Food and medicine run low in Gaza as aid waits at border crossing

Summary

1. Hundreds of vehicles carrying aid are waiting to be allowed into Gaza to bring in vital supplies
2. US President Biden has secured an agreement with Egypt to allow up to 20 lorries to enter the territory
3. Aid agencies are warning that far more will be needed – UN humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, says about 100 lorries a day will be required
4. Earlier, UK PM Rishi Sunak met Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, telling him: “We want you to win”
5. Israel has continued to bomb Gaza and hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes
6. The enclave also remains under siege, with Israel blocking supplies of water, electricity, food and fuel across its border
7. The most serious escalation in the conflict in decades erupted on 7 October, when Hamas launched an attack on Israel, killing more than 1,400 people
8. More than 3,700 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the health ministry in the territory says

There is huge risk of spill-over – UN official

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has told the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen that Gaza is “on the brink”.

He says he’s hearing reports of people going back to the areas in northern Gaza that Israel told residents to evacuate from. This is because “they have absolutely nowhere to go in the south and they prefer to go back to their home, even if their home has been destroyed”.

Lazzarini also says that, even in the context of his long career in war zones, the current situation unfolding in Gaza is a “major” crisis:

“It’s a tectonic one. There is a huge risk of a spill-over. All the information we’re receiving on the situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is deeply concerning.”

“I have sometimes the impression that the world is now losing its humanity,” Lazzarini says.

Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who died in police custody in Iran last year, sparking worldwide protests against the country’s conservative Islamic theocracy, has been awarded the EU’s top human rights prize.

The award, named for the Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honour individuals or groups who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. Sakharov, a Nobel peace prize laureate, died in 1989.

Other finalists this year included Vilma Núñez de Escorcia and Rolando Álvarez, two emblematic figures in the fight for the defence of human rights in Nicaragua, and three women from Poland, El Salvador and the US leading a fight for free, safe and legal abortion.

Football: Algeria league suspended, no Belgium-Sweden replay

‘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.

‘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.

What is the Rafah crossing and why is it Gaza’s lifeline?

Palestinians have been gathering at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip in the hope of leaving ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive.

US media reported that it would open for dual nationals to leave and for humanitarian aid to enter, without giving timings.

However, the crossing point remained closed on Monday afternoon.

What is the Rafah crossing?

It’s the southernmost post of exit from Gaza and borders Egypt’s Sinai peninsula.

There are only two other border crossings from and into the Gaza Strip – Erez, a crossing for people with Israel in northern Gaza, and Kerem Shalom, a solely commercial goods junction with Israel in southern Gaza. Both are shut.

Gaza being ‘pushed into abyss’, UN says, as Israel prepares ground offensive

Summary

1. Israeli troops continue to mass near Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive – but it has given no indication of when it might mount an attack
2. Israel has warned 1.1m Palestinians living in north Gaza to evacuate south, and thousands have been fleeing by vehicle or on foot
3. A hospital in southern Gaza says it has also been told to evacuate by Israel – but its doctors are refusing to do so
4. Israel has turned water pipes into southern Gaza back on, having restricted supplies as part of its blockade
5. The UN’s aid agency told the BBC that Gaza is “being pushed into an abyss”
6. The US has sent a second aircraft carrier to the region to “deter hostile actions against Israel”. Meanwhile, Iran has warned of “far-reaching consequences” if Israel continues attacking
7. More than 1,300 people were killed in Israel last weekend when Hamas fighters crossed the border to attack civilians and soldiers
8. More than 2,300 people have been killed in Israel’s bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip launched in the aftermath, Palestinian authorities say

More than 50 Palestinians killed in West Bank since Hamas attack

Fifty-six Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the Hamas attack last Saturday in clashes with Israeli troops and attacks by Jewish settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The Israeli-occupied territory has seen a significant rise in tension since Israel began heavy air strikes on the Gaza Strip last week, with protests held cities including Ramallah, Tulkarem, Nablus and Hebron.

Video footage published by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem appeared to show one Palestinian man in the village of At-Tuwani being shot at point blank range by an Israeli settler, as an Israeli soldier looked on.

Egypt moves troops to Gaza border amid fears of expulsion of Palestinians

Cairo says any move by Israel to push refugees over frontier would breach international law and be a security risk for the country

• Israel-Hamas war: latest news and live updates

Egypt is stepping up its military presence at its Rafah border crossing with Gaza, with fears that Israel intends to push hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees over the frontier into the Sinai desert.

Cairo has said the expulsion of so many Palestinians from their homes would be in breach of international law, and a national security risk for Egypt that is liable to bankrupt the country’s ailing economy. Palestinians themselves, and other Arab states, fear refugees would never be allowed back to their homes.

Israeli diplomats deny their goal is to expel Palestinians from Gaza as they fight Hamas, although the defence minister, Yoav Gallant has said the plan is to “eliminate everything”. Another minister, Gideon Sa’ar, has said Gaza “must be smaller at the end of the war

Europe’s Broken Asylum SystemConditions for Migrants in Tunisia Further Deteriorate

The EU is trying to outsource its migration problems and has entered into a partnership with Tunisia. But the situation there has grown dire, particularly for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. Now, even the Tunisians themselves want to get out.

By Heiner Hoffmann und Selene Magnolia (Photos) in El Amry, Tunisia

A black SUV with no license plates and no lights speeds down the main road, passing other cars in the dark, despite oncoming traffic. The other vehicles have no choice but to get out of the way as best they can. Everyone here in El Amra knows what’s going on: The migrant smugglers are on the move. They pick up their customers from the olive orchards, loading them up as quickly as they can before taking them to the seaside. There, makeshift boats welded together out of thin sheets of metal are bobbing in the water, each set to be packed with around 50 people and take them to a brighter future. Or to their deaths.

The migrants are hoping to make it to Lampedusa, where the number of arrivals has risen dramatically in recent weeks, resulting in overflowing reception camps.

Horror of Hamas attacks ‘doesn’t mean Israel is entitled to commit a war crime’

Japan’s government on Friday asked a court to order the dissolution of the Unification Church branch in Japan following the assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022.

 

Japan’s government on Friday asked a court to order the dissolution of the Unification Church branch in Japan following the assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022.

Children among dead after strike hits fleeing convoy on Gaza ‘safe’ route

Summary

1. BBC Verify has confirmed women and young children were killed when a strike hit their vehicles as they headed away from northern Gaza
2. Analysis of images from the scene show some of those who died were aged between two and five
3. Israel has warned 1.1m Palestinians living in north Gaza to evacuate south, and thousands have been fleeing by vehicle or on foot
4. A ground offensive by Israel is expected. Prime Minister Netanyahu told frontline soldiers: “The next stage is coming”
5. More than 1,300 people were killed in Israel last weekend when Hamas fighters crossed the border to attack civilians and soldiers
6. More than 2,200 people have been killed in Israel’s bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip launched in the aftermath, Palestinian authorities say

Australia rejects proposal to recognise Aboriginal people in constitution

Voice to parliament referendum fails in defeat that Indigenous advocates will see as a blow to progress towards reconciliation

Australians have resoundingly rejected a proposal to recognise Aboriginal people in the country’s constitution and establish a body to advise parliament on Indigenous issues.

Saturday’s voice to parliament referendum failed, with the defeat clear shortly after polls closed.

To succeed, the yes campaign – advocating for the voice – needed to secure a double majority, meaning it needed both a majority of the national vote, as well as majorities in four of Australia’s six states.

Jewish communities in Germany: ‘We are afraid’

After the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, concern has been mounting in Germany’s Jewish communities.

Esther K., a real estate agent based in Berlin, who prefers not to share her real name, says she will never forget the moment she got a text message from a friend on Saturday morning reading: “Look what’s going on in Israel.”

K’s first thought was: “We’re all used to something happening in this crazy little country.” But then she read the news that the Islamist militant group Hamas had unexpectedly attacked Israel from Gaza and armed fighters were advancing into the country by land, sea and air, killing people and taking hostages. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the US, EU and others.

Her cellphone was suddenly flooded with photos from Israel and calls for help from people asking for assistance in finding relatives who had disappeared.

France to deploy 7,000 soldiers after fatal stabbing of teacher

France on Saturday said it will deploy 7,000 soldiers after declaring a top-level alert following the fatal stabbing of a teacher by a suspect of Chechen origin, who also severely wounded three others at a school.

The attack took place in the northeastern town of Arras, home to large Jewish and Muslim populations.

Police arrested the suspected attacker, Mohammed Moguchkov, who had cried the Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar!” (God is greatest), according to the preliminary elements of the investigation.

Authorities have suggested a probable link to the ongoing violence in the Middle East, with President Emmanuel Macron denouncing the incident as an act of “Islamist terror”.

The deployment of the soldiers from Operation Sentinelle will be completed by Monday evening, according to the Élysée presidential palace.

No. of foreign residents in Japan rises to record 3.2 million

The number of foreign nationals residing in Japan hit a record high of over 3.2 million in 2023, government data showed Friday, as more workers entered to meet demand created by the country’s labor shortage.

As of the end of June, 3,223,858 foreigners resided in Japan, up 148,645 from the end of December 2022, according to the Immigration Services Agency.

Significant increases were seen in the number of specified skilled workers, who are immediately able to take on jobs in designated industries without the need for training, as well as trainees taking part in the country’s technical internship program.

By residential status, permanent residents were the largest group at 880,178, up 1.9 percent from December, the data showed.

Australia rejects proposal to recognise Aboriginal people in constitution

Voice to parliament referendum fails in defeat that Indigenous advocates will see as a blow to progress towards reconciliation

Australians have resoundingly rejected a proposal to recognise Aboriginal people in the country’s constitution and establish a body to advise parliament on Indigenous issues.

Saturday’s voice to parliament referendum failed, with the defeat clear shortly after polls closed.

To succeed, the yes campaign – advocating for the voice – needed to secure a double majority, meaning it needed both a majority of the national vote, as well as majorities in four of Australia’s six states.