Hungary and Slovakia block Russian sanctions package, Budapest says
Hungary and Slovakia decided not to support the plan for the 18th sanctions package against Russia, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday in a press briefing broadcast on his Facebook page.
Hungary and Slovakia decided to block the sanctions package in response to European Union plans to phase out Russian energy imports, the minister said.
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European Commission allocates $230 million to support Palestinians
LONDON: The European Commission announced on Monday that it has allocated $230 million to support the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the Palestinian Authority. On Monday, the commission announced that it had allocated €150 million ($172 million) to the PA to ensure the delivery of essential public services, including payment of salaries for teachers, civil servants, and healthcare workers. This financial support is contingent upon the implementation of the reform agenda, it added. UNRWA received €52 million ($58 million) to support its education, healthcare, and relief services for Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Since late 2023, UNRWA has been crucial in providing aid and shelter to millions of Palestinians in Gaza amid ongoing Israeli attacks, some of which targeted UN staff and UNRWA facilities. Dubravka Suica, the commissioner for the Mediterranean, said: 'Our support to the Palestinian people remains steadfast. 'With this (first) disbursement of €202 million to the Palestinian Authority and the UN Agency UNRWA, we reaffirm our unwavering political and financial commitment,' she added. The funds are part of the commission's Palestine Recovery and Resilience program for 2025-2026, amounting to up to €1.6 billion ($1.84 billion), in which the EU reaffirmed its support for the Palestinian people and its commitment to a two-state solution, as announced in April during the EU-Palestinian Authority high-level political dialogue. 'The EU is deeply concerned about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and the worsening conditions in the West Bank. We remain firmly committed to a just and lasting peace, grounded in a negotiated two-state solution,' Suica added.


Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
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Greenpeace Joins Anti-Bezos Protest With Venice Banner Complaining About Billionaire Tax Breaks
Greenpeace joined the protests in Venice against the upcoming wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez on Monday. A half-dozen protesters unfurled a giant banner early Monday in St. Mark's Square reading: 'IF YOU CAN RENT VENICE FOR YOUR WEDDING YOU CAN PAY MORE TAX.' Local police quickly folded it up and took it away. The demonstration followed other anti-Bezos initiatives last week, including a banner draped from the San Giorgio bell tower, one from the lagoon city's famous Rialto Bridge, and posters plastered up around town complaining about the upcoming wedding and the effects of overtourism on Venice. The 'No Space for Bezos' movement–a play on words also referring to the bride's recent space flight–has united a dozen Venetian organizations, including housing advocates, anti-cruise ship campaigners, and university groups. Activists argue the wedding exemplifies broader failures in municipal governance, particularly the prioritization of tourism over resident needs. Greenpeace said it teamed with the British group 'Everyone Hates Elon,' which has smashed Teslas to protest Elon Musk, for Monday's banner. Greenpeace said it wanted to draw attention to the comparatively low taxes many billionaires pay while allegedly exacerbating the climate crisis with environmentally unsustainable lifestyles. Italian and Venetian officials have strongly criticized the protests and welcomed the Bezos-Sanchez nuptials, which are scheduled for later this week. Over the weekend, as the protests continued to make headlines in Italy, a Venetian environmental research association, Corila, said Bezos' Earth Fund was supporting its work with an 'important donation.' Corila, which unites university scholars and Italy's main national research council in researching Venetian protection strategies, wouldn't say how much Bezos was donating but noted contacts began in April, well before the protests started.


Arab News
4 hours ago
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Share Indus water fairly or Islamabad will secure it ‘from all six rivers,' Pakistan ex-FM tells India
ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday asked India to share the Indus water fairly or Islamabad will secure it 'from all six rivers.' The statement came days after Indian interior minister Amit Shah said New Delhi will 'never' reinstate the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) it suspended with Pakistan over an attack in India-administered Kashmir. India accused Pakistan of backing the assault, a charge denied by Islamabad and one which was followed by four-day military standoff between the two countries last month. The IWT grants Pakistan rights to the Indus basin's western rivers — Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab — for irrigation, drinking, and non-consumptive uses like hydropower, while India controls the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej — for unrestricted use but must not significantly alter their flow. India can use the western rivers for limited purposes such as power generation and irrigation, without storing or diverting large volumes, according to the agreement. A day after the Kashmir attack that killed 26 tourists, New Delhi announced it was putting the 1960 World Bank-mediated treaty, which ensures water for 80 percent of Pakistani farms, in abeyance. Pakistan has previously said the treaty has no provision for one side to unilaterally pull back and that any blocking of river water flowing to Pakistan will be considered 'an act of war.' 'India has two options: share water fairly or we will deliver water to us from all six rivers [of the Indus basin],' Bhutto-Zardari said, while addressing the lower house of Pakistan parliament. 'The attack on Sindhu [Indus river] and India's claim that the IWT has ended and it's in abeyance, firstly, this is illegal, as the IWT is not in abeyance, it is binding on Pakistan and India but the threat itself of stopping water is illegal according to the UN charter.' The former foreign minister, who recently led a diplomatic mission to key world capitals to present Pakistan's stance on the latest crisis with India, said Islamabad had defeated New Delhi on the 'battlefield, in diplomacy, and in the war of narratives.' On Saturday, Indian interior minister Shah said they would take the water that was flowing to Pakistan to the Indian state of Rajasthan by constructing a canal 'Pakistan will be starved of water that it has been getting unjustifiably,' he told Times of India newspaper. The latest comments from Shah, the most powerful cabinet minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet, have dimmed Islamabad's hopes for negotiations on the treaty in the near term. Halting the water agreement was one of a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic measures taken by both countries in the immediate aftermath of the April 22 attack in Kashmir. Islamabad is also exploring a legal challenge to India's decision to hold the treaty in abeyance under international law. New Delhi has not made public any evidence of Islamabad's alleged involvement in the Kashmir assault. During the four days of fighting which followed in May, more than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire. It was the worst standoff between the nuclear-armed neighbors since 1999.