International
About thirty deaths in Gaza in the last hours, 40,435 since the war began
At least thirty people lost their lives in the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip of the last 24 hours, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas, and there are 40,435 deaths since the start of the war on October 7.
In addition, 66 people were injured on the last day, bringing the total number of injuries since the beginning of the war to 93,534.
According to the spokesman for the Gaza Civil Defense, Mahmud Basal, at least seven people died on Monday in an attack on a port on the coast of Gaza City (north), where a group of citizens were fishing.
Another person was killed in an Israeli bombing of an apartment in the Gaza capital, and two other bodies were recovered in Deir al Balah (center) after a bombing of a residential neighborhood in the southeast of the city.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Army claimed on Monday that it had bombed a rocket launcher from Hamas in Jan Yunis (south) that they say had been used in an attack against central Israel, in addition to attacking several alleged militiamen throughout the enclave.
“After the attack on the shuttle, secondary explosions were identified, indicating the presence of additional rockets,” a military statement said today.
In addition, according to the text, dozens of militiamen were eliminated on the last day in Jan Yunis and Deir el Balah, where Israel has been forcing the civilian population to move since last week, with new evacuation orders, despite the danger they face due to the fighting.
The municipality of Deir el Balah confirmed the displacement of 250,000 Palestinians, while 25 shelters have been de-used, according to a statement.
The Islamist group Hamas, which governs in the Gaza Strip, today referred to the attacks and forced displacements in the town of the center of the enclave and said in a statement that they represent some of “the most unpleasant images of a genocide seen in the modern era.”
This Sunday, the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced that hundreds of patients have been forced to flee from the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, adjacent to the area considered “humanitarian” by the Israeli Army and where troops have been fighting for two weeks.
“Israeli forces have issued an evacuation order in the vicinity of the Al Aqsa hospital, to which MSF provides support, in Deir al Balah, urging people to flee. An explosion about 250 meters away has unleashed panic and many have left the hospital,” the Paris-based organization said in a statement.
Of the 650 patients that the hospital had, only a hundred remain in it, of which seven are in intensive care units, the organization said, citing figures from the Gazaz Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile, the Israeli delegation headed by the heads of the Mosad and Shin Bet left Cairo on Sunday after a day of indirect negotiations that has not brought results or progress to reach a truce in the Gaza Strip, sources close to the talks told EFE.
Egypt, for its part, will only accept as a solution to achieve a truce in the Gaza Strip the complete exit of Israel from the border area – the so-called Philadelphia Corridor – although it would accept that it be done in two phases based on the fulfillment of the exchange of hostages and detainees between Israel and Hamas.
On the other hand, the border between Israel and Lebanon, which yesterday experienced a hard escalation of the exchange of fire between the Israeli Army and the Shiite group Hizbulah, woke up this Monday in relative calm.
Since dawn, anti-aircraft sirens have been activated only once on the Israeli side, due to a drone.
In the early morning of Sunday, Israel carried out intense bombings in southern Lebanon, with more than 100 fighter jets, after the Army identified that Hizbulah was preparing for an imminent large-scale attack that targeted the north and center of the country.
The pro-Iranian militia had promised this attack weeks ago, in revenge for the murder of its top military commander, Fuad Shukr, in an Israeli bombing on July 30 on the outskirts of Beirut.
Hizbulah said he launched more than 300 projectiles, while the Israeli Army detected about 210 rockets and 20 explosive drones that were mostly intercepted.
The day left four dead: three in southern Lebanon, one of which was a militiaman from the Shiite Amal group, and a soldier from the Israeli Navy, while the Shiite militia said yesterday that their retaliation “was completed and achieved.”
Despite the calm, Israel maintains the state of military emergency, approved yesterday by the Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, which allows the Israeli armed forces to instruct the population in case of new attacks.
On the other hand, Israeli troops abused, mistreated and humiliated Palestinian doctors, nurses and health workers who were arrested during the war in Gaza, concluded an investigation by Human Rights Watch (HRW), sometimes causing their death, as the Israeli newspaper Haaretz had already reported.
“The Israeli government’s mistreatment of Palestinian health workers has continued in the shadows and must cease immediately,” Balkees Jarrah, interim director for the Middle East of HRW, said today. “Torture and other mistreatment of doctors, nurses and health workers must be thoroughly investigated and properly punished, including by the International Criminal Court (ICC),” he added.
International
At least ten dead in Iran in a bus accident in the west of the country
At least ten people lost their lives this Saturday when a passenger bus fell down a ravine on a highway in the province of Lorestan, in western Iran.
“The bus that left Andimeshk (Juzestan province) to Poldokhtar (Lorestan), went off the road and fell into a ravine so unfortunately at least 10 people have died,” announced the executive director of the Red Crescent of the province of Lorestan, Mohammad Ghadami, reported the Tasnim agency.
The official did not give details about the number of injured in the accident and their state of health.
Ghadami said that four rescue teams were sent to the scene of the incident immediately after it was reported at 12:39 local time (9:10 GMT) this Saturday.
Mortality on roads, one of the highest in the world
Traffic accidents are very common in Iran, where the road mortality rate is one of the highest in the world, with an average of 20,000 deaths per year.
Many of the accidents are due to the poor condition of the vehicles and the poor compliance with traffic rules by drivers.
Last August, at least 28 Pakistani pilgrims died when the bus in which they were traveling overturned in central Iran, in an accident that occurred due to a brake failure.
International
Helene, the violent hurricane that destroyed the southeastern United States
Hurricane Helene is one of the extreme climatic events that have starred this 2024 after leaving more than 150 direct deaths and billions of dollars in losses in six states of the southeastern United States, according to preliminary figures.
The deadly Helene, which in the continental United States has only been surpassed by Katrina (2005), ended with more than 150 deaths, at least a hundred in North Carolina, in addition to leaving a path of destruction that reached the mountainous area of that state with special virulence.
After impacting Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula, Helene made landfall on September 26 with winds of 225 kilometers per hour in the Big Bend region of Florida, in the northwest of that state, as the most powerful cyclone in that region since records have been available.
From Florida, where it arrived as a major hurricane, and while it weakened progressively to become a tropical depression, Helene continued on land through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
North Carolina was the one that took the worst part, not only for the number of deaths but for the economic losses, which amount to more than 59.6 billion dollars, according to an update from the state government released this month.
The historic rainfall of up to 76 centimeters caused floods and landslides in this state, which caused serious damage, and long-term, both in homes and in public infrastructure and the agricultural industry.
Million-dollar economic losses
Quantifying at this time the economic losses in all the states impacted by Helene, which generated strong winds and tornadoes, is difficult because there are discrepancies in the damage assessment since it produced “a large-scale disaster,” as Mónica Escaleras, professor of the Department of Economics at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), told EFE.
“The widespread nature of the damage, the diversity of affected sectors and ongoing recovery efforts” are factors that prevent an accurate estimate at present, he added.
Escaleras believes, however, that Helene is a reflection of how in recent years “extreme weather events have become increasingly frequent and intense, altering infrastructure and supply chains.”
A preliminary report from the Institute of Agricultural and Food Sciences of the University of Florida (UF/IFAS) estimates that agricultural losses in this southern state due to Helene can range between 40.3 and 162.2 million dollars, after destroying 6.1 million acres (2.4 million hectares) of arable land.
More hurricanes like Helene in the future
A key factor in Helene’s intensity were the high temperatures in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, whose surfaces were at about 29.4 degrees Celsius when the system began to form.
A preliminary study by the World Weather Attribution network of scientists reflected that this temperature is the result of climate change, which made Helene’s effects worse, responsible for example for 10% more rain.
“It is expected that the growing occurrence of these events will generate higher insurance premiums and may lead to the withdrawal of coverage in high-risk areas, which will affect both the real estate and business sectors,” Escaleras said.
This possible future scenario can, on the other hand, affect unprotected communities more, such as the Hispanic one in the United States. The Climate Power organization revealed last week a report that shows that Latino communities have been the great victims of the extreme weather events that occurred in 2024.
The report in question found that many Latino families in western North Carolina live in trailers flooded or destroyed by the storm, and that not mastering English they had obstacles when it came to receiving information about recovery tasks.
Antonieta Cádiz, executive director of the Climate Power In Action campaign, reminded EFE of the case of the workers of a plastics factory in Erwin (Tennessee) who died after a negligence in their evacuation, which was not carried out due to the imminent effects of Helene, employees who were mostly Hispanic.
The above, he said, is a sample of the disproportionate and “deep inequalities” that affect the Hispanic community when it comes to extreme weather events.
International
The piangua, the mangrove mollusk that empowers women in the Colombian Pacific
When the low tide in the Colombian Pacific, a group of women put on rubber boots, take a raft and enter a mangrove forest to collect the piangua, a mollusk that, in addition to providing food to their families, empowers them and gives them a voice in their territory.
They are in the community of La Plata, in the heart of the Uramba-Bahía Málaga National Natural Park, and they have just six hours to work before the sea rises again. Stuck in the mud they sing to liven up their days and regardless of the sun or rain they fill their containers with this mollusk similar to the mussel with which they prepare delicious recipes.
“It is a very important ancestral activity because it allows us to have economic sustainability as women, to be a symbol of resistance to cultural traditions and to take care of our gastronomic traditions,” Matilde Mosquera Murillo, legal representative of the Raíces Piangüeras Association.
Mosquera, 27 years old and a sociologist by profession, took on the challenge of leading that organization created in 2019 and has managed to bring together more than 70 women who are dedicated to this profession in the Community Council of La Plata-Bahía Málaga, where they play a fundamental role in conservation.
“We monitor mangroves, because we know the importance they have in the ecosystem, they are the cradle of thousands of species. We also make every process sustainable so that all the initiatives we lead allow us to take care of nature,” Mosquera insists.
International recognition
Their work already has international recognition and since 2023 they have held the ‘Meeting of Women of the Colombian Pacific’. In the first edition they asked the National Government to advocate before UNESCO to declare the piangüeo as Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
“We believe in the need for a political strengthening of women, that our voice is heard and that we are part of the decisions that are made in the country so that we have votes in public policies and that they recognize our ancestral work in the world,” she adds.
The environmental richness of the La Plata archipelago is enormous and its 32 islands and islets are the habitat of 1,396 species of birds, reptiles, mammals and felines, as well as 60 classes of frogs, 25 of lizards and 52 of snakes.
There are also eight species of sharks, 22 rays and 348 of fish that have six types of mangroves as their home: red mangrove, born mangrove, ped mangrove, button or button mangrove, bobo mangle and feeder mangle.
Unity and awareness
According to Santiago Valencia, leader of the Community Council of La Plata-Bahía Málaga, women use a ‘piangüímetro’, a tool that works as a rule that allows them to measure the mollusk when it has already passed its reproductive stage.
“Their organization is as strong as the roots of the mangrove and they even come together to reforest when they see it necessary. This unity has made them look for other alternatives because they see that everything is possible and today they see themselves as what they are: powerful women, businesswomen and nature lovers,” says Valencia.
Currently, women piangüeras work in the search for resources that allow them to access studies to improve and strengthen their processes.
Some of them have already created other ventures for the manufacture of ointments based on medicinal plants from the jungle, ancestral drinks and even think about packing the piangua in a vacuum to export it to other countries.
“When we go to the mangrove we sing as a symbol of power, to express our feelings, it also serves to harmonize our activity and understand that we are important; we will leave this inheritance to our children and it will continue for generations,” concludes Mosquera.
At least ten dead in Iran in a bus accident in the west of the country
Helene, the violent hurricane that destroyed the southeastern United States
The piangua, the mangrove mollusk that empowers women in the Colombian Pacific
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