Monday, August 4, 2014

LIMITED CEASEFIRE FRAGILE AFTER ISRAEL STRIKE KILLS CHILD
Palestinians have accused Israel of breaking its own ceasefire Monday after it launched a strike on the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, killing an eight-year-old girl and wounding 29 people. Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said the strike took place after the seven-hour truce was set to start Monday morning, Reuters reports. Israel had announced the ceasefire, which would apply everywhere except in and around the southern town of Rafah, where three Israeli soldiers were killed by Hamas forces Frida. The truce is aimed at facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid and allowing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to return home. According to Gaza officials, 1,797 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed and a quarter of the population displaced since the beginning of the Israeli offensive on July 8.

TROOPS JOIN SEARCH AFTER CHINA EARTHQUAKE
China has sent 2,500 soldiers to the southwestern province of Yunnan after a 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck Sunday, killing at least 381 people and leaving more than 1,800 injured. The troops, equipped with life-detection and digging instruments, will join around 300 local police and firefighters, as well as 400 emergency workers and and sniffer dogs, The Guardian reports. President Xi Jinping called for “all-out efforts” to find survivors after what was the strongest earthquake to hit the mountainous region in 14 years, according to the state broadcaster CCTV. The news agency Xinhua also reported that 12,000 houses had been destroyed and 30,000 damaged, making rescue operations difficult.

FERRY CAPSIZES IN BANGLADESH RIVER
A ferry carrying at least 250 passengers capsized Monday morning in the Padma River, central Bangladesh, due to the strong current. Locals rescued 44 passengers, and two bodies were found so far, as rescue operations are ongoing, Bangladesh’s The Daily Star reports.

LEBANESE ARMY FINDS 50 BODIES NEAR SYRIAN BORDER
Security services in Lebanon have found the bodies of 50 Sunni radicals in Arsal, a town near the Syrian border, an official said Monday, according to Reuters. This follows a three-day artillery pounding by the Lebanese army in the area, in an attempt to push back an incursion by Islamist militants from Syria into the country. At least 13 Lebanese soldiers have been killed in the fighting, which started Saturday after security forces arrested a commander of the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the Syrian civil war.

VERBATIM
“There will be victory and very soon,” Ukrainian Defense Minister General Valeriy Heletey declared rather optimistically in a Sunday night interview with the BBC.

WORLDCRUNCH-TO-GO
Libya is splintering, says Le Monde, and many people there are saying life is now worse than it was under Muammar Gaddafi. “The scant political-administrative structures set up after 2011 are collapsing. Economic life is at a standstill. One after another, the big diplomatic missions are leaving, so is the United Nations and many NGOs. Tripoli, the capital, Benghazi and the other big cities — those sheltering half of the country's 7 million inhabitants — are now the stages for battles among rival armed groups…”
Read the full article: From Gaddafi To The Reign Of Militias, Libya's Revolution Unravels.

MY GRAND-PÈRE’S WORLD


ONLY IN RUSSIA
Russia’s tank biathlon has kicked off — and here’s expand=1] a live stream.