Abu Dhabi: Palestinian author Basim Khandaqji, who has been imprisoned by Israel since 2004, has been named the winner of the 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) for his novel “A Mask, the Colour of the Sky”.

Khandaqji’s publisher Rana Idriss, of the Lebanon-based Dar al-Adab publishing house, accepted the award on his behalf at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.

The book tells the story of Nur, an archaeologist living in a Palestinian refugee camp in Ramallah, who adopts a “mask” when he finds a blue identity card belonging to an Israeli in the pocket of an old coat.

Born in Nablus, Khandaqji has been imprisoned by Israel since he was 21 years old. He studied political science at Al-Quds University from prison with a thesis on Israeli studies and has published several poetry collections and novels.

In an interview in January, Khandaqji’s brother said his family had not been able to speak with him for four months, a problem many Palestinians held in Israeli prisons have faced since October 2023.

Khandaqji wrote the award-winning book in prison in 2021, when he would manage to write about two pages each day between 5am and 7am, although “very often, the papers are taken from him and destroyed by the guard”, his brother said.

Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza, known for documenting the impact of Israel’s war on Gaza, has been named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024 in the ‘Icons’ category.

Time magazine described Motaz as, “The world’s eyes and ears in his native Gaza for 108 days. Armed with a camera and a flak jacket marked ‘PRESS.’”

“The 25-year-old Palestinian photographer spent nearly four months documenting life under Israeli bombardment: families displaced from homes, women mourning loved ones, a man trapped beneath the rubble.”

His images offered a glimpse into Gaza that few in the international press, which has been all but barred from accessing the Strip, could rival. He did so at great risk; at least 95 journalists have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7.

Since his evacuation, Azaiza has been raising awareness of the crisis and calling for international intervention.

“What is happening in Gaza is not content for you,” he was quoted as saying by the magazine. “We are not telling you what is happening … for your likes or views or shares. No, we are waiting for you to act. We need to stop this war.”

“I am really blessed to share my country name with me wherever I go or whatever I achieve,” Motaz wrote on X.

“For those who don’t recognize Palestine as a state, or for those who claim that it is their land. Palestine gonna be free one day from Zionists and occupation. Everyone does his part, and my part is not done yet,” he added

New York: Employees of the tech giant Google staged sit-in protests at the company’s New York and Sunnyvale, California offices, lasting for over nine hours and resulting in their subsequent arrest.

The demonstrators asserted that they would not disperse until Google terminates its involvement in a $1.2 billion artificial intelligence and surveillance contract with Israel, along with Amazon.

Taking over the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian in California, the protesters occupied the space for more than eight hours.

In a ‘notech4apartheid’ video, an individual informed the employees of their placement on administrative leave, urging them to vacate voluntarily. However, the protesters declined, leading to their arrest by law enforcement.

Google staff members have consistently voiced opposition to project “Nimbus,” with Palestinian employees highlighting what they perceive as “institutionalized bias” within the company.

Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes targeted the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, resulting in the deaths of eleven individuals, including children, as part of the ongoing bombardment of the Palestinian territory.

Reports indicate that since October 7, Israeli attacks on Gaza have resulted in the deaths of at least 33,843 Palestinians, with 76,575 others sustaining injuries.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Deir Al-Balah: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will shut down satellite broadcaster Al Jazeera immediately.

Netanyahu vowed to close the “terror channel” after parliament passed a law Monday clearing the way for the country to halt Al Jazeera from broadcasting from Israel.

Netanyahu accused Al Jazeera of harming Israeli security, participating in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and inciting violence against Israel.

“The terror channel Al Jazeera will not broadcast any longer from Israel,” Netanyahu wrote on X. “It is my intention to act immediately under the new law to stop the channel’s activities.”

A Coast Guard cutter passes a cargo ship that is stuck under the part of the structure of the Bridge after the ship hit the bridge

New York: The crew of 20 Indians and a Sri Lankan of the crippled container vessel that collided with a key Baltimore bridge last week is “busy with their normal duties” and will remain on board until the investigation into the accident is completed, the company that owns the vessel has said.

The container vessel Dali collided with the 2.6-km-long four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River in Baltimore in the early hours of March 26. The 984-foot cargo ship was bound for Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Just minutes before colliding with the bridge, there was a total blackout on the ship, indicating that the vessel lost engine power and electrical power, according to US media reports.

“It is confirmed there are 21 crew members on board. The crew members are busy with their normal duties on the ship as well as assisting the National Transportation Safety Board and Coast Guard investigators on board,” a spokesperson of Grace Ocean Pte and Synergy Marine told PTI.

On how long the crew would have to stay on board the ship, the spokesperson said: “At this time, we do not know how long the investigation process will take and until that process is complete, the crew will remain on board.”

The Singapore-flagged Dali is owned by Grace Ocean Pte Ltd and managed by the Synergy Marine Group. Earlier, the non-profit organisation Baltimore International Seafarers’ Center had said that the Indian crew on board the container vessel was “healthy”.

The Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi earlier said that there were 20 Indians on board Dali and the Indian embassy in Washington was in close touch with them and local authorities.

Last week, US authorities began interviewing personnel on board Dali. The Synergy Group had said in a statement that the NTSB boarded the vessel on Wednesday and collected documents, voyage data recorder extracts, and other evidence as part of their investigation.

Grace Ocean and Synergy confirmed the safety of all crew members and two pilots aboard the vessel. They, however, reported one minor injury and said the injured crew member had been treated and discharged from a hospital.

Six people, who were part of a construction crew repairing potholes on the bridge when the collision occurred, are presumed dead. Divers recovered the bodies of two of the construction workers from a red pickup truck found submerged in the river and a search was on for the remaining four victims.

US President Joe Biden said that the crew on board Dali had alerted transportation personnel about losing control of the vessel, enabling authorities to close the Baltimore bridge to traffic before the devastating collision, “undoubtedly” saving lives.

Meanwhile, a temporary alternative route for ships is to be opened in the US city of Baltimore following the collapse of, officials announced.

Efforts are underway to remove debris from the water. A 200-tonne piece of the bridge was removed on Saturday.

Those involved in the clean-up have been cutting debris from the bridge into smaller pieces that can be removed and taken to a disposal site.

The collapse of the bridge has effectively shut down operations at Baltimore’s port, affecting about 8,000 jobs and about USD 2 million in daily wages for those workers, US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said last week.

Between USD 100 million and USD 200 million worth of trade went through the port daily before the bridge’s collapse, and the port was America’s largest for handling vehicle imports, Buttigieg said.