Tunisian crisis escalates as president dissolves parliament

Kais Saied acts after parliament votes to repeal decrees he used to assume near total power

Tunisia’s president, Kais Saied, has issued a decree dissolving parliament, which has been suspended since last year, after it defied him by voting to repeal decrees he had used to assume near total power.

Speaking after an online session of more than half the parliament members, their first since he suspended the chamber in July, Saied accused them of a failed coup and a conspiracy against state security and ordered investigations into them.

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Two Palestinians die in gun battle as Israel raids Jenin refugee camp

West bank raid comes two days after a Palestinian shot and killed five people in central Israel

Israeli forces have raided a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, setting off a gun battle in which two Palestinians were killed and more than a dozen were wounded, the Palestinian health ministry said.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian stabbed a 28-year-old Israeli man on a bus in the West Bank before being killed by a bystander, the Israeli military said. The Magen David Adom emergency service said the stabbing victim was treated and taken to hospital.

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Britain hands billions to projects linked to labour abuse and climate damage

UK Export Finance used £5.24bn of taxpayer money to fund overseas energy and infrastructure ventures – despite its own review raising concerns

The British government has provided more than £5bn in the past three years to overseas energy and infrastructure projects linked to labour abuses and environmental damage, according to documents and interviews with workers.

The funding – a combination of loans and guarantees – comes from the government’s export credit agency, UK Export Finance (UKEF), a government department to help UK companies access business contracts overseas.

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Jets linked to Russian oligarchs appear to have kept flying despite sanctions

Exclusive: Guardian data investigation finds flurry of movement after invasion of Ukraine, with many flights to UAE

Private jets linked to Russian oligarchs and officials appeared to continue flying into and out of EU and UK airports despite flight bans and sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a Guardian data investigation found.

The investigation, in collaboration with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), identified and tracked jets linked to sanctioned businesspeople and officials including Roman Abramovich, Alisher Usmanov and Igor Shuvalov, a former Russian deputy prime minister.

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Israel’s PM urges citizens to arm themselves after Tel Aviv attack

Security cabinet in emergency talks ahead of Ramadan, Passover and Easter celebrations

Israel’s prime minister has called on citizens with gun licences to arm themselves after the bloodiest attack in years in greater Tel Aviv, which marked the third such killings spree in the Jewish state in a week.

“What is expected of you, Israeli citizens? Vigilance and responsibility,” the country’s far-right leader, Naftali Bennett, said in a video statement on Wednesday evening. “Whoever has a gun licence, this is the time to carry it.”

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John Menzies accepts takeover bid from Kuwaiti aviation services rival Agility

Edinburgh-based firm agrees to £571m offer that will create world’s largest airport services firm

Executives at the British aviation services company John Menzies have accepted a £571m takeover deal from a Kuwaiti rival, after rebuffing three previous offers.

A subsidiary of Agility Public Warehousing had made the bid more than a month ago, which was conditional at the time, although the John Menzies board said it would accept the offer.

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Israel: at least five dead in Tel Aviv shooting

Reports say suspected Arab gunman killed at least five people in Bnei Brak, east of Tel Aviv, before he was fatally shot

Israeli paramedics have said at least five people were killed in a shooting attack in a Tel Aviv suburb, in the third such incident in less than a week.

Amateur video broadcast on Israeli television stations showed a man dressed in black and pointing an assault rifle walking down a street in Bnei Brak, a Jewish ultra-Orthodox city east of Israel’s commercial capital.

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British-Iranian Morad Tahbaz ends hunger strike in Tehran jail

Tri-national was excluded from deal leading to release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori

Morad Tahbaz, the British-Iranian left behind when two others were released from Iranian detention a fortnight ago, has ended a nine-day hunger strike at the pleading of his family, his daughter has said.

He remains in jail in Tehran contrary to an agreement the British claimed it had struck with the Iranians.

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Islamic State claims responsibility for killing of two Israeli police officers

Police say two terrorists were shot dead after they began firing at police in city of Hadera, as Israel hosts envoys from four Arab states

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an attack in which two Israeli police were killed in the northern city of Hadera on Sunday. The claim was made in a statement posted on its Telegram account.

Police said that “two terrorists arrived at Herbert Samuel Street in Hadera, and began shooting at a police force there,” resulting in two deaths.

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Iran will never acquire nuclear weapons, US promises Israel

Antony Blnken seeks to reassure Israel and Gulf allies ahead of possible renewal of nuclear deal

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has sought to reassure Israel and its Gulf allies that Iran will never acquire atomic weapons, ahead of the possible renewal of the nuclear deal with Tehran.

“When it comes to the most important element, we see eye to eye,” Blinken said at a news conference on Sunday with Israel’s foreign minister, Yair Lapid. “We are both committed, both determined, that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon.”

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UN condemns attacks by Yemen rebels and Saudi-led coalition

UN chief António Guterres calls for ‘restraint’ on all sides in seven-year conflict

UN chief António Guterres on Saturday condemned an exchange of attacks between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and the Saudi-led coalition, calling for “restraint” on all sides in the seven-year conflict.

“The secretary-general strongly condemns the recent escalation of the conflict in Yemen,” UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement Saturday.

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Russia’s invasion crystallises divide between west and rest of world

Ukraine crisis is uniting democracies in Europe and Pacific but complicating relationships with China, India and Gulf states

“Decide who you are with” Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the European council, pointing to a choice that is becoming increasingly hard to avoid, as the sheer violence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine crystallises the division of the world into two camps.

The camp that stands with Russians is becoming easier to define with every passing day of the war. The colour-coded scoreboard at the UN general assembly in recent weeks, recording the votes on resolutions deploring the attack and calling for a ceasefire, could not have been clearer.

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Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to go ahead as planned despite Houthi missile attack

  • Oil facility 10 miles from track set ablaze on Friday afternoon
  • Qualifying and main race to go ahead despite driver concerns

F1 has confirmed the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will go ahead as planned after Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a missile attack on an oil facility less than 10 miles from the circuit. But in a four-hour meeting with drivers that lasted until well past midnight local time on Saturday, several are believed to have voiced their concerns to F1’s chief executive, Stefano Domenicali, with some lingering doubts over whether the race will still take place.

Discussions continued until 2.30am local time, over four hours after Domenicali had made assurances that all was well. Organisers the Saudi Motorsport Company had earlier confirmed that it would go ahead after all 10 team principals agreed to race. “We are aware of the attack on the Aramco distribution station in Jeddah earlier this afternoon and remain in contact with the Saudi security authorities, as well as F1 and the FIA, to ensure all necessary security and safety measures continue to be implemented, to guarantee the safety of all visitors to the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as well as the drivers, teams and stakeholders,” read a statement.

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Fire breaks out at Jeddah oil depot ahead of Saudi Arabia grand prix

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim responsibility for huge blaze days before F1 race is due to take place

A fire has erupted at an oil depot in Jeddah days ahead of a Formula One race in the Saudi city after what Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed was an attack by the group.

The blaze – not immediately acknowledged by Saudi Arabia or its state-run oil company Saudi Aramco – was centred on the same fuel depot that the Houthis had attacked in recent days.

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Number of people facing extreme hunger in Sudan predicted to double

UN warns up to 18 million could be in need of aid by September as food prices soar due to conflict, poor harvests and economic crisis

The number of people who are severely hungry in Sudan could double by September as a result of poor harvests, economic crisis, internal conflict and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UN has warned.

In a joint statement, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agricultural Organisation said more than 18 million people could face extreme hunger over the coming months, up from about 9 million currently in need of aid.

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France opens inquiry into alleged torture by Interpol’s Emirati head

Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi accused of being responsible for the torture of opposition figure in UAE

French anti-terror prosecutors have opened a preliminary inquiry into torture and acts of barbarism allegedly committed by Emirati general Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi, according to judicial sources.. Raisi in November became president of Interpol.

The inquiry follows a legal complaint by an NGO that accused Raisi of being responsible in his role as high-ranking official at the United Arab Emirates interior ministry for the torture of an opposition figure.

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F1 faces calls to quit Saudi Arabia while prisoner’s family asks Hamilton to help

  • Abdullah al-Howaiti arrested aged 14, sentenced to death at 17
  • Human rights group Reprieve highlights protesters’ executions

The human rights group Reprieve has demanded Formula One ends its association with Saudi Arabian sportswashing after the family of a teenager sentenced to death wrote to Lewis Hamilton pleading with him to speak out on their son’s behalf before this weekend’s race.

In documents sent from Abdullah al-Howaiti’s prison cell and seen by the Guardian, he cites the torture and abuse he says he has suffered at the hands of the Saudi authorities as F1 once more prepares to race in the country that recently carried out 81 executions in a single day. In a report issued in January, a group of UN experts classified some of Saudi Arabia’s violations of international law as potentially “crimes against humanity” as the state continues to execute minors.

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Female opposition MP among dozens killed in Somalia bombings

Al-Shabaab claim responsibility for attacks, including that which killed Amina Mohamed Abdi in run-up to elections this week

A “fearless” Somali female MP was among dozens of people killed in a series of bomb attacks in rural Somalia on Wednesday.

According to a witness quoted by the Associated Press, the bomber ran towards and embraced opposition MP Amina Mohamed Abdi before detonating a bomb as she campaigned in the town of Beledweyne in central Somalia ahead of parliamentary elections this week.

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Dubai ruler to have no direct contact with two children after UK court battle

Sheikh Mohammed’s ex-wife Princess Haya granted responsibility for decisions on their children’s medical care and schooling

The ruler of Dubai will have no face-to-face contact with his two children from his marriage to Princess Haya nor any substantive say in their upbringing, after a long-running court battle between the former couple and a series of damning judgments about his “abusive behaviour”.

Concluding more than two and a half years of legal proceedings, which began when Haya fled to the UK with the children in April 2019, the president of the family division of the high court in England and Wales said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum had “consistently displayed coercive and controlling behaviour with respect to those members of his family who he regards as behaving contrary to his will”.

Sheikh Mohammed orchestrated the abductions and confinement of two of his other children, Princess Latifa and Princess Shamsa – in the latter case from the streets of Cambridge – and subjected Haya to a campaign of “harassment and intimidation”.

He hacked the phones of Haya and five of her associates, including two of her lawyers, using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware while the couple were locked in court proceedings.

His agents attempted to buy a £30m estate next door to Haya’s Berkshire home in a “very significant threat to her security”, while publicly denying they were doing so.

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Israel blocked Ukraine from buying Pegasus spyware, fearing Russia’s anger

Revelation of denial offers new insight into the way Israel’s relationship with Moscow has undermined Ukrainian objectives

Israel blocked Ukraine from buying NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware for fear that Russian officials would be angered by the sale of the sophisticated hacking tool to a regional foe, according to people familiar with the matter.

The revelation, following a joint investigation by the Guardian and Washington Post, offers new insight into the way Israel’s relationship with Russia has at times undermined Ukraine’s offensive capabilities – and contradicted US priorities.

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