The sardines and mackerel were found floating on the surface of the sea near the fishing port of Hakodate in Hokkaido
Officials in Japan have admitted they are struggling to determine why hundreds of tonnes of fish have washed ashore in recent days.
Earlier this month, an estimated 1,200 tonnes of sardines and mackerel were found floating on the surface of the sea off the fishing port of Hakodate in Hokkaido, forming a silver blanket stretching for more than a kilometre.
Continue reading...EU leaders prepare for showdown with Hungary over Ukrainian membership talks; more than 50 injured in Russian missile attack on Kyiv
Russia launched a massive missile attack on Kyiv in the early hours of Wednesday in an apparent show of strength, minutes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met his US counterpart Joe Biden for talks in Washington. Ukraine’s air defences shot down all 10 Russian missiles targeting the capital but least 53 people were injured by falling debris.
EU leaders were heading into a high-stakes summit for Ukraine, with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán threatening to block both the start of EU membership talks and 50bn euros ($54bn) in financial aid for Kyiv. If EU leaders give a green light, Kyiv will be able to claim a geopolitical victory just as the Biden administration is struggling to get a Ukraine aid package through the US congress.
Ahead of Thursday’s summit, Zelenskiy said that Orban had no reason to block Ukraine’s EU membership. “I was very direct … He has no reasons to block Ukrainian membership in the EU. I asked him to tell me one reason … I’m [still] waiting for an answer,” Zelenskiy said about his short encounter with Orban in Argentina on Sunday.
Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, also urged EU countries to recognise that Ukraine has “much to offer” the bloc. “Values-wise and ideologically, Ukraine is an indisputable part of Europe – which is precisely why Russia attacked us … Without Ukraine, the ‘Europe’ puzzle cannot come together,” he said.
Arriving at the summit in Brussels, Poland’s new prime minister, Donald Tusk, said that “apathy on Ukraine” was “unacceptable”. Poland’s previous government had become embroiled in a row with Ukraine over grain exports but new foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski also stressed that supporting Ukraine would be a “priority” for the new administration.
The five Nordic nations told Zelenskiy during previously unannounced talks in Oslo that they would support his country “for as long as it takes” in its struggle to drive out Russian forces. Together, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland have provided aid to Ukraine worth 11bn euros since Russia invaded in February 2022 and are ready to continue giving extensive military, economic and humanitarian support, the five nations said in a joint statement.
Denmark’s government would present a new support package for Ukraine worth 1 bn euros ($1.08bn) to parliament on Thursday, prime minister Mette Frederiksen said at a press conference in Oslo with the Nordic leaders and Zelenskiy in Oslo.
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin is expected to hold his annual end of the year press conference on 14 December. The event will include a call-in known as the “direct line”, in which Russians can ask Putin for his advice. “On December 14, Vladimir Putin will sum up the results of the year. It will be a combined format of the direct line and the president’s final press conference,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday.
Ukraine’s top mobile phone operator, Kyivstar, started restoring voice services to some clients a day after its networks were knocked out by a major cyber-attack, Kyivstar CEO Oleksandr Komarov said, with data and other services to follow. The company, which provides services to more than half of Ukraine’s population, sustained “huge” damage during the attack on Tuesday, Komarov told Reuters, calling it “the biggest cyber-attack on telco infrastructure in the world”.
A hacking group believed by Kyiv to be affiliated with Russian military intelligence claimed responsibility for the cyber-attack. A group of activist hackers, or “hacktivists”, called Solntsepyok said in a post on the Telegram messaging app that it carried out the cyber-attack, and published screenshots appearing to show that the hackers had accessed Kyivstar’s servers.
Continue reading...Ashlee Humphreys, a Northwestern professor, testifies that Giuliani’s claims against plaintiffs have significant effects on their reputations
Ashlee Humphreys said in court that prior to 3 December, 2020, there was almost no search traffic for “Ruby Freeman”, the Guardian’s Sam Levine reports.
Afterwards, there was an increase, she said.
Continue reading...Conditions deteriorate amid floods, escalating food shortages and waves of disease
Heavy winter rains have lashed Gaza, washing out tents and flooding some areas, as the head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees described deteriorating conditions in the coastal strip as a “living hell”.
Amid escalating shortages of food, spreading waves of communicable disease and the near collapse of Gaza’s health system, the winter storm turned large areas to mud and drenched many of those sleeping in makeshift plastic tents.
Continue reading...Commission says Hungary has fulfilled set of judiciary reforms while critics say funds could have been unlocked to persuade Orbán to stop blocking Ukraine-related decisions
The leaders of major political groups in the European parliament have sent a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, outlining their objections to unfreezing EU funds for Hungary.
In the letter, seen by the Guardian, the political group presidents wrote:
We would like to express our deep concern as regards the imminent positive assessment of the Hungarian judicial reforms and their fulfilment of the four judicial milestones set out in the horizontal enabling condition under the Common Provisions Regulation.
In our view, the horizontal enabling condition referring to the independence of the judiciary has not been fulfilled.
We are most concerned about the implementation requirement regarding the strengthening of the National Judicial Council.
We need to live up to our commitments on Ukraine and continue to be a reliable and strong partner. We must provide Ukraine with continued and sustainable political, financial and military support and, in particular, come to an agreement on providing €50bn for its long term stability.
We also have to agree to open accession negotiations with Ukraine, thereby giving it a necessary signal and bringing it yet closer to our European family.
A pivotal European Council lies ahead of us. Now is the time for decision-making. I call on you all to come equipped with a spirit of compromise, a sense of collective responsibility, with the union’s interests and values at the forefront of your minds.
Continue reading...UAE and Qatar say they will not again fund Gaza reconstruction without Israeli concession, as US isolation grows
Gulf states are capitalising on the resounding vote at the UN general assembly in favour of calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza by warning the US they will not once again fund the reconstruction of Gaza unless Israel agrees to a published roadmap to a two-state solution.
In Israel the general assembly vote was dismissed as a further sign of anti-Israeli bias at the UN. But with the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, due to visit the region, pressure is building on Israel to show greater flexibility about what will constitute a military victory and how Gaza will be administered once the war ends.
Continue reading...Viktor Orbán’s threat to block funds and membership to Ukraine strikes at the heart of decision-making in the bloc
In the past three years, European leaders have weathered Brexit, the pandemic and the energy crisis, but it turns out that the biggest threat to the EU’s unity and security has come from within.
All week, ministers and EU leaders have been closing ranks to try to prevent the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, from derailing plans to greenlight the start of EU membership talks with Ukraine and a new €50bn (£43bn) facility to help the country pay its bills over the coming years.
Continue reading...Hungarian prime minister has threatened to block extra €50bn and also Ukraine’s EU membership plans
EU leaders hope to face down the Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán and keep their promise to find another €50bn (£43bn) for Ukraine despite his threat to veto extra funds during a crunch summit.
“There is no [one] plan B, there are plan Bs and if need be, we can go to Z,” said one diplomat, expressing the determination of the EU to ensure Orbán’s threats are not a barrier to Ukraine securing much-needed financial and military assistance to fight Russian invasion forces.
Continue reading...Pontiff tells Mexican broadcaster he will break with tradition and simplify papal funeral
Pope Francis has said he has “already prepared” his tomb in a Rome basilica in a further sign of the pontiff’s quest to break from longstanding Vatican tradition.
Francis, who turns 87 on 17 December, told the Mexican broadcaster N+ that he would be laid to rest in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in the Esquilino neighbourhood in Rome, where he goes to pray before and after trips overseas.
Continue reading...Senior officer from Golani Brigade dies after failed attempt to rescue injured troops in Shejaiya area
Two senior Israeli commanders and seven other soldiers have been killed by Hamas in a complex ambush in the Gaza City suburb of Shejaiya, an area that has seen intense urban fighting in recent days.
The latest Israeli combat deaths came amid fears of a rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza as heavy winter rains lashed the region and after reports by aid agencies of dwindling food stocks for the vast number of Palestinians who have been displaced to southern Gaza.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s capital comes under attack, with mayor saying children’s hospital damaged
Norway will donate 3bn crowns (£220m) to Ukraine, the prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, told a joint press conference with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
The funds are part of a package agreed previously by Norway’s parliament, of 75bn crowns over five years.
Russia has lost 341,500 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces claimed today.
Continue reading...Petition demanding station outside Paris does not use singer’s name has received 4,000 signatures
He was a poet-provocateur whose songs transformed French music and whose often outrageous behaviour on TV was shrugged off with a smile.
But plans to name a new Métro station east of Paris after the singer Serge Gainsbourg have sparked a row, with campaigners saying he was a misogynist whose songs glorified child abuse and should not be celebrated.
Continue reading...Boat from Philippines with gifts for fishers, troops and coastguard in South China Sea slipped past vessels that intercepted festive flotilla
It looked, for a time, as if Christmas had been cancelled. A Philippine mission by volunteers to bring the festive spirit to the fishers, troops and coastguard crew in the disputed South China Sea was forced to turn back on Sunday after organisers said they had been shadowed and intercepted by Chinese vessels.
But it later emerged that a smaller supply boat had managed to slip past the Chinese vessels.
Continue reading...Members of his own party among those critical of Israeli PM’s efforts to improve his dire ratings
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been accused of breaking with convention by campaigning while his country is at war after a series of controversial statements in recent days.
A number of senior Israeli political figures have been making moves before what are seen as inevitable elections when the war is over, but Netanyahu’s efforts to improve his dire ratings with the Israeli electorate – many of whom blame him for catastrophic intelligence failures in the run-up to the Hamas attack on 7 October – are regarded as the most blatant.
Continue reading...Rukchanok Srinork’s posts on X found to have breached lese-majesty and computer crime laws
A progressive Thai MP has been sentenced to six years in prison for insulting the country’s powerful monarchy on social media.
Rukchanok Srinork, 29, a former activist, also known as “Ice”, was found guilty of breaching Thailand’s strict lese-majesty law and its computer crimes act, according to the group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR). The case related to comments posted or reposted on X, including criticism of a decision to hand a contract for manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines to a company owned by King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
Continue reading...People living in Ombada district in west of Omdurman say soldiers shot at those who tried to stop them
Residents of Omdurman have described widespread looting by soldiers from the Sudanese armed forces in the only part of the city they still control.
People living in Ombada district in the west of Omdurman, which lies across the Nile from the capital, Khartoum, said soldiers had taken everything from cars to spoons, and had shot at those who tried to stop them.
Continue reading...Package of spending cuts introduced in attempt to tackle country’s worst economic crisis in decades
Argentina has devalued its currency, the peso, by more than 50% as part of a package of large-scale spending cuts intended to address the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
The plans, introduced under the newly inaugurated administration of Javier Milei, include cutting energy subsidies and cancelling tenders for public works.
Continue reading...Fatalities rose by 17% in a decade on the continent, despite falling globally, with campaigners calling for stricter safety standards on motorcycle helmets
The number of people who died in traffic incidents in Africa rose by 17% in the past decade, despite global road traffic deaths falling by 5%, according to the World Health Organization.
The Road Safety report found that nearly one in five fatal traffic incidents across the world occurred in Africa. “Part of the reason for increased fatalities in Africa is the increase in the number of vehicles on the roads,” said Nhan Tran, leader of WHO’s safety and mobility unit and the lead author of the report. “People who were not able to afford a vehicle 10 or 20 years ago can now buy one. Africa has seen a big increase in motorisation, but the infrastructure to facilitate it is not there.”
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here
We are shortly expecting a plenary to take place. The plenary sessions are the decision-making sessions of the Cops. They can be formal, in which a final decision will be made at the end, or informal (also called stocktaking), in which the purpose is to get reaction to the text before a new version is worked on. This one is informal to begin with, according to the UNFCCC, which suggests we may still be some time away from the end of this Cop.
In practice, the plenaries means every country gets a chance to share their view of the new text in an open forum, with discussion and debate taking place in the hope of reaching a final agreement. Sometimes this can be quite dramatic, and it is a rare moment in which countries from around the world, developed and developing, have to listen to each other. We will be following it live and posting excerpts from the country delegate speeches, as well as ongoing wider reaction to the text.
If this text is adopted … it will show a collective recognition that we must turn away from fossil fuels and move towards a cleaner future. Champions for this vision – both small island states and major economies – have worked tirelessly overnight. However, it is clear that not everyone is ready to admit the truth of what’s needed. This text alone might help avoid disaster in Dubai but it does not avoid disaster for the planet.”
I suspect that the language in this new draft text on the Global Stocktake, calling for countries to contribute to a transition away from fossil fuels in energy to achieve net zero by 2050, will be too weak for some Parties.
For the first time in three decades of climate negotiations the words fossil fuels have ever made it into a Cop outcome. We are finally naming the elephant in the room. The genie is never going back into the bottle and future Cops will only turn the screws even more on dirty energy.
Although we’re sending a strong signal with one hand, there’s still too many loopholes on unproven and expensive technologies like carbon capture and storage which fossil fuel interests will try and use to keep dirty energy on life support.
Continue reading...It was the second strike on Ukraine’s capital this week after a long period of calm
A Russian missile attack targeting the Ukrainian capital damaged a children’s hospital, with Kyiv’s mayor reporting at least 51 people injured in the “enemy attack”.
Ukraine’s air defence systems downed all 10 ballistic missiles targeting the capital, but falling debris caused injuries and destruction in four of Kyiv’s districts along the Dnipro River, which cuts through the capital, officials said.
Continue reading...