At least nine people, including two children, were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday, the health ministry said, as violence continues despite a ceasefire now in its second week. The strikes - which Israel said were targeting Hezbollah infrastructure - also wounded 23 people, among them eight children and seven women, the ministry said. Separately, Hezbollah said it had carried out attacks on Israeli forces in the south, including a drone strike targeting soldiers in the Bint Jbeil district. The violence comes as Israel presses ahead with military operations in Lebanon despite the ceasefire announced on 16 April, after direct talks between Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors in Washington. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun criticised what he described as continuing Israeli violations of the truce, saying strikes and demolitions of homes and places of worship were ongoing despite the ceasefire.

Iran has fired missiles and drones at several Gulf Arab nations, which have sought to intercept them, in a now-daily fallout from the United States-Israel war launched on Iran nearly three weeks ago that has engulfed the Middle East with deaths, destruction, assassinations, and an energy crisis spreading far beyond the region. Early Tuesday, Qatar's Ministry of Defence said its armed forces intercepted a missile attack against the country. The statement came hours after the Kuwaiti army said it was intercepting hostile missile and drone attacks. The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have also reported intercepting missiles and drones in recent hours. Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Defense reported the interception and destruction of a drone in the Eastern Region.

Could Iran be using China's BeiDou system? Iran has pressed on with sustained missile and drone attacks across the Gulf region, despite repeated protests from its neighbours, in ongoing retaliation in the war launched by the United States and Israel . Tehran's strikes targeted multiple countries, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, late on Friday and in the early hours of Saturday. The ministry also said late on Friday that the country's armed forces intercepted a ballistic missile launched towards the al-Kharj governorate. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Saturday that five US Air Force refuelling planes were damaged in recent days while on the ground at an airbase in Saudi Arabia. According to the WSJ, quoting unnamed US officials, the aircraft were damaged in an Iranian attack.

Britain is to develop new air defence weapons alongside the EU's four biggest military powers, deepening ties with the European defence sector. The project will invite manufacturers in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Poland to submit plans to build low-cost missiles and autonomous drones. The allies are pledging a speedy process to build the weapons together, inspired by Ukraine's development of cheap drones to counter attacks from Russia. The UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) says the programme will prioritise a lightweight, affordable surface-to-air weapon, with the first project to be delivered by next year. The plan, announced at a meeting of the five countries' defence ministers in the Polish city of Krakow, marks a boost to UK-Europe ties after the failure of talks last year over UK participation in the EU's new €150bn (£130bn) defence fund.

How the US left Ukraine exposed to Russia's winter war Will Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war? How can Ukraine rebuild China ties? Russian forces launched 448 attacks on 34 settlements in Ukraine's front-line Zaporizhia region in a single day, injuring a six-year-old child and damaging homes, cars and other infrastructure, regional governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on the Telegram app. Russian drone, missile and artillery attacks on Ukraine's Kherson region injured five people and damaged homes, including seven high-rise buildings, the local military administration said on Telegram. Russian attacks also continued in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions, but local officials there noted that "fortunately, no people were injured".

Russian attacks on Ukraine killed one person and wounded seven others in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to the country's emergency service. High-rise buildings, homes, shops and cafes were also damaged. Another person was wounded by shelling in the Zaporizhia region, the service said, with a blast also destroying three residential buildings and 12 homes. In the Donetsk region, at least two people were killed, and five more were wounded, in 13 separate Russian attacks across multiple districts, according to Governor Vadym Filashkin. A total of 172 people, including 35 children, were evacuated from the front line, Filashkin said.

Indonesia's government has filed multiple lawsuits seeking more than $200m in damages against six firms, after deadly floods wreaked havoc across Sumatra, killing more than 1,000 people last year, although environmentalists criticised the moves as inadequate. Environmentalists, experts and the government pointed the finger at deforestation for its role in last year's disaster that washed torrents of mud and wooden logs into villages across the northwestern part of the island. The sum represents both fines for damage and the proposed monetary value of recovery efforts. The suits were filed to courts on Thursday in Jakarta and North Sumatra's Medan, the ministry added. "We firmly uphold the principle of polluter pays," Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said in a statement.

Could Ukraine hold a presidential election right now? Will Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war? How can Ukraine rebuild China ties? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' A Ukrainian drone attack killed two workers from a state-owned pharmacy as they were transporting medicines to Polohy in a Russian-occupied area of Ukraine's Zaporizhia region, Russia's state news agency TASS reports. A Ukrainian drone strike injured three people in Russia's front-line Belgorod region, the regional task force reported, according to TASS.

Could Ukraine hold a presidential election right now? Will Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war? How can Ukraine rebuild China ties? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a state of emergency was being declared for Ukraine's energy sector, after repeated Russian attacks destroyed electricity and heat infrastructure. Zelenskyy said he asked the government to review curfew restrictions during "this extremely cold weather".

Malaysia and Indonesia block Musk's Grok over sexually explicit deepfakes Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked access to Elon Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok over its ability to produce sexually explicit deepfakes. Grok, a tool on Musk's X platform, allows users to generate images. In recent weeks however, it has been used to edit images of real people to show them in revealing outfits. The South East Asian countries said Grok could be used to produce pornographic and non-consensual images involving women and children. They are the first in the world to ban the AI tool.