Morning Briefing: Aug. 5, 2024

By Alperen Aktas

ISTANBUL (AA) - Here's a rundown of all the news that you need to start your Monday with, including the UK experiencing its worst wave of riots in 13 years, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov saying that the "Doomsday Clock" is reading "2 minutes to midnight" and Israeli airstrikes on two schools sheltering displaced Gazans killing at least 30 people.

TOP STORIES

• UK going through its worst wave of riots in 13 years

The UK is going through its worst wave of riots in 13 years, with far-right demonstrators targeting asylum seekers and ethnic minority communities across the country.

A storm of anti-Muslim disinformation on social media has fueled Islamophobic and far-right violence in the aftermath of the fatal stabbing attack of three girls in the northern English seaside town of Southport on July 29.

False reports spread by extremist far-right social media accounts claimed the suspect was a Muslim and a migrant, which were echoed in the mob’s Islamophobic vitriolic chants.

• Russia's deputy foreign minister says ‘Doomsday Clock’ reads ‘2 minutes to midnight’

Russia's deputy foreign minister said Sunday that the “Doomsday Clock” reads “two minutes to midnight,” referring to the rising tensions between Moscow and Washington.

“I would say that this clock is now showing something like two minutes to (midnight), but this does not mean that the clock is irreversible and the ‘Doomsday Clock’ will begin to strike,” Sergey Ryabkov said in remarks on Russia’s state broadcaster Rossiya-1.

The “Doomsday Clock” is a symbolic representation of the likelihood of a human-made global catastrophe which was inaugurated in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, an organization founded two years prior by a group of Manhattan Project researchers.

• At least 30 killed in Israeli airstrikes on 2 schools sheltering displaced Gazans

At least 30 Palestinians were killed and scores injured in Israeli airstrikes on two schools sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, the Civil Defense Agency said.

The attacks targeted the Hassan Salama and Al-Nasr schools, Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said.

“Around 80% of the victims are children,” he added in a statement.

NEWS IN BRIEF

• Around 150,000 Israelis have been stranded abroad due to the suspension of international flights to Tel Aviv amid rising tensions between Hezbollah and Israel.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed receiving the first batch of F-16 fighter jets during a ceremony marking the country's Air Force Day in an undisclosed location.
• The Israeli army issued immediate evacuation orders for Palestinian residents in seven neighborhoods in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip ahead of a new military offensive in the area.
• The UK announced an over $37 million funding package to improve security at mosques amid far-right riots
• Israel's blocking of aid, killing of aid workers, preventing evacuations and allowing humanitarian supplies to rot are crimes against humanity and the “first phase of the genocide being conducted on the other side of the border,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in Egypt.
• At least one person was killed and three injured by Ukrainian airstrikes in Russia’s border region of Belgorod.
• Afghans held rallies in the capital Kabul to denounce the assassination last week of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh and express solidarity with Palestinians.
• Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Ersin Tatar dismissed the Greek Cypriot leader's assertion of a planned trilateral meeting with the UN chief.
• At least 10,000 Israeli soldiers have been killed and injured since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict last Oct. 7, according to Israeli media.
• At least two Lebanese were killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, the country’s Health Ministry said.
• Four people were killed while dozens of others were injured in central Bangladesh as students took to the streets demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
• Two people are confirmed dead from Legionnaires' disease in Melbourne, Australia, with health authorities still working to identify the source of an outbreak that has left scores of people hospitalized, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
  

SPORTS

• Belgium withdraws from Paris 2024 triathlon relay after Olympian becomes ill

Team Belgium has withdrawn from Monday's Paris 2024 triathlon relay after an Olympian fell sick.

In a statement, the team said that Belgian triathlete Claire Michel, one of the members of the relay, is "unfortunately ill and has to withdraw from the competition."

It added that after consultation with the athletes and their entourage, the Belgian team will not "take part in the mixed relay at the Paris Olympic Games tomorrow."