Every year, some 10,000 low-paid migrant labourers return home to southeast Asia from the Gulf in body bags. Half of these deaths are unexplained, and with no labour laws in place — nor any will from home nations to investigate — the cycle of exploitation continues unabated. These figures are estimates published in a report from the NGO FairSquare. As summer begins, more and more of these vulnerable workers are succumbing to heat-related illnesses. For more, we speak to Nicholas McGeehan, Director of FairSquare Research and Projects.
Meanwhile, a United Nations investigation has found that Israeli forces fired the bullet that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. The Palestinian-American reporter was shot dead last month despite wearing a jacket marked "press", while covering a raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. The UN's findings contradict Israel's assertion that indiscriminate firing from Palestinians was to blame. Israel has dismissed the results of the UN probe as unfounded.
Finally, Palestinians in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip are rediscovering the pleasures of the Mediterranean after authorities declared the end of a long period of hazardous marine pollution. Tests show that the seawater is much cleaner thanks to a German-funded wastewater treatment plant that recently began operations in central Gaza.
