Civilians given four-hour window to leave encircled capital but fears many are still trapped. Plus, Salman Rushdie on peace, Barbie and what freedom cost him
Good morning.
Waving white flags and holding their hands above their heads, Palestinian families fled past tanks waiting to storm Gaza City in the next stage of the war that the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said will give Israel “indefinite” control over the besieged territory.
Israel’s military gave civilians inside the encircled city a four-hour window to leave on Tuesday, as its forces prepared to retake the biggest city in the strip.
Men, women and children, some carrying their belongings on donkeys, fled their homes past Israeli troops out of the city.
In an Arabic-language message, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they would allow people to leave from 10am until 2pm local time, and published a video of dozens of people along a main road.‘Ohio spoke tonight’: voters add abortion rights to state constitution
Ohio voters resoundingly voted to add abortion rights to their state constitution, a major victory for abortion rights supporters in the only state where abortion is on the ballot this November.
“Issue 1” passed with more than 57% of the vote, according to results shortly after the outcome was declared.
Abortion access has been in contention in Ohio since the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last year, sending the issue back to the states, which led to 16 states banning nearly all abortions. Ohio has a six-week ban on the books, which briefly took effect until a court paused it. Yesterday’s results should prevent it from being reinstated.
After polls closed yesterday, abortion rights supporters gathered in downtown Columbus at an watch party hosted by Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, the coalition backing Issue 1. Each time an agency or news organization declared that Issue 1 had passed, cheers erupted – culminating in an ear-splitting roar when CNN, which was playing on a widescreen TV, aired footage of the watch party itself.This year on track to be the hottest on record, say scientists
The world is set to be hotter in 2023 than in any other year on record, scientists have said, before a landmark climate summit this month.
