Jumat, 05 April 2024

Biden vows to rebuild collapsed Baltimore bridge 'rapidly' - BBC

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US President Joe Biden vowed to "move heaven and earth" to help Baltimore recover from a deadly bridge collapse that blocked the city's port.

He added the government will "help you rebuild and maintain all the business and commerce that's here now".

Along with killing six workers, the collapse trapped a massive ship in one of the busiest ports on the East Coast, used by companies such as Amazon.

So far, $60m (£47.4m) has been earmarked for the clean-up effort.

The final cost of clearing the waterway and rebuilding the bridge is likely to be far higher, with some lawmakers estimating it could rise to hundreds of millions of dollars. One, Maryland Democrat David Trone, told CBS, the BBC's US partner, that he believes the cost could be as high as $1bn.

On Friday, Mr Biden re-iterated a previous commitment to help Baltimore fund the recovery process and rebuilding effort.

"I fully intend...that the federal government [will] cover the cost of building this entire bridge. All of it," he said, calling on Congress to authorize funding "as soon as possible".

During his visit, Mr Biden, who has family ties to the city, took an aerial tour of the collapsed area alongside Maryland Governor Wes Moore and other senior officials involved in the salvage effort, before meeting with emergency personnel.

Speaking in the Baltimore suburb of Dundalk - with the cargo ship, the Dali, and the ruined bridge clearly visible - Mr Biden said the federal government will "move heaven and earth" to rebuild the bridge "as rapidly as humanly possible".

He added that the reconstruction effort will be done with "union labour and American steel."

The port is a vital economic hub that is linked to more than 15,000 jobs.

"Folks, we all need to step up," he added, "Amazon, Home Depot...and other companies all rely on this port, and they have committed to keep workers on payrolls."

In his remarks, Mr Biden also directed a message to the families of the "working, strong, selfless" men who died in the accident, with whom he was also scheduled to meet during his visit. All six were immigrants from Mexico and Central America.

"Never forget the contributions these men made to this city," he said. "We're going to keep working hard to recover each of them."

In a 5 April letter to senior members of House and Senate committees focused on infrastructure, transportation, public works and the environment, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalonda Young wrote that the administration would pursue "all avenues to recover the costs of past, current and future work".

In the wake of the crash, the "unified command" responsible for the response opened two smaller temporary shipping channels in the area to allow limited maritime traffic to pass through.

By the end of April, officials hope to open a limited access channel 280ft (80m) wide and 35ft (10m) deep to allow one-way traffic for barge containers and some other vessels that carry cars and equipment.

The entire, permanent channel is expected to be clear and ready for use by the end of May, the unified command said in a statement earlier this week.

That timeline, however, may change due to weather and unexpected complications with the salvage effort.

"This is going to take time," Mr Biden said.

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2024-04-05 20:39:25Z
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Israel details 'grave mistake' in killing of 7 Gaza aid workers - Financial Times

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  1. Israel details 'grave mistake' in killing of 7 Gaza aid workers  Financial Times
  2. Israel-Gaza: IDF sacks officers over World Central Kitchen convoy attack  BBC
  3. Chaos, distrust and indiscipline are undermining Israel's war, say insiders  The Independent
  4. Israeli inquiry findings on aid worker killings lack credibility, charity says  The Guardian
  5. ‘Serious failure’: IDF fires 2 top officers over deadly drone strike on Gaza aid convoy  The Times of Israel

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2024-04-05 17:57:30Z
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Israel details 'grave mistake' in killing of 7 Gaza aid workers - Financial Times

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

  1. Israel details 'grave mistake' in killing of 7 Gaza aid workers  Financial Times
  2. Israel Gaza latest: Israel military sacks senior officers after aid workers killed  BBC
  3. Middle East crisis live: Israel military sacks two senior officers over killing of aid workers and says strikes were ‘a tragedy’  The Guardian
  4. Israeli military fires two senior officers as report finds strike on aid workers was in ‘serious violation of commands’  CNN

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2024-04-05 10:52:07Z
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Israel to open routes for humanitarian aid into Gaza - after being urged to by Joe Biden - Sky News

Israel has announced it is opening new routes for humanitarian deliveries into Gaza after a warning from US President Joe Biden that it must protect civilians.

The Erez Crossing into northern parts of the Gaza Strip will be opened for the first time since the Hamas attacks of October 7 - and aid will temporarily be allowed to flow through the Port of Ashdod.

Israeli officials have also said they are planning to increase the amount of aid from Jordan moving through the Kerem Shalom crossing.

"This increased aid will prevent a humanitarian crisis and is necessary to ensure the continuation of the fighting and to achieve the goals of the war," a spokesman for the Israeli government said.

A map showing crossings into Gaza
File pic: AP
Image: The Erez Crossing into northern parts of Gaza will be accessible for the first time since October 7. File pic: AP

During a call on Thursday, Mr Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately let more trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The president said future US support for Israel's Gaza war depends on the swift implementation of new steps to protect civilians and aid workers.

"He made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers," the White House said in a statement following the leaders' call.

"He made clear that US policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel's immediate action on these steps."

Eyewitness: Long lines for watery soup amid fears of mass starvation

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'This is humiliation'

Sky's US correspondent Mark Stone said allowing aid through the Port of Ashdod will be "a game-changing moment".

"Remember the Americans had been forced to announce the construction of a temporary port off the Gaza shoreline to receive aid. Now, it can come from Cyprus into a fully functioning port," he said.

He also said opening the Erez Crossing will be another significant moment, adding: "Aid arriving in Ashdod can then be driven the 20 miles south to Erez and across into the strip."

On streamlining the movement of aid through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, he said: "It's not clear precisely what this will look like, but I am told it could involve military trucks from Jordan being allowed straight into Gaza.

"Remember, at the moment all aid must go through bottlenecks in the south exacerbated by rigorous Israeli security checks which the Americans and aid agencies say are over the top."

Biden and Netanyahu call represented most strained moment yet

The three-point announcement to ease aid flows into Gaza represents the most significant move by Israel since this conflict began six months ago.

It also starkly undermines Israel's own oft-repeated assertion that it has not blocked or impeded aid movement into Gaza.

It follows a call between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This was a tense, challenging conversation I am told - but not one in which any direct ultimatums were issued by the Americans.

The US vibe was more "you're making it harder and harder for us to support you" than "do this, or else".

The Biden-Netanyahu relationship has been increasingly tested - and my sense is this call represented the most strained moment yet.

Read Stone's full analysis here.

Routes must be 'rapidly implemented'

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the move, but said the "critical test" is yet to come.

He acknowledged Israel faces "a unique challenge of dealing with an enemy that embeds itself within the civilian population, that hides behind them, underneath them in tunnels and mosques and schools, apartment buildings".

But he added Israel also has an obligation "to maximise protection for civilians, to make that a priority". "That, too, is the critical test," he said.

On humanitarian aid, he added: "What we're looking to see in the days and weeks ahead is... sustaining it, getting it to the people who need it, making sure that those who are providing it are safe and secure and maximising every effort to protect civilians - those who are caught in the crossfire of Hamas's making.

"We just can't have so many people caught in the crossfire, killed, injured, going forward."

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'We can't have so many people killed'

The US National Security Council has welcomed Israel's plans to increase aid flowing into Gaza.

However, it is unclear when these humanitarian routes will open - with American officials calling for this to be "fully and rapidly implemented".

Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said: "As the president said... US policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel's immediate action on these and other steps, including steps to protect innocent civilians and the safety of aid workers."

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UK 'will hold Israel to account'

The deaths of seven aid workers earlier this week - including three British nationals - in an attack by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has led some charities to suspend their operations.

Lord Cameron told the Mail that Mr Netanyahu and other senior ministers "know how serious this issue is and how they have got to get to the bottom of it and frankly make sure it never happens again".

'We will hold Israel to account," the foreign secretary added. "That is what the transparent full inquiry is all about. When these things happen even on a battlefield... they have consequences."

Read more:
Civil servants request to stop work over arms sales to Israel
Gaza's morgue network has effectively collapsed
How to rein in Netanyahu when Biden can't pull the key lever

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He declined to say if the UK is confident Israel is acting within international law - or if arms sales might be suspended.

The IDF will give an update on its investigation into that airstrike later today.

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2024-04-05 06:33:18Z
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Taiwan races against time to rescue 18 still trapped as 400 aftershocks rock island - The Independent

Rescuers in Taiwan raced against time on Friday to find 18 people, including foreign nationals, still missing two days after the island was jolted by the strongest earthquake in 25 years.

The death toll from Wednesday’s 7.4-magnitude earthquake rose to 12, authorities said, with more than 1,000 people sustaining injuries.

Taiwan’s Fire Department said searchers discovered two more bodies in the mountains, with the death toll expected to rise further.

Authorities identified three of the missing individuals as Australian and Canadian nationals as rescuers continued to try and save hundreds of people still stranded after rocks and mud blocked the roads leading to their hotels, campgrounds or work sites in the eastern Hualien area.

At least 50 aftershocks rattled the area overnight, some felt as far away as capital Taipei, after 400 tremors were initially recorded from Wednesday morning into Thursday night by the Central Weather Administration.

Rescuers said about 400 people cut off in a luxury hotel in the Taroko Gorge national park were safe, with helicopters ferrying out the injured and bringing supplies.

“Rain increases the risks of rockfalls and landslides, which are currently the biggest challenges,” Su Yu-ming, the leader of a search team helping the rescue effort, told Reuters.

“These factors are unpredictable, which means we cannot confirm the number of days required for the search and rescue operations.”

Some 700 people remained cut off, the vast majority of them employees and guests at a hotel in the national park.

Authorities said they were safe and had food and water, and that work to repair the roads to the hotel was nearly finished. Another 10 workers from the same hotel were stranded elsewhere in the park, after most of the others in the group were rescued or managed to walk out.

A relative hugs a man who was rescued from a remote area, following the earthquake, in Hualien (Reuters)

A group of 50 workers, who were on their way to the hotel and had been trapped on roads, were later rescued.

“I am lucky to survive this disaster. We were terrified, especially when the earthquake first happened, we thought it was all over, all over, all over, because it was an earthquake, right?” said David Chen, 63, a security manager at the hotel.

“As we were leaving, rocks were still falling. We had to navigate through the gaps between the falling rocks, with the search and rescue team upfront,” he added.

Premier Chen Chien-je visited a disaster response center in Hualien as the federal government announced the allocation of NT$300m (£7.41m) for recovery efforts.

Japan on Friday said the would provide $1m (£791,750) in relief aid to Taiwan to support rescue activities and recovery.

Some 200 residents of Hualien County near the epicentre were staying in temporary shelters when the aftershocks struck, and the main road linking the county to Taipei was still closed Thursday afternoon.

“The aftershocks were terrifying,” said Yu, a 52-year-old woman from Hualien, who gave only her family name. “It’s non-stop. I do not dare to sleep in the house.”

Outside the city, a helicopter ferried to safety six miners trapped on a cliff in a dramatic rescue after the quake cut off the roads into Hualien’s soaring mountains, in footage shown by the department.

Two trapped workers of Taroko National Park have a physical examination after being rescued (AP)

The Agriculture Ministry urged people to keep away from the mountains because of the risk of falling rocks and the formation of “barrier lakes” as water pools behind unstable debris.

Rescue workers reached the a in Taroko Gorge, cut off by the quake, by helicopter and established that all 400 people there were safe. The fire department said work to reopen the road would continue in the morning.

In the city, dozens of residents queued outside one badly damaged 10-storey building, waiting to go in and retrieve belongings.

Clad in helmets and accompanied by government personnel, each was given 10 minutes to collect valuables in huge garbage bags, though some saved time by throwing items out of windows into the street below.

People look on as workers carry out operations on a partially-collapsed building following the earthquake (Reuters)

“This building is no longer liveable,” said Tian Liang-si, who had a home on the fifth floor, as she scrambled to gather her laptop, family photographs and other crucial items.

She recalled the moment the quake struck, sending the building lurching and furniture sliding, while she rushed to save her four puppies.

A relative hugs a man who was rescued from a remote area, following the earthquake, in Hualien, Taiwan (Reuters)

Of the 12 dead, at least four were killed inside Taroko National Park, a tourist attraction famous for canyons and cliffs in mountainous Hualien about 90 miles from Taipei.

One person was found dead in a damaged building and another was found in the Ho Ren Quarry. Rescuers also carried out the body of a man, who had severe wounds on his head, from a hiking trail on Thursday.

Hualien was last struck by a deadly quake in 2018 which killed 17 people and brought down a historic hotel.

Taiwan’s worst recent earthquake struck on 21 September 1999, a magnitude 7.7 temblor that caused 2,400 deaths, injured around 100,000 and destroyed thousands of buildings.

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2024-04-05 08:36:44Z
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Kamis, 04 April 2024

Joe Biden says US support for war in Gaza depends on Israel's conduct - Financial Times

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  1. Joe Biden says US support for war in Gaza depends on Israel's conduct  Financial Times
  2. Biden says Israel must prevent civilian harm in Gaza to keep US support  BBC
  3. Slamming Netanyahu, Ben Gvir says no vote held on moves to boost aid deliveries to Gaza  The Times of Israel
  4. Joe Biden calls for ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza  The Guardian
  5. Biden tells Israel: stop killing civilians in Gaza  The Telegraph

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2024-04-04 22:02:09Z
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UK's Cameron tells Europe: Pressure House Speaker Johnson on Ukraine - POLITICO Europe

U.S. President Joe Biden has been publicly pressuring House Republicans for months to pass a Ukraine aid package. Johnson, however, leads a fractious GOP caucus that has so far rebuffed efforts to get fresh funding to Ukraine.

Cameron, who has previously traveled to the U.S. to give Ukraine aid the hard sell, painted a gloomy possible outcome for Europe — one in which Ukraine does not prevail, and Europe is divided.

Despite wishing Kyiv to win, Cameron said “there [is] another future where Ukraine gets knocked back, and where there’s cheering in Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, Pyongyang.”

“And NATO and Europe face a future of insecurity, of questioning each other about whether we really stand up for our allies.”

Two percent plea

Cameron also urged Europe to redouble its efforts to reach the level of spending of 2 percent of GDP on defense — a key agenda of Republican ex-president Donald Trump as he bids once again for the White House.

“We need — particularly those who are short on two percent — need to see their prime ministers and presidents and push them to get those budgets,” he said.

The British foreign secretary, a former prime minister who was brought back into government last year, also urged other NATO countries to accelerate work to send weapons nearing expiry dates to Ukraine. “Those weapons should be given to Ukraine — not costly, decommissioned in our own countries,” he said.

Finally, Cameron called on Western allies to “press” their finance ministries to use Russian frozen assets — “whether through syndicated loans or whether through bonds or whatever means necessary to help in Ukraine.”

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2024-04-04 16:33:00Z
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