Submit your Article

Tel Aviv: Israel’s Government Press Office reported that since the start of the ‘Iron Swords’ war, it has received a record number of 1,880 foreign journalists. This is twice the number of journalists who arrived in Israel during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in Gaza, and the most during any Israeli military operation.

However, it should be noted that this is a ‘war’ and not classified as simply an ‘operation’ and this is the first time in 50 years that Israel has been in an official state of war.

The United States (358), Great Britain (281), France (221) and Germany (102) sent the largest numbers of journalists to Israel so far.

Even countries that rarely report from Israel, such as Romania, Argentina, Nepal and Singapore have sent journalists to cover the war.

And, Ukraine, which is itself at war, sent two journalists to cover the war in Israel. 

ANI/TPS

Washington: Republican Mike Johnson is the new speaker of the US House, but the ally of Donald Trump inherits many of the same political problems that have tormented past GOP leaders, tested their grasp of the gavel and eventually chased them out of office.

When the House convenes Thursday it will be a bustle of activity, making up for lost time during the weeks of chaos since the ouster of Kevin McCarthy. But the goodwill toward Johnson blurs the political fault lines challenging the Louisianan's ability to lead the GOP majority as it faces daunting issues ahead.

By Nov 17, the Congress must fund the government again or risk a federal shutdown. President Joe Biden wants an additional $105bn in military and humanitarian aid for Israel and Ukraine. And Republicans are eager to resume their impeachment inquiry into Biden over his son's business dealings.

“This has been a grueling process,” Johnson said Wednesday after he took the gavel. "The challenge before us is great but the time for action is now, and I will not let you down."

Johnson, 51, swept through on the first ballot with support from all Republicans anxious to put the past weeks of tumult behind and get on with the business of governing. He was quickly sworn into office, second in line to the presidency.

A lower-ranked member of the House GOP leadership team, Johnson emerged as the fourth Republican nominee in what had become an almost absurd cycle of political infighting since McCarthy's ouster as GOP factions jockeyed for power.

While not the party's top choice for the gavel, the deeply religious and even-keeled Johnson has few foes and an important GOP backer: Trump.

“He’s a tremendous leader,” Trump said Wednesday at the New York courthouse where the former president, who is now the Republican front-runner for president in 2024, is on trial over a lawsuit alleging business fraud. “He’s going to make us all proud.”

Biden called to congratulate the new speaker and said it’s “time for all of us to act responsibly” to fund the government and provide aid for Ukraine and Israel.

“We need to move swiftly,” the president said in a statement.

In the House, far-right members had refused to accept a more traditional speaker, and moderate conservatives didn't want a hard-liner. But the affable Johnson, who has been in office less than a decade, drew lawmakers together through his evangelical faith, his conservative roots and Trump's nod after more seasoned leaders had failed.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who led the small band of eight hard-liners who ousted McCarthy, said, “You watch and see how much this House of Representatives can actually get done under Mike Johnson.”

Democrats quickly criticized Johnson as an extreme conservative, a strict opponent of abortion access and an architect of Trump's legal effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election he lost to Democrat Biden.

“Republicans have chosen a MAGA acolyte to push an extreme agenda in the House at the expense of middle-class families,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene, the chair of the Democrats' campaign committee, referring to Trump's Make America Great Again campaign slogan.

Anxious and exhausted, Republican lawmakers are desperately trying to move on.

Lawmakers quickly reconvened to get back to work, approving a resolution saying the House “stands with Israel” and “condemns Hamas’ brutal war.” Next, they turned to a stalled government funding bill.

Rather than take a scheduled work period at home, the Republicans rearranged the House calendar to return to Washington next week and keep pushing through the various government funding bills ahead of the Nov 17 deadline.

In a letter to colleagues, Johnson outlined priorities that include providing a stopgap government funding bill, into next year, to prevent a November shutdown — almost the same move that led to McCarthy's ouster.

And while Johnson has spoken of the importance of helping fund Israel in the fight against Hamas, he has shown little interest in providing additional money for Ukraine as it battles Russia into the brutal winter months.

Most Republicans voted against the budget deal McCarthy struck with Biden earlier this year, demanding steeper spending cuts than the levels they agreed to. Johnson will need to navigate the far-right demands with the realities of keeping the government functioning.

Similar Republican infighting chased former GOP speakers John Boehner, Paul Ryan and Newt Gingrich to early departures. The difference now is that Republican rules allow any single lawmaker to force a vote to remove the speaker from office, the threat that ultimately ousted McCarthy.

Johnson's rise comes after a tumultuous month, capped by a head-spinning Tuesday that within a span of a few hours saw one candidate, Rep. Tom Emmer, the GOP whip, get nominated and then quickly withdraw after Trump bashed his nomination.

Overnight, the endorsements for Johnson started pouring in, including from the failed speaker hopefuls. Rep. Jim Jordan, the hard-charging Judiciary Committee chairman backed by Trump, gave his support, as did Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the fellow Louisiana congressman rejected by Jordan’s wing, who stood behind Johnson after he won the nomination.

A lawyer specializing in constitutional issues, Johnson had rallied Republicans around Trump’s legal effort to overturn the 2020 election results.

The congressman, who drew on his Christian beliefs, said to the American people watching, “Our mission here is to serve you well and to restore the people’s faith in this House.”

AP

Acapulco: Mexican authorities gave the first human toll for Hurricane Otis' destruction along the country's Pacific coast Thursday: at least 27 dead and four missing.

Tens of thousands of residents in damaged homes without electricity awaited help more than a day after Otis roared ashore in Acapulco.

Federal Security Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez said there were 27 confirmed deaths and four disappearances. Rodríguez's comments at President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s morning news briefing were echoed minutes later by Guerrero state Gov. Evelyn Salgado.

López Obrador said the destruction was so complete that not a single power line pole remained standing in the impact zone. Small farmers had their corn crops devastated by Otis' wind and pounding rain, he said. Restoring power to the area was a top priority, he said.

“We regret the 27 dead,” López Obrador said. The president said Wednesday night he had been told the toll was 18, but it rose early Thursday. “That's what hurts the most,” he said of the deaths, noting material losses could be replaced.

López Obrador shared details of only one death: He said one soldier was among the dead after a wall of his home collapsed on him.

The early images and accounts were of extensive devastation, toppled trees and power lines lying in brown floodwaters that in some areas extended for miles. The resulting destruction delayed a comprehensive response by the government, which was still assessing the damage along the coast, and made residents desperate.

Many of the once sleek beachfront hotels in Acapulco looked like toothless, shattered hulks after the Category 5 storm blew out hundreds—and possibly thousands—of windows.

There seemed to be a widespread frustration with authorities. While some 10,000 military troops were deployed to the area, they lacked the tools to clean tons of mud and fallen trees from the streets. Hundreds of trucks from the government electricity company arrived in Acapulco early Wednesday, but seemed at a loss as to how to restore power, with downed electricity lines lying in feet of mud and water.

Jakob Sauczuk was staying with a group of friends at a beachfront hotel when Otis hit. “We laid down on the floor, and some between beds,” Sauczuk said. “We prayed a lot.”

One of his friends showed reporters photos of the windowless, shattered rooms in the hotel. It looked as if someone had put clothes, beds and furniture in a blender, leaving a shredded mass.

Sauczuk complained that his group was given no warning, nor were offered safer shelter, by the hotel.

Pablo Navarro, an auto parts worker who was lodged in temporary accommodations at a beach front hotel, thought he might die in his 13th story hotel room.

“I took shelter in the bathroom, and thankfully the door held,” said Navarro. “But there were some room where the wind blew out the windows and the doors.”

Navarro stood Wednesday outside a discount grocery and household goods store near the hotel zone, as hundreds of people wrestled everything from packs of hot dogs and toilet paper to flat screen TVs out of the muddy store, struggling to push loaded metal shopping carts onto the mud-choked streets outside.

“This is out of control," he said.

Isabel de la Cruz, a resident of Acapulco, tried to move a shopping cart loaded with diapers, instant noodles and toilet paper through the mud.

She viewed what she took as a chance to help her family after she lost the tin roof of her home and her family’s important documents in the hurricane.

“When is the government ever going to look after the common people?” she said.

Inside one store, National Guard officers allowed looters to take perishable items like food, but made futile efforts to prevent people from taking appliances, even as people outside loaded refrigerators on top of taxis.

It took nearly all day Wednesday for authorities to partially reopen the main highway connecting Acapulco to the state capital Chilpancingo and Mexico City. The vital ground link allowed dozens of emergency vehicles, personnel and trucks carrying supplies to reach the battered port.

Acapulco’s commercial and military airports were still too badly damaged to resume flights.

Acapulco's Diamond Zone, an oceanfront area replete with hotels, restaurants and other tourist attractions, looked to be mostly underwater in drone footage that Foro TV posted online Wednesday afternoon, with boulevards and bridges completely hidden by an enormous lake of brown water.

Large buildings had their walls and roofs partially or completely ripped off. Dislodged solar panels, cars and debris littered the lobby of one severely damaged hotel. People wandered up to their waists in water in some areas, while on other less-flooded streets soldiers shoveled rubble and fallen palm fronds from the pavement.

Wednesday night the city plunged into darkness. There was no phone service, but some people were able to use satellite phones loaned by the Red Cross to let family members know they were OK.

Alicia Galindo, a 28-year-old stylist in the central Mexican city of San Luis Potosi, was one of the lucky ones to get such a call. Her parents and brother were staying in Acapulco’s Hotel Princess for an international mining conference when Otis hit early Wednesday with 165 mph (270 kmh) winds.

They told her the worst part of the storm was between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. when "windows began to fall, floors broke up, mattresses flew, hallways collapsed, doors fell down ... until everything was gone,” she said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. Fortunately, they escaped unhurt, she said.

However, Galindo had yet to hear from her boyfriend, who was attending the same conference but staying in a different hotel.

On Tuesday, Otis took many by surprise when it rapidly strengthened from a tropical storm to a powerful Category 5 as it tore along the coast.

“It’s one thing to have a Category 5 hurricane make landfall somewhere when you’re expecting it or expecting a strong hurricane, but to have it happen when you’re not expecting anything to happen is truly a nightmare,” said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.

Acapulco is at the foot of steep mountains. Luxury homes and slums alike cover the hillsides with views of the glistening Pacific Ocean. Once drawing Hollywood stars for its nightlife, sport fishing and cliff diving shows, the port has in recent years fallen victim to competing organized crime groups that have sunk the city into violence, driving many international tourists to the Caribbean waters of Cancun and the Riviera Maya or beaches farther down the Pacific coast in the state of Oaxaca.

López Obrador noted that Otis was a stronger hurricane than Pauline, which hit Acapulco in 1997, destroying swaths of the city and killing more than 300 people.

AP

Lewiston: A man fatally shot at least 16 people at a restaurant and a bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday night, sparking a massive search for a person of interest who is a trained firearms instructor. Meanwhile, authorities urged residents to lock themselves in their homes and schools announced closures on Thursday.

The shooting in the state’s second-largest city is the 36th mass killing in the United States this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. The database includes every mass killing since 2006 from all weapons in which four or more people, excluding the offender, were killed within a 24-hour time frame.

Here's what we know about the suspect and where the shooting happened:

Who is the suspect?

A police bulletin identified Robert Card, 40, as a person of interest in the attack. Card was described as a firearms instructor believed to be in the Army Reserve and assigned to a training facility in Saco, Maine.

The document, circulated to law enforcement officials, said Card had been committed to a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer of 2023. It did not provide details about his treatment or condition, but said Card had reported “hearing voices and threats to shoot up” the military base.

The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office released two photos of the suspect on its Facebook page that showed the shooter walking into an establishment with a weapon raised to his shoulder.

Where did the shooting take place?

Lewiston Police said they were dealing with an active shooter incident at Schemengees Bar and Grille and at Sparetime Recreation, a bowling alley about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) away. A number of parents and children were at Sparetime as part of a children’s bowling league.

The bowling alley is about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) north of the Bates College campus, on the outskirts of downtown, and offers traditional tenpin bowling and candlepin, a variant found in New England.

Lewiston is the second-largest city in Maine with a population of 37,000. It emerged as a major center for African immigration into Maine. The Somali population, which numbers in the thousands, has changed the demographics of the once overwhelmingly white mill city into one of the most diverse in northern New England.

Maine has a longstanding culture of gun ownership tied to traditions of hunting and sport shooting. The state doesn’t require permits to carry guns.

The death toll was staggering for a state that in 2022 had 29 homicides the entire year.

What is the aftermath?

A shelter-in-place advisory was issued Wednesday for Androscoggin County, including the community of Lisbon, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) away, after a “vehicle of interest” was found there, authorities said. It was extended Thursday to Bowdoin, which is in Sagadahoc County.

Central Maine Healthcare said Thursday it was closing all physician offices in Lewiston and six surrounding communities for the day. All elective surgery was canceled at Central Maine Medical Center.

Schools in multiple communities were closed out of caution Thursday, including in Kennebunk, an hour away from Lewiston. Classes also were canceled at Bates and Bowdoin colleges, and the Gorham and Portland campuses of the University of Southern Maine.

AP

Parbat: A team from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, Department of Mines and Geology, has recommended the prompt relocation of six houses at Kuwapani of Jaljala Rural Municipality-5 in Parbat. 

The team visited the area on Sept 7 and assessed it as highly vulnerable to disasters and thus not suitable for human habitation, according to Parbat’s Chief District Officer, Prem Acharya. 

A significant landslide at Kuwapani had turned around 85 ropani of arable land into an arid land. Jaljala rural municipality vice chair Deepak Acharya said the landslide due to monsoon rains since late June has posed a grave threat to particularly six houses. The affected families sought refuge in a local community building and relatives' houses and with the rains subsided, they got back to their houses.

Rukum: Prime Minister and CPN Maoist (Centre) Chair, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, has stated that the three-month special transformation campaign launched by the party aims to foster unity among the Maoist factions.

During his address at a party event in Banfikot Rural Municipality-6 in Rukum West today, Dahal said, “We were once the largest party in the country, but regrettably, we later drifted apart, forgetting our commitments to the people. Some even chose to split from the party.”

The Prime Minister asserted that the current government will complete its full five-year term. “We have established a stable government, and the government formation issue in Koshi Province will not adversely affect the coalition.”

“We have also strengthened our diplomatic relationships with neighboring and other friendly nations. These ties will be further consolidated. My visits to India, China, and the United States have revealed that these nations are highly positive about Nepal’s prosperity and development,” he added.

Furthermore, he claimed significant progress has been made in the social sector since the current government took office. As the Prime Minister noted, the government has taken action against loan sharks, arrested individuals involved in gold smuggling, and dealt with the fake Bhutanese refugee scam. “We have received substantial support and cooperation from the political parties in the alliance in this regard.”

‘Incumbent coalition government to serve full five-year term’

Prime Minister Dahal also emphasized that the incumbent coalition government will complete its full five-year tenure. He said that despite political maneuverings aimed at breaking the coalition since its formation, no one can undermine the present government.

He mentioned, “Anarchists and those lacking a clear ideology may attempt to intervene, and federalists and autocrats may try to assert themselves when the coalition government appears weak.”

PM Dahal pointed out that there are efforts to disrupt religious and ethnic harmony in various parts of the country, underscoring the need for a coalition government to address such challenges.

Additionally, he expressed awareness of the overall development of Rukum West and informed the audience that important decisions about the district’s development would be made during the cabinet meeting upon his return to Kathmandu.

Dubai: Dubai has retained its leading position in the MENA region on Kearney’s Global Cities Index, ranking 23rd globally and claiming a spot in the top 25 for the third consecutive year.

According to the report, prominent emerging hubs around the world, particularly in the Middle East, have seen incredible gains in their global city performance amid a changing profile of globalization—and a new distributed geography of opportunity is emerging. Abu Dhabi, for instance, climbed ten spots on the global rankings as it strengthened its position as a leading international hub.

The Global Cities Index (GCI) seeks to quantify the extent to which a city can attract, retain, and generate global flows of capital, people, and ideas. Cities are measured against five key dimensions: Human Capital, Information Exchange, Cultural Experience, Political Engagement, and Business Activity.

Average GCI scores have remained steady following several years of decline, with cities in the Middle East and Africa improving markedly. In particular, the capitals of the Gulf nations made major improvements in their overall scores, with Riyadh, Muscat, and Doha improving their overall rankings by nine, eight, and seven, respectively.

This growth was primarily driven by strong performance in the Human Capital dimension, as they capitalized on the return to pre-pandemic levels of freedom of international travel to attract large volumes of migrant talent and tourism.

Rudolph Lohmeyer, Kearney Partner, National Transformation Institute, commented, “As global trade returns to normalized levels, key cities in the Gulf have emerged as beacons of prosperity, resilience, and opportunity. Their resilient economic performance amid challenging global conditions, combined with a concerted focus on promoting liveability and talent attraction, has drawn ever-greater numbers of expats, making them a remarkable success story in the post-pandemic world. A strong commitment to delivering on ambitious national visions and maintaining a regenerative mindset is paying off.”

While the GCI captures the current state of global city leadership, the Global Cities Outlook (GCO) aims to identify those cities most likely to achieve global prominence in the future. Here, the emergence of a distributed geography of opportunity was also present.

The report added that the European cities maintained a strong presence in the top 30 rankings, while Asia’s global hubs, including Seoul, Osaka, and Chennai, made significant strides. In the US, second-tier metropolitan areas performed particularly well, having successfully attracted talent and capital over the turbulent past few years, positioning themselves as increasingly formidable rivals to more established global cities.

As the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies continues, the intersection of this trend with the already-underway shift toward remote work is expected to further reduce the significance of physical proximity in domains traditionally linked to major cities, potentially causing even greater disruption to global cities.

Brenna Buckstaff, Kearney Manager, National Transformations Institute, said, “In this shifting global landscape of distributed opportunity, top-tier global cities cannot take their positions for granted. The traditional hierarchy of leading cities will only become more fluid in the future as opportunities for growth and enhanced productivity become less concentrated during the coming waves of AI-driven innovation. Those cities that adopt a regenerative model—one that moves beyond resilience and thinks proactively—will have a competitive advantage.”

ANI/WAM

Islamabad: ​​​​​​​Pakistan is setting up deportation centers for migrants who are in the country illegally, including an estimated 1.7m Afghans, officials said Thursday. Anyone found staying in the country without authorization from next Wednesday will be arrested and sent to one of centers.

The move is the latest development in a Pakistani government crackdown to expel foreigners without registration or documents.

Jan Achakzai, a spokesman for the government in southwestern Pakistan's Baluchistan province, said three deportation centers were being set up there. One will be in Quetta, the provincial capital.

Azam Khan, the caretaker chief minister for northwest Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the region also would have three deportation centers. More than 60,000 Afghans have returned home since the crackdown was announced, he said.

Migrants who are living in the country illegally should leave before a Tuesday deadline to avoid arrest, he said.

Pakistan's caretaker interior minister, Sarfraz Bugti, says the deadline will not be extended.

Bugti said during a news conference Thursday that no migrants living in Pakistan without authorization illegally would be mistreated after their arrests. “They will not be manhandled,” he said, adding that they would get food and medical care until their deportations.

They are allowed to take a maximum of $180 out of the country, he said.

The minister warned Pakistanis that action would be taken against them if they are found to be sheltering migrants who are in the country illegally after Nov 1.

The government has information about the areas where these migrants are hiding, Bugti said. Deporting them is a challenge for the state, but “nothing is impossible to achieve it,” he added.

The country hosts millions of Afghans who fled their country during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation. The numbers swelled after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in Aug 2021.

Pakistan says the 1.4m Afghans who are registered as refugees need not worry. It denies targeting Afghans and says the focus is on people who are in the country illegally, regardless of their nationality.

In the southwest Pakistani border town of Chaman, tens of thousands of people protested the crackdown and new plans requiring the town's residents to obtain a visa to cross the border into Afghanistan. They previously had special permits. The protesters included Afghans.

“We have relatives in Afghanistan. We also do business there; we have our shops there,” Allah Noor Achakzai, a 50-year old Pakistani, said

He said Afghans crossed the border into Pakistan everyday and returned home before the crossing closed, and that locals from both countries have gone back and forth on a daily basis for decades.

Last week, a group of former US diplomats and representatives of resettlement organizations urged Pakistan not to deport Afghans awaiting US visas under a program that relocates at-risk refugees fleeing Taliban rule.

The UN issued a similar appeal, saying the crackdown could lead to human rights violations, including the separation of families.

AP