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The math seemed impossible, but numbers don’t lie — it was less expensive for Julie Kelley to send her 9-year-old son to seven different summer camps in three states than to enroll him in one full-time program in Vermont, where they live.

Summer vacation lasts 10 weeks for the Kelleys. And it will cost Kelley and her husband Richard about $2,000 for their only child.

When Kelley searched for full-time, five-day summer camps near Saint Johnsbury, Vermont, where her family lives, she says she couldn’t find any options. Other full-time camps in Burlington, Vermont, about a two-hour drive from their house, cost $400 per week.

By the time school starts in August, Kelley’s son will have attended day camps in Vermont, New Hampshire and Minnesota, where they’ll stay with relatives. All the camps cost between $150 and $400 per week.

“It sounds insane, but those were the best options within our budget, even planning months in advance,” the 50-year-old mom tells CNBC Make It. The local day camp they used last summer closed because of staffing shortages.

Kelley, a communications consultant who works from home full time, says she and her husband are spending “more than double” what they did last year on other child-care arrangements.

“Any time I run into other parents in line for coffee or at the park and ask how they’re doing, I see the same sleep-deprived expression reflecting back to me,” she says. “Summer shouldn’t feel this hard.”

American families now spend nearly one-fifth of their income, an average of $800 per month, on child care, the Federal Reserve reports.

The rising cost of child care is not a seasonal issue, but the summer months can be especially challenging for families as schools close and parents are on the hook for day care, sleepaway camps and other expenses.

The average cost of summer camp in the U.S. is about $87 a day, with sleepaway camp tuition at about $173 a day, according to the American Camp Association.

Years marked by inflation and a nationwide child-care crisis mean that families are more cash-strapped than usual.

Summer camp isn’t an option for many households across the U.S. as 40% of parents say that they can’t afford such programs due to a higher cost of living, according to a recent Credit Karma survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults.

Of those who are sending their children to camp, nearly 30% are going into debt or resorting to buy-now, pay-later options to cover the cost.

A separate report on summer parenting, released in June by the non-profit organization ParentsTogetherAction, found that 59% of parents have someone in their household who had to cut back on hours or leave a job because they can’t afford reliable seasonal child care.

In summers past, both of Margaret McGriff’s daughters, ages 7 and 12, would attend a day camp near their home in Lake Worth, Florida, Mondays through Fridays while she was at work.

“It was the perfect setup,” McGriff, who is a single parent, says. “I’d drop them before driving to the office and pick them up on my way home around 5 p.m.”

This summer looks a lot different. After months of struggling with higher tax, grocery and gas bills, among other necessities, McGriff says she could only afford to send her younger daughter back to camp.

The program costs about $2,000 per child, which means she’ll save $2,000 by keeping her 12-year-old daughter home for the summer.

Margaret McGriff has been bringing her oldest daughter to work with her on Wednesdays in the summer to save on child care. She says having a flexible employer has been a “godsend.”Photo: Margaret McGriff

McGriff, who is a senior content strategist at Labor Finders, a staffing and recruitment firm in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, had to ask her boss if she could work mostly from home until August, as she couldn’t find a nanny or part-time camp for her eldest daughter within her budget.

Instead of spending three days in-office each week as she normally would, McGriff is commuting once a week between June and August. On Wednesdays, her daughter comes with her to the office.

“I’m super fortunate to have that job flexibility, but it’s still been incredibly challenging to balance parenting and working full time,” McGriff, 42, says. “This is the first summer I haven’t had access to affordable child care. It’s just mentally exhausting.”

McGriff says that, despite the unexpected challenges this summer brought, she and her daughter have grown “even closer” and are finding silver linings in being home together.

Her older daughter has been reading, baking and completing workbooks to kill time while McGriff is at her job. In the evenings and on weekends, McGriff takes her children to museums, parks, the movie theater and other outings to make up for the field trips her oldest daughter is missing from not going to camp.

Natasha Brown works from home as a data annotator from midnight until 8 a.m. five days a week, then clocks into her “second shift” as a working mother to six kids, all off from school and home for the summer.

“It is complete chaos,” Brown, 40, says. “This has been the most stressful summer ever.”

Brown and her husband, Christopher, live in Cumming, Georgia with their children — their youngest child just turned 1, and their oldest is 20 — and two dogs. Christopher also works from home full time as a data manager for a health tech company.

Natasha Brown and her husband, Christopher, opted to keep their six children home (pictured here with five of their children) for the summer and save the money they would have spent on camps for a family vacation in the fall.Photo: Natasha Brown

Last summer, the parents hired a full-time nanny for about $800 per week to watch their four youngest children while they worked. The Browns would also send their children to part-time day camps and one-off activities like cello and singing lessons.

This summer, however, Brown says they’ve been “crushed” by higher child-care costs and had no choice but to keep their children at home. Hiring another full-time nanny would’ve cost the family about $1,800 per week, more than double the amount it cost last year.

“At that rate, almost my entire paycheck, or my husband’s, would be spent on summer child care,” she says. “We want our son and daughters to have a fun summer but we don’t want to blow our savings to make that happen.”

Her two oldest children, who are 16 and 20, have summer jobs, and the younger three — ages 11, 9 and 5 — are taking online classes in French, Spanish, math, ballet and other subjects on the platform Outschool. Classes can cost as little as $10 or upwards of $100 depending on the subject.

Other than that, Brown says she’s tried to keep her children occupied with summer movie marathons and encouraging them to play outside with other children on their street and have sleepovers with their friends.

She and her husband take turns watching their 1-year-old daughter when they’re not working.

Brown estimates that she’s saving at least $3,000 by keeping her children home this summer — money that she’s planning to use toward a family trip to Martha’s Vineyard in September.

“Even if we didn’t get the relaxing summer we hoped for, it’s a short-term sacrifice to ensure that our bills are paid, our children are comfortable and we don’t slip into debt,” she adds. “I still feel blessed to have that option.”

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Business

Credit card delinquency rates hit a nearly 12-year high

People are struggling to pay off their credit card debt even as many trim their spending.

The share of credit card balances that are past due reached the highest level ever in the first quarter, according to data the Philadelphia Federal Reserve has tracked since 2012.

The delinquencies come as consumers have leaned heavily on borrowing to pay for everything from groceries to vacations — expenses that have risen sharply during the pandemic recovery — and as higher interest rates to curb inflation have pushed card rates to record highs.

The Philadelphia Fed report, released Wednesday, found the number of accounts with balances at least 30 days past due fell in the first quarter, and total card balances dipped somewhat as well. Both are seasonal trends that typically occur at the start of the year after the holiday spending season, the report noted.

Even so, “account holders who are behind have larger balances left unpaid,” the researchers wrote.

The figures add to a worrying portrait of U.S. consumer credit, with first-quarter data released in May by the New York Federal Reserve showing household debt swelling and credit card and auto loan delinquency rates rising across age groups. Consumer spending has largely held up this year even as the economy cools and many tighten their belts. Wealthier households are still splurging on experiences like travel, while big brands dangle promotions to keep tighter-budget customers coming back.

“The fact that we see more people carrying balances for a longer period of time, and now more people falling behind, is evidence of the struggle that millions of households are engaged in just trying to make ends meet,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at the personal finance company Bankrate.

Faced with steep rates and rising debt burdens, some consumers are thinking twice about extending themselves further.

The Philadelphia Fed also found declines in the number of new credit card accounts in the first quarter. While that’s also typical in the months after the holidays, the total is down from the same period last year, and major Wall Street firms have flagged recently that cardholders are tapping the brakes on spending.

A similar caution is showing up in the housing market, where mortgage initiations reached a record low in the Philadelphia Fed’s data. Mortgage demand has been on the downtrend even as rates ease, as some prospective homebuyers sit tight in hopes that the Federal Reserve will finally start lowering interest rates in the months ahead.

Interest rates took the elevator going up, but they’re going to take the stairs going down.

Bankrate CHief Financial Analyst Greg McBride

Cassandra Happe, an analyst at the personal finance website WalletHub, said the Philadelphia Fed’s mortgage data highlights “deepening affordability issues, with high housing costs and mortgage rates discouraging new home purchases.”

“The rising average loan size points to a market increasingly dominated by higher-income buyers, exacerbating housing inequality,” she said in an email.

As inflation has cooled, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut interest rates by September. But Bankrate’s McBride warned that it will take awhile for consumers to feel relief.

“Interest rates took the elevator going up, but they’re going to take the stairs going down,” he said. “Interest rates are not going to fall fast enough to bail you out of a bad situation.”

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Business

Southwest Airlines faces FAA audit over string of near-miss incidents

The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday it was placing Southwest Airlines under a heightened safety review after a string of recent near-miss safety incidents involving the low-cost carrier.

In a statement, the agency said it was increasing oversight of Southwest ‘to ensure it is complying with federal safety regulations.’

“Safety will drive the timeline,” the agency said.

The development comes amid ongoing jitters about the state of U.S. aviation first sparked in January, when a door panel on a Boeing-manufactured aircraft blew out midair. That incident prompted the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation of Boeing, and led to the ouster of its leadership. A planned rollout of Boeing’s latest-generation 737 Max line was also suspended.

Since then, United Airlines announced in March an independent review of its safety measures following its own near-miss incidents. In May, the U.S. Transportation Department Office of Inspector General said it would audit the FAA’s oversight of United Airlines maintenance practices — the fifth-such OIG report following ones scrutinizing the FAA’s oversight of Allegiant, American, SkyWest and Southwest airlines’ maintenance practices.

Last week, a global IT outage linked to an update of Microsoft Windows by the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike grounded flights worldwide, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. By Wednesday, Delta Air Lines said it was still working to recover from the issue.

The FAA did not specify which incidents had prompted its latest audit announcement about Southwest.

But in April, a flight departing from Honolulu come within 400 feet of slamming into the ocean after what appeared to be an instance of pilot error. No one was injured and the plane eventually landed safely.

Details of the incident were first reported in June by Bloomberg News.

In a statement following the Bloomberg report, Southwest said ‘the event was addressed appropriately as we always strive for continuous improvement.”

As news of the Hawaii incident emerged last month, new reports surfaced of a ‘Dutch roll’ incident — said to mimic a famous Dutch ice skating tactic — on a flight from Phoenix to Oakland that caused a significant rocking motion midair.

A subsequent investigation revealed damage to both a backup power unit as well as ‘structural components’ in a way that appeared to be unique to Southwest.

“Other airlines have not reported similar issues,” the FAA said at the time.

Within days of the Dutch roll incident, reports emerged of a Southwest flight that triggered a low-altitude alert over Oklahoma City.

And prior to the FAA’s audit announcement this week, the agency said it had begun investigating an incident involving a Southwest flight departing from Columbus, Ohio, bound for Tampa that flew as low as 150 feet over Florida waters and resulted in an emergency landing in Fort Lauderdale.

In a statement Tuesday, Southwest said it was working closely with the FAA as the agency undertakes its new review, and that it had formed a new team of experts to bolster its safety management system.

‘Nothing is more important to Southwest than the safety of our customers and employees,’ it said.

Appearing with NBC News anchor and senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson on Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg indicated there is no reason to believe it is unsafe to fly Southwest. But he said that while U.S. commercial aviation remains the safest in the world, ‘we’ve got to keep it that way.’

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Business

Delta Airlines cancellations and delays continue but worst of IT outage impact is over, CEO says

Dozens of Delta Air Lines flights were canceled and more than 200 delayed Wednesday as the Atlanta-based carrier continued to recover from last week’s global CrowdStrike-Microsoft IT outage.

But in a statement, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the carrier had largely recovered from the outsized impact it experienced from the incident.

Data from FlightAware on Wednesday morning showed 47 canceled and 242 delayed Delta flights, though it was not immediately clear how many were attributable to IT issues, as a major storm system moved through the southern United States.

Dallas-based American Airlines was seeing similar cancellation and delay numbers.

Separate data from the aviation intelligence group Anuvu showed 16% of scheduled Delta flights were canceled, with just 18% departing on time.

In his statement, Bastian said he expected cancellations Wednesday ‘to be minimal.’

‘While our initial efforts to stabilize the operations were difficult and frustratingly slow and complex, we have made good progress this week and the worst impacts of the CrowdStrike-caused outage are clearly behind us,’ Bastian said, noting delays and cancellations were down 50% Tuesday compared to Monday.

‘Thursday is expected to be a normal day, with the airline fully recovered and operating at a traditional level of reliability.’

Delta said Tuesday that many of its worldwide operations relied on Microsoft, and that a crew scheduling system had seen an acute disruption as a result of the glitch.

That led to thousands of the carrier’s flights being canceled, leaving passengers stranded at airports and prompting the Transportation Department to investigate.

In an appearance Tuesday on NBC News Now with Hallie Jackson, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said he had spoken with Bastian to remind him that passengers who decline to take rebookings are entitled to cash refunds.

“This could absolutely lead to major enforcement action,” Buttigieg said, noting the record penalty his department had levied against Southwest Airlines after its 2022 winter meltdown.

‘We really wanted to send a message that this is a new chapter in how we enforce passenger protections and rights … clearly we need to continue sending that message,’ he said.

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Business

Disneyland workers reach tentative deal with company, averting strike

Disneyland employees have reached a tentative deal on a new contract with the company, according to a coalition of unions, averting what would have been the first strike to hit the Southern California theme park in 40 years.

‘We have shown Disney that we are the true magic makers of the park and today proves that when workers stand together for what they deserve, we win,’ the Disney Workers Rising Bargaining Committee said in a statement. ‘We look forward to making our voices heard during the voting process to ratify this contract.’

The bargaining committee said details of the tentative agreement would be shared with union members before a formal vote on Monday. The results of that vote will then be shared with the public.

The announcement of a tentative deal comes five days after union members voted to authorize a strike by an overwhelming majority, citing alleged unfair labor practices during contract negotiations.

The number of employees who voted was not released. The unions said that, of the members who participated, 99% voted to approve a walkout.

In a statement, Disneyland Resort spokesperson Jessica Good said: ‘We care deeply about the wellbeing of our cast members and are pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with [the unions] that addresses what matters most to our cast while positioning Disneyland Resort for future growth and job creation.’

The employees covered by the contract include custodians, ride operators, candymakers and merchandise clerks at the popular theme park, a pillar of the tourism economy in Southern California. In company parlance, theme park workers are known as ‘cast members.’

The bargaining committee previously accused Disney of having ‘engaged in multiple instances of conduct we allege are unfair labor practices, including unlawful discipline and intimidation and surveillance of union members exercising their right to wear union buttons at work.’

The union buttons in question depict a Mickey Mouse-style white glove raised in a fist. (The company has insisted that costumes worn by cast members are ‘a critical part of enhancing the experience of our Disney show.’)

In recent years, labor leaders and scholars have drawn public attention to the economic struggles of employees at Disneyland and other major theme parks across the country.

In an internal survey of union members conducted earlier this year, 28% of Disneyland cast members reported experiencing food insecurity, 33% reported experiencing housing insecurity in the last year, and 42% reported needing to miss work for medical treatment because they did not have enough sick leave.

The four unions that represent the workers are the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 83; the Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West (SEIU-USWW); the Teamsters Local 495; and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 324.

The last time Disneyland was hit with a strike was September 1984, when nearly 2,000 cast members walked off the job for 22 days.

The pre-existing contract for cast members at Disneyland expired June 16. The contract for cast members at Disney California Adventure and Downtown Disney expires Sept. 30.

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World News

Beijing and Manila made a deal in the South China Sea. But they’re already at odds over what was agreed

An interim deal to smooth deliveries to Philippine marines marooned on a ship at a hotly disputed reef in the South China Sea appears to be in doubt after Manila and Beijing gave opposing accounts over what they had agreed to.

Fears of a conflict with global implications have risen in recent months following a series of increasingly violent clashes between Chinese coast guard vessels and Philippine ships at Second Thomas Shoal in the contested Spratly Islands, where Manila grounded a navy ship in 1999 to press its claims.

Following de-escalation talks, Manila and Beijing both said they had reached a “provisional arrangement” on the resupply of necessities to Philippine marines stationed aboard the BRP Sierra Madre – without either side conceding their maritime claims.

But analysts were skeptical about whether the temporary deal would hold after the two sides provided conflicting details of what their agreement entails.

Here’s what you need to know.

What’s in the deal?

Neither Manila nor Beijing has released the text of the temporary agreement reached on Sunday to cool tensions at the reef, known as Ayungin Shoal in the Philippines and Ren’ai Jiao in China, which is located about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the Philippine island of Palawan.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Monday that Beijing had agreed to allow Manila to resupply its personnel on the Sierra Madre with living necessities “in a humanitarian spirit.”

Those resupply missions could only take place “if the Philippines informs China in advance and after on-site verification is conducted,” spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular news briefing.

“China will monitor the entire resupply process,” she added.

Those remarks met pushback in Manila.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement on X that the country would continue to assert its rights in the South China Sea, noting the provisional agreement with Beijing had been reached “without compromising national positions.”

Therefore, the Chinese statement “regarding prior notification and on-site confirmation is inaccurate,” the DFA said.

The Philippines made the deal in good faith, was ready to implement it, and urged China to do the same, the statement added.

How did we get here?

Beijing claims “indisputable sovereignty” over almost all of the 1.3 million-square-mile South China Sea, and most of the islands and sandbars within it, including many features that are hundreds of miles from mainland China. The Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan also hold competing claims.

In 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in a landmark maritime dispute, which concluded that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea.

China has ignored the ruling: Manila says Beijing continues to send its maritime militia and coastguard vessels to Mischief Reef and Scarborough Shoal in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

Under President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, the Philippines has taken increasingly assertive steps to protect its claim to shoals in the South China Sea, leading to several confrontations off the Philippine islands.

They include standoffs between Chinese boats and tiny wooden Philippine fishing vessels; Chinese attempts to block the resupply of the BRP Sierra Madre with water cannons; and a bold move by a lone Filipino diver armed with a knife to sever a massive floating Chinese barrier.

In a major escalation on June 17, the Philippines and China blamed each other for a clash near Second Thomas Shoal in which a Philippine serviceman lost a thumb.

Footage released by the Philippine military showed Chinese coast guard officers brandishing an axe and other bladed or pointed tools at the Filipino soldiers and slashing their rubber boat, in what Manila called “a brazen act of aggression.”

The clash took place just weeks after President Marcos warned that the death of any Filipino citizen at the hands of another country in the South China Sea would be “very close” to an act of war.

What’s at stake?

The resource-rich South China Sea is widely seen as a potential flashpoint for global conflict, and Western observers say tensions could erupt if China, a global power, decides to act more forcefully against the Philippines, a US treaty ally.

Washington and Manila are bound by a mutual defense treaty signed in 1951 that remains in force, stipulating that both sides would help defend each other if either were attacked by a third party.

The US is not a claimant to the South China Sea, but says the waters are crucial to its national interest of guaranteeing free passage through seas worldwide.

The US Navy regularly conducts freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) in the South China Sea, saying the US is “defending every nation’s right to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows.”

Beijing denounces such operations as illegal.

In remarks at the Aspen Security Forum on July 19, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States would “continue to support the Philippines and stand behind them as they take steps” to resupply the Sierra Madre.

“The most important thing right now is to see de-escalation and to see the ability of the Philippines to do resupplies. We believe that is achievable, and we’re going to drive to make that happen,” Sullivan said.

What happens next?

Analysts have cast doubt on whether the temporary deal between Manila and Beijing will ever be implemented.

Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, said both sides may have withheld the written details to allow them to save face – and their differing interpretations could undermine the agreement.

“We’ll only know for sure when we see how China reacts to the next Philippine resupply mission,” he said.

“If the resupply gets through unmolested despite the fact that the Philippines certainly won’t tell China in advance or allow any inspection of the cargo, then that will be a victory for Manila’s strategy over the last two years. And it will certainly be a relief to the United States.”

Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst at the US-based RAND Corporation think tank, said the deal did not address the underlying territorial disputes and appeared to have failed before it had even started.

“The China-Philippines deal is already falling apart, probably because Beijing wishes to keep the appearance of diplomatic engagement while continuing to uphold its bottom line interests – a low-risk and highly effective strategy,” he said.

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World News

At least 6 dead, 7 missing as fishing vessel carrying 27 sinks off Falkland Islands

At least six people are dead and seven missing after a fishing vessel carrying 27 onboard sank in the South Atlantic about 200 miles off the coast of the Falkland Islands.

The fishing vessel, FV Argos Georgia, requested assistance soon after it began sinking east of the islands at about 4 p.m. local time Monday, the Falkland Islands government said in press release Tuesday.

The crew abandoned ship and some managed to board life rafts, the government said.

Some of those who boarded the life rafts have since been rescued, but a search is continuing for those still missing, the statement said.

Citing British and Spanish maritime authorities, the Associated Press reported that 14 people had made it onto a life raft and were rescued by nearby fishing boats. It said at least six people had died and seven remained missing. At least 10 of the crew members were identified as Spaniards, the AP reported.

Those who have been rescued will be taken to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital in the capital Stanley for medical assessments, according to the Falkland Islands government.

A search and rescue operation involving helicopters and vessels began on Monday and will continue throughout the night on Tuesday.

The Falkland Islands said that a search and rescue helicopter had unsuccessfully attempted to rescue crew members on Monday evening but was thwarted due to “extremely challenging weather conditions and very limited time on scene due to range.”

“The helicopter returned to Stanley Airport to refuel prior to a second attempt but the weather worsened further, and rotary wing SAR operations were suspended,” it added.

In addition to the Falkland Islands government, the search and rescue operation involves the government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, HQ British Forces South Atlantic Islands, the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency, the management company of the fishing vessel, and other fishing vessels at sea.

“The Falkland Islands government sends their thoughts to all the families involved,” it added.

Argentina’s Navy said it had also attempted search and rescue operations after being alerted about the ship’s sinking.

The Falkland Islands, which lie about 300 miles east of the tip of South America, are a British-ruled overseas territory over which Britain and Argentina fought a brief war in 1982. Britain won that war but Argentina continues to claim the islands, which it refers to as Las Malvinas.

According to the Associated Press, the Argos Georgia is managed by Argos Froyanes Ltd, a privately-owned joint British-Norwegian company, and was sailing under the flag of St Helena, another British overseas territories in the South Atlantic.

“This accident highlights the harshness of fishing activity and the sacrifice and risk that sea professionals experience,” said Carmen Crespo, chair of the Committee on Fisheries, for the European Parliament in a statement on Tuesday.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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World News

Two killed as walkway collapses at Italy’s notorious ‘Gomorrah’ slum

Two people were killed and at least 13 injured Tuesday when an elevated walkway collapsed in a condemned Italian slum notorious for its links to organized criminal groups.

The Italian Fire Brigade said a 29-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman were killed in the collapse at the Le Vele housing slum in the Neapolitan suburb of Scampia.

More than 800 people were living as squatters in the apartment complex at the time, including 300 children, according to the fire brigade. All have been evacuated to tent camps set up by the country’s civil protection agency.

The complex was made famous in Roberto Saviano’s “Gomorrah” book, film and television series, which detailed the exploits of the Camorra, a powerful Neapolitan mafia-like group.

Several criminal groups tied to the Camorra operated out of the apartments and wings, many of which were protected behind heavy fencing and bullet-proof glass, according to local police who regularly raided the buildings. It was also notorious as a venue for drug deals.

The housing complex, built in the 1970s and 1980s, originally consisted of four apartment buildings shaped like sails (“vele”) joined by elevated walkways. But in 2020 regional authorities ordered the site to be cleared and razed. Since then, three of the buildings have been demolished and only one now remains.

The cause of the collapse at that one remaining building is not yet clear, but the structure has been condemned for years and amenities like running water, electricity and gas are all brought in illegally.

In recent years, the complex has been inhabited by people who lost their homes during a devastating earthquake in 1980 that killed nearly 2,500 people and left 250,000 homeless. Many of those people moved to the complex while waiting for new homes promised by the national government that never materialized.

After the order to clear the complex in 2020, the local municipality launched a redevelopment project to house those still living at La Vele. That project is still ongoing but remains unfinished.

Naples mayor Gaetano Manfredi expressed his condolences to those affected by the collapse and offered assistance to those who still live there.

“Now is the time to think about the victims – but I want to reiterate that our redevelopment project will not stop and our commitment to Scampia will be even stronger than before,” Manfredi said.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also expressed sadness at the news.

“In this hour of pain, my condolences go to the victims’ families together with a thought of closeness for the wounded and their loved ones,” she wrote on social media. She also thanked emergency services for their help.

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World News

Israel is blocking physicians with Palestinian heritage from entering Gaza

Palestinian-American doctor Jiab Suleiman arrived in Jordan last month ahead of an emergency medical mission into Gaza, which he was due to oversee. The Ohio-born orthopedic surgeon had already led two trips into the besieged strip since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October and was finalizing details for his third.

But his preparation would ultimately be for nothing. The day before the team was set to cross into Gaza, Suleiman received notice that he had been denied entry by Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, the Israeli agency that manages policy for the Palestinian territories and the flow of aid into the strip.

“We have to actually tell people of Palestinian origin or Palestinian dual nationals that it is not possible for them to go in,” said Sameer Sah, director of programs at Medical Aid for Palestinians, an aid organization based in the United Kingdom. “We have to distinguish between Palestinians and non-Palestinians which is not ethically right, which is not right in terms of humanitarian laws, and it is not humane.”

“They said ‘you’re denied because of your Palestinian ID,’” said Suleiman, the medical mission lead at Rahma, a US-based humanitarian organization, referring to COGAT. “It’s very upsetting, annoying and disturbing to deny someone entry to a war zone to do a mission just because of the fact that they’re by genetics Palestinian.”

“I stopped recruiting or encouraging any Palestinian physician worldwide to come help, I just can’t recruit them because I lose a slot,” Suleiman added. “Even if it’s just one doctor or one nurse, I lose a slot knowing that they’re going to be denied and I need every single body, every physician to go into Gaza.”

The change in policy came after Israel launched a deadly ground offensive into Rafah in May, during which it seized control of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza and destroyed the Palestinian side. Medical aid groups that relied on the Rafah crossing for entry into Gaza have been forced instead to use Kerem Shalom – a crossing previously used for commercial goods – to get from Israel into southern Gaza.

Before the war, Palestinian medics and medics of Palestinian heritage who held other passports could apply to Israel for entry into Gaza and have no issues getting approval. They would enter the strip through the Erez crossing, between Israel and northern Gaza, which has been closed since it was destroyed in the Hamas-led attacks on October 7.

International aid organizations are demanding that Israel drop the new restrictions affecting medical missions, pointing to the dire need for their teams to enter Gaza, which has had its healthcare system decimated by Israel’s war, launched in response to the Hamas-led attacks of October 7. Since then, more than 500 healthcare workers have been killed and 32 out of 36 hospitals have been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

In an email sent by a WHO regional office, teams were told that the new COGAT policy stated that anyone with Palestinian background or roots would be denied border crossing through Kerem Shalom.

“We reiterate that we STRONGLY advice (sic) against any attempt of entering Gaza with a Palestinian background/roots,” the email stated.

Another WHO email sent a few days later explained that rejections could also be simply due to ancestry, such as having “parents or grandparents who were born or formerly established in Palestine, with or even without Palestinian ID.”

“We are having HUGE problems with this, as COGAT keeps rejecting many people for this reason,” the email said.

In one WHO document from early June detailing updated guidance, aid groups were told that “it is not recommended that staff with dual citizenship (Palestinian) enter Gaza due to issues with permits.”

Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian-American doctor from Chicago who went on a medical trip to Gaza in January, was in Cairo preparing for another trip in May when Israel seized the Rafah crossing, blocking humanitarian and medical aid groups from entering.

“I find it so heartbreaking and tragic that any connection to the land is used against healthcare workers trying to help,” said Ahmad, who walked out of a White House meeting with Muslim community leaders in April in protest of the Biden administration’s support of the war. “To be deprived of being able to put my skills to use for my people, at the height of their suffering and pain is especially cruel.”

“Because of the limited amount of seats that we have, we can’t risk it,” said Dr. Mustafa Musleh, the president of PAMA. “It is not necessarily something that we want, and we really prefer not to do that. But I don’t think we have a choice at this point.”

Another organization posted a recruiting ad on Instagram calling for surgeons to apply for its upcoming medical mission trip to Gaza. The ad disclosed that “applicants with a Palestinian ID or Palestinian roots are not allowed into Gaza.” The post has since been deleted.

Musleh emphasized that there are significant advantages to including medical workers with the same background and roots as the populations they are treating in mission teams, since it means they can understand the language and culture.

Palestinians have faced decades of tight restrictions on their movement by Israel, imposed through a complex system of permits, walls, checkpoints and border crossings. Unlike Israeli settlers – who can generally move freely without restriction – Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are required to obtain special permits from the Israeli government.

According to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, Palestinians face “an arbitrary, entirely non-transparent bureaucratic system” in which many permits are denied or revoked without explanation.

For Palestinian doctors hoping to provide care for their people, Israel’s decision to deny them entry to Gaza has left them in despair.

“Your hands are tied, and you feel hopeless,” Suleiman lamented. “I don’t understand these people, how they decide to do this to someone that’s just going in for two weeks to serve the purpose of helping people.”

“It does not feel right being denied just because of the place you were born and being treated different than other US citizens,” Musleh said.

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World News

Powerful Typhoon Gaemi churns toward Taiwan, menaces already soaked China with more rainfall

A powerful and rapidly intensifying typhoon is barreling toward Taiwan, disrupting ongoing military drills and prompting authorities to close financial markets, schools and offices.

Typhoon Gaemi is expected to strengthen into a super typhoon before making landfall on Taiwan’s northeastern coast Wednesday evening.

It is then forecast to continue toward China’s Fujian province on Thursday, bringing more strong winds and downpours to a country already hit hard by weeks of extreme rain and deadly flooding.

Gaemi is currently the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic, with maximum sustained winds of 220 kilometers per hour (140 miles per hour), according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC).

It will land near the epicenter of April’s earthquake in Hualien county. The 7.4 magnitude quake was the largest Taiwan had seen in 25 years, injuring more than 1,000 people and collapsing buildings.

Taiwan is often struck by typhoons and has a generally strong track record in preparing for the damaging winds and downpours they can bring, especially in the cities. The more at risk populations tend to be more remote and mountainous areas, especially on the east side of the island, where landslides can be pose a major danger.

Taiwan’s Central Meteorological Agency has issued a sea and land typhoon warning for the entire main island as Gaemi’s powerful winds are expected to strengthen further to 240 kph (150 mph).

Heavy rain hit Taiwan ahead of the storm’s landfall on Wednesday, with the island’s mountainous areas already reporting rainfall approaching 200 millimeters (8 inches). Rainfall well over 500 mm (20 inches) is possible for the central mountains of Taiwan, according to the CMA.

Typhoon Gaemi is strengthening in Pacific waters that have been at their warmest temperatures on record. Scientists have found that hotter oceans caused by the human-caused climate crisis are leading storms to intensify more rapidly.

Gaemi, the first typhoon of the season to affect Taiwan, has strengthened by 96 kph (60 mph) in the last 24 hours, well exceeding the definition of rapid intensification which is 56 kmh (35 mph) in 24 hours.

Most Taiwanese cities, including the capital Taipei, chipmaking hub Hsinchu and the southern city of Kaohsiung, closed schools and offices on Wednesday while Taiwan Railways suspended some rapid train services.

Dozens of flights have also been canceled for Wednesday and Thursday, with three of Taiwan’s largest carriers – EVA Air, China Airlines and Starlux Airlines – announcing disruptions due to the typhoon.

Taiwan’s defense authorities said they had to modify ongoing annual five-day Han Kuang War Games due to the typhoon. The live-fire drills are the biggest annual military exercises of their kind in Taiwan, where the armed forces are increasingly vigilant against the threat of invasion from China.

“We will adjust some of the air and naval elements given the typhoon situation,” defense ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fiang told reporters in Hualien.

Typhoon Gaemi has also forced the closure of schools and government offices in the Philippines as heavy rains hit the Manila capital region and the main island of Luzon. Some flights have been canceled and the Philippine Stock Exchange said it would cease all trading Wednesday.

Images show roads and streets in Manila flooded by rains brought by Typhoon Gaemi, as people wade through knee-deep water.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier said more than 770,000 people have been affected by the typhoon and southwest monsoon in the country’s southern regions, and 4,500 personnel were on standby to assist with search and rescue operations.

More extreme weather misery for China

Because the storm is strengthening prior to hitting Taiwan, Gaemi will also be stronger than previously expected when it hits China Thursday afternoon local time (early Thursday morning ET).

Though weakened, Gaemi is expected to make landfall in China as the equivalent to a strong Category 1 or low-end Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 145 to 160 kph (90 to 100 mph.)

The worst of the winds are expected to occur in coastal areas of Fujian province, but heavy rain will spread across Fujian, southern Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces for the rest of the week.

By the weekend, the remnants of Gaemi will likely spread heavy rainfall farther north into areas of China like Henan, Shanxi and Hebei provinces which have been hit hard by flooding in recent days.

For many in China, the prospect of another major storm bringing more water is a big concern.

In the past two weeks, tens of thousands of people have been evacuated across multiple provinces in China following deadly floods and landslides, which have blocked highways, destroyed homes and caused devastating financial losses as they wiped out crops and livestock.

Torrential rainfall hit southern, central and eastern parts of the country and led to major emergency response efforts in a flood season that has started some two months ahead of its typical schedule.

In Henan province, the flooding came after a period of scorching temperatures that complicated efforts to grow and irrigate vital crops in parts of central China’s agricultural heartland. Then, extreme rain inundated tens of thousands of acres of cropland and forced more than 100,000 people to evacuate their homes, according to state media.

The flooding in Henan and surrounding provinces – and the double hit of arid heat and floods in a matter of weeks – has prolonged what has already been a devastating period of extreme weather across China that’s forecast to continue.

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