By Emma Farge
GENEVA, Sept 7 (Reuters) - A U.N. expert said on Monday that Israeli clearance of rubble in Gaza could destroy valuable evidence of "atrocity crimes" and prevent the recovery of human remains.
Israel's ****** ault ‌on Gaza — started after the deadly raid into Israel by Hamas in October 2023 — has generated ‌around 61 million tons of wreckage and debris that could take seven years to clear, according to the United Nations.
Francesca Albanese, the U.N. expert on the Palestinian territories, said evidence should be gathered and human remains identified before full clearance started.
She issued a statement headlined: "UN expert warns Israeli rubble-clearing could erase traces of atrocity crimes" and said Palestinians should be behind any plans to remove waste.

#Gaza #rubble #evidence

On a cold November morning, designer Isaac Mizrahi gets up, leaves his apartment, and trudges to the corner newsstand to pick up a copy of Women's Wear Daily. It's the day after Mizrahi's Spring/Summer 1994 show, and the ink on the reviews is still wet. Reading from the pages, he quotes, "'His usually great color sense failed him, his fabric sense failed him, and certainly, his sense of how a modern woman dresses after 8 p.m. failed him." The verdict is withering. Mizrahi, one of the great artists of '90s ready-to-wear fashion, has been tossed out. Disgraced. Lightly "cancelled," as some might call it these days.
Douglas Keeve's sublime 1995 documentary, "Unzipped," follows Mizrahi in the aftermath of a train wreck, piecing his reputation back together with his next collection, attempting to make something beautiful from the rubble. We find Mizrahi's world in grayscale, drained of color in the wake of critical and cultural failure. Then, the opening notes of Sandra Bernhard's 1994 cover of Sylvester's "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" cue the pigmentation, cascading over bright images of models in fittings, garments hanging from racks, and plenty of DayGlo faux furs. In her version, Bernhard alters the lyrics to pay tribute to Sylvester, whose untimely death left an immense legacy. "Sylvester, sister," Bernhard coos, "You were so beautiful, you were so fragile, you were so . . . real."
But just before Bernhard finishes the word, the song fades to silence, as if to say that realness — genuine authenticity in your life and work, at the cost of criticism — will always be snuffed out before it can be fully appreciated. That is the price of beauty. What is up must always come down.
(Janus Films) Isaac Mizrahi in "Unzipped"
After years in cinematic obscurity — the film hasn't been readily available outside of the eBay market in decades — "Unzipped" will return to theaters later this month, with a loving 4K restoration from Janus Films, just as another fashion-world controversy is heating up. Earlier this week, the Metropolitan Museum of Art declared it would no longer proceed with its Costume Institute's upcoming exhibition honoring John Galliano, scheduled to debut next year. When the scrapped "John Galliano: Horizons" was announced in July, the exhibition was immediately met with an outpouring of criticism. Detractors accused the museum of being tone deaf, citing a 2011 video of Galliano going on a drunken antisemitic and racist rant at a Paris bar, for which Galliano was promptly ousted from his spot as creative director at Dior. Following the video surfacing, Galliano apologized, went to rehab, and, over the last few years, experienced a brand resurgence that some would call a whitewashing.

#mizrahi #bernhard #sense

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian residents of war-battered Gaza fled homes and businesses as Israeli strikes and tank fire killed at least four people Monday, including two children, hospital officials said, a week after a U.S. delegation asked Israel to draw down attacks.
After evacuation warnings by Israel's military, a strike hit a building in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. One family was unable to flee and a 4-year-old child was killed, according to Awda Hospital, where he was taken. His mother and sister were wounded. There was no Israeli military comment.
Israeli strikes hit three other buildings across the territory after residents said they received evacuation warnings. Some people sprinted away, with mothers carrying children, while others moved amid the rubble in wheelchairs or with canes.
Smoke rose over the already devastated landscape.
Israel's military said it carried out strikes in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City and in Deir al-Balah after issuing warnings, targeting what it described as two Hamas weapons storage facilities inside mosques. The military did not provide evidence but said the facilities contained dozens of "Kalashnikov rifles, magazines and additional military equipment."

#strikes #warnings #balah #hospital

Dozens of people were killed after a powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake rocked western Colombia early on Monday, Aug. 10.
The earthquake brought down buildings across several cities in the country and left people trapped in the rubble, local authorities said, according to Reuters.
The epicenter of the devastating earthquake was near San Jose del Palmar, in Choco, a sparsely populated province on Colombia's Pacific Coast. Choco Governor Nubia Carolina Cordoba-Curi said there were injuries and significant damage in Quibdo, the provincial capital, and warned residents about potential aftershocks.
Colombia's disaster agency said the shake, which happened at around 7:30 a.m. local time, was felt in nine departments and all 32 departmental capitals. The country's geological service measured the magnitude at 7.4 and said it struck at a depth of 60 miles.
The Aug. 10 earthquake in Colombia comes more than a month after a pair of devastating earthquakes struck Venezuela in late June, causing more than 5,000 deaths and leaving more than 16,000 people injured.

#choco

CALI, Colombia (AP) — A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 111 people, damaging hundreds of buildings and leaving many trapped under debris while their loved ones and rescue workers searched through rubble.
Search teams and civilians picked through the remains of destroyed buildings in the country's third-largest city, Cali, passing large pieces of concrete and other rubble down a long line of volunteers.
"Our building has basically been left in ruins, and the building next to ours? Completely collapsed," said Álvaro López, who cradled his dog as he watched the search. The desperate scene recalled the searches still ongoing in neighboring Venezuela weeks after that country was devastated by two powerful earthquakes.
Besides Cali, the quake ravaged cities across western Colombia, including Pereira, Quibdo and Manizales, and was felt in neighboring Ecuador and Panama. The epicenter was in San Jose Del Palmar, a community of about 4,800 people in the Choco region about 250 miles (400 kilometers) west of Bogota, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Colombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella said at least 87 people were injured and around 1,600 buildings were damaged, including at least 61 that completely collapsed. He declared an emergency to expedite funding for the quake recovery while saying he would visit the disaster zone.

#colombia #search #western

A harrowing video captured the moment a building collapsed as a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia early Monday, killing at least 111 people and injuring 87 others.
The video shows the building shaking and crumbling as onlookers scream before the structure ultimately gives way.
Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella declared a state of emergency as rescue crews searched collapsed buildings across several cities, according to Reuters.
"The national government has all of its capabilities deployed to protect lives, ******* ist affected communities and ⁠deliver aid wherever it is needed," De La Espriella said. "The first priority is rescuing the people trapped under the rubble."
Exclusive: Franklin Graham Visits Emergency Hospital Treating Venezuela Earthquake Victims

#espriella #earthquake #president

Dozens of people are dead after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake rocked western Colombia on Monday, officials said.
The earthquake's epicenter was 5 kilometers east of San José del Palmar, Colombia, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Santiago Saldarriaga/AP - PHOTO: Residents and rescue workers search through the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Aug. 10, 2026.
At least 50 people are dead, according to Colombia's presidential office. At least 27 people, including three children, died in the Valle del Cauca department, whose capital, Cali, is among the most impacted cities, officials said.
In Cali, at least 20 buildings collapsed and people were trapped, according to the mayor. A rescue effort was ongoing in a building where at least 15 people were trapped, according to officials.

#people #according #earthquake

Venezuelan Olympic weightlifting silver medalist Julio Mayora hoisted 151 kilograms (330 pounds) to win two gold medals this weekend at the 2026 Central American and Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo.
Not so long ago, he was using his superhuman strength to lift up concrete blocks to rescue victims from the double earthquakes that devastated his home country.
Mayora hails from La Guaira, the northern coastal Venezuelan state that was hit hardest by the June 24 double earthquakes, with respective magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale.
The powerful earthquakes killed over 6,000 people and reduced dozens of buildings to rubble -- including people and places known to Mayora.
He dedicated his two gold medals to the victims of the earthquakes.

#venezuelan #medals #victims #olympic

Over 3,500 are dead and at least 30,000 missing after twin earthquakes hit Venezuela. In La Guaira, grieving families face broken logistics—paying $2,000 for cranes and fighting fuel shortages—to recover loved ones from the rubble as official rescue teams pull out.

By Julia Symmes Cobb
LA GUAIRA, VENEZUELA, July 4 (Reuters) - Juan Zapata had just eaten dinner in his fifth-floor apartment overlooking the Caribbean and was about to take a shower when he was thrown across the room by the force of the twin earthquakes that ripped across Venezuela's coast 10 days ago.
He spent two days and seven ‌hours trapped in the rubble, wedged between two pieces of rebar, before civilian rescuers pulled him out.
"When they were rescuing me I said, 'I'm on the fifth floor' and they ‌told me, 'no, you're in the lower basement.' I couldn't believe what had happened to me," Zapata said, as he stood next to his cot in a field hospital in La Guaira state run by disaster relief group Samaritan's Purse.
Zapata was initially treated at the public hospital in La Guaira, the site hardest hit by the quakes, and came to the field hospital after visiting his building, Costa Brava, and finding it destroyed.

It is now "a race against time" to get the required help to Venezuela after the South American country was hit by two "immense" earthquakes last week, Oxfam has said.
Two strong earthquakes struck Venezuela within seconds of one another on Wednesday, causing untold damage in several parts of the country.
At least 1,700 people are so far known to have died in the 7.2 and 7.5-magnitude quakes, which caused hundreds of buildings to collapse and leaving many trapped in the rubble.
Magnus Corfixen, the humanitarian lead for Oxford-based Oxfam GB, said the charity's "first priority" was establishing an "overview of the situation" with its partners on the ground.
The charity has launched an emergency appeal for those affected.

MIAMI (AP) — More than 100 people just deported from the United States were being held in a hotel when earthquakes struck Venezuela, setting off a scramble to find survivors and bodies buried in the rubble, according to survivors.
A deportation flight from Miami arrived in Venezuela hours before Wednesday's earthquakes. On board were 146 Venezuelans, including 19 women and seven children, according to ICE Flight Monitor, an initiative of Human Rights First, which tracks deportation flights. They were transported to a hotel in La Guaira.
Lisbeth Portillo, 58, said she escaped the rubble from the hotel with about 20 other deportees who walked the streets looking for help. They saw people running, some naked and others barefoot as they emerged from the rubble of the building in La Guaira, one of the areas that was hardest hit in Wednesday's 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes.
"We walked about five kilometers, and I cried and cried … there was no communication," Portillo said in a phone interview from her home in Maracaibo, Venezuela.
They reached a National Guard building, where they had a chance to call relatives.

An Argentine soccer player for a Venezuelan second division team has lost his wife and two children after last week's earthquakes, the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than a century.
Lucas Trejo, who plays for Club Sport Marítimo La Guaira, had spent much of the last three days combing through rubble and looking for signs of his wife Yanina and their children Aarón and Ainhoa.
Trejo's brother-in-law Ricardo Ardiles told CNN Español Friday the soccer player was "emotionally overwhelmed" and that "absolutely nothing" was left of the family's beachfront home in La Guaira, one of the hardest-hit areas.
More than 1,400 people died and thousands more are missing in Venezuela, authorities said Sunday.
Trejo, 38, was at a team training camp in Caracas when the two earthquakes struck, CNN Español reported. He immediately rushed to his home in La Guaira, 18 miles north of the capital.

MIAMI (AP) — More than 100 people just deported from the United States were being held in a hotel when earthquakes struck Venezuela, setting off a scramble to find survivors and bodies buried in the rubble, according to survivors.
A deportation flight from Miami arrived in Venezuela hours before Wednesday's earthquakes. On board were 146 Venezuelans, including 19 women and seven children, according to ICE Flight Monitor, an initiative of Human Rights First, which tracks deportation flights. They were transported to a hotel in La Guaira.
Lisbeth Portillo, 58, said she escaped the rubble from the hotel with about 20 other deportees who walked the streets looking for help. They saw people running, some naked and others barefoot as they emerged from the rubble of the building in La Guaira, one of the areas that was hardest hit in Wednesday's 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes.
"We walked about five kilometers, and I cried and cried … there was no communication," Portillo said in a phone interview from her home in Maracaibo, Venezuela.
They reached a National Guard building, where they had a chance to call relatives.

Foreign rescue teams ― including three from the United States ― were racing time in the aftermath of twin earthquakes that rocked Venezuela's northern coast this week as the death toll from the disaster eclipsed 1,400, officials said.
The tally is expected to climb, according to U.S. Geological Survey data, which estimates more than 10,000 casualties are possible.
Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela's interim president, said 33 people had been rescued so far, including several children. Overnight, Rodríguez announced on X that a youngster had been pulled from the rubble in the coastal state of La Guaira with video showing rescue workers carrying him out on a stretcher.
"A few minutes ago, an 11-year-old boy was rescued alive in Caraballeda," she wrote. "At this time, every life is a source of hope for Venezuela."

Ana Vanessa Herrero, reporting for NBC News in Venezuela, sheds light on the hundreds of people looking for loved ones who might be missing under the rubble after two major earthquakes hit near the country's capital on Wednesday.

The daughter of a woman killed when a Tesla allegedly on autopilot struck her Texas home says her mother "still had her whole life ahead of her."
Officials say Martha Avila was killed when a Tesla crashed into her home in Katy, Texas, on Friday.
"My mom was such a caring woman," said Avila's daughter, Jennifer Barbour.
The 76-year-old's family, including Barbour, was also at the home when the crash happened.
"As I was talking to the 911 operator, that's when we saw my mom, like under the rubble," Barbour told CBS affiliate KHOU. "She was pinned against the wall because he pushed her fridge, like, against her."

Gaming is the mega-sector few talk about. With a global market value of $386 billion this year, it dwarfs the size of film and music combined. As many as 350,000 people work in the industry directly, according to market research firm Gitnux. As with all other parts of the business world, talk of artificial intelligence is intense and inconclusive.
Microsoft is one of the Big Daddies. Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Minecraft live within the Xbox gaming empire, catapulted to leading global status by the acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion in 2023. Tencent, from China, and Sony, from ******* an, vie with Microsoft for supremacy at the top of the gaming leaderboard.
With such a successful stable, Microsoft is keen that advertisers engage with gaming platforms, and it has set up a business division—Xbox Media Solutions—to drive profitable deals. The first game it lists on its "global portfolio of fan-favorite franchises" has nothing to do with battlefield simulations in future universes or worlds created by an endless supply of rubble, bricks, and tree trunks. The first game it highlights relies on people matching different types of sweets in a row and has a name that is part pro wrestling, part confectionery store: Candy Crush Saga.
Candy Crush was launched in 2012 with 65 "levels" of candy-matching to complete. Few would have predicted that, 14 years later, it would still be making $1 billion in annual revenue and have a fan base of over 150 million users playing it more than once a month, according to Business of Apps, which covers the sector. The number of levels now exceeds 20,000, and spinoff games include Soda Saga and Jelly Saga. Given its rabid fandom, the $5.9 billion Activision paid in 2016 for King, the company that launched the game, now looks like a steal.
What's next for a game so successful that when writer of catchy tunes Meghan Trainor wanted an exclusive launch platform for the video of her new single "Made You Look," she chose Candy Crush? For the answer to that, it is worth turning to Paula Ingvar, the game's general manager, based at the company's HQ in Stockholm. She does not lack ambition.

Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles into Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities killing at least 16 civilians and wounding more than 100 others. Apartment buildings across the country have been reduced to rubble, leaving many residents trapped.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is struggling to gain momentum as it heads toward its worst month since June 2022.
As prices hover above $88,000 per token, or roughly 30% off their October all-time highs of more than $126,000, the cryptocurrency's problems don't appear to be easing.
And three key challenges for bitcoin have emerged as investors and strategists dig through the rubble of this month's decline.
First, outflows of bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for November have reached $3.5 billion, their largest since February. "That indicates that institutional investors have stopped allocating into

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is struggling to gain momentum as it heads toward its worst month since May 2022.
As prices hover above $89,000 per token, or roughly 29% off their October all-time highs of more than $126,000, the cryptocurrency's problems don't appear to be easing.
And three key challenges for bitcoin have emerged as investors and strategists dig through the rubble of this month's decline.
First, outflows of bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for November have reached $3.5 billion, their largest since February. "That indicates that institutional investors have stopped allocating into b