First Thing: Twenty-four killed in Gaza as tensions rise with Israel Miranda Bryant
Good morning.
Twenty-four people, including nine children, were killed in Gaza, the enclave’s health ministry has said, following all-night Israeli airstrikes that came after weeks of tension that dramatically escalated on Monday. Officials said seven of those killed in Gaza were members of a single family.
The Israeli military accused Palestinian militants of launching more than 200 rockets and said it had killed 15 Hamas “operatives” and a battalion commander. Israeli medics said six Israeli civilians had been hurt by rocket fire.
The escalation came after Israeli police stormed al-Aqsa mosque – the third holiest site in Islam – in Jerusalem, early on Monday with stun grenades and teargas, injuring more than 500 Palestinians.
More shots in the dark msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
More shots in the dark LIKE FINDING A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK
Following several missed vaccine rollout targets, weird attempts to shift blame to the states, and concerns of vaccine hesitancy due to rare blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine,
The news comes after
Greg Hunt announced the government will not purchase the Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine out of concern it carries similarly rare but severe blood clotting risks, with
Guardian Australia noting that US health agencies have officially recommended states pause administration of the drug.
Unfortunately the global production target for Australia’s third option, Novavax, has been pushed back until the third quarter of 2021 due to supply shortages. Although clinical trials for the drug are still underway, the ABC explains that Australia has an agreement for 51 million doses originally slated for “mid-2021, at which point executives had said full-scale vaccine production could be achieved”.
Gibralter Back to Normal, US-1 in 4 Vaccinated, World Stats
GUARDIAN (UK) Gibraltar has become one of the first places in the world to vaccinate the bulk of its adult population against Covid-19, allowing virus restrictions to be lifted and life to almost return to normal.
AFP report that since the end of March, masks are only required in enclosed public spaces, shops and on public transport. And a curfew between midnight and five am was also lifted, boosting business at bars and restaurants which only reopened on 1 March after months of restrictions.
Popular spots are once again buzzing with people enjoying a meal or a drink. Gino Jimenez, chairman of the Gibraltar Catering Association who also runs a popular eatery, said it was “especially gratifying” to see vulnerable seniors finally “out of their homes and safe”.
As a young woman barely out of boarding school in Toowoomba, Tana Douglas stuck steadfastly to the rule: ‘Never let them see a sign of weakness.’ Photograph: Supplied
Before Tana Douglas was 21, she had worked with Carlos Santana, Neil Diamond and Iggy Pop. A new memoir from the world’s first female roadie recounts a life “often silly and frequently dangerous”. But as Jenny Valentish notes, Douglas has more to offer than just a catalogue of mad adventures (secret pregnancy and peltings with live fish notwithstanding). “In recent years there has been a barrage of self-help books by former Navy Seals, applying their hard-fought techniques of leadership, discipline, problem-solving and survival to the lives of us everyday civilians. This could serve the same purpose – a kind of Gaffer Tape Your Life.”