service operator named Azizullah said he had laid on extra services to cope with the exodus. Nearby, lines formed before competitor bus services headed to Afghanistan.
"Before I used to run one bus a week, now we have four to five a week," said Azizullah, who - like all the Afghan migrants Reuters interviewed - spoke on condition that he be identified by only one name due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Reuters interviewed seven refugee families in Sohrab Goth, as well as four Taliban and Pakistani officials, community leaders, aid workers and advocates, who said Islamabad's threat - and a subsequent rise in state-backed harassment - has torn families apart and pushed even Afghans with valid papers to leave.
The Pakistani Interior Ministry did not immediately return a request for comment. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement that the expulsion plan was compliant with international norms and principles: "Our record of the last forty years in hosting millions of our Afghan brothers and sisters speaks for itself."
Pakistan is home to over 4 million Afghan migrants and refugees, about 1.7 million of whom are undocumented, according to Islamabad. Afghans make up the largest portion of migrants - many came after the Taliban retook Afghanistan in 2021, but a large number have been present since the 1979 Soviet invasion.
The expulsion threat came after suicide bombings this year which the government - without providing evidence - said involved Afghans. Islamabad has also blamed them for smuggling and other militant attacks.
Cash-strapped Pakistan, navigating record inflation and a tough International Monetary Fund bailout program, also said undocumented migrants have drained its resources for decades.
Despite the challenges facing migrants, Pakistan is the only home many of them know and a sanctuary from the economic deprivation and extreme social conservatism that Afghanistan is grappling with, said Samar Abbas of the Sindh Human Rights Defenders Network, which is helping 200 Afghans seeking to remain.
RISE IN RETURNS
In early September, an average of 300 people crossed the border into Afghanistan daily, according to international organizations working on migration issues, who provided data on condition that they not be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. After Islamabad announced the November deadline, crossings jumped to roughly 4,000, the organizations said.
These figures are small compared to the number of people to be affected in coming days. The information minister for Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan, told Reuters it is opening three more border crossings.
For weeks, state-run television has run a countdown to Nov. 1 on the top of its screens.
Federal Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti warned that law enforcement agencies will start removing "illegal immigrants who have ... no justification" being in Pakistan after Tuesday.
They will be processed at "holding centers" and then deported, he told reporters, adding that women, children and the elderly would be treated "respectfully." Reuters could not determine how long they might be detained in the centers.
Pakistani citizens who help undocumented migrants obtain false identities or employment will face legal action, Bugti warned.
"Post-November will be very chaotic and there will be chaos in the Afghan refugee camps," said Abbas, the advocate.
FEAR AND DESPERATION
The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Pakistan's plans create "serious protection risks" for women and girls forced to leave. Restrictions in Afghanistan, especially on female NGO workers, have led to shrinking employment opportunities for women there.
While Pakistan says it will not target Afghans with legal status, many with proper documents also find themselves being targeted, according to migrant advocates.
UNHCR data shows that 14,700 documented Afghans left Pakistan as of Oct. 18 2023, more than double the 6,039 in all of last year.
The agency said in a statement that 78 percent of recent returning Afghans it spoke to cited fear of arrest in Pakistan as reason for their departure.
There are more than 2.2 million Afghan migrants in Pakistan with some form of documentation recognized by the government that conveys temporary residence rights.
Roughly 1.4 million of them hold Proof of Registration (PoR) cards that expired on June 30, leaving them vulnerable. Islamabad says it will not take action against people with invalid cards, but Abbas told Reuters that police harassment has ramped up since the expulsion threat.
More than a dozen migrants that Reuters spoke to corroborated the claim, which was also repeated by Taliban diplomats in Pakistan.
Karachi East Police Superintendent Uzair Ahmed told Reuters that while there might be "one or two" instances of harassment, it was non-systemic and offenders would be investigated.
Many Afghans with legal status told Reuters they feel compelled to leave out of fear of being separated from family members without documentation.
Hajira, a 42-year-old widow in Sohrab Goth, told Reuters she has the right to remain in Pakistan, as do two of her four sons. The other two don't.
Fearing separation from her children, she plans on leaving with her sons and their families before the deadline expires.
Majida, a 31-year-old who was born in Pakistan, lives with her husband and their six children in an apartment complex in Sohrab Goth, a squalid suburb whose narrow streets are filled with heaps of garbage.
She said her family has PoR cards but has still been subject to harassment: a brother-in-law and nephew were detained by local authorities for several hours before being released. Reuters could not independently verify her account.
When Majida fell ill earlier in October, her husband refused to help her pick up medication at a nearby pharmacy out of fear of detention.
"We don't have a home or work (in Afghanistan)," she said. "Obviously, we think of Pakistan as our home, we've been living here for so long."
PRESSURE IN AFGHANISTAN
Back in Afghanistan, the influx of returning migrants and refugees has exerted pressure on already limited resources that are stretched by international sanctions on the banking sector and cuts in foreign aid after the Taliban takeover.
The Afghan Ministry of Refugees says it intends to register returnees and then house them in temporary camps. The Taliban administration said it will try to find returnees jobs.
The unemployment rate more than doubled from the period immediately before the Taliban takeover to June 2023, according to the World Bank. U.N. agencies say around two-thirds of the population is in need of humanitarian aid.
"We had our own barbecue shop and meat shop here. We had ... everything. We were guests here," said 18-year-old Muhammad just before he boarded Azizullah's bus back to Afghanistan.
"You should think of it this way: that the country is kicking out its guests." (Reuters)
October
Singapore Expects Economy to Improve in Second Half of 2024
Written by Nur YasminVOINews, Jakarta - Singapore expects muted prospects for its economy in the short-term amid global uncertainty, but the second half of 2024 should bring gradual improvement, its central bank said on Monday.
In its semi-annual macroeconomic review, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said gross domestic product (GDP) growth, which veered on the edge of a technical recession in the middle of the year, should improve gradually next year while core inflation is expected to ease by December.
"The third quarter of this year likely marked the turning point in the slowdown," it said.
GDP growth was at 0.7% year-on-year in the third quarter of this year, according to advance estimates. The Asian financial hub narrowly avoided a technical recession, with the economy expanding 0.1% quarter-on-quarter in April to June following a 0.4% contraction in the first quarter of 2023.
"In the absence of renewed shocks or setbacks in the global economy, the Singapore economy should benefit as the global tech industry gradually emerges from its trough and global interest rates level off over 2024."
Meanwhile, MAS expects inflation to be on a broad moderating trend and slow to an average of 2.5–3.5% for 2024 as a whole.
Core inflation, which excludes private road transport and accommodation costs, has cooled from a 14-year high of 5.5% in January to 3.0% in September.
There are upside and downside risks to inflation, MAS said.
"Shocks to global food and energy prices or domestic labour costs could bring about additional inflationary pressures. However, a sharper-than-expected downturn in the global economy could induce a general easing of cost and price pressures."
Against this backdrop, MAS said the current appreciating path of the Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate, or S$NEER - is sufficiently tight.
The central bank kept monetary policy settings unchanged in April and October after tightening five times in a row from October 2021.
"The sustained appreciation of the policy band will continue to dampen imported inflation and curb domestic cost pressures, and thus ensure medium-term price stability," said the MAS. (Reuters)
October
Australia, EU Say Trade Deal Likely Years Away After Rejecting Terms
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - Australia has rejected European Union proposals for a free trade agreement, and a deal is now unlikely to be reached for several years, Australian government ministers said on Monday.
The largest farm industry group thanked the government for refusing to "throw Aussie farmers under a bus" by signing a deal it said would not have let enough of their products into the EU.
The two sides have been negotiating since 2018, with Australia eager to boost agricultural exports by removing EU tariffs and expanding quotas, and Europe likely to gain greater access to Australia's critical minerals industry.
Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell said after a meeting of Group of Seven (G7) trade ministers in the Japanese city of Osaka over the weekend that no progress had been made.
"I came to Osaka with the intention to finalise a free trade agreement," Farrell said in a statement.
"Unfortunately we have not been able to make progress," he said. "Negotiations will continue, and I am hopeful that one day we will sign a deal that benefits both Australia and our European friends."
Australia's agriculture minister, Murray Watt, said the EU - one of the world's largest markets - had only slightly tweaked the proposal it put on the table three months ago.
"We just weren't able to see the EU increase its offer for things like beef, sheep, dairy, sugar, enough for us to think that this deal was in Australia's national interest," he told ABC Radio.
EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis said the bloc had "presented a commercially meaningful agricultural market access offer to Australia, while being mindful of the interests of the European agricultural sector".
"Unfortunately, our Australian partners were not able to engage on the basis of previously identified landing zones. We were therefore unable to make progress," he said.
'DUD DEAL'
Australia's Watt said it would be some time before the Australian government and EU leadership would be able to negotiate a deal because of upcoming elections in the EU.
Australian farm groups had pressured the government not to sign a "dud deal" that would put their members at a disadvantage to competitors in New Zealand, Canada and South America, who have greater access to EU markets.
The EU signed a trade deal with New Zealand last year that lowered tariffs for EU exports including clothing, chemicals and cars, and allowed more New Zealand beef, lamb, butter and cheese into the EU.
"It's disappointing the Europeans weren't willing to put something commercially meaningful on the table," National Farmers' Federation President David Jochinke said in a statement. (Reuters)
October
Death Toll Rises to 45 in ArcelorMittal Kazakh Coal Mine Fire
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - The death toll from a fire at a coal mine in Kazakhstan owned by ArcelorMittal (MT.LU) rose to 45 on Sunday, with emergency teams engaged in an operation to find one remaining miner believed to have been underground, emergency service officials were quoted as saying.
On Saturday, operator ArcelorMittal Temirtau, the local unit of Luxembourg-based steelmaker ArcelorMittal, said 206 of 252 people at the Kostenko mine had been evacuated after what appeared to be a methane blast.
Gennady Silinsky, a senior emergency services official, on Sunday confirmed the death toll and continuing operation in Karaganda, a major coal mining centre, to Kazakhstan's Khabar-24 television.
"Work is going on round the clock in shifts in two areas of operations," Murat Katpanov, another emergency official, told Khabar-24.
"Gas levels are normal. There are no visible signs of fire."
Earlier statements said rescue operations in the two areas - 4 km (2.5 miles) apart - were hampered by power cuts and wrecked equipment. (Reuters)
October
US, South Korean Warplanes Kick Off Joint Air Drills
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOINews, Jakarta - The United States and South Korea began major air exercises on Monday, involving 130 warplanes from both countries to simulate 24-hour wartime operations.
The annual drills, called Vigilant Defense, will run until Friday, featuring variants of the F-35 stealth fighter from both the United States and South Korea, among other aircraft, South Korea's Air Force said.
The drills are aimed at improving interoperability between the two militaries by performing major air missions such as air-to-surface live fire drills, defensive counter air operation and other emergency training.
"We will maintain the best combat readiness to immediately respond to and strongly punish any provocation by the enemy through an intense training simulating an actual situation," South Korea's military said in a statement.
The drills come as North Korea has been stepping up military cooperation with Russia in what the United States and its Asian allies have condemned as Pyongyang's efforts to advance its military capabilities in return for arms support to Moscow.
North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said on Saturday it was the "steadfast will" of Pyongyang to expand ties with Russia, adding that their relations will act as a "powerful strategic" element if security in the region is endangered.
North Korea has long condemned joint drills between the United States and South Korea as a rehearsal for invasion and proof of hostile policies by Washington and Seoul. (Reuters)
October
Iraqi cleric al-Sadr demands closure of U.S. embassy over Israel ties
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOI, Jakarta - Iraq's Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on the Iraqi government and lawmakers on Friday to close the U.S. embassy in Baghdad in response to Washington's "unfettered support" for Israel.
"If the government and parliament do not abide by this demand, we will go for further actions which we will later announce," the statement said.
The populist leader counts millions of Iraqis among his followers and has shown in the past he can stir up gatherings by hundreds of thousands of supporters, mostly working-class Shi'ite Muslims, if he wishes to exert political pressure.
Sadr has opposed Iranian influence in Iraq, setting him apart from other Shi'ite leaders who have close ties to Tehran. He has also opposed the U.S. and called for the departure of the last remaining U.S. troops in Iraq.
In June, his followers stormed and set fire to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad in connection with the burning of a Koran in Sweden. The demonstration was called by Sadr's supporters.
Last year, he commanded his followers to storm Baghdad's heavily secured Green Zone - which houses government buildings and embassies - and occupy parliament.(Reuters)
October
TikTok rejects Malaysian accusation it blocks pro-Palestinian content
Written by Nur Yasmin
VOI, Jakarta - Social media platform TikTok said on Friday accusations by the Malaysian government that it was blocking pro-Palestinian content were "unfounded".
Muslim-majority Malaysia on Thursday warned of action against social media firms TikTok and Meta, saying their platforms had been accused of restricting content supporting Palestinians.
Meta responded on Thursday, saying there was "no truth" to the accusation and it was not deliberately suppressing voices on its Facebook platform.
A TikTok spokesperson, in an email to Reuters on Friday, also rejected Malaysia's accusation that it was blocking pro-Palestinian content.
"The claim is unfounded. Our community guidelines apply equally to all content on TikTok, and we're committed to consistently enforcing our policies to protect our community," the spokesperson said.
Both Meta and TikTok designate Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that governs Gaza, a "dangerous organisation" and ban content praising it.
Hamas members attacked communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israel says some 1,400 people including children were killed, and more than 200 people, some of them infants, were taken hostage in the assault.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry said on Thursday that 7,028 Palestinians had been killed in Israel's retaliatory air strikes, including 2,913 children.
Reuters could not independently verify the tolls.
Since the violence erupted, both social media firms have taken steps to improve moderation, and remove or label graphic visuals.
Meta said in mid-October that it had taken down or labelled nearly 800,000 pieces of content in Hebrew and Arabic in the days after the Oct. 7 attack.
Similarly, TikTok said this week it had removed more than 775,000 videos and 14,000 livestreams since the attack.(Reuters)