Despite being the reigning champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, Armand Duplantis claims he could lose his pole vault title at the Tokyo World Championships.
On the opening day of the Games, the men’s pole vault final takes place on September 13 with Duplantis’ chance to break a 14th world record two days later.
Through direct mass murders and the physical destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure, Israel is complicit in the United States’ involvement in the genocide in the country. Israel performs the dirty work. Through its veto power at the UN, the US government funds it and provides diplomatic support. Through Lavender, Palantir creates the artificial intelligence needed for effective mass murder. The Israeli army receives core tech infrastructure from Microsoft through the Nimbus  initiative, Google and Amazon, and Azure cloud services.
As a public-private partnership between Israel and the US, this commemorates war crimes in the twenty-first century. The UN, Amnesty International, the Red Cross, Save the Children, and many others have all confirmed Israel’s widespread starvation of Gaza’s residents. The Norwegian Refugee Council and 100 other organizations have been calling for the Israeli government to end its use of food aid. For the first time in the Middle East, mass starvation has been confirmed.
The hunger is devastating in scope. More than two million people are routinely denied food by Israel. At least 132, 000 children under the age of five are at risk of dying from acute malnutrition, and more than half a million Palestinians are suffering from catastrophic hunger. In a recent article titled “Starvation is Everywhere,” Haaretz enthralled readers and covered the scale of the horror. The Israeli army frequently fires at those who have access to food distribution centers.
The intention to starve Israel has always existed, as a former US ambassador to Israel recently pointed out. There is no one who feeds its enemies, according to Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu. Whoever doesn’t evacuate, don’t let them, according to minister Bezalel Smotrich, who just recently said. They can either surrender or die without water or electricity. We want this, exactly.
However, US representatives at the UN continue to deny the facts and provide cover for Israel’s war crimes despite these glaring declarations of genocide. In 2024, the US vetoed Palestine’s membership in the UN. Another violation of international law is now denied to Palestinian leaders who want to travel to the UN in September.
The US has used its veto of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians and to thwart even the most basic humanitarian measures with its veto of its own in the UN Security Council (UNSC). Before the Israel-US murder machine, the world is horrified but appears paralyzed. Even in the face of US indolence, the world still has the ability to act. The US will be completely silent about its illegal cooperation with Israel.
Let’s be clear. The Palestinian people’s majority is supported by humanity. 172 nations, representing more than 90% of the world’s population, voted in favor of Palestine’s right to self-determination in December. In terms of opposition, Israel and the US were essentially at odds with one another. Similar sentiments are frequently expressed in opposition to Israel’s actions and in support of Palestine.
Israel’s protracted government now relies solely on US support, but that may not last. Despite Trump’s intransigence and the US government’s attempts to silence pro-Palestinian voices, only 33% of Americans support the UN’s recognition of Palestine. Additionally, 60% of Americans oppose Israel’s actions in Gaza.
What are some start-up actions that the world can take.
First, Turkiye has set the right course by removing all ties to Israel in terms of trade, shipping, and air travel. A State of Palestine is admitted to the UN as the 194th member, with borders on June 4, 1967, and Turkiye is right to treat it as such until Israel’s mass starvation ends. Following Turkiye’s example, other states should follow right away.
Second, all UN member states that have not yet recognized Palestine should do so. 147 nations have so far endorsed Palestine. Even despite the US’s vehement objections, hundreds more should attend the UN summit on Palestine on September 22.
Third, the Arab countries that signed the Abraham Accords, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates, should suspend diplomatic ties with Israel until the State of Palestine is admitted to the UN and the Gaza siege is over.
Fourth, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) should remove Israel from the UNGA until its murderous siege of Gaza, using the precedent of suspending South Africa under its apartheid regime, by a vote of two-thirds of the members present and voting. The UNGA does not grant the US a veto.
Fifth, UN member states should halt exporting all technology services that support the conflict until the UNSC approves Palestine’s membership. Consumers around the world should be angry with companies like Amazon and Microsoft that continue to support the Israeli military in a genocide.
In addition, the UNGA should send a UN Protection Force to occupied West Bank and Gaza. The UNSC typically authorizes a protection force, but in this instance, the US will veto the council’s veto. Another approach is available.
When the UNSC is in a deadlock, the UNGA has the authority to act under the “Uniting for Peace” mechanism. The UNGA would be able to address the issue in its resumpted 10th emergency special session on the Israel-Palestine conflict following a UNSC session and the almost unavoidable US veto. In that case, the UNGA can authorize a protection force in response to a State of Palestine’s urgent request by a two-thirds majority, which is unrestricted by the US veto. The UN Emergency Force (UNEF) was given the UNGA’s permission to enter Egypt in 1956 to protect it from the United Kingdom, France, and Israel’s ongoing invasion.
The protection force would enter Gaza to obtain emergency humanitarian aid for the country’s famined population at Palestine’s invitation. The UN protection force would be authorized to defend itself and the Palestinians in Gaza if Israel launched an attack. It’s unknown whether Israel and the US would dare to join a UNGA-mandated force in a fight to save the ailing Palestinians.
Israel has crossed the clear line between starving people to death and shooting them as they wait in line for food. There is neither time to lose nor a new line to cross. As it hasn’t in decades, the family of nations is being tested and called into action.
French female boxers have been barred from competing at the inaugural World Boxing Championships in Liverpool after failing to meet a deadline for a genetic sex test that the French Boxing Federation (FFBoxe) said was incompatible with French law.
World Boxing, which issued a list of competitors for Thursday’s opening rounds with no French entrants included, said it would not comment on individual cases but added that it had warned all federations about its policy.
FFBoxe said it was informed on July 21 that all female athletes needed to provide results of a “femininity test” during registration for the competition, which started on Thursday.
French law prohibits the federation from conducting the tests domestically or abroad without a medical prescription, FFBoxe said, prompting it to turn to a laboratory in Leeds upon World Boxing’s recommendation. Despite assurances that results would be delivered within 24 hours, they were delayed.
“With, as a consequence, the exclusion of our athletes as well as other female boxers from foreign delegations who also found themselves trapped,” FFBoxe said in a Thursday statement.
“This is a profound injustice,” it added. “Our athletes are being punished for a bureaucratic failure and a policy that was communicated far too late.”
World Boxing argues that all federations had been warned on August 21.
“Receiving results for sex-testing can take 48 hours. Any tests completed later than 1 September would jeopardise your athlete’s entry into the Official Draw and Competition. Please consider your arrival time to the UK if you require sex-testing in the UK,” the governing body said in a statement.
“World Boxing and its partners have been working with multiple National Federations over the last three weeks to facilitate access to testing facilities at several locations in Great Britain and many boxers that are competing at the competition have been tested via this process.”
World Boxing, which will oversee boxing at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, introduced mandatory genetic testing in May for female athletes above 18 years of age to confirm eligibility for competition.
Its president, Boris van der Vorst, reiterated on Wednesday that it had introduced the tests to ensure safety and fairness.
An FFBoxe spokesperson told the Reuters news agency on Thursday it had still not received the test results from the laboratory, which he did not name, and was looking into the possibility of an appeal.
French boxer Maelys Richol said on Instagram that a whole year of work had been wasted due to poor management.
“It is extremely hard to take. We are frustrated, angry, and deeply disappointed,” she said.
The controversy reignited debates surrounding gender verification in sport.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who won gold in the women’s welterweight division at the Paris Games last year, has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over World Boxing’s decision to bar her from future events unless she undergoes genetic sex testing. Sport’s highest court, CAS, dismissed her request to suspend the ruling while her case is heard.
Khelif was previously disqualified from the 2023 World Championships by the International Boxing Association following sex chromosome tests. However, she competed in Paris after the International Olympic Committee stripped the IBA of its governing status and organised boxing events independently.
Van der Vorst later apologised for naming Khelif publicly in the announcement about mandatory testing, acknowledging that her privacy should have been respected.
Mercy Oluwagbenga, a recent rescuer from Libya, claims she was forced to donate blood to the sick employee’s mother in the North African nation after being beaten and forced to do so.
Oluwagbenga, who spoke on Thursday when she appeared as a guest on Channels TV’s The Morning Brief, also narrated how she worked without a paycheck and was imprisoned in Libya.
Within three months, the first place I worked was fine. I asked them for my salary the first month, and they said they wouldn’t give it to me until their father returned because he had to pay me. They claimed their father would return the following month, which was the third month, the same thing happened the following month. So I assumed they were saving it for me, in my opinion.
I began asking for my salary the third month their father had returned, but they refused to give me a response or to take any action. Because their mother was ill, they began removing my blood.
Also read: NEMA Receives 203 “Vulnerable” Nigerian Returneees From Libya
“I initially assumed it was normal because you had to take tests every three months to make sure you were okay at the time you worked at an Arab’s house.” However, it started to stay that way.
I learned that the same nurse who was taking their mother kept removing my blood without taking me to the hospital. Oluwagbenga, who is a native of Kabba in Kogi State, said in an interview that he refused to let them take my blood and that is when the beating began.
She explained that her efforts to get help were unsuccessful in various ways.
I called my agent, who later found out he was a prisoner there, and we called back. There was no way I could leave because I was locked up, so I tried to run.
The door was unlocked because I was inside the house the day I attempted to escape. Because I was watching the person who was going to pick me up, I wasn’t aware that they were monitoring me. When did they double-crossed me at that point? I was beaten until I was unconscious.
She claimed that the only reason they allowed me to use my phone was because they were taking care of their sick mother so that they could call and check in on her because my SIM card changed every month. As a result, I didn’t have a stable SIM card at the time.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the leader of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), praised Oluwagbenga for her bravery and survival, citing her as one of the “lucky ones,” as well as the many others who had perished in the desert or the Mediterranean Sea while some of the victims remained untraceable.
Dabiri-Erewa advised young Nigerians to always look for safe and legal travel routes and that irregular immigration was equivalent to “voluntary suicide.“
Iga Swiatek, the second-ranked player, challenges a journalist following her straight sets defeat against Amanda Anisimova, rejecting the notion that she needs a “mental break” after the straight sets defeat at Flushing Meadows.
Brilliant Anisimova seizes Swiatek’s vengeance
Amazon is renowned for rolling out deals on various gadgets, from its own devices to those from other high-end brands, and this week is no different. It offers parents the chance to scoop up one particular Kids Fire Tablet for a fraction of its normal price—just in time for school starting this week.
This gadget offers fun and engaging activities that help expand your children’s minds while also promising safety and security thanks to its strict parental controls, making it ideal for encouraging your kids to learn when they aren’t in the classroom.
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The most recent Amazon Fire 7 Kids Tablet, which is currently only half the price, has a sizable 4.5 out of 5 star rating from nearly 5k customers. Even though it normally costs £124.99, one of the retailer’s deals will allow customers to add it to their cart for £59.99.
When compared to the costs at other retailers like John Lewis and Argos, where the same model retails for £114.99, Amazon’s deal makes this the cheapest place to buy an Amazon Fire 7 Kids Tablet.
Scanning the price history on CamelCamelCamel shows that this tablet is the cheapest the Prime retailer has sold the Fire 7 tablet for since last Black Friday, a win for parents who’ve been keeping an eye on it for back-to-school shopping or early Christmas present ideas.
If you don’t want to spend money on an iPad for games, storytime, or CBeebies, this Fire Tablet model is the next best thing. It’s designed for kids three to seven. Parent control over what is available on the tablets, and there are even time limit features that let you keep your child from spending too much time on a screen.
Apps like Disney+, CBeebies, and Netflix Kids can all be downloaded, which allows parents to control the different dashboards of each streaming app to filter based on the child’s age. The device has 10 hours of battery life and a choice between a 16GB or 32GB device, depending on how much storage you think you’d need.
Even though the device is a few years old and only available for five minutes of uninterrupted use, we still think of it as one of our top-rated tablet devices for children here at Mirror Tech. Additionally, when purchased through Amazon, this product comes with a 2-year worry-free guarantee, so you won’t have to worry if your little ones harm anyone.
As raving reviews pour in, parents are thrilled to have this Amazon Fire 7 tablet. One satisfied customer states, “I’ve had the Kids Fire Tablet for three years, and I’m so happy with my choice. My son, who is autistic, will enjoy holding and engaging with this tablet because it is ideal for small hands. He can concentrate on his favorite content because the screen is clear. The sturdy, crash-proof case is one of the distinguishing qualities. I appreciate the peace of mind it brings, especially since my child has unintentionally stepped on the screen a few times. The replacement procedure was simple and hassle-free, and the two-year guarantee has proved to be a lifesaver.
They go on to say: “While I find the kids’ Amazon app a bit challenging to navigate, the tablet offers a wealth of functionality, including a timer and childproofing features that can be great for other parents. For my needs, I opted to download the regular YouTube app and sign into my account, allowing me to manually filter out any content I don’t want my son to see. This approach has worked wonderfully, as he mainly uses the content I’ve approved. Overall, the Kids Fire Tablet has been a fantastic addition to our home. It’s durable, user-friendly, and adaptable to our family’s specific needs. Highly recommended for parents looking for a reliable and child-friendly device!”
Another customer beams, “I bought two of the tablets for my twin toddlers and they’ve been great so far,” she says. They adore it at this point, primarily for the educational apps. I love that I can control both tablets from my phone, and it was simple and quick to set up. The battery life is a major plus for me. They used it for hours last night, but I only charged them to about 60%, and I hadn’t even turned them off completely. Today, the battery life was still over 50%. You can download and use a lot of apps. The cases are sturdy enough to withstand drops and falls, and the design is ideal for young hands. The picture quality is excellent, the screen is small, and the picture is perfect for toddlers.
One unhappy shopper expresses disappointment, saying, “It’s been good, but now it logs out of anything the kids are playing on and they have to restart after two minutes of playing.”