By Yadnom Awu/Asaba
America Carpets France For Palestine Statehood Recognition Plan
America has strongly criticised its ally, France, for its plan to formally recognize the state of Palestine in September this year.
French President, Emmanuel Macron, made the disclosure on Thursday in a historic first by a major Western Power and member of the G-7.
But strong on the heels of the public pronouncement by Macron, America, just as its main proxy, Israel, has reacted vitriolically, accusing France of recklessness and endangering the Middle East Peace prospects.
The American position was made out by the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who said that American strongly rejected the French move.
Israel, on its part, also came heavy on the French move, with Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, describing it as a potential reward for Hamas and violence.
France says it will formally recognize Palestine at September’s session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
More than 180 countries have recognized Palestine as a sovereign state but Israel and America, which uses its diplomatic status as a veto- wielding member of the United Nations Security Council, has always torpedoed global efforts at formalizing the process.
United Kingdom
Only A Free Palestinian State Can End Crisis With Israel -British Foreign Secretary
The British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, has said that only the emergence a free independent Palestinian State can end the Middlje East Crisis, especially the Israeli/ Palestinian segment of it.
Lammy, speaking to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) today, , also held that no military might could bring enduring peace to the region
He spoke as France, a strong ally of Britain and the American- led Western alliance, announced that it would formally recognize the state of Palestine in September.
Lammy held that the Palestinians had a just case and that only the creation of a strong Palestinian State living in peace and mutual respect with Israel could ensure enduring peace in the region.
The Foreign Secretary spoke as the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament turned in a report calling for the formal recognition of the state of Palestine by the British Government.
The report of the committee held that Israel had remained recalcitrant to measures taken to make it review its war and humanitarian policies on Gaza and the West Bank and that the time for a decisive action for the recognition of Palestine as an independent state had come.
The Committee, which draws membership from across the entire political spectrum of the country, also called for effective sanction of Israeli settlers who had been violently indigenous Palestinians in their ancestral homelands in the occupied West Bank.
More than 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and troops of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) in the occupied West Bank since Israel began its military campaign on Gaza nearly two years ago.
The Israeli war on Gaza has led to 160,000 casualties, including 58,000 fatalities, mostly women, children and adult civilians, according to the Hamas -run Gaza Ministry of Health.
Philippines
25 Due As Floods Sweep Phillipines Following Typhoon
Heavy floods have hit The Phillipines after a typhoon made landfall in the country.
The floods have killed more than 25 persons by official accounts, though locals say the figure could be much higher when reports come in, as expected, from the other parts of the country that have remained largely inaccessible.
Thousands of residents of low- lying areas have also been displaced by the typhoon and the unusually heavy rains of the past few days, officials said.
In Calasiao, one of the most impacted settlements, emergency workers continued work in the hope of finding more survivors .
Turkiye
British, French and German Officials To Hold Talks with Iran on Nuclear Programme
Officials of France, Britain and Germany are to hold talks later today with their Iranian counterparts.
The talks are due in Istanbul, Turkiye, and will revolve around the Iran nuclear programme.
The talks are the first direct ones on the subject between Iran and Western countries after its 12- day war with Israel.
Both Israel and America had bombed Iran’ s nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow, in an attempt to destroy it.
The Fordow facility is some 260 feet underneath a rocky mountain.
The military assault on the facilities began as Iran and America were due to resume their talks on the subject.
Following the attack, Iran has declined to resume talks with America and even officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who had been monitoring its nuclear programme on behalf of the United Nations (UN).
Ahead of today’ s talks between officials of Iran and the three countries, they had threatened to impose sanctions on it.
Teheran has said that any attempt to impose any sanctions would be illegal and unacceptable.
Iran says its programme is for peaceful purposes, but Israel and its allies, particularly America, dispute this.
America deployed seven of its 30- ton bomb carrying B-2 Bombers for the 36 hour flight to and from the targets in the Persian nation.
A total of 125 attack and other aircraft were involved in the operation which was code named Operation Midnight Hammer.
Britain
BMA Begins 5- Day Warning Strike
Resident doctors in Britain have begun a five day strike in protest at their poor pay.
The strike, which started today, is expected to lead to the cancellation of more than 25,000 medical appointments.
The strike is holding under the aregis of the British Medical Association (BMA), and it is the first under the current Keith Starmer administration, and the 11th in the country over the past decade.
The doctors are asking for enhanced pay to match their 2008 wages, but the government insists it has no money for the hefty pay raise, and, instead, offered a 5.4 percent increase that the BMA rejected.
The doctors say that inflation had eaten up their incomes and that there was a compelling need for adjustments to match the current economic realities.
Despite the strike, officials of the Starmer administration and leaders of the doctors are understood to be discussing behind- the- scene to find a way to end the walkout.
Thailand
Cambodia, Thailand Continue Border Skirmishes For Second Day
Border skirmishes between troops of Thailand and Cambodia continued today with gunfire exchanges across their common border.
The skirmishes erupted yesterday and led to several casualties, and the call by regional and other leaders for de- escalation.
However, against the grain of expectation , the clashes continued today with both sides reportedly recording fresh casualties.
The casualty figure for Cambodia was not readily available, but Thailand, which had reportedly snubbed regional diplomatic intervention, says it had lost 16 persons, including two children and a soldier, to the clashes.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague had ruled twice that the disputed land belongs to Cambodia.
