Category: 2. World

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has officially closed its doors after President Donald Trump gradually dismantled the agency over its allegedly wasteful spending.

More than 80% of all the agency’s programmes were cancelled as of March, and on Tuesday the remainder were formally absorbed by the state department.

The shuttering of USAID – which administered aid for the US government, the world’s largest such provider – has been newly criticised by former Presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush.

These aid cuts could cause more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, according to a warning published by researchers in the Lancet medical journal.

The authors of the Lancet report called the numbers “staggering”, and projected that a third of those at risk of premature deaths were children.

A state department official said the study used “incorrect assumptions” and insisted that the US would continue to administer aid in a “more efficient” way, the AFP news agency reported.

Founded in 1961, USAID previously employed some 10,000 people, two-thirds of whom worked overseas, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The controversial cuts began early in Trump’s second term, when billionaire and former presidential adviser Elon Musk was tasked with shrinking the federal workforce.

The move was widely condemned by humanitarian organisations around the world.

Among the programmes that were curbed were efforts to provide prosthetic limbs to soldiers injured in Ukraine, to clear landmines in various countries, and to contain the spread of Ebola in Africa.

On Wednesday morning, the agency’s website continued to display a message saying that all USAID direct-hire personnel globally had been placed on administrative leave from 23 February.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously said that the remaining 1,000 programmes after the cuts would be administered under his department.

“This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end,” he added on Tuesday.

“Under the Trump Administration, we will finally have a foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests,” he wrote in a post on Substack.

Trump has repeatedly said he wants overseas spending to be closely aligned with his “America First” approach.

Bush and Obama delivered their messages of condemnation in a video conference they hosted with U2 singer Bono for thousands of members the USAID community.

Bush, a fellow member of Trump’s Republican Party, focused on the impact of cuts to an AIDS and HIV programme that was started by his administration and subsequently credited with saving 25 million lives.

“You’ve showed the great strength of America through your work – and that is your good heart,” Bush told USAID workers in a recorded statement, according to US media. “Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you.”

Meanwhile Obama, a member of the opposition Democratic Party, affirmed the work that USAID employees had already done.

“Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy. Because it’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world,” Obama was quoted as saying.

Long-time humanitarian advocate Bono spoke about the millions of people who he said could die because of the cuts.

“They called you crooks, when you were the best of us,” he told attendees of the video conference.

USAID was seen as integral to the global aid system. After Trump’s cuts were announced, other countries followed suit with their own reductions – including the UK, France and Germany.

Last month, the United Nations said it was dealing with “the deepest funding cuts ever to hit the international humanitarian sector”.

Iran on Wednesday formally suspended its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, a measure drawn up in the wake of unprecedented Israeli and US strikes on the Islamic republic’s nuclear sites.

The war between Iran and Israel, which broke out on June 13 and lasted for 12 days, has intensified tensions between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

On June 25, a day after a ceasefire took hold, Iranian lawmakers overwhelmingly voted in favour of the bill to suspend cooperation with the agency.

State media said today that the legislation had cleared the final hurdle and was in effect.

The text, published by Iranian media, states that the legislation aims to “ensure full support for the inherent rights of the Islamic Republic of Iran” under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and “especially uranium enrichment”.

The issue of enrichment was at the core of disagreements between Washington and Tehran in nuclear negotiations that had been derailed by the war.

Israel and some Western countries had for long accused Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons — an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.

The text of the law did not specify concrete moves linked to the suspension of cooperation with the IAEA, whose inspectors have had access to declared nuclear facilities.

Following the parliament vote, the bill was approved by the Guardian Council, a body tasked with vetting legislation, before a final ratification from the presidency.

Iranian President “Masoud Pezeshkian promulgated the law suspending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency”, state TV said today.

Iranian officials have sharply criticised the IAEA for what they described as the agency’s “silence” in the face of the Israeli and US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites.

Germany said on Wednesday that Iran’s decision to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog sends a “disastrous signal”.

“For a diplomatic solution, it is essential for Iran to work with the IAEA,” foreign ministry spokesman Martin Giese told reporters after Tehran formally enacted the suspension.

‘Deceptive and fraudulent’

Tehran has also lambasted the UN agency for a resolution adopted on June 12 that accuses Iran of non-compliance with its nuclear obligations.

Iranian officials said the resolution was among the “excuses” for the Israeli attacks.

Senior judiciary official Ali Mozaffari said today that IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi should “be held accountable” for what he called “preparing the groundwork for the crime” against Iran, referring to Israel’s air raids.

Mozaffari accused Grossi of “deceptive actions and fraudulent reporting”, according to Iranian news agency Tasnim.

Iran has rejected a request from Grossi to visit nuclear facilities bombed during the war, and earlier this week Pezeshkian decried his “destructive” conduct.

Iran has said Grossi’s request to visit the bombarded sites signalled “malign intent” but insisted there were no threats against him or against inspectors from his agency.

France, Germany and Britain have condemned unspecified “threats” against the IAEA chief.

Iran’s ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper has recently claimed that documents showed Grossi was an Israeli spy and should be executed.

‘Serious’ damage

On Monday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the parliament vote to halt cooperation with the IAEA reflected the “concern and anger of the Iranian public opinion”.

The 12-day war began when Israel launched a major bombing campaign on Iran and killed top military commanders, nuclear scientists, and hundreds of civilians, with Tehran responding with waves of missiles and drones launched at Israel.

On June 22, Israel’s ally the United States launched unprecedented strikes of its own on Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.

More than 900 people were killed in Iran, according to the judiciary.

Iran’s retaliatory attacks killed 28 people in Israel, according to authorities.
US President Donald Trump said the US attacks had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme, though the extent of the damage was not clear.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has admitted “serious” damage to nuclear sites.

But in a recent interview with CBS’s Evening News, he said: “One cannot obliterate the technology and science… through bombings.”

CNN
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Elon Musk has started multiple successful companies that have accomplished incredible technological feats. His latest ambition may be significantly more difficult to achieve: starting a new American political party for the masses.

Citing his disappointment in President Donald Trump and his massively expensive domestic policy bill, Musk said he would form the “America party” the day after the “Big, Beautiful Bill” passes, if Congress approves it. Musk has called Democrats and Republicans the “uniparty” because government deficits have risen dramatically under administrations and Congresses controlled by both parties. He says he wants to build a fiscally conservative party that reins in spending – although he’s presented few other details of what the party’s platform might be.

Experts in campaign finance and political science say there’s a reason no third party has ever truly successfully challenged America’s two-party system: It is financially and legally difficult to create a new party, and voters and candidates are hesitant to join.

“Third-party movements in the US have generally arisen out of some sort of set of deep-seated grievances,” Emory University political science professor Alan Abramowitz told CNN. “It was not just some wealthy person who’s decided they wanted to start a third party.”

It’s not clear how much if any preparation has been done to stand up the party. A spokesperson for Musk’s political action committee, America PAC, declined to comment.

A senior White House official brushed off Musk’s criticism of the bill. “No one really cares what he says anymore,” the source said.

Two Republicans close to the White House said that it was also unclear how Musk’s threats might play out in the midterm elections.

“Of course, members don’t want to be primaried,” one of the sources said. “It’s unclear if he’s actually going to get involved. A few weeks ago he apologized and called Trump.”

Musk may be the richest person on Earth, but he could also encounter some financial resistance himself. Former DOGE adviser and Trump supporter James Fishback said he is launching his own super PAC to counter Musk’s money in congressional races.

Fishback, who runs an investment firm, said he will provide $1 million in initial funding to the super PAC, which will be called FSD PAC, an abbreviation for Full Support for Donald.

He told CNN that the super PAC will work to back Trump’s agenda “and against anyone who threatens to sabotage that agenda,” including Musk.

American political parties are governed by laws and rules not just from the Federal Election Commission but also from the states, including around which parties can appear on ballots.

“The system is sort of set up to almost make it impossible for third parties to be successful,” Abramowitz said.

Funding a new party has its own hurdles. The McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2022 set strict limits on donations to political parties. The current limit is just under $450,000 spread across different party purposes. Musk would need thousands of co-donors to help him fund his party, said Lee Goodman, an attorney and former chair of the FEC.

“One very wealthy individual cannot capitalize a new national political party, the way he might start a business, because of federal contribution limits,” Goodman told CNN. “The prospect of a wealthy founder seed funding a national party to participate in federal elections around the country is not feasible in the current regulatory system.”

Bradley Smith, another former FEC chair and who is now a law professor at Capital University Law School, said there are some ways around the current regulations.

“There is some case law suggesting that some of the organizational activities of a party and starting a party right can be funded with larger contributions, until it actually qualifies for party status under the election commission regulations,” Smith said, but he noted it’s complex and difficult to do.

“You can fund super PACs all you want. But you can’t fund a political party, as a strange part of American law,” he added.

Super PACs are not legally allowed to coordinate spending with parties or candidates, although previous candidates have tested these limits, as nothing prohibits coordination when the information is shared publicly. “Coordination has, in fact, become commonplace,” the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center has said.

Then there’s getting on the actual ballots. States have different rules, such as requiring a certain number of signatures.

“It would take years and might require changes in laws around the country that currently favor two major political parties,” Goodman noted

Beyond the legal and logistical hurdles, there’s convincing candidates to join and voters to cast their ballots for them.

Despite varying approval levels, party loyalties remain strong, Abramowitz said, especially among Republicans, who have coalesced around Trump.

“The biggest obstacle is just that it’s very difficult to convince people to vote for a third-party candidate because the argument is always ‘you’re wasting your vote. You’re voting for someone who has no chance of winning elections,’” Abramowitz said.

Candidates may also be wary. Democrats are unlikely to run under the America Party because “Democrats hate Elon Musk,” Abramowitz said. And Republicans “have clearly shown that they’re much more attached to Donald Trump than they are to Elon Musk.”

Republicans highly approve of Trump, according to CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten’s aggregation of available polling data. Some 90 precent of Republicans approve of Trump’s performance thus far in this presidency, and he is doing better in approval ratings five months into the presidency than former Republican presidents. And in 96% of the 2024 primary races where Trump endorsed, those candidates won.

If creating a new political party proves too difficult, Musk could still hold a lot of sway through his super PAC, to which he can send unlimited funds. That PAC can then support independent candidates, who could also have an easier time getting on ballots.

“Independent spending, individually or via a super PAC, remains the most legal and practical mechanism for a wealthy individual to have a say in national politics,” Goodman said.

CNN’s Kristen Holmes and Fredreka Schouten contributed reporting.

This photo taken on July 2, 2025 shows a sign of the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference in Beijing, capital of China. With the theme “Building a Digital-Friendly City”, the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference opened here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

This photo taken on July 2, 2025 shows the inaugural ceremony of the Global Digital Economy Cities Alliance during the opening ceremony of the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference in Beijing, capital of China. With the theme “Building a Digital-Friendly City”, the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference opened here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

This photo taken on July 2, 2025 shows the opening ceremony of the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference in Beijing, capital of China. With the theme “Building a Digital-Friendly City”, the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference opened here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

This photo taken on July 2, 2025 shows an exhibition area of the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference in Beijing, capital of China. With the theme “Building a Digital-Friendly City”, the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference opened here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

Jean Tirole, a Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics, speaks during the opening ceremony of the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference in Beijing, capital of China, July 2, 2025. With the theme “Building a Digital-Friendly City”, the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference opened here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

Beate Trankmann, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative for China, speaks during the opening ceremony of the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference in Beijing, capital of China, July 2, 2025. With the theme “Building a Digital-Friendly City”, the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference opened here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

This photo taken on July 2, 2025 shows the opening ceremony of the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference in Beijing, capital of China. With the theme “Building a Digital-Friendly City”, the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference opened here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

A visitor tries an MR device at an exhibition area of the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference in Beijing, capital of China, July 2, 2025. With the theme “Building a Digital-Friendly City”, the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference opened here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

This photo taken on July 2, 2025 shows an exhibition area of the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference in Beijing, capital of China. With the theme “Building a Digital-Friendly City”, the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference opened here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

This photo taken on July 2, 2025 shows an exhibition area of the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference in Beijing, capital of China. With the theme “Building a Digital-Friendly City”, the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference opened here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

Guests attend the opening ceremony of the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference in Beijing, capital of China, July 2, 2025. With the theme “Building a Digital-Friendly City”, the 2025 Global Digital Economy Conference opened here on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

Two people were found dead by firefighters tackling a blaze in Spain’s Catalonia region on Tuesday, as Europe endures scorching temperatures during the ongoing heatwave.

In a statement, Catalan authorities said the bodies were found after firefighters extinguished a fire in the Torrefeta area, near the town of Coscó.

A 10-year-old American tourist visiting the Palace of Versailles died after falling ill, French media reported.

Earlier, the country’s ecological transition minister said two heat-related fatalities were recorded in France, adding more than 300 people were treated by firefighters on Tuesday.

The European continent is experiencing extremely high temperatures, a phenomenon that the UN’s climate agency said is becoming more frequent due to “human-induced climate change”.

As reported by French broadcaster TF1, a child aged 10 collapsed at the courtyard of the royal estate, in front of her parents, at around 18:00 local time on Tuesday. Despite efforts by the castle’s security team and emergency services, she was pronounced dead an hour later.

For Spain and England, the month of June marked their hottest June since records began. Spain’s weather service, Aemet, said last month’s average temperature of 23.6C (74.5F) “pulverised records”, surpassing the normal average for July and August.

Firefighters worked throughout Tuesday night in Catalonia to define the perimeter of both the Torrefeta and Florejacs fires, according to the region’s fire service.

In a statement on Wednesday, the fire service said their efforts were focused on establishing the perimeter, extinguishing fires in buildings, and ruling out any more victims.

As of 22:37 local time on Tuesday (21:37 BST), Catalonia’s emergency services established they were working in a perimeter of about 6,500 hectares, which is about 40km (25 miles) long.

According to reports by Spanish media, the two people killed in the fire in Coscó were the owner of a farm and a worker. The pair were aged 32 and 45.

Firefighters said they found the two bodies “lifeless” when tackling the blaze. Catalonia’s regional president, Salvador Illa, said he would be visiting the area.

Spanish forecaster Aemet predicts that Wednesday will see highs of 41C in Córdoba, a city in southern Spain.

France’s ecological transition minister, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, said the two deaths in her country were a result of “heat-related illness”.

It comes as France registered its second-hottest June since records began in 1900. June 2025 only trails behind June 2023, when the country also experienced intense heat.

Four departments in France remain on the red alert level for heat, the highest level. These include Aube, Cher, Loiret and Yonne, according to the country’s weather service, Meteo France.

The forecaster predicts some storms in parts of eastern France, with highs of 37C in Metz in the north-east.

In Italy, a 75-year-old man in the Budoni, Sardinia, died after falling sick because of the extreme heat. Another man, 60, became sick while on the beach of Lu Impostu in San Teodoro. Emergency services tried to save both men without success.

Temperatures in the region have exceeded 40C in recent days.

Also in the Mediterranean country, two construction workers in Tezze sul Brenta, in the province of Vicenza, were rushed to hospital at 15:30 local time on Tuesday because they fell ill as a result of the heat while working in a hole.

One of the workers is in a coma, according to reports by Italian news agency Ansa, who report that he was resuscitated, intubated and taken to San Bassiano hospital by helicopter.

Dimple Rana, heat and microclimate specialist at sustainable development consultancy Arup, told the BBC there is “a big link between heat-related impact and age”.

In the UK, for example, most heat-related deaths were among older adults, Ms Rana said. Younger children, particularly those under five, were also at risk.

Another factor to consider is that often people on lower incomes undertake more manual work, Ms Rana said, meaning they are more exposed to higher temperatures.

Intense heat on Tuesday led to power outages in Florence city centre, due to a peak in consumption from air conditioners and some underground electrical cables overheating, Italian media reported.

The blackout on Tuesday afternoon meant homes, hotels and shops were without power. ATMs were also out of action and alarm systems in shops and other business premises were deactivated.

In Bergamo, the overheating of underground cables also caused a power outage in half of the city. On one side towards Piazza della Liberta, the lights were on and people could congregate outside, while on the other, towards Sentierone, no electricity meant dark shop fronts and little to no nightlife.

The blackout in Bergamo on Tuesday spanned several hours, with no power between 16:00 and 22:46 local time.

Heatwaves are becoming more common due to human-caused climate change, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Extreme hot weather will happen more often – and become even more intense – as the planet continues to warm, it has said.

Heat and microclimate expert Ms Rana said we need efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, through using more clean energy for example, but we also need to adapt.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which is the UN’s weather and climate agency, said on Tuesday that human-induced climate change means “extreme heat is becoming more frequent and intense”.

In a statement, the WMO added: “The effect of heat on human health is more pronounced in cities as a result of the urban heat island effect.

“This is where urban environments are significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas, especially during hot periods, due to an abundance of paved surfaces, buildings, vehicles, and heat sources.”

“This additional heat in cities exacerbates heat stress and can increase mortality during hot periods,” the agency said.

Iran is also considering an entry ban on IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, after rejecting his request to visit nuclear sites.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has signed a law suspending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), amid growing tensions between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog over monitoring access and transparency, after United States and Israeli strikes on its most important nuclear facilities during a 12-day conflict last month.

“Masoud Pezeshkian promulgated the law suspending cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency,” Iranian state TV reported on Wednesday.

The move comes a week after Iran’s parliament passed legislation to suspend cooperation with the IAEA, citing Israel’s June 13 attack on Iran and later strikes by the US on Iranian nuclear facilities.

According to the parliament resolution, IAEA inspectors will not be allowed to visit nuclear sites without approval from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

Iran’s foreign minister earlier this week said IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, whom Iranian officials have sharply criticised for failing to condemn Israeli and US strikes during the recent 12-day war, was no longer welcome in the country.

Officials have also criticised Grossi over a June 12 resolution passed by the IAEA board accusing Tehran of non-compliance with its nuclear obligations.

Iranian officials said the resolution was among the “excuses” for the Israeli attacks.

Iran has also rejected a request from IAEA chief Grossi to visit nuclear facilities bombed during the war.

“Grossi’s insistence on visiting the bombed sites under the pretext of safeguards is meaningless and possibly even malign in intent,” said Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on X on Monday. “Iran reserves the right to take any steps in defence of its interests, its people and its sovereignty.”

Earlier this week, Pezeshkian decried Grossi’s “destructive” conduct, while France, Germany and the United Kingdom have condemned unspecified “threats” made against the IAEA chief.

Iran’s ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper recently claimed that documents showed Grossi was an Israeli spy and should be executed.

Iran has insisted no threats were posed against Grossi or the agency’s inspectors.

The 12-day war began when Israel carried out a surprise bombardment of Iranian nuclear facilities and military sites and assassinated several top military commanders and nuclear scientists. Tehran responded with waves of missiles and drones at Israel.

On June 22, Israel’s ally, the US, launched unprecedented strikes of its own on Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz. A ceasefire between Iran and Israel took hold on June 24.

At least 935 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Iran, according to judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir, citing the latest forensic data. The deceased included 132 women and 38 children, Jahangir added.

Iran’s retaliatory attacks killed 28 people in Israel, according to authorities.

US President Donald Trump said the US attacks had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme, though the extent of the damage was not clear.

Araghchi has admitted that “serious” damage has been inflicted on nuclear sites.

But in a recent interview with US media outlet CBS Evening News, he said: “One cannot obliterate the technology and science… through bombings.”

Israel and some Western countries say Iran has sought nuclear weapons – an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.

US President Donald Trump urged Hamas on Tuesday to accept a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, saying that Israel had agreed to finalise such a deal, as its forces also stepped up operations in the Palestinian territory.

Nearly 21 months of relentless Israeli bombardment have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations.

The civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 14 people today.

Trump, in a post on social media, said his representatives had met with Israeli officials about the raging conflict, ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington next week.

“Israel has agreed to the necessary conditions to finalise the 60-day ceasefire, during which time we will work with all parties to end the war,” Trump wrote.

He said representatives of Qatar and Egypt, mediators in the conflict, would deliver “this final proposal”.

“I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this deal, because it will not get better — it will only get worse,” he warned.

Without directly mentioning Trump’s remarks, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said later that “a large majority within the government and the population is in favour of the plan to free the hostages”.

“If the opportunity arises, it must not be missed!” Saar wrote on X.

Out of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian fighters during Hamas’s 2023 attack that triggered the offensive, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 that the Israeli military says are dead.

Trump earlier on Tuesday said he would be “very firm” with Netanyahu when they meet on July 7.

The end of Israel’s 12-day war with Iran — which followed a US bombing mission on Tehran’s nuclear sites — has provided a window of opportunity for a deal, with Trump keen to add another peace agreement to a series of recent deals he has brokered.

Trump has complained he had been overlooked by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for his mediating role in various conflicts, including the recent one between India and Pakistan.

Families lose multiple members as Israeli bombing continues

Trump campaigned for office as a “peacemaker” who would use his negotiating skills to quickly end wars in Ukraine and Gaza, although both conflicts are still raging five months into his presidency.

However, Israel’s bombing of Gaza continues to rage on.

AFP footage from the area showed makeshift tent structures blown apart as Palestinians picked through the wreckage, trying to salvage what was left of their belongings.

One man held a pack of nappies, asking: “Is this a weapon?”

“They came here thinking it was a safe area and they were killed … What did they do?” said Maha Abu Rizq, whose uncle was killed in the strike.

AFP images from the nearby Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis city, showed medics treating young children covered in blood. Some appeared terrified while others lay still on hospital beds in bloodied bandages and clothes.

In southern Gaza, civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five members of the same family were killed in an Israeli air strike today that hit a tent housing displaced people in the coastal Al-Mawasi area.

Despite being declared a safe zone by Israel in December 2023, Al-Mawasi has been hit by repeated Israeli strikes.

Further north, Bassal said that four people from the same family were killed in a pre-dawn Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza City, and another five in a drone strike on a house in the central Deir el-Balah area.

AFP photographers saw Israeli tanks deploying at the Gaza border in southern Israel and children picking through the rubble of a destroyed home in Gaza City.

Others photographed Palestinians mourning over the bodies of relatives in the city’s Al-Shifa hospital and the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it did not have enough information to comment on the specific reports, but insisted it was “operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities” in line with “international law, and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm”.

In response to reports of deadly strikes in the north and south of the territory, the Israeli army told AFP it was “operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities”.

Separately, it said on Tuesday morning that in recent days it had “expanded its operations to additional areas within the Gaza Strip”, claiming to have eliminated fighters and dismantled what it called “terror infrastructure sites”.

Raafat Halles, aged 39, from the Shujaiya district of Gaza City, said “air strikes and shelling have intensified over the past week” and tanks have been advancing.

“I believe that every time negotiations or a potential ceasefire are mentioned, the army escalates crimes and massacres on the ground,” he said. “I don’t know why.”

The Israeli military onslaught in response to the Hamas-led Oct 7, 2023 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures, has killed more than 56,600 people across Gaza.

The offensive has destroyed much of the housing and infrastructure in the enclave, including the hospital system. The death toll is feared to be much higher due to thousands missing under the rubble.

Netanyahu’s US visit

Netanyahu announced he would visit Trump and senior US security officials next week, amid mounting pressure to end the devastating fighting in Gaza and bring the remaining hostages home.

Trump, while visiting a migrant detention centre in Florida, said Netanyahu “wants to end it too”.

Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP the group is “ready to agree to any proposal if it will lead to an end to the war and a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of occupation forces”.

“So far, there has been no breakthrough.”

As she canvassed for Zohran Mamdani in New York City on Tuesday last week, Batul Hassan should have been elated. The mayoral candidate – a 33-year-old state assemblymember – was surging in the polls and would within hours soundly defeat Andrew Cuomo on first preference votes in the Democratic primary election.

But Hassan’s spirits were hampered by record-breaking temperatures. In Crown Heights, where she was the Mamdani campaign’s field captain, the heat index soared into the triple digits.

“I couldn’t think about anything but the heat,” she said. “It was so dangerous.”

Early that Tuesday morning, Hassan visited a public school polling site, where elderly workers sweltered without air conditioning. The city board of elections sent over paper fans, but they were no match for the heat.

If Mamdani is elected, that school could be retrofitted with air conditioning and green space to bring down temperatures as part of his green schools plan, or could even be transformed into a resilience hub for communities shelter amid extreme weather events.

“Seeing total infrastructural failure on election day emphasized the stakes of what’s happening with the climate crisis and the importance of the election,” said Hassan, who took time off from her day job at the leftist thinktank Climate and Community Institute to canvass.

Mamdani’s green schools plan is just one of his schemes to slash carbon emissions and boost environmental justice. If elected mayor, his plans for New York City would make residents “dramatically more safe” from extreme weather, said Hassan.

But the democratic socialist, who was endorsed by the national youth-led environmental justice group Sunrise Movement and student-led climate group TREEAge, did not place the climate crisis at the center of his campaign, instead choosing to focus relentlessly on cost-of-living issues. The model could help build popular support for climate policies, supporters say.

“Climate and quality of life are not two separate concerns,” Mamdani told the Nation in April. “They are, in fact, one and the same.”

Over the past two decades, Democrats increasingly focused on the climate. But often, their proposed schemes have been technocratic, Hassan said. Carbon taxes, for instance, can be impenetrably complex, making them difficult candidates for popular support. They can also be economically regressive, with “working class people experiencing them as an additional cost”, Hassan said.

More recently, Joe Biden coupled climate plans with green industrial policy and plans to boost employment. But even those projects can take years to affect tangible change, critics say. As president, for instance, Biden achieved historic climate investments in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). But its green incentives disproportionately benefited the wealthy, and its job creation remains invisible to most people around the country. One poll found only a quarter of Americans felt the IRA benefited them.

“Now with Trump, we see the pitfalls of the IRA, where there is real difficulty in consolidating enough political support to defend those climate policy achievements,” said Hassan.

Mamdani “learned from some of the mistakes” of the Biden administration, said Gustavo Gordillo, a co-chair of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, which supported Mamdani’s campaign. His housing plan, for instance, aims to lower planet-heating pollution by boosting density, but his signature promise is a rent freeze.

That pledge could ensure residents are not priced out of New York City and forced to move to more carbon-intensive suburbs, and prevent landlords from passing the costs of energy efficiency upgrades or air conditioning installation to renters, preventing displacement, said Hassan.

Similarly, Mamdani’s headline transit goal was to make buses faster and free, which could boost ridership and discourage the use of carbon-intensive cars.

“Public transit is one of the greatest gifts we have to take on the climate crisis,” Mamdani said at a February mayoral forum.

Biden’s IRA placed little focus on boosting public transit, said Gordillo. This was a missed opportunity to cut emissions and also lower Americans’ fuel costs, he said.

“We need to expand mass transit to fight the climate crisis, which hasn’t been a priority for the Democratic establishment,” said Gordillo, who is an electrician by day. “But we also need to expand it because we want to improve people’s lives right now.”

As a New York assemblymember, Mamdani has backed explicitly green policies. He was a key advocate for a boosting publicly owned renewable energy production. The effort aimed to help New York “live up to the dream of our state as being a climate leader”, he said in 2022.

He also fought fossil fuel buildout. He coupled that climate focus with efforts to keep energy bills low, consistently opposing local utilities’ attempts to impose rate hikes, said Kim Fraczek, director of the climate nonprofit Sane Energy Project.

“His growing political influence is a clear win for communities demanding a just transition: renewable power, democratic control and relief from crushing energy costs,” said Fraczek.

Progressive cities like New York are often climate leaders. But if they price out working people, only the wealthy get to see the benefits of their green policies, Mamdani’s backers say.

By crafting popular climate policies, the Democratic nominee is also building a base of New Yorkers who will work to defend those plans in the face of threats from the Trump administration, they say.

“New Yorkers want an affordable city, clean and green schools, fast and free buses, and a rent freeze,” said Daniel Goulden, a co-chair of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America ecosocialist working Group. “But most importantly, New Yorkers want a future – one where they can live and thrive in New York.”

More than 400 stars and media figures including Miriam Margolyes, Alexei Sayle, Juliet Stevenson and Mike Leigh have signed a letter to BBC management calling for the removal of a board member, Robbie Gibb, over claims of conflict of interest regarding the Middle East.

The signatories also include 111 BBC journalists and Zawe Ashton, Khalid Abdalla, Shola Mos-Shogbamimu and the historian William Dalrymple, who express “concerns over opaque editorial decisions and censorship at the BBC on the reporting of Israel/Palestine”.

Delivered on the eve of Channel 4’s airing of the documentary Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, which the BBC commissioned but shelved as it said it “risked creating a perception of partiality”, the letter alleges the decision to drop the film “demonstrates, once again, that the BBC is not reporting ‘without fear or favour’ when it comes to Israel”.

It also accuses the BBC of being “crippled by the fear of being perceived as critical of the Israeli government” and claims the “inconsistent manner in which guidance is applied draws into focus the role of Gibb, on the BBC Board and BBC’s editorial standards committee” as “we are concerned that an individual with close ties to the Jewish Chronicle … has a say in the BBC’s editorial decisions in any capacity, including the decision not to broadcast Gaza: Medics Under Fire”.

Gibb, Theresa May’s former spin doctor and a former head of the BBC’s Westminster political team, led the consortium that bought the Jewish Chronicle in 2020 and, up until August 2024, was a director of Jewish Chronicle Media.

The letter, organised by a group of BBC insiders, says: “For many of us, our efforts have been frustrated by opaque decisions made at senior levels of the BBC without discussion or explanation. Our failures impact audiences.

“As an organisation we have not offered any significant analysis of the UK government’s involvement in the war on Palestinians. We have failed to report on weapons sales or their legal implications. These stories have instead been broken by the BBC’s competitors.”

The statement alleges Gibb has a “conflict of interest” which “highlights a double standard for BBC content makers who have themselves experienced censorship in the name of ‘impartiality’.”

It adds: “In some instances staff have been accused of having an agenda because they have posted news articles critical of the Israeli government on their social media. By comparison, Gibb remains in an influential post with little transparency regarding his decisions despite his ideological leanings being well known. We can no longer ask licence fee payers to overlook Gibbs’s ideological allegiances.”

The letter concludes: “We, the undersigned BBC staff, freelancers and industry figures are extremely concerned that the BBC’s reporting on Israel and Palestine continues to fall short of the standards our audiences expect. We believe the role of Robbie Gibb, both on the board, and as part of the editorial standards committee, is untenable. We call on the BBC to do better for our audiences and recommit to our values of impartiality, honesty and reporting without fear or favour.”

Owing to their fear of repercussions, the 111 BBC journalists signed anonymously.

A BBC spokesperson said: “Robust discussions amongst our editorial teams about our journalism are an essential part of the editorial process. We have ongoing discussions about coverage and listen to feedback from staff and we think these conversations are best had internally.

“Regarding our coverage of Gaza, the BBC is fully committed to covering the conflict impartially and has produced powerful coverage from the region. Alongside breaking news, ongoing analysis, and investigations, we have produced award winning documentaries such as Life and Death in Gaza, and Gaza 101.”