In the weeks since Oct. 7, Issa Amro has watched as Israeli settlers have entered his community, shot

Ukrainian troops have dug in along the eastern front as Russian forces made minor gains in their attempts to take a key city along that line. Under the Russian army chief Valery Gerasimov, a general known for his appetite for heavy, vehicle-driven assaults, Russian forces have been attempting to double-envelope the city of Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast. Footage posted by Ukrainian drone pilots two days ago confirmed that Russian troops had made advances seven kilometres northwest of Avdiivka. But to the immediate west of Avdiivka, more footage showed at least 20 Russian armoured vehicles piled up after being struck by Ukrainian counter battery fire. The Russian assault on the eastern Ukrainian city has been costly for the attacking forces. Ukrainian General Valery Zaluzhny said last week that they believed Russia had lost over 100 tanks and 250 armoured vehicles in the past six weeks through their Avdiivka assault alone. Read More World’s attention must ‘stay on Ukraine’, warns ex-Nato chief 'You’ll die in this pit': Takeaways from secret recordings of Russian soldiers in Ukraine Dead, wounded or AWOL: The voices of desperate Russian soldiers trying to get out of the Ukraine war Kyiv hit by biggest Russian drone attack since war began

Garda has been defended by an Irish government minister in the wake of violent riots as the country’s Justice Minister warned further “thuggery” on the streets of Dublin “will not be tolerated”. Pascal Donohoe said Ireland’s police faced an unprecedented situation when chaotic scenes broke out across the capital following a knife attack on three children and their care assistant outside Gaelscoil Cholaiste Mhuire primary school on Thursday. Speaking on BBC News NI’s Sunday Politics programme, he acknowledged that law and order were not maintained “in our city centre as we would want and the country would expect” but praised the force’s “exceptional work” in “tough and demanding circumstances”. It came as Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said that “those responsible will be brought to justice” after she and the head of Ireland’s police force, Commissioner Drew Harris, faced criticism over Garda’s preparation for the violence. Some 32 people have so far been charged over the riots. Meanwhile, Garda told The Independent on Saturday afternoon that the five-year-old girl who was stabbed remains in critical condition at CHI Temple Street. The children’s care assistant, a woman aged in her 30s, is in a serious but stable condition in The Mater Hospital. Meanwhile, a man, aged in his late 40s, is in a serious but stable condition in a hospital in the Dublin Region. Garda said he remains a “person of interest” in its inquiries as the force continues to investigate the knife attack. Read More Over £280,000 raised for Deliveroo hero who stopped Dublin child knife attack Elon Musk weighs in on Dublin riots claiming country’s PM ‘hates the Irish people’ How the Dublin riots began: From flares and fireworks at a crime scene to hundreds-strong mob Heroic Katie Taylor earns redemption and unites Dublin with special win over Chantelle Cameron

Taiwan’s voters in January will have the chance to reset the island’s fraught relationship with China, and cool

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he’ll intensify efforts to realize a meeting with North Korean leader Kim

The world’s attention must “stay on Ukraine” as the Russian invasion continues, a former Nato secretary-general has warned. Lord George Robertson said Russian president Vladimir Putin would be emboldened to extend the attacks beyond Ukraine if foreign governments stop providing weaponry. It comes amid a four-day pause in the Israel-Hamas conflict, with the situation in the Middle East dominating much of the news agenda. Lord Robertson, who was in the top Nato role between 1999 and 2003, welcomed the temporary ceasefire in Gaza, but he told the PA news agency: “I think it is inevitable that because we’re seeing the television from Gaza every day, that people are paying less attention to Ukraine, but that must change. “We have got to keep the world’s attention focused on Ukraine because they are involved in a fight with Russia that has got huge implications for all of us as well. “Vladimir Putin is not simply interested in subjugating Ukraine. He has got a much bigger agenda in the future, and if he succeeds in Ukraine, who knows where he is going to stop.” The stakes are enormously high because if Putin succeeds, he won’t stop at Ukraine Lord Robertson The conflict in Ukraine has now surpassed 640 days – the invasion began in February 2022 – and Lord Robertson urged Nato member states to continue to press Russia amid Mr Putin’s “miserable failure”. He added: “We cannot allow the Ukraine conflict to go down the attention span. That suits Vladimir Putin and nobody else. “The fact is that most of his objectives have actually turned to dust. He wanted to stop Nato enlargement, and it is now bigger. He wanted to divide Europe and divide Europe from America, he failed in that respect. “He wanted to take over the whole of Ukraine and now he is stuck in the Donbas. There’s a miserable failure there by the one man who made the decision to invade Ukraine. “We have got to change the mind of that one man by staying absolutely united and making sure that Ukrainians get the weaponry and the ammunition they need, when they actually need it. “That is the only way we’ll change Vladimir Putin’s mind. The stakes are enormously high because if Putin succeeds, he won’t stop at Ukraine.” Meanwhile, the Labour peer called for a long-term solution to resolve the conflict in the Middle East. He said: “I think gradually the countries in the region will need to come together to find a long-term solution so that the Israelis and the Palestinians can live in harmony together. “The present conflict will go on and on for years unless there is a long-term solution.” Read More Reform UK denies offering ‘lot of money’ to Tory MP Lee Anderson to defect ‘Very chilly’ on Sunday after overnight temperatures fall below zero What the papers say – November 26 Relief as latest set of Hamas hostages released Irish-Israeli girl reunited with father who feared she was dead after Hamas attacks Kemi Badenoch unveils £4.5bn funding plan for British manufacturing

A second group of Israeli hostages and foreign nationals were handed over to the Red Cross on Saturday

Hamas said it’s ready to release a second group of hostages to Israel, resolving a dispute that threatened

Irish police have issued an update on the conditions of the victims of the Dublin school knife attack as a five-year-old girl was left fighting for her life. Garda told The Independent on Saturday afternoon that the girl who was among a number of people stabbed outside Gaelscoil Cholaiste Mhuire primary school in the Irish capital on Thursday remains in critical condition at CHI Temple Street. The six-year-old girl, who was receiving medical treatment for less serious injuries, has now been discharged from hospital, after a boy, aged 5, was previously discharged. The adult woman, a nursery worker aged in her 30s, is in a serious but stable condition in The Mater Hospital. Meanwhile, the adult man, aged in his late 40s, is in a serious but stable condition in a hospital in the Dublin Region. Garda said he remains a “person of interest” in its inquiries as the force continues to investigate the knife attack. It comes as 32 people have been charged over the riots that subsequently broke out across the Irish capital. Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s prime minister, condemned the more than 500 rioters as bringing “shame” on Dublin, Ireland, their families and themselves. Read More Over £280,000 raised for Deliveroo hero who stopped Dublin child knife attack How the Dublin riots began: From flares and fireworks at a crime scene to hundreds-strong mob I lived through the Syrian war – but now I feel unsafe in Dublin Conor McGregor reacts to Dublin riots after declaring Ireland is ‘at war’ Water cannon ‘an available tactic’ for Irish police in Dublin

Russia has launched its most intense drone attack on Ukraine since its full-scale invasion in 2022, targeting Kyiv. Moscow launched around 75 Iranian-made Shahed drones against Ukraine, of which 71 were destroyed by air defense, Ukraine’s armed forces said. “Kyiv was the main target,” Ukrainian air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk posted on Telegram . The attack was “the most massive air attack by drones on Kyiv,” said Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv city administration, noting that air defense shot down more than 60 air targets over the capital throughout the morning. The assault on Kyiv began at 4am on Saturday, continuing in waves for over six hours, and caused power outages in 77 residential buildings and 120 institutions, according to Popko. At least five civilians were wounded in the hours-long drone assault on Kyiv, which saw several buildings damaged, including a kindergarten. The wounded included an 11-year-old child, according to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko. “Our soldiers shot down most of the drones. Unfortunately, not all,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. “But we continue to work to strengthen our air defense and shoot down more,” he said. In addition to Kyiv, the Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kirovohrad regions were also targeted. The attack was carried out on the morning of Holodomor Memorial Day which commemorates the man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine that killed millions of Ukrainians from 1932 to 1933, and is marked on the fourth Saturday in November. Read More Putin’s forces hit in south as Russia launches largest drone attack on Kyiv - latest Germany's economy shrank, and it's facing a spending crisis that's spreading more gloom Putin to boost AI work in Russia to fight a Western monopoly he says is 'unacceptable and dangerous'

A warning over the risks of emerging magma and the persistent likelihood of an imminent eruption of the Icelandic volcano has been issued by the country’s Met Office. In its latest update, the forecaster warned: “The likelihood of a volcanic eruption at some location along the length of the magma intrusion persists.” It added that the area between Hagafell and Sýlingarfell still faces the possibility that “magma could emerge”. A fortnight ago, Grindavik was evacuated after magma-induced seismic activity tore vast chasms through the streets of the town. While hundreds of earthquakes are still hitting the surrounding area daily, “seismic activity continues to decrease”, said the Icelandic Met Office, adding: “The likelihood of an imminent volcanic eruption diminishes with time.” But, speaking to The Independent as international media were allowed back into the town for the first time, one civil protection official told The Independent: “It is still dangerous here ... I have never seen anything like it before. Usually we will have a few minutes warning to get out, but with the weather like it is today, we have even less.” Read More Inside the abandoned Iceland town left in limbo by a volcano Every resident of an Icelandic town was evacuated due to a volcano. Daring rescuers went back to save the pets New parents refuse to return to Iceland fishing town rocked by earthquake: ‘We need a stable home’

Russia has launched its most significant kamikaze drone attack on Ukraine in months according to the Ukrainian air force, firing nearly a hundred Iranian-made drones and forcing civilians into bomb shelters for most of the night. The attack in the early hours of Saturday primarily targeted the capital Kyiv. Dozens of Russian kamikaze drones were heard circling over the city for a period of roughly six hours before many were intercepted by Ukrainian air defences. It was the most significant attack since May this year, in which residents were targeted at least 15 times in a month. Last winter, Russia launched a brutal campaign targeting critical infrastructure across Ukraine for several months. Two were reported injured in the attacks overnight that struck at least three Kyiv districts, said the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s long-range precision strikes are inflicting mass casualties among Vladimir Putin’s forces “well behind” Russia’s frontline, the UK’s Ministry of Defence earlier claimed. Read More Russian lawmaker disputes report saying he adopted a child taken from a Ukrainian children's home Putin to boost AI work in Russia to fight a Western monopoly he says is 'unacceptable and dangerous' Russia singer killed in occupied Ukraine after missile strike hits concert hall during her performance Putin pardons two cannibals who joined Russia’s war in Ukraine – report