As death toll rises, Gazans make life-risking journeys to seek food
Like thousands of other Palestinians in Gaza, Hind Al-Nawajha takes a dangerous, miles-long journey every day to try to get some food for her family, hoping she makes it back alive, Reuters reported.
Accompanied by her sister, Mazouza, the mother-of-four had to duck down and hide behind a pile of rubble on the side of the road as gunshots echoed nearby.
"You either come back carrying (food) for your children and they will be happy, or you come back in a shroud, or you go back upset (without food) and your children will cry," said Nawajha, 38, a resident of Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza.
"This is life, we are being slaughtered, we can't do it anymore."
In the past two days, dozens of Palestinians have also been killed by Israeli fire as they tried to get food from aid trucks brought into the enclave by the United Nations and international relief agencies, Gaza medics said, according to Reuters.
US court lets Trump keep control of California National Guard for now
A U.S. appeals court let Donald Trump retain control on Thursday of California's National Guard while the state's Democratic governor proceeds with a lawsuit challenging the Republican president's use of the troops to quell protests in Los Angeles, Reuters reported.
Trump's decision to send troops into Los Angeles prompted a national debate about the use of the military on U.S. soil and inflamed political tension in the country's second most-populous city.
On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals extended its pause on U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer's June 12 ruling that Trump had unlawfully called the National Guard into federal service.
Trump probably acted within his authority, the panel said, adding that his administration probably complied with the requirement to coordinate with Governor Gavin Newsom, and even if it did not, he had no authority to veto Trump's directive, according to Reuters.
China criticises UK warship's patrol in Taiwan Strait
China's military has called a British warship's recent passage through the Taiwan Strait a disruptive act of "intentional provocation" that "undermines peace and stability," BBC reported.
The British Royal Navy says HMS Spey's patrol on Wednesday was part of a long-planned deployment and was in accordance with international law.
The patrol - the first by a British naval vessel in four years - comes as a UK carrier strike group arrives in the region for a deployment that will last several months.
China considers Taiwan its territory - a claim that self-ruled Taiwan rejects - and has not ruled out the use of force to "reunify" the island, according to BBC.
Zelenskyy calls for more pressure on Russia after deadly missile strike in Ukrainian capital Kyiv
A Russian missile strike on a nine-story Kyiv apartment building was a sign that more pressure must be applied on Moscow to agree to a ceasefire, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday, as Moscow intensifies attacks in the war, Associated Press reported.
The drone and missile attack on Kyiv early Tuesday, the deadliest assault on the capital this year, killed 28 people across the city and wounded 142 others, Kyiv Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said.
Zelenskyy, along with the head of the presidential office, Andrii Yermak, and Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, visited the site of the apartment building in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district on Thursday morning, laying flowers and paying tribute to the 23 people who died there after a direct hit by a missile brought down the structure.
“This attack is a reminder to the world that Russia rejects a ceasefire and chooses killing,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram, and thanked Ukraine’s partners who he said are ready to pressure Russia to “feel the real cost of the war," according to Associated Press.
