UN Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher has inspected damage in Gaza City as the agency plans to ramp up its humanitarian relief efforts. He visited a destroyed water treatment plant and emphasised the enormity of the response needed.
The stench of decay extends miles beyond Poza Rica in one of the regions most devastated by last week’s torrential rains that inundated central and eastern Mexico.
By Wednesday, the official death toll had reached 66, with the number of missing people increasing to 75. Nearly 200 communities remain isolated — predominantly in Hidalgo’s central mountainous region, where persistent cloud cover has hindered helicopter access.
A persistent dust cloud hangs over the main avenue of Poza Rica, a gulf-adjacent oil-producing city, where soldiers laboured continuously. To the east, near the overflowed Cazones River, numerous streets remained submerged under 3 feet (about 1 metre) of water and mud, covered by an additional 6 feet of accumulated rubbish, furniture, and debris.
“A week later, this looks horrible — worse. You can’t even cross the street,” lamented Ana Luz Saucedo, who escaped with her children when water rushed in “like the sea”.
She now fears disease because a decomposing body near her home remains uncollected. “The dead body has already started to rot, and no one has come for him.”
The impact of last week’s catastrophic rains, floods, and landslides continues to unfold as Mexico’s government proceeds with rescue and recovery operations.
Officials attribute the disaster to multiple converging weather systems — two tropical systems colliding with warm and cold fronts — arriving as an unusually intense rainy season concluded, leaving saturated rivers and unstable hillsides.
Residents like Saucedo believe warnings were insufficient, particularly in Poza Rica.
“Many people died because they didn’t give notice — really, they didn’t warn us,” she said. “They came only when the river was already overflowing … not before, so people could evacuate.”
President Claudia Sheinbaum explained that alert systems for such events differ from hurricane warnings. She acknowledged the need to review river maintenance and emergency protocols after the crisis to determine “what worked, what we need to improve and whether there are better alert mechanisms”.
Military, naval, and civilian emergency teams continue operating across affected states, supplemented by hundreds of volunteers.
In Poza Rica, women from Veracruz distributed clothing and 1,000 pots of homemade tamales to flood victims.
Meanwhile, authorities work to clear blocked roadways, restore electricity, and monitor dams — many now at maximum capacity.
Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke has opened up about his wife Hannah Summers’ battle with endometriosis and the couple’s IVF journey to parenthood
Strictly Come Dancing star, Anton Du Beke with wife, Hannah
Strictly judge Anton Du Beke has opened up about his wife’s agonising battle with endometriosis and how it affected their journey to parenthood.
The BBC favourite married marketing executive Hannah Summers in 2017, having first met at Wentworth Golf Club in Surrey back in 2012. The pair welcomed twins George and Henrietta soon after tying the knot, following IVF treatment.
But Anton revealed on Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy mum Happy Baby podcast that Hannah had doubts about their ability to conceive because of her crippling condition.
The professional dancer admitted he “couldn’t understand the universe” after witnessing Hannah’s bond with her nephews, before opening up about their IVF experience.
He said: “I knew I wanted to be with her, I saw her with her nephews. She’s so kind and so caring, I just couldn’t understand the universe.”, reports Lancs Live, reports Wales Online.
“And whoever is upstairs, if anyone’s upstairs, looking down and going ‘you are the most perfect person to have children, but I’m not going to let you have any children because I’m going to give you this’.
“And I’m going to say ‘you’re going to have this endometriosis, and you’re going to suffer with this all of your life, chronically, and I’m not going to let you have any children.
“I thought that was peculiar, cruel, and inexplicable and unforgivable. And if ever I go up to somewhere and meet this person I would say ‘I think you’re not OK with decisions like this, this doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Anton has candidly spoken about the hurdles he and wife Hannah encountered during their fertility treatment, which ultimately brought them closer together.
The couple were blessed when the treatment worked first time, resulting in the birth of twins George and Henrietta in 2017, with their nuptials taking place later that same year.
In an emotional chat with Giovanna, Anton admitted his previous lack of understanding about endometriosis and highlighted the urgent need for increased government funding in women’s health.
Reflecting on their journey, he shared: “Then we went through the process of IVF, well crying out loud. You girls are extraordinary. As much as I want to get involved, all I can do is hold your hand. It makes me emotional every time I talk about it. The injections, the stress, the anxiety. I have anxiety and stress but it’s not my body.
“She has these injections and the bruises in the bum, in the thigh, in the stomach. And you’re trying to help but what can you do? Whatever you want, tell me and I’ll do it but that’s all you have and it’s horrendous as a man to watch it.
“You feel so inadequate and you want to do so much more but I can’t do anything. And that’s why you girls are so extraordinary, you’re extraordinary that you do all this stuff.”
Joy turned to devastation for many after Israel added a twist to its release of almost 2,000 imprisoned Palestinians as part of the ceasefire deal. It’s sending 154 into exile, refusing to let them back into Gaza or the occupied West Bank.
Super Typhoon Ragasa, among the most powerful storms to strike Asia in recent years, has hurled waves higher than lampposts across Hong Kong’s promenades and churned coastal waters along southern China after leaving a trail of devastation in Taiwan and the Philippines.
The death toll in Taiwan reached 14 after floodwaters submerged roads and swept away vehicles, while 10 fatalities were confirmed in the northern Philippines.
In Guangdong province, China’s southern economic hub, more than two million residents were evacuated, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.
As Ragasa continues its westward trajectory, authorities suspended select train services in the Guangxi region on Thursday. Chinese officials have allocated tens of millions of dollars towards disaster relief efforts.
Initially, schools, factories and transportation services were suspended across approximately 12 cities, but some areas farther from the landfall site began preparations to resume operations as wind intensity diminished.
Before reaching China, Ragasa inflicted casualties and destruction in Taiwan and the Philippines as it tracked between the two territories.
In Taiwan, the death toll reached 14 after torrential rain caused a barrier lake in Hualien County to overflow on Tuesday, unleashing muddy floodwaters that destroyed a bridge and transformed Guangfu township roads into violent currents carrying away vehicles and furniture.
Of Guangfu’s approximately 8,450 residents, more than half were able to seek refuge on higher floors or elevated terrain.
Rescue teams established contact with more than 100 previously unreachable individuals in Hualien and conducted door-to-door checks on the remaining 17 residents. Across the self-ruled island, 32 people sustained injuries.
In the northern Philippines, at least 10 deaths were reported, including seven fishermen who drowned on Monday when massive waves and fierce winds capsized their boat off Santa Ana in northern Cagayan province. Five additional fishermen remain missing, according to provincial officials.
Nearly 700,000 people were affected by the catastrophic storm, with 25,000 seeking shelter in government emergency facilities.
Khas Kunar, Afghanistan – Stoori was pulled out from under the rubble of his house in Kunar province after it was destroyed by the magnitude 6 earthquake which struck on the night of August 31. But the guilt of not being able to save his wife haunts him.
“I barely had enough time to pull out the body of my dead wife and place her on the rubble of our collapsed home before my children and I were evacuated,” the grief-stricken 40-year-old farmer says.
Authorities say about 2,200 people have been killed and more than 5,000 homes destroyed in eastern Afghanistan, most of them in Kunar province, where houses mostly built from wood and mud bricks crumbled in the shocks of the quake.
Stoori, who only gave one name, is now staying with his children in a sprawling evacuation camp 60km (37 miles) from his village – in Khas Kunar.
“My village has become a graveyard. All 40 families lost their homes. The earthquake killed 12 people in my community and left 22 others badly injured,” he says.
Stoori, a 40-year-old farmer, lost his wife in the earthquake. He has had to move to a displacement camp with his children [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
Winter is coming
In all, the UN says half a million people have been affected by the quake.
In this camp, which is lined with tents provided by international NGOs, nearly 5,000 people are sheltering, each with stories of loss and pain.
Thankfully, the camp has access to water and sanitation, and there are two small clinics ready to receive injured newcomers, as well as an ambulance which can be dispatched to collect people.
Right now, workers are digging a trench to install another water pipe, which will divert water to areas in need around the camp.
Just a few hundred metres away, what were once United States military warehouses have been transformed into government offices coordinating the emergency response.
Inside the displacement camp in eastern Afghanistan [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
The Taliban, which returned to power after US-led forces withdrew in 2021 after 20 years of occupation, has been overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster.
Tens of thousands of people are without any shelter at all just weeks before the onset of winter, and the mountainous terrain makes relief and rescue efforts difficult.
Najibullah Haqqani, Kunar’s provincial director for the Ministry of Information and Culture, says the authorities are working through a three-step emergency plan: Evacuate those at risk, provide shelter, food, and medical care in camps, and, eventually, rebuild homes or find permanent housing.
But the situation is becoming more challenging by the day. “Fortunately, we have received support from the government, local businesses, volunteers and international NGOs. They all came and helped with food and money for the displaced people,” he tells Al Jazeera.
The tents provided by international NGOs are sheltering 5,000 people in this camp [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
‘The smell of dead animals fills the air’
More than 10 days after the tremor, new arrivals join the camp daily, inside the fortified walls of the former US base on the banks of the Kabul River.
Among them is Nurghal, a 52-year-old farmer from Shalatak village who was able to reunite with the surviving members of his family only on Wednesday morning. “From my large extended family, 52 people were killed and almost 70 were left badly injured,” he says. The devastation is “unimaginable”, he adds.
“The weather is cold in our area, and we don’t sleep outside this time of the year. That is why many people were trapped in their houses when the earthquake hit, and they were killed. Everything is destroyed back home, and all our animals are buried in debris. The smell of dead animals fills the air in my village.”
Life before the quake, he says, was stable. “Before the earthquake, we had everything we wanted: A home, livestock, our crops, and land. Now life is in the hospital and tents.”
Nurghal, a 52-year-old farmer from Shalatak village, has lost 52 relatives to the earthquake [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
Women face particular challenges in the aftermath of this disaster, as Taliban laws prevent them from travelling without male guardians – meaning it is hard for them to either get medical assistance or, in the case of female medical workers, to provide it.
The World Health Organization (WHO) asked Taliban authorities last week to lift travel restrictions for Afghan female aid workers, at least, to allow them to travel to help women in difficulties following the earthquake.
“A very big issue now is the increasing paucity of female staff in these places,” Dr Mukta Sharma, the deputy representative of WHO’s Afghanistan office, told the Reuters news agency.
Furthermore, since women have been banned from higher education by the Taliban, the number of qualified female medical staff is dwindling.
Despite these difficulties, the Taliban leadership says it is committed to ensuring that women will be properly treated, by male health workers if necessary.
Haqqani, Kunar’s provincial director for the Ministry of Information and Culture, tells Al Jazeera: “During the emergency situation, the military and volunteers evacuated and cared for everyone. On the second day, UNICEF set up a medical clinic in Nurghal district and they had female doctors as well. We took as many injured people as the clinic could handle there and they were treating everyone, male and female. In any emergency situation, there is no gender-based discrimination; any doctor available will treat any patients coming in. The priority is life saving.”
At a field hospital which has been set up inside the old US barracks by the displacement camp at Khas Kunar, six male doctors and one female doctor, 16 male nurses and 12 female nurses are tending to the injured. Currently, there are 34 patients here, 24 of whom are women and children – most of them were taken to Gamberi from their remote villages by Taliban military helicopters and then transferred the last 50km (30 miles) to the hospital by car.
The hospital’s director, Dr Shahid, who only gave one name, says male doctors and nurses are permitted to treat women and have been doing so without any issue.
The building housing the field hospital near the displacement camp, where the wounded are being brought [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
‘A curse from the sky’
From his bed in the field hospital, Azim, a farmer in his mid-40s from Sohail Tangy village, 60km (37 miles) away, is recovering from fractures to his spine and right shoulder.
He fears returning to the devastation at home.
“The earthquake was like a curse from the sky. I don’t want to move back to that hell,” he tells Al Jazeera. “The government should give us land to rebuild our lives. My village has become the centre of destruction. My only request is to give us land somewhere else.”
Azim is still coming to terms with the loss of his loved ones. “Yesterday, my son told me that three of my brothers are dead. Some of my family members are in the Kabul and Jalalabad hospitals. And my wife is in Kabul military hospital,” he says.
Azim, a farmer from Sohail Tangy village, whose three brothers were killed in the earthquake, is recovering from fractures to his spine and right shoulder [Sorin Furcoi/Al Jazeera]
Back in the evacuation camp, Stoori says he is holding onto hope, but only just.
“If God blesses us, maybe we can go back to our village before the winter comes,” he says.
“We have nothing left except our trust in God, and we ask the international community and authorities for help.”
Lula approved the controversial bill easing environmental licensing rules, but struck down or altered 63 articles.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has signed into law a bill easing environmental licensing rules, but bowed to pressure from activist groups as he vetoed key provisions that would have made it easier for companies to secure environmental permits.
Lula approved on Friday what detractors have dubbed the “devastation bill”, but struck down or altered 63 of its nearly 400 articles, his office’s executive secretary, Miriam Belchior, told reporters.
The president had faced mounting pressure from environmental groups to intervene in the bill, which was backed by Brazil’s powerful agribusiness sector and focused on rolling back strict licensing rules that had kept the destruction of the Amazon rainforest in check.
A previous version of the bill adopted by lawmakers last month would have meant that for some permits, all that would have been required is a simple declaration of the company’s environmental commitment.
Lula’s revisions, however, reinstated the current strict licensing rules for strategic projects.
Belchior said the new proposal sought to preserve the integrity of the licensing process, ensure legal certainty, and protect the rights of Indigenous and Quilombola communities.
She added that Lula will introduce a “Special Environmental Licence” designed to fast-track strategic projects while filling the legal gaps created by the vetoes.
“We maintained what we consider to be significant advances in streamlining the environmental licensing process,” she said.
Nongovernmental organisation SOS Atlantic Forest, which garnered more than a million signatures calling for a veto of the law, hailed Lula’s move as “a victory” for environmental protection.
Lula’s environmental vetoes
Of the provisions struck down by Lula, 26 were vetoed outright, while another 37 will either be replaced with alternative text or modified in a new bill that will be sent to Congress for ratification under a constitutional urgency procedure.
Securing support for the amendments is far from guaranteed for the leftist leader. Brazil’s conservative-dominated Congress has repeatedly defeated key government proposals, including overturning previous presidential vetoes.
Lawmakers aligned with embattled ex-president Jair Bolsonaro are also blocking legislative activity amid an escalating political standoff, as they call for the former president’s charges around an alleged failed coup attempt in 2022 to be dropped.
Speaking at a Friday news conference in the capital, Brasilia, Environment Minister Marina Silva maintained a positive tone, telling reporters that Lula’s vetoes would ensure that “the economy does not compete with ecology, but rather they are part of the same equation”.
“We hope to be able to streamline licensing processes without compromising their quality, which is essential for environmental protection at a time of climate crisis, biodiversity loss and desertification,” said Silva.
Silva said a previous version of the bill, approved by Congress last month, threatened the country’s pledge to eliminate deforestation by 2030 and described it as a “death blow” to Brazil’s licensing framework.
But, she said, Lula’s revised version meant Brazil’s “targets to reach zero deforestation” and its goal to “cut CO2 emissions by between 59 percent and 67 percent remain fully on track”.
Lula’s environmental credentials are under close scrutiny in advance of the annual UN climate summit in November in the Amazon city of Belem.
Rescuers working at a site of a strike following a mass Russian drone and missile attack on the Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine on July 4, 2025. The European Commission announced a $2.7 billion fund to help Ukraine recover from war. Photo by State Emergency Service of Ukraine/UPI | License Photo
July 10 (UPI) — The European Commission on Wednesday announced a $2.7 billion package of agreements with financial institutions to support Ukraine‘s recovery and reconstruction efforts.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the European Flagship Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome.
“Today, the EU reaffirms its role as Ukraine’s strongest partner. Not just its top donor, but a key investor in its future,” President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said. “With $2.7 billion in agreements signed, we aim to unlock up to $11.7 billion in investments to rebuild homes, reopen hospitals, revive businesses, and secure energy. This is solidarity in action. Ukraine is moving closer to the EU every day — in energy, education, roaming, and culture. Europe stands with Ukraine — today and tomorrow.”
“(It will be) the largest equity fund globally to support reconstruction,” she said. “It will, together with the private sector, kickstart investment in energy, transport, critical raw materials, dual-use industries. We are taking a stake in Ukraine’s future by leveraging public money to bring large-scale private sector investments and help the rebuilding of the country.”
Von der Leyen named as contributors Italy, Germany, France, Poland and the European Investment Bank. She said, “I trust others will be eager to join. The people of Ukraine are ready to drive their country’s economy into the future. The time to invest is now.”
Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko said on Wednesday that the country will need at least $40 billion in external financing in 2026 because it now allocates most of its budget to defense.
With an initial capital of $257 million, the fund plans to mobilize $584 million by 2026 – with further fundraising planned as security conditions improve, a press release said. The Flagship Fund will foster the developmzent of a private equity ecosystem in Ukraine to attract new capital and “maximize synergies with existing market players.”
Bangkok, Thailand – A brief text message informed Chonlada Siangkong that she had lost her job at a solar cell factory in Rayong, eastern Thailand.
The factory operated by Standard Energy Co, a subsidiary of Singaporean solar cell giant GSTAR, shut its doors last month in anticipation of United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs on solar panel exports from Southeast Asia.
From Monday, US Customs and Border Protection will begin imposing tariffs ranging from 375 percent to more than 3,500 percent on imports from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia.
The punishing duties, introduced in response to alleged unfair trade practices by Chinese-owned factories in the region, have raised questions about the continuing viability of Southeast Asia’s solar export trade, the source of about 80 percent of solar products sold in the US.
Like thousands of other workers in Thailand and across the region, Chonlada, a 33-year-old mother of one, is suddenly facing a more precarious future amid the trade crackdown.
“We were all shocked. The next day, they told us not to come to work and would not pay for compensation,” Chonlada told Al Jazeera.
US officials say Chinese producers have used Southeast Asian countries to skirt tariffs on China and “dump” cheap solar panels in the US market, harming their businesses.
US trade officials have named Jinko Solar, Trina Solar, Taihua New Energy Hounen, Sunshine Electrical Energy, Runergy and Boviet – all of which have major operations in Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia or Vietnam – as the worst offenders.
Solar panels are pictured on the roof of a building in Bangkok, Thailand, on August 9, 2017 [Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters]
Thai solar exports to the US were worth more than $3.7bn in 2023, just behind Vietnam at $3.9bn, according to the latest US trade data.
Standard Energy Co’s $300m facility in Rayong had been in operation for less than a year, producing its first solar cell to great fanfare in August.
“I’m baffled by what’s just happened,” Kanyawee, a production line manager at Standard Energy who asked to be referred to by his first name only, told Al Jazeera.
“New machines have just landed and we barely used them, they’re very costly too – a few million baht for each machine. They’ve also ordered tonnes of raw materials waiting to be produced.”
Ben McCarron, managing director of the risk consultancy Asia Research & Engagement, said Southeast Asian manufacturers are facing a serious hit from the US turn towards protectionism.
“There are suggestions that manufacturing might exit Southeast Asia entirely if tariffs are introduced either in a blanket way, or that specifically address Chinese-owned manufacturing capacity in the region,” McCarron told Al Jazeera.
“The implications are significant for these countries; Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia accounted for about 80 percent of the US’s solar imports in 2024,” McCarron said, adding that “some manufacturers have already begun shutting down and moving out of the region”.
Unfair advantage
US officials and businesses have accused China of giving its solar firms an unfair market advantage with subsidies.
China was the largest funder of clean energy in Southeast Asia between 2013 and 2023, pouring $2.7bn into projects in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, according to Zero Carbon Analytics.
The American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee, a coalition of seven industry players, was among the loudest voices to lobby for a sharp rise in levies on Chinese imports.
Without a reprieve from the notoriously unpredictable Trump, companies affected by the tariffs have little recourse apart from the ability to file an appeal once a year, or after five years, once a “sunset review” clause takes effect.
Some observers believe the sector may never recover.
“It’s not just the low-skilled labour that was affected by the trade war; many workers in the solar cell supply chain are technicians, skilled labourers,” Tara Buakamsri, an adviser to environmental organisation Greenpeace, told Al Jazeera.
“Even if you make a lot of savings, solar cell exporters would still need to cut down on these skilled workers.”
Others take a more bullish view, arguing that, once the dust has settled, Chinese solar firms will drive the supply of products needed to meet regional emissions targets.
While Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam welcomed Chinese solar companies in part due to the large sums of up-front investment on offer, they are all also seeking to meet more of their energy needs with cleaner sources.
Before Trump entered office with his tariff agenda, Thailand had announced plans to become carbon neutral by 2050 and produce net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2065.
Employees of a solar farm company take notes in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, on October 3, 2013 [Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters]
“A slowdown [or halt] in solar exports as a result of US tariffs may supercharge efforts in Southeast Asian markets by Chinese solar companies, which see the region as a critical and well-aligned destination for green technologies,” McCarron said.
“Leftover supply from slowing exports could be absorbed by domestic markets in Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, particularly if governments use the situation as a cost-effective opportunity to rapidly accelerate policy initiatives that stimulate domestic solar.”
For Southeast Asia’s solar companies, survival is also likely to depend on governments cutting red tape and loosening the control of oil and gas monopolies over the energy mix.
At the same time, the US’s exclusion of Southeast Asian solar imports could hamper the shift towards greener energy in the world’s top economy.
“Thailand’s solar cell production is heavily export-driven and the US has historically been a major export destination,” Pavida Pananond, a professor of international business at Thammasat Business School in Bangkok, told Al Jazeera.
But solar tariffs will “also hurt American consumers and the green transition in the US as prices become higher”.
