22 h. ago The Guardian view on the children of Gaza: when 17,000 die, it’s more than a mistake | Editorial

Israel’s military blamed the deaths of six Palestinian children on Sunday on a technical error. But a staggering toll continues to mountOn Sunday, an Israeli strike killed six Palestinian children – and four adults – as they queued for water in a refugee camp. The deaths of children may be the most terrible part of any war. It is not only the suffering of the innocent and powerless, and the unimaginable pain of surviving parents – as dreadful as those are – but the knowledge of lives ended when they had barely begun, of futures that should have stretched long into the distance severed in an instant.As shocking as Sunday’s deaths were, they are commonplace in Gaza: a classroom-worth of children have been killed each day since the war began. What marked them out was that so many deaths happened at once and publicly; and that Israel’s military felt obliged to acknowledge its responsibility – though without any great contrition. It claimed that a “technical error with the munition” caus...

Events

30 h. ago The BBC has alienated everyone with its Gaza coverage. After this latest failure, who will be left to defend it? | Owen Jones

The decision to take Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone off iPlayer was not necessary – and has opened it up to further accusations of biasFor a genocide to occur, everything that people think is wrong has to first be turned on its head. There have been endless examples of this gruesome phenomenon in the past 21 months; Monday’s report on the BBC’s scrapped documentary about the plight of children in Gaza is just the latest instance.Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone was a rare example of the unbearable experiences of Palestinians being properly investigated by Britain’s public broadcaster. But within the media, this documentary has become a bigger scandal than the suffering of Palestinian children.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Events

46 h. ago The Guardian view on a climate reckoning: an annual address could set a new standard for political accountability | Editorial

The energy secretary framed environmental action as practical and patriotic, not in terms of wordy ideological pieties. But holding the line won’t be easyEd Miliband is a target for the political right; not because he’s irrelevant, but because he’s effective. The bacon sandwich gags and “Red Ed” jokes mask a deeper unease: that Mr Miliband, with his dogged insistence on science, public investment and long-term thinking, is right. Now, as energy secretary, he has delivered what he calls an exercise in “radical truth-telling” and a stark warning to MPs that rejecting climate action is a betrayal of future generations. The language, for once, isn’t overblown. It’s belated.By highlighting the Met Office’s annual State of the UK Climate report, Mr Miliband shows that the hotter, wetter and more arduous future we feared has already arrived. Extremes are becoming the norm: the number of very hot days has quadrupled; in the last 250 years, six of the 10 wettest winter half-years have o...

Politics

46 h. ago The Guardian view on Europe’s Trump challenge: Brussels must hold its nerve and think big | Editorial

A renewed threat of punitive tariffs from the White House is a reminder that the EU must invest in its own values in a volatile and transforming worldAs the world has grown used to Donald Trump delivering aggressive ultimatums that are then revised or watered down, the shock-and-awe effect of a presidential edict on Truth Social has somewhat diminished. On Saturday, Mr Trump unexpectedly announced that the United States would hit the European Union with swingeing tariffs on goods of 30% from 1 August. That certainly prompted urgent weekend discussions in Brussels, Paris and Berlin. But for now, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is placing all countermeasures on hold, in the hope that what the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, described as “reasonable solutions” can be found.Given the stakes, betting on the success of a softly, softly approach to trade negotiations remains sensible. Mr Trump’s previous imposition of 25% tariffs on European carmakers ...

Politics

50 h. ago A review finds a BBC Gaza documentary breached editorial guidelines

A BBC documentary about children in Gaza has been criticized for breaching editorial guidelines on accuracy

Politics

52 h. ago BBC breached accuracy guidelines over Gaza documentary, review finds

However, inquiry into Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone says there were no other breaches, including impartialityA BBC documentary about children in Gaza breached the corporation’s editorial guidelines for accuracy by failing to disclose its child narrator was the son of a Hamas official, an internal review has found.However, the inquiry into the making of Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone found no other breaches of guidelines in its production, including impartiality. It found that no outside interests “inappropriately impacted on the programme”. Continue reading...

Politics

66 h. ago Israeli airstrike kills children collecting water in Gaza, say officials

The Israeli military said a malfunction had caused a missile to fall ‘dozens of metres from the target’

Events

2 d. ago The Guardian view on Brics growing up: A new bloc seeks autonomy – and eyes a post

The expanding group of emerging powers is building new rules, new tools and a shared industrial future – with or without Donald TrumpThe Brics summit in Brazil last week revealed a loose alliance of emerging powers becoming more complex – and perhaps more consequential. For Brics, heft matters. It now counts 11 member states – including Indonesia, which joined this year – representing half the world’s population and 40% of the global economy, outpacing the G7 by $20tn.Yet its size hides its contradictions. The grouping’s call for more inclusive global institutions sounds welcome, but there is a preponderance of autocracies within its own ranks. Brics is right that international law should be upheld in Middle Eastern conflicts. But it climbs down from its moral pedestal by condemning Ukraine’s strikes on Russian infrastructure – while staying silent on Moscow’s relentless attacks on civilians. Continue reading...

Politics

2 d. ago The Guardian view on private prosecutions: access to justice should not depend on people’s ability to pay | Editorial

An option that should provide a safety valve when the state falls short appears to be increasingly a tool for businesses – sometimes to draconian effectIn England and Wales, anyone can take a suspected criminal to court. Private criminal prosecutions, which can be initiated by individuals, companies or charities, can give people a shot at justice. They can also be open to abuse. The Post Office brought 918 successful private prosecutions against its employees to protect its own commercial interests – at a shocking human cost laid bare by an official report last week. Rail companies take the draconian measure of prosecuting people for mistakenly buying the incorrect ticket: in 2023, a woman received a criminal record for erroneously using her railcard to save a total of £1.60.In the context of a depleted justice budget, these prosecutions appear especially dystopian, allowing the wealthy to pay for their day in court. No official record exists for the number now taking place, though&...

Economics

3 d. ago Israeli strikes in Gaza kill at least 30 people including six children gathering water, hospitals say

Six children were killed by an Israeli strike on a water collection point while another three were killed when a home was struck

Events

3 d. ago Israeli airstrike kills at least 10, including six children, at Gaza water station, say health officials

Nine killed in separate bombing of a home on Sunday and 31 others shot dead near aid distribution site on SaturdayMiddle East crisis – live updatesAn Israeli airstrike has killed at least 10 people, including six children, who were waiting to collect water in Gaza, Palestinian health officials have said.A separate airstrike on Sunday hit a home, killing nine people, and 31 others were shot dead near an aid distribution site on Saturday, marking another bloody weekend as the conflict’s death toll exceeded 58,000. Continue reading...

Society

3 d. ago The 'serious' vape mistake that could land you a £5,000 bill this summer

Don’t ruin your summer by making a vaping mistake in your car 😱

Economics

3 d. ago Why Palestinians in Gaza are protesting with photos of Israeli children killed by Hamas

Gaza Youth Committee founder Rami Aman says many people in Gaza do not support Hamas, only want peace and mourn for the Israeli children who have been killed, as well as their own

Events

4 d. ago UN says fuel shortage in Gaza at ‘critical levels’ – Middle East crisis live

A lack of fuel means ‘lifelines will vanish for 2.1 million people’, the UN saidIsraeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including four children, hospital officials said on Saturday, the Associated Press (AP) reports. The four children and two women were among at least 13 people who were killed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes pounded the area starting late on Friday, officials in Al-Aqsa Martyr’s hospital said.Another four people were killed in strikes near a fuel station, and 15 others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser hospital. The Israeli military said in a statement that over the past 48 hours, troops struck approximately 250 targets in the Gaza Strip, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and additional Hamas infrastructure sites. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago 28 Palestinians including children killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza

Hospital officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 28 Palestinians in Gaza including four children

Events

4 d. ago The Guardian view on Starmer and Macron’s channel crossings deal: safe routes hold the key to future progress | Editorial

The government has hailed its ‘one in, one out’ migrant returns deal as a breakthrough. But awkward questions over its implementation remainTo use a football analogy that he might appreciate, the first year of Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership has been a game of two halves. Domestically, grievous strategic mistakes have been made. On the foreign stage, however, an approach that Sir Keir likes to style as “quiet, serious diplomacy” has yielded some tangible results.For the most part, this week’s state visit by Emmanuel Macron further showcased the benefits of leaving behind the blowhard politics of the post-Brexit years. Sir Keir and the French president used the occasion to pledge greater cooperation on security and strengthened their joint commitment to safeguarding Ukraine’s future as a sovereign independent state. But the biggest take-away from Mr Macron’s trip launched the prime minister straight back into toxic domestic terrain.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this a...

Politics

4 d. ago The Guardian view on The Salt Path scandal: memoirists have a duty to tell the truth | Editorial

In an era of misinformation, trust in publishers is more important than ever“All autobiographies are lies,” George Bernard Shaw wrote in 1898. “I do not mean unconscious, unintentional lies: I mean deliberate lies.” The veracity of autobiographical writing is under scrutiny once again following allegations that the bestselling memoir The Salt Path is not quite the “unflinchingly honest” account of one couple’s triumph over adversity as billed.Even if you are not one of the two million people to have bought the book, and haven’t seen the film released this summer, you will doubtless know the story of a couple’s 630-mile journey along the South Coast Way after facing homelessness and a diagnosis of terminal illness. Published in 2018, The Salt Path struck a chord during lockdown as readers discovered the solace of walking and nature during the pandemic. But this tale of wild-camping and the kindness of strangers, not to mention the seemingly miraculous healing powers of...

Politics

5 d. ago Israeli strike kills 10 children queuing at Gaza medical clinic, officials say

Aid groups call strike ‘blatant violation of international humanitarian law’ while ceasefire talks continue

Events

5 d. ago The Guardian view on Ukraine’s future: Putin may be gaining ground, but he is not winning | Editorial

As Russia intensifies its brutal assault, morale is battered but unbroken. European solidarity must remain strong tooEuropean leaders gathered in Rome on Thursday for a conference on Ukrainian recovery, but endurance remains the priority. Russia has intensified its assault with punishing strikes far beyond the frontline – including a record 728 drones and 13 missiles one day before the conference. The UN said that civilian casualties last month were at their highest for three years, with at least 232 people killed and 1,343 injured.Russia’s brutal offensive aims to break Ukraine’s spirit and European solidarity. Even Donald Trump appears to be realising, with encouragement, that Moscow is not interested in peace. For Mr Trump, maximalism is a negotiating tactic; he does not recognise that for Vladimir Putin it reflects a fixation. Yet this week he acknowledged: “We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”...

Politics

5 d. ago Israeli strike kills at least 10 children queueing for medical treatment in Gaza

Children among at least 15 killed in attack that NGO says was ‘blatant violation of international humanitarian law’At least 15 people, including 10 children, have been killed by an Israeli strike as they queued outside a medical point in central Gaza, amid intensifying Israeli attacks that left 82 people dead across the strip.The uptick in Israeli bombing came as negotiators said a Gaza ceasefire deal was in sight, but not yet achieved. Continue reading...

Events