Saudi Arabia World Cup bid report accused of ‘whitewashing’ rights abuses

Law firm AS&H Clifford Chance failed to include alleged abuse of migrant workers in assessment for Fifa 2034 bid, say rights groups

A report by the Saudi arm of a global law firm on Saudi Arabia’s 2034 Fifa World Cup bid has “whitewashed” the Gulf kingdom’s record of exploiting and suppressing the rights of migrant workers, rights groups have claimed.

AS&H Clifford Chance was commissioned to independently assess the human rights implications of the bid, but the report “contains no substantive discussion of extensive and relevant abuses in Saudi Arabia”, according to a statement released by 11 organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

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US identified 500 cases where its weapons harmed Gaza civilians but hasn’t taken action

Some the incidents might have violated international humanitarian law, according to the sources

US state department officials have identified nearly 500 potential incidents of civilian harm during Israel’s military operations in Gaza involving US-furnished weapons, but have not taken further action on any of them, according to three sources, including a US official familiar with the matter.

The incidents – some of which may have violated international humanitarian law, according to the sources – have been recorded since 7 October 2023, when the Gaza war started. They are being collected by the state department’s Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance (CHIRG), a formal mechanism for tracking and assessing any reported misuse of US-origin weapons.

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World must act to prevent ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Gaza, António Guterres warns

Secretary general makes appeal as civilian casualties mount amid intensive Israeli strikes on north

The UN secretary general, António Guterres has warned Israel could carry out the “ethnic cleansing” of Gaza if the international community does not make a determined stand to prevent it.

Guterres made his appeal at a time of mounting civilian casualties from the Israeli bombardment of northern Gaza. A strike on Tuesday in Beit Lahiya district killed at least 93 people, in what the UN said was just one of at least seven “mass casualty incidents” across Gaza in the past week.

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Palestinian student stripped of UK visa after Gaza remarks wins human rights appeal

Home Office failed to show presence of Dana Abu Qamar ‘not conducive to public good’, according to tribunal ruling

A Palestinian student who was stripped of her student visa after remarks she made about the Israel-Gaza war has won a human rights appeal against the Home Office’s decision.

The Home Office failed to demonstrate that the presence of Dana Abu Qamar, 20, was “not conducive to public good” after the law student’s visa was revoked in December 2023, according to a tribunal ruling.

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Nobel and Pulitzer winners denounce ‘dangerous’ Israel cultural boycott

More than 1,000 well-known figures sign open letter in response to authors pledging to boycott Israeli cultural institutions over Gaza

More than 1,000 figures from the literary and entertainment industry – including several Nobel laureates, Pulitzer prize, and Booker prize winners – have signed an open letter against “illiberal and dangerous” cultural boycotts.

The letter was released by the nonprofit body Creative Community For Peace [CCFP], which campaigns against cultural boycotts of Israel, after more than 1,000 book industry figures pledged to boycott Israeli cultural institutions that “are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians”.

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Middle East crisis: UN security council warns against attempts to dismantle Unrwa – as it happened

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Under the laws – which will not be implemented for several months – Unrwa could not “operate any institution, provide any service, or conduct any activity, whether directly or indirectly”.

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‘Waiting to die’: Layla Moran raises plight of NHS surgeon who fears for parents in Gaza

Exclusive: Surgeon who treated Lib Dem MP has worked for NHS for 20 years and grew up in the Jabaliya camp

In April, Layla Moran was admitted into hospital for sepsis. For a while, doctors thought antibiotics would clear the infection but it soon became clear she needed surgery. While recovering, a surgeon told her he had removed her appendix. “He told me his name and I was like, ‘Hold on, where are you from?’”

Like Moran, Mohammad is Palestinian. The NHS surgeon grew up in the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza and has worked for the health service for 20 years. Moran, the Lib Dem MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, had to remain in hospital for an extra week. During that time, the pair got to know each other.

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Berlin summons Iran ambassador over execution of German-Iranian

Daughter of Jamshid Sharmahd says family let down by US and German governments’ failure to save him

Germany has recalled its ambassador to Tehran and summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires in Berlin in protest over the execution of a German-Iranian dual national, Jamshid Sharmahd, accused of terrorism by Iran.

His daughter, Gazelle Sharmahd, who had pressed the German and US governments hard to save him, said she and her brother felt let down by the failure of both governments to do more. Sharmahd was executed on Monday.

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Nine days of horror as Israeli offensive on exhausted northern Gaza intensifies

With families too worn out to flee yet again, the death toll in recent strikes is nearing 300

Israel’s recent offensive in northern Gaza has killed more than 700 people in a little over three weeks, with nearly 300 of those deaths, mainly in the north, occurring in the past nine days alone. While it has attempted to justify its renewed focus on the north by claiming it is targeting regrouped Hamas fighters, the intensity of the fighting has caused heavy losses among the 100,000 civilians still living there. Many of them are families who, exhausted by Israel’s multiple forced displacement orders, have chosen to stay in the north.

The Israeli military has repeatedly struck shelters for displaced people across Gaza, saying it is carrying out precise strikes targeting Palestinian militants and has tried to avoid harming civilians. The strikes have often killed women and children. These are the reported deaths in the past nine days:

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Sri Lanka’s Arugam Bay in shock after terror threat to Israeli tourists

Israeli travellers told to evacuate area immediately as police set up patrols and roadblocks

The golden sands of Sri Lanka’s Arugam Bay are usually carefree, a place for tourists to surf the famous break and relax on the beach.

But last week, the slow rhythm of the bay was dealt a shock. The US embassy, followed up by Sri Lankan police and Israel’s national security council, warned of a serious terrorist threat in the area. Israeli travellers were believed to be the intended target of a planned attack and were told to evacuate immediately. Hundreds of police and senior intelligence officials descended on the small coastal town, setting up patrols and road blocks.

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Middle East crisis: US concerned by ‘horrifying’ Israeli airstrike that killed at least 93 civilians, including 20 children, in Gaza – as it happened

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Al Jazeera has spoken with the director-general of the Gaza government’s media office, Ismail al-Thawabta, who has said at least 93 people were killed in the Israeli airstrike on northern Gaza’s town of Beit Lahiya. Gaza’s health ministry said earlier today that 60 people were killed in the strike this morning, which hit a residential building housing displaced civilians. Al-Thawabta said that the building Israel attacked housed 200 people. Dozens of people are reported missing and 150 others estimated to be injured. Medics said 20 children were among the dead.

Many of those injured have been rushed to nearby Kamal Adwan hospital inside the Jabalia refugee camp. But the hospital is struggling to treat them as it reportedly has run out of medical supplies and only has two paediatric doctors, with no surgeons. Israeli forces detained dozens of medical staff at the hospital days ago. Dr Hossam Abu Safiya, director of the hospital, told Al Jazeera on Friday that most of the surgeons had been arrested by Israeli troops, meaning urgent surgeries could not be performed.

The UAV (drone) force of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a specific military operation targeting the industrial zone of the Israeli enemy in the Ashkelon region.

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Israeli airstrike on Beit Lahiya kills 93, says Gaza rescue agency

Medical staff and emergency services say those killed in the attack include many women and children

Scores of Palestinians including many women and children have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on a crowded apartment building in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said 93 people had been killed and 40 were still missing, as emergency workers dug through the rubble looking for the dead and injured on Tuesday morning. Many of those present at the time of the attack were members of the extended Abu Nasr family.

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Hezbollah elects new leader following Israeli strike that killed Nasrallah

Naim Qassem replaces group’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah after he was killed by Israel

Hezbollah has elected its deputy secretary general, Sheikh Naim Qassem, as its new head, ending a month-long leadership vacuum after the group’s long time leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by Israel.

Since Nasrallah’s death, Qassem has filled in for him, giving a public address earlier this month in which he vowed that Hezbollah would continue fighting Israel in what it described as a war of attrition, despite painful losses.

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Bill Shorten urges Israel to look after Palestinian civilians after Unrwa banned in Gaza

Coalition meanwhile says Australia should divert aid funding away from the UN humanitarian assistance body

Bill Shorten has said Palestinians in Gaza should be “prioritised” and urged Israel to look after civilians at risk after Israel’s parliament voted to ban the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) from Israel and the areas of Gaza, the West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem within 90 days.

Meanwhile, the opposition said the Albanese government should divert the millions of dollars in funding to Unrwa to other more “trusted” humanitarian organisations.

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US calls on Israel to tackle ‘catastrophic humanitarian crisis’ in Gaza

Failure to help improve the situation on the ground could be met by restrictions on US military aid

Israel is not addressing the “catastrophic humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, the US envoy to the United Nations has said as a deadline imposed by Washington looms for the Israelis to improve the situation or face potential restrictions on military aid.

“Israel’s words must be matched by action on the ground,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the security council. “Right now, that is not happening. This must change – immediately.”

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Deadly airstrikes reported in Lebanon – as it happened

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The Israeli army told residents in parts of Lebanon’s southern city of Tyre to leave immediately, warning that it would attack Hezbollah targets there.

“Hezbollah’s activities force the (Israeli army) to act against it forcefully,” military spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote in a post on X that included a map of targeted areas in the coastal city.

Hezbollah’s activities force the IDF to act against it forcefully, as we do not intend to harm you.

You must immediately move out of the area marked in red and head north of the Awali River.

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Iran executes German-Iranian dissident after years in captivity

Berlin warns of ‘serious consequences’ for ‘inhumane regime’ after 69-year-old Jamshid Sharmahd put to death

Iran has executed a 69-year-old German-Iranian political scientist after years in captivity, sparking outrage in Germany and beyond.

Berlin warned of “serious consequences” for Iran’s “inhumane regime” after Jamshid Sharmahd was put to death on Monday, while a Norway-based human rights group labelled the execution the “extrajudicial killing of a hostage”.

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Israeli parliament votes to ban Unrwa from Israel within 90 days

Lawmakers also voted to declare UN relief agency a terror group, banning any direct interaction with Israeli state

Israel’s parliament has voted to ban the UN relief and works agency (Unrwa) from the country within 90 days, in defiance of US and other international pressure to maintain the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to the country’s Palestinian population.

In a 92-10 vote late on Monday, the Knesset banned the agency, which operates in Israel according to a 1967 treaty, from conducting “any activity” or providing any service inside Israel, including the areas of annexed East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank.

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Sally Rooney, Rachel Kushner and Arundhati Roy call for boycott of Israeli cultural institutions

The authors are among 1,000 books industry figures pledging not to work with any publishers, festivals or publications ‘complicit in violating Palestinian rights’

Sally Rooney, Arundhati Roy and Rachel Kushner are among more than 1,000 writers and publishing professionals who have signed a letter pledging to boycott Israeli cultural institutions that “are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians”.

Signatories to the pledge say they will not work with Israeli publishers, festivals, literary agencies and publications that are “complicit in violating Palestinian rights”, including operating “discriminatory policies and practices” or “whitewashing and justifying Israel’s occupation, apartheid or genocide”.

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Israeli prison staff accused of assaulting Marwan Barghouti

Prominent Palestinian detainee, a former high-ranking member of Fatah party, attacked in his cell, say rights groups

Palestinian prisoner rights organisations have accused Israeli prison authorities of “brutally assaulting” Marwan Barghouti, the most prominent Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody.

Prison staff assaulted Barghouti in his solitary confinement cell at Megiddo prison in northern Israel on 9 September, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club and a support group for Barghouti said in statements.

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