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- Palestinian committee concludes productive talks in Cyprus on Gaza recovery
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Palestinian committee concludes productive talks in Cyprus on Gaza recovery
Productive Talks
The Palestinian National Committee for the Administration of Gaza concluded two days of talks in Cyprus aimed at easing humanitarian suffering and planning for reconstruction in the territory.
The Palestinian National Committee for the Administration of Gaza concluded two days of talks in Cyprus aimed at easing humanitarian suffering and planning for reconstruction in the territory.
Reconstruction funds
Over $71 billion is estimated to be required for Gaza’s reconstruction over the next decade, highlighting a significant financial necessity amid a critical humanitarian situation.
Over $71 billion is estimated to be required for Gaza’s reconstruction over the next decade, highlighting a significant financial necessity amid a critical humanitarian situation.
Official Commitment
“We held a series of working meetings in Cyprus to relieve the suffering of Gazans and develop plans for immediate project implementation,” stated the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.
“We held a series of working meetings in Cyprus to relieve the suffering of Gazans and develop plans for immediate project implementation,” stated the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.
Committee tasked with post-war Gaza governance says Cyprus talks ‘highly productive’
Published on •Updated
The Palestinian technocratic committee tasked with administering post-war Gaza said on Wednesday it concluded two days of “highly productive” talks in Cyprus on easing humanitarian suffering and advancing plans to rebuild the territory.
The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) said in a post on X that it held “a series of working meetings in Cyprus with experts and advisers of the Board of Peace, the Office of the High Representative for Gaza (Nikolai Mladenov) and the Tony Blair Institute.”
The talks focused on efforts to “relieve the suffering” of Gazans, the committee said, including through projects that “can be done immediately.”
Participants also reviewed plans for reconstruction, security and governance, while developing a framework to ensure transparency and accountability for international donors.
The committee reiterated its commitment to US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan and said it remained prepared to assume its responsibilities in coordination with the Board of Peace.
It gave no timeframe, saying further steps would be announced “once the right conditions are met.”
The Board of Peace was established by Trump earlier this year as part of a US-backed ceasefire plan for Gaza endorsed by the UN Security Council.
The initiative aims to facilitate a transition away from Hamas rule while supporting the restoration of civilian administration and basic services across the territory of over 2 million Palestinians.
However progress has been slow and the technocratic committee has yet to even enter Gaza.
In May, a source familiar with the board told the AFP news agency that it had no cash in its official Gaza reconstruction fund, despite member countries pledging billions of dollars.
Since the board was set up, its fund, administered by the World Bank and endorsed by the United Nations, has received no money from donors, the source said.
And the International Stabilisation Force for Gaza that was announced at the inaugural Board of Peace meeting has still not been assembled with none of the five countries that pledged troops coming through with any significant contributions.
The board’s creation also quickly raised eyebrows after Trump sent out wide invitations, including to Russian President Vladimir Putin and to countries far removed from traditional Middle East diplomacy.
Major European nations have shunned the board, which is heavy on longstanding US partners in the Middle East, ideological allies of Trump and smaller countries eager for Trump’s attention.
The board is unambiguously led not just by the United States but by Trump personally, who holds the final say and can remain in charge past his presidency.
Under the second phase of the US-backed deal, Israel was to gradually pull out of the territory and Hamas was to hand over its weapons, neither of which has happened.
The Gaza war was triggered by Hamas’ 7 October 2023 surprise attack on Israel, prompting Israel to launch a retaliatory campaign against the territory.
The war lasted two years until the ceasefire went into effect last October, though it has not completely quelled the violence.
Israel still retains control of over 60% of the Gaza Strip, including all entry and exit points, while the population is concentrated on the coast.
An EU-UN assessment published in April estimated that more than $71 billion (€60 billion) will be needed over the next decade for the reconstruction of Gaza, where the UN says the humanitarian situation is “critical.”
Additional sources • AFP
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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