A high risk of famine persists in Gaza and the situation “remains catastrophic” as the war between Israel and Hamas continues, according to a report released Tuesday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

Nearly half a million are projected to face catastrophic levels of hunger, the most severe level on the IPC scale where people “experience an extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion of coping capacities,” according to the report.

96% of the population of Gaza – more than 2 million people – will face crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of food insecurity through at least the end of September, the report projects.

“A high risk of famine persists across the whole of the Gaza Strip as long as conflict continues and humanitarian access is restricted,” the report said. “Only the cessation of hostilities in conjunction with sustained humanitarian access to the entire Gaza Strip can reduce the risk of a famine occurring in the Gaza Strip.”

“The last few months have demonstrated that food and humanitarian access and malnutrition prevalence can change very quickly, the risk of epidemics is increasing and eight months of extreme pressure on the lives of the population make them much more vulnerable to collapse into famine,” said the report, compiled by the IPC’s Famine Review Committee.

“Given the unpredictability of the ongoing conflict and humanitarian access challenges, any significant change may lead to a very rapid deterioration into Famine,” the report said.

The findings of the report echo testimonies from those on the ground about the dire humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Nearly nine months of Israel’s bombardment and siege have depleted the health care system, battered water infrastructure and created dire conditions for the entire population of more than 2.2 million people.

Increased Israeli attacks in the southern city of Rafah have triggered mass displacement and an outbreak of infectious diseases in the sprawling tent camps where people cannot access basic sanitation. With no signs of an imminent ceasefire being agreed to stop the fighting, relief workers say the suffering of civilians on the ground will only get worse.

“The latest data shows that, to be able to purchase food, more than half of the households had to exchange their clothes for money and one third resorted to picking up trash to sell,” the report detailed in its “special snapshot.” “More than half also reported that, often, they do not have any food to eat in the house, and over 20 percent go entire days and nights without eating.”

The report acknowledged there were some improvements to the situation in the north of Gaza, where the IPC warned in March that famine was imminent. Tuesday’s report assessed that due to an increase in food deliveries in March and April, “the available evidence does not indicate that Famine is currently occurring” in the north. However, it notes the possibility remains throughout the entire Gaza Strip.

Although there was also some improvement in the south of Gaza in that time, the report said, the situation deteriorated with the launch of Israel’s military operations in Rafah. The Rafah crossing – a key transitway for humanitarian aid to Gaza – has been closed since early May, and only a handful of other land crossings remain open. Humanitarian aid workers continue to face tremendous risks to try to distribute the desperately needed aid to Gaza. The majority of the infrastructure to support humanitarian work in Gaza has been destroyed in Israel’s war against Hamas.

“The humanitarian space in the Gaza Strip continues to shrink and the ability to safely deliver assistance to populations is dwindling,” the report’s special snapshot said. “The recent trajectory is negative and highly unstable. Should this continue, the improvements seen in April could be rapidly reversed.”

The report also “encourages all stakeholders who use the IPC for high-level decision-making to understand that whether a Famine classification is confirmed or not does not in any manner change the fact that extreme human suffering is without a doubt currently ongoing in the Gaza Strip.”

It “does not change the immediate humanitarian imperative to address this civilian suffering by enabling complete, safe, unhindered, and sustained humanitarian access into and throughout the Gaza Strip, including through ceasing hostilities,” the report continued.

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has repeatedly called on the Netanyahu government to do more to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. US President Joe Biden warned in early April that Israel had to take immediate concrete steps or risk changes in US policy. Thus far, there have been no such changes in policy.

“The IPC report … obviously it confirmed what we all know and what we’ve been dealing with for some time is that the humanitarian situation on the ground is extremely dire. That’s why we have been so incredibly focused on alleviating that situation,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday.

“We can’t wait for a ceasefire, obviously, even as we try to get one and we need to do more to improve the humanitarian situation on the ground,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to do … through working to resolve these issues between the government of Israel, the Israeli security forces and the UN humanitarian agencies.”

Meanwhile, humanitarian workers are warning that the situation in Gaza is untenable.

“In the north, when we raised the famine alarm, we were able to get some more trucks in. And so for the moment, it is better. Not great — I don’t want to give false illusions here that this is all hunky dory, because it’s not,” said World Food Programme Director Cindy McCain. “There’s still great need in the north, and it’s complex. It’s complex for this reason. It’s not just food they need. They need water, they need sanitation, they need health care. All of those things contribute to famine.”

Kate Phillips-Barrasso, of Mercy Corps, added, “The population cannot endure these hardships any longer. The toll of military action has been far too high, and we fear without dramatic changes to the provision of humanitarian aid, the death toll will climb as people succumb to months of deprivation.

“Compounding the suffering is oppressive summer heat, no access to clean water, and increasing exposure to garbage and sewage. This lethal equation will undoubtedly lead to acute suffering and mortality,” she said.

On Friday, the commissioner-general for the UN’s agency for Palestinia refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, urged the “uninterrupted, regular, coordinated and meaningful flow of humanitarian assistance.”

This story has been updated.

Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the government to draft ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, delivering a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that has the potential to unravel his ruling coalition.

The court also ordered the government to withdraw funding from any religious schools, or yeshivas, whose students do not comply with draft notices.

“At this time there is no legal framework that makes it possible to distinguish between yeshiva students and those destined for military service,” the court said. “Accordingly, the state does not have the authority to order a blanket avoidance of their conscription.”

For all intents and purposes, Ultra-Orthodox (or Haredi) Jews have been exempt from national mandatory military service since Israel’s founding. Ultra-Orthodox Jews view religious study as fundamental to the preservation of Judaism, as important to Israel’s defense as the military.

Haredi parties have been staunchly opposed to efforts to get young ultra-Orthodox men to serve in the military. Netanyahu’s fragile government coalition relies on two Haredi parties – United Torah Judaism and Shas – to govern. He has for weeks been trying to advance legislation through Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, that would enshrine in law a draft exemption for Haredi men.

Netanyahu’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, has publicly criticized Netanyahu’s attempt to exempt Haredi Jews.

This is not the first time the Supreme Court has struck down the Haredi exemption. In 1998, the court told the government that allowing Haredim to get out of conscription violated equal protection principles. In the decades since, successive governments and Knessets have tried to solve the issue, only to be told again and again by the court that their efforts were illegal.

In a February poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute, 64% of Israeli respondents and 70% of Jewish Israeli respondents said that the Haredi exemption “should be changed.” The pollsters spoke with Israeli adults – 600 in Hebrew and 150 in Arabic.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

A Japanese woman and her child were among three people stabbed by a man on Monday in front of a school bus at a bus stop in eastern China, according to Japanese authorities.

The mother and child did not suffer life-threatening injuries and were taken to hospital to receive care, the official said.

The Japanese consulate in nearby Shanghai said “a man, possibly Chinese” attacked the mother and her child with a knife.

In a statement Tuesday, police in Suzhou said they arrested an unemployed 52-year-old suspect at the scene, identified by his surname Zhou.

A Chinese national who tried to stop the knife attack was critically injured and was still fighting for their life, police said. One of the injured Japanese nationals had been discharged from hospital, police added.

“The investigation of the case is ongoing, and the criminal behavior will be severely punished in accordance with the law and regulations,” the statement said.

China’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday expressed regret over the stabbing and vowed to take effective measures to protect foreigners’ safety in the country.

“Such isolated incidents may happen in any country in the world,” spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular news briefing.

Attacks against foreigners are rare in China, but Monday’s stabbing is the second such incident this month in the powerful security state, after four instructors from a US college were stabbed by a Chinese man at a park in the northeastern city of Jilin.

A Chinese tourist who tried to intervene in that June 10 attack was also stabbed, but no one suffered life-threatening injuries, according to police. The 55-year-old suspect in the Jilin attack was arrested but police have not revealed his motive.

In Suzhou, the attack took place Monday afternoon as the mother waited to pick up her child at a bus stop near a Japanese school, according to the Japanese official.

Two buses were at the bus stop at the time of the attack, a woman who was at the scene waiting to pick up her son told Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

She said she heard shouting near one of the buses then saw a man, who appeared to be in his 50s or 60s, grab a boy and swing toward him while holding knife, NHK reported.

The school bus is from the Suzhou Japanese School, located less than a mile from the bus stop in an area where many Japanese nationals live, NHK said. The region hosts many manufacturing plants for Japanese companies.

The bus attendant and parents at the scene subdued the attacker using an umbrella and a bag, according to NHK.

Knife attacks are not uncommon in China, where guns are tightly controlled. The country has faced a spate of stabbing rampages in public places in recent years, including schools and hospitals.

“Recently, stabbings have been reported in public places (parks, schools, subways, etc.) throughout China,” the Japanese consulate in Shanghai said in a statement, urging Japanese nationals in the country to be aware of their surroundings in a warning echoed by Japan’s Embassy in Beijing.

The attack was initially censored on Chinese social media, with search results for “Japanese school” on X-like platform Weibo heavily filtered to allow only posts from official accounts on Tuesday morning.

By Tuesday afternoon, the censorship appeared to have relaxed after China’s Foreign Ministry commented on the incident.

China’s strictly censored social media platforms have seen a rise in ultra-nationalism and anti-Japanese sentiment in recent years. Rooted in Japan’s brutal invasion of China during World War II, Chinese public sentiment against Japan has waxed and waned – often tied to China’s domestic politics and the state of bilateral ties.

But as Chinese nationalism turns more aggressive and intolerant under the leadership of Xi Jinping, Japanese schools in China have faced growing criticism and suspicion. In recent months, some online posts and videos have called for Japanese schools to be shut down in China, while others accused the schools of being breeding ground for spies.

Opened in 2005, the Suzhou Japanese School offers six-year elementary school and three-year junior high school curriculums, according to its website. Its rules state that students must be picked up by a parent or guardian from the school bus.

The school was closed Tuesday following the attack, and security has been stepped up at other Japanese schools across China, NHK reported.

China’s Chang’e-6 lunar module returned to Earth Tuesday, successfully completing its historic mission to collect the first ever samples from the far side of the moon in a major step forward for the country’s ambitious space program.

The reentry module “successfully landed” in a designated zone in China’s northern Inner Mongolia region just after 2 p.m. local time, according to state broadcaster CCTV. A livestream carried by CCTV showed the module touching down via parachute to a round of applause in the mission control room.

“The Chang’e-6 lunar exploration mission has been a complete success,” said Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), from the control room.

A search team located the module minutes after its landing, according to CCTV. The livestream showed a worker carrying out checks on the module, which lay on grassland beside a Chinese flag.

The successful mission is a key milestone in China’s “eternal dream” – as articulated by Chinese leader Xi Jinping – to establish the country as a dominant space power and comes as a number of countries, including the United States, also ramp up their own lunar exploration programs.

In a congratulatory message Tuesday, Xi hailed the mission as “another landmark achievement in building a strong country in space, and science and technology.”

Beijing plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2030 and build a research base at the lunar south pole – a region believed to contain water ice, where the US also hopes to establish a base.

The Chang’e-6 probe is expected to have returned to Earth with up to 2 kilograms of moon dust and rocks from the lunar far side, which will be analyzed by researchers in China before being opened for access by international scientists, according to the CNSA.

Results from the analysis of the samples could help scientists peer back into the evolution of the moon, the Earth and the solar system – while also aiding China’s aim to utilize resources on the moon to further its exploration there, experts say.

The samples were collected using a drill and robotic arm from a location within the sprawling South Pole-Aitken basin, an impact crater formed some 4 billion years ago on the moon’s far side, which is never visible to Earth.

An ascender then lifted them off the lunar surface and transferred them in lunar orbit to a re-entry vehicle, which then traveled back to Earth after separating from its lunar orbiter.

The progress of Chang’e-6 – China’s most technically complex mission to date – has been followed with intense interest within the country since its launch on May 3.

Earlier this month, images of the lunar lander displaying the Chinese flag and appearing to have drilled the character “zhong” – shorthand for China – on the lunar surface went viral on Chinese social media.

‘Treasure’ from the far side

The far side of the moon has been a point of fascination for scientists since they first peered at it in grainy, black and white images captured by the Soviet Union’s Luna 3 spacecraft in 1959 – and realized how different it was from the side facing Earth.

Absent were the lunar maria, or large, dark plains of cooled lava that pockmark much of the moon’s near side. Instead, the far side appeared to show a record of impact — covered in craters of different sizes and ages.

Decades later, and some five years since the Chang’e-4 mission made China the first and only country to complete a soft landing on the far side, scientists both from China and around the world have high hopes for the information that can be gleaned from the samples.

“It’s a gold mine …  a treasure chest,” said James Head, a professor of planetary geosciences at Brown University, who together with European scientists, collaborated with Chinese scientists analyzing samples from the Chang’e-5 mission that returned near-side samples. “International scientists are totally excited about the mission,” he said.

Head pointed to the destruction of many clues of evolutionary history due to the shifting of the Earth’s plate tectonics and erosion that has obscured the planet’s first several billion years, including the period when life emerged.

“The moon is really the cornerstone for understanding that because its surface does not have plate tectonics – it’s actually a frozen record of what it was like in our early solar system,” he said, adding that understanding the moon’s makeup can not only aid our understanding of the past but future exploration of the solar system.

While the stated focus of the Chang’e-6 mission is these broader scientific questions, experts say analysis of the composition and physical properties of the samples could also help advance efforts to learn how to use resources on the moon for future lunar and space exploration.

“The (Chang’e-6) mission is focused on answering specific scientific questions, but the lunar soils collected from the mission can support future resource utilization,” said Yuqi Qian, a planetary geologist at the University of Hong Kong.

Lunar soil could be used for 3-D printing to produce bricks for construction of research bases on the moon, while some scientists were already working on finding more economical and practical technologies to extract gases like Helium-3, oxygen and hydrogen from the soil, which could support further lunar exploration, he said.

Once they receive the samples, Chinese scientists are expected to share data and carry out joint research with international partners, before Beijing later opens the samples for access by international teams, according to statements from CNSA officials.

International teams had to wait roughly three years to apply for access to samples from the Chang’e-5 mission, but some of the earliest published research on those samples was from teams of Chinese and international scientists.

‘Race’ to the moon

Chang’e-6 – the sixth of eight scheduled missions in the Chang’e series – is widely seen as an important step forward for China’s aim to put astronauts on the moon in the coming years.

“Each step in the sample return mission process is exactly what you need to do to land humans on the moon and return,” Head said. “It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that while, on one hand, this is a scientific mission, the command and control aspects (are) exactly what you need for lunar human exploration as well as things like Mars sample return.”

China’s ambitions to send astronauts to the moon come as the US targets launching a crewed “Artemis” mission as early as 2026 – in what would be America’s first such attempt in more than 50 years.

NASA chief Bill Nelson has appeared to point to China’s pace as a driver in US progress, telling lawmakers in April that the two countries were “in effect … in a race.”

“My concern is that they (get to the south pole) first and then say, ‘this is our area, you stay out,’ because the south pole of the moon is an important part … We think that there is water there and if there’s water, then there’s rocket fuel,” Nelson said.

China has sought to dispel concerns about its ambitions, reiterating its position that space exploration should “benefit all mankind” and actively recruiting country partners for its planned international lunar research station.

China and the US are not alone in eyeing the national prestige, potential scientific benefits, access to resources and further deep space exploration that successful moon missions could bring.

Last year, India landed its first spacecraft on the moon, while Russia’s first lunar mission in decades ended in failure when its Luna 25 probe crashed into the moon’s surface.

In January, Japan became the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the moon, though its Moon Sniper lander faced power issues due to an incorrect landing angle. The following month, IM-1, a NASA-funded mission designed by Texas-based private firm Intuitive Machines, touched down close to the lunar south pole.

China is scheduled to launch its Chang’e-7 mission to the lunar south pole region in 2026, while Chang’e-8 will be launched in 2028 to carry out tests aimed at utilization of lunar resources in preparation for the lunar research station, Chinese space authorities said earlier this year.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was released from a British prison and was making his way back to his home country Australia on Monday after his 12-year battle against extradition to the United States ended in a plea deal.

The controversial figure has spent the past five years in a high-security UK prison and nearly seven years before that holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, trying to avoid arrest that could have led to life imprisonment.

On Monday, Assange, 52, agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge related to his alleged role in one of the largest US government breaches of classified materials after his whistleblowing website published nearly half a million secret military documents relating to the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The plea deal caps a long-running legal saga, allowing Assange to avoid prison in the US and return to Australia as a free man – but not until he has made a court appearance in a remote US territory in the Pacific.

Here’s what we know:

Where is Assange?

Assange boarded a flight from London’s Stansted airport on Monday after being released on bail from prison, according to a statement from WikiLeaks on Tuesday.

“Julian Assange is free,” WikiLeaks said. “He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1,901 days there.”

Traveling with him onboard the flight is Australia’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Stephen Smith, the country’s prime minister said.

Under the terms of the agreement, US Justice Department prosecutors will seek a 62-month sentence – which is equal to the amount of time Assange served in the United Kingdom while he fought extradition.

The plea deal would credit that time served, allowing Assange to immediately return to Australia. The deal must still be approved by a federal judge.

Because Assange was resistant to setting foot in the continental US to enter his guilty plea, a judge will conduct the hearing and sentencing together on Wednesday in Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands, according to a letter filed by prosecutors.

The Pacific island chain is a US territory some 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) west of Hawaii and a US federal district court is based in the capital Saipan. The islands are also closer to Australia, where Assange is a citizen and is expected to return to after the court hearing, prosecutors said.

What did Assange do?

Assange was wanted by US authorities on espionage charges connected to Wikileaks’ publication of hundreds of thousands of sensitive military and government documents supplied by former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 2010 and 2011.

The US accused Assange of endangering the lives of confidential sources by releasing the unfiltered cables and had for years been seeking his extradition.

He faced 18 charges for his alleged role in the breach and faced a maximum of up to 175 years in prison. British authorities had sought reassurances from the US that he would not receive the death penalty.

From Townsville, eastern Queensland, Assange started WikiLeaks in 2006 as an online repository that would publish anonymously submitted material, including the US military’s operating manual for its detention camp in Guantanamo Bay and internal documents from the Church of Scientology.

In 2010, WikiLeaks was catapulted to global attention when it released video that claimed to show a deadly 2007 US helicopter attack in Iraq.

Soon after, WikiLeaks released thousands of classified US military documents relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a trove of diplomatic cables.

Fight against extradition

Assange had long argued the case against him was politically motivated, that he would not face a fair trial, and his handover would violate the European Convention on Human Rights.

Free speech advocates condemned the extradition attempt, saying it would have a chilling effect on press freedom.

In August 2010, Assange was accused of sexual assault in Sweden and faced an international arrest warrant. He denied the allegations as “a smear campaign” and refused to go to Stockholm for questioning.

He turned himself in to British authorities but while out on bail in 2012 as he appealed extradition to Sweden, Assange fled to the Ecuadorian Embassy requesting political asylum.

During his time in the embassy, WikiLeaks kept up its data dumps, including in 2016 when it released thousands of emails apparently hacked from the Democratic National Committee and emails stolen from the private email account of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, on the eve of the US election.

But over time, his relationship with his host soured and Ecuador’s president came under pressure from the US to expel him from the diplomatic bolt-hole.

In 2019, Assange was pulled from the embassy by London’s Metroplitan Police on an extradition warrant from the US Justice Department, and spent the next five years living mostly isolated, in a 3- by 2-meter cell at Belmarsh prison.

The prison has capacity for more than 900 inmates and is known for once housing infamous terror suspects such as the radical Egyptian cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri within its high-security unit.

Support for Assange’s release

There has recently been increased pressure for Assange’s case to be dismissed.

In May, London’s High Court ruled that Assange had the right to appeal in his final challenge against extradition to the US, and US President Joe Biden had alluded to a possible deal pushed by Australian government officials to return him to Australia.

The UN special rapporteur on torture and Amnesty International were among those who called on the United Kingdom to halt the possible extradition, citing concerns over the risk of abuse and other ill-treatment if Assange was sent to the US.

Upon his release Monday, Assange’s wife, Stella Assange, posted on social media, “Julian is free!”

“Words cannot express our immense gratitude to YOU- yes YOU, who have all mobilised for years and years to make this come true,” she wrote.

Speaking in parliament, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, “regardless of the views that people have about Mr. Assange’s activities, the case has dragged on for too long. There is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia.”

Among those celebrating Assange’s release were the presidents of Colombia and Mexico. “Assange’s eternal imprisonment and torture was an attack on press freedom on a global scale,” said Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

Kenya is in the grip of nationwide protests against proposed tax hikes, culminating in a planned “total shutdown” of the country on Tuesday.

The demonstrations, sparked by the Finance Bill 2024, have seen citizens rally under the banner of “7 Days of Rage,” as the nation faces more days of upheaval.

President William Ruto has said he wants to have dialogue with the protesters and that he is “proud” of them. However, security forces have been accused of abducting prominent Kenyans, particularly those who have large social media followings.

Amnesty International Kenya says it is investigating the whereabouts of up to 12 people who were “abducted in the middle of night” ahead of Tuesday’s planned protests.

The protests come as Kenya’s standing gains global prominence as US President Joe Biden designated the country as a “major non-NATO ally” on Monday, marking the first time a sub-Saharan African nation has received this status.

In May, Biden announced his decision to elevate Kenya to this designation while hosting President Ruto at the White House for a grand state visit, celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations.

Concerns are mounting in Kenya as reports emerge of protesters going missing amid nationwide demonstrations against proposed tax increases in the Finance Bill 2024.

The protests, which have spread across the country, are part of a movement dubbed the “7 Days of Rage,” calling for a “total shutdown” of Kenya on Tuesday. They say they plan to “occupy” parliament in Kenya’s capital Nairobi.

The protest movement has gained significant traction through social media, where organizers have called on all Kenyans to participate in the nationwide strike.

“Gen Z are granting all hardworking Kenyans a day off,” read a widely circulated poster.

The country’s interior minister has warned that demonstrations must end by sunset or 6.30 p.m local time, whichever is earlier.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindami has addressed the media in Nairobi, urging protesters to remain peaceful and warning against the destruction of property.

“Protesters must not obstruct, block, vandalize, or otherwise destroy any private or public property,” Kindami said at a media conference in Nairobi.

Kindami added that the police would guide demonstrators and restrict access to areas protected under the law for critical infrastructure.

Kindami did not respond to concerns about a few prominent social media users who have been reported missing in recent days.

Recent footage showing a young man being forcibly taken into an SUV has heightened fears and drawn widespread condemnation.

The Law Society of Kenya’s President, Faith Odhiambo, described the incident as an abduction and accused intelligence officers of misconduct.

“Evidently, this was not an arrest as the police did not identify themselves or engage in any conversation prior to the arrest to inform him of his rights,” wrote the president of Law Society of Kenya Faith Odhiambo in a statement. “These criminals pretending to exercise police authority must be stopped.”

The epicenter of the protests is expected to be in Nairobi.

Opposition MP Babu Owino, in a video posted on X, invited protesters to the National Assembly.

“I will personally open the gate for you so you can come in and have tea,” he said. Despite this, the government has warned against attempts to enter any government buildings during the demonstrations.

Human rights groups and associations of content creators have expressed fears of potential internet and media blackouts, which could further escalate tensions.

In a joint statement, 27 organizations warned that such measures would endanger lives and infringe on citizens’ rights to organize, demonstrate, and participate in policymaking.

A mixed martial arts fighter and relatives of a regional official were among the gunmen who carried out attacks on places of worship in Russia’s Dagestan on Sunday, according to local authorities.

Russian state news agency TASS, quoting law enforcement agencies, reported Monday that five of the attackers who targeted the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala on Sunday had been identified.

Gunmen opened fire at multiple places of worship and a police traffic stop in the two cities in the Muslim-majority republic on Sunday, killing at least 15 police officers and at least four civilians, including an Orthodox priest, according to authorities.

Some of the attackers were from the Sergokalinsky district, which lies between the two cities, and were related to the head of the district, TASS reported.

Former mixed martial arts fighter Gadzhimurad Kagirov – a cousin of the head of the Sergokalinsky district Magomed Omarov – was among those who attacked sites in Derbent, according to TASS.

A son and a nephew of Omarov were also among the attackers, TASS reported.

The head of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, told reporters Monday that Omarov had since been relieved from his post and expelled from one of the main parties in the Russian parliament, the United Russia party.

Melikov didn’t specify how many of Omarov’s relatives were allegedly involved in the attacks.

Melikov said he is not able to comment further on the degree of Omarov’s guilt and his possible participation in the attacks. “This is the task of the investigative authorities. But if his participation is confirmed, then there will be full responsibility,” he said.

However, he went on to say that regardless of whether he had direct involvement, Omarov, as a parent, bears responsibility for the actions of his children.

“Why did he, as the head of a municipality, as a member of the United Russia party, as a high-level leader, who has been serving for several years as the head of a municipality, whose duties are to take care of the entire population of the region, did not pay attention, missed the children [the children’s actions and possible red flags], and missed them so much that they became murderers,” he said.

Authorities on the Spanish island of Tenerife continue to search for British teenager Jay Slater, who has been missing for a week after attending a music festival.

Slater, 19, went missing after attending the NRG festival in the south of the island, and was last heard from between 8 and 9 a.m. local time (3-4 a.m. ET) on June 17, according to a GoFundMe fundraising campaign set up to help find him.

The campaign was organized by a friend of Slater’s named Lucy Mae, who said she had left the festival before Slater on Sunday.

Slater called her around 8.30 a.m. local time the next day and said he was “lost in the mountains” and his phone only had 1% battery, according to the fundraiser.

The page includes a map showing Slater’s last known location, in the Teno Rural Park in northwestern Tenerife, around 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the festival site.

According to the fundraiser, Slater told Lucy Mae he left the festival with two men he met there and traveled with them to a remote location.

Spain’s Guardia Civil, which is leading the search for the teenager, posted a video on X showing officers searching dry, mountainous terrain and flying over rocky ravines in a helicopter.

Police from Slater’s home region of Lancashire, northern England, said they had been in contact with the Guardia Civil.

“Whilst this case falls outside the jurisdiction of UK policing, we have made an offer of support to the Guardia Civil to see if they need any additional resources,” the Lancashire Police Force said in a statement published Friday.

“They have confirmed that at this time they are satisfied that they have the resources they need, but that offer remains open and they will contact us should that position change.”

“We are supporting the family of a British man who is missing in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities,” said a spokesperson.

On Saturday, NRG festival released a statement on Slater’s disappearance.

“That such a devastating situation has arisen has deeply affected us all,” the festival said in a post on Instagram.

“We have been able to give some practical support to the members of Jay’s family who have come to Tenerife in such difficult circumstances, and we are inspired by their resilience and determination.”

Tenerife is part of the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago that sits in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa. It has long been a popular holiday destination for its temperate year-round climate.

Slater’s disappearance comes after a spate of tourists going missing in sweltering temperatures in Greece.

“Conditions have been sunny with some occasional clouds,” said Garrett, with no reports of rain.

A United States Navy aircraft carrier has arrived in South Korea for a show of force as Washington, Seoul and Tokyo released a joint statement on Monday condemning deepening military ties between North Korea and Russia.

The nuclear-powered USS Theodore Roosevelt docked in the port of Busan on Saturday ahead of trilateral exercises with South Korea and Japan in the waters near the peninsula.

The Freedom Edge exercises resulted from an agreement made by the defense chiefs of the US, South Korea and Japan before Russian leader Vladimir Putin made his high-profile trip to Pyongyang last week. But the strongly worded joint statement the three partners released Monday shows the gravity with which they view a new “strategic partnership” between North Korea and Russia made during Putin’s trip.

Besides signing the defense deal with Kim Jong Un, Putin also linked security on the Korean Peninsula to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, threatening to arm North Korea should South Korea provide military aid to Kyiv.

The US, South Korea and Japan “condemn in the strongest possible terms deepening military cooperation between the DPRK and Russia,” the joint statement said, using the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.

Deepened ties between Moscow and Pyongyang, and the mutual defense pact “should be of grave concern to anyone with an interest in maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, upholding the global non-proliferation regime, and supporting the people of Ukraine as they defend their freedom and independence against Russia’s brutal aggression,” it said.

The joint statement comes after all three partners separately expressed deep concerns over the treaty, including South Korea condemning it and summoning Russia’s ambassador on Friday, a rare diplomatic step that illustrates the soured tensions between Seoul and Moscow.

The aircraft carrier’s presence in Busan is just the latest in a series of US military moves to show Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to its own treaty ally in South Korea.

Earlier this month, US Air Force B-1B bombers participated in a live-fire exercise on the peninsula, the first time in seven years those long-range strike aircraft have dropped live munitions in South Korea.

And last week, a US Air Force AC-130 gunship also performed live-fire strikes on the same range where the B-1s dropped their bombs.

Joint drills with the US have long been a source of frustration and ire for North Korea which has pressed ahead with its illegal nuclear weapons program and missile testing under Kim, who has found a common cause with Putin.

Russia, which once supported sanctions on North Korea, used its veto power in the United Nations earlier this year to shield Pyongyang from further scrutiny and Putin has backed often backed Kim’s narrative.

“This confrontational policy on the part of the US to expand its military infrastructure in the subregion was accompanied by significant increases in the intensity and scale of military drills involving South Korea and Japan that are hostile towards North Korea,” Putin said in Pyongyang on Wednesday.

The visit of the USS Theodore Roosevelt to Busan marks the second time a Nimitz-class carrier has visited South Korea in seven months. The USS Carl Vinson called in Busan last November.

The Roosevelt, with some 5,000 personnel aboard, carries an air wing of more than 60 aircraft, including F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters.

The presence of the Roosevelt and its carrier strike group of supporting warships “demonstrates the solid combined defense posture and resolute will of the South Korea-US alliance to respond to the sophisticating threat from North Korea,” a statement from the South Korean military said.

Neither the US nor South Korea would give details or exact dates of the upcoming Freedom Edge exercise.

But the three have been working more closely together, including recent exercises involving forces from all three countries.

The Pentagon on Sunday gave a clue as to the timing of the Freedom Edge exercise, releasing a statement saying the Roosevelt would be departing the Indo-Pacific theater next week and heading to the Middle East to replace the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The Eisenhower left the region on Saturday after more than seven months of operations that included attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen to protect commercial shipping in the region from the Iran-backed group’s missiles and drones.

The movement of the Roosevelt from the western Pacific leaves temporarily only one US carrier in the region, the USS Ronald Reagan, which is homeported in Yokosuka, Japan.