Israel’s Netanyahu, Gallant issued ICC arrest warrants: What’s next?
This is the first time there has been an indictment for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu since Israel's war on Gaza began.
JD Sports shares slump 14% after profit warning
Lower sales in UK and North America after mild weather and discounting by rivals offset by 3.5% rise in Europe
Mild weather and discounting by rivals hit sales at JD Sports in October, as the trainers and fashion retailer said profits will be at the lower end of expectations.
The gloomy update sparked a sell-off among investors, sending shares down 14% and wiping about £800m off the value of the FTSE 100 company, which owns the JD chain as well as outdoor wear retailers Millets and Blacks in the UK and chains in the US and mainland Europe. Shares in its rival, the Sports Direct owner Frasers Group, also fell, by 2.5%.
Continue reading...Afghanistan: Caught between climate change and global indifference
To withhold climate assistance is to punish the Afghan population for the acts of its leaders.
War crimes charges will be hard stigma for Netanyahu to shrug off
The ICC warrants are a legal earthquake and could weigh heavier on the Israeli PM and his former minister over time
• Middle East crisis – live updates
The arrest warrants issued by the international criminal court (ICC) represent an earthquake on the world’s legal landscape: the first time a western ally from a modern democracy has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global judicial body.
Inside Israel, the warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant will not have an immediate impact. In the short term they are likely to rally support around the prime minister from a defiant Israeli public.
Continue reading...US and Israel reject ICC warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest as number of countries signal they will abide by it – as it happened
This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest reporting on the ICC arrest warrant here:
Israel’s position has always held that the rulings of the international criminal court do not apply to it, as it is not a member.
Foreign minister Gideon Saar on Thursday said that it had “issued absurd orders with no authority” against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant because “Israel is not a member of the court.”
The Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that during the relevant time, international humanitarian law related to international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine applied. This is because they are two High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and because Israel occupies at least parts of Palestine.
The Chamber also found that the law related to non-international armed conflict applied to the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Continue reading...Widow of gambling addict lambasts watchdog’s failure to investigate suicides
Exclusive: Annie Ashton, whose husband killed himself, says more people will die because of Gambling Commission inaction
The widow of a man who took his own life after becoming addicted to gambling says more people will die because the regulator is refusing to investigate suicides linked to the addiction.
Annie Ashton is planning legal action against the Gambling Commission after it said it would not investigate or penalise Betfair over the death of her husband, Luke – despite concerns raised about the company at his inquest.
Continue reading...Starmer condemns Badenoch for abandoning cross-party consensus on climate crisis policy – UK politics live
Prime minister says Tory leader’s attacks on climate targets diminishes government ability to tackle central issue
British prime minister Keir Starmer says he is “deeply saddened” to hear that Prescott has died, and called him a “true giant of Labour”.
In a statement on X, he said, “I am deeply saddened to hear of the death of John Prescott. John was a true giant of the Labour movement. On behalf of the Labour Party, I send my condolences to Pauline and his family, to the city of Hull, and to all those who knew and loved him. May he rest in peace.”
He possessed an inherent ability to connect with people about the issues that mattered to them – a talent that others spend years studying and cultivating, but that was second nature to him.
He fought like hell to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol and was an unwavering champion of climate action for decades to come. I’m forever grateful to John for that commitment to solving the climate crisis and will miss him as a dear friend.”
Continue reading...John Prescott, Former UK Deputy Prime Minister, Dies at 86 – The New York Times
- John Prescott, Former UK Deputy Prime Minister, Dies at 86 The New York Times
- Kind, belligerent, and the man all sides trusted: that’s the John Prescott I knew The Guardian
- John Prescott, pugnacious deputy U.K. prime minister to Tony Blair, dies at 86 NBC News
- John Prescott, former UK deputy prime minister, has died, his family says CNN
- Gavin and Stacey, ice and a swift pint: Why John Prescott made headlines so often The Independent
The Apprentice actor Sebastian Stan says Hollywood stars are ‘afraid’ of Trump
None of his peers would appear with him on a chatshow the actor claimed, setting an ominous precedent for the industry’s interactions with Trump after he comes into power
Sebastian Stan, who stars in The Apprentice, a biopic of Donald Trump focusing on his association in the 1970s with lawyer Roy Cohn, has said that other actors in Hollywood are too “afraid” of the president-elect to participate in press with him.
Stan claimed that he had failed to find a single peer who would appear opposite him in the Actors on Actors series run by industry magazine Variety, in which key awards contenders quiz each other.
Continue reading...Fear and sympathy: small Irish town divided over asylum camp
A year after Dublin’s anti-immigration riots, a tent camp for asylum seekers faces hostility while some locals try to support the new arrivals
In the small town of Newtown Mount Kennedy, a holding centre for people who have just arrived in Ireland seeking asylum lies in the wooded grounds of Trudder House, a former convent. The building itself is disused and off-limits. Instead, men arriving from countries such as Somalia, Sudan and Nigeria are housed in 12-16 makeshift tents, separated from the town by a 10ft-tall fence daubed with graffiti reading “Newtown says no”.
Craig Bishop, a retired GP who is part of Newtown Together, a group of volunteers trying to support the camp’s residents, said the barricade created an immediate sense of “them and us”. “They come all this way for protection only to be behind a 10ft fence to be protected from who? From the locals,” he said.
Continue reading...Icelandic volcano erupts for seventh time in a year – NBC News
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Revealed: McKinsey clients had ‘rising share of global emissions’, internal analysis shows
Consulting giant had said it engages with clients to help them transition to cleaner energy even as it knew they were in line to exceed climate targets
The world’s biggest consulting firm found that its clients were on a trajectory to bust global climate targets, details of internal forecasting in 2021 uncovered by the Centre for Climate Reporting (CCR) and the Guardian reveal.
McKinsey & Company has worked with some of the world’s biggest emitters, including many of the largest fossil fuel producers. It has previously argued it is necessary to engage these clients to help them transition to cleaner forms of energy and hit the target of limiting global warming to less than 1.5C above preindustrial levels.
Continue reading...ICC issues arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged Gaza war crimes
Joe Biden describes as ‘outrageous’ the warrants for Israeli PM and former defence minister, which put them at risk of detention if they go to some other countries
The international criminal court has issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s former defence minister Yoav Gallant and the Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war.
It is the first time that leaders of a democracy and western-aligned state have been charged by the court, in the most momentous decision of its 22-year history.
Continue reading...UK environment secretary vows to ensure farmers are paid fairly for produce
Steve Reed says he may not agree on inheritance tax changes but government will listen to rural Britain
The UK environment secretary has promised to reform the food system to ensure farmers are paid fairly for the food they produce, after many filled the streets of Westminster to campaign against inheritance tax changes.
Speaking at the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) conference, Steve Reed said: “I heard the anguish of the countryside on the streets of London earlier this week. We may not agree over the inheritance tax changes, but this government is determined to listen to rural Britain and end its long decline.”
Continue reading...British mining executives held in Mali released after $160m deal to settle tax dispute
Resolute Mining chief executive Terence Holohan and two other employees had been detained since 9 November
Three British mining executives who had been detained by the government of Mali have been released and are “safe and well”, days after agreeing to pay $160m to settle a tax dispute.
Resolute Mining, an Australian company, said on Thursday its chief executive, Terence Holohan, and two other employees, who had been held in the country since 9 November, have been released.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: Doubts cast over Kyiv claim that Russia launched intercontinental ballistic missile – as it happened
UK intelligence services say they are ‘urgently’ looking into Ukraine’s claim, which has been reportedly denied by a Western official
Full story: Russia fired intercontinental ballistic missile at Dnipro, says Ukraine
Hungary announced overnight it is to install an air defence system in the north-eastern part of the country as the threat of an escalation of the Ukraine-Russia war is “greater than ever”, its defence minister said.
Reuters quotes Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky from a video he posted on Facebook saying:
We still trust that there will be peace as soon as possible, through diplomacy instead of a military solution. However, to prepare for all possibilities, I ordered the recently purchased air control and air defence systems and the capabilities built on them to be installed in the north-east. The threat of the escalation of the Ukraine-Russia war is greater than ever.
This is another frankly provocative step in a series of deeply destabilising actions by the Americans and their allies in the North Atlantic alliance in the strategic sphere.
This leads to undermining strategic stability, increasing strategic risks and, as a result, to an increase in the overall level of nuclear danger.
Continue reading...Son of woman killed by IRA condemns ‘cruel’ Disney series
Say Nothing, about 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville, is horrendous, says Michael McConville
The son of Jean McConville, a woman who was murdered and buried in secret by the IRA, has condemned a new Disney series on her death as “horrendous” and “cruel”.
The series is based on the acclaimed book Say Nothing, about McConville and the wider role of the IRA during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, written by the US journalist Patrick Radden Keefe.
Continue reading...Regulator stops customers from being billed for ‘undeserved’ bonuses
Ofwat uses new powers to ensure investors pay at Thames, Yorkshire, and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water
Investors at Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water will be forced to pick up the tab for executive bonuses after the regulator determined that the sector had awarded “undeserved” extra payments, worth £6.8m.
Ofwat said on Thursday it had used new powers to ensure that shareholders and bondholders at the three companies paid for bonuses because they had not “adequately reflected overall company performance issues”.
Continue reading...Chinese farmer has near miss with tiger
Surveillance footage captures the moment a Siberian tiger rams into a gate just after it was closed.
Mazyouna, whose face was ‘ripped off’ by Israeli missile, allowed to leave Gaza
Israeli move follows Guardian report that 12-year-old girl’s evacuation for treatment had been repeatedly blocked
The Israeli authorities have permitted Mazyouna Damoo, a 12-year-old Palestinian girl whose face was “ripped off” when an Israeli missile struck her home in June, to leave Gaza for medical treatment, five days after the Guardian reported that repeated requests for her urgent medical evacuation had been denied.
Last Friday, the Guardian highlighted the Damoo family’s desperate battle to get Mazyouna evacuated from Gaza to the United States to receive emergency surgery on devastating injuries to her face sustained in a missile attack by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which tore off half of her cheek and exposed her jawbone.
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