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Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state in September angers Israel and the US

Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state in September angers Israel and the US
France, along with the UK, Canada, Australia and Malta, plans to formalize the Palestinian recognition at the UN General Assembly next month. (REUTERS)
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Updated 31 August 2025

Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state in September angers Israel and the US

Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state in September angers Israel and the US
  • France, along with the UK, Canada, Australia and Malta, plans to formalize the Palestinian recognition at the UN General Assembly next month
  • The recognition is symbolic but increases diplomatic pressure on Israel to end the nearly 23-month war in Gaza

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state, prompting similar moves from other Western nations, angered Israel and its US ally by putting a two-state solution back at the heart of diplomatic efforts to end the devastating war in Gaza.
In a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, Macron wrote that “our determination to see the Palestinian people have their own state is rooted in our conviction that lasting peace is essential to the security of the state of Israel.”
France’s diplomatic efforts “stem from our outrage at the appalling humanitarian disaster in Gaza, for which there can be no justification,” Macron added. Israel on Friday declared Gaza’s largest city a combat zone as the death toll surpassed 63,000 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry.
France, the UK, Canada, Australia and Malta have said they would formalize their pledge during the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly, which starts Sept. 23. Some others, including New Zealand, Finland and Portugal, are considering a similar move.
Netanyahu rejects Palestinian statehood and plans to expand the military offensive in Gaza.
Israel and US say recognizing a Palestinian state emboldens militants
Macron’s letter comes after Netanyahu accused him of “fueling” the “antisemitism fire” with his call for a Palestinian state, remarks Macron denounced as “abject.”
Last week, US Ambassador to France Charles Kushner also wrote a letter arguing that “gestures toward recognition of a Palestinian state embolden extremists, fuel violence and endanger Jewish life in France.” Kushner was summoned by the French foreign ministry and represented in his absence by his deputy.
Such angry reaction “shows that symbols matter,” said geopolitics expert Pascal Boniface, director of the Paris-based Institute for International and Strategic Relations. “There is some kind of race against time between the diplomatic path, with the two-state solution back at the heart of the debate, and the situation on the ground (in Gaza), which is every day making this two-state solution a little more complicated or impossible.”
Boniface said some supporters of a two-state solution showed disappointment at leaders’ decision to wait until September to officially recognize a Palestinian state, because they “fear that recognition will come when Gaza has even more become a graveyard.”
Calls on Israel to stop the Gaza offensive
Macron and other international leaders have urged Israel to stop its offensive in the besieged territory, where most of its over 2 million residents are displaced, neighborhoods lie in ruins and a famine has been declared in Gaza City.
“The occupation of Gaza, the forced displacement of Palestinians, their reduction to starvation ... will never bring victory to Israel,” Macron wrote in his letter to Netanyahu. “On the contrary, they will reinforce the isolation of your country, fuel those who find pretext for antisemitism, and endanger Jewish communities around the world.”
More than 140 countries already recognize a Palestinian state in what is a mostly symbolic move.
“The world will be the same the day after,” said Muhammad Shehada, a Gaza political analyst and visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank.
Still, it adds diplomatic pressure on Israel, he stressed. Heavyweight Western nations demonstrating strong support for a two-state solution “shatters the illusion that Netanyahu is trying to sell to the Israelis and to the international community that mass population transfer or depopulation is the only way to solve the Palestinian issue,” Shehada said.
Strengthening moderate Palestinians
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot insisted this week that diplomatic efforts led by France and Ƶ also resulted, for the first time, in highly significant condemnation of the Hamas attacks against civilians by all 22 members of the Arab League.
During a July conference co-hosted by France and Ƶ at the UN, Arab League nations agreed in their New York Declaration that “Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority.”
Shehada expects the move to strengthen the camp of moderate Palestinians, including by demonstrating to the public that the Palestinian Authority is gaining weight in negotiations.
He said it may weaken the most violent leadership in Hamas by “creating a diplomatic track that provides Palestinians with an alternative to violence, sending a message that diplomatic engagement will pay off and will lead to a Palestinian state, whereas violence will not take you anywhere.”
The Palestinian Authority hopes to establish an independent state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza — areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. Hamas drove out the PA when it seized Gaza in 2007, a year after winning Palestinian parliamentary elections. After the Hamas takeover of Gaza, the PA was left with administering semiautonomous pockets of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.


Trump levies new sanctions on Russian oil giants in a push on Putin to end Ukraine war

Trump levies new sanctions on Russian oil giants in a push on Putin to end Ukraine war
Updated 11 sec ago

Trump levies new sanctions on Russian oil giants in a push on Putin to end Ukraine war

Trump levies new sanctions on Russian oil giants in a push on Putin to end Ukraine war
  • Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the new sanctions were a direct response to Moscow’s refusal to end its “senseless war” and an attempt to choke off “the Kremlin’s war machine.”

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration announced Wednesday new “massive sanctions” against Russia’s oil industry that are aimed at moving Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table and bringing an end to Moscow’s brutal war on Ukraine.
The sanctions against oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil followed months of calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as bipartisan pressure on Trump to hit Russia with harder sanctions on its oil industry, the economic engine that has allowed Russia to continue to execute the grinding conflict even as it finds itself largely internationally isolated.
“Hopefully he’ll become reasonable,” Trump said of Putin not long after the Treasury Department announced the sanctions against Russia’s two biggest oil companies and their subsidiaries. “And hopefully Zelensky will be reasonable, too. You know, it takes two to tango, as they say.”
The US administration announced the sanctions as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was in Washington for talks with Trump. The military alliance has been coordinating deliveries of weapons to Ukraine, many of them purchased from the United States by Canada and European countries.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the new sanctions were a direct response to Moscow’s refusal to end its “senseless war” and an attempt to choke off “the Kremlin’s war machine.”
Bessent added that the Treasury Department was prepared to take further action if necessary to support Trump’s effort to end the war. “We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions.”
The announcement came after Russian drones and missiles blasted sites across Ukraine, killing at least six people, including a woman and her two young daughters.
The attack came in waves from Tuesday night into Wednesday and targeted at least eight Ukrainian cities, as well as a village in the region of the capital, Kyiv, where a strike set fire to a house in which the mother and her 6-month-old and 12-year-old daughters were staying, regional head Mykola Kalashnyk said.
At least 29 people, including five children, were wounded in Kyiv, which appeared to be the main target, authorities said.
Russian drones also hit a kindergarten in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, later Wednesday when children were in the building, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. One person was killed and six were hurt, but no children were physically harmed, he said.
Rutte, in his Oval Office appearance, went out of his way to underscore that the weaponry the US is selling Europe to provide to Ukraine has been essential to helping stop many attacks like the one that ravaged the kindergarten.
“We need to make sure that the air defense systems are in place, and we need the US systems to do that, and the Europeans are paying for that,” Rutte said. “It is exactly the type of actions we needed, and the President is doing that and trying everything to get this work done.”
Zelensky said many of the children were in shock. He said the attack targeted 10 separate regions: Kyiv, Odesa, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Cherkasy and Sumy.
Peace efforts stall
Trump’s efforts to end the war that started with Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor more than three years ago have failed to gain traction. Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration with Putin’s refusal to budge from his conditions for a settlement after Ukraine offered a ceasefire and direct peace talks.
Trump said Tuesday that his plan for a swift meeting with Putin was on hold because he didn’t want it to be a “waste of time.” European leaders accused Putin of stalling.
Meanwhile, in what appeared to be a public reminder of Russian atomic arsenals, Putin on Wednesday directed drills of the country’s strategic nuclear forces.
Zelensky urged the European Union, the United States and the Group of Seven industrialized nations to force Russia to the negotiating table. Pressure can be applied on Moscow “only through sanctions, long-range  capabilities and coordinated diplomacy among all our partners,” he said.
More international economic sanctions on Russia are likely to be discussed Thursday at an EU summit in Brussels. On Friday, a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing — a group of 35 countries that support Ukraine — is to take place in London.
Zelensky credited Trump’s remarks that he was considering supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine for Putin’s willingness to meet. The American president later said he was wary of tapping into the US supply of Tomahawks over concerns about available stocks.
Russia has not made significant progress on the battlefield, where a war of attrition has taken a high toll on Russian infantry and Ukraine is short of manpower, military analysts say. Both sides have invested in long-range strike capabilities to hit rear areas.
Ukraine says it hit key Russian chemical plant
The Ukrainian army’s general staff said its forces struck a chemical plant Tuesday night in Russia’s Bryansk region using British-made air-launched Storm Shadow missiles. The plant is an important part of the Russian military and industrial complex, producing gunpowder, explosives, missile fuel and ammunition, it said.
Russian officials in the region confirmed an attack but did not mention the plant.
Ukraine also claimed overnight strikes on the Saransk mechanical plant in Mordovia, Russia, which produces components for ammunition and mines, and the Makhachkala oil refinery in the Dagestan republic of Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 33 Ukrainian drones over several regions overnight, including the area around St. Petersburg. Eight airports temporarily suspended flights because of the attacks.
In other developments, Zelensky arrived Wednesday in Oslo, Norway, and after that flew to Stockholm, where he and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson signed an agreement exploring the possibility of Ukraine buying up to 150 Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets over the next decade or more. Ukraine has already received American-made F-16s and French Mirages.
Trump says Russia is on the agenda for upcoming Xi talks
The US president is expected to meet next week with Chinese President Xi Jinping when the two leaders travel to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit.
Beijing has not provided Russia with direct support in the war, but has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for use in its war against Ukraine, according to a US assessment.
Trump has said he believes the Russia-Ukraine war would end if all NATO countries stopped buying oil from Russia and placed tariffs on China of 50 percent to 100 percent for its purchases of Russian petroleum.
“I think he could have a big influence on Putin,” Trump said of Xi Jinping.
Beijing has yet to confirm that Trump and Xi will meet.


New York attorney general urges public to report ICE activity after raid targets vendors

New York attorney general urges public to report ICE activity after raid targets vendors
Updated 8 min 50 sec ago

New York attorney general urges public to report ICE activity after raid targets vendors

New York attorney general urges public to report ICE activity after raid targets vendors
  • James urges public to document ICE operations via new online form
  • Trump’s immigration crackdown targets major cities, including New York

NEW YORK: New York State’s attorney general on Wednesday urged the public to submit photos, videos and other documentation of federal immigration operations to her office for review, a day after a high-profile raid targeted Manhattan street vendors.
Attorney General Letitia James said her office would review footage and other information from operations shared through a “Federal Action Reporting Form,” saying in a statement that “every New Yorker has the right to live without fear or intimidation.”
President Donald Trump, a Republican, has launched an aggressive immigration crackdown in major US cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Wednesday that the Trump administration would send more than 100 federal agents to the city to ramp up enforcement, citing an unnamed source.
Protesters in the cities have used phones to record ICE operations, which critics say have employed racial profiling and swept up many immigrants with no criminal records. The immigration raid on New York City’s Canal Street, a prominent shopping area known for bargain prices and imitation goods, triggered pushback in the street from residents in the vicinity.
When asked for comment on James’ oversight effort, US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said it “looks like obstruction of justice.”
The new effort to record possible abuses by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and other federal agents is part of a broader resistance by Democrats. US Representative Robert Garcia, a Democrat based in Los Angeles, said on Monday that he and other Democrats would launch an online site to track the agency’s operations and urged the public to record ICE activity.
The Trump administration in March gutted the DHS offices charged with monitoring civil rights abuses as part of its government downsizing efforts.
The ICE monitoring effort by James, a longtime Trump foe, could further inflame political tensions with the White House. James, who brought a civil fraud case against Trump in 2022, was charged earlier this month with lying on a mortgage application, as the Trump administration stepped up its use of government power against his perceived political enemies.
DHS said Tuesday’s operation targeting Canal Street resulted in nine arrests of alleged immigration offenders from Mali, Senegal, Mauritania and Guinea, including some with prior criminal arrests. Four people were arrested for allegedly assaulting law enforcement and another for obstruction of justice, DHS said.
Democratic US Representative Dan Goldman, whose district includes Canal Street, said his office had helped secure the release of four US citizens detained by ICE.
“Dozens of masked federal agents stormed Lower Manhattan, roughing up protesters and indiscriminately arresting people,” Goldman said in statement.
The Canal Street raid came after at least two prominent pro-Trump influencers posted videos in recent weeks focusing on African immigrants selling goods along the busy thoroughfare. One of the influencers, Savanah Hernandez, said in an October 19 post on X that African immigrants without legal status were operating a black market there and urged ICE to visit the area and arrest the vendors.
“I don’t know that ICE officials saw my post,” Hernandez said in an email. “However, the White House has been very responsive to on the ground reporters who have utilized X to share their stories.”
The normally bustling street was largely empty of street vendors on Wednesday, a Reuters witness said.


North Korea says tested ‘cutting-edge’ new weapon system

North Korea says tested ‘cutting-edge’ new weapon system
Updated 16 min 50 sec ago

North Korea says tested ‘cutting-edge’ new weapon system

North Korea says tested ‘cutting-edge’ new weapon system

SEOUL: North Korea said on Thursday it had tested a “cutting-edge” new weapon system using hypersonic missiles aimed at bolstering its defenses against Pyongyang’s foes.
The launch was detected by Seoul’s military on Wednesday and was Pyongyang’s first of its kind in months.
It came a week before world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, are set to descend on South Korea for a major regional summit.
Top military official Pak Jong Chon declared the “new cutting-edge weapon system is a clear proof of steadily upgrading self-defensive technical capabilities of the DPRK,” state news agency KCNA said, using North Korea’s official acronym.
KCNA said the test was aimed at enhancing the “sustainability and effectiveness of strategic deterrence against potential enemies.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was not reported to have attended the launch.
State media said the two “hypersonic projectiles” had been launched south of the capital Pyongyang and had hit a target in the country’s northeast.
Images shared by KCNA showed a missile flying through the air, before hitting a target and exploding in a hail of black dirt and smoke.
Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound and can maneuver mid-flight, making them harder to track and intercept.


British universities ask prime minister to help scholarship students evacuate from Gaza

British universities ask prime minister to help scholarship students evacuate from Gaza
Updated 38 min ago

British universities ask prime minister to help scholarship students evacuate from Gaza

British universities ask prime minister to help scholarship students evacuate from Gaza
  • The 25 Palestinians were awarded fully funded places at Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Exeter, Glasgow, Sussex, and University College London
  • They could lose their places at the universities this year if they are not able to leave Gaza by the end of the week, PM Keir Starmer is told

LONDON: Twenty-five Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip who were awarded scholarships at British universities will lose their places for this year if they are not evacuated from the war-ravaged territory by the end of this week, university chiefs told the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer.

The students received fully funded places to study for undergraduate degrees, master’s and doctorates at Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Exeter, Glasgow, Sussex, and University College London.

However, they could lose their places if they are not included on lists for evacuations planned for Oct. 22 and 26 and remain stuck in Gaza, university chiefs warned Starmer in a letter.

Vice-chancellors, principals and presidents from the seven universities also criticized a government ban that prevents the Palestinian students from bringing dependents with them to the UK. They urged ministers to use their “powers of discretion” to allow families of students to settle in the country, The Independent newspaper reported on Wednesday.

They said Palestinian students face an “impossible choice” between the chance to attend a British university and leaving their families behind in a war zone. Only nine of the students would like to bring dependents, the newspaper reported.

Students pursuing a doctorate can begin their studies later, but the others might lose their places because the next evacuation lists will not be available for another month, the university officials said.

They praised the government for the assistance it provided for previous evacuations of scholarship students from Gaza, and its efforts to secure a ceasefire in the territory, and requested urgent updates on a timeline for the evacuation of the remaining students.

“We are increasingly concerned that some eligible students are yet to be called forwards for the evacuations next week, and a small number of students have been given the impossible choice to leave behind their children in order to take up their university places, including babies as young as three months old, or children where there is no other parent alive,” the officials wrote.

UNICEF plans to evacuate students and their families from Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Oct. 26, pending approval from the UK’s Foreign Office.

Thirty-five British rabbis and bishops endorsed the call from university chiefs on Wednesday, saying that “compassion should not be hindered by bureaucracy.”


France’s jailed ex-president Sarkozy targeted by death threats, prosecutor office says

France’s jailed ex-president Sarkozy targeted by death threats, prosecutor office says
Updated 23 October 2025

France’s jailed ex-president Sarkozy targeted by death threats, prosecutor office says

France’s jailed ex-president Sarkozy targeted by death threats, prosecutor office says
  • The former president has been assigned two armed police officers for protection during his incarceration, a measure that has sparked complaints from prison guard unions

PARIS: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was targeted by death threats from an inmate at Paris’s La Sante prison, where he began serving his sentence this week, prompting a probe, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.
“On October 22, 2025, the Paris prosecutor’s office was informed by the director of La Sante prison of a video circulating on social media, clearly filmed by an inmate, in which he made threats upon Nicolas Sarkozy’s arrival at the facility,” the prosecutor’s office said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
Three inmates were questioned as part of the investigation, and two mobile phones were seized during a search of the prison, it added.
Sarkozy, who led France from 2007 to 2012, on Tuesday began serving a five-year sentence after being convicted of conspiring to raise campaign funds from Libya. The former president has been assigned two armed police officers for protection during his incarceration, a measure that has sparked complaints from prison guard unions.