Houthi insurgency

The main headlines this hour: the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called an early election for November after failing to pass new laws aimed at addressing his country's housing crisis.

And the Saudi-backed government in Yemen says it's launched an offensive to retake the capital, Sanaa, from the Iran-backed Houthi movement.

[instrumental music] I'm Paul Henley, and this is News Hour live from the BBC in London.

Now, the Nobel Prize for Medicine has today been awarded to pioneers in the field of optogenetics, or as the Nobel Committee put it, revealing some of the mysteries of the way the human brain works.

A large plume of smoke and fire was seen near an oil facility.

The fire comes during escalating tensions between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthi movement.

The Houthis have recently stepped up attacks on Saudi cities and energy infrastructure.