Global News

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Saturday that Israeli forces had killed at least 36 Palestinians, six of them in a shooting near a US-backed aid distribution centre. The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired “warning shots” at individuals it said were “advancing in a way that endangered the troops”. The shooting deaths were the latest reported near the aid centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in the southern district of Rafah, and came after it resumed distributions following a brief suspension in the wake of similar deaths earlier this week. Meanwhile, an aid boat with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, was nearing Gaza in a bid to highlight the plight of Palestinians in the face of an Israeli blockade that has only been partially eased. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT), “six people were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the Israeli occupation near the Al-...

By Nandita Bose Reuters Donald Trump  said on Saturday his relationship with his billionaire donor  Elon Musk  is over and warned there would be “serious consequences” if Musk funds U.S. Democrats running against Republicans who vote for the president’s sweeping tax and spending bill. In a telephone interview with NBC News, Trump declined to say what those consequences would be, and went on to add that he had not had discussions about whether to investigate Musk. Asked if he thought his relationship with the  Tesla  and SpaceX CEO was over, Trump said, “I would assume so, yeah.” “No,” Trump told NBC when asked if he had any desire to repair his relationship with Musk. “I have no intention of speaking to him,” Trump said. However, Trump said he had not thought about terminating U.S. government contracts with Musk’s StarLink satellite internet or SpaceX rocket launch companies. Musk and Trump began exchanging insults this week, as Musk denounced Trump’s bil...

Russia attacked the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv at night with drones, missiles and guided bombs, killing at least three people and injuring 22, including a one-and-a-half-month-old baby, the city mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said on Saturday. One of Ukraine’s largest cities, Kharkiv is located just a few dozen kilometres from the Russian border and has been under constant Russian shelling during more than  three years of war . “Kharkiv is currently experiencing the most powerful attack since the start of the full-scale war,” Terekhov said on the Telegram messenger early on Saturday. Dozens of explosions were heard in the city through the night and Russian troops were striking simultaneously with missiles, drones and guided aerial bombs, he said. Multi-storey and private residential buildings, educational and infrastructure facilities were attacked, Terekhov noted. Photos by local authorities and Reuters showed burnt and partially destroyed houses and vehicles, and of rescuers c...

Hamas’s lead negotiator said the group was ready to enter a new round of talks aimed at sealing a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, where rescuers said Israeli strikes killed at least 37 people on Thursday. Negotiator Khalil al-Hayya made the declaration in a speech marking the start of Eid al-Adha festivities, typically a joyous date on the Muslim calendar, but one many Gazans say they will not be able to celebrate this year amid crushing shortages. “We reaffirm that we are ready for a new, serious round of negotiations aimed at reaching a permanent ceasefire agreement,” Hayya said, adding the group was in contact with mediators. Talks aimed at brokering a new ceasefire have failed to yield a breakthrough since the last brief truce fell apart in March with the resumption of Israeli operations in Gaza. Israel and Hamas appeared close to an agreement late last month, but a deal proved elusive, with each side accusing the other of scuppering a US-backed proposal. – Stepped-up Gaza campai...

By MICHELLE L. PRICE, Associated Press Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s alliance took off like one of SpaceX’s rockets. It was supercharged and soared high. And then it blew up. The spectacular flameout Thursday peaked as Trump threatened to cut Musk’s government contracts and Musk claimed that Trump’s administration hasn’t released all the records related to sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein because Trump is mentioned in them. The tech entrepreneur even shared a post on social media calling for Trump’s impeachment and skewered the president’s signature tariffs, predicting a recession this year. The messy blow-up between the president of the United States and the world’s richest man played out on their respective social media platforms after Trump was asked during a White House meeting with Germany’s new leader about Musk’s criticism of his spending bill. Trump had largely remained silent as Musk stewed over the last few days on his social media platform X, condemning the president’s so-call...

By Jarrett Renshaw, Ernest Scheyder and Jeff Mason Reuters Alarm over China’s stranglehold on critical minerals grew on Tuesday as global automakers joined their U.S. counterparts to complain that restrictions by China on exports of rare earth alloys, mixtures and magnets could cause production delays and outages without a quick solution. German automakers became the latest to warn that China’s export restrictions threaten to shut down production and rattle their local economies, following a similar complaint from an Indian EV maker last week. China’s decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets has upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. The move underscores China’s dominance of the critical mineral industry and is seen as leverage by China in its ongoing trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump has sought to redefine the trading...

By Bart H. Meijer and Stephanie van den Berg Reuters The Dutch government collapsed on Tuesday, most likely ushering in a  snap election , after anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders quit the right-wing coalition, accusing other parties of failing to back his tougher immigration policies. But Prime Minister Dick Schoof, an independent, accused the political maverick of irresponsibility, and the other coalition parties denied failing to support Wilders, saying they had been awaiting proposals from his PVV party’s own migration minister. PVV ministers will quit the cabinet, leaving the others to continue as a caretaker administration until an election unlikely to be held before October. Frustration with migration and the high cost of living is boosting the  far right  and widening divisions in Europe, just as it needs unity to deal effectively with a hostile Russia and an unpredictable and combative U.S. president in the form of Donald Trump. “I have told party leaders ...