Syrian rebels enter Aleppo three days into surprise offensive
Insurgents had recaptured territory around Syria’s second city with civilians including children killed in fighting
Islamist insurgents have entered Syria’s second city of Aleppo in a shock assault, eight years after forces loyal to Damascus seized control of the city.
Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) began a major offensive earlier this week from their base in the Idlib countryside, a slim strip of land in Syria’s north-west. It took only three days for the fighting to reach Aleppo, with insurgents capturing territory around the city’s outskirts for the first time in four years as Syrian government forces pummelled rebel-held areas.
Turkey’s Anadolu state news agency reported on Friday afternoon that the insurgents had entered Aleppo, while unverified images and video circulating online showed armoured vehicles and armed uniformed militants on its streets. The Associated Press said residents reported hearing missiles striking its outskirts.
Jihadists and allied factions have taken control of “half of the city of Aleppo”, Rami Abdul Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, told Agence France-Presse early on Saturday, adding: “There has been no fighting, not a single shot was fired, as regime forces withdrew.”
Syrian authorities closed Aleppo airport as well as all roads leading into the city on Saturday, Reuters reported, citing three military sources.
The fighting over the last three days had killed 27 civilians, including eight children, David Carden, the UN deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, told Reuters.
The rebels have rapidly recaptured dozens of towns and villages in the Aleppo countryside, seizing a military base, weaponry and tanks from Syrian government forces, while some Turkish-backed Syrian rebel groups based elsewhere in north-west Syria joined the fighting.
The UN said Syrian government forces based in Damascus carried out at least 125 airstrikes and shelled areas across Idlib and western Aleppo controlled by the rebels in response to the offensive, killing at least 12 civilians and wounding 46 others, and displacing 14,000 people.
Syria has been promised extra Russian military aid to help the army thwart the assault, two Syrian military sources told Reuters on Saturday. Damascus expects new Russian military hardware to start arriving at Russia’s Hmeimim airbase near Syria’s coastal city of Latakia in the next 72 hours, the sources added.
HTS said on Friday that it had captured four more towns including Mansoura, five miles from the centre of Aleppo. Syria’s state news agency said four civilians were killed inside student accommodation in the city when it was struck by projectiles from insurgent forces.
“The regime’s lines of defence have crumbled, I think they were taken aback. No one anticipated how fast the rebels would reach towards the edge of Aleppo,” said Dareen Khalifa, of the nonprofit International Crisis Group.
She added that it remained unclear whether the rebel forces would be able to hold the swath of captured territory, or how Russian forces backing the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus may respond.
Turkey’s foreign ministry called for calm in the region around Idlib, demanding an end to the strikes on the area. “It is of utmost importance for Turkey that yet another and greater instability is avoided and civilians are not harmed,” it said.
A popular uprising against Assad’s rule in 2011 was violently quashed and descended into a bloody civil war that has gripped the country for more than a decade. Assad has maintained a fragile grip on power with backing from Russia and Iran. The battle for Aleppo in 2016, in which forces loyal to Damascus regained control of the city, marked a watershed moment for Assad’s control of the country.
A delicate balance of power in Syria has been increasingly tested over the past year, however, amid increasing regional fallout from Israel’s battle with the Iranian proxy group Hamas in Gaza.
Israel has dramatically escalated airstrikes against Iranian forces stationed on the ground in Syria, carrying out more than 116 strikes on Syrian territory, according to the UN, and killing more than 100 people, while recent fighting in Lebanon has forced 500,000 people to flee into neighbouring Syria.
The increasing Israeli strikes have put Iranian forces in Syria on the defensive, allowing rebels to exploit a moment where various proxy forces backing Assad are more engaged elsewhere.
Khalifa said Moscow remained focused primarily on the fighting in Ukraine. “The Russians are distracted in Ukraine. They are less invested politically if not military in Syria,” she said. “It’s difficult to tell what the result of this offensive is going to be. The rebels think the other side is vulnerable, and they have leverage.”
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said on Friday that Moscow regarded the rebel attack as a violation of Syria’s sovereignty and wanted the authorities to act fast to regain control.
Turkey, which backs rebel groups along Syria’s northern border but has sought recently to normalise relations with Assad, is yet to publicly intervene in the latest round of fighting.
HTS said it would target Iranian forces fighting alongside Syrian government troops as part of the latest offensive. Iran’s Tasnim news agency said a commander from the Revolutionary Guards was killed in western Aleppo late this week.
The fighting and airstrikes appeared to paralyse much of the fragile network of services across rebel-held territory in Idlib, forcing the closure of health services and other infrastructure that sustain millions seeking shelter there.
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Trudeau in Florida to meet Trump after tariffs threat – reports
Canada’s PM to dine with US president-elect at Mar-a-Lago resort, news reports say, days after Trump threatens 25% tariff on Canadian imports
The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has arrived in Palm Beach, Florida, ahead of a meeting Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort, according to media reports, days after the US president-elect threatened the US’s neighbour with import tariffs once he takes office.
The Canadian prime minister’s public itinerary does not list a scheduled visit to Florida. Neither Trudeau’s office nor Trump’s representatives immediately responded to requests for comment.
Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper, citing two unidentified sources, reported that Trudeau was in Florida to meet with Trump. Trump was going to have dinner with Trudeau on Friday night at Mar-a-Lago, CNN reported later, citing a source.
Canada’s public safety minister, Dominic LeBlanc, was travelling with Trudeau, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Trump threatened on Monday to impose a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico until the countries clamped down on drugs, particularly fentanyl, and migrants crossing the border.
Officials from Mexico, Canada and China, along with major industry groups, have warned that the hefty tariffs threatened by Trump would harm the economies of all countries involved, cause inflation to spike and damage job markets.
Any hit to the Canadian economy would add to Trudeau’s woes at a time when his popularity has sunk in part due to a slowing economy and a rapid surge in the cost of living over the past few years. Polls show Trudeau’s Liberals would lose to the opposition Conservative party in an election that must be held by late October 2025.
Trudeau this week pledged to stay united against Trump’s tariffs threat, and called a meeting with the premiers of all 10 Canadian provinces to discuss US relations.
Canada is the world’s fourth-largest oil producer and sixth-largest natural gas producer. The vast majority of its 4m barrels a day of crude exports go to the US.
Trump’s plan did not exempt crude oil from the trade penalties, two sources familiar with the plan told Reuters on Tuesday.
More than three-quarters of Canadian exports, worth C$592.7bn ($423bn), went to the US last year, and nearly 2m Canadian jobs are dependent on trade.
A government source said Canada was considering possible retaliatory tariffs against the United States.
Some have suggested Trump’s tariff threat may be bluster, or an opening salvo in future trade negotiations. But Trudeau rejected those views when he spoke with reporters earlier in Prince Edward Island province.
“Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out,” Trudeau said. “There’s no question about it.”
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Irish election exit poll predicts even split between three main parties
Sinn Féin and Fine Gael both scored 21% in the poll, slightly ahead of Fianna Fáil on 19%
An exit poll in Ireland suggests a dead heat between Sinn Féin and the taoiseach’s party Fine Gael in the general election, with Fianna Fáil only slightly behind.
The survey of first preference votes is the first real indication of how Ireland voted after three weeks of canvassing in the snap election called by Simon Harris.
The poll put Sinn Féin, which went into the election as the third most popular party, in first place with 21.1% share of the vote followed by Harris’s party at 21%, slightly edging Fianna Fáil, the leader in the race in the latest polls this week, at 19.5%.
Fianna Fáil’s outgoing finance minister said it was clear “a lot of seats were going down to the wire” and the data was in the “margin of error”.
Data on second preferences showed Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, led by Micheál Martin, doing better with 20% share of the vote each. Sinn Féin scored 17% on second preferences, according to the exit poll. The margin of error from the poll is 1.4%.
Damien English, for Fine Gael, told the Irish broadcaster RTÉ it suggested “a very positive result” for the party and could translate to “37 or 38 seats, which will mean 20 news TDs [Teachtaí Dála, members of the Irish parliament].”
The leftist party, led by Mary Lou McDonald will be heartened by the suggestion it has slightly shaded the country’s two main political bodies given it went into the campaign battered by scandals and decline in popularity in its core base over its migration policy.
Sinn Féin’s director of elections, Matt Carthy, hailed his party’s performance.
He said it marked a significant turnaround from the party’s disappointing showing in June’s local and European elections.
“When you consider where we would have been coming out of the local and European elections, I have to say it’s a phenomenal result,” Carthy told RTÉ.
He added: “We do recall that in 2020 the exit poll actually undershot Sinn Féin to the tune of 2%-plus. So if that was to transpire tomorrow morning, there is every chance that Sinn Féin will emerge from these elections as the largest political party.”
Carthy would not be drawn on what the exit poll might mean for coalition formation. “This is a hugely positive exit poll but the real votes will be counted tomorrow, so let’s see where they land,” he said.
Harris appears to have fared slightly better than polls this week, which projected a six-point drop in vote share from 25% at the outset of the three week campaign to 19%.
The survey of about 5,000 voters who had cast their ballot during the day was carried out by Ipsos MRBI for RTÉ, The Irish Times, TG4 and Trinity College Dublin. It comes with two strong health warnings – it reflects first preference votes only and with a margin of error.
Gary Murphy, professor of politics at Dublin City University, told RTÉ that Fine Gael would be relieved with the exit poll given the “quite dramatic and precipitous” decline in popularity according to polls this week.
The fourth largest group is predicted to be independents at 12.7% of the share, far below the projections of close to 20% in some earlier polls.
Irish results are based on a proportional representation system, which makes the outcome more difficult to predict and the result longer to emerge. Voters rank candidates, with second preferences going to those choices as long as they are still in the race and have not already been elected or eliminated.
Counting in Friday’s ballot will not begin until 9am on Saturday, with close-to-final results expected by the end of Sunday. Tallies by the parties, which operate a parallel informal counting operation in all 43 constituencies, are expected to reveal their projections of the election results at around lunchtime on Saturday.
Unless there is an outright majority for one party, which is highly improbable, it could be weeks before a government is formed as parties negotiate and horse-trade over the makeup of a new coalition government.
The Dáil consists of 174 seats with around 88 needed for a clear majority. However, a coalition is more probable than a majority government.
Meanwhile the leader of the Social Democrat party announced the birth of a baby daughter on the day of the election. Holly Cairns, who is standing for re-election in the Cork South-West constituency, posted on Instagram: “She’s here. We are completely in love with her.”
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Notre Dame reopening offers ‘shock of hope’, says Emmanuel Macron
French president tours medieval cathedral in Paris to view restoration after devastating 2019 fire
The restoration of Paris’s Notre Dame after its partial destruction by fire five years ago will give the world a “shock of hope”, Emmanuel Macron has said as he marked the medieval cathedral’s imminent reopening with a televised walking tour.
Alongside his wife, Brigitte, and the archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, the French president was shown around the rebuilt medieval cathedral on Friday morning by Philippe Villeneuve, the chief architect of France’s national monuments.
Inside the light-filled halls, Macron took in the Clôture Nord du Chœur, a sculpted wall depicting scenes from the life of Jesus Christ, and marvelled at the famous rose windows, now cleansed of the crud that had amassed in its corners over generations.
Inside Notre Dame’s most recognisable feature, the spire, Macron’s attention was drawn to marks in the wood that showed the craftsmanship that had gone into the restoration effort. The timber spire, also known as a flèche, rests on frames consisting only of wood, and rebuilding the structure involved applying carpentry methods dating back to the 13th century.
Three thousand wooden dowels had been painstakingly fashioned by a carpenter over four months, from oaks that had to match the wood of the structural beams. “Our heritage is so diverse and rich,” Villeneuve said. “Notre Dame has allowed us to reproduce the same techniques.”
In a speech in front of about 1,300 craftspeople, Macron said: “The shock of the reopening will be as great as that of the fire, but it will be a shock of hope.”
He thanked those who had contributed to the restoration effort with their labour and financial donations. “The blaze at Notre Dame was a national wound and you were the remedy, through your determination, hard work and commitment,” he said.
A special mention was given to the firefighters who had run into the flames and “saved this cathedral”.
On 15 April 2019, TV viewers around the globe looked on as flames tore through the building, destroying most of the wood and metal roof and the spire. The precise cause of the blaze was never established but investigators believed it to be accidental, started by either a cigarette or a short circuit in the electrical system.
Immediately after the fire, Macron promised the church would be restored “more beautiful than ever” within five years – a promise that was kept thanks to millions in donations and hundreds of specialist artisans using age-old skills. The total cost of the restoration is expected to be about €700m (£582m).
“Nous y sommes” (here we are), the French president said in a post on X on Friday morning alongside a video clip that showcased the rebuilt cathedral to the strains of Edith Piaf’s Notre Dame de Paris.
The cathedral officially reopens to the public on 7 December.
Before the fire, about 12 million people a year visited Notre Dame. Visitor numbers are expected to be higher after the reopening. While entry to the cathedral will remain free, visitors will need to book a dedicated time slot through an online ticketing system that will launch in early December.
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MPs back landmark bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales
Terminally ill adults with less than six months to live will be given right to die under proposed legislation
MPs have taken a historic step toward legalising assisted dying in England and Wales by backing a bill that would give some terminally ill people the right to end their own lives.
Campaigners in favour of the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill said it was a significant move towards giving people more choice over the way they die, after the Commons backed the bill by 330 votes for to 275 against.
Brought by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, the bill would give terminally ill adults with less than six months to live the right to die once the request has been signed off by two doctors and a high court judge.
It still has further steps to go through before becoming law, and supporters believe assisted dying will not be an option for those with a terminal diagnosis for at least three years.
The vote, which is the first on the issue for almost a decade, split the political parties and the cabinet. Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves voted in favour alongside prominent opposition MPs such as Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt. Those voting against included Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister; Wes Streeting, the health secretary; Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader; and Nigel Farage, the Reform leader.
During the five-hour debate, the Commons heard impassioned pleas on both sides. MPs recounted personal experiences of illness and death, and appeals they had heard from their constituents on assisted dying.
Esther Rantzen, who galvanised the debate on assisted dying last December after revealing she had lung cancer, said the bill offered everyone “equal choice”.
She said: “Those who don’t want an assisted death and don’t want to take part in providing assisted dying can opt out of it, don’t have to do it, don’t choose to end their lives that way. So it offers everyone equal choice, whatever their religion.”
Kit Malthouse, who made an impassioned speech in favour of the legislation, said parliament had taken a “significant first step” and called for the government to now dedicate more parliamentary time to consideration to the bill.
According to recent polling, three-quarters of the public back a change in the law.
Opponents of the move expressed disappointment and were downbeat about the prospects of it being significantly changed at later stages of its passage through parliament to increase safeguards against the risk of coercion.
Labour’s Diane Abbott, the longest-serving female MP, who spoke and voted against the change, said: “I’m disappointed that the bill is going forward. But many of the people that spoke in favour of the bill seem to think that it can be drastically changed in committee. It’s not going to be drastically changed in committee, and the question for them is: what do they do at report [stage]?”
Figures involved in the hospice and end-of-life care sector who are neutral on the issue called for urgent funding and reform of palliative care to make sure patients have a real choice when dying.
The bill must pass several more hurdles in parliament and will not be brought before MPs again until April. The government is now likely to assign a minister to help work on the bill, without formally giving its support. After that it must be voted on again by MPs and go through the House of Lords. Should it become law there would be a two-year implementation period.
Out of Labour MPs, there were 234 were voted in favour and 147 against. Most of the cabinet supported the legislation, including Yvette Cooper, the home secretary; Liz Kendall, the work and pensions; and Heidi Alexander, the new transport secretary.
Six cabinet ministers were among those voting against the bill: Rayner, Streeting, David Lammy, the foreign secretary; Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary; Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary; and Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary.
Streeting had infuriated some supporters of the bill by speaking out against assisted dying before the debate and ordering work on the potential costs of the legislation to the NHS. The health secretary is not expected to now take the lead in working on the legislation at its next stage.
The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Reform and Plaid Cymru were also divided on the vote, which was considered a matter of conscience and therefore not subject to whipping.
Marie Tidball, a Labour MP who was born with a congenital disability that affects all four limbs, said she would vote in favour of the bill but push for considerable amendments at later stages.
She recalled her experience of having major surgery aged six and the extreme pain she went through. “I was in body plaster from my chest to my ankles, in so much pain and requiring so much morphine that my skin began to itch. I remember vividly lying in a hospital bed in Sheffield children’s hospital and saying to my parents: ‘I want to die, please let me die,’” she said.
“That moment also gave me a glimpse of how I would want to live my death just as I have lived my life, empowered by choices available to me. So often, control is taken away from disabled people in all sorts of circumstances.”
Malthouse, a former education secretary, rebutted the argument that assisted dying would add to the burden on the NHS and the courts. “Are you seriously telling me that my death, my agony, is too much for the NHS to have time for? Is too much hassle?” he said. “That I should drown in my own faecal vomit because it is too much hassle for the judges to deal with?”
Opponents of the bill said it would fundamentally change the relationship between the state and its citizens, and between doctors and patients. They argued the bill had been rushed and the safeguards for vulnerable people were insufficient.
Jess Asato, a Labour MP, said that while she might one day want assisted dying for herself, protecting vulnerable people should be paramount. “Abuse surrounds us,” she said. “There is no mandatory training for judges on coercive and controlling behaviour, nor is there effective training for medical professionals … Those who are coerced are often isolated from friends and family. So if you are not required to tell friends or family that you are opting for assisted dying, who will raise the alarm?”
Meg Hillier, the chair of the Treasury committee, cried as she recounted the experience of her teenage daughter being admitted to hospital with acute pancreatitis. “I did not know for five days, in fact many months, whether she would live or die … But I saw what good medicine can do that palliated that pain,” she said.
She urged MPs to reject the bill: “If we have a scintilla of doubt about allowing the state that power, we should vote against this today.”
James Cleverly, the former home secretary, asked: “If this is such a good thing to alleviate pain and suffering, a right that we should be proud to pass, why are we denying it to children?”
After the vote, Charlie Falconer, a Labour peer who has been an outspoken supporter of the bill, hugged the Commons leader, Lucy Powell, in parliament’s central lobby and said: “What a result.”
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MPs back landmark bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales
Terminally ill adults with less than six months to live will be given right to die under proposed legislation
MPs have taken a historic step toward legalising assisted dying in England and Wales by backing a bill that would give some terminally ill people the right to end their own lives.
Campaigners in favour of the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill said it was a significant move towards giving people more choice over the way they die, after the Commons backed the bill by 330 votes for to 275 against.
Brought by the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, the bill would give terminally ill adults with less than six months to live the right to die once the request has been signed off by two doctors and a high court judge.
It still has further steps to go through before becoming law, and supporters believe assisted dying will not be an option for those with a terminal diagnosis for at least three years.
The vote, which is the first on the issue for almost a decade, split the political parties and the cabinet. Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves voted in favour alongside prominent opposition MPs such as Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt. Those voting against included Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister; Wes Streeting, the health secretary; Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader; and Nigel Farage, the Reform leader.
During the five-hour debate, the Commons heard impassioned pleas on both sides. MPs recounted personal experiences of illness and death, and appeals they had heard from their constituents on assisted dying.
Esther Rantzen, who galvanised the debate on assisted dying last December after revealing she had lung cancer, said the bill offered everyone “equal choice”.
She said: “Those who don’t want an assisted death and don’t want to take part in providing assisted dying can opt out of it, don’t have to do it, don’t choose to end their lives that way. So it offers everyone equal choice, whatever their religion.”
Kit Malthouse, who made an impassioned speech in favour of the legislation, said parliament had taken a “significant first step” and called for the government to now dedicate more parliamentary time to consideration to the bill.
According to recent polling, three-quarters of the public back a change in the law.
Opponents of the move expressed disappointment and were downbeat about the prospects of it being significantly changed at later stages of its passage through parliament to increase safeguards against the risk of coercion.
Labour’s Diane Abbott, the longest-serving female MP, who spoke and voted against the change, said: “I’m disappointed that the bill is going forward. But many of the people that spoke in favour of the bill seem to think that it can be drastically changed in committee. It’s not going to be drastically changed in committee, and the question for them is: what do they do at report [stage]?”
Figures involved in the hospice and end-of-life care sector who are neutral on the issue called for urgent funding and reform of palliative care to make sure patients have a real choice when dying.
The bill must pass several more hurdles in parliament and will not be brought before MPs again until April. The government is now likely to assign a minister to help work on the bill, without formally giving its support. After that it must be voted on again by MPs and go through the House of Lords. Should it become law there would be a two-year implementation period.
Out of Labour MPs, there were 234 were voted in favour and 147 against. Most of the cabinet supported the legislation, including Yvette Cooper, the home secretary; Liz Kendall, the work and pensions; and Heidi Alexander, the new transport secretary.
Six cabinet ministers were among those voting against the bill: Rayner, Streeting, David Lammy, the foreign secretary; Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary; Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary; and Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary.
Streeting had infuriated some supporters of the bill by speaking out against assisted dying before the debate and ordering work on the potential costs of the legislation to the NHS. The health secretary is not expected to now take the lead in working on the legislation at its next stage.
The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Reform and Plaid Cymru were also divided on the vote, which was considered a matter of conscience and therefore not subject to whipping.
Marie Tidball, a Labour MP who was born with a congenital disability that affects all four limbs, said she would vote in favour of the bill but push for considerable amendments at later stages.
She recalled her experience of having major surgery aged six and the extreme pain she went through. “I was in body plaster from my chest to my ankles, in so much pain and requiring so much morphine that my skin began to itch. I remember vividly lying in a hospital bed in Sheffield children’s hospital and saying to my parents: ‘I want to die, please let me die,’” she said.
“That moment also gave me a glimpse of how I would want to live my death just as I have lived my life, empowered by choices available to me. So often, control is taken away from disabled people in all sorts of circumstances.”
Malthouse, a former education secretary, rebutted the argument that assisted dying would add to the burden on the NHS and the courts. “Are you seriously telling me that my death, my agony, is too much for the NHS to have time for? Is too much hassle?” he said. “That I should drown in my own faecal vomit because it is too much hassle for the judges to deal with?”
Opponents of the bill said it would fundamentally change the relationship between the state and its citizens, and between doctors and patients. They argued the bill had been rushed and the safeguards for vulnerable people were insufficient.
Jess Asato, a Labour MP, said that while she might one day want assisted dying for herself, protecting vulnerable people should be paramount. “Abuse surrounds us,” she said. “There is no mandatory training for judges on coercive and controlling behaviour, nor is there effective training for medical professionals … Those who are coerced are often isolated from friends and family. So if you are not required to tell friends or family that you are opting for assisted dying, who will raise the alarm?”
Meg Hillier, the chair of the Treasury committee, cried as she recounted the experience of her teenage daughter being admitted to hospital with acute pancreatitis. “I did not know for five days, in fact many months, whether she would live or die … But I saw what good medicine can do that palliated that pain,” she said.
She urged MPs to reject the bill: “If we have a scintilla of doubt about allowing the state that power, we should vote against this today.”
James Cleverly, the former home secretary, asked: “If this is such a good thing to alleviate pain and suffering, a right that we should be proud to pass, why are we denying it to children?”
After the vote, Charlie Falconer, a Labour peer who has been an outspoken supporter of the bill, hugged the Commons leader, Lucy Powell, in parliament’s central lobby and said: “What a result.”
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Mauritian PM asks for independent review of Chagos Island deal with UK
Recently elected PM Navin Ramgoolam tells parliament contents of negotiations ‘unknown’ to new government
The Mauritian prime minister has asked for an independent review of the Chagos Islands deal with the UK, according to parliamentary records.
According to the Mauritian parliament Hansard record, the new prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, said during a session on Friday: “I wish to inform the house that I have asked for an independent review of the confidential draft agreement agreed so far.”
The deal to cede sovereignty over the archipelago to the Mauritian government was announced earlier this year and officials have said it secures the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.
Under the terms of the deal, the UK-US military presence on the island is expected to run for 99 years with an option to renew and Britain paying a regular annual sum of money.
The Mauritian PM, a critic of the deal before he took office, reportedly expressed continued reservations after a meeting with the UK’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, on Monday.
Ramgoolam – who has been prime minister of Mauritius twice before – was elected earlier this month, and told his parliament that “contents of the negotiations between Mauritius and the United Kingdom during the past two years were unknown to the new government”.
Earlier this week, Keir Starmer defended the agreement as a “good deal”. He told a press conference on Thursday: “The Chagos deal is a good deal. It secures the base that’s in the vital interests of the US and the UK. And we are already engaging with the new administration in Mauritius as to how we take that forward.”
There has also been criticism reported from the incoming Trump administration in the US. The president-elect’s pick for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, warned in October that the agreement posed “a serious threat” to US national security by handing over the islands to a country allied with China.
Officials are understood to be confident that the agreement is in both sides’ interests, and Starmer’s official spokesperson said earlier this week that “we have always said that we look forward to engaging with the new Mauritian government and that’s exactly what we’re doing in order to progress the deal”.
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Zelenskyy says Ukrainian territory should be under ‘Nato umbrella’ to stop war
President suggests bringing Kyiv-controlled land into western military pact could stop ‘hot stage’ of war
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested that Ukrainian territory under his control should be taken under the “Nato umbrella” to try to stop the “hot stage” of the war with Russia.
Speaking to Sky News, the Ukrainian president said that such a proposal has “never been considered” by Ukraine because it has never “officially” been offered.
Speaking via a translation, Zelenskyy said: “If we want to stop the hot stage of the war, we should take under Nato umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control. That’s what we need to do fast, and then Ukraine can get back the other part of its territory diplomatically.
“This proposal has never been considered by Ukraine because no one has ever offered that to us officially.”
In the same interview, Zelenskyy also said that any invitation should be given “within its internationally recognised border, you can’t give invitation to just one part of a country”.
Last month Zelenskyy revealed a victory plan. The Associated Press reported that the plan to win his country’s fight against Russia’s invasion could bring peace next year, he said, but it contains a step that some crucial western allies have so far refused to countenance: inviting Ukraine to join Nato before the war ends.
The interview comes in the same week that Russian drone and missile attacks have hit civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, leaving more than 1 million people without heat and power in freezing temperatures.
Keir Starmer discussed the attacks with Zelenskyy in a call on Thursday. Downing Street said the leaders “discussed the egregious Russian missile strike in the early hours of this morning, which had deprived more than a million people of heat, light and electricity”.
The prime minister described the “systemic attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector” as “depraved”, No 10 said.
After reports that a fresh consignment of Storm Shadow missiles have been sent to Kyiv, Zelenskyy said in his call with Starmer they “discussed advancing our defence cooperation and strengthening Ukraine’s long-range capabilities”.
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Canadian media companies sue OpenAI in case potentially worth billions
Litigants say AI company used their articles to train its popular ChatGPT software without authorization
Canada’s major news organizations have sued tech firm OpenAI for potentially billions of dollars, alleging the company is “strip-mining journalism” and unjustly enriching itself by using news articles to train its popular ChatGPT software.
The suit, filed on Friday in Ontario’s superior court of justice, calls for punitive damages, a share of profits made by OpenAI from using the news organizations’ articles, and an injunction barring the San Francisco-based company from using any of the news articles in the future.
“These artificial intelligence companies cannibalize proprietary content and are free-riding on the backs of news publishers who invest real money to employ real journalists who produce real stories for real people,” said Paul Deegan, president of News Media Canada.
“They are strip-mining journalism while substantially, unjustly and unlawfully enriching themselves to the detriment of publishers.”
The litigants include the Globe and Mail, the Canadian Press, the CBC, the Toronto Star, Metroland Media and Postmedia. They want up to C$20,000 in damages for each article used by OpenAI, suggesting a victory in court could be worth billions.
“The defendants have engaged in ongoing, deliberate and unauthorized misappropriation of the plaintiffs’ valuable news media works. The plaintiffs bring this action to prevent and seek recompense for these unlawful activities,” said the statement of claim filed by the news organizations.
“To obtain the significant quantities of text data needed to develop their GPT models, OpenAI deliberately ‘scrapes’ (ie, accesses and copies) content from the news media companies’ websites … It then uses that proprietary content to develop its GPT models, without consent or authorization.”
None of the claims have been tested in court.
The suit is the latest in a string of battles by Canadian media against American technology companies, including a bitter feud with Facebook parent Meta. Many news outlets in the US, including the New York Times, have also sued OpenAI.
Valued at more than $150bn, OpenAI has already signed licensing agreements with a handful of media organizations, including the Associated Press wire service, NewsCorp and Condé Nast.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s father charged over threat to ‘beat him to death’
- Gjert Ingebrigtsen used to coach Jakob and his brothers
- He ‘punched and kicked’ Jakob since he was a schoolboy
Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s father will stand trial next year on charges that include abusing the double Olympic champion and threatening to “beat him to death”.
Ingebrigtsen, who won gold medals over 1500m in Tokyo and 5,000m in Paris, also alleges that his father and former coach, Gjert, “punched and kicked” him over a 10-year period from when he was a schoolboy.
The Norwegian newspaper VG said it had seen the indictment and that state prosecutors have charged Gjert with beating two of his children at a time when he was also their coach.
According to the paper, Gjert is also accused of calling his son a “thug” and a “terrorist”, and threatened to “shame him and knock him out of health”. Ingebrigtsen Sr denies the allegations. According to VG, the trial is likely to last about eight weeks, with 30 to 40 witnesses expected to be called.
The assistant attorney Mette Yvonne Larsen added: “This was as expected based on the evidence situation. It is a very serious indictment that extends over a period of many years.”
Gjert and his sons became part of a long-running and popular reality television show in Norway, but in 2022 he stepped down as the coach of “Team Ingebrigtsen”, apparently for medical reasons.
However, Jakob and his brothers Henrik and Filip – who are also accomplished middle-distance runners – subsequently called on the Norwegian athletics federation to help them avoid Gjert in international events, given their father coaches the 2023 world 1500m bronze medallist, Narve Gilje Nordås.
“We have grown up with a father who has been very aggressive and controlling and who has used physical violence and threats as part of his upbringing,” the brothers wrote. “We still feel discomfort and fear which has been in us since childhood.”
According to VG, Jakob has since told investigators about the alleged physical and mental abuse both towards himself and his siblings.
“He has explained that he has been hit in the head several times by his father, Gjert,” the paper says. “In one situation, the abuse lasted for 15 to 30 minutes, the running star has explained to the police. Another episode concerns kicking. The situations Jakob Ingebrigtsen has explained in questioning extend over a number of years.
“Several other family members have given explanations that support what Jakob Ingebrigtsen has told in questioning, according to VG’s information.”
John Christian Elden and Heidi Reisvang, the lawyers acting for Gjert, maintain their client rejects the accusations and says “the decision on prosecution has been rushed”.
In comments made last year, Gjert added: “The statements they make are baseless. I have never used violence against my children. That I have weaknesses as a father, and have been too much of a coach, is a realisation I have also come to, albeit far too late.”
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‘It’s wonderful’: Wicked star Cynthia Erivo says she’s fine with audiences singing along
The actor who plays Elphaba in the big screen adaptation of the musical joined the debate declaring ‘we spent this long singing it ourselves – it’s time for everyone else to join in’
Wicked star Cynthia Erivo has joined the debate over whether it’s acceptable to sing along to the blockbusting musical in cinemas – and she’s fine with it.
In an interview with NBC during the traditional Thanksgiving Day parade in New York on Thursday, Erivo was asked about the issue, which appears to have split cinemagoers down the middle and came out as very much in the pro camp, saying: “I’m OK with it. We spent this long singing it ourselves – it’s time for everyone else to join in. It’s wonderful.”
Erivo plays green-skinned witch Elphaba opposite Ariana Grande’s Galinda in the big screen adaptation of the musical by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, a Wizard of Oz prequel that itself is an adaptation of the novel by Gregory Maguire. Having been released on the same weekend in North America as Gladiator II, it broke box office records for Broadway musical adaptations and comfortably surpassed figures for the Gladiator sequel – with which it has been yoked, Barbenheimer-style, under the Glicked hashtag.
Whether fans should be able to sing along to the film’s musical numbers has provoked considerable debate. Erivo is echoing the words of Dwayne Johnson, voice star of Moana 2 who, when asked about the issue by the BBC said: “Sing! You’ve paid your hard earned money for a ticket, and you’ve gone into a musical, and you’re into it. Sing!” On the other hand, US cinema chain AMC cited its policy on audience disruption in issuing a warning saying, “No singing. No wailing”, while Australian author Patrick Lenton wrote in the Guardian that it was unfair and disrespectful to “inflict your voice without consent on the public. Who do you think you are to compete with the trained musical prowess of Cynthia Erivo, [and] Ariana Grande?”
However, rows over singing may become a thing of the past in a few weeks’ time – interactive “singalong” screenings of Wicked will be available from Christmas Day in North America.
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