Headline

Israel Battles Hamas As UN Calls Gaza ‘Hell On Earth’

Published

2 years ago

December 12, 2023

Israeli forces battled Hamas militants and bombed more targets in the devastated Gaza Strip Tuesday with the UN General Assembly due to vote on a new demand for a ceasefire.

More than two months into the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack, the visiting chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, likened Gaza to “hell on earth”.

The Hamas-run health ministry updated its death toll in Gaza to 18,412, mostly women and children.

The militant Islamist group said Israeli forces raided a hospital in Gaza City, the biggest urban centre.

“Israeli occupation forces are storming Kamal Adwan hospital after besieging and bombing it for days,” health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said, accusing troops of rounding up men in the hospital courtyard, including medical staff.

The army did not immediately comment, but Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using hospitals, schools, mosques and tunnels beneath them as military bases — claims it has denied.

The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said earlier that “the hospital remains surrounded by Israeli troops and tanks, and fighting with armed groups has been reported in its vicinity for three consecutive days”.

It said two mothers were killed in a strike on the maternity ward, and that about 3,000 internally displaced people were trapped in the facility amid reports of “extreme shortages of water, food and power”.

The war began with Hamas’s October 7 attacks that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures, and saw around 240 hostages taken back to Gaza.

Israel has responded to the unprecedented attack with an offensive aiming to destroy Hamas that has reduced much of Gaza to rubble.

The United Nations said its satellite analysis agency UNOSAT had determined, based on a November 26 image, that 18 percent of Gaza’s infrastructure had been destroyed.

UN agencies and aid groups fear the Palestinian territory will soon be overwhelmed by starvation and disease, and are pleading with Israel to boost efforts to protect civilians.

– ‘WWII-level devastation’ –

The war has deepened the suffering in Gaza, whose devastation top European Union diplomat Josep Borrell has compared to that of Germany during World War II.

The UN estimates 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.4 million people have been displaced by the conflict, half of them children.

Israeli air strikes Tuesday killed at least 24 people in Rafah near the border with Egypt, where tens of thousands are seeking shelter, the Gaza health ministry said.

One left a deep crater and gutted surrounding buildings. Teenagers salvaged belongings from the debris with their hands, a young girl retrieving some notebooks.

“There are still people under the rubble,” said resident Abu Jazar, 23. “We call on the Arab people and the world to put on pressure to stop the strikes on Gaza.”

At Rafah hospital, bereaved father Hani Abu Jamaa cradled the body of his young daughter Sidal, who was killed by shrapnel.

He said there had been strong explosions overnight and he only found she was dead when he tried to wake her on Tuesday morning.

“Even if I live 100 years, I will never find another like her,” he said, crying. “May God have mercy on her, oh Lord.”

– ‘No water, no power, no bread’ –

Israel’s military said it had struck a rocket launch site in Jabalia near Gaza City that had fired on Sderot in southern Israel, and also found hundreds of shells and rocket-propelled grenade launchers in a Hamas compound.

The army has lost 105 soldiers in the offensive, it said on Tuesday, including 13 killed by friendly fire and others in accidents.

It said two “fell” and others were wounded in a Gaza operation in which the army recovered the bodies of two hostages — Ziv Dado and Eden Zecharya.

Fighting and heavy bombardment in south Gaza, where Israel previously urged civilians to seek safety, have left people with few places to go.

In Gaza City, thousands of Palestinians set up camp at a UN agency headquarters after nearby homes and shops were destroyed by Israeli strikes.

An AFP correspondent said both the Islamic and adjacent Al-Azhar universities had been reduced to rubble, as had the police station.

“There is no water. There is no electricity, no bread, no milk for the children, and no diapers,” said Rami al-Dahduh, 23, a tailor.

– New UN meeting –

The UN General Assembly was due to vote later Tuesday on a non-binding resolution demanding “an immediate humanitarian ceasefire”.

The draft text, seen by AFP, largely reproduces the resolution blocked by the United States, a key ally of Israel, at a UN Security Council vote on Friday.

“We condemn anyone who encourages Israel to continue its killings,” Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told a cabinet meeting in Ramallah ahead of the vote.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following a conversation with US President Joe Biden that Israel had received the “full backing” of the United States which would block “international pressure to stop the war”.

Biden said later the Israeli government was opposed to a two-state solution and called on Netanyahu to “change the administration”.

Arab countries called the new special session of the General Assembly after more than a dozen Security Council ambassadors visited the Rafah border.

Fears of a wider conflict continue to grow, with Iran-backed groups targeting US and allied forces in Iraq and Syria, and daily exchanges of fire along Israel’s border with Lebanon.

France said one of its frigates shot down a drone threatening a Norwegian-flagged tanker hit in an overnight missile attack claimed by Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

Headline

‘Pioneer Of Cable TV News’: Key Facts About CNN Founder, Ted Turner

Published

1 week ago

May 9, 2026

Editor

Ted Turner, the media businessman who founded CNN died at the age of 87. He died peacefully on Wednesday, surrounded by family, according to Turner Enterprises.

Contents

Launched 24-hour news television

Built a media network

Expanded through sports

Recognition and influence

Philanthropy and global causes

Environmental efforts

Health and later years

Early career path

Leadership and legacy

Personal life

Exit from business

Family

Below are key facts about his life and impact:

Launched 24-hour news television

Turner founded CNN on June 1, 1980, introducing the first 24-hour news channel and changing how audiences follow global events.

Built a media network

He moved from billboards into broadcasting, turning an Atlanta TV station into a national superstation in 1976. His business later grew to include CNN International, TNT, Turner Classic Movies and Cartoon Network.

Expanded through sports

Turner invested in sports broadcasting and owned teams including the Atlanta Braves and the Atlanta Hawks, using television to reach wider audiences.

Recognition and influence

In 1991, he was named Time magazine’s Man of the Year for his role in shaping modern news coverage.

Philanthropy and global causes

He founded the United Nations Foundation and supported campaigns against nuclear weapons. In 1997, he pledged $1 billion to the United Nations.

Turner supported conservation work, including reintroducing bison in the United States, and backed environmental education through the “Captain Planet” cartoon.

Health and later years

In 2018, Turner revealed he had Lewy body dementia. He also recovered from a mild case of pneumonia in early 2025.

Early career path

He took over his father’s billboard company at 24 after his father’s death and later expanded into radio and television, despite limited experience in journalism.

“I worked until 7 o’clock, and when I got home the news was over,” he once said. “So I missed television news completely. And I figured there were lots of people like me.”

Leadership and legacy

“Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement,” Mark Thompson, Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, said in a statement. “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN. Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand, and we will all take a moment today to recognize him and his impact on our lives and the world.”

Personal life

Turner married actress Jane Fonda in 1991, and they later divorced after 10 years, though they remained close.

“I would never love anyone like I love him,” she said. “But I just couldn’t keep moving in his world, along the surface for the rest of my life. I knew that I would get to the end of my life and regret not doing the things that I also needed to do for me.”

Exit from business

He sold his company to Time Warner in 1996 and later stepped away following its merger with AOL.

Reflecting on his life, Turner once said: “I lost Jane. I lost my job here. I lost my fortune, most of it. Got a billion or two left. You can get by on that if you economize.”

Family

He is survived by his five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Headline

Iran’s Nationwide Internet Shutdown Hits 70 Days

Published

1 week ago

May 9, 2026

Editor

NetBlocks, a monitoring group, has disclosed that an internet shutdown enforced by the Iranian regime has entered its 70th day, severing key access from swathes of the population under the shadow of war.

NetBlocks reported on Friday that the blackout has now surpassed 1,656 hours, marking more than two months since US-Israeli strikes pounded Tehran and escalated across the Middle East.

“Digital connectivity is vital in times of crisis,” NetBlocks said in a post on X. “Limiting service harms those most in need – people with disabilities, students, small businesses and the general public.”

According to CNN, Iran imposed a separate internet shutdown on the country’s 92 million people earlier this year, when it launched the most lethal crackdown on anti-government protesters since the Islamic Republic’s founding 47 years ago.

CNN further reports that the latest blackout has cut off another potential lifeline for Iranian residents faced with high unemployment and economic pressure exacerbated by the US-Israeli campaign.

(CNN)

Headline

Gas Prices In US Edge Down After Two Weeks Of Increases

Published

1 week ago

May 9, 2026

Editor

The cost of a gallon of regular gas in the United States (US) has edged down a little more than a penny to $4.55.

According to AAA’s readings, this marks the first decline in the average gas price after 15 straight days of increases.

The decline is minuscule compared to the large increases in gas prices over the last two weeks.

According to CNN, gasoline costs rose an average of nearly 4 cents a day during that period and had several daily increases of between 7 and 9 cents.

Also Read: Trump insists US-Iran ceasefire intact despite recent exchange of fire

CNN also reports that based on past gas spikes, it will likely take weeks for gas prices to get down below $4 a gallon.

The report, however, states that a previous two-week stretch of gas price declines only shaved 14 cents off the average price, taking the average price to $4.02, before the recent 15-day run of increases.

According to CNN, it could take months for the average price to fall below $3 per gallon, as it did before the war in Iran.

CNN further reports that only one state – Oklahoma – now has an average price of less than $4 a gallon, and its average stands at $3.98. California has the highest average price at $6.16.

(CNN)