Palestinians search for the bodies of their relatives killed in an Israeli bombardment of a school on oct 10

Deir Al-balah (Gaza Strip) (AP): An Israeli airstrike has killed at least 20 people including children at a school-turned-shelter in central Gaza, according to local hospitals.

The Sunday night’s strike also killed two women in Nuseirat. The school was sheltering some of the many Palestinians displaced by the yearlong war in Gaza.

The bodies were taken to Al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat and Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al Balah.

Israel’s bombardment and its ground invasion of Gaza have killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry

Jerusalem The Israeli military said Tuesday that Iran has fired missiles and it ordered residents to remain close to bomb shelters as air raid sirens sounded across the country.

A series of window-shaking explosions were heard in Tel Aviv and near Jerusalem, though it was not immediately clear whether the sounds were from missiles landing or being intercepted by Israeli defenses, or both.

Israel and the United States have warned there would be severe consequences in the event of an attack on Israel from Iran, which backs the group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israeli army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the country’s air defense system was fully operational, detecting and intercepting threats. “However, the defense is not hermetic,” he said.

Orders to shelter in place were sent to Israelis’ mobile phones and announced on national television.

In the aftermath of missile strikes from Iran, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari has announced that Israelis are now permitted to leave protected areas. Speaking shortly after the update, Hagari emphasized that the IDF remains on “high alert both defensively and offensively” and assured the public of Israel’s readiness to protect its citizens.

“We will defend the citizens of the State of Israel. This attack will have consequences. We have plans, and we will operate at the place and time we decide,” Hagari said, underlining Israel’s preparedness for retaliatory action.

The spokesperson also mentioned that no casualties have been reported, crediting the citizens’ responsible actions during the attacks for preventing injuries.

Jerusalem: The Israeli military said Sunday that it killed another high-ranking Hezbollah official in an airstrike as the Lebanese group was reeling from a string of devastating blows and the killing of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

The military said Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah’s Central Council, was killed on Saturday. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah, and it was not known where the strike took place.

If confirmed, he would be the seventh senior Hezbollah leader slain in Israeli strikes in a little over a week, including founding members who had evaded death or detention for decades. The Israeli military said it carried out another targeted strike on Beirut later on Sunday, with details to follow.

Hezbollah meanwhile confirmed that one of the seven, Ali Karaki, died in Friday’s strike that killed Nasrallah. The Israeli military had earlier said that Karaki was killed in the airstrike, which targeted an underground compound in Beirut where Nasrallah and other senior Hezbollah figures were meeting.

Hezbollah has also been targeted by a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies that was widely blamed on Israel. A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon has killed at least 1,030 people — including 156 women and 87 children — in less than two weeks, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon by the lastest strikes. The government estimates that around 250,000 are in shelters, with three to four times as many staying with friends or relatives, or camping out on the streets, Environment Minister Nasser Yassin told The Associated Press.

Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets and missiles into northern Israel, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas. No Israelis have been killed since the latest wave of strikes on top Hezbollah leaders began on Sept. 20.

Kaouk was a veteran member of Hezbollah going back to the 1980s and served as Hezbollah’s military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. He often appeared in local media, where he would comment on politics and security developments, and he gave eulogies at the funerals of senior members. The United States had announced sanctions against him in 2020.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies that consider themselves part of an Iran-backed “Axis of Resistance” against Israel.

Israel has responded with waves of airstrikes, and the conflict has steadily ratcheted up to the brink of all-out war, raising fears of a region-wide conflagration.

Israel says it is determined to return some 60,000 of its citizens to communities in the north that were evacuated nearly a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its rocket fire if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which has proven elusive despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

The mini moon is actually an asteroid about the size of a school bus at 33 feet (10 meters). When it whizzes by Earth on Sunday, it will be temporarily trapped by our planet’s gravity and orbit the globe — but only for about two months.

The space rock — 2024 PT5 — was first spotted in August by astronomers at Complutense University of Madrid using a powerful telescope located in Sutherland, South Africa.

These short-lived mini moons are likely more common than we realize, said Richard Binzel, an astronomer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The last known one was detected in 2020.

“This happens with some frequency, but we rarely see them because they’re very small and very hard to detect,” he said. “Only recently has our survey capability reached the point of spotting them routinely.”

The discovery by Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos was published by the American Astronomical Society.

This one won’t be visible to the naked eye or through amateur telescopes, but it “can be observed with relatively large, research-grade telescopes,” Carlos de la Fuente Marcos said in an email.

Binzel, who was not involved in the research, said it’s not clear whether the space rock originated as an asteroid or as “a chunk of the moon that got blasted out.”

The mini moon will circle the globe for almost 57 days but won’t complete a full orbit. On Nov. 25, it will part ways with the Earth and continue its solo trajectory through the cosmos. It’s expected to pass by again in 2055.

Kathmandu: The death toll from rain-induced floods and landslides across Nepal reached nearly 200 on Monday, with at least 30 people still missing, according to the police.

Incessant rainfall from last Friday triggered floods and landslides, wreaking havoc in the Himalayan nation.

At least 192 people have been killed in the continuous rainfall, floods, landslides and inundation, officials from the Nepal Police said.

They said 94 others have also been injured nationwide in the disaster, while 30 others remain missing.

The government has given high priority to search, rescue, and relief operations, MyRepublica news portal reported, quoting Home Ministry Spokesperson Rishiram Tiwari.

Security agencies across the country have been deployed for search, rescue and relief efforts, and more than 4,500 disaster-affected individuals have been rescued so far, the report said.

While those injured are receiving free treatment, food and other emergency relief materials have been provided to others affected by the floods.

Numerous roads throughout the nation are severely damaged, and all routes leading to the capital city, Kathmandu, are still blocked, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.

Tiwari said efforts are underway to clear the obstructed highways to resume transportation.

Kathmandu’s main river, the Bagmati, was flowing above danger levels after incessant rain lashed Large swathes of eastern and central Nepal on Friday and Saturday, a report published by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) said.

“A low-pressure system in the Bay of Bengal and the more northerly than usual position of the monsoon trough was the reason” behind the exceptionally intense rain, it said on Saturday.

Scientists say that while climate change is changing the amount and timing of rainfall across Asia, a key reason for the rise in the impact of floods is the built environment, including unplanned construction, especially on floodplains, which leaves insufficient areas for water retention and drainage.

The floods and landslides have thrown life out of gear in many parts of the country, with many highways and road stretches disrupted, hundreds of houses and bridges buried or swept away, and hundreds of families displaced.

Thousands of passengers have been stranded in various places due to road disruption.

The Sri Lankan Navy has arrested 17 Indian fishermen and seized their trawlers for allegedly poaching in its territorial waters, taking the number of Indian nationals apprehended this year by the island nation in such incidents to 413, an official statement said.

The fishermen were arrested, and their two trawlers were seized north of Mannar on Sunday, the Sri Lanka Navy said in a press release.

The navy conducted the “special operation” leading to the apprehension of the Indian fishermen, it said.

The 17 apprehended fishermen were escorted to the Talaimannar Pier and will be handed over to the Mannar Fisheries Inspector for further action, it said.

The Sri Lankan Navy has “held 55 Indian fishing boats and 413 Indian fishermen in island waters thus far in 2024 and handed them over to authorities for legal action,” the statement said.

The fishermen issue is a contentious one in the ties between India and Sri Lanka, with Lankan Navy personnel even firing at Indian fishermen in the Palk Strait and seizing their boats in several alleged incidents of illegally entering Sri Lankan territorial waters.

The Palk Strait, a narrow strip of water separating Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka, is a rich fishing ground for fishermen from both countries.

Fishermen from both countries are arrested frequently for inadvertently trespassing into each other’s waters.

Punjab police has registered three new cases against Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan following a protest by his party on his call at Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh area on Saturday.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder was booked on Sunday under the Anti-Terrorism Act along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and party chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

The complaints filed by the New Town and Civil Lines police stations of Rawalpindi also included charges of attempted murder, violations of Section 144 and other terrorism-related offences.

According to the charges, the 71-year-old leader incited his supporters to protest against national institutions while issuing directives from Adiala Jail where he has been incarcerated for more than a year.

The Punjab government has also raised allegations against Khan and his supporters, accusing them of criticising national institutions, engaging in vandalism, and inciting violence, including stone-pelting.

Khan’s supporters on Saturday allegedly clashed with police during the protest. Hundreds of PTI supporters tried to reach the historic Liaquat Bagh park in the city for the protest called by Khan, but police erected barricades and blocked all major roads.

protesters were seen attacking the police with stones and bricks and the law-enforcing personnel were seen retreating in haste while being chased by the protesters.

Earlier, Khan had given a call for “peaceful protest”, ahead of which, the provincial government banned public gatherings and closed all major roads leading to the city.

Following the clashes, the party called off the protest to avoid any losses. The General Headquarters of the army is located in Rawalpindi and the venue of the protest was hardly a few kilometers away from the GHQ.

Khan was arrested on August 5 last year after his conviction in the first Toshakhana corruption case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan. Since then, he has been in jail in different cases.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

Riyadh: US magazine The Atlantic has reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expressed a lack of personal concern for the “Palestinian issue” during a conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in January. The two leaders reportedly discussed the possibility of normalising relations with Israel amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

According to the report, Blinken asked whether Saudi Arabia would tolerate periodic Israeli reentries into Gaza as part of a potential normalisation agreement. The crown prince purportedly responded, “They can come back in six months, a year, but not on the back end of my signing something like this.”

He added, “Seventy percent of my population is younger than me. For most of them, they never really knew much about the Palestinian issue. And so they’re being introduced to it for the first time through this conflict. It’s a huge problem. Do I care personally about the Palestinian issue? I don’t, but my people do, so I need to make sure this is meaningful.”

A Saudi official, however, has described this account of the conversation as “incorrect.”

Despite the new reported comments, Mohammed bin Salman has in the past publicly stated that Saudi Arabia will not normalise relations with Israel without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

“The Kingdom will not cease its diligent efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” he said at a recent annual address before the Shura Council in Riyadh.

“We confirm that Saudi Arabia will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel until that goal is achieved.”

Comet C/2023 A3, also known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, is making a rare and breathtaking return to Earth’s skies after an astonishing 80,000-year journey around the Sun. From Friday through Monday, early risers will have the unique opportunity to catch a glimpse of this celestial wonder in the early morning sky.

According to BBC Sky at Night Magazine, Comet C/2023 A3 completes its orbit every 80,000 years, making this an extraordinarily rare event for stargazers. The comet is expected to become a prominent object in the morning sky by late September 2024, shining brightly at a magnitude of +0.6 just before sunrise. The comet will reach its closest point to the Sun, known as perihelion, on September 28, 2024. As it ascends into the evening sky around October 10, observers can anticipate slightly dimmer views, with the comet predicted to shine at a magnitude of +0.8.

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick, currently stationed aboard the International Space Station, shared a mesmerizing video of the comet on social media. In his post, he described the comet as appearing like “a fuzzy star” when viewed with the naked eye from the ISS’s cupola windows. However, using a 200mm f/2 lens with a 1/8s exposure, Dominick captured more detailed images, showcasing the comet’s potential for stunning visuals as it draws closer to the Sun.

Amateur astronomer Stuart Atkinson from Cumbria also provided insights into what viewers can expect. He noted on social media that the comet would resemble “a fuzzy star with a misty tail” positioned low in the eastern sky beneath the Moon. Atkinson suggested that using binoculars could enhance the viewing experience, offering a more detailed look at this once-in-a-lifetime celestial event.

Don’t miss the chance to witness this extraordinary astronomical phenomenon as Comet C/2023 A3 graces our skies for the first time in millennia.