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Brad Marchand scored two goals and Sam Reinhart got the go-ahead goal on his 30th birthday in the Florida Panthers’ 5-2 victory over the Kings on Thursday night.

Anton Lundell got a shorthanded goal in the third period and Sam Bennett also scored for the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Panthers, who rebounded from a 7-3 loss against the Ducks to get their first victory on their four-game West Coast road trip.

Marchand has scored a goal in three straight games since returning to the Panthers from a one-game absence to travel to Nova Scotia to support a close friend who lost his daughter to cancer last month. The veteran tied the game late in the first period after taking the puck from Anton Forsberg behind the Kings’ net, and he added his ninth goal of the season in the third.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves.

Anze Kopitar got the first goal of his 20th NHL season and Corey Perry also scored for the Kings, who have lost three of four.

Forsberg stopped 19 shots for the Kings, who have started 1-4-2 at their downtown arena after being the NHL’s best home team last season.

Bennett put the Panthers ahead just 2:06 in, controlling and converting the rebound of Jeff Petry’s long shot.

Kopitar scored on the power play midway through the first, and Perry put the Kings ahead on a breakaway set up by a spectacular long pass from Mikey Anderson.

Reinhardt put the Panthers back ahead in the second, getting to the slot and firing a backhand for his seventh goal.

Lundell scored on a short-handed breakaway in the third after a turnover by Adrian Kempe.

Several members of the back-to-back World Series champion Dodgers were the Kings’ guests at the game, getting multiple loud ovations.

Up next for Kings: at Pittsburgh on Sunday to open a six-game trip.

US president says Gaza ceasefire ‘working out very well’ despite deadly Israeli attacks and severe aid restrictions.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says it also received the remains of 45 Palestinians from Israel through the Red Cross.

Israel has released five Palestinian prisoners as part of a fragile ceasefire deal with Hamas, offering a rare moment of relief for the families in Gaza.

The five men, freed on Monday evening, were taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah for medical examinations, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary reported from outside the facility.

Relatives gathered at the hospital, some embracing the freed prisoners, while others anxiously sought information about missing family members.

“This is the first time since the ceasefire that Israeli forces have released unknown Palestinian prisoners,” said Khoudary.

Thousands of Palestinians remain imprisoned in Israel, many held without charge under what rights groups call arbitrary detention.

Israel returns remains of Palestinians

Earlier on Monday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said it received the remains of 45 Palestinians from Israel through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), bringing the total number of bodies handed over under the ceasefire agreement to 270.

Forensic teams have identified 78 bodies so far and will continue their examinations “in accordance with approved medical procedures and protocols” before returning the remains to families, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Officials previously reported that many of the returned bodies bore evidence of torture and abuse, including bound hands, blindfolds, and facial disfigurement, and were handed back without identification tags.

The handover forms part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement that took effect on October 10, which includes prisoner and body exchanges mediated by Turkiye, Egypt, and Qatar, with involvement from the United States.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, Khoudary said, “Many of the bodies returned show signs of torture.” She added that families of missing Palestinians are still searching for relatives among the dead.

“If these bodies are not identified, they will be buried along with other Palestinians in a mass grave in Deir el-Balah,” she said.

Israeli ceasefire violations

Despite a ceasefire, Israel continues to carry out deadly attacks. A source at Nasser Medical Complex told Al Jazeera Arabic that three Palestinians were killed on Monday by Israeli fire north of Rafah in southern Gaza.

The Israeli army said it launched strikes on southern Gaza, claiming individuals had crossed the “yellow line”, an Israeli-controlled area, in what it called a ceasefire violation.

The Israeli version of events could not be independently verified. It also remains unclear whether the Israeli military was referring to the same attack that killed the three Palestinians.

In Gaza City, a child was among three people wounded by Israeli fire in the city’s east, a source at al-Ahli Arab Hospital told Al Jazeera.

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said Israel continues to use quadcopter drones to drop grenades on buildings left partially standing. “Authorities here describe these acts as violations of the ceasefire,” he said.

The Gaza Government Media Office has accused Israel of committing more than 125 ceasefire violations since the truce took effect, warning that continued attacks threaten to reignite full-scale hostilities.

Hamas and Israel have concluded a second day of indirect negotiations on United States President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the war on Gaza, as senior Qatari and US officials headed to Egypt to join the talks.

Speaking at the White House on the second anniversary of the start of the war, Trump said that there was a “real chance” of a Gaza deal, as Tuesday’s talks wrapped up in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

However, the day had opened with an umbrella of Palestinian factions – including Hamas – issuing a statement that promised a “resistance stance by all means”, stressing that “no one has the right to cede the weapons of the Palestinian people” – an apparent reference to a key demand for the disarmament of the armed group contained in Trump’s 20-point plan.

Senior Hamas official Fawzi Barhoum said that the group’s negotiators were seeking an end to the war and “complete withdrawal of the occupation army” from Gaza. But Trump’s plan is vague regarding the exit of Israeli troops, offering no specific timeline for the staged rollout, which would only happen after Hamas returns the 48 Israeli captives it still holds, 20 of whom are thought to be alive.

A senior Hamas official who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity after Tuesday’s talks indicated that the group intends to release captives in stages linked to the withdrawal of Israel’s military from Gaza.

The official said that Tuesday’s talks had focused on scheduling the release of Israeli captives and withdrawal maps for Israeli forces, with the group stressing that the release of the last Israeli hostage must coincide with the final withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Hamas’s top negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, said the group did “not trust the occupation, not even for a second”, according to Egyptian state-linked Al Qahera News. He said Hamas wanted “real guarantees” that the war would end and not be restarted, accusing Israel of violating two ceasefires in the war on Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement to mark the anniversary of the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that sparked Israel’s war on Gaza, calling the last two years of conflict a “war for our very existence and future”.

He said that Israel was “in fateful days of decision”, without alluding directly to the ceasefire talks. Israel, he said, would “continue to act to achieve all the war’s objectives: the return of all the hostages, the elimination of Hamas’s rule, and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel”.

Staying flexible

Despite signs of continued differences, the talks appear to be the most promising sign of progress towards ending the war yet, with Israel and Hamas both endorsing many parts of Trump’s plan.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said the mediators – Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye – were staying flexible and developing ideas as the ceasefire talks progress.

“We don’t go with preconceived notions to the negotiations. We develop these formulations during the talks themselves, which is happening right now,” he said.

Al-Ansari told Al Jazeera that Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani will join other mediators – including Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner for the US – on Wednesday in Egypt.

Sheikh Mohammed’s “participation confirms the mediators’ determination to reach an agreement that ends the war”, al-Ansari said.

Even if a deal is clinched, questions linger about who will govern Gaza and rebuild it, and who will finance the huge cost of reconstruction.

Trump and Netanyahu have ruled out any role for Hamas, with the former’s plan proposing that Palestinian “technocrats” run day-to-day affairs in Gaza under an international transitional governance body – the so-called “Board of Peace” – that would be overseen by Trump himself and the divisive former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Hamas’s Barhoum said the group wanted to see “the immediate start of the comprehensive reconstruction process under the supervision of a Palestinian national body”.

Israeli attacks continue

The second anniversary of the war, which was sparked by deadly attacks on Israel that were led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, saw Israel pressing on with its offensive in Gaza, drones and fighter jets strafing the skies, targeting the Sabra and Tal al-Hawa residential areas in Gaza City and the road to nearby Shati camp.

At least 10 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza on Tuesday, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, adding to the grim toll of more than 66,600 deaths over the entire conflict. At least 104 people have been killed in Gaza by Israeli forces since Friday, the day Trump called on Israel to halt its bombing campaign.

Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said on Tuesday that a boy had been shot in the head in eastern Gaza and that at least six Palestinians were killed in separate attacks across Khan Younis in the south of the Strip.

“Everyone’s waiting for a peace deal as the bombs continue to fall,” she said, reporting from az-Zuwayda in central Gaza. “The Israeli forces continue destroying entire residential neighbourhoods and residential areas where Palestinians thought they would go back and rebuild their lives.”

Marking the anniversary, ACLED, a US-based conflict monitor, said Gaza has endured more than 11,110 air and drone strikes and at least 6,250 shelling and artillery attacks throughout the war. Gaza’s dead accounted for 14 percent of total reported deaths from conflicts worldwide over the past two years.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 1,701 medical personnel had been killed in Gaza during the war.

It’s been an outstanding year to own MP Materials (MP 0.56%) stock. From the end of 2024 through Oct. 3, 2025, Shares of the rare earth metals and magnets producer rose 358%.

The U.S. Government’s push to reshore manufacturing is the tailwind pushing this stock forward. Magnets made from rare earth elements, especially neodymium, are essential components in electronic vehicles, military drones, and everyday consumer electronics.

The first thing to know about rare earth magnets is that China is the world’s leading supplier of refined rare earth metals. This April, China halted exports of rare earth metals to the U.S. to strengthen its position when negotiating new tariffs. That decision has plenty of American businesses eager to build a more secure supply chain.

Image source: Getty Images.

In the right place at the right time

As the only operational rare earth mine operator in the U.S., MP Materials is an obvious beneficiary of a reshoring push. Recently, USA Rare Earth has collected a great deal of capital with the intention of creating an end-to-end magnet production chain. The potential competitor acquired some mining rights in Texas, but it hasn’t begun extracting any minerals yet.

As the only magnet manufacturer with an operational mine, MP Materials is in a good position to receive government assistance. In July, the company entered a partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to build up the country’s rare earth magnet supply chain.

MP Materials intends to use government funds to construct a second domestic magnet manufacturing facility to be called the 10x Facility. Once complete, DoD has agreed to ensure the sale of every magnet the new facility produces for 10 years. The company thinks it can produce 10,000 kilograms annually with help from the new facility, once it’s built.

Also in July, MP Materials announced an agreement to sell magnets to Apple for use in its popular devices. Magnet shipments to the iPhone manufacturer are expected to begin in 2027.

Missing the most important part of the supply chain

Before getting too excited about MP Materials, it’s important to understand that its facilities for refining ore into metal that can be used to manufacture magnets are small. This is why the deal with Apple involves recycling old magnets, not producing new ones from ore the company dug up in its Californian mining operation.

The 10x Facility to be built in partnership with DoD is for manufacturing magnets. It isn’t the big refinery that the company needs to actually remove China from its supply chain. The company only expects to improve the minor refining operation at its Mountain Pass, California facility.

It’s unlikely that MP Materials’ planned improvements will allow for much independence from Chinese imports. Rare earth metal refining is a chemically intensive process that produces heaps of health-threatening pollution. It’s hard to imagine environmental regulators in California letting such a refinery operate at scale.

Why MP Materials’ stock is risky

Investors who buy MP Materials at recent prices need the company to overcome some extremely high expectations, or they could suffer heavy losses. Most basic materials companies trade at price-to-sales multiples in the low single digits. With a market cap north of $12.6 billion, this stock is trading at 48 times trailing 12-month sales.

The DoD established a guaranteed minimum price of $110 per kilogram of neodymium and praseodymium (NdPr) to be processed at the 10x Facility. The company hasn’t broken ground yet. Even if we can assume it will rapidly complete construction and begin selling 10,000 kg annually to DoD at that price, we can only expect about $1.1 billion annually.

A bet on MP Materials now is a bet that its new battery recycling program with Apple succeeds. New investors are also betting on perfect execution regarding its partnership with DoD. Those bets entail more risk than most investors should feel comfortable with. It’s probably best to keep this company on a watchlist for now and revisit it after its 10x Facility is up and running.

Protesters issue president 24-hour ultimatum to ‘respond favourably’ to demands, threatening ‘all necessary measures’.

Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina has ignored calls for his resignation by a nationwide youth-led protest movement, condemning what he perceives to be a coup plot driven by rivals.

Protesters took to the streets of the capital, Antananarivo, on Friday after a “strategic” pause in the near-daily demonstrations led by a movement known as “Gen Z”, which has demanded the president’s resignation over his alleged failure to deliver basic services, including water and electricity.

At least 22 people have been killed since the protests started on September 25, according to the United Nations. On Friday, police fired tear gas to disperse marchers in the capital, footage from Real TV Madagasikara showed.

“No one benefits from the destruction of the nation. I am here, I stand here ready to listen, ready to extend a helping hand and … to bring solutions to Madagascar,” Rajoelina said in a speech broadcast on his Facebook page.

He said, without providing evidence, that some politicians were plotting to take advantage of the protests and had considered staging a coup while he was addressing the United Nations in New York last week.

“What I want to tell you is that some people want to destroy our country,” he said, without naming those he alleged were behind the move.

The Gen Z movement rejected Rajoelina’s speech as “senseless”, promising to take “all necessary measures” if the president did not “respond favourably” within 24 hours to its demands.

There were also protests in the northern coastal city of Mahajanga and in the southern cities of Toliara and Fianarantsoa.

‘Opportunistic groups’

Madagascar is rich in resources yet remains one of the world’s poorest countries, with 75 percent of its population of 32 million living below the poverty line in 2022, according to the World Bank.

The recent unrest forced Rajoelina to sack his government on Monday and invite dialogue. In a post on his X account at the end of the week, he said he had also met various groups for the past three days to discuss the situation.

Madagascar’s Foreign Minister Rasata Rafaravavitafika said the country faced “a massive cyberattack” and a “targeted digital manipulation campaign” launched from another country.

“According to analyses by our specialised units, this operation was initially directed from abroad by an agency with advanced technological capabilities,” she said.

She claimed that “opportunistic groups” had “infiltrated” the protests and aimed to “exploit the vulnerability of some of Madagascar’s young people”.

Rajoelina, the former mayor of Antananarivo, first came to power in 2009 following a coup sparked by an uprising that deposed former President Marc Ravalomanana.

After sitting out the 2013 election under international pressure, he was voted back into office in 2018 and re-elected in 2023.

Bobby Witt Jr. and Adam Frazier each drove in two runs, Salvador Perez moved into second place on Kansas City’s career RBI list and the Royals beat the Angels 8-4 on Tuesday night, shortly after being eliminated from postseason contention.

The Royals (79-78) were knocked out of the race for an AL wild card with five games remaining in their regular season. Kansas City, which reached the playoffs last season, has failed to qualify for the postseason in nine of the last 10 seasons.

Perez singled to center in the first inning to score Witt. It was the 35-year-old catcher’s 97th RBI of the season and 1,013th of his career, moving him past Hal McRae. The Royals’ all-time RBI leader is George Brett with 1,596.

Maikel Garcia went three for four with two doubles. It was Garcia’s second career game with three hits and three runs scored, and his 11th three-hit game of the season.

Royals starter Cole Ragans (3-3) gave up two runs and three hits and struck out 10 over five innings in his second start since returning from the injured list with a left rotator cuff strain.

Bryce Teodosio hit his first career homer for the Angels in the fifth inning, in his 45th MLB game this season. Taylor Ward added his 35th homer, a career high, in the ninth inning. The Angels have lost 10 of their last 11 games.

Key moment

Mike Trout was honored before his first at-bat for hitting his 400th career home run against the Rockies in Colorado on Saturday.

Key stat

The Royals’ batters recorded 15 hits, and the pitchers recorded 13 strikeouts.

Up next

The Royals’ Stephen Kolek (5-6, 3.54 ERA) faces the Angels’ Yusei Kikuchi (6-11, 4.05) on Wednesday night.

ITV is currently going through major changes with a number one Good Morning Britain star reportedly set for ‘major change because she was solely contracted for GMB’

As ITV gets set for major changes, one Good Morning Britain star could be seeing their job change dramatically. Charlotte Hawkins, 50, has been a mainstay on the breakfast show for over a decade, but changes are in the air.

Charlotte is set to take news shifts across the ITV schedule, and made her News at Ten debut last week. It appears as though it will be the first of many appearances as part of the daytime merger with ITN.

According to a source, Charlotte will now read the news across the schedule. It will see her contract change from what viewers have been used to over the past 10 years.

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The source told the Sun : “She’ll still read on GMB but also the lunchtime, evening and News at Ten. It’s a major change because she was solely contracted for GMB.”

The claims came as ITV’s daytime staple shows are set to have a huge shake up in coming months. As well as GMB coming under scrutiny, Loose Women and Lorraine are going to face cuts as part of the new cost-saving measures.

From 2026, Lorraine Kelly’s morning programme is to be shortened to a 30-minute slot. It will air from 9.30am to 10am rather than its current hour-long format.

As well as a cut in episode time, the show will also only be broadcast for 30 weeks out of the year. This will reportedly mean the stand-in hosts who currently replace the Scottish presenter when she is on holiday will be out of a job.

Lorraine recently professed her love for working in telly and told fans she is “not done yet” despite the cuts. On Tom Kerridge’s Proper Tasty podcast, she said: “I’ve been around for so long. I’ve been doing telly for over 40 years. It’s mad isn’t it?

“It’s absolutely crazy. I started in breakfast telly in 1984, and I’m still getting away with it. Extraordinarily. 40 years in TV last year was incredible. I got a BAFTA. ‘Here’s a BAFTA for being alive.’ I thought, ‘Hang on a minute, I’m not done yet.’

Loose Women is also facing significant changes. Like Lorraine, the lunchtime talk show will soon only be airing “on a seasonal basis for 30 weeks of the year” according to ITV bosses.

The decision sees the show ditch some of its mainstay moments too, including its live studio audience. It’s thought the decision will also reduce its line-up of panellists as part of the shake-up.

Despite the change in regular shows, bosses believe new episodes of The Chase, the channel’s top-rated quiz show, will help. The show is set to be filmed over four months later this year, with production company Potato currently recruiting crew to work on the show between September and December.

Meanwhile, Tipping Point fans can breathe a sigh of relief after speculation that the show might be axed. No new episodes were recorded last year, which left fans concerned about the future of the series.

While the shows are facing changes, several past favourites are set for a more prominent place on the channel. It has been confirmed that new episodes of The Chase, Tipping Point and Deal or No Deal will be filmed later this year, which means the shows have secured a broadcasting slot in 2026.

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US President Donald Trump has announced a deal with China to allow the TikTok platform to continue operating in the United States.

Trump said he would speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday to confirm the details of an agreement to avoid a ban on the popular video-sharing app in the US.

“We have a group of very big companies that want to buy it. And you know, the kids want it so badly,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday.

“I had parents calling me up. They don’t want it for themselves, they want it for their kids. They say, if I don’t get it done, they are in big trouble with their kids. And I think it’s great. I hate to see value like that thrown out the window,” he said.

Trump signed an executive order later on Tuesday extending until December 16 a deadline for TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to divest from the platform or face the promised ban.

Trump, who has credited TikTok with helping him win young voters in November’s presidential election, did not provide specific details on the nature of the deal.

The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the Chinese ownership stake in TikTok would be reduced to less than 20 percent under the proposed agreement.

China’s People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, hailed the deal as an example of “cooperation for mutual benefit”.

“China’s commitment to safeguarding national interests and the legitimate rights of Chinese enterprises remains unwavering,” the newspaper said in a commentary.

“It will lawfully process matters such as technology export approvals and intellectual property licensing rights related to TikTok,” the newspaper added.

Yan Liang, an economics professor at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, said the reported details of the deal raised questions about what China would get in return for divesting.

“After all, Trump has the interest to keep TikTok running for his personal political gain,” Yan told Al Jazeera.

“Trump’s business clientele also has the interest to keep TikTok alive, even if they don’t hold a majority control of this lucrative company,” she said.

“I’d be surprised that China agrees with such a deal without [many] concessions from the US.”

The future of TikTok, which claims more than 170 million users in the US, has been in the balance since lawmakers in Washington last year passed legislation to force the platform to divest from its Chinese ownership.

Democrats and Republicans alike overwhelmingly supported the ban amid concerns the platform could be used by Beijing to spy on Americans and spread Chinese Communist Party propaganda.

Trump himself sought to ban TikTok in his first term as president, before doing a U-turn and pledging to “save” the platform during his re-election campaign.

Critics of the ban have argued that it infringes on US free speech rights and fails to address privacy concerns surrounding social media platforms in general.

“I never thought the United States should shut down TikTok over speculation that China might gather information about, or try to influence, Americans,” Ryan Calo, co-director of the Tech Policy Lab at the University of Washington, told Al Jazeera.

“So, from that perspective, striking a deal to preserve TikTok in the United States is a win,” Calo said.

But Calo said the Trump administration’s creation of its “own timetable” for reaching a deal had flouted the process outlined in the legislation passed by Congress.

“This is a blow to the rule of law, among many,” he said.

Anupam Chander, an expert in law and technology at Georgetown Law, said Trump’s announcement raised questions about potential political influence over TikTok’s content.

“Many Americans have been worried that the change in ownership of CBS might change the politics of the channel,” Chander said, referring to the major US broadcaster.

“I think it’s also fair for TikTok users in the US to wonder if we will see our TikTok content change to reflect the views of TikTok’s new owners, who may have a friendly relationship with the current Administration.”

Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia – Pro-Palestinian participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla, seeking to end the Israeli blockade of Gaza, are adamant that they will continue their mission, despite two attacks on their vessels this week.

Attacks on the vessels docked at Sidi Bou Said port in Tunisia from projectiles on Monday night and Tuesday night led to no casualties, but have shaken flotilla participants.

Organisers have blamed Israel for the attacks and said the boats were hit by drones. Tunisian authorities acknowledged the attacks but said no drones were detected, promising an investigation.

“We are definitely sailing to Gaza, there is nothing that will prevent us sailing to Gaza whatsoever,” said Tara Reynor O’Grady, a 55-year-old Irish human rights activist. “Don’t be distracted by the strikes, they are made to confuse people, then a lot of panic happens, a lot of false information goes around, but we are determined, we are clear and focused in the way we have to achieve our goal, which is to reach Gaza, break the siege and open a humanitarian sea corridor.”

Hundreds of volunteers had assembled on Wednesday at Sidi Bou Said, preparing to set sail. Boats had arrived from Spain on Sunday, with more vessels joining from Tunisia.

However, the flotilla, named after the Arabic word for perseverance, is yet to depart from Tunisia, with preparations continuing.

According to organisers, the plan is for a first wave of vessels – the ones in the best condition – to set sail together to a point in the Mediterranean Sea, where they will rendezvous with other boats departing from ports in Italy and Greece.

Meanwhile, several vessels are still expected to arrive in Tunisia from the first leg, which departed from Barcelona last week. Once repaired and stocked, these ships will form a second wave, departing after the first, meeting up with the rest of the flotilla, and setting course towards the Palestinian shores of the Gaza Strip.

Determined to continue

The attacks earlier this week hit two of the flotilla’s ships – the Family boat, which has had several members of the flotilla’s steering committee, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, on board; and the Alma.

Tadhg Hickey, an Irish comedian, writer and filmmaker who has been on board the Alma, told Al Jazeera that the attacks were “mere distractions”.

“As a team, we remain relaxed and focused on putting our comprehensive training into action, and first and foremost our primary goal of breaking the immoral, illegal siege of Gaza,” Hickey said.

The flotilla’s steering committee has insisted that the vessels will continue on their way to Gaza despite the attacks.

“Israel continues to breach international law and terrorise us. We will sail to break the blockade on Gaza no matter what they do,” one steering committee member, Saif Abukeshek, said.

Some flotilla participants have had to field anguished calls from family members worried about their safety.

“My mother found out about the attack while I was asleep, and she is really struggling,” said one volunteer, who insisted she would carry on to Gaza.

Meanwhile, other activists are worried that they may not be able to get a place on a vessel – with the number of people hoping to join the flotilla now exceeding the available places on participating ships – the exact number of which has been guarded for security reasons.

“I hope I can get a spot in one of the ships, but I think it’s going to be difficult,” said Andrea, a Mexican activist living in Austria.

Powerful sister of North Korea’s leader rejects peace overtures from South Korea, denouncing its continued military drills with the US.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister has again dismissed peace overtures from South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, declaring that Pyongyang will never see Seoul as a partner for diplomacy, according to state media.

The report by KCNA on Wednesday came as South Korea and its ally, the United States, continued their joint military drills, which includes testing an upgraded response to North Korea’s growing nuclear capabilities.

Kim Yo Jong, who is among her brother’s top foreign policy officials, denounced the exercises as a “reckless” invasion rehearsal, according to KCNA, and said that Lee had a “dual personality” by talking about wanting to pursue peace while continuing the war games.

She made the comments during a meeting on Tuesday with senior Foreign Ministry officials about her brother’s diplomatic strategies in the face of persistent threats from rivals and a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape, KCNA reported.

“The Republic of Korea [ROK], which is not serious, weighty and honest, will not have even a subordinate work in the regional diplomatic arena centred on the DPRK [The Democratic Republic of Korea],” Kim said, using the official names for the two countries.

“The ROK cannot be a diplomatic partner of the DPRK,” she added.

The statement followed the latest outreach by Lee, who said last week that Seoul would seek to restore a 2018 military agreement between the two countries aimed at reducing border tensions, while urging Pyongyang to reciprocate by rebuilding trust and resuming dialogue.

Since taking office in June, Lee has moved to repair relations that worsened under his conservative predecessor’s hardline policies, including removing front-line speakers that broadcast anti-North Korean propaganda and K-pop.

In a nationally televised speech on Friday, Lee said his government respects North Korea’s current system and that Seoul “will not pursue any form of unification by absorption and has no intention of engaging in hostile acts”.

But he also stressed that South Korea remains committed to an international push to denuclearise North Korea and urged Pyongyang to resume dialogue with Washington and Seoul.

Kim Yo Jong, who previously dismissed Lee’s overtures as a “miscalculation”, described the latest gestures as “a fancy and a pipe dream”.

“We have witnessed and experienced the dirty political system of the ROK for decades… and now we are sick and tired of it,” she said, claiming that South Korea’s “ambition for confrontation” with North Korea has persisted both under the conservative and liberal governments.

“Lee Jae-myung is not that man to change this flow of history” she continued, adding that “the South Korean “government continues to speak rambling pretence about peace and improving relations in order to lay the blame on us for inter-Korean relations never returning again”.

Kim Yo Jong’s comments follow Kim Jong Un’s statements, carried by KCNA on Tuesday, which called the US-South Korea military exercises an “obvious expression of their will to provoke war”. He also promised a rapid expansion of his nuclear forces as he inspected his most advanced warship being fitted with nuclear-capable systems.

The North Korean leader last year declared that North Korea was abandoning longstanding goals of a peaceful unification with South Korea and rewrote Pyongyang’s constitution to mark Seoul as a permanent enemy.

His government has repeatedly dismissed calls by Washington and Seoul to revive negotiations aimed at winding down his nuclear and missile programmes, which derailed in 2019, after a collapsed summit with US President Donald Trump during his first term.

Kim has also made Moscow the priority of his foreign policy since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, sending troops and weapons to support President Vladimir Putin’s war, while also using the conflict as a distraction to accelerate his military nuclear programme.

Workers at Canada’s flagship carrier defy back-to-work order as they stage first strike in 40 years.

Air Canada flight attendants have said they will remain on strike despite a government-backed labour board’s order to return to work by 2pm ET (18:00 GMT), which they described as unconstitutional.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees said in a statement on Sunday that members would remain on strike and invited Air Canada back to the table to “negotiate a fair deal”.

Canada’s largest airline now says it will resume flights on Monday evening. The strike was already affecting about 130,000 travellers around the world per day during the peak summer travel season.

The Canadian government on Saturday moved to end a strike by more than 10,000 flight attendants at the country’s largest carrier by asking the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to order binding arbitration.

The Canada Labour Code gives the government the power to ask the CIRB to impose binding arbitration in the interest of protecting the economy. The CIRB issued the order, which Air Canada had sought, and unionised flight attendants opposed it.

It is unusual for a union to defy a CIRB order. It was not immediately clear what options the government has if the union continues its strike.

Air Canada flight attendants walked off the job on Saturday for the first time since 1985, after months of negotiations over a new contract.

Natasha Stea, an Air Canada flight attendant and local union president, told Reuters that other unions joined the flight attendants’ picket line in solidarity in Toronto on Sunday.

“They are in support here today because they are seeing our rights being eroded,” Stea said.

The most contentious issue has been the union’s demand for compensation for time spent on the ground between flights and when helping passengers board. Attendants are largely paid only when their plane is moving.

Workers are also unhappy with Air Canada’s proposed wage hikes and other compensation terms, which they see as insufficient to keep pace with inflation or match the federal minimum wage.

At least 66 people are still missing a week after flash floods hit the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, according to an official statement.

Only one body has been recovered so far, the statement added, revising an earlier death toll of four.

Nearly half of Dharali village was submerged on 5 August in a mudslide caused by heavy rains and flash floods. An army camp nearby also suffered extensive damage.

Rescue operations are continuing at the site of the disaster as workers search for missing people. The work has been affected by inclement weather and the blockage of a key highway near the site due to the mudslide.

Weeks of heavy rain have pounded Uttarakhand, with Uttarkashi region – home to Dharali village – among the worst hit by flooding.

Around 1,300 people have been rescued from near Dharali since last week, officials said.

Heavy rains last week had led to the swelling of the Kheerganga river in the region, sending tonnes of muddy waters gushing downwards on the hilly terrain, covering roads, buildings and shops in Dharali and nearby Harsil village.

Videos showed a giant wave of water gushing through the area, crumpling buildings in its path, giving little time for people to escape.

Uttarakhand’s chief minister and other officials initially said the flash floods were caused by a cloudburst, but India’s weather department has not confirmed this.

Vinay Shankar Pandey, a senior local official, said a team of 10 geologists has been sent to the village to determine the cause of the flash floods.

The sludge from Kheerganga blocked a part of the region’s main river Bhagirathi [which becomes India’s holiest river Ganges once it travels downstream] and created an artificial lake, submerging vast tracts of land, including a government helipad.

Rescue workers are still trying to drain the lake, which had initially receded but filled up again after more rains.

Mr Pandey said in a statement that a list of missing people included 24 Nepalese workers, 14 locals, nine army personnel and 13 and six individuals from the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, respectively.

Locals, however, have told reporters that more people from the area are still unaccounted for.

Rescue officials are using helicopters to reach Dharali, which is still blocked by debris.

A temporary bridge has also been built to allow easier access as workers continue to try and clear the blocked roads.

“Efforts are continuously being made to remove the debris and construct roads in Dharali to restore order,” Mr Pandey said.

Sniffer dogs and earth-moving machinery are searching for those trapped beneath the rubble.

A rescue worker told the Press Trust of India that they were manually digging through the debris where a hotel had stood before the disaster hit.

“There was some movement of people in front of it when the disaster struck. The debris here is being dug manually with the help of radar equipment as people might be buried here,” he said.

On Monday, a road-repair machine near Kheerganga plunged into a swollen river; its driver is missing, and the machine remains unrecovered.

India’s weather department has predicted heavy rains and thunderstorms for various parts of Uttarakhand till 14 August with high alerts issued for eight districts, including Garhwal.

Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand – As Thai and Cambodian officials meet for talks in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur to cement a fragile ceasefire, sources on the ground say troops continue to build up on both sides of their disputed border.

Malaysia helped mediate a truce on July 28 that brought to an end five days of fierce clashes between Cambodian and Thai forces.

But the two neighbouring countries have accused the other of violating the terms of the shaky ceasefire, even while their officials attend border talks in Kuala Lumpur that began on Monday.

The four-day summit will conclude on Thursday with a meeting scheduled between Thai Deputy Defence Minister Natthaphon Nakpanit and Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Seiha, which will also be attended by observers from Malaysia, China and the United States.

“It can erupt at any time; the situation is not stable,” said Wasawat Puangpornsri, a member of Thailand’s parliament whose constituency includes Ubon Ratchathani province’s Nam Yuen district on the border with Cambodia.

On Tuesday, Wasawat Puangpornsri visited the area and said a large number of Thai and Cambodian troops were stationed some 50 metres away from each other around the Chong Anma border crossing in Nam Yuen district.

The ongoing tension has stymied efforts to return some 20,000 Thai people to their homes in Ubon Ratchathani, which came under attack on July 24 when simmering tensions exploded into heavy fighting between the two countries.

Wasawat Puangpornsri and other representatives from Thailand’s government were inspecting civilian homes damaged in the area during the fighting to assess reparation payments.

Residents of the area told Al Jazeera that they were already on high alert after a brief firefight in May left one Cambodian soldier dead and diplomatic relations between Bangkok and Phnom Penh soured as a result.

Both militaries blamed each other for firing the first shots during the May incident and also the all-out clashes that erupted on July 24, which included Cambodian forces firing artillery and rockets into civilian neighbourhoods in Thailand and Thai fighter jets bombing Cambodia.

Local Thai resident Phian Somsri said she was feeding her ducks when the explosions started in July.

“I prepared for it, but I never really thought it would happen,” she said, sitting on the tile floor of a Buddhist pagoda where she has been sheltering for more than 10 days.

“Bombs were falling in the rice fields,” Phian Somsri said, recounting to Al Jazeera how she received a frantic phone call while gathering her belongings to flee.

One of her closest friends, known affectionately as Grandma Lao, had just been killed when a rocket struck her house.

“I was shocked and sad, I couldn’t believe it, and I hoped it wasn’t true. But I was also so scared, because at that same time I could hear the gunfire and bombs, and I couldn’t do anything,” she said.

‘I pray everything will be all right and peaceful’

When the guns fell silent on July 28 after five days of fighting, at least 24 civilians had been killed – eight in Cambodia and 16 in Thailand – and more than 260,000 people had been displaced from their homes on both sides of the border.

While the ceasefire is holding, both countries continue to accuse the other of violations since the ceasefire went into effect – even while the General Border Committee meeting talks in Kuala Lumpur got under way this week to prevent further clashes.

Cambodia’s former longtime leader Hun Sen claimed on Sunday that a renewed Thai offensive was imminent, although it never materialised.

Despite handing power to his son, Prime Minister Hun Manet, in 2023, Hun Sen is largely seen as being the country’s real power and continuing to call the shots.

The head of a district in Ubon Ratchathani, located away from the fighting and where displaced Thai people evacuated to, also confirmed that people are not yet returning home due to the ongoing tension and reports of renewed troop build-ups.

The district official, who asked that his name not be used as he was not authorised to talk to the media, said the Thai military is wary of its Cambodian counterpart.

“They don’t trust the Cambodian side,” he said, adding that many of the evacuees have been traumatised by their recent experience.

Netagit, 46, a janitor for a village hospital, told how he was taking refuge at a bomb shelter near a Buddhist temple when his house was destroyed by rocket fire on July 25.

“I have no idea what I’m going to do next,” he told Al Jazeera while inspecting the ruins of his home.

Netagit had lived here with his two children, his wife and her parents. Now his family’s personal belongings have spilled into the street and concrete walls painted a bright blue are crumbled, while a corrugated iron roof lies strewn across the ground in pieces.

At first, he tried to hide the news from his kids that their house had been destroyed.

“I didn’t want to tell them, but they saw the pictures and started crying,” Netagit said. “I’m just trying to prepare myself for whatever comes next,” he added.

Displaced residents in this district hope the outcome of the border talks in Kuala Lumpur will bring stability, but continued troop movements and diplomatic sparring are leaving them anxious.

After a week away from home, Phian Somsri’s husband was allowed to briefly return to check on their property.

By then, all of her ducks had died, she said.

“I feel really overwhelmed, and I just want to go home,” she said.

“I pray everything will be all right and peaceful between the two countries.”

Acting Thai Premier Phumtham Wechayachai accuses Cambodia of ‘not acting in good faith’ ahead of crucial talks.

A meeting to secure a ceasefire following days of a deadly border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia is under way in Malaysia, says a Malaysian official.

Thailand’s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet are holding ceasefire talks on Monday in Malaysia’s administrative capital of Putrajaya at the official residence of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the chair of the regional bloc ASEAN.

The talks between the leaders of the two warring Southeast Asian countries are aimed to halt fighting that has killed at least 35 people and displaced more than 270,000 from both sides of the Thailand-Cambodia border.

The ambassadors of the United States and China were also present at the meeting, the Malaysian official said on Monday, according to a report by the Reuters news agency.

Meanwhile, clashes continue in several areas along Thailand’s disputed border with Cambodia for a fifth day.

In a post on X earlier on Monday, Hun said the purpose of the talks is to achieve an immediate ceasefire in the conflict with Thailand.

However, Phumtham, before departing Bangkok on Monday, told reporters: “We do not believe Cambodia is acting in good faith, based on their actions in addressing the issue. They need to demonstrate genuine intent, and we will assess that during the meeting.”

Thai army spokesperson Colonel Richa Suksuwanon told reporters earlier on Monday that fighting continues along the border, as gunfire could be heard at dawn in Samrong in Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province, The Associated Press news agency reported.

On Sunday, Thailand said one person was killed and another injured after Cambodia fired a rocket in Sisaket province.

Thailand’s military also reported that Cambodian snipers were camping in one of the contested temples, and accused Phnom Penh of surging troops along the border and hammering Thai territory with rockets.

Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defence spokeswoman Maly Socheata on Monday accused Thailand of deploying “a lot of troops” and firing “heavy weapons” into the Cambodian territory.

Socheata claimed that before dawn on Monday, the Thai military targeted areas near the ancient Ta Muen Thom and the Ta Kwai temples, which Cambodia claims are its territory but are being disputed by Thailand.

She also accused the Thai military of firing smoke bombs from aircraft over Cambodian territory and heavy weapons at its soldiers, adding that Cambodian troops “were able to successfully repel the attacks”.

Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, reporting from Thailand’s border province of Surin, said the mediators have been “very reluctant” to acknowledge the holding of talks in the Malaysian capital.

“The Malaysian Foreign Ministry was incredibly nervous. Last week, they had said that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had brokered a peace deal only to be shot down very quickly by the Thai Foreign Ministry,” Cheng said.

Still, Cheng said a mounting death toll and the number of displaced people could give the two leaders the “motivation” to resolve the crisis peacefully.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday said US officials “are on the ground in Malaysia to assist these peace efforts”, while Anwar told domestic media he would focus on securing an “immediate ceasefire”.

At least 62 people have been killed, including 19 who were seeking aid, in Israeli attacks across Gaza, hospital sources told Al Jazeera, and two people died from malnutrition amid growing international outrage over Israel’s conduct in the war.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Thursday that at least 115 Palestinians have starved to death in the enclave since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023. Most of the deaths, which include many children, have been in recent weeks.

Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza in March and has only allowed a trickle of aid into the territory since late May, triggering a dire humanitarian crisis and warnings of mass starvation.

In a statement on Thursday, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned that “families are breaking down” amid the hunger crisis.

“Parents are too hungry to care for their children,” agency head Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X. “Those who reach UNRWA clinics don’t have the energy, food or means to follow medical advice”.

The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, added that Israel has been preventing it from verifying aid waiting at distribution centres.

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said the situation was deteriorating, with Palestinians clamouring for any aid they can find.

“Enforced starvation, enforced dehydration, and hunger are gripping the Gaza Strip, with more people reported with malnutrition and a severe, acute shortage of food supplies and other basic necessities,” he said.

“According to what we hear from health sources, people’s immune systems are falling apart. They’re unable to fight the many diseases that are spreading because their bodies are unable to fight,” he said.

With dire conditions on the ground largely unchanged, international condemnation has continued to grow.

On Thursday, more than 60 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) demanded an emergency meeting to push actions against Israel in a letter sent to European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Lynn Boylan, an Irish member of the European Parliament, accused EU leaders of a double standard when it comes to Palestinian lives.

“Clearly, Palestinian lives are not seen by the elite in the EU as equivalent to, for example, Ukrainian lives,” Boylan told Al Jazeera.

“There’s a chilling effect, that if you dare to speak up against Israel, if you dare to call out the war crimes that you’re witnessing, there is immediately a backlash and an attack,” she said.

Outrage among European leaders has also soared in recent days, with 28 countries earlier this week condemning the aid blockade, while calling for an immediate end to the fighting.

On Thursday, the United Kingdom’s government announced Prime Minister Keir Starmer would hold a call with his German and French counterparts, to “discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need”.

Breakdown in talks

As the humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to spiral, negotiations to end the war again broke down, with US envoy Steve Witkoff announcing that his team was leaving negotiations in Qatar early.

That came shortly after Israel announced it was withdrawing its delegation from the talks.

In a statement, Witkoff accused Hamas of showing “a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire”.

“We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza,” Witkoff said, without elaborating.

Hamas, which has repeatedly accused Israel of blocking a ceasefire agreement, said it was surprised by Witkoff’s remarks.

“The movement affirms its keenness to continue negotiations and engage in them in a manner that helps overcome obstacles and leads to a permanent ceasefire agreement,” said Hamas in a statement released late on Thursday.

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has continued to push for a deal, while simultaneously supporting the displacement of Palestinians from the enclave to nearby countries, in what would potentially constitute ethnic cleansing.

France to recognise Palestine

Late on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced he would officially recognise the State of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Macron said the decision was “in keeping with [France’s] historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East”.

The move will make France the largest and arguably most influential country in Europe to recognise a Palestinian state.

The move was hailed by the deputy of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who said it showed France’s “commitment to international law and its support for the Palestinian people’s rights to self-determination and the establishment of our independent state”.

Israeli officials swiftly condemned the move, with Defence Minister Israel Katz calling it a “disgrace and a surrender to terrorism”.

“We will not allow the establishment of a Palestinian entity that would harm our security, endanger our existence, and undermine our historical right to the Land of Israel,” he said.

Russia has played down expectations of any breakthrough in upcoming talks with Ukraine in Turkiye, as Ukrainian officials said one child was killed and more than 20 people were wounded in overnight Russian attacks.

“We don’t have any reason to hope for some miraculous breakthroughs,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, saying this was “hardly possible in the current situation”.

“We intend to pursue our interests, we intend to ensure our interests and fulfil the tasks that we set for ourselves from the very beginning.”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy‘s announcement late on Monday that talks would take place generated some hope that negotiators would deliver progress on ending the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. United States President Donald Trump has been putting more pressure on Russia to hold talks, which have stalled as Russian President Vladimir Putin stood his ground on his demands.

The third round of talks in recent months is expected to be held in Istanbul on Wednesday. Previous negotiations led to a series of exchanges of prisoners of war and the bodies of fallen soldiers, but produced no breakthrough on a ceasefire.

On Tuesday, Zelenskyy announced on social media that Rustem Umerov, the former defence minister and current secretary of the security council, will head Ukraine’s delegation.

He also said Ukraine was ready to “secure the release of our people from captivity and return of abducted children, to stop the killings, and to prepare a leaders’ meeting”, outlining potential topics for discussion.

Russia has not yet announced the composition of its team for the talks. Its delegation at the previous round was led by a hawkish historian and the current head of the Russian Union of Writers, Vladimir Medinsky, whom Ukraine described as not a real decision-maker.

Asked on Tuesday if he could give a sense of how the Kremlin saw the potential timeframe of a possible peace agreement, Peskov said he could give no guidance on timing.

“There is a lot of work to be done before we can talk about the possibility of some top-level meetings,” Peskov added, a day after Zelenskyy renewed a call for a meeting with Putin.

Despite the upcoming talks, Russia’s offensive continues, with its forces driving hard to break through at eastern and northeastern points on the 1,000km (620-mile) front line.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 426 drones and 24 missiles overnight, making it one of Russia’s largest aerial assaults in months. It said it had downed or jammed at least 224 Russian drones and missiles, while 203 drones disappeared from radars.

In one of the attacks, a 10-year-old boy was killed and five people were wounded when guided glide bombs hit a residential building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, according to Mayor Alexander Goncharenko.

Kramatorsk is part of a metropolitan area in Donetsk that remains under Ukrainian control three years after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A barrage of Russian strikes was also reported in the capital, Kyiv, sparking several fires and damaging an underground air raid shelter where civilians had taken refuge. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region came under multiple waves of attacks, according to regional authorities. A drone hit a petrol station in the town of Putyvl, wounding four people, including a five-year-old boy, the regional military administration reported. A second drone hit the same location less than two hours later, wounding seven people.

Separately, two powerful Russian glide bombs were dropped on Sumy city, wounding at least 13 people, including a six-year-old boy, and damaging five apartment buildings, two private homes and a shopping centre in the attack. The blasts shattered windows and destroyed balconies in residential buildings, acting Mayor Artem Kobzar said.

A few weeks ago, Putin announced his intention to create a “buffer zone” in the Sumy region, effectively by occupying the Ukrainian border areas.

In the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa, there were initial reports of drone attacks in which at least one person was wounded. Fires broke out in several places in the city, according to regional media.

Ukraine also launched attacks, with Russia’s Ministry of Defence saying its air power had downed 35 Ukrainian long-range drones over several regions overnight, including three over the Moscow area.

Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi has said that Tehran cannot give up on its uranium enrichment programme, which was severely damaged by waves of US and Israeli air strikes last month.

“It is now stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe, but obviously, we cannot give up our enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists, and now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” Araghchi told the US broadcaster Fox News in an interview aired on Monday.

Araghchi said at the beginning of the interview that Iran is “open to talks” with the United States, but that they would not be direct talks “for the time being”.

“If they [the US] are coming for a win-win solution, I am ready to engage with them,” he said.

“We are ready to do any confidence-building measure needed to prove that Iran’s nuclear programme is peaceful and would remain peaceful forever, and Iran would never go for nuclear weapons, and in return, we expect them to lift their sanctions,” the foreign minister added.

“So, my message to the United States is that let’s go for a negotiated solution for Iran’s nuclear programme.”

Araghchi’s comments were part of a 16-minute interview aired on Fox News, a broadcaster known to be closely watched by US President Donald Trump.

“There is a negotiated solution for our nuclear programme. We have done it once in the past. We are ready to do it once again,” Araghchi said.

Tehran and Washington had been holding talks on the nuclear programme earlier this year, seven years after Trump pulled the US out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Tehran signed with several world powers in 2015. Under the pact, Iran opened the country’s nuclear sites to comprehensive international inspection in return for the lifting of sanctions.

Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the deal came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran of pursuing a “secret nuclear programme“.

Iran has long maintained that its nuclear enrichment programme is strictly for civilian purposes.

The US and Iran engaged in talks as recently as May to reach a new deal, but those negotiations broke down when Israel launched surprise bombing raids across Iran on June 13, targeting military and nuclear sites.

More than 900 people were killed in Iran, and at least 28 people were killed in Israel before a ceasefire took hold on June 24.

The US also joined Israel in attacking Iranian nuclear facilities, with the Pentagon later claiming it had set back the country’s nuclear programme by one to two years.

Araghchi said on Monday that Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation is still evaluating how the attacks had affected Iran’s enriched material, adding that they will “soon inform” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of its findings.

He said any request for the IAEA to send inspectors would be “carefully considered”.

“We have not stopped our cooperation with the agency,” he claimed.

IAEA inspectors left Iran after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a law suspending cooperation with the IAEA earlier this month.

Tehran had sharply criticised the IAEA and its chief, Rafael Grossi, over a June 12 resolution passed by the IAEA board accusing Tehran of non-compliance with its nuclear obligations.

Iranian officials said the resolution was among the “excuses” that Israel used as a pretext to launch its attacks, which began on June 13 and lasted for 12 days.

Speaking to journalists earlier on Monday, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the United Nations secretary-general, said that the UN welcomed renewed “dialogue between the Europeans and the Iranians”, referring to talks set to take place between Iran, France, Germany and the United Kingdom in Turkiye on Friday.

The three European parties to the former JCPOA agreement have said that Tehran’s failure to resume negotiations would lead to international sanctions being reimposed on Iran.

Keith Meister is worried. The 63-year-old orthopedic surgeon feels as if he’s screaming into a void, his expert opinion falling on deaf ears.

Meister, whose slight Southern twang sweeps into conversation through his 20-plus-year career in the Lone Star State as the Texas Rangers’ team physician, is a leading voice in baseball’s pitching-injury epidemic. Meister wants the sport to err on the side of caution and create change to save pitchers’ arms. The trend, Meister says, stems from the industry-wide push to increase speed, spin and break at all costs.

While MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Assn. bicker about what’s causing the problem and how to solve it, the doctor provides his perspective. He just wants the 17-year-old high schooler, the 23-year-old college pitcher, and the 32-year-old MLB veteran to stop showing up at his office.

“It’s not going to change at the lower levels until it changes at the highest level,” Meister said in a phone interview. “I don’t see a motivation within Major League Baseball to change anything that would enhance the level of safety.”

MLB asked Meister to sit on a committee examining the growth in pitcher injuries about 18 months ago, he said. Meister says the committee never met. (MLB did not respond to a request for comment about the committee.)

Injury is among the biggest risks for youth pitchers looking for the all-too-sought-after faster fastball. Their quest to emulate their heroes, such as hard-throwing veteran starters and stars Justin Verlander and Jacob deGrom, has caused them to need the same surgeries as the pros.

Trickling down, it’s the teenager, the budding pitching prospect desperate to land his Division I scholarship, who is hurt the most. MLB teams wave around multimillion-dollar signing bonuses for the MLB Draft. Those same pitchers hurt their elbows after pushing their abilities to the extreme, calling into action surgeons such as Meister.

“It’s an even bigger problem than it appears,” said David Vaught, a baseball historian, author and history professor at Texas A&M. “This goes back into high school or before that, this notion that you throw as hard as possible. … It’s so embedded, embedded in the baseball society.”

Tommy John surgery saves careers. But as pitchers across baseball push for higher velocity, more hurlers are going under the knife — for a first time, a second time and in some instances, a third or fourth procedure.

MLB pitching velocity steadily rose from 2008 to 2023, with average fastball velocity going from 91.9 mph to 94.2. According to Meister, the total number of elbow ligament surgeries in professional baseball in 2023 was greater than in the 1990s altogether. A 2015 study revealed 56.8% of Tommy John surgeries are for athletes in the 15- to 19-year-old age range.

“It’s like the soldiers on the front lines — they come into the tent with bullet wounds,” Meister said. “You take the bullets out, you patch them back up and you send them back out there to get shot up again.”

“It’s like the soldiers on the front lines — they come into the tent with bullet wounds,” Orthopedic surgeon Keith Meister said about performing Tommy John surgeries. “You take the bullets out, you patch them back up and you send them back out there to get shot up again.”

(Tom Fox / The Dallas Morning News)

MLB released a report on pitcher injuries in December 2024. The much-anticipated study concluded that increased pitching velocity, “optimizing stuff” — which MLB defines as movement characteristics of pitches (spin, vertical movement and horizontal movement) — and pitchers using maximum effort were the “most significant” causes of the increase in arm injuries.

Meister was interviewed for the report. He knew all that years ago. He was yelling from the proverbial rooftop as MLB took more than a year (the league commissioned the study in 2023) to conclude what the doctor considered basic knowledge.

“Nothing there that hadn’t been talked about before, and no suggestion for what needs to be changed,” Meister said to The Times Wednesday.

Although pitching development labs such as Driveline Baseball and Tread Athletics provide fresh ideas, Meister said he does not entirely blame them for the epidemic.

It’s basic economics. There’s a demand for throwing harder and the industry is filling the void.

However, Meister sees the dramatic increase in velocity for youth pitchers, such as a 10-mph boost in velocity within six months, as dangerous.

“That’s called child abuse,” Meister said. “The body can’t accommodate. It just can’t. It’s like taking a Corolla and dropping a Ferrari engine in it and saying, ‘Go ahead and drive that car, take it on the track, put the gas pedal to the metal and ask for that car to hold itself together.’ It’s impossible.”

On the other end of the arm-injury epidemic is the player lying on his back, humming along to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” as an air-cast-like device engulfs his arm, pressurizing the forearm and elbow.

The noise of the giant arm sleeve fills the room of Beimel Elite Athletics, a baseball training lab based in Torrance — owned by former MLB pitcher Joe Beimel. It generates Darth Vader-like noises, compressing up and down with a Krissshhhh Hhhwoooo… Krissshhhh Hhhwoooo.

Greg Dukeman, a Beimel Elite Athletics pitching coach whose 6-foot-8 frame towers over everyone in the facility, quipped that the elbow of the pitcher undergoing treatment was “barking.”

For professional and youth players alike, this technology, along with red-light therapy — a non-intrusive light treatment that increases cellular processes to heal tissue — and periodic ice baths, is just one example of how Beimel attempts to treat athletes as they tax their bodies, hoping to heal micro-tears in the arm without surgical intervention.

With little to no research publicly available on how high-velocity-and-movement training methods are hurting or — albeit highly unlikely — helping pitchers’ elbows and shoulders, Meister said, it’s often free rein with little — if any — guardrails.

Josh Mitchell, director of player development at Beimel’s Torrance lab, said that’s not exactly the case in their baseball performance program. Beimel will only work with youth athletes who are ready to take the next step, he said.

“You got the 9- and 10-year-olds, they’re not ready yet,” Mitchell said. “The 13- and 14-year-olds, before they graduate out of the youth and into our elite program, we’ll introduce the [velocity] training because they’re going to get it way more in that next phase.”

Beimel uses motion capture to provide pitching feedback, and uses health technology that coincides with its athletes having to self-report daily to track overexertion and determine how best to use their bodies.

Their goal is to provide as much support to their athletes as possible, using their facilities as a gym, baseball lab and pseudo health clinic.

Joe Beimel pitched for eight teams, including the Dodgers, over the course of a 13-year career.

(Ted S. Warren / Associated Press)

Mitchell knows the pleasure and pain of modern-day pitching development. The Ridgway, Pa., native’s professional career was waning at the Single-A level before the Minnesota Twins acquired him in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 Draft.

The Twins, Mitchell said, embraced the cutting-edge technique of pitching velocity, seeing improvements across the board as he reached the Double-A level for the first time in his career in 2021. But Mitchell, whose bushy beard and joking personality complement a perpetually smiling visage, turned serious when explaining the end of his career.

“I’m gonna do what I know is gonna help me get bigger, stronger, faster,” said Mitchell, who jumped from throwing around 90 miles per hour to reaching as high as 98 mph on the radar gun. “And I did — to my arm’s expense, though.”

Mitchell underwent two Tommy John surgeries in less than a year and a half.

Mitchell became the wounded soldier that Meister so passionately recounted. Now, partially because of advanced training methods, youth athletes are more likely to visit that proverbial medic’s tent.

“There’s a saying around [young] baseball players that if you’re not throwing like, over 80 miles per hour and you’re not risking Tommy John, you’re not throwing hard enough,” said Daniel Acevedo, an orthopedic surgeon based in Thousand Oaks, Calif., who mostly sees youth-level athletes.

In MLB’s report, an independent pitching development coach, who was unnamed, blamed “baseball society” for creating a velocity obsession. That velocity obsession has become a career route, an industry, a success story for baseball development companies across the country.

Driveline focuses on the never-ending “how” of baseball development. How can the pitcher throw harder, with more break, or spin? And it’s not just the pitchers. How can the hitter change his swing pattern to hit the ball farther and faster? Since then, baseball players from across levels have flocked to Driveline’s facilities and those like it to learn how to improve and level up.

“Maybe five or six years ago, if you throw 90-plus, you have a shot to play beyond college,” said Dylan Gargas, Arizona pitching coordinator for Driveline Baseball. “Now that barrier to entry just keeps getting higher and higher because guys throw harder.”

MLB players have even ditched their clubs midseason in hopes to unlock something to improve their pitching repertoire. Boston Red Sox right-handed pitcher Walker Buehler left the Dodgers last season to test himself at the Cressey Sports Performance training center near Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., before returning to eventually pitch the final out of the 2024 World Series.

Driveline is not alone.

Ben Brewster, co-founder of Tread Athletics, another baseball development company based in North Carolina, said high-school-aged players have been attracted to his performance facility because they see the results that MLB players and teammates achieve after continued training sessions.

Tread Athletics claims to have a role in more than 250 combined MLB draft picks or free agent signings, and says it has helped more than 1,000 high school players earn college opportunities.

Kansas City Royals left-hander Cole Ragans achieved a 4.4-mph increase from 2022 to 2023, the largest in MLB that year. With the velocity increase after his work at Tread Athletics, Ragans went from a league-average relief pitcher to a postseason ace in less than a year.

Kansas City Royals left-hander Cole Ragans achieved a 4.4-mph increase from 2022 to 2023, the largest in MLB that year, after his work with Tread Athletics.

(Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

So what makes Ragans’ development different from that of a teenage prospect reaching out to Tread Athletics?

“Ragans still could go from 92-94 miles per hour to 96 to 101,” Brewster said. “He still has room, but relatively speaking, he was a lot closer to his potential than, like, a random 15-year-old kid throwing 73 miles per hour.”

Meister knows Ragans well. When the southpaw was a member of the Rangers’ organization, the orthopedic surgeon performed Tommy John surgery on Ragans twice. (Ragans has also battled a rotator cuff strain this season and has been out since early June.)

“These velocities and these spin rates are very worrisome,” Meister said. “And we see that in, in and of itself, just in looking at how long these Tommy John procedures last.”

Throwing hard is not an overnight experience. Brewster shared a stern warning for the pitching development process, using weightlifting as an example. He said weightlifters can try to squat 500 pounds daily without days off, or attempt to squat 500 pounds with their knees caving in and buckling because of terrible form. There’s no 100% safe way to lift 500 pounds, just like there is no fail-safe way of throwing 100 mph. There’s always risk. It’s all in the form. Lifting is a science, and so is pitching — finding the safest way to train to increase velocity without injury.

“The responsible way to squat 500 pounds would be going up in weight over time, having great form and monitoring to make sure you’re not going too heavy, too soon,” Brewster said. “When it comes to pitching, you can manage workload. You can make sure that mechanically, they don’t have any glaring red flags.”

Brewster added that Tread, as of July, is actively creating its own data sets to explore how UCLs are affected by training methods, and how to use load management to skirt potential injuries.

MLB admitted to a “lack [of] comprehensive data to examine injury trends for amateur players” in its December report. It points to a lack of college data as well, where most Division I programs use such technology.

The Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopedic Center based in Birmingham, Ala. — founded by James Andrews, the former orthopedic surgeon to the stars — provided in-house data within MLB’s report, showing that the amount of UCL surgeries conducted for high school pitchers in their clinic has risen to as high as 60% of the total since 2015, while remaining above 40% overall through 2023.

Meister said baseball development companies may look great on the periphery — sending youth players to top colleges and the professional ranks — but it’s worth noting what they aren’t sharing publicly.

“What they don’t show you is that [youth athletes] are walking into our offices, three or six months or nine months later.”