Activists launch land convoy from Maghreb states to break Gaza siege
TUNIS: Tunisians gather at a meeting point in Tunis on June 9, 2025, ahead of the departure of a land convoy named 'Steadfastness' to break the siege on Gaza. - AFP
Hundreds of people from Algeria, Tunisia and other countries launched on Monday a land convoy bound for Gaza, seeking to break Israel's siege on the Palestinian territory, activists said.
The nine-bus "Soumoud" convoy, meaning "steadfastness" in Arabic, launched from Maghreb countries aiming to pass through Libya and Egypt and arrive in Rafah, in southern Gaza, "by the end of the week", activist Jawaher Channa said.
"We are about a thousand people, and we will have more join us along the way," said Channa, spokeswoman of the Tunisian Coordination of Joint Action for Palestine, the group organizing the caravan. The group, which contains doctors, includes Algerian, Mauretanian, Moroccan and Libyan activists. - AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kuwait Times
a day ago
- Kuwait Times
Vietnam scraps two-child limit as birth rate declines
Declining birth rate poses challenges to long-term socio-economic development HANOI: Vietnam's communist government has scrapped its long-standing policy of limiting families to two children, state media said Wednesday, as the country battles to reverse a declining birth rate. The country banned couples from having more than two children in 1988, but a family's size is now a decision for each individual couple, Vietnam News Agency said. The country has experienced historically low birth rates in the last three years. The total fertility rate dropped to 1.91 children per woman in 2024, below replacement level, the ministry of health said this year. Birth rates have fallen from 2.11 children per woman in 2021, to 2.01 in 2022 and 1.96 in 2023. This trend is most pronounced in urbanized, economically developed regions, especially in big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as the cost of living rises. Tran Minh Huong, a 22-year-old office worker, told AFP that the government regulation mattered little to her as she had no plans to have children. 'Even though I am an Asian, with social norms that say women need to get married and have kids, it's too costly to raise a child.' Sex imbalance Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thi Lien Huong, speaking at a conference earlier this year, warned it was increasingly difficult to encourage families to have more children, despite policy adjustments and public campaigns. She emphasized that the declining birth rate poses challenges to long-term socio-economic development, including an ageing population and workforce shortages. She urged society to shift its mindset from focusing solely on family planning to a broader perspective of population and development. Vietnam is also grappling with sex imbalances due to a historic preference for boys. On Tuesday the ministry of health proposed tripling the current fine to $3,800 'to curb foetal gender selection', according to state media. It is forbidden to inform parents of the sex of their baby before birth in Vietnam, as well as to perform an abortion for sex-selection reasons, with penalties imposed on clinics who break the law. The sex ratio at birth, though improved, remains skewed at 112 boys for every 100 girls. Hoang Thi Oanh, 45, has three children but received fewer benefits after the birth of her youngest, due to the two-child policy. 'It's good that at last the authorities removed this ban,' she said, but added that 'raising more than two kids nowadays is too hard and costly.' 'Only brave couples and those better-off would do so. I think the authorities will even have to give bonuses to encourage people to have more than two children.' Vietnam's neighbor China ended its own strict 'one-child policy', imposed in the 1980s due to fears of overpopulation, in 2016 and in 2021 permitted couples to have three children. But as in many countries, the soaring cost of living has proved a drag on birth rates and the moves have failed to reverse China's demographic decline - its population fell for the third year in a row in 2024. — AFP
Kuwait Times
a day ago
- Kuwait Times
Bitter row deepened by export curbs
LONDON: The United States and China began a second day of trade talks on Tuesday, seeking to shore up a shaky tariff truce in a bitter row deepened by export curbs. The gathering of key officials from the world's two biggest economies began Monday in London, after an earlier round of talks in Geneva last month. Stock markets wavered as investors hoped the talks will bring some much-needed calm on trading floors and ease tensions between the economic superpowers. A US Treasury spokesman told AFP on Tuesday the "talks resumed earlier this" morning. One of US President Donald Trump's top advisers said he expected "a big, strong handshake" at the end of the talks in the historic Lancaster House, operated by the UK foreign ministry. Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday: "We are doing well with China. China's not easy. "I'm only getting good reports." The agenda is expected to be dominated by exports of rare earth minerals used in a wide range of things including smartphones, electric vehicle batteries and green technology. "In Geneva, we had agreed to lower tariffs on them, and they had agreed to release the magnets and rare earths that we need throughout the economy," Trump's top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, told CNBC on Monday. But even though Beijing was releasing some supplies, "it was going a lot slower than some companies believed was optimal", he added. Still, he said he expected "a big, strong handshake" at the end of the talks. "Our expectation is that after the handshake, any export controls from the US will be eased, and the rare earths will be released in volume," Hassett added. He also said the Trump administration might be willing to ease some recent curbs on tech exports. Concessions? Tensions between Washington and Beijing have heightened since Trump took office in January, with both countries engaging in a tariffs war hiking duties on each other's exports to three figures - an effective trade embargo. The Geneva pact to cool tensions temporarily brought new US tariffs on Chinese goods down from 145 percent to 30 percent, and Chinese countermeasures from 125 percent to 10 percent. But Trump recently said China had "totally violated" the deal. "Investors are willing to grab on to any positive trade headline right now, as this is keeping hopes of a rally alive," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB. Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at the Swissquote Bank, said that although there had been "no breakthrough" it seemed "the first day of the second round of negotiations reportedly went relatively well". "Rumors are circulating that the US may be willing to make concessions on tech exports in exchange for China easing restrictions on rare earth metal exports," she said. Rare earth shipments from China to the US have slowed since the tariff war was triggered by Trump's so-called "Liberation Day" announcements, according to Brooks. The US leader slapped sweeping levies of 10 percent on friend and foe alike, and threatened steeper rates on dozens of economies. The tariffs have already had a sharp effect, with official figures from Beijing showing Chinese exports to the United States in May plunged by 12.7 percent. China is also in talks with other trading partners - including Japan and South Korea - to try to build a united front to counter Trump's tariffs. Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Tuesday urged South Korea's new President Lee Jae-myung to work with Beijing to uphold free trade to ensure "the stability and smooth functioning of global and regional industrial and supply chains." "A healthy, stable, and continuously deepening China–South Korea relationship aligns with the trend of the times," Xi said in a phone call, according to the Xinhua news agency. Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng is heading the team in London, which included Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and China International Trade Representative Li Chenggang. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are leading the US delegation.- AFP
Kuwait Times
a day ago
- Kuwait Times
Activists launch land convoy from Maghreb states to break Gaza siege
TUNIS: Tunisians gather at a meeting point in Tunis on June 9, 2025, ahead of the departure of a land convoy named 'Steadfastness' to break the siege on Gaza. - AFP Hundreds of people from Algeria, Tunisia and other countries launched on Monday a land convoy bound for Gaza, seeking to break Israel's siege on the Palestinian territory, activists said. The nine-bus "Soumoud" convoy, meaning "steadfastness" in Arabic, launched from Maghreb countries aiming to pass through Libya and Egypt and arrive in Rafah, in southern Gaza, "by the end of the week", activist Jawaher Channa said. "We are about a thousand people, and we will have more join us along the way," said Channa, spokeswoman of the Tunisian Coordination of Joint Action for Palestine, the group organizing the caravan. The group, which contains doctors, includes Algerian, Mauretanian, Moroccan and Libyan activists. - AFP
