International from Tuesday, October 21st, 2025

The United States increased pressure on Hamas on Tuesday to disarm in the next phase of an already fragile Gaza ceasefire as President Donald Trump pushed to cement an end to the devastating conflict.

The UN World Food Programme said on Tuesday that supplies into Gaza were ramping up after the US-brokered ceasefire but were still far short of its daily target of 2,000 tonnes because only two crossings are open, and none to the famine-hit north of the enclave.

US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday, as Washington tries to stabilise the first, shaky, phase of the Gaza ceasefire and push Israel and Hamas towards the harder concessions asked of each side in coming talks.

Air quality in India's capital New Delhi deteriorated to hazardous levels on Tuesday with readings the highest in the world, according to Swiss group IQAir, partly due to the use of firecrackers during Diwali, the festival of lights.

Hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi was elected Japan's first female prime minister on Tuesday, shattering the nation's glass ceiling and setting it up for a forceful turn to the right.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived at La Sante prison in Paris on Tuesday to start a five-year sentence for conspiring to raise campaign funds from Libya, in a stunning downfall for a man who led the country between 2007 and 2012.

Fifteen UN staff have been imprisoned in their own compound in the Yemen’s capital Sanaa since an incursion by the Houthi authorities on Saturday.

The General Secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Monday welcomed the ceasefire agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan.