‘They’re still collecting the dead’: Panic and grief after Gaza hospital blast

Summary

1. Witnesses to the explosion at a Gaza City hospital tell a BBC reporter at the scene that a huge blast ripped through a crowded area, sparking widespread panic
2. Doctors at the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital have described being overwhelmed by the number of injured and killed on Tuesday evening
3. Israel was immediately blamed by Hamas but the Israel Defense Forces say the blast was caused by a misfired Palestinian militant rocket
4. It said its evidence shows a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket, fired from a cemetery, landed in the hospital car park
5. US President Joe Biden, who is visiting Tel Aviv, backed Israel’s strong denial of involvement, saying it was supported by “data” he had seen from the US defence department
6. Following a “demand” from Biden, Israel “will not thwart” the delivery of food, water and medicine from Egypt for civilians in Gaza,” the prime minister’s office said
7. A range of Arab countries have joined Hamas in blaming Israel for the explosion, and some Arab leaders cancelled meetings with Biden
8. Israel has carried out heavy bombing across Gaza since the Hamas attacks on 7 October; militants have continued to fire rockets targeting Israel

Pro-Palestinian protests break out in West Bank and wider region

Protests erupted in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in Jordan, Iran, Tunisia, Lebanon and Turkey earlier, following last night’s explosion at the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital in Gaza.

Hamas blamed it on an Israeli airstrike, but Israel has presented evidence that it says shows the blast was caused by a misfired missile launched by a Palestinian militant group in Gaza..

Here are some of the pictures from the region.

A withering drought has turned the Amazonian capital of Manaus into a climate dystopia with the second worst air quality in the world and rivers at the lowest levels in 121 years.

The city of 1 million people, which is surrounded by a forest of trees, normally basks under blue skies. Tourists take pleasure boats to the nearby meeting of the Negro and Amazon (known locally as the Solimões) rivers, where dolphins can often be seen enjoying what are usually the most abundant freshwater resources in the world.

 

India announces plans for space station, moon mission

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said India wants to set up a space station by 2035, and send a man to the moon by 2040. The country wants to send its first crewed mission to space next year.

India has announced plans for a moon mission, along with setting up a space station by 2040, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

The world’s most populous country is ramping up its space program, and is preparing for a test flight for its first crewed space mission on Saturday.

India “should now aim for new and ambitious goals,” including setting up an Indian Space Station by 2035 and “sending first Indian to moon by 2040,” the government said in a statement on Tuesday.

Belgium, Sweden want tougher powers to expel irregular migrants

The Belgian and Swedish prime ministers on Wednesday called for better border controls and more coordinated powers in the European Union to expel irregular migrants, after an attack in Brussels left two people dead.

Belgium and Sweden were left reeling this week after a Tunisian, who was staying illegally in Belgium after his asylum claim was refused, gunned down two Swedish football fans and injured a third on Monday in central Brussels.

The man was identified in media reports as 45-year-old Tunisian migrant Abdessalem Lassoued. Belgian police shot him dead on Tuesday.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Swedish premier Ulf Kristersson paid tribute to the two Swedes by placing wreaths and a Swedish football scarf and shirt at the site where they were killed.

The eccentric ‘anarcho-capitalist’ who would be president

Which right will be right for Argentine voters?

Far-right maverick Javier Milei has promised to ‘take a chainsaw’ to public spending if he wins the presidency in October. With the vote a competition between different flavours of the right, Milei’s popularity with the young could be decisive.

by Anne-Dominique Correa

Aman with rockstar sideburns and a piercing blue gaze walked up to the whiteboard with a row of stickers across the middle, one for each of Argentina’s ministries. His hair was tousled (he prides himself on not having combed it in three years). At the board, he gruffly read out the name of the ministry on each small strip before tearing it off: ‘Tourism and Sports, out! Culture, out! Environment and Sustainable Development, out! Women, Genders and Diversity, out! Public Works, out! Science, Technology and Innovation, out! Labour, Employment and Social Security, out! Education, out! Transport, out! Health, out! Social Development, out!’

‘What remains of the state?’ he asked, admiring his work. Just Human Capital, Infrastructure, Economy, Justice, Security, Defence, Foreign Affairs and Interior. ‘The political con game is over! Long live liberty, damn it!’

Putin touts solidarity with China in Xi’s pitch for new world order as crisis grips Middle East

Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping discussed the conflict in the Middle East during a meeting on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing Wednesday, according to the Russian leader – who said “common threats” brought the two countries closer.