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Manchester City's giant shadow is looming large in the rear-view mirror of their rivals as they make one of those familiar charges that turns up the psychological pressure and invariably ends in success. It is that time of the season again. It is the time when Pep Guardiola's reigning champions gather their forces for the home run and ask the searching questions of those such as Liverpool and Arsenal who hope to beat them to the big prizes. And this was the inescapable feeling once more as City recorded a ninth successive win in all competitions with a 3-1 win at Brentford, a victory achieved with much to spare despite trailing to Neal Maupay's breakaway goal until the closing seconds of the first half. City are now in second place, two points behind leaders Liverpool after their defeat at Arsenal on Sunday. One of the sub-plots of that result was that it put City's Premier League destiny back in their own hands, which is how they like it. They will go top, for a few hours at least, if they beat struggling Everton at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday lunchtime before Liverpool face Burnley at Anfield. And City still have a game in hand. Liverpool and Arsenal, both top-class sides having outstanding campaigns, will have a huge say in the closing months of this season but plenty will feel they have seen this movie before and on most occasions it has a happy ending for City before the credits roll. If this scoreline gives the appearance of a close game, forget it. City, perfectly understandably, were streets ahead of Brentford and it took a remarkable performance from Bees' keeper Mark Flekken to keep them out in a first half during which the reigning champions had 17 shots on goal, 10 of which were on target and mostly kept out brilliantly by the defiant Dutchman. This was until Phil Foden broke through with virtually the last kick of the half, the England star then getting deserved reward for a virtuoso display with the second senior hat-trick of his career. The pre-match talk was of Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland starting together for the first time since the opening Friday night of the season at Burnley on 11 August but it was Foden who stole the show. Foden was the catalyst for all of City's best work, creative on the ball and providing three smooth finishes, ample compensation for main marksman Haaland not getting on the scoresheet as he works his way back to full power following a foot injury. In the wider context, Foden's performance also adds to the growing body of evidence that insists he simply has to start for England at Euro 2024, especially in view of Marcus Rashford's problems on and off the field this season. If the choice was made now, there would be no choice. City's seasons invariably follow a pattern and one is emerging here, confirmed with this run of wins to move back towards familiar territory at the top of the table. It could be argued there have been spells when they have not been at their best this season but here we are again. Last season they were top of the table with 48 points from 22 games, level on points with Arsenal, before they ground down the Gunners inexorably and hauled them in to win the title. They are one point ahead of that tally at the same stage this time round. It is around now that City, like a thoroughbred timing its run to perfection under Guardiola's guiding hand, move to a different level. It looks like it is happening again. City, like all great sides, have strength of character as well as quality and this was the fourth Premier League game in succession where they have gone behind away from home but turned the game around to win. If there is an area of concern for Guardiola and City, it is that they have only kept one clean sheet in their last 12 Premier League games while their tally of just five shut-outs in 22 games is their lowest since 2016-17. This is not ideal but it is a problem more easily solved when you have the array of creative riches Guardiola has at his disposal. There is long way to go in the Premier League before the title is decided. Liverpool and Arsenal have shown enough to suggest they can go all the way to the finishing line and push Guardiola's team to the limit - but City's growing confidence, authority and track record means they will face a mammoth task to deny a side who have gone over this course and distance with such success in recent years. Link

Limited-run Avant enjoys trick suspension and choice of wraps, but no more power. The ultimate super-wagon? If you don’t like the garish livery wrap on the new Audi RS6 Avant GT, then we’ve got bad news: you have to have it. There’s a choice – white with orange and black, grey with black or black with grey – but if you’re stumping up £176,975 for one of the 660 GTs Audi will build, then it’s got to have the wrap. What it also has is manually adjustable suspension from the excellent RS4 Competition, a 10mm ride height drop, new 22in six-spoke ‘Avus’ alloys, standard ceramic brakes, a centre and rear differential combo that’s been recoded to misbehave more of the time, and a roof spoiler inspired by 2020’s RS6 GTO concept. And because Audi doesn’t want you putting any bicycles, boxes or tents on the roof that might upset the airflow, this is the first RS6 that doesn’t have any roof rails up top. You have to be an RS6 geek to spot that. Those people will already have noticed the RS3-style vents in the front wheelarches, and the carbon fibre bonnet. This is a very mean-looking RS6. But weirdly, it isn’t any faster than the standard car. Under the bonnet, the twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 delivers exactly the same 621bhp and 590lb ft of torque you get in the regular £130,000 RS6 Performance. Now, we’re not sure anyone really needs a five-seat family hauler that can lug 500 litres of boot from 0-62mph faster than 3.3 seconds and top out at 190mph, but maybe Audi might’ve bumped the power up a bit for this special edition? Called Abt? Given MTM a tinkle? Got Litchfield on the blower? They’ll pull 750bhp out of an RS6 before breakfast. Especially when you remember that the racer which inspired the GT’s livery – the cartoonish 90 IMSA GTO from the early 1990s – churned out 710bhp from just 2.2 litres and five cylinders. And the sort of turbo you’d use to restart a dead power station. Ah well. The RS6 Performance is a mighty fine base car and the GT’s revised diffs and suspension should make it more precise in the corners. That might be why Audi has finally bolted in a supportive-looking pair of bucket seats in the cabin, though besides some ‘GT’ floormats and the number of your car written on the centre console, it’s nowhere near as extrovert as the outside. Hmm. Worth £177k? Audi’s insiders blushed and stammered when we asked them if the RS7 will get the ‘GT’ treatment before too long. Expect the special edition dressing-up box to be raided at least a couple of times before the current A6 family makes way for a new all-electric replacement later this year, previewed by a handsome concept car in 2022. 2024 is shaping up to be a strong year for Very Fast Wagons. There’ll be a revised Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo along soon, Audi’s waving off the RS6 like this, and there’s the small matter of a 700bhp+ BMW M5 Touring before the year is out. Link

Connie the Container Dog was trapped in a shipping container for more than a week before a group of Coast Guard inspectors found and freed her. One lucky pup's life was likely saved last week when a group of Coast Guard inspectors found her trapped in a shipping container at a Texas port. The dog, who has since been named Connie the Container Dog, was trapped in a shipping container over a week before marine science technicians Bryan Wainscott, Lucas Loe, Ryan McMahon and Jose Reyes found her Wednesday at Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston, Coast Guard Heartland said on Facebook. Connie the dog after she was found Wednesday in a shipping container. The marine inspectors were randomly selecting containers to be inspected when they heard barking and scratching from one of the containers in a stack, USCG Heartland said. The container was stacked about 25 feet in the air and had to be lowered by crane. "When they lowered the container and opened the door, a dog popped out!" according to USCG Heartland. USCG Heartland said the "sweet girl" was "tired, hungry, and very happy to see her rescuers." Video posted to Facebook by USCG Heartland showed Connie wagging her tail, sniffing around and drinking water given to her when she was finally freed. Coast Guard officials determined Connie had been trapped for at least eight days with no food or water. She was dirty and skinny when she was freed. Officials said they aren't sure where the container came from, but it was filled with junked vehicles, most likely on their way to be sold for parts overseas. Based on that, Chief Petty Officer Corinne Zilnicki said, Connie was most likely in a car at a junkyard when she was accidentally trapped in the container. If that was the case, McMahon said, it would have most likely been another week before Connie got where she was going by cargo ship, meaning she would have been without food for two weeks. The marine inspectors took Connie to the Pasadena Animal Shelter for care, the shelter said on Facebook. Connie the dog, who was found inside a shipping container Wednesday. Connie was then transferred to Forever Changed Animal Rescue, or FCAR, on Friday, the rescue agency said on Facebook, after its founder and veterinarian, Dr. Andrea Deoudes, saw Connie's story while scrolling Facebook. Soon after, the rescue agency said its Texas coordinator was sure it would be able to find her "the amazing home that she is so deserving of." "In just a few short hours, we experienced the joyful moment that Pasadena Animal Shelter chose us to become the rescue that gives Connie her new shot at life," the agency said on Facebook. "Without hesitation and not knowing Connie’s health, we knew that our medical fund would be well spent on her." Connie weighs 30 pounds, which is slightly underweight, FCAR said. She tested positive for heartworm, which FCAR said it was going to start treating ASAP. The rescue agency said it would also do a full examination. It added that she is "incredibly sweet but very shy and scared of her new surroundings as to be expected." "We can’t thank all of the amazing people involved in this rescue and saving Connie’s life," FCAR said. The rescue agency's Facebook post is filled with comments of users expressing interest in adopting or fostering Connie. It wasn't clear whether she has found her forever home. Link

Biden will make his most forceful condemnation yet of the Republican-controlled House’s push to bring the Mayorkas impeachment to the floor. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken look on as President Joe Biden speaks last November in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday will denounce the charge to impeach Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as an "unprecedented and unconstitutional" political attack that betrays the real challenge of securing the southern U.S. border, according to a statement of administration policy shared first with NBC News. Biden’s statement will be his most forceful condemnation of the Republican-controlled House’s push to bring the Mayorkas impeachment to the floor. The House will vote Tuesday on the impeachment resolution, according to a GOP leadership aide. The House Rules Committee is expected to meet Monday afternoon to advance the measure. “From his time in the Justice Department as a U.S. Attorney to his service as Deputy Secretary and now Secretary of Homeland Security, he has upheld the rule of law faithfully and has demonstrated a deep commitment to the values that make our Nation great,” Biden will say. “Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas would be an unprecedented and unconstitutional act of political retribution that would do nothing to solve the challenges our Nation faces in securing the border.” Republicans argue that impeachment hearings, which the House Homeland Security Committee launched last month, are needed due to record high illegal border crossings and drug trafficking across the southern U.S. border under Mayorkas, whom Biden appointed in 2021. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., tried twice last year to force an impeachment vote against Mayorkas. In a format usually reserved to announce when the president will veto a particular bill, Biden will counter that House Republicans are abusing Congress’s authority to target a Cabinet-level official for reasons beyond the scope of their authority. “The impeachment power was never intended as a device for members of an opposing political party to harass Executive Branch officials over policy disputes,” Biden states. “Impeaching Secretary Mayorkas would trivialize this solemn constitutional power and invite more partisan abuse of this authority in the future.” Slamming the impeachment case as “baseless,” Biden says his administration will continue to work with Congress to find solutions to secure the border and strengthen an immigration system burdened by a record-high number of crossings. Hard-line Republicans have balked at a newly unveiled border bill, prompting pushback from some colleagues eager to pass legislation to address the crisis. Some Republicans have countered that Mayorkas’s record does not meet the threshold for treason or high crimes and misdemeanors, which impeachment, as described by the framers, demands. Mayokras would be only the second Cabinet secretary in U.S. history to be impeached. The White House earlier advanced an argument against impeachment on constitutional grounds in a memo slamming Republicans for playing “extreme, far-right politics” that likened the push to remove Mayorkas to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and impeach Biden. Link

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces alliance controls much of north-eastern Syria A drone attack on the largest US military base in Syria has killed at least six allied Kurdish-led fighters. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said its commando academy at the al-Omar oil field in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour was hit in the early hours of Monday. It accused Iran-backed militias of launching the drone from a nearby area controlled by Syrian government forces. An Iran-backed militia umbrella group claimed it attacked the base on Sunday. There was no comment or reports of casualties from the US military, which has about 800 troops in Syria to combat the Islamic State (IS) group. It was the second incident since the US conducted strikes against Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria over the weekend in response to a deadly drone attack on a base in Jordan. The Pentagon confirmed to the BBC that there had been a rocket attack at its Mission Support Site Euphrates in Syria on Saturday, but there were no casualties or damages in the incident. The SDF - which has controlled much of north-eastern Syria since defeating IS there in 2019, with the support of a US-led global coalition - said in a statement that six of its "commando fighters" were killed when a one-way attack drone targeted their training academy around midnight on Monday. "Iranian-backed militias used the Syrian regime-controlled areas in Deir al-Zour as a staging ground for the terrorist attack," it alleged. The SDF condemned the attack and asserted its "right to respond appropriately to the source". The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported that seven SDF commandos were killed and 18 injured in what it said was the 108th militia attack on US bases in the country since mid-October. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) - an umbrella group of Iraqi militias believed to be armed, trained and funded by Iran - said it carried out a drone attack on Sunday "against the US occupation base in al-Omar oil field". The IRI has claimed many of the drone, rocket and missile attacks that have targeted US troops in Iraq, Syria and Jordan since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It says that they are a demonstration of solidarity with the Palestinian people. The attacks include the 28 January drone strike on the Tower 22 base near Jordan's border with Syria, which killed three US soldiers. Iran denied any involvement in the attack, but the US believes it manufactured the drone and that co-ordination of the militias is overseen by its Islamic Revolution Guard Corps' (IRGC) Quds Force. On Friday, the US struck more than 85 targets across seven facilities in Iraq and Syria used by the IRGC and affiliated militias, warning that it was just the "start" of its response to the Jordan attack. The strikes in Syria killed 29 pro-Iran fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. In Iraq, authorities said 16 people were killed. Amid the heightened tensions in the region, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is currently in Saudi Arabia as part of a Middle East tour, his fifth since the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel. Mr Blinken will visit Egypt, Qatar, Israel and the West Bank later this week, pushing officials to cut a new deal to free Israeli hostages and to help prevent an escalation of the conflict. Link

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Nick movie: Sky High Time: July 29, 2005 Netflix / Amazon / HBO: N/A Duration of the movie: 100 M Trailer:

Tyson Fury beat former UFC champion Francis Ngannou on points in Riyadh in October Tyson Fury's undisputed heavyweight title fight against Oleksandr Usyk has been postponed after the Briton sustained a "freak" cut in training. Fury, 35, was cut in sparring at his training camp in Saudi Arabia on Friday in preparation for the bout on 17 February in Riyadh. The injury above Fury's right eye needed "urgent medical attention" and "significant stitching". In a statement,, external the Briton said he was "absolutely devastated". Fury is the WBC champion with Ukraine's Usyk, 37, holding the WBA, WBO and IBF belts. If the fight does take place at a later date, the winner will be crowned the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era. Fury said he had been preparing to face Usyk "for so long" and was in "superb condition". "I feel bad for everyone involved in this huge event and I will work diligently towards the rescheduled date once the eye is healed," he added. In a later Instagram post he wrote: "Can't help getting injured in sparring but what I can say was Usyk was in trouble. I am in fantastic shape. I will reschedule soon as I can. 2024 a massive year for team GK." Promoters Queensberry Promotions said once doctors have assessed the cut they will have a "better idea of the recovery period needed". An official statement confirming the fight had been postponed included an image of Fury's cut The fight was originally scheduled for 23 December but Fury's controversial decision win over former UFC fighter Francis Ngannou in October scuppered those plans. Morecambe-born Fury has won 34 fights with one draw since turning professional in 2008. He had previously faced criticism for failing to reach terms with Usyk after a proposed bout at London's Wembley Stadium in April fell through. Saudi Arabia has ploughed millions of dollars into staging huge sporting events, with critics saying the unprecedented spending is being used to enhance the oil-producing kingdom's international reputation and deflect from its human rights record and environmental impact. However, in a recent interview with the BBC, Saudi Arabia's sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal said claims of 'sportswashing' were "very shallow", insisting the investment is boosting the country's economy, opening it up to tourism and inspiring people to be more active. Analysis - Is this just a bump in the road for Fury v Usyk? Kal Sajad, BBC Sport With just over two weeks to go, the majority of the media already had their flights and hotels booked for this bout. This is boxing - injuries and cuts are always a danger and both teams will be keen on rescheduling the fight, perhaps for the summer. But what does that mean for the heavyweight landscape? There are reports Tyson Fury could be replaced by Croatian Filip Hrgovic, the mandatory challenger for Oleksandr Usyk's IBF belt. Then we have Anthony Joshua v Francis Ngannou in Riyadh on 8 March. Saudi organisers wanted the winner of that fight to challenge for the undisputed title. Perhaps this is just a little bump in the road, but bureaucracy and politics have stopped big fights from happening in recent years - fans have become used to disappointment and will be greatly pessimistic about seeing Fury v Usyk. This news has sent shockwaves through the sport; an almighty blow to the hopes of millions of fans who were so desperate to find out who is the best heavyweight on the planet. Link

The pigeon’s ordeal began in May when it was captured near a port in Mumbai with two rings tied to its legs, carrying words that looked like Chinese. The suspect pigeon is released at a veterinary hospital in Mumbai on Tuesday. Indian police cleared a suspected Chinese spy pigeon after eight months’ detention and released it into the wild Tuesday, news agency Press Trust of India reported. The pigeon’s ordeal began in May when it was captured near a port in Mumbai with two rings tied to its legs, carrying words that looked like Chinese. Police suspected it was involved in espionage and took it in, later sending it to Mumbai’s Bai Sakarbai Dinshaw Petit Hospital for Animals. Eventually, it turned out the pigeon was an open-water racing bird from Taiwan that had escaped and made its way to India. With police permission, the bird was transferred to the Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, whose doctors set it free on Tuesday. Mumbai police could not be reached for comment. It is not the first time a bird has come under police suspicion in India. In 2020, police in Indian-controlled Kashmir released a pigeon belonging to a Pakistani fisherman after a probe found that the bird, which had flown across the heavily militarized border between the nuclear-armed nations, was not a spy. In 2016, another pigeon was taken into custody after it was found with a note that threatened Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Link

Just 1,906 examples of the supermini will be built, and expected to retail at around £35k Lancia is back and ready to reinvent itself with its first electric car: the fourth generation of its Ypsilon supermini. It will be officially presented in just under two weeks in Milan, and this first limited-edition variant will be, er, limited to 1,906 examples (nodding back to the Italian marque’s founding year). It’s rumoured to share the same underpinnings as the Vauxhall Corsa Electric and Peugeot e-208. That likely means a 51kWh battery pack resulting in a claimed 250-mile range and an unexciting but brisk 8.2-second walk to 60. Top speed is also capped at 93mph, so don’t expect to match Delta Integrales at the lights. But owners of this ‘Cassina’ limited edition will reap the rewards of an interior created by said Italian furniture designer, known for its use of high-class fabrics. That means velvet seats and a tray between the centre console and multiscreen dashboard. It’s a clean, clutter-free look with plenty of refined materials throughout. The exterior is a little more of a handful, though. Out front, you’ve got a curved daylight running bar beneath the Lancia logo. Squashed hexagonal headlamps then sit along the wider mid-section and bridge toward a small front splitter. It’s what your mother would call ‘dashing’ to not cause upset. A few swooping lines across the flanks then bring your attention to the funky alloys which merge both black and silver Y-spokes. You’ll also spot glossy black wheel arches to match the darker window trim and rear spoiler. There's a spherical taillight and outgrown mid-section spoiler combination at the back, too; a wonderful bit of styling which appears to tribute the Stratos. Pricing for the Ypsilon limited-edition Cassina will be revealed on 14 February, where initial customers can also place their deposits. And what better way to profess your love on Valentine’s Day than to order a car whose name they’ll struggle to pronounce? We expect it to sit around the mid-£30k bracket, making it a fair bit costlier than the similar-sized Fiat 500e. An interesting duel is set to commence, then, but will the all-new Ypsilon manage to disrupt the Fiat's mojo and truly kickstart Lancia's renaissance? We won't have to wait long to find out. Link

Judge Tanya Chutkan called off the March 4 trial date, saying she will set a new date after Trump's immunity appeal is resolved. Former President Donald Trump has argued that he's immune from prosecution related to attempts to overturn the 2020 election. WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump's federal election interference trial in Washington, D.C., will no longer begin on March 4, Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote in a court order released Friday. It is unclear when exactly the trial will now start, but the case has been on pause for nearly two months, since Dec. 7, which would mean the soonest the trial could start would likely be May. In a previous order, Chutkan indicated that a total of seven months was adequate time for Trump to prepare for trial, not including the time the case has been on pause. Chutkan's ruling comes as the D.C. Circuit Court has not yet decided on whether the former president is immune from prosecution. A panel of federal appeals court judges heard oral arguments on Jan. 9, and the case is on an expedited schedule. "The court will set a new schedule if and when the mandate is returned," said the court order from Chutkan. There were previous hints that the March 4 start date would not go ahead as scheduled. Chutkan was set to oversee trial proceedings in a separate case on April 2, according to court schedules, which could have overlapped with Trump's case if March 4 had still been the start date. As recently as Thursday, D.C.'s court calendar also did not list Chutkan as overseeing a case on March 4. A lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment. A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment. The original March 4 trial start date put the high-profile case amid the Republican primary, just one day before voters in 16 states cast their ballots on Super Tuesday. One of Trump's lawyers, D. John Sauer, has argued before the D.C. Circuit Court that a president can be prosecuted for private conduct, but he says that Trump has immunity from prosecution because of the Constitution's separation of powers principle. Sauer has said that when Trump questioned the 2020 election results and pushed for Congress to block certification, he was acting in an official capacity as president. The president has embraced the argument in social media posts. "A president of the United States must have full immunity, without which it would be impossible for him/her to properly function,” Trump said in a post to Truth Social in January. The elimination of the March 4 start date increases the chances that Trump's New York case involving allegations of hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels will be the former president's next trial. That case is currently set to start on March 25. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. Link

More than 800 serving officials in the US and Europe have signed a statement warning that their own governments' policies on the Israel-Gaza war could amount to "grave violations of international law". The "transatlantic statement", a copy of which was passed to the BBC, says their administrations risk being complicit in "one of the worst human catastrophes of this century" but that their expert advice has been sidelined. It is the latest sign of significant levels of dissent within the governments of some of Israel's key Western allies. One signatory to the statement, a US government official with more than 25 years' national security experience, told the BBC of the "continued dismissal" of their concerns. "The voices of those who understand the region and the dynamics were not listened to," said the official. "What's really different here is we're not failing to prevent something, we're actively complicit. That is fundamentally different from any other situation I can recall," added the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The statement is signed by civil servants from the US, the EU and 11 European countries including the UK, France and Germany. It says Israel has shown "no boundaries" in its military operations in Gaza, "which has resulted in tens of thousands of preventable civilian deaths; and… the deliberate blocking of aid… putting thousands of civilians at risk of starvation and slow death." "There is a plausible risk that our governments' policies are contributing to grave violations of international law, war crimes and even ethnic cleansing or genocide," it said. The identities of those who signed or endorsed the statement have not been made public and the BBC has not seen a list of names, but understands that nearly half are officials who each have at least a decade of experience in government. One retired US ambassador told the BBC that the coordination by dissenting civil servants in multiple governments was unprecedented. "It's unique in my experience watching foreign policy in the last 40 years," said Robert Ford, a former American ambassador to Algeria and Syria. He likened it to concerns within the US administration in 2003 over faulty intelligence leading up to the invasion of Iraq, but said this time many officials with reservations did not want to remain silent. "[Then there were] people who knew better, who knew that intelligence was being cherry-picked, who knew that there wasn't a plan for the day after, but nobody said anything publicly. And that turned out to be a serious problem," he said. "The problems with the Gaza war are so serious and the implications are so serious that they feel compelled to go public," he said. The officials argue the current nature of their governments' military, political or diplomatic support for Israel "without real conditions or accountability" not only risks further Palestinian deaths, but also endangers the lives of hostages held by Hamas, as well as Israel's own security and regional stability. "Israel's military operations have disregarded all important counterterrorism expertise gained since 9/11… the [military] operation has not contributed to Israel's goal of defeating Hamas and has instead strengthened the appeal of Hamas, Hezbollah and other negative actors". The officials say they have expressed their professional concerns internally but have been "overruled by political and ideological considerations". One senior British official who has endorsed the statement told the BBC of "growing disquiet" among civil servants. The official referred to the fallout from last week's preliminary ruling by the UN's International Court of Justice in a case brought by South Africa which required Israel to do all it can to prevent acts of genocide. "The dismissal of South Africa's case as 'unhelpful' by our Foreign Secretary puts [the international rules-based] order in peril." "We have heard ministers dismiss allegations against the Israeli Government seemingly without having received proper and well-evidenced legal advice. Our current approach does not appear to be in the best interests of the UK, the region or the global order," said the official who also spoke on condition of anonymity. In response to the statement, the UK Foreign Office said it wanted to see an end to the fighting in Gaza as soon as possible. "As the Foreign Secretary says, Israel has committed to act within international humanitarian law and has the ability to do so, but we are also deeply concerned about the impact on the civilian po[CENSORED]tion in Gaza," said a spokesperson. The European Union Commission said it was "looking into" the statement. The US State Department has been approached for comment. The statement suggests that while Israel's military operation has caused unprecedented destruction of lives and property in Gaza, there appears to be no workable strategy to effectively remove Hamas as a threat, nor for a political solution to ensure Israel's security in the longer term. It calls for the US and European governments to "stop asserting to the public that there is a strategic and defensible rationale behind the Israeli operation". Israeli officials have consistently rejected such criticism. In response to the new statement, the Israeli embassy in London said it was bound by international law. It added: "Israel continues to act against a genocidal terrorist organisation which commits war crimes as well as crimes against humanity." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that only full military pressure on Hamas will secure the further release of hostages, while the army says it has destroyed significant underground infrastructure used by the group, including command centres, weapons sites and facilities for holding hostages. On Saturday, the Israeli military said: "Throughout [the city of] Khan Yunis, we have eliminated over 2,000 terrorists above and below ground." Israel has repeatedly rejected claims it deliberately targets civilians, accusing Hamas of hiding in and around civilian infrastructure. Since the start of the war, more than 26,750 Palestinians have been killed and at least 65,000 injured, according to health officials in the Gaza Strip, which has been governed by Hamas and blockaded by Israel and Egypt since 2007. Israeli officials say that 9,000 of those killed were Hamas militants but have not provided evidence for the figure. More than 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas attacks of October 7th, and a further 100 died of their injuries according to Israeli officials. More than 250 people were taken as hostages into Gaza. The US administration has repeatedly said that "far too many Palestinians have been killed" in Gaza, and that Israel has the right to ensure October 7th "can never happen again". Link

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