Stockholm (AFP) – US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun win the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery of microRNA and its role in how genes are regulated, the Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute says.
Jerusalem (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to bring back all hostages still held by Palestinian militants in Gaza as Israel marks the first anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Asheville (AFP) – Nearly a week after Hurricane Helene destroyed water utilities in North Carolina in the United States, residents line up at a water distribution point to fill their canisters. The death toll stands at more than 200 throughout several southeast states. North Carolina has been the hardest hit, recording half of the fatalities.
Visoko (AFP) – A Vincent Van Gogh aficionado in Bosnia has transformed a plot of land into a giant, living replica of the Dutch painter’s masterpiece ‘Starry Night’. Inspiration struck Halim Zukic, the park’s owner and creator, in 2018 when he noticed tractor tracks in his meadows that resembled the spirals of Van Gogh’s painting.
Butler (AFP) – Donald Trump supporters gather for another rally where an assassin’s bullet narrowly missed killing him in July, upending a White House race still clouded by the threat of political violence. Security is tighter this time, with sniper squads positioned on several surrounding buildings, and a surveillance drone deployed overhead.
Vatikanstadt (AFP) – Pope Francis once again calls for an “immediate ceasefire” in the Middle East and urges the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, ahead of the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel of October 7th 2023.
Beirut (AFP) – Veteran war doctor Ghassan Abu Sittah treats the wounded in Lebanon amid Israeli air strikes and its ground campaign against militant group Hezbollah. The Palestinian-British reconstructive surgeon, who last year spent the first 43 days of the war treating patients in Gaza, see parallels between the two conflicts. Hamas’s attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 41,870 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations has said the figures are reliable.
Topsfield (AFP) – Pumpkin growers gather at Topsfield Fair for the annual New England Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Massachusetts, US. “It feels great, just something I didn’t think I could do,” says winner Stephen Connolly, with his pumpkin weighing in at 2,211 pounds.
London (AFP) – Naseema and her fellow paddlers are encouraging women from east London’s less advantaged neighbourhoods to embrace water sports which have often felt inaccessible to ethnic minorities like them with stretched resources and limited leisure time. Instructor Naseema Begum says there is a “taboo” that prevents many Asian women and those wearing headscarves from taking part in water sports.
Dahieh (Lebanon) (AFP) – “Enter, rescue, and leave” is the mantra of Animal Lebanon. The organisation’s volunteers risk their lives daily to rescue cats left behind by their owners, forced to leave amid Israeli strikes on Beirut.
Aguas Blancas (Uruguay) (AFP) – A mass of stone, golden roofs and ornate facade rises imposingly, defying the winds. It seems fit to crown a corner of the Himalayas, but this Tibetan Buddhist temple lies in the hills of southeastern Uruguay, the most secular country in Latin America.
Masnaa (Lebanon) (AFP) – An Israeli strike has cut off the main international road to Syria, as Israel claims Hezbollah was transporting weapons through the crossing. The border with Syria is the only land route out of Lebanon and the strike could leave thousands who are unable to fly out trapped.
