| | | | | | | Hello. Hamas says more than 700 people were killed in Gaza in the past 24 hours, marking the deadliest day since Israel launched airstrikes on the territory in retaliation for the 7 October attack in southern Israel in which at least 1,400 people were killed and 222 others were taken hostage. David Gritten looked into the mounting death toll, currently standing at nearly 5,800 casualties in Gaza, and at the urgent need for aid deliveries, including fuel. In Australia, Tiffanie Turnbull hears from concerned Darwin residents who are worried about the city’s strategic location to counter China, and music correspondent Mark Savage reviews Britney Spears’ new memoir. |
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| | | | Get up to speed | | • | Donald Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen has taken the stand in the former president’s civil fraud trial in New York. Meanwhile, another lawyer who formerly represented Mr Trump has pleaded guilty in Georgia’s election subversion case. | | • | US lawmaker Tom Emmer has won the Republican party’s nomination for Speaker of the House of Representatives. | | • | At least seven people have died after a dense "super fog" caused a huge, 158-car pile-up near New Orleans. |
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| | Questions Answered | | Gaza is running out of fuel | | | | Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering inside UN-run facilities across Gaza. Credit: Reuters |
| | The need for basic necessities such as food, medicines and water has grown increasingly desperate in the Gaza strip, as the 54 aid-filled lorries that have entered the territory from Egypt in the past three days are insufficient to meet the demand, according to UN agencies. And a key resource, fuel, is missing from the aid package. | | | | How are Gaza’s hospitals coping with the lack of supplies? | | The Hamas-run health ministry warned the territory's healthcare system could collapse and 12 of the 32 hospitals in Gaza were out of service. The others were running out of fuel and only running the most essential services. | | Are international aid agencies able to access supplies? | | A spokeswoman the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which runs the largest humanitarian operation in Gaza, warned that it had also almost exhausted its fuel stocks. "If we do not get fuel urgently, we will be forced to halt our operations in the Gaza Strip as of Wednesday night," spokesperson Juliette Touma told the BBC. The World Health Organization stressed that fuel, which has so far not been allowed in, was essential for desalination plants, bakeries and hospitals. | | Why has Israel not agreed to include fuel as part of the aid entering Gaza? | | Israel says fuel could be stolen and exploited by Hamas for military purposes. An IDF spokesman posted on Tuesday a satellite photo showing 12 fuel tanks near Rafah which he said contained hundreds of thousands of diesel belonging to Hamas. He alleged that the group "steals the diesel from the civilians and transfers it to tunnels, [rocket] launchers and senior officials". | | | | • | Yocheved Lifschitz’s release: Watch the moment the 85-year-old hostage shook her captor's hand and said shalom - goodbye in Hebrew, or literally "peace". | | • | Missing Tanzanian student: 21-year-old Joshua Mollel was in Israel to pursue an internship when Hamas stormed the kibbutz he was living in. His family has not heard from him since. | | • | ‘We can't get out’: A family who moved from England to Gaza last year have repeatedly made the dangerous drive from Khan Younis to the Rafah border hoping to cross into Egypt, but so far in vain. |
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| AT THE SCENE | Darwin, Australia | | The city key to countering China | | | | US Marines conduct military drills in the Top End. Credit: ADF/Carla Armenti | | Deterring an assertive China will be on the agenda of this week’s meeting between Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden in Washington. The Australian city of Darwin knows that its location gives it a prime spot to serve as a basis for any US-led defence efforts in the Pacific, but it’s a position that some locals find uncomfortable. | | | | Tiffanie Turnbull, BBC News |
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| Darwin has long been a military town. You can drive across the sparsely populated city in about 15 minutes, but it is home to two military bases, and another one sits on its fringe. It is more common to see someone in military fatigues than a suit. And the roar of aircraft overhead is just another soundtrack to life here. The city is at the heart of deepening ties between Canberra and Washington, and the focus of massive investment from both governments. While American interest is reassuring for those who are wary of Beijing's power, there is alarm for some who worry it makes their home a target.
"The risks and impacts and threats are externalised onto people that live here. But any kind of perceived benefit... is for people elsewhere," says local Naish Gawen. In recent months, a US marine has been charged with rape and an American Osprey helicopter crashed and exploded near a school. But residents also worry about the impact these expanding bases - and any potential attack - could have on the area’s Aboriginal cultural heritage and natural beauty. |
| | | | • | Li Shangfu: China’s defence minister has officially been dismissed from his role, two months after he disappeared from public life. |
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| | | | The big picture | | It’s Britney’s book | | | | Britney Spears’ new memoir, The Woman In Me, was released today. Credit: Getty Images |
| | The legal battle to end Britney Spears’ 13-year conservatorship reached a climax when the singer gave a statement to the court. Now, two years after that testimony revealed the horror of her situation and contributed to ending the arrangement, the pop star reflects on her life, in her own words. BBC music correspondent Mark Savage calls the memoir a “cautionary tale about fame and the corrupting influence of money.” | | | | |
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| | | For your downtime | | Island treasure | | Corsica’s little known railway provides a unique way to explore the Mediterranean island. | | |
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| | And finally... in Brazil | | A drop in water levels of the Amazon river has revealed rock carvings of human faces that were sculpted more than a thousand years ago. Take a look. |
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| | | | | | | | Essential List Newsletter | | The week’s best stories, handpicked by BBC editors, in your inbox every Friday. | | |
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