WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange's battle to avoid extradition to the United States received a huge boost on Monday when London's High Court ruled that U.S. assurances over his case were unsatisfactory and he would get a full appeal hearing.

In March, the High Court provisionally gave Assange, 52, permission to appeal on three grounds. But it gave the U.S. the opportunity to provide satisfactory assurances that it would not seek the death penalty and would allow him to seek to rely on a First Amendment right to free speech in a trial.

In a short ruling, two senior judges said the U.S. submissions were not sufficient and said they would allow the appeal to go ahead.

I recently discovered SmartTube Next for Android TV to get an ad free experience and integrated Sponsorblock on my Nvidia Shield TV.

I found NewPipe for my phone but I don't see a way to connect my YouTube account to it and I guess I need to import my subs manually every time I change something.

So I'm wondering if there is an alternative YouTube app that is blocking ads (and ideally integrates Sponsorblock) for my smartphone and has the ability to connect my YouTube account like SmartTube Next does?

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas's leader in Gaza for war crimes.

Karim Khan KC said there were reasonable grounds to believe that both men bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity from at least 7 October 2023.

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas's political leader Ismail Haniyeh, its military chief Mohammed Deif are also wanted for arrest.

The ICC, based in The Hague, has been investigating Israel's actions in the occupied territories for the past three years - and more recently the actions of Hamas as well.

Mr Netanyahu recently called the prospect of senior Israel figures joining the ICC's wanted list "an outrage of historic proportions".

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

The International Criminal Court prosecutor said Monday that he has requested arrest warrants for the leaders of Hamas and for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

In a statement, the prosecutor, Karim Khan, said he would seek warrants for Yahya Sinwar, Muhammad Deif and Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. He also said he was requesting warrants for Mr. Netanyahu and for Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

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Almost 970 million Indians are voting in general elections amid sweltering heat and unpredictable weather extremes exacerbated by human-caused climate change, leading to loss of livelihood, forced migration and increasingly difficult living conditions for millions across the country.

Voters are looking for politicians who promise relief, stability and resilience to the wide-ranging and damaging effects of a warming climate. In their election manifestos, India’s top political parties, including the governing Bharatiya Janata Party and the main opposition, the Congress party, have made multiple promises to act on climate damage and reduce emissions of planet-heating gases.

But there has been little talk about climate change on the campaign trail. 

“Climate change is still not among the headlines during these elections despite its obvious impact on millions of Indian lives,” said Anjal Prakash, author of multiple United Nations climate reports.

Poland is investing about $2.5 billion to step up security and deterrence on its border with Russia and its ally Belarus, the prime minister said Saturday.

Donald Tusk said work on the Shield-East project which includes building proper military fortifications has already begun. Poland is on the eastern flank of NATO and of the European Union and Tusk stressed it bears additional responsibility for Europe’s security. 

“We have taken the decision to invest into our safety and first of all, into a safe eastern border, some 10 billion zlotys ($2.5 billion),” Tusk said.

The terror group's affiliate in Afghanistan is a major rival of the country's Taliban government, and earlier claimed responsibility for an attack on Chinese citizens in Kabul in 2022.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility after three Spanish tourists were killed when gunmen opened fire in Afghanistan's central Bamiyan province.

An Afghan person was also killed, and a further four foreign nationals and three Afghans were injured in the attack in the mountainous region, the Taliban's interior ministry has said.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack on its Telegram channel.

The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday that three of its nationals died in the attack and that at least one more had been injured.

Taiwan's newly inaugurated president William Lai has called on China to stop threatening the island and accept the existence of its democracy.

He urged Beijing to replace confrontation with dialogue, shortly after being sworn in on Monday. 

He also said Taiwan would never back down in the face of intimidation from China, which has long claimed the island as its own. 

China responded by saying, "Taiwan independence is a dead end". 

"Regardless of the pretext or the banner under which it is pursued, the push for Taiwan independence is destined to fail," China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at the daily press briefing on Monday afternoon.

The UK's public spending watchdog said government expenditures on implementing new rules for post-Brexit imports would total some $6 billion. The report criticized "uncertainty" surrounding government plans.

Britain will spend at least 4.7 billion pounds ($6 billion, €5.5 billion) on implementing a new approach to import goods after exiting the EU customs market in 2020, the UK government's public spending watchdog said on Monday.

The UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016 but remained in the bloc's single market and customs union until 2021.

In 2021, the UK withdrew from the EU customs union and a new EU-UK Trade Cooperation Agreement (TCA) went into effect.

The European Parliament said in a report that the trading of goods between the parties had become "burdensome" since Brexit and trade volumes had shrunk.

Keir Starmer wants to sign a new agreement with the EU — one which would smooth disruption to trade, solve the Northern Ireland border issue, and make life simpler for farmers, all in one go.

But there’s a catch.

EU officials have told POLITICO that Brussels would be interested in such a deal — known as a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement — only if London was willing to accept European Court of Justice (ECJ) oversight.

“There is no doubt in our mind” that ECJ oversight would be a “prerequisite” for such an agreement, said a senior EU official, who was granted anonymity to discuss the matter.

As night fell over the Indian Ocean, Li thought he would die in his boat.

It had been four days since he and nine other men from China boarded the small wooden vessel in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and headed to Australia.

Li was told by the so-called "agent" who sold him the place on the boat that the trip would only take four days.

But as the sun set on the fourth day, strong winds and huge waves saw the group still floating on the ocean, with Li feeling nauseous and hopeless.

And the worst was yet to come.

Two engines broke down. Perilous waves hit the boat again and again. The only pump in the ship stopped working. Water leaked from beneath the floors.

Li took out his phone and started to draft his last words.

In the message, he apologised to his wife and child for being too busy with work in the past few years, and for not taking good care of them.

"I was hoping that if I didn't make it through, then maybe someone could find my phone one day and know who I am," he told the ABC.

Somehow, after eight stormy nights, the boat came ashore on the northern tip of Western Australia. They had made it, but in many ways, their journey was only just beginning.

Exhausted and thirsty, the group of men decided to look for water. They broke up into smaller groups, and one of those groups accidentally walked into the unfenced Truscott air base.

What happened next hit national headlines, reviving a fierce debate about border security and boat arrivals that has vexed successive federal governments for decades.

Chinese nationals trying to reach Australia by boat has been a phenomenon rarely seen until this year.

The ABC can confirm at least three groups of Chinese nationals have travelled or planned to travel to Australia by boat via Indonesia this year.

Only Li's boat made it to Australian shores.

The latest group was found on May 8. Their fishing boat, carrying six Chinese men on board — including an alleged smuggler — was intercepted by Indonesian authorities as they tried to make their way to Australia.

Indonesia's Immigration Agency has confirmed one people smuggler from Bangladesh has been arrested, and two Indonesian field operators have been sentenced to seven years in jail for people smuggling.

Indonesian authorities also revealed that the people smugglers used TikTok to lure in the Chinese nationals and get them to set sail for Australia.

Li and the other men on board the boat that reached Western Australia have been detained at an offshore processing facility in Nauru for more than a month.

But their story is not just about border security and people smuggling.

It speaks to an emerging trend of Chinese nationals risking death for what they say is a chance at a better life abroad.

Why these men spent $10,000 each to reach Australia

The ABC has been in contact with three men — including Li — who have been detained at the Nauru Detention Centre since wandering into the WA air base.

The ABC has used pseudonyms to protect their identities.

For Li, who is in his early 30s, travelling to Australia by boat was a last resort after being continuously frustrated by what had happened in China since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

Even after the lockdowns were lifted, the Chinese economy continued to suffer. Li's business went bankrupt and he was left with huge debts.

He said he also felt discouraged by China's political atmosphere after President Xi Jinping began his third term of leadership and tightened his control over society.

"I found my life in China too stressful, with limited freedom," he said.

"I want to come to Australia as it's more humane and free."

Zhang, another Chinese man in his late 30s who is also detained in Nauru, said his reasons for leaving were similar.

"I also ran a business before but due to the broader environment I now owed lots of debts," Zhang said.

Zhang also said he suffered political oppression for refusing to bribe officials.

Li and Zhang never met before boarding the boat in Jakarta. However, they both say they had been browsing on social media platforms Xiaohongshu and Douyin — the Chinese version of TikTok — looking for ways to leave their country.

They spotted advertisements about smuggling operations to Australia via boat in comment sections.

They were then added to a chat group.

"We then found out lots of people want to come to Australia but their visa applications were rejected," Li said.

"We still wanted to come to Australia and gradually we decided to take a risk."

They paid an agent about $10,000 per person for the journey.

Under the agent's instructions, they took a plane to Jakarta, then waited until sundown to get into the boat.

The men say it took them eight days to get from Jakarta to the WA coast by boat

The smugglers never told the 10 Chinese men they could be taken to Nauru, where Australia's offshore immigration detention centre is based.

"We were not aware of this at all," Li said.

"What we only knew is that there'd be two possibilities awaiting us if we travelled by boat: We either got intercepted before coming ashore or we landed successfully and then applied for visas based on our individual situations, such as applying for asylum."

Fang, another Chinese man from the boat, also said he was not aware of Australia's immigration policy and the existence of offshore detention centres.

The 30-year-old Chinese national told the ABC that he was working in a steel factory in Malaysia.

He also came across information about boat travel on Chinese social media. When he boarded the vessel, he was still yet to resign from the factory.

"I have travelled to Australia in the past and I quite like the country," Fang said.

"I want to come here to make some money. Life has been difficult."

In a statement to the ABC, a spokesperson for Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu said it prohibited using the platform for illegal activity.

"Upon discovering such violations, the company will remove the content and take action against the account," the spokesperson said.

The ABC has also reached out to ByteDance — the parent company of Douyin — for comment but is yet to receive a response.

**The treacherous 'walking route' to the US **

The ABC is unable to independently verify Li, Zhang and Fang's claims.

And the men could not provide any documents to the ABC because their possessions, including their phones, were taken from them at the Truscott air base.

However, their stories — including how they used Douyin and Xiaohongshu to find ways to enter Australia without visas — heavily overlap those emerging from the US border in the past two years.

Since late 2021, there has been a dramatic rise in undocumented Chinese nationals entering the US through Mexico — a route often used by people from Central America.

According to data from US border authorities, more than 37,000 Chinese nationals were arrested on the US-Mexico border in 2023 — 10 times more than the previous year.

Many of these Chinese nationals used Douyin — where Li, Zhang and Fang found information about the boat travel — to record how they travelled from China to the US without a visa.

They often go to Hong Kong or Macau, take a plane to Turkey, and then fly to Ecuador, where Chinese passport holders can enter the country without visas.

From there, they walk through the Darien Gap — one of the most dangerous jungles in the world — all the way north to Mexico.

They call this journey "the Walking Route" and it takes about a month to complete.

Tracy Wen Liu, an award-winning journalist now working for Voice Of America — a US government-funded broadcaster — has been documenting the phenomenon since 2022.

She said the people she spoke to who followed the Walking Route were often from a lower- to middle-class background, with about $30,000 to support themselves as they left China.

"A lot of them actually have had some sort of college education or even had a job in China," Ms Liu said.

She said they tended to be young — between 20 and 40 years old — and they were familiar with using social media to look for information or document their journey.

And Chinese nationals' growing demand for the route had inspired a new business model in Mexico, Ms Liu said.

New Chinese restaurants, hostels and car rental services are being set up by locals to serve these new customers.

"There are an increasing number of agents trying to offer packages to people who are taking this route," Ms Liu said.

"Those agents can arrange transportation for these people or they can even help bribe local police or help bribe local gangsters to make this trip much less risky."

Still, the route is full of danger.

In late March, a group of eight Chinese nationals were found dead on a beach in Mexico.

This is the first known case of Chinese migrant deaths since the Walking Route became popular in 2021.

Why are Chinese nationals leaving their country?

It's rare to see people from China — a middle-income country — opting for illegal migration pathways to leave, according to Victor Shih, an associate professor in Chinese political science at the University of California, San Diego.

"Usually this kind of sizeable economic migration would stop when a country reaches middle-income status, which China reached a few years ago," Dr Shih said.

"Of course, even in middle-income countries, people try to leave sometimes for better economic opportunities, but mainly relying on legal channels, like studying overseas and then getting a work visa."

Dr Shih said the growing use of the Walking Route spoke to the economic downturn in China in the past few years, as well as the increasingly challenging business environment.

"During COVID, a lot of small businesses had their savings wiped out because the lockdown policy just led to no cash flows," Dr Shih said when asked why business owners such as Li and Zhang would take such risks to leave China.

"Many of them, also, in order to survive their businesses, borrowed a lot of money, either through formal banking channels or informal lending channels.

"But because of the weakness of the recovery, many of these businesspeople were not able to make enough money to repay their debt."

And that is when their economic struggles turn political.

"In China, because of how pervasive the credit system is … if you get a low score on the credit system, some of these people are not able to even ride a train," Dr Shih said.

"So that makes doing business — to start a new business in order to repay some of their debts — nearly impossible."

After COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in 2022, Beijing announced measures such as tax cuts to boost the economy. However, Dr Shih said "that doesn't really help" with the cash flow situation.

"The other problem is that many local governments are basically bankrupt, so some local governments have instituted informal taxes on small businesses," he said.

Many Chinese people — from the elite to the middle class — have lost their optimism, according to Dali Yang, a China political economist at the University of Chicago.

"We do see this year, for example, finally, the uptake in domestic tourism [in China]," he said.

"But at the same time, for people who have lost a lot of money in recent years, it's not like they can easily get back the money, and very often they may have exhausted their savings."

Data from China's Central Bank released last week also shows China's manufacturing and services sector has slowed at a time of weak domestic demand and possible deflation.

"The latest figure [from the Central Bank] also just simply reveals that people don't find a lot of opportunities for making investments in China at this moment," Professor Yang said.

The new reality after leaving China

In the US, journalist Tracy Wen Liu has stayed in touch with Chinese nationals who have risked their lives on the Walking Route to enter the US.

She has found those who can speak some English and drive can adapt to American culture more easily.

"I think a lot of them are struggling as well," she said.

She has also noticed many Walking Route migrants have chosen to settle in big cities such as New York and Los Angeles, and many of them are competing for the same jobs.

"It's more and more difficult for them to find a job right now, and also hostels or hotels in those areas are getting more and more expensive because there's an increase in demand," she said.

She has also found some of the Walking Route migrants have returned to China.

"A lot of Chinese migrants, when they were living in China … they had a perception about life in the US, [like] it's very easy to make money in the States, it's very nice to live there, it's very convenient and prosperous," she said.

"However, when they actually came to the US, when they live in those hostels and share a room with 10 other people, when they work 14 hours a day, seven days a week and make a salary that's much lower than the minimum salary by law because they don't have a status … I think a lot of them realise that it's actually really difficult to find a living in the States."

Both China and the US have tried to crack down on the flow of migrants.

In April, Douyin — where many Chinese migrants search for information about the Walking Route — censored relevant videos on the platform.

The two countries have also reportedly resumed cooperation on repatriation to tackle Chinese migrants rushing to the southern border of the United States.

Meanwhile, in Nauru, the 10 Chinese men who sought a better life in Australia face an uncertain fate.

Fang chose to return to Malaysia and continue his work there. However, Li and Zhang want to try to stay in Australia.

"After going through what happened at home, I don't want to go back to China," Liu said.

"I came to Australia because it's a free country. It has human rights. It gives people freedom, both physically and mentally."

The nine Chinese men say Australian immigration officials offered them $US5,100 (about $7,600) per person and a return ticket if they agreed to go back to China.

During their stays in Nauru, they took English lessons, went through various health checks, and had time for exercise.

As the men barely spoke any English, they communicated with officers from the centre through mobile translation apps, and when they had meetings with police and the immigration department, there was an interpreting hotline set up for them.

But what they had been hoping for was access to legal aid.

Li said the centre told them they would have a legal aid session in late April, but they told the ABC they were unable to meet with a lawyer until May 17.

They are becoming more anxious as the days pass.

Two sources inside the Nauru Detention Centre told the ABC that one of the Chinese men has been on a hunger strike since Wednesday, demanding to be sent to Australia.

The sources say he is in a good condition.

Li occasionally calls his wife using the phone provided by the centre.

"My family is quite worried but they are also supportive," he said.

He also has a young child but in the past few weeks has tried not to speak to them directly.

"I worry that I will get emotional," he explained.

In a statement to the ABC, the Department of Home Affairs said people who attempted to travel to Australia by boat without a valid Australian visa had "zero chance of settling in Australia".

"Australia's policy response remains consistent — unauthorised maritime arrivals will not settle in Australia," a spokesman for the department said.

"The government of Nauru is responsible for the implementation of regional processing arrangements in Nauru, including the management of individuals under those arrangements."

The ABC has contacted the Chinese embassy in Australia for comment but is yet to receive a response.

I'm currently working on a small setup for myself to have my complete home server in a Nix-config. That means, services, backup, etc. And if I can, having everything nice and separated into different files.

Currently, it's just the few services I need, and a bunch of hard coded constants/passwords, but I wondered if there's any interest from you guys to use and maybe even collaborate on this kind of project?

Maybe it even already exists.

“Julian has been indicted for receiving, possessing and communicating information to the public of evidence of war crimes committed by the U.S. government,” his wife, Stella Assange, said. “Reporting a crime is never a crime.”

- Beijing dislikes Taiwan's new President William Lai and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which they see as pro-independence. It has ramped up military incursions around Taiwan's waters and airspace since his election win in January.

- The situation, closely watched by Taiwan's allies, is, according to Lai, the "greatest strategic challenge to global peace and stability". But the 64-year-old also stuck closely to the formula used by his predecessor president Tsai Ing-wen, whose legacy will be defined by her cautious but steady handling of Beijing.

- At home, Mr Lai also faces big challenges due to unemployment and rising cost of living. Taiwan's economy is seen to be heavily dependent on its hugely successful semiconductor industry - it supplies more than half the world's chips.--

Taiwan's newly inaugurated president William Lai has called on China to stop threatening the island and accept the existence of its democracy.

He urged Beijing to replace confrontation with dialogue, shortly after being sworn in on Monday.

He also said Taiwan would never back down in the face of intimidation from China, which has long claimed the island as its own.

China responded by saying, "Taiwan independence is a dead end".

"Regardless of the pretext or the banner under which it is pursued, the push for Taiwan independence is destined to fail," China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at the daily press briefing on Monday afternoon.

Beijing dislikes Mr Lai and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which they see as pro-independence. And it has ramped up military incursions around Taiwan's waters and airspace since his election win in January.

Such military incursions by China have become a routine affair in the past few years, triggering fears of conflict. In his speech, Mr Lai called this the "greatest strategic challenge to global peace and stability".

But the 64-year-old also stuck closely to the formula used by his predecessor president Tsai Ing-wen, whose legacy will be defined by her cautious but steady handling of Beijing.

Mr Lai, a doctor turned politician, won a three-way presidential race in January, securing an unprecedented third term for his. He had served as Ms Tsai's vice-president since 2020, and before that as her premier. In his younger days, he was known to be a more radical politician who openly called for Taiwanese independence, much to Beijing's ire. It labelled him a "troublemaker" ahead of the polls, and Chinese state media even suggested he should be prosecuted for secession.

The Chinese government is yet to issue a statement on Mr Lai's inauguration. However, the Chinese embassy in the UK held a press briefing over the weekend, asking the UK government to not endorse it. And earlier last week, a spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office warned that the island's new leader "must seriously" consider the question of whether he wants peaceful development or confrontation.

And just as Mr Lai was being sworn in, China's Commerce Ministry announced sanctions against several US companies "involved in arms sales to Taiwan".

But on Monday, Mr Lai struck a far more conciliatory note. He reiterated he would not do anything to change the status quo - an ambiguous diplomatic status, which doesn't recognise Taiwan as a country despite its constitution and sovereign government. China insists on this and accuses major Taiwan allies such as the US of altering this delicate agreement by supporting the island.

Vowing peace and stability, Mr Lai also said he would like to see a re-opening of exchanges across the Taiwan straits including Chinese tourist groups coming to Taiwan. But he said people on the island must not be under any illusion about the threat from China and that Taiwan must further strengthen its defences.

This too was a continuation of Tsai's policy. Taiwan's former president believed that strengthening defence and earning the support of key allies such as the US and Japan was key to deterring China's plans of invasion. Her biggest critics say this military investment risks provoking China, making Taiwan even more vulnerable.

Nevertheless, yearly defence spending increased up to about $20bn (£16bn) under Ms Tsai, and Mr Lai has pledged even more funds. Taiwan has purchased new battle tanks, upgraded its fleet of F-16 fighter jets and bought new ones, and has built and launched a fleet of new missile ships to patrol the 100-mile Taiwan strait. Last September came the completion of what Ms Tsai considers the crowning achievement of her military program: Taiwan's first indigenously developed submarine.

Taiwan's own allies are watching closely too, to see if his rhetoric is likely to aggravate tensions further. Mr Lai's caution was also aimed at his American audience. His vice-president Hsiao Bi-Khim, widely believed to be Ms Tsai's protege, is yet another source of assurance for Washington. The 52-year-old was born in Japan and mostly grew up in the US, where she also served as Taiwan's representative for three years.

Mr Lai also faces big challenges at home. Unemployment and cost of living cost the DPP the youth vote in January, and Taiwan's economy is seen to be heavily dependent on its hugely successful semiconductor industry - it supplies more than half the world's chips

And a divided parliament, where the DPP no longer has a majority, is likely to deny him a honeymoon period. The differences spilled into the spotlight over the weekend when lawmakers were caught brawling in parliament over proposed reforms. The bitter dispute and the protests that followed marred Mr Lai's address.

But how he deals with Beijing will be the biggest question that will determine his presidency, especially as both sides have had no formal communication since 2016.

Lawyer Hsu Chih-ming who attended the inaugurations told BBC Chinese that Taiwan had fared quite well under Ms Tsai but added that there is a need to maintain "good communications" with China.

"Lai said he was a 'practical worker for Taiwan independence'. I hope he wouldn't emphasise this too much and worsen cross-strait relations," he said. "Otherwise all of us wouldn't be able to escape if a war broke out."

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Kallas argued that the fears of NATO allies about sending troops to Ukraine to train soldiers drawing them into a war with Russia are unfounded. She mentioned that some NATO member states are discussing the possibility of sending military instructors or contractors to Ukraine to train troops and assist with equipment repairs. Kyiv has requested assistance from the U.S. and other NATO countries to train 150,000 soldiers closer to the front lines. Kallas emphasized that it is essential to train Ukrainian troops on their own territory and that if any personnel were to be hurt, it would not automatically trigger NATO’s Article 5 on mutual defense. Macron’s comments in February sparked the debate about the potential presence of NATO troops in Ukraine, but many countries have not ruled out sending troops for non-combat missions such as training the Ukrainian military.

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur stated on May 14 that the concept of sending Western troops to Ukraine has not progressed in Estonia or at the EU level due to a lack of clear understanding among allies of the potential outcomes. Macron mentioned that he would consider sending troops to Ukraine in the event of a Russian breakthrough and a request from Ukraine. However, he clarified that such conditions did not currently exist. The U.S. and multiple European allies, along with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, have distanced themselves from Macron’s statement. While some countries have not ruled out the possibility of sending troops for non-combat missions, there is no clear consensus regarding this among NATO allies.

Kallas noted that some countries are already training soldiers on the ground in Ukraine at their own risk. She believes that assisting in the training of Ukrainian troops on their own territory, rather than elsewhere in Europe, will not escalate the war with Russia. Kallas dismissed the idea that if training personnel were to be hurt, those who sent them would immediately invoke Article 5 of mutual defense and retaliate against Russia. The debate surrounding the potential presence of NATO troops in Ukraine has been ongoing since Macron’s comments in February. Despite some countries considering sending troops for non-combat missions, there is no unanimous agreement among NATO allies on this matter.

The discussions about sending military instructors or contractors to Ukraine to train troops and assist with equipment repairs have raised concerns among NATO allies about being drawn into a conflict with Russia. Kallas maintained that these fears are not well-founded and emphasized the importance of training Ukrainian troops on their own territory rather than in Europe. She pointed out that if any training personnel were to be harmed, it would not automatically trigger NATO’s mutual defense clause. Macron’s suggestion of sending troops to Ukraine in certain conditions has not been widely supported by other NATO allies, and the idea has not advanced at the EU level. The debate around the potential presence of NATO troops in Ukraine remains ongoing, with differing opinions among member states.

In conclusion, the issue of sending NATO troops to Ukraine for training purposes remains a topic of debate among member states. While some countries are considering the possibility of sending troops for non-combat missions, others are more cautious due to concerns about being drawn into a conflict with Russia. Kallas emphasized the importance of training Ukrainian soldiers on their own territory and highlighted the lack of consensus among NATO allies on this matter. The discussions sparked by Macron’s comments in February have not led to concrete action, and the idea of sending Western troops to Ukraine has not made progress. As the situation continues to evolve, it remains to be seen how NATO will navigate its involvement in Ukraine and respond to the ongoing conflict in the region.

Khalil, a shy 21-year-old whose name has been changed, was arrested in a pre-dawn raid last October for his allegiance to Hamas. But when Israeli forces smashed through the door of his family home, they didn’t tell him why they were detaining him. He was imprisoned for six months without charge, in conditions he described as “unbelievable”.

“The Israelis are trying to restrain and terrorise us using these methods,” he said. “People are afraid. There is no freedom of speech … I’m scared to travel to any of the cities in the West Bank in case I get detained. Still, it feels like they could raid my house at any minute.”

But as Israeli forces continue to pummel Gaza, claiming to be targeting the remaining Hamas brigades, they have also swept up thousands of Palestinians in raids in the West Bank. The majority, according to the Palestinian prisoners’ commission, are not aligned to Hamas. Even so, the raids and an increasing number of settler attacks have succeeded in creating a climate of fear that is undermining Hamas’s rivals Fatah, who operate the ruling Palestinian Authority, highlighting its inability to protect Palestinians and quietly fuelling Hamas’s popularity.

“These raids are generating distrust towards the Palestinian Authority but also fear of attack by them – they can’t protect us but at the same time they could attack us too,” said Khalil, pointing to the authority’s history of detaining members of Hamas in the West Bank.

Guardrails to prevent artificial intelligence models behind chatbots from issuing illegal, toxic or explicit responses can be bypassed with simple techniques, UK government researchers have found.

The UK’s AI Safety Institute (AISI) said systems it had tested were “highly vulnerable” to jailbreaks, a term for text prompts designed to elicit a response that a model is supposedly trained to avoid issuing.

The AISI said it had tested five unnamed large language models (LLM) – the technology that underpins chatbots – and circumvented their safeguards with relative ease, even without concerted attempts to beat their guardrails.

“All tested LLMs remain highly vulnerable to basic jailbreaks, and some will provide harmful outputs even without dedicated attempts to circumvent their safeguards,” wrote AISI researchers in an update on their testing regime.

Lai Ching-te has been sworn in as Taiwan’s new president, urging China to “cease their political and military intimidation against Taiwan” and to keep the world free from the fear of more war.

Lai was inaugurated on Monday morning at the Japanese-colonial-era presidential office in central Taipei, taking over from Tsai Ing-wen, whose eight years in power saw a sharp deterioration in relations with Beijing.

China claims democratic Taiwan as a province, and has called Lai, 64, a “dangerous separatist” who will bring “war and decline” to the island. The Chinese Communist party has never ruled over Taiwan, but Xi Jinping has declared that what he terms “reunification” is “inevitable”.

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