The US secretary of state has arrived in Israel for 11th-hour talks aimed at shoring up a deal for a lasting ceasefire in the war in Gaza, amid signals from Israeli and Hamas officials that a breakthrough may not be as close as international mediators had suggested.

Antony Blinken flew into Tel Aviv on Sunday as part of Washington’s renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire in the 10-month-old conflict, negotiations seen as even more urgent after last month’s back-to-back assassinations of a top Hezbollah commander and the Hamas political chief, Ismail Haniyeh.

It is hoped a ceasefire would lower the temperature in the Middle East and dissuade Iran and Hezbollah from retaliatory action that could cause the war in Gaza to slide quickly into a region-wide conflict.

The US’s top diplomat will seek to “conclude the agreement for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees” during his 10th visit to the region since the war broke out following Hamas’s 7 October attack, the state department said. Blinken is expected to meet senior leaders including Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Monday before travelling on to Egypt.

International mediators the US, Qatar and Egypt struck an optimistic tone after two days of talks in the Qatari capital, Doha, last week, announcing that a “bridging proposal” had been agreed. Negotiations to close remaining gaps are expected to resume in Cairo on Wednesday or Thursday.

The US is keen to be able to announce that a deal has been agreed during the Cairo summit, as focus in Washington begins to turn to November’s US elections. However, Hamas, which is not directly participating in this round of negotiations, has said the idea that a deal is getting closer is “an illusion”.

On Sunday evening Hamas said the new proposal was too aligned with the Israeli prime minister’s position. “We hold Netanyahu fully responsible for thwarting the mediators’ efforts, delaying the agreement, and for the lives of his prisoners who are exposed to the same danger as our people due to his ongoing aggression and systematic targeting of all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip,” it said.

But Netanyahu said it was Hamas that must be pressured.

“Hamas, up to this moment, remains obstinate. It did not even send a representative to the talks in Doha. Therefore, the pressure should be directed at Hamas and [Yahya] Sinwar, not at the Israeli government,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting on Sunday, referring to the Hamas chief.

Israeli officials have also expressed caution. “After the United States accepted most of [Israel’s] demands, we have to be flexible on the clarifications that were added,” an unnamed source with knowledge of the talks told Israel’s Channel 12. “Otherwise, there isn’t any chance of bringing Hamas to the table … from its perspective, this is an American-Israeli proposal.”

Netanyahu said at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting: “I would like to emphasise we are conducting negotiations and not a scenario in which we just give and give. There are things we can be flexible on and there are things that we cannot be flexible on, which we will insist on.

“Therefore, alongside the major efforts we are making to return our hostages, we stand on the principles that we have determined, which are vital for the security of Israel.”

Hamas and Israel agreed in principle last month to implement a three-phase framework publicly proposed by Biden in May and endorsed by the UN security council. The plan would involve an initial six-week ceasefire, during which a limited number of Israeli hostages would be freed in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails, and the amount of humanitarian aid entering the strip would increase.

Unlike the week-long truce that collapsed at the end of November, this ceasefire would be indefinitely extendable while negotiators thrash out details of the next stage, so an impasse would not necessarily trigger a return to hostilities.

Hamas has said the latest version of the proposal under discussion diverges significantly from the May iteration after new Israeli demands were added, including a permanent Israeli military presence along the Gaza-Egypt border and the Netzarim corridor, the new Israeli-controlled barrier bisecting the strip.

Israel says those measures are necessary to stop Hamas and other militias rearming and regrouping, while Hamas has reiterated its core demand that all Israeli troops must completely withdraw from Gaza as a prelude to ending the war. To date, Israel has not been willing to agree to go beyond a temporary pause in the fighting.

Critics at home and abroad have accused Netanyahu of stalling on a deal for political gain, but Israeli media reported that the prime minister was scheduled to meet his negotiating team on Sunday to review whether an Israeli presence in the two areas was non-negotiable.

According to Egyptian officials who spoke to the Associated Press, Egyptian and Israeli military officials are expected to meet next week to discuss the possibility of a withdrawal mechanism from Rafah, on the Gaza-Egypt border.

The Rafah crossing is the strip’s main lifeline to the rest of the world; humanitarian groups have complained of backlogs and distribution issues since Israel seized control of the area in May. Last week the Palestinian health authority confirmed the first case of polio in the strip for 25 years.

Even amid speculation over a ceasefire, the bloodshed in Gaza continues: Israeli strikes across the besieged territory killed 28 people overnight and into Sunday, according to first responders, including a woman and her six children in the central town of Deir al-Balah.

Mohammed Awad Khatab, the children’s grandfather, said his daughter was a teacher and her youngest child was 18 months old. The others were 10-year-old quintuplets, al-Aqsa hospital said.

“The six children have become body parts. They were placed in a single bag,” he told reporters at the hospital. “What did they do? Did they kill any of the Jews? … Will this provide security to Israel?”

On Sunday evening, one person was killed after a bomb exploded in Tel Aviv, according to Israeli police. “It has been confirmed as a bomb explosion,” a police spokesperson said.

“As a result of the explosion, one person – whose identity is still unknown – was killed, and another person was moderately injured. All investigative avenues are being explored.”

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have also flared after an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon on Saturday that killed 10 people, one of the deadliest single attacks on Lebanon since Hezbollah and Israel started trading cross­border fire on 8 October.

Hezbollah and Iran’s other allies in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have said they will stop attacking Israel when the war in Gaza is brought to an end. The long-running shadow war between Israel and Iran burst into the open for the first time in April when Tehran launched more than 300 ballistic missiles and drones at Israel in revenge for the killing of several Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders in Damascus.

That attack was heavily telegraphed in advance, allowing Israel’s air defence systems and the air forces of several of its allies to intercept most of the projectiles.

About 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas invasion on 7 October, and another 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. More than 40,000 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run strip, and almost all of the 2.3 million population have been displaced from their homes amid a dire humanitarian crisis.

Fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has intensified over the weekend despite diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions between the two and prevent an expected Hezbollah and Iranian attack against Israel.

An Israeli attack on Saturday was one of the bloodiest for civilians since fighting began in October, killing 10 Syrian workers and their family members in what Israel said was a strike on a Hezbollah weapons depot in Nabatieh, south Lebanon. In response, Hezbollah launched a 55-missile barrage at the town of Ayelet HaShahar, in north Israel.

Three Unifil peacekeepers were also lightly injured in an explosion on Sunday while on patrol in the Lebanese border town of Yarin. A source within Unifil said they believed the soldiers were injured by a nearby Israeli airstrike, but that they were still investigating the incident.

The threat of a full-scale war looms larger than ever after 10 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, sparked by the latter launching rockets at Israel “in solidarity” with Hamas’s 7 October attack.

Hezbollah and Iran have vowed revenge against Israel for the assassination of the Hezbollah military chief of staff Fuad Shukr in Beirut and the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel has not claimed responsibility for Haniyeh’s killing, but has a history of carrying out targeted assassinations across the region.

Hezbollah released a video on Friday showcasing missile-laden trucks driving through an allegedly city-sized tunnel network, the first time the group had revealed its widely reputed tunnel network on camera.

A source in Hezbollah said: “The enemy [Israel] wants a war and is always attempting to pressure us, so we are ready for all possibilities.” They added that that the group’s rocket capabilities were “very large” and what was displayed in Friday’s video was just “a drop in the ocean of what Hezbollah possesses”.

The US and other western powers have been engaged in furious diplomacy since the dual assassinations in Beirut and Tehran. The US envoy Amos Hochstein visited both Tel Aviv and Beirut this week, while an emergency round of talks to forge a ceasefire in Gaza was held in Doha last week.

But western diplomats in Beirut say they have been left in the dark about Hezbollah’s promised retaliation against Israel and that the group has given no clue “where or when” the attack would take place.

In public, the media-savvy group has also been unusually silent. The Hezbollah secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, has said that the anticipation of an attack is “part of the punishment” against Israel. It fits within the group’s historical doctrine of “strategic ambiguity”, revealing little about its military capabilities and intentions to maintain deterrence.

Neither the UK nor the US can speak directly with Hezbollah officials, but instead must pass messages through intermediaries in the Lebanese government or through the Amal political party, Hezbollah’s ally. The diplomatic game of telephones has further complicated western efforts to judge the Lebanese group’s thinking.

The credibility of Hochstein, the diplomat leading efforts to stop fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, has also taken a hit in Lebanon. Hezbollah-affiliated media accused him of “deceiving” Lebanese officials by providing false assurances in the run-up to the assassination of Shukr in Beirut.

“Hezbollah does not view Hochstein as a trustworthy negotiator,” Kassem Kassir, an analyst close to Hezbollah, said, adding that despite this, “there is no currently no alternative” to the US diplomat.

The Doha talks were launched in large part to head off an attack by Hezbollah and Iran, both of whom have said that fighting was designed to pressure Israel into a ceasefire in Gaza.

While talks seemed to have postponed a retaliation against Israel, Hezbollah has said an attack would still come, regardless of the prospects of a ceasefire.

The deputy secretary general of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, insisted on Thursday that a response was “completely separate” from fighting in Gaza and would be carried out – though the group would cease its other operations against Israel in the event of a ceasefire.

The UK and French foreign ministers, David Lammy and Stéphane Séjourné, warned in the Observer on Sunday that the region was witnessing a “perilous moment”.

“One miscalculation, and the situation risks spiralling into an even deeper and more intractable conflict,” they wrote.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine’s military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border.

It marked the first time the Ukrainian president had clearly stated the aim of the operation, which was launched on 6 August. Previously, he had suggested it aimed to protect communities in the bordering Sumy region from constant shelling.

In his nightly address on Sunday, Zelenskiy said: “It is now our primary task in defensive operations overall to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and conduct maximum counteroffensive actions. This includes creating a buffer zone on the aggressor’s territory – our operation in the Kursk region.”

Kyiv had previously said little about the goals of its push into Russia with tanks and other armoured vehicles, the largest attack on the country since the second world war, which took the Kremlin by surprise and led to scores of villages and hundreds of prisoners falling into Ukrainian hands.

The Ukrainians drove deep into the region in several directions, facing little resistance and sowing chaos and panic as tens of thousands of civilians fled.

Ukraine’s commander in chief, Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, claimed last week that his forces had advanced across 1,000 sq km (386 sq miles) of the region, although it was not possible to independently verify how much territory Ukrainian forces effectively control.

In his remarks on creating a buffer zone, Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces “achieved good and much-needed results”.

The Institute for the Study of War has “observed claims” that Ukraine’s operation in Kursk advanced through 800 sq km over its initial six days. The incursion “attacked largely unprepared, unequipped and unmanned Russian defensive positions along the border”, the US thinktank said in its daily report on the conflict. Ukraine had continued to make rapid advances in Kursk “following the deployment of Russian reinforcements to the area”, it added.

On Sunday, Ukraine said it had struck a second key bridge in the Kursk region, seeking to disrupt Moscow’s supply routes. “Minus one more bridge,” the Ukrainian air force commander, Mykola Oleshchuk, said on Telegram, publishing an aerial video of a blast tearing through a bridge near the Russian town of Zvannoye.

“The air force aviation continues to deprive the enemy of logistical capabilities with precision airstrikes,” he said.

On Friday, Ukraine announced it had destroyed a separate bridge in the neighbouring town of Glushkovo.

Ukraine has also captured more than 150 Russian prisoners of war on some days in the military operation in Kursk, according to Oleksii Drozdenko, the head of the military administration in the Ukrainian city of Sumy. “Sometimes there are more than 100 or 150 prisoners of war a day,” he said. Many of the Russian troops who had been guarding the border were young conscripts. “They do not want to fight us,” he said.

Russia denied a report that Ukraine’s attack on Kursk had derailed indirect talks with Kyiv on halting strikes on energy and power targets, saying on Sunday there had been no talks ongoing. The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Ukraine and Russia were set to send delegations to Qatar this month to negotiate a landmark agreement halting strikes on energy and power infrastructure on both warring sides. The Post said the agreement would have amounted to a partial ceasefire but that the talks were derailed due to Ukraine’s attack on Russian sovereign territory.

In May, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, said during a visit to China that Moscow’s offensive that month in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region was aimed at creating a buffer zone there.

That offensive opened a new front and displaced thousands of Ukrainians. The attacks were a response to Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s Belgorod region, Putin said. “I have said publicly that if it continues, we will be forced to create a security zone, a sanitary zone,” he said. “That’s what we are doing.”

With Associated Press

• Ukraine said it had struck a second key bridge in the Kursk region, seeking to disrupt Moscow’s supply routes as Kyiv’s unprecedented incursion on Russian soil stretched through its second week. “Minus one more bridge,” Ukrainian air force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram, publishing an aerial video of a blast tearing through a bridge near the Russian town of Zvannoye. “The air force aviation continues to deprive the enemy of logistical capabilities with precision airstrikes,” he said. On Friday, Ukraine announced it had destroyed a separate bridge in the neighbouring town of Glushkovo.

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine’s military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border. It marked the first time the Ukrainian president had clearly stated the aim of the operation, which was launched on 6 August. Previously, he had suggested it aimed to protect communities in the bordering Sumy region from constant shelling. In his nightly address on, Zelenskiy said: “It is now our primary task in defensive operations overall to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and conduct maximum counteroffensive actions. This includes creating a buffer zone on the aggressor’s territory – our operation in the Kursk region.”

• Ukraine has captured more than 150 Russian prisoners of war on some days in the cross-border military operation in Kursk, according to Oleksii Drozdenko, the head of the military administration in the Ukrainian city of Sumy. “Sometimes there are more than 100 or 150 prisoners of war a day,” Drozdenko said. Many of the Russian troops who have been guarding the border are young conscripts. “They do not want to fight us,” he added.

• The Institute for the Study of War has “observed claims” that Ukraine’s operation in Kursk has advanced through 800 square kilometres over six days. The initial incursion “attacked largely unprepared, unequipped, and unmanned Russian defensive positions along the border”, the ISW said in its daily report on the conflict, adding that Ukraine has continued to make rapid advances in Kursk “following the deployment of Russian reinforcements to the area.”

• Russian forces took control of the village of Svyrydonivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the TASS state news agency reported on Sunday, citing the defence ministry. The Guardian could not independently verify the battlefield report.

• Russia on Sunday denied a report that Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region had derailed indirect talks with Kyiv on halting strikes on energy and power targets, saying there had been no talks ongoing. The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Ukraine and Russia were set to send delegations to Qatar this month to negotiate a landmark agreement halting strikes on energy and power infrastructure on both warring sides. The Post said the agreement would have amounted to a partial ceasefire but that the talks were derailed due to Ukraine’s attack on Russian sovereign territory.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku on Sunday for a two-day state visit, Russian news agencies reported. Russian television broadcast images of the Russian president’s plane as it arrived in Baku in the evening. Azerbaijan is a close partner of Moscow but also a major energy supplier to western countries, comes against the backdrop of an unprecedented Ukrainian military offensive on Russian soil.

With Reuters

Some 40,000 protesters are expected to gather outside the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago on Monday to demonstrate against the Biden administration’s position on Israel, with some groups saying they will push for amendments to the party’s platform.

The party is on guard for disruptions to high-profile speeches at the DNC, with one pro-Palestinian group called Delegates Against Genocide, angry at US support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza, saying it will press for an arms embargo this week.

Delegates Against Genocide said it would exercise its freedom of speech rights during main events at the four-day convention. Its organisers declined to give details, but said they would offer amendments to the party platform and use their rights as delegates to speak on the convention floor.

The group wants to include language backing enforcement of laws that ban giving military aid to individuals or security forces that commit gross violations of human rights.

“We’re going to make our voices heard,” said Liano Sharon, a business consultant and delegate who signed an alternative platform along with 34 other delegates. “Freedom of expression necessarily includes the right to stand up and be heard even when the authority in the room says to shut up.

“They want the convention to go smoothly. They don’t want to have any kind of disruption or any kind of statement or anything like that,” he told Reuters at an event hosted by Chicago’s large Palestinian population. “I’m sorry. A convention is a political engagement vehicle, OK? And if we’re not using it for that, then it’s just a beauty pageant.”

The Harris campaign declined to comment on the group’s plans.

The Uncommitted National Movement, a separate effort pushing Democrats to change policy on Israel that won more than 30 delegates in primary elections, also wants an arms embargo. But it has focused, unsuccessfully so far, on winning a main-stage speaking slot for a Palestinian American or Gaza humanitarian worker.

Uncommitted has said it is not planning to disrupt the convention proceedings.

Late on Saturday, convention organisers added a daytime panel discussion on Arab and Palestinian issues to Monday’s agenda and one on antisemitism.

Nadia Ahmad, a law professor at Florida’s Barry University and a delegate, said there were about 60 Muslim delegates, a fraction of the 5,000 overall. But their concerns were shared by others, she said.

Demonstrations are expected every day of the convention and, while their agendas vary, many activists agree an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war is the priority.

The largest group, the Coalition to March on the DNC, has planned demonstrations on the first and last days of the convention. Organisers say they expect at least 20,000 activists, including students who protested the war on college campuses.

“The people with power are going to be there,” said Liz Rathburn, a University of Illinois Chicago student organiser. “People inside the United Center are the people who are going to be deciding our foreign policy in one way or another.”

The Democratic party’s draft platform released in mid-July calls for “an immediate and lasting ceasefire” in the war and the release of remaining hostages taken to Gaza during the 7 October attack by Islamist militant Hamas fighters in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed.

The platform does not mention the more than 40,000 people that Palestinian health authorities in Gaza say have been killed in Israel’s subsequent offensive. Nor does it mention any plans to curtail US arms shipments to Israel. The United States approved $20 billion in additional arms sales to Israel on Tuesday.

Mediators including the US have sought to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas, which rules Gaza, based on a plan Biden put forward in May but so far have not succeeded.

Pro-Palestinian activists say Harris has been more sympathetic to people in Gaza than Biden has been. Her national security adviser said on X this month that she does not support an arms embargo on Israel. After meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month, Harris told reporters not only that Israel had a right to defend itself but also in reference to Gaza: “We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent.”

Organisers of Monday’s planned-protest said the numbers outside the convention could swell to over 100,000.

The city has designated a park about a block from the DNC’s venue, the United Center, for a speakers’ stage. Those who sign up get 45 minutes.

The convention will draw an estimated 50,000 people to the nation’s third-largest city, including delegates, activists and journalists. Activists say they learned lessons from last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and are predicting bigger crowds and more robust demonstrations in Chicago, a city with deep social activism roots.

The city says it has made necessary preparations with police and the Secret Service. Security will be tight, with street closures around the convention centre.

With Associated Press and Reuters

Some 40,000 protesters are expected to gather outside the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago on Monday to demonstrate against the Biden administration’s position on Israel, with some groups saying they will push for amendments to the party’s platform.

The party is on guard for disruptions to high-profile speeches at the DNC, with one pro-Palestinian group called Delegates Against Genocide, angry at US support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza, saying it will press for an arms embargo this week.

Delegates Against Genocide said it would exercise its freedom of speech rights during main events at the four-day convention. Its organisers declined to give details, but said they would offer amendments to the party platform and use their rights as delegates to speak on the convention floor.

The group wants to include language backing enforcement of laws that ban giving military aid to individuals or security forces that commit gross violations of human rights.

“We’re going to make our voices heard,” said Liano Sharon, a business consultant and delegate who signed an alternative platform along with 34 other delegates. “Freedom of expression necessarily includes the right to stand up and be heard even when the authority in the room says to shut up.

“They want the convention to go smoothly. They don’t want to have any kind of disruption or any kind of statement or anything like that,” he told Reuters at an event hosted by Chicago’s large Palestinian population. “I’m sorry. A convention is a political engagement vehicle, OK? And if we’re not using it for that, then it’s just a beauty pageant.”

The Harris campaign declined to comment on the group’s plans.

The Uncommitted National Movement, a separate effort pushing Democrats to change policy on Israel that won more than 30 delegates in primary elections, also wants an arms embargo. But it has focused, unsuccessfully so far, on winning a main-stage speaking slot for a Palestinian American or Gaza humanitarian worker.

Uncommitted has said it is not planning to disrupt the convention proceedings.

Late on Saturday, convention organisers added a daytime panel discussion on Arab and Palestinian issues to Monday’s agenda and one on antisemitism.

Nadia Ahmad, a law professor at Florida’s Barry University and a delegate, said there were about 60 Muslim delegates, a fraction of the 5,000 overall. But their concerns were shared by others, she said.

Demonstrations are expected every day of the convention and, while their agendas vary, many activists agree an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war is the priority.

The largest group, the Coalition to March on the DNC, has planned demonstrations on the first and last days of the convention. Organisers say they expect at least 20,000 activists, including students who protested the war on college campuses.

“The people with power are going to be there,” said Liz Rathburn, a University of Illinois Chicago student organiser. “People inside the United Center are the people who are going to be deciding our foreign policy in one way or another.”

The Democratic party’s draft platform released in mid-July calls for “an immediate and lasting ceasefire” in the war and the release of remaining hostages taken to Gaza during the 7 October attack by Islamist militant Hamas fighters in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed.

The platform does not mention the more than 40,000 people that Palestinian health authorities in Gaza say have been killed in Israel’s subsequent offensive. Nor does it mention any plans to curtail US arms shipments to Israel. The United States approved $20 billion in additional arms sales to Israel on Tuesday.

Mediators including the US have sought to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas, which rules Gaza, based on a plan Biden put forward in May but so far have not succeeded.

Pro-Palestinian activists say Harris has been more sympathetic to people in Gaza than Biden has been. Her national security adviser said on X this month that she does not support an arms embargo on Israel. After meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month, Harris told reporters not only that Israel had a right to defend itself but also in reference to Gaza: “We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent.”

Organisers of Monday’s planned-protest said the numbers outside the convention could swell to over 100,000.

The city has designated a park about a block from the DNC’s venue, the United Center, for a speakers’ stage. Those who sign up get 45 minutes.

The convention will draw an estimated 50,000 people to the nation’s third-largest city, including delegates, activists and journalists. Activists say they learned lessons from last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and are predicting bigger crowds and more robust demonstrations in Chicago, a city with deep social activism roots.

The city says it has made necessary preparations with police and the Secret Service. Security will be tight, with street closures around the convention centre.

With Associated Press and Reuters

Chinese and Philippine vessels collided on Monday during a confrontation near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, the two countries said.

Both countries blamed each other for the incident near the Sabina Shoal.

China and the Philippines have had repeated confrontations in the vital waterway in recent months, including around a warship grounded years ago by Manila on the contested Second Thomas Shoal that hosts a garrison. Beijing has continued to press its claims to almost the entire South China Sea despite an international tribunal ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

China Coast Guard spokesperson Geng Yu said a Philippine vessel had “deliberately collided” with a Chinese ship early on Monday.

“Philippine coast guard vessels … illegally entered the waters near the Xianbin Reef in the Nansha Islands without permission from the Chinese government,” Geng said, using the Chinese names for the Sabina Shoal and the Spratly Islands.

“The China coast guard took control measures against the Philippine vessels in accordance with the law,” Geng added.

Manila’s National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea, meanwhile, said two of its coast guard ships were damaged in collisions with Chinese vessels that were conducting “unlawful and aggressive manoeuvres” near the Sabina Shoal.

The confrontation “resulted in collisions causing structural damage to both Philippine Coast Guard vessels”, Manila said.

China claims the Sabina Shoal, which is located 140km (86 miles) west of the Philippine island of Palawan, the closest major land mass. It is more than 1,000km from China’s nearest major landmass, Hainan island.

Manila and Beijing have stationed coast guard vessels around the shoal in recent months, with the Philippines fearing China is about to build an artificial island there.

Footage purporting to show the incident attributed to the Chinese coast guard and shared by state broadcaster CCTV showed one ship, identified as a Philippine vessel by the Beijing side, apparently running into the left side of a Chinese ship before moving on.

Another 15-second clip appears to show the Chinese vessel making contact with the rear of the Philippine ship. Captions alongside the footage claimed the Philippine ship made a “sudden change of direction” and caused the crash.

The Chinese coast guard spokesperson accused Philippine vessels of acting “in an unprofessional and dangerous manner, resulting in a glancing collision”.

“We sternly warn the Philippine side to immediately cease its infringement and provocations,” Geng said.

Manila, however, blamed Beijing, with the National Security Council director general, Jonathan Malaya, saying the Philippines’ BRP Cape Engano sustained a 13cm (five-inch) hole in its right beam after “aggressive manoeuvres” by a China coast guard vessel caused a collision.

A second Philippine coast guard ship, the BRP Bagacay, was “rammed twice” by a China coast guard vessel about 15 minutes later and suffered “minor structural damage”, Malaya said.

The Filipino crew were unhurt and proceeded with their mission to resupply Philippine-garrisoned islands in the Spratly group, he added.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that the incident took place at 3.24am local time on Monday (1924 GMT Sunday). It also said a Philippine coast guard ship had then entered waters near the Second Thomas Shoal around 6am.

The repeated clashes in the South China Sea have sparked concern that Manila’s ally the United States could be drawn into a conflict as Beijing steps up efforts to push its claims in the sea.

Analysts have said Beijing’s aim is to push towards Sabina Shoal from the neighbouring Second Thomas Shoal, encroaching on Manila’s exclusive economic zone and normalising Chinese control of the area.

The situation has echoes of 2012, when Beijing took control of Scarborough Shoal, another strategic area of the South China Sea closest to the Philippines.

The Republican senator and Donald Trump loyalist Lindsey Graham has warned that Trump is in danger of losing the US presidential election if he continues to talk about Kamala Harris’s race and make other personal attacks instead of focusing on policy issues.

Graham’s comments came on Meet The Press when asked whether he agreed with Nikki Haley’s recent admonition that Trump and Republicans should “quit whining” and stop “talking about what race Kamala Harris is”.

“Yeah. I don’t think – I don’t look at vice-president Kamala Harris as a lunatic,” Graham told moderator Kristin Welker. “I look at her as the most liberal person to be nominated for president in the history of the United States.”

He said the election should be fought on policy. “A nightmare for Harris is to defend her policy choices,” he said.

“President Trump can win this election,” Graham continued. “If you have a policy debate, he wins. Donald Trump the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election.”

Trump’s ad hominem digs against Harris have ranged from disparaging and false comments about her race and intelligence to snide remarks about her appearance. During a Saturday rally Trump said: “I’m a better looking person than Kamala” and that Harris had “the laugh of a crazy person”.

With Harris rising in the polls many saw Trump’s rally, in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, as an opportunity for him to reboot his campaign by focusing on issues of importance to voters, but he has instead continued to emphasize personal differences.

Trump has repeatedly questioned the racial identity of Harris, whose mother is Indian and father is Jamaican. In a chaotic appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists several weeks ago, Trump incorrectly claimed that Harris suddenly “became a Black woman” and falsely stated that she had only identified with her Indian background.

“Is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump remarked, prompting audible gasps. “I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t because she was Indian all the way and then all of sudden she became a Black woman.”

Harris on Sunday suggested without naming him directly that Trump’s habit of constantly attacking opponents made him a “coward”.

“Over the last several years there’s been this kind of perversion that has taken place, I think, which is to suggest that the measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down. When what we know is the real and true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up,” Harris said at a campaign appearance in Pennsylvania. “Anybody who’s about beating down other people is a coward.”

JD Vance, Trump’s vice-presidential candidate, has previously described Harris as a coward, too, in keeping with his running mate’s personal attacks on her.

“President Trump walked right into the NABJ conference and showed he had the courage to take tough questions, while Kamala Harris continues to hide from any scrutiny or unfriendly media like the coward she is,” Vance wrote last month.

The Central Bank of Libya said on Sunday it was “suspending all operations” after a bank official was abducted in the capital, Tripoli, in a statement posted on social media.

Musab Msallem, the head of information technology at the Central Bank, “was kidnapped by an unidentified group from his house this morning”, the statement said.

The bank said it would “not resume operations” until Msallem was released, adding that other executives had also been “threatened with abduction”. It called for an “end to these practices” and blamed “unlawful parties” that “threaten the safety of its employees and the continuity of the banking sector’s work”.

The bank provided no further details about the kidnapping.

Sunday’s abduction came a week after armed men laid siege to the central bank’s headquarters in Tripoli. Local media said this was an attempt to force the resignation of the bank’s governor, Seddik al-Kabir.

The US diplomat and special envoy for Libya, Richard Norland, said attempts to oust Kabir were “unacceptable”, warning that replacing him “by force can result in Libya losing access to international financial markets”.

Norland said in a post on the social media platform X that the confrontation in Tripoli “highlights the ongoing risks posed by the political stalemate in Libya”.

After the siege, the UN support mission in Libya said the bank played an important role in the country’s financial stability.

In office since 2012, Kabir has faced criticism over the management of Libya’s oil resources and the state budget, including from figures close to the prime minister, Abdulhamid Dbeibah.

Home to 6.8 million people, Libya has struggled to recover from years of conflict after the 2011 Nato-backed uprising that overthrew the longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

It remains divided between a UN-recognised government based in Tripoli and led by Dbeibah and a rival administration in the east, backed by the military strongman Khalifa Haftar.

Although relative calm has returned in recent years, clashes still periodically break out between Libya’s myriad armed groups. Sunday’s abduction came after a period in which fears have grown of a broader escalation.

The Central Bank of Libya said on Sunday it was “suspending all operations” after a bank official was abducted in the capital, Tripoli, in a statement posted on social media.

Musab Msallem, the head of information technology at the Central Bank, “was kidnapped by an unidentified group from his house this morning”, the statement said.

The bank said it would “not resume operations” until Msallem was released, adding that other executives had also been “threatened with abduction”. It called for an “end to these practices” and blamed “unlawful parties” that “threaten the safety of its employees and the continuity of the banking sector’s work”.

The bank provided no further details about the kidnapping.

Sunday’s abduction came a week after armed men laid siege to the central bank’s headquarters in Tripoli. Local media said this was an attempt to force the resignation of the bank’s governor, Seddik al-Kabir.

The US diplomat and special envoy for Libya, Richard Norland, said attempts to oust Kabir were “unacceptable”, warning that replacing him “by force can result in Libya losing access to international financial markets”.

Norland said in a post on the social media platform X that the confrontation in Tripoli “highlights the ongoing risks posed by the political stalemate in Libya”.

After the siege, the UN support mission in Libya said the bank played an important role in the country’s financial stability.

In office since 2012, Kabir has faced criticism over the management of Libya’s oil resources and the state budget, including from figures close to the prime minister, Abdulhamid Dbeibah.

Home to 6.8 million people, Libya has struggled to recover from years of conflict after the 2011 Nato-backed uprising that overthrew the longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

It remains divided between a UN-recognised government based in Tripoli and led by Dbeibah and a rival administration in the east, backed by the military strongman Khalifa Haftar.

Although relative calm has returned in recent years, clashes still periodically break out between Libya’s myriad armed groups. Sunday’s abduction came after a period in which fears have grown of a broader escalation.

Imran Khan, the imprisoned former prime minister of Pakistan, is aiming to become Oxford’s next chancellor when the university’s graduates and staff vote later this year.

Syed Zulfi Bukhari, one of Khan’s advisers, said the former international cricket star had submitted an application to run in the election in October to replace Chris Patten, the former Conservative minister.

Khan, 71, served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 to 2022 as the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice) party he founded in 1996. He was ousted as prime minister through an army-backed vote of no confidence in Pakistan’s parliament and has been in jail on a string of charges for the past 12 months.

For several hundred years, elections to the largely ceremonial role of Oxford chancellor required graduates and staff to be in Oxford and wearing academic dress to vote. But Khan’s candidacy has been eased by new rules allowing nominations and voting to be carried out online.

Other than his political standing, Khan’s qualifications include eight years as chancellor of the University of Bradford, and studying politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford’s Keble College in the 1970s while winning honours for the university’s cricket team. He captained the Pakistan men’s cricket team when they won the World Cup in 1992.

Nominations for candidates closed on Sunday. The university said no confirmation of individual candidates would be given before a final list was published in early October.

While overt campaigning is rare, among the likely candidates are Elish Angiolini, the former lord advocate of Scotland and principal of St Hugh’s College, and Margaret Casely-Hayford, a former chair of Shakespeare’s Globe, who each would become the first female chancellor in Oxford’s history.

Supporters of the former Labour minister Peter Mandelson and the former Conservative leader William Hague say they are interested in the role.

Voting will be held online from 28 October. Only Oxford graduates and members of the university’s congregation, including academic staff, are able to vote.

Although a non-executive role, the chancellor chairs the committee appointing the vice-chancellor and is involved in fundraising, advocacy and oversight.

The university’s records show that Patten is the 159th person to have served as Oxford’s chancellor since 1224. Powerful politicians have previously filled the post, including Robert Dudley, the first earl of Leicester, during Elizabeth I’s reign, and Oliver Cromwell during his rule as lord protector.

Black children are four times more likely to be strip-searched by police officers across England and Wales than their white counterparts, according to the latest nationwide figures disclosed by a watchdog.

The children’s commissioner also found that children under the age of 15 are a bigger proportion of those subjected to intimate searches, official figures from the year to June 2023 showed. Fewer than half of all searches of children in that year (45%) were conducted in the presence of an appropriate adult.

A report released on Monday also found that nearly nine out of every 10 of searches [88%] conducted by England and Wales’s 44 forces were trying to find drugs.

It said that over the five years to June 2023, children as young as eight have been strip-searched every 14 hours by police in England. More than 3,000 intimate procedures were conducted on children between January 2018 and June 2023.

In response to the report, the police made a stark admission and said that “too many strip searches carried out are unnecessary, unsafe and under-reported”.

The practice of child strip searches prompted a national outcry after the Child Q scandal, when it emerged in 2022 that a 15-year-old black girl was strip-searched at school for drugs in east London. No cannabis, the grounds for the search, was found.

Assistant chief constable Andrew Mariner, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for stop and search, said: “Two years on from the shocking case of Child Q, we are seeing progress being made. I welcome this shift, and I am cautiously optimistic about the potential to overcome entrenched systemic challenges, but there is still urgent work to be done: too many strip searches carried out are unnecessary, unsafe and under-reported.

“Today’s research serves as a stark reminder that this is not an isolated issue in the capital. A much higher threshold should be met before a child is subjected to what we know can be a traumatising search.

“We need a culture of trust to be built between children and the police, so it’s vital that improvements continue, with fewer searches carried out, better data recording when they do, and that good practice and improvements are identified and modelled across the country.”

Police promised a new review of the rules when officers use their powers to stop a person: “We will also conduct a full review of our authorised professional practice in respect of stop and search. This detailed and wide-ranging review will seek to examine all aspects of stop and search, including strip searches, and make any necessary changes to policing policy and national practices.”

The Home Office says strip searches play an important role in protecting the public and that strict safeguards are in place.

Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner, said urgent procedural change was needed to tackle widespread racial disparity, and to ensure that children are not left at risk during these intimate searches.

“Throughout England and Wales, police continue to strip-search children as part of stop and searches, revealing concerning practices and widespread failure to comply with safeguarding procedures designed to protect children.

“Senior police officers have shared with me that there will be certain, limited times when an immediate risk of harm means that a search of this nature is both appropriate and necessary.

“My firm recommendation is that this should only be the case where there is a clear and immediate danger to the child or others. However, the majority of searches are still conducted on suspicion of drugs and nearly half result in no further action.

“Two years on from the shocking case of Child Q in 2022, we are seeing some green shoots of progress in how the police carry out and record strip-searches on children.

“Today’s research serves as a stark reminder that this is not an isolated issue in the capital. A much higher threshold should be met before a child is subjected to a humiliating and traumatising intimate search.”

Monday’s report is the third from de Souza in her work to investigate the use of strip-searching powers by police forces on children.

It confirms that the numbers of strip-searches are lower overall, especially in London, while the majority of police forces are reporting changes to procedures and a fall in the proportion of black children subjected to strip searches between 2022 and 2023.

However, the report still found widespread failure to comply with safeguarding processes designed to protect children during intimate searches.

These include concerns that:

• Of the children strip-searched between 2022 and 2023, 27% were black, while black children form 6% of the child population of England and Wales. For white children, the corresponding percentages were 59% and 74%. The report notes that this is an improvement on figures between 2018 and 2023, when black people were six times more likely to be searched.

• Between July 2022 and June 2023, a parent, carer or social worker could not be confirmed to be present in 45% of searches.

• During the same period, the majority of searches – 88% – were conducted on suspicion of drugs, with just 6% on suspicion of carrying weapons or blades. Strip searches should, de Souza said, be carried out on children only where there is a clear and immediate risk of harm to themselves or to others.

• The proportion of searches conducted involving a child aged 15 or younger has increased from 23% to 28% between July 2022 and June 2023, compared with the previous four years.

Child Q was ordered to undress after being wrongly suspected of carrying drugs. The search was conducted after teachers called police, while the girl was on her period, without her parents being contacted and with no other adults present.

The search sparked days of protests in 2022 outside the girl’s east London school and was said to have left her traumatised and humiliated.

The Metropolitan police apologised and the Independent Office for Police Conduct has since called for a substantial review of policing powers under the laws relating to the strip searches of children, to improve safeguarding and prioritise the welfare of minors.

De Souza’s latest report said there were signs of improvement, including lower numbers of strip searches overall and, especially in London, the majority of police forces reporting changes to procedures, and a fall in the proportion of black children subjected to strip searches between 2022 and 2023.

In her 2023 report, de Souza heard from a male victim of child criminal exploitation and county lines who was arrested multiple times between the ages of 13 and 18 and strip-searched up to four times in custody. He was first strip-searched in custody aged 13, without an appropriate adult present, having been arrested in school.

A Metropolitan police spokesperson said: “We have a duty to do everything we can to prevent children in London from being used in the supply of drugs or involved in knife crime as either victims or offenders.

“We know these searches are intrusive and should only be used where there is a risk of serious harm to the child or others, and where used we must ensure that children are protected and safeguarded.

“We introduced a new policy to improve these types of searches in May 2022, including the requirement of inspector authorisation, mandatory safeguarding referrals and new guidance for officers.”

Stencilled on a shutter at the entrance to London Zoo, the mural showed a powerful gorilla lifting up the metal barrier and creating a dark hole just big enough for other animals to use to make a speedy getaway.

Now, Banksy’s ninth and final artwork in his animal-themed London series has itself escaped, removed in an attempt by the 196-year-old zoo to “properly preserve” a “significant moment” in its history.

The zoo previously warned visitors on social media that it was planning to remove the artwork from public display on Friday evening “for its safekeeping and to make full use of our entrance during the busy summer period”, informing people: “We’re still working on exactly what we’re going to do with [it].”

It has replaced the work with a replica and a nearby sign that reads “Banksy woz ere” in the hope of preventing crowding at its entrance by fans of the anonymous artist, who have been appearing in droves after the work was unveiled on Tuesday.

The shutter to the entrance had remained closed since then so that visitors could admire Banksy’s work, which portrayed a watchful gorilla helping a sea lion, several birds and bats and three other mysterious animals – depicted only by their three sets of glowing eyes – to escape into Camden.

In a blog posted on Thursday, Kathryn England, the chief operating officer of the zoo, publicly thanked Banksy for stencilling his art on the zoo’s shutter, describing it as “a significant moment in our history that we’re keen to properly preserve”.

She added: “We’re thrilled by the joy this artwork has already brought to so many, but primarily, we’re incredibly grateful to Banksy, for putting wildlife in the spotlight.”

Until Friday evening, zoo officials had used a Perspex cover to “protect it from the glare of the sun”.

Two other pieces in the series, which have appeared across London since 5 August, have been defaced, including the silhouettes of elephants in Edith Grove in Chelsea.

The Metropolitan police were called to reports of a theft after the fourth piece, depicting a howling wolf on a satellite dish, was taken down just hours after it appeared.

The sixth piece, featuring a stretching cat on a billboard, was dismantled by three men who said they were hired to take it down for safety reasons. The billboard’s owner later said the work would be reassembled at an art gallery.

Last week, a spokesperson for Banksy told the Observer that the artist hoped the uplifting nature of the works would cheer people “with a moment of unexpected amusement, as well as to gently underline the human capacity for creative play, rather than for destruction and negativity”.

A joke by Mark Simmons has been declared the funniest of this year’s Edinburgh fringe festival, chosen by a public panel from a shortlist compiled by comedy critics.

Simmons, who got into comedy more than a decade ago after his friend convinced him to do an open mic night, won the television channel U&Dave’s funniest joke of the fringe award with “I was going to sail around the globe in the world’s smallest ship but I bottled it”.

The joke, taken from his PHB’s Free Fringe show at the Liquid Room Annexe, was included in an anonymous shortlist of 15 one-liners put to 2,000 members of the public.

Forty per cent of those surveyed voted for his gag as their number one, meaning Simmons joins the likes of Tim Vine, Stewart Francis and Zoe Lyons as a winner of an award now in its 15th year.

He has certainly earned it. After kicking off his solo Edinburgh fringe journey back in 2014, Simmons’s gags have placed ninth, sixth and second. The top gong had eluded him, until now.

The comedian said he was “really chuffed” with the win. “I needed some good news as I was just fired from my job marking exam papers. Can’t understand it, I always gave 110%.”

The winning joke was not the only one penned by Simmons to make the shortlist decided by a panel of critics who attended hundreds of fringe shows in August.

Also considered worthy was his Olympics gag: “I love the Olympics. My friend and I invented a new type of relay baton. Well, he came up with the idea, I ran with it.”

Another comic to make the shortlist was Chelsea Birkby, whose Wetherspoons one-liner caught the attention of the critics. “British etiquette is confusing. Why is it highbrow to look at boobs in an art gallery but lowbrow when I get them out in Spoons?”

Sophie Duker’s joke comparing Keir Starmer to an AI-generated image of a substitute teacher was also recognised, as was this Arthur Smith gag: “I sailed through my driving test. That’s why I failed it.”

Cherie Hall, U&Dave’s channel director, said: “This year’s top 15 list features a hilarious blend of jokes that are sure to keep us laughing until the next joke of the fringe.”

Simmons’ show More Jokes is at the Liquid Rooms Annexe until Saturday 24 August.

Top 10 jokes

1. I was going to sail around the globe in the world’s smallest ship, but I bottled it. Mark Simmons

2. I’ve been taking salsa lessons for months, but I just don’t feel like I’m progressing. It’s just one step forward, two steps back. Alec Snook

3. Ate horse at a restaurant once – wasn’t great. Starter was all right, but the mane was dreadful. Alex Kitson

4. I sailed through my driving test. That’s why I failed it. Arthur Smith

5. I love the Olympics. My friend and I invented a new type of relay baton. Well, he came up with the idea, I ran with it. Mark Simmons

6. My dad used to say to me: “Pints, gallons, litres” – which, I think, speaks volumes. Olaf Falafel

7. British etiquette is confusing. Why is it highbrow to look at boobs in an art gallery but lowbrow when I get them out in Spoons? Chelsea Birkby

8. My partner told me that she’d never seen the film Gaslight. I told her that she definitely had. Zoë Coombs Marr

9. I’m an extremely emotionally needy non-binary person. My pronouns are “there, there”. Sarah Keyworth

10. Keir Starmer looks like an AI-generated image of a substitute teacher. Sophie Duker