Keir Starmer cautions Israel but refuses to back calls for ceasefire

Labour leader criticises Israeli bombardment but says ceasefire is not ‘the correct position now’

Keir Starmer has urged Israel to obey international law but refused to back calls for a ceasefire, as he seeks to heal increasingly bitter divisions within his own party over the conflict in Gaza.

The Labour leader spelled out his position on the crisis in detail on Tuesday after days of criticism from many of his own members and MPs that he appeared oblivious to the suffering of Palestinians.

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Russian soldiers accused of killing family of nine in Ukraine

Russia makes first known arrests of its own soldiers after 2022 invasion on suspicion of killing Ukrainian civilians

Two Russian soldiers have been arrested on suspicion of killing a family of nine, including two young children, in their home in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha.

Russian media reported that the killings took place last Friday night and the suspects had used machine guns with silencers to kill the family at night in their sleep.

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Michelangelo’s secret sketches under church in Florence open to public

Artist spent months in a chamber below the Medici Chapels to evade Pope Clement VII’s death sentence

Michelangelo Buonarroti left behind a trail of artistic marvels, including his statue of David and the sublime frescoes that adorn the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Now a “secret” room in Florence whose walls are sketched with doodles that the Italian Renaissance master is believed to have created while evading a death sentence ordered by Pope Clement VII amid his falling out with the powerful Medici family is to officially open to the public for the first time.

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Arab American backing for Biden sinks over ‘rock-solid’ Israel support

Poll from AAI shows increase in discrimination against Arab Americans and increase in support for Donald Trump

Arab American support for Joe Biden has fallen in the wake of his response to the latest bout of violence between Israel and Hamas, a new poll from the Arab American Institute (AAI) shows. The same poll showed a sharp increase in reports of discrimination against members of the community.

Following Hamas’s deadly 7 October attacks, which killed 1,400 Israelis, Biden has repeatedly proclaimed the US’s “rock-solid and unwavering support” for Israel, which has responded by tightening its blockade and bombarding the Gaza Strip. More than 8,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to health officials in the coastal territory.

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Police arrest suspected gunman and free hostage at Japanese post office

Man detained after eight-hour standoff at building in Warabi and earlier shooting at nearby hospital

Japanese police have captured a suspected gunman who holed up at a post office and have rescued a member of staff who was held hostage, NHK television reported on Tuesday.

The arrest ended a more than eight-hour standoff with the man, reportedly in his 80s, who entered the post office with a gun in Warabi, north of Tokyo, an hour after a hospital shooting in which two people were wounded in the nearby city of Toda.

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French couple take dealer to court for share of African mask’s €4.2m sale price

Pensioners sold rare object found in attic for €150 – but campaigners say it must be returned to Gabon

A retired French couple who sold an African mask to a secondhand goods dealer for €150 (£130) have gone to court for a share of the proceeds after the mask fetched €4.2m (£3.7m) at auction.

But campaigners insist that the rare artefact instead should be returned to Gabon, in a case that has raised questions over Africa’s cultural heritage looted by colonial France.

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‘From the river to the sea’: where does the slogan come from and what does it mean?

Andy McDonald was suspended from the Labour party for using the phrase, which some say advocates the eradication of Israel

“We won’t rest until we have justice, until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea can live in peaceful liberty,” said Andy McDonald, a Labour MP, at a protest in London organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign at the weekend.

Three days later, McDonald was suspended from the party pending an investigation, leaving the former shadow cabinet minister sitting as an independent for now.

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Eurozone economy shrinks by 0.1%, putting it at brink of recession

Ireland and Austria post biggest declines, while Germany contracts by 0.1% and France grows by 0.1%

The eurozone is teetering on the brink of a winter recession after the latest official figures showed its economy contracted by 0.1% in the third quarter of 2023.

In a worse than forecast performance, the 20-nation single currency zone has now failed to grow in three of the past four quarters, leaving its economy only 0.1% higher than it was a year earlier.

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Spain’s Princess Leonor swears oath as republican ministers boycott ceremony

Heir to throne pledges allegiance to constitution at congress in Madrid on her 18th birthday

Princess Leonor, the heir to the Spanish throne, has pledged her allegiance to the constitution in a ceremony that was boycotted by republican government ministers and Catalan and Basque nationalist MPs.

Leonor swore the oath in Spain’s congress as she turned 18 on Tuesday, and was accompanied by her parents, King Felipe and Queen Letizia, her sister, Sofía, and Spain’s acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez. Her grandfather Juan Carlos, the self-exiled former king, was absent.

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King Charles asked for ‘unequivocal apology’ by Kenya’s rights commission

King urged to offer apology while in Kenya for UK’s ‘brutal and inhuman treatment’ during the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s

The Kenya Human Rights Commission has called on King Charles to offer an “unequivocal public apology” for colonial abuses, during his visit to the country this week.

“We call upon the king, on behalf of the British government, to issue an unconditional and unequivocal public apology (as opposed to the very cautious, self-preserving and protective statements of regrets) for the brutal and inhuman treatment inflicted on Kenyan citizens,” the KHRC said.

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Israel targets Hamas tunnels amid hopes more aid will reach civilians in Gaza

IDF says it struck 300 targets this week and killed ‘numerous’ militants, including Hamas commander

Israeli tanks and infantry have targeted tunnel entrances and rocket launch positions in fresh clashes with Hamas around Gaza City and in the south of the enclave.

The fighting on Tuesday came amid renewed hope that significant quantities of aid would reach beleaguered Palestinian civilians in the south via the Rafah crossing with Egypt. A World Health Organization official in Geneva said on Tuesday that a “public health catastrophe” was imminent in Gaza.

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Hong Kong leader defends elections after largest pro-democracy party shut out

The Democratic party, the city’s largest pro-democracy party, failed to secure enough nominations under new rules introduced by authorities

Hong Kong’s leader has defended the rules for upcoming local elections as open and fair, even though an electoral overhaul means the city’s remaining pro-democracy activists won’t be part of the race.

The city’s largest pro-democracy party, the Democratic party, will be absent in December’s district council election for the first time since its establishment in 1994.

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Kenya to scrap visas for all African nationals

President William Ruto says change aims to boost trade and allow goods, services, people and ideas to move freely across continent

Visas to visit Kenya are to be scrapped for other African nationals from next year as part of a movement towards opening up trade and travel within the continent.

“By the end of this year, no African will be required to have a visa to come to Kenya,” Kenya’s president, William Ruto, said at a climate change conference in Congo-Brazzaville.

Costly and time-consuming visa requirements, as well as high air fares, have long created barriers to inter-African travel for African passport holders; 32 out of 54 African countries still require the nationals of half or more countries on the continent to obtain a visa.

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‘I saw my cousin’s body’: Britons in Gaza describe horror of bombardment

Some of the 200 British or dual nationals in strip tell of life amid Israel’s attack and the communication blackout

When Musheir El-Farra climbs into bed in Gaza each night, he cannot get the sounds of people screaming out of his head.

Since last week, the British civil engineer has been plagued by memories of an Israeli bomb attack on a residential block in Khan Younis in which, he said, 16 of his relatives were killed.

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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 615

The White House responds to House Republican plans for Israel and Ukraine funding; Vladimir Putin blames Ukraine for the Dagestan antisemitic riot

The White House said on Monday that offsets sought by House Republicans for Israel and Ukraine spending would be “devastating” for US national security. “Politicizing our national security interests is a nonstarter. Demanding offsets for meeting core national security needs of the United States – like supporting Israel and defending Ukraine from atrocities and Russian imperialism – would be a break with the normal, bipartisan process and could have devastating implications for our safety and alliances in the years ahead,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday he was confident the US House of Representatives would back a request for additional funds for Ukraine’s military, adding he was aware of “considerable political resistance” to the bill’s provisions. US House speaker Mike Johnson said last week that funding to support Ukraine and Israel should be handled separately, suggesting he would not back President Joe Biden’s $106bn aid package for both countries.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said without evidence that Ukrainian agents of western spy agencies were behind a rampage in the southern region of Dagestan that targeted a flight from Israel. Clashes with police left 20 people injured. Putin cast the violence as part of US efforts to weaken Russia. US national security council spokesperson John Kirby called Putin’s allegation “classic Russian rhetoric” saying “the West had nothing to do with this”.

Moldova has blocked access to the websites of major Russian news media, including the Interfax and TASS news agencies, accusing them of taking part in an information war against the country. A decree published online by Moldova’s intelligence and security service listed 31 websites to be blocked immediately for “online content used in the war of information against the Republic of Moldova”.

The first US-made F-16 combat aircraft that the Netherlands is donating to Ukraine will arrive in Romania’s training centre within two weeks, outgoing Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said on Monday.

Russian shelling hit the frontline region of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Monday, killing two civilians, local authorities said.

Russia has significantly bulked up its forces around the devastated Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, with its soldiers switching from a defensive posture to taking “active actions”, a Ukrainian military commander said.

In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said a Russian state-backed private military company was specifically attempting to recruit women into combat roles in Ukraine for the first time.

Russia’s federal security service said it had detained a Russian man in Crimea on suspicion of treason, accusing him of passing military secrets to Ukraine, according to a state news agency.

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US House Republicans plan to give Israel $14.3bn by cutting IRS funds

One of the first policy actions under the new speaker Mike Johnson is a partisan bill despite Joe Biden’s request for $106bn in joint aid

Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Monday introduced a plan to provide $14.3bn in aid to Israel by cutting funding for the Internal Revenue Service, setting up a showdown with Democrats who control the Senate.

In one of the first major policy actions under new House speaker Mike Johnson, House Republicans unveiled a standalone supplemental spending bill only for Israel, despite Joe Biden’s request for a $106bn package that would include aid for Israel, Ukraine and border security.

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China’s billionaires looking to move their cash, and themselves, out

Crackdowns on financiers, roiling political climate and slowing economy under Xi Jinping has many seeking exit plans

Billionaires are notoriously difficult to track. It’s no surprise – the easier they and their assets are to find, the easier they are to tax. But by all accounts, the number of uber-wealthy people in China is in decline. Of the world’s estimated 2,640 billionaires, at least 562 are thought to be in China, according to Forbes, down from 607 last year.

With crackdowns on financiers and a roiling political climate, many of China’s rich people are looking to move their money, and themselves, out of the country.

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Entire population of Gaza becoming ‘dehumanised’ says UN commissioner

Philippe Lazzarini, who leads main UN agency in Palestine, says lives of millions depend on ceasefire

The entire population of Gaza is becoming “dehumanised”, the commissioner general for the main UN agency in Palestine has told the UN security council, saying a ceasefire has become a matter of life and death for millions.

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general for the UNRWA was one of three speakers to starkly describe the scale of the damage being inflicted on Gaza, as UN agencies piled pressure on the Security Council to set aside its divisions and back some form of immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

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Venezuela primary results suspended in latest blow directed at opposition

María Corina Machado was overwhelmingly elected to take on Nicolás Maduro in presidential election expected next year

Venezuela’s supreme court has suspended the results of the political opposition’s primaries after María Corina Machado was overwhelmingly elected last Sunday to take on President Nicolás Maduro in a presidential contest expected for 2024.

The court – which is stacked with Maduro’s allies – also ratified bans on running for office which had been slapped on Machado and two others.

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Netanyahu declares it is ‘time for war’ as Israel hails hostage release

Prime minister rejects ceasefire calls, saying army’s advance in Gaza puts pressure on Hamas ‘monsters’

Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out a ceasefire in Gaza, declaring “this is a time for war”, as he hailed the rescue of a hostage as evidence that Israel’s military offensive can free Israeli captives while delivering crushing blows to Hamas.

The Israeli prime minister congratulated the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and security agency Shin Bet for freeing Ori Megidish, an army private, but Israeli joy was tempered by a Hamas video of three other captives that remain in captivity.

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