A court in Germany has started the trial of a number of left-wing activists who are accused of attacking right-wing activists violently.
Seven Antifa Ost members are accused of injuring several people in politically motivated assaults, and the Dresden court in southeast Germany on Tuesday brought the case.
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In bludgeoning attacks carried out in eastern Germany between 2018 and 2023, they are accused of targeting neo-Nazi and other right-wing hardliners. They were known as the “hammer gang” during the attacks.
Lina E, a previously convicted lead defendant, and six men make up the suspects.
In Budapest, in February 2023, two of the suspects are accused of injuring several people during the day’s event, which draws right-wing extremists from all over Europe.
Maja T, a different German activist, is currently facing a trial in Hungary. She faces serious bodily injury, attempted homicide, and membership in a criminal organization that could last up to 24 years.
Illiberal beacon
One of Germany’s most well-known left-wing activist prosecutions in recent years is the trial. Extremist right-wing political forces have found significant support in ex-communist eastern Germany, where far-right and anti-immigrant groups have thrived and have gained traction.
Hungary’s illiberal government has also contributed to its becoming a beacon for the far-right, and it has been eager to prosecute crimes committed by left-wing forces.
Ilaria Salis, an additional anti-fascist activist from Italy who was detained for about 15 months after being detained at the Day of Honor in 2023 on three counts of attempted assault and belonging to a radical left-wing organization, was also being held in Hungary’s custody for that reason.
She was elected to the European Parliament for Italy’s Greens and Left Alliance in June of last year, but she was required to be released.
Budapest’s request to remove her parliamentary immunity was rejected by the European Parliament last month, allowing for the continuation of her legal case.
Antifa Ost and a number of other left-wing and anarchist organizations have recently been designated as “foreign terrorist organizations” by US President Donald Trump, who has accused the “radical left” of engaging in political violence.
The German government must follow suit, according to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has also been labeled an “extremist” organization in Germany. Berlin hasn’t yet shown any interest in making the move.
Ukraine, Kyiv, and a menacing ultimatum for Ukraine could not be worse.
As civilians in the city of Zaporizhzhia hear new, harrowing notes in their almost nightly cannonade, the sound of heavy gliding bombs, Russian troops, drones, and fog-generating robots have slammed the southeast of the front line.
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As the sun sets at 4 p.m. and the night temperatures drop below freezing, Russian shelling continues to destroy Ukraine’s transmission and power infrastructure, causing hours-long blackouts.
Following overnight Russian attacks in Kyiv, at least six people were killed, and Ukraine was in a state of mourning again on Tuesday. At least three people were killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in the southern Rostov region in Russia.
Trump’s strategy, which favors Russia’s involvement in the war, is a bitter reality check and a squandered opportunity, in the eyes of some Ukrainian service members.
Bohdan, a Ukrainian drone operator on leave from the eastern front, told Al Jazeera that the collective West’s “helplessness and cynicism are endless.”
He said, “They kept withholding military aid, couldn’t agree on how to respond, and we kept paying for their indecisiveness with our blood, the blood of our children,” while keeping his last name under wraps, as per rules of the wartime.
Russian missile attack that morning in Ternopil, Ukraine, November 19, 2025 [Andriy Bodak/Reuters] causes smoke to rise from an apartment building.
He maintains some optimism, stating that Moscow’s potential is limitless.
They seized 1% of our territory three years ago, and it resulted in a million soldiers being killed or wounded, according to Bohdan.
Russian forces withdrew from areas in the east and south of Kyiv, northern Ukraine, and all of its regions in the wake of overwhelming successes in early 2022.
Every town they seized since then is said to have cost them tens of thousands of service members.
He sarcastically joked, “At that rate, they will have wasted every Russian man, and it still won’t conquer us.”
The US “wants us to capitulate.”
Ukraine has been roiled by a corruption scandal involving Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s closest allies, who came to power in 2019 on an anticorruption ticket.
Ukrainians were gutted and betrayed when Trump threatened to freeze military aid if Kyiv refused to sign it by Thursday, November 27 when he offered a 28-point peace plan.
“Everything is against us, everyone is against us.” And now, the White House’s halfwit wants us to capitulate. Yevheniya Demyanenko, 42, a seller of seeds, pots, and fertilizer in southeast Kyiv, said, “Again.”
She questioned Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had been huddled in a warm overcoat, about having “something so disgustingly compromising on]Trump] that he betrays everything that America is built on as a gasoline-fueled power generator rattled outside her shop while a pale lamp, a small heater, and electronic devices.
Later, Washington claimed that the deadline was “fluid.”
According to a Kyiv-based analyst, Trump’s plan resembles the Kremlin’s wish list, with few security guarantees for Ukraine and short, vague clauses.
In the event that Ukraine “attacks” Russia, Kyiv forfeits its undefined security guarantees. Another requirement that Ukraine make clear in its constitution is that it disband NATO.
The plan, according to a former Russian diplomat, is a triple success in terms of Ukraine, Washington’s diplomacy, and Europe’s entire security structure.
Boris Bondarev, who resigned from his position at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in protest of Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, claimed that the plan “restricts Ukraine’s sovereignty, offers no credible security guarantees, and signals Washington’s willingness to give ground to the Kremlin.”
Putin sees it as a case in point for the US’s weakness and as a chance for NATO to reform its entire security structure, he said.
The proposal’s “victim and the aggressor were equal,” said Mariia Kucherenko, an expert with the Come Back Alive think tank.
Has Ukraine ever attacked Russia? Or do they refer to “efforts to reclaim occupied Ukrainian territories”?
She also criticized a provision that stated that Washington would “de facto recognize” the Donbass and the southeast of Luhansk and Donetsk as being Russian.
About three-quarters of Donetsk and the majority of Luhansk are controlled by Russia, and Kyiv wants to cede the rest, including fortified fortifications and commanding heights that might lessen Moscow’s influence in Ukraine.
Moscow agrees to halt northbound isolation and freeze the southern front-line.
Kucherenko claimed that the plan does not go into great detail about the safeguards that underlie Russia’s “de jure” control.
She also criticizes a laconic provision that doesn’t specify “after what” for the phrase “holding elections in 100 days” in Ukraine?
If there are sanctions for violating a ceasefire, and who would oversee and enforce them? She pondered.
There won’t be a ceasefire, according to Kucherenko, “until there are… answers to these questions.”
She added that any elections held after a ceasefire rather than a full peace settlement run a high security risk for the electorate.
Another query is looming. Who will secure the votes of Ukrainian refugees living abroad or in occupied regions?
Most of the people in occupied areas were forced to obtain Russian passports by Moscow-appointed “authorities,” who would then compel them to resign from their jobs and provide them with medical and legal services.
Kucherenko remarked, “There are many questions and there isn’t a single answer.”
The plan, according to her, resembles a “classic” intelligence operation because it publishes Moscow’s wish list without taking into account Kyiv’s or the European Union’s positions, she continued.
The publication was based on Ukraine’s political and energy crises and the anniversary of the Revolution of Dignity, which erupted on November 21, 2013, and established a pro-Western government.
With all of this in mind, Kucherenko said Ukrainian diplomats “need to keep our heads cool, communicate with European partners, and define the Ukrainian position firmly, calmly, and consequently.”
Ruslan Stefanchuk, the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, stated on Monday that Kyiv would not consent to granting the country’s 600, 000-strong military vetoes and that it would not accept its recognition of its occupation.
Any peace, according to Kyiv, should be “dignified” and “lasting,” and the plan needs to be updated and refined.
Meanwhile, leaders in Europe predicted that the strategy should include a ceasefire right away, allow Kyiv to eventually join NATO, and use frozen Russian funds to bring Ukraine back.
The response to the US proposal from both the Ukrainian and European countries was described as “a pure ” leave-us-alone ” declaration, ” said researcher Nikolay Mitrokhin of Germany’s Bremen University.
The EU has a chance to accept five to seven million Ukrainian refugees from frozen cities, he said, and Russia has good chances of reaching the outskirts of Zaporizhia and Dnipro by spring.
After rumors of potential US military action in Venezuela, tensions between the two countries have grown.
Venezuela’s “Cartel de los Soles,” which the US claimed is led by President Nicolas Maduro, was declared a foreign “terrorist” by the US on Monday. Washington has not provided any supporting evidence. Although it is not a coordinated cartel, Venezuelans refer to officials who are involved in corruption.
Following a “potentially hazardous situation” in Venezuelan airspace, the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning to several airlines.
Following months of military expansion in the Caribbean Sea as part of US claims to combat narcotics, the advisory was issued. Dan Caine, a top US military officer, has also been traveling to the Caribbean.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, claimed last month that he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela. This highlights how US intervention has historically been conducted in Latin America.
A strike on Venezuelan territory would significantly worsen the months-long US operation there, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 80 people in clashes on boats accused of drug trafficking.
The US actions have been denounced by President Maduro. The alleged drug cartel’s designation as “terror” was described by the Venezuelan government as a “ridiculous lie” on Monday to support “an illegitimate and illegal intervention against Venezuela.”
Trump has stepped up attacks on Venezuela since his White House re-election in January 2025, going against Joe Biden’s lead stance on engaging with Maduro.
However, after leftist former president Hugo Chavez’s ascension to power in 1999, the tensions and distrust between Washington and Caracas date back almost a quarter of a century. Following Chavez’s passing in 2013, Maduro assumed office as president.
Venezuela and the US have been at odds with one another since Trump’s first term as president in January 2025, and this is where Washington has come from since the late 1990s.
After disputed elections, Maduro is sworn in for a third term on January 10, 2025. The US refutes the outcome, citing recent allegations of election fraud.
Trump retakes the temporary protected status (TPS) that had protected about 600,000 Venezuelans from deportation in January 2025.
Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang is designated as a “foreign terrorist organization” by the Trump administration on February 20, 2025. Trump would go on to claim Tren de Aragua is Maduro’s front, despite US intelligence officials’ claims that there is no connection between the organization and the Venezuelan leadership.
Venezuela and Washington come to terms on coordinating their first batch of migrants’ arrivals in Venezuela on February 21, 2025.
Trump rejects concessions made by his predecessor Joe Biden regarding Venezuelan oil on February 26, 2025.
Trump imposes 25% tariffs on nations that purchase Venezuelan oil on March 24, 2025.
US doubles the reward for the arrest of Venezuela’s President Maduro to $50 million, designating him as the “global terrorist leader” of the Cartel de los Soles, on August 8, 2025.
Washington launches a maritime “anti-narcotics” campaign in the Caribbean and the Pacific on September 2. More than 83 people have been killed in at least 21 alleged “drug boats” attacks.
Trump confirmed on October 15, 2025, that he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.
Venezuela suspends a gas deal with Trinidad and Tobago on October 28, 2025, as a result of a US warship visiting them.
Venezuela launches nationwide military exercises on November 12, 2025.
US announces “Southern Spear” mission as troops move closer to South America on November 14, 2025.
US deployment to the Caribbean on November 14 through to November 16 will include the largest aircraft carrier ever built, the USS Gerald R. Ford, warships, tens of thousands of soldiers, and F-35 stealth jets.
A Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) is issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on November 22, 2025, warning airlines of risks posed by “heightened military activity,” including GPS interference. Venezuelan flights are suspended by airlines.
Prior to the rise of socialist President Chavez, Caracas and Washington largely maintained economic ties. In the first half of the 20th century, US companies made an investment in the oil sector, and by the 1920s, Venezuela’s oil exports were in the US.
However, Chavez’s nationalization of the oil industry and outcry against US imperial interests in Latin America strained the bonds. In an effort to get the state oil company’s share of all new oil projects, Chavez pushed out US oil giants ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips in 2007. However, another US oil major, Chevron, is still in business.
A look at Venezuela’s and US ties over the past 25 years is provided:
Chavez assumes office in 1999.
Hugo Chavez, the president of the Bolivarian Revolution, campaigns against an anti-establishment, anti-US platform. Venezuela and the US collided in the wake of his early attempts to rewrite the constitution and later to nationalize the oil industry.
2000s – Escalation and hostility
As Chavez strengthens ties with Russia, China, and Iran, US-Venezuela ties become less and less.
Venezuela expels US-backed diplomats and NGOs and accuses Washington of trying to stoke the country’s instability. Venezuela is criticized by the US for its authoritarian policies and media restrictions.
Chavez’s government expands social initiatives domestically, which are funded by high oil prices, but economic mismanagement and corruption start to thwart growth.
2002 – The coup attempt
Chavez is sacked for 48 hours in a short-lived coup. Venezuela denies that Washington supports the plot, accusing Venezuela of doing so. The catalyst for 20 years of mistrust is this particular incident.
2013 – Maduro’s rise
Maduro, his long-term deputy, narrowly wins the presidency following Hugo Chavez’s passing. His presidency is immediately marred by economic stagnation, corruption scandals, and US-to-US relations that are already in decline.
2014 – 2015 – First major US sanctions
The US imposes sanctions and visa restrictions on Venezuelan officials in response to mounting protests and human rights violations.
Venezuela is at a turning point as a result of sanctions that only make the economy worse and cause severe food and drug shortages. The country’s migration is soaring, and inflation is rising.
2017-2019 – Economic crisis
Venezuela’s financial markets are hampered by US restrictions on debt purchase and by US restrictions on purchasing Venezuelan bonds. As Venezuela’s economy collapses under years of mismanagement and hyperinflation, sanctions on oil imports become more severe. In 2019, inflation peaks at 345 percent. In April 2025, it stands at 172 percent.
Maduro’s disputed re-election in 2018 was won.
A political crisis results from Maduro’s contentious 2018 re-election. The majority of the opposition’s primary candidates were prohibited from running, leading to the boycott of the elections.
Juan Guaido, a figure in the opposition, is elected president interim after receiving support from the US and numerous allies. Venezuela’s oil, gold, mining, and banking sectors are subject to more severe sanctions by Washington.
2024 — A rerun of 2018
In a tense election, Maduro defeated Edmundo Gonzalez, an independent opposition candidate, once more. The opposition disputed the election results announced by election officials in Maduro’s favor, displaying vote tallies from various booths that appeared to indicate a comfortable win for Gonzales. The election’s organization received criticism for how it was conducted.
In the world, more than 50, 000 women and girls were murdered by intimate partners or family members in 2024, the equivalent of one fatality every 137 days, according to a new report.
The UNODC and UN Women’s report, released on Tuesday to mark the 2025 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, warned that femicide continues to cost tens of thousands of lives annually and has “no sign of real progress.”
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In total, 83, 000 women and girls were intentionally murdered worldwide last year, with 60% of those deaths occurring as victims of partners or close friends.
In contrast, only 11% of male homicide victims were killed by their families or close friends.
The report argues that while many killings can be prevented, gaps in protection, police response, and social support systems increase the risk of fatal violence for women and girls.
The statistics are regarded as being underestimating because of poor data collection in many nations, survivors’ fear of reporting violence, and outdated legal terminology that makes cases difficult to identify.
According to experts, women who are confined to abusive situations may be more vulnerable to risks due to economic instability, conflict, forced displacement, and limited access to safe housing.
Over a large number of women and girls around the world still reside in the home, according to John Brandolino, acting executive director of UNODC.
He added that stronger prevention initiatives and criminal justice initiatives are needed in light of the findings.
Feminists frequently sit on a “continuum of violence,” according to Sarah Hendriks, director of UN Women’s policy division. These can begin with controlling behavior, harassment, and online abuse.
She claimed that “digital violence frequently doesn’t stay online.” It can worsen offline and cause fatal harm, according to the author.
Africa, in the opinion of the report, had the highest regional rate of intimate partner or family member femicidity, followed by the Americas, Oceania, Asia, and Europe.
According to UN Women, early warning signs of violence must be identified through coordinated efforts between schools, workplaces, public services, and local communities.
Additionally, the campaigners demanded more money from governments for services like shelters, legal aid, and other specific support.
Before the release of the official results, both the two main rivals and incumbent incumbent Umaro Sissoco Embalo and Fernando Dias, who are the two front-runners in Guinea-Bissau’s presidential election, have already won.
Both campaigns had made a run-off claim on Monday that their candidate had overreached the required 50% to win.
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The election for president has been won by us. In Bissau, the capital, Dias declared that the people were “tired” and wanted change, adding that there would be no more.
Oscar Barbosa, Embalo’s campaign spokesperson, added that the president had won the election by herself, that there would be no run-off, and that rivals should refrain from making accusations that would denigrate the process.
The National Electoral Commission, which is expected to release preliminary results on Thursday, did not immediately comment on the disputing assertions.
In the poll on Sunday, which had a turnout of more than 65 percent, 12 candidates vied for the spot.
The movement that spearheaded the fight against Portuguese colonial rule, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), was denied for the first time.
Dias received support from the party, which helped his campaign, especially since former prime minister Domingos Simoes Pereira, the party’s leader, supported him. The Party for Social Renewal is led by the 47-year-old.
Embalo, 53, was a former army general and prime minister from 2016 to 2018 until now. In 30 years, he wants to win a second term as Guinea-Bissau’s first president.
Opposition parties contend Embalo should have been given more time this year. Although the election was postponed due to the Supreme Court’s ruling, his term was postponed until early September.
After the 2019 and 2023 legislative elections, Embalo dissolved parliament, which had been under the control of the opposition, and has not allowed it to sit since December 2023.
Guinea-Bissau has run numerous coups and attempted coups since gaining its independence more than 50 years ago, and the World Bank estimates that half of the country’s population resides in poverty.
The UK’s contentious designation of Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organization is set to be challenged by the co-founder of the group.
After the Court of Appeal last month determined that the proscription order impedes the rights to freedom of speech and protest, Huda Ammori will file the case with London’s High Court on Wednesday.
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On Wednesday, the judicial review is scheduled to begin. Thursday and December 2 are the scheduled dates for the next hearings.
If Ammori is successful, the ban might be lifted, putting an end to a months-long civil disobedience campaign that has resulted in hundreds of arrests.
Since the terrorist organization’s outlawing in July, more than 2, 000 people have been detained under the Terrorism Act, primarily for holding signs that read “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
The direct action group’s membership or showing support for them is currently a criminal offense that can lead to prison time of up to 14 years.
After two of its members entered the RAF Brize Norton military base in Oxfordshire in June and sprayed red paint on Voyager planes, which activists claimed were used in Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, the group’s government suspended it.
In a separate incident in August 2024, members of the group reportedly destroyed quadcopter drones, which the group claims are used by the Israeli military to target Palestinians in Gaza. They broke into the company’s Filton, Bristol, headquarters. 24 of the group’s members are still being detained overall.
Ammori claimed that the Palestine Action ban is “absurd and authoritarian.”
She claimed that “proscribing Palestine Action” was done to combat dissent and defend Israel’s weapons industry.
The courts have a chance to correct the injustices the government has committed and restore some sanity. We will fight the ban even if it doesn’t work, and I’m certain that we will ultimately prevail.
Political conflict
The ban is “political,” according to Defend Our Juries, a campaign group that coordinates demonstrations across the UK with sign-wielding demonstrators regularly being detained.
According to Lex Korte, the group’s legal coordinator and cofounder, “the reason there are protest groups is because our government isn’t listening to what the ongoing protests are about.”
In recent months, thousands of protesters have urged the UK to put an end to its alleged complicity in Israel’s assault on Gaza. They have also received calls from experts of international law and human rights organizations. Shadow R1 surveillance flights over the Gaza Strip are carried out by the UK, which are essential components of F-35 jets.
A direct action group’s designation as a terrorist organization was the first time in British history when Palestine Action was banned. Additionally, it is the first time a prohibited group has been granted judicial review.
According to Korte, the term “terrorism” has always been associated with a strong political connotation.
He said that the inclusion of criminal damage that doesn’t necessitate any acts of violence against people has been criticized as being “too vague” and [of including] acts that aren’t considered terrorist acts, particularly the Terrorism Act 2000.
We’re highlighting the unfairness of the proscription of Palestine Action, Korte said, “by inviting arrest with your behavior and that kind of method.”
UK complicity in Gaza is challenged by direct action.
In a report released on Tuesday, the London-based human rights advocacy group Cage International highlighted the “draconian use of terrorism legislation to shut down direct action.”
“Direct action has never been arbitrary or gratuitous.” It stated that it has been focused on the specific nodes that make war possible, including government infrastructure, manufacturers, insurers, logistics companies, financiers, universities, and lobbyists.
Principled disruption becomes not only necessary but legitimate when conventional channels fail to restrain state-sanctioned harm.
Despite the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling in July 2024 that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, constitutes a violation of international law, the report asserts that the UK continues to support the conflict in Gaza through military, trade, and diplomatic ties.
Additionally, the ICJ recommended six provisional measures to reduce the risk of such acts and concluded that Israel’s actions could constitute genocide.
According to Cage, there has been a “significant shift in the landscape of activism in the UK” between 2020 and 2025 as a result of Palestine Action. As a result, operations at locations that were linked to the production or facilitation of weapons by Israeli forces were stopped, including Elbit’s site in Bristol, which hosted numerous protests led to Palestine Action’s suspension of operations, some of which came days before the organization was banned.
The UK has steadily expanded its authoritarian counter-terrorism powers to thwart dissent and defuse itself from public scrutiny, according to Anas Mustapha, Cage’s Head of Public Advocacy, Al Jazeera reported.
However, Palestine Action’s prohibition extended beyond what the general public would accept. Because of a shift in the general public consciousness, it backfired. People recognized those who were acting to stop British involvement in such acts so that they could see what was happening in Gaza.
Judges at London’s High Court, according to Korte of Defend Our Juries, would need to comprehend “the gravitas that]their] decision has, both to regular people and their lives as well as to the Palestinian people and the international community.”
Since October 2023, Israel has systematically harmed Gaza, injuring 170 Palestinians and injuring 863 others. During the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, 139 people were killed in Israel, and about 200 were taken prisoner.
