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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67695861 Since the war in Gaza began, Israel's military operations in the occupied West Bank have become more frequent, and more forceful. The northern city of Jenin - the epicentre of these raids before the Hamas attacks - is now a weekly battleground. The Palestinian teenagers I met who were running from the army there on Tuesday had the sceptical dismissive attitudes of much older men - mocking the Palestinian president and his appeals to the world for protection against Israel's occupation. Behind them, Israel's armoured bulldozers and military jeeps moved around the entrance to Jenin refugee camp, explosions and gunfire from across the city echoing along the deserted, shuttered streets. The walls of this city are covered with the pictures of young men killed by Israeli forces - some of them members of armed groups like Hamas, proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK and others. The posters and the faces are refreshed, year after year. Six men were killed in the operation here on Tuesday; four of them in a drone strike, witnesses said. Israel says its operations in the West Bank are targeting members of armed groups, often those with Israeli blood on their hands. Smoke rises over houses during an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank (12 December 2023) Smoke rises over houses during an Israeli military raid in Jenin on Tuesday But the director of Jenin's hospital, Wissam Bakr, said a chronically ill 13-year-old child also died after being blocked from reaching medical care. "The persistence of the incursions into Jenin, and the killing of young people - this will make the people more and more angry, because every day we lose one of our friends," he said. "This will not bring peace for Israel - this will bring more and more resistance." On 7 October, Hamas gunmen from Gaza attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 others hostage. More than 18,400 people are said to have been killed in Gaza during the war that followed. Here in the West Bank, 271 Palestinians, including 69 children, have been killed since the attacks - more than half the total number for the year. Almost all of them have been killed by Israeli forces, according to the United Nations. Since the Hamas attacks, support for armed resistance has risen in many parts of the West Bank - in places like Nablus and Jenin. "I see it in the voices of people, in the music they play in their cars, from Facebook or social media posts, from my debates with my students," said Raed Debiy, a political scientist and youth leader for the West Bank's ruling party, Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA). He told me the attacks were "a turning point" for Palestinians, just as they were a shocking turning point for Israelis. "The people, especially the new generation, are backing Hamas now, more than at any other moment," he told me. "In the previous 30 years, there were no models, no idols for the new generation; now they see there is something different, a different story is being created." Even his 11-year-old nephew, he said, had little respect for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but idolises Hamas military spokesman Abu Obeida - "because he protects us". Palestinian political scientist Amjad Bushkar Political scientist Amjad Bushkar predicts a "real integration" between Hamas and Fatah "Palestinian youth had priorities and wish lists about owning a house, or getting a degree," explained West Bank political scientist Amjad Bushkar. "But after 7 October, I think these priorities have totally changed. There are rising voices for full liberation of the homeland through resistance - whether that resistance is peaceful or armed." Dr Bushkar told me that he had spent a total of nine years in Israeli jails, and had been a member of Hamas's student wing in the past. Seven members of his family had been arrested since the 7 October attacks, he added. Hamas members in the West Bank have regularly been targeted by Palestinian security forces - not just Israeli ones - since the group took control of Gaza by force in 2007, a year after it won parliamentary elections. But now, Dr Bushkar said, something had changed. "Both Fatah and Hamas are well aware that they are complementary to each other, and I think we'll see real integration between the two movements." "The Palestinian Authority realised that targeting Hamas would not eradicate it because it's an ideological movement rooted within the Palestinian people; and Hamas is fully aware that it cannot establish an independent [Palestinian] state without the help of Fatah." Israeli armoured vehicles drive through Jenin, in the occupied West Bank (12 December 2023) There has been a parallel surge in violence in the West Bank since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas Some senior figures in the Palestinian administration - though not President Abbas - are now openly talking about the benefits of a united political front. Earlier this month, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said in an interview with Bloomberg that the Palestinian Authority's preferred outcome of the war in Gaza would be for Hamas to join a unity government led by the PA. Qossay Hamed, an expert in Hamas at Al-Quds Open University in Ramallah, says the crisis in Gaza could end up strengthening the movement's political wing, at the expense of its military one. "In any revolutionary movement, there should be a political harvest to [military] actions," he said. "There are so many trends within Hamas. And there are internal clashes. I think there will be more room for the political trend within Hamas, especially after this war, when the whole world will not be tolerant towards them." Israel says its goal in Gaza is to destroy Hamas, and has ruled out a role for either it or Fatah in Gaza's future government. "I will not allow the entry into Gaza of those who teach terrorism, support terrorism and finance terrorism," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday. "Gaza will be neither Hamas-stan nor Fatah-stan." Demonstrators carry Hamas flags at a protest against the war in Gaza, after Friday prayers in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank (8 December 2023) Demonstrators carried Hamas flags during a protest against the war in Gaza in the West Bank city of Hebron last Friday Some Palestinians privately say the price paid by Gaza for the Hamas attacks is too high. But others say the group's brutal tactics worked in forcing Israel to release Palestinian prisoners - and contrast its impact sharply with that of the Palestinian Authority, set up 30 years ago after the Oslo Accords to work with Israel on a future Palestinian State. An opinion poll carried out between 22 November and 2 December by a respected Palestinian think-tank, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), found that support for Hamas had more than tripled in the West Bank compared to three months ago. Supporters of Hamas were still in a minority, but 70% of the respondents said armed struggle was the best means of ending the Israeli occupation. By contrast, support for President Abbas had dropped sharply following the Hamas attacks, the survey found, with more than 90% of Palestinians in the West Bank calling for his resignation. Since the Hamas attacks, said Amjad Bushkar, "the world and the international community have put the Palestinian cause on its list of priorities." Widely seen as corrupt and ineffective, the PA has also been unable to pay its civil servants or police since the Hamas attacks, because the war in Gaza caused a rift over the tax revenues transferred by Israel each month. While Hamas flags and slogans multiplied here in the wake of each busload of Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in exchange for Israeli hostages held in Gaza, the PA's president and security forces were conspicuously absent. Israel may be determined to deny Hamas power in Gaza, but here in the West Bank its influence is already spreading.

https://www.gadgets360.com/internet/news/google-meta-qualcomm-tech-companies-team-up-digital-ecosystem-eu-tech-rules-4666962 Alphabet's Google, Meta Platforms, Qualcomm and seven other tech companies on Wednesday teamed up to push for open digital ecosystems in response to new EU tech rules in a move that may also take the edge of possible future legislation. Calling itself the Coalition for Open Digital Ecosystems (CODE), the group said it wants to promote more open platforms and systems to boost growth and innovation in Europe. The group said it will work with academics, policymakers and companies on digital openness and how this can be achieved in Europe "through the implementation of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and in future EU regulatory framework developments". The DMA requires gatekeepers -- tech giants that control access to their platforms -- to allow third parties to inter-operate with the gatekeeper's own services and allow their business users to promote their offer and conclude contracts with their customers outside the gatekeeper's platform. "We have had a number of conversations in the past few months about what 'good' looks like when it comes to digital ecosystems in Europe, what fosters innovation, and what will positively impact competitiveness. We think openness is the crucial element," Lynx founder Stan Larroque said in a statement. Other members of the group are Chinese smart devices maker Honor, China's Lenovo, French augmented reality start-up Lynx, US telecoms equipment maker Motorola, UK electronics maker Nothing, Norwegian tech company Opera and German messaging services provider Wire. The Coalition said it aims to open up digital ecosystems through cross-industry collaboration and promote seamless connectivity and interoperable systems, among others.

https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-google-epic-legal-defeat-threatens.html Google's legal defeat at the hands of Fortnite maker Epic Games Inc. threatens to roil an app store duopoly with Apple Inc. that generates close to $200 billion a year and dictates how billions of consumers use mobile devices. The loss—handed down by a San Francisco jury on Monday—is a blow to the two companies' business model in apps, where they charge commissions of as much as 30% to software developers who typically have few other options. Epic has spent years railing against the practice and got a federal jury to agree that Alphabet Inc.'s Google unit had acted unfairly as a monopoly. The case is likely to accelerate the weakening of app store rules, which have already come under fire from regulators and lawmakers around the world. "The dominoes are going to start falling here," Tim Sweeney, chief executive officer of Epic, said in an interview after the verdict. "The end of 30% is in sight." Though Apple won a similar case against Epic in 2021, that ruling was made by a single judge. The nature of the Google suit—where a jury sided unanimously with Epic—let actual consumers weigh in on the world of smartphone apps. In under four hours of deliberations, they found that Google had engaged in anticompetitive conduct, harmed Epic, and illegally forced its own billing system on developers. The battle began in 2020, when Fortnite was kicked off the Apple and Google Play app stores because the game developer had secretly installed its own payment system. The idea was to bypass the up-to-30% revenue share that the two tech giants take from in-app purchases and subscriptions on their platforms. In response, Epic sued both companies. Google also has drawn criticism for making side deals with big developers like Spotify Technology SA where it offers lower commissions. In Monday's decision, the jury found that Google shouldn't require Android app developers to use its billing system for software sold through its store—and that it shouldn't offer custom agreements to certain developers. "The immediate aftereffect is we will see a shift in the marketplace where big tech companies will have to make accommodations—whether it is more access, better terms, more options for developers—to stave off legal exposure," said Paul Swanson, a partner at Holland & Hart who specializes in technology and antitrust law. The case also underscores a sentiment among many consumers that major technology companies have gained too much power. Google also faced scrutiny from a Justice Department judge this fall over its power in search, though the outcome of that trial won't be clear for months. Epic's Sweeney predicted that—as Google starts making changes to its operations and public pressure mounts—its app store peer will be forced to act as well. "The same thing will start happening with Apple," he said. And that will ultimately help consumers, Sweeney said. "The economics is real," he said. "When you remove a 30% tax from an ecosystem, consumer prices will get better. Or quality will get better and selection will increase." During the case, Epic highlighted agreements Google reached with top game developers, including Activision Blizzard Inc. and Nintendo Co., for smaller fees. Every developer should now demand one of those deals, Sweeney said. There's a fortune at stake for both Apple and Google. In-app spending is forecast to reach $182 billion next year and $207 billion in 2025, according to research firm Sensor Tower. Already, the Digital Markets Act in the European Union will spur changes. For the first time, Apple will need to allow third-party app stores and billing systems in the region. Even before that law takes effect next year, the two companies have been making adjustments. Apple now lets so-called reader apps—such as software for cloud storage, watching video and reading books—link to outside websites to let users pay. That bypasses Apple's revenue cut. Both Apple and Google also have changed their policies to take a commission on subscription apps. And Apple has been forced to let dating apps in the Netherlands bypass its billing system. But the Epic win against Google has the potential to bring major changes to the companies' home country. That includes shifting internet software back to a more open environment, rather than the app stores' closed ecosystems, according to Stanford Law professor Mark Lemley. "The last two decades have seen a profound shift away from the open internet towards walled gardens," Lemley said. "That is one of the things that has kept the internet market so concentrated. This verdict just knocked a big hole in the garden wall." Though Apple won nine out of 10 counts against Epic when that decision was made in 2021, one issue is still up in the air: whether Apple should let all third-party developers point customers to websites to pay for purchases, bypassing Apple's fees. It may now be harder for the iPhone maker to avoid that fate. Google, which plans to appeal its verdict, said it "will continue to defend the Android business model and remain deeply committed to our users, partners and the broader Android ecosystem." Apple didn't respond to a request for comment. Apple has said it doesn't have any side deals with developers, though it offers discounted rates to some video streaming partners like Amazon.com Inc. During the trial, Epic's lawyers said Google also didn't properly retain some internal records relevant to the case. "I don't think there's much of a debate that the monopoly finding with Google holds true with Apple too," said Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next, a trade association for digital content companies. "The distinction that will be pored over is whether or not Apple abused that."

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/manufacturing/chinese-chip-related-companies-shutting-down-with-record-speed-10900-or-around-30-per-day-shut-down-in-2023 The number of chip companies in China has been declining ever since the U.S. started imposing sanctions against the semiconductor sector in 2019 - 2020. The situation got worse in 2022 - 2023 as demand for chips slowed. More than 22,000 chip-related firms have disappeared since 2019, but 2023 saw record-setting extinction according to DigiTimes (citing TMTPost). A record 10,900 chip-related companies have lost their registration in 2023 so far — a big jump from the 5,746 companies that folded in 2022, according the report. That means an average of 30 Chinese chip-related companies closed their doors each day in 2023. This is part of the five-year trend, which saw over 10,000 Chinese chip-related companies close in 2021 - 2022. The spike in 2023 highlights the growing struggles in chip design, semiconductor manufacturing, and wafer fab equipment sectors. Out of 3,243 chip design companies in China in 2023 (many of which emerged, at least partly, thanks to incentives from federal and local governments), more than half were making less than 10 million CNY (about $1.4 million USD) a year, according to Wei Shaojun, IC design lead at the China Semiconductor Industry Association and professor at Tsinghua University. Shaojun is not particularly fond of how the Chinese industry is developing. These firms are not just struggling with sales. Most are losing money from unsold stock, due to market oversupply and a general downturn in the semiconductor industry from wider economic circumstances. A big part of the problem comes from a misstep planning: In 2021 and 2022, many companies produced tons of chips, expecting high sales from the Covid-induced work-from-home trend. But as the pandemic waned, demand took a downturn and the market slumped in the end of 2022 / beginning of 2023, leaving companies with a lot of inventory they couldn't sell. And, of course, these products are losing value as time passes. Another problem, for smaller companies especially, is lack of investments. The U.S. has restricted investments in the Chinese semiconductor industry (as well as AI and quantum computing technologies), and European investors are not inclined to invest in Chinese chip companies with U.S. sanctions in place. Larger companies like YMTC have spent billions finding alternative suppliers and procuring third-party tools to stay in business, while Huawei built a secret fab network; smaller companies don't have the resources to keep up. And while the Chinese government is investing in the chip industry — the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund dropped $1 billion in HLMC a week ago — it can't pour money into every chip startup out there. It's been a tough year for China's chip industry — especially for the smaller players. The record number of companies shutting down reflects the hard times they're facing: low demand, overstock, and difficulty in obtaining funding. This has forced many out of the game and has shifted China's semiconductor industry into mostly big companies instead of smaller startups.

https://www.gadgets360.com/mobiles/news/asus-rog-phone-8-teaser-bluetooth-sig-certification-report-4649051 Asus ROG Phone 8 has been teased by the company, ahead of the launch of the company's next flagship phone aimed at gamers. The successor to the ROG Phone 7 is expected to make its debut soon, and the phone was recently spotted on a certification website, hinting at an imminent launch. Asus previously confirmed that the ROG Phone 8 will be powered by Qualcomm's latest flagship smartphone processor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 that offers performance and efficiency improvements over last year's flagship chip. In a teaser posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, Asus revealed the top right corner of the ROG Phone 8. while the left corner with the camera module appears darker. However, by adjusting the brightness levels, it is easy to spot the triple rear camera setup, as well as a USB port located on the side. The teaser does not share any additional information related to the launch of the handset and merely states that it is coming soon. Meanwhile, the Asus ROG Phone 8 and ROG Phone 8 Pro were spotted on the Bluetooth SIG certification website by MySmartPrice, with model numbers AI2401_C/D/A and AI2401_A/C/F. The Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra was also spotted on the website with the model number AI2401_H. Gadgets 360 was able to confirm the presence of these smartphone model numbers on the website. The successors to the Asus ROG Phone 7 series could be launched by the company in the coming days or weeks. Earlier this year, Asus launched the ROG Phone 7 and ROG Phone 7 Ultimate in India with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 paired with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of inbuilt storage. They feature a triple rear camera setup comprising a 50-megapixel primary camera, a 13-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera, and an 8-megapixel macro camera. They are also equipped with a 32-megapixel selfie camera. Both ROG Phone 7 series phones pack 6,000mAh batteries that can be charged at 65W.

https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-software-dj-automated-song-mashups.html Song mashups are a staple of many DJs, who mix the vocals and instrumentals from two or more tracks into a seamless blend, creating a new and exciting final product. While the result is fun to listen to, the creation process can often be challenging, requiring knowledge and expertise to select the right tracks and mash them together perfectly. Xinyang Wu from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology took a different approach, designing a computer algorithm to intelligently create mashups using the drum tracks from one song and the vocals and instrumentals from another. He presents his work Dec. 7 as part of Acoustics 2023, running Dec. 4–8 at the International Convention Center Sydney. While some algorithms and automated software can attempt to create song mashups, their results are often clunky and unrefined. These methods layer the complete, unaltered tracks on top of each other, aligning them based on detected key moments in the music, rather than skillfully combining the vocals and instrumentals of different songs. "Imagine trying to make a gourmet meal with only a microwave—that's sort of what automated mashup software is up against compared to a pro chef, or in this case, a professional music composer," said Wu. "These pros can get their hands on the original ingredients of a song—the separate vocals, drums, and instruments, known as stems—which lets them mix and match with precision." His algorithm takes a different approach, mimicking the process used by professionals. The software works to isolate the stems from each song and identify the most dynamic moments. It adjusts the tempo of the instrumental tracks and adds the drum beat mashup at exactly the right moment for maximum effect. The result is a unique blend of pleasing lyrics and exciting instrumentals with wide-ranging appeal. "From what I've observed, there's a clear trend in what listeners prefer in mashups," said Wu. "Hip-hop drumbeats are the crowd favorite—people seem to really enjoy the groove and rhythm that these beats bring to a mashup." Now that the software has been tested on drum tracks, the team plans to tackle bass mashups next. For Wu, the dream is to expand the algorithm to incorporate the full instrumental suite and put user-friendly mashup technology directly into the hands of listeners. "Our ultimate goal is creating an app where users can pick any two songs and choose how to mash them up—whether it's switching out the drums, bass, instrumentals, or everything together with the other song's vocals," said Wu.

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/meteor-lake-laptop-chip-performs-like-ryzen-7-desktop-pc-chip-in-leaked-benchmark-next-gen-16-core-ultra-9-185h-flaunts-51-ghz-at-45w A Weibo user has leaked images and system specifications of Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Book 4, which uses Intel's Core Ultra 9 185H Meteor Lake CPU (via @9550pro on X). The leak includes clear images of the internal layout of the Galaxy Book 4 (presumably the Ultra model) and screenshots from CPU-Z. Unfortunately, we didn't get much benchmarking data from this leak since the leaker was, in their own words, "too lazy to run" benchmarks. They did share a CPU-Z benchmark result, and the performance is roughly on par with AMD's Ryzen 7 7700X. However, CPU-Z's built-in test isn't known for being great, so drawing early conclusions based on this single data point is probably not a good idea. Although the Weibo user didn't specify what laptop he was showing off, it's all but sure the laptop is Samsung's Galaxy Book 4, which is rumored to be announced on December 15. The internal layout of the leaked laptop is highly similar to that of the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra, which has the same color scheme on the PCB, the exact placement of M.2 slots and USB ports, and even near-identical cable routing. According to the leak, this Galaxy Book 4 is equipped with the Core Ultra 9 185H and Nvidia's RTX 4070, paired with an improved vapor chamber cooler. The laptop also has Power Delivery 3.1 charging and uses a 140-watt charger. We can also guess the computer has the same ports as the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra: HDMI, Micro SD, 3.5mm audio, a single USB Type-A port, and two Thunderbolt 4 ports. The CPU-Z screenshot reveals that the Core Ultra 9 185H has a 45-watt TDP, which is standard for Intel's H-class chips. We also see that the CPU uses the C0 stepping, which indicates what version of Meteor Lake the chip operates. Steppings are organized by letter (a distinct version) and divided by number. If you're familiar with software updates for games or GPU drivers, C0 means version 3.0. A stepping of C0 implies a somewhat longer development process than usual. For comparison, Ryzen 7000 Raphael chips use the B2 stepping, Ryzen 5000 Vermeer CPUs initially used the B0 stepping but later moved to B2, and Intel's Raptor Lake processors are all on B0. Alder Lake CPUs had a stepping of C0, much like Meteor Lake, and there are parallels between the two chips. Alder Lake was developed on the troubled Intel 7 (formerly 10nm) node, and Meteor Lake is the first CPU to use the Intel 4 (previously 7nm) node, which also saw its development issues. Intel will announce Meteor Lake on December 14, so corresponding laptops should be around the corner.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-67640833 Robert Jenrick has resigned as immigration minister, saying the government's emergency Rwanda legislation "does not go far enough". He said "stronger protections" were needed to end "the merry-go-round of legal challenges which risk paralysing the scheme". The government said the bill, unveiled earlier, made clear in UK law Rwanda was a safe country for asylum seekers. But it stops short of what some on the Tory right were demanding. In his resignation letter to the prime minister, Mr Jenrick said: "In our discussions on the proposed emergency legislation you have moved towards my position, for which I am grateful. "Nevertheless, I am unable to take the currently proposed legislation through the Commons as I do not believe it provides us with the best possible chance of success." He added that the bill was "a triumph of hope over experience". The plans to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda aim to deter people from crossing the English Channel in small boats. But the scheme has been repeatedly delayed by legal challenges and no asylum seekers have been sent to Rwanda from the UK so far. Mr Jenrick said the emergency legislation was the "last opportunity" to prove the government would do "whatever it takes" to stop small boat crossings. "But in its current drafting it does not go far enough," he said. He added: "I refuse to be yet another politician who makes promises on immigration to the British public but does not keep them." Why does the UK want to send asylum seekers to Rwanda? Braverman: Tories face oblivion if Rwanda bill fails Reports of Mr Jenrick's resignation started swirling after the government published the draft bill. He had previously suggested the government could quit the European Convention on Human Rights (EHCR). Instead, the bill allows ministers to disregard parts of UK human rights law. The legislation aims to address the concerns of the Supreme Court, which last month ruled plans to send some asylum seekers to the east African country were unlawful. The bill, which must be voted on by Parliament, orders the courts to ignore key sections of the Human Rights Act in an attempt to sidestep the Supreme Court's existing judgment. It also orders the courts to ignore other British laws or international rules - such as the international Refugee Convention - that stand in the way of deportations to Rwanda. However, it does not go as far as some Tory MPs wanted.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-67637111 A young dog was left tied to the gates of an RSPCA centre after it was abandoned in the middle of the night. The dog - a bull breed but not believed to be an XL bully - was tied up at about 00:30 GMT on Tuesday at RSPCA Cymru on Hartridge Farm Road, Newport. CCTV caught the person who left the dog, which is thought to be one or two years old but not microchipped. RSPCA inspector Sophie Daniels said: "He must have been very frightened and confused being left there in the cold." The animal charity said Wales was on course to see a projected 1,610 abandonments this year, compared to 1,192 in 2021 and 1,419 in 2022. CCTV of the person abandoning dog The RSPCA says it is trying to find out who owns the abandoned dog Ms Daniels added: "We know times are tough at the moment and the cost of living is really affecting families who are struggling with their pets and the costs that come with them. "But we ask for people not to abandon and dump these animals - but to seek help from charities and organisations out there. "We're desperately concerned about the coming winter months in Wales. Abandonments have soared and many rescue centres are full to bursting, so we are facing an unprecedented winter crisis."

https://www.bbc.com/sport/gaelic-games/67612202 The mourners, dressed in black, cloaked in silence, hear it before they see it. At first, the noise is far off. But that distant commotion is getting closer, clearer and louder. It is the rumble of a heavy diesel engine, mixed with the lighter sound of happy shouts and laughter. From the cemetery, they watch as an open-backed lorry rolls round the corner, loaded with fresh-faced young men and festooned with red and green ribbons. On board are County Mayo's all-conquering Gaelic football team. They are on their way back from another epic victory, having clinched the 1951 All-Ireland title in front of 78,000 people in Dublin's cavernous Croke Park. It is their second consecutive win in the season's biggest game and a successful defence of the revered Sam Maguire Cup. But, some things are even more important. Especially in 1950s Ireland, a place of deep belief and strong tradition. A funeral demands the team fall silent, stop and pay their respects. But, too caught up in their celebrations, Mayo don't. The lorry motors on, the party continues and a sacrilege is committed. The priest at the head of the funeral procession fixes the players with a stare and narrows his eyes. "Damnation be upon every one of you," he says. "As long as you all shall live, County Mayo will never win another All-Ireland." It is a compelling story. Whether it is fact or fiction though is hard to say. What is true, is that more than 70 years and 11 final defeats since that day, Mayo still have not won another All-Ireland final and the curse - whether it was actually uttered or not - has loomed larger and larger over Mayo and its team. LISTEN: The Curse of County Mayo on BBC World Service The Curse of County Mayo - a three-part podcast series for BBC World Service's Amazing Sport Stories - speaks to coaches, fans, historians and players, including one who was on the lorry that day in 1951, to get to the bottom of one of sport's longest and most painful jinxes. Short presentational grey line Mayo, perched on the Republic of Ireland's Atlantic coast, is a county used to seeing its young people set out on long journeys in search of better times. Its 130,000-strong po[CENSORED]tion is almost a third of what it was in 1841, having been drained by emigration as people have fled historic famine and sought modern fortunes elsewhere. Gaelic football is an amateur sport in which, barring the odd transfer on residency grounds, you play for the county of your birth. A small po[CENSORED]tion, prone to leaving Ireland altogether, makes it hard to win. What is Gaelic football? But that history of hardship has not dimmed enthusiasm for the game in the county and the chance to overturn the odds against their rivals. "Mayo is not a rich county," explained John O'Mahony, who has both played for and managed County Mayo. "Its people are hardworking, honest to goodness. "Gaelic football has been the big sport in the county going back right in history. The thing people attach to is the county team." Together, the team and their fans have been through a lot since 1951. Eleven times they have been to Croke Park for the All-Ireland final and 11 times, in some unusual ways, fates have conspired to deny them the trophy that would end the drought and shatter notions of a hex. In 1989, O'Mahony was Mayo's manager when they made the final for the first time since 1951. His team were leading Cork in the second half and had plenty of chances to extend their advantage. They wasted them and Cork recovered to fight back and lift the trophy. Unlucky perhaps, but nothing too sinister in that result. But 1996's All-Ireland final was more strange. Mayo were up by a point in the closing stages when Meath's Colm Coyle put up a hopeful punt. A clamour of players underneath it all missed the ball, which flukily bounced up and over the bar for the single point Meath needed to snatch a replay. In that replay, Mayo's best player Liam McHale, who had been man of the match in the draw, was sent off after an early brawl and his team went on to lose by a point. Bad luck or just bad tempers? After Mayo conceded two own goals - a incredibly rare event in Gaelic football - to hand Dublin a replay in the 2016 final, the curse attracted more and more believers. Mayo, inevitably, lost the replay. They have been to another three finals since - in 2017, 2020 and 2021 - and lost them all. Aidan O'Shea Mayo's Aidan O'Shea has lost six All-Ireland finals Anthony Hennigan is sports editor of the Western People newspaper, Mayo's paper of record, and has followed the team, first as a fan, then as his job. "Come final day, we just play terribly. This is what Mayo do," he said. "Mayo bring you on such highs and then the lows are very low as well." He feels the pain, but he does not believe a curse is to blame. "The curse is a complete and utter mystery in the sense that it just appeared from somewhere," he added. "To the best of my knowledge, this curse never existed until I think sometime around the early 2000s." One of Hennigan's colleagues - the editor of the Western People - wrote a history of Mayo and went to Foxford, the town where the open-backed lorry is supposed to have crossed paths with the funeral procession in 1951. "He interviewed a couple of dozen people from Foxford who have lived in Foxford all their lives. Going back as far as the 1920s and 1930s at the time," said Hennigan. "In all his research for the book and with all the people he liaised with locally to pull this publication together, there was never any mention of the curse." Whether there was truth to the curse or not, it was presumed to have ended in 2021. Less than two weeks after Mayo's defeat by Tyrone in that year's final, Paddy Prendergast, the last man who played for Mayo that day, died aged 95. But, while Prendergast had been the last surviving player from that match, he was not the last remaining man from the 1951 Mayo dressing room or, crucially, the victory lap that followed on the lorry. "It was something very special. I was nervous that day to go out there in front of 80,000 people," said Dr Mick Loftus to Amazing Sports Stories. Loftus did not get on the pitch in anger - he was an unused substitute, but very much part of the celebrations afterwards. Aged 93, his memories of the day are hazy. He remembers returning to Barry's Hotel - Mayo's traditional base for All-Ireland finals then - and hitting the dessert trolley. "After the senior final, we went down and had an ice cream," he added. But this is not the first time he has been asked about that win and the events that followed. BBC Northern Ireland's Mark Sidebottom has covered Gaelic football for 30 years and interviewed Loftus several times. "He made light of the whole thing," Sidebottom remembered of his conversations about the alleged curse with Loftus. "He went, 'It's all hullabaloo. I don't remember any funeral cortege and I certainly do not remember overtaking a funeral cortege' - so I thought that was that and that had put it to bed. "But then he looked at me and he said, 'Of course, there was a whole lot of excitement. And just because I didn't see a funeral cortege doesn't mean that there wasn't one.'" While Loftus could not say for certain if Mayo's lorry trip coincided with a Foxford resident making their own final journey, Arlene Crampsie thinks she can. Crampsie is a geography lecturer from University College Dublin. In 2008 she started work on the Gaelic Athletic Association's (GAA) Oral History project, travelling across Ireland to talk with people about Gaelic football and their lives and memories. She spoke to 140 people who were involved in Mayo's 1951 homecoming celebrations. "Unless we've specifically asked about the curse, there's no reference to the curse. So, that I think in itself is significant," she said. "These homecoming celebrations were very well-attended by large numbers of people. They remember those events, but nobody mentions being present when this curse was supposedly cast on the team." Crampsie went further though in search of the source of the curse. If the living could not provide any clues, perhaps the dead could. She looked at research into the local records of deaths around Foxford, the town where the curse was alleged to have been uttered. There was one death on the weekend of Mayo's 1951 All-Ireland win, but the burial took place the following Wednesday. Mayo's celebrations are believed to have passed through town on the Tuesday. It seems highly unlikely the two groups - one celebrating, the other mourning - could have met. But records are fallible, memories can distort, and proving something did not happen is harder than proving it did. Loftus' interview with Amazing Sports Stories was one of his last. One of the great Gaelic football men, he was a referee and administrator as well as a player, serving as the GAA's president between 1985 and 1988. And he never lost faith in his old team. "I honestly think that we'll win," Loftus said when asked for a prediction on Mayo's chances in the 2023 Championship. Dr Mick Loftus Loftus, a former GAA president and an unused substitute in Mayo's 1951 All-Ireland final victory, died in April, shortly after speaking to BBC World Service A month after his death, Mayo beat Kerry, the defending All-Ireland champions, on their way to the knockout rounds and Loftus' prediction looks as if it might just come true. But then his team ran into Dublin, a juggernaut of a team who won six All-Ireland titles in a row between 2015 and 2020. They lost, heavily. The barren run goes on.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67643746 Young men in jeans and flip-flops stand in line in front of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, as if they are watching a funeral procession. It's another night in the tense gloom outside the accident and emergency department. Medical personnel in scrubs are poised to receive more casualties. Voices are raised and men crowd around. Public order is starting to break down - people are traumatised and exhausted. A car pulls up, its horn blaring and lights flashing. A young man is pulled out and put onto a stretcher, then rushed inside. Then another car arrives, covered in dust, and a child who is only four or five is helped out. He is able to walk. Hospitals in Khan Younis - the Gaza Strip's second largest city - have been overwhelmed since the Israeli air force intensified its bombardment of the south on Friday. Israeli tanks and troops have also now entered the city, after the ground offensive was widened following the collapse of a temporary truce with Hamas. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says at least 1,200 people have been killed across the territory since the fighting resumed. That has brought to more than 16,000 the total number killed in Gaza during the war, which was triggered by Hamas's attacks on southern Israel on 7 October. Gunmen from Hamas - a proscribed terrorist organisation in Israel, the UK, US and EU - killed at least 1,200 people and took more than 240 back to Gaza as hostages. Map showing Israeli evacuation orders in the south of the Gaza Strip (4 December 2023) Many of Gaza's 2.3 million residents sought refuge in the south after the Israeli military ordered civilians to leave the north in the early days of the war. But with the fighting spreading to Khan Younis, they're running out of places to flee to. Thousands of displaced people are crammed inside the grounds and corridors of the city's European Hospital. "When we are playing and there is bombardment, we immediately run to the tents near the walls and [pretend to be] asleep," says one of the children there as the sounds of explosions fill the air. "We are afraid. The glass of windows shatters above us." A Palestinian woman stands in a destroyed room of a building following Israeli air strikes in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip (6 December 2023) A UN official has said that the humanitarian crisis across Gaza is "getting worse by the hour" A woman at the hospital says she fled to al-Fakhari, an area east of Khan Younis, after receiving phone calls telling them that it was a "safe zone". But now, she says, the area is being bombarded and the situation is "very bad". "I don't see any area being safe when it comes to us, nor is any area habitable." A 75-year-old man agrees that nowhere is safe. "The situation is indescribable. There are children and women. We, as elderly, can withstand what is happening," he says. "Listen to the ongoing sounds - how could someone sit and wait for the opportunity to leave a safe zone? Where is the safety? We can't sense it. Every place we go to, they say it is safe but we can't find that." In downtown Khan Younis, Samah Ilwan waves two empty water bottles in the air and says her six children - five girls and one boy - are thirsty. "We have become like cats and dogs. Perhaps cats and dogs get shelters. We don't have any. We're stranded in the street." BBC Arabic reporter Adnan El-Bursh reporting from outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis Life is also closing in on me. Despite everything that has happened to me and my family since the start of the war, this is the first time that I feel completely lost. All willpower and control have been ripped from me. I'm used to keeping my family safe and secure, coming up with a plan. Now, I am torn by indecision. I'm originally from the north but I fled south with my family after being ordered to do so by the Israeli army, who said the south was "safe". Currently, I am alone in Khan Younis, while my family is in central Gaza. I was able to travel up to see them every few days. But now, the Israelis have shut one road and the second one is very dangerous. Should I go south to Rafah, keep working and hope that my family will be ok? Or should I try to get back to them, stop reporting, and if it comes to the worst, then at least we die together? I hope no-one else ever has to face this awful choice, which is not a choice at all.