September 11, 2024

*) Harris and Trump spar at Presidential debate He called her a Marxist. She repeated false claims about Hamas. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris clashed over a range of issues in a presidential debate that was viewed by millions of people. Harris took a dig at Trump for talking about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter and lecturing Americans on how windmills cause cancer. Trump accused Harris of hating Israel. While their followers in the US might have cringed and shifted in their seats with anger, many of us in the rest of the world were left wondering what role the next US president will play in ending deadly conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. *) Israel bombs parts of occupied West Bank and Gaza in latest aggression Israel has yet again conducted air strikes killing nine Palestinians in Gaza’s Jabalia and five in the occupied West Bank’s Tubas. Palestinian Red Crescent crews were able to retrieve the bodies of all five people from the bombing site in Tubas. A UN aid convoy was also stopped and held at gunpoint by Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza. *) Biden mulls allowing Ukraine to engage Russia with US long-range missiles Ukraine President Vladimir Zelenskyy might finally have his day on the battlefield. Reports say that US President Joe Biden is considering allowing Ukraine to use long-range weapons against Russia. For months, Zelenskyy has begged his Western allies to let his army use missiles and jets that can hit deep inside Russia. But many of the weapons that have gone to Ukraine have come from NATO members. And that raises the possibility that any mistake can drag them into a direct conflict with Russia. *) 9/11: United States’ legacy in Afghanistan Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States, which started one of the longest and bloodiest US invasions. Tens of thousands of Afghans were killed in the war that followed. Hundreds were kidnapped and sent to Guantanamo Bay without any trial or evidence. In what many see as a testimony to the failure of the war, even the Taliban came back to power in Afghanistan in 2021. Now the Western world refuses to recognise them as a legitimate government. The UK and Norway just closed the Afghan embassies in their countries saying they do not recognise the Taliban, leaving the fate of thousands of Afghan expats in limbo. And finally…. *) SpaceX launches Polaris Dawn mission for first-ever spacewalk by civilians SpaceX has launched its historic Polaris Dawn mission. This audacious orbital expedition will catapult civilians into a high-radiation region of space and see them attempt the first-ever spacewalk by non-professional astronauts. The four-member crew aims to journey farther into the cosmos than any other manned mission in more than half a century, since the end of the Apollo era. On the mission's first day, they will soar to a peak altitude of 1,400 kilometres before returning into a lower orbit.