The Evening Wrap: Israeli air strikes destroy Gaza building that housed media outlets

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The Evening Wrap Saturday | 15 May, 2021

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Israeli air strikes destroy Gaza building that housed media outlets, kills several Palestinian children
An Israeli airstrike destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets on Friday, the latest step by the military to silence reporting from the territory amid its battle with the militant group Hamas. The strike came nearly an hour after the military ordered people to evacuate the building, which also housed Al-Jazeera, other offices, and residential apartments. The strike brought the entire 12-storey building down, collapsing with a gigantic cloud of dust. There was no immediate explanation for why it was attacked. The strike came hours after another Israeli air raid on a densely populated refugee camp in Gaza City killed at least 10 Palestinians from an extended family, mostly children, in the deadliest single strike of the current conflict. The latest outburst of violence began in Jerusalem and has spread across the region, with Jewish-Arab clashes and rioting in mixed cities of Israel. There were also widespread Palestinian protests Friday in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot and killed 11 people. The spiralling violence has raised fears of a new Palestinian "intifada," or uprising at a time when there have been no peace talks in years. Palestinians on Saturday were marking Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, when they commemorate the estimated 700,000 people who were expelled from or fled their homes in what was now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. That raised the possibility of even more unrest. U.S. diplomat Hady Amr arrived Friday as part of Washington's efforts to de-escalate the conflict, and the U.N. Security Council was set to meet Sunday. But Israel turned down an Egyptian proposal for a one-year truce that Hamas rulers had accepted, an Egyptian official said Friday, to discuss the negotiations. Since Monday night, Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, which has pounded the Gaza Strip with strikes. In Gaza, at least 139 people have been killed, including 39 children and 22 women; in Israel, eight people have been killed, including the death Saturday of a man killed by a rocket that hit in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv. The strike on the building housing media offices came in the afternoon, after the building's owner received a call from the Israeli military warning that it would be hit. AP's staff and others in the building evacuated immediately. Al-Jazeera, the news network funded by Qatar's government, broadcast the airstrikes live as the building collapsed. "This channel will not be silence. Al-Jazeera will not be silenced," an on-air anchorwoman said, her voice thick with emotion. "We can guarantee you that right now." Delhi Police arrests 15 people, lodges 17 FIRs over posters critical of Modi's handling of vaccination drive Delhi Police has registered 17 FIRs and arrested 15 people for allegedly pasting posters critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the vaccination drive against Covid-19, officials said on Saturday, PTI reported. The posters reading 'Modiji humare bachon ki vaccine videsh kyu bhej diya (PM why did you send vaccines of our children to foreign countries?)" were pasted in several parts of the city, they said. On Thursday, police received information about the posters, following which senior officers of the districts were alerted. And based on further complaints, as many as 17 FIRs were registered under sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code and other relevant sections including section 3 of the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act across various districts of the Delhi Police, the officials said. A senior police officer said, "More FIRs are likely to be registered if further complaints are received in this regard. As of now, investigation is underway to ascertain as to on whose behalf these posters were being put up at various places across the city and accordingly further action will be taken in the matter." Delhi Police comes under the purview of the Central government, and reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Cairn Energy sues Air India in U.S. court to enforce $1.2 billion arbitration award Cairn Energy has sued flagship carrier Air India to enforce a $1.2 billion arbitration award that it won in a tax dispute against the country, according to a U.S. District Court filing reviewed by Reuters. The move ratchets up pressure on the Union government to pay the sum of $1.2 billion plus interest and costs that the British firm Cairn was awarded by an arbitration tribunal in December. The body ruled India breached an investment treaty with Britain and said New Delhi was liable to pay. Cairn filed the lawsuit on May 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking to make Air India liable for the judgment that was awarded to Cairn. The lawsuit argued that the carrier, as a state-owned company, is "legally indistinct from the state itself". "The nominal distinction between India and Air India is illusory and serves only to aid India in improperly shielding its assets from creditors like [Cairn]," the filing said. Air India and the Union government did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment. In February, Cairn filed a separate case in a U.S. court to recognise and confirm the arbitration award, including payments due since 2014 and interest compounded semi-annually. Responding to queries about the case filed in a U.S. Court, a company spokesperson said, "Cairn is taking the necessary legal steps to protect shareholders' interests in the absence of a resolution to the arbitral award. Cairn remains open to continuing constructive dialogue with the Government of India to arrive at a satisfactory outcome to this long-running issue." Plea in SC seeks CBSE, ICSE Class 12 exams cancellation A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court to direct the authorities to cancel the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) exams for Class 12 students. The petition asked both the boards to instead conceive an objective methodology to declare the Class 12 results within a specific time-frame. "Issue a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to cancel the examination of Class 12 and devise an objective methodology to declare the result within a specific time-frame," advocate Mamta Sharma, who filed the petition, urged. He said the CBSE and ICSE notifications deferring the exams to an unspecified date should be quashed. Students cannot be made to suffer uncertainty in the midst of an unprecedented public health crisis posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. There should not be any uncertainty regarding exams crucial to the future academic study of Class 12 students, the plea stated. Last year, the apex court asked the boards to determine and declare Class 12 exam results on the basis of their earlier grading. The petitioner said the same methodology could be used this year too. Both the boards cannot remain mute spectators and opt to wait and watch for the pandemic wave to ebb. Delay would put the future of the students in peril. The boards had cancelled the Class 10 exams. The same should be done for Class 12 students. "As far as the innocent students of Class12 are concerned, a step-motherly, arbitrary, inhuman direction have been issued to postpone their final examination for an unspecified duration instead of following the directions propounded and accepted by them last year," the petition said. Govt must explain massive under-reporting of Covid-19 deaths in Gujarat, says Congress The Congress on Saturday raised the issue of under-reporting of Covid-19 deaths in some states, especially in Gujarat, and demanded an explanation from both the central and the state governments. Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Shaktisinh Gohil in a joint press conference pointed out that the deaths in Gujarat this year were more than double the number in 2020 and said that the substantial increase can only be attributed to a pandemic. The two Congress leaders cited a news report which showed that Gujarat had issued about 1,23,000 death certificates between March 1 and May 10, as against about 58,000 certificates issued during the same period last year, and said they got these verified after collecting data from 33 districts of the state. The Congress leaders said the sum of the number of the death certificates collected nearly tallies with the numbers published and that comes to 1,23,873 in 2021 against 58,068 last year. However, during the period March 1 to May 10, the government of Gujarat has officially admitted to only 4,218 Covid-related deaths. Chidambaram said the difference between the increase in the number of death certificates (65,805) and the official Covid-related deaths (4,218) must be explained. It cannot be explained as "natural annual increase'" or "due to other causes", he noted. "We have a strong suspicion that the bulk of the increased number of deaths is due to COVID and the state government is suppressing the true number of Covid-related deaths. "We have a strong suspicion that the Government of India, in conjunction with some state governments, is suppressing the true numbers of new infections and Covid-related deaths. If our suspicions are true, this is a grave misdeed apart from being a national shame and a national tragedy," he said. Government's 'disastrous' vaccination policy' will ensure third wave, says Rahul Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday called for a national vaccine strategy and claimed that the government's "disastrous" inoculation policy will "ensure a devastating third wave" in the country. He also accused the Prime Minister of making "mother Ganga cry" after bodies of suspected coronavirus victims were found floating in the river. "The Government of India's (GOI's) disastrous vaccine strategy will ensure a devastating third wave. It can't be repeated enough. India needs a proper vaccine strategy," he said on Twitter. Tagging media reports which had documented that over 2,000 bodies were found in a 1,140 km area along the Ganga, he said, "One who used to say 'Ganga' has called him has made Mother Ganga cry." Gandhi and the Congress have been attacking the prime minister and his government over its vaccine strategy and handling of the pandemic. Cyclone Tauktae has intensified, moving towards Gujarat: IMD Cyclonic storm Tauktae has intensified and is heading towards the coast of Gujarat and the Union Territory of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, though it could bring gusty winds and showers to Mumbai, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday. The cyclonic storm is very likely to intensify further into a "very severe cyclonic storm" by late Saturday night, the IMD said, adding it was very likely to move north-northwestwards and cross Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Naliya around May 18. As it would bring very heavy rainfall in that region, cities like Mumbai would not be affected much, the IMD added. There will be strong winds and heavy rainfall at isolated places on May 17 over north Konkan, including Mumbai, the met department said. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 2,45,77,613 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 2,68,139. The West Bengal government on Saturday announced a complete lockdown from Sunday till May 30 in order to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the State. "We are taking some strict measures to contain the pandemic, starting Sunday 6 am till 6 pm of May 30," Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay said. During this period, all government and private offices, shopping complexes, malls, bars, sports complexes, pubs and beauty parlours will remain closed, he said. Movement of private vehicles, taxis, buses, metro rail, suburban trains will also be disallowed during the 15- day lockdown period. Meanwhile, in Tamil Nadu, the vaccination programme for people aged between 18 and 45 will start in two or three days. The State's Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma. Subramanian on Saturday said that Tamil Nadu had already paid ₹46 crore for 15 lakh doses of vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, of which five lakh doses have arrived. "The drive to vaccinate people in the18-45 age group will soon start in one of the locations in Chennai in two to three days," said the Minister after holding a review meeting in Coimbatore along with Food Minister R. Sakkarapani and Forests Minister K. Ramachandran. In Brief West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's younger brother Ashim Banerjee died on Saturday morning while undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at a hospital in Kolkata, his family said. He was 62. Popular as 'Kali-da', Ashim Banerjee breathed his last around 9.20 am at the private hospital, the family said. He had tested positive for coronavirus nearly a month ago and was admitted since then, an official of the hospital said. He was one of the six brothers of the chief minister. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.

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