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Germany Must not Become a Party to Ukraine War – Vice Chancellor

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German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck has
once again pointed out the limits of German involvement with regards to support for Ukraine.

He told Deutschlandfunk German public radio on Wednesday that “we must not become a party
to the war. It is important that this boundary is always maintained.

’’

Habeck said this plays a major role in all considerations of support for Ukraine, Habeck said
before returning from his two-day visit to Kiev.

“It is always a consideration where a step might go so far as to actively involve us in the war.’’

Habeck, who is also Germany’s economy minister, said he personally drew a red line, “having
German troops in Ukraine.

The Green politician and also Chancellor Olaf Scholz have already stated several times that
Germany should not become a party to the war.

Habeck travelled on Monday morning with a German business delegation to Ukraine, where
he also met government representatives.

Topics of the trip were the reconstruction of Ukraine, which is still under attack from Russia,
and cooperation in the energy sector.

Habeck also talked about a stronger presence of German companies in the war-torn country.

In order to make it attractive or even possible for German companies to work in Ukraine under
these conditions, the German government is securing their investments.

The risk of this must be weighed against the perspective of hope, which Ukraine needs, Habeck told
Deutschlandfunk.

“Besides the strong will to rebuild and, I think, the impressive courage of the people to look forward,
the country has also suffered incredibly.” Support for the country was justified and necessary, he added.

Meanwhile, the issue of alleged child abductions by Russia continues to cause outrage in Ukraine.

According to the government in Kiev, at her recent press conference, Russian Children’s Rights
Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova admitted to another “kidnapping” of a Ukrainian teenager.

Dmytro Lubinets, wrote on Telegram on Tuesday evening that “this story is the next public confession
of war crimes the abduction of Ukrainian children!” the Ukrainian parliament’s human rights commissioner.

He said the case involved a 17-year-old boy who was taken from Russian-occupied Mariupol in the
Donetsk region to a foster family in Russia.”Yet the child has a sister in Ukraine!” stressed Lubinets.

Moreover, the boy had been prevented from returning home to Ukraine on his own. After reaching
Belarus, the teenager was arrested and brought back to Russia.

Since shortly after the beginning of the Russian war against Ukraine, Kiev has accused Moscow of
“deporting” Ukrainian children.

Most recently, Kiev spoke of 19,514 children affected, 4,390 of them orphans. Moscow denies this and speaks instead of evacuations.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague recently issued an arrest warrant for Lvova-Belova as well as for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing them of “abducting” children.

At her press conference in Moscow on Tuesday, Lvova-Belova denied the accusations and referred to the possibility of filing a search complaint with her authorities.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than 13 months ago and occupies parts of the country’s territory.

Many boys and girls have lost their parents as a result of Russia’s war. Thousands are on the run.

However, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a brief report on Wednesday that the Russian leadership is preparing for financial aid from allied states, probably by issuing government bonds in foreign currencies as a measure to plug holes in its own budget.

In this interpretation, the British refer to a recent announcement by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who had talked about plans to issue bonds in the Chinese yuan, among other currencies.

This is almost certainly an indication that Moscow is counting on money from states it regards as benevolent, the MoD said.

In such a scenario, foreign investors could then make up for future deficits in the Russian budget and thus indirectly help finance the war in Ukraine.

However, it was unclear whether Moscow could successfully implement the issuance of government bonds in foreign currencies, London said.(NAN)

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Foreign News

President Yoon Banned from Leaving South Korea

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The South Korean Government ordered an overseas travel ban on President Yoon Suk Yeol.The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Monday that the travel ban is due to the ongoing investigation into Yoon, which involves suspicion of high treason.Yoon unexpectedly imposed martial law on his country last Tuesday night, but hours later, after massive political resistance, he repealed the order.

On Saturday evening, a motion by the opposition to impeach the president in parliament failed.
However, public pressure against the 63-year-old continues. (dpa/NAN)

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Israel Threatens to Expand War if Hezbollah Truce Collapses

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Israel threatened on Tuesday to return to war in Lebanon if its truce with Hezbollah collapses and said this time its attacks would go deeper and target the Lebanese state itself, after the deadliest day since the ceasefire was agreed last week.

In its strongest threat since the truce was agreed to end 14 months of war with Hezbollah, Israel said it would hold Lebanon responsible for failing to disarm militants who violated the truce.

“If we return to war we will act strongly, we will go deeper, and the most important thing they need to know: that there will be no longer be an exemption for the state of Lebanon,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said.

“If until now we separated the state of Lebanon from Hezbollah… it will no longer be (like this),” he said during a visit to the northern border area.

Despite last week’s truce, Israeli forces have continued strikes in southern Lebanon against what they say are Hezbollah fighters ignoring the agreement to halt attacks and withdraw beyond the Litani River, about 30 km (18 miles) from the frontier.

On Monday, Hezbollah shelled an Israeli military post, while Lebanese authorities said at least 12 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon.

Katz called the Hezbollah attack “the first test” and described Israel’s strikes as a strong response.

The Beirut government must “authorise the Lebanese army to enforce their part, to keep Hezbollah away beyond the Litani, and to dismantle all the infrastructure,” Katz said.

“If they don’t do it and this whole agreement collapses then the reality will be very clear.”

Top Lebanese officials urged Washington and Paris to press Israel to uphold the ceasefire, after dozens of military operations on Lebanese soil that Beirut has deemed violations, two senior Lebanese political sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

The sources said caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, a close Hezbollah ally who negotiated the deal on behalf of Lebanon, spoke to officials at the White House and French presidency late on Monday.

Mikati, quoted by the Lebanese news agency, said that diplomatic communications had intensified since Monday to stop Israeli violations of the ceasefire.

He also said a recruitment drive was under way by the Lebanese army to strengthen its presence in the south.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matt Miller told reporters on Monday that the ceasefire “is holding” and that the U.S. had “anticipated that there might be violations”.

Neither the French presidency nor the foreign ministry were immediately available to comment.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot spoke to his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar on Monday, saying both sides should adhere to the ceasefire.

The truce came into effect on Nov. 27 and prohibits Israel from conducting offensive military operations in Lebanon, while requiring Lebanon to prevent armed groups including Hezbollah from launching attacks on Israel.

It gives Israeli troops 60 days to withdraw from south Lebanon.

A mission chaired by the United States is tasked with monitoring, verifying, and helping enforce the truce, but it has yet to begin work.

Berri on Monday called on the mission to “urgently” ensure Israel halts its breaches, saying Beirut had logged at least 54 Israeli violations of the ceasefire so far.

Israel has said its continued activity in Lebanon is aimed at enforcing the ceasefire.

Lebanon’s Mikati met in Beirut on Monday with U.S. General Jasper Jeffers, who will chair the monitoring committee.

Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that France’s representative to the committee, General Guillaume Ponchin, would arrive in Beirut on Wednesday and that the committee would hold its first meeting on Thursday.

“There is an urgency to finalise the mechanism, otherwise it will be too late,” the source said, referring to Israel’s gradual intensification of strikes even with the truce in place. (Reuters/NAN)

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Starmer Rules out Re-running UK Election as Petition Gets Signatures

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 British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has ruled out calling another general election, but said he is “not surprised” some people who did not support his party, Labour, might want a second poll.

A petition on Parliament’s website calling for another election has now been signed by more than two million people.

“I would like there to be another general election,” it reads.

“I believe the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead-up to the last election.

Asked about the petition on ITV’s “This Morning” programme on Monday, Starmer said: “Look, I remind myself that very many people didn’t vote Labour at the last election.

“I’m not surprised that many of them want a re-run. That isn’t how our system works.

“There will be plenty of people who didn’t want us in the first place.

“So, what my focus is on is the decisions that I have to make every day.”

He characterized decisions taken so far by his government as “tough but fair.”

Starmer and his ministers have faced a particularly strong backlash for limiting winter fuel payments to only the poorest pensioners.

Farmers have also protested over changes to inheritance tax which they claim could affect the future of their businesses.

As he marks five months as prime minister, Starmer acknowledged the job has been difficult, but added: “I wouldn’t swap a single day in opposition for a day in power.

“It’s much better to be in power to do things, rather than the frustration, as I found it, in opposition for all of those long years where we were just able to say what we would do.”

The petition calling for another general election is open for signatures until May 2025.

While the vast majority of those signing it are from the UK, it has also gained support from other countries.

More than 1,200 people from the U.S. have added their names to it, with similar a number from France doing the same.

American signatories may have been made aware of the petition by Elon Musk, the businessman and ally of President-elect Donald Trump.

He shared the petition on X, the social media site he owns formerly known as Twitter, claiming “the people of Britain have had enough of a tyrannical police state”.

Starmer’s office sought to avoid being drawn into a war of words with Mr Musk.

The prime minister’s official spokesman added Starmer was “focused on the issues that matter most to the British people.”

Although it has garnered media attention and millions of signatures, it is far from the largest petition received through the Parliament website, or the one which has seen the most rapid take-up.

In 2019, some 6.1 million people signed a petition calling for the revocation of Article 50 and for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union, four million of whom did so in 48 hours.

The second most-signed petition gained 4.1 million signatures.

The 2016 petition called for a second referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union following the Brexit vote.

Because the election petition has received 10,000 signatures, ministers will issue a response to it.

MPs may consider it further in a Westminster Hall debate because it has been signed by more than 100,000 people, although this is not guaranteed.

A petition which has successfully made it to debate is one calling for social media companies to ban under 16-year-olds from their platforms after it received more than 110,00 signatures.

Another calling for the law around school term-time holidays to be relaxed, which received 250,000 signatures, was due for debate on Monday afternoon.

Michael Westwood, the man who started the petition, has confirmed he voted Conservative at the summer election.

But he told Talk TV he did not know if this would be the case again, adding: “One thing’s for certain, I wouldn’t be voting Labour.”

Among those sharing the petition online was retired actor Sir Michael Caine, who has been critical of Labour governments in the past. (PA Media/dpa/NAN)

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