A Palestinian home kitchen reopens in Watts to help families in Gaza
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Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Netanyahu to hold emergency meeting on Europe's recognition of a Palestinian state
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a security-political meeting on Monday regarding Israel's response to European countries recognizing a Palestinian state. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a security-political meeting on Monday evening regarding Israel's response to the intentions of European countries to recognize a Palestinian state in September. Smotrich is expected to demand the application of sovereignty over the West Bank and the immediate dismantling of the Palestinian Authority (PA). About three months ago, Smotrich announced the suspension of fund transfers to the PA and his intention not to extend the indemnification for Israeli banks transferring funds to the PA. This was done by canceling the indemnity provided to correspondent banks in relation to banks operating in the Palestinian Authority, his office confirmed on Tuesday. Until that moment, Smotrich had only occasionally delayed the transfer of funds from time to time, but had not ordered a complete halt. European countries to recognize a Palestinian State France and the UK are the two main European countries that plan to recognize a Palestinian State in the UN General Assembly in New York in September, alongside other European and non-European nations. Australia was the last to announce that it would recognize a Palestinian state, while Canada, another important Western ally, will also follow this route. Countries that still have not taken a position in this situation are New Zealand, whose Foreign Minister Winston Peters said he was carefully considering recognition of a Palestinian state, and Denmark, whose Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that while her country condemned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, she did not support recognizing a Palestinian state at this time. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is considering unilaterally announcing the transformation of the PA into a state during the upcoming General Assembly, London-based outlet al-Araby al-Jadeed reported. Avraham Bloch, Reuters, and Mathilda Heller contributed to this report. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Norway wealth fund excludes six Israeli companies linked to West Bank, Gaza
By Gwladys Fouche and Louise Rasmussen OSLO/COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, will exclude another six Israeli companies with connections to the West Bank and Gaza from its portfolio following an ethics review, it said on Monday. The $2 trillion wealth fund did not name the companies it had decided to exclude but said they would be made public, along with specific reasons, once the divestments were completed. One possibility is they include Israel's five largest banks, which have been under review by the fund's ethical watchdog. Separately, the fund said it had also sold stakes in six other companies following a decision last week to only hold stakes in Israeli companies that are part of the fund's benchmark index. As of August 14, the fund had 19 billion crowns ($1.86 billion) invested in 38 companies listed in Israel, the fund's operator Norges Bank Investment Management said, a reduction of 23 companies since June 30. "More companies could be excluded," Norwegian Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg told reporters. ETHICS REVIEW The fund launched an urgent review earlier this month after reports that it had built a stake in an Israeli jet engine group that provides services to Israel's armed forces, including the maintenance of fighter jets. The reports spurred a fresh debate about the fund's investments in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories ahead of elections on Sept. 8, with some parties calling for the fund to divest from all Israeli companies, a step the government has ruled out. Norway's parliament in June rejected a proposal for the fund to divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. "This debate helps sharpen our practices," said Stoltenberg. Critics say only a complete withdrawal from investing in Israeli companies would protect the fund against possible ethical breaches. Stoltenberg said that, from now on, the ethics watchdog and NBIM would have more frequent and faster exchanges of information to more rapidly identify problematic companies. Ethical exclusions from the fund are based on recommendations from the fund's watchdog, though NBIM can also divest from companies if it assesses that a company poses too much of a risk to the fund, whether the risk is ethical or not. "With more exchanges of information between the Council on Ethics and Norges Bank, it is possible that there could be more divestments of that kind in future," said Stoltenberg. Last Monday, the fund announced it was terminating contracts with all three external asset managers who handled some of its Israeli investments. ($1 = 10.1890 Norwegian crowns) Sign in to access your portfolio
Politico
a day ago
- Politico
Trump and Mamdani both targeted Columbia — only one is backing off
'In a choice between NYU and Columbia losing tax exemption and giving Trump a raised middle finger, Mamdani chose the latter,' said author and retired Baruch College political science professor Doug Muzzio. Columbia's deal with the Trump administration has become a national flashpoint. After months of pressure — including the suspension of pro-Palestinian student protesters and administrative shakeups — the university agreed last month to a $221 million settlement. In return, the White House restored $400 million in frozen research grants. Critics have called the settlement a political shakedown. But for the Trump administration, it served as a successful first draft of a new playbook: use financial leverage to force universities into public accountability on its terms. The president is not stopping at Columbia — similar threats now loom over Harvard, Cornell and Northwestern, among others. The fallout also shifted the political rubric for local Democrats, especially in a mayoral race where candidates are pushing to prove their distance from the White House. A Mamdani spokesperson said the candidate still supports 'the notion of repealing' the universities' property tax exemptions and 'fully funding CUNY, while being laser-focused on his main campaign agenda.' The spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether Trump's feud with Columbia affected Mamdani's approach to the tax policy. 'Zohran condemns Trump's attacks on universities unequivocally and believes the Administration is playing games with college students and their futures,' Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec said in a statement. Not everyone on the left sees the overlap as a liability. New York Sen. John Liu, who sponsored the REPAIR Act in the state Senate, said the White House's involvement hasn't changed the fundamentals. Columbia saves more than $180 million annually through property tax exemptions, and he wants to see that money invested in CUNY. 'If the GOP succeeded, which I hope they don't, they would simply take away that tax-exempt status, and anybody losing their tax exempt status would then resume paying property taxes to New York City. So this doesn't muddy this issue,' Liu told POLITICO. 'I'm not rooting for Republican success in their attempt to demonize some of our universities,' he added. 'Rather, we're looking at things from the perspective of these universities have just become mega land owners and landlords, and probably don't need that $100 million-plus [in] tax breaks that could be better used to fund public education for far more New Yorkers.' Mamdani likes to quip that Columbia was his first landlord. The 33-year-old grew up in a university-owned apartment complex reserved for staff and faculty, like his father, Columbia professor Mahmood Mamdani. That early proximity gave him a front-row view of the school's outsized presence in upper Manhattan — and, later, its polarizing role in city politics. Watch: The Playbook Podcast DC dining reservations drop Columbia's property holdings, which straddle multiple neighborhoods uptown, have long been a lightning rod in New York. In West Harlem, memories still linger from the bruising battle over its Manhattanville expansion, when residents accused the university of abusing eminent domain and wielding its political clout to push out longtime tenants and acquire large swaths of the neighborhood for cheap.
