Category: 2. World

Britain on Wednesday rejected criticism that it was rewarding fighter group Hamas by setting out plans to recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel took steps to improve the situation in Gaza and bring about peace.

The sight of emaciated Gaza children has shocked the world in recent days, and on Tuesday, a hunger monitor warned that a worst-case scenario of famine was unfolding there and immediate action was needed to avoid widespread death.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ultimatum, setting a September deadline for Israel, prompted an immediate rebuke from his counterpart in Jerusalem, who said it rewarded Hamas and punished the victims of their 2023 cross-border attack.

US President Donald Trump said he did not think Hamas “should be rewarded” with recognition of Palestinian independence.

Asked about that criticism, British Transport Minister Heidi Alexander — designated by the government to respond to questions in a series of media interviews on Wednesday — said it was not the right way to characterise Britain’s plan.

“This is not a reward for Hamas. Hamas is a vile terrorist organisation that has committed appalling atrocities. This is about the Palestinian people. It’s about those children that we see in Gaza who are starving to death,” she told LBC radio.

“We’ve got to ratchet up pressure on the Israeli government to lift the restrictions to get aid back into Gaza.”

France announced last week it would recognise Palestinian statehood in September.

Successive British governments have said they would recognise a Palestinian state when it was most effective to do so.

In a televised address on Tuesday, Starmer said that moment had now come, highlighting the suffering in Gaza and saying the prospect of a two-state solution — a Palestinian state co-existing in peace alongside Israel — was under threat.

Starmer said Britain would make the move at the UN General Assembly in September unless Israel took substantive steps to allow more aid to enter Gaza, made clear there will be no annexation of the West Bank and committed to a long-term peace process that delivered a two-state solution.

Where are the tsunami warnings?published at 08:27 British Summer Time

08:27 BST

Image source, Reuters

The US Tsunami Warning Centres says waves of more than three
metres high are possible along some coasts of Ecuador, the northwestern Hawaiian
islands and Russia.

Waves between one to three metres are possible along some coasts of Chile, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Japan and islands in the
Pacific, it adds.

Waves of up to one
metre were possible elsewhere, including Australia, Colombia, Mexico, New
Zealand, Tonga and Taiwan.

Japan says its citizens should be on high alert, and 1.9 million people are under evacuation orders.

Hawaii is on full tsunami alert, with people told to get to higher ground and ships asked to remain offshore. The mayor of Honolulu has told residents: “Please take this very seriously. Get yourself as high as you possibly
can” though says authorities are yet to see “a wave of consequence”

On the US west coast, the US National Weather Service is telling people to avoid beaches, harbours and marinas.

Chinese authorities have issued a tsunami alert for Zhejiang province and Shanghai city, saying they expect waves of up to one metre.

In Peru, officials have issued a tsunami warning and are keeping “constant surveillance” on the situation.

What have we done? As the UN-backed monitor declares that “the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip”, this should have been the question ricocheting between the walls as Keir Starmer met Donald Trump this week. Israel’s deliberate starvation of Gaza is, after all, a crime confessed to, designed and implemented in plain sight. Starmer has said the UK will recognise Palestinian statehood if Israel doesn’t agree to a ceasefire and a two-state solution, but don’t be beguiled: Palestinian national self-determination is an inalienable right, not a bargaining chip, and it’s the most symbolic action he could take rather than, say, imposing sweeping sanctions and ending all arms sales. The hand-wringing of western politicians and media outlets will not feed Gaza’s emaciated children, any more than it will absolve them of guilt.

Israel’s leaders have said, explicitly, repeatedly, from the very beginning, that they are deliberately starving Gaza’s people. “Man-made famine is not something that I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Martin Griffiths, the UN’s former humanitarian chief, tells me. On 9 October 2023, Israel’s then defence minister, Yoav Gallant, announced “a complete siege on [Gaza]: no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel”, justified on the grounds: “We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly”. The next day, the Israeli general charged with humanitarian affairs in Gaza and the West Bank – Ghassan Alian – declared that the “citizens of Gaza” were “human beasts” who would suffer “a total blockade on Gaza, no electricity, no water, just damage. You wanted hell, you will get hell.”

The following week, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, promised “we will not allow humanitarian assistance in the form of food and medicines from our territory to the Gaza Strip”. These statements were not reported at all by many western media outlets – or, if they were, it was in passing and with no explanation given about their objectively illegal intent. It’s as though these statements were being uttered in a parallel universe, because if they were accurately covered with due prominence, then our media would have been forced to cover Israel’s onslaught as a criminal enterprise, rather than a war of self-defence.

Israel’s western allies knew exactly what it was up to. In March 2024, our then foreign secretary, Lord Cameron, wrote a letter setting out many ruses used by Israel to block aid from entering Gaza, yet Britain took no action. In April 2024, two US government departments concluded that Israel was deliberately blocking aid, which legally required the administration to stop supplying weapons. This was overruled by Joe Biden’s team. Later that year, that same administration sent a public letter detailing Israeli aid obstructions, but Tel Aviv correctly calculated this was political posturing during the presidential election, largely ignored the demands and suffered no consequences for doing so.

Israel has perpetrated the biggest slaughter of aid workers in history, killing more than 400 by the spring. It waged a relentless war against Gaza’s main humanitarian agency – Unrwa, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency – and banned it from the occupied territories last October. Its military killed police officers charged with escorting aid and preventing looting. It’s not just the blocking of aid from entering. Israel’s onslaught has left nearly all agricultural land unusable, as well as damaging 80% of cropland. Nearly all livestock and most plant life is dead. Gaza’s port and fishing vehicles have been destroyed, and Palestinians defying Israel’s ban on fishing face slaughter.

The massacre of starving Palestinians looking for aid has been a consistent theme. In February 2024, more than a hundred civilians waiting for flour were butchered by the Israeli military, yet – as been the case throughout the genocide – media outlets treated its denials, deflections and lies as credible claims. A detailed investigation by CNN weeks later concluded what should always have been obvious – the Israeli military was to blame – but by then attention had moved elsewhere. In March this year, Israel imposed a total siege, and replaced the UN’s effective aid system with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, whose “distribution sites” are dystopian killing fields. As the UN-backed IPC notes, that aid is not only far too little, but it is often unusable because Israel has left Palestinians without cooking gas and clean water to prepare it. More than a thousand civilians have been butchered trying to access this aid. As aid agencies have noted, the GHF is designed to coax a starved population to the south, so they can be confined in what the former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert described as a “concentration camp”, before being deported.

Despite Israel’s obvious, transparent, shameless guilt, its lies are indulged by western politicians and media outlets. On Monday, Donald Trump repeated that “a lot of the food is stolen” by Hamas. This lie has been contradicted by Cindy McCain, director of the World Food Programme, and widow to the hawkishly pro-Israel late Republican senator John McCain. An internal US government analysis found no proof, and Israeli officials have briefed that their military reached the same conclusion. Perversely, it is criminal gangs backed by Israel – which Netanyahu’s own former deputy noted are linked to Islamic State – that are stealing aid.

The international criminal court’s arrest warrants, issued eight months ago, centred on Israel’s deliberate starvation for a reason: the evidence is overwhelming. Yet even if Gaza were suddenly flooded with aid, many Palestinians would die because their bodies have been irreversibly ravaged by hunger. And that is not even on the agenda. The 73 trucks allowed in on Monday were forced to take an unsafe route, and then looted.

Our own prime minister has been promoting airdrops of aid. These are pinpricks, badly targeted and have killed Palestinians when they’ve fallen on their heads. All they really achieve is cover for Israel, to pretend it is doing something, deflecting from its deliberate mass starvation. But what else should we expect from Starmer, who backed Israel’s right to impose a siege on Gaza at the beginning of the genocide, then tried to gaslight us into believing he hadn’t?

What have we done? If western elites had any shame, this question would be robbing them of sleep. And the answer would be straightforward. You facilitated the mass starvation of an entire people. You knew what was happening, because of a deluge of evidence for 21 months, and because the perpetrator – your friend – repeatedly boasted to the world about its crime. Alas, the architects of this abomination will not hold themselves to account. That will be left to history – and the courts.

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Australia will use landmark social media laws to ban children under 16 from video-streaming site YouTube, a top minister said on Wednesday stressing the need to shield them from “predatory algorithms”.

Communications Minister Anika Wells said four-in-ten Australian children had reported viewing harmful content on YouTube, one of the most visited websites in the world.

“We want kids to know who they are before platforms assume who they are,” Wells said in a statement.

“There’s a place for social media, but there’s not a place for predatory algorithms targeting children.”

Australia announced last year it was drafting laws that will ban children from social media sites such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram until they turn 16.

The government had previously indicated YouTube would be exempt, given its widespread use in classrooms.

“Young people under the age of 16 will not be able to have accounts on YouTube,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Wednesday.

“They will also not be able to have accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and X among other platforms.

“We want Australian parents and families to know that we have got their back.”

Albanese said the age limit may not be implemented perfectly — much like existing restrictions on alcohol — but it was still the right thing to do.

Not ‘social media’

A spokesman for YouTube said Wednesday´s announcement was a jarring U-turn from the government.

“Our position remains clear: YouTube is a video sharing platform with a library of free, high-quality content, increasingly viewed on TV screens,” the company said in a statement.

“It´s not social media.”

On paper, the ban is one of the strictest in the world.

But the current legislation offers almost no details on how the rules will be enforced — prompting concern among experts that it will simply be a symbolic piece of unenforceable legislation.

It is due to come into effect on December 10.

Social media giants — which face fines of up to Aus$49.5 million (US$32 million) for failing to comply — have described the laws as “vague”, “problematic” and “rushed”.

TikTok has accused the government of ignoring mental health, online safety and youth experts who had opposed the ban.

Meta — owner of Facebook and Instagram — has warned that the ban could place “an onerous burden on parents and teens”.

The legislation has been closely monitored by other countries, with many weighing whether to implement similar bans.

BANGKOK, Thailand — Thailand and Cambodia reaffirmed their shaky ceasefire violation after days of fighting along their border, as China stepped into negotiate with the two countries.

The ceasefire reached in Malaysia was supposed to take effect at midnight on Monday, but was quickly tested. Thailand’s army accused Cambodia of launching attacks in multiple areas early Tuesday, but Cambodia said there was no firing in any location. The Thai army then reported exchanges of gunfire into Wednesday morning but said there was no use of heavy artillery.

“Such act of aggression constitutes once again a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement by Cambodian forces and their apparent lack of good faith,” said Thailand’s Foreign Ministry in a statement Wednesday morning.

By Wednesday afternoon, however, both sides appeared to have reaffirmed their commitment to a ceasefire, with representatives appearing smiling in a photo with a Chinese vice minister Sun Weidong at a meeting in Shanghai.

“Cambodia and Thailand reiterated to China their commitment to the ceasefire consensus and expressed appreciation for China’s positive role in de-escalating the situation,” a statement from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

China said the informal meeting was its “latest diplomatic effort” and it was playing a “constructive role in resolving their border dispute,” according to the same statement.

The fighting Tuesday night occurred in Phu Makhuea, a mountain in a disputed area next to Thaikand’s Sisaket province.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thailand’s acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, agreed on Monday to an “unconditional” halt in fighting, which has killed at least 41 people.

The meeting was hosted by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as annual chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. He called the ceasefire a “vital first step towards de-escalation and the restoration of peace and security.”

The ceasefire was brokered with U.S. pressure and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington applauded the ceasefire declaration.

“President (Donald) Trump and I are committed to an immediate cessation of violence and expect the governments of Cambodia and Thailand to fully honor their commitments to end this conflict,” Rubio said in a statement.

Hun Manet said Tuesday that Trump had called to offer congratulations for the peace move. He posted on social media that Trump pledged the U.S. would join the monitoring process along with Malaysia to ensure the ceasefire is implemented.

The Thai government separately said it has complained to Malaysia, the U.S. and China about Cambodia’s alleged breach of the ceasefire agreement previously.

By Wednesday, there were signs of calm along the border, with some of the more than 260,000 people displaced by the fighting returning to their homes.

Cambodia and Thailand have clashed in the past over their 800-kilometer (500-mile) border. The fighting began Thursday after a land mine explosion along the border wounded five Thai soldiers. Tensions had been growing since May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a confrontation that created a diplomatic rift and roiled Thailand’s domestic politics.

While some residents near the border have started returning home, many remain behind in evacuation shelters, uncertain of their fate.

Vendor Kanchana Sukjit, 33, said she fled home near the Ta Muen Thom temple with a few belongings and her small white-colored dog Nam Khaeng, which means ice in Thai. The temple had been one of the main flashpoints in the conflict over the past week.

It was the first time she had to flee home like this and she was worried as she waited for clearer instructions about what happens next.

“I’m stressed when I read the news, like when reports said they were going to fire (a long-range rocket), because my home is right next to a military camp. I was quite stressed that day because I was afraid that my home would get caught in a crossfire,” she said.

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Wu reported from Bangkok. Sopheng Cheang in Samrong, Cambodia, contributed to this report.