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Gaza lost communications in its third total outage of the conflict so far, as Israel’s military said it had divided the Palestinian territory into two.

Israeli media reported the country’s troops are expected to enter Gaza City within 48 hours, having encircled the area.

Strong explosions were seen in northern Gaza overnight, with the conflict now in its fifth week after Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel on 7 October.

Follow live: Israeli troops ‘to enter major city within 48 hours’

Fire and smoke rises from buildings following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)
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Fire and smoke rises from buildings in Gaza City on Sunday. Pic: AP

At the British embassy in Lebanon, some workers and their family members have been temporarily withdrawn as fears grow the war could spiral into a regional conflict – with Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group having traded fire along their border.

The UK Foreign Office has advised against “all travel to Lebanon” and warned of “civil unrest”.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters on Sunday the war has reached a “significant stage” as Israeli troops operate in Gaza, adding: “Today there is north Gaza and south Gaza.”

A map showing the evacuation zone of northern Gaza down to the Wadi Gaza.
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Israel says Gaza has now been divided in two as its troops operate in the north

The temporary collapse in connectivity across Gaza on Monday, reported by internet access advocacy group NetBlocks.org and confirmed by Palestinian telecom company Paltel, has made it difficult for Palestinians and aid workers to contact people outside the territory.

Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the UN Palestinian refugee agency, said it had “lost communication with the vast majority” of its members.

It came after Israeli warplanes were reported to have struck two refugee camps on Sunday.

The Maghazi refugee camp was one of those hit, with at least 40 people killed and 34 wounded, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said.

An Associated Press reporter at a nearby hospital saw eight dead children, including a baby, brought in after the strike.

The second airstrike was reported to have hit a house near a school at the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. Staff at al Aqsa Hospital told the AP at least 13 people were killed.

Israel has not confirmed it carried out the strikes.

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Man loses four children in Gaza

Israel has said it will press on with its offensive with the aiming of crushing Hamas, despite US appeals for even brief pauses to get aid to civilians.

On the ground, Israeli forces in Gaza have reported finding stashes of weapons, at times including explosives, suicide drones and missiles as they operate in the territory.

Gaza’s health ministry has said more than 9,700 Palestinians have been killed, with more than 4,000 of them children and minors.

Officials in Israel have said 1,400 people have been killed in the country during the conflict.

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Meanwhile, US secretary of state Antony Blinken met his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan on Monday.

Speaking at the airport in the Turkish capital Ankara, Mr Blinken said they discussed efforts to expand humanitarian efforts in Gaza and to prevent the conflict in the region from spreading.

The US secretary of state said it would be seen in the coming days whether humanitarian assistance can expand in significant ways.

It comes after he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, a day after meeting Arab foreign ministers in Jordan.

Mr Abbas, who has had no authority in Gaza since Hamas took over in 2007, said the Palestinian Authority would only assume control of Gaza as part of a “comprehensive political solution” establishing an independent state that includes the West Bank and east Jerusalem, lands Israel seized in the 1967 war.

His remarks seemed to further narrow the already slim options for who would govern Gaza if Israel topples Hamas.

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Stock markets slump for second day running after Trump announces tariffs – in worst day for indexes since COVID

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Stock markets slump for second day running after Trump announces tariffs - in worst day for indexes since COVID

Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.

While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.

As it happened: Worst week’s trading in five years

All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.

The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.

Read more: What’s a bear market?

Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.

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Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.

The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.

And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.

Pic: Reuters
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US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters

Trump holds trade deal talks – reports

It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indian and Israeli representatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.

The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.

Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.

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Do Trump’s tariffs add up?

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Markets gave Trump a clear no-confidence vote
There were no winners from Trump’s tariff gameshow

China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.

Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.

Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.

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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump

He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’

“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they're also battling with another problem

Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.

The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.

The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.

Tariffs latest: FTSE 100 suffers biggest daily drop since COVID

Financial investors had been gradually re-calibrating their expectations of Donald Trump over the past few months.

Hopes that his actions may not match his rhetoric were dashed on Wednesday as he imposed sweeping tariffs on the US’ trading partners, ratcheting up protectionism to a level not seen in more than a century.

Markets were always going to respond to that but they are also battling with another problem: the lack of certainty when it comes to Trump.

More on Donald Trump

He is a capricious figure and we can only guess his next move. Will he row back? How far is he willing to negotiate and offer concessions?

Read more:
There were no winners from Trump’s tariff gameshow
Trade war sparks ‘$2.2trn’ global market sell-off

These are massive unknowns, which are piled on to uncertainty about how countries will respond.

China has already retaliated and Europe has indicated it will go further.

That will compound the problems for the global economy and undoubtedly send shivers through the markets.

Much is yet to be determined, but if there’s one thing markets hate, it’s uncertainty.

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Court confirms sacking of South Korean president who declared martial law

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Court confirms sacking of South Korean president who declared martial law

South Korea’s constitutional court has confirmed the dismissal of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December after declaring martial law.

His decision to send troops onto the streets led to the country’s worst political crisis in decades.

The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.

The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.

Demonstrators who stayed overnight near the constitutional court wait for the start of a rally calling for the president to step down. Pic: AP
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Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP

Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.

The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.

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The Constitutional Court is under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement of the impeachment trial. Pic: AP
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The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP

After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.

He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.

His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.

The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.

South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.

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