Category World News

Ruth Chepngetich, a Kenyan woman who broke the women’s marathon world record in Chicago by nearly two minutes, nine minutes, and 56 seconds.

Chepngetich won her third title in Chicago on Sunday, running through a chorus of cheers until the halfway point.

The 30-year-old, who became the first three-time women’s winner of the Chicago race, broke the previous world record of 2: 11: 53 set by Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa last year in Berlin.

Ethiopia’s Sutume Kebede crossed the line seven minutes and 36 seconds later while Kenyan Irine Cheptai (2: 17: 51) was third.

“This is my dream that has come true”, Chepngetich said.

Chepngetich, who also won in Chicago in 2021 and 2022, dedicated her latest victory to Kelvin Kiptum, who set the men’s world record at last year’s race just four months before he died in a car accident at the age of 24.

“The world record has come back to Kenya, and I dedicate this world record to Kelvin Kiptum”, Chepngetich said.

“I’ve struggled a lot, and I think the record is over,” I say.

Runners remember Kiptum

In honor of Kiptum, runners observed a moment of silence at the start line. Organisers also handed out stickers displaying Kiptum’s record-breaking time of 2: 00: 35 for the 50, 000 participants to put on their race bibs.

In the absence of Olympic champion Sifan Hassan, the 2023 Chicago winner, Chepngetich set a blazing early pace and reached the halfway point in 1: 04: 16, the fifth-quickest time in history for a half marathon by a woman.

“The weather was perfect and I was well-prepared. The world record was in my mind”, Chepngetich, who was runner-up to Hassan 12 months ago, told reporters after the race.

By the halfway point, Chepngetich had built a 14-second cushion between herself and Kebede after running the first 5 km (3. 1 miles) in 15 minutes of flat.

She remained astonished as she ran her marathon attempt, which was compared to a moon landing, and she only gained momentum as she ran through the final two miles (3.2) of her distance.

Chepngetich, the 2019 world champion, hunched over in utter exhaustion after breaking the tape but later said “Chicago is like home”.

Her compatriot John Korir won on the men’s side in 2: 02: 44.

The 27-year-old Korir finished ahead of Ethiopia’s Mohamed Esa (2: 04: 39) and another Kenyan, Amos Kipruto (2: 04: 50).

Before he hit the accelerator and lost his rivals after a relatively conservative start, Korir was one of a seven-man group leading the course, which spanned 30 kilometers (18.6 miles).

Vincent Ngetich and Daniel Ebenyo finished with a podium finish, with four of the top five coming from Kenya.

“It was really nice to run my PB and win in Chicago”, Korir said, adding that he too used the memory of Kiptum as a source of motivation.

“Today I was thinking about Kiptum and I said, ‘ Last year if he could run under 2: 01, why not me? ‘ Therefore, I had to give myself a chance and give it my best.

Here is the situation on Monday, October 14, 2024:

Fighting

Politics and diplomacy

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, claims that North Korea has supplied Russia with soldiers as well as weapons.
• According to a government source, US President Joe Biden is scheduled to travel to Germany next week to meet with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and US Chancellor Olaf Scholz. His agenda includes the Middle East and the Ukraine.
• International organizations have been urged by Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman to respond to claims that several Ukrainian prisoners of war were put to death in the Kursk region of Russia.

Economy

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, claims that North Korea has supplied Russia with soldiers as well as weapons.

In his video address on Sunday night, Zelenskyy stated that “we see an increasing alliance between regimes like North Korea.” It’s no longer just about transferring weapons, they say. People from North Korea are actually being transferred to the occupying military forces.

In light of Russia’s growing alliances, he said Ukraine and its allies needed to change their strategy, and he also reiterated his call for more military support to stop a bigger war.

“The front line needs more support”, he said. It’s not just a list of military tools when we talk about expanding Ukraine’s long-range capabilities and increasing our forces’ decisive supplies. It’s about putting more pressure on the perpetrator, pressure that will be greater than Russia’s capacity allows. And it’s about preventing a bigger war.

Zelenskyy’s appeal to Ukraine’s allies to permit the country’s allies to attack military installations deep inside Russia and reduce its potential for war has so far failed.

He stated that he would try his hardest to get that approval.

The entire next week will be dedicated to working with our partners for the sake of such strength, for the sake of true peace, he said.

Presidents of the West were scheduled to meet on the subject last week in Germany, but President Obama spokesman delayed his visit as Hurricane Milton weakened Florida.

He is now scheduled to visit Germany this week, where the Ukraine war is at its highest priority.

Kim Yong-hyun, the country’s minister of national defense, stated last week that there was a “high possibility” that North Korea would send soldiers to assist Russia on the Ukrainian battlefield.

He added that it was “highly likely” that rumors that North Korean officers had been killed in a Ukrainian attack on Russian-occupied territory were accurate.

The remarks were described as “fake news,” according to Russia.

Since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, North Korea and Russia have forged closer ties.

Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, traveled by train to eastern Russia in September 2023 to meet with President Vladimir Putin, visit military installations, and visit arms factories.

Putin, meanwhile, travelled to Pyongyang in June on his first visit to the country in 24 years with Kim promising his “full support and solidarity” for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

North Korea is accused of providing Russia with weapons by the US, South Korea, and Ukraine.

According to the World Bank, the 26 poorest nations in the world are now more indebted than they have ever been since 2006 and are becoming more prone to shocks and natural disasters.

The poorest economies are worse off today than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, even though the rest of the world has largely recovered, the Washington, DC-based lender said in a report released on Sunday.

Per capita income fell an average of 14 percent between 2020 and 2024 due to COVID-19 and subsequent overlapping crises, according to the report.

According to the World Bank, countries will require additional annual investments equivalent to 8% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) through 2030, which is twice the average annual investment of the previous ten years.

But despite the need for greater assistance, net official development assistance as a share of GDP has plummeted, falling to a 21-year low of 7 percent in 2022, the report said.

“At a time when much of the world simply backed away from the poorest countries, IDA]International Development Association] has been their main lifeline”, said Indermit Gill, the World Bank Group’s chief economist and senior vice president for development economics.

“Over the past five years, it has poured most of its financial resources into the 26 low-income economies, keeping them afloat through the historic setbacks they suffered. IDA has worked to improve healthcare, provided safe drinking water, and provided employment to many children. Low-income nations will need to increase investment to a rate unheard of if they want to emerge from a state of chronic emergency and accomplish crucial development goals.

Additionally, the report found that low-income nations are significantly more vulnerable to natural disasters than other developing nations.

Between 2011 and 2023, natural disasters inflicted average annual losses of 2 percent of GDP – five times the average losses in lower-middle-income countries, the World Bank said.

Low-income countries’ costs, the report claims, are also five times higher than those for climate change, accounting for 3.5% of GDP annually.

Lower-income nations could help themselves, but they also needed assistance from richer economies, according to Ayhan Kose, the World Bank’s deputy chief economist and director of the Prospects Group.

By reducing the need for taxpayer registration, tax collection, and administration, they can expand their tax base. Additionally, Kose noted that they have room to improve how efficiently public spending is spent.

With less than a month until the US presidential election, Kamala Harris may be losing ground to Donald Trump.

Three polls released on Sunday show that Harris’ lead over Trump has narrowed or completely lost as the race for the White House approaches its climax.

The Democratic and Republican nominees are tied on the most recent NBC News poll, which is a change from Harris’ five-point lead in the same survey last month, which was held at 48 percent ahead of the November 5 vote.

In the latest ABC News/Ipsos poll, Harris leads 50 percent to 48 percent among likely voters. In the same poll last month, the Democrat tipped with 52% to 46%.

The latest CBS News/YouGov poll shows Harris up 51 percent to 48 percent among likely voters, compared with a four-point advantage last month.

Following the latest figures, Harris holds a 1.4 percent point lead in Real Clear Polling’s aggregate of major polls, slipping from 2.2 percent on Saturday.

Democrats worry that Harris is undermining support in two of the party’s most important constituents, Hispanics and African Americans, as the polls are getting tighter.

Despite her success among women of all races, Harris has struggled to pique the interest of men, including those from African Americans and Hispanics, who have recently become more and more drawn to Trump.

Harris won over 56% of Hispanic voters and 78 percent of Black voters in the latest polls from The New York Times/Siena College, which is significantly lower than the Democratic nominees’ victory in the 2020 and 2016 elections.

Former president Barack Obama criticized Black men on Thursday for not showing as much enthusiasm for Harris’ candidacy as he had received during his campaigns in 2008 and 2012.

“You’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I’ve got a problem with that”, Obama said at a campaign event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of seven key battleground states expected to decide the election.

Because it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and reasons for that, and I’m speaking to men directly, part of it makes me think.

Harris and Trump on Sunday continued to focus their campaigns on the battleground states, holding events in North Carolina and Arizona, respectively.

At a campaign rally in Greenville, North Carolina, Harris took aim at Trump for spreading misinformation about the government’s response to recent hurricanes.

“The problem with this, beyond the obvious, is it’s making it harder, then, to get people life-saving information if they’re led to believe they cannot trust”, Harris said.

The idea that those in need have been persuaded that the forces are working against them in a way that would prevent them from requesting aid is what causes the pain in the beginning.

Trump, meanwhile, used a rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona to call for the hiring of 10, 000 additional Border Patrol agents.

Just days after Taiwan, the self-ruled democratic island, celebrated its National Day, China’s military has launched a new round of war games near Taiwan.

The exercises, dubbed Joint Sword-2024B, were taking place in “areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan island” Captain Li Xi, the spokesman for the Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command, said on Monday.

He added that the drills were “focusing on subjects of sea-air combat-readiness patrol, blockade on key ports and areas” and would also involve an “assault on maritime and ground targets”.

Without specifying a date for their conclusion, he continued, saying that the drills were “legitimate and necessary operations for safeguarding state sovereignty and national unity.”

Taiwan’s Ministry of Defence expressed its strong condemnation of China’s “irrational and provocative act” and said it had “dispatched appropriate forces to respond accordingly to protect freedom and democracy, and defend the sovereignty” of Taiwan.

China has increased its military presence in Taiwan, which it claims to have its own, recently. The latest drills come just days after the island’s President William Lai Ching-te gave his first National Day address, promising he would resist any “annexation or encroachment” and that Beijing had no right to represent the island’s 23 million people.

“It was widely anticipated that the PLA]People’s Liberation Army] would conduct military exercises following Lai’s National Day speech”, Bonnie Glaser, the managing director of the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific programme, told Al Jazeera. The drills show that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is determined to defend Chinese territory to the domestic audience. Additionally, they are intended to caution Taiwan and Washington against crossing Beijing’s red lines.

Beijing cited the drills as a warning to the “separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces,” not a defense against using force to subdue Taiwan.

It has condemned Lai, who was elected in January and took office in May, as a “separatist” and previously staged military exercises, Joint Sword-2024A, three days after his inauguration.

Lev Nachman, a professor of political science at the National Taiwan University in Taipei, said China’s actions were no surprise.

“While military threats are no small matter, we all knew the PRC]People’s Republic of China] would respond to Lai’s Double Ten Day speech with military threats of some sort”, Nachman wrote on X. “There is no need to panic or overreact. We all saw this coming. It will pass quickly”.

Lai also appeared to be reaching out to Beijing in his speech on October 10 by urging Beijing to use its influence to end conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. He expressed hope for “sane and orderly dialogue and exchanges.”

China’s state-run Global Times, in an analysis of the speech published on Sunday, quoted analysts describing Lai’s speech as a “poison pill wrapped in cellophane”.

Beijing has attempted to remove Taiwan from international media, censoring its interactions with global forums, and poaching its lone formal diplomatic allies.