Israeli forces raid Jenin in West Bank as truce efforts continue
We will fight to the end – Netanyahu
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated his position that a full ceasefire is not on the cards and his forces will fight “until the end”.
As we’ve been reporting, Egyptian and Qatari mediators are working to try to secure an extension to the current pause in fighting.
“From the start of the war, I set three goals: eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will never again go back to being a threat to the State of Israel. These three goals still stand,” Netanyahu said in statement.
He said the return of dozens of hostages was a “very great achievement”.
“But in recent days I have heard a question: After completing this stage of the return of our hostages, will Israel go back to the fighting? My answer is an unequivocal yes.
Closing arguments begin in trial of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists
Judge says verdict is ‘tentatively’ three or four months away after 10 months of hearings
The long-running national security trial of a group of pro-democracy figures known as the Hong Kong 47 began hearing closing arguments on Wednesday, more than 1,000 days after the accused were first arrested and after 10 months of hearings.
The trial is Hong Kong’s biggest since authorities introduced the national security law in June 2020. Ten days have been allowed for closing arguments and on Wednesday one of the judges, Andrew Chan, said a verdict was “tentatively” three or four months away.
More than 50 pro-democracy politicians, activists, campaigners and candidates were arrested in February 2021 over the holding of unofficial pre-election primary polls, which authorities later deemed to have been illegal despite opposing parties having held unofficial primaries in past elections.
German court upholds wiretaps of climate activists to press
A court in Bavaria has ruled that police were right in wiretapping phone calls between members of the Last Generation climate activist group and journalists.
The Munich District Court on Wednesday ruled in favor of police over their wiretapping of phone calls between the Last Generation climate activist group and its press contacts.
The German court, which issued an order allowing the surveillance, ruled that the violation of the freedom of the press could be justified because of the threat posed by the group’s actions.
What the court ruling said
The court rejected six complaints filed by journalists over the surveillance of their communications with the activist group, which is well-known in Germany for blockading road traffic.
The court found that a surveillance order had been correctly issued by a judge and that the surveillance had been carried out according to the law.
Ukraine accuses Russia of poisoning military intelligence chief’s wife
Ukraine said Tuesday it believed Russia had poisoned the wife of its military intelligence chief, in an apparent assassination attempt targeting the heart of Kyiv’s leadership.
Marianna Budanova, who is an advisor to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko, was hospitalised after a prolonged deterioration in her health, the Babel news outlet reported earlier.
Ukrainian investigators’ “main hypothesis” is that Russia was involved in the poisoning attempt, Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov later told AFP.
“The target was the wife,” he added, because “it is simply impossible to reach the commander directly.”
There were no immediate comments from Russian authorities.
Yusov said mercury and arsenic, highly toxic substances, were used in the attack.
Up to 170,000 residents must flee if order given at Tokai reactor
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
November 29, 2023 at 17:01 JST
As many as 170,000 residents would be forced to evacuate if a serious accident occurred at Japan Atomic Power Co.’s Tokai No. 2 plant, the only commercial reactor in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area.
The Ibaraki prefectural government on Nov. 28 released the estimate, which Japan Atomic Power calculated for the spewing of radioactive materials in the event of a major crisis at the Tokai plant.
Prefectural officials said this was the first case in the nation of a local government asking a utility operating a nuclear reactor to make such an estimate to assess the effectiveness of evacuation plans.
COP28 leader hits back at allegations he used climate talks to strike oil deals
Updated 7:47 AM EST, Wed November 29, 2023
The COP28 president-designate Sultan Al Jaber has strongly denied accusations that his team sought to use the international climate talks in Dubai to strike fossil fuel deals for the UAE’s state-owned oil and gas company.
Several media outlets, including CNN, this week published stories based on a cache of leaked documents obtained by the UK-registered Centre for Climate Reporting, which appeared to be briefing notes for Al Jaber for meetings with foreign officials in the run-up to the summit. Al Jaber also runs the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). He denies ever seeing the documents or ever using such talking points in his discussions.
Several of the documents detailed suggestions to offer new oil and gas projects to visiting officials, which would benefit the UAE.
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