First Thing: Witnesses recount Israeli ‘double-tap’ strike that killed child and medic in Gaza

Good morning.

Mohammad Abdul Zinati was walking home from school through the rubble of Salah Khalaf Street in northern Gaza City when he stopped at a supermarket where a group of classmates and friends had gathered.

Shortly before ۳.۳۰pm, an explosion tore through the air. When the smoke and dust cleared, there was a man lying bleeding on the dusty road. He was badly wounded, but still alive. The man was calling for help, and Mohammad ran towards him.

He did not hear the shouts of his cousin, who had spotted an approaching Israeli drone. Within seconds, the drone released a glide bomb, designed to allow operators to identify and strike targets with a high degree of accuracy.

The Guardian verified footage of the attack, and spoke to witnesses and weapons experts in an effort to shed light on the latest Israeli strike to kill a child in Gaza.

• What has Israel said about the incident? The Israeli military said the incident was under review. The IDF has repeatedly rejected allegations that it deliberately targets civilians, saying it assesses and takes into account the risk of civilian harm when carrying out strikes.

South Korea will not send military to support US war on Iran, defying Trump pressure

South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, has said he will ⁠not deploy the military to the ⁠Middle East in a way ​that could draw the country into conflict, resisting calls from Donald Trump to support his war in Iran.

“There won’t be deployment that would involve or enter war. I can tell you that very clearly,” Lee said at a ⁠news conference on Friday. “We won’t deploy military assets in any form to that end.”

• What has Trump said about South Korea? Trump has criticised Seoul for what he called insufficient support for the Iran war ‌and scaled back major joint military drills by the two countries’ armed forces this summer, a move that unsettled the US ally.

RFK Jr promises anti-vaxxers a ‘friend at the White House’ amid deadly measles outbreak

As the death toll from the worst measles outbreak in decades rises, Robert F Kennedy Jr headlined the Washington DC conference of the anti-vaccine organization Children’s Health Defense, which he led for nearly a decade.

“Let me be clear. You have a strong and steadfast friend at the White House,” Kennedy, now serving as secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), told anti-vaccine activists at the conference in a speech lasting nearly an hour and a half. He urged patience, saying that he would have made sweeping changes “on day one” but that he had to follow the law in order to make permanent change.

• What do Americans think about vaccines? Recent polling suggests that a quarter of Americans now have doubts about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines after a years-long campaign against immunizations by once-fringe actors. But the majority of Americans also disapprove of the Trump administration’s handling of the widening measles outbreak, which killed three people in Texas and Arizona last year in addition to those in Pennsylvania.

In other news …

• Over the past ۱۸ months, tens of millions of Russians have been forced to install a new app on their phones: a violet-blue button designed for messaging and payments, called Max. Now, forensic research has revealed a fuller picture of Max’s powerful surveillance capabilities.

• The US congresswoman Ilhan Omar is to introduce a bill that would make federal immigration agencies “pay the price” for terrorising vulnerable communities, blocking nearly $۱۴۰bn in funding, the Guardian has learned.

• A Louisiana jury convicted a woman of negligent homicide on Thursday in the death of a Telemundo TV reporter who had been visiting New Orleans to cover the Super Bowl, according to the Jefferson parish district attorney’s office.

Stat of the day: More than ۱,۵۰۰ academics and economists sign letter calling for global leaders to help fight extreme inequality

More than ۱,۵۰۰ academics and economists from ۱۰۰-plus countries are urging global leaders to join an initiative against extreme inequality, calling current unfairness “a policy choice that can be reversed”. Before the UN general assembly in New York next week, the experts have signed an open letter backing the International Panel on Inequality (IPI).

Culture pick: The Watergate Caper – Richard Nixon and the Death of the American Dream review

The Irish-born, London-based writer and film-maker Shane O’Sullivan’s latest takes aim at the big kahuna itself: Watergate – the crime, the scandal and the cultural phenomenon. It is explored through a hailstorm of archive clips and snippets of feature films, all nimbly stitched together, with a deadpan voiceover by the great Harry Shearer. The result is, of course, nostalgic, but also feels fresh and immediate.

Don’t miss this: ‘A map is never neutral’ – meet the cartographers who took on centuries of western bias

Three cartographers have spoken of their astonishment at the UN’s near-universal adoption of a map they created to more accurately show the sizes of Africa and Europe, even though they have received a few complaints from some disgruntled diplomats.

… Or this: ‘The damage was much worse than I had imagined’ – the shocking inside story of Salman Rushdie’s survival

After ​Salman Rushdie was stabbed on stage in a horrific attack, his wife, a poet and photographer who works under her full name Rachel Eliza Griffiths, had begun to make a video diary recording his treatment and recovery. The clips are featured in a new film from Alex Gibney, who drew on Dennis Potter to create a powerful portrait of Rushdie’s tumultuous life.

Climate check: ‘Forcing a reckoning’ – how Asia is preparing for a ‘supersized’ El Niño

Fueled by exceptionally warm ocean conditions across the tropical Pacific – and developing alongside the human-driven climate crisis – El Niño is virtually guaranteed to hit a very strong intensity towards the end of this year and into ۲۰۲۷. From Sri Lanka to South Korea, governments are preparing for droughts, wildfires, typhoons and floods.

Last Thing: Scientists are fighting a longer mosquito season with … more mosquitoes

Roughly ۳۰,۰۰۰ mosquitoes are due to be released in San Gabriel Valley, just east of Los Angeles every week, nearly half a million in all. But before locals start to worry, they are all males – and male mosquitoes do not bite. It is part of a strategy to reduce the number of mosquitoes in the area. The male mosquitoes can mate with wild females but cannot produce viable eggs, thus reducing the population.

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