While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Sept 20
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Hezbollah militants carrying the coffin of a member who was killed the previous day by the explosion of a communication device, in southern Lebanon on Sept 19.
PHOTO: AFP
US warns all parties against escalation in the Middle East
The United States on Sept 19 warned all parties in the Middle East against escalation as tensions between Iran-backed Lebanese movement Hezbollah and Israel remained high, saying Washington’s priority is to find a diplomatic solution.
“We will continue to stand by Israel’s right to defend itself, but we don’t want to see any party escalate this conflict, period,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a regular briefing.
The Middle East is on edge after deadly attacks that blew up radios and pagers of militant group Lebanon-based Hezbollah, killing 37 people and wounding around 3,000 and overwhelming Lebanese hospitals and wreaking bloody havoc on the group.
A source familiar with the matter said US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin has postponed a trip to Israel planned for next week.
Mpox is not under control in Africa, warns Africa CDC
The mpox outbreak in Africa is still not under control, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) warned on Sept 19, adding that cases were still increasing in several countries.
The World Health Organisation declared the recent outbreak of the disease a public health emergency of international concern after the new variant was identified.
Countries in the continent are struggling to respond to another major outbreak, coming on the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic that exposed weak health systems that were unprepared to deal with a major public health crisis.
Study reinforces theory Covid-19 emerged at Chinese market
A study on the origin of Covid-19 provided new evidence on Sept 19 supporting the theory that humans first caught the virus from infected animals at a Chinese market in late 2019.
Nearly five years after Covid-19 first emerged, the international community has not been able to determine with certainty exactly where the virus came from.
The first cases were detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, but there have been bitter disputes between proponents of the two main theories.
Kadyrov accuses Musk of ‘remotely disabling’ Cybertruck
Ramzan Kadyrov, the powerful leader of Russia’s Chechen Republic, accused Elon Musk on Sept 19 of disabling a Tesla Cybertruck that he claimed to have received from the billionaire in August.
Mr Kadyrov, who has ruled Chechnya with an iron fist for over 17 years, shared a video in August of him driving around in the electric vehicle with what appeared to be a machine gun mounted on its roof.
Mr Kadyrov said he received the vehicle from Mr Musk, a claim that the Tesla owner called a lie on his social media platform X.
Verstappen riled by call for F1 drivers to swear less
Max Verstappen said Formula One should not air team radio if the sport was concerned about bad language after the head of the governing FIA compared drivers to foul-mouthed rappers.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem told motorsport.com that the FIA had asked Formula One Management to minimise the amount of swearing on television. The Emirati said drivers also had a responsibility.
“We’re not rappers, you know,” the FIA president was quoted as saying. “Imagine you are sitting with your children and watching the race and then someone is saying all of this dirty language. I mean, what would your children or grandchildren say? What would you teach them if that is your sport?”
