NEWS

Masafer Yatta, occupied West Bank – Awdah Hathaleen was standing by a fence in the Umm al-Kheir community centre when he was shot in the chest by an Israeli settler on Monday.

The beloved 31-year-old activist and father of three fell to the ground as people rushed over to try to help him. Then an ambulance came out of the nearby illegal settlement of Carmel and took him away.

Israeli authorities have refused to release his body for burial, simply telling his family on Monday night that he had died, depriving them of the closure of laying him to rest immediately, as Islam dictates.

Mourning

Under the scorching sun of the South Hebron Hills, the people of Umm al-Kheir were joined by anti-occupation activists from all over the world – gathered in silence to mourn Awdah, who was a key figure in non-violent resistance against settler violence in Masafer Yatta.

They came together in the same yard where Awdah was standing when he was shot to death by Israeli settler Yinon Levi, who later said, “I’m glad I did it,” according to witnesses.

Rocks had been laid in a circle around Awdah’s blood on the ground, mourners stopping there as if paying their respects.

Around the circle, the elders sat in silence, waiting for news that didn’t arrive on whether Awdah’s body would be returned by the Israeli army.

There is a feeling of shock that Awdah, out of all people, was the one murdered in cold blood, his cousin Eid Hathaleen, 41, told Al Jazeera about his “truly beloved” relative.

“There was [nobody] who contributed as much to the community in Umm al-Kheir as Awdah,” Alaa Hathaleen, 26, Awdah’s cousin and brother-in-law, said.

“I can’t believe that tomorrow I will wake up and Awdah won’t be here.”

Awdah had three children – five-year-old Watan, four-year-old Muhammad, and seven-month-old Kinan – and he loved them above everything else in the world, several of his friends and relatives told Al Jazeera.

“He was a great father,” Alaa said. “The children would go to him more than to their mother.”

Awdah got married in 2019, Jewish Italian activist Micol Hassan told Al Jazeera over the phone. “His wedding was a beautiful occasion in 2019. We organised cars that came from all over Palestine [for it].

“He loved his children so much,” she continued. “Every time he put them to sleep, they cried and asked where their daddy was.”

Hassan, who has been barred from returning to the occupied West Bank by Israeli authorities, also fondly recalled how much Awdah loved coffee and how she would bring him packs of Italian coffee whenever she was able to get to Umm al-Kheir.

Awdah also loved football, playing it every chance he got, even though Umm al-Kheir’s facilities are badly degraded and all the villagers have is a paved yard with dilapidated goalposts.

In fact, Awdah’s last breaths were on that same battered football pitch, possibly the one place in the village where he spent the most time.

No matter how bad settler attacks were, Alaa said, Awdah would sit down with him and discuss their projections and hopes for his favourite team, Spanish side Real Madrid.

“His love for Real Madrid ran in his veins,” Alaa added. “Maybe if they knew how much he loved them, Real Madrid would speak about Masafer Yatta.”

Peaceful activist and ‘radical humanist’

Awdah has been an activist since he was 17 years old, working to stop the Israeli attempts to expel the villagers of Masafer Yatta from their homes and lands.

He hosted countless visiting activists who came to the occupied West Bank to support Palestinian activists and villagers, helping them understand the situation on the ground and embracing their presence with his trademark hospitality.

Perhaps his most famous such collaboration was his work with Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, who co-directed No Other Land, a documentary film that won an Oscar award this year.

Everyone who spoke to Al Jazeera remembers him as the kindest person, with a brave, peaceful heart.

He was “tayyeb, salim”, they said, using the Arabic words for “kind” and “peaceful”.

Awdah would tell anyone who came to Umm al-Kheir that he didn’t choose to be an activist; it just happened, Hassan told Al Jazeera, adding that he welcomed everyone, regardless of faith or citizenship.

“He was a radical humanist,” she said.

“He wanted the occupation to end without suffering,” said Alaa, adding that Awdah always thought about what the future would bring for his children and others.

He chose to become an English teacher because of that, Eid told Al Jazeera. He wanted the village children to grow up educated and able to tell the world their story in English, so they could reach more people.

“He taught all his students to love and welcome everyone regardless of their faith and origin,” said Eid.

A group of his students – he taught English from grades one through nine in the local school – huddled together in the community centre yard among the mourners, remembering their teacher.

“He would always try to make classes fun,” said Mosab, nine years old.

“He made us laugh,” added his classmate Mohammed, 11.

Murdered by a raging settler

Umm al-Kheir is one of more than 30 villages and hamlets in the West Bank’s Masafer Yatta, a region that, more than any, has seen the consequences of the expansion of settlements and violence linked to it.

The incident that led up to Awdah’s killing began the day before, recounted activist Mattan Berner-Kadish, who had been in Umm al-Kheir providing protective presence to the Palestinian community.

A digger was to be delivered to the illegal settlement, and the villagers had agreed to coordinate the passage of the machinery with the settlers, to prevent any damage to village infrastructure.

But the settler driving the machinery ran over a water pipe and began rolling over other infrastructure, threatening to roll into the town and cause more damage.

When villagers gathered to try to stop the machinery, the operator used the digger’s claw to hit one of them in the head, dropping him to the ground, semi-conscious.

Awdah was 10-15 metres (30-50 feet) away from the altercation, standing in the community centre yard, looking on.

In the chaos, gunshots started ringing out, and Berner-Kadish saw Yinon Levi shooting at people. Amid the screams and panic, he realised that Awdah had been shot.

An Israeli settler just shot Odeh Hadalin in the lungs, a remarkable activist who helped us film No Other Land in Masafer Yatta. Residents identified Yinon Levi, sanctioned by the EU and US, as the shooter. This is him in the video firing like crazy. pic.twitter.com/xH1Uo6L1wN

— Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם (@yuval_abraham) July 28, 2025

He tried to calm Levi down, telling him that he had directly shot someone and likely killed him. To which Levi responded: “I’m glad I did it.”

Berner-Kadish also tried to talk to the Israeli soldiers who arrived on the scene, only to hear from three of them that they wished they had been the ones to shoot Awdah.

Following the murder, the Israeli army arrested five men from the Hathaleen family. On Tuesday, the Israeli army closed the area around Umm al-Kheir, restricting any access to it.

Also on Tuesday, Levi was released to house arrest by Israeli courts, which charged him with negligent homicide.

Levi was sanctioned by Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States for violent attacks on Palestinians.

The five Hathaleen men arrested after Awdah was killed are still in Israeli custody, Alaa told Al Jazeera.

Weeping, he fretted: “What if [the Israelis] return [Awdah’s] body and they can’t pay their last tribute to them?”

Police say four people were killed and 500 others arrested at protests in the capital, Luanda.

At least four people were killed and hundreds were arrested during a protest against a fuel price hike in Angola’s capital, police said.

The protests erupted on Monday in response to the government’s decision earlier this month to raise the price of diesel by 30 percent, which led to large hikes in fares by minibus taxis, an important method of transport for many Angolans.

Gunfire could be heard in central Luanda’s Cazenga area, where people were seen taking food and other items from shops.

Social media images showed clashes in the Rocha Pinto suburb near the airport, as well as in the Prenda area.

Police said in a statement on Tuesday that hundreds of arrests were made in connection with rioting, vandalism and looting of shops. Cars and buses were damaged and roads were blocked.

Transport in Luanda remained suspended and shops closed on Tuesday.

The government’s decision to raise heavily subsidised fuel prices from 300 to 400 kwanzas ($0.33 to $0.44) per litre has caused anger in Angola, one of Africa’s top oil producers, where many people live in poverty.

Minibus taxi associations, which in turn hiked their fares by up to 50 percent, launched a three-day strike to protest the move beginning on Monday.

“We are tired … they must announce something for things to change … for us to live in better conditions,” a protester told Angola’s TV Nzinga.

“Why do you make us suffer like this? How will we feed our children? The prices have to go down,” a woman said, addressing President Joao Lourenco.

Deputy Commissioner Mateus Rodrigues told reporters in a briefing about Monday’s violence that the police “currently report four deaths”. He did not specify how they occurred.

Police arrested 400 people overnight for suspected involvement in the unrest after arresting 100 on Monday, Rodrigues said. About 45 shops were vandalised, while 25 private vehicles and 20 public buses were damaged, he added. Banks were also targeted.

Protests have been taking place since the announcement of the diesel price hike on July 1.

Human Rights Watch said police had used excessive force in a July 12 protest, including firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

Angola has been gradually cutting fuel subsidies since 2023, when protests over a petrol price hike also turned deadly.

Israeli TV personalities are making fun of children dying of starvation in Gaza, with one even claiming a mother ate her baby. It is part of a right-wing media campaign that is promoting the famine as a hoax.

Four rare Sumatran tiger cubs have been born at a Welsh Zoo, sparking new hope for the critically endangered species.

Mum Terima, who is 11, welcomed the “very noisy, and very cute” cubs around six weeks ago at Manor House Wildlife Park.

Park officials have been keeping news of the arrivals under wraps as the cubs were allowed to settle.

The four cubs, whose genders are yet unknown, were born on 8 June making Pembrokeshire home to seven tigers. Celebrity owner Anna Ryder Richardson said: “This is the largest litter in the UK, possibly in Europe, and it’s very exciting.”

There are estimated to be fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild due to habitat loss and illegal poaching.

Manor Wildlife Park is part of a “very strict breeding programme”.

Interior designer and TV presenter Ryder Richardson added: “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The tigers have a very important job to do because they have been genetically matched to breed.

“The breeding group are really hoping that one of our four is a male.”

The pairing and breeding of particular animals is managed by a studbook holder, who makes matches according to genetic diversity and other suitability criteria.

Participating in the European Endangered Species Programme means that if zoos are asked to send an animal to another zoo for breeding, they will co-operate to ensure the population overall is as strong and healthy as possible.

Ryder Richardson added: “You wont be able to see Sumatran Tigers in the wild, during ours or our children’s lifetimes. It’s happening in front of our eyes and it’s tragic.

“Our zoo will probably not be allowed to breed again, unless we bring in another male, or swap the females which we don’t want to do.

“For Wales, it’s a rare opportunity and it’s important for people to come and see, and learn.”

Manor House Wildlife Park has been attempting to breed from their 10-year-old male Jaya and 11-year-old female Terima for more than eight years.

They had been unsuccessful until their first cub Zaza was born in 2024.

Manor House Wildlife Park officials said they are open to suggestions on naming the cubs once their genders have been identified.

Park owner Ryder-Richardson said she is hoping “for some Welsh names.”

At least 60,034 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the war on Gaza erupted in October 2023, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health.

The grim milestone was reached on Tuesday, with medical sources telling Al Jazeera that at least 62 Palestinians, including 19 aid seekers, have been killed since dawn, despite “pauses” in fighting to deliver essential humanitarian aid.

Local accounts indicate that Israel used booby-trapped robots, as well as tanks and drones, in what residents describe as one of the bloodiest nights in recent weeks, said Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

“This is a sign of a possible imminent Israeli ground manoeuvre, although Israel has not yet confirmed the objectives of the attack,” he said.

The latest attacks come as the “worst-case scenario of famine” is unfolding in Gaza, according to a new report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global hunger monitoring system.

“Latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City,” it said in the report.

“Amid relentless conflict, mass displacement, severely restricted humanitarian access, and the collapse of essential services, including healthcare, the crisis has reached an alarming and deadly turning point,” the IPC document added.

Food consumption has sharply deteriorated, with one in three individuals going without food for days at a time, it said.

Malnutrition rose rapidly in the first half of July, with more than 20,000 children being admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July. More than 3,000 of them are severely malnourished.

The IPC alert comes against the backdrop of its latest analysis released in May, which projected that by September, the entire population of Gaza would face high levels of acute food shortages, with more than 500,000 people expected to be in a state of extreme food deprivation, starvation, and destitution, unless Israel lifts its blockade and stops its military campaign.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and humanitarian blockade, which it lifted partially in March, continues to plunge the Palestinian territory into an increasingly dire malnutrition crisis as at least 147 people, including 88 children, have died from malnutrition since the start of the war, the Health Ministry said on Monday.

Starvation is affecting all sectors of the population, with Sima Bahous, the executive director of UN Women, saying one million women and girls in Gaza face the “unthinkable choice” of starving or risking their lives while searching for food.

“This horror must end,” Bahous said in a social media post, calling for unhindered access of humanitarian aid into the Strip, the release of captives and a permanent ceasefire.

Babies particularly affected

Medical staff at Gaza’s hospitals are seeing babies severely malnourished “without muscles and fat tissue, just the skin over the bone”, the director of paediatrics and maternity at Nasser Hospital, Ahmed al-Farra, told Al Jazeera.

The long-term consequences of malnutrition for babies, infants and children are severe as they are still developing their central nervous system during the first three years of their lives, said al-Farra.

Babies who have been malnourished will not have the required folic acid, B1 complex and polyunsaturated fatty acids that are essential for the composition of the central nervous system.

Al-Farrah said malnutrition can affect cognitive development in the future, make it hard for a child to read and write, and lead to depression and anxiety.

Tanya Haj Hassan, a doctor with the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF), explains that serious health risks remain even after food becomes available again.

“The reality is the problem doesn’t end when the food arrives … malnutrition impacts all aspects of the body’s function,” Hassan told Al Jazeera.

“All of the cells in your body are altered by this. In the intestines, the cells die. That results in issues with absorption, with bacteria. Your pancreas struggles; absorbing fats is difficult.

“Your heart cells become weak and thinned. The connections are impacted, the heart rate slows. These children often die of heart failure, even when they’re being refed,” she added.

“They also have life-threatening shifts in salts; these can also lead to fatal heart rhythms. They’re more prone to sepsis and shock,” the doctor said, in reference to oral rehydration salt solutions, which are usually administered to people suffering from malnutrition.

“[Patients can face] low blood pressure, skin lesions, hypothermia, fluid overload, infection, vitamin deficiencies that can affect vision and bone.”

Governments have been falling over one another to offer concessions to United States President Donald Trump as his August 1 tariff deadline looms. On Sunday, the US president scored his biggest victory to date, as European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen, like the leader of a vassal state paying homage to an emperor, travelled to Trump’s private golf course in Scotland to offer him tribute.

It came in the form of an entirely one-sided tariff pact in which Brussels accepted a huge tariff hike and pledged to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on US fossil fuels and military products.

The pact has changed the balance between two of the largest economic powers in the world. The EU has simply rolled over without a fight. French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou described it as a “dark day” for the union, while a European diplomat bemoaned by saying “those who don’t hang together get hanged separately.”

The economic impact on the rest of the world is likely to be worse still. Trump has declared economic war on friends and foes alike. Many countries are facing higher tariffs than the EU and are less capable of defending themselves. By giving in, Brussels has made it harder for other countries to stand firm.

A 40 percent tariff on Laos or 36 percent on Cambodia, for example, will be devastating to the export industries which US corporations encouraged them to build in recent decades. And without a united front, other countries are reluctantly coming to the table.

Last week, Trump announced a deal with the Philippines for 19 percent tariffs on all goods exported to the US and no tariffs on imported US goods; it was unclear if Manilla had fully agreed to the arrangement before the US president made it public. Indonesia’s deal is even worse, with the country forced to give up controls on its critical mineral exports and aspects of its emerging digital sector – both of which are critical to its economic development. For Brazil, US demands go beyond the economic realm, with Washington going as far as trying to interfere in the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro.

While the provisions of different trade deals vary, they all follow the same strategy: Bullying governments to change their rules and regulations in favour of US corporate interests, especially those of oligarchs who surround the president.

Trump’s trade negotiations style might be highly erratic, but his is a clear-cut end goal: To upend the world economic system, replacing rules which were already unfair with the absolute dominance of the biggest bully.

The immediate impact of this restructuring will be bad for the countries that submit to it, but this won’t be the end of the story. By giving Trump what he wants, they have strengthened his hand, and he will be back for more.

Already, the EU has little clarity around a range of additional tariffs the US president might bring in and how they will affect the “deal” that’s been made. Canada ditched its digital services tax on Big Tech to get a deal, only to be hit by higher tariffs. The Philippines now faces a higher tariff than it did in April, despite making concessions. And the UK thought it had a deal on steel, only to discover it didn’t, really.

There’s no fairness in any of this. The only way out is to stand up to Trump; he does not respect weakness.

As a minimum, for countries that have signed a deal, that means implementing as little as they can. Governments that can retaliate should do so. That does not necessarily mean matching tariff for tariff, a policy which could inflict serious self-harm, but rather using the tools that show their strength best.

The EU has ample power to challenge the US services trade, and should have retaliated by limiting US corporate access to, for example, government contracts, financial markets and intellectual property protection.

In failing to take such action, the EU showed a profound misunderstanding of the moment we’re in. Von der Leyen seems to think Trump is a temporary anomaly who can be contained while we wait for a resumption of business as usual in four years.

But in Europe and the US, the public has had enough of a corporate-dominated global economy. There’s no return to that world. Retaliatory policies like the ones mentioned above can not only maximise the pain directed at Trump’s oligarchic friends, but they can also help unwind the power of the monopolies which are at the heart of our deeply unfair, unsustainable economy.

This last point is important. Because if we want Trump gone, as millions of Americans do, we will not get there by handing him unnecessary victories. Trump won power by building a bridge between those angry at a corporate-dominated economy and the corporate barons themselves. It was an impressive feat. But the alliance will only last as long as he’s winning.

The question now is how governments can best protect their economies long-term, and that must come through regaining sovereignty, not handing it over to the bully in the White House. What’s more, such action can show Trump for the corporate lobbyist he really is and lay a path to his eventual downfall.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Post-war Poland has enjoyed proper independence now for little more than 35 years. And it wants to keep it that way. But there are external pressures which Poles believe put them under very real threat.

At least 30 people have died in Beijing and more than 80,000 were evacuated to safety, Chinese authorities said, as heavy rains and floods ravage roads and houses in northern China.

Eight other people died after a landslide on Monday in Chengde city, about three hours northeast of Beijing.

China is dealing with a summer of extreme weather. Record heatwaves hit the country’s eastern region earlier this month while floods swept the country’s southwest.

Against the backdrop of the massive floods in northern China, President Xi Jinping has called for “all-out” rescue efforts and told authorities to prepare for “worst-case and extreme scenarios”.

“No effort should be spared to search for and rescue those missing or trapped, to transfer and resettle residents in affected areas, and to reduce casualties to the greatest extent possible,” the president said on Monday.

Chinese authorities have allocated 200 million yuan ($28m; £21m) for recovery efforts, including repairing transportation and other infrastructure.

The outskirts of Beijing, including the suburban districts of Miyun and Huairou, were hit hardest by the torrential rain.

The floods have damaged dozens of roads and disrupted power to more than 130 villages. Videos show rescuers wading in chest-deep floodwaters to reach stranded residents, as well as helicopters and drones ferrying food and other aid to the disaster zone.

Ms Yang, who works in Hebei province, told BBC Chinese that she was very worried about her family, who live in Miyun district – one of the areas hit hardest by the floods.

Since Sunday she had not been able to contact her parents and grandfather, who all suffer from health problems and have limited mobility. Her family had also been taking care of her pets: eight cats and three dogs.

Their village is small and remote, with just around 10 households, she said, adding that she feared rescuers might miss it altogether. Out of desperation, she took to social media to appeal for rescue, hoping they would be found soon.

Residents from flood-hit areas recalled how quickly the disaster unfolded.

“The flood came rushing in, just like that, so fast and suddenly,” Zhuang Zhelin, a shop-owner in Taishitun town, near Beijing, told the Associated Press. “In no time at all, the place was filling up.”

Zhuang’s neighbour told the Associated Press that when the floods came he “just ran upstairs and waited for rescue”.

“I remember thinking, if no one came to get us, we’d be in real trouble,” he said.

Beijing is no stranger to flooding, particularly at this time of year. One of the deadliest in recent memory occurred in July 2012, when 190mm of rain drenched the city in a day, killing 79 people.

This summer, floods have wreaked havoc across swathes of China.

Two people were killed and 10 people went missing in Shandong province earlier this month when Typhoon Wipha struck eastern China. Two weeks earlier, a landslide killed three people in Ya’an city, southwestern China.

Extreme weather, which experts link to climate change, has increasingly threatened China’s residents and economy – especially its trillion-dollar agriculture sector.

Natural disasters in the first half of the year have cost China 54.11 billion yuan ($7.5bn; £5.7bn), its emergency management ministry said earlier this month. Flooding accounted for more than 90% of the losses, the ministry noted.

Hundreds of residents gathered at a beach in Yokosuka city’s Kurihama area, south of Tokyo, over the weekend to pray for marine safety in a summer festival that fuses sacred ritual and seaside spectacle.

As a portable shrine called mikoshi, decorated with Shinto ornaments, was lifted onto bearers’ shoulders, the audience cheered.

The mikoshi had started from Sumiyoshi Shrine and was paraded through neighbourhood alleyways. Shrine priests paused to bless offerings and pray for good fortune for people gathered outside their homes.

When the procession reached the beach, the priests danced and chanted. The festival reached its climax when the bearers entered the water up to their necks, their sweaty faces splashed with seawater.

The procession made a final stop at the nearby ferry terminal, where the mikoshi was carried onto a vessel for prayers for its safe travels.

“Everyone has been looking forward to this day all year,” said Shuji Shimizu, head of the Kurihama Neighbourhood Association. “It’s a celebration of our own strength and unity. Please stay safe out there … and enjoy every moment.”

As evening fell, the mikoshi was carried back to storage at the shrine, until next summer.

US President Donald Trump reportedly opposed a stopover in New York by Taiwan’s president, says China visit under consideration.

Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te has cancelled a trip to three allies in Central and South America after a planned stopover in the United States was reportedly nixed by his US counterpart, Donald Trump.

Lai was preparing to visit Paraguay, Guatemala and Belize in early August, with stopovers planned in New York and Dallas on the first and last leg of the trip, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

The Taiwanese leader’s trip was called off when US officials said they opposed his stop in New York, the newspaper said, citing three people close to the matter.

Lai’s office had never formally announced his trip to Latin America, but on Monday, it said the president had cancelled all overseas travel to focus on tariff negotiations with the US and a cleanup operation following a typhoon in southern Taiwan.

The president of Taiwan cannot officially visit the US, which does not recognise its government. But Taiwanese leaders have made use of “transit stops” in the US over the years to liaise with top administration officials outside Washington, DC.

In 2023, then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen used a transit stop to visit New York and Los Angeles while Joe Biden was still the US president.

Beijing, which claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, held military exercises in the Taiwan Strait after Tsai’s US stop-off to demonstrate its anger.

Trump’s reported decision to block Lai’s stopover follows news that the US president is angling for a trip to China himself, although he said he does not want a “summit” with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

“The Fake News is reporting that I am SEEKING a ‘Summit’ with President Xi of China. This is not correct, I am not SEEKING anything! I may go to China, but it would only be at the invitation of President Xi, which has been extended,” Trump wrote on Truth Social late Monday night.

Reuters reported that Trump may be aiming to visit China around the time of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea, which runs from October 31 to November 1.

Whether the meeting will take place will depend on the outcome of ongoing trade talks between the US and China to resolve Trump’s tariff war launched earlier this year.

US and Chinese officials are in Stockholm this week to try to hammer out a tariff agreement before a “truce” expires on August 12, but they have many issues to discuss, including export controls, which could drag out talks.

Assam, India – Makon Kumar’s wrinkled fingers are covered in dried-up clay. She squats on the damp dirt outside her one-room, bamboo-stilted home and spins a pottery wheel – a palm-sized grey bowl – with her left toe.

Inside the bowl is a lump of newly-bought wet clay, which Kumar slaps, flattens and curves into the pot’s base.

“My grandma and her grandma passed this practice down to us. We are not farmers, we have no land, and this is our work,” 60-year-old Makon said as she pressed her fist into the clay and carved out the pot’s mouth.

Makon belongs to the Kumar community of about 540 people, whose women have been known for their unique pottery work since the 16th century. These women avoid machinery or a potter’s wheel but rely on their toes to spin a plate or bowl with clay.

The Kumars live on Majuli, an island district between the Subansiri and the mighty Brahmaputra rivers in India’s northeastern state of Assam. Home to nearly 200,000 people, which includes people from other ethnic groups, Majuli has shrunk from 1,300sq km (502sq miles) to 483sq km (186.5sq miles) in a century due to erosion caused by annual monsoon rains and floods.

During the monsoon season, which can stretch from May to September, the floodwaters can get more than 1.5 metres (5 feet) high, forcing Makon and the other Kumars to either seek shelter at the highway bordering the village or stay trapped inside their homes.

Last week, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said there were more than 72,000 people taking shelter in 355 relief camps across the state due to the floods, which have also killed at least 24 people this year.

Access to riverside clay denied

During the floods, the Kumars’ pottery business comes to a halt, interrupting their main source of income. Moreover, the lack of flood prevention efforts by the authorities has worsened their condition.

“[Our family] used to get clay from the banks of the Brahmaputra River,” Makon told Al Jazeera.

Kumar men traditionally dug 18 to 21 metres (60 to 70 feet) deep on the riverbank to extract a glutinous, dark grey clay that locals call Kumar “maati” (soil).

The state-run Brahmaputra Board, which supervises the government’s response to the floods and soil erosion, began building river embankments in 2018, preventing the Kumars from digging the riverbank for clay.

“While the Brahmaputra Board deeply respects this traditional craft [of making pottery], extracting clay directly from the exposed riverbanks causes severe soil erosion, hindering the board’s efforts to protect Majuli island,” a spokesperson for the board told Al Jazeera.

The spokesperson said the board provided an alternative to the Kumar potters by making clay available through designated pits or boreholes that could be accessed after filling an application form. The board, however, did not say how many Kumars applied.

Makon said the embankment on the Brahmaputra forced her to buy clay from mainland Assam, increasing her expenses for a business already lacking commercial value or organised marketing.

November is their best month when floodwaters recede and foreign and Indian tourists take a 90-minute ferry from Jorhat, a city in mainland Assam, to Majuli’s Salmora village, where the Kumar women sculpt pots with their hands and feet. The tour brings extra cash for Makon’s two daughters studying in a secondary school.

On other days, the Kumars sculpt and sell pots of various sizes to local vendors. Tekelis, the most popular and smallest pot used for storing milk, is sold for just 10 rupees ($0.12) to vendors, who resell them for 20 to 100 rupees ($0.23-$1.15) at shops across Majuli and mainland Assam.

Salmora has long, narrow dirt roads, with rows of bamboo and concrete houses built on stilts. When the island is not flooded, hundreds of dried tekelis lie stacked on top of each other on a road bordering the village. The men bake those pots and sell them in the market.

‘No money in it’

However, it is not just a dying form of pottery that is under threat in flood-prone Majuli.

Almost 18km (11 miles) from Salmora lies Upper Katoni village, where the silence of the nights is often interrupted by young men and boys singing and thumping hollow drums. They perform a four-hour theatrical production known as Bhaona, mostly performed past midnight. Locals come for the performance after finishing their dinner, sit on the floor, and watch their neighbours, siblings, or friends perform.

The entirely male troupe of actors play characters from the Hindu epic, Ramayana.

“We’ve been rehearsing for the last three weeks,” said actor Jyoti Bhuyan, who plays a king in the dance drama. “Even in the hotter months, we’re able to perform.”

The Bhaona dates back to the 16th century and is performed at Namghars, open prayer houses unique to Assam. The island has more than 384 Namghars, according to a spokesperson from the Majuli District Office.

“I’ve been doing this since I was a young boy,” said Karunav Bhuyan, a Bhaona actor and political science professor at a college on the island. “What doesn’t change is that anyone from any background can come and watch us perform.”

Bhaona actors wear special masks, made from bamboo and a mix of clay and cow dung. The masks typically have wide, almond-shaped eyes; thick, furrowed brows; and a mouth flaunting a full set of teeth or bright red lips. The mask’s sharp, angular facial features, paired with contrasting eye and hair colours, are often displayed inside the houses of Majuli residents.

“At first, no one wanted to make masks because there was no money in it,” 67-year-old mask maker Hem Chandra Goswami told Al Jazeera.

Goswami, who lives in Majuli’s Samaguri village, started making smaller, easy-to-hang masks and has been teaching the art to high school students since 2012. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, in 2023 for promoting the art form.

Traditionally, only men made masks and used them for Bhaona performances. But that is changing.

Brishti Hazarika, a 25-year-old theatre student, is learning mask-making at Majuli University of Culture, an institution dedicated to preserving the local art forms. “Whether we get financial help from the government or not, it doesn’t stop us from putting on shows or enjoying our festivals,” Hazarika said.

The island’s more well-known tourist attractions are the Satras – the cultural and religious centres where celibate male monks, draped in white cotton cloth, reside.

Known as Bhakats, these monks join the Satras during preadolescence and spend their lives worshipping Lord Krishna, unlike the polytheistic pantheon of numerous gods in mainstream Hinduism.

But annual floods and land erosion have reduced Satras from more than 65 to just 35 in the past decades, according to the Majuli District Office spokesperson. Worse, not every Satra is properly maintained.

Unlike Makon, the Samaguri Satra is located away from the Brahmaputra River and has, therefore, been spared the devastation caused by annual floods. That explains why Pradip Goswami, another local mask artist and a cousin of Hem Chandra, wishes there were more opportunities to produce the masks commercially.

“The way for mask making to continue spreading is by having a bridge over the river to connect us to the mainland,” he said.

‘This is all we know’

In 2022, the Assam government announced the construction of an 8km (5-mile) bridge connecting Majuli to Jorhat. But the $70m project was halted in September last year after Uttar Pradesh State Bridge Corporation Limited (UPSBCL), a state-run entity tasked with building the bridge, withdrew from the project over payment disputes, according to local media reports.

Al Jazeera reached out to the UPSBCL for its response to such speculations, but did not receive any reply.

In May this year, the Assam government said it was looking for a new contractor to construct the bridge. But Majuli residents say the government has been apathetic towards their lives and livelihoods affected by the floods.

The Majuli Cultural Landscape Management Authority (MCLMA), created in 2006 to oversee the island’s development and protect its cultural heritage, has not held a meeting in more than a decade, alleges MCLMA executive member Sanjib Borkakoti. Even the office where he used to attend meetings twice a year does not exist any more, he says.

“There is no [government] supervision,” Borkakoti told Al Jazeera. He said the Indian government tried at least twice – unsuccessfully – for a UNESCO World Heritage Site status for Majuli, a tag that would have brought “international attention and pushed the local government to protect what’s remaining”.

Al Jazeera reached out to a government spokesperson and Majuli’s local officials for their response to Borkakoti’s allegations, but did not get any reply.

Meanwhile, for Majuli residents like Makon, art goes beyond just preserving a cultural identity. It is rooted in survival.

“We just don’t know if we will have a home tomorrow,” Makon says as she gives shape to a clay pot, using a wooden bat. She spins the pot one last time to check for any bumps and says, “This is all we know.”

This story was funded by a Reporting Fellowship grant from the South Asian Journalists Association.

Hands on her head, disbelief clouding her thoughts, Lioness defender Lucy Bronze stood frozen in front of the goal. England were 1-0 down in the Women’s Euro 2025 final to the tournament favourites, Spain, and their team was a chaotic mess.

It was a situation that was all too familiar.

For the third match in a row, England’s players stared at the scoreboard, devoid of answers. A 25th-minute header from Mariona Caldentey, the final touch on a blistering Spanish move down the right channel, had silenced the roaring Lionesses.

“Not again,” was the collective murmur of the England fans everywhere, from the tens of thousands packed into Basel’s St Jakob-Park in Switzerland, to the millions watching nervously back home. They had seen this downbeat script before: a first-half Spain goal in the 2023 FIFA World Cup final in Sydney, Australia, had crushed English hearts.

But this time, the ending was England’s to write.

Living up to their billing as the comeback queens of the tournament, the Lionesses clawed their way back into the contest through Alessia Russo’s equaliser in the second half, forcing the world champions into extra time.

Two hours of football saw the statistics heavily favour La Roja, but for all their skill and swagger, it was England’s grit and grind that carried them through to victory.

“Football is chaos,” England coach Sarina Wiegman told the BBC after riding a rollercoaster of emotions on the touchline as her side beat Spain 3-1 on penalties.

With her signature prancing run-up, Chloe Kelly buried the final spot kick into the net, triumphantly punching her fist in the air. The comeback, or “remontada” as the Spaniards call it, was complete.

The calm and composed Kelly, who also set up Russo’s header, was once again the heroic face of England’s title-winning team, just as she was at Wembley three years ago at Euro 2022.

“The first time was so nice, we had to do it twice,” remarked the 27-year-old, flashing a smile as she proudly held up the coveted gold medal hanging around her neck.

Super-subs steal the show

Sunday’s comeback victory was a fitting nod to England’s Euro 2025 campaign: thrilling, chaotic and entertaining.

For a team that led for just under five minutes in the knockout stage, their ability to survive, adapt and strike when it mattered most defined their championship journey.

And in doing so, they scripted one of the greatest chapters in English football history, a triumph rivalled only by the men’s World Cup win at home in 1966.

“It has been the most chaotic tournament on the pitch…. From the first game, it was chaos,” said Dutchwoman Wiegman, who now has three Euro titles in her resume.

“Losing your first game and becoming European champions is incredible.”

Indeed, England’s title defence began with a 2-1 loss to France, casting early doubt over their credentials as true contenders. But resounding victories – a 4-0 thrashing of the mighty Netherlands and a 6-1 rout of neighbours Wales – steadied the ship as they sailed through to the knockouts.

The storm, though, arrived soon enough, bringing with it the ultimate test of England’s resolve at the business end of the tournament. The quarterfinals and semifinals pushed the team to the brink, demanding utmost composure from the players in the nerve-racking late-game moments. They rose to each occasion, with Wiegman’s tactical nous and the squad depth proving decisive.

Eleven minutes away from elimination in the quarterfinals, teen sensation Michelle Agyemang scored a superb equaliser against Sweden, as England recovered from two goals down to win 3-2 on penalties.

The 19-year-old reserve player, whose surname fittingly means “saviour of the nation“, once again stepped up when it mattered the most, this time in the semifinals against Italy, netting a stoppage-time leveller to send the match into extra time.

Super-sub Kelly then finished the job, converting the rebound from a missed penalty in the dying seconds of extra time.

The impact of England’s interchange players at the tournament was unmatched. They were directly involved in 10 goals, twice as many as any other side and the most ever recorded in a single edition of the tournament since 2013.

‘Tough times don’t last’

Just six months ago, Kelly was struggling for minutes at Manchester City and unsure of her Euro 2025 spot, until a loan move to Arsenal changed her fortunes.

“Just around the corner was a Champions League final, won that, and now a Euros final, won that,” said Kelly, who has made a habit of changing matches when it matters most.

“If that’s a story to tell someone, maybe experiencing something the same, tough times don’t last.”

Just like Kelly, goalkeeper Hannah Hampton also overcame adversity to emerge as one of England’s most impactful players at the European Championships.

The 24-year-old, playing in her first major tournament and filling in for the big shoes of Mary Earps, pulled off two brilliant saves in the quarterfinals with a bloodied nose before thwarting away two more crucial goal attempts in the final, including one from Aitana Bonmati, considered by many football commentators to be the best player in the world.

Born with a serious eye condition that still affects her depth perception despite multiple surgeries, Hampton defied the odds, ending her Euro campaign with the player of the match award in the final.

“I think she’s done amazing,” Wiegman said of Hampton. “It’s a bit like a fairytale to stop those penalties in the final of the Euros and to win it.”

Having weathered the storm in Switzerland, Wiegman and the Lionesses are back on home soil. As they ride through roaring crowds in their open-top bus parade across London on Tuesday, the message is no longer, “It’s coming home”. This time, it’s staying home.

The attacker was armed with an AR-style rifle when he opened fire inside a skyscraper at 345 Park Avenue, Midtown Manhattan.

At least four people, including a New York City police officer, have been killed in a shooting inside a Midtown Manhattan office tower that houses major financial institutions and the headquarters of the National Football League, US media reports.

The shooting took place at about 6pm local time (22:00 GMT) on Monday at 345 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, with police arriving at the scene within minutes, according to local media reports.

The suspected shooter, tentatively identified as a 27-year-old man from Las Vegas, was also found dead at the scene, CNN reported. The US network said authorities believe he died from a self-inflicted injury, citing multiple law enforcement sources.

The New York Post, citing unnamed police sources, reported that the gunman was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and was armed with an AR-style rifle when he opened fire inside the skyscraper. He had reportedly barricaded himself inside the building, possibly on the 32nd floor.

CNN said police shared a photo of the suspect walking into the building carrying the rifle. Preliminary checks of the suspect’s background did not show a significant criminal history, the report added, citing officials.

New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the situation has been “contained” and that the “lone shooter has been neutralised”.

New York Mayor Eric Adams said in a video message on X that there were “multiple injuries” in the shooting.

The skyscraper at 345 Park Avenue is home to several major firms, including Blackstone – the world’s largest hedge fund – KPMG, Deutsche Bank and the headquarters of the National Football League (NFL). It is located near Rockefeller Centre, just a few blocks south of Central Park.

Three killed in Reno casino shooting

Separately, earlier on Monday, an attacker armed with a pistol opened fire outside a casino in Reno, Nevada, killing three people and critically wounding two others, before being shot and seriously injured by police, authorities said.

The shooting occurred just before 7:30am local time (00:30 GMT) at the valet station in the car park of the Grand Sierra Resort, a high-rise casino and hotel complex in Nevada’s third-largest city, according to police.

The suspect, whose identity has not been released, was described only as an adult male.

Police believe the victims were targeted at random.

Two times around, the US president and the prime minister went, looking down on Donald Trump’s new golf course north of Aberdeen.

Finally, they came into land, days of diplomacy garnished with absurdity.

Downing Street are reconciled to the Trumpian ways of doing international affairs.

If doing a few airborne laps of the president’s new Scottish golf course are par for the course on board the presidential helicopter and en route to a private dinner with him, so be it.

This notionally “private” trip for Trump has been actually very public.

Of course it has: it is how the president rolls.

The president’s private interests are talked up in public office, even down to the quality of the plywood at Trump’s Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire, where he was before he flew on to Aberdeenshire.

And all this on his first trip to the UK since his re-election, but just weeks before he makes an unprecedented second state visit here in September.

The talks at Turnberry began with the spectacle of the president gushing about the prime minister’s wife, Victoria, as she stood alongside him, the entire conversation almost drowned out by a nearby bagpiper.

The leaders then spent more than half an hour talking one on one, before a classic of the Trumpian genre – a rolling, free-wheeling question-and-answer session with reporters, lasting more than an hour.

The topic list: turbines, Germany, free speech, Scottish independence, China, the King, interest rates, pharmaceuticals. Among other things.

For Sir Keir Starmer, both on and off camera, this all amounts to invaluable face time with Trump, even sharing a lift on Air Force One, burnishing a relationship as solid as it is improbable.

The jeopardy for him is clear too though: riding shotgun with a free-wheeling president at ease shooting the breeze with reporters seemingly forever.

Sir Keir interjected with care, to defend the mayor of London, heavily criticised by the president, to explain his immigration policy and his outlook on Gaza.

An earlier rolling encounter with reporters took No 10 by surprise: the prime minister’s wife, standing next to the president, perfecting her poker face as the questions – and answers – flowed and flowed.

As ever, the key question is what can this relationship deliver for the UK?

Downing Street regard the access moments like this offer as invaluable.

They are pleased that the president’s language on Gaza amounts to what they see as a toughening of his outlook and what they hope might be an alignment with the discussions the UK, France and Germany have been having in recent days.

Let’s see.

On Tuesday, the cabinet will gather at 14:00 for a rare summer meeting, some ministers attending in person in Downing Street, others joining remotely.

The focus will be on Gaza – and the latest move from many to see if, collectively, the beginnings of a solution can be found to the horrific pictures we’re currently seeing from the Middle East.

President Donald Trump has claimed religious freedom under attack in US, as critics say he is eroding separation of church and state.

United States Federal workers – including supervisors – can attempt to persuade their colleagues to join their religion, according to a new directive from the director of the US Office of Personnel Management.

The memo sent by agency head Scott Kuper on Monday cites constitutionally protected freedom from religious discrimination in justifying the policy, framing it as part of the administration of President Donald Trump’s latest effort to protect religious freedom.

Critics have accused the Trump administration of pursuing policies that corrode the separation of church and state in the US, while elevating Christianity over other religions.

While the memo outlines some commonly accepted practices like allowing federal employees to pray in the workforce or wear religious attire, it takes a step further in saying that workers may engage in “attempting to persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views” as long as “such efforts are not harassing in nature”.

That can also include encouraging fellow workers to pray “to the same extent that they would be permitted to encourage coworkers to participate in other personal activities”.

New OPM guidance ensures the federal workplace is not just compliant with the law but welcoming to Americans of all faiths. Under @POTUS’s leadership, we are restoring constitutional freedoms and making government a place where people of faith are respected, not sidelined.…

— Scott Kupor (@skupor) July 28, 2025

“The constitutional rights of supervisors to engage in such conversations should not be distinguished from non-supervisory employees by the nature of their supervisory roles,” the directive said, while adding that employees cannot be punished for asking not to have the conversation.

The memo also outlines acceptable behaviours for federal employees who interact with the public, saying that religious expression should not be “limited by the venue or hearer”, while noting that statements made to the public “pursuant to their official duties” are not necessarily protected by the US Constitution.

As an example, the memo said that a national park ranger leading a public tour “may join her tour group in prayer” or that a doctor at the Veterans Affairs hospital “may pray over his patient for recovery”.

The Trump administration has repeatedly claimed an assault on religious freedom in the country, which it has vowed to counter.

In February, Trump, via executive action, launched a “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias”.

In May, he created the “Religious Liberty Commission”, releasing a fact sheet that only directly referenced Christianity, despite vowing to promote “America’s peaceful religious pluralism”.

Speaking at a Rose Garden event at the time, Trump questioned whether religion and government in the country should remain distinct.

“Separation? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Trump said at the time. “I’m not sure.”

“We’re bringing religion back to our country,” he said.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is warning that an Israel-Palestinian two-state solution is “farther than ever”. Speaking at a high-level UN conference to promote a two-state solution, he said the destruction of Gaza and the illegal annexation of the West Bank must come to an end.

Thailand and Cambodia agreed to an immediate, unconditional ceasefire after five days of deadly border clashes. At least 35 people were killed and 270,000 displaced on both sides. The Malaysia-brokered truce follows talks involving US and Chinese diplomats.