A three-day ceasefire in Gaza that has brought relief to millions entered its final stretch yesterday with Israel ready to extend the calm, but Hamas hedging its bets and US President Barack Obama put pressure on intensive ceasefire negotiations in Cairo by saying Gaza could not remain cut off from the world forever.
Meanwhile, Britain, France and Germany put forward an initiative which would answer key demands on both sides and which has been presented to Israel, the Palestinians, Egypt and Washington, a diplomatic source said.
Four weeks of bloodshed between Israel and Hamas killed 1,886 Palestinians and 67 on the Israeli side.
With the ceasefire due to end midday Taiwan time today, Egyptian intelligence chief Mohamed Farid Tohamy was to hold a new round of talks with each side later yesterday, with the focus on extending the deadline.
An Israeli official said Israel would be prepared to prolong the ceasefire “unconditionally,” but following two days of indirect Egyptian-brokered talks, Hamas said agreement had still not been reached to extend the calm which went into force on Tuesday.
“There is no agreement to extend the ceasefire,” Hamas’ exiled deputy leader Mussa Abu Marzuq wrote on Twitter.
With the guns silent, some semblance of normal life has returned to Gaza, with traffic clogging the streets and people bustling about their business as shops, banks and markets reopened.
In some areas there were scenes of utter devastation, with certain districts reduced to an endless sea of rubble and shattered hulks of buildings, an AFP correspondent said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that Gaza would be rebuilt — but hopefully for the last time, as international patience showed signs of wearing thin.
“The senseless cycle of suffering in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as in Israel, must end,” Ban said. “Do we have to continue like this — build, destroy, and build and destroy? We will build again, but this must be the last time — to rebuild. This must stop now.”
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique