World News

Argentina has asked Interpol to issue an arrest notice for the Iranian interior minister, Ahmad Vahidi.

The request comes less than two weeks after a court in Argentina held Iran responsible for the 1994 attack on a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires, in which 85 people were killed.

Mr Vahidi was in Pakistan earlier this week as part of an Iranian delegation which is now in Sri Lanka.

Argentina said it had also asked the two countries to detain Mr Vahidi.

The Argentine Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Interpol had issued a so-called “red notice”.

While a red notice alerts police in member countries about internationally wanted fugitives, it does not constitute an arrest warrant.

Interpol cannot compel police to arrest someone for whom a red notice has been issued, it is up to the member country to decide whether to make the arrest. Read more here.

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Ukraine has begun using longer-range ballistic missiles against Russia that were secretly provided by the US, American officials have confirmed.

The weapons were sent as part of a previous US support package, and arrived this month. Officials said they were not announced publicly to maintain Ukraine’s “operational security”.

They have already been used at least once to strike Russian targets in occupied Crimea.

Further US aid is now heading to Kyiv.

More American weaponry is expected to be sent imminently, after President Joe Biden signed off on Wednesday a new package of economic and military support for Ukraine worth $61bn (£49bn).

The missiles that have already been quietly provided are the longer-range version of the Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), a state departmen…Read more here.

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Satellite images show two new tent encampments in southern Gaza as reports suggest Israel’s military is preparing for an offensive in the city of Rafah.

Rafah, by the border with Egypt, is the only city in Gaza it has not yet entered. Well over a million people have been sheltering there for months.

The US has said a plan to protect them must be in place before any offensive.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu insists entering Rafah is necessary to defeat Hamas and search for hostages.

The current war began when Hamas attacked Israeli communities near Gaza, killing about 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages. Israel’s subsequent campaign of aerial bombardment and ground operations in Gaza has killed 34,183 people, mostly civilians, according to the…Read more here.

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A military base in Iraq housing a pro-Iranian militia has been damaged in an explosion, killing one and wounding eight, security officials there have said.

Iraq’s military reported no drones or fighter jets in the area before or during the blast.

But the militia organisation involved, the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), blamed an attack.

It comes amid heightened tensions between Israel and Iran.

The PMF is an umbrella organisation that contains several pro-Iranian militias that are part of the network of proxies that Tehran has been able to use to advance its interests across the Middle East for years.

Those militias have attacked US personnel and interests in Iraq on a number of occasions in the past, with the aim of trying to force the remaining US troops to leave the country. The US has regularly…Read more here.

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