Ice could add 600 beds to New Jersey detention center, documents show

ACLU obtains documents showing agency’s effort to expand state’s detention capacity for undocumented immigrants

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officials could add 600 beds to detain unauthorized immigrants in New Jersey, according to new documents obtained by the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union on Friday.

An additional 600 detainees could mark a significant increase in the number of people held in New Jersey. The Elizabeth detention center – the only facility in the state that holds detainees – can currently accommodate up to 300 detainees, the Bergen Record reported in April. There were 285 detainees in the facility as of the end of October, according to data analyzed by the Guardian from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

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MMA fighter Conor McGregor raped woman at Dublin hotel, jury finds in civil trial

McGregor ordered to pay nearly €250,000 in damages to Nikita Hand after he was accused of 2018 assault

A jury at a civil trial at Ireland’s high court has found that the Irish martial arts fighter Conor McGregor assaulted a woman who had accused him of raping her at a hotel in Dublin in December 2018.

McGregor was ordered pay nearly €250,000 (£210,000) in damages to Nikita Hand, who is also known as Nikita Ní Laimhín.

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Too many buildings remain unsafe after Grenfell disaster, housing minister warns

Wajid Khan tells House of Lords remediation work is yet to start on half of properties with unsafe cladding

Far too many high and medium-rise buildings are still unsafe after the Grenfell disaster, with dangerous cladding remaining on at least 2,400 blocks, a housing minister has warned.

Wajid Khan, a Labour peer and housing minister, said on Friday that remediation work had not started at approximately 50% of properties being monitored for their unsafe cladding.

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Brazilian police formally accused Bolsonaro of an attempted coup. What comes next? – The Associated Press

  1. Brazilian police formally accused Bolsonaro of an attempted coup. What comes next?  The Associated Press
  2. Bolsonaro’s Right Wing Movement Faces Backlash After Coup Accusations  The New York Times
  3. Bolsonaro’s bid to regain Brazil’s presidency may end in prison  The Economist
  4. Brazil’s Bolsonaro and allies indicted in 2022 coup plot probe  CNN
  5. Priest accused of being involved in alleged plot to assassinate president of Brazil  Catholic News Agency
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New York City plan to charge $9 fee for driving in Manhattan approved

US Department of Transportation has greenlit congestion fee for raising funds for mass transit and cutting traffic

The US Department of Transportation has approved New York’s plan to impose a $9 congestion charge for driving in Manhattan starting on 5 January, a move aimed at raising billions for funding better mass transit and cutting traffic jams.

The congestion charge, the first of its kind in the US, was revived last week by the governor, Kathy Hochul, after she had put it on indefinite hold in June.

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Mapping State Reactions to the ICC Warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant – Just Security

  1. Mapping State Reactions to the ICC Warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant  Just Security
  2. How Can the I.C.C. Prosecute Leaders of Israel, Which Is Not a Member?  The New York Times
  3. ICC warrants are binding, EU cannot pick and choose: Borrell  Yahoo! Voices
  4. Israelis unite behind their prime minister as Netanyahu faces an international arrest warrant  CNN
  5. Berlin won't arrest Netanyahu due to Germany's Nazi history, officials estimate  The Jerusalem Post
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Prison blueprints leak sparks security alert in jails in England and Wales

Plans are understood to show where cameras and sensors are, triggering fears of weapon smuggling and escapes

Detailed prison blueprints have been leaked, triggering a security alert at jails in England and Wales, it has emerged.

The leak, first reported by the Times, involves prison layouts being shared on the dark web in the last fortnight, prompting an investigation by the National Crime Agency.

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Leading Republican strategist rebukes Trump for bringing ‘chaos’ back

Karl Rove says in Wall Street Journal that Trump has ‘created chaos and controversy’ before he’s even in office

As Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump’s first nominee for attorney general, withdrew after eight days amid allegations of sexual misconduct and more, and as Trump’s new pick, Pam Bondi, faced scrutiny of her own, a leading Republican strategist rebuked the president-elect for bringing “chaos” back to Washington.

“Inadequate vetting, impatience, disregard for qualifications and a thirst for revenge have created chaos and controversy for Mr Trump before he’s even in office,” said Karl Rove, once known as George W Bush’s “Brain”, in the Wall Street Journal.

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Wire cutters: how the world’s vital undersea data cables are being targeted – The Guardian

  1. Wire cutters: how the world’s vital undersea data cables are being targeted  The Guardian
  2. Are underwater pipelines, cables being sabotaged in the Baltic Sea? Why?  Al Jazeera English
  3. Chinese Ship Suspected of Undersea Cable Sabotage Detained in 'NATO Lake'  Newsweek
  4. Chinese vessel suspected of severing submarine cables still anchored in Baltic Sea  VOA Asia
  5. Danish military monitors a Chinese-flagged bulk carrier after undersea data cables were ruptured  The Associated Press
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UK weather: Met Office warnings as ‘multi-hazard’ Storm Bert approaches

Several weather warnings in place for weekend, with snow, wind, rain and ice predicted

Storm Bert is expected to bring wind, rain, ice and snow to much of the UK over the weekend in what forecasters have called a “multi-hazard event”.

The Met Office has issued several weather warnings – mostly yellow, but also including the more severe amber in Scotland – for Saturday and Sunday.

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Angela Merkel expresses ‘huge concern’ at Elon Musk’s US government role

Former German chancellor says politics should govern the social balance between powerful and ordinary citizens

Angela Merkel, who in her new memoir raises fears for the western democratic order with Donald Trump as US president, has also expressed deep concerns about the outsized role to be played in Trump’s administration by Elon Musk.

The former German chancellor, who during Trump’s first term was given by some observers the designation of “leader of the free world” usually reserved for US presidents, said 16 years in power had taught her that business and political interests must be kept in fine balance.

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Gatwick airport reopens terminal after bomb scare evacuation

Security cordon lifted and train services resume as travel plans are disrupted for thousands of people

Gatwick’s south terminal has reopened for passengers after a security alert caused disruption for thousands of people.

Sussex police said they had released two people after concluding their investigation into reports of a suspect package at the airport. A bomb disposal team made the package safe, the force added in a statement on X.

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Removing Toronto bike lanes will make traffic worse, official document shows

In preparation for plan, Ontario has indemnified itself from liability if cyclists are killed on streets that once had bike lanes

Removing bike lanes from busy city streets will increase traffic congestion, according to a Canadian government document leaked amid a furious row over urban infrastructure.

The findings, which come as the province of Ontario goes to war over cycling infrastructure in Toronto, undercut claims that the dedicated routes contribute to urban gridlock.

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Seoul says Russia sent air-defence missiles to North Korea in return for troops

Kremlin dispatched weapons as payment for 10,000 troops deployed to support war in Ukraine, says South Korean official

Russia has sent air defence missiles and other military technology to North Korea in return for the deployment of troops from the North to support the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, intelligence officials in South Korea have said.

The shipments were the latest expression of a deepening alliance that allies and enemies fear could fuel the escalation of the war in Ukraine, geopolitical tensions in Asia, and potentially even global nuclear arms proliferation.

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Gordon Brown says daughter’s death showed value of ‘good’ dying over assisted dying

Former PM, whose daughter died when she was 11 days old, says debate is moving too fast and calls for commission on palliative care

Gordon Brown: We need better end-of-life care, not assisted dying

The former prime minister Gordon Brown has declared his opposition to the legalisation of assisted dying, saying the death of his newborn daughter in January 2002 convinced him of the “value and imperative of good end-of-life care”.

In a rare and poignant glimpse into the tragedy, he says the time he and his wife, Sarah, spent at their baby Jennifer’s bedside “as her life ebbed away” were “among the most precious days of [our] lives”.

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Tributes paid to ‘kind and loving’ British tourist who died in Laos

Simone White was one of six people to die in suspected methanol poisoning incident in Vang Vieng

Tributes have been paid to the “beautiful, kind and loving” British tourist Simone White, one of six people to die in a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos.

The six died after allegedly being served drinks laced with methanol in Vang Vieng, a town popular with backpackers. These include the Australian teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, both 19, an American man and two Danish women aged 19 and 20.

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