Israeli airstrikes kill at least 35 in Rafah area designated for the displaced, say Gaza authorities; Israel reviewing incident — ground.news: 159 media reports — 26 May 2024 (LINK)

Pakistan arrests 11 Islamist militants linked to suicide bombing that killed five Chinese engineers — ground.news: 8 media reports — 26 May 2024 (LINK)

Armenians throng center of the capital to demand the prime minister's resignation over controversial village handover to Azerbaijan — ground.news: 25 media reports — 26 May 2024 (LINK)

Bored teenage Killer whales have been ramming and sinking boats and yachts in the Strait of Gibraltar — npr.org — 26 May 2024 (LINK)

Swiss experts produce sustainable chocolate amid cacao tree decimation — jpost.com/span> — 26 May 2024 (LINK)

Israeli officials: ICJ ruling gives leeway to continue Rafah offensive: 'We did not and will not commit genocide,' says national security adviser, adopting minimalist view of ambiguous verdict — Reuters ● — (LINK)

Burkina Faso extends military rule for 5 years to 2029 — ground.news: 54 media reports — 26 May 2024 (LINK)

U.S. the world's best country for tourism, according to the World Economic Forum — ground.news: 8 media reports — 25 May 2024 (LINK)

— The others (in order): Spain, Japan, France, Australia, Germany, U.K., China, Italy,

Former Swiss TV presenter Susanne Wille, 50, Head of Culture, becomes the new SRG Director General — ground.news: 6 media reports — 25 May 2024 (LINK)

Global life expectancy dropped by 2 years due to Covid in 2019-2021, reversing a decade of progress: WHO — ground.news: 36 media reports — 24 May 2024 (LINK)

Pandemic agreement talks end without a deal — lemonde — 24 May 2024 (LINK) — ground.news main source: AP, 40 media reports (LINK)

More than 100 people believed killed by a landslide in Papua New Guinea, Australian media report — ground.news: 73 media reports — 24 May 2024 (LINK)

Iran's military says Raisi's helicopter caught fire soon after crash and there was no sign of attack — ground.news: 26 media reports — 25 May 2024 (LINK)

French court issues life sentences to three senior Syrian Assad officials in absentia for war crimes alleging involvement in the deaths of two French-Syrian men arrested in 2013 and declared dead in 2018 — ground.news: 52 media reports — 24 May 2024 (LINK)

— includes GAIA article expansion.

Three Christian missionaries from Oklahoma-based group killed in Haiti — Reuters ● — 24 May 2024 (LINK)

China testing ability to 'seize power' in second day of military drills around Taiwan — The Guardian UK ● — 24 May 2024 (LINK)

Louisiana becomes first US state to classify abortion pills as controlled substances — Reuters ● — 24 May 2024 (LINK)

World Court orders Israel to halt assault on Gaza's Rafah — Reuters ● — 24 May 2024 (LINK)

Three weeks after a mob attacked pro-Palestinian activists encamped at the University of California, Los Angeles, police have made their first arrest in the violence, a man they say was seen in video footage beating victims with a wooden pole. — Reuters ● — 24 May 2024 (LINK)

A New Jersey electrician who repeatedly attacked police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, siege at the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Friday to 12 years in prison by a judge who called him "a menace to our society" — AP — 24 May 2024 (LINK)

Century-old BCG vaccine protects diabetics from severe COVID-19 and other infectious diseases — thebrighterside.news — 24 May 2024 (LINK)

Google Search's AI falsely said Obama is a Muslim. Now it's turning off some results — CNN — 24 May 2024 (LINK)

Man who took 'most viewed photo ever' explains how he did it — and it's not what you think — uniladtech — 24 May 2024 (LINK)

Heather Cox Richardson: "The Republican Party is in the midst of a civil war" — substack — 24 May 2024 (LINK)

UNEP for World Environment Day, 5 June: Seven ways to restore land, halt desertification and combat drought — UNEP — 23 May 2024 (LINK)

— "Governments and businesses have a leading role to play in reversing the damage humanity has done to the Earth. But everyday people also have a vital role to play in restoration, which is crucial to our future as a species."

Practical guide — worldenvironmentday — (LINK)

Russia will identify U.S. property, including securities, that could be used as compensation for losses sustained as a result of any seizure of frozen Russian assets in the United States, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin — Reuters ● — 23 May 2024 (LINK)

Pentagon: Over 1 million pounds of aid reaches Gaza via U.S. pier — axios.com — 23 May 2024 (LINK)

Red Crescent staff death toll in Israel-Hamas clashes rises to 29 — Al Jazeera — 23 May 2024 (LINK)

Carlo Acutis, a London-born teenager who died in Italy at 15 from leukemia, is set to be the first millennial saint after Pope Francis attributed a second miracle to him, leading to his canonization. The miracle involves Carlo curing a Brazilian boy of a birth defect in 2020, and he was known as 'God's influencer' for spreading the Catholic faith through technology — ground.news: 39 media reports — 23 May 2024 (LINK)

Many Americans mistakenly think the economy is shrinking and the stock market is tanking: inflation over past 3 years, comparisons are made with 2019, and there's the end of COVID stimulus. Note: the factors that have changed the US economy in the last few years are more influential than anything Trump or Biden has done. — finance.yahoo.com — 23 May 2024 (LINK)

TikTok rolls out new rules to limit the reach of state-affiliated media accounts on its platform — ground.news: 13 media reports — 23 May 2024 (LINK)

Bjorn Lomborg: Green activists don't care how many people will die from zero fossil fuel use — nypost — 23 May 2024 (LINK)

Good Riddance to The Good Doctor for its portrayal of autism — time — 23 May 2024 (LINK)

Rishi Sunak calls UK election for 4 July — ground.news: 351 media reports — 22 May 2024 (LINK)

At least 5 killed, dozens injured by Iowa tornadoes as powerful storms slam Midwest, hitting small Iowa city of Greenfield, Adair County — CBS — 22 May 2024 (LINK)

Prescriptions for weight loss, diabetes drugs for young people leaped 600% since 2020, study says — CNN — 22 May 2024 (LINK) — ground.news: 22 media reports (LINK)

Russian drones struck energy sites early on Wednesday and knocked out power to some parts of Ukraine's northern Sumy region, regional officials said. Ukraine says last Russian cruise missile ship in Crimea destroyed on 19 May; give us Russia's frozen assets, not just the interest, says Kuleba. What we know on day 819 — The Guardian UK ● — 22 May 2024 (LINK)

Sam Altman's OpenAI signs content agreement with News Corp — ground.news: 19 media reports — 22 May 2024 (LINK)

Harvard board bars 13 pro-Palestine student protesters from graduating, overruling faculty — ground.news: 6 smedia reports — 22 May 2024 (LINK)

Heather Cox Richardson: Trump's law strategy in hush money trial: memories of Senator McCarthy — substack — 22 May 2024 (LINK)

— MAGA's Trump surrogates make allegations and statements only in front of television cameras or on podcasts and radio. They refuse to make them under oath in a court of law, where there are penalties for lying.

Klaus Schwab, 86, to step down as WEF chairman after 53 years — ground.news: 33 media reports — 22 May 2024 (LINK)

— Schwab will become the non-executive chairman pending Swiss government approval, with the change expected before the 2025 annual meeting. The WEF's executive board, led by WEF President Bórge Brende, has been managing executive responsibilities in Schwab's absence.

Biden administration suspends funding for scientist at center of COVID lab leak theory — thehill.com/span> — 22 May 2024 (LINK)

FBI challenges Trump's claim about "use of deadly force" order in Mar-a-Lago search: "No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter [which] includes a standard policy statement limiting the use of deadly force." — axios.com — 22 May 2024 (LINK)

EU accused of funding units that dump migrants in North African desert — ground.news: 22 media reports — 21 May 2024 (LINK)

Six killed, including opposition leader Christian Malanga, in a 'foiled coup' in Congo, the army says — ground.news: media reports — 21 May 2024 (LINK)

— Armed men in military uniform attacked the residence of a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi, Vital Kamerhe, but the guards stopped them. Congolese army spokesperson reported two guards were killed, and Malanga died in a shootout with presidential guards during the coup attempt. Authorities in Congo are accusing three Americans of involvement.

U.N. halts all food distribution in Rafah after running out of supplies in the southern Gaza city — ground.news: 105 media reports — 21 May 2024 (LINK)

Reuters: Gaza aid piles up in Egypt, US pier delivery falters: the Rafah crossing remains closed and there has been no aid delivered to a U.N. warehouse from a U.S.-built pier for two days — Reuters ● — 21 May 2024 (LINK)

US says 569 tons of aid brought to Gaza via pier so far — timesofisrael — 21 May 2024 (LINK)

Australia and New Zealand sending planes to evacuate nationals from New Caledonia's unrest — ground.news: 64 media reports — 21 May 2024 (LINK)

— Riots erupted after France approved voting reforms unpopular with the indigenous population. The following violence led to six deaths and left hundreds injured.

Hundreds of hostages, mostly women and children, are rescued from Boko Haram extremists in Nigeria — ground.news: 15 media reports — 21 May 2024 (LINK)

EU countries have formally adopted a plan to fund Ukraine's defence using profits from $300bn in Russian central bank assets frozen in the EU. Under the agreement, 90% of the proceeds will go into an EU-run fund for military aid for Ukraine against Russia's invasion, with the other 10% going to support the Ukrainians in other ways. The EU expects the assets to yield about €15bn–€20bn in profits by 2027. Ukraine is expected to receive the first tranche in July, EU diplomats have said. The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, is meanwhile pushing fellow G7 nations this week to agree a plan to use Russian assets frozen abroad to back a larger loan to help Ukraine. Yellen has said it could be worth up to $50bn to Ukraine. — The Guardian UK ● — 21 May 2024 (LINK)

— Russian forces have started military drills near Ukraine simulating the use of tactical nuclear weapons. Vladimir Putin ordered the drills after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, floated the possibility ofThe former commander of Russia's 58th army, Ivan Popov, was arrested on suspicion of "large scale fraud", state-run Tass news agency reported. Popov, military call sign "Spartacus", commanded Russian units in southern Ukraine. He criticised his superiors about the deaths of Russian soldiers. sending European troops into Ukraine, and the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, said Ukraine had the right to use weapons supplied by Britain to target sites in Russia.

— The former commander of Russia's 58th army, Ivan Popov, was arrested on suspicion of "large scale fraud", state-run Tass news agency reported. Popov, military call sign "Spartacus", commanded Russian units in southern Ukraine. He criticised his superiors about the deaths of Russian soldiers.

AI companies agree to voluntary safety commitments — ground.news main source: AP, 23 media reports — 22 May 2024 (LINK)

Takeaways from a tense Day 19 of the Trump hush money trial — CNN — 21 May 2024 (LINK)

Geneva, Zurich, Basel and St. Gallen express interest in hosting Eurovision 2025 — wiwibloggs — 21 May 2024 (LINK)

Iran's Supreme Leader approves Mokhber as interim president, declares 5 days mourning — ground.news: 57 media reports — 20 May 2024 (LINK)

— Iranian President Raisi and Foreign Minister confirmed dead in helicopter crash. Helicopter crashed in northern Iran's Varzaqan region after a dam inauguration ceremony. Two out of the three helicopters in the president's convoy landed safely. — (LINK)

ICC seeks arrest warrants for Netanyahu and top Hamas leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity — ground.news: 185 media reports — 20 May 2024 (LINK)

Biden slams ICC prosecutor's 'outrageous' request for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, emphasizing there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas — ground.news: 98 media reports — 20 May 2024 (LINK)

Ukrainian president calls for Nato states to help intercept Russian missiles and to allow Kyiv to use weapons against Russian military equipment on border. Says Western allies are taking too long to make key decisions on military support for Ukraine as Russia is expected to step up its offensive in the north-east. — The Guardian UK ● — 20 May 2024 (LINK)

Zelensky's presidential term expires, but Ukrainian leader to remain in power amid war — CNN — 20 May 2024 (LINK)

UN Security Council rejects Russia-backed resolution on banning weapons in space: the council evenly split 7-7 between backers of the U.S. and of Russia, with Switzerland abstaining. The measure failed under U.N. rules because it didn't receive nine votes — ground.news: 41 media reports — 20 May 2024 (LINK)

Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader heads to reelection as competitors concede early — ground.news: 73 media reports — 20 May 2024 (LINK)

Julian Assange wins High Court bid to bring appeal against extradition to US — ground.news: 53 media reports — 20 May 2024 (LINK)

In a victory for Assange and First Amendment, UK Court on 20 May granted right to appeal — truthout.org — 29 May 2024 (LINK)

More than third of Amazon rainforest struggling to recover from drought, study finds — The Guardian UK ● — 20 May 2024 (LINK)

Jennifer Nadel, co-director of Compassion in Politics: Reforming Parliaments for better mental health, what the U.K. needs to do — The Guardian UK ● — 20 May 2024 (LINK)

— An independent HR system that supports MPs in governance and leadership, mandatory training, enforceable standards of conduct, an independent ethics commission; electronic voting, which would allow MPs to vote without being pushed, shoved and cajoled by colleagues into the voting chambers a modern parliament building that's fit for purpose; an overhaul of outdated language; measures to prevent the talking out of private member's bills; systems that are designed to maximise efficiency and de-escalate conflict.

Microplastics detected in human testicles, raising fertility concerns — ndtv.com — 20 May 2024 (LINK)

Trump Media reports $770,500 revenue for first quarter, net loss of $327.6 million — CNBC — 20 May 2024 (LINK)

Lauterbrunnen, Swiss village overwhelmed by tourists, wants to charge visitors for entry — CNN — 20 May 2024 (LINK)