The United Nations held its first-ever meeting on the rise of worldwide anti-Semitic violence Thursday in the wake of attacks in Paris that left 20 people dead, including four Jews in a targeted attack on a Kosher supermarket.

French philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri Lévy told the General Assembly at the meeting the world has to confront "the renewed advance of this radical inhumanity, this total baseness that is anti-Semitism."

The United Nations was founded in the aftermath of World War II, driven by the devastating effects of anti-Semitism and genocide of 6 million Jews, one of the reasons the “plague” of anti-Semitism must be eradicated, Lévy said.

The meeting was planned in response to a wave of anti-Semitic violence in Europe over the past year, but the messages delivered Thursday had a sense of renewed urgency in the wake of attacks by radical Islamists in Paris on January 9.

In November, German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said a “hatred of Jews” was on the rise across his country and the rest of Europe, spurred by violence in the Middle East. Chants like “Gas the Jews” were hurled during protests against the six-week-long conflict between Gaza and Israel in July and August last year, Steinmeier said.

The conflict left 2,150 people dead, according to the United Nations, the majority of them Palestinian.

“Grievances about Israeli actions must never be used as an excuse to attack Jews,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “In the same vein, criticisms of Israeli actions should not be summarily dismissed as anti-Semitism.”

The world “has a duty to speak out” against anti-Semitism, he said.

The January attack on the supermarket in France, saw a gunmen, believed to be Amedy Coulibaly, storm the Hyper Cache kosher supermarket in east Paris, holding several people hostage and killing four. Coulibaly had said he was acting on behalf of the militant group, the Islamic State. He was later killed when police raided the store. The incident came two days after the shooting rampage at the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, an attack for which Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen claimed responsibility.

France, with a population of 4.7 million Muslims, one of the largest in Europe, has struggled with anti-Semitism over the years. In July, French president François Hollande convened an emergency meeting of Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Buddhist leaders after anti-Jewish violence perpetrated in response to last summer’s war in Gaza seeped into French neighborhoods in Paris and its suburbs, The Economist reports.

After the shooting at Hyper Cache, 2,000 people signed up with the Jewish Agency for Israel’s office in Paris for information on how to move to Israel. Before, an average of 150 a week were signing up, Haaretz reports. Last year, 7,000 Jews left France for Israel, more than double the year before, the threat of violence against them having become “acute,” Elisa Massimino, president of Human Rights First, a nongovernmental organization, said at the meeting.

“This is a global problem. It is a problem in the United States, despite our long and proud history of religious freedom and our thorough efforts to combat anti-Semitism,” Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., said. Two-thirds of hate crimes in the U.S. are directed at Jews, according to a 2011 FBI report.

January 27 marks the International Day of Commemoration for Victims of the Holocaust and the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where 1.1 million Jews perished.

“70 years later, after Auschwitz, we see that anti-Semitism is not history, it’s current affairs,” Robert S. Wistrich, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said. “Anti-Semitism has demonstrated an extraordinary resistance that we need to try and understand.” 

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has died, state television reported early on Friday and his brother Salman became king, it said in a statement attributed to Salman.

King Salman has called on the family's Allegiance Council to pay allegiance to Muqrin as his crown prince and heir.

"His Highness Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and all members of the family and the nation mourn the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who passed away at exactly 1 a.m. this morning," said the statement.

Abdullah, thought to have been born in 1923, had ruled Saudi Arabia as king since 2006, but had run the country as de facto regent for a decade before that after his predecessor King Fahd suffered a debilitating stroke.

King Salman, thought to be 79, has been crown prince and defense minister since 2012. He was governor of Riyadh province for five decades before that.

By immediately appointing Muqrin as his heir, subject to the approval of a family Allegiance Council, Salman has moved to avert widespread speculation about the immediate path of the royal succession in the world's top oil exporter.

What do a makeup artist, a comedian famous for eating cereal out of a bathtub, and a science video blogger have in common?

First: Boatloads of followers on YouTube.

Second, and most likely because of the first point, they each shared the rare distinction of being allowed to interview the leader of the free world, Barack Obama, on Thursday.

The president’s decision to sit down and be interviewed by e-celebrities famous for, some may argue, very little, may come as a surprise to some, but it fits with the White House’s push to use humor and social media to connect with young Americans.

In March 2014, for example, Obama appeared on Between Two Ferns, an online comedy variety show hosted by comedic actor Zach Galifianakis.

Obama appears on 'Between Two Ferns' with actor Zach Galifianakis.YouTube

SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi resigned on Thursday, just days after Houthi rebels battled their way into his presidential palace, plunging the unstable Arab country deeper into chaos and depriving Washington of a key ally against al Qaeda.

Hadi, a former general, blamed the Houthis' control of Sanaa for impeding his two-year-long attempt to steer Yemen toward stability after years of secessionist and tribal unrest, deepening poverty and U.S. drone strikes on Islamist militants.

The announcement startled the Arabian Peninsula country of 25 million, where the Iran-backed Houthis emerged as the dominant faction by seizing the capital in September and dictating terms to a humiliated Hadi.

"This is a coup," said Ahmed al-Fatesh, a hotel security supervisor, suggesting Hadi had been bullied from office. "The Houthis took power by force. Hadi is a legitimate president and was elected by more than 6 million Yemenis. Hadi tried to bring the political forces together."

The Houthi movement said it had no official reaction as yet to Hadi's resignation, but urged Yemenis to stage mass rallies to show their support on Friday afternoon.

A statement urged the army to "uphold" its responsibilities and called on Houthi fighters to be on alert.

Hadi, who has led a United Nations-mandated bid to make political reforms and bury the autocracy and graft of the past, stood down shortly after Prime Minister Khaled Bahah had offered his government's resignation, saying it did not want to be dragged into "an unconstructive political maze".

This was a reference to a standoff between Hadi and the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi movement which this week has been holding the president a virtual prisoner in his official residence.

"We apologize to you personally and to the honorable chamber and to the Yemeni people after we reached a dead end," a government spokesman quoted Hadi's resignation letter as saying.

It was addressed to the speaker of parliament, who becomes interim head of state under the Yemeni constitution.

Sultan al-Atwani, one of Hadi's advisors, told Reuters he had resigned after pressure and threats from the Houthis. He also said parliament would meet on Saturday to decide whether to accept or reject it.

The official Saba news agency said there would be an emergency meeting of parliament on Sunday.

Late on Thursday, Houthi fighters took up positions around the parliament building, residents say.

In the southern city of Aden, unidentified gunmen attacked two military armored vehicles in the early hours of Friday, two local officials told Reuters. Three explosions were heard in Aden during the attack, which was followed by the clashes, said one of the officials, who declined to be identified.

The departure of Hadi, a southerner, has caused anger in Aden, a key port city where officials reacted by telling security officers to only obey orders issued in Aden, an implicit snub to institutions in the north, where Sanaa is.

Earlier in the week, Aden closed its ports briefly in protest against Houthi militia attacks on state institutions in Sanaa, calling them an "aggressive coup on the president personally and on the political process as a whole".

Hadi's decision marked an abrupt turnaround from Wednesday, when he said he was ready to accept Houthi demands for a bigger stake in constitutional and political arrangements.

REGIONAL STRUGGLE

That announcement had appeared to ease differences between him and the Houthis, whose rise to power places predominantly-Sunni Yemen within the wider sectarian struggle fought by proxies of Saudi Arabia and Iran in parts of the Middle East.

The Houthis' defeat of the presidential guards had already added to disarray in a country where the United States is also carrying out drone strikes against one of the most powerful branches of al Qaeda.

The rebels' rise has resulted in a shift in Yemen's complex tribal, religious and regional allegiances.

Suspecting Iranian complicity, the Sunni Muslim authorities in Riyadh cut most of their financial aid to Yemen after the Houthis' takeover of the capital.

In central Yemen, local tribesmen said they were pushing back Houthi fighters in Marib province, which produces half of Yemen's oil and more than half of its electricity.

The local branch of al Qaeda has responded to the Houthis' ascent by attacking their forces as well as state, military and intelligence targets.

As Zaydis, a Shi'ite Muslim sect, the Houthis oppose the hardline Sunni Islamists of al Qaeda. However, the Houthis' assaults on the militants risk raising sectarian feelings in Yemen.

Before Hadi quit, clusters of Houthi fighters were dotted around the perimeter of the presidential palace on Thursday. At Hadi's residence, sentry points normally manned by presidential guards were empty, while a group of Houthis with an army vehicle were parked at a main entrance.

Pro-Russian separatists will press on with a military offensive in east Ukraine and will not initiate ceasefire talks with the Ukrainian authorities, their leader was quoted as saying on Friday.

Alexander Zakharchenko, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in east Ukraine, made clear the rebels were in no mood to compromise after making territorial gains in recent weeks.

"There will be no attempts to speak about a ceasefire on our part," Russia's Interfax news agency quoted him as saying at a meeting with students in Donetsk.

A ceasefire between government forces and the separatists was agreed last September but has failed to take hold, with each side accusing the other of violating it and fighting increasing this month.

"We will carry on our offensive up to the borders of the Donetsk region and if I see a threat coming from other sides it [the threat] will be eliminated," Zakharchenko said.

Ukrainian military spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov dismissed the remarks.

"They've said before that they want to take (the cities of) Mariupol, Slaviansk and Kramatorsk. This is just another declaration - let them talk," he said by telephone.

The diplomatic standoff over the conflict in Ukraine has pushed relations between Russia and the West to their lowest level since the Cold War ended.

First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov defended Russia's position at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos, warning that Ukraine could be a "bleeding wound for decades" if the West kept telling Russia "to go onto a corner and sit there quietly."

Oil prices rose on Friday after the death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah added more uncertainty to an oil market that has more than halved over the last six months.

King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz died early on Friday and his brother Salman became king of the world's top oil exporter.

Salman named his half-brother Muqrin as heir, moving to forestall any succession crisis at a moment when Saudi Arabia faces unprecedented turmoil on its borders and in oil markets.

Saudi state television said King Salman intended to keep oil minister Ali al-Naimi in place, suggesting the country's oil policy would remain unchanged.

Harry Tchilinguirian, senior oil strategist at BNP Paribas, said he expected no change in Saudi oil policy.

"King Salman was already involved in policy making prior to the passing of the king," he said. "So from that perspective, if he helped set the agenda, he will maintain that agenda."

Brent crude futures were trading at $49.30 a barrel by 1040 GMT, up 78 cents. U.S. WTI crude futures were at $46.70, up 39 cents.

After seeing strong volatility and price falls earlier in January, oil markets have moved little this week, with Brent prices range-bound between $47.78 and $50.45 a barrel.

The new Saudi king is expected to continue an OPEC policy of keeping oil output steady to protect the cartel's market share from rival producers.

Abdullah's death comes amid some of the biggest shifts in oil markets in decades.

Oil prices have more than halved since peaking last June as soaring supplies clash with cooling demand.

Booming U.S. shale production has turned the United States from the world's biggest oil importer into one of the top producers, pumping out over 9 million barrels per day.

Data from the Energy Information Administration on Thursday showed the biggest build in U.S. crude inventory in at least 14 years, driving Brent and WTI prices apart.

To combat soaring output and falling prices, many oil exporters, such as Venezuela, wanted the 12-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut output in order to support prices and revenues.

Yet, led by Saudi Arabia, OPEC announced last November it would keep output steady at 30 million barrels per day.

It’s eleven at night, on 12 January, and Alexis Tsipras, the 40-year-old leader of the radical left-wing Syriza party, is being interviewed live on Greek TV. Speaking with the confidence of a man who the polls say will give him a lead of at least 3.5% over the incumbent conservative party, New Democracy, he looks like he is giving his first prime ministerial interview, two weeks before the actual election date on the 25 January.

“We have sacrificed enough. [Stay within the] Euro with justice, solidarity and democracy. It’s what we deserve and what we’ll demand . . . There is no ‘alternatively’, there is no ‘other way,’” he says. That night, 650,000 people watched the interview, at a time when when most in Greece have lost their appetite for grandstanding politicians. Two days later, Tsipras took questions on Twitter, making #AskTsipras the number one trending hashtag in Greece and the third globally.

No longer the anti-Euro maverick introduced to the mainstream when Syriza was a marginal political force, Tsipras is promising to end austerity and renegotiate Greece’s massive debt – now standing at more than 170% of the country’s GDP – while staying within the Eurozone. More boldly still, he promises to go to war with Greek oligarchs, an intention indicative of the extend of his ambition to break with traditional politicking in this corruption-ridden country.

For those who remember his early days at the helm of a tiny party that hardly won 4,6% of the vote, the contrast between Tsipras’ past and his current image, is huge. When the state-educated son of an engineer took over Syriza (then Synaspismos) in 2006, he was the youngest political leader in the country.

Alexis Tsipras, the leader of Syriza.Getty

In 2013, when I interviewed him in the back of a car for the New Statesman – as he crossed London with his youngest son on his lap on the way to a Tottenham Hotspur match – he came across as supremely sure of himself. He had just delivered two major talks in the space of a week and the left-wing British press had treated him with reverence.

Now, in 2015, he is becoming the face of the European left – and yet it’s surprising how little is known about him. Born in 1978, he is married to his high-school sweetheart and as the father of two children he still tries to walk them to school every morning. The family lives in downtown Athens in an area many would consider rough – miles away from the sons and daughters of political dynasties that have reigned over Greek political life in the past seven decades.

His first steps in Greek political life were taken early on, during the wave of school occupations rocking Greece in the early 1990s. Then a longhaired student and member of the communist party youth, Tsipras represented a group of schools and soon became adept at playing politics.

He joined the Synaspismos youth movement after a split in the Communist party and was the leader of the barely 500-strong group from 1999 and until 2003. But his star really began to shine when he ran for mayor of Athens in 2006, winning 10% of the vote. Alekos Alavanos, then leader of the party, hand-picked him as his successor, and in 2008 he was elected by party-members as the leader of Synaspismos with a convincing 70%. He wasn’t actually elected as an MP until a year later, after the 2009 elections.

Alexis Tsipras and Spanish Podemos party Secretary General Pablo Iglesias wave to supporters following a campaign rally in central Athens January 22, 2015.Yannis Behrakis/Reuters

Within three turbulent years, the 35-year-old took what had by now become Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) from 4,6% in 2009 to 26,7% in 2012 and transformed the party into the de-facto opposition.

But today there is another dimension to Tsiprashis – his links to Spain’s Podemos leader, Pablo Iglesias. Dubbed “Tsiglesias” by Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal, the duo is heralded as the new face of the European Left, with Podemos activists saying that Tsipras is treated like a hero when he visits Spain.

Tsipras’s anti-austerity policy calls for a 12 million Euro increase in social spending, putting Greece on collision course with the European Union. But opinion polls show that some 75 % of Greeks want the country to stay within the single currency. At the time of writing, a likely result in the ballot is that no party will win an overall majority. Tsipras publicly has ruled out a ­co­alition with the fast-rising centre left To Potami party but a power-sharing deal would give Syriza’s energetic leader a valid reason to tone down his radical proposals and avoid an outright conflict with the European Union. 

What if a planetary exploration mission were jeopardised by a stuck axle or a misaligned gear cog? What if grease clogged up a delicate sensor on a lunar rover? These are some of the nightmare scenarios researchers in Madrid claim to have banished with the successful development of a drive mechanism in which none of the mechanical parts actually touch each other.

Using the forces between magnetic bearings, the transmission system needs no lubrication and is immune to damage by wear and friction, leading international space scientists to predict a bright future for the Magdrive project’s contactless gear reducer – the mechanism that transforms the rotational speed of an input axle to the different speed of an output axle, as in a bicycle chain mechanism or a car’s gearbox.

“It substitutes geared teeth with magnets that repel and attract each other so that the transmission of [ . . . ] forces between the moving parts is achieved without contact,” explains Efrén Díez Jiménez of Madrid’s Carlos III University (UC3M). According to the researcher, the big advantages of this breakthrough are that parts do not need to be lubricated, and that there is no wear-and-tear through their contact, meaning that the operational life of these devices could be much longer than that of a conventional drive mechanism with teeth. Even after an overload, says Díez Jiménez, the device will continue to function. “If the axle is blocked, the parts simply slide amongst themselves, but nothing breaks.”

Magdrive has superconductors integrated into the structure in order to keep the axles floating with stable repulsion forces. These not only allow the gear to rotate, but also give it stability to deal with oscillatory movements or other possible destabilising forces.

Professor José Luis Pérez-Díaz, the lead researcher on a project for which the Madrid university coordinated work at seven different institutions across Europe, sees a number of applications for a contactless transmission in space technology: “from robot arms or antenna positioners, where high-precision movements are needed or when contamination from lubricants is undesired, to vehicles that, because of temperature or extreme conditions, have their life shortened by conventional mechanisms, as happens with the wheels of a rover on Mars.”

By the time Nasa’s Spirit rover became stuck in what was to be its final resting place on Mars in 2009, after five years of exploration, it had problems with two of its six wheels, fatally hampering its bid to extricate itself from a soft patch of soil. However, the rover’s desperate, wheel-spinning attempts to continue with its mission did prove to be serendipitous – they uncovered sulphates under the planet’s surface, evidence of the previous existence of hot springs that could have supported life.

Pérez-Díaz highlights the potential of the magnetic drive, which can operate in cryogenic temperatures not found on Earth, for use in space. “Our prototype can work at -210 degrees Celsius, in a vacuum and bearing weight, with zero backlash, meaning perfect precision can be achieved.” And, in what the physics professor describes as a “world-record feat for Spanish science”, it is the first time in history that the input axle, as well as the output axle, of a gear-reducer are floating without any kind of contact, while being capable of keeping a mechanism spinning at 3,000 revolutions per minute even at cryogenic temperatures.

The physicist says that satellites, as well as rovers, could benefit from such a smooth drive mechanism for its moving parts in an environment where there is little possibility of repairing friction-related wear, and where low weight is essential. Pérez-Díaz recalls that the programme originated as a bullet-point on a sheet of technological requirements published in 2010 by the European Space Agency (ESA), a kind of scientific wish-list. The European Commission’s Seventh Framework R&D funding programme then picked up on the ESA’s request for a way to “improve the tribological conditions [wear from friction] of gear-reducing mechanisms in cryogenic conditions”.

As Pérez-Díaz points out, the Magdrive consortium took a more ambitious approach in avoiding contact between the moving parts altogether.

For Martin Barstow, a professor of astrophysics and space science at the University of Leicester and president of Britain’s Royal Astronomical Society, Magdrive is a “very exciting development”, particularly due to its capacity to operate outside planetary atmospheres. “Oil and grease are horrible in a vacuum,” Barstow says, adding that he has spent long periods of his life trying to avoid this problem, and suggesting that the magnetic drive may prove to be of huge assistance in future lunar exploration.

“Mechanisms such as filter wheels on telescopes or carousels that change instruments are very difficult to lubricate. Optical systems need to be kept clean and, in a vacuum, lubricants can be easily deposited on optical components and reduce their effectiveness. If you try to build mechanisms without lubricants, they have a tendency to stick through a process called ‘cold welding’: in a vacuum, smooth metal surfaces fuse when brought into contact. This new mechanism seems likely to solve this problem,” he explains. A spokesman for Airbus Defence and Space agrees that the contactless technology is extremely interesting for the future, but says it will not be ready in time for ESA’s ExoMars rover, currently under development at the company’s “Mars yard” in Stevenage, north of London. ExoMars is due to be launched in 2018 in cooperation with Roscosmos. “For a rover we need technology that’s already proven and space-qualified, and then we build redundancy into that anyway so there is always a back-up. But it is clear that this technology could be of interest for going to very cold places, perhaps with a view to future missions to Europa, the moon of Jupiter.”

While space rovers and robotic arms gently placing satellites correctly into orbit will one day be enhanced by this technology, the breakthrough could also become one of those improvements that the earthbound quickly take for granted, perhaps only reminded of it from time to time when a friend’s old banger produces that once-familiar crunching sound as the driver battles with the gearbox.

Besides the prototype that functions at cryogenic temperatures, the Magdrive team has also developed another that can be used at ordinary Earth temperatures. “The technology is ready to be used in any industrial sector where it is needed,” says UC3M’s Díez Jiménez, who mentions the possibility of solving problems experienced by wind turbines when gearing-down high-wind energy to match the needs of the grid. The absence of lubrication, and the fact that the system can transmit its magnetic power through hygienic barriers, means the technology could be beneficial in the pharmaceutical sector and other health-related areas.

The European Magdrive project was coordinated by UC3M with the six other members of the consortium: Italy’s National Research Council, the University of Cassino, the University of Lisbon, and three companies – Germany’s BPE, Spain’s LIDAX, and Can Superconductors from the Czech Republic. According to Professor Pérez-Díaz, the total cost was a modest €2.5m, mostly supplied by EU funding.

The magnetic non-contact drive is a rare success story for Spanish science, which has itself become somewhat toothless after years of funding cutbacks. According to national figures for 2013, investment in R&D fell to 1.24% of GDP, a figure well short of the EU average of 2.02%. The country’s contribution to ESA funding has also fallen off a cliff, dipping under €100m in 2013. Spain’s debt to the space agency currently stands at €75.5m.

President Barack Obama may have reached a George H.W. Bush moment in his long-simmering confrontation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Iran’s nuclear program. And Netanyahu may be facing his own moment of truth.

With the White House’s unprecedented announcement that Obama will not meet with Netanyahu when the Israeli leader comes to Washington to deliver a speech before a joint meeting of Congress in March, the famously strained relations between the two men have reached an all-time low. The last time relations grew this toxic was back in 1991, when Yitzhak Shamir, then Israel’s right-wing leader, wanted $10 billion in U.S. loan guarantees so Israel could absorb the large numbers of Jewish immigrants arriving from the former Soviet Union.

Bush demanded assurances that the money would not fund Israeli settlements in disputed territories claimed by the Palestinians—a pledge Shamir refused to give. Amid the standoff, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the largest pro-Israel lobby, sent swarms of its members to Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to vote for a bill that would have given Israel the guarantees over Bush’s objections.

On the same day, Bush took the unusual step of going before television cameras in the White House press room to urge Americans to take his side on the loan guarantee issue and to let their representatives know where they stood. “I’m one lonely little guy” up against “some powerful political forces,” Bush said. It was a moment that stunned many in Washington, where defying Israel and its powerful lobby has been considered a third rail in American politics. It provoked accusations of anti-Semitism against Bush and Secretary of State James Baker, but in the end, the Israelis backed down and gave Bush the assurances he demanded.

For Obama, the issue is Netanyahu’s readiness to join the new Republican majority on Capitol Hill in its efforts to undercut negotiations toward a nuclear deal with Iran, which the president sees as a potential foreign policy legacy. The centerpiece of the Republican push is a bill authored by Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois and Democrat Robert Menendez of New Jersey that would slap new sanctions on Iran if current negotiations for a nuclear deal fail to reach an agreement by June 30. In his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, Obama threatened to veto the bill, saying it would “all but guarantee that diplomacy fails,” increasing the likelihood of another Middle East war.

Republican leaders upped the ante by inviting Netanyahu to appear before Congress, where he’s expected to make a full-throated argument for adopting a tougher line against Iran to extract more concessions from Tehran in the nuclear talks. In other words, Netanyahu will be urging lawmakers to vote in favor of the Kirk-Menendez bill in such numbers that they will command a veto-proof majority. Thursday’s White House announcement that Obama will not meet with Netanyahu while he’s in town is the first time in the history of U.S.-Israeli relations that the doors to the White House have been closed to a visiting Israeli prime minister.

What galls the White House is that Netanyahu didn’t even bother to inform the president that he was flying to Washington at Congress’s invitation. “The typical protocol would suggest that the leader of a country would contact the leader of another country when he’s traveling there,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Wednesday. “That certainly is how President Obama’s trips are planned when we travel overseas. So this particular event seems to be a departure from that protocol.”

Republican House Speaker John A. Boehner acknowledges that he didn’t consult with the White House either before issuing the invitation to Netanyahu. “The Congress can make this decision on its own,” he said.

Though some reports said the original idea for the Netanyahu invitation came from the Republicans, the Israeli daily Haaretz, quoting an unnamed Israeli official, said it grew out a suggestion put forward by Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer during his talks over the past few weeks with Boehner and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to muster support for the Kirk-Menendez Iran sanctions bill. The Israeli Embassy did not respond to calls seeking comment on the report.

The breach between Obama and Netanyahu comes after years of tense relations and uncomfortable conversations marked by deep distrust. In addition to the Iran nuclear issue, they have clashed over Israel’s continued construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which Obama opposes. During a visit to Washington in 2011, Netanyahu famously used a photo opportunity to lecture Obama against using Israel’s 1967 borders as a starting point for peace negotiations with the Palestinians. During the 2012 presidential election, Netanyahu openly supported Republican candidate Mitt Romney, giving him a lavish reception when Romney visited Israel during the campaign.

Boehner and McConnell now appear to be returning the favor with their invitation to Netanyahu, who is running for reelection in March.

Netanyahu’s scheduled March 3 appearance before Congress is not only an opportunity for him to boost his image among voters back home. It also amounts to yet another thumb in the eye for Obama and a political gift to Republicans, who will surely use Netanyahu’s remarks to bolster their own attacks on what they regard as Obama’s weak-kneed foreign policy.

“There is a serious threat that exists in the world, and the president last night kind of papered over it,” Boehner told reporters Wednesday, referring to Obama’s State of the Union speech. “The fact is, there needs to be a more serious conversation in America about how serious the threat is from radical Islamic jihadists and the threat posed by Iran.”

Netanyahu’s speech to Congress also will coincide with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) annual conference, when thousands of pro-Israel supporters will flood Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to vote for the Kirk-Menendez sanctions bill. AIPAC often dispatches members who provide lawmakers with some of their biggest campaign donations, to underscore the seriousness of their demands—and the consequences if they are not met.

In announcing that Obama would not be meeting with Netanyahu, the White House cited the closeness of his visit to the Israeli elections, which are scheduled to take place two weeks later. But this is a policy that has been bent in the past, particularly when urgent foreign policy issues are involved.

“As a matter of long-standing practice and principle, we do not see heads of state or candidates in close proximity to their elections, so as to avoid the appearance of influencing a democratic election in a foreign country,” said National Security Council Spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan.

She then added, “The president has been clear about his opposition to Congress passing new legislation on Iran that could undermine our negotiations and divide the international community. The president has had many conversations with the prime minister on this matter, and I am sure they will continue to be in contact on this and other important matters.”  

In the meantime, the White House is mounting its own campaign to convince lawmakers not to vote for more Iran sanctions. Both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have been on the phone to lawmakers, making their case. On Thursday, the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and the European Union—all of whom are deeply involved in both the nuclear negotiations with Iran and in enforcing the sanctions regime—gave Obama a boost with a Washington Post commentary titled “Give Diplomacy With Iran a Chance.”

“Maintaining pressure on Iran through our existing sanctions is essential,” they wrote. “But introducing new hurdles at this critical stage of the negotiations, including through additional nuclear-related sanctions legislation on Iran, would jeopardize our efforts at a critical juncture.” Noting that additional sanctions would only strengthen hardliners in Iran who oppose any nuclear deal, the authors went on to warn, “New sanctions at this moment might also fracture the international coalition that has made sanctions so effective so far. Rather than strengthening our negotiating position, new sanctions legislation at this point would set us back.”

The administration’s efforts appear to be making some headway on Capitol Hill. Several Democratic senators who signed on as co-sponsors of the Kirk-Menendez bill are now having second thoughts. And new legislation is being drafted by Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, and Senator Barbara Boxer, D-California, that would reimpose sanctions on Iran if it violated any existing nuclear agreement, offering a moderate alternative to lawmakers who want to demonstrate their tough side but not upend the negotiations.

The Senate Banking Committee, which holds jurisdiction over sanctions legislation, was supposed to mark up the Kirk-Menendez measure this week. But it postponed consideration until next week, giving Menendez more time to nail down supporters. If, as expected, the panel approves the measure, McConnell has promised to bring the measure to the floor for a vote.

It’s then that the showdown between Obama and Israel will take place. If the Senate passes the bill and the House, as expected, follows suit, Obama says he’ll veto it. Congress would then need a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override any veto, an exceedingly difficult challenge to overcome.

In previous showdowns in Congress with the White House, Israel and its supporters have not fared well. In one of the most famous confrontations, Israel in 1981 tried to block President Ronald Reagan’s plan to sell AWACS surveillance aircraft to Saudi Arabia, sending its AIPAC supporters to Capitol Hill to stop the sale. But Reagan lobbied hard, and Congress approved the sale.

Such confrontations also have created unwelcome political fallout for Israeli leaders who sought them. After the elder Bush faced down Shamir over the loan guarantee dispute, Israeli voters tossed Shamir out of office in 1992, largely because he was perceived as having damaged the all-important U.S.-Israel relationship. As Netanyahu prepares for his address to Congress, that’s a political lesson he also might want to consider.

The ceasefire between the government of Ukraine and pro-Russian separatist fighters in the country’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions has collapsed as fighting between the two sides intensified today, with the rebels mounting an offensive on territories currently held by Ukraine.

Kiev-loyal forces are preparing to repel advancing pro-Russian rebels across the Donetsk region as rebel leader Alexander Zaharchenko, head of the pro-Russian militant group which calls itself the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), officially ruled out any more ceasefire talks with Ukraine’s Kiev government. He told Russian news agency RIA Novosti: “There will not be any ceasefire anymore.”

“Kiev does not seem to understand that we can fight them on three fronts,” Zaharchenko said, ruling out forming a new a truce with Kiev after the last one, which was agreed in December, collapsed when fighting erupted around Donetsk airport a fortnight ago.

“We will fight until we reach the Donetsk region border,” Zaharchenko added, indicating the rebels plan to seize the region’s western and southern territories which include the Ukrainian-held port city of Mariupol.

A few hours later Yevgeny Deydey, a Ukrainian MP and commander of the pro-Kiev battalion Kyiv-1 reported separatist fighters were advancing towards Mariupol, south from Donetsk city, and there were reports of attacks by the separatists to the city’s west as well.

“The terrorists have begun a tank offensive. I do not rule out that separatist attacks in other territories held by Ukraine are a diversion tactic,” Deydey said. Deydey indicated he was not stationed near Donetsk but was relaying a message from battalions who were.

According to Deydey the town of Talakovka, between Donetsk and Mariupol is currently “being shelled hard” by separatists, however pro-Kiev troops there are “holding on.”

Dmitry Tymchuk, a Ukrainian blogger and military specialist also reported on Facebook today that he had spotted seven DNR tanks and eight more armoured fighting vehicles advancing from separatist areas in the Donetsk region to the west as well as to the south - towards Mariupol.

Andriy Lysenko, the official spokesperson for the Ukrainian armed forces has confirmed rebel tanks are advancing towards Mariupol, shelling army checkpoints in the city’s outskirts.

However he insisted the rebels were “still incapable” of shelling the city itself, as pro-Kiev forces had not let them get close enough.

Ukrainian news agency Unian reported earlier today that the Ukrainian military has completed a 400km enforced trench along its border with the separatist held territories in Donetsk, anticipating such an advance. Work began on the trench in August and it’s equipped with artillery.

Over the last nine days fighting between DNR rebels and pro-Kiev forces has intensified and the UN have reported that approximately 262 people have been killed in the country.

Last night Ukrainian daily newspaper Segodnya reported that DNR separatist were making preparations for an advance, uploading video footage of what appeared to be a Russian Smerch multiple rocket launcher making its way westward from the rebel-held town of Makiivka towards the line of battle near Donetsk airport.

The newspaper has started live blogging the “flashpoints” of the budding conflict today, indicating they anticipate intensifying skirmishes between separatists and Kiev forces.

Meanwhile pro-Kiev forces have reported some success in advances into separatist-held territory to the northeast of Donetsk, into the Luhansk region.

The leader of a pro-Kiev volunteer battalion, Semen Semenchenko wrote on Facebook today that his soldiers, working alongside Ukraine’s national guard, had broken through the defences of a pro-Russian rebel checkpoint between Sloviansk and Luhansk, north of Donetsk.  

According to Kiev’s government representative in Luhansk Gennady Moskal, most of Ukrainian-held Luhansk was without power today after separatists had attacked a central power station, while engaging with pro-Kiev troops.

Italy is to consider allowing agents to go undercover in jails to gather intelligence as part an anti-terror package which will be discussed next Wednesday, eight years after the country banned the secret service from being allowed in prisons.

However, in light of the attacks carried out by Islamists in Paris, the country is now considering overturning the ban as intelligence services focus on penitentiaries as hot spots for the potential  radicalisation and recruitment of Islamic fundamentalists.

Earlier this week Copasir, Italy’s intelligence agency called for more protection for their undercover agents who are already working against terror suspects according to the Italian news agency Ansa, citing interior ministry sources. It was also reported that Copasir had called for a “significant increase” in the resources available to them, arguing that they need new equipment and staff to combat the increased threat.

The Italian police officer’s union has also warned of the lack of resources, saying that they cannot meet the increased security demands being made on them, pointing out that their job will become more difficult due to the planned closures of security stations on borders.

The Italian border force has called to “strengthen and optimize” border controls, but the union described the request as a “leg-pull”, saying that the government were planning to close offices at ports and airports.

Another law which will be discussed next week would make it illegal for Italians to fight for the Islamic State. Domenico Manzione, the Italian under secretary of state for home affairs told press on Wednesday: "We all have a problem in Europe of the so-called returning fighters from war zones. We have it less than other European countries but since the phenomenon is there, the government is seriously considering approving a decree law… that would deal with this subject.”

Also included in the anti-terror package which focusses on the problem of Italian citizens going to fight abroad are calls to confiscate terror suspects’ passports, jail terms of up to 10 years for those who do go and fight and making it illegal to organise for people to go abroad to do so.

These measures mirror movements from other European governments to combat terror more effectively following the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

This week French prime minister Manuel Valls approved a motion for €425 million to be spent on new anti-terrorism measures - creating  2,680 new jobs over three years which will all be “dedicated to the fight against terrorism”.

There were also terror-related arrests in Belgium, Austria and Berlin last week, although the security forces made clear that these were separate incidents and not connected to each other.

According to Ansa, a 30-year-old Albanian man was arrested at Catania airport in Italy earlier this week after using a boarding pass for a flight to Bucharest to get through airport security but then attempting to board a flight to London with a ticket bought online. When searched by police, the man was found to have false identity documents and pictures of himself holding a Kalashnikov rifle on a USB drive.

Men are generally not as fertile as they used to be, many studies suggest. While there are regional variations, sperm counts and quality have, by and large, been declining over the past 50 years or so. One 2013 study of more than 26,000 French men, for example, found that sperm concentrations have dropped by nearly 2 percent each year from 1996 to 2005. And other male reproductive problems, like testicular cancer and genital birth defects, are on the rise.

One prominent hypothesis is that this uptick in dysfunctions may be partially due to increasing exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals, especially substances that mimic the effects of estrogen, which is found in higher concentrations in women and plays a role in the reproductive development of both sexes.

“There is little doubt that factors in our environment have adverse effects on human testicles,” says Niels Skakkebaek, a prominent Danish researcher at the University of Copenhagen. “We are, for example, witnessing rather significant increases in testicular cancer that have occurred so fast that only factors in our environment...can explain it.”

A new study soon to be published in the journal PLOS Genetics suggests that bisphenol A (BPA)—an endocrine disruptor found in many plastics, can linings and receipts, and which mimics the effects of estrogen—may play a role in this decline in male fertility.

In the study, researchers exposed several different types of mice to low concentrations of BPA at birth, for a short period of time. Once the mice were sexually mature, the scientists examined the animals’ testes and measured sperm count. In exposed males, sperm count was significantly lowered in two out of three mice strains tested, says study author Patricia Hunt, an expert on BPA at Washington State University. The one strain unaffected by BPA, an inbred variety, appears to have developed an unusual resistance to the chemical that wouldn’t be expected in other mammals like humans, she adds.

Researchers also transplanted the stem cells that give rise to sperm from exposed animals into other mice to see if the BPA had damaged these cells or some other component of the reproductive system. Once inserted into healthy, unexposed mice, the cells still spit out sperm at the same reduced rate. The scientists concluded that that sperm-making cells themselves had been permanently disrupted by their early-life exposure to BPA.

“A short exposure after birth can permanently affect the way the adult male makes sperm,” says Hunt. “This rocks my world,” she adds, and not in a good way.

The scientists performed further experiments showing that BPA, as well as the chemical ethinyl estradiol, commonly used in oral contraceptive pills, affect a specific and vitally important cell process called meiosis—when the germ cells found in testes and ovaries make sperm or eggs. It appears that BPA permanently alters the way germ cells carry out the delicate process of DNA copying and splicing, Hunt says.

The fact that BPA and other estrogenic chemicals appear to damage stem cells “is huge and supports the prediction, though it is only a prediction at this point, that this could be the basis for the trend of declining sperm in males,” says Fred vom Saal, who studies endocrine disruptors at the University of Missouri and wasn’t involved in the study.

It’s also quite possible that these alterations to stem cells, as caused by estrogenic chemicals, may be passed down for generations, vom Saal adds.

It’s important to emphasize the study was done in mice, and animal studies don’t always translate to humans. But it adds to previous work on humans that showed, for example, a link between higher BPA levels in men’s urine and low sperm counts. The process of meiosis is also quite similar in mice and humans, and all mammals for that matter, vom Saal says.

“The hypothesis that BPA may play a role together with many other endocrine disrupters” in reducing male fertility “is plausible,” Skakkebaek says. He and his group published a paper recently in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives“suggesting that exposure of young men to bisphenol A was associated to changes in their pituitary-testicular hormones, [which] are important for fertility.”

But as you might expect, industry representatives say there’s nothing to worry about. “In contrast to the author’s assertion, the...doses of BPA tested in the small-scale study are hundreds to thousands times higher than actual human exposure, as repeatedly documented in population-scale biomonitoring studies,” says Steven Hentges. He is with the American Chemistry Council, which represents plastic manufacturers that use BPA in their products. “Overall, this new study is of limited relevance to human health.”

Hunt, vom Saal and others pointedly disagree, saying that they administered small doses within the range humans are exposed to. And a study published just last week found the tiny concentration of BPA found in a stream in Alberta, Canada, was enough to alter brain development in zebrafish.

Regulators are not impressed with these studies, apparently. In the past month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the BPA in food doesn’t pose a significant health threat. And this week the European Food Safety Authority said basically the same thing, suggesting BPA was not a significant health concern.

Scientists like endocrinologist Andrea Gore, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Texas at Austin who also represents the Endocrine Society, aren’t happy about these rulings. “The Endocrine Society, the world’s oldest and largest organization of doctors who treat and scientists who research hormone health conditions, has expressed continued disappointment with the FDA’s approach to regulating BPA,” she says. “While conclusive evidence is lacking, sound scientific studies indicate a strong possibility for adverse health effects. It is the responsibility of the government to adopt measures that protect people from the risk of exposure to certain chemicals.”

This is “just one more study that illustrates exposure to environmental estrogens during development can negatively affect physiology later in life,” says Deborah Kurrasch, a developmental neuroscientist at the University of Calgary in Alberta, who wasn’t involved in the study. “A substantially large body of literature now links endocrine disrupting chemicals to adverse health, and collectively these studies suggest that we should be minimizing our exposures as much as possible.”

Previously: What It’s Like to Be Named Taylor Swift in 2014

A LinkedIn search for “Tom Riddle” reveals 123 results. These professionals—middle-aged, American muggles, for the most part—carry around a frightful secret that isn’t really secret at all: For 16 years, they’ve each shared a name with Lord Voldemort.

His given name, we mean. Harry Potter fans will recognize it immediately: The Dark Lord, we learn in 1998’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, is actually named Tom Marvolo Riddle, which itself is an anagram for “I Am Lord Voldemort.” These men, though, are not Lord Voldemort, they insist, despite the children, bookstore clerks and brothers-in-law who repeatedly mistake them as such. They do not drink unicorn blood or command Death Eaters. Mostly, they occupy mundane jobs as accountants and financial advisers. Still, evil reputation aside, they seemed more enthused about their name than the Taylor Swifts and Lena Dunhams we interviewed.

The Tom Riddles interviewed for this piece include:

• Tom Riddle of Washington, D.C., a 30-year-old accountant;

• Tom Riddle of Bangkok, a 63-year-old photographer and filmmaker who takes pictures and makes movies for nongovernmental organizations;

• Tom Riddle of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the founder and owner of a financial advisory practice;

• Tom Riddle of Houston, a 61-year-old general manager at Shell;

• Tom Riddle of Kenton County in Kentucky, a 56-year-old computer software engineer;

• Tom Riddle of Philadelphia, a 55-year-old director at a nutraceutical company;

• and Tom Riddle of Marlborough, Massachusetts, a high-tech business consultant in his “mid-50s.”

Each Dark Lord shared their experiences with Newsweek in separate phone conversations, except for Tom Riddle of Bangkok, who replied via email. Here is what it’s like to be named Tom Riddle in the 21st century. 

Tom Riddle of MarlboroughPhoto via Tom Riddle

Tom Riddle, Marlborough: The one thing that was really spooky was we watched one of the movies and when I saw the gravestone that said Tom Riddle, it gave me a shiver up my spine. Just the spookiest feeling I’ve ever had in my life.… It's like you're meeting your mortality. It hit me in a way I never expected.

Tom Riddle, Washington: My wife’s younger brother, when we started dating, had me in his phone as “The Dark Lord.”

Tom Riddle, Bethlehem: I probably had the most crowd presence in Scotland when I was over there this summer. I was at a little pub in St. Andrews. They saw my credit card and the waiter came over and said, “Are you really Tom Riddle?” and I said “Yeah” and by the time this swept through the bar, the owner came out, had her picture taken with me and a bunch of other people. Must have been a dozen other people in that picture. I made a joke of it. I said I had a failed romance [with J.K. Rowling] and this is what she did to me.

Tom Riddle, Washington: In my old apartment building, they had put a piece of my mail in someone else's mailbox. I realized that because when I came home someone had left it on top of the mailbox, circled my name and wrote "Voldemort?" And left it there for the apartment building to see.

Tom Riddle, Marlborough: I was at Home Depot one day and there was a customer that had to go to the services counter. They paged somebody named Harry Potter.… It was something that was really cool that actually happened at the Marlborough Massachusetts Home Depot.

Tom Riddle, Bangkok: I went to a museum in Nepal, and they wanted to see my ID. "Do you recognize my name?" I asked the young woman. "No.""Well, in the USA I'm famous—everybody knows my name. Here it's a relief not be so well-known.""Please give me your autograph," the woman said. "Usually I don't like to do that, but for you, it's OK." I then wrote: "Tom Riddle always uses his magic to do good. Good luck always —Tom Riddle"

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that "Tom Marvolo Riddle" is an acronym for "I Am Lord Voldemort." We of course meant to say that it is an anagram, not an acronym.

Secretive nation North Korea has launched a new initiative to attract English speaking foreigners to the country who can help train local tour guides. The programme, for which the foreign volunteers will have to pay a grand total of $1,000 to complete, has three to five spaces to fill, with the first two placements scheduled for May and November this year.

The aim of the project is to help improve North Korean guides’ grasp of English, part of the country’s plan to expand its tourism industry. For the foreign teachers, they will have an opportunity to catch a rare glimpse of what life is like within the communist state.

The initiative was launched this week by Juche Travel Services (JTS), a dedicated North Korean travel agency whose headquarters are based on the outskirts of London. Having run a successful trial run last summer, JTS’s owner David Thompson said: “We were approached by our partners at Korea International Travel Company (KITC) on behalf of the National Tourism Authority to assist in arranging volunteering positions for teaching English language or tourism management at Pyongyang Tourism College.”

The company will now offer a lucky few the unique opportunity to experience the infamous ‘hermit state’ first hand for one month - although they will have to work without pay and will be under the severe travel restrictions familiar to many North Koreans.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to immerse yourself in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and provides unparalleled levels of interaction and engagement with local Koreans,” the JTS website explains.

Applicants are required to have TEFL certification (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) or prior experience in tourism management and development.

The €1000 (just over $1000) fee covers a return air ticket from Beijing to Pyongyang, a North Korean visa, weekend excursions around the country, all meals and three-star hotel accommodation.

Although there are arguably downsides to the programme, Thompson says it’s already proving popular: “Despite the tours being launched only days ago we have already received several applications, so we think these tours will prove very popular. Volunteering opportunities in the DPRK are not easy to find and the program has attracted a lot of interest.”

The tourism industry in North Korea has had relative success since the country opened its borders to visitors in 2009. Travel agencies have estimate that 4,000 to 6,000 Western tourists visit every year, despite both UK and U.S. governments warning against it.

It would seem that the country is keen to promote itself as a holiday destination. In the last two years they have created a ski resort and transformed the coastal city of Wonsan into a beach resort town. In July 2014 there were even reports of North Korea planning on building an underwater hotel in the same region.

However, potential visitors are still required to book through an accredited agency and must be accompanied by a tour guide at all times while in the country. Brits who venture there are urged by the UK government to: “Consider carefully any films or television programmes that you bring into the country… Those deemed to have an anti-DPRK government message may be confiscated and you may face detention as a result.”

Russia has unveiled its first full sized prototype of its military hovercraft drone which will be capable of landing on water. Named ‘Chirok’, meaning ‘duckling’, is operational and ready for testing, Russian state news agency Itar-Tass reported on Friday.

The drone will reportedly be tested soon by Russian electronics company Rostec, who were involved in the device’s construction.

“Last year we unveiled a miniature mock up of the Chirok, one fifth the size of the real device,” a spokesperson for the company said, referring to the presentation of the Chirok’s miniature concept at Russia’s International Aviation and Space Salon in August.

“The wingspan of the original will be 10 metres,” the spokesperson added.

According to Rostec the Chirok will be an amphibious drone, capable of landing on water as well as land. It can fly at a height of up to 6km, can carry more than twice its own weight of 330kg in weight including “rockets and bombs” and will go into mass production in 2016.

A Rostec schematic of the 'Ducking' drone. Rostec

The drone’s body is made of carbon composite, while the “durable” inflatable cushion which allows the Chirok to land on water is made from a secret blend of materials which Rostec have not made public.

According to its manufacturers the Chirok can cover 2,500km in a single flight and it is intended to be virtually weather proof.

“The specs of the apparatus are designed for use in heavy conditions, in regions where there are few landing and takeoff spaces,” Alexander Yakunin, CEO of Rostec said.

“This machine solves the problems posed by large chunks of our massive country,” Yakunin added.

No public statement has been given indicating how many units of the Chirok the Russian military has ordered, however Russia’s Ministry of Defence is one of the project’s major backers and the country’s armed forces have increased their interest in drones of late, announcing construction of an arctic drone base late last year, around 400 miles off the Alaskan coast.

A “substantial number” of Russian Federation special forces troops led this week’s capture of the Donetsk airport amid what appears to be Russia’s biggest direct military offensive in Ukraine since last summer.

The offensive, by thousands of Russian troops, appears aimed at least in part at forcing a re-negotiation of the September cease-fire agreement, which has proven an obstacle for the Kremlin in its key goal: constraining Ukraine’s pursuit of closer ties with Europe and the West.

After months of intense, high-explosive combat amid the ruins of southeastern Ukraine’s main airport, Russian special forces commandos this week led the attacks that killed or drove back the Ukrainian troops and national guardsmen that both sides had dubbed “cyborgs” for their tenacious, defense of the airport’s main buildings, according to Atlantic Council analyst John Herbst. The Russian special forces are fighting at the airport “in substantial numbers,” said Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who returned this week from a talks with Ukrainian and Western officials in Kyiv and Brussels.

In recent weeks, Russia has boosted its troop numbers inside southeastern Ukraine’s Donbas region to about 9,000, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said this week in a speech at Davos, Switzerland. Ukraine’s intelligence services routinely monitor Russian military movements across the stretches of the Ukraine-Russia border that are under the effective control of Russian forces.

Along with NATO, which uses satellite surveillance of the same area, Ukraine has reported what Herbst says is “a massive resupply of Russian heavy equipment—tanks, armored personnel carriers, missile systems—into Ukraine over the past month. Obviously, these are all things that were stocked for the offensive that we’re seeing right now.”

War’s Cost: $6 Million Daily

The new offensive follows what has been a creeping seizure of territory “since the putative cease-fire was agreed to in early September,” said Herbst, who directs the Atlantic Council’s Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center. “The Russians and separatist forces have captured another 500 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory”—about 190 square miles, about three times the area of Washington, D.C. “So the cease-fire violations [by the Russians and their proxy forces] are not just in shooting but in seizing land,” Herbst said in an interview.

“Another key takeaway” of his talks in Kiev “is the cost of the war to Ukraine,” Herbst said. “Ukrainian security officials we spoke to said Ukraine is spending $6 million to $7 million every day, just to maintain their forces in the east to oppose the Kremlin’s aggression.”

Ukrainian military officers in Donbas told The New York Times that Russian troops also are spearheading a drive in Lugansk province that seized border checkpoint from Ukrainian troops and villages north of Lugansk city.

Russia’s Offensive: What Goals?

The Russian offensive’s immediate territorial goals are unclear. Alexander Zakharchenko, a Ukrainian who is the declared prime minister of the Russian-sponsored Donetsk People’s Republic, told Russian news agencies today that the Russian-backed forces would re-capture all of Donetsk province (an objective he has declared for many weeks). Ukraine last summer pushed the Donetsk separatist forces out of the northern half of the province before the Russian army deployed its own paratroopers, tanks and artillery units to halt their advance.

Some military analysts, notably Georgetown University professor and former Pentagon strategist Philip Karber, have warned that a new Russian drive into Ukraine was likely in the spring. US government analysts in Washington have told the Atlantic Council in recent weeks that Russia might move in the winter, rather than wait for spring, in part because it has a tactical advantage over Ukraine with its greater transport and logistical capacities amid snow and freezing temperatures.

Whatever Russia’s immediate aims in a winter offensive, President Vladimir Putin’s strategic need is greater military leverage against the Ukrainian government than that permitted him under the September cease-fire accord. That deal confined the Russian-led forces to only the southern half of the Donbas region, and has failed to deter the government in Kiev from pursuing its closer association with the European Union and the West.

Putin has insisted that Ukraine must remain in the Russian sphere of influence and join a Russian-led economic bloc that is a centerpiece of Putin’s strategy for maintaining Russia’s long-term security and economic future as the dominant power in Eurasia.

Lavrov Says ‘Prove It’

Amid the Russian offensive this week, German officials reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had agreed with his German, French and Ukrainian counterparts on a plan for both sides to pull their heavy weapons back from the line agreed in the September 5 cease-fire deal, signed in Minsk, Belarus.

Russia denies that it has troops in Ukraine or that it is the financial and military backer of the Donetsk and Lugansk “people’s republics.” Those entities were created and are sustained by Ukrainians opposed to the “fascist” and “neo-Nazi” government in Kiev, the Kremlin says.

To journalists in Davos, Lavrov on January 21 re-stated Moscow’s denial that it has sent weapons or troops, or that it has any other direct involvement in the war. “I say every time: If you allege this so confidently, present the facts. But nobody can present the facts, or doesn't want to," Lavrov told a news conference before heading to the peace talks in Berlin with the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Germany and France. “So before demanding from us that we stop doing something, please present proof that we have done it," Lavrov said.

In fact, a wide base of reporting from Ukraine and Russia—including independent reporting by Western and Russian journalists; by non-government organizations including the Russian committees of mothers of soldiers and the Russian director of the Red Cross in Moscow; by international and Russian human rights groups and activists; and by Russian citizens and soldiers posting their stories and pictures on social media sites—have documented Russia’s provision of weapons; its deployments of troops; the deaths of its soldiers on Ukrainian battlefields; its government’s support for Russian military veterans’ recruitment as mercenaries; the presence of its (Cossack and Chechen) paramilitary forces in Ukraine’s war; and other elements of Russia’s role.

Many such reports also have detailed the censorship, beatings, and legal actions by the Russian government to suppress the evidence that Lavrov said had never been offered.

James Rupert is an editor at the Atlantic Council. This article first appeared on the Atlantic Council website.

Three major sponsors are removing their backing of world football’s governing body FIFA. The brands include the global lubricant brand Castrol, medical manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and German tyre company Continental. All three have decided to not renew their sponsorship contracts with FIFA, all of which expired at the end of last year.

They join two other former sponsors - Sony and Emirates in deciding not to continue their relationship with FIFA. Both were classified as top-tier sponsors, or ‘FIFA partners’ who contributed major capital to the non-profit organization.

The last year has been uncomfortable for FIFA, with major sponsors - a major source of revenue - abandoning them amid allegations of corruption and bribery.

Internal investigations into the questionable bidding race for the 2018 world cup in Russia and 2022 World Cup in Qatar were never published. Only a summary was released, which principal investigator, American lawyer Michael Garcia, called "incomplete and erroneous", subsequently resigning.

None of the sponsors referred to the corruption allegations in their reasons for not renewing their sponsorship.

“I think the reputation of FIFA has been dragged through mud by their failure to properly investigative themselves,” says British Conservative MP Damian Collins, a vocal critic of FIFA, who spoke on Wednesday at the New FIFA Now conference in Brussels. “They pretended that [the summary] covered all. It was very limited… They then refused to publish it.” Collins adds that the investigation had little power to subpoena and that all the inquiries were overseen by the governing committee.  He says FIFA is “not equipped in any way to deal with these allegations”.

Visa, which holds a £120 million contract with FIFA, publically criticised its partner, releasing a statement on its Tumblr page: “We are troubled by the recent events surrounding FIFA.  In our discussions we have clearly stated that greater transparency and more open, forthright communications is not only paramount, but the only way in which public trust in FIFA, and all that it represents, will be restored.” Coca Cola, Adidas, BP and Hyundai also expressed disappointment over the investigation. According to the Guardian, FIFA sponsors bring in over $1.5 billion in revenue every four years. Collins enough pressure from sponsors may lead to reform. The market “can have a big say”, Collins adds.

Jaimie Fuller, a sportswear entrepreneur and outspoken critic of FIFA has recently launched a ‘non-sponsorship’ campaign against the body. He says that brands who stay silent are complicit in corruption. “One of my objectives is to keep the pressure on Visa and make them accountable for what they’ve said in the past,” he says. “FIFA will listen to the money.”

FIFA was quick to brush off the significance of their sponsors’ departure: “Rotations at the end of a sponsorship cycle are commonplace in the sports industry and have continuously occurred since the commercialisation of the FIFA World Cup began. It is natural that as brands’ strategies evolve they reassess their sponsorship properties,” a spokesman said. “As in previous FIFA World Cup cycles, we are now in advanced negotiations with a number of companies related to sponsorship agreements.”

They have also recently been forced to fight back over questions about the assumed benefits that the FIFA World Cup brings to host nations. At the presentation of FIFA’s sustainability report, secretary general Jerome Valcke took on critics over the organizations contribution to Brazil: “Our commitment [is] to be in Brazil after the World Cup, not to leave, as some media said — I mean, [comments like] 'FIFA is coming to Brazil taking the money out of Brazil and run away from Brazil right after the final'. It is not true.”

FIFA, which generated $4 billion in revenue from the 2014 World Cup, is donating $100 million to a ‘Legacy Fund’ in Brazil - an idea conceived after complaints that the 2010 World Cup in South Africa left little behind. $100 million is roughly the same as FIFA’s annual wage bill.

King Abdullah, the former monarch of Saudi Arabia, has been buried in an unmarked grave, the Saudi government announced today.

King Abdullah died early this morning aged 90 after a short bout of pneumonia. However, in accordance with the Saudi royal family’s ultra conservative Muslim faith, often referred to as Wahhabism, there has been no official period of mourning and a public funeral will not be held, despite the fact Abdullah was head of state for almost 10 years.

Instead he was buried  in a modest ceremony - his body was bathed in the manner in keeping with Islamic ritual and wrapped in white cloth before he was buried in Riyadh’s Al Oud cemetery where he joined previous Saudi monarchs, also interred in unmarked graves. Prayers were led by his brother and successor, King Salman, in a ceremony which was attended by members of the al-Saud family and prominent Muslim heads of state, Reuters reports.

Wahhabism, an ultra-conservative form of Sunni Islam, is the dominant faith of the Saudi state, adhered to by its ruling family, the House of Saud.

Dr Tony Street, an expert in Islam from Cambridge University, says that when it comes to burial, Wahhabists are “hostile to leaving anything that might become a site for veneration”, and that they characterise their belief as “simply a commitment to utter and absolute Tawhid, the affirmation of God’s supremacy”.

Interestingly, its followers often reject the term Wahhabi, as the word refers to the work of 18th century Muslim scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, after whom the movement is named. “I think they just prefer to be called Muslims,” says Dr Street. He explains that calling something or someone Wahhabi  “is awarding exactly the kind of eminence to a Muslim that they try to avoid. You don’t want to start setting up people in pseudo-hagiographical positions.”

King Salman has publicly rejected the term saying that it is unrepresentative of modern Saudi society. Speaking to daily Saudi Arabian newspaper Okaz, he said: "Enemies of the Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abd Al-Wahhab labelled his teaching as Wahhabism, a doctrine that doesn't exist here.”

Al–Wahhab was also buried in an unmarked grave. In September last year controversy arose after an Islamic academic in Saudi Arabia proposed that the Prophet Muhammad’s body be transferred from the al-Masjid al-Nabawi mosque in Medina, to an unmarked grave nearby.

Andrew Hammond, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, explains that this argument over the moving of Muhammad’s body is a point of contention in Islam, along with the fact that Saudi Arabia hosts two holy Islamic cities, Medina and Mecca. Wahhabists in the country “have to put up with this distorted vision of the Muslims who don’t do things their way”, says Hammond, referring to the Wahhabist dislike of worshipping corporeal entities, as opposed to purely spiritual ones. “It particularly bugs them when they see someone venerating his body,”  he adds.

King Abdullah began his reign in 2005 after the death of King Fahd, his half brother. Following Abdullah’s death this morning he was immediately succeeded by younger half brother King Salman. Salman, the last of the sons of the founder of the kingdom, King Abdulaziz, was quick to appoint a Deputy Crown Prince - Prince Mohammed bin Nayef - to mark a clear line of succession into the next generation. Despite this smooth succession oil prices have risen as Abdullah’s death created uncertainty in the market. Saudi Arabia is the world’s top oil exporter .

Salman was quick to pledge the continuation of existing energy and foreign policies and also appointed his own half-brother Muqrin as heir in order to calm worries about future successions.

Salman has inherited the problems that Abdullah has been facing over the last few months including plunging international oil prices, Saudi’s largest export, and the threat of the Islamic State, who have pledged to overthrow the Al Saud family due to their participation in Obama’s anti-ISIS coalition.

World leaders from 21 coalition states met on Thursday in London to discuss tactics for defeating ISIS, particularly in regards to airstrikes. Iraq’s prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry were among those in attendance.

Representatives of one group were notably missing: the Kurds. The organizers of the anti-ISIS conference did not extend an invitation to Kurdish leaders, even though Kurdish forces have been essential in battling the militants on the ground.

“I express my and Kurdistan people’s disappointment with the organizers of this conference, and it is unfortunate that the people of Kurdistan do the sacrifice and the credit goes to others,” Kurdish regional President Massoud Barzani told the Rudaw media organization in a statement. The conference organizers didn’t immediately address the matter.

Barzani stressed the importance of Kurdistan’s combat efforts against ISIS. “The people of Kurdistan bear the brunt of this situation, and no country or party can represent or truly convey their voice in international gatherings,” he said, referring to the Kurdish peshmerga fighters as “the most effective force countering global terrorism today.”

On Thursday, Kurdish forces killed 200 militants and were able to regain control of a portion of ISIS-held territory. During the conference, al-Abadi requested more weapons for his army in its fight against ISIS.

At the conference, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said it could take as long as two years to drive ISIS out of Iraq. Kerry noted that Iraqi troops aided by airstrikes had successfully regained hundreds of square miles of territory from the terrorist organization.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States wants to continue its close counterterrorism cooperation with Yemen and does not see the rebel takeover of that government as a sign that either Iran or al Qaeda are exerting control there, the White House said on Friday.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest also said he knew of no changes involving U.S. drone strikes on al Qaeda in Yemen, which Washington had conducted with the support of ousted President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Hadi resigned in exasperation after the takeover by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on Thursday.

The United States is concerned about the political instability in Yemen, but considers the al Qaeda affiliate in that country, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the most dangerous in the world, Earnest said.

"This administration remains committed to pursuing a counterterrorism strategy against AQAP," Earnest said at a news briefing.

He said there was no change in U.S. policy on Yemen at this point and the Obama administration continues to have a strong partnership with the national security infrastructure in Yemen.

"We have worked closely with the Hadi government and we certainly want to continue our work with the government of Yemen to pursue this important counterterrorism effort," Earnest said.

He said it was "not clear" that Iran was exerting control or influence over the rebels and noted that the Houthis and al Qaeda were "enemies."

"The fact that there is this political instability in Yemen is not an indication that AQAP is gaining in influence," Earnest said.