Students hold pro-Palestine protest at French university
In honor of the victims of Israel’s war on Gaza, students at Sciences Po University in Paris marched in the streets and sat in on-campus.
Israeli soldiers raise flag in Lebanese town’s “Iran Garden”
An Israeli flag is hung on the remains of Maroun al-Ras, southern Lebanon, in a video that was posted online. Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the US State Department, called the raising of the flag “obviously inappropriate.” 40 Israeli military vehicles are seen circling a nearby UNIFIL base in satellite images with Irish peacekeepers.
Trump claims he visited Gaza — but there’s no evidence he did
Even though there is no documentation of such a trip, former president Donald Trump claimed in a radio interview that he had been to Gaza.
In response to a question about whether the occupied territory, which Israel has largely razed to the ground over the past year, could be transformed into “Moneya,” if it was rebuilt the right way, Trump made the comment in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday.
“It could be better than Monaco. It has the best location in the Middle East, the best water, the best everything”, Trump responded. “I’ve been there, and it’s rough. It’s a rough place, before the, you know, before all of the attacks and before the back and forth what’s happened over the last couple of years”.
The Trump campaign’s spokesperson told the New York Times, “Gaza is in Israel,” when pressed for clarification. President Trump has been to Israel”.
Gaza is not, nor has it ever been “in Israel”. Since 1967, Israel has illegally occupied both the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
In 2005, Israel withdrew its army and settlers from Gaza under a “disengagement” policy that the Israeli government at the time called “disengagement.” However, Israel continues to be a occupying force in Gaza under international law because of its military’s continued effective defense of its airspace, coastline, and borders.
Following Hamas’ attacks on October 7 and subsequent military incursions, Israel has reoccupied the area.
False claims made by Trump are not uncommon, but it was unclear whether they were intentional lies or whether they simply revealed his ignorance of the area’s geography.
In his first year in office, Trump traveled to Israel and the West Bank, where he met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Most Palestinians are not permitted to travel through Israel, which makes the West Bank and Gaza separate occupied territories that can only be reached by traveling there.
Trump’s remarks about Gaza echoed those made earlier this year by his son-in-law and former adviser Jared Kushner. Kushner had called Gaza’s waterfront property “very valuable”.
In the interview with Hewitt, Trump also referenced Gaza’s oceanfront location.
James Cleverly emerges as frontrunner in UK Conservatives leadership race
After its disastrous election defeat in July, three candidates are still running for the party’s leadership position, including former security minister Tom Tugendhat, who was removed by British Conservative lawmakers.
Tugendhat garnered 20 votes in a ballot of 120 members of parliament, finishing last. With 39 votes, former US Secretary James Cleverly won the election.
Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, received 31 votes, and Kemi Badenoch, the former business secretary, received 30.
On Wednesday, a further candidate will be expelled from the race by the legislature before tens of thousands of party members can choose between the top two candidates.
The result adds to Cleverly’s momentum in the race. Cleverly, a centrist, picked up support with a well-received speech at last week’s Conservative conference. He argued that he had the skills to defeat Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party and win the Conservatives’ support at the upcoming election, which is scheduled for 2029, and that the party should “be more normal.”
Since the beginning of the contest in July, Jenrick, a hardliner, had been favored as the winner. He demands that Britain drastically reduce immigration and overturn European human rights law.
Jenrick’s reputation was raised when he quit Sunak’s position as immigration minister over the country’s “fatally flawed” Rwandan asylum plan. Then he claimed that it was insufficiently strong.
Former trade minister Badenoch has positioned herself as a “something different” and provocative voice in what she describes as a dysfunctional government system. She has promised to be “something different” and an outspoken darling of both the right and the left.
Badenoch said she wants the party to return to “authentic Conservatism” and stop “talking right, governing left,” a position she adored in spite of her outspoken views on Brexit and what she calls “identity politics.”
After Conservative members cast their final ballots for a new leader, who will have the responsibility of turning around a party’s fortunes that was left afloat by Labour on July 4th, the election will continue until November 2.
The party’s last contested leadership selection, in mid-2022, saw members choose Liz Truss over Rishi Sunak. When Truss’ tax-cutting plans shook the world’s financial markets and negatively impacted the pound’s value after just 49 days in office, she resigned as prime minister. The party then chose Sunak to take her place.
Mozambique heads to the polls amid insecurity and drought-induced hunger
Voters in Mozambique are expected to turn up to vote in an election that will almost certainly allow the ruling party Frelimo to keep its 50-year dominance in place.
On Wednesday, 250 members of parliament and provincial assemblies are registered to vote for the next president in the Southern African nation of 31 million people.
President Filipe Nyusi from the Frelimo party, is stepping down after two terms and the party’s candidate, Daniel Chapo, is expected to replace him. Since 1975, when it was granted its independence, Federico has been in charge of Mozambique.
Political analysts claim that Venancio Mondlane, an independent candidate, has won the support of disenchanted youth this time and poses the biggest threat to Frelimo in recent memory.
He also poses a challenge to the official opposition party, Renamo, which was formerly a rebel movement waging a decades-long bush war against the government.
Whoever prevails will face insecurities in the north, which have halted multibillion-dollar gas projects and caused displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.
Main issues for leaders to address
ISIL-affiliated group has been fighting in Mozambique for years, and it has attacked residents of Cabo Delgado province in northern Africa.
Approximately 600, 000 of the 1.3 million people who fled have since returned home, many to shattered communities where houses, markets, churches, schools and health facilities have been destroyed, the United Nations said earlier this year.
The candidates have pledged to address the development issues brought on by the insecurity, including the suspension of a significant gas project by the French energy company TotalEnergies in northern Mozambique as a result of the armed groups’ operations there.
“These areas where there is terrorism are an attack on all Mozambicans”, Chapo told a cheering rally of supporters in Maputo on Sunday, pledged to defend Mozambique’s “peace, sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
Mozambique also faces high levels of unemployment and hunger, exacerbated by El Nino-induced severe drought. According to the UN World Food Programme, 1.3 million people face severe food shortages.
Additionally, the 35 million-strong nation is recovering from an economic crisis brought on by a hidden debt scandal, which former finance minister Manuel Chang was imprisoned earlier this year for arranging secret loan guarantees for government-controlled fishing companies.
The loans were plundered, and Mozambique ended up with $2bn in “hidden debt”, spurring a financial crisis as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) halted financial support.
Leaders have pledged to address the financial concerns in their campaign messages.
Given its high debt levels, Mozambique was told in July that it needed to better manage its budget to make room for social spending.
Local elections held in Mozambique a year ago were marred by allegations of vote-rigging and fraud, sparking violent protests in the capital, Maputo, and surrounding areas.
If the results of the upcoming vote are disputed, activists and analysts expect protests, which in the past have been violently suppressed.
“We know that at the end, the status quo will remain”, Adriano Nuvunga, director of the local Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, told the Reuters news agency.
He said that Mondlane’s campaign was creating excitement and raising the risk of post-election unrest.
Albania’s opposition supporters rally to demand gov’t step down
Before the parliamentary elections in Albania, opposition supporters have taken to the streets to demand that the government be replaced by a technocratic caretaker cabinet.
The socialists, led by Prime Minister Edi Rama, have long been accused of corruption, rigging earlier elections, and squandering legal authority.
After one of its members was found guilty of slander and imprisoned in a case it views as politically motivated, the Democratic Party of former prime minister Sali Berisha has been protesting in parliament for the past week. The Supreme Court has heard Ervin Salianji’s conviction appealed.
The Democrats, who have staged sometimes violent protests against the government since 2013, also seek Berisha’s release from house arrest, which was ordered during an investigation into alleged corruption.
A few thousand protesters gathered in front of the main government building in Tirana on Monday, shouting, “Down with the dictatorship” and “Berisha, Berisha”. After briefly clashing with police, they hurled Molotov cocktails.
Outside the governing Socialist Party headquarters, they again hurled Molotov cocktails and burned a poster of the prime minister, who leads the party. Then, outside of City Hall and the Ministry of Interior, they did the same.
Outside parliament, police fired tear gas to disperse them.
Positions were being held by hundreds of police officers to protect government buildings. On many streets in downtown, according to police, traffic was slowed.
Police said 10 officers were hurt by Molotov cocktails, pyrotechnic items and hard objects. According to local media, some protesters had tear gas-stained eyes, and a few were taken to the hospital.
The Democrats ‘ secretary-general, Flamur Noka, ended the protest by pledging that the “civil disobedience” would continue.
Citizens of the United States Embassy had been advised to avoid the demonstration.
The opposition has been urged by the US and the EU to resume dialogue with the government, contending that violence won’t aid its integration into the 27-nation EU.