Mother of a Hostage Speaks
The mother of an Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker calls on US mediators to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas, accusing the premier of holding up an agreement for personal and political motives.

“It appears this is the last chance,” says Einav Zangauker during her weekly press conference outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, referring to the negotiations in Cairo.

Zangauker decries “the new conditions that Netanyahu has pushed,” particularly regarding the so-called Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border.

“This isn’t the Philadelphi Corridor, it’s the Philadelphi spin,” she says.

She then addresses her remarks to US President Joe Biden.

“Netanyahu is systematically thwarting the deal. Don’t believe Netanyahu. He will again lie and deceive you.” she says.
A Reader

UGC-NET Retest Cancelled
The retest of the June UGC-NET (University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test)–scheduled for 21 August–was cancelled again for students at a centre in Varanasi. The National Testing Agency (NTA) couldn't conduct the exam due to 'a technical glitch'–and now a new date will be announced for the same.
As a candidate who was set to appear for the exam at Dr Ghanshyam Singh College of Education in Varanasi, the centre where the exam was cancelled, I find it extremely distressing, to say the least.

My exam was scheduled from 3 pm to 6 pm in the second shift. Since the reporting time was 1 pm, I arrived at the centre around 12:30 pm. Upon arrival, we were informed that the first shift exam had been delayed by 45 minutes due to 'a technical glitch', but no information was provided to us, the second shift candidates.

The entry gate for us was supposed to open at 1 pm, as mentioned in the admit card, but we were only allowed to enter the examination centre at 2:30 pm. During this time, we waited outside in the heat, without any shelter. We had no recourse as the centre is located over 30 km from the city on the Varanasi-Azamgarh highway.

Between 200 and 250 candidates, including myself, were asked to sit in Labs 1 and 2, where we couldn't find any staff members for registration, verification, or system allotment. We raised the issue with the examination officials, but no one was willing to listen.

Worried, some guardians called the police. Upon their arrival, the police tried to calm the students, opened the gates for us, and asked us to return home.
Gurpreet Kaur, Varanasi

Wiping Maasai People
100,000 Indigenous Maasai citizens have been forced from their land to make way for wealthy tourists–and now they are being wiped from voter rolls in a government attempt to get the remaining brave few to leave. The Tanzanian President is successfully keeping this quiet so it won’t impact international funding–but people can change that by joining the urgent global call to restore Maasai voting rights ahead of key elections.

Stripping the Maasai of their voting rights is the latest horror in a years-long government campaign to marginalise, displace and impoverish the Maasai pastorals in Tanzania.
Liliana Harrington and Avaaz team

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Frontier
Vol 57, No. 12, Sep 15 - 21, 2024