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WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump administration plans to use ongoing tariff negotiations to pressure US trading partners to limit their dealings with China, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday citing people with knowledge of the conversations.
US officials plan to use negotiations with more than 70 nations to ask them to disallow China to ship goods through their countries and prevent Chinese firms from being located in their territories to avoid US tariffs, the report added.
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LONDON: UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said that there is âno military solutionâ in Gaza and called for an end to the war, noting that the international community is making progress toward a peace deal for the Palestinian coastal enclave, backed by the US administration.
Cooper, who reaffirmed the British governmentâs decision to recognize the state of Palestine during her speech at the UN General Assembly last week, told The Guardian that the international community has âreached a moment where the world wants to end this war.â
Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip since late 2023, which have resulted in the killing of more than 65,000 people in a span of two years, have been labeled as genocide by several EU and UN officials.
Cooper, believed to be one of the cabinet ministers who urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer to recognize Palestinian statehood, refrained from declaring that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. She said that it is up to the governmentâs legal expert to make that determination, according to The Guardian.
âFor security for Israelis, as well as security for Palestinians and as well as dealing with this devastating humanitarian crisis, I think the Israeli government urgently needs to change course,â she said.
US President Donald Trump announced that a peace deal was attainable in Gaza after several meetings during the general assembly with leaders from Arab and majority-Muslim countries, who urged him to push for an immediate ceasefire in the territory.
The White House is reportedly supporting a plan for a temporary technocratic administration in Gaza, led by Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister and a controversial figure in the Middle East because of his involvement in the 2003 Iraq war. Cooper declined to say if Blair was suitable to lead the Gaza transitional authority, The Guardian added.
âI feel like there is a consensus, a real, huge consensus building, and there was real energy and determination (at the UN) around peace. I think weâve reached a moment where the world wants to end this war,â Cooper said.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, from the UN, vowed to âfinish the job.â Since August, Israeli forces have been advancing into Gaza City, the enclaveâs main metropolis and home to major government, financial, medical, and educational institutions. It was home to one million Palestinians before the mass displacement since late 2023.
âThere is no military solution to this that works, there is no way that the security of Israel is remotely strengthened by this further Gaza City offensive,â Cooper said.
The British diplomat has not yet met Netanyahu, although she was in New York when he made his remarks at the UN. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, was the last world leader Cooper met as shadow foreign secretary in 2011 and the first she met after becoming UK foreign secretary this month, according to The Guardian.
âWe canât pretend this isnât incredibly hard, and how long the crisis has been going on makes it challenging. But there was no doubt that there is a real sense of determination and energy behind trying to get an end to the war and to try and get not just an immediate ceasefire, but a proper plan for the future,â she said.
The 21-point White House peace plan for Gaza is clear that there will be no mass displacement of Palestinians, it excludes Hamas from any future government and prohibits Israel from annexing the West Bank. It remains to be confirmed whether Blair, who served as the Middle East envoy, will head it.
âEverybody can see the horror of what has happened and the fact that it feels like nothingâs being done. It feels like nothing is changing. It feels like everything is just getting worse.
âThe challenge for us now is that there is a moment, and we have to make sure that that moment, through international action, is turned into a peace process.â
DHAKA: Renowned photographer Shahidul Alam joined the Freedom Flotilla Coalitionâs latest mission on Sunday, becoming the first Bangladeshi to take part in the international effort to break Israelâs siege of Gaza.
An educator, media institution builder, and activist, Alam, 70, has received numerous accolades for his work documenting human rights abuses and political upheaval across Bangladesh for over four decades.
A Time magazine Person of the Year in 2018, he was also the first person of color to chair the World Press Photo jury.
He flew from Dhaka on Sunday for Sicily, where a new wave of boats is following the route of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which sailed from Italy, Spain, and Tunisia in late August and early September with around 500 activists from 44 countries.
âI want to represent Bangladeshi people and express the fact that Bangladeshis have this love for Palestine, and there is this resistance,â Alam told Arab News.
âI think this is the time to express that Bangladeshi people are not spineless: Weâve taken down an autocrat of our own; we want to rid the world of dictators.â
Student protests across Bangladesh last year led to the ousting of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who ruled the country for 15 straight years â a period marred by crackdowns on the opposition, freedom of expression and press.
Alam was in prison during Hasinaâs time in power, following his 2018 interview with Al Jazeera, in which he spoke about police brutality, allegations of government corruption, and criticized the then-ruling party, the Awami League.
The Gaza-bound flotilla is carrying relief supplies for the besieged enclave, where Israeli forces have killed at least 66,000 Palestinians since October 2023. The true death toll is feared to be much higher, as many people have died due to injury and lack of access to healthcare and food â caused by the Israeli militaryâs destruction of most of Gazaâs infrastructure, and the blocking of medical aid and food.
Although several major Western countries, including the UK, France, and Australia, have officially recognized Palestine in recent weeks, they have not terminated their weapons sales to Israel or intervened to stop the daily deadly attacks and the blockade of Gaza â despite UN investigators concluding that Israel was committing genocide.
âThe time for empty rhetoric is over. Diplomacy is a sham. People talking about recognition at a time when people are dying â itâs meaningless. It is time for action. The deaths need to stop. I can only do what I can. I, along with other citizens, are doing what world leaders have failed to do: We will be there, we will stop the siege, we will put our bodies on the line,â Alam said, as he departed to join the flotilla, whose vessels have already reported coming under suspected Israeli attacks in international waters at least a dozen times this month.
âFor me, this is one way through which I can express the solidarity of the Bangladeshi people and the fact that the people of the majority world will not put up with this oppression, with this white supremacy, with this colonial rule.â
Alam has consistently condemned Israeli apartheid and the occupation of Palestine. He has also criticized Western governments and institutions for their silence or complicity.
He returned his honorary doctorate from the University of the Arts London in 2022, citing the institutionâs partnerships with Israel and its efforts to stifle pro-Palestine student protests.
SRINAGAR: In a modest workshop filled with the fragrance of seasoned wood, 78-year-old Ghulam Mohammad Zaz continues a craft his family has preserved for eight generations â the making of the Kashmiri santoor.
Surrounded by tools that have outlived artisans, he works slowly, each strike and polish echoing centuries of tradition crafting the musical instrument.
âSeven generations have worked and I am the eighth; I have no guarantee anyone after me will do this work,â Zaz said softly, speaking in Kashmiri.
Once, several of his family members shared this craft in the heart of Kashmirâs main city Srinagar, in the Indian-administered part of the Himalayan territory.
Today, he is the last in the city to make the instruments by hand.
âIf I tell anyone to make something, they wonât know what to do or how to make it,â said Zaz, who produces around eight to 10 instruments every year, selling for around 50,000 rupees ($565) each.
âIt is not as simple as just picking some wood â one needs to find the right kind of wood.â
The santoor, a hundred-stringed zither-like instrument played with hammers, has long been central to Kashmirâs musical identity, giving the Muslim-majority region its cultural distinctiveness.
The contested Himalayan territory has been divided between India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947.
Militants have fought Indian rule, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Tensions remain high between New Delhi and Islamabad.
In May, clashes between the nuclear-armed rivals sparked the worst fighting since 1999, killing more than 70 people in missile, drone and artillery exchanges.
MYSTICAL MUSIC
Historically, the santoor formed the backbone of â Sufiana music,â Kashmirâs mystical music tradition, with its hypnotic and reverberating sound bringing tranquility.
âMusicians used to come from Iran to Kashmir, they used to play santoor and other instruments,â said Muzaffar Bhat, a music professor at a government college in Anantnag.
âThey used to sing in Persian... we adapted the santoor from them and assimilated it into our music.â
The instrument received a new life in the 20th century.
In the 1950s, celebrated Indian musician Shivkumar Sharma â born in Jammu and Kashmir in 1938 â used the santoor to play classical music.
âDue to that, this became popularised in the classical circles throughout India,â Bhat said.
Suddenly, the santoor was no longer confined to Kashmiri sufiana gatherings â it had become a celebrated voice in Indian classical music.
Yet tradition faced challenges as Western instruments and global music trends began to overshadow local sounds.
âA lot of our traditional Kashmiri instruments became sidelined,â said Bhat.
For craftsmen like Zaz, this meant fewer patrons, fewer students, and the slow decline of a centuries-old family profession.
Zaz sells his instruments in Kashmir, but also receives orders from Europe and the Middle East.
But there is hope. A revival, however modest, is taking root.
âSince the last few years, a new trend has started,â Bhat said. âOur youngsters have started to learn our traditional instruments.â
COPENHAGEN: Denmark will ban all civilian drone flights across the country this week to ensure security as Copenhagen hosts an EU summit gathering heads of government, the transport ministry said Sunday.
Mysterious drone sightings across Denmark since September 22 have prompted the closure of several airports, with Denmark hinting at possible Russian involvement, charges Moscow has rejected.
Copenhagen is to host an EU summit on Wednesday and Thursday.
"Denmark will host EU leaders in the coming week, where we will have extra focus on security. Therefore, from Monday to Friday, we will close the Danish airspace to all civilian drone flights," Transport Minister Thomas Danielsen said in a statement.
"In this way, we remove the risk that enemy drones can be confused with legal drones and vice versa," he added.
A violation of the ban can result in a fine or imprisonment for up to two years, the ministry said.
Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said in the same statement the purpose of the ban was to simplify the work of police and other authorities.
"The police are on heightened alert, and our authorities must use their forces where necessary to take care of Danes and our guests."
He said the ban would mean police would not have to "spend their efforts on civilian drones" that do not pose a problem to security and police.
Danish police said Saturday they had received more than 500 reports of drone flights from the Danish public, most of which were dismissed as being not of interest.
DEARBORN: Two elected American officials on Saturday criticized political silence in the US regarding Israelâs genocide in Gaza despite growing public anger.
California Congressman Ro Khanna and Garlin Gilchrist II, Michiganâs lieutenant governor, addressed the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee convention in Dearborn, which was attended by Arab News.
Khanna said more and more of his fellow Democrats, and even Republicans, have broken with their traditional party stance of supporting Israel.
He asked: âHow can you be a Democrat in Congress and not believe that itâs time for the US to recognize Palestinian aspirationsâ when Israelâs government is âerasing Palestinian identityâ and considering annexing the West Bank?
Khanna criticized Republicans and Democrats for turning a blind eye in exchange for millions in pro-Israel campaign donations.
âYou have four out of the five permanent (UN) Security Council members, over a 150 countries calling for the recognition of a Palestinian state, and somehow the US isnât,â he said.
âAnd theyâre saying I donât have moral clarity. Theyâre blind. Theyâre making us on the side of the pariah in world opinion,â he added.
Gilchrist said he is not afraid to call Israelâs brutality in Gaza what it is. âThe Netanyahu government is committing a genocide. This isnât a matter of opinion. Itâs a matter of fact. This has been established by the global leaders who study genocide,â he added.
âThis isnât something we should support. American taxpayer dollars shouldnât fund ⊠weapons of war while children are starving,â Gilchrist said to a standing ovation.
âOur medical resources are being blocked to civilians while many innocent families are being oppressed ⊠Candidates shouldnât accept money from those who support the genocide. Thatâs why, as a candidate for governor of Michigan, I wonât accept money from AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee).
âI respect all people, their human dignity, everyoneâs God-given right to be safe, the right to a future not cut short by violence, hunger or war, the right to a roof over your head, clothes on your back and food in your belly.
âI see a future where these rights are protected and guaranteed in Michigan and around the globe.â
Acknowledging that many relatives of victims in Gaza live in the Greater Detroit region, he noted: âYou see, in Michigan, too many people are hurt.â
Gilchrist â who has served as the stateâs 64th lieutenant governor since 2019, and is among three candidates in the August 2026 Democratic primary election contest â received a lengthy standing ovation when he declared: âItâs wrong ⊠to vilify Arabs and Muslims. ⊠As governor, I wonât stand for it.â
During a banquet celebrating ADCâs 45th anniversary, awards were presented to several activists and speakers for their courage in defending Arab rights.
Among them were two doctors, Mohammed Mustafa and Mohammed Tahir, who worked to save hundreds of lives in Gaza.
They spoke about the horrors of the injuries they witnessed to the elderly, to women, and to children as young as infants.
Panels included discussions on the impact of social media on swinging US public opinion away from Israel, and how platform owners are trying to censor posts to protect Israel by using computer algorithms and keywords.
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, former director for the Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services for Wayne County, discussed his candidacy for Michiganâs US Senate race in next yearâs Democratic primary contest.
There were also discussions about student protests and campaigns to reverse laws adopted by 36 US states against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
