"Essentially, one key thing to know about Joan Didion is not only did she live most of her life in California, but she was a fifth-ge...
More than 1.6 million people in Somalia could be affected by the recent unusually heavy seasonal rains, the United Nations has warned.
The UN has released $25m (£20.5m) in aid, describing the floods as a "once-in-a-century event."
Authorities say at least 29 people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced, with more rain to come.
Somalia and neighbouring countries in East Africa have been hit by heavy rains since early October.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the downpours had been worsened by the combined impact of two climate phenomena - El Niño and the more localised Indian Ocean Dipole, referring to differences in sea surface temperature in opposite parts of the ocean.
The agency warned that some 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) of farmland could potentially be destroyed.
Martin Griffiths, the UN's Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief coordinator, said: "Extreme weather linked to the ongoing El Niño risks further driving up humanitarian needs in already-vulnerable communities in Somalia and many other places."
"We know what the risks are, and we need to get ahead of these looming crises."
The UN humanitarian agency said rescue efforts were being delayed because roads had been cut.
Aid groups have also warned that camps for people displaced by an Islamist insurgency and the recent drought had also been flooded, causing people to flee for a second time.
OCHA warned on Wednesday that more rain is expected in the coming days, and that the forecast shows very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall is expected in southern Somalia.
Somalia is considered one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, and the country is experiencing heavier than normal rains after emerging from one of its worst droughts in four decades.
The flooding began last month after heavy rains raised water levels and caused the overflowing of the Juba and Shabelle rivers.
Flash floods have also killed dozens of people in neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia.
Earlier this week, Somalia declared an emergency in the most-affected states - Jubbaland, Hirshabelle South West and Galmudug.
OCHA said in September that East Africa was likely to encounter heavier than normal rains over the October-December period because of the El Niño phenomenon.
El Niño is caused by the Pacific Ocean warming and is linked to flooding, cyclones, drought, and wildfires.
Many factors contribute to flooding, but a warming atmosphere caused by climate change makes extreme rainfall more likely.
srael must stop killing babies and women in Gaza, French President Emmanuel Macron has told the BBC.
In an exclusive interview at the Élysée Palace, he said there was "no justification" for the bombing, saying a ceasefire would benefit Israel.
While recognising Israel's right to protect itself, "we do urge them to stop this bombing" in Gaza, he said.
But he also stressed that France "clearly condemns" the "terrorist" actions of Hamas.
France - like Israel, the US, the UK, and other Western nations - considers Hamas a terrorist organisation.
When asked if he wanted other leaders - including in the US and the UK - to join his calls for a ceasefire, he replied: "I hope they will."
Israel says it attacks military targets in line with international law and takes steps to reduce civilian casualties, like issuing warnings ahead of strikes and calling on people to evacuate.
Speaking the day after a humanitarian aid conference in Paris about the war in Gaza, Mr Macron said the "clear conclusion" of all governments and agencies present at that summit was "that there is no other solution than first a humanitarian pause, going to a ceasefire, which will allow [us] to protect... all civilians having nothing to do with terrorists".
"De facto - today, civilians are bombed - de facto. These babies, these ladies, these old people are bombed and killed. So there is no reason for that and no legitimacy. So we do urge Israel to stop."
He said it was not his role to judge whether international law had been broken.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded quickly to Mr Macron's comments, saying nations should condemn Hamas, not Israel.
"The crimes that Hamas [is] committing today in Gaza will be committed tomorrow in Paris, New York and anywhere in the world," a statement from Mr Netanyahu's office read.
In a wide-ranging interview at the end of the first day of an annual Paris Peace Forum, President Macron also discussed:
Starting by discussing Gaza, Mr Macron said France "clearly condemns" Hamas's attacks on Israel on 7 October which sparked the war. Hamas gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 240 others hostage in its unprecedented cross-border assault it launched that day.
"We do share [Israel's] pain. And we do share their willingness to get rid of terrorism. We know what terrorism means in France." But he said there was "no justification" for the ongoing bombing of civilians in Gaza.
"It's extremely important for all of us because of our principles, because we are democracies. It's important for the mid-to-long run as well for the security of Israel itself, to recognise that all lives matter."
When asked, he refused to say that Israel had broken international law in Gaza. "I'm not a judge. I'm a head of state," he said, adding it would not be right to criticise Israel in this way - "a partner and a friend" - just a month after it was attacked.
But Mr Macron said he disagreed that the best way for Israel to "protect [itself] is having a large bombing of Gaza", saying it was creating "resentment and bad feelings" in the region that would prolong the conflict.
After a month of Israeli bombardment and nearly two weeks after Israel launched a major ground offensive into the territory, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said on Friday that 11,078 people had been killed, while 1.5 million had fled their homes.
Israel has said it will start daily four-hour military pauses in parts of northern Gaza as it continues its offensive. Its defence minister however stressed the pauses would be "localised" and would "not detract from the war fighting".
Ahead of a march against antisemitism on Sunday which a large section of France's political class will attend, President Macron called on all French citizens to condemn antisemitic acts "without ambiguity".
He said France had probably Europe's biggest Muslim community and a big Jewish community too, and with France and the rest of Europe seeing a big rise in antisemitism, all French citizens had to be united against antisemitism, and had to "share the pain or the compassion of Palestinians".
Mr Macron then moved on to other global issues, including Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
He said if Russia were allowed to win its war, "you will have a new imperial power" in Europe, that could threaten other former Soviet states like Georgia and Kazakhstan, as well as the whole continent.
"Because, definitely, it's imperialism and colonialism that Russia is doing [in Ukraine]," he said.
The French president said it was the "duty" of his country and all countries to support Ukraine in its defence. But he also said the next month would be critical, as it struggles to retake lost land in counteroffensive operations.
He said it was "not yet" time for Ukraine to come to the table, and stressed the decision to negotiate was Kyiv's alone. But he added there may come a time to "have fair and good negotiations, and to come back to the table and find a solution with Russia".
Mr Macron also discussed online extremism - a key topic at the Paris Peace Forum. He singled out Facebook's parent company Meta and Google, saying the companies "simply don't deliver" on promises they made to moderate hate speech on their platforms.
He said many online platforms lacked sufficient moderators for French language content, calling it a "shame", and promising to "push them" on the issue - although he said TikTok had improved the number of moderators for its French language content.
And he said that climate change was causing terrorism in parts of the world, specifically mentioning the effects of global warming in lower water levels at Lake Chad in West Africa.
"As a consequence of climate change, a lot of families living as fishermen [suffered]... A lot of species just disappeared. And it created politics [that] pushed a lot of people to terrorism."
But when asked if he ever felt depressed by the sheer number of issues facing the world, Mr Macron said he saw it as "a chance and an honour to have responsibilities [as head of state]".
"We need international cooperation [to tackle global issues]... This is a unique chance."
শ্রীলঙ্কার আপিল আদালত দেশটির ক্রিকেট বোর্ডের (এসএলসি) অন্তর্বর্তীকালীন কমিটির কার্যক্রম দুই সপ্তাহের জন্য স্থগিত করেছেন। আজ কমিটির কার্যক্রম স্থগিত চেয়ে করা এক রিট পিটিশনের শুনানির পর আদালত এই অন্তর্বর্তীকালীন আদেশ দেন।
এর ফলে গতকাল ক্রীড়া মন্ত্রণালয় কর্তৃক বরখাস্ত করা ক্রিকেট বোর্ড পুনর্বহাল হয়েছে বলে জানিয়েছে শ্রীলঙ্কার সংবাদমাধ্যম ডেইলি মিরর। সংবাদমাধ্যমটি জানিয়েছে, ক্রিকেট বোর্ডের দায়িত্ব নিতে আজ এসএলসি কার্যালয়ে গিয়েছিলেন অন্তর্বর্তীকালীন কমিটির চেয়ারম্যান অর্জুনা রানাতুঙ্গা। তবে আদালতের আদেশের পর তিনি বেরিয়ে গেছেন।
এদিকে আজ পার্লামেন্টে ক্রীড়ামন্ত্রী রোশান রানাসিংহে জানান, গতকাল রাতে মন্ত্রিসভার বৈঠকে প্রেসিডেন্ট রনিল বিক্রমাসিংহে অন্তর্বর্তীকালীন কমিটি বিলুপ্ত করতে বলেছেন। রানাসিংহে তাতে রাজি হননি জানিয়ে বলেন, ‘প্রেসিডেন্ট বলেছেন ক্রীড়াঙ্গনকে তিনি তাঁর অধীন নিয়ে যাবেন। আমি তখন বলেছি, আমাকে মন্ত্রিসভা থেকে বের করে দিন।’
শাম্মি সিলভার নেতৃত্বাধীন যে ক্রিকেট বোর্ডকে রানাসিংহে বরখাস্ত করেছিলেন, তাদের ইঙ্গিত করে তিনি বলেন, ‘শ্রীলঙ্কার ক্রিকেট চালাচ্ছে ডাকাতেরা। যে কারণে আমি অন্তর্বর্তীকালীন কমিটি বিলুপ্ত করব না। অন্তর্বর্তীকালীন কমিটির বিরুদ্ধে বিচার বিভাগের স্থগিতাদেশের সিদ্ধান্ত স্বার্থের সংঘাত।’
ডেইলি মিররের খবরে বলা হয়, রোববার মন্ত্রিসভার বৈঠকে ক্রীড়ামন্ত্রী রানাসিংহে প্রেসিডেন্ট ও বেশ কয়েকজন মন্ত্রীর তোপের মুখে পড়েন। ক্রিকেট বোর্ড বরখাস্তের প্রজ্ঞাপন জারির আগে ক্রীড়ামন্ত্রী প্রেসিডেন্ট বা মন্ত্রিসভার কাউকে জানাননি। এ ছাড়া অন্তর্বর্তীকালীন কমিটিতে তিনজন অবসরপ্রাপ্ত বিচারকের অন্তর্ভুক্তি নিয়েও প্রশ্ন ওঠে।
Israel seeks to destroy Hamas, raising the question of who would run the Palestinian territory after the war.
“We will fully assume our responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution that includes all of the [occupied] West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip,” Abbas was quoted as telling Blinken by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Israel says Hamas can no longer be left in control of the besieged enclave after the group’s October 7 attack that left about 1,400 Israelis dead – a sentiment backed by Washington.
Hamas, considered a “terrorist” group by the US and the European Union, is a rival of Abbas’s Fatah party. Hamas took over Gaza from the PA in 2007, after being blocked from exercising real power despite winning a parliamentary election the previous year.
Israel fully withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but imposed a crippling blockade on the coastal territory after Hamas took power.
Blinken made a surprise visit to the occupied West Bank on Sunday as Israel pressed on with its attacks on Gaza, where the death toll has reached nearly 10,000, almost half of them children.
Israeli ground forces also continue to push into Gaza, engaged in heavy fighting with Hamas fighters, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently rejected growing calls for a ceasefire.
In what appeared to be the most direct US position since the start of the war on October 7, Blinken told Abbas the PA should play a central role in the future of Gaza, the Reuters news agency reported.
The agency quoted an unnamed senior US State Department official as saying the “future of Gaza was not the focus of the meeting but the Palestinian Authority seemed willing to play a role”.
Abbas and Blinken reportedly talked for about an hour in Ramallah but did not address the media, as Blinken had done during the previous legs of his regional trip.
Blinken said Washington is committed to getting aid into Gaza and restoring essential services after Israel cut access to food, water and electricity in the besieged enclave.
However, the US has also opposed a ceasefire, instead going only so far as to back a “pause” to facilitate humanitarian aid and allow some residents to exit Gaza through the Egypt-controlled Rafah border crossing.