Hurricane Beryl downgraded to Cat. 4 storm 

yet remains vicious threat to Jamaica

By UPI Staff

Hurricane Beryl, a Category 4 storm, churns through the Atlantic Ocean. It is expected to pass near Jamaica on Wednesday and the Cayman Islands on Thursday on its way eventually toward parts of Mexico. Photo courtesy NOAA

July 2 (UPI) -- Even as Hurricane Beryl was downgraded to a Category 4 storm as it passed south of the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, it remained a powerful and life-threatening hurricane and remains heading toward Jamaica.

In its 2 p.m. update, the National Hurricane Center said Beryl was located about 175 miles southeast of Isla Beata, Dominican Republic, and 485 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. It has maximum sustained winds of 155 mph and is moving west-northwest at 22 mph.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and a hurricane watch was in place for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for the south coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Anse d'Hainault.

NHC forecasters said that, on its current track, the center of Beryl will move quickly across the central Caribbean Sea on Tuesday and is expected to pass near Jamaica on Wednesday and the Cayman Islands on Thursday.
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Forecasters said the center probably will approach the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico on Thursday night.

In the 2 p.m. update, reports from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicated that maximum sustained winds are near 155 mph with higher gusts.

Weakening is forecast for the storm for later today, officials said, but warned that Beryl is still expected to be near major hurricane intensity as it moves into the central Caribbean and passes near Jamaica on Wednesday and the Cayman Islands on Thursday.

The latest minimum central pressure estimated from the Hurricane Hunter aircraft data is 943 mb (27.85 inches).

On the forecast track, the center of Beryl will move quickly across the across open waters in the southeastern and central Caribbean Sea on Tuesday and is forecast to pass near Jamaica on Wednesday.

The United States is not expected to be affected by the storm.

Beryl made landfall on Grenada's Carriacou Island in the Caribbean Sea with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph around 11 a.m. It is the strongest known hurricane to pass through the Grenadines, according to data from NOAA since 1851.

There were "widespread reports of destruction and devastation in Carriacou and Petite Martinique," Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said in a Monday news briefing. "In half an hour, Carriacou was flattened."

No immediate reports of deaths or injuries were reported.

"You have to appreciate the ferocity and the strength of the hurricane and therefore we are not yet out of the woods," he said. "And we are not able to say for sure that no one has been injured or there has been no loss of life as a result of the hurricane."

About 95 percent of the island of Grenada has lost power due to Hurricane Beryl, Neila K. Ettienne, press secretary for the office of the prime minister, told CNN on Monday. Telecommunications across Grenada are down, and some individuals have lost internet service, Ettienne explained.

The government had difficulty posting updates on Facebook.

On Sunday, Beryl became the earliest Category 4 hurricane on record in the Atlantic and the only Category 4 storm ever recorded in June.

It then later became the earliest Category 5 storm in history before being downgraded to a Category 4 storm on Tuesday.

Only seven named storms have formed over the last 173 years in this sector of the Atlantic before July 4, according to Accuweather.

Alberto, the first tropical storm of the season, made landfall over Mexico on June 20 and then pummeled Texas the next day with rain.

Tropical Storm Chis, the third named storm of the season, made landfall in eastern Mexico late Sunday.

Hurricane Beryl heads toward Jamaica after ripping through the southeast Caribbean

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Residents clear a boat from the street that was flooded when hurricane Beryl passed through the parish of Saint James, Barbados. Photo: Chandan Khanna/AFP

By Dánica Coto and Amar Spencer-Sayers, Associated Press

Hurricane Beryl roared through open waters as a monstrous Category 5 storm heading toward Jamaica after earlier making landfall in the southeast Caribbean, killing at least four people.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and a hurricane watch for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Cayman Brac and for Haiti's entire southern coast. Beryl was forecast to start losing intensity on Tuesday but still be near major hurricane strength when it passes near or over Jamaica early Wednesday, near the Cayman Islands on Thursday and into Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, according to the National Hurricane Centre.

The centre said Beryl was expected to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge to Jamaica, where officials warned residents in flood-prone areas to prepare for evacuation.

"I am encouraging all Jamaicans to take the hurricane as a serious threat," Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a public address late Monday. "It is, however, not a time to panic."

Beryl is the earliest Category 5 storm ever to form in the Atlantic, fuelled by record warm waters.

Late Tuesday morning (local time), the storm was located about 235 miles (375 kilometres) southeast of Isla Beata in the Dominican Republic. It had top winds of 160 mph (260 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 22 mph (35 kph).

In Miami, National Hurricane Centre Director Michael Brennan said Jamaica appears to be in the direct path of Beryl.

"We are most concerned about Jamaica, where we are expecting the core of a major hurricane to pass near or over the island," he said in an online briefing. "You want to be in a safe place where you can ride out the storm by nightfall (Tuesday). Be prepared to stay in that location through Wednesday."

Storm surge of 5-8 feet above typical tide levels are likely in Jamaica, as well as heavy rainfall.

"This is a big hazard in the Caribbean, especially with the mountainous islands," Brennan said. "This could cause life threatening flash floods and mudslides in some of these areas."

A tropical storm warning was in place for the entire southern coast of Hispaniola, an island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Trail of devastation

A boat ended up in a tree after the passage of Hurricane Beryl in Oistins gardens, Christ Church, Barbados. Photo: Randy Brooks/AFP

As the storm barrelled through the Caribbean Sea, rescue crews in the southeast Caribbean fanned out across the region to determine the extent of the damage that Hurricane Beryl inflicted after landing on Carriacou, an island in Grenada, as a Category 4 storm.

Three people were reported killed in Grenada and Carriacou and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said.

One fatality in Grenada occurred after a tree fell on a house, Kerryne James, minister of climate resilience, environment and renewable energy, told The Associated Press.

She said the nearby islands of Carriacou and Petit Martinique sustained the greatest damage, with water, food and baby formula a priority.

An emergency team was expected to travel Tuesday morning to Carriacou, where Beryl flattened scores of homes and businesses.

"The situation is grim," Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell told a news conference Tuesday. "There is no power, and there is almost complete destruction of homes and buildings on the island. The roads are not passable, and in many instances they are cut off because of the large quantity of debris strewn all over the streets."

Mitchell added: "The possibility that there may be more fatalities remains a grim reality as movement is still highly restricted."

Meanwhile, Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, promised to rebuild the archipelago in a statement early Tuesday. He noted that 90 percent of homes on Union Island were destroyed, and that "similar levels of devastation" were expected on the islands of Myreau and Canouan.

The last strong hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.

Grenadian resident Roy O'Neale, 77, recalled how he lost his home to Ivan and built back stronger, with his current home sustaining minimal damage from Hurricane Beryl.

"I felt the wind whistling, and then for about two hours straight, it was really, really terrifying at times," he said by phone. "Branches of trees were flying all over the place."

Hundreds of people hunkered in shelters across the southeast Caribbean, including 50 adults and 20 children who huddled inside a school in Grenada.

"Maybe some of them thought they could have survived in their homes, but when they realized the severity of it … they came for cover," said Urban Mason, a retired teacher who served as the shelter's manager. "People tend to be complacent."

One of the homes that Beryl damaged belongs to the parents of UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell, who is from Carriacou. The storm also destroyed the home of his late grandmother.

In a statement, Stiell said that the climate crisis is going from bad to worse, and faster than expected.

"Whether in my homeland of Carriacou … hammered by Hurricane Beryl, or in the heatwaves and floods crippling communities in some of the world's largest economies, it's clear that the climate crisis is pushing disasters to record-breaking new levels of destruction," he said.

Grenada, known as the "spice isle," is one of the world's top exporters of nutmeg. Mitchell noted that the bulk of spices are grown in the northern part of the island, which was hit hardest by Beryl.

Historic hurricane

Beryl has broken several records, including marking the farthest east that a hurricane has formed in the tropical Atlantic in June, according to Philip Klotzbach, Colorado State University hurricane researcher.

The storm strengthened from a tropical depression to a major hurricane in just 42 hours, which only six other Atlantic hurricanes have done, and never before September, according to hurricane expert Sam Lillo.

Beryl is the second named storm in the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall in northeast Mexico and killed four people.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted the 2024 hurricane season would be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast called for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes, and three major hurricanes.

- AP

‘Ghost ship’ washes ashore after surviving hurricane

Jessica Kwong

Published Jul 2, 2024

The Lady Catherine III washed ashore Pensacola Beach on June 18

 (Picture: GoFundMe)

An abandoned vessel dubbed a ghost ship for its eerie appearance washed ashore weeks after surviving a hurricane.

Pensacola Beach residents were shocked to see a 45-foot sailboat with ripped sails become beached in Florida’s Panhandle on the evening of June 18.

‘We called it the “ghost ship.” It quickly became known as the “ghost ship” across Pensacola beach,’ meteorologist and storm chaser Allie Garrett told NBC News.

Francine Farrar of Meridian, Mississippi, said the vessel ‘looked ghostly, just kind of coming in’.

Locals nicknamed the sailboat a ‘ghost ship’ (Picture: WEAR)

‘We just thought this sailboat broke loose from the marina, that someone didn’t tie it down well enough,’ said Farrar.

Social media posts of the ‘ghost ship’ eventually reached Michael Barlow, 39, who identified it as The Lady Catherine III, which he bought in Fort Pierce in May for $80,000.

Barlow had set sail on The Catherine on May 21, heading to Rockport, Texas, to dock it and carry out plans to ‘explore the world’ with his wife and their nine-year-old son.

He and a friend were in the ocean when they encountered dangerous waves caused by what became Hurricane Alberto, the first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.

Michael Barlow is raising money to salvage his sailboat (Picture: Facebook)

‘We lost the autopilot the first day forcing us to hand steering for the next two days. We then lost our headsail from a wild wind shift followed shortly by the engine,’ wrote Barlow on a GoFundMe page for his sailboat recovery effort.

‘This effectively left us with zero control of the vessel, for fear of broaching, absolutely defeated, feeling like I had literally been smacked by the hand of God, and nearing hypothermia and fearful for our lives we radioed the Coast guard.’

The US Coast Guard in New Orleans on June 1 responded to a vessel that was ‘disabled’ about 190 miles south of Panama City, and spotted The Catherine with Barlow and his friend on board.

Learning that a boat-to-boat rescue was impossible due to the choppy waters, Barlow decided to abandon the ship.

Michael Barlow and a friend were rescued by the US Coast Guard

 (Picture: New Orleans Coast Guard)

‘Helicopter aircrew hoisted the two persons aboard and transported them to Panama City Airport in Panama City, Florida,’ stated the Coast Guard.

Barlow said he and his friend tried to leave The Catherine in a condition to survive the storm.

‘We lashed everything down and we hoped she could ride it out,’ he said.

Tropical Storm Alberto brought heavy rainfall and flood threats to parts of the Texas coast and moved inland to northeast Mexico and left at least four people dead.

US Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans responded to a disabled sailing vessel and rescued two people (Picture: US Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans)

When The Catherine turned up on the beach almost 20 days later, Barlow said, ‘I knew it was her.’

Barlow must pay $20,000 to move his boat to a dry dock and repairs could cost tens of thousands of dollars. He hopes to salvage her instead of paying $28,000 to have her hauled away and destroyed.

The GoFundMe page had raised Barlow’s $10,000 goal as of Tuesday afternoon.

 

Fake New York Times headline spreads online following presidential immunity ruling

• Published on July 2, 2024  
• By Natalie WADE, AFP USA

A US Supreme Court ruling found Donald Trump is entitled to substantial immunity from criminal prosecution for "official acts" in office, postponing the former US president's 2020 election interference case. But a screenshot shared on social media of a New York Times headline supposedly calling on President Joe Biden to "drone strike" his political rival in response is fabricated. 

"To Serve His Country, President Biden Should Drone Strike Donald Trump," text of a headline that appears to have been published by the New York Times editorial board says, in a purported screenshot shared on X July 1, 2024.

"In full compliance with the Supreme Court ruling," adds the user, implying Biden would be granted immunity if he were to do so as sitting president.

Image

Screenshot of an X post taken July 1, 2024

The claims spread elsewhere on Facebook and on X here, here and here. 

The Supreme Court ruled on the issue of presidential immunity on July 1, as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee faces criminal charges over his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden and inciting the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

The conservative-dominated high court determined that Trump -- and all presidents -- enjoy "absolute immunity" from criminal prosecution for "official acts" taken while in office, but can still face criminal penalties for "unofficial acts." A a lower court must now determine which of the charges facing Trump involve official or unofficial conduct.

The text of the purported headline alludes to the question that has been repeatedly raised during this historic case -- whether presidential immunity extends so far that a president could order the military to assassinate a political rival. 

In her 29-page dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned that a president is now immune from criminal prosecution if he ordered such an assassination or if he organizes a coup to hold on to political power (archived here). 

However, posts purporting the New York Times editorial board published an article calling on Biden to "drone strike" Trump are false and the screenshot is altered.

"I can confirm that this headline is fabricated and no such article was published by The New York Times," a spokesperson said in a July 1, 2024 email.

The altered image appears to derive from a June 28 editorial (archived here) published after the first Biden-Trump debate of the 2024 election titled: "To Serve His Country, President Biden Should Leave the Race."

ImageScreenshot of a New York Times article taken July 2, 2024

On July 1, Biden warned that the US Supreme Court's landmark ruling sets a "dangerous precedent."

"For all practical purposes, today's decision almost certainly means there are no limits to what a president can do. This is a fundamentally new principle, and it's a dangerous precedent," he said in a speech at the White House (archived here).

The 6-3 decision comes four months ahead of the presidential election. Facing four criminal cases, Trump has been seeking to delay the trials until after the election. If he defeats Biden, Trump could order the federal cases against him closed once sworn in as president.

People hold anti-Trump signs in front of the US Supreme Court on July 1, 2024, in Washington, DC ( AFP / Drew ANGERER)

AI is learning from what you said on Reddit, Facebook and Instagram. Are you OK with that?

Not everyone is OK with that - especially as the same online forums where they've spent years contributing are increasingly flooded with AI-generated commentary mimicking what real humans might say.

Some longtime users have tried to delete their past contributions or rewrite them into gibberish, but the protests haven't had much effect. A handful of governments - including Brazil's privacy regulator on Tuesday - have also tried to step in.

"A more significant portion of the population just kind of feels helpless,” said Reddit volunteer moderator Sarah Gilbert, who also studies online communities at Cornell University. "There’s nowhere to go except just completely going offline or not contributing in ways that bring value to them and value to others.”

Platforms are responding - with mixed results. Take Stack Overflow, the popular hub for computer programming tips. First, it banned ChatGPT-written responses due to frequent errors, but now it's partnering with AI chatbot developers and has punished some of its own users who tried to erase their past contributions in protest.

It’s one of a number of social media platforms grappling with user wariness - and occasional revolts - as they try to adapt to the changes brought by generative AI.

Software developer Andy Rotering of Bloomington, Minnesota, has used Stack Overflow daily for 15 years and said he worries the company "could be inadvertently hurting its greatest resource” - the community of contributors who’ve donated time to help other programmers.

"Keeping contributors incentivized to provide commentary should be paramount,” he said.

Stack Overflow CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar said the company is trying to balance rising demand for instant chatbot-generated coding assistance with the desire for a community "knowledge base” where people still want to post and "get recognized” for what they've contributed.

"Fast forward five years - there’s going to be all sorts of machine-generated content on the web," he said in an interview. "There’s going to be very few places where there’s truly authentic, original human thought. And we’re one of those places."

Chandrasekar readily describes Stack Overflow's challenges as like one of the "case studies” he learned about at Harvard Business School, of a how a business survives - or doesn't - after a disruptive technological change.

For more than a decade, users typically landed on Stack Overflow after typing a coding question in Google, and then found the answer, copied and pasted it. The answers they were most likely to see came from volunteers who'd built up points measuring their credibility - which in some cases could help land them a job.

Now programmers can simply ask an AI chatbot - some of which are already trained on everything ever posted to Stack Overflow - and it can instantly spit out an answer.

ChatGPT's debut in late 2022 threatened to put Stack Overflow out of business. So Chandrasekar carved out a special 40-person team at the company to race out the launch of its own specialized AI chatbot, called Overflow AI. Then, the company made deals with Google and ChatGPT maker OpenAI, enabling the AI developers to tap into Stack Overflow's question-and-answer archive to further improve their AI large language models.

That kind of strategy makes sense but may have come too late, said Maria Roche, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School. "I’m surprised that Stack Overflow wasn’t working on this earlier," she said.

When some Stack Overflow users tried to delete their past comments after the Open AI partnership was announced, the company responded by suspending their accounts due to terms that make all contributions "perpetually and irrevocably licensed to Stack Overflow."

"We quickly addressed it and said, ‘Look, that’s not acceptable behavior’,” said Chandrasekar, describing the protesters as a small minority in the "low hundreds” of the platform's 100 million users.

Brazil’s national data protection authority on Tuesday took action to ban social media giant Meta Platforms from training its AI models on the Facebook and Instagram posts of Brazilians. It established a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($8,820) for non-compliance.

Meta in a statement called it a "step backwards for innovation” and said it has been more transparent than many industry counterparts doing similar AI training on public content, and that its practices comply with Brazilian laws.

Meta has also encountered resistance in Europe, where it recently put on hold its plans to start feeding people’s public posts into training AI systems - which was supposed to start last week. In the U.S., where there's no national law protecting online privacy, such training is already likely happening.

"The vast majority of people just have no idea that their data is being used,” Gilbert said.

Reddit has taken a different approach - partnering with AI developers like OpenAI and Google while also making clear that content can't be taken in bulk without the platform’s approval by commercial entities "with no regard for user rights or privacy.” The deals helped bring Reddit the money it needed to debut on Wall Street in March, with investors pushing the value of the company close to $9 billion seconds after it began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Reddit hasn't tried to punish users who protested - nor could it easily do so given how much say voluntary moderators have on what happens in their specialty forums known as subreddits. But what worries Gilbert, who helps moderate the "AskHistorians” subreddit, is the increasing flow of AI-generated commentary that moderators must decide whether to allow or ban.

"People come to Reddit because they want to talk to people, they don’t want to talk to bots,” Gilbert said. "There’s apps where they can talk to bots if they want to. But historically Reddit has been for connecting with humans.”

She said it's ironic that the AI-generated content threatening Reddit was sourced on the comments of millions of human Redditors, and "there’s a real risk that eventually it could end up pushing people out.”

Associated Press

US regulator blocks Tempur Sealy's proposed $4B acquisition of Mattress Firm

FTC alleges that Tempur Sealy, world’s largest mattress manufacturer, would have ability to suppress competition, raise prices

Ovunc Kutlu |02.07.2024 - TRT/AA


The US' Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Tuesday it voted unanimously, 5-0, to block Tempur Sealy International, Inc.'s proposed $4 billion acquisition of Mattress Firm Group Inc.

The FTC said it issued an administrative complaint and authorized a lawsuit in federal court to block the acquisition.

The regulator alleged that Tempur Sealy, the world’s largest mattress supplier and manufacturer, will have the ability and incentive to suppress competition and raise prices for mattresses for millions of consumers once it acquires Mattress Firm.

The merger, in addition, would give the combined company "enormous power" at multiple parts of the mattress supply chain, the FTC said in a statement.

"Through emails, presentations, and other deal documents, Tempur Sealy has made it abundantly clear that its acquisition of Mattress Firm is intended to kneecap competitors and dominate the market," said Henry Liu, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. "This deal isn’t about creating efficiencies; it’s about crippling the competition, which would raise prices on an essential good and could lead to layoffs for good paying American manufacturing jobs in nearly a dozen states."


Tempur Sealy's stock price was up 2.46% at 2.51 p.m. EDT on the New York Stock Exchange.

WWIII

Taiwan Says Chinese Coast Guard Detained Its Fishing Vessel, Demands Its Release From Beijing

According to Taiwan's Central News Agency, the six crew members were aboard the vessel, including the captain and five migrant workers.


Outlook Web Desk
Updated on: 2 July 2024

China regularly sends warplanes and ships to Taiwan. | Photo: Representative/File Image

Taiwan on Tuesday said that the Chinese coast guard and boarded and detained a Taiwanese fishing boat, demanding that Beijing release the vessel.

The vessel -- Dajinman 88 -- was intercepted by two Chinese vessels on Tuesday evening, following which the coast guard boarded and steered it towards a port in mainland China.

In a statement, the Taiwanese maritime authorities said that they had dispatched two vessels to rescue Dajinman 88, but they were blocked by China's boats and told to not interfere.

"The Coast Guard calls on the mainland to refrain from engaging in political manipulation and harming cross-strait relations, and to release the Dajinman ship and crew as soon as possible,” ABC news reported citing the statement.

According to Taiwan's Central News Agency, the six crew members were aboard the vessel, including the captain and five migrant workers. Reportedly, the vessel was merely over 20 kilometres away from mainland China's Jinjiang, when it was detained by the Chinese coast guard.

China, for the longest of time, has been viewing Taiwan as a rebel province, which must again become a part of the mainland, even if it is by force.

The Chinese military regularly sends warplanes and ships towards the self-governing island and it even conducted a massive drills in May.

Notably, with a population of 23 million, Taiwan has been under threat of Chinese invasion since the sides divided during a bitter and bloody civil war in 1949.

Chinese Military, had in May, warned Taiwan that its independence would mean "war", saying that it was ready to take firm actions to thwart any foreign interference in support of "separatist activities" in the self-ruled island.

Lai Ching-te, sworn in as Taiwan's President in May, told sailors and top officials that, "Facing external challenges and threats, we will continue to maintain the values of freedom and democracy."

He had also said that Taiwan was "a sovereign independent nation in which sovereignty lies in the hands of the people”.

(With AP inputs)

Hezbollah's Deputy Leader Says Group Would Stop Fighting With Israel After Gaza Cease-fire

Hezbollah's participation in the Israel-Hamas war has been as a “support front” for its ally, Hamas, Kassem said, and “if the war stops, this military support will no longer exist.”

Outlook Web Desk
Updated on: 2 July 2024 

Hezbollah's deputy leader Sheik Naim Kassem | Photo: AP

The deputy leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said Tuesday the only sure path to a cease-fire on the Lebanon-Israel border is a full cease-fire in Gaza.

“If there is a cease-fire in Gaza, we will stop without any discussion,” Hezbollah's deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, said in an interview with The Associated Press at the group's political office in Beirut's southern suburbs.

US, Europe Warn Lebanon's Hezbollah To Ease Strikes On Israel And Back Off From Wider Mideast War

BY Associated Press

Hezbollah's participation in the Israel-Hamas war has been as a “support front” for its ally, Hamas, Kassem said, and “if the war stops, this military support will no longer exist.”

But, he said, if Israel scales back its military operations without a formal cease-fire agreement and full withdrawal from Gaza, the implications for the Lebanon-Israel border conflict are less clear.

US, Europe Warn Hezbollah To Ease Strikes On Israel Amid Risk Of Mid-East War Being A 'Catastrophe' For Lebanon

“If what happens in Gaza is a mix between cease-fire and no cease-fire, war and no war, we can't answer (how we would react) now, because we don't know its shape, its results, its impacts,” Kassem said during a 40-minute interview.
The war began on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 — mostly civilians — and kidnapping roughly 250. Israel responded with an air and ground assault that has caused widespread devastation and killed more than 37,900 people in Gaza, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

Amid Israel And Hezbollah's Conflict In Lebanon, A Warning For Cyprus

Talks of a cease-fire in Gaza have faltered in recent weeks, raising fears of an escalation on the Lebanon-Israel front. Hezbollah has traded near-daily strikes with Israeli forces along their border over the past nine months.

The low-level conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border.

Hamas has demanded an end to the war in Gaza, and not just a pause in fighting, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to make such a commitment until Israel realizes its goals of destroying Hamas' military and governing capabilities and brings home the roughly 120 hostages still held by Hamas.

Last month, the Israeli army said it had “approved and validated” plans for an offensive in Lebanon if no diplomatic solution was reached to the ongoing clashes. Any decision to launch such an operation would have to come from the country's political leadership.

Some Israeli officials have said they are seeking a diplomatic solution to the standoff and hope to avoid war. At the same time, they have warned that the scenes of destruction seen in Gaza will be repeated in Lebanon if war breaks out.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, is far more powerful than Hamas and believed to have a vast arsenal of rockets and missiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel.

Kassem said he doesn't believe that Israel currently has the ability — or has made a decision — to launch a full-blown war with Hezbollah. He warned that even if Israel intends to launch a limited operation in Lebanon that stops short of a full-scale war, it should not expect the fighting to remain limited.

“Israel can decide what it wants: limited war, total war, partial war,” he said. “But it should expect that our response and our resistance will not be within a ceiling and rules of engagement set by Israel… If Israel wages the war, it means it doesn't control its extent or who enters into it.”

The latter was an apparent reference to Hezbollah's allies in the Iran-backed so-called “axis of resistance” in the region. Armed groups in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere — and, potentially, Iran itself — could enter the fray in the event of a full-scale war in Lebanon, which might also pull in Israel's strongest ally, the United States.

U,S. and European diplomats have made a circuit between Lebanon and Israel for months in an attempt to ward off a wider conflict.

Kassem said he met on Saturday with Germany's deputy chief of intelligence, Ole Dieh, in Beirut. U.S. officials do not meet directly with Hezbollah because Washington has designated it a terrorist group, but they regularly send messages via intermediaries.

Kassem said White House envoy Amos Hochstein had recently requested via intermediaries that Hezbollah apply pressure on Hamas to accept a cease-fire and hostage-exchange proposal put forward by U.S. President Joe Biden. He said Hezbollah had rejected the request.

“Hamas is the one that makes its decisions and whoever wants to ask for something should talk to it directly,” he said.

Kassem criticized U.S. efforts to find a resolution to the war in Gaza, saying it has backed Israel's plans to end Hamas' presence in Gaza. A constructive deal, he said, would aim to end the war, get Israel to withdraw from Gaza, and ensure the release of hostages.

Once a cease-fire is reached, then a political track can determine the arrangements inside Gaza and on the front with Lebanon, he added.

Hot, dry weather poses threat for wildfires amid Israel-Hezbollah tensions

As Iran-backed Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel spark fires, locals worry about safety and environmental destruction.

July 2, 2024

No state in region can feel safe until Israeli aggression stops — Erdogan

Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging border fire since the eruption of the Gaza war in October, but recent escalation has fueled concern of a bigger confrontation.


Erdogan said Türkiye "will resolve the issue of refugees not based on prejudices or fears, but with rational, conscientious framework based on realities of the country and economy." /Photo: AA

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has expressed concern about Israel's increasing rhetoric and attacks on Lebanon, particularly regarding the future of the region.

"No state in our region, including Türkiye, can feel safe as long as Israeli aggression under [Israel's Prime Minister] Netanyahu's administration is not stopped," Erdogan said on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting in Ankara.

Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging border fire since the eruption of the Gaza war in October, but recent escalation has fueled concern of a bigger confrontation.

Their worst confrontation in 18 years

The Lebanese group has linked the cessation of its attacks on Israel to the end of Tel Aviv’s onslaught on Gaza, which has killed nearly 38,000 Palestinians and created a humanitarian catastrophe.

While the current fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is still relatively contained, it marks their worst confrontation in 18 years, with widespread damage to buildings and farmland in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

The sides have been trading fire since the Gaza war erupted in October. The hostilities have largely depopulated the border zone on both sides, with tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes.

STALINIST LESE MAJESTE

Cambodia jails activists for plotting against government | REUTERS

A Cambodian court handed jail terms of up to eight years to 10 activists of environmental group Mother Nature, on charges of plotting against the government and insulting the king, the group's founder and a lawyer said

 

Kayaking Canadian scientist monitors river health 

REUTERS

Jul 2, 2024

Canadian scientist Jessica Droujko has developed a sensor that can measure water flow, temperature, and so-called turbidity. She seeks to help people see rivers in a new way to make better environmental decisions.

DISORGANIZED RELIGION

Stampede at religious event in India leaves at least 105 people dead, many women and children

By —Biswajeet Banerjee, Associated Press

 Jul 2, 2024

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — A stampede among thousands of people at a religious gathering in northern India has killed at least 105 and left scores injured, officials said Tuesday, with many women and children among the dead.

Attendees had rushed to leave the makeshift tent following an event with Hindu figure Bhole Baba, local media reported. They cited authorities who said heat and suffocation inside could have been a factor. Video of the aftermath showed the structure appeared to have collapsed. Women wailed over the dead.

Senior police officer Shalabh Mathur in Uttar Pradesh state confirmed that 105 people had died while 84 others were injured and admitted to hospitals.

Deadly stampedes are relatively common around Indian religious festivals, where large crowds gather in small areas with shoddy infrastructure and few safety measures.

Police officer Rajesh Singh said there was likely overcrowding in the event in a village in Hathras district about 350 kilometers (220 miles) southwest of the state capital, Lucknow.

Initial reports suggested that over 15,000 people had gathered for the event, which had permission to host about 5,000.

“People started falling one upon another, one upon another. Those who were crushed died. People there pulled them out,” witness Shakuntala Devi told the Press Trust of India news agency.

Bodies were brought to hospitals and morgues by trucks and private vehicles, government official Matadin Saroj said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences to the families of the dead and said the federal government was working with state authorities to ensure the injured received help.

Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, called the stampede “extremely sad and heart-wrenching” in a post on social media platform X. He said authorities were investigating the cause.

In 2013, pilgrims visiting a temple for a popular Hindu festival in central Madhya Pradesh state trampled each other amid fears that a bridge would collapse. At least 115 were crushed to death or died in the river.

In 2011, more than 100 Hindu devotees died in a crush at a religious festival in the southern state of Kerala.

3M children face 'highest registered level of overlapping, interconnected crises' in Central African Republic: UNICEF

1 in 2 children does not have access to health services, while around just one-third of children attend school regularly, says UN Children's Fund

Beyza Binnur Donmez |02.07.2024



GENEVA

UNICEF on Tuesday said that 3 million children face the "highest registered level of overlapping and interconnected crises' in the Central African Republic (CAR).

"The Central African Republic now holds the tragic distinction of being ranked first among 191 countries as the most at-risk for humanitarian crises and disaster. This dire status underscores the severe and urgent challenges faced by its youngest citizens," UNICEF representative in the CAR, Meritxell Relano Arana, told a UN press briefing in Geneva.

Stressing that 10 years of protracted conflict and instability left "every single one" of 3 million children at risk in the country, Arana said one in two children do not have access to health services and around just one-third, 37%, of children attend school regularly.

Nearly two in three, 61%, young women were married before the age of 18, she continued, while almost 40% of the children in the country suffer from chronic malnutrition.

"The fact that the crisis in CAR has been stretched out over so many years -- and that, sadly, so many other global crises continue to unfold in parallel -- means that the children of CAR have become painfully invisible," Arana said, and added: "But their pain and loss are profoundly evident."

She noted that the government’s new National Development Plan, alongside other major commitments to improve children’s rights, means UNICEF and its partners have a viable mechanism to push for a change of course.

"Amid this rare moment of opportunity, the greatest risk is that the champions these children rely on -- international donors, global media, and an informed public -- may turn their backs and look away in the face of simultaneous global crises," she said.

She warned that such distraction would mean "many children will unnecessarily die; many more will see their futures destroyed."

The representative urged the international community not to forget the children of CAR.

 

Anti-Israel 

PRO PALESTINE protesters force premature end to Toronto Pride Parade

Demonstrators hold up march for 45 minutes until organizers cancel event, citing public safety; police say they could have dealt with protest, but organizers said not to interfere

By TOI STAFF2 July 2024,

Anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters block the route of Toronto's Pride Parade, June 30, 2024. (X screenshot: used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protesters blocked the route of the Toronto Pride Parade, billed as Canada’s largest, forcing organizers to cancel the annual event on Sunday.

According to The Toronto Star daily, around 30 protesters from the Coalition Against Pinkwashing group started blocking marchers three-and-a-half hours after the pride event began, holding banners reading “Pride partners with genocide,” and waving Palestinian flags.

Pinkwashing is a term used by those who claim Israel highlights its liberal, tolerant attitude toward LGBTQ individuals to direct attention away from its alleged mistreatment of Palestinians. Supporters of Israel note that any LGBTQ expression is criminalized in Gaza and the West Bank.

Demonstrators chanted, “Resistance is justified when people are occupied,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The latter slogan is understood by many to be calling for the elimination of the State of Israel.

A pamphlet handed out by the group listed six demands, including that parade organizers divest from corporations that are allegedly “actively involved in violently exploiting native people.”

Pride Toronto, the parade organizer, canceled the event 45 minutes after being blocked, citing its “commitment to ensure public safety.” Police said they had “adequate resources to address the protest,” but adhered to the request by the organizers not to get involved, police spokesperson Laurie McCann told The Star.

“While we deeply respect and uphold everyone’s right to peacefully protest, our foremost priority is the well-being of all participants and spectators,” Pride Toronto’s statement read.

Faisal Samir, one of the activists, told The Star that organizers said they would “think about” their demands.

It is not the first time that pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activists have disrupted a pride event in North America this year.

Earlier this week, a dozen demonstrators temporarily halted the New York City Pride March by blocking traffic for 30 minutes, before police dispersed them. The NYPD later said 10 were arrested.

Pro-Palestinian activists also disrupted pride parades earlier in June in Boston, Denver and Philadelphia.