Latest news with #AhmedAshour
CTV News
3 days ago
- General
- CTV News
‘They just want to live': Palestinian-Canadian family pleads for aid as family suffers in Gaza
Najah Ashour watches a video of her cousin, Enaia Shurrab, in Gaza City — sobbing over the lifeless body of her five-month-old son — who she says died from starvation. 'I feel very sad,' Ashour whispers, sitting in her family's apartment in Burlington, Ont. 'She call[ed] me, 'Please send me anything, can you buy milk for my baby?' It broke my heart every minute. I tried to help.' But she couldn't get food to the Gaza Strip fast enough. Within days of that desperate phone call, her cousin's infant son had died. 'She had … two babies,' Ashour says. Now, one of them [is] dead." Ashour says her entire extended family is in Gaza, including aunts, uncles and cousins. All of them are starving, only having one meal a day in the evening, which she says is just a little bit of bread and water in the evening. 'I'm very, very worried about them, they keep calling me. All of my cousins, they need help.' Surviving on bread and water Her husband, Ahmed Ashour, has his brother and his family in Gaza, which includes three children. He says they barely have enough bread and water between them to keep them alive for much longer. 'There's no food,' he says. 'There's just bread and water. They mix the water with sugar and salt to keep them awake. Because if they don't take water with salt or sugar, they may (pass) out." He hasn't heard from them in the past few days — and doesn't know if they're getting enough to eat. 'I don't know what I should do or where I should go. I feel helpless,' said Ahmed. 'I don't know right now if they are OK or not. I just pray for them every day.' Ahmed says that although there is some food available, it is unaffordable — and he isn't able to get his family the money they need to afford basic necessities. 'One kilogram of flour is more than 70 U.S. dollars — it is 100 Canadian dollars," said Ahmed. 'The price of one piece of tomato is 70 shekels — it is 70 U.S. dollars. So if you're going to buy this, how many people are going to eat this? It is nothing," added Ahmed. 'Even a kilogram of sugar or a kilogram of salt is 500 shekels — it's 150 U.S. dollars." Responsibility for delivering aid Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, earlier this week, condemned 'the Israeli government's failure to prevent the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian disaster in Gaza' — calling it 'a violation of international law' and saying Israel's control of aid distribution 'must be replaced.' Israel's ambassador to Canada, Iddo Moed, responded by saying 'Israel has neither interfered with nor blocked any aid, including Canadian-funded assistance,' claiming that 'the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has made great strides in improving the efficiency and impact of the aid delivery program.' Since Israel took control of aid distribution in Gaza — which it said was to prevent Hamas from stealing food and using it for profit — more than a thousand Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops while trying to access aid at distribution points. The U.N. food agency accused Israel of using tanks, snipers and other weapons to fire on a crowd of starving Palestinians. Israel maintains its soldiers were firing warning shots 'to remove an immediate threat,' and questioned the death toll. Israel has also claimed the tonnes of aid sitting outside — and some of it even inside the Gaza border — are waiting to be distributed by United Nations aid groups, blaming them for food not reaching hungry and malnourished Palestinians. But the U.N. has said that Israel has made the process of distributing aid difficult, filling it with bureaucracy and not guaranteeing safety to aid workers. 'What is missing right now is safe, sustained access. Aid workers face constant danger, crossings are unreliable, and critical items are routinely blocked,' said Stephanie Tremblay, associate spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, on Friday from the United Nations headquarters in New York. 'As access constraints continue — yesterday, out of 15 attempts to coordinate humanitarian movements inside Gaza, four were outright denied, with another three impeded. One was postponed, and two others had to be cancelled by the organizers,' she added. Israel says aid airdrops resumed Saturday The Israeli military said this week it will resume airdrop aid into the enclave on Saturday night. 'The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar and canned food to be provided by international organizations,' the military said in a statement — while adding it will establish humanitarian corridors for United Nations convoys. All the while, the Ashour family is waiting to hear from their loved ones — not interested in playing politics — but instead just wishing for food to reach them before it's too late. They've started a GoFundMe page to help their family in Gaza. 'They just want to live in peace. They just want to save their children, their lives,' said Najah Ashour. 'They just want to live.'
Zawya
15-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
PALM successfully closes a 7-figure Pre-Seed round led by 4DX Ventures to revolutionize savings
With support from Plus VC and global angel investors, Egypt's first incentivized, goal-based saving platform leverages behavioral tech and embedded finance to help users turn life goals into financial outcomes Cairo/MENA: PALM, Egypt's first fintech startup offering incentivized goal-based saving, has announced today that the company has successfully closed its pre-seed funding round. The investment round was led by 4DX Ventures with participation from Plus VC and several international angel investors. PALM offers a seamless and personalized saving experience designed to help users achieve their various life goals, whether to fund basic needs such as education and healthcare, saving for marriage or afford their key purchases such as travel, home appliances and electronics. The platform combines traditional investment tools with modern behavioral nudges, rewarding users for consistency and progress. PALM curates optimal asset allocations across asset classes like fixed income, equities, and precious metals to help users reach their goals. By combining high investment returns with exclusive deals from a growing merchant network, PALM maximizes savings value and reduces out-of-pocket spending. By aligning financial tools with real-life milestones, PALM empowers users to turn their goals into achievable outcomes and delivering on its promise: 'All life goals, in your PALM'. PALM was co-founded by Mazen El Kerdany and Ahmed Ashour. Mazen is an investment executive with vast experience in asset management, having managed around USD 2 billion with a strong performance track record. He previously held senior roles at EFG Hermes, led strategy at Beltone Financial Holding, and at Post for Investment—the investment arm of Egypt Post. Ahmed is a technology and finance leader with global experience spanning Amazon, Goldman Sachs, and multiple Consumer and fintech startups across EMEA and the United States for more than 10 years. Together, they combine deep expertise in capital markets, digital product development, and financial inclusion to reimagine how Egyptians save, spend, and invest. Mazen El Kerdany, Co-founder and CEO of PALM, said: 'We're incredibly grateful to our investors for their trust and belief in PALM's vision. Their support empowers us to accelerate our mission of transforming how Egyptians save and achieve their life goals.' 'We launched PALM to help Egyptians take control of their financial future by turning gradual saving into a smarter, more rewarding habit. Egyptians collectively hold EGP 8 trillion in bank deposits, EGP 7 trillion in gold, and EGP 70 trillion in real estate. The challenge isn't the ability to save but the lack of accessible tools that deliver real returns, diversification, and align with personal goals. The old formula—earn, spend, save what is left—no longer works. Today, spending smarter and saving more requires financial planning and a proactive mindset. PALM enables that by embedding investment into the spending process—making it more mindful, goal-driven, and outcome-focused. By helping people build healthy savings habits, PALM not only empowers individuals, it supports broader national goals like financial inclusion, resilience and increased household participation in capital markets, as outlined in Egypt's Vision 2030.' With the new funding, PALM will focus on accelerating user acquisition, expanding its product use cases, and strengthening its network of strategic partners. The company is committed to making saving not only easier but also culturally relevant and rewarding for Egyptians. This next phase will also support product innovation and deeper market engagement as PALM works toward its long-term ambition of reaching millions across the Mediterranean. By doing so, PALM aims to become the go-to financial partner for life's milestones—empowering users to plan, save, and grow their wealth with confidence. Peter Orth, Co-founder of 4DX Ventures, added: 'We believe PALM has the potential to transform financial wellness across the continent. By making it easier to save, delivering real returns, and unlocking meaningful discounts on major expenses, PALM helps users build lasting wealth. This aligns with our mission to back ambitious teams driving long-term prosperity in Africa, and we're excited to partner with seasoned operators like Mazen and Ahmed to make that vision real.' Commenting on the fundraising announcement, Hasan Haider, Founder and Managing Partner, at Plus VC said: 'PALM is redefining money management by helping individuals plan and manage major life expenses with expert strategies and exclusive deals. They're addressing a critical gap in personal finance and are well-positioned to become a trusted financial companion for the next generation. With strong execution, deep product insight, and a clear vision, we're proud to back Mazen, Ahmed, and the PALM team on their journey, as they pioneer a smarter, more empowering approach to financial wellness.' Ahmed Ashour, Co-founder of PALM, stated: 'Currently, Egyptians have limited options when it comes to managed investments due to high fees and minimum investment tickets required for such services, we are changing how Egyptians save. We will offer Egyptians a modern saving experience that caters to their lifestyle needs, aligns with their interests, and helps them along their financial journeys regardless of their income levels or assets. Our vision is to embed saving as a cultural movement by offering innovative products that makes saving fun, personalized, hassle-free, and rewarding for everyone' With a clear vision for the future and with the new funds, PALM is poised to reshape how Egyptians, and eventually users across the Mediterranean, approach saving and financial planning. By combining technology, behavioral insight, and financial inclusion, PALM is not only helping individuals build wealth with confidence, but also contributing to a stronger, more resilient financial ecosystem.
Al Jazeera
19-03-2025
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera Arabic's channel on YouTube surpasses 20 million subscribers
hannel on YouTube has exceeded 20 million subscribers, establishing itself as the foremost channel in the Arab world and the Middle East, and ranking among the top international news channels on the platform, surpassing numerous global channels and news agencies. In 2024, the channel experienced a significant increase in interaction with its YouTube content. Al Jazeera News accumulated over 4.5 billion views, with the channel's live broadcast achieving more than 1.5 billion views within the year, a record figure for an international news channel. The channel implemented innovative strategies to enhance Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and develop content formats that align with YouTube's algorithms, thereby attracting millions of viewers globally. This involved a focus on adapting content for the growing use of smartphones by producing news tailored for small screens and translating videos into English to expand its global reach. Ahmed Al-Yafei, the managing director of Al Jazeera Arabic Channel, remarked: "While we are proud of this achievement, it places a greater responsibility upon us towards our audience, who have trusted us for nearly 29 years. They consider Al Jazeera as the primary and reliable source for news, knowledge content, and matters of global importance, despite the proliferation of competing channels. This success is attributable to the collective efforts of various departments within the network, particularly the Digital Newsroom team." Ahmed Ashour, the head of the Digital Newsroom, commented: "This unprecedented accomplishment is the result of the team's exceptional efforts, driven by passion and a commitment to the mission of journalism. At Al Jazeera, we consistently set new objectives to engage broader audience segments and reinforce the network's digital dominance, aiming to continue reshaping the digital media landscape and solidify its position as the leading global news platform on YouTube." Notably, the Digital Newsroom team within the network successfully broadened the YouTube audience base by targeting diverse age groups and geographical regions, achieving over 100 million views in India and Bangladesh alone.
Buzz Feed
26-01-2025
- Buzz Feed
Your Earbuds Are Nastier Than You Knew, But This $8 Kit Will Help
We hate to add another chore to your list of tasks, but it turns out that if you use in-ear earbuds like Apple AirPods, you should be cleaning them on the regular. It's not just a matter of general hygiene but also to help ensure that your earbuds function at full capacity and last as long as possible. 'Earbuds can get really gunky really quickly, with earwax and goo and all kinds of dust. When that happens, the gunk can actually stick to the speaker,' said Ahmed Ashour, an IT professional and educator who previously worked at Apple's Genius Bar. 'It will literally block certain frequencies from the sound in the headphone, so you will get a muffled sound, you're going to lose a lot of bass, you will lose a lot of mid and lower tones, and it might sound muddy.' The antidote to dusty, earwax-clogged earbuds? Regular cleaning. 'The real trick is to [clean your earbuds] consistently, to not let it buildup an absolutely disgusting mess,' said Ashour. Otherwise, 'Once earwax gets inside your AirPods [or other earbuds], there's really not much a ... technician can do.' Based on Ashour's guidelines and our readers' and reviewers' enthusiasm for it, we recommend this $8 earbud cleaning kit, which sports over 18,000 5-star reviews on Amazon. The kit includes a metal tip to efficiently clean nooks and crannies, a fine nylon brush to clean the swath of earbuds' speakers and microphones gently, plus a dense cylindrical sponge to clean the speaker and the inside of the AirPods' wireless charging case. The kit is super compact and portable, with its three parts fitting inside the kit's pen design, so you can easily toss it into your bag and clean your buds wherever you are. It comes in black and white. To best clean your earbuds, you should be mindful of the material you're using; that's why using a specialized cleaning kit can be especially useful. Amazon, 'It's actually not great to use [paper] tissue because tissues leave tiny little fibers on the surface of silicone,' Ashour told HuffPost. 'If you've tried to clean anything rubber or silicone with a tissue, like a TV screen, you'll notice that when you wipe it, there are all these little white fibers that are left, so that's that's the main reason why you don't want to use tissue or toilet paper when you're trying to clean electronics.' Ashour recommended first using a brush and then going in with the pointy metal tip. 'Brushes are great because they have teeth, so they can grab stuff. Then you can use the pointy tip to pick up the last bits of earwax and gunk that didn't get caught,' Ashour said. Just remember to do so gently: 'You don't want to be too rough when you scrub the mesh.' As for the metal tip in the Hagibis kit: 'The benefit of a specially designed tool that's metal is that it wouldn't leave any residue at all,' Ashour explained. 'Even with Q-tips, you can get little strands of cotton stuck to the silicone. With a specialized tool, it'll be faster to clean, and it's less likely you're going to be leaving cotton fibers or something on the AirPod and then putting it back in your ear.' Another benefit of the Hagibis kit is the flocking sponge designed to deep clean the AirPod case, which doubles as a wireless charger. 'You want to clean the case where the AirPods rest because you'll get earwax gunk on there, too,' said Ashour. Pick up your own Hagibis earbud cleaning kit at Amazon now, or take a look at what Amazon reviewers have to say. Promising reviews: 'This little tool is amazing! My son uses his AirPods for hours every day, and I was amazed at how much ear wax and dirt we were able to clean out of his AirPods without damaging them. He said he could actually hear better out of them now! It is also able to get into the charging case and clean that out as well. Highly recommend this product!' — Fofie's Deals and Steals 'This cleaner is EVERYTHING!! This is actually my third purchase because my friends keep taking it!!! It cleans all the nooks and crannies in my AirPods as well as my iPhone!!! I DEFINITELY recommend!!!' — HOTCHOCOLATE872 'I keep this with all my electronics and find myself using it a lot. It has a pick that is a perfect size for all the nooks and crannies in your AirPods. Also, the two types of brushes are super sturdy and equally soft; clean them perfectly. ' — Nick Erickson 'My son's AirPods had lost the sound quality, and he wanted to buy new ones. This cleaning kit got them working again and saved me from having to replace them. ' — Teresa Bonnema ' I didn't know I needed this product until I saw it on TikTok, and it's been amazing. My AirPods and case get kind of…dingy, and this tool is so helpful!' — Sarah
