Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Dozens dead in blast at Gaza refugee camp | DW News
An Israeli airstrike killed 50 people and wounded around 150 at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to a statement from the Gaza Health Ministry cited by the AFP news agency. The Health Ministry is run by Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the US, EU, Israel and other governments.
Six In The Morning Tuesday 31 October 2023
Dozens of deaths reported in Gaza refugee camp blast
The Israeli military has not yet commented on the blast at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has blamed an Israeli air strike for the blast, saying at least 50 people were killed.
Photos filed by by a Reuters photographer at the scene show levelled buildings and bodies being carried out of rubble.
BBC News has contacted the IDF for comment.
More on the Jabalia refugee camp
Located north of Gaza City, the Jabalia camp is the largest of Gaza's eight refugee camps.
Just over 116,000 Palestinian refugees were registered there by the UN as of July 2023.
Refugees began settling in the camp after the 1948 war. It's a small but densely populated area, only covering 1.4 sq km, and is largely made up of residential buildings.
Jabalia has 26 schools in 16 school buildings, a food distribution centre, two health centres, a library and seven water wells.
Along with the Shati camp, Jabalia lies in area that Israel has declared an evacuation zone.
Hong Kong leader defends elections after largest pro-democracy party shut out
The Democratic party, the city’s largest pro-democracy party, failed to secure enough nominations under new rules introduced by authorities
Hong Kong’s leader has defended the rules for upcoming local elections as open and fair, even though an electoral overhaul means the city’s remaining pro-democracy activists won’t be part of the race.
The city’s largest pro-democracy party, the Democratic party, will be absent in December’s district council election for the first time since its establishment in 1994.
Israel UN envoy draws criticism for donning yellow star
Israel's UN envoy attended a Security Council meeting wearing a yellow star, a symbol of the Nazi persecution of Jews. The head of Israel's Vad Yashem Holocaust Memorial says the act "belittles" victims of the Holocaust.
Israel's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, has criticized Israel's UN ambassador for wearing a yellow Star of David patch during his address to the Security Council.
"This act belittles the victims of the Holocaust as well as the state of Israel," Yad Vashem chairperson Dani Dayan said in a Hebrew-language post on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
"The yellow star symbolizes the helplessness of the Jewish people and their being at the mercy of others," he said. "We now have an independent state and a strong army. We are the masters of our own fate."
During the Holocaust, the Nazis forced Jews to wear yellow Star of David patches as part of a system of persecution.
Paris police fire on woman making 'threats' at train station
French police on Tuesday shot and seriously wounded an unarmed woman who was making threats at a train station in Paris during morning rush hour.
The incident came with the country on its maximum alert for potential attacks but with the police also under scrutiny over recent fatal shootings of suspects.
Witnesses said the 38-year-old woman, who was completely veiled, shouted "Allahu akbar" ("God is Greatest") and made threats including "you will all die", a police source said, adding that "police fired because they feared for their safety".
After passengers on a suburban train travelling from the eastern suburbs to Paris alerted police, agents managed to "isolate" the woman at the Bibliotheque Francois Mitterrand station on the capital's south bank which was evacuated, the source said.
They ordered her to sit on the ground and stop moving, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez told reporters.
But instead, he said, she moved towards them and ignored an order to show her hands.
MSDF member forced to meet, hear apology of sexual harasser
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
October 31, 2023 at 16:03 JST
A sexually harassed Maritime Self-Defense Force member quit the service after a superior forced her to meet her assailant and listen to his apology, The Asahi Shimbun has learned.
The meeting was held at an MSDF department in western Japan late last year when the government was conducting a sweeping investigation into the extent of sexual harassment and abuse at the Self-Defense Forces.
“I felt devastated realizing that awareness of the problem at the top level has not reached the front lines,” the former MSDF member in her 20s told The Asahi Shimbun.
Defense Minister Minoru Kihara condemned the handling of her harassment complaint as “outrageous.”
Ukrainian family of nine shot dead in their sleep in Russian-occupied Donetsk
A family of nine, including two young children, were found shot dead in their home in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha in a slaying that has sparked outrage in Ukraine and triggered investigations by both nations.
Images from the Ukrainian Donetsk Region Prosecutor’s Office showed a horrific murder scene of multiple family members shot while in their beds, still tucked in each others arms, with blood spatters visible on the walls.
Ukraine alleges the family were slain by Russian occupying forces following an argument, while Russian authorities say two Russian soldiers have been arrested over the killings.
Monday, October 30, 2023
Recent developments in the Israel-Hamas war | DW News
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres says the situation in Gaza is growing desperate and that the number of civilians killed and injured is totally unacceptable. We look at how the war is stoking tensions in France and the United States between Jewish and Palestinian communities. And a detailed look at the military role the United States is playing in the conflict.
Six In The Morning Monday 30 October 2023
Israel offensive presses deeper into Gaza as tank seen on key road
What are the Israeli military planning around Gaza City?
Iran arrests lawyer at funeral of girl who died after metro incidentNasrin Sotoudeh arrested at funeral of Armita Garavand, who died after alleged encounter with morality police, amid reports of police beatings and arrests at cemetery
Iranian authorities have arrested a prominent lawyer and human rights defender as she attended the funeral of a teenage girl who died after a disputed metro incident, her husband has said.
Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested on Sunday in Tehran during the funeral of 16-year-old Armita Garavand, who died a day earlier after nearly a month in intensive care.
Sotoudeh, 60, who was awarded the European parliament’s 2012 Sakharov prize for her human rights work, has been arrested several times in recent years.
The storming of Dagestan airport: How the mob in search of Jewish passengers unfolded
At least 60 pro-Palestinian demonstrators were arrested after storming an airport in Russia in search of a flight from Israel
More than a thousand pro-Palestine protesters stormed a Russian airport on Sunday evening after rumours swirled that “Israeli refugees” were arriving from Tel Aviv.
The group stormed into the Makhachkala airport, located in the Republic of Dagestan, and rushed onto the landing field, chanting antisemitic slogans and seeking passengers arriving on the Tel Aviv flight, Russian news agencies and social media reported.
Authorities quickly closed the airport in the capital of the predominantly Muslim region and police converged on the facility.
Bavarian AfD lawmaker arrested for incitement
Daniel Halemba — recently elected to Bavaria's state parliament — is a member of a student fraternity that is being investigated for displaying Nazi symbols.
German police on Monday arrested Daniel Halemba, a lawmaker from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, prosecutors said.
The 22-year-old, who was recently elected to the Bavarian state parliament, is being investigated for incitement and the use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations.
Prosecutors said he was taken into custody in the Stuttgart area on Monday morning after a warrant for his arrest was issued last week.
Halemba has admitted to being a member of a fraternity, "Burschenschaft Teutonia Prag zu Würzburg," which was raided by authorities last month. Prosecutors said they suspected there could be symbols and objects associated with the Nazi Party on the group's premises.
When conflict meets climate change, in Gaza and beyond
People living on the front lines of conflict often find themselves on the front lines of the climate crisis as well. Many of the countries most vulnerable to climate change – including Sudan, Afghanistan and Yemen – are also experiencing instability that leaves them ill-equipped to adapt to its challenges. And some are warning that the Gaza Strip will soon also be tied up in a Gordian knot where the climate crisis meets armed conflict.
In what might seem a cruel twist of fate, countries in conflict are also among those most vulnerable to climate change. Of the 25 countries ranked most vulnerable to climate change on the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-Gain) Index in 2021, 14 are currently experiencing armed violence, including Yemen, Afghanistan, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
While there is not a direct correlation between climate change and conflict, countries at war are less able to cope with the effects of climate change because their ability to adapt is undermined by internal divisions or ongoing violence.
Climate change can also inflame existing tensions over access to diminishing necessities.
“One exacerbates the other,” says Yvonne Su, an expert in international development and an assistant professor at York University. “If a place is climate vulnerable, people could be fighting over resources.”
Japan to deploy ASDF fighters to Australia on rotational basis
By KAIGO NARISAWA/ Staff Writer
The Defense Ministry plans to begin deploying fighter jets to Australia on a rotational basis as early as next fiscal year for joint exercises designed to counter a possible attack Down Under, sources said.
The joint exercises would be conducted under a scenario of Japan exercising the right to collective self-defense and the Self-Defense Forces counterattacking a military assault against Australian forces, the sources said.
Japan and Australia have rapidly deepened their security cooperation in recent years to deal with China’s continued military buildup.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)