الكاتب: kafej

The puteketeke, a bird that vomits, grunts, growls and has bizarre mating rituals, won New Zealand’s bird of the century competition after comedian John Oliver intervened in campaigning. 

Oliver launched what he called an “alarmingly aggressive” campaign to crown the puteketeke the winner of the annual contest, run by environmental organisation Forest and Bird.

His efforts included erecting billboards in Paris and Tokyo, asking viewers to vote for the orange-mulleted bird and promoting it on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

He exploited a loophole in the system that allows anyone to vote from anywhere.

It’s not the first time support from abroad has ruffled feathers. In 2019, a flurry of votes from Russia sparked suspicion of election tampering, but Forest and Bird later said the votes were legitimate.

The competition received a record number of verified votes – more than 350,000 from 195 countries – crashing the verification system and delaying the results for two days.

The puteketeke began as an “outside contender”, Forest and Bird chief executive Nicola Toki said, “but was catapulted to the top spot thanks to its unique looks, adorable parenting style, and propensity for puking”.

“We’re not surprised these charming characteristics caught the eye of an influential bird enthusiast with a massive following,” she added.

Thousands of votes had to be discarded as fraudulent, including 40,000 votes cast by a single person for a
penguin, Ms Toki said.

Another person from Pennsylvania cast 3,403 votes for their choice with one arriving every three seconds.

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Campaign managers for other birds called foul on Oliver’s campaign, calling on New Zealanders to vote for other birds including the kakapo parrot and the national bird, the kiwi.

But the puteketeke came out streets ahead with 290,374 votes. In second place, the brown kiwi had 12,904 votes.

The puteketeke eats its own feathers to line its stomach and then vomits to expel parasites.

It is also known for making grunting and growling sounds, and engaging in mating dances such as the “weed dance” where the birds offer each other water weed and the “ghostly penguin” where they rise chest to chest while walking on water.

Friends stars Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer have paid tribute to Matthew Perry.

Aniston, who played Rachel Green in the show, wrote in an Instagram post: “Oh boy this one has cut deep… Having to say goodbye to our Matty has been an insane wave of emotions that I’ve never experienced before.

“We all experience loss at some point in our lives. Loss of life or loss of love.

“Being able to really SIT in this grief allows you to feel the moments of joy and gratitude for having loved someone that deep. And we loved him deeply. He was such a part of our DNA. We were always the six of us.

“This was a chosen family that forever changed the course of who we were and what our path was going to be.

“For Matty, he KNEW he loved to make people laugh. As he said himself, if he didn’t hear the ‘laugh’ he thought he was going to die. His life literally depended on it. And boy did he succeed in doing just that.

“He made all of us laugh. And laugh hard. In the last couple weeks, I’ve been pouring over our texts to one another. Laughing and crying then laughing again. I’ll keep them forever and ever. I found one text that he sent me out of nowhere one day. It says it all.

“Matty, I love you so much and I know you are now completely at peace and out of any pain. I talk to you every day… sometimes I can almost hear you saying “could you BE any crazier?”

“Rest little brother. You always made my day.”

Aniston also posted a picture of a text exchange with Perry where he said: “Making you laugh just made my day.”

Meanwhile, Schwimmer, who played Ross Geller in the sitcom, said: “Matty, thank you for ten incredible years of laughter and creativity.

“I will never forget your impeccable comic timing and delivery. You could take a straight line of dialogue and bend it to your will, resulting in something so entirely original and unexpectedly funny it still astonishes.

“And you had heart. Which you were generous with, and shared with us, so we could create a family out of six strangers.

“This photo is from one of my favourite moments with you. Now it makes me smile and grieve at the same time.

“I imagine you up there, somewhere, in the same white suit, hands in your pockets, looking around – ‘could there BE any more clouds?’”

Perry, 54, died last month after an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home. His death is being investigated by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office after a post-mortem examination with toxicology tests.

He played the quick-witted Chandler Bing in the beloved sitcom between 1994 and 2004.

LeBlanc, who played Chandler’s best friend Joey Tribbiani in the show, said in an Instagram post on Tuesday that “the times we had together are honestly among the favourite times of my life”.

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In an emotional tribute, LeBlanc wrote: “I am so grateful for every moment I had with you Matty and I miss you every day.”

“It is with a heavy heart I say goodbye.

“It was an honour to share the stage with you and to call you my friend. I will always smile when I think of you and I’ll never forget you. Never.

“Spread your wings and fly brother you’re finally free. Much love.

“And I guess you’re keeping the 20 bucks you owe me.”

Courteney Cox, who played Chandler’s wife Monica Geller on Friends, said on Tuesday: “I am so grateful for every moment I had with you Matty and I miss you every day.

On Instagram, she shared what she described as one of her favourite moments with her friend “Matty”.

“To give a little backstory, Chandler and Monica were supposed to have a one night fling in London. But because of the audience’s reaction, it became the beginning of their love story.

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“In this scene, before we started rolling, he whispered a funny line for me to say. He often did things like that. He was funny and he was kind.”

Tributes poured in following Perry’s death, including messages from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – who attended the same school as the actor – and Sarah, Duchess of York, who had a cameo appearance in Friends.

In a joint statement released after his death on 28 October, his Friends co-stars – LeBlanc, Cox, Aniston, Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow – said: “We are all so utterly devastated by the loss of Matthew. We were more than just cast mates. We are a family.

“There is so much to say, but right now we’re going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss.”

They were also among 20 mourners at Perry’s funeral in the Hollywood Hills earlier this month.

Perry was open about his battle with substance abuse and addiction, and set up a sober living facility for men with similar issues.

A foundation has now been set up to help others struggling with the disease.

Iceland is on high alert for a volcanic eruption, with a state of emergency declared and almost 4,000 residents evacuated from their homes.

There is a “considerable” risk of an eruption on or just off the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 30 miles from the capital Reykjavik, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office.

The region has been shaken by hundreds of small earthquakes every day for more than two weeks.

Scientists have been monitoring a build-up of magma some three miles underground.

Here is what we know about when an eruption might happen.

When could the volcano erupt?

The probability of the volcano erupting at Fagradalsfjall in the coming days is “high”, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO).

“We believe that this intrusion is literally hovering, sitting in equilibrium now just below the earth’s surface,” Matthew James Roberts from the agency said.

But there is still “tremendous uncertainty”, he added. “Will there be an eruption and if so, what sort of damage will occur?”

“At this stage, it is not possible to determine exactly whether and where magma might reach the surface,” the IMO said.

Earthquake activity at Fagradalsfjall decreased over the weekend, which “indicates that a new phase of magma intrusion is occurring”, said Dr Margaret Hartley, lecturer in Earth Sciences at Manchester University.

Previous earthquakes in the areas were “all preceded by decreases in seismic activity, so this isn’t necessarily an indication that the volcanic unrest is dying down”.

On Tuesday, the Icelandic authorities judged the risk has temporarily eased enough to allow Grindavik’s inhabitants to briefly return home – escorted by search and rescue teams – to collect pets and belongings.

Authorities have raised their aviation alert to orange, indicating an increased risk of a volcanic eruption.

Volcanic eruptions pose a serious hazard to aviation because they can spew highly abrasive ash high into the atmosphere, where it can cause jet engines to fail, damage flight control systems and reduce visibility.

Read more:
What is happening under the surface in Iceland?
How big could the Iceland eruption be?

How much damage will it cause?

How much disruption the eruption causes will depend on where the magma breaks the surface, and the size and style of the eruption, Dr Hartley said.

Dr Phil Collins from Brunel University London said an eruption would cause problems for the Icelandic people, but noted they are “very well prepared and have lots of experience in dealing with eruptions”.

“If the eruption does occur, there may be significant lava flows which could destroy peoples’ homes and other infrastructure, as well as block valleys and change surface drainage,” he said.

Any eruption is not expected to cause the kind of ash cloud created by the Eyjafjallajokull eruption back in 2010, which caused chaos to global air travel.

Dr Dave McGarvie, a volcanologist with the University of Lancaster said: “The volcanoes on the Reykjanes Peninsula do not have the ability to produce the disruptive ash clouds that characterised the Eyjafjallajokull 2010 eruption.”

Lessons were learnt from that event, he said, and even an identical eruption would not be so disruptive now.

For over three weeks, Aladdin, Olfat and their 20-year-old daughter were surrounded by an endless barrage of bombs in Gaza.

After being trapped there, they managed to escape and have now returned to Liverpool and have shared their experience of war with Sky News.

The trio, with other family members, were at their home in Gaza City when Israel’s retaliation began following Hamas’s 7 October attack.

They knew after the attack something was coming, they just didn’t know when.

Olfat Alsaqqa, who hadn’t returned to Gaza since she fled the war in 2014, says she’d never seen anything like this before: “At the beginning we felt very scared.

“We didn’t know what the reaction would be like from the Israeli side. At first they were quiet and then suddenly they started bombing everything.

“Towers were falling down very close to us and we didn’t know what we should do, whether our place is safe or not and where we should go.”

The family listened to the orders of the Israeli Defence Forces and fled south, taking Aladdin’s 97-year-old mother with them, and on route they witnessed endless destruction.

But in Khan Younis, where they stayed with other relatives, 27 in total, the rockets continued.

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Aladdin Saga, told Sky News: “There was no safe place in all of Gaza Strip. From the north to the south they are using the air, the sea, the land at the same time, bombing everywhere. You’re just sitting and waiting for your destiny.”

His wife added: “Everyday we were feeling that we were going to die and that we are the target. When the rockets stop, we just touch our bodies to check if we’re still alive. But then we don’t know when it is our turn, so it was miserable.”

Back in Liverpool, three of Aladdin and Olfat’s children were left worried, often without any communication with their parents – it’s all Olfat could think about.

“I was feeling very bad. I felt, that I’m not going to stay alive,” she said. “I was just telling my daughters and my son in the UK to take care of yourself, take care of each other.

“If we don’t come back, just try to stay together, don’t separate. And every time I say to Allah, ‘please protect my kids whilst they are by themselves’.”

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Whilst in Khan Younis the couple say leaving the house wasn’t an option, supplies were running out and every day they were hearing of a relative or a friend that had been killed.

Aladdin recalls one time he had to visit a hospital with a friend, whose daughter was badly injured. “We went there and what I saw, I couldn’t believe it was true, I thought I was dreaming. I saw bodies on the ground of the hospital.

“There were not enough beds to put the injured people on. People were bleeding, you’re walking on blood in the al Shifa hospital emergency department.

“There were not enough medics, doctors to accept the hundreds and thousands of wounded people. I’m walking through and I’m seeing people just die, and I can’t do anything for them.”

He says it’s a sight he’ll never forget. But this British-Palestinian couple do blame Hamas for what’s happening in their homeland.

Olfat said: “I don’t like Hamas. No one in Gaza likes Hamas. Everyone wants to get rid of Hamas. I blame them for everything.

“I also blame Israel for what they have done to us. I don’t want Israel on my land but I don’t want to get rid of my people because of that.

“We can do something else. This is not the right way to get rid of Israel and this is not the right way to get rid of Hamas.”

After six dangerous and risky attempts of trying to leave Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt, Aladdin and his family’s names were on the list allowing them to leave.

They thank the British Foreign Office for helping them get to safety and return to the UK.

But while here the conflict in the Middle East continues – Aladdin says: “We feel guilty that we are alive and many people are still there.

“All the time, our minds are still in Gaza. If anything happened to my sister and mother who are still there I will never forgive myself.”

On the morning of Sunday, November 12, I received a plea, an SOS, from my dear friend Shireen, a Christian Palestinian in Bethlehem. “Ghada, do you know any institutions in Gaza, other than the Red Cross, that can help evacuate people trapped in the north?” I had to respond: “No…”

Shireen is just one of many friends, loved ones and acquaintances who got in touch with me in recent days desperately looking for a way to find help for those stuck in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza has created three simultaneous crises.  First, there is the crisis experienced by every individual in the besieged Strip who is unable to escape. Then, there is the crisis of conscience that has seemingly taken over the international community, which is ignoring the desperate plight of civilians in Gaza.  Finally, there is the global crisis resulting from the apparent collapse of all the mechanisms supposedly designed to promote and protect human rights.

A crisis of humanity

Every day, I receive dozens of SOS messages, cries for help, from Gaza. As a Palestinian from Gaza who is currently out of the Strip, I am living a nightmare, because there is very little, if anything, that I can do to help those who are under siege and under attack there.

I know there is nothing I can do to stop Israel’s war machine. I know this because I spent most of my life, about 36 years, in the besieged and occupied Gaza – the open-air prison that has since been transformed into a slaughterhouse.

Still, I desperately try to do something, anything. Action is imperative – staying idle, doing nothing, feels like being stuck in another hell.

So despite not knowing how I could help, I messaged Shireen back: “Can you send me more details?”

“Nour al-Nakhala’s family is trapped in their home in Gaza City due to heavy bombardment,” she responded quickly. “Nour is the wife of Dr Hammam Alloh. Their residence is in front of al-Basma kindergarten, on Abu Hasira Street in Gaza. Here is their cell number. Please help.”

Shireen’s plea to rescue al-Nakhala and Alloh families triggered a flood of memories and made me think of all the other families I know in Gaza. I thought of the Luthun family, Bilbaisi family, al-Birwai family… I thought of the Awad family, which lives, or once lived, near the blood bank and the German representative’s office – at the very heart of middle-class Gaza.

I did not know the fate of any of these families. I did not know if they were alive or dead. But I feared the worst. And we still had no news from al-Nakhala and Alloh families.

Then, I received a desperate plea from the al-Bayid family – a household of six members, some with special needs, trapped in their home on al-Halabi street next to the Civil Affairs office. They were stranded without food or water.

Another cry for help came from the al-Saqa family, besieged in their home not far from al-Shifa Hospital. They were also trapped, immobile, together with their children and the elderly with little access to food or water. Tanks had ravaged their surroundings and were firing at anything that moved.

Then, on the same day, Dr Majdy Alkhouly, who lives in Qatar, also took to Facebook to try and find someone to help al-Nakhala and Alloh families. He said they needed immediate evacuation because many of them, including Dr Hammam Alloh, and his father-in-law, Mahmoud, have been critically wounded as a result of the bombardment, and are bleeding.

Simultaneously, the Abu Hashish family, a group of around 15 people who are not far away from al-Shifa Hospital, sent out a heart-wrenching cry for help. The family said some among them have been severely wounded, and their lives are hanging in the balance. But the bombs were raining from the sky, and the presence of tanks around their home rendered them completely immobile.

All these family names echoed in my mind, repeatedly, filling me with a feeling of dread that I know I will never be able to forget or get over for the rest of my life.

All of this, repeated two million times over, every single day, is the first crisis that was born out of Israel’s latest war on Gaza.

A crisis of conscience

The second crisis is one that is caused by the world’s indifference to the pleas of Gaza’s doctors and hospital workers. This is a crisis of conscience.

Israel’s military continues to target doctors, nurses, patients and medical facilities. At least 200 doctors and medics have been killed in the ongoing genocide. In stark numerical terms, the occupying force has claimed the lives of six doctors and medics on average every single day since the beginning of its latest assault on the besieged Strip.

Just a few days ago, my own brother, a doctor at the Nasser hospital, narrowly escaped death. He had stepped out of his office to check on a patient when a nearby mosque was struck. The shelling also damaged the radiology unit of the hospital. The ceiling collapsed, creating a scene of devastation.

Meanwhile, my cousin Nour, a recent graduate of medicine, continues to work at the UN school in Khan Younis camp, which has been turned into a concentration camp with tens of thousands of people crammed into classrooms, using just eight washrooms between them. Despite the dire conditions, Nour is still tirelessly working, seeing at least 500 patients a day and offering advice and prescriptions to the sick, even though obtaining medications is nearly impossible.

Whenever we can speak, she tells me how shortages have become the norm in Gaza, causing tragedies. She explains people are grappling with kidney problems, and diseases like diarrhoea, due to a lack of clean water. She tells me that they are also suffering from hunger-related illnesses and anaemia.  That communicable diseases like chickenpox are spreading rapidly. Newly married girls expecting their first babies live in fear that when the time comes to deliver the baby, no one will be able to assist them. Two children in the school she works in lost their lives in the past week due to a lack of medication. The desperation is overwhelming.

As I pen these words, most Gaza hospitals have run out of essential supplies, and become literal graveyards. The bodies of those murdered, lie both inside and outside of al-Shifa Hospital, which is now occupied by Israeli soldiers.

The world has ignored the calls from Gaza’s doctors for fuel to be delivered to keep hospitals operational. Remarkably, countless locals, who are under a communications blackout and often do not even know exactly what is happening just around the corner from where they have taken refuge, heard these calls and rushed to the hospitals offering what little petrol they have in their cars or homes.  Even though each one fears for their own life, they believed taking the risk, in the hope of helping someone even more desperate than themselves, was the right thing to do. This is the true spirit of Gaza.

A crisis of human rights protection mechanisms

Finally, Israel’s war on Gaza led to a global crisis in the systems and mechanisms designed to protect civilians. All international institutions proved impotent.  The International Criminal Court (ICC), which has supposedly been investigating the situation in Palestine for many years, is still doing nothing in the way of offering any justice and help to long-suffering Palestinians. The United Nations Security Council is powerless to even condemn Israel’s indiscriminate attacks on Gaza despite there being ample evidence for crimes against humanity and genocide being committed in the besieged Strip and on the occupied West Bank. The best of what these institutions offer are hollow words, and in most cases, they cannot even achieve that.

So this is an SOS call.  An SOS call on behalf of every family in Gaza who needs an immediate ceasefire. An SOS call on behalf of the world’s conscience and governance structures.  Unless we act today and immediately, we risk accepting a world order where impunity is rewarded, the powerful is allowed to crush the weak, and no civilian is truly safe.

As I conclude this article, Dr Majdy has posted that Dr Hammam Alloh, and his father, Mahmoud, are no longer with us. They bled to death while the children watched. I am engulfed in darkness.

And we still don’t know what has happened to their relatives, the al-Nakhala family.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.