More Israeli hostages to be freed today in exchange for Palestinian prisoners
People gather in Tel Aviv ahead of expected release of more hostages
Hugo Bachega
Reporting from Tel Aviv
Relatives and friends of those being held by Hamas in Gaza have been gathering outside the Museum of Art in Tel Aviv, in a plaza that is now know as Hostages Square, hours ahead of the expected release of another group of captives.
Here, empty yellow chairs represent the hostages while posters with their faces have been attached to walls, lampposts and railings, next to the omnipresent slogan “Bring them home now”.
Sigalit Salminis is waiting for news related to her nephew, 39-year-old Carmel Gat, who was taken from Kibbutz Be’eri, hoping that she could be included in the groups of people to be freed as part of the truce between Israel and Hamas.
Anger across Italy as killing of student highlights country’s femicide rate
Death of Giulia Cecchettin, 22, allegedly at hands of ex-boyfriend, casts spotlight on violence against women
Anger and outrage have erupted across Italy following the killing of a university student, allegedly at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, casting a spotlight on violence against women in a country where on average one woman is killed every three days.
The body of Giulia Cecchettin, 22, an engineering student, was found days before her graduation ceremony in a ditch near a lake north of Venice. She had been wrapped in plastic and reportedly stabbed multiple times.
The discovery came after a week-long search that had gripped the country. Prior to her disappearance, roadside cameras are said to have captured her former partner, Filippo Turetta, hitting her.
Germany: Last Generation activists blockade Berlin streets
Hundreds of climate protesters took part in the blockade, hours before another rally — against sending arms to Ukraine — was due to take place in the German capital.
Activists from the climate protection movement Last Generation disrupted traffic in the German capital, Berlin, on Saturday, police said.
A police spokeswoman said more some 800 protesters blocked streets near the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column.
Organizers said up to 1,500 people took part in the demonstration, supported by two other groups, the Parents Against the Fossil Industry initiative and researchers from Scientist Rebellion Germany.
They later held a rally on the Strasse des 17. June (Street of the 17th of June), whose name refers to the June 1953 uprising in communist East Germany.
‘Pallywood propaganda’: Pro-Israeli accounts online accuse Palestinians of staging their suffering
Since Hamas carried out its deadly attack on October 7 and Israel began retaliatory military operations in Gaza, a parallel war is being fought online. A barrage of disinformation, fake news and misinformation has swarmed social media feeds. Pro-Israeli accounts on social media are using the term “Pallywood” to accuse Palestinians of faking their suffering.
Amid the thick fog of this information war, one word has consistently come out from behind the haze. Pro-Israeli accounts online have been deploying the word “Pallywood” as a means to undermine the plight of Gazans.
A blend of the words “Palestine” and “Hollywood”, the term insinuates that stories of suffering coming from Gaza are contrived or embellished for propaganda purposes. The accusations range from hiring crisis actors, to doctoring footage and editing it in a dishonest way that misrepresents reality.
Detractors argue the pejorative term is a deliberate attempt to delegitimise the very real hardships endured by Gazans, and to dehumanise Palestinian lives.
Russia launches biggest drone attack against Kyiv since start of war, Ukrainian officials say
Russia on Saturday launched its largest drone attack against Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv since the start of its invasion, according to local officials.
“A total of nearly 75 Shahed drones were launched from two directions – Primorsko-Akhtarsk and the Kursk region, Russia. The primary target was the city of Kyiv,” said Ukraine’s Air Force in a Telegram post, describing the attack as a “record number” of drones.
It said air defenses intercepted 71 of the Iranian-made drones across six regions of Ukraine – but the vast majority of the drones were intercepted in the Kyiv region.
Prison sketches by wartime Japanese doctor finally returned
By KEI YOSHIDA/ Staff Writer
November 25, 2023 at 14:32 JST
It took 75 years, but the family of an American prison guard managed to finally make good on a promise made to a Japanese military doctor wrongly held after the war for vivisection experiments on captured U.S. soldiers.
The doctor, Shichiro Matake, was held at Tokyo’s Sugamo Prison, where wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo was hanged. Matake was accused of carrying out gruesome experiments on captured American soldiers at what was then Kyushu Imperial University.
The circumstances behind his incarceration were the inspiration for the acclaimed novel by Shusaku Endo translated into English as “The Sea and Poison.”
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