Israel Strikes Hamas In Gaza After Rocket Attack

Israel strikes Hamas in Gaza after rocket attack, as region heats up

Israeli aircraft carried out airstrikes in the Gaza Strip early Friday, hours after three rockets were fired from the Palestinian enclave at Israel.

Palestinians reported large explosions near Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that warplanes and other aircraft carried out attacks on a “wide array of targets belonging to the Hamas terror group. … constituting a real blow to Hamas’s abilities to build up [its forces].”

The army said among the targets hit was an underground facility used to manufacture weapons. The army in the past has been criticized for carrying out mostly impotent retaliatory strikes seemingly designed to display force while minimizing casualties to keep violence from snowballing.

No injuries were reported as a result of the strikes. Widespread power outages were reported in Rafah.

Rockets, explosive balloons and sniper shots were fired from #Gaza into #Israel throughout the day. 

We just responded by striking Hamas terror targets in Gaza including underground infrastructure used to manufacture weapons. 

We hold Hamas responsible. 

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 31, 2020

The military said the strikes, the second round in two hours, were in response to rocket fire Thursday night, as well as balloons with explosives attached being sent over the border and sniper fire on an IDF watchpost on Thursday.

Tensions between Israel and Gaza have been steadily rising over the past two weeks after several months of relative calm. Fears have mounted in recent days of an escalation of violence in Gaza and the West Bank following the release of a US peace plan that is seen as heavily favoring Israel.

Israel carried out airstrikes in southern Gaza on Thursday afternoon in response to the cross-border sniper fire and after a bundle of balloons connected to an explosive device were found in the area of the Ashkelon Coastal Regional Council.

On Wednesday night a mortar was fired from Gaza at Israel, prompting retaliatory airstrikes.

On Wednesday evening, the military announced it was deploying additional troops to the Gaza border and West Bank amid concerns that Palestinians may respond violently to the peace plan, which was released on Tuesday.

WHO Declares Global Virus Emergency

WHO declares global virus emergency after deadliest day for China

By SÉBASTIEN RICCI

The World Health Organization on Thursday declared a global emergency over the deadly coronavirus spreading from China, after the Asian giant reported its biggest single-day jump in the death toll.

The UN health agency based in Geneva had initially downplayed the threat posed by the disease, which has now killed 170 people in China, but revised its risk assessment after crisis talks.

“Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing in Geneva.

“We must all act together now to limit further spread… We can only stop it together.”

Tedros nevertheless said travel and trade restrictions with China were unnecessary to stem the spread of the virus, which has spread to more than 15 other countries across the globe.

Many countries have already urged their citizens not to visit China, while some have banned entry for travelers from the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus first surfaced.

The US reported its first case of a person catching the virus from another person on American soil – a man in Chicago who contracted the illness from his wife, who had traveled to Wuhan.

Rockets Fired Into Israel, IDF Responds - Tensions Again Increasing At Gaza Border

Three rockets fired from Gaza, newborn hurt in rush to shelter 

Three rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel late Thursday night, the Israel Defense Forces said, as tensions in the region continued to heat up.

There were no direct injuries, but an infant suffered head injuries during a rush into a bomb shelter in Sderot.

Two of the rockets were shot down by the Iron Dome anti-missile system. A third landed in an unpopulated area.

There were no immediate reports of damage.

Rocket alert sirens sounded in Sderot, at Sapir College, in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, and in several nearby kibbutzim, including Ibim, Gevim and Nir Am.

The infant, 3-weeks old, was hurt when her mother fell while running into a shelter in Sderot. The newborn was listed in moderate condition at Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva and the mother, 30, had light injuries, the Magen David Adom rescue service said.

The attack came hours after the Israeli Air Force carried out strikes on the southern Strip in response to cross-border fire earlier in the day, amid fears of an escalation of violence in Gaza and the West Bank following the release of a US peace plan that is seen as heavily favoring Israel.

Even before the release of the peace plan, forces in the south had been battling a resurgence of balloons with explosives or incendiary devices being launched from Gaza, which have continued to terrorize communities.

On Thursday morning, a bundle of balloons connected to an explosive device were found in the area of the Ashkelon Coastal Regional Council. There were no injuries.

Rocket sirens sound in south for second time in 24 hours

Rocket sirens sounded in an Israeli town just north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday afternoon, sending hundreds of people rushing to bomb shelters.

The military said the alarms, which were heard in the community of Kibbutz Yad Mordechai in the Hof Ashkelon region of southern Israel, were not caused by a rocket launch.

The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately comment on what had triggered the sirens.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

“No impact sites have yet been found and there are no physical casualties,” a Hof Ashkelon spokesperson said.

Earlier in the day, a balloon-borne explosive device detonated in the air over Hof Ashkelon, causing neither injury nor damage, the spokesperson said.

The sirens came less than 24 hours after Palestinian terrorists fired at least one mortar shell at southern Israel on Wednesday night, striking an open field and causing no injuries or damage, the military said.

In response Israeli aircraft attacked several sites in the Gaza Strip. The army said it hit “Hamas targets including a weapons manufacturing site and underground infrastructure.”

There were no immediate reports of Palestinian casualties.

The mortar attack triggered sirens in the community of Kibbutz Kissufim in the Eshkol region.

Pacific Ocean's Increasing Acidity

Crab shells and shark skin dissolve in Pacific Ocean increased acidity

People living along the US Pacific Northwest coast shouldn’t only be scared about the overdue Cascadia earthquake and tsunami, but also about their waters becoming blobby and more acidic. Yes, because, ocean acidification is bad and has nasty consequences on the marine life. It can turn fish into dangerous weapons as shown by last week needlefish attack in Indonesia. And it can have rather more devastating consequences… Right now the Pacific Ocean is becoming so acidic it is starting to dissolve the shells and sensory organs of a key species of crab and to destroy sharks’ denticles.

A new study has determined that the Pacific Ocean’s increasingly acidity dissolves the shells of newly hatched Dungeness crabs.

The team of researchers used a scanning electron microscope to analyze samples of Dungeness crabs collected during a 2016 NOAA research cruise along the Pacific Northwest coast. 

The new data show that increased acidity dissolves the shells and destroys sensory organs of young Dungeness crab, making them more vulnerable to predators, limiting shell effectiveness in supporting the growth of muscles and increasing the loss of important sensory and behavioral functions.

The researchers say that aberrant behavioral patterns found across various crustacean species such as slower movement, less tactile, prolonged searching time, as well as impaired swimming is mot probably due to increased acidity.

These new results have surprised more than a few biologists who were thinking that the Dungeness crab were not vulnerable to current levels of ocean acidification.

Another recent study has demonstrated that the acidic water is damaging the tiny scales on sharks’ skin, decreasing the shark habilities to swim and hunt, thus directly impacting on its fragile ecosystem.

The new results show that dentricle damage occur very fast – 9% destroyed after only nine weeks of exposure.

Cruise Ship Quarantined With 6,000 On Board

Cruise news: Coronavirus fears sees ship with 6,000 quarantined on board

By SIMON OSBORNE

The Coast Smeralda was placed on lockdown in the port of Civitavecchia when its captain told the harbourmaster and coast guard chiefs a husband and wife from Hong Kong were being held in isolation in the on-board hospital with flu-like symptoms such as high temperatures and breathing difficulties. Around 6,000 fellow passengers plus 1,000 crew members have been refused permission to leave ship.

Lazio Coast Guard's maritime director Vincenzo Leone said: "We are waiting to know the outcome of the checks still in progress, but everything that needed to be done has been done.

“The situation is under control and at the moment there is no reason for concern on board.

"We immediately activated the maritime health protocol envisaged in these cases."

Doctors from the Spallanzani hospital in Rome have boarded the ship to carry out some tests on the couple who joined the cruise at Savona a few days ago after arriving in Italy at Malpensa  on January 25.

The towering cruise liner sailed into Civitavecchia, a port city about 50 miles northwest of Rome, after spending the night docked in Palma, Majorca. It has also stopped in Marseille and Barcelona during its voyage around the western Mediterannean.

Police, port authorities and public health officials are all at the dockside awaiting further developments.

An Italian passenger named Filippo posted photos of passengers sitting on the floor and in dining or common areas as they waited for updates.

He said: "Meanwhile in Civitavecchia we are stuck in Costa ship without knowing the reason officially.

"People are mostly tired. We are worried because officially on board crew say nothing about. They talk about 'normal' controls.

"We don't know when we'll disembark the ship."