Last December, video emerged showing the bodies of a mother, father and their four sons strewn across a street in Gaza City. Beside them lay a stretcher, shovels and a makeshift white flag. A New York Times investigation examines how they got there and who killed them.

The United States has informed allies that it believes Iran has transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter.

They did not offer any details about how many weapons have been delivered or when the transfers may have occurred, but they confirmed the U.S. intelligence finding. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a matter that has not been publicly disclosed.

The White House declined to confirm the weapons transfer but reiterated its concern that Iran is deepening its support of Russia. The White House has been warning Iran for months not to transfer ballistic missiles to Russia.

Boris Johnson failed to disclose that he met a uranium lobbyist while prime minister before entering into a new business with a controversial Iranian-Canadian uranium entrepreneur, the Observer can reveal.

Johnson’s new company Better Earth Limited also employs Charlotte Owen, a junior aide with just a few years work experience whom he elevated to the House of Lords last year at the age of 29, sparking intense controversy.

Transparency campaigners say there appear to be “serious public interest questions to be answered” over the nature and timeline of Johnson’s relationship with his co-director, Amir Adnani, the founder, president and CEO of Uranium Energy Corp, a US-based mining and exploration company, championed by former Trump advisor Steve Bannon.

Venezuelan security forces have surrounded the Argentine embassy in the capital Caracas, which is sheltering six Venezuelan political figures opposed to President Nicolás Maduro.

Members of the Venezuelan opposition posted images and videos of officers from the country’s intelligence service forming a perimeter around the embassy complex. Opposition figures inside the building said they were under "siege" by Mr Maduro's regime.

The embassy, as well as Argentine interests in Venezuela, have been represented by Brazil since diplomatic relations between Argentina and Venezuela broke down over the summer due to the outcome of Venezuela's presidential election.

On Saturday, the Venezuelan government revoked Brazil's custody of the embassy, it said, in an apparent attempt to remove its diplomatic protection.

Sir Richard Moore and Bill Burns did not list examples but there has been a spate of mysterious sabotage and arson attacks on infrastructure in the UK, Germany and in the Baltics.

Russia is waging a "reckless campaign of sabotage" across Europe, the heads of MI6 and the CIA have warned in their first-ever joint remarks.

Sir Richard Moore and Bill Burns also said the UK and the US faced an "unprecedented array of threats", and said the entire world order was under the most serious strain since the Cold War.

In a newspaper article, the spymasters pointed to Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, while also describing China as "the principal intelligence and geopolitical challenge of the 21st century".

Israeli forces have been laying tarmac on a key road in Gaza along its southern border - in what some commentators see as a signal that they're not prepared to fully withdraw from the territory any time soon.

The road has become a major sticking point in the negotiations for a new ceasefire and hostage release deal.

BBC Verify has analysed satellite imagery, photos and video that show the surfacing of a road along the narrow but strategically important strip of land running the length of Gaza's border with Egypt, long known by its Israeli military codename: the Philadelphi Corridor.

Between 26 August and 5 September, satellite imagery captured at regular intervals shows fresh paving along a section of road extending 6.4km inland from the coast along the border fence.

The United States and Iraq have reached a preliminary agreement for the full withdrawal of US-led coalition forces from Iraq by the end of 2026, Reuters reported on Friday, amid continued attacks by Iran-backed militants against American troops.

This withdrawal would mark a significant shift in Washington's military posture, though US officials acknowledge that their presence in Iraq serves not only to counter the Islamic State but also to monitor Iranian influence in the region.

The phased exit is seen as politically beneficial for Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, as it aligns with Iraq's balancing act between the US and Iran while addressing ongoing instability. However, it might also signal a victory for Iran and its proxies in the Arab country which have long been pushing for the full withdrawal of US and coalition forces from both Iraq and Syria.

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Asia’s strongest storm this year, Super Typhoon Yagi, made landfall in northern Vietnam on Saturday, the meteorological agency said, killing at least four people after tearing through China’s island of Hainan and the Philippines.

Super Typhoon Yagi hit island districts of north Vietnam at about 1pm (0600 GMT), generating winds of up to 160kph (99mph) near its centre, having lost power from its peak of 234kph (145mph) in Hainan a day earlier.

The government said that, as of 5pm, four people had died and 78 had been injured by the typhoon. At least another dozen were missing at sea, according to state media.

Yagi had already claimed the lives of at least two people in Hainan and 16 people in the Philippines, the first country it hit, having formed east of the archipelago earlier in the week.

Parents and campaigners have called on education and health authorities to end the practice of requiring children to strip off for school health checks

“My chest was completely exposed and I felt embarrassed,” writes a Japanese girl after undergoing an annual health checkup at her middle school. Another says: “Before the exam our teacher told us we would have to lift up our tops and bra … I didn’t want to do it but I couldn’t say no.”

The testimony from two 13-year-olds, seen by the Guardian, is typical of the discomfort – and in some cases trauma – felt by children attending schools in Japan that can require boys and girls as young as five – and as old as 18 – to strip to the waist during health examinations.

It has sparked anger among parents and campaigners who have called on education and health authorities to end the practice before the new academic year begins in April.

Thousands of angry leftwing protesters took to French streets on Saturday two days after Emmanuel Macron appointed a conservative prime minister.

Demonstrators accused the president of a “denial of democracy” after his decision to name the former EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, 73, as leader of the government.

The appointment came two months after a snap general election left France with a hung parliament formed of three roughly equal blocs – the New Popular Front (NFP), a leftwing alliance; the centre, including Macron’s Renaissance party and the centre-right; and the far-right National Rally (RN) – none of which had a majority.

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Western leaders should not be intimidated by Kremlin threats of nuclear escalation, the head of the CIA said on Saturday, and be willing to consider allowing Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles to be used inside Russia.

Bill Burns, on a visit to London alongside the head of MI6, said the US had brushed off a previous Russian nuclear scare in autumn 2022, demonstrating that threats from Moscow should not always be taken literally.

“Putin’s a bully. He’s going to continue to sabre rattle from time to time,” Burns said. “We cannot afford to be intimidated by that sabre rattling … we got to be mindful of it. The US has provided enormous support for Ukraine, and I’m sure the president will consider other ways in which we can support them.”

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Telegram has become a global sewer of criminal activity, disinformation, child sexual abuse material, terrorism and racist incitement, according to a four-month investigation by The New York Times that analyzed more than 3.2 million Telegram messages from over 16,000 channels. The company, which offers features that enable criminals, terrorists and grifters to organize at scale and to sidestep scrutiny from the authorities, has looked the other way as illegal and extremist activities have flourished openly on the app.

The degree to which Telegram has been inundated by such content has not been previously reported. The Times investigation found 1,500 channels operated by white supremacists who coordinate activities among almost one million people around the world. At least two dozen channels sold weapons. In at least 22 channels with more than 70,000 followers, MDMA, cocaine, heroin and other drugs were advertised for delivery to more than 20 countries.

Hamas, ISIS and other terror groups have thrived on Telegram, often amassing large audiences across dozens of channels.

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Robot mowers damage biodiversity and harm many creatures, including hedgehogs, according to German conservationists. Some of them are calling for a ban on nighttime mowing.

Conservationists and scientists in Germany have called for a ban on the nighttime use of robot mowers in order to protect hedgehogs, with a study showing that many of the animals die after being lacerated by the devices.

According to the study from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, almost half of the 370 hedgehogs that were examined after being cut by the mowers' blades died of their injuries or had to be put down.

Hedgehogs are particularly in danger from mowers operating at night, as the animals are nocturnal feeders and do not flee when in danger, instead relying on their spines as defense — an inadequate protection against the sharp metal blades of a robotic mowing machine.

• Russia's yuan reserves are nearly depleted due to Chinese banks' fear of US sanctions.
• Lenders have urged Russia's central bank to address the yuan deficit, causing the ruble to drop.
• China's hesitance stems from US threats of secondary sanctions over Russia's Ukraine war financing.

The US has promised Ukraine a new military aid package including more Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.

The US-made armored vehicles, which offer maneuverability, versatility, and sufficient firepower, have proven valuable to Ukraine efforts on the battlefield — more so than the main battle tanks and other heavy armor it's received.

The US Department of Defense announced the aid package, estimated at $250 million, on Friday, noting that it "will provide Ukraine additional capabilities to meet its most urgent needs, including: air defense missiles; munitions for rocket systems and artillery; armored vehicles; and anti-tank weapons."

The populist BSW and far-right AfD parties, both of which did well in recent state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, are opposed to arms deliveries to Ukraine. This stance is having an impact on federal politics.

“Reading the health experts, I am starting to think with horror that if it’s not stopped, Israel’s assault could end up exterminating almost the entire population in Gaza over the next couple of years,” Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine, wrote on Friday on social media.

Albanese cited a recent report from University of Edinburgh global public health chair Devi Sridhar finding that the true death toll from Israel’s genocide could be estimated at 335,500 as of September.

Sridhar based this rough calculation off of an estimate by public health researchers published in The Lancet in July regarding typical indirect death counts from previous conflicts, citing research hailed as the gold standard in the field. At that time, the researchers estimated that the true death toll could be roughly 186,000, stemming from direct killings like bombings as well as Israel’s destruction of the health, food and sanitation systems in Gaza.

The death toll, then, could be between 15 and 20 percent of the population by the end of this year, Albanese said, in just over a year of Israel’s genocide. And, as Sridhar writes in her Guardian report, the calculation that she borrows from The Lancet editorial is highly conservative — meaning the death toll could be even higher than her 335,500 estimate.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has complained that it has become increasingly difficult to use Storm Shadow missiles against Russian targets in occupied Ukraine because of a lack of supplies and reduced cooperation from the US, UK and France.

. . .

Zelenskiy said Ukraine needed to be able to threaten targets inside Russia’s internationally recognised borders with Anglo-French Storm Shadow/Scalp cruise missiles and US Atacms ballistic missiles, repeating a demand he has made on several occasions previously.

But he then went further and suggested it was even becoming difficult in practice to strike Russian targets on occupied Ukrainian territory, which has been permitted by supplying countries for months.

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