US says floating pier for aid anchored to Gaza beach
Paul Adams, BBC News
A temporary floating pier designed to increase the amount of aid getting into Gaza has been anchored to a beach there, the US military has said.
Lorries carrying humanitarian assistance are expected to begin moving ashore "in the coming days".
At a briefing for reporters on Wednesday, USAID response director Dan Dieckhaus said construction of the pier - known as a Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) system - is complete.
Hundreds of tonnes of aid has arrived in Cyprus, where screening takes place before being loaded on to ships for delivery to the pier.
‘Nothing short of horrific’: Amnesty criticises arrest of man in Qatar ‘trapped’ by police on Grindr
Manuel Guerrero Aviña thought he was meeting a date, but was confronted by police who charged him for drug possession
The family of a gay man who was arrested in Qatar say that he was “trapped” by a fake Grindr account and that he urgently needs access to HIV medicine or his health could collapse.
Manuel Guerrero Aviña, who has dual Mexican-British citizenship, was arrested in February after arranging to meet a man named “Gio” on the dating app. When he showed up to the meeting in his apartment lobby, Aviña was instead confronted by police officers.
“The Qatari police created a fake profile on Grindr to target [him],” Aviña’s brother Enrique said. “They trapped him. It is a homophobic state.” Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar.
South Africa asks ICJ to halt Israel's Rafah offensive
South Africa has asked the top UN court to order Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah. The hearing is part of a broader case accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, which Israel has repeatedly denied.
South Africa on Thursday urged the UN's top court to order an end to Israel's assault on Rafah, accusing Israel of intensifying what it calls "genocide" in Gaza.
The hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague is part of South Africa's broader case accusing Israel of committing "acts of genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza.
"South Africa had hoped, when we last appeared before this court, to halt this genocidal process to preserve Palestine and its people," Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa's ambassador to the Netherlands, told the ICJ.
France rushes emergency police reinforcements to New Caledonia
France on Thursday announced it would send additional security forces to New Caledonia after imposing a state of emergency following three nights of clashes in its Pacific territory that have left five dead and hundreds wounded.
Largely indigenous protests against a French plan to impose new voting rules on the archipelago have spiralled into the deadliest violence since the 1980s.
A gendarme was killed on Thursday, said French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, bringing the death toll to five, including two gendarmes.
A police source told AFP the gendarme was killed by friendly fire on Thursday.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said Paris would send "around 1,000 additional internal security personnel" to New Caledonia – adding to 1,700 on the ground – and push for "the harshest penalties for rioters and looters".
Court rejects lawsuit to block restart of west Japan nuclear reactor
A court has rejected a lawsuit seeking to block the restart of a nuclear reactor in western Japan due to safety concerns, dismissing the plaintiffs' claim that evacuation plans in the event of a natural disaster are inadequate.
The decision by the Matsue branch of the Hiroshima High Court came ahead of the planned restart by Chugoku Electric Power Co in December of the Shimane nuclear plant's No. 2 reactor, which is currently undergoing a safety inspection.
"There are no specific risks of a major accident that may lead to a leak of an abnormal level of radiation beyond the premises of the plant," said Presiding Judge Yoshiki Matsutani on Wednesday.
Israel Says It Will Send More Troops to Rafah, Defying International Pressure
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, said on Thursday that the Israeli army would send more troops to Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza that has become the focal point in the war between Israel and Hamas.
The announcement signaled that Israel intends to press deeper into Rafah despite international concerns about its ground invasion of the city, where more than a million displaced people had been sheltering.
“Hundreds of targets have already been attacked,” Mr. Gallant said after meeting with commanders in the Rafah area. “This operation will continue.”
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