Poland’s Sikorski Warns US to Aid Ukraine or Face ‘Profound Consequences’

Poland’s foreign minister warned of “profound consequences” for US alliances across the globe if Congress fails to approve more than $60 billion in proposed assistance to Ukraine.

Opposition from Republicans close to Donald Trump has held up aid for the war-ravaged country for months. A dearth of ammunition has left Ukraine’s forces increasingly outgunned as the war with Russia enters its third year with no end in sight.

“If the supplemental doesn’t go through and US allies are disappointed and get the idea that the United States might not be able to help even if the commander-in-chief wants to help you, that would have profound consequences for all of American alliances around the world,” the minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power.”

“Some countries will start hedging, and others will be considering developing their own nuclear weapons programs,” he added.

This may be the final nail in the coffin for a winter like no other


An already fledgling winter is on borrowed time for much of the country as a dramatic pattern change next week and temperature forecasts into March signal what could be the final nail in the coffin of a winter like no other.

Unseasonable warmth, missing snow and disappearing ice have blurred the line between winter and spring for a large portion of the US. Nowhere has this been more the case than in the central and eastern US. Despite a brief but significant outbreak of Arctic air in mid-January and a few chilly days last week, mild conditions have been the norm.

The warmth is about to ratchet up a notch next week. An area stretching from Dallas north to Minneapolis and east to Philadelphia will soar to levels more akin to May or June than the end of February.

More than 200 daily temperature records could be tied or broken as daytime highs climb and overnight lows fail to cool off.

Houthis order shipping ban, missiles set ship aflame off Yemen

Yemen's Houthis on Thursday sent shippers and insurers formal notice of what they termed a ban on vessels linked to Israel, the U.S. and Britain from sailing in surrounding seas, seeking to reinforce their military campaign in support of Palestinians.

The move to prohibit such ships from the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Arabian sea came as British maritime agencies reported a missile attack set ablaze a cargo vessel off the southern coast of Yemen.

Iran-aligned Houthi militants in Yemen have launched repeated drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab Strait and Gulf of Aden since November in support of Palestinians, as the Israel-Hamas war continues and the Gaza death toll reaches almost 30,000.

The Houthi strikes have disrupted a route accounting for about 12% of global maritime traffic and forcing firms to take a longer, more expensive route around Africa.

Soho theatre apologises after comedian ‘abused Jewish audience member’

The Soho theatre is investigating a complaint about a comedian who allegedly abused a Jewish audience member who refused to applaud a Palestinian flag.

The central London comedy theatre apologised for “an incident … which has caused upset and hurt to members of audience attending and others”.

The incident reportedly took place on Saturday near the end of a one-hour Shtoom show by Paul Currie in front of an audience of 200 people at the central London theatre.

According to a witness who gave an account to the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), Currie placed a Ukrainian and a Palestinian flag on the stage, and invited audience members to stand and applaud.

Israel to act on soldier misconduct after BBC investigation

he Israeli military has told BBC Verify it will take action against any soldiers found to have filmed and uploaded footage online of Palestinian detainees stripped, bound and blindfolded.

A BBC Verify investigation published on Friday analysed hundreds of videos in Gaza since November 2023, including eight showing detainees.

Legal experts say the filming and publication of such videos could breach international law which says detainees must not be exposed to unnecessary humiliation or public curiosity.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) initially said it had terminated the service of one of the reservists identified by the BBC. It has now added that it will continue to act to identify unusual cases that deviate from what is expected of its soldiers.

A barred gate, a musty chamber and dirty dishes: Inside the underground compound where Israel says hostages were held

The stale, damp air inside the tunnel smells of sewage. The walls are slimy, and they feel like they are closing in. When the light goes off, everything is plunged into complete darkness.

Inside this maze of tunnels under Khan Younis, there is a narrow room with an arched ceiling, divided in half by a barred metal gate. The musty chamber, which looks like a makeshift cell, is where the Israeli military says Hamas held at least 12 of the hostages kidnapped and brought to Gaza on October 7.

The Israeli military said it made that assessment based on testimony from freed hostages and forensic evidence, including DNA. Some were among those released during the pause in hostilities in late November, the military said. CNN could not independently confirm Israel’s account, but details of it tally with descriptions in Israeli media from hostages who say they were held there.

In the darkness underground, the wreckage above feels remote, and silent horror fills the void. Any hostages held here would have had limited sense of time or place. Minutes feel like hours, and after a few turns down different shafts, it’s impossible not to feel disoriented. The compound is hot and very humid. Its tiled walls and floors are wet with condensation. The air feels heavy, as if oxygen is running out.

Indian states demolish Muslim homes as punishment, says Amnesty report

Indian authorities targeted the homes, businesses, and places of worship of Muslims using bulldozers, Amnesty International said in two new reports.

The Hindu-majority country has been seeing a growing pattern of what is being dubbed “bulldozer justice” aimed at punishing activists from minority groups, mainly Muslims, the rights organisation said, as it called for an end to the widespread and “unlawful” demolitions.

This comes at a time when the Narendra Modi administration has been accused of trampling over the human rights of minorities and weaponising religious discrimination, the non-profit said.

Authorities unleashed bulldozers to crush the properties of dissenters and protesters in New Delhi and neighbouring state Uttar Pradesh, according to examples cited by the report. The aim of this brand of “bulldozer justice” was to destroy Muslim-owned shops, said the international human rights group which investigated 62 out of the total 128 demolitions documented in five Indian states between April and May 2022.

Houthis couldn’t stop genocide, but exposed the West’s moral bankruptcy

The British and American air strikes on Yemen since January 12, launched with support from Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands among others, demonstrate yet again how most Western nations value their money and profit much more than human life.

Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, the first livestreamed genocide in history, has claimed more than 27,000 Palestinian lives, many of them children, since October 7. Most of the Gaza Strip has been reduced to rubble and over a million people have been displaced due to relentless and seemingly indiscriminate Israeli bombardment. The near-total siege on the Strip, meanwhile, brought survivors to the brink of starvation and forced doctors to perform amputations without anaesthetics using unsterile tools. In the face of this undeniable humanitarian catastrophe, Western governments took no meaningful action. In fact, both US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak repeatedly made it clear that they will continue to unconditionally support Israel’s onslaught on Gaza and efforts to “eradicate Hamas” whatever the human cost may be for the Palestinians.

In the end, it was not the killing and maiming of tens of thousands of civilians, but a number of non-fatal attacks by Yemen’s Houthi fighters on commercial ships passing through the strategically important Bab al-Mandeb Strait that sprung Western nations into action. Clearly, the dollars and pounds lost to the rapid rise in shipping costs caused by the attacks proved more valuable to the leaders of “the free world” than rivers of Middle Eastern blood.

The Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which leads into the Red Sea and up to the Suez Canal, is one of the most crucial waterways for international trade. It is estimated that 12 percent of all global trade, including most exports of petroleum and natural gas from the Gulf, passes through the Strait, amounting to $1 trillion of commerce per year.

The vast majority of California flood victims’ losses won’t be covered by insurance


Many victims of the massive storms now battering Southern California about are to be hit with another heartbreak - discovering their insurance won’t cover the damage.

The typical homeowners’ policy won’t cover loss from flood damage. That is covered by the National Flood Insurance Program, a part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But in California, where drought, not flooding, had been the more common problem until recently, homeowners are about as prepared for flood damage as hurricane-prone Florida residents are for earthquakes.

Data from NFIP shows only 52,400 homes and businesses are covered by flood insurance in the eight Southern California counties declared a disaster area because of this storm. That’s less than 1% of 7.7 million households in the affected area with coverage. Those counties have a combined population of more than 22.6 million people, according to the latest estimates from the Census Bureau.

Los Angeles County, with more than 10 million residents, has only 14,600 flood insurance policies in force. That’s roughly the same number as Lee County, Florida, which includes Fort Myers, and has fewer than 1 million residents.