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Israel Strikes Gaza In Retaliation For Rocket Fire, Military Says

By
Zoe Maven
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The Israeli military said the country hadcarried out air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in response to Palestinian rocket fire into its territory,.

Tension between Israel and the Palestinians has risen over the past week, after six Palestinian militants escaped from a maximum security Israeli jail on Monday. Israeli forces have since captured four of the inmates.

Drawing Israeli air strikes, Gaza militants fired a rocket into Israel on Friday when two of the prisoners were apprehended and then again on Saturday, after two more escaped inmates were caught.

The Israeli military said it struck targets belonging to Hamas, the Islamist armed group that rules Gaza. There were no reports of casualties.

A fragile truce between Israel and Hamas ended 11 days of fierce fighting in May in which at least 250 Palestinians and 13 in Israel were killed.

Strong Typhoon Cuts Power In Northern Philippines

By
Zoe Maven
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Damaged buildings and debris are seen after Typhoon Chanthu passed through Sabtang, Batanes, Philippines, in this September 12, 2021 image obtained via social media. DENNIS BALLESTEROS VALDEZ via REUTERS

Authorities in the Philipines say several communities remain flooded and without power after a strong typhoon battered the Philippines’ northernmost islands, displacing thousands of people.

Typhoon Chanthu, which at one point was categorised by the Philippine weather bureau as a category 5 storm, has weakened after powering into the northernmost region, including the Batanes island group, on Saturday, the weather bureau said.

Dennis Ballesteros Valdez, a resident of Sabtang town in the province of Batanes, which is often pummelled by powerful typhoons said it was one of the strongest typhoons he felt and that it could have been more destructive if the houses were not built as strong.

Footage taken by Valdez showed powerful winds and rains battering houses in Sabtang on Saturday morning.

More than 11,000 people have been affected by the typhoon, with more than 1,000 still in evacuation centers, the disaster agency said in a report. No casualties have been reported yet.

Chanthu has been downgraded to category 3, according to Tropical Storm Risk, as it brushed Taiwan and drenched the island with heavy rain.

Around 20 typhoons hit the Philippines on average each year, according to the weather authorities.

Norwegians Begin Voting In Election Centred On Oil, Equality

By
Zoe Maven
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The three candidates to become Norway's next prime minister Erna Solberg from the Conservatives, Jonas Gahr Stoere from Labour Party and Trygve Slagsvold Vedum from the Centre Party attend a debate in central Oslo, Norway August 9, 2021. Picture taken August 9, 2021. REUTERS/Gwladys Fouche

Norwegians went to the polls on Sunday for the first of two days of voting in a parliamentary election dominated by the widening gap between rich and poor, climate change and how the oil-producing nation should adapt to the energy transition.

Opinion polls show the opposition Labour party on course to replace the Conservative-led coalition of Prime Minister Erna Solberg, though Labour would need support from at least two more parties to secure a parliamentary majority.

The man projected to become prime minister after the Sept. 12-13 ballot, Labour leader Jonas Gahr Stoere, has pledged to address inequality by offering tax relief for low- and middle-income families and hiking rates for the rich.

According to Statistics Norway the wealthiest 1% of Norwegians pay a lower income tax rate than do those earning a median salary, while the proportion of children persistently living in low-income households grew from 3.3% in 2001 to 11.7% in 2019.

Complicating matters for Labour, climate change has surfaced as a key issue, and the polls show a growing minority of seats in parliament could go to parties and lawmakers who want to curtail Norway’s oil and gas drilling, a major source of jobs.

Stoere hopes Labour, the Centre Party and the Socialist Left will between them win a majority, and that post-election negotiations will enable a comeback for the three-party coalition that ran Norway between 2005 and 2013.

But this outcome is far from certain. Opinion polls show Stoere could become dependent on either the Red Party, which wants social reforms based on Marxist ideology, or the Green Party, which wants to shut down Norway’s oil production by 2035.

Pilot Error Likely Caused Fatal Air India Express Crash – Report

By
Zoe Maven
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Pilot error and a failure to follow safety guidelines most likely caused the Air India Express crash that killed 21 people last year, the country’s worst aviation accident in a decade.

Investigators said in a report on Saturday that the probable cause of the accident was the non-adherence to standard operating procedures by the pilot flying

The report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, a division of the Ministry of Civil Aviation that probes plane accidents added that the pilot continued an unstabilised approach and landed beyond the touchdown zone, halfway down the runway”, instead of doing a “go around”, the agency says in the 257-page report, published after a year-

A go-around is a standard procedure in which the pilot abandons a landing attempt deemed unsafe and tries again.

In spite of being asked to go around by the pilot monitoring the landing, the pilot flying the aircraft failed to do so, the agency said, and the monitoring pilot also failed to take over the controls and execute the order.

The aircraft had already made one failed attempt to land before it overran the 2,700-metre runway. The airport is known as a table-top because its runways have steep drops at one or both ends.

The crash at the airport in Kozhikode was India’s worst passenger aircraft accident since 2010, when another Air India Express flight from Dubai overshot a table-top runway in Mangalore, a city in the south, and slid down a hill, killing 158 people.

German SPD Extends Lead Over Merkel’s Conservatives

By
Zoe Maven
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Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) have opened up a bigger lead over Armin Laschet’s conservative bloc, ahead of a primetime television debate between the three main candidates to succeed Angela Merkel as Chancellor.

Two weeks before a national election that has proved to be unexpectedly turbulent, the INSA poll for Bild am Sonntag put the centre-left SPD on 26%, up a point from a week ago and their highest rating since June 2017.

Laschet’s conservative bloc was unchanged at 20% and the Greens were down 1 point at 15%.

Despite losing 8-9 percentage points in the last three months, Laschet told Deutschlandfunk (DLF) radio the conservatives had not given up, insisting there was still time to win.

The conservatives are already missing the pulling power of Merkel, who after four election victories and 16 years leading Europe’s biggest economy is not running again.

This week’s edition of the influential Spiegel magazine has a front cover picture of Laschet holding his hands in front of his mouth with the headline “Oooops”.

The leader of Germany’s most populous state has made mistakes during the campaign, including being caught on camera laughing during a visit to a town hit by lethal floods in July. He apologised. Laschet has started targeting the SPD’s chancellor candidate directly and said Olaf Scholz could form an alliance with the Greens and the far-left Linke that would raise taxes and make foreign policy mistakes

Iran To Allow IAEA To Service Nuclear Monitoring Cameras

By
Zoe Maven
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Iran has agreed to let the U.N.’s atomic watchdog service monitoring cameras at Iranian nuclear sites, both sides said, after talks held on Sunday to try to ease a standoff between Tehran and the West.

The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency had accused Iran last week of stonewalling an investigation into past activities and jeopardising monitoring work, possibly complicating efforts to resume negotiations on the Iran nuclear deal.

The IAEA had said there had been no progress getting urgent access to monitoring equipment needed to let the agency continue to keep track of parts of Iran’s nuclear programmes as per the 2015 deal.

Iran announced the agreement about the cameras after IAEA head Rafael Grossi met Mohammad Eslami, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), in Tehran.

The nuclear bodies said in a joint statement, IAEA’s inspectors are permitted to service the identified equipment and replace their storage media which will be kept under the joint IAEA and AEOI seals in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

EU political director Enrique Mora, who is coordinating negotiations about reviving Iran’s 2015 nuclear accord with world powers, called the announcement a positive step towards ensuring continuity of knowledge on Iran’s nuclear programme”.

Grossi was expected to hold a news conference at Vienna airport around 8:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) after returning later on Sunday, the IAEA said.

Action For Nature Honours 25 Environmental Activists

By
Angel Gimalo
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Sudbury student Sophia Mathur is one of 25 environmental activists from around the world honored by Action For Nature (AFN) as a 2021 International Young Eco-Hero.

The award recognizes eco-conscious youth aged eight to 16 who are taking crucial steps to solve tough environmental problems.

A panel of independent judges, including experts in environmental science, biology, and education, selects the winners of the International Young Eco-Hero Award.

Mathur won the Climate Change Activist award in the eight- to 14-year-old category.

“Inspired by her family, Sophia began lobbying politicians on environmental issues at age seven,” a release said.

“She has successfully lobbied the City of Greater Sudbury to declare a climate emergency, urged Canadian ministers to adopt carbon pricing, and lobbied her MP Paul Lefebvre for border carbon adjustments.”

Mathur is currently the lead youth plaintiff in an ecojustice lawsuit against the Ontario government for allegedly weakening the province’s 2030 climate target.

“Kids like Sophia have shown that the next generation of leaders is here, and they are refusing to wait to solve the world’s most pressing environmental challenges,” said Beryl Kay, president.

“The work of these young people will not only have real, positive impacts on their communities, they will also help solve global climate challenges and inspire others – no matter what age – to consider what they can do to help.”

Mathur said her goal is to create the political will to enact science-based policies to solve the climate crisis.

“I ask that politicians listen to the experts and cooperate to protect the future of this amazing planet,” she said.

AFN is an international non-profit organization that encourages young people to nurture a love and respect for the Earth and to take personal action to improve the environment

Since 2003, the organization has recognized more than 300 Eco-Heroes from over 30 countries and 25 US states.

Merkel Appeals To Belarus Over Border ‘Hybrid Attacks’

By
Zoe Maven
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed to Belarus to help migrants instead of trying to send them across the border into the European Union, branding these attempts “hybrid attacks”.

On a visit to Poland, Merkel addressed the influx of migrants mostly from the Middle East via Belarus into the eastern EU states of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

She said the migrants should be assisted by humanitarian organisations and “the Polish side must also be open to this”.

The EU suspects Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko is engineering the flow of migrants across the border in retaliation against increasingly stringent EU sanctions on his regime.

Thousands of migrants have either crossed over or attempted to cross in recent months — an unprecedented number for the region.

Poland has responded by sending 2,000 troops to the frontier, beginning construction of a razor wire border fence and imposing a state of emergency along the border with Belarus.

Critics of Poland’s right-wing populist government have accused it of using the issue of migration for electoral support and of failing to provide adequate assistance to the migrants.

Merkel said this would be her last visit to Warsaw as chancellor since she will step down following elections this month.

She will travel to Paris next week for a final working dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Two Women Campaign To Become France’s Next President

By
Zoe Maven
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Two French politicians kicked off their presidential campaigns Sunday, seeking to become France’s first female leader in next year’s spring election.

The far-right National Rally party’s Marine Le Pen and Paris’ Socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, both launched their presidential platforms in widely expected moves.

They join a burgeoning list of challengers to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. This includes battles among multiple potential candidates on the right, including another female politician Valerie Pecresse and among the Greens.

Hidalgo, aged 62, mayor of the French capital since 2014, is the favorite to win the Socialist Party nomination. She launched her candidacy in the northwestern city of Rouen.

On the other hand, Le Pen, the 53-year-old leader of France’s far-right party, started her campaign in the southern city of Frejus with a pledge to defend French “liberty.”

Although she launched her candidacy earlier this year, on Sunday she made 26-year-old Jordan Bardella the acting head of the party as her campaign goes into full gear.

Meanwhile President Macron, has not yet announced his reelection bid but is expected to do so as launching a candidacy in France is a necessary formality for each presidential election.

The vote is expected to boil down to a duel between Le Pen and Macron, as it was during France’s last presidential election in 2017.

Iran Trains Affiliated Militias On Drone Attacks, Israeli Defense Minister

By
Zoe Maven
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Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has accused Iran of providing drones (UAVs) to foreign militias in the Middle East.

Speaking at the annual International Institute for Counter-Terrorism Conference at Reichman University,  Gantz said the Kashan base is used to train terrorists from Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon

He said these terrorists are trained to employ UAVs produced by Iran. This base is a key point from which Iranian aerial terrorism is exported to the region.”

According to the ministry, this is a new disclosure, that Iran is using its Kashan airbase, about 100 miles from the city of Isfahan, to train Iran-affiliated militias.

His office provided what it said is a satellite image showing UAVs on the runways at Kashan.

An Iranian-produced drone recently attacked the tanker Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned petroleum product vessel managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime near the Gulf of Oman. Two crew members were killed, a Briton and a Romanian.

Gantz said one of the most significant tools that Iran has developed is its unmanned aerial vehicle system adding that the Iranians produce and export them to their proxies and that Iran had also attempted to transfer the know-how needed for UAV production to Gaza.

He said Proxies can be set up anywhere in the world,” he said adding that this was the time for all the world’s powers, including Russia and China, to join the campaign to maintain global stability.”

The minister also called for a joint international campaign against Iran saying efforts against Iran, as well as against Afghanistan and other countries, are not just interests for the Middle East or the West.

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