Category World News

Mariam should be in my mind.

I long for the lovely smile that made her face shine. I want to remember the brave journalist she was, the strong woman, and the friend who everyone referred to as.

I want to keep in mind all the times she tried to capture Gaza’s heartache, pain, sorrow, laughter, and love.

She is remembered as the loving mother of Ghaith, her son. I want to remember her as the daughter who was so close to her parents and the sister who brought happiness to her home.

She is the daughter of a father who gave up her kidney to keep him alive.

With just one kidney inside her body, I used to stare at her while she was out on the field, on the front lines, capturing every moment of what was happening.

I’ll always remember how she would choose to comfort you and assure you that everything will work out, even when she was at her worst when she was already exhausted. It won’t go away.

I can recall her words, but it won’t pass.

In front of Ghaith, her son, who resembles her, I will always remember her. And I hope that he names his daughter Mariam the way she requested in her final letter to him when he grows up and gets married.

At the end of 2023, Israel’s war forced me to flee Gaza with my family. I can’t imagine going back and not seeing Mariam, waiting for her to sit next to me, or checking her out.

A boy’s view of the world

We eventually became friends without much effort. When we were outside in the fields, we frequently met.

If she arrived first, I would stand next to her, and if I arrived first, she would stand up to me. We would be checking each other with our eyes if we were covering something extremely bad or dangerous just to make sure the other was fine.

There are so many vivid images of Mariam outside.

We had moments where we could just sit for a few minutes and talk about our kids between those struggles, coverage, tear gas, bullets, and explosions.

Her entire world was Ghaith. After the war broke out, she had to transfer him to his father in the United Arab Emirates.

When she was so worried about him all the time, I told her that was the right thing to do. I experienced the same experiences as a mother, but at least my children had their father with them at home.

You are supporting him by doing this. You’re keeping him safe, I said to her. Because we as mothers want this most of all.

She only wanted to know that he was safe, that he wasn’t hungry, and that he wasn’t thirsty.

She missed him dearly after sending him, but she was relieved to learn that he was safe and that no bombs were being blown at him.

She told me that he should concentrate on that and consider the day they would meet again when he called her and cried because he missed her.

Because of Ghaith, she held onto that last ounce of hope. She aspired to see him and hold him.

I kept calling my colleagues in Gaza and enquiring whether Mariam was still alive when I first learned about Mariam.

I simply hung up and called a different person to ask the same question when they said no.

I was telling my husband that she was gone, but I was telling him that she was fine and that they had a mistake in including her in a photo with another journalist who had been murdered.

I just feel like she’s going to text me or respond to one of my stories up until now.

I can’t imagine returning to Gaza and not seeing Mariam or all of her friends and coworkers who have gone.

Her final testimony to her son

Mariam must have known that she would leave very soon.

Everyone mentioned her death at the morgue the night before she died.

She told the morgue attendant that she only wanted to be in a shroud when she passed away. He asked her to put her in a plastic body bag.

She even left a note saying “goodbye” to Ghaith.

Because I know her and find it challenging to write such a note, I wanted to translate it for Mariam.

As a mother, friend, and child of hers, I wanted to translate it.

She wrote, “Gaith the heart and soul of your mother, I want you to pray for me, don’t cry over my death.”

In Gaza, I wrote a similar note so that anyone who found it on my phone could read it if I was killed. Mothers in Gaza are compelled to do this.

Anyone can write a will, but these are not wills. We feel unsafe, targeted, and hunted because of this insecurity.

Your soul is shattered by that feeling, living with it every day and every night.

In the two hours before the strike, Mariam had lost a lot of weight and had experienced the pain, grief, and loneliness she felt in that final video that she posted in the elevator.

Even though she always believed that if Ghaith’s dreams were realized, he would travel the world, study abroad, start a business, and not reside in Gaza like she had always imagined, his pain probably increased because of it.

At the conclusion of the process, she also desired that he bring his family there and return to be with her.

I would say to her that Ghaith would never leave her and that he was also in his world. And his mother was so kind to him. He saw her strength and ability, raising him by himself, and giving it her all.

She left him to carry on as he was raised, but she didn’t live to see him grow up.

The meanings that were lost in the photos and videos she captured are left behind. She desired to convey a message through her images. She enjoyed expressing her emotions, thoughts, and opinions with others.

I’ve talked to her so many times but haven’t thought of anything to say to lessen her pain as a result of looking at those pictures and videos. I was so far away.

The 50 percent tariff on Indian goods, which is expected to have a major impact on billion-dollar trade and put thousands of jobs at risk in the most populous country in the world, went into effect on Wednesday.

On July 30th, the US first imposed a 25% tariff on India, followed by an additional 25% a week later, citing New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil.

A wide range of goods will now be subject to the new 50 percent rate, which is one of the highest tariffs in the US, starting with jewelry and jewelry, and moving goods like furniture and shoes.

India’s ability to compete with China for its exports will be hampered by the crushing tariffs, which will undermine Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plans to establish a major manufacturing hub. With annual bilateral trade worth a whopping $ 212 billion, the US was India’s largest trading partner until recently.

What sectors will suffer the most, and how will US-Indian relations be affected?

Which industries will suffer the most?

In response to today’s announcement, the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), a think tank based in New Delhi, reported to The Financial Times newspaper that Indian exports to the US could decrease from $ 86.5 billion this year to $ 50 billion in 2026.

The GTRI predicted that the sectors, which are “enemy of hundreds of thousands of jobs,” would be the most affected.

According to MK Venu, the original editor of The Wire news site, “there will be a huge impact.”

He continued, “The US is the largest trading partner for India, while India is not a major trading partner for the US,” adding that exports would suffer in the fields of textiles, clothing, gems and jewelry, fisheries, leather goods, and crafts.

These are “very, very labor-intensive” and “small companies,” Venu said, talking about the industries that are affected by the tariffs. They will lose business to the economies of Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and other East Asian nations.

Which sectors will be exempt?

Due to the importance of generic drugs in providing affordable healthcare in India, immediate tariff increases have been exempted from the Indian pharmaceutical industry. About half of the US’s imports of generic drugs are from India.

Indian pharmaceutical exports to the US amounted to about $ 8.7 billion in 2024.

In addition, separate, sector-specific US tariffs will apply to consumer electronics and semiconductors. Finally, passenger vehicle imports made of aluminum and steel will also be subject to tariffs distinct from the general 50 percent rate.

What steps is the Indian government taking to lessen the impact?

In response to the tariff increases, Prime Minister Modi has pledged to support farmers, lower taxes, and support self-reliance.

In his Independence Day speech at New Delhi’s Red Fort, Modi said that India should become self-sufficient, not out of desperation, but out of pride. Economic selfishness is rising globally, and we must stop and cry over our problems.

According to Faisal Ahmed, a professor of geopolitics at the Fore School of Management in New Delhi, increasing India’s domestic product potential is not new. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Modi made the policy choice. According to Ahmed, Trump’s tariffs appear to be accelerating that process.

The Indian prime minister also mentioned that businesses could soon anticipate a “massive tax bonanza” in addition to the $12 billion income tax giveaway that was announced earlier this year. Additionally, it is understood that Delhi intends to slash and streamline the goods and services tax.

This could help India’s economy maintain some of its growth momentum, along with a raise to the salaries of nearly five million state employees and six million pensioners (which will begin in 2014).

A representative from the Indian Commerce Ministry earlier this week told Reuters that tariff-hit exporters would receive financial aid and other incentives to expand into markets like Latin America and the Middle East.

There is no real policy, according to Venu, who was also a former Financial Express newspaper editor. The central bank and the prime minister have provided assurances.

Who will provide the funding for the subsidy? Will the large companies or the taxpayers profit from the Russian oil exports? Therefore, the details of how the subsidies would be provided are unclear. Even with subsidies, it won’t be enough to cover such a sizable hit, Venu told Al Jazeera from New Delhi.

He claimed that the government had not made any preparations. Because we knew that Trump would not relent, he would punish India for buying Russian oil, India should have had a policy, it should have done its homework, and it should have had one.

According to Ahmed from the Fore School of Management, the tariffs “shouldn’t have a significant impact on India’s GDP… probably around 1 percent.”

According to Teresa John, Nirmal Bank’s lead economist, “we estimate a]negative] impact of about $ 36 billion, or 0.9 percent of GDP,” she told Reuters.

The International Monetary Fund predicted that India’s economy would grow by 6.4% in 2026 earlier this year. That might alter.

Trump’s justification for tariffs: what justification?

Following Trump’s demands that India stop its imports of Russian oil and gas, negotiations to end a trade war broke down after five rounds of negotiations.

India has continued to purchase Russian crude this year despite the ongoing threat of higher US tariffs, though at lower volumes.

Due to Russia’s and the West’s geopolitical rivalry, New Delhi has also been hit. Top Trump figures, including US Secretary of State Scott Bessent, have accused India of funding Ukraine’s conflict. He noted that prior to the Ukraine war, India’s oil imports decreased to 7%. He called India “profiteering.”

New Delhi’s foreign ministry stated that it would “take all necessary steps to protect its national interests,” and that the nation’s 1.4 billion people’s energy needs and market forces were the main drivers of Russian oil imports.

When both the European Union and China, with whom Trump has brokered trade agreements, continue to import energy from Russia, New Delhi has also accused Washington of selectively targeting India for purchasing Russian oil.

In another move, New Delhi pledged to reduce US import taxes and increase defense spending in an effort to lessen Trump’s resentment over trade imbalances. However, it refused to allow US imports to enter its vast farming and dairy industry.

Farmers who were unhappy with Modi feared that the government would lower its agricultural tariffs as part of a deal with Trump over the course of the year. However, Modi defended the hundreds of millions of Indians who work in the politically sensitive agricultural sector.

To put this into perspective, India’s simple average tariff on agricultural imports was 39 percent at the end of 2024. In contrast, the US only imposed a simple average tariff rate of 4% on agricultural imports. Trump was upset about that.

Trump has been highlighting the high tariffs that India has imposed, sparking a global economic war.

“India has been, in our opinion, the most highly regarded country in the world.” During Prime Minister Modi’s February visit to the US, Trump said, “It’s very difficult to sell to India because they have trade barriers and very strong tariffs.”

According to the Kremlin, Russia opposes European proposals for security guarantees for Ukraine and won’t permit NATO troops to station on the territory of its neighbor.

Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday that while Moscow applauded recent efforts by US President Donald Trump to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine, it would be equivalent to a NATO presence on its neighbor’s territory.

According to Peskov, “at the very beginning, it was the development of NATO military infrastructure and the infiltration of this military infrastructure into Ukraine that could probably be attributed as the root causes of the conflict situation that arose.”

We therefore have a negative opinion of these discussions.

Security guarantees against unforeseen Russian aggression are a crucial factor in efforts to put an end to Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling for them to be included in a potential peace agreement to be as close as possible to NATO’s Article 5, which states that an attack on one member state would be an attack on all.

Trump has stated that any future security guarantees that the US will provide for Ukraine should be made up of European nations, with the majority of the burden being carried out by them. Russia insists that NATO forces must not station troops in Ukraine, making it one of the nations’ security guarantors.

Trump’s efforts to end the war were described as “very important,” according to Peskov, who claimed the US-Russia presidential summit in Alaska this month was “very substantive, constructive, and useful,” adding that Moscow hoped the efforts would continue.

Security guarantees were “one of the most important topics” in the discussions, he said, but Russia did not think it was helpful to discuss them in public.

Zelenskyy demands immediate response.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy claimed in a post on X on Wednesday that his teams were “accelerating the process of defining the details” of upcoming multilateral security guarantees for Ukraine and that the time was right to convene leaders’ discussions on the main issues and deadlines.

With the assistance of allies, including Europeans, Americans, and our other partners in the Coalition of the Willing, our teams are working hard to create strong, multilateral security guarantees for Ukraine, he said.

We are putting together the components of future security, he said, “military commanders, defense ministers, and security advisors” at various levels. “The leaders’ discussions should be held in a way that best fits their needs and timelines,” he said.

He claimed that Russia is “currently eliciting negative feedback regarding meetings and subsequent developments.”

“The Russians will only act in response to all of this with actual pressure,” they say. There is need for pressure. We rely on it, too.

In response to concerns that Russia was stalling, the US president suggested he would consider imposing additional sanctions on Moscow. The US and Ukraine have been lobbying for a face-to-face meeting to advance peace negotiations.

Energy infrastructure is being attacked

The Kremlin claimed it had captured a village in eastern Donetsk, and Ukraine was the subject of another wave of drone attacks that targeted critical infrastructure overnight.

100, 000 homes in three regions of Poltava, Sumy, and Chernihiv were left without electricity as a result of a wave of attacks by nearly 100 drones, including strikes on energy facilities, Zelenskyy claimed in a post on X.

According to a statement from the Ukrainian government’s statement on Telegram, the attacks targeted infrastructure in six regions, severely damaging the gas transport infrastructure in Poltava and damaging equipment at a crucial Sumy substation, according to the Reuters news agency.

The ministry stated that the Russian attacks are a continuation of the Russian Federation’s deliberate strategy to systematically destroy Ukraine’s civil infrastructure ahead of the heating season.

Governor Volodymyr Kohut stated in a statement on Telegram that the power has since been restored in Poltava.

In recent weeks, Russia has increased its attacks on Ukrainian gas production and import infrastructure, calling them legitimate targets because they support the country’s war effort.

74 drones launched by the Ukrainian air force were downed overnight, according to Reuters, with 21 of them striking nine locations throughout the nation, according to the report.

Zelenskyy claimed that the overnight wave of attacks, which were “focused specifically on civilian infrastructure,” had also injured a school in the Kharkiv region and a residential apartment complex in Kherson.

He claimed that the ongoing attacks underscored the need to exert more pressure on Russia to end its conflict.

To put an end to the attacks and to provide real security guarantees, “new steps are required.”

At least two people have died in recent Russian attacks, according to the AFP news agency. According to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin, two farm workers were killed on Wednesday morning by Russian artillery fire in Novovorontsovka, a village in the Kherson region.

After speaking at a press conference with reporters and infuriating people in Lebanon and elsewhere, US ambassador Tom Barrack made fury. Soraya Lennie examines the causes of the uproar and how it relates to Orientalism.