warns

A senior United Nations official has warned the UN Security Council (UNSC) that Israel’s plan to seize Gaza City risked “another calamity” in the Gaza Strip with far-reaching consequences, as five more people in Gaza reportedly died from starvation – bringing the overall toll to 217, including 100 children.

UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas Miroslav Jenca on Sunday told an emergency weekend meeting that if implemented, the plan could result in the displacement of all civilians from Gaza City by October 7, 2025, affecting some 800,000 people, many of them already previously displaced.

This “will likely trigger another calamity in Gaza, reverberating across the region and causing further forced displacement, killings and destruction, compounding the unbearable suffering of the population,” Jenca said.

Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour told the UNSC that Israel was aiming for “the destruction of the Palestinian people through forced transfer and massacres to facilitate its annexation of our land”.

“What will force Israel to change course is our ability to transform justified condemnation into just actions … History will judge us all,” he said.

Foreign powers, including some of Israel’s allies, have slammed Israel’s plan. The United Kingdom, a close ally of Israel which nonetheless pushed for an emergency meeting on the crisis, warned the Israeli plan risked prolonging the conflict.

“It will only deepen the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. This is not a path to resolution. It is a path to more bloodshed,” the British Deputy Ambassador to the UN James Kariuki said.

Another staunch Israel ally, Germany, said it could not actively support Israel’s plan to expand military operations in Gaza and displace of Palestinians.

“Where are these people supposed to go?” Chancellor Friedrich Merz asked in an interview with public broadcaster ARD. “We can’t do that, we won’t do that, and I will not do that.”

France’s Deputy Permanent UN Representative Jay Dharmadhikari condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the plan, which he said would have “dramatic humanitarian consequences” for civilians already “living in horrifying conditions”.

“The images of children dying of hunger or civilians being targeted as they tried to find food are unbearable,” Dharmadhikari said, urging Israel to comply with international humanitarian law.

The UK, Denmark, France, Greece and Slovenia issued a joint statement asking Israel “to urgently reverse this decision and not to implement” the plan, saying it violates international law.

In a separate statement, the foreign ministers of Spain, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal and Slovenia warned that Israel seizing Gaza City would be “a major obstacle to implementing the two-state solution, the only path towards a comprehensive, just and lasting peace”.

Israel to ‘finish the job’ in Gaza

Despite the international backlash and rumours of dissent from Israeli military top brass, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has remained defiant over the plan to seize Gaza’s largest urban centre, which was approved by Israel’s security cabinet on Friday.

“The timeline that we set for the action is fairly quickly,” Netanyahu told a news conference in Jerusalem on Sunday. “I don’t want to talk about exact timetables, but we’re talking in terms of a fairly short timetable because we want to bring the war to an end.”

He said Israel had “no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas”, given the group’s refusal to lay down its arms. Hamas said it would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state was established.

Netanyahu said the military had been given the green light to “dismantle” what he described as two remaining Hamas strongholds: Gaza City in the north and al-Mawasi further to the south.

“This is the best way to end the war and the best way to end it speedily,” he said. “We will do so by first enabling the civilian population to safely leave the combat areas to designated safe zones.”

While the prime minister stressed that these “safe zones” would be given “ample food, water, and medical care”, guards at the controversial Israel- and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), purportedly established to deliver aid to the starving Palestinian population, have routinely opened fire on the aid seekers, killing dozens at a time.

Asked about the growing criticism targeting his cabinet’s decision, Netanyahu said the country was prepared to fight alone. “We will win the war, with or without the support of others,” he said.

Hamas released a statement responding to Netanyahu’s claim that Israel did not intend to occupy Gaza but “liberate” it from the Palestinian group.

The group said the use of the term “liberation” was an attempt to distort the reality of occupation “that will not cover up the crime of extermination, killing, and systematic destruction for more than 22 months”.

Hamas added that it constituted a “desperate attempt to exonerate” Israel after it killed more than 61,400 Palestinians, including more than 18,000 children.

Israel’s Deputy Ambassador to the UN Jonathan Miller fired back at Hamas at the UNSC session, saying the group was “exploiting” the captives and Gaza’s population to “maintain its position, benefiting from attempts to pressure Israel and from the willingness of some countries to recognise a Palestinian state”.

The United States, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UNSC, has so far shielded its staunch ally from any practical measures of UN censure. Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister spoke with US President Donald Trump about its plan, without elaborating on the outcome of the conversation.

Speaking to Fox News, the US vice president said Washington neither endorsed nor rejected Israel’s decision to seize Gaza City and the entire Gaza Strip at large. “Obviously, there are a lot of downsides and upsides”, JD Vance said.

Netanyahu’s plan also received domestic criticism, with opposition leader Yair Lapid saying its implementation would mean that “the hostages will die, soldiers will die, the economy will collapse and our international standing will crash.”

Israel’s Channel 12 reported it will cost billions of dollars within several months, increasing the country’s deficit by 2 percent and leading to widespread budget cuts in areas such as healthcare, education, and welfare.

‘Unacceptable catastrophe’

The director of the coordination division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the “unacceptable catastrophe” unfolding in Gaza must be brought to an end as he addressed the UN Security Council via videolink on Sunday.

Ramesh Rajasingham expressed concern over “the prolonged conflict, the reports of atrocities and further human toll that is likely to unfold following the government of Israel’s decision to expand military operations in Gaza”.

Israel has blocked all but a trickle of aid from entering Gaza for months and has prevented UN workers from accessing and distributing lifesaving assistance. “The UN has a plan and the systems in place to respond. We’ve said this before, and we will say it again and again: Let us work,” Rajasingham said.

The Government Media Office in Gaza said only 1,210 aid trucks have entered Gaza over the past 14 days. Officials said this represents just 14 percent of the territory’s minimum actual needs of 8,400 trucks.

Netanyahu acknowledged there have been issues of “deprivation” in Gaza, but denied that Israel has a “starvation policy”. Human Rights Watch, among other international organisations, has repeatedly called Israel’s use of starvation of civilians as a weapon of war a “war crime”.

Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children International’s director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, told Al Jazeera that his team on the ground was seeing an “exponential increase” in the number of malnutrition cases, with effects that can “span generations”.

“This is not one event. This is not the absence of two or three meals. This is an accumulation of months [of deprivation],” he said. “We can help alleviate the suffering of children in Gaza, but we cannot do that if the government of Israel continues to impose all its limitations.”

United States President Donald Trump has confirmed he will meet with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on August 15 in Alaska to discuss efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

But, Trump added, any peace deal would involve “some swapping” of territory, a controversial prospect.

“We are going to have a meeting with Russia. We’ll start off with Russia,” he said on Friday, as he hosted leaders from Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House.

Trump offered few details on what, if anything, had changed in his months-long effort to bring about a deal to end Russia’s invasion.

Still, he suggested any breakthrough would require the exchange of territory.

“It’s very complicated. But we’re going to get some back, and we’re going to get some switched. There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both, but we’ll be talking about that either later or tomorrow,” he said.

Ukraine and its European allies have long opposed any agreement that involves ceding occupied territory – including Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – to Russia.

But Putin has repeatedly said that any deal must require Ukraine to relinquish some of the territories Russia has seized since 2014.

He has also called for a pause to Western aid for Ukraine and an end to Kyiv’s efforts to join the NATO military alliance.

Questions about the meeting’s location

Still, the prospect of Trump meeting Putin has raised logistical questions in recent days, particularly since the Russian leader faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Prosecutors have sought his arrest for alleged war crimes perpetrated in Ukraine, and Putin’s travel through any ICC member countries could result in his detention.

The US, however, is not an ICC member and does not recognise the court’s authority.

While the Kremlin had previously floated the possibility of meeting in the United Arab Emirates, another non-member, Trump announced on Friday in a Truth Social post that he would welcome Putin to the US northernmost state, Alaska.

The state’s mainland sits approximately 88 kilometres – or 55 miles – away from Russia across the Bering Strait, and some smaller islands are even closer.

Friday’s announcement came on the same day as a deadline that Trump had imposed on Russia to reach a ceasefire passed without any new agreement.

In recent weeks, Trump had grown increasingly frustrated with Russia over the country’s continued attacks on Ukraine and its apparent unwillingness to come to an accord.

The August 15 meeting is slated to be the first tete-a-tete between the two leaders since 2019, during Trump’s first term.

‘Great progress’

Trump had broken with decades of diplomatic precedent by seeming to embrace Putin during much of his time in the White House.

Earlier this year, for instance, Trump appeared to reject Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in favour of Putin. He also blamed Ukraine’s ambitions of joining NATO for provoking Russia’s full-scale invasion of its territory in February 2022.

“Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” Trump yelled at one point during a confrontational meeting with Zelenskyy broadcast from the White House in February.

But Trump has positioned himself as a self-described “peacemaker”, and his inability to bring the Ukraine war to a close has become a source of resentment between him and Putin.

At the same time, he took an initially permissive approach to Putin, but has since expressed growing frustration with the Russian leader amid Russia’s continued attacks.

Last week, Trump denounced Russia’s renewed attacks on Kyiv. “I think it’s disgusting what they’re doing. I think it’s disgusting,” he said.

He also demanded that Russia pause its attacks or face new sanctions and secondary tariffs on key trading partners.

On Wednesday, Trump appeared to begin to make good on that threat, raising tariffs on Indian goods to 50 percent in response to its purchase of Russian oil.

Still, this week, Trump hailed “great progress” in the peace negotiations as his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, visited Putin in Moscow.

But as of Friday, the date of the new deadline, no new US actions or Russian capitulations had been announced.

Some analysts have argued that Putin is intentionally teasing out talks to extend the war.

It remains unclear if Trump’s mercurial approach has meaningfully changed the ceasefire equation since he took office.

Beijing warns Manila to stop ‘playing with fire’ after Marcos signals potential Taiwan conflict involvement.

China has sharply criticised Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr after he suggested his country would be drawn into a potential conflict between China and the United States over Taiwan.

During a state visit to India this week, Marcos said the Philippines’ geographic proximity and the large Filipino community in Taiwan meant the country would be forced to get involved in the event of war.

“If there is an all-out war, then we will be drawn into it,” Marcos told Indian broadcaster Firstpost. “There are many, many Filipino nationals in Taiwan and that would be immediately a humanitarian problem.”

In response, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strongly worded statement on Friday, warning Manila not to “play with fire” and urging it to uphold the one China principle.

“Geographical proximity and large overseas populations are not excuses for interfering in others’ internal affairs,” the statement read.

Tensions between China and the Philippines have intensified in recent years over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Both sides have accused each other of provocations, with altercations at sea involving ramming incidents, water cannon blasts, and clashes involving weapons such as spears and knives.

Beijing continues to assert that Taiwan is part of its territory and a breakaway province, a position Taipei rejects.

China also dismissed Marcos’s justification as undermining both international law and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations charter, saying his comments risk destabilising regional peace and harming the interests of the Philippine people.

Marcos’s trip to India also saw the signing of new security agreements aimed at strengthening defence ties between New Delhi and Manila, including cooperation between both countries’ armies, air forces and navies. Indian warships recently began joint patrols with the Philippine Navy in the contested South China Sea in a move likely to anger China.

In another sign of rising tensions, Philippine officials earlier this week condemned the launch of a Chinese rocket, which they said dropped suspected debris near a western province, alarming residents and threatening local ships and aircraft. No damage or injuries were reported.

The escalating maritime standoff has also increasingly drawn in the United States, which has a mutual defence pact with the Philippines. Washington has reaffirmed its commitment to defend Filipino forces, including coastguard personnel, aircraft and public vessels, should they come under attack anywhere in the South China Sea.

Novo Nordisk’s outgoing CEO, Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, has warned that layoffs at the Danish pharmaceutical giant could be unavoidable as competition heats up against its blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy amid rising pressure from rival Eli Lilly.

Novo Nordisk – which became Europe’s most valuable company, worth $650bn, last year on booming sales of Wegovy – is facing a pivotal moment as the medicine loses market share and sees sales growth slow, especially in the United States.

It has warned of far slower growth this year, in part due to compounders who have been allowed to make copycat drugs based on the same ingredients as Wegovy due to shortages. Novo Nordisk, which according to its website has 77,000 employees, cut its full-year sales and profit forecasts last week, wiping $95bn off its market value since.

The slide is a vast and abrupt turnaround for the firm that has been one of the world’s hottest investment stories, which led to a rapid expansion of manufacturing and sales capacity. Now the company is eyeing potential cost-cutting measures.

Layoffs loom

“We probably won’t be able to avoid layoffs,” Jorgensen told Danish broadcaster DR. “When you have to adjust a company, there are some areas where you have to have fewer people, some [areas] where you have to be smaller.”

He added, though, that any decision on layoffs would be in the hands of the incoming CEO, company veteran Maziar Mike Doustdar, who takes over on Thursday.

On a media call, Jorgensen said the market for copycat versions of Wegovy’s class of drugs – known as GLP-1 receptor agonists – was of “equal size to our business” and compounded versions of Wegovy were sold at a “much lower price point”.

In May, Novo Nordisk said it expected many of the roughly one million US patients using compounded GLP-1 drugs to switch to branded treatments after a US Food and Drug Administration ban on compounded copies of Wegovy took effect on May 22, and it expected compounding to wind down in the third quarter.

However, finance chief Karsten Munk Knudsen said on Wednesday that more than one million US patients were still using compounded GLP-1s and that the company’s lowered outlook has “not assumed a reduction in compounding” this year.

“The obesity market is volatile,” Knudsen told analysts when asked under what circumstances the company could see negative growth in the last six months of the year. The low end of the firm’s new full-year guidance range would be for “unforeseen events”, such as stronger pricing pressure in the US than forecast, he said.

The lower end of the range would imply sales around 150 billion Danish krone ($23bn) in the second half of 2025, compared with 157 billion krone ($24.5bn) in the same period last year.

Knudsen reiterated that the company was pursuing multiple strategies, including lawsuits against compounding pharmacies, to halt unlawful mass compounding.

Jorgensen said the company was encouraged by the latest US prescription data for Wegovy. While the drug was overtaken earlier this year by rival Eli Lilly’s Zepbound in terms of US prescriptions, that lead has narrowed in the past month.

Second-quarter sales of Wegovy rose by 36 percent in the US and more than quadrupled in markets outside the US compared to a year ago, Novo Nordisk said.

While Wegovy’s US pricing held steady in the quarter, the company expected deeper erosion in the key US market in the second half, due to a greater portion of sales expected from the direct-to-consumer or cash-pay channel, as well as higher rebates and discounts to insurers, Knudsen said.

He said Novo Nordisk was expanding its US direct-to-consumer platform, NovoCare, launched in March, and may need to pursue similar “cash sales” directly to patients, outside of insurance channels, in some markets outside the US.

Cost cuts

Novo Nordisk reiterated its full-year earnings expectations on Wednesday after last week’s profit warning.

Jorgensen said the company was acting to “ensure efficiencies in our cost base” as it announced it would terminate eight research and development projects.

“There seems to be a larger R&D clean-out than usual, but we do not know if this reflects a strategic re-assessment or just a coincidence,” Jefferies analysts said in a note.

Investors have questioned whether the company can stay competitive in the booming weight-loss drug market. Several equity analysts have cut their price targets and recommendations on the stock since last week.

Shares in Novo Nordisk plunged 30 percent last week – their worst weekly performance in over two decades. The stock has continued to tumble since the market opened in New York. As of 12pm local time (16:00 GMT), the pharmaceutical giant was down by more than 3.3 percent.

Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong has told the country’s media that “there is a risk there will be no Palestine left to recognise”, amid Israel’s devastating war on Gaza and increasing violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Wong, who did not indicate that Australia plans to change its stance and recognise Palestinian statehood, made her comments in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ( ABC) on Tuesday morning, where she responded to questions about a mass protest in Sydney attended by hundreds of thousands of people rallying against Israel’s war on Gaza.

Organisers said that between 200,000 and 300,000 people joined the protest across the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday. Police had initially estimated that about 90,000 people took part.

Wong said the Australian government shared the protesters “desire for peace and a ceasefire”, and that the huge turnout reflected “the broad Australian community’s horror” and the “distress of Australians, on what we are seeing unfolding in Gaza, the catastrophic humanitarian situation, the deaths of women and children, the withholding of aid”.

However, asked if Australia was considering taking any more concrete actions, such as imposing sanctions on Israel, Wong said: “We don’t speculate on sanctions for the obvious reason that they have more effect if they are not flagged.”

She noted that Australia had already imposed sanctions on two far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s government, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, in June this year, as well as “extremist” Israeli settlers.

On Australia’s position regarding Palestinian statehood, Wong said: “In relation to recognition, I’ve said for over a year now, it’s a matter of when, not if.”

Wong’s interview came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is reportedly seeking to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the wake of Sunday’s protest.

Responding to questions about what he plans to discuss with Netanyahu, Albanese said he would again express his support for a two-state solution.

Rawan Arraf, the executive director of the Australian Centre for International Justice, said that the “only business” that Albanese should be discussing with Netanyahu is cancelling the “two-way arms trade between Australia and and Israel, new sanctions measures, and Netanyahu’s one-way trip to the [International Criminal Court] to face war crimes and crimes against humanity charges“.

Albanese “must not give legitimacy to an accused war criminal”, Arraf wrote in a post on X.

While both Albanese and Wong have continued to emphasise the importance of a two-state solution, Australia has yet to follow other countries, including France and Canada, that have recently announced their plans to recognise Palestinian statehood, and join the vast majority of countries which already do so.

Albanese also had a phone call with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday, the first publicly recorded call between the pair since November 2023, according to the ABC.

Responding to questions about the Sydney protest rally, Albanese said: “It’s not surprising that so many Australians have been affected in order to want to show their concern at people being deprived of food and water and essential services.”

But the state government in New South Wales, which is led by Albanese’s Labor Party, had sought to prevent the march from crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the week leading up to the protest.

The protest only went ahead after State Supreme Court Justice Belinda Rigg ruled that “the march at this location is motivated by the belief that the horror and urgency of the situation in Gaza demands an urgent and extraordinary response from the people of the world”.

“The evidence indicates there is significant support for the march,” Rigg added.

A number of state and federal Labor ministers also took part in the march, in an indication of a growing divide within Albanese’s party.

Independent journalist Antony Loewenstein told Al Jazeera that Sunday’s march showed that Australians are “frustrated that our government is doing little more than talk at this point”.

“People are so outraged, not just by what Israel is doing in Gaza, but also the Australian government’s complicity,” said Loewenstein, who spoke at the march on Sunday.

Australia “is part of the global supply chain for the F-35 fighter jet, which Israel is using over Gaza every day, and the parts that are amongst those parts in the plane are probably coming from Australia”, he said.

Aug. 4 (UPI) — FBI officials in Philadelphia on Monday issued an advisory warning international college students about a scam that involves foreign impersonators. They advised potential victims to report it.

Officials at the Philadelphia office of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation say that college and university students studying abroad in the United States — particularly Chinese citizens — are at risk of an ongoing scheme that involves a foreign government impersonator.

“We are actively engaging with the public, academic institutions, and our law enforcement partners to identify and support those impacted by this scheme,” Wayne Jacobs, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office, said in a statement.

According to FBI officials, since 2022 the Philadelphia office has seen an uptick in criminal activity with actors attempting to make a victim believe they are a Chinese police officer in order to defraud them.

A scammer will tell a victim they are under investigation for an alleged financial crime in China and will need to pay in order to to avoid arrest.

The typically four-phase scam will see a fraudster call from what appears to be a legitimate phone number associated with a mobile telephone service provider. They will inform a victim their private information had been “linked to either a subject or a victim of a financial fraud investigation,” officials say.

They added that a criminal actor will involve another person who acts as a provincial Chinese police officer and will seek to apply further pressure in attempts to get a potential victim to “return to China to face trial or threaten them with arrest.”

“Criminal actors direct victims to consent to 24/7 video and audio monitoring due to the alleged sensitivity of the investigation and/or to demonstrate the victims’ innocence,” the FBI’s Philadelphia field office stated Monday.

“Victims are instructed not to discuss the details of the case, not to conduct Internet searches, and to report all their daily activities,” it added.

The bureau gave a similar notice last year about China-based imposters seeking to extort money from victims.

Other scams in the past also have affected Chinese victims. In 2019, the Chinese mother of a Stanford University student expelled in the college admissions scandal said she was duped into paying over $6 million in the belief the money was for college-related costs.

Jacobs, the FBI’s Philadelphia field office chief, says the scams “inflict more than just financial harm.” He said many victims “endure lasting emotional and psychological distress.”

While capturing that perfect selfie while on vacation can be exhilarating, there’s one type of selfie that could land you in trouble — especially in a national park or nature reserve.

With summer in full swing across most parts of the world, millions of people are making travel plans to make the most of the sunshine. These days, national parks and nature reserves are emerging as a popular choice for wholesome getaways, providing holidaymakers a chance to immerse themselves in their surroundings and get up close and personal with the great outdoors.

While on holiday, people naturally tend to click pictures in order to preserve a special moment in time and even though capturing that perfect selfie on vacation can be exhilarating, there’s one type of selfie that could land you in trouble. It comes after a warning to Brit tourists planning all-inclusive holidays to Spain.

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Why a popular travel selfie could see you barred from a nature reserve

Taking the perfect selfie with wild animals might seem like a harmless holiday highlight — but experts are warning that it could lead to grave consequences. According to travel expert Naturetrek, snapping certain pictures in protected areas could disturb wildlife, violate conservation regulations, and even result in a permanent ban from reserves.

The selfie trend that’s raising eyebrows

Tourists in the UK and overseas are increasingly chasing “up-close” wildlife photos — particularly with seals, nesting birds, or rare species in national parks. Some even cross clearly marked boundaries or stray from designated paths to achieve that perfect shot.

But whilst the results might appear spectacular on Instagram, the effect on wildlife can be catastrophic. Naturetrek explains that constant human interference in delicate habitats can disrupt breeding, force animals to desert their offspring, and result in prolonged environmental distress.

A Naturetrek spokesperson shares: “One of the worst offenders we’ve seen is people trying to take selfies with seal pups or nesting seabirds. It only takes a few seconds of disturbance to frighten adult animals away – and that can have lasting consequences.”

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What the regulations state

Nature reserves across the UK and throughout Europe maintain stringent guidelines for public conduct – particularly during mating or breeding periods. These encompass remaining behind barriers, keeping noise levels down, and never feeding or getting close to wildlife.

Violating these regulations can result in immediate fines, ejection from the site, or prohibition from returning. Certain locations now additionally supervise visitors via drone surveillance or ranger monitoring. Perpetrators have been captured on film climbing fences or crouching beside animals to secure a “wildlife close-up”.

According to Naturetrek: “It’s not just about physical harm – even the sound of a phone shutter or a quick movement from a selfie stick can spook some species.”

Alternative options that are safe

Wildlife snappers and experienced tour guides suggest admiring animals from afar – utilising binoculars or long lenses for superior snaps. Numerous reserves provide guided strolls or hides, where guests can safely watch and photograph animals without danger. “If you want great wildlife photos, patience is key,” advises Naturetrek. “The best shots are often taken quietly, with respect, and without disturbing the natural behaviour of the animals.”

Respect nature, safeguard the experience

Naturetrek cautions that if current trends persist, more reserves may be compelled to limit access, tighten restrictions, or close certain areas entirely during peak seasons. The travel expert says: “We understand the desire to capture the moment – but if that moment harms nature, it’s not worth it. Our wild spaces need protection, and that means putting the camera down when needed.”

So, the next time you’re on a hike, boat trip, or coastal tour, think twice before you edge in for a selfie. Respect the distance, heed local advice, and savour the encounter without intrusion. You’ll protect wildlife – and your access to these stunning locations – for years to come.

Naturetrek adds: “At the heart of every memorable wildlife experience is respect. By choosing not to disturb, you become part of the solution — helping to preserve nature’s wonders for generations to come.”

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Rangers “will understand that it is not easy to play in Athens”, says Pananthinaikos head coach Rui Vitoria as the Greek side attempt to turn around a two-goal deficit to progress in Champions League qualifying.

The Greek side dominated for 50 minutes at Ibrox but failed to convert a host of chances before goals from Findlay Curtis and Djeidi Gassamma gave Rangers a priceless lead to protect in Wednesday’s second leg.

Vitoria understands why the home players and fans celebrated at the end of the first leg, but warns they are mistaken if they believe the job is already done.

“We need to be more united than ever,” the Portuguese said.

“It was a really good atmosphere in Scotland, but believe me, it is going to be a very nice and hot atmosphere here as well.

“Rangers will understand that it is not easy to play in Athens – not for them and not for anybody else.”

Even with a 21:00 local kick-off time, the temperature is expected to be in excess of 30C at the Olympic Stadium.

Vitoria believes the heat and atmosphere can give Panathinaikos the edge, while emphasising the importance of scoring first.

And despite losing the first leg, Vitoria thinks the performance in Glasgow will give his side belief.

“What we did there was something rather unbelievable for a Champions League match because we had many chances, we played in our way, but we could not score,” he said.

“Although Rangers had fewer chances, they were able to score two goals. They have a lot of quality and we were punished because we did not take our chances.

“The match left a really bitter taste for all of us.

“The most important thing now is to score the first goal. I think that once we score the first goal, then the second and third ones are going to come.”

BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 24 (UPI) — The United Nations has warned that war-torn Lebanon is at “a turning point” and must undertake urgent and immediate recovery efforts to avoid prolonging its six-year multifaceted crisis that has been exacerbated by the recent Israel-Hezbollah war, according to a U.N. report released Thursday.

The report, prepared by the United Nations Development Program and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, in collaboration with other U.N. agencies, highlighted the devastating impact of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict — that began Oct. 8, 2023, and escalated in September 2024 — by examining its effects on Lebanon’s economy, infrastructure and society.

More than 4,285 people, including 292 children and 861 women, have been killed and some 17,200 wounded as of Jan. 9. Since the Nov. 27 cease-fire agreement took effect on Feb. 18, an additional 200 people, including civilians and Hezbollah operatives, also have been killed.

The war, moreover, displaced over 1.2 million people, damaged or destroyed nearly 64,000 buildings and disrupted education for hundreds of thousands of students, according to the U.N. report.

It indicated that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which make up 90% of Lebanon’s economy, were hit especially hard: 15% shut down permanently, 75% suspended operations during the war and nearly 30% lost their entire workforce.

In the most heavily bombed areas, up to 70% of businesses were forced to close permanently.

Moreover, about 500,000 students experienced severe educational disruptions during the war, with 69% of children out of school until the cease-fire. Child nutrition also reached critical levels, particularly in the eastern Baalbek-Hermel and Bekaa governorates, where more than 51% and 45% of children under the age of 2, respectively, suffered from severe food shortages.

Some 1.6 million people are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity, including 928,000 Lebanese citizens, the report warned.

The proportion of Lebanese citizens living below the poverty line more than tripled between 2012 and 2022 — rising to 33% from 11% — and that the 2024 war, particularly in eastern and southern Lebanon, further exacerbated poverty.

Moreover, the war significantly deepened Lebanon’s labor market crisis. During the conflict, employment among private sector workers declined by 25%. In the areas most heavily affected by bombardments, 36% of workers lost their jobs, compared to 17% in regions less impacted. Even after the cease-fire, 14% of workers remained unemployed.

The report explained that the economic impact has been profound, with Lebanon’s economy contracting by 38% between 2019 and 2024, while the country’s Human Development Index fell back to 2010 levels; marking a 14-year setback caused by the compounded effects of the crisis and war.

Key sectors of the economy have been severely affected, including tourism, agriculture, manufacturing, trade and finance. The tourism sector has taken a significant hit, with its contribution to the economy in 2024 expected to have declined to just 5.5%.

“Lebanon is at a turning point,” said Blerta Aliko, the resident representative of the U.N. Development Program in Lebanon, emphasizing the need for Lebanon to shape “a nationally led recovery plan.”

Aliko said it was imperative that “state institutions are strong and well-equipped” to drive a sustainable and inclusive recovery process.

The report indicated that a reform-driven recovery could help reverse the economic decline, with projections estimating GDP growth of 8.2% in 2026 and 7.1% in 2027. However, even with these necessary reforms, GDP would remain 8.4% below its pre-crisis 2017 peak of $51.2 billion. To sustain recovery, key sectors such as agriculture, construction, tourism and manufacturing must be prioritized, it said.

It recommends the Lebanese government to focus on four key areas for its recovery: rebuilding and strengthening state institutions; revitalizing the economy and generating employment; restoring basic services and expanding social protection; and rehabilitating damaged environmental ecosystems.

Tarik Alami, the economic and social commission cluster leader on governance and prevention, said Lebanon continues to face a “polycrisis” that was made worse by the recent devastating war.

“This critical juncture calls for the urgent and accelerated implementation of essential reforms; particularly within public administration, as well as across socio-economic and financial sectors,” Alami said.

He emphasized that “the root causes of recurring hostilities along Lebanon’s southern border must be addressed decisively and sustainably,” in full accordance with international law and relevant U.N. resolutions.

The U.N. report noted that Lebanon’s path to recovery requires urgent, coordinated action between the government, donors, U.N. agencies and non-governmental organizations, while substantial financing will be required from domestic resources, private sector investments, international development assistance and foreign direct investment.

“Without immediate intervention, economic rebound will take longer, poverty will deepen, state institutions will further weaken and Lebanon’s social stability will be at risk,” it warned.

Last March, the World Bank estimated that Lebanon would need $11 billion for its reconstruction and recovery needs after the Israel-Hezbollah war.

However, any international or Arab financial support remains unlikely unless Lebanon implements the necessary reforms and fully disarms Hezbollah — a condition Israel has set as a prerequisite for halting its ongoing attacks on the country.

The Foreign Office has updated its travel advice for Brits visiting popular holiday destination Tunisia, amid serious safety concerns in certain parts of the country

The Foreign Office has revised its travel guidance for a popular holiday hotspot.

Brits are being cautioned against “all but essential” travel to certain areas of Tunisia, a favourite destination for UK tourists thanks to its stunning coastlines, fascinating heritage, and budget-friendly appeal.

The North African country offers a lot as a holiday destination, from lively seaside resorts such as Hammamet and Sousse to discovering ancient Roman archaeological sites and colourful medinas.

However, owing to the security risks still present in the country, the Foreign Office has today refreshed its travel guidance, identifying forbidden zones that visitors should avoid, including several renowned historical sites.

READ MORE: Exact date tourists face Majorca chaos as airport comes to ‘total standstill’

The Foreign Office announced: “FCDO now advises against all but essential travel to within 20km of the Tunisia-Algerian border in El Kef and Jendouba Governorates, south of the town of Jendouba. FCDO no longer advises against travel to the archaeological site of Chemtou.”, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Security worries have persisted for Tunisia in recent years. In 2023, several terror incidents were plotted and executed by lone-wolf attackers potentially inspired by extremist groups, including a National Guard officer who was stabbed in Tunis’s Goulette district, a police officer who was knifed to death near the Brazilian Embassy, and a deadly shooting on Djerba island at a Jewish pilgrimage location, resulting in 3 security staff and 2 civilians losing their lives, with 10 wounded.

The Foreign Office has also issued a stark warning regarding the threat of terrorism in Tunisia. It reads: “There is a high threat of terrorist attack globally affecting UK interests and British nationals, including from groups and individuals who view the UK and British nationals as targets. Stay aware of your surroundings at all times.”

READ MORE: Holidaying mum complains of earache – then ends up in a comaREAD MORE: easyJet explains ‘different’ all inclusive holiday rules

The FCDO strongly advises against all travel to Western Tunisia, including the area bordering Algeria, due to the risk posed by cross-border terrorist activities and operations conducted by Tunisian security forces. Furthermore, the FCDO recommends avoiding all but essential travel to Southern Tunisia, including the region bordering Libya, because of the ongoing cross-border terrorist activities and conflict in Libya.

Additionally, the FCDO suggests that all but essential travel should be avoided within 75km of the Tunisia-Libya border, which includes areas such as Remada and El Borma, due to the heightened security risks in these regions.

Five-day deluge unleashed flash floods and landslides that killed 18 and left nine others missing, authorities say.

Torrential rains that lashed South Korea have killed at least 18 people and left nine others missing, authorities said, as the government lifted advisories for heavy rain and the meteorological agency warned of a return of heatwaves to southern parts of the country.

The toll on Monday came as South Korea’s military also announced dispatching thousands of troops to rain-ravaged areas to assist in recovery efforts.

The downpours began on July 16 and brought some of the heaviest hourly rainfall on record to some of South Korea’s central and southern provinces. The five-day deluge collapsed homes, triggered landslides and unleashed flash floods that swept away cars and campers.

At least 10 people were killed in the southern county of Sancheong, and four others remain missing there, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

Another person was killed when their house collapsed in the town of Gapyeong, northeast of the capital, Seoul, while a man who had been camping near a stream there was found dead after being swept away by rapid currents.

The man’s wife and teenage son remain missing, the South Korean JoongAng Daily reported. Two others, including a man in his 70s who had been buried in a landslide, were listed as missing in the same town.

The rains also forced some 14,166 people to evacuate their homes in 15 cities and provinces, and caused “extensive property damage”, the Yonhap news agency reported.

The agency said 1,999 cases of damage had been recorded at public facilities, and 2,238 cases were recorded at private homes and buildings.

South Korea’s military said it has dispatched some 2,500 personnel to the southwestern city of Gwangju as well as the South Chungcheong and South Gyeongsang provinces to assist in the recovery efforts.

The troops will be overhauling homes and stores affected by the rains, it said.

Hannah June Kim, an associate professor in the Graduate School of International Studies at Sogang University in Seoul, told Al Jazeera that “a lot of people were taken off guard” because monsoonal rains came later than expected this year.

“The expectation was that monsoons would not be appearing during this summer,” she said. “So, when this heavy rain started to fall this past week, a lot of local areas were unprepared.”

“We are seeing the heavy effects of climate change and how it’s affecting different areas,” she added.

South Korea’s Meteorological Administration (KMA) forecast more rainfall in the southern regions on Monday but said that a heatwave would follow. According to the JoongAng Daily, heatwave advisories and warnings have already been issued for parts of South Jeolla, the east coast of Gangwon and Jeju Island.

“From July 24 onward, morning lows will remain between 23 and 26 degrees Celsius [73.4F to 78.8F], and daytime highs will range from 30 to 35 degrees Celsius [86F to 95F], higher than the seasonal averages of 22 to 25 degrees Celsius [71.6F to 77F] in the morning and 29 to 33 degrees Celsius [84.2F to 91.4F] during the day,” it reported, citing the KMA.

Scientists say climate change has made extreme weather events more frequent and intense around the world.

In 2022, South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding, which killed at least 11 people.

They included three people who died trapped in a Seoul basement apartment of the kind that became internationally known because of the Oscar-winning Korean film Parasite.

The government said at the time that the rainfall was the heaviest since records began, blaming climate change for the extreme weather.

Crisis compounded after United States, which provided 40 percent of UNHCR funding last year, slashed its contribution.

More than 11 million refugees risk losing access to humanitarian aid owing to a “dramatic” funding crisis, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

The extent of UNHCR’s funding shortfall was revealed in a report released on Friday, which said it had so far received only 23 percent of this year’s goal of $10.6bn, projecting an overall budget of only $3.5bn by the end of the year to meet the needs of 122 million people.

“Our funding situation is dramatic,” Dominique Hyde, director of external relations for UNHCR, said.

“We fear that up to 11.6 million refugees and people forced to flee are losing access to humanitarian assistance provided by UNHCR.”

While countries that have slashed contributions were not named in the report, the crisis has been compounded by a major reduction in funding from the United States, which provided 40 percent – more than $2bn – of the agency’s total donations last year.

Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump’s administration has made funding cuts to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and its aid programmes worldwide in what it says is part of its broader plan to remove wasteful spending.

UNHCR said it has had to stop or suspend about $1.4bn worth of aid programmes, including a 60 percent reduction in financial aid and emergency relief supplies in many countries, including Sudan, Myanmar and Afghanistan.

Critical areas such as medical aid, education, shelter, nutrition, and protection are among the services suffering deep cuts, said the report, entitled “On the Brink: The devastating toll of aid cuts on people forced to flee”.

In Bangladesh, where Rohingya refugees have lived for years in overcrowded camps, education for some 230,000 children is at risk of being suspended.

Women and girls are disproportionately affected by UNHCR funding cuts, with the agency having to cut one quarter of its support for programmes on gender-based violence.

Women and girls in Afghanistan are the hardest hit by cuts, according to the report.

“Protection activities have been slashed by over 50 percent, undermining programmes on women’s empowerment, mental health and prevention and response to gender-based violence,” said Hyde.

Globally, UNHCR is downsizing by a third, cutting 3,500 staff positions at its Geneva headquarters and in regional offices.

The report comes after the UN’s 2025 Global AIDS Update warned last week that Trump’s halt to foreign funding could reverse “decades of progress” on HIV/AIDS. If funding is not replaced, the world could see six million extra HIV infections and four million more AIDS-related deaths by 2029, it said.

A quarter of holidaymakers have travelled without insurance all together, according to new research

One in six British holidaymakers confess they haven’t been entirely truthful about their health when buying travel insurance. The study reveals that a quarter of travellers have jetted off without any cover whatsoever, whilst a fifth have embarked on trips knowing their policy wouldn’t fully protect them.

The research found that a quarter of holidaymakers believe it’s acceptable to conceal details about health conditions they don’t consider serious in order to secure cheaper premiums. Some felt under pressure to keep holiday expenses low, with a quarter thinking it was fine to omit health information because they only wanted basic protection for cancellations or lost luggage.

A Staysure spokesperson, who commissioned the study, remarked: “This survey paints a worrying picture.”

“When buying a travel insurance policy, you want to know you’ll be in safe hands if the worst should happen so be as honest and detailed as possible about your current health.”

Most travellers were oblivious to the fact that weight loss medications must be disclosed, along with HRT, a treatment used to manage menopause symptoms.

Moreover, a quarter of holidaymakers didn’t think it was necessary to mention high blood pressure or recent surgery, or that they have previously had a heart attack or severe organ condition.

“Many people don’t realise that their NHS medical records are checked when they make a medical claim to verify their policy against their current health,” the spokesperson added.

“Any undeclared medical conditions, or recent GP and hospital visits that are not covered on their policy could invalidate their cover – leaving them high and dry to foot a medical bill alone.”

Seven out of ten revealed their greatest worry was having their claim rejected and being stranded overseas with an unaffordable medical bill. For 14 per cent they know someone whose medical claim was refused because they failed to disclose a health condition beforehand.

The spokesperson continued: “Declaring all your medical conditions ensures you are financially protected if you need medical treatment abroad or repatriating home – last year the average cost of an air ambulance from Spain alone was £45,136.”

Among those surveyed, 81 per cent believed their travel insurance represented good value for money, with 26 per cent having previously submitted a claim.

“We urge people to tell their insurer if they’ve recently seen a medical professional as not all heath changes will increase the price of their policy but may just save them thousands of pounds in unexpected medical costs.”

TOP 10 CONDITIONS TRAVELLERS DIDN’T REALISE YOU HAVE TO DECLARE:

1. Menopause/HRT
2. Weight loss drugs
3. Hearing problems
4. Arthritis
5. Osteoarthritis
6. Recent GP or hospital visits
7. Chronic back pain
8. Thyroid Issues
9. Changes in health/medication alterations
10. Mental health conditions

July 14 (UPI) — A recent study by Stanford University offers a warning that therapy chatbots could pose a substantial safety risk to users suffering from mental health issues.

The Stanford research study on the use of large langue model chatbots will publicly be presented later this month at the eighth annual ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability and Transparency from June 23-26 in Athens, Greece, in a study titled: “Expressing stigma and inappropriate responses prevents LLMs from safely replacing mental health providers.”

The study looked at five AI-powered chatbots targeted toward mental health support by analyzing their replies against established criteria on what constitutes a quality human therapist.

The study’s senior author said that, while chatbots are now being utilized more often as “companions, confidants and therapists,” the possibility exits their responses could further stigmatize users or they might inappropriately respond in high-risk scenarios.

Still, their potential can’t be overlooked, some say.

“LLMs potentially have a really powerful future in therapy,” according to Nick Huber, an assistant professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education.

Two critical experiments were conducted by school researchers.

In the first, chatbots were presented with fictional outlines of people afflicted with various mental ailments and were issued inquiries as a way to measure any stigma-like natures or responses.

It showed examples of chatbots expressing a greater stigma in disorders such as alcohol addiction and schizophrenia versus more relatively common conditions, such as depression.

But ever newer or advanced LLMs displayed a similar level in bias, which suggested that LLM size and newer advances did little to cut back on stigma, noted lead author Jared Moore.

Researchers tested in the second experiment how a chatbot responded to real excerpts of therapy transcripts that included sensitive feedback on issues like delusional or suicidal thinking.

However, chatbots failed in some cases to flag or counter dangerous thinking.

“The default response from AI is often that these problems will go away with more data, but what we’re saying is that business as usual is not good enough,” Moore said.

For example, a user hinting at suicide asked an AI chatbot for a list of bridges after losing a job. A few bots, such as Noni by 7cups and therapist by Character.ai, failed to pick up the critical context and simply listed the bridges.

Experts indicated that chatbots — while skilled in support roles such as administrative, training, journaling and non-clinical patient functions — may not be fully ready or prepared to sit as a replacement human therapist.

“We need to think critically about precisely what this role should be,” added Haber.

The 27-member bloc says Washington’s latest threats against its exports are ‘absolutely unacceptable’.

The European Union has promised to take countermeasures against the United States if the administration of US President Donald Trump introduces 30 percent tariffs on imports from the bloc next month.

After ministers met in Brussels on Monday to discuss the tariff threat Trump issued over the weekend, the EU’s trade representative Maros Sefcovic said such a move by Washington would be “absolutely unacceptable”.

Sefcovic said the 27-nation bloc, which is the US’s largest business partner, wanted to reach an agreement through negotiations.

“I’m absolutely 100 percent sure that a negotiated solution is much better than the tension which we might have after August 1,” he told reporters in Belgium, adding that “we must be prepared for all outcomes”.

Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the foreign minister of Denmark, which currently holds the presidency of the EU, reinforced the same message.

“The EU remains ready to react and that includes robust and proportionate countermeasures if required and there was a strong feeling in the room of unity,” he said.

As part of its preparations, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed that the EU had drawn up plans to target US goods worth $24.5bn.

Trump’s latest trade war escalation has alarmed European politicians and businesses operating in Europe.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said such high US duties would “hit the German export industry to the core”.

Meanwhile, the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union, a group that represents major US companies in the EU, said Trump’s plan could “generate damaging ripple effects across all sectors of the EU and US economies”.

Amid the uncertainty, European stocks fell on Monday, with car and alcohol stocks among those worst affected.

Speaking from the Oval Office of the White House on Monday, Trump said he was still willing to talk with trade partners, including the EU, as he looked to boost the US economy and revitalise domestic manufacturing.

After targeting dozens of countries with so-called “reciprocal tariffs” in April, the US president paused them for 90 days to negotiate individual agreements.

As well as targeting the EU last week, Trump also threatened to bring 25 percent tariffs against Japan and South Korea, 30 percent tariffs against Mexico, and 35 percent tariffs against Canada.

BRITAIN faces war with Russia within the next five years, the previous head of the British Army has warned.

Former Chief of the General Staff General Sir Patrick Sanders, 59, said the UK must accept that armed conflict with Vladimir Putin by 2030 is a “realistic possibility”.

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Gen Sir Patrick, who retired from the military last year, cautioned that the Army is currently too small to survive more than the first few months of such a war.

And he added that he did not know how many more “signals” ministers needed to realise it must strengthen the nation’s defences.

He said: “If Russia stops fighting in Ukraine, you get to a position where within a matter of months they will have the capability to conduct a limited attack on a Nato member that we will be responsible for supporting, and that happens by 2030.

“I don’t know what more signals we need for us to realise that if we don’t act now and we don’t act in the next five years to increase our resilience … I don’t know what more is needed.”

The former rifleman fell out of favour with the Government while leading the Army for being seen as too outspoken against troop cuts.

It was announced under the previous government that the Army would be reduced from just over 80,000 personnel as of October 2020 to 72,500 by 2025.

Gen Sir Patrick said: “At the moment, the British Army is too small to survive more than the first few months of an intensive engagement, and we’re going to need more.

“Now the first place you go to are the reserves, but the reserves are also too small.

“Thirty thousand reserves still only takes you to an army of 100,000.

“You know, I joined an Army in the Cold War that was about 140,000 regulars, and on top of that, a much larger reserve.”

Gen Sir Patrick said he was disappointed the Strategic Defence Review published last month “didn’t touch on this at all”.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves last month committed to the defence budget rising to 2.6 per cent of the UK’s GDP by April 2027.

And PM Sir Keir Starmer pledged the UK would spend 5 per cent of GDP on national security within 10 years, with 3.5 per cent of that amount going to core defence matters.

But Sir Gen Patrick said that during his time at the head of the Army there had been unsuccessful “conversations” with the government about building bomb shelters for civilians and underground command centres for the military to prepare for an attack.

He said: “It always came down to a conversation of it being too costly and not a high enough priority and the threat didn’t feel sufficiently imminent or serious to make it worth it.

“Finland has bomb shelters for 4.5 million people. It can survive as a government and as a society under direct missile and air attacks from Russia. We don’t have that.”

Despite the biggest threat coming from Russia, Gen Sir Patrick also warned that Iran could act through proxies “to attack British interests in the UK”.

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July 12 (UPI) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov traveled to North Korea on Friday to meet with his North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and others during a three-day visit.

He said Moscow respects North Korea’s efforts to develop nuclear arms by using its own scientists amid recent military exercises involving the U.S., South Korean and Japanese forces, according to CNN.

The U.S. and its South Korean and Japanese allies conducted a joint aerial training operation on the Korean Peninsula on Friday.

Lavrov warned the United States and its regional allies against targeting North Korea and Russia, Newsweek reported on Saturday.

“No one is considering using force against North Korea despite the military buildup around the country by the United States, South Korea and Japan,” Lavrov said of the joint military exercise.

“We respect North Korea’s aspirations and understand the reasons why it is pursuing a nuclear development,” Lavrov said.

He said Moscow is aware that President Donald Trump recently expressed support for resuming talks with North Korea at the highest level.

“We exchanged views on the situation surrounding the Ukrainian crisis,” Lavrov told Russian state media outlet TASS.

“Our Korean friends confirmed their firm support of all the objectives of the special military operation,” he said of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry earlier this week invitedLavrov to visit Pyongyang, which is preparing to deploy between 25,000 and 30,000 soldiers for Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine.

North Korea last year deployed 11,000 soldiers to Russia to help repel a Ukrainian incursion in the Kursk region of Russia.

Abbas Araghchi also says that Tehran is reviewing the details of a possible resumption of nuclear talks with the US.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has warned that any snapback of United Nations sanctions on the country “would signify the end of Europe’s role in the Iranian nuclear dossier“.

A clause in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and world powers, which United States President Donald Trump torpedoed in 2018 during his first term, allows for UN sanctions to be reimposed if Tehran breaches the deal.

Araghchi also said on Saturday that Tehran was reviewing the details of a possible resumption of nuclear talks with the US. “We are examining its timing, its location, its form, its ingredients, the assurances it requires” from Iran for possible negotiations.”

Separately, Araghchi said any talks with major powers would focus only on Iran’s nuclear activities, not its military capability.

“If negotiations are held … the subject of the negotiations will be only nuclear and creating confidence in Iran’s nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions,” Araghchi told diplomats in Tehran.

“No other issues will be subject to negotiation.”

Last month, Israel unleashed large-scale strikes on Tehran’s nuclear sites, its military leaders, nuclear scientists and residential areas, killing hundreds.

Israel claimed its assault on June 13 was undertaken to “roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival”, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But Iran said the war was an unprovoked aggression in violation of the UN Charter.

In the frenetic days that followed, Iran retaliated, and the two countries exchanged daily barrages of missiles.

The US later intervened on Israel’s behalf, deploying so-called “bunker buster” bombs and missiles to target the heavily fortified Fordow facility, as well as Natanz and Isfahan.

The final act in the 12-day conflict came when Iran responded by targeting a key US base in Qatar, with Trump announcing a ceasefire in the hours that followed.

After the conflict, Iran announced that it was suspending cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the  IAEA, amid a deep distrust for the organisation.

Araghchi said on Saturday that cooperation with the nuclear agency “will take on a new form” after President Masoud Pezeshkian last week signed a law suspending Iran’s collaboration with the IAEA.

“Our cooperation with the agency has not stopped, but will take on a new form,” said Araghchi.

The new law outlines that any future inspection of Iran’s nuclear sites by the IAEA needs approval by the Supreme National Council.

On Thursday, Pezeshkian warned that the IAEA had to drop its “double standards” if it wanted to restore cooperation with Tehran.

The president added that “any repeated aggression against Iran will be met with a more decisive and regrettable response”.

The UN says that despite being permitted to deliver the first fuel shipment to Gaza in 130 days, it was not enough to cover even a single day’s needs, leaving hospitals and other critical facilities on the brink of shutdown.