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Political Feuds Divide US Congress over How Closely to Stand by Israel

The dome of the US Capitol is seen at dusk in Washington, DC on November 13, 2023. (AFP)
The dome of the US Capitol is seen at dusk in Washington, DC on November 13, 2023. (AFP)
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Political Feuds Divide US Congress over How Closely to Stand by Israel

The dome of the US Capitol is seen at dusk in Washington, DC on November 13, 2023. (AFP)
The dome of the US Capitol is seen at dusk in Washington, DC on November 13, 2023. (AFP)

There were some bipartisan efforts in the US Congress to commemorate the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, but the anniversary also touched on political feuds raging over how closely the US should stand by Israel.

Republicans have pushed steadfast support for Israel even amid its devastating campaign into Gaza. Earlier this year, they heartily welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Capitol for a speech.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday called for the US to "recommit to stand with Israel in its righteous fight."

He also said that the Hamas attack that triggered the war a year ago had drawn antisemitism "out of the shadows" against Jewish communities around the world.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, was expected to speak later Monday at an event for the Republican Jewish Coalition.

Democrats, meanwhile, marked the day with statements of condolence for the victims of the Oct. 7 attack, but were divided in their continued support for Israeli aggressions. The left-wing of the party has become increasingly critical of Israel’s retaliatory attack that left Gaza in ruins and killed over 41,000 people.

"Instead of securing the release of the hostages, however, Prime Minister Netanyahu has unleashed unthinkable violence on innocent civilians in Gaza," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Ma., in a statement.

"More than a million Palestinians are facing starvation. We see videos of dead children held in the arms of their parents. Violence is escalating throughout the region, including most recently in Lebanon, threatening even more human suffering."

Meanwhile, the US Treasury sanctioned three people in Europe, a charity group and a bank in Gaza, all accused of helping to bankroll Hamas.

The Treasury says Hamas and its affiliates raise funds through sham charities and as of this year, the group may have received as much as $10 million a month through such donations.

Included in the sanctions: Mohammad Hannoun, an Italy-based Hamas member and his Charity Association of Solidarity with the Palestinian People; Majed al-Zeer, a senior Hamas representative in Germany and Adel Doughman, who is in charge of Hamas activity in Austria.  

Additionally, Al-Intaj, an unlicensed Hamas-run bank in Gaza was sanctioned for allegedly providing services to Hamas.

"As we mark one year since Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack, Treasury will continue relentlessly degrading the ability of Hamas and other destabilizing Iranian proxies to finance their operations and carry out additional violent acts," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

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World

France Asks for a NATO Exercise in Greenland, Is Ready to Participate

Snow-covered houses line a hillside in Nuuk, Greenland, as warm evening light hits the neighborhood on January 20, 2026. (AFP)
Snow-covered houses line a hillside in Nuuk, Greenland, as warm evening light hits the neighborhood on January 20, 2026. (AFP)
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France Asks for a NATO Exercise in Greenland, Is Ready to Participate

Snow-covered houses line a hillside in Nuuk, Greenland, as warm evening light hits the neighborhood on January 20, 2026. (AFP)
Snow-covered houses line a hillside in Nuuk, Greenland, as warm evening light hits the neighborhood on January 20, 2026. (AFP)

France has asked for a ​NATO exercise in Greenland and is ready to contribute to it, French President Emmanuel Macron's office said on Wednesday.

News of the request comes ‌as US ‌President Donald ‌Trump barrels ⁠into ​Davos, ‌Switzerland, on Wednesday, where he is likely to use the World Economic Forum to escalate his push for acquiring Greenland despite European ⁠protests in the biggest fraying of ‌transatlantic ties in ‍decades.

Speaking in ‍Davos on Tuesday, Macron ‍said Europe would not give in to bullies or be intimidated, in a scathing ​criticism of Trump's threat to impose steep tariffs if ⁠Europe does not let him take over Greenland.

NATO leaders have warned that Trump's Greenland strategy could upend the alliance. Trump has linked Greenland to his anger at not receiving a Nobel Peace Prize.

World

EU Stands Ready to Defend Itself Against Coercion, Costa Says

European Council President Antonio Costa addresses the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, France, January 21, 2026. (Reuters)
European Council President Antonio Costa addresses the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, France, January 21, 2026. (Reuters)
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EU Stands Ready to Defend Itself Against Coercion, Costa Says

European Council President Antonio Costa addresses the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, France, January 21, 2026. (Reuters)
European Council President Antonio Costa addresses the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, France, January 21, 2026. (Reuters)

The European Union will defend itself ​against any form of coercion and will protect the international rules-based order and international law, EU Council President ‌Antonio Costa ‌said ‌on ⁠Wednesday.

"We ​stand ‌ready to defend ourselves, our member states, our citizens, our companies, against any form of coercion. ⁠And the European Union has ‌the power and ‍the ‍tools to do ‍so," Costa said in a speech in European Parliament.

"We cannot accept ​that the law of the strongest prevails over ⁠the rights of the weakest," Costa said.

"Because international rules are not optional. And alliances cannot just boil down to a sequence of transactions."

World

Gunman Jailed for Life in Killing of Japan Ex-PM Abe

In this picture taken on July 24, 2019 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks on the podium during a ceremony marking one year before the start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (AFP)
In this picture taken on July 24, 2019 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks on the podium during a ceremony marking one year before the start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (AFP)
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Gunman Jailed for Life in Killing of Japan Ex-PM Abe

In this picture taken on July 24, 2019 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks on the podium during a ceremony marking one year before the start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (AFP)
In this picture taken on July 24, 2019 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks on the podium during a ceremony marking one year before the start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (AFP)

The gunman charged with killing Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was found guilty Wednesday and jailed for life, as the judge declared the broad-daylight assassination "despicable and extremely malicious".

The shooting more than three years ago forced a reckoning in a country with little experience of gun violence, and ignited scrutiny of alleged ties between prominent conservative lawmakers and a secretive sect, the Unification Church.

As he handed down the sentence at a court in the city of Nara, judge Shinichi Tanaka said Tetsuya Yamagami, 45, had been "determined" to shoot Abe.

The fact he "shot him from behind and did so when (Abe) was least expecting it" points to the "despicable and extremely malicious" nature of his act, he said.

A queue of people waited Wednesday morning for tickets to enter the courtroom, highlighting intense public interest in the trial.

Yamagami looked down and expressed little emotion during the sentencing for charges including murder and firearms control law violations, after he used a handmade gun to kill Japan's longest-serving leader during his campaign speech in July 2022.

The defense team of Yamagami -- who had admitted to murder at the trial opening in October -- told a press conference they had not yet decided whether to appeal, which under Japan's legal system must be done within two weeks.

- 'Significant grief' -

Prosecutors had argued that the defendant's motive to kill Abe was rooted in his desire to besmirch the Unification Church.

The months-long trial highlighted how his mother's blind donations to the church plunged his family into bankruptcy and how he came to believe "influential politicians" were helping the sect thrive.

Abe had spoken at events organized by some of the church's groups.

Judge Tanaka said "it is undeniable that the defendant's upbringing influenced the formation of his personality and his mindset... and that it even played a distant role" in his actions.

But "each criminal action he took was based on nothing but his own decision-making, the process of which deserves strong condemnation", he added.

Katsuya Nakatani, a 60-year-old member of the public who was in the courtroom, said the judge had convinced him that "even if there was room for extenuating circumstances... opening fire with so many people around is, after all, something that cannot be forgiven".

"I even began to think it might have been a stroke of luck that only one person died," he said.

Another man outside court held a banner urging the judge to take Yamagami's difficult life circumstances "into the fullest consideration".

- Draw attention -

Yamagami "thought if he killed someone as influential as former prime minister Abe, he could draw public attention to the Church and fuel public criticism of it", a prosecutor told a district court in western Japan's Nara region in October.

The Unification Church was established in South Korea in 1954, with its members nicknamed "Moonies" after founder Sun Myung Moon.

In a plea for leniency, his defense team stressed his upbringing had been mired in "religious abuse" stemming from his mother's extreme faith in the Unification Church.

In despair after the suicide of her husband -- and with her other son gravely ill -- Yamagami's mother poured all her assets into the Church to "salvage" her family, Yamagami's lawyer said, adding that her donations eventually snowballed to around 100 million yen ($1 million at the time).

Yamagami was forced to give up pursuing higher education. In 2005, he attempted to take his own life before his brother died by suicide.

Investigations after Abe's murder led to cascading revelations about close ties between the Church and many conservative lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, prompting four ministers to resign.

In 2020, Yamagami began hand-crafting a firearm, a process that involved meticulous test-firing sessions in a remote mountainous area.

This points to the highly "premeditated" nature of his attack on Abe, prosecutors said.
The assassination was also a wake-up call for a nation which has some of the world's strictest gun controls.

Gun violence is so rare in Japan that security officials at the scene failed to immediately identify the sound made by the first shot, and came to Abe's rescue too late, a police report after the attack said.

Prosecutors sought a life sentence for Yamagami, calling the murder "unprecedented in our post-war history" and citing the "extremely serious consequences" it had on society, according to local media.

The Japanese version of life imprisonment leaves open the possibility of parole, although in reality, experts say many die while incarcerated.