Sunday marks one week since Israeli settlers began their siege of Qusra, a Palestinian village south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
Since August 9, dozens of Israeli settlers have surrounded three Palestinian homes in the Ras al-Ain area on the edge of the village, cutting off water and electricity as food and other supplies run low. About 15 Palestinians from the Abu Rida and Hassan families live in these homes, among them two children under the age of seven and one belonging to a dual US citizen. Residents said settlers from nearby outposts have been trying to take the properties for months.
On Thursday, the Israeli military ordered the residents of two of the houses to leave and forced them all into the third. That same day, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a staunch supporter of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, described the settlers besieging the homes as “Israeli terrorists“. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the siege, calling it criminal and inhumane.
Over the course of the week, the Israeli army declared the area a closed military zone and blocked Israeli and foreign activists from reaching the besieged families. Reporting from Qusra on Sunday, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said the UN was able to bring in some aid that morning after coordinating with the Israeli military.
Where is Qusra?
Qusra sits in Area B, which makes up about 21 percent of the West Bank. It is where the Palestinian Authority runs civil affairs, such as education, healthcare and the economy, but Israel retains full security control and its forces can enter at will.
Odeh said the sequence in Qusra is following a pattern repeated across the West Bank: The Israeli army deploys to an area, takes over Palestinian homes and dispossesses residents of their properties while settlers face no arrests.
Average of six settler attacks each day
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, from January 2025 to June 2025, there were at least 3,033 settler attacks in the occupied West Bank – an average of six per day.
Settlements built illegally on Palestinian land
Last month, a similar siege in the neighbouring village of Jalud displaced Palestinian families from their land, which settlers then took over. Qusra itself has faced repeated attacks, including the burning of a newly built mosque last month.
Since October 7, 2023, when Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza began, settler attacks and land grabs have intensified in the West Bank under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, which has backed a rapid expansion of settlements.
About 700,000 Israelis live in settlements, which are illegal under international law. About three million Palestinians also live in the West Bank. Israel has occupied the region since 1967.
Search and rescue teams are racing against time across western Colombia after a powerful earthquake killed at least 132 people and left thousands missing, authorities say.
The magnitude 7.4 quake struck on Monday, rattling Cali, Quibdo, Pereira and dozens of other cities and towns. About 1,600 buildings have been reported damaged or collapsed, with soldiers, emergency crews and residents working side by side, passing chunks of concrete by hand as they search for survivors under the rubble.
Families are posting details of missing relatives on citizen-run websites; by Monday night more than 2,700 people had been reported missing. In El Cairo, near the epicentre in San Jose del Palmar, local officials say 80 percent of the town, home to about 7,000 people, has been damaged. Many of its traditional houses, made of sticks and mud, crumpled in the tremors.
President Abelardo de la Espriella, facing his first major crisis since taking office on Friday, has deployed “the entire military and police apparatus”, sending engineers, rescue teams and search dogs into the worst-hit areas. The US has pledged $15.5m in emergency aid, as regional governments also offer support to one of Colombia’s poorest and most isolated regions.
Israeli forces have entered homes and shops in the occupied West Bank’s Qalandiya refugee camp, near Ramallah, issuing demolition threats against businesses.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Wednesday that eight Palestinian people were taken to hospital after suffering injuries.
Mohammad Aslan, spokesman for the committee that runs the affairs of the camp, told the AFP news agency that the Israeli army had arrested at least 20 people and took up positions on residents’ roofs.
In 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government advanced plans for the construction of an illegal 9,000-unit settlement on the grounds of Jerusalem’s former Atarot airport, adjacent to Qalandiya.
Palestinian residents have since voiced fear that raids and home demolitions could be tied to a strategy of eviction before illegal settlement construction, without any official word from Israeli authorities.
Thousands of Palestinians have taken part in a mass funeral in Gaza City for 112 members of the Hassayna and Abu Sharia families, whose remains were recently recovered from beneath the rubble nearly three years after an Israeli air raid.
Mourners gathered on Tuesday as bodies wrapped in Palestinian flags were carried through the streets of the besieged city before burial, in what local media described as one of the largest funerals since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023.
Gaza’s civil defence said its crews spent two weeks excavating a destroyed residential building in the Sabra neighbourhood, eventually retrieving the remains of 112 people, including at least 40 children.
The families were killed in an Israeli strike in November 2023 that flattened their homes.
Relatives used the funeral to renew accusations that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza and demanded international investigations into the attack and the hundreds of bodies still believed to be buried under rubble across the territory.
SHOREDITCH has never been short on style – and this hotel in its centre captures the vibe perfectly.
Here’s everything you need to know about staying at Hart Shoreditch.
Head to the UBA bar to enjoy cocktails like the Smoky Dragon and Mandarin Star – all £14Credit: Hart Shoreditch
Where is Hart Shoreditch?
This hotel is in London’s Shoreditch – the creative heart of the city that blends the best of fashion, street art and nightlife into one gritty, industrial setting.
Hart Shoreditch sits on Great Eastern Street, just a fifteen minute walk from must-see spots Brick Lane and Columbia Road Flower Market.
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Liverpool Street, Old Street and Shoreditch High Street stations are all about half a mile away, giving you access further into the city.
What is the hotel like?
This swanky hotel leans into Shoreditch’s industrial, cabinetmaker heritage – the interior mixes exposed metal and wood details with soft warm lighting, warm orange and red tones, plus plenty of bookcases packed with carefully-chosen items that nod to the area’s history.
If you’re into your interiors, you should check out the huge wrought iron spiral staircase, illuminated by moon-shaped chandeliers.
In fact, the hotel regularly puts on immersive art exhibitions that use this staircase to stage the artist’s works – it is currently displaying the works of artist Mali Mowcka.
What are the rooms like?
The hotel’s 126 rooms follow the theme – inside you’ll find crisp, white beds topped with orange throw pillows, plus copper details and familiar wooden flooring.
You’ll also find a Marshall Acton III on your bedside table – possibly the coolest Bluetooth speaker that looks like a mini vintage guitar amp.
Your tea and coffee making station is actually done properly here, too. You’ll find great-quality mugs and espresso cups, plus a Nespresso machine and tea from Brighton-based blenders, Hoogly.
Rooms start from £207 per night on a room-only basis. See hartshoreditch.com.
Rooms stay on-theme with warm lighting, burnt orange decor and a warm yet industrial feelCredit: Hart Shoreditch
What is there to eat and drink?
If you’re visiting for the weekend, don’t bother researching somewhere to go out for lunch.
Walk just next door to the hotel’s Asian restaurant, UBA, and sit down to enjoy one of the best bottomless brunches out there.
The new Weekend Brunch offering is far from your typical dry toast, cheap Prosecco and mushy avocado with eggs.
Here, you’ll feast on dishes like Korean crispy fried chicken, rock shrimp tempura, kimchi loaded fries, buttermilk chicken katsu buns, seafood dumplings and more.
The bottomless brunch I ate UBA was one of the best I’ve ever had – and great valueCredit: Hart Shoreditch
The bottomless offer costs £68pp, and includes two small plates, one bun or dim sum, two sides, dessert plus unlimited drinks – including a selection of cocktails.
Considering one cocktail in London can set you back £20 nowadays, you’re getting your money’s worth on drinks alone.
And trust me, the small plates were far from small – and I could have easily eaten just one side as my main meal.
Pair that with bottomless, high-end cocktails like the Blushing Geisha, infused with Asian flavours, and you’ve truly got yourself one of the best-value bottomless brunches out there.
What else is there to do there?
There are also wellbeing sessions like sound healing available at the hotelCredit: Hart Shoreditch
This hotel offers much more than just a place to sleep.
There’s a 24-hour gym with plenty of cardio machines like treadmills, an elliptical and exercise bike, plus strength machines, free weights and benches.
Plus there’s quirky wellness sessions like infrared sound healing, plus guests can claim 20% off on massage at a nearby wellness centre.
You can get involved in making art yourself, too, with oil painting classes, collage and sculpting workshops.
Check out the What’s On page to see upcoming events.
Is it family friendly?
The hotel offers queen-sized, interconnecting rooms which are ideal for families.
There’s even summer screenings of kid-friendly shows and films in the Byrd Lounge on Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout the school holidays.
And when it comes to food and drink in UBA, children can enjoy a kids’ bento box.
Is the hotel accessible?
Inside the hotel feels warm and inviting yet sleek with a sharp edge – perfectly capturing London’s ShoreditchCredit: Hart Shoreditch
The hotel is fully accessible, with wheelchair-friendly rooms and a step-free entrance.
Make sure to mention any specific requirements you may have when booking.
Hundreds of mourners have paid their respects to the late Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
The Republican lawmaker and key ally of President Donald Trump unexpectedly died on July 11.
Graham was elected to the US Senate in 2002 and was re-elected in 2008, 2014 and 2020. In 1994, he was elected to the US House of Representatives, the lower house of the US Congress, for South Carolina’s third congressional district. He recently served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. Graham also served as a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
He was a strong supporter of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and had long pushed for military action against Iran.
Graham was a longtime backer of Israel and supported Trump’s ongoing war on Iran. In a planned documentary, Graham told the filmmakers he “almost cried” after the US and Israel began strikes on Iran in February.
He also vocally supported Ukraine after Russia invaded the country in 2022.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several other world leaders attended Graham’s funeral service on Tuesday afternoon at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC.
Trump gave remarks, calling Graham a force in the world and US politics. He called Graham “a beloved friend” and said that he “died doing the work he was born to do”.
“For more than 30 years, nothing of consequence happened in this capital without Lindsey Graham knowing about it. Nothing of significance happened anywhere in the world without Lindsey Graham having a view on it,” Trump said. “And no bill became law in the most exceptional republic in human history without Lindsey Graham having a say in it.”
He added: “He was a man who gave America the full measure of his good and mighty heart until that heart itself just gave out.”
Lautaro Martinez scored a 92nd-minute winner as Lionel Messi inspired World Cup holders Argentina to a stunning 2-1 comeback victory over England, setting up a final against European champions Spain.
England had been on course to reach their first World Cup final since 1966 after Anthony Gordon fired them ahead 10 minutes into the second half of Wednesday’s semifinal, played in front of 68,239 fans in Atlanta.
The fierce rivalry between these nations has produced several memorable contests on the World Cup stage over the years, and this encounter will be remembered in Argentina as the stuff of legend after the South Americans denied England with two late goals.
Messi set up Enzo Fernandez to drill in an 85th-minute equaliser and then, with extra time looming, crossed for substitute Lautaro Martinez to head in the winner in the second minute of stoppage time.
No team has retained the World Cup since Brazil in 1962, and now Messi will become only the second player, after Brazilian great Cafu, to appear in three World Cup finals.
The final will be played at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday, as the first 48-team World Cup culminates in a showdown between the reigning champions of Europe and South America.
In many ways, Saturday was a typical July 4 holiday in the United States.
The country marked the anniversary of its Declaration of Independence with hotdog-eating contests, parades, fireworks and baseball games.
But this Independence Day was different, not least because it marked the country’s semiquincentennial: the 250th year since the US’s founding.
It also was one of the most politically charged Independence Day celebrations in recent memory.
President Donald Trump is expected to speak this evening from the National Mall in Washington, DC, right before what has been billed as the “world’s largest fireworks display”.
More than 850,000 fireworks are expected to launch from barges in the Potomac River, lighting up the sky above the capital.
But while Independence Day festivities have long been billed as non-partisan events, Trump has pledged to make the night’s celebration “the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all”.
The event comes as Trump’s Republican Party seeks to defend its control of Congress in November’s midterm elections, with a heated primary season already under way.
Trump’s involvement in the semiquincentennial has long been controversial.
On January 29, 2025 — just nine days into his second term as president — Trump issued an executive order establishing a White House task force to oversee celebrations for the 250th anniversary. Trump named himself its chair.
That task force would eventually set the groundwork for Freedom 250, a public-private partnership that organised some of the biggest events of the semiquincentennial, including the Great American State Fair on the National Mall.
But Freedom 250 was accused of funnelling resources away from America250, a congressionally approved panel that had likewise been charged with planning semiquincentennial celebrations since its founding in 2016.
The existence of the two groups has also spurred confusion. In late May, for instance, a suite of performers dropped out of the Great American State Fair, alleging they had been misled about its affiliation with Trump.
Before Saturday’s events, Democrats in the House of Representatives released a report (PDF) accusing Trump of using Freedom 250 for political purposes, including by awarding contracts to Trump allies.
It also alleges that Freedom 250 has been “operating outside the transparency and accountability requirements” Congress imposes on such celebrations — and that it may even have committed wire fraud by redirecting “unsuspecting donors” away from America250 and towards its own programmes.
“Under President Donald Trump, this anniversary has been hijacked and perverted into a hotbed of corruption and self-enrichment,” the report reads.
But speaking at a naval parade in New York City on Saturday, Vice President JD Vance brushed aside the criticisms. He called on revellers to reject the “small but loud voices” that “speak obsessively” of the US’s “imperfections”.
“What I’d ask you to do, my fellow Americans, on our 250th birthday, is to reject the two-dimensional view of your fellow citizens and reject the two-dimensional view of your country,” he said.
“Reject that America is a place for zero-sum thinking because it is not. Our history is one of people carving a great civilisation out of the wilderness. Reject the view of your nation that sees only its sins but not its grace and its greatness.”
Two powerful earthquakes have struck northern Venezuela, killing dozens of people, injuring hundreds and destroying homes and infrastructure. These images show the damage, rescue efforts and grief in the affected communities.
The Space Shuttle Endeavour is approaching its final mission. But this time, it won’t be blasting into a different atmosphere.
The California Science Center on Wednesday announced its Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will open to the public on Nov. 13. The $450-million, 200,000-square-foot addition will permanently house the Korean Air Aviation Gallery and the Kent Kresa Space Gallery. But its centerpiece will be the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, where the Space Shuttle Endeavour will be on permanent display in its vertical “ready-to-launch” position.
When it debuts, the gallery will be the only place in the world with a complete shuttle stack, including orbiter, solid rocket boosters and an external tank.
“I’ve been here a long time. We’ve done a lot of great stuff, but this just keeps getting better. Everybody on our team was so proud of it,” said Jeffrey Rudolph, the Science Center’s president and chief executive. “We are incredibly excited, and we actually think people are gonna come from all over the world to see this thing.”
The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will open to the public on Nov. 13. The $450-million, 200,000-square-foot space includes the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, where the Space Shuttle Endeavour will be on permanent display in launch position.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The Air and Space Center opening will mark the completion of the master plan adapted by the Science Center in 1993. One of three surviving space shuttles, the Endeavour made 25 successful missions into space between 1992 and 2011. In 2012, the shuttle arrived at LAX atop a modified Boeing 747 before being taken on a procession through the streets of Los Angeles to reach Exposition Park. Construction on the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, a sleek, 20-story building designed by ZGF Architects, finished in April.
“This shuttle really represents everything that my husband loved,” said Lynda Oschin, the widow of Samuel Oschin. “He was very involved in relativity, exploration, inspiration, children, math, science.”
Dennis R. Jenkins, project director at the California Science Center, estimated that at the height of construction, the team averaged about 400 construction workers a day. For Jenkins, who spent 30 years of his career as a NASA contractor working on space shuttles, seeing the Endeavour in its vertical position is “particularly special.”
“I walk in there 50 times a day, and 50 times a day it takes my breath away,” Jenkins said. “Especially when we have the theatrical lights on instead of the work lights, it is just so stunning to me. I’ve been around space shuttles for exactly 50 years now, and it still takes my breath away.”
Retired astronaut Barbara Morgan, who flew aboard Endeavour in 2007, said the shuttle will inspire space enthusiasts.
“This takes me back! I am right there again, strapped in, excited to launch,” Morgan said in a statement. “But this is even better, because here now is Endeavour for our future generations. She will launch big dreams.”
Jeff Rudolph, president and CEO of the California Science Center, gets a close-up view of the aft section and main engines of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, displayed in a vertical, launch-ready configuration at the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at the California Science Center.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The gallery will open with a video of the shuttle’s history, produced by J.J. Abrams’ company, Bad Robot. The video ends with a simulated launch of the shuttle — complete with fog machines — before the walls retract, letting visitors take in the Endeavour in all its massive glory.
The Endeavour is visible from several angles. Visitors walking around the bend of the center’s second-floor gallery can peek inside the payload bay, which was used to transport cargo like satellites into space. Step downstairs, and viewers can walk underneath the shuttle’s massive engines. To catch a bird’s-eye perspective of the Endeavour, guests can take a glass elevator to the 20th story to look at the shuttle through a glass floor.
“You go up slowly, [the elevator] stops at different levels. You see inside where the payload is, and at every stop you see something else, and when you get to the top and you look down,” Oschin said, the view is just unbelievable. It’s breathtaking. I don’t know what other word I could use.”
Despite the grandeur of the Endeavour, the Science Center didn’t want to glorify it either. Rudolph explained that the tiles on the shuttle’s wings, which were part of its thermal protection system, show the damage on each launch. The shuttle reflects the physical toll space took on the vessel.
“This thing went 25 missions into space, and you can see,” Rudolph said. “When we first got [the Endeavour] at LAX and had it in the United hangar a couple of weeks before we moved it through the street, the United guy said, ‘Do you want us to paint it?’ and we said ‘No! We wouldn’t think of it.’”
Jeff Rudolph, president and CEO of the California Science Center, walks through a doorway toward the Space Shuttle Endeavour during a tour and preview of the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at the California Science Center.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The center’s goal is to present the shuttle as close to mission-ready as possible. Rudolph explained that the exhibit’s hardware, including its bolts and nuts, are unique and extremely specialized. Since the space shuttle program concluded in 2011, many of Endeavour’s missing pieces are no longer produced. Jenkins spent years sourcing pieces of equipment.
However, the largest artifact of the exhibit was the most challenging to source. ET-94 — the exhibit’s ginormous, bright orange external fuel tank— was particularly difficult to get a hold of because it shouldn’t still exist.
“External tanks were only used once. … We jettisoned them on the way to orbit, and it burned up in the atmosphere before it hit Earth,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins explained that the ET-94 was built for a future Columbia Space Shuttle mission, but after the Columbia was destroyed, the fuel tank was used for research. To complete the Endeavour’s full shuttle stack, Jenkins persuaded NASA to donate the $65 million to the Science Center.
The Endeavour will not be alone in the gallery. Plans are in the works for a variety of unique, ancillary creations including a 15-second slide that mimics the path of reentry as a space shuttle descends back into Earth’s atmosphere. Visitors will start inside a dark slide that gives way to an orange glow followed by a double sonic boom. The slide finishes with an S turn, which the Endeavour executed to burn energy.
For Rudolph, the effort represents a giant leap toward the Science Center’s goal of making space exciting for “the next generation of scientists, engineers and explorers.”
“I just can’t wait to stand there and watch people come in, and kids especially. There are going to be a lot of tears looking at this, that I can tell you, happy tears,” Oschin said. “It’s something for children. Children are our future and our hopes for the future. This is going to be very inspiring for them and extremely exciting for them to see.”
A United Nations commission of inquiry has accused Israel of systematically targeting Palestinian children in the occupied Palestinian territory, saying Israeli actions amount to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and war crimes in the occupied West Bank.
In a report released on Tuesday, the commission said about 30 percent of those killed in Gaza since Israel’s war began in October 2023 were children, and that attacks on maternity and neonatal units, along with an aid blockade, have devastated children’s chances of survival.
The commission says Israeli forces have destroyed orphanages and schools, and Palestinian children have been arbitrarily arrested, tortured and subjected to sexual abuse in detention. It warns that killings and serious injuries have continued even after the October 2025 “ceasefire”, in defiance of international law.
UNICEF estimates more than 50,000 children have been killed or wounded since the war began, with at least one Palestinian child killed on average every day in the eight months since the October “ceasefire” took effect.
These images document the lives and losses of Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank as they struggle to survive bombardment, displacement and imprisonment – and to hold on to a future that is being systematically stripped away.
Anti-immigration protesters have torched buildings and vehicles in the capital of Northern Ireland, a day after a knife attack was captured in a graphic video.
Hundreds of protesters, many of them masked, gathered at several locations across Belfast on Tuesday evening. A bus and several cars were set alight, while a building on the edge of the city centre caught fire and its residents had to be evacuated.
Police helicopters patrolled above the city, and shops closed early.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the initial knife attack, which took place in north Belfast late on Monday evening, as “sickening”.
The attack comes at a time of heightened tensions in the United Kingdom following the murder of a student who was handcuffed by police as he lay dying from stab wounds after his killer falsely alleged a racist attack.
It also follows repeated protests over immigration, with populist parties saying the UK’s asylum policy has allowed dangerous men into the country. There was anti-immigration rioting in Northern Ireland last year amid anger over an alleged sexual assault.
Immigration has become a highly charged political issue and has helped fuel the rise of the hard-right Reform UK and Restore Britain parties in opinion polls.
Northern Ireland’s political leaders and the region’s chief constable have urged people not to incite hate and fear or target particular communities.
Gunshots, water cannon and tear gas have been used by Kenya’s police in the central town of Nanyuki, where hundreds of protesters lit fires and hurled stones at law enforcement officers as they demonstrated against a quarantine centre for US citizens exposed to Ebola.
Tuesday’s violence came as the proposed quarantine centre at the town’s Laikipia Air Base has caused anger among Kenyans who accuse the United States of shifting the risks of caring for people exposed to the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda onto Kenya.
Kenya has never recorded a case of Ebola, and many residents oppose bringing potential carriers of the virus into the country.
The centre is designed to have 50 isolation beds, run by US staff, and was nearing completion late last week.
Construction has continued despite a temporary halt order from Kenya’s High Court and vocal opposition from local politicians.
President William Ruto’s government has pledged to press ahead with the project, arguing that Kenya owes Washington for years of financial and technical support.
The US has committed $13.5m to support Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts.
Donald Trump’s appearance courtside at Madison Square Garden was supposed to be a historic moment, as, for the first time, a sitting president of the United States was attending an NBA Finals game.
Instead, his arrival became part of the story, drawing boos from sections of the crowd and triggering a massive security operation that reshaped the atmosphere around the storied New York arena on Monday night.
Trump watched from an executive suite as the New York Knicks hosted the San Antonio Spurs in a series that gripped the city and revived memories of the Knicks’ glory years.
When his image flashed up on the big screen during the national anthem, many fans jeered, underlining how sharply divided the country remains even in a space usually reserved for shared celebration.
Outside, Manhattan’s streets were locked down. Metal fencing, airport-style screening and a heavy Secret Service and police presence kept ticketless fans blocks away.
Long queues formed as supporters queued early, while others gathered at public viewing areas across the city.
Inside, however, the spectacle went on. Hollywood actors, musicians, former players and New York fixtures filled the front rows, turning the event into a star-studded night out.
Between the celebrity sightings, the political undertones and a tense 115-111 Spurs win, this was a New York basketball night unlike any other – on and off the court.
An offshore earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 has struck the southern Philippines, killing at least 35 people and injuring more than 200.
The quake on Monday is the strongest to hit the country this year, according to Teresito Bacolcol, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Several low-rise buildings collapsed or sustained heavy damage in the hard-hit city of General Santos.
Tsunami damage was reported in at least one southern coastal village, while smaller waves were recorded in Indonesia, Palau and as far away as southern Japan.
The quake also triggered a landslide in Glan, a municipality in the province of Sarangani, that killed 13 villagers, provincial disaster-mitigation official Rene Punzalan told the DZBB radio network. Four other villagers died in Sarangani, he added.
The United States, an ally of the Philippines, said it was coordinating with Manila and was ready to support Philippine response efforts. France, Japan and New Zealand also expressed support.
The epicentre was offshore near Mindanao, the second most populous island in the Philippine archipelago. Bacolcol said the quake struck at a depth of 33km (20 miles), about 32km (20 miles) southwest of Maasim town in Sarangani province.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr ordered the cancellation of classes and directed disaster-response agencies to immediately get to work in quake-hit provinces, saying “the national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind”.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat of a tsunami had largely passed about five hours after the quake. Philippine officials also lifted a tsunami warning by mid-afternoon. Six shanties on stilts were damaged in a coastal village in Zamboanga del Sur province due to the quake and higher waves, officials said.
Aside from the Sarangani landslide, most of the other deaths were caused by collapsing buildings and falling debris, including in a damaged mosque, in the southern provinces of South Cotabato and Davao Occidental and on Balut Island, according to disaster-mitigation official Ednar Dayanghirang.
The Philippines frequently experiences earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults encircling the ocean.
At New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, India’s most famous protest strip, hundreds of mostly young people in cockroach masks and with dog-eared exam guides in hand tried to turn an online joke into a real-world force.
They call themselves the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) – a satirical “people’s party” born barely three weeks ago after India’s chief justice reportedly likened government critics and unemployed youth to “cockroaches” and “parasites”.
What began as a parody account and meme factory has since exploded into a channel for anger over exams, jobs and a fraying sense of economic promise.
On Saturday, that digital discontent stepped off the screen. Waving India’s national flag and clutching schoolbooks, the protesters demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan after a string of exam paper leaks, technical glitches and cancelled tests.
For many, the fiasco over the NEET medical entrance exam – and reports of student suicides – symbolises a system young Indians say has no credibility left.
The CJP’s founder, 30-year-old political strategist and Boston University graduate Abhijeet Dipke, flew in from the United States to lead the rally, telling supporters that “cockroaches don’t ever fear.”
Police in riot gear and steel barricades underscored the risks of dissent in an era when large protests have often been met with crackdowns and criminal cases.
With more than 20 million followers on Instagram, CJP has already outgrown many mainstream parties online.
Its first street protest now tests whether self-deprecating memes and satire can be converted into a lasting organisation – and whether India’s anxious, hyper-connected youth can find a new political language for their frustration.
Muhammad Ali’s legacy extends far beyond his world titles and Olympic gold, his widow has said, as his hometown prepares to mark 10 years since the boxing icon’s death with a global “Day of Compassion”.
Ali, who died on June 3, 2016, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease, is being honored this week at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, which is encouraging people worldwide to mark Wednesday’s anniversary with acts of service and care.
“He transcended boxing into every space you can imagine,” Lonnie Ali said in an interview at the centre. “Muhammad lived by this mantra: Service to others is the rent we pay for our room here on Earth.
“He showed up every day with kindness and empathy in his heart for people who are in need.”
Known in his hometown as the “Louisville Lip”, Ali rose from a modest background to become a three-time heavyweight champion and 1960 Olympic gold medallist.
As his fame grew in the 1960s, he became an outspoken voice on civil rights and the Vietnam War, cementing his status as one of the most influential athletes of all time.
The Ali Center, where Lonnie Ali serves as lifetime director, hopes the “Day of Compassion” will grow into an annual event highlighting volunteerism and service.
“The day will focus on one of the core values that made up Muhammad Ali,” she said, warning that the United States is “losing touch with our humanity and with each other”.
“We’re becoming increasingly polarised and separated, and sort of retreating to people who think like us, look like us – and not really reaching out,” she added.
Lonnie Ali also challenged political leaders to “lead with compassion”, criticising moves that have weakened the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act. “We should always be thinking about how we can uplift a community, not how we can make it harder for them.
“You can’t have equal representation when you’re denying people voting rights,” she said.
She said she still draws hope from how Louisville came together during a weeklong celebration of Ali’s life in 2016, when thousands lined the streets as his funeral procession passed his childhood home and millions watched the service online.
A decade later, Ali’s face now appears on a US postage stamp – another sign, she said, that his message of courage, faith, and service still resonates “from kings and princes to ordinary fans who never met him, but felt they knew his heart”.
Muslims around the world have begun celebrating Eid al-Adha, the “Festival of Sacrifice”, which falls on the 10th day of Dhul Hijjah, the 12th and final month of the Muslim lunar calendar.
One of the biggest holidays in the Muslim calendar, it coincides with the last day of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
In Gaza, where Israel’s months-long offensive has devastated neighbourhoods and displaced most of the population, many families are marking Eid in tents and crowded shelters, with little meat or festive clothing.
More than 1.7 million people are taking part in the Hajj this year, slightly up from 2025, even as a war pitting the United States and Israel against Iran casts a long shadow across the Middle East.
On Tuesday, pilgrims prayed on Mount Arafat, where Prophet Muhammad is believed to have delivered his final sermon. They then spent the night out in the open at Muzdalifah, halfway between Arafat and Mina, where they collected pebbles for the symbolic stoning of the devil.
After the stoning ceremony in Mina, pilgrims return to Mecca for a final circumambulation of the Kaaba, the cube-shaped building at the heart of the Grand Mosque towards which Muslims around the world face when they pray.
Eid al-Adha commemorates the Quranic story of Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail as an act of obedience to God. Islamic tradition holds that God spared the boy, replacing him with a ram.
The day is marked with the sacrifice of an animal – usually a sheep, goat or cow – and the distribution of its meat among family, neighbours and those in need, underlining the festival’s themes of faith, charity and community.
Mogadishu, Somalia- Muslims around the world celebrated Eid al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, which marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage period.
It is the second major holiday in the Islamic calendar after Eid al-Fitr, which follows the holy month of Ramadan.
In Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, families and communities gathered across the city on Wednesday to celebrate the occasion.
The holiday is typically marked by communal prayers in the morning, family visits, festive meals and outings for children.
Popular locations for the city’s residents include Lido Beach, the Darus Salam Zoo, and Maka al-Mukarama Road, the central business district.
More broadly, Mogadishu has been tentatively emerging from the waves of violence that have rocked the city over recent decades.
Since 2006, the government has been battling al-Shabab, a local affiliate of al-Qaeda, for control of the country – a conflict that has made Mogadishu one of the world’s most dangerous capitals.
But improving security has led to a surge of investment in the city, alongside the emergence of new cafes, restaurants and other recreational spaces.
At an Eid speech at the Islamic Solidarity Mosque, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said, “We see the change that has happened in Mogadishu’s security,” and called on the public to protect the city’s peace. Ali Jimale Mosque, the country’s largest, usually draws the biggest crowds and serves as a gathering place for the city’s residents.
Central to Eid al-Adha is the ritual sacrifice of livestock, commemorating the Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son before God provided a ram in his place.
The meat is traditionally shared among relatives, neighbours and people in need, reflecting the festival’s emphasis on charity, community and devotion.
Costs for livestock have soared in recent months in Somalia due to failed rains and drought, with a United Nations hunger monitor warning of famine risk in parts of the country.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification has said 6.5 million people in Somalia are facing “high levels of acute food insecurity”, a crisis worsened by the country’s ongoing armed fighting and a political standoff that has persisted since the president’s term expired on May 15.
Clashes have broken out between protesters and riot police after an antigovernment rally in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
Large crowds of demonstrators poured into central Belgrade on Saturday, many carrying banners and wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the “Students win” motto of the youth movement that organised the gathering.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has sought to rein in mass demonstrations that have challenged his hardline rule in the Balkan country. The size of Saturday’s turnout suggested that dissent remains strong more than a year after protests first began with demonstrators demanding accountability for a train station tragedy in northern Serbia in November 2024 that killed 16 people.
Anticorruption protests forced then-Prime Minister Milos Vucevic to resign in January 2025 before the authorities moved to clamp down on the movement. Many in Serbia blamed the concrete canopy collapse at the station on alleged corruption-fuelled negligence during renovation work carried out with Chinese companies.
On Saturday, Serbia’s state railway company cancelled all trains to and from Belgrade in what appeared to be an effort to prevent at least some people from travelling to the capital from other parts of the country.
In a video posted on Instagram on Saturday, the president said protesters “have shown their violent nature and that they cannot stand political opponents”. Vucic, who was en route to China for a state visit, added: “The state is functioning and will continue to work in line with the law.”
Students on Saturday demanded early elections and the rule of law, accusing the government of crime and corruption. They said they now plan to challenge Vucic in this year’s elections, which they hope will unseat his right-wing populist government. Vucic said on Thursday that the parliamentary elections could be held between September and November.
Clashes were first reported near a park camp of Vucic loyalists outside the Serbian presidency building. The camp was set up before another large antigovernment rally last March as a human shield against protesters. Folk music blared from a fenced-off area surrounded by rows of riot police in full gear.
The Serbian president has come under international scrutiny for his hardline tactics against demonstrators over the past year, including arbitrary arrests and the use of excessive force. The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Michael O’Flaherty, criticised Serbia’s government in a report after he visited the country last week and said he “will monitor the situation closely”.
O’Flaherty also cited “reports of police protecting unidentified and often masked attackers of journalists and protesters”. He said the overall human rights situation has deteriorated since his previous visit in April 2025.
Serbia is seeking to join the European Union while cultivating close ties with Russia and China. Democratic backsliding under Vucic could cost the country about 1.5 billion euros ($1.8bn) in EU funding, the bloc’s top enlargement official warned last month.