Over two days in October 2025, up to 10,000 people are believed to have been massacred; a further 40,000 civilians from the Sudanese city are still unaccounted for. This is the story of what happened

In the pistachio green Toyota Land Cruiser rattling over the desert plain, Aboud Khater pressed his foot to the floor. Behind, the sun rose above El Fasher. Smoke belched from the stricken city. Khater was driving the last vehicle of the final evacuation convoy from El Fasher.

It was 5:45am on 27 October 2025. He couldn’t have waited any longer. The historic capital of Sudan’s sprawling region of Darfur would capitulate in the next two hours.

Attacks on facilities by both sides in the conflict this week threaten grave consequences for the global economy

• Middle East crisis – live updates

The escalating attacks on key oil and gas projects in the Middle East are expected to fuel a new phase of the ongoing conflict, with profound consequences for the world’s energy supplies and the global economy.

The Iran regime has vowed to target a string of key energy infrastructure across the region after warning that an Israeli strike on a production facility for its largest gasfield at South Pars on Wednesday had ignited a “full-scale economic war”.

After the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran, Tehran has responded with retaliatory attacks across the Middle East. The Guardian's defence editor, Dan Sabbagh, explains what military capabilities Iran has and how long it might be able to sustain the war

• Iran’s Shahed drones have brought terror to Ukrainian skies – now they are being deployed in the Middle East

Streets empty as residents shield from chaos of retaliatory attacks after death of ‘El Mencho’ in federal raid

Mexico is on alert after cartel gunmen went on a violent rampage of revenge in response to federal forces killing their leader, a notorious mob boss known as “El Mencho”.

Authorities had attempted to capture Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes in the western state of Jalisco on Sunday but the raid led to a firefight that fatally wounded the infamous leader and killed six of his accomplices, according to officials.

The Syrian government has taken control of several prison camps holding Islamic State (IS) suspects in the north-east of the country. The takeover took place after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which previously controlled the facilities, signed a ceasefire agreement with the government. Hundreds of prisoners reportedly fled the camps during fighting before the truce. Damascus claims to have recaptured most of the escapees, but the instability has reignited fears over the resurgence of IS in the region

• Concern over north-east Syria security amid fears IS militants could re-emerge

Israel military chief, Eyal Zamir, announced on Monday that the 'yellow line', drawn up by the October ceasefire plan, was a 'new border' for Israel. This line has become a lethal boundary, preventing Palestinians entering an area representing 58% of their territory. The Guardian's chief Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison, describes life on the ground for those forced on an ever-smaller part of their land. Israeli officials claim forces are being 'deployed in Gaza in accordance with the ceasefire outline'

• ‘Yellow line’ that divides Gaza under Trump plan is ‘new border’ for Israel, says military chief

• ‘Bloodshed was supposed to stop’: no sign of normal life as Gaza’s killing and misery grind on

Nour AbuShammala has returned to her partly destroyed apartment in Gaza City. This is her story of multiple displacements, injury and devastation over the last two years

When 26-year-old Nour AbuShammala stepped back into her family’s apartment in Gaza City in October the rooms were gutted, the walls were damaged by bombing, and there was no water or electricity, but it was still home.

Since the outbreak of war in October 2023 she has been forced to flee six times. This is her story of relentless displacement, survival and loss, told using photography and videos provided by AbuShammala and satellite imagery of a ruined Gaza.

In August, Donald Trump started a campaign of aggression against Venezuela. The US president first launched airstrikes on alleged drug boats off the coast of the South American country – a move largely condemned as extrajudicial killings – then deployed US naval assets in the Caribbean. The Guardian's Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, explains why the claims the targeted boats were carrying drugs destined for the US are dubious and what Trump's actions could mean for the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro

• Venezuela’s Maduro urges Trump to avoid Afghanistan-style ‘forever war’