United States | News & Politics

Sen. Bernie Sanders today released the following statement ahead of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which is poised to begin on Sunday:

I am pleased that the Israeli security cabinet has finally approved a ceasefire agreement. My hope is that the destruction will soon end and that the hostages will finally be returned to their families. Sadly, the deal approved today is essentially the same agreement that Prime Minister Netanyahu and his extremist government rejected in May of last year. More than 10,000 people have died since that proposal was presented, and the suffering of the hostages and innocent people in Gaza only deepened.

Let’s be clear: On October 7, 2023, Hamas and its late leader, Yahya Sinwar, committed a barbaric terrorist attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 innocent people and took 250 hostages. Israel clearly had the right to defend itself against Hamas. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is correct in indicting Mr. Sinwar as a war criminal for these atrocities.

Tragically, Israel chose not to go to war simply against Hamas, but has instead waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people. In a Gazan population of 2.2 million, more than 46,000 people have been killed and 110,000 injured, according to the United Nations. A peer-reviewed study in the medical journal Lancet concludes that the total is much higher, with some 64,000 Palestinians killed. The vast majority of those dead are women and children.

As Joseph Biden’s US presidency comes to an end, many on social media this week are saying that his legacy boils down to one thing: his active role in Israel’s fifteen-month war on Gaza, which has been widely defined as a "genocide" by human rights organisations, international bodies and scholars.

Biden’s last day as president, on 19 January, is also the first day of the planned Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal that was reportedly pushed to the finish line by the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, though both Biden and Trump took credit for the deal.

This has raised more significant criticism of Biden’s role in Israel’s bombing campaign on Gaza, with the US providing $17.9bn in military aid since 7 October 2023 after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel and the subsequent war.

His unfaltering support for Israel led to the infamous nickname given by pro-Palestinians and social media users: "Genocide Joe".

President Joe Biden reportedly has no intention of enforcing a TikTok ban that is set to go into effect on Sunday, deferring the fate of the ban to President-elect Donald Trump one day before he takes office.

In a report published on Thursday night, an anonymous U.S. official told the Associated Press (AP) that Biden would not enforce the ban if it goes into effect on Sunday as expected. The decision on implementing the law banning TikTok, and whether to enforce the ban at all, will instead fall on the incoming Trump administration.

In a statement to Newsweek, Trump-Vance Transition Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that "President Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to save Tik Tok, and there's no better deal maker than President Trump."

If there is one thing the EU knows about Donald Trump, it is that he loves tariffs. The incoming president has said “tariff” is “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” and has threatened to impose them on US allies around the world.

On the campaign trail he proposed tariffs of 10-20% on imports from all countries, with a 60% rate reserved for China. Once elected, he tweeted that the EU must buy more US oil and gas “otherwise it is TARIFFS all the way!!!” This week, he announced he would create an “external revenue service” on the day of his inauguration.

The European Commission, which leads on trade policy for the EU’s 27 member states, has been preparing for the next US president since last summer. Details of its response to potential tariffs are closely guarded though, and depend on what the volatile incoming president actually does.

I've always hated annoying buffoons like Alexander Dugin and Haz Al Din (infrared). They're an embarrassment to the labour movement. Just wanted to share this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14pc-2krJVo