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The European Council decided today to list four persons and two entities under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime. "The listed individuals and entities are responsible for serious human rights abuses against Palestinians, including torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and for the violation of right to property and to private and family life of Palestinians in the West Bank," the EU stated. "The listed entities are Lehava, a radical right-wing Jewish supremacist group, and Hilltop Youth, a radical youth group consisting of members known for violent acts against Palestinians and their villages in the...

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) unveiled a gambit to burst a legislative logjam and unleash a four-vote flood including a standalone vote on tens of billions in American taxpayer aid to Ukraine. The plan appears to exploit the sense of urgency in Congress for sending aid to Israel in the wake of Iranian missile attacks in a scheme to bypass Republican animosity towards continuing to fund Ukraine’s war against Russia. Johnson unveiled his plan to his colleagues during a Monday night House Republican Conference meeting. His plan is to hold a single vote on a rule — the product specifying which...

Ireland is close to formally recognizing a Palestinian state and would like to do so in concert with Spain and other like-minded countries, its new prime minister Simon Harris said on Friday after meeting his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez, reported the Reuters news agency. “Let me this evening say our assessment is that that point is coming much closer and we would like to move together in doing so,” Harris said after meeting Sanchez, the first premier to visit Dublin since Harris became prime minister this week. “When we move forward, we would like to do so with as many...

The top commander of the Ukrainian armed forces has admitted that the situation along the eastern front with Russia has “significantly worsened” amid a renewed push from Moscow’s forces. Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi — who took over the top post in February following the ousting of Valerii Zaluzhnyi after calling the war a “stalemate” — wrote on Telegram on Saturday that his forces are struggling to cope with escalating assaults being waged by Russia, which he claimed have intensified amid improving weather conditions and the recent “election” in Russia which cemented Vladimir Putin’s hold on power for at least another...

April 9 (UPI) -- The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said Tuesday that at 1.68 degrees Celsius hotter than the "pre-industrial" era, March was the warmest March on record and the tenth straight temperature record-breaking month. The new March high was calculated from an estimate of the average March temperature during the "pre-industrial" reference period, designated as 1850-1900 which also shows a year-round global average temperature from April 2023 to March 2024 period that is 1.58 degrees Celsius higher than the pre-industrial average. The climate group's top scientist called for urgent cuts in the volume of greenhouse gasses being...

STRASBOURG, France, April 9 (Reuters) - Europe's top human rights court ruled on Tuesday that the Swiss government had violated the human rights of its citizens by failing to do enough to combat climate change. The European Court of Human Rights's (ECtHR) decision on the case brought by more than 2,000 elderly Swiss women set a precedent that will resonate across Europe and beyond for how courts deal with a growing trend of climate litigation. The Swiss women, known as KlimaSeniorinnen, argued their government's climate inaction put them at risk of dying during heatwaves. In her ruling, Court President Siofra...

A group of older Swiss women have won the first ever climate case victory in the European Court of Human Rights. The women, mostly in their 70s, said that their age and gender made them particularly vulnerable to the effects of heatwaves linked to climate change. The court said Switzerland's efforts to meet its emission reduction targets had been woefully inadequate. It is the first time the powerful court has ruled on global warming. Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg joined activists celebrating at the court in Strasbourg on Tuesday. "We still can't really believe it. We keep asking our lawyers, 'is...

Earlier today, locals protesting against a refugee centre in Coolock, Dublin were confronted by leftist journalists and other antifa types. Here are the facts as we understand them from local first-hand sources in Coolock. We will be updating this article as more details are established:A small group of men arrived in the afternoon of Saturday April 6th to the old Crown Paints Factory in Coolock which is being picketed by locals opposing the plantation of up to 1000 asylum seekers there. They arrived to counterprotest and take footageAccording to video and our sources, the men were told to leave as...

The public has been repulsed by the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza, incoming Taoiseach (prime minister) Simon Harris has said. Mr. Harris said that Ireland stands ready to recognize the Palestinian state while calling for a two-state solution. In his keynote speech at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis* in Galway, the Fine Gael leader said the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza has worsened “before our eyes” and Ireland cannot stay silent on the actions of Israel. “We condemn the massacre carried out by Hamas in October and again call for the release of all hostages,” Mr Harris said....

Big trouble may be brewing in little Moldova, which is starting to look like a staging area for the European Union to offset an emerging Russian victory in Ukraine. Whether such a plan, if attempted, would succeed is not clear. But Moldova is not the most stable country in the world with the nation split between pro-EU and pro-Russian elements. US troops are now in Moldova with Romanians, ostensibly for a military exercise called JCET 2024 (Joint Command Exchange Training). The exercise started on April 1 and will continue until April 19. According to a Moldovan Ministry of Defense statement,...

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby stated that while you can’t equate Israel’s actions to Hamas launching the October 7 attack, “it’s difficult to say” how close Israel is to becoming indistinguishable from Hamas. Host Wolf Blitzer asked, “You heard Secretary Blinken earlier today, suggest — he warned that there’s a real risk the way Israel is waging its war in Gaza right now is making it indistinguishable from Hamas. How close is Israel to that point?”

The number of people seeking international protection in Ireland in the first three months of this year has risen by more than 2,000 compared to the same time last year. Figures from the Department of Justice show 5,163 people applied for international protection up to 28 March. This represents a rise of 2,170, or 72%, from the same period of time last year when 2,993 applications were made by 28 March 2023. More than one third of those who have applied for international protection so far this year are from Nigeria (1,668) while 416 are from Bangladesh, 400 from Pakistan,...

President Joe Biden demanded an “immediate ceasefire” from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call on Thursday between the two leaders, threatening a loss of U.S. support for the war if Israel does not comply. In a statement, the White House said: President Biden spoke by telephone with Prime Minister Netanyahu. The two leaders discussed the situation in Gaza. President Biden emphasized that the strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable. He made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm,...

It is a plan seen as a way to "Trump-proof" aid for Ukraine. The proposals would give the Western alliance a more direct role in coordinating the supply of arms, ammunition and equipment to Kyiv as it fights Russia's invasion, diplomats say. Speaking before the meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the proposal aims to send the message to Russia that it cannot win the war. “What is obvious is that we need new and more money for Ukraine. And we need it over many years. And the whole idea of now discussing a framework, commitments and an institutionalized...

Poland’s new government is moving to limit freedom of speech and actively penalize so-called hate speech, a move that has been associated with stifling dissent and limiting opposition to issues surrounding mass immigration, religion, and LGBT issues in other European countries. ... Deputy Minister Śmiszek announced this week legislative changes to introduce criminal responsibility for what his party considers hate speech against homosexuals. --- "The time has come to ban disgusting, homophobic, discriminatory statements in the public sphere,” declared Śmiszek, who is openly homosexual. Meanwhile, the European Parliament is calling on EU leaders to include incitement to hatred and hate...

Poland’s top climate official said the country is preparing to set a date for a complete phase-out of coal-fired power generation, just months after the nation elected a new government that has pledged to support environmental policies of the European Union (EU). ... Poland, which currently receives about 70% of its electricity from burning coal, and has long been Europe’s largest producer of the fuel, has been slowly increasing its use of solar and wind power. ... Urszula Zielinska, the country’s Secretary of State for Climate, during a meeting in Brussels, Belgium on Jan. 15, said, “Only with an end...

The UN's top court has ordered Israel to enable the unhindered flow of aid into Gaza in order to avert a famine. In a unanimous decision, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Israel had to act "without delay" to allow the "provision... of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance". This follows warnings that famine could hit Gaza within weeks. Israel has called allegations it is blocking aid "wholly unfounded". Giving its response to the court order, the Israeli foreign ministry said it was continuing "to promote new initiatives, and to expand existing ones" to allow a continuous flow...

France announces it will provide over 30 million euros to UNRWA while ensuring the agency fulfills its mission "in a spirit devoid of incitement to hatred and violence".

The Government is going to intervene in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, will update the Cabinet that he has directed officials to prepare a Declaration of Intervention. If approved by the Government, this will be filed at the court in The Hague for the case against Israel under the 1948 Genocide Convention. It is not clear yet what points of law Ireland will reply upon for its intervention. …

Focus Ireland is hoping to help thousands of homeless people to register to vote ahead of the local and European elections in June. Focus Ireland’s director of advocacy, Mike Allen, said that there are around 9,500 homeless adults in Ireland and many of them would not be registered to vote. The charity is now hoping to change that as voting registration was simplified after the Electoral Reform Act was passed in 2022. More than 50,000 Irish people have spent at least one night of their lives homeless, according to figures published by Focus Ireland. …