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Oil and gas interests are fighting hard to prevent decarbonisation, as they always have doneIt was never really in doubt. But the first week of Cop28, which ended with a rest day on Thursday, made one crucial fact impossible to ignore: the fossil fuel industry is not planning to go quietly. Far more of its lobbyists are in the UAE than have attended UN climate talks before. One analysis counted 2,456 of them - nearly four times the numberregisteredlastyearinEgypt.The battle is hotting up over what next week's report on progress towards the Paris goals, known as the global stocktake, will say. Fossil fuel interests - both corporate and national - are pushing hard to avoid references to the phase-out that would signal the end of their business model and vast profits. They don't want an energy transition that leads to their demise. Continue reading...

You can sympathise with the country's desire to crush Hamas, and yet fear it is taking the wrong path in GazaWhen will it end? Some ask that question in despair, willing an end to the pictures of crushed buildings and destroyed lives, the succession of bleak images that come out of Gaza every day. Some ask the question to exert pressure, with the UN security council debating a call for a ceasefire today. Others wonder if the answer rests on Washington, detecting a new urgency in secretary of state Antony Blinken's repeated call for Israel to close the gap" between its declared intention to protect civilians and the actual results that we're seeing on the ground".Put the question to senior military figures, Israeli and American, as I've done this week, and you hear a variety of responses. Some predict an end to the current intensity of bombardment in days, others talk in weeks. But the more fruitful question might not be when, but why. Why is the fighting still going on, even now, more than two months after the 7 October massacre of 1,200 Israelis by Hamas? As those demanding an immediate ceasefire might put it, surely Israel has hit back hard enough now? Surely it has made its point?Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

A political vacuum has formed in the state, home to the last two House speakers and a departed senior senatorCalifornia has lost two towering figures in the US House of Representatives in the past two years, first with the decision by then House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to step back followed by Kevin McCarthy's announcement he would be resigning from Congress altogether after being ejected from leadership by his own party.The two represent diametrically opposed politics. But in their home state, their exit from top congressional leadership has had ripple effects, upsetting a political infrastructure that they had each spent decades building up. Continue reading...

Michael Solomonov's Israel-inspired restaurant empire has come under scrutiny by pro-Palestinian protesters, who accuse him of complicity in attacks on GazaThe 21-second clip went viral almost as soon as it was posted early on Sunday evening. It showed hundreds of protesters, some with Palestinian flags, united in a rhyming chant: Goldie, Goldie, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide!"They were protesting outside Goldie, a vegan falafel restaurant owned by Michael Solomonov, the Israel-born celebrity chef best known for Zahav, an Israeli-themed restaurant widely considered one of the United States' finest eateries. It was one brief stop along a march traversing Philadelphia that lasted about three hours. Continue reading...

In a podcast interview, Biden discusses addiction, sobriety and how his father's foes would like to see him relapseHunter Biden has told the pop star Moby in the first of a two-part podcast interview that the right wing is trying to kill me" by harassing him to relapse into drug addiction in an effort to sink his father's presidency.The day after a second set of criminal charges was filed against the US president's son, this time for tax issues, the interview had Biden describing his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction after the death of his mother, his sister and most recently his beloved brother Beau, and his pride in getting sober four years ago. Continue reading...

As support for US aid falters and an election looms, the White House needs a narrative based on reality, not rhetoric

The state senate is considering a bill to prohibit doctors from offering gender-affirming care to trans patients younger than 18Hundreds of transgender advocates and medical experts gathered at the Ohio statehouse on Wednesday to speak out against a proposed ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth.This week, the Ohio senate government oversight committee discussed a bill from state representative Gary Click, a Republican, who championed legislation that would prohibit doctors from offering gender-affirming care to transgender patients under the age of 18. The bill would also block transgender female student athletes from participating in women's sports. Continue reading...

He was a man of strong progressive views, readily expressed, and yet retained a public affection that ensured his voice was heardHere are some things we know about the late, gone-too-soon Benjamin Zephaniah. He was a prominent Rastafarian in the days before Rastamouse and Levi Roots made people of that faith palatable to the mainstream public; a time when they were more often fodder for the Metropolitan police's racist mania for stop and search. He was outspoken on social justice issues such as policing and failings in the education system. He carved out a place in the public affection that led even those who hand out honours to offer him one, and then he turned it down. Then - unlike some who spurn the offer and then keep it quiet for fear of brickbats and reprisals - he spoke freely about it, becoming a kind of poster boy for the truth that community recognition is just as good as acclaim from the snooty establishment. I once saw him accept a community achievement award from a campaigning group in south London. He was so chuffed on the podium and speaking about it afterwards that he seemed unsure whether to beam that toothy beam or shed a grateful tear.How did he do this? How did he maintain strong, radical and uncompromising positions and retain wide public respect and affection? Not many public figures can pull that off. Swim against the mainstream tide and the rightwing press reacts: it misinterprets what has been said, and depicts you as dangerous, subversive, strident and all the other terms applied to people who expose militant middle-class groupthink.Hugh Muir is the Guardian's executive editor, Opinion Continue reading...

Mufid Fawaz Alkhader faces federal firearms charge after shotgun incident in Albany as Hanukkah began in which no one was injuredA man has been arrested for firing a shotgun outside a synagogue in Albany, New York, and charged with federal crimes. No one was injured after two shots were fired outside Temple Israel on Thursday and police have said they do not know in which direction the shots were aimed.An FBI spokeswoman told NBC News that Mufid Fawaz Alkhader, 28, had been arrested and charged with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. Continue reading...

If we trust people with the decision to have children, we can of course trust them with the decision not toThere are mothers and then there are women who have abortions. It might be the most powerful and pervasive myth anti-abortion lobbyists, politicians and their disciples have ever authored. When every termination becomes a decision to reject motherhood, moralising becomes simple.Mothers procreate - the virtuous archetype Virgin Mary didn't even fornicate to do so - while women who have abortions have sex for pleasure, selfishly devouring the forbidden as Eve did. Continue reading...

Abbe Lowell says if client's last name was anything other than Biden, the charges would not have been been brought'Hunter Biden's defense attorney Abbe Lowell has condemned prosecutors who charged the US president's 54-year old son with tax fraud on Thursday, accusing special counsel David Weiss of bowing to Republican pressure".Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter's last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought," Lowell said in a statement. Continue reading...

By next year the British government will have paid out 290m on the scheme - which has yet to host a single deporteeHow does the UK government truly see the country of Rwanda? Is it as a vibrant and secure place to start a new life? Or is it - to adapt a phrase allegedly deployed by the home secretary about part of Teesside - a shit-hole"? I think we probably know the answer. You might recall that back when former prime minister Boris Johnson's government first floated the idea of processing asylum seekers abroad, it chucked out the names of both Rwanda and Albania as countries it was looking at working with. The Albanian government swiftly denied it would be involved, seemingly furious to have been named as some kind of bogeyman destination. Or, to repeat that home secretarial language, as a shit-hole.I'm sorry if that sounds repulsive - I'm not stating my opinion, but surely the unspoken opinion of the entire policy. The government may not say it out loud, but the reason it has chosen Rwanda as the deterrent is because it thinks it sounds like a place no one in their right mind would want to go to. That may be completely unfair - but the unfairness is irrelevant. The view of Rwanda is inseparable from the explicit idea that it is a deterrent. Every picture of former home secretary Suella Braverman roaring with laughter on a Kigali construction site seemed to underscore this spectacularly dark and mirthless joke - the human equivalent of a tourist billboard reading: There's more to Rwanda than the genocide!"Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Second set of charges against president's son alleges he spent millions on an extravagant lifestyle' rather than paying his tax bills. Plus, the Golden Gate Bridge is finally getting a safety net

Controversial former Trump aide Stephen Miller's legal group is seeking lawyers with total fealty to ex-presidentAs Donald Trump and his allies start plotting another presidency, an emerging priority is to find hard-right lawyers who display total fealty to Trump, as a way to enhance his power and seek retribution" against political foes.Stocking a future administration with more ideological lawyers loyal to Trump in key posts at the justice department, other agencies and the White House is alarming to former DoJ officials and analysts who say such plans endanger the rule of law. Continue reading...

The Western Conference champions will face the Columbus Crew on Saturday. A win would make them the fourth team to win back-to-back MLS championshipsLos Angeles FC could not have won their first MLS Cup in a more dramatic fashion. Penalties ultimately clinched the victory over the Philadelphia Union, but everyone - certainly those of a black and gold persuasion - remembers that game last year for Gareth Bale's iconic equaliser in stoppage time of extra time. That was effectively the moment LAFC won it.Steve Cherundolo's team will do well to replicate the spectacle of last year's MLS Cup, but they can retain their title by beating the Columbus Crew on Saturday. Only three teams (DC United, Houston Dynamo and LA Galaxy) in MLS history have ever pulled off a championship repeat. LAFC can make themselves the fourth. Continue reading...

Researchers found firearm injury incidence rate was 62% higher in neighborhoods gentrified between 2014 and 2019City dwellers have long noticed that gentrifying neighborhoods report more gun violence. Now, a study, published in Jama Surgery earlier this year and conducted by a team of researchers at Harvard Medical School with Brigham and Women's hospital, shows just how much - and could suggest new ways to combat gun violence.The report found that the firearm injury incidence rate was 62% higher in neighborhoods that had gentrified between 2014 and 2019 than in non-gentrifying neighborhoods with similar sociodemographic characteristics. On top of that, it found that the gunshot injury rate was an additional 26% higher in neighborhoods that were actively gentrifying. (The study didn't specify who was committing the violence.) Continue reading...

Analysis of BlueLeaks trove also shows police received training on domestic Muslim extremists' from pro-Israel groupsHacked police files show US law enforcement agencies for decades received analysis of incidents in the Israel-Palestine conflict directly from the Israeli Defense Forces and Israeli thinktanks, training on domestic Muslim extremists" from pro-Israel non-profits, and surveilled social media accounts of pro-Palestine activists in the US.The Guardian's analysis of documents from the BlueLeaks trove of internal law enforcement documents found no indication that this was balanced by information from other Middle Eastern sources or US Muslim community groups. Nor is there any indication that pro-Israel activists were subject to any specific scrutiny. Continue reading...

The latest chapter in the one of the NFL's most heated grudge matches will help decide the No 1 seed in the NFC playoffsAs the regular season draws to a close, we'll take a look each Friday at a game likely to affect the playoff race, along with the teams whose fortunes are rising and falling. And, so we don't neglect the also-rans, we'll see which teams are in the hunt for next year's No 1 pick. Continue reading...

Company formerly known as Paddy Power Betfair will keep premium listing in London for nowThe betting firm Flutter has said it is working towards 29 January as the date for its listing on the New York stock exchange, but it will keep its premium listing in London.The company, formerly known as Paddy Power Betfair, is proceeding with a secondary listing in the US but it may pursue a primary listing in the US in due course". Continue reading...

The Bayer Leverkusen coach is calm, methodical and though he must be aware of how extensively he is lauded, he appears to pay little mind to itI'm Basque, total Basque." Xabi Alonso bristles as the thought that he could be defined as anything else, though there is a concession. He understands exactly how much Germany has shaped his current path, starting almost a decade ago when he arrived in the south of the country to begin a three-year spell with Bayern Munich that would see him through to retirement. But with big German influence now," he adds.The Bundesliga's - and perhaps Europe's - hottest coach is calm, methodical and though he must be aware of how extensively he is lauded, he appears to pay little mind to it. If it feels like the production of Alonso The Coach is moving at breakneck speed - at least partly due to the mesmeric power of his Bayer Leverkusen's football, as well as their excellent results - the man himself gives little to no impression of having been swept up in a frenzy. Continue reading...

His best songs made you cry and raise a clenched fist at the same time. Yet the man I knew was also a gentle, poetic soul

From Ukraine to the climate crisis, the union is beset by shocks. It can no longer afford to let Hungary give it the runaroundDeep into the Trump presidency, I jokingly asked a French friend who obsessively follows US politics (and political comedy shows), and who also has significant experience with China, if he would rather be in charge of the US, China or the EU. I expected him to pick the EU: the US seemed about to split wide open at the seams, and China seemed alone and friendless, with a debt crisis looming. Europe, on the other hand, was stable, prosperous, newly free of the British brake on continued integration, and otherwise merely overlooked.That answer doesn't seem so obvious now, not just because Donald Trump is (for the moment) gone, but also because the EU can't seem to find a moment to breathe in the midst of never-ending polycrises.Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

Charges come in addition to federal firearms charges and intensify pressure on president's son ahead of 2024 electionHunter Biden has been indicted on nine tax charges in California, becoming the second indictment against the president's son, adding fuel to a scandal that Republicans have been seizing on in the lead-up to the 2024 election.The state charges on Thursday follow federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Biden unlawfully obtained a revolver in October 2018 after he falsely stated he was not using narcotic drugs. Continue reading...

Congressional testimony on campus policies by heads of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and MIT draws criticismThe presidents of three of the nation's top universities are facing intense backlash, including from the White House, after being accused of evading questions during a congressional hearing about whether calls by students for the genocide of Jews would constitute harassment under the schools' codes of conduct.In a contentious, hours-long debate on Tuesday, the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) sought to address the steps they were taking to combat rising antisemitism on campus since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war. But it was their careful, indirect response to a question posed by the Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York that drew scathing criticism. Continue reading...

The US secretary of state speaking at a news conference in Washington after a meeting with the UK's foreign secretary, David Cameron, said 'It remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection.' Israel's military has continued its heavy bombardment amid intense fighting in Gaza as its war with Hamas hit the two-month mark

World No 3 has struck while the commercial iron is hot but will be accused of hypocrisy because of previous views on LIVThere has long been a perceived problem with too many alpha males in golf's most prominent circles. Rory McIlroy has admitted even he defers to Tiger Woods when adult discussion is required. McIlroy's long-time position as the unofficial shop steward for the PGA Tour as LIV's threat hovered meant others sought counsel from him.Jon Rahm has never been the type to be backwards in coming forwards, which inevitably would probably grate as others in the locker room came across in a more statesmanlike way during golf's never-ending civil war. Rahm has an ego. The way for him to usurp his peers - or even Woods, arguably the best player of all time - has always been plain: beat them. Continue reading...

Anthony Polito, 67, who died at scene of shooting that left three dead and one critically wounded, had unsuccessfully sought jobThe four people shot at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, campus on Thursday were all faculty members, the university has said.Three people died and one person was critically wounded in the shooting. The suspect in the attack, which took place at approximately 11.45am, has been named as a college professor who had failed to win a job there, according to police officials. Continue reading...

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Republican-led resolution against Democrat who pulled fire alarm called a waste of time and another attack on person of colourDemocrats accused Republicans of wasting time and pursuing another attempt to silence a person of colour", after the New York progressive Jamaal Bowman was formally censured for pulling a fire alarm in a congressional office building.This censure of Representative Bowman is yet another attempt to silence a person of colour in this chamber," the Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib said. Continue reading...

Democrats, however, say new maps create a majority-Black district at the expense of another district, contrary to judge's instructionRepublican state lawmakers in Georgia have finalized new district maps to comply with a federal judge's order, though Democrats and advocacy groups say the new maps create one majority-Black district at the expense of another diverse district.US district judge Steve Jones ordered Georgia lawmakers to redo their redistricted maps in October after a lawsuit claimed they violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting power of Black people. Continue reading...

Whatever the inquiry concludes, the current government will face the public's anger over the ex-PM's conductTowards the end, Boris Johnson looked exhausted. He was a marathon runner staggering through the finishing tape, a boxer slumped against the ropes. Though perhaps that's no surprise, judging by what the Covid inquiry had just heard about his woeful inability to focus forensically on the detail of policy or follow a scientific argument.Two whole days of being repeatedly confronted by evidence of his own inadequacies - plus accounts of his rage at having to shut down the economy just to save what he reportedly dismissed as old people who will die anyway soon" - were always going to be a struggle, and yet he was still not the biggest loser from this unedifying episode. That would be his hapless successor Rishi Sunak.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

National Retail Federation says 2021 data was flawed and based on congressional testimony from president of an advocacy groupThe powerful National Retail Federation (NRF) lobbying group has retracted a claim that organized retail crime" accounted for nearly half" of the shopping industry's $94.5bn losses due to theft or shrink" in 2021.The industry group had said the impact of organized retail crime, which it previously claimed had increased by 26.5%, had become increasingly violent. Retail giants like Target, Walmart and Walgreens said it was threatening their businesses. Continue reading...

Failure to pass Ukraine bill reflects growing America first' trend among Republicans - and a desire for even stricter border securityIt is an astonishing bit of horse-trading over Ukraine that has left Democrats infuriated, even baffled. After Senate Republicans blocked a supplemental funding package on Wednesday to aid the country in its fight against the Russian invasion, demanding tough new southern border controls in exchange, the chamber's leading Democrat took to the floor.Calling it a sad night in the history of the Senate", Chuck Schumer bemoaned the vote as a disappointing reflection on the country, a step away from letting Vladimir Putin walk right through Ukraine and right through Europe". Continue reading...

Foreign secretary says arming Kyiv is good value for money due to large amount of Russian ordnance destroyed, on Washington visitDavid Cameron has used his first trip to the US since his appointment as the UK's foreign secretary to urge the Republican party to back Ukraine with more long-range weapons, saying the aid represented tremendous value for money.He said for 10% of the US defence budget nearly half of Russia's prewar military assets had been destroyed. Urging the west be patient about the pace of Ukraine military advances, he argued no red line should be set on western aid save Nato troops directly fighting Russia. Continue reading...

NYU professor Eli Bartov says no evidence of concealment' while ex-president says we did nothing wrong - the bank loves us'Donald Trump returned to his New York civil trial on Thursday as an accounting expert told the court there was no evidence whatsoever" that the former US president and his family company committed fraud.It was the first time that Trump had attended the $250m fraud trial in over a month. Outside the court, Trump called the witness one of the greatest experts in the country." Continue reading...

Republican presidential contender mocked for claim about Chinese-owned app during primary debate on Wednesday nightThe former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley claimed during the Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday that watching TikTok made people 17% more antisemitic, more pro-Hamas" every 30 minutes.We really do need to ban TikTok once and for all and let me tell you why," Haley said. For every 30 minutes that someone watches TikTok every day they become 17% more antisemitic, more pro-Hamas based on doing that." Continue reading...

Kate Cox sued state over ban after being unable to receive abortion care on learning her fetus had fatal diagnosisA Texas woman with a non-viable pregnancy will be able to get an abortion, a judge ruled on Thursday, after the woman sued the state over its abortion bans.Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two in Dallas, learned last week that her fetus has a lethal diagnosis and had been unable to get an abortion despite going to the emergency room three times with severe cramping and fluid loss. Her lawyers said in court that, in the two days since filing the lawsuit, Cox had to go to the ER a fourth time. Continue reading...

Philip Grillo, candidate for now vacant Long Island seat, was convicted for trying to obstruct the very body he wants to joinOf the 15-odd Republican candidates vying to replace George Santos in Congress, one stands out so far - not just because he has now been convicted for trying to obstruct the very body he wants to join, but because he claimed to have no idea" Congress met at the Capitol building he stormed on January 6.Philip Grillo, a candidate in the special election for Santos's vacant Long Island seat, was convicted this week of charges relating to the January 6 attack, when he entered and exited the building multiple times, at least once through a broken window. Continue reading...

UAW says effort at Chattanooga plant in Tennessee is booming as union aims expand membership after recent victoriesMore than 1,000 workers at Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant in Tennessee - the automaker's flagship US manufacturing site - have signaled they want to unionize, a significant early win in the United Auto Workers' latest attempt to expand its membership.The UAW announced on Thursday that over 30% of the plant's workforce had signed on in the first week. Once a majority signs union authorization cards, the UAW can file for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board. Continue reading...

Liz Cheney leads condemnation of former president, who has increasingly talked about using the state to tighten his gripWith the Republican presidential primary little more than a month away, leading figures in US politics including Liz Cheney, Joe Biden and Donald Trump himself are warning of the potential for an authoritarian takeover should Trump return to power.One of the things that we see happening today is a sort of sleepwalking into dictatorship in the United States," Cheney, an anti-Trump Republican who vice-chaired the House January 6 committee before being ejected from Congress, told CBS while promoting her memoir. Continue reading...

The winner of the last debate before the Iowa caucus was, yet again, an absent and resurgent TrumpOn Wednesday night, the Republican party staged its fourth primary debate, the last one before next month's Iowa caucus.Once again, Donald Trump won in absentia. His repeated absences from these dust-ups have burnished his image among the party faithful. He holds an insurmountable and growing lead. Indictments and headlines have only boosted his popularity. He laps the field, running 40 points ahead of Ron DeSantis nationally. Other than Chris Christie, no one on the stage in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, did anything to alter these realities.Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 Continue reading...

Parents who lost their children to suicide have spent years fighting for a barrier. Its completion brings reflection on heartbreaking loss - and a hope for a different futureHeather Quisenberry and her daughter, Mariah Gil, stopped halfway across the Golden Gate Bridge, approached the railing, and looked over the edge. Below them, the waters of the San Francisco Bay were serene, the morning fog drifting from the Pacific Ocean and hiding any signs of civilization.Heather, 52, walked towards one of the light poles that line the roadway, placed her hands on its cold steel and closed her eyes. Her son, Alexander Quisenberry, jumped from here 18 years ago. Continue reading...

The law requires that the US vet any foreign military receiving US arms. However, that doesn't happen with IsraelThere is a rare debate taking place in mainstream foreign policy circles, including among congressional Democrats, about whether the United States should condition its military support for Israel in light of the massive civilian casualties it has caused in Gaza. President Biden even said it was a worthwhile thought" last week before the White House clarified he would be doing no such thing. According to a recent report in the Israeli media, however, the Biden administration has begun doing exactly that - putting conditions on continued US support for Israel's war on Gaza.Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, joined a meeting of the Israeli war cabinet in Tel Aviv last week, where, according to a report by Israel's Channel 12 News on Sunday, he delivered an ultimatum to the Israeli government. Israel, he said, must begin taking the Palestinian civilian population into consideration in all military operations, reduce to the minimum possible the further displacement of civilians, stop blocking the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid and start designating more safe zones where Palestinian civilians can seek refuge from the non-stop bombardment. The understanding in Israel is that it must do all of that in order to get the continued support it wants from the US," the report added. Continue reading...

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers arrived in Las Vegas to news of the mass shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Three people were shot dead and a fourth critically wounded in an attack on the UNLV campus, police said. The suspected shooter was also found dead. James admitted his brother had warned him to be careful, before criticising gun laws in the country. He said, 'We keep dealing with the same story, this same conversation everybody single time it happens, and it just continues to happen ... The fact that we haven't changed anything ... it's actually been easier to be able to own a firearm. It's stupid.' Continue reading...

The next administration is more likely to appear by default than by design, something that doesn't bode well for PalestiniansTwo months into the military campaign against Hamas, and there is still little clarity about Israel's endgame or the future for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank living under occupation. The status quo was irrevocably broken on 7 October. But Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for 16 years, is likely to survive in some form despite Israel's stated aim to wipe it off the map. Its survival as a political entity will have far-reaching implications for all in Israel and the Palestinian territories.It is unclear to what extent Israel's intensive bombardment of the Gaza Strip and its ground operations in the north have undermined Hamas's operational ability. Though the militants have suffered some losses, Hamas still has considerable capacities ensconced in its bunkers and tunnels underneath Gaza from which to attack Israeli ground forces or launch rockets. As Israel resumes operations in the south, the extent of the damage it has been able to inflict on the tunnel system in the north remains unclear. But even if Israel succeeds in eliminating Hamas's military wing and tunnel infrastructure, Hamas as a resistance movement will probably endure in Gaza and elsewhere for as long as Israel's occupation continues.Tahani Mustafa is the senior Palestine analyst at the International Crisis GroupDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

We may want tradition to be mystical and ancient but in truth it's exactly what we say it is - be that Baileys, beef rendang or turkey and all the trimmingsIn early November, the nice woman at the checkout of my local Sainsbury's pointed out a nearby stack of Baileys. Just 10 a bottle," she said, with a cheery wink. Proper bargain." I smiled thinly. She clearly had no idea what sort of a person I am. Baileys? In November? Don't be so disgusting. Baileys is for Christmas. The annual bottle comes into my house on 20 December and not a day earlier. Because Christmas is a time for traditions, and the pre-Christmas bottle of Baileys is one of mine. I am stone-cold certain it is exactly what the Baby Jesus would have wanted. Why? Because I say so.The word tradition" is solid and reassuring; the things that word refers to are often rather less so. To mix our cultural references, the point is best made by Tevye in the opening song to Fiddler on the Roof. You may ask, how did this tradition start?" he says, having introduced the audience to his fellow villagers. I'll tell you - I don't know. But it's a tradition." Indeed it is. Continue reading...