Category: 2. World

Shanghai is bracing for heavy rain from a tropical storm that’s tracking toward China’s financial hub, a day after flooding killed at least 30 people in Beijing and cut power to villages.

The heaviest precipitation in Shanghai is forecast to occur on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, with some places potentially receiving 220 millimeters (8.7 inches), according to the national weather service. The storm, which struck the Philippines last week, will move past Zhoushan to the south of the mega-city — home to some of China’s largest oil storage tanks and refineries.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in the 21-month Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, said the death toll has climbed to to 60,034, with another 145,870 people wounded since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

WATCH: Trump urges Israel to allow food into Gaza as he sees ‘real starvation’ there

It did not say how many were civilians or militants, but has said women and children make up around half the dead.

The ministry is staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable count of casualties.

Israel’s offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced around 90% of the population and caused to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine.

At least 77 Palestinians killed in past day

As international organizations warn of a “worst-case scenario of famine,” Israel continued to strike the Gaza Strip, killing at least 77 Palestinians in the past day, according to local hospitals. More than half were killed while attempting to access aid, hospitals said, and includes a rising toll from a deadly incident on Monday as people attempted to access aid from a truck convoy passing through the southern Gaza Strip.

Local hospitals said they received the bodies of an additional 33 people who were killed by gunfire around an aid convoy in southern Gaza on Monday, bringing the total from the single incident to 58. The Israeli military did not comment on the shooting.

Israel says it only targets militants and takes extraordinary measures to avoid harming civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in populated areas. The military said it targeted Hamas military infrastructure over the past day including rocket launchers, weapons storage facilities and tunnels.

An additional 14 Palestinians were killed while attempting to access aid near the American and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund site in central Gaza, according to local hospitals.

Neither GHF nor the Israeli military commented on the shooting. Israel’s military has said in the past it only fires warning shots if troops feel threatened and GHF has said their contractors haven’t fired at civilians.

Air strikes also targeted tents hosting displaced people in the central city of Nuseirat, killing 30 people, including 12 children and 14 women, according to Al-Awda hospital.

The strikes come as international organizations continue to warn about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, which has teetered on the brink of famine for two years. Recent developments have “dramatically worsened” the situation, according to a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC.

Israel rejects claims of ‘starvation policies’

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar on Tuesday rejected claims of “starvation policies” in Gaza and said the focus on starvation is a “distorted campaign of international pressure.”

READ MORE: Israel’s leader claims no one in Gaza is starving. Data and witnesses disagree

“This pressure is directly sabotaging the chances for a ceasefire and hostage deal, it is only pushing towards military escalation by hardening Hamas’s stance,” he said.

The U.S. and Israel have both recalled their negotiating teams over the past week as negotiations seem to have stalled.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the attack that sparked the war, and abducted another 251. They are still holding 50 captives, around 20 believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.

The war took a major turn in early March when Israel imposed a complete 2 ½ month blockade, barring the entry of all food, medicine, fuel and other goods. Weeks later, Israel ended a ceasefire with a surprise bombardment and began seizing large areas of Gaza, measures it said were aimed at pressuring Hamas to release more hostages.

At least 8,867 Palestinians have been killed since then.

Israel eased the blockade in May, but U.N. agencies say it hasn’t allowed nearly enough aid to enter and that they have struggled to deliver it because of Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of law and order. An alternative Israeli-backed system run by an American contractor has been marred by violence and controversy.

Gutted health system, daily strikes and a hunger crisis

Near-daily Israeli strikes have hit schools, shelters, hospitals and other civilian buildings, killing men, women and children. The military usually says it was targeting militants hiding out among civilians, while occasionally acknowledging mistakes.

Israel’s offensive and its blockade have also gutted Gaza’s health system, with several hospitals having shut down and others only partially functioning as they receive waves of war-wounded.

The hunger crisis has also taken its toll. The World Health Organization says more than 60 people have died this month from malnutrition-related causes, including 24 children under five. Overall, 88 children died of causes related to malnutrition since the start of the war, and 58 adults died this month also malnutrition-related causes, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

During hunger crises, people can die from malnutrition or from common illnesses or injuries that the body is not strong enough to fight. The ministry doesn’t include hunger-related deaths in its overall toll.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has reaffirmed Pakistan’s unwavering support for Palestine’s right to an independent state, emphasising the importance of the pre-1967 borders.

Speaking at the United Nations High-Level International Conference on “The Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution” in New York, Dar highlighted his nation’s long-standing stance on the Palestinian issue.

“For over 75 years, the Palestinian people have endured occupation, displacement, and the denial of their fundamental rights,” said Dar, addressing the assembled diplomats and officials.

The Foreign Minister condemned the ongoing violence in Gaza, particularly the deaths of over 58,000 Palestinians, calling it “an unconscionable breach of international humanitarian law.” He stated that the situation violates United Nations resolutions and the binding decisions of the International Court of Justice.

Dar urged for an “unconditional, immediate, and permanent ceasefire” across Gaza and all Palestinian-occupied territories, stressing the importance of protecting civilians and adhering to international laws.

In addition, Dar called for “full and unimpeded humanitarian access,” particularly the delivery of life-saving food and medicines to Gaza. He also highlighted the need for the protection of humanitarian teams working on the ground.

Good morning.

Famine is unfolding in Gaza, where Israeli restrictions on food aid and ongoing fighting have produced a “worst-case scenario”, UN-backed hunger experts have said, calling for immediate intervention to save lives.

“Mounting evidence shows widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,” the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) alert said. “The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.”

This is the first time the IPC has said famine is under way in Gaza, although it has previously warned the territory was on the brink. During nearly two years of war, Israel has repeatedly limited aid trucks reaching Gaza, sometimes halting aid shipments entirely.

The famine alert came as health authorities in Gaza said the Palestinian death toll from the war had passed 60,000. Civilians make up most of the victims.

• What did the UN World Food Programme’s emergency director say? “This is unlike anything we have seen in this century,” said Ross Smith, addressing reporters in Geneva via video link from Rome. “It reminds us of previous disasters in Ethiopia or Biafra in the past century. We need urgent action now.”

• This is a developing story. Follow our live coverage of the Middle East crisis here.

New York shooting: gunman kills four people at Manhattan skyscraper

A gunman killed four people at a Manhattan skyscraper that is home to the headquarters of the NFL and several financial firms before turning the gun on himself, New York officials said.

An NYPD officer identified as Didarul Islam, originally from Bangladesh and a father of two whose wife is pregnant, was among those killed. He was working off-hours as a security guard at the time, the New York mayor, Eric Adams, told reporters, describing him as a “true blue hero”.

Authorities offered few details about the three others killed by the suspect – two men and a woman.

• What do we know about the shooter so far? Jessica Tisch, the New York City police commissioner, said the gunman, identified as Shane Tamura, a 27-year-old Las Vegas resident with a history of mental illness, had driven cross-country to New York in recent days. Tisch said the gunman opened fire on the 33rd floor. The gunman then went to the stairwell and shot himself, she said.

‘Cemetery of the living dead’: Venezuelans recall 125 days in notorious El Salvador prison

Arturo Suárez struggles to pinpoint the worst moment of his incarceration inside an El Salvador prison the warden boasted was “a cemetery of the living dead”.

After 125 days behind bars, Suárez and the other Venezuelan detainees were freed on 18 July after a prisoner swap deal between Washington and Caracas.

Since flying home to Venezuela, they have started to open up about their torment, offering a disturbing glimpse into President Nayib Bukele’s authoritarian crackdown in El Salvador and Donald Trump’s campaign against immigration.

• What have lawyers said about the imprisonments? Lawyers for some Venezuelans deported to El Salvador’s most notorious megaprison said they endured “state-sanctioned torture”. Meanwhile, the US congresswoman Delia Ramirez has “urgently” requested a congressional hearing regarding the use of federal funds to pay El Salvador to detain immigrants.

In other news …

• Donald Trump said he was setting a new deadline of “10 or 12 days” for Russia to make progress towards ending the war in Ukraine. Russian airstrikes on Ukraine killed 22 people overnight, said the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

• Thailand’s prime minister has tried to ease fears of a shaky ceasefire with Cambodia, hours after the Thai military reported violations of a deal to end recent border hostilities.

• Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and associate of Jeffrey Epstein, requested that the supreme court overturn her conviction, claiming she was unjustly prosecuted.

Stat of the day: only 0.5% of 90,000 oil slicks reported over five-year period, analysis finds

Just 474 out of more than 90,000 oil slicks between 2014 and 2019 from ships around the world were reported to authorities over a five-year period, and barely any resulted in punishment or sanctions. That is according to data obtained from Lloyd’s List and compared with a scientific study using satellite imagery to identify slicks.

Pavlo Makov, one of Ukraine’s most respected cultural figures, has recently renovated a new studio in Kharkiv. It is on the ground floor: less vulnerable to Russian air attacks than his old place in a city where glass gets blown out of buildings every day. “The language of war is so strong,” he tells Charlotte Higgins. “But at the same time, art exists. … You’ll never save the world with it – but it will help you survive your life.”

Climate check: eastern US swelters from heatwave as high temperatures affect half of country

The eastern half of the US is facing a significant heatwave, with more than 185 million people under weather warnings on Monday. Spanning from the Carolinas through Florida, heat index values are forecast to range between 105 and 113F. While no single weather event can be blamed on the climate crisis, the world is experiencing increasingly frequent extreme weather.

Last Thing: meet the new James Bond … developed by Danish studio IO Interactive

While the future of the British spy franchise remains in flux after creative control was handed to Amazon earlier this year, the developer of a forthcoming video game reveals how it pitched its origin story to Eon Productions, and reinvented the James Bond character for a new era.

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Gaza has passed two grim landmarks on a single day, as UN-backed hunger experts warned a “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding in the territory and called for “immediate action” shortly before health officials announced the death toll from Israeli attacks had passed 60,000.

With more than 145,000 others injured, nearly one in 10 Palestinians who lived in Gaza two years ago has become a casualty of the war.

“The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said in an alert that called for an urgent ceasefire to alleviate “widespread starvation”.

People killed and injured while seeking aid in Gaza

Survivors face a famine caused by Israel blocking food aid and “relentless conflict”, the report said.

“Immediate action must be taken to end the hostilities and allow for unimpeded, large-scale, life-saving humanitarian response. This is the only path to stopping further deaths and catastrophic human suffering.”

The famine in Gaza is the most severe hunger crisis the world has faced for decades, the World Food Programme (WFP) emergency director Ross Smith said. “This is unlike anything we have seen in this century,” he told a news conference after the IPC alert was published. “It reminds us of previous disasters in Ethiopia or Biafra in the past century.”

The IPC is a global initiative working with 21 aid groups, international organisations and UN agencies to assess hunger levels in populations at risk. It had previously warned Gaza was on the brink of famine, most recently in May.

Israel has repeatedly limited aid trucks reaching Gaza during 22 months of war, and halted shipments entirely for six weeks at the start of the war, and between March and mid-May this year.

The government has pursued a campaign of starvation despite pressure from its allies and repeated emergency orders from the iternational court of justice, issued to protect Palestinians as judges consider whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

The IPC alert, based on “the latest evidence available”, does not formally classify Gaza as being in famine. That requires a full analysis, which the IPC said would be carried out without delay, but data from Gaza already confirms two of three thresholds have been met.

Famine is reached when at least 20% of people face extreme food shortages, one in three children are acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 die daily from starvation-related causes.

Most of Gaza has crossed the food consumption threshold, “with one in three individuals going without food for days at a time”, the IPC alert said.

Q&A

Why is it so difficult to report on Gaza?

Show

Coverage of the war in Gaza is constrained by Israeli attacks on Palestinian journalists and a bar on international reporters entering the Gaza Strip to report independently on the war.

Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza since 7 October 2023, unless they are under Israeli military escort. Reporters who join these trips have no control over where they go, and other restrictions include a bar on speaking to Palestinians in Gaza.

Palestinian journalists and media workers inside Gaza have paid a heavy price for their work reporting on the war, with over 180 killed since the conflict began.

The committee to protect journalists has determined that at least 19 of them “were directly targeted by Israeli forces in killings which CPJ classifies as murders”.

Foreign reporters based in Israel filed a legal petition seeking access to Gaza, but it was rejected by the supreme court on security grounds. Private lobbying by diplomats and public appeals by prominent journalists and media outlets have been ignored by the Israeli government.

To ensure accurate reporting from Gaza given these restrictions, the Guardian works with trusted journalists on the ground; our visual​​ teams verif​y photo and videos from third parties; and we use clearly sourced data from organisations that have a track record of providing accurate information in Gaza during past conflicts, or during other conflicts or humanitarian crises.

Emma Graham-Harrison, chief Middle East correspondent

Child malnutrition rose rapidly in the first half of July, reaching the famine threshold in Gaza City. “Hospitals have reported a rapid increase in hunger-related deaths of children under five years of age, with at least 16 reported deaths since 17 July,” it said.

Between April and mid-July, more than 20,000 children were admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition, 3,000 of them severely malnourished.

The third core indicator is starvation-related deaths, which are “increasingly common”, even if still formally below the famine threshold, according to WFP.

“The unbearable suffering of the people of Gaza is already clear for the world to see. Waiting for official confirmation of famine to provide life-saving food aid they desperately need is unconscionable,” Cindy McCain, the WFP executive director, said.

Gaza may already have crossed the mortality threshold. A Canadian doctor working in Gaza said malnourishment affected everyone he treated, but starvation was only listed as a cause of death for people without other health problems.

More people in Gaza died of starvation in the last week than in the previous 21 months of conflict

“The figures are very, very conservative,” Tarek Loubani, the medical director of Glia, said in a video briefing. “Right now every single one of my patients is malnourished.”

The official toll of 60,000 dead also lags the real scale of loss in Gaza. It only includes Palestinians killed by bombs or bullets whose bodies have been recovered, leaving out thousands trapped under the rubble, rising numbers killed by starvation and other indirect victims of the campaign.

Independent international studies have found that figures from Gaza health authorities, who have a verified track record tracking casualties in past conflicts there, are likely to be underestimates.

Shireen Abu Sharkh’s husband is one of the casualties of Israeli attacks, an amputee who lost his leg to shrapnel injuries when a bomb landed near their tent. Now she fears their three daughters will become victims of Israel’s blockade of aid.

The IPC report details how “drastic restrictions” on the entry of food has limited shipments to far below levels needed to cover basic needs in Gaza, and for months there has been no supply of fresh foods such as vegetables and meat.

The population needs an estimated 62,000 metric tonnes of food staples each month. Israeli data shows no food entered Gaza in March or April, 19,900 tonnes entered in May and 37,800 tonnes entered in June, the IPC report says.

Israel has blamed food shortages in Gaza on distribution failures by the UN, and Hamas diverting aid. Those claims have been repeatedly undermined.

Abu Sharkh cannot afford to buy food and the soup kitchens the family relied on are rarely open now. She had not eaten for 24 hours when she spoke to the Guardian on Tuesday, and her girls had shared a few pieces of broken falafel.

“I’m most afraid for my youngest daughter, she is 14 months old and only weighs six kilos. She is just skin and bones,” Abu Sharkh says.

When she goes out to search for food she feels constantly dizzy, and worries about collapsing in the street, but staying at home where her starving daughters beg her for food she has no way of getting them is unbearable.

“I challenge the world to come and live our life for just one day. Let them feel what it’s like to hear their children crying from hunger while being powerless to give them anything.”

President Donald Trump on Monday sought to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin in a bid to secure an end to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, announcing that he would shorten a 50-day negotiating window to “10 or 12 days from today.”

“I’m disappointed in President Putin, very disappointed in him,” Trump told reporters during a visit to the U.K. “So we’re going to have to look and I’m going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to lesser number, because I think I already know the answer what’s going to happen.”

“I’m going to make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from today,” Trump said later in the press conference. “There’s no reason in waiting.”

“I want to be generous, but we just don’t see any progress being made,” Trump added. “I’m not so interested in talking anymore. He talks, we have such nice conversations, such respectful and nice conversations, and then people die the following night in a — with a missile going into a town and hitting.”

Recent months have seen growing White House frustration with Putin, as the Russian leader repeatedly dodged ceasefire proposals while intensifying long-range strikes on Ukrainian cities and its frontline offensives.

Earlier this month, Trump set a 50-day deadline for Russia to accept a ceasefire. Failure to do so, the president said, would prompt punishing new economic measures, among them secondary sanctions on nations doing business with Moscow.

Both the U.S. and Ukraine are calling for a full and immediate ceasefire, after which a peace settlement could potentially be negotiated. Moscow, however, has said that negotiations cannot take place until Ukraine makes significant concessions, among them demilitarization, its withdrawal from frontline regions and the abandonment of its NATO ambitions.

Ukrainian leaders welcomed Trump’s latest announcement.

“Clear stance and expressed determination by POTUS — right on time, when a lot can change through strength for real peace,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X.

“I thank President Trump for his focus on saving lives and stopping this horrible war,” he continued. “Ukraine remains committed to peace and will work tirelessly with the U.S. to make both our countries safer, stronger, and more prosperous.”

MORE: Trump sets Putin new Ukraine ceasefire deadline, says he’s ‘disappointed’ in Moscow

Zelenskyy’s influential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, thanked Trump in a post to Telegram. “Putin only understands strength — and this has been communicated clearly and loudly,” Yermak said.

Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that the Kremlin “took note of President Trump’s statement yesterday,” though said he “would like to avoid any assessments” of the president’s remarks.

Dmitry Medvedev — the former Russian president and prime minister now serving as the deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council — framed Trump’s challenge as a dangerous escalation.

“Trump’s playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10,” Medvedev — who, during Moscow’s full-scale war on Ukraine, has become known as a particularly hawkish voice within Putin’s security establishment — wrote on X.

“He should remember 2 things: 1. Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran. 2. Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country. Don’t go down the Sleepy Joe road!”

Meanwhile, cross-border strikes continued regardless. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces downed 74 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 37 drones and two missiles into the country overnight, of which 32 drones were intercepted or suppressed. The air force said two missiles and five drones impacted across three locations.

In the frontline Zaporizhzhia Oblast in Ukraine’s south, the Justice Ministry said a Russian airstrike on a correctional facility killed at least 17 people and wounded 42 others.

“This is another war crime by the Russians, who will not stop unless they are stopped,” Yermak wrote on X.

In all, Zelenskyy said Tuesday morning that 22 people were killed by Russian strikes on Ukraine over the previous 24 hours.

“Every killing of our people by the Russians, every Russian strike, when a ceasefire could have long been in place if Russia had not refused, all this indicates that Moscow deserves very harsh, truly painful and therefore fair and effective sanctions pressure,” the president said in a post to Telegram.

ABC News’ Will Gretsky, Hannah Demissie, Michelle Stoddart, Lalee Ibssa, Natalia Kushnir and Somayeh Malekian contributed to this report.

Heavy rain killed more than 30 people and forced authorities to evacuate tens of thousands as swaths of northern China were lashed by torrential downpours that sparked landslides and flooding, state media said Tuesday.

Weather authorities have issued their second-highest rainstorm warning for the capital Beijing, neighbouring Hebei and Tianjin, as well as 10 other provinces, state news agency Xinhua said.
The rains are expected to last into Wednesday, it added.

As of midnight Monday, the heavy rainstorms had left 30 people dead in Beijing, Xinhua said, citing the city’s municipal flood control headquarters.

More than 80,000 people have been evacuated in the Chinese capital alone, local state-run outlet Beijing Daily said on social media.

The death toll was highest in Miyun, a suburban district northeast of the city centre, it said.

“This time the rain was unusually heavy, it’s not normally like this,” a resident of Miyun, surnamed Jiang, told AFP as water streamed down the road outside her house.
“The road is full of water so people aren’t going to work,” she said.

At a village called Xinanzhuang visited by AFP journalists, murky water submerged homes, cars and a road leading onto a highway.

A local man in his sixties said that he had never seen water levels so high.

Record floods

Nearby, spillways gushed with torrents of water leading out of the Miyun Reservoir, which authorities said has reached its highest levels since its construction in 1959.

Huairou district in the north of the city and Fangshan in the southwest were also badly affected, state media said.

Dozens of roads have been closed and over 130 villages have lost electricity, Beijing Daily said.

“Please pay attention to weather forecasts and warnings and do not go to risk areas unless necessary,” the outlet said.

More than 10,000 people also evacuated their homes in the neighbouring port city of Tianjin, which saw major flash floods, according to state-owned nationalist tabloid Global Times.

And in Hebei, which encircles the capital, a landslide in a village near the city of Chengde killed eight people, with four still missing, state broadcaster CCTV reported Tuesday.

On social media, users shared anxious accounts of being unable to reach family members who lived in Chengde’s mountainous Xinglong county.

Mudslides and floods forced more than 8,000 people to evacuate, while rescuers were still attempting to reach some villages that had “lost contact”, China National Radio said Tuesday.

Local authorities have issued flash flood warnings through Tuesday evening, with Chengde and surrounding areas under the highest alert, Hebei’s radio and television station said.

‘All-out efforts’

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged authorities late Monday to plan for worst-case scenarios and rush the relocation of residents of flood-threatened areas.

Beijing Daily said local officials had “made all-out efforts to search and rescue missing persons… and made every effort to reduce casualties”.

The government has allocated 350 million yuan ($49 million) for disaster relief in nine regions hit by heavy rains, state broadcaster CCTV said Tuesday.

A separate 200 million yuan has been set aside for the capital, the broadcaster said.

In 2023, heavy rain killed more than 80 people across northern and northeastern China, including at least 29 people in Hebei where severe flooding destroyed homes and crops.

Some reports at the time suggested the province shouldered the burden of a government decision to divert the deluge away from Beijing.

Natural disasters are common across China, particularly in the summer when some regions experience heavy rain while others bake in searing heat.

China is the world’s biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists say drive climate change and contribute to making extreme weather more frequent and intense.

But it is also a global renewable energy powerhouse that aims to make its massive economy carbon-neutral by 2060.