‘We’re trying to survive’: 90 people in one house as 600,000 flee in Gaza

Summary

• At least 600,000 people have fled the northern Gaza Strip for the south after Israeli military warnings
• In Khan Younis in the south, one family tells the BBC there are 90 people in their house
• Elsewhere, some people are sleeping in the streets, running water is limited, and there are queues for bread
• Israel has blocked supplies of food, water, fuel, and electricity since the deadly Hamas attacks on 7 October
• But the Israeli military denies there’s a humanitarian crisis, insisting there are supplies of water and electricity
• US President Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday to hear about its plans for a ground attack in Gaza
• A 13-year-old British girl who went missing when Hamas attacked Kibbutz Be’eri is now confirmed to have been killed

About 3,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since 7 October, the Palestinian health ministry says in a fresh update.

The post adds that 12,500 people have been injured.

And 61 Palestinians have now also been killed in the separate West Bank, with over 1,250 injured.

Turks and Caicos engulfed by gang warfare, says Foreign Office report

Exclusive: Police in British overseas territory known for beautiful beaches said to have been overwhelmed by extreme violence

David Pegg
Tue 17 Oct 2023 12.00 BST

With sweeping beaches and turquoise waters, the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British territory in the Caribbean, are best known as one of the most beautiful tourist destinations in the world.
But an internal Foreign Office investigation seen by the Guardian lays bare the extent to which the islands were engulfed by extreme violence last year amid a turf war for control of drug trafficking routes.

Local police, it concluded, had been “overwhelmed” by the carnage, as feuding gangs discharged automatic rifles in the streets.

 

 

Russia’s Duma votes to revoke nuclear test ban treaty

Russian lawmakers have voted to revoke a 1996 treaty that banned nuclear tests. Moscow says it is merely mirroring the approach of the United States, which never ratified the document.

Russia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma, on Tuesday voted in favor of withdrawing the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said earlier this month that the move would be a “mirror response” to the United States, which never formally ratified the treaty.

Why is the vote taking place now?

“In the interests of ensuring the security of our country, we are withdrawing the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,” Volodin said ahead of a debate and parliamentary vote on revoking ratific

India’s top court says it does not have the power to legalise same-sex marriage

India’s top court declined on Tuesday to legalise same-sex marriages but said the country had a duty to acknowledge LGBTQ relationships and to protect them from discrimination.

A five-judge constitutional bench — set up to consider important questions of law — began hearing submissions seeking the legalisation of same-sex marriages in April, with arguments completed in May.

Advocates representing nearly two dozen petitioners said it was time for India to treat the country’s LGBTQ community as equal citizens under its constitution.

But their verdict said that the charter did not guarantee a fundamental right to marry that would extend to same-sex couples under existing law.

“It lies within the domain of parliament and state legislatures to determine the law on marriage,” Supreme Court Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said during his verdict.

Japanese IOC member alone in opposing Bach’s extended term

By KOSUKE INAGAKI/ Senior Staff Writer

October 17, 2023 at 15:29 JST

The first day of the International Olympic Committee’s general assembly on Oct. 15 was a rather predictable, perhaps even scripted, affair.

IOC members called for extending President Thomas Bach’s term, which is set to expire in 2025.

Members from Algeria, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay and Djibouti praised Bach’s “outstanding leadership” and called for an amendment to the Olympic Charter to allow his re-election.

“(The term) should be extended by another four years,” one member specified.

Insiders had speculated that such a pro-Bach scenario would unfold at the session held in Mumbai.

U.S. Tightens China’s Access to Advanced Chips for Artificial Intelligence

The further limits on shipments could cripple Beijing’s A.I. ambitions and dampen revenues for U.S. chip makers, analysts said.

The Biden administration on Tuesday announced additional limits on sales of advanced semiconductors by American firms, shoring up restrictions issued last October to limit China’s progress on supercomputing and artificial intelligence.

The rules appear likely to bring to a halt most shipments of advanced semiconductors from the United States to Chinese data centers, which use them to produce models capable of artificial intelligence. More U.S. companies seeking to sell China advanced chips, or the machinery used to make them, will be required to notify the government of their plans, or obtain a special license.

To prevent the risk that advanced U.S. chips travel to China through third countries, the United States will also require chip makers to obtain licenses to ship to dozens of other countries that are subject to U.S. arms embargoes.