MEXICO CITY – Norma regrets ever having called the police. A shop owner and local coordinator for a political party on the outskirts of Mexico City, Norma called authorities in November to file a complaint about noise coming from the building next door to her house. The building was being used by a rival political party, she believes. Norma doesn’t know what resulted from the police investigation, but the 35-year-old began receiving intimidating threats. Strange men began to approach her in the street and warn she didn’t have long to live, she said.

When that rival party won the municipal elections two weeks ago, Norma decided to leave town, she said, fearing that she would be further targeted. “After the vote, it got ugly in my city,” she said. CNN is using only her first name due to concerns for her safety. CNN met Norma on a dusty road in southern Arizona, just moments after she and her three children  13, 8 and 2 years old  climbed across the low fence that separates Mexico from the United States.

They are among several migrant families on the border who told CNN they were fleeing the fallout of Mexico’s bloody national elections, which saw dozens of political candidates assassinated and hundreds threatened on the campaign trail.

All said they hoped for asylum from the US government. And all said they had not heard of a new executive order by US President Joe Biden blocking asylum requests from most people illegally crossing the southern border during periods of high volume.

A few miles east along the border, CNN met several more Mexican families who had been sheltering for days in a tent erected by a local humanitarian group. Bottles of water had been left out for them, along with signs warning to wait for Border Patrol agents to show up, rather than attempt to walk any further under the hot sun.

Some were fleeing general violence, a lack of jobs, kidnapping threats made to their families. Two men with a family sitting on the ground in the stifling heat said they too had fled Mexico following the elections. They had received threats for supporting the wrong candidate in their town, one said.(CNN)…[+]

GAZA – Hamas says it has submitted its response to a US-backed plan for a ceasefire in Gaza, with a senior group official telling the BBC that it still requires an Israeli commitment to a permanent ceasefire. In a statement, the group, and its Palestinian Islamic Jihad PIJ allies, expressed “readiness to positively” reach a deal.

The proposed ceasefire plan – which was endorsed by the UN security council on Monday night calls for a six-week ceasefire that would eventually become permanent.

Qatar and Egypt who, along with the US, have mediated negotiations between Israel and Hamas  confirmed that the Palestinian group had submitted its reply. In its statement on Tuesday evening, Hamas called for a “complete halt” to fighting in Gaza.

“The response prioritises the interests of our Palestinian people and emphasises the necessity of a complete halt to the ongoing aggression on Gaza,” Hamas and the PIJ said.

The groups added that they were ready “to engage positively to reach an agreement that ends this war”. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said it was “helpful” that Hamas had submitted a response and that US officials were “evaluating” the group’s requests.

Earlier on Tuesday US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “reaffirmed his commitment” to the Gaza ceasefire plan and the world was waiting for the Hamas response.

The proposal set out by President Biden last month involves an initial six-week ceasefire, with Hamas releasing some hostages in exchange for Israel releasing an undefined number of Palestinian prisoners.

A second phase would see the remaining hostages released by Hamas and a total withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as part of a “permanent” ceasefire, but the latter would still be subject to negotiations.

The actual Israeli proposal – reportedly lengthier than the summary presented by Mr Biden – has not been made public and it is unclear whether it varies from what the president conveyed in his statement on 31 May. It was presented to Hamas days prior to Mr Biden’s speech.

Mr Netanyahu has acknowledged his war cabinet has authorised the plan but has not voiced unequivocal support for it. Far right members of his cabinet have threatened to quit his coalition and trigger its collapse if the deal goes forward, seeing it as surrender to Hamas.

As Mr Blinken met Israeli officials in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, protesters outside his hotel held American flags calling for an agreement. Many held pictures of hostages and chanted: “SOS, USA”, and “we trust you, Blinken, seal a deal”.

Vicki Cohen, the mother of Nimrod Cohen, 19, an Israeli soldier who was kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October, held a banner showing his picture.

She told the BBC: “We come here to ask Blinken and the USA government to help us, to save us from our government. Our prime minister doesn’t want to bring our loved ones back, we need their help to pressure our government.”

He then travelled to the Dead Sea for a conference of Arab leaders calling for greater aid access into Gaza, where he said Israel “can do more”. He also announced $404 million in new aid for Palestinians, urging other countries to also “step up” assistance.

The war began after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 37,000 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive since then.     (BBC News)…[+]

KUWAIT- At least 49 people are dead after a fire ripped through a residential building housing foreign workers in Kuwait on Wednesday, according to Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior. Video circulating on social media and geolocated by CNN showed the moment the blaze engulfed the six-story building in the Mafreg area of the city. Around 150 people were living in the block when fire broke out on the ground floor, police official Sayyed Hasan Ebrahim told Kuwaiti state television.

The cause of the fire, which has been contained, is unknown but the presence of more than 20 cooking gas tanks and flammable material in the overcrowded block caused it to spread quickly, Ebrahim said.

Most of the fatalities were due to suffocation, Gen. Eid Rashed, from the police criminal forensic department, told state television. He warned the death toll could rise, adding that 11 people were being treated in hospitals. Authorities had identified three of the bodies, he said, but did not say if their families had been notified. A fire department official said the large number of floors and escape corridors made it difficult for the trapped residents to escape the burning building. Indian nationals were among those killed, according to the Indian foreign ministry. The country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the fire a “mishap” and described it as “saddening.” Photos of the aftermath show a blackened ground floor, with Kuwaiti security forces assessing the damage. The owner of the building has been detained and investigated for negligence, the reports added.

Migrants make up two-thirds of Kuwait’s private workforce, and rights groups have long said they face legal and discriminatory challenges not experienced by Kuwaiti nationals. Human Rights Watch’s 2023 World Report noted migrant workers in Kuwait face “verbal, physical and sexual abuse” and are often “forcibly confined in their employers’ homes.” A 2023 study by international and Kuwaiti researchers said Kuwait’s existing labor regulations are inadequate, finding “substantial increases in occupational injury risk” from hot temperatures despite a previous government effort to address the matter.

Socially disadvantaged workers and migrant workers, in particular, can be disproportionately affected by hazardous heat,” the study said. “These vulnerable workers tend to take risky jobs with little health and safety training, work longer hours, receive less pay, face cultural and language barriers, and fear a looming risk of deportation. They have been found to sustain greater rates of occupational injuries.  (CNN)…[+]

UKRAINE – Ukrainians are facing extended blackouts of up to eight hours on Wednesday, as their country grapples with severe damage to its power stations, caused by ongoing Russian attacks.President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking on Tuesday at a conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine, said Russia had destroyed half of his country’s electricity-generating capacity, since it began pummelling its energy facilities in late March.Residents in the capital Kyiv, with a population of three million, are facing some of the most significant power shortages. The hum of generators reverberates though the city, while at night streets are now often coated in darkness.

Families with young children living on the top floors of apartment blocks have been left without working lifts, leaving them to walk up dozens of flights of stairs. Ukraine is buying energy from the European Union to try to cover its shortfall. Its energy ministry said it was planning on Wednesday to import its largest amount of power to date. However, this is not enough to make up its deficit, meaning nationwide power cuts have been planned during an eight-hour window, from 3pm to 11pm, in order to protect critical infrastructure such a hospitals and military facilities.

If Russia continues to attack power plants, the worst-case scenario is that come winter Ukrainians could be spending up to 20 hours a day without power and heating, according to Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK. Part of the issue is that Ukraine’s thermal and hydroelectric power stations are difficult and expensive to fix. “Some will take years to repair, and others might never be brought back online,” said Maria Tsaturian from Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s national energy operator. Overnight, Russia launched missile and drone attacks across Ukraine, including on the capital Kyiv, where the blasting sound of air defences could be heard in the early hours of the morning.  (BBC)…[+]