World News

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations human rights chief on Friday sounded a “red alert” about possible atrocity crimes in and near a strategic city in central Sudan, calling on world leaders to do more to help stop the bloodshed in the country’s ongoing war between the army and paramilitary forces.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council at the U.N. office in Geneva that signs from the city of el-Obeid were “clear and unmistakable: Another human rights catastrophe is unfolding in Sudan.”

The comments came as the council, the U.N.’s top human rights body, held an urgent debate on the situation in el-Obeid about concerns expressed by diplomats, advocacy groups and others that another wave of atrocities may loom against civilians in Sudan’s war, which is now in its fourth year.

“This is not a drill. It is a red alert that needs to land on the desks of heads of state and government around the world,” Türk said. “Their phones should be running hot in the coming days and weeks, with ideas on how to prevent atrocity crimes in el-Obeid and in other places in Kordofan.”

Civilians have faced siegelike conditions for 18 months, battered by “relentless drone strikes” as Sudan’s armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces battle for control of areas near the city, he said.

The council’s 47 member countries were considering a draft resolution — brought by Britain, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway — that condemns the escalating violence by the RSF and its allies in and around el-Obeid, encourages greater financial and logistical support for countries hosting refugees from Sudan, and condemns “all forms of external interference” in the war, among other things.

The war erupted in April 2023 out of long-simmering tensions between the army and RSF forces. The conflict has killed at least 59,000 people, displaced some 13 million and pushed many parts of Sudan into famine. More than 30 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

In February 2025, the military broke a siege on el-Obeid that had lasted more than a year. Since then, the RSF has launched multiple offensives in attempts to reestablish the siege from several directions.

The U.N. and some countries expressed concerns over reports of reinforcements by the RSF around el-Obeid city, which is home to half-million people in North Kordofan.

Recent attacks on infrastructure have left civilians with scarce food, fuel, water, health services and transportation, Türk’s office has said.

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By Lili Bayer

BRUSSELS, July 3 (Reuters) – NATO leaders gathering for a summit in Ankara on July 7-8 will discuss a host of challenges facing the alliance, from Europe taking on more responsibility for the continent’s security to boosting defence industrial production.

Some officials worry the Iran war could overshadow the gathering, but hope leaders will remain focused on the alliance’s core business: defence and deterrence.

Here is a look at the main challenges facing NATO in the months and years to come:

KEEPING TRUMP IN

NATO officials say one of their primary goals is to maintain unity and keep the U.S. committed to the alliance’s Article 5 clause, which specifies that an attack on one of its members is an attack ​on all.

The alliance faced two crises this year which have fuelled tension in the transatlantic relationship: U.S. President Donald Trump’s demands for ownership of Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO-member Denmark, and his anger at NATO allies over their response to the Iran war.

The U.S. president branded the alliance a “paper tiger” and said he was considering withdrawing from NATO. The alliance’s Secretary-General, Mark Rutte, has sought to smooth over tensions, using a mix of flattery and data to persuade Trump that European NATO members are fulfilling their promises.

BURDEN-SHIFTING

The Trump administration has pushed European governments to take on primary responsibility for the conventional defence of Europe as Washington seeks to dedicate more resources to the Indo-Pacific.

Some changes are already under way: Washington has decided to shrink the pool of U.S. military capabilities ​available to NATO in a crisis, and European NATO members have filled almost all the gaps. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also announced a new review of America’s troop deployments in Europe and threatened to withhold some U.S. dues to NATO if “free-riding” ​allies did not meet their defence spending commitments.

European officials say they are working to step up on defence. But some have also questioned the U.S. approach, arguing that a transition requires time and raising concern about the unpredictability of policy coming from Washington.

SPENDING MORE

European NATO members and Canada are under significant pressure to boost defence investment both to improve deterrence and defence against Russia and to demonstrate to Trump that they are taking his demands for burden-shifting seriously.

At a summit in the Hague last year, NATO leaders backed the big increase in defence spending that Trump demanded, pledging to spend 5% of GDP on defence and defence-related measures within a decade. Countries pledged to spend 3.5% of GDP on core defence — such as troops and weapons — and 1.5% on broader defence-related measures. 

NATO’s European allies and Canada increased defence spending by 20% in 2025 compared with ​the previous year in real terms, according to alliance data. But not everyone is on a trajectory to meet the new goals, and a number of governments are starting to run into political difficulties with defence spending. 

INDUSTRY

With European NATO countries boosting defence investment, a major challenge for the alliance is how to turn money into new military capabilities in a short timeframe.

In Ankara, NATO members are expected to announce tens of billions of dollars in new contracts. But some officials have expressed frustration that production has not increased at the pace they had hoped and that it still takes years to get some orders.

NATO’s leadership has called on industry to work together, open new production lines and deliver more quickly.

DETERRING RUSSIA

NATO leaders meeting in Ankara are expected to reiterate that Russia poses a long-term threat to Euro-Atlantic security.

While alliance officials say Russia is grappling with significant economic problems and Ukraine has strengthened its position, Rutte has cautioned that nearly half of Russia’s state budget is now dedicated to defence and that the alliance cannot be naive about Moscow.

UKRAINE

European NATO members are continuing to finance aid for Kyiv, more than four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Money is channelled in various ways, including bilateral assistance, a European Union loan and the ​Prioritised Ukraine ​Requirements List initiative where European countries pay to ⁠supply Ukraine ​with U.S. weapons.

While most European leaders say they are committed to continuing to support Kyiv, sustaining a high level of funding remains a challenge amid other demands on national budgets and concern in some capitals that some European governments are contributing disproportionately more than others. 

(Reporting by Lili Bayer, Andrew Gray and Sabine Siebold; Editing by William Maclean and Andrew Heavens)

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PARIS (AP) — Wildfires raged in the south of France on Thursday after weeks of dry weather and record temperatures across the country, devastating large swaths of land.

The biggest fire spread in the Aude and Herault regions, where up to 800 firefighters and 150 vehicles were deployed to tackle the flames that ran over 900 hectares (2,200 acres), local authorities said. Further fires broke out in the neighboring Marseille region, where two blazes on Thursday were brought under control, but not yet extinguished.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said nearly 7,000 fires have broken out since the start of the summer season, with some 8,700 hectares already burned. “The situation is fairly tense,” he said.

In the Aude region, four water-bomber aircraft were deployed to support firefighters.

“The idea is to bring the fire under control quickly because temperatures are rising and the wind is growing stronger,” Alain Bucquet, the Aude prefect, told France Info channel.

The Aude is regularly hit by wildfires and firefighters last year contained France’s largest wildfire in decades in the region.

Further south, spreading blazes in the seaside resort of Canet-en-Roussillon forced the evacuation of 1,500 people from three campsites and tore through hundreds of mobile homes, said the regional prefect, Pierre Regnault de la Mothe.

Firefighters were engaged in “a fierce struggle” to prevent the flames from spreading in an industrial zone, he said.

High temperatures and drought conditions are expected to continue, with no rain forecast in the coming days, following heat waves in May and at the end of June.

Plants and vegetation are under severe water stress, adding to the danger of fires, while strong winds are blowing across the Mediterranean region.

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By Faisal Ali, David Lewis and Giulia Paravicini

MOGADISHU, July 2 (Reuters) – The United States has said it will prevent the United Nations from supporting an African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia starting next year, two documents showed, in a move that officials said is likely to end its operations.

The nearly 12,000-strong AU mission props up the fragile government in Mogadishu, helping it push back al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militants, whose previous offensives have brought them within striking distance of the capital and who control large swaths of the countryside in southern and central Somalia.

However, the mission, known as the AU Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), relies heavily on U.N. support for essential logistics such as food, water, fuel, medical services and transportation of troops.

Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. government has grown increasingly frustrated with the administration in Mogadishu, which is riven by political infighting and has failed to defeat the insurgents despite years of international support.

In a July 1 diplomatic note reviewed by Reuters, Washington informed the AU that it would not support the U.N. Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS), whose total budget is around $500 million, beyond the end of this year.

The U.S. government would not object to the U.N. Security Council renewing the AU mission’s mandate but would oppose any extension that included U.N. logistical or operational support, it said.

The AUSSOM budget last year was $190 million, but financing for the mission has become increasingly precarious, leading to a huge funding shortfall. Washington last year blocked a plan to shift to a financing model that would have seen U.N. funds cover three-quarters of the budget.

‘HUGE IMPLICATIONS’

On Thursday, the AU Commission informed members of its Peace and Security Council of the U.S. decision, warning that it carried “significant implications for the logistical sustainment, operational posture and financing of the Mission”, according to a letter from the AU to its members.

Somalia’s defence ministry, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Defense Department, the U.N. Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia and the African Union Commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this article.

“This will have huge ramifications for Somalia,” Ahmed Koshin, a former director general in Somalia’s defence ministry and current member of the national parliament, told Reuters.

“The peacekeeping mission is in danger because ultimately you need to be able to support and sustain these forces,” he said. 

Two diplomats with direct knowledge of the AU mission said it would not be able to continue unless another body replaced the U.N. support.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the U.N. was aware of the U.S. decision. “At this stage, we are discussing this internally and engaging with the African Union, Federal Government of Somalia and other partners,” Dujarric said.

In its note to the AU, Washington delivered a stinging critique of the Somali government’s efforts to restore order in the country. 

“Despite more than a decade of international support, Somalia has been unable to sustain progress against al-Shabaab, take ownership of its security functions, or undertake serious security sector reform,” it said.

“Internal rivalries and political infighting continue to undermine the fight against al-Shabaab and ISIS, and the benefits of international support will remain limited until Somalia’s leaders unite to address the country’s security and governance challenges,” it added.

(Reporting by David Lewis in London, Faisal Ali in Mogadishu and Giulia Paravicini in Nairobi; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal in Washington; Editing by Ammu Kannampilly, Philippa Fletcher and Cynthia Osterman)

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DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — All parties in eastern Congo’s worsening conflict are violating peace terms and committing abuses, U.N. experts said in a report seen by The Associated Press Thursday.

The Congolese army and the M23 rebel group, along with its Rwandan backers, have failed to implement a December peace agreement initiated by the Trump administration that aimed to end the decades-long conflict, the experts said.

They said that the Congolese army continued to cooperate with a Hutu rebel group, known by its acronym FDLR, which includes fighters who participated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and escaped to Congo. The government in Kinshasa had promised to cease cooperation as part of the December agreement.

Rwanda has repeatedly sent troops and backed armed groups in eastern Congo, saying it was acting to neutralize Hutu fighters and protect its security. Congo and the U.S. government have accused Rwanda of using the rebels as a pretext to gain access to the region’s mineral wealth.

The report said that the Rwandan-backed M23 group, which seized Goma and other eastern cities in a lightning offensive early last year, had not withdrawn as promised but instead has tactically positioned and still maintains its goals to topple the government in Kinshasa.

It said M23 now controls significant swaths of territory in eastern Congo and is the leading perpetrator of conflict-related sexual violence.

Rwanda exercises significant control over M23, and in late 2025, Rwandan troops in Congo were “conservatively estimated at 8,000 to 10,000 elements in South Kivu and 6,000 to 8,000 in North Kivu, with no evidence of significant withdrawals thereafter,” in violation of the peace agreement, according to the panel of experts.

The U.N. has called the conflict in eastern Congo “one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth.”

Last week, Congo said it filed a case against Rwanda at the International Court of Justice, accusing its neighbor of bearing legal responsibility for the violence that has devastated eastern Congo.

The U.N. experts said that minerals from Rubaya and other mining sites in the Masisi region of eastern Congo continued to be smuggled to Rwanda by M23, which is building a parallel economy in areas it controls. This new economy is dominated by Rwandan-linked companies exporting minerals mined in Congo, it said.

The U.S. last week imposed sanctions on a Rwanda -based gold refinery, describing it as being part of “a network working in coordination” with M23 in eastern Congo. It said the sanctions against Gasabo Gold Refinery were in support of the U.S. and Qatari peace efforts.

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Gaza’s Postwar Architecture Exists on Paper but Can It Be Implemented?  

Hamas-free camps may become the first visible test of whether the Board of Peace can build an alternative inside Gaza, but who, if anyone, can make Hamas give up its weapons—and what will Israel, the Palestinians and the region receive in return?  

One of the latest ideas circulating around Gaza’s postwar transition is the creation of Hamas-free camps—or, in the more cautious language of planners, “temporary communities”—inside the Israeli-controlled Green Zone, where civilians could receive shelter, services, and protection under a future Palestinian civilian authority.  

But the proposal, meant to offer a practical starting point while diplomacy remains stalled, also exposes the central problem facing President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace: much of the plan’s institutional architecture exists on paper, while the mechanisms needed to implement it inside Gaza remain blocked, incomplete, or politically contested.  

Representatives of the Board of Peace and affiliated bodies have been meeting in Cyprus this week, after a preparatory workshop in Cairo, to advance the work of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), the Palestinian technocratic body expected to replace Hamas’ rule in the Strip. The committee was announced earlier this year as a body intended to lead reconstruction and humanitarian relief, but it remains based outside Gaza and has not yet entered the enclave.  

The same uncertainty applies to the security side of the plan. The Board of Peace has been working on a Palestinian police force and an International Stabilization Force (ISF), but the operational timeline remains unclear. Moroccan officers arrived in Israel on June 18 to join the nascent ISF headquarters in southern Israel, according to the Board of Peace and reports citing the French global news agency AFP, but their arrival does not amount to an operational deployment inside Gaza. 

The Board of Peace’s immediate fallback plan appears to be the establishment of temporary communities in the Green Zone, including a first site reportedly planned near Rafah, in the part of Gaza currently held by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The idea is to create areas where civilians can access humanitarian aid, shelter, and services outside Hamas-controlled territory. Yet even this limited track faces major questions: whether Palestinians would voluntarily move into areas under Israeli military control; whether the NCAG would lose legitimacy by operating there; and whether Israel will approve the practical steps needed for construction and administration.  

Public diplomatic framing remains clear: Hamas’ disarmament is the key to unlocking Phase Two of the Gaza plan. The Board of Peace is expected to ask the UN Security Council to press Hamas to disarm, according to a report seen by The Associated Press. The report states that the principal obstacle to full implementation remains Hamas’ refusal to accept verified decommissioning, relinquish control, and allow a civilian transition in Gaza.  

Hamas has rejected that framing. The group has accused the Board’s report of ignoring what the armed group considers Israeli violations of the ceasefire, including issues of broader humanitarian access, troop pullbacks, and restrictions at Gaza’s crossings.   

That dispute has left the ceasefire framework caught in a sequencing trap. Israel says it will not withdraw without full Hamas disarmament. Hamas says it will not discuss disarmament before Israel addresses what Hamas considers a failure to implement Phase One and provides international guarantees. The Board of Peace says reconstruction cannot begin where weapons remain. Palestinians and Arab mediators argue that the absence of an Israeli withdrawal timeline and political horizon makes disarmament impossible to sell.  

Dr. Gershon Baskin, co-founder and co-director of the Alliance for Two States and Middle East director of the International Communities Organisation, argued that the Board of Peace should not wait for a perfect agreement before acting. He told The Media Line that the NCAG should not remain “a committee waiting outside Gaza,” but should instead become a functioning authority inside the Strip.  

Baskin’s proposal is built around the immediate creation of a Palestinian-administered Green Zone. In his view, the NCAG should enter the Israeli-controlled area of Gaza, Palestinian police should deploy there, the ISF should take positions along the Yellow Line, and civilians should be given the option to move into areas where shelter, food, medical care, schools, and employment can be provided.  

For Baskin, the urgency is institutional as much as humanitarian. He argued that Palestinian civilian governance must become visible on the ground before the political framework collapses into another round of violence. The Green Zone, in his view, is not meant to be a final-status solution, but an operational bridge: a way to create secure Palestinian-administered areas, move civilians into them voluntarily and safely, and gradually shrink the space controlled by Hamas and the area occupied by Israel.  

The logic is both humanitarian and political: to create a visible alternative to Hamas rule without waiting for it to accept full disarmament. Baskin argued that the Green Zone should gradually expand, while Hamas-controlled space reduces in size and Israel’s military presence becomes easier to roll back in stages.  

His emphasis is also on employment as a stabilizing tool. Reconstruction work—clearing rubble, repairing water systems, building temporary housing, staffing clinics, and reopening schools—is presented as part of a wider effort to weaken Hamas’ grip over Gazan society by giving civilians a practical alternative.  

But Katherine Prescott, a senior political advisor at the US Department of State, offered a far more skeptical assessment of where the plan stands in practice. According to Prescott, the problem is not simply technical delay, but a deeper conflict between institutions that exist formally and institutions that are still unable to function inside Gaza.  

Referring to the NCAG, she told The Media Line that “The committee exists, has a chair, has a mission statement, and has not entered Gaza. Israel blocked its members in January, and there is no current timeline for entry. The PA and Hamas both publicly support it and are both working against it behind the scenes. That is not a technical problem. That is the problem.”   

Her assessment of the ISF was equally blunt. “There is no force. There is a commander, a coordination center, and outreach to over 70 countries that has produced no firm commitments. The current design confines the ISF to a buffer zone behind the IDF’s yellow line, which means it would operate precisely where Hamas is not,” she said. That is not stabilization. That is theater with a UN mandate,” she added. 

The contradiction is visible on the ground. The ISF is central to the Board of Peace’s design, but at this stage, the force appears closer to a coordination structure than to a deployed security instrument. Morocco’s arrival is symbolically important, especially as Arab and Muslim-majority participation is necessary for the plan’s regional legitimacy. Yet without deployment inside Gaza, a legal framework, Israeli approval, and clear rules of engagement, the force cannot yet perform the role assigned to it.  

Prescott also pointed to the unresolved disarmament roadmap presented by Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s director-general and high representative for Gaza. “There is no agreed verification mechanism, no distinction between light and heavy weapons that both parties accept, and no third party with the leverage to break the deadlock. The talks in Cairo this month are real, but the gap is not procedural,” she said.  

The disarmament proposal previously reported would require Hamas to hand over weapons in phases over eight months, allow the destruction of tunnels and military infrastructure, and transfer security authority to the NCAG. It would begin with the technocratic committee assuming security and administrative control and conclude with Israeli withdrawal after Gaza is verified as weapon-free. But Reuters also reported that Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, criticized the proposal for prioritizing disarmament over reconstruction, Israeli withdrawal, and political guarantees.  

At the same time, Israeli security concerns appear to be intensifying. According to an unsourced Kan report, senior officers in the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate and Southern Command warned Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir that Hamas’ military wing is preparing for renewed war.  The report said Hamas was producing explosive devices and anti-tank missiles, recruiting young fighters, restarting training for its elite Nukhba force, rebuilding underground infrastructure and attempting to smuggle drones and communications equipment from Sinai.  

The same report said these senior officers believe that fighting must resume, while the United States opposes a renewed Israeli offensive and prefers to preserve the current status quo while continuing to advance the Board of Peace initiative.  

Prescott avoided characterizing intelligence assessments directly but said the public record points to the same core dilemma on Hamas’ military posture “ … Hamas is degraded and still armed enough to veto Phase Two indefinitely. That is the situation,” she noted.  

This is where the Gaza issue appears to intersect with the broader regional diplomacy now centered on Washington and Tehran. Since the June 17 memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran, US diplomatic bandwidth has been heavily absorbed by the Iran track, including talks over sanctions relief, Iranian assets, maritime access, the nuclear file, the Strait of Hormuz, and Iranian militia networks.   

“Gaza was not formally linked to the Iran war, but it was functionally deprioritized by it. The June 17 memorandum gives Washington breathing room. Whether that translates into serious reengagement on Gaza is a political question, not a diplomatic one, and the answer is not obvious,” Prescott said.  

The accountability question is also becoming more pressing, and the absence of a clear political endpoint remains one of the most sensitive issues in the postwar framework. “The Board and ISF are authorized through December 2027 with no binding political endpoint, no path to statehood, and an enforcement posture that, based on Mladenov’s own leaked correspondence, does not apply equally to both parties. That is a legitimacy problem that compounds over time,” she noted.  

“My honest summary: the architecture exists, the institutions do not function, and the central obstacle, Hamas’ weapons, has no agreed solution. Everything else is negotiation over sequencing,” Prescott added.  

For now, the Board of Peace is still moving forward. Workshops are being held. The NCAG is being prepared. Moroccan officers have arrived. Temporary communities are being discussed. Palestinian police training is being planned. The Security Council is being asked to reaffirm that Hamas must disarm.  

But the gap between planning and implementation remains wide. Hamas still holds weapons and local coercive power. Israel still controls much of Gaza and has not accepted a clear withdrawal timeline. The PA and Hamas both have reasons to resist an independent technocratic body that could bypass their influence. The ISF is not yet a deployed force. Washington is split between managing Gaza and containing the fallout from the Iran track.  

The result is a ceasefire framework that has institutions, documents, and diplomatic language, but still lacks the political leverage needed to turn them into facts on the ground. The idea of Hamas-free camps may become the first visible test of whether the Board of Peace can build an alternative inside Gaza. It may also reveal whether the plan can survive without an agreed answer to the question that has stalled every other step: Who, if anyone, can make Hamas give up its weapons—and what will Israel, the Palestinians and the region receive in return?  

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TOKYO (AP) — Hours before Haruki Murakami’s new book was set to go on sale in Japan on Friday, dozens of fans gathered outside a major Tokyo bookstore for a special event to get their first copies as soon as the clock struck midnight.

“The Tale of KAHO” is the Japanese author’s first full-length novel featuring a lone woman protagonist, according to Shinchosha Publishing Co.

“Kaho, a picture book author, is just an average young woman. But truly bizarre things start happening around her,” Murakami said in a brief message posted on the publisher’s campaign website. “I wrote this novel as I put myself in her shoes.”

His statement surprised many fans, because most of Murakami’s protagonists are young or middle-aged men.

“I’m excited about finding out how the story evolves around a female character,” said Naoyuki Yamano, the first customer to buy the new Murakami novel.

Initially, the novel started as a short story titled “Kaho,” which Murakami rehearsed at a book reading event two years ago at Waseda University, his alma mater in Tokyo, with Mieko Kawakami, a renowned female author and fan of his work. The story was published in the June 2024 edition of the monthly Shincho magazine.

One day, 26-year-old Kaho goes on a blind date arranged by her book editor. Over dinner, her date tells her that, although he has dated a number of women, “I’ve never seen one as ugly as you.” Baffled rather than outraged, curious Kaho tries to uncover the meaning of his words. Soon, bizarre things begin happening to her.

Murakami has since released three subsequent “Kaho” stories in Shincho magazine, most recently in the March edition. He weaves the four stories into a 352-page new novel with four chapters: “Kaho and the Motorcycle Man,” “The Anteater of Musashi-sakai,” “Kaho and the Termite Queen” and “The Guardian Angel, Elephant Egg and Scarlett Johansson.”

The new book comes out three years after his previous novel, “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” which follows a male protagonist navigating love, loss and the boundaries between real and subconscious worlds.

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Protests Sweep Israel as Nation Marks 1,000 Days Since Oct. 7 Massacre  

Protests were held across Israel on Thursday to mark 1,000 days since the Oct. 7 massacre, with demonstrators gathering outside the homes of coalition lawmakers, blocking major intersections and access roads to the Knesset, and calling for accountability over the government’s handling of the war and the hostages.  

Protesters assembled outside the home of Education Minister Yoav Kisch in Hod Hasharon and outside the residence of Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana. At Kisch’s home,   

Several dozen demonstrators gathered outside Ohana’s home, where they criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent interview on Channel 14. Many demonstrators characterized Netanyahu’s response that what had changed since Oct. 7 was that he had “lost a little weight,” as indicative of “zero management, zero accountability, zero leadership.”  

Clashes were also reported near the Knesset after protesters attempted to block access to the parliament building. Demonstrators alleged police had begun forcibly removing participants.  

Additional demonstrations were held at Karkur Junction on Route 65, where protesters unfurled a banner reading, “A thousand days of mourning, abandonment, whitewashing, failure,” while others blocked the intersection carrying yellow flags. Demonstrators were also documented at Ra’anana Junction.  

At a rally outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Danny Elgart, whose brother Itzik Elgart was killed in Hamas captivity, said: “Those who came out alive – returned. Those who were abducted alive, abandoned in captivity, murdered and returned in a coffin – did not return.”  

Yoram Yehudai, whose son Ron Yehudai was murdered at the Nova music festival, said, “1,000 days of a bleeding heart. We find no time for healing, for recovery, because we have to fight for a state commission of inquiry.” Referring to Netanyahu’s remarks, he added: “This is humiliating. This is chutzpah. Disrespect for the families and the citizens of the state. Is this a joke? I haven’t laughed at jokes for a thousand days.”  

Elsewhere, a sand installation on a Tel Aviv beach displayed the message: “Their blood cries out from the ground. 7. 1000 days of failure, abandonment and bereavement.”  

At the United Nations, Israel’s Ambassador Danny Danon marked 1,000 days since the massacre, telling the General Assembly: “A thousand days after the October 7 massacre, the world must listen to the victims of terror and to the country fighting terrorism day and night. No terrorist deserves a UN badge, a UN salary or a UN cover story. If we want to defeat terrorism, we must stand together against it and not grant it immunity.” 

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By Andreas Rinke and Miranda Murray

BERLIN, July 2 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s ruling coalition unveiled a package of reforms on Thursday, including €10 billion ($11 billion) in annual tax relief for lower income earners, changes to the pension system and building more affordable housing.

Trailing in opinion polls behind the far-right Alternative for Germany party, Merz has faced heavy pressure to pass reforms to revive Europe’s largest economy but has struggled to overcome internal coalition wrangling and gain momentum.

“We want to get Germany back on track,” Merz told reporters on Thursday.

The long list of measures aimed to tackle a variety of issues and cut red tape. They include an action plan against benefit fraud and abolishing workers’ ability to obtain sick notes by phone, as well as a goal to cut staffing by 8% in federal ministries through digitisation.

The tax relief will be mainly funded by raising the top rate of tax to 47% from 45% for the highest earners with an annual income of €280,000 or more.

($1 = 0.8777 euros)

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke, Miranda Murray, Friederike Heine and Matthias Williams; editing by Thomas Seythal)

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VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican responded aggressively Thursday to a traditionalist society that consecrated bishops without the pope’s consent, declaring the Society of St. Pius X in schism, excommunicating its bishops and priests and warning its faithful they too face the harshest sanctions in the Catholic Church.

The Vatican’s doctrine office went above and beyond the minimal sanctions foreseen by the church’s canon law to respond to the consecrations Wednesday of four new bishops at the society’s Econe, Switzerland, seminary.

The society, known by its acronym SSPX, celebrates the ancient Latin Mass and opposes the modernizing reforms of the Catholic Church, which it considers to be rife with heresies and errors and has accused of straying from the Catholic faith.

During a ritual-filled, five-hour Mass on Wednesday, attended by some 15,500 people and their children, the SSPX consecrated four new bishops in direct defiance of Pope Leo XIV, who had urged the SSPX to hold off for the sake of the church’s unity.

In a decree, the Vatican excommunicated the four new bishops and the two bishops who participated in the ceremony. It declared the consecrations a “schismatic act” and declared the society itself had created a schism, or intentional rupture with the Catholic Church.

The Vatican warned the faithful who go to the society’s Masses to stop, declaring “those who adhere formally” to the society are considered themselves schismatic and excommunicated. It declared SSPX priests to be schismatic, and therefore excommunicated, and invalidated the sacraments of confession and marriage that they administer.

The sanctions, especially those targeting the priests, the faithful and the sacraments they can receive, were particularly harsh and reversed concessions the Vatican had granted the SSPX in recent years as part of its outreach to bring the group back under Rome’s wing.

French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the SSPX in 1970 in opposition to the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Among other things, the 1960s meetings known as Vatican II revolutionized the church’s relations with other Christians, Jews and people of other faiths and allowed Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular rather than Latin.

Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without papal consent in 1988. The Vatican promptly excommunicated Lefebvre and the four bishops and declared the consecrations a “schismatic act.”

Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 lifted the excommunications as part of his yearslong outreach to the group, but the SSPX today has no legal standing in the church and with Thursday’s decree is declared to be in schism.

The consecrations had posed a crisis for Leo because the American pope has stressed the need for church unity. He has reached out especially to the conservative and traditionalist wing of the church that was in many ways alienated during the Pope Francis pontificate.

But the sanctions imposed Thursday suggest that after nearly five decades of trying to negotiate with the society, the Holy See has had enough.

The Vatican responded so aggressively in part because the group poses something of a threat by representing a parallel, ultra-Catholic, pre-Vatican II church that has grown in the decades since its original break from Rome.

The group now has six bishops, 751 priests, 264 seminarians training in five seminaries, 145 religious brothers, 88 oblates and 250 religious sisters representing 50 nationalities, according to SSPX statistics.

The SSPX has accused the church of being rife with errors, such as modernism and liberalism, and that only it is upholding the true faith of Christ. It has justified the consecrations, citing a “state of necessity” to minister to its faithful.

In his homily during the consecrations Wednesday, the Rev. Davide Pagliarani, the SSPX superior, also insisted the consecrations served Leo and the church.

“We are accused of not respecting the pope,” Pagliarani said. “But it is precisely because we love the pope as the vicar of Christ, as the head of the church, that we don’t want to see the pope humiliated anymore, on the side of false shepherds representing false religions.”

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