INTERNATIONAL

Thomas Cook has collapsed after last-minute negotiations aimed at saving the 178-year-old holiday firm failed. The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the tour operator had “ceased trading with immediate effect”. It has also triggered the biggest ever peacetime repatriation, aimed at bringing more than 150,000 British holidaymakers home. Peter Fankhauser, Thomas Cook’s chief executive, said the firm’s collapse was ...

Millions of people around the world held a global climate strike on Friday, inspired by activist Greta Thunberg. Protesters across continents waved placards and chanted slogans in what could be the biggest ever demonstration over global warming caused by humans. “Our house is on fire”, Ms Thunberg said at a rally. “We will not just stand aside and watch.” The ...

The US has announced plans to send forces to Saudi Arabia in the wake of attacks against the country’s oil infrastructure. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told reporters the deployment would be “defensive in nature”. Total troop numbers have not yet been decided. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the attacks against two oil facilities last week. But ...

Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry has shown off what it says is wreckage of drones and cruise missiles that proves Iranian involvement in weekend attacks on two oil facilities. It said 18 drones and seven cruise missiles were fired from a direction that ruled out Yemen as a source. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels had said they were behind the attacks. Iran ...

Israelis are voting in their country’s second general election in five months. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the snap election after failing to form a governing coalition with a viable majority after April’s vote. The final opinion polls put his right-wing Likud party neck and neck with its main challenger, the centrist Blue and White party led by former military ...

Three frontrunners in the race to become Democratic Party candidate for US president have clashed over healthcare at the party’s third debate. The debate in Houston, Texas, was the first time Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders faced off on stage. Former Texas lawmaker Beto O’Rourke drew some of the biggest applause with an impassioned plea for gun control. ...

Arab nations have condemned a plan by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to annex part of the occupied West Bank. On Tuesday Mr Netanyahu pledged to apply Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea if he is returned to office following a general election next week. Officials in Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia sharply criticised the announcement. The ...

MPs have again rejected Boris Johnson’s calls for a snap election, as the five-week suspension of Parliament begins. In all, 293 MPs voted for the prime minister’s motion for an early poll, far short of the number needed. Earlier, opposition MPs confirmed they would not support an October poll, insisting a law blocking a no-deal Brexit must be implemented first. ...

John Bercow says he will stand down as Commons Speaker and MP at the next election or on 31 October, whichever comes first. Speaking in Parliament, Mr Bercow said his 10-year “tenure” was nearing its end and it had been the “greatest honour and privilege” to serve. If there was no early election, he said 31 October would be the ...

Robert Mugabe’s nephew has said the former Zimbabwean leader died a “very bitter” man. Mr Mugabe, who died aged 95 last week, led Zimbabwe for nearly four decades until he was ousted by a coup in 2017. “Imagine people you trusted – people that were guarding you, looking after you – [turning] against you,” Leo Mugabe said. “He was very ...