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Russia on Sunday claimed it successfully test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear warheads from its nuclear-powered submarine Imperator Alexander III. The test comes amid soaring tensions between Russia and the West over Vladimir Putin's 20-month-long invasion of Ukraine. Moscow passed a law last week withdrawing its ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons deal – a move severely criticised by Washington. “Firing a ballistic missile is the final element of state tests, after which a decision will be made to accept the cruiser into the navy,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement. The submarine fired the Bulava missile from an underwater position in Russia’s northern White Sea and hit a target in the far-eastern region of the Kamchatka peninsula, the ministry said without confirming when the test was conducted. The 12-metre-long Bulava missile has an estimated range of around 8,000km and can carry up to six nuclear warheads. The Imperator Alexander III is one of the new Borei-class nuclear submarines that carry 16 Bulava missiles each and are intended to serve as the core naval component of the nation’s nuclear forces. It also has modern torpedo weapons, the ministry said. Mr Putin took part in a ceremony in December setting the Imperator Alexander III afloat, according to state news agency TASS. FULL STORY

House Republicans are approaching their Biden impeachment inquiry with renewed vigor following the election of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has cautioned against rushing an investigation even as he’s previously accused the president of bribery. As Speaker, Johnson has stressed a reserved approach to impeachment, invoking the founders in calling it the “heaviest power that we have,” while saying he has no predetermined outcome. But as a prominent voice of the House Judiciary Committee, he was vocal in criticizing President Biden, at one point saying bribery is “what happened here.” House Republicans have failed to demonstrate that Biden took a bribe — an allegation that surfaced as a result of a conversation with a Ukrainian oligarch that came to the FBI in a tip the bureau was unable to verify. The White House has vigorously denied any wrongdoing by Biden and noted that even as Republicans have pored over the business dealings of his brother and son, they’ve failed to connect the president to their work overseas. But as Johnson takes the helm from a former Speaker who at times seemed reluctant to pursue the matter, he said last week the House would soon have to determine how to move forward with an investigation shared across three committees. “I do believe that very soon we are coming to a point of decision on it,” he said Thursday. FULL STORY

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has ended his tour of the Middle East admitting that his efforts to secure a sustained humanitarian pause and greater constraint in Israel’s assault on Gaza was still “a work in progress”. His comments on Monday followed a meeting with Hakan Fidan, the Turkish foreign minister, in Ankara. He will now head to a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Japan where he will brief colleagues on the US approach to the crisis, and its impact on western standing. Over four days of talks, which started in Jerusalem, diplomatic progress appears if anything to have gone into reverse. Blinken was unable to persuade the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Neyanyahu, to adopt a humanitarian pause while talks on hostages stalled over the sequencing and length of the pause in hostilities required for their release. In a further bombardment on Sunday night, Israel also imposed another temporary communication blackout in Gaza, despite US requests not to do so. The number of aid trucks crossing the Egyptian border into Gaza at the Rafah crossing went down from 100 on Friday to closer to 30 in the following days. The US said Hamas – the Islamist group that runs Gaza and carried out the 7 October attacks on Israel in which 1,400 people, mainly civilians, were killed – had broken the agreement on injured civilians crossing into Egypt. The US said Hamas was trying to reserve a third of the places for its injured fighters. Blinken tried to strike an optimistic if cautious note, saying: “We know the deep concern here for the terrible toll on Palestinians – on men, women, and children in Gaza, innocent civilians – a concern that we share and that we’re working on every single day. We’ve engaged the Israelis on steps that they can take to minimise civilian casualties. We’re working very aggressively on getting more humanitarian assistance into Gaza.” He added: “I think you’ll see in the days ahead that assistance can expand in significant ways so that more gets to people who need it as well as making sure that people can continue to come out of Gaza.” FULL STORY

A senior Hamas leader has refused to acknowledge that his group killed civilians in Israel, claiming only conscripts were targeted. Moussa Abu Marzouk told the BBC that "women, children and civilians were exempt" from Hamas's attacks. His claims are in stark contrast to the wealth of video evidence of Hamas men shooting unarmed adults and children. Israel says more than 1,400 people were killed by Hamas in the 7 October attacks, most of them civilians. Mr Marzouk, the group's deputy political leader, who is subject to an asset freeze in the UK under counter-terrorism regulations, was interviewed on Saturday in the Gulf. He is the most senior member to speak to the BBC since the 7 October atrocities. The BBC pressed Mr Marzouk on the war on Gaza, specifically on the scores of hostages being held inside the territory. He responded that they were not able to be freed while Israel was bombing Gaza. The Hamas-run health ministry says 10,000 people have been killed since Israel started operations last month. "We will release them. But we need to stop the fighting," he said. Mr Marzouk recently travelled to Moscow to discuss eight Russian-Israeli dual citizens snatched on 7 October by Hamas, a proscribed terror organisation in many countries including the UK and US. He said Hamas members in Gaza had "looked for and found two female hostages" from Russia but were unable to release them because of the conflict. They could only realistically release hostages, he said, if "the Israelis stop the fighting so we can hand them over to the Red Cross". Challenged by the BBC about the attack of 7 October, Mr Marzouk claimed that Mohamed el-Deif, the leader of Hamas's Qassam Brigades military wing, had ordered his men to spare civilians. "El-Deif clearly told his fighters 'don't kill a woman, don't kill a child and don't kill an old man'," he said. Reservist soldiers were, he said, "targeted". He maintained that only "conscripts [...] or soldiers" were killed. But women, children and civilians were "exempt", he said. FULL STORY

Donald Trump repeatedly clashed with a judge and defended his family's business as he testified in a civil fraud trial in New York. During almost four hours on the witness stand, the former president disputed claims that he deceived banks and aired broad grievances with the case. The judge has already ruled the Trump Organization committed fraud and this trial will determine the penalties. Prosecutors are seeking a $250m (£202m) fine and severe business restrictions. During his highly anticipated appearance at the Manhattan federal courthouse on Monday, Mr Trump, 77, was asked about the value of various properties including his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago, Trump Tower in New York and his golf course in Scotland. These properties are among several that prosecutors say were intentionally overvalued in company statements in order to secure better loans and insurance policies. In his testimony, Mr Trump, who is the current frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, stood by the valuations as prosecutors quizzed him on how they were reached and the financial statements at the centre of the trial. "I'm worth billions of dollars more than the financial statements," Mr Trump said, before describing the valuations as "very conservative." He said the property values were bolstered by his personal brand, something he said was never factored into financial statements. "I can look at buildings and tell you what they're worth," he said in another testy exchange. Backed into a legal corner, Trump comes out swinging The glitzy New York buildings that Trump could lose Four surprises that could upend the 2024 US election The lawsuit was brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who accuses Mr Trump, along with his sons Eric and Donald Jr and other Trump Organization executives, of deliberately inflating company assets for years. All deny wrongdoing. FULL STORY

Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, has denied that rape allegations against a Conservative MP were “covered up” during his time running the party’s headquarters. The former party chair said the Conservatives had a “zero tolerance” approach to sexual misconduct after claims that it had failed in its responsibilities towards alleged victims of a “serial rapist” MP. In a round of broadcast interviews, Dowden, who stepped down from the role in June 2022, urged any individuals with concerns about the MP, who has not been named for legal reasons, to go straight to the police. It follows reports in the Mail on Sunday that allegations of multiple sexual offences, including rape, had been made against the MP but were not dealt with properly by the party, allowing the politician to continue offending after the alarm was raised. The former Tory chairman Jake Berry, who was in post from September to October 2022, sent a letter to the police in which he revealed that a number of allegations about an MP had been made known to the party, but only limited action had been taken. “It is very difficult for me to comment specifically on this for two reasons. First of all, the individual isn’t named, and secondly, it may be the case that there are criminal investigations ongoing,” Dowden told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme. FULL STORY

Author Rowan Knox, formerly known as Amanda Jette Knox, has announced that he is now a trans man Knox had previously made headlines after his wife, who had been his husband for 19 years, came out as a trans woman The couple are now in a polyamorous relationship with a fellow trans couple, after their daughter also came out as transgender An author has come out as a transgender man after his husband transitioned from male to female - and the couple now live in a four-way relationship with their trans lovers. Rowan Jette Knox, formerly known as Amanda Jette Knox, announced on his social media in August that he was 're-introducing' himself as a trans man. The Toronto-based writer and activist, who started taking testosterone earlier this week, follows in the footsteps of his husband-turned-wife and son-turned-daughter. Knox's wife Zoe was previously known as Mark but came out as transgender in July 2015, after 19 years of marriage. The pair's daughter Alexis revealed that she was transgender in early 2014. Rowan says he too was born in the wrong body, but that it took a long time to come to terms with his true gender. Rowan and Zoe live with their transgender partners Dani and Dame in the same Toronto house. Dani and Dame are themselves a couple. Rowan describes the unusual relationship as a 'polycule.' He previously shared his delight at realizing he was non-binary before coming out as transgender and told PinkNews: 'Trans joy is infectious'. Full story

Former President Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod on Sunday suggested President Biden drop out of the 2024 presidential race in the wake of a new poll showing the incumbent trailing former President Trump. Pointing to a New York Times and Siena College poll published Sunday, Axelrod wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: “It’s very late to change horses; a lot will happen in the next year that no one can predict & Biden’s team says his resolve to run is firm.” Arguing Biden is “justly proud of his accomplishments,” Axelrod said Biden’s poll numbers will “send tremors of doubt” through the Democratic Party. “Not ‘bed-wetting,'” but legitimate concern, Axelrod wrote. “Trump is a dangerous, unhinged demagogue whose brazen disdain for the rules, [norms], laws and institutions or democracy should be disqualifying,” Axelrod wrote in a separate post. “But the stakes of miscalculation here are too dramatic to ignore.” “Only @JoeBiden can make this decision,” he continued. “If he continues to run, he will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. What he needs to decide is whether that is wise; whether it’s in HIS best interest or the country’s?” The poll found Biden trailing Trump in five out of six battleground states including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania by margins of 3 to 10 percentage points among registered voters. In Wisconsin, Biden was ahead by 2 percentage points, according to the poll. FULL STORY

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspended far-right Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu on Sunday after he suggested dropping an atomic bomb on Gaza was a possible way to deal with the threat from Hamas. Asked in a radio interview Sunday whether Israel should drop an atomic bomb on Gaza, Eliyahu replied that that was an option, The Jerusalem Post reported, noting that the comment came in a larger discussion about humanitarian aid. “We wouldn’t have given the Nazis humanitarian aid,” he said, according to the reporting. “There’s no such thing as innocents in Gaza.” Netanyahu sharply rebuked the comment, saying they were “not based in reality” and stressing Israel’s commitment to abide by international law and avoid unnecessary deaths. “Minister Amihai Eliyahu’s statements are not based in reality,” Netanyahu said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, before suspending Eliyahu from cabinet meetings. “Israel and the [Israel Defense Forces] are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents. We will continue to do so until our victory,” Netanyahu added. The remarks were also met by widespread condemnation among Israeli government officials — both from members in the right-wing governing coalition and from members of the opposition. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he “condemns the baseless and irresponsible words of Minister Amichai Eliyahu,” adding, “It’s good that these are not the people in charge of Israel’s security.” FULL STORY

A new poll found President Biden is trailing former President Trump in five key battleground states, dealing the latest blow to Biden’s reelection campaign as it works to fend off criticism over the incumbent’s age and policies on various issues. A new poll from The New York Times and Siena College shows Trump beating Biden in five out of the six battleground states that were polled, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania by margins of 3 to 10 percentage points among registered voters. In Arizona, Trump picked up 49 percent support compared with Biden’s 44 percent, while in Georgia, Biden secured 43 percent compared with Trump’s 49 percent. Trump maintained a wide lead over Biden in Nevada with 52 percent to 41 percent. Trump’s lead was smaller, but still notable in Michigan, with 48 percent support, while Biden secured 43 percent of the vote. In Pennsylvania, Trump garnered 48 percent while Biden had 44 percent. Wisconsin, the sixth battleground state the poll surveyed, was the only state Biden maintained a slight lead in with a margin of 47 to 45 percent. The poll marks a shift after the incumbent won the six states in 2020 when up against Trump, The New York Times reported. The findings follow a series of recent polls that show Biden either locked in a tight race with Trump or trailing him. Biden’s campaign has reiterated the election is still more than a year away and that the president is working to mobilize voters to support his reelection bid. The polling, coupled with Biden’s low approval ratings, has some in the political sphere expressing concerns. FULL STORY

A hostage situation at Hamburg airport has concluded with the suspect and his daughter exiting a car, police have said, ending an 18-hour ordeal that had closed northern Germany’s busiest airport. The suspect was arrested without resistance and the child appeared not to be injured, the police said on the social media platform X. The incident began at about 8pm local time on Saturday when an armed man drove through a security barrier and on to the tarmac, fired two shots in the air and threw two burning bottles out of the vehicle. At least two individuals – including a child – were in the car, police said. The wife of the driver had placed an emergency call alerting police to the abduction of her child, the police spokesperson added. Police said on Saturday that they believed “that a custody dispute is the background to this operation”. A police spokesperson told German media on Sunday morning: “We have good contact with the perpetrator.” The police said they were positive about the fact that the discussions were continuing for so long, saying: “That’s an absolutely good sign.” Local media reported that a total of 3,200 airline passengers were affected by delays due to the incident. FULL STORY

Elon Musk has unveiled Grok, an artificial intelligence chatbot with a “rebellious streak” inspired by The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The Tesla CEO, who warned last week that AI was “one of the biggest threats to humanity”, said the competitor to ChatGPT would be made available to premium subscribers on his X platform after testing. Musk also revealed that Grok had access to user posts on X, which he owns, and has a penchant for sarcastic responses. Musk posted an apparent example of Grok’s playful tone with a screengrab of a query to the chatbot asking it for a “step by step” guide to making cocaine. The four steps outlined in the reply include “obtain a chemistry degree” and “set up a clandestine laboratory in a remote location”. However, the chatbot adds at the end: “Just kidding! Please don’t actually try to make cocaine. It’s illegal, dangerous, and not something I would ever encourage.” FULL STORY

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has denied a suggestion from the Ukrainian military’s commander-in-chief that the war with Russia has reached a stalemate, and a senior spokesperson for his administration has rebuked the general in question and accused him of making “the aggressor’s job easier”. Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi had offered his blunt assessment of the situation in an interview published last week. “Just like in the first world war, we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” he told the Economist, adding: “There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.” Zaluzhnyi said the war had entered a phase of attritional fighting in which neither side would make much progress unless there was a technological breakthrough. He also suggested that Russia was slowly getting the upper hand thanks to its superior numbers. The general said he had underestimated Vladimir Putin’s willingness to sacrifice his own soldiers, saying at least 150,000 had been killed so far. “Let’s be honest, [Russia] is a feudal state where the cheapest resource is human life. And for us … the most expensive thing we have is our people,” Zaluzhnyi said. Prolonged fighting had put Ukraine at a disadvantage, he admitted. “This will benefit Russia, allowing it to rebuild its military power, eventually threatening Ukraine’s armed forces and the state itself.” On Saturday, Zelenskiy denied the war was at a stalemate and said more work with allies was needed to strengthen air defences. “Today time has passed and people are tired, but this is not a stalemate,” he said during a news conference with the visiting European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. “Russia controls the skies. We care about our military.” Zelenskiy acknowledged there had been difficulties in the war, which is in its 21st month, and he conceded that Kyiv had yet to achieve any major successes in its counteroffensive. FULL STORY

A global recession could be set in motion by the conflict in the Middle East as the humanitarian crisis compounds the challenges facing an already precarious world economy, two of Wall Street’s biggest names have warned. The downbeat comments come as the City braces for another gloomy update on the UK economy, with the Office for National Statistics due to provide an update on how it fared during the third quarter on Friday. After barely growing during 2023, the UK economy is again expected to be almost at a standstill, according to estimates by City economists. There are also new downbeat figures on the housing market, with UK mortgage lending predicted to show decade-low growth during 2023 and 2024. In terms of the global economy, Larry Fink, chief executive of the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, said a combination of the Hamas atrocities of 7 October, Israel’s resultant attack on Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year had pushed the world “almost to a whole new future”. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Fink said: “Geopolitical risk is a major component in shaping all our lives. We are having rising fear throughout the world, and less hope. Rising fear creates a withdrawal from consumption or spending more. So fear creates recessions in the long run, and if we continue to have rising fear, the probability of a European recession grows and the probability of a US recession grows.” Jamie Dimon, the chair of America’s biggest bank, JP Morgan, also told the same newspaper that the combination of Israel’s war on Hamas and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – were “quite scary and unpredictable”. “What’s happening on the geopolitical front right now is the most important thing for the future of the world – freedom, democracy, food, energy, immigration,” he said. FULL STORY

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said an Israeli ceasefire in Gaza would allow Hamas to regroup and carry out further attacks. But he added that Israel had to take "every possible measure" to prevent civilian casualties in the enclave. Mr Blinken made the comments on Saturday in Jordan after holding talks with Arab leaders, who want an immediate halt to the fighting. They have accused Israel of committing war crimes. "We don't accept that it is a self-defence," Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said at a news conference with Mr Blinken following the talks, which also involved Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. The US continues to support Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas. Mr Safadi described the conflict as a "raging war that is killing civilians, destroying their homes, their hospitals, their schools, their mosques and their churches." "It cannot be justified under any pretext and it will not bring Israel security, it will not bring the region peace." There have been concerns that the war could draw in other regional actors and lead to the destabilisation of the Middle East. Mr Blinken, who has been calling for humanitarian pauses in the fighting instead of a ceasefire, said that while the US disagreed with Arab leaders on some of the means to achieve a lasting peace in the region, their goal was the same. "We all understand that we not only have an interest, but a responsibility to do everything we can to chart a better path forward together," he said. FULL STORY

When US President Joe Biden recently signed off on a $80m grant to Taiwan for the purchase of American military equipment, China said it "deplores and opposes" what Washington had done. To the casual observer it didn't appear a steep sum. It was less than the cost of a single modern fighter jet. Taiwan already has on order more than $14bn worth of US military equipment. Does a miserly $80m more matter? While fury is Beijing's default response to any military support for Taiwan, this time something was different. The $80m is not a loan. It comes from American taxpayers. For the first time in more than 40 years, America is using its own money to send weapons to a place it officially doesn't recognise. This is happening under a programme called foreign military finance (FMF). Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, FMF has been used to send around $4bn of military aid to Kyiv. It has been used to send billions more to Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Egypt and so on. But until now it has only ever been given to countries or organisations recognised by the United Nations. Taiwan is not. After the US switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, it continued to sell weapons to the island under the terms of the Taiwan Relations Act. The key was to sell just enough weapons so Taiwan could defend itself against possible Chinese attack, but not so many that they would destabilise relations between Washington and Beijing. For decades, the US has relied on this so-called strategic ambiguity to do business with China, while remaining Taiwan's staunchest ally. FULL STORY

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Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on Friday praised the Palestinian militant group Hamas for exposing what he called a weakened Israel and threatened to intervene in the war to protect Gaza from Israeli attacks. Nasrallah delivered a major speech in Lebanon, his first since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in early October, as fighting has raged between Hezbollah and Israel on the borders. The speech played on video in the capitol of Beirut, where crowds of supporters gathered to listen. The Hezbollah leader, appearing furious and emotional, said Gaza is suffering a humanitarian catastrophe under an Israeli siege and announced that he could “adopt any option at any time” to respond to the crisis, which he said is in the “national interest” of Lebanon. He also warned that Israeli attacks on Lebanese civilians could spark a war. “What the Israelis do to Lebanon will also determine how we will act,” he said. “All options are on the table on the Lebanese front.” Hezbollah and Israeli soldiers have primarily traded artillery and rocket fire in recent weeks, but the fighting has been near daily and the deadliest in years. Nasrallah’s threats of escalation come after Israel has encircled Gaza City, the Hamas stronghold, and is now fighting in the urban area. FULL STORY

Artificial intelligence will eventually mean no one needs to work, Elon Musk told Rishi Sunak last night. In conversation with the Prime Minister, the tech billionaire compared AI to a 'magic genie' that would bring a time when 'no job is needed'. Mr Musk said people could still work 'for personal satisfaction' if they wanted, and one of the future challenges would be finding 'meaning in life'. Mr Sunak replied: 'I'm someone who believes work gives you meaning.' Speaking in front of tech bosses and journalists, Mr Musk said: 'You can have a job if you want to for personal satisfaction, AI can do everything. 'I don't know if that makes people comfortable or uncomfortable. It's both good and bad. 'One of the challenges in future will be how do we find meaning in life. We won't have universal basic income but universal high income. It'll be good for education - it'll be the best tutor.' Speaking at Lancaster House following the AI summit at Bletchley Park, Mr Musk described 'a future of abundance where there is no scarcity,' calling AI a 'magic genie'. But he then quipped that those fairytales rarely end well. FULL STORY

AI-powered stem separation software was used to lift John Lennon's vocals from a demo tape to create the new version of Now And Then, released yestertday. The Beatles release their final song. 45 years in the making, Now And Then features vocals recorded by John Lennon in the '70s and extracted from a demo cassette using AI-powered stem separation technology. Thanks to advances in stem separation made over the past few years, Peter Jackson (maker of the Get Back documentary series) and a team of engineers were able to extract Lennon's vocal from the demo to be mixed into a new version of the song, featuring newly-recorded bass and drums from Paul and Ringo, and guitar parts George Harrison recorded in 1995. Stem separation software separates recordings containing multiple instruments into their constituent parts, or stems; this made it possible for the producers to integrate Lennon's vocal with other musical elements when mixing the song's new version. When the remaining Beatles first considered recording the demo in 1995, this software didn't yet exist, so the song was shelved. Stem separation tools utilize a form of machine learning wherein the software is trained using thousands of existing songs to understand and recognize the frequency bands that individual elements of a mix, such as vocals, guitars and drums, typically tend to occupy. ARTICLE

Newcastle are spread thin but dreaming big, Ten Hag is under fire and West Ham face their bogey team Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend Newcastle are spread thin but dreaming big, Ten Hag is under fire and West Ham face their bogey team Guardian sport Ten Hag must bear brunt for United Fulham v Manchester United (Saturday, 12.30pm, all times GMT) West Ham cross capital to their bogey team Brentford v West Ham (Saturday, 3pm) Kompany must show return on investment Burnley v Crystal Palace (Saturday, 3pm) De Zerbi out to dodge another Everton rout Everton v Brighton (Saturday, 3pm) FULL LIST AND ARTICLE

Israel’s stated war aim is to destroy Hamas; Hamas wants Israel to commit such barbarities in response to its attack that it loses international support International calls for a ceasefire in Gaza are growing louder as the scale of destruction and humanitarian suffering visited on its population becomes ever clearer. Others, including the UN, call for at least a “humanitarian pause”. Is either likely? And could they pave the way to peace? Ceasefires, like peace processes, only work when both belligerents are either willing or can be persuaded to accept one and stick to it. In Gaza, this looks unlikely. In Syria in 2015-16 and in Sudan this year, similar attempts have failed dismally. In Ethiopia, a ceasefire with Tigray was achieved only after the two sides had fought each other to a standstill, at the cost of tens of thousands of lives. At this stage, both the Israeli government and Hamas probably calculate they have more to gain from a continuation of fighting. Israel’s stated war aim is to destroy Hamas as a fighting and political force and free all the Israeli hostages. An immediate ceasefire would hinder at least the first. It would also signal that Israel accepts restraint on its retaliation, unacceptable to a government – and people – shocked by the slaughter inflicted on them by a group explicitly committed to destroying their state. Echoes of the past are too strong. For many, Israel’s very survival depends on hitting their enemies harder than they are hit. So even if a ceasefire involved the release of all Israeli hostages, it would not suffice. The implication that it would be followed by negotiations with Hamas is, for many Israelis, still beyond the pale. Hamas’s war aim (unstated, and therefore speculative) is presumably to provoke Israel to commit such barbarities in response to its terrorist attack that it loses international support and becomes, ultimately, forced to make major concessions to the Palestinians in the form of a genuinely autonomous state. The longer the fighting continues, the more Israel’s moral case weakens. Even some Israelis recognise that their window of opportunity for retaliation is limited. FULL ARTICLE

A majority of the British public now hold positive views about the impact of immigration on the UK, despite intense political rhetoric surrounding the issue, according to an academic survey. The European Social Survey, which has sampled attitudes every two years since 2001, said British views on immigration and its economic and cultural impact had undergone “a complete about-turn” over the past two decades, becoming significantly more favourable after 2016. The survey asked people to rank out of 10 whether immigration was bad or good for the economy, whether cultural life was undermined or enriched, and whether it made the country a better or worse place to live, with 10 being the most positive. The latest poll, for 2022, shows that for the first time a majority of respondents thought immigration was very positive for the UK economy (59% ranking between seven and 10), enriched the country’s cultural life (58%), and made the country a better place to live (56%). In 2002 just 17% were very positive about the economic benefits, 33% thought it was culturally enriching, and 20% thought it made the UK a better place to live (2016: 44%, 46% and 39%). Although the government has pledged to reduce immigration, and MPs regularly claim curbing the net inflow of migrants is a critical issue for UK voters, the survey suggests public attitudes have evolved significantly in recent years and are far more positive than politicians assume. FULL STORY

Trump’s eldest sons claimed on Thursday that they had no knowledge of the financial statements at the heart of the family’s $250m fraud trial. Eric and his older brother Donald Trump Jr claimed in court that they had relied on accountants and others to make sure their financial records were correct. But lawyers for the New York attorney general presented evidence that the two brothers had been presented with paperwork that suggested they had prior knowledge of statements a judge has ruled “clearly contain fraudulent valuations”. Eric Trump’s comment came as lawyers quizzed the brothers about their knowledge of the financial statements that prosecutors argue prove the Trumps were instrumental in a scheme to inflate the family’s perceived wealth for financial gain. “I never had anything to do with the statements of financial condition,” Eric Trump testified. In a sometimes tetchy exchange, Eric Trump was asked about emails that showed subordinates asking for information about Trump’s financial reports. “Hi Eric, I’m working on your dad’s annual financial statement,” read one email from Jeffrey McConney, the Trump Organization’s former controller, asking for details about a Trump property. Eric Trump consistently denied specific knowledge and said he was “not very familiar with my father’s statement of financial condition”. At one point Eric Trump said “we’re getting tripped up” and said he had not realized at the time that he was being asked for information related to financial statements. “People in the company have conversations with you all the time, and you provide them with answers when you can,” said Trump. “I think I was 26 years old,” he added. “I was not aware of it, I never worked on it, and I didn’t know about it until this case came into fruition.” FULL STORY