breakfastmtn

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggesting replacing Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) with U.S. exports in a phone conversation with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 8.

Von der Leyen spoke with Trump three days after his victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election.

Replacing Europe's supplies of Russian LNG was "one of the topics" the two leaders discussed, von der Leyen told reporters in Budapest.

. . .

The European Union imposed its first major restrictions on Russian gas, including LNG, in its 14th sanctions package in June. Russia still remains Europe's second-largest importer of LNG, after the U.S.

MBFC
Archive

Residents had to dig through rubble in search of their neighbors after the main emergency service in Gaza said it had stopped operations in the north because it had come under Israeli attacks.

When an Israeli airstrike hit a home in northern Gaza early Thursday, residents said, there were no paramedics or emergency medical workers around to help pull out people trapped in the rubble.

Instead, Mazen Ahmed said he and other neighbors in Beit Lahia had to dig through the debris by themselves. They found at least one body.

“We went out to try to rescue on our own to the extent of our abilities,” Mr. Ahmed said on Thursday, speaking by voice message from a cemetery where those killed in the latest Israeli airstrikes were being buried. “There were no stretchers, there were no rescuers, there were no emergency responders.”

More than two weeks ago, Gaza’s Civil Defense, the main emergency service in the Palestinian territory, said it was forced to cease rescue operations in the north because of attacks by the Israeli military on its members and destruction of its equipment.

MBFC
Archive

There is a “strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas” of the northern Gaza Strip, a committee of global food security experts warned on Friday, as Israel claims to be pursuing a military offensive against Palestinian militant group Hamas in the area.

“Immediate action, within days not weeks, is required from all actors who are directly taking part in the conflict, or have influence on its conduct, to avert and alleviate this catastrophic situation,” the independent Famine Review Committee (FRC) said in a rare alert.

The warning comes just days ahead of a US deadline for Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which the UN said almost a year ago had been made “uninhabitable” by Israeli attacks, or face potential restrictions on US military aid.

MBFC
Archive

Canada is bracing for a surge of migrants to its southern border after Donald Trump doubled down on his pledge to conduct the largest mass deportation in American history.

. . .

During Trump’s first term in office, tens of thousands of Haitians fled to Canada after he ended temporary protected status for the group (it was later restored). Many passed through the Roxham Road crossing, a rural country road that served as funnel for refugees attempting to safely traverse the world’s longest land border.

. . .

The RCMP says it has plans to deal with a fresh increase in crossings that has been “several months” in the making. A spokesperson for the federal police said officers had the “tools and insight” to deal with another increase, including a scenario in which hundreds of people cross every day.

If those crossing claim asylum, the RCMP cannot send them back to the United States. Instead, their claims are entered into a system with an estimated backlog of 250,000 cases. The average processing time for a case is 44 months, a parliamentary committee heard on Thursday.

MBFC
Archive

Ukraine’s relationship with the UK has “got worse” since the Labour government took power in July, officials in Kyiv have told the Guardian, voicing frustration over Britain’s failure to supply additional long-range missiles.

The UK prime minister is yet to visit Ukraine four months after taking office and a frustrated Kyiv has said that a trip would be worthless unless Keir Starmer committed to replenishing stocks of the sought-after long-range Storm Shadow system.

. . .

Ukraine is growing increasingly unhappy with London as Russian troops advance in the east of the country at their fastest rate since 2022, with US officials concluding that the frontlines can no longer be considered static. Ukrainian commanders said they were heavily outgunned.

MBFC
Archive

U.S. President Joe Biden this week became a "lame duck," entering the period between White House administrations traditionally seen as one of waning influence, increasing irrelevance, and menial administrative preparation for the successor.

But it can also be a period of opportunity — relatively unburdened by responsibility and accountability, many lame-duck presidents take advantage of the time to take actions they may not have gotten away with before an election, controversial pardons being one of the most popular.

And as Jessica Berlin, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), said in a post on social media after the election result was called, Biden does have an opportunity to be "the least-lame duck in history."

"Whatever can go to Ukraine needs to go now," she added.

MBFC
Archive

Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed a hardline supporter of the war in Gaza and longtime backer of settlements in the West Bank as his ambassador to the US as Israel prepares for the incoming administration of Donald Trump.

Yechiel Leiter, an American-born rightwing publicist and former government aide who immigrated to Israel four decades ago, was announced as Israel’s next ambassador to Washington on Friday. His son, a soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces, was killed in fighting in northern Gaza last year.

Leiter is a “highly talented diplomat, an eloquent speaker, who has a deep understanding of American culture and politics”, Netanyahu said in a statement announcing the appointment. “I am convinced that Yechiel will represent the state of Israel in the best possible way, and I wish him success in his position.”

Leiter will replace the current ambassador Michael Herzog, whose term will end on 20 January.

MBFC
Archive

Vladimir Putin has congratulated Donald Trump on winning the US election, and expressed admiration for the way Trump reacted to an assassination attempt during the campaign. He also said he was ready for dialogue with Trump, a prospect which will cause disquiet in Kyiv and many other European capitals.

Putin gave his first public remarks on Trump’s win on Thursday evening during a discussion forum in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. His words seemed calibrated to appeal to the president-elect’s well-documented fondness for flattery.

. . .

Putin also claimed Trump had been “hounded by all sides” during the campaign, another line that is likely to resonate well with Trump, and offered his congratulations on the victory. He highlighted Trump’s remarks on Ukraine and Russia. “What was said about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to bring about the end of the Ukrainian crisis in my opinion this deserves attention at least,” said Putin.

MBFC
Archive

In anticipation of a Trump victory, there have already been efforts to try to ensure continued support for Ukraine, continuity in NATO and to craft a response should Mr. Trump make good on his threat to apply blanket tariffs on goods imported into the United States.

But the Europeans have a long way to go. A second Trump presidency could serve as a catalyst for Europe to fortify itself in the face of a more undependable America. But it is far from clear the continent is prepared to seize that moment.

. . .

“A Trump victory is very painful for Europeans, as it confronts them with a question they’ve tried hard to hide from: ‘How do we deal with a United States that sees us more as a competitor and a nuisance than a friend to work with?’” said Georgina Wright, deputy director for International Studies at the Institut Montaigne in Paris. “It should unite Europe, but that does not mean Europe necessarily will unite.”

MBFC
Archive

The world is still underestimating the risk of catastrophic climate breakdown and ecosystem collapse, the UN secretary general has warned in the run-up to Cop29, acknowledging that the rise in global heating is on course to soar past 1.5C (2.7F) over pre-industrial levels in the coming years.

Humanity is approaching potentially irreversible tipping points such as the collapse of the Amazon rainforest and the Greenland ice sheet as global temperatures rise, António Guterres has said, warning that governments are not making the deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions needed to limit warming to safe levels.

Speaking to the Guardian, the UN secretary general said that a second US departure from the Paris climate agreement under a new Donald Trump presidency would risk crippling the process but said the accord would survive.

MBFC
Archive

The U.S. will send Ukraine the full $6 billion in outstanding military aid before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said at a briefing on Nov. 7.

Previously, Politico reported that U.S. President Joe Biden was rushing to deliver the remaining $6 billion by the end of his term out of fear that a Trump administration might halt weapons shipments to Ukraine.

Ukraine will receive $4 billion under the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which pulls weapons from U.S. stocks, and $2 billion from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), Singh told reporters.

MBFC
Archive

Kamala Harris’s resounding defeat affirmed the worst of what many Black women believed about their country, even as some looked to the future with a wary determination.

Black women could see the mountaintop.

Across the country, they led an outpouring of Democratic elation when the vice president took over the top of the presidential ticket. But underneath their hope and determination was a persistent worry: Was America ready, they asked, to elect a Black woman?

The painful answer arrived this week.

It affirmed the worst of what many Black women believed about their country: that it would rather choose a man who was convicted of 34 felonies, has spewed lies and falsehoods, disparaged women and people of color, and pledged to use the powers of the federal government to punish his political opponents than send a woman of color to the White House.

MBFC
Archive