First Thing: JD Vance accused of ‘gaslighting’ after saying he is skeptical US struck Iranian wedding

Good morning. The US vice-president, JD Vance, has responded to claims that an American strike was responsible for killing four people, including a child, at a wedding celebration in southern Iran by saying that “sometimes things happen”. The deaths were reported by the Iranian Red Crescent, which operates independently of Tehran and is treated by most international monitors as a credible source on casualty figures.

In a further comment, described by the congressman Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, as “gaslighting”, the vice-president said the conflict between the US and Iran, which has stretched into a seventh month and caused the deaths of 18 US service members, was not presently “a war”. Iranian authorities have put the overall death toll from US and Israeli strikes in the thousands, figures outside observers, including US-based monitoring groups, have broadly corroborated.

Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has outlined a plan for the illegal forced expulsion of all Palestinians from Gaza, with the intention of sending them abroad. While the forced displacement of civilians in occupied territory is considered a war crime under the Geneva conventions, as a tightly fought election approaches in Israel political figures have competed over the harshness of their visions for the strip.

Ben-Gvir’s comments follow those of the defence minister, Israel Katz, who said Israel was seeking the Trump administration’s approval to displace Palestinians from Gaza, which he said was still under discussion after being “frozen” by the US president. Katz said Israel would facilitate the emigration “by any means”, implying a policy of coercion.

Two people have been pulled out alive from a hydropower tunnel in Nepal nine days after being trapped by deadly flash floods that buried the project in deep mud. The workers were rescued during a continuing operation at the Trishuli 3A tunnel in one of the areas worst affected by last week’s deadly Nepal floods.

Officials said the men were flown to a hospital in Kathmandu. Nepal’s communication minister, Bikram Timilsina, said officials still hoped more workers would be rescued. At least 1,287 people were killed in the floods and more than 5,000 are missing, Nepal’s disaster management agency said.

The Missouri supreme court has unanimously blocked new congressional districts backed by Trump from being used in the November election, and ordered a statewide vote on whether to uphold or reject the new map. The decision on Thursday marks a rare setback for Republicans in a national redistricting battle.

Missouri’s new districts were used in the August primaries. The state supreme court said they cannot be used in the November general election – or ever again – unless voters first uphold the new districts, after citizens submitted petition signatures seeking a referendum.

Two trucks were driven into an industrial estate in Runcorn, north-west England, and attached to trailers that were already holding about 800 barrels – or $155,000 worth – of the famous Irish drink, and made off with them.

The US will soon cross the point where half its population were born after 11 September 2001 or were too young to remember the attack. David Smith looks at a new Netflix documentary about those events and their global impact, as memory begins to give way to history.

Hillary Clinton was among those remembering Gloria Steinem yesterday, hailing the American feminist icon who died at 92 at home in New York City as “one of the architects of the entire structure of women’s equality”. We have a gallery of Steinem’s life in pictures, a review of the activist’s forthcoming memoir, which now stands as a posthumous testament to her remarkable life, and a selection of her wit and wisdom in her greatest quotes. In a column, Moira Donegan says Steinem personified America’s feminist movement, and we would also like to hear your tributes and memories.

A beautiful interview with Art Garfunkel, one of the purest voices in the rock/pop canon. And yes, his relationship with Paul Simon does get a mention or two.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology is the latest body to issue a warning over El Niño, saying it has already broken records, with Pacific Ocean temperature change exceeding 3.6F in six months.

Aubrie Morris recounts what must one of the strangest surprises anyone can have – unexpectedly delivering a baby you did not know you were carrying.

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