Monday, July 15, 2024

Six In The Morning Monday 15 July 2024

 

Panic in central Deir el-Balah as attacks surge

  • Children among the 80 Palestinians killed over the past day as fighter jets, heavy artillery, and helicopter gunships attack Gaza from the north to south.
  • Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant praises the pilots who carried out deadly air strikes on the al-Mawasi displacement camp that killed 90 people, saying Hamas is being eroded every day with no ability to arm itself, organise, or “care for the wounded”.
  • Officials in Gaza say Israeli missiles killed 17 Palestinians and injured 80 sheltering at a United Nations school for displaced people in Nuseirat refugee camp.

ICRC’s Gaza chief describes ‘extreme difficulties’ facing aid workers

William Schomburg, head of the Gaza branch of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), says there are no words to describe the level of desperation throughout the Gaza Strip with Palestinians struggling to find food, water, and healthcare to survive.

“Bringing things into Gaza is extremely complicated and it’s made worse by the continuing breakdown of law and order, which is hampering our ability to deliver assistance to those who need it most,” Schomburg told Al Jazeera from Rafah, where the ICRC operates a field hospital.




US journalist Masha Gessen convicted in absentia by Russian court

Moscow-born writer and prominent critic of Putin was charged with spreading false information about the military

US journalist and author Masha Gessen has been convicted in absentia by a Moscow court on charges of spreading false information about the military and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

The Moscow-born Gessen, a staff writer for the New Yorker and a columnist for the New York Times who lives in the US, is a prominent critic of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and an award-winning writer.

Russian police put Gessen on a wanted list in December, and Russian media reported the case was based on statements they made about atrocities in the Ukrainian town of Bucha in an interview with a popular Russian online blogger.


Kenyan police arrest suspect in dumped bodies case

Kenyan police said they had arrested a man who had confessed to killing dozens of women. It comes after bags containing dismembered bodies were found in a slum in the south of the capital, Nairobi.


Kenyan police on Monday said they had arrested a man who was suspected of dumping several dismembered bodies in a Nairobi slum.

The head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Mohamed Amin, said the 33-year-old suspect confessed to killing 42 women, including his wife, since 2022.


Assad's party expected to remain in power as Syrians vote in parliamentary poll

Syrians headed to the polls on Monday to vote in their fourth parliamentary election since civil war broke out in 2011. President Bashar al-Assad's ruling Baath party, backed by its secular left-wing and Arab nationalist allies, are running virtually unopposed and are expected to remain in power. Syria's exiled opposition last week condemned the election as "absurd", with only Syrians living in government-held areas who are aged 18 and over, and holding an identity card eligible to vote.

Syrians in government-held areas were voting Monday in their fourth parliamentary election since civil war erupted in 2011, a poll expected to keep President Bashar al-Assad's ruling Baath party in power.

The Baath party -- in power since 1963 -- and its secular left-wing and Arab nationalist allies are running virtually unopposed, with independents the only alternative.

More than 1,500 people are standing for 250 seats in the largely rubber-stamp parliament, after some 7,400 candidates withdrew in recent days, according to Syria's Supreme Judicial Elections Committee.

Instagram influencer jailed for trafficking and slavery

By Hannah Price, BBC Eye Investigations

When two young Brazilian women were reported missing in September 2022, their families and the FBI launched a desperate search across the US to find them. 

All they knew was that they were living with wellness influencer Kat Torres.


Torres has now been sentenced to eight years in prison for the human trafficking and slavery of one of those women. The BBC World Service has also been told that charges have been filed against her in relation to a second woman.

How did the former model who partied with Leonardo DiCaprio and graced the cover of international magazines come to groom her followers and lure them into sexual exploitation?

She kind of resembled hope for me,” says Ana, describing her reaction on stumbling across Torres’ Instagram page in 2017.


MPs in the Gambia vote to uphold ban on female genital mutilation

Campaigners applaud decision not to repeal law in west African country with one of the highest rates of FGM

MPs in the Gambia voted on Monday to retain a law outlawing female genital mutilation (FGM), sparking joy and relief among campaigners.

Thirty-four out of 53 lawmakers voted to maintain the ban, which was introduced in 2015, aid workers told the Guardian. The remainder voted to repeal it.

Jaha Dukureh, an FGM survivor and founder of Safe Hands for Girls, said: “Today we stood on the right side of history one more time. We have shown that even if they burn down this country, we will rebuild to protect our women and girls. Today, we won for Gambia.”



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