| | | | | | | Hello. We’re coming with breaking news from Buckingham Palace that King Charles III has been diagnosed with cancer. More on this below. From Jerusalem, my colleague Lucy Williamson reports on the disappearance of a six-year-old girl in Gaza. She was last heard on a phone call with emergency services, trapped in a car where her relatives had just been killed. Your newsletter also covers US politics, particle physics, and the works of avant-garde composer John Cage. |
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| | | | Developing news | | King Charles III diagnosed with cancer |  | | Credit: Getty Images |
| | King Charles has been diagnosed with a form of cancer and began "regular treatments" on Monday, Buckingham Palace has said. The King "remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible", the Palace statement adds. Royal correspondent Sean Coughlan has everything we know. Although he will pause his public events, the King will continue with his constitutional role as head of state, including paperwork and private meetings. No further details are being shared on the type of cancer he has, its stage or a prognosis - it is not prostate cancer, but was discovered during recent treatment for an enlarged prostate. Prince Harry will travel back to the UK - follow our live page for more updates. | |
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| AT THE SCENE |  Gaza City and Jerusalem | | Mystery fate of a Gazan girl trapped under fire |  | | Hind Rajab kept asking for someone to come and get her. Credit: Rajab family | | Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Gazan girl, has been missing for a week. She appeared to be the last living passenger of a car that was caught in an active combat zone between Israel and Hamas. Her fate after a phone call with emergency services remains a mystery. |  | | Lucy Williamson, Middle East correspondent |
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| The voice on the other end of the line was small and faint; a six-year-old's voice, crackling on a mobile phone from Gaza. "The tank is next to me. It's moving." Sitting in the emergency call-centre of the Palestinian Red Crescent, Rana Faqih tried to keep her own voice calm. "Is it very close?"
"Very, very," the small voice replied. "Will you come and get me? I'm so scared." There was nothing Rana could do except keep the conversation going. Six-year-old Hind Rajab was trapped under fire in Gaza City and begging for help, hiding inside her uncle's car, surrounded by the bodies of her relatives. Rana's voice was her only fragile link with a familiar world. We asked the Israeli army for details of its operations in the area that day, and about the disappearance of Hind and the ambulance sent to retrieve her. We asked again 24 hours later, and they said they were still checking. |
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| Questions Answered | | Can US border deal unlock Ukraine aid? |  | | US President Joe Biden called the deal "the toughest and fairest" border reforms in decades. Credit: Getty Images. |
| | US senators have unveiled a long-awaited cross-party deal that aims to combat illegal immigration at the US-Mexico border - and, in return, grant new aid to Ukraine and Israel. The bill would introduce much more severe measures to try to stem border crossings, which are at record levels. |  | | Sam Cabral and Bernd Debusmann Jr, BBC News |
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| | What's the deal about? | | The 370-page agreement will, in the words of Republican negotiator James Lankford, move from the current system of "catch and release" to one where migrants are detained and deported. If passed into law, it would be the biggest immigration overhaul since the Reagan era in the 1980s. In practice, this would mean that migrants who arrive in the US illegally would no longer be allowed to request asylum and would be deported shortly thereafter. | | Why is it linked to Ukraine and Israel? | | Included in the huge $120bn funding deal is $60bn to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia and $14bn in security assistance for Israel. The military aid became part of a Mexico border deal because Republicans had said they would not agree to more money being sent to Ukraine until action was taken to fix the migrant crisis. | | What are the chances of this bill passing? | | The bill needs at least 60 votes to advance through the 100-member Senate. But widespread opposition to the deal among House Republicans means that the immigration bill is unlikely ever to become law. Donald Trump has urged his allies in the House to kill the deal, urging them to call it the "stupid bill" on social media. Some Democrats on the left of the party may also be unhappy. | | | | • | Biden’s dilemma: In order to obtain aid for Ukraine, the Democratic president is defending tougher policies on immigration - rewarding his political enemies while angering his allies. Back in December, our North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher looked into his uncomfortable position. |
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| | The big picture | | The matter with dark matter |  | | The Large Hadron Collider, which detected the Higgs Boson, is 26.66km (16.66mi) long. Credit: Science Photo Library |
| | Are the mysteries of the universe worth £12bn ($15bn)? Researchers at the world's biggest particle accelerator in Switzerland believe so. They’re proposing a bigger, deeper supercollider that would smash particles around a 91km (57 mile) tunnel under the Alps. They say it could lead to discoveries around dark energy and dark matter, which make up 95% of the universe. But the idea is controversial. | | | | |
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| | | For your downtime | | Centre of attention | | Codpieces went from battle armour to brash show of virility, then flopped. | | |
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| | And finally... in Germany | | I like to think of myself as a John Cage enthusiast, although I would not play most of his work at a dinner party. And there is some exciting news today for fans of the avant-garde composer. The 639-year-long rendition of his piece named ORGAN2/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible) has just played a new note. The next scheduled chord change will be on 5 August 2026. Listen to the previous note change, from 2020. |
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| | | | | | | | US Election Unspun newsletter | | Cut through the noise in the race for the White House, every Wednesday to your inbox. | | |
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| | | | More newsletters from us | | • | Football Extra: Latest news, insights and gossip from the Premier League, weekdays. Subscribe. | | • | Royal Watch: The full story from royal correspondent Sean Coughlan, every Thursday. Subscribe. | | • | Tech Decoded: Timely, trusted tech news from global correspondents, twice-weekly. Subscribe. |
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– Jules |
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