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After weeks of Israeli bombardment left them with nowhere else to go, hundreds of Palestinians have ended up in a former Gaza prison built to hold murderers and thieves.Yasmeen al-Dardasi said she and her family passed wounded people they were unable to help as they evacuated from a district in the southern city of Khan Younis towards its Central Correction and Rehabilitation Facility.They spent a day under a tree before moving on to the former prison, where they now live in a prayer room. It offers protection from the blistering sun, but not much else.Dardasi’s husband has a damaged kidney and just one lung, but no mattress or blanket.“We are not settled here either,” said Dardasi, who like many Palestinians fears she will be uprooted once again.Israel has said it goes out of its way to protect civilians in its war with the Palestinian Hamas group, which runs Gaza and stormed Israel in the first week of October last year, that sparked the latest conflict.Palestinians, many of whom have been displaced several times, say nowhere is free of Israeli bombardment, which has reduced much of Gaza to rubble.An Israeli air strike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in the Al Mawasi area on July 13, the territory’s health ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas’ elusive military chief Mohamed Deif.On Thursday, Gaza’s health ministry said Israeli military strikes on areas in eastern Khan Younis had killed 14 people.Entire neighbourhoods have been flattened in one of the most densely populated places in the world, where poverty and unemployment have long been widespread.According to the UN, nine in ten people across Gaza are now internally displaced.Israeli soldiers told Saria Abu Mustafa and her family that they should flee for safety as tanks were on their way, she said. The family had no time to change so they left in their prayer clothes. After sleeping outside on sandy ground, they too found refuge in the prison, among piles of rubble and gaping holes in buildings from the battles which were fought there. Inmates had been released long before Israel attacked.“We didn’t take anything with us. We came here on foot, with children walking with us,” she said, adding that many of the women had five or six children with them and that water was hard to find.She held her niece, who was born during the conflict, which has killed her father and brothers. Hamas-led fighters burst into southern Israel from Gaza in the first week of October last year..More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the air and ground offensive Israel launched in response, Palestinian health officials say. Hana al-Sayed Abu Mustafa arrived at the prison after being displaced six times.If Egyptian, US and other mediators fail to secure a ceasefire they have long said is close, she and other Palestinians may be on the move once again. “Where should we go? All the places that we go to are dangerous,” she said.

The Philippine Coast Guard yesterday raced to offload 1.4mn litres of industrial fuel oil from a sunken tanker and prevent an “environmental catastrophe” in Manila Bay.One crew member died when the MT Terra Nova sank in rough seas nearly 7km off Limay municipality early Thursday after setting out for the central city of Iloilo.An oil slick stretching several kilometres was detected in the waterway, which thousands of fishermen and tourism operators rely on for their livelihoods.Coast guard spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo said yesterday the spill was “minimal” and that it appeared to be diesel fuel used to power the tanker and not the industrial fuel oil cargo.“No oil has been leaking from the tank itself, so we’re racing against time to siphon the oil so we can avoid the environmental catastrophe,” Balilo said.The coast guard has set a target of seven days to offload the cargo and prevent what Balilo warned would be the worst oil spill in Philippine history if it were to leak.Journalists at the Port of Limay in Bataan province watched coast guard personnel load oil dispersant and a suction skimmer onto a boat to be used against the slick.Balilo said oil spill containment booms had also been deployed in preparation “for the worst case scenario” of the industrial fuel oil leaking before it could be offloaded.Once the weather improved, coast guard divers would inspect the position of the tanker so the “siphoning operation” could get under way, he said.The coast guard met with representatives of the MT Terra Nova’s owner and a contracted salvage company yesterday to discuss the timeline.“There’s nothing to be worried about for now, but we should not be complacent,” Balilo said.The incident happened as heavy rains fuelled by Typhoon Gaemi and the seasonal monsoon lashed Manila and surrounding regions in recent days.After setting out late Wednesday, the captain decided to abort the journey to Iloilo due to rough seas.Balilo said investigators were seeking to verify testimony from the crew that the vessel was damaged as it tried to turn back and had to be towed by another ship.Somehow the tow line was cut and the MT Terra Nova “lost control” in the large waves and went down, he said.“We will see if there were protocols violated or if there was a lapse in decision-making,” Balilo said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday received a standing ovation from senior ministers as he became the first foreign leader to address the British cabinet in person since 1997.Zelensky gave members of the new Labour government a rundown of the latest situation in Ukraine after a red-carpet welcome at Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s 10 Downing Street residence and office.He and Starmer had a one-on-one meeting beforehand, in which he thanked Britain for its sustained backing for Kyiv since Russian forces invaded in February 2022.“Thank for the invitation, for the privilege, for me to be here,” he told Starmer, who led Labour to victory in elections two weeks ago and has reaffirmed UK support for Ukraine “for as along as it takes”.Zelensky on Thursday urged European leaders to remain united against Russian aggression, as he seeks more military help, including much-needed air firepower to push back Russian troops.At cabinet, dressed in his trademark army fatigues, and flanked on either side by Britain’s Union flag and the blue-and-yellow flag of Ukraine, he renewed his call for help in boosting his country’s “long-range capability”.“If the restrictions on using Western weapons against Russian military are lifted, we can strike further than just near the border,” he told ministers.That would allow Ukraine to “not only protect ourselves from any Russian offensives but also secure our frontline positions and cities from Russian bombs”, he added.Nato member states, including the UK, have been hesitant about Ukraine using Western-supplied weapons such as missiles on targets inside Russia, for fear of escalating the conflict.Britain has signalled that Ukrainian forces could use UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles for defensive strikes.“We’re providing weapons to Ukraine for their defence of their sovereign country. And that does not preclude them hitting targets in Russia,” Defence Secretary John Healey told BBC radio.“But that must be done by the Ukrainians, it must be done within the parameters and the bounds of international humanitarian law,” added Healey, who visited Ukraine within days of his appointment.The last foreign leader to address the British cabinet in person was US president Bill Clinton in 1997 after Labour’s Tony Blair swept to power, also in a landslide win over the Conservatives.“Ukraine is, and always will be, at the heart of this government’s agenda and so it is only fitting that President Zelensky make a historic address to my cabinet,” Starmer had said in a statement before the meeting.Zelensky’s “historic address”, as Starmer called it, came as 44 countries and the European Union agreed to target Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of tankers seeking to evade sanctions on Russian oil.The 600 or so vessels - most of them old and unsafe - transport 1.7mn barrels of oil per day, providing funding for the Russian war effort, but also allegedly carrying weapons.On Thursday, Britain announced sanctions on 11 vessels used to transport Russian oil.He also unveiled the Defence Export Support Treaty, to be signed by defence ministers, that will enable Ukraine to draw on £3.5bn ($4.5bn) of export finance, to bolster both countries’ defence industrial bases and boost production.

Two large oil tankers were on fire yesterday after colliding near Singapore, the world’s biggest refuelling port, with two crew members airlifted to hospital and others rescued from life rafts, authorities and one of the tanker owners said.Singapore is Asia’s biggest oil trading hub and the world’s largest bunkering port. Its surrounding waters are vital trade waterways between Asia and Europe and the Middle East and among the busiest global sea lanes.The Singapore-flagged tanker Hafnia Nile and the Sao Tome and Principe-flagged tanker Ceres I were about 55km northeast of the Singaporean island of Pedra Branca on the eastern approach to the Singapore Straits, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said.The 22 crew of the Hafnia Nile and the 40 on the Ceres I were all accounted for, the MPA said, which was alerted to the fire at 6.15am (2215 GMT)The owner of Hafnia Nile confirmed the vessel was involved in a collision with Chinese owned Ceres I. Photographs released by the Singapore Navy showed thick black smoke billowing from one tanker and crew being rescued from life rafts and flown to hospital. The environmental authorities in neighbouring Malaysia said they had been told to prepare for potential oil spills.Norway’s Gard, one of Hafnia Nile’s insurers, told Reuters it was too early to assess the environmental impact.“We are supporting our member as they are dealing with the incident,” Gard said.Navigational traffic had not been affected, although the status of the vessels or any pollution was unknown at present, a spokesperson at the UN’s International Maritime Organisation (IMO) said. “No aerial surveillance has been conducted so far,” the spokesperson said.“Salvage and fire-fighting assets have been arranged by both vessel owners to support the fire-fighting efforts and subsequent towage of the vessels to safety.”The IMO spokesperson said a salvage team had been appointed and was en route to the area.The 74,000 deadweight-tonnes capacity panamax tanker Hafnia Nile was carrying about 300,000 barrels of naphtha, according to ship-tracking data from Kpler and LSEG.

The US Secret Service was under intense scrutiny yesterday after a gunman managed to evade its agents and open fire on former president Donald Trump at a political rally, with Republican leaders vowing swift investigations and President Joe Biden calling for an independent review.The gunman, a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man, injured Trump and killed a rally attendee from a rooftop perch around 140m from the stage where the former president was speaking in Butler, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, officials said.Trump, 78, who like other former presidents has lifetime protection by the Secret Service, was swarmed by agents who then rushed him away. Agents killed the shooter, identified by the FBI as Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, and an AR-15-style semiautomatic was recovered near his body, officials said.Trump says a bullet hit his upper right ear but that he is otherwise doing well and would travel to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where he will receive his party’s presidential nomination.Mike Johnson, speaker of the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives, said panels in the chamber will call officials from the Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI for hearings.“The American people deserve to know the truth,” Johnson said.The House oversight panel called Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify on July 22.The Secret Service, tasked with protecting current and former presidents, is part of the Department of Homeland Security. The department’s Office of the Inspector General is responsible for conducting oversight of Secret Service operations.A spokesman for the inspector general’s office did not respond to questions about whether it would launch its own inquiry. The FBI said in a statement following the shooting that it would be the lead federal law enforcement agency in the investigation into the shooting.In a statement, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the agency had “added protective resources (and) technology (and) capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.”Guglielmi denied accusations that the agency had rebuffed requests for more security resources from Trump’s team.In televised remarks, Biden, 81, said that Trump, as a former president who is the Republicans’ nominee for president in the November 5 election, already receives a heightened level of security.“I’ve been consistent in my direction of the Secret Service to provide him with every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure his continued safety,” Biden, a Democrat, said.Yesterday, Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres said that he and Republican Congressman Mike Lawler are planning to introduce a bill that would call for enhanced security for all presidential candidates.Paul Eckloff, a former Secret Service agent who retired in 2020, said agents would have surveyed all the rooftops with a line of sight ahead of time.Shocked Melania decries ‘monster’Former first lady Melania Trump said yesterday that a gunman who opened fire at a Donald Trump rally was a “monster,” as she condemned the assassination attempt in which the Republican presidential candidate was injured. “A monster who recognised my husband as an inhuman political machine attempted to ring out Donald’s passion — his laughter, ingenuity, love of music, and inspiration,” Melania said in a statement shared on X.“When I watched that violent bullet strike my husband, Donald, I realised my life, and Barron’s life, were on the brink of devastating change,” she said, referencing to the couple’s 18-year-old son.“I am grateful to the brave secret service agents and law enforcement officials who risked their own lives to protect my husband,” Melenia said.Melania said she offered her “sincerest sympathy” to the families of the victims, saying: “Your need to summon your inner strength for such a terrible reason saddens me.” Melania, 54, has barely engaged with her husband’s White House campaign, failing to appear at a single Trump rally and rarely joins him in public. She has also remained largely absent during the former president’s multiple court appearances in recent months to fight legal cases against him and as he cranks up his 2024 election campaign.Crooks: the suspected rally shooterThe FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania as the suspect in the attempted assassination of former US president Donald Trump at a campaign rally.The suspect was shot and killed by the Secret Service seconds after he allegedly fired shots toward a stage where Trump was speaking on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania. The suspected gunman was acting alone and used an AR-style rifle purchased legally to shoot at the former president, FBI officials said yesterday, adding that they had no indications of any mental health issues with the suspect.The FBI officials, in a call with reporters, said the investigation was at an early stage and that they had not yet identified an ideology associated with the suspect. They said finding the motive behind the shooting was one of their priorities.The gun used in the attempted assassination was an “AR-style 556 rifle” that was purchased legally, FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek told reporters yesterday. Authorities believe the semi-automatic weapon was bought by the shooter’s father, but do not yet know how he accessed the weapon or whether he took it without his father’s knowledge, the FBI said. One rally attendee died and two other spectators were critically injured. State voter records show that Crooks was a registered Republican. The upcoming November 5 election in which Trump is challenging President Joe Biden would have been the first time Crooks had been old enough to vote in a presidential race.When Crooks was 17, he made a $15 donation to ActBlue, a political action committee that raises money for left-leaning and Democratic politicians, according to a 2021 Federal Election Commission filing. The donation was earmarked for the Progressive Turnout Project, a national group that rallies Democrats to vote. The groups did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.Crooks’ father, Matthew Crooks, 53, told CNN that he was trying to figure out what happened and would wait until he spoke to law enforcement before speaking about his son.In Bethel Park, about an hour away from where the shooting occurred, the streets surrounding the Crooks’s home were blocked off by law enforcement authorities. Mary and Stanley Priselac were standing on the porch of their nearby brick ranch-style home, trying to process the events of the last day and the spotlight now on their typically quiet residential neighbourhood.“Nothing happens on the street, everybody kind of minds their own business,” said Stanley Priselac, 72. “Everybody is kind of shocked, surprised, some dismay.”

President Joe Biden said yesterday he ordered a review of federal security surrounding Republican Donald Trump, his rival in the 2024 election, after Trump was wounded and a spectator was killed at a political rally in Pennsylvania.The suspected shooter evaded Secret Service agents tasked with protecting Trump and climbed onto the roof of a building near where Trump was speaking and fired multiple shots before being killed by law enforcement agents.Speaking at the White House, Biden said he had directed the Secret Service to review all security measures in place for the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week where Trump will be formally nominated as the party’s presidential candidate to face Biden in the November 5 election.In addition, he said he had ordered “an independent review of the national security at yesterday’s rally to assess exactly what happened.” He said the results would be shared with the American people.Biden said the FBI’s investigation into the incident was in its early stages and he has ordered it to be thorough and swift.“I urge everyone, everyone please, don’t make assumptions about his motives or affiliations. Let the FBI do their job and their partner agencies do their job,” he said.Republican lawmakers said they would investigate the Secret Service role as well, with some blaming the perceived agency lapses on Biden. Political violence has risen in the US in recent years, with most of the deadly attacks coming from right-wing groups and individuals.Biden, a Democrat, has been locked in a bitter campaign battle with former president Trump ahead of the November 5 election, and said he would address the American people on the need for unity. “Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is more important than that right now — unity. We’ll debate and we’ll disagree. That’s not going to change. But we’re not going to lose sight of who we are as Americans,” he said.Biden said he had a short but good conversation with Trump on Saturday night and that he is “sincerely grateful that he is doing well and recovering.”“There is no place in America for this kind of violence or any violence for that matter. An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for ... as a nation — everything,” he said.Meanwhile Biden’s reelection campaign quickly upended its strategy after the assassination attempt on Trump, calling off verbal attacks on the former president to focus instead on a message of unity.Within hours of Saturday’s shooting, Biden’s campaign was pulling down television ads and suspending other political communications, including those that had highlighted Trump’s May felony conviction in New York state court relating to hush money paid to an adult star to avert a sex scandal before the 2016 US election.Rather than verbally attacking Trump in the coming days, the White House and the Biden campaign will draw on the president’s history of condemning all sorts of political violence including his sharp criticism of the “disorder” created by campus protests over the Israel-Gaza conflict, campaign officials said on condition of anonymity.“This changes everything,” one campaign official said of the assassination attempt. “We’re still assessing. Making the case against Trump, drawing that split screen, will get much harder.”“The president is trying to lower the temperature,” the official added.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said it found around 60 bodies after Israeli troops withdrew from parts of Gaza City yesterday, as heavy fighting gripped the Palestinian territory.The grisly discovery came as international mediators pushed on with efforts to halt the war now raging into its 10th month.US President Joe Biden said at a Nato summit in Washington on Thursday that despite problems, US diplomats and other mediators were making “progress” towards a ceasefire and stressed that “it’s time to end this war”.The bodies were found in the Tal al-Hawa and Al-Sinaa districts, the civil defence agency said. Israeli forces had moved into the neighbourhoods this week after ordering civilians to evacuate on Monday.“There are still missing people under the rubble of destroyed homes, which is difficult for our crews to reach,” agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.Residents and the agency said Israeli troops had pulled out after days of fighting with Hamas fighters.Gaza’s health ministry had earlier reported 32 deaths in the territory, saying that the “martyrs, a majority of them children and women, were taken to hospitals overnight, because of continued massacres”.Media linked to Hamas rulers said that Israeli forces had launched more than 70 new air strikes.Israel’s military said it was also fighting in the Rafah area of the south. But the main battleground in recent days has been Gaza City, where two weeks of fighting devastated the eastern district of Shujaiya.One of those newly displaced, Umm Ihab Arafat, sat with her children on a sand pile amid the rubble as the incessant hum of Israeli drones filled the sky.“I have been displaced four times,” she said, pleading for a break for her and her children. “They are entitled to rest, their eyes are full of horror and fear.” The International Committee of the Red Cross said “entire families are trapped and desperately seek security. The huge needs are beyond our capacity to respond”. Page 3ICJ to deliver its opinion on Israeli occupation on July 19The International Court of Justice will deliver its opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories on July 19, the ICJ said yesterday.A record 52 countries presented arguments at what is also known as the World Court about the legal ramifications of Israel’s actions in the territories in February after the UN General Assembly asked the ICJ in 2022 for an advisory, non-binding, opinion.While Israel has ignored such opinions in the past, the ICJ ruling next week could add political pressure over its devastating nine-month-old war on Gaza Strip.The UN-affiliated ICJ is the only international court that adjudicates general disputes between nations and it gives advisory opinions on international legal issues. Any opinion delivered by the ICJ would be non-binding, but it will come amid mounting international legal pressure on Israel over the war in Gaza.“A public sitting will take place at the Peace Palace in The Hague (on July 19)...during which Judge Nawaf Salam...will read out the Advisory Opinion,” the ICJ said.The ICJ held a week-long session in February to hear submissions from countries following a request from the UN late last year.Most speakers during the hearings have demanded that Israel end its occupation, which came after a six-day Arab-Israeli war in 1967.But the US said Israel should not be legally obliged to withdraw without taking its “very real security needs” into account.Speakers also warned a prolonged occupation posed an “extreme danger” to stability in the Middle East and beyond.Israel did not take part in the oral hearings.The case before the court is separate from one brought by South Africa against Israel for alleged genocide during its current offensive in Gaza.South Africa has gone to the ICJ several times arguing that the dire humanitarian situation means the court should issue further fresh emergency measures.In an initial ruling on January 26, the ICJ ordered Israel to do everything it could to prevent acts of genocide during its military operation in Gaza.It also called for the unconditional release of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7.

In front of a small mosque in central Tunisia, women queue at one of their village’s last water sources, a pipe meant for crop irrigation, but now a lifeline in the parched area.“We just need something to drink,” said Ribh Saket, 56, under the punishing summer sun as she placed a jerrycan beneath a makeshift tap hooked into the water supply.Like its neighbour Algeria and large areas of the Mediterranean region, Tunisia suffers from “alert drought conditions”, according to the European Drought Observatory.But while drought and rising temperatures impact the region as a whole, repercussions are felt twofold in rural areas, where poverty rates tend to be higher.Tunisia’s national water grid supplies almost all of the country’s urban areas, but only about half of the rural population.The other half largely rely on wells built by local agrarian associations officially working under the agriculture ministry.“We’ve been marginalised,” said Saket, whose village of around 250 families had one such well.But it was shut down in 2018 due to unpaid electricity bills — a common issue among agrarian associations — and the villagers were left without pumps to extract the water for their community in the Sbikha area, about 30 kilometres north of Kairouan city.Since then, the families said they have been relying on water from wells originally dug up by local farmers to irrigate their lands.None of these wells have been authorised by the state as they are often contaminated with pollutants and unfit for human consumption due to improper construction and testing.Flashing a scar that ran the length of his abdomen, Ali Kammoun, 57, said he has had two surgeries due to waterborne diseases.“Half of us have kidney issues,” his neighbour, Leila Ben Arfa, said. “The water is polluted, but we have to drink it.” The 52-year-old said she and other women “bring the jerrycans on our backs”.Tunisia, in its sixth year of drought, ranks as the world’s 33rd most water-stressed country, according to the World Resources Institute.The World Bank says by 2030 the Middle East and North Africa will fall below the “absolute water scarcity” threshold of 500 cubic metres yearly per person.That amount is already below 450 cubic metres per inhabitant in Tunisia.More than 650,000 Tunisians, mainly in the countryside, have no running water at home, with almost half of them living far from a public water source, according to a 2023 UN report. Bottled water, costing around half a Tunisian dinar (16 cents) per litre, remains a luxury for the families whose governorate is Tunisia’s poorest.“We need to find a solution,” said Djaouher Kammoun, a 26-year-old farmer who has been sharing his well water with other villagers.“Most families come to fetch water while we’re working, and sometimes we can’t do both,” he said, describing the system as unsustainable.According to the National Agricultural Observatory (ONAGRI), about 60% of wells across the country are privately dug and unauthorised.But while the practise may provide a temporary — albeit unhealthy — solution for some, it exacerbates water scarcity.A 2022 study by ONAGRI found that Tunisia’s deep aquifers were being exploited at 150% their rate of recharge, and groundwater aquifers at 119%.“Today we are in the same spiral, the same vicious circle, with the same problems,” said Minyara Mejbri, Kairouan co-ordinator at the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES).The villagers have protested, blockaded roads, and complained multiple times — all to no avail.“The governorate said we already had access to drinking water,” said Saief Naffati, a 34-year-old who has been leading his community’s efforts to solve the crisis.“They told us if we protest, we should own up to it, because the National Guard would arrest us.” At their wit’s end, many have left the village, Naffati added.Among them is his brother, Raouf, now living in the coastal city of Hammamet. Saleh Hamadi, a 55-year-old farmer also struggling with distributing his well water, said “at least 150 families have left”. “Most of our youth have moved away, leaving their elders on their own,” he said.“In 2024, why is this still a problem? Why are we still thirsty?”

UN chief Antonio Guterres declared yesterday that there is no alternative to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA and 118 countries backed the relief organisation as indispensable, amid stepped up efforts by Israel to dismantle it.The UN Relief and Works Agency provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Since war erupted nine months ago between Israel and Palestinian Hamas group in Gaza, UN officials have stressed UNRWA is the backbone of aid operations.“My appeal to everyone is this: Protect UNRWA, protect UNRWA staff, and protect UNRWA’s mandate — including through funding,” Guterres told an UNRWA pledging conference in New York yesterday. “Let me be clear: there is no alternative to UNRWA.” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long-called for UNRWA to be dismantled, accusing it of anti-Israeli incitement.Several countries halted their funding to UNRWA following accusations by Israel that some of the agency’s staff were involved in the October first week Hamas storming of Israel.Most donors have since resumed their funding, while the UN is conducting an internal investigation.UNRWA has been hit hard during the conflict in Gaza — 195 staff have been killed.“UNRWA is also being targeted in other ways,” Guterres said. “Staff have been the subject of increasingly violent protests and virulent misinformation and disinformation campaigns.” “Some have been detained by Israeli security forces, and subsequently reported mistreatment and even torture,” he said, adding that in the West Bank the presence and movements of UNRWA staff have also been severely restricted by Israel.The Israeli military has said it acts according to Israeli and international law and those it arrests get access to food, water, medication and proper clothing.Israel accuses UNRWA of complicity with Hamas, saying the group was embedded within the UN agency’s infrastructure.UNRWA was created by the UN General Assembly in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war. Jordan’s UN Ambassador Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud said yesterday ahead of the pledging event that 118 countries had signed on to a joint statement supporting UNRWA and its work. The statement underlined “that UNRWA is the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza, and recognising that no organisation can replace or substitute UNRWA’s capacity.”

Nepal authorities yesterday evening temporarily halted the search for at least 63 people missing after a landslide triggered by heavy monsoon rains swept two buses off a highway and plunged them into a river.Dozens of rescuers had been combing the site for survivors along a remote stretch of road in the central district of Chitwan before sunset forced them to abandon their efforts.“It is dark now and it is not possible to continue the operation,” Kumar Neupane, spokesman for Nepal’s Armed Police Force, said. District official Khimananda Bhusal said the buses were carrying at least 66 people between them, but three passengers had been able to escape as they crashed into the Trishuli river.“We are not sure of the total number because the buses could have picked up others on the road,” he said. “The river has swollen and no one else has been found yet.”Bhusal said that the survivors were out of danger and one had been discharged from the hospital. One said from his hospital bed that his two children and two grandchildren had been aboard one of the buses when it hit the water. “My son, my daughter, my grandchildren, all four are gone...only I am here,” Jugeshwor Ray Yadav, 45, said. “I gulped down some water, but somehow I swam. I swam and then caught a branch on the hill,” he said.The force of the landslide pushed the buses over concrete crash barriers and down a steep embankment into the river, at least 100 feet from the road. Search and rescue teams on the riverbank spent the day struggling to scour the muddy waters due to fierce currents made worse by the rains.Hours after the search began, they had yet to discover any trace of the vehicles or their remaining occupants. “The teams are trying but the river’s flow is very strong. They have not found anything,” Neupane, the police spokesman, said. The accident took place before dawn along the Narayanghat-Mugling highway, around 100km west of the capital Kathmandu. One bus was heading from Kathmandu to Gaur in Rautahat district in southern Nepal, and the other was en route to the capital from southern Birgunj.

Saudi state oil giant Aramco made its return to the debt market on Tuesday after a three-year hiatus, joining top companies and governments in the Gulf that have tapped markets this year to fund investments.Aramco hired banks to sell bonds maturing in 10, 30 and 40 years, a document from one of the banks working on the deal showed. Aramco is likely to raise at least $3bn across the three tranches, a source with knowledge of the matter said.The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.“The timing suggests Aramco is taking advantage of the last window ahead of the summer illiquidity,” Zeina Rizk, co-head of fixed income at Amwal Capital Partners told Reuters.Gulf companies and governments have raise funds in debt markets this year to take advantage of favourable market conditions, with top oil exporter Saudi Arabia issuing $12bn of dollar-denominated bonds in January and $5bn in sukuk in May.Aramco, which last tapped global debt markets in 2021 when it raised $6bn from three-tranche sukuk, flagged in February it was likely to issue bonds this year.Aramco has long been a cash cow for the Saudi state, fuelling decades of prosperity. It expects to declare $124.3bn in dividends for 2024, the majority of which goes to the Saudi government.Last month, the oil giant awarded $25bn worth of contracts for its gas expansion plans, said it would buy 10% of Renault and Geely’s thermal engines joint venture Horse Powertrain and announced a non-binding deal with US energy firm Sempra to buy liquefied natural gas. Aramco’s bond sale is “likely an indication the company will continue to pursue acquisitions aggressively”, said Yousef Husseini, an analyst at EFG Hermes.A portion of Aramco’s dividends also go to the Public Investment Fund — the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund steering its goal of weaning the economy off oil — which owns 16%.The government, which directly owns about 81.5% of Aramco, raised $11.2bn by selling a slice of shares in its crown jewel last month. Proceeds could boost the country’s funding and its aim of shifting the economy away from oil under a plan called “Vision 2030”. PIF, which has spent billions on everything from electric cars to sports and planned futuristic cities in the desert, has also raised almost $8bn from three debt sales.“As Saudi Arabia’s funding needs for its investment programme remain significant in the medium-term despite some timelines being extended, and in the absence of hoped-for levels of FDI, tapping the debt markets reduces pressure on domestic funding and liquidity,” said Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.Citi, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and SNB Capital have been appointed as joint active bookrunners for the three-part bond sale.The banks will arrange investor calls on Tuesday for the potential sale of benchmark-sized notes, according to the document, which did not disclose the size of the issuance.Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, BofA Securities, the Bank of China, Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, GIB Capital and Mizuho are among the bank that are acting as joint passive bookrunners.Aramco’s 40-year tranche would become its second-longest dated bonds after $2.25bn of notes due in November 2070.

China’s electric vehicle giant BYD on Monday signed a $1bn agreement with Turkiye to open a plant in the country in a move that would help it dodge new EU tariffs.The signing ceremony in Istanbul between BYD’s CEO Wang Chuanfu and Turkiye’s Industry and Technology Minister Fatih Kacir was overseen by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.According to the Turkish industry and technology ministry, BYD will open a production facility with an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles as well as a research and development centre.The plant will provide direct employment for 5,000 people.The news comes days after the European Union slapped additional provisional tariffs of up to 38% on Chinese EVs following an investigation that concluded state subsidies meant they were unfairly undermining European rivals.Turkish-made cars enjoy beneficial access to the EU under a customs union that dates to 1995 and the Marmara region around Istanbul has become one of the leading centres of the world’s automobile industry.Major carmakers including Fiat and Renault opened plants there at the beginning of the 1970s, with others like Ford, Toyota and Hyundai following, taking advantage of Turkiye’s position at the crossroads between Europe, Asia and the Middle East.The land that was previously allocated for Volkswagen in Manisa in the north of the Western porty city of Izmir would be given to the Chinese company, the pro-government daily Yeni Safak reported.“BYD is the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicles and one of the most advanced in terms of technology and manufacturing quality,” independent consultant Levent Taylan told AFP.“Indeed, this will be an investment for the Turkish market but especially European market, by circumventing the customs tariffs imposed on vehicles of Chinese origin,” he said.He said BYD has a potential to sell around 25,000 vehicles per year on the Turkish market and export 75,000 to the EU.Under new Turkish regulations on investment incentives, BYD will be able to circumvent a new 40% tariff that Turkiye imposed on electric vehicle imports.China has led the global shift to electric vehicles, with almost one in three cars on its roads set to be electric by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency’s annual Global EV Outlook.Chinese EV manufacturers have also stepped up exports, prompting many nations to take measures to protect their automakers.They have begun looking at manufacturing abroad, with BYD having already announced plans to open its first European factory in Hungary.In July, BYD opened a factory in Thailand.The plant in Rayong, an industrial area southeast of Bangkok, will be able to build up to 150,000 vehicles a year, according to the company, which dominates its domestic market.Beijing has warned the EU tariff move could spark a trade war.

One of the top performers in crypto this year is a project with ties to Telegram Messenger LLP, a rival to WhatsApp whose blockchain plans have previously drawn the ire of US regulators. The Open Network (TON) blockchain has seized the crypto spotlight even amid a broader rally in the sector that saw Bitcoin hit new heights before a recent selloff. With access to Telegram’s 900mn monthly active users through a partnership, the value of assets locked on TON surged 1,400% this year to briefly top $1bn. The blockchain’s token has broken into the top 10 by market capitalisation after roughly tripling since January, according to data tracked by DeFiLlama and CoinGecko. TON’s performance has rekindled hopes that Telegram — long the messaging app of choice in crypto — may evolve into a “super-app” spanning social interactions, gaming and financial tools in the style of Chinese giants like WeChat.“Telegram is the only major platform that is free of regulatory hurdles to incorporate Web3 for an open blockchain network,” said Pantera Capital Management LP, in a May statement announcing the firm’s largest ever investment — a purchase of TON’s tokens. Pantera didn’t disclose the size of the deal. Telegram was established in 2013 by Russian brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov, who after gaining traction raised $1.7bn in 2018 in one of the largest initial coin offerings ever to launch what was then called the “Telegram Open Network.” The project quickly found itself in the crosshairs of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. By 2020, Telegram had settled with the regulator, agreeing to return the proceeds of the ICO alongside an $18.5mn penalty. The TON Foundation, which a spokesperson described as a “fork” of the Telegram Open Network, emerged a year later, but is “completely separate” from both the Telegram Open Network and Telegram, they added. Some are sceptical. While the two entities may be nominally independent, “TON is at this point almost entirely dependent on Telegram, and so practically speaking it seems very unlikely that the network’s operators will make decisions that go against Telegram’s interests,” said crypto researcher Molly White in an emailed response to Bloomberg News. Telegram said in February this year that it would “exclusively use the TON blockchain” for payments related to a new ad-revenue sharing programme. Soon after, key metrics for the blockchain veered dramatically upwards. The number of daily active users on TON recently exceeded 350,000, according to TonStat data. As the world becomes more global and more digital, “these sort of payment solutions that are instant and have nothing to do with borders in terms of slowing things down just look like a killer app,” said Richard Galvin, co-founder and CEO of the crypto investment firm DACM, which purchased TON tokens in a private round in early 2023.One increasingly burdensome constraint on the growth of crypto apps is Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering checks. Crypto exchange behemoth Binance’s failure to adequately screen customers was a key focus of US authorities that brought wide-ranging charges against the company last year, a tussle that resulted in a historic $4.3bn settlement and jail time for former CEO Changpeng Zhao. TON enforced new KYC and AML checks from June 3, requiring users to share their name, date of birth and phone number to continue accessing key wallet features. Before then, users had to provide a national ID for transactions above an unspecified threshold, according to a spokesperson. The new tiered KYC system — with basic, extended and advanced bands — demands gradually more information from users based on how much they transact.The service has also been restricted in the US among other jurisdictions since launch, Halil Mirakhmedov, CSO of The Open Platform and Wallet said. There are signs that payments will soon come to the fore. After an April partnership with Tether, the $113bn stablecoin issuer, usage of USDT on TON has risen to over $550mn, according to DeFiLlama data. While the early appeal of the blockchain was more centred on gaming and decentralised finance, “going forward we see more use cases around payments and remittance,” said Cosmo Jiang, portfolio manager at Pantera.DACM’s Galvin sees consumer-facing platforms underpinned by blockchain software as the key growth area in crypto over the next three years. TON, which according to Mirakhmedov aims to capture a full third of Telegram’s user base by 2028, may fit the bill.

Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, a fierce ultra-conservative critic of Pope Francis, has been found guilty of schism and excommunicated, the Vatican’s doctrinal office said yesterday.Vigano, the papal envoy in Washington from 2011-2016, went into hiding in 2018 after alleging that the Pope knew for years about sexual misconduct by US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and did nothing about it.He had said the Pope should resign.The Vatican rejected Vigano’s accusations of a cover-up of sexual misconduct and last month summoned him to answer charges of schism and denying the Pope’s legitimacy.In a statement yesterday, the doctrinal office said his public comments made it clear that he refused “to recognise and submit” to Pope Francis.He had also rejected the legitimacy of liberal reforms made by the Roman Catholic Church in the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, it said.“At the conclusion of the penal process, the Most Reverend Carlo Maria Vigano was found guilty of the reserved delict (violation of the law) of schism,” the statement said, adding that he had been excommunicated, or banished, from the church.In a message on X, the 83-year-old Vigano remained unrepentant, publishing the full text of the decision against him, which warned that he could be expelled from the Roman Catholic priesthood if he persisted in his stance.He urged Catholic faithful to voice their support for him, quoting a line from the bible: “If they keep quiet, the stones themselves will start shouting.”The Vatican ruling was signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernandez, head of the Doctrine of the Faith office, and by its secretary, Father John Joseph Kennedy.As is normal in such matters, it was not signed by the Pope, but it is highly unlikely that the punishment was meted out without his approval.Vigano, who mostly communicates via the X social network, said last month that he had refused to take part in the disciplinary proceedings because he did not accept the legitimacy of the institutions behind it.“I do not recognise the authority of the tribunal that claims to judge me, nor of its Prefect, nor of the one who appointed him,” he said, referring Fernandez and to Francis.The Pope (pictured) has angered many conservatives by making overtures towards divorcees and the gender minority community, and by saying that mercy and forgiveness should come before the strict enforcement of Catholic doctrine.The pope has also put himself at odds with conservatives and traditionalists by championing migrant rights and the fight against climate change, and condemning the excesses of capitalism.Last year, Francis took action against another arch-conservative critic from the US, dismissing bishop Joseph E Strickland of Tyler, Texas, after he refused to step down voluntarily following a Vatican investigation. – Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Viktor Orban yesterday that Ukraine must effectively capitulate if it wants peace, in a visit to Moscow by the Hungarian leader that angered the EU, US and Kyiv.Putin was hosting Orban – the friendliest leader in the EU to Moscow – for talks at the Kremlin, described by the Russian president as a “really useful, frank conversation” on the conflict in Ukraine.A string of EU officials blasted the Hungarian prime minister’s surprise trip, saying that it threatened to undermine the 27-member bloc’s stance on the conflict and stressed that he was not representing Brussels.The pair “talked about the possible ways of resolving” the Ukraine conflict, Putin said in remarks after a bilateral meeting.The Kremlin leader repeated his demand that Ukraine withdraw all its troops from regions that Moscow has annexed and said Kyiv was “not ready to drop the idea of waging war until a victorious end”.Putin said at the start of the talks that he wanted to “discuss the nuances that have developed” over the conflict in Ukraine with Orban, who visited Kyiv earlier this week.Orban in turn said he had realised “positions are far apart” between the two sides.“The number of steps needed to end the war and bring about peace is many,” he said.The visit came days after Hungary took over the EU’s rotating presidency and Putin told Orban he expected him to outline “the position of European partners” on Ukraine.The Ukrainian government lambasted the meeting, stressing that they had no hand in its planning.“The decision to make this trip was made by the Hungarian side without any agreement or coordination with Ukraine,” Kyiv’s foreign ministry said in a statement.European Union leaders lashed out at Orban over the trip.“Appeasement will not stop Putin,” European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X. “Only unity and determination will pave the path to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement that Orban’s “visit to Moscow takes place, exclusively, in the framework of the bilateral relations between Hungary and Russia”.“Orban has not received any mandate from the EU Council to visit Moscow,” he added.The EU has firmly opposed Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine, imposing 14 rounds of unprecedented sanctions on Moscow.“That position excludes official contacts between the EU and President Putin. The Hungarian Prime Minister is thus not representing the EU in any form,” Borrell said. “It is worth recalling that President Putin has been indicted by the International Criminal Court and an arrest warrant released for his role in relation to the forced deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.”EU Council chief Charles Michel had earlier reiterated the common stance that “no discussions about Ukraine can take place without Ukraine”.The White House also criticised the trip as “counterproductive” and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) military alliance, of which Hungary is a member, distanced itself.Orban’s visit “will not advance the cause of peace and is counterproductive to promoting Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence”, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.Nato head Jens Stoltenberg said Orban had informed the alliance of his trip but stressed the Hungarian leader was “not representing Nato at these meetings. He’s representing his own country”.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state TV the visit had been Orban’s idea and Russian officials only heard about the trip on Wednesday – a day after Orban had visited Kyiv.Hungary’s six-month EU presidency gives the central European country sway over the bloc’s agenda and priorities for the next six months.Orban’s visit to Moscow comes days after the right-wing nationalist made a surprise trip to Kyiv, where he urged Ukraine’s leadership to work towards a rapid ceasefire with Russia.Yesterday the Hungarian leader insisted that peace cannot be achieved without dialogue.Orban said he recognised he had no EU mandate for the trip, but that peace could not be made “from a comfortable armchair in Brussels”.“We cannot sit back and wait for the war to miraculously end,” he wrote on X.Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed disbelief at Orban’s Moscow trip, while Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo called it “disturbing news”.An EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Orban’s trip meant that scepticism within the bloc about Hungary’s presidency was “unfortunately justified – it’s all about promoting Budapest’s interests”.Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda accused Orban of undermining the EU presidency. “If you truly seek peace, you don’t shake hands with a bloody dictator, you put all your efforts to support Ukraine,” he wrote on X.Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who is set to become the next EU foreign policy chief, said Orban was exploiting the EU presidency position to sow confusion.“The EU is united, clearly behind Ukraine and against Russian aggression,” she said.Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto hit back.“Hungary is an independent country so I don’t think we should pay attention to such kind of criticism. Time has proven...that without dialogue, without keeping the channels of communication open, there is no solution to this war,” he said.

Top Democrats yesterday ruled out the possibility of replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee after a feeble debate performance and called on party members to focus instead on the consequences of a second Donald Trump presidency.After days of hand-wringing about Biden’s poor night on stage, Democratic leaders firmly rejected calls for their party to choose a younger presidential candidate for the November 5 election.Biden, 81, meanwhile was huddling with family members at the Camp David presidential retreat yesterday, with his political future a likely topic of discussion.But the drumbeat of calls for Biden to step aside continued, and a post-debate CBS poll showed a 10-point jump in the number of Democrats who believe Biden should not be running for president, to 46% from 36% in February.“The unfortunate truth is that Biden should withdraw from the race, for the good of the nation he has served so admirably for half a century,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said in an editorial yesterday. “The shade of retirement is now necessary for President Biden.”“Absolutely not,” responded Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, one of several Democrats seen as a possible replacement for Biden.“Bad debates happen,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press programme. “The question is, ‘Who has Donald Trump ever shown up for other than himself and people like himself?’ I’m with Joe Biden, and it’s our assignment to make sure that he gets over the finish line come November.”House of Representatives Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who could become speaker next year if his party can take control of the House in November, acknowledged that Biden suffered a setback in his debate with former president Trump, the Republican candidate.“I believe a setback is nothing more than a setup for a comeback,” he told MSNBC. “So the moment that we’re in right now is a comeback moment.”Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a leading Biden surrogate, told ABC’s This Week programme that Biden needed to stay in the race to ensure Trump’s defeat.“I think he’s the only Democrat who can beat Donald Trump,” Coons said.With Democratic leaders rallying around his candidacy, it will be up to Biden to decide whether he wants to end his re-election bid.But other Democrats held open the possibility of choosing a different presidential candidate.Representative Jamie Raskin, a prominent Democrat in Congress, told MSNBC that “very honest and serious and rigorous conversations” were taking place within the party.“Whether he’s the candidate or someone else is the candidate, he’s going to be the keynote speaker at our convention. He will be the figure that we rally around to move forward,” Raskin said.During the debate, a hoarse-sounding Biden delivered a shaky, halting performance in which he stumbled over his words on several occasions. Some Democrats later said privately that the showing could prove to be a disqualifying factor.In his own debate performance, Trump made a series of well-worn falsehoods, including claims that migrants have carried out a crime wave, that Democrats support infanticide and that he actually won the 2020 election.After a frenzied run of seven campaign events across four states since Thursday’s debate, Biden headed to Camp David on Saturday for a pre-planned family gathering that includes a family photo shoot, according to two people familiar with the scheduling. The attendees include his wife, Jill Biden, as well as the Biden children and grandchildren.While the trip had been planned for months, the timing and circumstances of Biden being surrounded by family members who have weighed heavily in his past decisions to run for the presidency have added to the scrutiny around the visit.DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison and Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez held a Saturday afternoon call with dozens of committee members across the country, a group of some of the most influential members of the party.The call was part pep talk, part planning meeting for the upcoming national convention, according to two people who were on the call who requested anonymity to discuss private discussions.

France’s far-right was yesterday eyeing a historic chance to form a government and claim the post of prime minister after winning the first round of legislative elections with the centrist forces of President Emmanuel Macron coming in only third.But it remained unclear if the far-right National Rally (RN) party of Marine Le Pen would win an absolute majority of seats in the new National Assembly in the July 7 second round that it needs to be certain of winning power.Macron had stunned the nation and baffled even some allies by calling snap polls after the RN trounced his centrist forces in European Parliament elections this month.But that gamble risks backfiring, with Macron’s alliance now expected to win a far smaller minority contingent in parliament. That would make the president a far less powerful figure for the remaining three years of his term.Projections from prominent French polling firms gave the RN 34.5% of the vote, compared to 28.5-29.1% for the left-wing New Popular Front alliance, and 20.5-21.5% for Macron’s centrist camp.The polling agencies projected this would give the RN a majority of seats in the 577-seat National Assembly after the second round but it was far from clear it would garner the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority.The projections varied sharply, with Ipsos forecasting 230-280 seats, Ifop 240-270 and Elabe the only organisation to put it in the range of an absolute majority on 260-310 seats.In a statement, Macron called for a “broad” alliance against the far-right in the second round which will see run-off votes where there was no outright winner in the first round.The left-wing alliance and the president’s camp will be hoping that tactical voting to prevent RN candidates winning seats will leave it short of the absolute majority.“We have seven days to spare France from catastrophe,” said Raphael Glucksmann, a key figure in the left-wing alliance.With the French facing their most polarising choices in recent history, turnout soared. The Elabe organisation projected a final turnout of 67.5%, the highest participation in a regular format legislative election in France since 1981.The final turnout in 2022 was just 47.5%.Macron said that the high turnout in the first round spoke of “the importance of this vote for all our compatriots and the desire to clarify the political situation.”With Russia’s war against Ukraine in its third year and energy and food prices much higher, support for the anti-immigration and eurosceptic RN party has surged despite Macron’s pledges to prevent its ascent.The two-round vote could put the far-right in power in France for the first time since the Nazi occupation in World War II and give 28-year-old RN party chief Jordan Bardella, a protege of its longtime leader Le Pen, the chance to form a government.“Nothing is won and the second round is decisive,” Le Pen told supporters. “We need an absolute majority so that Jordan Bardella is in eight days named prime minister by Emmanuel Macron.”Bardella said he wanted to be the “prime minister of all French.”This would create a tense period of “cohabitation” with Macron, who has vowed to serve out his term until 2027. Bardella has said he will only form a government if the RN wins an absolute majority in the elections.The alternative is months of political paralysis and negotiations to find a solution for a sustainable government that can survive no-confidence votes.Hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said Macron’s centrist alliance had suffered a “heavy and undisputable” defeat in the snap polls. In the southern city of Marseille, Nabil Agueni said he had skipped the European elections but voted yesterday.“As long as we have a choice, it’s better to go and vote”, the 40-year-old said.Nicole Cherprenet, a 79-year-old voter in Paris, said: “The future scares me.”Macron’s decision to call the snap vote plunged the country into political turmoil and sparked uncertainty in Europe’s second-biggest economy.The Paris stock exchange suffered its biggest monthly decline in two years in June, dropping by 6.4%, according to figures released on Friday.

Thousands of people turned out in France yesterday for feminist demonstrations against the far-right, which is expected to come out on top in June 30 snap elections, as parties sought to shore up support with days to go.With the far-right National Rally (RN) polling at around 35%, “we have to remind people that they’re the ones who are always attacking family planning services,” said Morgane Legras, a nuclear engineer and feminist activist taking part in the Paris march.There were between 13,000 (police estimate) and 75,000 (organisers’ estimate) people at yesterday’s demonstration.Protesters, many wearing violet, marched from the Place de la Republique square in central Paris to Place de la Nation in the east, bearing signs with messages such as “Push back the far-right, not our rights”.Police sources said 53 rallies took place across the country, and said 33,800 people had taken part.France’s two-round election system makes it difficult to predict which party could ultimately claim a majority in the lower house of parliament, handing them the prime minister’s post which is second in power only to President Emmanuel Macron.Since Macron dissolved parliament after a European Parliament election battering, his centrists are badly lagging the RN as well as a reforged left-wing alliance called the New Popular Front (NFP) in surveys of voting intentions.The RN has garnered unprecedented levels of support after a decades-long “de-demonisation” push to distance its image from its roots, including a co-founder who was a member of the Nazi Waffen-SS paramilitary.But the core of its message remains hostility to immigration, Islam and the European Union.Senior RN lawmaker Sebastien Chenu gestured towards Muslim and Jewish voters yesterday by vowing not to ban the ritual slaughter of livestock to produce halal or kosher meat.“Everyone will be able to keep eating kosher meat if they want,” Chenu told Jewish broadcaster Radio J.He added that a historic far-right policy of barring the kippa in public spaces — in the footsteps of an existing law forbidding the full-body burka worn by some Muslim women — was not top of the RN’s agenda, saying its priority was to fight “the Islamist threat”.In Macron’s camp, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal acknowledged that the European Parliament result — where they scored just 14% — was “a message to us that we have to do better with our methods, with our governance” of the country.If his party defies the odds to come top in the legislative polls, he vowed “change”, including a turn to “seeking out coalitions with the French public, with civil society” in an interview with broadcaster RTL.Macron’s alliance would open up to “all who want to come, from the conservative right to the social-democratic left”, Macron’s former prime minister Edouard Philippe told broadcaster France 3.Attal also hammered the centrists’ mantra about the threats from “extremes” on the left and right, saying both promised a “tax bludgeoning... a shredder for the middle classes”.The RN especially is “not ready to govern... it’s a party of opposition, not a party of government”, Attal said.