Iceland declares state of emergency, evacuates residents over threat of volcanic eruption: Nearly 800 quakes were recorded between midnight and 2 p.m. on Friday, with the shallowest at a depth of 3-3.5 kilometers (1.86-2.18 miles), according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office — accuweather — 12 November 2023 (LINK)

House Speaker Mike Johnson proposes 2-step stopgap funding bill to avert government shutdown: extending government funding for some agencies and programs until Jan. 19, and continuing funding for others until Feb. 2 — cbsnews — 12 November 2023 (LINK)

USB stick saves world's largest bank in cyber crisis — cryptopolitan — 12 November 2023 (LINK)

— ICBC, the world's largest bank, experienced a significant cyberattack, disrupting its ability to clear U.S. Treasury trades and forcing it to use a USB stick for critical data transfer. The attack, suspected to be from the ransomware group Lockbit with Russian ties, caused widespread disruption in financial markets, prompting urgent security reviews and responses.

More than 180,000 join marches against anti-Semitism in France — aAl Jazeera — 12 November 2023 (LINK)

Fashion mogul Peter Nygard found guilty of 4 counts of sexual assault — cnn — 12 November 2023 (LINK)

Vatican announces Pope Francis dismisses conservative Texas bishop and critic Joseph Strickland — Reuters / theguardian — 12 November 2023 (LINK)

New plastic innovation self-heals and feeds marine life — .onegreenplanet.org — 12 November 2023 (LINK)

— A team at the University of Tokyo has crafted a breakthrough with a plastic called VPR. It's an advanced type of epoxy resin vitrimer that's sturdy at room temperature but transforms under heat. What's more, it's been engineered to be less brittle and more dynamic, thanks to a molecule named polyrotaxane.

VPR can be chemically recycled with ease. Heat and a particular solvent disintegrate it down to its base components, ready for reuse. And if it ends up in the ocean, it's less of a villain than traditional plastics. After a month in seawater, VPR biodegraded by 25% and became a snack for sea creatures.

South China Sea: Dozens of Chinese ships chase Philippine vessels — AP — 11 November 2023 (LINK)

UNOCHA describes Somalia floods as "once-in-a-century event": 44 people dead in Kenya and Somalia as heavy rains and flash floods displace 300,000 and could affect 1.6m in Somalia — ground.news: 14 media reports — 11 November 2023 (LINK)

IDF kills Hamas commander who held 1000 Gazans hostage at hospital — ground.news: 18 media reports — 11 November 2023 (LINK)

— According to the IDF, Siam was hiding at the al-Buraq school in Gaza City, along with other Hamas operatives under his command when the Israeli troops neutralized him two days after the hospital incident.

126 arrested in London as counterprotesters disrupt pro-Palestinian rally: about 300,000 people counted — AFP / scmp — 11 November 2023 (LINK)

150 Bangladesh garment factories shut, 11,000 workers charged over violent protests for higher minimum wage — ground.news: 12 media reports — 11 November 2023 (LINK)

Myanmar media announce military court has sentenced general ousted from ruling council to 5 years for corruption — ground.news main source: AP, 18 media reports — 11 November 2023 (LINK)

Unprecedented AI-generated fake news targets International Olympic Committee (IOC) implicating corruption and using Tom Cruise's voice — see_link — 11 November 2023 (LINK)

— The release of the fake documentary coincides with the IOC’s suspension of the National Olympic Committee of Russia, a decision linked to their recognition of regional sports organizations in disputed Ukrainian territories.

More than 800 Sudanese reportedly killed in attack on Darfur town earlier in November, UN says — ground.news: 29 media reports — 11 November 2023 (LINK)

A child killed on average every 10 minutes in Gaza, says WHO chief — ground.news: 47 media reports — 10 November 2023 (LINK)

UN warns violence in Sudan 'verging on pure evil': more than half of Sudan's population needs humanitarian aid — ground.news: 19 media reports — 10 November 2023 (LINK)

Israel revises estimate of October 7 Hamas attack death toll from 1400 to 'around 1200' — ground.news: 60 media reports — 10 November 2023 (LINK)

Israel agrees to daily four-hour pauses in northern Gaza assault for aid deliveries with 3 hours notice, White House says — usatoday — 10 November 2023 (LINK)

UN rights chief urges probe of Israel's 'high-impact' weapons — Reuters ● — 10 November 2023 (LINK)

US troops face further attacks in Iraq: drones and explosives have targeted a convoy and two airbases — Al Jazeera — 10 November 2023 (LINK)

EU has 'Plan B' if Hungary vetoes 50 billion euro aid for Ukraine — Reuters ● — 10 November 2023 (LINK)

RSF and 16 partners unveil Paris Charter on AI and Journalism — rsf.org — 10 November 2023 (LINK)

A Swiss startup is building computers using human neurons to cut emissions — qz.com — 10 November 2023 (LINK)

UN report outlines war's devastating impact on Palestinian economy: a 4% shrink in GDP, pushing over 400,000 people into poverty, and 45% of Gaza's housing units destroyed or damaged. — ground.news: media reports — 9 November 2023 (LINK)

— If the conflict continues, the Palestinian GDP could drop by 12%, leading to a loss of $2.5 billion and pushing over 660,000 people into poverty.

Miss Universe pageant owner files for bankruptcy in Thailand 1 year after purchase — ground.news: 20 media reports — 9 November 2023 (LINK)

China's biggest lender ICBC hit by ransomware attack by Lockbit group with links to Russia — ground.news: 33 media reports — 9 November 2023 (LINK)

US Surgeons perform world's first whole eye transplant: the surgery involved more than 140 healthcare professionals — ground.news: 181 media reports — 9 November 2023 (LINK)

Consensus definition of sustainable chemistry at last: sets a clear direction for science, governments and investors — chemistryworld — 8 November 2023 (LINK)

WMO alert — El Niño to last until April 2024 — cosmosmagazine — 8 November 2023 (LINK)

Hollywood actors strike: Union reaches tentative deal with studios — AP — 8 November 2023 (LINK)

UK forests face catastrophic ecosystem collapse within 50 years, study says — Forestry — 8 November 2023 (LINK)

The world's best countries for remote working: Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany, plus Spain; Sweden; Portugal; Estonia; Lithuania; Ireland and Slovakia. Switzerland tops the 2023 Index for social safety, which considers the physical security and protection of remote workers — NordLayer — 8 November 2023 (LINK)

Do green labels mean anything? — cosmosmagazine — 8 November 2023 (LINK)

How anesthesia blocks consciousness; while propofol anesthesia allows sensory information to reach the brain, it disrupts the spread of signals across the cortex. This suggests that consciousness requires synchronized communication throughout the brain — neurosciencenews — 8 November 2023 (LINK)

A new cheating technique has professors outmatched: Chegg.com — https://phys.org/news/2023-11-technique-professors-outmatchedand-chatgpt.html — 8 November 2023 (LINK)

What is COP28 and why does it matter? — euronews — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

Israel targets Hamas tunnels in new phase of Gaza war — ground.news: 51 media reports — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

Israel Defence Forces show videos of Hamas rockets near playgrounds, swimming pools — ground.news: 26 media reports — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

— Hamas has fired over 8,000 rockets at Israeli civilians.

Israel may have 'security responsibility' for Gaza for 'indefinite period' after war ends, Netanyahu says — The Guardian UK ● — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

Bill Gates backs novel device promising wind energy at 1/3 the cost — newatlas.com — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

— Wyoming's Airloom Energy has come out of stealth mode with a new CEO fresh out of Google, US$4 million in seed funding, led by Bill Gates's Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, and a radically different technical approach that it says fundamentally upends the financial equation for wind farms.

Parkinson's disease: a neuroprosthetic to correct walking disorders — epfl — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

Governments should stop converting land use, says UNCCD scientist — phys.org — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

— Globally, up to 40% of land is now degraded. "The clothes we are wearing today are probably contributing to land degradation somewhere else." The data release comes ahead of a meeting of world leaders and experts in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on 13 November to review global progress towards land degradation neutrality.

Data show Greenland's ice shelves have lost more than a third of their volume since 1978 — ground.news main source: Nature Communications, 16 media reports — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

At least 7 civilians killed and 20 others wounded after a minibus exploded in the Afghan capital — ground.news: 30 media reports — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

— The Islamic State (IS) group later claimed the attack — its second targeting the Shiah neighbourhood in a matter of weeks.

Unification Church in Japan plans to set aside up to US$66 million in a compensation fund for manipulative fundraising — ground.news main source: AP, 18 media reports — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

The US sanctions Mexican Sinaloa cartel members and firms over fentanyl trafficking — ground.news main source: AP, 14 media reports — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

Global wine production expected to fall to 62-year low for 2023 — ground.news main source: OIV , 33 media reports — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

WeWork, once valued at $47 billion, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy — restructuring agreement with its key stakeholders to reduce its existing funded debt — ground.news: 104 media reports — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

— As per a filing with the New Jersey bankruptcy court, the SoftBank Group-backed company, founded in 2010, listed assets of $15.06 billion and liabilities of $18.66 billion as of June 30.

Saudi Aramco Q3 profit falls 23% on lower crude oil prices, volumes — ground.news: 6 media reports — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

Meta restricts use of Generative AI tools in political adverts — cryptopolitan — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

AI-generated faces look just like real ones — but evidence shows your brain can tell the difference: test results suggest there is a distinction between how we behave and what our brains "know". On the one hand, participants couldn't consciously tell synthetic faces from real ones, but on the other, their brains could recognise the difference, as revealed by their EEG activity. — theconversation — 7 November 2023 (LINK)

Just 4% of top companies meet UN climate target guidelines — Reuters ● — 6 November 2023 (LINK)

FAO says food system adds $10 trillion in hidden costs — ground.news: media reports — 6 November 2023 (LINK)

UK's Prince William announces seven-nation cooperation to win the fight against illegal wildlife trafficking: He highlighted that wildlife populations have decreased by almost 70% in the last 50 years, with traffickers developing sophisticated networks to smuggle wildlife products — ground.news: 17 media reports — 6 November 2023 (LINK)

UAE to set up field hospital in Gaza with 150-bed capacity — ground.news: 9 media reports — 6 November 2023 (LINK)

Jewish New Yorkers peacefully occupy Statue of Liberty to demand Gaza ceasefire, accusing Israeli Government of "genocidal bombardment" of civilians — ground.news: 22 media reports — 6 November 2023 (LINK)

Sudan's military conflict is getting closer to South Sudan and Abyei, UN envoy warns — ground.news: 15 media reports — 6 November 2023 (LINK)

Separatist gunmen kill at least 20 in anglophone western Cameroon — ground.news: 28 media reports — 6 November 2023 (LINK)