Trio wins economics Nobel for work on wealth inequality

US-based academics Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson won the 2024 Nobel economics prize “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity”, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said yesterday.The prestigious award, formally known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is the final prize to be given out this year and is worth 11mn Swedish crowns ($1.1mn).“Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges. The laureates have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for achieving this,” said Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences.“Societies with a poor rule of law and institutions that exploit the population do not generate growth or change for the better,” the award organisers added on their website.Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while James Robinson is at the University of Chicago.Acemoglu and Johnson recently collaborated on a book surveying technology through the ages which demonstrated how some technological advances were better at creating jobs and spreading wealth than others.The economics award is not one of the original prizes for science, literature and peace created in the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel and first awarded in 1901, but a later addition established and funded by Sweden’s central bank in 1968.However, like for the other Nobel science prizes, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decides the winner and follows the same selection process.Past winners include a host of influential thinkers such as Milton Friedman, John Nash – played by actor Russell Crowe in the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind – and, more recently, former US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.Last year, Harvard economic historian Claudia Goldin won the prize for her work highlighting the causes of wage and labour market inequality between men and women.The economics prize has been dominated by US academics since its inception, while US-based researchers also tend to account for a large portion of winners in the scientific fields for which 2024 laureates were announced last week.That crop of prizes began with US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun winning the prize for medicine on October 7 and concluded with Japan’s Nihon Hidankyo, an organisation of survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki who campaigned for the abolition of nuclear weapons landing the award for peace on Friday.South Korea’s Han Kan won the literature prize – the only woman laureate so far this year.The Nobel Prizes consist of a diploma, a gold medal and the cash sum.They will be presented at ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of scientist and prize creator Alfred Nobel.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692589/international/trio-wins-economics-nobel-for-work-on-wealth-inequality

Nobel economics prize goes to inequality researchers

Research shows link between institutions and prosperityAcemoglu urges democracies to reclaim better governanceJohnson says Nov. 5 a 'stress test' for US democracyPast winners include Milton Friedman and John NashEconomics was final prize awarded in 2024 NobelsThree US-based academics won the 2024 Nobel economics prize on Monday for research that explored the aftermath of colonisation to understand why global inequality persists today, especially in countries dogged by corruption and dictatorship.Simon Johnson and James Robinson, both British-American, and Turkish-American Daron Acemoglu were commended for their work on 'how institutions are formed and affect prosperity', the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.'Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time's greatest challenges,' said Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences.'They have identified the historical roots of the weak institutional environments that characterize many low-income countries today,' he told a press conference. The award came a day after a World Bank report showed that the world's 26 poorest countries - home to 40% of its most poverty-stricken people - are more in debt than at any time since 2006, highlighting a major reversal in the fight against poverty.The prestigious award, formally known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is the final prize to be given out this year and is worth 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million).Acemoglu told reporters in Athens that data gathered by pro-democracy groups showed that public institutions and rule of law in many parts of the world were currently being weakened.'Authoritarian growth is often more unstable and doesn't generally lead to very rapid and original innovation,' he said, referring to China as 'a bit of a challenge'.Johnson told Reuters by telephone that established institutions in the United States were under stress, notably due to Donald Trump's refusal to acknowledge he lost the 2020 election.'I think that's the biggest concern that I see in the industrialised world,' he said, adding the Nov. 5 presidential election was 'a serious stress test' for U.S. democracy.Acemoglu and Johnson work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while Robinson is at the University of Chicago.The laureates' research showed how European colonisation had dramatic but divergent impacts across the world, depending on whether the coloniser focused on extraction of resources or the setting up of long-term institutions for the benefit of European migrants.This, they found, resulted in a 'reversal of fortune' where former colonies that were once rich become poor, while some poorer countries - where institutions were often set up - were in the end able to garner some generalised prosperity through them.Another finding covered how 'dangerous' it was to colonise an area: the higher mortality among the colonisers, the lower today's current output per capita, a measure of prosperity. The economics award is not one of the original prizes for science, literature and peace created in the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel and first awarded in 1901, but a later addition established and funded by Sweden's central bank in 1968.Past winners include a host of influential thinkers such as Milton Friedman, John Nash - played by actor Russell Crowe in the 2001 film 'A Beautiful Mind' - and, more recently, former US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Research into inequality has featured strongly in recent awards. Last year, Harvard economic historian Claudia Goldin won the prize for her work highlighting the causes of wage and labour market inequality between men and women.In 2019, economists Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer won the award for work on fighting poverty.The economics prize has been dominated by US academics since its inception, while US-based researchers also tend to account for a large portion of winners in the scientific fields for which 2024 laureates were announced last week. That crop of prizes began with U.S. scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun winning the prize for medicine on Monday and concluded with Japan's Nihon Hidankyo, an organisation of survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki who campaigned for the abolition of nuclear weapons landing the award for peace on Friday.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692526/international/uslatin-america/nobel-economics-prize-goes-to-inequality-researchers

N. Korea put border troops on high alert

North Korea's military has ordered artillery units along the border with South Korea to be fully ready to open fire, state media has reported.'The Korean People's Army issued a preliminary operation order Oct. 12 to the combined artillery units along the border and the units taking on an important firepower task to get fully ready to open fire,' read the statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.The North Korean military ordered eight artillery brigades fully armed in a wartime mode to be on standby to open fire, and reinforced anti-air observation posts in Pyongyang, it added.North Korea's defense ministry said that South Korea had sent unmanned drones carrying anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang three times this month, according to South Korea's (Yonhap) news agency.'We warn repeatedly that we will take action according to our judgment, regarding any drones to be spotted again as the ones from the ROK and deeming it a declaration of war,' a spokesperson at the defense ministry said in a statement.The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Kim Yo-jong warned Saturday that South Korea will face a 'horrible disaster' in case such drones are flown again into the North

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692523/international/n-korea-put-border-troops-on-high-alert

SpaceX catches giant Starship booster in its fifth flight test

SpaceX, in its fifth Starship test flight yesterday, returned the rocket’s towering first stage booster back to its Texas launch pad for the first time using giant mechanical arms, achieving another novel engineering feat in the company’s push to build a reusable moon and Mars vehicle.The rocket’s first stage “Super Heavy” booster lifted off at 7.25am CT (1225 GMT) from SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas launch facilities, sending the Starship second stage rocket toward space before separating at an altitude of roughly 70km (40 miles) to begin its return to land – the most daring part of the test flight.The Super Heavy booster re-lit three of its 33 Raptor engines to slow its speedy descent back to SpaceX’s launch site, as it targeted the launch pad and tower it had blasted off from.The tower, taller than the Statue of Liberty at over 400 feet, is fitted with two large metal arms at the top.With its engines roaring, the 233-foot (71m) Super Heavy booster fell into the launch tower’s enclosing arms, hooking itself in place by tiny, protruding bars under the four forward grid fins it had used to steer itself through the air.“The tower has caught the rocket!!” chief executive Elon Musk wrote on X after the catch attempt.SpaceX engineers watching the company’s live stream roared in applause.“Folks, this is a day for the engineering history books,” a SpaceX spokesperson said on the livestream.The novel catch-landing method marked the latest advance in SpaceX’s test-to-failure development campaign for a fully reusable rocket designed to loft more cargo into orbit, ferry humans to the moon for the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) and eventually reach Mars – the ultimate destination envisioned by Musk.Nasa, which congratulated SpaceX on its successful test, is also keenly awaiting a modified version of Starship to act as a lander vehicle for crewed flights to the Moon under the Artemis programme later this decade.Meanwhile Starship, the rocket system’s second stage or top half, cruised at roughly 17,000mph 89 miles up in space, heading for the Indian Ocean near western Australia to demonstrate about 90 minutes into flight a controlled splashdown.As Starship re-entered Earth’s atmosphere horizontally, onboard cameras showed a smooth, pinkish-purple hue of superhot plasma blanketing the ship’s Earth-facing side and its two steering flaps, intense hypersonic friction displayed in a glowing aura.The ship’s hot side is coated with 18,000 heat-shielding tiles that were improved since SpaceX’s last test in June, when Starship completed its first full test flight to the Indian Ocean but suffered tile damage that made its reentry difficult.Starship this time appeared more intact upon re-igniting one of its six Raptor engines to position itself upright for the simulated ocean landing.The SpaceX live stream showed the rocket touching down in the nighttime waters far off Australia’s coast, then toppling on its side, concluding its test mission.A separate camera view from a vessel near the touchdown site then showed the ship exploding into a vast fireball, as SpaceX engineers could be heard on the live stream screaming in celebration.It was unclear whether the explosion was a controlled detonation or the result of a fuel leak.Musk said the ship landed “precisely on target!”Starship, first unveiled by Musk in 2017, has exploded several times in various stages of testing on past flights, but successfully completed a full flight in June for the first time.On Saturday the US Federal Aviation Administration approved SpaceX’s launch licence for the fifth test, following weeks of tension between the company and its regulator over the pace of launch approvals and fines related to SpaceX’s workhorse rocket, the Falcon 9.Musk has accused the agency of overreach and calling for its chief, Michael Whitaker, to resign.“He’s trying to position himself for minimal regulatory interference with SpaceX once Donald Trump becomes president,” said Mark Hass, a marketing expert and professor at Arizona State University. “But it’s a calculated gamble if things go the other way.”

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692489/international/spacex-catches-giant-starship-booster-in-its-fifth-flight-test

Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say

Just like the dwindling group of survivors now recognised with a Nobel prize, the residents of Hiroshima hope that the world never forgets the atomic bombing of 1945 - now more than ever. Susumu Ogawa, 84, was five when the bomb dropped by the United States all but obliterated the Japanese city 79 years ago, and many of his family were among the 140,000 people killed.“My mother, my aunt, my grandfather, and my grandfather all died in the atomic bombing,” Ogawa told AFP a day after the survivors’ group Nihon Hidankyo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Ogawa himself recalls very little but the snippets he garnered later from his surviving relatives and others painted a hellish picture. “All they could do was to evacuate and save their own lives, while they saw other people (perish) inside the inferno,” he said.“All nuclear weapons in the world have to be abandoned,” he said. “We know the horror of nuclear weapons, because we know what happened in Hiroshima.” What is happening now in the Middle East saddens him greatly. “Why do people fight each other?...hurting each other won’t bring anything good,” he said.On a sunny Saturday, many tourists and some residents were strolling around the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park to the bomb’s 140,000 victims. A preserved skeleton of a building close to ground zero of the “Little Boy” bomb and a statue of a girl with outstretched arms are poignant reminders of the devastation.Jung Jaesuk, 43, a South Korean primary school teacher visiting the site, said the Nobel was a “a victory for (grassroots) people”. “Tension in East Asia is intensifying so we have to boost anti-nuclear movement,” he told AFP. Kiyoharu Bajo, 69, a retired business consultant, decided to take in the atmosphere of the site after the “great thing” that was the Nobel award.With Ukraine and the Middle East, the world “faces crises that we’ve not experienced since the Second World War in terms of nuclear weapons,” he told AFP. The stories told by the Nihon Hidankyo group of “hibakusha”, as the survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known, “have to be known to the world”, he said.He said he hopes that the Nobel prize will help “the experiences of atomic bomb survivors spread further spread around the world” including by persuading people to visit Hiroshima. Kiwako Miyamoto, 65, said the Nobel prize was a “great thing, because even some locals here are indifferent” to what happened.“In Hiroshima, you pray on August 6, and children go to school”, even though the date is during summer vacation, she told AFP.“But I was surprised to see that outside Hiroshima, some people don’t know (so much about it),” she said.She said that like many people in Hiroshima, she personally knows people whose relatives died in the bombing or who witnessed it. With the average age among members of the Nihon Hidankyo over 85, it is vital that young people continue to be taught about what happened, added Bajo. “I was born 10 years after the atom bomb was dropped, so there were many atom bomb survivors around me. I felt the incident as something familiar to me,” he said. “But for the future, it will be an issue.”

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692419/international/nobel-prize-a-timely-reminder-hiroshima-locals-say

European Commission condemns attack on UNIFIL forces in Lebanon

Spokesperson for external affairs at the Peter Stano said that the Israeli occupation's attacks on the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were unacceptable. He added during a press conference in Brussels that any deliberate attack on peacekeeping forces constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law and relevant Security Council resolutions. Stano said that the issue was very high on the European Commission's agenda, and that it will definitely be discussed by the EU Foreign Ministers at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting next Monday. UNIFIL had reported that its soldiers were injured due to repeated Israeli bombardments on its headquarters and nearby sites in southern Lebanon amid escalating tensions along the Blue Line recently.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692369/international/european-commission-condemns-attack-on-unifil-forces-in-lebanon

Canada's Prime Minister renews call for ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau renewed his call for a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza.Radio Canada International that Trudeau made the statement in response to the killing of a third Canadian in Lebanon due to an Israeli airstrike. He emphasized the need to put an end to this violence, advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, increase humanitarian aid, release the hostages, and a reliable pathway towards a two-state solution.Lebanon has been under Israeli attack since October 2023, which has intensified recently with increased air and artillery strikes extending to the capital, Beirut. This escalation has resulted in thousands of Lebanese casualties and forced over a million people to flee their homes, coinciding with the ongoing devastating conflict in Gaza that has persisted for over a year.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692368/international/canadas-prime-minister-renews-call-for-ceasefire-in-lebanon-and-gaza

France's Macron calls for an end to arms exports used in Gaza and Lebanon

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday reiterated his call for an end to arms exports to the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, adding it was the sole means at hand to end the two conflicts pitting Israel against Hamas and Hezbollah.'This is in no way a call to disarm Israel (...) but a call to stop any destabilisation in this part of the world', said Macron at a press conference in Cyprus at the end of a meeting of Med9, which brings together the EU's Mediterranean countries.The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah erupted a year ago when the group began launching rockets at northern Israel in support of the Palestinian militant group Hamas at the start of the Gaza war, which followed a bloody rampage by Hamas through communities in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people in a matter of hours.The conflict has intensified in recent weeks, with Israel bombing southern Lebanon, Beirut's southern suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, killing many of Hezbollah's top leaders, and sending ground troops into areas of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah for its part has fired rockets deeper into Israel.'We have reiterated the need for a ceasefire, and this ceasefire is essential both in Gaza and in Lebanon. It is necessary now both for our hostages and the civilian population who are victims of the violence, and to avoid regional contamination', he said.'This is why France has called for an end to the export of weapons used in these theatres of war (...). We all know that this is the only way to put an end to it', Macron added.Last Saturday, the French president had already said shipments of arms used in the conflict in Gaza should be stopped as part of a broader effort to find a political solution, which prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say the next day that placing restrictions on Israel will just serve Iran and its proxies.France is not a major weapons provider for Israel, shipping military equipment worth 30 million euros ($33 million) last year, according to the defence ministry's annual arms exports report.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692348/region/frances-macron-calls-for-an-end-to-arms-exports-used-in-gaza-and-lebanon

UN accuses Israel of committing crimes against humanity by destroying health system in Gaza

UN investigators accused the Israeli entity Thursday of deliberately targeting health facilities in the Gaza Strip and killing and torturing medical workers, considering that this amounts to crimes against humanity.The UN International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the Israeli entity, consisting of a large number of experts, said in a statement that Israel implemented a coordinated policy to destroy the health care system in Gaza as part of a broader attack on Gaza, committing war crimes.The committee confirmed the collapse of the international legal system in the face of the atrocities in the Gaza Strip. The experts said in a statement today, coinciding with the first anniversary of the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, that last year witnessed genocidal attacks, ethnic cleansing and collective punishment of the Palestinians, threatening the collapse of the multilateral international system.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692318/international/un-accuses-israel-of-committing-crimes-against-humanity-by-destroying-health-system-in-gaza

Hurricane Milton leaves 10 dead, millions without power in Florida

Hurricane Milton ploughed into the Atlantic Ocean yesterday after cutting a destructive path across Florida that spawned tornados, killed at least 10 people and left millions without power, but the storm did not trigger the catastrophic surge of seawater that was feared.Governor Ron DeSantis said the state had avoided the “worst-case scenario”, though he cautioned the damage was still significant.The Tampa Bay area appeared to sidestep the storm surge that had prompted the most dire warnings.US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at a White House briefing that the government had reports of at least 10 deaths from Milton, adding it appeared they were caused by tornados.In St Lucie County on Florida’s east coast, a spate of tornados killed five people, including at least two in the senior-living Spanish Lakes Communities, county spokesperson Erick Gill said.There were 19 confirmed tornados in Florida as of 8pm on Wednesday, about the time Milton made landfall, DeSantis said.Some 45 tornados were reported throughout the day, mostly in the central and eastern parts of the state, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.More than 3mn homes and businesses in Florida were without power yesterday morning, according to PowerOutage.us.At least some had already been waiting days for power to be restored after Hurricane Helene hit the area two weeks ago.Milton shredded the fabric roof of Tropicana Field, the stadium of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team in St Petersburg, but there were no reported injuries.The ballpark was a staging area for responders, with thousands of cots set up on the field.In the Tampa area, the storm toppled trees, threw debris across roadways and downed power lines, video footage from local news showed.Some neighbourhoods were flooded, but the extent of the damage will not be known until crews can assess the destruction, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said at a morning news conference.Steven Cole Smith, 71, an automotive writer and editor who lives in Tampa about seven miles (11km) from the Gulf Coast, rode out the storm with his wife.He said the wind shook the windows so hard he thought they would shatter.“We really didn’t have anywhere else to go,” Smith said of their decision not to follow evacuation orders. He has a house in central Florida, but said the forecast for that area looked as bad as where he was staying.On a street near Sarasota Bay, Kristin Joyce, a 72-year-old interior designer who opted not to evacuate, took photos of tree branches snapped by the wind.“This is very tragic, especially for an area that relies on a lot of tourism and real estate,” she told AFP, surveying the damage. “There is no question it needs to be a serious wake-up call for everyone in terms of climate change.”Ken Wood, 58, a state ferryboat operator in Pinellas County, fled his Dunedin home on Florida’s Gulf Coast with his 16-year-old cat Andy, after making the “harrowing” mistake of riding out Hurricane Helene two weeks ago in his mobile home.They heeded evacuation orders and headed north but only made it as far as a hotel about an hour’s drive away when he decided it wasn’t safe to stay on the roads.“It was pretty loud, but Andy slept through it all,” he told Reuters by telephone.Emergency crews responded overnight to dozens of calls for help, including one in which 15 people were rescued after a tree fell on top of a house, Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said.The winds toppled a large construction crane in St Petersburg, sending it crashing onto a deserted street.The state was still in danger of river flooding after up to 18” (457mm) of rain fell.Authorities were waiting for rivers to crest, but so far levels were at or below those after Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, Tampa Mayor Castor said yesterday.Most of the severe damage reported so far stemmed from the tornados, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) head Deanne Criswell, who was in Tallahassee yesterday.“The evacuation orders saved lives,” she said, noting that more than 90,000 residents went to shelters.President Joe Biden, who postponed an overseas trip to monitor Milton, spoke to local leaders in Florida yesterday and pledged the federal government’s full support.The storm hit Florida’s west coast on Wednesday night as a Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, with top sustained winds of 120mph (205kph).While still a dangerous storm, Milton had weakened from the rare Category 5 status as it trekked over the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida.Milton tailed off further over land, dropping to a Category 1 hurricane with top sustained winds of 85mph (145kph) as it reached the peninsula’s east coast, the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said.By morning yesterday, the storm was moving away from the Florida Atlantic coast after lashing communities on the eastern shoreline.The eye of the storm made landfall in Siesta Key, a barrier island town of some 5,400 people off Sarasota about 60 miles (100km) south of Tampa Bay.Meanwhile, in a video posted on social media, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he and his wife Melania were praying for Florida residents affected by the storm and urged them to vote for him.“Hopefully, on January 20th you’re going to have somebody that’s really going to help you and help you like never before,” the former president said, referring to the date when US presidents are inaugurated.Hurricane Helene had just struck the US southeast late last month, and the back-to-back storms have become election fodder as Trump spreads conspiracy theories claiming that Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris are abandoning victims.That prompted a furious response from Biden, who on Wednesday called Trump “reckless, irresponsible”.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692300/international/hurricane-milton-leaves-10-dead-millions-without-power-in-florida

Several killed in Hurricane Milton sweeping Florida

Several people were killed, homes were destroyed, and more than two million homes were without power in the US state of Florida as a result of Hurricane Milton.'We are not going to get into how many, but I can tell you its more than one person who has lost their life that we already recovered,' St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told CNN, adding that hundreds of homes were 'completely totaled' by tornadoes across the county.The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the hurricane's wind speed reached 193 km/h, as it made landfall as a Category 3 storm, making it one of the most dangerous hurricanes the region has recently faced, along with heavy rains and dangerously high tides.The NHC expected Hurricane Milton to move from the Gulf Coast of Florida across the state towards the Atlantic Ocean, with severe destruction occurring offshore.The hurricane caused severe storm surges in parts of Florida, with water levels rising rapidly, causing massive flooding.US authorities have called on millions of residents to evacuate their homes, adding that there have been reports of traffic jams and fuel shortages.Hurricane Milton arrived just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene hit Florida and other southeastern states, leaving extensive destruction and casualties.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692295/international/several-killed-in-hurricane-milton-sweeping-florida

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon target critical civilian infrastructure : OCHA

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that Israeli occupation's airstrikes on Lebanon have increasingly targeted critical civilian infrastructure.In a statement on Wednesday, OCHA warned that Lebanon's humanitarian crisis is deteriorating at an alarming rate.'Israeli airstrikes have not only intensified but also expanded into previously unaffected areas and increasingly targeted critical civilian infrastructure,' OCHA said in the statement.'The relentless bombardment is amplifying the suffering of vulnerable populations,' it added.In a single day Oct. 6, more than 30 airstrikes struck the Beirut southern suburbs and surrounding areas frightening residents and forcing additional displacement from densely populated areas, including Shatila Palestine refugee camp.On Tuesday, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health reported that the ongoing Israeli aggression since October 2023 has resulted in 2,141 deaths and 10,099 injuries.In recent days, the Israeli entity has significantly intensified its aerial and artillery bombardment and expanded its targets to include the capital, Beirut, resulting in thousands of deaths and injuries and forcing over a million people to flee their homes.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692293/international/israeli-airstrikes-on-lebanon-target-critical-civilian-infrastructure-ocha

Five dead after Russian missile attack on Odesa Region's Port: Ukraine

Ukraine has announced that five people were killed and nine were injured as a result of a Russian ballistic missile strike targeting the port infrastructure in Odesa region, southern Ukraine.Five dead and nine injured is the consequence of yet another ballistic missile attack by Russia on the port infrastructure in Odesa region, the Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine Oleksiy Kuleba said in Telegram post.During the attack, a civilian vessel flying the flag of Panama - the container ship Shui Spirit - was damaged, he added.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692292/international/five-dead-after-russian-missile-attack-on-odesa-regions-port-ukraine

International conference on Lebanon to be held on Oct. 24 : French Foreign Ministry

The French Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the international conference on Lebanon, announced by President Emmanuel Macron, will be held on Oct. 24.The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that this ministerial conference will bring together Lebanon's partner countries, the United Nations, the European Union, international and regional organizations, and civil society.It added that the conference aims to mobilize the ranks of the international community to respond to the urgent protection and relief needs of the Lebanese people, and to identify ways to support Lebanese institutions, especially the Lebanese Armed Forces, which guarantee internal stability in the country.The ministry stressed that in the face of a serious and profound political and humanitarian crisis, France will recall through this conference the urgent need to stop the fighting and reach a diplomatic solution based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and allow the safe return of the displaced to their homes, noting that electing a president in Lebanon is the first step towards the return of regular political institutions.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692287/international/international-conference-on-lebanon-to-be-held-on-oct-24-french-foreign-ministry

Duo win Physics Nobel Prize for ‘foundational’ AI breakthroughs

US scientist John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for discoveries and inventions in machine learning that paved the way for the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.The pair’s research on neural networks in the 1980s paved the way for technology that promises to revolutionise society but has also raised apocalyptic fears.Hinton has been widely credited as a “godfather” of AI and made headlines when he quit his job at Google last year to be able to more easily speak about the dangers of the technology he had pioneered.“We have no experience of what it’s like to have things smarter than us,” Hinton said over the phone to the Nobel press conference, speaking from a hotel in California.“It’s going to be wonderful in many respects, in areas like healthcare,” Hinton said. “But we also have to worry about a number of possible bad consequences. Particularly the threat of these things getting out of control.”Hopfield, 91, a professor emeritus at Princeton University, created an associative memory that can store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns in data.“When you get systems that are rich enough in complexity and size, they can have properties which you can’t possibly intuit from the elementary particles you put in there,” he said in a press conference convened by Princeton. “You have to say that system contains some new physics.”He echoed Hinton’s concerns, saying there was something unnerving about the unknown potential and limits of AI.“One is accustomed to having technologies which are not singularly only good or only bad, but have capabilities in both directions,” he said.The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said it awarded the prize to the two men because they used “tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today’s powerful machine learning” that is “revolutionising science, engineering and daily life”.The award comes with a prize sum of 11mn Swedish crowns ($1.1mn) which is shared by the two winners.British-born Hinton, 76, now professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, invented a method that can autonomously find properties in data and carry out tasks such as identifying specific elements in pictures, the academy said. – Reuters/AFP

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692224/international/duo-win-physics-nobel-prize-for-foundational-ai-breakthroughs

Qatar, France launch joint humanitarian aid to Lebanon

Qatar and France on Tuesday launched joint humanitarian aid to Lebanon. A Qatari and a French aircraft carrying aid including medical supplies, medication and shelter equipment provided by the State of Qatar and the French Republic arrived in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.This aid comes within the framework of the strategic partnership between Qatar and France aimed at supporting those affected by the recent developments in Lebanon.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692204/qatar/qatar-france-launch-joint-humanitarian-aid-to-lebanon

Nobel prize in physics goes to machine learning pioneers

Prize awarded for work laying foundation for machine learningHinton quit Google last year to speak more freely about dangers of AIPrinceton professor Hopfield created an associative memory that can store and reconstruct imagesPhysics second award in this year's Nobel line-upPrizes announced through course of weekUS scientist John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for discoveries and inventions that laid the foundation for machine learning, the award-giving body said on Tuesday. Hinton has been widely credited as a godfather of artificial intelligence and made headlines when he quit his job at Google last year to be able to more easily speak about the dangers of the technology he had pioneered.'We have no experience of what it's like to have things smarter than us,' Hinton said over the phone to the Nobel press conference, speaking from a hotel in California.'It's going to be wonderful in many respects, in areas like healthcare,' Hinton said. 'But we also have to worry about a number of possible bad consequences. Particularly the threat of these things getting out of control.'Hopfield, 91, a professor emeritus at Princeton University, created an associative memory that can store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns in data, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the prize, said.'This year's two Nobel Laureates in physics have used tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today's powerful machine learning,' the academy said in a statement.'Machine learning based on artificial neural networks is currently revolutionising science, engineering and daily life.'The award comes with a prize sum of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million) which is shared by the two winners.British-born Hinton, 76, now professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, invented a method that can autonomously find properties in data and carry out tasks such as identifying specific elements in pictures, the academy added.Though he quit Google in 2023 after realising computers could become smarter than people far sooner than he and other experts had expected, Hinton said the company itself acted very responsibly.Hinton also said that he regretted some of his research, but that he acted on the information he had at the time.'In the same circumstances I would do the same again,' he told the Nobel press conference. 'But I am worried that the overall consequence of this might be systems more intelligent than us that eventually take control.'Asked about the concerns surrounding machine learning and other forms of artificial intelligence, Ellen Moons, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, said: 'While machine learning has enormous benefits, its rapid development has also raised concerns about our future.'Collectively, humans carry the responsibility for using this new technology in a safe and ethical way, for the greatest benefit of humankind.' Widely considered the most prestigious award for physicists across the world, the prize was created, along with awards for achievements in science, literature and peace, in the will of Alfred Nobel.The prizes have been awarded with a few interruptions since 1901, though the Nobel economics honour is a later addition in memory of the Swedish businessman and philanthropist, who had made a fortune from his invention of dynamite.Outside the sometimes controversial choices for peace and literature, physics often makes the biggest splash among the prizes, with the list of past winners featuring scientific superstars such as Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr and Enrico Fermi. Last year's physics prize was awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L'Huillier for their work in creating ultra-short pulses of light that can give a snapshot of changes within atoms, potentially improving the detection of diseases. Physics is the second Nobel to be awarded this week, after US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun won the medicine prize for their discovery of microRNA and its role in gene regulation, shedding light on how cells specialise.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692167/international/uslatin-america/nobel-prize-in-physics-goes-to-machine-learning-pioneers

Occupation will eventually pay price for Gaza genocide : Turkish President

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Israel will eventually pay the price for the genocide that has been going on in Gaza for a year.'Exactly 365 days ago, 50,000 of our brothers and sisters, mostly children and women, were brutally murdered,' Erdogan wrote in an X post.'Hospitals, places of worship belonging to different faiths, and schools in Gaza are no longer standing. Many journalists, representatives of civil society organizations and ambassadors of peace are no longer among us,' he added.'What is dying in Gaza, Palestine, and nowadays in Lebanon is not just women, children, babies, innocent civilians; it is humanity (and) the international system that is expected to serve humanity,' he wrote on X.'For a year, what has been killed before the eyes of the world is humanity itself and all of humanity's hopes for the future,' he said, stressing that Israel's policy of genocide and occupation must come to an end.'A world in which no account is held for the Gaza genocide will ever find peace,' President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692153/international/occupation-will-eventually-pay-price-for-gaza-genocide-turkish-president

UN High Commissioner calls for greater international support to stem humanitarian catastrophe in Lebanon

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi called on Sunday for greater international support to stem the humanitarian catastrophe engulfing Lebanon.'Two weeks of deadly Israeli airstrikes have killed hundreds and forced over a million people to flee their homes,' according to a press release issued by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).'I've witnessed today the tragic toll this war is taking on entire communities,' said Grandi, adding 'International humanitarian law must be respected and cannot be ignored. Families have been left homeless, stranded in the open air with traumatized children unable to understand what's happening.'People should not pay the price for the abysmal failure to find political solutions and end this vicious cycle of violence, Grandi said.With large numbers of people displaced within the country in just two weeks, government-run shelters are overwhelmed, UNHCR said in the press release, stressing that the international community must significantly increase funding in order for humanitarians to respond adequately.Lebanon is facing a large-scale Israeli aggression that has targeted numerous towns and villages along the border, as well as critical infrastructure, resulting in thousands of Lebanese civilian casualties. The attacks have also forced over a million people to flee their homes.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692087/international/un-high-commissioner-calls-for-greater-international-support-to-stem-humanitarian-catastrophe-in-lebanon

Biden orders more troops to help North Carolina recovery efforts

US President Joe Biden said yesterday that he has ordered another 500 active-duty troops to move into western North Carolina and assist with the response and recovery efforts after the deadly and devastating Hurricane Helene.“With a total of 1,500 troops now supplementing a robust on-the-ground effort – including more than 6,100 National Guardsmen and more than 7,000 federal personnel – my administration is sparing no resource to support families as they begin their road to rebuilding,” Biden said in a statement.He also said that he is being briefed on tropical storm Milton as it strengthened across the Gulf of Mexico.The potentially devastating storm barrelled toward the Florida coast yesterday, as the head of the US disaster relief agency lashed out at a “dangerous” misinformation war being waged over the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said Milton intensified into a Category 1 hurricane yesterday with maximum sustained winds of 80mph (130kph).Milton was churning in the Gulf of Mexico, west-southwest of Tampa, with nothing but 800 miles of warm ocean between it and the Florida coast – an area still reeling from Helene’s catastrophic winds and storm surge.It could hit by midweek as a major storm, the NHC said.Deanne Criswell, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said that the federal authorities were “absolutely ready” for Milton.“We will move resources in there to support their needs,” she told ABC’s This Week.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis upped the number of counties under a state of emergency to 51 ahead of the storm.Helene roared into the Florida coastline as a Category 4 storm on September 26 and carved a path of destruction inland to the Appalachian mountains, dumping torrential rainfall and flash flooding on remote towns in states such as North Carolina.The storm has killed more than 220 people – making it the deadliest natural disaster to hit the United States since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina – with the toll still rising.Relief workers are racing to find survivors and to get power and drinking water to mountainous communities cut off by the devastation.However, that effort has been hit by a wave of false claims and conspiracy theories.Among the litany of disinformation is the lie pushed by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that funding for relief has been misappropriated by his rival for the White House, Democrat Kamala Harris, and redirected toward migrants.“It’s frankly ridiculous and just plain false ... it’s really a shame that we’re putting politics ahead of helping people,” Criswell told ABC.It is a “truly dangerous narrative that is creating this fear of trying to reach out and help us or to register for help”, she said.ABC reported that law enforcement is monitoring threats made toward FEMA officials and other recovery agencies that were prompted by the disinformation.In addition to Trump’s false claim, the Washington Post reported yesterday on a series of other lies swirling around Helene that it said were “adding to the chaos and confusion in many storm-battered communities”.They include a false claim that a dam was about to burst, which the Post said prompted hundreds of people to unnecessarily evacuate, and a “troubling” lie that officials planned to bulldoze bodies under the rubble in one North Carolina town.One user suggested “a militia go against FEMA” in a post on X, formerly Twitter, which has received more than half a million views.Asked about that post, Criswell said it “has a tremendous impact on the comfort level of our own employees to be able to go out there” and called it “demoralising”.“It’s just, you know, a shame that people are sitting home on their comfortable couches (while) we have thousands of people here on the ground that have left their own families to be able to help those in need,” she said.The FEMA has begun debunking the rumours online, as have authorities in the hard-hit state of North Carolina.Local officials have urged residents to ignore the online falsehoods.“I would encourage the good residents of western North Carolina to turn that garbage off,” one local sheriff said.Much of the focus was on X.Before the platform was purchased by Elon Musk, when it was still known as Twitter, it was a go-to place for disaster co-ordination and information sharing.However, the billionaire has allowed right-wing disinformation and conspiracy theories to flood the platform.“When Musk bought Twitter, there were many of us in the disaster space who warned that there would likely be changes that would make the platform less useful during disasters,” Sam Montano, a disaster expert, told the Post. “I think that we’re seeing that manifest now.”

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692086/international/biden-orders-more-troops-to-help-north-carolina-recovery-efforts

Thousands stage pro-Palestinian protests worldwide, on eve of Oct 7 anniversary

Protests held in cities from Jakarta to Istanbul to RabatIsrael's military actions in Gaza and Lebanon face international condemnationThousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators protested in cities around the world on Sunday on the eve of the first anniversary of the war in Gaza.Demonstrations were held in major cities from Jakarta to Istanbul to Rabat, and followed protests on Saturday in major European capitals as well as Washington and New York.'We are here to support the Palestinian resistance,' said protester Ahmet Unal in Istanbul, where thousands assembled.On October 7 last year, Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.Israel's subsequent military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and laid waste to the enclave.Israel launched air attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs overnight and early on Sunday, the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital since Israel sharply escalated its campaign against Iranian-backed group Hezbollah last month.In Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia at least 1,000 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on Sunday morning near the US embassy demanding that Washington stop supplying weapons to Israel.In Sydney, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered ahead of the Oct. 7 anniversary, chanting and waving Lebanese and Palestinian flags amid a heavy police presence.One person was arrested for waving an Israeli flag with a swastika in the middle of it instead of the Star of David.In Rabat, thousands of Moroccans marched, calling for a halt to the violence in Gaza and Lebanon, in one of the largest protests in the country since the beginning of the war in Gaza.Protesters demanded an end to Morocco's diplomatic ties with Israel, chanting 'no to normalisation, Palestine is not for sale,' referring to Morocco's establishing of diplomatic relations with Israel.Over the past year, the scale of the killing and destruction in Gaza has prompted some of the biggest global demonstrations in years, including in the US, which saw weeks of pro-Palestinian college campus encampments.Israel has faced wide international condemnation over its actions in Gaza, and now over its bombarding of Lebanon.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692058/region/thousands-stage-pro-palestinian-protests-worldwide-on-eve-of-oct-7-anniversary

Thousands stage pro-Palestinian protests worldwide, on first anniversary of Gaza war

Protests held in cities from Jakarta to Istanbul to RabatIsrael's military actions in Gaza and Lebanon face international condemnationThousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators protested in cities around the world on Sunday on the eve of the first anniversary of the war in Gaza.Demonstrations were held in major cities from Jakarta to Istanbul to Rabat, and followed protests on Saturday in major European capitals as well as Washington and New York.'We are here to support the Palestinian resistance,' said protester Ahmet Unal in Istanbul, where thousands assembled.On October 7 last year, Hamas attacked southern Israeli communities, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.Israel's subsequent military campaign against Hamas in Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and laid waste to the enclave.Israel launched air attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs overnight and early on Sunday, the most intense bombardment of the Lebanese capital since Israel sharply escalated its campaign against Iranian-backed group Hezbollah last month.In Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia at least 1,000 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on Sunday morning near the US embassy demanding that Washington stop supplying weapons to Israel.In Sydney, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered ahead of the Oct. 7 anniversary, chanting and waving Lebanese and Palestinian flags amid a heavy police presence.One person was arrested for waving an Israeli flag with a swastika in the middle of it instead of the Star of David.In Rabat, thousands of Moroccans marched, calling for a halt to the violence in Gaza and Lebanon, in one of the largest protests in the country since the beginning of the war in Gaza.Protesters demanded an end to Morocco's diplomatic ties with Israel, chanting 'no to normalisation, Palestine is not for sale,' referring to Morocco's establishing of diplomatic relations with Israel.Over the past year, the scale of the killing and destruction in Gaza has prompted some of the biggest global demonstrations in years, including in the US, which saw weeks of pro-Palestinian college campus encampments.Israel has faced wide international condemnation over its actions in Gaza, and now over its bombarding of Lebanon.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/692058/region/thousands-stage-pro-palestinian-protests-worldwide-on-first-anniversary-of-gaza-war

Thousands around the world demand end to Gaza war on anniversary

Protests against Israel's actions in Gaza, worries about spread of conflict in the regionInternational diplomacy has failed to secure a ceasefire deal in GazaThousands of protesters took to the streets in several major cities around the world on Saturday to demand an end to bloodshed in Gaza, as the conflict in the Palestinian enclave approaches its first anniversary and spreads in the wider region.About 40,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through central London while thousands also gathered in Paris, Rome, Manila and Cape Town.Protesters marched through central London on Saturday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon as the war in the Palestinian territory neared the one-year mark.Pro-Palestinian supporters from across the country began the march from Russell Square to Downing Street demanding an end to the conflict, which has killed nearly 42,000 people in Gaza.At Saturday's 20th 'National March for Palestine' in London, familiar chants -- 'ceasefire now', 'stop bombing hospitals, stop bombing civilians' and 'from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free' -- were joined by shouts of 'hands off Lebanon'.Several protesters carried posters reading 'Starmer has blood on his hands'.UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages held by Hamas, as well as suspended some arms licences to Israel.However, many at the rally said it was not enough.Sophia Thomson, 27, found the Labour government's stance 'hypocritical'.According to Thomson, the size of the protests 'goes to show the government doesn't speak for the people'.'It's not good enough. It's not good enough,' added Bakir, calling for the government to 'stop giving a carte blanche of support to the Israeli government'.The war was triggered when militant Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 in a raid that killed 1,200 people and in which about 250 were taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and displaced nearly all of the enclave's population of 2.3 million.'Unfortunately, in spite of all our good will, the Israeli government does not take any notice, and they just go ahead and continue their atrocities in Gaza, now also in Lebanon and in Yemen, and also probably in Iran,' said protestor Agmes Koury in London.'And our government, our British government, unfortunately is just paying lip service and carries on supplying weapons to Israel,' she added.In Berlin, Israel supporters protested against rising antisemitism and scuffles broke out between police and pro-Palestinian counter-protestors.Over the past year, the scale of the killing and destruction in Gaza has drawn some of the biggest global protests in years, in a wave of anger that defenders of Israel say has created an antisemitic climate in which protestors question Israel's right to exist as a nation.The war in Gaza has spread to the region, drawing in Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq. Israel has sharply escalated a campaign against Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah in recent weeks and Iran launched a barrage of missiles against Israel this week.In Paris, Lebanese-French protestor Houssam Houssein said:'We fear a regional war, because there are tensions with Iran at the moment, and perhaps with Iraq and Yemen'.'We really need to stop the war because it's now become unbearable,' he added.In Rome, around 6,000 protestors waved Palestinian and Lebanese flags, defying a ban to march in the city centre ahead of the Oct. 7 anniversary.While its allies such as the United States support Israel's right to defend itself, Israel has faced wide international condemnation over its actions in Gaza, and now over its bombarding of Lebanon.International diplomacy led by the United States has so far failed to clinch a ceasefire deal in Gaza. Hamas wants an agreement that ends the war while Israel says fighting can end only when Hamas is eradicated.In Manila, activists clashed with anti-riot police after they were blocked from holding a demonstration in front of the US embassy in the Philippine capital in protest at the United States supplying Israel with weapons.Demonstrations to mark the first anniversary were due to take place later on Saturday in other cities across the world, including the United States and Chile. Some demonstrations in support of Israel are also planned over the weekend.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/691976/international/thousands-around-the-world-demand-end-to-gaza-war-on-anniversary

Spoon scratching: Kenya’s DIY DJ

A spoon, some towel hooks, a piece of kettle and a plastic cap — that’s all you’ll need to make a mixing deck if you have the technical and musical skills of DJ Boboss.The 27-year-old — real name Paul Mwangi — has been building up a fanbase online and on the streets of Kenya with the one-of-a-kind deck that he put together himself.It has even earned him slots at Uganda’s Nyege Nyege festival, the largest in east Africa, and on the world-renowned club website Boiler Room.But his favourite venue is Nairobi’s bustling business district, where he set up on a recent Saturday among the stands of miraa (khat) vendors, the smell of grilled corn and the horns of matatus, the colourful minibuses of the Kenyan capital.In a few minutes, dozens of curious onlookers had gathered, taking out their phones to film the amazing machine that spits out reggae hits.The mixing desk consists of a spray-painted wooden board on which are screwed towel racks, switches and printed circuits connected in a tangle of cables — all connected to an amp, speaker, and car battery.He scratches using a slider made from a magnetised spoon between two towel hooks, and his fader is cobbled together from a plastic bottle cap.Fixes are done without breaking the flow — at one point, DJ Boboss whips out a screwdriver, strips a wire with his teeth and repairs a fault while the music keeps playing.“I’ve never seen anything like that in the world,” smiled David Meshack, who works in a nearby electronics store that sells professional turntables.“One day, a customer came in with a photo of it. He wanted the same one but I didn’t know what it was,” he said. “Today, I see it!” Boboss is an acronym for “Be your own boss” and Mwangi got his start repairing radios.“My dad bought me a radio. After some time it stopped ‘talking’ and he said he wouldn’t buy another one. I was stressed because I was addicted to music and listening to radio, so I just opened it using a knife,” he said.Soon he was repairing electronic devices in his village near Meru in central Kenya.Then one day he saw a DJ in a bar and was inspired.“I loved how he played music and the way the crowd reacted. I didn’t have the money to buy real equipment but I said I could make my own with the available resources.” Mwangi moved to the capital and now makes a living from his DJing and occasionally selling specially-commissioned turntables.His favourite venue is the street, especially in the business district or at Gikomba, the largest second-hand clothing market in the country.“Street shows is a special feeling, you have a contact with the people. Many people have never seen a DJ mixing live,” he said.Among the onlookers, 48-year-old ex-soldier Zachary Mibei said he loved how Mwangi illustrates the situation for young people in Kenya.“He has no training, it’s all homemade, he is showing that he has something in him. He is telling us: ‘I can do it by myself’,” said Mibei.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/691956/international/spoon-scratching-kenyas-diy-dj

Thailand rushes to rescue animals from flash floods

Authorities and conservationists are rushing to rescue elephants and buffaloes from flash flooding in Thailand’s northern Chiang Mai province, a senior official said on Friday.Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said 117 elephants had been saved but nine more needed help.“An operation is underway,” he told reporters.One village that buffaloes had been moved to earlier was now completed flooded, conservationist Saengduan Chailert said.“We don’t know how many elephants will survive, we are going back to help them,” she said.A herd of elephants were seen running through water, trumpeting loudly in a video posted on social media by Saengduan, founder of the Chiang Mai-based Elephant Nature Park.One ran slower than the herd because she was blind in both eyes, Saengduan said.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/691955/international/thailand-rushes-to-rescue-animals-from-flash-floods

Trump ‘resorted to crimes’ to overturn 2020 election: special counsel

Donald Trump launched a “private criminal effort” to subvert the 2020 US election and should not be shielded by presidential immunity, Special Counsel Jack Smith said in a court filing unsealed on Wednesday.Smith, in a 165-page motion arguing for the historic case against Trump to move forward, also provided new evidence of the former president’s efforts to overturn the results of the election won by Democrat Joe Biden.Trump, 78, the Republican candidate in November’s White House election, was to go on trial in March but the case was frozen while his lawyers argued that a former president should be immune from criminal prosecution.The Supreme Court ruled in July that an ex-president has immunity from prosecution for official acts while in office, but can be pursued for unofficial acts.Smith, in the filing unsealed by District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is hearing the case, said that Trump should not escape prosecution because “at its core, the defendant’s scheme was a private criminal effort”.“The defendant asserts that he is immune from prosecution for his criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election because, he claims, it entailed official conduct,” Smith said. “Not so.”“Although the defendant was the incumbent President during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one.”Trump, acting as a candidate and not in his official capacity, “resorted to crimes to try to stay in office”, the special counsel said.“With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost,” he said.Trump’s efforts allegedly included lying to state officials, manufacturing fraudulent electoral votes and seeking to get then-Vice-President Mike Pence to obstruct congressional certification of Biden’s victory.“When all else had failed,” the special counsel said, Trump directed an “angry crowd” of supporters to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, to disrupt the certification.According to Smith’s filing, a White House staffer told Trump during the January 6 rioting at the Capitol that Pence had been taken to a secure location, to which the president replied “So what?”Smith said there was abundant evidence that Trump knew his claims of electoral fraud were false because advisers had told him so.Trump, in a post on Truth Social after the filing was unsealed, said: “Democrats are Weaponizing the Justice Department against me because they know I am WINNING.”Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung blasted the disclosures, saying: “This entire case is a partisan, Unconstitutional Witch Hunt that should be dismissed entirely, together with ALL of the remaining Democrat hoaxes.”Chutkan has not set a date for a trial but it will not be held before the November 5 election between Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/691898/international/trump-resorted-to-crimes-to-overturn-2020-election-special-counsel

Deputy Amir sends congratulations to President of Germany

His Highness the Deputy Amir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Thani sent on Thursday a cable of congratulations to President of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the occasion of the German Unity Day.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/691868/international/deputy-amir-sendscongratulationsto-president-ofgermany

China urges actions to deescalate situation in Middle East

China on Wednesday called on the UN Security Council to take urgent actions to deescalate the situation in the Middle East after Israel carried out new airstrikes on Lebanon.'The Security Council bears the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security,' Chinese (Xinhua) news agency quoted China's permanent representative to the United Nations Fu Cong as saying.He pointed out that parties concerned must return to the track of political and diplomatic solutions.Warning that the current situation is 'hanging by a thread', Fu said any passive procrastination would be irresponsible, and any rhetoric of condoning further military adventurism would send a wrong message.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/691862/international/china-urges-actions-to-deescalate-situation-in-middle-east

UN Security Council to hold emergency Middle East meeting wednesday, UN and EU call for ceasefire

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the escalation of conflict in the Middle East, the Swiss presidency of the Council announced.'We have scheduled a meeting' at 10:00 am New York time (1400 GMT), a spokesperson for the Swiss mission told reporters.Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement 'I condemn the broadening of the Middle East conflict, with escalation after escalation.''This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire,' he said.Similarly, the European Union called for an immediate ceasefire across the region.'The dangerous cycle of attacks and retaliation risks ... spiralling out of control,' EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell posted on X.'An immediate ceasefire across the region is needed,' he added.On Tuesday evening, Iran's Revolutionary Guard announced that it had launched a missile attack on sites inside the Israeli entity.In a statement, it said the attack was carried out with the support of the army and the Ministry of Defense, and the operation was approved by the Supreme National Security Council, noting that it targeted 'the heart of the occupied territories

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/691783/international/un-security-council-to-hold-emergency-middle-east-meeting-wednesdayun-and-eu-call-for-ceasefire

Mexico’s first woman president takes office

Claudia Sheinbaum (pictured) was sworn in as Mexico’s first woman president yesterday, taking the reins at a time the country is struggling with violence from organised crime and a hefty deficit in Latin America’s No 2 economy.Sheinbaum, the 62-year-old scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, was inaugurated in a ceremony in Mexico’s Congress for a six-year term lasting until 2030.Her supporters chanted “President! President!” and “Long live Mexico!” after Sheinbaum took the oath of office in front of lawmakers.She will later attend a celebration in Mexico City’s main square as leader of the world’s most populous Spanish-speaking country, home to 129mn people, which has had 65 male presidents since independence.Supporters began gathering from dawn on inauguration day, which authorities declared a national holiday.“We arrived at five in the morning,” said Marta Ramirez, a housewife who came by bus from the central city of Leon.A woman president “understands the people better”, she said.Sheinbaum has said on several occasions that “it’s time for women and transformation” in Mexico, a nation with a history of gender-based discrimination and violence, with around 10 women or girls murdered every day.Political watchers and analysts predict Sheinbaum will urgently look to calm investors following the passing of a controversial judicial reform pushed by her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.Markets will be looking to Sheinbaum for “a predictable and investment-friendly policy and regulatory framework”, said Alberto Ramos, head of Goldman Sachs Latin American economic research.“Disciplined management of the budget and of state-owned enterprises, progress on public security, and safe-guarding the integrity of key institutions will be key to preserving market sentiment and sovereign debt ratings,” Ramos said, emphasising the importance of state energy firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex).The November presidential elections in the United States, Mexico’s largest trading partner, could add to market volatility, especially if former president Donald Trump, who has vowed to increase tariffs on Mexican goods, wins.Sheinbaum’s government will present its first budget before November 15, which is expected to be highly scrutinised for clues on whether Sheinbaum will make good on commitments to reduce the fiscal deficit to 3.5% of gross domestic product from 5.9%, where it is predicted to close the year.Lopez Obrador, whose six-year term began in 2018, managed to double Mexico’s minimum wage, reduce poverty and unemployment, broaden the base of social programmes and oversee a previous strengthening of the peso.Touting these successes boosted his popularity and helped usher Sheinbaum, his protégée, to a landslide victory in the June elections.Sheinbaum, however, who has promised “continuity with change”, will inherit the largest budget deficit since the 1980s and lagging economic growth.Experts have said Mexico’s economy will require a tax reform to increase revenues, though Sheinbaum has said publicly she does not plan a sweeping tax overhaul.Instead, she has said she will pursue other options, including improving the efficiency of tax collection at customs.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/691776/international/mexicos-first-woman-president-takes-office

At least 23 killed in Thai bus inferno

A devastating fire on a Thai school bus killed at least 23 people, police said yesterday after rescuers pulled children’s bodies from the charred wreckage of the vehicle.The inferno engulfed the coach on a highway in a northern Bangkok suburb as it carried 38 children – ranging from kindergarten age to young teenagers – and six teachers on a school trip.It is believed to be the deadliest road accident in a decade in Thailand, which has one of the world’s worst traffic safety records with around 20,000 fatalities a year.“We found 23 bodies inside the bus,” Trairong Phiwpan, head of the police forensic science office, told reporters.The victims’ bodies were so badly burned that Trairong said it was not yet possible to confirm how many were adults and how many children.DNA testing would be needed to identify the remains, police said.Rescue workers put up screens around the wreckage to shield firefighters and investigators as they recovered bodies from the blackened shell of the bus.“Some of the bodies we rescued were very, very small. They must have been very young in age,” Piyalak Thinkaew, who led the search, told reporters at the scene, adding that the fire started at the front of the bus.“The kids’ instinct was to escape to the back so the bodies were there,” he said.Police are hunting the coach driver after he fled the scene, acting national police chief Kitrat Phanphet told reporters.“We are investigating all individuals, including the bus company to see if this was a case of negligence,” he said. “The driver is on the run, we will not wait for him to turn himself in – we will send a team to find him.”Some of the children who survived suffered horrific burns to their faces, mouths and eyes, doctors treating them told local media.The bus was one of three carrying children from Wat Khao Phraya Sangkharam school in the northern province of Uthai Thani on a field trip to a science museum in northern Bangkok.A video posted on the school’s Facebook page just hours before the tragedy shows the group of youngsters in orange uniform shirts stopping off at the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya.The disaster is believed to have begun when one of the bus tyres burst on the highway around 12.30pm (0530 GMT), sending it crashing into a barrier and triggering the inferno, officials said.Video footage from the scene showed flames engulfing the bus as it burned under an overpass, huge clouds of dense black smoke billowing into the sky.The bus was a natural gas vehicle (NGV), according to Transport Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit.Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra visited survivors in hospital and said that the government would pay for medical treatment and compensate the victims’ families.“As a mother, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of the injured and deceased,” she wrote on social media platform X.Meechai Sa-ard, a motorbike taxi driver, heard the noise of the incident from a kilometre away.“There was smoke everywhere. Poor children, I heard they were very little,” he told AFP. “I was hoping that god would be kind so that the rain could put the fire out and the kids would survive.”Thailand has one of the worst road safety records in the world, with unsafe vehicles and poor driving contributing to the high annual death toll.Around 20,000 people are killed every year on the kingdom’s roads, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) – more than 50 a day on average.A similar bus fire killed 20 Myanmar migrant workers in March 2018, while at least 30 people died when a bus careered off a mountain road into a ravine four years earlier.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/691774/international/at-least-23-killed-in-thai-bus-inferno

Germany begins evacuating its citizens from Beirut

The German Foreign Ministry has announced the evacuation of its employees working at the German embassy in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in addition to their family members and members of German organizations operating there.A statement by the German Foreign Ministry said that a German Air Force plane took off from Beirut today with 110 passengers on board, some of whom do not hold German citizenship.The German Foreign and Defense Ministries had previously stated that there were 'German citizens who are particularly at risk due to medical conditions and were also transported on board the armed forces plane.'The German government announced that its crisis cell had decided to raise the level of alert again at the diplomatic representation headquarters in Beirut and Ramallah, provided that these embassies remain able to operate, with the evacuation of non-essential employees.The German Foreign Ministry said earlier Monday that it estimates that there are still 1,800 Germans in Lebanon who have registered themselves on the crisis preparedness list.

source https://www.gulf-times.com/article/691710/international/germany-begins-evacuating-itscitizens-from-beirut