France will recognize Palestinian statehood
President Emmanuel Macron announced yesterday that France would recognize a state of Palestine, becoming the first of the Group of 7 major industrialized nations to do so.
In a surprise statement on X, Macron said that he would make the formal announcement at the U.N. General Assembly in September in New York. The move is likely to irritate President Trump as he makes his own moves to try to end the war in Gaza. Most countries recognize a Palestinian state, but the U.S. and most of its close allies do not.
“Today the most urgent thing is that the war in Gaza cease and the civilian population be helped,” Macron said.
After 21 months of devastating war, the lack of available food and water in Gaza is taking a heavy toll on the most vulnerable — the young, the old and the sick. The World Food Program said this week that a third of Gaza’s population was “not eating for multiple days in a row.”
Gaza’s hospitals have struggled to cope with those wounded by Israeli airstrikes and, more recently, by Israeli shootings meant to disperse desperate crowds near food convoys and at aid distribution sites. Now, doctors say that hunger is killing their patients and that the number of those dying of malnutrition has risen sharply in recent days.
Talks: The U.S. and Israel said they were pulling back their teams from cease-fire talks with Hamas. The U.S. special envoy said that “alternative options” would be explored to bring hostages home, but did not provide further details.
Israel: Amichay Eliyahu, an Israeli government minister, said yesterday that Israel had no duty to alleviate hunger in Gaza and that it was seeking to expel Gaza’s population.
| Thai military vehicles in eastern Thailand yesterday. Lillian Suwanrumpha/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
Thailand and Cambodia clashed on the border
Thai officials said that at least 11 civilians and a soldier were killed yesterday in an exchange of fire along the disputed border with Cambodia. The clashes were the worst hostilities between Cambodia and Thailand in more than a decade.
Both countries accused the other of firing first. The Thai army said that Cambodia had fired rockets into civilian areas in four Thai provinces, prompting Thailand to order the evacuation of border areas and to send F-16 fighter jets to strike targets in Cambodia. Cambodian officials said that Thai soldiers had opened fire on Cambodian troops first, at Prasat Ta Muen Thom, a temple claimed by both countries.
Tensions between the two countries have been high since late May after the death of a Cambodian soldier in a border skirmish. The dispute escalated on Wednesday when a Thai soldier lost his leg in a land mine explosion at the border. Here’s what else to know about the fighting.
Disputed territory: The border in Surin, the northeastern Thai province that is at the center of the fighting, has been contested for years. Surin is known for being home to ruins from the Khmer Empire, which flourished from around the ninth to the 13th century.
Why China is falling behind SpaceX
This was supposed to be the year that China was to start catching up to SpaceX, but the efforts are falling short. China’s two biggest networks have deployed about 120 satellites, less than 1 percent of what they planned, records show. In contrast, SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company, has about 8,000 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit.
In the video above, Selam Gebrekidan explains why China is lagging behind. Click to watch.
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| MORNING READ |
Matcha has been growing in popularity worldwide for years, particularly among health-conscious consumers. But in the past year, demand for the Japanese powdered green tea has surged to dizzying levels, largely because of buzz on social media.
The matcha industry is ill-equipped to deal with the frenzy: Many of Japan’s farms, which produce tea leaf for matcha, are small family-run operations.
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| Tadej Pogacar ahead of Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday. Anne-Christine Poujoulat/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
Nearing a Tour de France win, and GOAT status
The Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar is looking unstoppable and on track to win his fourth Tour de France this weekend, as the race approaches its finish line in Paris. Even his longtime rival, Jonas Vingegaard, has been unable to mount a meaningful challenge from second place.
Victory would cement Pogacar’s status as the best rider of his generation, and reignite debate over whether he, at just 26, deserves to be called the greatest of all time.
For years, much of the cycling world agreed that the Belgian superstar Eddy Merckx was the sport’s GOAT after his dominance in the 1970s. But Pogacar appears to be on his way to steal that title, if he hasn’t already. Here’s the latest from the Tour.
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