Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who masterminded the 7 October attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, has been killed in an unexpected encounter with Israeli ground forces, according to several initial reports.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was checking whether Sinwar was one of three militants killed during an operation but that their identities could not yet be confirmed.

Several security officials, speaking anonymously to Israeli media, said the bodies had been taken to Israel for DNA tests, and that the IDF assesses “with high probability” that one of those killed was Sinwar.

Israel’s Kan Radio reported that the Hamas leader had been killed “by chance”, and not as a result of intelligence gathering. The station also said the bodies were found with lots of cash and fake IDs.

Graphic photos and video from the scene, broadcast on Israeli media, showed what appeared to be Sinwar’s body, wearing fatigues, with a severe head injury, lying on a pile of rubble on the floor of a destroyed building. It was not immediately clear when or where the footage was taken, or how the damage was caused.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that an infantry battalion, operating with a tank unit, identified a group of men running into a building. The forces opened fire using tank shells, and the bodies were buried under the rubble.

If confirmed, the death of Sinwar would represent a major boost to the Israeli military and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, after a string of high-profile assassinations of prominent leaders of its enemies in recent months.

It has long been believed that Sinwar had surrounded himself with Israeli hostages to lessen the likelihood of being killed. However, in a statement, the prime minister’s office said that no hostages were believed to have been present.

Israel has spared no resources in its year-long hunt for Sinwar, engaging a taskforce of intelligence officers, special operation units, military engineers and surveillance experts under the umbrella of the Israeli Security Agency. Yet, in the end, he appears to have been killed by regular troops on patrol.

Sinwar considers himself an expert on Israel’s military and politics. He speaks perfect Hebrew, learned during more than 20 years in prison, and was the driving force behind Hamas’s strategy of the last few years: to lull Israel into thinking the group had been deterred from fighting Israel, before launching the surprise attack in which 1,200 people were killed and another 250 taken hostage.

Various western and Israeli intelligence assessments over the past year suggested that Sinwar has long shunned electronic communication, relying on a network of couriers to communicate with the outside world from Hamas’s vast network of tunnels beneath the Gaza Strip.

Those reports also said Sinwar had become “fatalistic” over a year of intense warfare in which 42,000 people have been killed, believing he would die, but still hoping to ensnare Israel in a regional battle with Iran and allied groups around the Middle East such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Sinwar, 61, was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza and grew up in poverty before studying at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Arabic Studies.

Among his childhood friends were Mohammed Deif, Hamas’s military chief, whom Israel claimed to have killed in an airstrike three months ago, and Mohammed Dahlan, an influential member of the secular Fatah party now living in exile in the UAE.

He joined Hamas at an early age, soon after the group’s founding, spending much of his youth in and out of Israeli prison. He rose through the ranks as an infamous enforcer, in charge of finding and killing suspected Palestinian collaborators with Israel, and was instrumental in building the group’s military capabilities.

In 1989, he was sentenced to four life sentences for the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians he suspected of collaboration. He served 22 years, becoming a respected prison leader, before he was released in the 2011 prisoner exchange in which Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was returned for 1,000 Palestinians. He married on his return to Gaza, and had three children.

Sinwar was elected by other Hamas members in a secret ballot as Hamas’s chief in Gaza in 2017, surviving several Israeli assassination attempts. Unlike some senior Hamas leaders, he has never wavered from a belief that armed struggle is the only way to force the creation of a Palestinian state.

In a sign of the group’s hardening position on ceasefire talks, Sinwar was appointed as head of the group overall after Israel’s assassination of Hamas’s Qatar-based political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in July.

Israel said it came close to capturing or killing Sinwar in January, when it found DNA evidence of his presence in a bunker beneath Khan Younis, including clothing and more than 1m shekels (more than £200,000) in wads of banknotes. He was estimated to have left a few days before Israeli forces raided the bunker.

In a statement, Israel’s Hostage Families Forum said: “The Forum commends the security forces for eliminating Sinwar, who masterminded the greatest massacre our country has ever faced, responsible for the murder of thousands and the abduction of hundreds.

“However, we express deep concern for the fate of the 101 men, women, elderly and children still held captive by Hamas. We call on the Israeli government, world leaders, and mediating countries to leverage the military achievement into a diplomatic one.”

The US has carried out B-2 stealth bomber strikes on Houthi underground weapons facilities in Yemen for the first time, in an escalation that appears in part to be a warning to the Houthis’ backers in Tehran.

Local television in Houthi-run areas of the country reported 15 strikes hit five sites near the capital, Sana’a, and in the northern governorate Saada, the traditional Houthi homeland.

The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said in a statement: “US forces targeted several of the Houthis’ underground facilities housing various weapons components of types that the Houthis have used to target civilian and military vessels throughout the region.”

The strikes were aimed at degrading the Houthis’ military capabilities to “defend US forces and personnel in one of the world’s most critical waterways,” he said.

In what was widely viewed as a message to Iran amid fears of a regional conflagration triggered by the war in Gaza, Austin added that use of the long-range stealth bomber demonstrated “US global strike capabilities to take action against these targets when necessary, anytime, anywhere”.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

“America will pay the price for its aggression on Yemen, and as we have said before, its aggression will not deter Yemen from its stance in support of Gaza,” Nasruddin Amer, the deputy head of the media office for the Houthis, said on X.

The Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah, is a fundamentalist Shia group allied with Iran and forms part of Tehran’s region-wide “axis of resistance” against Israel and the US.

For nearly a year, the group has targeted ships travelling through the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea that it says are linked to Israel, in what it has described as a show of solidarity with Palestinians in the war in Gaza. However, the group has also attacked ships with no connection to Israel. The Houthis have also fired missiles and armed drones at Israel.

The Red Sea shipping channel, which leads to the Suez canal, is a vital route carrying 12% of global trade. The attacks have caused serious disruption, leading the US and the UK to begin airstrikes on the Houthis in January. In July, Israel also attacked northern Yemen directly in response to a drone attack on Tel Aviv.

The Houthis seized control of north Yemen, where most of the population lives, in 2014. The group has since imposed draconian measures on the people under its rule.

A Saudi and UAE-led coalition has failed to dislodge the Houthis despite intensive bombing campaigns and imposing a years-long siege that has led to widespread hunger and disease.

In a separate regional development on Thursday, an Israeli airstrike hit the Syrian city of Latakia, wounding two civilians, according to Syrian state media. The Israeli military has intensified its raids on Syria in parallel with its escalation in Lebanon, where for more than three weeks it has heavily bombarded Hezbollah bastions. Israel accuses the Lebanese group, which like the Houthis is backed by Iran, of transferring weapons through Syria.

Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who masterminded the 7 October attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, has been killed in an unexpected encounter with Israeli ground forces, according to several initial reports.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was checking whether Sinwar was one of three militants killed during an operation but that their identities could not yet be confirmed.

Several security officials, speaking anonymously to Israeli media, said the bodies had been taken to Israel for DNA tests, and that the IDF assesses “with high probability” that one of those killed was Sinwar.

Israel’s Kan Radio reported that the Hamas leader had been killed “by chance”, and not as a result of intelligence gathering. The station also said the bodies were found with lots of cash and fake IDs.

Graphic photos and video from the scene, broadcast on Israeli media, showed what appeared to be Sinwar’s body, wearing fatigues, with a severe head injury, lying on a pile of rubble on the floor of a destroyed building. It was not immediately clear when or where the footage was taken, or how the damage was caused.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that an infantry battalion, operating with a tank unit, identified a group of men running into a building. The forces opened fire using tank shells, and the bodies were buried under the rubble.

If confirmed, the death of Sinwar would represent a major boost to the Israeli military and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, after a string of high-profile assassinations of prominent leaders of its enemies in recent months.

It has long been believed that Sinwar had surrounded himself with Israeli hostages to lessen the likelihood of being killed. However, in a statement, the prime minister’s office said that no hostages were believed to have been present.

Israel has spared no resources in its year-long hunt for Sinwar, engaging a taskforce of intelligence officers, special operation units, military engineers and surveillance experts under the umbrella of the Israeli Security Agency. Yet, in the end, he appears to have been killed by regular troops on patrol.

Sinwar considers himself an expert on Israel’s military and politics. He speaks perfect Hebrew, learned during more than 20 years in prison, and was the driving force behind Hamas’s strategy of the last few years: to lull Israel into thinking the group had been deterred from fighting Israel, before launching the surprise attack in which 1,200 people were killed and another 250 taken hostage.

Various western and Israeli intelligence assessments over the past year suggested that Sinwar has long shunned electronic communication, relying on a network of couriers to communicate with the outside world from Hamas’s vast network of tunnels beneath the Gaza Strip.

Those reports also said Sinwar had become “fatalistic” over a year of intense warfare in which 42,000 people have been killed, believing he would die, but still hoping to ensnare Israel in a regional battle with Iran and allied groups around the Middle East such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Sinwar, 61, was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza and grew up in poverty before studying at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Arabic Studies.

Among his childhood friends were Mohammed Deif, Hamas’s military chief, whom Israel claimed to have killed in an airstrike three months ago, and Mohammed Dahlan, an influential member of the secular Fatah party now living in exile in the UAE.

He joined Hamas at an early age, soon after the group’s founding, spending much of his youth in and out of Israeli prison. He rose through the ranks as an infamous enforcer, in charge of finding and killing suspected Palestinian collaborators with Israel, and was instrumental in building the group’s military capabilities.

In 1989, he was sentenced to four life sentences for the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians he suspected of collaboration. He served 22 years, becoming a respected prison leader, before he was released in the 2011 prisoner exchange in which Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was returned for 1,000 Palestinians. He married on his return to Gaza, and had three children.

Sinwar was elected by other Hamas members in a secret ballot as Hamas’s chief in Gaza in 2017, surviving several Israeli assassination attempts. Unlike some senior Hamas leaders, he has never wavered from a belief that armed struggle is the only way to force the creation of a Palestinian state.

In a sign of the group’s hardening position on ceasefire talks, Sinwar was appointed as head of the group overall after Israel’s assassination of Hamas’s Qatar-based political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in July.

Israel said it came close to capturing or killing Sinwar in January, when it found DNA evidence of his presence in a bunker beneath Khan Younis, including clothing and more than 1m shekels (more than £200,000) in wads of banknotes. He was estimated to have left a few days before Israeli forces raided the bunker.

In a statement, Israel’s Hostage Families Forum said: “The Forum commends the security forces for eliminating Sinwar, who masterminded the greatest massacre our country has ever faced, responsible for the murder of thousands and the abduction of hundreds.

“However, we express deep concern for the fate of the 101 men, women, elderly and children still held captive by Hamas. We call on the Israeli government, world leaders, and mediating countries to leverage the military achievement into a diplomatic one.”

The US has carried out B-2 stealth bomber strikes on Houthi underground weapons facilities in Yemen for the first time, in an escalation that appears in part to be a warning to the Houthis’ backers in Tehran.

Local television in Houthi-run areas of the country reported 15 strikes hit five sites near the capital, Sana’a, and in the northern governorate Saada, the traditional Houthi homeland.

The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said in a statement: “US forces targeted several of the Houthis’ underground facilities housing various weapons components of types that the Houthis have used to target civilian and military vessels throughout the region.”

The strikes were aimed at degrading the Houthis’ military capabilities to “defend US forces and personnel in one of the world’s most critical waterways,” he said.

In what was widely viewed as a message to Iran amid fears of a regional conflagration triggered by the war in Gaza, Austin added that use of the long-range stealth bomber demonstrated “US global strike capabilities to take action against these targets when necessary, anytime, anywhere”.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

“America will pay the price for its aggression on Yemen, and as we have said before, its aggression will not deter Yemen from its stance in support of Gaza,” Nasruddin Amer, the deputy head of the media office for the Houthis, said on X.

The Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah, is a fundamentalist Shia group allied with Iran and forms part of Tehran’s region-wide “axis of resistance” against Israel and the US.

For nearly a year, the group has targeted ships travelling through the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea that it says are linked to Israel, in what it has described as a show of solidarity with Palestinians in the war in Gaza. However, the group has also attacked ships with no connection to Israel. The Houthis have also fired missiles and armed drones at Israel.

The Red Sea shipping channel, which leads to the Suez canal, is a vital route carrying 12% of global trade. The attacks have caused serious disruption, leading the US and the UK to begin airstrikes on the Houthis in January. In July, Israel also attacked northern Yemen directly in response to a drone attack on Tel Aviv.

The Houthis seized control of north Yemen, where most of the population lives, in 2014. The group has since imposed draconian measures on the people under its rule.

A Saudi and UAE-led coalition has failed to dislodge the Houthis despite intensive bombing campaigns and imposing a years-long siege that has led to widespread hunger and disease.

In a separate regional development on Thursday, an Israeli airstrike hit the Syrian city of Latakia, wounding two civilians, according to Syrian state media. The Israeli military has intensified its raids on Syria in parallel with its escalation in Lebanon, where for more than three weeks it has heavily bombarded Hezbollah bastions. Israel accuses the Lebanese group, which like the Houthis is backed by Iran, of transferring weapons through Syria.

Kamala Harris said her presidency “would not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency” in a testy interview with the rightwing Fox News channel on Wednesday night as she criticized Donald Trump over his continuing threats against “the enemy within”.

The 25-minute interview, conducted after Harris held a rally with more than 100 Republican officials in Pennsylvania, was the first time Harris had sat for a conversation with Fox News, which has been a consistent supporter of Trump.

Bret Baier, Fox News’s chief political anchor, is seen as a straight news counterbalance to the vitriol of Fox News’s evening shows, but still came with a laundry list of rightwing topics, including immigration, the rights of transgender people and Joe Biden’s performance, as Harris attempted to sell herself to the channel’s older, largely Republican, audience.

Harris was asked if there was anything she “would do differently” from Joe Biden, as Baier played a clip of the vice-president, in a previous interview, saying there is “not a thing that comes to mind” that she would have changed. That response has become an attack point among Republicans as they seek to tie Harris to the unpopular Biden administration.

“Let me be very clear. My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency, and like every new president that comes into office, I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences, and fresh new ideas. I represent a new generation of leadership,” Harris said.

“For example, as someone who has not spent the majority of my career in Washington DC, I invite ideas: whether it be from the Republicans who are supporting me, who were just on stage with me minutes ago, and the business sector and others, who can contribute to the decisions that I make.”

Baier pointed to polling which shows a majority of Americans believe the country is “on the wrong track”, and asked Harris why they were saying that when she has been vice-president since January 2021. Harris suggested the polls show a fatigue with Biden and Trump, given the latter has “been running for office” since 2016.

Harris noted that several high-profile former members of the Trump administration now believe “that he is unfit to serve, that he is unstable, that he is dangerous, and that people are exhausted with someone who professes to be a leader, who spends full time demeaning and engaging in personal grievances”.

Baier asked why, given those criticisms, Trump has support of “half the country”. He added: “Are they stupid?”

“I would never say that about the American people. And in fact, if you listen to Donald Trump, if you watch any of his rallies, he’s the one who tends to demean, and belittle, and diminish the American people,” Harris said.

“He’s the one who talks about an enemy within. An enemy within, talking about the American people, suggesting he would turn the American military on the American people.”

Trump had appeared on a Fox News town hall episode which aired earlier on Wednesday, where he doubled down on his comments about “the enemy from within”. He characterized this alleged internal enemy, which he has said should be “handled by” the military, as “the Pelosis” and his other political opponents.

The former president had reacted furiously to the news that Baier would be interviewing Harris, posting on social media that the anchor was “often very soft to those on the ‘cocktail circuit’ left” and falsely claiming that Fox News “has grown so weak and soft on the Democrats”.

But Baier, while being an alternative from the more radical nighttime hosts such as Sean Hannity and Jesse Watters, largely stuck to rightwing issues.

He played a Trump campaign ad, which he suggested was among the few political ads to “break through” this year. The ad quoted an interview with Harris in 2019, when she said she supported “surgical care” for trans prisoners.

Trump has spent tens of millions on anti-transgender advertising, but Harris brushed off the issue, pointing out that “under Donald Trump’s administration, these surgeries were available on a medical necessity basis, to people in the federal prison system”.

“And I think, frankly, that ad from the Trump campaign is a little bit of like throwing, you know, stones when you’re living in the glass house,” she said.

Polls show Harris and Trump in effect tied in most swing states, as both campaigns seek to convince voters before 5 November. Harris’s appearance on Fox News came amid a raft of interviews over the past week. She was interviewed on CBS’s prestigious 60 Minutes news show, sat down with the crowd from The View talkshow, appeared on the Call Her Daddy podcast, and on Tuesday spoke with radio host Charlamagne tha God.

Harris is also reportedly in negotiations to appear on Joe Rogan’s podcast – the most popular podcast in the US, which has a large following among young men. Trump, who refused to take part in a second debate on CNN with Harris, has said he will appear on Rogan’s podcast.

This was Harris’s first sit-down interview with Fox News, although her running mate, Tim Walz, has appeared on the network multiple times. Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, has been a regular presence on Fox News screens, with his calm responses to sometimes hostile questions frequently going viral and delighting Democrats.

Liam Payne died of multiple traumas and internal and external bleeding caused by a fall from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, the Argentinian prosecutor’s office has said. An autopsy showed that the pop star’s head injuries were sufficient to cause death.

An ongoing investigation – including the interview of five witnesses in an attempt to reconstruct the 31-year-old’s final hours – indicated that he was alone at the time of the fall. Substances were seized from Payne’s hotel room indicating alcohol and drug consumption.

More to follow …

Liam Payne’s family and stars from across the music world have led tributes to the former One Direction star after his death at a hotel in Argentina.

“We are heartbroken. Liam will forever live in our hearts and we’ll remember him for his kind, funny and brave soul,” his family said in a statement issued on Thursday.

Medics confirmed the death of the 31-year-old after he fell from a balcony into the courtyard of the CasaSur hotel in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires.

The X Factor – where Payne had his first audition as a 14-year-old and was later placed with other contestants in 2010 in the band that made his name – said that he would “leave a lasting legacy on the music industry”.

The former X Factor host Dermot O’Leary shared an Instagram photo of him and a teenage Payne on stage, describing him as “a joy” who “had time for everyone, [was] polite, grateful, and was always humble”.

He added: “The worst news. I remember him as a 14-year-old turning up to audition on The X Factor, and blowing us away singing Sinatra. He just loved to sing.”

Others remembering him included Ronnie Wood, the Rolling Stones guitarist, who recalled performing alongside Payne and One Direction for a performance of the boyband’s track Where Do Broken Hearts Go on The X Factor in 2014.

“I am shocked and saddened to hear of the death of Liam Payne. It was a pleasure to work with him on our X Factor performance,” Wood wrote on Instagram.

The Grammy-winning pop star Charlie Puth, who co-wrote Payne’s 2017 solo track Bedroom Floor, mourned Payne as a “major artist”.

“I am in shock right now,” Puth wrote in a series of Instagram stories featuring a photo of the pair together in the studio. “Liam was always so kind to me. He was one of the first major artists I got to work with. I cannot believe he is gone … I am so upset right now, may he rest in peace.”

Listeners to BBC Radio 1 on Thursday morning heard Greg James opening his breakfast show by telling listeners the news had been “unbearably sad” to wake up to and that he would be processing it with them.

“It might be the first time someone you’ve idolised has died and that’s a really strange thing to get your head around. So go easy on yourself today because it’s a shock, it’s destabilising,” he said, addressing Payne’s fans.

“Even though you may not have not known Liam Payne personally, we do have these parasocial relationships where we do know these people to a certain extent and they are part of our lives, and when they’re gone that’s weird to deal with.”

The singer Olly Murs, who starred on The X Factor a year before One Direction, said on Instagram that he was “lost for words”, describing Payne’s death as “devastating”.

“We always had a good laugh when we saw each other, sometimes the catch-ups were only short and sweet but when we did it was mostly about how annoyingly good his hair always looked, or our love for Becks, the old XF (X Factor) days and the tour we shared together,” Murs wrote beside a picture of him and Payne.

Among collaborators who paid their respects was the German DJ Zedd, who made the 2017 song Get Low with Payne and said on X: “I can’t believe this is real … absolutely heartbreaking.”

The rapper Juicy J, who featured on an unreleased demo titled You, posted: “RIP Liam Payne wow I can’t believe it prayers up for the family.”

Lou Teasdale, a hair and makeup artist who worked extensively with One Direction on tour, said on X: “Sending you all so much love.”

The Irish pop duo Jedward, who competed in The X Factor one season before One Direction, wrote on X: “RIP Liam Payne condolences to friends and family”.

They also posted a follow-up “sending strength” to Payne’s family, including his former partner and X Factor judge Cheryl as well as their seven-year-old son, Bear.

Musicians and friends from outside the X Factor world also paid tribute. “So upsetting to hear the news,” Paris Hilton tweeted. “Sending love and condolences to his family & loved ones. RIP my friend.”

The author EL James said she was “heartbroken”. Payne had previously contributed the song For You with Rita Ora to the soundtrack of Fifty Shades Freed, the film adaptation of the final book in James’s Fifty Shades trilogy.

The British pop star Mabel posted to her Instagram story: “For so many years I always knew I could call you for support and big brotherly advice but now you’re gone.”

She continued: “My thoughts and prayers are with Liam’s family and friends during this time you’ll be so missed.”

Fringe researchers advocating “nefarious” theories that intelligence is based on race have obtained data from a trove of sensitive health information donated by half a million British volunteers, according to undercover footage.

Recordings made by the anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate show members of a “race science” network discussing UK Biobank data they claimed to have accessed. Some of the group have been blacklisted by the facility on the grounds they are “not bona fide” academics, but the footage suggests they may have circumvented its controls. It shows them saying they obtained a “large” haul of the data. One of their associates acknowledges they are “not meant to have that”.

Founded in 2003 by the Department of Health and medical research charities, UK Biobank holds the genetic information, survey responses, blood samples and medical records of 500,000 volunteers. The information it holds has been used to shed new light on diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and other illnesses.

UK Biobank says projects using its data must be “in the public interest”. Participants give consent for their information to be used, with identifying details removed, for “health-related research purposes”.

Until recently, rather than having to use UK Biobank’s own platform, approved researchers were free to download datasets on to their own systems. Researchers sign a contract undertaking not to share data without authorisation.

The footage raises questions about whether the controls have been sufficient.

“This shocking news suggests an appalling failure of governance at multiple levels,” said Katie Bramall-Stainer, who, as the representative of GPs in the British Medical Association doctors’ union, wants tighter controls on health data. “Questions now need to be answered by UK Biobank and NHS England around how, when, where, why, with whom, and for what purpose, confidential data was shared.”

The undercover footage has been examined by the Guardian, which conducted further research alongside Hope Not Hate.

The group of race science researchers, which claims to have obtained UK Biobank data, is led by Emil Kirkegaard. A Danish blogger and publisher, he runs the research arm of a secretive network called the Human Diversity Foundation.

Kirkegaard is a named author on more than 40 papers published in the journal Mankind Quarterly, a longstanding outlet for race science theories. The topics of Kirkegaard’s inquiries have included whether black Americans earn less than white Americans because of “average intelligence differences”, comparing penis size, testicle size and “breast-buttock preference” by race, and an attempt to show that in Denmark those with “Muslim names” have lower IQs.

The geneticist Adam Rutherford told the Guardian that Mankind Quarterly and similar periodicals were so discredited that it would be “career suicide” for a genuine academic to publish in them. Kirkegaard’s positions appear closer to racism than science. “Africans,” Kirkegaard wrote on his blog in July, “are prone to violence everywhere.”

Often referred to as “scientific racism”, race science emerged from 18th-century breakthroughs in medicine and biology, including Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. It is dismissed as pseudoscience by the National Institutes of Health, the main US medical research agency, which says race science “appropriates the methods and legitimacy of science to argue for the superiority of white Europeans and the inferiority of non-white people whose social and economic status have been historically marginalised”.

David Curtis, a genetics professor at University College London, said “unsophisticated analysis” of genetic data “could be used to support a racist claim” by “selectively reporting the findings”.

A UK Biobank representative said it “has continued to monitor and prevent attempts to access the resource by Kirkegaard and other researchers believed to be connected with him”. He added: “They are not bona fide researchers.” But he said the undercover footage “does not raise questions about UK Biobank’s controls”, so “there appears to be no UK Biobank data misuse relating to this organisation.”

Prof Rory Collins, the head of UK Biobank, said: “We are confident that our access procedures are working, but sadly we operate in a world where unethical people will seek to undermine this.”

He added: “We have robust data access processes that control who can access raw data.” He said “our extensive investigations” have not “found any evidence of these data being available to unapproved researchers”.

“The most likely conclusion that we can draw from the evidence presented by the Guardian is that these individuals are using publicly-available summary data to conduct their abhorrent research.”

However, two eminent geneticists questioned UK Biobank’s position, as did two health data experts. They pointed to terms the race science researchers used suggesting they had obtained individual participant data with names stripped out. The UK Biobank representative accepted that there was “a possibility” that the race science researchers had “obtained raw, individual-level data”.

‘You’re not meant to have that’

It was over smoked salmon and venison at a chic Notting Hill restaurant that the head of the Human Diversity Foundation’s media arm revealed the group had obtained UK Biobank data. Matthew Frost, a former religious studies teacher at a London private school, has told the Guardian he is no longer affiliated with the network.

But at the October 2023 dinner, he spoke of his ambitions for the organisation. Unaware of the camera hidden in the shirt button of the man sitting opposite, he said the team of researchers he was helping to raise money for had “big-ticket items” planned.

“They’ve managed to get access to the UK Biobank,” Frost said. “You’re not meant to have that.” To know more, Frost said, “talk to Emil”.

Kirkegaard maintains that his politics are not “far right” but “heterodox”. His work, however, promotes racist ideas.

He has argued in favour of removing “immigrants already settled” in countries such as Denmark, writing: “I generally support policies that pay them to leave.” An advocate of eugenics, Kirkegaard has written that if technology allowed it, parents would be “silly not to … select against gayness”.

Nonetheless, Kirkegaard enjoys some influential connections. The recordings show him claiming that in 2019 he was among the “online dissidents” that the tech billionaire and rightwing donor Peter Thiel flew to Silicon Valley for discussions. Thiel did not respond to a request for comment.

A few days after the Notting Hill dinner, Frost arranged for the undercover researcher to speak with Kirkegaard, who explained why it was so hard to access the most sensitive data.

“Genetic datasets that you need for testing things with, say, ethnic differences in IQ or anything in that direction are all behind bars,” Kirkegaard said. He went on: “The only way we get these datasets is when some academic gets them and gives them to us under the table.” He added: “Not necessarily academics, sometimes private sector … taking a big risk for themselves.”

To gain access, Kirkegaard said applicants had to submit “all kinds of paperwork about how the data is stored and so on”. Trickier still, “you have to come up with some plausible sounding research proposal that covers the things that we want to do but also doesn’t go far enough that they’re just going to censor it”.

Kirkegaard brought up the case of an American academic called Bryan Pesta, whom the University of Cleveland dismissed after he was accused of misusing data from a US genomic databank. Pesta argued he was entitled to use the data for a paper he co-authored with Kirkegaard claiming to link ancestry to intelligence.

Asked about his involvement with Kirkegaard’s race science researchers, Pesta told the Guardian it was “limited to attending some of their online meetings out of my interest in the hard science behind potential genetic explanations for racial IQ gaps”, and editing one manuscript. Pesta said he had never “received, shared, or analysed any data from the UK Biobank”.

On 6 November 2023, Pesta joined a video call hosted by Kirkegaard. A dozen race science researchers were present on the call, which was being secretly recorded by Hope Not Hate.

Kirkegaard led a discussion that ranged from whether “high IQ southern gentlemen” in the US had “sex with slaves” to an examination of “wokeness and mental illness”. The next subject was genomics. “I believe someone downloaded the UK Biobank,” Kirkegaard said.

“Yes, it’s me who’s got the UK Biobank downloaded,” said a man whose name was displayed on screen as Simon Wright. A writer using that pen name has co-authored papers with Kirkegaard in fringe publications including Mankind Quarterly, alleging a link between race and IQ. “I’m already working with the IQ stuff,” Wright added. UK Biobank does not include volunteers’ IQ scores but does record their educational attainment.

“The thing about the UK Biobank files,” said Kirkegaard, “is that they’re so fucking large … a 300-gigabyte file.”

Kirkegaard did not reveal who had helped him obtain the dataset. He did not respond to questions from the Guardian.

“UK Biobank has a zero-tolerance policy on data misuse,” the representative said, “and were there to be evidence of misuse then we would take immediate action, based on breach of contract and/or data protection laws, and infringement of intellectual property rights.”

Angela Saini, the author of a book on race science, said: “If there have been friendly researchers who have passed them the data that way that’s a huge breach of standards and it needs to be investigated by UK Biobank. That’s a minimum that everyday people should be able to expect that their data isn’t used for nefarious purposes.”

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta must answer “serious questions” about its handling of anti-immigration material, according to the company’s content watchdog, as it opened an investigation into two Facebook posts.

The Oversight Board is investigating Meta’s decision to keep the posts online after acknowledging that it receives a significant number of complaints from users over content that shares anti-immigrant views.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt, co-chair of the board and a former Danish prime minister, said it was “critical” to get the balance right between free speech and protection of vulnerable groups.

“The high number of appeals we get on immigration-related content from across the EU tells us there are serious questions to ask about how the company handles issues related to this, including the use of coded speech,” she said in a statement.

The first case being investigated by the board is focused on a meme posted by the administrator of a Facebook page that describes itself as the official account of Poland’s far-right coalition party Confederation. The image shows Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, looking through a peephole with a black man walking up behind him. The text over the image, referring to Tusk’s Civic Platform party and the EU’s immigration pact, says: “Good evening, did you vote for Platform? I’ve brought the black people from the immigration pact.”

The word used by the text to describe black people is also considered to be a racial slur by some in Poland.

The second case features an image that appears to be generated by artificial intelligence and was posted on a German Facebook page that describes itself as being against left-leaning and green groups. The picture shows a blond-haired, blue-eyed woman holding up her hand in a stop gesture, with a stop sign and German flag in the background.

The text over the image says people should stop coming to Germany because the country doesn’t need any more “gang-rape specialists” as a result of the Green party’s immigration policy.

The board, whose decisions are binding on Meta, said the cases would also allow it to consider the adequacy of the company’s hate speech policy. The policy states that its platforms “protect refugees, migrants, immigrants and asylum seekers from the most severe attacks” but allows “commentary and criticism of immigration policies”.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta must answer “serious questions” about its handling of anti-immigration material, according to the company’s content watchdog, as it opened an investigation into two Facebook posts.

The Oversight Board is investigating Meta’s decision to keep the posts online after acknowledging that it receives a significant number of complaints from users over content that shares anti-immigrant views.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt, co-chair of the board and a former Danish prime minister, said it was “critical” to get the balance right between free speech and protection of vulnerable groups.

“The high number of appeals we get on immigration-related content from across the EU tells us there are serious questions to ask about how the company handles issues related to this, including the use of coded speech,” she said in a statement.

The first case being investigated by the board is focused on a meme posted by the administrator of a Facebook page that describes itself as the official account of Poland’s far-right coalition party Confederation. The image shows Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, looking through a peephole with a black man walking up behind him. The text over the image, referring to Tusk’s Civic Platform party and the EU’s immigration pact, says: “Good evening, did you vote for Platform? I’ve brought the black people from the immigration pact.”

The word used by the text to describe black people is also considered to be a racial slur by some in Poland.

The second case features an image that appears to be generated by artificial intelligence and was posted on a German Facebook page that describes itself as being against left-leaning and green groups. The picture shows a blond-haired, blue-eyed woman holding up her hand in a stop gesture, with a stop sign and German flag in the background.

The text over the image says people should stop coming to Germany because the country doesn’t need any more “gang-rape specialists” as a result of the Green party’s immigration policy.

The board, whose decisions are binding on Meta, said the cases would also allow it to consider the adequacy of the company’s hate speech policy. The policy states that its platforms “protect refugees, migrants, immigrants and asylum seekers from the most severe attacks” but allows “commentary and criticism of immigration policies”.

Nigel Farage has used a team of three US advisers to help him with “perception management” and public relations in America, as well as with settling a $3,500 hotel bill this summer, new documents show.

The official filings, made in the US, reveal that the leader of Reform UK and MP for Clacton has been assisted at least 15 times by CapitalHQ, a firm led by Alexandra Preate, who is a former press spokesperson for the controversial former Donald Trump strategist Steve Bannon.

Its work for Farage has become public because CapitalHQ had to register with the government under “foreign agent” laws in the US. Preate and two of her employees have declared they were paid salaries by CapitalHQ while carrying out activities on behalf of a “foreign principal” after Farage became an MP in July.

According to the documents, CapitalHQ was hired to take on activities for Farage including “promotion, perception management, public relations, speeches, appearances, communications, travel, accommodation and logistics and other political activities in furtherance of political interests of the foreign principal”. It describes his address as the House of Commons in London.

CapitalHQ has taken on the work without payment, and its services have been given to Farage free. However, Farage does not register CapitalHQ’s services on the MPs’ register of interests as a benefit in kind – nor the fact that CapitalHQ settled a $3,531.10 hotel bill for him at the Hilton Garden Inn Milwaukee during the Republican National Convention, which ran from 14 to 19 July.

He did register £32,000 of costs associated with the US trip paid for by a British cryptocurrency investor, Christopher Harborne.

MPs are required to register any benefits that relate to their membership of the Commons or parliamentary or political activities if provided by a source outside the UK, whether they be provided free or at concessionary rates.

Asked whether he had sought advice about registering the free PR services from Preate’s firm and whether he should have done so, a spokesperson for Farage told the Guardian: “Nigel Farage is a politician, not an accountant.” Preate has been approached for comment.

The barrister Jolyon Maugham, the director of the Good Law Project, said Farage should say why the activities had not been registered.

He said: “The registration documents raise serious questions around the rightwing forces powering Farage and why he seems not to have declared the support he received to parliament.”

Preate is a longtime associate of Bannon, and was interviewed by the January 6 committee about events in the lead-up to the storming of the Capitol building in Washington.

In her testimony, given in April 2022, she said Bannon was a client and that she had been present with Trump at a meeting in the former president’s hotel the day before the riots took place. She described being “horrified and depressed” by the events of January 6 in her evidence.

Bannon is in prison, serving four months for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the January 6 committee, and is due to be released this month.

The strategist, a former editor of the hard-right news outlet Breitbart, was convicted of contempt charges at trial in July 2022. He was accused of refusing to appear for a deposition and of refusing to provide documents to the committee in response to a subpoena.

He served as Trump’s chief strategist for the first seven months of his presidency.

The European Central Bank has cut its headline interest rate by a quarter of a point to 3.25% after inflation in the eurozone fell below its 2% target.

ECB policymakers were under pressure to reduce the deposit rate after figures out earlier on Thursday showed annual prices growth in the single-currency bloc had eased in September to 1.7%, down from 2.2% the previous month.

The cut is the ECB’s first back-to-back interest rate cut in 13 years and its third of 2024. That puts it two ahead of the Bank of England, which is widely forecast to cut the cost of borrowing in the UK by 0.25 percentage points from the current level of 5% when its monetary policy committee meets again next month.

In the US, the Federal Reserve has indicated it is also minded to trim rates in the coming months, although there have been hints it may skip a cut at next month’s meeting.

Announcing the decision, the ECB said the reduction in interest rates was based on “an updated assessment of the inflation outlook, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission”.

It added: “The incoming information on inflation shows that the disinflationary process is well on track. The inflation outlook is also affected by recent downside surprises in indicators of economic activity.”

The deposit rate sets the return paid to eurozone banks when they make overnight deposits with the Eurosystem.

ECB president Christine Lagarde said the figures showed the eurozone economy was weaker than previously expected.

“The latest data is all heading in the same direction, downwards, and points to more sluggish growth,” she said.

Joe Nellis, an economist at Cranfield University and an adviser to the financial consultancy MHA, said the ECB would be focused on promoting growth after a long period in which the cost of borrowing was kept high to combat inflation.

“Unlike the Bank of England, the ECB has a dual mandate, requiring it to take decisions to foster growth as well as control inflation. ECB policymakers will hope that this cut provides a boost to the German (and wider eurozone) economy, inspiring consumer spending, encouraging investment, and ultimately stimulating the economy,” he said.

“With the German economy likely to shrink for its second consecutive year, we can expect the ECB to cut rates by another 0.25% in December – this is a decision policymakers will feel they have to make if they are serious about catalysing growth in the eurozone’s largest economy,” he added.

Gold reached a record high just before the announcement, hitting $2,688.82 (£2,065.26) an ounce for the first time, lifted by forecasts of interest rate cuts around the world and uncertainty ahead of next month’s US election.

Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has reportedly fired about 24 staff at its Los Angeles offices for using their $25 (£19) meal credits to buy items such as toothpaste, laundry detergent and wine glasses.

The tech firm, which is worth £1.2tn and also owns the messaging platform WhatsApp, is said to have dismissed workers last week after an investigation discovered staff had been abusing the system, including sending food home when they were not in the office.

That included one unnamed worker on a $400,000 salary, who said they had used their meal credits to buy household goods and groceries such as toothpaste and tea.

On the anonymous messaging platform Blind, they wrote: “On days where I would not be eating at the office, like if my husband was cooking or if I was grabbing dinner with friends, I figured I ought not to waste the dinner credit.”

The worker admitted the breach when approached as part of a human resources investigation into the practice and was later fired. “It was almost surreal that this was happening,” the person wrote, according to the Financial Times, which first reported the story.

Some employees were also found to have spent the credits on other household items, such as acne pads. Employees who had only occasionally broken the rules were reprimanded, but were able to keep their jobs, the newspaper reported.

Free food has long been one of the perks of working for large tech companies.

Meta, which was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, usually feeds staff for free from canteens at its larger offices, including its sprawling Silicon Valley headquarters.

But those at smaller sites are given daily credits to order food through delivery services such as UberEats and Grubhub. Daily allowances include $20 for breakfast, $25 for lunch and $25 for dinner.

In 2022, the company caused a staff uproar after it decided to delay its daily free dinner service at its Silicon Valley campus by half an hour to 6.30pm, as part of wider cuts. It meant fewer employees would eat on campus if they managed to catch the last shuttle leaving the site at 6pm. It also made it more difficult for employees to stock up on free food to bring home as leftovers.

Other big tech companies have also been cracking down on employee perks. Google started to cut back on fitness classes and the frequency of laptop replacements last year. The company had also reportedly become more stringent on office supplies including staplers and tape, with staff having to borrow items from their reception desks instead.

Meta’s decision to fire staff it accuses of abusing their perks last week came as its bosses launched a fresh restructuring plan that meant laying off and relocating staff from its WhatsApp and Instagram divisions and its augmented reality arm, Reality Labs.

The company has just emerged from large-scale job cuts, with Zuckerberg having ordered 21,000 redundancies in 2022 and 2023. Meta had about 70,799 staff at the end of June this year.

Meta has been contacted for comment.

The Dutch coalition government, headed by Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom party (PVV), is considering sending Africans whose asylum requests are rejected to Uganda, in plans that opposition politicians have said are “totally unfeasible”.

During a visit this week to the East African country, the Dutch minister for trade and development, Reinette Klever, said the cabinet was exploring the ideaand that Uganda was “not averse” to it, the Dutch public broadcaster Nos reported on Wednesday.

Klever offered few details and it is unclear whether such a plan would be legal or feasible, but it is reported to involve rejected asylum seekers from Uganda and the surrounding region – the exact list of countries has not been specified – being taken in by Uganda and hosted in exchange for financial compensation.

“In the end we want to curb migration,” said Klever, who is part of the PVV.

Her ministry said she had briefly discussed a number of possibilities for accommodation in Uganda and the region during her visit. The plan is in its early stages as the Dutch cabinet investigates “what legally is possible and desirable,” a spokesperson said in an email.

Uganda’s foreign affairs minister said the country was willing to contemplate the possibility. “We are open to any discussions,” Jeje Odongo told Nos.

However on Thursday another minister struck a firmer note. “I don’t think Uganda would agree to that,” Okello Oryem, Uganda’s state minister for foreign affairs, told Reuters, noting that his country already sheltered 1.6 million refugees from Sudan, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo.

“We don’t deport any refugees. Why do European countries deport refugees?”

Wilders welcomed the plan on social media, but other members of the country’s four-party coalition government were more hesitant given Uganda’s draconian anti-gay legislation and patchy human rights record.

“We have to be very vigilant when it comes to LGBTI people,” said Claudia van Zanten of the populist farmer’s party BBB. Diederik Boomsma of the anti-corruption NSC acknowledged Uganda’s human rights reputation was a concern.

Opposition politicians decried the idea. Jesse Klaver of the Green Left party said it was an effort to distract people from the scant progress the government had made in tackling broader issues. “They are not building houses, they are not managing to keep hospitals open,” he said.

The leader of D66, Rob Jetten, described the idea as “totally unfeasible and ill-considered”, citing the fact that similar plans had already been floated by Denmark and the UK. “The result? Zero people went to Africa,” he said.

The UK’s failed plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing, a policy of the previous Conservative government that was abandoned by the new Labour administraction, is estimated to have cost British taxpayers £700m. It was viewed as the most extreme form of “offshoring” asylum, in that even people with successful claims would have had to stay in Rwanda.

The coalition government in the Netherlands has focused much of its attention since taking office in July on curbing asylum, with promises to introduce the country’s “toughest ever” policy on immigration, even though EU data suggests the country has an average number of asylum requests among member states.

The Netherlands received two first-time asylum applications per 1,000 residents last year, matching the average across the bloc, according to the data. Ten member states, including Greece, Germany and Spain, reported higher ratios.

News of the Dutch plan comes days after the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, called for the idea of “return hubs” outside the EU to be explored, citing a deal between Italy and Albania as a possible model.

Labour has backtracked on plans to push for formal recognition of China’s treatment of the Uyghurs as genocide in the run-up to David Lammy’s trip to the country this weekend.

The foreign secretary is expected to arrive in Beijing on Friday for high-level meetings before travelling to Shanghai on Saturday.

The trip marks a shift in the British government’s approach to China, with ministers seeking to improve engagement and build closer economic ties. Trade between the UK and China is worth £110bn a year.

Senior government figures are bullish about their approach, pointing out that allies including the US and the EU have maintained high-level engagement with China in recent years while the UK has fallen behind.

As part of this diplomatic rapprochement, Labour has dropped its tough stance towards Beijing over its treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority.

China has detained Uyghurs at camps in the north-west region of Xinjiang, where for years there have been allegations of torture, forced labour and sexual abuse. The Chinese government claims the camps carry out “re-education” to combat terrorism.

The European parliament passed an emergency resolution this week censuring China’s repression of the Uyghurs and calling for the release of detainees.

In opposition, Labour backed a Commons motion that declared China’s conduct genocide and urged the government to seek formal recognition of this through the UN and with other countries.

Stephen Kinnock, then shadow Asia minister, said in 2021 that it was not enough to leave the matter to international courts because China would have to consent to an investigation.

“Ideally, a competent international court would examine this evidence, but there is no prospect that either the ICC or the international court of justice will be able to do so, as this would require the consent of China,” Kinnock told the Commons.

“The foreign secretary should seek to introduce a general assembly resolution requesting an advisory opinion from the international court of justice on the question of genocide. We should also explore legal avenues via other international treaties and conventions.”

Lammy confirmed this was still his position at a Fabian Society event in 2023 and said a Labour government would “act multilaterally with our partners” to pursue legal routes towards declaring China’s actions genocide.

But a government source told the Guardian that “genocide is a determination for competent international courts to decide”.

A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “This government stands firm on human rights, including in Xinjiang, where China continues to persecute and arbitrarily detain Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities. This includes raising our concerns at the highest levels of the Chinese government and coordinating efforts with our international partners to hold China to account for human rights violations.”

Lammy’s two-day visit to China was confirmed by the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Thursday.

A UK business source briefed on the visit said Labour was pursuing the same strategy as Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson, but more successfully.

“All the signs are that they are taking the engagement side of the relationship much much more positively and seriously than the previous government,” they said. “They seem to be pretty robust about being sensible that engagement doesn’t mean agreement.”

“What we’re seeing from our perspective is recognition of the importance to the UK growth agenda of a sensible trade and investment with China.”

Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is drawing up plans to visit the country early next year and restart two high-level economic forums, the Economic and Financial Dialogue and the Joint Economic and Trade Commission. Labour also wants to cooperate with China, the world’s biggest polluter, on tackling the climate crisis.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson told reporters on Thursday: “This is necessary pragmatic engagement with China in the UK’s interest. We will challenge China where we need to and we will seek to have a consistent and long-term, strategic approach.”

Successive Conservative leaders faced pressure from hawkish Tory backbenchers – some of whom have been placed under sanctions by Beijing – over their approach to China.

Labour is likely to find internal party management easier on this issue, although it is still likely to come under pressure over China’s actions in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang.

Lammy met his counterpart, Wang Yi, in July in Laos, where the foreign secretary raised human rights, Ukraine and parliamentarians under sanctions.

Rahima Mahmut, the UK director of the World Uyghur Congress, said: “In opposition, Labour accurately described the suffering of my people as genocide. Now it seems they won’t even see through their promises to seek genocide recognition with allies at the UN.

“No words can describe the distress of the Uyghur community at this disappointment.”