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First Thing: ‘Hungry aid staff fainting’ as starvation spreads in Gaza and truce hopes fade
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UN agency says ‘entire humanitarian system is collapsing’ as ceasefire talks fail. Plus, South Park creators ‘terribly sorry’ about naked Donald Trump
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 Palestinians clamour for food from a charity kitchen in Gaza City. Photograph: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters
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Nicola Slawson
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Hello and apologies for the delay.
The head of the main UN agency serving Palestinians has said his frontline staff are fainting from hunger, as the number of people dying of starvation in Gaza continues to rise and hopes for a ceasefire fade amid collapsed negotiations.
“This deepening crisis is affecting everyone, including those trying to save lives in the war-torn enclave … when caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), said on Thursday.
At least 45 people have died of hunger in the past four days. The UN and aid groups blame Israel’s blockade of almost all aid into the territory for the lack of food. Lazzarini said in a statement that a colleague in the territory had told him: “People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses.”
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What else is happening? France will recognise a Palestinian state in September at the UN general assembly, Emmanuel Macron has said. The French president announced the decision on X yesterday evening, saying he hoped it would bring peace to the region.
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Why else is Gaza in the news? A group of far-right Israeli politicians and settlers met in parliament this week to discuss a plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza, annex the territory and turn it into a hi-tech, luxury resort city for Israelis.
Bill Clinton reportedly sent Jeffrey Epstein note for birthday album
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Bill Clinton pictured in New York in 2019. Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
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Donald Trump apparently isn’t the only president that sent a birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein. “The biggest name in the album” was Bill Clinton, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The former president’s letter appeared alongside nearly 50 others, including other prominent celebrities and executives.
Last week, Trump announced he was suing Rupert Murdoch, two Wall Street Journal reporters and Dow Jones over a report that he wrote a “bawdy” letter to Epstein, included in the 2003 birthday album compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell. Epstein, a convicted child sex offender, died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
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Who else reportedly features in the album? Nearly 50 people wrote to Epstein, the Wall Street Journal claims. They reportedly include the billionaire investor Leon Black, the fashion designer Vera Wang, the billionaire former Victoria’s Secret owner Les Wexner and the attorney Alan Dershowitz.
Trump tussles with Jerome Powell on rare visit to Federal Reserve
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Donald Trump and Fed chair Jerome Powell clashed on camera over Federal Reserve renovation cost. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Reuters
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Donald Trump sparred with the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, yesterday during a rare presidential visit to the central bank’s headquarters.
Having branded Powell a “numbskull” for the Fed’s recent decisions not to cut rates, Trump has turned up the pressure with criticism of the $2.5bn bill for renovating the Fed’s historical buildings.
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What happened during the visit? Powell and Trump stood in hard hats inside the Fed’s construction site. Trump alleged that the bill for the renovations would now cost $3.1bn. The usually unflappable Powell looked visibly irritated, closed his eyes and shook his head.
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Where did the $3.1bn figure come from? Handed a piece of paper by Trump, Powell scanned it and said the new figure included the cost of renovations for the Martin Building, a different Fed office that was renovated five years ago. “It’s not new,” Powell said.
In other news …
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The WWE star and vocal supporter of Donald Trump, Hulk Hogan, died after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home in Florida. Photograph: Chris Carlson/AP
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Hulk Hogan, the wrestling star turned vocal supporter of Donald Trump, has died at the age of 71. Hogan’s manager, Chris Volo, told NBC Los Angeles that Hogan, whose given name was Terry Gene Bollea, died surrounded by his family.
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Thailand has evacuated more than 130,000 people from along the Cambodian border, as the country’s leader warned cross-border clashes could develop into war.
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Venezuelan men who were deported by the US to a notorious prison in El Salvador without due process are speaking out about treatment they described as “hell” and like a “horror movie”, after arriving back home.
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The American rapper GloRilla was arrested on felony drug charges the night before her performance at the WNBA all-star game, after police responded to a report of a burglary at her home in Atlanta on Saturday.
Stat of the day: US regulators approve $8.4bn Paramount-Skydance merger
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The Paramount+ booth on the convention floor of Comic-Con in San Diego on Thursday. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters
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The Federal Communications Commission approved the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media yesterday, clearing the way for an $8.4bn sale of some of the most prominent names in entertainment, including the CBS broadcast television network, Paramount Pictures and the Nickelodeon cable channel.
Don’t miss this: Experience – I found a stranger under my hotel bed
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‘I had never felt so scared’: Natali Khomenko, photographed in Thailand where she lives. Photograph: Luke Duggleby/The Guardian
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“I was visiting Tokyo on holiday and was in bed by 7.30pm, keen to relax after a day of travelling,” Natali Khomenko says. “After about 20 minutes, I began to feel uneasy and noticed a strange odour. I checked under the bed, even joking to myself that there had better not be someone there. I craned my neck down. Two dark, wide eyes were staring back at me, blinking in the darkness.”
Climate check: Fortescue axes two green hydrogen projects after Trump administration’s shift on renewables
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Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue has cancelled two major green hydrogen projects – one in Australia and one in the US. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
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The iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue company has cancelled two big green hydrogen projects, laying some of the blame on the Trump administration. Fortescue’s chief executive of growth and energy, Gus Pichot, said a “shift in policy priorities away from green energy” in the US had “changed the situation”.
Last Thing: South Park creators respond with humour to White House anger over naked Donald Trump
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Uneasy bedfellows? South Park’s Sermon on the ’Mount. Photograph: Comedy Central
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South Park co-creator Trey Parker had the briefest of responses yesterday to anger from the White House over the latest season premiere, which showed a naked Donald Trump in bed with Satan. “We’re terribly sorry,” Parker said, followed by a long, deadpan-comic stare.
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If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com
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What terrible truth were they trying to expose?
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Our new six-part investigative podcast series uncovers what happened to a journalist and an indigenous defender after disappearing in the Amazon.
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New episodes every Monday.
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Betsy Reed
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Editor, Guardian US
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At this dangerous moment for dissent
I hope you appreciated this newsletter. Before you move on, I wanted to ask if you could support the Guardian at this crucial time for journalism in the US.
When the military is deployed to quell overwhelmingly peaceful protest, when elected officials of the opposing party are arrested or handcuffed, when student activists are jailed and deported, and when a wide range of civic institutions – non-profits, law firms, universities, news outlets, the arts, the civil service, scientists – are targeted and penalized by the federal government, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that our core freedoms are disappearing before our eyes – and democracy itself is slipping away.
In any country on the cusp of authoritarianism, the role of the press as an engine of scrutiny, truth and accountability becomes increasingly critical. At the Guardian, we see it as our job not only to report on the suppression of dissenting voices, but to make sure those voices are heard.
Not every news organization sees its mission this way – indeed, some have been pressured by their corporate and billionaire owners to avoid antagonizing this government. I am thankful the Guardian is different.
Our only financial obligation is to fund independent journalism in perpetuity: we have no ultrarich owner, no shareholders, no corporate bosses with the power to overrule or influence our editorial decisions. Reader support is what guarantees our survival and safeguards our independence – and every cent we receive is reinvested in our work.
The Guardian’s global perspective helps contextualize and illuminate what we are experiencing in this country. That doesn’t mean we have a single viewpoint, but we do have a shared set of values. Humanity, curiosity and honesty guide us, and our work is rooted in solidarity with ordinary people and hope for our shared future.
It has never been more urgent, or more perilous, to pursue reporting in the US that holds power to account and counters the spread of misinformation. Can you spare just 37 seconds now to support our work and protect the free press?
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We value whatever you can spare, but a recurring contribution makes the most impact, enabling greater investment in our most crucial, fearless journalism. We’ve made it very quick to set up, so we hope you’ll consider it. Thank you.
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