World
Risk of violent spillover unless Gaza war solved, says EU top diplomat
The Middle East could see a violent spillover of conflict unless a peaceful solution to the war in Gaza is found, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell warned on Wednesday.
Speaking at a diplomatic seminar in Lisbon organised by Portugal’s foreign ministry, Borrell said that “the seeds of hate are being sown.”
“If this tragedy doesn’t end soon, I fear that all of the Middle East will see itself engulfed in flames,” he added.
His stark warning comes a day after Saleh al-Arouri, a senior Hamas official and the organisation’s second-in-command, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the assassination, but an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that whoever was responsible had executed a “surgical strike against the Hamas leadership.”
The assassination of al-Arouri, one of the founders of Hamas’ military wing, on Lebanese soil presents a significant threat of regional escalation that could pull in the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, who are Tehran-backed allies of Hamas.
Brewing tensions in the Red Sea are also stoking fears of a regional escalation. A raft of attacks on commercial vessels by the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group, which controls a part of Yemen, has prompted the US to deploy a naval mission to the region.
The US Navy killed 10 Houthi militants as they attempted to sabotage a Danish-operated ship on Monday. Iran has responded by moving a warship into the Red Sea, heightening fears of a further escalation.
‘No unanimous position weakens EU’
During Wednesday’s keynote speech, Borrell also lamented that the European Union had not been able to unanimously agree on calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. More than 20,000 people are expected to have lost their lives in the conflict that erupted following Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on 7 October.
“We have not been able within the European Council to come to a unanimous position calling for a ceasefire,” Borrell explained. “On the contrary, we have limited ourselves to a bare-bones agreement, calling for humanitarian pauses and an increase in aid for victims.”
“There is no unanimous solution or position, and that weakens us (the EU),” he added.
A UN General Assembly resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza voted on in December secured the backing of a majority of the EU’s 27 member states. Austria and the Czech Republic, both staunch allies of Israel, were the only countries to vote against the resolution and have consistently expressed fears that a joint EU call for a ceasefire would undermine Israeli efforts to eradicate Hamas.
The persistence of the war has seen countries gravitating towards calls for further restraint, with a major shift in rhetoric seen by EU nations such as France. Other nations including Belgium, Spain, and Ireland have been vocal advocates of a ceasefire in Gaza from the early stages of the conflict.
Borrell has previously suggested that a series of permanent pauses in hostilities should “evolve” into a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Comparing the European bloc’s firm stance and solid support to Kyiv following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Borrell warned that the accusation of Europe’s double standards was “taking on form.”
“The clear and firm European position on the war in Ukraine is not shared by many countries in the world, who immediately accuse us of having principles that are geometrically unaligned – what they call double standards,” he said.
“And I think that unless we close our eyes and our ears, it’s difficult not to face up to this contradiction,” he added.
Borrell also stated that the fact that EU countries are having to consistently call on Israel to respect international humanitarian law in its assault on the Gaza Strip suggests that it is not acting within the boundaries of the law.
World
Voters in Switzerland say no to bigger motorways
The federal government argues that the volume of traffic on the motorway network has increased more than five times over the past sixty years.
Swiss voters took to the polls on Sunday to vote no to bigger motorways, no to easier evictions and tighter subletting rules and yes to a new healthcare financing model.
The Swiss government’s proposal to allocate €5.3 million for expanding motorways and constructing new roads at six key locations, including near Bern and between Geneva and Lausanne, was rejected by 52.7% of voters.
The plan, approved by parliament last year, faced opposition from those concerned about its environmental impact and effectiveness.
The federal government, argues that the volume of traffic on the motorway network has increased more than five times over the past 60 years.
The result was celebrated by the Green Party which called the proposal “an out-of-date transport policy”.
Together with left-wing and environmental groups, the Greens campaigned against the project, highlighting its environmental impact and the concern that wider roads would only lead to more traffic. They now advocate for the funds to be used for public transport, active mobility, and the renovation of existing motorways.
Mattea Meyer from the no camp expressed her satisfaction with the referendum result.
“I am incredibly pleased that a majority of the population does not want a highway expansion, and instead wants more climate protection, a transport transition that is climate-compatible, which the highway expansion is not,” she said.
According to local media to counter this decision the yes campaign, plans on moving forward with expansion projects separately through agglomeration programs, reducing the chance for cantonal referendums.
No to easier evictions
On Sunday, Swiss voters decided on multiple housing issues, such as subletting and lease termination.
53.8% of them rejected the proposal which would make it easier for landlords to terminate leases early in order to use properties for their own purposes.
Additionally, 51.6% voted against a plan for stricter regulations on subletting residential and commercial properties. According to local media, these issues attracted significant attention because tenancy laws affect the majority of Swiss citizens, with about 60% of the population renting their homes, the highest rate in Europe.
The proposal to ease eviction rules faced strong opposition, especially in French-speaking cantons, with Geneva seeing 67.8% of its voters against the plan due to the city’s ongoing housing shortage.
World
Earth bids farewell to its temporary 'mini moon' that is possibly a chunk of our actual moon
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Planet Earth is parting company with an asteroid that’s been tagging along as a “mini moon” for the past two months.
The harmless space rock will peel away on Monday, overcome by the stronger tug of the sun’s gravity. But it will zip closer for a quick visit in January.
NASA will use a radar antenna to observe the 33-foot (10-meter) asteroid then. That should deepen scientists’ understanding of the object known as 2024 PT5, quite possibly a boulder that was blasted off the moon by an impacting, crater-forming asteroid.
While not technically a moon — NASA stresses it was never captured by Earth’s gravity and fully in orbit — it’s “an interesting object” worthy of study.
The astrophysicist brothers who identified the asteroid’s “mini moon behavior,” Raul and Carlos de la Fuente Marcos of Complutense University of Madrid, have collaborated with telescopes in the Canary Islands for hundreds of observations so far.
Currently more than 2 million miles (3.5 million kilometers) away, the object is too small and faint to see without a powerful telescope. It will pass as close as 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers) of Earth in January, maintaining a safe distance before it zooms farther into the solar system while orbiting the sun, not to return until 2055. That’s almost five times farther than the moon.
First spotted in August, the asteroid began its semi jog around Earth in late September, after coming under the grips of Earth’s gravity and following a horseshoe-shaped path. By the time it returns next year, it will be moving too fast — more than double its speed from September — to hang around, said Raul de la Fuente Marcos.
NASA will track the asteroid for more than a week in January using the Goldstone solar system radar antenna in California’s Mojave Desert, part of the Deep Space Network.
Current data suggest that during its 2055 visit, the sun-circling asteroid will once again make a temporary and partial lap around Earth.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
World
Israel confirms death of missing Abu Dhabi rabbi: 'Abhorrent act of antisemitic terrorism’
Israeli officials on Sunday confirmed the death of an Abu Dhabi rabbi who had been missing since Thursday.
“The UAE intelligence and security authorities have located the body of Zvi Kogan, who has been missing since Thursday, 21 November 2024,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on X. “The Israeli mission in Abu Dhabi has been in contact with the family from the start of the event and is continuing to assist it at this difficult time; his family in Israel has also been updated.”
“The murder of Zvi Kogan, of blessed memory, is an abhorrent act of antisemitic terrorism. The State of Israel will use all means and will deal with the criminals responsible for his death to the fullest extent of the law,” the statement added.
RABBI FEARED KIDNAPPED, KILLED BY TERRORISTS AFTER GOING MISSING, PROMPTING INVESTIGATION
Rabbi Zvi Kogan was an emissary of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of Hasidic Judaism based in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood in New York City.
The 28-year-old was a resident of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates when he went missing Thursday. He is a citizen of both Moldova and Israel.
According to his LinkedIn, Kogan worked as a recruiter and was “passionate about volunteering and serving [his] community.”
‘CHEERLEADING FOR TERRORISM’: TWITCH STAR CALLED FOR NEW 9/11, DISMISSED HORROR OF OCT 7
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced its investigation into the unusual disappearance on Saturday. At the time, the statement said the disappearance appeared to be related to “a terrorist incident” but did not elaborate.
The United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Interior had confirmed it was investigating Kogan’s disappearance, but described his citizenship solely as a “Moldovan national.”
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The Rimon Market, a Kosher grocery store that Kogan managed on Dubai’s busy Al Wasl Road, was shut Sunday, according to the Associated Press. It had been a target of anti-Israel protests.
Kogan’s wife, Rivky, is a U.S. citizen who lived with him in the UAE. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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