Category: 2. World

More than 250 people were evacuated overnight as a wildfire raged on the Gallipoli peninsula flanking the Dardanelles Strait, where Turkish firefighters were battling Sunday to quench the blaze, officials said.

The fire began on Saturday in the northwestern province of Canakkale, and spread quickly due to high winds in the hills near the town of Gelibolu, on the shores of the busy shipping strait.

“As a precaution, 251 residents from five villages were relocated to safe areas,” Canakkale governor Omer Toraman wrote on X.

Footage showed the hillsides illuminated by bright flames while huge clouds of smoke poured into the night air.

Toraman said the province, a popular destination for tourists visiting the ancient ruins of Troy, as well as the Gallipoli battleground where thousands of soldiers died in World War I, had suffered “extremely severe drought” over the past year.

While the weather has been fairly normal for the time of year, much of northwestern Turkey has suffered strong winds in recent days, although they eased off on Sunday.

Firefighters worked through the night, with 12 planes and 18 helicopters rejoining the efforts at first light in an operation involving 900 people, the forestry directorate said on X.

The authority in charge of the war memorials said on X that access to historical sites near the town of Eceabat had been closed “due to the ongoing forest fire”.

On Monday, another fire on the other side of the strait forced 2,000 people to flee, with around 80 treated for smoke inhalation.

Several days earlier, another fire forced the evacuation of 120 people and the suspension of shipping through the Dardanelles Strait, which links the Mediterranean with the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea.

According to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) website, there have been 192 wildfires in Turkey this year, which have ravaged more than 110,373 hectares (273,000 acres) of land.

Experts say human-driven climate change is causing more frequent and more intense wildfires and other natural disasters, and have warned Turkey to take measures to tackle the problem.

A planned visit by US trade negotiators to New Delhi from August 25-29 has been canceled, delaying talks on a proposed bilateral trade agreement, Indian business and financial news network NDTV Profit reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The current round of negotiations for the proposed bilateral trade agreement is now likely to be deferred to another date, the report said, dashing hopes of some relief before the August 27 deadline for the additional tariff on Indian goods kicks in.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, citing New Delhi’s continued imports of Russian oil in a move that sharply escalated tensions between the two nations.

Read: US lifts Indian import tariff to 50% with new 25% hike

The new import tax, which will come into effect from August 27, will raise duties on some Indian exports to as high as 50% – among the highest levied on any US trading partner.

Trade talks between New Delhi and Washington collapsed after five rounds of negotiations over disagreement on opening India’s vast farm and dairy sectors and stopping Russian oil purchases.

India’s Foreign Ministry has said the country is being unfairly singled out for buying Russian oil while the United States and European Union continue to purchase goods from Russia.

Russia accounted for nearly 36 percent of India’s total crude oil imports in 2024, snapping up approximately 1.8 million barrels of cut-price Russian crude per day.

Buying Russian oil saved India billions of dollars on import costs, keeping domestic fuel prices relatively stable.

Israeli navy fires missiles at the energy facility south of Sanaa saying it was used by Houthis, but provides no evidence.

The Israeli navy has carried out attacks on a power plant near the Yemeni capital Sanaa, according to Israeli media reports.

Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported on Saturday that the “aggression” damaged generators at the Hezyaz power plant, sparking a fire that was later contained. The country’s deputy prime minister confirmed emergency crews managed to prevent further damage. Residents in Sanaa also reported hearing at least two loud explosions.

The Israeli military claimed that the site was being used by Houthi fighters. But it did not present evidence to justify hitting a civilian power station, raising concerns that the strike may constitute a war crime.

In a statement carried by Israeli outlets on Sunday, the military said the assault was a direct response to repeated Houthi attacks, including missiles and drones launched towards Israel.

The Houthis have repeatedly fired rockets and drones at Israel since 2023 in response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Israel has retaliated by bombing Yemen’s infrastructure, including Hodeidah port, a vital lifeline for humanitarian aid deliveries.

Israel has also attacked Yemen’s international airport, claiming it was being used by Houthis.

Most Houthi projectiles aimed at Israel have been intercepted, but the exchanges have widened the regional fallout of Israel’s war on Gaza.

The United States and the United Kingdom have also carried out bombings in Yemen as the Houthis attacked ships linked to Israel passing through the Red Sea. Houthis said the move, which disrupted global trade passing through the waterway, was in response to Israel’s war and blockade of Gaza.

In May, Washington announced a surprise truce with the group, halting its bombing campaign in exchange for an end to Houthi attacks on US-linked vessels in the Red Sea. The Houthis insisted the deal did not apply to their operations against Israel.

US forces had carried out hundreds of air raids in Yemen, killing more than 250 people, before the ceasefire was declared. US President Donald Trump said the truce would “stop the bombing”.

The deal appeared to blindside Israel, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressing his country would “defend ourselves alone” if necessary.

“We must not allow others to destabilize the region. Instead, we should preserve stability along this path. That is why we signed an important security agreement with Iraq,” Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said in a televised interview about his recent visit to Baghdad and Lebanon.

The agreement includes “a mutual commitment to prevent any disruption by individuals, groups, or third countries, in such a way that no party can use the other’s territory against the other side or create breaches in security,” Larijani said.

He linked the deal to recent regional tensions, saying that “even in the past 12-day war this issue was taken into consideration; part of the war was supported from the skies of some countries,” referring to nations Iran says supported Israel’s attacks on Iran.

On Wednesday, however, Iraq’s National Security Advisory issued a clarification rejecting reports of a new agreement, stressing instead that a memorandum of understanding on border security had been signed.

The advisory said the agreement builds on a 2023 protocol concerning Iranian Kurdish opposition groups. It emphasized that “there is no security agreement between the two countries; rather, it is a security memorandum of understanding.”

Washington voices opposition

Iraq’s National Security Advisor Qassem al-Araji met with US Chargé d’Affaires Steven Fagin on Saturday to discuss the deal, which Washington has opposed.

In their meeting, Araji “reviewed the details of the security memorandum of understanding signed between Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding border control, which contributes to supporting regional security and stability, preventing smuggling and infiltration,” his office said.

Washington, however, has argued the deal undermines Iraqi sovereignty. “We oppose any legislation that is inconsistent with the goals of our bilateral security assistance and partnership and runs counter to strengthening Iraq’s existing security institutions,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday.

“We support genuine Iraqi sovereignty, not legislation that would turn Iraq into an Iranian satellite state,” she added.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A flash flood swept through a campsite in north China, killing eight people and leaving four missing, state media reported Sunday.

Saturday’s flood occurred around 10 p.m. local time in Urad Rear Banner, an expansive mountainous area in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous region known for its popular campsites.

Thirteen campers went missing initially. By Sunday morning, one had been rescued and eight bodies had been found, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Search and rescue efforts were underway for the remaining four missing people.

Northern China has seen several instances of flash flooding and landslides in recent weeks. Deluges in the northwestern Gansu province earlier this month left at least 10 people dead and 33 missing.

Heavy rains have also battered other parts of the country, with Hong Kong seeing historic downpours.

Russia would relinquish tiny pockets of occupied Ukraine and Kyiv would cede swathes of its eastern land which Moscow has been unable to capture, under peace proposals discussed by Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at their Alaska summit, sources briefed on Moscow’s thinking said.

The account emerged the day after Trump and Putin met at an airforce base in Alaska, the first encounter between a US president and the Kremlin chief since before the start of the Ukraine conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is due to travel to Washington on Monday to discuss with Trump a possible settlement of the full-scale war, which Putin launched in February 2022.

Although the summit failed to secure the ceasefire he said he had wanted, Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he and Putin had discussed land transfers and security guarantees for Ukraine, and had “largely agreed”.

“I think we’re pretty close to a deal,” he said, adding: “Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they’ll say ‘no’.”

The two sources, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said their knowledge of Putin’s proposals was mostly based on discussions between leaders in Europe, the US and Ukraine, and noted it was not complete.

Trump briefed Zelenskiy and European leaders on his summit discussions early on Saturday.

Read: Trump told Zelenskiy after summit that Putin wants more of Ukraine, source says

It was not immediately clear if the proposals by Putin were an opening gambit to serve as a starting point for negotiations or more like a final offer that was not subject to discussion.

Ukrainian Land For Peace

At face value, at least some of the demands would present huge challenges for Ukraine’s leadership to accept.

Putin’s offer ruled out a ceasefire until a comprehensive deal is reached, blocking a key demand of Zelenskiy, whose country is hit daily by Russian drones and ballistic missiles.

Under the proposed Russian deal, Kyiv would fully withdraw from the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in return for a Russian pledge to freeze the front lines in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the sources said.

Ukraine has already rejected any retreat from Ukrainian land such as the Donetsk region, where its troops are dug in and which Kyiv says serves as a crucial defensive structure to prevent Russian attacks deeper into its territory.

Russia would be prepared to return comparatively small tracts of Ukrainian land it has occupied in the northern Sumy and northeastern Kharkiv regions, the sources said.

Russia holds pockets of the Sumy and Kharkiv regions that total around 440 square km, according to Ukraine’s Deep State battlefield mapping project. Ukraine controls around 6,600 square km of Donbas which comprises the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and is claimed by Russia.

Although the Americans have not spelled this out, the sources said they knew Russia’s leader was also seeking – at the very least – formal recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in 2014.

It was not clear if that meant recognition by the US government or, for instance, all Western powers and Ukraine. Kyiv and its European allies reject formal recognition of Moscow’s rule in the peninsula.

They said Putin would also expect the lifting of at least some of the array of sanctions on Russia. However, they could not say if this applied to US as well as European sanctions.

Read more: Zelenskiy to visit Washington after Trump-Putin talks yield no result on Ukraine

Trump said on Friday he did not immediately need to consider retaliatory tariffs on countries such as China for buying Russian oil – which is subject to a range of Western sanctions – but might have to “in two or three weeks.”

Ukraine would also be barred from joining the NATO military alliance, though Putin seemed to be open to Ukraine receiving some kind of security guarantees, the sources said.

However, they added that it was unclear what this meant in practice. European leaders said Trump had discussed security guarantees for Ukraine during their conversation on Saturday and also broached an idea for an “Article 5”-style guarantee outside the NATO military alliance.

NATO regards any attack launched on one of its 32 members as an attack on all under its Article 5 clause.

Joining the Atlantic alliance is a strategic objective for Kyiv that is enshrined in the country’s constitution.

Russia would also demand official status for the Russian language inside parts of, or across, Ukraine, as well as the right of the Russian Orthodox Church to operate freely, the sources said.

Ukraine’s security agency accuses the Moscow-linked church of abetting Russia’s war on Ukraine by spreading pro-Russian propaganda and housing spies, something denied by the church which says it has cut canonical ties with Moscow.

Ukraine has passed a law banning Russia-linked religious organisations, of which it considers the church to be one. However, it has not yet started enforcing the ban.

Coalition pushed for ceasefire, but may now change their tunepublished at 09:06 British Summer Time

09:06 BST

Jack Fenwick
Political correspondent

The so-called coalition of the willing last met on Wednesday and, at that point, a ceasefire was one of their key aims.

They agreed that “meaningful negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or a lasting and significant cessation of hostilities”.

Since then, the prospect of a ceasefire has changed course.

President Trump said after his meeting with Putin that he wants to skip a ceasefire and move straight to a
lasting peace deal, a move which has worried many people in Ukraine.

Trump claimed that other Nato leaders agreed with him on
this – when I put that to a senior Downing Street source yesterday, they
wouldn’t confirm whether that was the case.

In a joint statement from European leaders on Saturday, and another from Starmer, the word ceasefire wasn’t used.

The leaders’ language on what they now think a peace deal
looks like could be one of the most interesting developments today.

I’m told that following the meeting of the coalition of the willing later, we can expect a joint statement from the leaders on the call.

One thing to look out for will be whether they talk about a potential ceasefire.

Image source, EPA

Thousands of residents have fled Gaza City’s southern Zeitoun neighbourhood, where days of continuous Israeli bombardment have created a “catastrophic” situation, the city’s Hamas-run municipality has told the BBC.

At least 40 people were killed by Israeli attacks across the territory on Saturday, Gaza’s civil defence agency said.

The Israeli military said it would begin allowing tents to be brought into Gaza by aid agencies again. Israel plans to forcibly displace a million people from Gaza City to camps in the south.

In Israel, a one-day general strike is due to be held in Sunday in protest of the government’s plan to seize Gaza City.

The stoppage was demanded by the families of hostages and others who say the expansion of the war puts the lives of Israelis being held by Hamas at greater risk.

It comes a week after Israel’s war cabinet voted to occupy Gaza City, the territory’s largest city, and displace its population, in a move condemned by the UN Security Council.

“As part of the preparations to move the population from combat zones to the southern Gaza Strip for their protection, the supply of tents and shelter equipment to Gaza will resume,” the Israeli military body Cogat said.

A spokesperson for the Gaza City municipality said mass displacement was already taking place in Zeitoun after six days of relentless Israeli air strikes, shelling and demolition operations.

The Zeitoun neighbourhood is home to about 50,000 people, most of whom have little to no access to food and water, according to the civil defence agency.

Ghassan Kashko, 40, who is sheltering with his family at a school building in the neighbourhood, told news agency AFP that air strikes and tank shelling were causing “explosions… that don’t stop”.

“We don’t know the taste of sleep,” he said.

Hamas said in a statement that Israeli forces had been carrying out a “sustained offensive in the eastern and southern neighbourhoods of Gaza City, particularly in Zeitoun”.

The Israeli government has not provided an exact timetable of when its forces would enter Gaza City. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reported to want the entire city under Israeli occupation from 7 October.

The municipality spokesperson said that 80% of Gaza City’s infrastructure had been damaged over nearly two years of Israeli attacks, while the four remaining hospitals there were operating at less than 20% of their capacity due to severe shortages of medicines and supplies.

At least 1.9 million people in Gaza – or about 90 per cent of the population – have been displaced, according to the UN.

The international body has indicated there is widespread malnutrition in Gaza, with experts backed by the organisation warning last month in a report that the “worst-case scenario” of famine is playing out in Gaza.

On Saturday, Gaza’s hospitals reported 11 more deaths from malnutrition, including a child, bringing the total number of deaths from malnutrition to 251, including 108 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Meanwhile, a Gazan woman who was evacuated to Italy for treatment while severely emaciated has died in hospital. The 20-year-old, who was identified as Marah Abu Zuhri, flew to Pisa with her mother on an overnight flight on Wednesday under a scheme established by the Italian government.

The University Hospital of Pisa said that she suffered a cardiac arrest and died on Friday, less than 48 hours after arriving. The hospital said she had suffered severe loss of weight and muscle, while Italian news agencies reported she was suffering from severe malnutrition.

Earlier this week, the UK, EU, Australia, Canada and Japan issued a statement saying “famine is unfolding in front of our eyes” and urged action to “reverse starvation”.

Last week, more than 100 organisations signed a letter that said they had been unable to to deliver a single truck of humanitarian supplies to Gaza since 2 March.

Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of aid it allows into Gaza and continues to insist there is no starvation there. It accuses UN agencies of not picking up aid at the borders and delivering it.

The civil defence agency said at least 13 of the Palestinians killed on Saturday were shot by Israeli troops as they waited for food near distribution sites in the territory. The latest figures from the UN, released on Friday, indicate that at least 1,760 Palestinians have been killed seeking food since late May, mostly by Israeli forces.

The war was triggered by Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to figures from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.