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At least 50 people killed in Israeli strikes on homes, camps in Gaza

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At least 50 people killed in Israeli strikes on homes, camps in Gaza

At least 50 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes across Gaza, Palestinian medics say, as Israeli tanks push into northern parts of the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza.

Medics said at least 20 people were killed and others wounded in an Israeli attack on Wednesday on a tent encampment in al-Mawasi near Khan Younis. The Palestinian Civil Defence said the attack set several tents housing displaced families ablaze.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said the death toll was expected to rise.

Patients who are in the hospital were “expected to lose their lives simply because there is no medical care, medical supplies and insufficient medical staff,” Mahmoud said.

“This is not the first time we’ve seen this happening. There’s a growing frustration among the displaced population in the al-Mawasi evacuation zone,” he said. “The Israeli military ordered them in the initial weeks of this genocidal war to evacuate in order to avoid being bombed, but they repeatedly find themselves the victims of these unpredictable attacks.”

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At least 10 people were killed in an Israeli air strike that hit three houses in Gaza City, the Civil Defence said. Many victims were still trapped under the rubble with rescue operations under way.

Medics said 11 people were killed in three air strikes on areas in central Gaza, including six children and a medic. Five of the dead had been queueing outside a bakery, they said.

A further nine Palestinians were killed by tank fire in Rafah near the border with Egypt, medics said.

‘Extremely urgent’

Israeli forces also fired on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza for the fifth straight day, hospital Director Hussam Abu Safiya said. Three of his medical staff had been wounded, one critically, on Tuesday night, he said.

“Drones are dropping bombs filled with shrapnel that injure anyone that dares to move,” Abu Safiya said. “This situation is extremely urgent.”

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He said more than 100 patients inside the besieged hospital are at risk of death and Israeli forces are preventing access to the nearby al-Awda Hospital.

Residents in the north’s main three towns – Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoon – said Israeli forces have blown up dozens of houses.

Palestinians said Israel’s army is trying to drive people out of the northern edge of Gaza by issuing threats that if residents do not flee, they risk death and by carrying out bombardments to create a buffer zone. The Israeli military has besieged the area since it began a renewed ground offensive there nearly two months ago.

The siege has worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis amid a looming famine.

Hamas said the bombings of homes in Beit Lahiya and the targeting of Kamal Adwan Hospital are “an insistence on the ongoing war” and “genocide” in Gaza.

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The group said in a statement that Israel is showing it plans to keep disregarding international law “in light of the shameful failure of the international system to put an end to these horrific crimes”.

Hamas said Israeli actions “are carried out under the full cover and protection of the American administration and some Western capitals”.

In the Khan Younis area, residents told the Reuters news agency that Israeli tanks advanced a day after the military issued new evacuation threats, saying there had been rocket launches by Palestinian groups from the area.

With shells crashing near residential areas, families left their homes on Wednesday and headed westwards towards al-Mawasi, which was designated by the Israeli military as a “safe zone” but has since repeatedly come under attack.

Palestinian and United Nations officials said there are no safe areas left in Gaza and almost all of its 2.3 million residents have been displaced multiple times.

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Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 44,500 Palestinians, injured many others and reduced much of the enclave to rubble since it began in October last year.

Israel agreed to a ceasefire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah last week that has halted most fighting in a conflict that has unfolded in Lebanon in parallel with the Gaza war.

But the war in Gaza has ground on with only a single ceasefire more than a year ago that lasted for one week.

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Video: How Global Conflicts Helped Reignite Syria’s Civil War

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Video: How Global Conflicts Helped Reignite Syria’s Civil War

Rebels launched sweeping assaults against the forces of President Bashar al-Assad in northwestern Syria, taking control of large portions of territory, including much of the city of Aleppo. Carlotta Gall, a senior correspondent for The New York Times, explains how events beyond Syria’s borders lit the fuse for renewed fighting.

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The world’s tallest snowman, measuring 122 feet, built by residents in Bethel, Maine

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The world’s tallest snowman, measuring 122 feet, built by residents in Bethel, Maine

The snowwoman may be melted but the record still stands. 

The residents of Bethel, Maine, have been proud holders of the same world record for about 25 years. 

Currently, according to Guinness World Records, the tallest snowperson ever built was completed on Feb. 26, 2008 in Bethel.

Olympia was a snowwoman created in Bethel, Maine. The snowperson, extending 122 feet, 1 inch towards the sky, is the tallest to have ever been built. (Tim Greenway/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)

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The snowwoman, Olympia, took about a month to complete. The residents of Bethel were no strangers to the tall order of creating a gigantic snowperson like the one they made in 2008, as they broke their own record. 

The first record-breaking snowperson created in Bethel was made in 1999. The first snowman, Angus King of the Mountain, was named after the governor of Maine at the time, Angus King.  

In 2008, the residents of Bethel got together to break their existing record. 

When Olympia was complete, the snow structure measured 122 feet and 1 inch tall, according to Guinness World Records. 

Skies lined up in a store

Skis were used to create the eyelashes of the enormous snowwoman. (Staff photo by Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)

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The snowwoman, named after a Maine U.S. senator at the time, Olympia Snowe, was made using a whopping 13 million pounds of snow. 

In a video on the Guinness World Record’s page regarding the record, large construction trucks can be seen carrying piles of snow, with cranes lifting the snow to the top of the chilly creation. 

Accessories of the snowwoman included eyelashes made of skis, a nose made from chicken wire and painted cheesecloth and lips created with red car tires. 

The buttons of the snowwoman were made using three truck tires, and the arms were made of 30-foot-tall spruce trees. 

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Even though the snowwoman has since melted, the title still stands in Bethel, according to Guinness World Records. 

Though Guinness World Records still regards the Olympia snowwoman that stood in Bethel as the world’s tallest snowperson, others have attempted to take the title. 

In February 2020, the record was seemingly broken by a snowman created called Riesi in Donnersbachwald, Austria. 

Kids building a snowman

Making a snowman in Maine is a common winter pastime, but the creation made in Bethel in 2008 took the activity to all new heights. (Jill Brady/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)

At the time, several outlets shared the news that the record had been broken, as the snowman built in Austria was a couple feet taller than Olympia. 

 

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Today, the official Guinness World Record website states Olympia as the record holder. 

According to the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce’s website, the snowman built in Austria had been disqualified for an unknown reason. 

The Bethel Chamber of Commerce was simply told, “if it’s in the book, you still have the record,” the Chamber of Commerce’s website states. 

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France's Macron to appoint new PM 'in coming days' and vows to stay on

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France's Macron to appoint new PM 'in coming days' and vows to stay on

Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation after lawmakers voted to oust the government this week.

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French President Emmanuel Macron has said he will appoint a new prime minister “in the coming days” and vowed to finish his term following the government’s collapse.

Macron reiterated that he still has 30 months as president amid calls for his resignation following a no-confidence vote against the government in the lower house of parliament.

“The mandate that you have democratically entrusted to me is a five-year mandate, and I will exercise it fully until its end,” the president said, adding that he is responsible for the functioning of the institutions and country.

Macron also hit out at the political parties that voted to topple the government in a no-confidence vote on Wednesday, rejecting claims that he was responsible for what’s quickly become a political crisis.

“I know that some people are tempted to hold me responsible for this situation… but I will never take responsibility (for the actions) of others, and in particular of the lawmakers who consciously chose to bring down the budget and the government of France a few days before Christmas,” Macron said, adding that MPs on the far right and left chose to create “disorder”.

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French president defends earlier decision to hold snap elections

The French president defended his call for snap elections in June and July this year after the European elections, calling the decision “inevitable” after the far-right National Rally topped the poll.

Macron added this decision was “not understood” and that he was aware many have criticised him for it, but he said the action gave the people “back their voice,” which he saw as necessary.

The leftist coalition the New Popular Front (NFP) came first in the second round of those legislative elections, but without an absolute majority.

Left-wing lawmakers had called on Macron to appoint their pick for prime minister, civil servant Lucie Castets, but he instead appointed former EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier a mere three months ago.

“No party, no coalition presented to the voters can claim to have the majority,” Macron said on Thursday.

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“This situation requires a new political organisation. It is unprecedented, but that is how it is,” he added.

What next?

Macron said that he will take responsibility for forming a government that represents the political forces, adding that the new prime minister “will form a streamlined government at your service”.

A temporary law will be tabled in mid-December to allow for the continuity of public services, the president said, adding that he hoped a majority would pass it.

A new budget will then be the priority of the next government and prepared at the beginning of next year, he said.

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