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Middle East crisis live: Iran says no more peace talks with US until Israel stops its operations

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to open “new fronts” and keep the strait of Hormuz closed over Israel’s offensive in Lebanon, state media reported on Monday. “Iran considers crossing the red lines in Lebanon and Gaza to mean direct war,” state TV quoted the Guards’ intelligence organisation as saying. It added: In return, it is determined to carry out defensive operations by taking meaningful actions and opening new fronts, in addition to preserving the strait of Hormuz equation.

‘A shock to all Lebanese’: Israel sends a message as it takes ancient fort

When Hussain Alawieh used to take tourists to Beaufort Castle, they would marvel at the view. The ancient hilltop fort, captured nearly 1,000 years earlier by Crusaders, still offered the same sweeping panoramic views of south Lebanon and the Litani River that empires fought over for a millennia. On Sunday, the view from the castle was obscured by white phosphorus smoke, the toxic incendiary munition providing a smoke-screen for advancing Israeli soldiers. Out of the fog rose an Israeli flag, and the castle, for the first time in 26 years, was once again conquered. In the age of drones and surveillance blimps, the value of the ancient hilltop fort is diminished. But to both Israelis and Lebanese, its capture carried psychological weight in a conflict that for six weeks had ground to a deadlock. “The raising of the Israeli flag and the flag of the Golani Brigade above the castle caused a shock to me and to all southerners and Lebanese people,” said Alawieh, a tour guide based in south Lebanon. The castle, Alawieh explained, was a symbol of steadfastness and of resistance in south Lebanon. Its thick stone walls helped its survive Israeli aerial bombing in the 1980s when it was used as a base by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, and again, when Israel carried out a detonation in the castle upon its withdrawal in 2000. “Raising the Israeli flag above it is intended to send a message of psychological domination and defeat to the population, conveying that the ‘sites you considered impregnable have fallen,’” said Alawieh. The capture of the castle came as Israel’s invasion of south Lebanon lurched forward once again. The pace of the war in Lebanon had slowed since a supposed ceasefire on 17 April. With much of south Lebanon declared a no man’s land by Israel, it was impossible to tell what was happening on the battlefield. Last week, what was a low-intensity war suddenly accelerated, with Israeli warplanes killing at least a dozen people a day, and Israeli soldiers once again marching forward. The Beaufort Castle was the most tangible marker of Israel’s progress, both to Israelis and Lebanese. Netanyahu, facing pressure from his domestic political rivals, happily announced that Israel was deepening its invasion in Lebanon. To the Lebanese, the sight of the Israeli flag over the castle brought back memories of its 18-year occupation of south Lebanon starting in 1982. “Of course, it brought me back to the occupation. We went back to 1986, 1987, and 2000. It brought back memories of those painful days,” said Fouad Fatimi, the mayor of Arnoun where the Beaufort Castle is located. Arnoun had been emptied out in the weeks prior to its capture, as Israeli airstrikes pounded the town and its surroundings. Fatimi had recorded a phone call he had received last month from an Israeli officer telling him to empty the town of residents. Israeli soldiers arrived to an empty village and a castle undefended. The Israeli military drove the point home; it shared footage of its soldiers striding up the castle’s steps set to a song by Lebanon’s most famous singer Fairuz entitled Waynun, its chorus repeating: “Where are they? Where are they?” As Israel’s soldiers patrolled the castle, its warplanes dropped bombs on south Lebanon, leaving little time to absorb the new loss of territory. The city of Tyre was pounded with airstrikes on Sunday, leaving smoking craters where residential buildings had once stood. Entire neighbourhoods of one of south Lebanon’s oldest and most populated cities were covered in rubble and immense plumes of smoke rose above its homes. The city’s civil defence withdrew from the city ahead of the bombing on Sunday. The Israeli military had called them and demanded they evacuate. They returned on Monday, establishing a new headquarters in the city’s Christian quarter, where Israel had not yet bombed, according to the head of Tyre’s civil defence Ali Safieddine. Israel’s campaign expanded further on Monday, with Beirut once again coming under threat – the last feature of a ceasefire which had until now, left the country’s capital largely untouched. On Monday morning, Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, announced that the military would once again start striking Beirut. Roads leading out of the southern suburbs were soon choked with cars heading north, residents fleeing their homes after returning home just six weeks earlier. The streets of Beirut were filled with the sounds of car horns as people sought to escape. WhatsApp chats were filled with messages of resignation. “Here we go again,” one resident of the southern suburbs sent to a group chat. Others desperately inquired if anyone knew of empty apartments for families displaced anew. Both the Lebanese government and Hezbollah issued condemnations of the escalation, but neither seemed to be able to stop it. “[The resistance] has never claimed to prevent invasion or occupation of territory, nor has it claimed to posses an armament balance.” said Hassan Fadlallah, a Hezbollah MP, on Sunday, adding the group would work to prevent the Israeli from “consolidating control” over the areas it has already occupied. Unable to stop the advancing Israelis, many Lebanese could do little else than look towards the castle’s history as a symbol of hope that they might one day return to their villages. “Seeing the castle once again covered by the flag of occupation was regarded as a deep wound to our national identity,” said Alawieh. “But I see this presence as temporary, looking at the history of the castle, which has cast out all invaders and occupiers before.”

Peter Garrett to head independent inquiry into the Aukus submarine pact

Former environment minister Peter Garrett will lead an independent inquiry into the Aukus defence pact, launched by a group of Labor veterans and public figures concerned proper scrutiny has never been applied to the $368bn defence plan. Garrett, the Midnight Oil frontman and longtime environmental campaigner, will be the lead commissioner on the five-month community-based investigation, being launched on Tuesday. It will hold public hearings and take written submissions, before delivering a final report by 30 October. Labor agreed to support the deal for Australia to acquire nuclear submarines in collaboration with the United States and the United Kingdom, negotiated under the former Morrison government and announced in 2021. As part of the agreement, Australia is funding upgrades to the US defence industrial base and will start receiving secondhand nuclear submarines in 2032. The UK parliament held a year-long review into the trilateral partnership and, after an inquiry by the Pentagon in 2025, US President Donald Trump agreed to support it. But some within Labor, including former prime minister Paul Keating, as well as civil society groups believe Aukus is not in Australia’s best interest. Garrett said the new inquiry – supported by trade unions and non-profit organisations – will consider if the subs can be delivered on time and on budget, how nuclear waste will be managed and if Australia’s defence and strategic interests are well served by the deal. He has previously lashed Aukus, saying the plan “stinks” and represents “the most costly and risky action ever taken by any Australian government”. “Essentially this is this inquiry is doing the job that a proper parliamentary inquiry should be doing,” Garrett told Guardian Australia. “How is it that there’s been inquiries about the submarine program in other countries and we haven’t had a full parliamentary inquiry here?” A group of commissioners will be named to lead the inquiry, convened under the auspices of the Australian Peace and Security Forum. Critical to its deliberations will be the rise of China and the prospect of conflict in the Indo-Pacific region. Nuclear non-proliferation issues, employment and environmental consequences are also among the inquiry’s terms-of-reference. Despite the Albanese government expressing confidence since winning government in 2022, on Sunday the defence minister, Richard Marles, announced Australia would buy three secondhand American Virginia-class submarines, instead of at least one brand new vessel from the US. He said the change – announced after talks between Marles and his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth in Singapore – was about Australia placing “a premium on simplicity” and not about challenges in submarine production for the US navy. Marles conceded there would be no “fundamental” shift in the cost, but operating two models of the American-made submarines would be more costly and complicated. The government’s preferred measure of the total cost is 0.15% of GDP over the lifetime of the deal. The first Virginia-class nuclear sub from the US is due to arrive in Australia in 2032, with another arriving every four years, before the Australian-built model is ready for operations. The bespoke SSN Aukus model is due to come online in 2042. Australia has not identified a permanent storage site for the nuclear waste generated by the submarine fleet, including the high-level radioactive waste from the reactor core and spent fuel, which will remain toxic for thousands of years. In 2023, Marles committed to publicly outlining a process for identifying a waste site “within 12 months”. But no plan, or site, has yet been identified. Starting as early as 2027, US and UK nuclear-powered submarines will begin rotations at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia. An east coast base is also expected to be built. To cover capability gaps before the Aukus fleet arrives, Australia is extending use of 30-year-old Collins-class submarines for an extra 10 years. As part of the second pillar of the agreement, Marles announced plans for the three countries to develop new weapons systems and sensors for underwater drones, to protect undersea cables, conduct surveillance and strike enemy targets.

One Nation’s rise allows Australia’s anti-abortion groups to turn up the volume

The headline act at a Sydney anti-abortion rally being held on Tuesday in support of Libertarian MP John Ruddick’s bill to restrict abortion will not be Ruddick. It will be the One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce. Joyce left the Nationals last year, not long after he was rebuked for his statements about abortion. The dramatic rise in the polls of his new party has given fresh impetus to a loose network of anti-abortion groups trying to chip away at reproductive rights. Since abortion was decriminalised in all states and territories almost three years ago, there has been a slew of attempts to wind back access. Bills have been brought by different parties and independents in several states, aiming to reduce access in a variety of ways, including banning late-term abortions (which are rare and often heartbreaking), mandating medical care for babies “born alive” after abortions (experts have called such claims misleading), and banning sex-selective abortions. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Those three themes are echoed by a range of rightwing, religious anti-abortion activists. They also form part of One Nation’s policy to “seek every opportunity to roll back brutal and extreme abortion law”. Prudence Flowers, a senior lecturer in US history at Flinders University, says the resemblance is not a coincidence. “One of the reasons these policies are similar … is that the Australian anti-abortion movement is explicitly looking at historical measures in the US,” she says. “The reason it seems so coordinated is that there is that playbook people can look to.” In the US, this incremental approach to tackle abortion rights from multiple directions culminated in Roe v Wade being overturned in 2022 and continues now with states implementing abortion bans. Since then, it has become harder to get healthcare for miscarriages, to access fertility treatments and for obstetrician/gynaecologists to practise, and there has been a rise in infant mortality and pregnancy-related deaths. Attempts to change abortion law In South Australia, the former One Nation MP Sarah Game has proposed legislation to ban abortion after 25 weeks, even in cases of severe foetal abnormalities. The three newly elected One Nation representatives in the 22-member upper house may help it pass, although it is doubtful it would also get through the Labor-dominated lower house. In Queensland, the Katter’s Australian party MP Robbie Katter has introduced a disallowance motion aimed at stopping nurses and midwives prescribing medical abortions, known as MS-2 Step. Twenty organisations, including Children by Choice, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Midwives and MSI Australia, released an open letter on Monday saying those practitioners were often the only timely option available to people outside major cities, and that any delay did not prevent abortions but made them “harder, later and more complex”. In NSW, Ruddick is using an Edith Cowan University study that found indirect evidence that some migrant communities prefer boys to girls, using data from 1994 to 2015, to argue for his bill to ban sex-selective abortion. But a 2020 NSW Health review found sex selection happened “rarely”. Of 15,973 abortions in the year to September 2020, 13 were done for sex selection, it reported. Of those, 10 were “likely to be reporting errors” as they were done at less than nine weeks, when “there is no readily available and reliable way of determining gender”. Ruddick insists “gender selection abortions are happening” and the law is needed to send a message it is not acceptable. “If a mother still wants to abort because of their child’s sex they can obviously say it’s for any other reason and no one will know, but the law will have a positive ripple effect in cementing into our culture that baby boys and baby girls are of equal value,” he says. Tuesday’s event in Sydney has been organised by the activist Joanna Howe, who is calling it a rally for “Ruth and Emma”, the names she attached to an image of what she thought were foetuses, but that turned out to be baby sugar gliders. Howe has worked with state and federal MPs on legislation to reduce access to abortion. She believes all abortion should be banned, and that “everybody involved” should face criminal penalties. Pauline Hanson has appeared several times on the podcast Howe hosts with her husband, James Howe. Howe told her large social media following to vote for One Nation in the Farrer byelection, even though Hanson has said she is not against abortion in the first trimester – an exemption not mentioned in the party’s formal policy. Flowers says people “should be alarmed” at the number of measures proposed by activists. “The pace of activity has really intensified. “We have had multiple anti-abortion initiatives and protests across multiple jurisdictions. The purpose of this incrementalism is to position it as something that should be subject to political debate, which traditionally in Australia politicians have avoided. “It’s normalising the idea.” The Australian College of Midwives (ACM) has said in a statement it was “alarmed” by moves to restrict abortion, and that any such restriction “creates real harm for real women”. The chief executive of MSI Australia (previously Marie Stopes), Adurty Rao, describes them as “attempts to disrupt decades of progress toward women’s rights”. “Misinformation campaigns will not deter our mission to deliver essential care to women and pregnant people seeking critical abortion services,” she says. One Nation was contacted for comment.

Trump admirer’s surprise first-round win is a blow to Colombia’s traditional conservatives

The far-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and the leftwing senator Iván Cepeda have just under three weeks to compete for the roughly 3.6m votes that did not go to either of them in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election. That is no insignificant number, given that De la Espriella’s lead over Cepeda amounted to little more than 670,000 votes – 43.7% to 40.9%. Although polls had shown the wealthy lawyer gaining ground, they had also consistently indicated a solid lead for the senator, who is backed by the leftwing president, Gustavo Petro. This made De la Espriella’s first-round victory on Sunday a surprise to most Colombian analysts and politicians. An admirer of Donald Trump and other far-right leaders in the region, he campaigned amid a string of controversies and with a promise to end, within 90 days, Colombia’s decades-long armed conflict which has claimed nearly half a million lives. His lead on Sunday is being interpreted as a sign that the radical right has overtaken Colombia’s traditional conservative forces, reflected in the collapse of the candidacy of the rightwing senator Paloma Valencia. A loyal follower of the former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez, who governed from 2002 to 2010, Valencia spent months in second place in the polls but lost momentum in the final weeks and finished with just 6.9% of the vote. “What really helped De la Espriella was Valencia’s collapse,” said the political scientist Yan Basset. “There was a tactical shift of rightwing voters towards De la Espriella, who appeared to be the safest rightwing candidate to reach the runoff.” Another political scientist, Nadia Jimena Pérez Guevara, said De la Espriella “managed to consolidate the vote of the dissatisfied citizen, not only those opposed to Petro and leftwing policies, but also people who are simply fed up with politics”. Both analysts described the lawyer’s first-round victory as “surprising” and said they believed the left faced a difficult, though not impossible, task in overturning the result before the runoff on 21 June. Second-place candidates have come back to win in 1998 and 2014. De la Espriella and Cepeda offer opposing approaches to dealing with the resurgence of violence, now at its highest levels since the landmark 2016 peace agreement between the government and most of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc). The lawyer advocates military alliances with the US and Israel, total confrontation with criminal groups and the construction of mega-prisons. The senator supports Petro’s “total peace” strategy of negotiating the dismantling of all criminal groups. On Monday morning, Cepeda challenged De la Espriella to a debate. In his speech on Sunday night, he had described his rival as a “misogynist”, “homophobe” and “lawyer for paramilitaries and drug traffickers”. De la Espriella called his opponent and Petro “a pair of delinquents” and “miserable criminals”, and attacked the president as a “miserable drug addict”. Petro sparked controversy by refusing to recognise the preliminary results released by the National Civil Registry, the independent public body responsible for organising elections, alleging without evidence that the count included “800,000 additional people”. Guevara described the allegations, later echoed by Cepeda in his speech, as “not healthy” for Colombian democracy. She added: “It also seemed misguided that Cepeda’s first reaction was to focus on that issue rather than speaking directly to his supporters and potential supporters about the way forward … it gives ammunition to those who want to equate De la Espriella and Cepeda, when in reality they represent completely different styles of leadership.”

Cyclist praised for rescuing four people who nearly drowned in Ruhr, Germany

A cyclist has been praised for having “stepped in decisively” and rescuing four members of a family who nearly drowned in the Ruhr River in Germany during a waterside barbecue that almost ended in tragedy. The family of eight had set themselves up on the riverbank in the western city of Bochum, the local fire brigade reported, but the gathering took a panicked turn when one woman got too close to the water’s edge and toppled down into the current, police told local media. Another woman who waded in to try to help her also lost control in the water. Two more relatives rushed in in an effort to pull the others to safety. All four, who were unable to swim, ended up in jeopardy, unable to pull themselves on to dry land despite the relative shallowness of the water at that point in the river. The cyclist, who is also a doctor, rode past and immediately recognised what was happening in the strong current and “stepped in decisively” to help the three women and a man, a fire brigade spokesperson said. She managed to drag each of the victims out of the water to safety and administered first aid to a woman who was already unconscious. All survived. A family member alerted the authorities. Emergency services workers who arrived soon after the cyclist’s intervention transported a woman who needed immediate medical attention to hospital. The other three victims had only minor injuries. The German Life Saving Association (DLRG), a voluntary water rescue organisation, dispatched a boat to the site. The other family members required assistance during the nearly two-hour rescue operation due to the traumatic nature of the narrowly averted tragedy. “The relatives were deeply shaken by the incident after seeing their family members in mortal danger,” the fire brigade spokesperson said. Police have launched an investigation into the exact cause of the incident. The local DLRG chapter and the fire brigade issued a renewed warning on the risks of rivers and streams, particularly for non-swimmers. “Currents, steep banks and cold water temperatures can put even experienced people in danger,” the fire brigade said in a statement, noting that swimming in the Ruhr is considered life threatening due to its unpredictable currents. Those wishing to take a dip in natural waters should stick exclusively to designated and supervised bathing areas, it added. Last month, a 14-year-old boy drowned in the Ruhr in Essen, about 24 miles west of Bochum. The recent heatwave in parts of Europe led to a spate of drownings and other water-related deaths in the UK and France. The Royal Life Saving Society UK has issued a plea for members of the public to “stop and think” before getting into the water. “Warmer weather unfortunately sees an increase in accidental drownings,” it said.

‘What happened to the testicles?’: mockery in Milan over bull mosaic’s restoration

The restoration of a floor mosaic in Milan called the Rampant Bull has been mocked after the works appear to have erased a crucial anatomical detail – its testicles. The 19th-century mosaic in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping arcade needed a makeover because a small crater had formed in the tiny pink tiles featuring the bull’s testicles, due to the constant stream of tourists performing a heel-spinning gesture. Legend has it that planting your right heel on the bull’s testicles and spinning around three times brings prosperity – or at least a guaranteed return visit to Milan. George and Amal Clooney were reportedly among those who participated in the ritual in the months before the mosaic was repaired. The restored bull, which represents the symbol of Turin, the Italian capital at the time it was made, was made available to the public again on Monday. However, visitors might struggle to find its testicles. When Marco Granelli, a Milan councillor, shared a photo of the refurbished mosaic on Facebook, complimenting the works, the post was hit by a deluge of mockery and criticism. “Something’s missing,” noted one commenter, while another asked: “What happened to the testicles?” Others wrote that the bull now appeared to resemble a male ox – oxen are commonly castrated to inhibit testosterone – while some questioned whether the bull had been “castrated” to deter tourists from performing the ritual. Milan’s city council was accused of “censorship” and of wasting public money – the restoration reportedly cost €30,000 (£26,000). One person pointed out other alleged blemishes: “There are tiles of different colours and they are messy.” The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, built between 1865 and 1877 and located close to the Duomo, is one of the oldest shopping arcades in the world. Granelli told Agence France-Presse last week the arcade was “a living heritage site which can wear out easily precisely because it is loved and frequented”. Other cherished attractions in Italy have become worn due to tourists performing rituals. A bronze statue of William Shakespeare’s heroine, Juliet, in Verona has been restored twice after becoming disfigured. Tourists have been constantly touching it as part of a ritual believed to bring luck in love. The statue sits beneath the balcony in a tiny courtyard where Romeo is said to have wooed Juliet. The courtyard is next to Casa di Giulietta, a renovated 13th-century building that once belonged to a noble family, the del Cappellos, who are believed by local people to have inspired the fictional family of Juliet Capulet in the Shakespeare classic.

‘Put your phone away:’ Sweden urges parents to restrict screen use around children

Sweden’s public health agency has urged parents to declare parts of the home phone-free and to put their mobile away when they are spending time with their children, after research showed the impact of adult screen use on children. The agency began recommending two years ago that parents and guardians “reflect” on the amount of time they spent on their smartphones around children, but on Monday it issued new guidelines offering more concrete suggestions. “Put your phone away when you’re with your child. Use it only if you need to or when you’re using it together,” the health authority said in a statement. Adults who “create good screen habits for themselves” would influence children’s habits, it added. The agency also recommended that parents declare some parts of the home, such as the bedroom or around the dining table, “screen-free zones”, and urged parents to “protect and respect your child online. Think before posting pictures or videos.” Sweden’s government commissioned the public health agency last autumn to investigate any connection between children’s health and the amount of time their parents or guardians spend on screens. The research showed that parents’ screen use could negatively affect their interactions with their children, and also established a connection between parents’ and children’s screen habits, with the children of heavy users developing similar habits themselves. “I don’t think people realise that [their screen use] affects children to the extent that we now know that it does,” the minister of social affairs, Jakob Forssmed, told the Swedish public broadcaster, SVT. Helena Frielingsdorf, a psychiatrist and researcher at the agency, said children were affected “not only by what adults say, but also by what adults do. That’s why small changes in everyday life can make a difference, both for interactions in the present and for the child’s own habits over time.” Sweden had previously published guidelines for children that advised limits on non-school-related screen time ranging from none at all for those under two to one hour a day for two- to five-year-olds, two for children between six and 12, and three hours a day for 13- to 18-year-olds. The guidelines also specify that children should avoid digital devices completely in the hours leading up to bedtime, and that mobile phones, tablets, and computers should be left outside the bedroom at night. The Scandinavian country is also implementing a national school smartphone ban written into its Education Act, with mobile phones banned in schools for children up to grade nine – up to the age of 15-16 – from the start of the 2026-27 autumn term.