AFP Asia Business

Israel’s security cabinet approved in a vote on Friday a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that should take effect this weekend, the prime minister’s office said.The agreement, which must now go to the full cabinet for a final green light, would halt fighting and bombardment in Gaza’s deadliest-ever war.It would also launch on Sunday the release of hostages held in the territory since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.Under the deal struck by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, the ensuing weeks should also see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.Israeli strikes have killed dozens of people since the deal was announced. Israel’s military said on Thursday it had hit about 50 targets across Gaza over the past day.The full cabinet will convene later Friday to approve the deal. The ceasefire would take effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president.Saying the proposed deal “supports achieving the objectives of the war”, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the security cabinet recommended that the government approve it.His office had earlier said the release of hostages would begin on Sunday.Even before the start of the truce, Gazans displaced by the war to other parts of the territory were preparing to return home.”I will go to kiss my land,” said Nasr al-Gharabli, who fled his home in Gaza City for a camp further south in the territory.”If I die on my land, it would be better than being here as a displaced person.”In Israel, there was joy but also anguish over the 251 hostages taken in the deadliest attack in the country’s history.Kfir Bibas, whose second birthday falls on Saturday, is the youngest hostage.Hamas said in November 2023 that Kfir, his four-year-old brother Ariel and their mother Shiri had died in an air strike, but with the Israeli military yet to confirm their deaths, many are clinging to hope.”I think of them, these two little redheads, and I get shivers,” said 70-year-old Osnat Nyska, whose grandchildren attended nursery with the Bibas brothers.- ‘Confident’ -Two far-right ministers had voiced opposition to the deal, with one threatening to quit the cabinet, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he believed the ceasefire would go ahead on schedule.”I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday,” he said.Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israel pounded several areas of the territory, killing more than 100 people and wounding hundreds since the the deal was announced on Wednesday.Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned that Israeli strikes were risking the lives of hostages due to be freed under the deal, and could turn their “freedom… into a tragedy”.The war began with the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,788 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.- Trump and Biden -The ceasefire agreement followed intensified efforts from mediators after months of fruitless negotiations, and with Trump’s team taking credit for working with US President Joe Biden’s administration to seal the deal.”If we weren’t involved in this deal, the deal would’ve never happened,” Trump said in an interview on Thursday.A senior Biden official said the unlikely pairing had been a decisive factor in reaching the deal.Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, announcing the agreement on Wednesday, said an initial 42-day ceasefire would see 33 hostages released, including women, “children, elderly people, as well as civilian ill people and wounded”.The Israeli authorities assume the 33 are alive, but Hamas has yet to confirm that.Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, he said.Two sources close to Hamas told AFP three Israeli women soldiers would be the first to be released on Sunday evening.The women may in fact be civilians, as the militant group refers to all Israelis of military age who have undergone mandatory military service as soldiers.Once released they would be received by Red Cross staff as well as Egyptian and Qatari teams, one source said on condition of anonymity.They would then be taken to Egypt where they would undergo medical examinations and then to Israel, the source said.Israel “is then expected to release the first group of Palestinian prisoners, including several with high sentences”, the source added.Egypt was on Friday hosting technical talks on the implementation of the truce, according to state-linked media.French President Emmanuel Macron said French-Israeli citizens Ofer Kalderon and Ohad Yahalomi were on the list of 33 hostages to be freed in the first phase.Biden said the second phase could bring a “permanent end to the war”.In aid-starved Gaza, where nearly all of its 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once, aid workers worry about the monumental task ahead.”Everything has been destroyed, children are on the streets, you can’t pinpoint just one priority,” Doctors Without Borders (MSF) coordinator Amande Bazerolle told AFP.burs-ser/kir

The EU is prepared to redeploy a monitoring mission to the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt after a ceasefire deal to end Israel’s war in the territory, the bloc’s top diplomat said Friday.”We are ready to do it,” foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told journalists after meeting Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa in Brussels.Kallas said the EU needed an invitation from the Palestinian and Israeli sides and agreement from Egypt before it could “go forward”.The 27-nation bloc set up a civilian mission in 2005 to help monitor the crossing, but that was suspended two years later after militant Islamists Hamas took control of Gaza.The comments came as Israel’s security cabinet met Friday to vote on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that should take effect this weekend.If approved, the agreement would halt fighting and bombardment in Gaza’s deadliest-ever war and initiate on Sunday the release of dozens of hostages held in the territory since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.Kallas called the truce deal a “positive breakthrough”, but warned that the road ahead was fraught with potential peril.”It is still too soon to say whether the war is truly over and we know that there is risk in every step here,” she said. The EU on Thursday announced a 120 million euros ($123 million) in humanitarian aid for Gaza after the ceasefire deal was struck.”The European Union will continue to work closely with our partners to deliver humanitarian support,” Kallas said. The Rafah crossing is a crucial entry into Gaza and Egyptian officials have said talks are underway to reopen it to surge aid into the territory.The EU monitoring mission would include up to 10 European staff, officials said.  Kallas said that in the longer term the EU was working on a new “multi-year support programme for the Palestinian Authority” and was “ready to assist” in rebuilding Gaza. 

France’s President Emmanuel Macron was in Lebanon on Friday, where he was due to meet his newly-elected counterpart and offer support to leaders seeking to open a new chapter in their country’s turbulent history.After more than two years of a political vacuum at the top, Joseph Aoun was elected president on January 9 and chose Nawaf Salam as prime minister-designate.They now face the daunting task of leading Lebanon after a devastating war between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah last year, on of the country’s worst economic crisis in history.”Come, come,” he said, leading nursery children in uniforms by the hand to take a picture with him and other students after arriving at a central Beirut school to excited cheers early in the afternoon.Shortly before, Macron strolled along the lively Beirut neighbourhood of Gemmayzeh near the coastal city’s port, posing for photos and selfies with eager members of the public, and downing small cups of coffee offered to him along the way.He had been the first foreign leader to visit the devastated district after a massive explosion of fertilizer at the Beirut port ravaged it on August 4, 2020.Later in the day he was set to meet Aoun at the presidential palace, and hold a meeting with Salam.He might meet UN chief Antonio Guterres, a French diplomatic source said, as a January 26 deadline to fully implement a Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire deal approaches.Macron’s visit aims to “help” Aoun and Salam “to consolidate Lebanon’s sovereignty, ensure its prosperity and maintain its unity”, the French presidency said before his arrival.France administered Lebanon for two decades after World War I, and the two countries have maintained close relations even since Lebanon’s independence in 1943.- ‘Hope for possible redress’ -Analysts say Hezbollah’s weakening in the war with Israel last year allowed Lebanon’s deeply divided political class to elect Aoun and to back his naming of Salam as premier.Islamist-led rebels overthrowing the Iran-backed group’s ally Bashar al-Assad on December 8 has also contributed to the ushering in of a new era for tiny Lebanon.”In Lebanon, we have gone in a matter of months from a situation of dramatic escalation to a situation of hope for possible redress,” a French diplomatic source said on condition of anonymity.Salam, a former presiding judge at the International Court of Justice, has launched delicate consultations to pick a government, with Hezbollah continuing to play an important role in Lebanon’s political scene despite its weakening on the battlefield.The new government must “bring together Lebanon’s diverse people, ensure the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is respected and carry out the reforms necessary for the prosperity, stability and sovereignty of the country”, the French presidency said on Thursday.The UN Security Council called Thursday for Lebanese leaders to rapidly form a new government, describing it as a “critical” step for stability in the war-battered country and region.- Ceasefire -Earlier on Friday, Macron met with UN peacekeeping mission chief Aroldo Lazaro and the heads of a committee tasked with monitoring any violation of a ceasefire that took effect on November 27 after more than a year of war.”Things are moving forward, the dynamic is positive” on the implementation of the ceasefire, he told journalists after the talks.Under the November 27 ceasefire accord, the Lebanese army has 60 days to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south of Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws.At the same time, Hezbollah is required to pull its forces north of the Litani river, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure it has in south Lebanon.Speaking to UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon, Guterres urged an end to Israel’s “continued occupation” and “military operations” in south Lebanon.He also said that UN peacekeepers “uncovered over 100 weapons caches belonging to Hezbollah or other armed groups since the November 27 ceasefire.He added that the “presence of armed personnel, assets and weapons” other than those of the Lebanese army and the UNIFIL peacekeeping force violated terms of a UN resolution that formed the basis for the deal.Hezbollah is the only group in Lebanon that refused to surrender its weapons to the state following the 1975-1990 civil war.Backed by Syria under Assad, it played a central role in politics for decades, flexing its power in government institutions while engaging in fighting with the Israeli military.

London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index reached an all-time high Friday as global equities rallied and the dollar climbed on renewed optimism for the global economy.The index jumped to 8,490.84 points, surpassing an intra-day record achieved in May last year of 8,474.41. Around 1015 GMT, it stood at 8,484.67 points, up 1.1 percent compared with Thursday’s close.”After …

London stock market hits record high as global equities rally Read More »

Russia and Iran are poised to sign a new treaty on Friday to cement military and economic ties between two of the world’s most heavily sanctioned nations, in a pact likely to worry the West.The agreement comes just days before Iran-hawk Donald Trump enters the White House and as Moscow and Tehran seek to formalise years of deepening cooperation. The details of the document have not been released, but the Kremlin has said it will strengthen Tehran and Moscow’s “military-political and trade-economic” relations.Moscow has looked to the Islamic republic as a strategic ally since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, worrying Western officials who see both as malign actors on the world stage.Iran has already supplied Russia with self-detonating “Shahed” drones that Moscow fires on Ukraine in nightly barrages, according to Ukrainian and Western officials, while both have ramped up trade amid Western sanctions.Tehran has given little detail on the new treaty, but has ruled out a mutual defence clause like the one included in Moscow’s pact with North Korea last year, Russian state media reported, citing Tehran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who arrived in the Russian capital earlier, is expected to meet counterpart Vladimir Putin later for talks and to sign the agreement, Russian state news agencies reported.The two will also give a joint press conference, according to the Kremlin.- ‘Global hegemony’ -The two sides had been working on a new treaty for years. Their current relationship is governed by a 2001 document that they have renewed periodically.Russia says its upcoming pact with Iran and the already-signed treaty with Pyongyang are “not directed against any country”.”The treaty … is constructive in nature and is aimed at strengthening the capabilities of Russia, Iran, and our friends in various parts of the world,” Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.It is set to be valid for 20 years, Russia’s TASS news agency reported on Tuesday, citing the Iranian ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali.Russian President Vladimir Putin has made building ties with Iran, China and North Korea a cornerstone of his foreign policy as he seeks to challenge what he calls as a US-led “global hegemony”. Both Russia and Iran are under heavy Western sanctions that include restrictions on their vital energy industries.At a summit of the BRICS group in Kazan last year, Putin told Pezeshkian he valued “truly friendly and constructive ties” between Russia and Iran.Iran has also sought closer ties with Russia, after suffering a series of foreign policy setbacks last year.A rebel offensive overthrew Russian and Iranian-backed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad last month, and a war last year between Israel and Tehran-ally Hezbollah substantially weakened the Islamist militant group.Pezeshkian’s visit to Russia also comes just days before Iran-hawk Trump returns to power.The US president-elect, who is seeking a rapid end to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, has made repeated military threats against the Islamic republic.During his first term, the Republican pulled out of an international deal that provided Iran sanctions relief in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear programme.In 2020, Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani was assassinated in a US drone strike in Iraq on Trump’s orders, prompting a wave of fury in Iran.Trump last year warned the US would “wipe (Iran) off the face of the Earth” if an alleged Iranian plot to kill him last year had been succesful.

Yazeed al-Rajhi made history on Friday by becoming the first driver from host nation Saudi Arabia to win the Dakar Rally.The Overdrive pilot held onto his overnight lead to beat South Africa’s Henk Lategan in a Toyota by 3min 57sec with Mattias Ekstrom of Sweden third in his Ford, more than 20min adrift.Rajhi, 43, had previously recorded a best finish of third in 2022.Saudi Arabia have hosted the Dakar Rally since 2020, when it moved from South America.”I am very, very happy to do it, it is not an easy race, it’s the toughest one that I’ve done in the last eleven years,” said Rajhi.”For sure, we have made a lot of records today: the first Saudi driver to win and also in the last twenty-five years no private team beat a factory team but we did it this time.”Also, it’s the first time there is a winner on the Dakar from the same country in which it is raced, with a Saudi guy winning a Saudi Dakar.”There was also a first win in the world’s most famous endurance rally for Australia’s KTM rider Daniel Sanders in the motorbike category.The car category lost a lot of its gloss with two high-profile retirements early in the race.Four-time winner and defending champion Carlos Sainz exited on the second stage after an accident.A stage later it was France’s nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb who departed, his Dakar jinx continuing as he was disqualified by the race stewards after his Dacia car was damaged in a crash.Five-time winner Nasser al-Attiyah never really landed a blow but the Qatari took final stage honours on Friday and finished fourth overall.      Sanders, 30, dominated from the moment he won the prologue and finished a comfortable 8min 50sec faster than Spanish runner-up Tosha Schareina on his Honda.Sanders is the first rider to record three successive stage wins since Spain’s Joan Barreda achieved the feat in the 2017 edition held between Bolivia and Argentina.Sanders is the second Australian to prevail in the motorbike category after Toby Price emerged victorious in 2016 and 2019.”It was a tough race,” said Sanders.”The last three days couldn’t come quick enough. It was really, really exciting to see the finish line when we came over one dune.”You see the whole bivouac, I just smiled and had chills go through my whole body. Super special, won’t forget that moment.”Schareina, 29, said second place did not leave a bitter taste in the mouth, indeed he revelled in the achievement considering what the grizzled veterans of the event had told him. “I’m super happy to be here on the finishing line,” he said.”It was a really hard race and many of the veterans have told me that.”It was the toughest ever edition, so I’m super happy to be here on the finishing line, so happy for the team and for everybody taking this second place we have earned.”I’m super happy for Daniel, he has done a great job and had a great two weeks.”I think the ten minutes more or less he took on the first day allowed him to control the race from then, but I’m super happy for them.”

Israel’s security cabinet met Friday to vote on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal that should take effect this weekend.If approved, the agreement would halt fighting and bombardment in Gaza’s deadliest-ever war and initiate on Sunday the release of dozens of hostages held in the territory since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.Under the deal struck by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, the ensuing weeks should also see the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.Israeli strikes have killed dozens of people since the deal was announced, while Israel’s military said Thursday it had hit about 50 targets across Gaza over the past day.The ceasefire would take effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as president of the United States.”The security cabinet meeting to discuss and vote on the deal has started,” an Israeli official told AFP.Should the plan be approved, “the release of the hostages can proceed according to the planned framework, with the hostages expected to be released as early as Sunday”, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.Even before the start of the truce, Gazans displaced by the war to other parts of the territory were preparing to return home.”I am waiting for Sunday morning when they will announce the ceasefire,” said Nasr al-Gharabli, who fled his home in Gaza City for a camp further south in the territory.”I will go to kiss my land, and I already regret leaving Gaza and my land. If I die on my land, it would be better than being here as a displaced person.”In Israel, there was joy but also pain over the fate of hostages who have died or been killed since their capture.In Tel Aviv, pensioner Simon Patya said he felt “great joy” that some hostages would return alive, but also “great sorrow for those who are returning in bags, and that will be a very strong blow, morally”.- ‘Confident’ -The lead-up to Friday’s meeting has been fraught with uncertainty, with Netanyahu’s office accusing Hamas of reneging on key parts of the deal to extort last-minute concessions — an allegation Hamas denied.Once the security cabinet votes on the agreement, it will go to the government for final approval.At least two far-right cabinet members had voiced opposition to the deal, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, whose government is Israel’s close ally, said he believed the ceasefire would go ahead on schedule.”I am confident, and I fully expect that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday,” he said.- Dozens killed – Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israel pounded several areas of the territory after the deal was announced on Wednesday, killing more than 100 people and wounding hundreds since then.Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned that Israeli strikes were risking the lives of hostages due to be freed under the deal, and could turn their “freedom… into a tragedy”.The war began with the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.During the attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, Palestinian militants also took 251 people hostage, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s ensuing campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing 46,788 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.- Trump and Biden -The ceasefire agreement followed intensified efforts from mediators after months of fruitless negotiations, and with Trump’s team taking credit for working with US President Joe Biden’s administration to seal the deal.”If we weren’t involved in this deal, the deal would’ve never happened,” Trump said in an interview Thursday.A senior Biden official said the unlikely pairing had been a decisive factor in reaching the deal.Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, announcing the agreement on Wednesday, said an initial 42-day ceasefire would see 33 hostages released, including women, “children, elderly people, as well as civilian ill people and wounded”.Also in the first phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from Gaza’s densely populated areas and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, he said.Two sources close to Hamas told AFP three Israeli women soldiers would be the first to be released on Sunday evening.They would be received by Red Cross aid workers as well as Egyptian and Qatari teams, one source said on condition of anonymity.”They will then be transported to Egypt, where they will be handed over to the Israeli side present there to complete the handover and conduct necessary medical examinations,” the source said.”Afterward, they will be transported directly to Israel. (Israel) is then expected to release the first group of Palestinian prisoners, including several with high sentences,” the source added.Biden said the second phase of the agreement could bring a “permanent end to the war”.He added the deal would “surge much needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families”.burs-ser/ysm