Everyone thought he was the professor. But the gray-haired older man was a freshman medical student, just like the rest of the class.

“My family and friends were surprised at first. Several of my friends thought I was crazy wanting to study medicine at this age,” Toh Hong Keng, a retired Malaysian executive, said over a coffee in Hong Kong, where he has been living for decades.

This July, at 70, Toh became one of the world’s oldest students to graduate from medical school.

“It wasn’t always easy,” said the freshly minted medical graduate of the Southwestern University PHINMA in Cebu, Philippines. “At 65 to 70 years old, my memory, eyesight, hearing and body are not as good as when I was younger.”

Toh spent most of his life working in tech sales. But, for him, retirement didn’t bring long lunches and games of golf. Instead, each day for five years, he immersed himself in anatomy textbooks, aided by flashcards, reading glasses and large mugs of coffee.

Even for someone with multiple degrees, the material wasn’t easy. He was held back a year after failing a pediatrics exam in his third year. And in his final year, he was required to complete a one-year placement at private and public hospitals, with some shifts lasting a grueling 30 hours.

“Actually, why do I have to do this? Maybe I should give up,” Toh recalled saying to himself many times during those years.

His family constantly checked on him, helping to dispel many waves of doubt. And his classmates, many decades younger than him, would remind him that giving up would be a waste.

But Toh said one word became his mantra, keeping him going.

“Sayang” — a phrase in the Tagalog language meaning it would be a shame not to see it through. “Sir Toh,” his classmates would affectionately tell him, “If you give up now, it will be sayang.”

During five years of intensive study, Toh never asked for any special consideration and had “a very strong resolve” to persevere, said Dr Marvi Dulnuan-Niog, dean of the medical school. “Mr Toh is already an accomplished businessman and professional, yet he is still very open to new things. He was very passionate and persevering.”

Too old?

Toh said he never had grand ambitions as a child to become a doctor. The idea came up when he met two young Indian medical students during a vacation in the central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan in 2018.

That encounter over lunch sparked an idea that he might one day be able to pursue a medical degree.

“The only reason why I decided to study medicine was because I wanted something useful to do,” he said. “I’ve done different courses. I’ve done economics, I’ve done chemistry, I’ve done electronic engineering – but I don’t want to do that again.”

To Toh, medicine meant taking an entirely different direction.

“If I can’t be a practicing doctor, at least I can look after myself somewhat,” he said.

After signing off from his last day in the corporate world in 2019, Toh spent weeks studying for entrance exams and applied to nearly a dozen universities across Asia.

“If I can’t be a practicing doctor, at least I can look after myself somewhat”

Toh Hong Keng

But he struggled to find a program without an age limit on applicants. Most were capped from 35 to 40.

Feeling a little dejected, he got in touch with his family’s former domestic worker whose daughter recently graduated from medical school in the Philippines.

After a few more exams and interviews, Toh eventually landed an offer at Southwestern University in Cebu. A week later, in 2019 he packed his bags, found a small apartment on the island and started his medical school journey.

He completed his first year in Cebu, which included a course with clinical labs and hands-on learning. But when the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, he moved backed to Hong Kong and took all of his lectures online.

The average age of first-year medical students in the United States is 24, and most students are 28 years old when they graduate, according to data from the American Medical Association. It can take at least 10 years more to become a fully licensed and practicing physician with residency experience.

Dr Atomic Leow Chuan Tse obtained his medical degree in 2015 from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Romania when he was 66, according to Singapore’s Book of Records. The following year, he passed a licensing exam which allows him to practice medicine in Europe.

While its unclear whether Toh is the oldest person to ever complete a medical degree, there are many examples of doctors still practicing well into their later years.

That includes Dr Howard Tucker of Cleveland, Ohio, who was born on 10 July 1922. He was recognized in 2021 by Guinness World Records as the oldest practicing doctor. Dr. Tucker just celebrated his 102 birthday and is still teaching neurology.

‘A better life’

A self-described provincial kid, Toh grew up on his family’s rubber plantation in Malaysia. As a teen, he and his siblings would wake up at 4 a.m. to tap rubber from the trees before heading to school.

“In those days we didn’t have much idea about what our dreams are. We just hoped that we can have a better life.”

He worked hard on the farm and even harder on his studies, which landed him an offer to study chemistry and control engineering at the University of Bradford in Britain between 1974 and 1978. He supported himself working part time as a waiter, mainly taking shifts during summer breaks.

He moved to London to do a master’s degree. To cover his student loans, he worked as a garbage collector alongside his studies. He didn’t mind the stench or grueling hours, as Toh said: “It paid good money.”

Armed with an unshakeable work ethic, he had no problems landing a job back home in Malaysia and jetting around Asia on different stints before settling in Hong Kong, where he and his wife raised three children.

“If you have a dream to be a medical doctor, you can still do it at any age.”

Toh Hong Keng

But even after five years of intense study, Toh is not convinced he’ll take the extra steps needed to become a practicing doctor. That would require a year-long internship and more study for a medical board exam.

Instead, he plans to work as a consultant for a friend’s company dealing with allergy and immunology diagnostics in Hong Kong.

Toh’s years of study may be over, but they’ve inspired another challenge — to create a scholarship fund for medical students who struggle to pay for degrees as foreign students.

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the average tuition fee per year costs around $60,000 for in-state students at public medical schools and $95,000 for out-of-state students in the US. Private medical schools have an average tuition and fees cost upwards of $70,000. As for international students, the figures are much higher.

Tuition fees were nowhere as high in the Philippines. It cost about $4,000 to 5,000 per year at Southwestern University for Toh, which he said was still very expensive for prospective students from developing countries across Asia.

But for anyone with enough energy to follow Toh’s path, he has this advice: “If you have a dream to be a medical doctor, you can still do it at any age.”

“Studying medicine is intensive and extensive, but it’s not that hard, it’s just hard work.”

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has fired Human Rights Minister Silvio Almeida following reports he engaged in sexual misconduct.

“The president considers keeping the minister in his position to be unsustainable considering the nature of the accusations,” the presidential palace said in a statement Friday evening. Almeida has denied any wrongdoing.

Local media outlets reported Thursday night that MeToo Brasil, an organization that defends women victims of sexual violence, had received complaints of sexual misconduct by Almeida. The organization confirmed that in a subsequent statement.

The minister for racial equality Anielle Franco – who the press named as one of the alleged victims – saluted Lula’s decision.

“Recognizing the seriousness of this practice and acting immediately is the right course of action, which is why I would like to highlight President Lula’s forceful action and thank him for all the expressions of support and solidarity,” Franco said in a statement on Instagram late on Friday.

She also shot back at attempts to “blame, disqualify, embarrass or pressure victims to speak out in moments of pain and vulnerability,” adding a request that her space and right to privacy be respected. Franco is the sister of slain councilwoman Marielle Franco.

Lula previously said on social media Friday that the public prosecutors’ office, comptroller general and the presidency’s ethics commission would investigate, while guaranteeing Almeida’s right to a defense.

In a statement on Friday, Almeida said he had asked Lula to dismiss him “in order to grant freedom and impartiality to the investigations, which must be carried out with the necessary rigor.”

Almeida said in a statement last night that he repudiates “with absolute vehemence the lies” claimed about his behavior, and denounced a “campaign to tarnish my image as a Black man in a prominent position in government.” He also warned that false accusations are a crime.

Brazil’s first lady Rosângela da Silva — known as Janja — is a prominent voice for the defense of women’s rights, and on Thursday posted a picture on her Instagram account of her kissing Franco on the forehead, in a sign of support.

“As often happens in cases of sexual violence involving aggressors in positions of power, these victims faced difficulties in obtaining institutional support to validate their complaints,” MeToo Brasil said in a statement Thursday. “As a result, they allowed the case to be confirmed to the press.”

Friday afternoon, Isabel Rodrigues, a professor and a city council candidate in a municipality of Sao Paulo state, posted a video Friday on Instagram with the aim of adding her testimonial to those of the yet-unnamed women. She said Almeida sexually assaulted her in 2019, putting his hand up her skirt and touching her private parts without her consent.

“It was horrible what Silvio did. My therapist knows. My friends know. I was Silvio’s victim. I am a voice for these women. For justice and for the truth,” she said.

Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro began flooding Sao Paulo’s main boulevard for an Independence Day rally Saturday, buoyed by the government’s blocking of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s X platform, a ban they say is proof of their political persecution.

A few thousand demonstrators, clad in the yellow-and-green colors of Brazil’s flag, poured onto Av. Paulista. References to the ban on X and images of Musk abounded.

“Thank you for defending our freedom,” read one banner praising the tech entrepreneur.

Saturday’s march is a test of Bolsonaro’s capacity to mobilize turnout ahead of the October municipal elections, even though Brazil’s electoral court has barred him from running for office until 2030. It’s also something of a referendum on X, whose suspension has raised eyebrows even among some of Bolsonaro’s opponents all the while stoking the flames of Brazil’s deep-seated political polarization.

“A country without liberty can’t celebrate anything this day,” Bolsonaro wrote on his Instagram account Sept 4., urging Brazilians to stay away from official independence day parades and instead join him in Sao Paulo.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X’s nationwide ban on Aug. 30 after months of feuding with Musk over the limits of free speech. The powerful judge has spearheaded efforts to ban far-right users from spreading misinformation on social media, and he ramped up his clampdown after die-hard Bolsonaro supporters ransacked Congress and the presidential palace on Jan. 8, 2023, in an attempt to overturn Bolsonaro’s defeat in the presidential election.

The ban is red meat to Bolsonaro’s allies, who have accused the judiciary and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government of colluding to silence their movement.

“Elon Musk has been a warrior for freedom of speech,” staunch Bolsonaro ally and lawmaker Bia Kicis said in an interview. “The right is being oppressed, massacred, because the left doesn’t want the right to exist.”

“Our liberties are in danger, we need to make our voices heard. De Moraes is a tyrant, he should be impeached, and people on the streets is the only thing that will convince politicians to do it,” added retiree Amaro Santos as he walked down the thoroughfare Saturday,

Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” has also urged Brazilians to turn out in droves for the rally, resharing someone else’s post claiming that X’s ban had awakened people “to the fact that freedom isn’t free and needs to be fought for.” He’s also created an X account, named for the controversial jurist, to publish sealed court orders directing X to shut down accounts deemed unlawful.

But De Moraes’ decision to ban X was far from arbitrary, having been upheld by fellow Supreme Court justices. And while expression, online and elsewhere, is more easily censored under Brazil’s laws than it is in the US, Musk has emerged as both a cause célèbre and a mouthpiece for unrestricted free speech.

Since 2019, X has shut down 226 accounts of far-right activities accused of undermining Brazil’s democracy, including those of lawmakers affiliated with Bolsonaro’s party, according to court records.

But when it refused to take action on some accounts, de Moraes warned last month that its legal representative could be arrested, prompting X to disband its local office. The US-based company refused to name a new representative — as required in order to receive court notices — and de Moraes ordered its nationwide suspension until it did so.

A Supreme Court panel unanimously upheld de Moraes’ decision to block X days later, undermining Musk’s efforts to cast him as an authoritarian bent on censoring political speech.

The more controversial component of his ruling was the levy of a whopping $9,000 daily fine for regular Brazilians using virtual private networks (VPNs) to access X.

“Some of these measures that have been adopted by the Supreme Court appear to be quite onerous and abusive,” said Andrei Roman, CEO of Brazil-based pollster Atlas Intel.

In the lead-up to Saturday’s protest, some right-wing politicians defied de Moraes’ ban and brazenly used a VPN to publish posts on X, calling for people to partake in the protests.

The march in Sao Paulo is organized in parallel to official events to celebrate Brazil’s anniversary of independence from Portugal. Commemorations have been fraught with tension in recent years, as Bolsonaro used them while in office to rally supporters and show political strength.

Three years ago, he threatened to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis when he declared he would no longer abide de Moraes’ rulings. He has since toned down the attacks — a reflection of his own delicate legal situation.

Bolsonaro has been indicted twice since his term ended in 2022, most recently for alleged money laundering in connection with undeclared diamonds from Saudi Arabia. De Moraes is overseeing an investigation into the Jan. 8 riot, including whether Bolsonaro had a role in inciting it.

Three people have been killed and two wounded in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, authorities in the country said Saturday.

The Lebanese Ministry of Public health said three emergency workers were killed in the attack as they tried to contain a fire in the town of Froun, Nabatieh district. It said the attack was the second time an ambulance team had been targeted within 12 hours and was a violation of international law.

However, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strike had “eliminated terrorists” from the Amal movement, a Hezbollah-allied Shia group. The Amal movement released a statement saying two of its members had been killed “while performing their humanitarian and national duty in defense of Lebanon and the South.”

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati characterized the strike as “a blatant violation of international laws and a blatant aggression against human values,” and called on Western ambassadors and other international representatives to attend an emergency meeting at his headquarters in Beirut on Monday.

He said the meeting aimed to demand accountability and “pressure the Israeli enemy that does not care about any law and continues to ignite the fire of its crimes against Lebanon and the Lebanese.”

Cross-border fire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah has been an almost daily occurrence since the war in Gaza began.

Hezbollah said Saturday it had responded to the strike on Froun by launching “a squadron of suicide drones” on a newly established IDF headquarters in Ayelet, northern Israel, and a “salvo of Al-Falaq missiles” at the Kiryat Shmona settlement. The IDF said it had identified several UAVs crossing from Lebanese territory, but that no injuries had been reported.

Lebanon’s Civil Defense director Brigadier General Raymond Khattar extended his “deepest condolences” to the families of those affected.

He also wished a “speedy recovery” to one of the injured men, whom the Civil Defense identified as Mohammad Amasha. The injured man had been “transferred to Tebnin Governmental Hospital, where he is undergoing surgery due to a serious injury he sustained as a result of the raid,” the Civil Defense said.

This is a developing story. More to come.

Massive train disruptions in Germany left hundreds of passengers stranded on Saturday, as authorities worked to restore traffic following a technical malfunction. Some traffic has since resumed.

Train services in central Germany have been “massively affected” due to a technical fault, the German rail company Deutsche Bahn said.

There were widespread train cancellations in the greater Frankfurt area due to a radio communications failure, public broadcaster ARD’s news service Tagesschau reported.

Trains traveling to or departing from Frankfurt were affected, and traffic through the major travel and financial hub was halted, according to Tagesschau.

Hundreds of passengers were stranded at Frankfurt’s Central Station on Saturday, without knowing when they could resume their journeys, Tagesschau reported.

One of the biggest transport associations in Germany, the Rhine/Main Regional Transport Association, or RMV, said in a post on social media on Saturday that due to a technical fault in radio communications, “train services in the RMV area have been suspended until further notice” and that neither S-Bahn trains nor regional trains could run.

“The duration of the disruption cannot currently be foreseen,” RMV said at the time.

It remains unclear what caused the technical fault.

Later on Saturday, Deutsche Bahn said the technical problem had been resolved. “Rail traffic in central Germany is starting up again. There may be disruptions until the end of the day,” it said.

Frankfurt is one of the most important European transport hubs with around 1,200 local and long-distance trains in regular service every day, according to Tagesschau.

Pope Francis emphasized the importance of a Catholic Church serving marginalized communities as he concluded his first full day in Papua New Guinea on Saturday, as part of a lengthy Asia tour.

Speaking to church leaders in the capital, Port Moresby, he told them to focus on the “peripheries of this country” and those in the most deprived urban areas.

He insisted the church was committed to helping those who are wounded “morally and physically” due to “prejudice and superstition.” According to rights group Human Rights Watch, Papua New Guinea is one of the most dangerous places in the world for women or girls, due to high rates of sexual violence.

Francis delivered his remarks at the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians church, where the Catholic community undertakes various charitable and educational works.

Beforehand he had visited the Caritas Technical Secondary School, a school for underprivileged girls, and those from the “street ministry” and “Callan services,” which work with the poorest and those with disabilities.

His decision to visit the school — which provides educational opportunities for girls — was significant given the discrimination and violence women suffer in Papua New Guinea. At the shrine, Francis also heard remarks from two women involved in church ministry.

The pope also spoke off-the-cuff during his talk, insisting twice that bishops and priests in Papua New Guinea follow the “style of God,” which is “closeness, tenderness and compassion.”

At the end, he greeted the crowd outside the church and, speaking in English, thanked them for their patience before offering them a blessing. He also joked with them to “pray for me, and not against me.”

Francis seemed in good spirits and everywhere he went was given a traditional welcome by groups from across Papua New Guinea in colourful tribal dress, singing and dancing.

The 87-year-old is currently on the longest trip of his pontificate – a marathon 12-day visit of four countries in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, which also includes East Timor and Singapore.

Debris from a downed drone was found outside Ukraine’s parliament building on Saturday morning after the country’s defense systems largely succeeded in fending off a widescale drone attack launched overnight by Russia.

Ukraine managed to shoot down 58 of the 67 Shahed drones launched by Russia, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a Telegram post on Saturday. The attack targeted multiple locations including the northeastern city of Sumy, the southern city of Kherson, the central region of Poltava and the capital of Kyiv.

The head of Kyiv’s military administration, Serhii Popko, described it as “another massive drone attack” on the city, in a post on his Telegram channel.

At least one drone appeared to have been shot down over the Ukrainian parliament as pictures shared online by the parliament showed debris scattered outside the building’s entrance.

Kyiv’s air defenses managed to shoot down all of the Russian drones which began approaching the city at around 3am local time (8pET), Popko said, with none of the drones managing to reach their targets.

There were no hits to critical or residential infrastructure during the attack, the region’s military chief, Ruslan Kravchenko said in a separate Telegram post. No casualties have been reported from the attack either, which saw air raid sirens sound for over eight hours, Kravchenko added.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been lobbying strongly in recent days for further air defenses for Ukraine in the face of a barrage of Russian attacks across the country.

Addressing a forum in Italy on Friday, Zelensky highlighted how Russia has launched “missiles, attack drones, and heavy aircraft bombs” against Ukrainian cities and villages. “Big, small, it doesn’t matter for them,” he added.

On September 1 and 2, the western city of Kharkiv came under respective missile and bomb attacks. One day later, Russian forces carried out a missile strike on a military educational facility in the central city of Poltava, killing over 55 people. On September 4, the western city of Lviv, long considered to be largely safe from Russian attacks, was hit by a missile strike targeting civilian infrastructure, killing seven people.

Venezuelan security forces surrounded the Argentine embassy in the capital Caracas on Friday after two opposition members took refuge inside, according to posts by the opposition duo on social media.

The pair joined four other Venezuelan opposition figures who have taken refuge in the embassy this year.

One of the men, Pedro Urruchurtu, the international coordinator for opposition leader María Corina Machado, wrote on X that there were patrols of hooded and armed officials surrounding the diplomatic building.

The other, former deputy Omar González, also posted on X, writing: “They cut off the electricity service to the Argentine embassy in Caracas, which is currently besieged by agents of the Sebin (Bolivarian National Intelligence Service) and other state security bodies.”

A statement issued by Vente Venezuela, a movement led by Machado, described the situation as a “siege.”

“Patrols with regime agents continue to arrive at the headquarters of the Argentine embassy in Caracas. We hold Nicolás Maduro responsible for this siege against our leaders who are taking refuge in the embassy,” the statement said.

The Argentine government has filed requests for them to be allowed to leave Venezuela but they have not so far been granted.

The expulsions came after Argentina’s government questioned the widely disputed results of the July 28 elections, in which Maduro was proclaimed the winner despite detailed results not being made public as requested by several governments and international organizations.

The developments at the Argentine embassy come hours after the country’s foreign ministry asked the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants against Maduro and other senior government officials for possible crimes against humanity allegedly committed during post-election protests.

On Thursday, while speaking at a forum in Buenos Aires, Argentinian President Javier Milei called Maduro a “criminal.”

Argentina has rejected an arrest warrant issued by a Venezuelan court against Edmundo González, candidate of the opposition Democratic Unity Platform (PUD) and Maduro’s main rival, for his alleged responsibility in the publication of detailed data on the presidential elections.

González denies the charges. The PUD says it obtained those records through its election witnesses.

The heads of the United States’ CIA and the UK’s foreign intelligence service, known as MI6, spoke at length about the key security issues plaguing the world in an unprecedented joint public appearance in London on Saturday, in a wide-ranging discussion that covered Russian aggression, the threat from China and the war in Gaza.

The event – a discussion at the FT Weekend Festival chaired by the newspaper’s editor Roula Khalaf – marked the first time the two men – Richard Moore of MI6 and CIA chief Bill Burns – have appeared on a public stage together.

The two men spoke of the significance of the partnership between the US and the UK, particularly in the face of Russian aggression. Burns cited the run-up to the war in Ukraine, launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2022, as one of the best examples.

“Going back to the fall of 2021, the two of us together, our services together, were able to provide credible, early, accurate warning of the invasion that was coming, which was not a small thing at the time, because almost all of the other services around the world, our intelligence counterparts, thought this was a bluff on Putin’s part,” the CIA chief said.

“I think that good intelligence enabled our leaders, our political leaderships, to mobilize a very strong coalition to counter Putin’s aggression.”

Burns said that this helped the Ukrainians to defend themselves. He also spoke of a “novel approach” to declassify some secrets in that period as a way of denying Putin the chance to peddle false narratives. This put Putin in the “unaccustomed and uncomfortable position of being on the wrong foot,” Burns said.

Speaking on the threat from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, Moore said there was a lot of “pragmatic cooperation” between these countries.

“You can see it, of course, sadly, on the battlefield in Ukraine. You can see North Korea, North Korean weaponry. You can see Iranian drones. You can see the sort of help that the Chinese have provided through sort of dual-use type material. You see all of that playing out in our world.”

Adding to this, Burns said that there has not yet been any “direct evidence” of China providing weapons and munitions to Russia for use in Ukraine. However, he said: “We see lots of things just short of that, as Richard said, in terms of dual-use items, the kind of things that have enabled Putin over the course of the last 18 months or so to significantly rebuild his defense industrial base and that poses a real danger.”

Asked about concerns over potential Russian escalation in response to the West’s supply of weapons to Ukraine, Burns said: “I think there was a moment in the fall of 2022 when there was a genuine risk of the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons. I have never thought, however, this is the view of my agency, that we should be unnecessarily intimidated by that. Putin’s a bully and he is going to continue to saber-rattle from time to time.”

US President Joe Biden had sent him to speak with “one of our Russian counterparts, Sergei Naryshkin, at the end of 2022 to make very clear what the consequences of that kind of escalation would be,” Burns added.

Denting Kremlin’s narrative

Speaking on Ukraine’s surprise offensive into Russia’s Kursk border region, Burns said that said that such developments help to counter Putin’s “cocky and smug attitude.”

According to Burns, Putin’s approach to the war in Ukraine has been that it is “only a matter of time before the Ukrainians are going to be ground down, and all of their supporters in the West are going to be worn down,” allowing the Russian president then to dictate terms for a settlement.

Developments such as Ukraine’s Kursk offensive help to “put a dent” in that narrative and raise questions among the Russian elite about “where all this is headed,” Burns said. The offensive last month saw Ukrainian forces storm into Kursk in a cross-border incursion that caught even American officials by surprise.

Burns described the Kursk offensive as a “significant tactical achievement” that has served to boost Ukrainian morale as well as expose some of the vulnerabilities of Putin’s Russia and his military. Last year’s short-lived insurrection carried out by former Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin also helped to dent this narrative, Burns said.

The CIA chief does not, however, see Putin’s grip on power weakening. “He does one thing really well, and that’s repress people at home.”

Gaza ceasefire efforts

Speaking on the negotiations to secure a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, Burns said that the US was “working very hard” with mediators Egypt and Qatar to refine a framework proposed by Biden in May and put it “in a good enough proposal” that both the Israeli and Hamas leaderships will see the value in moving ahead with it.

He stressed that in his experience with Middle East negotiations, “perfect is never on the menu,” adding that he could not say for sure that “we’re going to succeed in that,” nor how close the US and mediators might be to a deal right now.

A lot is at stake for Palestinians and Israelis, as well as strategically in the region, Burns said. But above all, what’s at stake is “in human terms,” he said, pointing to the hostages taken by Hamas-led militants who are still alive and living in “hellish conditions,” as well as the “countless mothers and fathers in Gaza who are dealing with their own terrible losses” and the worsening humanitarian situation in the strip.

Biden first announced the framework for a peace plan between Israel and Hamas on May 31 – to which he said Israel had agreed. The three-phase proposal paired the release of hostages with a “full and complete ceasefire.” The plan envisioned the withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops eastward from Gaza.

Since then, both sides have pointed to what they see as glaring holes in the framework, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting that Israel’s forces will never leave the stretch along the Egypt-Gaza border known as the Philadelphi Corridor.

The hostage release efforts gained new urgency earlier this month with the discovery of the bodies of six hostages in a tunnel beneath the southern Gaza city of Rafah, including the Israeli-American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

The conversation with Moore and Burns was preceded by a jointly-penned editorial in the Financial Times newspaper in which they stressed the international world order was “under threat in a way we haven’t seen since the Cold War.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Ukraine appears to be calling on a fleet of fire-spewing “dragon drones” in its war with Russian invaders, putting a modern twist on a munition used to horrific effect in both world wars.

A series of videos posted on social media, including on Telegram from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry on Wednesday, show the low-flying drones dropping torrents of fire – actually molten metal – onto Russian-held positions in tree lines.

The white-hot mixture of aluminum powder and iron oxide, called thermite, burns at temperatures up to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,200 degrees Celsius). It can quickly burn off trees and vegetation giving cover to Russian troops, if not killing or disabling the troops outright.

As it falls from the drone, the thermite resembles the fire coming from the mouth of the mythical dragon, giving the drones their nickname.

“Strike Drones are our wings of vengeance, bringing fire straight from the sky!” a social media post from Ukraine’s 60th Mechanized Brigade said.

“They become a real threat to the enemy, burning his positions with an accuracy that no other weapon can achieve,” the post continued.

“When our ‘Vidar’ works – the Russian woman will never sleep,” it added. Vidar is the Norse god of vengeance.

Creating that kind of fear is likely the main effect of Ukraine’s thermite drones, according to Nicholas Drummond, a defense industry analyst specializing in land warfare and a former British Army officer.

“I understand that Ukraine only possesses a limited capacity to deliver a thermite effect, so this is a niche capability rather than new mainstream weapon,” he said.

But he acknowledges the terror thermite can create.

“I would not have liked to have been on the receiving end,” Drummond said.

Incendiary weapons in war

Thermite can easily burn through almost anything, including metal, so there’s little protection from it.

It was discovered by a German chemist is the 1890s and was originally used to weld railroad tracks.

But its military potency soon became apparent, with the Germans dropping it from zeppelins as bombs over Britain in World War I, according to a history from McGill University in Montreal.

Both Germany and the Allies used thermite aerial bombs in World War II, and they also utilized it to disable captured artillery pieces, putting thermite into the breech and melting the weapon shut from the inside.

According to Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), a British anti-war advocacy group, Ukraine has previously used thermite dropped from drones to permanently disable Russian tanks.

The thermite is dropped “directly through the hatches, where the intense heat quickly ignites and destroys everything inside,” an AOAV report says.

“This precision, combined with the drone’s ability to bypass traditional defenses, makes thermite bombs a highly effective tool in modern warfare,” it says.

Thermite is just one type of incendiary weapon, with others including napalm and white phosphorus.

The United Nations Office for Disarmament says incendiary weapons can cause massive destruction and environmental damage.

“The fires produced by the weapon itself or ignited by it are difficult to predict and to contain. Therefore, incendiary weapons are often described as ‘area weapons’ due to their impact over a broad area,” it says on its website.

The United States used napalm to burn much of Japan’s capital to the ground in World War II’s infamous Tokyo fire raids. US forces also used it extensively in Vietnam.

The US military has also used thermite in grenades, with the US Army’s Pine Bluff Arsenal producing the weapons from the 1960s through 2014 and then resuming production again in 2023.

What thermite does to humans

Under international law, thermite is not banned for military combat, but its use on civilian targets is prohibited because of the horrible effects it can have on the human body.

In a 2022 report on incendiary weapons, such as thermite, Human Rights Watch called them “notorious for their horrific human cost,” including inflicting fourth- or fifth-degree burns.

“They can cause damage to muscles, ligaments, tendons, nerves, blood vessels, and even bones,” HRW said.

Treatment can last months and require daily attention. If victims survive, they are left with physical and psychological scars, HRW said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Moscow’s initial push into Ukraine was stopped far short of capturing the capital of Kyiv, and the sides have fought over much of the same territory for most of the war.

Ukraine’s forces, outnumbered and outgunned by Russia, have proven adept at innovating with small drones to hammer Moscow’s troops and equipment.

A Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory near Kursk in August surprised Putin and has boosted Ukrainian confidence that it can prevail in the war.

Kyiv has accused Russian forces of using unspecified incendiary munitions on civilian targets earlier in the war, including on a village outside of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, in May 2022.

Ukrainian officers also accused Russia of using incendiaries in attacks on the city of Bakhmut last year.

Those uses of incendiaries haven’t led to quick victory for Russia, and Drummond doesn’t think they are a battlefield game changer for Ukraine either.

“If Ukraine wants to achieve real impact, it needs sufficient mass to force a proper breakthrough as it has in Kursk. This is what victory looks like,” Drummond said.

But thermite does give Russian troops another reason to be fearful of Ukrainian drones, he said.

“We have seen instances where Russian forces attacked by multiple drones have deserted their positions. The more Ukraine can instill a fear of drones the better its chances of success,” he said.

“Thermite keeps up the pressure.”