Video said to show Palestinian detainees being paraded
NewsFeed Video shared on social media appears to show blindfolded Palestinian detainees being paraded by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, to a soundtrack of an Israeli children’s song. The Israeli military has been contacted for comment. Published On 15 Dec 202315 Dec 2023 Adblock test (Why?)
China’s big freeze blamed for Beijing subway crash
Extending recent erratic weather patterns, China has been hit by sudden freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall. More than 500 people have been hospitalised after two subway trains collided amid heavy snowfall in Beijing. Authorities in the Chinese capital said on Friday that 102 people had suffered broken bones. The accident happened in west Beijing on an above-ground portion of the sprawling Changping subway line on Thursday evening. China has been in the grip of harsh winter weather over recent days. Snow has been building in Beijing since Monday, with temperatures expected to slide further to minus 12 degrees Celsius (10.4 Fahrenheit). Further north, cities such as Shenyang could drop to a 2023 low of minus 27C (minus 16.6F), state broadcaster CCTV said. Due to the weather conditions, slippery tracks prompted a braking on the leading train. The train following from behind was on a descending section and went into a skid and was unable to brake in time, the city transport authority said in a statement on social media. Emergency medical personnel, police, and transport authorities responded, and all passengers were evacuated by about 11pm. By Friday morning, 423 people had been released from hospital, 25 passengers were under observation and 67 remained hospitalised. No deaths were recorded. On social media, images of the collision showed passengers on the floor and partial lighting outages. Some commuters used emergency hammers to try to break the train windows to escape. In other videos, firefighters were seen helping to evacuate an elderly passenger while others made their way through the deep snow to leave the scene. A worker operates a machine sweeping snow on a street amid snowfall in Beijing, China [Tingshu Wang/Reuters] “We sincerely apologise for the accident that occurred this evening,” Beijing Subway, the train’s operator, said on the Weibo social media platform. “Passengers who left the premises unaccompanied during the evacuation and who are not feeling well can contact us at any time. We will take on the cost of care,” it added. Alerts remain in place in Beijing for icy roads, extreme cold and heavy snowfall. Temperatures were due to fall to minus 11C (12F) overnight on Friday. The heavy snow began falling in Beijing on Wednesday, leading to the closures of schools and train operations. However, no deaths have been reported from the winter storms that have hit a large portion of northern China. The sudden cold snap in the capital, contrasting with autumnal temperatures last week, continues a recent trend of sharp swings in temperatures. Beijing experienced one of its warmest Octobers in decades in a year of extreme weather patterns. Adblock test (Why?)
BJP hits back after JD(U) cancels Nitish Kumar’s rally in Uttar Pradesh, says ‘it is because…’
JD(U) leader and Bihar Rural Development Minister Shrawan Kumar on Thursday told PTI that Nitish Kumar’s rally had to be cancelled as the Jagatpur Inter College administration in Varanasi’s Rohania, where the event was to be held, refused to grant permission for it.
Texas’ statewide poverty rate declines, but several rural counties see increase in poor residents
An influx of highly educated people from other states helped shift the state’s economic fortune. But in many parts of Texas, residents are struggling as jobs dry up.
We ranked Texas House members along the ideological spectrum based on their 2023 votes
Here’s a look at House members, ranked from most conservative to most liberal, based on their votes cast during the 2023 regular session and four special sessions.
Bipartisan lawmakers eye AI safeguards for US agriculture industry
FIRST ON FOX: Lawmakers are eyeing safeguards for integrating artificial intelligence (AI) technology into the U.S.’s agricultural sector. A new bill introduced by Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, and backed by both sides of the aisle aims to enforce standards for AI programs connected to everyday Americans’ food, fuel and other necessities. Feenstra, whose district is heavily rural, told Fox News Digital that AI is becoming increasingly relevant in the farming industry but that existing guardrails on new technology aren’t keeping up with that boom, he suggested. AUTHORS’ COPYRIGHT LAWSUIT AGAINST OPENAI OVER CHATGPT BEGINS “From precision agriculture to veterinary software, the latest developments in agricultural technology – including artificial intelligence – have the power to lower input costs for farmers, protect the health of livestock and poultry, and make farming operations more efficient,” Feenstra said. “We must be equally active in certifying that these new technologies, products and processes work as they should and uphold the highest industry standards.” AI COMPLICATES COPYRIGHT LAW His bill, the Farm Tech Act, would protect farmers from “faulty or misleading technologies by requiring the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) to verify the legitimacy and effectiveness of agricultural software and other technologies that are increasingly used on farms across Iowa and the United States,” he said. Bill co-sponsor Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., said, “As new technology like artificial intelligence becomes more common in our agriculture operations, we need to make sure these new tools are safe for consumers and producers alike.” WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)? It’s also being co-sponsored by Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-Ill. This year has seen a flurry of AI legislation introduced in Congress as lawmakers race to keep up with the rapidly advancing technology, but debate is still ongoing over whether and how to regulate it.
Police and soldiers killed as more violence flares in northwest Pakistan
Three attackers were also reported killed in the second attack this week on police posts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Several officers and soldiers have been killed and injured in attacks by armed men on a police station and an army outpost in northwest Pakistan, police said. The assaults came on Friday morning, extending a growing campaign of violence in former Taliban strongholds along the border with Afghanistan. Three days earlier, a suicide bomber killed 23 Pakistani soldiers in the same province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Friday’s attack on the police occurred in the Tank district of the province’s Dera Ismail Khan division. Police said two officers were killed and three others wounded. The incident also left three of the attackers dead, reports Al Jazeera’s Abid Hussain. Two were killed by police while the third blew himself up, he reported. An unexploded suicide jacket has also been found and police launched an operation to secure the compound. “Our force on guard engaged them in a gun battle for hours,” and police officers were wounded, police official Iftikhar Shah told Reuters news agency. According to Pakistan’s DawnNewsTV, Shah said all remaining officers at the post were evacuated safely and a search operation was under way after alerts of more armed men present in the area. An armed group that identified itself as Ansar-ul-Islam claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released to a Reuters reporter. However, Dawn reported that a group called Ansarul Jihad claimed the attack. The police did not verify the authenticity of the claims. According to the AP, a military post was also targeted on Friday morning. Two soldiers were reportedly killed and five wounded, local police official Salim Khan said. On Tuesday, armed men stormed a military post in the town of Daraban, about 60km (37 miles) from Dera Ismail Khan city. The fighters rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into the main gate of the police station, followed by a suicide bombing attack, the army said. That attack was claimed by the recently formed militant Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistani group, which is believed to be an offshoot of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or the Pakistani Taliban. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has witnessed a rise in violence this year, with several deadly attacks taking place. In January, at least 101 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a mosque in the capital, Peshawar. The TTP has been waging a war against the state for years, seeking to overthrow the government and replace it with a harsh brand of Islamic governance. Authorities say fighters have become emboldened while living openly in Afghanistan since the Taliban took it over in 2021. [embedded content] Adblock test (Why?)
Eleven security personnel killed in Iran police station attack: State TV
Several wounded in shooting in province of Sistan-Baluchestan which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan. At least 11 Iranian security personnel have been killed in an attack on a police station in the southeastern border province of Sistan-Baluchestan, state television reported. Alireza Marhamati, deputy governor of the province, said on Friday that senior police officers and soldiers were killed and injured in the 2am (22:30 GMT Thursday) attack in the town of Rask, about 1,400km (875 miles) southwest of the capital, Tehran. A number of assailants were also killed in a shootout that ensued with the security forces, according to state television reports. The attack was one of the deadliest in years in the region close to Iran’s border with Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), a Sunni armed group, claimed responsibility for the attack, state media said. Jaish al-Adl was formed in 2012 and is blacklisted by Iran as a “terror” group. Unrest has plagued the impoverished province of Sistan-Baluchestan because of drugs-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baluchi minority and Sunni Muslim hardliners. Security forces regularly targeted Similar attacks have previously taken place, including in July when four policemen were killed while on patrol. That attack came two weeks after two policemen and four assailants were killed in a shootout in the province, for which Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility. In May, five Iranian border guards died in clashes with an armed group in Saravan, southeast of Zahedan, the provincial capital of Sistan-Baluchestan. State media reported at the time that the attack was carried out by “a terrorist group that was seeking to infiltrate the country” but whose members “fled the scene after suffering injuries”. In late May, state-run news agency IRNA quoted police official Qassem Rezaee as saying that “Taliban forces” had shot at an Iranian police station in Sistan-Baluchestan, a drought-hit region. Iran and Afghanistan have been at odds over water rights. Zahedan, one of the few Sunni-majority cities in predominantly Shia Iran, was also the site of months-long deadly protests that erupted in September last year over the alleged rape of a teenage girl by a police officer. Jaish al-Adl and its affiliate groups based in Pakistan have been accused of committing cross-border attacks against Iranian forces. Adblock test (Why?)
Adapting in the face of climate change in rural Kenya
“Will there be rain? I can’t tell. People used to come to me for advice, but now I tell them that I am also wondering what is happening,” says Clement Mangi, a traditional weather forecaster and farmer from Kenya. He uses traditional forecasting methods passed down for generations. But in recent years, most of the things that used to be definite signs of imminent rainfall are no longer reliable. Eighty percent of food produced across many communities in Africa comes from small-scale farmers like Mangi. This sector is highly vulnerable to extreme weather. While the continent is responsible for only a fraction of global greenhouse emissions, it is heavily affected by climate change. After five failed rainfall seasons, communities in the Horn of Africa were hit by what became known as the worst drought in 40 years, between late 2020 and early 2023. Seven million children under the age of five became malnourished and urgently needed nutrition assistance across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. While climate change is listed as a leading cause of the rise in global hunger, there are big gaps in weather observations and early warning services. Information that would help local farmers better prepare themselves for extreme weather and adapt their farming to secure a good harvest, is missing. In Kenya, some people are working hard to change that. Adblock test (Why?)
SC adjourns plea of Mahua Moitra against expulsion from LS, next hearing on January 3
Mahua Moitra was on December 8 expelled from the Lok Sabha after a discussion on the report of the Ethics Committee in the ‘cash for query’ that was tabled in the Lower House.