today's MIDDLE EAST story

IDF admits 'error' after water collection point hit

What happened
Israel's military has said a "technical error" with munitions was behind an air strike on a water distribution point in central Gaza that medics say killed at least 10 people, including six children.

Who said what
The Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat said the bodies of the victims and more than a dozen wounded people were taken from the Nuseirat refugee camp to the facility on Sunday. The Israel Defence Forces acknowledged that a strike intended for an "Islamic Jihad terrorist" had missed its target and was aware that casualties had been reported. "The incident is under review," it said.

The attack comes as "famine spreads in the besieged enclave and food and water supplies remain at critically low levels", said Al Jazeera.

What next?
This is "one of several deadly incidents in the territory" taking place as "ceasefire talks in Doha falter", said CNN. "Hopes had been high for the latest negotiations", but both sides have since "accused each other of blocking an agreement" and "on the ground there has been no let-up in Israel's military campaign".

Today's EUROPE story

Suspected Russian assassins 'eliminated' in Kyiv

What happened
Ukraine has said it killed two Russian secret agents who allegedly assassinated one of its own spies. The man and woman, said to be part of Moscow's FSB, were accused of coordinating the shooting of Colonel Ivan Voronich, a senior operational officer in Ukraine's Security Service, in a car park in Kyiv last Thursday.

Who said what
The two suspects were killed on Sunday after a "gunfight in a spy den" in the Ukrainian capital as they "attempted to resist arrest", said The Telegraph.

The "enemy lair was discovered" and the "villains were eliminated" after "covert investigative and active counter-intelligence activities", said Lieutenant General Vasyl Malyuk (pictured above), the head of Ukraine's Security Service, in a video posted to Telegram.

What next?
The announcement comes as Kim Jong Un said North Korea was ready to "unconditionally support" Moscow in its actions to resolve the war. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is "expected to send weapons to Kyiv", said The Independent. He has promised to give a "major statement" today as he "grows frustrated with Vladimir Putin amid intensified attacks on Ukraine".

It's not all bad

A "mystery" interstellar object spotted by astronomers at the start of the month could be the oldest comet ever observed, according to scientists at Oxford University. Named 3I/Atlas, it is believed to be more than seven billion years old. For those hoping to catch a glimpse of the object, which is about the same distance away from Earth as Jupiter, "it is currently visible only with very large telescopes", said the BBC.

under the radar

Filmmaker Jackson to bring back the giant moa – kind of

Genetics company Colossal Biosciences says it is working with "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson to resurrect an animal resembling the giant moa, a bird species native to New Zealand that died out about 600 years ago.

The acclaimed filmmaker "owns one of the largest private collections of bones" of the giant moa and has long had a "fascination with the flightless, ostrich-like bird", said The Associated Press. As a native New Zealander, he has also been working on conservation projects for the country's species. The giant moa in particular "remains a symbol for the people of the South Island and its potential resurrection fits within the country's many ongoing conservation efforts", said USA Today.

Colossal Biosciences directs "efforts to create animals with the attributes of species that have died off", said Rolling Stone, as it did with the dire wolf. The company edited "parts of genomes sequenced from ancient DNA fragments into the genome of grey wolves, giving them dire wolf attributes". But some in the scientific community criticised Colossal for claiming that it had made the dire wolf "de-extinct", noting that they "weren't actually dire wolves, just genetically modified grey wolves with a stellar PR team".

It appears that a similar process will be undertaken for the giant moa as Colossal has "created a genome of the tinamou, thought to be the closest living relative of the moa", said USA Today. But before the project can continue, said AP, Colossal must "identify well-preserved bones from which it may be possible to extract DNA". If it succeeds, it won't have created an actual giant moa, but "a tall bird with huge feet and thick pointed claws resembling the moa".

on this day

14 July 1789

The French Revolution began with the storming of the Bastille state prison in Paris. A mob of ordinary Parisians demanded the prison hand over its weapons, before breaking in and freeing seven inmates. The fall of the Bastille became a symbol of the end of the ancien régime and is still celebrated in France each year as a national holiday.

Today's newspapers

'Bank could cut rates'

The Bank of England will make larger cuts to interest rates if the jobs market shows signs of a pronounced slowdown, its governor Andrew Bailey tells The Times. And Israel's plan for what it calls a "humanitarian city" in Gaza would be a "concentration camp", one of the nation's former prime ministers tells The Guardian.

See the newspaper front pages

tall tale

A glow up too far

A doctor has warned against a bizarre TikTok trend known as "sunscreen contouring", in which people apply sunscreen only to certain parts of their face to create a tanned contour effect. Content creators have posted viral videos with streaks of white sunscreen plastered across their foreheads, noses and cheekbones. But Amir Khan, a doctor popular on the app, warned that there was no such thing as a safe tan.

Morning Report was written and edited by Hollie Clemence, Chas Newkey-Burden, Sorcha Bradley, Jamie Timson and Justin Klawans, with illustrations from Marian Femenias-Moratinos.