Category: English

SAN FRANCISCO — A 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook a large area of Northern California on Thursday, knocking items off grocery store shelves, sending children scrambling under desks and prompting a brief tsunami warning for 5.3 million people along the US West Coast.

The quake struck at 10:44 a.m. west of Ferndale, a small city in coastal Humboldt County, about 130 miles (209 km) from the Oregon border, the US Geological Survey said.

It was felt as far south as San Francisco, some 270 miles (435 km) away, where residents felt a rolling motion for several seconds.

It was followed by multiple smaller aftershocks.

There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury.

The tsunami warning was in effect for roughly an hour. It was issued shortly after the temblor struck and covered nearly 500 miles (805 km) of coastline, from the edge of California’s Monterey Bay north into Oregon.

“It was a strong quake, our building shook, we’re fine but I have a mess to clean up right now,” said Julie Kreitzer, owner of Golden Gait Mercantile, a store packed with food, wares and souvenirs that is a main attraction in Ferndale.

“We lost a lot of stuff. It’s probably worse than two years ago. I have to go, I have to try and salvage something for the holidays because it’s going to be a tough year,” Kreitzer said before hanging up.

The region — known for its redwood forests, scenic mountains and the three-county Emerald Triangle’s legendary marijuana crop — was struck by a 6.4 magnitude quake in 2022 that left thousands of people without power and water. The northwest corner of California is the most seismically active part of the state since it’s where three tectonic plates meet, seismologist Lucy Jones said on the social media platform BlueSky.

Shortly after the quake, phones in Northern California buzzed with the tsunami warning from the National Weather Service that said: “A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coasts near you. You are in danger.
Get away from coastal waters. Move to high ground or inland now. Keep away from the coast until local officials say it is safe to return.”

Numerous cities urged people to evacuate to higher ground as a precaution, including Eureka.

AN-AP, Dec 5, 2024

GAZA — An Israeli drone strike on a hospital compound in northern Gaza on Thursday killed a 16-year-old boy in a wheelchair and wounded at least 12 other people, including medical staff, the Gaza Health Ministry and the hospital director said.

Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya said an Israeli drone deliberately targeted patients and staff at the entrance to the reception and emergency area of Kamal Adwan Hospital, killing Mahmoud Abu Al-Aish, a patient being taken in a wheelchair to the radiology department.

Abu Safiya spoke in a video he posted on social media, standing inside the hospital as doctors operated on a wounded man behind him, calling it, “The injured treating the injured.”

Abu Safiya was wounded in his thigh and back by an Israeli drone strike on the hospital last month.

Israel says it goes to great lengths to avoid harming civilians as it battles Hamas.

Kamal Adwan Hospital has been struck multiple times over the past two months since Israel launched a fierce military operation in northern Gaza against Hamas militants. In October, Israeli forces raided the hospital, saying that militants were sheltering inside and arrested a number of people, including some staff. Hospital officials denied the claim.

The United Nations humanitarian office estimates up to 75,000 people remain in the northern towns of Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya and the Jabaliya refugee camp.

The area has been almost completely sealed off from humanitarian aid for two months and experts have warned that a famine may have set in.

A medical relief team from the UN World Health Organization was able to reach Kamal Adwan Hospital on Monday, delivering 10,000 liters of fuel (2,640 gallons), blood supplies, essential medical items and food.

AN-AP, Dec 5, 2024

GAZA — At least 15 Palestinians were killed Thursday afternoon in an Israeli airstrike on the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources said.

Israeli warplanes targeted a residential house in the town of Beit Lahia, according to local sources and eyewitnesses. Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for Civil Defense in Gaza, told Xinhua that the raid killed 15 people, including children and women.

The Israeli army has not commented on this incident.

Also on Thursday, the General Directorate of Civil Defense in Gaza warned of a possible suspension of services and humanitarian interventions it provides to displaced citizens residing in what was designated by the Israeli army as a “humanitarian area” in southern Gaza.

Muhammad Al-Mughair, director of supply for Civil Defense in Gaza, said in a press statement that the Civil Defense is suffering from a crisis due to fuel shortage in the “humanitarian area,” warning that the continued prevention of fuel supply threatens the lives of thousands of displaced people.

Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has risen to 44,580, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Thursday.

XINHUA

BEIRUT — Hezbollah has paid out more than $50 million in cash gifts to families affected by war with Israel, its leader Naim Qassem said on Thursday, as the Iran-backed group seeks to shore up its support base after a devastating conflict with Israel.

The payments of between $300 and $400 per person will total more than $77 million when paid out to all 233,500 families who registered, Qassem said in a recorded speech, thanking Iran for its financing of the effort alongside Hezbollah.

Hezbollah will also provide a lump sum of $8,000 to those whose primary homes were destroyed in the war, and $6,000 for a year of rent for those living in Beirut or its suburbs and $4,000 for those living outside the capital until they can move back home, he said. The payments would be financed mainly by Iran, he said.

Israeli strikes have flattened swathes of Shi’ite majority areas Hezbollah’s support base call home in Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern and eastern Lebanon.

A ceasefire to the 14-month conflict took effect late last month, though Israel has been accused by U.N., French and Lebanese officials of violating it dozens of times.

Israel says it is enforcing the terms of the deal and also accuses Hezbollah of breaching it.

With the guns mostly silent, Qassem said Hezbollah was turning its focus to reconstruction.

The World Bank says nearly 100,000 homes in Lebanon were partially or fully damaged during the conflict, amounting to $3.2 billion in damages and losses.

The conflict began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing on Israel in solidarity with its ally Hamas, and then steeply escalated in September this year.

Qassem called on “Arab brothers” and the international community to participate in reconstruction and said Hezbollah would work hand in hand with the Lebanese government.

REUTERS

LONDON — Muhammad has become the most popular name for boys in England and Wales, overtaking Noah.

The figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) do not group together the different spellings of Muhammad, meaning that all the various iterations of the name together have made it the most popular for many years.

Mohammed and Mohammad both appear in the top 100 names for boys born in England and Wales in 2023.

There were 4,661 children registered as Muhammad, increasing from 4,177 in 2022.

The name was popular in regions with higher Muslim populations, such as London, the West Midlands, Yorkshire, and the North West.

Mohammed was the 28th most popular, with 1,601 newborns registered, while Mohammad was 68th, with 835.

Other Muslim boys’ names in the top 100 include Yusuf, Ibrahim, and Musa.

The third most popular boys’ name was Oliver, followed by George and Leo.

For girls, Olivia has remained the most popular name for eight years. Amelia and Isla have been second and third for two years in a row.

The top 100 girls’ names included Layla, Maryam, and Fatima, which are all favorites with Muslim families.

The ONS said popular culture remained a key influence for parents choosing names for their babies.

Increasing numbers were names after music stars Billie Eilish and Lana Del Rey, and actors Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy.

Even the names of celebrity babies such as the offspring from the Kardashian-Jenner family, Reign and Saint, gained popularity.

AN, Dec 5, 2024

GAZA — At least 12 Palestinians were killed and several others injured in Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to Palestinian sources.

Israeli aircraft targeted a house behind Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Beit Lahia city in northern Gaza, local sources and eyewitnesses said.

The raid killed seven people and wounded several others, Palestinian Civil Defense spokesperson in Gaza Mahmoud Basal told Xinhua.

According to Basal, Israel launched another airstrike later in the day at a gathering of Palestinians in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood, east of Gaza City, killing three and wounding five others with varying degrees of injuries.

Meanwhile, paramedics told Xinhua that medical workers recovered two bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli drone attack on a gathering in Khirbet al-Adas, north of Rafah city, in southern Gaza.

The Israeli army has not commented on the attacks yet.

Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 44,580, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Thursday.

XINHUA

DAMASCUS — The Syrian army announced Thursday that it has redeployed its forces outside the western-central Syrian city of Hama after fierce battles with rebel groups, confirming that rebels have entered the city following intense attacks from multiple fronts.

“Over the past few days, our armed forces have fought fierce battles to repel and thwart the violent and successive attacks launched by terrorist organizations on the city of Hama from various directions and in large numbers, using all types of military equipment and assisted by infiltration groups,” said a statement issued by the Syrian General Command of the Army and Armed Forces.

“In the past hours, with intensified confrontations between our soldiers and the terrorist groups and the rise of martyrs in our ranks, those groups managed to penetrate several fronts in the city and enter it, despite suffering heavy losses,” it said.

It added that the Syrian army will “continue to carry out its national duty to reclaim the areas entered by the terrorist organizations.”

The Syrian army’s withdrawal marks a significant development in the ongoing conflict in Syria, as Hama, the fourth-largest city in Syria, has largely remained under government control throughout the 13-year civil war in the country.

Earlier reports from local media and activists indicated that rebel militants from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) had entered the northeastern neighborhoods of Hama after launching one of the most intense attacks in the area to date.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported that the HTS and allied factions advanced from multiple fronts — north, northeast, and west — to reach Hama and attack government forces.

The recent escalation in Hama and other regions underscores the intensifying conflict between Syrian government forces and rebel groups, including HTS, which controls parts of northwestern Syria.

The United Nations and humanitarian organizations have repeatedly called for the protection of civilians and unimpeded access to aid delivery, expressing concern over the impact of the ongoing conflict on the Syrian population.

XINHUA

LOS ANGELES — Two students were wounded and the suspected gunman was dead after shooting at a school in Northern California on Wednesday, authorities said.

Deputies were “on scene of an active incident involving a shooting at Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in Palermo,” the Butte County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Students were being taken to a nearby church and parents were asked to respond to the church to be reunified with their children, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The office received multiple 911 calls at around 1 p.m. local time (2100 GMT) regarding an adult male firing shots at students, KRCR-TV, a local TV station, reported, citing the Sheriff’s Office.

Multiple agencies immediately responded to the incident and located the shooter, who died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, said the report.

Two students sustained gunshot wounds, one of whom was airlifted to a nearby hospital, it added.

The school, operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is a K-8 school with over 30 students, according to its website.

Palermo, home to over 5,000 residents, is about 104 km north of Sacramento, the capital of the U.S. state of California.

XINHUA

SHENZHEN — Thirteen workers went missing following a sudden ground collapse at a railway construction site in Shenzhen City, south China’s Guangdong Province, local authorities said Thursday.

The collapse occurred at around 11 p.m. Wednesday at a construction site of a section of the Shenzhen-Jiangmen Railway in the city’s Bao’an District, according to the district’s emergency management bureau.

An all-out rescue has been launched.

Nearby residents have been evacuated and temporary traffic control has been carried out around the site. An investigation into the accident is underway.

XINHUA

SHENZHEN — Thirteen workers went missing following a sudden ground collapse at a railway construction site in Shenzhen City, south China’s Guangdong Province, local authorities said Thursday.

The collapse occurred at around 11 p.m. Wednesday at a construction site of a section of the Shenzhen-Jiangmen Railway in the city’s Bao’an District, according to the district’s emergency management bureau.

An all-out rescue has been launched.

Nearby residents have been evacuated and temporary traffic control has been carried out around the site. An investigation into the accident is underway.

XINHUA