Among the missing were dozens of people listed as unaccounted for at an all-girls Christian summer camp located on the banks of Guadalupe, authorities said. Deadly Texas floods: Search efforts underway for missing children Torrential rains unleashed flash floods along the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States, killing at least 24 people as rescue teams scrambled to save dozens of victims trapped by high water or reported missing in the disaster, local officials said. Among the missing were 23 to 25 people listed as unaccounted for on Friday at an all-girls Christian summer camp located on the banks of the rain-engorged Guadalupe, authorities said. The death toll appears certain to rise further. Texas parents frantically posted photos of their young daughters on social media with pleas for information. Searchers used helicopters and drones through the night to look for victims and rescue people stranded. The danger was not over as more heavy rains were expected on Saturday and flash flood warnings and flood watches remained in effect for parts of central Texas. “What I can confirm at this point, we’re at about 24 fatalities,” Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha told an evening news conference on Friday, later confirming 24 people had died. The destructive fast-moving waters along the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet (eight metres) in just 45 minutes before dawn Friday, washing away homes and vehicles. There were hundreds of rescues around Kerr County implementing a massive search and rescue operation, including at least 167 by helicopter, authorities said. The US National Weather Service declared a flash flood emergency for parts of Kerr County, located in south-central Texas Hill Country, about 105km (65 miles) northwest of San Antonio, following heavy downpours measuring up to 300mm (12 inches) of rain. Dalton Rice, city manager for Kerville, the county seat, told reporters the extreme flooding struck before dawn with little or no warning, precluding authorities from issuing any evacuation orders. “The camp was completely destroyed,” said Elinor Lester, 13, one of hundreds of campers at Camp Mystic. “A helicopter landed and started taking people away. It was really scary.” Earlier in the day, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said somewhere between six and 10 bodies had been found so far in the frantic search for victims. During a news conference conducted at the same time as Patrick’s update, Sheriff Leitha reported that there were 13 deaths from the flooding. Patrick said 23 girls were listed as unaccounted for among more than 700 children who were at the summer camp when it was swept by floodwaters at about 4am local time (09:00 GMT). “That does not mean they’ve been lost; they could be in a tree, they could be out of communication,” he said. “Some are adults, some are children,” Patrick said. “Again, we don’t know where those bodies came from.” Patrick read out a message from the director of the summer camp, which had some 750 campers over the long July 4 weekend, reporting that it had “sustained catastrophic level of flooding”. “We have no power, water or Wi-Fi,” the message said. State and local officials warned against residents travelling to the area, which includes campgrounds dotted along the river, with dozens of roads “impassable”. Videos on social media showed houses and trees swept away by the overnight flash flood caused by heavy overnight rainfall of 300mm – one-third of Kerr County’s average annual rainfall. “It’s terrible, the floods,” US President Donald Trump told reporters Friday night. “It’s shocking.” Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a disaster declaration to hasten emergency assistance to Kerr and a cluster of additional counties hardest hit by the floods. Follow Al Jazeera English:...

In a cinematic event that promises to redefine mythological storytelling on a global scale, the first official glimpse of Ramayana: The Introduction is finally out, and it is nothing short of breathtaking. Helmed by the critically acclaimed Nitesh Tiwari and starring some of the largest stars of Indian cinema, this magnum opus promises an epic saga woven from India’s holy tradition, reimagined in the context of contemporary filmmaking excellence. Released on July 3, 2025, the teaser premiered with opulence befitting its subject. Fan screenings took place in nine cities throughout India, and a billboard takeover blanketed New York’s famous Times Square, shouting loudly and clearly: Ramayana is not merely an Indian release; it’s a global cultural contribution. The teaser begins with a breathtaking visual introduction to the cosmic trinity Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Protector, and Shiva the Destroyer, establishing the metaphysical tone for a tale that goes beyond time. Underpinning all this screen magic is a mighty ensemble cast. Ranbir Kapoor proves the perfect Lord Rama with his calm authority and inner fortitude. His transition from the divine incarnation of Vishnu to the human form will infuse the character with both gravitas and vulnerability. Sai Pallavi gives Sita elegance and subtle strength, while Kannada matinee idol Yash creates a powerful and menacing performance as the most nuanced of Indian villains, Ravana. Completing the core cast are Sunny Deol playing Hanuman, the faithful warrior and incarnation of unshakable devotion, and Ravie Dubey playing Lakshman, Rama’s temperamental but loyal brother. Both have been carefully selected to add emotional depth and presence on screen to these mythic figures. Ramayana’s tale is familiar to billions: the battle of good versus evil, the epic of a prince turned godly warrior, and the constant struggle between dharma and adharma. But in this one, the tale is imbued with scale and grandeur that is not often found in Indian films. The teaser promises a world in which demons emerge from the darkness of chaos and gods among mortals walk to restore balance within the universe. Producer Namit Malhotra, also the CEO of DNEG, the Oscar-winning visual effects giant, calls the project “a cultural movement for every Indian around the world.” For him, Ramayana is more than a film; it is an offering of India’s legacy to the global audience. “We’re introducing our truth, our story, and our pride to the world in a way that does justice to its magnitude,” he shared. Director Nitesh Tiwari, who came to prominence with emotionally charged films such as Dangal and Chhichhore, tackles this gigantic story with respect and responsibility. “Ramayana is a story that lives in the soul of every Indian,” he said. “We are not just making a movie; we’re shaping a vision that honors this truth and elevates it to a cinematic scale.” Matching the cast in talent is the dream team behind the camera. For the first time in history, musical legends Hans Zimmer and AR Rahman have collaborated to score the film, creating a symphonic fusion of East and West that mirrors the film’s global aspirations. Action scenes are choreographed by Hollywood’s best: Terry Notary, the Avengers and Planet of the Apes veteran, and Guy Norris, who was responsible for Mad Max: Fury Road. Together, they guarantee awe-inspiring battle scenes with an emotional punch and technical finesse. Production designers Ravi Bansal (Dune 2, Aladdin) and Ramsey Avery (Captain America, Tomorrowland) are busy reimagining the mythological landscapes of ancient India in elaborate detail and contemporary spectacle. The movie is being made for IMAX and produced with the best VFX standards in association with DNEG so that each frame is as visually immersive as it is emotionally connected. Ramayana is not a standalone cinematic experience. It is scripted as a two-part epic, with Part 1 hitting theaters worldwide on the occasion of Diwali 2026 and Part 2 shortly after in Diwali 2027. The format provides for the unfolding of the narrative with the richness and scale it warrants, from Ravana’s hellish ascension to Rama’s celestial homecoming. The initial teaser concludes on a high: Rama and Ravana against each other, mortal vs. immortal, light vs. darkness. It is a frame that takes not only the essence of the epic but also the essence of the movie. With Ramayana, Indian film is ready to offer a global cinematic universe based on mythology, sentiment, and visual splendor. From its Academy Award-winning production team and visionary auteur director to its A-list director and international scope of production, this film is not just a retelling; it’s a rebirth. This is not merely Ramayana the film. This is Ramayana, the phenomenon. And the ride has only begun.

Research group Forensic Architecture finds that Israel is using tactics in the West Bank similar to those used in Gaza. Israel is applying many of the tactics used in its war on Gaza to seize and control territory across the occupied West Bank during its Operation Iron Wall campaign, a new report [pdf] says. Israel launched the operation in January. Defending what the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) termed “by far the longest and most destructive operation in the occupied West Bank since the second intifada in the 2000s”, the Israeli military claimed its intention was to preserve its “freedom of action” within the Palestinian territory as it continued to rip up roads and destroy buildings, infrastructure, and water and electricity lines. The report by the British research group Forensic Architecture suggested Israel has imposed what researchers call a system of “spatial control”, essentially a series of mechanisms that allow it to deploy military units across Palestinian territory at will. The report focused on Israeli action in the refugee camps of Jenin and Far’a in the northern West Bank and Nur Shams and Tulkarem in the northwestern West Bank. Researchers interviewed and analysed witness statements, satellite imagery and hundreds of videos to demonstrate a systematic plan of coordinated Israeli action intended to impose a network of military control in refugee camps across the West Bank similar to that imposed upon Gaza. In the process, existing roads have been widened while homes, private gardens and adjacent properties have been demolished to allow for the rapid deployment of Israeli military vehicles. “This network of military routes is clearly visible in the Jenin refugee camp and evidence indicates that the same tactic is, at the time of publication, being repeated in the Nur Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps,” the report’s authors noted. Israeli ministers have previously stated that they planned to use the same methods in the West Bank that have destroyed the Gaza Strip, leading to more than 54,000 Palestinians killed and the majority of buildings damaged or destroyed. In January, Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel would apply the “lesson” of “repeated raids in Gaza” to the Jenin refugee camp. The following month, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has control over much of the administration of the West Bank, boasted that “Tulkarem and Jenin will look like Jabalia and Shujayea. Nablus and Ramallah will resemble Rafah and Khan Younis,” comparing refugee camps in the West Bank to areas in Gaza that have been devastated by Israeli bombing and ground offensives. “They will also be turned into uninhabitable ruins, and their residents will be forced to migrate and seek a new life in other countries,” Smotrich said. Hamze Attar, a Luxembourg-based defence analyst, told Al Jazeera these tactics are not new in Palestinian territory, having first been deployed by the British during their mandate over historic Palestine, which preceded Israel’s foundation in 1948. “It’s part of the “counterinsurgency” strategy,” he said. “Bigger roads [mean] easy access to forces – bigger roads, less congested battle management; bigger roads, less ability for fighters to escape from house to house.” About 75,000 Palestinians live in the Jenin, Nur Shams, Far’a and Tulkarem refugee camps. They were either displaced themselves or descended from those displaced during the Nakba (which means “catastrophe”) when roughly 750,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes by Zionist forces from 1947 to 1949 as part of the creation of Israel. Now, at least 40,000 of those living in the West Bank refugee camps have been displaced as a result of Operation Iron Wall, according to the United Nations. As in Gaza, many of these people were forced from their homes on orders from the Israeli military, which researchers said have been “weaponised” against the local population. Once an area had been cleared of its buildings and roads, it becomes a kill zone and the Israeli military is free to reshape and build whatever it likes without interference from residents, the report said. “Such engineered mass displacement has allowed the Israeli military to reshape these built environments unobstructed,” the report noted, adding that when Palestinian residents did try to return to their homes after Israeli military action, they were often obstructed by the continued presence of troops. Forensic Architecture researchers said Israeli attacks on medical facilities in Gaza have also spilled over into the West Bank. “Israeli attacks on medical infrastructure in the West Bank have included placing hospitals under siege, obstructing ambulance access to areas with injured civilians, targeting medical personnel, and using at least one medical facility as a detention and interrogation centre,” the report said. During Israel’s initial attacks on the Jenin refugee camp on January 21, multiple hospitals were surrounded by the Israeli military, including Jenin Government Hospital, al-Amal Hospital and al-Razi Hospital, researchers noted. The following day, civilians and hospital staff reported that the main road leading to Jenin Government Hospital was destroyed by Israeli military bulldozers and access to the hospital was blocked by newly constructed berms, or land barriers, On February 4, reports from Jenin said the Israeli military was obstructing ambulances carrying injured people from reaching the hospital. Also carrying unmistakable echoes of Gaza was an UNRWA report in early February saying the Israeli military had forcibly co-opted one of the health centres at the UNRWA-run Arroub camp near Jerusalem as an interrogation and detention site. The attacks on healthcare facilities were part of a wider campaign to damage civilian infrastructure in the West Bank, the Forensic Architecture report said, using armoured bulldozers, controlled demolitions and air attacks. Researchers said they verified more than 200 examples of Israeli soldiers deliberately destroying buildings and street networks in all four of the refugee camps with armoured bulldozers reducing civilian roads to barely passable piles of exposed earth and rubble. Civilian property, including parked vehicles, food carts and agricultural buildings, such as greenhouses, were also destroyed during Israeli military operations, they said. Follow Al Jazeera English:...

Praise follows conflict of interest concerns after Trump launches his own coin and hosts a dinner for his investors. United States Vice President JD Vance has urged the domestic cryptocurrency industry to remain involved in US politics, highlighting the close ties of President Donald Trump’s administration to a deep-pocketed industry. Speaking at a Bitcoin conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday, Vance urged cryptocurrency executives and enthusiasts to keep pressure on the US Congress to pass pro-crypto legislation supported by the White House “We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to unleash innovation and use it to improve the lives of countless American citizens,” Vance said in his address. “But if we fail to create regulatory clarity now, we risk chasing this $3 trillion industry offshore in search of a friendly jurisdiction.” Vance made the speech after Trump promised to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet” when he addressed the same Bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee, last year in the middle of the presidential campaign. The crypto industry, which felt unfairly attacked by former President Joe Biden’s administration, spent heavily to help Trump and pro-cryptocurrency lawmakers win election. Vance praised how quickly the crypto industry was able to organise and influence US politics during last year’s elections, giving special credit to Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the billionaire founders of the crypto exchange Gemini. “You chose to speak up, and you chose to get involved, and I believe you changed the direct trajectory of our country because of it,” Vance told the crowd gathered at the Venetian Hotel. Vance hailed cryptocurrencies as a hedge that can help conservative populists protect themselves against what he called bad politicians, overly aggressive regulators and unethical elites. He predicted continued assimilation of the digital currencies into the financial mainstream and said it was strategically important for the US to be a world leader in the industry, noting that the Chinese government is hostile to crypto. As president, Trump has established a Bitcoin reserve for the federal government and pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, a black market website that was key to the early growth of Bitcoin. Trump has also put outspoken crypto backers in his administration, which has undone or paused several enforcement actions taken against large cryptocurrency companies Several other Trump officials are speakers at the Bitcoin conference, as are his sons Don Jr and Eric. The president and his family’s use of cryptocurrencies as a platform to make money has drawn criticism from Democrats and even crypto enthusiasts as corrupt and unseemly. The Trump family holds about a 60 percent stake in a crypto project called World Liberty Financial, which recently launched its own stablecoin, a fast-growing form of cryptocurrency whose value is often tied to the US dollar. This month, the US Senate advanced legislation that would create a federal framework to regulate stablecoins, a bill that Vance said the Trump administration wants passed into law quickly. Trump’s media company announced on Tuesday that it was raising $2.5bn to buy Bitcoin, the world’s oldest and most popular cryptocurrency. The president and first lady Melania Trump have also launched their own meme coins. Last week, Donald Trump rewarded investors in his coin. About 220 of the biggest investors in the $TRUMP were invited to Trump’s luxury golf club in northern Virginia. Follow Al Jazeera English:...