JERUSALEM – Israel attacked Iran’s capital early Friday, with explosions booming across Tehran as Israel said it targeted nuclear and military sites.

The attack comes as tensions have reached new heights over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. The Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years on Thursday censured Iran over it not working with its inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site in the country and swap out some centrifuges for more-advanced ones.

Israel for years has warned it will not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, something Tehran insists it doesn’t want — though official there have repeatedly warned it could build them. The US has been preparing for something to happen, already pulling some diplomats from Iraq’s capital and offering voluntary evacuations for the families of US troops in the wider Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an address on YouTube that the attacks will continue “for as many days at it takes to remove this threat.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel took “unilateral action against Iran” and that Israel advised the US that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defense.

“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Rubio said in a statement released by the White House.

Rubio also issued a warning to Iran that it should not target US interests or personnel.
People in Tehran awoke to the sound of the blast. State television acknowledged the blast.

It wasn’t immediately clear what had been hit, though smoke could be rising from Chitgar, a neighborhood in western Tehran. There are no known nuclear sites in that area — but it wasn’t immediately clear if anything was happening in the rest of the country.

An Israeli military official says that his country targeted Iranian nuclear sites, without identifying them.

The official spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing operation, which is also targeting military sites.

Benchmark Brent crude spiked on the attack, rising nearly 5 percent on the news.
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said that his country carried out the attack, without saying what it targeted.

“In the wake of the state of Israel’s preventive attack against Iran, missile and drone attacks against Israel and its civilian population are expected immediately,” he said in a statement.

The statement added that Katz “signed a special order declaring an emergency situation in the home front.”

“It is essential to listen to instructions from the home front command and authorities to stay in protected areas,” it said.

Both Iran and Israel closed their airspace.

As the explosions in Tehran started, President Donald Trump was on the lawn of the White House mingling with members of Congress. It was unclear if he had been informed but the president continued shaking hands and posing for pictures for several minutes.

Trump earlier said he was urging Netanyahu to hold off from taking action for the time being while the administration negotiated with Iran.

“As long as I think there is a (chance for an) agreement, I don’t want them going in because I think it would blow it,” Trump told reporters.

AN-AP

AHMEDABAD – The miracle report of a lone survivor from a London-bound passenger plane that crashed Thursday in the Indian city of Ahmedabad with 242 on board offered a glimmer of hope.

Indian rescue teams with sniffer dogs clawed through smoldering wreckage through the night searching for clues for what had caused the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London’s Gatwick Airport to explode in a blazing fireball soon after takeoff from the western city of Ahmedabad.

Bodies from Air India’s flight 171 were lifted out of the torn fuselage, as well as being pulled out of the charred buildings of the medical staff hostel that the airplane smashed into, killing several there too.

But hours after police said that there “appears to be no survivor in the crash,” officials reported the initially seemingly impossible account that one man had walked out alive.

“One survivor is confirmed,” Dhananjay Dwivedi, principal secretary of Gujarat state’s health department, told AFP.

The person was being treated in hospital, he added without further details.

India’s Home Minister Amit Shah, who visited the crash site and then the hospital, said he was “pained beyond words by the tragic plane crash” in Ahmedabad, the main city in Gujarat state, where Shah is a lawmaker.

But he also told reporters he had heard the “good news of the survivor” and was speaking to them “after meeting him.”

Indian media widely reported the survivor had been sitting in seat 11A, after videos shared on social media showed a man — in a bloodied t-shirt and limping, but walking toward an ambulance.

He shared a boarding card that named him as Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national, one of 53 UK citizens on board.

AFP was not able to confirm the reports, but the BBC spoke to his cousin in the city of Leicester, Ajay Valgi, who reported that Ramesh had called his family to say he was “fine.”

Britain’s Press Association news agency also spoke to his brother, Nayan Kumar Ramesh, 27, also in Leicester.

“He said, I have no idea how I exited the plane,” his brother told PA.

But while Ramesh’s reported survival offered a chance of hope, stories also flooded in of heartbreaking loss: elderly parents going to visit children in Britain, or family returning home.

Air India is organizing relief flights — one from the capital New Delhi and another from financial hub Mumbai — to Ahmedabad for “the next of kin of passengers and Air India staff,” the information ministry said in a statement.

They will have to take part in the grim task of identifying the bodies, many of which were reported to have been badly burned.

The plane, which was full of fuel as it took off for a long-haul flight to London, exploded into a burst of orange flame, videos of the crash showed.

Dwivedi, the health official, said DNA collection facilities had been set up at BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad.

“DNA testing arrangements have been made,” he told reporters.

“Families and close relatives of the flight passengers, especially their parents and children, are requested to submit their samples at the location so that the victims can be identified at the earliest.”

AN-AFP

LA PAZ, June 12 – Clashes between anti-government protesters and authorities in Bolivia have left at least four first responders dead, the country’s justice minister said on Thursday.

Tensions have intensified in recent days as supporters of former President Evo Morales, who have strangled transportation by blocking highways across the Andean nation, skirmish with officials attempting to clear the roadblocks.

The demonstrations have gained momentum primarily in Bolivia’s rural areas, where Morales’ supporters have taken to the streets to express their frustration over the former president’s disqualification from running in upcoming elections and the country’s deteriorating economic situation.

“There are already four officers who have lost their lives,” Justice Minister Cesar Siles told reporters in La Paz, adding that some had been shot.

The deceased are three police officers and a firefighter, Bolivia’s state news agency reported.

“We can’t call these civilian protests anymore. We are talking about paramilitary groups, groups that carry weapons, and we have to respond firmly,” Siles said.

The government has deployed military tanks to Llallagua, where the most significant clashes between authorities and protesters have occurred, according to local media reports.

As the protests intensify and the number of casualties increases, local businesses have been severely affected.

“Nobody travels on these roads anymore, and nobody works normally. It really harms us,” restaurant owner Marlene Poma told Reuters.

REUTERS

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – The death toll in floods in one of South Africa’s poorest provinces rose to 57 on Thursday as a top official said rescue attempts had been “paralyzed” by a lack of resources.

Rescue teams are still working through debris and floodwater to find missing people after heavy rain caused a river to burst its banks in the predawn hours of Tuesday. The worst floods hit the town of Mthatha and surrounding areas, sweeping away victims along with parts of their houses and cars.

Oscar Mabuyane, the premier of Eastern Cape province, said the floods struck while many people were asleep. The water was 3-4 meters (10-13 feet) high in places when it flowed out of a river and into nearby communities, he added.

“It’s a terrible situation,” Mabuyane told state TV broadcaster SABC. “It happened at the wrong time.”

Mabuyane said local authorities struggled to launch an effective rescue effort as the disaster happened in what he described as a region lacking resources.

He said the largely rural Eastern Cape province in southeastern South Africa, which is home to around 7.2 million people, only has one rescue helicopter. It came to Mthatha from the city of Gqeberha, more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) away. A second helicopter was also brought in to help.

He also said the region does not have any specialist rescue divers or K-9 dog units, meaning they had to be called in from elsewhere to help with the search.

“When things like this happen, we are always found wanting,” said Mabuyane. “We are paralyzed.”

AP

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories – The Palestinian Authority said Internet and fixed-line communication services were down in Gaza on Thursday following an attack on the territory’s last fiber optic cable it blamed on Israel.

“All Internet and fixed-line communication services in the Gaza Strip have been cut following the targeting of the last remaining main fiber optic line in Gaza,” the PA’s telecommunications ministry said in a statement, accusing Israel of attempting to cut Gaza off from the world.

“The southern and central Gaza Strip have now joined Gaza City and the northern part of the Strip in experiencing complete isolation for the second consecutive day,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added that its maintenance and repair teams had been unable to safely access the sites where damage occurred to the fiber optic cable.

“The Israeli occupation continues to prevent technical teams from repairing the cables that were cut yesterday,” it said, adding that Israeli authorities had prevented repairs to other telecommunication lines in Gaza “for weeks and months.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent said the communication lines were “directly targeted by occupation forces.”

It said the Internet outage was hindering its emergency services by impeding communication with first responder teams in the field.

“The emergency operations room is also struggling to coordinate with other organizations to respond to humanitarian cases.”

Maysa Monayer, spokeswoman for the Palestinian communication ministry, said that “mobile calls are still available with very limited capacity” in Gaza for the time being.

Now in its 21st month, the war in Gaza has caused massive damage to infrastructure across the Palestinian territory, including water mains, power lines and roads.

AN-AFP

TEHRAN – The chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) says Iran is fully prepared for any scenario and has a clear military strategy to counter any potential aggression.

“The enemy sometimes threatens us with military action. We have always said—and repeat now—that we are fully prepared for any scenario, under any circumstances,” Major General Hossein Salami said during a ceremony in Tehran on Thursday.

The commander further warned that the enemy mistakenly believes it can launch a military strike against Iran in the same manner that it attacks the besieged and defenseless Palestinians in Gaza.

“They could not stand up against the Yemeni youth and were crushed; how can they possibly confront a great nation like Iran?” he said.

The IRGC chief warned the enemy against making any miscalculation, saying the Iranian Armed Forces have been “ready for war at any level” for years.

The warning comes as the United States is preparing an evacuation of its non-essential embassy staff and their families from the region, as U.S. intelligence indicates that Israel is planning to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Iranian officials have warned that any act of aggression against the country will trigger a swift and forceful retaliation, with American interests and military bases in the region identified as potential targets.

IRNA

JERUSALEM/CAIRO, June 12 – At least eight Palestinians who worked for the U.S-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation died in an ambush, the GHF said on Thursday, blaming Hamas militants for the killings that rocked the troubled food distribution operation.

A bus carrying about two dozen GHF workers was raked with gunfire on Wednesday night as it headed to an aid centre in southern Gaza, the foundation said, adding that many of its staff were injured and some might have been kidnapped.

Separately, the local health authority said 103 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire and 400 wounded in the past 24 hours across the battered enclave — including 21 people killed this morning near GHF sites.

GHF’s interim director John Acree said his organisation had considered closing its centres on Thursday following the bus attack, but opted to remain open.

“We decided that the best response to Hamas’ cowardly murderers was to keep delivering food for the people of Gaza who are counting on us,” he said in a statement.

Hamas declined to comment on the shootings.

Social media channels in Gaza said Hamas had targeted the bus because it was allegedly carrying GHF workers tied to Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a large clan that has challenged Hamas’s supremacy in the enclave and is being armed by Israel.

Abu Shabab released a statement on his Facebook page denouncing images posted on social media showing Gazans allegedly killed by Hamas and as it seeks to maintain power.

“Rumours of executions and killings are being spread by the corrupt, mercenaries, and criminals of Hamas in an attempt to sow fear in the hearts of those who seek change and liberation from terrorism, oppression, and its unjust rule,” he said.

REUTERS

JERUSALEM, June 11 – Israel’s parliament rejected early on Thursday a preliminary vote to dissolve itself, the Knesset said in a statement, after an agreement was reached regarding a dispute over conscription.

The vote, which could have been a first step leading to an early election that polls show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would lose, was rejected with 61 lawmakers opposing it to 53 supporting it.

The Knesset consists of 120 seats, and the majority needed to pass the vote was 61 lawmakers.

This gives Netanyahu’s ruling coalition further time to resolve its worst political crisis yet and avoid a ballot, which would be Israel’s first since the eruption of the war with Hamas in Gaza.

Netanyahu has been pushing hard to resolve a deadlock in his coalition over a new military conscription bill, which has led to the present crisis.

“I am pleased to announce that after long discussions we have reached agreements on the principles on which the draft law will be based,” Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee Yuli Edelstein said in a statement.

Some religious parties in Netanyahu’s coalition are seeking exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students from military service that is mandatory in Israel, while other lawmakers want to scrap any such exemptions altogether.

The exemptions have been a hot-button issue in Israel for years but have become particularly contentious during the war in Gaza, as Israel has suffered its highest battlefield casualties in decades and its stretched military is in need of more troops.

Growing increasingly impatient with the political deadlock, ultra-Orthodox coalition factions have said they will vote with opposition parties in favour of dissolving the Knesset and bringing forward an election that is not due until late 2026.

“It’s more than ever urgent to replace Netanyahu’s government and specifically this toxic and harmful government,” said Labour’s opposition lawmaker Merav Michaeli. “It’s urgent to end the war in Gaza and to bring back all the hostages. It’s urgent to start rebuilding and healing the state of Israel.”

Successive polls have predicted that Netanyahu’s coalition would lose in an election, with Israelis still reeling over the security failure of Palestinian militant group Hamas’ October 7 2023 attack and hostages still held in Gaza.

REUTERS

AHMEDABAD, India, June 12 – An Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from India’s western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, the airline and police said, and India’s federal health minister said that “many people” were killed.

The plane was headed to Britain’s Gatwick Airport, Air India said, while police officers said it crashed in a civilian area near the airport.

“The building on which it has crashed is a doctors’ hostel… we have cleared almost 70% to 80% of the area and will clear the rest soon,” a senior police officer told reporters.

The 242 people included 217 adults and 11 children, a source told Reuters. Of them, 169 were Indian nationals, 53 were Britons, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian, Air India said.

Aviation tracking site Flightradar24 said the plane was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service.

“At this moment, we are ascertaining the details and will share further updates,” Air India said on X. “The injured are being taken to the nearest hospitals.”

The crash occurred just after the plane took off, television channels reported. One channel showed the plane taking off over a residential area and then disappearing from the screen before a huge jet of fire rising into the sky from beyond the houses.

Visuals also showed debris on fire, with thick black smoke rising up into the sky near the airport.

They also showed people being moved in stretchers and being taken away in ambulances.

According to air traffic control at Ahmedabad Airport, the aircraft departed at 1.39 p.m. (0809 GMT) from runway 23. It gave a “Mayday” call, signalling an emergency, but thereafter there was no response from the aircraft.

Flightradar24 also said that it received the last signal from the aircraft seconds after it took off.

“The aircraft involved is a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with registration VT-ANB,” it said.
Boeing said it is aware of initial reports and was working to gather more information.

REUTERS

JERUSALEM – Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the army Wednesday to prevent a North African aid convoy from entering the besieged Gaza Strip.

A statement from his office said Katz instructed the army to block the entry of “jihadist protesters” from entering Gaza from Egypt.

“I expect the Egyptian authorities to prevent them from reaching the Egypt-Israel border and not allow them to carry out provocations and try to enter Gaza,” he added.

Later, Egypt said that all foreign delegations seeking to visit the border area near Gaza, including the city of Arish and the Rafah crossing, must obtain “prior approval” through official channels.

It did not clarify whether the convoy had obtained the required approvals or not.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry stressed that “no visit requests outside the established framework would be considered,” highlighting the need to safeguard visiting delegations given the situation along the Gaza border.

Egypt also reiterated that all foreign nationals must comply with local entry laws, including obtaining the necessary visas or permits in advance.

The convoy of more than 1,000 activists from North African countries, consisting of 12 buses and 100 private cars, set off from Tunisia on Monday. It is expected to reach Egypt on Thursday before arriving in the city of Rafah near the border with Gaza.

The Israeli army, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing over 55,100 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

As Israel has continued to close all Gaza’s border crossings to humanitarian aid since early March, aid agencies have warned about the risk of famine among Gaza’s 2.4 million inhabitants.

ANADOLU

JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL – Some 64% of Israelis believe that “there are no innocents” in Gaza, signaling a surge in extremist views in Israeli society, a new survey found on Wednesday.

The survey by the Hebrew University’s aChord Center showed that 87% of supporters of the ruling coalition see “no innocents” in the Palestinian enclave.

The poll also found that 73% of voters for opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu Party and other right-wing, non-coalition parties have the same view.

It revealed that support among centrist voters stood at 67%, while 30% of left-wing voters agreed. In contrast, 92% of Arab citizens of Israel rejected this view.

The poll also examined public attitudes toward media coverage of the Israeli war in Gaza. It found that 64% of Israelis said domestic media coverage was balanced and did not require broader reporting on the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave.

Among coalition voters, 89% held that view, while among opposition voters, only 44% agreed, with 56% of the latter calling for broader coverage.

Regarding specific outlets, 39% of respondents viewed Channel 14, widely seen as supportive of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as providing balanced Gaza coverage, while 56% said it is biased against Gazans and 5% claimed it favors them.

According to Haaretz newspaper, Channel 14 has systematically labeled all Gaza casualties as “terrorists and, on multiple occasions, praised the killing or harming of civilians.”

On international media, 69% of respondents considered CNN and BBC biased toward Palestinians in Gaza, while 50% viewed Fox News, associated with the American right, as similarly biased, Haaretz said.

Additionally, 77% of participants said, “global public opinion about Israel is very or somewhat important,” according to the poll.

The survey was conducted in the final week of May and included a representative sample of 1,112 Israeli respondents.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing over 55,100 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

As Israel has continued to close all Gaza’s border crossings to humanitarian aid since early March, aid agencies have warned about the risk of famine among Gaza’s 2.4 million inhabitants.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

ANADOLU, 11.6.2025

ODESA, Ukraine, June 11 – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday Russia was determined to sow chaos in and destroy the south of his country as well as nearby Moldova and Romania, and called for increased pressure on Moscow to prevent further military threats.

Zelenskiy, addressing a conference of southeast European leaders in the Black Sea port of Odesa, said collective efforts were needed to keep Moscow from causing further disruption.

“The security of Southeastern Europe and the Black Sea is indivisible … Today, we are forced to fight not only for our country, but also for this reality to become the cornerstone of a new regional policy,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram.

“We are here in Odesa, a city that Russia wants to destroy, as it has destroyed countless other cities. Russian military plans are aimed at this region, and then at the borders with Moldova and Romania. We need protection now. But even more, we need long-term guarantees that this will never happen again.”

Odesa, site of three ports, has been a frequent target of Russian air strikes in three years of war. The city came under a massive drone attack on Monday that targeted an emergency medical building, a maternity ward and residential buildings.

Much attention has focused on a possible Russian threat to Moldova, where pro-European President Maia Sandu has accused Moscow of trying to destabilise her country and unseat her.

Her Party of Action and Solidarity, which holds a majority in parliament, faces a general election in September, the outcome of which could affect the president’s ability to press on with a campaign to join the European Union in 2030.

Ukraine has also started talks on EU membership.

“For three decades, Russia has tried to keep Moldova poor and unstable in order to take full control of it,” Zelenskiy said. “If Europe loses in Moldova this year, it will embolden Russia to meddle even more in your countries’ affairs, taking away your resources, your sovereignty, even your history.”

Sandu told the conference that Moldova “knows just what hybrid war is and is prepared to share its experience”.

“Moldova is facing one of its most important elections. Russia wants to see Moldova turn away from Ukraine. More to the point, it wants to use Moldova against Ukraine and the EU.”

REUTERS

MILAN, June 11 – A group of about 80 Palestinians, including an 11-year-old boy who lost nine siblings in an Israel strike in Gaza last month, will arrive in Italy later on Wednesday for hospital treatment, Italy’s foreign minister said.

Accompanied by his mother, Adam Al-Najjar will be transferred to Niguarda Hospital in the northern city of Milan, while others will be moved to nearby Bergamo, and Rome.

“Adam will arrive in Milan and be treated at Niguarda hospital because he has multiple fractures,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in an interview with RTL 102.5 radio.

Tajani said the group would number about 80, including injured people and those such as family members accompanying them. Tajani’s spokesman later said the group was made up of 17 injured people, accompanied by 52 others.

The May 23 attack left Adam in a serious condition at Nasser Hospital, one of the few operational medical facilities in southern Gaza.

Adam “is stable, has a head wound that is healing but his left arm is bad, the bones are fractured and the nerves damaged,” his 36-year-old mother, Alaa al-Najjar, a paediatrician, told Italian newspaper la Repubblica.

Adam’s father, Hamdi al-Najjar, who was also a doctor, died a week after the attack.

“The damage is in my left hand, there is a problem with the nerves, I can’t feel my fingers. There’s still a lot of pain,” Adam told Turkish news agency Anadolu.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) website, more than 15,000 children have reportedly been killed and over 34,000 injured in almost two years of war in Gaza.

REUTERS

JUNEAU, Alaska – A skier died after being caught in an avalanche on North America’s tallest peak, officials said Wednesday — the second death of this year’s climbing season on Alaska’s Mount McKinley.

Nicholas Vizzini, 29, of Washington state and his climbing partner, a snowboarder, triggered the avalanche high on the 20,310-foot (6,190-meter) peak Tuesday while descending a slope, according to a statement from Denali National Park and Preserve.

The top of where the avalanche released was at approximately 16,600 feet (5,060 meters) and ran down to about 15,000 feet (4,572 meters), the park said.

Two mountaineering rangers on the mountain responded within minutes after spotting Vizzini’s partner amid the avalanche debris, the park statement said. They were able to detect a beacon signal and find Vizzini, who was mostly buried in debris. The rangers tried lifesaving measures, but he was pronounced dead early Tuesday evening, the statement said.

Vizzini’s body was recovered and transferred to the state medical examiner’s office. His partner sustained minor injuries and was scheduled to leave the mountain Wednesday, according to the statement.

Earlier this month, Alex Chiu, a climber from Seattle, died from a 3,000-foot (about 900-meter) fall on the mountain’s West Buttress climbing route.

The climbing season typically runs from early May to early July. There are about 500 climbers on Mount McKinley currently, the park said.

AP

JOHANNESBURG – At least 49 people were confirmed dead Wednesday as floods devastated one of South Africa’s poorest provinces, and officials said the toll was expected to rise as more bodies are recovered in the search for missing people.

The floods hit the largely rural Eastern Cape province in the southeast of the country early Tuesday after an especially strong weather front brought heavy rains, gale force winds and also snow in some parts.

“As we speak here, other bodies are being discovered,” Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane told reporters at a briefing, adding that it was one of the worst weather-related disasters his province had experienced. “I have never seen something like this,” he said.

The death toll included six high school students who were washed away when their school bus was caught in floodwaters on Tuesday near a river close to the town of Mthatha, which was especially hard hit and at the center of the worst flooding. Four other students were among the missing, Mabuyane said.

Authorities found the school bus earlier Wednesday, but it was empty. Three of the students were rescued on Tuesday when they were found clinging to trees and crying out for help, the provincial government said.

A driver and another adult who were on the bus with the schoolchildren were among the dead.

Search and rescue operations would continue for a third day on Thursday, authorities said, though they didn’t give details on how many people might still be missing. They said they were working with families to find out who was still unaccounted for.

Disaster response teams have been activated in Eastern Cape province and the neighboring KwaZulu-Natal province after the torrential rain and snow hit parts of southern and eastern South Africa over the weekend. Mabuyane said there had also been reports of mudslides.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the National Disaster Management Center was also working with local authorities in the Eastern Cape, the province that took the brunt of the extreme cold front that weather forecasters had warned was on its way last week. There were unusually large snowfalls in parts of Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State province in South Africa’s interior.

Ramaphosa offered his condolences to the affected families in the Eastern Cape in a statement from his office and described the situation as “devastation.”

Power outages have affected hundreds of thousands of homes in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Eastern Cape provincial government officials said hundreds of families were left homeless and in temporary shelters in that province after their houses were washed away or broken apart, while at least 58 schools and 20 hospitals were damaged by the floods, which mostly affected Mthatha and the surrounding district.

Other houses were left submerged under water. Cars and debris that were carried away by the floods were left strewn in piles as the rain stopped and the water began to subside.

South Africa is vulnerable to strong weather fronts that blow in from the Indian and Southern Oceans. In 2022, more than 400 people died in flooding caused by prolonged heavy rains in the east coast city of Durban and surrounding areas.

Poor areas with informal housing are often the worst affected and where the majority of fatalities occur.

AP

PARIS/WASHINGTON, June 11 – U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is discouraging governments around the world from attending a U.N. conference next week on a possible two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, according to a U.S. cable seen by Reuters.

The diplomatic demarche, sent on Tuesday, says countries that take “anti-Israel actions” following the conference will be viewed as acting in opposition to U.S. foreign policy interests and could face diplomatic consequences from Washington.

The demarche, which was not previously reported, runs squarely against the diplomacy of two close allies France and Saudi Arabia, who are co-hosting the gathering next week in New York that aims to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel’s security.

“We are urging governments not to participate in the conference, which we view as counterproductive to ongoing, life-saving efforts to end the war in Gaza and free hostages,” read the cable.

President Emmanuel Macron has suggested France could recognise a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territories at the conference. French officials say they have been working to avoid a clash with the U.S., Israel’s staunchest major ally.

“The United States opposes any steps that would unilaterally recognise a conjectural Palestinian state, which adds significant legal and political obstacles to the eventual resolution of the conflict and could coerce Israel during a war, thereby supporting its enemies,” the cable read.

The United States for decades backed a two-state solution between the Israelis and the Palestinians that would create a state for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza alongside Israel.

Trump, in his first term, was relatively tepid in his approach to a two-state solution, a longtime pillar of U.S. Middle East policy. The Republican president has given little sign of where he stands on the issue in his second term.

But on Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a long-time vocal supporter of Israel, said he did not think an independent Palestinian state remained a U.S. foreign policy goal.

REUTERS