France ‘determined’ to recognize Palestinian state: foreign minister

France ‘determined’ to recognize Palestinian state: foreign minister
Palestinians flee from eastern Khan Yunis after Israeli military evacuation warnings, Gaza. (Reuters)
Short Url
Updated 20 May 2025
Follow

France ‘determined’ to recognize Palestinian state: foreign minister

France ‘determined’ to recognize Palestinian state: foreign minister

PARIS: France is “determined” to recognize a Palestinian state, its foreign minister said on Tuesday, condemning Israel for the “indefensible” situation in Gaza created by its military campaign and humanitarian blockade.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also reaffirmed that Paris backed a Netherlands-led initiative for a review of the cooperation agreement between the European Union and Israel, which could affect political and economic ties.

President Emmanuel Macron has left open the possibility that France could become the latest European nation to recognize a Palestinian state at a UN conference in June.

“We cannot leave the children of Gaza a legacy of violence and hatred. So all this must stop, and that’s why we are determined to recognize a Palestinian state,” Barrot told France Inter radio.

“And I am actively working toward this, because we want to contribute to a political solution in the interest of the Palestinians but also for the security of Israel,” he added.

Barrot was speaking after Macron joined British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in a rare joint statement that angered Israel.

The statement said that “we will not stand by,” threatened “further concrete actions” if Israel continued to block aid, and said that “We are committed to recognizing a Palestinian state.”

Pressed over what these actions could entail, Barrot again urged the EU to agree to the Dutch request to review the association agreement between Israel and the bloc and, in particular, examine if Israel was violating the accord’s commitments on human rights.

He said this raises “the possibility of an eventual suspension” of an accord, which has political as well as commercial dimensions.

“Neither Israel or the EU have an interest in ending that accord,” he added.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has authorized a limited amount of humanitarian aid after more than two and a half months of a complete blockade of the Palestinian territory, which is facing a catastrophic humanitarian situation.

But Barrot said this was “totally insufficient.”

The situation in Gaza is “indefensible because blind violence and the blocking of humanitarian aid by the Israeli government have turned Gaza into a death trap if not a cemetery.”

In a warning to Israel, he added: “When you sow violence you harvest violence.”

The war was sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the military says are dead.

Gaza’s health ministry said Monday at least 3,340 people in the Palestinian territory have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,486.


UPDATE 2-Russia strikes global business in major Ukraine air attack and accuses Kyiv of blocking peace

Updated 5 sec ago
Follow

UPDATE 2-Russia strikes global business in major Ukraine air attack and accuses Kyiv of blocking peace

UPDATE 2-Russia strikes global business in major Ukraine air attack and accuses Kyiv of blocking peace
KYIV: Russia targeted a US-founded electronics manufacturer near Ukraine’s border with the European Union in a major air attack on Thursday as President Volodymyr Zelensky sought US support to bring Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.
The overnight attack, which included 574 drones and 40 missiles, was one of the largest of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor, now in its fourth year.
One person was killed and 22 were wounded, most of them in the attack that damaged storage facilities at the electronics manufacturer in Ukraine’s far-Western Zakarpattia region, authorities said.
“It was a regular civilian business, supported by American investment, producing everyday items like coffee machines. And yet, it was also a target for the Russians,” Zelensky wrote on X.
“This is very telling.”
Mukachevo mayor Andriy Baloha said the damaged enterprise belonged to the US-listed company Flex Ltd. The corporate headquarters of the company, a global technology, supply chain and advanced manufacturing solutions partner, is in Austin, Texas and its registered office is in Singapore.
The company employed thousands of the area’s residents, Baloha said. Flex, which grew from a family firm founded in Silicon Valley in 1969, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In Ukraine’s western city of Lviv, the attack killed one person, wounded three others and damaged 26 homes, said Governor Maksym Kozytskyi. Authorities in southeastern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region also reported damage to businesses, homes and gas lines. Two industry sources told Reuters a key gas pumping facility had been attacked, without giving a location.
Russia said Putin had repeatedly said he was ready to meet Zelensky but that Ukraine was trying to undermine Trump’s efforts to resolve the conflict and its leader was illegitimate.
The defense ministry in Moscow said it had struck Ukrainian energy and airfield infrastructure as well as military industrial facilities overnight, and captured another frontline village — Oleksandro-Shultyne, Russian news agency RIA reported. Ukraine said it had hit a Russian oil refinery, a drone warehouse and a fuel base.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

SECURITY TALKS
US President Donald Trump met both Zelensky and Vladimir Putin over the past week in pursuit of a diplomatic end to the fighting but has acknowledged that his Russian counterpart may not want to make a deal. Zelensky urged Trump to react firmly if that was the case.
“We are ready. But what if the Russians are not ready?” he said in comments released on Thursday. “If the Russians are not ready, we would like to see a strong reaction from the United States.”
US and European military planners have begun exploring post-conflict security guarantees for Ukraine, according to US officials and sources, but the path to peace remained uncertain.
A defense ministry source in Turkiye, which has opposed sanctions on Russia while also giving military help to Ukraine and joining a “Coalition of the Willing” to help it with post-conflict security, said peace was still far off.
“It is necessary to first secure a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, then determine the framework of a mission with a clear mandate, and clarify the extent to which each country will contribute,” the Turkish source said on condition of anonymity.
The Kremlin said Putin had discussed Ukraine with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, when Moscow also said attempts to resolve security issues without Russian involvement were a “road to nowhere.”
On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was ready for an honest talk about security guarantees for Ukraine and accused Ukraine’s European backers of ‘adventurism’ by excluding Moscow from their discussions.
Russia, which denies targeting civilians, has used missiles and drones to strike Ukrainian towns and cities far from the front lines throughout the war.
Thousands of civilians, the vast majority of them Ukrainian, have been killed since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of February 2022. More than a million Russian and Ukrainian soldiers are estimated to have been killed or wounded.

Uganda agrees deal with US to take deported migrants if they don’t have criminal records

Uganda agrees deal with US to take deported migrants if they don’t have criminal records
Updated 21 August 2025
Follow

Uganda agrees deal with US to take deported migrants if they don’t have criminal records

Uganda agrees deal with US to take deported migrants if they don’t have criminal records

KAMPALA: Uganda has agreed a deal with the United States to take deported migrants on condition that the deportees should not have criminal records and not be unaccompanied minors, officials said Thursday.

The Ugandan foreign affairs ministry in a statement said the “two parties are working out the detailed modalities on how the agreement shall be implemented.”

Uganda also expressed a preference that those brought into the country should be of African nationalities.

It was not clear if the agreement had been signed but the ministry statement said it had been “concluded.”

International Relations Minister Henry Okello Oryem told The Associated Press that while Uganda is known globally for its benevolent refugee policy, there are limits.

And he questioned why the country would take people rejected by their own countries.

“We are talking about cartels: people who are unwanted in their own countries. How can we integrate them into local communities in Uganda?” he asked.

He said the government was in discussions about “visas, tariffs, sanctions, and related issues, not accepting illegal aliens from the US That would be unfair to Ugandans.”

In July, the US deported five men with criminal backgrounds to the southern African kingdom of Eswatini and sent eight more to South Sudan.


Ukraine expects clarity soon on security guarantees from US and other allies

Ukraine expects clarity soon on security guarantees from US and other allies
Updated 21 August 2025
Follow

Ukraine expects clarity soon on security guarantees from US and other allies

Ukraine expects clarity soon on security guarantees from US and other allies
  • A coalition of more than 30 countries have in principle pledged to contribute to security guarantees but talks came to a standstill when the US remained ambivalent about its role

KYIV: Ukraine will hold intensive meetings to understand what kind of security guarantees its allies are willing to provide after receiving signals that the United States would back reinvigorated discussions seeking an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The details are being hammered out among national security advisers and military officials and Zelensky thinks they will take clearer shape within 10 days. He then expects to be ready to hold direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since the full-scale invasion.

The talks could also be conducted in a trilateral format alongside US President Donald Trump, Zelensky said.

“We want to have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days. And based on that understanding, we aim to hold a trilateral meeting. That was my logic,” Zelensky said, speaking to reporters Wednesday after his trip to Washington along with Europe’s top leaders.

“President Trump suggested a slightly different logic: a trilateral meeting through a bilateral one,” Zelensky said. “But then we all agreed that, in any case, we continue working on the security guarantees, establishing this approximate framework, similar to Article 5. And what we have today is political support for this.”

Article 5 is NATO’s common defense guarantee under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on them all.

A venue for the meeting is being discussed with Switzerland, Austria and Turkiye as possibilities, Zelensky added.

Kyiv still does not have clarity over what kind of support it can expect from allies. A coalition of more than 30 countries have in principle pledged to contribute to security guarantees but talks came to a standstill when the US remained ambivalent about its role.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said working on security arrangements in Ukraine without Moscow’s involvement would not work, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.

“We cannot agree with the fact that it is now proposed to resolve collective security issues without the Russian Federation. This will not work. We have already explained more than once that Russia does not overstate its interests, but we will ensure our legitimate interests firmly and harshly,” Lavrov said at a news conference Wednesday

Recent positive signals from Trump suggesting the US will support “Article 5-like” security guarantees and Ukraine’s hopes to join the European Union have reinvigorated those discussions, Zelensky said.

“Today we have a positive signal from America, from President Trump, from his team, that they will be participants in the security guarantees for Ukraine. And this opens up the possibility for other countries,” he added. “Now the general staff of key countries have already started talking about what they are ready for. And some countries that were not there will probably appear now.”

Turkiye vocalized its readiness to provide security along the Black Sea after Trump appeared open to the possibility of supporting security guarantees for Ukraine, Zelensky said.

Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine is ready to hold direct talks with Putin.

“And what if the Russians are not ready? The Europeans raised the issue. If the Russians are not ready, then we would like to see a strong reaction from the United States,” he said.

Ukraine previously has expressed hope that the US will punish Russia with more sanctions if it does not demonstrate a serious willingness to end the war.

Zelensky spoke positively about his meeting with Trump in the Oval Office on Monday alongside Europe’s top leaders. He sought to convince Trump that the battlefield situation was not as bad for Ukraine as Putin portrayed.

Zelensky pointed to errors in the US map of the front line that he said showed Russia holding more territory than it actually does.

“President Trump was interested in hearing the details. We talked a lot about Donbas, about the East, what its importance is. I noted that if our military withdraws from this territory and it is occupied, then we will open the way to Kharkiv,” Zelensky said, adding that he showed Trump roads leading to Ukraine’s industrial center in Dnipropetrovsk.

“I noted to him that there are many important aspects here. If we are simply talking about withdrawing from the east, we cannot do this,” Zelensky said, noting that he believed Trump had understood him.


New Zealand spy service warns of China interference

New Zealand spy service warns of China interference
Updated 21 August 2025
Follow

New Zealand spy service warns of China interference

New Zealand spy service warns of China interference
  • New Zealand’s spy service warned Thursday that China is the most active power engaging in foreign interference in the country, sparking a sharp rebuke from Beijing

SYDNEY: New Zealand’s spy service warned Thursday that China is the most active power engaging in foreign interference in the country, sparking a sharp rebuke from Beijing.

New Zealand faces the “most challenging national security environment of recent times,” the country’s intelligence agency said in an annual risk assessment.

Key drivers of the deteriorating threat environment were less stable relationships between states, deepening polarization and growing grievances.

Though several states seek to manipulate New Zealand’s government and society, China remains the “most active,” the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service said.

China’s embassy in Wellington accused the agency of sowing suspicion and “poisoning the two countries’ relations.”

“The accusations sound very familiar as they rehash smears and slanders fabricated elsewhere, repackaged for the New Zealand audience,” an embassy spokesperson said.

“We have regarded, and are willing to continue to regard New Zealand as a friend and partner. But the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations depends on the joint efforts from both sides.”

New Zealand’s spy agency specifically accused China’s United Front Work Department of engaging in foreign interference to build influence outside of China.

Not all of its activity amounted to foreign interference, and some could be beneficial, it said.

“However, its activities are regularly deceptive, coercive and corruptive and come with risks for New Zealand organizations.”

The agency cautioned New Zealand businesses that under China’s national security legislation, individuals and organizations in China must comply with requests from the country’s security services.

The Indo-Pacific region is a focal point for strategic competition between powers, the security service said.

China is a “particularly assertive and powerful actor,” seeking to extend and embed its influence across the region, the report said.

“It has demonstrated both a willingness and capability to undertake intelligence activity that targets New Zealand’s national interests.”

Without naming countries, the intelligence service highlighted the routine use of “transnational repression” by foreign states, often by co-opting people to collect information about someone within their own diaspora living in New Zealand.

Looking at other risks, the agency said the most plausible extremist threat in New Zealand remained that of a lone actor, radicalized in an increasingly polarized, grievance-laden online world, who attacks without forewarning.

Young and vulnerable people were at the highest risk of radicalization, it said.

The intelligence organization said it was “almost certain” that some foreign espionage activity was going undetected.

Foreign countries were targeting critical organizations, infrastructure and technology — mostly through cyber exploitation, it said.

“It is not just intelligence officers conducting this activity,” the agency said.

“Some governments take a ‘whole of state approach’ to intelligence gathering, which includes utilising businesses, universities, think tanks, or cyber actors to act on their behalf.”

Global competition and insecurity drive most of the espionage activity against New Zealand, it said.

The service cited “multiple examples” of states seeking covert access to information on government policy positions, security partnerships, technological innovations and research.


China’s Xi pushes development, ethnic unity in rare visit to Tibet

China’s Xi pushes development, ethnic unity in rare visit to Tibet
Updated 10 min 27 sec ago
Follow

China’s Xi pushes development, ethnic unity in rare visit to Tibet

China’s Xi pushes development, ethnic unity in rare visit to Tibet
  • Xi’s visit comes ahead of potential tensions over the succession of the 90-year-old Dalai Lama, who lives in India, where he established a Tibetan government in exile

BEIJING: President Xi Jinping attended a grand ceremony in Lhasa on Thursday during a rare visit to Tibet, where he urged “ethnic unity and religious harmony” in a region where China is accused of rights abuses.

The vast high-altitude area on the country’s western edge, established as an autonomous region in 1965 — six years after the 14th Dalai Lama fled into exile — was once a hotbed for protest against Communist Party rule.

Rights groups accuse Beijing’s leaders of suppressing Tibetan culture and imposing massive surveillance, though authorities claim their policies have fostered stability and rapid economic development in one of China’s poorest regions.

“To govern, stabilize and develop Tibet, we must first safeguard political stability, social stability, ethnic unity and religious harmony,” Xi, visiting for the first time since 2021, told a group of the region’s officials on Wednesday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

On Thursday, party officials lauded the region’s progress and urged ethnic unity during an event to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the autonomous region.

The ceremony was held in front of the vast Potala Palace, the ancient residence of Dalai Lamas — Tibetan Buddhism’s spiritual leaders.

Wang Huning, China’s fourth-ranked leader, called for “deepening the anti-secession struggle and ensuring the consolidation and security of the border areas.”

“Any attempt to split the motherland and undermine Tibet’s stability is doomed to failure,” he said.

A giant portrait of Xi flanked a crowd numbering 20,000, according to CCTV, which included military personnel, school children and other members of Tibetan society, many in traditional Tibetan dress.

A parade followed, showcasing Tibetan dancers, floats emblazoned with official slogans, and formations of troops.

Xi’s visit comes ahead of potential tensions over the succession of the 90-year-old Dalai Lama, who lives in India, where he established a Tibetan government in exile.

In July, the Dalai Lama said the spiritual institution would continue after his death, with a successor decided “exclusively” by his office.

China’s rulers insist the next Dalai Lama must be approved by the government in Beijing, raising the prospect of two rival leaders of Tibetan Buddhism emerging.

Xi called Wednesday for “guiding Tibetan Buddhism to adapt to socialist society in accordance with the systematic Sinicization of religion.”

He made no mention of the Dalai Lama in CCTV’s coverage.

Xi also promoted the “vigorous, orderly, and efficient” completion of the massive Yarlung Tsangpo dam, which began construction in July.

The 1.2 trillion yuan ($167 billion) hydropower project, potentially the largest in the world, has prompted concerns from India and Bangladesh, which sit downstream.

India’s government said it had raised the dam this week during talks with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in New Delhi.

They also discussed advancing talks on the two countries’ disputed border in the region, which was the site of deadly border clashes in 2020.