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  • ‘Famine now unfolding in Gaza’: UN-backed monitor

    ‘Famine now unfolding in Gaza’: UN-backed monitor

    ROME, Italy: Famine is “now unfolding” in Gaza, with thousands of children malnourished and hunger-related deaths on the rise among the youngest, a UN-backed monitor warned on Tuesday.

    The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC) said that air drops over Gaza will not be enough to avert the “humanitarian catastrophe.”

    “The worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in the Gaza Strip,” said the UN-backed group of organisations, used as a monitor to gauge malnutrition.

    “Immediate, unimpeded” humanitarian access into Gaza was the only way to stop rapidly rising “starvation and death”, it said.

    The IPC issued their warning “alert” after days of aid groups sounding the alarm over hunger-related deaths in Gaza.

    Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on March 2 after ceasefire talks broke down. In late May, it began allowing a small trickle of aid to resume, amid warnings of a wave of starvation.

    The IPC said its latest data shows that “famine thresholds” have been reached in “most of the Gaza Strip”.

    Hunger-related deaths of young children, it said, were rising.

    “Over 20,000 children have been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July, with more than 3,000 severely malnourished.”

    Children under the age of five were dying of hunger, “with at least 16 reported deaths since 17 July”, IPC said.

    “Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,” it said Tuesday.

    Plea for access

    The group warned that “unimpeded lifesaving humanitarian access” was the only way to stop the growing number of deaths.

    “Failure to act now will result in widespread death in much of the Strip,” it said.

    Over the weekend Israel declared a “tactical pause” in army operations in parts of Gaza, saying more than 120 truckloads of food were allowed in, with some countries — such as Jordan and the UAE — dropping food into the besieged territory.

    But besides posing a risk to civilians, air drops will be insufficient to “reverse the humanitarian catastrophe”, warned the IPC.

    Delivering food by road is “more effective, safer and faster”, it wrote, also warning that the most vulnerable suffering from acute malnutrition — including children — “need access to consistent life-saving treatment” in order to recover.

    “Without immediate action, starvation and death will continue to spread rapidly and relentlessly,” it warned.

    The IPC alert did not amount to a new famine classification, it said, but was intended to draw attention to the crisis based on “the latest available evidence” through July 25.

    A more thorough so-called “advisory”, in which the group issues its classifications, is underway and will be published as soon as possible, it said.

    In May, the IPC said there was a “risk of famine” in Gaza.

    The UN-backed group of organisations and institutions issues an internationally-agreed definition for famine that is used to gauge the level of acute malnutrition in countries.

  • Thirty dead as northern China hit by heavy rain, landslides

    Thirty dead as northern China hit by heavy rain, landslides

    MIYUN, China: Heavy rain in Beijing killed 30 people and forced authorities to evacuate tens of thousands as swathes of northern China were lashed by torrential downpours that sparked deadly landslides, state media said Tuesday.

    Weather authorities have issued their second-highest rainstorm warning for the capital, neighbouring Hebei and Tianjin, as well as ten other provinces in northern, eastern and southern China, state news agency Xinhua said.

    The rains are expected to last into Wednesday, it added.

    As of midnight Monday, “the latest round of heavy rainstorms has left 30 people dead in Beijing”, Xinhua said, citing the city’s municipal flood control headquarters.

    Over 80,000 people have been evacuated in the Chinese capital alone, local state-run outlet Beijing Daily said on social media.

    The death toll was highest in Miyun, a suburban district northeast of the city centre, it said.

    “This time the rain was unusually heavy, it’s not normally like this,” a resident of Miyun, surnamed Jiang, told AFP as water streamed down the road outside her house.

    Also badly affected were Huairou district in the north of the city and Fangshan in the southwest, state media said.

    Dozens of roads have been closed and over 130 villages have lost electricity, Beijing Daily said.

    In Miyun on Monday, a resident surnamed Liu said he watched floodwater sweep away vehicles outside his apartment block early Monday morning.

    AFP journalists there saw a crawler lift people and a dog to safety as rescuers waded through water up to their knees.

    Nearby, in the town of Mujiayu, AFP journalists saw a reservoir release a torrent of water.

    Power lines were swept away by muddy currents while military vehicles and ambulances ploughed flooded streets.

    Firefighters also rescued 48 people trapped in an elderly care centre, CCTV reported.

    ‘All-out efforts’

    Chinese President Xi Jinping urged authorities late Monday to plan for worst-case scenarios and rush the relocation of residents of flood-threatened areas.

    The government has allocated 350 million yuan ($49 million) for disaster relief in nine regions hit by heavy rains, state broadcaster CCTV said Tuesday.

    They include northern Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, northeastern Jilin, eastern Shandong and southern Guangdong.

    A separate 200 million yuan has been set aside for the capital, the broadcaster said.

    In Hebei province, which encircles the capital, a landslide in a village near the city of Chengde killed four people, with eight still missing, CCTV reported Monday.

    Local authorities have issued flash flood warnings through Tuesday evening, with Chengde and surrounding areas under the highest alert, Hebei’s radio and television station said.

    Climate change

    Natural disasters are common across China, particularly in the summer when some regions experience heavy rain while others bake in searing heat.

    China is the world’s biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists say drive climate change and contribute to making extreme weather more frequent and intense.

    But it is also a global renewable energy powerhouse that aims to make its massive economy carbon-neutral by 2060.

  • Five dead including gunman in New York office shooting spree

    Five dead including gunman in New York office shooting spree

    NEW YORK: Four people including a police officer were killed Monday after a gunman walked into a skyscraper in central Manhattan and opened fire in broad daylight, officials said.

    A fifth victim was also in critical condition after being shot, while the gunman apparently took his own life, Mayor Eric Adams told a late-night briefing at a hospital near the scene of the shooting.

    The gunman was caught on camera exiting a black BMW carrying an M-4 rifle, then entering the building, immediately opening fire on a police officer before “spraying the lobby” with bullets, police commissioner Jessica Tisch told the press conference.

    He then took an elevator to the 33rd floor, of Rudin Management which owns the building, where the man continued his spree before apparently shooting himself. He was later discovered by officers next to his weapon.

    The office tower block at 345 Park Avenue is also home to hedge fund giant Blackstone, auditor KPMG and the National Football League.

    Tisch told the briefing that the suspect was believed to have acted alone but inquiries were ongoing, with the FBI assisting in the investigation.

    She identified the shooter as Shane Tamura of Las Vegas and said a revolver, ammunition and magazines were found in his vehicle along with medication bearing his name.

    The man had a history of mental health issues according to Las Vegas law enforcement — but did appear to possess a valid firearms permit for Nevada, Tisch said.

    He drove cross-country from the southwestern state in recent days and arrived in New York on Monday, she said.

    The incident began around 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) when reports of gunfire prompted hundreds of police to swarm a busy office district on the storied Park Avenue, an area popular with tourists and visiting businesspeople.

    A worker from a nearby office building wept as she left the area after a local lockdown was lifted, while another described a gunman going floor to floor as staff prepared to leave for the day.

    Adams said the fallen police officer, an immigrant from Bangladesh who was 36 years old, was among the dead.

    Two other males and a female died, and another man remained in a critical condition, officials said without giving any preliminary motive for the shootings.

    Mass shootings are common in the United States, where a constitutional right to bear arms outweighs demands for stricter rules.

    There have been 254 mass shootings in the United States this year including Monday’s incident in New York, according to the Gun Violence Archive — which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot.

    Police officers deployed a drone near Park Avenue at the height of the evening rush-hour as dozens of officers swarmed the area, some carrying long guns and others wearing ballistic vests.

    The area is home to several five-star business hotels, as well as a number of corporate headquarters. The United Nations headquarters is nearby.

    New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she has been briefed on the shooting.

    The frontrunner in the race for mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote on X that he was “heartbroken to learn of the horrific shooting in midtown and I am holding the victims, their families, and the NYPD officer… in my thoughts.”

  • Major Israeli rights groups brand Gaza campaign ‘genocide’

    Major Israeli rights groups brand Gaza campaign ‘genocide’

    Jerusalem: Rights groups B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel said on Monday that they had concluded the war in Gaza amounts to a “genocide” against Palestinians, a first for Israeli NGOs.

    Both organisations are frequent critics of Israeli government policies, but the language in their reports issued on Monday was their most stark yet.

    “Nothing prepares you for the realisation that you are part of a society committing genocide. This is a deeply painful moment for us,” B’Tselem executive director Yuli Novak told a news conference unveiling the two reports.

    “As Israelis and Palestinians who live here and witness the reality every day, we have a duty to speak the truth as clearly as possible,” she said.

    “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians.”

    A spokesman from the Israeli prime minister’s office, David Mencer, denounced the allegation.

    “We have free speech here in Israel but we strongly reject the accusation,” he said.

    Since, October 7, 2023, the Israeli assault has left much of the Gaza Strip, home to more than two million Palestinians, in ruins, and according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry has killed at least 59,921 people, most of them civilians.

    All Gazans have been driven from their homes at least once since the start of the war, and UN agencies warn that residents face a growing threat of famine and malnutrition.

    The International Court of Justice, in an interim ruling in early 2024 in a case lodged by South Africa, found it “plausible” that the Israeli offensive had violated the UN Genocide Convention.

    The Israeli government, backed by the United States, fiercely denies the charge and says it is fighting to defeat Hamas and to bring back Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.

    The reports from B’Tselem — one of Israel’s best-known rights groups — and Physicians for Human Rights Israel argue that the war’s objectives go further.

    B’Tselem’s report cites statements from senior politicians to illustrate that Israel “is taking coordinated action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip”.

    Physicians for Human Rights Israel’s report documents what the group says is “the deliberate and systematic destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system”.

  • Trump says there is ‘real starvation’ in Gaza, vows to set up food centres

    Trump says there is ‘real starvation’ in Gaza, vows to set up food centres

    CAIRO/GENEVA: U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday there are signs of “real starvation” in Gaza and announced that the United States will establish food centres in the conflict-hit Palestinian territory to help address the worsening hunger crisis.

    “I mean, some of those kids — that’s real starvation stuff,” Trump told reporters following a meeting in Scotland with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “We’re going to set up food centres where the people can walk in — and no boundaries. We’re not going to have fences.”

    As the death toll from two years of war in Gaza nears 60,000, a growing number of people are dying from starvation and malnutrition, Gaza health authorities say, with images of starving children shocking the world and fuelling international criticism of Israel over sharply worsening conditions.

    Describing starvation in Gaza as real, Trump’s assessment put him at odds with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Monday “there is no starvation in Gaza” and vowed to fight on against the Palestinian group Hamas.

    Trump, speaking during a visit to Scotland, said Israel has a lot of responsibility for aid flows, and that a lot of people could be saved. “You have a lot of starving people,” he said.

    “We’re going to set up food centers,” with no fences or boundaries to ease access, Trump said. The U.S. would work with other countries to provide more humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, including food and sanitation, he said.

    On Monday, the Gaza health ministry said at least 14 people had died in the past 24 hours of starvation and malnutrition, bringing the war’s death toll from hunger to 147, including 88 children, most in just the last few weeks.

    Israel announced several measures over the weekend, including daily humanitarian pauses in three areas of Gaza, new safe corridors for aid convoys, and airdrops. The decision followed the collapse of ceasefire talks on Friday.

    U.N. agencies said a long-term steady supply of aid was needed. The World Food Programme said 60 trucks of aid had been dispatched – short of target. Almost 470,000 people in Gaza are enduring famine-like conditions, with 90,000 women and children in need of specialist nutrition treatments, it said.

    “Our target at the moment, every day is to get 100 trucks into Gaza,” WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, Samer AbdelJaber, told Reuters.

    Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Reuters the situation is catastrophic.

    “At this time, children are dying every single day from starvation, from preventable disease. So time has run out,” he said. “The catastrophe is here,” he said. “Children are dying from starvation, and it’s manmade by Israel from A to Z.”

    The Gaza health ministry said that 98 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the past 24 hours.

    In Gaza, Palestinians described the challenge of securing aid for their families living in tent encampments, a chaotic and often dangerous process.

    “Currently aid comes for the strong who can race ahead, who can push others and grab a box or a sack of flour. That chaos must be stopped and protection for those trucks must be allowed,” said Emad, 58, who used to own a factory in Gaza City.

    While some manage to get aid, others are deprived, said Wessal Nabil, from Beit Lahiya. She said her husband was unable to bring aid because of an injured leg. She had tried herself several times but without success. “So who will feed us? Who will give us to drink?” she told Reuters.

    The WFP said it has 170,000 metric tons of food in the region, outside Gaza, which would be enough to feed the whole population for the next three months if it gets the clearance to bring into the enclave.

    Israel cut off aid to Gaza from the start of March in what it said was a means to pressure Hamas into giving up dozens of hostages it still holds, and reopened aid with new restrictions in May. Hamas accuses Israel of using hunger as a weapon.

  • Thailand and Cambodia agree to ‘unconditional’ ceasefire

    Thailand and Cambodia agree to ‘unconditional’ ceasefire

    PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia: Thailand and Cambodia will enter into an unconditional ceasefire starting at midnight on Monday, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced.

    “Both Cambodia and Thailand reached a common understanding as follows: One, an immediate and unconditional ceasefire with effect from 24 hours local time, midnight on 28th July 2025, tonight,” Anwar said after mediation talks in Malaysia.

    Thailand and Cambodia began discussing a ceasefire in their festering border dispute on Monday, as the deadly skirmish dragged into a fifth day.

    More than 200,000 people fled the frontier as the two exchanged artillery, rockets and gun fire in the disputed area, which is home to a collection of ancient temples.

    A series of motorcades, including some sporting US and Chinese flags, arrived at Seri Perdana, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s official residence, on Monday afternoon.

    A helicopter buzzed over the administrative capital as Thailand’s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet met shortly after 0700 GMT.

    Monday’s meeting comes after US President Donald Trump intervened, making a late-night weekend call to both Southeast Asian leaders, who he said agreed to “quickly work out” a truce.

    Anwar, whose country currently chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is mediating, while US State Department officials and a Chinese delegation were also present.

    Ahead of the talks, Thailand and Cambodia traded fresh fire and accusations.

    Phumtham said Bangkok did not believe Phnom Penh “is acting in good faith.”

    Meanwhile, Cambodia’s defence ministry spokeswoman Maly Socheata said Monday was “the fifth day that Thailand has invaded Cambodia’s territory with heavy weapons and with the deployment of a lot of troops”.

  • Hunger must never be ‘weapon of war’: UN chief

    Hunger must never be ‘weapon of war’: UN chief

    ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia: United Nations chief Antonio Guterres urged the international community on Monday to reject hunger as a weapon of war.

    UN agencies have been warning of life-threatening hunger in Gaza as aid supplies dried up, and international pressure has been building for a ceasefire to allow a massive relief operation.

    Israel’s government, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, denies that it is using hunger as a weapon of war, and instead accuses the aid agencies of failing to pick up and distribute aid delivered to Gaza’s border crossing points.

    “Climate change is disrupting harvests, supply chains, and humanitarian aid. Conflict continues to spread hunger from Gaza to Sudan and beyond,” Guterres told a UN conference in Ethiopia by video.

    “Hunger fuels instability and undermines peace. We must never accept hunger as a weapon of war,” the UN chief added said.

    In the Gaza Strip, the war-shattered Palestinian territory is gripped by dire humanitarian conditions created by 21 months of war and made worse by Israel’s total blockade of aid.

    Since the easing of the blockade, the levels of aid reaching Gaza have been far below what aid groups say is needed.

    On Sunday, as Israel began a “tactical pause” in the fighting to allow the UN and aid agencies to tackle a deepening hunger crisis, the World Health Organization warned that malnutrition was reaching “alarming levels.”

    Sudan is “the largest humanitarian catastrophe facing our world and also the least remembered”, Othman Belbeisi, the regional director of UN’s IOM migration agency, told reporters last week.

    Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

    The fighting has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than seven million people.

  • Four dead, eight missing in China landslide after heavy rain

    Four dead, eight missing in China landslide after heavy rain

    BEIJING: A landslide triggered by unusually heavy rain killed four people and left eight others missing in northern China’s Hebei province, state media said on Monday, as downpours force thousands to evacuate.

    The landslide in a village near Chengde City was “due to heavy rainfall”, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

    The national emergency management department said it dispatched a team to inspect the “severe” flooding in Hebei, which encircles the capital Beijing.

    Swathes of northern China have been inundated in recent days, with record rain in Hebei killing two people on Saturday, state media said.

    In Fuping County, more than 4,600 people were evacuated over the weekend, it said.

    And in neighbouring Shanxi province, one person was rescued and 13 were missing after a bus accident, CCTV reported.

    Footage from the broadcaster showed roads in Shanxi and a crop field submerged in rushing water on Sunday.

    In Beijing, more than 3,000 people in suburban Miyun district were evacuated due to torrential rains.

    The area’s reservoir “recorded its largest inflow flood” since it was built more than six decades ago, state media reported.

    On Monday in Mujiayu, a town just south of the reservoir, AFP journalists saw power lines swept away by muddy currents while military vehicles and ambulances ploughed through flooded roads.

    A river had burst its banks, sweeping away trees, while fields of crops were inundated with flood water.

    Authorities in the capital issued the country’s second-highest warning for rainstorms and the highest for floods, state news agency Xinhua said.

    The downpours are expected to last until Tuesday morning.

    Flash floods in eastern China’s Shandong province killed two people and left 10 missing this month.

    A landslide on a highway in Sichuan province this month also killed five people after it swept several cars down a mountainside.

  • European Union resigned to 15 percent US tariff

    European Union resigned to 15 percent US tariff

    TURNBERRY, United Kingdom: The United States and European Union clinched a trade agreement that will see EU exports taxed at 15 percent, in a bid to resolve a transatlantic tariff stand-off that threatened to explode into a trade war.

    US President Donald Trump emerged from a high-stakes meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at his golf resort in Scotland, describing the deal as the “biggest-ever”.

    The deal, which the leaders struck in around an hour, came as the clock ticked down on an August 1 deadline to avoid an across-the-board US levy of 30 percent on European goods.

    “We’ve reached a deal. It’s a good deal for everybody. This is probably the biggest deal ever reached in any capacity,” said Trump.

    Trump said a baseline tariff of 15 percent would apply across the board, including for Europe’s crucial automobile sector, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.

    As part of the deal, Trump said the 27-nation EU bloc had agreed to purchase “$750 billion worth of energy” from the United States, as well as make $600 billion in additional investments.

    Von der Leyen said the “significant” purchases of US liquefied natural gas, oil and nuclear fuels would come over three years, as part of the bloc’s bid to diversify away from Russian sources.

    Negotiating on behalf of the EU’s 27 countries, von der Leyen had been pushing hard to salvage a trading relationship worth an annual $1.9 trillion in goods and services.

    “It’s a good deal,” the EU chief told reporters.

    “It will bring stability. It will bring predictability. That’s very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic,” she said.

    She added that bilateral tariff exemptions had been agreed on a number of “strategic products”, notably aircraft, certain chemicals, some agricultural products and critical raw materials.

    Von der Leyen said the EU still hoped to secure further so-called “zero-for-zero” agreements, notably for alcohol, which she hoped to be “sorted out” in coming days.

    Trump also said EU countries — which recently pledged to ramp up their defence spending within NATO — would be purchasing “hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment.”

    The EU has been hit by multiple waves of tariffs since Trump reclaimed the White House.

    It is currently subject to a 25-percent levy on cars, 50 percent on steel and aluminium, and an across-the-board tariff of 10 percent, which Washington threatened to hike to 30 percent in a no-deal scenario.

    The bloc had been pushing hard for tariff carve-outs for critical industries from aircraft to spirits, and its auto industry, crucial for France and Germany, is already reeling from the levies imposed so far.

    “Fifteen percent is not to be underestimated, but it is the best we could get,” acknowledged von der Leyen.

    Any deal will need to be approved by EU member states — whose ambassadors, on a visit to Greenland, were updated by the commission Sunday morning. They were set to meet again after the deal struck in Scotland.

    German exporters were less enthusiastic. The powerful BDI federation of industrial groups said the accord would have “considerable negative repercussions” while the country’s VCI chemical trade association said the accord left rates “too high”.

    Ireland, one of the EU’s top exporters to the United States, said Sunday it welcomed the deal for bringing “a measure of much-needed certainty”, but that it “regrets” the baseline tariff, in a statement by its Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

    The EU had pushed for a compromise on steel that could allow a certain quota into the United States before tariffs would apply.

    Trump appeared to rule that out, saying steel was “staying the way it is”, but the EU chief insisted later that “tariffs will be cut and a quota system will be put in place” for steel.

    ‘The big one’

    While 15 percent is much higher than pre-existing US tariffs on European goods, which average around 4.8 percent, it mirrors the status quo, with companies currently facing an additional flat rate of 10 percent.

    Had the talks failed, EU states had greenlit counter tariffs on $109 billion (93 billion euros) of US goods, including aircraft and cars to take effect in stages from August 7.

    Trump has embarked on a campaign to reshape US trade with the world, and has vowed to hit dozens of countries with punitive tariffs if they do not reach a pact with Washington by August 1.

    Asked what the next deal would be, Trump replied: “This was the big one. This is the biggest of them all.”

  • Jordanian, Emirati planes drop 25 tonnes of aid over Gaza

    Jordanian, Emirati planes drop 25 tonnes of aid over Gaza

    Amman: Two Jordanian and one Emirati plane dropped 25 tonnes of humanitarian aid over the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the Jordanian army said in a statement.

    “The Jordanian Armed Forces on Sunday carried out three air drops on the Gaza Strip carrying humanitarian and food aid, one of which was with the United Arab Emirates,” the statement said, adding that they were carrying 25 tonnes of aid.

    The United Nations said it would try to reach as many starving people as possible in Gaza after Israel announced it would establish secure land routes in for humanitarian convoys.

    The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said it had enough food in, or on its way to, the region to feed the 2.1 million people in the Gaza Strip for almost three months.

    UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher said on X he welcomed the announcement of “humanitarian pauses”.

    “In contact with our teams on the ground who will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window,” he said.

    WFP said the pauses and corridors should allow emergency food to be safely delivered.

    “Food aid is the only real way for most people inside Gaza to eat,” it said in a statement.

    It said a third of the population had not been eating for days, and 470,000 people in Gaza “are enduring famine-like conditions” that were leading to deaths.

    WFP said more than 62,000 tonnes of food assistance was needed monthly to cover the entire Gaza population of two million.

    The agency noted that, on top of Sunday’s “pause” announcement, Israel had pledged to allow more trucks to enter Gaza with quicker clearances along with “assurances of no armed forces or shootings near convoys”.

    “Together, we hope these measures will allow for a surge in urgently needed food assistance to reach hungry people without further delays,” it said.