Six In The Morning Saturday 2 November 2024

 

Israeli military dropped bombs in ‘lethal proximity’ of at least 19 Lebanese hospitals, CNN analysis finds

By Allegra Goodwin and Tamara Qiblawi, CNN

 10 minute read Updated 4:41 AM EDT, Sat November 2, 2024

The ground shook, windows shattered, and the cries of patients filled the air. An Israeli bomb had just struck Beirut’s southern suburbs in yet another near-nightly attack – this time hitting a building across the street from Lebanon’s biggest public hospital.

“I was treating a patient when the bomb went off. I fell over him from the shock of it,” said Mohammad Fouani, an emergency room nurse at Rafik Hariri University Hospital, recalling the aftermath of the October 21 attack. “The smoke was so thick; I could barely see my fellow colleagues.”

“Since the start of the war, every night has been difficult,” Fouani told CNN. “But this was the worst by far. It was the most painful.”

Death toll rises as protesters rage against Mozambique election result

Police accused of killing at least 11 unarmed bystanders since 24 October, amid claims poll was rigged

Samuel Comé in Maputo and Rachel Savage

Sat 2 Nov 2024 12.59 GMT

Silvio Jeremias was on his way home from his job at a petrol station on the night of 25 October, in Mozambique’s capital Maputo, when he and his friends happened upon a group of protesters demonstrating against that day’s election results.

The ruling Frelimo party’s presidential candidate Daniel Chapo secured 70.7% of the vote, according to official results, ensuring the party that has ruled Mozambique since independence in 1975 remained in power, but there were widespread allegations of rigging.

At the protest, one of many across the country, the police fired live bullets and Jeremias, who had a two-year-old daughter, was shot dead.

UNESCO reports surge in journalist killing

One journalist was killed every four days in 2022-2023, a new report by the UN's cultural body says. The majority of the crimes went unpunished.

Killings of journalists across the world rose 38% in 2022-2023 compared with the two previous years, with 162 verified deaths, according to a new report by UNESCO released on Saturday.

"In 2022 and 2023, a journalist was killed every four days simply for doing their vital job to pursue truth," UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement.

Dangerous regions

More than half of the killings in 2022 and 2023 occurred in countries where an armed conflict was taking place, with most journalists being killed in their home countries.

Spain to deploy ten thousand more troops, police as flood death toll continues to rise

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Saturday that Spain will deploy an additional 10,000 soldiers and police to the eastern Valencia region, which has been devastated by floods that have killed over 200 people. Volunteers also sprang into action on Friday to assist the victims. 

Four days after the tragic floods that devastated the south-east of Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Saturday 10,000 police and military personnel will be deployed to the area to search for the missing and help clear away the mud.

Sanchez said in a televised address that he accepted the regional leader's request for 5,000 more troops and informed him of a further deployment of 5,000 police officers and civil guards.

In addition to these troops, a large number of volunteers are mobilising to help the victims, particularly in the Valencia region.

VOX POPULI: It’s a pity North Korea’s leader is so unwilling to ‘learn’

Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a daily column that runs on Page 1 of The Asahi Shimbun.

November 2, 2024 at 11:35 JST

One of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes was awarded posthumously to Burrhus F. Skinner (1904-1990), a well-known American psychologist, for what he himself called a “crackpot” project in 1960 to explore whether pigeons could be trained to guide missiles.

Skinner trained his pigeons to recognize images of enemy ships and other objects. Every time they pecked the right images, they were rewarded with food.

He then designed a missile that could accommodate those thoroughly-trained birds inside, where they would be shown images of the approaching target. The pecking would activate a mechanism that determined the position of the target, so the missile’s course could be calibrated.

‘It’s created an internal shitstorm’: turmoil at UK law firm accused of ‘whitewashing’ Saudi World Cup report

Sources say key people at Clifford Chance were not consulted, as it emerges another company refused job due to reputational concerns

Shanti Das

Sat 2 Nov 2024 13.00 GMT

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When the Saudi crown prince locked nearly 400 of his country’s most powerful people in a luxury hotel in 2017 and stripped them of their fortunes, a UK law firm allegedly played a significant role.

On the orders of Mohammed bin Salman, Clifford Chance - a “magic circle” legal giant with headquarters in London – was reported to have facilitated the forced transfer of assets from a Saudi TV station to the government.

In total, assets worth $100bn were taken from the detainees, who included political rivals of Prince Mohammed. Some were allegedly beaten, deprived of sleep and held in stress positions.