Israel-Palestine
Horrible scenes as Israeli air raids on the besieged Gaza Strip today killed at least 21 people, reportedly including nine children. The bombing raids came after Hamas fired rockets from Gaza towards Israel after Israeli forces stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, firing rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas.
There is a lot of bad reporting on this out there. Recommended: Al Jazeera is running a live blog here. Middle East Eye is running a live blog here. You can also watch Al Jazeera television streaming live here. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper is here.
India
It’s slipping from the international headlines but things have not improved in India. Recorded deaths are now about to hit 250,000. BBC had a very grim story today about bodies washing up the banks of the Ganges river. Interesting piece from AP here.
China
Fascinating government statistics out of China. It appears population growth is slowing for the first time in decades. More in the South China Morning Post here.