At least three killed and hundreds displaced by heavy rain in Chile
Chilean President Jose Antonio Kast says that he is travelling to the Biobio region to survey damage from floods. Published On 17 Jul 202617 Jul 2026 Torrential rain and fierce winds have lashed central and southern Chile, leaving at least three people dead and displacing hundreds more. President Jose Antonio Kast announced on Friday that he was travelling to the Biobio region, one of the most impacted, to survey the damage and the response from authorities. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list “A lot of rain on the road, but it’s passable,” Kast wrote in a social media post, showing himself en route. “Take care.” Further heavy rainfall is expected on Friday in the country’s central zone. SENAPRED, the country’s disaster relief agency, has reported that 466 people remain in shelters, some of whom were evacuated as a preventative measure. Another 158 residents have been isolated by the rising water levels, mostly in the Coquimbo region. Alicia Cebrian, the head of the agency, said that seven people have been injured. SENAPRED announced evacuation orders for the Campamento Ribera del Rio area, near the commune of Talagante, citing rising river levels. The floods have disrupted life across Chile, with schools in some parts of the country suspending classes on Friday. The state-owned mining giant Codelco reported that it had stopped surface operations at the Andina mine due to storms. About 257,000 people remain without power, mostly in the south. Among those killed in the storms was a labourer clearing a road in the southern town of Negrete. Another person fell while cleaning a roof in Temuco, and a third victim suffered a fatal electric shock in the capital Santiago. Advertisement Kast, who campaigned in the 2025 election on a hardline, anti-crime platform, has pledged institutional support for those affected by the flooding. He was inaugurated as president in March, and the floods come less than six months into his term. Adblock test (Why?)
Will the Canadian wildfire smoke affect Spain vs Argentina World Cup final?
The World Cup final in New Jersey-New York hangs under a cloud of uncertainty as dense wildfire smoke billowing down from Canada has triggered unhealthy air quality alerts across the United States. Winds drifting south meant the capital, Washington DC, was also hard-hit on Friday, coming in at the second-highest “very unhealthy” ranking on the index, when authorities urge all people to avoid unnecessary outdoor activity. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list In New York and neighbouring New Jersey, where the final will be played on Sunday in an open stadium, the metro area was experiencing air that could be unhealthy for sensitive groups, an improvement after smog on Thursday made the Manhattan skyline barely visible. Detroit and Chicago posted air quality index readings in the “hazardous” range, with tracker IQAir stating they were the most polluted cities in the world. Forecasters at the National Weather Service warned the smoke may thicken overnight into Saturday morning. Roughly 80,000 fans are expected at the final, which takes place in the large, open-air stadium in the Meadowlands that is home to the NFL’s New York Giants and Jets. What’s the latest update from FIFA? FIFA confirmed on Friday that negative air quality from the wildfires did not currently represent a threat to the World Cup final. Earlier in the day, tournament organisers said they were “monitoring the situation closely”. “There’s been discussion about it, and we have somebody with the National Weather Service that sits in FIFA headquarters there, so we’re monitoring closely,” White House World Cup task force Executive Director Andrew Giuliani told a briefing. Advertisement President Donald Trump is set to meet FIFA President Gianni Infantino later on Friday. What are experts saying about the smoke? Peter Mullinax, a meteorologist for NWS, told the AFP news agency that winds over the Great Lakes could push more smoke into the northeastern US, which could keep skies hazy. But he said forecasts for that region are expecting some improvement. “I don’t believe that this should be as impactful as if you might be playing a game today,” Mullinax said. The issue for the final, said Joel Dreessen – an air quality forecaster for the state of Maryland, is whether more smoke spills south after weekend storm systems. “Some of the models are starting to indicate that we’ll start to pull down some smoke,” he said. Were any other matches affected by the weather? Yes, but not because of wildfire smoke. Mexico’s knockout match against England was rumoured to be rescheduled due to inclement weather before organisers quietened the uproar and confirmed kickoff would be as scheduled. Prior to that, Mexico’s round-of-32 match against Ecuador was delayed for an hour due to stormy weather. Concerns about extreme heat in July prompted forecasters to warn about potential heat safety issues for some of the World Cup knockout matches. A powerful “heat dome” settled over large parts of the US and Canada, bringing with it furnace-like conditions and temperatures expected to exceed 43 degrees Celsius (110F) in several host cities. Is the Canadian wildfire connected to climate change? In cities across the US Midwest and Northeast, people wore masks outdoors to filter out the dangerous air. In New York, libraries and train stations were handing them out for free. The upper Midwest, which is closer to the fires, was especially affected, with parts of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin all recording air quality readings deep into the “hazardous” range for days. The NWS extended its air quality alert in Chicago through Friday, adding “wildfire smoke may return tomorrow evening and continue into Sunday.” Advocates have stressed the connection between repeated episodes of wildfire smoke and climate change. “Increasingly smoky skies underscore the importance of a rapid transition to clean energy rather than building more polluting fossil fuel infrastructure that further contributes to climate change,” said Paul Mathewson, the science programme director at the organisation Clean Wisconsin, among the states that have seen a sharp uptick in smoky days in recent years. Mark Parrington, a scientist at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, told AFP that climate change was providing conditions for a longer fire season, with higher surface air temperatures and lower soil moisture. Advertisement So, he explained, “when there’s an ignition we see these really large-scale, persistent burning where these fires can burn for weeks and weeks at a time through summer.” Has the Canadian wildfire been controlled? The blazes were worsening on Friday in Canada, where more than 200 fires were burning out of control, especially in Ontario, according to authorities there. The damage remains far off the pace of 2023, Canada’s worst wildfire season on record, when nearly 18 million hectares (44 million acres) burned in the country. But the intensity has rapidly escalated over the past week, with nearly 2.8 million hectares (7 million acres) burned since the start of the year, per the latest government figures. As of last Friday, that figure had stood at nearly 1.6 million hectares (4 million acres). Fires in Ontario have not caused any casualties, and several remote communities have been evacuated. Adblock test (Why?)
John Esposito transformed how the West understood Islam
John L Esposito, a prominent scholar of religion and international affairs at Georgetown University, passed away on July 15, 2026, due to complications from heart surgery. He was a towering intellectual who published more than 55 books, mainly with Oxford University Press, which have been translated into dozens of languages. He uniquely shaped the modern study of Islam and Muslim societies during the late 20th and early 21st century, particularly in the area of Islam-West relations during key moments of friction following the 1979 Iranian revolution and 9/11. John was born into a working-class Italian-American family in Brooklyn, New York, in 1940. His worldview was shaped by his devout Catholic mother and his father’s commitment to social justice. He aspired to become a Catholic priest and, at a young age, joined the strict Capuchin Franciscan Order. John left the seminary before ordination and opted for graduate school instead. He earned a doctorate in religious studies at Temple University under the supervision of Ismail al-Faruqi, the late Palestinian-American scholar of religion. John’s family and friends questioned his career choice because they feared for his employability. When he entered the job market in 1974, there was only one advertised position in Islamic studies. The study of religion, particularly Islam, was absent in many institutions of higher learning, and international relations programmes at universities ignored the role of religion in global affairs. Telling stories was one of Professor Esposito’s many passions. Reflecting on his career, he frequently joked that he owed his livelihood to two famous “radical” Muslims, one Shia and the other Sunni: Ayatollah Khomeini and Osama bin Laden. Advertisement After the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, interest in the relationship between Islam and politics skyrocketed in the West. The same happened after 9/11. John’s expertise was suddenly in high demand. He responded by publishing several groundbreaking books on the relationship between Islam and politics, Islam’s normative ideals, Islam-West relations, and the diverse political and social structures of Muslim societies. He was frequently quoted in the media, and governments now sought his counsel. This story about John’s career, however, has a steep downside. The Western interest in Islam and Muslims emerged due to threats to United States national security. This meant the ability to understand this topic in a free, unbiased and independent way was absent for most Westerners. The enveloping context that shaped the policy and public debate on Islam and Muslims was themes of political revolution, mass violence and perceived threats to global order. John’s educational efforts were always an uphill battle. Establishment academics dominated the intellectual, policy and media debates. Bernard Lewis wrote about the alleged “Roots of Muslim Rage” at modernity that purportedly explained turmoil in the Middle East. Around the same time, Samuel Huntington advanced a popular thesis on the “Clash of Civilizations”. These views had a wide following, in part because they reinforced pre-existing Western biases about Islam and Muslims. They were further enhanced by US and Israeli national security narratives about an alleged Islamic threat in the aftermath of the Cold War. John was an early and courageous scholar who challenged Orientalist misrepresentations of Islam and Muslims in an era of deep polarisation. His scholarship created room for understanding in lieu of prejudice, and his intellectual insights allowed a younger generation of scholars to build on and expand upon his pioneering research. Professor Esposito advanced a new understanding of religion by criticising the dominant social science theories about political development. He astutely drew attention to a “secular bias” that informed mainstream intellectual debates in the West on the relationship between religion and politics. These modernisation theories purported to be universally applicable based on the assumption that religion was a relic of the past that no longer mattered in the modern world. In truth, these claims were ideologically biased, based on a set of specifically Western experiences. By contrast, John interpreted the politics of the Muslim world not from a Western normative framework but rather from the Muslim world’s own experience. In other words, not from the outside in, but rather from the bottom up, from the perspective of the masses, many of whom held onto a religious identity. In doing so, he advanced a historically grounded and sociologically compelling analysis of religious politics in the Islamic world. Critiques of the legacy of colonialism, authoritarianism and US foreign policy were central to his intellectual work. Advertisement Professor Esposito’s work on political Islam was pioneering. He wrote about the social conditions and collective aspirations that rendered political Islam appealing to diverse constituencies across the Middle East and the broader Muslim world. While most mainstream Western scholars and liberal intellectuals focused on the Islamist desire to implement “Sharia”, Esposito focused on the core aspirations that animated political Islam: dignity, justice, self-determination, and opposition to external domination. These same aspirations made political Islam a resilient and enduring force. In reflecting on John Esposito’s legacy, I’m reminded of an observation by Edmund Burke III. Commenting on the work of the late Marshall GS Hodgson, author of The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History of a World Civilization, Burke noted that Hodgson, like Esposito, refused to view Islam as the “other”. Instead, he understood the Islamic tradition as “a venture alongside others that marked human efforts to bring about a just and moral world”. We are unlikely to see a scholar in our lifetime again who can match John Esposito’s moral and intellectual caliber. His impact on our collective education and understanding of Islam-West relations is unique and immeasurable. Those who care about universal values rooted in international law, human rights, democracy, and cross-cultural understanding are deeply in his debt. John Esposito is survived by his wife of 61 years, Jean Esposito, his partner and primary supporter in all his endeavours, and the enduring love of John’s life. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy. Adblock test (Why?)
China’s Xi says AI ‘should not be a solo performance by a single country’
The Chinese leader called for more international cooperation in developing the technology at a conference in Shanghai. Published On 17 Jul 202617 Jul 2026 Artificial intelligence should not be dominated by one country, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said, urging international cooperation on development at a major conference in Shanghai. Xi also emphasised the importance of a “people-centred” approach to AI technology in his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference on Friday. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The conference showcases the cutting-edge technology Xi hopes will soon rival that of the United States. Chinese AI models are gaining ground on the most powerful offerings from the US, attracting global users with lower costs. But how to govern the booming sector has become a topic of debate amid concerns over the deployment of AI in military combat and its use by hackers or criminals. In his address, Xi spoke of China’s role in ensuring equitable access to AI capacity-building for developing countries to prevent the creation of “new historical injustices”. To that end, he announced China’s plans to cooperate with international bodies, including from Africa, Latin America, Asia and BRICS countries, to provide AI-related opportunities. “AI development should not be a solo performance by a single country, but a symphony of international cooperation,” Xi said. “We should jointly oppose overstretching the national security concept in the field of AI or placing one country’s security over that of others.” ‘Ensure AI is always under human control’ The US and European Union have imposed restrictions on Chinese tech imports, citing national security concerns, while recent tussles between Washington and American AI labs have raised questions about who controls access to top technology. Advertisement In May, the US Commerce Department issued a notice affirming its restrictions on shipments of semiconductors to subsidiaries of Chinese companies located outside China amid concerns about loopholes in Washington’s export control regime. The guidance said its licensing requirements for the export of advanced AI chips applied to all businesses with headquarters or a parent company in China. At Friday’s conference, Xi also stressed the need for a “people-centred” approach to AI with humans at the wheel. “We should put in place laws and regulations, technological monitoring, early warning, and emergency response systems, in order to … ensure AI is always under human control,” he said. AI has become a strategic pillar of China’s industrial policy, driven by state investment aimed at building a domestic ecosystem, from chip production to consumer use. Daily consumption in China of “tokens” – the industry unit of AI usage – has increased a thousandfold over the past two years, according to state media citing officials. As Al Jazeera reported earlier, China, while lagging behind the US in access to the most cutting-edge semiconductors, holds the edge in powering the huge data centres that run on AI chips. A typical data centre can consume as much electricity as 100,000 households, while next-generation “hyperscale” facilities can gobble up as much power as two million homes, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). China’s access to an abundant supply of cheap electricity places it in the ideal position to meet such colossal energy demands. It already generates more than twice as much electricity as the US, a lead that is expected to widen amid an aggressive state-led investment in the country’s energy grid. Adblock test (Why?)
Why is Pakistan’s Sindh province facing a major child HIV outbreak?
Islamabad, Pakistan – At least 130 people, most of them children, have tested HIV-positive in connection with an outbreak at a government-run hospital in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, with officials adding that the number has risen sharply in recent weeks. Sindh Labour Minister Saeed Ghani said earlier this week that more than 10,500 people were screened in and around Kulsum Bai Valika (KBV) Hospital, a Sindh Employees’ Social Security Institution (SESSI) run facility, where 120 tested positive. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list A separate screening drive at another SESSI facility in Karachi’s Landhi area identified 10 additional cases. SESSI is an autonomous provincial organisation that provides healthcare, medical facilities and financial assistance to industrial and commercial workers and their dependants across Sindh. The crisis at KBV Hospital first came to public attention in November 2025, when residents of Karachi’s SITE Town noticed a cluster of infections among children treated there. Officials, however, trace the outbreak to October 2025, when the first six HIV-positive cases were reported to the provincial health department. So what happened, what caused the outbreak, and why does Sindh continue to witness such episodes? What has happened this month? Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah was briefed on July 14 that two internal inquiries had found serious lapses, including poor adherence to infection prevention protocols, inadequate use of protective equipment and improper handling of single-use syringes. The first inquiry, submitted in November last year, identified 16 HIV-positive children, all linked to the KBV’s paediatrics department. Advertisement A second, more comprehensive inquiry, submitted to the provincial ombudsman on June 19, confirmed 78 infections and six deaths, holding named hospital staff responsible for administrative and supervisory failures. The number has since increased, with the latest infections confirmed at the SESSI facilities. Minister Ghani said all cases had been traced to exposure before October 2025 and that screening would continue “despite fears that additional cases may emerge”. Thirty-seven doctors and hospital staff were issued show-cause notices on July 3 and given 14 days to respond. Ghani said criminal cases and dismissals would follow for those found responsible. Asked about his own accountability, he said he had “accepted indirect responsibility” and would not object to resigning if it helped resolve the crisis. A HIV patient displays a new syringe and distilled water he received at Pakistan Society, a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) Drop-In Centre in Karachi, on November 30, 2013 [Akhtar Soomro/Reuters] Is Sindh’s outbreak an isolated case? Responding to questions after a Sindh High Court petition alleged the outbreak stemmed from reused syringes, Ghani told reporters on July 4 that the infections were not caused by syringe reuse. He argued that KBV Hospital uses auto-disable syringes that cannot be reused. The official inquiries, however, pointed to a broader breakdown in infection prevention, citing failures that included poor adherence to safety protocols, inadequate use of protective equipment and improper handling of single-use syringes. The petition before the Sindh High Court alleges the number of infections is significantly higher than officially acknowledged. This is not the first large HIV outbreak reported in Sindh. Last December, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS identified the crisis in Pakistan as one of the fastest-growing HIV epidemics in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, comprising of 21 nations, with annual infections rising 200 percent over 15 years, from 16,000 in 2010 to 48,000 in 2024. In a joint World AIDS Day statement issued on December 1, the agencies estimated that about 350,000 people in Pakistan are living with HIV, with nearly 80 percent unaware of their status. The statement also noted that HIV infections among children aged 0 to 14 increased from 530 in 2010 to 1,800 in 2023. Only 38 percent of children living with HIV are receiving treatment, while just 14 percent of pregnant women requiring therapy to prevent mother-to-child transmission receive it. Advertisement In June, physicians writing in British medical journal The Lancet HIV argued that Pakistan’s epidemic is now driven “in large part, by the health-care system itself”, pointing to repeated outbreaks linked to unsafe medical practices. That assessment, however, remains inconclusive. While repeated outbreaks have highlighted unsafe medical practices, researchers say Pakistan also lacks comprehensive surveillance to determine how many HIV infections nationwide originate in healthcare settings compared with sexual transmission, mother-to-child transmission or intravenous drug use. Syed Faisal Mahmood, professor of infectious diseases at Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, urged caution. “At this point in time, it is impossible to say which of the two are the dominant drivers of infection,” he told Al Jazeera. For sexual transmission, mother-to-child transmission and intravenous drug use, he said, “the numbers are somewhat more reliable, because a great deal of work has been done” through established surveillance. “There is no systematic surveillance looking at how many people have acquired HIV from visiting clinics, hospitals, or informal care providers,” he said. The pattern extends beyond KBV Hospital. Three other hospitals in Karachi have also reported increasing numbers of paediatric HIV patients, including one facility where admissions rose from 10 cases in 2024 to 70 in 2025. The Pakistan Medical Association warned in April that 329 of the 894 HIV cases recorded in Sindh during the first quarter of 2026 involved children, describing the figures as “merely the tip of the iceberg”. For Mahmood, these outbreaks point to a much broader problem. “For many of us working in this field, this is a systemic problem,” he said. “It is not linked to any one hospital or healthcare system. Poor injection safety protocols are pervasive throughout the entire country and across all levels of healthcare.” He added that children are not the only victims, pointing to outbreaks in dialysis centres linked to unsafe blood transfusions. Pakistan also has one of the world’s highest hepatitis C burdens, he said, “driven by the same mechanism and the same underlying reasons” as the HIV cases now emerging. What is being done? The Sindh High Court has given the provincial government until July 20 to respond to
UK urges FIFA to investigate Argentina over World Cup Falklands banner
The United Kingdom and Argentina fought a brief war over the British overseas territory in 1982. Published On 16 Jul 202616 Jul 2026 A British minister has called for FIFA to investigate after Argentina’s players at the World Cup held up a banner reading “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” (“The Falklands are Argentinian”) after their 2-1 semifinal victory over England. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Downing Street office backed the calls by Business Minister Peter Kyle on Thursday, a day after the semifinal. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Kyle called the flag waving an “egregious violation” of FIFA rules, which ban political symbols on the field of play. “The World Cup might not be ours, but the Falkland Islands definitely are,” a Downing Street spokesperson said. Argentina invaded the British overseas territory in the South Atlantic in 1982. But the United Kingdom regained the archipelago in a brief war after then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dispatched a naval force. Kyle urged football’s global governing body to “thoroughly” investigate the banner incident after Wednesday’s match in Atlanta in the US state of Georgia. “Politics needs to be separate from football. In fact, the World Cup has one of its central tenets that politics is separate from football,” he told BBC television. “That is now a matter for FIFA. … We expect FIFA to undertake an investigation into this,” he added. FIFA has not yet commented on the incident. Britain occupied the Falklands in the 19th century, but Argentina claims the islands are part of its territory. Argentinian Vice President Victoria Villarruel upped the tensions before Wednesday’s kickoff by calling the English “usurping pirates”. Advertisement The 1982 conflict ended with the deaths of 649 Argentinians and 255 Britons. After their World Cup semifinal victory, Argentina’s foreign minister said Buenos Aires had filed a formal protest over a British warship near the Falkland Islands. Pablo Quirno posted on X to express “the strongest rejection” of the UK’s HMS Medway’s “unconsulted and illegal” passage through Argentinian territorial waters, alleging a lack of proper notification. Quirno said the Medway, which is based in the Falkland Islands, was accused of violating bilateral agreements in a diplomatic note of protest dated on Monday and submitted to the UK embassy in Buenos Aires. Adblock test (Why?)
Air defences intercept drones over Erbil, Iraq
NewsFeed Verified eyewitness video captures multiple aerial interceptions over Erbil, Iraq where explosions were heard near the US consulate. Security sources said an explosive-laden drone was shot down, as Kurdish authorities reported coalition forces intercepted eight drones. Published On 16 Jul 202616 Jul 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Hamas leadership run-off expected between Meshaal and al-Hayya
Hamas is set to hold a decisive run-off election next week to choose its new political bureau chief. This will complete a complex transition process initiated to fill leadership vacancies left by Israel’s assassinations of some of the group’s top figures, such as Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar. The highly anticipated vote represents a critical juncture for the Palestinian group as it attempts to renew itself, even as it faces the ongoing Israeli war. According to a Hamas source, the internal ballot to select a chairman has narrowed down to what is likely to be a close contest between former Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal and former deputy chairman Khalil al-Hayya. The winner will replace the current transitional council, which took over following Sinwar’s assassination in Gaza in October 2024. The new leader will then continue until 2027, when new elections are due to be held. Under Hamas’s internal rules, a candidate must secure an absolute majority of 50 percent plus one of the votes within the Shura Council – the group’s consultative body – to win the leadership outright. Because neither candidate achieved that threshold during the initial rounds, a run-off election has been scheduled for next week to break the deadlock. The source explained that, according to a 2021 framework, the top two leadership positions must include a representative of the Gaza region – one of the three geographical areas Hamas is divided into, with the other two being the West Bank and the diaspora. Therefore, if al-Hayya, who represents Gaza, does not secure the leadership in the run-off, he is expected to be positioned as deputy political chief. Change in process A second Hamas source told Al Jazeera that the group has been forced to abandon its typical voting process, which involves participation from the entire grassroots base. Instead, only a narrower group has been able to vote in the political bureau elections, in order to complete the current electoral term, which began in 2021. Advertisement The source explained that security challenges imposed by the war, alongside the urgent priority of filling vacancies in the group’s Shura Council resulting from the deaths of several members, had delayed the leadership selection. Despite those challenges, the source dismissed reports of a shift towards a clandestine or collective leadership structure, asserting that the identity of the newly elected chief will be formally and publicly announced once the votes are finalised. Both the Hamas sources confirmed that regardless of next week’s outcome, preparations for a fully comprehensive, grassroots election across all three traditional regions are scheduled to begin next year, subject to prevailing security conditions. Palestinian political analyst Abdullah Aqrabawi told Al Jazeera that those internal dynamics can no longer be viewed as the closed-door affairs of a local group. Since the events of October 7, 2023, Hamas has emerged as a central regional actor whose decisions reverberate far beyond the Palestinian arena, directly shaping the geopolitics of the entire Middle East. Consequently, Aqrabawi noted, the transition of Hamas’s leadership has become a matter of intense regional and international scrutiny. Institutional resilience The current electoral framework stems from Hamas’s internal general elections in early 2021. Haniyeh was chosen as the overall head of the political bureau, while Sinwar was re-elected to lead the Gaza Strip and Meshaal was selected to head the movement’s diaspora wing abroad. This institutional structure faced unprecedented disruption following the outbreak of the war, which saw Israel target multiple tiers of Hamas’s political and military commands. In July 2024, political chief Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, prompting the group’s Shura Council to name Sinwar as his overall successor in August 2024. Following Sinwar’s death during a clash with Israeli forces in Rafah in October 2024, the group adapted by establishing a temporary, five-member ruling leadership council to handle wartime governance and negotiations. This transitional committee has since been nominally headed by Qatar-based official Mohammad Darwish. Despite Israel’s declared objective of dismantling Hamas’s command-and-control apparatus, the structured nature of this transition highlights the group’s deep organisational safety net. Palestinian political analyst Wissam Afifa told Al Jazeera that Hamas’s organisational structure operates akin to the biological process of “mitotic division” – where a single cell splits to create two identical cells. In times of crisis, pre-existing emergency procedures and backup plans automatically trigger secondary administrative and leadership layers to assume control. Advertisement Afifa emphasised that while iconic, charismatic figures are irreplaceable, the survival of the institution itself is never tied to a single individual, allowing the group to absorb unprecedented shocks. Agreeing with this assessment, Aqrabawi observed that the movement’s insistence on adhering strictly to its voting regulations and bylaws under the fire of an ongoing war reflects a deep-seated institutionalism. Rather than resorting to swift appointments or consensus decrees, he said, the group has chosen a voting process. According to Aqrabawi, the active competition between two distinct leaders shows a healthy internal debate on the movement’s political and strategic directions during a crucial moment. A shift in the decision-making hub The war has nevertheless forced structural adjustments in how Hamas governs itself. Afifa pointed out that the extensive targeting of Hamas’s long-time military commanders inside the Gaza Strip has led to an inevitable delegation of authority. To ensure continuity, the political leadership abroad has been granted broad mandates to make strategic decisions. This delegation of power allows external leaders to navigate diplomatic and political manoeuvres free from the immediate tactical pressures of the battlefield. This external pivot has persisted despite direct threats. Last September, Israel launched an attack on a residential complex in Doha targeting senior Hamas figures, though the leadership survived. Afifa noted that while collective leadership has been crucial for building internal consensus during this transitional phase, Hamas’s history suggests that strong, charismatic, individual leadership remains vital for taking decisive actions during major historical turning points. Diplomatic and post-war implications The outcome of the vote is expected to determine the organisational management of ceasefire negotiations. While al-Hayya has been deeply involved as Hamas’s main negotiator
Toronto engulfed by wildfire smoke as US cities threatened
Monitor ranks Toronto as having the worst air quality on earth, surpassing Kinshasa, DR Congo, and New Delhi, India. By AFP and Reuters Published On 16 Jul 202616 Jul 2026 Toronto’s air quality has ranked the worst among all major cities in the world as smoke from wildfires in northwestern Ontario blankets the skies and spreads into the northeastern United States, triggering multiple health warnings and evacuations. Wildfires continued burning through sparsely populated areas hundreds of miles from Toronto, Canada’s largest city, on Wednesday, sending smoke over a wide area, although cities in the area are not being threatened. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Environment Canada reported an Air Quality Health Index reading of 10+, classified as “very high risk”, for Toronto. Forecasts suggested that hazardous conditions could persist through Thursday night. IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company, ranked Toronto as having the worst air quality across the globe, surpassing the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kinshasa and India’s New Delhi. “The biggest contributor to Toronto’s spike in air pollution right now is wildfires, though the higher-than-average temperatures are also playing a role,” Armen Araradian of IQAir told the AFP news agency. While this year’s wildfire season in Canada has been fairly muted compared with recent years, there are more than 800 active fires nationwide. A video that went viral on social media showed a Canadian National train surrounded by fire near Armstrong, Ontario. Canadian National employees in the area and residents of Armstrong were evacuated on Monday night, the railroad operator said in a statement. It suspended rail operations near Armstrong as a precaution. Smoke from the wildfires also worsened air quality across the border in the US, with the states of Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire particularly affected. Advertisement Authorities in New York City have issued an alert over unhealthy air quality, urging residents to reduce strenuous outdoor activity and take extra breaks if they are outside on Wednesday and Thursday. The National Weather Service said smoke could linger until the end of the week. “We probably haven’t seen the worst of it yet for New York City. We probably haven’t seen the worst of it yet for the Great Lakes and upstate, and New England yet either,” Dan Westervelt, Lamont associate research professor at Columbia University, told the Reuters news agency. More than 80,000 people are expected to attend the FIFA World Cup final at an open-air stadium in New Jersey on Sunday, with another 50,000 planning to watch the game from New York City’s Central Park, where skies appeared hazy. New York Governor Kathy Hochul urged people, especially those with health conditions, to exercise caution. A person puts on a mask as reflected in a souvenir shop mirror, as wildfire smoke from northwestern Ontario fills the sky, in Toronto on Wednesday [Carlos Osorio/Reuters] The Canadian government has said that wildfire season began more slowly this year than in 2023 or 2025 – the two worst seasons for wildfires – but warned that fires were likely, due to warmer-than-usual temperatures across the country. It said some 835 active fires were burning across the country on Wednesday, with 112 considered out of control, and most in the central provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario. They have burned 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) so far. Greg Evans, a professor of chemical engineering and applied chemistry at the University of Toronto, said the city had been simultaneously hit with severe heat and wildfire smoke. “I expect that this will occur more frequently over the coming decades, so cities and residents need to prepare for this in the future,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)
Iran launches strikes on Gulf, even as FM visits Qatar
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Iranian FM Araghchi visits Qatar to pay respects following the death of the Father Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin al Thani