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1271 articles · page 11 of 27
The UK is expanding its sanctions powers to freeze assets and target entities and individuals who enable illegal Israeli settlements, obstruct humanitarian aid or unlawfully hold prisoners, with the new regime due to come into force this week. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is pushing the measures through at speed ahead of a disputed West Bank settlement tender.
· 2 sourcesThe UK's approach to China is 'beset by incoherence' and hampered by a shortage of senior expertise, according to a report by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac) published on Wednesday. The audit warns that past engagement has exposed the UK to risks of interference without delivering the opportunities promised, and calls for clearly defined red lines on critical infrastructure, frontier technologies and human rights.
· 2 sourcesA senior United Nations official has warned that parts of Asia and Africa could face a food security crisis unless Iran and the United States quickly agree on a UN-backed plan to move fertiliser through the embattled Strait of Hormuz, as planting season approaches.
· 2 sourcesFishers and others have been scouring the Strait of Hormuz for spilled cargo after Iran attacked at least 15 container ships in the past 10 days, according to Iranian officials and local reports. The salvage operations have prompted warnings from cyber police and state authorities not to pillage luxury items, while Iran's president has offered to reopen the waterway in six days in exchange for sanctions relief.
· 2 sourcesIraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi has assured Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that Iraqi territory will not be used to launch attacks on the kingdom or other regional countries, during his first visit to Riyadh since taking office in May.
SpaceX has partially restored the 100mph speed limit imposed on Starshield satellite terminals used by Ukrainian drone units, Ukraine’s former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov said on Wednesday, as Elon Musk blamed any restrictions on the US government rather than his company. The throttling, introduced without prior warning, had disrupted multiple missions and drawn sharp criticism from Ukrainian officials who accused SpaceX of siding with Russia.
· 6 sourcesThe head of Mercedes-Benz has warned that locking the UK out of the EU's flagship 'Made in Europe' industrial legislation would be a 'deliberate choice' to hurt carmakers across the bloc, as leaders close in on an agreement that could leave British industry on the outside.
The war in Yemen has entered a new phase after Iran-backed Houthi attacks on civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia killed at least a dozen people and injured hundreds, leaving no room for the red lines that previously limited escalation. Analysts see two possible scenarios: a major region-wide operation against the Houthis or a protracted war of attrition.
· 2 sourcesColombia opened its embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday, joining a small group of nations in the controversial step. The inauguration marks a clear break from the policies of former President Gustavo Petro and has been met with celebration from Israel and swift criticism from Palestinian and regional authorities.
The Israeli army is reportedly preparing to reopen Route 463 to settler traffic, a move that would isolate eight Palestinian villages and two large residential neighbourhoods in the occupied West Bank, threatening the geographic contiguity of the Ramallah area.
Japan formally summoned Russian Ambassador Nikolay Nozdrev on Wednesday to protest Moscow's arrest of Hokkaido Shimbun correspondent Imai Yuki on espionage charges, demanding immediate information and access to the detainer. The journalist, arrested by Russia's Federal Security Service in the Sakhalin region and transferred to Moscow, was ordered held until December 12 pending trial. The case adds a new source of friction to ties already strained by Tokyo's sanctions against Russia over Ukraine and the long-running territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands.
· 3 sourcesMost of the world's internet traffic still travels through subsea cables crisscrossing ocean floors, but these fiber-optic links, along with oil and gas pipelines and submarine power cables, now face growing sabotage risks as gray-zone warfare and open conflicts become widespread, according to a new book by Atlantic Council senior fellow Elisabeth Braw.
The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile heading for Riyadh on Wednesday, as the Saudi Energy Ministry confirmed a Houthi attack damaged an administrative building of state oil company Aramco in Dhahran, deepening a conflict that has shattered a UN-brokered ceasefire.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has threatened to sink American warships in the Strait of Hormuz, as Houthi militants backed by Tehran step up attacks on Saudi Arabian targets, including an overnight strike on a Saudi Aramco administrative building in Dhahran.
Iran has expanded its military surveillance of the Strait of Hormuz, deploying new naval units east of the waterway and warning ships to coordinate with its armed forces, as tanker attacks reach their worst levels since the US and Israel's war on Iran began. Oil transit through the strait is falling again after a brief recovery, and an Iranian official has said Tehran's new tactics partly aim to influence November's US midterm elections.
A missile launched by Yemen's Houthi movement struck a building owned by Saudi state oil company Aramco in the eastern city of Dhahran overnight, after the Saudi-led coalition bombed a fuel depot near the capital, Sanaa. The Saudi energy ministry said the attack caused a limited fire, while falling debris from intercepted missiles and drones injured four people in Riyadh.
· 3 sourcesRussia launched overnight missile and drone strikes on Ukraine, hitting a key energy facility and a residential building on the outskirts of Kyiv, killing at least three people and injuring 21, Ukraine's state emergencies service DSNS said. At least 600,000 people across the country are without electricity after strikes also hit critical infrastructure in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv.
Former Democratic Republic of the Congo President Joseph Kabila has officially allied with M23 rebels and other armed groups, launching a new political-military coalition called the Front pour la Refondation de la Nation (FRN) from his residence in Goma. The alliance threatens to escalate a conflict that has already killed thousands and displaced millions in the country's mineral-rich east.
Six months after a framework agreement aimed at securing Israel's phased withdrawal from southern Lebanon, the occupation continues behind what is called the 'Yellow Line', a zone up to 10 kilometres deep where Israeli forces have systematically demolished homes and infrastructure. Tens of thousands of Lebanese remain displaced, and Hezbollah has resumed rocket attacks after more than a year of relative calm.
Ukrainian soldiers in combat suddenly lost access to Starlink satellite internet terminals on Tuesday evening, causing several combat missions to fail, as the Trump administration intensifies pressure on Ukraine to halt long-range strikes on Russia's oil industry, according to officials and military sources.
· 2 sourcesRussian air attacks killed at least six people in Ukraine and left hundreds of thousands without power on Wednesday, in what Kyiv called a deliberate violation of the "energy ceasefire" announced days earlier by US President Donald Trump.
United States President Donald Trump has announced that 'massive' exploration for oil, gas and minerals is set to begin in Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory, citing its vast untapped resources and its strategic importance for US defence.
· 2 sourcesRussia launched an overnight attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure that left at least 600,000 people without power in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday, in what he called a deliberate breach of the US-brokered energy ceasefire announced by President Donald Trump on Sunday.
Russian ballistic missiles struck a key energy facility supplying Kyiv with heating and electricity and damaged a residential building late on Tuesday, killing two people, in an attack Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said came with no early warning and undercut the energy ceasefire that the United States said Russia and Ukraine had agreed two days earlier.
· 2 sourcesArgentina has filed a legal claim with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) seeking to stop oil and gas exploration north of the Falkland Islands, escalating a sovereignty dispute with the United Kingdom. The request aims to block activity Buenos Aires says was authorised 'illegally' by London.
· 4 sourcesUS President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that Taiwan has agreed to purchase 30% of the gas from the proposed Alaska LNG project for the next 20 years, a move he said would ensure the pipeline's viability. The announcement came during a campaign rally in Alaska, but the specific terms of the agreement were not immediately clear.
· 2 sourcesThe trial of a Ukrainian former special forces officer accused of playing a leading role in the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage opened on Wednesday at the Hamburg Higher Regional Court, with the defence calling for the case to be dismissed and prosecutors reading charges of attacks on civilian infrastructure.
· 5 sourcesPrime Minister Andy Burnham will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Downing Street on Wednesday, vowing to stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes” as the UK steps up military aid and seeks tougher sanctions on Russian energy exports. The visit underscores deepening UK support at a time when Zelenskyy’s relationship with US President Donald Trump has become increasingly strained.
· 3 sourcesA Saudi Arabia-led coalition has struck a fuel depot on the outskirts of Yemen's capital Sanaa, controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi movement, which has vowed to retaliate by targeting Saudi airports and oil refineries. The strikes mark a fresh escalation in the widening Middle East crisis.
Missiles and drones targeting Riyadh and other Saudi cities were intercepted on Tuesday night, hours after the Saudi-led coalition struck a fuel depot near the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital, Sanaa, according to the coalition's spokesperson. The Houthis have warned they will now target Aramco facilities, as both sides escalate attacks on each other's energy infrastructure.
· 3 sourcesIsraeli forces have pushed their Yellow Line demarcation deeper into Gaza again, moving concrete blocks dozens of metres westward in the eastern Gaza City neighbourhood of Shujayea on October 11 and forcing Palestinian families to flee once more. The advance came nearly a year after the line was drawn under the October 2025 ceasefire agreement, and it further shrinks the territory where displaced Palestinians can shelter.
Bulgaria has summoned the Russian ambassador after drone strikes on two merchant ships off its Black Sea coast sank one vessel and left ten crew members missing, prompting an emergency government meeting in Sofia.
An international war game held in London to test whether the world could cooperatively govern solar geoengineering, the sun-dimming technology seen as able to cool the planet but carrying vast, unknown risks, ended in a breakdown that shocked even its own participants. The exercise, the first in a planned series, was designed to prevent an uncontrolled global race to develop the technology.
The Houthi rebel group has warned civilians and employees near Saudi Aramco facilities and King Khalid International Airport to evacuate, calling the sites 'a legitimate target', after Saudi-led coalition air strikes hit oil infrastructure in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. The escalation follows weekend attacks on Riyadh's airport that killed at least 13 people and injured hundreds, stoking fears of a broader conflict disrupting global energy markets and air travel.
· 5 sourcesNATO's top general has unveiled a new war plan for countering a potential Russian attack on alliance members, embedding lessons from the front lines in Ukraine. Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Alexus Grynkewich outlined the 'block, blunt and break' strategy at the Warsaw Security Forum on Monday, saying the plan aims to stop an invasion in its tracks rather than take enemy territory.
The head of Britain's domestic intelligence service has warned that Iran is stepping up attempts to strike sensitive military targets after a series of incidents at UK airbases, a claim Tehran has denied.
Yemeni government forces said they had captured strategic heights around the Maas camp in Marib governorate and positions north of Harib as their week-old operation Dawn of Yemen pressed on, while reports from Taiz described dozens of civilian casualties from Houthi shelling and growing food shortages in the besieged city.
· 2 sourcesRussia said it could restore diesel exports to pre-crisis levels of 3.5 million tonnes a month by the end of the year, as opposition to President Donald Trump's deal allowing Russian diesel onto global markets spread to more Republican senators and analysts questioned whether the volumes would move prices at all.
· 5 sourcesIran's foreign ministry has condemned the United Kingdom's assertion that an alleged plot near RAF Fairford was directed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, calling it a "clumsy false flag operation" and accusing London of trying to evade accountability for Britain's part in the war against Iran.
Iran's security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, has warned that cables, data centres and artificial intelligence facilities across the region could be attacked if war with the United States erupts again. The warning follows the seizure of Yemeni territory along the Red Sea coastline last month by Iran-backed Houthis, raising fears for the safety of internet cables that carry more than 90 percent of data capacity between Europe and Asia.
The head of MI5 has confirmed that Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 Brexit referendum through social media trolls and biased reporting by state-owned broadcasters, but said the efforts were unsophisticated and had no impact on the outcome.
· 3 sourcesForces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognized government have carried out nine air strikes on Houthi positions in Taiz governorate, as rights groups report that Houthi shelling killed at least five civilians and injured 17 others in the past 24 hours.
Russian ballistic missiles struck the Darnytska CHP-4 power plant, a key energy facility supplying Kyiv with heating and electricity, and a residential building late on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, killing one person and wounding 13. Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine received no early warning from allies about the attack, calling the lack of warning "absolutely unjust."
· 3 sourcesUkraine's recent strikes on Russian data centres have prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to claim that Moscow's bot networks have been degraded, resulting in less online hate and division. However, BBC Verify reports that experts have found no evidence the attacks significantly reduced Kremlin-linked influence operations, and that viral social media claims to the contrary appear to stem from a misinterpretation of technical data.
Russia struck six Ukrainian energy facilities hours after US President Donald Trump announced the two countries had agreed to an energy ceasefire, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday. The attacks caused blackouts in the city of Izyum and targeted energy and railway infrastructure in western Ukraine.
MI5 Director General Sir Ken McCallum has warned that Russia remains "aggressor number one" and that state threats to the UK have quadrupled over the past decade, with the intelligence service now facing equal scale of terrorism and state threat operations. In his annual address at Thames House, he also highlighted rising threats from Iran, extreme right-wing terrorism, and attempts by terrorists to exploit artificial intelligence, including by integrating the technology with drones.
· 4 sourcesIsraeli forces raided the offices of several Palestinian nongovernmental organisations and the courtyard of the Palestine Medical Complex in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, confiscating equipment and deploying snipers around the hospital entrance, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa and Al Jazeera reporting.
Britain has appealed to Interpol to reject Argentina's requests for the arrest of individuals involved in the Sea Lion oil project off the Falkland Islands, arguing that the red notice applications are politically motivated. Interpol has indicated it will respect article 3 of its constitution, which forbids it from undertaking interventions of a political character.
· 2 sources