UN warns Afghanistan on brink of ‘world’s worst humanitarian crisis’

A child suffering from malnutrition receives treatment at the Mirwais hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on September 27, 2021. (AFP)
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Updated 30 October 2021
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UN warns Afghanistan on brink of ‘world’s worst humanitarian crisis’

  • Taliban representative-designate to the UN appealed on Friday for urgent release of $1.2 billion aid package pledged by G20 countries
  • UN says received less than half of the funds requested in its humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan

KABUL: The situation in Afghanistan may turn into the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, the UN said on Saturday, a day after the country’s Taliban government called on the international community to urgently release a $1.2 billion package recently pledged by the Group of 20 major economies.
Afghanistan plunged into economic crisis when the Western-backed government collapsed and fled the country in mid-August as the Taliban took control, triggering the suspension of billions of dollars in assistance to its aid-dependent economy.
Afghanistan’s permanent representative-designate to the UN and former Taliban spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, appealed to the international community in a series of tweets on Friday to disburse the aid package on urgent basis as harsher winter months are fast approaching.
While the global community has been facing a tough decision of how it should reach the Afghan people without recognizing a Taliban government, Shaheen said they are “ready to fully cooperate” through designated organizations. 
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told Arab News on Saturday it is trying to reach with aid about one half of the country’s population. 
“Humanitarian needs in Afghanistan are deepening and the country is on the brink of becoming the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” Linda Tom, OCHA spokesperson in Kabul, said. 
“At the beginning of the year, already 18 million people were in need of aid due to decades of conflict, drought and the economic consequences of COVID-19,” she said. “With winter approaching, the humanitarian community, both UN and NGOs, are working to reach 9 million people with winter aid.” 




Burqa-clad women wait in front of a bakery to get bread donations in Kabul, Afghanistan, on October 20, 2021. (AFP)

Tom added that funds for the humanitarian community have to continue to flow as it is critical to get aid to people ahead of winter, but so far the UN secretary general’s last month’s call for more than $600 million in a “flash appeal” for Afghans has been only partially answered.
“The humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan is for $606 million, but we have only received less than half,” she said.
As in his Friday tweets Shaheen also renewed his government’s request that the country’s foreign reserves be unfrozen, some economic experts in Kabul say it is key to averting the unfolding crisis.
“The world must unfreeze Afghanistan foreign assets first, this will help the Afghan people to tackle the current crisis,” economist Hamidullah Mofid told Arab News.
The US froze $10 billion of the country’s central bank assets after the Taliban captured Kabul on Aug. 15.
“The economic situation in Afghanistan is fragile, a new wave of crisis is threatening people and putting them in danger. According to the statics of the UN, around 18 million Afghan citizens are in extreme danger,” he said. “The international community must continue their humanitarian aid, especially the new commitments that they have given.”


US denounces UK, allies’ sanctions on Israeli far-right ministers

Updated 6 sec ago
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US denounces UK, allies’ sanctions on Israeli far-right ministers

  • Five Western countries imposed sanctions on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for 'repeated incitements of violence' against Palestinians

WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday denounced sanctions by Britain and four mutual allies against Israeli far-right ministers, saying they should focus instead on the Palestinian armed group Hamas.
“We find that extremely unhelpful. It will do nothing to get us closer to a ceasefire in Gaza,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.
Britain, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and Australia “should focus on the real culprit, which is Hamas,” she said of the sanctions.
“We remain concerned about any step that would further isolate Israel from the international community,” she said.
The five Western countries imposed sanctions on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for “repeated incitements of violence” against Palestinians.
The two ministers faced repeated criticism but no formal sanctions under former US president Joe Biden. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has vowed unstinting support for Israel.
“If our allies want to help, they should focus on supporting Special Envoy (Steve) Witkoff’s negotiations and backing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation when it comes to food and aid,” she said.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed aid in coordination with the Israeli military, an effort criticized by the United Nations and longstanding aid groups, which say it violates humanitarian principles.


Philippines Senate returns Sara Duterte impeachment case to lower house

Updated 14 min 41 sec ago
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Philippines Senate returns Sara Duterte impeachment case to lower house

  • After a series of debates among members, the senators voted in favor of returning it to the lower house to certify that the complaint was constitutional

MANILA: Philippine senators on Tuesday voted to send an impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte back to the lower house for clarification, just hours after convening a trial that could see her banned from politics for life.

After a series of debates among members that included a motion presented by a Duterte ally to dismiss the case, the senators voted in favor of returning it to the lower house to certify that the complaint was constitutional. 

The lower house in February voted to impeach the vice president for alleged high crimes and betrayal of the public trust, allegations she has vehemently denied. A majority of the senators on Tuesday approved a motion to return the case to confirm the complaint did not violate the constitution and the next session of Congress was “willing and ready” to pursue the impeachment complaint following midterm elections in May.

The decision could be a stay of execution for Duterte, a likely contender to be the next president, in a trial that could be a pivotal moment in Philippine politics.

The outcome of the trial could not only make or break Duterte, but also carries big implications for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his agenda for the remaining three years of his presidency and beyond. The impeachment accusations against Duterte range from budget anomalies to amassing unusual wealth and threatening the lives of Marcos, his wife, and the house speaker. She rejects the allegations and on Tuesday, her office said the impeachment process had been weaponized. 

The trial of the popular daughter of firebrand former President Rodrigo Duterte follows an acrimonious falling-out with former ally Marcos, who ran on a joint ticket that won the 2022 election in a landslide.

Marcos is limited to a single term in office and is expected to try to retain future influence by grooming a successor capable of fending off Duterte in the next election if she is acquitted. The president has distanced himself from the impeachment process, even though it was launched by his legislative allies.

Sara Duterte is the fifth top official in the Philippines to be impeached, only one of whom, Renato Corona, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court, was convicted.


US imposes sanctions on a Palestinian NGO and other charities, accusing them of ties to militant groups

Updated 19 min 42 sec ago
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US imposes sanctions on a Palestinian NGO and other charities, accusing them of ties to militant groups

  • Those sanctioned include Addameer, a nongovernmental organization that was founded in 1991 and is based in the city of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank

WASHINGTON: The US Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a major Palestinian legal group for prisoners and detainees along with five other charitable entities across the Middle East, Africa and Europe, accusing them of supporting Palestinian armed factions and militant groups, including Hamas’ military wing, under the pretense of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Those sanctioned include Addameer, a nongovernmental organization that was founded in 1991 and is based in the city of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian group provides free legal services to Palestinian political prisoners and detainees in Israeli custody and monitors the conditions of their confinement.
The federal government claims that Addameer “has long supported and is affiliated” with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a secular, left-wing movement with a political party and an armed wing that has carried out deadly attacks against Israelis. Israel and the United States have labeled the PFLP a terrorist organization.
Addameer did not immediately have a comment on the sanctions.
Israel has alleged that Addameer funds terrorism, a claim that the United Nations previously said it could not support with compelling evidence. In a 2022 report on human rights practices, the US State Department noted Israel’s arrest of Salah Hammouri, a French-Palestinian human rights lawyer and an Addameer employee, in a section on “retribution against human rights defenders.”
The organization also works with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and is a member of the World Organization Against Torture.
Israel’s 2022 storming of Addameer’s offices, prompted a rebuke from the UN, who said in a statement that Israel had not provided convincing evidence to support the claim. The UN said Addameer was conducting “critical human rights, humanitarian and development work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
In February, Zachor Legal Institute, an Israeli-American advocacy group that says it focuses on combatting antisemitism and terrorism, requested Addameer be added to Treasury’s sanctions list. The letter, which was written by Zachor, signed by 44 other groups and is addressed to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, relies in part on undisclosed evidence from the Israeli Security Agency in its call for sanctions on Addameer.
Marc Greendorfer, president of Zachor Legal Institute said in an email to the Associated Press that his group is “very pleased to see Treasury following up on our request.” He said the federal government should act “to prevent hostile foreign actors from spreading hate and violence in the United States. We applaud Treasury’s action and encourage Treasury to expand its focus to the other groups that we identified.”


Goodbye Lenin? Russians flock to see Bolshevik leader’s tomb before it closes for repairs

Updated 10 June 2025
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Goodbye Lenin? Russians flock to see Bolshevik leader’s tomb before it closes for repairs

  • Famous mausoleum set to close for two years
  • Large lines of Russians form to see Lenin’s body

MOSCOW: Russians are flocking to catch what some fear could be a final glimpse of the embalmed body of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin before his tomb on Moscow’s Red Square, long a place of pilgrimage for communists, closes for repairs until 2027.
The mausoleum, which houses a waxy-looking Lenin replete in a three-piece suit inside what is purportedly a bullet-proof, blast-proof glass case, is due to be structurally overhauled after an inspection uncovered problems.
Once a popular attraction for Western tourists and still a favorite for Russians visiting the capital from the regions, the red and black granite structure is expected to close in the coming weeks, with repair work set to last until June 2027.
Officials say that the body of Lenin, who died in 1924 after helping to establish the world’s first socialist state, is not going anywhere and that the central hall where he lies in state will not be touched.
But news of the temporary closure has seen long lines form to get into the mausoleum, with some visitors fearing it could be their last chance to see Lenin.
“From a historical point of view, I want to witness his being in a mausoleum because I think Lenin will be buried at some point, maybe in the future or near future,” said Tatyana Tolstik, a historian from Ulyanovsk, the city on the Volga where Lenin was born.
A young woman called Snezhana, who did not give her surname, said she wanted to “dive into the past” because she was also unsure how long it would be possible to visit the mausoleum.
The Communist Party, which ruled the country from the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, is fiercely opposed to the removal of Lenin’s body, and Gennady Zyuganov, the party’s veteran leader, has said President Vladimir Putin has assured him it will not happen on his watch.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied plans to permanently close the mausoleum.


Singapore-flagged ship carrying toxic oil explodes off Indian coast

Indian Coast Guard ships extinguish a fire on a Singaporean-flagged cargo vessel off the coast of Kerala on June 10, 2025.
Updated 10 June 2025
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Singapore-flagged ship carrying toxic oil explodes off Indian coast

  • 18 members of the vessel’s crew rescued, while 4 remain missing
  • Alert for Kerala coast as containers drift between Kozhikode and Kochi

NEW DELHI: India’s Coast Guard and Navy were struggling on Tuesday to extinguish a fire on a Singapore-flagged cargo ship that exploded in the Arabian Sea, triggering an alarm over its load of 100 tonnes of bunker oil.

The MV Wan Hai 503, en route to Mumbai from Sri Lanka, reported an internal container explosion on Monday, which triggered a major fire on board as the vessel approached the coast of the southern state of Kerala.

The Indian Coast Guard said the situation was “critical” as its ships engaged in an overnight operation to douse the flames and rescue 22 members of the vessel’s crew.

Four crew remain missing. Two of them are from Thailand, one from Indonesia and one from Myanmar, according to Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority, which sent a team to assist the Indian rescuers.

Containers falling from the ship were reported drifting between Kerala’s Kozhikode and Kochi, triggering an alert by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services over a potential spill of what it identified as 100 tonnes of bunker oil.

Bunker oil is a thick, heavy and viscous fuel used to power large ships, especially cargo vessels and tankers. It is one of the dirtiest and most polluting fuels.

It contains sulfur, heavy metals and carcinogens. If spilled, it is difficult to clean up and may persist for months or years in the marine environment, suffocating coral reefs and killing fish and seabirds.

“Caution is advised about a few containers beaching between Kozhikode and Kochi,” the INCOIS said in a notification, adding that there was an “estimated 70-80 percent probability” that the containers that went overboard from the MV Wan Hai 503 might drift south-southeastwards from the accident location for the next three days.

The incident took place just two weeks after a Liberian-flagged vessel carrying hazardous cargo sank off Kerala’s coast.

The vessel went down with cargo containing calcium carbide and more than 84 metric tonnes of diesel, and 367 metric tonnes of furnace oil.

Diesel and furnace oil are both classified as marine pollutants that are toxic to marine life and can contaminate coastal ecosystems.