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G7 condemns prosecution of Jimmy Lai, calls for his release

Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven on Wednesday condemned the prosecution of Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai, who was found guilty of collusion with foreign forces this week."We continue to express our concerns about deteriorating rights, freedoms and autonomy in Hong Kong ... we call on the Hong Kong authorities to end such prosecutions and to release Jimmy Lai immediately," they said in a statement.

12/17/2025 6:18:00 PM

Putin Says Russia Will Take More Land in Ukraine if Europe Sinks Peace Moves

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russia would take more land in Ukraine by force if Kyiv and European politicians whom he cast as "young pigs" did not engage over U.S. proposals for a peace settlement.The United States has held talks with Russia, and separately with Kyiv and European leaders, on proposals for ending the war in Ukraine but no deal has been reached. Kyiv and its European allies are concerned by demands for Ukrainian territorial concessions and Ukraine wants stronger security guarantees.At an annual Defence Ministry meeting, Putin said Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022, was advancing on all fronts and would achieve its aims by force or through diplomacy."If the opposing side and their foreign patrons refuse to engage in substantive discussions, Russia will achieve the liberation of its historical lands by military means," Putin said.Russia says it controls about 19% of Ukraine, including the Crimea peninsula which it annexed in 2014, as well as most of the eastern Donbas region, much of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and slivers of four other regions.Russia says Crimea, Donbas, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are now parts of Russia. Ukraine says it will never accept that, and almost all countries consider the regions to be part of Ukraine.Defence Minister Andrei Belousov said a task for 2026 was to increase the pace of Russia's offensive. A slide shown during a speech he delivered said Russia was spending 5.1% of gross domestic product on the war in 2025.European leaders say they stand with Kyiv and that Russia should not be rewarded for the war in Ukraine, which followed several years of fighting between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops in the Donbas region.Putin said former U.S. President Joe Biden's administration had sought to destroy Russia and that European politicians had also been pursuing the same objective, a charge denied by European leaders.He accused European politicians - whom he described as "shoats, or "young pigs" - of whipping up hysteria about a potential war with Russia by warning that Moscow could one day attack a country in the NATO military alliance."I have repeatedly stated: this is a lie, nonsense, pure nonsense about some imaginary Russian threat to European countries. But this is being done quite deliberately," Putin said.Some European leaders have accused Russia of having no real intention of engaging in peace talks. Directing similar criticism at Europe, Belousov said European powers were trying to scuttle attempts to end the war and talking of a war between Russia and NATO within a few years."Such a policy creates real prerequisites for the continuation of military operations next year, 2026," he said.

12/17/2025 6:00:40 PM

Six Canadian MPs denied entry by Israel to occupied West Bank

Six Canadian members of parliament, along with a delegation of 24 other people, were denied entry by Israel to the occupied West Bank on Tuesday while trying to cross the border from Jordan.The group were attempting to enter as part of a trip to Israel and the West Bank sponsored by non-profit organisation The Canadian-Muslim Vote (TCMV).The Israeli ambassador to Canada said the group of 30 had been denied entry because TCMV had links to Islamic Relief Worldwide, a non-governmental organisation proscribed by Israel as a terrorist group.The Canadian affiliate of Islamic Relief has strongly denied that characterisation. TCMV also hit out, saying its funding came from qualified donors only.Israeli military body Cogat, which oversees the Allenby border crossing, told CBC News that the group had been denied entry "for security reasons", after they arrived at the Allenby border crossing "without prior co-ordination".The denial was described as "deeply troubling" by the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), who said its staff members and community leaders were in the delegation alongside the MPs.Five of the six MPs who were denied entry were from the governing Liberal Party. They were Fares Al Soud, Iqra Khalid, Aslam Rana, Gurbux Saini and Sameer Zuberi.The sixth MP was Jenny Kwan, from the left-leaning New Democratic Party. Kwan called the situation "completely unacceptable" and rejected the suggestion that the lawmakers posed a public safety risk.The NCCM said the goal of the trip was "observing conditions on the ground and engaging directly with Palestinian and international stakeholders".Stephen Brown, the CEO of the NCCM, criticised the Israeli government, saying the denial of entry was part of a "broader pattern" to restrict access "to those seeking to independently witness the realities in the occupied territories".Iddo Moed, the Israeli ambassador to Canada, told CBC that the reason for denial was due to TCMV's links to Islamic Relief Worldwide. "The issue really is the link to a terrorist organisation," he said.In its statement of denial, Islamic Relief Canada CEO Tufail Hussain told Canadian media: "Claims that our charitable resources support terrorism are baseless and dangerous and they place aid workers and the beneficiaries we serve at risk."Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand confirmed the delegation had been denied entry in a statement on X on Tuesday afternoon.She added that her ministry "expressed Canada's objections regarding the mistreatment of these Canadians while attempting to cross".A different group of MPs were permitted to travel on a similar trip in 2024, also organised by TCMV.Tensions between the Canadian and Israeli governments have risen in recent months after Canada - alongside the UK, France and other Western nations - formally recognised a Palestinian state in September.At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised the recognition as "disgraceful".Earlier this year, two MPs from the UK's governing Labour Party were also denied entry by Israel after crossing from Jordan during a visit organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU).Simon Opher and Peter Prinsley were travelling in a parliamentary delegation in September to see medical and humanitarian work being carried out by organisations, including Medical Aid for Palestinians.A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office said at the time that the incident was "totally unacceptable and deeply concerning".Two other Labour MPs, Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang, had earlier been denied entry to Israel in April on another visit organised by the same organisation.

12/17/2025 5:47:08 PM

Germany opens joint drone defence centre in Berlin

Germany opened its first joint drone defence centre combining state and federal capabilities on Wednesday, part of efforts to close gaps and provide better protection against the growing threat of espionage and sabotage, said the interior ministry.Federal and state authorities are working hand in hand, pooling their expertise and sharing situational awareness, said Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt."This will increase our speed and accuracy in the fight against hybrid threats, sabotage and targeted provocations," he added while visiting the centre in Berlin.Drones suspected of being operated by Russia have been spotted across Europe, disrupting airspace operations and forcing countries to scramble NATO jets to ward off what is seen as hybrid warfare. The Kremlin has said that there was no reason to blame Russia.Until the German centre's creation, drone detection and countermeasures had been fragmented among various authorities.Now, federal and state police bodies and the German armed forces work together at the 24-hour centre, called GDAZ, to respond quickly and in a coordinated manner to security threats.However, the decision-making powers of each of the participating authorities remain unaffected.

12/17/2025 5:13:00 PM

Meloni says using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine 'far from easy' ahead of EU summit

Finding a legal way to use frozen Russian assets to help finance Ukraine remains "far from easy", Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday, ahead of a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.Addressing parliament, Meloni said Italy backed efforts to make Moscow bear the costs of its invasion of Ukraine, but warned that any mechanism must rest on firm legal foundations and avoid exposing countries to open-ended liabilities.Italy is one of the EU's largest economies and its position on financing could sway the balance between countries pushing for bold measures to sustain Ukraine and those worried about legal blowback and market instability."Italy, of course, considers sacred the principle that Russia should primarily pay for the reconstruction of the nation it attacked, but this result must be achieved with a solid legal basis," Meloni said.She added that she wanted clarity over the proposed use of Russian assets "particularly those related to reputation, retaliation, or new, heavy burdens on national budgets".EU leaders are set to review on Thursday proposals aimed at using proceeds from immobilised Russian sovereign assets, mostly held in Belgium, to support Ukraine's huge budget and defence needs -- something Moscow fiercely opposes.The main problem still to be resolved is Belgium's demand that others in the 27-nation bloc share the financial risks if Russia were to successfully sue either Belgium or the Belgian central securities depository Euroclear, where they are held.Meloni has consistently supported Ukraine following the Russian invasion, reassuring Western allies who feared she might follow the pro-Moscow line of one of her coalition parties, the far-right League.Meloni on Wednesday said Russia was making "unreasonable" demands in U.S.-brokered peace discussions, singling out Moscow's insistence on controlling the entire Donbas region."Unlike what propaganda claims, the main obstacle to a peace agreement is Russia's inability to conquer the four Ukrainian regions that it unilaterally declared annexed in late 2022," Meloni said, referring to the fact Moscow has demanded control over areas that it has failed to seize by arms.She added that significant progress had been made in recent talks in Berlin on security guarantees for Ukraine.

12/17/2025 4:41:00 PM

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G7 condemns prosecution of Jimmy Lai, calls for his release

Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven on Wednesday condemned the prosecution of Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai, who was found guilty of collusion with foreign forces this week."We continue to express our concerns about deteriorating rights, freedoms and autonomy in Hong Kong ... we call on the Hong Kong authorities to end such prosecutions and to release Jimmy Lai immediately," they said in a statement.

12/17/2025 6:18:00 PM

Putin Says Russia Will Take More Land in Ukraine if Europe Sinks Peace Moves

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russia would take more land in Ukraine by force if Kyiv and European politicians whom he cast as "young pigs" did not engage over U.S. proposals for a peace settlement.The United States has held talks with Russia, and separately with Kyiv and European leaders, on proposals for ending the war in Ukraine but no deal has been reached. Kyiv and its European allies are concerned by demands for Ukrainian territorial concessions and Ukraine wants stronger security guarantees.At an annual Defence Ministry meeting, Putin said Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022, was advancing on all fronts and would achieve its aims by force or through diplomacy."If the opposing side and their foreign patrons refuse to engage in substantive discussions, Russia will achieve the liberation of its historical lands by military means," Putin said.Russia says it controls about 19% of Ukraine, including the Crimea peninsula which it annexed in 2014, as well as most of the eastern Donbas region, much of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and slivers of four other regions.Russia says Crimea, Donbas, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are now parts of Russia. Ukraine says it will never accept that, and almost all countries consider the regions to be part of Ukraine.Defence Minister Andrei Belousov said a task for 2026 was to increase the pace of Russia's offensive. A slide shown during a speech he delivered said Russia was spending 5.1% of gross domestic product on the war in 2025.European leaders say they stand with Kyiv and that Russia should not be rewarded for the war in Ukraine, which followed several years of fighting between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops in the Donbas region.Putin said former U.S. President Joe Biden's administration had sought to destroy Russia and that European politicians had also been pursuing the same objective, a charge denied by European leaders.He accused European politicians - whom he described as "shoats, or "young pigs" - of whipping up hysteria about a potential war with Russia by warning that Moscow could one day attack a country in the NATO military alliance."I have repeatedly stated: this is a lie, nonsense, pure nonsense about some imaginary Russian threat to European countries. But this is being done quite deliberately," Putin said.Some European leaders have accused Russia of having no real intention of engaging in peace talks. Directing similar criticism at Europe, Belousov said European powers were trying to scuttle attempts to end the war and talking of a war between Russia and NATO within a few years."Such a policy creates real prerequisites for the continuation of military operations next year, 2026," he said.

12/17/2025 6:00:40 PM

Six Canadian MPs denied entry by Israel to occupied West Bank

Six Canadian members of parliament, along with a delegation of 24 other people, were denied entry by Israel to the occupied West Bank on Tuesday while trying to cross the border from Jordan.The group were attempting to enter as part of a trip to Israel and the West Bank sponsored by non-profit organisation The Canadian-Muslim Vote (TCMV).The Israeli ambassador to Canada said the group of 30 had been denied entry because TCMV had links to Islamic Relief Worldwide, a non-governmental organisation proscribed by Israel as a terrorist group.The Canadian affiliate of Islamic Relief has strongly denied that characterisation. TCMV also hit out, saying its funding came from qualified donors only.Israeli military body Cogat, which oversees the Allenby border crossing, told CBC News that the group had been denied entry "for security reasons", after they arrived at the Allenby border crossing "without prior co-ordination".The denial was described as "deeply troubling" by the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), who said its staff members and community leaders were in the delegation alongside the MPs.Five of the six MPs who were denied entry were from the governing Liberal Party. They were Fares Al Soud, Iqra Khalid, Aslam Rana, Gurbux Saini and Sameer Zuberi.The sixth MP was Jenny Kwan, from the left-leaning New Democratic Party. Kwan called the situation "completely unacceptable" and rejected the suggestion that the lawmakers posed a public safety risk.The NCCM said the goal of the trip was "observing conditions on the ground and engaging directly with Palestinian and international stakeholders".Stephen Brown, the CEO of the NCCM, criticised the Israeli government, saying the denial of entry was part of a "broader pattern" to restrict access "to those seeking to independently witness the realities in the occupied territories".Iddo Moed, the Israeli ambassador to Canada, told CBC that the reason for denial was due to TCMV's links to Islamic Relief Worldwide. "The issue really is the link to a terrorist organisation," he said.In its statement of denial, Islamic Relief Canada CEO Tufail Hussain told Canadian media: "Claims that our charitable resources support terrorism are baseless and dangerous and they place aid workers and the beneficiaries we serve at risk."Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand confirmed the delegation had been denied entry in a statement on X on Tuesday afternoon.She added that her ministry "expressed Canada's objections regarding the mistreatment of these Canadians while attempting to cross".A different group of MPs were permitted to travel on a similar trip in 2024, also organised by TCMV.Tensions between the Canadian and Israeli governments have risen in recent months after Canada - alongside the UK, France and other Western nations - formally recognised a Palestinian state in September.At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised the recognition as "disgraceful".Earlier this year, two MPs from the UK's governing Labour Party were also denied entry by Israel after crossing from Jordan during a visit organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU).Simon Opher and Peter Prinsley were travelling in a parliamentary delegation in September to see medical and humanitarian work being carried out by organisations, including Medical Aid for Palestinians.A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office said at the time that the incident was "totally unacceptable and deeply concerning".Two other Labour MPs, Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang, had earlier been denied entry to Israel in April on another visit organised by the same organisation.

12/17/2025 5:47:08 PM

Germany opens joint drone defence centre in Berlin

Germany opened its first joint drone defence centre combining state and federal capabilities on Wednesday, part of efforts to close gaps and provide better protection against the growing threat of espionage and sabotage, said the interior ministry.Federal and state authorities are working hand in hand, pooling their expertise and sharing situational awareness, said Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt."This will increase our speed and accuracy in the fight against hybrid threats, sabotage and targeted provocations," he added while visiting the centre in Berlin.Drones suspected of being operated by Russia have been spotted across Europe, disrupting airspace operations and forcing countries to scramble NATO jets to ward off what is seen as hybrid warfare. The Kremlin has said that there was no reason to blame Russia.Until the German centre's creation, drone detection and countermeasures had been fragmented among various authorities.Now, federal and state police bodies and the German armed forces work together at the 24-hour centre, called GDAZ, to respond quickly and in a coordinated manner to security threats.However, the decision-making powers of each of the participating authorities remain unaffected.

12/17/2025 5:13:00 PM

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