Macron to press Starmer on recognizing Palestinian state during UK visit

Emmanuel Macron is expected to urge Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to formally recognize Palestinian statehood during his upcoming state visit to the UK, it was reported on Saturday. (AFP/File Photo)
Emmanuel Macron is expected to urge Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to formally recognize Palestinian statehood during his upcoming state visit to the UK, it was reported on Saturday. (AFP/File Photo)
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Updated 05 July 2025
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Macron to press Starmer on recognizing Palestinian state during UK visit

Macron to press Starmer on recognizing Palestinian state during UK visit
  • French leader’s trip comes as Paris pushes for relaunch of UN-led process on the issue to be hosted with Saudi Arabia
  • Macron also expected to discuss ‘one-in, one-out’ migrant return deal to curb Channel crossings

LONDON: Emmanuel Macron is expected to urge Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to formally recognize Palestinian statehood during his upcoming state visit to the UK, it was reported on Saturday.

The French president arrives in London on Tuesday for a three-day trip, which will include a summit with Starmer, an address to both Houses of Parliament, and a state banquet hosted by King Charles at Windsor Castle.

While the centerpiece of the visit is expected to be a new “one-in, one-out” migrant returns deal aimed at curbing Channel crossings, sources say Macron will also raise the issue of Palestinian statehood during private talks with the UK leader.

“The French are trying to get us back on board with recognition. We’re reticent,” a Whitehall insider told The Telegraph.

“You do it when you think you can achieve something from it, not for the sake of saying ‘we’ve done it.’”

Downing Street and the Elysee Palace are said to be at odds over the pace and conditions under which recognition should take place, though both governments publicly support the idea in principle at the “right time.”

Paris views recognition as a possible catalyst for a two-state solution and is pushing to relaunch a proposed UN-led process to discuss the matter to be hosted with Saudi Arabia.

However, UK officials fear the move could be largely symbolic without commitments from Hamas, including disarmament and withdrawal from leadership roles.

Israel has strongly opposed unilateral recognition, warning it would amount to “rewarding” Hamas for its Oct. 7 attacks.

The bilateral summit will also cover joint civil nuclear projects and coordination on a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine.

Macron’s visit will be marked by pageantry, including a carriage procession through Windsor and a tour of the Royal Collection. The French president will also be presented with Fabuleu de Maucour, a horse he gifted the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.


Volcano erupts after quake in Russia’s far east

Updated 3 sec ago
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Volcano erupts after quake in Russia’s far east

Volcano erupts after quake in Russia’s far east
Eruptions of the Klyuchevskoy volcano — the highest active in Europe and Asia — are quite common
“The Klyuchevskoy is erupting right now,” Russia’s Geophysical Survey said

MOSCOW: A volcano in Russia’s far east erupted on Wednesday, Russian scientists said, hours after a major quake prompted evacuations and tsunami alerts across parts of the Pacific coast.

Eruptions of the Klyuchevskoy volcano — the highest active in Europe and Asia — are quite common, with at least 18 of them happening since 2000 according to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program.

“The Klyuchevskoy is erupting right now,” Russia’s Geophysical Survey said on Telegram, posting photos of an orange blaze on top of the 4,700 meter (15,000 feet) volcano.

“Red-hot lava is observed flowing down the western slope. There is a powerful glow above the volcano and explosions,” it added.

Earlier on Wednesday, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka region.

The tsunami warning in Kamchatka was lifted 11 hours later as the quake causing massive waves have spared the sparsely populated area close to Japan.

No major damage or casualties from its eruptions were ever recorded, with the closest big city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsk located hundreds of kilometers away.

22 killed in Angola fuel hike unrest since Monday

22 killed in Angola fuel hike unrest since Monday
Updated 30 July 2025
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22 killed in Angola fuel hike unrest since Monday

22 killed in Angola fuel hike unrest since Monday
  • Sporadic gunfire was heard across Luanda and several other cities on Monday and Tuesday as people looted shops and clashed with police when violence erupted during a taxi strike

LUANDA: Unrest in Angola following protests against a fuel price hike has killed 22 people since Monday, the interior minister said, as calm returned to the capital.

Sporadic gunfire was heard across Luanda and several other cities on Monday and Tuesday as people looted shops and clashed with police when violence erupted during a taxi strike.

The strike was the latest in a series of protests after the price of fuel was hiked from 300 to 400 kwanzas ($0.33 to $0.43) a liter on July 1, squeezing living costs for the millions of poor in one of Africa’s top oil producers.

“We regret 22 deaths, including one police officer,” Interior Minister Manuel Homem told reporters in a press conference on Wednesday.

Nearly 200 people were injured in the violence, he said, and more than 1,200 people had been arrested.

Shops and businesses remained closed in Luanda on Wednesday as security forces patrolled the city.

The streets were largely empty as people stayed home, although there were some queues outside petrol stations and shops, AFP reporters said.

Police in the southern city of Lubango confirmed separately that a police officer had shot and killed a 16-year-old on Tuesday.

The teenager was part of a group attempting to invade the headquarters of the ruling MPLA party, a statement said.

Anger against the price hike was also the focus of a demonstration of around 2,000 people in Luanda on Saturday, with protesters also alleging government corruption.

There had been similar protests the two previous weekends.

Four people were killed on the first day of the unrest on Monday, according to police.

Local media reported other victims on Tuesday.

TV Nzinga showed women weeping over a body in a street in Luanda’s central Cazenga area as people ran out of a supermarket carrying food and goods. The report did not say how the person was killed.

In the same area, a young man was killed near a supermarket, apparently by a stray bullet, an AFP reporter said.

Protests and unrest were also reported outside the capital, including in the city of Huambo, around 600 kilometers (370 miles) north of Luanda, police said.

Images on social media also showed protests in the coastal city of Benguela, south of the capital.

The Portuguese-speaking country of more than 36 million has a high inflation rate that neared 20 percent in June, while the unemployment rate hit almost 30 percent, according to the national statistics authority.


IndiGo’s revenue slows as India-Pakistan tensions, Air India crash weigh

IndiGo’s revenue slows as India-Pakistan tensions, Air India crash weigh
Updated 30 July 2025
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IndiGo’s revenue slows as India-Pakistan tensions, Air India crash weigh

IndiGo’s revenue slows as India-Pakistan tensions, Air India crash weigh
  • India’s largest carrier by market share reports 4.7% rise in revenue to $2.34 billion in April-June quarter
  • CEO says April attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, border clashes caused ” hundreds of cancelations”

NEW DELHI: Budget airline IndiGo posted slower first-quarter revenue growth on Wednesday, weighed down by subdued demand following border tensions between India and Pakistan and a fatal Air India crash during the quarter.

India’s largest carrier by market share reported a 4.7% rise in revenue to 204.96 billion rupees ($2.34 billion) in the April-June quarter, a sharp slowdown from the 17.3% growth logged a year ago.

“The June quarter was shaped by significant external challenges that created headwinds for the entire aviation sector,” Chief Executive Pieter Elbers said in a statement.

An April attack on civilians in Indian Kashmir, followed by border clashes between India and Pakistan led to “hundreds and hundreds of cancelations,” Elbers said in a post-earnings media call.

India has blamed Islamabad for the attack, which the latter has denied.

Shortly after, an Air India plane crashed in Ahmedabad and killed 260 people in June, spurring flying anxiety among many travelers.

“All in all, that has led ... to (have) some impact on the market,” Elbers said, but added that so far, the second quarter appears to be stabilizing.

Despite the recent slowdown, IndiGo has benefited from rising incomes, sustained post-pandemic domestic travel demand, along with continued fleet and network expansion.

Still, the company posted a lower quarterly profit, bogged down by ballooning foreign exchange losses.

Its yield — the average money earned from a passenger for every kilometer traveled — fell 5%.

The airline’s first-quarter capacity — measured in available seat kilometers — grew 16.4% on-year.

The firm had projected a “mid-teens percentage range” growth in May.


Australia’s first Muslim MP calls for country to recognize Palestine

Ed Husic is the first Muslim to be elected to federal parliament.
Ed Husic is the first Muslim to be elected to federal parliament.
Updated 34 min 51 sec ago
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Australia’s first Muslim MP calls for country to recognize Palestine

Ed Husic is the first Muslim to be elected to federal parliament.
  • Ed Husic: Govt should follow in UK’s footsteps as part of tide of ‘moral momentum’
  • ‘Hamas is built largely on grievance. That grievance gets removed with the establishment of a state of Palestine’

LONDON: Australia’s first Muslim MP and government minister has said his country should recognize a Palestinian state, following in the footsteps of the UK as part of a tide of “moral momentum.”

The appeal by Labor’s Ed Husic, who was elected in 2010, came as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is to hold further talks with his British counterpart Keir Starmer in the coming days.

Starmer pledged this week to recognize a Palestinian state in September if Israel fails to reach a ceasefire with Hamas, among other conditions.

If Australia does the same, it would deprive Hamas of its power in Gaza and expedite the peace process, Husic said.

“Hamas is built largely on grievance. That grievance gets removed with the establishment of a state of Palestine, nurtured with the cooperation and support of the international community, progressed through the development of democratic institutions,” he added.

The former minister said his Labor colleagues feel increasingly aggrieved over the situation in Gaza, calling on them to urge Australian recognition of a Palestinian state.

“There is a deep feeling within the caucus, about how right it is to recognize Palestine, and I would much rather that colleagues speak for themselves,” he added.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong signed an international statement calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Albanese, however, declined to immediately follow Starmer’s decision despite Australia’s government previously signaling that it would move in unison with international partners on measures to address the crisis in Gaza.

“What I’ve said is that it’s not the timeline, that’s not what we’re looking at. What we’re looking at is the circumstances where recognition will advance the objective of the creation of two states,” Albanese said at Parliament House after speaking with Starmer this week.

“I’ve said for a long time, my entire political life, I’ve said I support two states … That’s my objective — not making a statement, not giving a political point, but achieving peace.”


Rome summons Russian envoy over Italy president on ‘Russophobe’ list

Rome summons Russian envoy over Italy president on ‘Russophobe’ list
Updated 30 July 2025
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Rome summons Russian envoy over Italy president on ‘Russophobe’ list

Rome summons Russian envoy over Italy president on ‘Russophobe’ list
  • Italy’s foreign ministry said it considered “the inclusion of the head of state in this list a provocation against the republic and the Italian people“
  • Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz is also on the list

ROME: Italy on Wednesday summoned Russia’s ambassador after Moscow included Italian President Sergio Mattarella on a list of Western officials critical of the Kremlin.

Relations between Rome and Moscow — already strained by the Kremlin’s Ukraine invasion — have dipped further in recent days, with Italy canceling a concert last week of a pro-Kremlin maestro.

Italy’s foreign ministry said it considered “the inclusion of the head of state in this list a provocation against the republic and the Italian people.”

Moscow included Mattarella on its foreign ministry list of Western officials whom it accuses of using “the language of hatred” against Russia.

Other European leaders, such as Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, are also on the list.

As president, Mattarella occupies a largely ceremonial role.

But Moscow has said it included him on its list for having compared Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine to Nazi Germany.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been a staunch advocate of Kyiv, with Italy hosting a conference on Ukraine’s recovery earlier this month.

In a statement Wednesday, she expressed solidarity for Mattarella and said his inclusion on the list was “nothing more than yet another propaganda operation aimed at diverting attention from Moscow’s serious responsibilities.”

Italy has taken in thousands of Ukrainian refugees since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of the country.