Headline

Israel-Hamas: US, UK, India Evacuate Citizens, Deaths Hit 2,700

Published

2 years ago

October 13, 2023

…12 UN workers, 13 French Citizens killed

The United States, the United Kingdom, India and France are working to evacuate their citizens from Israel following the attacks by Hamas.

CNN reports that India’s charter flight scheduled to land in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening will collect approximately 230 Indian nationals. This was disclosed by a Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi, at a news conference on Thursday. The flight will “likely” return to India on Friday morning.

Nepal’s foreign ministry has so far evacuated 253 Nepali students who were in Israel, saying on X, formerly Twitter, that a flight carrying the students took off from Tel Aviv on Thursday.

Ten Nepali agriculture students were killed when Hamas attacked a kibbutz in southern Israel, Nepal’s Ambassador to Israel Kanta Rizal told CNN. Three students were injured in the attack and are recovering in a hospital, while one student remains missing, the ambassador added.

A plane carrying 110 Colombian nationals has also left Tel Aviv, according to the country’s foreign ministry on Thursday.

12 UN workers killed

At least 12 people working with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency have been killed in Gaza since Saturday, a spokesperson for the UN’s secretary-general said on Thursday, as the humanitarian crisis there deepens.

CNN reports that all 12 of the UN workers killed were Palestinians, according to the spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, who disclosed this while speaking to reporters in New York on Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands have been displaced in Gaza following the war. Dujarric said mass displacement continues to rise across the Gaza Strip as Israel pounds the territory with airstrikes, climbing 30 per cent over the last 24 hours to reach more than 338,000. Of that figure, two-thirds are taking shelter in 92 schools run by the UNRWA.

Death toll hits 2, 700

According to Al Jazeera, the death toll in Gaza now stands at 1,417 people, while the number of people killed in Israel has reached 1,300.

Also, the Israeli army has bombarded the Gaza Strip with approximately 6,000 bombs containing 4,000 tonnes of explosives since Saturday’s Hamas attack, according to Al Jazeera.

Israel has said there would be no humanitarian exceptions to its siege of the Gaza Strip until Hamas frees all the hostages captured on Saturday.

Israeli minister had said there will be no electricity, fuel or humanitarian aid into Gaza until Hamas releases all captives taken in an unprecedented attack.

Officials in Gaza stated that the health system’s collapse has “truly begun” amid Israel’s heavy bombardment and “complete blockade”.

Meanwhile, the White House in the United States said Thursday it was working to organise charter flights to help US citizens leave Israel as the country reels from the massive attack by Hamas.

The number of Americans who have died after the Hamas terror attack in Israel now stands at 27, according to the White House.

Meanwhile, 14 Americans are missing, said National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Thursday during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington.

The US State Department had noted that the known death toll of US citizens in the violence had risen to “at least 22.”

“Beginning tomorrow (today), the United States government will arrange charter flights to provide transportation from Israel to sites in Europe,” said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.

According to France 24, Kirby added that officials were “still working through some of the details”.

UK evacuates nationals

The United Kingdom said it was set to fly British nationals out of Israel, with the first flight set to leave Tel Aviv later on Thursday, according to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

The UK government “will facilitate commercial flights to the UK to help British nationals wanting to leave Israel following the Hamas attack, the Foreign Secretary has announced,” the FCDO said in a news release according to CNN.

Vulnerable British nationals “will be prioritised for these flights,” the FCDO added, advising that eligible people wait to be contacted and not make their way to the airport unless they are called.

A Rapid Deployment Team has also been sent to Israel to bolster the efforts of British consular officials, the FCDO said.

13 French citizens killed

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday vowed that France would do everything to ensure the release of the dozens of hostages held by Palestinian militant group Hamas after its attack on Israel.

“I want to say that we will do everything to ensure that these hostages, whatever their nationality, are released,” he said in an address to the nation, adding that France would work to this end both with “our partners” and the Israeli authorities, AFP reported.

The French president said that at least 13 French citizens were confirmed to have been killed in the attack by Hamas but 17 more “children and adults” were missing and “without doubt, some of them are held, hostage”.

“France will never abandon its children,” he said. Around 150 people are believed to be held hostage by Hamas.

Headline

Trump Birthright Citizenship Order Halted In Class-action Suit

Published

1 day ago

July 10, 2025

Editor

A federal judge on Thursday halted President Donald Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship, as opponents of the policy pursue a new legal avenue following the US Supreme Court’s overturning of a previous block.

The high court’s conservative majority delivered a landmark decision in late June that limits the ability of individual judges to issue nationwide injunctions against presidents’ policies.

Several such judges had in fact blocked Trump’s attempt to end the longstanding rule, guaranteed in the US Constitution, that anyone born on US soil is automatically an American citizen.

However, the Supreme Court left open the possibility that orders could be blocked via broad class-action suits against the government.

Trump’s opponents quickly filed new class-action suits seeking to block again the executive order.

On Thursday, Judge Joseph Laplante of the US District of New Hampshire granted class-action status to any child who would potentially be denied citizenship under Trump’s order. The judge ordered a preliminary halt to it as legal proceedings carry on.

The judge delayed his ruling for seven days to permit the Trump administration to appeal.

Cody Wofsy, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who argued the case, called the ruling a “huge victory” that “will help protect the citizenship of all children born in the United States, as the Constitution intended.”

Trump’s executive order decrees that children born to parents in the United States illegally or on temporary visas would not automatically become citizens — a radical reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.

His administration has argued that the 14th Amendment, passed in the wake of the Civil War, addresses the rights of former slaves and not the children of undocumented migrants or temporary US visitors.

The Supreme Court rejected such a narrow definition in a landmark 1898 case.

The current high court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, avoided ruling last month on the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order and only addressed the issue of nationwide injunctions.

It nonetheless permitted the order to go ahead but delayed its ruling from taking effect until late July to allow for new court challenges.

Several lower courts, in issuing their previous injunctions, had ruled that the executive order violated the Constitution.

Headline

PICTORIAL: Two Undocumented Nigerians Arrested For Drug Trafficking In Libya

Published

1 day ago

July 10, 2025

Editor

Libya’s Counter-Terrorism Forces have arrested two undocumented Nigerians over alleged involvement in drug trafficking.

According to a statement shared by Migrant Rescue Watch on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, the suspects were caught with quantities of hashish and hallucinogenic pills, including Tramadol and Lyrica.

Authorities also recovered a large sum of cash suspected to be proceeds from drug sales during the operation.

Following their arrest, the two Nigerians have been handed over to the appropriate legal authorities for further investigation and possible prosecution.

The statement said, “Counter-Terrorism Forces arrested 2 undocumented #migrants of Nigerian nationality for drug trafficking. The individuals were found in possession of hashish, hallucinogenic pills “Tramadol” & “Lyrica” as well as cash from proceeds.

“Both individuals were referred to competent authorities for legal action.”

Headline

31 Workers Escape Death As Tunnel Collapses In Los Angeles

Published

2 days ago

July 10, 2025

Editor

All 31 workers escaped without injuries from a collapsed industrial tunnel in Los Angeles’ Wilmington area, after scrambling over a tall pile of loose underground soil, city officials said late on Wednesday.

The trapped workers were shuttled back to the tunnel’s entry point, more than 5 miles (8 km) away from the affected area, after they escaped the collapsed section and met several coworkers in the unaffected part of the tunnel, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement.

The tunnel, which had a diameter of 18 ft (5.5 m), trapped 27 individuals, while four workers entered the damaged section to assist with rescue, LA Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva told reporters in a media briefing.

“The workers had to climb through debris. They had to make themselves out through,” before they were assisted out, Villanueva said.

Robert Ferrante, chief engineer and general manager of Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, told the briefing that a section of the already built part of the tunnel experienced squeezing ground conditions and partially collapsed.

“LAFD has just reported that all workers who were trapped in the tunnel in Wilmington are now out and accounted for. I just spoke with many of the workers who were trapped. Thank you to all of our brave first responders who acted immediately,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a post on X.

The collapsed section was a part of the Los Angeles County’s Clearwater Project, where the new 7-mile tunnel is being built to upgrade the region’s sewer system, officials added.

(Reuters)