Pope Francis reveals he will not be buried in Vatican

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...

Gaza: Israeli commanders among nine soldiers killed in Hamas ambush

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...

Russia-Ukraine war: scores injured in overnight attack on Kyiv – as it happened

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...

Anger over plan to name Métro station after ‘misogynist’ Serge Gainsbourg

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...

Festive cheer for Filipino fishers after supply boat evades Chinese vessels

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...

Benjamin Netanyahu accused of ‘evil’ campaigning at time of war

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...

Thai MP given six-year prison sentence for insulting monarchy

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...

Soldiers accused of widespread looting from homes near Sudanese capital

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...

Argentina’s new government devalues peso by more than 50%

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...

Africa sees sharp rise in road traffic deaths as motorbike taxis boom

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...

Cop28: landmark deal to ‘transition away’ from fossil fuels agreed – as it happened

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...

Russian strikes on Kyiv damage children’s hospital and leave more than 50 injured

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...

Japan chooses ‘tax’ as kanji of the year amid concern over cost of living

Competition winner reflects growing anxiety about tax rises, while second place for word of the year went to ‘hot’ after a sweltering summer

The kanji character for “tax” has been chosen as Japan’s word of the year, in a reflection of growing public anxiety over the cost of living and impending tax rises.

The single character – which can be read as zei or mitsugi – was unveiled this week at Kiyomizu Buddhist temple in Kyoto, whose head priest, Seihan Mori, reproduced it with a huge brush on a white washi paper canvas.

Continue reading...

Yemen’s Houthis warn ships in Red Sea to avoid Israel or face attack

Attacks on vessels close to Yemen have led to a rise in the cost of shipping and fears that supply chains could be disrupted

A senior official from Yemen’s Houthis has warned cargo ships in the Red Sea to avoid travelling towards Israel and the occupied territories, after the Iran-aligned group claimed an attack on a commercial tanker earlier in the day.

Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, the head of Yemen’s Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, said ships should avoid heading towards Israel and that any that pass Yemen should keep their radios turned on and quickly respond to Houthi attempts at communication.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 658

Scores injured in missile attack on Kyiv; Zelenskiy gets frosty reception from Republicans in Washington; Biden announces $200m military aid package

Ukraine’s capital came under a missile attack early on Wednesday, resulting in at least 45 injuries and several damaged buildings. Kyiv mayor Vitali Kitschko said on Telegram that debris from intercepted missiles fell in the eastern Dniprovskyi district, injuring at least 45 people. Eighteen people including two children were hospitalized while 27 people received medical treatment on the spot. An apartment building, a private house and several cars caught fire, while the windows of a children’s hospital were shattered, Klitschko said. Falling rocket debris also damaged the water supply system in the district.

US president Joe Biden warned Republicans they would give Russia a “Christmas gift” if they failed to provide additional military aid to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose meeting with top lawmakers concluded without a commitment for more support.

Zelenskiy travelled to Washington to plead for money to back Ukraine in its war with Russia, but he faced a sceptical reception from key Republican lawmakers. Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House of Representatives, would not agree to support Biden’s request to give Ukraine $61.4bn, with objectors insisting on White House concessions on border security as a condition for a deal.

Biden announced an additional $200m military aid package and, amid concerns that the war had reached a stalemate, insisted that Ukraine has made significant progress. “I will not walk away from Ukraine, and neither will the American people,” Biden said.

Moscow said it was watching developments closely. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, said that “tens of billions of dollars” already provided by Washington had failed to turn the tide of war and that more money would make little difference.

A declassified US intelligence report assessed that the Ukraine war has cost Russia 315,000 dead and injured troops, or nearly 90% of the personnel it had when the conflict began, a source familiar with the intelligence said on Tuesday. The report also assessed that Moscow’s losses in personnel and armoured vehicles to Ukraine’s military have set back Russia’s military modernisation by 18 years, the source said.

Ukraine’s biggest mobile network operator, Kyivstar, said it was the target of a major cyber-attack on Tuesday morning that temporarily knocked out its cellular and internet signal. The cyber-attack affected the air raid alert system in more than 75 settlements in the Kyiv region, the regional military administration said.

Poland will demand the full mobilisation of the free world to help Ukraine, the newly appointed prime minister, Donald Tusk, said. He said: “We will demand full mobilisation of the west to help Ukraine. I can no longer listen to politicians who talk about being tired of the situation in Ukraine.”

Russian forces in southern Ukraine have “advanced considerably” around the village of Novopokrovka in the Zaporizhzhia region, Moscow’s occupational authorities have said. “Our units have advanced significantly forward north-east of Novopokrovka,” the Moscow-installed head of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, wrote on Telegram.

Europeans are generally open to the idea of Ukraine joining the EU, despite the costs and risks, but lukewarm at best about the bloc’s prospective enlargement to also take in Georgia and countries in the western Balkans, according to a survey.

Continue reading...

Republicans helping Russia by denying Ukraine aid, Biden says

US president announces emergency $200m in aid after Congress continues to deny Volodymyr Zelenskiy

Joe Biden has given his starkest warning yet that Republicans are playing directly into Russian president Vladimir Putin’s hands by threatening to end military aid to Ukraine.

“Russian loyalists in Moscow celebrated when Republicans voted to block Ukraine’s aid last week,” the US president said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Washington on Tuesday. “The host of a Kremlin-run show said: ‘Well-done Republicans, that’s good for us.’”

Continue reading...

Far-right Polish MP uses fire extinguisher to put out Hanukah candles

Rabbi says antisemitic attack, hours after Donald Tusk vowed to reform Poland, galvanised support for Jewish community

A far-right Polish MP has extinguished candles on a menorah lit for Hanukah in Poland’s parliament, disrupting proceedings before a vote of confidence in the new government.

Grzegorz Braun, a fringe far-right MP, was shown on television spraying the menorah with a fire extinguisher. Haze filled the area. The parliament took a break in proceedings to deal with the incident and Braun was suspended for the rest of the day.

Continue reading...

War has left Gaza economy at almost total standstill, says World Bank

Washington-based development organisation providing $20m for citizens suffering ‘multidimensional poverty’

The economy of Gaza has ground to an almost total standstill as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas that has left about 85% of workers without jobs, the World Bank has said.

In an assessment of the economic impact of the two-month-long conflict, the Washington-based development organisation said Gaza was operating at only 16% of its productive capacity and was in “deep recession”.

Continue reading...

Canada police charge man with 14 counts of murder for mailing poison

Police say Kenneth Law, 58, sent at least 1,200 packages containing lethal substances to addresses in more than 40 countries

A Canadian man who allegedly helped more than a dozen young people across the province of Ontario kill themselves by mailing them poison has been charged with 14 counts of second-degree murder, police said on Tuesday.

Kenneth Law, 58, had previously been charged with 14 counts of counseling or aiding suicide.

In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Continue reading...

Donald Tusk sets out vision of a progressive Poland at heart of EU

Incoming PM tells parliament he will ‘bring back billions of euros’ of EU funds, as MPs prepare to confirm his candidacy

Donald Tusk has presented his vision of a new, progressive Poland at the heart of the EU, before a vote in parliament that is set to confirm his candidacy for prime minister.

“Poland will regain its position as a leader in the European Union,” Tusk told the Sejm, the lower house of parliament, during a speech on Tuesday. He promised to “bring back billions of euros” of EU funds to Poland, which were frozen due to a dispute between Brussels and the outgoing Law and Justice (PiS) government over rule-of-law concerns.

Continue reading...