Latest news with #79thUnitedNationsGeneralAssembly
Straits Times
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Australia says it supports US strike, calls for return to diplomacy
FILE PHOTO: Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Commonwealth of Australia Penny Wong addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 27, 2024. REUTERS/Kent J. Edwards/File Photo Australia says it supports US strike, calls for return to diplomacy SYDNEY - Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Monday that Canberra supported the United States strike on Iran and called for de-escalation and a return to diplomacy. "We support action that the U.S. has taken to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Wong said in a television interview with Seven Sunrise. In a series of television and radio interviews on Monday, Wong said the strike was a unilateral action by its security ally the United States, and Australia was joining calls from Britain and other countries for Iran to return to the negotiating table. "We do not want to see escalation," she told reporters in Canberra. There are around 2,900 Australians in Iran and 1,300 in Iraq who are seeking to leave. Australia closed its embassy in Tehran on Friday, after Wong spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Australia has suspended bus evacuations from Israel after the U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, but is making preparations for potential evacuations if air space in Israel re-opens, Wong said. Australia said it has sent two defence planes to the Middle East in non-combat roles to assist civilian evacuations. New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Sunday he was examining the evidence surrounding Iran's nuclear enrichment programme, while Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called for a return to dialogue, Radio New Zealand reported. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Australia condemns Russia's jailing of Melbourne man caught in Ukraine
Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Commonwealth of Australia Penny Wong addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 27, 2024. REUTERS/Kent J. Edwards/File Photo Australia's foreign minister on Saturday condemned a 13-year prison sentence handed by a Russian court to an Australian citizen for fighting alongside Ukrainian forces. Oscar Jenkins, 33, will serve the sentence in a maximum security prison after being found guilty by a Russian court of participating in an armed conflict as a mercenary, state prosecutors in a part of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia said on Friday. Foreign minister Penny Wong said in a statement that Australia's government was "appalled at the sham trial and 13-year sentence" given to Jenkins, previously a teacher in Melbourne. "As a full serving member of the regular Armed Forces of Ukraine, Mr Jenkins is a prisoner of war," said Wong, a long-time strident critic of Russia's war against Ukraine. "The Australian Government has made clear to Russia that Mr Jenkins must be given the protections afforded to him as a prisoner of war. Russia is obligated to treat him in accordance with international humanitarian law, including humane treatment," the foreign minister said. She said Australia's government would work with Ukraine and the International Committee of the Red Cross to push for Jenkins' welfare and release. Jenkins was serving with Ukraine's military when he was captured by Russia last year as a prisoner of war, Australian media reported earlier this year. A video taken at the time showed him, dressed in combat uniform, being asked if he was a mercenary, reports said. Australia is one of the largest non-NATO contributors to the West's support for Ukraine and has been supplying aid, ammunition and defence equipment. It has banned exports of alumina and aluminium ores, including bauxite, to Russia, and has sanctioned about 1,000 Russian individuals and entities. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Star
17-05-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Australia condemns Russia's jailing of Melbourne man caught in Ukraine
Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Commonwealth of Australia Penny Wong addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 27, 2024. REUTERS/Kent J. Edwards/File Photo (Reuters) - Australia's foreign minister on Saturday condemned a 13-year prison sentence handed by a Russian court to an Australian citizen for fighting alongside Ukrainian forces. Oscar Jenkins, 33, will serve the sentence in a maximum security prison after being found guilty by a Russian court of participating in an armed conflict as a mercenary, state prosecutors in a part of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia said on Friday. Foreign minister Penny Wong said in a statement that Australia's government was "appalled at the sham trial and 13-year sentence" given to Jenkins, previously a teacher in Melbourne. "As a full serving member of the regular Armed Forces of Ukraine, Mr Jenkins is a prisoner of war," said Wong, a long-time strident critic of Russia's war against Ukraine. "The Australian Government has made clear to Russia that Mr Jenkins must be given the protections afforded to him as a prisoner of war. Russia is obligated to treat him in accordance with international humanitarian law, including humane treatment," the foreign minister said. She said Australia's government would work with Ukraine and the International Committee of the Red Cross to push for Jenkins' welfare and release. Jenkins was serving with Ukraine's military when he was captured by Russia last year as a prisoner of war, Australian media reported earlier this year. A video taken at the time showed him, dressed in combat uniform, being asked if he was a mercenary, reports said. Australia is one of the largest non-NATO contributors to the West's support for Ukraine and has been supplying aid, ammunition and defence equipment. It has banned exports of alumina and aluminium ores, including bauxite, to Russia, and has sanctioned about 1,000 Russian individuals and entities. (Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Sam Holmes)
Straits Times
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Czech populist opposition leads as election set for October
Czech Republic's President Petr Pavel addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo PRAGUE - Czechs will hold parliamentary elections on October 3-4, President Petr Pavel said on Tuesday, setting the stage for a contest between the unpopular, centre-right governing coalition and a populist opposition allied with Europe's far right. The opposition ANO party led by former Prime Minister Andrej Babis leads opinion polls by a wide margin ahead of Prime Minister Petr Fiala's Spolu (Together) coalition, which has been strongly supportive of Ukraine. Forming a majority to back a new government will depend on the performance of smaller parties including both government and opposition groups that are uncertain to win any seats in parliament. Under Fiala, the Czech Republic shipped heavy weapons to help Kyiv soon after the Russian invasion in February 2022 and has led an initiative to find and fund artillery ammunition for Ukraine's defence. ANO has been critical of the efforts. Babis has rallied supporters by promising harsher limits on migration to Europe, and is a self-proclaimed supporter of Donald Trump, although he has criticised tariff increases. ANO is part of the far-right Patriots for Europe group in European Parliament alongside the Fidesz party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and France's National Rally of Marine Le Pen. The elections are to parliament's lower house which has a four-year term and approves a new prime minister along with the cabinet. In an opinion poll by the Kantar agency for Czech Television released on Sunday, ANO led with 35% backing ahead of 19.5% for Spolu. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Togo leader gets new role without term limits, opposition calls it a coup
FILE PHOTO: Togo's President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe walks to address the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo Togo leader gets new role without term limits, opposition calls it a coup LOME - Togo leader Faure Gnassingbe has been given the powerful new role of President of the Council of Ministers which has no fixed term limit, parliament said - a move the opposition called a constitutional coup that could extend his rule for life. The new title for Gnassingbe, whose family has already ruled the West African nation since 1967, could raise further concerns about democratic backsliding in a region hit by a string of coups where some leaders have clung to power for decades. He got the job on Saturday as he was the leader of the majority party, the National Assembly said in a statement. Parliament gave politician Jean-Lucien Kwassi Savi de Tove Gnassingbe's former job as national president - a position that was downgraded and made largely ceremonial in constitutional reforms last year. Two opposition parties - the Democratic Forces for the Republic and the National Alliance for Change - who boycott parliament called the move a "constitutional coup" in a joint statement. "This process is neither legal nor legitimate. It is the result of an institutional hold-up orchestrated by a desperate regime, which fears more than anything the freely expressed will of the people," read the statement signed by the parties and a civil society group. Gnassingbe's UNIR party and Togo's National Assembly did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The President of the Council is responsible for coordinating government action, setting the broad guidelines for policy and ensuring the implementation of the decisions of the Council of Ministers, according to the presidency's website. The presidency of the tiny phosphate-producing country on the West African coast had been a family affair since 1967, when Faure Gnassingbe's father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, seized power in a coup. Faure Gnassingbe succeeded him after his death in 2005. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
