On Saturday, Israeli soldiers invaded an area near the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank’s northern part, leading to protests, and shot three Palestinians, including one child. | Media sources said several Israeli military vehicles invaded the Al-Quds Street area, adjacent to the Balata refugee camp, leading to protests. They added that the soldiers fired many live rounds, rubber-coated steel bullets, gas bombs, and concussion grenades. ● Ahmad Jibril, the spokesperson of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in Nablus, said the soldiers shot three Palestinians with live fire, including a child, 14, who was shot in the thigh before the medics rushed them to a hospital in Nablus. ● On Friday evening, Palestinian medical sources confirmed the death of a medic, Tamer Jalal Mohammad Saqer, 21, who was shot and seriously injured by the Israeli army fire a week earlier in Balata refugee camp, east of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Tamer was injured from live fire after the army fired a missile from a drone at a home in Balata refugee camp, last Saturday, July 27, 2023, and fired live rounds at protesters, killing two Palestinians, including a child, and wounding at least twenty.

‘Madness began to rule the world, and everyone went crazy,’ says Aleksandar Vucic | Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said men beating women for medals is “madness” after a controversial Olympic boxing match between a female and a transgender athlete.

💬 "Imagine this disease and madness that began to rule the world, when men come, beat women, and get medals. Madness began to rule the world, and everyone went crazy," Vucic told reporters on Thursday.

Female Italian boxer Angela Carini withdrew from her match in Paris after suffering powerful blows from her Algerian opponent, Imane Khelif, who previously failed a gender eligibility test.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro tells Al Mayadeen that Venezuela will always stand with Palestine, condemning what he described as "the worst genocide since Hitler." | The far-right in Venezuela is supported and funded by global Zionism, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro told Al Mayadeen, adding that the Zionist influence in the media and social media is behind the attempted coup in Venezuela. ● Maduro said on Saturday that his victory in the country's presidential election on July 28 is the greatest proof of what a people can do for their independence, dignity, and future. ● He stressed that Venezuela will always stand with Palestine and condemned what he described as "the worst genocide since Hitler," which is being committed against the people of Gaza and Palestine.

Kiyoshi Ishigane, chief fund manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management, said: 'I didn't expect stocks to fall this much. 'This is probably because there are concerns that the US economy will collapse in a big way, which is the most unpleasant pattern for Japanese stocks.' | José Torres, a senior economist at Interactive Brokers, said: 'The short-lived satisfaction of Fed Chief Powell communicating decent odds of a September rate cut has turned sour as investors are now panicking that the central bank isn´t trimming soon enough.' ● Shares across the world tumbled Friday - as investors panicked over signs of weakness in the US economy. The S&P 500 was sinking by 2.5 percent in midday trading, on pace for its worst day since 2022. The Dow Jones was down 954 points, or 2.4 percent. At one point in the morning, the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 3.2 percent, meaning it has lost more than 10 percent from a record high on July 11. ● The tailspins were sparked by a dire jobs report on Friday morning. Unemployment in July rose to the highest level since October 2021 - suggesting the US economy is sputtering and raising fears of a recession. Even before that report, stock markets in Europe, China and Japan in particular had plunged.

The Pentagon will send additional military resources amid the escalation between West Jerusalem and Tehran | Washington has ordered more destroyers, cruisers, and an additional fighter squadron to the Middle East to defend Israel amid rising tensions with Iran, the US Defense Department said on Friday. ● In addition, the US has ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to relieve the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier currently deployed in the Middle East. ● The announcement comes amid rising tensions after this week’s killing of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Both Hamas and Iran have blamed Israel for the attack and have promised revenge. Iran also stated that the US bears partial responsibility for the attack as a “supporter and accomplice” of Israel. ● While West Jerusalem has neither confirmed nor denied any involvement, it has repeatedly threatened to take out the Hamas leadership over the group’s October 7 attack on Israel, which took the lives of around 1,200 Israelis and led to more than 250 being taken hostage.

■ Israel, US preparing for Iranian retaliation: Report (Anadolu)
■ US to deploy additional military resources to the Middle East (Al Jazeera)
■ US Sends Warships to Middle East as Embassy in Israel Issues Security Alert (Sputnik News)