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Efforts to vaccinate children against deadly diseases are faltering across the world due to economic inequality, Covid-era disruptions and misinformation, putting millions of lives at risk, research warned Wednesday.These trends all increase the threat of future outbreaks of preventable diseases, the researchers said, while sweeping foreign aid cuts threaten previous progress in vaccinating the world’s children.A new study published in The Lancet journal looked at childhood vaccination rates across 204 countries and territories.It was not all bad news. An immunisation programme by the World Health Organization was estimated to have saved an estimated 154 million lives over the last 50 years.And vaccination coverage against diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, polio and tuberculosis doubled between 1980 and 2023, the international team of researchers found.However the gains slowed in the 2010s, when measles vaccinations decreased in around half of the countries, with the largest drop in Latin America. Meanwhile in more than half of all high-income countries there were declines in coverage for at least one vaccine dose.Then the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Routine vaccination services were hugely disrupted during lockdowns and other measures, resulting in nearly 13 million extra children who never received any vaccine dose between 2020 to 2023, the study said.This disparity endured, particularly in poorer countries. In 2023, more than half of the world’s 15.7 million completely unvaccinated children lived in just eight countries, the majority in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the study.In the European Union, 10 times more measles cases were recorded last year compared to 2023.In the United States, a measles outbreak surged past 1,000 cases across 30 states last month, which is already more than were recorded in all of 2024.Cases of polio, long eradicated in many areas thanks to vaccination, have been rising in Pakistan and Afghanistan, while Papua New Guinea is currently enduring a polio outbreak.- ‘Tragedy’ -“Routine childhood vaccinations are among the most powerful and cost-effective public health interventions available,” said senior study author Jonathan Mosser of the US-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).”But persistent global inequalities, challenges from the Covid pandemic, and the growth of vaccine misinformation and hesitancy have all contributed to faltering immunisation progress,” he said in a statement. In addition, there are “rising numbers of displaced people and growing disparities due to armed conflict, political volatility, economic uncertainty, climate crises,” added lead study author Emily Haeuser, also from the IHME.The researchers warned the setbacks could threaten the WHO’s goal of having 90 percent of the world’s children and adolescents receive essential vaccines by 2030.The WHO also aims to halve the number of children who have received no vaccine doses by 2030 compared to 2019 levels.Just 18 countries have achieved this so far, according to the study, which was funded by the Gates Foundation and the Gavi vaccine alliance.The global health community has also been reeling since President Donald Trump’s administration drastically slashed US international aid earlier this year.”For the first time in decades, the number of kids dying around the world will likely go up this year instead of down because of massive cuts to foreign aid,” Bill Gates said in a separate statement on Tuesday.”That is a tragedy,” the Microsoft co-founder said, committing $1.6 billion to Gavi, which is holding a fund-raising summit in Brussels on Wednesday.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang warned on Wednesday that global trade tensions were “intensifying” as he addressed the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum.Officials including Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong are among those attending this week’s gathering in the northern port city of Tianjin, known colloquially as the “Summer Davos”.Li said the global economy was …

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Arriving in Tel Aviv after 12 days of war with Iran, Dorit Tzarum says among drinks on a crowded beach in the Israeli city that “it feels like California”.The devout Orthodox woman hasn’t left her apartment in Jerusalem throughout the missile fire, scrupulously respecting the restrictions imposed by the Israeli government.Travelling the 70 kilometres (43 miles) to Tel Aviv, she sits with her adult son Yair on a bench to watch the waves after the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran after 12 days of exchanging strikes. “We’re very happy tonight. We succeeded, we destroyed the Iranian nuclear threat with the help of (US President) Donald Trump,” said Yair, a restaurant chef at the coastal city, renowned for its partying, fashion and music. “Life can go on.”On Wednesday, schools, offices and transport will reopen after the lifting of restrictions.”I’m not religious but I pray that I won’t hear any more sirens, that I won’t have to run and hide in a shelter,” says Yafit Sofi, 33, between sips of beer.”We want to party, we want to live, to regain our carefree attitude… But how long will this last? What will the next war be?” the young woman asks. “So many people want to kill us, so many countries want to destroy Israel. And each time, it’s worse.”Israel launched its campaign in a bid to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.The Israeli action killed at least 610 civilians and wounded more than 4,700, according to the Iranian health ministry.Iran’s attacks on Israel have killed 28 people, according to official figures and rescuers.- ‘Felt like a game’ -Many of the young people interviewed by AFP said they remain traumatised by the October 7 attacks by Hamas militants which killed 1,219 people.Israel’s retaliatory military campaign spawned into fighting on several fronts. Unlike rockets from Hamas or Hezbollah, its Lebanese ally, Iranian ballistic missiles have proven more difficult for Israel’s ultra-sophisticated air defence system to intercept. And the metropolis of Tel Aviv, which had previously been relatively unaffected, has been hit several times in recent days.”At first we felt like it was a game, it all seemed unreal. We were at the beach and suddenly we were running into shelters to hide,” says Dorothea Schupelius, 29, while strolling along a palm-lined ledge at sunset. “And then no, it wasn’t a game: real people died,” she says. “Everyone suffered.”No one mentions the famine raging across the border in Gaza.Israel’s campaign has killed at least 56,077 people, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.The territory of more than two million people is suffering from famine-like conditions after Israel blocked all supplies from early March to the end of May and continues to impose restrictions, according to rights groups.- ‘We’re pawns’ -Fashion designer Noa Karlovsky has a pile of wedding dresses sewn for her clients in her loft in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv.”Many of our men are in Gaza, and with the war in Iran, even more weddings have been cancelled,” she says sadly. “We can’t plan anything, we don’t really control our lives anymore. Our leaders are at war, but we’re just pawns. I’d like to start a family, but I wonder if it’s a good idea,” adds the thirty-year-old. Omet Btami and Eyal Chen, both 25, say they trust the government.”Anyway, we’re not going to wait our whole lives for peace to return for good. Tomorrow, you’ll see, everyone will be celebrating,” says Noa.”Here, resilience isn’t just a word.”

Classified US intelligence suggests that American strikes on Iran set back its nuclear programme by just a few months, contradicting President Donald Trump’s claim of total destruction.Here are the latest developments as a truce between Iran and Israel appeared to be holding early Wednesday:- US intel report -US media on Tuesday reported that a classified US intelligence document had concluded that American strikes last weekend did not fully eliminate Iran’s centrifuges or stockpile of enriched uranium.B-2 bombers hit two Iranian nuclear sites with massive GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs while a guided missile submarine struck a third with Tomahawk cruise missiles.Trump initially said the attacks had “obliterated” the nuclear sites while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington’s forces had “devastated the Iranian nuclear programme”.But a preliminary report by the Defense Intelligence Agency said the bombings sealed off entrances to some facilities without destroying underground buildings, according to US media, which cited sources familiar with the findings.Trump rebuffed the media reports.”THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!” the president posted on his Truth Social.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has confirmed the assessment was authentic but said it was “flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked.””The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear programme,” Leavitt posted on X.- Iran-Israel ceasefire holds -A US-proposed ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to be holding early Wednesday.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed a “historic victory” in the 12-day conflict.In a national address Netanyahu vowed to thwart “any attempt” by Iran to rebuild its nuclear programme, which armed forces chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said Israeli strikes had set back “by years”.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian hailed his nation’s “heroic resistance” in a message carried by the official IRNA news agency.Pezeshkian has said Iran will respect the ceasefire as long as Israel holds to its terms, adding that Tehran will continue to “assert its legitimate rights” to the peaceful use of atomic power but was “ready to resolve the issues… at the negotiating table”.- Final salvos -Israel “refrained” from further strikes on Iran on Tuesday after a call between Trump and Netanyahu, the premier’s office said, though it did destroy a radar installation.Trump had accused both Iran and Israel of violating the ceasefire he announced late on Monday, but hours later he posted that it was in effect.”Following President Trump’s conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israel refrained from further strikes,” a statement said.Iran’s state media said on Tuesday that a wave of missiles was headed towards Israel around the time the ceasefire was expected to take hold.Israeli emergency services later said four people were killed in a missile strike in the southern city of Beersheba.At least 50 impacts have been acknowledged across Israel since the war began, and 28 people have been killed, according to official figures.Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 610 civilians, Iran’s health ministry said on Tuesday.- International relief -After mounting fears of regional spillover, the international community breathed a sigh of relief at the apparent Iran-Israel truce.Trump, who had previously toyed with “regime change” in Iran, rejected the idea en route to a NATO summit in the Netherlands.”If there was, there was, but no I don’t want it. I’d like to see everything calm down as quickly as possible,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.Meeting Trump on the sidelines of the summit on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “expressed his satisfaction with the ceasefire achieved between Israel and Iran through President Trump’s efforts, hoping it would be permanent,” his office said. Russia and Germany are among the other countries to hail the truce.burs-kir/mjw/pst

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a “historic victory” against Iran despite a US intelligence report concluding that American strikes set back Tehran’s nuclear program by just a few months.Iran and Israel agreed a ceasefire on Tuesday ending 12 days of tit-for-tat strikes, after US President Donald Trump joined the conflict with bunker-busting bombs at the weekend that he said destroyed key Iranian nuclear sites.A classified preliminary US intelligence report, however, concluded that American strikes on Iran set back its nuclear program by just a few months.Trump rebuffed that claim on Tuesday, posting on his Truth Social account that “THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!”White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had previously confirmed the authenticity of the assessment but said it was “flat-out wrong”.Netanyahu, in an address to the nation after the ceasefire, announced that “we have thwarted Iran’s nuclear project”.”And if anyone in Iran tries to rebuild it, we will act with the same determination, with the same intensity, to foil any attempt,” he said.Israel had said its bombing campaign, which began on June 13, was aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran has consistently denied.Israel’s military said that its strikes had set back Iran’s nuclear programme “by years”.After Trump angrily berated both sides for early violations of the truce on Tuesday, Tehran announced it would respect the terms of the deal if Israel did the same, while Israel said it had refrained from further strikes.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country was willing to return to negotiations over its nuclear programme, but that his country would continue to “assert its legitimate rights” to the peaceful use of atomic energy.- Leaked intel -US media on Tuesday cited people familiar with the Defense Intelligence Agency findings as saying the American strikes did not fully eliminate Iran’s centrifuges or stockpile of enriched uranium.The strikes sealed off entrances to some facilities without destroying underground buildings, according to the report.White House Press Secretary Leavitt responded on social media: “The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program.”While Iran and Israel have been locked in a shadow war for decades, their 12-day conflict was by far the most destructive confrontation between them.Israeli strikes hit nuclear and military targets — killing scientists and senior military figures — as well as residential areas, prompting waves of Iranian missile fire on Israel.The war culminated in US strikes on underground Iranian nuclear sites using bunker-busting bombs — which Israel lacks — followed by an Iranian reprisal targeting the largest US military facility in the Middle East.Trump shrugged off that response as “weak”, thanking Tehran for giving advance notice and announcing the contours of the ceasefire just hours later. – ‘Everyone is tired’ -Some Israelis welcomed the prospect of a truce.”Everyone is tired. We just want to have some peace of mind,” said Tel Aviv resident Tammy Shel. “For us, for the Iranian people, for the Palestinians, for everyone in the region.”In Iran, people remained uncertain whether the peace would hold. Amir, 28, fled from Tehran to the Caspian Sea coast and told AFP by phone, “I really don’t know… about the ceasefire but honestly, I don’t think things will return to normal.”Israeli strikes on Iran killed at least 610 civilians and wounded more than 4,700, according to the health ministry.Iran’s attacks on Israel have killed 28 people, according to official figures and rescuers.The international community reacted with cautious optimism to the truce.Saudi Arabia and the European Union welcomed Trump’s announcement, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia hoped “that this will be a sustainable ceasefire”.But French President Emmanuel Macron warned there was an “increased” risk that Iran would attempt to enrich uranium secretly following the strikes on its nuclear sites.After the truce was announced, Israel’s military chief Eyal Zamir said Israel’s focus would now shift back to Gaza.The Israeli opposition, the Palestinian Authority and the main group representing the families of Israeli hostages all called for a Gaza truce to complement the Iran ceasefire. burs-dcp/mjw/ecl

A classified preliminary US intelligence report has concluded that American strikes on Iran set back Tehran’s nuclear program by just a few months — rather than destroying it as claimed by President Donald Trump.US media on Tuesday cited people familiar with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) findings as saying the weekend strikes did not fully eliminate Iran’s centrifuges or stockpile of enriched uranium.The aerial bombardments and missile strikes sealed off entrances to some facilities without destroying underground buildings, according to the report.US media coverage of the DIA assessment appeared to anger Trump, who insisted news outlets like CNN and The New York Times were out to “demean” the military strike by saying it only set back Iran’s nuclear program by a few months.”THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!” Trump posted in all caps on his Truth Social platform.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the authenticity of the DIA  assessment but said it was “flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked” in an attempt to undermine Trump and discredit the military operation.”Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,” Leavitt posted on X.Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steven Witkoff, appeared on Fox News to trumpet the White House version. “The reporting out there that in some ways suggests that we did not achieve the objective is just completely preposterous,” he said Tuesday. Witkoff repeated the assertion that the nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan and Fordo had been “obliterated.””All three of those had most if not all of the centrifuges damaged or destroyed,” he said. “In a way it will be almost impossible for them to resurrect that program for — in my view and in many other experts’ views who have seen the raw data, it will take a period of years.”US B-2 bombers hit two Iranian nuclear sites with massive GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs over the weekend, while a guided missile submarine struck a third with Tomahawk cruise missiles.Trump called the strikes a “spectacular military success” and said they had “obliterated” the nuclear sites, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Washington’s forces had “devastated the Iranian nuclear program.”General Dan Caine, the top US military officer, has offered a more cautious tone, saying the strikes caused “extremely severe damage” to the Iranian facilities.Iran’s government said Tuesday it had “taken the necessary measures” to ensure the continuation of its nuclear program.”Plans for restarting (the facilities) have been prepared in advance, and our strategy is to ensure that production and services are not disrupted,” the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Mohammad Eslami, said in a statement aired on state television.An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meanwhile said his country still had stocks of enriched uranium and that “the game is not over.”Israel launched an unprecedented air campaign targeting Iranian nuclear sites, scientists and top military brass on June 13 in a bid to set back Tehran’s nuclear efforts.Trump had spent weeks pursuing a diplomatic path to replace the nuclear deal with Tehran that he tore up during his first term in 2018, but he ultimately decided to take military action.The US operation was massive, with Caine saying it involved more than 125 US aircraft including stealth bombers, fighters, aerial refueling tankers, a guided missile submarine and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed another 46 people waiting for aid in the Palestinian territory on Tuesday as rights groups and UN agencies slammed the US-backed food distribution system.Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 21 people were killed and around 150 wounded by Israeli fire near an aid point in central Gaza early Tuesday, and that another 25 were killed in a separate incident in south Gaza.”Every day we face this scenario: martyrs, injuries, in unbearable numbers,” paramedic Ziad Farhat told AFP at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza.”Hospitals cannot accommodate the number of casualties arriving,” he said.Israel’s opposition leader and the families of Israeli hostages being held in Gaza called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to widen a ceasefire with Iran to include the Palestinian territory.But the country’s military chief later warned that Israel would now refocus on its campaign to crush the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the territory.”Now the focus shifts back to Gaza — to bring the hostages home and to dismantle the Hamas regime,” chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said in a statement shared by the army.- Aid distribution tensions -Pressure grew Tuesday on the US- and Israeli-backed privately run aid group Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which was brought into the Palestinian territory at the end of May to replace United Nations agencies.The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) called the system an “abomination” while a spokesman for the UN human rights office, Thameen Al-Kheetan, condemned the “weaponisation of food” in Gaza.According to figures issued on Tuesday by the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, at least 516 people have been killed and nearly 3,800 wounded by Israeli fire while seeking rations since late May.The territory of more than two million people is suffering from famine-like conditions after Israel blocked all supplies from early March to the end of May and continues to impose restrictions, according to rights groups.Writing in the Guardian newspaper, spokesman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF James Elder said 400 aid distribution points had dwindled to four under GHF while supplies in “jampacked” warehouses outside Gaza could not be brought in. – ‘Tank shells’ – Gaza civil defence spokesman Bassal reported a first deadly shooting Tuesday “with bullets and tank shells” near the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza where thousands of Palestinians gather each night for rations near a GHF site.The Israeli military said that a crowd had been identified in an area “adjacent” to its troops.Witness Ribhi Al-Qassas told AFP that troops had “opened fire randomly” at a crowd he estimated at 50,000 people.The second incident took place in south Gaza about two kilometres from another GHF centre in Rafah governorate, Bassal said.”Israeli forces targeted civilian gatherings near Al-Alam and Al-Shakoush areas with bullets and tank shells”, he told AFP.Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers and witnesses.UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.GHF has denied responsibility for deaths near its aid points. On Monday, more than a dozen human rights organisations called on the organisation to cease its operations, warning of possible complicity in war crimes.- Ceasefire calls -After Israel agreed to a ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday after a 12-day war, Netanyahu faced renewed calls to agree a ceasefire with Hamas after more than 20 months of war in Gaza. “It’s time to finish it there too. Bring back the hostages, end the war,” opposition leader Yair Lapid of the centre-right Yesh Atid party wrote on X. Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel’s war against Iran was “contributing to the successes in Gaza, but it will still take a bit more time”. The October 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas that sparked the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Of the 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants in October 2023, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 56,077 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.

At his grocery store in an Iranian neighborhood of Los Angeles, Mohammad Ghafari is worried sick about his brothers and sisters since the United States bombed the Islamic republic’s nuclear sites.But as he stands among his dates, dried plums and pistachios, he also cherishes the hope of change in his native country. Iran “is not capable of providing food to the Persian people,” said Ghafari, who left to study abroad before the 1979 revolution and never returned. “If the people (there) were happy about a change of regime, I would be too.””Everyone would be happy,” agreed Fereshteh, one of his customers and a fellow resident of so-called “Tehrangeles” — a mash-up of Tehran and Los Angeles.For Fereshteh, who gave only her first name to protect her identity, “Donald Trump is a hero.” The American president ordered strikes against three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend, providing unprecedented support to Israel in its offensive against Iran.He even raised the possibility of “regime change,” before backing away and saying it would sow chaos.Any talk of ousting Iran’s clerical leadership resonates strongly in the Los Angeles area, where nearly 200,000 Iranian-Americans live, making the Californian metropolis the diaspora’s global hub. Many of its members live in the west end of the city, near the UCLA campus. Filled with Middle Eastern grocery stores, carpet merchants and bookstores selling books in Farsi, the neighborhood is also known as “Little Persia.” The immigrants who have made it their home include minorities often seen as discriminated against in Iran, such as Jews, Christians and Assyrians.- ‘Rise up’ -“It’s time for the Iranian people to rise up, because right now, the regime is very weak,” said Fereshteh, herself Jewish, who fled Iran in the 1980s during the war between her country and Iraq. Trump was elected on a promise to focus on America and stay out of foreign wars.But among the grocery store’s customers, some would like him to push his intervention in Iran to the limit. “We should send troops there,” says Mehrnoosh, a 45-year-old woman who arrived in the United States in 2010. “The people there have their hands tied,” she said, adding that “the regime killed so many Iranians three years ago during the protests following the death of Mahsa Amini,” a student arrested for allegedly flouting dress rules for women. But on the patio of the “Taste of Tehran” restaurant, one man hopes the United States will pull back to avoid its fate in Iraq and Afghanistan.”Change by force never pays off….Change must come from within, by the people, for the people, and we’re not there yet,” said the 68-year-old engineer, who wished to remain anonymous.The conflict has so far claimed more than 600 lives in Iran and 28 in Israel, according to authorities in both countries. A fragile ceasefire in the war between Iran and Israel war appeared to be holding on Tuesday — a relief for the engineer, who had recently spoken to his aunt on the phone. For several days, she fled Tehran for the northwest of the country to escape Israeli bombardments.”Is it worth it? Absolutely not,” he said, recalling he lost his grandparents to bombs during the Iran-Iraq War. “My hope is for all this to end soon.”

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok produced inaccurate and contradictory responses when users sought to fact-check the Israel-Iran conflict, a study said Tuesday, raising fresh doubts about its reliability as a debunking tool.With tech platforms reducing their reliance on human fact-checkers, users are increasingly utilizing AI-powered chatbots — including xAI’s Grok — in search of reliable information, but their responses are often themselves prone to misinformation.”The investigation into Grok’s performance during the first days of the Israel-Iran conflict exposes significant flaws and limitations in the AI chatbot’s ability to provide accurate, reliable, and consistent information during times of crisis,” said the study from the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) of the Atlantic Council, an American think tank.”Grok demonstrated that it struggles with verifying already-confirmed facts, analyzing fake visuals, and avoiding unsubstantiated claims.”The DFRLab analyzed around 130,000 posts in various languages on the platform X, where the AI assistant is built in, to find that Grok was “struggling to authenticate AI-generated media.”Following Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Israel, Grok offered vastly different responses to similar prompts about an AI-generated video of a destroyed airport that amassed millions of views on X, the study found.It oscillated — sometimes within the same minute — between denying the airport’s destruction and confirming it had been damaged by strikes, the study said. In some responses, Grok cited the a missile launched by Yemeni rebels as the source of the damage. In others, it wrongly identified the AI-generated airport as one in Beirut, Gaza, or Tehran. When users shared another AI-generated video depicting buildings collapsing after an alleged Iranian strike on Tel Aviv, Grok responded that it appeared to be real, the study said.The Israel-Iran conflict, which led to US air strikes against Tehran’s nuclear program over the weekend, has churned out an avalanche of online misinformation including AI-generated videos and war visuals recycled from other conflicts.AI chatbots also amplified falsehoods.As the Israel-Iran war intensified, false claims spread across social media that China had dispatched military cargo planes to Tehran to offer its support.When users asked the AI-operated X accounts of AI companies Perplexity and Grok about its validity, both wrongly responded that the claims were true, according to disinformation watchdog NewsGuard.Researchers say Grok has previously made errors verifying information related to crises such as the recent India-Pakistan conflict and anti-immigration protests in Los Angeles.Last month, Grok was under renewed scrutiny for inserting “white genocide” in South Africa, a far-right conspiracy theory, into unrelated queries.Musk’s startup xAI blamed an “unauthorized modification” for the unsolicited response. Musk, a South African-born billionaire, has previously peddled the unfounded claim that South Africa’s leaders were “openly pushing for genocide” of white people.Musk himself blasted Grok after it cited Media Matters — a liberal media watchdog he has targeted in multiple lawsuits — as a source in some of its responses about misinformation.”Shame on you, Grok,” Musk wrote on X. “Your sourcing is terrible.”