Plus: New Hampshire votes in Republican primary, and is Kim Jong Un actually preparing for war?
| | | | | | | Hello. Today I bring you updates from Israel and Gaza, where 24 Israeli soldiers have been killed in a day. Monday has been the deadliest day for the country's forces since the beginning of the war. We have other stories on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and a Mexican giraffe called Benito. And as New Hampshire Republicans will be choosing between Nikki Haley and Donald Trump today, I invite you to subscribe to our upcoming newsletter, US Election Unspun. Starting next week, our North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher will help you make sense of what matters in US politics. You can sign up here. |
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| | | | Top of the agenda | | Israeli army faces its heaviest daily loss in Gaza | | | | Israeli President Isaac Herzog said it had been an "unbearably difficult morning" learning about the extent of the death toll. Credit: Reuters |
| | Monday was the deadliest day since October 7 for Israeli forces in Gaza after 24 of its soldiers were killed in the centre of the Strip. Chief spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Daniel Hagari, said it is thought a rocket-propelled grenade hit a tank near two buildings they were in, killing 21 reservists. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the deaths on Monday as "one of the most difficult days since the war erupted". The IDF said it was still investigating the details of the incident and confirmed that three officers were killed in a separate attack in southern Gaza. Also in the south of the Strip, dozens of people are reported to have been killed in intense Israeli strikes on Khan Younis, as battles between soldiers and Hamas fighters rage on the ground. The city has been a recent focus of Israeli forces, who are convinced top Hamas commanders are holed up there. | | | | |
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| | | | | | World headlines | | • | US election: Voters in New Hampshire head to the polls today, as Donald Trump faces his last remaining Republican opponent, Nikki Haley, in a primary election. | | • | Ukraine war: Four people have been killed and dozens of others wounded in Russian missile attacks targeting the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and second biggest city Kharkiv, according to officials. | | • | US mass shooting: Romeo Nance, a gunman suspected of killing eight people in the city of Joliet, Illinois, has died after a confrontation with law enforcement officials in Texas, police say. | | • | Canadian migration: Immigration Minister Marc Miller has said Canada will cap the number of foreign students admitted to the country for two years, in an attempt to address pressure on housing and healthcare in the country. | | • | Not his neck of the woods: A giraffe named Benito has left his home in Mexico's arid north to begin a 2,000km-trip (1,200 miles) to more temperate climates further south. Take a look at his purpose-built 5m-tall container. |
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| | AT THE SCENE | Alabama, US | | Death row is 'torture' ahead of untested procedure | | Kenneth Eugene Smith is set to become the first person in the US to be executed by nitrogen gas. As he spends his final days on death row, he says he is haunted by thoughts of the untested procedure. | | | | The first time Kenneth Eugene Smith was about to die, Alabama's executioners had several hours to kill him. They bound the condemned man to a gurney in the so-called "death chamber" of Holman Correctional Facility and tried to inject him with a lethal blend of chemicals. But they failed. Unable to raise a vein, which Smith's lawyers said left him with numerous incisions, they abandoned the attempt as the clock hit midnight and the state's death warrant expired. That was November 2022. Now, Alabama will try to kill him again. |
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| | | | Beyond the headlines | | Is Kim Jong Un actually considering war? | | | | Experts agree that Kim Jong Un's increased bluster can't be ignored and his regime has grown more dangerous. Credit: KCNA |
| | Experts on North Korea tend to be cautious by nature, and rarely draw definitive conclusions from the pariah state's propaganda. So when two eminent American analysts said last week that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was preparing for war, their text sparked a massive debate among the small community of experts on the country. Most analysts disagree with the two authors, however. | | | | |
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| | | | Something different | | More than a pretty picture | | The Travel Photographer of the Year competition has announced its winners. | | |
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| | | | And finally... | | A football card showing a player believed to be the world's first black professional footballer has been sold for a record £26,800 ($34,071). The figurine representing Arthur Wharton, who moved to the UK at 18 from Ghana, was sold to an American bidder. |
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– Andy |
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