Category: 2. World

Is UK Coca-Cola healthier than US coke?published at 13:59 British Summer Time 17 July

13:59 BST 17 July

Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify journalist

Image source, Shutterstock

US President Donald Trump says that Coca-Cola has agreed to use cane sugar in drinks sold in the US.

Writing on Truth Social,, external he said: “I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so.”

The president’s announcement follows concerns raised by his Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr about the health impacts of corn syrup, a liquid sweetener made from corn which is cheaper than sugar.

Coke sold in the US is typically sweetened with this syrup whereas in other countries, including Mexico and the UK, it tends to use cane sugar.

I’ve contacted six nutritional experts to ask whether cane sugar is any healthier than corn syrup.

One of them, Nichola Ludlam-Raine of the British Dietetic Association, told me that: “From a nutritional standpoint, cane sugar and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are very similar. Both are sources of free sugars that contribute to excess calorie intake and, when consumed in large amounts over time, can increase the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and tooth decay.

“High-fructose corn syrup, commonly used in US soft drinks, typically contains around 55% fructose and 45% glucose, whereas cane sugar (sucrose) is a 50/50 mix of glucose and fructose. While there are slight chemical differences, the body breaks both down into glucose and fructose, and processes them in largely the same way,” she said.

Ms Ludlam-Raine added that: “There is no strong evidence to suggest that cane sugar is significantly ‘healthier’ than corn syrup – both should be consumed in moderation”.

The British government said on Thursday that it would allow 16-year-olds to vote in general elections, a landmark change giving the United Kingdom one of the lowest voting ages worldwide.

The ruling Labour Party pledged to lower the age from 18 ahead of winning power last year. It is among several planned changes to the democratic system.

Some argue Britain’s democracy is “in crisis”, in particular due to low turnout.

The voting age change is contentious, however, with critics previously arguing it is self-serving as newly-enfranchised teenagers are seen as more likely to support centre-left Labour.

“I think it’s really important that 16- and 17-year-olds have the vote, because they are old enough to go out to work, they are old enough to pay taxes, so [they] pay in,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.

“And I think if you pay in, you should have the opportunity to say what you want your money spent on, which way the government should go,” Starmer added.

The government will have to bring legislation before parliament, where it has a comfortable majority, to make the changes.

Only a small number of countries allow 16-year-olds to vote in national elections, according to online databases.

They include Austria — the first EU country to lower the voting age to 16 in 2007 — as well as Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Cuba.

’Democracy in crisis ’

Labour ministers insist the change is intended to “modernise our democracy”, while aligning general elections with the existing voting age for elections for the devolved regional parliaments in Scotland and Wales.

Other planned changes include introducing automated voter registration — which is already used in Australia and Canada — and making UK-issued bank cards an accepted form of ID at polling stations.

It follows changes to the electoral law introduced by the previous Conservative government, which required voters to show a photo ID. The Electoral Commission found that the rule led to around 750,000 people not voting in last year’s election.

Harry Quilter-Pinner, executive director of the Institute for Public Policy Research think tank, called the changes “the biggest reform to our electoral system since 1969”, when the voting age was lowered to 18.

He noted that lowering the voting age and introducing automated voter registration could add 9.5 million more people to the voter rolls.

“Our democracy is in crisis, and we risk reaching a tipping point where politics loses its legitimacy,” he added, backing the changes.

The main Conservative opposition, however, accused Labour of inconsistency as 16 and 17-year-olds will still not be able to stand as election candidates, buy lottery tickets or alcohol, or get married.

“This is a brazen attempt by the Labour Party whose unpopularity is scaring them into making major constitutional changes without consultation,” the party’s communities spokesman Paul Holmes said.

A cockpit voice recording of doomed Air India Flight 171 indicates the younger co-pilot asked his more experienced colleague why he turned off the plane’s fuel-supply switches, according to people familiar with the matter.

The information, from people who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly, reveals for the first time who said what in the flight deck. The exchange was first mentioned in last week’s preliminary report from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau probing the June 12 crash in the western city of Ahmedabad, but without identifying the speakers.

THOUSANDS STOOD in the sweltering sun, watched over by an Israeli tank, in a long queue snaking south from the second-largest city in the Gaza Strip. They had walked for miles to reach a food-distribution centre on the outskirts of Khan Younis. As the crowd grew, the American mercenaries who guarded the entrance to the compound fired into the air. They began handing out cardboard boxes, each containing flour, pasta, oil, and other dry goods calculated to last a family for a week. Those who had received their boxes quickly emptied them into white sacks and left.

At least 22 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza so far today, medical sources said.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza has released a 2,086‑page list of 58,380 Palestinians killed since October 7, 2023, including the names, ages, genders and ID numbers of victims, on Thursday.

About 953 of those listed were infants under one year old, with nine reportedly dying on the day they were born.

The ministry announced that trucks carrying medical supplies and childhood vaccinations are expected to arrive “later today” at Gaza hospitals via the World Health Organization and UNICEF. The statement urged “all concerned parties” to ensure safe passage for the convoy.

Aid group Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said its Khan Younis distribution centre will remain closed for maintenance on Thursday. On Wednesday, 20 people were killed there—15 in a stampede and suffocation following tear gas use—according to Gaza health officials. GHF confirmed the deaths but blamed Hamas‑affiliated individuals for stirring unrest and denied firing tear gas. UN reports have criticised GHF’s sites as “death traps,” with over 870 fatalities near its aid distribution points since late May.

Aftermath of Israeli attack on UNRWA-run school

Photo: [Eyad Baba/AFP]

Palestinians salvage items after an Israeli strike on a tent camp at the UNRWA-run Abou Helou school for girls at the Bureij refugee camp [Eyad Baba/AFP]

Photo: [Eyad Baba/AFP]

Photo: [Eyad Baba/AFP]

Israeli strike on Catholic church

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned an Israeli strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church, saying it was “unacceptable” after at least six people, including parish priest Gabriel Romanelli, were wounded.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem confirmed the Holy Family Church was hit by a military raid this morning. “Currently, there are no fatalities confirmed,” the Patriarchate said in a statement, adding that further details would be provided once available.

Parish priest of the Church of the Holy Family, father Gabriele Romanelli, receives medical attention after he suffered light leg injuries following an Israeli strike on the church, according to medics, at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, in this still image taken from a video on July 17, 2025. — Reuters

People carry the body of Palestinian Christian Saad Salama, who was killed in an Israeli strike on the Church of the Holy Family, at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, in Gaza City. — Reuters

Disabled, elderly, children worst hit by war

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned Thursday that Israel’s ongoing military offensive in Gaza is disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities, the elderly and children.

In a statement posted on X, the agency said over 83 percent of individuals with disabilities have lost access to assistive devices, while 80 percent of elderly residents are in urgent need of life-saving medication.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, renewed Islamabad’s demand for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza during a UN Security Council briefing on the humanitarian situation.

“The world cannot stand by as Gaza is starved and shattered,” the ambassador said in a post on X. “Behind each number is a life: a person with a story, a dream extinguished & a family torn apart.”

Ahmad reiterated that a just and lasting peace requires the realisation of a two-state solution based on pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as the capital of a sovereign Palestinian state.

Israeli troops wounded, West Bank raids intensify

Two Israeli soldiers from the elite Battalion 202 paratrooper brigade were seriously injured during combat operations in northern Gaza, the Israeli military said. The wounded soldiers were evacuated to Israel for treatment, and their families have been notified. Further details were not disclosed.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces arrested at least eight Palestinians during overnight raids across the occupied West Bank, according to Al Jazeera Arabic and the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

In Bethlehem, a 58-year-old man and a 23-year-old were detained in separate operations. In Tubas, a Palestinian youth was injured by Israeli troops during a raid.

In Qabatiya, near Jenin, one person was arrested and the homes of two Palestinians killed in previous encounters with Israeli forces were rigged with explosives for punitive demolition, Wafa reported. Raids also occurred in Kafr Jamal and Kafr Zibad, southeast of Qalqilya.

In Washington, US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas are “going well,” according to Reuters. He did not offer specifics but indicated cautious optimism over the ongoing talks.

Israel’s war on Gaza

The Israeli army has launched a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing at least 57,481 Palestinians, including 134,592 children. More than 111,588 people have been injured, and over 14,222 are missing and presumed dead.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave. The proposed deal includes a pause in hostilities, increased humanitarian aid, and negotiations on the release of captives.

Europe’s largest missiles maker, MBDA, is selling key components for bombs that have been shipped in their thousands to Israel and used in multiple airstrikes where research indicates Palestinian children and other civilians were killed.

With concerns mounting about the extent to which European companies may be profiting from the devastation of Gaza, a Guardian investigation with the independent newsrooms Disclose and Follow the Money has examined the supply chain behind the GBU-39 bomb, and the ways in which it has been deployed during the conflict.

MBDA owns a factory in Alabama, US, which produces “wings” that are fitted to the GBU-39, which is made by Boeing. They unfold after launch, allowing the bomb to be guided to its target.

Revenues from the US company MBDA Incorporated flow through MBDA UK, based in Hertfordshire, England, which then passes any profits to MBDA group, headquartered in France. MBDA distributed almost £350m in dividends last year to its three shareholders – Britain’s biggest defence firm BAE Systems, France’s Airbus and Italy’s Leonardo.

In September, the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, suspended some weapons export licences to Israel, citing risk of “serious violations” of international humanitarian law. Lammy said the move was designed to target “items which could be used in the current conflict in Gaza”.

Using open source information, and analysis by weapons experts, the investigation has verified 24 cases where the GBU-39 was deployed in attacks that left civilians dead. Each one included children among the fatalities. Many of the attacks took place at night, without warning, in school buildings and tent camps where displaced families were sheltering. A number have been examined by the United Nations and the humanitarian group Amnesty International, which flagged them as suspected war crimes.

MBDA confirmed it had a contract with Boeing for the wings, and said it “complies all relevant national and international laws applicable to the arms trade in the countries in which it operates … all of whom have export policies and operate robust export control regimes”.

Campaigners said the case illustrates the limits of the UK’s move to pause some arms shipments to Israel. Already criticised for excluding F-35 fighter jets, the government’s measures have other limitations: they apply only to military equipment exported from Britain, which means the US arm of MBDA can continue supplying Boeing from its Alabama factory.

‘When she walks she is afraid to step on the bodies’

Hanin al-Wadie in the fire at Fahmi al-Jarjawi school

At about 2am on 26 May this year, a bomb ripped through the roof of Fahmi al-Jarjawi school in the historic quarter of Gaza City while dozens of families sheltering there lay sleeping. Local emergency services said 36 people, half of them children, were killed that night as the building was engulfed in flames. In a video recorded by an onlooker, a tiny girl, silhouetted against the fire, stumbled forwards as she searched for a way out.

The child was five-year-old Hanin al-Wadie, and she survived – just.

Weeks later she was still in hospital, suffering second- and third-degree burns, and deep psychological trauma. Her parents and her only sibling, a sister, were killed in the attack.

Sitting by her side, as Hanin nibbled on a piece of bread and plucked at her bandages, her uncle Ahmed al-Wadie spoke of what she remembered. “The first thing is that she screamed at the sound of the missiles and the fire around her,” he said. “When she walks, she says she is afraid to step on the bodies. Imagine a child in this situation seeing her parents in front of her in a fire, seeing them with her eyes.”

Ahmed, who is a nurse, said she needed treatments that no hospital in Gaza could provide – plastic surgery on her face and her hands, and psychological support. In recent days, he has managed to secure her evacuation to Jordan.

International humanitarian law prohibits attacks on civilian infrastructure such as schools, and requires steps to minimise harm. Failure to follow the rules can result in war crimes. “Those launching attacks have a legal duty to take precautions so as to avoid harming civilians – even in cases where there may be a military target at the location – including by not striking locations full of civilians,” says Donatella Rovera, a senior investigator at Amnesty. Giving effective warning to evacuate, where feasible, is also a requirement. Witnesses said no such warning was given before the attack at Fahmi al-Jarjawi.

The Israeli military said at the time it had targeted a command and control centre inside the school that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad used to gather intelligence for attacks, adding it had taken “numerous steps” to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of “precise munitions”. Locating military objectives within densely populated civilian areas is also prohibited, said Rovera.

Weapons experts later identified fragments of a GBU-39 bomb in the debris. Footage shot at the scene clearly showed the wings, which often shear off as the bomb hits its target.

Trevor Ball, an associate at Armaments Research Services, which receives some EU funding, has compiled his own list of strikes involving the bomb. He said it could be identified by its wings, which are marked with the words “NO LIFT ON WINGS” and by its tail piece, which has slots for fins and distinctive bolts.

The GBU-39 is reaching Israel under the US military aid programme, which provides grants and loans to be spent on weapons. Bought from the Boeing Company directly, and also transferred from the US military’s own reserves, an estimated 4,800 have been shipped since the 7 October 2023 Hamas massacre of Israeli citizens, to which Israel responded by launching a war on Gaza. The most recent consignment of 2,166 was announced in February of this year, just as the UN reported that almost 70% of Gaza had been reduced to rubble.

The GBU-39 is launched from the air by fighter jets. With a comparatively light payload of under 250lb, it can take out one or two floors of a building, leaving the rest of the structure intact. Its use has been encouraged by the US state department, including under former president Joe Biden, because it was seen as preferable to the much heavier bombs used to flatten Gaza during the early months of the war.

But in an enclosed space, it creates a lethal fireball. In the 24 cases verified for this article, which date from between November 2023 and May of this year, the reported death toll was more than 500, including at least 100 children.

The first verified case since the start of the war was on 2 November, at the densely populated Bureij camp, when several buildings collapsed. The UN estimated Israeli jets had launched at least four of the bombs. Gaza authorities initially reported 15 dead, including nine children, though the death toll rose as the days passed. Mourning the loss of 19 members of his family, Yasser Hassan Washah posted on Facebook: “My remaining cousins are searching for their family, and the rest of my cousins are under the rubble.”

Later that day, without specifying locations, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated its aircraft, directed by soldiers on the ground, had struck a number of military command and control centres used by senior Hamas terrorist operatives, some of which were “deliberately located in civilian areas”. In a report published last year, the UN cited the attack as one of six examples in which it said Israel “may have failed to adhere” to the principles of international humanitarian law.

Video of the Kuwaiti Peace Camp 1 attack

From just a handful of cases verified in 2023, the data suggests the Israeli military dramatically scaled up its use of GBU-39s in 2024. One of the most devastating attacks was during the night of 26 May 2024, when jets bombarded Kuwaiti Peace Camp 1 in Rafah, sparking a raging fire that set rows of tents alight. A toddler and a woman were decapitated by fragments from the explosives, Amnesty reported. The Gaza health ministry counted 45 dead and 249 wounded.

The Israeli military said it had been targeting a Hamas compound, and that it suspected munitions or some other combustible substance it was unaware of caused a secondary explosion and a fire. Amnesty accused the military of failing to distinguish between civilians and military objectives, and called for the incident to be investigated as a war crime.

“The GBU-39s have been used a lot to target schools and areas where other people are sheltering,” said Ball.

Of the verified attacks, 16 were against schools. While the buildings are no longer functioning as educational facilities, they have become places of shelter for Gaza’s displaced population. The other strikes were on tent camps, family homes, and on a mosque during morning prayers.

The Guardian wrote to the IDF with detailed accounts of nine attacks. A spokesperson declined to comment on the individual cases, saying it did not have the time or information needed to examine the claims. However, they insisted the IDF did not target civilians or civilian structures.

“The IDF strikes exclusively on the grounds of military necessity and in strict accordance with international law. The IDF pursues all feasible precautions in order to mitigate harm to both civilians and civilian structures.” In each case, it said the sensitivity of sites was taken into account with the aim of mitigating damage to sites and civilians in a “rigorous approval process”. It said Hamas had made a habit of storing its weapons and ammunition inside civilian buildings, including hospitals, schools and mosques, and launched attacks from them routinely.

Arms trade

In its marketing material for the patented Diamond Back wing system, MBDA describes it as a “key component” of the Boeing bomb. Weapons experts say the GBU-39 is always sold with its wings, and MBDA is the sole known supplier.

There are no public financial accounts for MBDA Inc, so the profits and revenues it generates are not visible. However, its revenues are consolidated within the UK division, according to a statement in the accounts. The profits are then passed to MBDA group. The most recent accounts for MBDA UK, which date from 2023, show it is a large part of the business, contributing more than 40% of revenues. Overall, the wider MBDA business is growing rapidly, taking £4.2bn in revenues in 2024.

Last September, as the number of people killed in Gaza rose to more than 40,000, Britain’s foreign minister, David Lammy, suspended 29 licences for arms exports to Israel, saying there existed a “clear risk” the equipment could be used to commit “serious violations” of international humanitarian law.

However, the ban is limited in scope. Experts say the government has no power to block sales by firms based abroad, even if they are part of the same group as a British company.

US subsidiary MBDA Inc is not affected by the ban, and it has a separate board of directors. It operates under local laws and is subject to US arms controls.

“MBDA are profiting from the arming of Israel,” said Sam Perlo-Freeman, the research coordinator at Campaign Against the Arms Trade. “What MBDA could do if they wanted to not be complicit in arming Israel is they could sell MBDA Inc. We would support the UK government taking all actions that are within their powers to stop the genocide. Beyond an arms embargo, this includes sanctions on companies arming Israel, banning UK investments in such companies.”

Such a ban would go beyond even the terms of the embargo imposed on Russia after its attack on Ukraine. With Israel, the UK and other western governments have taken a lighter touch approach. For example, Lammy allowed a carve-out so that British companies, including BAE Systems, could continue producing parts of the F-35 combat aircraft for Israel.

Despite strong words and threats of more sanctions after Israel broke the ceasefire in March, and findings by the UN that the warfare methods in Gaza are consistent with genocide, European leaders have taken no further steps to prevent domestic armaments firms from profiting.

In a report dated last month, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, examined corporate profits from the conflict. She concluded: “The present report shows why the genocide carried out by Israel continues: because it is lucrative for many.”

Neither MBDA nor Boeing are mentioned among the 40 companies named in the report, but Albanese said her research was “just the tip of the iceberg”. “Ending it will not happen without holding the private sector accountable,” she said.

Under the UN guiding principles on business and human rights, companies are expected to undertake periodic due diligence to identify concerns and adjust their conduct, particularly during armed conflicts. MBDA’s own code of ethics points to these responsibilities, stating the company is “committed to taking the utmost care in identifying and preventing negative direct and indirect impacts our activities may have on human rights, fundamental freedoms and people health and safety”.

In its response to the Guardian, the company declined to say whether it had considered divesting its US operations or ceasing the supply of components for equipment sold to Israel. It added: “Activities that could involve the company in unlawful practices are prohibited.”

BAE Systems and Airbus said they had nothing to add to MBDA’s response. Leonardo said it has “has always acted in full compliance with national and international regulations regarding the export of military equipment”. Boeing referred inquiries to the US government. A state department spokesperson said the US supported Israel’s right to defend itself and Donald Trump and his foreign secretary were focused on peace in the region.

An Israeli strike has hit the only Catholic church in Gaza, killing three people and injuring 10 others including the parish priest, who used to receive daily calls from the late Pope Francis.

The Catholic charity Caritas Internationalis said the three victims were Saad Salameh, the 60-year-old janitor of the Holy Family church; Fumayya Ayyad, an 84-year-old woman who was receiving psychological support in a Caritas tent in the church’s compound when the blast occurred, and Najwa abu Daoud, 69, who was sitting close to Ayyad.

“We are devastated by this latest attack on people who were simply trying to survive and had taken sanctuary in the church,” the secretary general of Caritas Internationalis, Alistair Dutton, said. “Their deaths are a painful reminder of the appalling conditions that civilians and medical personnel are living in under siege. We grieve the lives lost and call on all parties to respect the sacredness of life and the spaces that protect it.”

Ibrahim Saqallah, a paramedic at the nearby al-Ahli Arab hospital, told the Guardian that about 10 people were wounded, some critically. The injuries were caused by shrapnel from an exploding artillery shell.

Saqallah said the hospital was notified that the church had been hit. “I got into the ambulance and headed straight to the church,” he added. “This [Israeli] army is arrogant – it does not distinguish between Christian or Muslim, nor does it care whether it’s a church, a mosque, a home, or even a school. We are living in the midst of a brutal war.”

The shelling of the church also damaged its compound, where hundreds of Palestinians, including children and people with disabilities, have been sheltering during the 21-month war. Israel issued a rare apology and said it was investigating.

Attallah Terzi, a displaced 75-year-old Christian now sheltering in a school next to the church, said: “I had just returned to the classroom after being outside for a few minutes when a massive explosion occurred. It was the first time since the beginning of the war that the sound of an explosion was so intense.”

Before his death in April, the former pope would call Gabriel Romanelli, an Argentinian, every evening. He began the routine on 9 October 2023, two days after the attacks on Israel by Hamas ignited the devastating war in Gaza.

Reuters footage from the hospital showed Romanelli to be lightly injured, with a bandaged left leg but able to walk.

Terzi witnessed the killing of a woman who had been assisting a man in a wheelchair and another whose head was hit by a stone that appeared to have fallen from the church. She also saw a young man being struck by shrapnel. Romanelli had run to help him before being injured himself.

Pope Leo XIV said in a telegram sent by the Vatican’s secretary of state in his name that he was “deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack” and that he was renewing his calls for an immediate ceasefire.

In a statement, the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said: “The Israeli raids on Gaza have also hit the Holy Family church. The attacks against the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable. No military action can justify such behaviour.”

Elizabeth Funnell, the Middle East representative for the Catholic aid agency Cafod, said: “We once again call on the international community to act urgently to protect civilians, places of worship and humanitarian spaces, and to ensure that people in Gaza have access to the most basic right: the chance to survive.”

The Israel Defense Forces said they were aware of the reports.

“The circumstances of the incident are under review. The IDF makes every feasible effort to mitigate harm to civilians and civilian structures, including religious sites, and regrets any damage caused to them,” its statement added.

The Holy Family church in Gaza spoke in a separate statement of “a number of injured, some in critical condition”.

Dozens of Palestinians were killed and wounded during Israeli airstrikes on several areas of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including four who were killed in an attack on a home close to the Imam al-Shafi’i school in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City.

After Francis’s death, Romanelli, who has served as the parish priest since 2019, told the Guardian: “Even after he was hospitalised, he continued calling to check on us. Our grief is deep because we lost someone we felt had become a member of our church.”

Francis was a strong advocate of ending the war. In his last public address on Easter Sunday, he condemned the “deplorable humanitarian situation” in Gaza and implored Israel and Hamas to “call for a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people, that aspires to a future of peace”.