The author hopes his story of fleeing Afghanistan and long journey to Wales will help children understand what it means to be a refugee

<article data-history-node-id="447125" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/uk-police-raid-84-year-old-retired-priests-home-over-activism" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/uk-police-raid-84-year-old-retired-priests-home-over-activism" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">UK police raid 84-year-old retired priest's home over activism</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>An 84-year-old retired priest known for her climate change and pro-Palestine activism had her home raided by British police on Friday, according to the campaign group Defend Our Juries (DOJ).</p> <p>Sue Parfitt has in the past shown support for the proscribed direct action group Palestine Action, and attended a peaceful protest on Wednesday with the environmental activist group Just Stop Oil.</p> <p>DOJ said police had raided Parfitt's home on Friday. Middle East Eye has <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/this-is-not-britain-grew-up-activists-raided-police-palestine-action">reported recently</a> on the Palestine Action activists who have had their homes raided by British counter-terrorism police, as well as on the campaigners waiting to have their homes raided.</p> <p>Pressure is growing on new prime minister Andy Burnham to rescind the ban on Palestine Action, which is eating up vast amounts of police time.&nbsp;</p> <div class="url-embed-wrapper" data-social-platform="twitter" data-embed-url="https://x.com/DefendOurJuries/status/2095821511462416676"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING<br><br>84yo Reverend Sue Parfitt’s home was raided by police today.<br><br>She had taken part in a peaceful protest on Wednesday with <a href="https://x.com/JustStop_Oil?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JustStop_Oil</a> outside Westminster, calling on <a href="https://x.com/andyburnham?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@andyburnham</a> to refuse to reopen new oil &amp; gas licenses in the North Sea.<br><br>(Footage from a 2025 arrest) <a href="https://t.co/DzNRMr9WTK">pic.twitter.com/DzNRMr9WTK</a></p>— Defend Our Juries (@DefendOurJuries) <a href="https://x.com/DefendOurJuries/status/2095821511462416676?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div> </div> </div> </article>

Speaking ahead of a Nato summit, the president says US negotiators can keep talking with the Iranians "if they want".

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176 Wood Street – emblazoned with a popular cultural mural – will be torn down and replaced with a five-storey block of six flats

<article data-history-node-id="443825" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/arab-league-chief-says-israel-blocked-first-foreign-trip-ramallah" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/arab-league-chief-says-israel-blocked-first-foreign-trip-ramallah" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Arab League chief says Israel blocked first foreign trip to Ramallah</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>The Arab League's new secretary-general, Nabil Fahmy, says Israel blocked him from visiting Ramallah, in what would have been his first foreign trip since taking office this month.</p> <p>The regional bloc's secretariat was informed by Palestinian authorities "of the Israeli occupation authorities' rejection of a visit... to the occupied Palestinian territories" to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, Fahmy's office said in a statement.</p> <p>Abbas's administration governs parts of the occupied West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.</p> <p>Since Israel's genocide in Gaza began in 2023, the occupied West Bank has been rocked by Israeli military raids, deadly settler attacks and the expansion of settlements, which are illegal under international law.</p> <p>Fahmy said Palestinians in the territory "suffer siege in their towns and cities, surrounded by expanding settlements and settler-only roads, and are subjected to the brutality and terrorism of settlers who enjoy both the protection and encouragement of the occupying state".</p> </div> </div> </article>

Israel has used the deadly munition extensively in Lebanon and Gaza amid condemnation from human rights monitors

The Smoking and Vapes Act will make it illegal to sell tobacco — including shisha and paan — to anyone born in or after 2009

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A BBC investigation uncovers how criminals are operating huge illegal rubbish tips across the country.

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Your donation helps fund the local organising needed to stop Reform UK from making gains this year.

YouTube video by Associated Press

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The new leader of one of France’s largest Muslim bodies believes optimism is the key to fighting dangerous misconceptions about his religion

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ICJ lawyer warns of 'systematic policy of destruction of the Palestinian people' as UN secretary general hints at fresh case against Israel at the world court

Responding to the approval of the controversial Chinese super-embassy, Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Calum Miller MP said:

<article data-history-node-id="431652" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israel-killed-279-palestinians-gaza-ceasefire-government-media-office" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israel-killed-279-palestinians-gaza-ceasefire-government-media-office" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Israel killed 279 Palestinians in Gaza since ceasefire, government media office says</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed a total of 279 people and wounded 652 since the ceasefire came into effect on 10 October, according to the government media office in the Strip.</p> <p>The office said Israel has carried out 393 attacks in this period, in violation of the ceasefire.</p> <figure role="group" class="media-block"> <div class="group-inner"> <div alt="Relatives mourn over the bodies of children killed in an Israeli strike, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, on October 29, 2025. " data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f3fa5f68-ee2b-4cc7-b893-a17ea328ab58" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"> <img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/000_82CL3ET.jpg" width="1024" height="682" alt="Relatives mourn over the bodies of children killed in an Israeli strike, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, on October 29, 2025. " typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high"> </div> <figcaption>Relatives mourn over the bodies of children killed in an Israeli strike, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, on 29 October 2025. (AFP)</figcaption> </div> </figure> <p><span style="background: url(&quot;https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png&quot;) rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"><img height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy"></span></p> </div> </div> </article>

<article data-history-node-id="431310" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/genocide-stopped-only-media-gaza-endures-daily-bombings-month-truce" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/genocide-stopped-only-media-gaza-endures-daily-bombings-month-truce" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">'Genocide stopped only in media': Gaza endures daily bombings a month into truce</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>A month into the ceasefire in Gaza, almost nothing has changed for Manar Jendiya.</p> <p>Originally from Gaza City, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine" target="_blank">Palestinian</a>&nbsp;mother&nbsp;has remained displaced in Deir al-Balah since the truce took effect on 11 October, as most of her neighbourhood, Shujaiya, remains under&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank">Israeli</a>&nbsp;control.</p> <p>Two weeks into the agreement, Israeli forces heavily bombed the area where she was staying, forcing her to seek refuge elsewhere.</p> <p>One of the attacks killed her sister.</p> <p>“Her husband was killed earlier in the war, so she had been caring for her children alone,” Jendiya told Middle East Eye.</p> <p>“When the attacks in Gaza City escalated and evacuation orders were issued repeatedly, she didn’t want to risk losing her children as well, so she sought refuge in a makeshift tent in central Gaza,” she added.</p> <p>“She never imagined she would be killed here too, leaving her children without a mother or father.”</p> <h3>Read more:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/genocide-stopped-only-media-gaza-endures-daily-bombings-month-truce">Gaza endures daily bombings a month into truce</a></h3> <figure role="group" class="media-block"> <div class="group-inner"> <div alt="A Palestinian girl in the Jabalia neighbourhood in the northern Gaza Strip, 4 November 2025 (Habboub Ramez/ABACA via Reuters)" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="00a5e3ac-9fa5-4aa0-bfa0-c55fc56276a3" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"> <img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/2025-11-04T000000Z_681540819_MT1ABCPR973171007_RTRMADP_3_ABACA-PRESS%20%281%29.jpeg" width="1400" height="788" alt="A Palestinian girl in the Jabalia neighbourhood in the northern Gaza Strip, 4 November 2025 (Habboub Ramez/ABACA via Reuters)" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high"> </div> <figcaption>A Palestinian girl in the Jabalia neighbourhood in the northern Gaza Strip, 4 November 2025 (Habboub Ramez/ABACA via Reuters)</figcaption> </div> </figure> <p><span style="background: url(&quot;https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png&quot;) rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"><img height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy"></span></p> </div> </div> </article>

Artists from Iran, Japan, the US and Europe come together for the annual celebration of musical improvisation and innovation