Louise Wateridge
“Everywhere you look now in west Rafah this morning, families are packing up. Streets are significantly emptier. UNRWA estimates 150,000 people have now fled Rafah. New areas have been issued evacuation orders towards central Rafah in south Gaza and Jabalia in North Gaza.”
1 hour ago
Donald Tusk
“The Polish-Belarusian border is a unique place due to the pressure of illegal immigration. In fact, we are dealing with a progressing hybrid war. I want there to be no doubts here - a country with increasingly aggressive intentions towards Poland, such as Belarus, is co-organising this practice on the Polish border. It is not only Poland's internal border, but also the EU border. Therefore, I have no doubt that all of Europe will have to ... invest in its security by investing in Poland's eastern border and in the security of our border.”
1 hour ago
Jakub Palowski
“A direct attack on Kharkiv is quite unlikely because it is a big city. Ukraine currently has a mobilised army and, in the absence of a surprise, the defence of such a city would be quite effective. It is hard to tell what Russia wants to achieve in the Kharkiv region. It might be the opening of a new full-scale front, similar to the Donbas region; actions that would aim at capturing a limited area and accumulating Ukrainian troops in one place, so that they cannot be used elsewhere; or creating conditions for further offensives.”
1 hour ago
Yevgen Shapoval
“Some people are panicking, but not like the occupiers would like them to. Yes, explosions are heard close up and the situation is not easy. It is difficult especially psychologically. We must be consistent and believe in Ukraine's defence forces. So even if they try to do something, to attack, they will get the response they deserve. Yes - some local tactical movements and even some larger-scale offensive operations are possible. But as for Kharkiv, I don't believe it can be captured.”
1 hour ago
Georgios Petropoulos
“We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding, none of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system.”
1 hour ago
Tal Beeri
“So far, the IDF has not struck Hezbollah's significant systems. Even if the government pursues a diplomatic agreement, it will only postpone the war that will break out whenever Hezbollah chooses and on its terms-by my estimation, no later than the end of 2026. No political or diplomatic agreement will prevent Hezbollah from continuing to operate. Any such agreement only means buying time, with Israel being the only side likely to adhere to it, while Hezbollah waits for an opportune moment to initiate a full-scale confrontation.”
17 hours ago
Louise Wateridge
“Everywhere you look now in west Rafah this morning, families are packing up. Streets are significantly emptier. UNRWA estimates 150,000 people have now fled Rafah. New areas have been issued evacuation orders towards central Rafah in south Gaza and Jabalia in North Gaza.”
1 hour ago
Donald Tusk
“The Polish-Belarusian border is a unique place due to the pressure of illegal immigration. In fact, we are dealing with a progressing hybrid war. I want there to be no doubts here - a country with increasingly aggressive intentions towards Poland, such as Belarus, is co-organising this practice on the Polish border. It is not only Poland's internal border, but also the EU border. Therefore, I have no doubt that all of Europe will have to ... invest in its security by investing in Poland's eastern border and in the security of our border.”
1 hour ago
Jakub Palowski
“A direct attack on Kharkiv is quite unlikely because it is a big city. Ukraine currently has a mobilised army and, in the absence of a surprise, the defence of such a city would be quite effective. It is hard to tell what Russia wants to achieve in the Kharkiv region. It might be the opening of a new full-scale front, similar to the Donbas region; actions that would aim at capturing a limited area and accumulating Ukrainian troops in one place, so that they cannot be used elsewhere; or creating conditions for further offensives.”
1 hour ago
Yevgen Shapoval
“Some people are panicking, but not like the occupiers would like them to. Yes, explosions are heard close up and the situation is not easy. It is difficult especially psychologically. We must be consistent and believe in Ukraine's defence forces. So even if they try to do something, to attack, they will get the response they deserve. Yes - some local tactical movements and even some larger-scale offensive operations are possible. But as for Kharkiv, I don't believe it can be captured.”
1 hour ago
Georgios Petropoulos
“We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding, none of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system.”
1 hour ago
Tal Beeri
“So far, the IDF has not struck Hezbollah's significant systems. Even if the government pursues a diplomatic agreement, it will only postpone the war that will break out whenever Hezbollah chooses and on its terms-by my estimation, no later than the end of 2026. No political or diplomatic agreement will prevent Hezbollah from continuing to operate. Any such agreement only means buying time, with Israel being the only side likely to adhere to it, while Hezbollah waits for an opportune moment to initiate a full-scale confrontation.”
17 hours ago
“We have understood that the situation is very serious and that we want to take further measures in addition to those already taken. The fourth wave must be broken and this has not yet been achieved.”
“I want to tell the people of Afghanistan that we are of course very sad about the fact that we simply did not manage to achieve what we wanted to do, namely find a self-sustaining political order in Afghanistan, one in which girls can go to school, women can fulfil their wishes, and with lasting peace. The blame for this lies not with Germany alone. The Afghans, for their part, did not get it done either. It is simply very regrettable.”
“The relationship between Turkey and Germany, with its positive and negative sides, will go on. Everybody knows the security and independence of both our countries depends on each other.”
“I think that on this point, even if at this stage it seems almost hopeless, the idea of a two-state solution should not be taken off the table, it should not be buried … and that the Palestinians should be able to live securely in a state.”
“Integration cannot be a seven-generation endeavour that never ends just because one isn't called Klaus or Erika. The question is how long does a person who doesn't have a clearly German name have to integrate themselves before they are integrated? I think everyone should have a chance, at the latest when they have taken up German citizenship, to be seen as part of this land, and the name must play no role.”
“We … spoke about the depressing situation of Alexei Navalny. I have demanded once again from the president to release Navalny and I have made it clear that we will remain on the case.”
“We must realize that when it comes to the NATO mission to Afghanistan, it was not possible to have an independent role for Germany or the European forces. We always said that we are basically dependent on the decisions of the US government.”
“I am equipped with sufficient sense for science to see that objective circumstances demand that we can't continue at the current pace but have to up the tempo.”
“It's not like the world no longer has any problems because of the election of Joe Biden as US president. But we can work on solutions to those problems with new momentum. And I think it's very good that we have become more concrete at this G7.”
“I'm delighted to see that the United States is back, is back to work together with us in climate politics. Because there can be no doubt about the world needing your contribution if we really want to fulfill our ambitious goals.”
“We have to prepare for a situation where we have to continuously vaccinate for a longer period of time, maybe over years, due to new coronavirus variants, akin to the situation we know from the flu.”
“We consider these expulsions to be unjustified. We believe it is yet another aspect that can be observed right now of Russia being quite far from the rule of law.”
“I would have wished for lighter measures. But due to Christmas shopping, the number of social contacts has risen considerably. There is an urgent need to take action.”
“I want to say this: if we have too much contact over Christmas, and afterwards it turns out that that was the last Christmas with the grandparents, then we will have really messed up and we should not mess up!”
“We will try to get a vote in Europe on whether we could close all ski resorts. Unfortunately, considering announcements from Austria, it doesn't look like we can do that so easily, but we will try again.”