Gang violence leaves Haiti facing ‘worst hunger emergency in the western hemisphere’

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Half the country’s population now struggling to find food as lawlessness and inflation cause ‘full-blown crisis’, say aid agencies

Half of all Haitians are struggling every day to find food as rampant gang violence and lawlessness are causing “the worst hunger emergency in the western hemisphere”, a report has found.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and its partner organisations estimate that 5.4 million Haitians are now regularly finding it hard to get enough to eat, a record for the Caribbean nation and the largest proportion of acutely food insecure people anywhere in the world, WFP said. The figure suggests another 600,000 people have fallen into “crisis” level hunger since the previous peaks recorded earlier this year and in 2023.

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Pope opens major Vatican summit pleading for a church where ‘each person feels welcomed’ – National Catholic Reporter

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  1. Pope opens major Vatican summit pleading for a church where 'each person feels welcomed'  National Catholic Reporter
  2. Synod: Cardinal Grech's opening address - Full text  Vatican News
  3. From Management to Ministry?  Commonweal
  4. LETTERS FROM THE SYNOD – 2024: #2 | Xavier Rynne II  First Things
  5. On eve of novel synod, pope asks pardon for new index of sins  Crux Now
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Typhoon Krathon: one person killed and two missing in Taiwan

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Seventy reported injured as schools, offices and financial markets shut and people urged to stay at home

One person has been killed, two are missing and 70 injured in bad weather from a typhoon approaching Taiwan, which grounded flights and closed all schools, offices and financial markets for Wednesday and Thursday.

Typhoon Krathon reached super typhoon status in recent days but movement stalled overnight and its intensity has weakened as it moves slowly towards Taiwan’s south-west. Authorities warned the threat of strong winds and storm surges remained for coastal and low-lying communities on the densely populated west coast, and the mountainous areas remained at high risk of landslides and torrential rain.

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How Netanyahu Caught The Whole Middle East Off Guard — With Help From The Pentagon – Worldcrunch

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  1. How Netanyahu Caught The Whole Middle East Off Guard — With Help From The Pentagon  Worldcrunch
  2. A Wider War in the Middle East, From Hamas to Hezbollah and Now Iran  The New York Times
  3. Israel and Iran Are in a Spiraling Escalation Amid the Fragmentation of the International Order  Haaretz
  4. The Israeli offensive and Iranian missile attack test two visions for the Middle East’s future  Atlantic Council
  5. How many US troops are in the Middle East?  The Associated Press
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Buried US second world war bomb explodes at Japanese airport

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Unexpected blast at Miyazaki airport makes crater in taxiway and leads to grounding of 80 flights but no injuries

A US bomb from the second world war that had been buried at a Japanese airport has exploded, causing a large crater in a taxiway and the cancellation of more than 80 flights but no injuries, Japanese officials said.

Land and transport ministry officials said there were no aircraft nearby when the bomb exploded at Miyazaki airport in south-western Japan on Wednesday.

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‘We are all the same’: Lebanese come together to feed those forced to flee – Al Jazeera English

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  1. ‘We are all the same’: Lebanese come together to feed those forced to flee  Al Jazeera English
  2. ‘We will resist’: defiance amid destruction in Beirut’s deserted suburbs  The Guardian
  3. Video: CNN reporter shows how civilians in Beirut are faring  CNN
  4. Lebanon's government urges international community for support amid Israel’s invasion  NPR
  5. Israel’s escalating war in Lebanon brings calamity to a fragile state  The Washington Post
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Former Nintendo factory in Kyoto opens as nostalgia-fuelled gaming museum

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Museum features consoles from 1983’s Famicom to 2017’s Switch, as well as honouring Nintendo’s pre-video-game era

Traditionally, visitors to Kyoto in October come for momijigari, the turning of the autumn leaves in the city’s picturesque parks. This autumn, however, there is a new draw: a Nintendo museum.

The new attraction, which opens on Wednesday, is best described as a chapel of video game nostalgia. Upstairs, Nintendo’s many video game consoles, from 1983’s Famicom through 1996’s Nintendo 64 to 2017’s Switch, are displayed reverently alongside their most famous games. On the back wall, visitors can also peer at toys, playing cards and other artefacts from the Japanese company’s pre-video-game history, stretching back to its founding as a hanafuda playing card manufacturer in 1889. Downstairs, there are interactive exhibits with comically gigantic controllers and floor-projected playing cards.

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