(Al Jazeera Media Network) US conservative firebrand Matt Gaetz has announced that he is withdrawing from consideration for United States attorney general following renewed focus on sexual misconduct allegations against him.
In a statement on social media on Thursday, just over one week after President-elect Donald Trump named Gaetz as his pick for the position of top federal prosecutor, the former Florida congressman said that he had become a “distraction”.
Gaetz, a divisive figure even within Trump’s Republican Party, faced...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) The United States has vetoed a resolution at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) demanding an “immediate, unconditional and permanent” ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as Israel’s bombardment of the Palestinian territory continues.
The US voted down the measure on Wednesday morning while the 14 other members of the council voted in favour.
While the resolution called for the release of captives held in Gaza, Washington had voiced opposition to its demand for an...
(BBC News) German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has said damage to two undersea cables in the Baltic Sea looks like an act of sabotage and a "hybrid action", without knowing who is to blame.
A 1,170-km telecommunications cable between Finland and Germany was severed in the early hours of Monday, while a 218-km internet link between Lithuania and Sweden's Gotland Island stopped working on Sunday.
The incidents came at a time of heightened tension with Russia,...
(BBC News) Ukraine has fired US-supplied longer-range missiles at Russian territory for the first time, the Russian government said, a day after Washington gave its permission for such attacks.
US officials confirmed use of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to CBS news, the BBC's US partner. Ukraine has not commented.
Russia's defence ministry said the strike targeted the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine to the north on Tuesday morning.
Five missiles were shot down and one damaged,...
(BBC News) Vladimir Putin has approved changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, setting out new conditions under which the country would consider using its arsenal.
The doctrine now says an attack from a non-nuclear state, if backed by a nuclear power, will be treated as a joint assault on Russia.
The update was proposed in September and rubber stamped on Tuesday, the 1,000th day of the war with Ukraine.
It follows Washington’s decision on Monday to allow Ukraine to fire...
(BBC News) Thousands of people are gathering to take the final steps in a march on New Zealand’s parliament to demonstrate against a controversial bill seeking to overhaul the country's founding document between British colonizers and Māori people.
Hotels are sold out in the capital Wellington – up to 30,000 people are expected to attend Tuesday’s rally outside parliament.
The demonstration marks the end of a nine-day hīkoi, or peaceful protest, that has been making its...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) United States President Joe Biden has reportedly lifted restrictions on Kyiv on the use of long-range missiles, which means Ukrainian forces may fire American-made missiles inside Russian territory for the first time.
The move, which comes weeks before Biden leaves office and hours after massive Russian missile and drone attacks, has angered the Kremlin, which accused Washington of “throwing oil on the fire.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the decision would mean Washington’s direct...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) Leaders of the G7 alliance have reaffirmed support for Ukraine “for as long as it takes” as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wants to end the war through talks next year.
The Ukrainian president said in a radio interview aired on Saturday that his side will do everything possible so that the war with Russia’s invading forces ends in 2025 “through diplomatic means”.
The previous day, he said that the re-election of...
(BBC News) As the world waits to see how the return of Donald Trump will reshape relations between Washington and Beijing, China has just taken decisive action to entrench its position in Latin America.
Trump won the US presidential election on a platform that promised tariffs as high as 60% on Chinese-made goods. Further south, a new China-backed megaport has the potential to create new trade routes that will bypass North America entirely.
President Xi Jinping...
(BBC News) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that Russia’s deployment of North Korean troops against Ukraine was a “grave escalation” of the conflict, according to government sources.
In the first phone call between the leaders in nearly two years, Scholz called on Putin to end the war and pull Russian troops out of Ukraine.
The Kremlin described the conversation as "a detailed and frank exchange of opinions on the situation...
