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Amid air strikes, Gaza’s internet hangs by a thread

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:35 GMT

In Gaza, 2.3 million people are increasingly struggling to reach the outside world.Israeli retaliatory airstrikes against Hamas damaged the telecommunications infrastructure in Gaza and the ensuing blockade has strangled the energy supply that powers what’s left of the networks. “In some areas, there is no phone connection at all,” Basel Alsourani, a Gaza City-based international advocacy officer for the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, told POLITICO between two outages. “We don’t communicate,” he said, adding that news was now traveling by word of mouth. As of Monday, the connectivity in the enclave had dramatically dropped to 58 percent — from an average of 97 percent until the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 — according to the internet-monitoring firm NetBlocks.Last week, an Israeli bombing campaign targeted network installations and took out two of the three main lines for mobile communications that connect Gaza to the outside, accordi...

Close agriculture gender gap to enhance global food security

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:35 GMT

Monica Sorribas, northern Europe business leader, Corteva AgriscienceWe know that our global food system is creaking under the pressure of climate change, economic turbulence and geopolitical instability. We also know that far too many people are going hungry, and that advancing sustainable agriculture is essential to protecting our environment and meeting the food needs of rising population.What if I told you there was a way to reduce malnourishment and increase agricultural production in the world’s poorest regions? Enhancing food security locally and globally, while empowering half the world’s population?All we need to do is give women in agriculture the same opportunities as men. It’s that simple.Well, there is. All we need to do is give women in agriculture the same opportunities as men. It’s that simple. According to the U.N., closing the gaping gender gap in agriculture could lead to an increase of up to 4 percent in agricultural production, reducing the number of malnourishe...

Car crashes into gym in Chelmsford

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:35 GMT

Police are investigating after a car crashed into a gym in Chelmsford overnight.Crews responding to a reported crash at Orange Theory Fitness found a black sedan that had crashed through the front of the business while it was closed.Friends of the driver told 7NEWS the vehicle rolled away when he tried to use a remote starter to start the vehicle.No additional information was immediately available.

Patriots-Raiders film review: Mac Jones’ offense proving beyond repair despite improvement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:35 GMT

Until 1:47 hung on the game clock Sunday, only two teams in the NFL had yet to score 20 points in a single game.Both were playing in Las Vegas.The Patriots had the ball, but it was the Raiders who were about to end their drought.You’ll remember Las Vegas dropped Mac Jones in the end zone for a game-sealing safety and won 21-17; a microcosm of this miserable Pats season.In sacking Jones, the Raiders beat left guard Antonio Mafi and center David Andrews with the same pass-rushing stunt that produced a sack in the first quarter. Simultaneously, Las Vegas defensive end Maxx Crosby tallied the 18th pressure Patriots right tackle Vederian Lowe has allowed this season when he met Raiders Bilal Nichols in the backfield to split credit for the safety.But before Jones went down, 3.2 seconds passed from the time of the snap and the moment he was first hit. In that time, Jones quickly cocked his arm before collapsing on himself. He could have flipped the ball to a scurrying Rhamondre Stev...

Clashes erupt again on the Lebanon-Israel border after an anti-tank missile is fired from Lebanon

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:35 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Clashes erupted again Tuesday on the border between Lebanon and Israel, where Israeli forces and armed groups in Lebanon have engaged in a series of low-level skirmishes since the outbreak of the latest war in Gaza.An anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon landed in the town of Metula in northern Israel Tuesday morning, injuring three people, according to the Ziv Medical Center in Safed. No group in Lebanon has immediately claimed responsibility. It was not clear if the injured were civilians or soldiers, but Israel has ordered civilians to evacuate the area near the border with Lebanon.Israel responded by striking several areas along the border in southern Lebanon with artillery fire and white phosphorus, the state-run National News Agency in Lebanon reported. The Israeli military said its tanks fired back into Lebanon after an anti-tank missile was launched across the border.Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli military said it killed four militants who had attempted to plant ...

Israeli bombings in Gaza kill dozens as efforts persist to get aid to millions in besieged enclave

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:35 GMT

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel on Tuesday bombed areas of southern Gaza where it had told Palestinians to flee to ahead of an expected invasion, killing dozens of people. Meanwhile, mediators struggled to break a deadlock over delivering aid to millions of increasingly desperate civilians in the territory, which has been besieged and under assault by Israel since a brutal attack by Hamas militants.Flaring violence along Israel’s border with Lebanon also led to concerns over a widening regional conflict that diplomats were working to prevent.In Gaza, people wounded in the airstrikes were rushed to the hospital after heavy attacks outside the southern Gaza cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, residents reported. Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official and former health minister, reported 27 people were killed in Rafah and 30 in Khan Younis.An Associated Press reporter saw around 50 bodies brought to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Family members came to claim the bodies, wrapped ...

How Quran burnings in Sweden have increased threats from Islamic militants

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:35 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The killing of two Swedish citizens in an attack ahead of a soccer match in Brussels has shocked the Scandinavian country, although the government has been warning for months that Swedes were at greater risk since a recent string of public desecrations of the Quran holy book by a handful of anti-Islam activists. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Tuesday noted that the government and the security service in August had raised the terror alert to the second-highest level following threats against Sweden by Islamic extremists. “Now we know with chilling clarity that there were grounds for those concerns,” he said. The desecrations, primarily by an Iraqi refugee living in Sweden, have sparked angry reactions in Muslim countries. In June, demonstrators in Iraq stormed the Swedish Embassy and the Iraqi government cut off diplomatic relations with Sweden. The desecrations have raised questions -– including in Sweden -– about why such acts are allowed.WHAT DO SWEDISH...

Russian parliament moves to rescind ratification of global nuclear test ban

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:35 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — The lower house of the Russian parliament on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a bill revoking the ratification of a global nuclear test ban.The State Duma voted unanimously to rescind the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty known as the CTBT, in the first of three required readings. The final vote is scheduled for later this week.The move follows a statement from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who warned earlier this month that Moscow could revoke its 2000 decision to ratify the bill to “mirror” the stand taken by the United States, which has signed but not ratified the nuclear test ban.The CTBT, adopted in 1996, bans all nuclear explosions anywhere in the world, although it has never fully entered into force. There are widespread concerns that Russia could move to resume nuclear tests to try to discourage the West from continuing to offer military support to Ukraine. Many Russian hawks have spoken in favor of resumption.Putin has not...

Czech government faces no-confidence vote in Parliament sought by populist ex-prime minister

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:35 GMT

PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech coalition government on Tuesday faced a parliamentary no-confidence vote over opposition claims that it is incompetent in handling the economy and in controlling immigration.The main opposition centrist ANO (YES) movement led by populist billionaire Andrej Babis accused the government of failing to deal with high inflation driven by energy prices and a new wave of migration, among other issues. Inflation has been on the decline this year, dropping from 17.5% in January to 6.9% in September.The government has rejected the allegations.The two opposition parties, including ANO and the anti-migrant Freedom and Direct Democracy party, are unlikely to oust the five-party coalition government led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala, which has a comfortable majority in the lower house of Parliament.Babis, the former prime minister, also accused the government of caring more about Ukraine than about Czech citizens. The country has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its f...

In the news today: War update from Israel, Canadian grocers keep mum on pricing plans

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:49:35 GMT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…Day 11 of the latest Israel-Palestinian WarPalestinians are describing intense bombardments early Tuesday near two towns in southern Gaza, where Israel had ordered civilians to seek refuge. A strike in Deir al Balah, south of Gaza City, reduced a house to rubble, killing nine members of the family living there, mostly women and children. Three members of another family that had evacuated from Gaza City were killed in a neighbouring home. Witnesses said there was no warning before the strike. The order to evacuate was given ahead of an anticipated Israeli offensive in the territory, with an aim at eliminating Hamas and its leadership. Meantime, Iran’s supreme leader Tuesday insisted that his country will not stop Hamas, and repeated a call for Israeli leaders to be tried for war crimes. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, “If the crimes continue, Muslims wi...