Ukraine's military says it has withdrawn its troops from Avdiivka - the key eastern town for months besieged by Russian forces.
Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said he acted "to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of service personnel".
He added that the troops were moved to "more favourable lines".
His deputy said the Russians had a huge artillery advantage, and were advancing "on the corpses of their own soldiers".
Avdiivka - a gateway to the Russian-seized city of Donetsk - has been engulfed in fierce fighting for months, and is now almost completely destroyed.
It has been a battlefield town since 2014, when Russian-backed fighters seized large swathes of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The fall of Avdiivka marks the biggest change on the more than 1,000km-long (620-mile) front line since Russian troops seized the nearby town of Bakhmut in May 2023.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.
In a statement on Facebook early on Saturday, Gen Col Syrskyi said his decision was based on "the operational situation around Avdiivka".
"Our soldiers performed their military duty with dignity, did everything possible to destroy the best Russian military units, inflicted significant losses on the enemy in terms of manpower and equipment."
Gen Syrskyi - who was only appointed as the country's top commander a few days ago - said Ukrainian troops were "taking measures to stabilise the situation and maintain our positions".
In a separate statement soon afterwards, one of his deputies said the troops had already left Avdiivka to "pre-prepared positions".
"In a situation where the enemy is advancing on the corpses of their own soldiers, with a ten-to-one shell advantage, under constant bombardment, this is the only correct solution," Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskyi added.
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US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby had earlier warned that Avdiivka was "at risk of falling into Russian control".
He said this was largely "because the Ukrainian forces on the ground are running out of artillery ammunition".
"Russia is sending wave after wave of conscript forces to attack Ukrainian positions," he said.
"And because Congress has yet to pass the supplemental bill, we have not been able to provide Ukraine with the artillery shells that they desperately need to disrupt these Russian assaults."
Ukraine is critically dependent on weapons supplies from the US and other Western allies to keep fighting Russia - a much bigger military force with an abundance of artillery ammunition.
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Thursday that the US failure to approve continued military assistance to Ukraine was already having an impact on the battlefield.
Russian troops have been making significant gains in Avdiivka recently, threatening to encircle it.
Earlier this week some Ukrainian soldiers privately admitted the town could fall at any moment.
"We're upset," Ukrainian officer Oleksii, from Ukraine's 110th Mechanised Brigade in the Avdiivka area, told the BBC, standing beside a huge mobile artillery piece as Russian guns boomed in the distance.
"Currently we have two shells, but we have no [explosive] charges for them… so we can't fire them. As of now, we have run out of shells," said Oleksii.
A South Korean pastor once hailed as a hero for smuggling out hundreds of North Koreans has been jailed for sexually abusing teenage defectors.
Chun Ki-won, 67, has been sentenced to five years for molesting minors at his boarding school in Seoul.
The pastor had been viewed as a saviour figure for decades with people calling him an "Asian Schindler" and his operations an "Underground Railroad" for those fleeing the North's regime.
He was arrested in Seoul in September.
Police accused him of molesting six North Korean teenagers, including defectors sleeping in the dormitories of the alternative school he had founded at his Durihana mission.
Chun had denied the charges but a court on Wednesday ruled the victims' evidence as irrefutable.
"The victims are making consistent statements and it includes content that cannot be stated without first-hand experience of the circumstances", Judge Seung-jeong Kim of the Seoul Central District Court said.
The judge added that Chun had committed his crimes from "a position where he had absolute influence".
He was found guilty in five of six cases of abuse against the minors - some of whom had escaped alone and others with their families under the guidance of Chun's mission.
Chun founded Durihana, one of South Korean's most prominent NGOs that helps North Koreans flee through routes in China.
He claims to have helped more than 1,000 North Koreans escape the hardline regime of the Kim family over the past 25 years, and has personally been condemned by Pyongyang for his work.
In 2002, he made headlines after being imprisoned in China for seven months during an escape mission.
His work - which included the establishment of an alternative school for children of North Korean defectors - was widely covered, the subject of documentaries and news articles including by the BBC, CNN, The New York Times and National Geographic.
Media reports often compared him to Oskar Schindler, a businessman who rescued more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust.
His arrest and conviction has shocked South Korea - where his trial was widely reported this week.
TV bulletins showed the grey-haired Chun in a white outfit being brought to court in handcuffs and flanked by guards.
Egypt is preparing an area at the Gaza border which could accommodate Palestinians in case an Israeli offensive into Rafah prompts an exodus across the frontier, four sources told news agency Reuters, in what they described as a contingency move by Cairo.
Egypt, which denied making any such preparations, has repeatedly raised the alarm over the possibility that Israel’s devastating Gaza offensive could displace Palestinians into Sinai – something Cairo says would be completely unacceptable – echoing warnings from Arab states such as Jordan.
One of the sources said Egypt was optimistic talks to clinch a ceasefire can avoid any such scenario, but is establishing the area at the border as a temporary and precautionary measure.
Three security sources told Reuters that Egypt had begun preparing a desert area with some basic facilities which could be used to shelter Palestinians, emphasising this was a contingency step. The sources Reuters spoke to for this story declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Israel has said its army is drawing up a plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah to other parts of the Gaza Strip. But UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Thursday it was an “illusion” to think people in Gaza could evacuate to a safe place and warned of the possibility of Palestinians spilling into Egypt if Israel launches a military operation in Rafah. He called this scenario “a sort of Egyptian nightmare”.
Egypt has framed its opposition to the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza as part of wider Arab rejection of any repeat of the “Nakba”, or “catastrophe”, when about 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes in the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948.
The first source said construction of the camp began three or four days ago and it would offer temporary shelter in any scenario of people crossing the frontier “until a resolution is reached”.
Asked by Reuters about the accounts by the sources, the head of Egypt’s state information service said: “This has no basis in truth. Our Palestinian brothers have said and Egypt has said that there is no preparation for this possibility.”
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Friday that Israeli forces had released two of its doctors that were arrested a week ago during a raid on the al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis.
In a post to its X account, the PRCS said doctors Jamal Ayad and Nafith Al-Qarm had been released on Friday morning, but 12 others from its teams remained under arrest, including seven who were arrested at al-Amal hospital.
The UN’s high commissioner for refugees said on Friday that a spillover of refugees from Gaza’s Rafah into Egypt’s Sinai would be a disaster and that Egyptian authorities had made clear that Palestinians should be assisted in the enclave.
“It would be a disaster for the Palestinians … a disaster for Egypt and a disaster for the future of peace,” Filippo Grandi told news agnecy Reuters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering in the southern German city.
When asked whether Egyptian authorities had contacted the UNHCR about possible contingency plans he said: “The Egyptians said that people should be assisted inside Gaza and we are working on that.”
Israeli forces said on Friday it had taken into custody more than “20 terrorists” suspected of involvement in the 7 October Hamas attack, during its raid of Nasser hospital yesterday, reports news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP).
On Thursday IDF spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari said there was “credible intelligence” to suggest hostages seized by Hamas in the 7 October attack had been held at the hospital, and that bodies of some of the captives may still be inside.
But the military said later it had “not yet found any evidence of this”, although forces had found “weapons, grenades and mortar bombs” at the hospital complex.
A witness who declined to be named out of fear for their safety told AFP the army had shot “at anyone who moved inside the hospital”.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry also raised fears over the fate of six other patients in the intensive care unit and three children, saying it held Israel “responsible for the lives of patients and staff considering that the complex is now under its full control”.
The latest figures from the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 112 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes and 157 were injured in the past 24 hours.
According to the statement, at least 28,775 Palestinians have been killed and 68,552 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October.
The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
A doctor at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, which was raided by Israeli forces on Thursday, told Al Jazeera that the situation there is “catastrophic”.
Dr Nahed Abu Taima, who is a director at medical complex, said Israeli forces rounded up patients and civilians taking shelter in the hospital. Abu Taima said:
We were forced to transfer all the patients and the wounded to the hospital’s old building … electric power was cut off from the entire medical complex. Many patients in ICUs and those on oxygen supply and also those on dialysis are left fighting for their lives since 3am [2am GMT].
We stand helpless, unable to provide any form of medical assistance to the patients inside the hospital or the victims flooding into the hospital every single minute.”
The hunger crisis in Gaza has reached “unprecedented levels, as people run out of even animal feed to eat” said development charity ActionAid on Friday.
“An unprecedented and totally avoidable hunger crisis” has led to “every single person in the territory now experiencing extreme levels of hunger”, it said, warning that “as grim as the picture is, things will get substantially worse” if Israel proceeds with its plans for a full military operation in Rafah.
“It is appalling to watch the world standing by as the people of Gaza slowly starve in what is a completely avoidable catastrophe,” said Riham Jafari, advocacy and communications coordinator at ActionAid Palestine. She said the recent International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling “clearly stated that the supply of humanitarian aid into Gaza must be facilitated yet instead, people have grown hungrier by the day”.
Jafari said the situation is most bleak in the north of Gaza, where about 300,000 people are almost completely cut off from humanitarian assistance: “People who were so desperate that they were resorting to grinding up animal feed to use as flour are now finding that even this poor substitute is completely running out.”
She added:
As grim as the picture is, things will get substantially worse if Israel proceeds with its plans for a full military operation in Rafah, which is the main centre of aid distribution for the entire strip. Aid operations will grind to a complete halt, denying a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of people.
The consequences are unimaginable. Governments around the world must do everything in their power to prevent a further onslaught in Rafah and push for a permanent and immediate ceasefire. It’s the only way to stop the indiscriminate killing of civilians, allow aid to enter Gaza and be distributed safely at scale to prevent famine and deadly disease outbreaks.”
ActionAid said that as well as a dwindling and inconsistent supply of food for people to buy, prices are also very high. Heba, a displaced mother who is now staying in the classroom of a school shelter with her family, told the charity:
The prices are expensive. If you buy a kilo of lentils it costs 20 shekels [£4.33]. It was originally 10 shekels [£2.16]. Yeast costs 35 shekels [£7.58]. With difficulty, they bring us [food] vouchers but it is not enough … It gives us just a can of beans and a can of chickpeas for a family of seven.”
A lack of fuel and cooking gas means families are burning anything they can find to cook what little food they have, says ActionAid, with potentially dangerous health consequences. Sohad, a 23-year-old displaced mother who is staying on a beach in a tent with her family, told the charity: “We live on sand and now we burn plastic to cook with. We have not found anything to eat. We have not found anything to feed our children.”
According to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the entire 2.3 million population of Gaza is now classified as facing either crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of food insecurity. ActionAid say the amount of aid being allowed into Gaza each day “is shamefully insufficient” and needs to “be scaled up immediately”.
The Guardian’s visuals team have created this in-depth look at how Gaza’s ‘safe’ city Rafah came to be on the precipice of catastrophe. It contains analysis of satellite data, graphs on the proportion of buildings likely to have been damaged or destroyed in Gaza, and maps that show how the damage has spread further south over the last couple of weeks as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shifted its military activity, pushing displaced people closer to Rafah. You can take a look at the visualisation here:
US secretary of state and foreign ministers from UK, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan join Israel at security conference, writes the Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour:
Western leaders are hoping a round of meetings at a security conference in Munich will put overwhelming pressure on Israel not to press ahead with a ground offensive in Rafah.
Almost all the key figures, save the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, will be present in Munich on Friday, including foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan. The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, and foreign minister, Israel Katz, will also attend along with three freed hostages, Raz Ben Ami, Adi Shoham and Aviva Siegel. Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, is flying in too.
The pressure on Israel to avoid a ground offensive is coming from almost all quarters, including allies such as the US, UK, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The shadow of a return to the international court of justice and a further Algerian-sponsored UN security council resolution is looming over Israel.
Negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza appear to have stalled, with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday pushing back hard against the US vision for after the war – particularly its calls for the creation of a Palestinian state, reports AP.
After speaking overnight with president Joe Biden, Netanyahu wrote on X that Israel will not accept “international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians”.
He said that if other countries unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state, it would give a “reward to terrorism.” Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected creation of a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive and expand it to the Gaza city of Rafah, near Egypt, until Hamas is destroyed and scores of hostages taken during the militants’ 7 October attack are freed.
In their phone call, Biden again cautioned Netanyahu against moving forward with a military operation in Rafah before coming up with a “credible and executable plan” to ensure the safety of Palestinian civilians, the White House said.
With the war showing no sign of ending, the risk of a broader conflict grew as Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group had deadliest exchange of fire along the border since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, says AP.
Israel launched airstrikes into southern Lebanon for a second day on Thursday after killing 10 civilians and three Hezbollah fighters on Wednesday in response to a rocket attack that killed an Israeli soldier and wounded several others.
The storming by Israeli troops of southern Gaza’s main hospital brought chaos to hundreds of staff and patients inside, writes The Associated Press (AP). It says health officials said on Friday that four people in intensive care had died after their oxygen cut off.
Israeli military said its special forces were searching the facility, where it believes the remains of hostages abducted by Hamas might be located.
The raid came after troops had besieged Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis for nearly a week, with staff, patients and others inside struggling under heavy fire and dwindling supplies, including food and water. Hours before troops seized the hospital on Thursday, Israeli fire killed a patient and wounded six others inside the complex, staff said.
Here are some satellite images that show where Egypt is reportedly setting up an area as a contingency measure along the Egypt-Gaza border near Rafah:
According to Reuters, the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, an activist organisation, published images on Monday it said showed construction trucks and cranes working in the Egyptian area near the Gaza border. It also showed images of concrete barriers.
Citing an unidentified source, the Sinai Foundation said that the construction work was intended to create a secured area in case of a mass exodus of Palestinians.
Reuters was able to confirm the location of part of the video as Rafah from the position of the buildings, trees and fences which match satellite imagery of the area but was not able to confirm the location of the whole of the video or the date on which it was filmed.
Egypt is preparing an area at the Gaza border which could accommodate Palestinians in case an Israeli offensive into Rafah prompts an exodus across the frontier, four sources told news agency Reuters, in what they described as a contingency move by Cairo.
Egypt, which denied making any such preparations, has repeatedly raised the alarm over the possibility that Israel’s devastating Gaza offensive could displace Palestinians into Sinai – something Cairo says would be completely unacceptable – echoing warnings from Arab states such as Jordan.
One of the sources said Egypt was optimistic talks to clinch a ceasefire can avoid any such scenario, but is establishing the area at the border as a temporary and precautionary measure.
Three security sources told Reuters that Egypt had begun preparing a desert area with some basic facilities which could be used to shelter Palestinians, emphasising this was a contingency step. The sources Reuters spoke to for this story declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Israel has said its army is drawing up a plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah to other parts of the Gaza Strip. But UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Thursday it was an “illusion” to think people in Gaza could evacuate to a safe place and warned of the possibility of Palestinians spilling into Egypt if Israel launches a military operation in Rafah. He called this scenario “a sort of Egyptian nightmare”.
Egypt has framed its opposition to the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza as part of wider Arab rejection of any repeat of the “Nakba”, or “catastrophe”, when about 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes in the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948.
The first source said construction of the camp began three or four days ago and it would offer temporary shelter in any scenario of people crossing the frontier “until a resolution is reached”.
Asked by Reuters about the accounts by the sources, the head of Egypt’s state information service said: “This has no basis in truth. Our Palestinian brothers have said and Egypt has said that there is no preparation for this possibility.”
US President Joe Biden has issued a fresh warning to Israel over its plans for an offensive in Rafah.
The area had formerly been declared a ‘safe zone’ for Palestinians fleeing the fighting and Israeli bombardments in other parts of Gaza. Since then its population has swelled in numbers.
Biden told Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he should not proceed with military action in Rafah without a credible and executable plan to protect Palestinian civilians, the White House said.
The call between the two leaders on Thursday was the second time in less than a week that Biden warned Netanyahu about moving into the southern part of the Gaza Strip without a plan to ensure the safety of about 1 million people sheltering there.
They also spoke about ongoing hostage negotiations and Biden pledged to continue to work around the clock to help free the hostages, who have spent 132 days in Hamas captivity, according to the White House read out of the call.
This round of negotiations in Cairo, aimed at a lengthy ceasefire and a second further exchange of hostages and prisoners after a successful week-long truce at the end of November, is expected to last until Friday.
Western leaders are also hoping a round of meetings at a security conference in Munich will put overwhelming pressure on Israel not to press ahead with a ground offensive in Rafah. The White House has announced that the US vice-president Kamala Harris is set to meet with Israeli president Isaac Herzog and Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani at the conference on Friday, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, the Egyptian non-governmental organisation Sinai Foundation for Human Rights reported that construction work had begun on creating a “high-security gated and isolated area” near the border with Gaza “in the case of the mass exodus of the citizens of Gaza Strip”.
It has gone 9.30am in Gaza and Tel Aviv and this is our latest Guardian blog on the Middle East crisis.
US President Joe Biden has again told Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he should not proceed with military action in Rafah without a credible and executable plan to protect Palestinian civilians, the White House said.
The population of the city has swelled since the Israel-Gaza war began after the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
The call between the two leaders on Thursday was the second time in less than a week that Biden warned Netanyahu about moving into the southern part of the Gaza Strip without a plan to ensure the safety of about 1 million people sheltering there, reports Reuters.
It comes as the round of ceasefire and hostage release negotiations are expected to finish on Friday. Israel is also expected to come under pressure at the Munich security conference over its plans for Rafah.
More on that in a moment but first, here’s a summary of the latest main developments:
International medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported a “chaotic situation” at Nasser hospital and said its medical staff “have had to flee the hospital, leaving patients behind”. It also said one of its colleagues remained unaccounted for after Israeli forces shelled the hospital in the early hours of Thursday and another colleagues was detained at a checkpoint that Israeli Forces had set up “to screen people leaving the compound”. MSF said “we call for his safety and the protection of his dignity” and urged Israeli forces to stop “this attack”.
Israeli military confirmed its special forces were inside Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Thursday, saying it had “credible intelligence” that the bodies of hostages taken on 7 October may be in the facility.
IDF spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari, said forces were conducting a “precise and limited” operation in Nasser hospital and would not forcibly evacuate medics or patients but Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said Israel had launched a “massive incursion” with heavy shooting that injured many of the displaced people who had sheltered there. He said the military had ordered medics to move all patients into an older building that was not properly equipped for their treatment. “Many cannot evacuate, such as those with lower limb amputations, severe burns, or the elderly,” he said in an interview with the Al Jazeera network.
Videos that Reuters verified on Thursday as having been filmed inside Nasser hospital, though it could not verify when, reportedly showed scenes of chaos and terror. Men walked through dark corridors using the lights from their phones, with plaster dust swirling around and debris lying in the corridors, at one point wheeling a bed through a damaged area. At one point in a video gunshots rang out and a doctor shouted “Is there anyone still inside? There is gunfire, there is gunfire – heads down”.
Israeli forces fired into the main hospital in southern Gaza early on Thursday, killing a patient and wounding six others, according to medics. Dr Khaled Alserr, one of the remaining surgeons at Nasser hospital, told the Associated Press that the seven patients struck early on Thursday were already being treated for past wounds. On Wednesday, a doctor was lightly wounded when a drone opened fire on the upper stories of the hospital, he said, adding that “the situation is escalating every hour and every minute”.
Cashflows at the UN agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) will turn negative next month and its financial problems will accelerate in April if funding suspended by a number of countries does not resume, the head of the agency said on Thursday before a meeting in Dublin with the country’s foreign minister.
More Israeli strikes were reported in south Lebanon on Thursday as Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati condemned the escalation. Government institutions, schools and Lebanese University were to close on Thursday in protest of the airstrikes.
Israeli military said Thursday’s strikes in Lebanon targeted Hezbollah infrastructure and launch posts. Spokesperson Avi Hyman from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said: “Our message to Hezbollah has and always will be: Don’t try us”. Senior Hezbollah official Sheikh Nabil Kaouk said at an event on Thursday in southern Lebanon that the militant group was “prepared for the possibility of expanding the war”.
Senior Hezbollah official and member of parliament Hassan Fadlallah said on Thursday that Israel would face reprisal after two sets of strikes on southern Lebanon the previous day killed 10 civilians, half of them children. “The enemy [Israel] will pay the price for these crimes,” Fadlallah told Reuters when asked about the armed group’s reaction.
The UN peacekeeping force deployed along the Lebanon-Israel border, known as Unifil, expressed concerns over the latest “exchanges of fire,” and urged all sides involved to halt hostilities to prevent further escalation. “Attacks targeting civilians are violations of international law and constitute war crimes,” Unifil’s spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said in a statement. “The devastation, loss of life, and injuries witnessed are deeply concerning.”
Israel’s vow to push ahead with a “powerful” operation in Gaza’s Rafah was met with a growing chorus of international condemnation on Thursday, with leaders warning against catastrophic consequences for the 1.5 million Palestinians trapped there. Australia, Canada and New Zealand warned Israel “not to go down this path”, issuing a rare joint statement in the latest urgent appeal seeking to avert further mass civilian casualties. “An expanded military operation would be devastating,” they said. “There is simply nowhere else for civilians to go.”
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich has rejected plans for an establishment of a Palestinian state, writing on X that Israel “won’t agree in any way” to it. Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir also posted on X. He wrote: “1,400 are murdered and the world wants to give them a state. Not going to happen. The establishment of a Palestinian state means the establishment of a Hamas state.”
The 22 Arab countries at the UN are urging the security council to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and unhindered humanitarian assistance, and to prevent any transfer of Palestinians out of the territory. The Arab Group chair this month, Tunisia’s UN ambassador Tarek Ladeb, told UN reporters on Wednesday that about 1.5 million Palestinians who sought safety in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah face a “catastrophic scenario” if Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu goes ahead with a potential evacuation of civilians and military offensive in the area bordering Egypt.
The prime suspect in the Madeleine McCann case has appeared in a German court over unrelated sexual offence charges.
Christian B - whose surname is withheld due to privacy laws - is on trial over two counts of rape and three of sexual abuse.
The alleged offences took place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
Image:Christian B (middle) with his lawyers. Pic: Reuters
The defendant, 47, was handcuffed and the start was delayed due to a long queue to enter the court.
A pensioner, an Irish holiday rep, and girls aged 10 and 11 are among Christian B's alleged victims, but none of the charges relate to Madeleine McCann.
He's already in prison for the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old in Praia da Luz, the same town where Madeleine disappeared.
Christian B has not been charged in the McCann case and denies involvement, but has been under investigation for the last few years.
More on Germany
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Image:Madeleine McCann disappeared in May 2007
Madeleine was three when she went missing on holiday in Portugal in May 2007.
In May last year, German and Portuguese police searched a nearby reservoir that Christian B used to call his "paradise".
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During Friday's court hearing in Braunschweig, northern Germany, Christian B's lawyer objected to one of the two lay judges.
They claimed her posts on X included calls for the death of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro - with one allegedly saying: "Kill the bastard."
Christian B's lawyers said her judgement was impaired and she wouldn't be able to abide by the rule of law and human rights.
Image:Pic: AP
Image:Police, media and the public gathered outside the court. Pic: Reuters
The court was adjourned until 23 February while it considers whether to replace the judge.
"Such a lay judge has no business participating in a fair criminal trial," defence lawyer Friedrich Fuelscher told reporters.
Lawyers also argued her work as a child psychologist meant she could be biased in a case involving alleged abuse of children, according to German media.
The trial is expected to last four months.
Christian B faces the following allegations:
Raping and beating a 70 to 80-year-old woman at her holiday flat in Portugal at an unspecified time between December 2000 and April 2006
Beating and sexually assaulting a girl aged at least 14 sometime between December 2000 and April 2006 at his house in Praia da Luz, Portugal
Raping a 20-year-old woman from Ireland and performing a sex act on her at a flat in Praia da Rocha in Portugal on 16 June 2004
Exposing himself to a 10-year-old German girl at a beach in Salema in the district of Faro in Portugal on 7 April 2007
Exposing himself to an 11-year-old Portuguese girl at a playground in Bartolomeu de Messines in Portugal on 11 June 2017
One person has been killed and 21 others have been injured after a shooting during the victory parade for Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Kansas City Police Department confirmed at least 22 people suffered gunshot wounds, including the fatally injured victim, and that a number of others had suffered immediate life-threatening injuries.
At least eight children were among those shot.
Police also confirmed three people had been taken into custody, following the shooting, with the victim yet to be formally identified by law enforcement.
US President Joe Biden was among those to condemn the shooting and called for the events to "shock" the country's legislators into reforming gun laws.
Image:The parade was taking place outside of Union Station in Kansas City
The shooting occurred near a parking garage west of Union Station, where a large crowd had gathered as players and team personnel took the stage to celebrate with fans mostly clad in Chiefs red.
Videos posted to X, formerly Twitter, show Chiefs fans running away from Union Station after the ceremony had ended.
Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas said: "This is absolutely a tragedy, the likes that we never would have expected in Kansas City.
Image:Police respond to the scene in Kansas City
"We went out today looking to have a celebration and that celebration was marred by a shooting today.
Lucas said the Chiefs players, coaches and staff all made it safely out of the area.
Image:Police cordoned off the area around Union Station
Police chief Stacey Graves added: "We are still gathering information on the number and status of victims but we know that one victim is deceased.
"Officers ran to danger and were there to keep everyone safe.
"I am angry at what happened today. The people who came to this celebration should expect a safe environment.
"Because of bad actors, of which there were very few, this tragedy occurred.
"To the people who were injured in this tragedy, our hearts go out to you and your families.
"This is still an active investigation."
Chiefs, Mahomes respond to Kansas City shooting tragedy
The Kansas City Chiefs released a statement on social media, saying: "We are truly saddened by the senseless act of violence that occurred outside of Union Station at the conclusion of today's parade and rally.
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"Our hearts go out to the victims, their families, and all of Kansas City.
"We are in close communication with the Mayor's office as well as the Kansas City Police Department. At this time, we have confirmed that all of our players, coaches, staff and their families are safe and accounted for."
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes posted on social media: "Praying for Kansas City."
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Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill posted on social media: "Please join me in prayer for all the victims in this heinous act. Pray that doctors & first responders would have steady hands & that all would experience full healing."
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Offensive lineman Trey Smith thanked first responders, adding: "You're the ones who should be celebrated today."
The parade rally was taking place directly outside Union Station as thousands lined the streets of Kansas City to celebrate the Chiefs' 25-22 Super Bowl LVIII victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Las Vegas. It was the team's second consecutive championship and third in five seasons. The Chiefs have appeared in four of the past five Super Bowls.
Image:Patrick Mahomes and his team-mates were celebrating their win at the parade
President Biden condemns gun violence in powerful statement
US President Joe Biden released a statement following the tragedy, calling for an end to gun violence.
It read: "The Super Bowl is the most unifying event in America. Nothing brings more of us together. And the celebration of a Super Bowl win is a moment that brings a joy that can't be matched to the winning team and their supporters. For this joy to be turned to tragedy today in Kansas City cuts deep in the American soul.
"Today's events should move us, shock us, shame us into acting. What are we waiting for? What else do we need to see? How many more families need to be torn apart?
"It is time to act. That's where I stand. And I ask the country to stand with me. To make your voice heard in Congress so we finally act to ban assault weapons, to limit high-capacity magazines, strengthen background checks, keep guns out of the hands of those who have no business owning them or handling them.
"We know what we have to do, we just need the courage to do it.
Image:A law enforcement officer looks around the scene after the incident
"Today, on a day that marks six years since the Parkland shooting, we learned that three police officers were shot in the line of duty in Washington, DC and another school shooting took place at Benjamin Mays High School in Atlanta. Yesterday marked one year since the shooting at Michigan State University. We've now had more mass shootings in 2024 than there have been days in the year.
"The epidemic of gun violence is ripping apart families and communities every day. Some make the news. Much of it doesn't. But all of it is unacceptable. We have to decide who we are as a country. For me, we're a country where people should have the right to go to school, to go to church, to walk the street - and to attend a Super Bowl celebration - without fear of losing your life to gun violence.
"Jill [the First Lady] and I pray for those killed and injured today in Kansas City, and for our country to find the resolve to end this senseless epidemic of gun violence tearing us at the seams."
Australia, Canada, New Zealand say ‘there is nowhere else for civilians to go’ and urge Israel to ‘listen to its friends’.
World leaders are ratcheting up pressure on Israel to abandon its plans for a ground offensive in Rafah as an exodus from the southern Gaza city once declared a “safe zone” which shelters more than half the enclave’s population is under way.
As Israel stepped up its air strikes and artillery fire, Australia, Canada and New Zealand issued a joint statement on Thursday, calling for an “immediate” humanitarian ceasefire”, warning that Israel’s planned operation would have a “devastating” impact on the Palestinians taking refuge in the area.
“There is simply nowhere else for civilians to go,” said the prime ministers of the three countries, Anthony Albanese, Justin Trudeau and Christopher Luxon, adding that Israel “must listen to its friends”.
The leaders pointed out that many of their own citizens and families were among the estimated 1.4 million displaced Palestinians, who have been driven into makeshift camps in Gaza’s southernmost city by Israel’s relentless bombardment across the Strip.
Spain and Ireland also applied pressure on Israel on Wednesday, asking the European Commission to urgently review whether Israel is complying with its human rights obligations in Gaza.
In a joint letter, Pedro Sanchez and Leo Varadkar, the prime ministers of Spain and Ireland respectively, said that attacking Rafah posed “a grave and imminent threat that the international community must urgently confront”.
‘Stop and think seriously’
On Monday, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Israel should “stop and think seriously” before launching its ground invasion of Rafah.
Asked whether Israel had breached international law, he said: “We think it is impossible to see how you can fight a war amongst these people. There’s nowhere for them to go.”
Alexander De Croo, the prime minister of Belgium, said any Rafah operation could generate an “unmitigated humanitarian catastrophe”, as did Annalena Baerbock, the foreign minister of Germany, one of Israel’s staunchest allies.
Displaced Palestinians stand outside their tents in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on February 14, 2024 [Said Khatib/AFP]
United States President Joe Biden, who faces widespread condemnation for his unconditional support of Israel’s war on Gaza, is reportedly expressing frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu behind closed doors.
Recalling Biden’s comments last week that Israel’s response to the October 7 Hamas attacks that triggered the current conflict had been “over the top”, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Washington should cut arms supplies to Israel.
“Well, if you believe that too many people are being killed, maybe you should provide less arms in order to prevent so many people being killed,” Borrell told reporters after a meeting of EU development aid ministers in Brussels.
Despite pressure from foreign governments and aid agencies to halt its planned Rafah operation, Israel insists it must push into the city near the border with Egypt and eliminate Hamas battalions.
“We will fight until complete victory and this includes a powerful action also in Rafah after we allow the civilian population to leave the battle zones,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday.
Should the assault go ahead, the risk of atrocities is “serious, real and high”, said the United Nations’ special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu.
Israel’s attacks on Gaza have killed at least 28,576 Palestinians and wounded 68,291 since October 7, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The death toll in Israel from the Hamas-led attacks stands at 1,139.
Ashraf al-Qudra said the hospital administration had been asked to transfer all patients, "including intensive care and nursery patients" to an older hospital building.
The BBC is working to verify footage said to be from inside the hospital.
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