France’s new PM says to form government ‘next week’

France’s new PM says to form government ‘next week’
French Prime Minister Michel Barnier attends the French right-wing Horizons party conference for the new political year in Reims, eastern France, on September 11, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 12 September 2024
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France’s new PM says to form government ‘next week’

France’s new PM says to form government ‘next week’

REIMS: France will have a new government next week, recently installed conservative Prime Minister Michel Barnier said on Wednesday, as he sounded out candidates to run ministries faced with an unpredictable hung parliament.

“We’re going to do things methodically and seriously,” Barnier told reporters in the eastern city of Reims.

He was “listening to everybody” in a political scene split into three broad camps since July’s inconclusive snap parliamentary elections.

“We’re going to name a government next week,” he said.

Later on Wednesday, his own right-wing Republicans (LR) party announced that they were ready to join his government. The party was reduced to just 47 deputies in the 577-seat National Assembly in July’s elections.

Barnier, who has previously served as the environment, foreign and agriculture ministers and was the EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator, was named last week by President Emmanuel Macron as his compromise pick for head of government.

With no longer even a working majority in parliament following his decision to dissolve the National Assembly, Macron delayed picking a PM for weeks over the summer as he tried to find someone who would not suffer an immediate no-confidence vote.

The chamber is fairly equally divided between Macron’s centrist supporters — now loosely allied with Barnier’s rump conservative party — the left-wing NFP alliance and the far-right National Rally (RN).

NFP leaders have vowed to vote no confidence in any government not headed by them after they secured the most seats in the July vote, but fell well short of a majority.

Macron appears to have taken care to find a candidate in Barnier who does not immediately raise the hackles of the RN.

Rumours are swirling in Paris about who might claim key ministries after Barnier said he was open to working with people on the left or right.

“For now, the names in circulation seem to be just wish lists of people wanting to receive a ministerial portfolio,” Politico’s French edition wrote on Wednesday.

One prominent Socialist, Karim Bouamrane, mayor of the Paris suburb of Saint-Ouen, said he had turned down an invitation to serve.

“We have a right-wing prime minister approved of by the RN, a prime minister under supervision,” Bouamrane told Franceinfo radio.

An October 1 deadline to file a draft government budget for 2025 puts Barnier under pressure to get moving and sets him and his new team up for a fierce battle over taxes and spending.

In particular, both the NFP and RN promised ahead of the July elections to overturn last year’s unpopular pension reform that increased the official retirement age to 64 from 62.


Harris mocks Trump after rally turns into bizarre dance-a-thon

Harris mocks Trump after rally turns into bizarre dance-a-thon
Updated 57 min 39 sec ago
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Harris mocks Trump after rally turns into bizarre dance-a-thon

Harris mocks Trump after rally turns into bizarre dance-a-thon

WASHINGTON: Kamala Harris spent much of Tuesday questioning Donald Trump’s mental state and fitness for office after the 78-year-old Republican’s latest televised town hall veered into a surreal, impromptu music session.
“Hope he’s okay,” the Democratic candidate posted on X.
Harris’s campaign, which has begun to aggressively challenge Trump on his health and mental stability, said that he appeared “lost, confused, and frozen on stage” during the Monday event.
Former president Trump defended the event in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania, saying it was “so different.”
“It was amazing! The Q and A was almost finished when people began fainting from the excitement and heat,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network.
“We started playing music while we waited, and just kept it going. So different, but it ended up being a GREAT EVENING!“
He hit out at Vice President Harris, who released a White House medical report at the weekend that said she was fit for the highest office and challenged Trump to do the same.
“With all of the problems that she has, there is a real question as to whether or not she should be running for President! MY REPORT IS PERFECT — NO PROBLEMS!!!” Trump wrote.
For about half an hour, the event in Oaks near Philadelphia was standard fare ahead of the November 5 election, as Trump took friendly questions from supporters on the economy and cost of living.
But it ended with a bizarre 39 minutes of music and dancing as Trump swayed awkwardly on stage following interruptions because of medical emergencies in the crowd.
“Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?” he said.
Trump has made a brief, jerky dance his signature at the end of rallies for years, nearly always to his exit song — the Village People’s 1978 disco anthem “YMCA.”
On Monday, however, he stayed on stage for nine songs, ranging from opera to Guns N’ Roses and Elvis, with the ex-president alternating his dance moves with standing in place and staring into the crowd.
Harris and Trump are locked in a dead heat, according to polls, and the election is set to be decided by seven swing states where the margins could come down to barely 10,000 votes each.
With only three weeks to go, the 59-year-old Democrat has increasingly been homing in on Trump’s health and age.
It was the topic of her closing argument as she sat down with popular radio host Charlamagne tha God in an effort to boost her messaging to Black male voters — a part of the electorate where Trump has made gains.
After setting out her policies for improving the lives of Black men, she turned to Trump’s rallies and repeated a claim that riled him during their September debate — that bored supporters were leaving his rallies early.
“I will point out what everyone knows, which is that the people who worked the closest with Donald Trump when he was president — worked with him in the Oval Office, saw him at play in the Situation Room, his chief of staff, two secretaries of defense, his national security adviser and his former vice president — have all said he is dangerous and unfit to serve,” Harris said.
Trump’s own campaign schedule began with an Economic Club of Chicago event, where he said he was for slapping “obnoxious” tariffs on trading partners like Mexico so that companies move factories to the US.
“To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff,” Trump said, before heading for a rally in swing-state Georgia.
Trump is now the oldest person ever to be nominated for a presidential bid, after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race following a disastrous debate that sparked fears about his own age.
He has not released a recent comprehensive report on his state of health, prompting fierce criticism from Harris.


Albanian port awaits first migrant transfer from Italy

A local resident fishes near the port in Shengjin, on October 15, 2024. (AFP)
A local resident fishes near the port in Shengjin, on October 15, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 15 October 2024
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Albanian port awaits first migrant transfer from Italy

A local resident fishes near the port in Shengjin, on October 15, 2024. (AFP)
  • The five-year deal with Albania, estimated to cost Italy 160 million euros ($175 million) annually, covers adult male migrants intercepted by Italian vessels in international waters, but within Italy’s search and rescue area

SHENGJIN, Albania: The fishermen in Shengjin barely give a look at the temporary cabins built on one side of the Albanian port that Italy considers a groundbreaking scheme in Europe’s campaign against undocumented migrants.
Sixteen men from Bangladesh and Egypt, rescued in the Mediterranean on Sunday, are set to become the first residents at the Shengjin migrant center on Wednesday.
The migrant scheme could be discussed at a European Union summit this week. But Arben Leli is more worried about whether the fish bite.
“I don’t care about migrants, when they arrive, when they leave, what they do,” Leli told AFP as he tended his nets.
“I have the sea, I want to fish, that’s my life,” the 56-year-old added.
Nearby, Dashamira Deda was pulling fish from a net.
The mother-of-two, who works with her husband on a boat, said that “human nature is to think first of ourselves and then of what’s going on around us... the best thing was to leave us alone.”
Deda said the people of Shengjin, with its population of about 8,000, did not want to appear callous, but they have other pressing concerns, including making a living.
“We are just hoping it’s for a good cause without harming our lives,” the 42-year-old added, without even a glance at the center’s high walls.
But this center, and another in nearby Gjader, has been drawing growing European attention since Italy’s Prime Minister Georgia Meloni struck a deal with Albanian counterpart Edi Rama to become the first EU country to create migrant processing centers outside the bloc.
Shengjin’s seaside hotels are a summer tourist draw. But Albania’s third largest port has seen its size reduced by 4,000 square meters (43,000 square feet) so that the migrant camp, protected by high gates and Italian soldiers and police, could be built.
The five-year deal with Albania, estimated to cost Italy 160 million euros ($175 million) annually, covers adult male migrants intercepted by Italian vessels in international waters, but within Italy’s search and rescue area.
An initial screening at sea will determine which migrants are from countries considered “safe,” which could make repatriation simpler.
In Shengjin, migrants will undergo registration and health checks, and then they will be sent to the other center in Gjader to await the processing of asylum claims.
The Gjader facility includes a section for migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected, as well as a small jail.
Human rights groups have questioned the protections offered for asylum seekers. Amnesty International has called the centers a “cruel experiment (that) is a stain on the Italian government.”
Meloni on Tuesday called it a “courageous” move that could be set up in other non-EU countries.
 

 


Macron says Israel PM ‘mustn’t forget his country created by UN decision’

Macron says Israel PM ‘mustn’t forget his country created by UN decision’
Updated 15 October 2024
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Macron says Israel PM ‘mustn’t forget his country created by UN decision’

Macron says Israel PM ‘mustn’t forget his country created by UN decision’
  • “Mr Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a decision of the UN,” Macron told the weekly French cabinet meeting
  • “Therefore this is not the time to disregard the decisions of the UN“

PARIS: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should not forget his country was created as a result of a resolution adopted by the United Nations, French President Emmanuel Macron told cabinet on Tuesday, urging Israel to abide by UN decisions.

Tensions have increased between Netanyahu and Macron with the French leader last week insisting that stopping the export of weapons used by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon was the only way to stop the conflicts.

France has also repeatedly denounced Israeli fire against UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, who include a French contingent.

“Mr Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a decision of the UN,” Macron told the weekly French cabinet meeting, referring to the resolution adopted in November 1947 by the United Nations General Assembly on the plan to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state.

“Therefore this is not the time to disregard the decisions of the UN,” he added, as Israel wages a ground offensive against the Iran-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where the UN peacekeepers are deployed.

His comments from the closed door meeting at the Elysee Palace were quoted by a participant who spoke to AFP and asked not to be named.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701 states that only the Lebanese army and the UN peacekeeping mission UNIFIL should be deployed in southern Lebanon.

Netanyahu on Sunday called on the UN to move the 10,000 strong peacekeeping force, who include 700 French troops, deployed in south Lebanon out of “harm’s way,” saying Hezbollah was using them as “human shields.”

Later on Tuesday, Netanyahu hit back at Macron’s comments, saying the country’s founding was achieved by the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, not a UN ruling.

“A reminder to the president of France: It was not the UN resolution that established the State of Israel, but rather the victory achieved in the war of independence with the blood of heroic fighters, many of whom were Holocaust survivors — including from the Vichy regime in France,” Netanyahu said to a statement.


India-Canada relations reach historic lows as top diplomats expelled

India-Canada relations reach historic lows as top diplomats expelled
Updated 15 October 2024
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India-Canada relations reach historic lows as top diplomats expelled

India-Canada relations reach historic lows as top diplomats expelled
  • Relations fraught since the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia last year
  • Canadian PM says Indian officials identified as ‘persons of interest’ in the assassination plot

NEW DELHI: Relations between India and Canada have reached a historic low as the countries expelled each other’s diplomats in an ongoing row over the killing of a Sikh separatist activist on Canadian soil.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India’s government on Monday of “supporting criminal activity against Canadians here on Canadian soil,” and the country’s Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner.

The ministry said Canadian police had gathered evidence, which identified them as “persons of interest” in last year’s killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down in Surrey, British Columbia.

India immediately rejected the accusations as absurd, and its Ministry of External Affairs said it was expelling Canada’s acting high commissioner, his deputy, and the embassy’s four first secretaries.

Before the announcement, it also summoned the Canadian charge d’affaires and said it was withdrawing its high commissioner and “other targeted diplomats,” contradicting Canada’s statement of expulsion.

“Prime Minister Trudeau has been making these public statements repeatedly, but the evidence that he claims to possess is not available to us so we cannot make any kind of a judgment,” Dr. Ajai Sahni, executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi, told Arab News.

“This is the first time the relationship is so low … It has created a lot of problems and it has done damage to relationships between the two countries for the time being.”

This is not the first time India-Canada relations have been strained. In 1974, after India conducted its first nuclear weapon test, it drew outrage from Canada, which accused it of extracting plutonium from a Canadian reactor, a gift intended for peaceful use.

Ottawa subsequently suspended its support for New Delhi’s nuclear energy program.

“The relationship was also low in the 1980s with the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane and the bombing of the plane, in which many people died,” said Prof. Ronki Ram, political science lecturer at the Punjab University.

The explosion from a bomb planted by Canada-based militants killed 329 people — the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history. India had warned the Canadian government about the possibility of attacks and accused the Canadian Security Intelligence Service of not acting on it.

But the current strain in relations is the first in which diplomats have been withdrawn.

“This is the first time that the relationship has gone down so low,” Ram said.

“Allegations and counter-allegations will have serious implications both internationally and domestically. The Indian government should look into the allegations and try to address them.”

Nijjar, a Sikh Canadian citizen, was gunned down in June 2023 outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, which has a significant number of Sikh residents. He was an outspoken supporter of the Khalistan movement, which calls for a separate Sikh homeland in parts of India’s Punjab state.

The movement is outlawed in India, considered a national security threat by the government, and Nijjar’s name appears on the Indian Home Ministry’s list of terrorists.

Canada has the largest population of Sikhs outside their native state of Punjab — about 770,000 or 2 percent of its entire population.

“Many Panjabi diaspora are in Canada, and a mini-Punjab has been established there,” Ram said.

“The government is taking an electoral interest in the landscape of Canada also. Those things are becoming very critical.”


Russia releases man whose daughter’s drawing opposed Ukraine fighting

Russia releases man whose daughter’s drawing opposed Ukraine fighting
Updated 15 October 2024
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Russia releases man whose daughter’s drawing opposed Ukraine fighting

Russia releases man whose daughter’s drawing opposed Ukraine fighting
  • Alexei Moskalyov was convicted in March 2023 on the basis of posts that he made on a social media site
  • The post came to authorities’ attention after his daughter, then age 13, made a drawing in school opposing the military operation

MOSCOW: A Russian man convicted of discrediting the military after his daughter made a drawing criticizing Russia’s military actions in Ukraine was released from prison after serving 22 months, a group that monitors political detentions said Tuesday.
Alexei Moskalyov was convicted in March 2023 on the basis of posts that he made on a social media site. The post came to authorities’ attention after his daughter, then age 13, made a drawing in school opposing the military operation.
Moskalyov was sentenced to two years in prison, but he fled. He was arrested in Belarus a day later and extradited to Russia. A court later reduced his sentence to a year and 10 months.
The OVD-Info group, which reported his release, said that Moskalyov told it that agents of the Federal Security Service questioned other inmates in his unit before he was released and suggested they were looking for cause to file new charges against him.
Since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has cracked down harshly on criticism of the military and the operation in Ukraine. Several prominent opponents of the fighting who were sentenced to lengthy prison terms — one of them to 25 years — were freed and sent out of the country in August in a widescale prisoner exchange with the West.