Jonathan Rugman , Foreign Affairs Correspondent

Turkey votes this weekend in its most important election in many decades. If President Erdogan wins, as expected, he plans to vastly increase his own powers after already transforming the country for 16 years. His critics say Turkey is heading for one-man, absolute rule, though an opposition candidate appears to be running Mr Erdogan close…

In Yemen today, for a second day, the Saudi-led coalition has attacked Houthi positions in an attempt to gain control of the port town of Hodeidah. The Houthi rebels claim that they have foiled an Arab naval attack and claim they are ready for a long battle. Our Foreign Affairs Correspondent Jonathan Rugman reports.

The civil war in Yemen has taken a dramatic new turn as Saudi-backed forces try to take the key rebel-held port of Hodeidah. Aid agencies say the coastal city provides a vital route for food and medicine and that millions of people are at risk of starvation if goods cannot pass through it. The Foreign Secretary Boris…

It is our duty to avoid a humanitarian catastrope, Spain’s new prime minister declared today, as he agreed to allow a stranded ship with 629 migrants on board a safe port, amid a diplomatic storm. Italy and Malta had turned the rescue ship away, despite warnings from aid agencies that it would run out of…

The former Conservative party leader Michael Howard, has confronted Israel’s prime minister over the killing of hundreds of Palestinian protestors by Israeli troops using live ammunition – demanding ‘why did you have to kill them’. Benjamin Netanyahu – who’s been in Europe to talk about the Iran nuclear deal – claimed Israel had tried to minimise casualties, blaming Hamas for…

“Betrayal of the treacherous is loyalty in the eyes of God. I betrayed a bunch of criminals, it’s as simple as that” – the words of one of MI6’s most important spies in the war on terror, Aimen Dean. He worked with Al Qaeda’s master bombmaker in a training camp in Afghanistan in the nineties.…

Hamas official Ghazi Hamad discusses Gaza.

Palestinian authorities reported that two more people died under the fire of the Israeli military on the Gaza border with Israel, bringing the total number of fatalities to 62 since yesterday. Many more remain critically injured in hospital. There is mounting international condemnation of Israel’s use of force, with the United Nations calling it an…

Over 50 people were killed – several of them children – and many hundreds injured, as Palestinian protesters were met with live rounds fired by Israeli troops.

It’s likely to be an incendiary week in Gaza. Hamas has been organising demonstrations on its border with Israel for nearly two months. More protests are likely tomorrow and on Tuesday to mark what the Palestinians call Nakba, or the Day of Catastrophe, when they fled or were forced from their homes as the state…

Tensions on the Gaza-Israel border are high ahead of a planned major demonstration next week to mark what Palestinians refer to as “the Nakba” or “catastrophe” – a reference to Israel’s establishment in 1948 and what happened to the Palestinians who lived on that land. Today, Gaza health officials said one Palestinian has been killed…

In Gaza, over 40 Palestinians have been killed and thousands injured by Israeli gunfire in the last few weeks as protesters demanded the right to return to the lands many were forced to leave 70 years ago. The UN says Gaza will be “unliveable” by 2020, or sooner. And such are the declining levels of…

Britain has urged the United States not to abandon the nuclear deal with Iran, after Israel released documents claiming Tehran had lied “big time” about its nuclear weapons programme. Boris Johnson said the deal was still vitally important to keep Iran’s activities in check. But Donald Trump has signalled he could walk away from the…

Cuba’s new president Miguel Diaz-Canel has pledged to continue the socialist revolution led by his predecessors, as he became the country’s first leader who isn’t from the Castro family for almost 60 years. 86 year old Raoul Castro will remain head of the Communist party – but he hinted today that Diaz Canel could take…

On the international stage, the war of words continued, with the US accusing Russia of blocking inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons from gaining access to the site of the Douma attack. The Russians denied the charge, blaming the US-led missile strikes and the UN as the cause of the delay.…