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There are two truths about presidential candidates.  

One: There is no such thing as a perfect candidate. 

Two: It is very difficult to convince party elites that there are no perfect candidates. 

President Donald Trump’s second first 100 days are now behind him, and the Democrats are still struggling to recover after the trauma of the 2024 election. As former President Joe Biden focuses on treatment for his cancer diagnosis, fresh questions about the chronology of Biden’s decline in mental and physical health have further wafted Kamala Harris’ hopes of a second presidential or California gubernatorial bid off the political radar and out to sea. 

The Democrats have made it no secret they are in a desperate quest for the proper frontrunner/savior who can patch the torn fabric of their political and policy agenda, show enough leadership chops to unite both the Democratic Party and the country, and then go on to win back the White House in 2028.  

Former President Bill Clinton used to say of his own complicated story, ‘If you want a perfect candidate, vote for somebody else.’ Yet back in 1992, despite myriad personal dramas, Clinton possessed many elements of the classic successful contender of that era: young but seasoned, a governor from a Southern state, folksy in style but gilded academically (Georgetown and Yale), respected for his brilliance within the party but able to relate to a broad swath of the voting public.  

As always, at this stage of the cycle, the names of dozens of potential contenders from the out-party are being tossed about with the typical fervid combo of optimism, conviction, delusion and brio. But no potential candidate has yet broken out as an obvious frontrunner, let alone a great political athlete or generational talent such as Clinton or President Barack Obama. 

That is not to say that the Democratic field does not include highly intelligent, highly accomplished and highly skilled women and men. The potential contenders are an extraordinary bunch of American leaders. But none has all the necessary elements to take on the current White House or make a clear bid to win it all. 

Clinton, always good for a pithy remark, also has noted, ‘you can put wings on a pig, but you don’t make it an eagle.’ 

In 2028, if one could take a page from Dr. Frankenstein and turn that pig into an eagle, which attributes would the Democrats choose for their perfect model?  

Let’s start with Pete Buttigieg, the former Transportation Secretary under Biden and before that, the wunderkind ‘Mayor Pete’ of South Bend, Indiana. Buttigieg, like Trump, has what one might call a ‘go-on-anything confidence.’ Pete can appear on any television network, any podcast, any stage (from vast stadiums to slatted apple crates), in any state in America, and feel comfortable and poised with his audience. That trait is an essential component for 2028.  

Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, whose good looks and stylish mien often are cited more as a disadvantage than an attribute, has a profound understanding of what is modern and urgent for today’s electorate. Newsom thinks tirelessly about America’s future, and what is important to the young and the old, growing families and hard-working tradespeople, and everyone in between. 

Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, the popular governor of a swing state, understands how to connect with voters in a battleground arena by focusing on economic concerns and remaining on the right side of cultural issues despite party pressure. 

Rahm Emanuel, former congressman, White House chief of staff, mayor of Chicago, and former ambassador to Japan, brings not just his famous rough-and-tumble uncompromising bravado, but an ability to raise massive amounts of cash. His fundraising power comes from the business community, where he made millions; from Hollywood, where his brother, Ari Emanuel remains an uber mover and shaker; and from decades of fundraising amidst America’s wealthiest Democratic communities. 

Amy Klobuchar, senator from Minnesota, has a fierce determination and inner energy that will allow her to set goals and follow through with conviction. This is an essential combo required to win a modern political contest. 

Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, has shown he can twist the old adage of former New York pol Mario Cuomo, who spoke of campaigning in poetry and governing in prose. Shapiro, on the other hand, is able to merge poetry and prose in his governance, achieving solid substantive goals while creating an atmosphere of aspiration and inspiration for his constituents. 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the congresswoman from New York, has the ‘It Factor.’ Bright, charismatic, and always interesting, she commands attention whenever she speaks. (Or tweets, or comments, or posts, or poses). 

Gina Raimondo, Biden’s Commerce secretary and former governor of Rhode Island, is well-known, well-liked, and well-respected in the business community, which offsets a huge imbalance on the Republican side. A pro-business Democrat, Raimondo can speak the language of the business world, get its political support and earn its trust. 

Ro Khanna, congressman from California, understands policy and how to connect it to the real lives of real people. Khanna is a stand-out in the Democratic Party who can envision viable policy ideas and can explain his plans plainly to the American people. 

Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland, has a powerful origin story and biography. After overcoming some early challenges, Moore thrived academically, served in the military, worked on Wall Street, authored several books, ran a leading nonprofit, and dedicated his life to service. He has shown a capacity to link lessons learned from his life experience to his policy goals.  

Meanwhile, over on the Republican side, the GOP already has their frontrunner. And with JD Vance, there currently is no assembly required.  

With just a few months as vice president under his (Rust) belt, Vance already has proven to be perhaps the most powerful and effectual vice president in history — yes, even including Dick Cheney, Al Gore and LBJ. Not only has Vance brilliantly managed to remain this close to the mercurial Trump without once stepping on his presidential toes, but he has forged solid bonds with fellow politicos (even those who initially looked askance when Vance was tapped for the ticket). 

He has built up an impressive, appropriate and exceedingly visible administrative portfolio and networked productively with the most powerful GOP grassroots activists and fundraising leaders around the country. 

Simultaneously, he trotted out and shielded his attractive young family; and offered a friendly hand and flash of coattails to those peers with presidential aspirations of their own, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.   

Clinton, always good for a pithy remark, also has noted, ‘you can put wings on a pig, but you don’t make it an eagle.’ 

Vance has an additional, and unique, advantage. Most vice presidents who are champing to step into the top spot only get the chance after slogging through eight long years as a second banana, and must fight for the job just as the country has grown weary of the current administration and are longing for a new dynamic. Some, such as George H. W. Bush, can slide into office riding the departing fumes of their popular boss, while others, such as Al Gore, fumble to seal the deal. 

Vance will be able to run as a sitting vice president after serving just one term, still relevant, still modern, but with a souped-up resume and sleek gravitas. 

That is a feature Doctor Victor Frankenstein couldn’t envision in his wildest dreams. 

And of all the current asymmetrical advantages on the Republican side, this is, by far, the most imposing. 

As a famous scientist once said, ‘It’s alive!’ 

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Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk may speak to White House aides Friday in an effort to calm his ongoing feud with President Donald Trump, Fox News has learned.

Musk and Trump have been arguing over social media in recent days. The blowup came after Musk started ‘wearing thin’ on Trump for about a month, Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy reported Friday.

White House aides told Doocy they are not expecting Trump and Musk to speak to each other today, but that Trump administration staffers might try to talk to Musk. 

‘No call scheduled or had. Musk wants a call. POTUS hasn’t made a decision,’ a source familiar with the matter also told Fox News regarding a possible conversation between Trump and Musk.

Doocy also reported that a red Tesla vehicle that Trump bought during a Tesla demonstration on the South Lawn of the White House grounds earlier this year is now expected to be given away or sold off. 

The vehicle with Florida tags, as of Friday, remains parked near the White House on West Executive Drive.

Musk made allegations Thursday that Trump was in the Jeffrey Epstein file.

‘@RealDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files,’ Musk wrote on X. ‘That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!’

Musk followed the post with another, saying, ‘Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.’

‘This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful BIll because it does not include the policies he wanted,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. ‘The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again.’

On Truth Social, Trump wrote Thursday that ‘Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!’

‘The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!’ Trump also said.

The feud between Musk and Trump rapidly escalated this week when Musk called the Trump-endorsed ‘big, beautiful bill’ a ‘disgusting abomination.’

Musk, who has been openly critical of the proposed reconciliation bill, said Tuesday afternoon that he ‘just can’t stand it anymore.’

‘This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination,’ Musk added in a Tuesday afternoon post on X. ‘Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.’

Fox News’ Peter Doocy, Lucas Tomlinson, Greg Wehner and Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.

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Use of low-cost e-commerce giants Temu and Shein has slowed significantly in the key U.S. market amid President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports and the closure of the de minimis loophole, new data shows.

Temu’s U.S. daily active users (DAUs) dropped 52% in May versus March, before Trump’s tariffs were announced, while those at rival Shein were down 25%, according to data shared with CNBC by market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

DAUs is a measure of the number of people who visit or interact with a platform every 24 hours. Monthly active users (MAUs), a measure of user engagement over a 30-day period, was also down at Temu (30%) and Shein (12%) in May versus March.

The declines were also reflected in both platforms’ Apple App Store rankings. Temu averaged a rank of 132 in May 2025, down from an average top 3 ranking a year ago, while Shein averaged a rank of 60 last month versus a top 10 ranking the year prior, the data showed.

Neither Temu nor Shein immediately responded to CNBC’s request for comment.

The user drop off comes as both Temu and Shein have pulled back on U.S. advertising spend over recent months since the Trump administration’s tariff announcements.

Trump in April announced sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports, including the end of the “de minimis” tariff exemption on May 2, which allowed companies to ship low-cost goods worth less than $800 to the U.S. tariff-free.

In May, Temu’s U.S. ad spend fell 95% year-on-year while Shein’s was down 70%.

“Temu and Shein’s decline in US ad spend was also noticeable in April, as spend decreased by 40% and 65% YoY, respectively,” Seema Shah, vice president of research and insights at Sensor Tower, said in emailed comments to CNBC.

Both Temu and Shein also altered their logistics models in the wake of tariffs, shifting away from a drop shipping model, which allowed them to send items directly from Chinese suppliers to U.S. consumers, and instead, particularly in Temu’s case, building up a network of U.S. warehouses.

Rui Ma, founder and analyst at Tech Buzz China, said such moves were also likely to have impacted the companies’ ad spend strategy and customer acquisition patterns.

“All these additional costs and regulatory hurdles are clearly hurting Chinese platforms’ U.S. growth prospects,” she wrote in emailed comments.

Tech Buzz China research from March showed that a 50% tariff would be the point at which Temu would lose most of its price advantages and find it difficult to operate. The tariff on former de minimis imports currently stands at 54%, having been lowered from 120% amid a 90-day tariff truce between the U.S. and China.

Last week, Temu’s parent company PDD Holdings reported first-quarter earnings below estimates and pointed to tariffs as a significant pressure on sellers.

Temu’s popularity has nevertheless picked up outside the U.S., with non-U.S. users rising to account for 90% of the platform’s 405 million global MAUs in the second quarter, according to HSBC.

Writing in a note last week, HSBC analysts said that was “supported by growth in Europe, Latin America, and South America.” They added that the swiftest of that growth occurred in “less affluent markets.”

“Many (Chinese platforms) are now actively redirecting their efforts toward other markets such as Europe,” Ma said.

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As more parts of the world face intense drought, new technologies are emerging to clean and reuse existing water. Investors are seeing potential for big profits.

Water treatment is expensive. It uses a lot of energy and produces its own waste that gets disposed of at a hefty price. Capture6, a startup in Berkeley, California, says it’s developing a solution, and one with an added benefit to the environment.

Capture6′s technology repurposes industrial and water treatment waste, generating clean water and capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

“That combination of water treatment, brine management, and carbon capture all at once is part of what makes us unique, what makes our process innovative,” said Capture6 CEO Ethan Cohen-Cole, who co-founded the company in 2021. “We are able to do so at reduced energy costs.”

The process is complex. It starts with the waste from any sort of water treatment process. Once the solids are removed, that waste is called brine, which is leftover water plus concentrated salt — sodium chloride. Treatment facilities usually have to pay to get rid of it.

But Capture6 takes that brine, strips out the fresh water and separates the salt into sodium and chlorine. It then turns the sodium into lye.

“That lye has the really neat property that if you expose it to the air, it will bond with CO2 and strip it from the air, and that’s the punch line to the process,” said Cohen-Cole. “We have processed the waste salt, we’ve returned fresh water to our partner, and we’ve captured CO2 from the air.”

It’s a particularly attractive proposition in areas most in need of clean water. Capture6 is working in Western Australia, South Korea, and in drought-stricken California, at the Palmdale Water District north of Los Angeles. The district is still testing the technology, but is already projecting huge cost savings in its brine management.

“It will save us 10% on that capital cost, as well as saving us 20 to 40% in operational costs,” said Scott Rogers, assistant general manager at Palmdale Water District. “We’re recovering anywhere from 94% to 98% water out of water that would just normally be wasted.”

Rogers says it’s early but when more facilities start using the technology, it will create a circular economy that can benefit the environment.

Capture6 has raised $27.5 million from Tetrad Corporation, Hyundai Motors, Energy Capital Ventures, Elemental Impact and Triple Impact Capital.

Cohen-Cole says the company’s entire process could run on renewable energy, so all of the CO2 that it captures will be net negative, improving the environment. That allows the company to generate added revenue by selling carbon credits.

It’s just one technology in a growing field of carbon capture, removal and sequestration. Others include direct air capture, burying carbon underground or injecting it into the ocean.

The Trump Administration recently canceled $3.7 billion worth of awards for new technology, including carbon capture, to fight climate change. Capture6 has received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and from state-level sources including California, according to the company. So far, none of that has been canceled.

— CNBC producer Lisa Rizzolo contributed to this piece.

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A jury in El Salvador sentenced three retired high-ranking military officers to 15 years in prison for the murder of four Dutch journalists in 1982, one of the highest profile cases of the Central American nation’s civil war.

The three were charged on Tuesday for the killings of journalists Koos Joster, Jan Kuiper Joop, Johannes Jan Wilemsen and Hans ter Laag, who were reporting for IKON Television during a 1982 military ambush on a group of former Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) guerrillas – some of whom were armed.

A UN truth commission 11 years later found the ambush was “deliberately planned to surprise and kill the journalists.”

The trial was closed and details about the defendants’ pleas and arguments were not made public.

El Salvador’s civil war stretched from 1980 to 1992, pitting leftist guerrillas against the US-backed Salvadoran army and leaving 75,000 people dead and 8,000 more missing.

Former Defense Minister General Jose Guillermo Garcia was sentenced by a jury in the northern town of Chalatenango, alongside two colonels: former Treasury Police chief Francisco Moran and former infantry brigade commander Mario Reyes.

All three – respectively aged 91, 93 and 85 – were sentenced in absentia. Garcia and Moran are in hospital under custody and Reyes currently lives in the United States though El Salvador is in the process of seeking his return.

“Truth and justice have prevailed, we have won,” Oscar Perez, a representative of the Comunicandonos Foundation that represents some of the relatives, told reporters. “The victims are the focus now; not the perpetrators.”

Prosecutors had requested the 15-year sentence, taking into account the military officers’ age and health conditions.

The jury also issued a civil condemnation to the Salvadoran state over the delay in delivering justice, a symbolic measure that obliges the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, President Nayib Bukele, to publicly ask for forgiveness from the victims’ families.

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The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent” ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas in Gaza.

The US was the only nation to oppose the resolution. Fourteen others, including the United Kingdom, voted in favor. There were no abstentions.

Dorothy Camille Shea, the United States ambassador to the UN, said the US opposed the resolution because it did not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza.

“(The resolution) is unacceptable for what it does say, it is unacceptable for what it does not say, and it is unacceptable for the manner in which it has been advanced,” she said in comments before the vote took place.

The US “has taken the very clear position since this conflict began that Israel has a right to defend itself, which includes defeating Hamas and ensuring they are never again in a position to threaten Israel. In this regard, any product that undermines our close ally Israel’s security is a nonstarter,” she added.

This is not the first time the US has vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution on Gaza. In November 2024, it vetoed one calling for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire, on the grounds it would not have secured the release of hostages.

The United Kingdom said it “regrets” that the latest resolution “was unable to reach a consensus.”

“The United Kingdom voted in favor of this resolution today because of the intolerable situation in Gaza,” the UK’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York Barbara Woodward said following the vote.

“We are determined to see an end to this war, secure the release of the hostages held by Hamas and alleviate the catastrophic humanitarian situation for Palestinians in Gaza,” she added.

Woodward described Israel’s expansion of its military operations in Gaza and its severe restrictions on aid as “unjustifiable, disproportionate, and counterproductive.”

Israel in mid May launched a major new offensive in Gaza it says is aimed at destroying Hamas and freeing hostages, sparking condemnation from the United Nations and aid organizations who warn civilians are bearing the brunt of the expanded assault.

The ambassador also said the UK condemned Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and demanded the militant group release all the hostages “immediately and unconditionally,” saying “Hamas can have no role in the future governance of Gaza.”

The ambassador also restated the UK’s position that “a two-state solution is the only way to bring the long-lasting peace, stability and security that both Israelis and Palestinians deserve.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar thanked US President Donald Trump and the US administration “for standing shoulder to shoulder with Israel and vetoing this one-sided resolution in the UN Security Council.”

“The proposed resolution only strengthens Hamas and undermines American efforts to achieve a hostage deal,” he added in a post on X shortly after the voting.

The draft text had demanded “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza respected by all parties” and the “immediate and unconditional lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and its safe and unhindered distribution at scale.” It also demanded “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups.”

Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups carried out a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. It was the deadliest terror attack in Israel’s history.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said the number of people killed by Israel’s offensive in Gaza in the wake of the October 7 attacks now exceeds 54,000, most of whom are women and children.

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Editor’s Note: This story contains graphic images and descriptions of violence.

More than a dozen eyewitnesses, including those wounded in the attack, said Israeli troops shot at crowds in volleys of gunfire that occurred sporadically through the early hours of Sunday morning. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the US and Israeli-backed aid initiative that runs the site, said that Israeli forces were operating in the area during the same period.

Weapons experts said the rate of gunfire heard in the footage, as well as images of bullets retrieved from victims, were consistent with machine guns used by the Israeli military that can be mounted on tanks. Multiple eyewitnesses said that they saw gunfire emanating from Israeli tanks nearby.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initially said on Sunday that its forces did not fire at civilians “while they were near or within the aid site.” An Israeli military source later acknowledged that troops had fired “warning shots” at suspects about 1 kilometer (1,093 yards) away.

During a press conference on Tuesday, IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the military investigated and found its troops played no role in any mass casualty event. Defrin said: “This week, it was claimed that the IDF fired at civilians in an aid distribution area. This report is entirely false and echoes the propaganda of the terrorist organization Hamas… Regarding the incident on Sunday – it simply didn’t happen!”

Defrin also suggested casualty figures provided by the Palestinian health ministry were inflated, but did not elaborate as to how many people the military believed had been killed or injured.

Sunday’s mass shooting, which the Palestinian health ministry said killed at least 31 Palestinians and injured dozens, was the deadliest incident involving aid distribution in recent months. It comes amid warnings from the United Nations that the new aid distribution mechanism has become a “death trap” for desperate people seeking food in the strip.

Thousands of starving Palestinians had gathered in the sandy bulldozed area near the GHF-run site before the gates opened on Sunday, braving chaotic scenes when gunfire struck the crowd.

“No one move, stay in your place… no one move!” one Palestinian man is heard yelling in a series of videos posted to TikTok on Sunday, filmed along the coast where crowds had gathered near the aid site.

After the US-backed private foundation finally opened the site at 5:00 a.m., witnesses said the Israeli military’s gunfire continued nearby. Surveillance footage shared by GHF shows crowds of onrushing Palestinians scrambling to reach the limited boxes of food as tracer fire explodes into the night sky in the distance.

By sunrise, the extent of the catastrophe was undeniable. Videos captured bloodied bodies of Palestinians scattered across the sands, roughly a half mile from the food distribution center.

Similar deadly incidents on Monday and Tuesday near the same site have raised further questions about whether the militarized aid initiative backed by the US and approved by Israel can deliver food supplies safely. In the subsequent episodes, the IDF acknowledged that Israeli troops had fired warning shots in the area. GHF said none of the shootings occurred within or adjacent to their distribution sites, adding that the location of the shootings was “an area well beyond our secure distribution site.”

For Saqer, who said he managed to finally reach the aid site and escaped with whatever he could carry, the harrowing night still weighs heavily on him.

“We survived a night that was worse than we could imagine,” he said. “The reality for people was one of death and hunger searching for food.”

Videos capture deadly chaos

When GHF announced its distribution plans for Sunday, the instructions were direct: only one aid site would be open starting at 5:00 a.m., and the IDF would be present in the area to secure passage on a designated route.

It also warned – albeit after gunfire reportedly already erupted – that the Israeli military would be “active” in the area ahead of the site’s opening.

“Using the passage before 5:00 a.m. is prohibited, as we were informed by the military that it will be active in the area before and after the specified safe hours,” the GHF said in a release on Facebook at 4 a.m. “We remind all residents to stay on the road — straying from it poses a significant danger.”

Having endured an 11-week Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid, thousands of desperate Palestinians began making their way down Al-Rasheed Street in hopes of being among the first to reach the aid site – the only one operating in all of Gaza that day – before the limited supplies ran out.

“I could hear the screams of young people and others from their injuries,” Saqer said. “In front of me were four young men with direct injuries to the head… there was a person next to me who was injured by a bullet in his eye.”

He and others said a quadcopter drone appeared above the crowd, with the voice on its speaker telling people to turn around. But amid the warning, gunfire crackled all around them.

“Even retreating was almost impossible, and everyone was lying on the ground unable to lift their heads because if you lifted your head, you would get shot.”

As the chaos unfolded near the Al-Alam area, the GHF aid site officially opened at 5:00 a.m. Security video of the location released by the organization, which was labeled as beginning at 5:02 a.m., shows crowds of Palestinians running into the fenced distribution center.

Based on the erratic nature of the sound, Maher said that the shots seemed to be spread out, fired repeatedly in one direction. “Since the cracks are irregular, it seems more like the gunfire was being sprayed over the area.”

Trevor Ball, a former US Army senior explosive ordnance disposal team member, said the rate of fire was consistent with the FN MAG, a heavily-used machine gun in the Israeli military’s arsenal. The FN MAG is commonly equipped on the IDF’s Merkava tanks, which several eyewitnesses said they saw open fire on the crowds.

Ball also said the tracer fire – ammunition containing a pyrotechnic charge illuminating its trajectory – seen in the GHF’s footage is consistent with the use of machine guns. “Typically belt fed machine guns have tracer rounds inserted every few rounds. So while only 3 tracers are visible in the video, more rounds were fired.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross said that its nearby field hospital was overwhelmed by patients, describing the carnage as the “highest number of weapon-wounded in a single incident” since it opened over a year ago. Other dead and wounded were taken to Nasser Hospital.

“It’s difficult to describe what we saw with the young and the old, there was severe injuries to the head, severe injuries to the lung,” recalled Dr. Ahmed Abu Sweid, an Australian working at the Nasser medical complex.

“There was a heavy proportion of head-targeted injuries from bullet wounds.”

GHF, which runs the site, insisted: “There was no gunfire in the (distribution) center and also not in the surrounding area.”

“All aid was distributed today without incident. We have heard that these fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas. They are untrue and fabricated.”

The IDF said allegations that Israeli soldiers fired on Gazans near or within the aid distribution site were “false reports.” It added: “Findings from an initial inquiry indicate that the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false.”

Yazeed, 13, was shot in the stomach by gunfire from an Israeli tank and survived his injuries, according to his dad.

Mohammad Abu Rezeq was shot in the stomach upon arriving at Al-Alam where he said Israeli forces were deliberately targeting the crowd.

“I have seen a lot of soldiers in this war. When they want to clear an area or warn you, they shoot around you. But yesterday, they were shooting to kill us,” Abu Rezeq said.

Not an isolated incident

The chaos in the early hours of Sunday morning was not an isolated incident. In consecutive days since, Palestinians attempting to reach the GHF’s aid distribution sites have come under fire by the Israeli military.

After the intense gunfire near the Al-Alam roundabout on Sunday, GHF’s Facebook posts included updated maps of the safe route for the following days. The new maps included a large, red stop sign at Al-Alam.

On Tuesday, nearly 30 people were killed and dozens wounded while making their way to the aid sites in Tel al-Sultan in Rafah, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and Nasser Hospital.

The Israeli military said that its forces opened fire multiple times after identifying “several suspects moving toward them, deviating from the designated access routes.”

“The troops carried out warning fire, and after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops,” the IDF said in a statement, adding they were looking into reports of casualties.

While the Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots in the area three days in a row, posts from GHF’s Facebook page show the organization works in close coordination with the IDF to establish safe, defined routes.

GHF was set up amid Israeli accusations that Hamas is stealing aid in Gaza and profiting from sales, though Israel hasn’t presented any evidence publicly to back up the claim.

UN aid groups, such as UNRWA, typically check identification and rely on a database of registered families when distributing aid.

But GHF is not screening Palestinians at aid distribution sites, despite Israeli officials saying that additional security measures were a core reason for the creation of the new program.

UN aid agencies have criticized GHF’s aid mechanism, saying it violates humanitarian principles and raises the risks for Palestinians.

Criticism has been mounting against both Israel and GHF after chaos broke out last week when tens of thousands of starving Palestinians arrived at two new food distribution sites.

The UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, was scathing in his assessment to the UN Security Council late last month.

“It restricts aid to only one part of Gaza, while leaving other dire needs unmet,” he said.

“It makes aid conditional on political and military aims. It makes starvation a bargaining chip. It is cynical sideshow. A deliberate distraction. A fig leaf for further violence and displacement.”

Video edited by Oscar Featherstone in London. Tareq Al Hilou in Gaza contributed to this report.

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The office of Argentinian President Javier Milei denied a bombshell series of reports that alleged the country’s intelligence agency had approved a new plan that could enable the surveillance of journalists, politicians and economists.

The reporting, by journalist Hugo Alconada Mon in the newspaper La Nación, looked into a leaked national intelligence plan by Argentina’s State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE) that he says outlines general intelligence objectives such as preventing terrorism and combating organized crime, but is also filled with “generalizations, gray areas and ambiguities,” the report reads.

“For example, the SIDE has the power to gather information on all those who seek to ‘erode’ public confidence in the officials in charge of ensuring the nation’s security,” but it doesn’t specify if it’s referring to foreign agents or experts, journalists and citizens who question actions by the national security minister, Alconada Mon’s article continues.

Milei’s office on May 25 confirmed the existence of a new intelligence plan but denied that it would be used for such purposes.

Alconada Mon, one of Argentina’s most renowned investigative reporters and deputy editor of La Nación, said he verified the authenticity of the 170-page document with two independent sources.

Alconada Mon said one interpretation is that the plan is meant to counter potential actions from foreign powers, such as Russia’s alleged attempts to influence elections in other countries.

The president’s office rejected the notion, saying in a statement: “This is the first government in decades that has made the political decision not to use the SIDE to persecute opponents, journalists, and political adversaries.”

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Friedrich Merz, the newly inaugurated German chancellor, will take a seat in the Oval Office on Thursday for his first in-person meeting with US President Donald Trump.

The meeting comes as a series of high-stakes international issues once again come to the fore. Trump has issued another round of warnings to the European Union on tariffs; the war in Ukraine appears no closer to ending; and pressure is mounting on Israel over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Since taking office, Merz has been on a tour of European capitals, meeting with France’s Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Keir Starmer and Poland’s Donald Tusk – before they all appeared in Kyiv alongside Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in a show of European unity.

The one major omission has been a meeting with Trump. While there have been phone calls between the two, the handshake accompanied by the frantic clicks of camera shutters will mark the start of the new German-US relationship.

Germany’s status as the economic powerhouse of Europe and Merz’s repositioning of the country as a leader in European security – which includes a commitment to beef up its military and fall in line with Trump’s demands for NATO members to increase defense spending – underscore the importance of a successful encounter.

There is also the chance of an explosive diplomatic broadside, as seen with President Zelensky and, more recently, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Both Vice President, JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have recently criticized Germany’s decision to classify the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party, as “certainly right-wing extremists”, and therefore expanding surveillance on the party.

Both took to X, to express their anger at what they called the German “establishment” for the designation. Secretary Rubio said, “that’s not democracy – it’s tyranny in disguise”.

Vance followed up by saying Germany is trying to redivide the country, “the West tore down the Berlin Wall together. And it has been rebuilt — not by the Soviets or the Russians, but by the German establishment.”

The German Foreign Ministry, for its part, said on X, the decision was democratic, “the result of a thorough & independent investigation to protect our Constitution & the rule of law.”

Merz, a few days later, also rejected the statements, saying “Germany was liberated from tyranny by the US; Germany is stable, liberal, and democratic today. We don’t need a remedial lesson in democracy.”

The expectation though, is that this will be a cordial meeting.

“He doesn’t mince his words… That’s not Friedrich Merz’s style. He says what he thinks. He’s transparent. He’s direct. And I would imagine that that is something which Donald Trump will hopefully learn to appreciate.”

That directness, particularly as regards Europe’s relationship with the US, has already raised eyebrows in some quarters.

In the minutes after Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party won the largest share of the vote on February 23, making him the likely next chancellor, he said, “the utmost priority is strengthening Europe as quickly as possible, so that we achieve independence from the US step-by-step.” He added that the Trump administration “doesn’t care much about the fate of Europe.”

Merz also had a few other choice words for the US in the days following the election.

And only last week, he delivered a riposte to comments made earlier this year by Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference in which he accused European allies of backsliding on freedom of expression – a speech which at the time Merz described as having disturbed him.

Vance posed a question to which we “have the strongest and best answer imaginable,” Merz said in Berlin on Thursday, “namely, the conviction that freedom and democracy are worth standing up for resolutely and, if necessary, fighting to preserve them.”

These comments notwithstanding, Claudia Mayor, senior vice president at the German Marshall Fund, a think tank focused on US-German relations, assessed that since the election “the tone has been turned down” by Merz.

She noted that on May 8, Merz held a phone call with Trump in which he said, “the United States remains an indispensable friend and partner of Germany.”

At a business summit a few days later, Merz revealed that he had invited Trump to Germany. As part of that trip, he would accompany the US president to the rural town of Bad Dürkheim, the childhood home of Trump’s paternal grandfather.

And recently there has been Germany’s alignment with the US on NATO defense spending.

Merz and his government have indicated that they are ready to comply with, and push others to agree to, the long-stated Trump demand that members of the alliance increase spending on defense to 5% of GDP.

Building up a positive working relationship, though, is likely to be Germany’s major ambition for the White House meeting. And Merz’s previous roles and experience could play a big part in bringing that about.

Formerly the head of “Atlantik Brucke,” or Atlantic Bridge, a think tank that promotes German-US ties, Merz is known in Germany as being an ardent proponent of the transatlantic relationship.

He was a huge advocate for a US-EU trade agreement while at Atlantic Bridge and has spoken openly about his admiration for former US President Ronald Reagan. He also understands the corporate world, having served on numerous boards, including that of US global investment firm BlackRock.

Ischinger, now the chairman of the board of trustees of the Munich Security Conference, said: “If Donald Trump feels that he can trust Friedrich Merz, that’s very important, and vice versa… because, these are dangerous times, and there must not be any misunderstanding.”

The conundrum, she said, is that Germany “can’t afford the Americans leaving,” because despite European commitments to increase spending on security, building up those capabilities takes years. “At the same time, we don’t want them to leave, because we think we are better off together,” she added.

She points to the German coalition agreement, (essentially a contract between the two coalition parties, the CDU and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), on how they will govern Germany) and a major change in the constitution that could unlock half a trillion dollars of spending on the military, as indicators of the conflicting sentiment.

The revision of Germany’s constitutional debt brake, pushed through by Merz in March before he even formally became chancellor, was a “revolutionary change by German standards,” Mayor said. But it was forced through because “international relations have changed so much” that it appeared essential, she said.

At the same time, she said, the coalition pact reads as if everything about the transatlantic relationship is in fine working order. “If you’re such great partners, why did we need a constitutional change?” Major asked.

The source said Merz sees Germany as “(needing) to grow up and take care of (itself),” adding that the chancellor does not see that as possible “in the next three years,” and thus it is still in Germany’s interest to have a good relationship with the US and find a way to work together.

Ischinger, too, sees pragmatism at play, suggesting that Merz could seek to replicate the personal relationship built by Macron with Trump.

The German chancellor will want to ensure that “Donald Trump understands that if Friedrich Merz is a committed European, that does not mean that Friedrich Merz is going to make the Atlantic wider,” he said.

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First, these parrots learned to open trash cans to forage for food. Now, they’ve taken it a step further – and have figured out how to turn on water fountains for a sip along with their meal.

These are Australia’s iconic sulphur-crested cockatoos – white birds with a yellow tuft on their heads, known for their loud, grating screech. But they’re also incredibly intelligent, with large brains and nimble feet that have allowed them to pick up new habits in urban environments.

The cockatoos in western Sydney, in particular, caught scientists’ attention with their latest trick of drinking from public fountains. After researchers first noticed this phenomenon in 2018, they tagged 24 birds and set up cameras near fountains in the area – then sat back and watched.

Throughout two months in the fall of 2019, they recorded most of the tagged birds attempting to drink from the fountains. Also known as bubblers, these fountains are operated by a twist handle – easy enough for a person to operate, but complex for an animal to figure out.

Yet, the cockatoos did. They used different techniques: some would stand with both feet on the handle, while others would put one foot on the handle and one foot on the rubber spout. Then, they’d lower their body weight to turn the handle clockwise – holding the handle in place while twisting their head to take a drink.

They weren’t always successful – it worked about half the time, and five of the 10 drinking fountains in the area had “chew marks” indicating cockatoos had been there before. But the success rate also meant that the cockatoos had likely been doing this for some time, said the researchers in their study, published Wednesday in the journal Biology Letters.

The team had studied Sydney’s sulphur-crested cockatoos before; in 2021, they published another paper examining the birds’ newly observed ability to lift closed trash bin lids with their beaks and feet to access the food inside.

These innovative behaviors aren’t just animals being amusing or clever – they show the birds’ ability to adapt to urban environments, and the power of social learning among animals, the researchers said.

There are some questions still unanswered. The researchers don’t know why exactly the cockatoos are flocking to drinking fountains, instead of other easily accessible natural water sources in the area. At first they thought the fountains might be a backup option on especially hot days when local creeks run dry – but that wasn’t the case.

Other theories are that the birds feel safer drinking from fountains in public areas where there are fewer predators, or that they simply prefer the taste of fountain water – but that would need further study to determine.

Now, the researchers want to know what else cockatoos can do – and any habits they may have already developed that just haven’t been studied yet.

“We’ve had some really interesting innovations reported to us, and some examples include unzipping school backpacks and stealing school lunches,” Aplin told ABC Radio. “It has become such a problem in some areas that they have to bring the school bags into the classroom rather than leaving them outside!”

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