Russia-Ukraine war live: Ukraine launches inquiry into ‘execution’ of captured soldiers – as it happened

Ukraine says Russian troops committed war crime as video appears to show two men surrendering before being shot

There it is, on a wintry morning: charred masonry, gnarled metal, glass shards, rubble and dust.

Yet another ravaged building in Ukraine: each has its own story, and this violation is against Kherson’s regional library for children, a place of effervescent creativity with a wonderful collection, named Dnipro Seagull library, after the birds that soar over the city’s mighty river – a symbol of the region.

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Ukraine investigating ‘execution’ of surrendering troops by Russian forces

Video shows two unarmed Ukrainian soldiers being shot dead as they emerged from dugout near Avdiivka

Ukraine is investigating the “execution” by Russian forces of two Ukrainian soldiers who emerged from their trench near the town of Avdiivka and were shot dead as they surrendered.

The public prosecutor’s office said it had launched an inquiry into the gruesome incident. Video showed the Ukrainian soldiers’ last moments. One raised his arms in the air. Next, Russian service personnel gunned both men down at point-blank range.

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Israel says its ground forces are operating across ‘all of Gaza’

IDF spokesperson says ‘troops coming face-to-face with terrorists and killing them’

Israel continued with its intense bombing campaign across the north and south of Gaza for a third day since the end of the truce with Hamas, killing hundreds of Palestinians in a 24-hour period, according to local officials.

On Sunday night, the Israeli military also said it has expanded its ground operation to all of Gaza. “The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] continues to extend its ground operation against Hamas centres in all of the Gaza Strip,” spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters in Tel Aviv. “The forces are coming face-to-face with terrorists and killing them.”

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Brexit-backer Richard Desmond invokes EU law to sue Gambling Commission

Ex-Express owner is expected to claim regulator made errors during bidding war for national lottery contract

Richard Desmond, the Brexit-backing media tycoon, is invoking EU law to sue the gambling regulator after it rejected his “fanciful” bid to run the national lottery, in a suit that could deprive good causes of millions of pounds.

The former owner of the Daily Express has vowed previously to seek damages from the Gambling Commission after his company Northern & Shell missed out on a 10-year contract, worth £6.5bn, to run the lottery from next year.

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Muslim leaders in swing states pledge to ‘abandon’ Biden over his refusal to call for ceasefire

Warnings that president stance on the war risks losing support of community in states critical to his chances for re-election

Muslim community leaders gathered on Saturday in Dearborn, Michigan, home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the US, to protest President Biden’s refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, reiterating that the president’s stance could affect his support in crucial swing states next year.

Jaylani Hussein, director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that Biden’s unwillingness to call for a ceasefire had damaged his relationship with the American-Muslim community beyond repair. (Cair-Minnesota is not involved in his work on the Abandon Biden effort, which the organization said Hussein is doing in his personal capacity.)

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Cop28 live: UAE climate chief’s comments ‘incredibly concerning’,

This live blog is now closed

The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has been facing criticism at home for the brevity of his visit to the climate conference, having visited for less than a day. He has also been accused of hypocrisy for pushing for a phase-out of fossil fuels only weeks after approving new oil and gas licences in the North Sea.

Al Gore, the former US vice-president, said: “I am not impressed with prime minister Sunak’s climate policies. I think they’re terrible. They’re very disappointing.”

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Dozens attend protest in Tel Aviv against Israeli bombardment of Gaza

Demonstration is first time abductees’ families have come together with other activists

Dozens of people attended a noisy fringe protest in Tel Aviv on Saturday night outside the Israeli military’s headquarters, protesting against the renewed bombardment on Gaza that they blame for the halt in the release of the estimated 130 hostages still held by Hamas.

The group gathered after the regular weekly rally demanding the release of all the hostages held by Hamas, and marched around the Israel Defense Force’s Kirya military base demanding an urgent meeting with the country’s war cabinet and pressing for a ceasefire.

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Cop28 officials fail to clarify if protesters are safe to protest in Dubai

Thousands of activists attending climate conference in UAE, which has a poor record for demonstrations

Cop28 organisers and the UN body that oversees the annual climate conference have failed to clarify whether activists in Dubai are safe to demonstrate outside the conference area, putting civil society at risk in a country where protest is normally prohibited.

At least 80,000 people are registered to attend the conference, including thousands of activists and members of civil society, who normally hold protests around the conference area.

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Tensions rise as Venezuelans vote on disputed territory in neighbouring Guyana

Guyana considers poll on Essequibo by Nicolás Maduro’s government a step toward annexation

Venezuelans are voting in a referendum to supposedly decide the future of a large swath of neighbouring Guyana of which their government claims ownership, arguing the territory was stolen when a north-south border was drawn more than a century ago.

Guyana considers the referendum a step toward annexation and the poll has its residents on edge. It asks Venezuelans whether they support establishing a state in the disputed territory known as Essequibo, granting citizenship to current and future area residents, and rejecting the jurisdiction of the United Nations’ top court in settling the disagreement between the two South American countries.

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Heavily pregnant Afghan women eligible to come to UK stuck in Pakistan

People who worked for or were affiliated with the British Council may lose babies as government delays relocation to UK

Pregnant Afghan women who are eligible for resettlement in the UK have been told their babies may not survive unless they are urgently evacuated.

The women, who worked for or are affiliated with the British Council, should be entitled to relocation through the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme (ACRS). Despite Foreign Office and Home Office instructions to move to Pakistan and await relocation, they are stuck in hotels with limited access to medical care nearly two years after the scheme launched.

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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 648

Russia attempting to quell dissent from wives of soldiers deployed in Ukraine; former Ukraine president Poroshenko prevented from leaving the country

Russian authorities are attempting to quell dissent from the wives of soldiers deployed in Ukraine, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said. The MoD said in its daily intelligence briefing that some were being paid off while others have been discredited online.

Russian shelling killed one civilian and destroyed two houses in the eastern town of Chasiv Yar on Saturday, Ukraine’s interior ministry said. Chasiv Yar is less than 5km west of the frontline city of Bakhmut, which Russia claimed to have captured in May after a devastating, months-long assault.

Ukrainian border guards prevented the ex-president Petro Poroshenko from leaving the country on Friday because he planned to meet the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, Kyiv’s security services said. Ukraine’s SBU security services said the former leader – who was in power from 2014 to 2019 – was turned back due to his planned meeting with Orban, an EU leader chided by Kyiv for his pro-Russian stance.

Ukraine has become progressively stronger over the past year and will soon be able to reopen Kyiv’s international airport, Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak said.

The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant lost its power supply after the last remaining line to it from Ukrainian-controlled territory was disrupted, but it has since been repaired. Ukraine’s energy ministry said.

OSCE Conference participants have accused Moscow of undermining the Vienna-based organisation. Latvia’s representative, Katrina Kaktina, accused Russia of obstructing the OSCE agenda and of committing war crimes in Ukraine.

Ukraine is developing plans to allow spectators to attend sports stadiums. Its sports ministry is developing a system that will allow fans to attend stadiums and watch games which have been off limits to the public since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

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UK surveillance aircraft to search for Hamas hostage sites in Gaza

MoD says any information on the potential whereabouts of captives will be shared with Israel

The UK will conduct surveillance flights over Israel and Gaza to search for hostage locations used by Hamas, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

MoD officials said a range of unarmed aircraft would be used for the reconnaissance flights, including Shadow R1s, which are used for intelligence gathering.

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Philippines earthquake: woman killed by collapsed wall as fleeing residents return home

The magnitude 7.5 quake in Mindanao triggered tsunami warnings in Japan and more than 600 aftershocks

Philippine residents were allowed to return to their homes on Sunday after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the country’s south, killing at least one person, with disaster officials reporting minor damage to some infrastructure.

The Saturday night quake shook parts of Surigao del Sur and Davao Oriental provinces, triggering coastal evacuations and tsunami alerts in the country and in Japan.

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As the ceasefire ends, a question from history lingers: will Israel win the battle but lose the war against Hamas?

One lesson from the 1982 Lebanon war is that Israel’s enemy only needs to survive against superior firepower to gain an advantage

The scene is one familiar from many conflicts. Soldiers line up to get food from an outdoor canteen, weapons slung haphazardly over their shoulders, boots muddy, shirts undone. An armoured personnel carrier clanks by, the roar of its engine temporarily drowning out the boom of artillery. Officers shout orders. Tired men jump down from dusty vehicles and swear.

Even during the recent ceasefire, the rear areas of the massive Israeli military offensive in Gaza were busy. So too was Hamas, which used the seven-day pause in hostilities to reorganise its battered forces and reconstitute some of its degraded capabilities.

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Israeli grid maps make life in Gaza ‘macabre game of Battleships’, say aid workers

Online system designed to order precise evacuations inaccessible to those without power or network access

Israel-Hamas war – live updates

Israel’s new grid system for targeted evacuation warnings in southern Gaza risks turning life in the territory into a “macabre game of Battleships”, aid workers have warned.

When Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza after a week-long ceasefire deal collapsed, it immediately signalled plans to intensify attacks on the south of the territory, in areas where Palestinian civilians had previously been urged to take shelter.

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British soldier, 32, dies while off duty in Kenya

UK defence secretary, Grant Shapps, leads tributes to Maj Kevin McCool saying his death is ‘tragic loss’

A British soldier has died while off duty in Kenya, the Ministry of Defence has said.

Maj Kevin McCool, 32, was reportedly on a motorcycle trip off base when he was attacked. The MoD said he died on 29 November but that it would not be releasing any more details. His next of kin have been informed.

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Two Revolutionary Guards members killed by Israeli strike in Syria, says Iran

Airstrikes near Damascus follow end to seven-day pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza Strip

Two Iranian Revolutionary Guards members serving as military advisers in Syria have been killed in an Israeli attack, Iranian state media has said.

Strikes near the Syrian capital of Damascus came less than 24 hours after the end of a seven-day pause in fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

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New maps offer hope for Alabama voters ignored for so long

State to receive extra congressional district after winning court battle – but advocates must convince Black voters to turn out

Tuskegee resident Elise Tolbert hasn’t had a hospital in her city in her lifetime. Macon county, where her family has lived for generations and where four out of five residents are Black, once had two hospitals, but both were closed by the late 1980s.

That has forced locals to travel a half hour or more to other larger towns to get treatment – a long trip during a medical emergency, especially since calling for an ambulance can lead to a long wait. Residents often have to drive themselves, or find someone to take them if they don’t own a car – which is common in a town where 29% of residents live in poverty.

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Kamala Harris addresses Cop28 amid mixed reaction to US climate pledges

US vice-president, deputising for Joe Biden, tells summit that world faces a ‘pivotal moment’ in the climate crisis

The world is facing a “pivotal moment” in the climate crisis, Kamala Harris has told the Cop28 summit after the US vowed to phase out coal plants and slash methane emissions, but also came under attack for meagre assistance to developing countries and for its own booming oil and gas extraction industry.

The US vice-president, deputising for Joe Biden – who skipped the UN climate talks – said Biden’s administration had made the “largest climate investment in the history of our country, and some have said the world” via the Inflation Reduction Act.

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