THE GUARDIAN

Russia accuses west of building up forces on its borders.

Russia has accused the west of building up forces on its borders as well as those of Belarus in remarks that appeared tailored to mirror recent US warnings about Moscow’s aggressive positioning towards Ukraine.

THE GUARDIAN

House Democrats pass Biden’s expansive Build Back Better policy plan.

Joe Biden has hailed the US House of Representatives for passing a $1.75tn social and climate spending bill, a central pillar of his agenda that must now go before the Senate.

The Democratic majority in the House approved the Build Back Better Act on Friday despite fierce opposition from Republicans.

THE GUARDIAN

‘Horrific’: 10 people suffocate in overcrowded migrant boat off Libya.

Ten people were found dead in the lower deck of a severely overcrowded wooden boat off the coast of Libya, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has reported.

AL JAZEERA

Turkey releases Israeli couple detained on espionage charges 

An Israeli couple held in Turkey for a week on suspicion of espionage has been released. 

Mordi and Natali Oknin were detained after visiting the newly opened Camlica Tower – Istanbul’s tallest building. They were freed on Thursday. 

THE GUARDIAN

Brexit minister says UK not trying to move checks to Irish border

The Brexit minister, Lord Frost, has said suspending parts of the Northern Ireland protocol by triggering article 16 of the agreement with the EU is still a “very real option” but has indicated that he hopes a deal can be done by Christmas.

THE GUARDIAN

Biden-Xi virtual summit: leaders warn each other over future of Taiwan

Xi Jinping warned Joe Biden in a virtual summit that China was prepared to take “decisive measures” if Taiwan makes any moves towards independence that cross Beijing’s red lines.

THE GUARDIAN

Foreign citizens caught up in crackdown on Tigrayans in Ethiopia

American and British citizens have been swept up in Ethiopia’s mass detentions of ethnic Tigrayans under a new state of emergency in the country’s escalating war.

THE GUARDIAN

Merkel appeals to Putin to intervene in Belarus border crisis

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has asked Vladimir Putin to intervene in the crisis on the Belarus-Poland border in an appeal to Minsk’s key foreign sponsor.

In a phone call, Merkel told Putin that the “use of migrants by the Belarusian regime was inhuman and unacceptable and asked [Putin] to influence the regime in Minsk”, said the chancellor’s spokesperson, Steffen Seibert.

THE GUARDIAN

Cop26 sets course for disastrous heating of more than 2.4C, says key report

The world is on track for disastrous levels of global heating far in excess of the limits in the Paris climate agreement, despite a flurry of carbon-cutting pledges from governments at the UN Cop26 summit.

THE GUARDIAN

Daniel Ortega set to win Nicaraguan election denounced as sham

Nicaragua’s authoritarian leaders, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, appeared to have secured another five years in power in an election that the US president, Joe Biden, condemned as an undemocratic “pantomime”.