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Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it ‘gets in the way’ of Iran deal as Kushner meets Netanyahu – as it happened

US president Donald Trump on Monday threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of a deal with Iran on the strait of Hormuz and called for Iran to surrender. Referring to ongoing talks between Oman and Iran on control of the strait, while Washington is also pursuing its own talks, Trump told Fox News journalist Trey Yingst: “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them.” Two Iranian drones targeted the Iraqi Kurdistan prime minister’s office and the home of the autonomous region’s intelligence chief overnight, authorities said on Monday. Masrour Barzani said that an investigation by the region’s counter-terrorism unit found that his “personal office and the home of the head of the Security and Intelligence Agency were targeted by Iranian drone attacks earlier today”. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said on Monday that a 60-day deadline for negotiations included in June’s memorandum of understanding was “irrelevant” because the US had violated the deal early on. “We did not begin any negotiations because, a few weeks after the signing, widespread violations of the agreement began, thereby rendering the 60-day provision irrelevant,” he said. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US envoy Jared Kushner discussed putting an American general in charge of verifying Hamas’s disarmament on Monday, an Israeli official said, as the premier insisted there would be no pullout from Gaza until then. Kushner, president Donald Trump’s son-in-law, flew to the region after Netanyahu, facing a tough re-election fight, publicly rejected the latest part of a US plan aimed at ending the devastating Gaza war. Israeli flags planted on a main coastal highway in southern Lebanon are a violation of a UN security council resolution, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said on ⁠Monday, urging all sides ⁠to avoid “provocative actions“. Israel’s military invaded a swathe of southern Lebanon during a war with Hezbollah earlier this year, establishing a self-declared security zone it says aims to shield northern Israel from attacks ⁠by the Iran-backed group. Yemen’s Houthi rebels said on Monday they had targeted a Saudi military vessel and four accompanying boats in the Red Sea as part of their maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia. Yahya Saree, military spokesperson for the Iran-backed group, said it had “succeeded in targeting a military landing ship belonging to the Saudi enemy, accompanied by four military patrol boats, in the Red Sea off the coast of Mokha, using several ballistic missiles”. Israeli soldiers have stood guard as bulldozers demolished a Palestinian building in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Authorities cited the apparent lack of a building permit to justify the destruction in Qalandia, south of Ramallah. The UN rights chief voiced alarm Monday at the rising civilian toll of escalating hostilities in Yemen, urging restraint and an immediate de-escalation to avoid plunging the country back into a full-scale war. “I urge all parties to halt immediately any actions that risk returning Yemen to full-scale conflict,” Volker Türk said in a statement, as renewed fighting between the Houthi rebels and the government undermined a 2022 truce. Eight Muslim-majority countries have condemned Israel for rejecting Trump’s Gaza roadmap, saying it “fundamentally undermines the collective efforts undertaken to achieve a just and lasting peace.” The joint statement – signed by Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan – was issued during Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner’s visit to the Middle East.

Holy water: nuns fight Italian town’s plans to take away their beach club

A group of Italian nuns is fighting back against local council plans to take their beach club away from them – the latest flashpoint in the long-running debate about the monopoly of private concessions along Italy’s coastline. The dispute, described as “a holy war” by some local press, unfolded when a 50-metre stretch of sand at Bagni Gino Garrone, a beach resort in the Ligurian coastal town of Spotorno managed by nuns from the Suore di Carità di Santa Maria order, was designated for public bidding by authorities as they seek to comply with EU beach concession laws as well as regional regulations on free beach quotas. The nuns have been managing the resort since 1946 after being exempt from standard commercial rules because they were using the proceeds for charitable purposes, including funding an infant school they still run in Spotorno and a summer beach camp. For decades they have been renting out loungers and umbrellas, so operating much like thousands of other private beach concessions, the difference being – they claim – that the proceeds go to fund their charitable activities. However, with the regulation governing beach use for social missions no longer existing, they were told by Spoturno’s mayor, Mattia Fiorini, that the concession would be reclassified as a “free equipped beach” and if they wanted to continue running it they would have to compete in a public tender. During a public debate on the topic, Sister Miranda, a nun in her 80s, challenged Fiorini. “It’s ours,” she was quoted as saying by the Turin edition of Corriere della Sera. “Why does the municipality want to take away our beach? If they do, we won’t even be able to keep the school running.” Operating it as a “free equipped beach”, meaning access is completely free and people can choose to pay a small sum to rent loungers and umbrellas if they wish, would be considerably less profitable, the nuns argued. Fiorini said if they wanted to continue managing the concession “they must participate in the tender, like everyone else”. The tender is due to be issued in the autumn. The mayor’s plan means Spoturno could be among the first municipalities in Italy to meet a 30 June 2027 deadline for the country to put its current private beach concessions out to public tender, as per the EU’s Bolkestein directive. For two decades, successive Italian governments – under pressure from powerful beach concession owners fearful of losing the often lucrative business – have resisted the competition rules. Giorgia Meloni’s government was forced to agree to the deadline amid pressure from Brussels and domestic court rulings.

Netanyahu and Kushner talks make no breakthrough on stalled Gaza deal

Benjamin Netanyahu has told Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner there can be no progress on the stalled Gaza ceasefire deal or an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal strip until Hamas first disarms. An Israeli official said there had been no breakthrough in ‌the meeting between the pair, saying Netanyahu had made it clear the IDF would not withdraw and would continue to carry out operations in Gaza. On Sunday, Kushner had met Hamas’s political chief in Egypt, where Hamas insisted Israel must first withdraw its troops from the 60% of Gaza that Israel occupies. Monday’s three-hour meeting in Israel came after Netanyahu had forcefully rejected a week earlier the US-backed 15-point roadmap to move the ceasefire deal in Gaza forward. In the meeting with Kushner, Netanyahu once again insisted there could be no Israeli withdrawal or reconstruction without full Hamas disarmament, and the Israeli prime minister requested that a US general supervise the group’s handover of weapons. A statement from Netanyahu’s office said: “The prime minister and Board of Peace had deep and constructive discussions. It was agreed to establish two working groups, one on disarmament and demilitarisation of Gaza, which both Israel and the Board of Peace are determined should be prompt and completed before any reconstruction happens in Gaza.” In a separate statement, a Board of Peace official said the meeting was “lengthy, in depth and very productive”. They said: “We agreed with the PM on a path forward. The Israelis are going to give this a chance. Now it’s up to Hamas to show if it truly intends to comply.” The timing of the meeting, which also included Tony Blair and Nickolay Mladenov, who both sit on Trump’s self-styled Board of Peace, was not auspicious. With Netanyahu struggling in the polls ahead of national elections later this year, Gaza – and Netanyahu’s role in events leading up to Hamas’s surprise attack on Israeli border communities on 7 October 2023 – remains a highly charged issue where Netanyahu is seen as vulnerable. According to the Haaretz newspaper, the meeting ended with the US agreeing that Israel could continue striking Gaza, apparently contradicting a statement from Trump earlier on Monday that Israel “should not be striking in Gaza”. While Hamas says it has agreed to the roadmap, which includes disarmament, the group is urging mediators and the Board of Peace to compel Israel to sign on. Officials from the mediating countries Egypt, Qatar and Turkey were also present. Israel, which under the roadmap must gradually withdraw from Gaza, insists Hamas must fully disarm before any Israeli withdrawal, a sequence representing a long-term impasse. Instead, Israeli troops continue to occupy about 60% of the strip and Netanyahu has previously threatened to take over more. A day earlier, Kushner met Hamas’s political chief, Khalil al-Hayya, for talks about disarmament, according to a regional official and a Hamas official who both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to reporters. The Hamas official said the group was committed and waiting for mediators to start the 14-day negotiation period to work out a timetable for implementation. That period requires all parties’ approval of the roadmap to begin. The Hamas official also said the Hamas leader demanded that Israel halt its attacks on Gaza and withdraw to the so-called “yellow line” dividing the territory before beginning implementation. The yellow line was never precisely defined and Israeli forces have moved beyond it. According to reports in the Israeli media, Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Netanyahu’s unwillingness to advance the Gaza ceasefire plan, suggesting he has not fulfilled his commitments under the deal. The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Sunday that Kushner had been expected to bring a list of concrete measures that the Trump administration wanted to see fulfilled, including a halt to Israeli attacks in Gaza, advancing military withdrawal, and a significant increase in humanitarian aid. Analysts have noted that Trump’s subcontracting of critical US negotiations to a small coterie of amateur friends, associates and family members – both in the wider Middle East and in Ukraine – is undermining Washington’s diplomatic heft as allies and foes alike have sought to game the inexperienced envoys. At stake are the lives of about 2 million people in Gaza and reconstruction of the crowded territory now largely controlled by Israeli forces, more than 10 months since the ceasefire ended major military operations. While a meeting in Egypt last year between Kushner, his fellow envoy Steve Witkoff and Hamas leaders helped clinch the ceasefire, its progress until now had been stalled over the key issue of Hamas’s disarmament. Several regional powers including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s rejection of the roadmap, saying: “Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza.” Other signers included Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia and the ceasefire mediators. The foreign ministers’ statement called on the Board of Peace and the US to take “immediate and concrete measures” to keep any party from obstructing the plan’s implementation. In May, Netanyahu said the next step was to move to 70% control of Gaza, with Israel “tightening the grip” on Hamas “from every direction”. Israel has killed more than 1,200 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded more than 4,100 since agreeing to the ceasefire on 10 October 2025, according to Gaza’s health ministry. AFP, Reuters and AP contributed to this article

Niu Lai: derided animated film rivals blockbusters at Chinese box office

A crude, low-tech animation about a cow and a skylark has become a sleeper hit at China’s box office, sitting alongside blockbusters such as The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day in cinema revenue rankings. Niu Lai, which translates to The Cow is Coming, is an 86-minute budget animation about a newborn calf and a skylark whose relationship develops over the course of an abstract dream sequence. Released on 5 August, the film reportedly made just 7,700 yuan (£842) in its first 10 days of screenings, with fewer than 300 people nationwide buying a ticket. It did not have any promotional tour, pre-release publicity or even a trailer. But discussion online about how bad the film was turned it into a meme, which drove hordes of film fans to the cinema. It has now made more than 14.9m yuan, according to the movie tracking site Mao Yan, making it one of the top-performing films of the year. The Odyssey earned 192m yuan (£21m) across its official three-day opening weekend in China, coming in second place to the homegrown film Once Upon a Time in the Middle East, which tells the story of a Chinese chef who opens a restaurant in the Middle East as conflict erupts. The Chinese film took in 477.9m yuan between Friday and Sunday. Niu Lai’s success appears to stem less from its merits and more from its “so bad it’s good” energy. Made by just two people over five years, it is the antithesis of the slick, bedazzling animations that have drawn in huge crowds in China in recent years, such as Ne Zha 2. The film’s writers, directors, voice actors and producers are Xin Yumeng and Sun Lifang, who are reported to be a mother and son team. Niu Lai’s distributor was quoted in Chinese media as saying he had been advised against releasing the film because of its quality. But he persevered because he was a friend of the director, he said. Some film fans have praised the shoddy animation as a welcome tonic in the age of artificial intelligence. One user wrote on the film review website Douban: “In an era where AI is so popular, did the creative team choose a handcrafted, somewhat crude visual style to convey a sense of ‘returning to one’s true self?’” One film industry professional, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said Niu Lai was unique because it was “bad in every aspect imaginable, including the story, special effects and almost every element that a movie is expected to have”. “Ironically, this is exactly what attracted audience curiosity,” he said. Niu Lai’s success hasn’t been wholly welcomed by the film industry. Some commentators said Niu Lai’s popularity came at the expense of higher-quality productions. The film industry professional said Niu Lai’s success “feels like an embarrassment to the Chinese film industry”.

French PM booed on visit to wildfire-affected region as EU sends assistance to Belgium and Spain – as it happened

And, on that note, we will be closing the blog for today. French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu was booed on arrival to Le Porge, one of the towns most affected by the massive wildfire in the Gironde region last month (10:50), before unveiling his government’s plans to support the communities affected by the blaze, including €12m in aid (14:09). Lecornu also strongly pushed back against conspiracy theories and criticism of the firefighting efforts in the area (12:12), and warned about the climate-related risk of floods this autumn and winter (14:42). Meanwhile, Belgian firefighters were locked in fight against a blaze in the eastern part of the country on the border with Germany, successfully “limiting” its spread (11:25, 12:44, 16:21) as they called for more resources and international support (11:48, 13:04) on the day of King Philippe’s visit to the coordination centre (13:10). Over in Greece, firefighters fought back against local fires, eagerly awaiting the expected improvement in weather conditions in Tuesday after a bruising weekend of large blazes (10:26, 13:55, 17:02). If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

What is Ebola and why is the outbreak in DRC causing so much concern?

Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are losing their battle to contain the country’s deadliest Ebola outbreak. DRC’s health ministry declared an outbreak in Ituri province on 15 May, though sequencing shows it had begun in February. It has since spread to five other provinces and is on track to overtake the 2014-16 west Africa outbreak as the largest in history. As of Sunday, 2,325 people had died and the number of confirmed cases stood at 4,945, according to DRC government data. “Ebola is winning in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the UN humanitarian affairs chief, Tom Fletcher, said on Friday. “We cannot let the virus outrun our response.” Neighbouring Uganda, which recorded 20 cases and two deaths, was declared Ebola-free on 28 July. What is Ebola? Ebola is a highly contagious and often fatal disease. Caused by different viruses mostly associated with fruit bats, the infection often results in viral haemorrhagic fever. More than 40 outbreaks have been documented since it first emerged in 1976. This is the 17th outbreak in DRC. Outbreaks result from zoonotic spillover – animal to human transmission. Infected humans, which can include dead bodies, then pass on the disease to others through body fluids such as vomit, blood and semen. Symptoms include fever, fatigue, muscle pain and headache followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash and internal and external bleeding. It has a 50% death rate. There are four types or strains of Ebola that affect humans: Zaire, Sudan, Bundibugyo and Tai Forest. The latest outbreak involves the rare Bundibugyo virus. There have only been two previous outbreaks involving this strain, in 2007 and 2012. Why is this outbreak causing such concern? There are many factors, including the lack of a vaccine or treatment for this strain of Ebola, conflict, mistrust towards health workers in the affected areas, misinformation, and global development aid cuts. Clinical trials of two possible treatments for the Bundibugyo strain began last month, and two vaccines developed for it are being tested on people for the first time. While no vaccine is available, infection control usually involves bringing those affected into treatment centres to minimise transmission. This effort, however, is being stymied by attacks on healthcare facilities, often sparked by misinformation about safe burial practices, and fuelled in the longer term by the impact of decades of unrest and outside interference on traumatised communities. The outbreak is also centred on a mineral-rich region fought over by armed groups. The government still largely controls Ituri, but insecurity there had been worsening there before the outbreak was declared. Almost a million people in the province have been displaced by conflict, according to the UN’s humanitarian office. The outbreak has also spread south to rebel-held areas of North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, where the Rwandan-backed M23 group controls large swathes of the region. Humanitarian funding for DRC declined sharply in 2025, largely because the Trump administration froze foreign aid assistance to programmes funded through the state department, weakening local health systems and surveillance networks. Health workers at a treatment centre in Ituri went on strike recently, leading to its temporary closure, saying they had not been paid for three months. Why was the outbreak not detected sooner and why does that matter? The earliest-known suspected victim, a 59-year-old man, developed symptoms on 24 April and died three days later. Health authorities were only alerted to the outbreak through social media on 5 May. Fifty people had already died by then, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The World Health Organization (WHO) says sequencing now shows the outbreak had begun in February. Slow detection gave the outbreak time to spread. Any delay in responding to an Ebola outbreak “can have catastrophic consequences”, said Dr Anne Cori, an associate professor in infectious disease modelling at Imperial College London. Undetected outbreaks “can make standard control measures, such as contact tracing, considerably more difficult to implement effectively, especially in a setting which already faces other challenges such as conflict”. How big could this outbreak get? A lot bigger, potentially. It is on track to surpass the previous largest Ebola outbreak, when more than 28,600 people were infected and 11,325 died in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone between 2014 and 2016, according to WHO data. It is also the fastest-growing outbreak in the known history of Ebola. It took almost five months for the west Africa outbreak to reach 1,000 deaths, compared with more than 2,000 deaths in less than three months in this outbreak. The head of the WHO’s emergency response division, Abdirahman Mahamud, said recently that if the response was implemented at the same time across the five transmission zones, a turnaround in three months might be expected. But even with that response, he said the outbreak would not peak for six months under a “moderate” scenario and that it could last as long as 12 months.

Bird flu has devastated wildlife around the world. What Australian birds are most at risk?

The deadly H5 bird flu that has devastated wildlife populations globally since 2021 is spreading across Australia. The federal government announced the first vaccination plans for captive native bird species last week and the Victorian government has moved to vaccinate wild little penguins after the first detections in terns on Phillip Island. On Saturday, the state government announced the death of a little penguin on the island, the first confirmed case of H5 bird flu in the species. But for those who don’t live in communities in southern Australia on the frontline of the highly pathogenic virus, the possibility that they will at some point see the severe consequences of H5 bird flu for native birds might not have registered. There is a level of uncertainty about how native species will be affected as they are exposed to the deadly strain for the first time. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Here are the birds experts are most concerned about – including some of Australia’s most common and loved species. Silver gull (seagull) The silver gull – or seagull – is in the “high risk” category of a government assessment of the potential effects of H5 bird flu on every Australian bird and mammal species. High risk means where infections occur, the species faces potentially severe drops in population sizes or viability. When the first cases in seagulls were detected in South Australia in late July, it was viewed by experts as a new front for the spread of the virus. This is because gulls are highly mobile and found in high numbers all over the country, including wetlands, inland and cities. They gather in flocks and are scavengers – two things known to increase transmission. They are also a bird that many Australians interact with regularly. “I really am concerned about them being one species where we will see large or mass mortality because they are scavengers and they’re also very close to our big cities,” says Prof Richard Kingsford, director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science at the University of NSW. “I think seagulls will be the species that will most likely make the impact of bird flu hit home for the public.” White-bellied sea eagle In the United States, hundreds of bald eagles have died from H5 bird flu, with severe effects on breeding populations in some areas. In Australia, the white-bellied sea eagle fills a “similar niche”, says Chris Purnell, BirdLife Australia’s wetland bird and migratory shorebird program manager. Like the bald eagle, white-bellied sea eagles are quite common. Their range extends from southern Australia up to south-east Asia. In some parts of the country, such as Victoria and South Australia, local populations of white-bellied sea eagles are already in decline. Purnell says the white-bellied sea eagle’s feeding behaviours – including eating potentially infected birds – could expose it to the virus. “It mostly takes fish but will also regularly take waterfowl, which has been a major factor in bald eagle deaths overseas,” Purnell says. Australian fairy tern The first signs that H5 bird flu was spreading among local birds came when dead or unwell greater crested terns – a common Australian seabird – began appearing on beaches in South Australia. The first mass mortalities from bird flu in Australia have been among greater crested terns in SA and Victoria. Tern species globally have suffered large losses from the virus. BirdLife Australia holds particular concern for another tern species – the Australian fairy tern – which is listed as vulnerable under national nature laws because it has already experienced declines. One of Australia’s smallest seabirds, the fairy tern can share habitat with greater crested terns and even have neighbouring colonies. But there are fewer fairy terns and a higher proportion of the population congregates across fewer sites for breeding. This means the risk H5 poses to fairy terns is greater, with the possibility not only for deaths of birds but longer-term breeding impacts. In the government risk assessment, Australian fairy terns were rated “very high”, signalling potential for very severe population reductions. Purnell points to Victoria, where “our whole population of fairy terns descended on one breeding site last year”. “You’ve got a whole regional population which could accumulate in one site,” Purnell says. “If a gull flew in, dropped the virus in there and then flew off, then that could potentially impact the whole breeding population within that site.” Australian pelican Kingsford says the first sign H5 bird flu has affected Australia’s waterbirds could come through the country’s beloved pelicans. Waterbirds are highly susceptible to bird flu because they gather in large numbers for breeding and feeding. They also move vast distances between inland and coastal Australia. Flocks of sometimes tens of thousands of pelicans will breed in rookeries in inland Australia when conditions are right. “If it gets into these big breeding rookeries of pelicans, it will be devastating,” Kingsford says. There’s also potential for pelicans to be affected in a wide range of places from the coast to the bush. “Everyone loves pelicans, so this will be really upsetting for the general public.” Black swan Australia’s famous black swans are considered highly susceptible to H5 bird flu because they lack some of the immune genes that have helped other waterbirds combat the virus. They can breed in isolated pairs or in rookeries. Like pelicans, they can gather in large flocks and travel vast distances, increasing the possibilities for spread of the virus. Genomic research published in 2023 found black swans lacked the necessary components to detect H5N1. They also had a heightened inflammatory response when cells were infected. This means if they become infected, they could suffer widespread deaths, says the University of Queensland’s Prof Kirsty Short, who led the research. “You can think of black swans as a sentinel species. If there’s H5N1 in the area, black swans are likely to succumb to the infection,” she says. “They’re such an iconic species that it’s going to be noticed.” Brolga The brolga is one of Australia’s two native crane species and has deep cultural significance for Indigenous communities. A gregarious bird, famous for its courtship dance, the brolga is widespread across parts of northern and eastern Australia. But in Victoria it has been reduced to an isolated population of about 600 to 700 birds. Internationally, thousands of birds in the crane family have died from H5 bird flu. During winter, brolgas can flock together in groups of hundreds of birds. Purnell says if one or two birds were to become infected during that time, “it could spread like wildfire”. “They’re a highly visible bird and known in rural communities. If they’re lost from the landscape, it will be felt within these communities.”