Tom Bateman

BBC State Department correspondent. Former Middle East. Foreign policy & international relations. Signal tom.6441 email [email protected]

[Tom Bateman @tombateman]

1. Civilians who escaped Mariupol in recent days have described the growing desperation in the besieged city, including accounts of bodies buried in shallow graves, looting by Chechen fighters, and starving residents being killed when they venture out of shelters to find water

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

wow -- CNN broadcast footage of an Arlington guard yelling at a group with Pete Hegseth to "MAINTAIN SILENCE ... PAY RESPECT!" after someone in his entourage started laughing at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

[BBC News (World) @BBCWorld]

Egyptian journalist's retrial adjourned as UN warns of 'widening assaults on press freedom' https://t.co/xBnzdQ6Kc6

[Jonathan Beale @bealejonathan]

https://t.co/mRtljhH37G

[Tara Copp @TaraCopp]

We did; I shouted at least 4 questions that Hegseth did not answer, on whether he takes responsibility for the war; on war crimes; others shouted if he’d become a distraction for Trump. Hegseth only took Qs from
Conservative media or new media outlets they brought in after kicking out the Pentagon press corps last year. Almost everyone who got questions, save for our colleague Mike Glenn, had agreed to the strict rules that the Pentagon Press Corps refused to sign last year.

[Clare Amari @Amari_Clare]

National readers may not know about the epic fights happening in Texas over how to educate our kids. The state recently launched a billion-dollar voucher program for private schools, and the education agency (led by an Abbott appointee) has taken over 8 public school districts.

[Tala Ramadan @TalaRamadan]

DUBAI, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Iran has sent the US a nuclear proposal via Qatar which is to be discussed only after Washington meets its seven demands, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Thursday.

Washington is reviewing Tehran's nuclear proposal, the official added.

[Tom Bateman @tombateman]

"The “bottom line”...was in highlighter yellow: Republicans could still conceivably win the House if Democrats had only a four-point edge. “But that won’t happen without an extended cease-fire, Hormuz open & gas prices falling,” the slide warned."
https://t.co/acubClWoTt

[Tom Bateman @tombateman]

If you want to see how the issue is putting a political crater in deep red parts of America, listen to Patty Spillman, a corn farmer from Pleasant Township, Ohio. I met her on Monday. A 3-time Trump voter, now facing a mass data centre as far as the eye can see by her home

[Tom Bateman @tombateman]

Spending time in Ohio for the midterms, I’ve been struck by how data centres are becoming such a defining political issue.
It’s not just nimbyism or local politics.
The 21st century economy is being defined by the need for mass expanses of land, water and power to hold data 1/

[Tom Bateman @tombateman]

Tech firms need land in areas that are often rural Republican strongholds.
In Ohio, the Senate and Governor races saw candidates fight over who would be the toughest on data centre restrictions and moratoriums. The Democrats won both races. Today the markets have reacted. 2/

[Jana Choukeir @ChoukeirJ]

Iranian negotiators are in Doha for a third consecutive day of talks with Qatari mediators aimed at pushing for a deal to end the US-Iran war- official briefed on the talks to Reuters

[Asma Khalid @asmamk]

I wrote a thing.
Take a read.

The conventional wisdom in Washington is that Democrats are well-positioned to take control of the House, and possibly even the Senate, after the vote next week. But …

[Tom Bateman @tombateman]

In September the US waived human rights conditions on $320m of US military assistance to Egypt; days later a fresh crackdown began on journalists in the country. Several members of Congress say the two are linked, calling for their release.
https://t.co/biEq4jAqG3

[Tom Bateman @tombateman]

SAF airstrike on a market in South Darfur killed dozens of people on Monday night, according to MSF, as both sides continue to attack civilian areas.
Terrible scenes described.

[MSF International @MSF]

🚨 SUDAN: At around 8 pm local time yesterday, a drone strike by the Sudanese Armed Forces hit a busy market in Nyala, South Darfur. A second strike also hit a civilian neighbourhood. The Nyala Teaching hospital, which we support, saw over 150 wounded people.

“This is appalling. Markets, homes, and key civilian infrastructure are not targets. All parties to the conflict must protect civilians.”

https://t.co/QjWrQyK7FJ

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

US Secretary of Health Robert F Kennedy Jr. has said that Arabs don’t produce science or literature, or win Nobel prizes.

RFK Jr.’s remarks, which were made during a Republican rally, have been widely condemned as factually incorrect and racially biased.

[Mada Masr مدى مصر @MadaMasr]

The court has suspended the session in which Mada Masr Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah’s first hearing on charges of managing an unlicensed website is taking place, with proceedings set to resume later today.

The session’s suspension came after the judge had requested during proceedings that the defense counsel review the case file while the session was ongoing. The counsel refused the request, asking that they be given sufficient time to review the case documents. The judge repeated his request that they review the case file during the session, saying that “the case is simple” and that the charge is the straightforward question of managing a website without a license.

The session is being held at the ninth circuit of the New Cairo Misdemeanor Court, presided over by judge Mohamed Mubarak.

At the start of the session, after the judge presented to Attalah the Supreme State Security Prosecution’s charges, he asked the editor-in-chief if the website was unlicensed at the time of the prosecution’s investigations on October 21. She responded by stressing that she had applied for a license and never received a response.

Before the session began, journalists present at the courthouse were barred from entering to attend the trial, among them Iman Ouf, the Journalists Syndicate’s Freedoms Committee head. Court security asked the journalists gathered outside to hand over their syndicate membership cards, saying the presiding judge wanted to check on those present “name by name.” They later returned the cards without letting anyone in.

Mada Masr’s defense lawyers had asked the judge for full access to evidence in the case, including the facts of the licensing procedures and related notifications, details of the charges Attalah is accused of and the time period over which it is alleged that the crime took place, as well as access to all documentation regarding Mada Masr’s licensing application held by the Supreme Media Regulatory Council.

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

An extraordinary result for a grassroots student movement

[POLITICOEurope @POLITICOEurope]

🚨 BREAKING: Aleksandar Vučić announced the end of his 12-year reign as the most powerful man in Serbia today following a pivotal election that swept the Student List protest movement to victory.

Full story: https://t.co/v5kBM7Ui0N

[60 Minutes @60Minutes]

60 Minutes obtained the names of 63 people on a deportation flight from Texas to West Africa. Of the 19 people we reached who were sent to Ghana, 17 say Ghana then transported them against their will to their home countries — places U.S. immigration judges had ruled they should not be returned to.

A Department of Homeland Security lawyer told 60 Minutes he was not aware of cases in which Ghana had sent deportees home against their will. He also said he believes third-country removals have prevented crimes and made Americans safer. https://t.co/iNOFiDCmif

[The New York Times @nytimes]

Breaking News: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated Flávio Bolsonaro to stay president of Brazil, halting the right’s march in Latin America. Follow live updates. https://t.co/vr6TetYb1D