Infrastructure

The United States is about to celebrate its 250th birthday, but as millions across the country prepare to gather this weekend for parades, concerts and festivals, an intense heat wave has settled over much of the eastern US.

Officials across the region are warning that the extreme heat could pose serious health risks over the Fourth of July weekend.

Here’s what you need to know about how the weather will affect the celebrations.

What is America’s 250th anniversary?

It has been 250 years since the United States adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Unlike a typical Independence Day, this year’s celebrations are unfolding on a much bigger scale, capping years of preparation and planning.

Landing in the midst of a highly polarised moment in American politics, planning for the anniversary has also been contentious.

A decade ago, Congress tasked a bipartisan commission known as America250 with organising the celebrations.

But last year, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order to put his own “Freedom 250” planning committee in charge of many of the anniversary’s marquee events, including the Great American State Fair on the National Mall.

Initially, a variety of musicians were announced as performers for the fair, including country singer Martina McBride, the soul group The Commodores and the pop duo Milli Vanilli. But many withdrew in late May and early June over concerns over the fair’s affiliation with Trump.

Last week, in lieu of the performers, the US president delivered a speech to open the fair, billing himself as the “Number One Attraction anywhere in the World”.

He has also promised to mark the July 4 holiday in Washington, DC, with “the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all”.

What will celebrations look like across the country?

Among thousands of smaller, locally organised celebrations nationwide — including historical reenactments, picnics, concerts and fireworks displays — some of the highest-profile events include:

• Washington, DC: Hundreds of thousands are expected to arrive in the city, where the Great American State Fair will be held along the National Mall, the 2.5 km (1.5 mile) promenade linking the US Capitol to the Washington Monument. It will feature state pavilions, food, live music and a Ferris wheel. Trump has also promised “the largest fireworks show in history.” Around one million people attended the fireworks display for the US’s bicentennial anniversary in 1976.
• Los Angeles: As part of its America’s Block Party event, America250 will hold a benefit concert hosted by Queen Latifah, featuring artists such as Chris Stapleton, Maren Morris and the Smashing Pumpkins.
• Philadelphia: The city where the Declaration of Independence was signed is hosting one of the country’s biggest commemorations, including the burial of a 400kg (900 pounds) time capsule, containing artefacts from across the country, meant to be opened at the next semiquincentennial in 250 years.
• New York: More than 40 tall ships are expected to sail into New York Harbour with almost 20,000 sailors aboard, while more than 200 aircraft fly overhead.
• Boston: Celebrations will include the annual Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular — a free concert followed by a fireworks display — and a public reading of the Declaration of Independence from the balcony where it was first read aloud to Bostonians in 1776.

How will the heat affect celebrations?

Some celebrations are already being disrupted, with organisers forced to adapt to extreme heat.

On Friday, the Great American State Fair temporarily closed as temperatures reached over 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of Washington, DC.

But the capital was not the only area affected by the extreme heat.

In Philadelphia, for example, officials announced that the Salute to Independence Semiquincentennial Parade was cancelled, after initially planning to shorten the route to mitigate heat-related risks.

A celebration in Pennsylvania’s Lower Windsor Township was also rescheduled for July 8, while in nearby Norristown, officials cancelled another parade, citing safety concerns.

The heat is also affecting transportation. Amtrak announced several train cancellations in the northeast region and warned that other trains could face delays due to high temperatures, which can affect railway infrastructure.

“Extreme heat can cause rail, bridge and overhead wires to expand,” it said in a statement on Thursday. “As a precaution, Amtrak may enact heat restrictions, which can require locomotive engineers to operate trains at lower speeds, resulting in potential delays.”

What will it actually feel like outside?

While air temperatures in cities such as Philadelphia and Boston are expected to reach around 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit), high humidity can make it feel significantly hotter.

That’s because humidity makes it harder for sweat to evaporate and cool the body. Weather agencies use the heat index, often called the “feels like” temperature, to estimate what people will actually be experiencing.

Experts also warn that cities can become even hotter than forecasts suggest as concrete, asphalt and steel absorb heat.

“The number on your phone may actually not reflect the true temperature profile that you’re going out into,” Vijay Limaye, a climate scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told The Associated Press.

What precautions are officials taking?

Aside from changing or cancelling some Fourth of July events, cities across the eastern United States are rolling out broader measures to help people cope with the heat.

In New York City, for example, more than 200 teams of government workers and volunteers are checking on homeless residents and directing people to hundreds of cooling centres, including public buildings, mobile cooling vans and outdoor sites equipped with misting fans.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged people to stay inside and avoid “extraordinary temperatures”. He also asked residents to set their air conditioners to 26 degrees Celsius (78 Fahrenheit) to avoid straining the power grid.

Boston is offering residents free admission to several air-conditioned museums, while Providence, Rhode Island, has extended hours at public pools and water parks.

How can people stay safe?

The National Weather Service (NWS) recommends drinking a lot of water, even if you don’t feel thirsty, especially if you’re spending an extended amount of time outside and taking hourly breaks in shade or air conditioning.

Health authorities also urge people to occasionally check in on seniors and other vulnerable populations.

Alcohol can make dehydration worse, so experts also recommend limiting drinking during long outdoor events.

Signs of heat illness include cramping, rapid pulse, heavy sweating, hot red skin, dizziness, confusion, nausea and vomiting, according to the NWS. If you see any of those warning signs, seek medical attention immediately.

Grid operators warn the US heatwave could send electricity demand near record levels before the Fourth of July holiday.

Power grid operators in the United States are warning that a dangerous heatwave could put more strain on an electric grid already under pressure from surging energy consumption.

A stretch of extreme heat is expected to intensify across much of the central and eastern parts of the country this week, peaking from Tuesday through Thursday.

That heatwave is likely to continue through one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, as millions of Americans prepare for Fourth of July celebrations on Saturday.

Temperatures this week are forecasted to climb above 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) from Boston to Washington, DC, pushing up demand for air conditioning.

The heatwave coincides with two major events on the US calendar. Saturday’s holiday marks the 250th anniversary of the US’s independence, and millions are expected to gather for barbecues, parades and fireworks.

The extreme temperatures also come as the FIFA World Cup has reached the knockout stage, with many host cities, including New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, expected to feel the heat.

Humidity could push the heat index as high as 46 degrees Celsius (114 Fahrenheit) in some places, while overnight temperatures will offer little respite.

The US’s largest regional grid operator, PMJ Interconnection, is forecasting record summer electrical demand of 166.3 gigawatts for Thursday evening, surpassing the previous summer peak set two decades ago, in 2006.

The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), the state’s grid operator, is also expecting electricity demand to approach record highs, while the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which covers 15 states in the Midwest and South, could also see its peak demand record challenged.

Authorities at MISO say they will rely on PMJ for support in covering consumer needs.

In a May report, PMJ’s executives warned of a “fundamental mismatch between how fast demand is growing and how quickly new supply can be built and connected to the grid”.

New power plants, they said, now take twice as long to build and cost twice as much as they did a decade ago.

Meanwhile, there has been increasing pressure on electrical grids from new technology like data centres and electric vehicles.

In May, PMJ said hyperscale data centres were “adding load at an unprecedented pace”.

Experts say the artificial intelligence (AI) boom is colliding with climate change, with tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude being processed in vast, energy-hungry data centres.

The most energy-intensive are the hyperscale facilities that require between 100 and 300 megawatts of electricity, enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes.

Many of those are concentrated in northern Virginia, which sits within PJM’s service territory and is widely described as the world’s largest data centre hub.

Researchers have also identified what they call a “data heat island effect”, finding that land surface temperatures around AI data centres rise by an average of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), with some locations seeing increases of up to 9 degrees Celsius (16.2 degrees Fahrenheit).

The National Weather Service in the US warns that long periods of extreme heat create significant stress on the body.

It has urged people to limit outdoor activity, stay hydrated and keep close to air conditioning or cooling centres.

A 2024 report from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that 21,518 deaths in the United States from 1999 to 2023 were heat-related.

The highest number came in the final year of the report’s analysis, 2023. That year, 2,325 people died from causes attributed to high temperatures.

As two powerful earthquakes hit Venezuela, west of Caracas, in quick succession on Wednesday, the country’s capital sustained extensive damage.

Authorities were continuing to search for people under the rubble of collapsed buildings on Friday as 235 people were confirmed to have been killed, with 4,300 more injured.

Here is more about why Caracas has sustained so much damage.

How badly damaged is Caracas?

A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck about 160km (100 miles) west of Caracas, followed less than a minute later by a magnitude 7.5 tremor, the strongest since 1900, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Jorge Rodriguez, head of Venezuela’s national assembly and brother of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, said earlier in the day that 200 people had been trapped, with 250 buildings damaged or destroyed nationwide.

In Caracas and nearby coastal areas, at least eight hospitals, the headquarters of the Venezuelan Red Cross and the French embassy were among buildings reported to have been badly damaged.

Initial assessments released on Thursday put the estimated economic damage at between 1 and 7 percent of Venezuela’s $111bn gross domestic product (GDP). Authorities have not yet provided a separate estimate for losses in the capital.

However, the heaviest damage has been reported in Caracas itself, Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo, reporting from Bogota in neighbouring Colombia, said on Thursday.

Public infrastructure was also heavily damaged, with acting President Rodriguez reporting power outages in Caracas.

Health Minister Carlos Alvarado said late on Thursday that 235 people had been confirmed dead at medical centres across Venezuela. He also told state media that about 4,300 people had been reported injured so far. Hundreds more are feared trapped or missing under the rubble.

How badly has the city been damaged in previous earthquakes?

This is not the first time Caracas has suffered heavy damage in an earthquake.

In 1812, a powerful earthquake roiled the cities of Merida and Caracas, killing about 30,000 people, according to the USGS. The tremors caused near-total destruction of Caracas’s colonial architecture, flattening homes, churches and public institutions.

In 1967, another earthquake hit the city, causing several high-rise buildings to collapse and killing 240 people.

Why has Caracas been so hard-hit?

Venezuela has a long history of devastating earthquakes because it is located along the boundary between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates.

Caracas is also in a deep sedimentary basin, which amplifies the seismic waves from earthquakes, Vashan Wright, a geophysicist at the University of California in San Diego, told Al Jazeera.

Another reason Caracas is so vulnerable to damage from earthquakes is that its buildings and infrastructure are not specifically designed to withstand tremors and are often standing on insecure ground.

Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo said the heaviest damage in Caracas occurred in the Altamira district, where emergency crews pulled survivors from the rubble of a 22-storey building while relatives searched for missing family members. Officials said they are still assessing the full extent of the destruction.

“For example, in the [hard-hit] area of Altamira in Caracas, many of the buildings that collapsed are built on sediments, and this makes them much more vulnerable to seismic waves,” Bo said.

“Also, there’s lots of informal housing in several areas across the country, and those types of buildings are not prepared to sustain very strong earthquakes,” she added.

Adequate urban planning and building codes, which incorporate seismic activity, require substantial funding, which Venezuela can ill afford as it has long been subject to heavy sanctions from the United States and other Western countries.

While some sanctions have been lifted since the US abducted former President Nicolas Maduro in a military strike on Caracas in January and he was replaced by Rodriguez, Caracas is still grappling with the effects of decades of underinvestment.

Another issue for Caracas is that at about 7.8km, the earthquakes were shallow, which means they were more destructive than deeper quakes of the same magnitude would have been.

In deeper earthquakes, much of the energy dissipates as it moves through layers of rock. By contrast, shallow ones release their energy closer to the ground, producing stronger shaking and greater damage in populated areas.

How many people live in informal housing in Caracas?

People living in informal housing are more at risk than others during earthquakes because low-cost, self-built housing structures, often built on hillsides and other slopes, are not resilient against tremors.

The slums in Caracas are known as barrios and are densely populated, lacking proper infrastructure. They comprise self-constructed housing or structures built with unreinforced cinderblocks or bricks, often without formal foundations or steel reinforcement, mostly on the mountainous hillsides surrounding the capital.

The lack of proper urban planning, coupled with construction on steep slopes, makes the barrios vulnerable to natural disasters.

While there is no official figure for the number of Venezuelans living in informal settlements in Caracas, academic estimates suggest they account for 40 to 50 percent of the city’s nearly five million residents.

According to the latest National Survey of Living Conditions (ENCOVI), about 55 percent of Venezuelans are living in poverty.

Which countries are better prepared for earthquakes?

Many parts of the world have adapted infrastructure with seismic engineering. Many earthquake-prone countries now plan and construct buildings with damage mitigation from tremors in mind.

Japan, one of the most quake-prone nations in the world, has strict building codes, which means many structures survive shaking that would devastate poorly built homes in parts of Indonesia or Central America. In most inland earthquakes, the majority of deaths and injuries are caused when poorly built structures collapse rather than by the shaking itself.

Japan has made enormous public investments in seismic research and has superior access to advanced engineering technologies like base isolation, which involves the installation of massive steel or rubber shock absorbers beneath the foundations of buildings.

This is why global deaths and destruction from earthquakes have reduced in the past decades. For instance, in 1556, the deadliest earthquake in recorded history in China’s Shaanxi killed about 830,000 people. In 2023, an earthquake hit northwestern China near the Shaanxi province, killing 127 people.

Critical infrastructure, such as water utilities, energy grids, healthcare systems, manufacturing plants, education platforms, and transport networks, have become primary targets of ransomware groups. In late April and early May 2026, for instance, Shinyhunters, a hacking group, breached Instructure, an education platform used by K-12 schools and universities across the US, and claimed for ransom. In the report published on CNN, the hacker group said it had breached 275 million personal data and had access to billions of private messages, an action that has affected thousands of schools, causing learning disruptions. Cybercriminals target critical infrastructure because downtime means communities don’t get access to essential services. So, operators or service providers have no option but to pay ransom to restore services quickly. Security gaps also influence the growth of these attacks. Too often, organizations focus on recovery efforts and ransomware encryption instead of prevention. This post highlights ways to prevent ransomware at its early stages, including the use of zero trust architecture and AI.

Promote Cybersecurity Awareness

Ransomware incidents start with malicious malware being injected into tech infrastructure. It then encrypts data and systems, restricting organizations any access to their operations until a ransom is paid. For these attacks to be successful, however, threat actors rely on social engineering attacks like spoofing and phishing, which target employees. An attacker will send a phishing email, impersonating an executive or trusted source like a bank to trick the victim into sharing credentials. Today’s spam emails, especially those generated by AI, are flawless, meaning staff can easily open and click on malware links without suspecting any threat. So, it’s crucial that employees receive adequate training on how to spot and respond to phishing texts or emails and malicious links.

Workers should also know how to generate hard-to-hack passwords. Weak passwords or using the same password for multiple accounts creates an entry point for ransomware. Encourage the use of password phrases, which are a string of unrelated, random words, symbols and numbers. For example, a password like purplegiraffesingstomorrow@17 prevents brute-force logins because a hacker will have a hard time guessing. Alongside passphrases, emphasize the importance of multi-factor authentication, where staff use two or multiple authentication methods to gain permission to accounts. 

Enhance Threat Detection and Monitoring Systems

Detecting ransomware at its early stages helps prevent full encryption of sensitive data and infrastructure. And it entails identifying subtle behaviors of the threat, such as lateral movement across networks and devices, data exfiltration, and privilege escalation. Look out for unusual login or data access, increases in CPU usage, and abnormal network traffic to command-control servers. Modern attacks powered by AI and machine learning bypass legacy security systems by using legit utilities like PowerShell scripts and MimiKatz. So, check if there are attempts by script-based systems like PowerShell to inject suspicious code into running processes. Also, inspect if endpoints and firewalls are still running. Attackers often switch them off or configure settings without authorization to create a weak point for malware injection. 

Note: lateral movement and zero-day variants aren’t always easy to spot. You need to integrate multiple security tools to detect and mitigate attacks. Use endpoint detection and response tools to catch harmful scripts and abnormal file access before all your data is encrypted. Take advantage of AI-assisted behavioral analytics to learn data access patterns, set a baseline for normal user behavior, and send alerts when there’s unusual or irregular file access patterns to protect against infostealers. Since infostealers act as the initial access for attack vectors, stopping them eliminates the entire kill chain. You can also reinforce your security measures by working with a 24/7 AI-centric SOC. These security experts don’t just distinguish legitimate logins from malware injections. They isolate the host to stop further compromise.

Network Segmentation and Zero Trust Framework

The goal of these two security measures is to limit a hacker’s ability to infect an entire network. Segmenting your networks entails dividing your networks into smaller, isolated sub-networks that make it difficult for cybercriminals to navigate critical network infrastructure. In a situation where a device is compromised, segmentation locks the attack within the specific zone, ensuring it doesn’t access databases or other sub-networks. What does zero trust entail and how does it mitigate ransomware? This tactic works on one strict principle: ‘never trust, always verify’. It doesn’t matter if you’re an authorized user or the devices you’re using are inside the organization. With zero trust in place, every access request is authenticated continuously. Also, users are granted permission to data and tools based on their roles to minimize privilege. Even if an attacker stole credentials, they would be limited to access systems. When combined, zero trust architecture and network segmentation strengthen an organization’s cyber safety strategies.

Hackers know that when they infect essential infrastructure with ransomware, victims will act fast to settle the ransom required to get encryption keys. But service providers shouldn’t wait until an attack has occurred to secure infrastructures. Prevention is the most effective strategy, and it revolves around simple hacks like educating workers about common threats and using strong pass phrases alongside MFA. By detecting threats, implementing zero trust, and network segmentation, organizations can minimize ransomware-related risks.

In another indication of the growing military and economic importance of the Arctic, Russia and NATO are increasing their buildup of forces and facilities in the region. Recent media investigations found that Russia is constructing new bases near Finland to eventually house tens of thousands of troops while NATO on Saturday stood up a long-planned new battalion battlegroup. It is a force that will operate in Finland and Sweden as a deterrent against Russia.

TWZ has frequently reported how Russia, and to a lesser extent China, have moved aggressively to assert their presence in the High North, leaving the U.S. and its NATO allies looking to bolster their defenses.

While Russia remains totally bogged down and suffering high attrition in Ukraine with little chance of moving masses of troops to the Arctic at the moment, concern over the future has spurred NATO to bolster its presence along the Finnish border. Having moved to a wartime economy during the full-on conflict with Ukraine, Russia could leverage that in a post-Ukraine war future to threaten NATO’s borders.

A NATO official told us Friday morning that while the alliance assesses that the chances of a near-term conflict are low given the war in Ukraine, “Moscow could seek to expand westward into the Nordic and Baltic nations after a ceasefire with Ukraine.”

Russia appears to be investing in infrastructure in preparation of such a contingency. A joint report by several Nordic and Baltic media outlets published earlier this week has found that Russia is expanding military facilities along its borders with Norway and Finland to accommodate tens of thousands of new troops.

“New satellite images show that Russia is increasing its armament in [the] vicinity,” the report stated. “SVT, together with media partners in several countries, has examined how Russia is preparing for 80,000 soldiers… It is a threat that we should take seriously, says Thomas Nilsson, head of Sweden’s military intelligence service (MUST).”

The images “show new barracks for thousands of soldiers, long lines of military vehicles and ammunition storage,” the report further noted. “All winter, Russia has been building new military structures in several places on the other side of the Finnish border.”

“We expect to have 80,000 soldiers on our border and that can be compared to the fact that we previously had 20,000,” Finnish Army Chief Pasi Välimäki told the joint investigation.

A separate report by the Finnish Yle media outlet found that the Russians are expanding a base in the town of Novaya Vilga to hold as many as 6,000 Russian troops. It is located about 100 miles east of the Finnish border.

“NATO has monitored a buildup of military infrastructure in Russia along NATO’s Eastern Flank, particularly along Finland’s border,” the NATO official told us earlier this week. “The real question is what becomes of the infrastructure? Will, for example, Russian troops now in Ukraine be relocated there after the war? It’s something we certainly need to consider, and we do.”

“That’s why NATO and nations are working to deliver real military capabilities to the alliance now, not five to ten years from now, which is so very, very important,” the official added.

One of those efforts, as we noted earlier in this story, was stood up on Saturday, involving NATO’s two newest members.

NATO’s Forward Land Forces (FLF) Finland began operations in Finland and Sweden, according to the alliance. The FLF will include NATO’s newest multinational battlegroup, led by Sweden, “to support the defense of NATO’s northeastern flank.”

The establishment of FLF Finland places a Swedish battlegroup based in Boden, Sweden, and a Multinational Staff Element in Rovaniemi, Finland, under the command of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and NATO.

“Sweden is contributing a battalion battlegroup that, together with a Multinational Staff Element in Rovaniemi, will form the core of FLF Finland,” NATO added. “The Swedish battalion battlegroup is prepositioned in Boden, with capacity to operate in the North Calotte and, where necessary, rapidly reinforce the presence in northern Finland. In 2026, Sweden’s contribution to FLF Finland will total around 600 personnel, with the option to expand to 1,200 personnel if needed.”

“This region is one of the most strategically significant and environmentally challenging areas in the world,” said U.S. Air Force Gen. and SACEUR Alexus G. Grynkewich. “FLF Finland, just like Arctic Sentry, will leverage NATO’s strength to defend our territory and ensure the Arctic and High North remains secure, especially considering Russia’s military activity and China’s growing interest there.”

Activated: NATO Multinational Battlegroup (FLF Finland)

The U.S. too is working to improve its presence and operations in the region. During last month’s SOF Week symposium in Tampa, Florida, the head of U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) announced the formation of Nordic Bridge to “tie together” the work of U.S. European Command, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and SACEUR.

Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot provided no real details about Nordic Bridge at the time, so we reached out to NORTHCOM for additional details.

“The Nordic Bridge concept seeks to enhance Arctic integration between U.S. Northern Command and U.S. European Command and enhance cooperation between NORAD and NATO in order to expand domain awareness, strengthen deterrence, and improve interoperability,” a NORTHCOM spokesperson told us last month. “It envisions increased participation in each other’s training and exercises, increased data sharing (such as air pictures), deconflicting conferences to maximize personnel availability and participation, etc.”

Last month, Guillot visited Grynkewich “to discuss opportunities under this concept,” the NORTHCOM spokesperson told us.

All this is taking place, of course, against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s frequent insistence that the U.S. subsume Greenland to provide better Arctic protection for the U.S. homeland. The issue reached a fever pitch earlier this year, causing a serious rift with NATO after the president threatened to invade the world’s largest island. You can read more about that in our story about the crisis here.

While there are no indications that the Arctic region is about to break out into open conflict, there are several indications that Russia, NATO and the U.S. are increasing preparations for such an eventuality.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

The United States and Iran engaged in some of the most intense fighting overnight since all-out hostilities in the ongoing US‑Israeli war on Iran were halted with a Pakistan‑mediated temporary ceasefire on April 8.

A comprehensive peace agreement remains elusive as Iran and the US have exchanged a series of proposals and counterproposals in the weeks since that pause. After a string of smaller escalations, however, the US struck targets in Iran following the downing of a US Apache helicopter close to the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, and Iran retaliated by hitting US military bases in the Gulf.

The US military said it targeted communications and radar facilities. Iranian officials, however, said civilian infrastructure was also damaged, including two water reservoirs.

If correct, this is the first reported strike on civilian infrastructure in Iran in several weeks, but it comes at a time when Iran is facing a severe water shortage.

Which targets have been hit in Iran?

The US launched waves of attacks starting late on Tuesday following the downing of the helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz. The US described the attacks as “self-defence strikes” and a “proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression”.

While an official US inquiry into what caused the helicopter to crash has yet to conclude, US President Donald Trump quickly blamed Iran, which he said had deliberately shot it down.

“I have just been informed by our Great Military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz. There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured,” Trump wrote on social media.

“Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said US strikes, which hit targets including Sirik, Jask, Minab, Qeshm Island and the port of Bandar Abbas, had caused major damage to a telecommunications tower in the town of Sirik and destroyed two water reservoirs there.

Iran’s West Asia News Agency (WANA) news outlet reported on Wednesday, citing “available reports”, that two concrete water storage reservoirs in the Bamani district in the Sirik County of Hormozgan Province, in southern Iran, 1,012km (629 miles) from the capital, Tehran, had been hit in the US attacks.

The IRGC claimed attacks on US military bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan in retaliation.

Has the US hit Iran’s water infrastructure before?

Yes. On March 7, while missiles were flying across the region in an all-out war between Iran and the US-Israel, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the US of striking a desalination plant on Qeshm Island off the coast of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. The strike reportedly cut off the water supply to 30 villages.

“Water supply in 30 villages has been impacted. Attacking Iran’s infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences. The US set this precedent, not Iran,” Araghchi wrote in an X post.

A desalination plant converts seawater into water suitable for drinking, irrigation and industrial use. These facilities are particularly critical in areas such as the Gulf, where freshwater is scarce.

Why is this significant?

The reservoirs that were struck provide drinking water to more than 20,000 residents in the city of Kouhestak and 10 surrounding villages. WANA reported initial estimates for damages amounting to $780,000 to $830,000.

Iran was already facing a multiyear drought and decline in precipitation before the US-Israeli war on Iran started. After years of poor agricultural practices and mismanagement, Iran’s main water supplies, including its reservoirs, rivers and groundwater reserves, continued to run dry.

According to Aqueduct data from the World Resources Institute, which tracks global water risk, Iran’s baseline water stress is classified as “extremely high” – meaning the country uses more than 80 percent of its renewable water resources in a typical year.

Last year marked Iran’s fifth consecutive year of drought. In November 2025, the water crisis was so dire that Tehran’s Amir Kabir Dam only held 8 percent of its capacity, while across the country, 19 major dams had run dry.

Is this a war crime?

Isa Bozorgzadeh, spokesman for Iran’s water industry, claimed the US strike on the water reservoirs is a war crime, WANA reported.

International humanitarian law classifies water infrastructure, including drinking water installations, treatment plants and pipelines, as civilian property which is not deemed a legitimate target during war.

The Berlin Rules on Water Resources, drafted by the International Law Association (ILA) and adopted in 2004, are a set of non‑binding international legal principles about how countries should use, share and protect water.

The Berlin Rules prohibit countries at war from destroying water installations “if such actions would cause disproportionate suffering to civilians”.

On a modest bed inside his war-battered home in the Khartoum North neighbourhood of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, Murtada Mohieddin, a diabetic patient in his early 50s, carefully counts his remaining doses of insulin. His search for medicine has transformed into a harrowing battle – not just to find the treatment he needs to survive his diabetes, but to ensure the medicine is not expired or ruined.

“Sometimes the insulin is spoiled,” Mohieddin tells Al Jazeera, inspecting his limited supply. “You wouldn’t know if it is ruined or expired. You can check the expiration date, but it could still be damaged from poor storage.”

More than three years of civil war have crippled Sudan’s healthcare infrastructure: hospitals, health centres and pharmaceutical factories have been shut and vital medical supply chains and storage across the country have been disrupted.

The war, which erupted as a power struggle between Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has killed more than 50,000 people and displaced 14 million – nearly a quarter of the country’s population.

The devastating conflict has paralysed domestic pharmaceutical production and collapsed vital supply chains across the country.

According to a World Health Organization (WHO) news release dated April 14, 2026, Sudan represents the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with 21 million people lacking basic healthcare services out of 34 million needing aid.

In the void left by the closure of pharmaceutical companies, smuggling networks have flourished, flooding the market with unregulated drugs locally known as “Boko” medicines.

These include critical intravenous malaria medications smuggled across borders. Because they completely bypass strict temperature controls and quality checks during transit, these drugs are frequently spoiled, rendering them either totally ineffective or lethally toxic to patients.

A double threat

Inside local pharmacies in Omdurman, located on the outskirts of Khartoum, the crisis is not just limited to scarcity. Patients now face the double threat of exorbitant costs and life-threatening quality issues, as these illicit medicines are often severely spoiled due to a lack of proper storage and refrigeration.

Mutawakil Hamza, a pharmacist based in Omdurman, said the reliance on unregulated channels is putting lives at immediate risk.

“Most malaria medicines are now brought in through smuggling,” Hamza said. “These are ultimately injections for intravenous use, and this is highly dangerous to a patient’s health.”

Because intravenous treatments bypass the body’s natural defences and require absolute sterility, administering improperly stored or degraded smuggled injections can rapidly cause severe bloodstream infections, systemic shock, or death.

The war has effectively dismantled local manufacturing, reversing years of medical self-reliance. Yasser Ahmed Youssef, a pharmaceutical industry expert whose factory is located in Khartoum, noted the stark contrast to the pre-war era, when local factories managed to produce “very large quantities of life-saving medicines, including drugs for blood pressure, diabetes, colds, and paediatric care”.

Now, the majority of those production lines are silent, leaving the population dependent on a shattered healthcare system. According to the October 2025 Health Resources and Services Availability Monitoring System (HeRAMS) report cited in a WHO Public Health Situation Analysis from January 6, 2026, 40 percent of health facilities nationwide are entirely nonoperational.

The situation is even more drastic regionally, with 87 percent of facilities shut down in Khartoum and 85 percent closed in North Kordofan, whose control is contested between the rival sides.

In active conflict zones such as Gezira, Khartoum, Darfur and the Kordofan regions, the shortages are particularly dire.

A United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) emergency report from August 2025 highlighted that the only functioning maternity hospital in the besieged city of el-Fasher faces critical medicine shortages and risks imminent closure.

El-Fasher, the last SAF stronghold in the western region of Darfur, was taken over by the RSF in late October 2025, trapping approximately 700,000 civilians – mostly women and children. People have been cut off entirely from food and medicine and subjected to attacks.

Collapsed warehouses and supply lines

In the government-funded public sector, the National Medical Supplies Fund maintains that it is working to secure essential medicines despite the fighting, claiming to have achieved 75 percent availability for cancer medications and fully secured supplies for kidney patients.

However, officials admit the overarching infrastructure is in ruins, with the local health ecosystem almost destroyed.

“We have been massively affected by the ongoing war inside Sudan,” said Abubakar Salouha, a department director at the fund. “The medical supplies have been severely impacted; there has been a collapse at the level of the main warehouses at the headquarters.”

International aid deliveries from neighbouring countries also face enormous logistical hurdles.

The WHO’s January 6 situation analysis detailed that cross-border transit times for medical commodities can take up to 90 days to reach remote regions like Darfur from the Cameroonian city of Douala via Chad. Compounding these suffocating delays, armed groups have repeatedly targeted medical infrastructure, looting pharmacies and stripping remaining hospitals of their vital medical supplies.

Recent attacks highlight this systematic destruction by rival sides. On March 20, 2026, a drone attack on Al-Daein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur state killed at least 64 people, including medical personnel, and injured 89 others. Sudanese rights group the Emergency Lawyers reported that the army was behind the attack.

On April 2, another drone attack struck Al-Jabalain Hospital in White Nile state, killing 10 staff members, including the hospital’s director while he was performing surgery. That same day, the Family Hospital in el-Daein was looted, and patients and health workers were assaulted and expelled. Similarly, a hospital in Kurmuk, Blue Nile state, was looted on March 25, its equipment destroyed, and patients forced out. The RSF was blamed for these attacks.

“Sudan is confronting one of the gravest humanitarian and public health emergencies in the world today. The ongoing conflict has pushed the health system to the edge of complete collapse,” warned WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on April 4.

“These incidents are stark reminders of the urgent need for renewed international solidarity and decisive political and humanitarian action. Sudan cannot endure this crisis alone.”

Nine people have reportedly been rescued from the rubble of a collapsed five-storey building in New Delhi, India.

Some victims’ families are still awaiting news of their relatives as rescuers continue searching.

A Baloch separatist group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a train carrying soldiers in Quetta, Pakistan. The suicide car bombing killed at least 24 people and injured dozens more, including women and children.

After successfully launching Nigeria’s only operational oil refinery in 2024, billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote has set his sights on East Africa as the next location for another mega refinery project, according to recent reports.

It comes as African countries are actively seeking ways to make energy more secure, following huge global disruptions amid the US and Israel’s war on Iran and Tehran’s subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and natural gas is shipped.

Dangote, Africa’s richest man, appeared to be one of the winners from this fallout when his newly operational refinery, located in Nigeria’s commercial Lagos State, began selling large volumes of crude oil across the continent as the war on Iran escalated in March and global oil prices soared.

At present, West, South and East Africa rely primarily on importing refined petroleum products from the Middle East, meaning they are highly vulnerable to disruptions there.

Neighbours of Nigeria – Cameroon, Togo, Ghana and even Tanzania, further to the east – are among the countries that have turned to Nigeria as supplies from the Middle East dry up.

By the end of March, the refinery, which has the capacity to produce 650,000 barrels per day (bpd), reported it was also receiving orders from beyond the continent, especially for severely scarce jet fuel as hundreds of flights were cancelled across regions.

Supply from Dangote’s refinery has cushioned the impact of the war in terms of fuel supply for Nigeria and neighbouring countries, analysts say.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer, and the $19bn project in Lagos is currently the world’s largest single-train refinery, meaning it employs a single processing line rather than multiple units. But it hit full production capacity in February 2026, the same month the war with Iran started.

Nigeria has no functional state-owned refinery, so Dangote’s refinery is now positioning the country to be a net exporter of jet fuel and diesel.

Here’s why more refining capacity in Africa matters for the continent:

What is Dangote’s plan for an East Africa refinery?

In April, Kenya’s President William Ruto announced that East African countries were in talks to build a joint oil refinery at Tanzania’s Tanga port, which would have a similar capacity to Dangote’s Lagos operation.

“We do not want to be held hostage any more by the Strait of Hormuz,” Ruto said at a Nairobi business event in April, which Dangote was present at.

“We do not want to be held hostage by wars that are started by other people. We have our resources here, and we are saying we are going to use our African resources to industrialise our region.”

In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, however, Dangote said he would prefer to build the new operation in Kenya rather than Tanzania.

“I’m leaning more towards Mombasa because Mombasa has a much larger, deeper port,” the billionaire told the UK newspaper.

“Kenyans consume more. It’s a bigger economy,” he said, adding that “the ball is in the hands of President Ruto … Whatever President Ruto says is what I’ll do.”

He has projected construction costs of between $15bn and $17bn.

But venturing into East Africa, which has a very different commercial landscape from West Africa, could prove a challenge, analyst Dumebi Oluwole of Lagos-based intelligence firm Stears told Al Jazeera.

“Dangote has proven it [his operation] can build at scale,” she said. “The East African test will be whether it can also navigate the political and logistical landscape of a fragmented, multi-country market.”

Why aren’t African countries already producing more oil?

Despite having sizeable crude reserves, African countries only refine about 44 percent of the total oil consumed themselves, with imports making up the rest, according to a 2022 African Union report.

The top producers of refined oil are Algeria, Egypt and South Africa. There are about 21 refineries in North Africa.

Southern Africa has another seven, while West Africa has 14. However, most refineries in the two regions are either not operating or are producing below the capacity they are equipped to.

East Africa’s only existing refinery is in Mombasa, but it stopped operating in 2013 due to a combination of slow government policies and exiting investors, who deemed it commercially unviable as a result.

There is currently no refining capacity at all in East Africa, despite the region having about 4.7 billion barrels of crude reserves, according to the African Union, mainly in Uganda, South Sudan, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Kenya imported 40 million barrels of petroleum in 2025. It regularly buys oil from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, India and Oman, all of which have been hampered by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Nigeria itself is Africa’s biggest net crude producer with a 1.5 million to 1.6 million bpd capacity. The country has not refined meaningfully since 2019.

What difference will local refineries make for African countries?

Exporting most of its crude to then import refined products is expensive and puts Africa on the back foot, analyst Oluwole said.

More oil refined on the continent would mean lower petrol pump prices, lower transport costs, and more energy available for people and businesses, in theory. It would also mean greater access to by-products like fertilisers for farmers, for example, or petrochemicals for manufacturers.

“Dangote has demonstrated that a viable, scalable, intra-African energy supply option is possible – that proof of concept matters enormously,” said Oluwole.

“It reflects a growing continental conviction that Africa can provide for itself, and that this is no longer wishful thinking,” she added.

In Nigeria’s case, Dangote’s refinery is yet to ease pressures, though. Local airlines, for example, have complained about having to pay high prices for jet fuel even with improved local supplies. Analysts say that could be because Nigeria’s government removed fuel subsidies in 2023. Bureaucracy within the state oil company also forced Dangote’s refinery to import crude.

Still, the refinery is contributing to “a more transparent and competitive market”, Oluwole said, adding that results should eventually show.

Other countries are stepping up. Last week, Angola’s $470m Cabinda refinery began supplying domestic as well as foreign markets. The project is owned primarily by the United Kingdom’s Gemcorp Capital and has a capacity of 30,000bpd, with plans to double by the end of 2026.

Dangote’s planned refinery in Kenya, if completed, could also help to reduce East Africa’s reliance on the Middle East.

A separate, government-funded refinery project in Uganda’s Hoima region is also in the works. Authorities expect the project to be able to refine 60,000bpd when it starts operations in 2029. It will be fed by the joint Uganda-Tanzania East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), an ongoing project which will transport crude from Uganda’s Lake Albert to Tanzania’s Tanga Port.

Uganda also plans to produce diesel, jet fuel, kerosene and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

With big plans in place, Oluwole says it’s now left to African governments to create enabling business environments for the private sector.

“Dangote has opened the door,” she said. “The question now is whether African institutions and governments will walk through it.”

At least nine people were killed and some 30 injured in a blast at a market in the Pakistani town of Sarai Naurang.

The explosion was caused by a bomb-laden rickshaw. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Ukraine’s attacks on Russia injure at least six people in the region of Vologda and the annexed Crimea.

Ukrainian officials say Russian attacks in several regions have killed at least five people and damaged a ship in the port of Odesa – as Moscow claimed to have intercepted more than 200 Ukrainian drones.

A Russian drone attack killed two men on Saturday in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, according to Governor Oleh Hryhorov. He said civilians were hit in Bilopil close to the Russian border.

In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian attacks on four districts killed one person and injured four others, Governor Oleksandr Ganzha said.

In the southern region of Kherson, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian shelling wounded seven people.

Further east, Russian forces launched more than 700 attacks on 50 settlements in the Zaporizhia region over the past 24 hours, killing two people and injuring four, according to Governor Ivan Fedorov.

Homes, vehicles and infrastructure were damaged, he added.

In Odesa region, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said Russian forces again targeted port infrastructure.

“The attack damaged port and logistics infrastructure facilities, warehouses, technical equipment, cargo storage tanks, administrative buildings, as well as freight transport,” Kuleba said on Telegram.

He added that a civilian vessel flying the flag of Palau was damaged while loading in port. No injuries to the crew were reported.

Ukraine’s air force said it shot down or disabled 124 of 144 drones launched by Russia overnight with impacts recorded at 11 locations.

Russia reports Ukrainian drone attacks

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its air defences destroyed 203 Ukrainian drones between Saturday evening and Sunday morning over Russian regions and the Black Sea.

The ministry said 95 Ukrainian drone control centres were destroyed over the previous 24 hours.

In Russia’s Vologda region, Governor Georgy Filimonov said five people were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on a nitrogen complex.

In Sevastopol in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia, debris from downed drones struck the cardiology department of a hospital, injuring one person, according to Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev. He said 16 Ukrainian drones were shot down over the city overnight.

Razvozhayev added that drone debris also fell on rail tracks, damaging overhead power lines and causing train delays.

Peace efforts continue

The latest attacks came as diplomatic efforts to end the war, now in its fourth year, remained stalled.

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said he signed agreements on security and energy cooperation with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Saturday.

Zelenskyy said Kyiv wanted to draw on its experience defending airspace from Russian attacks. He also said he had discussed the possibility of holding future talks between Ukraine and Russia in Azerbaijan.

“We are ready for the next talks to be in Azerbaijan, if Russia will be ready for diplomacy,” Zelenskyy said.

Deir el-Balah, Gaza – Early this morning, Salama Badwan, his wife and daughter headed to a polling station in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, to participate in the municipal elections, which are taking place for the first time since 2006.

The 43-year-old said he was delighted to be casting a vote after such a long absence, and overjoyed that his daughter, who recently turned 18, could vote for the first time in her life.

The vote is also the first since a “ceasefire” took effect in Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The war has affected all aspects of life, including the electoral process itself. With many of Deir el-Balah’s buildings damaged or destroyed during the war, polling stations have been set up in temporary fibreglass tents on open land.

“I am very happy today, because this is a truly Palestinian democratic celebration. Many generations have been deprived of it for more than 21 years, and today my daughter is voting for the first time,” Badwan told Al Jazeera.

For him, the importance of the elections is providing Palestinians in Gaza with a chance to achieve change through peaceful and democratic means.

“We must change everything through the ballot box … whoever wins, it is their right, but not through inheritance … change must be in the hands of the people.”

But despite this enthusiasm, the reality in Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza, remains complex amid the ongoing “ceasefire”.

The city, which Badwan describes as “always calm,” has become a refuge for hundreds of thousands of displaced people from across Gaza, putting unprecedented pressure on its infrastructure.

“The city received large numbers of displaced people, each coming with different ideas, circumstances, and harsh suffering … This created enormous pressure on water networks, sewage systems, and waste management, and exhausted the previous municipality.”

Deir el-Balah was given the opportunity to hold elections because its infrastructure was less damaged than that of other cities in Gaza during the war.

Badwan places his hopes on a new municipal council capable of handling the scale of the crisis left by the war, away from the political divisions that have swept the Gaza Strip between Hamas and Fatah, the two main rival factions.

“We want a very strong municipal team that does not belong to any faction … one that can secure support from donor countries and meet people’s needs, because today Deir el-Balah is hosting all.”

On the street, he describes the atmosphere of the elections as “positive and enjoyable”, despite general frustration with the political class.

“People are fed up with politicians and unfulfilled promises,” he says, adding that he encouraged those around him to participate in the elections in the hope of creating change.

“I told my friends and children we must go and vote … we cannot just sit at home and wait for change.”

‘I finally have a voice’

Standing beside her father, Dunia, Salama’s 18-year-old daughter, did not hide her joy at casting a vote, despite the exceptional circumstances surrounding her.

“I’m very happy that I can vote in my country and my city, Deir el-Balah … and that I, like others in my generation, can finally participate and have a voice,” said Dunia, a first-year nursing student at Al-Aqsa University.

“Honestly, I had never voted before and didn’t have a clear idea … but when the elections came, my father explained how things work and how our voices could help change the difficult reality we live in, even a little,” she said.

Like many of her peers, Dunia’s motivations are practical and directly tied to daily life, which has sharply deteriorated since Israel launched the war in October 2023. She chose a candidate list composed mostly of young people, describing them as “capable and experienced in their work,” reflecting her hope for a more efficient municipal administration.

“The reality the city is living after displacement is far from stable… the situation is tragic, especially cleanliness, public streets, healthcare, and even education … everything is in very bad condition.”

“I hope these elections help create a situation where students return to schools, and new housing alternatives and camps are provided for displaced people instead of using schools,” she said.

“We want things to go back to how they were … schools should return to students instead of being shelters, hospitals should improve, and streets should be cleaned,” she says.

A long-delayed moment

For Awda Abdel Karim Abu Baraka, 73, the elections represent an opportunity to choose those capable of “reviving society and institutions that have been stalled for years”.

He believes that the local elections could carry broader significance beyond Deir el-Balah. “They are part of a larger system … the West Bank and Gaza,” he explains.

“Holding elections today in Deir el-Balah shows the world that we are a democratic people, and we choose our representatives without imposition,” he adds, expressing hope that “the international community will support this path.”

He also stressed the need for the winners of the vote to respect the city’s residents who have suffered for years amid Israel’s war. “There must be real programmes, not high slogans that later fall … the citizens must be respected, and their dignity and humanity – violated by war – must be restored.”

Despite recognising the scale of challenges, he remains committed to gradual change. “We know the challenges are big and that change takes time … a long journey begins with a single step, and hopefully, this is the first step on the way.”

‘Born out of nothing’

Meanwhile, Mohammad Abu Nada, coordinator of the Deir el-Balah electoral district, moved between voters and staff inside tents set up in place of school polling stations, describing an electoral process that was “born out of nothing”.

He recalls greeting the initial announcement of the elections by the Central Elections Commission in the West Bank with a mix of surprise and a sense of responsibility.

“At first, the news was unexpected … there was joy that we were returning to work after two and a half years of suffering under war, but at the same time, there was a strong sense of responsibility.”

That feeling quickly collided with the complex logistical reality in a city suffering from widespread destruction and severe shortages of resources.

“Capabilities are extremely limited … even this place was just empty land. We relied on tents from international organisations to use as polling stations,” he says, noting that most schools have been turned into shelters for displaced people.

Despite these challenges, polling centres were set up across the city, in a task he describes as far from easy.

The difficulties did not stop there. Essential electoral materials, usually transported from Ramallah, were prevented from entering Gaza.

Abu Nada explains the challenges in securing logistical items such as ballot boxes, stamps, papers, and campaign materials.

“We had to rely on our local capabilities … ballot boxes were designed and manufactured here in Deir el-Balah, and they served the purpose fully.”

Even electoral ink was unavailable after being denied entry by Israeli authorities. “We used ink previously used by the World Health Organization during vaccination campaigns … we tested it, and it stays on the finger for days and worked well,” he explains.

Amid shortages and soaring prices – “multiplied 10 times” – work continued intensively.

“We worked day and night … everything was difficult, from papers to stamps, but in the end we managed,” he says, noting that approximately 70,000 voters are eligible in the city.

While turnout appeared to be limited in the early morning, it picked up later in the day, Abu Nada said, attributing the slow start to people’s focus on meeting basic needs.

“People are standing in lines for water and bread … but we expect turnout to increase.”

The choice of Deir el-Balah for holding elections was not random, but due to its relatively better conditions compared to other areas.

“It is impossible to hold elections in completely destroyed areas like northern Gaza or Khan Younis … so the decision was to start in an area with minimal capacity, hoping to expand later.”

Still, the challenges facing the upcoming municipal council remain significant.

“Deir el-Balah today is not what it was before the war … population pressure is huge, and expectations from the new municipality are high,” he says.

As for the campaign, Abu Nada explains it was conducted in record time and with intense efforts.

“We worked like a beehive … organised more than 20 awareness workshops, worked with local institutions and influencers, and distributed posters and materials explaining how to vote and encouraging participation.”

At the end of his remarks, he expresses a sense of achievement despite the difficulties.

“Today, in front of everyone, we are exercising our electoral right despite all conditions … and that in itself is a success,” he says.

“And hopefully, this is the first step on a longer road.”