Subsea7 awarded contract in the US Gulf of MexicoLONDON: On Oct. 12 last year, a group of armed settlers and Israeli soldiers drove into the West Bank village of Wadi Al-Seeq, 10 kilometers east of the Palestinian city of Ramallah. There, they seized and handcuffed three Palestinian men, subjecting them to hours of abuse and violence, later compared by one of the victims to the treatment meted out by rogue US soldiers to prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003. The abuses in Wadi Al-Seeq were led by members of the IDF’s Sfar Hamidbar (Desert Frontier) unit, notorious for recruiting into its ranks violent “hilltop youth” from the illegal farming settlements that are proliferating in the West Bank with the blessing of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, which includes, and is dependent on the support of, far-right parties. “For hours,” as an Israeli newspaper reported on Oct. 21, 2023, the Palestinians “were severely beaten, stripped to their underwear, and photographed handcuffed. “Their captors urinated on two of them and extinguished burning cigarettes on them. There was even an attempt to penetrate one of them with an object.” Israeli human rights activists who arrived at the scene were also arrested, cuffed, beaten, threatened with death and, like the Palestinians, robbed. At the time, many in Israel were shocked to read the reports of the joint operation between the IDF and settlers, exposed by the left-wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz. But as a new report from an Israeli human rights group makes clear, such events have become commonplace as, under cover of the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, the Israeli government and its agencies have been pursuing the ultimate goal of “realizing the vision of full Israeli sovereignty in the occupied territory.” In the report, “One year of war: the collapse of human and civil rights in Israel and the West Bank,” the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) accuses the government of “excessive, unrestrained, and illegal use of force.” Furthermore, it says, Netanyahu’s government is “demolishing the judicial system and the civil service with the aim of accumulating unlimited power; increasing the use of force in the West Bank and granting tacit permission for unrestrained settler violence; using force to limit freedom of expression and protest; and systematically violating the rights of detainees and prisoners.” The list of charges levelled against the government is long, including institutionalized discrimination against Arab society, “unprecedented” infringement of the rights of suspects and prisoners, the “mass armament and creation of untrained forces” of settlers, the “destruction of democratic foundations,” attacks on freedom of expression and “normalization of citizen surveillance and disregard for privacy.” Legislative steps are being taken with the aim of excluding certain parties from running for the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Last month a controversial bill was passed to change the rules for banning individuals or parties from membership of the Knesset if they have “supported terror,” a definition which now includes visiting the family of someone accused of an act of terrorism. Likud, Netanyahu’s party, has even accused Arab members of the Knesset of supporting terror simply on the ground of their support for Palestinian statehood. “Depriving a population of the right to protest politically and the right to political representation” is “a very slippery slope,” said Noa Sattath, the CEO of ACRI. “When there’s no political representation of a minority, then there's a radicalization of that minority.” What the ACRI report exposes on a grand scale, says Sattath, is “the excessive use of power. Of course, we see it in Gaza, and in Lebanon now, but we also see it in the West Bank. “We also see it being used against Israeli protesters. We’re also seeing it in the treatment of prisoners. In all walks of life, basically, the Israeli government has moved to using excessive power against the different players, rather than making more complicated decisions.” The headline scandal of the past year is what ACRI describes as “the quiet coup” in the West Bank. “With public attention focused elsewhere,” says the report, “the government is implementing profound changes to all aspects of control in the West Bank, most of which are flying under the radar. “In the last two years, the government has made giant strides in advancing policies aimed at accelerating the annexation process of the West Bank, while establishing Jewish supremacy and marginalizing the Palestinian population, all in pursuit of realizing the vision of full Israeli sovereignty in the occupied territory.” The annexation of the West Bank has long been on the agenda, said Sattath, “but the war has given cover and enabled this to happen. “Basically, they’re creating a new reality on the ground, behind the scenes, without a lot of public scrutiny, without a lot of international discourse on this new reality that they’re manufacturing.” The Israeli government has, in certain instances, issued statements that aim to distance itself from the violent actions of settlers in the West Bank. Netanyahu has occasionally called for calm and condemned settler attacks on Palestinians, especially after high-profile incidents. However, ACRI fears that under the incoming US administration of Donald Trump, whose election has been welcomed so enthusiastically by far-right members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, things are only going to get worse. “I think that the next years are going to be very difficult,” said Sattath. “The US government is one of the only checks and balances on the behavior of the Israeli government behavior and, even if we would have liked them to be more forceful in the way that they do it, we're very worried that the disappearance of that will have grave implications for the lives of Palestinians, both in Gaza, where the US is currently so involved in the humanitarian aid efforts there, and in the West Bank.” Disturbingly, she says, Israel is manoeuvring behind the scenes to end the status of the West Bank as an occupied territory under military occupation, which is how it has been defined by international law since the occupation of the West Bank by Israel in 1967. “It seems a little strange that an organization like ACRI would be advocating for military occupation,” she said. “But under international conventions military occupation gives the protected citizens of that area many different rights and gives the occupiers obligations. “Residents in occupied territories cannot be moved. You cannot build on their territory and the occupying force has all sorts of obligations toward them, in terms of humanitarian aid. “Now, what the settler movement, through its ministers in the government, is trying to do is erase the military occupation, replacing it with government agencies and officials to facilitate the settlement enterprise.” The process began in February 2023 when, despite disquiet among some members of Netanyahu’s government, authority over many civilian issues in the West Bank was stripped from Defense Ministry agency COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) and transferred to Bezalel Smotrich, the religious Zionism leader and finance minister. According to a Times of Israel report, the agreement “appears to give the ultranationalist leader sweeping powers over the territory, and allows him to advance his goal of thwarting Palestinian aspirations for a state in the West Bank by enabling the Israeli population there to substantially expand.” Anti-settlement organizations denounced the agreement, with one, Breaking the Silence, saying it amounted to “legal, de jure annexation,” of the West Bank. The importance of ACRI’s report, says Sattath, lies in the sheer breadth of abuses by the Israeli government it exposes. ACRI, founded in 1972 and the oldest civil and human rights organization in Israel, has been publishing reports on the state of human rights in Israel and the West Bank for decades. But, she says, “we have never published a report showing such a severe and comprehensive deterioration as we have seen over the past year.” ACRI says it hopes its report “will deepen the public’s understanding of the damage being done to human rights and democratic institutions, and that it will stir the public to action and resistance.” It added: “Monitoring human rights violation processes is also critical for there to be any hope of correction under a different government and reality.”The decision by Tesco, Musgrave and the BWG Group came after a woman who said Mr McGregor raped her won a civil claim for damages against him. Nikita Hand, who accused the sportsman of raping her in a Dublin hotel in December 2018, won her claim against him for damages in a case at the High Court in the Irish capital. In a statement, a spokesman for Musgrave said: “Musgrave can confirm these products are no longer available to our store network.” The network includes SuperValu, Centra, Daybreak and Mace. A Tesco spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we are removing Proper No Twelve Whiskey from sale in Tesco stores and online.” A spokesperson for BWG Group said: “The products are no longer listed for distribution across our network of Spar, Eurospar, Mace, Londis and XL stores, including Appleby Westward which operates over 300 Spar stores in the south west of England.” It is understood that other retail outlets including Costcutter and Carry Out will also stop stocking products linked to Mr McGregor. He and some of his business partners sold their majority stake in the Proper Number Twelve Irish whiskey brand. He was reported to have been paid more than £103 million from the sale to Proximo Spirits in 2021. On Monday, a popular video game developer decided to pull content featuring the MMA fighter. The Irish athlete has featured in multiple video games, including voice-acting a character bearing his likeness in additional downloadable content in the Hitman series. Mr McGregor’s character featured as a target for the player-controlled assassin in the game. IO Interactive, the Danish developer and publisher of Hitman, said in a statement: “In light of the recent court ruling regarding Conor McGregor, IO Interactive has made the decision to cease its collaboration with the athlete, effective immediately. “We take this matter very seriously and cannot ignore its implications. “Consequently, we will begin removing all content featuring Mr McGregor from our storefronts starting today.” Last Friday, the High Court jury awarded damages amounting to 248,603.60 euros (around £206,000) to Ms Hand. Mr McGregor made no comment as he left court but later posted on social media that he intended to appeal against the decision.
Talavera Solutions Launches to Transform Technical Excellence in the AmericasBy Steve Contorno and Kristen Holmes for CNN Donald Trump once publicly speculated that Time would never name him the news magazine's "Person of the Year." Now, the honour will be bestowed on him twice. Time will name Trump as this year's choice on Thursday, recognising the president-elect as the individual or group deemed to have wielded the greatest influence on global affairs "for good or for ill." To celebrate the unveiling of the magazine cover, Trump will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Trump sat for a wide-ranging interview with the magazine last month. Time declined to comment. Trump's 2024 selection mirrors his first recognition in 2016, when Time named him Person of the Year after his unexpected rise to the presidency. This time, the unveiling caps a remarkable comeback and a resurgence that has the potential to upend modern American politics. Despite the magazine's dwindling circulation, Time's Person of the Year remains an annual cultural touchstone and the distinction has become an obsession of sorts for Trump throughout the years. A Time cover naming him Person of the Year in 2009 hung in several of his golf clubs, The Washington Post reported nearly a decade later, though no such issue was ever printed. Through his widely followed Twitter account, Trump regularly weighed in on the annual selection and amplified accounts suggesting it should be him. He criticised the magazine in 2011 for picking "The Protester" in a nod to the revolutions breaking out across the Arab world and the Occupy movement in the US. A year later, he said Time had "lost all credibility" because it failed to list him among its 100 most influential people of the year. Trump has also privately complained about the choices, in particular when Taylor Swift won in 2023. Trump has often been fixated on the power the pop star wields and posted, "I hate Taylor Swift," on social media earlier this year after she endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Over time, the title became a symbol of the mainstream fame and respect Trump sought out but appeared out of reach. In 2015, when the magazine named then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel its Person of the Year, he wrote on Twitter, "I told you @TIME Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite," before adding: "They picked person who is ruining Germany." Even after Time named Trump its person of the year in 2016 - which he called "a great honour" on social media - he continued to closely monitor the results. The following year, Trump claimed he was in the mix for the distinction again but wouldn't agree to an interview and photo shoot. Time disputed his version of events. Despite his regular criticism of the media, Trump has regularly granted access to legacy outlets - including Time . He sat down for an extended interview in April of this year with the magazine at his Palm Beach club. Harris turned down a similar opportunity, the magazine's owner said in October. Over the decades, the title has been granted to a wide array of figures, from heads of state and activists to entrepreneurs and, in some instances, brutal authoritarian leaders. Every US president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, except Gerald Ford, has been named Person of the Year at least once. President Joe Biden and Harris were co-honorees after they defeated Trump in 2020. Members of Trump's family are expected to attend the Thursday event, including Ivanka Trump, according to a source familiar with planning. It marks a rare public appearance for the president-elect's daughter, who served as a senior adviser during his first term. - CNN
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The year's best films span the globe, including "Nickel Boys," "All We Imagine as Light" and that tennis movie.Former U.S. Rep. Jim Leach, among the longest-serving Iowa congressmen, dies at 82