Can Colombia’s talks with the Comuneros del Sur help achieve ‘total peace’?
Those who try to emulate Teflon Trump often come unstuck – just ask Gaetz
The fall of the Florida congressman who was accused of sexual misconduct proves there is one rule for Trump and another for everyone else
When he ran for US president in 2016, Donald Trump boasted that he would “surround myself only with the best and most serious people”, adding: “We want top-of-the-line professionals.”
Second time around, Trump appears to have quality control issues. On Thursday Matt Gaetz, his pick to be attorney general, withdrew from consideration amid allegations including sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl, drug use and misappropriating campaign funds.
Continue reading...More than 40 killed in north-west Pakistan in gun attack on Shia convoy
Violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa follows killing of dozens of people in clashes between Sunnis and minority Shias
At least 42 people have been killed and 20 wounded after gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying Shia Muslims in Pakistan’s restive north-west, in one of the region’s deadliest such attacks in recent years, police said.
The attack happened in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where sectarian clashes between majority Sunni Muslims and minority Shias have killed dozens of people in recent months.
Continue reading...How US politicians responded to Netanyahu’s ICC arrest warrant
Matt Gaetz withdraws from consideration to be Trump’s attorney general
Gaetz’s withdrawal comes amid intense scrutiny of allegations of sexual misconduct against cabinet nominee
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, ending the brief nomination of one of Trump’s most controversial cabinet picks.
After meeting with senators on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Gaetz determined that his nomination was “becoming a distraction to the critical work” of the new Trump administration, he explained on X.
Continue reading...In Gaza Organized Gangs Make a Bad Situation Even Worse – NPR
- In Gaza Organized Gangs Make a Bad Situation Even Worse NPR
- Israel stands by as aid convoys come under attack in Gaza CBS News
- Gangs looting Gaza aid operate in areas under Israeli control, aid groups say The Washington Post
- How was a UN aid convoy robbed near Israeli military positions? Al Jazeera English
- UNRWA Situation Report #148 on the Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem unrwa
Judge denies he was asked to give advice about Letby because he is a Freemason
Simon Medland KC told inquiry his membership of organisation was not the reason he was approached by hospital boss
A judge has denied he was asked to give legal advice to hospital bosses over concerns about nurse Lucy Letby because he is a Freemason, a public inquiry has heard.
The Thirlwall inquiry into events surrounding the crimes of Letby heard that both Judge Simon Medland KC and the Countess of Chester’s former director of corporate and legal services, Stephen Cross, are members of the organisation.
Continue reading...What are the implications of US’s UN Security Council veto, ICC warrants?
Putin warns West as Russia hits Ukraine with new missile
Slapps used to silence whistleblowers should be outlawed, says group of MPs
Cross-party group cites legal threats used to hide Post Office Horizon scandal and allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed
Excessive legal threats used to silence those who tried to expose the Post Office Horizon scandal and allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed should be outlawed, a cross-party group of MPs have said.
MPs raised a series of cases, documented by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, where media outlets and whistleblowers have been prevented from publishing material that they believed was in the public interest.
Continue reading...Israel pounds eastern and southern Lebanon as truce talks continue
Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro charged with plotting coup d’état
Police accuse 37 people of crimes including conspiracy and trying to tear down one of world’s largest democracies
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”.
Continue reading...How Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz unravelled in just eight days
In a Washington farce for the ages, the far-right Republican has withdrawn from consideration for US attorney general – how did it happen?
Donald Trump decided to nominate Matt Gaetz as attorney general last Wednesday, during a flight home from Washington, where the president-elect had visited Joe Biden at the White House. The pick proved as surprising as it was controversial. Just eight days later, after a week of relentless hullabaloo, Gaetz withdrew from contention.
It was a Washington farce for the ages. But how did it happen?
Continue reading...Putin: Russia tested intermediate-range missile on Ukraine
Putin says Russia fired experimental ballistic missile into Ukraine
President says missile was in reply to Kyiv’s strikes in Russia with western missiles, and appears to directly threaten US and UK
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.
Continue reading...White House ‘fundamentally rejects’ ICC warrants for Israeli leaders
The US is ramping up sanctions by targeting the last major Russian bank not yet blacklisted – Business Insider
- The US is ramping up sanctions by targeting the last major Russian bank not yet blacklisted Business Insider
- New Sanctions Against Gazprombank: Too Little, Too Late Forbes
- Japan to take all steps to ensure uninterrupted Sakhalin-2 LNG supply from Russia Reuters
- US Sanctions Gazprombank to Squeeze Russian Gas Exports Bloomberg
- Treasury imposes sanctions on Russian banks, financial officials The Hill
How John Prescott used humour and grit to unite old and New Labour
Prescott, from proud working-class stock, represented the part of Labour that Tony Blair knew he had to carry with him
The first time I met John Prescott, we were in a helicopter flying over the Thames Gateway where he and Tony Blair, the then prime minister, also on board, were announcing a multimillion-pound regeneration plan.
It was August 2003 and I was a young pool reporter for the Press Association, there to ask the politicians about their plans on behalf of the rest of the media. The flight was noisy and we all wore ear protectors, so conversation was limited.
Continue reading...Essex police drop Allison Pearson case after CPS advice
Police were advised there was no chance of conviction against journalist after hate crime investigation, Guardian understands
Essex police have dropped their hate crime investigation into Allison Pearson, the Daily Telegraph columnist visited by police after she wrongly accused people of colour of being antisemitic.
The decision followed advice from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that there was no reasonable chance of a conviction, the Guardian understands.
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