Category World News

About 3,000 people have taken to the streets of Berlin to protest against Germany’s new military service bill, after Bundestag politicians backed the legislation intended to bolster the country’s armed forces.

Germany’s parliament approved the controversial conscription legislation on Friday after months of heated debate. It comes amid a pledge by NATO allies to increase defence spending, boosting Europe’s defence capabilities amid fears Russia’s war on Ukraine could spill across its borders.

Tess Datzer, an 18-year-old protester in the German capital, said she felt it was unfair for her generation to have to go to war “for a country that does little for us”.

“There is no investment in our pensions, not in our future, not in the climate. I don’t see any good reasons why our generation should have to go to war,” she told the AFP news agency.

Protest organiser Ronja Ruh said an “unbelievable amount of money is being spent on the military and armament” in Germany, while funds are lacking in basic public services.

“When we look at schools in particular, there is outdated technology, far too few teachers, dilapidated school buildings,” she said.

The military service bill sets ambitious expansion goals for the Bundeswehr, as Germany’s armed forces are known, with a target of up to 260,000 active soldiers – up from 183,000 currently – and 200,000 reservists by 2035.

It introduces a dual-track system to boost recruits: a more lucrative voluntary service intended to attract young recruits, but if enlistment falls short, lawmakers can now activate needs-based conscription.

To do so, the politicians would be required to hold a Bundestag vote. If more people are eligible for conscription than needed, recruits may be randomly selected.

All men born after January 1, 2008, will undergo medical evaluation, in a move not seen since Germany suspended conscription in 2011. Both 18-year-old men and women will be asked to declare their willingness to serve, though only men must respond.

Countries across Europe – including France, Italy and Belgium, as well as the Nordic and Baltic states – are moving to expand voluntary service and strengthen mandatory conscription in their armed forces in response to Russian provocation.

European leaders and intelligence services believe Russia could mount an assault elsewhere on the continent, with Germany’s top military official, Carsten Breuer, saying in 2024 that Moscow could be ready to attack NATO countries in five to eight years’ time.

In late November, announcing the reintroduction of a limited form of military service in France 25 years after conscription was formally ended, President Emmanuel Macron said, “the only way to avoid danger is to prepare for it”.

“We need to mobilise, mobilising the nation to defend itself, to be ready and remain respected,” he said.

In the meantime, European leaders have accused Moscow of engaging in a form of hybrid warfare – including infrastructure sabotage, drone infiltrations and cyberattacks – as President Vladimir Putin tests NATO’s limits.

Gaza mediators Egypt and Qatar, and six other Muslim-majority countries have raised the alarm over Israel’s stated plan for a one-way opening of the Rafah border crossing, which would allow Palestinians to leave their territory, but not to return, and block the entry of humanitarian aid.

It comes as Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza continues unabated, with some 600 violations of the ceasefire in the last seven weeks.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates issued a joint statement on Saturday that expressed “deep concern” over a recent military announcement that the “Rafah Crossing will open in the coming days exclusively for the exit of residents from the Gaza Strip to Egypt”.

The announcement, which breaches Israeli obligations under the first phase of a United States-led peace plan, was made on Wednesday by an Israeli military unit called the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), stating that one-way crossing would be allowed with Israeli “security approval” in coordination with Egypt.

However, on Saturday, Egypt and its cosignatories slammed the plan, expressing their “complete rejection of any attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land” and stressing the need for Israel to fully comply with US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, which calls for the Rafah crossing to be opened in both directions.

Eight Arab and Islamic countries issued a joint statement expressing their deep concern over Israeli statements about opening the Rafah crossing in one direction, allowing Gaza residents to leave for Egypt#MOFAQatar pic.twitter.com/sW3Gg7rd09

The Rafah crossing has been mostly closed throughout the war.

Since the October 10 ceasefire took effect under Trump’s plan, Israeli authorities have stalled on reopening it to allow desperately needed aid to enter and people requiring medical treatment to leave, citing Hamas’s failure to return the bodies of all captives and the need for coordination with Egypt. Only one captive’s body remains in Gaza, and retrieval has been hampered by the widespread destruction of the enclave under Israeli bombardment.

The ministers said they appreciated Trump’s peace efforts, which foresee the formation of a technocratic Palestinian government supported by a multinational stabilisation force under the supervision of an international “Board of Peace”, insisting that his plan move forward “without delay or obstruction”.

They urged that conditions be established allowing the Palestinian Authority to “resume its responsibilities in Gaza”, calling for “sustainable peace” that would enable the two-state solution to be rolled out, with “an independent Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 borders, including Gaza and the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital”.

Canada has removed Syria from its list of states that support “terrorism”, citing a similar move by the United States as well as efforts by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government to “advance” the country’s stability.

The announcement on Friday comes as Syria prepares to mark one year since the toppling of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Canada’s foreign ministry said it was also revoking the “terrorist” designation for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group that spearheaded the alliance that helped remove al-Assad.

In a statement, the ministry said the decisions were “not taken lightly”.

“These measures are in line with recent decisions taken by our allies, including the United Kingdom and the United States, and follows the efforts by the Syrian transitional government to advance Syria’s stability, build an inclusive and secure future for its citizens, and work alongside global partners to reinforce regional stability and counter terrorism,” it said.

Canada had listed Syria as a “state supporter of terrorism” in 2012, as al-Assad’s crushing of pro-democracy protests plunged the country into civil war.

HTS had been widely sanctioned over its links to al-Qaeda, but several Western states have delisted the group to allow for better collaboration with the new Syrian government.

Since taking power, Syria’s new leaders have sought to break from their violent past and present a more moderate image to Syrians and foreign powers.

The ministry said it was still maintaining sanctions on 56 Syrian individuals, including former officials from al-Assad’s former government and members of the toppled president’s family.

The US partially suspended sanctions against Syria in June and then extended the suspension in November, following talks between al-Sharaa and his American counterpart, Donald Trump, at the White House.

Days before that meeting, the US had said that al-Sharaa was no longer a “specially designated global terrorist”.

Al-Sharaa, who once led al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, split from the group in 2016.

Since removing al-Assad, al-Sharaa has further reinvented his image, dropping the alias Abu Mohammed al-Julani for his birth name and promoting a tolerant and inclusive Syria.

The Australian government has imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on four officials in Afghanistan’s Taliban government, citing the deteriorating human rights situation in the country, particularly for women and girls.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement on Saturday that Canberra had established a “world-first” autonomous sanctions framework for Afghanistan, which would allow it to “directly impose its own sanctions and travel bans to increase pressure on the Taliban”.

The new framework also introduces an arms embargo, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said, as well as prohibitions on “providing related services and activities to Afghanistan”.

The department named the sanctioned Taliban officials as Minister for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice Muhammad Khalid Hanafi; Minister of Higher Education Neda Mohammad Nadeem; Minister of Justice Abdul-Hakim Sharei; and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani.

The Australian Government has established a world-first autonomous sanctions framework for Afghanistan, as part of our ongoing efforts to hold the Taliban to account.

In effect from today, we have also announced the first listings under the new framework.

Wong said the officials had been sanctioned due to their involvement “in the oppression of women and girls and in undermining good governance or the rule of law”.

“This includes restricting access to education, employment, freedom of movement and the ability to participate in public life,” she said.

Canberra said its new framework “builds on” the 140 individuals and entities it already sanctions as part of the United Nations Security Council’s Taliban framework.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government is yet to publicly respond to Canberra’s latest measures.

In July, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Chief Justice Haqqani, alongside the Taliban’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhunzada, for alleged crimes against humanity for persecuting women and girls.

Announcing the sanctions, the ICC said the Taliban has “severely deprived” girls and women of the rights to education, privacy, family life and the freedoms of movement, expression, thought, conscience and religion.

Since returning to power following the withdrawal of United States and NATO troops – of which Australia was a part – from Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban has enacted severe restrictions on the rights and freedoms of women and girls, including the right to work and study.

The Taliban has rejected accusations of violating women’s rights, claiming they are respected “within the framework of Islamic law”.

In December 2022, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Higher Education banned female students from the country’s universities until further notice, in a move widely condemned by the international community.

Last year, the UN said the Taliban government had “deliberately deprived” at least 1.4 million girls of their right to an education during its time in power, totally about 80 percent of school-age girls.

Afghans have also been plunged further into poverty since the Taliban takeover, fuelled in part by the ban on female participation in the workplace, with vast swaths of the country’s population now heavily reliant on humanitarian aid to survive.

In her statement, Wong said the Australian government “remains deeply concerned at the deteriorating situation” in the country, continuing that a “humanitarian permit” had been carved out in the new sanctions framework, allowing the continued provision of aid.