Hamas’ captive Israelis were reportedly sailed toward the Gaza coast to warn of a ground invasion of the strip. They tore swim rings as a means of saving their loved ones, who they claim would be harmed by a ground assault.
At least six people have been killed and 10 others wounded in two separate Israeli strikes on eastern Lebanon, according to media and government reports, in its latest near-daily violation of a US-brokered November ceasefire in a war with Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA), citing a Health Ministry statement, said a strike hit a vehicle on Thursday on the al-Masnaa international road in the Bekaa Valley, killing five people and injuring 10 others.
Another drone strike killed a Lebanese civilian in the town of Kfar Dan, west of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon.
According to the agency, the man was standing outside his home when he was targeted by the drone. No further details were immediately available.
The Israeli military has not commented on the attacks.
The reported strikes came as Lebanon’s government endorsed a US-backed proposal for Hezbollah to be disarmed by the end of the year.
A Syrian national was killed earlier and two others were injured in an overnight Israeli strike on the town of Deir Siryan in the Marjayoun district of southern Lebanon, the Ministry of Public Health reported.
The Israeli army also targeted the northern outskirts of Deir Siryan near the Litani River, as well as a garage and bulldozers near residential areas, according to NNA.
In a military statement, the Israeli army claimed to have struck Hezbollah infrastructure sites in the attacks.
The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began on October 8, 2023, as the Lebanese group launched strikes in solidarity with the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza, which was coming under Israeli attack. This escalated into a full-scale war by September 2024, killing more than 4, 000 people and injuring approximately 17, 000.
Although a ceasefire was reached last November, Israel has conducted near-daily attacks in southern Lebanon, claiming to target Hezbollah’s activities. It has threatened that it will continue to do so until the Lebanese group is disarmed.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah was to withdraw its fighters north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border. Israel, meanwhile, was meant to pull all of its troops out of Lebanon, but has kept them in five areas it deems strategic.
The ceasefire was based on a previous United Nations Security Council resolution that said only the Lebanese military and UN peacekeepers should possess weapons in the country’s south, and that all non-state groups should be disarmed.
Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump has said that he directed officials to exclude undocumented immigrants from being counted in the Census – a survey of the US population conducted every 10 years.
Trump said he directed the Commerce Department, which oversees the US Census Bureau, to immediately work on “new and highly accurate” survey based on “modern day facts and figures” and the results of the 2024 elections.
“People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS”, Trump wrote in a social media post. “Thank you for your attention to this matter”!
The next Census is due in 2030, but it is not clear if Trump is calling for a new survey in the near future.
During his first term, the US president tried to add a citizenship question to the Census, but his efforts were blocked by the courts.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that the US administration failed to provide a “reasoned” explanation for adding the question.
This time, however, if Trump’s Census policy is challenged legally, it could go before a more conservative Supreme Court.
Trump appointed three justices serving on the court currently.
Critics say excluding undocumented immigrants from the Census would violate the US Constitution, deprive local communities of needed federal resources and distort the data used by scientists and researchers.
The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution says that congressional representation should be based on “counting the whole number of persons in each state”.
The Census already includes undocumented immigrants in the “hard to count” category.
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States use census data to draw congressional districts.
A 2023 report by the bureau found that the 2020 Census likely failed “in collecting data for a significant fraction of noncitizens residing” in the country.
On Thursday, several Democrats slammed Trump’s decision as unconstitutional.
“The Constitution mandates a census every ten years that counts every single person in the country, regardless of their citizenship status”, Congressman Jerrold Nadler wrote in a social media post.
“When Trump tried to do this in 2020, the courts flat out rejected it. The Constitution is plain and simple: ‘ whole number of persons. ‘”
Republicans defended the decision, arguing that counting undocumented immigrants rewards states that foster them and distorts congressional representation.
“‘ We the People ‘ means citizens, not invaders”, Congressman Mark Harris said on X, invoking the preamble of the US Constitution.
“Counting illegal aliens in the census disenfranchises Americans and rewards blue states for breaking the law. Let’s get a recount — ASAP! “!
Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, stated that “all of Gaza” is planned by Israel. He stated to Fox News that Israel would hand the strip over to “Arab forces” to rule before a security cabinet meeting. Hassan rejected his assertions, calling them a change in the course of the ceasefire negotiations.
The decision by US President Donald Trump’s administration to terminate 22 federal contracts for mRNA-based vaccines is a major blow to a hugely promising platform, the World Health Organization said.
“This is, of course, a significant blow,” WHO immunisation figurehead Joachim Hombach told the UN correspondents’ association ACANU on Thursday.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announcement that it will wind down mRNA vaccine development activities under its biomedical research unit is the latest development under US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, a long-time vaccine sceptic who has been making sweeping changes to reshape vaccines, food and medicine policies.
“mRNA vaccines are a very important technology and platform which has served us extremely well for COVID. We also know there is very promising work going on in relation to influenza vaccines,” Hombach said. “From our perspective, the platform is particularly useful in relation to developing vaccines against emerging and pandemic threats, because these platforms can be very rapidly adapted.”
Unlike traditional vaccines, which often use weakened or inactivated forms of the target virus or bacteria, mRNA shots deliver genetic instructions into the host’s cells, prompting them to produce a harmless decoy of the pathogen and train the immune system to fight the real thing.
The US health department’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority is “terminating 22 mRNA vaccine development investments because the data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu”, Kennedy said.
Hombach, executive secretary for the WHO’s strategic advisory group of experts on immunisation, called for work on the development of mRNA vaccines to continue around the world.
“This is, from our perspective, an unfortunate and untimely move, but we are confident that the research endeavour will continue because it’s an extremely promising technology,” he told reporters.
Shortly after his inauguration in January, Trump signed an executive order directing the United States to withdraw from the WHO, an organisation he has repeatedly criticised over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority helps companies develop medical supplies to address public health threats, and had provided billions of dollars for the development of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
HHS said the wind-down includes cancellation of a contract awarded to Moderna MRNA.O for the late-stage development of its bird flu vaccine for humans and the right to buy the shots, as previously reported in May.
The US health agency said it was also rejecting or cancelling multiple pre-award solicitations, including proposals from Pfizer PFE.N, Sanofi Pasteur SASY.PA, CSL Seqirus CSL.AX, Gritstone and others.
Kennedy said the department is terminating these programmes because data show these vaccines “fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu,” but did not offer scientific evidence.
“We’re shifting that funding toward safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate,” Kennedy said.
In total, the decision affects 22 projects worth nearly $500m, the agency said.
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet “in the coming days,” according to a senior Kremlin aide in the foreign policy department. A summit involving the president of Ukraine was on the table, according to the White House, but it has not been confirmed.