A PENSIONER is having to sell her home to cover a £113,000 legal bill after losing a five-year dispute over a 1ft strip of land.
Jenny Field, 76, was told to pay £14,000 after her initial court defeat to Pauline Clark, 64, but her repeated challenges saw the total rocket.
A judge has now told her she must pay the resultant £113,126 in three months or flog her £600,000 bungalow in Hamworthy, Dorset, so the cash can be recouped.
The divorcee told a court: “I am selling it because I have to and I’m fed up with living here but I will offer to pay her £1 per week.”
Their feud began in 2020 after Mrs Clark replaced a fence between the properties.
Ms Field claimed it had encroached on her garden and had it demolished, but Mrs Clark sued for damages and won the first case in 2022.
Several appeals followed and Ms Field was accused of wasting time by bombarding the court with papers.
A bid by her to sue for £500,000 in damages was also dismissed as “totally without merit”.
District Judge Ross Fentem said Mrs Clark had been kept from money owed to her for a long time and told Bournemouth county court the order for sale was “a last resort and draconian remedy”.
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Jenny Field is having to sell her home to cover a £113,000 legal bill after losing a five-year dispute over a 1ft strip of landCredit: BNPS
Last month, the White House issued a news release titled “President Trump Is Right About the Smithsonian,” flagging a grab bag of museum exhibits as offensive — basically anything that highlights racism or is sympathetic toward LGBTQ+ people and undocumented immigrants.
Buried in this trash heap of whines is a complaint that reflects how hell-bent Trump is on bending California to his will.
Describing a “Californio” family as losing their land to Anglo “squatters,” which the yet-to-be-built National Museum of the American Latino does on its website, is apparently a DEI thought crime, according to the news release.
My query to the White House, asking what exactly is so offensive about this characterization of the Mexicans who stayed in California after it became part of the U.S., was acknowledged yet not answered.
But the focus on “Californio” and “squatter” — and putting those words in quotes, as the news release did — suggests the underlying issue, said UC Santa Barbara history professor Miroslava Chavez-Garcia, who specializes in 19th century California.
“They’re trying to question the legitimacy” of the Californios, she said. “Who matters as an American? [To Trump], it’s not people who come from Mexico. It’s people who came from the East.”
“The level of minutiae on this — it’s not him,” she added of Trump. “He’s not a reader. It must be a vast team doing this.”
Worrying about scare quotes around two words in a White House news release might seem like distracting piffle compared with Trump’s other anti-California volleys.
But how the U.S. government frames our yesteryear is one of this administration’s main battlefronts and something I’ve repeatedly warned about in my columna. History is written by the victors, goes the cliche, allowing them to shape a people’s sense of self and decide who’s important and who isn’t.
That’s why Trump and his goons have tried to remake our nation’s past as a triumphalist, so-called Heritage American story, in which people of Western European heritage are always the main actors and the heroes. They’ve done it with the obsession of a pharaoh chipping away all mentions of his predecessors from obelisks.
In Trump’s mind, the United States has never done any wrong, and anyone who thinks so hates this country. It’s not surprising that casting Californios as victims of rapacious gringos might offend him or his lackeys. But this isn’t wokoso propaganda — it’s well-documented history.
Pio Pico State Historic Park in Whittier was home to its namesake, the last governor of California when it was part of Mexico.
(Ringo Chiu / For The Times)
In 1850, Sacramento’s sheriff and mayor died while attempting to remove white squatters, in what was quickly deemed the Squatter Riot. The following year, the U.S. government forced Californios to prove they owned the land they lived on, even though the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War, had ensured their property rights. In the meantime, white settlers could largely claim rancho land as they pleased.
California’s most famous historians — Hubert Howe Bancroft, Kevin Starr and Robert Glass Cleland, to name a few — wrote extensively about so-called squatterism, with Bancroft describing what happened to the Californios as “oppressive and ruinous.”
A new generation of scholars has focused on the writings of Californios, including “The Squatter and the Don,” an 1885 novel by María Ruiz de Burton based on her family’s fight to keep their rancho in what’s now San Diego County.
This was the book described on the National Museum of the American Latino website, prompting the ignominious “Californio” mention in the White House news release.
Until now, “there’s never been much opposition, really” to the narrative of the Californios’ decline, Chavez-Garcia said, calling it “foundational” to the state’s mythology. She cited festivals in mission towns, such as Santa Barbara’s Old Spanish Days Fiesta, where people dress up like the Californios of yore to remember a romanticized era that was destined to end badly.
“The thinking was that the state’s prosperity was never meant to happen” to Californios, she said. “They were meant to die off.”
As a high school student in San José, Chavez-Garcia knew none of this history — “we learned more about the Homestead Act in the Midwest,” she joked. At UCLA, when she finally learned about the Californios, she was “outraged” and questioned why her beloved high school history teacher “didn’t teach us this basic thing.”
“Many people … don’t know our history, so whatever the government tells them to read, they’re going to accept,” she said. “You can’t just let someone take an eraser and erase these histories willy-nilly lo que no le gusta [what someone doesn’t like] and then put in whatever the hell you want because it makes you feel good.”
It can’t fall only on scholars such as Chavez-Garcia and nerds such as me to push back against Trump’s ahistorical assault. All Californians need to stand up to people who not only want to remain willfully ignorant about the bad parts of our history but also want to stop others from learning about them. Speaking only about the good prevents us from doing better and leads to a juvenile worldview that’s sadly taken hold in the White House and beyond.
We must take the stance expressed by Doña Josefa Alamar, a protagonist of “The Squatter and the Don.”
At the end of the novel, she is living in exile in San Francisco. Her husband has died from the stress of trying to keep their rancho, her sons live in hardship and her daughter is married to a white man. A friend urges her to stay silent and not malign the “rich people” who caused her so much grief. But Doña Josefa refuses.
“Let the guilty rejoice and go unpunished, and the innocent suffer ruin and desolation,” she replies. “I slander no one, but shall speak the truth.”
Puy du Fou is the creator of award-winning history-themed destinations in France and Spain of the same name. Now plans have been unveiled to open a new park in the UK
Puy du Fou is planning to come to the UK(Image: Handout)
One of Europe’s top-rated theme parks, which happens to have no rides, is planning a UK site.
Puy du Fou is the creator of award-winning history-themed destinations in France and Spain of the same name. It welcomes in 2.8 million visitors a year and shows them a good time not via the medium of rides, but through its historical attractions.
At its Toledo and Les Epesses bases, Puy du Fou puts on dozens of action-packed shows in which gladiators, Vikings, warriors from the Middle Ages, and many others besides clash swords, ride horses, and set off pyrotechnics. The two sites are often rated as among the best theme parks in the world, delivering as they do a history-spanning live-action role-player’s dream.
Now, Puy du Fou has unveiled plans to move to the UK. It has submitted an outline planning application to Cherwell District Council for a £600 million park near Bicester, which is best known for housing a discount fashion retail park beloved by Chinese tourists.
If approved, the new park will open in phases beginning in 2029. By the time the park is fully developed it will directly employ around 2,000 people, support a further 6,000 jobs in hotels, restaurants, suppliers and other local businesses, and deliver a £500m a year boost to the local and regional economy, Puy du Fou has claimed in a press release.
The firm predicts it will welcome in 1.47 million visitors a year when everything is fully up and running. It will take ten years from the planned opening date of 2030 for the whole park to be finished, tripling the initial expected annual ticket sales of 550,000 by the end of the first decade.
On offer will be a “beautiful, wooded park with stunning landscaped gardens” that will allow visitors to “immerse themselves in British history by visiting four period villages and 13 live shows. There will also be three hotels, each themed to different periods in British history, and a state-of-the-art conference centre, which will be open on demand all year round.”
Olivier Strebelle, CEO of Puy du Fou, said: “We have only submitted these plans after an extensive consultation, which took over a year and included six in-person events and over 250 individual meetings, all of which have helped to shape our final proposals. We did not rush our consultation because we wanted to get our proposals right.
“We have wanted to come to the UK for many years. Britain has such a rich, colourful and exciting history, and the site we have chosen near Bicester is the ideal location to create a world-class destination that will bring that history to life.
“This will be a £600 million investment in the local economy over the next ten years and will create thousands of jobs, but it will also have the environment and sustainability at its heart.”
The proposals also include extensive landscaping and planting, with new ponds, lakes and gardens, as well as over 5 km of new hedgerows, 40 acres of biodiverse and species-rich wildflower meadows, and 20,000 new trees being planted to join with the existing woodland to create the first new 50-acre forest in Cherwell.
More information can be found on the project website. Puy du Fou was established in France in 1978, and was joined by a second destination in Toledo, Spain in 2021. The two parks have won 25 global awards in the last five years.
Presenting powerhouse Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly have reportedly landed a huge £30 million golden handcuffs deal with ITV which will keep them at the network for three years
Ant and Dec land ‘£30million golden handcuffs deal with ITV’(Image: Getty Images)
Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have reportedly landed a £30 million golden handcuffs deal with ITV after the channel lost This Morning’s Holly Willoughby. The presenting duo, who have won endless awards over the years for their work, are said to be in talks on a three-year agreement for their shows.
The huge deal would see them continue hosting I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, Britain’s Got Talent, and Limitless Win. An insider claimed the deal with Ant and Dec is a “worthwhile investment” for ITV as they’re widely loved by the public and host “some of the channel’s most successful shows”.
With their 50th birthdays coming up soon, the duo have “double the reason to celebrate”.
Ant and Dec are reportedly wrapping up talks for a £30m deal(Image: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publis)
Speaking to The Sun, a source claimed: “From the ITV execs’ point of view, it also ensures that there aren’t any counter-bids from the streaming giants who are increasingly moving into the light entertainment arena.”
The Mirror have reached out to ITV for comment. It comes after it was reported ITV has been in talks to extend fan-favourite series, I’m A Celeb, until at least 2030.
A TV source recently claimed the broadcaster has plans to secure the series’ Australian jungle location for another five years and if successful, the deal would take the hit reality show up to its landmark 30th series.
The duo host some of ITV’s biggest shows
The discussions would mark a shift in strategy for ITV, which has previously only signed three-year agreements to use the Murwillumbah site in New South Wales.
Negotiations are now reportedly underway with Australian authorities and the Tweed Shire Council, which must approve any extended filming permits.
A source said to The Sun: “The production team are planning five years in advance, which is a long-term approach they haven’t adopted before. But this is not a done deal with the local authorities, and the negotiations have just started to secure the site.
“They’re not taking anything for granted but are hopeful all parties involved will be able to reach some kind of agreement.”
A spokesperson for Tweed Shire Council confirmed talks are ongoing. She revealed: “They will need to seek permission again – we can’t give open-ended filming permissions to anyone.:
I’m A Celeb, which was won by Danny Jones last year, drew in an average audience of 9.1 million in the previous series, making it 2024’s most-watched entertainment programme.
As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push to redraw California’s congressional maps plays out at the state Capitol and on the national stage, a quieter but no less bloody scramble is simultaneously underway.
Newsom’s plan — a bid to counter President Trump’s drive for more GOP House seats with his own California show of force — still needs to be approved by the state Legislature before voters decide its fate in November.
But behind the scenes, consultants, lawmakers and would-be candidates already are jockeying for position in the newly competitive or vastly redrawn districts that may soon exist across the state.
As rumblings emerged that there probably would be a new southeast Los Angeles County congressional seat — later confirmed by the official maps released last week — political watchers braced for a full-on feeding frenzy. A fresh seat in a safe Democratic district can be a once-in-a-generation opportunity, particularly in a region crowded with ambitious politicians.
But a race that doesn’t even officially exist yet seems to already be practically tied up with a bow.
L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis hasn’t publicly announced her candidacy. But she’s made her intention to run for the redrawn 38th district clear within the close-knit world of California politics. And other would-be candidates appear to be staying out of the veteran politician’s way.
In the brass-knuckles world of southeast L.A. County politics, Solis, 67, has long been a starring player.
She previously served in Congress and the statehouse before becoming one of the five “little queens” holding the reins of the county kingdom.
Her desire for the new seat and her ability to claw back potential competition are widely known, according to conversations with more than a dozen political operatives and current and former lawmakers, most of whom asked for anonymity to speak freely about a sensitive topic. Through a consultant, Solis did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Solis was telling California lawmakers and other civic leaders that she was planning to run and was seeking endorsements, even before the maps were finalized.
At least one California lawmaker noted that Solis referred to the district as “my seat” when asking for backing — a reference to the seat she once held, even though the new district doesn’t yet exist.
Some have bristled at the alacrity with which Solis has appeared to consolidate support. The frustration is sharpened at a time when aging politicians in Washington have become a political flashpoint and Democratic leaders have been criticized for sidelining younger talent.
“It kind of looks like Hilda Solis has completely sewn up that seat in one night of making phone calls. And the excitement of a brand new seat was quickly extinguished,” one Southern California Democratic political consultant said.
Several of the consultant’s clients have already agreed to endorse Solis, they added.
“Unless Cesar Chavez himself is running out there, Hilda Solis will get our support,” a leader of one politically influential union said, name-checking the late labor trailblazer.
Solis was reelected to a third and final term on the powerful county Board of Supervisors in 2022, representing a district that sprawls from downtown and northeast Los Angeles to Pomona. She has been a leader on environmental justice and immigrant issues and made history early in her career as the first Latina in the state Senate.
Congress would be a homecoming of sorts for her — she was elected to the House in 2000 and served several terms before stepping down for a role as President Obama’s Secretary of Labor in 2009.
Under the proposed maps, Democrats could pick up five seats now held by Republicans while bolstering vulnerable Democratic Reps. Adam Gray, Josh Harder, George Whitesides, Derek Tran and Dave Min. To make those changes work, the maps vastly alter other districts around the state while creating an additional district in L.A. County.
A wide swath of what is now the 38th Congressional District, represented by Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Whittier), would be divided into two neighboring southeast L.A. County districts.
Because members of Congress do not have to live in the district they represent, and because the proposed 38th and 41st districts both include a large chunk of Sánchez’s current district, it was initially unclear which would lack an incumbent and be seen as the “new” district.
But should the maps pass, Sánchez is likely planning to run in the 41st district, according to a source close to her.
During the state’s last redistricting process — when California lost a congressional seat for the first time due to dwindling population — the Southeast L.A. County seat held by Lucille Roybal-Allard, the first Mexican American woman elected to Congress, was eliminated.
Both of the proposed new districts contain portions of Roybal-Allard’s old district — which had the most Latino voters of any district in the country, according to the 2010 census.
“The L.A. delegation gets one more member of Congress when this is all over, and that member will be elected by the Latino community,” said Paul Mitchell, the political data expert tapped by Newsom to draw the new lines.
The proposed 38th District, where Solis is planning to run, would include a swath of southeast L.A. County, including some or all of cities such as Bell, Montebello and Pico Rivera, as well as El Monte, City of Industry and Hacienda Heights, stretching east to Diamond Bar before dipping south to encompass the Orange County city of Yorba Linda.
The proposed new 41st District, where Sánchez is expected to run for reelection, would include some or all of Downey, Whittier and Lakewood, as well as La Habra and Brea in Orange County. (The “old” 41st District, represented by GOP Rep. Ken Calvert, is located entirely in Riverside County, stretching from Corona to Palm Springs.)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom poses for a photo with Los Angeles area Democratic lawmakers Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio, center, and her sister Sen. Susan Rubio, right, after his State of the State address in 2020.
But Susan Rubio failed to make it past the primary in a House bid last year, and her Senate seat is up for reelection in 2026, making her less likely to forgo a relatively easy path back to Sacramento for a far riskier congressional contest. A spokesperson said Rubio has not expressed interest in the seat.
Blanca Rubio said through a spokesperson Tuesday that she is solely focused on her Assembly district.
Solis’ position as a powerful county supervisor, along with her years of name recognition, would give her a strong advantage in drumming up money and endorsements.
Still, should the new maps pass, it’s unlikely that she would go entirely unchallenged. Even as some appear ready to anoint her, others are ready for a generational change.
Former state Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo of Boyle Heights cited Democratic leaders such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Greg Casar of Texas, all of whom are under 40.
“The area includes a lot of smaller cities with a lot of dynamic leaders and is obviously representative of a very diverse community,” Carrillo said of Southeast L.A. County. “The Democratic Party has an opportunity to elect a new generation of leaders that can inspire the voter base and can inspire the future of the Democratic Party.”
Times staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.
Cracking the Case features BBC News journalist Calum Leslie, who is delving into the ‘how and why’ behind some major crimes, with the assistance of two experts.
This riveting three-part series will captivate anyone intrigued by the workings of the criminal mind. In each episode, Calum and the experts aim to comprehend why different crimes were committed by exploring psychological insights. They’ll also probe police procedures, examining what justice signifies for every victim and their families.
Calum is backed by two criminal specialists, both with a wealth of experience in solving past cases. Rebecca Mason, a former police detective, will lend her 14 years of expertise in the force to provide valuable insight, reports the Express.
Cracking the Case will follow three separate crimes(Image: BBC)
Rebecca is no novice when it comes to bringing criminals to justice, having secured the UK’s first ever romance fraud conviction. Her diligent work on the case was recognised by the presiding judge.
Dr Sohom Das, the second expert on the show, has a background as a forensic psychiatrist and expert witness. He has previously aided both victims and criminals during ongoing court proceedings, presenting his expert opinion to the courts.
His position in the courtroom environment has demanded considerable courage, with Dr Sohom having previously encountered some perilous offenders and observed the distressing accounts from victims who have been severely affected by their offences.
The official description states: “Every crime leaves a trail. Fingerprints, DNA, a move caught on camera. BBC News journalist Calum Leslie is joined by two experts – one who investigates how crimes are committed and one who digs into why.
Journalist Calum Leslie will lead the series(Image: BBC)
“The team examines the evidence that led to convictions and put some of the UK’s most notorious criminals behind bars. Gaining access to information that usually remains sealed, Cracking the Case gives professional insights into the psychological profile behind the criminal act and walks the audience through how the perpetrators were caught.”
The overview continues: “At the heart of each episode lies a thorough exploration of the impact crime has on victims and their families – giving a voice to the people most profoundly impacted by terrible events by hearing directly from them.”
BBC Commissioning Editor Chris Achilleos further shared: “This new format from the BBC News Video on Demand team takes a serious look into how crimes, that have hit the headlines, have been solved.
Calum will be supported by two experts(Image: BBC)
“Using studio-based storytelling, with detailed graphic explainers, police interviews and evidence as well as compelling testimony from those impacted – we will take audiences through the process of how crimes are solved, step by step.”
The programme’s presenter, Calum Leslie also added: “BBC News is the home of trusted, impartial journalism and the work of our newsgathering teams across the country is what provides the journalistic rigour behind this series.
“We are there in court, hearing the evidence and witness testimony. We are with the people affected by these crimes, broadcasting their stories. Cracking the Case uses all of these resources to reveal how investigations take shape and the profound impact these crimes have on victims and communities.”
All three episodes will be available to stream on BBC iPlayer on 1 September.
Thousands of firefighters, backed by soldiers and water-bombing aircraft, have battled more than 20 major wildfires raging across western Spain, where officials say a record area of land has already been burned.
Spain and neighbouring Portugal have been particularly affected by forest fires spurred by heatwaves and drought, blamed on climate change, that have hit southern Europe.
Two firefighters were killed on Sunday – one in each country, both in road accidents – taking the death toll to two in Portugal and four in Spain.
Spain’s civil protection chief, Virginia Barcones, told public television TVE that 23 blazes were classified as “operational level two”, meaning they pose a direct threat to nearby communities.
The fires, now entering their second week, are concentrated in the western regions of Castile and Leon, Galicia, and Extremadura, where thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes.
More than 343,000 hectares (848,000 acres) of land – the equivalent of nearly half a million football pitches – have been destroyed this year in Spain, setting a new national record, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
The previous record of 306,000 hectares (756,142 acres) was set in the same period three years ago.
Help from abroad
Spain is being helped with firefighting aircraft from France, Italy, Slovakia, and the Netherlands, while Portugal is receiving air support from Sweden and Morocco.
However, the size and severity of the fires and the intensity of the smoke were making “airborne action” difficult, Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles told TVE.
Across the border in Portugal, about 2,000 firefighters were deployed across the north and centre of the country on Monday, with about half of them concentrated in the town of Arganil.
About 216,000 hectares (533,747 acres) of land have been destroyed across Portugal since the start of the year.
Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said the country had endured 24 days of weather conditions of “unprecedented severity”, with high temperatures and strong winds.
“We are at war, and we must triumph in this fight,” he added.
Officials in both countries expressed hope that the weather would turn to help tackle the fires.
Spain’s meteorological agency said the heatwave, which has seen temperatures hit 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of the country, was coming to an end.
Travellers to Spain are warned to be vigilant when it comes to local beach regulations, as one common habit could see them blindsided with a fine ranging from €30 to €2,000
Strict beach regulations have been implemented by local councils across Spain [stock image](Image: AFP via Getty Images)
British holidaymakers are being warned that a common holiday habit could land them a major fine on Spanish beaches. Tourists could be hit with penalties up to €2,000 (£1,730) without realising they are breaking the law.
According to Vape Ease UK , tourists are coming up against strict beach regulations in popular Spanish hotspots, notably bans implemented by local councils. “People assume that if something’s legal in the country, it’s allowed everywhere — but that’s not the case,” said a spokesperson for Vape Ease UK.
“In Spain, what’s allowed in the street could get you fined on the beach.” So while e-cigarettes are legal to use and purchase across Spain, many beaches now enforce strict no-vaping rules under local public health policies. It comes after a warning to Brit tourists planning all-inclusive holidays to Spain.
All city beaches in Barcelona are smoke- and vape-free [stock image](Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
In most cases, these bans mirror anti-smoking regulations and treat vaping the same way. There are a few destinations now where vaping is banned on beaches.
In Barcelona, all city beaches have been smoke- and vape-free since 2022, with regular patrols and fines for non-compliance. Similarly various beaches across the Balearic Islands – specifically in Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca – are marked as smoke-free, and that includes e-cigarettes.
In Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, local councils have designated popular beaches as clean-air zones where vaping is banned, particularly in family areas.
Anyone vaping in prohibited areas risks an on-the-spot fine ranging from €30 to €2,000 (£26 to £1,730). The fine varies depending on the beach and whether or not the culprit is a first-time offender.
“It might feel like a small thing, but the consequences can be steep — especially in regions where authorities are cracking down during the summer season,” said the Vape Ease UK spokesperson.
Stick to designated smoking areas to avoid fines(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
The bans are part of a wider move by Spanish regional governments to create cleaner, safer public spaces, particularly in areas popular with families. Beaches are now being treated as shared health spaces, and that includes efforts to reduce secondhand vapour exposure and litter from vape cartridges.
Even if signs aren’t visible, any beach designated as smoke-free is almost certainly vape-free too — and tourists are expected to know the rules.
To avoid a hefty fine, travellers are encouraged to check regional restrictions before heading to the beach. Travellers should also look out for areas marked “No Fumar” (No Smoking) and utilise designated smoking areas if available.
Additionally, it’s important to know the rules around flying with vapes and e-cigarettes. Most airlines maintain an almost identical stance when it comes to the monitoring of vapes.
Nearly all major airlines don’t allow people to pack them in their hold luggage, for safety reasons. They are, however, allowed to be kept on a person in the cabin. But vaping on-board, like smoking, is strictly prohibited.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has staunchly rejected a suggestion by Donald Trump that ‘swapping territory’ could be a way to end Russia’s war on Ukraine. European leaders have reiterated their support for Kyiv ahead of planned talks between the US President and Russia’s Putin.
With US and Russian leaders set to meet in Alaska next week, Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelenskyy warns deals without his country will not bring peace.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ruled out Ukraine ceding land to Russia and demanded his country take part in negotiations in comments made before planned talks between the leaders of Russia and the United States.
In a video shared on social media on Saturday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was ready for “real decisions” that could bring a “dignified peace” but stressed there could be no violation of the constitution on territorial issues.
“Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier,” he said, warning that “decisions without Ukraine” would not bring peace.
“They will not achieve anything. These are stillborn decisions. They are unworkable decisions. And we all need real and genuine peace. Peace that people will respect,” added Zelenskyy, whose country has been fighting off a full-scale Russian invasion since February 2022.
His comments came hours after US President Donald Trump said a peace deal would involve “some swapping of territories” as he announced a meeting on Friday with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in the US state of Alaska to discuss the war in Ukraine.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, which also forced millions of people to flee their homes.
Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine this year have failed to bear fruit, and it remains unclear whether a summit would bring peace any closer.
On Thursday, Putin said he considers a meeting with Zelenskyy possible but the conditions for such negotiations must be right and the prerequisites for this are still far from being met.
The Russian president did not outline his conditions, but previously, the Kremlin has insisted that Ukraine give up the territories Russia occupies, Western nations stop supplying Ukraine with weapons and they exclude Ukraine from membership in the NATO military alliance.
“There has been a lot of speculation over what a ceasefire agreement could look like in which the lines of contact between Russia and Ukraine could be frozen for a number of years,” Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javad, reporting from Moscow, said.
“It is also not clear whether the Russian demand that NATO’s ambitions in Ukraine should be forever quashed is actually going to be met.”
‘A challenging process’
Ukraine and its European allies have long opposed any agreement that involves ceding occupied territory, but Putin has repeatedly said any deal must require Ukraine to relinquish some of the territories Russia has seized.
Russia declared four Ukrainian regions that it does not fully control – Kherson, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Luhansk – its territory in 2022 and also claims the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said the talks between the presidents of Russia and the US next week will “focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis”.
“This will evidently be a challenging process, but we will engage in it actively and energetically,” Ushakov said.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, a close ally of Ukraine, said on Friday that a pause in the conflict could be close.
“There are certain signals, and we also have an intuition that perhaps a freeze in the conflict – I don’t want to say the end, but a freeze in the conflict – is closer than it is further away,” Tusk said at a news conference after talks with Zelenskyy. “There are hopes for this.”
The Alaska summit would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.
Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a Group of 20 summit in Japan during Trump’s first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since Trump returned to the White House in January.
United States President Donald Trump has confirmed he will meet with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on August 15 in Alaska to discuss efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
But, Trump added, any peace deal would involve “some swapping” of territory, a controversial prospect.
“We are going to have a meeting with Russia. We’ll start off with Russia,” he said on Friday, as he hosted leaders from Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House.
Trump offered few details on what, if anything, had changed in his months-long effort to bring about a deal to end Russia’s invasion.
Still, he suggested any breakthrough would require the exchange of territory.
“It’s very complicated. But we’re going to get some back, and we’re going to get some switched. There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both, but we’ll be talking about that either later or tomorrow,” he said.
Ukraine and its European allies have long opposed any agreement that involves ceding occupied territory – including Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – to Russia.
But Putin has repeatedly said that any deal must require Ukraine to relinquish some of the territories Russia has seized since 2014.
He has also called for a pause to Western aid for Ukraine and an end to Kyiv’s efforts to join the NATO military alliance.
Questions about the meeting’s location
Still, the prospect of Trump meeting Putin has raised logistical questions in recent days, particularly since the Russian leader faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Prosecutors have sought his arrest for alleged war crimes perpetrated in Ukraine, and Putin’s travel through any ICC member countries could result in his detention.
The US, however, is not an ICC member and does not recognise the court’s authority.
While the Kremlin had previously floated the possibility of meeting in the United Arab Emirates, another non-member, Trump announced on Friday in a Truth Social post that he would welcome Putin to the US northernmost state, Alaska.
The state’s mainland sits approximately 88 kilometres – or 55 miles – away from Russia across the Bering Strait, and some smaller islands are even closer.
Friday’s announcement came on the same day as a deadline that Trump had imposed on Russia to reach a ceasefire passed without any new agreement.
In recent weeks, Trump had grown increasingly frustrated with Russia over the country’s continued attacks on Ukraine and its apparent unwillingness to come to an accord.
The August 15 meeting is slated to be the first tete-a-tete between the two leaders since 2019, during Trump’s first term.
‘Great progress’
Trump had broken with decades of diplomatic precedent by seeming to embrace Putin during much of his time in the White House.
Earlier this year, for instance, Trump appeared to reject Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in favour of Putin. He also blamed Ukraine’s ambitions of joining NATO for provoking Russia’s full-scale invasion of its territory in February 2022.
“Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” Trump yelled at one point during a confrontational meeting with Zelenskyy broadcast from the White House in February.
But Trump has positioned himself as a self-described “peacemaker”, and his inability to bring the Ukraine war to a close has become a source of resentment between him and Putin.
At the same time, he took an initially permissive approach to Putin, but has since expressed growing frustration with the Russian leader amid Russia’s continued attacks.
Last week, Trump denounced Russia’s renewed attacks on Kyiv. “I think it’s disgusting what they’re doing. I think it’s disgusting,” he said.
He also demanded that Russia pause its attacks or face new sanctions and secondary tariffs on key trading partners.
On Wednesday, Trump appeared to begin to make good on that threat, raising tariffs on Indian goods to 50 percent in response to its purchase of Russian oil.
Still, this week, Trump hailed “great progress” in the peace negotiations as his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, visited Putin in Moscow.
But as of Friday, the date of the new deadline, no new US actions or Russian capitulations had been announced.
Some analysts have argued that Putin is intentionally teasing out talks to extend the war.
It remains unclear if Trump’s mercurial approach has meaningfully changed the ceasefire equation since he took office.
Brits heading on summer holidays to the likes of Italy and Spain are being warned of strict dress code rules especially when it comes to wearing swimwear in public
(Image: Getty Images/EyeEm)
Brits planning to hit the beach or pool on their holidays may want to take note of some strict swimwear rules, or risk a potential £425 fine for wearing their bikinis.
In recent years, a number of holiday hotspots including Italy and Spain have clamped down on dress codes for both locals and tourists, when it comes to bikinis and swim shorts.
Italian hotspot Sorrento has banned the wearing of swimwear outside of beaches and pools, with authorities arguing that the move upholds public decency and respect for locals. The rules have been in place since 2022, and anyone flouting the restrictions could face a fine of up to €500 (approximately £425). It comes as Brits have been issued a stark warning about the habit that could land them a prison sentence while abroad.
It’s worth noting that you’re not going to get a fine if you’re walking around your hotel or beach club, or if you’re on the beach itself. The crackdown is in place to stop people then heading out to the town and trying to enter shops and restaurants in just their swimming attire. The ban doesn’t just apply to swimwear; it also applies to visitors who walk around the town topless.
It’s not just Sorrento that has this dress code in place. For tourists heading on Spain holidays to the likes of Barcelona and Majorca, similar restrictions apply. People can only wear their swimwear on the beach or poolside, but if they head out to the towns then they could be slapped with a fine. In Barcelona that can be up to £260, while in Majorca that can be up to £500. Like Sorrento, this also applies to men walking around topless.
The rules apply to hotspots along the Amalfi Coast(Image: iStockphoto)
There are other European holiday spots where dress codes are in place. For example, tourists heading to Greece have been warned to consider the shoes they wear carefully.
At historic sites including the Acropolis in Athens, shoes such as high heels are banned because they can damage the landmarks. The ban has been in place since 2009 as part of preservation efforts.
In fact, a statement on the Acropolis website explains: “Most types of shoes are allowed at the Acropolis, except for high heels that have been forbidden in 2009 at all of Greece’s ancient monuments. The ban was put in in place due to the damage that the sharp soles were adding to Greece’s ancient sites.” If you want to visit and you’re wearing heels, you could risk being denied entry to the site. Rule-breakers face fines of around €900 (£771).
Do you have a travel story that you want to share with us? Email us at [email protected]
Prices for the eponymous Swiss watches, Swiss chocolate and Swiss cheese could skyrocket in a week as a result of President Trump’s trade war.
Switzerland, home to some the world’s most recognizable luxury brands, now faces an upcoming 39% tariff from the U.S. Industry groups on Friday warned that both Swiss companies and American consumers could pay the price.
Trump signed an executive order Thursday placing tariffs on many U.S. trade partners — the next step in his trade agenda that will test the global economy and alliances — that’s set to take effect next Thursday. The order applies to 66 countries, the European Union, Taiwan and the Falkland Islands.
In Switzerland, officials failed to reach a final agreement with the U.S. after Trump initially threatened a 31% tariff in April. Swiss companies will now have one of the steepest export duties — only Laos, Myanmar and Syria had higher figures, at 40-41%. The 27-member EU bloc and Britain, meanwhile, negotiated 15% and 10% tariffs, respectively.
Figure came as a surprise
The Swiss government spent Friday — the country’s National Day — reeling from the news. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter said that the 39% figure was a surprise, because negotiators had hashed out a deal last month with the Trump administration that apparently wasn’t approved by the American leader himself.
“We will now analyze the situation and try to find a solution,” Keller-Sutter told reporters. “I can’t say what the outcome will be, but it will certainly damage the economy.”
The U.S. goods trade deficit with Switzerland was $38.5 billion last year, a 56.9% increase over 2023, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Keller-Sutter said that she believes Trump ultimately chose the 39% tariff, because the figure rounded up from the $38.5 billion goods trade deficit.
“It was clear that the president was focused on the trade deficit and only this issue,” she said.
Time is ticking for watch companies
For Swiss watch companies, whose products already come with price tags in the tens of thousands — if not the hundreds of thousands — of euros, a timepiece for an arm could cost a leg, too, come next week.
The 39% figure was especially galling to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, because Switzerland in 2024 got rid of import tariffs on all industrial goods.
“As Switzerland has eliminated all custom duties on imported industrial products, there is no problem with reciprocity between Switzerland and the U.S.,” the federation said in a statement. “The tariffs constitute a severe problem for our bilateral relations.”
Swiss watch exports were already facing a prolonged slowdown, with significant declines in the United States, Japan and Hong Kong, according to the federation’s June figures, the most recent available.
Swatch and Rolex declined to comment Friday. Representatives for Patek Philippe, IWC and Breitling didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Sour taste for Swiss chocolatiers
Multinational chocolatiers Nestlé and Lindt & Sprüngli said they have production lines in the U.S. for American customers. But small- and medium-sized Swiss companies are predicted to suffer under the tariffs.
Roger Wehrli, chief executive of the Association of Swiss Chocolate Manufacturers. also known as Chocosuisse, said Switzerland exports 7% of its chocolate production to the U.S.
It’s not just the 39% tariff that’s the issue. Once the manufacturers factor in the exchange rate between U.S. dollars and Swiss francs ($1 to 1.23 francs on Friday), Wehrli said, it’s close to a 50% increase in costs for the Swiss companies. And that’s a big number to pass on to American consumers, if the already-slim margins aren’t further reduced.
“I expect that our industry will lose customers in the United States, and that sales volumes will decrease heavily,” he told The Associated Press.
Wehrli said that he wants Swiss chocolatiers to sell to other markets around the globe to make up the difference. Still, he hopes American customers remember that Swiss quality beats cheaper quantity.
“I think even if prices for Swiss chocolate increase due to the very high tariffs, I think it’s worth (it) to buy Swiss chocolate,” he said. “It’s worth (it) to really eat it consciously and to really enjoy it instead of eating a lot.”
Tough pill for Swiss pharmaceuticals
Swiss pharmaceuticals powerhouse Roche says that it’s working to ensure its patients and customers worldwide have access to their medications and diagnostics amid the Trump tariff war.
“While we believe pharmaceuticals and diagnostics should be exempt from tariffs to protect patient access, supply chains and ultimately future innovation, we are prepared for potential tariffs being implemented and confident in managing any impacts,” the statement said.
The company in April announced that it plans to invest $50 billion in the United States over the next five years, creating 12,000 jobs. The company already employs more than 25,000 people in the U.S.
Meanwhile, Novartis, another major Swiss pharmaceutical firm, said in a statement that it was reviewing Trump’s executive order.
“We remain committed to finding ways to improve access and affordability for patients,” it said.
Dazio writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Pietro De Cristofaro in Berlin, and David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, contributed to this report.
Sikkim, India – It was the middle of the night when Tashi Choden Lepcha was jolted awake by the tremors that shook her mountainside home in Naga village. Perched above the Teesta River, which flows through a gorge just below, Naga is a remote village in India’s northeastern Himalayan state of Sikkim. For centuries, it has been home to the Indigenous Lepcha people.
“It felt like an earthquake,” the 51-year-old mother of five says of the events of October 4, 2023. “The whole house was shaking. It was raining heavily, there was no electricity, and we couldn’t see anything.”
In the pitch dark and amid the heavy downpour that night, Lepcha roused her three children, aged 13, 10 and five, and rushed out of the house with her husband, panicking. Together with a few neighbours, they searched for a safe space on higher ground. That’s when they noticed a distinct smell of mud and something like gunpowder.
Moments later, an enormous, tsunami-like wave surged down with terrifying force. Lepcha didn’t know it at the time, but it was a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), which had been triggered by the sudden avalanche of ice and rock into the South Lhonak Lake – a glacial lake high up in the Teesta basin in North Sikkim.
The impact breached the lake’s moraine wall, releasing more than 50 million cubic metres of water. The flood destroyed the 1,200-megawatt Teesta III dam – Sikkim’s largest hydropower plant, located at Chungthang on the River Teesta, the largest river in Sikkim, which originates in the eastern Himalayas. The dam’s collapse released an additional five million cubic metres (equivalent to 2,000 Olympic swimming pools) of reservoir water.
The high-velocity flood in the Teesta River valley carried about 270 million cubic metres of sediment and debris along with it, causing widespread devastation across Sikkim, parts of West Bengal and Bangladesh through which the Teesta flows.
At least 55 people were killed, 74 went missing, and more than 7,025 were displaced. The flood damaged nearly 26,000 buildings, destroyed 31 bridges and flooded more than 270 square kilometres of farmland. It also triggered 45 landslides, damaged four dams and destroyed long stretches of National Highway 10.
Both Teesta III and Teesta V, another hydroelectric dam near Dikchu in Balutar, have remained shut since they were severely damaged during the flood. Repair work is continuing, but neither of the dams has generated electricity for almost two years.
Scientists say the scale of the destruction makes it one of the most devastating flooding disasters recorded in the Himalayas in recent decades.
Tashi Choden Lepcha, whose family lost both their houses in Naga village to the 2023 glacial flood. Nearly two years later, she still has no home [Arunima Kar/Al Jazeera]
Rebuilding amid ruin
Today, Naga village, located about 73 kilometres from Sikkim’s capital, Gangtok, is deserted due to continuous land subsidence. Houses are cracked, have collapsed or are still standing but leaning towards the river flowing below. The main NH10 road passing through the village has been destroyed with long, deep cracks.
In all, about 150 families lost their homes and land in the flood and now face an uncertain future. Lepcha’s family lost both their houses, which collapsed in the landslides. They, along with 19 other families, are now living temporarily in a government tourist lodge in Singhik, about 10km from their home.
As the region struggles to recover, and communities along the Teesta remain displaced and vulnerable, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has approved plans to rebuild the Teesta III dam without any public consultation, despite concerns about the risk of future glacial lake outburst floods and the fact that the Himalayan range running across Sikkim is seismically sensitive.
With the ongoing monsoon season, the Teesta’s water levels have risen significantly. This has already caused several landslides in North Sikkim, washing away the under-construction Sankalang bridge and cutting off large parts of the region.
Long stretches of roads across North Sikkim are still unpaved, muddy and full of rubble. Several bridges damaged during the 2023 flood and the monsoon next year are yet to be rebuilt.
The quality control lab at the Chungthang dam site has also been swept away, halting construction work. “It looks like a war-torn area. How will they rebuild Teesta III?” asks Gyatso Lepcha, a climate activist with Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT), a group of Lepchas campaigning against large hydropower projects and environmental conservation in the region.
“A detailed risk assessment considering future climate scenarios, glacial behaviour, hydrological changes, and sedimentation rates is essential before deciding to rebuild the dam in the same location,” says Farooq Azam, senior cryosphere specialist at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
In the absence of such an assessment, the region’s Lepcha communities, who fear further disaster, are protesting against the construction.
Naga village in north Sikkim, with its cracked and sinking houses and roads, is deserted following the glacial lake flood in 2023 [Arunima Kar/Al Jazeera]
A controversial dam
Sikkim is home to 40 of India’s 189 potentially dangerous glacial lakes across the Himalayan region, many of which are at risk due to rising temperatures and glacial melt driven by climate change.
Built on a river already lined with dams constructed by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), the Teesta III dam was originally pitched as a renewable energy project.
Approved in 2005 with a budget of Rs 5,705 crore (about $667m), the dam actually cost more than Rs 14,000 crore ($1.6bn) to build by the time it became operational in 2017. Delays were caused by the 2011 earthquake, which destroyed major infrastructure, and also repeated flash floods and landslides.
The dam faced criticism from environmentalists and the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF), which described it as a “failed example of public-private partnership” for the massive cost overruns, years of delay, ecological damage and disregard for Indigenous rights and livelihoods.
The operator, Sikkim Urja Limited (formerly Teesta Urja Ltd or TUL), was forced to sell electricity at half the agreed rate as buyers, including the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, refused to pay higher prices. In 2017, transmission delays caused yet more losses of about Rs 6 crore ($701,000) per day from June to September 2017.
Following the devastating flooding of 2023, the estimated reconstruction cost for the dam is now Rs 4,189 crore ($490m), but experts question how such a large-scale reconstruction could be completed at less than a third of its original building cost.
An investigation in May this year renewed concerns about the project. The Sikkim Vigilance Police, a special police force, found irregularities in the process used to select the independent power producer, who, according to the findings of the police investigation, lacked the qualifications for a project of this scale. It was alleged that critical dam design parameters had been compromised as a result.
Other reports have found that environmental assessments also overlooked key risks. A 2006 biodiversity report [PDF] from Delhi University had identified the Chungthang region as a highly sensitive ecological zone. Yet the project received swift environmental clearance from the environment ministry based on a report which claimed that little to no significant wildlife existed in the area. The clearance procedure also bypassed the ministry’s own directive that no dams could be approved in Sikkim until a full “carrying capacity study” (a study of an area’s capacity for supporting human life and industry) of the Teesta basin had been completed.
“What was the hurry to give clearance for rebuilding even before the Central Water Commission and Central Electricity Authority cleared the design?” asks Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), an advocacy group working on the water sector. “The Environmental Impact Report (EIA) used was done before 2006, which didn’t consider the risk of a GLOF. It contributed to the disaster, and now the same flawed EIA is being used again. Even the dam safety report prepared after the collapse hasn’t been made public or considered for this decision.”
Teesta Bazar in Kalimpong, West Bengal, endured extensive destruction in the October 2023 glacial lake outburst flood [Arunima Kar/Al Jazeera]
While a “concrete faced rockfill dam” is planned this time – supposedly more resilient to flooding than the old “concrete gravity dam” design – experts and local communities still worry this won’t be enough because, they say, key impact studies are incomplete.
Al Jazeera reached out to MoEF&CC with questions about why the Teesta III reconstruction had been approved without a new EIA, despite concerns over safety and ecological impacts. Questions were also sent to Sikkim Urja Ltd regarding reconstruction plans and structural safety and to NHPC about the cumulative impacts of multiple dams along the Teesta. Emails and calls to all these offices remained unanswered by the time of publication.
Tunnelling and blasting during the original construction of Teesta III, before it opened in 2017, led to landslides, erosion and damage to homes. Yet, no comprehensive assessment has been conducted on seismic risks, reduced river flow or long-term ecological impacts.
“Our soil is fragile,” says Sangdup Lepcha, president of ACT. “We are seeing more landslides every year. During the GLOF, the soil was completely washed away. If tunnels are dug again under our villages, the area could collapse.”
Sangdup, who lives in Sanggong village in Lower Dzongu, says the 10km stretch from Namprikdang to Dikchu is the only remaining stretch of the Teesta without any dams.
Many worry that if the rebuilding of Teesta III continues without safeguards, it will put villages at risk. “We have already seen what happened in Naga,” says Sangdup. “Why is the project getting emergency clearance while affected families are still waiting for rehabilitation?”
Teesta Bazar in Kalimpong, West Bengal, was one of the worst-hit areas downstream of the Sikkim dam during the October 2023 glacial lake outburst flood. Roads are still unstable and cracked, and many houses are sinking into the Teesta River [Arunima Kar/Al Jazeera]
Sacred land
Dzongu, a region bordering the Kanchenjunga Biosphere Reserve in North Sikkim, is a protected reserve for the Indigenous Lepcha community. Known for their spiritual ties to the rivers and mountains, the Lepchas from Dzongu have long resisted large-scale hydropower projects in the region to protect their identity, livelihoods and the biodiversity of the region.
When multiple dams were proposed in the early 2000s along the Teesta basin – a river the Lepchas revere as a living deity – ACT spearheaded protests against dam construction. Their hunger strikes and protests led to the cancellation of four major hydropower projects in Dzongu and four outside.
“We are animists,” says Mayalmit Lepcha, ACT’s general secretary. “Our traditions, culture, identity, and everything else are tied to Mount Kanchenjunga, Teesta, Rangeet and Rongyong rivers here.”
Despite their long history of activism, the communities say they were ignored during the public consultation process, even though their land and rivers would be used for the proposed 520 MW Teesta IV hydroelectric project.
At least 16 villages lie near the potential construction site, across the agricultural belt of North Sikkim. The project would include building tunnels underneath Hee Gyathang and Sanggong villages in Dzongu to carry water to the power station. The siltation tunnel, which will divert sediment-laden water away from the main reservoir, is supposed to run beneath the Tung Kyong Dho, a sacred lake known for its rich biodiversity.
Songmit Lepcha, from Dzongu’s Hee Gyathang village, told Al Jazeera that she lost her livestock and plantation during flash floods in June last year. “We are scared of rebuilding our homes,” Songmit said, her voice filled with worry.
Opposition Citizen Action Party (CAP) leader Ganesh Rai told Al Jazeera that he is particularly worried about the new plans to rebuild the dam to a height of 118.64 metres, twice as high as the original. “With climate change intensifying, any future breach could submerge all of Chungthang,” he said. “It won’t just affect Dzongu but everyone downstream.”
That could include settlements in Dikchu, Rangpo, Singtam and Kalimpong, and Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in West Bengal, which were severely affected by the 2023 flood. In places like Bhalukhola near Melli, families have been living in makeshift relief camps since the 2023 floods. Conditions are difficult, with limited access to clean water, sanitation and medical care.
Leboon Thapa’s house in Bhalukhola, Kalimpong, was destroyed by the 2023 glacial lake outburst flood in Sikkim. He has been living with his parents in a single, cramped room in the relief camp alongside the Teesta highway since then [Arunima Kar/Al Jazeera]
Struggles downstream
The 2023 flood did not just destroy 22-year-old Leboon Thapa’s family home in Bhalukhola in north Bengal, about 100km downstream from the site of the old Teesta III dam. It also disrupted his dreams of a professional football career.
Leboon is now living with his parents in a single, cramped room inside a relief camp along the Teesta highway, which is situated above Bhalukhola. They are sandwiched between works being done to widen the highway in front of their site, and the ongoing tunnel construction work for the Sevoke-Rangpo railway project behind them. The exposed location leaves them at risk of landslides and flooding.
“If they are rebuilding the dam, they must build protection walls here for our safety,” says the lanky, athletic young man, looking around at what’s left of his village. The fields he played football in as a child, as well as the playground he once ran about in, are now buried under silt and debris. “We only have this land. If we lose it, where do we go?”
About 10km further downstream in Teesta Bazar, 68-year-old Tikaram Karki lost his house and motorcycle repair shop to the 2023 flooding. His home, built above the riverbank, began cracking and sliding just a few days after the flood.
“We were hiding in the mountains in the rain. When we came back at 6am, there were no houses, roads, or electricity,” he says, as he stands next to what remains of his house and shop, both of which are leaning steeply towards the Teesta. He smiles even as he talks about his losses since that dreadful night.
Tikaram now lives in a rented house with his family of four. He is paying Rs 8,000 ($93) monthly rent while struggling with financial losses as he has no way to run his business.
He received some compensation from the West Bengal state government, but it does not cover all he has lost. “I have been living here for 30 years and spent Rs 30 lakh ($35,000) building my house. I only got Rs 75,000 ($876) in compensation. What will happen with that?”
Like others here, Tikaram says he believes the destruction was made worse by years of poor planning and unchecked silt buildup caused by the dam, which raised the riverbed of the Teesta.
“If they had cleared the silt during the dry months, we wouldn’t be so vulnerable now,” he says.
“I cannot tell the government not to build the dam, but they should build proper protection for all the people still living along Teesta,” adds Tikaram.
Tikaram Karki’s home and motorcycle repair shop in Teesta Bazar, Kalimpong, are sinking into the Teesta River following the October 2023 flood, which caused massive destruction to property in the region [Arunima Kar/Al Jazeera]
Rising risk
In a January 2025 study by an international team of scientists and NGOs published in the Science journal, researchers warned that South Lhonak Lake is one of the more rapidly expanding and hazardous glacial lakes in Sikkim. The lake expanded from 0.15 square kilometres in 1975 to 1.68sq km by 2023, posing a danger of flooding to the communities downstream.
“The Teesta-III dam played a significant role in amplifying the downstream impact of the South Lhonak GLOF disaster,” Azam, at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), tells Al Jazeera.
Azam explains that while the disastrous flood could not have been prevented, its impact could have been significantly reduced through better infrastructure planning and active monitoring of the lake. “Reinforced spillways, sediment handling systems, and early warning systems linked to upstream sensors could have provided critical response time,” he says.
The night the flood hit, the dam’s power station was still operating. According to Thakkar, authorities had received alerts well in advance, but there were no standard operating procedures or emergency protocols in place about opening spillway gates during such situations. “And there has been no accountability since,” he added.
Thakkar says he is deeply concerned that the dam is being rebuilt without taking into account the flood potential based on current rainfall patterns.
“And what happens to the other downstream dams when this one releases excess water during the next flood?” he asked. “None of them are being redesigned to withstand that kind of excess flow.”
Rai criticises the state’s priorities, saying the government was “pushing for more dams instead of strengthening disaster preparedness” at a time when the frequency of extreme weather events is expected to increase.
Once a thriving town, Chungthang in North Sikkim is now strewn with rocks, boulders and a deep layer of sand and debris after the 1,200-megawatt Teesta III dam was destroyed by a massive glacial lake outburst flood from South Lhonak Lake, above, in Lachen [Arunima Kar/Al Jazeera]
‘No Future Here’
Nearly two years after the October 2023 flood, Tashi Choden Lepcha still has no home. Her voice chokes up as she speaks about her houses in Naga village.
“We were born there, raised children there. Now we have nothing,” she says of herself and her husband, wiping her tears. Her brother used to live next door: he lost everything as well.
After the disaster, she, her husband and children stayed in a school building in Naga. But when cracks appeared in the school walls, they were shifted to Singhik. The lodge, too, is beginning to show cracks in the kitchen and bathroom.
Her husband and children have since relocated to Siliguri, about 150km away, for work and education, while she stayed behind alone because she teaches at Naga Secondary School.
The government gave them Rs 1.3 lakh ($1,520) in compensation, but most of it went on the cost of moving their belongings to different locations.
There have been discussions about allocating land higher up in the mountains for the displaced families. But many of them fear it could take years before they are rehoused. “If the government gives us land in a safe location, we can build a house. How long can we live like this? We have no future here,” she says now.
Most people in the surrounding villages share her fears. They want the dam project scrapped or moved to a safer location.
Mayalmit echoes this call for caution. “We’re going to have more GLOFs, there’s no doubt,” she says.
“People will have confidence only if decisions are based on proper impact assessments, considering all factors, and done in a transparent way,” Thakkar adds. “But that’s not happening now, which is why there’s scepticism about hydro projects among locals.”
He says that Indigenous communities must be part of the decision-making process. “They’re the ones most at risk, and also the most knowledgeable.”
Praful Rao of Save The Hills, an NGO working in disaster management in North Bengal and Sikkim, has called for joint disaster planning between the two states. “What happens upstream affects us downstream. It is time we work together for science-based disaster planning, not blindly push dam projects for revenue.”
While hydroelectricity is important for India’s energy future, Rao warns against unchecked expansion. “You can’t build dams every few kilometres. We need to study how many this fragile region can safely support.”
Mayalmit urges central and state authorities to reconsider the approval. “Don’t act against Indigenous rights, the environment. I speak for the rivers, the birds and the animals here.”
Awdah Hathaleen a Palestinian community leader who was a consultant on the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” died Monday after an Israeli settler allegedly shot him to death in the occupied West Bank.
“No Other Land” filmmaker and subject Yuval Abraham announced his colleague’s death Monday, writing on X (formerly Twitter), “[Hathaleen] just died. Murdered.” Two hours prior, Abraham shared video of the confrontation that led to Hathaleen’s death. In the video, the settler in a dark shirt can be seen shoving people in a group, pulling out and pointing his pistol in their direction. The video shows him firing at people off-screen.
In the caption of his video, Abraham writes that the settler “just shot” Hathaleen in the lungs and identified the shooter as Yinon Levi. Levi was among the 13 hard-line Israeli settlers targeted last year by international sanctions for their alleged attacks and harassment of Palestinians in the West Bank. President Trump lifted U.S. sanctions against the Israelis in January.
“This is him in the video firing like crazy,” Abraham tweeted.
The incident occurred in in the village of Umm al-Khair, in the Masafer Yatta region that was the focus of “No Other Land.” Hathaleen was rushed to a hospital in Israel, where he was pronounced dead, his family confirmed to the New York Times. He was 31.
According to multiple reports, Israeli police said they responded to the scene, detaining and arresting an Israeli citizen. Police did not identify the detainee they took in for questioning, and claimed “terrorists hurled rocks toward” the nearby Israeli settlement of Carmel, according to CNN. Additionally, the Israeli military detained five Palestinians and two foreign tourists for their alleged involvement in Monday’s incident, the BBC reported.
The IDF did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for confirmation on Tuesday.
“No Other Land” filmmaker and Palestinian journalist Basel Adra on Tuesday tweeted video showing the attack from another angle. In this video, Levi is seen with the pistol in his right hand, smacking a person in front of him. The clip also sees Levi raising his right arm and firing off-screen. Adra says Levi “fires the bullet that took” Hathaleen’s life, adding in his caption that “the apartheid court decided to release him to house arrest.”
On Monday, Adra tweeted he was in disbelief about his friend’s death: “My dear friend Adwah was slaughtered this evening. He was standing in front of the community center in his village where a settler fired a bullet that pierced his chest and took his life. This is how Israel erases us — one life at a time.”
On Instagram, the Center for Jewish Nonviolence described Hathaleen as a well-known community figure: “an activist, artist, and teacher in the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta.” The activist group reminded Instagram followers that last month Hathaleen and another Palestinian man were denied entry, detained overnight and deported back to the West Bank when they arrived at the San Francisco International Airport.
“So many in our community knew Awdah, and gained so much by learning from him, and being his friend,” the organization said, concluding its statement with a call to action. “May Awdah’s memory be a revolution. May we see justice for Awdah, and justice for all Palestinians, within our lifetime.”
Earlier this year, Israeli settlers brutalized another member of the Oscar-winning “No Other Land” team. In March, Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal was beat in his head and stomach by settlers in the village of Susiya in the Masafer Yatta area. Palestinian residents said the settlers, some wearing masks, some carrying guns and some wearing military uniforms, attacked as residents were breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to the Associated Press. Israeli military and police forces detained the filmmaker on suspicion of hurling rocks at IDF and police.
He was released a day later, with bruises on his face and blood on his clothes. As he recalled hearing “the voice of soldiers laughing at me,” his wife said she felt the international attention surrounding “No Other Land’s” Oscar win prompted settlers to “attack us more.” The harrowing documentary , which became the subject of controversy in Miami Beach earlier this year, documents Israel’s demolition of Palestinian villages in Masafer Yatta and the displacement of their communities in favor of Israeli military training grounds.
Since Israel launched its war against Hamas nearly two years ago, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Tuesday. At least 77 were killed over the past 24 hours, most while seeking food.
Brits who are planning to vape on holiday should check the rules before they travel or they could risk landing themselves in prison for breaking the law
Check the rules on vaping before you head abroad (Image: Getty Images)
Brits have been warned that vaping in a popular holiday hotspot could actually land them in prison.
UK travellers heading on Thailand holidays should take note that E-cigarettes are illegal across the whole country, with hefty fines and potential prison sentences for anyone caught using them.
That includes packing them in your suitcase, as it’s illegal to bring e-cigarettes and vape pens into Thailand too. Airport officials will often check passengers’ luggage and confiscate these devices, and you could land yourself in hot water if you’re found with them in your bags, such as an on-the-spot fine or even being arrested.
It’s not just vaping either; it’s illegal to smoke in public across Thailand with fines of up to 5000 baht (approximately £115) being handed out to those who flout the law. The ban has been in place since 2014, when the Thai government introduced the rules in a bid to improve people’s health.
Thailand has strict rules around smoking and vaping(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
The UK government has already warned Brits of the strict rules. The Foreign Office explains in its Thailand travel advice: “It’s illegal to smoke in public with a fine of up to 5,000 Thai baht. E-cigarettes are illegal. You could be fined or imprisoned for carrying or using them.”
It’s not just Thailand that has strict rules around vaping. In Singapore, anyone found possessing or using a vape could be fined up to £1,150.
Meanwhile in Mexico the sale of vapes is generally banned. Holidaymakers have been warned that if they have the devices in their luggage and are stopped by customs officials, they may be asked about the vape and its intended use, with some reports that these devices are often confiscated before travellers have even left the airport.
In Europe, countries such as France and Belgium already have a ban on disposable vapes in place. Meanwhile in Spain, vaping on beaches in Barcelona, Benidorm could mean fines of up to €750 (£650). Over in the Balearic Islands, there are a number of smoke-free beaches as visitors are urged not to litter the sands with cigarette butts.
There could be more rules to follow. Last year, the Canary Islands’ authorities began to consider proposals that would ban smoking on outdoor bar and restaurant terraces on the holiday islands, as well as a ban at bus stop shelters, outdoor sports areas and near entrances to buildings such as schools and hospitals. At the moment, smoking is prohibited in all indoor public spaces, including bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and workplaces.
You should also take note of the UK’s own laws when you head home. As of June 1, 2025, the UK government has banned disposable vapes. Anyone who is found with a single-use vape could find it gets confiscated at the border.
Do you have a travel story that you want to share with us? Email us at [email protected].
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III condemned Israel’s bombardment and blockade of Gaza as “morally unacceptable” after a rare visit to the besieged territory on July 18. Their trip followed an Israeli strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church, which killed three people.
Israeli forces have shot and killed a Palestinian child in the occupied West Bank amid more violent raids by soldiers and settlers, and as Israeli authorities position to confiscate more land.
Local Palestinian sources reported on Friday that 13-year-old Amr Ali Qabha was hit with live ammunition in a street in Yabad, located south of Jenin, and was denied medical treatment as soldiers prevented ambulances from reaching him.
Qabha’s father also tried to reach him, but was severely beaten and detained by Israeli soldiers, according to the Wafa news agency, which said the child was pronounced dead at the hospital after an ambulance was finally able to get him there.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed across the occupied West Bank since Israel’s war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023. Of that figure, at least 204 were children.
The United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA) said on Friday that at least 14 Palestinian deaths and 355 injuries were recorded in the West Bank last month, while there were at least 129 Israeli settler attacks resulting in Palestinian casualties or property damage.
According to OCHA figures, between the beginning of 2024 and the end of June 2025, more than 2,200 Israeli settler attacks were reported, resulting in more than 5,200 Palestinian injuries.
In that same period, nearly 36,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced across the West Bank due to Israeli military operations, settler violence or home demolitions carried out by the Israeli government.
Ongoing raids and harassment
The deadly incident on Friday came as Israeli soldiers continued their raids across the occupied territory that were accompanied by arrests, and assisted settlers in their attacks aimed at driving Palestinians from their lands.
In Jenin’s village of Raba, Israeli forces fired tear gas at Palestinians, including children, who were protesting against the confiscation of their land and property.
Israeli forces fire tear gas at Palestinians who demonstrated against the confiscation of their land in Raba, near Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, July 18, 2025 [Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]
In the town of Dura, located south of Hebron, five Palestinians were detained after a raid that included the ransacking of several homes.
Six more were arrested in Qalqiliya’s village of Kafr Laqif, with another two taken from the village of Sir in the same district.
A Palestinian man was arrested in Bethlehem after being summoned by Israeli intelligence to the Gush Etzion settlement. Two people were taken during a raid on Nablus, with one shot and wounded before his arrest. Another arrest was reported in the Askar refugee camp.
In the village of Umm Safa near Ramallah, Israeli soldiers destroyed a main water pipeline, which left about 1,000 residents without water.
In the neighbourhood of Beit Hanina in occupied East Jerusalem, families living in a residential building were forced to leave in preparation for the demolition of their homes. The Palestinian families were among those forced to demolish the buildings themselves after an order by Israeli authorities, because the municipality would fine them more if it demolishes the building.
Armed Israeli settlers launched a violent attack earlier on Friday in the village of al-Malih in the northern Jordan Valley, located northeast of the occupied territory. They killed at least 117 sheep belonging to Palestinians, stole more livestock and vandalised tents and other property, according to Wafa.
Israel’s plan to divide future Palestinian state
Israeli authorities are planning to illegally confiscate more Palestinian land as well, despite international criticism.
The United Kingdom on Friday opposed Israel’s announcement of its intention to renew plans for construction in the E1 area in the occupied West Bank, a move that would split the Palestinian territory.
“The UK strongly opposes the announcement by the central planning bureau of Israel’s Civil Administration to reintroduce the E1 settlement plan, frozen since 2021,” said a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson.
The plan would include the construction of more than 3,000 houses to the east of Jerusalem, dividing a future Palestinian state in two, read the statement, and “marking a flagrant breach of international law”.
A Palestinian man inspects burned cars, after Israeli settlers set fire to vehicles in the Palestinian town of Burqa, near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, July 15, 2025 [Mohammed Torokman/Reuters]
US Democratic Senators Bernie Sanders, Peter Welch, Jeff Merkley and Chris Van Hollen issued a joint statement on Friday condemning Israel’s longstanding plan to destroy and force out Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta, in the South Hebron Hills.
Amid frequent attacks by settlers and troops in the area, Israeli authorities are advancing with plans to turn the Masafer Yatta area into an “open fire” zone for their military.
