Special delivery: how a Royal Mail postbox ended up in Antarctica

It might be traditional to write to Father Christmas with a gift list, but when Kirsten Shaw wanted a new postbox for staff at the UK’s Rothera Research Station in Antarctica, she wrote to the king. The request has resulted in a special delivery for Shaw – a station support assistant who, among myriad other tasks, runs the British Antarctic Territory post office at the station. “I love post, I love postboxes and stamps, so I just really wanted to get a proper Royal Mail one for the station,” said Shaw, who was awarded the Fuchs Medal in 2022 for her contributions to the Antarctic community. Known as a “lamp” postbox, the smallest type of postbox, the bright red receptacle with its King Charles III cipher is something of an upgrade on its predecessor. “It was something you could probably buy off Amazon – something you might put outside your own front door – and then somebody at some point had painted quite badly the Elizabeth II royal cipher,” said Shaw. From the stoic, determined note the explorer Ernest Shackleton wrote to his wife as he prepared for a winter on the continent in 1908, to the last missives of Captain Scott – never sent – as he faced death in a tent on the Ross ice shelf in 1912, letters are part of the rich history of human discovery and endurance in Antarctica. The new box will be a collection point for the postcards and letters sent north to family and friends by staff at the research station, and will eventually be housed in the discovery building – a new scientific support and operations hub. “Sending and receiving mail is a vital connection for staff working in one of the most remote places on Earth – especially at Christmas, when messages from loved ones mean so much,” said David Gold, director of external affairs and policy at Royal Mail. “This new postbox will help keep that tradition alive and ensure the magic of mail even reaches the Antarctic.” However, as Shaw notes, the postal service in and out of Antarctica is “slightly limited”, with only three or four collections a year going north. “Essentially any post going north from here needs to go through the Falkland Islands,” she said. That means it is either taken on board the RSS Sir David Attenborough, or via British Antarctic Survey aircraft. “We had a ship call a couple of weeks back, so we had post that went north on that, and then the next one will be 22 January – a flight leaves and that’s going to the Falklands,” Shaw said, adding that because the most recent ship did not come via the Falklands, it did not bring any post. But while slow and infrequent, there are benefits. “The stamps are cheaper,” said Shaw, noting it costs just 87p to send a letter to the UK from Antarctica. Shaw added there is also an informal system to send post out to field parties. “Although our internet communications are much better now, even with the deeper field parties, it’s still just really nice being able to get an actual handwritten tangible piece of paper from somebody, and that takes all forms,” Shaw said. “I managed to get a letter attached to a fuel drum, which was airdropped into the middle of Antarctica.” Shaw is among the staff who will be at the Rothera Research Station over the festive period. “We often have special Christmas movie nights, and on Christmas Eve this year, actually, I am organising the eighth annual Rothera quidditch match,” she said. But with no postal deliveries yet this season, Shaw has had to think ahead. “My partner sent me down [to Antarctica] with some presents and things. So I’ve got some presents to open on Christmas Day, which is really nice.”

Belarus releases 123 prisoners including opposition leaders after US lifts sanctions

The Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, has freed 123 prisoners, including Nobel peace prize winner Ales Bialiatski and leading opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava, after the US lifted sanctions on Belarusian potash, a key export. The announcement came after two days of talks with an envoy of the US president, Donald Trump, the latest diplomatic push since the Trump administration started talks with the autocratic leader. The prisoner release on Saturday, the largest since talks began, is part of a larger rapprochement the Lukashenko regime has been attempting with the west. A close ally of Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, Minsk is largely isolated from European and other western states due to its poor human rights record and brutal crackdown on popular protests. The gradual detente is part of what US officials told Reuters was an attempt to pull him from Putin’s sphere of influence, an initiative about which Belarusian opposition has expressed doubts. The announcement of the release, which included top opposition figures and human rights campaigners, was met with fanfare. Bialiatski, who co-won the 2022 Nobel peace prize, is a human rights champion who advocated on behalf of political prisoners before being jailed himself in July 2021. Also released were Kalesnikava,one of a trio of women who led 2020 protests against Lukashenko, as well as Viktar Babaryka, arrested in 2020 while trying to run in opposition to Lukashenko in a presidential election. The health of many of the prisoners has reportedly declined during their time in detention, as a result of what human rights groups say was mistreatment by the authorities. Kalesnikava’s sister, Tatsiana Khomich, said that her sister was grateful to the US for its role in facilitating her release. “She told me she is very happy to be freed, that she is thankful to the USA and Trump for their efforts in leading the process, and to all countries involved,” Khomich told Reuters. Relatives of the prisoners gathered outside the US embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, where it is expected some of them will be taken from Belarus. Ukrainian authorities said that 114 civilians, including Ukrainian and Belarusian citizens, were transferred to Ukraine. Trump’s Belarus envoy, John Coale, told reporters in Minsk that the US would be lifting sanctions on potash, “as per the instructions of president Trump”. The US and EU placed sanctions on Belarus after the government cracked down on popular protests following a contested election in 2020, which included the mass detention and torture of political opponents. More sanctions were imposed in 2022 after Belarus allowed Russia to use its territory for its invasion of Ukraine. Belarusian opposition figures thanked Trump for his efforts and said that the prisoner release was evidence of the effectiveness of the sanctions regime on the autocratic government. They called for EU sanctions to stay in place, which exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said were critical to “enabling democratic transition and ensuring accountability”. Lukashenko has denied holding political prisoners, instead saying the people in his prisons were “bandits” and opponents of the state. Belarusian human rights group Viasna, which is banned in the country, said 1,227 political prisoners remain in jail. Coale, in statements published by Belarus’s state media, said that Lukashenko could help assist in negotiations with Putin. The Trump administration has been engaged in mediation efforts between Russia and Ukraine in an effort to reach an end to the war in Ukraine. “Your president has a long history with president Putin and has the ability to advise him. This is very useful in this situation. They are longtime friends and have the necessary level of relationship to discuss such issues,” Coale said, according to state news agency Belta.

Thailand denies Trump ceasefire claim as clashes with Cambodia continue at border

Thailand’s caretaker prime minister has denied the existence of a ceasefire with Cambodia, despite Donald Trump announcing that both countries had agreed to halt fighting. As heavy clashes continued along the border between the two countries, Anutin Charnvirakul said on Saturday that Thailand had not agreed to a ceasefire with Cambodia and that its forces would continue fighting. Cambodia announced it had suspended all border crossings with Thailand. Thai forces carried out strikes, including with fighter jets, while Cambodia fired rocket barrages along the border area on Saturday. The Thai army announced that at least two civilians had been seriously injured by Cambodian fire while running to a bunker. The latest round of fighting was triggered by a clash on 7 December that wounded two Thai soldiers and appeared to violate an earlier ceasefire promoted by Trump that ended similar fighting in July. More than two dozen people have reportedly been killed over the past week while more than half a million have been displaced on both sides of the border. The Thai military said that 15 of its soldiers had died, and estimated that 165 Cambodian military personnel had been killed. Cambodia did not announce any military losses, but said at least 11 civilians had been killed and more than six dozen wounded. Trump’s ceasefire announcement on Friday was met with a tepid reaction by leaders from both countries. Thailand’s foreign minister, Sihasak Phuangketkeow, said Trump’s remarks did not reflect “an accurate understanding of the situation”. “We regret and we’re disappointed that some of the points made by President Trump have bearing upon the feeling of the Thai people, Thailand, because we consider ourselves – we are proud, in fact – to be the oldest treaty ally of the United States in the region,” he said. Cambodia has not commented on Trump’s announcement. Trump announced the agreement to restart the July ceasefire in a social media post after calls with Anutin and the Cambodian prime minister, Hun Manet. “They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me, and them, with the help of the Great Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday. But neither the Thai nor the Cambodian leaders referenced the agreement in statements issued after the call, and Anutin said there was no ceasefire and that peace would depend on Cambodia ending its attacks first. When asked about Trump’s claim, Thailand’s foreign ministry referred reporters to his statement. In a statement on Saturday on Facebook, Manet did not mention the ceasefire, but instead referred to the call with Trump and said Cambodia continued to seek a peaceful resolution in line with an earlier agreement signed in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, in October. Manet also said he had advised the US and Malaysia to use their intelligence gathering capabilities to “verify which side fired first” in the latest round of fighting. Anutin said Thai forces had retaliated against Cambodian military targets. “Thailand will continue to perform military actions until we feel no more harm and threats to our land and people,” he said in a Facebook post. The original ceasefire in July was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through after pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalised in more detail at the October regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended. The Malaysian prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, urged both countries to once again cease hostilities on Saturday. Cambodia’s prime minister endorsed the Malaysian proposal, which included having Malaysia and the US monitor the ceasefire. Anutin, however, denied that Thailand had even entered into negotiations over the plan. Despite the deal, the two countries carried on a bitter propaganda war and minor cross-border violence continued. The roots of the Thai-Cambodian border conflict lie in a history of enmity over competing territorial claims. These claims largely stem from a 1907 map created while Cambodia was under French colonial rule, which Thailand maintains is inaccurate. Tensions were aggravated by a 1962 international court of justice ruling that awarded sovereignty to Cambodia, which still riles many Thais. Thailand has used jet fighters to carry out airstrikes on what it says are military targets. Cambodia has deployed BM-21 rocket launchers with a range of 30-40km (19-25 miles). The rockets are imprecise have a wide area of impact, with most landing in areas that have already been evacuated. According to data collected by public broadcaster ThaiPBS, at least six of the Thai soldiers killed were hit by rocket shrapnel. The Thai army’s north-eastern regional command said on Thursday that some residential areas and homes near the border had been damaged by BM-21 rockets. It also said it had destroyed a tall crane on a hilltop held by Cambodia where the ancient Preah Vihear temple is located, because it allegedly held electronic and optical devices used for military command and control purposes. A Thai warship also shelled the south-western Cambodian province of Koh Kong on Saturday.

Wes Streeting calls for ‘cross-party consensus’ on gender identity ahead of puberty blocker trial

The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has called on the Conservatives to maintain the cross-party consensus on gender identity services built before the last election in a letter to Kemi Badenoch. Streeting wrote to opposition leader on Friday urging her to “take the heat and the ideology” out of debate amid controversy over a puberty blocker trial for children. Both parties committed to implementing the recommendations of a report by the leading paediatrician Hilary Cass focused on gender identity services for under 18s in England, published in April 2024 when the Conservatives were in government. Cass recommended a puberty blocker trial as part of a wider research programme and supported a more “holistic” approach to care. Badenoch and the shadow health secretary, Stuart Andrew, wrote to Streeting on 25 November, however, saying they were concerned NHS England was supporting a clinical trial involving drugs that halted natural puberty. Cass found “remarkably weak” evidence the drugs were effective in treating gender-related distress, adding that there was no good evidence on long-term outcomes. She has said a trial is the only way forward in the attempt to understand if there are beneficial effects. The government has since banned the treatment for children outside clinical trials. The new trial will study the effects of puberty blockers on more than 200 children presenting with gender identity conditions as part of a wider research project on possible treatment pathways. The £10.7m study is being carried out by researchers at King’s College London. Streeting’s intervention came despite admitting he is “deeply uncomfortable” about medication which affects “a natural part of our human development”. Puberty blockers stop the body from producing certain hormones, including oestrogen and testosterone. They were traditionally prescribed to children who entered puberty too early, but were later given to young people diagnosed with gender dysphoria and incongruence. Badenoch and Andrew told Streeting the trial was based on the “discredited, yet still seemingly entrenched, belief in some quarters that a child can be ‘born in the wrong body’ or go through the ‘wrong’ puberty and a normal puberty can be ‘paused’ without causing irreparable harm to children”. They cited infertility and loss of sexual function as possible side effects. Streeting expressed his own doubts about the trial in an LBC interview on Friday. “There’s something about the opposition to this. Medication that delays or indeed stops a natural part of our human development, which is puberty, I am deeply uncomfortable with,” he said. He said, however, that he planned to follow clinical advice to go ahead with the trial. “It’s gone through rounds and rounds of ethical approvals to approve this kind of study. So that’s the basis on which we are proceeding,” he said. In responding to Badenoch and Andrew, Streeting said some children were going to great lengths to source puberty blockers despite the ban and that gender incongruence was a “real and internationally recognised disorder”, but that the condition was distinct from “girls and boys experimenting with gender norms, which for many children is a normal part of growing up”. “Only a clinical trial (and longer term follow up) can isolate which outcomes can be ascribed to these treatments, supporting evidence-based decisions for future care,” he said. He also said the cross-party consensus on the Cass review when it was published last year was “a key moment for taking some of the heat out of what is an extremely sensitive issue without stifling debate, where the wellbeing and safety of children must remain paramount”. “Dr Cass said, on publishing her review, that ‘toxic, ideological and polarised public debate has made the work of the review significantly harder’ and it will hamper the research that is essential to finding a way forward,” he said. “It is incumbent on us as public representatives to take the heat and the ideology out of this issue, and make sure that children’s health is always led by evidence and medical expertise.” Badenoch and Andrew said in their letter to Streeting that the trial would have no proper control group “creating obvious bias”. In his reply, Streeting said that was incorrect and that a group of young people not in receipt of puberty blockers would also be studied by researchers. He said these children would be “compared to trial participants with respect to outcomes”.

‘Chalk Revolution’ strikes nerve as Slovakia fears return to authoritarian past

Scrawled in chalk on the pavement near a secondary school in eastern Slovakia, the messages were short and to the point: “Enough Fico,” read one, echoing a popular anti-government slogan, while the other joked about the Slovakian prime minister providing sexual favours to Vladimir Putin. Appearing hours before the prime minister, Robert Fico, was due to speak at the school, the messages struck a nerve. Similar comments swiftly began sprouting up across Slovakian pavements in what was labelled the “Chalk Revolution” by some and “November Chalk Wave” by others. For the 19-year-old who scrawled the initial messages, the momentum came as a surprise. “I really didn’t expect it to become as big as it did,” said Michal, better known by his nickname Muro. “Apparently I’m not alone in my opinion.” After hearing that Fico would be visiting his school, in the north-eastern city of Poprad, to give a lecture on Slovakian foreign policy in early November, Muro knew he had to do something. For years, he had watched Fico, now in his fourth term, embrace a pro-Russian stance that sought to normalise relations with Moscow while challenging the EU’s policies over Ukraine. To Muro, who asked that his last name not be published, chalk messaging seemed a harmless way to express his exasperation with the government. In his eyes, it had done too little to address corruption and the soaring cost of living, and was investing little in education and healthcare, which was, in part, causing an exodus of young people. Reaction to his chalk messages was swift. Fico postponed his visit, “which was funny because, damn, I would not want to be someone who is afraid of a chalk message”, said Muro. Police turned up at his school to bring him in for questioning. Hours later, when he emerged from the police station without charges, a movement had got under way. “Social media did its thing,” said Muro. “And then the messages started pouring in.” Across Slovakia, chalk has swiftly become a means for people to channel their frustrations with a government accused of rolling back human rights, steadily dismantling the rule of law and politicising the cultural landscape. It started with students posting images of their messages, traced out in chalk in front of schools or along the pavement that flank the country’s parliament, and soon swelled into a wider movement. “You could see it in almost every village, in every town, in squares and wherever,” said Muro. It peaked just as Slovakia prepared to mark the anniversary of the 1989 Velvet Revolution, which helped to end to decades of communist rule in the former Czechoslovakia. The result was a moment in which many sought to mark the past while questioning the direction in which the country was heading. Thousands flocked to rallies organised by opposition parties and civic groups to deplore what they saw as democratic backsliding. “Fico attacks independent institutions, culture, media … exactly like the communists did,” the leader of the opposition Democrats, Jaroslav Naď, told the crowd. Muro, who echoed the concerns, was invited to speak at a rally in Bratislava after the chalk messages went viral. “I talked about the fact that we need to realise: what the hell are we actually voting for?” he said. “You’re voting for the return of everything you fought for 40 years to escape and to destroy. And now it’s back and you’re welcoming it with open arms.” Weeks later, he spoke to the Guardian on a video call, flipping the camera to show snow on the ground when asked why the wave of messages had slowed. “It’s pretty hard to keep writing with chalk,” he said. But the movement was far from over, he hoped, given that elections are scheduled for 2027. “The message needs to be said again, of course, but it needs to be said at a more relevant time, when people are actually deciding who to vote for.” In recent weeks, protest actions have continued across Slovakia, from those opposed to the government replacing the country’s whistleblower office to the dozens of students, dressed in black, who walked out on Fico when the prime minister returned to Poprad to give his postponed lecture. Meanwhile, Muro has found himself catapulted into the spotlight, facing both praise and a barrage of personal attacks, as government members liken him to the man accused of attempting to assassinate Fico last year, while others accuse him of being paid by Fico’s political opponents. He brushed off the allegations: “I’m non-partisan, I don’t endorse any candidates or specific political party.” For him, the focus is on the many people who joined him embracing chalk as a means to express their vexation. “Despite all the harassment I’m getting online, I still think it was the right thing to do,” he said. “I think it’s a great form of protest. It’s a great form of civil disobedience that is still obedient enough to not be legally prosecuted but express an opinion and in a pretty visible way.”

C of E responds to Tommy Robinson’s carols event with ‘Christmas is for all’ message

The Church of England has released a video in response to a Christmas carols event on Saturday being organised by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson amid calls from a growing number of senior church figures to challenge Christian nationalism. In the 43-second video, Christmas Isn’t Cancelled, posted on the church’s YouTube channel, more than 20 people from the archbishop of York to schoolchildren speak about the “joy, love and hope” of Christmas. The message is “a simple reminder that Christmas belongs to all of us, and everyone is welcome to celebrate”, the C of E said. A number of its leaders are speaking out against the dangers of Christian nationalism and the appropriation of Christian symbols to bolster the anti-migrant views of Robinson and his supporters taking part in the “Unite the Kingdom” event. Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury, warned of the potential “weaponisation” of events such as the one planned for Saturday, and said the C of E must be “absolutely clear” that the true Christian message was one of compassion and welcome to all. Arun Arora, the bishop of Kirkstall and co-lead bishop on racial justice, said Christianity was being used as “a flag of convenience by the far right; a nationalist ideology cloaking itself in religion”. He added: “Any attempt to co-opt Christianity to particular political agendas or ideologies should be viewed with deep suspicion. The far right has often sought to wrap itself in flags or symbols, which belong to us all, and now they are seeking to do it with Christmas – that should be resisted.” Anderson Jeremiah, the bishop of Edmonton, said he had written to parishes across the capital to encourage diverse congregations at a time when “divisive” figures were promoting the “false, toxic premise that British identity equals Christian identity equals white European identity”. The perception that the decline of Christianity in Britain was a direct result of immigration was misplaced, he wrote in his letter. In fact, migrants had boosted church congregations. In an interview, he said people of “African-Caribbean heritage, from Nigeria and Ghana, people from south-east Asia, from India and Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka” comprised a significant proportion of Anglican churchgoers in London, while Indian priests and Filipino Catholics had revitalised mass attendances. He added: “We must reject this brazen populist religious nationalism before we walk into crisis. The Christian call is to unconditionally follow the virtues of hospitality, generosity, kindness and compassion that Jesus commanded.” Four bishops in the diocese of Southwark issued a statement earlier this week in direct response to the far-right organised carols event. “Any co-opting or corrupting of the Christian faith to exclude others is unacceptable, and we are gravely concerned about the use of Christian symbols and rhetoric to apparently justify racism and anti-migrant rhetoric,” they said. “We call upon all Christians to commit themselves afresh to work with others in building a more United Kingdom, where the values of love, humility and compassion shine through in every community.” In an article in the Independent on Friday, David Walker, the bishop of Manchester, wrote there was “something especially offensive about appropriating this great Christian festival of light triumphing over darkness as a prop in a dim culture war”. Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) who has increasingly cloaked his far-right anti-migrant views with Christian rhetoric and symbolism since his conversion to Christianity while in prison, has said publicly that Saturday’s carols event in Westminster was “non-political”. However, in emails to supporters, he has said the carols concert was “a rally for our values, a beacon of hope amid the chaos of mass migration and cultural erosion that threatens our way of life … It’s a statement that Britain belongs to the British people, and our Christian heritage will not be silenced.” The theologian Dr Krish Kandiah, the founder and director of the Sanctuary Foundation that welcomes refugees, said the values driving Robinson’s rhetoric were not the values of the Bible. “He does not speak for all Christians. His core principles are not in line with the Christmas message,” he said. “The Christmas story is not about fear or exclusion, it is about hospitality, vulnerability, grace and love.” A number of alternative events have been organised for Saturday, including services of worship and a counter-protest under the slogan: “Don’t let the far right divide us at Christmas.” At the latter, the musician Billy Bragg will perform a song written in response to Christian nationalism.

New Israeli barrier will slice through precious West Bank farmland

The death knell for the Palestinian village of Atouf, on the western slopes of the Jordan valley, arrived in the form of a trail of paper, a series of eviction notices taped to homes, greenhouses and wells, marking a straight line across the open fields. The notices, which appeared overnight, informed the local farmers that their land would be confiscated and that they had seven days from the date of their delivery, 4 December, to vacate their properties. A military road and accompanying barrier was to be built by Israel right through the area. Lawyers for the Atouf village council have lodged an appeal, but long and bitter experience has taught Palestinians here to have low expectations of Israeli courts. “The Israeli military can do anything they like. They don’t care about the law or anything else,” said Ismael Bsharat, a local farmer. Similar eviction notices had been delivered on the same day all along an almost 14-mile (22km) strip of Palestinian farmland running north to south through Atouf, tracing out the route of the planned road and fence. And this week it became clear that this abrupt gash across Palestinian land was the first section of a new line of division that would redraw the map of the West Bank. This week, Israel’s defence ministry made clear that this would mark only the first section of a new 5.5bn-shekel (£1.3bn) barrier that will eventually run 300 miles, from the Golan Heights on the Syrian border to the north all the way down to the Red Sea near Eilat. Labelled “Crimson Thread” by the Israeli military, the barrier will split countless Palestinian communities along its route. The army says the barrier is being built for security reasons, but human rights activists say there has been only one lethal incident anywhere near Atouf in recent years in which an Israeli was killed. They argue the real motive is land seizure and the further strangling of Palestine’s prospects as a viable state. “It is happening all through the Jordan valley, especially in the north. Israel is pushing forward, and accelerating the ethnic cleansing of this area,” said Dror Etkes, an Israeli activist who is the founder of the Kerem Navot organisation, which monitors Israeli land policy in occupied Palestine. Israel has consistently rejected accusations of ethnic cleansing from Israeli and international human rights organisations, including UN rapporteurs, dismissing them as fabricated propaganda. It also denies the colonisation of occupied territory by settlers is illegal under international law. Etkes said almost all (85%) of the 1,000 dunams (100 hectares) subjected to the initial round of eviction orders around Atouf were privately owned. These fields are among the most fertile in the West Bank, their rich dark-brown soil built up over millennia by tributaries flowing east to the River Jordan. The area has long been one of Palestine’s breadbaskets. Most of the affected families had farmed the land for generations, and some had bought new parcels at high prices in recent years. All held title deeds, but none of that is likely to alter the outcome of the looming land grab. Lawyers for the local Palestinian municipality lodged an appeal against the eviction in an Israeli court but had received no response by the end of this week. The expectation is that Israeli settlers will take over the excised land. A new settlement is planned just west of the new military road. Across the West Bank, settlements are being planned and built at an unprecedented rate. According to the Peace Now advocacy group, tenders have been published for more than 5,600 housing units so far this year – an all-time record and 50% more than the previous peak in 2018. Those are only the officially endorsed settlements. New settler outposts (often just a small cluster of huts or portable buildings) are springing up along the valley at an accelerating pace. Though officially unauthorised, they are enabled in practice by the army and police, backed by far-right members of the governing coalition. At least one Palestinian farmer in Atouf has already begun moving his livestock in anticipation of eviction, but Bsharat said he would stay put and see what happens. He has little choice. On a winter evening this week, he was going to market with boxes of fresh green peppers grown in his plastic-sheet greenhouses. All his 12 dunams (1.2 hectares) of land lie east of the proposed military road and barrier, and are fed by water pipes running from the hilltops to the west. Those will all be severed when the army arrives to build the road and the barrier. “What can I do? I can’t farm without water,” Bsharat said. Abdullah Bsharat, the village council leader (who is from the same extended family as Ismael) predicted that up to 40 families from Atouf would be cut off from the village and their water supply. “All these families have title deeds,” he said. “They grow grapes, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, za’atar and olives. This land is very rich and that is the reason it is being taken. The whole aim is to take it over for settlers to use it.” The council leader said he had been told by Israeli officers that the road and barrier would together be 50 metres wide, but Palestinian buildings or farmwork would not be allowed along a 200-metre cordon on either side. There was no official confirmation from the army of such a wide exclusion zone, but if true it would greatly increase the economic damage inflicted on Atouf. At one point along its course the planned barrier will loop around and completely enclose a Palestinian sheep herding community at Khirbet Yarza, who have so far resisted increasing pressure from settlers and the army to move off their 400 dunams of land,. It is not clear if they will be left any means to get in and out of the fence that will be built around them. The “Crimson Thread” plan put forward this week by Israel’s defence ministry presented the current barrier as just the first part of a vast undertaking, walling off the Jordan valley from the rest of the West Bank, to “strengthen national security and strategic control of the eastern border”. Maj Gen Eran Ofir, the senior defence ministry official responsible for building walls and barriers, said: “The security barrier whose construction we began today will extend over approximately 500km along the entire eastern border of the state of Israel.” He added: “It will be a smart border, which will include a physical fence and a collection tool with intelligence sensors, radars, cameras, and advanced technologies.” Ofir said work had begun on two sections of the overall scheme, without giving details. The other section could be a military road started last year further north along the Jordan valley, around the villages of Bardala and Kardala. Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said: “The new barrier will strengthen settlement along the border, significantly reduce arms smuggling into the hands of terrorists in Judea and Samaria, and will deal a severe blow to the efforts of Iran and its proxies to establish an eastern front against the state of Israel.” According to the Times of Israel, citing Israel Defense Forces sources, the initial project around Atouf was conceived after a single security incident: the killing in August 2024 of a 23-year-old Israeli, Yonatan Deutsch, in a drive-by shooting by Palestinian militants along Route 90, which runs along the Jordan valley floor. Etkes said there had been more Palestinian militant attacks in other areas of the West Bank. What distinguished the area around Atouf was not the security risk but the quality of its farmland, he added. He said: “They are using this incident as a pretext in order to take over tens of thousands of dunams of land, and to push Palestinian communities further out of the Jordan valley.”

EU to freeze €210bn in Russian assets indefinitely

The EU has agreed to indefinitely freeze Russia’s sovereign assets in the bloc, as Moscow stepped up its threats to retaliate against Euroclear, the keeper of most of the Kremlin’s immobilised money. The decision by the EU to use emergency powers to immobilise €210bn (£185bn) of Russia’s central bank’s assets marks a significant step towards using the cash to aid Ukraine’s defence. European Council president António Costa confirmed on Friday that EU leaders had delivered on a commitment, made in October, to “keep Russian assets immobilised until Russia ends its war of aggression against Ukraine and compensates for the damage caused”. Before this step, EU sanctions underpinning the frozen assets needed to be renewed every six months – creating potential for a Kremlin-friendly government, such as Hungary, to veto the move. The decision came hours after Russia’s central bank said it was filing a lawsuit against Euroclear, the Brussels central securities depository that holds these assets. The organisation, once a little-known part of international financial plumbing that is now in the spotlight, has no say on how the frozen funds are used. The lawsuit, being filed in a Moscow court, claims Euroclear’s “illegal actions” had caused “damage” to the central bank’s ability to manage funds and securities. Euroclear declined to comment, but a spokesperson said it was “currently fighting more than 100 legal claims in Russia”. Last week, the European Commission proposed a €90bn (£79bn) loan for Ukraine, secured against Russian assets immobilised in the EU since its full-scale invasion. But the plan has been blocked by Belgium, which fears a cascade of lawsuits from Moscow and the seizure of Belgian assets in the country. Belgium’s prime minister Bart De Wever met Keir Starmer in Downing Street on Friday for long-planned talks on the EU-UK reset, migration and the Russian assets. De Wever’s spokesperson said they had discussed “the possible use of the value of immobilised Russian sovereign assets” and “agreed to continue to work closely to make progress on this complex issue”. A Downing Street spokesperson issued a near-identical statement, saying: “It was clear, they agreed, that keeping up the economic pressure on Russia and putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position would remain the only way to achieve a just and lasting peace.” The meeting comes ahead of an EU summit next week, when leaders have promised decisions on funding Ukraine in 2026-27, amid warnings that Kyiv will run out of money next spring to fund its defence and pay doctors and teachers. EU officials believe the proposed €90bn loan will meet two-thirds of Ukraine’s financial needs for the next two years, and expect Kyiv’s other “international partners” to provide the rest. The Belgian government says it must have guarantees from EU partners that it will not be on the hook for a multibillion-euro bill if it is sued by Russia. De Wever has previously described the proposal as “fundamentally wrong” and argued it would violate international law and endanger the stability of the euro currency. In a sign of tensions around the plan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Malta and Italy said only EU leaders should decide on use of the immobilised assets. In a statement announcing support for the emergency powers clause to freeze the funds indefinitely on Friday, they urged EU countries “to continue exploring and discussing alternative options in line with EU and international law”. Belgium argues the EU should borrow money on capital markets to fund Ukraine, secured against unallocated funds (headroom) in the EU budget. But many member states are loath to take out more common debt. Germany, usually a champion of economic orthodoxy, sees the frozen assets plan as the best option and has pledged to provide one-quarter (€50bn) of needed guarantees for Belgium. EU officials argue that the legal risk to Euroclear, and therefore Belgium, would be limited. Under the complex scheme, the EU would borrow cash from Euroclear, then loan the funds to Ukraine, while Russia remains the legal owner of the assets. Ukraine would only repay the money if and when it received reparations from Moscow for colossal damage inflicted during the war. The UK, which hosts €27bn (£23bn) of frozen Russian assets, supports the idea and expects some, but not all, G7 countries to move forward with a similar plan, following a decision on the Euroclear-held assets. US participation in the scheme is less certain, although it holds only a modest €4bn (£3.5bn) in immobilised assets.