TIANJIN, China (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen clasping Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hand with the gusto of an old friend, bursting into his trademark hearty laughter. Putin grinned and chuckled, while Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a measured smile as the three leaders huddled Monday.
The trio, ringed by watchful interlocuters, chatted animatedly for a few seconds.
This happened moments before the leaders lined up for a group photo during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in northern China’s Tianjin.
The summit represents an emerging challenge to U.S. global leadership. The security forum, originally seen as a foil to U.S. influence in Central Asia, has grown in size and influence over the years.
Xi stressed Monday that countries should reject Cold War thinking, rival power blocs and bullying, and instead protect the U.N.-centered international system. He called for a world order with multiple power centers and a more just and balanced global governance system.
More than 1 billion people are living with mental health disorders, according to new data released by the World Health Organization (WHO), with conditions such as anxiety and depression inflicting immense human and economic tolls. While many countries have bolstered their mental health policies and programmes, greater investment and action are needed globally to scale up services to protect and promote people’s mental health.
Mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression are highly prevalent in all countries and communities, affecting people of all ages and income levels. They represent the second biggest reason for long-term disability, contributing to loss of healthy life. They drive up health-care costs for affected people and families while inflicting substantial economic losses on a global scale.
The new findings published in two reports – World mental health today and Mental Health Atlas 2024 – highlight some areas of progress while exposing significant gaps in addressing mental health conditions worldwide. The reports serve as critical tools to inform national strategies and shape global dialogue ahead of the 2025 United Nations High-Level Meeting on noncommunicable diseases and promotion of mental health and well-being, taking place in New York on 25 September 2025.
“Transforming mental health services is one of the most pressing public health challenges,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Investing in mental health means investing in people, communities, and economies – an investment no country can afford to neglect. Every government and every leader has a responsibility to act with urgency and to ensure that mental health care is treated not as a privilege, but as a basic right for all.”
Key data from World mental health today
The report shows that while prevalence of mental health disorders can vary by sex, women are disproportionately impacted overall. Anxiety and depressive disorders are the most common types of mental health disorders among both men and women.
Suicide remains a devastating outcome, claiming an estimated 727 000 lives in 2021 alone. It is a leading cause of death among young people across all countries and socioeconomic contexts. Despite global efforts, progress in reducing suicide mortality is too low to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of a one-third reduction in suicide rates by 2030. On the current trajectory, only a 12% reduction will be achieved by that deadline.
The economic impact of mental health disorders is staggering. While health-care costs are substantial, the indirect costs– particularly in lost productivity– are far greater. Depression and anxiety alone cost the global economy an estimated US$ 1 trillion each year.
These findings underscore the urgent need for sustained investment, stronger prioritization, and multi-sectoral collaboration to expand access to mental health care, reduce stigma, and tackle the root causes of mental health conditions.
Key findings from the 2024 Mental Health Atlas
Since 2020, countries have been making significant strides in strengthening their mental health policies and planning. Many have updated their policies, adopted rights-based approaches, and enhanced preparedness for mental health and psychosocial support during health emergencies.
However, this momentum has not translated into legal reform. Fewer countries have adopted or enforced rights-based mental health legislation, and only 45% of countries evaluated laws in full compliance with international human rights standards.
The report reveals a concerning stagnation in mental health investment. Median government spending on mental health remains at just 2% of total health budgets – unchanged since 2017. Disparities between countries are stark; while high-income countries spend up to US$ 65 per person on mental health, low-income countries spend as little as US$ 0.04. The global median number of mental health workers stands at 13 per 100 000 people, with extreme shortages in low- and middle-income countries.
Reform and development of mental health services is progressing slowly. Fewer than 10% of countries have fully transitioned to community-based care models, with most countries still in the early stages of transition. Inpatient care continues to rely heavily on psychiatric hospitals, with nearly half of admissions occurring involuntarily and over 20% lasting longer than a year.
Integration of mental health into primary care is advancing, with 71% of countries meeting at least three of five WHO criteria. However, data gaps remain; only 22 countries provided sufficient data to estimate service coverage for psychosis. In low-income countries fewer than 10% of affected individuals receive care, compared to over 50% in higher-income nations – highlighting an urgent need to expand access and strengthen service delivery.
Encouragingly, most countries report having functional mental health promotion initiatives such as early childhood development, school-based mental health and suicide prevention programmes. Over 80% of countries now offer mental health and psychosocial support as part of emergency responses, up from 39% in 2020. Outpatient mental health services and telehealth are becoming more available, though access remains uneven.
Global call to scale up action on mental health
While there have been some encouraging developments, the latest data shows that countries remain far off track to achieve the targets set in WHO’s Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan.
WHO calls on governments and global partners to urgently intensify efforts toward systemic transformation of mental health systems worldwide. This includes:
equitable financing of mental health services;
legal and policy reform to uphold human rights;
sustained investment in the mental health workforce; and
expansion of community-based, person-centered care.
Note for editors
The World mental health today publication is a timely update to the data chapter of the 2022 World Mental Health Report: Transforming Mental Health for All. As mental health transformation continues to be needed worldwide, this latest release brings together the most up-to-date global data on the prevalence, burden, and economic cost of mental health conditions.
The Mental Health Atlas survey assesses the state of mental health services and systems across the world. This latest edition compiles findings from 144 countries and provides the most comprehensive representation of the world’s response to the challenge of mental ill-health through implementation of mental health policies, legislation, financing, human resources, availability and utilization of services and data collection systems. This latest edition includes new sections on tele mental health and mental health and psychosocial support preparedness and response in emergencies, which reflect the changing landscape of mental health and associated data gaps or information needs.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin has already produced several surprises, and one of the most notable concerns the China–India dynamic. Observers note that Washington’s attempt to pressure New Delhi over its purchases of Russian oil has backfired. Instead of driving a wedge between the “Asian Dragon” and the “Asian Elephant,” U.S. actions have nudged these long-standing rivals toward rapprochement.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s current visit to China — his first in seven years — is itself a powerful signal of shifting geopolitical currents in Asia. According to Xinhua, on the eve of the summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi met and agreed that China and India should regard one another as partners, not adversaries.
Xi stressed that the two countries represent opportunities for each other’s development rather than threats. Both are central players in the Global South and bear a heavy responsibility: to improve the well-being of their peoples, to consolidate the strength of developing nations, and to contribute to the progress of human civilization as a whole. “China and India are the world’s two oldest civilizations and the two most populous nations. The world is entering a period of profound transformation, and it is vital that we remain good neighbors and allies. The Dragon and the Elephant must unite. Together, we must defend multilateralism, a multipolar world, and greater democracy in international institutions, and work for peace and prosperity in Asia and across the globe,” Xi was quoted as saying by MIR24.
Modi not only agreed with these sentiments but also announced that direct air travel between the two countries would soon resume — a symbolic and practical step toward normalizing relations.
Photo: Reuters
The backdrop to this thaw is Washington’s increasingly heavy-handed approach. U.S. President Donald Trump recently imposed a 50 percent tariff on Indian goods to punish the country for buying Russian oil. These new duties — the steepest in Asia — took effect on August 27, doubling existing tariffs and covering more than 55 percent of Indian exports to the U.S. The blow will be felt most acutely in sectors like textiles and jewelry, though Bloomberg notes that critical exports such as electronics and pharmaceuticals have been spared — a concession that preserves Apple’s massive new investments in Indian manufacturing.
China, too, has been locked in an escalating tariff confrontation with Washington. In April, Trump announced a 34 percent hike on Chinese goods on top of an existing 20 percent levy. After Beijing retaliated, Trump doubled tariffs to 104 percent. China responded with an 84 percent duty. The U.S. then raised its rate to 145 percent, while Beijing countered with 125 percent. Both sides eventually declared a fragile “truce,” with Trump delaying further escalation until November 10.
Against this backdrop of economic confrontation, New Delhi and Beijing appear to be finding common ground. Modi’s remarks in Tianjin suggest that differences between the two powers may not be as irreconcilable as often portrayed. He stated that India is prepared to work with China to find fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable solutions to their long-standing border disputes.
Recent developments support this new trajectory. In August, India hosted the 24th round of talks between the two countries’ special representatives on border issues. According to Xinhua, the two sides reached a ten-point consensus, agreeing to maintain diplomatic and military mechanisms for managing tensions along the disputed frontier. They also pledged to resume issuing tourist visas and restore direct flights.
This follows years of tension, particularly the deadly clashes of June 2020 in the Himalayas, where both sides suffered casualties in their most serious confrontation in decades. Those events inflicted heavy damage on bilateral relations. Yet since Trump’s return to the White House and the resumption of trade wars, Beijing and New Delhi have shown a greater willingness to set aside differences.
China has once again assumed the role of peacemaker. Bloomberg reported in August that as early as March, Xi Jinping sent a confidential message to Indian President Droupadi Murmu, probing the possibility of improved relations. The message, conveyed to Modi, was followed by a public statement in which Xi praised bilateral ties, famously describing them as a “dragon-and-elephant tango.”
Photo: China Daily
The Tianjin summit also highlights another key dimension: a planned trilateral meeting between Russia, India, and China to discuss Russian energy supplies to partner states. In essence, the gathering is expected to focus on countering Trump’s policies.
For Western analysts, the implications are significant. Beijing’s flexible diplomatic style often enables it to resolve even the most intractable disputes, and many expect China to find a way to safeguard the interests of both the Dragon and the Elephant — without provoking a direct clash with Washington.
The symbolism of this rapprochement should not be underestimated. At a moment when the U.S. is using tariffs and economic leverage as blunt instruments of foreign policy, Beijing and New Delhi are rediscovering the value of partnership. For Asia — and indeed for the wider world — this could mark the beginning of a new chapter in which two ancient civilizations and modern powerhouses choose cooperation over conflict.
The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army appeals for UN help to recover bodies from a village buried by a landslide after heavy rain.
Published On 2 Sep 20252 Sep 2025
A landslide has destroyed an entire village in Sudan’s western Darfur region, killing an estimated 1,000 people, according to a rebel group that controls the area.
According to news agencies, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) issued a statement late on Monday reporting the disaster in the Marra Mountains area of Darfur.
(Al Jazeera)
SLM/A stated that the landslide occurred on Sunday, following days of heavy rainfall in the area, and the village of Tarasin was “completely levelled to the ground”, leaving only one survivor.
“Initial information indicates the death of all village residents, estimated to be more than one thousand individuals, with only one survivor,” the group said in a statement.
SLM/A also appealed to the United Nations and international aid agencies for assistance in recovering the bodies of victims, including children.
The ruling Sovereign Council in Khartoum mourned “the death of hundreds of innocent residents” in the Marrah Mountains’ landslide. In a statement, it said “all possible capabilities” have been mobilized to support the area.
Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, reporting from Khartoum, said sources told him about the difficulty in getting help in retrieving bodies of people who have been buried following the landslide and giving them a proper burial.
“That’s going to take a long time, and maybe it won’t even take place if there are no international teams that are specialised in these types of activities,” he said.
The affected area cannot be reached by car or any other means of land transport, which is why people often seek shelter in this mountainous region in times of war, Vall added.
“Those villages are actually many in number and are crowded with people. Some of them are displaced from other parts of Darfur.”
“I’ve been there, and I’ve seen the destitution, the seclusion, the dire poverty of people there living hand to mouth, even though the land is fertile there, they have citrus plants there and abundant water but they have no relationship with civilisation and that makes farming very difficult,” said Vall, adding that “other means of survival are basically impossible, they have no schools, there are no traces of government in that area”.
News of the disaster comes as Sudan’s ongoing war – now in its third year – plunges the country further into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with famine already declared in parts of Darfur.
People fleeing clashes between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in North Darfur state had sought shelter in the Marra Mountains, and food and medication were in short supply, the Reuters news agency reported.
Factions of the SLM/A, which controls the area where the landslide occurred, have pledged to fight alongside the Sudanese military against the RSF.
Fighting has escalated in Darfur, especially in el-Fasher, since the army took control of the capital, Khartoum, from the RSF in March.
El-Fasher has been under the RSF siege for more than a year, as the paramilitary force is seeking to capture the strategic city, the last major population centre held by the army in the Darfur region.
The paramilitaries, who lost much of central Sudan, including Khartoum, earlier this year, are attempting to consolidate power in the west and establish a rival government.
كشفت السلطة المدنية في مناطق سيطرة حركة تحرير #السودان بقيادة عبد الواحد عن وفاة جميع سكان قرية ترسين في وسط جبل مرة نتيجة انزلاقات أرضية أمس الأحد. الانزلاقات الأرضية المُدمّرة للقرية الواقعة في وسط جبل مرة حدثت بسبب الأمطار الغزيرة التي هطلت خلال الأسبوع الأخير من شهر أغسطس… pic.twitter.com/PFycp1xGbe
Belgium to recognise Palestinian state at UN general assembly
We are restarting our live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza. Belgium’s foreign minister, Maxime Prévot, has said his country will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly later this month, adding to international pressure on Israel after similar moves by Australia, Britain, Canada and France.
The decision comes “in light of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Palestine, particularly in Gaza, and in response to the violence perpetrated by Israel in violation of international law,” Prévot said in a post to social media.
Israel has become increasingly isolated on the international stage as it faces credible accusations of genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and the collective punishment of the civilian population of Gaza.
Israel’s assault has flattened large parts of Gaza, killing more than 63,000 people, mostly civilians, forcing nearly all of Gaza’s more than 2 million people from their homes and causing what the UN-backed hunger monitor, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), described last month as a “man-made famine” in and around Gaza City. Israel is still obstructing aid into the territory, despite widespread starvation.
In a lengthy post on X describing the Belgium government’s new position, Prévotwrote:
In light of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Palestine, particularly in Gaza, and in response to the violence perpetrated by Israel in violation of international law, given its international obligations, including the duty to prevent any risk of genocide, Belgium had to take strong decisions to increase pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas terrorists.
This is not about sanctioning the Israeli people but about ensuring that their government respects international and humanitarian law and taking action to try to change the situation on the ground.
Maxime Prévot said Belgium took the decision to step up pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas. Photograph: Shutterstock
The recognition of Palestine would only be formalised if Hamas releases all remaining Israeli hostages kidnapped in the Hamas-led 7 October attack on southern Israel in 2023 and the militant group “no longer has any role in managing Palestine,” Prévot added.
Prévot saidBelgium, a member of the European Union, would levy 12 “firm” sanctions on Israel, such as a ban on importing products from its settlements and a review of public procurement policies with Israeli companies. It will also declare Hamas leaders persona non grata in Belgium.
The minister also said two “extremist” Israeli ministers and several “violent settlers” would be designated “persona non grata” in Belgium. While he didn’t name the ministers, they are likely to be Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far right security minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, and Bezalel Smotrich, the far right finance minister.
Over the summer, the UK, alongside Australia, Canada, New Zealand and NorwaysanctionedBen-Gvir and Smotrich over “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities” in the occupied West Bank.
Key events
Closing summary
Belgium’s foreign minister, Maxime Prévot, has said his country will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly later this month, adding to international pressure on Israel after similar moves by Australia, Britain, Canada and France. The decision comes “in light of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Palestine, particularly in Gaza, and in response to the violence perpetrated by Israel in violation of international law,” Prévot said in a post to social media.
Gaza’s civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told the Agence France-Presse news agency (AFP) that Israeli forces had struck the top floor of a residential building in southwestern Gaza City overnight, killing 10 people. Bassal said Israeli helicopters also struck an apartment in the west of the city, killing three and injuring several others.
At least nine people, including five children, have been killed in an Israeli strike while fetching water in al-Mawasi, an area of southern Gaza which Israel has designated as a safe zone, health officials said. A doctor from al-Nasser hospital shared a picture of the children’s bodies in the hospital, as well as a picture of water jugs left in a pool of blood at the site of the attack on Tuesday.
At least 73 Palestinian people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn, including 42 people in Gaza City, Al Jazeera is reporting, citing hospital sources.
At least 63,633 Palestinian people have been killed and 160,914 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Gaza’s civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told the Agence France-Presse news agency (AFP) that Israeli forces had struck the top floor of a residential building in southwestern Gaza City overnight, killing 10 people. Bassal said Israeli helicopters also struck an apartment in the west of the city, killing three and injuring several others.
Israel has started mobilising tens of thousands of reservists and repeated evacuation warnings as part of its plan to widen its offensive in Gaza City, which has sparked opposition domestically and condemnation abroad. The beginning of September call-up, announced last month, comes as ground and air forces press forward and pursue more targets in northern and central Gaza, striking parts of Zeitoun and Shijaiyah — two western Gaza City neighborhoods that Israeli forces have repeatedly invaded, AP reported.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said the US should urgently revise its decision to revoke the visas of Palestinian officials and bar them from attending a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations this month in New York. Washington said last week it would not allow the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, and others to travel to New York, where several US allies are set to recognise Palestine as a state, Reuters reports.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog will travel to the Vatican on Thursday to meet Pope Leo XIV, who recently demanded that Israel stop its “collective punishment” of the population in Gaza. The one-day visit is being made at the invitation of the pope, Herzog’s office said in a statement earlier today.
A plan circulating in the White House to develop the “Gaza Riviera” as a string of high-tech megacities has been dismissed as an “insane” attempt to provide cover for the large-scale ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian territory’s population. On Sunday, the Washington Post published a leaked prospectus for the plan, which would involve the forced displacement of Gaza’s entire population of 2 million people and put the territory into a US trusteeship for at least a decade.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF)says it killed a Hamas commander and a deputy commander in its operations in the northern and central parts of the Gaza Strip in collaboration with the 99th Division and Israel’s internal intelligence agency, Shin Bet, over the last month. In a post on X, the IDF claimed it had killed Ahmed Abu Daif, who the military said had served as deputy company commander of the Zeitoun battalion since last year.
The world’s leading genocide scholars’ association has backed a resolution stating that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of the crime. Out of the International Association of Genocide Scholars’s (IAGS) 500 members, 28% took part in the vote. Of those who voted, 86% supported the resolution.
French judicial authorities have issued arrest warrants for ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and six other top former officials over the bombardment of a rebel-held city in 2012 that killed two journalists, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency has just cited lawyers as having said. Marie Colvin, 56, an American working for The Sunday Times, and French photographer Remi Ochlik, 28, were killed on 22 February 2012 by the explosion in the eastern city of Homs, which is being investigated by the French judiciary as a potential crime against humanity.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Tuesday that they had attacked a ship in the northern Red Sea with two drones and a missile over its connection to Israel. The group did not say when the attack happened.
Five children in Gaza among those killed by Israeli strike while fetching water
William Christou
At least nine people, including five children, have been killed in an Israeli strike while fetching water in al-Mawasi, an area of southern Gaza which Israel has designated as a safe zone, health officials said.
A doctor from al-Nasser hospital shared a picture of the children’s bodies in the hospital, as well as a picture of water jugs left in a pool of blood at the site of the attack on Tuesday.
The attack came shortly after the Israel Defense Forces encouraged people to leave Gaza City for al-Mawasi, before Israel’s looming invasion of Gaza City. The Israeli military has sought to displace people from the city before its offensive and has promised that southern Gaza would be able to accommodate them, despite experts disagreeing with the suggestion.
“We wish to remind you that in al-Mawasi, enhanced services will be provided with an emphasis on access to medical care, water and food,” the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a post on X on Tuesday afternoon.
Israel continued to push ahead with its operation and began the mobilisation of tens of thousands of reservists on Tuesday.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Tuesday that they had attacked a ship in the northern Red Sea with two drones and a missile over its connection to Israel.
The group did not say when the attack happened.
Iran and the US could reopen “rational negotiations”, the secretary of Iran’s supreme national security council, Ali Larijani, has said in a post on X.
“We indeed pursue rational negotiations. By raising unrealisable issues such as missile restrictions, they set a path that negates any talks,” Larijani added.
Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian mission to the United Kingdom, has said that recognition of the Palestinian state is the first step in “an international momentum to implement the two-state solution”.
Speaking at Chatham House today, he said:
We, and with us the region, and the rest of the international community are in desperate and real search for an alternative path.
Recognition is a first step. It’s not a final step. It’s just a first, meaningful, significant, step in an international momentum to implement the two-state solution rather than negotiate it.
Zomlot previously served as a strategic affairs adviser to the Palestinian president.
“The issuing of the seven arrest warrants is a decisive step that paves the way for a trial in France for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime,” said Clemence Bectarte, lawyer for the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Remi Ochlik’s parents.
The FIDH said the journalists had clandestinely entered Homs to “document the crimes committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime” and were victims of a “targeted bombing”.
“The investigation clearly established that the attack on the informal press centre was part of the Syrian regime’s explicit intention to target foreign journalists in order to limit media coverage of its crimes and force them to leave the city and the country,” said Mazen Darwish, lawyer and director of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM).
France issues arrest warrant for Syria’s Assad over 2012 journalist killings, lawyers say
French judicial authorities have issued arrest warrants for ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad an six other top former officials over the bombardment of a rebel-held city in 2012 that killed two journalists, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency has just cited lawyers as having said.
Marie Colvin, 56, an American working for The Sunday Times, and French photographer Remi Ochlik, 28, were killed on 22 February 2012 by the explosion in the eastern city of Homs, which is being investigated by the French judiciary as a potential crime against humanity.
Since December 2024, Assad has been living in exile in Russia after rebels led by Turkish-backed forces took control of Syria.
At least 73 Palestinian people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn, including 42 people in Gaza City, Al Jazeera is reporting, citing hospital sources.
We have not yet been able to independently verify this figure.
Israel has started mobilising tens of thousands of reservists and repeated evacuation warnings as part of its plan to widen its offensive in Gaza City, which has sparked opposition domestically and condemnation abroad.
The beginning of September call-up, announced last month, comes as ground and air forces press forward and pursue more targets in northern and central Gaza, striking parts of Zeitoun and Shijaiyah — two western Gaza City neighborhoods that Israeli forces have repeatedly invaded, AP reported.
Zeitoun, once Gaza City’s largest neighbourhood, with markets, schools and clinics, has been transformed over the past month, with streets being emptied and buildings reduced to rubble as it becomes what Israel’s military last week called a “dangerous combat zone”.
Gaza City is Hamas’ political and military stronghold and, according to Israel, still home to a vast tunnel network, despite incursions throughout the war.
It is also one of the last refuges in northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are sheltering, facing the twin threats of combat and famine.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said the US should urgently revise its decision to revoke the visas of Palestinian officials and bar them from attending a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations this month in New York.
Washington said last week it would not allow the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, and others to travel to New York, where several US allies are set to recognise Palestine as a state, Reuters reports.
The move “does not fit the United Nations’ raison d’etre,” Erdogan told reporters on a flight home from China, according to a readout from his office on Tuesday. “The decision needs to be urgently revised. The United Nations general assembly exists for the issues of the world to be discussed and for solutions to be found.”
“The Palestinian delegation not being at the general assembly would only please Israel,” he added. “What is expected from the United States is to say ‘stop’ to Israel’s massacres, cruelty.”
Palestinians carry pans and bowls forms a crowd to receive food aid provided by charity organisation in Gaza City, Gaza, on September 2, 2025.
Palestinians carry pans and bowls forms a crowd to receive food aid provided by charity organization in Gaza City, Gaza on 2 September, 2025. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
Israeli president to meet Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Thursday
Israeli President Isaac Herzog will travel to the Vatican on Thursday to meet Pope Leo XIV, who recently demanded that Israel stop its “collective punishment” of the population in Gaza.
The one-day visit is being made at the invitation of the pope, Herzog’s office said in a statement earlier today.
The president will also meet secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s chief diplomat, and tour the Vatican Archives and Library, it added.
“Central to their meetings will be the efforts to secure the release of the hostages, the fight against global antisemitism, and the safeguarding of Christian communities in the Middle East, alongside discussions on other political matters,” the presidency said.
The pope has previously condemned the “barbarity” of the war in Gaza and the “indiscriminate use of force”.
Leaked ‘Gaza Riviera’ plan dismissed as ‘insane’ attempt to cover ethnic cleansing
A plan circulating in the White House to develop the “Gaza Riviera” as a string of high-tech megacities has been dismissed as an “insane” attempt to provide cover for the large-scale ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian territory’s population.
On Sunday the Washington Post published a leaked prospectus for the plan, which would involve the forced displacement of Gaza’s entire population of 2 million people and put the territory into a US trusteeship for at least a decade.
Named the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust – or Great – the proposal was reportedly developed by some of the same Israelis who created and set in motion the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation with financial planning contributed by Boston Consulting Group.
Most controversially, the 38-page plan suggests what it calls “temporary relocation of all of Gaza’s more than 2 million population” – a proposal that would amount to ethnic cleansing, potentially a genocidal act.
Image from the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust – or Great – proposal. Photograph: Supplied
Palestinians would be encouraged into “voluntary” departure to another country or into restricted, secure zones during reconstruction. Those who own land would be offered “a digital token” by the trust in exchange for rights to redevelop their property, to be used to finance a new life elsewhere.
Those who stay would be housed in properties with a tiny footprint of 323 sq ft – minuscule even by the standards of many non-refugee camp homes in Gaza.
You can read the full story by my colleagues Peter BeaumontandAlice Speri here:
Belgium to recognise Palestinian state at UN general assembly
We are restarting our live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza. Belgium’s foreign minister, Maxime Prévot, has said his country will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly later this month, adding to international pressure on Israel after similar moves by Australia, Britain, Canada and France.
The decision comes “in light of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Palestine, particularly in Gaza, and in response to the violence perpetrated by Israel in violation of international law,” Prévot said in a post to social media.
Israel has become increasingly isolated on the international stage as it faces credible accusations of genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and the collective punishment of the civilian population of Gaza.
Israel’s assault has flattened large parts of Gaza, killing more than 63,000 people, mostly civilians, forcing nearly all of Gaza’s more than 2 million people from their homes and causing what the UN-backed hunger monitor, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), described last month as a “man-made famine” in and around Gaza City. Israel is still obstructing aid into the territory, despite widespread starvation.
In a lengthy post on X describing the Belgium government’s new position, Prévotwrote:
In light of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Palestine, particularly in Gaza, and in response to the violence perpetrated by Israel in violation of international law, given its international obligations, including the duty to prevent any risk of genocide, Belgium had to take strong decisions to increase pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas terrorists.
This is not about sanctioning the Israeli people but about ensuring that their government respects international and humanitarian law and taking action to try to change the situation on the ground.
Maxime Prévot said Belgium took the decision to step up pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas. Photograph: Shutterstock
The recognition of Palestine would only be formalised if Hamas releases all remaining Israeli hostages kidnapped in the Hamas-led 7 October attack on southern Israel in 2023 and the militant group “no longer has any role in managing Palestine,” Prévot added.
Prévot saidBelgium, a member of the European Union, would levy 12 “firm” sanctions on Israel, such as a ban on importing products from its settlements and a review of public procurement policies with Israeli companies. It will also declare Hamas leaders persona non grata in Belgium.
The minister also said two “extremist” Israeli ministers and several “violent settlers” would be designated “persona non grata” in Belgium. While he didn’t name the ministers, they are likely to be Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far right security minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, and Bezalel Smotrich, the far right finance minister.
Over the summer, the UK, alongside Australia, Canada, New Zealand and NorwaysanctionedBen-Gvir and Smotrich over “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities” in the occupied West Bank.
Key events
Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly denied there is starvation in Gaza, and his government called the recent famine declaration by international food security experts “an outright lie”.
Gaza’s health ministry said in a post on Telegram that over the past day it recorded 13 new deaths, including three children, caused by “famine and malnutrition”.
This brings the total number of Palestinian people who have died from famine and malnutrition to 361, including 130 children.
Israel has been widely accused of using food as a political weapon and was accused of flagrantly breaking international law by collectively punishing the civilian population of Gaza by its total 11 week blockade of aid (which began in March), which was only slightly eased in response to international pressure, particularly from US senators.
Aid organisations were bringing somewhere between 500 and 600 aid trucks a day into Gaza during the ceasefire earlier this year, but now ongoing Israeli restrictions mean much less aid is being allowed into the territory and distributed.
Palestinian people wait in line for scarce amounts of food in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF)says it killed a Hamas commander and a deputy commander in its operations in the northern and central parts of the Gaza Strip in collaboration with the 99th Division and Israel’s internal intelligence agency, Shin Bet, over the last month,
In a post on X, the IDF claimed it had killed Ahmed Abu Daif, who the military said had served as deputy company commander of the Zeitoun battalion since last year.
“As part of his role, he planned, directed, and carried out dozens of ambushes and attacks against IDF forces, and in addition, he acted to recruit additional terrorists to the Hamas terror organization,” the IDF wrote.
“In one of the operations, the terrorist Talab Sadki Talab Abu Itaywi, commander of a Nukhba team who infiltrated the territory of the State of Israel on October 7, was eliminated,” it added.
Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world’s top scholars on the crime say
Lorenzo Tondo
Lorenzo Tondo is an international correspondent for the Guardian
The world’s leading genocide scholars’ association has backed a resolution stating that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of the crime.
Out of the International Association of Genocide Scholars’s (IAGS) 500 members, 28% took part in the vote. Of those who voted, 86% supported the resolution.
The resolution states that “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in article II of the United Nations convention for the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide (1948).”
The three-page resolution passed by the body calls on Israel to “immediately cease all acts that constitute genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza, including deliberate attacks against and killing of civilians including children; starvation; deprivation of humanitarian aid, water, fuel, and other items essential to the survival of the population; sexual and reproductive violence; and forced displacement of the population.”
You can read the full story here:
Israel continues deadly attacks on Gaza City as military seeks to forcibly displace Palestinian residents
Gaza’s civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told the Agence France-Presse news agency (AFP) that Israeli forces had struck the top floor of a residential building in southwestern Gaza City overnight, killing 10 people.
Bassal said Israeli helicopters also struck an apartment in the west of the city, killing three and injuring several others.
Israel has stepped up its destruction of Gaza City as it prepares for an assault on the shattered remains of the territory’s largest city.
Palestinian children in Gaza City on 01 September 2025. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
Around 1 million Palestinian people, many of whom are too frail or old to keep moving, are expected to be displaced by Israel’s expanded assault in the area.
Gaza City residents are being told to move to the southern part of the territory to areas that are under frequent Israeli bombardment and are already overcrowded.
Israel declared Gaza City a “dangerous combat zone” on Friday, ending the daily humanitarian pauses that were meant to alleviate hunger and starvation there.
As my colleague William Christou notes in this story, Gaza City is in the throes of famine, a result of an Israeli blockade that despite the pauses has choked off food and medical supplies into the territory.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said the assault is the best way to weaken Hamas and return hostages, a claim that is heavily disputed.
Mourners sit next to the bodies of Palestinian people killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes. This picture was taken during the funeral at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photograph: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters
Jennifer Rankin
My colleague Jennifer Rankin has given some political context to Belgium’s decision:
Belgium’s deputy prime minister Maxime Prévot indicated that Belgium would recognise Palestine at this month’s UN general assembly, after France announced such an intention in July in the hope of creating momentum for peace. But the Belgian royal decree on recognition would not be issued until the last hostage is released.
The compromise averts a political crisis within the relatively new Belgian government.
Prévot, a centrist who is also foreign minister, had threatened to block government business if there was no agreement on recognition, or taking a stricter tone towards Israel.
Only last week prime minister Bart de Wever, a Flemish nationalist, described recognition as “counterproductive” and “pointless” without the full disarmament of Hamas.
The Palestinian foreign ministry has said it welcomes Belgium’s announcement that it will recognise Palestinian statehood.
In a statement on X, the ministry said it considered the move “to be in line with international law and United Nations resolutions, and protective of the two-state solution and supportive of achieving peace”.
The statement added:
The ministry calls on the countries that have not yet recognized the state of Palestine to quickly take the initiative for this recognition, and to intensify practical efforts to stop the crimes of genocide, displacement, starvation, and annexation, and to open a real political path to resolve the conflict and end the Israeli occupation of the land of the State of Palestine.
What will recognising Palestine mean in practice?
The Guardian’s political correspondent Eleni Courea has done an explainer with a section looking at what recognising Palestine would look in practice. Here is an extract:
Recognition is a symbolic step but one that would infuriate the Israeli government, which argues that it would encourage Hamas and reward terrorism.
It is in effect a formal, political acknowledgment of Palestinian self-determination – without the need to engage in thorny practicalities such as the location of its borders or capital city.
It also allows the establishment of full diplomatic relations that would result in a Palestinian ambassador (rather than a head of mission) being stationed in London and a British ambassador in Palestine. Advocates say it is a way of kickstarting a political process towards an eventual two-state solution.
Out of the 193 UN member states, about 140 already recognise Palestine as a state. These include China, India and Russia, as well as a majority of European countries such as Cyprus, Ireland, Norway, Spain and Sweden.
A map showing the countries that have recognised Palestinian statehood or are about to
Belgium to recognise Palestinian state at UN general assembly
We are restarting our live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza. Belgium’s foreign minister, Maxime Prévot, has said his country will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly later this month, adding to international pressure on Israel after similar moves by Australia, Britain, Canada and France.
The decision comes “in light of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Palestine, particularly in Gaza, and in response to the violence perpetrated by Israel in violation of international law,” Prévot said in a post to social media.
Israel has become increasingly isolated on the international stage as it faces credible accusations of genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and the collective punishment of the civilian population of Gaza.
Israel’s assault has flattened large parts of Gaza, killing more than 63,000 people, mostly civilians, forcing nearly all of Gaza’s more than 2 million people from their homes and causing what the UN-backed hunger monitor, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), described last month as a “man-made famine” in and around Gaza City. Israel is still obstructing aid into the territory, despite widespread starvation.
In a lengthy post on X describing the Belgium government’s new position, Prévotwrote:
In light of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Palestine, particularly in Gaza, and in response to the violence perpetrated by Israel in violation of international law, given its international obligations, including the duty to prevent any risk of genocide, Belgium had to take strong decisions to increase pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas terrorists.
This is not about sanctioning the Israeli people but about ensuring that their government respects international and humanitarian law and taking action to try to change the situation on the ground.
Maxime Prévot said Belgium took the decision to step up pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas. Photograph: Shutterstock
The recognition of Palestine would only be formalised if Hamas releases all remaining Israeli hostages kidnapped in the Hamas-led 7 October attack on southern Israel in 2023 and the militant group “no longer has any role in managing Palestine,” Prévot added.
Prévot saidBelgium, a member of the European Union, would levy 12 “firm” sanctions on Israel, such as a ban on importing products from its settlements and a review of public procurement policies with Israeli companies. It will also declare Hamas leaders persona non grata in Belgium.
The minister also said two “extremist” Israeli ministers and several “violent settlers” would be designated “persona non grata” in Belgium. While he didn’t name the ministers, they are likely to be Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far right security minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, and Bezalel Smotrich, the far right finance minister.
Over the summer, the UK, alongside Australia, Canada, New Zealand and NorwaysanctionedBen-Gvir and Smotrich over “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities” in the occupied West Bank.
“Inspiring younger generations to build with environmental care, knowledge and empathy is among the greatest aims of this Award. Architecture today must engage with the climate crisis, enhance education and nourish our shared humanity. Through it, we plant seeds of optimism – quiet acts of resilience that grow into spaces of belonging, where the future may thrive in dignity and hope.”
– His Highness Prince Rahim Aga Khan V, AKAA Steering Committee Chair
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture was established in 1977 by His late Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of communities in which Muslims have a significant presence. The Award’sselection process emphasises architecture that not only provides for people’s physical, social and economic needs, but that also stimulates and responds to their cultural aspirations. In the past 16 triennial cycles of the Award, 136 projects have been awarded and nearly 10,000 building projects documented.
“Architecture can – and must – be a catalyst for hope, shaping not only the spaces we inhabit but the futures we imagine. In an age defined by climate crisis, resource inequality and rapid urbanisation, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture celebrates projects that unite society, sustainability and pluralism to empower a more harmonious and resilient world,” said Farrokh Derakhshani, Director of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
Download assets from the Award’sonline press kit
Read more about the Award’s 2025 Master Juryand 2025 Steering Committee
For more information, please contact:
Nadia Siméon, Deputy Director, Aga Khan Award for Architecture [email protected]
Optimism and Architecture,edited by Lesley Lokko, will be published by ArchiTangle in September 2025. It presents the awarded and shortlisted projects for the 2025 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Through essays and conversations, this volume examines how architecture can reinvigorate tradition through innovation, connect local practices with global conversations, and create inclusive spaces where diverse cultures and histories converge. Read more.
NOTES
AKAA is a programme of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). Founded and guided by His Late Highness Karim Aga Khan IV, AKDN works in 30 countries to improve the quality of life and to create opportunity for people of all faiths and origins. Its agencies operate over 1,000 programmes and institutions – some more than a century old. The Network’s approach to development spans a range of cultural, social, economic and environmental endeavours. The mandates of its agencies include education and health, agriculture and food security, micro-finance, human habitat, crisis response and disaster reduction, protection of the environment, art, music, architecture, urban planning and conservation, and cultural heritage and preservation. AKDN employs approximately 96,000 people, the majority of whom are based in developing countries. Its annual expenditures for non-profit development activities are approximately $1 billion.
Photo: Reuters
Photo: China Daily
