World

A Chinese container ship’s dislodged anchor caused damage to a Baltic Sea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia, Finnish police believe. The Hong Kong-flagged cargo vessel Newnew Polar Bear is responsible for the damage earlier this month to the undersea Balticconnector pipeline spanning the Gulf of Finland, said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), citing

China’s defence minister, who has been missing from public life for nearly two months, has been removed from his post, according to state media. General Li Shangfu was appointed to the role during a cabinet reshuffle in March but he has not been seen publicly since giving a speech on 29 August. Gen Li, 65,

Iceland’s prime minister is expected to join tens of thousands of women in a strike for equal pay on Tuesday, labour unions in the country have said. Katrín Jakobsdóttir told Icelandic media that she plans to take part in the industrial action, organised under the slogan ‘Do you call this equality?’, and not come to

Israel has evidence of Iranian “involvement” in the Hamas terror attack that left more than 1,400 people dead and over 200 kidnapped, a senior Israeli military officer has said. Major General Michael Edelstein, a veteran commander who is working with the Israel Defence Forces’ (IDF) Southern Command, said the attackers, were “well trained, well equipped”.

Five people have been killed in the West Bank as Israel carried out a strike on a mosque it says was used to organise attacks – as more than 50 Palestinians are reported to have died in strikes on Gaza overnight. Israel also struck two airports in Syria as fears grow the two-week old war

Israel will increase its strikes on Gaza, its military has warned, as airstrikes rained down on south Gaza, an area Israel had said would be safer. Israel’s military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the country planned to step up its air strikes starting on Saturday in preparation for the next stage of the war.

An explosion at the al Ahli hospital in Gaza on Tuesday killed many – officials linked to Hamas said up to 471 were killed. This latest round of fighting has inflamed anger and violence well beyond the confines of the Israel/Hamas conflict. The Israelis insist they have evidence which suggests that the damage was not

They’re the big underdogs heading into the game in Paris, but England’s rugby players have become used to being written off lately. Their form heading into the tournament in France was woeful, and yet they’re the only unbeaten side left in the semi-finals. Now they face a South Africa team that’s proved to be their

Meta has apologised after Instagram inserted the word “terrorist” into some Palestinian users’ profile bios. Some bios containing the word “Palestinian” followed by the Palestinian flag emoji and the Arabic phrase “Alhamdulillah,” which means “Praise be to God”, were being auto-translated to: “Praise be to God, Palestinian terrorists are fighting for their freedom.” The issue

I spent the afternoon in the West Bank with a father grieving the loss of his 17-year-old son who was shot by Israeli security forces on 8 October. Thaer Ali Kusbah cried and shook as he showed me the film of his son Yaser being shot in the back as he was running away after

Elon Musk’s X has started testing a potential sign-up fee for new users. The company formerly known as Twitter has introduced the $1 (82p) charge in New Zealand and the Philippines, placing most key features behind a paywall. New accounts that don’t pay will not be able to post anything or directly interact with others.

Israel’s military has said it will release evidence – including drone footage and an intercepted conversation – that it claims will prove an Islamist militant group was responsible for a deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza and not an Israeli airstrike. “We are running on it because someone is doing a fake on us,

Hamas’s attack on Israel has given rise to the largest-scale hostage crisis in the country’s 75-year history. About 200 people have been captured and taken into Gaza, according to the Israeli military. Over the course of the Arab-Israeli conflict, armed Palestinian groups have taken dozens of Israelis captive. The vast majority have been Israeli Defence

We’ve been travelling to the many different scenes where Hamas fighters carried out their terror attack on Israel this week, and it is becoming clear that their tactics and levels of brutality changed from location to location. Warning – this story contains descriptions and pictures of a graphic nature In the attack on the Nova

Israel is preparing to launch a “coordinated offensive” on the Gaza Strip, after the deadline given to Palestinians to move south to escape passed. Up to 1.1 million people on the sliver of land were offered safe passage south of the Gaza Wadi river by Israel’s Defence Forces until 4pm local time on Saturday (2pm

France will deploy 7,000 soldiers for increased security patrols after a terror attack killed a schoolteacher and wounded three others, the president’s office has said, while the Louvre was evacuated after a threat. The museum in Paris closed early on Saturday because it received a written threat. It said no one had been hurt and

Israel’s military says infantry backed by tanks have carried out “localised raids” in the Gaza Strip. It comes ahead of an expected ground operation, with Israel warning more than a million people in the north of Gaza to evacuate to the south. The small raids were carried out to attack Hamas rocket crews and seek

Israeli infantry and tanks have carried out “localised raids” in Gaza – the first hint at a shift to ground assaults. The small raids were carried out to attack Hamas rocket crews and seek information on the location of hostages taken by Palestinian gunmen last Saturday, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said. It is the first

Israel could be just “hours or days” from launching a ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza, according to Sky’s security and defence analyst Michael Clarke. With more than two million people living in Gaza, which is 25 miles wide, what would Israel consider before such an attack and how could Hamas respond? Here, we look at

Israel will be looking at all military options at the moment.  And they don’t look very good – not with 130 or so Israeli hostages imprisoned and dispersed all over Gaza. But after Israel’s current bombing campaign – designed to go after Hamas ammunition supplies and command facilities, most of which are disguised in ostensibly