On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, 25 November, the report Femicides in 2023: Global Estimates of Intimate Partner/Family Member Femicides by UN Women and UNODC reveals that femicide—the most extreme form of violence against women and girls—remains pervasive globally.
Globally, 85,000 women and girls were killed intentionally in 2023. 60 per cent of these homicides –51,100- were committed by an intimate partner or a family member. The data shows that 140 women and girls die every day at the hands of their partner or a close relative, which means one woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes.
In 2023, Africa recorded the highest rates of intimate partner and family-related femicide, followed by the Americas, and then by Oceania. In Europe and the Americas, most women killed in the domestic sphere (64 per cent and 58 per cent, respectively) were victims of intimate partners, while elsewhere, family members were the primary perpetrators.
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Category: Humanity (Page 1 of 23)
80 years ago today, 160,000 troops from Britain, Canada, USA, —along with a dozen other nations— stormed five sandy beaches along the Normandy Coast, intending to liberate France and mainland Europe from Adolf Hitler’s tyranny.
The Canadian Encyclopedia says »
Juno Beach was the Allied code name for a 10 km stretch of French coastline assaulted by Canadian soldiers on D-Day, 6 June 1944, during the Second World War. The Canadian Army’s 3rd Infantry Division and 2nd Armoured Brigade seized the beach and its seaside villages while under intense fire from German defenders — an extraordinary example of military skill, reinforced by countless acts of personal courage. The 3rd Infantry Division took heavy casualties in its first wave of attack but took control of the beach by the end of the day. More than 14,000 Canadian soldiers landed or parachuted into France on D-Day. The Royal Canadian Navy contributed 110 warships and 10,000 sailors and the RCAF contributed 15 fighter and fighter-bomber squadrons to the assault. There were 1,074 Canadian casualties, including 359 killed.
Footage
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Anti-Zionist Jews have formed a large part of the protests across the United States, and indeed the world, against Israel’s war on Gaza.
In this Al Jazeera’s interview and Simone Zimmerman, co-founder, IfNotNow, a Jewish advocacy group , we hear of her own transition away from Zionism forms the core of the 2023 award-winning documentary, Israelism.
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More » Al Jazeera
“The fighting in Gaza will continue for at least another seven months,” the prime minister’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, told Israel’s Kan public radio.
He also said Israel’s military had taken control of 75% of the buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border, as it pressed ahead with an assault on the southern city of Rafah.
Residents of Rafah meanwhile reported that there had been more Israeli air strikes and that tanks had mounted raids in central and western areas before retreating. »
Already, some 36,000 Palestinians, mostly children, women and non-combatants, have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli army since October 7, 2024. To date, the government of Israel has shown no intention of ceasing the genocidal actions against the innocent Palestinians, choosing instead to ignore the International Court of Justice order to stop its military operation in the Gaza city of Rafah.
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The Israeli shelling and airstrikes continues despite an order from the top U.N. court on Friday for Israel to halt its offensive in southern Gaza.
More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive. The majority are children, women, and other non-combatants. Israel launched its air and ground war after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023 killing around 1,200 people and seizing some 250 hostages, according to Israel.
Samy Magdy and Wafaa Shurafa, writing for the Associated Press »
Israeli shelling and airstrikes killed at least 37 people, most of them sheltering in tents, outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight and on Tuesday — pummeling the same area where strikes triggered a deadly fire days earlier in a camp for displaced Palestinians — according to witnesses, emergency workers and hospital officials.
The tent camp inferno has drawn widespread international outrage, including from some of Israel’s closest allies, over the military’s expanding offensive into Rafah. And in a sign of Israel’s growing isolation on the world stage, Spain, Norway and Ireland formally recognized a Palestinian state on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia condemned on Tuesday the Israeli forces’ continued “genocidal massacres against the Palestinian people without deterrence” by targeting the tents of defenseless Palestinian refugees in Rafah. The Kingdom holds the Israeli authorities fully responsible for what is happening in Rafah and all the occupied Palestinian territories, a foreign ministry statement read.
Health officials said at least 45 Palestinians were killed in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday night, including displaced people living in tents who were burnt alive.
Netanyahu called it a “tragic mistake.”
Footage and images released from the scene of the strike show large scale destruction.
More » BBC / France 24 / France 24 / Euronews / The Journal / CTV News / Axios / AP / VOA / Time / NYT / Arab News / Globe and Mail
World Leaders Outraged » Officials in France, Germany, EU call for ceasefire » (Salon)
French President Emmanuel Macron called for an immediate cease-fire (UPI)
UN Security Council Expected to hold emergency meeting today (AP)
Meanwhile » Israel continues striking Rafah (Le Monde / BBC)
Israeli tanks advance into Rafah’s centre despite global outcry (Reuters)
The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said some European countries have been trying to intimidate International Court of Justice judges, following their decision to order Israel to stop its military operation in Rafah. Borrell said the court’s order must be obeyed but he warned that the ruling poses a serious dilemma for the EU.
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