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Limited testing capabilities suggest the numbers released are likely to represent only a tiny fraction of total cases.

North Korea on Saturday reported 21 deaths and tens of thousands more people with fever symptoms as leader Kim Jong Un said the outbreak of COVID-19 had put the country in “great turmoil”.

The isolated nation made an admission of its first COVID outbreak earlier this week, after claiming no infections since the start of the more than two years ago.

State media announced the first suspected deaths from the virus on Friday.

The new deaths and cases increased the total numbers to 27 deaths and 524,440 illnesses amid a rapid spread of fever since late April. North Korea said 243,630 people had recovered and 280,810 remained in quarantine.

State media did not elaborate on how many of the fever cases and deaths were confirmed as COVID-19.

North Korea, one of only two countries in the world not to have had a COVID vaccination campaign, has limited testing capabilities suggesting the numbers released probably represent only a small fraction of total infections.

Amid the outbreak, the country’s ruling workers’ Party met for an emergency meeting on the situation, according to KCNA.

“The spread of the malignant epidemic is a great turmoil to fall on our country since the founding,” the state news agency quoted Kim as telling the meeting.

He expressed optimism, however, that officials would be able to bring the outbreak under control, saying most transmissions were occurring within communities that had been isolated from one another and not spreading from the region.

The country has imposed stronger preventive measures aimed at restricting the movement of people and supplies between cities and counties since Thursday, but state media’s descriptions of the steps suggest people are not being confined to their homes.

Experts say a failure to control the spread of COVID-19 could have devastating consequences in North Korea, given the state of its healthcare system and that its 26 million people are largely unvaccinated.

North Korea has been testing about 1,400 people a week, Harvard Medical School’s Kee Park who has worked on healthcare projects in the country, told Reuters news agency.

Since late April, 524,440 people have shown signs of fever, KCNA said.

Epidemic control officials told the Workers’ Party meeting that “in most cases, human consequences were caused by negligence including drug overdose due to lack of knowledge of treatment methods”, state media said.

North Korea previously rejected offers of COVID-19 vaccinations, and while South Korea, China and the WHO have all offered assistance to help deal with the outbreak, Pyongyang has yet to indicate whether it will accept their assistance.

Council also calls for immediate and impartial investigation into the death of the Al Jazeera journalist who was shot earlier this week.

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously condemned the killing of Palestinian American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the occupied West Bank, according to diplomats.

The statement, a rare case of Security Council unity on an issue related to Israel, also called for “an immediate, thorough, transparent, and impartial investigation” into her death.

The UN’s Human Rights Office has also called for a thorough and independent investigation into the killing, saying it might constitute a war crime.

According to diplomats who spoke to AFP news agency on condition of anonymity, the negotiations in the Security Council on Friday were particularly arduous.

China successfully pushed the United States to remove paragraphs condemning abuses committed against the media around the world, defending their freedom and urging their protection while covering military operations, according to diplomatic sources and different versions of the declaration obtained by AFP during the discussions.

The final text said that “journalists should be protected as civilians”.

Abu Akleh, an internationally respected veteran journalist for Al Jazeera, was shot by Israeli armed forces as she covered a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. She was wearing a helmet and a vest that clearly identified her as a journalist.

The Security Council statement made no mention of the violence during Friday’s funeral for Abu Akleh.

Television footage showed pallbearers struggling to prevent Abu Akleh’s coffin from falling to the ground as baton-wielding Israeli police officers charged at them, grabbing Palestinian flags from mourners.

The attacks were condemned by Al Jazeera as “a scene that violates all norms and international laws.”

The Israeli military said its initial investigation into Abu Akleh’s death showed that a heavy firefight was under way in Jenin approximately 200 meters (about 220 yards) from where she was killed, but that it was unable to determine whether she was shot by Israeli forces or Palestinian fighters.

In a statement issued on Friday, the military said Palestinian gunmen recklessly fired hundreds of rounds at an Israeli military vehicle, some in the direction of where Abu Akleh was standing. It said Israeli forces returned fire, and that without doing ballistic analysis, it was responsible not able to determine who was for her death.

Reporters who were with Abu Akleh, including one who was shot and wounded, said there were no or fighters in the immediate area when she was killed.

Al Jazeera has accused Israel of “blatant murder” and has called for an independent investigation into her death.

The UN experts noted that Abu Akleh’s killing came amid rising violence in the occupied West Bank and Gaza in recent years.

Last year, according to the statement, marked the highest number of Palestinian deaths resulting from confrontations with Israelis since 2014. It also came a high rate of attacks against Palestinians.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The UN Security Council on Friday night strongly condemned the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and called for “an immediate, thorough, transparent, and fair and impartial investigation.”

A press statement was approved by the 15 council members after language was removed emphasizing the importance of media freedom and the need for working in dangerous areas to be protected at the insistence of China and Russia, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions were private.

The council statement reiterated “that should be protected as civilians” and also condemned the injury to Abu Akleh’s colleague.

Abu Akleh, 51, was a household name across the Arab world, revered for her coverage of Palestinian life under Israeli rule for the Al Jazeera satellite channel for the last 25 years.

She was shot dead Wednesday during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank town of Jenin. Journalists who were with her, including an Al Jazeera colleague who was shot and wounded, said Israeli forces fired upon them even though they were clearly identifiable as reporters.

Anger at Abu Akleh’s killing escalated Friday when Israeli riot police pushed and beat pallbearers, causing them to briefly drop her casket in a shocking start to her funeral procession. It turned into perhaps the largest display of Palestinian nationalism in Jerusalem in a generation.

Israel says it is investigating the incident. It initially suggested she might have been shot by Palestinian militants, without providing, but since has backtracked. Israel called for a joint investigation with the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank and cooperates with it on security.

But the Palestinians rejected a joint investigation and demanded an independent international investigation.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Israel for her killing and said he would immediately ask the International Criminal Court to investigate. The ICC launched an investigation into possible Israeli war crimes over a year ago, a probe Israel has rejected as biased.

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The Security Council did not use the word international, calling for an impartial investigation and stressing the need to ensure accountability.

Negotiations on the council statement were led by Norway, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

Norway’s UN Ambassador Mona Juul commended the “good collaboration,” calling the protection of protection a priority for her country.

“We are particularly concerned about the rising trend in attacks on media works, and on women in particular,” Juul said in a statement.

In a desolate village in Turkana, Northern Kenya, villagers are praying for rain, but it just won’t come.

A fourth season of failed rains is causing one of the worst droughts East Africa has seen in decades, and this village, which is home to 3,600 families, is one of the areas hardest hit.

The land is dry, dusty and barren.

The remaining livestock eat the withered, gray shrubs which cover the land. The people eat whatever they can find, often not very much.

Jacinta Atabo Lomaluk lives in Lomoputh village.

She is a mother of five whose eldest son has been suffering from malnutrition since September. The 12-year-old is weak and cannot walk or even stand alone. She says she has never experienced conditions as bad as this drought before.

“It is worsening, worse than it has ever been. That’s why you can see signs of starvation here.”

‘Starvation has become our companion’

Since this latest drought started last year, there have been countless cases of malnutrition.

Ms Lomaluk says her family eats only one meal a day. As there is not enough food to go around, priority is given to the children and elderly.

“I wish there could be immediate aid to rescue the starving, especially the kids who are in danger,” she says. “Otherwise, we are expecting more people to die.”

Ms Lomaluk is just one of millions feeling the impact of the lack of rain.

At a community meeting, local woman Narogai Long says they have been starting to think their situation will not improve.

“There has not been any intervention in three years. We’re starting to believe starvation was meant for us,” she says. “It has become our companion.”

“There is no food. We, the mothers, have to sacrifice ourselves and give what we have to our children or elders,” she adds.

‘Twenty million people at risk’

Families have become desperate for food and water. Millions of children are malnourished. Livestock, which pastoralist families rely on for food and livelihoods, have died.

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The drought stretches far beyond this small Kenyan village and the UN’s World Food Program says up to 20 million people in East Africa are at risk of severe hunger.

Ethiopia is battling the worst drought in almost half a century and in Somalia 40% of the population are at risk of starvation.

The causes of this international crisis are complex and show no sign of abating.

Climate change has been a chief concern.

According to the United Nations, Africa is the continent most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This is despite the fact it contributes only 4% of global carbon emissions.

On-going conflicts in Ethiopia and Somalia are further exacerbating the already precarious conditions.

Although far away, the conflict in Ukraine has also played a role, causing food prices to soar, increasing fears of hunger for communities who must buy food when they cannot grow their own.

Ukraine has also captured much of the world’s attention and resources. As a result, aid budgets are stretched and there is no telling when, or even if, enough assistance will come to East Africa.

‘The world is not looking this way’

It is a situation that the head of the UN’s humanitarian affairs office, Martin Griffiths, wants to change.

“I want to try hard to get the world to pay attention to the situation here,” he tells the BBC on a visit to drought-affected northern Kenya.

“The world’s attention is wholly focused on Ukraine, which is a terrible crisis, and I’ve been to both places, but the suffering I’ve seen here has no equal.”

While his visit did not bring immediate aid to the region, he still hopes to be able to bring some relief – if donors increase funding.

“At the United Nations, we have a program for the Horn of Africa, which includes Kenya, precisely for these needs,” he said. “Properly funded, they would get the help that they deserve, and it won’t take long.”

The inhabitants of Lomoputh village have resilience. What little food they have, they share among neighbors and are determined to protect their way of life.

Raising awareness of the plight of those here may bring global attention and aid, but as the drought drags on, the most vulnerable may not be able to wait much longer.

“Even if it rains, it won’t help. Even if aid comes it won’t help. We need a long-term plan,” Ms Lomaluk says, sheltering from the morning sun under a tree next to her home.

“Otherwise, you may come here in a few months, and no-one will be here. We will have all migrated from here.”

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Saturday reported 21 new deaths and 174,440 more people with fever symptoms as the country scrambles to slow the spread of COVID-19 across its unvaccinated population.

The new deaths and cases, which were from Friday, increased total numbers to 27 deaths and 524,440 illnesses amid a rapid spread of fever since late April. North Korea said 243,630 people had recovered and 280,810 remained in quarantine. State media didn’t specify how many of the fever cases and deaths were confirmed as COVID-19 infections.

The country imposed what it described as maximum preventive measures on Thursday after confirming its first COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. It had previously held for more than two years to a widely doubted claim of a perfect record keeping out the virus that has spread to nearly every place in the world.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a ruling party Politburo meeting on Saturday described the outbreak as a historically “great upheaval” and called for unity between the government and people to stabilize the outbreak as quickly as possible.

Officials during the meeting mainly discussed ways to swiftly distribute medical supplies the country has released from its emergency reserves, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency said. In a report presented to the Politburo, the North’s emergency office blamed most of the deaths on “mistakes like overmuch taking of drugs, bereft of scientific medical treatment.”

Kim, who said he was donating some of his private medicine supplies to help the anti-virus campaign, express optimism that the country could bring the outbreak under control, saying most transmissions are occurring within communities that are isolated from one another and not spreading from region to region.

He called for officials to take lessons from the successful pandemic responses of other nations and picked an example in China, the North’s major ally.

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China, however, has been facing pressure to change its so-called “zero-COVID” strategy that has brought major cities to a standstill as it struggles to slow the fast-moving omicron variant.

North Korea since Thursday has imposed steps aimed at restricting the movement of people and supplies between cities and counties, but state media’s descriptions of the measures indicate people aren’t being confined to their homes.

Experts say a failure to control the spread of COVID-19 could have devastating consequences in North Korea, considering the country’s poor health care system and that its 26 million people are largely unvaccinated.

Tests of virus samples collected Sunday from an unspecified number of people with fevers in the country’s capital, Pyongyang, confirmed they were infected with the omicron variant, state media said. The country has so far officially confirmed one death as linked to an omicron infection.

Lacking vaccines, antiviral pills, intensive care units and other major health tools to fight the virus, North Korea’s pandemic response will be mostly about isolating people with symptoms at designated shelters, experts say.

North Korea doesn’t have technological and other resources to impose extreme lockdowns like China, which has shut down entire cities and confined residents to their homes, nor it could afford to do so at the risk of unleashing further shock on a fragile economy, said Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification.

Even as he called for stronger preventive measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, Kim has also stressed that the country’s economic goals should be met, which means huge groups will continue to gather at agricultural, industrial and construction sites.

North Korea’s claim of a perfect record in keeping out the virus for 2 1/2 years was widely doubted. But its extremely strict border closure, large-scale quarantines and propaganda that stressed anti-virus controls as a matter of “national existence” may have staved off a huge outbreak until now.

Experts are mixed on whether the North’s announcement of the outbreak communicates a willingness to receive outside help.

The country had shunned millions of doses offered by the UN-backed COVAX distribution program, possibly because of concerns over international monitoring requirements attached to those shots.

North Korea has a higher tolerance for civilian suffering than most other nations and some experts say the country could be willing to accept a certain level of fatalities to gain immunity through infection, rather than receiving vaccines and other outside help.

South Korea’s new conservative government led by President Yoon Suk Yeol, who took office on Tuesday, has offered to send vaccines and other medical supplies to North Korea, but Seoul officials say the North has so far made no request for help. Relations between the rival Koreas have worsened since 2019 following a derailment in nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

However, Kim’s call for his officials to learn from China’s experience indicates that the North could soon request COVID-19-related medicine and testing equipment from China, said analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at South Korea’s Sejong Institute.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Friday that Beijing was ready to offer North Korea help but said he had no information about any such request being made.

North Korea’s viral spread could have been accelerated after an estimated tens of thousands of people and troops gathered for a massive military parade in Pyongyang on April 25, where Kim took center stage and showcased the most powerful capabilities of his military nuclear program.

After maintaining one of the world’s strictest border closures for two years to shield its poor health care system, North Korea had reopened railroad freight traffic with China in January apparently to ease the strain on its economy. China confirmed the closure of the route last month as it battled COVID-19 outbreaks in the border areas.

Hours after the North acknowledged its first COVID-19 infections on Thursday, South Korea’s military detected the North test-firing three ballistic missiles in what appeared to be a defiant show of strength.

Kim has been accelerating his weapons demonstrations in 2022, including the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missile in nearly five years. Experts say Kim’s brinkmanship is aimed at forcing Washington to accept the idea of ​​the North as a nuclear power and negotiating a removal of crippling US-led sanctions and other concessions from a stronger position.

South Korean and US officials also say the North is possibly preparing to conduct their first nuclear test since 2017, which they say could happen as early as this month.

North Korea announced 21 new “fever” deaths Saturday and said more than half a million people had been sickened nationwide, two days after confirming its first-ever cases of Covid-19.

Despite activating its “maximum emergency quarantine system” to slow the spread of disease through its unvaccinated population, North Korea is reporting tens of thousands of new cases daily.

On Friday alone, “over 174,440 persons had fever, at least 81 430 were fully recovered and 21 died in the country,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

North Korea confirmed Thursday that the highly-contagious Omicron variant had been detected in the capital Pyongyang, with leader Kim Jong Un ordering nationwide lockdowns.

It was the North’s first official confirmation of Covid cases and noted the failure of a two year long coronavirus blockade maintained at great economic cost since the start of the pandemic.

“The number of fevered persons totalized from late April to May 13 is over 524,440,” KCNA said, with 27 deaths total.

The report did not specify whether the new cases and deaths had all tested positive for Covid-19, but experts say the country will struggle to test and diagnose on this scale.

“It’s not a stretch to consider these ‘fever’ cases to all be Covid-19, given the North’s lack of testing capacity,” said Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute.

“The actual number of Covid cases could be higher than the fever figures due to many asymptomatic cases,” he said, adding that the pace of infection was growing “very fast.”

– ‘Great upheaval’ –

North Korea held its second Politburo meeting this week, overseen by leader Kim Jong Un, KCNA reported.

“The spread of malignant disease comes to be a great upheaval in our country since the founding of the DPRK along with the worldwide spread of Covid-19,” he said, referring to North Korea by its official name.

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The meeting of the country’s top officials discussed “supplying reserve medicines” and other ways of “minimizing the losses in human lives”, KCNA said.

North Korea has a crumbling health system — one of the worst in the world — and lacks essential medicines and equipment, experts say.

With no Covid vaccines, antiviral treatment drugs or mass testing capacity, North Korea will struggle to handle a massive outbreak, experts warn.

– China Model –

Kim said Saturday that North Korea would follow the Chinese model of disease management.

“It is good to actively learn from the advanced and rich anti-epidemic successes and experience already gained by the Chinese party and people in the struggle against malicious epidemic,” he said, KCNA reported.

China, the world’s only major economy to still maintain a zero-Covid policy, is currently battling multiple Omicron outbreaks — with some major cities, including financial hub Shanghai, under stay-at-home orders.

North Korea has previously turned down offers of Covid vaccines from China, as well as from the World Health Organization’s Covax scheme.

Beijing said Thursday it would be willing to help Pyongyang, and South Korea also announced Friday it could send vaccines to the North — if Kim’s regime would accept them.

Kim’s comments suggest the North “will adopt Chinese-style anti-virus response of regional lockdowns,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

They also indicate Kim “will try getting supplies from China, which has also publicly stated its willingness to provide preventive assistance to the North.”

– Nuclear activity –

Despite its Covid outbreak, new satellite imagery indicates that North Korea has resumed construction at a long-dormant nuclear reactor.

“I can’t tell you when the reactor will be ready to go, but it is about 10x larger than the existing reactor at Yongbyon,” Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute for International Studies wrote in a Twitter thread Saturday.

As such, it would produce ten times more plutonium for nuclear weapons, he said, adding: “This would make good on Kim’s pledge to increase the number of nuclear weapons.”

The United States and South Korea have warned that Kim is preparing to conduct another nuclear test — which would be the regime’s seventh — and that it could come any day now.

Analysts have warned Kim could speed up his nuclear test plans in a bid to “distract” North Korea’s population from a disastrous Covid-19 outbreak.

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Visit from July 24 to 30 comes after Pope Francis apologised for Catholic Church’s role in abuse of Indigenous children.

Warning: The story below contains details of residential schools that may be upsetting. Canada’s Indian Residential School Survivors and Family Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day at 1-866-925-4419.

Pope Francis will travel to Canada at the end of July, the Vatican has announced, as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church is expected to meet Indigenous survivors of abuse committed at so-called residential schools.

The 85-year-old will travel to Edmonton, Quebec City and Iqaluit, the Vatican said on Friday, adding that more details on the July 24 to 30 visit will be published in the coming weeks.

The announcement comes after the pope last month apologised for abuses that members of the church committed against Indigenous children at residential schools.

Speaking to Indigenous delegates at the Vatican, Pope Francis said he felt “sorrow and shame” for the role Catholics played in the many harms that Indigenous children suffered while attending the forced-assimilation institutions.

“For the deplorable conduct of these members of the Catholic Church, I ask for God’s forgiveness and I want to say to you with all my heart, I am very sorry. And I join my brothers, Canadian bishops, in asking your pardon,” he said.

Canada forced more than 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Metis children to attend residential schools between the late 1800s and 1990s. The children were stripped of their languages ​​and culture, separated from siblings, and subjected to psychological, physical and sexual abuse.

Thousands are believed to have died while attending the institutions, most of which were run by the Roman Catholic Church. A federal commission of inquiry into Canada’s residential schools, known as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), concluded in 2015 that the system amounted to “cultural genocide”.

The discoveries of unmarked graves at former residential school sites across Canada over the past year spurred renewed calls for accountability – and an apology from the Catholic Church in particular.

The pope’s apology last month was welcomed by Indigenous leaders, but they called on him to visit Canada to deliver the apology on Indigenous lands.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that “a formal in-person apology” from the head of the Roman Catholic Church to survivors and their families would be an important step “to advance meaningful reconciliation for Indigenous Peoples in our country”.

Edmonton is home to the second-largest number of Indigenous people living in urban Canadian centres, and approximately 25 residential schools were located in Alberta, the most of any province or territory in Canada, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said.

Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith, who is coordinating the papal visit on behalf of the Canadian bishops, said the pontiff will visit a former residential school site “and other locations of significance”.

Quebec is home to Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre, one of the oldest and most popular pilgrimage sites in North America, while Iqaluit, on vast Baffin Island, is the capital of the Nunavut territory, home to many Inuit.

Bishop Raymond Poisson said Canada’s bishops were “immensely grateful” the pope will visit to “continue the journey of healing and reconciliation”.

Francis is expected to repeat his apology to school abuse survivors and relatives of victims.

Washington, DC – The United States needs to “look in the mirror” and reassess its unconditional support for Israel, Palestinian rights advocates say, as calls to condition billions in annual US aid are growing in the aftermath of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh’s killing.

The US State Department has urged an “immediate and thorough” investigation into the killing of Abu Akleh, a US citizen, who was shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank this week.

But US-based say such statements ignore Washington’s “complicity” in Israeli human rights violations.

“There’s a deep, deep hypocrisy and irony to US officials calling for an investigation when what they really need to do is look in the mirror,” said Elias Newman, communications director at IfNotNow, a youth-led, anti-occupation Jewish American group.

“When it comes to hawkish politicians who support unconditional support for the Israeli government, they need to look in the mirror and see that actually, our unconditional funding is a big factor in enabling the Israeli government to act with impunity and carry out these human rights abuse.”

President Joe Biden and his top aides have repeatedly promised not to condition, restrict or reduce US aid to Israel, which totals $3.8bn annually.

Jinan Deena, national organiser for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), noted that Abu Akleh became the second US citizen to be killed by Israeli forces this year, after 78-year-old Omar Assad died after being detained in the West Bank in January.

Deena said Palestinian Americans such as herself do not feel protected by their own government when they travel to visit family in Palestine.

“We are Americans and we are paying taxes, and that money is literally going not just to abuse our families back home and Palestinians back home, but also us now,” Deena told Al Jazeera. “A lot of us are very afraid to go [to Palestine] this year.”

US envoy ‘deeply distressed’

On Friday, Israeli troops stormed Abu Akleh’s funeral procession in Jerusalem and violently assaulted mourners and pallbearers, almost causing them to drop the slain journalist’s coffin.

Footage of the attack prompted an outcry across the world, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying he was “deeply troubled” by the images. “Every family deserves to lay their loved ones to rest in a dignified and unimpeded manner,” he wrote on Twitter.

US envoy to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield also said she was “deeply distressed”.

But Thomas-Greenfield has made it clear – even before the US Senate confirmed her to the post last year – that shielding Israel from criticism at the United Nations would be one of her top priorities.

Israel has been the US’s top ally in the Middle East for decades, with presidents and legislators from both major parties asserting their staunch commitment to the country. In addition to the $3.8bn in US aid that Israel receives annually, this year Washington added another $1bn to “replenish” its Iron Dome missile defense system after a May 2021 Gaza conflict.

Against that backdrop, Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute (AAI), a Washington-based think-tank, said it is clear that Washington is not an impartial player in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“We are not an objective observer here,” Berry told Al Jazeera earlier this week, referring to the US government. “We’re fully engaged in supporting the state of Israel as it commits these abuses.”

In recent years, progressive and US lawmakers have tried to restrict aid to Israel or condition it on ending violations against Palestinians, but the push remains largely confined to the left wing of the Democratic Party.

As a candidate in 2020, Biden dismissed the idea of ​​conditioning Israel aid, which was championed by Senator Bernie Sanders during that year’s Democratic primaries, as “bizarre”.

After being elected to the presidency, his top aides, including Vice President Kamala Harris, have pledged that the aid would not be restricted under any circumstances. That position has not changed, even as leading rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, accused Israel of committing apartheid against Palestinians.

“The United States government is complicit and is a perpetrator of Israeli war crimes because of the aid that they give them, the unconditional support, the blank checks,” Deena told Al Jazeera.

“The US is 100 percent hand in hand with Israel when it comes to these abuses that are happening.”

Legislative efforts

Last year, Democratic Congresswoman Betty McCollum introduced legislation that would ensure that US aid is not used to fund Israel’s human rights abuses.

The proposal has garnered 32 co-sponsors, but it has not moved through the process beyond its formal introduction.

“The killing of any journalist is a tragedy, but the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist reporting on the Israeli government’s occupation of Palestinian lands, is a crime that demands accountability and consequences, not impunity,” McCollum told Al Jazeera in an email on Friday.

“I’ve called for restrictions on US aid to Israel to ensure our tax dollars are not funding blatant human abuses – and such restrictions should certainly be applied to this situation if Israeli security forces are found responsible for Shireen’s death.”

Omar Baddar, a Palestinian American political analyst, noted that public opinion polls (PDF) show that imposing conditions on US aid to Israel is popular among Americans, particularly Democrats.

“However, we have a political class that remains dominated by outdated attitudes of never questioning support for Israel, and in a political environment where the Israel lobby continues to influence policy in ways that Americans simply don’t support,” he told Al Jazeera.

Still, Baddar said having progressives calling for accountability for Israeli human rights violations and ensuring that US taxpayer dollars are not used to commit them is a “powerful development”.

“But we have to continue building on it and increasing public pressure until it can be translated into a shift in real policy,” he said.

For her part, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib slammed US aid to Israel after the attack on Abu Akleh’s funeral on Friday.

“This is sickening. Violent racism, enabled by $3.8B in unconditional military US funds,” she wrote on Twitter in response to the footage showing Israeli officers beating pallbearers carrying Abu Akleh’s coffin with batons.

“For the Israeli apartheid [government]Shireen’s life didn’t matter – and her dehumanization continues after death.”

Meeks tells theGrio what he learned during a recent delegation trip to Ukraine that he and members of Congress reported back to President Biden.

US Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, met with a United Nations official on Wednesday to address a growing issue of grain shortage in Ukraine stemming from the Russian invasion that is now impacting the African continent.

The shortage has created a negative domino effect on the famine crisis in Africa, Congressman Meeks told theGrio of what he learned during his meeting with UN World Food Program executive director David Beasley. The lawmaker said that all 54 African nations have been affected by this grain shortage, particularly Ethiopia and Congo.

Meeks said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy specifically addressed the issue with him and other members of the United States delegation that recently traveled to Ukraine and its neighbor, Poland.

Rep. Meeks and the US delegation, comprised of congressional leaders including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, reported back to President Joe Biden what was learned during their visit to Kyiv.

“The president of the United States is very concerned and very focused on it because we know the unpredictability of Vladimir Putin and we know that timing is of the essence,” Meeks told theGrio. “That’s why we’re doing everything that we can in a timely fashion to try to penetrate and open up that port so that we can get food out.”

TheGrio asked outgoing White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki during Thursday’s press briefing where President Biden stands on the issue of concern regarding food shortages in Africa and across the globe.

Psaki said it was “an important issue” and emphasized that the president while in Chicago, “raised the issue of doing everything we can to increase supply here in the United States.” She also noted that such shortages are not expected to happen on American soil.

“We want to be providers of American grains to the rest of the world as we’re seeing shortages in part because of the war in Ukraine,” Psaki told theGrio. She added that as “the world’s largest provider of assistance in aid to global food programs,” the US has provided a “large amount of assistance” in anticipation of “what we see as a potential shortage of food.”

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The assistance in supplying grains and wheat provided by the United States – which she said had been in the works for months – is expected to continue, Psaki noted.

Meeks told theGriothat in the meantime, it’s imperative that the United States find other “mechanisms” to address the loss of grains across the globe due to the Ukraine-Russia war.

The urgency that the war has created is why Congress passed a $40 billion package providing economic and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. Meeks said a significant amount of the humanitarian aid was secured by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who is the chair of the House Appropriations subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations.

Meeks noted that Congress ultimately added more federal funding than what President Biden had requested for the Ukraine package. The Congressman expressed a sense of priority for the United States to respond to this moment.

“How do we work collectively to prevent the kind of starvation that could happen if we don’t do something sooner rather than later?” he said.

United Nations agencies have released millions that, in addition to the negative impact of Russia’s of Ukraine, tens of people have “plunged into extreme poverty by the COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts, climate shocks and economic turmoil,” according to Reuters .

As reported by CNBC Africa, a report by Global Network Against Food Crises found that last year Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for nearly two-thirds of the 193 million people around the world considered “acutely food insecure.”

One report found that, in 2020, one in five people — or 21 percent of the population — faced hunger in Africa. In total, 282 million Africans were undernourished. The year earlier, that number was approximately 236 million.

Meeks said that the grain shortage from Ukraine is also beginning to impact Central and South American countries, noting “we are all interconnected” and that it’s going to take a “global affair” to alleviate shortages. Additionally, he said, there’s now a rising cost of bread caused by the Russian invasion.

These worrying trends are the result of multiple drivers feeding into one another, ranging from geo-conflict, environmental and climate crisis, to economic and health issues exacerbated by already existing poverty and inequality.

Congressman Meeks said it’s important to get out the word and “act swiftly” about the global food crisis, as it is a humanitarian issue — one that Speaker Pelosi and other leaders in Congress are focused on and will do whatever it takes to resolve.

He told theGrio“I want people to know that it’s all still interconnected, not only foreign policy, but to domestic policy, the domestic issues that we face right here in the United States.”

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US court is hearing challenge to Biden administration’s plan to end Title 42 restriction at US-Mexico border this month.

A group of 21 US states have argued that the Biden administration’s plan to lift a contentious border restriction that barred most asylum seekers from seeking protection at the US-Mexico border was made without sufficient consideration of the effects it would have.

Drew Ensign, a lawyer representing the states involved in the legal challenge, told US District Judge Robert Summerhays on Friday that their lawsuit was “not about the policy wisdom” behind the announcement to end the policy on May 23.

Rather, Ensign argued that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not follow proper administrative procedures requiring public notice and the gathering of comments on the decision to end the restrictions imposed under what is known as Title 42.

More than 1.8 million Title 42 expulsions have been carried out since March 2020, when the policy was first invoked under former President Donald Trump’s administration as the nation was going into lockdown due to COVID-19.

Rights groups have said the move was made largely to deter asylum at the border, however.

Title 42 has allowed US authorities to quickly expel most asylum seekers who arrived at the border without giving them the chance to request protection in the country, which rights groups said violated US and international law.

The lawsuit came after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on April 1 that the restriction would be lifted by May 23 after the CDC said it was no longer needed.

Arizona, Louisiana and Missouri quickly sued and were later joined by 18 other states in the legal challenge being heard on Friday. Texas sued independently.

The states have alleged that consideration was not given to the resulting increases in border crossings and their possible effects, including pressure on state healthcare systems and the diversion of border law enforcement resources from drug interdiction to controlling illegal crossings.

Jean Lin, with the Department of Justice, argued on Friday that the CDC was within its authority to lift an emergency health restriction it felt was no longer needed. She said the CDC order was a matter of health policy, not immigration policy.

“There is no basis to use Title 42 as a safety valve,” Lin told Summerhays.

Several migrant advocacy groups have asked Summerhays to at least allow Title 42 to be lifted as planned in California and New Mexico, two border states that have not challenged the administration’s decision.

But the effort to end the policy came just months before crucial US midterm elections in November, and it appeared to have emboldened some Republicans who want to make immigration an issue before the vote.

“Ending refugee protection for those fleeing violence and human rights violations is a betrayal of the Democrats’ supposed values ​​and our nation’s identity,” Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, a group that advocates for immigration reform, said in a statement on Wednesday .

“It will do nothing to stop Republican attacks and falsehoods over the border, and it will do nothing to modernize our immigration system so that it serves our interests and reflects our values,” Sharry said in a statement.

US authorities stopped asylum seekers more than 221,000 times at the Mexican border in March, a 22-year high. Many of those were repeat crossers.

Title 42 authority has been applied unevenly across nationalities. Mexico has agreed to take back migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico — but largely refused to take back people from other countries.

Under Title 42, the US has flown Haitian asylum seekers, including those who had not lived in the country for years, to the crisis-stricken nation on board deportation flights.

Earlier this year, however, US border officials exempted Ukrainians fleeing the war from Title 42 expulsions and allowed them to enter the US through the US-Mexico border.