IDF says strikes in Beirut in early October also killed the head of the militant group’s intelligence branch
Israel has confirmed the killing of the presumed next leader of Hezbollah in an airstrike on southern Beirut earlier in October.
In a statement on Tuesday evening, the Israeli military said strikes in the suburb of Dahiyeh had killed Hashem Safieddine and Ali Hussein Hazima, the head of the militant group’s intelligence branch, three weeks ago.
Continue reading...Russian president ‘willing to gamble on food security’ by stepping up strikes on grain ships, says UK prime minister
Keir Starmer has accused Vladimir Putin of disrupting food supplies to Gaza after British intelligence suggested Russia had stepped up its attacks on Ukrainian ports.
Starmer said it was clear the Russian president was “willing to gamble on global food security” after several grain ships en route to developing countries were damaged by Russian strikes.
Continue reading...Justice department says eight were charged ‘for their efforts to silence and kill a US citizen because of her criticism of the Iranian regime’
A general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has been charged in New York in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate a dissident Iranian American journalist.
The target of the alleged assassination plot was not named in unsealed court documents, but she has been widely identified as Masih Alinejad, who lives in New York.
Continue reading...This blog has now closed. You can read our latest report on the conflict in the Middle East here and all our coverage from the region here.
As Israel continues its war in Gaza and assault on Lebanon, a growing number of international airlines are suspending flights to the region or to avoid affected airspace.
Reuters has helpfully compiled a list of some of them:
Aegean Airlines: The Greek airline cancelled flights to and from Beirut until 6 November and to and from Tel Aviv until 5 November.
AirBaltic: Latvia’s airBaltic cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv until 30 November.
Air Algerie: The Algerian airline suspended flights to and from Lebanon until further notice.
Air France-KLM: Air France extended its suspension of Paris-Tel Aviv flights until 29 October and Paris-Beirut flights until 30 November. KLM extended the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv until the end of this year at least.
Air India: The Indian flag carrier suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv until further notice.
Bulgaria Air: The Bulgarian carrier cancelled flights to and from Israel until 31 October.
Cathay Pacific: Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific cancelled flights to Tel Aviv until 25 October 2025.
Delta Air Lines: The US carrier paused flights between New York and Tel Aviv through March 2025.
EasyJet: The UK budget airline stopped flying to and from Tel Aviv in April and will resume flights on 30 March.
Egyptair: The Egyptian carrier in September said it had suspended flights to Beirut until “the situation stabilises”.
Emirates UAE’s state-owned airline cancelled flights to Beirut through to 31 October and flights to Baghdad and Tehran until 30 October.
Ethiopian Airlines: The Ethiopian carrier suspended flights to Beirut until further notice, it said in a Facebook post on 4 October.
FlyDubai: The Emirati airline suspended Dubai-Beirut flights until 31 October.
Iran Air: The Iranian airline cancelled Beirut flights until further notice.
Iraqi Airways: The Iraqi national carrier suspended flights to Beirut until further notice.
ITA Airways: The Italian carrier extended the suspension of Tel Aviv flights through to 30 November.
LOT: The Polish flag carrier cancelled flights to Tel Aviv until 26 October. Its first scheduled flight to Beirut is planned for 1 April.
Lufthansa Group: The German airline group extended the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv until 10 November, while its low cost carrier Eurowings suspended them until 30 November. Flights for Tehran are cancelled until 31 October and to Beirut until 30 November.
Pegasus: The Turkish airline cancelled flights to Beirut until 28 October.
Qatar airways: The Qatari airline temporarily suspended flights to and from Iraq, Iran and Lebanon, while flights to Amman will operate only during daylight hours.
Ryanair: Europe’s biggest budget airline cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv until the end of December. Group CEO Michael O’Leary said in early October that the suspension was likely to be extended until end-March.
Tarom: Romania’s flag carrier extended the suspension of Beirut flights until 15 November.
United Airlines: The Chicago-based airline suspended flights to Tel Aviv for the foreseeable future.
Virgin Atlantic: The UK carrier extended suspension of Tel Aviv flights until end-March.
Wizz Air: The Hungary-based airline suspended Tel Aviv flights through 14 January.
Continue reading...Discussion about letting private firms bid for contracts comes before Knesset vote on banning UN relief agency from operating in Israel
Israel is weighing the use of private security contractors – possibly involving UK special forces veterans – to deliver aid to Gaza, as conditions in the north of the strip worsen dramatically, the Guardian has learned.
According to an Israeli official, the security cabinet discussed the issue on Sunday, before an expected vote in the Knesset next week on two bills that would ban the UN relief agency, Unrwa, from operating in Israel. If passed, the bills would severely curtail the operations of by far the biggest aid operation in Gaza.
Continue reading...New report upgrades outlook for UK economy with growth now forecast at 1.1% rather than 0.7%
The International Monetary Fund has warned the trade tariffs favoured by US presidential candidate Donald Trump could hurt global growth, as it upgraded its forecast for the UK economy.
The Washington-based organisation said tariffs trigger tit-for-tat trade wars that impoverish the economies involved in the dispute and the wider global economy.
Continue reading...West infuriated as UN secretary general accepts invitation to meeting of countries including China, India and Iran
Vladimir Putin, ostracised by the west and labelled a possible war criminal by the international criminal court, has played host to 36 world leaders from nations including China, India and Iran as part of a summit of the Brics group designed to display Moscow as anything but isolated.
One of the main aims of the summit will be to speed up ways to reduce the number of dollar transactions, and so mitigate the US ability to use the threat of sanctions to seek to impose its political will.
Continue reading...Saud al-Qahtani was first suspended before Elon Musk took over what was then Twitter, and was suspended again today after Guardian report
A key Saudi suspect in the murder of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 had his account reinstated on X, the social media company controlled by Elon Musk, after it was permanently suspended under the company’s previous owner.
Saud al-Qahtani, a onetime key adviser to Mohammed bin Salman, had “direct involvement” in the murder of Khashoggi, according to a US intelligence assessment released by the Biden administration in 2021.
Continue reading...Israeli strikes near Rafik Hariri hospital and its claims that a second Beirut facility is hiding Hezbollah stash cause anxiety and panic
The rescuers struck at the concrete with jackhammers, excavators and even pickaxes, pausing occasionally and demanding silence, straining to hear anyone still trapped under the collapsed building.
Beneath the rubble, nothing stirred. They resumed, many working through the night after Israel carried out airstrikes on residential buildings across the street from Rafik Hariri university hospital, killing 18 people, including four children, and wounding 60 on Monday night.
Continue reading...Former teacher was detained in Budapest for alleged attack on neo-Nazis before being released in June
Hungary has called on the EU to strip parliamentary immunity from the Italian MEP Ilaria Salis, who was detained for 16 months in Budapest after an alleged attack on neo-Nazis.
The case of Salis, 39, a teacher from Monza, near Milan, sparked diplomatic protests and anger in Italy after she was brought last January to court in Hungary in chains, her hands cuffed and feet locked together.
Continue reading...Report says ‘intense military operations in Gaza have left unprecedented humanitarian, environmental and social catastrophe’
Gaza’s economy has been left in “utter ruin” by the year-long war between Israel and Hamas, and it would take 350 years to return to its pre-conflict levels, the United Nations has warned.
In a report on the economic costs of the war prepared by its trade and development wing (Unctad), the UN said the fighting since Hamas killed more than 1,000 Israelis on 7 October last year had devastated the remnants of Gaza’s economy and infrastructure.
Continue reading...Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez trade blows in court after confessing to shooting Ripudaman Singh Malik
Two men have pleaded guilty to the contract killing of a Sikh man who was acquitted in the 1985 bombing of an Air India flight from Montreal to Mumbai.
According to an agreed statement of facts released by a British Columbia court on Monday, Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez confessed to shooting Ripudaman Singh Malik in 2022. But they remained silent over who hired and paid them for the murder.
Continue reading...US secretary of state urges Israeli PM to capitalise on death of Hamas leader by securing release of hostages and ending conflict
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has arrived in Israel to encourage efforts to revive the stalled Gaza ceasefire negotiations after Israel’s killing of the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, last week.
Meeting the Israeli prime minister, Blinken urged Benjamin Netanyahu to capitalise on the death of the Hamas leader by securing the release of the 7 October attack hostages and ending the conflict in Gaza.
Continue reading...Authorities smash drugs gang in North Rhine-Westphalia after learning Düsseldorf pizzeria was delivering narcotics
Pizza No 40 was long one of the best-selling dishes at a restaurant in the German city of Düsseldorf, until police discovered the secret ingredient: a side of cocaine.
Authorities say uncovering the illicit narcotics delivery scheme allowed them to smash an organised crime ring in Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia. About 150 officers, including from elite units, last week searched 16 properties in nine cities, arrested three suspects and seized caches of weapons, the news agency DPA reported.
Continue reading...Seoul signals its most proactive position towards arming Ukraine to date
South Korea is considering directly supplying weapons to Ukraine as evidence increases that North Korean soldiers are preparing to assist Russia in its war against Ukraine.
South Korea’s spy agency (NIS) said last week that North Korea had shipped 1,500 special forces personnel to Russia’s far east for training and acclimatising at local military bases for future combat alongside Moscow’s troops in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Rahima Mahmut, in exile in the UK, ‘disappointed’ at failure to describe Beijing’s crackdown on minority as genocide
A leading Uyghur activist has accused the Labour government of “falling behind” its allies in failing to stand up to China, after ministers backtracked on plans to push for formal recognition of the country’s treatment of the minority group as genocide.
Speaking after David Lammy’s first visit to China as UK foreign secretary, the human rights activist Rahima Mahmut, who has lived in exile in the UK since 2000, said she had hoped there would be a shift in UK policy once the party came into power, including following the US in declaring a continuing genocide in Xinjiang.
Continue reading...Prosecutors say ‘criminal enterprise’ charged foreign couples $50,000 and denied payments for miscarriages
An international surrogacy ring exploited impoverished women, denied payments for miscarriages, and “commercialised” babies in Argentina, prosecutors have alleged.
A team of prosecutors said they had discovered a “criminal enterprise” which has been charging foreign couples about $50,000 for a baby born by surrogacy in Argentina.
Continue reading...The royals get on the tongs, banter with surf lifesavers and meet massive crowds at the Sydney Opera House
Just as King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived at a barbecue picnic in western Sydney, the strains of the Jimmy Barnes anthem, Working Class Man, wafted mysteriously and humorously above the crowd.
As Barnsey rasped out the opening lyrics of the Aussie classic, Charles and Camilla greeted hundreds of invited guests in the punishing Parramatta Park heat. Muster dogs waited patiently atop barrels and a windmill slowly twirled above a pile of hay.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Lee Hsien Yang says Singapore is no ‘paradise’ after fleeing authoritarian regime that his older brother inherited and still holds sway over through their revered father’s legacy
A senior member of the family that has dominated Singapore since independence has been granted asylum in the UK after fleeing what he says was a campaign of persecution.
In an exclusive interview, Lee Hsien Yang told the Guardian the authoritarian regime founded by his father turned on him as he endorsed the opposition following a family rift.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Justin Trudeau says there are ‘credible allegations’ that Modi’s government was involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist in British Columbia. What does say about India’s global standing?
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In September 2023, Justin Trudeau stood up in parliament and made extraordinary allegations against the Indian government. The prime minister said Canadian authorities were investigating “credible allegations” about the potential involvement of Indian officials in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh separatist activist in British Columbia.
Middle East | Israel has accused Hezbollah of keeping hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in a bunker under a hospital in the southern suburbs of Beirut, though it said it would not strike the complex. The Sahel hospital in Dahiyeh was evacuated shortly afterwards, and Fadi Alame, its director, told Reuters that the allegations were untrue.
Labour | A cross-party group of 30 MPs has urged Rachel Reeves to impose a 2% tax on wealth above £10m on Britain’s rich in next week’s budget rather than announce spending cuts that would hit the most poor hardest.
Ukraine | Britain is to lend Ukraine an additional £2.26bn and allow Kyiv to spend the money on weapons to fight off the Russian invasion as part of a wider $50bn (£38.5bn) loan programme expected to be confirmed by G7 members later this week.
Sudan | Refugees and aid agencies have warned of deteriorating conditions in overcrowded camps in Chad, as intensifying violence and a hunger crisis in Sudan drive huge numbers across the border. About 25,000 people – the vast majority women and children – crossed into eastern Chad in the first week of October. Read an explainer.
European Union | Moldovans have voted by a razor-thin majority in favour of joining the EU, nearly final results showed on Monday after a pivotal referendum clouded by allegations of Russian interference. With 50.18% supporting EU membership, the decision was much closer than pre-referendum polls suggested.
Continue reading...