First Thing: Biden flies to Israel as Jordan summit cancelled

US president’s talks with Middle East leaders scrapped after deadly hospital blast in Gaza, as protests spread across region. Plus, how Bethann Hardison got frank about fashion’s racism

Good morning.

A deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza City has upended US diplomatic efforts aimed at fending off the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and thrown a shadow over President Joe Biden’s visit to the region.

Late last night, Jordan cancelled a summit in Amman at which Biden had been due to hold talks with King Abdullah, the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, and the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas. The cancellation came as Biden was leaving Washington for Israel for talks with Benjamin Netanyahu this morning.

The Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, claimed that more than 500 people had been killed at the hospital which, if confirmed, would make it the deadliest single bombing of all the five wars Israel and Hamas have fought over Gaza. An official from the Gaza civil defense said more than 300 people had been killed in the incident.

Hamas has blamed the blast on an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military has said the hospital was hit by a rocket barrage launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group. Islamic Jihad also denied responsibility.

What else is happening in Gaza? Fears are growing that people in Gaza are beginning to dehydrate to death as clean water runs out, while Israeli airstrikes continue to pound the Palestinian territory of 2.3 million residents amid a total blockade on food, electricity, medicine and fuel.

Is everyone in Israel supportive of the government’s actions? No. The Israeli public is fiercely divided over how the state has handled the breach of its security, with the issue of the hostages becoming a lightning rod for criticism of Netanyahu’s response to the crisis. Some said the prime minister’s decision to prioritise striking Hamas over freeing the hostages was the latest sign that he should step aside, after a combined 16 years in power.

House remains without speaker as Jim Jordan falls short of votes in first ballot

The House of Representatives was unable to elect a new speaker yesterday, as the hard-right congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio struggled to win the gavel after the historic ousting of the Republican Kevin McCarthy this month.

In the first round of voting, 20 Republicans opposed Jordan, while 200 Republicans supported the judiciary committee chair. The result has left Jordan far short of winning the speakership, given that he can only afford four defections within his conference if he is to capture the gavel. All 212 House Democrats supported Hakeem Jeffries of New York, giving the Democratic leader more votes than Jordan.

Speaking to reporters after the vote, Jordan initially indicated Republicans would hold another vote on Tuesday evening, but that plan was scrapped as Jordan’s critics doubled down on their opposition. The House will instead reconvene on Wednesday at 11am to commence the next round of voting – however it remained unclear whether Jordan had a path to victory.

Where do things stand? In a worrying sign for Jordan, several of his detractors, led by the congressman Mario Díaz-Balart of Florida, called for an immediate second vote yesterday, potentially indicating that they believed their ranks were growing. Jordan picked up at least one new supporter, the congressman Doug LaMalfa of California, after the first failed vote, but that still left him short of a majority.

US accuses China of pattern of ‘dangerous’ air force moves against military planes

The US has accused China of orchestrating a “concerted” campaign of dangerous and provocative air force moves against US military planes in international airspace, warning it could spark an inadvertent conflict between them.

The Pentagon said aggressive tactics by Chinese aircraft had threatened US planes flying over the East and South China Sea regions, tallying more than 180 such incidents since autumn 2021.

“That’s nearly 200 cases where [Chinese] operators have … discharged chaff or shot off flares or approached too rapidly or close to US aircraft,” said Ely Ratner, the assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs. “More in the past two years than in the decade before that.”

What else did Ratner say? “This type of operational behavior can cause accidents, and dangerous accidents can lead to inadvertent conflict,” he said, adding that the incident count, tallied since the autumn of 2021, increased to nearly 300 when US allies were included. Ratner alleged there was an intentional campaign by Beijing “to perform these risky behaviors in order to coerce a change in lawful US operational activity”.

In other news …

Donald Trump’s decision to declassify evidence given by a former British spy about the former US president’s alleged links with Russia led to the disappearance of two Russian sources, according to a court document. Christopher Steele, who used to run MI6’s Russia desk, compiled the notorious Steele dossier investigating Trump’s connections to Russia.

People tend to pay less attention to tasks when working alongside a robot, according to research that found evidence of “social loafing” – where team members work less hard if they think others will cover for them. Where they think a colleague – or the technology – performs particularly well people tend to take a more laidback approach, the scientists suggested.

The remains of at least 189 decaying bodies were found and removed from a Colorado funeral home, up from about 115 reported when they were discovered two weeks ago, officials said yesterday. Authorities responding to an “abhorrent smell” entered the funeral home’s neglected building with a search warrant and found the decomposing bodies.

Finland has experienced increased online espionage attempts from Russia since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, security services have said. Supo, the Finnish security and intelligence service, said the country faced various threats from Russia, including cyberattacks and disinformation.

Don’t miss this: Mother of modelling – how Bethann Hardison got frank about fashion’s racism – and changed the industry for ever

When Bethann Hardison was a kid she did not see faces like hers in magazines. Not that she needed them to feel seen as a Black woman. “I grew up feeling very secure about who I was,” she says assuredly over a video call from her Gramercy Park apartment in New York. “And I didn’t long for anything to look like myself.” Once she walked in the Battle of Versailles fashion show in 1973, however, she became an inspiration to a world of Black girls who felt not only seen, but beautiful too. Now 80, she has always advocated for respect, recognition and equal pay for Black talent, with a passion and power that could never be ignored.

Climate check: Greta Thunberg arrested at London oil summit protest

Greta Thunberg was arrested after joining hundreds of protesters who gathered at a five-star hotel in the UK yesterday morning to denounce a meeting nicknamed “the Oscars of oil”. Footage showed the Swedish climate activist being bundled into the back of a van by police after taking part in protests blocking the entrances of the InterContinental on Park Lane in London, the venue for the Energy Intelligence Forum , which brings together fossil fuel executives and government ministers.

Addressing journalists before joining the demonstration, Thunberg said: “Behind these closed doors at the oil and money conference, spineless politicians are making deals and compromises with lobbyists from destructive industries, the fossil fuel industry.”

Last Thing: Pepper X is named world’s spiciest by Guinness World Records

A new pepper is coming in hot as the spiciest in the world, Guinness World Records has announced. For a decade, the Carolina Reaper chilli pepper was ruled to be the hottest in the world – but now “Pepper X” has taken its crown. The spiciness of a pepper is measured on the Scoville scale, established by the pharmacist Wilbur Scoville in 1912. It measures the concentration of capsaicin, the primary component of a pepper that makes it spicy. Capsaicin “causes a burning sensation when it makes contact with human tissue”, according to Guinness World Records.

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