The Guardian – Violence escalates as Israel targets Yemen in airstrikes
Israel launched a wave of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen while continuing to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon, as it expands its assault on Iran-backed proxies, The Guardian writes.
Kemi Badenoch’s recent comments over maternity pay have drawn backlash from fellow Tory party leadership hopefuls, writes the paper.
Elsewhere, recent Austria elections make the front splash. The paper says the far-right party are on course to win the election.
Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen as it continues to bomb Lebanon
Israel launched a wave of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Sunday while continuing to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the Lebanese health ministry said 105 people had been killed and another 359 injured. The fresh assaults on Iran-backed proxies across the Middle East risk accelerating a slide towards a devastating regional conflict on multiple fronts.
The attack on the port of Hodeidah in Yemen involved dozens of Israeli planes and appears to have targeted fuel facilities, power plants and docks at the Ras Issa and Hodeidah ports. It one of the biggest such operations yet seen in the near year-long crisis in the region. Houthi media reports said the strikes had killed four people and wounded 33. Residents said the strikes caused power cuts in most parts of Hodeidah. Israeli military officials said the raid targeted the Houthis, an armed Iranian-backed group that controls most of Yemen. They have fired at Israeli targets for months in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. They have also targeted international shipping in the Red Sea. On Saturday, they launched a ballistic missile attack on Israel’s main international airport when Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, was arriving.
Maternity pay is ‘excessive’, says Tory leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch has said maternity pay is “excessive” and people should exercise “more personal responsibility”.
The shadow communities secretary said one of the principles she was fighting her Tory leadership contest around was a call for the state to do less, as “the answer cannot be let the government help people to have babies”.
However, she has since clarified her remarks, saying she does “believe in maternity pay”.
Badenoch said on X: “Contrary to what some have said, I clearly said the burden of regulation on businesses had gone too far … of course I believe in maternity pay!”
Earlier, in an interview with Times Radio, she was asked if she thought maternity pay was at the right level.
Today’s news summary – Paper Talk
If you are someone who reads every perspective of a story, here is a news summary of all of today’s front pages from today’s newspapers; summarised in a 2-minute read
Editorial 30 September 2024.
Monday’s UK newspaper front pages cover a wide variety of domestic and international stories. The most notable is the rising escalation in the Middle East as Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen and tanks began to build up on the Lebanon border.
A little closer to home, the Conservative Party leadership contest is in full swing, with many of the hopefuls reacting to the latest extreme comment from Kemi Badenoch.
Ongoing speculation over the upcoming October Budget continues to make the headlines as does previews of Boris Johnson’s book regarding his time in office.