Israel’s ousted defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has reportedly said the army has achieved all its objectives in Gaza and that Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a hostages-for-peace deal against the advice of his own security establishment.

Gallant was speaking to hostages’ families on Thursday, two days after being sacked by Netanyahu, and reports of his remarks quickly surfaced in Israeli media.

“There’s nothing left in Gaza to do. The major achievements have been achieved,” Channel 12 news quoted him as saying. “I fear we are staying there just because there is a desire to be there.”

He reportedly told the families that the idea that Israel must remain in Gaza to create stability was “an inappropriate idea to risk soldiers’ lives over”.

Citing a source familiar with the conversation, Haaretz also reported that Gallant had said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had achieved all their objectives in Gaza. The Israeli newspaper’s report said the prime minister’s considerations regarding a hostage deal “are neither military nor political”.

Gallant is said to have told the families that Netanyahu was the only person who could decide on whether to make a deal involving the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas in return for the freeing of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons and an initially temporary ceasefire.

The Biden administration has been trying to broker such an agreement since May, when the US president announced the blueprint of a phased agreement, claiming it had been accepted by the Netanyahu government, but the Israeli prime minister made a series of comments distancing himself from its terms.

He later made an agreement contingent on maintaining an IDF presence in the Philadelphi corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border, which was unacceptable to Hamas. US officials came to see Netanyahu as at least as big an obstacle to peace as Hamas.

Gallant reportedly told the hostage families there was no military reason for holding on to the strip of land.

“The IDF commander and I said there was no security reason for remaining in the Philadelphi corridor,” Channel 12 reported him as saying. “Netanyahu said that it was a diplomatic consideration; I’m telling you there was no diplomatic consideration.”

Gallant’s departure from the coalition government removes the last major rival to Netanyahu, and the last relative moderate, from a cabinet dominated by the hard right. The Knesset passed a bill on Thursday, put forward by a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, which would allow the deportation of close relatives of anyone convicted of terrorist offences, even if the deportee was an Israeli citizen.

Although it is not specified in the text of the law, it is widely assumed that the new law is intended to apply to Palestinian citizens of Israel, and not to the relatives of convicted Jewish terrorists.

Gallant’s remarks on Thursday are politically explosive in Israel, where the families of the remaining hostages being held in Gaza, their supporters and the Israeli opposition have all accused Netanyahu of keeping the conflict in Gaza going to put off a new election, and the risk of losing power.

The absence of a ceasefire in Gaza has also prolonged the conflict in Lebanon, where the Shia militia Hezbollah has vowed to keep up attacks on Israel as long as Palestinians are being bombed in Gaza.

Lebanon’s civil defence service said 30 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in the town of Barja, in the Bekaa valley on Wednesday. The IDF has claimed that 60 Hezbollah fighters had been killed within 24 hours. Lebanese news agencies said two drones in the vicinity had been targeting moving cars.

The health authorities in Gaza said 27 had been killed on Thursday morning, most in northern Gaza, where the IDF has been ordering civilians to evacuate.

More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza during the past 13 months of Israeli bombardment, according to estimates by the Hamas-run health authorities, which are generally seen by the UN and other aid agencies as reliable.

Over the same period, more than 3,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, the vast majority in the past six weeks.

The Israeli army has distanced itself from comments made by a brigadier general that ground forces are getting closer to “the complete evacuation” of the northern Gaza Strip and residents will not be allowed to return home.

In a media briefing on Tuesday night, the Israel Defense Forces’ Brig Gen Itzik Cohen told Israeli reporters that “there is no intention of allowing the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return”. He added that humanitarian aid would be allowed to “regularly” enter the south of the territory but there were “no more civilians left” in the north.

International humanitarian law experts have said that such actions would amount to the war crimes of forcible transfer and the use of food as a weapon.

The IDF did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment on Cohen’s remarks. But on Thursday, a spokesperson said the comments had been taken out of context during a discussion about Jabaliya, and did not “reflect the IDF’s objectives and values”.

The spokesperson said the briefing on Tuesday had been on background, and the brigadier general should not have been quoted in Hebrew media reports that emerged.

A statement said that the IDF was permitting aid to enter northern Gaza, including Jabaliya. Residents say no aid has entered Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya or Beit Hanoun since a new offensive and tightened siege began on 5 October.

Israel has repeatedly denied trying to force the remaining population of northern Gaza to flee to the relative safety of the south during the offensive, now in its second month. Israel says the push is necessary to combat regrouped Hamas cells.

Rights groups and aid agencies have alleged that despite the denials, Israel appears to be carrying out a version of the so-called “generals’ plan”, which proposes giving civilians a deadline to leave and then treating anyone who remains as a combatant.

It is unclear how many people remain in northern Gaza; last month, the UN estimated there were about 400,000 civilians unable or unwilling to follow Israeli evacuation orders. Social media footage this week showed waves of displaced people carrying children and rucksacks and walking south through flattened areas of Gaza City.

Palestinian medics said on Thursday that Israeli attacks had killed 10 people in northern Gaza and seven in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, in the past 24 hours. The Israeli military said it had killed about 50 militants in the past 24 hours.

Israel cut the Palestinian territory in two earlier this year by creating what it calls the Netzarim corridor, separating what was once the densely populated Gaza City from the rest of the strip.

Permanently reoccupying Gaza is not official Israeli policy, but senior Israeli defence officials recently told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the government was aiming to annex large parts of the strip.

The Israeli army has distanced itself from comments made by a brigadier general that ground forces are getting closer to “the complete evacuation” of the northern Gaza Strip and residents will not be allowed to return home.

In a media briefing on Tuesday night, the Israel Defense Forces’ Brig Gen Itzik Cohen told Israeli reporters that “there is no intention of allowing the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return”. He added that humanitarian aid would be allowed to “regularly” enter the south of the territory but there were “no more civilians left” in the north.

International humanitarian law experts have said that such actions would amount to the war crimes of forcible transfer and the use of food as a weapon.

The IDF did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment on Cohen’s remarks. But on Thursday, a spokesperson said the comments had been taken out of context during a discussion about Jabaliya, and did not “reflect the IDF’s objectives and values”.

The spokesperson said the briefing on Tuesday had been on background, and the brigadier general should not have been quoted in Hebrew media reports that emerged.

A statement said that the IDF was permitting aid to enter northern Gaza, including Jabaliya. Residents say no aid has entered Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya or Beit Hanoun since a new offensive and tightened siege began on 5 October.

Israel has repeatedly denied trying to force the remaining population of northern Gaza to flee to the relative safety of the south during the offensive, now in its second month. Israel says the push is necessary to combat regrouped Hamas cells.

Rights groups and aid agencies have alleged that despite the denials, Israel appears to be carrying out a version of the so-called “generals’ plan”, which proposes giving civilians a deadline to leave and then treating anyone who remains as a combatant.

It is unclear how many people remain in northern Gaza; last month, the UN estimated there were about 400,000 civilians unable or unwilling to follow Israeli evacuation orders. Social media footage this week showed waves of displaced people carrying children and rucksacks and walking south through flattened areas of Gaza City.

Palestinian medics said on Thursday that Israeli attacks had killed 10 people in northern Gaza and seven in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, in the past 24 hours. The Israeli military said it had killed about 50 militants in the past 24 hours.

Israel cut the Palestinian territory in two earlier this year by creating what it calls the Netzarim corridor, separating what was once the densely populated Gaza City from the rest of the strip.

Permanently reoccupying Gaza is not official Israeli policy, but senior Israeli defence officials recently told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the government was aiming to annex large parts of the strip.

Cuba has been left reeling after a fierce category 3 hurricane ripped across the island, knocking out the country’s power grid, downing trees and damaging infrastructure. No fatalities were immediately reported.

Hurricane Rafael crossed a western portion of Cuba on Wednesday evening about 45 miles (75km) west of Havana, where José Ignacio Dimas returned home from his night shift as a security guard to find his apartment building in the historic center of the city had collapsed.

“The entire front wall of the building fell,” Ignacio Dimas said in a tight voice as he scanned the damage early on Thursday. Like many buildings in the capital, it was ageing and lacked maintenance.

Some 50,000 people took shelter in Havana, with thousands more doing the same in regions south and just west of the capital since they lived in flood zones or in flimsy homes. The main road from Havana to the southern coastal city of Batabanó was strewn with dozens of utility poles and wires.

Lázaro Guerra, electricity director for the ministry of energy and mines, said power had been partially restored in the island’s western region and that generation units were powering back up. But he warned that restoring power would be slow-going as crews took safety precautions.

In October, the island was hit by a one-two punch. First, it suffered island-wide blackouts stretching on for days, a product of the island’s energy crisis. Shortly after, it was slapped by a powerful hurricane that struck the eastern part of the island and killed at least six people.

The disasters have stoked discontent already simmering in Cuba amid an ongoing economic crisis, which has pushed many to migrate from the island.

As Rafael plowed across Cuba on Wednesday evening it slowed to a category 2 hurricane as it chugged into the Gulf of Mexico before heading toward Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Late on Thursday morning, the hurricane was located about 200 miles west-north-west of Havana. It had maximum sustained winds of 100mph (345km/h) and was moving west-north-west at 9mph.

Earlier in the week, Rafael brushed past Jamaica and battered the Cayman Islands, downing trees and power lines and unleashing heavy flooding in some areas.

Thousands of customers in Jamaica and Little Cayman remained without power as crews worked to restore electricity after the storm.

Rafael was expected to keep weakening as it spun over open waters and headed toward northern Mexico, although the hurricane center warned there was “above average uncertainty” in the storm’s future track.

Rafael is the 17th named storm of the season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted the 2024 hurricane season was likely to be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast called for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

Human-caused climate breakdown has increased the occurrence of the most intense and destructive tropical cyclones because warming oceans provide more energy, producing stronger storms.

When the chemist Chris Kozak finally got his hands on a sample of the mysterious blobs that recently washed up on the shores of Newfoundland’s beaches, Project Unknown Glob officially began.

At his disposal, Kozak and a team of graduate students had the “gorgeous” new science building and “world-class facilities” of Newfoundland’s Memorial University to run a battery of tests on the white, doughy blob.

“The first thing I did was poke it and smell it,” he said.

However simple, the initial observations gave Kozak a wealth of information to work with.

“By poking it, we could tell it was definitely rubbery, like overworked bread dough. We suspected it was an elastomer polymer. And the smell coming off was a bit like walking through the solvent aisle in your hardware store.”

For more than a month, residents of Canada’s easternmost province have tried to understand the source of hundreds of the pale, gooey masses which resemble the dough used to make toutons, a Newfoundland fried delicacy. Some of the blobs were as large as dinner plates.

The sample was provided by Hilary Corlett, an assistant professor with Memorial University’s earth sciences department, who travelled to Placentia Bay to gather samples. Her suspicion was that the blobs were man-made.

Kozak’s team’s initially hypothesized the blobs were a polyurethane foam used for insulating boats in the fishing industry. But when Kozak ran tests looking for carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen – all of which appear in polyurethane – no nitrogen was present. Nor did he find any sulphur, eliminating both polyurethane and any possible natural materials.

That initial finding diverged from what Canada’s environment ministry said last month, when it suggested in a news release that the material could be plant-based.

Next, Kozak conducted infrared spectroscopy and found chemical bonds consistent with polyvinyl acetate, often used as an adhesive in the shipping industry.

But a mass spectrometry test, conducted on 6 November, also found the substance also had characteristics of synthetic rubber.

“I did eight different tests, and they all point towards something synthetic,” said Kozak.

That new finding supported the team’s theory that the material was most likely a butyl rubber PVA composite, used in the oil and gas industry to clean out the pipes that feed oil into tankers.

The explanation put to the rest a mystery that had baffled both residents and experts.

“It’s funny that no one thought to reach out to a chemist until very late. Everyone had their own opinions and speculation, but no one was really taking a scientific and experimental point of view,” said Kozak.

But other characteristics of the blobs have worried Kozak. While it isn’t toxic and is safe to handle in its cured form, the substance is denser than water, meaning most of it has sunk to the depths of the Atlantic.

The Canadian coast guard has previously told residents the blobs were found on at least 28 miles of coastline.

“All we are seeing is the stuff that’s being washed ashore. I suspect a lot of this stuff is at the bottom of the sea and being churned up by the comings and goings of the tide,” said Kozak. “This definitely does not belong in the environment. It’s plastic pollution and what worries me is that because of its shape, it could be mistaken by marine wildlife for food.”

Kozak has reached out to the federal government with his findings, but not yet received a response.

A spokesperson from the ministry of environment previously told the Guardian it took pollution incidents and threats to the environment “very seriously” and if officers find evidence of a possible violation of federal environmental legislation, “they will take appropriate action”. Fines under the fisheries act can reach C$6m for corporations found to have released harmful substances into the water.

Kozak said said the nature and scale of the discharge suggest the material has industrial origins.

“I’m happy to be able to give residents peace of mind as to what it is. And now they know, they can find out where it comes from and who is responsible,” he said.

“Industry is important for development of this province, but at the same time, industry also can leave a very dire environmental footprint”

A portrait of English mathematician Alan Turing has become the first artwork by a humanoid robot to be sold at auction, fetching US$1.08m (£566,000, A$1.63m) in New York on Thursday.

The 2.2 metre (7.5 feet) portrait, titled A.I. God. Portrait of Alan Turing, was created by Ai-Da, the world’s first ultra-realistic robot artist. It smashed pre-sale expectations between $120,000 and $180,000 when it went under the hammer at Sotheby’s, which confirmed that 27 bids were placed on the work.

“Today’s record-breaking sale price for the first artwork by a humanoid robot artist to go up for auction marks a moment in the history of modern and contemporary art and reflects the growing intersection between AI technology and the global art market,” the auction house said in a statement.

Ai-Da, which uses AI to speak, said: “The key value of my work is its capacity to serve as a catalyst for dialogue about emerging technologies.”

Ai-Da added that a “portrait of pioneer Alan Turing invites viewers to reflect on the God-like nature of AI and computing while considering the ethical and societal implications of these advancements.”

Turing, a mathematician and early computer scientist who played a crucial role in fighting Nazi Germany by working as a code breaker, raised concerns about the use of AI in the 1950s.

One of the most advanced robots in the world, Ai-Da is designed to resemble a human woman and is named after Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer.

Ai-Da was devised by Aidan Meller, a specialist in modern and contemporary art.

“The greatest artists in history grappled with their period of time, and both celebrated and questioned society’s shifts,” Meller said.

Meller led the team that created Ai-Da and worked with artificial intelligence specialists at the universities of Oxford and Birmingham.

Ai-Da generates ideas through conversations with members of the studio, and had suggested creating an image of Turing during a discussion about “AI for good”.

The robot was then asked what style, colour, content, tone and texture to use, before using cameras in its eyes to look at a picture of Turing and create the painting.

The artwork’s “muted tones and broken facial planes” seemingly suggested “the struggles Turing warned we will face when it comes to managing AI”, Meller said.

Ai-Da’s works were “ethereal and haunting” and “continue to question where the power of AI will take us, and the global race to harness its power”, he added.

In an interview with the Guardian in 2022, when asked whether she painted from imagination, Ai-Da responded, “I like to paint what I see. You can paint from imagination, I guess, if you have an imagination. I have been seeing different things to humans as I do not have consciousness.”

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report

• This article was amended on 8 November 2024 to correct the final amount the painting sold for.

Three people have been charged in connection with Liam Payne’s death in Argentina for supplying narcotics and the abandonment of a person followed by death.

Toxicology tests found that when he died, Payne had traces of alcohol, cocaine, and a prescription antidepressant in his body, prosecutors said in a statement on Thursday.

The former One Direction star fell to his death on 16 October from a third floor hotel balcony in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires.

Guests at the time said they had heard banging and doors slamming throughout the afternoon, before a loud scream. Staff had called emergency services to report a guest who was “overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol” who was “destroying” a room. The 31-year-old’s body was found in the late afternoon in Casa Sur’s internal courtyard.

Police pronounced Payne dead at the scene, saying he had suffered a “very serious injury” to the base of the skull. The forensic medical corps later concluded that Payne’s death was caused by “multiple traumas” and “internal and external haemorrhage” resulting from the fall.

One of the three accused reportedly visited Payne regularly during his two-week stay in the city. They have been charged with the abandonment of a person followed by death – a sentence of which carries between five to 15 years in prison – and the facilitation of narcotics.

The second person, who is a hotel employee, “must answer for two proven supplies of cocaine”, prosecutors said. The third person has also been accused of supplying narcotics on 14 October.

Prosecutors said that officials had collected several dozen testimonies, and conducted nine raids on homes across Buenos Aires province, which resulted in the seizure of several personal devices. More than 800 hours of video footage have also been analysed.

In their statement, the prosecutors also ruled out suicide, saying: “The lack of defence or self-preservation reflex in the fall, together with other relevant data from his consumption, allow us to conclude that Liam Payne was not fully conscious or was experiencing a state of noticeable decrease or loss of consciousness at the time of the fall.”

“Physical intervention by a third party” was also eliminated as a possibility.

Payne, who was born in Wolverhampton, England, became part of One Direction after appearing on British reality show The X Factor as a teenager. The group, which was one of the biggest boybands of all time, sold more than 70m records worldwide, before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016.

Payne had previously opened up about struggles with his mental health, saying that during the height of the band’s fame he began using alcohol and an epilepsy drug as a mood stabiliser to counter the “erratic highs and lows” he was experiencing.

Payne’s father, Geoff, travelled to Buenos Aires after his son’s death, meeting fans and visiting the British Cemetery where his son’s remains were being kept. Earlier this week, Payne’s body was repatriated to the UK.

Three people have been charged in connection with Liam Payne’s death in Argentina for supplying narcotics and the abandonment of a person followed by death.

Toxicology tests found that when he died, Payne had traces of alcohol, cocaine, and a prescription antidepressant in his body, prosecutors said in a statement on Thursday.

The former One Direction star fell to his death on 16 October from a third floor hotel balcony in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires.

Guests at the time said they had heard banging and doors slamming throughout the afternoon, before a loud scream. Staff had called emergency services to report a guest who was “overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol” who was “destroying” a room. The 31-year-old’s body was found in the late afternoon in Casa Sur’s internal courtyard.

Police pronounced Payne dead at the scene, saying he had suffered a “very serious injury” to the base of the skull. The forensic medical corps later concluded that Payne’s death was caused by “multiple traumas” and “internal and external haemorrhage” resulting from the fall.

One of the three accused reportedly visited Payne regularly during his two-week stay in the city. They have been charged with the abandonment of a person followed by death – a sentence of which carries between five to 15 years in prison – and the facilitation of narcotics.

The second person, who is a hotel employee, “must answer for two proven supplies of cocaine”, prosecutors said. The third person has also been accused of supplying narcotics on 14 October.

Prosecutors said that officials had collected several dozen testimonies, and conducted nine raids on homes across Buenos Aires province, which resulted in the seizure of several personal devices. More than 800 hours of video footage have also been analysed.

In their statement, the prosecutors also ruled out suicide, saying: “The lack of defence or self-preservation reflex in the fall, together with other relevant data from his consumption, allow us to conclude that Liam Payne was not fully conscious or was experiencing a state of noticeable decrease or loss of consciousness at the time of the fall.”

“Physical intervention by a third party” was also eliminated as a possibility.

Payne, who was born in Wolverhampton, England, became part of One Direction after appearing on British reality show The X Factor as a teenager. The group, which was one of the biggest boybands of all time, sold more than 70m records worldwide, before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016.

Payne had previously opened up about struggles with his mental health, saying that during the height of the band’s fame he began using alcohol and an epilepsy drug as a mood stabiliser to counter the “erratic highs and lows” he was experiencing.

Payne’s father, Geoff, travelled to Buenos Aires after his son’s death, meeting fans and visiting the British Cemetery where his son’s remains were being kept. Earlier this week, Payne’s body was repatriated to the UK.

A lorry driver and ex-DJ who stabbed his partner’s mother to death in a drunken attack after she tried to help her daughter has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years.

Damian Homer, 51, also stabbed his partner, Stacey Hill, 38, who tried to shield her mother, Wendy Francis, from the kitchen knife he wielded after an argument.

Homer, who previously pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder, stabbed Francis, 61, twice in the chest after she used a key to let herself into her daughter’s home after being alerted that he had armed himself and was being violent.

Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC said Francis saw her daughter screaming and being attacked in the kitchen when she arrived at the property in Worcester on 2 March.

Sandhu told the court that Francis told Homer: “Get off my daughter,” before he beat both women repeatedly and then stabbed Francis.

“Stacey Hill then got on top of her mother so that any further blows with the knife would be delivered to her rather than her mother,” Sandhu said.

Francis suffered stab wounds which passed through her left lung and liver, went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at 9.18pm.

Hill suffered wounds to her hand, thigh, chest and abdomen, and pleaded with paramedics to assist her mother before they helped her, Sandhu added. She spent 10 days in hospital, three of them in intensive care.

Homer sat with his head bowed and frequently sobbed in the dock as family members, including Francis’s son, described the killing as “evil” in victim impact statements read to the court.

Homer, who lived with Hill at the address, initially claimed he had been acting in self-defence, but wrote a letter to his partner while in custody saying “alcohol possessed me” and that he had very little recollection of the attacks.

He claimed he consumed eight cans of cider and further drinks, including part of a bottle of wine, on the day of the murder.

Defence KC Tim Hannam said Homer was “devastated and mortified” by his actions and had “destroyed the lives of everyone in his family”. Homer had began to drink to excess in 1998 after losing his job and suffering back problems, the court heard.

Passing sentence, Judge Rupert Mayo described the murder as a “senseless killing”.

“It would not be an exaggeration to say that both women were fighting for their lives,” he said.

In a statement issued through West Mercia police, Francis’s family said: “She welcomed Damian Homer into the family with open arms, showing nothing but love, support and loyalty towards him, which makes all of this so much harder to comprehend.

“We will never come to terms with why this happened, but what we do know is she will be loved and missed forever. The void she has left in the lives of her family and friends is one that will never be filled.”

Retired DCI Leighton Harding, who led the investigation, commended Hill for giving evidence in the case. “Despite the unimaginable trauma she faced, the bravery she has shown has been inspiring and without doubt the evidence she was able to provide was instrumental in securing the conviction of Homer and today’s sentence,” he said.

Prince William has described the past year as “brutal” and “probably the hardest year in my life” as he dealt with his wife and father having cancer.

In a video interview to mark the end of his week-long visit of Cape Town in South Africa for the Earthshot prize awards ceremony, William was asked about his year. “Honestly, it’s been dreadful,” he said. “It’s probably been the hardest year in my life. Trying to get through everything else and keep everything on track has been really difficult.

“But I’m so proud of my wife, I’m proud of my father, for handling the things that they have done. But from a personal family point of view, it’s been, yeah, it’s been brutal.”

Buckingham Palace announced that William’s father, King Charles, had cancer in February. In March, William’s wife, the Princess of Wales, disclosed her own diagnosis.

Catherine appeared in a video with her family in September to confirm her return to public duties after completing a course of chemotherapy.

The princess’s message about her cancer journey was spoken over images showing the family and their children enjoying the outdoors, and she said her focus now was “doing what I can to stay cancer free”.

Charles has been receiving treatment for an undisclosed form of the disease as an outpatient, but will return to fuller duties and greater overseas travel next year.

In the wide-ranging discussion with the British media, William also said he did not like the added responsibility that now comes with being heir to the throne.

“Do I like more responsibility? No,” he said. “Do I like the freedom that I can build something like Earthshot? Then yes.

“And that’s the future for me. It’s very important with my role and my platform that I’m doing something for good, that I’m helping people’s lives and I’m doing something that is genuinely meaningful.

“So, the Earthshot is a culmination, if you like, of all that put together.”

William staged his Earthshot prize ceremony in an eco-dome on Wednesday night. He called his environmental awards a “movement for change” and called on the world to join.

He said Earthshot carried out due diligence on finalists, enabling companies to “come in and poach what they want” but there was a “reluctance” from some firms to get involved as they waited for “something better round the corner”.

The French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot has abandoned a visit to a holy site in Jerusalem under French control after armed Israeli police entered the site and briefly arrested two French gendarmes.

France has summoned the Israeli ambassador over the incident, the latest of several controversies involving the Eleona sanctuary on the Mount of Olives, which along with three other sites make up the French national domain in the Holy Land.

The sites have been the focus of diplomatic incidents in the past. The national domain was attributed to France before Israel’s creation in 1948 and is administered as a private property by the French consulate in Jerusalem.

According to an AFP journalist who witnessed the incident, Israeli police entered the site and surrounded the two French gendarmes before pushing one of them to the ground.

The gendarme identified himself and shouted “Don’t touch me” several times, according to the journalist. Both gendarmes were then led into police cars, before being later released.

It remained unclear why the Israeli police had entered the site.

“I will not enter the Eleona domain today, because Israeli security forces entered with weapons, without prior French authorisation, without agreeing to leave today,” the French foreign minister said at the scene, describing the situation as “unacceptable”.

“This violation of the integrity of a domain placed in the care of France is liable to weaken the ties that I came here to cultivate with Israel, at a time when all of us need to help the region advance on the path towards peace,” Barrot said.

“The Eleona has not only belonged to France for more than 150 years, but France also ensures its security, maintains it.

“The integrity of the four sites that France is responsible for here in Jerusalem must be respected,” he added.

The Eleona, which incorporates a Benedictine monastery, is situated on the Mount of Olives in occupied East Jerusalem, and is associated with the so-called Pater cave, where Christ is said to have taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer.

In a previous incident in January 2020, the French president Emmanuel Macron reprimanded an Israeli police officer in front of the Sainte-Anne basilica during a crush of people, saying: “I don’t like what you did in front of me.”

In 1996, President Jacques Chirac told Israeli soldiers surrounding him too closely: “Do you want me to go back to my plane?” demanding that the soldiers leave the Sainte-Anne site.

Taiwan’s government says it is paying close attention to reports that Elon Musk’s SpaceX asked Taiwanese suppliers to move manufacturing to other countries because of “geopolitical” concerns.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that SpaceX’s request to suppliers in Taiwan’s multibillion-dollar industry appeared to have prompted some to shift locations to Vietnam, Thailand and other places. In response, Taiwan’s economic affairs minister, JW Kuo, said the industry was strong and “should be able to cope”, but that the government was monitoring the situation.

“There is no such information on its official website, but some foreign media are reporting it, and we are paying close attention to it. I think the supply chain in Taiwan is very strong and it should be able to cope with the situation,” Kuo said.

“Short-term political factors should not affect the supply-chain relationship between international satellite companies and Taiwan manufacturers.”

There are 46 Taiwanese companies producing components and sensitive equipment for the global satellite industry, including for around a dozen companies that then directly supply SpaceX.

One satellite component maker, Chin-Poon Industrial, told Reuters it had been asked to move its manufacturing operations to Thailand “mostly due to geopolitical considerations”. Two other SpaceX suppliers, Wistron NeWeb Corporation (WNC) and Universal Microwave Technology, expanded to Vietnam this year, the report said. Neither would comment on individual clients, but both have cited geopolitical concerns as reasons for their expansions.

A spokesperson for WNC told the Guardian that all Taiwanese businesses considered “geopolitical risks” among other factors. “But still, it mainly depends on customer demand. We are in accordance with the needs of the customer to make decisions,” she said. Other suppliers declined to comment or told the Guardian they were bound by confidentiality agreements.

China’s ruling Communist party claims Taiwan as a province of China and vows to annex it, with military force if necessary. The prospect of a war over Taiwan has global ramifications, including for supply chains. Taiwan produces the vast majority of the most advanced semiconductors, and has resisted foreign entreaties to move production overseas, maintaining what analysts have dubbed a “silicon shield” deterrent against a Chinese attack.

Musk seeking to move his supply chain ahead of potential conflict renews focus on his fractious relationship with Taiwan, and concerns over how the incoming Trump administration – in which Musk is expected to play a role – will approach the delicate situation. In 2022 he told the Financial Times that he believed a conflict over Taiwan was “inevitable”.

The reported request from SpaceX sparked anger in Taiwan. On social media, some accused him of being “ungrateful” for the local SpaceX suppliers. “Taiwanese, why aren’t you angry? We should refuse to buy Teslas,” said one person on Threads. In Taiwan Tesla was the 10th best-selling new car in 2023 and 2024, with sales rising more than 50% since 2022.

It is not the first time Musk has angered Taiwan. In September last year he asserted Taiwan was an integral part of China akin to the US state of Hawaii, and that it was only “arbitrarily” separated because of US protection. In the 2022 interview he recommended Taiwan accept a level of control similar to Hong Kong – something Taiwan’s government and people overwhelmingly reject.

A recent report by the Wall Street Journal, which said Musk had been in regular contact with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, also claimed he had kept Starlink away from Taiwan on request from Putin as a favour to China’s leader and Putin ally, Xi Jinping. Previous reporting has said Starlink is not available in Taiwan because of Taiwanese requirements for majority local ownership.

The story has also garnered significant attention in China. On Weibo it was the top trending topic on Thursday, with more than 190m engagements on one related hashtag, many praising Musk’s “foresight” regarding China’s unification goals. Some of the posts on Weibo included an old video of Musk discussing China’s claim over Taiwan.

“Although Musk’s move seems cold, it is actually a precise control of geopolitical risks,” said one.

SpaceX has been contacted for comment.

Additional reporting by Chi-hui Lin

Organisers of an Istanbul film festival announced its cancellation on Thursday to protest against a local authority ban on the screening of Queer, a drama starring Daniel Craig.

The arthouse film streaming platform Mubi said it was cancelling the entire four-day festival just hours before it was set to open in Kadikoy, on the Asian side of Istanbul.

“Hours before the start … we were told by the Kadikoy district authorities that the screening of Queer, the opening film, was banned … on grounds it contained provocative content that would disturb the peace,” it said.

The authorities said the ban would be “enforced for security reasons”, according to Mubi.

In the film, which was directed by Luca Guadagnino and premiered at the Venice film festival last month, Craig plays a lonely drug-addicted gay man. A love story between two men based on a short novel by William S Burroughs, it includes graphic sex scenes as it traces their emotional highs and lows.

Mubi denounced the ban as “restricting art and freedom of expression”.

“Festivals are breathing spaces that celebrate art and cultural diversity and bring people together. This ban affects not only a film but the meaning and purpose of the entire festival,” it said.

Although homosexuality was decriminalised in Turkey in 1858, it is frowned upon by large swaths of society, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan regularly referring to LGBTQ+ people as “perverts” and accusing them of posing a threat to traditional families.

In 2020, the streaming giant Netflix cancelled production of a series in Turkey featuring a gay character after failing to obtain government permission for filming.

Istanbul’s annual Pride march has been banned every year since 2015 on security grounds and LGBTQ+ individuals say they face regular harassment and abuse.

London-based Mubi, a global arthouse movie streamer, producer and distributor, was set up in 2007 by the Turkish entrepreneur Efe Cakarel. It offers streaming services in more than 195 countries.