Netanyahu surprises Trump with formal Nobel Peace Prize nomination during historic White House meeting
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he had sent a letter to the Nobel Prize Committee to nominate President Donald Trump for the peace prize. Trump and Netanyahu met at the White House on Monday to discuss developments in the Middle East. While speaking to reporters, Netanyahu spoke about the relationship between Israel and the U.S. AFTER SETBACK TO IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM, TRUMP EXPECTED TO LEVERAGE MILITARY SUPPORT IN NETANYAHU MEETING “I want to express the appreciation and admiration not only of all Israelis, but of the Jewish people and many, many admirers around the world, for your leadership, your leadership of the free world, your leadership of a just cause, and the pursuit of peace and security,” he said. “The president has an extraordinary team, and I think our teams, together, make, an extraordinary combination to meet challenges and seize opportunities. “But the president has already realized great opportunities. He forged the Abraham Accords. He’s forging peace as we speak, in one country and one region after the other,” Netanyahu continued. “So, I want to present to you, Mr. President, the letter I sent to the Nobel Prize committee. It’s nominating you for the peace prize, which is well-deserved.” Trump accepted the letter, saying he was unaware of the nomination and thanking the prime minister. The nomination comes just weeks after the U.S. struck Iran’s nuclear program following previous strikes levied by Israel in an effort to end Tehran’s atomic ambitions. TOP IRANIAN CLERIC CALLS FOR TRUMP’S EXECUTION Trump on Monday said Iran was no longer the “bully of the Middle East” and said Tehran would be holding nuclear talks with the U.S. in the “next week or so.” Though when asked how negotiations with Hamas stood in a move to end the war in Gaza and return the hostages held there for over 630 days, neither the U.S. nor Israeli officials would comment on what the “hold up” was. When asked if there can be a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians – a policy the U.S. has long backed – Trump pushed the question to Netanyahu who said “overall security” will always remain in the hands of Israel. “I think Palestinians should have all the powers to govern themselves, but none of the powers should threaten us,” Netanyahu told reporters. “And that means that certain powers, like overall security, will always remain in our hands. “No one in Israel will agree to anything else, because we don’t commit suicide,” he added. The Israeli leader then said he believes that Jerusalem can establish “peace between us and the entire Middle East with President Trump’s leadership” in a direct nod to the president’s push to expand the Abraham Accords. Nations like Saudi Arabia have said they are uninterested in normalizing ties with Israel until peace is established for the Palestinians, but other nation’s positions on establishing diplomatic ties remains unclear. The U.S. Envoy for Lebanon and Syria suggested earlier on Monday that both nations could be looking to improve diplomatic relations. Trump said he removed sanctions on Syria this year to give them “a chance,” and suggested he would like to lift the “biting sanctions” on Iran as well. “I’d like to see Iran build itself back up in a peaceful manner, and not going around saying ‘Death to America, Death to the USA, Death to Israel,’ as they were doing,” he said. “They have such potential.”
Navy’s carrier fleet faces temporary reduction through 2027 as new ships hit development snags
The U.S. Navy will drop from 11 to 10 aircraft carriers for about a year once the USS Nimitz is decommissioned next year, as recent budget documents show a new carrier will be delayed from its original delivery date. According to the Department of Defense Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget estimates, Newport News Shipbuilders was expected to deliver the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) to the Navy by July 2025, but that has since shifted to March 2027. “The CVN 79 delivery date shifted from July 2025 to March 2027 (preliminary acceptance TBD) to support completion of Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) certification and continued Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE) work,” FY 2026 shipbuilding budget book reads. Both the Advanced Arresting Gear certification and Advanced Weapons Elevator work are systems that were incorporated into the Ford class carriers. INSIDE AMERICA’S 6TH-GEN ARSENAL: B-21, F-47, AND THE FUTURE OF AIR DOMINANCE HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia told USNI News that it is taking lessons learned and applying them with the new ships in its class. “Specifically, John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) construction was fairly advanced when many Ford lessons were realized, precluding timely implementation of lessons learned for Kennedy,” Todd Corillo, HII company spokesperson, told the publication. “In contrast, Enterprise (CVN 80) and Doris Miller (CVN 81) have been able to incorporate, leverage and capitalize on Ford lessons learned earlier in the construction process.” Also being shifted was the delivery of the USS Enterprise (CVN-80), which was expected to be delivered in September 2029, but has since been pushed back to July 2030. USS NIMITZ CARRIER STRIKE GROUP SAILING TOWARD MIDDLE EAST AHEAD OF SCHEDULE, US OFFICIAL SAYS “The CVN 80 delivery date shifted from September 2029 to July 203 due to delays in material availability and industry/supply chain performance,” the document’s footnotes read. USNI reported that the Navy originally planned to pursue a dual-phase delivery approach for the Kennedy but has since switched to a single-phase delivery, which added two additional years of work to the vessel’s design and construction contract. Under the new plans, the Kennedy would be outfitted to handle the fifth-generation F-35C Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II and be outfitted with the new Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar, USNI reported. SECOND NAVY FIGHTER JET GOES OVERBOARD FROM TRUMAN AIRCRAFT CARRIER, PILOTS EJECTED Officials originally thought the dual-phase approach would save the Navy money when it came to construction costs and by minimizing the downtime between the Nimitz decommissioning and Kennedy delivery. These delays come as the USS Nimitz prepares to be decommissioned. Commissioned on May 3, 1975, the Nimitz is the oldest active aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy. It is currently on its final sea voyage in the Middle East, as the Nimitz is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2026. The deployment is significant because the Nimitz was also deployed in 1980 when its helicopters were part of the failed U.S. effort known as Operation Eagle Claw to rescue the American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The U.S. has been in a shadow war against Iran ever since. Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
Some wealthy New York elites surprisingly back NYC socialist candidate who wants to tax them more
Despite his socialist proposals, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has several millionaires backing his candidacy amid his calls to tax the wealthy to fund expansive social programs. James Hueston, a 27-year-old venture capitalist, is part of a group called the Mamdani Millionaires in a Wall Street Journal piece published Monday. “In my eyes, I should absolutely be paying my fair share for the people that need it,” Hueston told the newspaper. “I don’t think that he’s increasing taxation for the sake of it. I think that he’s doing it to fund very explicitly good policies.” SOCIALIST’S NYC MAYORAL WIN SPARKS FIERCE DEBATE OVER FEASIBILITY OF RADICAL POLICY AGENDA Voting data showed that about a third of the city’s wealthiest residents supported Mamdani in the primary, the New York Post reported. Many donors, some from Wall Street and large law firms, have remained anonymous. Other high-earning supporters of Mamdani include Ahmed Haque, the founder and CEO of consulting firm Didactic Labs. “For immigrants coming to this country, these small businesses represent the single path for upward mobility that they have,” he said. Bradley Tusk, a venture capitalist who ran Michael Bloomberg’s third campaign for mayor of New York City, wrote on LinkedIn that New Yorkers should “do what we can to help him succeed.” SOCIALIST MAYORAL CANDIDATE ZOHRAN MAMDANI UNDER FIRE FOR PLAN TO TAX ‘RICHER AND WHITER NEIGHBORHOODS’ In an Instagram post, Keith McNally, owner of Balthazar, a French restaurant, called Mamdani “fantastic.” “More so, when my affluent, paranoid friends tell me Mamdani’s dangerous,” he wrote. Kathy Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a major business group, told The Journal that she met with Mandani in September, long before his candidacy was taken seriously. “I’m not in favor of government taking over your business,” Wylde recalled him telling her. She added that “he has already acknowledged that the housing crisis is only going to be addressed if there’s an increase in private supply. So he’s not just talking about social or socialized housing solutions.”
Socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s SAT score revealed: report
After it was reported that democratic socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani identified as “Asian” and “Black/African American” in his application to Columbia University, his SAT scores were revealed to be below the median score for students admitted into the school, according to a new report. Independent journalist Christopher Rufo reported on Monday that, according to Mamdani’s full Columbia application, he scored 2140 out of 2400 on the SAT, which is below the median score of students admitted to the university in 2009. A 2009 statement by the university said that students admitted into the Class of 2013 scored between 2110 and 2300 on the SAT, which would have placed Mamdani within the range but below the median. Mamdani has said he identifies as “an American who was born in Africa,” and stated that checking multiple boxes was an effort to reflect his “complex background,” not to gain an advantage in the competitive admissions process. DEM SOCIALIST’S NYC PRIMARY UPSET SIGNALS ‘GENERATIONAL’ SHIFT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY, STRATEGISTS SAY But at the time, Columbia, like many elite universities, used race-conscious admissions, a system the Supreme Court struck down in 2023. Mamdani, who is the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, identified as “Black or African American” on his 2009 Columbia University application even though he now says he does not consider himself Black, The New York Times reported Thursday. According to The Times, the internal data came from a leaked database of past Columbia applications which was part of a recent hack targeting the Ivy League school. Mamdani, then a high school senior, also checked “Asian” and reportedly wrote in “Ugandan” in the space for additional background. He was ultimately not accepted to Columbia even though his father is a professor at the elite school. NYC MAYORAL FRONTRUNNER ZOHRAN MAMDANI’S PROFESSOR FATHER CLAIMED HITLER INSPIRED BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN “Even though these boxes are constraining,” Mamdani said, “I wanted my college application to reflect who I was.” Mamdani told The Times that aside from those college forms, he doesn’t recall ever identifying as Black or African American. RESURFACED VIDEO SHOWS NYC MAYORAL HOPEFUL SAYING HE WANTS TO REPLACE PRIVATE HOMES WITH COMMUNAL LIVING His parents are both of Indian descent. His father, Columbia professor Mahmood Mamdani, has lived in East Africa for generations, but Mamdani said there had been no intermarriage in the family with native African groups. Mamdani has leaned into his South Asian and Muslim identity on the campaign trail. During a June speech at Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, he also stressed his African roots: “I was born in Kampala, Uganda… I was given my middle name, Kwame, by my father, who named me after the first Prime Minister of Ghana.” Mamdani has proposed a list of policy changes to radically alter New York City more in line with his democratic socialist vision. He is running to unseat incumbent New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was elected as a Democrat but is now running for re-election as an independent. Former New York Democratic Mayor Andrew Cuomo is also running for mayor as an independent. Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani and Columbia University for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication.
Cuomo, Adams trade shots over who should drop out in race against Mamdani for NYC mayor
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and current New York City Mayor Eric Adams are each urging the other to drop their mayoral bids in the 2025 race against Democratic Party nominee Zohran Mamdani. “I think that everyone should align behind the person who has won one as mayor,” Adams said Monday at a news conference. Meanwhile, Cuomo’s top advisor argued in a statement that “we do not see any path to victory for Mayor Adams.” Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist assemblyman from Queens, two weeks ago topped Cuomo by 12 points to win the Democratic Party mayoral primary. Mamdani instantly became the clear frontrunner in November’s general election in heavily blue New York City, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by roughly a six-to-one margin. MAMDANI OFFICIALLY WINS PRIMARY, BUT CUOMO STAYING IN BATTLE FOR NEW YORK CITY MAYOR With his victory over Cuomo and nine other Democratic candidates, Mamdani sent political shockwaves across the country, and took a big step towards becoming the first Muslim mayor of the nation’s most populous city. Cuomo, the three-term governor who resigned from office in 2021 amid multiple scandals and who was aiming for a political comeback, had been the frontrunner in the mayoral primary race for months until Mamdani closed the gap in the closing weeks of the campaign. MAMDANI’S POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE ROCKS DEMOCRATS Mamdani will face off in November against Republican Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the volunteer crime-fighting patrols known as the Guardian Angels. Sliwa is the GOP nominee for a second straight election cycle. Jim Walden, a former federal prosecutor running as an independent, is also on the ballot. Adams, who won election as mayor in 2021 as a Democrat, is running as an independent. The mayor dropped his Democratic re-election bid earlier this year amid sinking poll numbers in the wake of multiple controversies. While he acknowledged Mamdani’s victory on primary night, Cuomo left the door open for running as an independent candidate, which election rules in New York State permit. REPUBLICANS USE MAMDANI BOMBSHELL VICTORY OVER CUOMO AS AMMUNITION TO BLAST DEMOCRATS AS EXTREMISTS And Cuomo recently let a deadline pass for candidates who had already qualified to run as independents to decline that independent ballot line. “I think Andrew and Curtis should rally behind me. I won as mayor. You know, I’m the only one that’s in this race right now that has ever won as mayor,” Adams said at his news conference. And in an interview with CNBC, Adams said that in a recent conversation, the former governor asked him to step aside. “I said, ‘Andrew, are you that level of arrogant? I’m the sitting mayor!’” Adams said of his conversation with Cuomo. “I’m the sitting mayor of New York City when you just lost to Zohran by 12 points.” “They heard your message. You lost,” Adams added. “That’s the highest level of arrogance.” THESE DEMOCRATS HAVEN’T ENDORSED MAMDANI, BUT THEY’RE DEFENDING HIM AGAINST TRUMP Adams’ poll numbers were sinking even before he was indicted last year on five counts, which accused the mayor of bribery and fraud as part of an alleged “long-running” scheme to personally profit from contacts with foreign officials. The mayor made repeated overtures to President Donald Trump, and the Justice Department earlier this year dismissed the corruption charges, so Adams could potentially work with the Trump administration on its illegal immigration crackdown. “Mayor Adams did not run in the Democratic primary because he knew he was anathema to Democrats and unelectable. Nothing has changed,” top Cuomo advisor Rich Azzopardi charged in a statement on Monday. And Azzopardi highlighted a proposal made last week by Walden that an independent study should be conducted to see which candidate would be the strongest to take on Mamdani, with the weaker contenders agreeing to drop out. Azzopardi argued that Walden “correctly points out that if he, Mayor Adams, and Governor Cuomo all run, it all but ensures a socialist victory. Jim proposed a fair independent survey be taken in September to determine whose candidacy and vision for New York is strongest in a one-on-one race in November.” “This is the time to put aside the usual political selfishness and agree to do what is truly best for all New Yorkers,” Azzopardi added. “While we review this proposal, we call on other candidates to do the same.” Walden on Monday said in an interview on Fox News Radio’s “Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla” that a Mamdani victory in November “would be terrible for the city and would sit us back a whole generation so I proposed a poll in either late September early October.” “If the candidates agreed to this we would all agree on a poll that would happen and it would be winner take all,” he explained. Mamdani surged to a primary victory thanks to an energetic campaign that put a major focus on affordability and New York City’s high cost of living. Endorsements from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — New York City’s most prominent progressive — and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the two-time Democratic presidential runner-up, helped Mamdani solidify support on the left. Mamdani made smart use of social media platforms, including TikTok, as he engaged low-propensity voters. He proposed eliminating fares to ride New York City’s vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) “tuition-free,” freezing rents on municipal housing, offering “free childcare” for children up to age 5, and setting up government-run grocery stores. And thanks in part to the efforts of a massive grassroots army of volunteers, he rode a wave of support from younger and progressive voters to catapult into first place. Mamdani’s victory has reignited long-standing debates within the Democratic Party between its more moderate and progressive wings, and between outsiders and the establishment. And it’s reignited the debate over whether the party’s policy, or messaging, was to blame for last November’s election setbacks, when Democrats lost control of the White House and Senate, and failed to win back the House majority.
Shooter who opened fire on Border Patrol agents in South Texas identified by police chief
A shooter who allegedly opened fire on Border Patrol agents outside a federal building in McAllen, Texas, has been identified by authorities as 27-year-old Michigan resident Ryan Louis Mosqueda. An active shooter armed with tactical gear and a rifle opened fire upon Border Patrol agents as they arrived at a Border Patrol annex facility in McAllen, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley on Monday. Law enforcement believes the attack was a purposeful ambush targeting Border Patrol officials. In a press conference after the shooting, McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez identified the suspected shooter as Mosqueda, saying he allegedly opened fire on the agents, firing “many, many dozens of rounds” at the building. Rodriguez confirmed that the suspect was killed on the scene by agents returning fire. FEDERAL AGENTS CONDUCT IMMIGRATION RAID IN LOS ANGELES DESPITE FIERCE OPPOSITION FROM DEMOCRAT MAYOR According to the police chief, there is no known motive yet for why Mosqueda allegedly opened fire on Border Patrol agents. He said the suspect is associated with an address in Michigan and that he arrived at the scene driving a vehicle with Michigan plates. He also mentioned that the suspect’s car had spray-painting on it with “some language on it,” possibly Latin, that he could not decipher. According to Rodriguez, Mosqueda was reported missing from an address in nearby Weslaco and “an hour and a few minutes later he was at this particular location, opening fire on a federal building.” RED STATES CONSIDER ‘ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ’ SPINOFFS AS WH URGES THEM TO FOLLOW DESANTIS’ LEAD: ‘LOTS OF BEARS’ In a statement emailed to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for FBI San Antonio said that McAllen police received calls of shots being heard by a local Border Patrol facility near the McAllen International Airport at approximately 5:53 a.m. The spokesperson said the armed suspect, who they did not identify as Mosqueda but rather an “adult male,” “engaged the law enforcement officers responding to the scene and officers returned fire.” According to the spokesperson, one responding officer was injured in the gunfire and was transported to a local hospital for treatment. The officer is now in stable condition. TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ BOLSTERS BORDER SECURITY BY $100 BILLION The FBI representative said there is “currently no threat to public safety that we are aware of” and that the investigation is ongoing. According to a statement by DHS on X, two officers and a Border Patrol employee were injured during the shooting, including one shot in the knee.
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Trump to meet with Netanyahu
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening… – After setback to Iran’s nuclear program, Trump expected to leverage military support in Netanyahu meeting – The battle over the ‘big, beautiful bill‘ moves from Capitol Hill to the campaign trail – Homan warns Democrats about anti-ICE rhetoric, says it is only a matter of time before agents are attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with President Donald Trump on Monday, just over two weeks after Washington levied strikes against Iran’s nuclear program in support of a previous military operation carried out by Jerusalem. But even as the pair appear to be relishing the reported success of the missions — which the Pentagon last week said had set back Tehran’s nuclear program by up to two years — several security issues remain on the table. Here’s what to expect from the talks Monday… READ MORE. SPENDING STANDOFF: Trump’s $5 trillion debt ceiling strategy could force Democrats to the negotiating table FAILING UP: Liberal critics question why architect of failed Biden foreign policy is advising ‘Project 2029’ ‘HONORABLE AMERICANS’: Border agent ambush shows Dems need to ‘tone down rhetoric,’ White House says, pushing AOC to meet with ICE ‘DEPRAVED LIE’: White House blasts Schumer, Democrats for ‘depraved lie’ blaming Trump for Texas flash flood FAMILY FIRST: Hunter Biden helped make campaign decisions, was major fixture in father’s orbit, author says SUMMIT SHOWDOWN: Trump threatens additional 10% tariffs on “anti-American” BRICS nations COURT IN SESSION: Judge to rule on motion to dismiss in high-stakes Abrego Garcia case hearing XINIS BRINGS HEAT: Judge Xinis grills Trump lawyers over plans to deport Abrego Garcia in high-profile hearing GAME ON: The battle over the “big, beautiful bill” moves from Capitol Hill to the campaign trail REGIME RESET: Sen. Steve Daines says regime change is the best long-term plan in Iran NEW CHAPTER?: Outgoing GOP Rep. Don Bacon expresses interest in presidency, governorship DANGEROUS LANGUAGE: Homan warns Democrats about anti-ICE rhetoric, says it is only a matter of time before agents are attacked SUPREME DECISION: What key battleground state Supreme Court’s rejection of congressional redistricting lawsuits means for midterms MOVE SPARKS BUZZ: Gavin Newsom is making a strategic visit to a key primary state, raising eyebrows ‘SHAMEFUL’: Dems, media hijack devastating Texas flooding to push ‘shameful’ climate change, anti-Trump narrative Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
Israeli settlers displace Palestinians with “new strategy”
Quotable “There’s a lot more settler violence than we saw a couple of months ago.” Read more Human rights activist Andrey X says that attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank are on the rise and that they’ve found a new method to displace Palestinians. Published On 7 Jul 20257 Jul 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
‘We are all Vietnamese and came to Germany to build a better life’
Berlin, Germany – In 1979, Kien Nghi Ha lived in Hanoi with his parents, who worked as electricians at a power plant, and his 12-year-old sister in one bedroom of a shared apartment. They shared the toilet and an outdoor kitchen area along with their neighbours. One of them, an elderly woman, would sometimes look after Ha, then seven years old, and his sister. He remembers the cool, smooth tiled floor offering comfort during the blistering summer heat. He would lie on it listening to the lively street noise and occasional sound of a tram beyond a green steel entrance door. Four years earlier, in 1975, North Vietnamese communist forces had defeated United States-aligned fighters in South Vietnam to take the whole country under a one-party system that remains in power today. Ha was part of an ethnically Chinese mixed Hoa Kieu minority. Communities like his, especially in the early post-war years, felt vulnerable. He remembers how children turned away from him after Vietnam invaded Cambodia, then an ally of China at that time in 1978, because of his heritage. “Some even threw stones at me. This was very shocking, and I didn’t understand at that time what was going on,” he said. Ha, then seven, pictured on the day he arrived with his family to West Berlin in 1979 after a trip via boat and plane [Courtesy: Kien Nghi Ha] The family decided to leave. His parents sold their valuables and embarked on a dangerous and costly trip by boat to Hong Kong. Despite no guarantees of safety, an estimated two million people would ultimately leave this way. Advertisement At that time, those who feared for their future under the new Communist authorities could choose to resettle in one of three countries – West Germany, Australia or the United States. The choice was not available for long. When his uncle left Vietnam just three months later, people were only allowed to migrate to the US. Ha’s parents opted for West Germany as they believed it offered a better work-life balance than the US. The fractures in Vietnam mirrored divisions in Germany, with North Vietnam backed by the USSR-aligned East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), and the capitalist West Germany supporting South Vietnam. After arriving in Hong Kong, the family travelled by plane to Frankfurt and then on to Tegel airport in West Berlin, where journalists were waiting, eager to document the country welcoming so-called “boat people”. “I don’t recall much from the arrival, but I do remember many journalists there wanting to take pictures of us,” Ha said. The family were provided an apartment within a social housing complex where thousands of people lived near the Berlin Wall on the west side. His father became a transport worker, while his mother was a cleaner in a children’s nursery. Compared with other social housing at the time, Ha says, the flat was in good condition, with central heating and individual toilets. But the transition was not easy. Ha felt isolated as one of the only children from a minority background in his primary school. A different path Within months of the war’s end, Vietnam signed diplomatic relations with the GDR, paving a different kind of path for Huong Mai to fly overseas a few years later. At 21, she left Hanoi for Moscow and then travelled to Schonefeld airport in East Berlin. She was among the first groups of contract workers and was soon employed at a factory that made drinking glasses. Now aged 64, Mai has a 27-year-old son and runs a textile shop in the town where she has lived since she arrived in the GDR. On April 30, Vietnam marked 50 years since the end of the war. For the large Vietnamese-German diaspora, who arrived as refugees and contract workers, this year’s milestones have stirred a sense of reflection. Mai said she felt joy on the anniversary. “My father resisted against the French colonialists, and then my older brother fought against the Americans. So, for me, the end of this war is very meaningful because of the blood that was shed by my family in all of these wars,” she said. Her brother followed in her footsteps, bringing his family to Germany in 2009. Advertisement His daughter, 26-year-old Dieu Ly Hoang, now lives in Prenzlauer Berg, which is coincidentally the same neighbourhood as Ha. It is a sought-after area of the German capital, formerly in the GDR, now home to cosy cafes, posh restaurants, yoga studios and affluent expatriate families where English is heard on the streets more than German. “It’s been a very important aspect for me to see what my family went through, and how resilient they have been. I know I’m very lucky not to have experienced an evacuation and I can’t imagine what it was like for my grandparents,” Ly said, as she recalled hearing stories about the wartime rations of rice. “I acknowledge the sacrifices they made to migrate for a better life so that I could be born and live in peace,” said Ly, an art historian. Ha, now 53 and a father to two sons, is a postdoctoral researcher in the Asian German diaspora at the University of Tubingen and holds a PhD in cultural studies. Friendly, open and knowledgeable of the complex history he is a part of, Ha also said the commemorative events have felt significant. “There’s an intellectual and cultural discussion going on through which we are trying to make sense of this history and what this history means for us living in the German-Vietnamese diaspora,” he said. “Questions pop up in private and public conversations, articles, books, and artworks. And knowing more about this history will improve our sense of self in German society, because we are able to discover more about a past that we, the younger generations, didn’t experience on a personal level. This allows us to connect the past with the present.” An estimated 35,000 refugees arrived in
Wildfires erupt across Mediterranean as heatwave worsens
Blazes break out in France, Greece, Turkiye and Syria, with several other nations on high alert amid warnings of scorching weather. Countries across the Mediterranean are battling fast-spreading wildfires and soaring temperatures as a heatwave sweeps through Southern Europe and parts of the Middle East, prompting evacuations and emergency alerts. Blazes broke out in Greece, Turkiye, France and Syria on Sunday, with several other nations on high alert as forecasters warned that the scorching weather would intensify in the coming days. From Spain to Italy, authorities urged residents to protect vulnerable people and avoid unnecessary travel during the region’s first severe heatwave of the summer. Emergency teams and ambulances were stationed near popular tourist destinations, while meteorologists warned that extreme heat events – supercharged by climate change – are becoming more frequent and intense. A firefighter walks past a burned house in Pikermi, east of Athens, Greece, July 3, 2025 [George Vitsaras/EPA] In western Turkiye, wildfires erupted on Sunday in Izmir province, fanned by strong winds. Firefighters, supported by aircraft, fought to control the blaze. Local authorities said five neighbourhoods in the Seferihisar district were evacuated as a precaution. Authorities said firefighters have battled more than 600 fires in the drought-hit nation over the past week. Turkish authorities arrested 10 suspects in relation to wildfires that broke out across the country over the past week, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Friday. The wildfires killed at least three people in the western coastal province of Izmir. Advertisement Firefighters were still trying to control a blaze in the southern coastal area of Dortyol in Hatay province. Meanwhile, in Greece, more than 160 firefighters, 46 fire trucks and five aircraft were deployed to combat flames in southern Evia. The blaze, which began late on Friday, burned through forested areas and forced two villages to evacuate, officials said. Fires also broke out near Athens. France also saw wildfires break out in the Corbieres region of Aude in the southwest, where temperatures soared above 40C (104F). A campsite and a historic abbey were evacuated. Meteo France placed 84 of the country’s 101 departments under orange-level heat alerts on Monday. A firefighting aircraft flies over a fire engine during efforts to contain a wildfire near Pikermi suburb, east of Athens, Greece, July 3, 2025 [George Vitsaras/EPA] In Spain, the national weather agency AEMET reported temperatures reaching 44C (111F) in parts of Extremadura and Andalusia. “I feel that the heat we’re experiencing is not normal for this time of year,” said Diego Radames, a 32-year-old photographer in Madrid, speaking to the AFP news agency. “Madrid just keeps getting hotter.” Italy placed 21 cities on red alert, including important ones, such as Rome, Milan and Naples. Emergency rooms reported a 10 percent rise in heatstroke cases, according to Mario Guarino of the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine. Portugal also faced extreme conditions, with the capital, Lisbon, under a red warning until Monday night. Two-thirds of the country was on high alert for wildfires and extreme heat. On the island of Sicily, firefighters tackled 15 blazes on Saturday alone. Scientists warn that climate change is intensifying the heat. “Heatwaves in the Mediterranean have become more frequent and more intense in recent years,” Emanuela Piervitali of Italy’s Institute for Environmental Protection and Research told AFP. “We’ll need to adapt to even higher extremes in the future.” Adblock test (Why?)