News Headlines - 09 December 2017

▽Israel airstrikes, Gaza rockets amid Jerusalem tensions - CNN

Two Palestinians were killed Saturday in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, as tensions rose in the region after US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

▽Queen declares HMS Queen Elizabeth ready for duty | Daily Mail Online

It was more than 70 years ago, in the closing months of the war in Europe, that Princess Elizabeth launched her first warship at the age of 18... And yesterday, aged 91, the Queen commissioned Britain’s biggest ever warship, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, into the Royal Navy.

▽Doctors find brain abnormalities in victims of Cuba mystery

Doctors treating the U.S. embassy victims of suspected attacks in Cuba have discovered brain abnormalities as they search for clues to explain hearing, vision, balance and memory damage, The Associated Press has learned.
It’s the most specific finding to date about physical damage, showing that whatever it was that harmed the Americans, it led to perceptible changes in their brains. The finding is also one of several factors fueling growing skepticism that some kind of sonic weapon was involved.

▽Colossal distant black hole holds surprises about early universe

The oldest and most distant black hole ever observed -- a celestial brute 800 million times more massive than the sun -- is providing scientists some surprises about the nature of the universe when, on a cosmic scale, it was a mere toddler.

▽'Plague' of bats wreaks havoc in Charters Towers - ABC News

Charters Towers Regional Council estimates there are about 200,000 bats in the town, numbers it has called "plague proportions".