Sam Curran stars as he takes three wickets and completes a run-out to wrap up a dominant victory for Oval Invincibles against Southern Brave to move the two-time defending champions four-points clear of The Hundred table.
MATCH REPORT: Curran shines as Invincibles thump Brave
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More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in its nearly two-year genocidal war on Gaza, with the population suffering relentless bombardment with nowhere safe in the besieged enclave, Israeli-induced starvation and the daily killing of people desperately seeking food for their families.
Israel is intensifying strikes on Gaza City, the territory’s largest – and now destroyed – urban centre, as it plans to seize it and forcibly displace tens of thousands of people to concentration zones in the south. At least 26 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Monday, including 14 seeking aid.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, says, “Israeli attacks are still ongoing, unabated, in the eastern part of Gaza City. The scale of attacks illustrates how Israel’s current strategy is shaping the geography and demography of Gaza.”
“We can see how Israel is using heavy artillery, fighter jets and drones, in order to destroy what’s left of residential homes there. The scale of destruction is extremely overwhelming,” he said.
“This current military tactic ensures that Israel will enable its forces to operate on the ground and will also ensure residential areas turn into zones of rubble. People there say Israeli attacks are happening day and night.”
Many who have already been displaced multiple times during the war by Israeli bombardment are on the move again from Gaza City. Others are staying put.
The city was the main target of air attacks on Sunday that killed nearly 60 people, and Israel is also targeting the few remaining healthcare centres there.
But while many Palestinians who remain in the devastated city are forced to survive in the ruins of buildings, makeshift shelters, or tents, some people have told Al Jazeera that it would be impossible for them to leave.
“How am I supposed to even get there? How can I go? I need nearly $900 to move – I don’t even have a dollar. How am I supposed to reach the south?” asked displaced Palestinian man Bilal Abu Sitta.
Others do not trust Israeli promises of aid and shelter. “We don’t want Israel to give us anything,” Noaman Hamad said. “We want them to [allow] us back to the homes we fled – we don’t need more than that.”
Slight hope emerged as Hamas said it approved a Gaza ceasefire proposal put forward yesterday by mediators Qatar and Egypt. An informed source told Al Jazeera that the draft deal would ensure a 60-day truce that would see the release of half of the Israeli captives held in Gaza as well as an unspecified number of Palestinian captives imprisoned by Israel.
But Palestinians in Gaza have seen countless false dawns before, and after a brief ceasefire in January was shattered by Israel in March, the war then entered its most grim phase of human misery.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says five more Palestinians have died from malnutrition as a result of Israel’s punishing monthslong blockade in the past 24 hours, including two children.
As of August 18, the known number of people who have starved to death in Gaza, according to the ministry, reached at least 263 people, including 112 children.
The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) warned that as of July 2025, more than 320,000 children – the entire population under the age of five in Gaza – are at risk of acute malnutrition.
Families are surviving on the bare minimum of basic foods, with almost no dietary diversity, WFP said. The agency called for an immediate ceasefire to allow large-scale delivery of humanitarian aid.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says children in Gaza should be preparing for the new school year, but instead are searching for water, queuing for food, and living in classrooms turned into overcrowded shelters.
UNRWA warned that children in the enclave have already lost three years of schooling, risking becoming a “lost generation”, and renewed its call for an immediate ceasefire.
Amnesty International has condemned Israel “systematically destroying the health, wellbeing and social fabric of Palestinian life”. In a report quoting displaced Palestinians and medical staff who have treated malnourished children, Amnesty said: “Israel is carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip.”
In the meantime, Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, says its staff in Gaza are witnessing a surge in mass casualties linked to Israel’s ongoing siege and its oversight of limited distribution of aid by the controversial, US- and Israel-backed aid organisation GHF.
“The indiscriminate killings, and the counts of mass casualties we still [see] on a daily basis right now, hasn’t stopped, but only increased in its scale,” said Nour Alsaqqa of MSF.
She said one MSF facility in Rafah, located near an aid distribution centre, has been overwhelmed with wounded Palestinians, including children.
“We are receiving baby injuries and killings from the distribution sites. People who are coming with gunshots, with different injuries, related to the distribution sites and they go only seeking food,” she said.
“They go out of desperation and they risk their lives to access aid, which is still inaccessible due to Israel’s siege.”
Since the establishment of the GHF aid sites at the end of May, nearly 2,000 people have been killed while trying to access aid, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Hong Kong activist Tony Chung and ex-lawmaker Ted Hui have been granted asylum in the UK and Australia, years after facing charges linked to the 2019 anti-government protests. Both fled amid Beijing’s crackdown under the national security law that criminalised dissent.
Published On 18 Aug 202518 Aug 2025
The world’s largest diaspora of international adoptees comes from South Korea. Among them are mixed-race children who were forcibly sent for adoption due to the country’s racist laws. One Black adoptee’s search for a home reflects hard truths about the past of hundreds of thousands of international adoptees.
This is a story from the archives. This originally aired on September 25, 2024. None of the dates, titles or other references from that time have been changed.
Hamas has agreed to the latest proposal from regional mediators for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Israel, a source in the Palestinian armed group has told the BBC.
According to a Palestinian official familiar with the talks, the proposal from Egypt and Qatar is a comprehensive two-stage plan based on a framework advanced by US envoy Steve Witkoff.
It would see Hamas free around half of the 50 remaining Israeli hostages – 20 of whom are believed to be alive – in two stages during a 60-day temporary truce. During that time, there would be negotiations on a permanent ceasefire and an Israeli troop withdrawal.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials.
On Sunday night, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv to demand that Israel’s government agree a deal with Hamas to return the hostages.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the demonstrators of hardening the negotiating position of Hamas.
The latest development comes two days after Netanyahu’s office said Israel would “agree to a deal on condition that all the hostages are released in one go”.
Meanwhile Israel’s cabinet is expected later this week to approve the military’s plans to expand its offensive in Gaza and occupy Gaza City.
Netanyahu announced Israel’s intention to do so after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire deal broke down last month.
Hamas said at the time that it would only free the remaining hostages if Israel agreed to end the 22-month war. But Netanyahu said that would only happen once Hamas was disarmed and released all the hostages.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 62,004 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Iran rejects ‘Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity’ (TRIPP), says the presence of American companies in the region would be ‘worrying’.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is visiting Armenia for talks on a planned corridor linking Azerbaijan near the border with his country, days after Iran said it would block the project included in a United States-brokered peace accord that puts a potential Washington presence on Iran’s doorstep.
The land corridor, dubbed the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP), is part of a deal signed earlier this month in Washington between former foes Armenia and Azerbaijan.
US President Donald Trump said the deal granted the US exclusive developmental rights to the transport corridor. Washington was also signing bilateral agreements with both countries to increase cooperation in areas like energy, trade and technology, including artificial intelligence.
Before departing for the Armenian capital Yerevan on Monday, Pezeshkian described the possible presence of American companies in the region as “worrying.”
“We will discuss it [with Armenian officials] and express our concerns,” he told state television.
The proposed route would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave, passing near the Iranian border. Tehran has long opposed the planned transit route, also known as the Zangezur corridor, fearing it would cut the country off from Armenia and the rest of the Caucasus while bringing potentially hostile foreign forces close to its borders.
Since the deal was signed on August 8, Iranian officials have stepped up warnings to Armenia, saying the project could be part of a US ploy “to pursue hegemonic goals in the Caucasus region”.
On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described it as a “sensitive” issue, saying Tehran’s main concern is that it could “lead to geopolitical changes in the region”.
“They [Armenian officials] have assured us that no American forces … or American security companies will be present in Armenia under the pretext of this route,” he told the official IRNA news agency.
The proposed corridor has been hailed as beneficial by other countries in the region including Russia, with which Iran has a strategic alliance alongside Armenia.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said Tehran would block the initiative “with or without Russia”.
Trump “thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years”, Velayati told state-affiliated Tasnim News soon after the deal was signed, adding that the area would become “a graveyard for Trump’s mercenaries”.
Moscow cautiously welcomed the deal, saying that it supported efforts to promote stability and prosperity in the region. Similarly to Iran, however, it warned against outside intervention, arguing that lasting solutions should be developed by countries in the region.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought a series of wars since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan that had a mostly ethnic Armenian population at the time, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan Baku took control of the territory in a military operation in 2023, leading to an exodus of the ethnic Armenian population.
Armenia last year agreed to return several villages to Azerbaijan in what Baku described as a “long-awaited historic event”.
Emergency services are under strain due to the ‘worst’ fires in Portugal in years, Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego says.
Thousands of firefighters backed by the military are battling dozens of wildfires across Spain and Portugal as the death toll has increased to six since the outbreaks began.
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.
The Iberian Peninsula has been particularly affected by wildfires that have ravaged Southern Europe this summer. They have been fuelled by heatwaves and drought blamed on climate change.
On Monday, five major fires remained active in Portugal with more than 3,800 firefighters tackling them, civil protection authorities said.
“We still have firefighters who are monitoring the area here, the occasional smoke which is coming out from the land here, but of course, these are the charred remains of the flames that just completely consumed these hills,” Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego said, reporting from Tarouca, Portugal.
The fires in the Portuguese town are now under control, but emergency services are worried about the possibility of them reigniting, Gallego said.
Emergency services are already under “enormous strain” in what appears to be some of the “worst” fires in the area in years, she added.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said a firefighter died on Sunday in a traffic accident that seriously injured two colleagues.
A former mayor in the eastern town of Guarda also died on Friday while trying to fight a fire.
About 2,160sq km (835sq miles) of land has burned across Portugal since the start of the year.
In Spain, more than 3,430sq km (1,325sq miles) of land has burned this year, setting a new national record, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.
The head of Spain’s Civil Protection and Emergencies agency, Virginia Barcones, told broadcaster TVE on Monday that there were 23 “active fires” that pose a serious and direct threat to people.
The fires, now in their second week, were concentrated in the northwestern regions of Galicia, Castile and Leon, and Extremadura.
In Ourense province of Galicia, firefighters battled to put out fires as locals in just shorts and T-shirts used water from hoses and buckets to try to stop the spread.
Officials in Castile and Leon said a firefighter died on Sunday night when the water truck he was driving flipped over on a steep forest road and down a slope.
Two other volunteer firefighters have died in Castile and Leon while a Romanian employee of a riding school north of Madrid lost his life trying to protect horses from a fire.
Previous indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, facilitated by mediators, ended without any results to end the Israel-Palestine war.
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to discuss a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, as Israel intensifies its offensive to seize Gaza City.
“El-Sisi and the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar stressed the importance of efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza,” according to a statement by the Egyptian presidency on Monday.
The two leaders “affirmed their rejection of the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and the displacement of Palestinians”, as Israel plans to seize Gaza City and force Palestinians from the enclave’s main urban centre. They also insisted that establishing a Palestinian state is “the path to peace”.
A source told Al Jazeera that “intensive discussions” are currently taking place in Egypt between a Hamas delegation and mediators. Hamas, which governs Gaza, has been calling for a ceasefire, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rebuffed the offer.
Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been mediating between Israel and Hamas since the beginning of the war in Gaza that has killed 62,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children.
Efforts by mediators have so far failed to secure a lasting ceasefire in the ongoing war, which over more than 22 months has created a dire humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
A truce brokered by Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators that came into force in January was broken by Israel in March. Since then, it has imposed a total blockade, causing famine and starvation. More than 260 Palestinians have died due to the Israeli-induced starvation crisis.
The latest round of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, facilitated in Doha by mediators, lasted for several weeks before ending on July 25 without any results.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, visiting the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Monday, said that Qatar’s prime minister was visiting “to consolidate our existing common efforts in order to apply maximum pressure on the two sides to reach a deal as soon as possible”.
Alluding to the dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people living in the Gaza Strip, where United Nations agencies and aid groups have warned of a humanitarian crisis, Abdelatty stressed the urgency of reaching an agreement.
“The current situation on the ground is beyond imagination,” he said.
Thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee again from Gaza City ahead of an impending Israeli offensive.
Commenting on the Qatari prime minister’s trip to Egypt, Abdullah Al-Arian, an associate professor of history at Georgetown University in Qatar, said it was important to remember that similar negotiations have occurred before, but it is “a lack of Israeli political will” that has ultimately stalled them.
Israel “has continued to pursue this genocide and taking it to new, horrific, unprecedented levels”, he told Al Jazeera, adding that there has been a lack of international pressure to secure a ceasefire agreement.
“Historically, genocides don’t end through negotiated solutions … They end usually because the party that committed the genocide is forced to end it, usually through external pressure, external intervention of some kind, and that has not happened yet,” the academic stressed.
On Monday, human rights group Amnesty International accused Israel of enacting a “deliberate policy” of starvation in Gaza as the UN and aid groups continued to warn of famine in the Palestinian enclave.
In a report quoting displaced Palestinians and medical staff who have treated malnourished children, Amnesty said: “Israel is carrying out a deliberate campaign of starvation in the occupied Gaza Strip.”
The UN and the international community have been slamming Israel for blocking necessary aid from entering the war-torn enclave.
Met PoliceA man has been found guilty over his role in a gangland shooting that left a nine-year-old girl with a bullet lodged in her brain.
Javon Riley, 33, was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to the girl who was hit in the head by the first of six bullets fired from a passing motorbike at the Evin Restaurant on Kingsland High Street in Dalston last May.
Riley was also found guilty of attempting to murder three men – Mustafa Kiziltan, 35, Kenan Aydogdu, 45, and Nasser Ali, 44 – who were sitting at tables outside the restaurant that night.
The gunman and weapon used in the shooting in east London have never been found.
The girl was an innocent victim of a bitter tit-for-tat feud between rival Turkish gangs, the Old Bailey heard.
“In a single moment, the future we had imagined for our daughter was torn away,” the girl’s mother said.
“She was once an energetic, adventurous child – everything that celebrated movement, energy, and life,” the girl’s mother added.
“Now, weakness on her left side means she can only watch from the sidelines, living with a titanium plate in her skull and a bullet still in her brain.”
PA MediaThe shooting took place at about 21:20 BST on 29 May last year while the girl was eating ice cream alongside her family.
The three seriously injured men were said to be affiliated with the Hackney Turks organised crime gang, who had a rivalry with the Tottenham Turks, with whom Riley had links, the court heard.
Riley, of Tottenham in north London, played “a key role before, during and after the shooting”.
He carried out a reconnaissance, going past the scene several times to ensure the target or targets were present before the shooting and he helped the gunman evade capture in a car which was later burnt out, the court was told.
The motorbike used in the shooting – a Ducati Monster with a white body, red chassis and red wheels – was also later found.
The girl’s mother added: “As parents, we are shattered – emotionally, physically, mentally, and financially.
“Each day brings new challenges, from her slower growth on one side to the emotional and mental scars that cannot be seen.
“The world we once believed was safe for our child now feels frightening and uncertain.”
By coincidence an off-duty police officer, who was riding a pedal bike in the same direction, caught the gunman on a camera attached to his bike as he stopped just a metre away away from the restaurant and reached for his gun.
CCTV from inside the restaurant showed it was the first shot that struck the nine-year-old girl on the right side of her head and she fell to the floor.
Immediately after the shooting, Riley “ensured the disappearance of the gunman and the firearm”, the court was told.
PAThe Met Police has offered a £15,000 reward “for information that leads to the identification, arrest of and prosecution the man who fired the weapon”.
Giving evidence in his defence, Riley admitted being involved in drugs-dealing and robberies, but said he believed he was involved in a plan to snatch drugs and cash from outside the restaurant.
Riley refused to tell the court the identity of the man who recruited him – or to provide any information about the shooter apart from saying he was “mixed race”.
Det Insp Ben Dalloway, who led the investigation, said: “Javon Riley’s actions traumatically altered the trajectory of a little girl’s life.
“While this outcome serves as a slither of justice, the dangerous individual responsible for pulling the trigger remains on our streets.”
Riley is due to be sentenced on 12 September.
US special envoy Tom Barrack has asked Israel to withdraw from the Lebanese territory after Beirut approved a plan to disarm the Hezbollah group by the end of the year, in exchange for an end to Israeli military attacks on its territory.
“There’s always a step-by-step approach, but I think the Lebanese government has done their part. They’ve taken the first step. Now what we need is Israel to comply with that equal handshake,” Barrack told reporters on Monday, in Lebanon’s capital of Beirut, after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.
The US-backed plan sets out a four-phase roadmap for the Hezbollah group to hand in their arsenal as Israel’s military halts ground, air and sea operations and withdraws troops from Lebanon’s south.
Lebanon’s cabinet approved the plan on August 7 despite Hezbollah’s outright refusal to disarm, raising fears that Israel could intensify attacks on Lebanon, even while it carries out near-daily violations of the November truce it signed with Hezbollah to end its war.
Israel has continued these attacks against Lebanon even in the weeks since the cabinet approved the plan.
Barrack described the cabinet’s decision as a “Lebanese decision that requires Israel’s cooperation” and said the US was “in the process of now discussing with Israel what their position is” but provided no further details.
Asked by reporters about whether he expected to see Israel fully withdraw from Lebanese territory, the US envoy said “that’s exactly the next step” needed.
“There is cooperation from all sides. We are not here to intimidate anyone. The positive outcomes will benefit Hezbollah, Lebanon, and Israel alike,” he said.
The US envoy also said Washington would seek an economic proposal for post-war reconstruction in the country, after months of shuttle diplomacy between the US and Lebanon.
Barrack voiced optimism after Monday’s meeting, stating: “A return to prosperity and peace is within reach. I believe we will witness progress in several areas in the coming weeks.”
“This is the first visit of the American envoy to Lebanon after the Lebanese cabinet mandated the Lebanese army to assess how to disarm Hezbollah,” said Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem, reporting from Beirut.
“However, there are a lot of concerns with respect to how this process is going to happen, given the fact that Hezbollah refused.”
On Friday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem raised the spectre of civil war, warning there would be “no life” in Lebanon should the state attempt to confront or eliminate the group.
In a written statement after his meeting with Barrack, Aoun said “other parties” now needed to commit to the roadmap’s contents.
Barrack is also set to meet with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Speaker Nabih Berri, who often negotiates on behalf of Hezbollah with Washington.
Under phase one of the US-backed plan, the Lebanese government is to issue a decision committing to Hezbollah’s full disarmament by the end of the year – which it now has – and Israel will cease military operations in Lebanese territory.
In phase two, Lebanon would begin implementing the disarmament plan within 60 days, and the government would approve troop deployments to the south. Then, Israel would begin withdrawing from the south and releasing Lebanese prisoners.
In phase three, which should happen within 90 days of that, Israel is to withdraw from the last two of the five disputed border positions, and money would be secured for Lebanon’s reconstruction.
In phase four, Hezbollah’s remaining heavy weapons are to be dismantled, and Lebanon’s allies will organise a conference to support the country’s economic recovery.
Hezbollah emerged badly weakened from last year’s 14-month war with Israel, during which longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated in a huge Israeli strike on Beirut. Before the war, Hezbollah was believed to be better armed than the Lebanese military.
The group has long maintained it needs to keep its arsenal to defend Lebanon from attacks, but critics accused it of using its weapons for political leverage.
Hezbollah has said it refuses to discuss its arsenal until Israel ends its attacks and withdraws troops from southern Lebanon. Aoun and Salam both want to disarm Hezbollah and have also demanded Israel halt its attacks and withdraw from the country.
Just on Monday, Israeli attacks blew up a house in the town of Meiss el-Jabal, a sound bomb went off in the border town of Dahra, and drones could be overheard in the towns of Wadi Zefta, al-Numairiyeh and Wadi Kafra, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.
Aoun said he wants to increase funding for Lebanon’s military and raise money from international donors for post-war reconstruction. The World Bank estimates that the war caused $11bn in damage and economic losses. The country has also faced a crippling economic crisis since 2019.
The first World Humanoid Robot Games have concluded in Beijing with more than 500 androids alternating between jerky tumbles and glimpses of real power as they took part in events ranging from the 100m (109-yard) hurdles to kung fu.
Two hundred eighty robotics teams from 16 countries competed at the Chinese capital’s National Speed Skating Oval, built for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Events included traditional sports such as athletics and basketball as well as practical tasks such as medicine categorisation and cleaning.
“I believe in the next 10 years or so, robots will be basically at the same level as humans,” 18-year-old spectator Chen Ruiyuan said.
Human athletes might not be quaking in their boots just yet.
At one of the first events on Friday, five-a-side football, 10 robots the size of seven-year-olds shuffled around the pitch, often getting stuck in a scrum or falling over en masse.
However, in a 1,500m (nearly 1-mile) race, domestic champion Unitree’s humanoid stomped along the track at an impressive clip, easily outpacing its rivals.
The fastest robot finished in six minutes, 29.37 seconds, a far cry from the human men’s world record of 3:26.00.
One mechanical racer barrelled straight into a human operator. The robot remained standing while the human was knocked flat although did not appear to be injured.
Robot competitions have been held for decades, but the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games is the first to focus specifically on robots that resemble human bodies, organisers said.
The Chinese government has poured support into robotics, hoping to lead the industry.
Beijing has put humanoids at the “centre of their national strategy”, the International Federation of Robotics wrote in a paper released on Thursday.
“The government wants to showcase its competence and global competitiveness in this field of technology,” it added.
In March, China announced plans for a one-trillion-yuan ($139bn) fund to support technology start-ups, including those in robotics and artificial intelligence.
The country is already the world’s largest market for industrial robots, official statistics showed, and in April, Beijing held what organisers called the world’s first humanoid robot half-marathon.
Rescuers are looking for more than 150 people who were still missing on Monday in northwestern Pakistan, which was devastated by landslides and flash floods on Friday.
Torrential rains triggered the flash foods killing at least 344 people and destroying hundreds of homes.
Most of the deaths – 317 – were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where monsoon rains, expected only to intensify in the days ahead, have driven flooding and landslides that collapsed houses.
More than 150 people are missing in Buner, where at least 208 were killed and “10 to 12 entire villages” were partially buried, according to authorities.
“They could be trapped under the rubble of their homes, or swept away by floodwaters,” said Asfandyar Khattak, head of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority.
“Separately, in Shangla district, dozens of people are also reported missing,” Khattak added.
The spokesman for the province’s rescue agency said about 2,000 rescue workers are involved across nine districts, where rain is still hampering efforts.
“The operation to rescue people trapped under debris is ongoing,” said Bilal Ahmad Faizi.
“The chances of those buried under the debris surviving are very slim,” he added.
After days without power, the electricity supply was restored on Sunday afternoon.
Flooded roads hampered the movement of rescue vehicles, as a few villagers worked to cut fallen trees to clear the way after the water receded.
The provincial government has declared the severely affected mountainous districts of Buner, Bajaur, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra, and Battagram as disaster-hit areas.
On Saturday, hundreds gathered for mass funerals, where bodies wrapped in blood-stained white shawls were laid out on the village ground.
Iran said it stood ready to provide “any cooperation and assistance aimed at alleviating the suffering” in neighbouring Pakistan, while Pope Leo XIV addressed the flooding with prayers “for all those who suffer because of this calamity”.
The monsoon season brings South Asia about three-quarters of its annual rainfall – vital for agriculture and food provision – but also brings destruction.
“The intensity of this year’s monsoon is about 50 to 60 percent more than last year,” said Lieutenant General Inam Haider, chairman of the national disaster agency.
“Two to three more monsoon spells are expected until the first weeks of September,” he told journalists in Islamabad.
Landslides and flash floods are common during the season, which usually begins in June and eases by the end of September.
The torrential rains that have pounded Pakistan since the start of the summer monsoon have killed more than 650 people, with more than 920 injured.
Pakistan is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change, and is contending with extreme weather events with increasing frequency.
For the uninitiated, Laguna Beach is Southern California at its most postcard-worthy, a stretch of the Orange County coastline filled with frothy waves, winding canyons and afternoon beachgoers. Yet it doesn’t take long to realize that it’s not just Laguna Beach’s sand that’s worth digging into.
Laguna Beach, for instance, is art.
The modern history of the beachside community often zeroes in on its artistic legacy. And for good reason. Plein air artists — that is, those dedicated to painting outdoors and capturing the beauty of a landscape or a moment — are believed to have begun descending upon the region in the late 1880s. In the early 1900s, it was plein air artists who established the Laguna Beach Art Assn., which ultimately led to the founding of the Laguna Art Museum.
And today, Laguna Beach stages two of Southern California’s most cherished art events. The Festival of the Arts, home to the summer tradition that is the Pageant of the Masters, and the Sawdust Art Festival continue to define Laguna Beach as an art-forward haven for free thinking.
Laguna Beach is also history.
The aforementioned Laguna Art Museum is one of the oldest artistic institutions in Southern California, its current location dating to 1929. The city’s Marine Room Tavern, established in 1934, is one of the oldest bars in Orange County, the site of the second liquor license ever approved in Laguna Beach. Its Catholic church, St. Francis by the Sea, was built in 1933 and once held the mantle of the smallest cathedral in the world. And the Laguna Playhouse is said to be one of the oldest not-for-profit continuously operating theaters on the West Coast, with a history dating to the 1920s.
And yet Laguna Beach is tension.
Summer crowds, a tourism necessity for the area, also bring with them a host of nuances for locals — traffic, trash, public drunkenness and the risk of dirtying up the city’s pristine beaches, five of which ranked among The Times’ list of the best in the state. It’s a privileged party atmosphere that no doubt once contributed to the area’s spotlight for trashy reality television.
Yet that wasn’t the real Laguna, as Laguna Beach is a community.
Today, it’s a place one can find a magical wonderland dedicated to the joy of fairy tales, and to walk its Coast Highway — or take in its sights via one of the city’s free trolleys — is to find a host of quirky surf shops, chocolatiers, wine and snack outposts, and a bounty of galleries. And, yes, those magnificent beaches.
BBC News
When Calum Macdonald arrived at the Vietnamese border, he couldn’t read the administrative forms in front of him. All he could see was a “kaleidoscopic blinding light”.
He had just stepped off an overnight bus with his friends from the popular tourist destination of Vang Vieng in Laos.
The day before, the group had been staying at a hostel where free whisky and vodka shots were offered to guests. Calum was mixing them with soft drinks.
It was only at the border that he suspected something might be wrong with his sight – which he told his friends.
“I remember having this sort of kaleidoscopic, blinding light in my eyes and to the point at which I couldn’t see anything.
“[We agreed] it was strange but we thought it was food poisoning and the light I was seeing was some kind of sensitivity,” he tells BBC Breakfast.
But when they arrived at their destination in Vietnam, it was clear something was seriously wrong.
“We were sitting in the hotel room, my friends and I, and I said to them: ‘Why are we sitting in the dark? Someone should turn a light on.'” The lights were already on.
Calum, 23, is now blind and telling his story for the first time. He was one of several victims of a mass methanol poisoning in Vang Vieng last November.
Six people died. Calum knew two of them – Danish girls he had met on a night out.
All had been staying at the town’s Nana Backpacker Hostel.
Calum is now working with the families of three other British people who died following methanol poisoning in South East Asia.
They are calling on the Foreign Office to be clearer about the dangers people face when booking holidays in countries where methanol poisoning is a concern.
Simone White was one of those people.
The day after Calum left Vang Vieng, Simone drank free shots at the hostel. Earlier she’d sent her mum a text message saying this was the best holiday she’d ever been on.
Simone was admitted to hospital in the following days and a friend called her mother Sue to inform her of what had happened. Later, she rang again to say Simone was in a coma.
Sue booked a flight immediately but, before she could take off, she received another call in the middle of the night from a doctor in Laos who was treating Simone.
“[He said] you need to give permission for urgent brain surgery or she’s not going to survive…
“I flew out the next day knowing she was going through surgery and I expected the worst, to be honest.”
The 28-year-old died in hospital from methanol poisoning.
“It’s very hard to come to terms with what’s happened,” Sue says. “Nothing is going to bring Simone back.”
Methanol is a type of alcohol commonly found in cleaning products, fuel and antifreeze. It is similar to ethanol, which is used for alcoholic drinks, but is more toxic to humans because of the way it is processed by the body.
Alcoholic drinks can become contaminated with methanol if they are manufactured poorly.
It is a known problem with cheap spirits in South East Asia where hundreds of people are poisoned each year, according to the charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
If you consume one of these contaminated drinks and suffer methanol poisoning, symptoms can include dizziness, tiredness, headaches and nausea.
For many people it feels similar to a normal hangover, which makes it difficult to know if you have been poisoned or just had a few too many drinks.
After 12-48 hours, more serious problems can emerge like seizures and blurry vision. In severe cases, it can lead to total blindness and leave sufferers in a coma.
As little as 30ml of methanol can be fatal to humans, says the MSF.
If diagnosed within 10-30 hours after consumption, methanol poisoning can be treated successfully with dialysis.
Kirsty McKie, 38, died in 2022 but it was not the result of accepting free shots.
She had been enjoying drinks at home with a friend ahead of a night out in Bali – the Indonesian island where she had been living and working for eight years.
Her friend, Sonia Taylor, said they both felt like they had a particularly bad hangover the next day before Kirsty was taken to hospital for treatment.
Sonia had also drunk the contaminated alcohol, but survived.
“We had no idea,” says Sonia. “That’s probably been the hardest part for me, not knowing why you live and somebody else dies… It doesn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason as to why.”
On Sumatra, another Indonesian island, Cheznye Emmons died after drinking gin that was later found to contain 66,000 times the legal limit for methanol in drinks.
Cheznye’s mother Pamela tells the BBC: “I think the worst part about that… [was] just before she started having a fit, when she first arrived at the hospital, she said to her boyfriend: ‘I’m really, really scared.’
“And that was basically the last time [she spoke].”
Calum’s advice to tourists is to avoid free drinks and spirits in general. “There are lots of lovely beers in south-east Asia, which I’m sure people would really enjoy.”
He says learning of the deaths of the two Danish girls he met in Vang Vieng changed his perspective about his blindness.
“Part of the way that I [had] dealt with it was to bury my head in the sand… I did really feel like, in many ways, my life wasn’t worth living.”
Calum is now learning to use a cane and hopes to apply for a guide dog soon.
He adds: “[The deaths] made me realise that I was very lucky and I felt very grateful that, although I had some difficult consequences, a lot of people did have it worse.
“I felt, given that I was lucky enough to survive, I have a bit of a responsibility to try and prevent the same thing from happening to other people.”
The Foreign Office described methanol poisoning and counterfeit alcohol as a “serious problem in some parts of the world” and said it was working with local authorities and the travel industry to tackle the issue.
“We seek to make clear the risks to British people travelling abroad and we raise awareness through our travel advice and Travel Aware campaign.”
British number ones Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper will face each other in this week’s new-look US Open mixed doubles event in New York.
Raducanu, 22, is partnering five-time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz, while Draper, 23, will play with American Jessica Pegula after their original partners, Tommy Paul and Paula Badosa, both withdrew.
Organisers were heavily criticised in February after announcing that the mixed doubles competition would be a standalone event on 19-20 August – before the singles tournament begins on 24 August.
The 16 pairs involved will compete for $1m (£749,077) at Flushing Meadows.
Raducanu, who won the US Open title in 2021, and Spaniard Alcaraz have been handed a wildcard entry for the two-day tournament.
Before the event, Alcaraz, 22, is taking on world number one Jannik Sinner for the fourth time this season, in the final of the Cincinnati Open in Ohio on Monday.
Italian Sinner, 24, who is also a wildcard entrant, has been re-paired with Czech Katerina Siniakova after his partner, American Emma Navarro, withdrew.
Draper and Pegula, meanwhile, have qualified directly and have been given the top seeding, because both players are inside the top five in the singles rankings.
The first two rounds will take place on Tuesday and the semi-finals and final will be played on Wednesday.
Just four games will be required to win a set in matches before the final, with no-advantage scoring (four points will be needed to win a game) and 10-point match tie-breaks instead of a third set throughout.
BBC News, West Midlands
Ruaridh Connellan/Expectation/BBCIt was just six weeks ago when legendary rocker Ozzy Osbourne performed in front of thousands of adoring metalheads for the final time in his home city of Birmingham.
Seventeen days later, the Black Sabbath singer and heavy metal pioneer died at his home surrounded by his family, aged 76.
His death sparked an outpouring of grief from fans, friends and artists across the world – an indication of his enduring influence, which started with Black Sabbath’s formation in the late 1960s.
On Monday evening, BBC One will air Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home, which was filmed during the late singer’s last years.
According to producer Expectation, the film will be a “moving and inspirational account” of the last chapter of Ozzy’s life.
It was filmed over three years and has been told through “unique and intimate access” to the whole family, including Ozzy, wife Sharon, son Jack and daughter Kelly.
The documentary will feature what makers described as the “extraordinary rollercoaster” of the Osbournes’ lives as Sharon and Ozzy tried to realise a long-held dream to move back to the UK.
It was originally announced as a series, Home to Roost, in 2022, but the project evolved as Ozzy’s health continued to deteriorate.
Ross HalfinThe singer will be shown “heroically” battling to get fit enough to perform on stage again, as the family deal with the consequences of his ill-health, the BBC said.
There will be “love, laughter and tears”, as well as unforgettable family moments, typical of the Osbournes.
It will also show the family accept the reality of their situation, encapsulated by Kelly’s words: “Iron Man wasn’t really made of iron.”
Producers said it would serve as a “remarkably candid and uplifting tribute” to one of the world’s “true icons”.
Clare Sillery, BBC head of documentary commissioning, said the team was “honoured” to film the Osbournes during this period of their lives.
She said the film showed the “enduring spirit” that made Ozzy a global icon.
“We hope it brings comfort and joy to Ozzy’s fans and viewers as they remember and celebrate his extraordinary life,” she added.
PA MediaBen Wicks and Colin Barr, executive producers at Expectation, said the film was an “inspiring and poignant” account of Ozzy fulfilling his dream to perform on stage one last time.
They said: “Ozzy was loved by millions around the world not just for his music, but for his sense of mischief and his honesty, all of which we saw plenty of in the final years of his life.
“But one thing shone through even more brightly to us and that was Ozzy’s intense love for his exceptional family who were by his side through it all.”
The one-hour film will air on BBC One on Monday at 21:00 BST and will also be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
A group of between 30 to 50 critically ill and injured Palestinian children will be evacuated from Gaza to the UK for medical treatment in the coming weeks, the BBC understands.
They would be the first children brought to the UK for treatment as part of a government operation being coordinated by the Foreign Office, Home Office and Department of Health.
The children will be selected by the World Health Organization and will travel with family members via a third country, where biometric data will be collected.
It comes after some MPs wrote a letter to the government urging them to bring sick and injured children from Gaza to the UK “without delay”.
In a letter last week, a cross-party group of 96 MPs warned that children were at risk of imminent death due to the “decimation” of the healthcare system in Gaza and any barriers to evacuation should be immediately lifted.
Some Gazan children have already been brought privately to the UK for medical treatment through an initiative by the organisation Project Pure Hope (PPH), but the government has so far not evacuated any through its own scheme during the conflict.
Earlier in August, the government said that plans to bring more children to the UK for medical treatment were being carried out “at pace”.
It is unclear which third country the children will transit through on their way to the UK, exactly how many children will be involved or whether further groups will follow.
Given the challenge of returning children to Gaza, it is understood some may enter the asylum system after completing treatment.
More than 50,000 children have been killed or injured since the war in Gaza begun in October 2023, according to the UN charity Unicef.
Since the start of the war, the UK has provided funds so that injured Gazans can be treated by hospitals in the region and has also been working with Jordan to airdrop aid into the territory.
Children brought to the UK under the government scheme will be treated on the NHS. At the beginning of August, the government said that a cross-party taskforce was working to establish a plan to “evacuate children from Gaza who require urgent medical care… as quickly as possible”.
The Home Office previously said biometric checks would be carried out before children and carers before they travel.
Severely ill Palestinians have been evacuated from Gaza to other countries since the start of the war, including more than 180 adults and children to Italy.
The UN has warned of widespread malnutrition in Gaza, with experts backed by the organisation warning in a report last month that the “worst-case scenario” of famine is playing out in Gaza.
Israel has insisted there are no restrictions on aid deliveries into Gaza, and has accused the UN and other aid agencies of failing to deliver it.
More than 60,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli military operation began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel launched its offensive in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
Swiss watchmaker Swatch has apologised and pulled an ad featuring a model pulling the corners of his eyes, after the image prompted uproar among Chinese social media users.
Critics said the pose resembled the racist “slanted eye” historically used to mock Asians.
Calls for a boycott of Swatch products grew on Chinese social media as the ad went viral.
Swatch said it had “taken note of the recent concerns regarding the portrayal of a model”.
“We sincerely apologize for any distress or misunderstanding this may have caused,” the company said in a statement on Saturday.
“We treat this matter with the utmost importance and have immediately removed all related materials worldwide.”
But the apology failed to appease critics.
Swatch is “only afraid for its profits,” one Weibo user said. “You can apologise, but I will not forgive.”
“They make money from us and still dare to discriminate against Chinese people. We would be spineless if we don’t boycott it out of China,” another Weibo user said.
Swatch gets around 27% of its revenue from China, Hong Kong and Macau – though it has seen declining sales in China amid the country’s economic slowdown, according to Reuters news agency.
The company also produces Omega, Longines and Tissot watches.
In recent years Chinese consumers have organised boycotts against perceived insults to their culture or threats to national interests.
In 2021 there was a widespread Chinese boycott against global fashion brands like H&M, Nike and Adidas after they expressed concern over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang province.
Last year, some tried to boycott Japanese clothing store Uniqlo after the company said it did not source cotton from Xinjiang.
Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana was also the target of such a boycott in 2018, after it posted videos showing a Chinese model using chopsticks clumsily to eat Italian food. Its products were pulled from Chinese e-commerce sites and the brand cancelled its Shanghai fashion show as critics said the ad depicted Chinese women in a stereotypical and racist way.
BBC News, Washington
Donald Trump has said the Ukrainian president can end Russia’s war “if he wants to”, but there would be “no going into Nato by Ukraine” as part of a peace deal.
Hours before he was due to host Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, Trump also said there would be “no getting back” of the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, eight years before launching its full-scale invasion.
Trump’s remarks follow his summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska that resulted in the US president dropping a demand for a ceasefire and calling instead for a permanent peace deal.
After arriving in the US late on Sunday, Zelensky reiterated his call for allies’ effective security guarantees.
A US envoy said on Sunday that Putin had agreed to a possible Nato-like security pact for Ukraine.
The Russian president has consistently opposed the idea of Ukraine joining the military alliance.
Posting on his Truth Social platform on Sunday night, Trump said: “President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight.
“Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!” Trump added.
Before Trump’s return to power in January, Nato countries agreed on Kyiv’s “irreversible path” to membership in the alliance.
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, alongside European leaders including UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, will join Zelensky in Washington for talks on Ukraine’s future on Monday.
Also attending are French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. It is unclear how many of them will go to the White House.
Trump later added: “Big day at the White House tomorrow. Never had so many European Leaders at one time. My great honor to host them!!!”
Zelensky posted on social media saying he was “grateful” for Trump’s invitation. “We all share a strong desire to end this war quickly and reliably”.
He also doubled down on the need for effective security guarantees from allies, “not like it was years ago… when Ukraine was given so called ‘security guarantees’ in 1994 but they didn’t work”.
“Of course, Crimea should not have been given up then,” he added. “Just as Ukrainians did not give up Kyiv, Odesa, or Kharkiv after 2022”.
For so many heads of state to travel with such little notice across the Atlantic to what is essentially a wartime crisis meeting appears without precedent in the modern era, underscoring the sky-high stakes.
Diplomatic sources say European officials are concerned that Trump may try to press Zelensky to agree to terms, after the Ukrainian leader was excluded from the Trump-Putin meeting on US soil last Friday.
But US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the BBC’s US partner CBS that any suggestion Zelensky might be bullied by Trump into accepting a peace deal was a “stupid media narrative”.
Nato leaders also appear eager to avoid a repeat of Zelensky’s February trip to the Oval Office that ended abruptly after an argument with Trump and US Vice-President JD Vance.
The altercation – which saw Trump accuse Zelensky of “gambling with World War Three” – left Washington-Kyiv ties in tatters.
But European leaders have been working diligently behind the scenes since then to mend the relationship. The Ukrainian leader has been coached to talk in terms of deal-making – language that resonates with Trump.
In April, Ukraine signed a minerals agreement that gave the US a financial stake in the country, and Trump and Zelensky spoke privately at the Vatican before Pope Francis’s funeral. Ukraine made clear it was willing to pay for US weapons.
By July, the two leaders had a phone call that the Ukrainian president described as “the best conversation we have had”.
Meanwhile, Trump had begun to express exasperation with Russia’s unrelenting onslaught in Ukraine. He called Putin “absolutely crazy”, drastically shortened his deadline for a peace deal, and threatened economic sanctions on Moscow.
As these deliberations grind on, Russian forces continue to advance on the battlefield. They now occupy almost a fifth of Ukraine since Moscow launched its full scale invasion in February 2022.
EPAA virtual summit was held on Sunday between Zelensky and the so-called coalition of the willing – a group of nations including the UK, France and Germany that have pledged to protect peace in Ukraine once it is achieved.
Afterwards, Emmanuel Macron told reporters their plan was to “present a united front” for Monday’s talks with Trump.
Zelensky and the Nato leaders said they were keen to learn more after US envoy Steve Witkoff told US television that Putin had agreed on Friday to “robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing”.
Witkoff said such an agreement could see Europe and the US protect Ukraine from further aggression with a Nato-like defence agreement.
“We were able to win the following concession: that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in Nato,” Witkoff told CNN on Sunday.
Putin has long opposed Ukraine joining Nato, and Witkoff said the arrangement could be an alternative if the Ukrainians “can live with it”.
Article 5 is a principle at the heart of the 32-member transatlantic military alliance that says its members will come to the defence of an ally that is under attack.
Witkoff also told CNN that Russia made “some concessions” around five heavily contested regions of Ukraine.
In talks with European allies after the Alaska summit, Trump said Putin had reiterated that he wants the key Donetsk and Luhansk regions that make up Donbas, eastern Ukraine, according to European officials.
But at Sunday’s virtual summit with Nato leaders, Zelensky stressed that the Ukrainian constitution makes it impossible to give up territory – and that this should only be discussed by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia at a trilateral summit with the US.
The US secretary of state, meanwhile, sought to temper hopes that a deal to end Europe’s deadliest conflict for 80 years could be imminent.
“We’re still a long ways off,” Rubio said on Sunday.
Officials say about 10 people rescued after accident in African country’s northwestern region.
Rescuers are searching for more than 40 people who are missing after a boat capsized in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Sokoto, according to authorities.
Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said on Sunday that its Sokoto operations office had deployed a response team to support rescue efforts following the “tragic boat mishap”.
NEMA’s director general, Zubaida Umar, said the agency responded after “receiving reports that a boat conveying over 50 passengers to Goronyo Market had capsized”.
NEMA said in a statement shared on social media that about 10 people had been rescued, and more than 40 other passengers were missing.
Nigeria’s The Punch newspaper, citing a local official, said the accident may have been caused by overloading, a recurring issue for boats in the state’s riverine communities.
Boat accidents are common in Nigeria, particularly during the annual rainy season, from March to October, when rivers and lakes overflow.
At least 16 farmers died in a similar accident in Sokoto State in August 2024, when a wooden canoe carrying them across a river to their rice fields capsized.
Last month, at least 13 people died and dozens more went missing after a boat ferrying about 100 passengers capsized in Niger State, in north-central Nigeria.
Two days later, six girls drowned after a boat taking them home from farm work capsized midstream in the northwestern Jigawa State.