Mubeen Blogs

PM stressed shared ‘unbreakable commitment to Nato and Ukraine’ with Poland in meeting with Donald Tusk Keir Starmer has urged world leaders to “double down” in their efforts to support Ukraine during a visit to Poland, days before Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency risks jeopardising international solidarity on the issue. Speaking alongside the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, after the pair discussed a proposed defence-focused treaty, Starmer dodged questions on the possible impact of Trump, but insisted the only way forward was “peace on Ukraine’s terms”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/NYI26yD

Protests in favour and against Gaza ceasefire deal have taken place across Israel while Palestinians welcome concessions News of a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas has been greeted with joy by Palestinians, but a more wary approach in Israel, where demonstrators both in favour and against the deal have taken to the streets in protest. The deal, which is supposed to go into effect on Sunday, is made up of three stages: in the first 42-day phase, 33 Israeli hostages are expected to be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli jails. In Gaza, the 2.3 million population – nearly all of whom are displaced from their homes – will be allowed to move freely around the territory, and there is expected to be a huge increase in aid supplies. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/RUzPE0r

Kemi Badenoch says she’s sorry not sorry for the mess left by 14 years of the Tories, but offers no clue of how to dig us out of it Seeing is not always believing. Fair to say that Kemi Badenoch’s time as leader of the Tory party has not got off to the best of starts. Hopeless at prime minister’s questions and seemingly already out of ideas, many in the party are already looking around for possible successors. Even Robert Jenrick. Things really are that desperate. Even so, 10 weeks in feels a little premature for a relaunch. If that’s what it was. Hard to know really as no one was much the wiser after Kemi had finished what had been billed as an “important” speech at the Institute of Directors in central London. No one does pointlessness quite like KemiKaze. She is the queen of futility. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/yk1cz4G

Julius Ayuk Tabe and other ‘Ambazonian’ activists speak from a prison where they still call for an independent state Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe has already served seven years of his life sentence at the Yaoundé principal prison in Cameroon, but he is not ready to budge an inch in the political beliefs that landed him there. “The fight for homeland is existential and non-negotiable – being part of the struggle is a calling and not a vocation,” he tells the Guardian. The 59-year-old computer engineer and former president of a breakaway state is still fighting his revolution from jail. As Cameroon’s civil conflict festers, his quest remains the freeing of his anglophone community from what he sees as the shackles of a francophone Cameroonian state. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/81D9QKf

Hamas and Israel ‘in final stages’ of agreement, with Gazans still reeling from fresh deadly airstrikes Middle East crisis – live updates Hopes rose across Gaza on Tuesday that the war that has devastated the territory, killing more than 46,000 and displacing millions, was finally over. Amid widespread reports that Hamas and Israel were in the “final stages” of agreeing a ceasefire agreement , residents of the embattled territory expressed mixed emotions: hope and fear for the future but pain and grief for the past 15 months. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/UNiGeXF

Former first lady’s office provides no explanation for plan to miss Trump ceremony in unusual break from tradition The former first lady Michelle Obama will skip Donald Trump ’s upcoming presidential inauguration, marking her second absence from a major gathering of US political figures this month. While her husband and former president Barack Obama will join fellow formers Bill Clinton and George W Bush at the 20 January ceremony, Michelle Obama will not be in attendance. Her office provided no explanation for her planned absence from the event at the US Capitol. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/zByVaKk

As hopes of a ceasefire grow, hunger and cold are adding to the suffering for the millions of Palestinians in the strip Fifteen months into the war in Gaza , where more than 46,500 Palestinians have been killed and almost all of the population of 2.1 million are living in makeshift accommodation, conditions continue to deteriorate in the face of famine and cold. At least 1.9 million people – or about 90% of the territory’s population – are displaced. Many have been forced to relocate repeatedly, some as many as 10 times. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/WEOMiy7