Thousands of Ukrainian troops are taking part in an incursion aiming to destabilise Russia by showing up the country’s weaknesses, a top official from Ukraine has said as the assault entered its sixth day.

“We are on the offensive. The aim is to stretch the positions of the enemy, to inflict maximum losses and to destabilise the situation in Russia as they are unable to protect their own border,” the security official said on condition of anonymity.

Russia’s army had said about 1,000 Ukrainian troops were deployed in the cross-border incursion that began on Tuesday and appeared to catch the Kremlin off guard, allowing Ukraine’s forces to penetrate Russian defensive lines.

Asked whether the 1,000 figure was correct, the official said: “It is a lot more … Thousands.”

After days of official silence, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, acknowledged the offensive for the first time on Saturday, saying that Kyiv was “pushing the war into the aggressor’s territory”.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has waged an unrelenting offensive, occupying swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine and subjecting Ukrainian cities to daily missile and drone attacks.

After recapturing large areas in 2022, Ukrainian forces have largely been on the back foot and are increasingly struggling with manpower and arms supplies. But Ukrainian units stormed across the border on Tuesday in what has been, so far, the largest and most successful such offensive by Kyiv in the conflict.

Its troops have advanced several kilometres into the Kursk region, forcing Russia’s army to rush in reserves and extra equipment – though neither side has given precise details on the forces committed. Russia has evacuated tens of thousands of civilians from the area and Ukraine has also evacuated thousands of people from the Sumy region across the border.

The operation has “greatly raised our morale, the morale of the Ukrainian army, state and society”, the Ukrainian official said, speaking after weeks of Russian advances in eastern Ukraine.

“This operation has shown that we can go on the offensive, move forward. It seems that the Russians have problems with coordination, preparedness for action,” he added.

But the official explained there had been little effect so far on fighting in the east. “The situation is basically unchanged. Their pressure in the east continues, they are not pulling back troops from the area,” he said, adding only that “the intensity of Russian attacks has gone down a little bit”.

The official said Ukrainian troops would respect international humanitarian law while on Russian territory and had no plans to annex areas they hold.

“There is no idea of annexation … We are operating in strict accordance with international law,” he said, contrasting this with alleged violations by Russian troops in occupied territory.

Asked whether capturing the Kursk nuclear power plant near the border was an aim, the official said: “We will see how the Kursk operation will develop. We absolutely will not cause problems for nuclear security. This we can guarantee.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency has urged both sides “to exercise maximum restraint in order to avoid a nuclear accident with the potential for serious radiological consequences”.

The White House said on Wednesday it was contacting Ukraine to learn more about the “objectives” of the incursion.

In May, Joe Biden allowed Kyiv to use US-supplied weapons against targets just across the Russian border to repel Moscow’s push on the Kharkiv region.

But the White House national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, has said “nothing had changed” for US policy discouraging broader strikes or attacks inside Russia.

Asked whether western partners had been kept in the dark about Ukraine’s offensive, the Ukrainian official said this was “incorrect”. “Judging by how actively western arms are being used, our western partners played a part indirectly in the planning,” he added.

The official said he expected Russia would “in the end” manage to stop Ukrainian forces in Kursk and retaliate with a large-scale missile attack that would focus “on decision-making centres” in Ukraine.

There has already been more intense bombardment of the Sumy region just across the border from Kursk. Meanwhile, an overnight missile attack near Kyiv killed a man and his four-year-old son, emergency services said.

Explosions rang out on Saturday night in the centre and east of Kyiv after Ukraine’s air force said two Russian missiles were headed towards the city.

Ukrainian forces destroyed 53 out of 57 attack drones launched by Russia during its overnight airstrikes, Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday. The drones were destroyed across various parts of Ukraine during the attack, which the air force said also included four North Korean-made missiles.

“According to preliminary information, the Russians used a North Korean missile in this attack – yet another deliberate terrorist strike against Ukraine,” Zelenskiy wrote on social media. “Pyrotechnic experts are still working to determine the exact data regarding this missile.”

Donald Trump said that only “publicly available information” had been stolen by a hack of his campaign for the presidency as he pinned the dramatic theft on the Iranian government.

The news of an alleged hack emerged amid reports from the news website Politico that it had begun getting emails from an anonymous account with internal documents from the Trump campaign, including a vetting dossier on his running mate JD Vance.

“We were just informed by Microsoft Corporation that one of our many websites was hacked by the Iranian Government – Never a nice thing to do!” Trump said in a statement on his Truth Social media platform.

Trump added: “They were only able to get publicly available information but, nevertheless, they shouldn’t be doing anything of this nature. Iran and others will stop at nothing, because our Government is Weak and Ineffective, but it won’t be for long.”

The reference to Iran and Microsoft appears to confirm a Microsoft report released on Friday about alleged hackers with ties to Iran who “sent a spear-phishing email in June to a high-ranking official on a presidential campaign from the compromised email account of a former senior adviser”.

The Microsoft report did not identify the official or senior adviser.

Politico reported that it been getting emails from an anonymous account from someone who identified themselves only as “Robert”. That account sent Politico internal campaign communications and a 271-page long research dossier on Vance. The news organisation said the Vance profile was “based on publicly available information about Vance’s past record and statements” and appears to be linked to the vetting process.

In a statement to Politico, campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said: “The Iranians know that President Trump will stop their reign of terror just like he did in his first four years in the White House.”

News of the potentially embarrassing and damaging hack was yet another blow to a Trump campaign that has endured a sharp reversal in its fortunes in recent weeks. Trump’s effort to reclaim the White House had emerged unified and ahead in the polls after last month’s Republican national convention as it prepared to do battle with a struggling Joe Biden.

However, Biden’s historic decision to drop out of the race and endorse Vice-President Kamala Harris has shaken up a race that seemed for a long time likely to end in Democratic defeat. Harris – and her new running mate Minnesota governor Tim Walz – have surged in the polls and recent head-to-head surveys show her ahead of Trump. She has also strengthened markedly in the vital swing states that are key to victory in November’s contest.

On Saturday the New York Times released a poll showing Harris was leading Trump by four points in each of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania – the three key Rust Belt states that have been a huge focus of each campaign’s efforts.

Republican vice-presidential hopeful JD Vance lashed out at Kamala Harris and Tim Walz during a whirlwind tour of political shows on Sunday as he attempted to seize back momentum to his own faltering campaign.

The Ohio senator claimed the pairing on the Democratic presidential ticket were “uncomfortable in their own skin” over their policy positions ahead of November’s election.

He also criticized Harris and Walz for what has become an increasingly successful attack line of their own: calling Vance and Republican candidate Donald Trump “weird” for their extremist positions on policies including abortion and gun control.

“I think what it is, is two people, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, who aren’t comfortable in their own skin, because they’re uncomfortable with their policy positions for the American people,” Vance told anchor Dana Bash on CNN’s State of the Union.

“And so they’re name-calling instead of actually telling the American people how they’re going to make their lives better. I think that’s weird, Dana, but look, they can call me whatever they want to.”

Vance was speaking as Harris and Walz concluded a buoyant first week on the campaign trail together, and new polling data showed them catching Trump or overhauling him in a number of crucial swing states.

Vance was also appearing on ABC’s This Week and CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday in the wake of growing criticism over his own recent performances, which include trying to clean up comments he made calling leading Democrats “a bunch of childless cat ladies”.

The embattled senator insisted this week that his remarks, gleefully seized upon and circulated by Democratic supporters, were sarcasm, and part of a media-orchestrated campaign to damage him.

Vance has struggled to create a new narrative following the controversy, and tried again on Sunday to switch focus back on Harris and Walz, the Minnesota governor she announced Monday as her running mate.

On CNN, he insisted that the Democrats were “insulting” Americans’ intelligence by refusing to set out an agenda if they won in November.

“If you go to Kamala Harris’ campaign page right now, they still don’t have a policy [or] policy positions about what they’re going to do,” Vance said.

‘I think that’s really insulting to Americans.”

Republicans have also attacked Harris for not staging a press conference since naming Walz.

The American gymnast Jordan Chiles must return the bronze medal she won in the Paris Olympics floor exercise. The news came after sport’s highest court voided an on-floor appeal by Chiles’ coach that vaulted the gymnast to third.

The International Olympic Committee announced early on Sunday it was reallocating the bronze from last Monday’s women’s floor final to Romania’s Ana Barbosu after gymnastics’ governing body, the FIG, said on Saturday night it would respect the court’s decision and elevate Barbosu to third.

The decision came less than 24 hours after the court of arbitration for sport voided a scoring appeal made by the Team USA coach Cecile Landi during the competition, which had placed Chiles on the podium.

Cas ruled on Saturday that Landi’s appeal to have 0.1 added to Chiles’ score came four seconds outside the one-minute window allowed by the FIG.

The IOC said in a statement it will be in touch with the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee regarding the return of Chiles’ bronze and will work with the Romanian Olympic Committee to discuss a reallocation ceremony for Barbosu.

Cas wrote on Saturday that the initial finishing order should be restored, with Barbosu third, the Romanian Sabrina Maneca-Voinea fourth and Chiles fifth. The organization added the FIG should determine the final ranking “in accordance with the above decision”, but left it up to the federation to decide who would get the bronze medal. The Romanian gymnastics federation has asked for three bronze medals to be awarded.

The FIG said it was the IOC’s call on whether to reallocate the medal. The IOC confirmed on Sunday it would respect FIG’s decision and seek to have Chiles’ medal returned.

The rapid turn of events adds another layer to what has been a difficult few days for all three athletes. The Romanian gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci said she feared for Barbosu’s mental health because of the saga. “I can’t believe we play with athletes mental health and emotions like this … let’s protect them,” Comaneci posted on X earlier in the week.

Chiles hinted at the decision in an Instagram story on Saturday, saying she is “taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you”.

Chiles’s US teammates expressed their support on Instagram. “Sending you so much love Jordan,” Simone Biles posted on Instagram. “Keep your chin up ‘Olympic champ’ we love you.” Sunisa Lee, meanwhile, criticised the judges for their role in the situation. “All this talk about the athlete, what about the judges?” Lee wrote. “Completely unacceptable, this is awful and I’m gutted for jordan.”

USA Gymnastics said in a statement on Saturday it is “devastated” by the ruling. “The inquiry into the difficulty value of Jordan Chiles’ floor exercise routine was filed in good faith and, we believed, in accordance with FIG rules to ensure accurate scoring,” the organization wrote.

Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea were left outside the medals in the floor final after finishing with matching scores of 13.700. Barbosu thought she had won bronze over Maneca-Voinea via a tiebreaker – a higher execution score – and began celebrating with a Romanian flag. Chiles was the last athlete to compete and initially given a score of 13.666 that placed her fifth, behind Maneca-Voinea. Landi called for an inquiry on Chiles’ score was announced.

“At this point, we had nothing to lose, so I was like: ‘We’re just going to try,’” Landi said after the awards ceremony. “I honestly didn’t think it was going to happen, but when I heard her scream, I turned around and was like: ‘What?’” Judges upheld the appeal, leapfrogging Chiles past Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea.

Barbosu made it clear after returning home to Romania that she had no problem with Chiles. “I only want for everybody to be fair, we don’t want to start picking on other athletes of any nationality,” Barbosu told reporters. “We as athletes don’t deserve something like that, we only want to perform as best as we can and to be rewarded based on our performance. The problems lie with the judges, with their calculations and decisions.”

Chiles’s mother, Gina, called out the critics in a post, writing she was “tired” of the derogatory comments being leveled at her daughter. “My daughter is a highly decorated Olympian with the biggest heart and a level of sportsmanship that is unmatched,” Gina Chiles posted. “And she’s being called disgusting things.”

The uncertainty also tinges what had been a touching moment on the podium, when Chiles and Biles knelt to honor Rebeca Andrade after the Brazilian star won her fourth medal in Paris.

“It was just the right thing to do,” Biles said about the moment. That memory now carries a complicated and emotional postscript.

A climber scaled the north face of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Sunday, the last day of the Olympics, before he was met by police midway up, French media said.

Videos showed the bare-chested man skirting the Olympic rings as he made his way up without ropes.

In one video, the grinning climber can be heard saying to bystanders in English: “Bloody warm, innit?” as he is escorted off the viewing platform by police.

A police spokesperson said they did not have enough details to comment. The tower operator was asked for comment. The closing ceremony of the Games was due to take place at 9pm local time at the Stade de France.

The UK has a “two-tier approach” to extremism that fails to treat far-right attacks as seriously as Islamist ones, a leading thinktank has said.

The Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) says rightwing violence “is often classified as mere thuggery” by politicians, prosecutors and the security services. Equivalent acts by Islamists would “swiftly be labelled as terrorism”, it says in an article in the Guardian.

A week of riots across England and Northern Ireland that have targeted asylum hotels and mosques have been fuelled by neo-Nazi and extreme-right activity.

Elon Musk, the owner of X, and the Reform UK party leader, Nigel Farage, have claimed that Keir Starmer’s government is implementing a “two-tier” criminal justice system, with predominantly white rioters treated more harshly than non-white counter-protesters.

An article written by the directors of Rusi says a different double standard has been exposed by this summer’s riots which has allowed far-right activity to flourish.

“Rusi’s research suggests that the nature of far-right violence, which is often seen as low impact and disjointed, coupled with institutional bias and racism, means that far-right violence has historically not triggered the same responses from politicians, security services and the media as jihadist violent extremism.

“There exists a clear double standard, or two-tier approach, in how different forms of extremism are addressed, particularly when comparing security and legal responses to far-right and Islamist violent extremism,” the article says.

Written by Rusi’s acting director of the terrorism and conflict research group, Dr Jessica White, the Rusi research fellow Claudia Wallner and its director of terrorism and conflict studies, Emily Winterbotham, it calls for the threat from the far right to be redefined.

“Far right-motivated violence is often classified as mere ‘thuggery’ or hooliganism, while similar acts motivated by Islamist extremism would likely be swiftly labelled as terrorism. This inconsistency undermines the perceived severity of far-right threats and hinders the political will and the necessary legal precedent to take equivalent action,” it says.

Starmer understated the politically driven actions of the far right, the authors claim, when he described an attack on a hotel housing asylum seekers as “far-right thuggery”. “While his [Starmer’s] intent was to acknowledge the ideological underpinnings of the violence, the term ‘thuggery’ downplays the organised networked, and ideological components of the riots, as well as the individuals and groups involved,” the article says.

Rusi sees merit in calls for severe incidents of far-right violence to be treated as terrorism. “Recognising severe cases of far-right violence as terrorism would align with a more equitable legal strategy, ensuring that all forms of extremism are prosecuted with the seriousness they warrant,” the article says. The recent riots should be seen in the context of “a pattern of violence” across Europe largely ignored by politicians and the public.

“Similar far-right riots have occurred in Dublin in 2023 and in Chemnitz in Germany in 2018, both in reaction to stabbings that sparked widespread anti-immigrant sentiment, with far-right groups exploiting the incidents to incite violence against migrants and refugees,” it says.

Rusi maintains strong ties to the defence and security community. It claims to be the world’s oldest thinktank, established in 1831 by the Duke of Wellington.

Allegations of a two-tier system biased in favour of BAME or leftwing protesters emerged after the pro-Palestinian protests in the UK since 7 October. The former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, now a Conservative leadership candidate, claimed in March that two-tier policing had governed the handling of those protests.

The UK has a “two-tier approach” to extremism that fails to treat far-right attacks as seriously as Islamist ones, a leading thinktank has said.

The Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) says rightwing violence “is often classified as mere thuggery” by politicians, prosecutors and the security services. Equivalent acts by Islamists would “swiftly be labelled as terrorism”, it says in an article in the Guardian.

A week of riots across England and Northern Ireland that have targeted asylum hotels and mosques have been fuelled by neo-Nazi and extreme-right activity.

Elon Musk, the owner of X, and the Reform UK party leader, Nigel Farage, have claimed that Keir Starmer’s government is implementing a “two-tier” criminal justice system, with predominantly white rioters treated more harshly than non-white counter-protesters.

An article written by the directors of Rusi says a different double standard has been exposed by this summer’s riots which has allowed far-right activity to flourish.

“Rusi’s research suggests that the nature of far-right violence, which is often seen as low impact and disjointed, coupled with institutional bias and racism, means that far-right violence has historically not triggered the same responses from politicians, security services and the media as jihadist violent extremism.

“There exists a clear double standard, or two-tier approach, in how different forms of extremism are addressed, particularly when comparing security and legal responses to far-right and Islamist violent extremism,” the article says.

Written by Rusi’s acting director of the terrorism and conflict research group, Dr Jessica White, the Rusi research fellow Claudia Wallner and its director of terrorism and conflict studies, Emily Winterbotham, it calls for the threat from the far right to be redefined.

“Far right-motivated violence is often classified as mere ‘thuggery’ or hooliganism, while similar acts motivated by Islamist extremism would likely be swiftly labelled as terrorism. This inconsistency undermines the perceived severity of far-right threats and hinders the political will and the necessary legal precedent to take equivalent action,” it says.

Starmer understated the politically driven actions of the far right, the authors claim, when he described an attack on a hotel housing asylum seekers as “far-right thuggery”. “While his [Starmer’s] intent was to acknowledge the ideological underpinnings of the violence, the term ‘thuggery’ downplays the organised networked, and ideological components of the riots, as well as the individuals and groups involved,” the article says.

Rusi sees merit in calls for severe incidents of far-right violence to be treated as terrorism. “Recognising severe cases of far-right violence as terrorism would align with a more equitable legal strategy, ensuring that all forms of extremism are prosecuted with the seriousness they warrant,” the article says. The recent riots should be seen in the context of “a pattern of violence” across Europe largely ignored by politicians and the public.

“Similar far-right riots have occurred in Dublin in 2023 and in Chemnitz in Germany in 2018, both in reaction to stabbings that sparked widespread anti-immigrant sentiment, with far-right groups exploiting the incidents to incite violence against migrants and refugees,” it says.

Rusi maintains strong ties to the defence and security community. It claims to be the world’s oldest thinktank, established in 1831 by the Duke of Wellington.

Allegations of a two-tier system biased in favour of BAME or leftwing protesters emerged after the pro-Palestinian protests in the UK since 7 October. The former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, now a Conservative leadership candidate, claimed in March that two-tier policing had governed the handling of those protests.

Far-right groups are “unchristian” and their use of Christian imagery in this summer’s riots is an “outrage”, the archbishop of Canterbury has said.

Writing in the Guardian, Justin Welby condemned violent unrest he said was “racist”, “anti-Muslim, anti-refugee and anti-asylum seeker”. His intervention follows a week of violent disorder that began after a mass stabbing of children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport last month.

The unrest, during which rioters attacked mosques, police officers and a hotel housing asylum seekers, was whipped up by far-right activists online who falsely claimed that a Muslim immigrant was behind the Southport attack.

Police across the country remain on high alert for further violence. Keir Starmer cancelled a planned holiday this weekend to lead the response to the unrest. Ministers believe the increased police presence and the speedy prosecution and sentencing of rioters have acted as a deterrent.

Thousands of anti-racism protesters rallied in towns and cities including Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and London over the weekend. A funeral for nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar, one of three children who was killed in Southport, took place on Sunday.

The archbishop said the riots had been “detonated by lies and fuelled by deliberate misinformation, spread quickly online by bad actors with malignant motivations”. He said that that disinformation had “flourished in fertile ground cultivated by years of rhetoric from some of our press and politicians”.

Welby decried the use of Christian iconography by far-right rioters. “The Christian iconography that has been exploited by the far right is an offence to our faith, and all that Jesus was and is,” he said.

“Let me say clearly now to Christians that they should not be associated with any far-right group – because those groups are unchristian. Let me say clearly now to other faiths, especially Muslims, that we denounce people misusing such imagery as fundamentally anti-Christian.”

He praised community figures that have sought to heal tensions, including an imam in Liverpool who offered food to a small group of far-right rioters and engaged in conversation, and a group of bricklayers in Southport who helped to rebuild a mosque that had been vandalised. “We must develop and cherish these examples of civic virtue that have been counter-messages to those of the mob,” Welby said.

Last week, pictures of the imam Adam Kelwick and other worshippers at Abdullah Quilliam mosque in Liverpool engaging and sharing food with people targeting the mosque went viral.

Kelwick said afterwards: “The first ones who I approached, they acted as if I was invisible and they couldn’t see me. But I continued smiling and continued being friendly and then I went on to the next group until finally we broke through to somebody’s heart, and they accepted the food.

“Then everybody started taking the food, and we started discussing things with them. We had some really, really genuine interactions. Maybe four or five people, I asked them – what is it again exactly that you’re protesting against? Nobody had a clear answer for it. It just goes to show how frustrated, how misguided, a lot of people are.”

Welby also cited a Church of England chaplain in Sunderland who worked with international students to clear away debris created by the riots, and escorted Black nurses to the hospital where they worked in the face of violent threats.

He wrote that the Christian teaching to love your neighbour “extended to those who were different, even ancient enemies”. He added: “This country has shown at times that it is capable of that embrace of difference. Let’s build more of those bonds, learning from those in riot-hit areas such as the imam in Liverpool and the chaplain in Sunderland, who have shown us a better way.”

Welby said reconciliation would require “research into the deep-rooted causes of division and facing uncomfortable truths”, adding: “Those communities left behind in our country’s race to growth reflect the rich and precious diversity that is our nation today.

“It will involve serious conversations about what it means to live together well, knowing we share lots in common: streets, schools, universities, workplaces, media, as well as our fundamental humanity. Embracing the opportunities and challenges offered by living in such a diverse country is a task for all of us, and it is clear from the last few weeks that that work is long overdue.”

Venezuela’s main opposition leader, María Corina Machado, has accused the country’s strongman president, Nicolás Maduro, of unleashing a horrific “campaign of terror” in an attempt to cling on to power.

Two weeks after Maduro’s widely questioned claim to have won the 28 July election, human rights activists say he has launched a ferocious clampdown designed to silence those convinced his rival Edmundo González was the actual winner. More than 1,300 people have been detained, including 116 teenagers, according to the rights group Foro Penal. At least 24 people have reportedly been killed.

Speaking from an undisclosed location where she is in hiding, Machado – a charismatic conservative who is González’s key backer – urged governments around the world to oppose Maduro’s intensifying crackdown.

“What is going on in Venezuela is horrific. Innocent people are being detained or disappeared as we speak,” said the 56-year-old former congresswoman, who endorsed González after authorities barred her from running.

Maduro’s regime has nicknamed part of its clampdown Operación Tun Tun – “Operation Knock Knock” – a chilling reference to the often late-night visits to perceived government opponents by heavily armed, black-clad captors from the intelligence services or police.

Tun Tun’s targets have included activists, journalists and prominent opposition politicians – but most detainees appear to be the residents of working-class areas who rose up en masse against Maduro for the first time in the two days after his disputed claim to victory.

One Tun Tun propaganda video published on the Instagram account of the military counterintelligence service, DGCIM, last week showed one of Machado’s campaign organisers, María Oropeza, being detained to the sound of the nursery rhyme from the 1984 horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street, in which Freddy Krueger attacks children in their dreams. “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you! Three, four, better lock your door!” warn the song’s sinister lyrics.

A second DGCIM video showing another arrest is soundtracked by a horror-film adaptation of Carol of the Bells, whose modified lyrics warn: “If you’ve done wrong, then he will come! … He’ll look for you! You’d better hide!”

Asked if she feared she and González would soon receive a visit from Maduro’s security forces, Machado replied: “At this moment … in Venezuela, everybody is afraid that your door could be knocked [on] and your freedom could be taken away – even your life is threatened. Maduro has unleashed a campaign of terror against Venezuelans.”

“Every single democratic government should raise their voices much more loudly,” said Machado, who believed the repression laid bare “the criminal nature” of a regime that knew it had lost by a landslide to González and was now seeking desperately to cling to power. “[Maduro’s government has] decided that their only option to stay in power is using violence, fear and terror against the population.”

Campaigners for human rights and democracy say the speed and scale of the repression is virtually unprecedented in the region’s recent history. Maduro has claimed he is pursuing criminals and terrorists who are behind a fascist, foreign-backed conspiracy to topple him.

“In Latin America, there hasn’t been a repressive crackdown of such magnitude as has happened in Venezuela since the days of [the Chilean dictator] Augusto Pinochet,” Marino Alvarado, an activist from the Venezuelan human rights group Provea, told El País last week.

Carolina Jiménez Sandoval, the president of the Washington Office on Latin America advocacy group, told the New York Times: “I have been documenting human rights violations in Venezuela for many years and have seen patterns of repression before. I don’t think I have ever seen this ferocity.”

Tamara Taraciuk Broner, the director of the rule of law programme at the Inter-American Dialogue thinktank, said the arbitrary arrests – and a social media crackdown that has temporarily blocked X and Signal – suggested Maduro wanted to take Venezuela in an even more despotic direction. “It looks as if they want to go towards [being] a full-fledged dictatorship,” she said. “You need to be very brave to take to the streets now in Venezuela … they are trying very hard to intimidate people so they don’t take to the streets.”

The government’s attempt to create an atmosphere of fear was on show last Saturday as thousands of opposition supporters gathered in Caracas to hear Machado speak despite the risk of arrest.

Unlike at other opposition marches in recent years, many protesters declined to give their names to journalists for fear of persecution, and some wore masks. After the march, at least one reporter was detained by security officials and accused of “stirring up hatred”. Machado came in disguise, wearing a sweatshirt with the hood up.

“Before I came out today, my daughter threw herself on top of me and made me promise that I would come home,” said one 28-year-old demonstrator, describing how her best friend was captured hours before.

Tellingly, the next major anti-Maduro mobilisations are set to be held predominantly outside Venezuela, where about 8 million of its estimated 29 million citizens live after fleeing abroad to escape economic chaos and political repression. Machado has called on supporters to gather across the globe on Saturday 17 August, for “a great worldwide protest … for the truth”.

Machado urged Maduro – who has governed since being elected after the death of his mentor Hugo Chávez in 2013 – to “accept his defeat and understand that we are offering reasonable terms for a negotiated transition”. Those terms included “guarantees, safe passage and incentives”.

Maduro has publicly dismissed talk of a negotiation but some believe one option for him could be exile in an allied country such as Cuba, Turkey or Iran. Panama’s president, José Raúl Mulino, last week offered him temporary asylum en route to such a destination, although Maduro quickly rejected his offer.

Machado pledged not to seek “revenge” or to persecute members of Maduro’s administration, although her campaign-trail promises to “forever bury” socialism and her past calls for foreign military intervention make many Chavistas profoundly suspicious of the right-wing politician.

Machado recognised the role the leftwing leaders of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico – who have not recognised Maduro’s claim to victory – could have in convincing him to enter “a serious negotiation for a democratic transition”.

“But we have to stop [the] repression and the cost of repression has to be increased. These are red lines that the Maduro regime is crossing as we speak,” Machado added.

At least 80 people have been killed in Israeli missile strikes on a school compound in Gaza City, according to the territory’s civil defence service, the latest in a string of attacks on schools that the Israeli army says are targeting militants using them as bases.

The bombing of Tabeen school, where about 6,000 displaced people were sheltering, was hit when many people were preparing for dawn prayers on Saturday, and reportedly caused a fire. Video from the scene showed horrific loss of life, with body parts, rubble and destroyed furniture scattered across blood-soaked mattresses.

Abu Anas, who helped to rescue the wounded, told the news agency Associated Press (AP): “There were people praying, there were people washing and there were people upstairs sleeping, including children, women and old people.

“The missile fell on them without warning. The first missile, and the second. We recovered them as body parts.”

Dr Fadel Naeem, the director of al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, told the AP that the facility had received 70 bodies of those killed in the strikes and the body parts of at least 10 others.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Naeem said Saturday was “one of the hardest days”.

“The situation at the hospital is catastrophic, with a severe shortage of medical supplies and resources due to the horrific Israeli massacre, which has resulted in numerous amputations and severe burns,” he said.

As it stands, the Tabeen school death toll is one of the largest from a single strike during 10 months of war between Israel and Hamas.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that the Palestinian claim was inflated, and at least 20 fighters, including senior commanders, were among the dead.

Israeli forces have targeted at least 10 schools since the beginning of July – including at one point four in four days – adding to the Gaza war’s staggering death toll, which is now approaching 40,000.

Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties, saying that its fighters use civilian infrastructure as a cover, which makes buildings such as schools and hospitals valid targets. Hamas denies those claims.

Almost all of the strip’s 2.3 million population has been forced to flee their homes, often multiple times,during almost a year of fighting. Schools in particular have been used as shelters.

According to the civil defence service, three missiles targeted a two-storey building where women were using the top floor and men and boys the ground floor, which was also a space for prayer.

A Hamas political officer, Izzat el Reshiq, called the strikes a horrific crime and a serious escalation, adding in a statement that the dead did not include a “single combatant”.

The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority also made a rare statement on the attack. A spokesperson for the president, Mahmoud Abbas, urged the US – Israel’s most important diplomatic ally and weapons supplier – to “put an end to the blind support that leads to the killing of thousands of innocent civilians, including children, women, and the elderly”.

The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in a statement posted on X: “There’s no justification for these massacres.” The UK’s foreign minister, David Lammy, said he was “appalled”.

Jordan and Egypt also immediately condemned the attack, with Egypt’s foreign ministry saying that Israel’s “deliberate killing” of Palestinians proves a lack of political will to end the war in Gaza.

Egypt, along with the US and Qatar, called this week for Israel and Hamas to resume negotiations to finalise a ceasefire and hostage-release deal, saying there were no excuses “from any party for further delay”.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel would send a delegation to the talks beginning on 15 August. His administration has been accused of repeatedly sabotaging ceasefire talks.

There has been no response yet from Hamas, and is unclear if the latest deadly strike will affect the militant group’s position.

Iran joined the chorus of condemnation later on Saturday, calling the Tabeen attack “barbarous” and “a war crime”.

Both Iran and the powerful Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have vowed revenge against Israel for the back-to-back assassinations of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shakur and Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, on 31 July. Israel has not commented on Haniyeh’s death, but its spy agency has a history of targeted killing operations abroad.

Israel is still bracing for retaliatory attacks, amid fears the Gaza war is on the brink of morphing into a region-wide conflict.

Hamas triggered the fifth war with Israel since it seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 with its 7 October attack on communities across southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and another 250 taken hostage.

A ceasefire brokered at the end of November saw about 100 Israelis released in exchange for about 200 women and children held in Israeli jails, but broke down after a week.

At least 80 people have been killed in Israeli missile strikes on a school compound in Gaza City, according to the territory’s civil defence service, the latest in a string of attacks on schools that the Israeli army says are targeting militants using them as bases.

The bombing of Tabeen school, where about 6,000 displaced people were sheltering, was hit when many people were preparing for dawn prayers on Saturday, and reportedly caused a fire. Video from the scene showed horrific loss of life, with body parts, rubble and destroyed furniture scattered across blood-soaked mattresses.

Abu Anas, who helped to rescue the wounded, told the news agency Associated Press (AP): “There were people praying, there were people washing and there were people upstairs sleeping, including children, women and old people.

“The missile fell on them without warning. The first missile, and the second. We recovered them as body parts.”

Dr Fadel Naeem, the director of al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, told the AP that the facility had received 70 bodies of those killed in the strikes and the body parts of at least 10 others.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Naeem said Saturday was “one of the hardest days”.

“The situation at the hospital is catastrophic, with a severe shortage of medical supplies and resources due to the horrific Israeli massacre, which has resulted in numerous amputations and severe burns,” he said.

As it stands, the Tabeen school death toll is one of the largest from a single strike during 10 months of war between Israel and Hamas.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that the Palestinian claim was inflated, and at least 20 fighters, including senior commanders, were among the dead.

Israeli forces have targeted at least 10 schools since the beginning of July – including at one point four in four days – adding to the Gaza war’s staggering death toll, which is now approaching 40,000.

Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties, saying that its fighters use civilian infrastructure as a cover, which makes buildings such as schools and hospitals valid targets. Hamas denies those claims.

Almost all of the strip’s 2.3 million population has been forced to flee their homes, often multiple times,during almost a year of fighting. Schools in particular have been used as shelters.

According to the civil defence service, three missiles targeted a two-storey building where women were using the top floor and men and boys the ground floor, which was also a space for prayer.

A Hamas political officer, Izzat el Reshiq, called the strikes a horrific crime and a serious escalation, adding in a statement that the dead did not include a “single combatant”.

The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority also made a rare statement on the attack. A spokesperson for the president, Mahmoud Abbas, urged the US – Israel’s most important diplomatic ally and weapons supplier – to “put an end to the blind support that leads to the killing of thousands of innocent civilians, including children, women, and the elderly”.

The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in a statement posted on X: “There’s no justification for these massacres.” The UK’s foreign minister, David Lammy, said he was “appalled”.

Jordan and Egypt also immediately condemned the attack, with Egypt’s foreign ministry saying that Israel’s “deliberate killing” of Palestinians proves a lack of political will to end the war in Gaza.

Egypt, along with the US and Qatar, called this week for Israel and Hamas to resume negotiations to finalise a ceasefire and hostage-release deal, saying there were no excuses “from any party for further delay”.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel would send a delegation to the talks beginning on 15 August. His administration has been accused of repeatedly sabotaging ceasefire talks.

There has been no response yet from Hamas, and is unclear if the latest deadly strike will affect the militant group’s position.

Iran joined the chorus of condemnation later on Saturday, calling the Tabeen attack “barbarous” and “a war crime”.

Both Iran and the powerful Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have vowed revenge against Israel for the back-to-back assassinations of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shakur and Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, on 31 July. Israel has not commented on Haniyeh’s death, but its spy agency has a history of targeted killing operations abroad.

Israel is still bracing for retaliatory attacks, amid fears the Gaza war is on the brink of morphing into a region-wide conflict.

Hamas triggered the fifth war with Israel since it seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 with its 7 October attack on communities across southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and another 250 taken hostage.

A ceasefire brokered at the end of November saw about 100 Israelis released in exchange for about 200 women and children held in Israeli jails, but broke down after a week.

Two people have died attempting to cross the Channel in a dinghy, according to the French authorities, bringing the death toll since mid-July to at least nine.

The maritime prefecture for the Channel in Calais issued a brief statement confirming the deaths and have said Jacques Billant, the prefect of Pas-de-Calais, was going to the scene to supervise the rescue operations.

About 50 people were rescued with a helicopter and several ships sent to the scene, but two people were declared dead.

The most recent death before Sunday morning was on 28 July and involved a woman believed to have suffocated in a dinghy.

While the circumstances of Sunday’s deaths are not yet known, organisations such as Utopia 56, which supports displaced and homeless people in France, and Alarm Phone, which monitors the Channel and the Mediterranean and passes on distress calls to the coastguard, have blamed the increase in deaths on the UK’s crackdown on small boats.

An Alarm Phone spokesperson told the Guardian last week: “We believe that at least 62 people have died at the UK border since March 2023, when the UK and France signed their latest deal to ‘stop the boats’.

“Of those, 39 people died in sea-crossing related incidents and eight of those were crushed to death in the dinghy. Are these numbers within the acceptable limits for the UK and French governments?”

The number of dinghies available has decreased after attempts by the UK and others to disrupt the supply chain in countries where they are sourced. NGOs say this has led to a larger number of people frantically rushing to board the dinghies that are available. French police sometimes slash the boats with knives, rendering them useless.

The government publishes daily figures for small-boat Channel crossings with the total number crossing and the number of boats they crossed in. The average number in each boat has risen from 20-30 in each boat in 2018 to 60-70, with recent reports of more than 100 people crammed into some vessels.

Britain is funding more French policing on the beaches to try to stop dinghies departing from France. In March 2023, £478m was given for 500 extra officers, a new detention centre and other measures to stop people getting into dinghies to cross the Channel.

Doctors, social workers and librarians are among those in Sweden who have sounded the alarm over a proposal being explored by a government-appointed committee that would force public sector workers to report undocumented people to authorities.

The proposal – which has been referred to as the “snitch law” by some – was among the many measures included in a 2022 agreement struck between four rightwing parties in the country. The deal paved the way for a coalition government involving three centre-right parties with parliamentary support from the far-right anti-immigration Sweden Democrats (SD).

Nearly two years after the SD, a party whose manifesto seeks to create one of Europe’s most-hostile environments for non-Europeans, became Sweden’s second-biggest party, work is under way to turn the proposal regarding public sector workers into law. The committee has been instructed by the government to present proposals on how this could be drafted into law, with plans to present their findings to the government by the end of November.

Despite being in the early stages, the idea, which could result in up to a million workers, from dentists to teachers, being forced to report any contact with undocumented patients, students and authorities, has faced widespread opposition from rights campaigners and professional associations.

“This proposal is utterly inhumane,” said Michele LeVoy of the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants. The impacts could be far-reaching, with people potentially hesitating to send children to school and more reluctant to access healthcare or report crimes committed against them.

“People will be, in a sense, terrified. Why would anyone want to go somewhere when they know that the main thing that will happen is not that they can get care, not that they can go to school, not that they can go to the library – they’ll just be turned in,” she said.

Professional associations have said the proposal could erode the trust they have worked to build and instead fuel racism and amplify stigmatisation.

LeVoy described the measures as part of a growing trend across Europe to criminalise solidarity with people who were undocumented. The Finnish government is also considering expanding obligations to report undocumented people, while in Germany, social welfare offices have for two decades wrestled with reporting obligations.

Another example lay in the measures introduced in the UK by Theresa May in 2012, said LeVoy, citing the “hostile environment” policies that sought to limit access to work, benefits, bank accounts, driving licences and other essential services for those who could not prove they had the legal right to live in Britain.

It later emerged that many who were in the UK legally were unable to prove their status and that the Home Office was frequently misclassifying legal residents as immigration offenders, leading the National Audit Office to conclude in 2018 that hostile environment policies did not provide value for money for taxpayers.

If the Swedish proposal were to become law, Sweden could end up grappling with similar consequences, said LeVoy. “Everywhere where obligations to denounce undocumented people have been applied, the result has been more discrimination, suffering and fear.”

Jacob Lind, a postdoctoral researcher in international migration at Malmö University, said the Swedish proposal was likely to have little impact when it came to reducing the number of people without papers in the country.

“A lot of people are not going to leave,” he said. “They’re just going to end up in further misery. You’ll end up with the opposite effect; society will have even less contact with people who are in this situation, further increasing their vulnerability and making them even more exploitable.”

It is a view that could explain the broad-based opposition to the plan; as of December 2023, more than 150 Swedish regions, municipalities, trade unions and other civil society groups had come out against the idea. “There’s a unique alliance right now around this issue and it’s become a key issue,” said Lind.

Among the groups that have spoken out is the Swedish Medical Association (SMA). “I became a doctor to help people, not monitor and report them,” said Sofia Rydgren Stale, the SMA chair.

For months, the association has argued that reporting requirements would run contrary to the professional ethics rules and principles that state that care must be provided as needed and that patients must not be discriminated against. “We see it as very likely that it will lead to people not daring to seek care for fear of being reported,” Rydgren Stale added.

The Swedish government said the committee looking into how this could become law was also examining whether the duty to provide information would conflict with professional values, such as within healthcare. “To ensure that the regulation is legally sound and does not result in unreasonable consequences for individuals, certain situations may need to be exempted from the duty to provide information,” the minister of migration, Maria Malmer Stenergard, said.

She described the reporting requirements as playing a key role in supporting legal migration by allowing the state to more efficiently deport individuals who are denied asylum. “Unfortunately, many remain and become part of a growing shadow society,” she said. “In such situations the duty to provide information helps in upholding government decisions and does not erode trust, quite the contrary.”

The government’s stance has seemingly done little to quell concerns. In May, the professional ethics council founded by two Swedish unions representing teachers said the obligation to report would put them in an impossible situation. “If the proposal were to become reality, it could lead to such serious ethical problems for teachers that our conclusion is that civil disobedience would probably be the only reasonable way out,” it said on its website.

The idea was also opposed by more than 90% of librarians, said Anna Troberg of the trade union DIK. “Many say they would rather lose their jobs than report those in need,” she said. “If the Swedish government advances this law, the librarians will come out on the right side of history. Ultimately, this is a question of trust, humanity and democracy.”

The chalkhill blue has some surprising claims to fame. For a start, it is one of the UK’s most beautiful butterflies, as can be seen as they flutter above the grasslands of southern England in summer.

Then there is their close and unusual relationship with ants. Caterpillars of Lysandra coridon – found across Europe – exude a type of honeydew that is milked by ants and provides them with energy. In return, they are given protection in cells below ground especially created for them by the ants. Chalkhill blues thrive as a result, though their numbers are now coming under threat.

It is an extraordinary catalogue of features, to which scientists have now made a striking addition thanks to a pioneering new project, known as Psyche, which aims to sequence the genomes of all 11,000 species of butterflies and moths in Europe and reveal in fine detail how climate change and habitat loss are affecting them.

As part of Psyche, scientists have found that, depending on location, the cells of the chalkhill blue have different numbers of chromosomes – the packets of DNA that contain their genetic blueprint. In southern Europe, they have a total of 87 chromosomes, adding them one at a time as they head north until their northern limit is reached, where chalkhill blues have 90 chromosomes.

“That very much goes against the dogma which states that a given species has a given number of chromosomes,” said evolutionary biologist Charlotte Wright of the Wellcome Sanger Institute near Cambridge.

“Why this is changing in the chalkhill blue is intriguing. It is clear that, as it has moved in Europe as glaciers retreated since the end of the last ice age, it has added a chromosome one by one while progressing northwards. It is a surprising observation.”

This point was backed by Mark Blaxter, who is also based at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. “If we look back a million years or so, we can tell when two species have split from a single originator. But how does that happen? More to the point, how would we spot what was going on at the time? That is what we are probably seeing here. We are seeing two species in the act of being created from one. We are shining a light on evolution in action.”

Project Psyche research is being carried out at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in collaboration with six other leading European research centres including Oulu University, Finland, and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona. It is named after the Greek goddess of the soul, who was said to have been given butterfly wings by Zeus and was usually depicted by the ancient Greeks wreathed in butterflies.

Before the development of modern genomics, the relationship between moths and butterflies generated considerable debate. “However, DNA technology has made it clear that butterflies are essentially a sub-group of moths, albeit ones that are generally more colourful,” said Wright.

A tenth of all named species on Earth are moths or butterflies and they are uniquely sensitive to changes in habitats, temperature and plants on which they thrive, added Blaxter. “That means the more we know about them the better informed we will be about the changes affecting the natural world in general. The alterations affecting the chalkhill blue are a perfect example of that knowledge.”

Its 87-to-90 complement of chromosomes may seem extreme compared with the 23 pairs possessed by humans. However, large numbers of these genetic packages are common among moths and butterflies, say scientists, with the record being held by another blue butterfly, the species Polyommatus atlanticus. It possesses a staggering set of 229 chromosomes.

Another intriguing example of lepidopteran life is provided by the xerces blue butterfly which was recently rendered extinct. By studying samples from museum collections, scientists have determined – by studying its genomes – that the species had become highly inbred and vulnerable.

“That research took place in the US but the aim of Psyche is to pinpoint other similarly vulnerable species in Europe in the same way and suggest which are the best targets for interventions to save them,” added Wright. “A genome is a perfect starting point for understanding how well an organism is doing in its environment.”

Butterflies and moths are crucial pollinators of plants and are also a key source of foods for birds, so their survival is important, added Wright. “This is blue-skies research that could have very practical outcomes.”

A central London glass police box has been made to look like a tank of piranhas, in the seventh in series of works by the graffiti artist Banksy.

The elusive artist claimed the work as his own by featuring it on his Instagram account in a post at 1pm on Sunday.

The fish depicted on the police box are different in style from the previous six silhouetted designs that Banksy has claimed as his work on successive days over the past week.

One of the designs, featuring a wolf on a satellite dish, was removed by suspected thieves. Another of a stretching cat on an empty billboard was removed by contractors.

Two City of London police officers were initially seen examining Banksy’s new work before taking pictures. One officer told PA Media news agency they were asked to inspect the artwork after it was picked up on CCTV cameras, and that they were waiting to hear what would be done about it.

The governing body of the City of London later said it was working on options to “preserve” the new Banksy artwork that appeared on Sunday.

A City of London Corporation spokesperson said in a statement: “We’re aware of the works on the City of London police box on Ludgate Hill. We are currently working through options to preserve the artwork.”

Banksy’s Instagram account has revealed a new animal artwork each day for the past seven days. They have featured silhouettes of a goat, elephants, monkeys, a wolf, pelicans and a cat.

On Saturday, a piece showing a stretching cat on a damaged and empty advertising billboard was removed from its location in north-west London hours after it was revealed.

Crowds booed as the piece in Cricklewood was dismantled by three men who said they were hired by a contracting company to take down the billboard for safety reasons.

Hours after Banksy confirmed the design was his, crowds gathered from across London to see the piece before the men arrived.

A contractor, who only wanted to give his name as Marc, said they were going to take the billboard down on Monday and replace it, but the removal had been brought forward to Saturday in case someone ripped it down and left it unsafe.

A black board was first used to cover most of the cat at the request of the police, who wanted to stop people walking in the road in front of traffic.

The owner of the billboard has told police he will donate it to an art gallery.

The cat design was the second piece to be removed during the week after a painting of a howling wolf on a satellite dish was taken off the roof of a shop in Peckham, south London, less than an hour after it was unveiled.

“It’s a great shame we can’t have nice things and it’s a shame it couldn’t have lasted more than an hour,” a witness said.

The first piece of graffiti in Banksy’s animal-themed series, which was announced on Monday, is near Kew Bridge in south-west London and shows a goat with rocks falling down below it, just above a CCTV camera.

On Tuesday, the artist added silhouettes of two elephants with their trunks stretched towards each other on the side of a building in Chelsea, west London.

This was followed by three monkeys that seemed to swing underneath a bridge over Brick Lane, east London.

The fifth design, of pelicans pinching fish from a London chip shop sign in Walthamstow, north-east London, was revealed on Friday.

The Observer reported on Saturday that the series was designed to cheer up the public ­during a period when the news headlines had been bleak. Banksy’s support organisation, Pest Control Office, indicated that theorising about the deeper significance of each new image had been way too involved and the works had instead simply been designed to give ­people a moment of unexpected ­amusement.