London, United Kingdom – Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour Party leader, is set to host a two-day event examining the United Kingdom’s role in Israel’s war on Gaza, casting the “tribunal” as an attempt to bring about justice for the Palestinian people.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, is among those expected to contribute, as well as medics who have volunteered in Gaza, such as British surgeon Victoria Rose, aid workers, experts and survivors.
Organisers said Labour MP Richard Burgon and journalists who have reported on the ground and from afar will also participate, including investigative reporter Matt Kennard, who has been tracking the UK’s surveillance flights over Gaza.
On Thursday and Friday, at London’s Church House, Westminster, they will join various panels, with subjects including the UK’s legal responsibilities.
“The public deserves to know the full scale of their government’s complicity in genocide. That is why we are holding The Gaza Tribunal. We will uncover the truth,” the website of the initiative says.
The push follows Corbyn’s failed attempt for an official measure akin to the Iraq Inquiry, by John Chilcot, which investigated the UK’s role in the Iraq war.
On June 4, Corbyn, one of the UK’s most renowned pro-Palestine voices who is launching a new left-wing political party, tabled a bill in the House of Commons calling for an independent inquiry into the UK’s involvement in Israeli military operations in Gaza, including the supply of weapons, surveillance aircraft, and the use of Royal Air Force bases.
That bill, backed by dozens of MPs and supported by more than 20 aid groups, was ultimately blocked by the governing Labour Party.
“Just like Iraq, the government is doing everything it can to protect itself from scrutiny. Just like Iraq, it will not succeed in its attempts to suffocate the truth. We will uncover the full scale of British complicity in genocide – and we will bring about justice for the people of Palestine,” said Corbyn.
‘Slight but slow-moving shift in opinion in Parliament’
The summit comes as many Britons feel their government is at odds with public opinion.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets for almost two years to urge Prime Minister Keir Starmer to cut ties with Israel and exert more pressure on his Israeli counterpart to stop the onslaught, described by leading rights groups and scholars as a genocide against Palestinians.
Recent YouGov polls (PDF) show the majority of Britons sympathise with Palestinians and a significant number view Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide
Last week, Corbyn told Al Jazeera that there has been a “slight but slow-moving shift in opinion in Parliament because of the numbers of people in Britain that have shown their solidarity with the Palestinian people”.
The UK has sanctioned far-right Israeli ministers and suspended some arms export licences to Israel following a review that found there was a risk certain military exports might be used in violations of international humanitarian law, but UK-made F-35 parts can still end up in Israel via the global spares pool.
Questions have also been raised over the UK’s surveillance flights over Gaza, hundreds of which have reportedly taken off from Cyprus.
The UK says the planes are flown in a bid to locate captives held by Hamas, the group that governs the Gaza Strip.
But “with no parliamentary oversight or public scrutiny, it remains unclear how much British intelligence gathered from these flights has been shared with Israel”, the Action on Armed Violence group, which researched the flights, reported in March.
“Whether these flights have also conducted Target Acquisition over the [occupied Palestinian territory] … in addition to intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance, remains unknown.”
It said, “Grave concerns remain as to the nature of these flights within the broader context of Israel’s violations of international law and the UK’s continued military collaboration with Israel, including the continued supply of arms such as components for F-35 jets, which have been used in Israel’s widespread bombardment of civilian zones.”
Since October 2023, at least 63,746 people have been killed and 161,245 wounded across Gaza, which is now home to the highest number of child amputees per capita.
As a ruthless magnitude 6.0 earthquake ripped through eastern Afghanistan this week, it flattened entire mountain villages and shattered the fragile lives of thousands, particularly children, who were already grappling with soaring humanitarian needs and funding cuts.
This earthquake, centred in the provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar, has already killed more than 1,400 people and the number is expected to rise, while aftershocks continue to wreak havoc. Thousands more are injured, with entire villages levelled in remote, mountainous terrain where roads are blocked, and rescue teams – including Save the Children mobile health staff – are battling to reach those in need.
But this is not just another natural disaster – it is a collision of disasters for Afghanistan, where nearly 23 million people – or just less than half of the population – need humanitarian assistance this year. More than 9 million people will face acute food insecurity, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, before October. At least 2 million people have been forced to return to Afghanistan this year alone from Iran and Pakistan. The result is catastrophic – and it is children who bear the brunt.
Such natural disasters demand a rapid and robust humanitarian response. Children need immediate medical attention, clean water, shelter and psychosocial support to recover from trauma. Yet these essential operations are being constrained – curtailed by aid cuts inflicted upon the global humanitarian system.
This year, international donors have cut foreign aid budgets. These decisions have come at exactly the wrong time. About 126 programmes run by Save the Children globally had been shut down by cuts in aid as of May, affecting about 10.3 million people. These are programmes that support millions of children in conflict zones, refugee camps and disaster-prone areas.
In Afghanistan, these cuts have meant less staff to respond when disaster strikes and to respond to a disaster such as this earthquake. Medical clinics have been closed, so there are fewer facilities to treat the injured, and the health facilities that are still open are desperately over-stretched, even before this disaster happened. Health services in Afghanistan cannot absorb blows like this earthquake.
The effect of aid cuts in Afghanistan has been acutely felt by Save the Children. Save the Children lost funding for 14 health clinics in northern and eastern Afghanistan, although we are using alternative short-term funding to keep them open currently. The loss of these clinics would mean 13,000 children losing access to healthcare in their villages.
Earlier this year, I visited Nangarhar province, now lying devastated by the huge earthquake, and I met children and their families struggling to survive. I have seen entire health centres run by our partners shut down. Families told me what that means: Mothers unable to give birth safely, children missing critical vaccinations, and households left without hope.
The scale of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, exacerbated by aid cuts and now combined with a sudden-response scenario like the Afghan earthquake, makes for a crisis within a crisis. Aid agencies are stretched thin – or absent – due to staff layoffs and the closure of programmes and offices.
This earthquake should be a clarion call – for us to reinvest in humanitarian aid, swiftly and generously. Donor governments must reverse course, unblock emergency funding, and commit to longer-term financing of child-focused services.
Without immediate, sustained funding, we anticipate a rapid deterioration – children exposed to waterborne diseases, families forced into negative coping strategies like child labour or early marriage, and rising rates of malnutrition in a country where one in five children already faced crisis levels of hunger before the quake. By October this year, five million Afghan children – or about 20% of children in Afghanistan – were expected to face acute hunger, with funding cuts reducing the amount of food aid available by 40% and 420 health centres closed, removing access for three million people. Even before the aid cuts, 14 million people had limited access to healthcare.
We must ensure that when disaster strikes – whether an earthquake or conflict – we have the ability to respond – and quickly. We must make sure children’s rights endure, even when budgets falter.
This is a crisis compounding a crisis. We are witnessing the collapse of protective systems for children – medical, nutritional, educational, psychosocial – when they are most critical.
No child should die because the world’s attention wanes or budgets shrink. The children of Afghanistan were already vulnerable to hunger, disease, poverty, and isolation, and they have now been plunged into a deeper abyss.
Deir Az Zor in Syria has a wealth of oil. However, years of civil war have devastated the eastern province.
Syria’s economy is in disarray after almost 14 years of civil war. Its infrastructure is in disrepair. The daunting task of rebuilding it is before the new generation of leaders. To stimulate growth, the government is betting heavily on foreign investment. And some of the sanctions against the West have been lifted. Oil, which was once a significant source of income, may play a significant part. Deir Az Zor, in eastern Syria, is home to the majority of the oil fields, but the majority of them are not under the control of the government.
And it is completely destroyed, as is the province.
Some people spent Labor Day weekend in the United States soaking up the last of the summer’s rays. Others took to social media to speculate that President Donald Trump was at death’s door, or worse.
On X, the hashtags #trumpisdead and #whereistrump trended. Millions of people made or watched videos on TikTok speculating that Trump had died or suffered a stroke or another serious medical emergency.
The president is not dead. Trump spoke live at the White House on Tuesday. Even as rumours of his death went viral, he had been photographed by news outlets, and his Truth Social posts racked up thousands of interactions.
“How did you find out over the weekend that you were dead?” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Trump, who stood before reporters in the Oval Office. “Did you see that?”
Trump said he had not seen claims alleging his death.
“I didn’t see that. I have heard. It’s sort of crazy, but last week, I did numerous news conferences. All successful, they went very well. Like this is going very well,” Trump said. “And then I didn’t do any for two days, and they said, ‘There must be something wrong with him.’”
Trump does have a real, but non-life-threatening, health condition. But the false notion that Trump was dead or dying gained traction through a combination of factors: a Vice President JD Vance quote that was mischaracterised on social media; political left-leaning influencers’ scrutiny of Trump’s low-key holiday weekend with no public scheduled events; and exaggerations of the president’s known health history alongside images showing some of his health condition’s symptoms.
The rumours started swirling following an August 28 USA Today interview with Vance.
USA Today White House correspondent Francesca Chambers asked Vance whether he is “ready to assume the role of commander-in-chief”, noting that Trump is the oldest president to have been sworn in.
Vance answered: “I feel very confident the president of the United States is in good shape, is going to serve out the remainder of his term and do great things for the American people. And if, God forbid, there’s a terrible tragedy, I can’t think of better on-the-job training than what I’ve gotten over the last 200 days.”
Even though Vance said multiple times that Trump is in good health, social media users jumped on his comments about being ready to assume the presidency as evidence that something was awry.
The phrase “Trump is dead” appeared at least 5,616 times from August 28 to September 2 across X, Reddit, YouTube and Bluesky, according to data from Rolli IQ, a social media monitoring tool. X users based in other countries, including Brazil and Australia, also posted the phrase, Rolli IQ data showed.
The X posts containing the phrase generated the most engagement, with more than two million likes and 122,000 shares in total.
News of Vance’s quote was widely shared on X, with millions of views and other interactions. The next day, on August 29, an X post viewed 13.8 million times went further, saying: “Trump is dead. He died on Wednesday.” It provided no evidence. Google searches for the phrase “is Trump dead” started increasing the same day, peaking at 3am ET (07:00 GMT) on August 30.
Social media used Trump’s schedule and health history as fodder for speculation
Online posts pointed to Trump’s schedule as further evidence that something must be wrong. Following a three-hour televised cabinet meeting on August 26, Trump had no public events for six days. The lack of face time for a president who is often on camera fuelled claims that Trump’s health was in decline.
On August 29, Laura Rozen, a Washington, DC-based diplomatic correspondent for news website AL-Monitor, posted on X: “Trump has no public events scheduled all weekend. Don’t believe he was seen today either.” That post gained 33.9 million views.
An X account called “Did Donald Trump Die Today?” existed before the Labor Day weekend rumour; it has been posting “no” answers to its namesake question since December 2024. But when the account reposted Rozen’s observation with the caption, “Yeah he likely died LOL”, it garnered 14.3 million views.
Although Trump had no public meetings, his schedule was not suspended as some users claimed. The White House continued to publicly release and chronicle meetings and actions.
But some on social media persisted. They pointed to photos of Trump’s swollen ankles and bruised hands, and a July letter from his doctor diagnosing Trump with chronic venous insufficiency, a common condition that can cause leg swelling. It is not typically life-threatening.
“Here’s how I know the president has had a stroke and the White House is lying about it,” one user who identified himself as a physical therapist said in a September 1 TikTok with more than three million views that has since been taken down. The user analysed Trump’s April medical report, saying his medications are evidence that “Trump has had a stroke, or maybe even a heart attack in the past”.
Jeffrey Blevins, a University of Cincinnati professor who teaches media law and ethics, said Vance’s comment may have been innocuous, but in combination with the bruises, questions about Trump’s health and lack of public events, it “gives spark to these [kinds] of ideas”.
On Truth Social, Trump posted on August 31 that he has “never felt better” in his life.
Trump is not the first world leader to be the subject of rumours of his alleged death. Cliff Lampe, a University of Michigan School of Information professor, said in the 1940s, rumours of Soviet Union Premier Joseph Stalin’s death circulated. Stalin died in 1953.
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro and former Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini also “had rumours of death before they had actually died”, he said. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was also a subject of death hoaxes. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been rumoured dead on several occasions.
“In all of these cases, rumours are fuelled where the leader purposely constrains access to a free press, or is otherwise secretive. It’s also more likely where the leader has enemies who want to destabilise their legitimacy,” Lampe said.
In June, Trump himself reshared a post on Truth Social that baselessly claimed former President Joe Biden had been executed in 2020 and replaced with clones or robots.
Before that, people also speculated Biden was dying or dead after he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. At the time, conservative social media users circulated the rumour.
“The difference is that theory was really fringe, while the current one is more in the mainstream of questioning Trump’s health,” Blevins said.
Liberal influencers stirred suspicions about Trump’s health
Liberal social media influencers who specialise in political news fed into the Labor Day weekend craze. They made videos that amassed millions of views, questioning Trump’s health, demanding answers from the White House.
Some influencers clarified that Trump was not dead, calling that a conspiracy theory and pointing to reporters’ photos of Trump leaving the White House to play golf at his Virginia golf course.
President Donald Trump walks at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, August 30, 2025 [AP Photo]
“But folks, there’s no conspiracy about whether or not Trump is alive. He’s alive. Stop spreading that,” influencer Aaron Parnas said in a September 1 TikTok. “These are literally from White House pool reporters today. But that does not change the fact that questions still remain about the president’s health, and we should still keep asking them.”
Other influencers scrutinised photos of Trump, saying he looked “frail and weak”.
“Very, very sickly looking as well. Something is going on there,” said Ben Meiselas, a lawyer and podcast host for liberal news website MeidasTouch, in an August 31 TikTok. “It appears to be, and again this is just an opinion, I’m not a doctor, some serious either cardiovascular, kidney or liver issue based on medical professionals I’ve spoken to.”
One influencer speculated based on a video the White House posted on September 1 on X, titled “11 Lessons”.
“The White House just posted what appears to be an in memoriam reel for Donald Trump,” influencer V Spehar said in a TikTok with three million views. “As you know, we haven’t seen Trump on video since his cabinet appearance. And there has been speculation that perhaps the president suffered a stroke.”
The White House’s video showed clips of Trump at all stages of his life, as inspirational music played behind audio of Trump.
“Never let anyone tell you that something is impossible,” Trump said at the end. “In America, the impossible is what we all do best.”
People share conspiracy theories in response to an unfulfilled psychological need, Lampe said. When people circulated rumours about Biden’s health, he said, they likely exaggerated the extent of his cognitive decline because “it offers an ‘escape’ from a leader they don’t like”.
“For people who may not like the current administration, the overall theory is probably a release valve,” he said.
Inaki Williams was racially abducted by Athletic Bilbao during a game at Espanyol’s Cornella-El Prat stadium in 2020, according to a local court in Barcelona, and given a year in prison as part of a settlement.
The man, according to the prosecution, imitated Ghana international Williams with monkey gestures and sounds.
After Williams, who was born in Bilbao to Ghanaian parents who met in a refugee camp, reported alleged racist abuse toward teammate Maroan Sannadi, Athletic Bilbao temporarily suspended their La Liga game against Espanyol in February.
Since Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr. accused La Liga and Spain of racism in 2023 after being racially abused during a game at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium, racism has grown in Spanish stadiums.
Numerous fans have since received sentences for abusing Vinicius in racial relations.
Inaki Williams, left, and the Athletic Club Bilbao forward Inaki Williams speak with the referee Carlos del Cerro Grande, center, during their La Liga game against Espanyol’s RCDE Stadium in Cornella de Llobregat, Barcelona.
Initial requests for a two-year prison term were made in the Williams case.
The defendant, who has not been named, also consented to pay a fine and consented to a five-year suspension from working in the fields of sports and education.
First-time offenders are typically suspended from prison sentences under two years for non-violent crimes, which means they are unlikely to serve jail time unless they commit additional crimes.
The US Space Command headquarters, which he founded in his first year as president to “defend US interests in space,” will be relocated to Alabama, according to President Donald Trump’s announcement on Tuesday.
What is going on and why it matters is described below.
US Space Command: What Is It?
US Space Command, or “SpaceCom,” was established in Trump’s first year as president in 2019 and is headquartered at Colorado Springs, Colorado’s Peterson Air Force Base. The US military Space Force is a distinct entity.
US military operations are conducted at Space Command when the Earth’s atmosphere is not present. US satellites are typically protected from external threats during these missions.
Around 1,700 people work at Space Command, according to congressional records. In order to carry out its missions, it makes use of joint forces from the US Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Space Force. According to the website of Space Command, it is “protéging and defending the space domain.”
The secretary of defense, currently Pete Hegseth, is the US Space Command’s head, who is in charge of the president.
Trump’s move to Alabama would explain why?
Trump asserts that he had always intended to relocate to Huntsville, Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal for the US Army. He announced on Tuesday that “the beautiful location of Huntsville, Alabama, will forever be known as Rocket City” and that the US Space Command headquarters would relocate there as a result of its early involvement with the US space program.
Huntsville was initially chosen as the SpaceCom corporate headquarters. Trump remarked as he addressed Republican members of Alabama’s congressional delegation at the Oval Office, saying that the Biden administration’s plans were improperly obstructed.
Because “they fought harder for it than anybody else,” the US president continued, noting that Huntsville had won the election to become the city’s headquarters.
Trump made a critical assessment of Colorado’s mail-in voting system during his announcement on Tuesday. Trump has frequently asserted that mail-in voting was used to rig elections for him.
One of the biggest issues I have with Colorado is that they do mail-in voting. They used mail-in voting, which automatically results in clumsy elections, according to Trump. Residents of Colorado can cast their ballots by mail or in person, but most of the time it is done by mail.
Republican states like Nevada and Utah, which are primarily Democratic, also use mail-in voting.
Trump said that Alabama was a red state, but he said it did not account for his choice. “We adore Alabama. I only managed 47 points in total. Trump said to reporters and lawmakers at the Oval Office, “I don’t believe that influenced my decision, though.”
As Trump announces the creation of US Space Command in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on August 29, 2019, President Donald Trump, left, observes Vice President Mike Pence and Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
So why did Colorado have Space Command?
The Air Force selected Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal as its preferred location for Space Command in 2021.
It was chosen after conducting site visits to six states, taking into account Department of Defense’s budgetary considerations, community support, and infrastructure capacity. An environmental impact assessment was still pending, though. The Government Accountability Office, which is the nonpartisan research arm of Congress, released a report claiming there were “significant shortfalls” in the Air Force’s selection process for the headquarters after this assessment was finished in 2022.
Colorado Springs would become the Space Command’s permanent home in 2023, according to then-President Joe Biden, a Democrat. Colorado had been the command’s temporary home.
Trump claimed on Tuesday that the Biden administration “wrongfully obstructed” his initial plans to relocate the command to Huntsville.
What justifications exist for Colorado Springs versus Huntsville?
The Biden administration decided in 2023 that a disruption in readiness would be avoided by keeping the organization based in Colorado.
According to the Biden administration, moving the headquarters would slow down progress on US space missions, which are in line with China’s rise in military space.
Local news outlets reported that Colorado lawmakers had predicted a lengthy transition before the construction of the new headquarters in Alabama would be finished by 2030.
However, this was disputed by Alabama’s representatives, including Dale Strong, the Republican representative for the state’s 5th congressional district. According to Colorado Public Radio, they claimed Alabama’s construction would only take 14 to 18 months.
Another justification for keeping the command in Colorado is that Colorado Springs is home to the US Air Force Academy, which now has graduates who are both military and civilian employees for the US Space Force. Additionally, Colorado has three Space Force installations.
In Huntsville, however, were the first rockets built for the US space agency. The Marshall Space Flight Center, which was established in 1960, is the city’s largest center. The Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command is located in Huntsville, which also houses some of the country’s first space missiles, including the Saturn V rocket.
The Pentagon Inspector General acknowledged the “risks to readiness inherent in moving the headquarters from its provisional location” to Huntsville in a report released in April of this year. He claimed that because Huntsville’s labor and construction costs would be lower, it would save about $426 million.
What role does politics play in this conflict?
By preventing more than 400 military nominations and promotions, Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville was mobilizing against the Pentagon’s abortion policy in the 2023 election.
When a service member needed to travel abroad to get an abortion or other forms of reproductive healthcare, Tuberville was particularly opposed to the Pentagon’s proposal to reimburse travel expenses. In December 2023, the Senator lifted the restriction on military promotions.
In a 2023 interview, US officials from the Biden administration claimed that the abortion controversy did not affect Biden’s decision to remain in Colorado.
What have people said about the most recent announcement?
Hegseth praised Trump’s decision on Tuesday, saying that while the space race is still important, it will ensure that we stay LEAPS and BOUNDS ahead. The future of warfare will depend on who has control over the sky.
Moving Space Command, according to the congressional leaders of Colorado, includes four Republicans, who also released a joint statement, saying that it “sets our space defense system backwards, wastes billions of taxpayer dollars, and gives the advantage the convergent threats of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.”
On the other hand, Alabama’s leaders hailed the announcement. Thankfully, President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are putting our country’s security first, according to Tuberville in an opinion piece for 1819 News, a local news outlet in Alabama.
