World News Briefs For Sunday, 15 July 2018

Hello Australia!! - An iceberg threatens a village - Thousands more protest Trump by land and by air - Israel pounds Gaza - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

A village in western Greenland has been partially evacuated because of a massive iceberg that drifted up to the shore, one so big that it rises up several meters above roof lines.

The fear is if it calves, or splits in two, it will created a wave large enough to swamp nearby homes and businesses.  Local officials in Inaarsuit town say they've never seen such a large iceberg before.  Climate chance scientists have been warning about the increasing frequency of extreme iceberg events; this is happening just a couple of weeks after a northern hemisphere heatwave set several temperature records on three continents.

Israel launched its strongest attacks on Gaza since 2014 in retaliation for rockets fired at Israel from the Hamas-run Palestinian territory.  "The focus of the attack is a wide-scale strike of the Hamas Battalion HQ in Beit Lahia, which includes urban warfare training facilities, weapon storage warehouse, training compounds, command centers, offices and more", said an IDF spokesman.  The "more" included access to a tunnel network which the Israelis refer to as "terror tunnels" through which weapons and contraband are brought in and out of Gaza.  But Gaza officials say the Israeli strikes wounded civilians and killed at least two teenagers (warning, disturbing images).

Thousands of people in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and other Scottish locales protested the existence of Donald Trump as he tried to get away from it all at his Turnberry resort golf course in Scotland before Sunday's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.  A Greenpeace protester with a fan-powered paraglider managed to breech security and get within yards of Trump, forcing the US secret service to scramble and get Trump away from someone who would dare challenge his climate change denial.  Police are looking for the flyer, who they say put his life in grave danger as military snipers were and are positioned around Trump to deal with breeches to the no-fly zone around him.  Other protesters got within heckling distance as Trump shot a few holes. 

Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki began a three-day visit to Ethiopia, days after the two countries ended a state of war that began in 1998.  Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed welcomed his guest, as did thousands of people waving Eritrean flags lining the streets of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.  Thousands were killed in the two-decade conflict, which ended last week when Eritrea gave land-locked Ethiopia rights to use its ports.

Some Ryanair passengers are telling of a horror flight that left some bleeding from the ears.  Flight FR 7312 was heading from Dublin to Zadar, Croatia when the plane plunged "3,000 metres in less than one minute" and deployed emergency oxygen.  The pilots were praised for making an emergency landing in Frankfurt, but others blasted the airline for dumping them off in Germany with a complimentary bottle of water but no food and no accommodation.  Ryanair said "a small number received medical attention" but the German newspaper Tagesspiegel newspaper reported that 33 passengers were taken to hospital, adding that they were complaining of "headache and earache and suffered from nausea".

Sinn Fein will put up a candidate for President of Ireland, announcing its intentions days after President Michael Higgins said he'd run for another seven-year term.  "Ireland and the world have changed in the seven years since we last had a presidential election," said Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, taking note of Ireland's fast social advances such as legalization of Gay Marriage and Women's Reproductive Rights.  "A new generation has become politically engaged and have been central to changing Ireland for the better," she added.  This would only be the second time a sitting Irish president has been challenged for re-election, the previous occasion being in 1966.

The vessel that everyone in the world wanted to name "Boaty McBoatface" was formally launched into the River Mersey, formally christened "RRS Sir David Attenborough" after the 92-year old BBC nature broadcaster. 

"This is a serious science ship that required the name of a serious scientist," said British Antarctic Survey director Jane Francis, "Its name recognises all the love and esteem the British public holds for Sir David Attenborough."  The name "Boaty McBoatface" was chosen by the public in a contest to name the research ship, but that was overruled by the UK government.  It will be used for a Yellow Submarine on board the Sir Dave when it performs its first arctic research missions in 2020.