World News Non-US

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/8407285

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13977185

Three soldiers pounce on a shepherd sitting outside his sheep pen. They knock him over and then one of them shoots him to death at point-blank range. Fakher Jaber, a father of four, was suspected of involvement in an incident that probably never happened

On the last day of his life, two and a half weeks ago, the shepherd and his wife got up at 5:30 A.M., as usual, and immediately went out together to milk the ewes. With their flock of 120 sheep, their work is never done. Maryam recalls now that they didn't manage to eat breakfast before the daily Ramadan fast began. After about two hours they finished milking. Fakher took the sheep out to graze and she began to make cheese from the milk, which they sell in Nablus to help make their living.

After he returned the sheep to their pen, Fakher sat down near it, removed the Quran from his pocket and began to read from it. Maryam finished making dinner. She remembers that everything was normal and relatively peaceful that afternoon, in this beleaguered community, living under the constant threat of invasions by settlers. Suddenly Maryam heard shouting. She rushed outside and saw three Israelis in uniform yelling at and wrestling with her husband. One of the men was masked, which led her to believe that they were settlers – of the type that frequently assault the shepherding communities, graze their livestock on the residents' lands and water their flocks from their wells.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/18836002

Two basic mistakes, according to the Israeli military. First, an officer overlooked a message detailing the vehicles in the convoy. Second, a spotter saw something in one car – possibly a bag – that he thought was a weapon. Officials say the result was the series of Israeli drone strikes that killed seven aid workers on a dark Gaza road.

The Israeli military has described the deadly strike on the World Central Kitchen convoy as a tragic error. Its explanation raises the question: If that’s the case, how often has Israel made such mistakes in its 6-month-old offensive in Gaza?

Rights groups and aid workers say Monday night’s mistake was hardly an anomaly. They say the wider problem is not violations of the military’s rules of engagement but the rules themselves.

In Israel’s drive to destroy Hamas after its Oct. 7 attacks, the rights groups and aid workers say, the military seems to have given itself wide leeway to determine what is a target and how many civilian deaths it allows as “collateral damage.”

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/8407285

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13969609

The World Central Kitchen organisation announced on Friday that: “The IDF cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza.”

The organisation reiterated in a statement its demand for: “The creation of an independent commission to investigate the killings of our WCK colleagues” in central Gaza on Monday.

According to the statement: “The IDF’s own video fails to show any cause to fire on our personnel convoy, which carried no weapons and posed no threat.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/8873983

Israeli and foreign human rights groups have documented a long history of snipers firing on unarmed Palestinians, including children, in Gaza and the West Bank.

Palestinians in Gaza also report a terrifying new development in the latest Gaza war – armed drones able to hover over streets and pick off individuals. Called quadcopters, some of these drones are used as remote-control snipers that Palestinians say have been used to shoot civilians.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13800134

JK Rowling has challenged Scotland's new hate crime law in a series of social media posts - inviting police to arrest her if they believe she has committed an offence.

The Harry Potter author, who lives in Edinburgh, described several transgender women as men, including convicted prisoners, trans activists and other public figures.

She said "freedom of speech and belief" was at an end if accurate description of biological sex was outlawed.

Earlier, Scotland's first minister Humza Yousaf said the new law would deal with a "rising tide of hatred".

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 creates a new crime of "stirring up hatred" relating to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or being intersex.

…

Ms Rowling, who has long been a critic of some trans activism, posted on X on the day the new legislation came into force.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13788070

A 63-hour-long marathon of GPS jamming attacks disrupted global satellite navigation systems for hundreds of aircraft flying through the Baltic region – and Russia is thought to be responsible

Russia is suspected of launching a record-breaking 63-hour-long attack on GPS signals in the Baltic region. The incident, which affected hundreds of passenger jets earlier this month, occurred amid rising tensions between Russia and the NATO military alliance more than two years since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“We have seen an increase in GPS jamming since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, and allies have publicly warned that Russia has been behind GPS jamming affecting aviation and shipping,” a NATO official told New Scientist. “Russia has a track record of jamming GPS signals and has a range of capabilities for electronic warfare.”

https://archive.is/KOqaT

https://archive.is/kqOXk

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13750213

Drug-resistant gonorrhea is a growing problem—one that doesn't heed borders.

Health officials have long warned that gonorrhea is becoming more and more resistant to all the antibiotic drugs we have to fight it. Last year, the US reached a grim landmark: For the first time, two unrelated people in Massachusetts were found to have gonorrhea infections with complete or reduced susceptibility to every drug in our arsenal, including the frontline drug ceftriaxone. Luckily, they were still able to be cured with high-dose injections of ceftriaxone. But, as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bluntly notes: "Little now stands between us and untreatable gonorrhea."

If public health alarm bells could somehow hit a higher pitch, a study published Thursday from researchers in China would certainly accomplish it. The study surveyed gonorrhea bacterial isolates—Neisseria gonorrhoeae—from around the country and found that the prevalence of ceftriaxone-resistant isolates nearly tripled between 2017 and 2021. Ceftriaxone-resistant strains made up roughly 8 percent of the nearly 3,000 bacterial isolates collected from gonorrhea infections in 2022. That's up from just under 3 percent in 2017. The study appears in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

While those single-digit percentages may seem low, compared to other countries they're extremely high. In the US, for instance, the prevalence of ceftriaxone-resistant strains never went above 0.2 percent between 2017 and 2021, according to the CDC. In Canada, ceftriaxone-resistance was stable at 0.6 percent between 2017 and 2021. The United Kingdom had a prevalence of 0.21 percent in 2022.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13746212

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13730877

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13703922

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13703922

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13682490

The Horizontal Falls are one of Australia’s strangest natural attractions, a unique blend of coastal geography and powerful tidal forces that visitors pay big money to see up close.

But all that is about to change.

Located at Talbot Bay, a remote spot on the country’s northwestern coastline, the falls are created when surges of seawater pour between two narrow cliff gaps, creating a swell of up to four meters that resembles a waterfall.

For decades, tours have pierced these gaps on powerful boats, much to the dismay of the area’s Indigenous Traditional Owners, who say the site is sacred.

It’s not the only reason the boat tours are controversial. In May 2022 one boat hit the rocks resulting in passenger injuries and triggering a major rescue operation. The incident led to calls to halt the tours for safety reasons.

Although the boat trips have continued, the concerns of the Indigenous Traditional Owners have now been heeded, with Western Australia, the state in which the falls are situated, saying they will be banned in 2028 out of respect.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/18399652

A strain of highly antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea first emerged in China in 2016, and cases of this tough-to-treat infection have tripled there in just five years, Chinese researchers report.

It's a warning to the rest of the world, they said.

Strains resistant to the first-line treatment ceftriaxone (and many other antibiotics) "have spread internationally and collaborative cross-border efforts will be essential to monitoring and mitigating its further spread," wrote a team led by Dr. Shao-Chun Chen, of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Nanjing.

A single intramuscular injection of ceftriaxone is the recommended first treatment for gonorrhea in both China and the United States.

But that could change. According to the latest data, by 2022 the prevalence in China of infections with Neisseria gonorrhea resistant to ceftriaxone "was 8.1% [of cases], approximately three times the 2017 rate of 2.9%," the new study found.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/18399652

A strain of highly antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea first emerged in China in 2016, and cases of this tough-to-treat infection have tripled there in just five years, Chinese researchers report.

It's a warning to the rest of the world, they said.

Strains resistant to the first-line treatment ceftriaxone (and many other antibiotics) "have spread internationally and collaborative cross-border efforts will be essential to monitoring and mitigating its further spread," wrote a team led by Dr. Shao-Chun Chen, of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Nanjing.

A single intramuscular injection of ceftriaxone is the recommended first treatment for gonorrhea in both China and the United States.

But that could change. According to the latest data, by 2022 the prevalence in China of infections with Neisseria gonorrhea resistant to ceftriaxone "was 8.1% [of cases], approximately three times the 2017 rate of 2.9%," the new study found.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13662665

Abby and Brittany Hensel, who documented their lives in the TLC reality series “Abby & Brittany,” have a new member of the family.

Conjoined twins Abby and Brittany Hensel first gained national attention when they appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 1996.

Now the sisters have reached a major life milestone: Abby is married.

The Hensels later starred in the feel-good TLC reality series “Abby and Brittany,” which showed them driving, traveling to Europe and even riding a moped. When the show ended after one season, Abby and Brittany had just graduated from college with degrees in education.

A lot has happened in the last decade. Abby, 34, is now married. According to public records, Abby, a teacher, and Josh Bowling, a nurse and United States Army veteran, tied the knot in 2021. The sisters also shared photos of the wedding on social media. The couple live in Minnesota, where the Hensels were born and raised.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/18364652

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13670369

A council has apologised after parents were offered a choice of class photos with or without children with complex needs in them.

Parents at Aboyne Primary complained after being sent a link from a photography company offering them alternative pictures.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13686096

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has delivered a blunt warning that Europe has entered a "pre-war era" and if Ukraine is defeated by Russia, nobody in Europe will be able to feel safe.

"I don't want to scare anyone, but war is no longer a concept from the past," he told European media. "It's real and it started over two years ago."

His remarks came as a fresh barrage of Russian missiles targeted Ukraine.

Russia has intensified its bombardment of Ukraine in recent weeks.

Overnight into Friday Ukraine's air force said it had shot down 58 drones and 26 missiles and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said energy infrastructure had been damaged in six regions, in the west, centre and east of the country.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13699885

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/13685287

A Filipino villager has been nailed to a wooden cross for the 35th time to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a brutal Good Friday tradition he said he would devote to pray for peace in Ukraine, Gaza and the disputed South China Sea.

On Friday, over a hundred people watched on as 10 devotees were nailed to wooden crosses, among them Ruben Enaje, a 63-year-old carpenter and sign painter. The real-life crucifixions have become an annual religious spectacle that draws tourists in three rural communities in Pampanga province, north of Manila.

The gory ritual resumed last year after a three-year pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. It has turned Enaje into a village celebrity for his role as the “Christ” in the Lenten reenactment of the Way of the Cross.

Ahead of the crucifixions, Enaje told The Associated Press by telephone Thursday night that he has considered ending his annual religious penitence due to his age, but said he could not turn down requests from villagers for him to pray for sick relatives and all other kinds of maladies.

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/world@lemmy.world/t/926658

A pro-Palestine Jewish activist group has had its bank account frozen in Germany for the second time in seven years, after the bank requested a full list of its members’ details in what experts believe is a breach of German law. The group suspects the move was triggered by its involvement in a forthcoming pro-Palestine conference that has attracted intense scorn from the German mainstream.