Paris court to rule on Nicolas Sarkozy corruption charge

Former president and others accused of receiving millions of euros in illegal election funding from Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi

A Paris court is to rule whether the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy is guilty of receiving millions of euros in illegal election campaign funding from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, in the biggest political financing scandal in modern French history.

Judges will deliver their verdict on Thursday after the state prosecutor recommended a seven-year jail term for Sarkozy, who went on trial with 12 other people – including three former government ministers – accused of criminal conspiracy to receive funds from a foreign dictator. Sarkozy and the other accused have denied wrongdoing.

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At least 40 killed in Gaza and five in Lebanon in Israeli strikes

Military steps up Gaza City takeover campaign as high-rise towers targeted and residents ordered to leave

Israeli strikes killed at least 40 people in Gaza on Sunday, including 19 women and children, as well as five people in Lebanon.

At least 14 people were killed in a single strike on a residential block in southern Gaza City, health officials at al-Shifa hospital said. Another attack killed at least eight Palestinians in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to al-Awda hospital.

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Gulf leaders call on Trump to rein in Israel after Qatar emergency summit

Arab states say US should use its leverage and influence as they promise to ‘activate joint defence mechanisms’

Gulf leaders meeting at an emergency summit in Qatar have called on the Trump administration to use its leverage to rein in Israel following the unprecedented Israeli attempt last Tuesday to assassinate Hamas negotiators in Doha.

Speaking after the meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the group’s secretary general, Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, said: “We … expect our strategic partners in the United States to use their influence on Israel in order for it to stop this behaviour … they have leverage and influence on Israel, and it’s about time that this leverage and influence be used.”

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Israeli drones dropped grenades near peacekeepers in south Lebanon, UN says

Unifil condemns ‘serious attack’ on Tuesday morning as it was clearing a road and adds that no one was hurt

Israeli drones dropped four grenades near UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon, the agency’s force said on Wednesday, in what it described as “one of the most serious attacks” on its personnel since a November ceasefire.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, Unifil, said the Tuesday morning attack came as it was clearing a road to a UN position close to the Israeli border, adding that no one was hurt.

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UN to end Lebanon peacekeeping mission next year after Israeli and US pressure

Unifil mandate extended but troops patrolling Lebanon-Israel border to be withdrawn in December 2026

The UN security council has voted to extend the body’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for a further 16 months, but ordered it finished at the end of 2026 under Israeli and US pressure.

UNSC members voted unanimously on Thursday to extend the mandate for the UN interim force in Lebanon (Unifil) ahead of its expiration on Sunday, prompting relief from Lebanese officials who rely on it. The approved resolution said Unifil would begin an “orderly and safe withdrawal” of its 10,800 peacekeepers from Lebanon in December 2026.

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Israel launches bombing raids in Syria and Lebanon

Israel targets state forces entering south of Syria after sectarian clashes, while other strikes in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley leave 12 dead

Israel has launched bombing raids against two of its neighbours, hitting government forces in southern Syria and what it said were Hezbollah targets in eastern Lebanon.

In Syria, the strikes hit forces loyal to the transitional government that had been sent south to the province of Sweida, which is near Israel. Syrian state media also reported Israeli strikes on Tuesday in the nearby province of Deraa.

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Israeli airstrike hits Beirut suburb despite ceasefire with Hezbollah

Army spokesperson says storage sites housing militant group’s missiles were destroyed in Dahiyeh in south of the city

Israel conducted an airstrike on a residential neighbourhood of Dahiyeh in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday afternoon despite a November ceasefire that officially ended fighting with the militant group Hezbollah.

Videos showed three bombs hitting a building in Dahiyeh and rescue crews working to extinguish blazes after the blast; however, no casualties were reported. The Israeli military issued an evacuation warning before the bombing, prompting panic as residents fled the area.

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Israel restarts ground operations in northern Gaza Strip in renewed campaign

At least 25 killed in attack on Khan Younis in south as Israel says it is aiming to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages

Israel has restarted ground operations in the northern Gaza Strip and killed at least 25 people in airstrikes on the southern city of Khan Younis in what it says is a renewed military campaign aimed at pressuring Hamas into releasing Israeli hostages.

At least 25 people were killed in the attack on Khan Younis early on Friday, the local Nasser hospital told AFP, as the search for survivors continued.

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Middle East crisis: Israel issues evacuation order for parts of northern Gaza – as it happened

IDF says residents should evacuate Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahiya and the neighbourhoods of Sheikh Zayed, al-Manshiya and Tal al-Zaatar

At least 50,399 Palestinian people have been killed and 114,583 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

At least 42 bodies and 183 injured people have been received by hospitals in Gaza over the last day, according to the territory’s health ministry, which said that at least 1,042 Palestinian people have been killed by Israeli forces since Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas on 18 March.

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Israel strikes southern Lebanon and Gaza amid calls for halt to ‘endless war’

One killed and seven wounded in attack as freed hostages and families of those still held in Gaza urge end to fighting

Israel carried out a strike in Tyre, south Lebanon, on Saturday, killing one and wounding seven people and endangering the shaky truce that ended a year-long conflict against Hezbollah, as 40 survivors of Hamas captivity called on the Israeli government to halt the “endless war”.

The strike on a building came after Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes in Lebanon on Saturday, its most intense aerial assault on the country in four months. In total, six people were killed, including a child, and 28 injured, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

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Massive crowds attend funeral of late Hezbollah leader Nasrallah

Hasan Nasrallah, one of the founding members of Hezbollah, was killed during Israeli bombing in September

Tens of thousands of people have attended a funeral in Beirut for Hassan Nasrallah, who led the Iran-backed, Lebanese militia and political party Hezbollah for three decades before being killed in an Israeli bombing last September.

The ceremony was held in a sports stadium in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which had extra seats installed prior to the ceremony in anticipation of the massive crowds.

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Middle East crisis live: more Israeli hostages released in Gaza after week of fears over ceasefire

Iair Horn, Alexander Sasha Troufanov and Sagui Dekel Chen handed to the Red Cross in Gaza

Several media are quoting a statement released by Hamas this morning, in which it says Israel will only be able to repatriate the remaining hostages if it implements in full all terms of the ceasefire and hostage release agreement.

Hamas added that the release of hostages is being carried out after it received guarantees from mediating countries that Israel will uphold the agreements, Haaretz reported.

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Netanyahu gives Trump ‘golden pager’ in apparent reference to Lebanon attack

Photos show gift, reportedly nod to Israel’s deadly attack on Hezbollah, during which devices simultaneously detonated

Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly gave Donald Trump a “golden pager” during their meeting in Washington DC this week, in an apparent reference to Israel’s deadly attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon last year.

In photos circulating online, the golden pager can be seen mounted on a piece of wood, accompanied by a golden plaque that reads in black lettering: “To President Donald J. Trump, Our greatest friend and greatest ally. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

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Middle East crisis live: Hamas releases two hostages with third expected

Two hostages freed on Saturday, with another expected to be released from different location

Here are images coming in of people in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square watching a screen broadcasting news footage of this morning’s hostage releases.

The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont is reporting on these latest hostage releases.

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Tulsi Gabbard grilled on Snowden, Assad and Putin in tense Senate hearing

Skeptical senators ruthlessly questioned Trump’s national intelligence director nominee ahead of confirmation vote

Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s nominee for national intelligence director, refused to call the whistleblower Edward Snowden a “traitor” but sought to rein in her unorthodox views on foreign dictators and opposition to electronic surveillance during a tense confirmation hearing that could sink her nomination to oversee the country’s sprawling intelligence community.

In a three-hour hearing before the Senate intelligence committee, Gabbard, a former congresswoman and member of the Hawaii army national guard, partially recanted her views that Russia was provoked into invading Ukraine, said she had “no love” for the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and denied meeting with Hezbollah representatives during a trip to Lebanon in 2017.

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Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians return to north Gaza as Israel opens checkpoints

People begin long walk at dawn to what remains of their homes after 24-hour delay over release of Israeli hostage

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flooded back into northern Gaza on Monday after Israel opened military checkpoints that had divided the strip for more than a year, ending a forced exile from homes and loved ones that many feared could become permanent.

In the dawn light, crowds that had waited by the road overnight began the long walk back to their homes and business – or what remained of them – as soon as the crossing opened.

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Middle East crisis live: Israel presses on with Jenin raid as Jordanian minister warns West Bank could ‘explode’

Further shooting and explosions reported after 10 killed yesterday as Ayman Safadi tells Davos meeting of fears for territory

After months of negotiations, a ceasefire has paused the devastating war in Gaza, but it risks collapsing as a result of deep distrust between Israel and Hamas and the multi-phased nature of the deal, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Qatar, which mediated the talks along with the US and Egypt, has expressed hope the six-week truce and hostage-prisoner exchange will become permanent. However, that outcome is far from certain with the releases timetabled at a slower pace in comparison with a previous truce agreement.

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Islamist groups in Middle East will emerge from Gaza war weakened

Hamas, Hezbollah and other militia are enfeebled – but Palestine is likely to stay at forefront of global politics

The ceasefire due to come into force on Sunday, barring a major last-minute problem, will cement massive and rapid changes across the Middle East and may seal a significant defeat for the Islamist militant groups that have been powerful actors in the region for years.

Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and assorted Shia Muslim militia in Iraq and Syria will all emerge from the conflict considerably weakened. Only the Houthis in Yemen are stronger – though this may not last. The Islamic State remains a shadow of its former self.

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Lebanon elects Joseph Aoun as president after two-year vacancy

Army commander’s election increases confidence that ceasefire with Israel will hold

Lebanon’s parliament has elected the army commander Joseph Aoun as the country’s new president, ending a more than two-year vacancy and increasing confidence that a ceasefire with Israel will hold.

Aoun received 99 out of 128 votes in the 13th attempt by a deeply divided parliament to elect a new head of state after the departure of the former president Michel Aoun, who is no relation, in October 2022. Aoun was the favoured candidate of international powers such as Saudi Arabia, France and the US, which enjoyed good relations with him in his role as head of Lebanon’s armed forces.

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Middle East crisis: Israeli forces ‘fired on World Food Programme convoy in Gaza’ – as it happened

Statement from UN agency ‘strongly condemns horrifying incident’ on Sunday which it says risked lives of staff

Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, has told a news conference that it was “only a matter of time” before Syrian Kurdish fighters - seen by the west as essential in the fight against Islamic State jihadists - will be wiped out.

Speaking in a joint press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi, he told journalists:

Conditions in Syria have changed. We believe it’s only a matter of time before PKK/YPG is eliminated.

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