Social Media

The contrast with the heavily choreographed trip by the US president to shake hands and stand in solidarity with key ally Israel could not have been sharper. On the streets leading up to the US embassy in Beirut, which had been shuttered behind rows of razor wire, protesters seethed with anger. Carrying flags and stones - which were hurled at the embassy - they tried to storm the building, but were repelled by volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets. The militant Shia group, Hezbollah, had called for a day of "unprecedented anger" after the hospital bombing. His face covered by a kaffiyeh - an Arab scarf - Wissam told me he'd come to support the people of Gaza and make the world understand what was happening there. "Because of the massacres carried out by the Zionist enemies with the full support of the United States, the demonstrations may escalate due to the massacres carried out by Israel, the latest of which is the bombing of children and women in the Maamadani Hospital. "America's support to Israel is clear after US President Joe Biden adopted the Israeli scenario that Hamas was the one that bombed the hospital." And it is a refrain that is almost universal in the Arab and Islamic world. There is disbelief at the Israeli explanations - no one accepts the carnage at the hospital was anything other than an IDF air strike. And the longer the bombing of Gaza goes on, the greater the chance of this furious reaction escalating into something much worse. In the Jordanian capital Amman, people turned out in their thousands to support the Palestinian cause and vent their anger at Israel and America. FULL STORY

A new poll found that American voters have a mutual mistrust of the other side and are open to exploring alternatives to democracy, and that a share of both Democrat and Republican voters believe it is acceptable to use violence to stop the opposing party from achieving its goals. A majority of voters that support President Biden or former President Trump believe that electing officials from the opposing party in 2024 would create lasting harm in the United States, according to poll results released Wednesday by the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Fifty-two percent of Biden supporters say individuals who support the Republican party are a threat to American life, and 47 percent of Trump supporters say the same about Democrats. Forty-one percent of Biden supporters say they believe people who support the Republican party and its ideologies have become “so extreme in what they want that it is acceptable to use violence to stop them from achieving their goals.” Likewise, 38 percent of Trump supporters say it is OK to use violence to stop Democrats from achieving their goals. The poll found that shares of both Biden and Trump supporters are open to using undemocratic means to achieve the party’s ideals. A significant share of respondents question if democracy is no longer a viable system of governance; 31 percent of Trump supporters said America should explore alternative forms of government to ensure stability and progress, compared to 24 percent of Biden supporters. The survey was conducted from Aug. 25 to Sept. 11 with 2,008 registered voters. It has a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points. FULL STORY

President Biden’s overall approval rating dropped to 37 percent in a poll released Wednesday — a near record-low for the president as he heads into an election year. The latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey, conducted Oct. 11-15, showed Biden’s overall approval rating at its second-lowest point in his presidency, 1 point higher than the record-low 36 percent approval in July 2022. Biden’s disapproval rating rose to a record-high of 58 percent, 1 point above the disapproval rating in July 2022. Biden, 80, is set to run for reelection next year and is not facing strong challengers in a Democratic primary. Former President Trump, 77, is the runaway favorite for the GOP presidential nomination. Respondents were split on which presidential candidate they supported in 2020, with 45 percent saying they would vote for or support Biden and 43 percent backing Trump. Also, 85 percent of respondents said they voted. Asked about their ideological alignments, 26 percent said they were very or somewhat liberal, 40 percent said they were very or somewhat conservative, and 28 percent described themselves as moderate. The latest approval rating dropped 2 points from the most recent polls, conducted in July and in April, when his approval held steady at 39 percent. In November 2022, Biden’s overall approval rating was at 41 percent. Biden’s disapproval rating rose by 2 points from the most recent polls, in July and April, when his disapproval rating was at 55 percent. The same survey gave Biden his second-lowest approval on the economy so far in his presidency, dropping 5 points from the July poll to a 32 percent approval rating in the latest October survey. The only survey showing Biden with a lower approval on the economy was in July 2022, when 30 percent approved of his job on the economy. Biden also received dismal ratings on foreign policy, even though it showed the vast majority of the public support military aid for Israel and Ukraine and support foreign humanitarian aid — positions the Biden administration has supported . FULL STORY

President Biden cautioned Israel Wednesday not to make the same mistakes the United States made after the 9/11 terrorist attacks as Israeli forces are expected to prepare a ground offensive in response to terrorist attacks launched by Hamas. Biden delivered remarks in Tel Aviv at the end of a trip to Israel meant to underscore his unwavering support for the Jewish state in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks, which killed more than 1,000 Israelis and has set off concerns about a wider conflict in the region. “Since this terrorist attack took place, we’ve seen it described as Israel’s 9/11. But for a nation the size of Israel, it was like 15 9/11s,” Biden said. “The scale may be different, but I’m sure those horrors have tapped into some kind of primal feeling in Israel just like it did in the United States. Shock, pain, rage. An all-consuming rage.” “You can’t look at what has happened here … and not scream out for justice,” Biden continued. “Justice must be done. But I caution this: While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11 we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.” Biden said the choices in a time of war are never clear and must be weighed against potential costs before noting that the Palestinian people are suffering, and that the vast majority of them are not represented by Hamas. Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the U.S. embarked on wars in Afghanistan to hunt down those responsible and then months later, began a war in Iraq. The dual conflicts cost the United States thousands of U.S. troops and spanned 20 years. Biden served as vice president while both wars were being waged and his administration later oversaw the chaotic exit of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2021. The president’s comments came as scores of Palestinians have been killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes on Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas. Israel is preparing an offensive against Hamas, including a potential ground invasion. World leaders have also sounded the alarm about a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where civilians have struggled to access food, water and medicine. FULL STORY

A federal judge on Wednesday denied former President Trump’s attempt to delay a lawsuit against him seeking civil damages over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. After Trump was indicted on federal criminal charges stemming from the 2020 election and Jan. 6, his attorneys in August attempted to put the civil lawsuit on hold, citing substantial overlap. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta denied Trump’s stay motion in a brief order issued Wednesday, calling the request “unwarranted.” “This case remains at the motion-to-dismiss stage,” Mehta wrote. “The claimed dilemma posed by simultaneously defending himself in this case and his criminal case only will arise, if at all, during the discovery phase. His request is therefore premature. Further, the balance of interests, including Plaintiff’s and the public’s in moving this matter forward, do not favor a stay.” Sandra Garza, the longtime partner of Brian Sicknick, a U.S. Capitol Police officer who died hours after the Capitol attack, sued Trump just ahead of the second anniversary of Jan. 6. Sicknick was pepper sprayed during the attack and passed away the following day after suffering two strokes. The medical examiner months later ruled he died from natural causes, while noting that “all that transpired played a role in his condition.” The U.S. Capitol Police said Sicknick died in the line of duty. Trump had sought the pause days after he was charged with four criminal counts in Washington, D.C., over his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including allegations related to Jan. 6. It is one of four indictments Trump faces. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges. FULL STORY

Anti-war whistleblowers leak list appearing to show plans to draft hundreds of Serbs to bolster Moscow’s armies At the beginning of September, Branko boarded a direct flight from Belgrade to Moscow. After a few days in the Russian capital, Branko, with three other Serbian nationals, was driven to a military recruitment centre in Krasnogorsk, a city on the outskirts of Moscow, where the group signed a contract with the Russian military. “It all went very fast; in one day I became a soldier for Russia … Now I am waiting to be sent to Ukraine,” Branko said in a text exchange on Telegram, requesting anonymity so he could speak freely. Branko, not his real name, was part of Moscow’s latest drive to recruit Serbs to fight for the Russian army in Ukraine, as the Kremlin seeks to replenish its forces, depleted by 18 months of fighting. Based on accounts provided by two Serbian fighters who travelled to Russia, as well as a leaked list of recruited Serbs, the Guardian found that Russian officials appear to have made plans to recruit hundreds of Serbian nationals to bolster the army. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has introduced a series of laws to lure foreign citizens to join its ranks. Vladimir Putin, at a security meeting shortly after his troops invaded Ukraine, said the Kremlin should help people from overseas who planned to fight on Russia’s side. Since then, the Russian leader has signed an order lowering the minimum length of contract military service for foreigners from five years to one, and offered a fast-track recruitment drive to non-Russian combatants. Serbia, an EU accession candidate since 2012, has struggled to balance historically close ties with Russia against aspirations for integration with Europe, and tensions have been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, with many Serbs sympathetic to Russia. FULL STORY

Germany’s chancellor expresses outrage after two molotov cocktails hurled at building Germany’s chancellor has vowed to step up the fight against antisemitism after assailants hurled two molotov cocktails at a Jewish synagogue in central Berlin. Speaking in Egypt on Wednesday, Olaf Scholz said he was “outraged” by what police called a suspected “serious attempted arson” that took place in the early hours of Wednesday in the Mitte district of the city. “Two unidentified people came on foot and threw two burning bottles filled with liquid in the direction of the synagogue on Brunnenstrasse,” police said in a statement. “The bottles landed on the pavement and broke, extinguishing the fire.” There were no reported injuries and the building, which belongs to the Kahal Adass Jisroel community, was not harmed. As the masked assailants fled the scene, security forces outside the building – which also serves as a daycare and a school – noticed “a small fire” on the sidewalk and were able to put it out, police added. Scholz described the tensions that have gripped his country in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war as “inhumane, abhorrent and intolerable”. Forcefully condemning the attack on the synagogue, he said further protection would be provided for Jewish institutions. “I want to expressly say that I am outraged,” Scholz told reporters during a trip to Egypt. “It outrages me personally what some are shouting and doing.” He later took to social media to stress that “antisemitism has no place in Germany” as well as thank security forces for their work. “Attacks against Jewish institutions, violent riots on our streets – this is inhumane, abhorrent and intolerable,” he added. FULL STORY

Small shards of broken glass glinted in between paving stones in central Ramallah, one of the few physical signs of a clash the previous night between protesters and the security forces of the ruling Palestinian Authority. Mohammed Tarifi sat with a friend on the corner of a deserted street that would normally throng with crowds stopping at its popular cafes, ice-cream vendors and juice shops. The two stared up at an enormous billboard for Sprite, a giant can of the soft drink rotating slowly in a sign of how Ramallah has grown in recent years and managed some limited prosperity as the economic and political centre of the West Bank. “I wasn’t at the demonstration but I saw it on TikTok – Ramallah was a war zone,” Tarifi said. As protesters chanted to demand the fall of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, throwing rocks at police cars near Ramallah’s central Manara square, security forces replied with smoke bombs in an attempt to repel the crowds. “I blame the Palestinian Authority. They should have just allowed the demonstration to happen rather than stopping it. We should support our people in Gaza, and I’m just so angry at what’s happened,” said the 20-year-old. Protests have erupted across the West Bank in recent days. A 12-year-old girl was shot by authority security forces during protests in Jenin and a university student was injured by live fire in the town of Tubas. “The roads are closed, and they’re all blocked anyway. Even if I want to leave Ramallah, there’s a good chance I’ll be shot,” said Tarifi, alluding to a widespread security crackdown by Israeli forces across the West Bank. FULL STORY

UN says Gaza needs aid deliveries of at least 100 trucks a day While the agreement to allow aid through the Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza was a breakthrough, the flow of relief will still fall short of the perceived need, Reuters reports. UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the Security Council on Wednesday that the organisation sought to bring aid deliveries to Gaza back to 100 trucks a day, the level before the Israel-Hamas conflict. Rafah crossing to open for aid: what we know Here is what we know about the desperately-needed aid being allowed into Gaza. Israel said Wednesday that it will allow Egypt to deliver limited humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The announcement to allow water, food and other supplies happened as fury over the blast at Gaza City’s al-Ahli Hospital spread across the Middle East, and as US President Joe Biden visited Israel in hopes of preventing a wider conflict in the region. Biden said Egypt’s president agreed to open the crossing and to let in an initial group of 20 trucks with humanitarian aid. If Hamas confiscates aid, “it will end,” he said. The aid will start moving Friday at the earliest, White House officials said. Egypt must still repair the road across the border that was cratered by Israeli airstrikes. More than 200 trucks and some 3,000 tons of aid are positioned at or near the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s only connection to Egypt, said the head of the Red Crescent for North Sinai, Khalid Zayed. Supplies will go in under supervision of the UN, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told Al-Arabiya TV. Asked if foreigners and dual nationals seeking to leave would be let through, he said: “As long as the crossing is operating normally and the (crossing) facility has been repaired.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the decision was approved after a request from Biden. It said Israel “will not thwart” deliveries of food, water or medicine from Egypt, as long as they are limited to civilians in the south of the Gaza Strip and don’t go to Hamas militants. Israel’s statement made no mention of fuel, which is badly needed for hospital generators. Source:

People tend to pay less attention to tasks when working alongside a robot, according to research that found evidence of “social loafing” – where team members work less hard if they think others will cover for them. Researchers at the Technical University of Berlin said people come to see robots as part of their team. Where they think a colleague – or the technology – performs particularly well, or where they think their own contribution would not be appreciated, people tend to take a more laid-back approach, the scientists suggested. “Teamwork is a mixed blessing,” said Dietlind Helene Cymek, the first author of the study, which appears in the journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI “Working together can motivate people to perform well but it can also lead to a loss of motivation because the individual contribution is not as visible. We were interested in whether we could also find such motivational effects when the team partner is a robot.” The team tested their hypothesis by asking a cohort of workers to check the quality of a series of tasks; half of whom were told the tasks had been performed by a robot. While they did not work directly with the robot, named Panda, those people had seen it and were able to hear it operating. The workers were all asked to carry out checks for errors on circuit boards. Their activity was monitored by the researchers, who blurred out the images of the boards the workers received, only showing them an image they could check once they actively opened it. Initially, they said they found no statistical difference in the time the two groups – those who were told they were working with a robot and those who were not – spent inspecting the circuit boards, or in the area they searched for errors. FULL STORY

An undersea telecommunications cable between Sweden and Estonia has been damaged, the Swedish government has said, the second such incident to be reported in the region in a week. Sweden’s civil defence minister, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, said the damage to the cable appeared to have happened at around the same time as an undersea gas pipeline and telecoms cable between Finland and Estonia were damaged on 8 October. “We are currently unable to assess what has caused this damage. It is not a total cable break but it is a partial damage to the cable,” Bohlin said at a press conference in Gothenburg on Tuesday. He added: “We can establish that this damage has occurred in time and space, close to the reported damage to the gas line.” The government had received information from “partners and our authorities” about the damage in recent days, Bohlin said. Last Friday the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, warned of the vulnerability of “a spaghetti of cables, wires, infrastructure on the seabed” in a meeting of leaders of the UK-led joint expeditionary force in Gotland. “It is absolutely fundamental for data traffic, so the vulnerabilities today are much, much greater,” he said. Damage to a gas pipeline in the Gulf of Finland was discovered last week, which then led to the discovery of damage to a data cable. A preliminary investigation into sabotage is under way. Helsinki has said it cannot exclude the possibility that a “state actor” was behind last week’s discovery amid what its national security intelligence service called “significantly deteriorated” relations with Russia. Vladimir Putin has dismissed any suggestion that Russia was behind the damage as “rubbish”. FULL STORY

UK VISA APPLICATION UK VISA APPLICATION FOR YOUR SPOUSE, FIANCE OR A VISITOR VISA FOR THAT SPECIAL SOMEONE. Are you looking for a reliable and experienced law firm to help you with your UK visa application or appeal? Look no further than Isaan Lawyers, with offices in Thailand and the UK. Our team of legal experts are fully regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority in the UK for UK visa application and immigration matters, so you can trust us to provide you with a competent, legitimate, flexible, and consistent legal service. The rules, regulations and evidential requirements change weekly for visa and Immigration matters and our experts keep up to date with what is required in order to optimize your application giving it the best possible chance of success. We also assist with drafting the Sponsorship letter and assist with uploading the documentary evidence for you. With 15 years of experience and a 100% success rate in 2022 and 2023, why risk going to an unknown agent when you can trust our team of experts? We offer a range of UK visa application services, including UK visitor visa, UK fiancé visa, and UK spouse visas, as well as visa refusal appeals. At Isaan Lawyers, we offer a free, no-obligation conference with our experienced UK Immigration and Visa Director who is a UK Immigration Solicitor with vast experience and up to date knowledge of the Immigration system and its requirements. During this conference, we will assess your circumstances and provide you with advice on the best course of action for your UK visa application needs. Our team of legal experts are specialists in visas, appeals, and applications, and we can guide you through the processes and provide you with the necessary support both in the UK and here in Thailand. The sponsor has the services of UK lawyers and Solicitors here and in the UK to assist whilst the Thai applicant has the assistance of Thai lawyers to explain and help along the way some of which have been through the application process themselves and have lived in the UK. Why risk going to an unknown agent when you can have a free consultation with our experienced UK Immigration and Visa Director. Contact us today to schedule your free conference and let us help you with your UK visa needs. Our other legal services also include corporate, property and commercial, conveyancing, family law, immigration services for Thailand and the UK, legal services such as Thai last and Living wills, accounting and notary services, together with criminal and civil litigation in Thailand. Trust Isaan Lawyers to provide you with the best legal service for your UK visa and Thai legal needs. Read more here UK Visa – Isaan Lawyers – Attorneys and Lawyers in Thailand We have been assisting overseas nationals, Thai and Expats since 2006. Email us [email protected] [email protected] In Pattaya, you can also contact www.anglosiamlegal.com

Former President Trump called out New York Attorney General Letitia James in a video on Truth Social, claiming the Democrat was depriving him of his rights. “This case should never have been brought and should never have been allowed,” Trump said in the video. “I have no rights.” Trump has complained he’s not eligible for a jury in the case and has said a gag order barring him from smearing court staff is unfair. Judge Arthur Engoron has already ruled Trump liable for fraud in the case. His company is accused of engaging in decades of fraud by inflating and deflating the value of its assets to pay less in taxes and receive better insurance coverage. James brought the civil case last fall, suing the former president, his adult sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., along with former Trump Organization executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney and related business entities. The trial began in New York on Oct. 2. Trump has voluntarily shown up in court several times and alleged the trial is a form of election interference. “This trial is an election interference witch hunt and everybody knows it,” Trump said in the video. “All of the banks that I dealt with were very happy with us. They thought I was a great customer.” In the video, Trump repeated the claim that James is “incompetent” and “a racist,” and he said the state of New York should “intercede and stop this total travesty of justice.” FULL STORY

Israel's leaders have declared that Hamas will be wiped off the face of the Earth and Gaza will never go back to what it was. "Every Hamas member is a dead man," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after fighters from the militant group killed 1,400 people in a brutal attack on Israel. The goal of Operation Swords of Iron appears far more ambitious than anything the military has planned in Gaza before and could last months. But is its aim realistic, and how can its commanders possibly fulfil it? A ground invasion of the Gaza Strip involves house-to-house urban fighting and carries immense risks to the civilian population. Air strikes have already claimed 3,000 lives, according to Gaza officials, and more than a million people have fled their homes. Israel's military has the added task of rescuing at least 199 hostages, held in unknown locations across Gaza. Herzi Halevi, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), has vowed to "dismantle" Hamas, and has singled out its political head in Gaza. But is there an ultimate vision for how Gaza will look after 16 years of Hamas's violent rule? "I don't think Israel can dismantle every Hamas member, because it's an idea of extremist Islam," says military analyst Amir Bar Shalom of Israel's Army Radio. "But you can weaken it as much as you can so it has no operational capabilities." That might be a more realistic objective. Israel has already fought four wars with Hamas, and every attempt to halt its rocket attacks has failed. Michael Milstein, head of the Palestinian studies forum of Tel Aviv University, says destroying or weakening Hamas would be highly complicated. Quite apart from the 25,000-plus strength of Hamas's military wing, the militant group has another 80-90,000 more members who are part of its social welfare infrastructure, or Dawa, he says. IDF spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus said by the end of this war Hamas should no longer have the military capacity to "threaten or kill Israeli civilians". FULL STORY

Republican Jim Jordan has lost the first vote in his bid to become US House of Representatives Speaker after stiffer-than-expected opposition from members of his own party. Despite intense lobbying, 20 Republicans refused to vote for the right-wing Ohio congressman. The Trump ally abandoned plans for another vote until Wednesday morning. Congress's lower chamber has had no Speaker since Kevin McCarthy was ousted two weeks ago in a right-wing revolt. Without a leader, the House is unable to pass any bills or approve White House requests for emergency aid. That includes potential help for Israel amid its war with Hamas. Mr Jordan earned 200 votes in the first ballot on Tuesday, but he needs 217 to secure the Speaker's gavel. Even the Democratic nominee, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, earned more votes - 212 - than Mr Jordan, but Democrats are the minority party in the House, so it was not enough. Mr Jordan vowed to "keep working" and expressed confidence he would ultimately emerge victorious. "We're making progress. I feel good about it," he told reporters. "We're gonna keep going." The House Judiciary Committee chairman initially said a second vote was planned for Tuesday, but later said it would instead take place at 11:00 (15:00 GMT) on Wednesday. Republicans who refused to pick Mr Jordan voted instead for Kevin McCarthy, the former Speaker who was ousted on 3 October, or picked other candidates. Three even voted for Lee Zeldin, a New York congressman who retired from the House in January this year. A bloc of New York Republicans who voted against Mr Jordan cited his opposition to benefits for survivors of the 9/11 attacks, among other political issues. But another New York Republican, Elise Stefanik, called Mr Jordan "a patriot, an America First warrior who wins the toughest of fights" .FULL STORY

Ukraine has used US-supplied long-range missiles for the first time, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. His comments follow reports the weapons, known as ATACMS, destroyed nine helicopters at Russian bases in the east of the country. Ukraine has not confirmed the missiles were used. Ukraine said an air defence system and other equipment were among the targets hit in Berdyansk and Luhansk. Dozens of Russian troops were killed or injured in the operation, it added. "They have performed very accurately. ATACMS have proven themselves," Mr Zelensky said in an evening address posted on social media, without giving details of when or where they were used. Russia's military has not commented. The Biden administration had previously refused to provide ATACMS to Ukraine, but had decided "in recent weeks" to send them quietly, US media outlet CNN reported, quoting two US officials. It said that Washington wanted to take Moscow by surprise, in case Russia moved equipment and weapons out of reach before the projectiles could be used. Because of concerns about tensions with Russia, the missiles provided to Ukraine have a lower range than the maximum the system is capable of, according to the Associated Press. FULL STORY

Summary Hundreds of Palestinians are feared dead after a huge blast at a hospital in Gaza City, blamed by the Hamas group on an Israeli air strike Israel says the blast was caused by rockets misfired by another group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and both sides deny blame US President Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday but a planned summit in Jordan with Arab leaders has been cancelled At least 600,000 Palestinians have fled the northern Gaza Strip for the south since Israeli military warnings Israel has blocked essential supplies to Gaza in retaliation for a Hamas attack on 7 October that left 1,300 Israelis dead FULL STORY

Russia has intensified its offensive in northeastern Ukraine to break through its heavily fortified defence and recapture the Kupiansk-Lyman area. The Russian Army is preparing for “serious offensive actions” and sending more staff in Kupiansk-Lyman, commander of the Ukrainian ground forces Oleksandr Syrskyi said. The fighting had "significantly escalated", he said, adding, "The main goal is to break through our troops’ defences and recapture our territory". But Ukraine’s eastern forces said president Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces were putting up a tough fight from well-entrenched troops, forcing Russian soldiers to retreat. “Our fortifications there are quite reliable. We have a powerful, dug-in position,” Ilia Yevlash, spokesperson for Ukraine’s forces in the east, told Ukrainian television. “So the enemy got it right in the teeth and retreated in order to regroup.” Russia captured the northeastern towns near Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv when the invasion began but Ukrainian forces recaptured the areas last year, evicting invading forces from some parts of the country’s Donbas industrial heartland. Its recapturing marked a significant step in the Ukrainian offensive to defend its territories. The Russian defence ministry acknowledged that it launched an “intense military activity” in the area and repelled 10 Ukrainian attacks in the Kupiansk area and two more in adjacent Lyman. In June, Ukraine initiated a counteroffensive with the primary objective of reclaiming territory in the eastern region, notably in the vicinity of Bakhmut, which had fallen under Russian control in May. Their strategy also involved advancing southward toward the Sea of Azov. The Ukrainian military primarily achieved gradual progress, disregarding criticism from certain Western observers who contended that the offensive was proceeding too slowly. FULL STORY

US President Joe Biden is expected to visit Israel on Wednesday to show solidarity with the nation while calling on its military leaders to avoid killing civilians ahead of an expected offensive into Gaza. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said over the weekend that the tens of thousands of heavily-armed soldiers surrounding the border with Gaza were “ready” for war. But for the past four days, since the first evacuation order was handed down to Palestinians to head southward towards Egypt, a major offensive has not materalised. Following another late night meeting in Tel Aviv, the US secretary of state said that Mr Biden would visit on Wednesday to “hear from Israel what it needs to defend its people as we continue to work with Congress to meet those needs”. Biden will also travel to Jordan to meet with Arab leaders amid fears that the fighting could expand into a broader regional conflict. It comes as devastating airstrikes continue to kill civilians in Gaza despite calls from western leaders for Israel to exercise “restraint”. At least 49 Palestinians were killed in an overnight strike that hit homes in Khan Younis and Rafah, Gaza’s interior ministry said on Tuesday. .FULL STORY

India's top court has rejected a landmark petition seeking the recognition of same-sex marriage in the country, a blow for the queer community that denies tens of millions of LGBT+ couples the right to marry their partners. In a lengthy judgement, the Supreme Court of India urged the government to create legal recognition for same-sex couples so that they do not face descrimination, but stopped short of including such couples within the existing legal framework of marriage. The case involved 21 separate petitions from members of the LGBT+ community who argued that not being able to marry violated their constitutional rights, making them “second-class citizens”. The government contested the petitions, which came just five years after India decriminalised gay sex, arguing that marriage is exclusively an institution between a man and a woman and that those seeking marriage equality represented an “urban elitist view for the purpose of social acceptance”. The case was overseen by the country’s most senior judge, chief justice DY Chandrachud, as well as four other Supreme Court justices. It held hearings up until 11 May this year and had been deliberating its verdict for more than five months since then. FULL STORY

PFAS – also known as forever chemicals – accumulate in nature and in our bodies where they can damage the endocrine, immune and reproductive systems. Exclusive: Plan to outlaw all but the most vital of harmful chemicals is not included in leaked policy proposals The EU has abandoned a promise to ban all but the most vital of toxic chemicals used in everyday consumer products, leaked documents show. Other legislation to be dropped includes a ban on the export of outlawed chemicals from Europe to the rest of the world, a ban on caged farming and a sustainable food systems framework that the European Commission once described as “a flagship” of its farm to fork strategy. These proposals are all absent from a copy of the commission’s 2024 work programme seen by the Guardian and due to be announced on Tuesday. The blueprint maps out which proposals the commission will bring forward in the last months before European parliament elections in June, which will be followed by the formation of a new commission team. A wind power package will still be launched next year, as will a process to establish a 2040 climate target, and a climate adaptation package. But there was no hiding the disappointment of environmentalists. Tatiana Santos, the head of chemicals policy at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), a network of environmental citizens’ organisations, said that by shelving the promised review of the EU’s Reach regulation that governs chemicals, “the European Commission has betrayed European citizens, turning a blind eye to chemical pollution and favoured toxic industry’s short-term interests over those of its citizens. It is now clear that the profits of the chemical industry are more important to this commission than the health of Europeans. The European Green Deal will be remembered as the European Toxic Deal. FULL STORY