Category: 2. World

Donald Trump called Elon Musk’s decision to start and bankroll a new US political party “ridiculous” on Sunday. “Third parties have never worked, so he can have fun with it but I think it’s ridiculous,” the president told reporters traveling with him back to the White House from his New Jersey golf club.

He then elaborated, at great length, in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. “I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks,” the president wrote. “He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States”.

“The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS,” Trump added. He then went on to claim that Musk was motivated by discontent over his plan to end subsidies to promote the purchase of electric vehicles.

Trump also accused Musk of seeking improper influence by asking the president to nominate his friend, Jared Isaacman, to be Nasa administrator. After Musk left his role as a special government employee in the Trump administration, Isaacman’s nomination was withdrawn. “I also thought it inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA, when NASA is such a big part of Elon’s corporate life,” Trump wrote.

Earlier on Sunday, Trump’s treasury secretary said Musk should focus on running his companies and keep himself out of politics, a day after the world’s richest person – and a former White House adviser – announced the formation of a new political party.

“The principles of Doge were very popular – I think if you looked at the polling Elon was not,” Scott Bessent said on CNN’s State of the Union, referring to the so-called “department of government efficiency” that Musk temporarily headed after Trump’s second presidency began in January.

Opinion polls found Doge and Musk’s work implementing brutal spending and job cuts within the federal government to be deeply unpopular. And Bessent alluded to how investors in Musk’s companies – including the electrical vehicle maker Tesla, whose sales have suffered during Doge’s existence – publicly pleaded for his time with the Trump administration to be short-lived.

“So I believe that the boards of directors at his various companies wanted him to come back and run those companies,” Bessent remarked. “I imagine that those boards of directors did not like this announcement yesterday, and will be encouraging him to focus on his business activities, not his political activities.”

Bessent’s reaction came after Musk delivered on his promise to form a new party, and accused his one-time ally Trump of “bankrupting” the country by signing his massive tax and spending bill into law.

The tech billionaire announced the creation of the America party in a series of posts late on Saturday and early Sunday to X, the social media platform he owns.

“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” he wrote.

“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”

Musk, who was appointed to slash federal spending through the unofficial Doge from January through May, has been a vocal critic of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said would increase the national deficit by $3.3tn (£2.85tn) through 2034.

It provides substantial tax cuts for the super wealthy while slashing federal safety net welfare programs, with up to 10.6 million people losing healthcare insurance.

The pair have feuded over its cost and impacts since Musk left the government in May, and on Friday, when Trump signed the bill into law in a Fourth of July picnic at the White House, the Tesla and SpaceX chief opened a poll on X: “the perfect time to ask if you want independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system”.

Respondents voted two to one in the affirmative, Musk announced late on Saturday. He gave few details about the structure of his new venture or a timeline for its creation. But his earlier posts suggested it would focus on two or three Senate seats, and eight to 10 House districts.

Both chambers of Congress are narrowly controlled by Republicans.

“Given the razor-thin legislative margins, that would be enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, ensuring that they serve the true will of the people,” Musk said.

Bessent was one Trump ally to quickly take a swipe at Musk’s move.

Musk’s series of posts to X, which continued into the early hours of Sunday, also appeared to indicate that his on-again, off-again relationship with Trump was firmly back in negative territory.

When the pair fell out earlier in the summer, Musk lashed out during an astonishing social media duel in which he stated Trump’s name was in the files relating to associates of the late pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Musk later deleted the post and apologized to the president as they embarked on an uneasy truce. On Sunday, however, Musk returned to the subject, reposting a photo of the jailed Epstein facilitator Ghislaine Maxwell that questioned why she was the only person in prison while men who engaged in sex with underage girls – a crime colloquially known in the US as statutory rape – were not.

In other posts he said it would be “not hard” to break the two-party stranglehold in US politics enjoyed by Democrats and Republicans. And he questioned “when & where should we hold the inaugural American Party congress? This will be super fun!”

Trump has made clear his feelings about his former friend in recent days after criticism of the bill.

In response to Musk’s posts calling the bill “insane”, Trump said he might “look into” deporting the South African-born, naturalized US citizen billionaire. The president also mused about slashing subsidies to his companies, especially SpaceX, which holds billions of dollars in government contracts.

“Doge is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn’t that be terrible?” Trump asked reporters on Tuesday.

There is no requirement for new political parties in the US to register with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) initially, but reporting regulations kick in once spending surpasses what the FEC calls “certain thresholds”.

Musk is estimated to have spent more than $275m of his personal fortune helping to get Trump elected to a second term in the White House in last November’s presidential election.

Israeli warplanes launched a wave of strikes in Gaza on Sunday, killing at least 38 Palestinians, according to hospital officials, as talks over a ceasefire in the devastated territory reached a critical point.

Officials at Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said 18 people were killed by strikes in al-Mawasi, a nearby coastal area that is crowded with tented encampments of those displaced by fighting elsewhere.

According to the health ministry in Gaza, 80 people were killed and 304 wounded in Israeli attacks there over the last 24 hours.

Late on Sunday the Israeli military also said it had attacked Houthi targets in the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif, and the Ras Qantib power plant in Yemen.

This was in response to repeated attacks by the Iran-aligned group on Israel, the Israeli military said.

Israel has escalated its Gaza offensive in recent days, as momentum gathers in negotiations over a US-sponsored proposal that could lead to an end to the 21-month war.

Speaking as he left Israel for talks with Donald Trump in Washington on the ceasefire and other regional issues, Benjamin Netanyahu said late on Sunday that he was determined to ensure the return of hostages held in Gaza and to remove the threat of Hamas to Israel, reiterating promises he has made repeatedly throughout the conflict.

He also spoke of regional opportunities in the aftermath of Israel’s brief war with Iran last month, which was ended by a US-imposed ceasefire after Trump sent bombers to attack three Iranian nuclear sites.

“We have never had such a friend in the White House … We have already changed the face of the Middle East beyond recognition, and we have an opportunity and the ability to change it further and to enable a great future for the state of Israel, the people of Israel and the entire Middle East,” Israel’s prime minister told reporters at the airport.

It will be Netanyahu’s third visit to the White House since Trump returned to power nearly six months ago.

Trump said he believed a hostage release and ceasefire deal could be reached this week, which could lead to the release of “quite a few hostages.”

“I think there’s a good chance we have a deal with Hamas during the week,” Trump told reporters before flying back to Washington after a weekend golfing in New Jersey.

A draft of the proposed agreement for a 60-day pause in hostilities seen by the Guardian specifies that Trump himself would announce a deal, which some hoped could be concluded before his meeting with Netanyahu scheduled for Monday evening US time.

On Tuesday, the US president said in a social media post that Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” an agreement, while Hamas said on Friday it had responded in a “positive spirit” to the US-backed proposal.

Israel on Saturday rejected a series of changes to the proposed deal demanded by Hamas, and Netanyahu stressed on Sunday that negotiators he had sent to a new round of indirect ceasefire talks in Qatar had “clear instructions” to achieve an agreement but without making concessions.

“We are working to achieve the much-discussed deal, on the conditions that we have agreed to … I believe that the conversation with President Trump can definitely help advance that result which we are all hoping for,” the Israeli leader said.

In Gaza City, there was tension, hope and anxiety.

“We pray to God that the ceasefire succeeds this time. Even though we’ve heard so many times before about a possible truce, it always fails, and now we’re afraid to even feel hopeful,” said Abu Adham Abu Amro, 55.

“There is no more trust left because of the ongoing disagreements between the Palestinian and Israeli sides – one side agrees, the other refuses, and so it goes.”

The war in Gaza was triggered on 7 October 2023 when Hamas launched a surprise attack into southern Israel, killing about 1,200, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Hamas is still holding approximately 50 hostages but fewer than half are thought to be alive.

In Israel, public pressure is mounting for a deal to free all the hostages still in Gaza.

Vicky Cohen, the mother of a soldier being held by Hamas in Gaza, said Israelis could only recover from the trauma of the 2023 attack if all the hostages were returned.

“Israelis care for each other … we will not leave anyone back there and we will bring them all back. These are the values that Israel is based on. I hope our prime minister is brave enough to do the right thing,” she said.

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, displaced almost all of the 2.3 million population and reduced much of the territory to rubble.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had no immediate comment on the individual strikes in Gaza reported on Sunday, but said 130 targets were struck across the territory in the previous 24 hours, including militants, Hamas command and control structures, storage facilities, weapons and launchers.

The IDF also said a strike on a cafe in Gaza City last Monday that killed or wounded about 100 people, including many women, children and elderly people, had targeted a meeting of senior Hamas commanders. Experts have said the strike, which involved a 500lb bomb dropped on to a terrace crowded with waiters, families and students, could constitute a war crime.

IDF sources told the Times of Israel newspaper that Ramzi Ramadan Abd Ali Salah, who led Hamas’s naval force in northern Gaza, and several other Hamas commanders died in the attack.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers in recent weeks as they have gathered in large crowds to get food from looted convoys, from distributions by the UN, or from sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a controversial US- and Israel-backed private organisation that started operations last month.

On Saturday, Israel’s security cabinet said it would allow aid organisations to resume convoys into northern Gaza, where the humanitarian crisis in the territory is most acute. The move was opposed by far-right members of Israel’s ruling coalition, who say any aid will be stolen by Hamas and that none should be allowed to enter Gaza.

The head of a Palestinian armed group opposed to Hamas and accused of looting aid in Gaza confirmed in an interview with public radio on Sunday that it was coordinating with the Israeli military.

“We keep them informed, but we carry out the military actions on our own,” Yasser Abu Shabab said in an interview with Makan, Israel’s Arabic-language public radio broadcaster.

The death toll from catastrophic floods in Texas reached at least 78 on Sunday, including at least 28 children, as the search for girls missing from a summer camp entered a third day, and fears of more flash flooding as rain fell on saturated ground prompted fresh evacuations.

Larry Leitha, the Kerr County Sheriff in Texas Hill Country, said 68 people had died in flooding in his county, the epicentre of the flooding, among them 28 children.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, speaking at a press conference on Sunday afternoon, said another 10 had died elsewhere in Texas and 41 were confirmed missing. The governor did not say how many of the dead outside Kerr were children.

Among the most devastating impacts of the flooding occurred at Camp Mystic summer camp, a nearly century-old Christian girls’ camp. Sheriff Leitha said on Sunday that 10 Camp Mystic campers and one counsellor were still missing.

“It was nothing short of horrific to see what those young children went through,” said Abbott, who said he toured the area on Saturday and pledged to continue efforts to locate the missing.

The flooding occurred after the nearby Guadalupe River broke its banks after torrential rain fell in the central Texas area on Friday, the US Independence Day holiday.

Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said at the press conference on Sunday afternoon that the destruction killed three people in Burnet County, one in Tom Green County, five in Travis County and one in Williamson County.

“You will see the death toll rise today and tomorrow,” said Freeman Martin, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, also speaking on Sunday.

Officials said on Saturday that more than 850 people had been rescued, including some clinging to trees, after a sudden storm dumped up to 15 inches (38cm) of rain across the region, about 85 miles (140km) northwest of San Antonio.

“Everyone in the community is hurting,” Leitha told reporters.

A wall of water

Kidd said he was receiving unconfirmed reports of “an additional wall of water” flowing down some of the creeks in the Guadalupe Rivershed, as rain continued to fall on soil in the region already saturated from Friday’s rains.

He said aircraft were sent aloft to scout for additional floodwaters, while search-and-rescue personnel who might be in harm’s way were alerted to pull back from the river in the meantime.

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings and advisories for central Texas that were to last until 4:15pm local time (2115 GMT) as rains fell, potentially complicating rescue efforts.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency was activated on Sunday and is deploying resources to first responders in Texas after President Donald Trump issued a major disaster declaration, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

US Coast Guard helicopters and planes are helping the search and rescue efforts, the department said.

Scaling back federal disaster response

Trump, who said on Sunday he would visit the disaster scene, probably on Friday, has previously outlined plans to scale back the federal government’s role in responding to natural disasters, leaving states to shoulder more of the burden themselves.

Some experts questioned whether cuts to the federal workforce by the Trump administration, including to the agency that oversees the National Weather Service, led to a failure by officials to accurately predict the severity of the floods and issue appropriate warnings ahead of the storm.

Trump’s administration has overseen thousands of job cuts from the National Weather Service’s parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leaving many weather offices understaffed, former NOAA director Rick Spinrad said.

Spinrad said he did not know if those staff cuts factored into the lack of warning for the extreme Texas flooding, but that they would inevitably degrade the agency’s ability to deliver accurate and timely forecasts.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees NOAA, said a “moderate” flood watch issued on Thursday by the National Weather Service had not accurately predicted the extreme rainfall and said the Trump administration was working to upgrade the system.

Joaquin Castro, a Democratic US congressman from Texas, told CNN’s “State of the Union” program that fewer personnel at the weather service could be dangerous.

“When you have flash flooding, there’s a risk that if you don’t have the personnel … to do that analysis, do the predictions in the best way, it could lead to tragedy,” Castro said.

‘Complete devastation’

Camp Mystic had 700 girls in residence at the time of the flooding.

Katharine Somerville, a counsellor on the Cypress Lake side of Camp Mystic, on higher ground than the Guadalupe River side, said her 13-year-old campers were scared as their cabins sustained damage and lost power in the middle of the night.

“Our cabins at the tippity top of hills were completely flooded with water. I mean, y’all have seen the complete devastation, we never even imagined that this could happen,” Somerville said in an interview on Fox News on Sunday.

Somerville said the campers in her care were put on military trucks and evacuated, and that all were safe.

The disaster unfolded rapidly on Friday morning as heavier-than-forecast rain drove river waters rapidly to as high as 29 feet (9 meters).

A day after the disaster struck, the summer camp was a scene of devastation. Inside one cabin, mud lines indicating how high the water had risen were at least six feet (1.83 m) from the floor. Bed frames, mattresses and personal belongings caked with mud were scattered inside. Some buildings had broken windows, and one had a missing wall.

At least 68 Palestinians, including children, were killed on Sunday in a series of Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, according to medical sources and local reports.

In Gaza City, 25 people were killed when Israeli warplanes bombed two homes sheltering displaced families in the Sheikh Radwan and Al-Nasr neighborhoods, a medical source said.

Eyewitnesses said the houses were filled with sleeping families, mostly women and children, when the strikes occurred. Several people remain trapped under the rubble.

Read: Iran struck five Israeli military bases during 12-day war: report

An Israeli drone strike hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in Sheikh Radwan, killing three and injuring others, according to health officials.

In western Gaza City, seven people, including children, were killed when Israeli warplanes bombed a school-turned shelter in the Shati refugee camp, medics said.

Medical sources at Al-Shifa Hospital said the victims arrived in pieces, while dozens of others were brought in with various injuries due to overcrowding at the shelter.

Elsewhere in Gaza City, at least two people were killed and others injured in an Israeli strike on a residential home in Al-Tuffah neighborhood.

Several people remain trapped under the rubble, with medical teams unable to reach them due to the dangerous security situation, witnesses said.

An Israeli drone struck a car in northern Gaza City, leaving three Palestinians dead, a medical source said.

Read More: Netanyahu heads to Washington as Gaza ceasefire talks restart in Qatar

vernight, three people from the same family were killed and others injured in an Israeli airstrike on their home in the Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, a source at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital confirmed.

In southern Gaza, at least 10 people, including children and a pregnant woman, were killed in two Israeli air raids on makeshift tents for displaced civilians in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, medical teams at Nasser and Kuwait field hospitals reported.

Medics said four more bodies, including three children, were recovered from the rubble following another drone strike on tents near the Al-Albani Mosque in Khan Younis.

Israeli forces also bombed residential and civilian structures in eastern Gaza City and northern parts of the enclave overnight, with residents reporting continuous explosions throughout the night.

In central Gaza, an Israeli shell injured a Palestinian fisherman off the coast of Deir al-Balah while he was working.

Eight people from the same family were also killed by an Israeli drone strike on their tent in the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Also Read: Israel kills 32 in Gaza, signals readiness for ceasefire talks

In another attack, three people lost their lives after an Israeli strike hit their home in the same refugee camp. Operations to rescue those trapped under the rubble are still ongoing.

Despite international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has pursued a genocidal war on Gaza, killing more than 57,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (AP) — Wiaan Mulder hit 264 not out as South Africa dominated the opening day of the second test against Zimbabwe, reaching 465-4 at stumps on Sunday.

Mulder scored at run-a-ball pace with three sixes and 34 boundaries in 259 deliveries at Queens Sports Club in the two-test series.

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The visitors lost the toss and were struggling at 24-2. Mulder helped to turn the innings around with two major partnerships — 184 for the third wicket with David Bedingham (82) followed by a stand of 217 with Lhuan-dre Pretorius for the fourth wicket.

The 19-year-old Pretorius — who was man of the match in the first test for his 153 on debut — hit 78.

Zimbabwe pacer Tanaka Chivanga took 2-85 in 18 overs.

Zimbabwe was hoping to rebound from its heaviest test defeat on runs in the series opener, which it lost by 328 runs. A ninth straight win equaled South Africa’s longest winning streak in men’s test cricket, with the 2002-03 Proteas.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

• 10 girls and a counsellor missing at a summer camp.
• Search for survivors continues amid fears of more flooding.
• President to visit site amid questions over federal response cuts.
  

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The death toll from catastrophic floods in Texas reached at least 78 on Sunday, including at least 28 children, as the search for girls missing from a summer camp entered a third day, and fears of more flash flooding as rain fell on saturated ground prompted fresh evacuations.

Larry Leitha, the Kerr County Sheriff in Texas Hill Country, said 68 people had died in flooding in his county, the epicentre of the flooding, among them 28 children. 

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, speaking at a press conference on Sunday afternoon, said another 10 had died elsewhere in Texas and 41 were confirmed missing. The governor did not say how many of the dead outside Kerr were children.

Among the most devastating impacts of the flooding occurred at Camp Mystic summer camp, a nearly century-old Christian girls’ camp. Sheriff Leitha said on Sunday that 10 Camp Mystic campers and one counsellor were still missing.

“It was nothing short of horrific to see what those young children went through,” said Abbott, who said he toured the area on Saturday and pledged to continue efforts to locate the missing.

The flooding occurred after the nearby Guadalupe River broke its banks after torrential rain fell in the central Texas area on Friday, the US Independence Day holiday.

Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said at the press conference on Sunday afternoon that the destruction killed three people in Burnet County, one in Tom Green County, five in Travis County and one in Williamson County.

“You will see the death toll rise today and tomorrow,” said Freeman Martin, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, also speaking on Sunday.

Officials said on Saturday that more than 850 people had been rescued, including some clinging to trees, after a sudden storm dumped up to 15 inches (38cm) of rain across the region, about 85 miles (140km) northwest of San Antonio.

“Everyone in the community is hurting,” Leitha told reporters.

A wall of water

Kidd said he was receiving unconfirmed reports of “an additional wall of water” flowing down some of the creeks in the Guadalupe Rivershed, as rain continued to fall on soil in the region already saturated from Friday’s rains.

He said aircraft were sent aloft to scout for additional floodwaters, while search-and-rescue personnel who might be in harm’s way were alerted to pull back from the river in the meantime.

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings and advisories for central Texas that were to last until 4:15pm local time (2115 GMT) as rains fell, potentially complicating rescue efforts.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency was activated on Sunday and is deploying resources to first responders in Texas after President Donald Trump issued a major disaster declaration, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

US Coast Guard helicopters and planes are helping the search and rescue efforts, the department said.

Scaling back federal disaster response

Trump, who said on Sunday he would visit the disaster scene, probably on Friday, has previously outlined plans to scale back the federal government’s role in responding to natural disasters, leaving states to shoulder more of the burden themselves.

Some experts questioned whether cuts to the federal workforce by the Trump administration, including to the agency that oversees the National Weather Service, led to a failure by officials to accurately predict the severity of the floods and issue appropriate warnings ahead of the storm.

Trump’s administration has overseen thousands of job cuts from the National Weather Service’s parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, leaving many weather offices understaffed, former NOAA director Rick Spinrad said.

Spinrad said he did not know if those staff cuts factored into the lack of warning for the extreme Texas flooding, but that they would inevitably degrade the agency’s ability to deliver accurate and timely forecasts.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees NOAA, said a “moderate” flood watch issued on Thursday by the National Weather Service had not accurately predicted the extreme rainfall and said the Trump administration was working to upgrade the system.

Joaquin Castro, a Democratic US congressman from Texas, told CNN’s “State of the Union” program that fewer personnel at the weather service could be dangerous.

“When you have flash flooding, there’s a risk that if you don’t have the personnel … to do that analysis, do the predictions in the best way, it could lead to tragedy,” Castro said.

‘Complete devastation’

Camp Mystic had 700 girls in residence at the time of the flooding.

Katharine Somerville, a counsellor on the Cypress Lake side of Camp Mystic, on higher ground than the Guadalupe River side, said her 13-year-old campers were scared as their cabins sustained damage and lost power in the middle of the night.

“Our cabins at the tippity top of hills were completely flooded with water. I mean, y’all have seen the complete devastation, we never even imagined that this could happen,” Somerville said in an interview on Fox News on Sunday.

Somerville said the campers in her care were put on military trucks and evacuated, and that all were safe.

The disaster unfolded rapidly on Friday morning as heavier-than-forecast rain drove river waters rapidly to as high as 29 feet (9 meters).

A day after the disaster struck, the summer camp was a scene of devastation. Inside one cabin, mud lines indicating how high the water had risen were at least six feet (1.83 m) from the floor. Bed frames, mattresses and personal belongings caked with mud were scattered inside. Some buildings had broken windows, one had a missing wall.