
Iran declares ‘great victory' in war with Israel
But the authorities have also been rounding up and punishing people they accuse of being Israeli-backed spies and saboteurs.
Reporter: Lindsey Hilsum
Producer: Zahra Warsame
Producer: Fariba Sahraei

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Israel ambassador Mike Huckabee says Hamas 'could use some Ozempic'
The comments came as international outrage over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached a fever pitch in recent weeks. The United Nations' World Food Programme has warned that a third of Gaza's population isn't eating for days at a time. (Starvation of a civilian population as a method of war is a crime under international laws.) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to deny that civilians are starving, saying as he announced a new offensive into the Gaza Strip that assessments of the situation have been exaggerated. Read more: One meal a day. $20 for an egg. Choosing which kid gets fed. Starvation stalks Gaza In the interview on Aug. 11, Huckabee defended the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an aid distribution system supported by the U.S. and Israel that has been criticized by other foreign leaders and international organizations for generating violence near distribution sites. Huckabee said Hamas, the Palestinian militant group designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization, "hates" the GHF because its aid distribution methods have hurt Hamas' capacity to "control the food market." "Yeah, there's some real deprivation in that country," he said. "But it's not because GHF is killing people."


The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
How Trump's real estate obsession has defined his presidency
On Aug. 11, while delivering the news of a federal takeover of Washington, D.C. police, Trump shared pearls of real-estate wisdom imparted by his father on the importance of first impressions. He might have thought of it as curb appeal. "I had a wonderful father, very smart, and he used to say, 'Son, when you walk into a restaurant and you see a dirty front door, don't go in,'" said Trump. "'Because if the front door is dirty, the kitchen's dirty also.' Same thing with the capital. If our capital's dirty, our whole country is dirty, and they don't respect it." Casting Washington, D.C. as America's "front door" in need of a major wipe down, he went on describe his plan of action. A clean-up crew of 800 National Guard troops would be dispatched to clear out "crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor" from the capital. The spruce-up project also has a deadline: 30 days. "It's a natural instinct," he said on Aug. 11. "As a real estate person, I was very good at that and I was very good at fixing things up." Trump has a track record of displaying an obsession with the physicality of things: whether it is people (Arnold Palmer, Rosie O'Donnell), places (cities, countries and spaces) or objects (portrait frames and ceiling moldings). He's been on a redecorating and remodeling binge in and around the White House - from a golden overhaul of the Oval Office to ripping up the sod in the Rose Garden to pave it over with white stone. He's also planning on adding a 90,000-square-foot ballroom in the East Wing. Trump has also shared his enthusiasm for the White House Vault, from which he selects "great pictures and artwork" to be placed around the house. "I picked it all myself. I'm very proud of it," he said. But framing intractable issues in terms of real estate also appears to be how he orients himself - a way to process and understand. For instance, he's made a habit of describing war-torn areas through the prism of development potential. During the Washington event, he said he would try to "get back" some of Ukraine's "oceanfront property" during talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15. "Russia has occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They've occupied some very prime territory. We're going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine," he said. "They have taken largely - in real estate, we call it oceanfront property. That's always the most valuable property," Trump said, describing the land Russia usurped during its three-year war on Ukraine. Talking to reporters about possible "land swaps" between Russia and Ukraine - an idea Ukraine has rejected - he said his mission was to negotiate an agreement. "I make deals," he said. In Trump's telling, the negotiations seemed to be about a land deal, and he made no mention of any security guarantees for Ukraine. Back in February, during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - the first world leader to visit Trump during his second term - Trump spelled out his vision for Gaza amid talks of an Israel-Gaza ceasefire. He said the United States should take over the war-torn seaside Palestinian territory and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East." "The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip. We'll do a job with it. We will own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous bombs and other weapons," he said. "We will level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area." But Trump has found that some of his land acquistion pitches, such as buying Greenland from Denmark, do not go over well in the world of international diplomacy. When Trump hosted Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office in May, he brought up his desire to annex the United States' northern neighbor and make it the 51st state. Trump, once again, brought up his professional builder bonafides. "I'm a real estate developer at heart. When you get rid of that artificially drawn line (the U.S.-Canada border), somebody drew that line many years ago... like with a ruler, just a straight line right across the top of the country," Trump said during the meeting. "When you look at that beautiful formation, when it's together - I'm a very artistic person - but when I looked at that beaut, I said, 'That's the way it was meant to be,"" he said. Carney was quick to swat away the suggestion. "You know, from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale," said Carney. "Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign last several months, it's not for sale." Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal


Daily Mirror
10 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Starving boy, 14, crushed to death by Gaza aid drop as he ran toward food
Muhannad Zakaria Eid, 14, was running towards the heavy aid packages as they dropped near in central Gaza on Saturday - when one landed on him and crushed him to death A starving Palestinian child was crushed to death by a parachuted aid pallet in Gaza amid what officials have described as an "unimaginable" famine that has claimed hundreds of lives. Muhannad Zakaria Eid, 14, was running towards the heavy packages as they dropped near the so-called Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza on Saturday when one landed on him, his brother Muhammad Eid said. At least 23 Palestinians have died in airdrops so far, with another 124 injured. Harrowing footage shared on social media shows large pallets thudding to the ground, before Muhannad's body is dragged from beneath a crate and carried away from the crowd. His death comes after repeated warnings that parachuted aid deliveries are dangerous, ineffective and far from meeting Gaza's desperate need for food, baby formula and medical supplies. Civil defence spokesperson Mahmud Basal said "daily injuries and fatalities" occur when heavy parcels fall on people in densely populated areas, adding that stampedes and overcrowding at drop sites also claim lives. It comes after furious Bob Geldof issued a desperate plea on Sky News to save babies in Gaza. Gaza's Government Media Office condemned the airdrops, saying: "We have repeatedly warned of the danger of these inhumane methods and have repeatedly called for the entry of aid through land crossings in a safe and sufficient manner, especially food, infant milk, medicines, and medical supplies." On Tuesday, a coalition of 24 countries, including the UK, Australia and several European states, warned that famine is "unfolding before our eyes" and demanded Israel allow unrestricted aid into Gaza. "The humanitarian suffering in Gaza has reached unimaginable levels. Urgent action is needed now to halt and reverse starvation. Humanitarian space must be protected, and aid should never be politicised," their joint statement said. The grim warning came as Israeli strikes continued across the Strip, killing at least 46 Palestinians since dawn on Tuesday. Five more people - including two children - died from starvation, bringing the total famine death toll to 227 since the war began, among them 103 children. Israel denies there is starvation in Gaza. Speaking to the ABC's 7:30 on Monday night, Israel's ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, said: "The government of Israel is not - is not - there is no starvation policy. That's not to say that we believe the condition on the ground are ideal." He declined to say how many children have died from hunger. On Sunday, five Al Jazeera employees, described as among the "last remaining voices within Gaza", were killed in an Israeli attack that has sparked global outrage. Correspondents Anas Al-Sharif and Mohammed Qreiqeh, camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and Moamen Aliwa, and their assistant Mohammed Noufal, died on Sunday following a strike on a tent near al Shifa Hospital in Gaza.