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GAZA: According To Family Members, Two American Brothers, Ages 18 And 20, Were Detained During An Israeli Raid In Gaza.
Washington & Gaza — According to their relatives, Israeli forces raided their home in the beleaguered Palestinian territory at midnight and captured two young adult American brothers and their Canadian father.
A US Embassy official in Jerusalem, reached by phone from Washington, said American officials were aware of the incident and were following up with Israeli authorities.
The embassy officer provided no information and concluded the phone without mentioning her name. The Israeli foreign ministry and military made no quick comments.
Borak Alagha, 18, and Hashem Alagha, 20, two brothers born in the Chicago area, are among the fewer than 50 US citizens believed to be attempting to flee sealed-off Gaza as the Israel-Hamas conflict enters its fifth month. Many more US green card holders and close relatives of citizens and permanent residents are still struggling and unable to leave, despite US demands, according to their American families and advocates.
Cousin Yasmeen Elagha, a law student at Northwestern University, said Israeli forces entered the family house in al-Muwasi, near the southern city of Khan Younis, about 5 a.m. Gaza time on Thursday.
According to the relative, the troops tied up and blindfolded the family’s women and children before placing them outside the home.
According To Family Members, Two American Brothers, Ages 18 And 20, Were Detained During An Israeli Raid In Gaza.
The Israelis abducted the two American brothers, their Canadian citizen father, a mentally challenged uncle, and two other adult male relatives, who are still missing, according to Elagha.
Men from a neighbouring residence were also hauled away. Other adult male members of another Alagha home were also imprisoned, totalling around 20 people, according to the US cousin.
The detentions were also described on a Gaza-based family social media site.
State Department representatives in Washington had no immediate comment on the reported arrest of the American brothers.
The brothers were one of three Americans detained this week by Israeli soldiers while Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in the area attempting to mediate a cease-fire and hostage release agreement with Israel’s ally and Arab officials.
Since Oct. 7, when surprise Hamas strikes killed approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in Israel, US officials claim to have assisted 1,300 Americans, green-card holders, and their qualified immediate family members in leaving Gaza. Hamas also captured over 250 hostages, with several dozen still detained in Gaza.
According To Family Members, Two American Brothers, Ages 18 And 20, Were Detained During An Israeli Raid In Gaza.
According to Palestinian health officials in Gaza, the continuing Israeli military onslaught has killed over 27,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom are civilians.
State Department officials have not publicly stated how many persons for whom the US has requested permission to leave are still in Gaza, citing the “fluidity” of the situation.
The sole authorised evacuation from Gaza is via the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Israel and Egypt control the exit list. US authorities say they are working with the two US allies to add more names of Americans, US citizens, and their close relatives who want to leave to the list. The Alagha brothers’ family claims they were among those unable to get their names on the evacuation lists.
During the battle, Israeli security forces detained a large number of Palestinian military-age men in Gaza before releasing some of them. Israel claims that mass detentions are a crucial aspect of combatting Hamas. Palestinians claim Israel is unlawfully including a large number of civilian adult males in its sweeps.
According To Family Members, Two American Brothers, Ages 18 And 20, Were Detained During An Israeli Raid In Gaza.
Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, Samaher Esmail, a 46-year-old Palestinian American woman, was seized on Monday. The Israeli military stated that the woman was arrested for “incitement on social media” and kept for questioning.
The US Embassy in Israel stated Thursday there were no updates on her case.
SOURCE – (AP)
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Canadian Man Arrested for TikTok Video That Threatened Trudeau
A TikTok video that went live earlier this week has led to a Toronto man facing charges of threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. Andrew Marshall, 61, is facing two counts of uttering threats.
On Friday afternoon, the Ontario Court of Justice granted him bail with a surety and restrictions after the RCMP charged him on Wednesday.
Following Monday’s upload to TikTok, CBC Toronto conducted its own independent investigation of the video. Marshall vehemently opposes what he perceives as restrictions on free expression in Canada in it.
“I get them taken down all the time— I make videos — or all my comments, that are just simple comments,” Marsh says in the TikTok. “It’s just getting ridiculous, Marshall said.”
According to the CBC more and more people are threatening politicians. The commissioner of the RCMP has hinted that further measures may be necessary to ensure their safety.
In the TikTok video, Marshall explains in great detail how he would brutally assassinate Trudeau and Freeland “if it was up to him.”
Marshall attacks multiple groups throughout the roughly 11-minute TikTok video, including the media, Muslims, migrants, and the police who defend the government.
Among Marshall’s bail terms are the following: he must not communicate with Trudeau or Freeland; he must not use the internet to make social media posts or comments; he must not own any weapons; and he must not apply for a firearms permit.
During the bail hearing, the prosecution provided all of the evidence that is often not published.
Nate Jackson, Marshall’s attorney, stressed his client’s liberties and privileges as a Canadian in an email message.
“He has the right to freedom of speech, the right to reasonable bail and the right to a fair trial,” he said. “Having secured his release from custody, we will continue to defend Mr. Marshall’s Charter rights as his case proceeds.”
Neither Freeland’s nor the prime minister’s office would comment on the allegations, according to the CBC.
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Canada’s Unemployment Rate Hits its Highest Point Since 2017
As the job market remains dismal, the national unemployment rate in Canada has risen to its highest point since 2017. This has led some analysts to question whether the Bank of Canada should be reducing interest rates more quickly.
In spite of a net gain of 22,000 jobs, Statistics Canada reported on Friday that the unemployment rate increased to 6.6% from 6.4% the previous month. The rise was due to an uptick in part-time employment and a fall in full-time employment.
Outside of the pandemic years, the national unemployment rate has reached its highest position since May 2017, according to StatCan.
Rapid population expansion in Canada has increased the overall labour pool, but the country’s unemployment rate has persisted in rising.
The summer job market was especially tough for students, according to StatCan. Not including the pandemic, the unemployment rate among students going back to school in the autumn was 16.7 percent, which is the highest level since 2012.
Two days after the Bank of Canada dropped interest rates for the third time in a row, reducing borrowing costs to alleviate economic pressure, the most recent reading of the Canadian job market follows suit.
According to TD Bank economist Leslie Preston, who wrote a note on Friday, the central bank is “giving the OK” to keep dropping rates due to the bad August jobs report. Preston predicts two more quarter-point decreases at the remaining decisions this year.
According to CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham, there are indications that the labour market is quickly contracting more than initially thought, since the unemployment rate is nearly two percentage points greater than the record low of 4.9% in June 2022.
“Due to this, we believe the Bank should be contemplating a quicker rate of reductions in order to bring interest rates to less restrictive levels,” he informed clients in a letter on Friday morning.
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US Job Growth Falls Short of Expectations: Economy Struggles Under High Interest Rates
Last month, job growth in the United States was weaker than predicted, prompting concerns that the world’s largest economy is beginning to struggle under the weight of increased interest rates.
The Labour Department said that employers added 142,000 jobs in August, which was less than the nearly 160,000 economists predicted. It also stated that job gains over the preceding two months were weaker than expected.
However, the jobless rate went down to 4.2%, down from 4.3% in July.
The report is one of the most important indicators of the US economy and arrives at a vital time, as voters consider presidential candidates for the November election and the US central bank contemplates its first interest rate decrease in four years.
Analysts said the latest statistics kept the Federal Reserve on pace for a rate drop at its meeting this month, but did little to answer worries about the trajectory of the US economy or how much of a cut it should make.
“There has rarely been such a make-or-break number; unfortunately, today’s jobs report does not completely resolve the recession debate,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.
Soaring prices in 2022 caused the Federal Reserve to hike its key lending rate to 5.3%, a nearly 20-year high.
Faced with increased borrowing costs for homes, vehicles, and other debt, the economy has slowed, helping to alleviate pressures that were boosting inflation but exacerbating market concerns.
As inflation has fallen to 2.9% in July, the Fed is under pressure to decrease interest rates to prevent additional economic deceleration.
Although job increases in August fell short of expectations, they were greater than in July, when a slowdown aroused anxieties and triggered several days of stock market volatility.
Last month, construction and health-care firms hired the most, while manufacturing and retailers laid off employees.
Ms Shah stated that the data in Friday’s report was mixed, but provided enough concerning indicators that the Fed should make a larger cut.
“On balance, with inflation pressures subdued, there is no reason for the Fed not to err on the side of caution and frontload rate cuts,” she told reporters.
Others, however, felt the advances were just steady enough to warrant a 0.25 percentage point decrease, as markets had long projected – though this could signal more cuts than expected in the coming months.
Paul Ashworth, Capital Economics’ senior North America economist, predicted that the Fed’s decision will be “close run.”
“The labour market is clearly experiencing a marked slowdown,” he said, adding that the new statistics were “overall still consistent with an economy experiencing a soft landing rather than plummeting into recession”.
Concerns about the economy are a major issue in the US election.
According to polls, a majority of Americans feel the US is in a recession, despite healthy 2.5% growth last year.
Donald Trump has declared that the economy is headed for a “crash,” and his team instantly latched on the latest data to criticise Vice President Kamala Harris, publishing a press release titled “warning lights flash as Kamala’s economy continues to weaken.”
Democrats have defended their performance, claiming that the United States survived the pandemic and inflation better than many other countries.
They believe the slowdown is a sign that the economy is returning to a more sustainable rate of growth following the post-pandemic boom.
“Although hiring has slowed, the US job market continues to generate solid job gains and wage growth that is consistently beating inflation,” the White House Council of Economic Advisors stated in a blog.
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