Foreign
Russia launched intercontinental ballistic missile during attack on Ukraine, Kyiv says
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The launch was the latest sign of rapidly mounting tensions in the 33-month-old war after Ukraine fired US and British missiles at targets inside Russia.
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Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile during an attack on Ukraine on Thursday, Kyiv’s air force said, in the first known use in the war of a powerful weapon designed to deliver nuclear strikes thousands of kilometers away.
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The launch was the latest sign of rapidly mounting tensions in the 33-month-old war after Ukraine fired US and British missiles at targets inside Russia this week despite warnings by Moscow that it would see such action as a major escalation.
Security experts said that, if confirmed, it would be the first military use of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) – a strategic weapon designed to deliver nuclear warheads and is an important part of Russia’s nuclear deterrent.The Ukrainians did not specify what kind of warhead the missile had or what type of missile it was. There was no suggestion it was nuclear-armed.
Russia did not immediately comment on the Ukrainian Air Force statement. Asked by reporters about the Air Force statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters to contact the Russian military for comment. Ukrainska Pravda, a Kyiv-based media outlet, cited anonymous sources saying the missile was an RS-26 Rubezh, a solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 5,800 km, according to the Arms Control Association.
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A serviceman of the 24th Mechanized brigade named after King Danylo of the Ukrainian Armed Forces prepares to fire a 120-mm mortar towards Russian troops at a frontline, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near the town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region, Ukraine, November 19, 2024. (credit: Oleg Petrasiuk/Handout via REUTERS)
The RS-26 was first successfully tested in 2012 and is estimated to be 12 meters (40 ft) long and weigh 36 tons, according to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). It said the RS-26 can carry an 800-kg (1,765-pound)nuclear warhead.
Hypersonic missiles in Dnipro strike
The Russian missile attack targeted enterprises and critical infrastructure in the central-eastern city of Dnipro, the air force said.
The air force did not say what the ICBM had targeted or whether it had caused any damage, but regional governor Serhiy Lysak said the missile attack caused damage to an industrial enterprise and set off fires in Dnipro. Two people were hurt.
Russia also fired a Kinzhal hypersonic missile and seven Kh-101 cruise missiles, six of which were shot down, the Ukrainian Air Force said.
“In particular, an intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the Astrakhan region of the Russian Federation,” it said.
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Foreign
Trump’s Tariff Threat: Canadian election thrown open
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Donald Trump’s recent tariff threat has dramatically altered the course of Canada’s upcoming election, turning what once seemed like a straightforward victory for the opposition Conservatives into an increasingly uncertain contest.
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According to Reuters analysis, for 18 months, Pierre Poilievre’s right-leaning Conservatives maintained a double-digit lead over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, capitalising on voter dissatisfaction and accusing Trudeau of “breaking Canada” after nearly a decade in power.
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However, two major developments—the prime minister’s resignation announcement last month and Trump’s vow to impose tariffs on all Canadian imports—have upended the race.
“When you look at the changes over the past four weeks, it’s basically a whole new world… the big change is Trump,” said Nik Nanos, founder of the Nanos Research polling firm.
A recent Nanos poll showed the Conservatives leading with 39% support, while the Liberals trailed at 32%. Such a result on election day could leave the Conservatives short of a parliamentary majority, potentially leading to a fragile minority government.
A minority administration could leave Canada’s next government struggling to manage key issues such as energy policy, natural resources, and trade relations with its largest economic partner—the United States.
In an attempt to shift the narrative, the Liberals have sought to highlight similarities between Poilievre and Trump, releasing an advert on Sunday that draws direct comparisons between the two leaders.
The 35-second video, opening with the question, “How can you speak for Canada when you sound like Donald Trump?” features clips of both men making near-identical statements.
The Conservatives have yet to respond to the advert, but Poilievre has received notable praise from Trump ally Elon Musk, who last month voiced his support for the Conservative leader on his X social media platform.
Meanwhile, Trudeau’s Immigration Minister, Marc Miller, dismissed Poilievre’s campaign rhetoric, stating, “You can’t say that Canada is broken, and at the same time say that Canada is the best country in the world. The two just don’t go together.”
Before Trudeau’s departure, the Conservatives had focused their campaign on ousting the prime minister and opposing his proposed federal carbon tax increase.
But with Trudeau stepping aside, the race has taken a new turn. His potential successors, former finance minister Chrystia Freeland and ex-central banker, Mark Carney, have both pledged to scrap the tax while taking a tough stance against Trump’s trade threats.
“Canadians have put what happened before out of their minds … which has created an opportunity for the Liberals to resuscitate themselves through a leadership contest,” said Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs.
With the election set to take place by October 20, both parties now face a dramatically altered playing field—one where Trump’s influence may prove decisive.
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Foreign
World’s ‘first openly gay imam’, Muhsin Hendricks, shot dead in South Africa
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Muhsin Hendricks, widely regarded as the world’s “first openly gay imam,” has been shot and killed near Gqeberha, South Africa, in what police are investigating as a targeted attack.
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According to The Guardian UK, Hendricks, who founded a mosque as a sanctuary for gay and marginalised Muslims, was in a car with another person on Saturday when assailants blocked their vehicle and opened fire.
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“Two unknown suspects with covered faces got out of the vehicle and started firing multiple shots at the vehicle,” police said. “Thereafter they fled the scene, and the driver noticed that Hendricks, who was seated at the back of the vehicle, was shot and killed.”
A video circulating on social media purportedly shows the killing in Bethelsdorp, near Gqeberha, and has been confirmed as authentic by police. “The motive for the murder is unknown and forms part of the ongoing investigation,” authorities said, urging anyone with information to come forward.
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association condemned the killing. “The ILGA World family is in deep shock at the news of the murder of Muhsin Hendricks, and calls on authorities to thoroughly investigate what we fear may be a hate crime,” said its executive director, Julia Ehrt.
Hendricks, a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ Muslims, publicly came out in 1996. He began hosting meetings for LGBTQ+ Muslims in his home city two years later. “I opened my garage, put a carpet down and invited people to have tea and talk,” he told The Guardian in 2022.
In 2011, he established a mosque after a friend endured a sermon condemning homosexuality. “I said, ‘Maybe it’s time we started our own space, so people can pray without being judged’.” The Al-Ghurbaah mosque in Wynberg, near Cape Town, describes itself as “a safe space in which queer Muslims and marginalised women can practise Islam.”
Hendricks, the subject of the 2022 documentary The Radical, had previously acknowledged threats against him but refused to live in fear. He said he had been advised to hire bodyguards but insisted that “the need to be authentic” was “greater than the fear to die.”
Born into a Muslim family, Hendricks married a woman and had children before coming out to his family at age 29. He later worked as an Arabic teacher and fashion designer while dedicating his life to LGBTQ+ advocacy within Islam.
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Foreign
From Cairo’s dungeons to global advocacy: The remarkable journey of Majed El-Shafie – exclusive
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ADVOCACY AFFAIRS: ‘Just as Israel stood by me, I now stand by Israel,’ Egyptian-born minority rights activist tells ‘Post’
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Majed El-Shafie, a Muslim-born Christian reverend and human rights activist from Egypt who escaped a death sentence in his home country, spoke to The Jerusalem Post from his office in Toronto.
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A founder of One Free World International, a global human rights organization operating in 20 countries, he still carries the scars that are permanent reminders – both physical and metaphorical – of the torture he endured in Egypt’s infamous Abu Zabal Prison.
Shafie was born into a prominent Muslim family in Egypt. His early life seemed destined for privilege and success: his father was a lawyer, his mother a banker, and his uncle even served as a general during the Nasser and Sadat eras.
But it was the library in his bedroom that would ultimately alter the course of his life. Filled with books about freedom, religious liberty, and human rights, these volumes planted seeds that would later bloom into unwavering conviction.
Even as a child, Shafie questioned the prevailing narratives. At nine years old, during a history lesson about Egypt’s peace agreement with Israel in which the teacher explained that it’s only a temporary truce, he raised his hand with an innocent question that would earn him a harsh lesson in conformity.
“If this is peace,” he asked, “why are we talking about war? Why is it only temporary and not forever?” The teacher responded by striking him five times on each hand. When he returned home in tears, his mother asked if he was crying from the pain. “No,” he replied, “I’m crying because I don’t know what I did wrong.” His mother’s response would shape his worldview: “We don’t hate anyone,” she said, “not Jews, not anyone.”
At the age of 18, while studying law at Alexandria University, Shafie made a decision that would upend his life: he converted to Christianity. “When you read both the Quran and the Bible,” he explained, “you realize that faith is between a person and their God.” However, the choice that he made, which he was convinced was a personal one, would soon thrust him into the heart of his country’s dictatorial mechanisms.
Under Hosni Mubarak’s merciless regime, Shafie established an underground Christian human rights organization, which grew to 26,000 members within two years. He authored a book about the history of minorities in Egypt: Christians, Jews, Bahá’ís, Armenians and others. But at 1:30 AM on August 15, 1998, five police officers appeared at his office door, and what followed would test the limits of human endurance.
Enduring torture through faith
The Abu Zabal Prison, described by Shafie as “hell on earth,” became his home for seven days, though for him, it felt like seven years. “Twenty-five percent of the prison is underground,” he described. “This is where innocent people are tortured in specialized departments. The guards all wear masks and refer to each other by numbers instead of names so that no one would be recognizable.”
Shafie was subjected to systematic torture sessions. “They had a system in which every day the type of torture would grow more severe. Sessions lasted about 3-4 hours, with 20-minute breaks in between. A military doctor stood by, not to stop the torture but to ensure that I remained conscious throughout the ordeal,” he added grimly.
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MAJED EL-SHAFIE still carries the scars that are permanent reminders – both physical and metaphorical – of the torture he endured in Egypt’s infamous Abu Zabal prison. (credit: Courtesy Majed El-Shafie)
“They started by shaving my head,” Shafie recounted, “and then they repeatedly dunked my head in containers of scalding hot and freezing cold water.” But when they asked for information about his associates, he responded with defiance: “I told them I hadn’t showered in a while and was enjoying the water, and that I looked more handsome without my hair.” His voice carried an unexpected hint of humor as he shared this memory, exemplifying his belief that showing pain only gratifies the torturers.
The next day the torture sessions escalated. Shafie was hung upside down, he was beat with sticks and pipes and had cigarettes turned off on his skin, until the guards’ arms tired and they sent to call for more. “When I was returned to my cell,” he recounted, “I could see the trail of my own blood.”
PERHAPS THE most extraordinary moment came during the third day of his imprisonment. The guards used to foretell Shafie what sort of nefarious torture awaits him the next day to keep him worried during the night, and the guards revealed that the following day entailed introducing attack dogs into his cell.
“I thanked God for the gift of life,” he remembered. “I said if you give me more life, I would do the same thing again – I don’t regret my faith. But I had one request: kill me before morning. I couldn’t bear the pain anymore, and I was afraid that under extreme torture, I might talk.”
The following day, when his torturers brought in three German shepherds, Shafie had already experienced long hours of fear. As he stood huddled in a corner, protecting his face and vital organs and waiting for the bites and scratches, a scene echoing biblical accounts took place: the dogs refused to attack. Another trio of dogs was brought in, but they too did not comply with the order to attack him, and one even licked his face.
“When you read the Bible, you might think miracles only happened in the past,” he reflected, “but they’re the same miracles happening today.” The guards took away the dogs and the day ended there.
On the fourth day, something odd happened. “A tall guard who looked like [Arnold] Schwarzenegger approached me with a deal: names in exchange for freedom, money, a large house, a car, even women – anything I would wish,” he recalled.
His response was characteristically bold. He said he liked the idea of the deal, but first asked for kebab and tea, which the guards granted him. Then, when prompted again to talk about his group, he said he would give them the name of his leader and casually said: “Jesus Christ.” The answer earned him two and a half days tied to a cross in a dark room, followed by salt and lemon rubbed into freshly made cuts on his shoulders, after which he finally passed out.
SHAFIE was hospitalized for three months and then placed under house arrest for almost a year. The tortured man then faced court charges accusing him of “inciting rebellion against the regime,” “attempting to change the state religion,” and “worshiping Jesus.” “I told them that if loving Jesus was a crime, then I am most definitely guilty,” the defiant Christian reminisced, adding that his sentence was no less than the death penalty.
But the doomed man chose not to wait for his death. With the help of some friends, Shafie escaped to Alexandria and a hiding place next to the local police station, and later made his way to Sinai.
“I knew that Egypt was surrounded on all sides with Islamic countries hostile to the likes of me – except for one place, which was Israel,” he recounted. “I knew it was a democracy, and decided Israel was my last chance.”
In a daring escape, he crossed from Taba to Eilat on a jet ski, navigating between Egyptian and Israeli patrol boats. “I knew they would shoot if they caught me,” he said, “so I tried to position myself where neither side would risk hitting the other.”
Upon arriving in Israel, Shafie was detained – first in Eilat and then in a prison in Beersheba. His time in Israel, though brief, left a lasting impression, as even in detention he noticed striking differences from his experience in Egypt.
“The guards would talk to me, knowing I wasn’t a criminal,” he recalled, highlighting that he did not know that a respectable interaction with a member of law enforcement was even possible.
“But what really surprised me was seeing people in the streets – just being human! They were laughing, walking, living normal lives. No one screamed at me for being an Arab. They were just people, like anyone else.”
Fighting for minority rights
After receiving help from Amnesty International and the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ), Shafie arrived in Canada in the year 2000, where he has been leading the human rights organization which he founded, One Free World International (OFWI), in an attempt to advocate for religious minorities worldwide.
The organization aims at assisting persecuted Christians and Uyghurs in China, combating antisemitism, and supporting various religious minorities including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Yazidis. “Every night, I still see my nightmares,” he admitted. “I keep my shoes from Egypt, so I never forget. I wasn’t created for a 9-to-5 job – I was created for my calling, and this is my calling.”
Following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the human rights activist returned to the Jewish state, where he produced, along with director Chris Atkins, a powerful documentary named Dying to Live – an investigation into the October 7 massacre through interviews, archival footage and on-the-ground reporting, with a focus on the rise of antisemitism and Israel’s quest for peace – in order to counter what he described as “propaganda promoted in the West.”
“This visit was about closing a circle,” he explained. “Just as Israel stood by me, I stand by Israel now.” He described his return as a sort of coming home – he remembered the language, loved the food, and connected with the people he had met years ago.
During his visit, Shafie also spoke at the Lawyer House (Beit Hapraklit) in Tel Aviv, hosted by Attorney Dr. Gideon Fisher, who acts in the legal arena against Hamas and its supporters; Attorney Amit Bachar, head of the Israeli Bar Association; and other prominent personnel from the legal and political sphere.
Fisher, who also serves as Chairman of the Forum for International Dispute Resolution at the Bar Association, opened the event by calling on President Isaac Herzog to award Shafie with a medal for his support and activity for Israel and the Jewish people.
SHAFIE’S criticism of current events is sharp and uncompromising. He expressed shock, both at the Israeli security establishment’s failure to foresee and thwart the attack, and at the celebrations that followed the massacre in the Gaza border communities. “It wasn’t just Hamas,” he noted grimly.
“When they took the hostages, regular civilians celebrated over the bodies of kidnapped women – the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen in my life. And yes, should another election take place – Hamas would for sure win.”
Equally direct in addressing the surge of antisemitism in the West, the freedom fighter challenged pro-Palestinian protesters with pointed questions about their selective outrage. “Where were you when Bashar al-Assad massacred his citizens? When Saudi Arabia attacked Yemen? When Iran killed its women for showing their hair? When the Uyghurs were put in camps?”
Nearing the conclusion of his interview with the Post, Shafie conveyed three different messages.
“To the Palestinians I say – free Gaza from Hamas. They don’t have any respect for minorities, they steal from the people. They’ve known for years that they were going to carry out the massacre and they haven’t built a single shelter,” he said.
“To the international community: how can you believe Hamas’s claims and numbers? An organization which raped, murdered and killed children in their beds. When the ICJ [International Court of Justice] placed the Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] beside [Hamas military leader] Mohammad Deif, saying that they don’t even know if he’s alive – this was a disgrace. This means that they don’t have any reliable information on the ground,” Shafie said.
“To the Israelis I say – never give up. After every night comes day, after every storm comes clear skies, and after every blow comes victory. See how Hamas suddenly united the people of Israel. They can kill believers, but they cannot kill belief. Just like on October 7: they can kill our bodies, but they can’t kill our soul.”
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