Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores arrive at the National Assembly for his swearing-in ceremony for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, January 10, 2025
VENEZUELAN President Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a third term of office today.
The occasion was marked by the US government saying that it had increased the reward for information leading to Mr Maduro’s arrest, with $25 million (around £20.4m) now being offered.
During the swearing-in ceremony in the capital Caracas, the president highlighted his loyalty to the legacy of his legendary predecessor Hugo Chavez.
“If anything characterises the 500-year history of the people of this land called Venezuela, it is the history of heroic, wonderful resistance against all forms of domination, against all forms of colonialism and against all imperialisms,” Mr Maduro said.
SCOTTISH Greens warned yesterday of the dangers posed to the country by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party.
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He said: “Reform and the politics they represent are a danger to Scotland.
“Whether they have called themselves Ukip, the Brexit Party or Reform, we know what they represent: prejudice, division and environmental vandalism.
“Scotland can and must do so much better than this. We need change, but it has to be rooted in building a fairer and better country, not scapegoating and empty slogans from a cynical millionaire-backed party that offers nothing.
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on 10 September, 2023 [OHAD ZWIGENBERG/POOL/AFP via Getty Images]
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has instructed Israeli forces to prioritise demolishing homes in Palestinian towns and villages within Israel, based on claims that they were built without permits.
According to Haaretz, Ben-Gvir lacks the legal authority to determine demolition policies, a responsibility held by Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara in coordination with enforcement agencies.
Nevertheless, during private meetings with Israeli forces, he pushed for the destruction of Palestinian family buildings.
Sources reveal that Ben-Gvir justified these orders as a way to “demonstrate governance and increase deterrence,” even stating: “The best deterrent is evicting a family from its home.”
One source noted: “It was completely clear he meant demolitions in the Arab community. Ben-Gvir is seeking provocation and chaos; that’s what interests him.”
Senior Israeli occupation officers confirmed that Ben-Gvir insisted on prioritising demolitions of occupied homes, even when such structures are not high-priority cases.
The Israeli government justifies these demolitions by claiming the structures were built without permits, although obtaining such permits is nearly impossible for Palestinians under what Amnesty and other human rights groups have described as Israel’s two-tier apartheid system.
Ben-Gvir’s push to add occupancy as a criterion for demolition drew objections from senior Justice Ministry officials, who urged the Israeli forces to assert their independence. “Ben-Gvir is acting like a ‘super-commissioner’,” said one official.
Despite resistance, Israeli forces operations increasingly align with Ben-Gvir’s focus on demolishing Arab community homes, reported Haaretz.
State Prosecutor Amit Aisman and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara are aware of Ben-Gvir’s interference but have yet to confront him directly. Meanwhile, Ben-Gvir continues to issue demolition orders against Palestinian homes.
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On the day the US honours former President Jimmy Carter, a key figure in the creation of the International Criminal Court, the US House of Representatives passed an AIPAC-backed bill to sanction the ICC. In a 243-140 vote, the ‘Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act’ imposes sanctions on the ICC and key figures within it over its arrest warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his ex-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, fueling controversy over US priorities and international justice.
US House passes bill to impose sanctions on International Criminal Court
On the day the US honours former President Jimmy Carter, a key figure in the creation of the International Criminal Court, the US House of Representatives passed an AIPAC-backed bill to sanction the ICC. In… pic.twitter.com/6ItCvvMoe0
The US House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in protest of its arrest warrant for Israeli officials, Anadolu Agency reports.
The bill, which was introduced last Friday as soon as the 119th Congress began, passed in a 243-140 vote.
The Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act imposes sanctions on those who aid efforts by the ICC to prosecute Americans or Israelis.
The ICC issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.
US congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib, criticised the voting.
“What’s their top priority the first week of the new Congress? Lowering costs? Addressing the housing crisis? No, it’s sanctioning the International Criminal Court to protect genocidal maniac (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu so he can continue the genocide in Gaza,” Tlaib wrote on X.
Rep. Jim McGovern criticised Republicans for prioritising sanctioning the ICC amid the wildfires in the state of California.
“Of all the ways that Republicans have shown this country how messed up and backwards their priorities are, I have to say that this bill that we debating today to sanction the International Criminal Court, the ICC, this really takes the cake,” McGovern said from the House floor.
Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, pledged to bring the legislation to the Senate floor.
The Israeli army has continued a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 46,000 victims, mostly women and children, since 7 October, 2023, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
The logo of Human Rights NGO Amnesty International is pictured in Paris on May 28, 2024 [STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images]
Amnesty International has suspended its Israel branch for failing to align with the organisation’s stance that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and accused the branch of “anti-Palestinian racism,” according to the New York Post.
The report, published on Tuesday, references a 6 January letter in which Tiumalu Lauvale Peter Fa’afiu, Amnesty’s interim international chairman, stated that the Israel branch had acted in ways that undermined the group’s mission.
The suspension is set to last two years, during which a review panel will evaluate whether to reinstate Amnesty International Israel or impose a permanent ban. The branch retains the option to appeal the decision.
“We take this action in response to evidence of endemic anti-Palestinian racism within AI Israel, which violates core human rights principles and Amnesty values, and evidence of AI Israel’s misalignment with and hostility to Amnesty positions,” read a Monday email from Fa’afiu.
The interim international chairman also stated that Amnesty Israel had actively opposed the organisation’s research and reports, particularly the 2022 publication “Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity” and the 2024 report, “’You Feel Like You Are Subhuman:’ Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza.”
“AI Israel has sought to publicly discredit Amnesty’s human rights research and positions,” wrote Fa’afiu.
“Its efforts to publicly undermine the findings and recommendations of Amnesty’s 2022 report on Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians and, more recently, Amnesty’s 2024 report on Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, have been deeply prejudicial to Amnesty’s human rights mission, threatening our credibility, integrity and operational coherence.”
In response, members of Amnesty International’s Israeli branch have pushed back against their suspension, accusing the global organisation of overlooking anti-Semitism within its ranks.
Former Amnesty Israel Director, Yonatan Gher, criticised the move, describing the Israeli branch as “the guardian of the Israeli government against the human rights movement.”
In a leaked email, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard announced that the suspension would be formally addressed on 21 January. Fa’afiu reportedly added that a committee would “determine whether Amnesty International Israel has a future within the Amnesty movement.”
Amnesty did not reply to MEMO’s request for comment at the time of going to press.
