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EU
Express
Delegates at a gathering of EU leaders were forced to drop a declaration on migration that diplomats are understood to have been preparing for weeks.
Poland and Hungary forced delegates to remove the passage in a last-minute row over migration during a meeting in Grenada, Spain.
At the end of Friday’s EU summit, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who faces a parliamentary election on October 15, said he had been partly responsible for the change.
He posted on X, formerly Twitter: “I expressed our position very strongly in the plenary and decided to veto the part of the bill that concerned migration.”
Meanwhile, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán used very strong language when describing his dissent.
He claimed Poland and Hungary were “pushed” by other EU members to sign off on an EU migration reform plan earlier this week, but refused to endorse any compromise position while in Granada.
He said: “After this, there is no chance to have any kind of compromise and agreement on migration … because legally we are raped.
“If you are raped, legally, forced to accept something you don’t like, how would you like to have a compromise and an agreement? It’s impossible.”
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte attempted to downplay the divisions among EU members.
He said the discussion regarding migration wasn’t that “big”, arguing it was primarily a domestic policy issue with Poland and Hungary.
Labour Party
Express
Sir Keir boasted that his party “blew the doors off” in the Scottish contest, marking a “big step in the right direction” on his path to Number 10.
Labour’s higher-than-expected 20.4 percentage point swing from the SNP led analysts to believe that it could return to being the largest party north of the border and open the door to Downing Street if it is replicated at the next national poll.
But despite the win in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election, the Labour leader faced fresh ridicule over his policy “flip-flops” – most recently on HS2. Sir Keir has also been scaling back or abandoning a range of policies, including dropping a pledge to abolish tuition fees and delaying the full implementation of a £28 billion green fund. He has also been muted on protecting the Triple Lock on pensions.
Even Senior Labour figures are concerned that the party’s chances in next year’s national vote could be scuppered by Sir Keir.
Craig Tracey, vice-chairman of the Conservative Party, said: “We know from recent experience that by elections don’t really translate to the results in future general elections.
“What is evident though is that there hasn’t been any major shift to Labour in these elections, where the results have been based on low turnouts by Conservative voters rather than an increase in numbers coming over to support Labour.
“This was also true of last nights Rutherglen & Hamilton by election where they won with fewer votes than they lost to the SNP with in 2019.
“Starmers message, whatever that may be, isn’t cutting through and voters are not being fooled, meaning there is still everything to play for at the next General Election.”
Sun
PETER Mandelson channelled the Godfather as he revealed the last piece of election advice he gave Sir Keir Starmer was: “Make them an offer they can’t refuse.”
New Labour’s so-called Prince of Darkness spent years in the political wilderness during Jeremy Corbyn’s reign.~
But Westminster’s very own Machiavelli is back in the Labour fold and giving the Starmer regime tips on how to woo voters.~Speaking on the eve of a crunch party conference for the Labour leader, he declared Sir Keir the heir to Blair.
He told The Sun on Sunday: “I think Starmer is the closest thing to Blair of any leader since Blair.
“But Starmer isn’t the same as Blair. He is the nearest thing to Blair.”
Express
An anti-Brexit group is pushing for a debate and vote on whether Labour should strike closer links with Brussels.
Sir Keir Starmer is facing a Brexit revolt as the Labour conference kicks off today.
The Labour Movement for Europe has drafted a motion demanding the party, which is holding its annual gathering in Liverpool, commit to closer ties with the EU.
The motion by the pro-EU group has been tabled by dozens of local constituency parties.
It calls on Labour to “make rebuilding our relationship with our European neighbours a priority for our first term in office for the benefit of national security, our economy, our climate and our trade”.
The Labour-affiliated society, which backed Remain and a second referendum, claims that Brexit has “decimated exports, affected the cost of living, increased paperwork for business and led to thousands of jobs being lost”.
It also wants a pledge on “negotiating a visa system to tackle the travel and trading delays British business, students and workers are experiencing”.
BBC News
A Labour government would cut NHS waiting lists in England by funding two million more hospital appointments a year, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
On the eve of the party’s conference in Liverpool, he said that £1.1bn per year would be spent to ensure 40,000 out-of-hours appointments each week.
This would be paid for by savings from ending the non-dom tax status, he said.
Labour is also promising to set up specialist further education colleges to tackle local skills shortages.
It says it plans to work with local political leaders and businesses to identify these shortages and focus on fixing them.
Labour has signalled that boosting economic growth will be the central theme of its conference, which is being held in Liverpool this week.
“Everything we do will be about delivering growth,” Sir Keir told the Observer.
Israel
Mail
Israel has launched a counterstrike against Hamas militants in the Gaza strip in the south, and is pounding Lebanon with artillery in the north, following an unprecedented sneak attack that has left at least 300 Israelis dead.
As the sun rose on Sunday following the deadliest day of violence in Israel in 50 years, the Jewish nation’s warplanes strafed densely populated Gaza City with bombs in retaliatory strikes.
Heavy smoke and flames were seen rising from Gaza’s Burc Vatan shopping mall, after the Palestine Tower in the Al-Rimal neighborhood, one of the tallest buildings in the strip, was reduced to rubble.
In the north, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it is carrying out artillery strikes in Lebanon following ‘shooting’ directed toward Israeli territory.
Columns of heavy weaponry including tanks and armored personnel carriers were also spotted moving north toward Israel’s border with Lebanon and Syria, amid fears Iran-backed Hezbollah militants are preparing to open a second front.
‘We are embarking on a long and difficult war that was forced on us by a murderous Hamas attack,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Sunday, adding that the ‘offensive phase’ of the IDF response has begun.
More than 300 Israelis have been killed, and 1,590 injured, since Hamas launched its blitz attack on Saturday morning with rockets and up to 1,000 armed militants roving in gangs, attacking civilians and soldiers alike across dozens of locations.
At least 26 Israeli soldiers have been killed in an attack by the Hamas militant group on the country´s south, Israel’s military confirmed.
On Sunday morning, Israel was still fighting Hamas incursions in eight places, the Israeli military said.
Mirror
Hamas militants were seen being wiped out while attempting to cross the border by sea in shocking footage.
In the thermal camera clip, the Israeli Navy is seen firing explosive rounds at small boats moving at full-throttle. The video shows multiple blasts on the craft as the vehicles are destroyed. The Israeli Defence Force’s (IDF) press office said the two crafts were carrying “dozens of terrorists trying to infiltrate Israel”.
In a statement today, the Israeli Navy said: “The fighters of the sea arm eliminated dozens of terrorists in the southern maritime space and on the coastline. In the early hours of the morning, the sea arm’s fighters conducted a naval pursuit and eliminated dozens of terrorists who tried to reach Israeli territory. The fighters opened fire at them and destroyed two rubber boats, two other vessels and an agricultural tool.”
Hamas, the Palestinian militant movement which governs large parts of Gaza, claimed responsibility for more than 2,000 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel. The attacks have killed more than 150 Israelis and injured scores more. Fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land and sea, catching the country off guard on a major Jewish holiday.
Israeli authorities say at least 40 people are dead and nearly 800 more wounded in Israel after the early morning surprise attack. The IDF has said Hamas fighters entered southern Israel by land, sea and air, using paragliders.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared his country “at war”, and vowed that Hamas will “pay a price it has never known” for the attack. Speaking in a live TV address today, US President Joe Biden has reiterated his earlier pledge that his country stands with Israel and will “not ever fail to have their back”.
“We’ll make sure they have the help their citizens need and they can continue to defend themselves,” he said. He added “thousands of rockets” have rained down on Israeli cities and Hamas has killed “innocent” people.
ITV News
Amid all the talk of peace, it’s war.
In recent weeks speculation has been building about the possibility of Saudi Arabia and Israel reaching an historic peace agreement, brokered by the Americans.
It was being heralded as momentous, the end of hostilities between the Arab world and the Jewish state.
Then, suddenly this morning, Hamas began yet another war.
Fifty years ago yesterday Israel was caught napping by its neighbours when they started what would become known as the Yom Kippur War.
This morning, on the last day of another holiday, Sukkot, an Arab army of sorts invaded part of southern Israel. Might this become known as the Sukkot War?
Israel has been caught napping again and what’s happened with Hamas’ takeover of several communities, and doubtless, the taking of many hostages, is nothing short of the Israeli nightmare.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have had many successes when it comes to detecting tunnels into Israel, dug by Hamas out of Gaza and by Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon.
Independent
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told Palestinians to leave Gaza and warned the army will turn Hamas sites “into rubble”.
“We will turn all the places in which Hamas is based … all the places Hamas is hiding in, acting from, into rubble,” Mr Netanyahu said in a televised address, warning that Palestinians trapped in the besieged area should “leave now” – despite them being unable to do so.
Israel has declared itself to be at war and launched hundreds of relentless retaliatory strikes on Gaza overnight, after Hamas militants fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of fighters into Israeli towns across the Gaza Strip border in an unprecedented surprise attack on Saturday morning.
Local media report that over 300 Israelis have been killed and 1,100 have been injured – making it the deadliest Israel has ever suffered, while an unknown number of Israeli soldiers and civilians were also taken captive and brought into Gaza.
Israel said on Sunday it had repelled Hamas militants from 22 areas after they breached the border by land, sea and air, but that fighting was ongoing in eight places.
Guardian
Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories are reeling from the most serious escalation between the Jewish state and the Islamist group Hamas to date, after a surprise Palestinian attack on the morning of a Jewish holiday led to hundreds of deaths, the seizure of dozens of Israeli hostages, and sparked fears of a regional escalation.
Unverified videos released by Hamas, the militant organisation that seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, showed captive young Israelis covered in blood, their hands tied behind their backs and eyes wide with fright as battles between the faction and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) continued to rage across southern Israel and in the Palestinian enclave on Saturday.
At least 250 people in Israel were killed, with at least 1,800 injured, according to Israeli officials. The Red Crescent said 92 people had been injured in the West Bank. On Israeli television, family members of the dead, and of dozens of missing people taken hostage by Hamas, wept down phones as they described how their homes and communities had been attacked while families slept.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 232 people were killed and 1,650 injured in the retaliatory Israeli airstrikes, sending the area’s already crumbling medical infrastructure into chaos.
Telegraph
Israel exchanged fire with Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hizbollah, 24 hours after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack that sparked a war.
Hizbollah claimed responsibility for the attack that hit a disputed area along the Golan heights, where the borders of Lebanon, Israel and Syria meet. Israel responded with drones and said it hit a Hizbollah position. Hizbollah says it is on its “way to liberating what remains of our occupied Lebanese land and in solidarity with the victorious Palestinian resistance.”
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are still battling Hamas incursions in eight locations.
While the exchange of fire raises the prospect of a broader regional war, Hizbollah’s choice to strike the disputed areas instead of directly into northern Israeli towns alongside Hamas, suggests it is not currently ready to risk wider confrontation and fully join the fight.
Further escalations with Hizbollah on the border risks drawing in one of Israel’s most fierce enemies into the fight. Hizbollah is better armed than Hamas and is believed to have tens of thousands of rockets at its disposal.
At least 500 people have been killed in the war’s first 24 hours with both Israeli and Palestinian numbers rising overnight. After a night of heavy air strikes, Israel said it had hit 426 targets in Gaza with entire residential buildings reported to be flattened.
Express
THE shock Hamas attacks would have taken months to plan and represent one of Israel’s biggest intelligence failures of recent years, experts warned last night.
It was not the first time Palestinian militants had attempted to use paragliders. Motorised parachutes were discovered in the Gaza strip’s Zikim Beach area as far back as 2003.
But yesterday’s assault on Israel marked the first successful use of a tactic underwritten by Iran’s notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
“The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) was aware of plans by Hamas to use paragliders, but this is the first time it has been achieved with any success,” said Colonel Richard Kemp, an ex-British army commander with extensive links to Israeli defence agencies.
“The launching of Iranian drones has also been attempted in the past from Lebanon, but these were successfully intercepted.”
The attacks – which Israeli defence chiefs say penetrated a number “active sites” across the south – were the first major infiltration since a series of deep tunnels was discovered, and a new six-metre tall barrier built along the Gaza border.
Experts say the coordinated air, sea and ground assaults would have taken months to plan, belying claims by Hamas that so-called “Operation al-Aqsa flood” was in direct response to events that had befallen the politically sensitive mosque in East Jerusalem last week.
Israel is no stranger to Islamist plots, and boasts a good track record in intercepting them.
In July, defence minister Yoav Gallant revealed that Israel and its allies had foiled more than 50 Iranian plots targeting Jewish interests in Israel and across the world in recent years.
Bed bugs
Mail
Hotels and transport operators are braced for an invasion of ‘super-bedbugs’ as an infestation in Paris threatens to sweep through the UK.
The Mail on Sunday has learnt that a major UK hotel chain has been quizzing guests as they check in on whether they have arrived from France. The rooms of those who have are given a deep clean by pest control experts when they leave.
Meanwhile, Air France, which runs up to six direct flights a day from Paris to London, said it will ground any aircraft if bedbugs are detected on board.
The news comes as experts are warning that these ‘super-bedbugs’ have developed a resistance to insecticides.
‘It’s harder to kill them than it’s ever been,’ said Nicolas Roux de Bezieux, of pest control website badbugs.fr. ‘Pest controllers have to return to kill them again because they survive the spray.’
An outbreak of the blood-sucking insects, whose bites cause painful itching, has provoked a wave of disgust in Paris, with residents and tourists taking to social media to post images of the bugs crawling across hotel bed sheets and train seats.
With thousands of travellers arriving each day from France on trains, flights and ferries, fears are growing that the outbreak will quickly spread here.
Millennium Hotels and Resorts, which operates 18 hotels in the UK, are asking new guests whether they have travelled from France, according to staff at one of its London hotels.
‘Every time we do the check-in we ask the guest, ‘Are you travelling from Paris?’ ‘ a receptionist said.
‘All the hotels which come under Millennium Group are doing this.’
BBC News
An apparent infestation of bedbugs in France in recent weeks has led to concerns the insects could be making their way to the UK – but, experts warn, they have been here all along.
“I wish I knew nothing about them,” says Mike Jones.
Mr Jones admits to being a reluctant authority on bedbugs, having dealt with them for the past two years at his home in Sheffield.
It began when he received some second-hand furniture from a neighbour. Shortly after, he spotted what he thought was mould on his wooden bed frame and found small insects in his bed.
A search online told him they were bedbugs and the specks of “mould” were their faeces.
Since then, he has tried many different measures to try to get rid of them, spent considerable sums of money and “watched 50 to 100 hours of videos” – all without success.
