Israel’s military said Saturday it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen, whose Houthi militants have launched attacks throughout the Gaza war, as well as a drone approaching “from the east.”
“Following the sirens that sounded recently in several areas in Israel, a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted” before “crossing into Israeli territory,” a military statement said.
In a later statement, it said a drone “that was on its way to Israeli territory from the east was intercepted” by the air force.
Yemen, large parts of which are under the control of the Iran-backed Houthis, is located to Israel’s southeast.
Other countries to Israel’s east include Iraq, where Tehran-aligned militants have claimed a number of attacks targeting Israel since the Gaza war began.
The Houthis have repeatedly launched missiles and drones at Israel since the war in Gaza broke out in October 2023 in what they say is a show of solidarity with the Palestinians.
The militants have also targeted ships they accuse of having ties to Israel as they travel on the Red Sea — a vital waterway for global trade.
They had temporarily paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire in Gaza.
According to Israel’s army radio, the missile intercepted overnight was the 22nd fired by the Houthis since they had resumed their attacks as Israel renewed its Gaza offensive on March 18.
Since March 15, Israel’s key ally the United States has stepped up its attacks on the Houthis, targeting militants positions in Yemen with near-daily air strikes.
Israel says intercepted missile launched from Yemen
https://arab.news/jmw2j
Israel says intercepted missile launched from Yemen
- The Houthis, who control large parts of Yemen, have repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Israel since the war in Gaza
Millions sit China’s high-stakes university entrance exam
- China’s gaokao requires students to use all their knowledge acquired to this point
- The exam results are critical for gaining admission to university
Nationwide, 13.35 million students have registered for the multi-subject “gaokao” series this year, according to the Ministry of Education, down from last year’s record-high 13.42 million test takers.
Outside the central Beijing secondary school, a proud parent who gave her name as Chen said “12 years of hard work have finally led to this moment” – as she waved a fan in front of her daughter while the student reviewed her notes one last time before the test.
“We know our kids have endured so much hardship,” Chen said, adding that she was not nervous.
“I’m actually quite excited. I think my child is excellent, and I’m sure she will get the best score,” she said.
China’s gaokao requires students to use all their knowledge acquired to this point, testing them on subjects including Chinese, English, mathematics, science and humanities.
The exam results are critical for gaining admission to university – and determining whether they will attend a prestigious or more modest institution.
While teachers and staff offered students their support, holding up signs of encouragement, some test takers, dressed in school uniforms, appeared panicked, including a girl with tears in her eyes.
“There’s no need for us parents to add pressure. The children are already under a lot of it,” said a woman named Wang, whose son had just entered the exam hall.
Like many mothers, she wore a traditional Chinese qipao in hopes of bringing good luck.
“I hope my son achieves immediate success and gets his name on the (list of high-scoring candidates),” Wang said with a smile.
Higher education has expanded rapidly in China in recent decades as an economic boom pushed up living standards – as well as parents’ expectations for their children’s careers.
But the job market for young graduates remains daunting.
As of April, 15.8 percent of people aged 16 to 24 living in urban areas were unemployed, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Due to this pressure, many Chinese students prepare for the gaokao from a young age, often with extra lessons after the regular school day.
And every year education authorities are on guard against cheating and disruptions during the exam.
This week, China’s Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang called for a “safe gaokao,” stressing the importance of a rigorous campaign against cheating.
Areas around exam centers are closely guarded by police, with road lanes closed to traffic and several cities banning motorists from honking their horns so as not to disrupt the concentration of students.
In some schools, facial recognition is even used to prevent fraud.
While the university admission rate for gaokao test takers has exceeded 80-90 percent in recent years, many students disappointed with their results choose to repeat the exam.
As there is no age limit for the test, some have become notorious for attempting the exam dozens of times, either after failing it or not getting into their top-choice university.
One teacher at the Beijing school where parents saw off their children on Saturday estimated that only about 10 of the approximately 600 final-year students there would earn a place at one of the capital’s top universities.
Jiang, a final-year high school student who only gave one name, said he dreamt of attending a Beijing university, and was remaining calm shortly before his Chinese exam.
“Even though the pressure is intense, it’s actually quite fair,” he said.
“I feel like all the preparations that needed to be made have been made, so there’s really no point in being nervous now, right?
“Whatever happens, happens. It’s truly not something I can completely control.”
Federal judge approves $2.8 billion settlement, paving way for US colleges to pay athletes millions
- The sweeping terms of the so-called House settlement include approval for each school to share up to $20.5 million with athletes over the next year and $2.7 billion that will be paid over the next decade
- The agreement brings a seismic shift to hundreds of schools that were forced to reckon with the reality that their players are the ones producing the billions in TV and other revenue, mostly through football and basketball, that keep this machine humming
NEW YORK: A federal judge signed off on arguably the biggest change in the history of college sports Friday, clearing the way for schools to begin paying their athletes millions of dollars as soon as next month as the multibillion-dollar industry shreds the last vestiges of the amateur model that defined it for more than a century.
Nearly five years after Arizona State swimmer Grant House sued the NCAA and its five biggest conferences to lift restrictions on revenue sharing, US Judge Claudia Wilken approved the final proposal that had been hung up on roster limits, just one of many changes ahead amid concerns that thousands of walk-on athletes will lose their chance to play college sports.
The sweeping terms of the so-called House settlement include approval for each school to share up to $20.5 million with athletes over the next year and $2.7 billion that will be paid over the next decade to thousands of former players who were barred from that revenue for years.
The agreement brings a seismic shift to hundreds of schools that were forced to reckon with the reality that their players are the ones producing the billions in TV and other revenue, mostly through football and basketball, that keep this machine humming.
The scope of the changes — some have already begun — is difficult to overstate. The professionalization of college athletics will be seen in the high-stakes and expensive recruitment of stars on their way to the NFL and NBA, and they will be felt by athletes whose schools have decided to pare their programs. The agreement will resonate in nearly every one of the NCAA’s 1,100 member schools boasting nearly 500,000 athletes.
“Approving the agreement reached by the NCAA, the defendant conferences and student-athletes in the settlement opens a pathway to begin stabilizing college sports,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said.
The road to a settlement
Wilken’s ruling comes 11 years after she dealt the first significant blow to the NCAA ideal of amateurism when she ruled in favor of former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon and others who were seeking a way to earn money from the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL) — a term that is now as common in college sports as “March Madness” or “Roll Tide.” It was just four years ago that the NCAA cleared the way for NIL money to start flowing, but the changes coming are even bigger.
Wilken granted preliminary approval to the settlement last October. That sent colleges scurrying to determine not only how they were going to afford the payments, but how to regulate an industry that also allows players to cut deals with third parties so long as they are deemed compliant by a newly formed enforcement group that will be run by auditors at Deloitte.
The agreement takes a big chunk of oversight away from the NCAA and puts it in the hands of the four biggest conferences. The ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC hold most of the power and decision-making heft, especially when it comes to the College Football Playoff, which is the most significant financial driver in the industry and is not under the NCAA umbrella like the March Madness tournaments are.
Roster limits held things up
The deal looked ready to go since last fall, but Wilken put a halt to it after listening to a number of players who had lost their spots because of newly imposed roster limits being placed on teams.
The limits were part of a trade-off that allowed the schools to offer scholarships to everyone on the roster, instead of only a fraction, as has been the case for decades. Schools started cutting walk-ons in anticipation of the deal being approved.
Wilken asked for a solution and, after weeks, the parties decided to let anyone cut from a roster — now termed a “Designated Student-Athlete” — return to their old school or play for a new one without counting against the new limit.
Wilken ultimately agreed, going point-by-point through the objectors’ arguments to explain why they didn’t hold up.
“The modifications provide Designated Student-Athletes with what they had prior to the roster limits provisions being implemented, which was the opportunity to be on a roster at the discretion of a Division I school,” Wilken wrote.
Her decision, however, took nearly a month to write, leaving the schools and conferences in limbo — unsure if the plans they’d been making for months, really years, would go into play.
“It remains to be seen how this will impact the future of inter-collegiate athletics — but as we continue to evolve, Carolina remains committed to providing outstanding experiences and broad-based programming to student-athletes,” North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham said.
Winners and losers
The list of winners and losers is long and, in some cases, hard to tease out.
A rough guide of winners would include football and basketball stars at the biggest schools, which will devote much of their bankroll to signing and retaining them. For instance, Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood’s NIL deal is reportedly worth between $10.5 million and $12 million.
Losers, despite Wilken’s ruling, figure to be at least some of the walk-ons and partial scholarship athletes whose spots are gone.
Also in limbo are Olympic sports many of those athletes play and that serve as the main pipeline for a US team that has won the most medals at every Olympics since the downfall of the Soviet Union.
All this is a price worth paying, according to the attorneys who crafted the settlement and argue they delivered exactly what they were asked for: an attempt to put more money in the pockets of the players whose sweat and toil keep people watching from the start of football season through March Madness and the College World Series in June.
What the settlement does not solve is the threat of further litigation.
Though this deal brings some uniformity to the rules, states still have separate laws regarding how NIL can be doled out, which could lead to legal challenges. NCAA President Charlie Baker has been consistent in pushing for federal legislation that would put college sports under one rulebook and, if he has his way, provide some form of antitrust protection to prevent the new model from being disrupted again.
Kenya NGO saves turtles from nets, plastic and rising tides
- Turtles are still poached for their shells, meat and oil
- But through the charity’s awareness campaigns in schools and villages, perceptions have significantly changed
WATAMU: A small charity on the Kenyan coast has become vital to the region’s majestic turtle population, saving thousands from poachers, fishermen’s nets and ever-worsening plastic pollution.
On the beach of the seaside town of Watamu, it takes four men to heave the huge Loggerhead sea turtle into the back of a car.
She has just been saved from a fishing tackle and will be taken to a nearby clinic to be checked for injuries, then weighed, tagged and released back into the sea.
A Kenyan NGO, Local Ocean Conservation (LOC), has been doing this work for almost three decades and has carried out some 24,000 rescues.
“Every time I release a turtle, it’s a really great joy for me. My motivation gets stronger and stronger,” said Fikiri Kiponda, 47, who has been part of LOC’s 20-odd staff for 16 years.
LOC began life in 1997 as a group of volunteers who hated seeing the creatures being eaten or dying in nets.
Turtles are still poached for their shells, meat and oil.
But through the charity’s awareness campaigns in schools and villages, “perceptions have significantly changed,” said Kiponda.
LOC, which relies mostly on donations, compensates fishermen for bringing them injured turtles.
More than 1,000 fishermen participate in the scheme and mostly do so for the sake of conservation, the charity emphasizes, since the reward does not offset the hours of lost labor.
At the NGO’s nearby clinic, health coordinator Lameck Maitha, 34, says turtles are often treated for broken bones and tumors caused by a disease called Fibropapillomatosis.
One current in-patient is Safari, a young Olive Ridley turtle around 15 years old — turtles can live beyond 100 — transported by plane from further up the coast.
She arrived in a dire state, barely alive and with a bone protruding from her flipper, which ultimately had to be amputated — likely the result of fighting to free herself from a fisherman’s net.
Safari has been recovering well and the clinic hopes she can return to the sea.
Other frequent tasks include removing barnacles that embed themselves in shells and flippers, weakening their host.
But a growing danger is plastic pollution.
If a turtle eats plastic, it can create a blockage that in turn creates gas, making the turtle float and unable to dive.
In these cases, the clinic gives the turtle laxatives to clear out its system.
“We are seeing more and more floating turtles because the ocean has so much plastic,” said Maitha.
LOC also works to protect 50 to 100 nesting sites, threatened by rising sea levels.
Turtles travel far and wide but always lay their eggs on the beach where they were born, and Watamu is one of the most popular spots.
Every three or four years, they produce hundreds of eggs, laid during multiple sessions over several months, that hatch after around 60 days.
The charity often relocates eggs that have been laid too close to the sea.
Marine biologist Joey Ngunu, LOC’s technical manager, always calls the first to appear Kevin.
“And once Kevin comes out, the rest follow,” he said with a smile, describing the slow, clumsy procession to the water, preferably at night to avoid predators as much as possible.
Only one in a thousand reaches adulthood of 20-25 years.
“Living in the sea as a turtle must be crazy. You have to face so many dangers, fish and poachers, and now human pressure with plastic and commercial fishing,” he said.
“Turtles are definitely survivors.”
‘Adornment’ of Eid meals: Meaty celebrations begin with aroma and activity at Quetta spice bazaar
- Spice makers at Quetta Sabzi Mandi prepare spices for kebabs, rice dishes, barbecue items and meat stews
- Orders for spices pour in from Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Punjab provinces, merchants say
QUETTA: Hajji Shair Ali moved around his shop, using a griddle scoop to collect generous amounts of cinnamon, black pepper, garlic, ginger and an array of colorful herbs. He then put them all into a grinder, the old machine churning out a bright orange spice mix, the key ingredient for marinating meat during the Eid Al-Adha religious festival.
Ali’s shop is in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, in what is commonly called Sabzi Mandi, its alleys lined with shops selling mostly fresh fruit and vegetable but also spices and other condiments.
Each year, ahead of Eid Al-Adha, the market comes alive as city residents throng to buy spices to add a fiery zing to their meat-based dishes.
The daily rush has kept Ali, 41, busy and working 15 hours a day since the Dhul Hijjah moon, which helps determine the date for Eid, was sighted last month. Eid will be celebrated in Pakistan on June 7 after the end of the Hajj pilgrimage in Makkah.
“For us the season lasts all year but during Eid Al-Adha, demand for spices increases, particularly for barbecue and Pashtun rosh [slow cooked mutton or lamb] spices,” Ali told Arab News.
“Spices are the adornment of dining. If you cook meat without spices, it tastes bland. Thus, the dishes all depend on spices.”
Ali said ahead of Eid, there was also a surge in the demand for his special barbecue sauce made by blending papaya and kachri powder, a distinctive spice derived from a type of wild melon and known for its tangy and slightly sour taste, acting as a natural meat tenderizer and adding flavor to various dishes.
“Along with kachri powder, we add black pepper, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, coriander and garlic,” Aali said., explaining the recipe of his meat tenderizer.
Shaharyar Khan, a customer searching for spices as he was planning to host an Eid barbeque, praised the quality of spices at the market.
“During Eid Al-Adha the quality is a little better,” Khan told Arab News.
“Normally it’s already good, but for Eid, they make it even better so the taste of the food is enhanced.”
But many customers also complained of the rising prices of spices in recent years, which spice shop owners blamed on the higher prices of imported ingredients.
Essential ingredients required to make the products are imported from Vietnam, China, India and Iran, merchants explained, and the persistent devaluation of the rupee against the US dollar over the years had caused imports to surge in value.
The prices of the spices had also subsequently increased over the years.
But customer Hajji Ajmal from Kuchlak town near Quetta, said the increase was not substantial compared to the quality of spices one was getting.
“Last year I bought one kilogram of barbecue spice for Rs900 ($3.20) and this year, it is [being sold] for Rs950 ($3.38),” he said.
At the bazaar this week, curry mixes were being sold for Rs1,200 ($4.27) a packet while the price of biryani rice spice mix was higher at around Rs1,400 ($4.98).
Despite the price hikes, customers who trust the quality of the product continue to shop and orders have even been coming in from various cities in the Balochistan, Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
“I have prepared different spices for this Eid season, weighing more than 3,000 kgs because we have received many online orders from other cities through our social media page,” Ali, the spice merchant, said.
“During Eid Al-Adha season, we work until midnight, even skipping meals. Ten people work in a single shop to prepare the spice orders in time.”
Thai army to take control of checkpoints on border with Cambodia
- Thailand has reinforced its military presence along a disputed border with Cambodia, following an increase in troops on the other side
- Tension escalated in 2008 over an 11th-century Hindu temple, leading to skirmishes over several years and at least a dozen deaths
BANGKOK: Thailand’s army said on Saturday it would take control of the opening and closing of border checkpoints on the border with Cambodia as tensions between the two countries rise.
Thailand has reinforced its military presence along a disputed border with Cambodia, following an increase in troops on the other side, Thailand’s defense minister said on Saturday, as tensions simmer following a deadly clash.
For days, the two Southeast Asian governments have exchanged carefully worded statements committing to dialogue after a brief skirmish in an undemarcated border area on May 28 in which a Cambodian soldier was killed.
But Phumtham Wechayachai, who also serves as Thailand’s deputy prime minister, said that during talks bilateral talks held on Thursday, Cambodia had rejected proposals that could have led to a de-escalation.
“Furthermore, there has been a reinforcement of military presence, which has exacerbated tensions along the border,” Phumtham said in a statement.
“Consequently, the Royal Thai Government has deemed it necessary to implement additional measures and to reinforce our military posture accordingly.”
He did not provide details on the extent of reinforcements by either side.
In a separate statement on Saturday, the Thai army said Cambodian soldiers and civilians had repeatedly made incursions into Thailand’s territory.
“These provocations, and the build up of military forces, indicate a clear intent to use force,” the Thai army said, adding that it would take control of all Thai checkpoints along the border with Cambodia.
A spokesperson for Cambodia’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters.
The military reinforcements come despite efforts by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is the current chair of the Southeast Asian ASEAN bloc, and China to reduce tensions.
Thailand and Cambodia have for more than a century contested sovereignty at various undemarcated points along their 817 km (508 miles) land border, which was first mapped by France in 1907 when Cambodia was its colony.
Tension escalated in 2008 over an 11th-century Hindu temple, leading to skirmishes over several years and at least a dozen deaths, including during a weeklong exchange of artillery in 2011.
Current governments in both countries, however, have enjoyed warm ties. Former leaders Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand and Cambodia’s Hun Sen have had a close relationship, and Thaksin’s daughter and Hun Sen’s son are now the incumbent prime ministers of their countries.
Still, nationalist sentiment has risen in Thailand and the Thai military said on Friday that it is ready to launch a “high-level operation” to counter any violation of its sovereignty.
Cambodia said this week it would refer disputes over four parts of the border to the International Court of Justice and asked Thailand to cooperate.
Phumtham reiterated in his Saturday statement that Thailand does not recognize the jurisdiction of the court and proposed that all boundary-related issues be resolved through bilateral negotiations.
