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Spain PM announces fresh flood aid of almost 3.8 bn euros

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The torrents of muddy water wrecked roads and railways, tossed cars, gutted shops and submerged fields © JOSE JORDAN
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Spain on Monday announced fresh measures worth almost 3.8 billion euros to help stricken citizens recover from the country’s worst floods in a generation that have killed 222 people.

But Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez postponed the reckoning for Spain’s political class after tens of thousands of protesters demanded accountability for the disaster, saying the debate must follow the recovery.

The exceptional Mediterranean storm that lashed Spain two weeks ago particularly devastated the wealthy eastern Valencia region, which has suffered most of the deaths and destruction.

The torrents of muddy water wrecked roads and railways, tossed cars, gutted shops and submerged fields, with the final bill expected to soar to tens of billions of euros.

Sanchez on Monday unveiled a second aid package worth 3.76 billion euros ($4 billion) to reinforce aid worth 10.6 billion euros announced last week.

Compensation will be streamlined and extended to cover more residents and property, while farmers will also receive fresh aid totalling 200 million euros, the left-wing premier told a news conference.

Sanchez has compared the measures to the state’s intervention to prop up the economy during the Covid-19 crisis.

The government “will be there with all the necessary resources and for as long as it takes”, he said.

Last week’s aid included support for small and midsize businesses, self-employed workers and households that have suffered deaths, incapacity and damage to homes and belongings.

Tax relief, a three-month postponement to repaying mortgages and loans and central government spending on the immense clean-up work facing local councils were also announced.

Thousands of soldiers, police officers, civil guards and emergency services are repairing wrecked infrastructure, distributing relief and searching for dozens of missing people.

– Regional leader admits ‘errors’ –

Widespread anger at the authorities for their perceived mismanagement before and after the floods triggered mass protests on Saturday, the largest in Valencia city which drew 130,000 people.

Demonstrators have demanded the resignation of Sanchez and the Valencia region’s leader Carlos Mazon as details emerge about the confusion enveloping the regional and central governments during the crisis.

But the government said it was focused on reconstruction.

“Later will come the political debate about what things we must improve in the face of this climate emergency”, Sanchez said.

Mazon on Monday conceded that “errors may have been committed” and that “everyone” would be obliged to review them.

Although Mediterranean storms are common for the time of year, scientists say climate change driven by human activity is increasing the intensity, length and frequency of extreme weather events.

Spain’s national weather service AEMET has forecast another storm bringing heavy rains over the Valencia region this week.

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Israeli forces kill 14 people in Gaza, force new displacement in the north

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A child looks on as Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on tents of displaced people, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip November 13, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed © Thomson Reuters
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By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli military strikes killed at least 14 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, as Israeli forces deepened their incursion into Beit Hanoun town in the north, forcing most remaining residents to leave.

Residents said Israeli forces besieged shelters housing displaced families and the remaining population, which some estimated at a few thousand, ordering them to head south through a checkpoint separating two towns and a refugee camp in the north from Gaza City.

Men were held for questioning, while women and children were allowed to continue towards Gaza City, residents and Palestinian medics said.

Israel’s campaign in the north of Gaza, and the evacuation of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the area, has fueled claims from Palestinians that it is clearing the area for use as a buffer zone and potentially for a return of Jewish settlers.

A Palestinian man inspects the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip November 13, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
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“The scenes of the 1948 catastrophe are being repeated. Israel is repeating its massacres, displacement and destruction,” said Saed, 48, a resident of Beit Lahiya, who arrived in Gaza City on Wednesday.

“North Gaza is being turned into a large buffer zone, Israel is carrying out ethnic cleansing under the sight and hearing of the impotent world,” he told Reuters via a chat app.

Saed was referring to the 1948 Middle East Arab-Israeli war which gave birth to the state of Israel and saw the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their home towns and villages in what is now Israel.

NO PLANS FOR SETTLERS’ RETURN

The Israeli military has denied any such intention, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he does not want to reverse the 2005 withdrawal of settlers from Gaza. Hardliners in his government have talked openly about going back.

A Palestinian firefighter works to extinguish fire following an Israeli strike on tents of displaced people, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip November 12, 2024. REUTERS/Ahmed Mustafa
© Thomson Reuters

 

It said forces have killed hundreds of Hamas militants in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun during its new military offensive, which began more than a month ago. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad armed wing claimed killing several Israeli soldiers during ambushes and anti-tank rocket fire.

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip November 13, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
© Thomson Reuters

 

On Tuesday, the United States stressed at the United Nations that “there must be no forcible displacement, nor policy of starvation in Gaza” by Israel, warning such policies would have grave implications under U.S. and international law.

Medics said five people were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a group of people outside Kamal Adwan Hospital near Beit Lahiya, while five others were killed in two separate strikes in Nuseirat in central Gaza Strip where the army began a limited raid two days ago.

In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, one man was killed and several others were wounded in an Israeli airstrike, while three Palestinians were killed in two separate Israeli airstrikes in Shejaia suburb of Gaza City, medics added.

Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel last October, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 43,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza over the past year, Palestinian health officials say, and Gaza has been reduced to a wasteland of wrecked buildings and piles of rubble, where more than 2 million Gazans are seeking shelter in makeshift tents and facing shortages of food and medicines.

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip November 13, 2024. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
© Thomson Reuters

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No Bomb Explosion In Jos – Commissioner Of Police Debunks Reports

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No Bomb Explosion In Jos – Commissioner Of Police Debunks Reports
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No Bomb Explosion In Jos – Commissioner Of Police Debunks Reports

The Plateau State Command has debunked reports of a bomb explosion in Jos, the state capital, on Tuesday.

There were reports of an explosion in Jos terminus area of Plateau State in the early hours of Tuesday.

However, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Emmanuel Adesina debunked the reports, urging residents to go about their normal activities without fear.

According to the CP, the area is safe and free of any threats to lives and properties.

The CP disclosed this after an on the spot assessment of the area in company of members of his management team.

A statement issued by the Command read, “In the early hours of today the 12th day of November 2024 at exactly 08:20am, the Plateau State Police Command received a report of a shallow dug hole suspected to be planted with an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at Murtala Way beside Old JUTH fence which created panic among the residents of the State.

“Upon receiving this report, the Plateau State Commissioner of Police,CP Emmanuel Olugbemiga Adesina, immediately ordered the Area Commander Metro and the Officer in Charge of the Command’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Unit (Anti-Bomb Squad) to mobilize a team of bomb technicians to the scene in collaboration with the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), “C” Division to assess the situation and take necessary actions.

“On reaching the scene, the area was immediately cordoned and our EOD Team began examination. Upon conclusion of the examination, the hole was found to be safe and free of any explosive devices.”

The CP commended residents for being security conscious and cooperating with the Police throughout the exercise.

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Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut suburbs

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Lebanese Red Cross members work at the site of an Israeli airstrike on the northern Lebanese town of Ain Yaaqoub, Lebanon November 12, 2024. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim © Thomson Reuters
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BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Israeli military carried out at least five airstrikes on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday, after Israel’s defence minister ruled out any ceasefire in Lebanon until Israel’s goals had been met.

Smoke billows over Beirut’s southern suburbs, after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon November 12, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
© Thomson Reuters

 

Smoke rose over Beirut as blasts shook the capital around mid-morning. The explosions followed an Israeli military warning posted on social media identifying 12 sites in the southern suburbs and saying it would take action against them soon. It warned residents they were located near Hezbollah facilities.

Smoke billows over Beirut’s southern suburbs, after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon November 12, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
© Thomson Reuters

 

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the latest strikes. Residents have largely fled the southern suburbs since Israel began bombing the area in September.

In Israel, air raid sirens sounded in parts of the north, sending residents running for shelter, and the military said a number of “suspicious aerial targets” were launched from Lebanon. There were no reports of injuries.

Ignited by the Gaza war, the conflict at the Lebanese-Israeli border had been rumbling on for a year before Israel went on the offensive in September, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes and sending troops into the south.

Israel has dealt heavy blows to Hezbollah over the last seven weeks, killing many of its top leaders including Hassan Nasrallah, flattening parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs, and causing vast destruction in border villages in south Lebanon.

People gather at the site of an Israeli airstrike on the northern Lebanese town of Ain Yaaqoub, Lebanon November 12, 2024. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim
© Thomson Reuters

 

Meeting with Israel’s general staff for the first time, Israel’s newly appointed Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Monday there would be no ceasefire in Lebanon until Israel achieves its goals.

“Israel will not agree to any arrangement that does not guarantee Israel’s right to enforce and prevent terrorism on its own, and meet the goals of the war in Lebanon – disarming Hezbollah and its withdrawal beyond the Litani River and returning the residents of the north safely to their homes.”

Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar had said earlier on Monday there had been “a certain progress” in ceasefire talks, whilst adding the war against Hezbollah was not yet over.

Smoke billows over Beirut’s southern suburbs, after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon November 12, 2024. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
© Thomson Reuters

 

The main challenge facing any ceasefire deal would be enforcement, he said.

Hezbollah has said it is ready for a long war against Israel and has kept up rocket fire.

SOUTH OF THE LITANI

The Lebanese government, which includes Hezbollah, has repeatedly called for a ceasefire based on the full implementation of a U.N. Resolution that ended a war between the group and Israel in 2006.

Lebanese Red Cross members look for remains of bodies at the site of an Israeli airstrike on the northern Lebanese town of Ain Yaaqoub, Lebanon November 12, 2024. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim
© Thomson Reuters

 

The resolution calls for the area south of the Litani to be free of all weapons other than those of the Lebanese state. Lebanon and Israel have accused each other of violating the resolution.

Israel’s offensive has driven more than 1 million people from their homes in Lebanon in the last seven weeks. Since hostilities erupted a year ago, Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed 3,243 people and injured 14,134, the Lebanese health ministry said. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Hezbollah attacks have killed roughly 100 civilians and soldiers in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon over the last year.

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