The sale of United States military equipment to foreign governments in 2024 surged 29 percent to a record $318.7bn, the US State Department said, a figure that includes the sale of jet fighters worth $18.8bn to Israel despite the country facing allegations of genocide in Gaza.

US weapons sales figures from the Biden administration’s final year were released on Friday, coming amid rising global instability and regional tensions.

Sales approved in 2024 included but were not limited to $23bn in F-16 jets and aircraft upgrades to Turkiye’s military, $18.8bn worth of F-15 fighter jets to Israel, and $2.5bn in sales of M1A2 Abrams tanks to Romania.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department ordered a sweeping freeze Friday on new funding for almost all U.S. foreign assistance, making exceptions for emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt.

The order threatened a quick halt to many of the billions of dollars in U.S.-funded projects globally to support health, education, development, job training, anti-corruption, security assistance and other efforts.

The U.S. provides more foreign aid globally than any other country, budgeting about $60 billion in 2023, or about 1% of the U.S. budget.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53586604

Israel's history of bribing, threatening and blackmailing officials around the world -- and destroying those who forcefully oppose it -- is well documented. Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, fell under heavy Mossad surveillance after he introduced warrants for the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his then-Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant. In October, 2024 when an anonymous accuser brought forward allegations of sexual harassment against Khan, there could be little doubt an Israeli hand had finessed the scandal.

Sebutinde's fanatical adherence to Israel's agenda does not appear to be the product of manipulation or enticement, however. The views expressed in her dissent on the South African case were much more likely a reflection of the Christian Zionist belief system she developed as a member of Watoto, a Pentecostal megachurch in the Ugandan capital of Kampala. It was there that Sebutinde says she developed her worldview under the tutelage of a Canadian pastor and End Times aficionado named Gary Skinner.

Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that Israeli troops will not comply with a Sunday deadline for them to withdraw from southern Lebanon, throwing the ceasefire with Hezbollah into crisis.

Confirming that Israel would not meet the 26 January deadline, the prime minister’s office said in a statement: “The IDF’s withdrawal process is conditional on the Lebanese army deploying in southern Lebanon and fully and effectively enforcing the agreement, while Hezbollah withdraws beyond the Litani [River].”

The decision to delay the withdrawal, made at an Israeli cabinet meeting on Thursday evening, follows several weeks of briefings suggesting Israel intended to remain in at least five outposts in Lebanon.

NEW YORK, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The Palestinian militant group Hamas has recruited between 10,000 and 15,000 members since the start of its war with Israel, according to two congressional sources briefed on U.S. intelligence, suggesting the Iran-backed fighters could remain a persistent threat to Israel.

The intelligence indicates a similar number of Hamas fighters have been killed during that period, the sources said. The latest official U.S. estimates have not been previously reported.'

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/25162701

Jeremy Scahill and Sharif Abdel Kouddous
Jan 24, 2025

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/24657192

Summary

In a virtual speech at the World Economic Forum, Trump suggested Canada could become a U.S. state to avoid his proposed tariffs on imports.

The remark elicited gasps from the audience.

Trump claimed the U.S. does not need Canadian lumber, energy, or vehicles, vastly overstating the trade deficit between the two nations.

He reiterated his intention to impose tariffs, potentially as high as 25%, on imports from Canada and Mexico starting February 1.

Economists warn such tariffs would raise prices for U.S. consumers.

https://archive.ph/NqW8B

Germany’s opposition leader has pledged to strengthen border controls and step up deportations if he becomes chancellor after elections next month, a day after an Afghan man was arrested over a knife attack in which two people died.

Friedrich Merz, whose conservative CDU/CSU alliance is leading in polls, said he would not allow attacks like the one in the Bavarian city of Aschaffenburg on Wednesday to become a “normal affair”.

The suspect in the attack, who was arrested shortly afterwards, is a 28-year-old Afghan man with a history of psychiatric problems and violence. The man’s asylum process had been closed at his request after two years, according to Bavarian authorities. He had said he would leave Germany of his own will last month, but had not done so, and had continued receiving psychiatric treatment.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53502678

A Milwaukee-based CBS affiliate has dismissed one of its weather presenters after she reportedly called Elon Musk a Nazi on social media, over a gesture the tech billionaire made during an inauguration rally for US President Donald Trump.

WDJT-TV (Channel 58), where meteorologist Sam Kuffel had worked since 2019, has confirmed her departure but provided no official explanation in an internal memo to or public comments, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

While the station described the matter as a “personal issue,” Kuffel was reportedly dismissed one day after commenting on Musk’s gesture on her Instagram account.

The TV channel has removed Kuffel’s bio from its website and no longer mentions her in its weather section, but retains articles written by her. Her Instagram account has been set to private, but screenshots purportedly capturing her posts are available online. She has not commented publicly on the incident.

Before her tenure at WDJT-TV, the journalist worked at WAOW-TV (Channel 9) in Wausau, after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a degree in atmospheric science.

The Anti-Defamation League, a US-based pro-Israeli group which monitors anti-Semitism and hate speech, has described Musk’s gesture as “awkward” but did not say it was a Nazi salute. Similarly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is the subject of an International Criminal Court warrant on charges related to genocide, has tweeted in support of the X owner, declaring him to be “a friend of Israel.”

Archive link

Left-wing activists have projected a giant image of Elon Musk doing a gesture that has been likened to a Nazi salute alongside the word “heil” on to Tesla’s Berlin factory.

Germany’s Centre for Political Beauty and the UK group Led By Donkeys beamed a photo of Mr Musk with his arm outstretched, which he did at a Trump rally on Monday night, on to the nine-metre-high building on Wednesday night.

They also projected the words “heil” and “boycott” alongside the large Tesla logo, as if to read “heil Tesla” or “boycott Tesla”.

Mr Musk has faced criticism both inside Germany and beyond for Monday night’s salute, in which he twice slapped his chest before raising his outstretched arm into the air.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/53472470

• The Brazilian diplomat who will chair the next United Nations climate summit praised China on Thursday (Jan 23) as an example in the fight against climate change while admonishing rich countries for shirking their responsibilities.

• By reducing the price of solar panels and of electric cars, China is giving infinitely more support to the developing world (on climate change) than if it were just providing symbolic amounts (of aid), which is what the developed countries want.