Archive June 3, 2025

Aseel, 51, and Afaf, 33, are cared for by 30-year-old Raneem Abu Al-Eish inside a cramped tent in Shati, one of Gaza’s overcrowded displacement camps.

When the children’s cries outside become too loud, they occasionally laugh while others grow irate.

Aseel and Afaf both have intellectual disabilities and celiac disease, which affect their ability to speak, comprehend, and behave. These issues have only grown worse as a result of conflict and displacement.

They struggle to express themselves because their surroundings frequently overshadow them, Raneem explains. Although she is unaware of the term used to describe their condition, the symptoms occasionally resemble Tourette syndrome.

People laugh because it causes havoc.

Raneem, her two sisters, their elderly parents, and another sister living with her husband are all sheltered in the cramped tent.

Raneem is left to take care of her parents alone because Raneem’s mother is frail and her father is recovering from a broken leg from Israel’s relentless war on Gaza.

Up until recently, Israel destroyed their home in Block 2 of the Jabalia camp. Since then, they have relocated from their own homes to squat shelters before moving to a crammed UN school.

They are now sleeping in this tent, which allows the bitter cold to seep through its thin walls at night and traps midday sun.

In a crowded tent, privacy and dignity are almost unattainable. We make an effort to make the others leave when they need to, says Raneem. It’s not always possible, though. ”

That is only a small portion of Aseel and Afaf’s ordeal, which are regularly bullied because of their circumstances.

Raneem softly responds, “People don’t understand what my sisters go through.” They evaluate a person based on their appearance, so they’re just fine. They are not, though. They require dignity, patience, and care. ”

Aseel is blown away by life in the camp. She struggles to deal with sudden changes or noise, Raneem claims. She becomes distressed when that occurs; she yells, cries, and occasionally lashes out. ”

In addition, Afaf struggles with impulsive behavior and involuntary movements. Raneem goes on to say that she can become triggered by a small argument or a loud voice.

She claims, “She doesn’t know how to control it,” which is even sadder given how frequently children target Afaf for mockery.

Repeat humiliation occurs when using communal bathrooms. Every bathroom visit turns out to be spectacular. People laugh, make cruel remarks, and it destroys them, says Raneem.

Their protector was taken by Israel.

The family experienced its biggest blow six months ago when Israel seized Mohammad, Raneem’s 22-year-old brother.

After suffering a hand injury, Mohammad had to travel to Kamal Adwan Hospital for surgery. On October 25, Israel seizes Mohammad and makes a raid on the hospital while he was there. The family has since forgotten where he is located.

The sibling with the greatest sense of direction could be found in the outside world. He managed hospital visits, handled patient care, and dealt with aid organizations, Raneem explains. We are completely by ourselves without him. ”

The sisters have been subject to worsening food shortages and a lack of medical care since his arrest. Raneem claims that her voice pierces and that he was their protector. We now lack no one. ”

436,000 Palestinians were forced to flee after intensifying bombing in March and May, many for the second, third, or fourth time since the war started in October 2023. Each new wave of violence, often without food or medicine, means starting over for families like Raneem’s, who are already living in tents or shelters.

Even basic nutrition is fraught with danger for Aseel and Afaf. Gluten is not a food that gluten can eat, which causes intestinal damage.

There is little chance that Raneem, especially with Mohammad detained, will find vegetables or meat in a starving Gaza where there is only wheat-flour bread, which contains gluten.

Aseel and Afaf run the risk of severe malnutrition without gluten-free flour, and they only have received a small portion of the 80 tons of gluten-free flour that aid organizations have so far delivered to Gaza.

Closed borders, damaged roads, and malfunctioning distribution systems largely blocked it. According to Raneem, “the little that gets us is too late or too expensive.”

begging for compassion time and time again

Aseel and Afaf received routine medical care at Kamal Adwan Hospital prior to the war.

Their conditions necessitated special diets, regular therapy, and medication, which are now nearly impossible to fulfill.

Dr. Sara al-Wahidi, a psychiatrist, claims that Gaza’s marginalization of people with disabilities has significantly increased as a result of the war.

We’ve seen people with disabilities break away from their families in displacement areas, some of whom have been missing for a while and later found dead, she explains.

According to a report from 2025, at least 15% of Gaza’s displaced people are disabled, and they must navigate the temporary shelters that lack functional ramps, adapted toilets, and basic access.

Raneem also struggles with social stigma, and ignorance persists despite her efforts to talk to neighbors and seek advice from community elders.

People make fun of and provoke them. We only ask for understanding, she says.

Sometimes elders invite the sisters to their tents for a visit, providing them with brief respite from daily life when they are unable to receive consistent medical or social support.

From Jabalia to the west, and finally Gaza City, Raneem says, “We’ve been displaced repeatedly. We must start over every new location, explaining their condition and pleading for patience.

She remarks, “These are not just war victims.”

They are the world’s forgotten, the vulnerable. ”

Japan has introduced new rules restricting how names are spelled and pronounced. The new regulations, announced last week, aim to quell a growing practice of Japanese parents giving their babies unconventional names, known as “kira kira”, or glittery, in kanji, one of Japan’s major writing systems.

But why are such names a problem for Japanese authorities? And do the new rules spell disaster for parents who want to break the mould and name their children Nike, the shoe brand, or Pikachu, the little lagomorphic animated character with lightning powers, which is part of the Japanese media franchise Pokemon?

What are kira kira names?

A kira kira name is a non-traditional name where the pronunciation is unusual or does not match the standard or phonetic pronunciation in kanji.

Japan primarily uses three systems of writing: hiragana, katakana and kanji. Kanji employs Chinese characters and is used in writing names. Parents in Japan can choose from among 2,999 kanji characters to name their child – out of these, 2,136 characters are commonly used. Hiragana and katakana can also be used.

Kira kira names, while relatively uncommon, started to grow in popularity in Japan in the 1980s, influenced by pop culture, brands and popular games like Pokemon or characters from the world of Tokyo-based animation house Studio Ghibli.

Parents pick what they want to call their child – say, Pikachu or the fictional character Hello Kitty. Then, they try to piece together kanji characters that sound like the name they picked.

But often, the kanji pronunciation is nowhere near what the name is supposed to sound like.

What’s the problem with kira kira names?

The names are spelled a certain way, but are meant to be pronounced very differently, making it difficult even for Japanese speakers to read the name correctly, causing confusion at places like hospitals and schools.

Take a name written like “今鹿” in kanji characters. Those letters suggest a pronunciation like “imashika”, typically a family name, said John Maher, a linguist at Temple University’s Japan campus who specialises in the sociolinguistics and languages of the country.

However, what the parents might have intended is the given name “Naushika,” inspired by the titular character of Hayao Miyazaki’s 1984 animated Studio Ghibli film, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

“A primary school teacher taking roll stares at the kanji of the little girl in the front row and scratches her head. ‘Huh? Naushika?! Are you kidding me?’ It’s the name of a Ghibli studio anime film,” Maher told Al Jazeera.

He cited another example — “七音,” which is pronounced as “nanane,” typically a given name. However, it is supposed to be pronounced like “doremi” – either a nod to the early 2000s anime, Ojamajo Doremi, or to a character in the manga series Doraemon.

“It’s causing a public fuss for one basic reason: frustration in everyday life. Schoolteachers cannot figure out how to pronounce their pupils’ names. Bosses cannot figure out their worker names,” said Maher.

Why do people use kira kira names?

The “glittery” names appear to represent an effort to subvert tradition.

A study using data from Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance from 1913 to 2015 revealed that variations in naming patterns were growing over the course of the century.

Still, “until the government’s National Institute for the Japanese Language conducts an objective study, we don’t have the numbers”, Maher said. The National Institute for the Japanese Language (NINJAL) is a Tokyo-based independent research institute for the Japanese language, established in 1948 with the purpose of researching the Japanese language and making recommendations about its correct usage.

Linguist and author Adam Aleksic said he believed the trend represented a pushback against tradition.

“There used to be traditional names and these names are a reaction against those cultural heirlooms,” Aleksic told Al Jazeera.

But he added that this phenomenon was not restricted to Japan. “There are pop culture names everywhere,” Aleksic said, citing the example of how many parents around the world named their children Katniss after the popularity of the dystopian book series, the Hunger Games, and the resulting films.

In Japan, he said, the rise in kira kira names might represent a cultural trend towards individuality, “probably because of Western influence, whereas historically, it [Japan] was more of a collectivist culture”.

What has the Japanese government done?

The recent law was an amendment to a family registry law originally passed on June 2, 2023, Jay Allen, a Tokyo-based journalist for a publication called Unseen Japan, told Al Jazeera.

The revised law, which came into effect on May 26, requires families to register furigana readings of names on the family register. A furigana reading is a smaller script comprising syllabaries in hiragana and katakana to indicate the phonetic reading of kanji names.

Previously, the furigana was not notarised on the family register. Allen explained that the change would allow authorities to check for any mismatches between spelling and pronunciation.

Now, Japanese authorities will mail notifications to households to confirm the phonetic readings of the names of the members. This will be done not only for newborns, but for every household member with existing registered names. While older people with kira kira names will not have to change names, experts said, this exercise would help the government know exactly how all names are supposed to be pronounced.

Those who want to correct the phonetic readings of their names will need to submit corrections within a year of receiving the notification. Parents of newborns may have to explain the pronunciation of their children, and local media have reported that they may be referred to legal bureaus.

The government has not directly banned kira kira names, but the new law seeks to restrict parents from using unorthodox pronunciations of kanji characters. “If they’re using kanji, which most Japanese parents do, then they have to show that the pronunciations they chose somehow relate to common pronunciations for those kanji.”

Allen explained that the new law rejects names that have no relationship to the kanji spelling; and names that are easy to mispronounce.

What’s next?

Aleksic said that he believes that the new law could lead to a decrease in non-standard pronunciations. However, he added that parents might find other ways to make their children’s names unique and interesting, “maybe [using] rare characters, maybe focusing more on katakana”.

On Tuesday, June 3, 2018, this is the current situation:

Fighting

At least five people were killed in eastern Ukraine, which is primarily occupied by Russia, according to Ukrainian officials as a result of fighting and shelling along the front line of the conflict.
• According to Russian-installed officials, power was cut out for the entire Zaporizhia region as a result of Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks on important infrastructure in the Russian-occupied regions of southeast Ukraine.
• According to the Russian-installed officials, similar attacks destroyed electrical substations in the nearby Kherson region, causing power loss for 100, 000 residents and 150 towns and villages.
• According to Russian officials who occupy the site, there hasn’t been any impact on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which is Europe’s largest nuclear facility. The station is currently in “stop” mode.

Ceasefire

Russian and Ukrainian officials in Istanbul agreed to exchange thousands of prisoners’ remains and the remains of 6, 000 fallen soldiers, but there was little progress in the talks. All soldiers who are injured in combat and those who are between 18 and 25 will also be included in the agreement.
• Russia introduced a memorandum during the discussions to end Ukraine’s hostility. Terms include Kyiv halting efforts to mobilize its citizens against Russia’s invasion of the four annexations in September 2022, a freeze on Kyiv importing Western weapons, and a withdrawal by Ukrainian forces from those countries that Russian forces failed to completely capture.
• Additionally, the Russian document recommends that Ukraine ratify martial law and hold elections before the two nations can sign a comprehensive peace treaty.

• According to the memorandum, Ukraine must abandon its bid to join NATO, establish limits on the size of its armed forces, and grant Russian the same status as Ukrainian as its official language.
• Ukraine, which has previously rejected Moscow’s demands, announced that it would spend the next week reviewing the memorandum and suggested starting a new conversation on June 20 and 30.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are “open” to a three-way summit, according to the White House.
• Following the discussions, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff stated in a post on Telegram that he did not believe Moscow desired a ceasefire. The Russians are “doing everything” to keep the war going. He wrote that “new sanctions are now very significant.”

Sanctions

• If peace negotiations continue to drag on, the US Senate announced it would begin working on additional rounds of sanctions against Russia and against its trading partners.
• Countries that purchase Russian exports, including oil, gas, and uranium, could face 500 percent tariffs. The two biggest energy consumers in Moscow, India and China, would be hit by the tariffs.
• Senators “stand ready to give President Trump any tools he needs to finally bring Russia to the table in a real way,” according to US Senate Majority Leader John Thune.