Can the DRC-Rwanda deal deliver peace?
The US-brokered peace agreement comes after years of conflict, displacing 7 million people.
The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) involving a long history with neighboring Rwanda has created one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world. With a United States-brokered agreement between the DRC and Rwanda to end the war, will there be peace?
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Al Jazeera
7 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Israel kills more than 300 in Gaza in 48 hours as possible truce in balance
More than 300 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the last 48 hours, according to the Gaza Government Media Office, which says Israel has 'committed 26 bloody massacres' in that period. At least 73 people have been killed by Israel since dawn on Thursday, including 33 desperate aid seekers at the controversial Israeli and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid sites. Thirteen people were killed when Israeli forces attacked a tent in al-Mawasi in the south, while 16 were killed and many wounded in an attack on Mustafa Hafez School, sheltering displaced people west of Gaza City, medical sources told Al Jazeera. The Government Media Office statement on Thursday said the attacks over the last 48 hours had targeted civilians in shelters and displacement centres overcrowded with tens of thousands of displaced people, public rest areas, Palestinian families inside their homes, popular markets and vital civilian facilities, and starving civilians searching for food. Reporting from Deir el-Balah on the latest killings of Palestinians near GHF aid centres, Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum said, 'People described scenes of horror as they wait for hours just hoping to get their hands on basic food supplies, only to be met with sudden and unprovoked gunfire … I've been speaking to a number of survivors this morning, and they told me such heartbreaking testimonies and they shared the horrific scenes that unfolded near the GHF-run aid centres. 'They told me that there was no prior warning, no prior indication – just gunfire ripping through the crowd, desperate Palestinians scattered for cover as bullets flew. They told me that emergency services and medical teams were not able to access the area due to the intensity of the gunfire … This absolutely reflects the collapse of the humanitarian landscape here in Gaza,' he added. GFH's US contractors reportedly using live fire US contractors ostensibly guarding aid distribution sites in Gaza have been using live ammunition and stun grenades as hungry Palestinians scramble for food, according to accounts and videos obtained by The Associated Press news agency. Two US contractors, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity, said they were speaking out because they were disturbed by what they considered dangerous practices. They said the security staff hired were often unqualified, unvetted, heavily armed and seemed to have an open licence to do whatever they wished. Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh, reporting from Amman, said an Israeli statement on a recent Haaretz report that detailed Israeli troops shooting Palestinians at aid sites stated 'that the Israeli army does not deliberately target civilians and that media reports are exaggerated about the number of casualties. Of course, this is a template, if you will, of Israeli reaction that we see every time something is uncovered about the conduct of the Israeli army. This particular report talks about the [US] contractors as well.' GHF, she added, is 'not just to replace the humanitarian mechanism run by international organisations for decades in Gaza, but it's also to apply maximum pressure on the civilian population'. Odeh also noted that Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has said this week that too much aid is going to Gaza and that none should enter to ensure an Israeli victory. Dr Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian emergency medicine doctor and professor who has provided healthcare in Gaza for more than 30 years, told Al Jazeera the GFH operation 'is part of the Israeli occupation forces' and the Israeli government plan to ethnically cleanse and to fulfil their goal of genocide in Gaza'. 'This has nothing to do with alleviating starvation in Gaza,' Gilbert said. Describing the aid from GFH as a 'drop in the ocean' and a 'sham operation', Gilbert added: 'The distribution organisation is aimed at using food as bait to attract starving people, to terrorise them and to kill them. The shooting of people in food lines is a war crime.' More than 130 humanitarian organisations, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty International on Tuesday demanded the immediate closure of the GHF, accusing it of facilitating attacks on starving Palestinians. The NGOs said Israeli forces and armed groups 'routinely' open fire on civilians attempting to access food. Since the GHF began operations in late May, more than 600 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid and nearly 4,000 have been wounded. Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 56,647 people and wounded 134,105, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks, and more than 200 were taken captive. Possible ceasefire in the balance Meanwhile, Hamas has said it is studying a new proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, but insisted it is seeking an agreement that would bring an end to Israel's devastating war. Hamas said in a statement on Wednesday that it had received proposals from the mediators and is holding talks with them to 'bridge gaps' to return to the negotiating table and try to reach a ceasefire agreement. The Palestinian group said it was aiming for an agreement that would end the Gaza war and ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave. The announcement came a day after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed to the ceasefire proposal and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. Trump has been increasing pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire and an agreement for the group to release the Israeli captives held in Gaza.
Al Jazeera
14 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Trump says Powell should resign ‘immediately' in latest attack on Fed chair
United States President Donald Trump has repeated his call for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to step down, the latest in a series of attacks that have raised concern about the independence of the US central bank. Trump made the call for Powell to 'resign immediately' on Wednesday after his administration's top housing regulator urged the US Congress to launch an investigation into the central banker. Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said in a post on X that Powell should be investigated for his 'political bias' and 'deceptive testimony' about renovations at the Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington, DC. In a Truth Social post responding to Pulte's comments, Trump said 'Too Late' – a nickname used to lambast Powell for not lowering rates faster – should resign. Trump's latest broadside comes days after he sent Powell a letter demanding that the central banker lower the benchmark interest rate, which is currently set at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, by 'a lot'. The US president has repeatedly criticised Powell for not backing faster rate cuts, arguing that the central banker's cautious stance is holding back economic growth and that concerns about inflation are overblown. Lower interest rates reduce the cost of borrowing for businesses and consumers, helping boost economic growth. But rate cuts also have the effect of increasing inflation, which central banks typically wish to keep low, and Trump's sweeping tariffs are generally expected to put upward pressure on prices. On Tuesday, Powell told a panel discussion at the European Central Bank Forum in Portugal that the central bank had taken a wait-and-see approach to rate cuts in order to gauge the impact of Trump's tariffs, many of which are in limbo ahead of a July 9 deadline. 'In effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs, and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs,' Powell said. 'We didn't overreact. In fact, we didn't react at all; we're simply taking some time.' Trump has repeatedly demanded that Powell, whose term does not expire until May 2026, step down or be removed since coming into office in January. Last week, Trump told reporters that he would 'love' for Powell to step down 'if he wanted to'. In April, Trump said that Powell's 'termination cannot come fast enough,' before backing off his threat after stocks and the US dollar dipped sharply. Under US federal law, the US president is only permitted to fire the Fed chair 'for cause', a provision widely interpreted to mean specific misconduct, not policy decisions. In May, the US Supreme Court reaffirmed precedent limiting the president's ability to remove the top central banker in a ruling that singled out the Federal Reserve as having a distinct status compared with other independent agencies. Trump earlier on Tuesday told reporters that he had 'two or three' choices in mind to succeed Powell without elaborating on who is under consideration.
Al Jazeera
20 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Restaurant workers say ‘no tax on tips' undermined by benefits cuts
United States President Donald Trump's big tax and spending bill has faced backlash from both Democrats and fiscal hawks in his own party. But one proposal that has received rare bipartisan support from the start — eliminating taxes on tips. The Senate bill passed on Tuesday, which mirrors the House bill passed last month, would deliver this campaign promise from Trump and had also been proposed by his Democratic opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris. The House plan lets workers deduct all reported tips from their taxable income, while the Senate version sets limits — $18,500 for individuals or $25,000 for joint filers — and phases it out for higher earners. The tax break would expire at the end of 2028. If this bill passes, filers could deduct some or all of those tips starting in 2026. Economists forecast that cutting tax on tips could increase the federal deficits by $100bn over the next decade. Many restaurant workers continue to earn the federal tipped minimum wage, or subminimum wage, of just $2.13 per hour nationally. It is slightly higher in places like New York at $3.55 per hour. The law assumes that tips will bridge the gap to reach the $7.25 federal minimum wage. A survey cited by the White House and conducted by a fintech firm found that 83 percent of restaurant workers support a no-tax-on-tips policy. Trump's plan has been endorsed by the National Restaurant Association. 'The inclusion of the No Tax on Tips and No Tax on Overtime provisions recognises the value of our dedicated workforce. More than two million tipped servers and bartenders stand to benefit, while the overtime measure rewards the commitment of over 13 million hourly team members across the sector,' Michelle Korsmo, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association, told Al Jazeera in a statement. The bill at the surface promises to put more money in the pockets of servers, bartenders, and other tipped workers. But it has been criticised by worker-centric advocacy groups and restaurant workers themselves, who caution against embracing it too quickly because it also comes with cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, which workers in the restaurant industry disproportionately rely on. 'That is like one of like the biggest fears I have right now. I rely on SNAP myself. I rely on Medicaid. At one point, I didn't have insurance because of the whole sub-minimum wage, ' Jessica Ordenana, a server at a Chili's Restaurant in Queens, New York told Al Jazeera. According to One Fair Wage, about 66 percent of tipped workers in the US don't earn enough to pay federal income tax, so eliminating tax on tips wouldn't help the majority of restaurant workers. To put this in perspective, a worker earning $2.13 per hour, working 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, would earn just $4,430.40 annually. Employers are legally required to make up the difference if tips don't bring workers to $7.25/hour, totalling $15,078 per year. Federal income taxes must be paid by those who make more than $14,600 annually. Many workers still fall short due to inconsistent schedules and unreliable tipping. Work requirements complications Restaurant tipped workers overwhelmingly rely on services like SNAP and Medicaid, and will now face new work requirements to get them. For instance, the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' includes a Medicaid work requirement that obligates able-bodied adults aged 19 to 64 to work at least 80 hours per month to remain eligible. For many restaurant workers, this is simply not feasible. Not because of unwillingness, but because their hours depend on consumer demand. According to Harvard Kennedy School's The Shift Project, which studies workplace trends, one in five service sector workers reported having not as many hours as they would like and saw a 34 percent fluctuation in the number of hours week to week. 'I'm actually having a hard time at Chili's because they went from giving me my full like four or five days a week, to now just one day a week. It really varies week to week,' Ordenana said. 'When I ask for another day on the schedule [the manager] tells me, yeah, yeah sure. And then they don't even put me on the schedule. So last week, I didn't work at all,' Ordenana said. Demand for eating out has started to slump as Americans tighten purse strings in the face of a slowing economy and uncertainty over the impact of Trump's tariffs. Consumer Price Index data showed that spending on eating out was flat for three months from February to April and has started to decline heading into the middle of the year. Consumer spending is projected to drop by 7 percent over the middle of the year, according to KPMG's Consumer Pulse report. As a result, One Fair Wage estimates that 45 percent of restaurant workers currently enrolled in Medicaid could lose their health insurance because of the possible downturn in hours because of slumping demand. 'More tipped restaurant workers would lose their Medicaid than would gain small tax benefits. This is not the right solution,' Saru Jayaraman, founder of the advocacy group One Fair Wage told Al Jazeera. 'Why are these workers on Medicaid to begin with? Because they earn a sub-minimum wage and can't afford to take care of themselves.' SNAP benefits face a similar threat. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank, forecasts that the tax bill could lead to as many as 11 million people, including restaurant workers, losing access to critical benefits. The House bill would cut $300bn from SNAP over the next 10 years and the Senate bill would cut $211bn. 'Those cuts have to come out of benefits or eligibility. There is just no way that cuts to administrative costs, to streamline waste, fraud, and abuse, or whatever the talking points are about thinking. Those are benefits to eligible people. To achieve that kind of savings, you have to cut benefits to people. There's no way around it. And that's devastating,' Ed Bolen, director of SNAP State Strategies at Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told Al Jazeera. Nationwide, 18 percent of restaurant workers rely on SNAP benefits, including Ordenana. 'How am I going to eat? How am I gonna survive? How am I going to pay rent? And then on top of that, I might lose benefits? How is this happening in America?' Ordenana asked rhetorically.
