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Today:
Vision of destruction: Israel’s assault on southern Lebanon in video, maps and charts
NEWS | 12 May 2026
Israel’s destruction in southern Lebanon happened in phases. Tens of thousands of residents of south Lebanon began heading north, taking shelter in cities such as Tyre, Sidon and Beirut. The vast majority of those displaced were from south Lebanon, where Israel’s bombing campaign was disproportionately focused. In Qantara, south Lebanon, the Israeli military used more than 450 tonnes of explosives to blow up the hillside town. In one case, the Israeli military blew up the public secondary school in the town of Marwahin in southern Lebanon.

Top Stories:
Starmer on the brink as cabinet ministers urge him to quit
NEWS | 12 May 2026
One cabinet minister said: “In the end Keir has listened to cabinet ministers – there are differences about where this will go and what is in the best interests of party and country. Supporters of Andy Burnham also published letters calling for the prime minister to go. One cabinet ally of Starmer urged MPs to pause. Allies of Streeting said that he had no plans to speak on Monday and reiterated his support for the prime minister. But others put out statements saying they feared a change of prime minister would play into the hands of Nigel Farage.

World:
How Catherine West became a stalking horse – then reined herself in
NEWS | 12 May 2026
When Catherine West announced she would challenge Keir Starmer, she was labelled a stalking horse, the slightly arcane political slang for someone testing out a bid on behalf of others. A couple of days on, and some Labour MPs say the better equine analogy is a Grand National competitor that has shed its rider and bringing chaos to the race. Friends of West say she became increasingly furious as Labour’s dreadful performance in last week’s elections emerged across Friday and Saturday. Phillipson replied: “I love you dearly, Catherine, but I just disagree on this one.”There were, it appeared, a couple of flaws in West’s plan. She announced that instead she would email every Labour MP and ask if they wanted Starmer to set a September deadline to step down.

Current Events:
Newly elected Reform councillor resigns after social media claims
NEWS | 12 May 2026
A Reform spokesperson confirmed Prior had resigned his positions for personal reasons and that his party membership had been revoked. The resignation comes amid growing scrutiny of newly elected Reform councillors accused of making racist, antisemitic or anti-Muslim remarks. The controversy has unfolded alongside separate criticism of several newly elected Green representatives over alleged antisemitic comments. Bullock has previously said the image was fake, and a Reform spokesperson said he had reported the resurfaced material to the police. I have not been found guilty of antisemitism.”A Green party spokesperson said: “All three of these candidates were suspended from the Green party at the time of the election so will not be able to sit as Green party councillors.

News Flash:
French woman was told by doctors hantavirus symptoms were just anxiety
NEWS | 12 May 2026
A French woman who tested positive for hantavirus after she was evacuated from a cruise ship reported symptoms to doctors onboard but was told it was probably just anxiety, the Spanish health minister has said. Despite the deaths of three people who had been onboard the ship, and eight other confirmed cases, doctors from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the Spanish foreign health service assessed the French woman and dismissed her symptoms as anxiety or stress, Padilla said. “They were not thinking that these symptoms were compatible with hantavirus. The French woman was one of five French passengers who disembarked from the MV Hondius in Tenerife on Sunday before being flown to a hospital in Paris. The French health minister, Stéphanie Rist, said the woman had started to feel very unwell on Sunday night and “tests came back positive”.

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SPONSORED | 12 May 2026
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Latest:
‘A little boring after two weeks’: what awaits MV Hondius passengers quarantined for hantavirus?
NEWS | 12 May 2026
For the MV Hondius passengers quarantined at Arrowe Park hospital on the Wirral, it is likely to be a period of some anxiety. View image in fullscreen The passengers arrived at Arrowe Park hospital on Sunday after being repatriated from the MV Hondius. Photograph: Ioannis Alexopoulos/Anadolu/Getty ImagesMatt Raw, 45, was evacuated from China to Arrowe Park in early 2020, along with about 80 other British citizens. “There were three bedrooms per suite with a communal lounge and kitchen for each suite,” Raw said. View image in fullscreen Matt Raw, seen here leaving Arrowe Park in 2020, advised those quarantined there to ‘keep busy and the time will pass quickly’.

Breaking:
Trump says ceasefire with Iran on ‘life support’ after rejecting peace proposals
NEWS | 12 May 2026
The US president dismissed Iran’s peace proposals as stupid, and denied he was under any domestic pressure to reach a deal. At the weekend, Iran sent counter-proposals that Trump dismissed out of hand. Photograph: US NAVY/AFP/Getty ImagesTrump called off Project Freedom, the plan to escort oil tankers through the strait, after little more than two days last week – ostensibly to give Iran time to respond to his peace proposals. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/APEsmail Baqaei, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, said Iran’s proposals were “reasonable, responsible and generous”. There has been expectations that the US president would like the Iran war off the agenda by the time he sat down for his most important summit of the year.

Trending:
Oil prices climb after Trump dismisses Iran’s response to peace plan
NEWS | 12 May 2026
Oil prices have climbed after Donald Trump condemned Iran’s response to US proposals to end the war as “totally unacceptable”. The president’s rejection of Tehran’s overture in a post on his Truth Social platform triggered a jump in Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, by as much as 4% on Monday to $105.50 a barrel, before easing back to settle at $103.50. Trump posted on Sunday evening: “I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘representatives’. The Shanghai Composite index rose by about 1% after official data on Monday showed that China’s factory gate prices rose 2.8% in April compared with the same point last year. The South Korean Kospi index rose 4.3%, helped by a rise in the tech company Samsung Electronics.

This Just In:
EU announces sanctions against violent Israel settlers
NEWS | 12 May 2026
The EU has agreed sanctions on violent Israeli settlers, ending a years-long deadlock over the issue but still taking only a “baby step” according to one MEP. France’s foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, said the EU was “sanctioning the main Israeli organisations guilty of supporting the extremist and violent colonisation of the West Bank, as well as their leaders”. View image in fullscreen Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, said there was no basis for the EU sanctions. And I can’t draft it.”Barry Andrews, an Irish centrist MEP, who chairs the European parliament’s development committee, said EU foreign ministers had taken a “welcome (baby) step”. According to UN figures, 230 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers last year.

Today:
Israeli troops jailed for desecration of Virgin Mary statue in Lebanon
NEWS | 12 May 2026
Two Israeli soldiers will spend weeks in military prison for the desecration of a Christian object after one stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon and the other photographed it. It was the latest act by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon to be denounced as anti-Christian. Israel’s military said the soldier posing would be jailed for 21 days and the one who photographed him 14. The photo appeared days after images of an Israeli soldier wielding an axe against a fallen statue of Jesus on the cross in the southern Lebanon village of Debel were roundly condemned by foreign leaders, Christian leaders and Israeli politicians. Israel then launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, and its forces have remained despite a truce.

Top Stories:
Philippine presidential hopeful Sara Duterte impeached for second time
NEWS | 12 May 2026
The Philippine vice-president, Sara Duterte, has been impeached over allegations she misused public funds, amassed unexplained wealth and threatened the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his wife, in a case that could complicate her presidential ambitions. View image in fullscreen Sara Duterte denies threatening the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos (left), his wife, Louise Araneta-Marcos (right), and his cousin Martin Romualdez. It is far from certain that Sara Duterte will be found guilty by the Senate. View image in fullscreen Members of the House of Representatives vote to impeach Sara Duterte on Monday. Photograph: Aaron Favila/APThis is the second time Sara Duterte has been impeached by the lower house.

World:
Democrats express ‘grave concerns’ over secretive ICE deportation flights
NEWS | 12 May 2026
A group of 40 House Democrats have described “grave concerns” over the Trump administration’s secretive program of deportation flights and demanded the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) address allegations of mistreatment and inhumane conditions on ICE charter jets. The Trump administration’s hardline immigration agenda saw a surge in the number of ICE flights during 2025, according to monitoring by human rights groups that tracked an 84% increase from 2024. “Concerningly, information regarding these [ICE] flights is nearly impossible to find, which undermines congressional oversight and prevents the public from understanding the scope and conditions of these flights,” the letter states. The Trump administration has previously described claims of “hidden” or “weaponized” transfer and deportation flights as “categorically false” and argued its detention centers have “higher standards than most US prisons”. The letter also calls on the FAA to provide detailed information on how the agency assesses humanitarian conditions on ICE flights, including the controversial use of full body restraints during deportation flights.

Current Events:
Chicago teen who pushed for parents’ release from ICE custody dies of cancer
NEWS | 12 May 2026
A federal judge ordered the release of Isidro González Avilés, 48, and Norma Anabel Ramírez Amaya, 43, on Thursday, as the Spanish-language US news network Telemundo reported. “I don’t think he deserved the suffering he had,” a weeping González Avilés said on video. After Kevin stopped responding to medical treatment, González Avilés and Ramírez Amaya sought permission to travel to the US to see their son. González Avilés and Ramírez Amaya then tried to enter the US without permission, but ICE arrested the two near Douglas, Arizona, on 14 April and sent them to a detention center. Ramírez Amaya told Telemundo it was grueling for her to see her son’s deteriorated condition.

News Flash:
‘A consistent pattern of lying’: Musk v OpenAI trial exposes what insiders think of Sam Altman
NEWS | 12 May 2026
The Musk v OpenAI trial, which on Monday entered its third week, has featured a who’s who of Silicon Valley testifying about OpenAI’s past and its CEO’s contentious leadership. Musk’s attorneys have used former executives, private text messages, diary entries and internal email exchanges to portray Altman as untrustworthy. Natasha McCauley, another former OpenAI board member, alleged in her deposition that Altman caused “repeated crisis events” through his leadership. Under questioning from Microsoft’s own lawyer, Nadella criticized the OpenAI board that tried to remove Altman for creating instability and its poor communication. If you insist, so it will be,” Musk texted Brockman two days before the trial began, according to a court filing.