24/07/2025

THURSDAY | JULY 24, 2025

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Mass starvation across Gaza, warn NGOs

New Yorker charged with making explosive devices NEW YORK: A New York resident has been charged with making improvised explosive devices (IED) and throwing one onto subway tracks. Michael Gann, 55, allegedly manufactured at least seven explosive devices using chemicals ordered online and stored five devices and shotgun shells on rooftops in Manhattan’s SoHo neighbourhood, according to the Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Authorities said Gann threw one IED onto subway tracks on the Williamsburg Bridge and was arrested with a seventh device last month. US Attorney Jay Clayton said: “Thanks to our law enforcement partners, no one was harmed.” According to prosecutors, Gann ordered approximately two pounds of potassium perchlorate and one pound of aluminium powder – precursor chemicals to explosives – online in May, along with over 200 cardboard tubes and 50ft of fuses. Gann, a resident of New York City’s Inwood neighbourhood, faces charges of attempted destruction of property by explosives, transport of explosive materials and unlawful possession of destructive devices. The most serious charge carries a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and maximum of 20 years. – AFP MOSCOW: Russia yesterday began major navy drills involving more than 150 vessels and 15,000 military personnel in the Pacific and Arctic oceans. The five-day “July Storm” exercise will test the readiness of the fleet for non standard operations, the use of long-range weapons and other advanced technology, including unmanned systems, the Defence Ministry said. “Ship crews will practise deployment to combat areas, conducting anti-submarine operations, defending areas of deployment and economic activity,” it said. They will also practise “repelling attacks by aerial weapons, unmanned boats and enemy drones, ensuring the safety of navigation, striking enemy targets and naval groups.” – Reuters DANES CHEER WHITE STORK COMEBACK COPENHAGEN: Once extinct in Denmark, the white stork is making a comeback with the highest number of nestlings in decades, sparking hope it may again become a familiar sight. Thirty-three stork nestlings were born to 13 nesting pairs this year, up from 15 last year, according to Storks Denmark, a volunteer group working to support the return of the species. The white stork population saw a sharp decline due to the expansion of agriculture and the loss of wetlands, leading to its local extinction in 2008. The rebound is attributed to changing migration patterns due to warmer weather and conservation efforts. – Reuters RUSSIA BEGINS MAJOR NAVAL DRILLS

“Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of hope and heartbreak, waiting for assistance and ceasefires, only to wake up to worsening conditions,” the signatories said. “It is not just physical torment, but psychological. Survival is dangled like a mirage. “The humanitarian system cannot run on false promises. Humanitarians cannot operate on shifting timelines or wait for political commitments that fail to deliver access.” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that the “horror” facing Palestinians in Gaza under Israeli military attack was unprecedented in recent years. The head of Gaza’s largest hospital said on Tuesday 21 children had died due to malnutrition and starvation in the Palestinian territory in the past three days. Israel and Hamas have been engaging in drawn-out negotiations in Doha since July 6 as mediators scramble to end nearly two years of war. But after more than two weeks of back and forth, efforts by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States are at a standstill. – AFP

with another ceasefire as well as a humanitarian corridor for aid to flow, that both sides have in fact agreed to”, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters. Even after Israel began easing a more than two-month aid blockade in late May, Gaza’s population is still suffering extreme scarcities. Israel says humanitarian aid is being allowed into Gaza and accuses Hamas of exploiting civilian suffering, including by stealing food handouts to sell at inflated prices or shooting at those awaiting aid. In their statement, the humanitarian organisations said that warehouses with tonnes of supplies were sitting untouched just outside the territory, and even inside, as they were blocked from accessing or delivering the goods.

o ‘Survival dangled like a mirage’

TEL AVIV: More than 100 aid organisations warned yesterday that “mass starvation” was spreading in Gaza, ahead of a US top envoy visit to Europe for talks on a possible ceasefire and an aid corridor. Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where more than two million people face severe shortage of food and other essentials after 21 months of conflict. The UN said on Tuesday that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid since the US and Israel-backed

Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started operations in late May. A statement with 111 signatories, including Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children and Oxfam, warned that “our colleagues and those we serve are wasting away”. The groups called for an immediate negotiated ceasefire, the opening of all land crossings and the free flow of aid through UN-led mechanisms. It came a day after the United States said its envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Europe this week for talks on Gaza and may then visit the Middle East. Witkoff comes with “a strong hope that we will come forward

BR I E F S

Protesters marching along 42nd Street in New York on Tuesday against the Israeli military offensive. – REUTERSPIC

Columbia disciplines dozens of students over protest

WASHINGTON: Columbia University said on Tuesday it was disciplining dozens of pro-Palestinian student protesters who seized part of the school’s main library during a demonstration in early May that led to arrests. Following the protest, the university began an investigation, banned participants from campus and suspended them. It issued its final determinations on Tuesday. Columbia said in a statement that the sanctions included probation, suspensions ranging from one year to three years, the revocation of

to the administration’s concerns. “We support free speech,” the school said at the time. “But demonstrations and other protest activities inside academic buildings and places where academic activities take place present an impediment to our core academic mission.” Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the government has wrongly conflated their criticism of Israel’s military assault with antisemitism and their advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism. – Reuters

disciplinary actions announced against people over other protests. In March, the government said it was penalising the university over how it handled last year’s pro-Palestinian protests by cancelling research grants. It contended that Columbia’s response to alleged antisemitism and harassment of Jewish and Israeli members of the university community was insufficient. After the government announced the funding cancellations, the school announced a series of commitments in response

degrees, and expulsions. It did not specify how it disciplined any individuals. “Disruptions to academic activities are in violation of university policies and rules, and such violations generate consequences,” the university said. Columbia for Palestine, a pro-Palestinian group at the school, said 80 students were informed on Monday about their punishment. It said the disciplinary action marked “the most suspensions for a single political protest in Columbia campus history” and exceeded past