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Spain’s prime minister says he will propose that parliament recognizes a Palestinian state

Spain’s prime minister says he will propose that parliament recognizes a Palestinian state
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says he will propose that the country's parliament recognizes a Palestinian state. (AP Photo/File)
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Updated 10 March 2024
AP
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Spain’s prime minister says he will propose that parliament recognizes a Palestinian state

Spain’s prime minister says he will propose that parliament recognizes a Palestinian state
  • Says it's a "just cause and because it is the only way that the two states, Israel and Palestine, can live together in peace.”
  • Adds that his position on the conflict in the Gaza Strip is much like his country’s support for Ukraine following Russia’s invasion
Updated 10 March 2024
AP
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BILBAO, Spain: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Saturday that he will propose that Spain’s parliament recognizes a Palestinian state.

“I will propose granting Spain’s recognition to the Palestinian state,” Sánchez said. “I do this out of moral conviction, for a just cause and because it is the only way that the two states, Israel and Palestine, can live together in peace.”

Sánchez added his voice to a chorus of other European leaders and government officials who have said that they could support a two-state solution in the Middle East as international frustration grows with Israel’s actions in the Palestinian territories.

Sanchez also posted his plan on the X platform.

French President Emmanuel Macron said last month that it’s not “taboo” for France to recognize a Palestinian state. British Foreign Minister David Cameron said that the United Kingdom could officially recognize a Palestinian state after a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Sánchez said that his position on the conflict in the Gaza Strip is much like his country’s support for Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion more than two years ago.

He stressed that Spain demanded “respect for international law from Russia, and from Israel, for the violence to end, the recognition of two states, and for humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.”

His comments at a rights conference in the city of Bilbao came as aid shipments were headed for Gaza amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and a new international willingness to work around Israeli restrictions.

Five months after Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage, Israel’s military has battered the territory, killing more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Topics: Spain pedro sanchez Palestinian state Israel War on Gaza

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Putin appoints new governor to manage Kursk ‘crisis’

Putin appoints new governor to manage Kursk ‘crisis’
Updated 16 sec ago
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Putin appoints new governor to manage Kursk ‘crisis’

Putin appoints new governor to manage Kursk ‘crisis’
Updated 16 sec ago
Ukrainian troops launched a shock offensive into Kursk in August, forcing thousands to flee border areas
Putin appointed Alexander Khinshtein — a prominent pro-Kremlin lawmaker — as acting Kursk governor late on Thursday

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin has replaced the governor of the Kursk region — partly controlled by Ukraine — saying it needs a “crisis” manager, after residents voiced anger at the handling of the incursion.
Ukrainian troops launched a shock offensive into Kursk in August, forcing thousands to flee border areas. Ukraine’s army said in November it controls 800 square kilometers (310 square miles) of territory in the region.
Putin appointed Alexander Khinshtein — a prominent pro-Kremlin lawmaker — as acting Kursk governor late on Thursday.
“There is a need for crisis management there,” Putin said in a meeting with Khinshtein.
“The most important thing is to organize work on helping people,” he added.
Acknowledging communications failures, Khinshtein told Putin: “We have to do all we can so that all residents of Kursk region fully feel that they are part of our one big country.”
The previous regional chief, Alexei Smirnov, became acting governor in May and was inaugurated in September. He left voluntarily, according to the Kremlin and wrote on Telegram he has a new post.
Smirnov had drawn criticism over his appearances at televised meetings after the incursion, appearing formulaic and lacking a personal touch.
Putin considers Khinshtein “can better deal with this role,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, denying there was any “grievances” against Smirnov.
Since August, Kursk locals have taken to social media to voice anger at the lack of warnings over the incursion and the handling of the crisis.
Some have created video messages to Putin pleading for help, though discontent is rarely shown on official media.
Some residents of Olgovka, about 17 kilometers (10 miles) from the border, said their village looks “like a scene from a horror film” and “we have found ourselves homeless.”
“Some of our fellow villagers were killed, some are missing, since evacuation was not announced and some did not have time to leave,” a village spokesman said.
At a public meeting last month, former Kursk governor Roman Starovoit, now transport minister, acknowledged the Russian military had looted in a district under their control, after official media blamed Ukrainians.
Starovoit told a Life News journalist Friday: “I hope (Khinshtein) will have enough experience to organize communications, first and foremost,” calling it a “shortcoming” of the ousted Smirnov.

Five dead, seven missing in Indonesia floods, landslides

Five dead, seven missing in Indonesia floods, landslides
Updated 6 min 17 sec ago
AFP
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Five dead, seven missing in Indonesia floods, landslides

Five dead, seven missing in Indonesia floods, landslides
  • Intense rains triggered flash floods and landslides in the Sukabumi district
  • BNPB chief Suharyanto instructed rescuers to optimize the search operation for those missing
Updated 6 min 17 sec ago
AFP

JAKARTA: Flash floods and landslides struck Indonesia’s main Java island earlier this week, killing at least five people, the national disaster agency said Friday, as rescuers race to find seven others still missing.
Intense rains triggered flash floods and landslides in the Sukabumi district in West Java province on Tuesday, destroying at least 10 bridges and damaging hundreds of houses.
“As of Friday at 09:00 (0200 GMT), it was reported that the number of fatalities had increased to five people in total,” Abdul Muhari, the spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), said in a statement Friday.
“Aside from that, seven people remained missing.”
He added that efforts to build a temporary bridge to open access to affected areas are ongoing.
BNPB chief Suharyanto — who goes by one name — instructed rescuers to optimize the search operation for those missing, noting that rescuers have a seven-day “golden time” to find them.
“If necessary to use heavy equipment, please do so,” urged Suharyanto in a statement.
Indonesia has suffered from a string of recent extreme weather events, which experts say are made more likely by climate change.
Last month, heavy downpour triggered landslides and flash floods in Sumatra Island, killing at leaast 27 people.
In May, at least 67 people died after a mixture of ash, sand and pebbles carried down from the eruption of Mount Marapi in West Sumatra washed into residential areas, causing flash floods.

Topics: Indonesia Landslides floods Java island Sukabumi

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Macron, defying calls to resign, struggles on in search for stable French government

French President Emmanuel Macron addresses the nation during a televised broadcast from the Elysee Palace. (AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses the nation during a televised broadcast from the Elysee Palace. (AFP)
Updated 06 December 2024
Reuters
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Macron, defying calls to resign, struggles on in search for stable French government

French President Emmanuel Macron addresses the nation during a televised broadcast from the Elysee Palace. (AFP)
  • Macron will name a new prime minister within days following downfall of Michel Barnier
  • President laid blame at the door of far right opponents for bringing down government
Updated 06 December 2024
Reuters

PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron on Friday began his latest search for a new prime minister to lead France’s unruly parliament, after rejecting demands he quit to end a crisis he said was driven by the far right and extreme left’s “anti-republican front.”

In a prime time address on Thursday, Macron said he would announce a new prime minister in the coming days to replace Michel Barnier, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote by lawmakers angered by his belt-tightening 2025 budget bill.

But it remains to be seen how Macron can cobble together enough support in parliament to pass a 2025 budget bill, or install a prime minister with any sort of longevity. Macron’s best hopes appear to lie with the Socialist Party, a moderate leftist grouping with 66 seats in the National Assembly.

The Socialists voted to topple Barnier this week, but have since signaled they might be willing to support another government. If Macron can win their backing, a new prime minister would likely have the numbers to stave off no-confidence motions from Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally and the hard-left France Unbowed.

Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure said he would meet with Macron on Friday, with his primary demand being a leftist prime minister. He also said he would be willing to make concessions on a previous demand for Macron’s pension reform to be scrapped.

The Socialist Party is, just behind France Unbowed, the second-largest member of the New Popular Front, a broad left-wing electoral alliance that won the most seats, 193, during this summer’s snap legislative elections. “We cannot, if we are responsible, say that we are simply for the repeal (of the pension reform), without saying how we are financing it,” Faure said. “We’re going to discuss with the head of state because the situation in the country deserves it ... that doesn’t mean I’ve become a Macronist.”

Faure later said that Macron should also seek to bring in the Greens and Communists.

MACRON REJECTS BLAME

Macron, who sparked France’s festering political crisis in June by calling a snap election that delivered a hung parliament, was defiant in his address to nation.

“I’m well aware that some want to pin the blame on me for this situation, it’s much more comfortable,” he said.

But he said he will “never bear the responsibilities” of lawmakers who decided to bring down the government just days before Christmas.

He said Barnier was toppled by the far-right and hard left in an “anti-republican front” that sought to create chaos. Their sole motivation, he added, was the 2027 presidential election, “to prepare for it and to precipitate it.”

Despite pressure for him to resign before 2027, Macron said he wasn’t going anywhere.

“The mandate you gave me democratically is a five-year mandate, and I will exercise it fully until its end,” he said, adding he would name a new prime minister in the coming days and push for a special budgetary bill that rolls over the 2024 legislation for next year.

The next government would pursue a 2025 budget bill early in the new year, he said, so that “the French people don’t pay the bill for this no-confidence motion.”

Topics: Emmanuel Macron France

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Indian police fire tear gas to halt farmers’ protest march

Indian police fire tear gas to halt farmers’ protest march
Updated 06 December 2024
AFP
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Indian police fire tear gas to halt farmers’ protest march

Indian police fire tear gas to halt farmers’ protest march
  • Indian farmers march for longstanding demand for minimum prices of crops
  • Farmers in South Asian country have political influence due to sheer numbers
Updated 06 December 2024
AFP

NEW DELHI: Indian police fired tear gas on Friday at protesting farmers attempting to march to the capital New Delhi to push for their longstanding demand of guaranteed minimum prices for their crops.

Farmers this week revived their dormant “March to Delhi” campaign seeking to channel the spirit of a dramatic protest in 2021, when they stormed the capital on tractors.

To stop the farmers at Shambhu, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, police set up heavy barricades of concrete blocks and lines of razor wire in advance of the march.

Authorities also suspended mobile Internet services along the route of the procession to prevent communication among the protesters.

Waving blue and yellow flags, the farmers broke through part of the blockade before they were halted by police.

“In February, we held four rounds of talks with the government but since then there have been no further discussions on our demands,” farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher told reporters.

“We want the government to let us exercise our democratic right to protest.”

In addition to price guarantees for their harvest, farmers are demanding a grab-bag of other concessions, including loan waivers and increased compensation for land acquired by the government several years ago.

Farmers in India have political influence due to their sheer numbers, and the renewed protests come as the national parliament is in session.

Two-thirds of India’s 1.4 billion people draw their livelihood from agriculture, accounting for nearly a fifth of the country’s GDP, according to government figures.

Protests in November 2020 against agricultural reform bills lasted for more than a year, a major challenge to efforts by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to reform the sector.

A year later, their campaign prompted Modi to repeal three contentious laws that farmers claimed would let private companies control the country’s agriculture sector.

Topics: Indian farmers Indian farmers protest

London’s Muslim mayor set for knighthood: Report

London’s Muslim mayor set for knighthood: Report
Updated 06 December 2024
Arab News
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London’s Muslim mayor set for knighthood: Report

London’s Muslim mayor set for knighthood: Report
  • Sadiq Khan, 54, has been a prominent face in UK politics for 20 years
  • New Year Honours List not yet given final approval by king, PM: Financial Times
Updated 06 December 2024
Arab News

LONDON: London Mayor Sadiq Khan is reportedly set to receive a knighthood in the New Year Honours List to be announced by King Charles.

Khan, the first Muslim mayor of the UK capital, is believed to have made the annual list of those recognized by the monarch for public service, alongside other prominent current and former British politicians.

Sources close to the mayor did not deny he was in line for the knighthood when approached by the Financial Times.

Khan, 54, has been a prominent face in UK politics for two decades, having been elected to Parliament in 2005 to represent his home borough of Tooting in London.

He served as a government minister under Gordon Brown, became mayor of London in 2016, and won a historic third term in May this year.

The FT said the draft of the list has yet to receive final approval by King Charles or Prime Minister Keir Starmer. A government spokesman said: “We do not comment on speculation on honours.”

Topics: UK Sadiq Khan

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