Latest news with #Yousef
The National
a day ago
- Business
- The National
Byres Road cafe owners fear soul of street lost to coffee chains
It comes as the Blank Street Coffee chain opened up on the popular shopping street – despite planning permission being refused. Blank Street joins the likes of Pret-A-Manger, Black Sheep Coffee and Starbucks, which are all sandwiched between small businesses. The four big corporate chains are located in the most accessible part of Byres Road – closest to Hillhead Subway station. READ MORE: Glasgow Film Theatre board members resign after Israeli boycott decision At newly established Level 11 Coffee Hub and Café Swiss, which has been open for nearly a decade, senior staff are worried. Yasmin, the Café Swiss manager, was taken aback by the sight of coffee chain cups on Byres Road. 'I'm quite surprised how many people I've seen with it,' Yasmin said. She spoke of the team's relationships with regular customers and added: 'I think that's actually what's kept us going for so long. 'You're never going to get that kind of connection with someone in a big chain.' Meanwhile, Café Swiss barista Noah shared that during a break he had counted 23 chain labelled cups outside in a 10-minute period. Yousef, the co-owner of Level 11, went on: 'I am part of that community that actually go and support small businesses. 'We get a lot of our customers that come here just for that reason. 'The first time, we show them who we are and what we offer, and the effort we put into our product. 'I know my support and another person's support, is actually going to support the business.' Yousef expressed concern over how some chains have removed the social element of a coffee shop, introducing screens to take orders rather than members of staff. 'They've got the screens, there's basically no socialising,' he said. 'The best part of being here is socialising.'
Forbes
3 days ago
- General
- Forbes
More Than 50,000 Children Killed Or Injured In Gaza
Six hundred days after the start of the war in Gaza, Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, asks, 'How many more dead girls and boys will it take?" Injured during an air strike, Yousef lies among the ruins of the tent where his family has been living in a schoolyard in Al-Shuja'iya, Gaza City. Since the end of the ceasefire on March 18, 1,309 children have reportedly been killed and 3,738 injured in Gaza. In total, more than 50,000 children have been reported dead or injured since October 2023. Over the past weekend, 10 siblings under age 12 were pulled from the rubble of their family's home in Khan Younis. Only one reportedly survived, with critical injuries. Days later, a small child was trapped in a burning school in Gaza City; at least 31 people, including 18 children, were reported dead. Yousef, center, lies among ruins in Al-Shuja'iya on May 27, 2025. 'We were sleeping here in a tent in the schoolyard, and suddenly the tent and stones collapsed on us," Yousef says. "My leg was broken.' His father, left, adds: 'Suddenly, we found ourselves under the rubble. I tried to get out from underneath, and I found my younger son inside — I pulled him out. When I looked around, all I could see was fire. People were burning and screaming. My younger son, Kinan, was injured and is now in the intensive care unit at the hospital.' "Images from [these] two horrific attacks provide yet more evidence of the unconscionable cost of this ruthless war on children in the Gaza Strip," Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa said in a statement. 'These children — lives that should never be reduced to numbers — are now part of a long, harrowing list of unimaginable horrors: the grave violations against children, the blockade of aid, the starvation, the constant forced displacement and the destruction of hospitals, water systems, schools and homes. In essence, the destruction of life itself in the Gaza Strip." A mother holds her 1-year-old daughter, Asmaa, outside a UNICEF malnutrition screening and treatment point in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip on May 25, 2025. 'Asmaa started losing weight a few months ago because it was really difficult to find anything to eat. Nothing is available, and I can hardly provide any food for my baby. She started to improve slightly when she began eating the nutrition supplements provided here. She now weighs nine kilos — before, she only weighed five.' Despite the extremely challenging circumstances, UNICEF staff remain present on the ground in the Gaza Strip, delivering supplies and essential services where they are most needed. UNICEF continues to screen and treat children for malnutrition, and to distribute multipurpose cash assistance to help families purchase food and medicines, when they are available in the market. UNICEF is supporting critical water, sanitation and hygiene services, including the delivery of safe drinking water to 1.5 million people. Children are attending UNICEF temporary learning spaces, and being vaccinated against measles, polio and diphtheria. With the summer approaching, the country office is extremely concerned about the the outbreak of waterborne diseases, especially acute watery diarrhea, where they have seen increases. Sustained support is needed from donors to reach every child in need. Learn more about UNICEF's ongoing emergency response in Gaza On May 25, 2025, a mother holds her 1-year-old son at a UNICEF-supported malnutrition screening and treatment point in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip. 'We are originally from Rafah, and I have been displaced many times,' she said. 'I have been struggling since he was born. The saddest thing is that he needs nutritious food, which is not available. He is always tired and sick, and refuses to eat anything. But he loves this [ready-to-use therapeutic] food — when he sees it, he starts eating it right away.' Every child has the right to a safe and healthy childhood. UNICEF is once again urging all parties to the conflict to end the violence, protect civilians, including children, respect international humanitarian law and human rights law, allow the immediate provision of humanitarian aid, and release all hostages. "How many more dead girls and boys will it take?" asked Beigbeder. "What level of horror must be live streamed before the international community fully steps up, uses its influence, and takes bold, decisive action to force the end of this ruthless killing of children?" 'The children of Gaza need protection," Beigbeder continued. "They need food, water and medicine. They need a ceasefire. But more than anything, they need immediate, collective action to stop this once and for all.' Help UNICEF save more lives. Please donate today. Right now, the lives of the most vulnerable children hang in the balance as conflicts and crises jeopardize the care and protection that they deserve. Dependable, uninterrupted and effective foreign aid is critical to the well-being of millions of children. Please contact your members of Congress and urge them to support ongoing U.S. investments in foreign assistance.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Georgetown scholar released from ICE detention says they treated him like a ‘subhuman'
Badar Khan Suri, the postdoctoral scholar and professor at Georgetown University who was arrested and targeted for deportation by the Trump administration, has been released. Khan Suri, has been held in the Prairieland Detention Center in Texas since March, left the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility Wednesday afternoon. It comes after Eastern District of Virginia Judge Patricia Giles said in her ruling that Khan Suri's detention was in violation of the First Amendment, the right to free speech, and the Fifth amendment, the right to due process. Khan Suri spoke out for the first time after being released. 'There was no charge, there was nothing,' he said from outside the detention center. 'They made a sub human out of me.' Khan Suri's attorneys had filed a petition that sought to determine whether his detainment was lawful, known as a habeas corpus petition. He was sent to Texas after first being detained overnight at a Virginia facility, and then transferred to Louisiana due to a lack of space in Virginia, according to court documents. The government last month filed a motion to move the case out of Virginia, arguing that the habeas petition must be filed where the petitioner is detained. Giles denied that motion, citing the lack of clarity as to where Khan Suri actually was when the petition was filed. Khan Suri, who has been a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown for the past three years, was accused by the Department of Homeland Security of 'actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.' Khan Suri 'has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas,' DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said on X. In her ruling, Giles said that the government had failed to provide evidence that Khan Suri was a flight risk or danger to the community. She added that it also did not provide proof to support that Khan Suri would be a national security risk. His wife, Maphaz Ahmad Yousef, said that hearing the judge's words 'brought tears to my eyes.' 'I wish I could give her a heartfelt hug,' Yousef said at a news conference. ACLU attorney Sophia Gregg said the case was about more than the release of Khan Suri. 'Americans don't want to live in a country where the federal government disappears people whose views it doesn't like,' she said at the news conference. 'If they can do this to Dr. Suri, they can do this to anyone.' Yousef said that while the ordeal has been difficult for her family, Khan Suri said that he did not regret his support for Palestine. 'Badar told me, 'If my suffering in the detention center is because I married to a Palestinian and because I spoke out against the genocide in Gaza, then I should wear it as a badge of honor,'' she said at the news conference. Yousef also said called for the freedom of those who have been 'disappeared and detained,' including Columbia graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who's been in ICE custody since early March. "I can't wait for the moment when my husband will reunite with my children," she said. "It's a victory, a victory for all of us, a victory for justice.' Yousef, an American citizen who is originally from Gaza, is also a student at Georgetown. Her father, Ahmed Yousef, is a former adviser to now-deceased Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. In an interview with The New York Times, Ahmed Yousef said he left his position more than a decade ago. He has also been outspoken in his criticism of Hamas. According to court documents, Khan Suri met his father-in-law in person for the first and only time in 2013 to ask for his blessing to marry Yousef. Since getting married, Khan Suri has spoken to Ahmed Yousef from time to time about 'family matters and his academic pursuits,' the documents said. But since the entire family moved to the U.S. in 2023, Khan Suri has not spoken directly to his father-in-law. Maphaz Ahmad Yousef, who's lost several family members in the war in Gaza, has posted information about the events occurring there, court documents say. 'On not more than a handful of occasions, Dr. Khan Suri also made social media posts expressing support for the Palestinian people, criticizing the death toll in Gaza, affirming international law principles, and criticizing U.S. support for Israel's war in Gaza,' the documents said. Khan Suri says he has never attended any protests. 'I came to the U.S. to work and raise my family: I go to work, come home late, and still they came and took me and broke my family,' Khan Suri said in a news release. 'In my work, I've seen lots of injustice. I just didn't think it would happen to me here.' Khan Suri's attorney Hassan Ahmad previously told NBC News that Khan Suri has never made any pro-Hamas or antisemitic comments, calling his detention 'contemptible.' Khan Suri's habeas petition also described the conditions in the detention center. When first arriving in Texas, the documents said, Suri wasn't assigned to a bed in a dorm and was instead put in the facility's 'TV room,' where the television runs every day from 5 a.m. to 2 a.m, the petition said. Khan Suri had also requested religious accommodations, the petition said, and only received halal food after five days. 'On April 2, officers came and told him that he had complained through his lawyer about his religious accommodations and asked him for more details. After Dr. Khan Suri reaffirmed his needs, he was given a prayer mat, a Quran, and provided a space on a bed in the dorm, outside of the TV room.' While detained, Khan Suri was issued a bright red uniform, usually reserved for individuals classified as high security due to their criminal history, the petition said. When he asked about his uniform, Khan Suri was told that he fell under the category due to his association 'with a known criminal group — presumably based on Respondents' unfounded claims of his connections to Hamas,' the petition said. 'Due to his classification and security protocols at the facility, Dr. Khan Suri is only permitted two hours per week of recreation,' the petition article was originally published on
Global News
14-05-2025
- Global News
Charges against Maple Ridge councillor date back as far as 2015
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook The criminal charges against a Maple Ridge, B.C., city councillor who is now on leave date back to 2015, Global News has learned. In a Monday Facebook post, popular Coun. Ahmed Yousef announced he was taking leave to address 'personal matters' and that he hoped to return to council 'at the earliest possible opportunity.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Prosecutors approved criminal charges against Yousef on May 9, with many of the details surrounding the alleged offences covered by publication bans. Court records show the councillor is facing four counts of assault relating to four separate alleged victims, one count of pointing a firearm and one count of carelessly storing a firearm. Charging documents alleged the incidents happened on dates between January 2015 through March 2024 in Maple Ridge. Reached at his home on Tuesday, Yousef declined to comment and directed questions to his lawyer. Story continues below advertisement Yousef's counsel, Phil Riddell, said he could not say anything due to the publication ban. He is due back in court on June 9 in Port Coquitlam.
Global News
13-05-2025
- Global News
Maple Ridge city councillor on leave amid criminal charges
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook A Maple Ridge, B.C., city councillor has taken a leave from his role as he faces criminal charges. So far, the nature of the charges isn't clear; both the Crown and Ahmed Yousef's lawyer are citing a publication ban to avoid releasing details. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Yousef's attorney, Phil Riddell, told Global News his client is out on bail and that the next court date is June 9. Beyond that, Riddell had no comment. On his Facebook page, Yousef wrote that he was taking a leave to, 'Focus my time and efforts on some personal matters.' 'I hope to take my seat back at council at the earliest possible opportunity,' he added.
