This live blog is now closed, you can read more about the Israel-Gaza war here
The uncle of three of the people killed in the strike in southern Lebanon early Saturday said they were factory workers who were in their housing accomodation when they were hit. He denied that there were weapons at the facility.
“There was nothing at all like that,” Hussein Shahoud told AP. “There was metal for construction, for building, for all kinds of purposes.”
Continue reading...After months of being pushed steadily back – short of troops and ammunition – a Kyiv offensive to occupy a chunk of Russian territory took the Kremlin by surprise. The move has a clear political logic but is fraught with military danger
The immediate impact of Ukraine’s incursion into the Russian region of Kursk that began on 6 August has been a transformation in the morale of the Ukrainian public and even more so the narrative among Ukraine’s international partners.
The slow but inexorable loss of ground in Donbas that painted a grim picture of retreat has been replaced by images of a dynamic front. While deceptive, this new narrative is important in reminding Ukraine’s international partners that outcomes in war are not inevitable.
Continue reading...Exclusive: officials concerned by foreign agent law proposed creation of American nonprofit to avoid scrutiny
The Israeli government sought legal advice on a US federal law requiring the disclosure of foreign-backed lobbying campaigns, out of concern that mounting enforcement of the law could ensnare American groups working in coordination with the Israeli government, leaked documents reviewed by the Guardian suggest.
Emails and legal memos originating from a hack of the Israeli justice ministry show that officials feared that the country’s advocacy efforts in the US could trigger the US law governing foreign agents. The documents show that officials proposed creating a new American nonprofit in order to continue Israel’s activities in the US while avoiding scrutiny under the law.
Continue reading...Atlantic island territory, which has seen fewer than a dozen hurricanes since 1850, braces for dangerous storm surge
Hurricane Ernesto bore down on Bermuda on Friday as a category 2 storm, threatening the British island territory with strong winds, a dangerous storm surge and potentially deadly flooding.
Ernesto, centered about 95 miles (150km) south-southwest of the archipelago at 8pm Atlantic Standard Time (0000 GMT on Saturday), was producing sustained winds of up to 100mph (155km/h) and had the potential to drop up to 9in (230mm) of rain, the US National Hurricane Center said.
Continue reading...Dimitri Simes, whose name appeared prominently in Mueller report, ‘puzzled and concerned’ by raid in Virginia
FBI agents have raided and searched the Virginia home of Dimitri Simes, an author and policy analyst, who advised Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election campaign and who currently hosts a current affairs program on Russia’s state-run Channel One.
The raid began on 13 August, the FBI told the local Rappahannock News, which first reported the story.
Continue reading...AI company bans accounts and says operation did not appear to have meaningful audience engagement
OpenAI said on Friday it had taken down accounts of an Iranian group for using its ChatGPT chatbot to generate content meant for influencing the US presidential election and other issues.
The operation, identified as Storm-2035, used ChatGPT to generate content focused on topics such as commentary on the candidates on both sides in the US elections, the conflict in Gaza and Israel’s presence at the Olympic Games and then shared it via social media accounts and websites, Open AI said.
Continue reading...Highly infectious disease confirmed in 10-month-old as UN chief urges pauses in fighting to contain spread
Gaza has recorded its first polio case in 25 years, the Palestinian health ministry said on Friday, after the UN chief, António Guterres, called for pauses in the Israel-Hamas war to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of children.
Tests in Jordan confirmed the disease in an unvaccinated 10-month-old from the central Gaza Strip, the health ministry in Ramallah said.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Harris’s economic plan, read our full report:
Joe Biden is expected to jump on the phone later today with the leaders of Qatar and Egypt amid a glimmer of progress towards a deal for a ceasefire deal in Gaza, including the return of remaining hostages, according to a report.
An Axios reporter has posted about this, citing a source with knowledge of the situation.
Continue reading...US, Qatar and Egypt issue optimistic statement that may also be aimed at stalling Iranian retaliation against Israel
The latest round of Gaza ceasefire talks have ended in Doha without a breakthrough, but a new date next week has been set for further negotiations to attempt to end the 10-month-old war.
A White House statement signed by the co-mediators Qatar and Egypt described a fresh proposal that built “on areas of agreement” and bridged remaining gaps in a manner that allowed for “a swift implementation of the deal”.
Continue reading...Pest control expert says warmer winters help creatures such as oriental hornets, snakes and rats thrive in the city
A Rome zoologist says the Italian capital has become “a proper jungle” amid a surge in the presence of snakes, oriental hornets, seagulls and rats owing to a combination of high temperatures and the city’s persistent problem with rubbish.
Andrea Lunerti, who is well known in Rome for capturing dangerous animals, said he had been inundated with calls this summer, especially about snake sightings.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary says settlers must be ‘brought to justice’ after violence in Palestinian village leaves one dead
The UK foreign secretary has condemned the “widespread rampage” in a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank after an attack by dozens of Israeli settlers left at least one person dead.
The Palestinian health ministry said a man was killed and another left critically injured by the settlers who opened fire on Thursday night in the village of Jit.
Continue reading...Comments by Zelenskiy aide come as officials in strategic Pokrovsk say Moscow’s forces are ‘advancing at a fast pace’
Ukraine’s lightning offensive into several Russian border regions is designed to persuade Moscow to engage in “fair” talks about its war in Ukraine, an aide to Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said, as Russian forces close in on the strategic city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region.
“We need to inflict significant tactical defeats on Russia,” the Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “In the Kursk region, we clearly see how the military tool is objectively used to convince the Russian Federation to enter into a fair negotiation process.
Continue reading...Brazilian president calls Nicolás Maduro’s administration ‘a very unpleasant regime’ as diplomats explore solutions
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has said Venezuela is living under “a very unpleasant regime” with an “authoritarian slant”, as the political crisis engulfing the oil-rich South American country intensifies before fresh street protests on Saturday.
In an interview early on Friday, Lula – whose diplomats have been exploring possible solutions to Venezuela’s post-election drama – offered some of his sharpest criticism yet of Nicolás Maduro’s nominally socialist administration.
Continue reading...The move comes amid reports of disappointing results from trials for a treatment against the variant behind the current outbreak
Surveillance efforts against mpox are being ramped up globally, as trials for a new treatment showed disappointing results against the variant driving the current outbreak.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Friday raised its risk level assessment for mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, from low to moderate. The decision came after Sweden reported the first case of clade Ib outside Africa.
Continue reading...Beijing court rejects lawsuit brought by Xu Zaozao, who was seeking to widen access to fertility treatment in China
A Chinese woman who filed a groundbreaking lawsuit to win the right to freeze her eggs has lost her final appeal, exhausting the legal avenues in her fight to widen access to fertility treatment in China.
Beijing No 3 intermediate people’s court ruled that Xu Zaozao’s rights had not been violated when Beijing obstetrics and gynaecology hospital refused to freeze her eggs in 2018. Chinese regulations stipulate that assisted reproductive technology is only for married couples with fertility issues. Xu, now 36, said the doctor gave her some friendly advice instead: hurry up, get married and have children now.
Continue reading...People say they are determined and that prevention will be key to mitigating the effects of the climate crisis
“I used to talk to them every day.” Dimitris Petrou takes in the creatures that were once his fluffy chicks but now look like coals. The buckled cage with its carbonised birds is part of the cataclysmic scenery left behind by the fire that bore down on Athens after raging across the Attica plains consuming everything in its path.
The 72-year-old retiree and his wife, Frosso, though red-eyed and fatigued, are “somehow still going” but are profoundly shocked.
Continue reading...Daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra approved as PM after frantic negotiations triggered by ousting of Srettha Thavisin
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of the billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, has become Thailand’s youngest prime minister, taking office just days after her predecessor was ousted by a shock court ruling.
Paetongtarn was approved as the new head of government in a parliamentary vote that came after 24 hours of frantic negotiations triggered by a court judgment ordering Srettha Thavisin to step down as prime minister.
Continue reading...All hospital services except for emergency care to be shut down on Saturday amid outrage over Kolkata attack
All hospital services in India except for emergency care will shut down on Saturday as doctors escalate their protest over the rape and murder of a colleague by calling for a nationwide strike.
A strike that doctors started on Monday was more limited, affecting only government hospitals and elective surgeries. The one on Saturday, called by the Indian Medical Association, will cause massive disruption for 24 hours. All outpatient services and treatment in government and private hospitals will be cancelled.
Continue reading...Data shows continued surge in wind and solar power amid hopes Chinese greenhouse gas emissions may have peaked
China added as much new clean energy generation in the first half of this year as the UK produced from all sources in the same period last year, data shows, as wind and solar power generation continued to surge in the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Electricity generation from coal and gas dropped by 5% in China in July, year on year, according to an update from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) thinktank, basing its analysis on data released by the Chinese government on Thursday.
Continue reading...‘Global gag rule’ and funding cuts will be ‘on different scale’ if Republicans win again, family-planning providers say
Providers of women’s healthcare around the world are preparing for potentially disastrous consequences should Donald Trump win the US presidential election in November.
Policies pursued during Trump’s last presidency caused “devastating” harm in a number of countries, said Beth Schlachter, a senior director at MSI Reproductive Choices in the US. It meant “clinics shuttered, health teams closed, women dying … but a second Trump term will be on a different scale”.
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