'Children are also killed by hunger': Papers react to risk of famine in Gaza
Emmanuel Macron 's Tuesday night TV address has left most of the French press a little confused. Le Figaro says that the president tried to defend his record. L'Opinion is also describing it as Macron on the defensive. The president had been relatively discreet in the French media recently. The paper says the interview was a very inconclusive end to Macron's media diet. La Provence is also unsure of what the president's message was. The paper says his interview was "without horizon nor solution". Aujourd'hui en France says that Macron seemed "powerless" after three hours spent defending his eight years in office, without providing much insight on the rest of his mandate.
A UN-backed report published by experts on food security in Gaza has been widely covered in the press and features on front pages this Wednesday. Le Temps in Switzerland features a cartoon by Chapatte on its front page and reads: "In Gaza, children are also killed by hunger". The front page of L'Humanité is quite distressing and it accuses Israel of using hunger as a weapon of war. The BBC warns that the entire Gaza population is at critical risk of famine. The article says that aid groups have said the blockade could be a war crime and that it amounts to a policy of starvation. The New York Times, meanwhile, reveals that Israeli officers have privately admitted that Gaza is on the brink of starvation.
Donald Trump is in Saudi Arabia on the first leg of his Middle East Tour. The Saudi paper Arab News is celebrating the "landmark visit" and highlighting Trump's promise to lift sanctions on Syria. The American press is unsurprisingly slightly more critical of his visit. The New York Times says that although Trump said he had secured $600 billion in Saudi deals, the details provided by the White House were vague and totalled less than half that number. Politico is looking at the star-studded cast in attendance during Trump's visit. It says that three dozen American business leaders were invited by the Saudis. Trump had said that the primary goal of his visit was to extend American business in the region. But the Guardian tells us that while the true value of Saudi investments in the US economy remain hazy, the Saudis' deals with the Trump family business are more obvious. A cartoon in The Telegraph illustrates Trump collecting deals for himself. The Times also has a cartoon that makes light of the apparent double purpose of Trump's trip. The Washington Post is similarly insinuating in its cartoon of the day that the US president is available for purchase.
Finally, an unusual suspect is on the loose after breaking the speed limit for the second time in Switzerland. The Guardian is reporting on this piece of fowl play: a duck has been snapped flying at 52 km/h in a 30 km/h zone in Switzerland.
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Euronews
28 minutes ago
- Euronews
Uzbekistan and Hungary agreed to form an enhanced strategic partnership
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But I don't sit here before you today and tell you I'm a perfect person. I am not a perfect person. I made a very very very serious mistake, and I paid a very heavy price for that mistake," he added. Former New Jersey governor and Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie — who brought the charges against Kushner when he was a US attorney in the early 2000s — said his case was "one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes" he ever prosecuted. Kushner will go to France as the relationship between the two traditional allies, and between Washington and the rest of Europe, has been strained over Trump's trade policies and the US position on Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At his confirmation hearing, Kushner said he would work closely with France to "bring greater balance to our important economic relationship" and also encourage France to "invest more in its defence capabilities, as well as lead the EU to align with the US vision of increased European commitments to security." It is unclear how Kushner's appointment will be received in France. After Trump announced his nomination in November, Gérard Araud, a former French ambassador to the US, was among several people to express scepticism or criticism over the decision. "Needless to say, he has no knowledge of our country. At least he will have access to the president. We console ourselves as best we can," Araud wrote in a post on X. Senator Cory Booker, who represents Kushner's home state of New Jersey, was the lone Democrat to vote in favour on Monday. One Republican, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted against it. Uzbekistan and Hungary have agreed to form an enhanced strategic partnership. 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In the past few years, we brought Hungarian companies and Hungarian genotypes of fish, but in this visit, we are developing with Hungarian companies a new program to establish more extensive and intensive projects" - the minister of agriculture of Uzbekistan, Ibrokhim Abdurakhmonov told Euronews. The Uzbek head of state, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev also held talks with the Hungarian speaker of the Parliament. At the meeting, László Kövér said that they would like to extend the strategic partnership to closer cooperation between the two parliaments. A group of 68 immigrants from Honduras and Colombia returned to their countries of origin on Monday from Texas as part of a new initiative by the Trump administration. The programme promotes the departure of people in an irregular migratory situation in what the Trump administration is calling "voluntary deportations." 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France 24
41 minutes ago
- France 24
UK and four nations sanction two far-right Israeli ministers
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir will be banned from entering the UK and will have any assets in the country frozen, Britain's foreign ministry said in a statement. The announcement was a rare joint action alongside Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway and comes as the Israeli government faces growing international criticism over its conduct of the conflict with Hamas. The sanction sees the five countries break from Israel's closest ally, the United States. Ben Gvir and Smotrich "have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights", the foreign ministers of the five countries said in a joint statement. "These actions are not acceptable. This is why we have taken action now –- to hold those responsible to account," they added. Smotrich and Ben Gvir are part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's fragile ruling coalition. Both have drawn criticism for their hard-line stance on the war in Gaza and comments about settlements in the occupied West Bank, the other Palestinian territory. Smotrich, who lives in a West Bank settlement, has supported the expansion of settlements and has increasingly called for the territory's annexation. Last month, he said Gaza would be "entirely destroyed" and that civilians would "start to leave in great numbers to third countries". Ben Gvir has also called for Gazans to be resettled from the besieged territory. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the pair have used "horrendous extremist language" and that he would "encourage the Israeli government to disavow and condemn that language". Earlier, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel had been informed by Britain of its sanctions decision, describing the move as "outrageous". The UK foreign ministry said in its statement that "extremist settlers have carried out over 1,900 attacks against Palestinian civilians since January last year". 'Personal capacity' It said the five countries were "clear that the rising violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank must stop". "Measures today cannot be seen in isolation from events in Gaza where Israel must uphold international humanitarian law," the foreign ministry said. It added that the UK and its partners "support Israel's security and will continue to work with the Israeli government to strive to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza". "Hamas must release the hostages immediately, and there must be a path to a two-state solution with Hamas having no role in future governance," it added. The action comes after the British government suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel last month and summoned its ambassador over the conduct of the war. It also announced financial restrictions and travel bans on several prominent settlers, as well as two illegal outposts and two organisations accused of backing violence against Palestinian communities.
LeMonde
an hour ago
- LeMonde
Greta Thunberg accuses Israel of kidnap after Gaza aid boat intercepted
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday, June 10, accused Israel of "kidnapping us in international waters and taking us against our will to Israel" after security forces intercepted a boat carrying humanitarian aid bound for Gaza. "This is yet another intentional violation of rights that is added to the list of countless other violations that Israel is committing," Thunberg, 22, told reporters on arrival at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris after being deported from Israel. She stressed that her own experience was "nothing compared to what the Palestinians are going through." Of the 12 people on board the Madleen carrying food and supplies for Gaza, five French activists were taken into custody after they refused to leave Israel voluntarily. But Thunberg, who rose to fame as a schoolgirl activist against climate change and seeks to avoid flying because of its environmental impact, was deported by Israel on a commercial flight of national airline El Al bound for Paris. "This is not the real story. The real story is there is a genocide going on in Gaza and systematic starvation," said Thunberg. Several rights groups, including Amnesty International, have accused Israel of genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza but Israel vehemently rejects the term. The vessel carrying French, German, Brazilian, Turkish, Swedish, Spanish and Dutch activists had the stated aim of delivering humanitarian aid and breaking the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory. Israel intercepted the Madleen about 185 kilometers west of the coast of Gaza. Thunberg said what happened to the vessel was a "continuation and violation of international law and war crimes that are being systematically committed by Israel by not letting aid in" to Gaza. "This was a mission of attempting to once again bring aid to Gaza and send solidarity. And saw we cannot," she said. She also denounced what she termed the "silence and passivity" of governments worldwide over what was taking place in Gaza. "There are no words to describe the betrayal that is happening every day by our own governments," she said. Admitting she was "desperately in need of a shower," Thunberg vowed to carry on her campaign. "We will not stop. We will try every single day to demand an end to the atrocities Israel is carrying out."
