Israeli strike kills 4 civilians in southern Lebanon, state media says — ground.news main source: AP, 24 media reports — 5 May 2024 (LINK)

Biden administration pauses one ammunition shipment to Israel, reason unclear — ground.news main source: CNN, 21 media reports — 5 May 2024 (LINK)

Netanyahu's Cabinet votes to close Al Jazeera offices in Israel — ground.news: 210 media reports — 5 May 2024 (LINK)

Kenya floods death toll at 228 as crisis persists — ground.news main source: Reuters, 51 media reports — 5 May 2024 (LINK)

3 bodies in Mexican well identified as Australian and American surfers killed for truck's tires — ground.news: 78 media reports — 5 May 2024 (LINK)

An afternoon with the new Swiss Guards: Preparing for a mission of faith and service — catholicnewsagency — 5 May 2024 (LINK)

WFP chief warns that famine in Northern Gaza is already 'full-blown' — Time — 4 May 2024 (LINK)

Togo ruling party wins sweeping majority in legislative poll, final provisional results show — ground.news: 32 media reports — 4 May 2024 (LINK)

Sadiq Khan wins historic third term as London mayor — ground.news: 150 media reports — 4 May 2024 (LINK)

Armed groups in Gaza rob Bank of Palestine branches of $70m last month — ground.news: 37 media reports — 4 May 2024 (LINK)

Afghanistan's only female diplomat resigns in India after gold smuggling allegations — ground.news: 26 media reports — 4 May 2024 (LINK)

UN agencies prepare for Rafah incursion, warn of 'slaughter': World Health Organization announced contingency plans — ground.news: 40 media reports — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

Destruction in Gaza hasn't been seen since World War II: reconstruction could take 80 years: UN estimating that the reconstruction process will cost up to $40 billion — ground.news main report: AP, 23 media reports — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

— Israel's war on Gaza, now on its 210th day, has killed at least 34,622 Palestinians — 70 percent of them babies, children and women — and wounded over 77,867. About 7,000 others remain missing, most believed to be buried under the rubble.

— The United Nations said it would take at least until 2040 to restore the homes devastated in Israel’s bombing and ground offensive if the conflict ended today.

Report: U.S. demanded last month that Qatar to expel Hamas leaders if they refuse Gaza cease-fire deal — ground.news: 20 media reports — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

Russia has been accused before the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva of "carrying out a deliberate attack on a hospital in Syria" — Pass Blue — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

— The legal action "highlights Moscow's repeated use of military force against health care facilities in Syria, where its forces have been supporting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad," the complaint states. Filed on May 1, it focuses on a series of airstrikes on Kafr Nabl Surgical Hospital in Idlib province on May 5, 2019. "If successful, the complaint — which is being put forward by the Open Society Justice Initiative, and Professor Philip Leach, a leading U.K. human rights law expert — could be the first time Moscow is held to account before any international court or tribunal over violations committed in Syria (given the inability of the ICC to open an investigation in Syria).

A military court sentences 8 Congolese army soldiers to death for cowardice, other crimes — ground.news: 10 media reports — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

WFP warns Sudan's warring parties that Darfur risks starvation and death if aid isn't allowed in — ground.news: 29 media reports — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

134 protesters arrested on 2 campuses had no connection to schools, NYPD says: More than a quarter of protesters arrested Tuesday at Columbia and 60% at the City College of New York had no connections to the schools — washingtonpost — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

What's really happening on U.S. college campuses, according to student journalists: pver 50 schools. Nearly 2,000 arrests. One canceled graduation ceremony — so far: the most widespread campus unrest since the 1960s — politico — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

— "The protests mostly consist of chanting, praying and singing. There have been instances of counterprotests from those in support of Israel, including at Thursday evening's demonstration. The only time I have seen conflict arise firsthand is when police officers have gotten involved by yelling out warnings and initiating arrests."

— "The NYPD came on campus to clear the encampment. In speaking to some people who were actually arrested, they said there was excessive use of force. I heard people were being just grabbed and thrown on the ground. Outside of the encampment on the public street, which hadn't been fenced in, people were being thrown away from the protests and arrested, and it wasn't really clear what they were being arrested for."

— "Folks were sprayed with pepper spray, there was pushing, shoving between police and demonstrators. And through it all, there were also pretty significant numbers of counterprotesters."

— "UCLA's campus was met with extreme violence. After counterprotesters attempted to seize the encampment in our main plaza, there were a lot of injuries. One of our reporters was also injured and classes were canceled on Wednesday."

Over 13,000 covid vaccine-injury compensation claims have been filed with the U.S. federal government — but to little avail. Only 19 percent have been reviewed. Only 47 of those were deemed eligible for compensation, and only 12 have been paid out, at an average of about $3,600 — nytimes ● — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

Ukrainians 'have the right to strike inside Russia', says David Cameron. France's Macron stands firm on potentially sending troops; sanctions on Russian gas leave Gazprom with record annual loss. What we know on day 800 — The Guardian UK ● — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

Brazil floods: State of emergency in Rio Grande do Sul — Deutsche Welle ● — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

Canadian police detain alleged assassins of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar — ground.news main source: Canadian Press, 82 media reports — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

Germany summons Russian envoy over cyberattack that targeted the Social Democrats (SPD): the Czech Republic said its institutions too have been targeted by APT28, also known as Fancy Bear and controlled by Russia's GRU military intelligence service — Deutsche Welle ● — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

Nepal's top court puts cap on number of Everest climbers — ground.news: 18 media reports — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem falsely claims she met Kim Jong Un in dog-killing memoir — rollingstone — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

Hope Hicks, the former White House communications director once considered to be a confidante to Donald Trump, bolstered the prosecution's case that Trump's team went to great lengths to bury negative stories during the 2016 election. — yahoo — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

SEC charges newly appointed Trump Media auditor with 'massive fraud' on hundreds of companies, imposes lifetime ban — CNBC — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

— The share price of Trump Media, which owns the Truth Social app, was down 9% shortly after trading began.

China launches historic mission to retrieve samples from far side of the moon — ground.news: 149 media reports — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

Dropbox hit with massive data breach: The breach enabled the hackers to gain unauthorized access to a service account that was part of the product’s back-end: granted the attacker access to the production environment and, subsequently, the customer database — coingape.com — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

New form of mpox that may spread more easily found in Congo’s biggest outbreak — pbs.org — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

UK: Civil servants union appeals against Rwanda law as 66 migrants rescued — Deutsche Welle — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

Russian troops enter base housing US military in Niger, US official says — ground.news: 92 media reports — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

Summer heat hits Asia early, killing dozens as one expert calls it the "most extreme event" in climate history — cbsnews.com — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

Dubai flights canceled, schools and offices shut as rain pelts UAE just weeks after deadly floods — CNN — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

Turkey halts trade with Israel over 'humanitarian tragedy' in Gaza: worth almost $7bn last year. — BBC — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

American oil tycoon accused of trying to conspire with OPEC to inflate prices — CNN — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

Ex-government employee charged with falsely accusing co-workers of joining Capitol riot — AP — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

German police bust Europe's 'largest' scam call center: Authorities say the operation thwarted over €10 million in damages and led to 21 arrests in the Western Balkans and Lebanon — Deutsche Welle ● — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

Copernicus: Switzerland says it can't afford to take part in EU climate change monitoring programme — euronews.com — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

Vail Resorts completes purchase of Crans-Montana resort facilities for $130m, second in Switzerland: $30m investment over next 5 years on "gastronomic effiencies" and snowmaking — powder.com — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

Cannes Film Market will shine a spotlight on Switzerland as Country of Honor: a key co-producer and co-financer in European cinema — hollywoodreporter.com — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

Whistleblower Joshua Dean, who raised concerns about Boeing jets, dies at 45 from a MRSA bacterial infection — NPR — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

Captain, 70, gets four-year sentence for gross negligence in 2019 Conception boat disaster that killed 34 — LA Times — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

Jan. 6 defendant who 'fed' officer to Trump mob is sentenced to 4 years in prison — nbcnews.com — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

Orangutan seen treating wound with medicinal herb in first for wild animals — ground.news: 83 media reports — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

Future of contract fixers stirred debate on 2 May at inaugural Geneva Dry conference designed to be annual summit for the global dry bulk shipping community, shipping’s largest sector — splash247 — 9 May 2024 (LINK)

— With close to 600 delegates from 48 nations, 51 sponsors, and nine exhibitors, the show brought together every rung of the commodities shipping supply chain for the first time — (LINK)

Europe’s worst destinations for pickpocketing — euronews.com — 2 May 2024 (LINK)

CERN gives green light to build new experiment to search for unknown particles: "We observe things that should be impossible according to the Standard Model" — phys.org — 1 May 2024 (LINK)

EU, UN reschedule launch of anti-human trafficking project in Cambodia after questions about venue: a Phnom Penh hotel owned by a Cambodian tycoon who has another property that has been used by human traffickers — ground.news main source: AP, 10 media reports — 1 May 2024 (LINK)

— The U.N. said the event's location was "under review". The launch of the EU-U.N. "PROTECT" project, which aims to help prevent violence against women and children, human trafficking and migrant smuggling, had been set to take place May 3 in Cambodia in the Phnom Penh Hotel. The facility is owned by L.Y.P. Group, a conglomerate entirely run by the family of tycoon Ly Yong Phat, a Cambodian senator with close ties to Prime Minister Hun Manet.

— Though Ly Yong Phat himself has not faced any human trafficking charges, a casino run by his business has been raided at least twice, and both times authorities rescued people who had been forced to work there in call-center scams and other illicit activities.

The UN's nuclear watchdog chief will visit Iran next week as concerns rise about uranium enrichment — ground.news main source: AP, 12 media reports — 1 May 2024 (LINK)

'The misuse of non-staff personnel is rampant within the United Nations system.' The UN's dependence on insecure, short-term contracts to power its workforce is "tantamount to unfair labour practices", warns a report by the UN's management and administrative watchdog — thenewhumanitarian.org — 3 May 2024 (LINK)

Mass fish die-off in southern Vietnam's Dong Nai province as heatwave roasts Southeast Asia — ground.news: 10 media reports — 1 May 2024 (LINK)

Solomon Islands lawmakers elect pro-China former Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele as new prime minister — ground.news: 53 media reports — 1 May 2024 (LINK)

At least ten people have died and 21 have disappeared after the passage of a storm that has been described as "the greatest disaster" in the Brazilian state Rio Grande do Sul, in the south of the country, after the passage of a storm that has left heavy rains. "We are going through what will be the major catastrophe in our state. It is a very critical moment, absolutely out of the ordinary," declared the state governor, Eduardo Leite — ground.news: 34 media reports — 1 May 2024 (LINK)

Fed keeps rates steady as it notes lack of further progress on inflation — ground.news: 125 media reports — 1 May 2024 (LINK)

More than 300 arrested at Columbia and City College protests, mayor says — ground.news: 65 media reports — 1 May 2024 (LINK)

A surprise arrest and a corruption scandal hint at splits in Putin's inner circle — NBC — 1 May 2024 (LINK)

Ukraine unveils AI-generated foreign ministry spokesperson — The Guardian UK ● — 1 May 2024 (LINK)

— The foreign ministry's press service said that the statements given by Victoria Shi would not be generated by AI but "written and verified by real people". "It's only the visual part that the AI helps us to generate," Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, said, adding that the new spokesperson was a "technological leap that no diplomatic service in the world has yet made". The main reason for creating her was "saving time and resources" for diplomats, he said. Shi's creators are a team called the Game Changers who have also made virtual-reality content related to the war in Ukraine.

Harvey Weinstein, 72, faces New York retrial in September after 2020 rape conviction overturned — ground.news: 41 media reports — 1 May 2024 (LINK)