Paris: France’s foreign minister said on Monday that the European Union could soon launch a new round of sanctions against Israeli settlers accused of fueling violence in Palestinian territories.
France had already imposed sanctions against “28 violent settlers” and been instrumental in deciding sanctions at the European Union level, Jean-Noel Barrot told the Paris Peace Forum, an annual gathering dedicated to international dialogue.
The EU’s sanctions regime had already been activated twice, and “might be activated a third time soon,” he said.
“We are deeply attached to the security of Israel,” Barrot said, but “in the interest of Israel, of Israeli security, international law needs to be respected and justice needs to be reached.”
During a visit to the West Bank on Thursday, Barrot had already threatened a new round of sanctions, and renewed France’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Settlement activities “threaten the political perspective that can ensure durable peace for Israel and Palestine,” he said after talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah.
The United States, Britain, Canada and Australia have also imposed sanctions against extremist settlers.
The EU’s foreign affairs commissioner, Josep Borrell, said in August that Israeli settlers were endangering “any chance of peace” and called on the Israeli government to “stop these unacceptable actions immediately.”
Sanctions would also be aimed at the “enablers” of violent settler actions, “including some Israeli government members,” Borrell said.
Over 700 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers in the last year, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
EU may launch new sanctions against Israeli settlers ‘soon’: France
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EU may launch new sanctions against Israeli settlers ‘soon’: France
- During a visit to the West Bank on Thursday, Barrot had already threatened a new round of sanctions
EU top diplomat wants Israel dialogue suspended over Gaza war
- Josep Borrell raised his proposal during a meeting of ambassadors
- EU countries have struggled for a unified position on the Gaza war
BRUSSELS: The EU’s outgoing foreign policy chief has urged the bloc to suspend a political dialogue with Israel over human rights concerns in Gaza but it is likely to be vetoed, diplomats said Thursday.
Josep Borrell raised his proposal during a meeting of ambassadors on Wednesday, according to four diplomats involved, and is expected to formalize it when European Union foreign ministers gather in Brussels early next week.
The foreign policy chief has written to member states to ask them to suspend the EU’s political dialogue with Israel – part of a wider agreement governing trade ties – “over alleged abuses” in the Gaza conflict, one diplomat said.
“It is forcing people to talk about the issues,” said the diplomat, adding that “the widespread expectation is that it will not be agreed” – considering that EU foreign policy decisions require unanimity among the 27 member states.
Made “without any forewarning,” Borrell’s proposal “came as a complete surprise,” according to a second diplomat who confirmed that it was “immediately objected to by a large group of member states.”
Key powers Germany and Italy were among the countries said to have raised objections, along with the Netherlands, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary and Greece.
Two other diplomats confirmed Borrell’s proposal – formulated as he prepares to hand over next month to his designated successor Kaja Kallas – without providing details.
EU countries – which include staunch allies of Israel as well as firm supporters of the Palestinians – have struggled for a unified position on the Gaza war.
The EU-Israel Association Agreement, dating from 2000 and governing bilateral relations, contains legally binding provisions on human rights, which Borrell hopes to invoke to suspend the political dialogue.
The EU formally invited Israel in June to discuss ties under the accord in the context of the Gaza conflict, but no meeting has taken place for want of an agreement on an agenda.
Spain and Ireland – which earlier this year recognized a Palestinian state – have called on the EU to review the entire association agreement over Israel’s Gaza offensive.
The war erupted with the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas militants, which resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,665 people in Gaza, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.
Police violence probed after Amsterdam pro-Palestinian protest
- Dutch police said Thursday that they have opened an inquiry into alleged police brutality during and after a banned pro-Palestinian protest in Amsterdam in which 281 demonstrators were detained
AMSTERDAM: Dutch police said Thursday that they have opened an inquiry into alleged police brutality during and after a banned pro-Palestinian protest in Amsterdam in which 281 demonstrators were detained.
Social media footage showed riot police shouting at protesters and hitting them with batons after they were released from a bus on the outskirts of the Dutch capital following Wednesday night’s protest.
Several hundred demonstrators, dressed in Palestinian scarfs and chanting slogans, gathered on the city’s famous Dam Square despite a ban following last week’s attacks on Israeli football fans.
The city did grant an exemption for a protest on Wednesday, but on the condition that it take place at the city’s Westergast terrain, outside of the center.
“Videos are circulating on social media showing members of the Mobile Unit (riot police) acting against protesters who have just been removed from a bus,” police said in a statement.
“These protesters were transported to this location after they were previously arrested on Dam Square for violating the emergency ordinance,” police said.
“The exact reason for the Mobile Unit’s action in this specific video fragment is being investigated,” police said, without specifying which footage they were referring to.
AFP reporters at the protest saw police dragging demonstrators to waiting buses, with some putting up heavy resistance.
The demonstration came almost a week after the attacks on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans after a football match with local club Ajax, when Israeli fans were chased and beaten up by men on scooters.
Five Maccabi fans were briefly hospitalized in what Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof called an incident of “unadulterated anti-Semitism,” after the attacks were sparked by calls on social media to single out Jews.
The attacks also sparked outrage in many Western capitals.
But Amsterdam authorities also reported incidents involving Maccabi fans before the match who were chanting anti-Arab slogans and burning a Palestinian flag.
The violence took place against the backdrop of an increasingly polarized Europe, with heightened tensions following a rise in anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli and Islamophobic attacks since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Earth’s projected warming hasn’t improved for 3 years. UN climate talks are still pushing
- The group also said that recent developments in China and the United States are likely to slightly worsen the outlook
- They said Earth is on a path to be 2.7 degrees Celsius, or 4.9 Fahrenheit, warmer than pre-industrial times
BAKU: For the third straight year, efforts to fight climate change haven’t lowered projections for how hot the world is likely to get — even as countries gather for another round of talks to curb warming, according to an analysis Thursday.
At the United Nations climate talks, hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan, nations are trying to set new targets to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases and figure out how much rich nations will pay to help the world with that task.
But Earth remains on a path to be 2.7 degrees Celsius (4.9 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times, according to Climate Action Tracker, a group of scientists and analysts who study government policies and translate that into projections of warming. Recent developments in China and the United States are likely to slightly worsen the outlook.
If emissions are still rising and temperature projections are no longer dropping, people should wonder if the United Nations climate negotiations — known as COP — are doing any good, said Climate Analytics CEO Bill Hare.
“There’s an awful lot going on that’s positive here, but on the big picture of actually getting stuff done to reduce emissions ... to me it feels broken,” Hare said.
Climate action is stifled by the biggest emitters
The world has already warmed 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times. That’s near the 1.5-degree (2.7 F) limit that countries agreed to at 2015 climate talks in Paris. Climate scientists say the atmospheric warming, mainly from human burning of fossil fuels, is causing ever more extreme and damaging weather including droughts, flooding and dangerous heat.
Climate Action Tracker does projections under several different scenarios, and in some cases, those are going up slightly.
“This is driven highly by China,” said Sofia Gonzales-Zuniga of Climate Analytics. Even though China’s fast-rising emissions are starting to plateau, they are peaking higher than anticipated, she said.
Another upcoming factor not yet in the calculations is the US elections. A Trump administration that rolls back the climate policies in the Inflation Reduction Act, and carries out the conservative blueprint Project 2025, would add 0.04 degree Celsius (0.07 Fahrenheit) to warming projections, Gonzales-Zuniga said. That’s not much, but it could be more if other nations use it as an excuse to do less, she said. And a reduction in American financial aid could also reverberate even more in future temperature outlooks.
“For the US it is going backwards,” said Hare. At least China has more of an optimistic future with a potential giant plunge in future emissions, he said.
“We should already be seeing (global) emissions going down” and they are not, Hare said. “The political system, politicians are not reacting. And I think that’s something that people everywhere should be worried about.”
Experts say $1 trillion is needed in climate cash for developing nations
The major battle in Baku is over how much rich nations will help poor countries to decarbonize their energy systems, cope with future harms of climate change and pay for damage from warming’s extreme weather. The old goal of $100 billion a year in aid is expiring and Baku’s main focus is coming up with a new, bigger figure.
A special independent group of experts commissioned by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued its own estimate of costs and finances on Thursday, calling for a tripling of the old commitment.
“Advanced economies need to demonstrate a credible commitment” to helping poor nations, the report said.
A coalition of developing nations at the Baku talks are asking for $1.3 trillion in annual climate finance. The independent experts’ report said about $1 trillion a year is needed by developing nations from all outside sources, not just government grants.
Negotiators are still working out how much money will be on the table for the final deal, but indications late Wednesday suggested many options were still on the table.
“Developing country needs are in the trillions and its clear such an amount can’t be provided from public funding, rather private investment has to be brought to the table,” said German climate envoy Jennifer Morgan. “All financial players need to do their part.”
COP29’s lead negotiator, Yalchin Rafiyev, called getting a deal on money for developing nations is “our top priority.”
The report detailed how expensive decarbonizing the world’s economy would be, how much it would cost and where the money could come from. Overall climate adaption spending for all countries is projected to reach $2.4 trillion a year.
It’s personal for many activists from the countries experiencing the worst and most immediate impacts of climate change, like Sandra Leticia Guzman Luna, who is from Mexico and is the director of the climate finance group for Latin America and the Caribbean. “We are observing the climate impacts causing a lot of costs, not only economic costs but also human losses,” she said.
“I’m from one of the countries that needs to pay up and is historically responsible,” said Bianca Castro, a climate activist from Portugal. “Year after year, we come to COP and we are heartbroken with what doesn’t happen but we know needs to happen.”
Fraught politics isolates some nations
Argentina withdrew from the climate talks on Wednesday on the orders of its president, climate skeptic Javier Milei, as first reported by Climatica. The Argentine government did not respond to requests from The Associated Press for comment.
Climate activists called the decision regrettable.
“It is largely symbolic and all it does is remove the country from critical conversations going on climate finance,” said Anabella Rosemberg, an Argentina native who works as a senior adviser at Climate Action Network International. “It’s difficult to understand how a climate-vulnerable country like Argentina would cut itself from critical support being negotiated here at COP29.”
At the same time, France’s environment minister, who was set to lead the delegation, pulled out of the talks after Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev called out France and the Netherlands for their colonial histories in a speech on Wednesday.
Agnès Pannier-Runacher called Aliyev’s remarks on France and Europe “unacceptable.” Speaking at the French Senate on Wednesday, Pannier-Runacher criticized Azerbaijan’s leader for using the fight against climate change “for a shameful personal agenda.”
“The direct attacks on our country, its institutions and its territories are unjustifiable,” she said, adding it was “ironic that Azerbaijan, a repressive regime, gives human rights lessons.”
Thousands flee as Typhoon Usagi hits north of Philippines
- The national weather agency had initially raised its highest storm alert, but downgraded to its second-highest as Usagi made landfall
- More than 5,000 Cagayan residents were still in shelters following the previous storms
MANILA: Typhoon Usagi slammed into the Philippines’ already disaster-ravaged north on Thursday, as authorities rushed to evacuate thousands of people from coastal areas.
Usagi made landfall in the town of Baggao in Cagayan province at 0530 GMT with winds of 175 kilometers an hour, the national weather service said — the fifth storm to strike the country in just three weeks.
The brutal wave of weather disasters has already killed 159 people and prompted the United Nations to request $32.9 million in aid for the worst-affected regions.
The national weather agency had initially raised its highest storm alert, but downgraded to its second-highest as Usagi made landfall.
It said the winds could cause “considerable damage to structures of light materials,” moderate damage even to structures otherwise considered “low-risk,” and uproot large trees within the next 12 hours.
“Intense to torrential rain” and potentially “life-threatening” coastal waves of up to three meters (nine feet) were also forecast over two days.
President Ferdinand Marcos, visiting storm-affected areas to dole out emergency cash assistance, urged residents to comply with evacuation orders.
“We know that it is difficult to leave your homes and possessions, but sheltering could save lives,” he told residents of Mindoro island south of the capital Manila, according to an official transcript of his speech.
“While we cannot prevent typhoons from hitting the country, we can take steps to reduce their impact,” he said, calling for better infrastructure to cope with worsening storm effects he blamed on climate change.
In Cagayan, officials worked in driving rain Thursday to evacuate residents along the coasts and on the banks of already swollen rivers.
“Yesterday it was preemptive evacuations. Now we’re doing forced evacuations,” local disaster official Edward Gaspar said by phone hours before landfall, adding 1,404 residents were sheltering at a municipal gym.
“There are many more evacuees in nearby villages but we haven’t had time to visit and count them,” he added.
Cagayan’s civil defense chief Rueli Rapsing said he expected local governments to take 40,000 people to shelters, roughly the same number that were preemptively evacuated ahead of Typhoon Yinxing, which struck Cagayan’s north coast earlier this month.
More than 5,000 Cagayan residents were still in shelters following the previous storms because the Cagayan river, the country’s largest, remained swollen from heavy rain that fell in several provinces upstream.
“We expect this situation to persist over the next few days” as Usagi brings more rain, Rapsing said.
After Usagi, Tropical Storm Man-yi is also forecast to strike the Philippines’ population heartland around Manila this weekend.
A high-pressure area in southern Japan will cause the storm to follow a more southerly track than Usagi, the weather service said.
“Typhoons are overlapping. As soon as communities attempt to recover from the shock, the next tropical storm is already hitting them again,” UN Philippines Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez said.
“In this context, the response capacity gets exhausted and budgets depleted.”
A UN assessment of the past month’s weather disasters said 207,000 houses had been damaged or destroyed, and nearly 700,000 people were seeking temporary shelter.
Many families were without even essentials like sleeping mats, hygiene kits, and cooking supplies, and had limited access to safe drinking water, it said.
The storms destroyed thousands of hectares of farmland and persistent flooding is likely to delay replanting efforts and worsen food supply problems, the report added.
About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the archipelago nation or its surrounding waters each year, killing scores of people and keeping millions in enduring poverty.
A recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change.
Corruption overshadows Ukraine’s multi-billion reconstruction progam
- Transparency International ranked Ukraine 104 out of 180 countries in its ‘corruption perceptions index,’ up from 144 in 2013
KYIV: When Bart Gruyaert agreed to help rebuild destroyed apartment blocks outside Kyiv, he hoped to be one cog in Ukraine’s vast reconstruction program, repairing just some of the damage wrought by Russia’s invasion.
But when the French company he works for, Neo-Eco, applied for building permits in the town of Gostomel, the local military administration asked the company to transfer the funds for the multimillion-dollar project to its bank account, under the pretense that it would run the project directly.
Officials told Gruyaert, “it’s better if you transfer the money you received to our account,” he recalled.
“But it doesn’t work like that,” he said.
The company refused, and progress on the initiative, which had secured €20 million in private funding, immediately slowed.
It marked the latest example of the endemic corruption that has plagued Ukraine since it became independent after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
After Neo-Eco’s refusal on the bank transfer, the local administration started dragging things out, adding new requirements to the contract and trying to incentivize the company to “give envelopes” to the right people, Gruyaert alleged.
The company reluctantly decided to abandon the project in September 2023, saying it was “impossible” to work under such conditions.
Following the saga, Ukrainian investigators said they had uncovered a system of “embezzlement” in the Gostomel military administration and accused its head Sergiy Borysiuk of appropriating around 21 million hryvnia ($470,000) meant for the reconstruction of houses and apartments.
In June 2023, after the allegations surfaced, Borysiuk was dismissed by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He had pre-empted his removal with a press conference several days earlier in which he said he had done “everything possible” to ensure reconstruction efforts.
“It seems to me that you are looking for the enemy in the wrong place,” he said.
The case is far from isolated.
Even though Ukraine has stepped up its anti-graft measures over the past decade to advance its ambition of joining the European Union, corruption scandals are still rife.
Transparency International ranked Ukraine 104 out of 180 countries in its “corruption perceptions index,” up from 144 in 2013.
For some officials, Russia’s invasion has provided new opportunities for personal enrichment.
Several high-profile cases of alleged embezzlement of reconstruction funds, as well as the arrest of officials for selling army exemption certificates, have emerged throughout the war.
While a potential embarrassment for Ukraine, which relies on billions of dollars in Western financial support, Transparency International Ukraine’s director Andriy Borovyk said attention to the cases showed the problem was not being “forgotten.”
And authorities also tout the uncovering of such schemes as a sign of “effective” enforcement.
Just 10 years ago, “who could have thought that senior officials could be accused of crimes?” said Viktor Pavlushchyk, head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention.
“Now we have some very good examples,” he said.
Around 500 corruption cases have been opened this year and 60 convictions secured, according to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
But there are lingering fears the persistent problem will hamper Ukraine’s massive reconstruction agenda, deterring international partners from putting up funds.
The total cost of reconstructing Ukraine stands is estimated at $486 billion, according to a joint study by the World Bank, UN, EU and Ukrainian government.
Gruyaert has not been deterred by his experience in Gostomel, which was occupied by Russian forces in the first weeks of the February 2022 invasion.
Ukraine is “making a lot of progress” on corruption, Gruyaert said, adding that Neo-Eco has had to learn how to “zigzag between the various obstacles.”
The company is still working on several other projects and encourages other foreign investors to get involved.
But, bruised by the Gostomel experience, it now prioritizes working with cities where it has confidence it will not be asked for kickbacks.
Most concede that much remains to be done in Ukraine’s anti-corruption fight, especially when it comes to reconstruction.
It is still common for local officials to have stakes in construction companies through their relatives, several figures said.
Ukraine is trying to weed out such conflicts of interest and make the whole process more transparent.
Last year, the country launched a platform listing all open projects.
Called “DREAM,” the aim is to enable investors, journalists and Ukrainians to track the progress of construction projects, said its head Viktor Nestulia.
A commitment to such openness will be key to reassuring foreign investors, said Mustafa Nayyem, an activist and journalist who headed the reconstruction agency until earlier this year.
“The war is not an excuse not to fight corruption,” he said.
Corruption, “is not in Ukrainian DNA, it’s simply a question of will.”
