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The Sydney Morning Herald;You might not have heard of new Tiger Luke Trainor – but you’ve definitely heard of his grandfather;https://www.smh.com.au/sport/afl/you-might-not-have-heard-of-new-tiger-luke-trainor-but-you-ve-definitely-heard-of-his-grandfather-20241121-p5ksiv.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:56:56 +1100

Not many footballers’ idols are 83-year-old men. But then, not many footballers’ grandfathers are among the greatest goalkickers Australian rules football has ever known.

The Sydney Morning Herald;Lalor taking top honour in his stride;https://www.smh.com.au/sport/afl/lalor-taking-top-honour-in-his-stride-20241121-p5ksoz.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:53:41 +1100

Having joined an elite club as the AFL's No.1 draft pick, Sam Lalor says he doesn't feel any extra pressure.

The Sydney Morning Herald;Townsville mayor suspended amid corruption probe;https://www.smh.com.au/national/townsville-mayor-suspended-amid-corruption-probe-20241121-p5ksoy.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:43:20 +1100

Townsville Mayor Troy Thompson has been suspended amid an investigation by the Queensland corruption watchdog after he admitted to exaggerating his military service history.

The Sydney Morning Herald;Aussie in the mix at Aus PGA;https://www.smh.com.au/sport/golf/aussie-in-the-mix-at-aus-pga-20241121-p5ksox.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:43:09 +1100

Elvis Smiley leads a high-quality field after the opening round of the Australian PGA Championship but the big guns are not far behind.

The Sydney Morning Herald;NRL expansion talk in Perth;https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-expansion-talk-in-perth-20241121-p5ksov.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:39:52 +1100

The Bears' bid to to return to the NRL is anything but extinct with high-powered meetings held between the West Australian government and Peter V'Landys.

The Sydney Morning Herald;Stage set for ultimate Test;https://www.smh.com.au/national/stage-set-for-ultimate-test-20241121-p5ksou.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:38:36 +1100

Cricket captains Pat Cummins and Jasprit Bumrah have come face-to-face in Perth ahead of the first Test.

The Sydney Morning Herald;Teenager's bold move before being snapped up by Crows in AFL draft;https://www.smh.com.au/sport/afl/teenagers-bold-move-before-being-snapped-up-by-crows-in-afl-draft-20241121-p5ksos.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:34:37 +1100

New Adelaide Crow Sid Draper has revealed he phoned coach Matthew Nicks in the lead-up to the AFL draft.

The Sydney Morning Herald;Surfers Paradise residents voice concerns over proposed high-rise tower;https://www.smh.com.au/national/surfers-paradise-residents-voice-concerns-over-proposed-high-rise-tower-20241121-p5ksor.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:34:04 +1100

A Sydney-based developer has unveiled plans to build a 35-story residential tower on Sunset Boulevard in Surfers Paradise.

The Sydney Morning Herald;Surfing legend unveils plans for Gold Coast wave park;https://www.smh.com.au/national/surfing-legend-unveils-plans-for-gold-coast-wave-park-20241121-p5ksoq.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:33:07 +1100

Mick Fanning has unveiled plans for a new multi-million dollar surf park on the Gold Coast.

The Sydney Morning Herald;‘In bed with education agents’: Coalition under fire as Tehan dines with agents;https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/in-bed-with-education-agents-coalition-under-fire-as-tehan-dines-with-agents-20241121-p5ksdg.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:30:00 +1100

Coalition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan was the featured guest at a private breakfast attended by education and migration agents the day before sinking Labor’s bill.

The Sydney Morning Herald;A scrapped preselection and resignations: Greens in ‘severe’ turmoil in Melbourne’s north-east;https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/a-scrapped-preselection-and-resignations-greens-in-severe-turmoil-in-melbourne-s-north-east-20241121-p5kses.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:30:00 +1100

The Victorian Greens are without a candidate for the federal seat of Jagajaga, just months out from the federal election, as an internal rift deepens.

The Sydney Morning Herald;Angela Merkel reveals advice the Pope gave her to deal with Donald Trump;https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/angela-merkel-reveals-advice-the-pope-gave-her-to-deal-with-donald-trump-20241121-p5ksij.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:30:00 +1100

The long-serving German chancellor sought counsel on how to tackle the US president-elect’s “property developer mentality”.

The Sydney Morning Herald;Man arrested after allegedly robbing two Adelaide servos, fleeing on bike;https://www.smh.com.au/national/man-arrested-after-allegedly-robbing-two-adelaide-servos-fleeing-on-bike-20241121-p5ksop.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:29:08 +1100

A man has been arrested after two services were allegedly robbed of cash in Adelaide's west.

The Sydney Morning Herald;Alert SA app relaunches with enhanced warning features;https://www.smh.com.au/national/alert-sa-app-relaunches-with-enhanced-warning-features-20241121-p5kson.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:29:05 +1100

The new Alert SA app has gone online, now able to notify users about all kinds of weather emergencies in South Australia.

The Sydney Morning Herald;Spate of mountain biking accidents sparks warning ahead of summer holidays;https://www.smh.com.au/national/spate-of-mountain-biking-accidents-sparks-warning-ahead-of-summer-holidays-20241121-p5ksoo.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:29:05 +1100

Two South Australian teenagers who were almost paralysed in separate crashes have warned of the danger of mountain biking.

The Sydney Morning Herald;This freewheeling Margaret River pop-up is blazing a new trail for modern Asian cooking;https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/perth-eating-out/this-freewheeling-margaret-river-pop-up-is-blazing-a-new-trail-for-modern-asian-cooking-20241121-p5ksno.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:25:44 +1100

While BMX bandits practice bar spins and grommets drop-in, an emerging cooking talent is serving game-changing dahl, punchy pickles and other bold Burmese cooking.

The Guardian;Middle East crisis live: Hungary to invite Netanyahu to visit in defiance of ICC arrest warrant;https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/nov/22/benjamin-netanyahu-icc-yoav-gallant-mohammed-deif-israel-gaza;2024-11-22T09:59:37Z

Julian Borger, the Guardian’s senior international correspondent, spoke with Today in Focus about the significance of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest warrant – the first time a western ally from a modern democracy has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global judicial body. He tells Hannah Moore how allies such as the US and UK are likely to react to the news, and the impact it has had in Israel. In practical terms, it is unlikely to affect the prosecution of the war, Julian explains. But could it further damage Israel’s international standing? On Thursday, Italy said it would have to arrest Netanyahu if he came to the country. Following the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), founded on the Rome Statute, in an interview with Rai, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said his country would be obliged to arrest Netanyahu if he visited. Although Italy’s government said it believed the ICC was “wrong”, Crosetto said that if Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant “were to come to Italy, we would have to arrest them” under international law. “By joining the Court, we must apply its judgments, it is part of the treaty,’’ he said. Every State that joins would be obliged, the only way to not apply it would be to withdraw from the treaty. I may consider this judgment to be wrong. I think it is wrong. They made a judgment that put the Israeli president and (the former) minister of defence on the same level as the one who led and organized the shameful attack that massacred women, men, and children and kidnapped Israelis. And from which the war started. And they are two completely different things: on one hand there is a terrorist act, on the other hand there is a country that, as a result of this act, tries to eradicate a criminal terrorist organization. The opposition centre-left Democratic Party (Pd) said the government should do what it can for the arrest warrants to be executed. “The attack on the International Criminal Court over the arrest warrant for Netanyahu has begun,” said PD foreign affairs chief Peppe Provenzano via X. “Italy has a duty to respect it, but also to comply with its decisions”. Here are the latest images from Gaza: Countries are responding to the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants issued on Thursday for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant and the Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war. Netanyahu and Gallant are at risk of arrest if they travel to any of the 124 countries that signed the Rome statute establishing the court. Ireland said it would be prepared to arrest Netanyahu if he came to the country, prime minister Simon Harris said. “Yes absolutely. We support international courts and we apply their warrants,” Harris told national broadcaster RTE on Friday when asked if Netanyahu would be arrested if he arrived in Ireland for whatever reason. Germany said it is “examining” how to respond to the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said Friday. Slovenia also said it will respect arrest warrants for Israel and Hamas leaders issued by the ICC and “will fully comply”, prime minister Robert Golob was quoted as saying by Slovenian news agency STA. As mentioned in the opening summary, Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, has said he will invite his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to visit. Why did ICC issue Netanyahu arrest warrant and what are the implications? Benjamin Netanyahu has become the first leader of a “western-style” democracy to have an arrest warrant issued in his name by the international criminal court. The court has also issued warrants for his former defence secretary, Yoav Gallant, and the Hamas military leader, Mohammed Deif. Here the Guardian explains why the warrants have been issued and what they mean in practice. On what grounds have the warrants been issued? The warrants relate to the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the Israeli military response in Gaza. The ICC’s three-judge panel said it had found reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility for … the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”. What are the practical implications for Netanyahu and Gallant? The ICC relies on 124 member states of the Rome statute, which established the court, to execute arrest warrants. Member states are obliged to arrest individuals wanted by the ICC who set foot on their territory and, while they do not always do so, it means that the accused will have to consider whether they are willing to risk travelling. How does the ICC have jurisdiction over Israel when it isn’t a member? The ICC has jurisdiction for both alleged crimes committed by a national of a member country and alleged crimes committed in the territory of a member state. Palestine acceded to the Rome statute in 2015, and the ICC ruled in 2021 that it was a state, thereby extending the court’s jurisdiction to territories occupied by Israel since 1967 – Gaza and the West Bank including East Jerusalem. Read more by the Guardian’s legal affairs correspondent, Haroon Siddique here. The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, has said he will invite his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to visit, in defiance of an ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu’s alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war. The Hague-based court on Thursday issued warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif “for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024”. It is the first time that leaders of a democracy and western-aligned state have been charged by the court, in the most momentous decision of its 22-year history. Netanyahu and Gallant are at risk of arrest if they travel to any of the 124 countries that signed the Rome statute establishing the court. In his weekly interview with state radio, Orban called the ICC’s decision, “outrageously brazen” and “cynical”, saying it “intervenes in an ongoing conflict… dressed up as a legal decision, but in fact for political purposes”. “There is no choice here, we have to defy this decision,” Orban said. Hungary signed the Rome Statute, the international treaty that created the ICC, in 1999 and ratified it two years later during Orban’s first term in office. However, Budapest has not promulgated the associated convention for reasons of constitutionality and therefore asserts that it is not obliged to comply with ICC decisions. “Later today, I will invite the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Netanyahu, to visit Hungary, where I will guarantee him, if he comes, that the judgment of the International Criminal Court will have no effect in Hungary, and that we will not follow its terms,” he added.

The Guardian;Russia-Ukraine war live: Nato and Ukraine to meet over Russian missile strike, say diplomats;https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/nov/22/russia-ukraine-war-live-nato-says-moscows-strike-with-new-ballistic-missile-wont-alter-course-of-war;2024-11-22T09:56:15Z

Like Chekhov’s gun coming off the wall in Act V, it was probably only a matter of time before Vladimir Putin launched an experimental, nuclear-capable ballistic missile into Ukraine. It is hardly a coincidence that his decision comes as the war approaches a likely endgame, with both sides jockeying for position ahead of negotiations in the shadow of Donald Trump. Neither Ukraine nor Russia quite knows what Trump will do when he takes office in January. But the escalations taking place now will set a new status quo for the day he becomes president, at which point Trump’s options range from hard-nosed horse-trading to simply throwing Ukraine under the bus. Ukrainian officials said this week that they simply do not know what the president-elect has planned for them. And with little idea of Trump’s intentions, they are focused on optimizing their battlefield position, seeking to hold a beachhead in Russia’s Kursk region and shore up the frontlines elsewhere across the battlefield to be in as strong a position as possible before the new US administration. US officials, similarly unsure of what their new president will do, are keen to make Ukraine as self-sufficient as possible and to prepare their European partners to increase support to Ukraine after Biden’s departure. One way some of his administration officials have described the goal is to avoid handing Trump another Afghanistan, where the country’s military collapses as soon as US ceases to provide support. Most are pessimistic that Ukraine can continue the fight indefinitely, however. In the final months of his term, Joe Biden offered Ukraine one thing it has been clamoring for: the right to use Atacms long-range missiles against targets inside Russia. He has also given Ukraine authorisation to use landmines and the right to send US military contractors in to fix the hardware Ukraine needs to stay in the fight. Russian forces have “derailed” Ukraine’s entire military strategy for next year, Moscow’s defence minister said on Friday, after Russia struck Ukraine with an experimental hypersonic missile, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). Russian president, Vladimir Putin, announced the launch of the missile in a surprise address on Thursday, saying the conflict in Ukraine had taken on a “global” nature. The Kremlin leader also warned that Moscow felt “entitled” to hit military facilities in countries that allow Ukraine to use their weapons against Russia. In a meeting with military commanders, Russian defence minister, Andrei Belousov, said Moscow’s advance had “accelerated” in Ukraine and “ground down” Kyiv’s best units. “We have, in fact, derailed the entire 2025 campaign,” Belousov said of the Ukrainian army, speaking in a video published by the Russian defence ministry, reports AFP. Russian troops have been making steady advances in eastern Ukraine for months, capturing a string of small towns and villages because overstretched Ukrainian soldiers lack manpower and artillery. Ukraine recently fired US and UK supplied longer-range missiles at Russian territory for the first time, ramping up already sky-high tensions over the conflict, which is nearly in its third year. Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has called for a strong response from world leaders to Russia’s use of the new missile, which he said proved Moscow “does not want peace”. Russia’s use of an experimental hypersonic missile to hit Ukraine was a “terrible escalation” in the war, German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on Friday. The deployment of the new weapon showed “how dangerous this war is”, Scholz said in a speech, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). He added: That (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has now also used a medium-range missile to strike Ukrainian territory is a terrible escalation.” A Russian drone attack on the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy killed two people and injured 12 on Friday morning, regional authorities said, according to Reuters. Twelve apartment buildings, five private residences, a store and three cars were damaged after three drones attacked the city at about 5am local time (3am GMT), the national police said. Volodymyr Artiukh, Sumy regional governor, said Russian forces had equipped drones with shrapnel for the attack on a densely populated area of the city, reports Reuters. “This weapon is used … exclusively (to kill) people,” Artiukh said, pointing to scars on a damaged building. “Not for a facility, but in order to destroy more people.” The video posted by Sumy regional military administration after the attack showed damaged cars and buildings with blown-out windows, according to Reuters. Russia has pummelled the region and its critical infrastructure in deadly attacks over the past weeks. An overnight drone attack on Tuesday on the small town of Hlukhiv in the region killed 12 people, including a child. On Sunday evening, a missile attack on Sumy killed 11 and injured 89 more people, in addition to leaving the region’s administrative centre without power. China on Friday reiterated calls for “calm” and “restraint” by all parties in the Ukraine war after Russia confirmed it fired an experimental hypersonic ballistic missile, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). “All parties should remain calm and exercise restraint, work to de-escalate the situation through dialogue and consultation, and create conditions for an early ceasefire,” foreign ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, told a regular briefing. Ukraine called Russia’s strike a major ramping up of the “scale and brutality” of the war by a “crazy neighbour”, while Kyiv’s main backer, the US, said that Moscow was to blame for escalating the conflict “at every turn”. After the launch, Russian president Vladimir Putin said that the conflict in Ukraine had characteristics of a “global” war and did not rule out strikes on western countries. In response, Beijing on Friday issued a call for calm. “China’s position on the Ukraine issue has been consistent and clear, advocating for resolving the crisis through political means and avoiding an escalation of the situation,” Lin said, according to AFP. China presents itself as a neutral party in the Ukraine war and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the US and other western nations. But it remains a close political and economic ally of Russia and Nato members have called Beijing a “decisive enabler” of the war, which it has never condemned. Nato and Ukraine will hold talks next week in Brussels over Russia’s firing of an experimental hypersonic intermediate-range missile, diplomats said on Friday. The meeting on Tuesday of the Nato-Ukraine council will happen on ambassadorial level. It was called by Kyiv after the strike on the city of Dnipro, officials told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Russian president Vladimir Putin said Russia had struck Ukraine with a new hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile in response to Kyiv’s use of US and UK missiles against Russia. Reuters has this explainer on what the Oreshnik (hazel) is: Putin said Oreshnik was a hypersonic ballistic missile. He said it travelled at 10 times the speed of sound and so could not be intercepted. Russian sources said the range was 5,000 km (3,100 miles). It appears to have multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles: separate warheads able to hit different targets. Anatoly Matviychuk, a Russian military expert, said it could carry six to eight conventional or nuclear warheads, and was probably already in service, according to Yuri Podolyaka, a prominent Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger. The Pentagon said the missile that Russia fired was based on the RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It said the US had been notified of the launch through nuclear risk reduction channels. Ukraine’s air force said Russia had fired an ICBM at Dnipro, though the US said that was incorrect. ICBMs are defined as having a range greater than 5,500 km (3,400 miles). President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a Russian attack with a new type of ballistic missile was a “clear and severe escalation” and called for worldwide condemnation. North Korea has likely received more than 1m barrels of oil from Russia over an eight-month period this year in breach of UN sanctions, according to an analysis of satellite imagery published on Friday by UK-based Open Source Centre and the BBC. North Korean oil tankers have made more than 40 visits to Russia’s far eastern port of Vostochny since March, the report on the research group Open Source Centre’s website said, according to Reuters. “Dozens of high-resolution satellite images, AIS (Automatic Identification System) data and imagery released by maritime patrol missions tasked with monitoring North Korea’s UN-sanctions busting activities show North Korean tankers repeatedly loading at an oil terminal at the Russian port of Vostochny,” the report said, adding that Russia’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. North Korea has continued to illicitly import refined petroleum products in violation of UN security council resolutions, according to the UNSC. Earlier this year, the US and South Korea launched a new taskforce aimed at preventing North Korea from procuring illicit oil as a deadlock at the UNSC cast doubts over the future of international sanctions. Under UNSC restrictions imposed over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile development, Pyongyang is limited to importing 500,000 barrels of refined products a year. Pyongyang and Moscow have ramped up diplomatic and economic ties in recent years, culminating in Russian president Vladimir Putin’s visit to North Korea in June when the countries’ leaders agreed a mutual defence pact. The military cooperation between the two countries has been met by international alarm, with Washington, Kyiv and Seoul condemning North Korea for sending military equipment and more than 10,000 troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. Russia’s envoy to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said last month that Russia’s military interaction with North Korea did not violate international law. North Korea has not acknowledged the deployment of troops to Russia, but said any such move would be in compliance with international law. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the use of an experimental ballistic missile by Russia amounted to “a clear and severe escalation” in the war and called for strong worldwide condemnation, as Nato accused Vladimir Putin of seeking to “terrorise” civilians and intimidate Ukraine’s allies. Nato spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah said: Deploying this capability will neither change the course of the conflict nor deter Nato allies from supporting Ukraine.” In a statement after Vladimir Putin’s address about Thursday’s strike on a military site in the city of Dnipro, Zelenskyy said the attack was “yet more proof that Russia has no interest in peace”, adding that “pressure is needed. Russia must be forced into real peace, which can only be achieved through strength”. The Russian president threatened further attacks, saying Moscow “had the right” to strike western countries that provided Kyiv with weapons used against Russian targets. “A regional conflict in Ukraine previously provoked by the west has acquired elements of a global character,” Putin said in an address to the nation carried by state television after 8pm in Moscow. Ukraine’s parliament reportedly postponed a Friday sitting because of “potential security issues” after the attack, public broadcaster Suspilne said, quoting sources. It reported that legislators were told to keep their families out of Kyiv’s government district and quoted parliamentarians as saying that, for the moment, the next sitting was not scheduled until December. The new ballistic missile was called Oreshnik (the hazel), Putin said, and its deployment “was a response to US plans to produce and deploy intermediate and short-range missiles”. He said Russia would “respond decisively and symmetrically” in the event of an escalation. Russian defence minister, Andrei Belousov, said in a video released on Friday that Russian forces in Ukraine had accelerated their advance, reports Reuters. According to the news agency, Belousov was shown in the defence ministry footage visiting a Russian command post in Ukraine and handing out medals for bravery. Russia provided economic support and anti-air missiles to North Korea in exchange for troops to support Moscow’s war on Ukraine, Seoul’s top security chief told a TV news channel on Friday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP). “It has been identified that equipment and anti-aircraft missiles aimed at reinforcing Pyongyang’s vulnerable air defence system have been delivered to North Korea,” Shin Won-sik, Seoul’s top security adviser, told TV broadcaster SBS. Russia fired an “experimental” ballistic missile at the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday in what the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, called “a clear and severe escalation” of the 33-month-old war. Vladimir Putin said the strike was “a response to US plans to produce and deploy intermediate and short-range missiles”. The Russian president also threatened further attacks, saying Moscow “had the right” to strike western countries that provided Kyiv with weapons used against Russian targets. A Nato spokesperson said Russia was seeking to “terrorise” civilians and intimidate Ukraine’s allies. “Deploying this capability will neither change the course of the conflict nor deter Nato allies from supporting Ukraine,” Farah Dakhlallah said. The attack came after the US and the UK lifted a ban on Kyiv striking Russian territory with advanced western weapons. Russia notified Washington shortly before Thursday’s strike, a US official said. Putin said in a televised address to the nation that Moscow hit a Ukrainian military facility with a new medium-range ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik” (the hazel). And the Russian leader hinted the missile was capable of unleashing a nuclear payload and said Russia would “respond decisively and symmetrically” in the event of an escalation. In other developments: The new ballistic missile was part of a wider salvo of nine missiles fired from the Astrakhan region of Russia in the early hours of Thursday. Six of the missiles were intercepted by Ukraine’s air force but the new ballistic missile was not stopped. The missile was said to have hit “without consequences”, Ukraine’s air force said, though it added that complete information about victims had yet to be received. Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for strong worldwide condemnation on the strike, describing it as a major step-up in the “scale and brutality” of the war. The Ukrainian president said the attack was “yet more proof that Russia has no interest in peace”, adding that a “response is needed. Pressure is needed. Russia must be forced into real peace, which can only be achieved through strength”. US and UK sources indicated they believed the missile was an experimental, nuclear-capable, intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), which has a theoretical range of below 3,420 miles (5,500km). That is enough to reach Europe from where it was fired in south-western Russia, but not the US. UN secretary general António Guterres’s spokesperson said Russia’s use of the new ballistic missile was “yet another concerning and worrying development. “All of this [is] going in the wrong direction,” Stéphane Dujarric said as he called on all parties to de-escalate the conflict and “to protect civilians, not hit civilian targets or critical civilian infrastructure”. Russian strikes killed at least two people in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, the acting mayor said on Friday. “Several massive explosions occurred in Sumy,” Artem Kobzar said on Telegram. He said air defences were still working as of just before 6am local time and warned residents to stay away from windows. The Sumy regional military administration said a residential neighbourhood had been struck by a Russian drone, adding that rescue operations were under way. It confirmed the two deaths and said 12 people had been injured. Russia’s defence ministry said on Thursday that its forces had captured the eastern Ukrainian village of Dalne in the Donetsk region, a focal point of their advance. Ukraine’s general staff made no acknowledgment of Dalne being in Russian hands. The Ukrainian military’s late report mentioned the village as one of seven in an area where Russian forces had tried to pierce Ukrainian defences 26 times over the previous 24 hours. It said 10 of 16 armed clashes in the area continued. Ukraine’s parliament postponed a sitting due to have taken place on Friday out of security concerns, public broadcaster Suspilne reported, quoting sources. It said the order told members to keep their families out of Kyiv’s government district and quoted parliamentarians as saying that, for the moment, the next sitting was not scheduled until December.

The Guardian;British lawyer among six to die in suspected methanol poisoning in Laos;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/britons-among-ill-suspected-methanol-poisoning-laos;2024-11-22T08:47:59Z

A British lawyer is among six people to have died in a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said it was “supporting the family of a British woman who has died in Laos, and we are in contact with the local authorities”. Simone White, 28, from Orpington, south-east London, was among a number of people taken to hospital after the incident in the backpacking town of Vang Vieng last week. Other British tourists are among those being treated in hospital after allegedly being served alcoholic drinks containing deadly methanol. Reports suggest as many as six British nationals have required treatment. The FCDO said in a statement: “We are providing consular assistance to British nationals and their families.” White was a lawyer with the global law firm Squire Patton Boggs, whose work involves general commercial matters and contentious and non-contentious intellectual property law issues, according to the firm’s website. Two Australian teenagers, an American, and two Danish tourists aged 19 and 20 have also died after the incident in Vang Vieng, a town particularly popular among backpackers in search of partying and adventure sports. The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, told parliament that 19-year-old Bianca Jones, from Melbourne, died after being evacuated from Vang Vieng for treatment in a Thai hospital. Thai authorities said Jones died from “brain swelling due to high levels of methanol found in her system”. The death of her friend Holly Bowles, also 19, was confirmed by her father on Friday (local time). They had been staying at a hostel in Vang Vieng. The US state department said an American had died, and Denmark’s foreign ministry said two of its citizens had died in “the incident in Laos”, but neither commented directly on a link to the methanol poisoning that killed Jones. New Zealand’s foreign ministry said one of its citizens was unwell in Laos and could be a victim of methanol poisoning. Methanol is toxic when consumed by humans. The incident has highlighted the dangers of methanol poisoning across south-east Asia, where it is a cultural norm to brew bootleg liquor from ingredients such as rice and sugarcane sometimes mixed with methanol as a cheaper alternative to ethanol. Authorities in Laos are investigating the incident. Samples were sent to Thailand and verified there, said Prof Knut Erik Hovda, who advises Médecins Sans Frontières on a project to combat methanol poisoning. Hovda said that based on the clinical features and histories of the people who were flown to Thailand for treatment, they had most likely been poisoned by methanol. “The minute you have people drinking and getting sick in a high number and the symptoms start after a certain time, that is methanol until proven otherwise,” he said. “To me, this is no doubt caused by methanol.” Asia has the highest prevalence of methanol poisoning globally, with incidents in Indonesia, India, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines, according to MSF data. Alastair Hay, a professor of environmental toxicology at the University of Leeds, said the risk from methanol poisoning was twofold. “Methanol breaks down in the body to formaldehyde and then formic acid. The formic acid upsets the acid/base balance in blood and the major consequence is initially the effect on someone’s breathing,” he said. “There are effects on many other organs, the kidney being one. The disturbance of acid/base balance and disrupted breathing will eventually affect the heart and it will stop functioning. “Formaldehyde attacks nerves, particularly the optic nerve and blindness is a potential risk. Depending on the severity of poisoning, treatment may require dialysis to remove methanol from blood whilst at the same time keeping someone mildly drunk by administering ethanol. If the poisoning is not too severe, and only blood tests will determine this, ethanol alone may suffice.” Additional reporting by Kate Lamb • This article was amended on 22 November 2024. A previous version incorrectly stated that ethanol was not toxic to humans. It is, however, much less toxic than methanol.

The Guardian;Putin’s Ukraine missile a warning to west before second age of Trump;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/22/russia-ukraine-war-ballistic-missile-warning;2024-11-22T07:00:06Z

Like Chekhov’s gun coming off the wall in Act V, it was probably only a matter of time before Vladimir Putin launched an experimental, nuclear-capable ballistic missile into Ukraine. It is hardly a coincidence that his decision comes as the war approaches a likely endgame, with both sides jockeying for position ahead of negotiations in the shadow of Donald Trump. Neither Ukraine nor Russia quite knows what Trump will do when he takes office in January. But the escalations taking place now will set a new status quo for the day he becomes president, at which point Trump’s options range from hard-nosed horse-trading to simply throwing Ukraine under the bus. Ukrainian officials said this week that they simply do not know what the president-elect has planned for them. And with little idea of Trump’s intentions, they are focused on optimizing their battlefield position, seeking to hold a beachhead in Russia’s Kursk region and shore up the frontlines elsewhere across the battlefield to be in as strong a position as possible before the new US administration. US officials, similarly unsure of what their new president will do, are keen to make Ukraine as self-sufficient as possible and to prepare their European partners to increase support to Ukraine after Biden’s departure. One way some of his administration officials have described the goal is to avoid handing Trump another Afghanistan, where the country’s military collapses as soon as US ceases to provide support. Most are pessimistic that Ukraine can continue the fight indefinitely, however. In the final months of his term, Joe Biden offered Ukraine one thing it has been clamoring for: the right to use Atacms long-range missiles against targets inside Russia. He has also given Ukraine authorisation to use landmines and the right to send US military contractors in to fix the hardware Ukraine needs to stay in the fight. None of those are a game-changer, officials have admitted. And Biden’s caution in the months before – when they would have been more useful – was partially dictated by political concerns of a backlash ahead of the election. Trump could reverse those decisions the first day he arrives in office. But he could also decide that they are useful currency as he goes into negotiations with Putin and, as the more optimistic observers hope, acts in the spirit of a good businessman: to never give something of value away for free. Biden’s last spurt of support comes with a cost, however. And on Tuesday, Russia sent the west a very clear signal: we can escalate as well. With just a 30-minute warning, Russia launched an experimental missile that appears to be a variant of an older, never-deployed missile, the RS-26, which was originally designed for nuclear-weapon delivery. The missile had been criticised in the past for violating the now defunct Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed in the late 1980s to prevent a missile crisis in Europe – and its deployment could revive those fears. Putin sought to look menacing as he gave a rare address on Russian national television on Thursday, threatening to strike western countries involved in the war and claiming that the US and Europe “can’t intercept such missiles”. (If he wanted to make a splash in America, he should have fired his experimental missile another day. US media were firmly focused on Matt Gaetz, Trump’s candidate for attorney general who abandoned his nomination after a series of accusations he had had sex with underage girls). Nonetheless, the missile was meant to send a message. “I take the launch as a ‘reminder’ to the United States that the risks of nuclear escalation remain present,” said James Acton, the co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. US officials have appeared deliberately sanguine in terms of the nuclear threat in recent days. Despite suddenly closing the US embassy in Kyiv on Wednesday amid warnings of a mysterious “air attack threat,” officials had said they had seen no change in Russia’s nuclear posture. And Russian officials also appeared keen to avoid an accidental escalation with the US by providing a “pre-notification” of the launch. “That said, Putin’s decision to inform Washington in advance of the test was clearly intended to avoid the it misinterpreting the launch and to mitigate the risks of immediate nuclear escalation,” said Acton. “Indeed, I think it is very unlikely that Putin would use nuclear weapons given Trump’s election and the likelihood that the United States will cease to provide aid to Ukraine.” US officials had warned that Russia would at least nod toward a nuclear escalation if Biden gave Ukraine permission to use Atacms. CIA chief Bill Burns, on a visit to London alongside the head of MI6 in September, said the US had brushed off a previous Russian nuclear scare in autumn 2022, demonstrating that threats from Moscow should not always be taken literally. “Putin’s a bully. He’s going to continue to sabre-rattle from time to time,” Burns said. “We cannot afford to be intimidated by that sabre-rattling … we [have] got to be mindful of it. The US has provided enormous support for Ukraine, and I’m sure the president will consider other ways in which we can support them.”

The Guardian;Friday briefing: The pressure is on at Cop29 to fill in the blanks in the climate finance deal;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/22/friday-briefing-cop-29-deal-first-edition;2024-11-22T06:57:00Z

Good morning. For a clear symbol of how much work lies ahead at what is supposed to be the last session of the Cop29 climate summit today, you only have to look at the figure included in the draft text on new climate finance for developing countries: “[X] trillion dollars”. That placeholder on the most important single detail under consideration – included in two rival versions of the text – was supposed to leave space for negotiation. But it also suggests how much still has to be decided if any kind of positive momentum is to be rescued from two very difficult weeks in Azerbaijan. A new text has been delayed, and is now expected at midday local time, about an hour from now. Meetings between governments and the summit leadership ran into early Friday morning: “There’s nothing like a 3am huddle in a windowless, airless room with bright lights and proposals on the future of Planet Earth to focus the mind,” wrote Ed King in his Climate Diplomacy newsletter this morning. But while there are huddled negotiators bickering over numbers and square brackets and semicolons, there is hope. Today’s newsletter, with the Guardian’s Patrick Greenfield in Baku, is about how much is left to do, and how Cop29 might be viewed once it comes to an end. Here are the headlines. Five big stories Israel | The international criminal court has issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant and the Hamas leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war. It is the first time that leaders of a democracy and western-aligned state have been charged by the court. Ukraine | Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the use of an experimental ballistic missile by Russia amounted to “a clear and severe escalation” in the war and called for worldwide condemnation of the move. Vladimir Putin said that the missile lauch “was a response to US plans to produce and deploy intermediate and short-range missiles”. US politics | Matt Gaetz, the former Florida congressman, withdrew from consideration to serve as Donald Trump’s attorney general on Thursday amid intense scrutiny of allegations of sexual misconduct. Later, Trump nominated former Florida state attorney general Pam Bondi in Gaetz’s place. Farming | New inheritance tax rules for farmers could be changed to make it easier for those 80 and over to hand down their farm without it incurring the tax, in what would be a partial climbdown by the government after a bruising row with farmers and a huge protest march in Westminster on Tuesday. Art | A banana bought for 35 cents and taped to a gallery wall with duct tape by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan has sold for $5.2m, making it surely the most expensive piece of edible fruit on the planet. One of three editions of the 2019 work was bought by crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun at Sotheby’s New York for four times the initial estimate. In depth: ‘There has never been a finance target like this negotiated before’ Patrick was at the plenary session in Baku yesterday, where dozens of countries expressed their anger at the draft text that is supposed to be finalised ahead of an attempt at consensus agreement, theoretically by 6pm local time today. “It was pretty negative,” he said. “The biggest thing was the lack of a headline figure for climate finance. Developing countries say that they need a specific number to work with in negotiations. Meanwhile, the EU and other wealthier nations in that bloc are angry that there’s not enough emphasis on emissions cuts, which they say creates the risk of backsliding from what was agreed last year.” “This kind of thing has happened before,” he added. “Cop presidencies [the role is currently held by this year’s host, Azerbaijan] sometimes see value in putting out a text that pisses everyone off to heighten the appetite for compromise.” But it’s a high stakes game. Here’s what you need to know. *** What are the big issues on the table? The headline goal of the summit in Azerbaijan is a deal on climate finance – specifically the “new collective quantified goal” (NCQG) mandated by the 2015 Paris agreement, whichis now meant to be set in stone. (Read more about that in Nimo’s First Edition from the start of the summit.) The current goal of $100bn a year for poor countries is viewed even in rich countries as inadequate, but the ask of about $1.3tn a year by 2030 is still subject to negotiation – in terms of the headline figure, how it is paid and which countries qualify as recipients. “There has been no concrete counterproposal from the developed nations on a figure yet,” Patrick said. And even when a number materialises, there will be scrutiny of how much of the money comes in direct financial assistance and how much is in the form of private sector investment or money from fossil fuel taxes. “Then there is the debate over who is still a developing country, and whether India, China and others qualify – even Saudi Arabia is included in a bloc of developing countries. When you talk to negotiators from African countries, a lot of them are frustrated that the investment often goes to places that already have it, like Egypt, Morocco and Vietnam, as well as India and China – and they are not in position to attract a significant slice.” Meanwhile, there is a battle over “mitigation” – the term for commitments to curbing greenhouse gas emissions. In Baku last week, Saudi Arabia and its allies sought to unpick commitments made at Cop28 to “transition away from fossil fuels”, and the key question is whether that pledge will be reiterated in this year’s agreement. “That is what most countries say they want,” Patrick said. “But the group led by the Saudis is resisting that approach behind the scenes.” At the moment, the phrase “transition away from fossil fuels” is absent from the section of the draft dealing with mitigation. *** How have talks gone so far? Even with a good faith approach from every country involved, this is very difficult stuff. “There has never been a finance target like this negotiated before,” Patrick said. And while $1.3tn is in one sense a lot cheaper than the accumulating cost of the climate crisis, “it’s also equivalent to the combined military budgets of the US and China – so it’s a really serious amount of money. We shouldn’t expect it to be easy. It’s a personal view, but when you view the talks up close, it doesn’t feel as hopeless as it maybe does when you’re not here.” Even so, “there’s not a lot of trust on display,” Patrick added. One key area of frustration is the leadership of Azerbaijan, which has been accused of using the summit to boost its fossil fuel industry. Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s president, recently called oil and gas a “gift from god” and said that countries should not be blamed for “bringing these resources to the market”. And Azerbaijan is on track for a major expansion in fossil gas production over the next decade. “This is the third Cop in a row at a major fossil fuel producing state,” Patrick said. “The Emiratis dealt with that tension pretty well last time, and they had an impressive diplomatic operation – but Azerbaijan doesn’t really have that in place. Now they have gone to the British and the Brazilians, as lead representatives of the developed and developing world who have either hosted a Cop summit recently or will do soon, to help them put together a new draft of the text.” But regardless of who Azerbaijan brings into the drafting process, many delegates suspect that they are simply too committed to fossil fuel production to be a fair broker for the difficult day ahead. Meanwhile, the shadow of a second Donald Trump presidency, and the sense that the US will once again abdicate its responsibilities on the climate crisis, only heightens the pressure on the process. *** How will the process work today? In 2022, Fiona Harvey gave us a fascinating rundown of the negotiation process ahead of Cop27, explaining how the first week is made up of negotiations between officials, followed by ministerial appearances in the second week, and then the final plenary session at which consensus must be reached for a deal to be locked in. In short, Fiona said then: “It’s awful and inadequate and frustrating, but it’s still essential.” The final stage of the process follows a logic of its own. Ahead of the final plenary session, delegations from different countries and blocs will hold private consultations with the presidency on what they feel needs to change in the text for them to agree to it. Once a text has been hammered out, agreement must be by unanimous decision, and if no consensus can be reached there is no option of a majority vote as a last resort. Some argue that this mechanism enforces the “will of the laggards” who always have the option of junking the whole deal; others say that it forces those working to sabotage agreement behind the scenes to show their hand, and that sometimes they can be shamed into acquiescence. Either way, the process is notorious for running over. “My flight home’s at 7am on Sunday, and I don’t expect it to be done by then,” Patrick said. “But we’ll see.” *** How important is this year’s Cop likely to prove? That really depends on what the final agreement says. A deal that locks in a big increase in climate finance from the developed world to the developing world would be a major milestone, and it would be a victory for climate realists to repeat the Cop28 language about fossil fuels. Backsliding from the Cop28 commitments would be a real setback, and developing countries’ limited faith in the process would be further damaged if the finance commitments are underwhelming. Whatever happens, there is always next year. And, on the other hand, there is also the reality that keeping global heating to 1.5C above preindustrial levels already appears to be a very remote prospect. “A large majority of scientists think that 1.5 is already dead and buried,” Patrick said. “That is massively consequential. But it doesn’t mean that efforts to limit warming shouldn’t continue” – both because it is a commitment that governments have signed up to, and because this is not a binary: every fraction of a degree of additional warming will have profound consequences. Even if an encouraging deal is struck today or over the weekend, and the Cop bandwagon stays on the road, that should not be mistaken for a concrete result. “The process doesn’t need countries to leave it, or to ‘fail’, for warming to go well beyond 2C,” Patrick said. “Whatever happens in Baku, it’s ultimately only important if it leads to action.” What else we’ve been reading After the death of John Prescott, Stephen Bates’s fine obituary captures something of his crucial role in the success of New Labour - but also his remarkable path to the top, and how sensitive he was to classist mockery in the press. Archie From the outside, having an irrational fear of everyday objects might seem absurd and amusing. For those experiencing such phobias, the emotional distress is far from entertaining. Emine Saner asked sufferers how these fears shape their daily lives. Nimo Towns like Mansfield have become a cliche for those seeking tales of “left-behind England”, writes Aditya Chakrabortty – but the warehouse workers and couriers who make up the post-industrial working class are often ignored. His piece, which tells the story of one Amazon worker in Mansfield with devastating health problems, is a powerful corrective. Archie Delving into the pronatalist movement in the US, Josh Toussaint-Strauss takes a look at the politicisation of birthrates in this informative Guardian video. Nimo Lisa O’Carroll examines the ongoing tensions in a small Irish town over a camp for asylum seekers, one year after anti-immigrant riots rocked the country. Nimo Sport Football | Lina Hurtig’s late poke-in ensured Arsenal secured a spot in the Champions League knockout stage with two group games remaining, a 1-0 win over Juventus. For Manchester City, two goals from Khadija Shaw against Hammarby were enough to ensure the team’s qualification for the quarter-finals. Football | Pep Guardiola has signed a new two-year contract with Manchester City that will extend his tenure as the manager to 2027, and has said the champions’ current bad form stopped him leaving in the upcoming summer. Guardiola said: “I didn’t want to let the club down.” Formula One | Drivers are losing confidence in the FIA and the governing body’s president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, after receiving no response to their collective criticism of both in a public statement. They had called for dialogue to address their grievances over punishments for swearing and financial transparency but the FIA has not replied since it was issued two weeks ago. The front pages “ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu over Gaza” is the Guardian’s lead story, which is also covered elsewhere. “Starmer supports arrest of Netanyahu” is the splash on the Telegraph, while the Financial Times leads with “Hague court issues arrest warrant for Netanyahu over ‘war crimes’ in Gaza” and the Times says “Israeli leader faces arrest if he flies into Britain”. The i highlights developments in the Ukraine war, running the headline “UK and France will stand firm against Putin, vows Lammy”, as does the Mirror with “Kremlin warning to Britain: You Are In The War”. The Metro focuses on a suspected methanol poisoning death in Laos splashing with “Brit Lawyer Dies From Methanol In Drink”. At the Mail the lead story is “Ed Miliband To Slap Green ‘Tax’ On Your Boiler”, while the Express says: “Labour Hands Over Cash To Foreign Farmers”. And the Sun claims “Dodgy Haircut Is Hate Crime”. Something for the weekend Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read and listen to right now Music Father John Misty: Mahashmashana | ★★★★☆ You could argue that Mahashmashana is not an album built to change anyone’s mind: if you’ve already decided that Josh Tillman is an insufferable smartarse, you can doubtless find evidence to support your claim among its dense, allusive songs. But you’d have a harder time arguing that he’s not a fantastic writer in terms of melody – all of the tracks bear a tune that’s both beautiful and beautifully constructed – and the scope of his musical ambitions … for a man who apparently spends a lot of time consumed by angst and portents of doom, Tillman seems to be doing just fine. Alexis Petridis TV A Man on the Inside | ★★★★☆ A Man on the Inside is the story of Charles (Ted Danson), a lonely, retired widower who takes a job with a private investigator, infiltrating a retirement home to discover the identity of a thief. Only, as you may have guessed, the job gives him purpose and the residents give him companionship and everything is lovely and sweet and heartwarming. Stuart Heritage Film Snow Leopard | ★★★★☆ The Tibetan writer-director Pema Tseden died of heart failure last year at age 53, just months after completing this movie; his health was almost certainly weakened by rough treatment from Chinese police some years earlier. He was not an overtly political film-maker and this is not an overtly political film; nor was the incident that may well have led to his death an overtly political incident. And yet the political implications of power are everywhere in his final film about the rescue of an illegally captured snow leopard; the meanings are transformed and displaced into these characters and incidents. It’s a strange, sad swan song. Peter Bradshaw Today in Focus Nigel Farage and his ‘historic mission’: on the ground with Reform UK Today in Focus presenter Helen Pidd goes out on the road – to Birmingham, Stalybridge and Clacton – to chart Nigel Farage’s bid to transform Reform UK into a modern, professional political party The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad When Kelly Dyer started playing ice hockey as a child in Massachusetts, there was no such thing as women’s kit, so she had to wear her brother’s gear on the rink. By the time she played for Team USA in the inaugural women’s world championships in 1990, she noticed that even the sport’s top female stars were still wearing ill-fitting equipment designed for men. So she set about changing things: “I was so full of energy and visions of where women’s sports could go. I just picked up the phone and called every single hockey manufacturer.” Dyer eventually persuaded a Candian company to make women’s hockey gear, prompting the Chicago Tribune to write, in 1996: “Makers of sports equipment have finally realized there’s another sex.” Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply

The Guardian;ICC issues arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged Gaza war crimes;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/icc-issues-arrest-warrant-for-benjamin-netanyahu-israel;2024-11-22T00:34:15Z

The international criminal court has issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant and the Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war. It is the first time that leaders of a democracy and western-aligned state have been charged by the court, in the most momentous decision of its 22-year history. Netanyahu and Gallant are at risk of arrest if they travel to any of the 124 countries that signed the Rome statute establishing the court. Israel claims to have killed Deif in an airstrike in July, but the court’s pre-trial chamber said it would “continue to gather information” to confirm his death. The chamber ruled there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore criminal responsibility as co-perpetrators for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”. The three-judge panel also said it had found reasonable grounds to believe Deif was responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder, torture, rape and hostage taking relating to the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 in which fighters killed more than 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and kidnapped 250. The US criticised the move, with Joe Biden describing the warrants in a statement on Thursday night as “outrageous”. “Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.” Netanyahu’s office denounced the chamber’s decision as “antisemitic”. “Israel utterly rejects the false and absurd charges of the international criminal court, a biased and discriminatory political body,” the office said in a statement, adding that “no war is more just than the war Israel has been waging in Gaza”. The statement pointed to an investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct against the ICC prosecutor Karim Khan who sought the charges against the three men in May. Khan, 54, has denied the allegations and said he will cooperate with the investigation. Netanyahu said in a video statement: “No outrageous anti-Israel decision will prevent us – and it will not prevent me – from continuing to defend our country in every way. We will not yield to pressure.” The US national security council issued a statement “fundamentally” rejecting the court’s decision. “We remain deeply concerned by the prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision,” the statement said, without any detail of the alleged errors. “The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter. In coordination with partners, including Israel, we are discussing next steps.” The US has previously welcomed ICC war crimes warrants against Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials for atrocities committed in Ukraine, exposing the Biden administration to accusations of double standards from many UN members, particularly from the global south. Netanyahu can expect more resounding support from the incoming Donald Trump administration. During his first term, in 2020, Trump imposed US sanctions on the ICC, aimed at court officials and their families. The then secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, made clear the sanctions were imposed because the ICC had begun investigating the actions of the US and its allies in Afghanistan, as well as Israeli military operations in the occupied territories. The UK is expected to agree to the request to arrest Netanyahu if he came to Britain, although Downing Street refused to directly confirm this, saying only that it would “respect” the court’s independence. A spokesperson said a UK-based court procedure would be needed to approve any request. The panel said the full version of the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant were secret “in order to protect witnesses and to safeguard the conduct of the investigations”, but the judges released much of their reasoning. This focused on the obstruction of the supply of humanitarian aid into Gaza, which it judged to be deliberate. “The chamber considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity,” the written ruling said. The warrants were broadly welcomed by human rights groups. Balkees Jarrah, an associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said they would “break through the perception” that certain individuals were beyond the reach of the law. “Whether the ICC can effectively deliver on its mandate will depend on governments’ willingness to support justice no matter where abuses are committed and by whom,” Jarrah said. “These warrants should finally push the international community to address atrocities and secure justice for all victims in Palestine and Israel.” Israel has denied committing war crimes in Gaza and has rejected the jurisdiction of the court. However, the pretrial chamber noted that Palestine had been recognised as a member of the court in 2015, so the ICC did not require Israeli approval to investigate crimes on Palestinian territory. The chamber also rejected an Israeli appeal for the warrants to be deferred, saying the Israeli authorities were informed of an earlier ICC investigation in 2021, and at that time, “Israel elected not to pursue any request for deferral of the investigation”. An ICC statement said of Deif that “the chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Deif … is responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, torture and rape and other form of sexual violence, as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture, taking hostages, outrages upon personal dignity, and rape and other forms of sexual violence”. Khan had sought warrants for two other senior Hamas figures, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, but they were killed in the conflict. Israel’s claim to have killed Deif has been neither confirmed nor denied by Hamas. Benny Gantz, a retired general and political rival to Netanyahu, condemned the ICC’s decision, saying it showed “moral blindness” and was a “shameful stain of historic proportion that will never be forgotten”. Yair Lapid, another opposition leader, called it a “prize for terror”. The warrants have been issued at a sensitive moment for Khan, in the face of an investigation of claims of sexual misconduct. The inquiry will examine the allegations against the prosecutor, which, the Guardian reported last month, include claims of unwanted sexual touching and “abuse” over an extended period, as well as coercive behaviour and abuse of authority. The alleged victim, an ICC lawyer in her 30s, has previously declined to comment. The arrest warrants could increase the external pressure on Netanyahu’s government as the US seeks to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but could well strengthen the prime minister’s political position in Israel in the short term, as most Israelis reject the ICC’s jurisdiction, regarding it as interference in their country’s internal affairs. Biden has said he does not believe Netanyahu is doing enough to secure a ceasefire, after the Israeli leader vowed not to compromise on Israeli control over strategic territory inside Gaza. Netanyahu has accused Hamas of failing to negotiate in good faith.

The Guardian;UN chief calls for de-escalation after Russian strike on Ukraine – as it happened;https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/nov/21/russia-ukraine-war-putin-zelenskyy-updates;2024-11-22T00:18:17Z

We’ll now pause our live coverage of Russia’s ballistic missile strike on Ukraine – it’s just gone 2am in Kyiv and 3am in Moscow. You can read our full report on the attack here. And here’s a summary of the latest developments. Thanks for reading. Vladimir Putin said Russia fired an experimental ballistic missile at a military site in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday morning. The Russian president said during an unannounced televised address to the nation that the new missile was called Oreshnik (the hazel) and that its deployment “was a response to US plans to produce and deploy intermediate and short-range missiles”. Putin appeared to directly threaten the US and UK, who earlier this week allowed Ukraine to fire western-made Atacms and Storm Shadow missiles into Russia. Moscow “had the right” to strike western countries that provided Kyiv with weapons used against Russian targets, he said during his televised address, adding that Russia would “respond decisively and symmetrically” in the event of an escalation. The new intermediate range ballistic missile was part of a wider salvo of nine missiles fired from the Astrakhan region of Russia between 5am and 7am on Thursday. Six of the missiles were intercepted by Ukraine’s air force but the new ballistic missile was not stopped. The missile was said to have hit “without consequences”, Ukraine’s air force said, though it added that complete information about victims had yet to be received. Ukraine’s air force had initially claimed Russia had fired a longer-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at Dnipro. US and UK sources indicated that they believed the missile was an experimental nuclear-capable, intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), which has a theoretical range of below 3,420 miles (5,500km). That is enough to reach Europe from where it was fired in south-western Russia, but not the US. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, later softened the claim to say the missile fired had “all the parameters” of an ICBM in terms of speed and altitude of flight. Zelenskyy called for a “strong” international response to the Russian missile strike, describing it as a major step-up in the “scale and brutality” of the war. In a statement after Putin’s address, Zelenskyy said the strike was “yet more proof that Russia has no interest in peace”, adding that “response is needed. Pressure is needed. Russia must be forced into real peace, which can only be achieved through strength.” UN secretary general António Guterres’s spokesperson said Russia’s use of a new intermediate-range ballistic missile was “yet another concerning and worrying development”. “All of this [is] going in the wrong direction,” Stéphane Dujarric said as he called on all parties to de-escalate the conflict and “to protect civilians, not hit civilian targets or critical civilian infrastructure”. A Nato spokesperson said the missile would not affect the course of the war nor the western alliance’s support for Kyiv. Nato spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah was quoted as describing the Russian strike on Dnipro as “yet another example of Russia’s attacks against Ukrainian cities”. The White House said Russia was to blame for “escalating at every turn” in its war in Ukraine, including in its decision to involve North Korean troops. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added that the US did not see “any reason” to modify its nuclear posture or doctrine in reaction to changes announced by Russia. The US was notified by Russia shortly before its strike on Dnipro, according to a US official. Russia is required by a treaty to inform the US of the launch of certain kinds of ballistic missiles, in the hopes of preventing an escalatory ladder that could lead to an all-out nuclear war. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia notified the US 30 minutes before the strike through the US’s Nuclear Threat Reduction Center. Ukraine’s parliament postponed a sitting due to have taken place on Friday out of security concerns, public broadcaster Suspilne reported, quoting sources. It said the order told members to keep their families out of Kyiv’s government district and quoted parliamentarians as saying that, for the moment, the next sitting was not scheduled until December. Ukraine’s parliament has postponed a sitting due to have taken place on Friday out of security concerns, public broadcaster Suspilne has reported, quoting sources. “On 22nd November, plans called for a session of the Verkhovna Rada [parliament], which included questions to the government, but this was cancelled for reasons of potential security issues,” Suspilne said on Thursday. It said the order told members to keep their families out of Kyiv’s government district and quoted parliamentarians as saying that, for the moment, the next sitting was not scheduled until December, Reuters reports. The postponement occurred after Vladimir Putin said Russia had struck Dnipro in Ukraine with an experimental hypersonic missile and suggested more could follow “in case of escalation of aggressive actions”. One opposition member of the Ukrainian parliament, Oleksiy Honcharenko, expressed frustration at the cancellation, saying on Telegram that an opportunity to put questions to the government had been lost. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has accused the US of ramping up tension and provocations, saying the Korean peninsula has never faced such risks of nuclear war as now, state media said on Friday. In a speech at a military exhibition on Thursday in Pyongyang, Kim said his previous experience of negotiations with Washington only highlighted its “aggressive and hostile” policy against Pyongyang, Reuters reported outlet KCNA as saying. KCNA quoted Kim as saying: Never before have the warring parties on the Korean peninsula faced such a dangerous and acute confrontation that it could escalate into the most destructive thermonuclear war. We have already gone as far as we can on negotiating with the United States, but what we became certain of from the result is not the superpower’s willingness to coexist, but its thorough stance of power and aggressive and hostile policy toward us that can never change. Kim’s speech came amid international criticism over increasingly deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow, with North Korea having reportedly sent more than 10,000 troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. The US believes Russia fired a never-before-fielded intermediate-range ballistic missile in its attack on Ukraine, an escalation that analysts say could have implications for European missile defence, Reuters is reporting. The US military said the Russian missile’s design was based on the design of Russia’s longer-range RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The new missile was experimental and Russia likely possessed only a handful of them, officials said. Ukraine’s air force initially said the missile was an ICBM, sparking worries of a major escalation in the war. While launching an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) sends a less threatening signal, the incident could still set off alarms and Moscow notified Washington briefly ahead of the launch, US officials said. The Pentagon said the missile was fired with a conventional warhead but added that Moscow could modify it if it wanted. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said: It could be refitted to certainly carry different types of conventional or nuclear warheads. This is Adam Fulton picking up our live coverage. Stay with us for the latest developments. It’s 1am in Kyiv and 2am in Moscow. Here’s a recap of the latest developments: Vladimir Putin said Russia fired an experimental ballistic missile at a military site in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday morning. The Russian president, speaking during an unannounced televised address to the nation, said the new missile was called Oreshnik [the hazel] and that its deployment “was a response to US plans to produce and deploy intermediate and short-range missiles”. Putin appeared to directly threaten the US and UK, who earlier this week allowed Ukraine to fire western-made Atacms and Storm Shadow missiles into Russia. Moscow “had the right” to strike western countries that provided Kyiv with weapons used against Russian targets, he said during his televised address on Thursday night, adding that Russia would “respond decisively and symmetrically” in the event of an escalation. The new intermediate range ballistic missile was part of a wider salvo of nine missiles fired from the Astrakhan region of Russia between 5am and 7am on Thursday. Six of the missiles were intercepted by Ukraine’s air force but the new ballistic missile was not stopped. The missile was said to have hit “without consequences”, Ukraine’s air force said, though it added that complete information about victims had yet to be received. Ukraine’s air force had initially claimed Russia had fired a longer-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at Dnipro. US and UK sources indicated that they believed the missile was an experimental nuclear-capable, intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), which has a theoretical range of below 3,420 miles (5,500km). That is enough to reach Europe from where it was fired in south-western Russia, but not the US. Volodymyr Zelenskyy later softened the claim to say the missile fired had “all the parameters” of an ICBM in terms of speed and altitude of flight. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, called for a “strong” international response to the Russian ballistic missile strike, describing it as a major step-up in the “scale and brutality” of the war. In a statement after Putin’s address, Zelenskyy said the strike was “yet more proof that Russia has no interest in peace”, adding that “response is needed. Pressure is needed. Russia must be forced into real peace, which can only be achieved through strength.” The UN secretary general António Guterres’s spokesperson said Russia’s use of a new intermediate range ballistic missile is “yet another concerning and worrying development. “All of this [is] going in the wrong direction,” Stéphane Dujarric said as he called on all parties to de-escalate the conflict and “to protect civilians, not hit civilian targets or critical civilian infrastructure”. A Nato spokesperson said the missile will not affect the course of the war nor the western alliance’s support for Kyiv. Nato spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah was quoted as describing the Russian strike on Dnipro as “yet another example of Russia’s attacks against Ukrainian cities”. Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, appeared to inadvertently reveal some details about the strike during a live press briefing earlier on Thursday. A hot mic captured Zakharova’s phone conversation with an unidentified caller who appears to disclose that the strike targeted the Yuzhmash military facility in Dnipro. The US was notified by Russia shortly before its strike on Dnipro, according to a US official. Russia is required by a treaty to inform the US of the launch of certain kinds of ballistic missiles, in the hopes of preventing an escalatory ladder that could lead to an all-out nuclear war. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia notified the US 30 minutes before the strike through the US’s Nuclear Threat Reduction Center. The White House said Russia is to blame for “escalating at every turn” in its war in Ukraine, including in its decision to involve North Korean troops. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added that the US does not see “any reason” to modify its nuclear posture or doctrine in reaction to changes announced by Russia. Joe Biden’s decision to lift restrictions on Ukraine firing US-made long-range missiles into Russian territory was in response to North Korea’s involvement in the war, Reuters reported, citing sources. This shift in US policy also took on added urgency following the presidential election win of Donald Trump, who is deeply skeptical of US support for Ukraine, it said. The UK is now “directly involved” in the Ukraine war after its Storm Shadow missiles were used to strike targets inside Russia, the Russian ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, said earlier on Thursday. Kelin, in an interview with Sky News, said Britain’s decision to allow Ukraine to use its missiles on Russian targets had dragged the UK into the conflict. He said: Absolutely, Britain and UK is now directly involved in this war, because this firing cannot happen without Nato staff, British staff as well. He added: The US administration, support by France and the UK, has made a deliberate decision to make these strikes, which seriously escalates the situation, and it can bring a collision between the nuclear powers. Downing Street, responding to Kelin’s comments, said the UK government would not be “deterred or distracted by commentary from Vladimir Putin or the Russian ambassador”. The experimental intermediate-range missile Russia fired at Ukraine will not affect the course of the war nor Nato’s support for Kyiv, a spokesperson for the alliance said. Nato spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah was quoted by AFP as describing the Russian strike on Dnipro on Thursday as “yet another example of Russia’s attacks against Ukrainian cities”, adding: Deploying this capability will neither change the course of the conflict nor deter Nato Allies from supporting Ukraine. Bridget Brink, the US ambassador to Ukraine, has said that the Russian attack on Dnipro shows Kyiv needs continued support until the end of the war. Russia’s attack on Dnipro is a sign that we must support Ukraine until it wins this war against Russia’s aggression, which is a threat to Ukraine, Europe, and the world. Russia’s use of a new intermediate range ballistic missile to strike Ukraine is “yet another concerning and worrying development”, the spokesperson for the UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, said. “All of this [is] going in the wrong direction,” Stéphane Dujarric said as he called on all parties to de-escalate the conflict and “to protect civilians, not hit civilian targets or critical civilian infrastructure”. What we want to see is an end to this conflict in line with General Assembly resolutions, international law, and territorial integrity. Here’s a clip from Vladimir Putin’s address on Thursday confirming that Russia fired an experimental ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro earlier that morning. The Russian president appeared to directly threaten the US and UK, who earlier this week allowed Ukraine to fire western-made Atacms and Storm Shadow missiles into Russia. The new ballistic missile was called Oreshnik [the hazel], Putin said, and its deployment “was a response to US plans to produce and deploy intermediate and short-range missiles”. He said Russia would “respond decisively and symmetrically” in the event of an escalation. The “experimental” Russian ballistic missile fired at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro this morning carried multiple warheads, CNN is reporting, citing sources. According to the outlet, the weapon is known as a “multiple independently-targetable reentry vehicle (Mirv)" which carries a series of warheads that can each target a specific location, allowing one ballistic missile to launch a larger attack. Thursday’s missile attack was not armed with nuclear warheads, but it used a weapon designed for nuclear delivery to instead launch conventional weapons, CNN writes. Tom Karako, the director of the missile defense project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told the outlet that it was likely the first time a Mirv has been used in combat. The use of this type of missile armed with conventional warheads is an escalation of Russia’s nuclear sabre-rattling, Karako said, which includes Vladimir Putin’s recent updating of its nuclear doctrine. A decision by the US president, Joe Biden, to lift restrictions on Ukraine firing US-made long-range missiles into Russian territory was in response to North Korea’s involvement in the war, Reuters is reporting, citing sources. Ukraine fired a series of US-made Atacms missiles into Russia earlier this week after the Biden administration lifted restrictions on their use. For months, Biden had resisted pleas from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to ease limits on the use of long-range US missiles. But Russia’s decision to deploy North Korean soldiers to Russia’s Kursk region represented a major escalation that demanded a response, a senior US official and two others sources told the news agency. This shift in US policy also took on added urgency following the presidential election win of Donald Trump, who is deeply skeptical of US support for Ukraine. The decision could help to “Trump-proof” parts of Biden’s Ukraine agenda by strengthening Ukraine’s position in case they lose US support, a source told Reuters. Prior to Vladimir Putin’s televised address confirming the use of an experimental ballistic missile, the UK accused the Russian president of dramatically escalating the war in Ukraine. A spokesperson for Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, said Russia’s use of a ballistic missile is “another example of reckless behaviour” by Moscow. The spokesperson added: This is obviously deeply concerning. It is another example of reckless behaviour from Russia, which only serves to strengthen our resolve in terms of standing by Ukraine for as long as it takes. Here are some images from Ukraine’s emergency services showing the aftermath of a Russian missile strike on the city of Dnipro early on Thursday. Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at Oslo University who specialises in missile technology and nuclear strategy, said the significance of the Oreshnik missile strike was that it appeared to carry a type of payload that “is exclusively associated with nuclear-capable missiles”. A US official told the Guardian that Russia may have used the weapon as an attempt to “intimidate Ukraine and its supporters” or attract public attention, but that the weapon would not be a “gamechanger” in the conflict. “Russia likely possesses only a handful of these experimental missiles,” the official said. Ukraine used US Atacms missiles to target what it said was a weapons depot in Russia’s south-western Bryansk region on Monday, and fired a salvo of Storm Shadow missiles on Wednesday at a command post in Kursk, where Kyiv’s forces hold a small bridgehead of territory inside Russia. Ukraine had previously used both weapons to strike targets inside its internationally recognised borders, but had been lobbying the US and UK for months to allow it to strike airfields, bases and depots deeper inside Russia. Both sides are stepping up their military efforts in the near three-year-long war ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump on 20 January. The Republican president-elect has said he wants to end the war, though it is unclear how he proposes to do so, and each side is hoping to improve its battlefield position before he takes office. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the use of an experimental ballistic missile on Ukraine is “yet more proof that Russia has no interest in peace”. The Ukrainian president says his country has “every right” to fire long-range weapons into Russia under international law in the interest of self-defence. “The world must respond,” Zelenskyy says. He says Vladimir Putin is “spitting in the face of those in the world who genuinely want peace to be restored” and that he is “testing” the world. Right now, there is no strong reaction from the world. Putin is very sensitive to this. He is testing you, dear partners. … He must be stopped. A lack of tough reactions to Russia’s actions sends a message that such behavior is acceptable. This is what Putin is doing. Zelenskyy says Putin “must feel the cost of his deranged ambitions”, adding: Response is needed. Pressure is needed. Russia must be forced into real peace, which can only be achieved through strength. Otherwise, there will be endless Russian strikes, threats, and destabilization—not just against Ukraine. “True peace is worth fighting for. Action is required,” he adds. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has issued a statement on X after Vladimir Putin said Russian forces had hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with a new experimental mid-range ballistic missile. The Russian leader has “admitted” to taking a step “toward escalating and expanding this war” by using a new ballistic missile on Ukraine, Zelenskyy wrote. Putin struck our city of Dnipro, one of Ukraine’s largest cities. This is a clear and severe escalation in the scale and brutality of this war — a cynical violation of the UN Charter by Russia. He said this was Russia’s second step towards escalation this year, after bringing 11,000 North Korean troops to Ukraine’s borders. Zelenskyy said Putin was “ignoring everyone in the world” who has urged against further expansion of the war, including calls from China, Brazil, European countries and the US. He added: Putin alone started this war—an entirely unprovoked war — and he is doing everything to prolong it, now for over a thousand days. Ukraine’s air force said earlier on Thursday that nine projectiles were launched at Dnipro between 5am and 7am local time from the Astrakhan region of Russia. In that case, the missile probably travelled about 500 miles (800km) to reach its target. US and UK sources indicated that they believed the missile fired on Dnipro was an experimental nuclear-capable, intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), which has a theoretical range of below 3,417 miles (5,500km). That is enough to reach Europe from where it was fired in south-western Russia, but not the US. Ukraine’s air force had initially claimed Russia had fired a longer-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). However, the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, later softened the claim to say the missile fired had “all the parameters” of an ICBM in terms of speed and altitude of flight. Russian ICBMs can have ranges of more than 6,200 miles, in theory enough to reach the US east coast from Astrakhan, and are capable of being nuclear armed. ICBMs were developed in the 1950s, at the height of the cold war, as a way for the Soviet Union and the US to threaten each other’s populations directly with nuclear weapons. US congressional research estimates that Russia has 326 ICBMs in its nuclear arsenal, but no country had fired one in a war before. Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, was interrupted during a briefing earlier on Thursday by a call that instructed her not to comment on reports of a Russian ballistic missile attack at Ukraine. Zakharova, in the middle of a regular press conference, received a call from a man who used the informal “Mash” instead of Maria, according to video that picked up the telephone conversation. In the brief telephone exchange, the caller appears to disclose that the strike targeted the Yuzhmash military facility in Dnipro. The man is overheard saying: About the ballistic missile strike on Yuzhmash (rocket company Pivdenmash) that the western media are talking about, we are not commenting at all. The US was notified by Russia shortly before its strike with an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, according to a US official. The US official was quoted by Reuters as saying: The US was pre-notified briefly before the launch through nuclear risk reduction channels. The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Moscow informed Washington that it was going to launch the missile 30 minutes before firing it at Ukraine, Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency reported. “The Russian side warned the Americans about the launch of ’Oreshnik’,” Peskov told Tass. An agreement between the US and Russia signed in 2000 provides in theory that each side should notify the other at least 24 hours ahead of any planned missile launch in excess of 500km. The United States does not see “any reason” to modify its nuclear posture or doctrine in reaction to changes announced by Russia, the White House further said in recent minutes, during the ongoing media briefing in Washington, DC today. The White House condemned what it termed “irresponsible” rhetoric from Moscow. We have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture or doctrine in response to Russia’s statements,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. She added a few minutes later: We have not seen any indication of Russia preparing to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. So this is more of their irresponsible [talk] from Russia that we have seen these past two years. This is a war they can end, they can end it today.” The White House said moments ago that Russia is to blame for “escalating at every turn” in its war in Ukraine, just over 1,000 days since it invaded its smaller neighbor. That escalation included Russian ally North Korea adding troops to join Russian president Vladimir Putin’s war effort. The escalation at every turn is coming from Russia,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters gathered in the daily briefing room in the west wing at the White House, in Washington, DC. Jean-Pierre added that the US has previously warned Moscow not to involve Another country in another part of the world.” Vladimir Putin’s televised address to the nation came after Ukraine claimed earlier on Thursday that Russia fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at the central city of Dnipro. Nine projectiles were launched at enterprises and critical infrastructure in Dnipro between 5am and 7am local time from the Astrakhan region of Russia, Ukraine’s air forces said. The missile was said to have hit “without consequences” the air force said, though it added that information about victims had yet to be received. Six of the nine projectiles were destroyed by air defences, the air force said in a morning update. Initial unconfirmed reports from Ukraine had suggested Russia had used ICBM, a weapon designed for long-distance nuclear strikes and never before used in war. There was no suggestion the weapon was nuclear-armed. Three US officials said it was an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with a smaller range. Intermediate-range ballistic missiles have a range of 3,000-5,500km (1,860-3,415 miles). Vladimir Putin said Russia’s deployment of an experimental ballistic missile on a Ukrainian military target was “a response” to “aggressive actions of Nato countries against Russia”. The Russian leader said the strike on Thursday morning came in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with US and British missiles earlier this week. In comments carried by the Moscow Times, Putin said: We consider ourselves justified in using our weapons against military targets in those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities. In the event of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond decisively and accordingly. Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, said in a televised address that his forces tested the new intermediate range ballistic missile “Oreshnik”, which means “hazel” in Russian. Among the operations carried out was the testing of one of Russia’s latest medium-range missile systems. In this case, a ballistic missile equipped with a non-nuclear hypersonic warhead was used. The tests were deemed successful, he said, adding that the target had been struck “as intended”. Vladimir Putin has confirmed that Russia fired a new intermediate range ballistic missile at a Ukrainian military site, as he warned the west that Moscow “had the right” to strike western countries that provide Kyiv with long-range weapons. The Russian leader, in an unannounced televised address to the nation on Thursday evening, said Russia tested the new ballistic missile, Oreshnik, to strike a military facility in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. The Russian leader said the strike on Ukraine on Thursday morning came in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with US and British missiles earlier this week.

The Guardian;Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro charged with plotting coup d’état;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/jair-bolsonaro-charged-coup-plot;2024-11-21T20:22:02Z

The former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and some of his closest allies are among dozens of people formally accused by federal police of being part of a criminal conspiracy designed to obliterate Brazil’s democratic system through a rightwing coup d’état. Federal police confirmed on Thursday that investigators had concluded their long-running investigation into what they called a coordinated attempt to “violently dismantle the constitutional state”. In a statement, police said the report – which has been forwarded to the supreme court – formally accused a total of 37 people of crimes including involvement in an attempted coup, the formation of a criminal organization, and trying to tear down one of the world’s largest democracies. The accused include Bolsonaro, a disgraced army captain turned populist politician, who was president from 2018 until the end of 2022, as well as some of the most important members of his far-right administration. They included Bolsonaro’s former spy chief, the far-right congressman Alexandre Ramagem; the former defense ministers Gen Walter Braga Netto and Gen Paulo Sérgio Nogueira de Oliveira; the former minister of justice and public security Anderson Torres; the former minister of institutional security Gen Augusto Heleno; the former navy commander Adm Almir Garnier Santos; the president of Bolsonaro’s political party, Valdemar Costa Neto; and Filipe Martins, one of Bolsonaro’s top foreign policy advisers. Also named is the rightwing blogger grandson of Gen João Baptista Figueiredo, one of the military rulers who governed Brazil during its 1964-85 dictatorship. The list contains one non-Brazilian name: that of Fernando Cerimedo, an Argentinian digital marketing guru who was in charge of communications for Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, during that country’s 2023 presidential campaign. Buenos Aires-based Cerimedo is close to Bolsonaro and his politician sons. The long-awaited conclusion of the police investigation comes just days after federal police officers made five arrests as part of a roundup of alleged members of a plot to assassinate Bolsonaro’s leftwing successor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his centre-right vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin, as well as the supreme court judge Alexandre de Moraes. Shortly before police announced the end of their inquiry, Lula voiced gratitude that the attempt to poison him had failed. “I’m alive,” the 79-year-old leftist said during a speech. Gen Mario Fernandes, one of the five people arrested over the alleged “Green and Yellow Dagger” assassination plan, was also among the 37 people named by federal police on Thursday – and like the others was formally accused of being part of a criminal coup attempt. “We are at war,” Fernandes allegedly said in one message discovered by police investigators. Bolsonaro has previously denied involvement in an attempt to overturn the result of the 2022 election, which he lost to Lula. Speaking to a journalist from the Brazilian news site Metrópoles after he was named in the police report, the former president said he needed to see what was in the investigation. “I’m going to wait for the lawyer,” Bolsonaro added. Braga Netto, Heleno and other prominent names on the list made no immediate comment about the accusations in the federal police report, which the police statement said was based on a large trove of evidence gathered through plea deals, searches and the analysis of financial, internet and phone records. But prominent pro-Bolsonaro politicians criticized the report, with Rogério Marinho, the leader of the opposition in the senate, attributing it to the “incessant persecution” targeting Brazil’s right. “The more they persecute Bolsonaro, the stronger he gets,” tweeted Sóstenes Cavalcante, a Bolsonarista congressman from Rio. The alleged pro-Bolsonaro coup attempt allegedly played out during the turbulent final days of his four-year administration, which came to an end when he was narrowly defeated by Lula in the second round of the 2022 presidential election. In the lead-up to that crunch vote, a manifesto signed by almost a million citizens warned that Brazilian democracy was facing a moment of “immense danger to democratic normality” amid widespread suspicion that plans were afoot to help Bolsonaro cling to power even if he lost. After losing his re-election bid, Bolsonaro flew into temporary exile in the US while thousands of supporters gathered outside military bases around Brazil to demand a military intervention that never came. The failed attempt to overturn Lula’s victory culminated in the 8 January 2023 riots in the capital, Brasília, when radicalized Bolsonaristas rampaged through the presidential palace, congress and supreme court. Nearly two years later, Lula is in power but the far-right threat to his administration remains. Last Wednesday night, a member of Bolsonaro’s political party was killed after apparently blowing himself up with homemade explosives while attacking the supreme court. During a search of the man’s trailer, police reportedly found a cap emblazoned with the slogan of Bolsonaro’s far-right movement: “Brazil above everything. God above all.” In a video statement, Paulo Pimenta, Lula’s communications minister, said the government was “utterly perplexed and outraged” by the revelations that the former president and members of the military had allegedly been plotting to bring down Brazil’s democracy “with almost unbelievable audacity”. “These are very grave crimes [and] very serious accusations,” added Pimenta, who said Lula’s administration would now wait for the public prosecutor’s office to decide which of the 37 would be prosecuted and put on trial. Those convicted would have to pay for the crimes they had committed against democracy, against the constitution and against the Brazilian people, said Pimenta. “Bolsonaro in Jail”, the minister wrote alongside his video, echoing a call from many progressive Brazilians.

The Guardian;Putin says Russia fired experimental ballistic missile into Ukraine;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/putin-says-russia-fired-experimental-ballistic-missile-into-ukraine;2024-11-21T20:13:41Z

Vladimir Putin has said Russia fired an experimental ballistic missile at a military site in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday morning, and that Moscow “had the right” to strike western countries that provided Kyiv with weapons used against Russian targets. The Russian president, speaking during an unannounced televised address to the nation, appeared to directly threaten the US and UK, who earlier this week allowed Ukraine to fire western-made Atacms and Storm Shadow missiles into Russia. The new ballistic missile was called Oreshnik [the hazel], Putin said, and its deployment “was a response to US plans to produce and deploy intermediate and short-range missiles”. He said Russia would “respond decisively and symmetrically” in the event of an escalation. “Russia reserves the right to use weapons against targets in countries that permit their weapons to be used against Russian targets,” Putin added, in his most explicit threat to attack western countries who have been providing military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. US and UK sources indicated that they believed the missile fired on Dnipro was an experimental nuclear-capable, intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), which has a theoretical range of below 3,420 miles (5,500km). That is enough to reach Europe from where it was fired in south-western Russia, but not the US. Ukraine’s air force had initially claimed Russia had fired a longer-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). However, the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, later softened the claim to say the missile fired had “all the parameters” of an ICBM in terms of speed and altitude of flight. “Obviously, Putin is using Ukraine as a testing ground. Obviously, Putin is terrified when normal life simply exists next to him,” Zelenskyy said. “When a country simply wants to be and has the right to be independent.” In a statement published on Telegram, Zelenskyy later said the missile strike was “final proof that Russia definitely does not want peace”. The missile was fired from the Astrakhan region of Russia, Ukraine’s air force said, meaning that it travelled about 500 miles to reach its target, as part of a wider salvo of nine missiles between 5am and 7am. Six of the missiles were intercepted by Ukraine’s air force but the new ballistic missile was not stopped. Video of the incident from a distance showed the ground being struck in multiple flashes, though damage and casualty reports were modest. The missile was said to have hit “without consequences”, Ukraine’s air force said, though it added that complete information about victims had yet to be received. Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at Oslo University who specialises in missile technology and nuclear strategy, said the significance of the Oreshnik missile strike was that it appeared to carry a type of payload that “is exclusively associated with nuclear-capable missiles”. Ukraine used US Atacms missiles to target what it said was a weapons depot in Russia’s south-western Bryansk region on Monday, and fired a salvo of Storm Shadow missiles on Wednesday at a command post in Kursk, where Kyiv’s forces hold a small bridgehead of territory inside Russia. Ukraine had previously used both weapons to strike targets inside its internationally recognised borders, but had been lobbying the US and UK for months to allow it to strike airfields, bases and depots deeper inside Russia. Both sides are stepping up their military efforts in the near three-year-long war ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump on 20 January. The Republican president-elect has said he wants to end the war, though it is unclear how he proposes to do so, and each side is hoping to improve its battlefield position before he takes office. A US official told the Guardian that Russia had launched an “experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile” at Ukraine, of which Russia likely possesses only a “handful”. UK sources made similar comments and the weapon was described as having a range of a few thousand kilometres. Russia is required by a treaty to inform the US of the launch of certain kinds of ballistic missiles, in the hopes of preventing an escalatory ladder that could lead to an all-out nuclear war. A US official said Russia had “pre-notified” Washington of the launch before the attack in an attempt to prevent a retaliation – though Russia said it had only done so 30 minutes before through the US’s Nuclear Threat Reduction Center, according to the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov. On Wednesday the US suddenly announced that its embassy in Kyiv would be closed that day after receiving warning of a “potential significant air attack” somewhere in Ukraine. No further details were provided and, after a nervous day in the Ukrainian capital, the embassy reopened. The US official also told the Guardian that Russia may have used the weapon as an attempt to “intimidate Ukraine and its supporters” or attract public attention, but that the weapon would not be a “gamechanger” in the conflict. “Russia likely possesses only a handful of these experimental missiles,” the official said. Earlier on Thursday, the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, appeared to inadvertently reveal some details about the early-morning strike during a live press briefing. A hot mic captured Zakharova’s phone conversation with an unidentified caller who instructed her not to comment “on the ballistic missile strike”. Notably, the caller did not use the word intercontinental. In the brief telephone exchange – footage of which remains available on the foreign ministry’s official account on X – the caller appears to disclose that the strike targeted the Yuzhmash military facility in Dnipro.

The Guardian;US and Israel reject ICC warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest as number of countries signal they will abide by it – as it happened;https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/nov/21/international-criminal-court-icc-arrest-warrant-benjamin-netanyahu-yoav-gallant-mohamed-deif-israel-gaza-war-crimes;2024-11-21T19:42:42Z

The Dutch foreign minister’s trip to Israel has been cancelled, Dutch News Agency ANP reported on Thursday, citing leaked plans of the trip as the reason. Earlier on Thursday, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants to, among others, Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, which the Netherlands has said it would comply with if they came to the country. It’s nearing 9pm in Tel Aviv, Gaza and Beirut. Here’s a recap of the latest developments: The international criminal court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war. The chamber ruled that there were reasonable grounds to believe the senior Israeli officials bore criminal responsibility as co-perpetrators for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”. It is the first time that leaders of a democracy and western-aligned state have been charged by the court. The court’s top prosecutor, Karim Khan, urged the body’s 124 members to act on the arrest warrants, and called on countries that are not members of the ICC to work together towards “upholding international law”. Khan also said his investigation into the situation in Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, would continue. Netanyahu’s office denounced the chamber’s decision as “antisemitic”, while Gallant said it “sets a dangerous precedent against the right to self-defense and moral warfare.” Israeli leaders from across the political spectrum united to condemn the decision. Benny Gantz, a retired general and political rival to Netanyahu, condemned the ICC’s decision, saying it showed “moral blindness” and was a “shameful stain of historic proportion that will never be forgotten”. Yair Lapid, another opposition leader, called it a “prize for terror”. Far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said Israel should annex the West Bank in response to the ICC’s issuance. The US – not an ICC member – issued a statement “fundamentally” rejecting the court’s decision. “The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter. In coordination with partners, including Israel, we are discussing next steps,” the US national security council said. The US has previously welcomed ICC war crimes warrants against Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials for atrocities committed in Ukraine. US Republican congressman Mike Waltz, who is president-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security advisor in the incoming US administration, warned that “you can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC and UN come January,” when Trump takes office. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the arrest warrants are binding for all EU member states. Italy would have to arrest Netanyahu if he came to the country, defence minister Guido Crosetto said. The Netherlands also said it is prepared to act upon the arrest warrants issued. A spokesperson for France’s foreign ministry said it supports “the action of the prosecutor of the court, which acts fully independently.” Other countries also said they would comply with the court’s decision. The UK is expected to agree to any request from the ICC to arrest Netanyahu if he came to Britain, although Keir Starmer’s spokesperson refused to directly confirm this, saying only that it would “respect” the court’s independence. Canada will abide by all rulings issued by international courts, its prime minister Justin Trudeau said. Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi said the ICC’s decision must be respected and implemented. The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for the Hamas military leader, Mohammed Deif. Israel claims to have killed Deif in an airstrike in July, but the court’s pre-trial chamber said it would “continue to gather information” to confirm his death. The ICC warrants were broadly welcomed by human rights groups. Human Rights Watch said it hoped that the warrants “finally push the international community to address atrocities and secure justice for all victims in Palestine and Israel.” Amnesty International said Netanyahu is “officially a wanted man” and that the ICC decision “represents a “historic breakthrough for justice”. At least 47 people have been killed and 22 others wounded in Israeli strikes in eastern Lebanon on Thursday, according to the governor of the Baalbek-Hermel province, Bachir Khodr. Israeli airstrikes also struck the southern suburbs of Beirut about a dozen times on Thursday, sending up clouds of debris in some of the most intense airstrikes yet, Reuters reported. At least 44,056 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza since October 2023, the territory’s health ministry said on Thursday. That figure includes 71 deaths in the previous 24 hours, it said. More than 104,268 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began, it said. Israeli authorities have permitted Mazyouna Damoo, a 12-year-old Palestinian girl whose face was “ripped off” when an Israeli missile struck her home in June, to leave Gaza for medical treatment, five days after the Guardian reported that repeated requests for her urgent medical evacuation had been denied. At least 47 people have been killed and 22 others wounded in Israeli strikes in eastern Lebanon on Thursday, according to the governor of the Baalbek-Hermel province, Bachir Khodr. Rescue operations are under way, he said on X. Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes on several locations in the eastern Bekaa Valley killed 22 people, with state media reporting at least four members of the same family were killed in one village. Israeli airstrikes also struck the southern suburbs of Beirut about a dozen times on Thursday, sending up clouds of debris in some of the most intense airstrikes yet, Reuters reproted. Italy would have to arrest Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, if he came to the country, Italy’s defence minister Guido Crosetto said after the international criminal court’s arrest warrant. Karim Khan, the international criminal court’s chief prosecutor, also said in his statement that his investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine would continue. We are taking forward additional lines of inquiry in areas under the Court’s jurisdiction, which include Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. He said he was “deeply concerned”” about “reports of escalating violence, further shrinking humanitarian access, and continued expansion of allegations of international crimes” in Gaza and the West Bank. The international criminal court’s top prosecutor, Karim Khan, has urged the body’s 124 members to act on arrest warrants issued against Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif, “Based on the evidence presented by my Office, the judges have confirmed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Rome Statute crimes have been committed,” Khan said in a statement on Thursday. The decision of the independent judges of the International Criminal Court affirms that international humanitarian law must be upheld in all circumstances through fair and impartial judicial processes … I appeal to all States Parties to live up to their commitment to the Rome Statute by respecting and complying with these judicial orders. He also called on countries that are not members of the ICC to work together towards “upholding international law”. Yoav Gallant, the former Israeli defence minister who is the subject of a new arrest warrant by the international criminal court, said the court’s decision “sets a dangerous precedent against the right to self-defense and moral warfare and encourages murderous terrorism.” “Gone are the days when we could be denied the right to defend ourselves,” Gallant, in a statement posted to X, said. He said he was “proud” to have led Israel’s security system “in the difficult and successful war that was imposed on us”. The Israeli authorities have permitted Mazyouna Damoo, a 12-year-old Palestinian girl whose face was “ripped off” when an Israeli missile struck her home in June, to leave Gaza for medical treatment, five days after the Guardian reported that repeated requests for her urgent medical evacuation had been denied. Last Friday, the Guardian highlighted the Damoo family’s desperate battle to get Mazyouna evacuated from Gaza to the US to receive emergency surgery on devastating injuries to her face sustained in a missile attack by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which tore off half of her cheek and exposed her jawbone. The family said that, since June, five requests for medical evacuation had been refused, with no explanation from the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (Cogat), the Israeli military body in Gaza responsible for issuing permits to travel abroad. Doctors had warned that Mazyouna’s life would be in danger if she did not receive urgent surgery. There is still shrapnel in her neck causing her immense pain every time she moves and her wound has become infected. She requires specialised maxillofacial surgery, which is not available in Gaza. Canada will abide by all rulings issued by international courts, its prime minister Justin Trudeau said. Asked about the ICC’s arrest warrants at a news conference, Trudeau said: It’s really important that everyone abide by international law. We stand up for international law, and we will abide by all the regulations and rulings of the international courts. Argentina’s president Javier Milei said the international criminal court (ICC) decision to issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant “ignores” the country’s right to defend itself. Argentina “declares its deep disagreement” with the decision, which “ignores Israel’s legitimate right to self-defence against the constant attacks by terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah,” Milei said in a statement on X, AFP reported. Israel faces brutal aggression, inhumane hostage-taking and indiscriminate attacks on its population … Criminalising the legitimate defense of a nation while ignoring these atrocities is an act that distorts the spirit of international justice. Jeremy Corbyn, the former UK Labour leader, has called on the prime minister, Keir Starmer, and foreign secretary David Lammy to immediately endorse the “long overdue” arrest warrant by the international criminal court. “That is the bare minimum,” Corbyn posted to X. Will the UK government now, finally, honour its international obligations to prevent genocide and end all arms sales to Israel? The UK is expected to agree to any request from the international criminal court (ICC) to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he came to Britain, although Downing Street refused to directly confirm this, saying only that it would “respect” the court’s independence. Questioned about what Keir Starmer’s government would do, the PM’s spokesperson – who by convention speaks on the record but is not named – said: We respect the independence of the international criminal court, which is the primary international institution for investigating and prosecuting the most serious crimes of international concern. This government has been clear that Israel has a right to defend itself in accordance with international law – there is no moral equivalence between Israel and democracy and Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah, which are terrorist organisations. We remain focused on pushing for an immediate ceasefire to bring an end to the devastating violence in Gaza. This is essential to protect civilians, ensure the release of hostages, and to increase humanitarian aid into Gaza. Asked whether this meant the government would abide by the ICC’s view over Netanyahu, as set out last month by Richard Hermer, the attorney general, last month, the spokesperson refused to comment, but added: There has not been a policy change in relation to our position on the ICC. There is a UK-based court procedure which would need to happen to approve any ICC request, the spokesperson added, but refused to say if Netanyahu would be welcome to visit the UK, saying he could not deal with “hypotheticals”. It does seem clear that the UK would not block the ICC over this, but that No 10 is being cautious, not least given US opposition to the idea. Here’s some more US reaction to the international criminal court’s arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader, said: The decision by the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against senior Israeli officials is shameful. I stand with the Biden administration in fundamentally rejecting this unserious decision. America’s commitment to the security of Israel is ironclad and we will continue to stand by Israel’s right to defend itself against terror. Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress, said the ICC’s decision was “long overdue” and called for Netanyahu and Gallant to be arrested and brought before the court. The Biden Administration can no longer deny that those same US weapons have been used in countless war crimes … Today’s historic arrest warrants cannot bring back the dead and displaced, but they are a major step towards holding war criminals accountable. Jared Moskowitz, a Democratic congressman from Florida, accused the ICC of turning a “blind eye to many atrocities, including Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons to kill hundreds of thousands of Syrians.” When it comes to Israel defending itself against Hamas, the ICC doesn’t hesitate to exercise this antisemitic double standard. Bill Hagerty, the Republican senator from Tennessee, also accused the ICC of “engaging in anti-semitic lawfare”, adding: This sham of a body masquerading as a “court” has no jurisdiction over Israel or the US. The consequences of this shameful act will be felt soon. The Palestinian Authority has welcomed the international criminal court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant. In a statement carried by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, it said the court’s decision “restores hope and trust not only in international law along with UN institutions, but also in the importance of justice, accountability and prosecution of war criminals”. The Palestinian people is still subject [to] genocide, war crimes taking the form of the deployment of starvation [as] a method of warfare, and crimes against humanity manifest in killing, oppression and displacement, among others. The UK government “respects the independence of the international criminal court”, a No 10 spokesperson has said after the ICC issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant and the Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif. The court is “the primary international institution for investigating and prosecuting the most serious crimes of international concern,” the spokesperson for the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, said. Downing Street would not say if Netanyahu would be arrested if he visited the UK, saying that “we are not going to get into hypotheticals.” The spokesperson added: This government has been clear that Israel has a right to defend itself in accordance with international law. There is no moral equivalence between Israel, a democracy, and Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah, which are terrorist organisations. We remain focused on pushing for an immediate ceasefire to bring an end to the devastating violence in Gaza. The head of Amnesty International said the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is “officially a wanted man” after the international criminal court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for him. The ICC arrest warrant represents a “historic breakthrough for justice”, Amnesty’s secretary general, Agnès Callamard, said in a statement. She urged “the beginning of the end of the persistent and pervasive impunity at the heart of the human rights crisis” in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Callamard’s statement reads: The wheels of international justice have finally caught up with those who are alleged to be responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Palestine and Israel. “Prime Minister Netanyahu is now officially a wanted man,” she continued, as she called on ICC member states and the international community to “stop at nothing until these individuals are brought to trial”. “There can be no ‘safe haven’ for those alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity,” she said. By issuing these arrest warrants the ICC is also at long last bringing real hope for justice to countless victims of crimes under international law and restoring some faith in the universal value of international legal instruments and justice. The international criminal court (ICC) relies on 124 member states of the Rome statute, which established the court, to execute arrest warrants. Member states are obliged to arrest individuals wanted by the ICC who set foot on their territory and, while they do not always do so, it means that the accused will have to consider whether they are willing to risk travelling. Last year, Vladimir Putin decided not to go to South Africa amid speculation that he would be detained under an arrest warrant issued by the ICC for overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Neither Israel nor its closest ally, the US, are members, nor are the possible venues for ceasefire talks, Qatar and Egypt, although that may be a moot point as none of those charged have attended the talks. Jordan and Tunisia are the only Arab member states other than Palestine. Another staunch Israel ally, Germany, is a member of the ICC, as are all European Union countries. Switzerland is a member, as is Japan. All Latin American countries, bar Cuba and Haiti, are ICC members, as are 33 African countries. The ICC has jurisdiction for both alleged crimes committed by a national of a member country and alleged crimes committed in the territory of a member state. Palestine acceded to the Rome statute in 2015, and the ICC ruled in 2021 that it was a state, thereby extending the court’s jurisdiction to territories occupied by Israel since 1967, Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The international criminal court’s arrest warrant against Hamas’s military chief, Mohammed Deif, is a sign that victims are being heard, a representative for families of the victims of the October 7 Hamas attacks said. AFP carries a quote from Yael Vias Gvirsman, who represents families of 300 Israeli victims of the Hamas attacks: This arrest warrant against Mr Deif is massively significant. It means these victims’ voices are being heard. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has said the arrest warrants of the international criminal court (ICC) for Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, and Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif are binding for all EU member states. In a statement posted to X, Borrell said he took note of the ICC’s decision, adding that they are “binding on all States party to the Rome Statute, which includes all EU Member States.” The US “fundamentally rejects” a decision by the international criminal court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the country’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant, the White House said. A statement from a US national security council spokesperson reads: We remain deeply concerned by the Prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision. The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter. The US – which is not an ICC member – has previously welcomed ICC war crimes warrants against Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials for atrocities committed in Ukraine. Washington has previously denounced the court’s pursuit of Netanyahu and Gallant, a mixed stance which has exposed the Biden administration to accusations of double standards from many UN members, particularly from the global south. The mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, home to one of the largest Arab communities in the US, has pledged that Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant would be arrested if they stepped foot within the city limits. Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, in a statement posted to X, called on other cities to do the same. “Our president may not take action, but city leaders can ensure Netanyahu & other war criminals are not welcome to travel freely across these United States,” Hammoud added. It is approaching 5pm in Beirut, Tel Aviv and Gaza City, and 4pm in The Hague. Here are the headlines … The international criminal court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant and the Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war It is the first time that leaders of a democracy and western-aligned state have been charged by the court, in the most momentous decision of its 22-year history. Netanyahu and Gallant are now at risk of arrest if they travel to any of the 124 countries that signed the Rome statute establishing the court. Israel claims to have killed Deif in an airstrike in July, but the court’s pre-trial chamber said it would “continue to gather information” to confirm his death The chamber ruled that there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore criminal responsibility as co-perpetrators for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”. The three-judge panel also said it had found reasonable grounds to believe that Deif was responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder, torture, rape and hostage taking relating Netanyahu’s office denounced the chamber’s decision as “antisemitic”. Israel Katz, Gallant’s replacement as defense minister, described it as “a moral disgrace, entirely tainted by antisemitism” A member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, Itamar Ben-Gvir called for Israel to permantly annex and settle the occupied West Bank in response to the warrant In a statement Hamas said it welcomed the decision, and encouraged the court to“expand the scope of accountability to all criminal occupation leaders” Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said today’s decision was important because it breaks “the perception that certain individuals are beyond the reach of the law” US Republican representative Mike Waltz, who is president-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security advisor in the incoming US administration, has said “You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC and UN come January,” when Trump takes office The Taoiseach of Ireland has said that the decision to issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant “could not be more serious.” Simon Harris, Reuters reports, said that Ireland respects the role of the international criminal court, and that anybody in a position to help it carry out its work should do so “with urgency”. Avi Mayer, who is former editor of the Jerusalem post, has said the fact that the international criminal court chose to issue an arrest warrant on the same day to a Hamas leader who is believed in some quarters to be dead “should tell you just how ridiculous and politically motivated these warrants are.” In the post Mayer wrote: In order to create a false impression of fairness, the international criminal court also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif … who is dead. That should tell you just how ridiculous and politically motivated these warrants are. The ICC is a joke. This accusation doesn’t strictly follow the chronology of the court process. In May 2024 the ICC announced that it was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli leaders Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, and also for three senior figures from Hamas: Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif. Subsequent to the ICC seeking the arrests, Israel assassinated Haniyeh in Tehran on 31 July, and killed Sinwar on 17 October. The status of Deif remains unclear. Israel has also claimed to have killed him, but Hamas has never officially confirmed it. In the court documents Deif stands accused of “the crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other form of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture; taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and rape and other form of sexual violence.” A member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government has called for Israel to annex the West Bank in response to the international criminal court issuing an arrest warrant for Israel’s prime minister, who is accused of war crimes. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister said the court was “antisemitic from beginning to end” and the decision “an unprecedented disgrace.” Ben-Gvir, who has repeatedly called for Jewish settlement of the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, referred to the area by its biblical name, saying: The response to the arrest warrants: applying sovereignty over all areas of Judea and Samaria, Jewish settlement throughout the entire land. On Friday the Times of Israel reported that Ben-Gvir said he was the only cabinet member who voted against more humanitarian aid for the beseiged Gaza Strip, saying “I believe that as long as we have hostages in Gaza, we must not give any concessions to the Strip, not even to the civilian population.” Democratic party US senator John Fetterman has given perhaps the most concise political reaction to the decision of the international criminal court in The Hague to issue arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s former defense minister Yoav Gallant – alongside Hamas leader Mohammed Deif – for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war. In a post to social media, coupled with a screenshot of a BBC News headline about the arrest warrants, Fetterman wrote “No standing, relevance, or path. Fuck that,” adding an emoji of the Israeli flag. One thing that is likely to provoke additional reaction among pro-Israeli politicians in the US is that the court announcement today specifically at one point mentions Israel responding to pressure from across the Atlantic. In one passage, it says: The Chamber also noted that decisions allowing or increasing humanitarian assistance into Gaza were often conditional. They were not made to fulfil Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law or to ensure that the civilian population in Gaza would be adequately supplied with goods in need. In fact, they were a response to the pressure of the international community or requests by the United States of America. In any event, the increases in humanitarian assistance were not sufficient to improve the population’s access to essential goods. It goes on to say that Israel ignored pleas from “the UN security council, UN secretary general, states, and governmental and civil society organisations about the humanitarian situation in Gaza”, and says that “only minimal humanitarian assistance was authorised.” As a result of this, and “Mr Netanyahu’s statement connecting the halt in the essential goods and humanitarian aid with the goals of war,” it said “The Chamber therefore found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant bear criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare.” Israel Katz, who recently replaced Yoav Gallant as defense minister, has described the decision to issue his predecessor with an arrest warrant alongside Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif as “a moral disgrace, entirely tainted by antisemitism.” Katz, who took up the defense post after Netanyahu sacked Gallant, triggering protests across Israel, said in a social media post: The decision … is a moral disgrace, entirely tainted by antisemitism, and drags the international judicial system to an unprecedented low. This shameful decision serves Iran, the head of the snake, and its proxies. The ICC has chosen to lend support to a biased and corrupt prosecutor rather than confront those who openly seek the destruction of the State of Israel. We will not allow a hostile, hypocritical, and illegitimate body to harm our leaders or our soldiers. We will continue to defend the citizens of Israel with determination and pride, standing firm against anyone who attempts to undermine our right to self-defense. Anyone who thinks they can deter us from achieving all our war objectives through absurd decisions that serve Iran and its proxies will face a strong and resolute state, acting with power in every arena—military, political, and legal—to counter every threat. Katz added that he stands firmly with Netanyahu and Gallant. US Republican representative Mike Waltz, who is president-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security advisor in the incoming US administration, has said “You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC and UN come January,” when Trump takes office. In a post on social media Waltz said “The ICC has no credibility and these allegations have been refuted by the US government. Israel has lawfully defended its people and borders from genocidal terrorists.” Reuters reported Waltz would be Trump’s pick for the role earlier this month. The national security adviser does not require Senate confirmation, and isresponsible for briefing the president on key national security issues and coordinating with different agencies. Here is more of the statement from Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, in which the decision of the international criminal court to issue an arrest warrant for him is described as being driven by “antisemitic hatred toward Israel”: Israel utterly rejects the absurd and false actions and accusations against it by the international criminal court, which is a biased and discriminatory political body. There is no war more justified than the one Israel is conducting in Gaza since 7 October, 2023, after the terrorist organisation Hamas launched a deadly attack against it, committing the largest massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. The decision was made by a corrupt chief prosecutor attempting to save himself from serious allegations of sexual harassment, and by biased judges driven by antisemitic hatred toward Israel. France’s foreign ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine appears to have sidestepped a question about French reaction to the international criminal court issuing arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war. Reuters reports that asked about it, Lemoine said “It’s a point that is legally complex so I’m not going to comment on it today.” Julian Borger, the Guardian’s senior international correspondent, offers this analysis, saying being accused of war crimes will be a hard stigma for Benjamin Netanyahu to shrug off The arrest warrants issued by the international criminal court (ICC) represent an earthquake on the world’s legal landscape: the first time a western ally from a modern democracy has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global judicial body. Inside Israel itself, the warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, will not have an immediate impact. In the short term they are likely to rally support around the prime minister from a defiant Israeli public. In the longer term, however, the enormity of the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant could grow heavier over time, shrinking the patch on the globe still open to them. The stigma of accused war criminal is a hard one to shrug off. In the world as viewed from The Hague, the approval of warrants by the ICC judges will forever transform the court’s standing. The US – not an ICC member anyway – will react furiously but at a cost to its own international credibility, and its remaining claim to stand for global justice. Other Israeli allies like Germany will distance themselves (the Starmer government in the UK can be expected to craft a studiously neutral response), but many countries, who have hitherto seen the ICC as a tool of the western world, are likely to embrace the decision and the tribunal itself. Read more of Julian Borger’s analysis here: Accused war criminal status will be hard stigma for Netanyahu to shrug off In the UK, Amnesty International have put pressure on the government to support the decision by the international criminal court. Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, said: In opposition the foreign secretary said in government his party would comply with any arrest warrants issued by the international criminal court, and we now need to see David Lammy and the whole UK government unequivocally backing this vitally important move by the ICC. The UK’s standing as a genuine supporter of the rule of law requires consistency and even-handedness. If war crimes are wrong when carried out by Russian forces in unlawfully-occupied Ukraine, then they’re equally wrong when carried out by Israeli forces in unlawfully-occupied Palestinian territory. In one portion of today’s announcement by the international criminal court it appears to concede that it has not agreed with all of the assessments of evidence put forward to it by the prosecution. In a section regarding what it describes as “intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population of Gaza,” it says: The Chamber assessed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population of Gaza. In this regard, the Chamber found that the material provided by the prosecution only allowed it to make findings on two incidents that qualified as attacks that were intentionally directed against civilians. Reasonable grounds to believe exist that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant, despite having measures available to them to prevent or repress the commission of crimes or ensure the submittal of the matter to the competent authorities, failed to do so. Reuters has a quick snap that Jordan’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi said the ICC’s decision must be respected and implemented, adding Palestinians deserved justice after what he described as Israel’s “war crimes” in Gaza. The EU’s outgoing top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said the ICC arrest warrants for two senior Israeli leaders and one Hamas leader are not “political”. He said the court’s decisions should be respected and implemented. Borrell will leave the post at the end of the month, with Kaja Kallas, the former prime minister of Estonia taking his place. Sam Jones is the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent Yolanda Díaz, Spain’s labour minister and one of the country’s deputy prime ministers, has posted a message on BlueSky and X in which she shares news of the issuing of the arrest warrants. “Always on the side of justice and international law,” it says. “The genocide of the Palestinian people cannot go unpunished.” Spain’s socialist-led coalition government has been one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s military actions in Gaza. A year ago, the Israeli government recalled its ambassador in Madrid and said it would be reprimanding Spain’s top diplomat in Tel Aviv after the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said he had “genuine doubts” about whether Israel was complying with international humanitarian law in its offensive in Gaza. At the end of May this year, Spain joined Ireland and Norway in officially recognising a Palestinian state. In his first response to the ICC issuing a warrant for his arrest on allegations of war crimes, Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has described the ruling as “absurd and false lies” and said the decision is “antisemitic.” Benjamin Netanyahu’s office say they categorically reject the claims levelled against Israel’s prime minister. Former defense minister Yoav Gallant has also been issued with an arrest warrant. Netanyahu’s office said the country will “not yield to pressure, will not be deterred, and will not retreat” until, it said, all of Israel’s war aims are achieved. The three-judge panel wrote in its unanimous decision to issue the warrants: “The chamber considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.” In October 2023, two days after the surprise attack by Hamas inside southern Israel which killed about 1,200 people and led to about 250 people being seized and abducted as hostages, Gallant said “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.” About 100 people are still believed held hostage by Hamas and other groups in Gaza, at least some of which are known to have been killed. Hamas-led authorities in Gaza have put the death toll from Israel’s 13-month long military campaign at over 40,000, although it has not been possible for journalists to verify the casualty figures. Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said today’s decision was important because it breaks “the perception that certain individuals are beyond the reach of the law.” In a statement, Jarrah said: The ICC arrest warrants against senior Israeli leaders and a Hamas official break through the perception that certain individuals are beyond the reach of the law. This is all the more important given the brazen attempts to obstruct the course of justice at the court. Whether the ICC can effectively deliver on its mandate will depend on governments’ willingness to support justice no matter where abuses are committed and by whom. These warrants should finally push the international community to address atrocities and secure justice for all victims in Palestine and Israel. Last week a report by Human Rights Watch said Israel was using evacuation orders to pursue the “deliberate and massive forced displacement” of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, which amounted to a crime against humanity. Reuters reports that in a statement Hamas has said it welcomes the decision of the international criminal court to issue arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war. In the statement, Hamas said “We call on the international criminal court to expand the scope of accountability to all criminal occupation leaders.” Israel’s position has always held that the rulings of the international criminal court do not apply to it, as it is not a member. Foreign minister Gideon Saar on Thursday said that it had “issued absurd orders with no authority” against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant because “Israel is not a member of the court.” In its announcement today, the court specifically addressed the legitimacy of it making a ruling, writing: The Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that during the relevant time, international humanitarian law related to international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine applied. This is because they are two High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and because Israel occupies at least parts of Palestine. The Chamber also found that the law related to non-international armed conflict applied to the fighting between Israel and Hamas. The Chamber found that the alleged conduct of Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant concerned the activities of Israeli government bodies and the armed forces against the civilian population in Palestine, more specifically civilians in Gaza. It therefore concerned the relationship between two parties to an international armed conflict, as well as the relationship between an occupying power and the population in occupied territory. For these reasons, with regards to war crimes, the Chamber found it appropriate to issue the arrest warrants pursuant to the law of international armed conflict. The Chamber also found that the alleged crimes against humanity were part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza. The Netherlands has said it is prepared to act upon the arrest warrants issued by the international criminal court (ICC), Reuters reports. Dutch news agency ANP reported on Thursday, citing the country’s foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp as its source, that the country would act against Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu if needed. As well as issuing arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the court had sought arrest warrants against three Hamas leaders – Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif. Sinwar was killed on 17 October, after a surprise encounter with Israeli forces inside Gaza. Haniyeh, by then, had already been assassinated by Israel in a strike on Tehran on 31 July. The status of Deif remains unclear, and the court has said Deif’s warrant remains “classified as ‘secret’ to protect witnesses and safeguard the conduct of investigations.” Israel’s military has claimed to have killed him, in July of this year, but Hamas has never officially confirmed his death. He was said to have survived at least seven previous Israeli assassination attempts. Israel’s president Isaac Herzog has described the decision of the international criminal court to issue arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant – alongside the Hamas leader Mohammed Deif – for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war as “a dark day for humanity.” In a post to social media, Herzog said: This is a dark day for justice. A dark day for humanity. Taken in bad faith, the outrageous decision at the ICC has turned universal justice into a universal laughing stock. It makes a mockery of the sacrifice of all those who fight for justice – from the Allied victory over the Nazis till today. It ignores the plight of the 101 Israeli hostages held in brutal captivity by Hamas in Gaza. It ignores Hamas’ cynical use of its own people as human shields. It ignores the basic fact that Israel was barbarically attacked and has the duty and right to defend its people. It ignores the fact that Israel is a vibrant democracy, acting under international humanitarian law, and going to great lengths to provide for the humanitarian needs of the civilian population. Herzog went on to say the case was bought as a “cynical exploitation of the international legal institutions” and blamed “an Iranian empire of evil”. Herzog said: The decision has chosen the side of terror and evil over democracy and freedom, and turned the very system of justice into a human shield for Hamas’ crimes against humanity. In one section of its announcement, the ICC claims that “no clear military need or other justification under international humanitarian law could be identified for the restrictions placed on access for humanitarian relief operations.” In announcing arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the court said: The Chamber found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the lack of food, water, electricity and fuel, and specific medical supplies, created conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population in Gaza, which resulted in the death of civilians, including children due to malnutrition and dehydration. On the basis of material presented by the Prosecution covering the period until 20 May 2024, the Chamber could not determine that all elements of the crime against humanity of extermination were met. However, the Chamber did find that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity of murder was committed in relation to these victims. In addition, by intentionally limiting or preventing medical supplies and medicine from getting into Gaza, in particular anaesthetics and anaesthesia machines, the two individuals are also responsible for inflicting great suffering by means of inhumane acts on persons in need of treatment. Doctors were forced to operate on wounded persons and carry out amputations, including on children, without anaesthetics, and/or were forced to use inadequate and unsafe means to sedate patients, causing these persons extreme pain and suffering. This amounts to the crime against humanity of other inhumane acts. Israel’s recently appointed foreign minister, Gideon Saar, has said the world should reject ICC warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant with “disgust” as an “injustice”. Posting in Hebrew to social media, Saar said: These are orders that are not only directed against them personally. In fact, this is an attack on Israel’s right to defend itself. This attack is directed against the most attacked and threatened country in the world, which is also the only country that other countries in the region openly call for and work to destroy. From a moral perspective, this is a moral aberration that turns good into bad and serves evil. From a political perspective – issuing the orders against a country that operates according to international law is a reward and encouragement to the axis of evil, which violates it blatantly and consistently. Decent countries and every decent person in the world must reject this injustice with disgust. In its announcement of the decision to issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant of Israel, the International criminal court has said that “conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing.” Here is a segment of the announcement about the Israeli prime minister and the former defense secretary: The Chamber issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest. The arrest warrants are classified as ‘secret’, in order to protect witnesses and to safeguard the conduct of the investigations. However, the Chamber decided to release the information below since conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing. Moreover, the Chamber considers it to be in the interest of victims and their families that they are made aware of the warrants’ existence. With regard to the crimes, the Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu, born on 21 October 1949, prime minister of Israel at the time of the relevant conduct, and Mr Gallant, born on 8 November 1958, minister of defense of Israel at the time of the alleged conduct, each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts. The Chamber also found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population. The international criminal court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, are a “mark of shame” for the ICC, former prime minister Naftali Bennett said on Thursday. Reuters reports Israel’s main opposition leader Yair Lapid also denounced the move by the The Hague-based court, calling it “a reward for terrorism”. There has been no immediate comment yet from Netanyahu or Gallant. The ICC has also issued a warrant for Hamas leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war. The US has welcomed ICC war crimes warrants against Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials for atrocities committed in Ukraine, while denouncing the court’s pursuit of Netanyahu and Gallant, a mixed stance which has exposed the Biden administration to accusations of double standards from many UN members, particularly from the global south. Some member states have ignored ICC warrants before, but Netanyahu and Gallant would nonetheless risk arrest if they travelled to any country which had signed the 1998 Rome statute. Khan had requested warrants for three Hamas leaders, two of whom have since been killed, for alleged war crimes relating to the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel in which fighters killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 250. The arrest warrant could increase the external pressure on Netanyahu’s government as the US seeks to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but could well strengthen the prime minister’s political position in Israel in the short term, as most Israelis reject the ICC’s jurisdiction as interference in their country’s internal affairs. Joe Biden has said he does not believe Netanyahu is doing enough to secure a ceasefire, after the Israeli leader vowed not to compromise over Israeli control over strategic territory inside Gaza. Netanyahu has accused Hamas of failing to negotiate in good faith. The international criminal court has issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the county’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant and the Hamas leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war. The warrants put Netanyahu and Gallant at risk of arrest if they travel abroad. There have been unconfirmed reports that Deif may have been killed by Israel. The court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, had requested the arrest warrants in May, saying there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for causing mass starvation in Gaza that constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity. On Thursday the court said it had found reasonable grounds to believe that Deif was responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder, torture, rape and hostage taking. We’ll bring you the latest updates on this developing story…

The Guardian;Severed horse head found at Sicilian property, in echo of Godfather scene;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/severed-horse-head-found-at-sicilian-property-in-echo-of-godfather-scene;2024-11-21T18:27:30Z

A severed horse’s head has been discovered at the property of a Sicilian businessman, in what local authorities believe may be a mafia intimidation tactic reminiscent of a scene from The Godfather. The animal’s head was left on the seat of a digger owned by the man, a construction contractor in Altofonte, near the Sicilian capital, Palermo. The remains of a pregnant cow and its calf were also found at the site. The businessman, who is well known in the town, reported the incident to police and told them he had previously received threats and warnings. Police think he may have been targeted for allegedly refusing to pay protection money or comply with other mafia demands. The scene echoes the moment in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 film when a producer wakes to find the severed head of his thoroughbred horse in his bed. Angela De Luca, the mayor of Altofonte, said her community had been deeply disturbed. “I was petrified, I can’t comprehend such barbarity,” she said. “This act seems to take us back to the middle ages, with its unacceptable methods.” The news sparked a row on the island, where more than 20 mafia bosses have been released from prison in recent months after serving their sentences. Delivering severed animal heads or dismembered animal bodies is among the most common intimidation tactics employed by the mafia in Sicily, predating the Godfather. According to investigators, the tactic serves the dual purpose of terrorising its victims and striking at their most cherished bonds: animals to which they are often deeply attached. Last May, the head of a goat was found in front of the home of a construction entrepreneur in Palermo and in 2023, a pig’s head was hung at the gate of a police station in the province of Messina. In 2017, a decapitated bird was discovered in front of the school in Palermo dedicated to the legendary anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, who was murdered by Cosa Nostra in 1992.

The Guardian;Romania at turning point as pro-EU and nativist candidates seek election;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/romania-at-turning-point-as-pro-eu-and-nativist-candidates-seek-election;2024-11-21T18:07:42Z

Romania goes to the polls on Sunday for the first of three elections that could keep it on its broadly pro-European path or possibly push it towards a more nationalist stance likely to alarm Brussels, not least over continuing support for Ukraine. The first round of the country’s presidential election to replace the two-term centrist incumbent, Klaus Iohannis, takes place on 24 November, with a second round run-off scheduled for 8 December. In between, on 1 December, is the parliamentary ballot. Who is running for president and who might win? Fourteen candidates are vying to succeed the centrist Iohannis, from the centre-left prime minister to a Nato deputy secretary general and far-right former football hooligan whose party once said Holocaust education was “a minor issue” that need not be taught in school. A court barred another far-right candidate, MEP Diana Șoșoacă, from the race last month because she “did not respect democratic values”, arguing her antisemitic and pro-Kremlin statements risked jeopardising Romania’s EU and Nato membership. The frontrunner on about 25%, despite his party’s many past corruption and rule-of-law crises and recent poor economic management, is Marcel Ciolacu, prime minister and chief of the Social Democratic party (PSD), who is almost sure to make the runoff. In second place, but fading on about 16%, is George Simion, fiery leader of the populist, radical-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), a one-time member of Romania’s Honor et Patria ultras who wants “peace in Ukraine like Trump”. Just behind Simion on about 14% is Nicolae Ciucă of the centre-right National Liberal party (PNL), an ex-soldier and former defence and prime minister, whose party sits alongside Ciolacu’s PSD in Romania’s outgoing “grand coalition” government. On level pegging with Ciucă is Elena Lasconi of the broadly progressive Save Romania Union (USR), with Mircea Geoană, a former PSD leader and deputy Nato secretary general, who is running as an independent, trailing on about 9%. Polls are not hugely reliable in Romania, but most analysts foresee a Ciolacu-Simion runoff from which the former would probably emerge victorious, helped by the PSD’s strong party organisation and the fact he is up against a far-right candidate. What’s likely to happen in the parliamentary poll? The liberal PNL ended its ruling partnership with the PSD in October after the constitutional court handed down its Șoșoacă ruling. Ciucă said the decision “raises questions about the state of democracy in Romania”. The centre-right party alleges the court decision was politically motivated: four of the five judges were appointed by the PSD and, since the far-right vote is no longer split, Simion stands a significantly greater chance of beating Ciucă to the runoff. PNL has pledged not to enter a new coalition with the social democrats, but many analysts think it may nonetheless end up doing so: the parties disagree on little except tax, and Ciolacu has ruled out any kind of alliance with the far-right AUR. The latest polling averages suggest PSD is likely to win the parliamentary ballot comfortably with about 30% of the vote, followed by AUR on about 21%, the liberal USR – which has said it will not work with PSD – on 17% and PNL on about 14%. Based on their projected scores, the PSD and PNL would (assuming they can overcome their differences) need the support of a smaller third party, potentially the UDMR that represents Romania’s Hungarian minority, to secure a parliamentary majority. The alternative, a PSD-AUR coalition, would herald a major about-turn for Romania, a staunch western ally. Simion would be likely to demand an end to support for Ukraine and an altogether more disruptive, nativist, Hungary-inspired approach to the EU. If, however, the PSD stands by its promise to keep the AUR out of government and the PNL keeps its pledge not to return to government with the PSD, another early parliamentary election could be on the cards. What are the issues and how does the system work? Top among voters’ concerns is the high cost of living, with Romania’s inflation – running at about 5% – the highest in the EU. The country’s spiralling national deficit is also a hot topic, as are its crumbling infrastructure and ailing health service. The war in Ukraine is also a major issue for far-right voters who strongly object to Romania’s continued, if underplayed, backing for Kyiv, increased national defence spending and ever more significant position on Nato’s eastern flank. Parliament’s 330 members are elected by proportional representation in 43 constituencies, with some seats reserved for national minorities. Crucially, parties must clear a threshold of 5% of total votes cast to win representation. In the previous 2020 election, only five parties cleared that hurdle. If the same pattern repeats itself, as many as 15% or 20% of seats in parliament could be redistributed to those parties who do pass 5%, which might just hand PSD and PNL a majority. Beyond choosing the prime minister, the president plays a largely symbolic role, although he or she does represent the country on the international stage.

The Guardian;Michigan meatpacking company recalls ground beef over E coli scare;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/e-coli-ground-beef-recall;2024-11-21T16:57:29Z

A Michigan meatpacking company is recalling more than 167,000lb of ground beef because of a possible E coli contamination that has left at least 15 people ill, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (Fsis) said in a statement on Wednesday. The Minnesota department of agriculture notified Fsis last week of a group of people who had become sick after consuming ground beef. The agency subsequently tracked the meat back to the Michigan-based Wolverine packing company. A sample of ground beef from the company tested positive for E coli on Wednesday. Wolverine packing co said in a statement that it continued to work with Fsis on its investigation. “Wolverine has notified all customers that received product encompassed by the recall. We are also conducting an intensive internal audit to fully review suppliers and processes in place, including rigorous quality control measures, to maintain the highest standards of production,” the company said. “As a third-generation, family-owned and operated company in business for nearly 90 years, we are committed to food and consumer safety. That is our highest priority.” The items subject to the recall have been shipped to restaurants across the United States and have a “use by” date of 14 November 2024. They have a production date of 22 October. Most types of E coli bacteria are harmless or cause relatively brief diarrhea, per the Mayo Clinic, but other strains can have more severe symptoms including stomach cramps, bloody diarrhea and vomiting. There is also an ongoing recall of carrots that have been linked to E coli and led to at least 15 hospitalizations. McDonald’s also announced recently it would spend $100m after an E coli outbreak tied to onions served on its quarter-pounder hamburgers.

The Guardian;How Clive of India’s 1767 sofa ended up in a British south Asian living room;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/how-clive-of-indias-1767-sofa-ended-up-in-a-british-south-asian-living-room;2024-11-21T16:37:26Z

The plush red and gold French-style sofa was made for Clive of India in 1767 for his London home and, for the past 60 years, has formed part of a museum collection in Cardiff, devoid of any explanation of the role its owner played in south Asia. Now, though, it finds itself in a very different space – slap bang in the middle of a cosy recreation of a British south Asian living room produced by the artist Nasia Sarwar-Skuse as part of a project to “decolonise” Wales’s national museums and arts organisations. Seven artists are working on the year-long project, one for each of the national museums, looking at the part played by exhibits – from the sofa made for Robert Clive to woollen garments, slate tiles and chunks of coal – in British colonisation. Sarwar-Skuse said she enjoyed sitting on Clive’s sofa and wondering what his reaction would be if he could see it in its new context. “I think it’s joyful, really. I can’t help wondering what Clive would think.” Her recreation of a south Asian living room from 70s or 80s Britain at the St Fagans National Museum of History in Cardiff features some of her own family photos and a battered old tea trolley. “The trolley was ubiquitous in south Asian living rooms,” she said. “Mums would roll in the samosas and chai. I wanted to create the safe space that we as immigrants had. I wanted it to feel cosy. But having the sofa there feels empowering, an act of reclamation. It is like turning the gaze on the coloniser.” A second piece by Sarwar-Skuse is a reproduction of Tīpū Sultān’s state tent, which was seized by Clive’s son, Edward, after the Battle of Seringapatam in 1799. The original is in Powis Castle in mid-Wales but Sarwar-Skuse has placed the recreation in the entrance to St Fagans Castle. Visitors can’t miss it – they have to squeeze around it to get further into the castle. Other artists involved in the project, which is called Perspective(s): Decolonising Welsh Museums and the Arts, include Lal Davies, who is working with the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, exploring Wales’s copper industry and its imperial links. A touchstone object for the artist is a brass tray that members of her family brought to Wales from south Asia – and which could have been made from copper exported from Swansea. As well as producing pieces of art, seven creative professionals are acting as “critical ffrinds” to the museums, helping them examine how they think about decolonisation. Lucille Junkere is working with the National Wool Museum, exploring “Welsh Plains”, a low-quality coarse woollen cloth used to clothe enslaved Africans kidnapped to work on plantations in the Americas. Sadia Pineda Hameed has teamed up with the Big Pit National Coal Museum, tracing the south Wales coal industry’s role as an imperial fuel source. Two of the other artists, Jasmine-Violet Sheckleford and Hannan Jones, who are working with the National Slate Museum and National Roman Legion Museum respectively, joined Sarwar-Skuse on the Clive sofa on Thursday at the project’s launch. Sheckleford said: “I feel like we’ve entered a space which isn’t always made for us.” Nia Williams, the director of experience, learning and engagement at Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales – said it had been an emotional journey. “Perspective(s) is an innovative way of working that will bring about a much-needed step-change in how Amgueddfa Cymru reflects the diversity of our society.” The initiative, which is supported by the Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh government, runs throughout 2025.

The Guardian;EU migration chief raises alarm over Russian visas amid security fears;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/eu-migration-chief-raises-alarm-over-russian-visas-amid-security-fears;2024-11-21T16:28:55Z

The EU’s top official in migration has said she is concerned about the bloc’s visa policy that allowed nearly 450,000 Russians to visit Europe last year. Ylva Johansson, who is standing down as the EU’s migration and home affairs commissioner at the end of the month, told journalists the EU’s Russian visa guidelines might need to become “a bit sharper”. In 2023, states in Europe’s border-free Schengen zone issued 448,890 visas to Russian nationals, a drastic reduction after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but, Johansson said, still “a significant number, so that concerns me”. She is apprehensive about potential security threats in the context of mounting cases of sabotage and espionage, including arson attacks, the posting of incendiary devices, and an assassination plot targeting the head of a German defence company. Speaking to MEPs in September, Johansson said the EU member states were confronted daily by the Russian threat: “This is not the time to be soft on security, potentially undermining the security of the entire Schengen area,” she told the parliament. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU froze a visa-facilitation deal with Moscow, leading to an 89% fall in the number of Schengen visas issued to Russians when compared with 2019, before Covid disrupted international travel. Russians used to be the largest group of successful applicants for Schengen visas, but they have fallen behind the citizens of China, Turkey, India, and Morocco. But travel has yet to dry up. In 2023, Italy, France, Spain and Greece, countries with large tourism industries, processed more than 80% of visa applications from Russia. The figures are likely to anger central and eastern European governments that pushed for a ban on Russian tourist visas in 2022, which France and Germany resisted. Johansson said she had initiated a review of the Russian visa guidelines, although it would fall to her successor, Magnus Brunner, to decide. She said there were “huge differences” in the issuance of Russian visas, and the review would need to find out whether member states implemented the guidelines in the same way. She suggested changes to guidelines were likely: “Does this call for, you know, some revision? That’s my guess. But it’s for my successor to decide, of course, after we have finalised this assessment.” The Swedish commissioner has also been investigating complaints from EU member states that Hungary is undermining European security, following Budapest’s decision to make it easier for Russians and Belarusians to obtain work permits, giving them access to the entire 29-country Schengen zone. She said Hungary had “clarified” most of the commission’s questions, and it seemed “very, very few people” were using its national card scheme. But she added: “I still think, for political reasons, it is the wrong signal to send.” In July, Hungary announced that its national card scheme, a worker residence permit, would be extended to six countries, including Russia and Belarus. The decision came soon after Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán infuriated European leaders with a self-styled “peace mission” to Moscow, shortly after his country assumed the EU’s rotating presidency. Orbán’s allies have accused other EU states of hypocrisy over Russian visa and residency rights. Speaking in the European parliament in September, András László, a member of Orbán’s Fidesz party, pointed to the tens of thousands of visas issued to Russians by France, Spain and Greece. “Do you know how many debates the European parliament held over that,” he asked rhetorically. “Zero.”

The Guardian;Why did ICC issue Netanyahu arrest warrant and what are the implications?;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/why-did-icc-issue-netanyahu-arrest-warrant-and-what-are-the-implications;2024-11-21T16:25:22Z

Benjamin Netanyahu has become the first leader of a “western-style” democracy to have an arrest warrant issued in his name by the international criminal court. The court has also issued warrants for his former defence secretary, Yoav Gallant, and the Hamas military leader, Mohammed Deif. Here the Guardian explains why the warrants have been issued and what they mean in practice. On what grounds have the warrants been issued? The warrants relate to the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the Israeli military response in Gaza. The ICC’s three-judge panel said it had found reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant “bear criminal responsibility for … the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”. In addition the panel said there were reasonable grounds to believe they bear criminal responsibility “as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”. The panel said of Deif that it had found reasonable grounds to believe that he was responsible “for the crimes against humanity of murder, extermination, torture and rape and other form of sexual violence, as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture, taking hostages, outrages upon personal dignity, and rape and other forms of sexual violence”. The ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan had also sought warrants for two other senior Hamas figures – Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh – but they have since been killed. Israel also claims to have killed Deif, but the court’s pre-trial chamber said it would “continue to gather information” to confirm his death. What are the practical implications for Netanyahu and Gallant? The ICC relies on 124 member states of the Rome statute, which established the court, to execute arrest warrants. Member states are obliged to arrest individuals wanted by the ICC who set foot on their territory and, while they do not always do so, it means that the accused will have to consider whether they are willing to risk travelling. Last year, Vladimir Putin decided not to go to South Africa amid speculation that he would be detained under an arrest warrant issued by the ICC for overseeing the abduction of Ukrainian children in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Neither Israel nor its closest ally, the US, are members, nor are the possible venues for ceasefire talks, Qatar and Egypt, although that may be a moot point as neither Netanyahu nor Gallant have attended the talks. Jordan and Tunisia are the only Arab member states other than Palestine. Another staunch Israel ally, Germany, is a member of the ICC, as are all European Union countries. Switzerland is a member, as is Japan. All Latin American countries, bar Cuba and Haiti, are ICC members, as are 33 African countries. How does the ICC have jurisdiction over Israel when it isn’t a member? The ICC has jurisdiction for both alleged crimes committed by a national of a member country and alleged crimes committed in the territory of a member state. Palestine acceded to the Rome statute in 2015, and the ICC ruled in 2021 that it was a state, thereby extending the court’s jurisdiction to territories occupied by Israel since 1967 – Gaza and the West Bank including East Jerusalem. Who is the prosecutor who sought the warrants? Khan is a British barrister appointed as the ICC prosecutor in 2021 after a secret ballot process. He previously represented the Kenyan vice-president, William Ruto, at the ICC when he was charged with crimes against humanity after post-election violence in 2007, and Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president who was convicted of war crimes at a special court for Sierra Leone. The warrants have been issued at a sensitive moment for Khan, who is facing an external investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. The inquiry will examine the allegations against the prosecutor, which, the Guardian reported last month, include claims of unwanted sexual touching and “abuse” over an extended period, as well as coercive behaviour and abuse of authority. Khan has denied the allegations and said he will cooperate with the investigation. The alleged victim, an ICC lawyer in her 30s, has previously declined to comment.

The Guardian;Merkel: I mistook Trump for ‘someone completely normal’;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/angela-merkel-i-mistook-donald-trump-for-someone-completely-normal;2024-11-21T16:21:36Z

Angela Merkel’s first mistake with Donald Trump, she says in her keenly awaited new memoir, was treating him as if he were “completely normal”, but she quickly learned of his “emotional” nature and soft spot for authoritarians and tyrants. In extracts from her more than 700-page tome, Freedom, published in the German weekly Die Zeit, the former German chancellor says she initially misread Trump during their first meeting in 2017 in the Oval Office, where he attempted to humiliate her by refusing to shake her hand before the cameras. “Instead of stoically bearing it, I whispered to him that we should shake hands again,” she writes. “As soon as the words left my mouth, I shook my head at myself. How could I forget that Trump knew precisely what he was doing … He wanted to give people something to talk about with his behaviour, while I had acted as though I were having a conversation with someone completely normal.” The book, which Merkel has been working on since she left office in 2021, has been kept under close wraps ahead of its publication date next Tuesday. It covers her upbringing in communist East Germany, her unlikely rise within the centre-right Christian Democratic Union and her 16 years in power in which she became known as the queen of Europe and “leader of the free world” – a label once used exclusively for US presidents. Now unbound by diplomatic niceties, Merkel sizes up Trump as “emotional” and driven by grievance and neediness, in contrast to her “factual” approach. “It seemed that his main aim was to make the person he was talking to feel guilty … At the same time I had the impression … that he also wanted the person he was talking with to like him.” Rather than trying to build bridges with traditional allies, Merkel writes, “Trump was apparently fascinated with the Russian president”, and she notes that “politicians with autocratic and dictatorial traits had him in their thrall”. On the flight home after their first talks, a deflated Merkel concluded that Trump “looked at everything like the real estate developer he was before he entered politics” – as a zero-sum game. “For him, all countries were rivals in which the success of one meant the failure of another. He didn’t think that prosperity could be increased for all through cooperation.” Only weeks later, Trump informed her that the US would leave the Paris climate accord – a crushing setback on which she sought the advice of Pope Francis. “Without naming names, I asked him how he would approach fundamentally opposed opinions within a group of important personalities,” she writes. “He understood immediately and said simply: ‘Bend, bend, bend, but make sure it doesn’t break.’ I like this image.” The contentious relationship with Merkel seems to have haunted Trump, who was still speaking about her on the campaign trail three years after she left office. “They [the Germans] didn’t love me because I said you gotta pay,” he told a rally in Pennsylvania this month, apparently referring to defence spending within Nato. “I said to Angela: Angela, you haven’t paid.” Merkel notes that Trump targeted her and Germany in his successful 2016 campaign, claiming that her welcoming in of more than 1 million refugees in 2015 and 2016 had “ruined” the country and accusing Berlin of unfair trade policies and free-riding on US military investment. In what she admits will be a belated endorsement, written before this month’s US election, Merkel declares: “I wish with all my heart that Kamala Harris … defeats her competitor and becomes president.” History also had other plans for Vladimir Putin, another figure still shaping the world in her absence. Although Merkel, a fluent Russian speaker, found him to be manipulative and vindictive, she concedes that the Russian president had a few valid arguments in his notorious anti-western diatribe at the 2007 Munich security conference. “There were some points that I did not regard as completely absurd. As we know, there was never any evidence of chemical weapons in Iraq,” she writes, referring to the US justification for regime change. “I too had criticised the fact that there had been no progress on updating the treaty on conventional armed forces in Europe (CFE)”, which “should have been adapted after the dissolution of the Warsaw pact, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the accession of eastern European countries to Nato”. Merkel chides eastern European leaders in particular for in her view pretending that their giant neighbour could simply be sidelined. “You could find all of this childish and reprehensible, you could shake your head. But it wouldn’t make Russia disappear from the map.” Merkel indicates that Putin’s fear Kyiv could join Nato after she left office helped pave the way for his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Without specifying when he made the comments, Merkel says Putin had told her: “You won’t be chancellor for ever. And then they’ll be a Nato member. And I want to prevent that.” Merkel left office still popular with a majority of Germans but her legacy has been tarnished by accusations that she failed to face up to Moscow’s aggressive intentions against Ukraine while making her own country too reliant on Russian gas. Critics also apportion blame for the rise of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party to Merkel’s liberal asylum policy a decade ago. She has largely remained out of the spotlight since stepping down as chancellor but will be making a series of appearances in Germany and abroad in the coming weeks to promote the book. Freedom by Angela Merkel (Pan Macmillan, £35). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

The Guardian;War crimes charges will be hard stigma for Netanyahu to shrug off;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/accused-war-criminal-status-hard-stigma-netanyahu-shrug-off;2024-11-21T16:20:58Z

The arrest warrants issued by the international criminal court (ICC) represent an earthquake on the world’s legal landscape: the first time a western ally from a modern democracy has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global judicial body. Inside Israel, the warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant will not have an immediate impact. In the short term they are likely to rally support around the prime minister from a defiant Israeli public. In the longer term, however, the enormity of the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant could grow heavier over time, shrinking the patch on the globe still open to them. The stigma of being an accused war criminal is a hard one to shrug off. Yahya Sinwar and the other two Hamas suspects named by the ICC prosecutor have all been killed by Israel since May when the warrants were first requested, but the pre-trial chamber at The Hague issued a warrant for one of them, the Hamas military commander Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif, on the grounds that his widely reported death, in an airstrike in July, has yet to be officially confirmed. That looks like a formality and it is all but certain that none of the three Hamas leaders will stand trial for the 7 October massacres last year that ignited the Gaza war. In the world as viewed from The Hague, the approval of warrants by the ICC judges will for ever transform the court’s standing. The US – not an ICC member anyway – rejected the warrants, and said it would coordinate with its partners, Israel included, about the “next steps”. Other Israeli allies, such as Germany, will distance themselves, but it will be a difficult moment for the UK government of Keir Starmer, whose background is in human rights and international law. The US is likely to lean on the UK to reject the validity of the warrants, but that would seriously damage UK credibility elsewhere in the world. Amnesty International reminded Starmer: “The UK’s standing as a genuine supporter of the rule of law requires consistency and even-handedness.” Many other countries who have hitherto seen the ICC as a tool of the western world are likely to embrace the decision and the tribunal itself. While the UN security council has done very little to mitigate the war in Gaza, the ICC will be widely seen, especially in the global south, as a more effective defender of the UN charter. The question for Europe, in particular, is whether to have any dealings with Netanyahu on his turf in Israel. The European Council of Foreign Relations pointed out that when the former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta was the subject of an ICC warrant, European officials adopted a policy of avoiding non-essential contact. Iva Vukušić, an assistant professor in international history at Utrecht University, said: “This set of arrest warrants are groundbreaking because, for the first time in the case of Israel, they involve a close ally of the ‘western’ permanent members of the security council, which have so far been almost exempt from international judicial scrutiny. “Israel is considered by many as a functioning democracy with a capable judicial system, and a close ally to the west, and we have not so far seen an arrest warrant in such a situation.” One thing the warrants are very unlikely to do is topple Netanyahu – or even weaken him. That is critical, as many observers believe the war in Gaza is likely to continue for as long as he holds on to power. “It will strengthen Netanyahu,” said Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli expert on international public opinion. “Israelis are absolutely rock-solid convinced that the international system in general basically exists in order to target and single out Israel unfairly. That kind of sentiment cuts across the board in the Jewish community.” That means very few Israelis see the warrants as evidence that Netanyahu is weakening their country on the global scale, driving it towards pariah status. If anything, the prime minister’s many critics will pause their litany of complaints against him for long enough to reject the jurisdiction of a foreign court over their affairs. In terms of the next Israeli elections, due by October 2026 and a critical moment for Israel and the region, ICC warrants are unlikely to change many votes. But the sting they leave will be more likely to make itself felt over the years and decades to come. There will be a long list of countries that are members of the ICC that Netanyahu and Gallant will be unable to visit, as they would be obliged to act on the arrest warrant. The US, Russia and China are not members, but for the current White House at least, a visit by either man would be highly embarrassing – though the incoming Trump administration will be another matter. “The ICC plays a long game,” Vukušić said. “Once issued, warrants follow you pretty much until you’re dead. If, upon the issuing of the warrants, Netanyahu again goes to the US to speak to Congress, for example, it at least massively embarrasses the US and makes their hypocrisy so plain to see.”

The Guardian;‘Reward for terrorism’: Israeli politicians unite to condemn ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu;https://www.theguardian.com/law/2024/nov/21/israel-politicians-condemn-icc-arrest-warrants-netanyahu-gallant;2024-11-21T15:19:55Z

Israeli leaders from across the political spectrum united to condemn the decision by a three-judge panel of the international criminal court to issue arrest warrants for the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the former defence minister Yoav Gallant. Netanyahu’s office described the warrants as “an antisemitic decision … equivalent to the modern Dreyfus trial”, referring to the 1894 trial of a French artillery captain of Jewish descent that has become one of the most prominent examples of antisemitism. Netanyahu added: “Israel rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions and charges against it by the international criminal court, which is a biased and discriminatory political body.” Under the Rome statute that established the ICC, the court was set up to be an independent body that stands apart from international politics. The Israeli statement said: “There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza since the seventh of October 2023, after the terrorist organisation Hamas launched a murderous attack against it, and carried out the greatest massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. “The decision was made by a corrupt chief prosecutor trying to save his own skin from the serious charges against him for sexual harassment, and by biased judges motivated by antisemitic hatred of Israel,” it continued, referring to claims made against the chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, which Khan has denied. Benny Gantz, a former member of Netanyahu’s war cabinet, in a post on X described the ICC move as “moral blindness and [a] shameful stain of historic proportion that will never be forgotten”. The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, said: “This is a dark day for justice. A dark day for humanity. Taken in bad faith, the outrageous decision at the ICC has turned universal justice into a universal laughing stock. It ignores the plight of the 101 Israeli hostages held in brutal captivity by Hamas in Gaza.” ICC judges said reasonable grounds existed to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant had committed the war crime of using starvation as a method of warfare, and the crimes against humanity of murder and persecution. Most outspoken in Israel was the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who said Israel should annex the West Bank in response to the ICC’s issuance of the arrest warrants. “The response to the arrest warrants: applying sovereignty over all areas of Judea and Samaria [the West Bank], Jewish settlement throughout the entire land,” he said. Describing the warrants as “an unprecedented disgrace”, Ben-Gvir said the ICC “once again demonstrates that it is antisemitic from beginning to end”. Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, said: “This is a black moment for the international criminal court, in which it lost all legitimacy for its existence and activity. In fact, this is an attack on Israel’s right to defend itself. This attack is directed against the most attacked and threatened country in the world, which is also the only country that other countries in the region openly call for and work to destroy.” The opposition leader, Yair Lapid, described the warrants as a “reward for terrorism”. “Israel is defending itself against terrorist organisations that attacked, murdered and raped our citizens. These arrest warrants are a reward for terrorism,” he said. The chair of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Avigdor Lieberman, who has previously served as defence minister under Netanyahu, said the move provided “further proof of the double standards and hypocrisy of the international community and the UN institutions”. He said: “The state of Israel will not apologise for protecting its citizens and is committed to continuing to fight terrorism without compromise.” The warrants were issued on a day when Netanyahu was meeting the US special envoy Amos Hochstein in Jerusalem to discuss recent renewed efforts to secure a ceasefire with Hezbollah. Hochstein has been in Beirut this week to advance an agreement to halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Describing the response by Israeli politicians to the ICC decision, Dahlia Scheindlin, a political scientist, told the Guardian: “Everything to do with international institutions tends to unite the opposition and coalition. There is a widespread conviction in Israel that international institutions are antisemitic and hypocritical. “It is early, but you would expect a show of unity, even if Netanyahu is not popular because Israelis see it as an attack on the state. It has been a sword of Damocles hanging all these months. The court had to do it or lose credibility.”

The Guardian;Fear and sympathy: small Irish town divided over asylum camp;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/asylum-camp-tensions-newtown-mount-kennedy-ireland;2024-11-21T13:28:22Z

In the small town of Newtown Mount Kennedy, a holding centre for people who have just arrived in Ireland seeking asylum lies in the wooded grounds of Trudder House, a former convent. The building itself is disused and off-limits. Instead, men arriving from countries such as Somalia, Sudan and Nigeria are housed in 12-16 makeshift tents, separated from the town by a 10ft-tall fence daubed with graffiti reading “Newtown says no”. Craig Bishop, a retired GP who is part of Newtown Together, a group of volunteers trying to support the camp’s residents, said the barricade created an immediate sense of “them and us”. “They come all this way for protection only to be behind a 10ft fence to be protected from who? From the locals?” he said. Even before it was established in May, the camp in NTMK, as the town is known for short, had been a focus of controversy. When word got out in March that the site would be used as a centre for some of the 16,000 applicants for international protection who have arrived in Ireland this year, tensions mounted, with 24-hour protests taking place outside the property. In April, attempts by the police to disperse the crowds resulted in violent clashes, and five people were charged. Local people protested that the demonstrations had been peaceful and turned nasty by outside antagonists fuelled by an anti-immigration narrative. Last month a group of migrants said they were charged by a driver who mounted a pavement with his car, coming within “five or six inches” of them, as they walked back to the camp. The tension comes a year after unprecedented anti-immigration riots in Dublin, rapidly fuelled by the far right and social media. In an update this week, the gardai said 53 people had been charged over the violence, including a 28-year-old man who was sentenced on Wednesday to six and a half years in jail for arson and rioting. The riots started hours after three children and a school care assistant were stabbed outside a city centre primary school. The violence may have receded from global headlines but across Ireland the tensions remain, exploding in various acts of hostility and violence towards refugees and migrants. In July, people with knives and pipes attacked 15 asylum seekers sheltering in tents in central Dublin. There has been a sharp increase in arson on properties across the country linked to accommodating asylum seekers. Touting slogans such as “Ireland is full” and “Irish lives matter”, small far-right parties have so far failed to make a political breakthrough but are making more noise than ever. Several independent candidates are running on anti-immigration tickets in next week’s election. Forty minutes south of Dublin in County Wicklow, NTMK seems to be a lesson in how not to approach a sudden rise in migration, with flimsy accommodation, barricades and no political input contributing to a breakdown in communication between local groups of supporters and opponents. Hostility to the centre appears to have been allowed to fester. Men in the camp say rocks have been thrown over the fence and, more recently, fireworks, which they say could have endangered lives. “For me, the worst is the spitting. They look at you and spit, not physically at you but away from them as if to show their disgust,” said Nawras, a Palestinian from Jordan who was taken to NTMK after arriving in Ireland in July. “Some of them look at you and hold their nose and walk backwards, and stay in eye contact with you, as if to say ‘you are smelly’.” An archaeologist with a master’s degree and fluent English, he recalls the night of the car charging. “One of the guys came running in saying ‘I can’t stay here, I have to leave’, ‘they tried to run over me’. He was saying he wanted to get out immediately. The man was terrified, he was at the front of the group,” he said. Nawras has now been moved to new temporary accommodation in Galway and is “glad to be out of there”. He was philosophical about what he saw in NTMK. “It is a basic fear of the unknown. It is a big step for these guys [the locals] to speak with us and look at us with different eyes and get to know us as people.” Other asylum seekers simply ask: “Why do they hate me?” Newtown Together includes dozens of locals trying to help the men who have been left to their own devices in the tents, widely agreed to be unsuitable in the below-freezing temperatures experienced this week. Footage obtained by the Guardian reveals a tented encampment offering little protection from the coming winter. On Thursday the department of integration said it was moving all men from the camp to alternative accommodation at a tent camp in Dublin “better equipped to deal with the current weather conditions”. Denise McAvinia, a member of Newtown Together, said the protests before the camp’s opening were “opposing the lack of communication, the lack of facilities”. Rachel Dempsey, another member of the group, added: “But when the men arrived, we were thinking: why are you protesting against them? Why are you not protesting at the politicians, at the Dáil?” The group talks about how difficult it has been in the town. Members avoid some places for meetings and recall vicious verbal abuse at a picnic in the summer. Local contractors are ostracised if they are seen to be working at the camp. Two of the group were “doxed”, their home addresses put online. “Some of the abuse has been very personal,” Bishop said. As if to underline the tensions, the group found themselves being filmed while they were being photographed for the Guardian. After an initial standoff, the woman with the camera, Teresa Murphy, 67, said she was part of the Newtown Says No group that had graffitied the camp entrance. She complained that they, too, had been subjected to abuse. “If you look at social media, I’m described as Ireland’s ‘first Nazi granny’,” she said. “I’m not a racist. I have a good heart. The point is we don’t know who these men are. They are only here for three months. There is a new lot coming this week. They have no chance of integration.” Although she admitted her group could not even say hello to Newtown Together members on the street, they do share concerns about the conditions in the camp. “Human beings should not be in tents in Ireland,” Murphy said. “We are not heartless people. We are just afraid.” Bishop said part of the problem was the rapid growth in the town, from the old village to sprawling commuter belt housing estates. “People in the old town are not privileged. They are not wealthy, they have never had large incomes or assets and they are angry. And I’m trying to understand why all this kicked off, and I think it’s not dissimilar to the Trump voters. They feel nobody listens to them.” Melissa Bosch, another Newtown Together member, said the tensions were the “first step” of a wider shift taking place in Ireland. “The shape of Irishness is changing,” she said. “The questions we are asking are: how do we bring the knowledge and understanding up? We need to start with acceptance.”

The Guardian;Russia-Ukraine war: Doubts cast over Kyiv claim that Russia launched intercontinental ballistic missile – as it happened;https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/nov/21/russia-ukraine-war-live-storm-shadow-missiles-kyiv-putin-zelenskyy;2024-11-21T12:31:20Z

A western official has cast doubt on a Ukrainian claim that Russia fired an ICBM for the first time during the war, targeting the city of Dnipro, but Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has insisted the speed and altitude of the missile matched the characteristics of an ICBM Nine projectiles were launched at enterprises and critical infrastructure in Dnipro between 5am and 7am local time from the Astrakhan region of Russia, the air forces said, meaning that, if confirmed, the missile probably travelled about 500 miles (800km) to reach its target. The missile was said to have hit “without consequences” Ukraine’s air force said Russia has not officially acknowledged the use of an ICBM, and its defence ministry omitted any reference to it in its daily briefing The UK prime minister’s spokesperson has said British intelligence services are “urgently” looking into the reports In Ukraine Zelenskyy has attended a commemoration ceremony dedicated to those killed during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests, which started on 21 November 2023 The head of Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhii Lysak, said 17 people were wounded in a Russian strike on Kryvyi Rih The defence ministers of South Korea and Japan have both condemned North Korea’s dispatch of troops to Russia during talks on Thursday The EU’s top official on migration has said she is concerned about the security implications of nearly half a million visas that were issued to Russian citizens to visit Europe in 2023 Hungary announced overnight it is to install an air defence system in the north-eastern part of the country as the threat of an escalation of the Ukraine-Russia war is “greater than ever”, its defence minister said In a statement on social media Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that the speed and altitude of a missile fired at Dnipro had indicated it was an ICBM, but said “examinations are now under way.” In the message, posted to coincide with the anniversary of the 21 November beginning of the Euromaidan protests in 2013, Zelenskyy described Russia as Ukraine’s “crazy neighbour”, saying: [Putin] is so afraid that he is already using new missiles. And he is looking around the world for other places to find weapons: now in Iran, now in North Korea. It is obvious that Putin is using Ukraine as a training ground. It is obvious that Putin is afraid when there is simply a normal life around him. When people just have dignity. When the country simply wants to be and has the right to be independent. Putin is doing everything he can to prevent his neighbour from slipping out of his hands. And I thank all Ukrainian men, all Ukrainian women who protect Ukraine from this evil – steadfastly, bravely, firmly. Worthily. This is one of the main words about Ukraine – dignity. And this is a word that will probably never be said about Russia. The UK prime minister’s spokesperson has said British intelligence services are “urgently” looking into reports that Russia launched an ICBM at Ukraine during an attack on Dnipro. The claim was made by Ukraine’s military. Russia has yet to confirm or deny the report, but a western official, speaking to ABC News, has cast doubt on the claim. It would have been the first time an ICBM was fired during war. The missiles have ranges of about 6000km, in order to allow Russia and the US to strike at each other directly. If it had been fired from the Astrakhan region of Russia, it would have travelled about 500 miles (800km) to reach its target. Speaking anonymously but on the record, the spokesperson for Keir Starmer said: As you will understand it is a rapidly developing situation and I don’t want to get ahead of our intelligence services who are looking at these reports urgently, but if true, clearly this would be another example of grave, reckless and escalatory behaviour from Russia and only serves to strengthen our resolve. PA Media reports that asked if they could confirm reports UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles had been fired into Russia by Ukraine, the spokesperson said: “It is still the case that we are not going to comment on operational matters. That will only serve president Putin.” Defence secretary John Healey made a similar point earlier when he also refused to be drawn on the question when asked by MPs during a defence select committee appearance. Speaking in the House of Commons, Starmer on Thursday promised that the UK “will back Ukraine with what is needed for as long as it’s needed.” He told MPs: UK support for Ukraine is always for self-defence. It is proportionate, coordinated and agile and a response to Russia’s own actions, and it is in accordance with international law under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Ukraine has a clear right of self-defence against Russia’s illegal attacks. Pavel Podvig, a leading expert on Russian nuclear weapons, said there was not yet enough information to determine whether the weapon used was an ICBM or not. “One must be skeptical and cautious,” he posted on Bluesky. Using an ICBM would not make military sense because of their low accuracy and high cost, he added, though he wrote “this kind of a strike might have a value as a signal”. Russia has not officially acknowledged the use of an intercontinental ballistic missile, with the country’s defence ministry omitting any reference to it in its daily briefing. The country’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova appeared to inadvertently reveal some details about the early morning strike during a live press briefing on Thursday. A hot mic captured Zakharova’s phone conversation with an unidentified caller, who instructed her not to comment “on the ballistic missile strike.” Notably, the caller did not use the word intercontinental. In the brief telephone exchange – footage of which at present remains available on the foreign ministry’s official account on X – the caller also appears to disclose that the strike targeted the Yuzhmash military facility in Dnipro. An agreement between the US and Russia, signed in 2000, in theory provides that each side should notify the other at least 24 hours ahead of any planned missile launch in excess of 500km, greater than the distance involved. It is unclear if any such notification was made. In Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has attended a commemoration ceremony dedicated to those killed during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests, which started on 21 November 2023. The head of Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhii Lysak, has updated the number of people injured in Kryvyi Rih to 17. An administration building and two residential buildings were reportedly hit in a Russian strike. Also in parliament in London today, defence secretary John Healey has been appearing before defence select committee, where he refused to be drawn on whether the UK had given approval for the use of Storm Shadow missiles against targets on Russian soil. He told the committee: This is a serious moment that I come before the committee. Defence intelligence will reveal today that the front line is now less stable than at any time since the early days of the full scale Russian invasion in February 2022. And we’ve seen in recent weeks a very clear escalation from Putin and his forces. They’ve stepped up attacks on the energy system in Ukraine ahead of winter. They’ve stepped up attacks on civilian centres, killing children. [And] they’ve deployed at least 10,000 North Korean troops to the battle. Be in no doubt that the UK government is stepping up our support for Ukraine, is determined to continue doubling down our support for Ukraine, and this is what I told [Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem] Umarov in a long call on Tuesday. And as I told you and the house yesterday, it holds for this committee as well, I won’t be drawn on the operational details of the conflict. It risks operational security, and in the end, the only one that benefits from such a public debate is President Putin. You can watch the full clip of his answer on Ukraine here: Dan Sabbagh’s report this morning on the Ukrainian claim – dismissed by one western official – that Russia used an ICBM against Dnipro includes this detail about ICBMs and their historical development. He writes: Russian ICBMs have ranges of more than 6,200 miles, in theory enough to reach the US east coast from Astrakhan, and are capable of being nuclear armed, suggesting that if the use of the weapon is confirmed it was a signal from Moscow. ICBMs were developed in the 1950s, at the height of the cold war, as a way for the Soviet Union and the US to threaten each other’s populations directly with nuclear weapons. Congressional research estimates that Russia has 326 ICBMs in its nuclear arsenal, but no country had fired one in a war before. As Associated Press has also noted, the range of an ICBM “would seem excessive for use against Ukraine”. Ukrainian media sources have claimed to identified the type of missile used as a RS-26 Rubezh, with a range of 5,800km. Astrakhan and Dnipro are about 700km apart. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the specific ICBM reports at his daily press briefing, but ABC News has reported that a western official has described the claim as an exaggeration, stating the weapon used was in fact a shorter-range ballistic missile, similar to the types used repeatedly by Russia against Ukraine during the war. The UK prime minister has reiterated to parliament in London that the country “will back Ukraine with what is needed for as long as it’s needed.” Keir Starmer told MPs: We have consistently said we will do what it takes to support Ukraine and put it in the best possible position going into the winter. UK support for Ukraine is always for self defence. It is proportionate, co-ordinated and agile and a response to Russia’s own actions, and it is in accordance with international law under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Ukraine has a clear right of self defence against Russia’s illegal attacks. So, I say again, Russia could roll back their forces and end this war tomorrow, but until then, we will stand up for what we know is right, for Ukraine’s security and for our own security, and we will back Ukraine with what is needed for as long as it’s needed. Starmer said that he was proud of parliament that it had shown unified cross-party support for Ukraine for over 1,000 days of the conflict. The recently installed leader of the Conservative opposition party, Kemi Badenoch, said: Ukraine is in a fight for its survival, and the people of Ukraine are in our thoughts daily. But those thoughts must translate into action, action from us and from our allies. We will work with the government to ensure British support for Ukraine is steadfast and continues. Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that 15 people, including two children, have been wounded in Kryvyi Rih. The sound of explosions was reported there about two hours ago. More details soon … A western official, speaking to ABC News in the US, has denied the Ukrainian claim that an ICBM was used by Russia overnight. The network reports “It was instead a ballistic missile, which was aimed at Dnipro, in Ukraine’s southeast, the western official said.” More details soon … Kremlin spokesperson Dimtry Peskov has said Russia is committed to avoiding nuclear war, but the west has a responsibility not to engage in “provocative actions.” Tass quotes him, in his daily media briefing, saying: We have emphasised in the context of our nuclear doctrine that Russia takes a responsible position in terms of making maximum efforts to prevent such a [nuclear] conflict. We expect that other countries will also take the same responsible position and not engage in provocative actions. Ukraine this week used US and British manufactured longer-range missiles inside Russia for the first time. Earlier this week Vladimir Putin approved a revised Russian nuclear doctrine, which included the provision that if a non-nuclear power attacked Russia with the assistance of a nuclear power, that would meet the threshold for a nuclear response. The defence ministers of South Korea and Japan have both condemned North Korea’s dispatch of troops to Russia during talks on Thursday, Reuters reports Seoul’s defence ministry said in a statement. British MP and leader of the Reform UK party Nigel Farage has questioned whether it is the right decision to allow Ukraine to use longer-range British and US-manufactured weapons, saying “the idea Ukraine is going to win, frankly, is for the birds.” Farage, who has repeatedly allied himself with US president-elect Donald Trump, told viewers of the GB News channel: In the last few days, British long range Storm Shadow missiles have been fired very deep into Russia. The same has happened with American missiles. Farage said “I do wonder, right at this time whether it’s the wise thing to do,” contining: In Westminster … everybody still seems to think that we give Ukraine enough weaponry that somehow they’re going to win this war. I worry, because I think the idea Ukraine is going to win, frankly, is for the birds. I think the war has gone on for long enough and that the casualties are massive. I think all we’re doing is helping to prolong a stalemate. Farage questioned whether the change of strategy fitted with the plans of the incoming US administration, telling viewers of the GB News channel: Donald Trump, in 59 days’ time, will be in the White House. He is committed to negotiating a peace settlement. No one quite knows what that might look like, but that is what he’s committed to do. Is the use of American and British long-range missiles going to help him in that process or make it more difficult? Earlier this year Farage said Nato and the EU had provoked the conflict in Ukraine. Jennifer Rankin is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent The EU’s top official on migration has said she is concerned about the nearly half a million visas that were issued to Russian citizens to visit Europe in 2023. Ylva Johansson, who is standing down as the EU’s migration and home affairs commissioner at the end of the month, told journalists the guidelines might need to be “a bit sharper” In 2023 the states in Europe’s border-free Schengen zone issued 448,890 visas to Russian nationals. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU froze a visa-facilitation deal with Moscow that has resulted in a 90% fall in visas issued to Russian nationals, when compared with 2019, before Covid disrupted international travel. Johansson said the number of visas issued in 2023 was “a significant number [and] that concerns me”. She is worried about potential security threats, in the context of growing reports of sabotage and espionage, such as arson attacks, the posting of incendiary devices and an assassination plot targeting the head of a German defence company. In 2023, Italy, France, Spain and Greece, countries with large tourism industries, processed more than 80% of visa applications from Russia. Johansson said she had initiated a review of the Russian visa guidelines, although it would fall to her successor, Magnus Brunner, to make a decision. Her review, she said, would need to find out whether member states implemented the guidelines in the same way. She suggested changes could be likely: “Does this call for, you know, some revision? That’s my guess. But it’s for my successor to decide, of course, after we have finalised this assessment.” The Swedish commissioner has also been investigating complaints from EU member states that Hungary is undermining European security, following Budapest’s decision to make it easier for Russians and Belarussians to obtain work permits, which grants them access to the entire Schengen zone. Hungary, she said, had “clarified” most of the commission’s questions and it seemed “very, very few people” were using this new scheme. But she added: “I still think, for political reasons, it is the wrong signal to send.” Russian air defences shot down two British Storm Shadow cruise missiles, Russia’s defence ministry said on Thursday, according to news agency Interfax. It comes after Ukraine fired British Storm Shadow missiles into Russia for the first time on Wednesday, as confirmed by The Guardian yesterday. The Kremlin declined to comment on those strikes, saying that it was a question for the Russian military. Hungary announced overnight it is to install an air defence system in the north-eastern part of the country as the threat of an escalation of the Ukraine-Russia war is “greater than ever”, its defence minister said. Reuters quotes Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky from a video he posted on Facebook saying: We still trust that there will be peace as soon as possible, through diplomacy instead of a military solution. However, to prepare for all possibilities, I ordered the recently purchased air control and air defence systems and the capabilities built on them to be installed in the north-east. The threat of the escalation of the Ukraine-Russia war is greater than ever. Hungary, a member of both Nato and the EU, has been criticised by allies for a perception that it is closer to supporting Russia than other members of the trading bloc and alliance, most notably when prime minister Viktor Orbán visited Vladimir Putin in Moscow in July. At the time Orbán said “Many steps are needed to end the war, but we took the first step to restore dialogue.” Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has described a US decision to open an air defence base in Redzikowo in Poland as “provocative” and “deeply destabilising”. Reuters quotes her saying: This is another frankly provocative step in a series of deeply destabilising actions by the Americans and their allies in the North Atlantic alliance in the strategic sphere. This leads to undermining strategic stability, increasing strategic risks and, as a result, to an increase in the overall level of nuclear danger. Given the nature and level of threats posed by such western military facilities, the missile defence base in Poland has long been added to the list of priority targets for potential destruction, which, if necessary, can be executed with a wide range of advanced weapons The base became operational on 13 November. Russia had criticised it when it was at the planning stage in 2007. It forms part of the Nato Aegis Ashore missile defence system. Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has been given details of Ukrainian attacks on Russia in the last week. She claimed that between 13 November and today “more than 530 Ukrainian drones were intercepted and destroyed over nine Russian regions.” She added that Belgorod region had been attacked by over 400 munitions, and that two people had been killed. She stated that an additional person had been killed by shelling in Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia. 76 people had been injured during the time period, she said. Zakharova claimed “the number of explosive devices dropped from drones on civilian targets, including passenger vehicles, has increased.” It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict. Ukraine’s military has claimed that overnight Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time during the war. Ukraine’s air force said the launch took place from the Astrakhan region of the Russian Federation, an area to the south-east of Vologograd, which borders on the Caspian Sea. Ukraine said overnight attacks by Russia targeted “enterprises and critical infrastructure in the central-eastern city of Dnipro.” The air force gave no details of any casualties or damage, or whether air defence had tackled the ICBM. Ukraine’s military said six Kh-101 cruise missiles were shot down. The claims have not been independently verified. ICBMs have a range of thousands of kilometres, and can carry either conventional or nuclear payloads. Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that there are power outages in Kherson, citing the local authority. Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has described the “resilience plan” announced earlier this week by Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a set of “sick fantasies.” Tass reports that Zakharova said: This is another set of sick fantasies aimed at ensuring the self-preservation of Zelenskyy, who has lost his legitimacy in power. In fact, it seems to me that he himself does not hide this. He declared in his parliament that there will be no elections in Ukraine until the end of the war. On Tuesday Zelenskyy presented a ten point plan for the continuation of Ukraine’s defence against the Russian invasion of February 2022. Ukraine’s military claims overnight to have shot down six cruise missiles fired at the country by Russia. Ukraine claims in addition that intercontinental ballistic missile was fired from Russia’s Astrakhan region, which is to the south-east of Volgograd, and borders the Caspian Sea. The claims have not been independently verified. Russia’s ministry of defence has published a video which it claims shows the destruction of a temporary Ukrainian pontoon crossing the Siverskyi Donets River in the east of the country. News agency Ukrinform, citing Ukraine’s ministry of energy, reports that once again the power supply to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been disrupted. The plant has long been occupied by Russian forces. Welcome to our continuing live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Here are the latest headlines. Ukraine has fired a volley of British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia – the latest new western weapon it has been permitted to use on targets inside Russia. The move comes a day after it fired US Atacms missiles. The strikes on Wednesday were widely reported on Telegram by Russian war correspondents – who posted video they said included the sound of the missiles hitting the Kursk region bordering north-eastern Ukraine – and were confirmed to the Guardian. The UK’s decision to approve the strikes was made in response to the deployment of more than 10,000 North Korean troops on Russia’s border with Ukraine in what British and American officials have called a major escalation of the war. Meanwhile, the US said it would reopen its embassy in Kyiv on Thursday, a day after shutting it as a precaution because of what it called the threat of a “significant air attack”. And the US defence secretary said Washington’s decision to send anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine – a major policy shift condemned by rights groups – was triggered by a change in Russian battlefield tactics favouring infantry over mechanised units. Lloyd Austin said Ukrainian forces “have a need for things that can help slow down that effort on the part of the Russians”. In other news: The director of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, Sergey Naryshkin, was quoted in Russian media on Wednesday as saying that attempts by Nato countries to strike inside Russia would not go “unpunished”. Elsewhere, the chief of staff in Belarus, Pavel Muraveiko, described US moves to allow Ukraine to deploy longer-range missiles and anti-personnel mines as “irresponsible” Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked the US and President Joe Biden for the provision of landmines to Ukrainian troops, calling it “essential … to stop Russian assaults”, in a video address on Wednesday. In addition to the landmines, the latest $275m US aid package includes drones, Himars ammunitions and artillery. The Biden administration also moved to forgive about $4.7bn in US loans to Ukraine, the state department said, as outgoing officials seek to do what they can before leaving office to bolster Ukraine in the war Staff at Ireland’s embassy in Ukraine were told to work from home after the US shut its embassy, while Italy, Spain and Greece also closed their embassies About 10,900 North Korean troops have been deployed to Kursk as part of Russia’s airborne unit and marines, with some already participating in battles in the Ukraine war, a South Korean legislator said on Wednesday, citing the country’s spy agency. North Korea had also shipped additional arms for the war, including self-propelled howitzers and multiple rocket launchers, parliament intelligence committee member Lee Seong-kweun told reporters Four Latin American countries have made a joint call to “avoid actions that would escalate the arms race” in the Russia-Ukraine war. The four – Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico – said such actions would “aggravate the conflict”

The Guardian;Revealed: trans rights case at US supreme court features doctors previously discredited by judges;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/supreme-court-trans-rights-doctors-testimonies-bias;2024-11-21T12:00:46Z

The doctors have been dismissed by judges across the US as “conspiratorial”, “deeply biased”, “far off” and deserving “very little weight”. But their testimonies were nonetheless submitted by the state of Tennessee in defense of an anti-trans law the US supreme court will consider in December, in one of the most important cases of the court’s session and among the most consequential LGBTQ+ rights cases in its history. In US v Skrmetti, the court will weigh whether transgender youth have a constitutional right to access healthcare treatments endorsed by every major medical association in the country, who say the care improves patients’ mental health and reduces the suicide risks of vulnerable teens. The case originated with three trans youth and their parents who sued Tennessee last year over its ban on gender-affirming healthcare for minors, arguing the care was medically necessary and “life-saving”. The outcome could have profound implications for trans rights, bodily autonomy and the government’s authority over people’s private healthcare decisions. If the court’s conservative supermajority upholds Tennessee’s ban, it would, in effect, be siding with doctors who, LGBTQ+ advocates and trans healthcare experts say, have repeatedly peddled misinformation and in some cases, espoused religious doctrine in the name of science. Six doctors who filed expert declarations for Tennessee have a history of advocating against trans healthcare, and five of them have previously been rebuked or discounted by judges due to their backgrounds. Four of those doctors cited by the Tennessee attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti, to defend the ban have been linked to a rightwing Christian legal group and have profited from their continued testimony on gender-affirming care, and three of them have never provided trans youth healthcare, according to research from Accountable.US, a progressive watchdog organization, which shared its findings with the Guardian. “The supreme court case rests on what can only be described as junk science – unscientific, biased testimony from a small group of doctors who stand far outside of the medical mainstream,” said Caroline Ciccone, Accountable.US’s president and former deputy assistant secretary in the US Department of Health and Human Services. “These so-called experts’ testimony have been discredited by courts already. It’s very telling that they can’t come up with anything better.” Tennessee is one of 24 states that have restricted trans youth care by banning puberty blockers and hormone therapy, though two laws are currently blocked by courts. Those treatments are part of the standards of care backed by mainstream medical and mental health groups in the US, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association. The University of California, Los Angeles’s Williams Institute says those bans have impacted more than 100,000 trans youth, forcing families to either travel out of state for care or lose access. A recent study found suicide rates among trans youth increased in states that passed anti-trans laws. ‘I intentionally do not treat transgender patients’ Tennessee’s lawyers have argued that “radical gender ideology has captured an entire alphabet of American medical organizations” and that legislators have a right to dictate opposing policy. The courts, the state argued, should disregard the “‘mainstream’ American medical community” and consider Tennessee’s own set of experts. One of those experts is Dr Paul Hruz, a pediatric endocrinologist who testified in a 2017 deposition: “I intentionally do not treat transgender patients.” He argued in his Tennessee declaration that the medical interventions long recommended by US medical groups were “experimental” and “unethical”. In 2023, an Arkansas federal judge noted that Hruz had been recruited by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the rightwing Christian legal advocacy group that has been a key player in anti-trans and anti-abortion cases. The judge said Hruz and other ADF-backed experts were “testifying more from a religious doctrinal standpoint rather than that required of experts”. A North Carolina judge accused Hruz of “conspiratorial intimations” and “political hyperbole”, saying he was “not qualified” to opine on gender dysphoria or mental health, but could testify as an endocrinologist about hormone treatment risks. A Florida judge said he was a “deeply biased advocate”. In 2013, Hruz, who is based in Missouri, met with Kim Hutton, who has a trans son and spoke with him about the suicide risks for trans kids denied care. According to Hutton’s later deposition, Hruz responded: “Some children are born in this world to suffer and die.” “He’s a fanatic, not an expert,” Hutton said in a recent interview. “That’s not someone who cares deeply for children. He would have parents like me strip medical care from our children and watch them suffer.” Hruz said in an email that Hutton’s recollection of their meeting “is not reliable” and her “underlying biases should be evident” from her role founding a support group for families of trans youth. “I do not hold, nor have I ever held a view that ‘some children are born to suffer and die,’” he said. Hruz said he does care for patients with gender dysphoria for “endocrine related diseases”, but doesn’t support administering puberty blockers and hormone therapy for dysphoria “outside of a carefully designed and properly controlled experimental trial”. He said his position aligns with several European countries (although none have categorically banned this care, as Tennessee has), adding: “The claim that one must engage in a questionable medical practice to be able to assess the reliability of scientific evidence for the practice is demonstrably false … To my knowledge, the judges are not trained scientists.” ‘Deficiency in their experience’ Another expert cited by Tennessee is Dr James Cantor, a sexual behavior scientist who specializes in studying pedophilia. He argued in his declaration that research finding gender-affirming care improves youth mental health should be discounted, because “correlation does not imply causation”. In a 2022 Alabama case, a Donald Trump-appointed judge noted that Cantor had never diagnosed or treated youth gender dysphoria, had no experience monitoring patients receiving gender-affirming medications and had no knowledge of treatment methodologies used in the state’s clinics. The judge thus gave his testimony “very little weight”. During a deposition in West Virginia, Cantor could not name any puberty-blocking drug, HuffPost reported. In a CBC interview, he said he had more than doubled his income by testifying in these cases. Cantor said in an email that the ADF had retained him for three out of roughly 50 cases in which he has provided testimony and that he is a “gay Jewish atheist Canadian citizen … very far from being part of any Christian conservative movement”. He said his expertise was in “research methodology explaining how to distinguish reliable from unreliable studies” and that he had “concluded the evidence of mental health benefits from medicalized transition to be insufficient relative to its harms, given the mental health treatment alternatives available and the extent of remaining unknowns and uncertainties”. A Tennessee federal judge who initially blocked the healthcare ban said both Cantor and Hruz were “minimally persuasive” given the “deficiency in their experience”. “It’s such a strange thing to watch,” said Sydney Duncan, senior counsel at Advocates for Trans Equality, who is based in Alabama. “It’s as if the American Cancer Society recommended a certain standard of care for someone getting chemotherapy, but then a random doctor in a strip mall next to a Domino’s Pizza with no cancer experience or research had a differing opinion, and we’re expected to take him seriously.” ‘Far off from the accepted view’ Dr Michael Laidlaw, another endocrinologist cited by Tennessee, testified in a 2022 case that he had no experience treating gender dysphoria or conducting research related to trans identity. Laidlaw, who has been represented by ADF, previously compared gender-affirming care with Nazi eugenics, according to the Argus Leader, a South Dakota newspaper. A judge questioned Florida’s decision to use him as a witness, criticizing his refusal to use trans people’s correct pronouns and characterizing him as “far off from the accepted view”. Laidlaw declined to comment. Two doctors submitted by Tennessee who have treated trans youth have also faced scrutiny in the courtroom. Dr Geeta Nangia, a South Carolina phychiatrist, said in a Florida case that she had treated “over a thousand patients with gender dysphoria”, but a judge rebuked her for not clarifying “how many of those patients, if any, she supported in their identified gender”. A plaintiff’s expert said the number was “highly suspect”. The judge denied Florida’s request to have Nangia do mental examinations on two 12-year-old trans plaintiffs, saying her views and résumé were unclear and that “no individual will be required to submit to an examination by a transgender denier or skeptic”. Nangia declined to comment. Dr Stephen Levine, a psychiatrist who has also been hired by ADF, was cited by Tennessee despite a California judge previously saying his testimony in 2015 deserved “very little weight” because he “misrepresents standards of care” and had referenced a “fabricated anecdote” about gender-affirming care in a California prison. In a phone conversation with the Guardian, Levine denied fabricating the story, saying he was relaying an anecdote shared with him by state officials and that the standards of care at issue – relating to care in prisons – “were not trustworthy at all”. In a Florida case, a judge said Levine was the only state expert with significant trans healthcare experience and noted that the psychiatrist acknowledged that he believed hormones and puberty blockers were “sometimes appropriate”. Levine, who has advocated for psychotherapy to treat gender dysphoria, said he had testified in roughly 40 cases since 2019 related to LGBTQ+ issues and that he was not a “rightwing Christian advocate”: “I’ve been characterized as the No 1 enemy of trans people in the courtroom. I see that as an ironic thing, that I’m the enemy of the people I’ve been trying to help for 50 years.” The ADF senior counsel John Bursch said in a statement: “States like Tennessee are upholding their duty to protect children,” adding, “Many European countries that once pushed for gender transition efforts are all reversing course and it is time the US catches up.” But as international advocates noted in a supreme court brief, countries that anti-trans advocates often cite as models for tightening access to healthcare for trans youth – including Sweden, Finland and the UK – have not eliminated access to this care in the way Tennessee has. Physicians have an obligation to follow guidelines and best practices established by legitimate medical groups – and not deny proven treatments based on politics, said Dr Molly McClain, medical director of a New Mexico clinic for trans youth: “The evidence is very strong that this care is life-saving and health-promoting.” In eight years of serving trans youth, she said she has seen firsthand, as data has shown, how access to blockers can reduce suicidality and improve the course of a young person’s life: “Why would you take something away from a kid that you know could help them not want to kill themselves?” ‘Much happier because of this care’ US v Skrmetti will be argued on 4 December. The complaint was originally brought by ACLU, Lambda Legal and the law firm Akin, and the Biden administration later intervened to join the case, arguing the healthcare ban was unconstitutional. Experts expect that under Donald Trump, who campaigned on anti-trans misinformation, the Department of Justice could withdraw from the case, but there could still be a ruling next year with the civil rights groups remaining as parties. The lawyers argue the bans are discriminatory as they prohibit treatments for trans youth, but allow the same medications for cisgender youth (cisgender boys with delayed puberty, for example, can be given testosterone, but trans boys cannot). Families of trans youth living in states with bans have filed briefs laying out the agonizing choices they’ve had to make to preserve their care. Tennessee has repeatedly linked the case to the dismantling of abortion rights, arguing the Dobbs ruling overturning Roe v Wade established that “states retain broad authority to regulate medical treatments, including the prohibition of treatments that apply only to patients of one sex”. “This case is about more than just transgender adolescents,” said Harper Seldin, an ACLU senior staff attorney. “This is about the relationship between states and the people who live in them and decision-making about truly critical medical care and who determines what kind of life we lead for ourselves and for folks’ children.” Hutton, the parent of a trans son, said it was hard to process the threat posed by the case. “Is the highest court in our country going to agree that children like mine can’t exist, don’t exist and do not deserve medical care that has been proven to help them lead successful lives and thrive in this world?” Chelsea Freels, a 19-year-old trans woman impacted by Missouri’s gender-affirming healthcare ban, said she was watching the supreme court case with anxiety. “Doctors take a hippocratic oath to do no harm. And the more you hear about trans healthcare from trans people, the more you realize that taking away this healthcare is doing harm,” she said. The benefits of this care are obvious, added Freels, a political science student: “I transitioned as the political climate got worse and worse around me. I could see the storm clouds getting darker and darker. But even then, I’m much happier now than I was before I transitioned.”

The Guardian;Ukraine claims Russia fired intercontinental ballistic missile at Dnipro;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/russia-fired-intercontinental-ballistic-missile-at-dnipro-says-ukraine;2024-11-21T11:59:41Z

Ukraine’s air force has said Russia fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at the city of Dnipro, which if confirmed would be the first time the long-range weapon has been used in any armed conflict. The claim was not immediately accepted by others, however. ABC News reported, citing western officials, that this was an exaggeration and that the weapon was in fact a shorter-range ballistic missile, similar to the types used repeatedly by Russia against Ukraine during the war. Nine projectiles were launched at enterprises and critical infrastructure in Dnipro between 5am and 7am local time from the Astrakhan region of Russia, the air forces said, meaning that, if confirmed, the missile probably travelled about 500 miles (800km) to reach its target. The missile was said to have hit “without consequences” the air force said, though it added that information about victims had yet to be received. Six of the nine projectiles were destroyed by air defences, the air force said in a morning update. John Healey, the UK defence secretary, told MPs he was aware of media reports that Russia had used “a new ballistic missile into Ukraine” and he described them as unconfirmed. Video said to be of the incident from a distance showed the ground being struck in multiple flashes. Russian ICBMs can have ranges of more than 6,200 miles, in theory enough to reach the US east coast from Astrakhan, and are capable of being nuclear armed, suggesting that if the use of the weapon is confirmed, it was a signal from Moscow. Russia has not officially acknowledged the use of an ICBM, and its defence ministry omitted any reference to it in its daily briefing. The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, appeared to inadvertently reveal some details about the early morning strike during a live press briefing on Thursday. A hot mic captured Zakharova’s phone conversation with an unidentified caller who instructed her not to comment “on the ballistic missile strike”. Notably, the caller did not use the word intercontinental. In the brief telephone exchange – footage of which remains available on the foreign ministry’s official account on X – the caller appears to disclose that the strike targeted the Yuzhmash military facility in Dnipro. An agreement between the US and Russia signed in 2000 provides in theory that each side should notify the other at least 24 hours ahead of any planned missile launch in excess of 500km. It is unclear if any such notification was made. Pavel Podvig, an expert on Russian nuclear weapons, said there was not yet enough information to determine whether the weapon used was an ICBM or not. “One must be sceptical and cautious,” he said in a post on Bluesky. Using an ICBM would not make military sense because of their low accuracy and high cost, he added, though he wrote: “This kind of a strike might have a value as a signal”. ICBMs were developed in the 1950s, at the height of the cold war, as a way for the Soviet Union and the US to threaten each other’s populations directly with nuclear weapons. US congressional research estimates that Russia has 326 ICBMs in its nuclear arsenal, but no country had fired one in a war before. This week the US and the UK gave permission for Atacms and Storm Shadow missiles to be used against targets in or near the Kursk region of Russia. The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said this week that Moscow would respond “accordingly” in response to the initial permission to use Atacms. On Wednesday the US suddenly announced that its embassy in Kyiv would be closed after receiving warning of a “potential significant air attack” somewhere in Ukraine. It is not clear what prompted the warning and the embassy was due to reopen, but the US closely monitors Russian ICBM activity given the homeland threat. Ukraine did not identify the type of ICBM it believed had been fired, and there was no immediate corroborating detail, though the trajectory of the missile would be apparent to Ukraine’s air defences and its western allies. Initial reports from Dnipro gave only a limited picture of any impact on civilians. Serhiy Lysak, the head of the civil military administration, reported that an industrial enterprise had been damaged and that there were two fires in the city.

The Guardian; ‘A story written in blood’: hopes for justice fade for victims of Chile’s police brutality;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/chile-police-brutality-mass-protest-movement-anniversary;2024-11-21T11:00:45Z

On a recent afternoon in Santiago, several thousand people gathered to mark the fifth anniversary of the vast protest movement which rocked Chile in 2019. That same day last month, Sebastián Méndez, 38, who was blinded in his right eye by a projectile fired by a police officer at a demonstration that year, took his own life. According to organisations working with the victims of eye injuries, Méndez is the fifth to have taken their life as desperation mounts and state support remains insufficient. According to official statistics, 34 people were killed and as many as 460 suffered eye injuries as the Carabineros police force fought to repress the protests across months of unrest. Among the shootings and beatings which made up the majority of cases, torture, rape and instances of detainees being stripped naked were also documented. But momentum in the push for justice has dissipated almost entirely. Five years on, thousands of victims are trapped between hopelessness and impunity. Many Chileans are still picking up the pieces. Among them is Susana Alarcón, a 57-year-old daycare assistant from Maipú, a sprawling southern suburb of the capital. Her son, Jorge Salvo, was blinded in one eye by a teargas canister fired from close range by a police officer in January 2020. Three years later on 18 July 2023, he left a farewell message on his mother’s voicemail, explaining that he could no longer cope. Salvo took his own life that evening. “Jorge was very sensitive, emotional and caring,” remembers Alarcón as she sits beside a small shrine in her living room. A candle is lit next to two photos of her son, and a black rose pokes up from a vase of white plastic tulips. In a box of his possessions is his prosthetic eye – a white-iris sphere emblazoned with an anarchist “A” – as well as the chipped gas mask he would wear to protests and several pictures of a one-eyed man in a superhero’s cape drawn by his five-year-old daughter. “The day the protests started, he came home and said to me, ‘mum, I have to be there, there’s too much injustice.’ There was no way back for Jorge once the protests began.” Millions of Chileans shared his concern. On 25 October 2019, as many as 3 million people marched in the largest protests the country had ever seen. Bewildered, the leaders of most of Chile’s main political parties signed a “peace accord”, which paved the way for the replacement of its 1980 constitution, which dates back to Gen Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. That process eventually failed, and a second constitutional proposal was rejected last year. Doctors could do nothing to save Salvo’s left eye, and during a long and painful recovery, Alarcón took down all of the mirrors in the house as her son could not bear to see his reflection. He lost his occasional construction work and was left without employment or consistent support, despite a psychological and medical programme put in place in 2020 under former president Sebastián Piñera that had initially proved successful. However, the pandemic saw the support on offer slow to a trickle. President Gabriel Boric announced a new programme under the management of Chile’s health ministry after taking office in 2022. The ministry declined a request for comment. It was not until just before Salvo’s death, more than three years after his injury, that he began to receive a small compensatory pension. “The approach has been piecemeal and disjointed,” says Marcela Zúñiga, a researcher at the human rights centre of Diego Portales University’s law faculty. “At every turn, efforts have been made with whatever resources they had available at the time. This needs to be far more comprehensive than a symbolic monthly payment.” Chile’s public prosecutor says that 84% of the 10,142 cases brought in relation to the repression of the protests have already closed without conviction. Just 43 sentences have been passed. And as time slips by, hopes of further prosecutions have faded almost entirely. “What motivates me is to fight against Chile’s huge inequalities,” says Gustavo Gatica, who lost his sight entirely when he was shot by a police officer. In darkness, Gatica managed to finish his studies and graduate with a psychology degree. He now tends to patients largely via online consultation. “People were killed, blinded or confined to wheelchairs, so we cannot forget what the state did to those who asked for dignity,” he said. “Clearly, there is responsibility on the part of the Chilean state for the massive and systematic human rights abuses during the protests.” On 4 November, the officer who shot Gatica was put on trial with the prosecution seeking a 12-year jail term. Meanwhile, the victims have become a community, despite divisions emerging between different groups. Gatica says he is planning on launching a suicide prevention programme. But the legacy of the protests is uncertain. According to one recent poll, half of Chileans believe that the movement was bad for the country, compared to just 17% who think it was good. Sectors of the Chilean right have done their best to paint the protests as a minor criminal uprising. “This story is written in blood, and some of that blood is Jorge’s,” says Alarcón bitterly. “It doesn’t matter how many walls you wash down or how much graffiti you paint over.” She says that she is forced to relive her trauma every day when she passes police controls. “The day the Chilean state mutilated Jorge, they mutilated a whole family,” she says, tears welling in her eyes. “They left me without a son, a girl without a father; and Chile without justice.”

The Guardian;Gaza food production ‘decimated’ with 70% of farmland hit, UN finds;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/gaza-food-production-decimated-70-per-cent-farmland-hit;2024-11-21T11:00:44Z

More than 90% of cattle have died and about 70% of land for crops in Gaza has been destroyed or damaged since the beginning of the war in the territory, an analysis of satellite imagery by the UN has found. More than half of sheep and goat herds have been wiped out, while more than three-quarters of the territory’s famous orchards have been destroyed or damaged, the survey in September found. Local food production in Gaza had been “decimated”, Rein Paulsen, the director of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, said last week. “Satellite images … indicate that heavy vehicle tracks, razing, shelling and other conflict-related pressures have damaged large areas of farmland, infrastructure, wells and other productive infrastructure,” Paulsen told the UN security council, adding that the destruction substantially increased the risk of famine there. Before the outbreak of war last year, farms covered about 40% of Gaza and produced enough vegetables, eggs, fresh milk, poultry and fish to meet around a third of local demand. Many families had their own olive or fruit trees. Faraj Jarudat, who was forced to flee his farm in the northern part of Gaza early in the conflict, said his three cows and 60 sheep had died, either killed by Israeli shelling, or for lack of fodder. Jarudat, who has been displaced multiple times like most people in Gaza, said: “Some died of starvation, some were eaten by people who were hungry, some just disappeared. There is not a single one left.” Jarudat said he had learned from friends and former neighbours who had visited the site that Israeli forces had cleared his farm of trees and buildings. The area around Beit Lahiya where he lived has been the site of fierce fighting in recent weeks. “The farm and all of our homes – my home and homes of my children – were bulldozed,” he said. Israel has repeatedly denied accusations of trying to make parts of Gaza uninhabitable in order to force the permanent displacement of people but satellite imagery reveal swathes of land razed of buildings, trees and even roads, as well as serious damage to agricultural infrastructure such as wells, irrigation systems, ponds and greenhouses. Ismael al-Rahal, 49, another farmer from northern Gaza, said that only a handful of his 65 sheep remained alive. “At the beginning of the war, even though it was very difficult to transport our children and our most valued possessions, I put some sheep in a hired car, and every time I had to flee again, I moved them with me,” he said. Now four sheep are tethered next to Rahal’s tent in Deir al Balah, in the centre of Gaza, providing small amounts of milk and dung that can be used as fertiliser. “Food prices are very high and we can’t even buy enough for the family. A flour bag is selling for 100 dollars, 10 times the regular price. We cut back on what we eat to save money to feed the sheep,” said Rahal. Aid officials in Gaza describe the situation in much of the territory, where more than two-thirds of buildings have been destroyed or damaged in 13 months of war, as “apocalyptic”. Experts have warned of imminent famine. Israel imposed a total blockade of Gaza in the first weeks of the war, before gradually easing restrictions under international pressure. However, despite the US having issued a 30-day ultimatum last month, threatening sanctions if there was no increase in humanitarian supplies reaching Gaza, aid dropped to its lowest level in October. Paulsen said that in some places Gaza’s farmers, fishers and livestock owners were risking their lives to continue production. “The significant levels of damage … are exacerbating the humanitarian and hunger crisis on the ground and increasing the risk of famine. Food supply across [Gaza] has sharply deteriorated while food availability is at an all-time low,” he told the UN. Israeli authorities have denied any risk of famine, saying that previous such projections had proved incorrect and relied on partial, biased data. “There is a glaring gap between the reality on the ground and the distorted declarations that some NGOs have been stating about Israel,” Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, told the Jerusalem Post. The conflict in Gaza was triggered by a surprise Hamas attack into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and 250 abducted. Since then, almost 44,000 have been killed by the Israeli offensive in Gaza, nearly 70% of which were women and children. Rahal said: “My farm was like a zoo. We had donkeys, horses, cows and sheep. We had chickens and ducks. We had everything we needed. When I left my farm, I told 60 pairs of pigeons it was time for them to go and opened their cage. “Now there is nothing left. We have no home, no animals. Everything we built was destroyed in this war.”

The Guardian;Putin sends African lion, brown bears and cockatoos to North Korea as gift of support;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/putin-north-korea-animals-gift-african-lion-brown-bears-cockatoos-ukraine-war;2024-11-21T02:29:08Z

Russia has transferred more than 70 animals, including an African lion, two brown bears and 45 pheasants to a zoo in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. The animals transferred from Moscow Zoo, were “a gift from Vladimir Putin to the Korean people”, the government said. The delivery also included two domestic yaks, 40 mandarin ducks and five white cockatoos. Alexander Kozlov, Russia’s natural resources minister, oversaw the relocation of the animals, which were transported by plane to the Pyongyang Central Zoo accompanied by veterinarians from the Moscow Zoo. “Historically, animals always have played a special role in relations between states. They have been given as a sign of support, kindness and care,” he said. Ties between Russia and North have strengthened during the Ukraine war, with North Korea recently sending 10,000 troops to bolster Russian forces. This June the two countries signed a mutual defence pact that includes a clause requiring the countries to come to each other’s aid if either is attacked. During that trip North Korean leader Kim Jong-un gave Putin a pair of Pungsan dogs, a local breed. The two also took turns driving each other around in a Russian-built Aurus limousine. The pact has magnified western concerns about potential Russian aid for North Korea’s missile or nuclear programmes. Pictures published by the Russian government on Wednesday showed a white cockatoo travelling in a crate and Kozlov receiving a tour of the Korean zoo from local officials. North Korean state media KCNA reported on Thursday that rare animals had been received as gifts from Putin. On Thursday the two countries signed a protocol on cooperation after meetings covering trade, the economy, science and technology in Pyongyang, according to North Korean state media KCNA. There were few details in the KCNA report, but Russia’s Tass news agency said on Tuesday that the countries agreed to increase charter flights following the meeting, citing Russia’s ministry of natural resources. Between January and September, the number of tourists travelling between Russia and North Korea amounted to over 5,000 people, with more than 70% travelling by air, it said. With Reuters

The Guardian;Ukraine war briefing: We will regain Crimea through diplomacy, not force, says Zelenskyy;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/21/ukraine-war-briefing-we-will-regain-crimea-through-diplomacy-not-force-says-zelenskyy;2024-11-21T01:04:15Z

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine can take back Crimea only through diplomatic means. “We cannot spend dozens of, thousands of our people so that they perish for the sake of Crimea coming back … we understand that Crimea can be brought back diplomatically,” the Ukrainian president told Fox News. Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. “I was already mentioning that we are ready to bring Crimea back diplomatically,” Zelenskyy said. Asked on Fox whether Ukraine might give up territory for peace, Zelenskyy said: “We cannot legally acknowledge any occupied territory of Ukraine as Russian. That is about those territories … occupied by Putin before the full-scale invasion, since 2014. Legally, we are not acknowledging that, we are not adopting that.” Russia staged “a massive information-psychological attack” against Ukraine by spreading a fake warning, purportedly from Ukrainian military intelligence, about an imminent mass air attack, Kyiv’s Main Directorate of Intelligence said on Wednesday. “This message is a fake, it contains grammatical errors typical of Russian information and psychological operations.” Ukraine on Wednesday downplayed the threat of any imminent and large-scale missile threat after several foreign embassies in Kyiv closed for a day citing a “potential” strike. “We remind you that the threat of strikes by the aggressor state has unfortunately been a daily reality for Ukrainians for over 1,000 days,” said a foreign ministry statement. The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, on a state visit in Brazil, said he wanted to see “more voices committed to peace to pave the way for a political solution to the Ukraine crisis”, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported. Ukraine has fired UK-made Storm Shadow missiles into Russia for the first time since the beginning of the conflict, the Guardian understands from multiple sources. Dan Sabbagh and Andrew Roth write that video circulated by pro-Russian war bloggers indicated that up to 12 missiles struck a target believed to be a command headquarters in the village of Maryno, in the Kursk region where Ukraine holds territory. Ukrainian media reported that the site may have been used by North Korean and Russian officers. Zelenskyy thanked the US and Joe Biden for the provision of landmines to Ukrainian troops, calling it “essential … to stop Russian assaults” in a video address on Wednesday. In addition to the landmines, the latest $275m US aid package includes drones, Himars rockets and artillery. The US decision to send anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine – criticised by rights groups – was triggered by a change in Russian battlefield tactics favouring infantry over mechanised units, said the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin. “They lead with dismounted forces who are able to close and do things to kind of pave the way for mechanised forces,” he said, adding that the Ukrainians “have a need for things that can help slow down that effort on the part of the Russians”. US and Ukrainian officials confirmed Ukraine has used US-made Atacms missiles to strike targets within Russia. The Kremlin said six missiles were launched at the town of Karachev, with one reportedly causing a significant explosion. The Netherlands has handed the final two of 18 promised F-16 fighter jets to a training facility in Romania, where Ukrainian pilots and ground staff are being taught to fly and maintain them in battle, the Dutch defence ministry said. The Biden administration has moved to forgive about $4.7bn in US loans to Ukraine, state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday, as outgoing officials seek to do what they can before leaving office to bolster Ukraine in its war against Russia. A funding bill passed by Congress in April included just over $9.4bn of forgivable loans for economic and budgetary support, half of which the president could cancel after 15 November. Italy will continue to provide support to Ukraine in its war against Russia, the defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said on Wednesday. “The government’s position has not changed, we believe it is necessary to continue providing support to Ukraine in line with what we have done so far in order to achieve … the conditions for a just and lasting peace,” Crosetto told parliament.

NPR;United Nations nuclear agency again condemns Iran for failing to fully cooperate;https://www.npr.org/2024/11/22/nx-s1-5202123/united-nations-iran-nuclear;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 01:08:26 -0500

The resolution comes after the agency said Iran has defied demands to rein in its nuclear program and has increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.

NPR;Alabama carries out nation's 3rd nitrogen gas execution;https://www.npr.org/2024/11/22/nx-s1-5201699/alabama-nitrogen-gas-execution;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 01:00:32 -0500

An Alabama man convicted in the 1994 killing of a hitchhiker cursed at the prison warden shortly before he was put to death Thursday evening in the nation's third execution using nitrogen gas.

NPR;Trump names former Florida AG Pam Bondi as his new pick for U.S. attorney general;https://www.npr.org/2024/11/21/nx-s1-5201397/pam-bondi-trump-attorney-general;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:04:27 -0500

After former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration, President-elect Donald Trump named Pam Bondi, a former attorney general of Florida, as his next pick for U.S. attorney general.

NPR;Some Trump cabinet picks are accused of sexual misconduct. What's it mean for #MeToo?;https://www.npr.org/2024/11/21/1214380333/some-trump-cabinet-picks-are-accused-of-sexual-misconduct-whats-it-mean-for-meto;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 18:57:42 -0500

If you're tracking Donald Trump's cabinet picks, you may have noticed common threads among them: top jobs are going to people fiercely loyal to Trump, people with experience appearing on TV, but no experience directly relevant to the jobs they would be doing.<br /><br />There's another thing several share: being accused of sexual misconduct. Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, HHS Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, Elon Musk, who Trump has picked to co-run the Department of Government Efficiency — all these men have faced some variation of accusations of sexual misconduct. All have denied it, or claimed no memory.<br /><br />Donald Trump's first presidential win helped lay the groundwork for the #MeToo movement. What do his cabinet picks say about the movement today?<br /><br />For sponsor-free episodes of <em>Consider This,</em> sign up for C<em>onsider This+</em> via Apple Podcasts or at <a href="http://plus.npr.org">plus.npr.org</a>. <br /><br />Email us at <a href="mailto:considerthis@npr.org">considerthis@npr.org</a>.

NPR;Police report gives details, timeline of the sexual assault claim against Pete Hegseth;https://www.npr.org/2024/11/21/nx-s1-5199630/police-report-gives-details-timeline-of-the-sexual-assault-claim-against-pete-hegseth;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 18:06:58 -0500

The woman who accused then-Fox News host of sexual assault in 2017 said that she "remembered saying 'no' a lot," according to a police report. Hegseth is President-elect Donald Trump's choice for Secretary of Defense.

NPR;In Gaza Organized Gangs Make a Bad Situation Even Worse;https://www.npr.org/2024/11/21/1214380339/in-gaza-organized-gangs-make-a-bad-situation-even-worse;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 16:22:30 -0500

Israel has been accused of using starvation in Gaza as a weapon of war. It's a charge the government denies, however aid groups say too little food is being allowed into Gaza. And making the problem even worse, armed gangs are looting much of the aid that is coming in. We hear more about the issue and what Israel is doing about it. <br /><br />For more coverage of all sides of this conflict, go to <a href="http://npr.org/mideastupdates">npr.org/mideastupdates</a>

NPR;What is the ICC and can it really arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?;https://www.npr.org/2024/11/21/nx-s1-5199669/icc-arrest-warrants-netanyahu-gallant-hamas-israel-war-deif;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 15:10:15 -0500

The ICC also issued warrants for Yoav Gallant, former Israeli defense minister, and Hamas leader Muhammad Deif. But it doesn't have an enforcement mechanism and relies on states to make the arrests.

NPR;Former Brazilian president indicted over alleged coup plot;https://www.npr.org/2024/11/21/nx-s1-5199910/brazil-police-indict-former-president-jair-bolsonaro-coup;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 15:00:23 -0500

Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro and several others have been charged with attempting to overthrow incoming government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022.

NPR;SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who took aim at crypto industry, to step down in January;https://www.npr.org/2024/11/21/g-s1-35233/sec-gary-gensler-resigns-crypto;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 13:33:03 -0500

Gensler said he would step down on Jan. 20, when Donald Trump will inaugurated as the next president. Gensler took big enforcement actions against the crypto industry.

NPR;Putin says Russia tested a new intermediate-range ballistic missile on Ukraine;https://www.npr.org/2024/11/21/nx-s1-5199704/russia-ukraine-war-ballistic-missile;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 12:53:16 -0500

Putin said the new missile, called "Oreshnik," Russian for "hazel," used a nonnuclear warhead and was in response to Ukraine firing longer-range missiles into Russia with NATO's help.

Al Jazeera;Iran says activating ‘advanced’ centrifuges after IAEA censure;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/22/iran-says-activating-advanced-centrifuges-after-iaea-censure?traffic_source=rss;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 09:18:31 +0000

UN nuclear watchdog condemns Iran for failing to cooperate fully and seeks answers on uranium found at two locations.

Al Jazeera;Guardiola signs two-year contract extension at Manchester City;https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2024/11/22/guardiola-signs-two-year-contract-extension-at-manchester-city?traffic_source=rss;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 08:55:58 +0000

Pep Guardiola has ended speculation about his future as Manchester City manager by signing a new two-year deal.

Al Jazeera;In Gaza dreams die, but hope remains;https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/11/22/in-gaza-dreams-die-but-hope-remains?traffic_source=rss;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 08:02:17 +0000

As a doctor, I hoped to leave Gaza to improve my qualifications, but my dream to study abroad was shattered.

Al Jazeera;At least 42 killed in sectarian violence in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/22/dozens-killed-in-sectarian-violence-in-pakistans-khyber-pakhtunkhwa?traffic_source=rss;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 07:47:10 +0000

Gunmen open fire on buses carrying Shia pilgrims in Kurram, where clashes with Sunnis have escalated in recent months.

Al Jazeera;Singapore hangs drug trafficker, third such execution in a week;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/22/singapore-hangs-third-drug-trafficker-in-a-week?traffic_source=rss;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 06:22:03 +0000

Southeast Asian city-state is among a handful of countries that impose the death penalty for drug offences.

Al Jazeera;Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,002;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/22/russia-ukraine-war-list-of-key-events-day-1002?traffic_source=rss;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 05:56:46 +0000

These were the key developments on the 1,002nd day of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Al Jazeera;Mapping the impact of climate change on global displacement;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/22/mapping-the-impact-of-climate-change-on-global-displacement?traffic_source=rss;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 05:54:56 +0000

As COP29 concludes, Al Jazeera examines the 359 million weather-related displacements recorded worldwide since 2008.

Al Jazeera;Old is gold: Why Bollywood is turning to re-releases amid string of flops;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/22/old-is-gold-why-bollywood-is-turning-to-re-releases-amid-string-of-flops?traffic_source=rss;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 04:47:30 +0000

As more and more contemporary films fail, producers and exhibitors fall back on time-tested fare to lure viewers back.

Al Jazeera;US state of Alabama carries out third execution by nitrogen gas;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/22/us-state-of-alabama-carries-out-third-execution-by-nitrogen-gas?traffic_source=rss;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 04:36:47 +0000

Carey Grayson executed using controversial method after being convicted of the 1994 murder of a hitchhiker.

Al Jazeera;Why has Indian billionaire Gautam Adani been charged in a US bribery case?;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/22/why-has-indian-billionaire-gautam-adani-been-charged-in-a-us-bribery-case?traffic_source=rss;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 04:23:29 +0000

It&#039;s the latest in a recent series of fraud allegations trailing the embattled billionaire&#039;s Adani Group.

Al Jazeera;Bitcoin nears $100,000 as investors bet on crypto-friendly Trump policies;https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/11/22/bitcoin-nears-100000-as-investors-bet-on-crypto-friendly-trump-policies?traffic_source=rss;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 02:45:09 +0000

World&#039;s popular digital currency rises as high as $99,073 on expectations Trump will ease legal and regulatory hurdles.

Al Jazeera;What are the ICC countries where Netanyahu and Gallant may face arrest?;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/21/what-are-the-icc-countries-where-netanyahu-and-gallant-may-face-arrest?traffic_source=rss;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 23:47:01 +0000

More than 120 countries that are part of the International Criminal Court are obliged to enforce the arrest warrants.

Al Jazeera;All to know about Man Utd’s manager Ruben Amorim before first EPL match;https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2024/11/21/manchester-united-ruben-amorim-five-notes-about-premier-league-newcomer?traffic_source=rss;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 22:10:00 +0000

Al Jazeera takes a closer look at Portuguese coach as he takes charge of his first Manchester United match on Sunday.

Al Jazeera;Can Colombia’s talks with the Comuneros del Sur help achieve ‘total peace’?;https://www.aljazeera.com/features/longform/2024/11/21/can-colombias-talks-with-the-comuneros-del-sur-help-achieve-total-peace?traffic_source=rss;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 21:47:14 +0000

Government talks with armed groups have stalled. Experts say a smaller-scale ‘territorial’ approach might be the answer.

Al Jazeera;How US politicians responded to Netanyahu’s ICC arrest warrant;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/21/how-us-politicians-responded-to-netanyahus-icc-arrest-warrant?traffic_source=rss;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 21:38:32 +0000

Biden administration &#039;fundamentally rejects&#039; decision as lawmakers issue threats and call for sanctions against court.

Al Jazeera;What are the implications of US’s UN Security Council veto, ICC warrants?;https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2024/11/21/what-are-the-implications-of-uss-un-security-council-veto-icc-warrants?traffic_source=rss;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:49:45 +0000

The United States vetoed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza at the United Nations Security Council.

Al Jazeera;Israel pounds eastern and southern Lebanon as truce talks continue;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/21/israel-pounds-eastern-and-southern-lebanon-as-truce-talks-continue?traffic_source=rss;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:38:22 +0000

US mediator Amos Hochstein said a ceasefire was &#039;within our grasp&#039; during a visit to Lebanon.

Al Jazeera;Putin: Russia tested intermediate-range missile on Ukraine;https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2024/11/21/putin-russia-tested-intermediate-range-missile-on-ukraine?traffic_source=rss;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:14:10 +0000

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia tested a new intermediate-range missile in combat conditions on Ukraine.

Al Jazeera;White House ‘fundamentally rejects’ ICC warrants for Israeli leaders;https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2024/11/21/white-house-fundamentally-rejects-icc-warrants-for-israeli-leaders?traffic_source=rss;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:57:13 +0000

The White House says it is working with Israel on a response to the ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.

Al Jazeera;Going bananas: Duct-taped fresh fruit sells for millions at Sotheby’s;https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2024/11/21/aje-onl-nf_bananaauction-211124-final?traffic_source=rss;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:35:54 +0000

A banana duct-taped to a wall is causing a stir in the art world again. It just sold for $6.2 million at Sotheby&#039;s.

Al Jazeera;US SEC chair Gensler to step down upon Trump takeover;https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/11/21/us-sec-chair-gensler-to-step-down-upon-trump-takeover?traffic_source=rss;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:33:55 +0000

US President-elect Donald Trump had said he would remove Gary Gensler as Securities and Exchange Commission chair.

Al Jazeera;Senegal’s ruling Pastef party secures large majority in parliament;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/21/senegals-ruling-pastef-party-secures-large-majority-in-parliament?traffic_source=rss;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:25:55 +0000

Win grants President Bassirou Diomaye Faye a clear mandate to carry out ambitious reforms.

Al Jazeera;Trump picks loyalist Pam Bondi for attorney general as Matt Gaetz withdraws;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/21/trump-loyalist-matt-gaetz-withdraws-from-us-attorney-general-consideration?traffic_source=rss;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:16:47 +0000

Ex-Florida congressman said he had become a &#039;distraction&#039; following renewed scrutiny of sexual misconduct allegations.

Al Jazeera;Brazil police accuse ex-President Bolsonaro of involvement in coup attempt;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/21/police-accuse-brazil-ex-president-bolsonaro-of-involvement-in-coup-attempt?traffic_source=rss;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 18:36:34 +0000

Police accuse Jair Bolsonaro and several former officials of involvement in plot after 2022 election defeat.

Al Jazeera;Putin says Russia attacked Ukraine with new intermediate ballistic missile;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/21/ukraine-accuses-russia-of-launching-intercontinental-ballistic-missile?traffic_source=rss;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 18:15:53 +0000

President Vladimir Putin says Russia tested a hypersonic intermediate-range missile in a strike on Ukraine.

BBC News;Charged £720 to have a key cut - soaring bills drive leaseholders to breaking point;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy84g9822gro;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 00:02:25 GMT

A BBC News investigation reveals multiple complaints about charges imposed by a major freeholder.

BBC News;Sixth foreign tourist dies of suspected methanol poisoning in Laos;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ced94znq424o;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 09:37:46 GMT

Holly Bowles died in hospital more than a week after first falling ill in a Laos tourist town.

BBC News;Energy bills to rise again in January with prices forecast to remain high;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz6jvl9w7p6o;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 09:36:25 GMT

Someone paying by direct debit and using a typical amount of energy will pay £21 more a year from January.

BBC News;UK cold snap continues as Storm Bert threatens high winds and flooding;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyg7q6wnwxo;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 07:46:15 GMT

Warnings are in place for the storm with heavy rain, strong winds and snow forecast.

BBC News;Satellite images show Russia giving N Korea oil, breaking sanctions;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr4pr0gyyzo;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 09:10:35 GMT

Satellite image analysis shows several North Korean tankers visiting Russia dozens of times since March.

BBC News;Trump picks Pam Bondi as attorney general after Matt Gaetz withdraws;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr4g50wxp2o;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 03:15:20 GMT

Bondi is a former Florida attorney general and long-time ally of Trump.

BBC News;Shop sales in surprise fall as Budget fears hit spending;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gmy9xldgno;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 08:52:57 GMT

Sales volumes fell by more than expected in October with clothing stores having a "notably poor" month.

BBC News;Biden says ICC war crimes arrest warrant 'outrageous';https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c704y7gwr95o;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 09:48:22 GMT

US President Joe Biden calls the issuing of warrants against Israeli officials including Benjamin Netanyahu "outrageous".

BBC News;Katy Perry v Katie Perry: Singer wins right to use name in Australia;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y5z4j3y2xo;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 08:03:56 GMT

An Australian appeals court has overturned an earlier ruling that favoured designer Katie Perry.

BBC News;How choosing a secondary school might be about to get easier;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0180y5r1eo;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 00:11:35 GMT

Local projects are under way to create school report cards that could inform Ofsted's national changes.

BBC News;Steve Rosenberg: After days of escalation, what will Putin do next?;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62j1g8g45vo;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 08:04:39 GMT

BBC Russia editor Steve Rosenberg assesses the Russian leader's next move.

BBC News;Weekly quiz: How did Rafael Nadal say goodbye to tennis?;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3ye0rx1gdo;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 18:37:23 GMT

How closely have you been paying attention to what's been going on in the world over the past seven days?

BBC News;The rise and fall of Matt Gaetz in eight wild days;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c99r2m4y2zro;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 03:32:18 GMT

The nomination stunned Washington, triggering a political rollercoaster that turned into a bumpy ride for Trump's transition team.

BBC News;The Papers: Netanyahu's arrest warrant and 'lawyer dies from methanol in drink';https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c774yv7lxkno;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 05:39:00 GMT

Friday's papers are led by the arrest warrant issued by the ICC and the death of a British lawyer in Laos.

BBC News;Sailor Song: The unexpected success of Gigi Perez;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqlrp3wgk3wo;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 00:32:16 GMT

One year after being dropped by her record label, Gigi Perez topped the UK charts. How did it happen?

BBC News;CCTV shows Harshita Brella and husband near lake;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwygdjyx1d9o;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 21:21:40 GMT

Police release an image of Ms Brella and Pankaj Lamba on the night they believe he killed her.

BBC News;King Charles's Coronation cost taxpayers £72m;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04lyddv2p5o;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 22:16:31 GMT

Government figures show that more than £20 million was spent by the Home Office policing the event.

BBC News;Gavin and Stacey cast in first official photo from final episode;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxydz6vp01o;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:00:04 GMT

The first official photo from the final Gavin and Stacey episode is released ahead of Christmas Day.

BBC News;White-tailed eagles to be released in national park;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86qvyz334lo;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 06:35:03 GMT

The birds of prey are set to be reintroduced to Exmoor as part of a conservation project.

BBC News;Remembering John Prescott;https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0k62tc3;Thu, 21 Nov 2024 14:54:00 GMT

Peter Mandelson pays tribute to Labour giant John Prescott.

BBC News;Premier League clubs approve changes to APT rules;https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cj6kg09ee84o;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 09:33:24 GMT

A majority of Premier League clubs approve changes to rules governing commercial deals.

BBC News;Hamilton fastest as Verstappen struggles in Vegas;https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/articles/crmz0d3vd9wo;Fri, 22 Nov 2024 08:26:06 GMT

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton heads both Friday practice sessions at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.