Fires and destruction after Iranian attack in southern Israel
Fires and destruction after Iranian attack in southern Israel
NewsFeed Fires and destruction after Iranian attack in southern Israel
Iranian missiles struck Beersheba in southern Israel for the second consecutive day, causing extensive damage to a residential block and hitting a technology park housing software giant Microsoft.
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Qatar Tribune
a day ago
- Qatar Tribune
Microsoft replaces ‘blue screen of death' with sleek black version
Agencies Nearly every Windows user has had a run-in with the infamous 'Blue Screen of Death' at some point in their computing life. Now, after more than 40 years of being set against a very recognizable blue, the updated error message will soon be displayed across a black background. The changes to the notorious error screen come as part of broader efforts by Microsoft to improve the resiliency of the Windows operating system in the wake of last year's CrowdStrike incident, which crashed millions of Windows machines worldwide. 'Now it's easier than ever to navigate unexpected restarts and recover faster,' Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft wrote in a Wednesday announcement. As part of that effort, Microsoft says it's 'streamlining' what users experience when encountering 'unexpected restarts' that cause disruptions. And that means a makeover to the infamous error screen. Beyond the now-black background, Windows' new 'screen of death' has a slightly shorter message. It's also no longer accompanied by a frowning face - and instead shows a percentage completed for the restart process. Microsoft says this 'simplified' user interface for unexpected restarts will be available later this summer on all of its Windows 11 (version 24H2) devices. And for PCs that may not restart successfully, Microsoft on Wednesday also said it's adding a 'quick machine recovery' mechanism. The will be particularly useful for during a widespread outage, the tech giant noted, as Microsoft 'can broadly deploy targeted remediations' and automate fixes with this new mechanism 'without requiring complex manual intervention from IT.' Microsoft said this quick machine recovery will also be 'generally available' later this summer on Window 11 - with additional capabilities set to launch later in the year.
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Al Jazeera
As Gaza starves, GoFundMe accused of blocking ‘millions of dollars' raised
GoFundMe has been accused of blocking 'millions of dollars' of life-saving aid from reaching Gaza. Charity leaders, activists and desperate Palestinians in Gaza have condemned the crowdfunding website for shutting down or blocking withdrawals for Palestine-related fundraising pages – and have accused bosses of having 'blood on their hands'. Despite questions from Al Jazeera, the company has not revealed the amount of money raised on its platform for Gaza that has been frozen in its system or has been refunded to donors. But it has told Al Jazeera that more than $300m has been raised on the platform for both Palestinians and Israelis since Hamas's October 7 attacks on Israel in 2023 and the beginning of Israel's war on Gaza. Hala Sabbah, the founder of mutual aid group The Sameer Project, said that in September, more than $250,000 of donations to her organisation was refunded. The London-based NGO-sector worker described the closure of her GoFundMe page as a 'disaster' for her group's efforts to provide emergency aid in the enclave. The Sameer Project runs a camp for displaced people in Deir el-Balah, providing healthcare and essentials to its residents – paid for by money that, until now, had been raised through GoFundMe, totalling more than $1m. It also funds food, water, shelter and clothing for people across Gaza. Sabbah said she was 'treated like scum' by GoFundMe, despite her group's pages raising about $44,000 for it in transaction fees. 'Our GoFundMe page had daily updates with complete cost breakdowns of every single initiative we did – everything was well-documented, with receipts,' she said. 'This information – including all transfers – was forwarded to GoFundMe, yet they still chose to shut us down.' GoFundMe notifies page organisers that there will be a 'review' process after they launch fundraisers related to Palestine – or 'the conflict in the Middle East', as it is phrased by the company's compliance team in emails seen by Al Jazeera. The company claims this is part of its 'standard verification process', but critics say it appears to inordinately restrict Gaza-related pages rather than those for other causes, such as Israel or Ukraine. GoFundMe has refused to disclose figures that show how many Israel or Ukraine fundraisers have been closed compared with those for Gaza. Intrusive reviews Social media has been flooded with Palestinian advocates speaking out about their pages being shut down. Fundraisers for Israel and Ukraine appear to face little of the same scrutiny. And when they do, media campaigns can quickly force GoFundMe to act. One Ukraine fundraiser that was shut down in March 2022 was reinstated the next month after media coverage of the case. The company's long and intrusive review process often results in Gaza fundraisers being shut down and money refunded to donors or pages being 'paused', preventing funds from being accessed by account holders until the review is concluded. One United States-based fundraiser for the Sulala animal shelter in Gaza says it had about $50,000 dollars refunded to donors when its first page was closed. The team behind the fundraiser then created another page without specifically mentioning Gaza or Palestine, which was not flagged by GoFundMe, placed under review or paused, and ran for months uninterrupted. In the case of The Sameer Project, GoFundMe's compliance team said it was concerned about how funds were being distributed, and said that the documentation Sabbah had provided was not 'accurate, complete or clear'. An email to Sabbah added that there were 'material discrepancies' between the information shared and how funds were distributed to beneficiaries. Before shutting the page down, the compliance team asked for personal information about who was receiving funds, evidence of bank transfer statements and details about partner organisations, which Sabbah says The Sameer Project provided. 'We spent weeks fighting back, and they completely ignored us – even denying us access to our donor lists,' Sabbah told Al Jazeera. 'People can raise funds to help the Israeli military… and their pages don't get closed. But we try to raise money for diapers and lifesaving medication, and we get scrutinised and shut down.' 'We have children in our camp on the verge of death. The company has blood on its hands.' The mutual aid group – named after Sabbah's Gaza-based uncle who died in January – says it has provided more than 800,000 litres (211,330 gallons) of water, $100,000 in cash aid, 850 tents and medical treatment for 749 children across the enclave. It transfers money to intermediaries via makeshift exchange sites and by sending money directly to doctors or pharmacies. Crowdfunding websites have for months been one of the only feasible ways to help those trapped in Gaza. Famine is creeping further into the enclave, humanitarian aid is being blocked for long periods, civilian infrastructure lies in ruin and banks and ATMs have either been destroyed or have halted operations. Sabbah slammed GoFundMe for not justifying shutting her page down despite the huge amount of money the company made from the group's pages in'payment processing fees'. It charges 30 cents per donation and a 2.9 percent cut of the total raised. There are no banking services left in Gaza, but there are exchange offices – often people using POS (point of service) cash machines charging exorbitant interest rates – and the option to swap cryptocurrency for physical currency, amid critical shortages of the latter. Without regular aid flowing into the enclave, most charities rely on sending money via these limited routes to intermediaries who will distribute essentials and medical supplies. Some tinned food, tents and health products are on sale in Gaza markets. But cash is scarce, stocks are extremely limited, and most people cannot afford to pay. Since breaking the ceasefire agreement with Hamas brokered in January, Israel resumed bombing and re-established a blockade on humanitarian aid lasting months. Now, aid is only reaching the enclave through the heavily criticised US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Hundreds of desperate Palestinians have been shot and killed by Israeli forces at GHF aid collection sites. 'Treated like animals' Both still trapped in Gaza, Mostafa Abuthaher and his brother Yahya Fraij, aged 30, have twice created GoFundMe pages, and on both occasions, the company closed them down. Yahya lost his home and three of his cousins to Israel's onslaught, and now his family survives with only a makeshift tent near the beach in al-Mawasi in southern Gaza. His wife gave birth to their six-month-old daughter during the war. Yahya told Al Jazeera that she has experienced nothing but suffering during her short life – and he has had to protect her from extreme cold and the trauma of Israeli bombardment. 'My daughter and I face death almost every day,' he said. 'And now we have nothing – not even a tent. The war has taken everything from us. 'We've been treated like animals and insulted by the world for the last 20 months.' The brothers had raised more than $12,000 to support their families until their first page was suddenly shut down. The company blocked them from withdrawing nearly $5,000. In an email exchange with GoFundMe, a compliance officer said Mostafa's page breached the company's terms of service for 'prohibited conduct', which covers fundraisers that are 'fraudulent, misleading, inaccurate, dishonest or impossible'. He was asked to send a photo ID, provide his location and explain why his page description had changed so often and how the funds would be used. Then his page was closed, after which he expressed astonishment and accused the platform of bias. The brothers say that many people in Gaza have set up GoFundMe pages because of the platform's size and reputation, and then found themselves 'trapped' once their pages began the often ill-fated verification process. Critics of GoFundMe say campaigns fundraising for Israel appear to be able to avoid similar interventions from its compliance team. Other fundraisers on the website state they aim to raise funding for 'equipment' that supports the Israeli military, or 'training' and travel for new recruits. A page raising money for gun sights and other equipment to 'safeguard' the Kishorit kibbutz in the north of Israel appeared to breach the website's terms of service, but was active for nearly a year before no longer becoming accessible. The terms of service prohibit fundraising for 'weapons meant for use in conflict or by an armed group'. Sabbah added that there is no guarantee that money from similar pages to fundraise for 'equipment' or 'security' won't be used to buy weapons, at a time when the Israeli government is actively arming its citizens. Double standards? Al Jazeera sent several questions to GoFundMe, asking how many Gaza-related fundraisers there are, how much they had raised, the number listed as 'transfers paused and the total removed or taken down. We also asked the company to provide like-for-like figures for Israel and Ukraine. At the time of writing, GoFundMe refused to provide the specific information and data we requested. A spokesperson said: 'GoFundMe has helped raise and deliver over $300m from donors in more than 215 countries and jurisdictions to support individuals and organisations helping those in both Gaza and Israel. 'Any suggestion of double standards is wholly without merit, baseless, and contrary to the values that guide our platform. 'Any decision to remove a fundraiser from the platform is never taken lightly and is informed explicitly by our Terms of Service. Taking action like this is difficult, but it protects our ability to support people who are fundraising to help others.' Amr Shabaik, the legal director at the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR), told Al Jazeera that the fundamental issue with platforms like GoFundMe was the 'imbalanced application of rules' – behaviour consistent with other forms of digital censorship since October 7. 'Algorithmic discrimination and targeting, looking for certain descriptors and categories – like Gaza or Palestine specifically in the last 18 months – means some pages are subjected to an unfair and high level of scrutiny that other fundraisers are not,' he said. 'All platforms have their rules and regulations, but they're applying them disproportionately and unfairly towards Palestinians.' 'There is a clear indication of a double standard. If you are actively preventing lifesaving aid – intentionally or unintentionally -– from reaching Gaza, it's tough to say you're not supporting a genocide.' Shabaik points to studies undertaken by Human Rights Watch (HRW), The Arab Centre for the Advancement of Social Media and Palestine Legal that detail platforms' inordinate targeting of pro-Palestine pages or accounts. HRW says that between October and November 2023, 1,049 pro-Palestinian posts on Facebook and Instagram were taken down by the platform's owner, Meta. Palestine Legal says that between October 7 and December 31, 2023, the organisation received 1,037 requests for legal support from people 'targeted for their Palestine advocacy'. The Arab Centre for the Advancement of Social Media documented more than 1,639 'censorship violations' in its 2023 annual report, including content removal and suspensions. Last December, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Freelance Journalists' Union said that GoFundMe prevented $6,000 of funding from reaching the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate after its fundraiser was shut down. This is despite the organisation being based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, not in Gaza. One union delegate, using the name 'Arv' as he wanted to remain anonymous, told Al Jazeera the money would have provided protective helmets, press vests and other safety apparatus for journalists reporting in the territory. He added that GoFundMe said the fundraiser was shut down due to a lack of compliance with unspecified 'laws and regulations'. In December, a union spokesperson said on its Twitter page: 'Over the course of the fundraiser, we received a dozen requests for further information from GoFundMe, all of which were answered as thoroughly and in as timely a manner as possible, given the ongoing war.' Arv added that the union had been pushed to explore the use of other fundraising platforms because of the difficulty of working with GoFundMe. 'Current GoFundMe users should do the same before they too are caught in such Kafkaesque circumstances,' he said. The GoFundMe compliance team asked for business information, such as bank accounts, and even after informing the union the information had been accepted, the page was still closed down. GoFundMe boasts that it is the world's number one crowdfunding platform, but it only allows fundraisers to be created in 20 nations (not including Israel, Ukraine or Palestine) – meaning people in Gaza are reliant on intermediaries thousands of miles away if they want to receive donations. All those interviewed for this story and other campaigners have endorsed a boycott of the platform. Sabbah says she has since begun using the Australian crowdfunding website Chuffed, which reviewed her documentation and swiftly permitted her to withdraw, allowing her to continue her group's work in Gaza. The platform says it advocates on behalf of campaigners to sort out verification issues with its payment providers to prevent pages from being frozen or refunded. Chuffed general manager Jennie Smith said: 'We've been helping campaigners migrate from GoFundMe to Chuffed by the thousands over the last year and have seen firsthand the devastation the shutting down of their GoFundMe campaigns causes.' Yahya described life for his family in his makeshift tent. He walks miles every day to get water and wraps up his baby daughter for the cold winter nights, fearing they may not wake up in the morning. He says his family may have escaped the enclave if GoFundMe had allowed him to withdraw the money he raised. 'I try not to think about losing our money,' Yahya said. 'If I kept thinking about how terrible everything is, I wouldn't be alive now! 'But it makes you feel like everyone is conspiring against us. They are leaving us to die slowly.'
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Israel-Iran conflict exposed China's ‘limited leverage', say analysts
Through the 12 days of the recent Israel-Iran conflict, China moved quickly to position itself as a potential mediator and voice of reason amid a spiralling regional crisis. The day after Israel's unprovoked attack on Iran on June 13, Beijing reached out to both sides to express its desire for a mediated solution even as the country's top diplomat, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, condemned Israel's actions as a violation of international law. Chinese President Xi Jinping soon followed with calls for de-escalation, while at the United Nations Security Council, China joined Russia and Pakistan in calling for an 'immediate and unconditional ceasefire'. When Iran threatened to blockade the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world's oil passes, Beijing was also quick to speak out. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs instead called for the 'international community to step up efforts to de-escalate conflicts and prevent regional turmoil from having a greater impact on global economic development'. Beijing's stance throughout the conflict remained true to its longstanding noninterference approach to foreign hostilities. But experts say it did little to help shore up its ambition of becoming an influential player in the Middle East, and instead exposed the limitations of its clout in the region. Why China was worried Unlike some countries, and the United States in particular, China traditionally approaches foreign policy 'through a lens of strategic pragmatism rather than ideological solidarity', said Evangeline Cheng, a research associate at the National University of Singapore's Middle East Institute. This approach means China will always focus on protecting its economic interests, of which it has many in the Middle East, Cheng told Al Jazeera. China has investments in Israel's burgeoning tech sector and its Belt and Road infrastructure project spans Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Critically, China relies on the Middle East for more than half of its crude oil imports, and it's the top consumer of Iranian oil. A protracted war would have disrupted its oil supplies, as would an Iranian blockade of the strategically important Strait of Hormuz – something threatened by Tehran's parliament during the conflict. 'War and security instability not only undermines Chinese investment and trade and business… but also the oil price and gas energy security in general,' said Alam Saleh, a senior Lecturer in Iranian Studies at the Australian National University. 'Therefore, China seeks stability, and it disagrees and opposes any kind of military solution for any type of conflict and confrontations, no matter with whom,' he said. John Gong, a professor of economics at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, told Al Jazeera that China's top concern through the conflict was to avoid 'skyrocketing oil prices' that would threaten its energy security. Flexing diplomatic muscle, protecting economic might Aware of China's friendly relations with Iran and Beijing's economic fears, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Beijing to keep Tehran from closing the Strait of Hormuz as ceasefire negotiations stumbled forward this week. It was a brief moment of acknowledgement of Beijing's influence, but experts say China's overall diplomatic influence remains limited. 'China's offer to mediate highlights its desire to be seen as a responsible global player, but its actual leverage remains limited,' Cheng said. 'Without military capabilities or deep political influence in the region, and with Israel wary of Beijing's ties to Iran, China's role is necessarily constrained.' To be sure, Beijing has demonstrated its ability to broker major diplomatic deals in the region. In 2023, it mediated the normalisation of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. While seen as a huge diplomatic win for China, experts say Beijing owed much of its success to fellow mediators, Oman and Iraq. China also mediated an agreement between Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah, in July 2024, under which they committed to working together on Gaza's governance after the end of Israel's ongoing war on the enclave. But William Yang, a senior analyst for Northeast Asia at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said the odds were stacked against China from the beginning of the latest conflict due to Israel's wariness towards its relationship with Iran. In 2021, China and Iran signed a 25-year 'strategic partnership', and Iran is an active participant in the Belt and Road project. Iran has also joined the Beijing-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and this year took part in China's 'Maritime Security Belt' naval exercises. Iran's 'resolute opposition to American hegemony' also aligns well with China's diplomatic interests more broadly, compared with Israel's close ties to the US, Yang said. China's dilemma It's a scenario that could be repeated in the future, he said. 'This case also reinforces the dilemma that China faces: while it wants to be viewed as a great power that is capable of mediating in major global conflicts, its close relationship with specific parties in some of the ongoing conflicts diminishes Beijing's ability to play such a role,' Yang said. For now, Beijing will continue to rely on the US as a security guarantor in the region, he added. 'It's clear that China will continue to focus on deepening economic engagement with countries in the Middle East while taking advantage of the US presence in the region, which remains the primary security guarantor for regional countries,' Yang said. 'On the other hand, the US involvement in the conflict, including changing the course of the war by bombing Iranian nuclear sites, creates the condition for China to take the moral high ground in the diplomatic sphere and present itself as the more restrained, calm and responsible major power,' he said.
