Israel issued a statement on Saturday on what it called a failed Islamic Jihad rocket launch close to the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza which killed four children, as cross-border clash continued into a second day.
Hamas, the Islamist group which controls the enclave, said the children were among the dead from a blast close to the camp and blamed Israel.
Israel distributed a video which appeared to show a rocket being launched from Gaza at night and then veering immediately off course down into a built-up area. Reuters could not independently verify the footage.
While the Israeli strikes went on, hitting what the military said were weapons depots hidden in residential areas and destroying a number of houses, Islamic Jihad fired rocket salvoes as far as Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv.
At least 24 Palestinians, including six children, have been killed and 203 wounded during the two days of firing, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Palestinian militants fired more than 400 rockets at Israel – most of them intercepted, setting off air raid sirens and sending people running to bomb shelters. There were no reports of serious casualties, the Israeli ambulance service said.
Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid held a meeting of the ministerial committee on national security affairs (the Security Cabinet), at the Kirya in Tel Aviv at night, and issued a short statement saying that Israel will continue to act without hesitation in order to ensure the safety of its people.
The cross-border clash, which shattered more than a year of relative calm around Gaza, began when Israel launched a surprise attack on Friday, killing a senior Islamic Jihad commander and hitting a series of what it said were military targets.
Emergency workers are searching for stranded motorists and clearing roads inside California’s Death Valley National Park after flash flooding triggered by a near-record downpour over one of the hottest, driest spots on Earth has stranded nearly 1,000 people inside the park.
About 60 cars belonging to park visitors and staff were buried in several feet of debris at the Inn at Death Valley, an historic luxury hotel near the park headquarters in Furnace Creek, the site of a spring-fed oasis near the Nevada border, the park said in a statement.
Floodwaters also pushed trash dumpsters into parked cars, shoving vehicles into each other, and swamped many facilities, some hotel rooms and business offices, it said.
No injuries were reported. But about 500 visitors and 500 park staff were temporarily unable to leave the park because all roads into and out of Death Valley were closed, according to the statement. After work by emergency crews, authorities escorted the cars out of the area.
Authorities are conducting aerial searches for stranded motorists but said they have not received reports of stranded cars, Death Valley National Park wrote on its Facebook page.
They expect to reopen a particularly damaged area of Highway 190 by Tuesday.
The flooding was unleashed by a torrential shower that dumped 1.46 inches (3.7 cm) of rain at Furnace Creek, nearly matching the previous daily record there of 1.47 inches measured from a downpour in 1988, park spokesperson Amy Wines said.
By comparison, the park averages 2.2 inches of rainfall per year, making it the driest place in North America. Furnace Creek holds the record for the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth, 134 degrees Fahrenheit (56.7 degrees C), Wines said.
Flash floods from monsoonal rains are a natural part of Death Valley’s ecology and occur somewhere in the park almost every year, constantly carving and reshaping its dramatic canyon landscape. But flooding of a scale seen Friday (August 5) last struck Death Valley in August 2004, forcing a 10-day closure of all its roads and killing two people whose vehicle was swept away, according to Wines.
A massive oil-fed fire burned for a second day on Saturday near Cuba’s supertanker port in Matanzas, following a blaze that burned through the night after lightning hit another tank on Friday evening.
Avideo released by the Cuban government showed the moment when a fuel storage tank erupted into a massive fireball, and a massive black smoke cloud rose into the sky.
On Friday evening, lightning struck one of eight storage tanks at the facility 60 miles east of Havana. The heat from the blaze reached a second tank on Saturday, and the wind blew flames dangerously close to a third.
Cuban authorities said at least 121 people were injured in the second blast, of which 36 remained hospitalized, five in critical condition. One person was listed as dead, and 17 firefighters were unaccounted for. More than 1,000 civilians were evacuated from the area.
Helicopters continued to drop water on the fire, as flames threatened other nearby fuel storage tanks.
Large plumes of smoke could be seen across the island.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel first visited the scene 80 miles east of Havana late on Friday (August 5) night, returning again on Saturday morning as state-run television broadcast live coverage of the unfolding disaster.
Cuba is suffering from daily blackouts and fuel shortages, and the loss of fuel and further storage capacity is likely to aggravate the situation.
Sexagenarian reggae aficionado and presidential candidate George Wajackoyah is convinced he has the recipe to solve the worries bedevilling Kenya’s voters: a dollop of marijuana and some hyena testicles.
East Africa’s wealthiest nation is holding elections on August 9. A tight race between the two leading presidential candidates – veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto – has thrust a spotlight on Wajackoyah’s small but committed band of followers, who could force a run-off if neither side gets more than 50% of the vote.
Voter registration among young people has dipped dramatically, with many saying conventional politicians have failed to tackle rampant corruption, runaway inflation or joblessness.
Wajackoyah’s bid for the presidency has caught the imagination of younger voters and the grave-digger-turned-adjunct-law-professor is trailing a distant third in the polls at around 2%.
His shoestring campaign promised to wipe out Kenya’s $70 billion debt by establishing a medical cannabis industry and exporting animal parts to China.
The Kenyan media’s infatuation with colourful Wajackoyah, a well-known figure from Nairobi’s club scene, has provoked speculation that he is backed by a bigger campaign in a bid to try to peel away some of the youth vote – a prospect he airily dismisses.
Many candidates have offered him cash for support, he said, but he has turned them all down. Instead, he said he dreams of lighting up in the president’s office.
The 62-year-old candidate referred to his mobile to recall the other points on his manifesto, which veer from federalising government and renegotiating the country’s debts with China, to hanging the corrupt and throwing out Chinese nationals.
“We’ve come in with the ganja solution,” he said.
By his latest count, Wajackoyah said he has picked up 14 law degrees and certificates from England, where he fled as a refugee, the United States, where he met his wife, and back in Kenya where he runs a law firm specialising in migration.
Getting elected in Kenya is an expensive business, costing an estimated $31,000 to sit on a county assembly, up to $390,000 to sit in the Senate, according to a study by the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Nairobi.
With no budget, his rallies consist of arriving at markets unannounced, popping his head through the sunroof to blaring reggae music, and making his pitch to startled onlookers.
With six days to go until the election, Wajackoyah’s small convoy rolled into Gatundu, around 30 north of the capital Nairobi. A smiling crowd of around 400 quickly gathered, waving smartphones and jostling for selfies.
“Every election cycle everybody just comes here with their propaganda,” said Jeff Mwangi, a labourer. “If this man can do what he’s actually saying… we will go very far as a country.”
A Russian court on Thursday sentenced US basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years prison on drugs charges, after finding her guilty of narcotics possession and smuggling for bringing cannabis-infused vape cartridges into Russia.
ARussian state prosecutor had requested 9.5 years in prison for Griner, who said in her closing remarks that bringing the cartridges into Russia had been “an honest mistake”
Griner was also fined 1 million roubles ($16,000).
After the sentencing, Griner appeared sad and stony-faced and said she understood the sentence. Before the verdict, she tearfully pleaded with a Russian judge not to “end her life” with a harsh prison sentence.
Griner was escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs by police after the ruling, turning to reporters and saying: “I love my family”.
Us President Joe Biden, under pressure to bring home Americans held in Russia, called on Russia to free Griner immediately and said his administration would continue to work for her release.
“Today, American citizen Brittney Griner received a prison sentence that is one more reminder of what the world already knew: Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney,” he said in a statement.
“It’s unacceptable, and I call on Russia to release her immediately so she can be with her wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates.”
Her sentencing could now pave the way for a U.S.-Russia prisoner swap that would include the 31-year-old athlete and an imprisoned Russian who was once a prolific arms dealer.
The White House urged Moscow to accept a “serious proposal” Washington made weeks ago for the return of U.S. basketball player, national security spokesperson John Kirby said.
Griner’s defence team said they will appeal on behalf of the U.S. basketball star
Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star, was arrested in mid-February as she arrived to play for a Russian side during the WNBA offseason.
Her case threw the Texan into the geopolitical maelstrom triggered when President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, propelling U.S.-Russian relations to a new post-Cold War low.
Griner’s lawyers said they would appeal a verdict they said was “absolutely unreasonable”. Her defence team said the court had ignored all evidence they had presented, as well as Griner’s guilty plea.
“She is very upset, very stressed,” said Maria Blagovolina, partner at Rybalkin Gortsunyan Dyakin and Partners, after the hearing. “She can hardly talk. It’s a difficult time for her.”
Griner had admitted having the vape cartridges containing hashish oil but said she had made an honest mistake by inadvertently packing them.
Chargé d’affaires of the U.S. embassy in Moscow, Elizabeth Rood, who was also present at the court hearing, said the nine-year sentence had been “a miscarriage of justice”.
The nine-year prison sentence imposed by a Russian court on US basketball star got relatively low-key treatment on two Russian TV stations on Thursday.
Reports on the case came towards the end of their news bulletins.
Shortly after the sentence was announced, Channel 1 devoted just 25 seconds to the story while Rossiya 24 gave the story more than four minutes with the correspondent calling the case “controversial”.
American WNBA athletes showed solidarity with Griner on Social Media, voicing their support on Twitter.
“Thinking of BG and how much light she relentlessly brought to everyone around her. Even after sentencing is complete I hope @POTUS & @WhiteHouse will continue to do everything in their power to bring Brittney Griner & all other Americans detained abroad home,” wrote Phoenix Mercury player, Brianna Turner.
Griner’s former high school basketball coach said the WNBA star is misunderstood and expressed disappointment in Griner’s imprisonment.
Debbie Jackson coached Griner at Houston’s Nimitz High School, where Griner graduated in 2009. Jackson was a coach at the school from 1991 to 2012.
“I mean, really, it’s just been such a, a long process just to get to this step, to get to the end of the trial, that, you know, it’s frustrating, it’s disappointing,” Jackson said. “It’s…you want to pull your hair out because you want news. Um, but she’s always in my prayers. Every night.”
Griner, a two-time Olympic champion and Phoenix Mercury player, started playing basketball relatively late in life, in her freshman year of high school. Jackson said it wasn’t long until Griner mastered the game. She became the No. 1 girls high school basketball player in the country, after carrying the Nimitz girls basketball team to a 25-5 record her senior year.
Despite her overwhelming success on the court, Jackson said Griner has remained humble and caring, qualities Jackson ascribed to Griner’s perception as an outsider in the past.
“She has been bullied for her sexual orientation. She’s black. She’s a woman, very tall stature,” Jackson said. “You know, she’s bullied about her height. And so, I think she knows, she is a very caring person because she knows how words can hurt cause she experienced that.”
Jackson, who said she kept in touch with Griner via social media post-graduation, is now looking to the United States and Russia to facilitate Griner’s speedy return home.
“I hope that, now that the sentencing has occurred, the trial is over, no more court,” Jackson said. “That the negotiations will proceed and I’m praying that both sides will negotiate in good faith.”
South Korea launched its first lunar orbiter on Thursday as it doubles down on its space programs, aiming to land a probe on the moon by 2030.
The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, nicknamed Danuri, meaning “enjoy the Moon,” departed on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral U.S. Space Force Station.
With Danuri, South Korea aims to become the world’s seventh lunar explorer, and the fourth in Asia, behind China, Japan and India.
The launch comes as South Korea accelerates its space program, seeking to send a probe to the moon by 2030 and join nine countries working on the Artemis project aimed at returning to the moon by 2024.
The 678 kg (1,495 lb) Danuri separated from the projectile about 40 minutes after launch, and it should begin communicating with a ground station within 60 minutes.
It will enter the moon’s orbit in December before starting a yearlong observation mission, including searching for a landing site and testing space internet technology, the ministry said.
South Korea says its space program is for peaceful and scientific purposes and any military use of the technology, such as in spy satellites, is for its defence.
The United States opposes any unilateral efforts to change the Taiwan status quo, especially by force, and its policy on Taiwan has not changed, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Southeast Asian counterparts on Thursday during the meeting in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh.
“Iwant to emphasise, nothing has changed about our position and I hope very much that Beijing will not manufacture a crisis or seek a pretext to increase this aggressive military activity,” said Blinken in his opening speech.
Cross-strait stability was in the interests of the whole region, he told a meeting in Cambodia, adding also that Washington was eager to hear ideas from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on how it could cooperate with the Quad.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Thursday the Chinese military launched missiles from near Taiwan’s Matsu islands earlier in the day, adding troops on the islands will continue to enhance their alertness level.
Earlier on Thursday, Reuters reported that two missiles were launched by China near the Matsu islands, which lie off the coast of China, and headed in the direction of waters off Taiwan’s northeastern coasts, according to an internal Taiwan security report seen by Reuters and confirmed by a security source.
Cuba announced it will begin purchasing on Thursday dollars and other convertible currencies at nearly five times the current rate in an effort to undercut the informal money market and capture the funds.
Central Bank President Marta Wilson Gonzalez on Wednesday evening announced the state-run banking system had set a new rate of 120 pesos to the dollar, compared to the official fixed rate of 24 pesos, and 115 pesos on the informal market, according to an independent online news outlet El Toque tracker, the most watched in the communist-run country.
Gonzalez said the new rate would float and did not apply to most activities of the state-dominated economy which would still operate at the fixed rate in effect for more than 18 months.
Cuba stopped accepting dollars in 2020 citing U.S. sanctions and stopped selling convertible currency for pesos to the public soon after, stating it simply did not have the cash.
Economy Minister Alejandro Gil, appearing with the central bank president on Wednesday, said in the near future he hoped to resume currency exchanges, but the first step would be capturing the informal market.
Hit by harsh new U.S. sanctions, the pandemic and current high international prices for goods and shipping, the near-bankrupt, import-dependent economy grew 1.3% last year after declining 10.9% in 2020. Gil said a gradual if slow recovery continued without giving figures.
Shortages of food, medicine, fuel and now electricity have led to scattered protests in recent months.
Pavel Vidal, a former Cuban central bank economist who teaches at Colombia’s Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Cali, said the measure addressed a major complaint of tourists who exchanged money at the fixed government rate in hotels and then discovered outside on the street everything is pegged at the informal rate.
Vidal said it would also benefit the private sector which often receives foreign currency from tourists.
France’s parliament on Wednesday approved a bill that will lift pensions and allow companies to make higher tax-free bonus payments to employees after President Emmanuel Macron promised to boost household purchasing power amid soaring inflation.
With the final vote in the lower house, Macron passed a test of his ability to strike cross-party compromises after losing his absolute majority in June legislative elections.
With households struggling in the face of spiralling inflation, the government had been under pressure to pass the 20 billion euro ($20.37 billion) package quickly. The surging cost of living pushed voters to the far right and hard left in this year’s elections.
“We have managed to find compromises … that address the emergency and are part of a common logic: that of the ambitious policy we are putting forth to keep on bettering the daily lives of the French,” said Christine Le Nabour, a lawmaker from Macron’s Renaissance party.
The assembly voted 395-112 in favour of the legislation.
The legislation was a major plank of Macron’s campaign for re-election in April. It has been debated — often through long, raucous nights — alongside a supplementary budget bill which will go to a vote for final approval later this week.
The legislation increases pensions and some welfare payments by 4% and sets a cap on rent increases at 3.5%. Civil servants will receive a 3.5% pay bump.
A state-financed rebate of 18 cents per litre on fuel will be increased to 30 cents in September and October.
Meanwhile, companies will be able to offer employees annual tax-free bonuses of 6,000 euros, up from 1,000 euros previously.
The inflation-relief bill was approved after the National Assembly – where Macron’s ruling minority found support from conservative and far-right lawmakers – and the conservative-dominated Senate reach an agreement on the text.
Left-wing lawmakers from the Nupes coalition said the measures were inadequate to help poor families deal with rising food and energy prices.
“You have accepted amendments which favour once again more work for less and less pay … (you have) also accelerated our demise due to tons of carbon,” said Sandrine Rousseau, a green party lawmaker and member of the Nupes bloc.
The US Senate approved on Wednesday Finland and Sweden’s accession to Nato, the most significant expansion of the 30-member alliance since the 1990s as it responds to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Senate voted 95 to 1 to support ratification of accession documents, easily surpassing the two-thirds majority of 67 votes required to support ratification of the two countries’ accession documents.
Sweden and Finland applied for Nato membership in response to the Feb. 24 invasion. Russia has repeatedly warned both countries against joining the alliance.
Nato’s 30 allies signed the accession protocol last month, allowing them to join the US-led nuclear-armed alliance once its members ratify the decision.
At that point, Helsinki and Stockholm were able to participate in Nato meetings and have greater access to intelligence, but were not protected by Article Five, the Nato defence clause stating that an attack on one ally is an attack against all.
The accession must be ratified by the parliaments of all 30 North Atlantic Treaty Organization members before Finland and Sweden can be protected by the defence clause.
Ratification could take up to a year, although it has already been approved by a few countries, including Canada, Germany and Italy.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley was the lone no vote. Republican Senator Rand Paul voted present.
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