Iran has vowed revenge after airstrikes killed the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut in the space of 12 hours, as the dual Israeli assassinations crushed hopes for an imminent Gaza ceasefire and fuelled fears of a “dangerous escalation” in the region.

Israel did not directly claim the attack on Haniyeh, but there was little doubt among the country’s enemies, and its own politicians and analysts, about who was responsible.

Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas official, told a news conference in Tehran, quoting witnesses, that Haniyeh had been killed by a missile that hit him “directly” in a state guesthouse where he was staying.

Haniyeh was visiting for the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who said after the killing that his country would defend its territorial integrity and honour.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, blamed Israel and said Iran had a “duty” of revenge because Haniyeh had been targeted while a guest in the country. The New York Times reported that Khamenei had issued an order for Iran to strike Israel directly, citing three Iranian officials briefed on the order. It was not possible to verify the report.

The timing and location of the dual attacks, targeting very high-profile commanders in densely populated capital cities, made them particularly humiliating for Iran and Hezbollah, raising the risk of a slide towards full-blown regional war as Tehran seeks to re-establish a military deterrent.

Although Hamas has also vowed revenge, after nearly 10 months fighting in Gaza it has little capacity to inflict damage beyond the strip.

Security forces and officials in Israel, Iran and Lebanon mostly agree that all-out conflict would be devastating for all parties, regardless of who emerged victorious. But in the high-stakes efforts to project power in a regional proxy war, the risk of miscalculation and deadly mistakes is intensifying.

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, believed the attacks marked a “dangerous escalation”, his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement that urged all parties to work towards de-escalation. “Restraint alone is insufficient at this extremely sensitive time.”

The killing of Haniyeh, who played a key role for Hamas in negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, led many to question whether Israel’s government had any real desire to halt the conflict there.

Egypt and Qatar, who have played key roles in talks, warned that Haniyeh’s killing would set back negotiations.

“How can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side?” the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, wrote on X, joining a regional chorus of condemnation.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, made a defiant address on Wednesday evening, celebrating the strike in Lebanon – which Israel has officially claimed – and vowing to continue fighting in Gaza.

“For months, not a week has gone by without people, at home and abroad, telling me to end the war. I didn’t give in to those voices then and I won’t give in to them today,” he said.

“If we had yielded to the pressure to end the war, we would not have eliminated the leaders of Hamas, we would not have taken over the Philadelphi Corridor [along the Egyptian border], which is the oxygen for Hamas, and we would not have created the conditions to both return all our abductees and achieve the goals of the war.”

The US administration has for months been leading an international diplomatic effort to prevent the war in Gaza spreading into a broader regional conflict, and US diplomats have recently pushed hard for a ceasefire deal in the strip.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Wednesday that Washington had not been aware of or involved in Haniyeh’s assassination, and that a ceasefire deal for Gaza was still vital.

The road to de-escalating regional conflicts with Iran and its allies, from Hezbollah at Israel’s northern border to Houthis in Yemen, runs through Gaza.

All the groups have said they took up arms in solidarity with Palestinians, after Israel responded to Hamas’s cross-border attacks on 7 October by launching a war there. Without a ceasefire in Gaza, it is unlikely they will put down arms.

The White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said: “We don’t believe that an escalation is inevitable … And there’s no signs that an escalation is imminent.”

At an emergency UN security council meeting, China, Russia, Algeria and others condemned Haniyeh’s assassination, which Iran’s UN ambassador called an act of terrorism. Fu Cong, China’s ambassador to the UN, said failure to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza was responsible for worsening tensions.

The Palestinian representative, Feda Abdelhady Nasser, condemned Haniyeh’s killing saying “Violence and terror are Israel’s main and only currency”. She added, “There is no red line for Israel. No law it will not breach, no norm it will not trample. No act too depraved or too barbaric.”

Haniyeh’s funeral will be held in Iran on Thursday, and the country has declared three days of mourning. His body will then be flown to Qatar’s capital, Doha, for burial.

Despite the shock at his death, Hamas officials and analysts said it would not have much immediate impact on the ground in Gaza.

Hamas has survived past assassinations of its top leaders, including Haniyeh’s mentor Ahmed Yassin in 2004, and Haniyeh did not command operations in the territory after leaving for exile in 2019.

Hamas fighters inside Gaza are led by Yahya Sinwar, thought to be the mastermind of the 7 October attacks in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken hostage.

Haniyeh had urged Palestinians to be “steadfast” when Israel killed Yassin and again when an airstrike killed three of his sons and four grandchildren in Gaza in April.

In an interview with Al Jazeera at the time, he insisted that his personal loss would not prompt Hamas to shift its position in negotiations. His own death is likely to elicit a similar response from other Hamas leaders.

Israel officially declined to comment on Haniyeh’s assassination, but it had vowed to kill all Hamas leaders after the 7 October attacks. Its intelligence services have a history of carrying out covert killings inside Iran, mostly targeting scientists working on the country’s nuclear programme.

The retired general Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israel’s military intelligence directorate, said on Wednesday night that the attacks were “two quality operations of Israel Defense Forces against two top terrorists, one in Beirut and one in Tehran”.

Haniyeh’s death came hours after Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukur, was killed in an airstrike on a south Beirut suburb launched in retaliation for a rocket attack that killed 12 children at the weekend.

Lebanon’s foreign minister said the strike was a shock after assurances from Israel’s allies that the country planned a limited response that “would not produce a war”.

“We did not expect to be hit in Beirut. We thought these were red lines that the Israelis would respect,” Abdallah Bou Habib told the Guardian. The strike also killed three women and two children and injured dozens.

Shukur’s funeral was also set to be held on Thursday, with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is expected to speak.

News of the assassinations was largely greeted with delight in Israel, as part-completion of a promise to hunt down the men responsible for the 7 October atrocity.

Social media was filled with triumphant memes. The cabinet minister Amichai Chikli shared footage of Haniyeh apparently nodding to chants of “death to Israel”, with the caption “careful what you wish for” in a post on X.

It was also seen as a vindication for the security forces after the failures of 7 October. “It really revives a little bit of the lost dignity of the intelligence community of Israel,” said Tamir Hayman, a retired general who, like Yadlin, served as head of defence intelligence.

However, he said the tactical impact would not change Israel’s overall position, nearly 10 months into its war in Gaza. “In terms of the overall strategic posture of Israel and the complicated situation we are facing to stop the war and achieve all our goals, it really does not change a lot.”

He called on the government to use its military advantage now to push for a ceasefire deal and the return of hostages, and then turn its attention to securing the northern border. “If we continue [relying] on those very good tactical achievements, we are basically in the same place we have been yesterday,” he said.

Meanwhile, two US airlines, United and Delta, said they were suspending flights to Tel Aviv due to the current situation, while Air France and low-cost carrier Transavia France said they were suspending flights between Paris and Beirut until the weekend.

Tel Aviv, Hodeidah, Majdal Shams, Baghdad, Beirut and now Tehran. Although the parties involved are loath to acknowledge that the war in Gaza is metastasising into a regional conflict, the last two weeks of airstrikes and targeted killings across the Middle East suggest the risk is becoming more acute.

In southern Beirut on Wednesday, rubble lay piled up at the foot of a collapsed building that had been struck by three Israeli missiles just hours before. The sound of heavy machinery filled the air, aiding the civil defence members searching for people trapped under debris as Hezbollah fighters clothed in black watched from impromptu roadblocks.

Rescue workers were looking for, among others, Fuad Shukur, the powerful Lebanese group’s top military commander and the target of the attack in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood on Tuesday evening. Hezbollah confirmed his death on Wednesday and said the group’s secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, would speak at Shukur’s funeral on Thursday.

Seventy-four people were injured in the strike on Beirut, mostly from windows and debris from surrounding buildings. Four were killed, including two children, according to the Lebanese ministry of health.

“We are used to martyrs and civilians dying,” said Joumana, a 40-year-old from Haret Hreik. “We take pride in the martyrs, as if he was a groom we were clapping for. We are not scared of anything, Israel, nothing scares us; not even America scares us.”

People in Lebanon have been bracing for Israeli retaliation since an airstrike Israel blamed on the Iran-backed Shia militia killed 12 young people playing football in the Golan Heights on Saturday.

But while Tuesday night’s massive explosion in Beirut signalled the waiting was over, further escalation appears likely: Nasrallah reportedly sent a message to Israel through US mediators that strikes on the Lebanese capital would cross a red line, and trigger an attack on Tel Aviv.

Just hours after escalating tensions with Hezbollah with the alleged assassination of Shukur, Israel took the regional brinkmanship to an unanticipated new level. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced early on Wednesday that Hamas’s Qatar-based politburo chief, Ismail Haniyeh, had been assassinated overnight during a visit to the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Details of the targeted killing are unclear, but Iranian media reported that Haniyeh was killed by an airborne projectile fired from outside the country that hit his safe house in a northern neighbourhood of Tehran, probably scuppering the already faltering ceasefire talks in the Gaza war.

Israel has a track record of daring assassination operations targeting its enemies around the world, although it never claims responsibility. But Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has directly blamed Israel for the attack, and Iran and Hamas have vowed to make Israel “regret” killing Haniyeh.

The decades-old shadow war between Israel and Iran burst into the open for the first time in April, when Tehran launched more than 300 drones and missiles towards Israel in a carefully calibrated response to the killing of a senior Revolutionary Guards commander in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

Its reaction this time – to the killing of a much more important figure, and on Iranian soil – is likely to be stronger, and could draw its proxies from across the Middle East, including Hezbollah, deeper into the conflict.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded tit-for-tat cross-border attacks since the Lebanese militia began firing on Israel “in solidarity” with the Palestinians a day after Hamas’s 7 October attack. Overshadowed by the death and destruction in the Gaza Strip, the conflict has nonetheless steadily ratcheted up, killing dozens of civilians and forcing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the blue line to flee their homes.

Even as the war entered uncharted territory on Wednesday, there was satisfaction in several sections of the media and political establishment in Israel at the assassinations in Lebanon and Iran.

One senior EU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “Although Israel didn’t claim the Haniyeh assassination, it is seen as a demonstration of Israel’s determination to destroy Hamas to the point of making it irrelevant as a military threat and to take it out of the political calculations for the ‘day after’ in Gaza and in the Palestinian arena.

“Together with Fuad Shukur’s killing and last week’s raid on Hodeidah port in Yemen, all this is a clear warning to Tehran and its proxies that Israel is not afraid to hit them further if they continue to challenge it. This increases the risks of very dangerous escalation but it also pushes the global powers to intensify their efforts in pressuring all sides involved in the conflict with the aim to avoid all-out war.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reiterated after the attack on Shukur that Israel was not seeking a wider war, but was “ready for all eventualities”. Meanwhile, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, told reporters that the US was “doing things to take the temperature down” but would come to Israel’s defence if it was attacked.

Events of the last 24 hours have left Khamenei and Nasrallah looking increasingly vulnerable which, conversely, could strengthen Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran’s resolve.

At the funeral procession for six-year-old Amira and 10-year-old Hassan Fadallalh in Beirut on Wednesday afternoon, residents said they were not cowed by the Israeli strike the night before. Prayers were interrupted by angry chants of “death to America” and “death to Israel”. Others told the Guardian they expected a strong response from Hezbollah, and that they were ready to pay the price for whatever further retaliation came from Israel.

“We really trust the wisdom of our leadership and the resistance movement with our lives and safety,” said Aya, a 38-year old teacher and friend of the family. “We’re resilient, we have the needed steadfastness to stay here. No one would think of leaving.”

Avenging the assassination of the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, is now Tehran’s duty as his killing occurred while he was a “dear guest” on Iranian soil, the country’s supreme leader has warned in his first reaction to the killing.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described Haniyeh’s killing, which Tehran views as a provocation designed to escalate the conflict in the Middle East, as a “bitter and difficult incident that happened in the territory of the Islamic republic”.

The episode has plunged Masoud Pezeshkhian, the newly inaugurated Iranian president, into a major crisis in his first days in office as he faces internal demands to respond to what amounts to a humiliating targeting of an ally while visiting Tehran to attend his own inauguration – even as he seeks better ties with the west. Pezeshkhian vowed his country would “defend its territory” and make the attackers regret their action.

Mohammad Reza Aref, the newly appointed vice-president, said the west was complicit in the manifestation of “state terrorism” through its silence at the actions of Israel, whom Tehran and Hamas have blamed for the assassination.

He said: “This desperate act was based on sinister goals, including creating a new crisis at the regional level and challenging the regional and international relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran at this point in time, especially at the beginning of the ‘government of national unity’.”

The powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said: “This crime of the Zionist regime will face a harsh and painful response from the powerful and huge resistance front.”

The choice of Tehran, as opposed to Qatar, where Haniyeh mainly resides, or Turkey which he regularly visited, is likely to be about more than just opportunity. It is also a chance to show to a global audience that the IRGC cannot defend its most prized political assets, even in its own capital.

Worse still, is the fact that Haniyeh was in Tehran with 110 other foreign delegations, including leaders of the supposed “axis of resistance”, to attend Pezeshkian’s inauguration, underlining to others how little protection the IRGC can, in practice, provide to its dearest diplomatic allies.

Pezeshkian, who is in the midst of forming a reformist cabinet, was elected partly on a strategy of building better relations with the west, as a way of boosting the ailing Iranian economy and lifting economic sanctions, but that already internally controversial strategy now looks harder to follow.

The 85-year-old Khamenei had displayed his scepticism about the strategy on Sunday, when he said he would only support better relations with Europe if the continent first changed its attitude towards Tehran. Iran’s future, he stressed, lay with China and Russia, the policy adopted by Pezeshkian’s opponents in the election campaign.

The non-attendance of any Europeans at the inauguration apart from Enrique Mora, the deputy to the EU foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, and the EU chief nuclear negotiator showed how relations with Europe have fallen away. Reformist newspapers noted the absence of European leaders, or even ambassadors, at the ceremony.

It is striking by contrast that at the time of the election of the last reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, in May 1997, the then Israeli foreign minister, David Levy, suggested a momentous transition was taking place that needed to be followed closely.

This time Emmanuel Macron, the French president, spent an hour on the phone with Pezeshkian on Monday, testing the waters to see if his surprise election might mark an opening for better relations. But if there was any chance of a diplomatic breakthrough – and there was no sign of one judging from the read-outs of the call issued by both sides – the opportunity will have slipped away for now. Macron had been probing to see if Iran would stop sending arms to Moscow for use in Ukraine, an issue of muffled debate inside Tehran.

It is also easy to exaggerate, partly based on the Khatami experience, both the president’s powers in security issues and the extent to which Pezeshkian marked a break with the past. After voting in the first round of the presidential election, the reformist candidate himself told reporters he hoped his country would try to have friendly relations “with all countries except for Israel”.

Pezeshkian has also mocked the west’s support for human rights and its refusal to stop the 35,000 deaths in Gaza.

One of his first acts on 8 July after his election was to send a personal letter of reassurance to the Hezbollah secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has always supported the resistance of the people in the region against the illegitimate Zionist regime,” Pezeshkian wrote. “Supporting the resistance is rooted in the fundamental policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran and will continue with strength.”

Hezbollah, reeling from the killing of Fuad Shukr, a top military commander in the group’s stronghold of southern Beirut, will now want to know how deep that support is in practice.

A meeting of the Iranian National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian parliament will be held later on Wednesday, but already Iranian leaders are describing Haniyeh’s death as the crossing of a red line, meaning some form of military response is inevitable.

Inside Iran there is no sense that Haniyeh was a legitimate target as the leader of a movement that mounted the attack on Israel on 7 October.

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, said the killing of Haniyeh would strengthen the unbreakable bond between Iran and Palestine.

Indeed such is the humiliation for the IRGC that voices inside Tehran are reopening questions as to whether the former president Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter accident, was truly the victim of engine failure or instead something more sinister. The revival of the rumours also underlines how official commentary on security events are disbelieved.

The last time Israel and Iran took direct military action against one another was over the killing on 1 April of eight IRGC al-Quds force commanders in the Iranian consulate in Damascus, including Brig Gen Mohammad Zahedi, the al-Quds force’s commander for Syria and Lebanon. Iran responded with a barrage of more than 300 missiles and drones on 13 April, the first direct attack ever launched against Israel from Iranian soil. Then on 19 April, Israel destroyed part of an Iranian S-300 long-range air defence system in Isfahan.

The two sides walked across a choreographed tightrope, warning one another through intermediaries of the likely scale and limits of their reprisals. Israel said it could have gone further such as hitting Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment facility and its broader air defence system. Both sides signalled they were not seeking war with one another.

But since then other assassinations have taken place; Iran believes Israel’s right-wing leadership is blocking a Gaza ceasefire agreement; and the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon has been steadily headed to the brink.

Iranian diplomats say the crisis presents severe problems for the west in that, by defending Israel’s security, it has muted itself in the face of an Israeli prime minister who uses methods widely regarded as counter-productive.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, the prime minister of Qatar, who has acted as a mediator in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, vented his frustration on X, writing: “Political assassinations and continued targeting of civilians in Gaza while talks continue leads us to ask, how can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side? Peace needs serious partners and a global stance against the disregard for human life.”

Coincidentally, both the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, and the defence secretary, John Healey, are currently in Qatar. In parliament on Tuesday, Lammy said: “If we get that immediate ceasefire, if the Biden plan is adopted, it will allow de-escalation across the region. That is why we need to see that plan adopted by both sides as soon as possible.”

Although he blamed Iran for the overall escalation of tensions in the region, he will have to ask himself if the killing of Haniyeh at this point in Tehran brings the Biden plan or instead chaos closer.

The airstrikes on the Hamas political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran early on Wednesday morning, and on the Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut late on Tuesday were the latest in a series of targeted assassinations across the region.

Israel, which has not claimed responsibility for both attacks, has vowed to kill all Hamas leaders responsible for the 7 October 2023 attack and go after senior commanders from Iran and its militant allies.

Some of the strikes inside Gaza have caused high civilian tolls and attacks beyond the borders of Israel and occupied Palestine risk escalating a complex regional proxy war towards full blown conflict. Israel says it will take all steps to protect its citizens and ensure its defence.

However, analysts warn tactical success in identifying targets and carrying out complex targeted attacks at long range does not guarantee strategic victory. Israel has been taking out Hamas leaders for decades, but the group has been able to replace them and survive.

Below are some of the high-profile assassinations claimed by or attributed to Israel since 7 October.

31 October 2023

Ibrahim Biari – confirmed dead. The commander of Hamas’s central Jabaliya battalion, he oversaw all military operations in the northern Gaza Strip after the Israel Defense Forces began their campaign in the territory.

The attack on a crowded urban residential area, in the mid-afternoon, came without warning and killed at least 126 civilians, the Wall Street Journal reported.

25 December 2023

Razi Mousavi – confirmed dead. A high-ranking general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mousavi was responsible for coordinating the military alliance between Syria and Iran.

He was killed in an airstrike on his residence in Sayyidah Zaynab, a southern Damascus suburb.

2 January 2024

Saleh al-Arouri – confirmed dead. A senior Hamas leader, a founding commander of its military wing and regarded as the principal interlocutor between Hamas and Hezbollah.

He was killed in a missile strike on a Hamas office in a southern Beirut suburb, along with two other Hamas commanders.

A key figure in the group, seen as close to Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip, he was influential in the West Bank where he was born and also an important figure in the group’s financial network. At the time, the most senior Hamas figure killed by Israel.

10 March 2024

Marwan Issa – confirmed dead. The deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza and one of the masterminds of the 7 October attacks. He was killed in an airstrike on a tunnel complex under the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

1 April 2024

Mohammad Reza Zahedi – confirmed dead. A senior officer in the IRGC, he commanded the al-Quds force in Syria and Lebanon.

Zahedi was killed by an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. He was the highest ranking Iranian killed since Qassem Soleimani died in a US drone strike in 2020 and had previously commanded the IRGC’s aerospace force and ground forces.

Iran responded by launching one of the biggest missile and drone attacks in military history towards Israel. Most of the weapons were intercepted and only one person was killed by falling debris.

13 July 2024

Mohammed Deif – not confirmed dead. Israel claimed it killed Deif, the mastermind of the attacks on 7 October, in a strike on Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Hamas says he survived.

Deif, 58, has been on Israel’s most-wanted list since 1995 and escaped multiple Israeli assassination attempts.

The airstrike killed at least 90 other people and injured more than 300 others, health authorities said.

Three men accused of being involved in the 9/11 terrorist attack – including the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon – have agreed to plea deals at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

“The Convening Authority for Military Commissions, Susan Escallier, has entered into pre-trial agreements with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi, three of the co-accused in the 9/11 case,” the Pentagon said in a short statement.

Defense lawyers have requested that the men receive life sentences in exchange for the guilty pleas, according to letters from the federal government received by relatives of some of the nearly 3,000 people killed on the morning of 11 September 2001.

“In exchange for the removal of the death penalty as a possible punishment, these three accused have agreed to plead guilty to all of the charged offenses, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet,” said the letters, the New York Times reported.

Pentagon officials declined to immediately release the full terms of the plea bargains.

The agreement comes more than 16 years after their prosecution for the attack began, and more than 20 years after Al-Qaida militants commandeered four commercial airliners to use as fuel-filled missiles, flying them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.

The hijackers steered the fourth plane toward Washington, but crew members and passengers tried to storm the cockpit, and the plane crashed into a Pennsylvania field.

The deal avoids both the prospect of a lengthy and complex trial, and the possibility that confessions seen as crucial to the case would be thrown out.

The men have been in US custody since 2003, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is widely seen as the chief plotter of the terror attacks. He allegedly received approval from the al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US forces in 2011, to craft what became the hijackings and killings.

Over the years, the case had become bogged down in lengthy pre-trial proceedings. The three men were initially charged jointly and arraigned on 5 June 2008, then were charged jointly and arraigned a second time on 5 May 2012, the Pentagon statement said.

Prosecutors said that Mohammed, who was an engineer and educated in the US, brought the idea of flying planes into buildings to bin Laden and then helped train and direct some of the hijackers who carried out the devastating attacks on US soil.

Mohammed and Hawsawi were captured together in Pakistan in March 2003. The pair were tortured by their US interrogators, including subjecting Mohammed to a record 183 rounds of waterboarding.

The use of torture has proven one of the most formidable obstacles in US efforts to try the men in the military commission at Guantánamo, because defense lawyers had argued that the men’s torture in secret CIA prisons had rendered the evidence against them unusable in legal proceedings.

Guantánamo Bay was set up in 2002 by then president George W Bush, in order to house foreign militants as part of the so-called war on terror. Its population grew to a peak of about 800 before it started to shrink. There are 30 people housed there today.

News of the plea deals drew a spectrum of reactions on Wednesday. Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, condemned the deals in a statement, saying: “The only thing worse than negotiating with terrorists is negotiating with them after they are in custody.”

Daphne Eviatar, a director at the Amnesty International USA rights group, said she welcomed news of some accountability. She also urged the Biden administration to close Guantánamo. Many of its prisoners have been cleared, but are awaiting approval to leave for other countries.

Eviatar also condemned the use of torture, saying that “the Biden administration must also take all necessary measures to ensure that a program of state-sanctioned enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment will never be perpetrated by the United States again”.

Terry Strada, the national chair of a group of families of victims called 9/11 Families United, invoked the dozens of relatives who had died while awaiting justice for the killings when she heard news of the agreement.

“They were cowards when they planned the attack,” she said of the defendants. “And they’re cowards today.”

Strada was at Manhattan federal court for a hearing on one of many civil lawsuits when she heard news of the deals. She said many families have just wanted to see the men admit guilt.

“For me personally, I wanted to see a trial,” she said. “And they just took away the justice I was expecting – a trial and the punishment.”

Michael Burke, one of the family members who received the government notice of the plea bargain, condemned the long wait for justice, and the outcome. Burke’s brother, Billy Burke, a New York City fire captain, had ordered his men out of the World Trade Center but remained on the 27th floor of the north tower of to assist others.

“It took months or a year at the Nuremberg trials,” said Burke. “To me, it’s always been disgraceful that these guys, 23 years later, have not been convicted and punished for their attacks, or the crime. I never understood how it took so long.”

“I think people would be shocked if you could go back in time and tell the people who just watched the towers go down: ‘Oh, hey, in 23 years, these guys who are responsible for this crime we just witnessed are going to be getting plea deals so they can avoid death and serve life in prison,” he said.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed reporting

During a contentious and chaotic panel hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) on Wednesday, Donald Trump parroted disinformation about immigration and abortion, questioned Kamala Harris’s race and accused a panel moderator, Rachel Scott – the senior congressional correspondent for ABC News – of being “rude” and presenting a “nasty question” when she asked him: “Why should Black voters trust you?”

The appearance – which received backlash earlier this week from Black journalists citing the former president’s anti-Black, anti-journalist and anti-democracy history – received a mix of jeers, laughter and interruptions from attendees as Trump evaded several questions asked by moderators.

On multiple occasions, audience members at the annual convention in Chicago attempted to factcheck Trump in real time, including when he falsely claimed that Harris did not pass her bar exam to be a lawyer, and when he defended pardoning people who were convicted for their actions on January 6.

Trump arrived more than an hour late to the panel, which was moderated by Scott; Harris Faulkner, the Fox News television host; and Kadia Goba, the Semafor politics reporter. According to HuffPost, Trump demanded that NABJ organizers not go through with live factchecking during the discussion, and was in a “standoff” with organizers before the event took place. A live factcheck of Trump’s comments was still featured as planned.

The conversation opened with Scott asking why Black voters should trust Trump given his repeated inflammatory comments about Black people.

“Well, first of all, I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner,” Trump said, before asking whether Scott was with “fake news network” ABC News. When he levied a later attack on Scott, one audience member shouted back in her defense.

Trump added: “I think it’s disgraceful that I came here in good spirit. I love the Black population of this country. I’ve done so much for the Black population of this country … I think it’s a very rude introduction.”

He continued: “I have been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln,” which received a mix of boos and applause.

Despite promoting his attendance at NABJ on Wednesday morning, by the afternoon panel Trump was claiming to have been invited under false pretenses. The former president said he had been told that Harris would be present at the convention and was instructed to attend in-person. A source close to the Harris campaign said on Tuesday she was unable to attend due to the search for her running mate and the funeral of the representative Sheila Lee Jackson.

Throughout the panel conversation, Trump relied on many of his previous talking points with Black voters.

He repeated the unsubstantiated claim that undocumented immigrants were planning on taking “Black jobs”, an assertion that many have condemned as racist.

When asked by Scott to clarify what Black jobs were, Trump replied: “Anybody that has a job – that’s what it is. They’re taking the employment away from Black people.”

Scott then asked Trump about Republicans claiming that Harris is a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) replacement for Joe Biden.

In response, Trump claimed that Harris suddenly “became a Black woman” and had previously only been identifying with her Indian heritage. “Is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump said, as the audience audibly gasped. “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.”

Scott replied that Trump’s assertion was untrue, that Harris has always identified as Black, and that she attended Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington DC.

Harris, speaking at a sorority in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday evening, dismissed Trump’s comments as “the same old show”.

“We all here remember what those four years were like, and today we were given yet another reminder … the divisiveness and the disrespect,” she said. “The American people deserve better: a leader who tells the truth. Who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts. Who understands our differences do not divide us.”

Reaction to the panel was mixed among journalists in the room.

At least two Black attendees sporting Trump hats frequently cheered for the former president, especially as he reiterated that he faced “political persecution” after being convicted of 34 felonies.

Others were critical. “Ultimately, the conversation was a non-starter,” said Michael Liptrot, South Side weekly reporter. “The moderators did their best to lead a productive conversation and dive deeper and, ultimately, attempts to flip the question led to a stalemate in many ways.”

Laura Washington, a political analyst at ABC 7 in Chicago, said Trump “came out very hostile” from the very beginning of the panel: “That was a very difficult thing for the [moderators] to manage, because he didn’t answer the questions and was sort of trying to turn their questions back on them and make them the bad women in the room.”

Still, Liptrot and Washington agreed that the panel should have taken place, noting the NABJ tradition of inviting Democratic and Republican presidential candidates and the need to hold Trump accountable.

Jasmine Harris, the Black media director for Kamala Harris’s campaign, hit back at Trump’s NABJ remarks in a statement, emphasizing the former president’s lies and attacks on members of the press.

“Not only does Donald Trump have a history of demeaning NABJ members and honorees who remain pillars of the Black press, he also has a history of attacking the media and working against the vital role the press play in our democracy,” Harris said.

“We know that Donald Trump is going to lie about his record and the real harm he’s caused Black communities at NABJ – and he must be called out,” she added.

Members of the Biden administration were also critical of Trump’s attack on Harris’s racial identity. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, called Trump’s remarks “repulsive” and “insulting” during a Wednesday White House briefing.

“I think it’s insulting for anybody. It doesn’t matter if it’s a former leader, a former president, it is insulting,” she said. “She is the vice-president of the United States. Kamala Harris. We have to put some respect on her name. Period.”

Helen Sullivan contributed reporting

On Wednesday afternoon, Donald Trump participated in a contentious panel hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). The discussion, held in Chicago at the organization’s annual convention, began after an hour-long delay, with a room full of journalists tensely awaiting the program.

During the wait, Philip Lewis, the HuffPost deputy editor, shared on X that the hold-up was being caused by a disagreement between the NABJ and the former president. “I’m told that Trump is demanding that NABJ not do the live factchecking and that’s why the event hasn’t started yet,” he wrote. “We’re in a standoff.”

Once the panel finally began, Trump was defensive and combative, and repeatedly insulted Rachel Scott, the senior congressional correspondent for ABC, one of the three Black female moderators.

Scott began the discussion by acknowledging the fact that many Black journalists thought his presence there was inappropriate.

“You attack Black journalists, calling them ‘a loser’, saying the questions that they asked are, quote, ‘stupid and racist,’” Scott said to Trump. “You’ve had dinner with a white supremacist at Mar-a-Lago resort. So my question, sir, now that you are asking Black supporters to vote for you, why should Black voters trust you, after you have used language like that?”

Trump responded by calling Scott “nasty”, alleging that the delay had been due to faulty NABJ equipment and saying he had been brought to the convention under false pretenses.

Journalists online were quick to respond.

“Donald Trump in typical form on this circus of a #NABJ panel is being aggressive & rude to @RachelVScott – a Black woman. Very reminiscent of his past treatment of @AprilDRyan @Yamiche & @jemelehill,” producer Jawn Murray wrote on X. “A journalism advocacy group has platformed this 34-time felon for this abuse.”

April D Ryan, the Grio’s White House correspondent who has previously been targeted by Trump, wrote on X: “Rachel is fire to take this and move [on]. She was right to ask those questions. Trump is being very nasty.”

Ryan’s posts continued: “Why would the NABJ ALLOW HIM TO BE ON THE STAGE. Rachel Scott is so respected and asked a good question. He calls her ‘rude!’

“Trump came into our home, a Black Press advocacy convention, and insulted us in our face. What is worse he was invited to do this by NABJ leadership. Shame!”

Karen Attiah, who stepped down as co-chair of this year’s NABJ convention in response to Trump’s invitation, was in person at the panel. She wrote on X that the promised factchecking was inaccessible to journalists in the room, and described the room as “boiling with anger and disappointment right now”.

Kathleen Newman-Bremang, a deputy director at Refinery29’s Unbothered, wrote on X: “Well, that was just as disastrous as expected. No answers, lies on lies on lies, and blatant disrespect of the interviewers and the audience. Was that worth the so-called ‘journalistic objectivity’???”

The journalist Natasha S Alford wrote about the difficulty of watching a decades-old, once well-respected organization make the decision to host Trump.

“On a personal note, NABJ has meant a lot to so many of us, so this has been hard to see play out on multiple levels,” Alford wrote on X. “But I will never forget that Donald Trump insulted and was hostile to a Black female journalist in our own communal space and was unchecked. And the feeling of powerlessness watching it.”

Raquel Willis, an author who shared previously that she is boycotting the NABJ, wrote: “Destroyed your organization’s credibility and FOR WHAT?!”

The writer Kathia Woods simply wrote: “Mother of mercy and all the saints.”

Trump shared his post-panel thoughts on Truth Social. “The questions were Rude and Nasty, often in the form of a statement, but we CRUSHED IT!” he wrote.

Michael Tyler, communications director for Harris for President, said in a statement that “the hostility Donald Trump showed on stage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office, and throughout his campaign for president as he seeks to regain power”.

“Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency – while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in,” Tyler said.

“Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us.”

During her Wednesday briefing with reporters, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, described Trump’s remarks as “repulsive” and “insulting”.

“She is the vice-president of the United States, Kamala Harris,” Jean-Pierre said. “We have to put some respect on her name.”

After keeping an audience of interrogators waiting, Donald Trump finally arrived on stage for his Wednesday appearance at the convention for the National Association of Black Journalists over an hour late. He blamed the delay not on the furious behind-the-scenes between the NABJ and his campaign about whether he could be factchecked in real time, but on what he described as organizers’ inability to calibrate the audio equipment in time for his highly controversial panel discussion. “It’s a disgrace,” he snarled.

When ABC’s Rachel Scott opened the proceedings by asking the former president his impetus for addressing the Black journalists, women and Chicagoans in the crowd who have been regularly subject to his hostility, Trump dismissed the question as “horrible” and called Scott “nasty” before turning his bluster meter up to 11.

He declared himself the best president since Abraham Lincoln for “the Black population”. He pushed back on the idea that Kamala Harris would identify as Black. (“She was Indian, and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she went.”) He enunciated the word with such contempt, as if coughing up a hairball – buh-LAAAAA-kuh. All the while, crowd reactions whipsawed from incredulous laughter to deep groans. At one point the discussion shifted to Sonya Massey, the latest Black person to be unlawfully killed by police. “Are you talking [the one] with the water?” Trump asked to audible gasps.

Before that, outright anger was the prevailing emotion among many NABJ members who saw the decision to have Trump at the annual conference and career fair as a betrayal of the association’s core values. The Washington Post’s Karen Attiah, who resigned her position as co-chair of the convention’s organizing committee in protest, was among a slew of Black journalists who spoke out about the association’s decision to even invite the presumptive Republican nominee.

NABJ president Ken Lemon defended the decision as part of a tradition of questioning national party leaders – from presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush, to nominees Barack Obama and Bob Dole. What’s more, Lemon said, they had invited Harris, but her campaign would only commit to a video interview. Trump, however, was happy to attend in person. How could he pass up an opportunity for face time with “the Blacks”?

Trump hasn’t exactly been subtle in his courtship of Black voters, from casting the former video vixen Amber Rose in a speaking role at the Republican national convention to promoting his rap sheet and assassination as forms of street cred. Lemon and others in NABJ leadership spun the Trump panel as an opportunity to hold his feet to the fire. But it was the attendees who were held up in the end; many panels were delayed and outright canceled to accommodate Trump, prompting more convention desertions.

It’s a wonder more didn’t change plans earlier after waiting for hours to be let into the venue, a giant auditorium at the end of an impressive ballroom. The security check, run by the Secret Service, was more thorough than the usual airport experience – fresh in the minds of some attendees who had rushed in straight from the plane. As more people streamed in, funk music blasted overhead, giving Trump’s appearance more of a concert vibe. More than a few whipped out their camera phones to take snaps with Trump’s empty stage chair in the background. High on a projection screen just behind was a graphic of the NABJ conference logo with the slogan writ large: “Journalism over disinformation”. You can understand why people might be upset. “I don’t know if surreal is the right word,” Brittny McGraw, the news chief at Nasa told me, “but perhaps that is the word I will go with.”

When Trump finally did take the stage, he played the hits – vowing (again) to close the border, cut inflation (how?) and “drill, baby, drill”. Pitted against the three-woman interview team that also included Semafor’s Kadia Goba and Fox News’s Harris Faulkner, he reserved all of his invective for the “rude” Scott – who seemed unhappy at having to go through with this farce and stood firm in the face of increasing attacks.

When she cut Trump off mid-digression in hopes of pivoting to another question before time ran out, Trump snapped: “You’re the one who held me up!” In their back and forth, Trump seemed to have another Black woman in his sights. He might’ve spent more time directing his attacks at Harris if he wasn’t still so fixated on beating up on Joe Biden for being old; never mind that all his complaining about not being able to hear the questions on stage made him look even older in those moments. After about 35 minutes, thankfully, it was over.

In theory, being interrogated by three Black women should have worked against Trump. Doubtless his many supporters will take his performance as confirmation of his fitness for the fight against Harris. But for the many in the room who could see past the bluster, Trump looked for all the world like an old crank who can barely hear or have a thought without somehow making it racist. Asked by Goba how he’d know if he was too old to stay in the job, Trump didn’t hesitate to take another shot at Scott. “Look, if I came on stage and got treated so rudely as this woman,” he said, still smarting from her pointed line of questioning. That was the payoff the NABJ had hoped for, and Trump never looked more exposed.

A feminist entrepreneur who started an investment fund with the musician Björk at the height of Iceland’s 2008 financial crisis and gave a TED talk on applying “feminine values” to finance is to become her country’s president on Thursday.

Halla Tómasdóttir won just more than 34% of the vote in elections in June, beating a crowded field that included Katrín Jakobsdóttir, who resigned as prime minister to run.

She will replace Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, who despite considerable popularity is stepping down after eight years in office.

Tómasdóttir was previously the chief executive of The B Team, a non-profit co-founded by Sir Richard Branson. She was also the head of Iceland’s chamber of commerce and co-founded the now defunct financial services company Auður Capital. She first ran for president eight years ago.

This time the 55-year-old campaigned on issues including artificial intelligence, tourism and the effect of social media on mental health. Afterwards, she said that people had “voted with their hearts”.

“Generational equality is important to me. The issues I have put to the forefront in my campaign are because I want the next generation to take over a society and a country that gives them at least equal opportunities to those we have enjoyed,” Tómasdóttir told the Icelandic news website mbl.is.

But she has also attracted criticism after appearing in a Facebook post of a car dealership where she bought an electric car. In a statement last week, Tómasdóttir said she did not receive a discount in return for publicity – but that she did receive a discount – and that the picture was shared without her knowledge.

For his final reception at Bessastaðir, the official residence of the president of Iceland, on Tuesday, Jóhannesson invited 300 workers who were involved in the construction of defence walls and other infrastructure on the Reykjanes peninsula after a series of volcanic eruptions near the town of Grindavík.

In June, he held an “open house” for members of the public to see inside Bessastaðir.

Tómasdóttir will become Iceland’s seventh president since the formation of the republic in 1944. She will be the second woman in the role after Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, who in 1980 became the world’s first democratically elected female president.

The inauguration will begin with a religious service at Reykjavík Cathedral followed by a ceremony in the Icelandic parliament next door, where Tómasdóttir will be sworn in before addressing the nation.

The event, which starts at 3.30pm local time, is to be attended by previous presidents, members of parliament and the media. It will be also be screened outside for the public.

While Icelandic presidents are elected heads of state, the role is largely seen as ceremonial. They do, however, play an important symbolic role for the nation of about 400,000 people, particularly after the recent volcanic eruptions.

“We are still in the thick of it,” Jóhannesson told the Guardian in February. “As we speak now, land is rising close to Grindavík, and it’s a clear sign that magma is gathering right under the surface of the Earth. And soon, based on the experience of the last few years, it will find its way up.”

A feminist entrepreneur who started an investment fund with the musician Björk at the height of Iceland’s 2008 financial crisis and gave a TED talk on applying “feminine values” to finance is to become her country’s president on Thursday.

Halla Tómasdóttir won just more than 34% of the vote in elections in June, beating a crowded field that included Katrín Jakobsdóttir, who resigned as prime minister to run.

She will replace Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, who despite considerable popularity is stepping down after eight years in office.

Tómasdóttir was previously the chief executive of The B Team, a non-profit co-founded by Sir Richard Branson. She was also the head of Iceland’s chamber of commerce and co-founded the now defunct financial services company Auður Capital. She first ran for president eight years ago.

This time the 55-year-old campaigned on issues including artificial intelligence, tourism and the effect of social media on mental health. Afterwards, she said that people had “voted with their hearts”.

“Generational equality is important to me. The issues I have put to the forefront in my campaign are because I want the next generation to take over a society and a country that gives them at least equal opportunities to those we have enjoyed,” Tómasdóttir told the Icelandic news website mbl.is.

But she has also attracted criticism after appearing in a Facebook post of a car dealership where she bought an electric car. In a statement last week, Tómasdóttir said she did not receive a discount in return for publicity – but that she did receive a discount – and that the picture was shared without her knowledge.

For his final reception at Bessastaðir, the official residence of the president of Iceland, on Tuesday, Jóhannesson invited 300 workers who were involved in the construction of defence walls and other infrastructure on the Reykjanes peninsula after a series of volcanic eruptions near the town of Grindavík.

In June, he held an “open house” for members of the public to see inside Bessastaðir.

Tómasdóttir will become Iceland’s seventh president since the formation of the republic in 1944. She will be the second woman in the role after Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, who in 1980 became the world’s first democratically elected female president.

The inauguration will begin with a religious service at Reykjavík Cathedral followed by a ceremony in the Icelandic parliament next door, where Tómasdóttir will be sworn in before addressing the nation.

The event, which starts at 3.30pm local time, is to be attended by previous presidents, members of parliament and the media. It will be also be screened outside for the public.

While Icelandic presidents are elected heads of state, the role is largely seen as ceremonial. They do, however, play an important symbolic role for the nation of about 400,000 people, particularly after the recent volcanic eruptions.

“We are still in the thick of it,” Jóhannesson told the Guardian in February. “As we speak now, land is rising close to Grindavík, and it’s a clear sign that magma is gathering right under the surface of the Earth. And soon, based on the experience of the last few years, it will find its way up.”

Nicolás Maduro has gone on the offensive after suspicions that he stole last Sunday’s presidential election plunged Venezuela into turmoil and diplomatic isolation, blaming the unrest on a far-right conspiracy being spearheaded by “perverse and macabre” political foes.

Addressing foreign journalists at the presidential palace in Caracas – as international condemnation of the allegedly rigged election grew – Venezuela’s authoritarian leader struck a defiant note.

Maduro castigated Edmundo González Urrutia, the presidential rival he claims to have beaten, and his adversary’s key backer, the conservative opposition leader María Corina Machado.

“We’re now facing perhaps … the most criminal attempt to seize power we have seen,” Maduro claimed, blaming this week’s disturbances on González and Machado. “All of this is being directed by a perverse and macabre duo who must take their responsibility,” said Maduro, who has ordered security forces on to the streets and urged citizens to snitch on protesters using a government app.

González and Machado say their campaign secured a landslide amid widespread anger over Venezuela’s economic collapse during the incumbent’s 11-year rule and a migration crisis that has seen 8 million citizens flee abroad. But Maduro has claimed victory – thus far without providing proof – sparking street protests and a wave of international criticism, including from leading members of the Latin American left.

On Tuesday the Carter Center – a pro-democracy group that Maduro’s administration had invited to witness the election and has previously praised – added its voice the chorus of disapproval, claiming the vote could not “be considered democratic”.

“Venezuela’s electoral process did not meet international standards of electoral integrity at any of its stages and violated numerous provisions of its own national laws,” the group said, condemning the “complete lack of transparency in announcing the results” by the government-controlled electoral council. The council had a demonstrated “a clear bias in favour of the incumbent” during the electoral process, the group claimed.

During a press briefing on Wednesday, White House spokesperson John Kirby said the US had “serious concerns about [the] subversions of democratic norms” and reports of violence and casualties involving protesters. “Our patience and that of the international community is running out,” Kirby said.

Brian Nichols, the US assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs, urged Maduro and foreign governments to acknowledge González as the winner, telling a meeting of the Organization of American States that the reason Venezuela’s electoral authority had not yet provided detailed results of the vote was either because it did not want to show Gonzalez’s victory or because it needed time to falsify the results.

Colombia’s leftwing president, who has a good relationship with Maduro, recognised there were “serious doubts” over the result.

Maduro rebuffed such questioning on Wednesday during two encounters with journalists.

Speaking in the cavernous atrium of Venezuela’s brutalist supreme court, where Maduro announced he would share election data with officials, the president lambasted what he called a “criminal attack” designed to topple his administration and spark a civil war.

Later, during an encounter with the foreign press in the heavily guarded Miraflores palace, Maduro said he hoped to see González and Machado imprisoned. “These people must be put behind bars,” he said as hundreds of supporters gathered outside.

“If you ask me … what should happen with the cowardly and criminal González and the fascist from the criminal ultra-right … named Machado, I would say as a head of sate that there must be justice,” Maduro added.

Maduro claimed the attempt to remove him from power was part of a global extreme-right movement involving politicians including Argentina’s president Javier Milei, El Salvador’s president Nayid Bukele, Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, the Spanish party Vox and the billionaire owner of X, Elon Musk.

“We are facing a violent, fascist and criminal counter-revolution,” the handpicked successor of former president Hugo Chávez proclaimed, vowing to resist – by force if necessary.

“Venezuela will not fall into the hands of fascists, criminals and imperialists … We want to continue along the path that Chávez traced … But if North American imperialism and the criminal fascists oblige us I will not hesitate to summon the people to a revolution with other characteristics,” he said.

For all his defiance, observers say Maduro’s position remains precarious and Venezuela’s political future deeply uncertain.

“He’s counting on being able to wait this out and people will get tired of demonstrating,” Cynthia Arnson, a distinguished fellow at the Wilson Center thinktank in Washington, told the Associated Press. “The problem is the country is in a death spiral and there’s no chance the economy will be able to recover without the legitimacy that comes from a fair election.”

The streets of Caracas were eerily quiet on Wednesday with many residents deciding to stay at home for fear of further turbulence or repression. Most shops and businesses around the presidential palace were closed and long columns of security forces on motorcycles could be seen sweeping along the city’s largely traffic-free roads.

According to government figures, more than 1,000 people have been detained during the post-election crackdown. The human rights group Foro Penal says 11 people have been killed and 429 arrests confirmed.

Meanwhile, the South American country is becoming more cut off from the world by the day, as international pressure increases. Flights to and from Panama, the Dominican Republic and Peru have all now been suspended by Venezuelan authorities in response to criticism of the election from the governments of those countries.

On Tuesday, Peru became the first country to officially recognise González as Venezuela’s president-elect. But on Wednesday, Maduro vowed that his rival would “never, ever” be able to take power.

A 17-year-old boy has been charged with murder and attempted murder after 13 people, including 11 children, were stabbed at a dance class in Southport – while violence has flared in Manchester following on from rioting elsewhere sparked by disinformation about the suspect.

In Manchester on Wednesday, demonstrators gathered outside the Holiday Inn hotel on Oldham Road at about 6pm, the Manchester Evening News reported. About 40 people including children and men wearing balaclavas were reportedly involved in what the paper said “appeared to be a stand against asylum seekers currently being housed in the hotel”.

Hours beforehand, Merseyside police said they had charged the Southport suspect, who is from the village of Banks, Lancashire, with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of an offensive weapon. He was due to appear at Liverpool city magistrates court on Wednesday morning.

Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were fatally stabbed, while five children remain in critical condition after they were attacked while taking part in a dance and yoga class on Monday morning. Two adults, who were injured trying to protect the children, were also in a critical condition.

The suspect, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested on Monday. Earlier on Wednesday, detectives were granted more time to question the teenager. The only details released about the suspect were his age, that he is from the village of Banks, about five miles from where the stabbings took place, and was born in Cardiff.

Serena Kennedy, chief constable of Merseyside police, said: “A 17-year-old boy from Banks has been charged with the murders of Bebe, Elsie Dot and Alice, 10 counts of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article following the tragic incident in Southport on Monday 29 July. The 17-year-old cannot be named for legal reasons as he’s under 18.

“Whilst these charges are a significant milestone within this investigation, this remains very much a live investigation and we continue to work with our partners from Lancashire police and counter-terrorism police in the north-west.

“I would like to thank all the forces who have offered and supplied support to Merseyside police during the last three days and I can confirm that we are being supported with investigative resources from across the north-west.”

Sarah Hammond, chief crown prosecutor for CPS Mersey-Cheshire, said: “We remind all concerned that criminal proceedings against the defendant are active and that he has the right to a fair trial.

“It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary, or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings. Our thoughts remain with the families of all of those affected by these harrowing events.”

Manchester on Wednesday night became host to the latest in a series of flare-ups egged on by far-right agitators spreading lies online. Two men were arrested after the group outside the Holiday Inn threw bottles, bricks and at officers who were in riot gear, the Manchester Evening News reported. A bus driver also appeared to have been assaulted by a group of young men who jumped in front of his doubledecker on Grimshaw Lane, the news outlet said.

The Newton Heath, Clayton and Openshaw division of Greater Manchester police said: “Due to the early intervention from our officers this criminal behaviour thankfully didn’t cause any serious injury or damage. Two men aged 18 and 25 were later arrested for violent disorder and assault of an emergency worker and remain in custody at this time for questioning.

“Enquiries into a further related report of an assault of a bus driver [are] ongoing at this stage.”

Local councillor John Flanagan condemned the “sickening” incident and the “mindless thugs attacking innocent men who are asylum seekers … They have been there for months and we have not had any issues or problems. They have been in a place of safety.”

Earlier on Wednesday, crowds of protesters marched on Downing Street in London. In Whitehall, demonstrators threw flares and cans while chanting “Rule Britannia”, “save our kids” and “stop the boats”, while police were seen wrestling a man off the road and on to the pavement next to the Cenotaph, near Downing Street. Others attempted to kick down a fence and were confronted by riot police while some threw flares on to the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.

Police said more than 100 people were arrested for offences including violent disorder and assault of an emergency worker while several police officers suffered minor injuries.

There was also a protest in Hartlepool, County Durham, which resulted in eight people being arrested after police officers had missiles, glass bottles and eggs thrown at them. Late in the night a police vehicle was set alight in the town centre. Several officers suffered minor injuries responding to the disorder, Cleveland police said. In a later statement after the protesters had been dispersed they said a full criminal investigation was under way and that “we expect further arrests to be made in the coming days”.

Jonathan Brash, the Labour MP for the town, said he was “deeply concerned” about the situation and would be meeting with police to discuss their response to the incident.

Brash wrote on X: “These events do not represent what Hartlepool is or the values that our people hold. Violence is never the answer.”

In Aldershot, local MP Alex Baker condemned the violence in her community, stating that there was “no justification for disorderly behaviour and the scenes do not represent Aldershot and Farnborough”.

“I have been liaising with Hampshire police this evening regarding a significant incident at Potter’s International Hotel in Aldershot, where a peaceful protest descended into intimidating behaviour,” she said.

More than 50 police officers were injured in far-right riots in Southport on Tuesday night, which broke out as the town reeled from the knife attack. Five people were arrested over the disturbances, police said.

The mother of Elsie, one of the children who was killed, intervened. “This is the only thing that I will write, but please, please stop the violence in Southport tonight,” Jenni Stancombe said. “The police have been nothing but heroic these last 24 hours and they and we don’t need this.”

Alex Goss, assistant chief constable for Merseyside police, said: “Our work to identify all those responsible for the despicable violence and aggression seen on the streets of Southport on Tuesday continues.

“We have been inundated with images and footage from members of the public who were outraged at the destruction carried out. The individuals involved in the disorder had no regard for the families and friends of those who so tragically lost their lives, and a community in grief.

“It has been heartening today to see the reaction of the whole community, who have pulled together to clean the streets, rebuild walls and reglaze broken windows.”

PA Media contributed to this report

• Ukraine has received its first F-16 fighter jets, a US official has confirmed to the Associated Press. The arrival of the jets was first reported by Bloomberg. A Ukrainian lawmaker also confirmed Ukraine had received a small number of F-16 fighter jets. The two officials spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to discuss the subject publicly.

• Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway – all Nato members – have committed to providing Ukraine with more than 60 of the planes. The Russian jet fighter fleet is still estimated to be about 10 times larger, but has been kept at bay to some extent by Ukraine’s anti-aircraft defences.

• Ukraine needs at least 130 F-16s to neutralise Russian air power, Ukrainian officials say. Much depends on having enough pilots, who are being trained by a coalition of countries including the US which has also agreed to arm Ukraine’s jets with advanced missiles and bombs.

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Russian forces have made gains in eastern Ukraine because Kyiv’s allies are restricting its use of western-supplied weapons and its forces are still awaiting arms deliveries from abroad. Russia consolidated gains in eastern Ukraine in July, taking control of almost 200 sq km (77 sq miles), according to analysis by Agence France-Presse using data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Zelenskiy said Kyiv was “working very hard” to get permission to strike targets deep inside Russian territory with western-supplied weapons. “Unfortunately, our partners are still afraid of this.”

• The coming presidential election in the US posed a “challenge” for Kyiv, Zelenskiy said in an interview with French media including Agence France-Presse. “We cannot influence any election,” said the Ukrainian president. “Of course, the United States is a challenge today. And there are risks that probably none of us can predict.” Zelenskiy continued: “As president of Ukraine, I must, of course, have a dialogue between my team and the Biden, Trump, and today Harris teams … We have to have all these contacts and talk about what our future might look like if one side or the other wins the election.”

• Ukraine does not want China to act as a mediator but rather to apply pressure and “force” Russia to end the war, according to Zelenskiy. “Just as the United States is applying pressure, just as the European Union is applying pressure. The more influence a country has, the greater should be its pressure on Russia.”

• Zelenskiy said Ukraine and the entire world wanted to see Russia take part in the next peace summit. Since the Swiss summit held in June without Russian participation, Zelenskiy has indicated that Moscow should be represented at a second summit tentatively planned for this year. “The majority of the world today says that Russia must be represented at the second summit … Since the whole world wants them to be at the table, we cannot be against it,” Zelenskiy said on Tuesday.

• China has said it will prohibit the export of all unregulated civilian drones that can be used for military or terrorist purposes, and that certain drone features will be restricted. The commerce ministry said for example that infrared and laser technology for target indication and high-precision inertial measurement equipment would be placed on an export control list. China has been criticised for allowing its drones to be supplied to Russia and also allegedly collaborating with it on drone design.

• Ukrainian sanctions prohibiting the transit of oil from Russian producer Lukoil do not pose a threat to Slovakia’s energy security, according to Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal. Lifting the sanctions was not a matter for discussion and Kyiv had the EU’s “full understanding” on the matter, Shmyhal said.
  Slovakia’s pro-Russian PM, Robert Fico, has said his country will halt diesel supplies to Ukraine unless it restores oil flows from Lukoil through the pipeline on its territory. Slovakia and Hungary together supply about 10% of Ukraine’s diesel. “Slovakia is our reliable partner from whom we do not expect blackmail or threats,” Shmyhal said.

• Ukraine has invoked a law allowing it to skip international debt payments as it finalises a restructuring plan agreed with bondholders to slash $20bn from its international borrowings. Though it officially notches up another default for Ukraine, it is unlikely to trigger any concerns in debt markets. The restructuring will cut the face value of Ukraine’s international debt by a third but its finances will remain under intense pressure.

• Ukraine has received its first F-16 fighter jets, a US official has confirmed to the Associated Press. The arrival of the jets was first reported by Bloomberg. A Ukrainian lawmaker also confirmed Ukraine had received a small number of F-16 fighter jets. The two officials spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to discuss the subject publicly.

• Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway – all Nato members – have committed to providing Ukraine with more than 60 of the planes. The Russian jet fighter fleet is still estimated to be about 10 times larger, but has been kept at bay to some extent by Ukraine’s anti-aircraft defences.

• Ukraine needs at least 130 F-16s to neutralise Russian air power, Ukrainian officials say. Much depends on having enough pilots, who are being trained by a coalition of countries including the US which has also agreed to arm Ukraine’s jets with advanced missiles and bombs.

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Russian forces have made gains in eastern Ukraine because Kyiv’s allies are restricting its use of western-supplied weapons and its forces are still awaiting arms deliveries from abroad. Russia consolidated gains in eastern Ukraine in July, taking control of almost 200 sq km (77 sq miles), according to analysis by Agence France-Presse using data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Zelenskiy said Kyiv was “working very hard” to get permission to strike targets deep inside Russian territory with western-supplied weapons. “Unfortunately, our partners are still afraid of this.”

• The coming presidential election in the US posed a “challenge” for Kyiv, Zelenskiy said in an interview with French media including Agence France-Presse. “We cannot influence any election,” said the Ukrainian president. “Of course, the United States is a challenge today. And there are risks that probably none of us can predict.” Zelenskiy continued: “As president of Ukraine, I must, of course, have a dialogue between my team and the Biden, Trump, and today Harris teams … We have to have all these contacts and talk about what our future might look like if one side or the other wins the election.”

• Ukraine does not want China to act as a mediator but rather to apply pressure and “force” Russia to end the war, according to Zelenskiy. “Just as the United States is applying pressure, just as the European Union is applying pressure. The more influence a country has, the greater should be its pressure on Russia.”

• Zelenskiy said Ukraine and the entire world wanted to see Russia take part in the next peace summit. Since the Swiss summit held in June without Russian participation, Zelenskiy has indicated that Moscow should be represented at a second summit tentatively planned for this year. “The majority of the world today says that Russia must be represented at the second summit … Since the whole world wants them to be at the table, we cannot be against it,” Zelenskiy said on Tuesday.

• China has said it will prohibit the export of all unregulated civilian drones that can be used for military or terrorist purposes, and that certain drone features will be restricted. The commerce ministry said for example that infrared and laser technology for target indication and high-precision inertial measurement equipment would be placed on an export control list. China has been criticised for allowing its drones to be supplied to Russia and also allegedly collaborating with it on drone design.

• Ukrainian sanctions prohibiting the transit of oil from Russian producer Lukoil do not pose a threat to Slovakia’s energy security, according to Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal. Lifting the sanctions was not a matter for discussion and Kyiv had the EU’s “full understanding” on the matter, Shmyhal said.
  Slovakia’s pro-Russian PM, Robert Fico, has said his country will halt diesel supplies to Ukraine unless it restores oil flows from Lukoil through the pipeline on its territory. Slovakia and Hungary together supply about 10% of Ukraine’s diesel. “Slovakia is our reliable partner from whom we do not expect blackmail or threats,” Shmyhal said.

• Ukraine has invoked a law allowing it to skip international debt payments as it finalises a restructuring plan agreed with bondholders to slash $20bn from its international borrowings. Though it officially notches up another default for Ukraine, it is unlikely to trigger any concerns in debt markets. The restructuring will cut the face value of Ukraine’s international debt by a third but its finances will remain under intense pressure.

Authorities have issued an urgent warning to visitors with small children to avoid a forested area in the central Netherlands after several “disturbing” incidents involving a wolf, including a child who was bitten.

The latest encounter happened on Wednesday morning when “a large animal”, presumed to be the wolf, knocked over a child near the village of Austerlitz, about 16km (10 miles) east of Utrecht.

The child in the latest incident was not injured, but a young girl on an after-school outing was bitten 10 days ago in the same area. DNA tests confirmed a wolf as the culprit.

Called the Utrecht Ridge Hills, the area is thickly forested and a favoured by hikers, cyclists and runners.

Wolves first appeared back in the Netherlands in 2015 after an absence of 150 years, with dozens being spotted since, but the animals remain elusive and generally avoid humans.

The Utrecht province “calls on all visitors to be extremely careful when visiting the Utrecht Ridge Hills area”, according to its statement issued late on Wednesday. “The urgent advice is not to visit these forests with small children.”

In early July, a woman reported her poodle being killed by a wolf. The statement said it “seriously considers that it is the same wolf that was previously involved in the incidents with the other girl and a dog”.

Wolf experts said the animal showed “atypical and disturbing behaviour,” the statement added.

The province was preparing a permit to shoot the animal as a result of the incidents, authorities said, and also gave instructions when encountering a wolf.

“Do not run away but make yourself big, make gestures or noises. Walk backwards slowly,” the instructions said.

The Australian government is “deeply disappointed” by Japan’s decision to add the world’s second-largest whale species to the list of species its commercial whale hunters will target.

Tanya Plibersek, the environment minister, attacked Japan’s decision to hunt fin whales – the world’s second-longest whale and considered vulnerable.

The Japanese government this week confirmed it would allow itself to take up to 59 fin whales in its commercial hunt, which is confined to the country’s economic zone.

Japan’s new US$47m (A$71m) whaling ship, the Kangei Maru, is being readied for its maiden hunt and has a deck long enough to haul whales up to 25 metres long.

“Australia is deeply disappointed by Japan’s decision to expand its commercial whaling program by adding fin whales,” Plibersek said.

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Japan left the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 2019 after previously killing whales under a clause that allowed whaling for scientific research – a rationale challenged by conservationists.

Japan already catches Bryde’s, minke and sei whales. Fin whale numbers globally are thought to be rising, but remain vulnerable according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The giant mammals can live up to 90 years.

Plibersek said: “Australia is opposed to all commercial whaling and urges all countries to end this practice.

“Australia’s efforts through the International Whaling Commission have contributed to a whaling-free Southern Ocean and a decline in commercial whaling around the world. Australia will continue to advocate for the protection and conservation of whales and the health of our ocean for future generations.”

Darren Kindleysides, a whale campaigner and the chief executive of the Australian Marine Conservation Society, called the hunts “inhumane, cruel and unnecessary”.

“We welcome this strong statement from [Plibersek] in protection of whales and opposing commercial whaling,” he said.

“Australia has a long and bipartisan history of opposing commercial whaling and we expect Australia to take a strong stance when the IWC meets next month in Peru.”

In 1986 the IWC put a global moratorium in place on commercial whaling. Norway and Iceland have remained members of the commission, but have hunted under loopholes.

Whales are also caught by a small number of countries under IWC rules that allow for some indigenous and subsistence whaling.

Kindleysides said: “The world’s great whales have populations that are threatened. We still know relatively little about whales, but we do know for species like fin whales that they are at risk following the legacy of whaling in the 18- and 1900s , so we must do what we can to protect them.

“We have learned that whales are worth more alive than dead. We have a multimillion-dollar whale watching industry now on the back of the recovery of humpback whales.”

Health problems and brain fog can persist for years in people hospitalised by Covid early in the pandemic, with some patients developing more severe and even new symptoms after 12 months, researchers say.

They found that while many people with long Covid improved over time, a substantial proportion still had cognitive problems two to three years later and saw symptoms of depression, anxiety and fatigue worsen rather than subside.

The scientists studied long Covid in 475 people who were hospitalised with the virus before vaccines were available, to learn whether brain fog, fatigue and mental health problems persisted or emerged beyond the first year.

While the researchers had no information on the participants’ thinking skills before they got Covid, cognitive tests two to three years later showed that on average patients’ IQs were 10 points lower than expected for their age, education and other factors. One in nine showed signs of “severe cognitive deficits”, which equate to an IQ 30 points lower than expected.

Questionnaires completed by participants showed that many felt moderate to severe levels of depression (47%), fatigue (40%) and anxiety (27%) two to three years after Covid. Rather than improving over time, the symptoms were on average worse two to three years after infection than at six to 12 months.

“What we already knew before doing the study was that Covid-19 was associated with a greater risk of cognitive problems, depression and anxiety compared with other respiratory infections,” said Dr Max Taquet, an author on the study from the University of Oxford. “We found that in our cohort there was a substantial neuropsychiatric burden at two to three years.”

More than one in four people in the study changed occupation after catching the virus, often because they could no longer face the cognitive demands of their job.

Those who fared worse over the years were often among the sickest six months after infection, but the severity of the original illness did not appear to affect their long-term outcome.

Although the proportion of patients reporting depression, anxiety and fatigue rose after six months, cognitive problems appeared to improve. Six months after infection, 44% had objective cognitive deficits compared with 33% at two to three years.

The work, published in Lancet Psychiatry, led the authors to stress the importance of diagnosing and managing long Covid symptoms early to reduce the risk of people developing a more complex disorder.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of people with long Covid continues, to grow with 2 million people in England and Scotland now experiencing symptoms. The brain fog many report is equivalent to a six-point drop in IQ, one recent study found.

Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London, who was not involved in the study, said the findings were “profound and alarming” and warned people not to be complacent in the era of vaccines and milder Covid variants.

The risk of long Covid has dropped from about 10% in the first wave of infections to about 2.5% today, but that still amounts to a “huge number of cases”, Altmann said. “There could not be a more stark warning that Covid-19 is ongoing and can still do awful things to you, so it’s worth staying boosted and avoiding reinfection.”

The scientists urge caution over the results, however. Only 19% of the 2,500 people invited on to the study took part, and if those who agreed fared much worse or much better than the wider group, it would skew the results. It is also unclear whether people who developed long Covid later in the pandemic, after vaccination, and without being hospitalised, would experience as severe health problems.

Three lengths into the final of men’s 200m butterfly final, Léon Marchand finally seemed to have finally reached the outer limits of his extraordinary talent. He was racing against the Hungarian world record holder and Olympic champion from Tokyo Kristof Milak, and he was losing. At that, distance swimming races happen slowly, and then all of a sudden. There’s hope all the way until the point when it’s irresistibly obvious that there’s not, and the 17,000 clamouring French fans in La Défense Arena were just beginning to fall quiet as the realisation hit them that Marchand was going to finish second.

Milak had been a couple of feet ahead at 100m, but his lead had grown to the best part of a body-length by the time they reached the final turn.

Well, silver’s not so bad. Marchand had already won one gold last weekend after all, in the 400m individual medley, and this final was only the first of two he was competing for on this one evening. Just under two hours later, he was going to race again in the final of the 200m breaststroke. Which was a unique feat in itself. No one has ever won medals in both the breaststroke and butterfly at one Games, not Mark Spitz, not Michael Phelps, not Ryan Lochte. In fact across all that time, and all those Games, only one athlete had ever even made finals in both disciplines, and that was back in 1956.

World Aquatics even had to rearrange the schedule so Marchand could even try and do it. The races were supposed to run back to back because it simply didn’t occur to them that anyone would try to take both events on, least of all Marchand, who had never competed in the breaststroke at an international championships. The absurd difficulty of what he was trying to do became obvious in those very first moments, when Milak, who eats through the water like a hungry crocodile does a school of fish, pulled further and further away into the lead.

And then it happened.

Everyone who was there can tell you exactly what “it” was. But they’d have to watch the race over and again to tell you how, and even then it wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense. One moment Marchand was trailing, and then he simply wasn’t. In the space of 25m off the final turn, he just glided right by Milak, whose mad thrashing became all the more desperate as Marchand moved into the lead. He didn’t just beat him. He took his Olympic record, too, in 1min 51.21sec. It was a huge personal best, over a second faster than he had ever swum the event.

Not that anyone in the arena knew it at first. The atmosphere had been feverish all day, as eager for release as the storm clouds gathering overhead. It finally broke as Marchand came down that final length. The scaffold stands rattled and shook, and the stadium announcer was entirely drowned out by everybody deliriously screaming and shouting out Marchand’s name. He took a breath, thrust his hand in the air, and made a swift exit stage left for his ­warm-down. He reappeared an hour later to collect his medal.

And then, he did it all over again. Another gold, another personal best, another Olympic record. This time it was Marchand who led from the start, and as hard as the former champion Zac Stubblety-Cook tried, there was just no catching him. He made the race into something more like a coronation. They already call him Le Roi Léon, and his long, loping, breaststroke was an elegant way to approach the throne.

So this skinny, shy, self-possessed kid, with his goofy smile, and a mop of curly blond hair, is equal to it all. He seemed a long shot coming into the Games, when he was a world champion and world record holder, but almost entirely untested in front of a crowd. He had never even won an Olympic medal, let alone tried to do it in front of millions of fans who were all sure he would. Here in Paris, there’s a 600ft picture of him running right up the side of the only skyscraper in the city limits. It’s a hell of a weight, but he carries it like Gene Kelly did his umbrella.

Marchand has pool water in his blood, his parents both competed for France at the Olympics in the 200m medley; his mother, Céline, at Barcelona in 1992, his father, Xavier, at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. They, along with a small band of trusted coaches, including Phelps’s old mentor Bob Bowman, have done a wonderful job of bringing him on. But the talent is his, and his alone, and it is glorious.