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UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will hold an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss a Gaza peace plan and aid response, amid rising pressure to recognize Palestinian statehood.

Aid groups warn Gaza is on the brink of mass starvation, especially among children, and say Israel’s current measures are insufficient. US President Donald Trump has acknowledged “real starvation” in the region, while Israel denies responsibility, BBC reported.

Agencies are urging Israel to fully open border crossings and ensure safe passage for aid convoys.

Do you like how you feel in cafes and coffee shops? Do you find yourself wondering how you could replicate that atmosphere at home? Have you tried and not been able to get it right? We have a five-step guide to help you combine coziness, subtle aesthetics, and sensory comfort and transform your space.

It’s all about the music

One of the main things you notice when you enter a cafe is the soothing music playing in the background. create a personalized playlist featuring lo-fi, jazz, or acoustic music. You can also try YouTube playlists. Play the music on a bluetooth speaker. One tucked away on a shelf is just right to have music coming in from somewhere.

Evoke the senses with aromas 

While having a pot of coffee or fragrant tea brewing in the kitchen to fill the house with a pleasant aroma is ideal, it might not always be possible. Use incense, diffusers, or scented candles to always have your home smelling great. We recommend coffee, vanilla, or cinnamon scents to get that cafe ambience point on.

Pay attention to the decor

Cafe ambience is all about plants, books, and cute little trinkets. Stack books and magazines on a shelf. Get a small chalk board, set it up on the kitchen counter and write down your favorite quote or meal plan of the day. Find cool, vintage prints and hang them on the wall. Place plants in small pots on coffee and side tables or hang pothos from shelves. You can also have a few twigs from the garden displayed artistically in a small vase on your dining table.

Light up your space 

During the day, pull back the curtains and let natural light in. You can use sheer curtains to control the amount of light coming into the room. In the evening, make sure you use indirect, ambient, lighting, and not harsh overhead lights to create a mellow atmosphere. Think floor lamps, string lights, and low mood lighting in the form of candles and small lamps. Make sure you use warm lights instead of white lights for that added effect.

The devil is in the details

Once you have the basics down, don’t forget to add in some rustic details to give your space that cozy cafe vibe. Add throws or blankets on your sofa. Use natural fibers like cotton, hemp, and linen to keep things cool and comfortable. Make sure your space is tidy. Create little nooks where you can sit and sip on some coffee. Add dried flowers in small glass vases and keep them on the side tables. A great coffee table book can lend an element of intrigue while random trinkets, arranged artistically, on a tray can add charm. 

Thailand has accused Cambodia of violating a ceasefire just hours after it began, following five days of deadly border clashes that left at least 33 dead and displaced thousands, BBC reported.

Thailand says it halted fire at midnight but continued receiving gunfire from the Cambodian side. Cambodia denies any violations, claiming no clashes have occurred since the truce.

Tensions had flared over a long-standing border dispute, escalating into violence last week. A planned meeting between commanders has been delayed, raising doubts over the truce’s stability, according to BBC.

The ceasefire was brokered in Malaysia, with both sides agreeing to pull back troops and allow independent monitoring. It followed US pressure on Thailand to end the conflict or risk trade talks.

At least 18 Kanwariyas lost their lives and several others were injured in a tragic road accident early Tuesday morning on the Godda-Deoghar road in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district, India.

The incident occurred around 5:30 am near Jamunia More in the Mohanpur area, when a bus carrying pilgrims collided with a truck. The devotees were on their way to offer holy water during the Kanwar Yatra in the month of Shravan, according to Firstpost.

Emergency teams reached the site promptly and took the injured to a nearby hospital. The deceased have been sent for post-mortem.

Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Dipak Khadka has made it clear that there was no loadshedding at present.

At a program in Dhangadhi today, Minister Khadka ruled out the rumors of power cuts and added that Nepal was even exporting power.

He said, "There is an issue of electrical circuit tripping because of overload after the massive power consumption in the hot season."

Likewise, Minister Khadka shared that massive cases of maintenance and fires in power transformers were the common technical issues in the rainy season.  

"It takes some time for maintenance. Rumors are being spread citing it as a power cut," Minister Khadka mentioned.

With a prolonged dry spell gripping the Tarai-Madhes region—widely known as the country’s food basket, paddy transplantation has fallen drastically behind schedule. As of Saturday, only 52 percent of the paddy area in Madhes Province has been transplanted, compared to 92 percent at the same time last year. The shortage of drinking water and slow transplantation rate of paddy, Nepal’s main crop, forced the government to declare Madhes a crisis-hit region. With this, the government is taking urgent measures to improvise drinking water availability and mitigate potential food insecurity.

The government has formed a taskforce comprising joint secretaries from the agriculture, drinking water, and energy, water resources and irrigation to assess the situation and recommend immediate interventions. The team is currently evaluating weather forecasts and feasibility of continuing paddy plantation in the coming days. If rain does not arrive within the next 9-10 days, officials say the government will encourage farmers to cultivate alternative crops. 

Paddy transplantation will not be available in Madhes after the first week of August. In case Madhes does not receive rainfall by that time, officials have identified millet as a primary substitute crop due to its resilience in dry conditions. Along with millet, the government also plans to encourage farmers to grow low-water vegetables and legumes such as black gram, green gram and soybeans on unused land to salvage some production this season. The concerned government agencies are preparing the necessary budget to support this transition.

According to the agriculture ministry, 78.84 percent of the total 1.33m hectares of paddy fields have been transplanted by Saturday. However, transplantation has reached only 52 percent of 372,645 hectares in Madhes.

In response to the escalating crisis, Minister of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Deepak Khadka, convened a high-level emergency meeting earlier this week. In the meeting, he instructed officials to prepare a 15-day emergency action plan to provide drinking water and irrigation facilities to affected communities in all eight districts of Madhes Province. “Bypass bureaucratic hurdles, skip tender delays and use all legal means to deliver relief immediately to the affected communities,” Khadka told officials. He instructed officials to deploy deep boring wells, solar-powered water pumps, mobile motor sets and temporary pipelines to address urgent irrigation needs. 

Paddy production in Madhesh went up by 10.70 percent to 1.48m tons in the previous season. Madhes is home to about a quarter of paddy fields across the country.

China is offering parents 3,600 Yuan ($500) per year for each child under three, in its first nationwide effort to raise birth rates. The policy, announced Monday, will be backdated to early 2024 and aims to ease parenting costs for around 20m families, according to BBC.

Despite ending its one-child policy years ago, China’s population continues to shrink and age. Local governments have tested similar incentives, with some offering up to 100,000 Yuan per child. Raising a child in China now costs an average of $75,700—among the highest globally.

At least 30 people have lost their lives in Beijing as relentless rainfall triggers severe flooding across northern China, BBC reported.

Authorities have evacuated around 80,000 residents from high-risk areas, with rain expected to continue through today.

President Xi Jinping has ordered urgent search and rescue operations to minimize further casualties.

Beijing is prone to extreme summer weather, with the worst flooding in recent years recorded in July 2012, when 79 people died, according to BBC.