التصنيف: أخبار

Airdrops are a last resort. They are inefficient, inaccurate, expensive and dangerous.

They are only chosen as an option when things are really desperate.

The White House spokesman admitted as much just after President Biden announced that America would carry out airdrops into Gaza.

“There are no missions more complicated than humanitarian assistance airdrops,” Admiral John Kirby said.

Mr Biden’s decision is all the more remarkable because America is dropping aid to counter the consequences of a war being prosecuted with American weapons by one of its closest allies. This is a war run by Israel and enabled by America.

This is not Mount Sinjar in Iraq where the US military airdropped aid into a town besieged by Islamic State in 2014. It’s not Berlin in 1948, blockaded by the Soviet Union.

Israel has near-total military control of the most of Strip. Israel controls the aid that gets into Gaza. It comes in through just two crossings in the south and in what aid agencies and the UN have said are wholly insufficient quantities.

The Erez crossing in the north of the Strip, where people are said to be close to starvation, is shut.

And yet Israel’s army, with its own supplies, passes in and out of Gaza daily through several crossings.

Israel’s security minister said this week that the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza is “madness while abductees are still being held”. A plain-sight call for the collective punishment of a desperate population.

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America’s decision to airdrop aid into Gaza is a tacit admission of fundamental failure.

It is also unlikely to do much to ease the humanitarian disaster.

Airdrops are inefficient because only small amounts of aid can be dropped at a time – pallets of food parachuted off the back of planes.

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They are inaccurate because you have no control over precisely where the aid will land.

They are dangerous because the aid drops could hit people as they land and because they could cause stampedes on the ground. Usually aid is distributed with the coordination of aid officials on the ground.

They are expensive because they require significant Air Force coordination.

In short – this is a stark illustration of just how much of a [man-made] disaster Gaza now is.

Animal rights activists have disrupted Victoria Beckham’s catwalk show at Paris Fashion Week.

PETA campaigners stormed the runway at the as the 49-year-old designer, who found fame in pop group the Spice Girls, showcased her autumn/winter 2024 collection on Friday.

Protesters walked alongside the models holding up signs saying “viva vegan leather”.

Their T-shirts read: “Animals aren’t fabric. Turn your back on animals skins.”

The group said while Beckham’s brand has banned the use of fur and exotic skins, “it still uses a large quantity of cruelly obtained leather, particularly calfskin”.

The organisation said it had also staged demonstrations on the catwalks of Coach in New York, Burberry in London, and Fendi in Milan this season.

PETA’s Mimi Bekhechi said: “No garment or accessory is worth violently slaughtering and skinning a sensitive and intelligent animal.

“We are urging Victoria Beckham to turn instead to the ethical and eco-friendly innovations available today, such as high-end leather made from apples, grapes, pineapples, mushrooms and more.”

Seemingly unfazed, Beckham appeared at the end of the show and blew kisses as she hobbled the length of the runway on crutches, which matched her outfit, to applause from the audience.

Her husband, former England footballer David Beckham, revealed in an Instagram story last month she had had a “little accident in the gym” and shared a photo of her foot in a boot.

Beckham, who was in the audience along with their children in a show of support, gave his wife a peck on the cheek.

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He was sat on the front row next to the renowned doyenne of fashion and editor-in-chief of American Vogue Anna Wintour.

Her latest collection, which “reimagines classic silhouettes” and focuses on “effortless yet complex constructions”, comprised a number of suits, dresses and other ensembles.

This season saw Beckham go down a more avant garde path, with sculptural elements and coats with necklines zipped up almost to models’ noses.

A prominent feature was tights, both sheer and white, as well as high-waisted bell bottom trousers – a 70s trend also seen at Chloe.

Beckham’s representatives have been approached for comment.

A lone killer whale has been captured killing a great white shark in an “unprecedented” attack.

The incident took place off the coast of Mossel Bay in South Africa at around 3pm on 18 June 2023 and has now been documented in the African Journal of Marine Science.

Previous reported attacks have always involved between two and six whales, or orcas, and have taken the creatures around two hours.

But on this occasion, it took the lone orca just two minutes to kill the juvenile great white that is believed to have weighed around 100kg and measured 2.5m.

Dr Alison Towner, of Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, described the incident as “unprecedented” and “astonishing”.

Writing in the journal, she describes a team being launched at around 2pm that day following sightings of two well-known orcas Starboard and Port.

Scientists have been studying and filming the pair working together to hunt great white sharks since 2022.

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At 3.02pm, researchers on the boat saw the great white emerge from the water – and Starboard immediately after.

They described how the whale “gripped the left pectoral fin of the shark and thrust forward with the shark several times before eventually eviscerating it”.

Soon after the orca reappeared with “a bloody piece of peach-coloured liver in its mouth”.

Esther Jacobs, of Keep Fin Alive, who witnessed the event from the boat, told Sky News: “I saw Starboard approaching the great white from behind and my stomach dropped.

“It was actually then devastating to see Starboard thrust forward and grab the shark in its jaws.

“I couldn’t believe how quick it was. It felt like a lifetime to see what I thought was this top predator get taken out so quickly and easily.”

According to the researchers, Port and Starboard appear to have often aimed for sharks’ livers, which are rich in energy and nutrients.

A shark’s liver takes up around a third of its body weight, according to Dr Towner, and is “packed full of nutrients and lipids”.

“Because killer whales are so specialised and so efficient at what they do, they often just take a specific portion of their prey and discard the rest.

“The liver is obviously the part of the shark they are interested in.”

The pair work together well, with their dorsal fins bent in opposite directions, encircling their prey so as not to get attacked themselves.

The 18 June incident not only reveals more about orcas’ hunting capabilities but also suggests great whites could be at risk of being displaced from coastal sites.

A drone hit a five-storey apartment building in Russia on Saturday morning, with some of the country’s media outlets pointing the finger at Ukraine.

Residents of the building in St Petersburg reported a strange sound, a blast and then a fire just after 7am local time.

One resident, Elena, told Reuters news agency: “I first heard a whistle, because I had just opened the window, then a pop, a blaze and a full apartment of smoke, the window flew out.”

Russia’s Rosgvardiya national guard said 100 people were evacuated, while Russian news agency RIA Novosti said six people needed medical help after the explosion.

Video from the scene showed the building’s facade with blown-out windows, damaged balconies, shattered glass and wreckage on the ground.

Russian media outlets said the incident could have been caused by a downed Ukrainian drone which had been heading towards a fuel depot nearby.

Ukraine’s defence ministry said it “did not possess information about the indicated situation” and Russia’s defence ministry has not commented.

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Meanwhile, at least five people were killed and others feared trapped under rubble when a Russian drone hit an apartment building in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa.

Elsewhere in Ukraine air defences shot down 14 of 17 drones that entered the airspace controlled by the country, officials said.

More than 20 settlements in Kharkiv province sustained Russian artillery and mortar attacks, while high-rise buildings in the regional capital, also called Kharkiv, were damaged by a drone attack, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov reported.

It is just over two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, in an escalation of the conflict that started in 2014.

Alexei Navalny’s mother and mother-in-law have laid flowers at his grave in Moscow the day after thousands of people attended his funeral in a public show of defiance.

Both women, dressed in black, stood quietly at the opposition leader’s burial place before leaving.

Mr Navalny, who was President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest domestic critic, died at the age of 47 in an Arctic penal colony on 16 February.

Supporters said he had been murdered, while the Kremlin has denied any involvement in his death.

Amid a heavy police presence, thousands of people gathered to bid farewell to Mr Navalny on Friday, with some chanting his name and saying they would not forgive the Russian authorities for his death.

By Saturday, his grave in a Moscow cemetery not far from where he once lived was covered with flowers left by thousands of mourners.

His mother Lyudmila visited her son’s grave for the second day.

While police did not move against mourners, at least 106 people were detained at events across Russia in Mr Navalny’s memory.

A rights group that tracks political arrests said most were stopped while trying to lay flowers at monuments dedicated to victims of Soviet repression.

Mr Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, was not seen at the funeral, although her mother Alla was at the scene.

Yulia has vowed to continue his work, and thanked him for “26 years of absolute happiness”.

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The funeral followed a battle with authorities over the release of his body.

His team said several Moscow churches refused to hold the funeral for the man who crusaded against official corruption and organised massive protests.

One mourner visiting the graveside said of Mr Navalny, who rose to prominence exposing what he said was major corruption among the ruling elite, “He was the one who had opened my eyes to the existing political situation in Russia.

“I followed all of his investigations closely.”

Another mourner said they were there “to honour the memory of the man who has become a symbol of perseverance for me”.

The jailed dissident collapsed and failed to regain consciousness, amid suspicious circumstances.

Mr Navalny was serving a lengthy prison sentence following years of persecution that included poisoning with a nerve agent in 2020.