King Charles celebrates 75th birthday by launching new food project
LONDON - Britain’s King Charles celebrated his 75th birthday on Tuesday and used the occasion to launch a new scheme to tackle food poverty and cut down on waste.
The king, who has spent more than five decades as an outspoken campaigner on environmental issues and supporter of a sustainable economy, will officially launch the ‘Coronation Food Project’, his mission to try to stop people going hungry.
“Food need is as real and urgent a problem as food waste - and if a way could be found to bridge the gap between them, then it would address two problems in one,” Charles wrote in an article for the “Big Issue”, a magazine which is usually sold by homeless people.
“It is my great hope that this Coronation Food Project will find practical ways to do just that - rescuing more surplus food, and distributing it to those who need it most.”
With his wife, Queen Camilla, Charles will spend his birthday visiting a surplus food distribution centre. He will meet major British supermarkets to see how his project can help redistribute food which would otherwise go to waste. The project says 14 million people in Britain face food insecurity, and as the rising cost of living has pushed even more into food poverty, charities say there has been a 38% rise in those using food banks for the first time in the year to March 2023.
The king, who held a celebratory event for other individuals and organisations also turning 75 on Monday, will also host a reception on Tuesday to herald the work of nurses and midwives, part of the events marking 75 years of the National Health Service.
WASHINGTON - The United States and Britain imposed a fresh round of sanctions on Tuesday targeting Hamas as they seek to cut off funding for the militant Palestinian group following its deadly attack on Israel last month.
The United States announced its third round of sanctions since the attack, targeting key Hamas officials and the mechanisms through which Iran provides support to Hamas and its ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), another militant group.
Britain added six new designations to its counter-terrorism sanctions list, including four individuals linked to Hamas, an update to the UK government website showed.
“The United States will continue to work with our partners, including the U.K., to deny Hamas the ability to raise and use funds to carry out its atrocities,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.
“Hamas’s actions have caused immense suffering and shown that terrorism does not occur in isolation. Together with our partners we are decisively moving to degrade Hamas’s financial infrastructure, cut them off from outside funding, and block the new funding channels they seek to finance their heinous acts.”
Israel vowed to wipe out Hamas after the militant group’s fighters burst across the fence around the Gaza enclave on Oct 7 and rampaged through Israeli towns killing civilians. Israel says 1,200 people were killed and around 240 were dragged back to Gaza as hostages in the deadliest day of its 75-year history.
Medical officials in Hamas-run Gaza say more than 11,000 people are confirmed dead from Israeli strikes, around 40% of them children, and countless others trapped under rubble. Around two thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been made homeless, unable to escape the crowded territory where food, fuel, fresh water and medical supplies are running out.
Since the Oct. 7 attack, Washington has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Hamas. It has targeted the group’s investment portfolio and issued an alert to financial institutions on countering Hamas financing while senior officials have discussed the group’s access to funds on trips abroad.
Hamas is designated a terrorist group by Israel, the United States, the European Union, Britain and others.
Washington’s action on Tuesday specifically targeted Mahmoud Khaled Zahhar, a senior member and co-founder of Hamas, the PIJ’s representative to Iran and the Damascus-based Deputy Secretary General of PIJ and leader of its militant wing.
Lebanon-based money exchange company Nabil Chouman & Co was also targeted, along with its owner and founder. Treasury said Hamas uses the company to transfer money from Iran to Gaza and accused it of having transferred tens of millions of dollars to the group.