Nearly half a million people in Gaza now face starvation, according to a new report from the IPC, the international panel of famine experts who advise the United Nations. For more than ten weeks, Israel has halted the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, to pressure Hamas to release Israeli hostages. Israel accuses Hamas of seizing aid, selling it on the black market and using aid distribution to reinforce its control of Gaza. The UN says hundreds of truckloads of lifesaving supplies are waiting at the border. Meanwhile, inside Gaza, food is scarce. Humanitarian groups like the UN World Food Programme (WFP) exhausted supplies of basic staples weeks ago, forcing them to shut down their kitchens and bakeries, and everyday Palestinians are grinding up pasta and lentils to make flour for bread. Antoine Renard of the WFP says when he was in Gaza last week, wheat flour was selling for $10 a pound. Juana Summers talks with Renard about what he's seen in Gaza, and what's next for the people there. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Syria is in a precarious place as it emerges from civil war and a long dictatorship. The recently announced removal of U.S. sanctions bring hopes that the economy might stabilize. Another challenge is Syria's population— it is one of the most diverse countries in the Middle East and with that comes competing demands and priorities from various groups. NPR's Jane Arraf takes us to southern Syria, near the border with Israel and introduces us to one of the biggest minority groups, the Druze.

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The reality star and business mogul appeared in a courtroom Tuesday to testify about the night in 2016 when masked men tied her up at gunpoint and stole more than $6 million in jewelry.

Duterte's youngest son, Sebastian, the incumbent mayor of Davao, was declared Davao vice mayor. His eldest son, Paolo, was reelected as a member of the House of Representatives, and two grandsons won in local races, an indication of the family's continued influence.

Pope Leo XIV and Ukraine's President Zelenskyy spoke by phone recently, according to the Vatican.