New poll shows plunging US public support for Israel’s war on Gaza
Washington, DC – A new poll from the research firm Gallup suggests that only 32 percent of Americans approve of Israel’s military action in Gaza, a 10-point drop from September 2024, as anger over atrocities against Palestinians continues to rise. The survey, released on Tuesday, also showed an enormous partisan divide over the issue. Seventy-one percent of respondents who identified as members of the Republican Party said they approve of Israel’s conduct, compared with 8 percent of Democrats. Overall, 60 percent of respondents said they disapprove of Israel’s military action in Gaza. Shibley Telhami, a professor at the University of Maryland and the director of the Critical Issues Poll, said the latest survey shows a trend of growing discontent with Israel that goes beyond the war on Gaza. “What we’re seeing here is an entrenchment of a generational paradigm among particularly young Americans – mostly Democrats and independents, but even some young Republicans – who now perceive the horror in Gaza in a way of describing the character of Israel itself,” Telhami told Al Jazeera. In Tuesday’s survey, only 9 percent of respondents under the age of 35 said they approve of Israel’s military action in Gaza, and 6 percent said they have a favourable opinion of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The study follows an April poll from the Pew Research Center, which found a majority of respondents – including 50 percent of Republicans under 50 years old – said they had unfavourable views of Israel. Advertisement But even as public opinion in the US continues to shift, Washington’s policy of unconditional support for Israel has been unwavering. Since the start of the war on Gaza, the US has provided Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, as well as diplomatic backing at the United Nations. Both President Donald Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden, have been uncompromising backers of the Israeli assault on Gaza, which human rights groups have described as a genocide. Israel has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, imposed a suffocating siege and flattened most of the enclave, reducing its buildings to rubble. The siege is credited with prompting deadly hunger: The UN on Tuesday said there was “mounting evidence of famine and widespread starvation”. Nevertheless, the US Congress also remains staunchly pro-Israel on a bipartisan basis. Earlier this month, a legislative push to block $500m in missile defence support for Israel failed in a 422-to-six vote in the House of Representatives. So, what explains the schism between the views of average Americans and the policies of their elected representatives? Telhami cited voter “priorities”. He explained that foreign policy traditionally has not been a driving factor in elections. For example, domestic issues like abortion, the economy and gun control usually dominate the electoral agenda for Democrats. He also noted the influence of pro-Israel groups, like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which have spent millions of dollars to defeat critics of the Israeli government, particularly progressives in Democratic primaries. But things are changing, according to the professor. Palestine is rising in public importance, he said, with US voters looking at the issue through the lens of “soul-searching”, as a way of questioning what they stand for. “It’s not just Gaza. It’s that we are enabling the horror in Gaza as a country – in terms of our aid or support or, even in some cases, direct collaboration,” Telhami said. “That it is actually creating a paradigmatic shift about who we are, not just about: ‘Do we support Israel? Do we support the Palestinians?’” He said the victory of Palestinian rights advocate Zohran Mamdani in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary last month underscores that movement. “The rise of Zohran Mamdani in New York is giving people pause because he’s been able to generate excitement, not, as some people thought, despite his views on Israel-Palestine, but actually because of his views on Israel-Palestine.” Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Trump says Epstein ‘stole’ young women staff from his Mar-a-Lago resort
Trump says he cut off his relationship with Epstein because the sex offender poached workers from his Florida resort. United States President Donald Trump has said that he ended his relationship with disgraced financier and convicted sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein because he “stole” young female workers from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Speaking to reporters on his way home from a trip to Scotland on Tuesday, Trump alleged that one such worker was the late Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein‘s highest-profile accusers. “People were taken out of the [Mar-a-Lago] spa, hired by him. In other words, gone,” Trump said. “When I heard about it, I told him, I said, ‘Listen, we don’t want you taking our people.’ “And then, not too long after that, he did it again. And I said, ‘Out of here.’” The US president, who had a close relationship with Epstein for years, has become increasingly defensive as he faces growing scrutiny over his administration’s refusal to release government records with information about Epstein’s abuses. Officials including Attorney General Pam Bondi have said that releasing further documents would risk disseminating victim information and child pornography collected as evidence. But Bondi’s comments have helped fuel the controversy. In a February interview with Fox News, Bondi said that Epstein’s supposed client list was “sitting on my desk right now”. Conspiracy theorists have long maintained that Epstein kept a list or book of contacts in order to coerce powerful figures in arts and politics. They also have cast doubt on Epstein’s jailhouse suicide in 2019, calling it, without proof, a cover-up. Advertisement Current members of Trump’s administration, including FBI director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, had played up those theories in past media appearances. But the Department of Justice and FBI later released a review concluding that there was no reason to believe such a list existed and that Epstein had died by suicide, as the government originally concluded. That assertion was met with frustration from some corners of Trump’s own far-right base, who have speculated for years about Epstein’s ties with powerful figures and the circumstances of his death. Giuffre has been a prominent figure in online conspiracy theories. She had accused Epstein of pressuring her to have sex with the powerful men in his orbit. Until her death by suicide earlier this year, Giuffre maintained that she had been approached as a teenager by Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, while she was working at Mar-a-Lago. Giuffre had been employed at the time as a spa attendant. Her father worked in maintenance at the resort. Maxwell, according to Giuffre, offered her money to work as a masseuse for Epstein, who then sexually abused her. She described Maxwell and Epstein as grooming her to perform sex acts for other men. Giuffre alleged that “massage” was sometimes used as a code word for sex. Giuffre ultimately filed a civil suit against Maxwell in New York. While Maxwell has denied Giuffre’s allegations, she settled the suit for an undisclosed sum. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in a Florida federal prison for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse underage girls. If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, these organisations may be able to help. Adblock test (Why?)
Tsunami alerts issued for US, Japan, Philippines after massive earthquake
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY, Magnitude 8.7 quake off Russia’s east coast prompts warnings, evacuations in dozens of countries. Tsunami alerts have been issued in dozens of countries after a massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia’s east coast. Waves of up to 4 metres high (13 feet) struck Russia’s far-eastern Kamchatka region early on Wednesday, with tsunami alerts issued for the United States, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Ecuador, Chile, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico and numerous Pacific island states. The US National Weather Service issued tsunami “warnings” for the state of Hawaii and Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, and lower-level tsunami advisories for parts of California, including Los Angeles and Oregon, with waves expected to arrive from the late afternoon on Wednesday. Less serious tsunami watches were in place for the entire US West Coast. The Honolulu Department of Emergency Management in Hawaii urged the evacuation of residents in some coastal areas. “Take Action! Destructive tsunami waves expected,” the agency said on X. The emergency agency in Hawaii said it expected the first waves to arrive at 7:10pm local time on Tuesday (05:00 GMT, Wednesday). US President Donald Trump urged residents in Hawaii, Alaska, and along the Pacific Coast to pay attention to tsunami-related advisories. “STAY STRONG AND STAY SAFE!” Trump said in a social media post. Japanese authorities said they expected waves as high as 3 metres (9.8 ft) to hit some coastal areas. “People in coastal areas or along rivers should immediately evacuate to safe places such as high ground or evacuation buildings,” the Japan Meteorological Agency said in a statement. Advertisement “Tsunamis can strike repeatedly. Do not leave the safe location until the warning is lifted.” Footage posted on social media showed residents of some Japanese coastal communities moving to higher ground. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba urged the public to evacuate from areas under warning. Japanese media reported the arrival of the first waves, measuring about 30cm (1 ft) high, on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido on Wednesday morning. In Russia, a tsunami flooded the port town of Severo-Kurilsk, forcing the evacuation of its residents, the country’s Ministry of Emergencies and Disaster Relief said. Videos posted on Russian social media appeared to show buildings in the town submerged in seawater. The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the 8.8-magnitude quake struck 136km (85 miles) east of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Russia’s far east. The USGS revised the intensity of the quake up from an earlier estimate of 8.0. Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on Telegram that the quake was the “strongest in decades”. The regional health minister, Oleg Melnikov, told Russia’s state-run TASS news agency that several people had been injured, but none of them seriously. Subsequent quakes of magnitude 6.9 and 6.3 were recorded 147km (91 miles) and 131km (81 miles) southeast of Petropavlovsk and Vilyuchinsk, respectively, in Russia’s far east, according to the USGS. Robert Weis, a tsunami expert at Virginia Tech, said the tsunamis could potentially do serious damage. “It is correct to be worried about this one,” Weis told Al Jazeera. “Three metres is pretty destructive,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)
Why Zelenskyy tried to curb autonomy of Ukraine’s anticorruption agencies?
Kyiv, Ukraine – Last week, hundreds of Ukrainians rallied in several cities to protest the government’s attempt to curb the independence of anticorruption watchdogs. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on July 22 signed a bill into law, which would revoke the autonomy of key agencies – the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). The rare protest in the war-torn country forced the Ukrainian president to introduce a new draft bill to restore the independence of NABU and SAPO, which have been established to investigate high-level corruption and are widely seen as a symbol of democratic reforms. So, why did Zelenskyy try to curb powers of the anticorruption agencies, and will his action dent public trust in the government crucial at a time of war against Russia? Ukrainians protest near the presidential office in Kyiv against a new law seen as undermining the independence of anticorruption institutions, amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine [Thomas Peter/Reuters] Why are Ukrainians protesting? The nationwide protests erupted in the wake of the July 22 vote in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s lower house of parliament, to approve the bill that allows the prosecutor general to oversee the two anticorruption agencies. The prosecutor general is appointed by the president and approved by the Verkhovna Rada, where Zelenskyy’s Public Servant party holds a majority. It was seen as an attempt by the government to control the two agencies, which were created in the wake of the 2013-14 pro-democracy Euromaidan protests. Many believe it’s a setback from the years of reforms following the removal of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. Advertisement The protesters held banners with slogans reading “Sham!” “Don’t make a step back, there’s an abyss there,” and “Corruption applauds” the new bill. The rallies took place in Kyiv as well as in large cities such as the Black Sea port of Odesa and Lviv, known as Ukraine’s cultural capital. NABU has been probing a string of senior officials and lawmakers, including those within Zelenskyy’s Public Servant party. Oleksiy, who enlisted to join the army in 2022, wonders why he should keep fighting on the front lines of eastern Ukraine while officials engage in corruption. “What’s the point if I go back home and my family is surrounded by corruption everywhere,” the 42-year-old construction manager told Al Jazeera. “Judges, officials, even school teachers all say, ‘Give, give, give,’” he said, asking to withhold his last name and details of his military service, in accordance with the wartime protocol. Oleksiy, who is on a break from his service to visit his two children and ailing mother, took part in the largest antigovernment rallies in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Why Zelenskyy backed the bill? The new law envisaged executive control over NABU and SAPO as the prosecutor general’s office could access their information, give them binding directives, transfer cases and close down investigations. The bill “could finally destroy the independence of the anticorruption system in Ukraine”, NABU said. Rachel Denber, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the new law “risks weakening Ukraine’s democratic foundations and its future integration with Europe”. She called for the repeal of the law. Zelenskyy, a former comedian and political rookie who came to power in 2019 on an anticorruption ticket, defended the law, claiming that the NABU and SAPO have to “get rid of Russian influence”. His allegation followed the arrest of two NABU staffers suspected of working for Russian intelligence, and charges against outspoken anticorruption campaigner Vitaly Shabunin. Shabunin was accused of “evading military service”, but his supporters called the charges trumped-up, and almost 60 anticorruption and nongovernmental groups signed a joint appeal in his defence. People rally in Kyiv against the implementation of the draft law that regulates the work of s Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the National; Anti-Corruption Bureau [Danylo Antoniuk/Anadolu] A Kyiv-based political analyst says there are two popular theories about why Zelenskyy initiated the bill. Advertisement “One is that NABU allegedly closed in on Zelenskyy’s inner circle,” Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta think tank, told Al Jazeera. NABU accused Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov, Zelenskyy’s closest ally and lifelong friend, of taking kickbacks worth $346,000 from a real estate developer in a deal that cost the government $24m. Zelenskyy’s press office didn’t reply to Al Jazeera’s phone calls and text messages. “Or this is an attempt to control NABU’s actions in order not to overtly politicise them, not to provoke domestic political wars during the war with Russia,” Fesenko said. “But I think it has to do with the activisation of the NABU on political issues that may have caused suspicion in Zelenskyy’s inner circle. That it wasn’t a fight against corruption but more of a political attack on Zelenskyy,” he said. The protests, an anticorruption expert told Al Jazeera, have weakened Zelenskyy’s support within domestic political circles. “There was a belief in his high and stable rating,” Tetiana Shevchuk from the Anti-Corruption Action Center, a Kyiv-based group, said. But “he no longer can demand anything from the parliament,” she said. Zelenskyy is afraid of NABU as the only law enforcement agency that won’t open or close an investigation following a phone call from his administration, she said, referring to the centralisation of power under him. “NABU is the only body that doesn’t do that,” Shevchuk said. Fesenko from the Penta think tank says the politicians “underestimated” the bill’s “negative consequences”. They “didn’t think the public response would be that harsh”. Zelenskyy has promised to submit the new bill – a move applauded by the country’s top anti-corruption investigator. Semen Kryvonos, director of NABU, however, said that corrupt actors will step up a “dirty information campaign” against the anti-graft agencies. Meanwhile, protest leaders say they would stop rallies only after the bill has been passed – tentatively, later this week. Since the 2014 pro-democracy revolution or Revolution of Dignity, attempts have been made to root out endemic corruption. Many bureaucratic procedures have been simplified
US stopover by Taiwan’s president cancelled; Trump mulls China trip: Report
US President Donald Trump reportedly opposed a stopover in New York by Taiwan’s president, says China visit under consideration. Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te has cancelled a trip to three allies in Central and South America after a planned stopover in the United States was reportedly nixed by his US counterpart, Donald Trump. Lai was preparing to visit Paraguay, Guatemala and Belize in early August, with stopovers planned in New York and Dallas on the first and last leg of the trip, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. The Taiwanese leader’s trip was called off when US officials said they opposed his stop in New York, the newspaper said, citing three people close to the matter. Lai’s office had never formally announced his trip to Latin America, but on Monday, it said the president had cancelled all overseas travel to focus on tariff negotiations with the US and a cleanup operation following a typhoon in southern Taiwan. The president of Taiwan cannot officially visit the US, which does not recognise its government. But Taiwanese leaders have made use of “transit stops” in the US over the years to liaise with top administration officials outside Washington, DC. In 2023, then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen used a transit stop to visit New York and Los Angeles while Joe Biden was still the US president. Beijing, which claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, held military exercises in the Taiwan Strait after Tsai’s US stop-off to demonstrate its anger. Trump’s reported decision to block Lai’s stopover follows news that the US president is angling for a trip to China himself, although he said he does not want a “summit” with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. Advertisement “The Fake News is reporting that I am SEEKING a ‘Summit’ with President Xi of China. This is not correct, I am not SEEKING anything! I may go to China, but it would only be at the invitation of President Xi, which has been extended,” Trump wrote on Truth Social late Monday night. Reuters reported that Trump may be aiming to visit China around the time of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea, which runs from October 31 to November 1. Whether the meeting will take place will depend on the outcome of ongoing trade talks between the US and China to resolve Trump’s tariff war launched earlier this year. US and Chinese officials are in Stockholm this week to try to hammer out a tariff agreement before a “truce” expires on August 12, but they have many issues to discuss, including export controls, which could drag out talks. Adblock test (Why?)
Trump denies seeking summit with Xi, says he ‘may’ visit China
US president says he will visit China only at the invitation of Chinese leader. United States President Donald Trump has denied seeking a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping while holding out the possibility of visiting China at his counterpart’s invitation. “The Fake News is reporting that I am SEEKING a ‘Summit’ with President Xi of China. This is not correct, I am not SEEKING anything!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday. “I may go to China, but it would only be at the invitation of President Xi, which has been extended. Otherwise, no interest! Thank you for your attention to this matter.” Trump’s comments come after the Reuters news agency reported last week that aides to the two leaders have discussed a possible summit during a trip to Asia by the US president later this year. The report, which cited unnamed people familiar with the plans, said Trump and Xi could possibly meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit taking place in South Korea from October 30 to November 1. Trump and Xi last met face-to-face in 2019 on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. The US and China are currently engaged in negotiations aimed at lowering trade tensions that have spiked since Trump rolled out his on-again, off-again tariffs on Chinese exports. On Monday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met in Stockholm, Sweden, to kick off two days of talks focused on reaching a trade deal before the end of a 90-day tariff truce that ends on August 12. Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg Television last week that the administration was in “a very good place with China now” and the August deadline could be extended in a “90-day increment”. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Thai army accuses Cambodia of ceasefire violations
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY, Thai troops have retaliated ‘appropriately’ and in ‘self-defence’, Major-General Winthai Suvaree said in a statement. Thailand’s army has accused Cambodia of violating an hours-old truce, saying sporadic clashes continued despite an agreement to end the deadly fighting in the disputed border region between the two Southeast Asian countries. Thai troops have retaliated “appropriately” and in “self-defence”, Thailand’s army spokesman, Winthai Suvaree, said in a statement on Tuesday. “At the time the agreement took effect, the Thai side detected that Cambodian forces had launched armed attacks into several areas within Thai territory,” Winthai said. “This constitutes a deliberate violation of the agreement and a clear attempt to undermine mutual trust,” he added. “Thailand is compelled to respond appropriately, exercising its legitimate right to self-defence.” Following peace talks in Malaysia, both Cambodia and Thailand agreed that an unconditional ceasefire would start at midnight on Monday to end the fighting in disputed zones along their 800km (500-mile) border, which killed at least 38 people in five days of clashes and displaced nearly 300,000 more. The peace deal was set to see military commanders from both sides meet at 7am local time (00:00 GMT) on Tuesday, before a cross-border committee is convened in Cambodia to further ease tensions on August 4. A Thai army spokesman said talks between both sides are now scheduled to be held at 10am local time (03:00 GMT). Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, reporting from Surin province in Thailand, said the Thai military reported “a couple of clashes in several areas along the border”. Advertisement “They did issue a statement saying that the Cambodian military was not respecting the ceasefire agreement. But for the most part, it does seem to be holding,” Cheng said. In Cambodia’s Samraong city, 20km (12.4 miles) from the border with Thailand, an AFP journalist said the sound of blasts stopped in the 30 minutes leading up to midnight on Monday, with the lull continuing until dawn. “The front line has eased since the ceasefire at 12 midnight,” Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said in a Tuesday morning message on Facebook. A joint statement from both countries on Monday – as well as Malaysia, which hosted the peace talks – said the ceasefire was “a vital first step towards de-escalation and the restoration of peace and security”. The flare-up in cross-border fighting has been the deadliest since violence raged sporadically from 2008 to 2011 over disputed border territory. Adblock test (Why?)
North Korea says US must accept its status as a nuclear weapons state
North Korean leader’s powerful sister says talks aimed at denuclearisation would be interpreted as a ‘mockery’. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s influential sister has called on the United States to accept North Korea’s “irreversible” status as a nuclear weapons state, warning that dialogue will never lead to its denuclearisation. In a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday, Kim Yo Jong said a recognition that Pyongyang’s capabilities and the geopolitical environment had “radically changed” should be a prerequisite for “everything in the future”. “Any attempt to deny the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state, which was established along with the existence of a powerful nuclear deterrent and fixed by the supreme law reflecting the unanimous will of all the DPRK people, will be thoroughly rejected,” Kim said, using the acronym of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “The DPRK is open to any option in defending its present national position.” Kim Yo Jung, who oversees the propaganda operations of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, said that it was by “no means beneficial” for the US and North Korea to be in confrontation, and that Washington should “seek another way of contact on the basis of such new thinking.” Kim also said that while the relationship between her brother and US President Donald Trump was “not bad”, any attempt to use their personal relations to advance denuclearisation would be interpreted as a “mockery”. “If the US fails to accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK-US meeting will remain as a ‘hope’ of the US side,” she said. Advertisement Kim’s comments come after an unnamed White House official was quoted by South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency over the weekend as saying that Trump was open to engaging with Kim Jong Un to achieve a “fully denuclearised” North Korea. Her statement also comes a day after she dismissed South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s efforts to mend ties with Pyongyang, including halting propaganda broadcasts at the tense inter-Korean border. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump, who held three face-to-face summits with Kim Jong Un in 2018 and 2019, has repeatedly expressed interest in resuming dialogue with Pyongyang. Last month, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump would like to build on the “progress” made during his 2018 summit with the North Korean leader in Singapore. While the Singapore summit marked a historic first-ever meeting between a sitting US president and the leader of North Korea, the talks, and Trump’s subsequent meetings with Kim in Vietnam and at the inter-Korean border, failed to halt the advance of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programmes. Jenny Town, the director of the Korea programme at the Stimson Center in Washington, DC, said Kim Yo Jong’s latest statement is consistent with recent messaging from Pyongyang. “It avoids naming Trump directly, leaving room for some kind of diplomacy in the future to still be possible, but dispels the notion that ‘denuclearisation’ talks can simply be picked up where they left off,” Town told Al Jazeera. “Too much has changed since 2019, both in terms of North Korea’s WMD [weapons of mass destruction] development, the legal and policy changes around its nuclear programme and status, and the broader geopolitical environment, for any notion of resuming talks about denuclearisation to be compelling.” “If negotiations are possible, the terms of engagement have fundamentally changed,” Town added. “It won’t be about denuclearisation, but there may be room for talks under a different framing. However, whether the US is willing to take that leap is yet to be seen.” Adblock test (Why?)
Five dead in New York city shooting, including police officer, suspect
The attacker was armed with an M4 rifle when he opened fire inside a skyscraper at 345 Park Avenue, Manhattan. At least five people, including a New York City police officer and the suspected gunman, are dead after a shooting inside a Midtown Manhattan office block that houses major financial institutions and the headquarters of the National Football League, police said. The shooting, which took place at about 6pm local time (22:00 GMT) on Monday at 345 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, is still under “active investigation”, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters at a press conference late on Monday. “What we know so far,” said Tisch, is that “surveillance video shows a male exit a double parked black BMW on Park Avenue between 51st and 52nd streets, carrying an M4 rifle in his right hand.” “Security camera footage shows the shooter enter the lobby, turn right and immediately open fire on an NYPD officer,” she said. The man then proceeded to shoot and kill two people on the ground floor, including a woman and a security officer before making his way to the 33rd floor where he shot and killed a man, Tisch said, adding that another victim is being treated in hospital. “The shooter is believed to be Shane Tamura, a 27-year-old male with a Las Vegas address,” Tisch said. “His motives are still under investigation,” she added. The victims included NYPD police officer Didarul Islam, 36, who was married with two young boys. “His wife is pregnant with their third child,” Tisch said. Federal agents and NYPD officers close off East 50th Street between Madison and Park Avenues, near the scene of a reported shooter situation in the Manhattan borough of New York City [Bing Guan/Reuters] Speaking at the press conference with Tisch, New York Mayor Eric Adams said that Officer Islam was an immigrant from Bangladesh, who “moved this city” and who died “saving lives” and “protecting New Yorkers”. Advertisement “We’re still unravelling what took place, and our hearts are heavy,” said Adams. “We lost four souls to another senseless act of gun violence, including a member of the New York City Police Department,” Adams said. A photo of the suspect that CNN said was shared by police showing a gunman walking into the building carrying a rifle was published by a number of major news media outlets. The skyscraper at 345 Park Avenue is home to several major firms, including Blackstone – the world’s largest hedge fund – KPMG, Deutsche Bank and the headquarters of the National Football League (NFL). It is located near Rockefeller Centre, just a few blocks south of Central Park. Three killed in Reno casino shooting Separately, earlier on Monday, an attacker armed with a pistol opened fire outside a casino in Reno, Nevada, killing three people and critically wounding two others, before being shot and seriously injured by police, authorities said. The shooting occurred just before 7:30am local time (00:30 GMT) at the valet station in the car park of the Grand Sierra Resort, a high-rise casino and hotel complex in Nevada’s third-largest city, according to police. The suspect, whose identity has not been released, was described only as an adult male. Police believe the victims were targeted at random. Police respond to a shooting outside the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada, on Monday [Andy Barron/AP] Adblock test (Why?)
Trump: ‘Some of those kids, that’s real starvation’
NewsFeed US President Donald Trump appeared to obliquely reject Israeli claims that no starvation is taking place in Gaza, saying images of hungry children show “real starvation” that one can’t “fake”. He also said the US would assist in setting up new food centres. Published On 28 Jul 202528 Jul 2025 Adblock test (Why?)