India is unlikely to be a peace broker in the Middle East conflict despite calls by Iran to play such a role, with analysts saying New Delhi’s non-interventionist policy and limited influence offer little hope for success in a war-torn region where the US remains the dominant player.
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Iranian ambassador to India Iraj Elahi said on Saturday that Delhi could participate in the Middle East peace process and convince Israel to halt what he called the genocide in Gaza.
“We believe that India can play a constructive role … India has good relations with Israel so it can convince Israel to stop the genocide in Gaza, to stop escalation in the region,” Ilahi said during an interview with Asian News International, adding that India had a “big responsibility on its shoulder” as an emerging major power.
On October 1, Iran launched almost 200 ballistic missiles towards Israel, its second such attack on Israel this year after it struck with more than 300 missiles and drones in April.
Israel has vowed harsh retaliation, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying on Tuesday that Iran “does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and to retaliate against our enemies”.
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Daniel Markey, senior South Asia adviser at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) think tank, said India’s strong ties with Israel and diplomatic links with Iran made it one of the few countries which could facilitate peace talks between the two Middle East rivals.
Source: United States Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA)
Iran has reportedly paid criminal organizations in America to carry out violent crimes and assassination attempts.
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) are announcing a bipartisan effort to strengthen criminal penalties and boost accountability for individuals who commit or attempt to commit violent crimes in the United States on behalf of foreign adversaries.
In September 2024, Ernst and Hassan called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to take action and stop foreign actors, including the Iranian regime, from carrying out criminal activity on our soil.
“Iran is bringing their reign of violence to our homeland, and bad actors helping the regime carry out its proxy terrorism must be met with consequences,” said Ernst, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Any person or organization that does the bidding of foreign adversaries on U.S. soil jeopardizes Americans’ safety. We must end the growing footprint of Tehran’s terrorism and deter this criminal behavior by ensuring it’s met with the full force of the justice system.”
“We need to do more to stop the new and chilling set of attempted crimes by our foreign adversaries who are trying to silence their critics in the United States by directing criminals in our country to harm them,” said Senator Hassan. “Our upcoming bipartisan legislation will help ensure that those who commit or attempt these heinous acts face serious consequences and deter others from accepting offers to do the dirty work of foreign governments.”
The Deterring External Threats and Ensuring Robust Responses to Egregious and Nefarious Criminal Endeavors (DETERRENCE) Actwould include measures such as:
Boosting sentences for offenders working with foreign adversaries and deter individuals and criminal organizations to carry out violence on American soil, like murder-for-hire, threatening or assaulting current or former U.S. officials, kidnapping, and stalking; and,
Increasing the maximum penalties available for stalking related charges when done on behalf of a foreign government.
Background:
Ernst has been leading the PUNISH Act to enforce “maximum pressure” sanctions on Iran until the State Department can certify that Iran has not supported any attempt in the last five years to kill a U.S. citizen or a former or current U.S. official.
Washington, D.C. —House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul sent a letter urging President Biden toend bureaucratic delays and surge defense articles to Israel amid increasing threats from Iran and its terrorist proxies.
“We are seeing mounting, tangible evidence of the myriad ways that Russia, China, and Iran are enabling each other’s aggression against the United States and our partners. This is a watershed moment that requires moral and strategic clarity. We need to double down on our partnerships and shore up our alliances, starting with a policy directive to ship the 2,000-pound bombs and to prioritize all pending Direct Commercial Sale and Foreign Military Sale cases to Israel, including the numerous cases that have been subjected to unprecedented bureaucratic delays.”
The full text of the letter can be found here and below:
Dear President Biden,
I urge you to take immediate, public action to surge defense articles to Israel, including 2,000-pound bombs, and to eliminate bureaucratic and other delays that are currently slowing more than ten critical weapons cases purchased via Direct Commercial Sale to Israel. It is apparent that Iran and its proxies, including Hezbollah, are attempting to exploit perceived divisions between the United States and Israel, exacerbated by recent actions of senior Biden-Harris administration officials. It is imperative that you act now to deter our adversaries by showing that there is no daylight between the United States and Israel.
Iran and its proxies are brazenly and persistently attacking the United States and Israel. In recent weeks, a drone launched by Iran-backed Hezbollah targeted a residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Hezbollah fired projectiles at Israel while Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in the country. Yet instead of surging arms exports to Israel to deter further attacks, Secretary Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent a letter threatening to withhold further support to Israel. It is unconscionable that this letter was sent less than two weeks after Iran launched approximately 200 ballistic missiles at Israel. Every U.S. ally in the world is watching with disgust and questioning our reliability.
Worse still, the Blinken-Austin letter was sent with no prior consultation with or notification to Congress, despite Congress’ longstanding role in appropriating security assistance to Israel and approving arms sales. The administration has significantly delayed briefing Congress on these issues despite repeated requests. This is particularly egregious when just six months ago, Congress enacted a national security supplemental spending bill with significant aid to Israel, which your administration requested, and which placed no additional restrictions on assistance to our ally. Bipartisan congressional intent of staunch, ironclad support for Israel is clear, yet your administration is acting to the contrary.
In May, you halted a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs over disagreements regarding Israeli military operations in Rafah – the city where the Israeli military recently eliminated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and where numerous hostages, including American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were executed by Hamas terrorists in August. Major military operations in Rafah have concluded, yet the shipment is still blocked. As misguided as this decision was at the time, it is now downright dangerous. Israel has endured months of attacks from Hezbollah, and a second ballistic missile attack from Iran. Robust action is needed to deter Iran and its proxies. It is past time for you to publicly lift the hold on these bombs, making clear that the United States will provide Israel all support needed to restore its security against these lethal adversaries.
We are seeing mounting, tangible evidence of the myriad ways that Russia, China, and Iran are enabling each other’s aggression against the United States and our partners. This is a watershed moment that requires moral and strategic clarity. We need to double down on our partnerships and shore up our alliances, starting with a policy directive to ship the 2,000-pound bombs and to prioritize all pending Direct Commercial Sale and Foreign Military Sale cases to Israel, including the numerous cases that have been subjected to unprecedented bureaucratic delays. Lastly, I expect your administration to consult with Congress prior to any further withholding of assistance to our close ally Israel.
Source: United States Senator for Maryland Ben Cardin
“Regardless of your political affiliation, we should all agree that Trump’s attempt to rebrand himself insults the sacrifices of the many actual prisoners still suffering around the world,” wrote Chair Cardin.
WASHINGTON – Today, MSNBC published an opinion piece by U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, challenging former President Donald Trump’s self-characterization as a “political prisoner.” In his op-ed, Chair Cardin contrasts the former president’s false claim with the profound sacrifices of true political prisoners around the world – courageous individuals who have risked everything, facing torture, imprisonment, and even death, in their fight for freedom and justice.
“Regardless of your political affiliation or partisan allegiance, we should all agree that Trump’s attempt to brand himself a political prisoner in order to fuel his campaign war chest insults the sacrifices of the very real political prisoners who have suffered and continued to suffer around the world,” wrote Chair Cardin in his MSNBC op-ed. “As America votes on Election Day, let’s remember those who have actually given up their freedom and even their lives for democracy and the protection of human rights — because they think those fundamental principles are still worth fighting for.”
CLICK HERE to read Chair Cardin’s MSNBC op-ed.
The text of the Chair’s op-ed has been provided below:
Over the summer, minutes after Donald Trump became the first former president in American history to be convicted of felony crimes, his campaign began fundraising. Emails flooded supporters’ inboxes with the words “I’M A POLITICAL PRISONER” and Trump’s picture. “Your support is the only thing standing between us and total tyranny,” the appeals declared.
Throughout my career, and especially as chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I’ve encountered numerous political prisoners and their families. I’ve embraced the spouses and partners of individuals imprisoned for speaking truth to power. I’ve stood beside the loved ones of journalists and opposition leaders, demanding their immediate release. I’ve mourned the deaths of these courageous individuals, whose lives were cut short by authoritarians who saw their dissent as a direct challenge to their rule.
Let me be clear: Donald Trump is no political prisoner. However, Narges Mohammadi is.
Since 1998, Mohammadi — an Iranian human rights lawyer and activist — has faced relentless persecution at the hands of a misogynist Islamic Republic of Iran for her unwavering commitment to Iranians’ human rights. Her activism has led to repeated incarcerations, with her most recent sentences totaling almost 14 years in Tehran’s Evin prison, accompanied by more than 150 lashes. Last month, it was reported that she has once again been sentenced to additional prison time, the latest in a string of sentence extensions, and the Iranian regime continues to deny her critical medical care despite her deteriorating health.
Despite countless arrests and threats to her family, Mohammadi remains resolute in her campaign against mandatory hijab laws and the broader repression of all human rights, but especially the rights of women and girls. Around the world, her defiance stands as a powerful testament to resistance.
Last year, Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her human rights work. Her teenage children accepted the award on her behalf and read aloud her speech, which had been smuggled out of her prison cell.
“I write this message from behind the high, cold walls of a prison. The Iranian people, with perseverance, will overcome repression and authoritarianism,” she declared.
Her plight underscores the growing attempts by authoritarian regimes to stifle dissent and crush fundamental freedoms. Political prisoners like her endure torture, inhumane living conditions, forced disappearances and unimaginable forms of abuse. Despite these harrowing challenges, their courage is profoundly inspiring. It is a level of bravery that Trump can scarcely imagine as he relaxes amid his Mara-a-Lago comforts.
Make no mistake: Trump has never had to fight for his survival. But columnist and Pulitzer Prize-winner Vladimir Kara-Murza has.
Kara-Murza is a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin who has condemned the dismantling of democratic institutions in Russia and the state-sponsored violence against political opposition and independent voices. Following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, he was one of the most prominent figures to denounce the annexation of Crimea and the Kremlin’s support for separatist forces.
His columns, rich in intellectual rigor and emotional depth, painted an unflinching portrait of Russia’s descent into authoritarianism. His public defiance against Putin, rare in Russia, showcased his staunch commitment to political reform, press freedom and civil rights.
Hours after an American television appearance where he was critical of Putin’s leadership, Kara-Murza was arrested for “spreading false information,” labeled a “foreign agent” and sentenced by Russia’s flawed judiciary to 25 years in Siberian penal colonies. His detention in these notorious prisons underscores the fear he instilled in Putin and his cronies.
Until recently, when he was released in a historic prisoner exchange, Kara-Murza was one of an estimated 1 million political prisoners worldwide who have been unjustly imprisoned for defending human rights, advocating for religious freedom, fighting corruption and exposing the dangerous acts of tyrants. These actual political prisoners have endured profound personal and familial upheaval, resulting in irrevocable changes to their lives and the lives of their loved ones.
That is not what happened to Trump, who was convicted by a free, fair and legitimate judicial process on 34 felony charges. Real political prisoners, like Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez — unjustly incarcerated for more than 500 days and facing a 26-year sentence — often don’t get the luxury of fair trial and may be forced to live in exile, never to return to their homes.
Álvarez is a fierce critic of Nicaragua’s government and has forcefully spoken out against President Daniel Ortega’s totalitarian regime and its ongoing persecution of the Catholic Church. On Aug. 4, 2022, authorities blocked Álvarez from leaving his residence to lead mass at the local cathedral. Álvarez had been a vocal critic of the government’s shutdown of Catholic radio stations and cruel human rights abuses as tensions deepened over the church’s support for anti-government protests that broke out in 2018 following social security changes. Consequently, he was placed under house arrest and investigated on allegations of “organizing violent groups” and inciting “acts of hate against the population.”
While detained, Álvarez shared a powerful message of love with the world, asserting “we must respond to hate with love, to despair with hope, and to fear with the strength and courage granted to us by the glorious and resurrected Christ.” Earlier this year, the imprisoned bishop was finally released and expelled from the country along with 18 other clergy members. They now live in exile in Vatican City.
These courageous people merit our sincere respect, collective attention and deepest empathy. Think of Buzurgmehr Yorov, a Tajik human rights lawyer renowned for defending the politically persecuted, who recently saw his 28-year prison term extended by 10 years on dubious fraud charges. Or Dr. Gulshan Abbas, a retired physician and ethnic Uyghur, sentenced to 20 years in prison by Chinese authorities on baseless charges. Reflect on Maykel Castillo Pérez, also known as “Osorbo,” a prominent Cuban musician and human rights advocate, who was arrested by security forces and remains behind bars after his song “Patria y Vida” become a national anthem for protest against the Cuban government.
These are the true faces of resolve and injustice.
Trump’s sentencing was delayed until after Election Day to avoid any impression of political influence or impropriety. As Justice Juan Merchan wrote in a letter to lawyers in the case, “the Court is a fair, impartial and apolitical institution.”
Regardless of your political affiliation or partisan allegiance, we should all agree that Trump’s attempt to brand himself a political prisoner in order to fuel his campaign war chest insults the sacrifices of the very real political prisoners who have suffered and continued to suffer around the world. As America votes on Election Day, let’s remember those who have actually given up their freedom and even their lives for democracy and the protection of human rights — because they think those fundamental principles are still worth fighting for.
Source: United States Senator for Commonwealth of Virginia Mark R Warner
BROADCAST-QUALITY AUDIO AND VIDEO OF THE FULL MEDIA AVAILABILITY IS AVAILABLE HERE
WASHINGTON – With just five days until the election, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark R. Warner (D-VA) today issued a special message to Virginians, urging them to remain level-headed in the lead up to the election and the days after – especially in the face of surging election disinformation, conspiracy theories, and false videos generated or altered with artificial intelligence.
On the broad feeling of uncertainty plaguing 69 percent of Americans who report feeling anxious or frustrated about the election, Sen. Warner said:
“I think we’re all going to be tested. Because what’s more important than whatever candidate you’re supporting, is making sure that we have faith in our system. I have been blessed to have been your governor and your senator. I have faith in our democracy, I have faith in the integrity of the literally thousands of folks who give their time and volunteer at our polling locations.” (2:21)
On the likely outcome that the election will not be immediately called on election night, Sen. Warner said:
“If your election is not called right away on Tuesday night – even if it doesn’t appear to be that close – there are reasons. Rules have changed. Certain jurisdictions are hand-counting ballots now. That just takes a lot more time. Just because it takes a while to have an election called doesn’t mean there’s anything nefarious or bad going on.” (1:58). He continued, “This is not going to end in Virginia when our polls close at 7 o’clock on Tuesday, or later in the evening as later states close. We’re probably not going to have a declared winner on Tuesday night. I think we just all got to be prepared for that, and have a little patience with a system that has served us well.” (9:25)
On the barrage of disinformation and artificial videos targeting Americans, Sen. Warner said:
“It’s going to be a tense time. Please don’t jump to conclusions. As we all tell our kids: just because you see it on the internet, does not mean it’s true. And if you see some story or conspiracy that seems so outrageous, take a deep breath, take a moment, and check other news sites to see if that story is being repeated or if it may just be a one-off.” (3:04). He continued, “If it comes from a meme or a TikTok video, chances are that may not be accurate. We all need to recognize that these next few days and the hours and days after the election are going to be some of the most critical time, I think, in recent history.” (1:34)
On efforts to cast doubt on the integrity of our election, Sen. Warner said:
“I’ve said this many times as Chairman of the Intelligence Committee: there are other nations – China, Iran and Russia in particular – who want to interfere in our elections. They may have a candidate choice, but at the end of the day, what they mostly want to do is undermine our confidence in our system. In two years, we’ll be celebrating the 250th anniversary of our nation. Our democracy has stood up to the test of time, but over these next few days, it may be tested again. At the end of the day, I want to count on my fellow Virginians. We’ll get to a fair result. Whether your candidate wins or loses, we’ll make sure the process is fair, that the votes are counted fairly, and I again implore you, if you see crazy stuff, don’t take rash action.” (3:31)
Taskin Torlak, 37, of Turkey, was arrested in Miami, on Nov. 2 for allegedly conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions as part of a scheme to transport oil from Venezuela for the benefit of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), Venezuela’s state-owned oil and natural gas company.
“As alleged, the defendant conspired to evade U.S. sanctions imposed on PdVSA, deploying deception to smuggle black-market oil from Venezuela,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The Justice Department will continue to hold accountable those involved in criminal efforts to circumvent sanctions imposed on the Maduro regime.”
“This defendant allegedly conspired to illegally sell Venezuelan oil, using deceit and trickery to hide the fact that this oil originated from Venezuela,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves for the District of Columbia. “Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PdVSA, was sanctioned by the U.S. government to prevent the current regime from further depleting the nation’s resources while it unlawfully remains in power. We remain dedicated to prosecuting violations of these sanctions until the government of Venezuela takes the necessary steps for these sanctions to be lifted.”
Torlak was arrested as he attempted to depart the United States to return to Turkey. He is charged by complaint with one count of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). According to the complaint, Torlak conspired with others to cause U.S. financial institutions to process transactions connected to the transport of Venezuelan oil for the benefit of PdVSA, which the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated as a Specially Designated National (SDN) in January 2019.
According to the complaint, beginning at least in or around November 2020, Torlak and others devised and implemented a complex scheme to violate and evade U.S. sanctions related to petroleum products from Venezuela and Iran. The scheme included obfuscating the identities of tankers moving the oil by re-naming and re-flagging vessels, covering vessel names with paint or blankets, and turning off the electronics that track vessels’ locations for the safety of ships and their crews. Torlak and his co-conspirators allegedly received tens of millions of dollars from PdVSA in payment for transporting Venezuelan oil, and hid the ultimate beneficiaries of the related transactions from U.S. financial institutions, who then unwittingly processed payments in furtherance of the scheme. The complaint further alleges that Torlak and his co-conspirators explicitly discussed the need to hide their conduct from the U.S. Government and its agencies, including OFAC, as well as commercial maritime entities.
Homeland Security Investigations Washington D.C. is investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maeghan Mikorski for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorneys Sean Heiden and Chantelle Dial of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
A complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
On Monday, the International Trade and Constitutional Affairs committees questioned Šefčovič, Slovak candidate for Trade and Economic Security/ Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency.
The committee chairs and political group coordinators will meet without delay to assess the performance and qualification of the Commissioner-designate.
In his introductory statement, Mr Šefčovič reminded MEPs that trade is “marked by stark competition over disruptive new technologies, and the weaponisation of economic dependencies”, making trade a “geostrategic tool”. With the US election imminent, the Commissioner-designate said: “Regardless of the outcome of the US elections, I will put forward an offer of cooperation”. He added that the EU will have to solve its disputes with the US, citing steel and aluminium, and protectionist elements in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
On inter-institutional relations, he committed to enhancing the Commission’s cooperation with Parliament, not least through the soon to be revamped Framework Agreement. Mr Šefčovič also referred to a Commission’s commitment to follow-up on Parliament’s indirect legislative initiatives, ensure that comprehensive justification would be provided for the use of the extraordinary procedure of Article 122, and facilitate progress on Parliament’s call for a full right of inquiry. Further, he announced an expansion of the EU’s Transparency Register’s scope “to all managers”.
China
Mr Šefčovič described China as the most challenging trading partner, one with which the EU needs to rebalance its relationship. He told MEPs that, after EU’s duties on electric vehicles made in China, in place since last week, Commission negotiators are now in talks with Chinese counterparts on price undertakings. “EU is not interested in trade wars, we are looking for rebalancing our relationship with China in areas where we feel our relationship is not fair,” Mr Šefčovič said, citing overcapacity, subsidies, and the lack of level playing field.
Mercosur, Israel and FTAs
MEPs grilled the Commissioner-designate over the ongoing negotiations with Mercosur countries, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. Mr Šefčovič pledged to continue work on free trade agreements (FTA) with Mexico and Australia, and said he wants the EU to be more present in Thailand, the Philippines and India. Responding to MEPs, he pointed to the Sustainable Investment Facilitation Agreement (SIFA) with Angola and the Economic Partnership Agreement with Kenya as new types of agreements that could help the EU.
Asked by MEPs if the EU was breaching international law as it keeps its trade ties with Israel under the EU-Israel association agreement, Mr Šefčovič said that the agreement “can be changed only by unanimity” among member states.
Priorities for interinstitutional relations
Many MEPs highlighted the importance of treaty change based on Parliament’s proposals which were inspired by the Conference on the Future of Europe. The Commissioner-designate said that the key to moving forward on this is getting a clear position by the European Council: they will work with the new presidency of Antonio Costa to this aim.
The debate revolved around the need for reforms to prepare for enlargement and to activate the “passerelle” clause in key policy areas, as well as transparency, with some MEPs bringing up worrying reports about Commission practices. Other topics included better cooperation with national parliaments and applying the findings of the Draghi report in the EU’s institutional architecture.
Press point
At the end of the hearing, the Chair of the Committees of International Trade, Bernd Lange, and Constitutional Affairs, Sven Simon, held a press point outside the meeting room: watch it here.
Next steps
Based on the committee recommendations, the Conference of Presidents (EP President Metsola and political group chairs) is set to conduct the final evaluation and declare the hearings closed on 21 November. Once the Conference of Presidents declares all hearings closed, the evaluation letters will be published.
The election by MEPs of the full college of Commissioners (by a majority of the votes cast, by roll-call) is currently scheduled to take place during the 25-28 November plenary session in Strasbourg.
Headline: Thales: Launch of the 2024
Employee Share Ownership Plan
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Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) announces the launch of its 2024 employee share ownership plan, running from Monday 4 November to Friday 24 November 2024. This offer is available to Thales employees across 36 countries who are participants in the Group Savings Plan and have at least three months of seniority as of 24 November 24 2024, as well as to the company’s retirees.
The plan offers a 20% discount on the Thales share price, along with a 50% matching contribution on personal investment up to a maximum of €500, funded by Thales.
The objective of this plan is to strengthen the bond between Thales and its employees by providing them with the opportunity to become more closely associated with the Group’s goals, performance, and future successes.
Terms of the 2024 Employee Share Ownership Plan
This share offer is available to employees in France, South Africa, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Spain, the United States, Finland, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Norway, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Czech Republic, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey who are eligible and participate in the Group Savings Plan.
In the United Kingdom, Thales shares will be offered through a Share Incentive Plan (SIP).
Offered Shares
The Thales share offer to Group employees will be conducted through the transfer of existing treasury shares previously repurchased by Thales under a share buyback programme authorised by the shareholders’ general meeting in accordance with Article L. 22-10-62 of the French Commercial Code. The transfer of shares to employees and retirees participating in the Group Savings Plan will be carried out under the provisions of Articles L. 3332-18 and following of the French Labour Code, except for the offer in the United Kingdom, where it will be conducted under an SIP.
On 3 April 2024, the Board of Directors decided to implement this employee share ownership plan and delegated the necessary powers to the Chairman and CEO for its execution. In line with the Board’s decision, the offer will cover a maximum of 600,000 shares, with a cost cap of €31 million (including the discount and matching contributions in the employee share ownership plan and SIP matching contributions).
The Chairman and CEO, by delegation from the Board of Directors, set the subscription period dates and acquisition price by decision on 28 October 2024. The acquisition price is set at 80% of the reference price.
The reference price, noted by the Chairman and CEO on 28 October 2024, is the average of Thales’s opening share prices on the Euronext Paris market over the twenty (20) trading days preceding this date, amounting to €149.61. Accordingly, the acquisition price for employees is €119.69. For the offer in the United Kingdom, the acquisition price will be determined in accordance with the applicable SIP rules.
The shares acquired by offer participants, being existing ordinary shares, are fully assimilated with the existing ordinary shares that make up Thales’s share capital.
Offer Conditions
Eligible Offer Participants: The offer is open to employees of the included companies who are part of the Group Savings Plan, regardless of their employment contract (permanent or fixed-term, full-time or part-time) and with a minimum of three months’ seniority. Retirees and early retirees from Thales’s French companies who joined the Group Savings Plan prior to their departure are also eligible, provided they have maintained holdings in the Group Savings Plan since retirement or early retirement.
Included Companies:
Thales, with share capital of €617 825 739, headquartered at 4 rue de la Verrerie, 92190 Meudon, France, and
Thales Group companies in which Thales holds, directly or indirectly, more than 50% of the share capital, with headquarters in France, South Africa, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Spain, the United States, Finland, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Norway, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Czech Republic, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey, who are (or will be) participants in the Group Savings Plan.
Participation Methods: Shares will be acquired through employee mutual funds (FCPE) or directly, depending on the country, and via a Trust within the SIP framework.
Share Purchase Formula: Employees may acquire Thales shares through a classic subscription formula. Employees will receive a 50% matching contribution from their employer on their subscription amount, capped at a maximum contribution of €500.
Voting Rights: Voting rights attached to the shares will be exercised by the FCPE supervisory board in FCPE countries, and directly by employees in countries where shares are held directly.
Subscription Cap: Annual contributions by offer beneficiaries to the Group Savings Plan may not exceed a quarter of their gross annual salary, in accordance with Article L.3332-10 of the French Labour Code.
Share Retention Requirement: Employees participating in the offer must retain their corresponding FCPE shares or directly held shares for five years, except in cases of early release as defined by Article R. 3334-22 of the French Labour Code or local regulations. For shares acquired through the SIP in the United Kingdom, the retention conditions differ depending on the share type (partnership or matching shares).
Indicative Operation Timeline
Subscription Period: From 4 November 2024 (inclusive) to 24 November 2024 (inclusive).
Offer Settlement Delivery: Scheduled for 17 December 2024.
Listing
Thales shares are listed on the Euronext Paris market (ISIN Code: FR0000121329).
This press release has been prepared in accordance with the exemption from publication of a prospectus provided for in Article 1.4(i) of Prospectus Regulation 2017/1129.
International Notice
This release does not constitute a sales offer or a solicitation to acquire Thales shares. The Thales employee share offer will be conducted only in countries where such an offer has been registered or notified to the relevant local authorities and/or approved by a local authority prospectus, or where an exemption applies regarding the need for a prospectus or offer registration or notification.
More generally, the offer will only take place in countries where all required registration procedures and notifications have been completed, and necessary authorisations obtained. For residents of Israel, the offer is conducted in accordance with the Information Document available on the website dedicated to the offer.
About Thales
Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global leader in advanced technologies specialized in three business domains: Defence & Security, Aeronautics & Space, and Cybersecurity & Digital identity.
It develops products and solutions that help make the world safer, greener and more inclusive.
The Group invests close to €4 billion a year in Research & Development, particularly in key innovation areas such as AI, cybersecurity, quantum technologies, cloud technologies and 6G.
Thales has close to 81,000 employees in 68 countries. In 2023, the Group generated sales of €18.4 billion.
The Israeli authorities on Saturday released 200 Palestinian prisoners as part of the second phase of a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.
Abdullah Zaghari, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, said the prisoners were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Some prisoners were released into the West Bank from Ofer Prison while others bound for Gaza or deportation abroad were released from Negev Prison in southern Israel.
Palestinian officials in the Ramallah Governorate also coordinated the release.
According to eyewitnesses, the prisoners were transferred from the ICRC to a medical center in Ramallah, where the Palestinian security forces were stationed in preparation for the release.
Among those released, 16 headed to Gaza. Palestinian security sources and eyewitnesses told Xinhua that the prisoners entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing southeast of the strip.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Authority, the 200 prisoners included 121 who had been serving life sentences and 79 others with long sentences.
Egypt’s Al-Qahera News TV channel reported later in the day that some 70 Palestinian prisoners the Israeli authorities had released arrived in Egypt via the Rafah crossing. Türkiye, Tunisia, and Algeria have agreed to take in some prisoners while others will stay in Egypt.
Following the release of the prisoners, Hamas spokesperson Abdul Latif al-Qanou said in a press statement that the Palestinians in Gaza are waiting for the Israeli army to “withdraw according to the terms of the agreement and for the displaced residents to begin returning to their lands and homes.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced Saturday the completion of the second phase of a prisoner-hostage exchange between Hamas and Israel, implemented under the initial terms of a ceasefire agreement.
The second phase, including the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners and four Israeli hostages, was carried out after thorough coordination and review procedures conducted by the ICRC, a neutral intermediary that ensured the smooth and secure implementation of the exchange, it said.
The Israeli hostages were transferred safely, with their well-being prioritized, whereas the Palestinian prisoners were released from Israeli detention centers and transported to Gaza and the West Bank following ICRC’s interview with them, during which it verified their identities, evaluated their health conditions, and confirmed their readiness for travel, it said.
The ICRC urged ongoing dialogue between the parties and their continuous humanitarian commitments, so as to create the necessary conditions for the safe execution of future operations.
Earlier on Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency said in a joint statement that four female Israeli soldier hostages held in Gaza were transferred to them and crossed the border into Israel.
Meanwhile, Abdullah Zaghari, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, as well as Palestinian officials in the Ramallah Governorate said 200 Palestinian prisoners were handed over to ICRC.
Some prisoners were released into the West Bank, some bound for Gaza, and some have arrived in Egypt via the Rafah crossing, according to Palestinian sources and Egyptian media reports.
The first stage of the six-week ceasefire took effect on Jan. 19.
The ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel was reached after 15 months of intense fighting, as a result of negotiations mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States.
Source: The White House
Aboard Air Force OneEn Route Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2:43 P.M. EDT
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right, everybody. Hey, everyone.
Q Hi.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Hi, hi, hi. Okay. I know this is a short flight, but I do have a couple things at the top that’s important.
So, to start, I wanted to mention that open enrollment in the Federal Care Act marketplace, where more than 20 million Americans get health insurance, starts today. More than a decade after passage of the law, Americans’ health care remains under threat. Just this week, Speaker Johnson promised massive reform to the ACA. The Republican Study Committee budget cuts a staggering $4.5 trillion from the ACA, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, consistent with every budget proposed by the former president.
Senator J.D. Vance has taken aim at the very idea of the risk pooling between healthy and sick which lies at the heart of the ACA. And Republicans in Congress have made clear that one of their first orders of business would be raising premiums in ACA health insurance by an average of 800 bucks per person per year.
President Biden and Vice President Harris have done the po- — the opposite, bringing health insurance to more than ev- — more than ever — mor- — more people than ever before, lowering ACA premiums by 800 bucks per year, getting rid of red tape that the prior administration used to try to keep people from enrolling and expanding enrollment support.
The president and vice president will keep standing up for the affordable health insurance, and they will block any attempt to rip it away.
Shifting gears just a second, I wanted to quickly discuss a recent ProPublica series highlighting reports of women in states like Texas and Georgia who have died after being denied the lifesaving care they need because of extreme abortion bans. The stories are heartbreaking, scary, and sickening a- — sickening. It’s hard to believe or accept as reality, and it’s completely unacceptable.
This should never happen in America, but, sadly, it is, and tho- — and these abortion bans that are denying women lifesaving care are only possible because the former president appointed three Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. The devastating and gut-wrenching consequences of these bans put in place are — enforced by Republican elected officials are very clear.
President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that women in every state must have the right to make deeply personal decisions about their health. They also believe that no woman should ever be denied the care she needs. They will continue to fight back against these extreme bans and call on Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade into federal law.
And finally, we’re en route, as you all know, to Philadelphia, where the president will announce new actions to further his administration’s historic support for unions. While in Philadelphia, he’ll announce that his administration has protected 1.2 million pensions because of the American Rescue M- — Rescue Plan’s Butch Lewis Act. During the visit, President Biden will announce new funding to prevent cuts to the earned pensions benefits of 29,000 UFCW workers and retirees.
As you can see to my right, I’m joined by acting secretary — Labor Se- — Labor — Labor, Julia Su, who will share more about today’s action and the historic work the President Biden — the president and the vice president have done to support unions.
ACTING SECRETARY SU: Thank you so much, Karine. Thank you all for being here. And so, Karine mentioned this. We are headed to Philadelphia to announce the restoration of the UFCW Tri-State Pension Fund. This is part of the president’s commitment, which he has had from day one, to do right by working people. We know that when jobs are good, when working people are protected, our economy is stronger; our nation is stronger.
This is the third event that I’m doing like this. The — the first one was with the carpenters in Detroit. The second was with the Teamsters in Centralia, Illinois. Again, you know, a situation where working people who had worked a lifetime and were expecting to be able to retire with dignity because of their pensions were seeing the end of those pensions and were going to see their — their benefits slashed dramatically.
Because of the Butch Lewis Act, because of the actions of President Biden and Vice President Harris — noting that Vice President Harris cast the deciding vote to pass the American Rescue Plan, of which the Butch Lewis Act is a part — because of that, these individuals are now going to be able to retire, to be able to live with dignity, to be able to take care of themselves and their families as they expected.
This announcement also comes, obviously, on the same day that we’ve had a jobs day, and, you know, it’s always a time to talk about good jobs, because this administration now, you know, has presided over more jobs being created than any other administration in the same time period. It’s now over 16 million jobs. GDP remains strong. Inflation is still falling. Wages are still increasing. Wages have grown faster than inflation for now 17 months straight. And the unemployment rate remains at 4.1 percent, so it’s been around 4 percent for the longest stretch since the 1960s.
So, labor market remains very strong, and this shows what happens when you have a president and a vice president who are fighting for workers every single day.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. Thank you. Go ahead.
Q Thank you, Secretary. On the jobs report, should Americans be concerned of — that the economy is cooling in this moment, and what is the administration doing at the moment to ensure that jobs continue to be generated going forward?
ACTING SECRETARY SU: Great. So, two questions and two answers. No, we should not be concerned about cooling. There were some anomalies last month that led to a much lower jobs number. One was, of course, the devastating hurricanes — back-to-back hurricanes that hit the southeast part of the country. You know, we saw people who lost their lives, lost their homes, lost their businesses. The federal government was on the ground immediately, working with state and local authorities to do everything from search and rescue to clearing roads to making sure that people had water and power back.
But in terms of the jobs numbers, it meant that there were employers who, you know, would have been hiring or may have been even ramping up because of the holiday season coming up who just simply couldn’t do that. So, the hurricanes had a really big effect.
And then, of course, there were workers on strike — over 30,000 of them. And the — when they’re on strike, their numbers also, you know, show up as a decrease in the jobs. Just the — the nature of the — of the numbers.
But what do we need to do to continue the incredible economy that we have had is to keep on making the investments that the Biden-Harris administration has had, you know, the — where we’ve got over 60,000 infrastructure projects going on around the country. I’ve visited many of them. We have apprenticeship programs bursting at the seams. People being able to look for jobs and get jobs in communities that were shuttered, where factories were closed in the last administration, now opening up again. And we just need to keep up that work.
Q Can I ask about the Boeing strike situation? It sounds like there’s a vote set for Monday, if memory serves. Can you speak to what your view is — is on the latest on that and whe- — whether membership will accept? Will you expect that this will pass —
ACTING SECRETARY SU: Yes.
Q — as opposed to the previous time when it (inaudible)?
ACTING SECRETARY SU: Yes. So, I was in Seattle from Monday to Wednesday. I brought the parties together at the — at my office in Seattle. They, you know, deserve a lot of credit. I want to acknowledge the leadership of both the machinists and Boeing for coming to the table and doing the hard work of negotiating.
You know, the president says this all the time; the vice president acknowledges this all the time: Collective bargaining works. It doesn’t always look pretty from the outside, but when workers have a voice, when unions are strong and workers are able to help determine the conditions of their work, their wages, the future of their industry, it’s better for everybody.
And so, now they have a — an unprecedented offer on the table that many people thought was impossible. And — and they’re — they’re going to vote on it on Monday.
Q Sounds like you think it’ll pass.
ACTING SECRETARY SU: I don’t know. You know, I — you know, we believe as — that — that it’s up to the members, of course. You know, but these workers have not seen a wage increase like this in a very, very long time.
In fact, the first-year wage increase is more than what they’ve had in — in the last many years combined. So, it’s a — it’s really a sign of collective bargaining working.
And, you know, workers exercise their right. They — you know, i- — that they’re part of what we’re seeing in a Biden-Harris America of — of a new era of worker power, and it is resulting in not just the tremendous job growth we keep talking about but really more equity and more — more powerful working people.
Q You touched on this. But just to be specific, because the president said in his statement that job growth is expected to rebound in November as the hurricane recovery and rebuilding efforts continue, can you give us a sense of what you would project that that could look like? What could the November picture be?
ACTING SECRETARY SU: So, obviously, the — the devastating weather-related phenomena that we have been facing, you know, has an impact — right? — has a devastating, direct, personal impact on communities that are affected. It also has an impact on the economy.
And so, barring something else like that, you know, that was not a sign of weakness in the economy. That was really a — you know, a weather-related phenomena. And so, barring that, we expect, you know, those communities to recover.
We’re obviously not just watching it happen or hoping it happens. We’re in there helping it to happen.
And so, you know, again, the investments that we’re making is really the key here, right? We would not have seen the kind of economy — the 16 million jobs created — without that. This is not an administration that has just, you know, hoped for the best. It’s one that inherited the economy that was still reeling from a global pandemic that the last administration had no idea how to address.
And what we have done is, you know, really, you know, exceeded all expectations on the recovery. We need to keep on doing that work. We need to make sure that those infrastructure projects keep breaking ground; that the fabs that are being built, you know, are completed. And having union workers do that is a part of that too.
And so, you know, there’s no reason to expect that the resilient economy that we’ve seen so far will not bounce back from the anomalies of October.
Q Was President Biden’s transcript altered —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Hold on — hold on a second. Wait a minute.
Q Yeah. (Laughs.)
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Wait a minute. Is — any other for the secretary? Can I have her sit down if — if we’re done?
Q Keep it tight, because we’re going to land soon.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Oh, okay. All right.
Q Thank you so much.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Be careful.
ACTING SECRETARY SU: Thank you all.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Be careful. Hold on. I’m going to let AP go first.
Go ahead, AP.
Q Thank you, Karine. On AP’s reporting from last night about the potential doctored co- — about the doctored comments in the recent transcript. Were you aware that the Press Office — White House Press Office had done this before the stenographer had taken an approval?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, I was asked this question — multiple versions of this question on Wednesday. I don’t have anything else more to share. What I can say is — and the president put out a statement that was tweeted out — that’s on X, obviously — ver- — being very clear what he meant, understanding that his words could have been taken out of context.
He was talking about the comedian. He was talking about the hateful rhetoric coming out of — from the comedian at the Sunday rally in Madison Square Garden.
And I said this on Wednesday, and I’m going to keep saying this is that the president is always going to continue to call out hateful rhetoric.
But of course — of course — and you see this today with the pensions announcement; you saw it this week when he went to Baltimore to an- — to announce some ports infrastructure investment, $147 million that went to Baltimore — to Maryland, specifically; 27 states, 11 of those states are red states. I mean, these are things that the president wants to continue about, and he always will be a president for everyone, even if you did not vote for him.
I don’t have anything else to share beyond that. What I — what we want to make sure — we think what the most important thing for Americans to know is that this is a president that went back and wanted to clarify what he said, because he didn’t want to take it out of context. I think that says a lot about this president.
And we’ve been pretty consistent about him wanting to be a president and continuing to be a president for all Americans. And that’s what you’re going to see. I don’t have anything else to add beyond that.
Q What does the — have you all received reports about Iran potentially having a re- — a strike against — a retaliatory strike from its proxies?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, as you said, there are reports that Israeli in- — intelligence suggests Iran is preparing to attack Israel from Iraqi territory in the coming days, possibly before the U.S. presidential election. Is — is that the U.S. view as well? You know, I’m not — I’m going to be really careful. I’m not going to — to your question, I’m not going to speculate or discuss intelligence assessments on this from here.
So — but we’ve been very clear that Iran should not respond. I said this on Wednesday. We will continue to support Israel. Our support for Israel’s security is ironclad. And — and if they choose this to do so, obviously we will continue to support Israel as they continue to protect themselves and their security.
So, I don’t have anything to share. I’m not going to read into that.
Q Is the president aware of former President Trump’s comments about Liz Cheney that he made last night? And does he have a reaction to that?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, he’s aware. Obviously, you all have done — have covered — covered those remarks. Here’s what I would say to that. It is — it is unacceptable; it is dangerous to — to — to s- — to speak to political violence, to talk about political vi- — violence, to lift up political violence.
And what we are doing and we will continue to do is denounce that, condemn that. There is no place, anywhere, for any type of violence, no place for political violence.
And it — and this is a time we shouldn’t be using inflammatory language. We should be specifically focusing on bringing the country together, and that’s what this president wants to see, and that’s what he’s going to continue to speak to.
Q Do you think those comments put Liz Cheney at risk?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, look, I can’t speak to that. I can’t get into hypotheticals. What we know is that those type of comments tend to be dangerous, right? They can be dangerous.
That’s — we’re hearing violent rhetoric, and we’re going to continue to condemn that. It is inappropriate in the political space, and — and it is inflammatory language that should not be said by anyone, certainly by — not when someone has a — a leadership — national leadership.
Q Has there been any discussion about heightening the security preparations this week in response to what we’ve seen? Whether it’s, you know, ahead of the election, after the election for certain members of Congress, what does that look like at this point?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: For certain members of Congress specifically?
Q Well, just for that and then broader security preparations.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Well, look, I — I would have to — as it relates to Congress, obviously, that’s the — something for — the Capitol Police can speak to. I can’t speak to that.
Look, I think that what you’ll see from this — from this president is that, you know, free and fair elections and especially peaceful election are the cornerstone of our democracy. And election officials and poll workers are dedicated to public servants who make our democracy work, and they deserve to do their job — their job safely and freely without harassment, without threat of violence.
So, we strongly condemn anyone who threatens or harasses them. And so — but I also believe and we also believe that people should trust in our institutions and trust that this will be a free and fair election.
Q What about Lebanon? Can you give us a status report? Are those talks dead?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, a couple of things. As you know, Brett and —
AIR FORCE ONE CREW MEMBER: Going to need everyone to take their seats, please.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. Well, we got to go.
AIR FORCE ONE CREW MEMBER: There’s going to be some turbulence.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: We’ll — we’ll have more fo- — we can share — I would reach out to the NSC team, and they’ll share more about things. But we have to sit down.
Thanks, everybody.
Q Thanks, Karine.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Be careful. It’s really bumpy.
2:59 P.M. EDT
The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, will participate in a number of events, meetings and activities during Veterans’ Week, which runs from November 5 to 11, 2024.
Ottawa, ON – The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, will participate in a number of events, meetings and activities during Veterans’ Week, which runs from November 5 to 11, 2024.
The theme for Veterans’ Week 2024 is “CAF around the world,” recognizing the service of Canadians here at home and abroad. The theme ties together commemorative anniversaries marked this year, including the 10th anniversary of the end of Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan, the 60th anniversaries of the establishment of the UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus and the end of Canada’s participation in the First UN Mission to the Congo (ONUC), the 80th anniversaries of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, the Liberation of Belgium, and the Battle of the Scheldt, and the centennial anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Throughout the week, Minister Petitpas Taylor will meet with Veterans and their families, stakeholders and partner organizations across the country to commemorate and recognize the service and sacrifice of Canada’s Veterans. She will also make a series of announcements aimed at honouring and supporting Veterans.
After visiting the Region of Waterloo, Sunday, for a Sikh Veterans’ Ceremony of Remembrance, she will begin the week in Moncton, before returning to Ottawa to officially mark the beginning of Veterans’ Week. She will spend time with Veterans, serving members and their families in Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax, and Montreal before returning to Ottawa to attend the National Remembrance Day Ceremony at the National War Memorial.
Detailed media advisories will follow.
Note for media:
– Photos of each visit will be available upon request.
Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder provided the following statement:
In keeping with our commitments to the protection of U.S. citizens and forces in the Middle East, the defense of Israel, and de-escalation through deterrence and diplomacy, the Secretary of Defense ordered the deployment of additional ballistic missile defense destroyers, fighter squadron and tanker aircraft, and several U.S. Air Force B-52 long-range strike bombers to the region. These forces will begin to arrive in coming months as the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN Carrier Strike Group prepares to depart.
These deployments build on the recent decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system to Israel as well as DoD’s sustained Amphibious Ready Group Marine Expeditionary Unit (ARG/MEU) posture in the Eastern Mediterranean. These movements demonstrate the flexible nature of U.S. global defense posture and U.S. capability to deploy world-wide on short notice to meet evolving national security threats.
Secretary Austin continues to make clear that should Iran, its partners, or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every measure necessary to defend our people.
“In his message for the day, the secretary-general underscores that a free press is fundamental to human rights, to democracy and to the rule of law,” Dujarric said.
‘Alarming rate of fatalities’ “Recent years have seen an alarming rate of fatalities in conflict zones, particularly in Gaza, which has seen the highest number of killings of journalists and media workers in a war in decades.
“In his message, he warned that journalists in Gaza have been killed at a level unseen by any conflict in modern times.
“The ongoing ban preventing international journalists from Gaza suffocates the truth even further,” he said.
Source: United States Senator for Michigan Gary Peters
Published: 11.01.2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI), Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, applauds the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) decision to designate Lebanon for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for approximately 11,000 Lebanese individuals currently in the United States. This decision follows months of advocacy by Peters calling on DHS to take this action that will allow Lebanese nationals who are approved to remain safely in the United States due to the ongoing armed conflict in the region.
“The concerning and rapidly changing situation in Lebanon presents a serious safety risk for the many Lebanese nationals who are currently in the United States,” said Senator Peters. “This announcement is very welcomed news. I pressed the Administration to designate Lebanon for Temporary Protected Status to ensure that the nearly 11,000 workers, students and tourists will be able to remain safely in the United States and work legally to support themselves and their families during the ongoing conflict in the region.”
Peters previously sent a letter in June and in early October urging the Administration to make the TPS designation. Following Peters’ first letter, the Administration authorized Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Lebanese nationals in the United States. DHS then issued guidance outlining the application process for eligible individuals to apply for DED-based employment authorization. The recent TPS designation for Lebanon will allow eligible individuals to remain safely in the United States for 18 months and give them the ability to work legally to support themselves.
Below are statements in support of Peters’ calls for Lebanon to be designated for TPS.
“NNAAC welcomes the decision to extend TPS for Lebanon designation that we have pursued along with Senator Peters while we grieve the loss of so many loved ones in Lebanon. Our priority remains an immediate ceasefire however we will continue pursuing all pathways to protect the safety of our community members,” said Rima Meroueh, Director, National Network for Arab American Communities.
“These are important protections extended by the Biden-Harris Administration, and a welcomed reprieve for the thousands of Lebanese nationals currently in the country because of the ongoing war on Lebanon. Ensuring that Lebanese nationals in the U.S. are not forced back into harm’s way is an important step,” said Abed Ayoub, National Executive Director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). “ADC thanks Senator Peters for his commitment to providing these protections.”
“It is a great relief that the Biden Administration has provided protection to Lebanese nationals here in the United States through TPS, DED, and special student relief. Using the Secretary of Homeland Security’s immigration authority to protect individuals is a positive step that will undoubtedly save lives and keep families together,” said American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Executive Director Ben Johnson.
A forum in Beijing has gathered global scholars and experts to discuss how to drive human advancement through innovation, as the world faces both opportunities and challenges posed by rapid scientific and technological progress.
“The rapid development of science and technology, along with emerging ideas and technologies, has not only transformed industrial and social structures but also posed new challenges to the international order and human civilization,” said Gong Qihuang, president of Peking University, while addressing the opening ceremony of the 2024 Beijing Forum on Friday.
Humanity needs more international scientific and technological cooperation than ever to solve common development problems, Gong added.
Building on the overarching theme of “The Harmony of Civilizations and Prosperity for All” from its inaugural edition in 2004, this year’s forum is themed “The Era of Innovation and Advancement of Mankind.”
Gong said that the ongoing event aims to drive development through innovation and create a platform for joint efforts in exploring the path to modernization for human society and the prosperity of global civilization.
Emphasizing the vital role of innovation in tackling global challenges, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won said that no single country or organization can address these issues alone in today’s era of innovation.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former prime minister of Pakistan, called for efforts to bridge the digital divide to ensure inclusive economic growth and prioritize human development so that innovation can be fully leveraged. “We must ensure that innovation serves humanity’s greater good.”
According to Qian Chengdan, a well-known historian at Peking University, innovation is not only technological advancements or the development of new tools but also systemic innovations, new human ideas, and transformative changes in the overall fabric of human life.
The participants at the forum acknowledged China’s position as a global leader in innovation.
Gerard Mourou, the 2018 Nobel Prize winner in physics, noted that China has witnessed incredible advancements in scientific and technological development over the past decades.
Mourou, who assumed the role of a chair professor at Peking University this October, said he is highly impressed by the abilities of Chinese students, noting that they excel not only in their coursework but also in innovation.
Hani K. Findakly, chairman of the International Oversight Committee of the State of Qatar Chair in Middle Eastern Studies, Peking University, lauded China as a leading innovator. He noted that the country will play a crucial role in addressing climate change and other global challenges.
According to an innovation index report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization this year, China has ranked first in the number of the global top 100 sci-tech city clusters for two consecutive years.
Looking back at history, China has made significant contributions to human development and is poised to play an increasingly vital role in driving innovation in the future, Qian said.
This year’s forum garnered significant attention by drawing more than 500 experts and scholars from over 30 countries and regions, highlighting its status as a prominent global hub for academic and people-to-people exchanges.
Co-sponsored by Peking University, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission and the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, the annual forum has attracted more than 7,000 distinguished guests and scholars from over 80 countries and regions since 2004.
Fifty-two people were killed and 72 others injured on Friday in Israeli airstrikes on the city of Baalbek and surrounding towns and villages in eastern Lebanon, said the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Israeli forces have intensified their attacks on eastern Lebanon over the past days after issuing warnings to citizens, calling for the evacuation of entire cities, villages, and towns in the area.
Most of the casualties occurred in localities including Baalbek, Al-Alaq, Younine, Badnayel, Al-Bazaliyah, Amhaz, Iaat, Labweh, Harbata, Nahle, Taraya, and Hawsh An Nabi.
The Israeli army has been waging intensive attacks on Lebanon in an escalation with Hezbollah since late September. In Early October, Israel initiated a ground operation across its northern border into Lebanon.
Source: United States Senator for Florida Marco Rubio
Rubio, Rosen, Colleagues to Blinken: Designate Houthis as Foreign Terrorist Organizations
Nov 1, 2024 | Press Releases
The Houthis, backed by the Iranian regime, continue to escalate their attacks in the Middle East. Redesignating the Houthis as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) would impose meaningful costs on them and limit their ability to commit acts of terrorism.
U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and colleagues led a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to redesignate the Houthis as a FTO after the Biden-Harris Administration foolishly removed that designation.
“We therefore urge you to immediately restore the designation of the Houthis as an FTO, which would enable the United States to better target the group’s assets and financial support and hold the group accountable for committing terrorism against the United States, Israel, and our partners and allies throughout the region.”
Joining Rubio and Rosen were Senators Rick Scott (R-FL), Bob Casey (D-PA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV).
The full text of the letter is below.
Dear Secretary Blinken:
We write to request that you redesignate the Houthis, also known as Ansarallah, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Since the misguided revocation of the Houthis’ FTO designation in 2021, the Houthis, backed by the Iranian regime, have only escalated their efforts to destabilize the Middle East. These actions include firing drones and missiles against Israel that have killed civilians, disrupting international shipping by targeting commercial vessels, directly attacking U.S. forces, and obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Yemen. While we recognize that your administration has listed the Houthis as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), that designation is nowhere near as impactful as an FTO listing. Designating the Houthis as an FTO would impose meaningful costs on the Houthis and degrade their ability to commit acts of terrorism.
The Houthis, whose longstanding call to arms includes the phrase “death to America, death to Israel, curse on the Jews,” are a key actor in Iran’s terrorist proxy network. As the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, Tehran has fueled the conflict between Yemen’s internationally-recognized government and the Houthis by providing the group with a wide array of advanced weapons, including ballistic, surface-to-air, and cruise missile components, unmanned aerial vehicles, and small arms. According to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the U.S. and its partners have interdicted at least 20 Iranian smuggling vessels destined for the Houthis since 2015. By providing the Houthis with advanced capabilities, the Iranian regime has allowed the group to expand its aggression well beyond Yemen’s borders, including by repeatedly firing drones and missiles at Israel. These attacks include a drone strike on Tel Aviv in July 2024 using an Iranian-made drone that killed one person and wounded 10 others.
Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, the Houthis began targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, posing a significant threat to the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes. These attacks have employed anti-ship ballistic missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and cruise missiles. These actions not only threaten the security of our partners in the region, but also disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen and other conflict areas, endanger global energy markets and supply chains, and increase shipping costs.
Additionally, following the U.S.-led coalition’s launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian on December 18, 2023 to ensure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the Houthis have launched multiple attacks on U.S. military forces. Despite coalition strikes in Yemen intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities of the Houthis, the group has been able to continue committing acts of terrorism. We should not wait for U.S. casualties to take further action to impose costs on the Houthis.
Relisting the Houthis as an FTO would make individuals or entities providing material support to the group liable for criminal prosecution and considered Tier III terrorists subject to sanctions and a travel ban, open up economic tools to target the Houthis’ weapons procurement networks and manufacturing capabilities, provide a legal right of action to U.S. victims of Houthi terrorism, and ban Houthi members from obtaining a visa or entering the United States. Moreover, relisting the Houthis as an FTO would not inherently disrupt the delivery of international aid to Yemeni civilians.
We therefore urge you to immediately restore the designation of the Houthis as an FTO, which would enable the United States to better target the group’s assets and financial support and hold the group accountable for committing terrorism against the United States, Israel, and our partners and allies throughout the region. Thank you for your attention to this matter, and we look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Source: State University Higher School of Economics – State University Higher School of Economics –
The importance of statistics in the digital age is reaching a new level. Most decisions at the state level and in business are made based on data analysis. However, the attitude towards official statistics is ambiguous, and this negatively affects the level of trust in government policy. How to change this was discussed by the heads of statistical agencies of the BRICS countries in Kazan. A representative of the Higher School of Economics also took part in the forum.
The 16th meeting of heads of national statistical services of the BRICS countries was held in Kazan on October 28–29 as part of the BRICS Summit. Representatives of various government agencies and experts from Russia, South Africa, the UAE, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, India, the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Azerbaijan participated in it.
The special session “Development of the statistical community in Russia and the BRICS countries” was organized at the initiative of the Russian delegation. The experts discussed issues of cooperation between statistical professional and expert communities, modernization of statistical production, interaction of state statistical services with the public and increasing statistical literacy of the population.
Professor of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Chairman of the Board of the Russian Association of Statisticians Alexey Ponomarenko said that in Russia, starting in 2023, the subject “Probability Theory and Statistics” has become a mandatory part of the school curriculum. In grades 7–11, there is at least one lesson on statistics per week. Thus, about 6 million schoolchildren receive knowledge and skills in statistical thinking. They will be able to understand and competently apply information containing statistical data.
Meanwhile, today school teachers need the help of professional statisticians. Moreover, targeted efforts are needed to develop literacy and education in this area. One of the centers of such work could be the National Research University Higher School of Economics, where a team of statisticians with extensive experience in practical work and scientific research has been formed.
“We are ready to cooperate with both Russian teachers and colleagues from the BRICS countries, especially since the statistical community of many BRICS countries is well developed and there is much to learn from our colleagues,” emphasized Alexey Ponomarenko.
Teachers and researchers of the Department of Statistics and Data Analysis of the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the National Research University Higher School of Economics fully support the idea of cooperation with statisticians of the BRICS countries, confirmed the Director of Statistical Research at the HSE, Head of the Department of Statistics and Data Analysis of the National Research University Higher School of Economics Department of Statistics and Data AnalysisFEN Alexander Surinov. “We have many common problems with such huge BRICS countries as China, India or Brazil. For example, subnational studies of indicators of socio-economic development of regions taking into account local specifics. I think that if such projects are implemented, HSE statisticians will take an active part in them,” he concluded.
Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
At least 42 Palestinians were killed and over 150 injured in Israeli air and artillery bombardment on Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical sources said on Saturday.
The Israeli army has been bombarding inhabited houses in Nuseirat with both aircraft and artillery since Friday morning, said Palestinian security sources.
The Gaza government media office condemned the strikes, describing them as the “deliberate targeting of civilians, including children and women,” and called on the international community to pressure Israel to halt these actions against Gaza’s civilians.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Saturday that it conducted operations in Rafah and central Gaza to kill militants, dismantle militant infrastructure, and locate weapons.
Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a Hamas attack across the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and approximately 250 taken hostage.
The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has risen to 43,314, according to a statement from Gaza-based health authorities on Saturday.
A child receives a dose of the polio vaccine at a UN-run clinic in Deir al-Balah city, central Gaza Strip, on Oct. 14, 2024. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)
Three Palestinian children were wounded when an Israeli drone struck a medical facility during a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza City on Saturday, Palestinian medical sources said.
The children were taken to al-Ahli Arab hospital after the strike hit Sheikh Radwan Clinic in the northern part of the city, medical staff told Xinhua. The Israeli army has not commented on the incident yet.
The incident occurred as health workers launched an emergency polio vaccination drive for children under 10 in Gaza City. The campaign has already begun in central and southern Gaza but has been delayed in the north due to ongoing military operations.
Separately, senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq on Saturday dismissed recent proposals for a temporary pause in fighting, calling them “a mere smoke screen” that failed to address key demands including Israeli military withdrawal and the return of displaced Palestinians.
“We engage positively with any proposals ensuring the cessation of aggression and withdrawal of Israeli forces,” al-Rishq said in a statement, while accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of using ceasefire talks as “cover” for continued military operations.
The comments follow a recent Qatari-American announcement about negotiations in Doha focusing on hostage release and potential ceasefire arrangements.
In reaction to the Knesset passing bills banning UNRWA from operating in areas under Israel’s control, Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa said:
“Israel has bombed Palestinians to death, maimed them, starved them, and is now ridding them of their biggest lifeline of aid. Piece by piece, Israel is systemically dismantling Gaza as a land that is autonomous and liveable for Palestinians. Its banning of UNRWA today is condemnable and another step in this crime.
“The decision will further undermine the ability of the international community to provide sufficient humanitarian aid and to save lives in any safe, independent and impartial way.
“UNRWA was not only the biggest and most established agency that has been delivering aid and sustenance to the people of Gaza for years, it was also a thread that connected them in some hope of solidarity and security to the United Nations.
“We are in no doubt that Israel and its allies are fully aware of the terrible consequences that this decision will have on Palestinians living in Gaza, many of whom are already starving. We join others in warning again that this will result in more death, more suffering, and more forced displacement of people from their besieged homeland. It is impossible not to believe that this is their aim.”
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Charlie Shackleton, Professor & Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Science in Land and Natural Resource Use for Sustainable Livelihoods, Rhodes University
Alongside a national flag, anthem and coat of arms, most countries have one or more plant and animal species that they designate as national symbols. The national animal of China, for example, is the giant panda, a nation-wide source of pride and diplomacy. Americans salute the bald eagle as a symbol of strength and freedom.
But how do South Africans relate to their official national symbols? Do they even know what they are? It’s a country with an enviable variety of ethnicities, cultures, languages, histories, landscapes and biodiversity. It’s also a country fractured by colonialism and apartheid.
South Africa is still in the process of building a unified and national identity as it moves beyond apartheid, an oppressive system of legislated racial division that formally ended with the advent of democracy in 1994.
The process of nation building includes developing a shared history, identity, pride and values of what it means to be South African. One dynamic in this process is the shaping of a collective identity around particular national icons, symbols, activities and personalities. The national anthem, flag, sports stars, artists and the like. Things that make citizens proud of their country and its people, despite a divided past.
King protea.Carol Phillips/iStock/Getty Images
Reflecting its mega-biodiversity status, South Africa boasts five national animal and plant symbols. These are the national animal (springbok), fish (galjoen), bird (blue crane), flower (king protea) and tree (real yellowwood). Yet, their usefulness in helping build a national identity depends on South Africans actually knowing what they are. Sadly, this seems not to be the case.
As environmental scientists we’re intrigued by the relationships between humans and nature. Environmental scholars Ondwela Tshikombeni, Monde Ntshudu and I recently conducted a study to find out how much South Africans know about the five biodiversity symbols. We found that only a tiny fraction could name all of them. The level of knowledge about them was generally low.
This indicates that these symbols can’t be effectively used to help build a common South African identity. Nor will they add value to biodiversity conservation campaigns in a time when the need to protect nature increases due to the impacts of human development and climate change.
National animals and plants
The process of choosing a species as a national symbol is different depending on the country and may even be contested. In Turkey, for example, the national animal is the grey wolf. It can be a symbol of pride or be rejected because it’s the controversial name of a rightwing political group.
Many national symbols are rooted in history and could stem from the emblems of the political, colonial or economic elites of the past. Or they may be more recent and based on lobbying by certain groups or even via public vote. Britain, for example, asked the public to choose a national bird. The robin won.
Galjoen.Biodiversity Heritage Library/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY
The first national animal to be used as a symbol in South Africa was the springbuck (or springbok), proposed in 1906 as a name for the country’s rugby team ahead of a tour of Europe. The most recent addition was the galjoen in 1992.
Our study
We surveyed 382 urban dwellers in four towns spanning three provinces: Mossel Bay, Kariega (formerly Uitenhage), Gcuwa (formerly Butterworth) and Kokstad. In each town we set out to interview 25 adults across low-, medium- and high-income areas and the central business district.
Blue crane.Knowsley Hall/Wikimedia Commons
As part of the survey, we asked people to name each of the five national biodiversity symbols. After that, we presented them with photos of four different species (one of which was the national one) and asked them to correctly identify the national species.
What we found
Only 11 of the respondents (3%) could name all five symbols, while almost half (48%) could not correctly name a single one. The most widely known were the springbok (40%) and the king protea (40%), perhaps because they correspond to the names of national sporting teams. The blue crane was mentioned by only 16% of the respondents and the galjoen (8%) and yellowwood (6%) fared even worse.
The numbers were slightly better when respondents were asked to identify each species from a photo of four choices – 58% identified the protea, 51% the blue crane, 45% the springbok, 26% the galjoen and 16% the real yellowwood.
Real yellowwood.Abu Shawka/ Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
To benchmark these knowledge levels, we also asked a few questions about the national flag and coat of arms. Only eight people knew the meaning of the phrase at the base of the coat of arms (ǃke e꞉ǀxarraǁke, meaning “diverse people unite” in the |Xam language of the country’s original inhabitants). Only 29% correctly knew that the Y-shape in the middle of the national flag was green. This indicates that the low knowledge of national symbols is not limited to just biodiversity symbols.
What can be done about it
It’s clear that a great deal more effort is needed to popularise the national biodiversity symbols if they’re to be used to help shape a national identity in South Africa. They could be promoted in schools where other national symbols, like the flag and anthem, are common.
The South African National Biodiversity Institute and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture could promote them during September’s heritage month celebrations. They could engage the public by popularising their names in the different official languages of the country and their roles in folklore and indigenous knowledge. They could also be featured in national and international tourism promotions.
Ondwela Tshikombeni and Monde Ntshudu contributed to this article
– Only 3% of South Africans can name all five national animals and plants. Why these symbols matter – https://theconversation.com/only-3-of-south-africans-can-name-all-five-national-animals-and-plants-why-these-symbols-matter-241284
Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Charlie Shackleton, Professor & Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Science in Land and Natural Resource Use for Sustainable Livelihoods, Rhodes University
The springbok is best known, thanks to it being a name for sports teams.A Oosthuizen/iStock/Getty Images
Alongside a national flag, anthem and coat of arms, most countries have one or more plant and animal species that they designate as national symbols. The national animal of China, for example, is the giant panda, a nation-wide source of pride and diplomacy. Americans salute the bald eagle as a symbol of strength and freedom.
But how do South Africans relate to their official national symbols? Do they even know what they are? It’s a country with an enviable variety of ethnicities, cultures, languages, histories, landscapes and biodiversity. It’s also a country fractured by colonialism and apartheid.
South Africa is still in the process of building a unified and national identity as it moves beyond apartheid, an oppressive system of legislated racial division that formally ended with the advent of democracy in 1994.
The process of nation building includes developing a shared history, identity, pride and values of what it means to be South African. One dynamic in this process is the shaping of a collective identity around particular national icons, symbols, activities and personalities. The national anthem, flag, sports stars, artists and the like. Things that make citizens proud of their country and its people, despite a divided past.
King protea. Carol Phillips/iStock/Getty Images
Reflecting its mega-biodiversity status, South Africa boasts five national animal and plant symbols. These are the national animal (springbok), fish (galjoen), bird (blue crane), flower (king protea) and tree (real yellowwood). Yet, their usefulness in helping build a national identity depends on South Africans actually knowing what they are. Sadly, this seems not to be the case.
As environmental scientists we’re intrigued by the relationships between humans and nature. Environmental scholars Ondwela Tshikombeni, Monde Ntshudu and I recently conducted a study to find out how much South Africans know about the five biodiversity symbols. We found that only a tiny fraction could name all of them. The level of knowledge about them was generally low.
This indicates that these symbols can’t be effectively used to help build a common South African identity. Nor will they add value to biodiversity conservation campaigns in a time when the need to protect nature increases due to the impacts of human development and climate change.
National animals and plants
The process of choosing a species as a national symbol is different depending on the country and may even be contested. In Turkey, for example, the national animal is the grey wolf. It can be a symbol of pride or be rejected because it’s the controversial name of a rightwing political group.
Many national symbols are rooted in history and could stem from the emblems of the political, colonial or economic elites of the past. Or they may be more recent and based on lobbying by certain groups or even via public vote. Britain, for example, asked the public to choose a national bird. The robin won.
Galjoen. Biodiversity Heritage Library/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY
The first national animal to be used as a symbol in South Africa was the springbuck (or springbok), proposed in 1906 as a name for the country’s rugby team ahead of a tour of Europe. The most recent addition was the galjoen in 1992.
Our study
We surveyed 382 urban dwellers in four towns spanning three provinces: Mossel Bay, Kariega (formerly Uitenhage), Gcuwa (formerly Butterworth) and Kokstad. In each town we set out to interview 25 adults across low-, medium- and high-income areas and the central business district.
Blue crane. Knowsley Hall/Wikimedia Commons
As part of the survey, we asked people to name each of the five national biodiversity symbols. After that, we presented them with photos of four different species (one of which was the national one) and asked them to correctly identify the national species.
What we found
Only 11 of the respondents (3%) could name all five symbols, while almost half (48%) could not correctly name a single one. The most widely known were the springbok (40%) and the king protea (40%), perhaps because they correspond to the names of national sporting teams. The blue crane was mentioned by only 16% of the respondents and the galjoen (8%) and yellowwood (6%) fared even worse.
The numbers were slightly better when respondents were asked to identify each species from a photo of four choices – 58% identified the protea, 51% the blue crane, 45% the springbok, 26% the galjoen and 16% the real yellowwood.
Real yellowwood. Abu Shawka/ Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
To benchmark these knowledge levels, we also asked a few questions about the national flag and coat of arms. Only eight people knew the meaning of the phrase at the base of the coat of arms (ǃke e꞉ǀxarraǁke, meaning “diverse people unite” in the |Xam language of the country’s original inhabitants). Only 29% correctly knew that the Y-shape in the middle of the national flag was green. This indicates that the low knowledge of national symbols is not limited to just biodiversity symbols.
What can be done about it
It’s clear that a great deal more effort is needed to popularise the national biodiversity symbols if they’re to be used to help shape a national identity in South Africa. They could be promoted in schools where other national symbols, like the flag and anthem, are common.
The South African National Biodiversity Institute and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture could promote them during September’s heritage month celebrations. They could engage the public by popularising their names in the different official languages of the country and their roles in folklore and indigenous knowledge. They could also be featured in national and international tourism promotions.
Ondwela Tshikombeni and Monde Ntshudu contributed to this article
Charlie Shackleton received funding from the National Research Foundation under the SARChI Chairs programme for this work.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Israel’s deadly siege on northern Gaza has entered a 30th day. Early week, the World Health Organisation managed to deliver some medical supplies to the Kamal Adwan Hospital, but on Thursday, Israeli fighter jets bombed the hospital’s third floor, where the supplies were being stored.
Al Jazeera reports Israeli forces are continuing to shell Beit Lahia, the scene of multiple massacres last week. On Wednesday, an Israeli attack on a market in Beit Lahia killed at least 10 Palestinians. Earlier in the week, Israel struck a five-story residential building, killing at least 93 people, including 25 children.
Meanwhile, at the United Nations, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese, has released a major report accusing Israel of committing genocide.
Albanese concludes that Israel’s war on Gaza is part of a campaign of, “long-term intentional, systematic, state-organised forced displacement and replacement of the Palestinians” . The report is titled Genocide as Colonial Erasure.
AMY GOODMAN: Francesca Albanese is now facing intensifying personal attacks from Israeli and US officials. She was set to brief Congress earlier last week, but the briefing was cancelled. On Tuesday, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, wrote on social media, “As UN Special Rapporteur Albanese visits New York, I want to reiterate the US belief she is unfit for her role. The United Nations should not tolerate antisemitism from a UN-affiliated official hired to promote human rights.”
On Wednesday, Francesca Albanese spoke at the United Nations and responded to the US attacks.
FRANCESCA ALBANESE: I have the same shock that you have, looking at how the United States is behaving in this context, in the context of the genocide that is unfolding in Gaza. I’m not — I’m not surprised that they attack anyone who speaks to the facts that are, frankly, on our watch in Gaza. And they do that so brutally because they feel called out, because it’s not that it’s that the United States is simply an observer. The United States is being an enabler in what Israel has been doing.
AMY GOODMAN: That was UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese speaking at the United Nations on Wednesday. She joins us here in our studio.
Welcome back to Democracy Now! Thanks so much for joining us.
Well, before we get you to further respond to what the US and Israel is saying, can you lay out the findings of your report?
Colonial Erasure’: UN expert Francesca Albanese on Israel’s “intent to destroy” Gaza Video: Democracy Now!
FRANCESCA ALBANESE: Absolutely. First of all, thank you for having me.
I have to say that this report is the second I write on — and I present to the United Nations on the topic of genocide. And it has been very reluctantly that I’ve taken on the responsibility to be the chronicler of — the chronicler of an unfolding genocide in Gaza.
In March this year, I concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Israel had committed at least three acts of genocide in Gaza, like killing members of the protected group, Palestinians; inflicting severe bodily and mental harm; and creating conditions of life that would lead to the destruction of the group. And the reason why I identified these were not just war crimes and crimes against humanity is because I identified an intent to destroy.
And I understand that even in this country, people are quite confused about what is genocidal intent, because it’s not a motive. One can have many motives to commit a crime. And I understand genocide is a very insidious one, and it’s difficult to identify what’s a motive. But this is not about the motives. The intent to commit genocide is the determination to destroy, which is fully evident in — especially in the Gaza Strip, as I identified in — as argued in March already.
The reason why I continue to write about genocide — and, in fact, this report walks on the heels of the previous one — is in order to better explain the intent, especially state intent, because there is another misunderstanding that there should be a trial of the alleged perpetrators in order to have — to attribute responsibility to a state.
No, because not only you have had acts committed that should have been prevented by the — in a rule of law, in a proclaimed rule of law system like Israel, where there is the government, the Parliament, the judiciary, working as checks and balances, genocide has not only been not prevented, [it] has been enabled through the various organs of the state.
And I explain what has happened as of October 7, which has provided the opportunity to escalate violence, to build on the rage and on the fury of many Israelis, turning the soldiers into willful executioners, is that there was already a plan, hatred.
I mean, the Palestinians, like Ilan Pappé says, are victims not of war, but of a political ideology that has been unleashed. Palestinians have always been an unwanted encumbrance in the Israeli mindset, because they are an obstacle both as an identity and as legal status to the realisation of Greater Israel as a state for Jewish Israelis only.
NERMEEN SHAIKH:So, we’ll go back to — because I do want to ask about the Israeli state institutions that you name and the branches of the Israeli state that have been involved in forming this state’s intent. But if you could elaborate on the point that you make, the difference between intent and motive, and in particular what you say in the report about how it’s critical to determine genocidal intent, “by way of inference”?
You know, that’s a different phrasing than one has heard in all of this conversation about genocide so far. If you explain what you mean by that and what such a determination makes possible? So, rather than just looking at genocidal intent in other forms, what it means to infer genocidal intent?
FRANCESCA ALBANESE: So, first of all, what constitutes genocide is established by Article II of the Genocide Convention, which creates a twofold obligation for member states, to prevent genocide so genocide doesn’t have to complete itself. When there is a manifestation of intent, even genocidal intent, there is already an obligation to intervene, because a crime is unfolding.
And then there is an obligation to punish. How the jurisprudence, especially after Rwanda and after former Yugoslavia, there have been cases both for criminal proceedings, where individual perpetrators have been investigated and tried, and [the] responsibility of the state, litigated before the International Court of Justice. This is how the jurisprudence on genocide has developed.
And the intent has been further elaborated upon what the Genocide Convention says. And while it might be difficult to have direct intent, meaning to have — it’s difficult but not impossible, in fact, to have a state official say, “Yes, let’s go and destroy everyone” — although I do believe that there is direct intent in this genocide in Gaza.
But the court also established that genocide can be inferred from the scale of the attack on the people, the nature of the attack, the general conduct. And what it says is that normally there should be a holistic approach in order to identify intent, which is exactly what I’ve done.
And indeed, this is why I proposed in this report what I called the triple lens approach. We need to look at the conduct, like the totality of the conduct, instead of studying with a microscope each and every crime. We need to look at the whole, against the totality of the people, the Palestinians as such, in the totality of the land, that Israel has slated as its own by divine design.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: No, absolutely. And then, if you could — the other precedent you’ve just spoken about — of course, Rwanda and former Yugoslavia — another case that you cite in the International Court of Justice is The Gambia v. Myanmar. So, how is that comparable to what we see happening in Gaza? Why is that a relevant example and different from both Rwanda and former Yugoslavia?
FRANCESCA ALBANESE: Let me tell you what I see as the major differences in the case of Israel, because it’s a very complex discussion. But in all four cases, there is a toxic combination of hatred, ideological hatred, which has informed political doctrines. And this is true in all the various contexts we are mentioning. The other common element is that there is [a] combination of crimes. Like, forced displacement is not an act of genocide per se, but the jurisprudence says that it can contribute to corroborate the intent.
But, again, mass killing or mass destruction of property, torture and other crimes against a person, which translate into an infliction of physical and mental harm to the group, not individuals as such, but individuals as part of the group, these are common elements to all genocides.
What I find characteristic in this one is, first of all, this is not — I mean, the state of Israel is not Myanmar and is not Rwanda 30 years ago. This is not war-torn former Yugoslavia. This is a state which has a separation of powers, different organs, as I said, checks and balances. And let me give you a specific example, because you asked me to comment on the state functions.
In January this year, the International Court of Justice issued a set of preliminary measures in the context of its identification, before even looking at the merits of the case initiated by South Africa for Israel’s breach, alleged breach, of the Genocide Convention, which identified the plausibility of risk for the rights protected — of the rights of the Palestinians protected under the Genocide Convention, which means plausibility — it’s semantics, but it’s plausibility that genocide might be committed against the Palestinians in Gaza.
And the provisional measures included an obligation to investigate and prosecute the various cases of incitement, genocidal incitement, that the court had already identified. And it mentions leaders, senior leaders, of the Israeli state. Has there been any investigation? Has there been any prosecution?
But I’m telling you more. The genocidal statements didn’t resonate as shocking in the Israeli public, not only because there was rage, an enormous rage and animosity, of course. I mean, this is understandable, that the facts of October 7 were brutal and traumatized the people.
But at the same time, hatred against the Palestinians and hate speech, it’s not something that started on October 7. I do remember, and I do remember the shock I felt because no one was reacting, and years ago, there were Israeli ministers talking of — freely, of killing, justifying the killing of Palestinians’ mothers and children because they would turn into terrorists.
AMY GOODMAN: Francesca Albanese, talk about the title of your report, Genocide as Colonial Erasure.
FRANCESCA ALBANESE: This is another element which I think — and, in fact, it’s the most important, where we see the difference between this genocide and others, because there is a settler-colonial component. And again, if you look at what the International Court of Justice in July this year concluded, when it decided that the — when it found that Israel’s 57 years of occupation in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem is unlawful and needs to be withdrawn totally and unconditionally, as rapidly as possibly, which the General Assembly says by September 2025.
The court said that it amounts to — that the colonies amount to — have led to a process of annexation and racial segregation and apartheid. And these are the features of settler colonialism, the taking of the land, the taking of the resources, displacing the local population and replacing it. This has been a feature.
Now, it is in this context that we need to analyse what is happening today. And by the way, don’t believe, don’t listen only to Francesca Albanese. Listen to what these Israeli leaders and ministers are saying — reoccupying Gaza, retaking Gaza, recolonising Gaza, reconquesting Gaza. This is what they are saying.
And there are settlers on expeditions, not only to Gaza but also to Lebanon. So, this is why I say that the main difference, the main feature of this genocide, apart all the horrible aspects of it, is that this is the first settler-colonial genocide to be ever litigated before a court, an international court.
And this is why coming to this country, which is a country birthed from a genocide, when I meet the Native Americans, for example, I feel the pain of these people. And I say if we manage to build on the intersectionality of Indigenous struggle, the cry for justice behind this case for Palestine will resonate even louder, because it will somewhat be an act of atonement from the settler-colonial endeavor, which has sprouted out of Europe, toward Indigenous peoples. So there is a lot of symbolism behind it.
NERMEEN SHAIKH:And, you know, the analogy — first of all, you talked about the case brought by South Africa, so what they share, apart from South Africa and Israel-Palestine, is both the fact that they were colonial-settler states, as well as the fact that apartheid has been established as having occurred in both places.
Now, in the case of South Africa, it was a decision that was taken by the United Nations at the time of apartheid, was unseating South Africa from the General Assembly. There have been calls now to do the same with Israel. So, if you could — if you could comment on that?
And then, I just want to quote another short sentence from your report, in which you say, “As the world watches the first live-streamed settler-colonial genocide, only justice can heal the wounds that political expedience has allowed to fester.” So, if you could talk about the International Court of Justice’s case in that context, what role you think they can play, South Africa’s case, in resolving or addressing — seeing and addressing this wound?
FRANCESCA ALBANESE: First of all, let me unpack the question of the unseating Israel, because this is one of the recommendations I made in my report. Under Article 6 of the UN Charter, a member state can be suspended of its credentials or its membership by the General Assembly upon recommendation of the UN Security Council. And the first criticism I got is that we cannot do that, because every states commit international law violations. Absolutely. Absolutely.
But there are two striking features here. First, Israel is quite unique in maintaining an unlawful occupation, which has deemed such by — in at least one full occasion, but again, there was already a case brought before the ICJ in 2004, so there have been two ICJ advisory opinions.
There is a pending case for genocide. There has been the violations of hundreds of resolutions by the — on Israel — over occupied Palestinian territory, by the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, and steady violation of international humanitarian law, human rights law, the Apartheid Convention, the Genocide Convention. So this is quite unique.
But all the more, this year alone, Israel has conducted an attack, an unprecedented attack, against the United Nations. It has attacked physically, through artillery, weapons, bombs, UN premises. Seventy percent of UNRWA offices and UNRWA buildings, clinics, distribution centers have been hit and shelled by the Israeli army.
Two hundred and thirty UN staff members have been killed by Israel in Gaza alone. UN peacekeepers in Lebanon have been attacked. And this doesn’t even take into account the smear, the defamation against senior UN officials, the declaration of the secretary-general as persona non grata, the referring to the General Assembly as a “cloak of antisemites”.
Again, this has mounted to a level — the hubris against the United Nations and international law has been unchecked and unbounded forever, but now, especially after the Knesset passed a law outlawing UNRWA, declaring UNRWA a terrorist organisation, and therefore disabling it from its capacity to deliver aid and assistance especially in Gaza and the West Bank and East Jerusalem, this is the nail in the coffin of the UN Charter.
And it can also contribute to that sense of colonial erasure, because here it’s not just at stake the function of a UN body — and UNRWA is a subsidiary body of the General Assembly, so it’s even more serious. But there is the capacity of UNRWA to deliver humanitarian aid in a desperate situation, and also the fact that UNRWA is seen by Israel as the symbol of Palestinian identity, especially the Palestinian refugees. So there is an attempt to erase Palestinianness, including by hitting UNRWA.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to ask you about your trip here, as we begin to wrap up. The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, quoted on — tweeted on Tuesday, “As UN Special Rapporteur Albanese visits New York, I want to reiterate the US belief she is unfit for her role. The United Nations should not tolerate antisemitism from a UN-affiliated official hired to promote human rights.” If you can further address their charge of antisemitism against you?
FRANCESCA ALBANESE: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: And talk about what happened. You were supposed to come to Congress and speak and brief them, but that was cancelled this week.
FRANCESCA ALBANESE: Yes, it was canceled. But let me — first of all, I’m very embarrassed to read this, because a senior US official who writes this, I mean, it shows a little bit of desperation. I’m sorry, but, you know, I’m very candid.
And let me unpack my antisemitism for the audience. So, what I’ve been accused of — the reason why I’ve been accused of antisemitism — is because I’ve allegedly compared the Jews to the Nazis. Never done. Never done.
What I’ve said, what I’ve done is saying, and I keep on saying, that history is repeating itself. I’ve never done such a comparison where I draw the parallel. It’s on the behaviour of member states who have the legal and moral obligation to prevent atrocities, including an unfolding genocide.
In the past, they have done nothing — nothing — until the end of the Second World War, to prevent the genocide of the Jews and the Roma and Sinti. And they’ve done nothing to prevent the genocide of the Bosnians.
And they’ve done nothing to prevent the genocide of the Rwandans. And they are doing the same today. This is where I insist that now, compared to when there was the Holocaust, now we have a human rights framework that should prevent this. The Genocide Convention to prevent this. So, this is one of the points.
The second point, — which leads to portray me as an antisemite, which is really offensive — is that I’ve said that October 7 was not — I’ve contested, I’ve challenged the argument that October 7 was an antisemitic attack. October 7 was a crime, was heinous. And again, I’ve condemned the acts that were directed against the Israeli civilians, and expressed solidarity with the victims, with the families. I’ve been in contact with the families of the hostages.
But I’ve also said the hatred that led that attack, that prompted that attack, to the extent it hit civilians, not the military, but it was prompted not by the fact that the Israelis are Jews, but the fact that the Israelis — I mean, the Israelis are part of that endeavor that has kept the Palestinians in a cage for 17 years and, before, under martial law for 37 years. And Palestinians have tried — it’s true they have used violence, but before violence, they have tried dialogue. They have tried collaboration. They have tried a number of means to access justice, and they have gone nowhere.
I can — I mean, let me relate just this case, because last year I worked with children. And someone who was 17 years old before October 7 last year had never set foot out of Gaza. This is the reality. And I spoke with children while I was writing my report on “unchilding”, the experience of Palestinians under Israeli occupation. And one of them — I mean, there were these two girls fighting, because one of them had been able to go to Israel and the West Bank because she had cancer and could be treated, and the other was jealous, because, she said, “At least she was sick, and she could go, she could travel. I’ve never seen the mountains.”
And again, this doesn’t justify violence, but, please, please, put things in context. And even Israeli scholars have said claiming that October 7 was prompted by antisemitism is a way to decontextualize history and to deresponsibilise Israel.
I condemn Israel not because it’s a Jewish state. It’s not about that, but because it’s in breach of international law through and through. And were the majority of Israelis Buddhists, Christians, atheists, it would be the same. I would be as vocal as I am now.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Francesca, just one last question, and we only have a minute. Your recent book, J’Accuse, you take the title, of course, from the letter Émile Zola wrote during the Dreyfus Affair to the French president. You came under severe criticism for the choice of that title. Could you explain why you chose it and what it means in this context?
FRANCESCA ALBANESE: Absolutely. I have the sense that whatever I say comes under scrutiny and criticism. But J’Accuse is — first of all, it’s the title that was proposed by the editor, the publisher. And I was against it until October 7.
When I saw the narrative, the dehumanization of the Palestinians after October 7, and what it was legitimising, I said, “This is the title. We need to use it,” because I draw the parallel between what is happening to the Palestinians and what has happened to other groups, particularly the Jewish people in Europe.
I say the Holocaust was not just about the concentration camps. The Holocaust was a culmination of centuries of discrimination, and the previous decades had led the Jewish people in Europe to be kicked out of jobs, professions, to be treated like subhumans, as animals. And it’s this dehumanisation that we need to look at in the face today, in the eyes today, and recognise as leading to atrocity crimes.
AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you for being with us, Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa says it is appalling that the government has remained totally silent on Israeli military and diplomatic attacks on the United Nations.
PSNA Chair, John Minto, says the Israel parliament decision this week to ban UNRWA operations in Israel and East Jerusalem effectively closes down the major aid organisation’s desperately needed work in the Gaza Strip.
“UNRWA was set up by the United Nations to assist the hundreds of thousands Palestinian refugees expelled by Israel in 1948, pending their right of return – which Israel refuses to recognise.”
“Israel sees UNRWA as an unwelcome reminder of Palestinian national rights and has always aimed to get rid of it. Support for banning UNRWA came from the Zionist New Zealand Jewish Council earlier this year.”
Israel has also recently shelled United Nations peacekeeping positions in Lebanon and has killed an estimated 230 UNRWA workers in Gaza.
“Our government has previously stated how important UNRWA relief work is for Palestinian refugees in Gaza. The US government says the UNRWA supply of food, water and medicine is ‘irreplaceable’”.
“Yet, under no doubt as a result of Israeli lobbying, our commitment to the UN and its work is increasingly exposed as somewhere between shallow and non-existent.”
John Minto says other western governments have been critical of the UNRWA ban and the recent Israeli refusal to allow the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres to enter Israel.
Despite New Zealand having UN peace keepers in the Lebanon border areas, it failed to join the more than 40 countries which condemned the military attacks on a number of UNIFIL bases in south Lebanon last month”.
“Our government refuses to offend Israel in any way. Even major arms suppliers to Israel, particularly the US, France and the UK, have been sometimes critical of what is a genocide by Israel in Gaza.”
“In contrast, the New Zealand government blames Hamas for all the killing and destruction committed by Israel, though it also finds space to condemn Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran.”
Previous New Zealand governments have formally rebuked Israel for its violence, most recently former Foreign Minister Murry McCully in 2010 and former Prime Minister John Key in 2014, both by summoning in the Israeli ambassador.
“This time, when Israeli attacks on Gaza are becoming even more savage and sadistic by the day, our Foreign Minister and his government remains inactive and silent.”
John Minto says the Israeli war crimes in Gaza now clearly include ethnic cleansing.
“Reports of what is called the Israeli ‘General’s Plan’ are now widespread in our news media. The General’s Plan is a vile combination of military assault, starvation and exclusion of both aid workers and news media, to hide and facilitate the ‘death march’ of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from north of the Netzarim Corridor”.
“This is to prepare for a resumption of illegal Israeli colonisation in northern Gaza.”
“In September, our government voted with 123 other countries for a UN General Assembly resolution to demand that Israel withdraw from the Occupied Palestinian Territories without delay.”
“That was welcome.”
“What is not welcome is for New Zealand to then stand by when genocidal Israel carries out ethnic cleansing on a massive scale to once again spit on the UN and increase its occupation of Palestinian lands.”
Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader and MP for Te Tai Hauāuru, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer is calling on the Mayor for New Plymouth, Neil Holdom, to do the right thing.
“I am shocked at his decision to disregard the petition presented by Palestine Solidarity Taranaki calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire”, said Ngarewa-Packer.
“The group made up of his constituents have shown up week after week at Puke Ariki Landing for over a year to stand against the genocide taking place in Gaza, and the killing now extending to Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.
“They have worked with other Palestine Solidarity Network groups who have successfully garnered support from their local councils. They gathered 1800 signatures from local supporters and endorsements from two Iwi, church groups and Taranaki Muslim Association.
“These are your constituents, your people.
“This process unfairly removes the ability for input of hardworking and empathetic councillors who may have chosen to vote in support of this group.
“Unfortunately, this action mirrors what is happening with the current Government – removing due process, disallowing input by those most affected and most informed and harming those who already suffer the most. Fast-tracking and bypassing.
“I refuse to accept that this is not a council issue. This is an everyone issue… this is an absolute issue of human rights.
“In Gaza there have been at least 43 000 killed, over 100 000 injured, over 10 000 missing, almost the entire population displaced and faced with starvation. This is a human issue.
“We have seen successful support from other councils around Aotearoa such as Whanganui and Christchurch and the Mayor himself has in the past shown support for Ukraine, citing the need to support his constituents who may be affected.
“We must afford that same curtesy to Palestinians, their friends, whānau, and advocates within your own community.
“As Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Te Tai Hauāuru I stand wholeheartedly in solidarity with the indigenous peoples of Palestine and stand against colonial forces.
“I urge New Plymouth Mayor to reconsider his position, show his humanity and afford New Plymouth District Council the opportunity to stand on the right side of history”, concludes Ngarewa-Packer.
The Prime Minister is set to announce an additional £75 million to boost border security, bringing the investment in the Border Security Command over the next two years to £150 million.
PM to outline major investments to smash criminal smuggling gangs at INTERPOL General Assembly in Glasgow
New capabilities for Border Security Command from £150 million funding pot to drive down Organised Immigration Crime both at home and overseas
New additional funding will cover state-of-the-art tech and information centres, boosts to enforcement and intelligence resourcing and expanding CPS capacity
The Prime Minister is set to announce an additional £75 million to boost border security, bringing the investment in the Border Security Command over the next two years to £150 million.
Marking the first time the INTERPOL General Assembly has been hosted in the UK in over 50 years, Keir Starmer will today (4 November) open the Assembly in Glasgow by setting out his personal mission to smash the people smuggling gangs by resetting the UK’s whole approach to this challenge and intensifying international collaboration to meet the global scale of the threat.
The General Assembly is INTERPOL’s supreme governing body and comprises senior ministerial and policing leads from the organisation’s 196 member states.
In his speech, the Prime Minister will set out his plans to draw on his experience of bringing together agencies to tackle international terrorist and drug smuggling gangs during his time as Director of Public Prosecutions to dismantle the people smuggling gangs who drive illegal migration, profit from human misery and represent a serious threat to global security.
He will also set out how the £150 million will provide additional specialist investigators and state of the art surveillance equipment to ensure those behind this criminal activity are stopped and brought to justice.
This major funding boost for the government’s new Border Security Command will initially be directed towards a range of enforcement and intelligence activity, including:
Investing heavily in NCA technology and capabilities, delivering advanced data exploitation and improvements to technologies to boost collaboration with European partners to investigate and break people smuggling networks.
300 staff for the new Border Security Command, who will strengthen global partnerships, deliver new legislation and lead the system through investment and strategy.
100 specialist investigators and intelligence officers for the NCA, dedicated to tackling criminals who facilitate people smuggling.
Creating a new specialist OIC Intelligence Source Unit which will cohere intelligence flows from key police forces.
Boosting the Crown Prosecution Service’s ability to deliver charging decisions more quickly on international organised crime cases.
The Border Security Command, led by Martin Hewitt CBE QPM, will be provided with enhanced powers – through a new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill – to tackle organised immigration crime whilst providing for strong and effective border security.
New measures will make it easier to detect, disrupt and deter those seeking to engage in and benefit from organised immigration crime. The Command will also coordinate the work of intelligence agencies and law enforcement, who lead joint investigations with European counterparts to ensure we can bring those responsible to justice.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is expected to say:
“The world needs to wake up to the severity of this challenge. I was elected to deliver security for the British people. And strong borders are a part of that. But security doesn’t stop at our borders.
“There’s nothing progressive about turning a blind eye as men, women and children die in the Channel.
“This is a vile trade that must be stamped out – wherever it thrives. So we’re taking our approach to counter-terrorism – which we know works, and applying it to the gangs, with our new Border Security Command.
“We’re ending the fragmentation between policing, Border Force and our intelligence agencies.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:
“Criminal smuggler gangs profit from undermining our border security and putting lives at risk and they have been getting away with it for far too long.
“Our new Border Security Command, with the investment set out today, will mean a huge step change in the way we target these criminal gangs. People smugglers and traffickers operate in networks across borders, that’s why we have launched a major boost to our cooperation with international partners including other European countries, the G7 and Europol, and why we are so pleased to be hosting the INTERPOL conference on tackling international crime in Glasgow today.”
The Prime Minister will also announce that the UK Government has increased its in-year support for INTERPOL’s global operations through a £6 million investment which harnesses the organisation’s unique capabilities to tackle serious organised crime affecting the UK.
Addressing the General Assembly, the Prime Minister will say that closer cooperation with international partners is key as he details how the gangs’ operations span from the money markets in Kabul through to the Kurdish region of Iraq and right across Europe and into the UK.
He will stress the government’s ongoing commitment to strengthening security agreements to facilitate greater sharing of intelligence and more joint operational work, in particular through Europol.
The Home Office will also invest £24m in the new financial year to tackle international serious organised crime affecting the UK including drugs and firearms, fraud, trafficking and exploitation. Funds will in part be used to bolster work done by special prosecutors and operational partners in the Western Balkans.
There were more than 5,000 drug related deaths in 2023, with most of the illegal drugs causing these coming from overseas or facilitated by transnational gangs. ISOC funding will also be used to tackle drug smuggling upstream and at the UK border, building on recent successes, such as the effective collaboration with the US and Ecuador, which has resulted in the seizure of 19 tonnes of cocaine.
National Crime Agency Director General Graeme Biggar said:
“Serious and organised crime causes more harm, to more people, more often than any other national security threat. And almost all of serious and organised crime now has an international nexus. Distance, borders and languages are meaningless to criminals. This is why collaborations with INTERPOL have never been as important as they are today.
“Tackling organised crime, and especially immigration crime, remains a top priority for the NCA. We are currently leading around 70 investigations into the gangs or individuals involved in the highest echelons of this type of criminality, and we are devoting more resources to it than ever before.
“We have built up our intelligence sharing effort with law enforcement partners across Europe and beyond, including having more NCA officers based overseas, sharing intelligence and working side by side on joint investigations. This approach is bringing operational results with arrests and prosecutions, but we are also we are seeking to disrupt the people smugglers’ business model, through targeting their social media offering, their supply routes for equipment, and their financial flows.
“We are determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle these networks, wherever they operate.”
The announcement comes just a month after Britain joined up to a new G7 anti migrant smuggling action plan which included pledges to bolster border security, combat transnational organised crime, and protect vulnerable individuals from exploitation by smugglers.
The plan includes new, intelligence-led joint investigative actions to target criminal smuggling routes, working with social media platforms and internet providers to remove harmful content promoting illegal migration services or advertising fake job opportunities, and strengthening capabilities to monitor and anticipate irregular migration flows at both global and regional levels.
SARAH ABO, HOST: Welcome back. Well, more now on the Qantas scandal that’s dominated political headlines in the past week, despite the Government’s attempts to handball it. The competitor airline Virgin now claiming more than 90 per cent of flights for politicians are with Qantas, despite the requirement to choose the cheapest fare. Joining us to discuss today’s headlines is Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth from Canberra and Jacqui Felgate from right here in Melbourne. Good to see you, Jacqui. Amanda, I’ll start with you. So, last time you were on the show, you were less than convincing when it came to your flight upgrades. Have you, as Bridget McKenzie did, find any additional flights that weren’t declared?
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: Look, I have absolutely declared everything is on my register. And as I said last week, I have not had the opportunity to fly many places on holiday because I’ve got two young children. So, look, everything I have declared appropriately on my register.
SARAH ABO: Jason Clare yesterday said that he has made a personal call to Qantas to ask for an upgrade. Have you done the same?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: I haven’t made a personal call to Qantas for an upgrade, but, you know, I’ll let other MPs speak for themselves. But I actually think, Sarah, people are probably getting pretty sick of hearing about the itineraries of politicians – which airline they catch, when they catch it. I think people really want to talk about things that matter to them. Cost of living issues matter to them. That’s what they want to hear politicians talk about and not this sort of obsession about who flies what and where.
SARAH ABO: No, of course. Of course you guys would say that. I guess this does come back to cost of living issues because we know that Qantas dominates the airspace here in Australia. And the problem is for punters is they don’t have much of an option. Virgin has now come out and said that you’re not helping in terms of the politicians federally because you fly Qantas above Virgin rather than choosing the cheapest airfare. Isn’t that the way it should work?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, I can tell you, Sarah, I fly on the airline that gets me home to my kids or that allows me an extra hour with my kids and to still do my work. So, last night I flew Virgin to Canberra and I will fly back on Qantas at the end of the week because both of those flights give me an extra hour with my children. So, I actually do think, once again, people are really getting obsessed with which, when and where politicians fly. It’s just not the case that there is not a focus on cost of living. There needs to be a focus on cost of living rather than when and where politicians fly.
SARAH ABO: I guess the focus, Jacqui, has moved because this is what they should be doing and they’re not doing it. But it’s about public transparency, isn’t it?
JACQUI FELGATE, 3AW RADIO HOST: I think it is. And I also think the publicity for this book, have you ever seen anything like it? Joe Aston must be sitting back and going, thank you very much. But one of the issues today I find really interesting is the Virgin issue.
SARAH ABO: Yeah.
JACQUI FELGATE: Do we need to put a rule in where perhaps 50 per cent of all flights we split between our two big carriers? Because it’s an incredible amount of money.
SARAH ABO: Yeah, 90 per cent as well going to Qantas.
JACQUI FELGATE: And then we’ve got the issue with the slots if we go back to Qatar, not being allowed to have extra slots into Australia. What was the relationship then between the politicians making those decisions and Qantas?
SARAH ABO: Yeah, exactly. It’s all about how cosy they are, aren’t they. All right, well, Amanda, let’s move on, seeing as you’re so keen to. And the Government, it seems, is limbering up for an election, or perhaps just inspired by what you’re seeing in the US at the moment with that rally in Adelaide where new changes to student HECS debts were announced. So, Amanda, if re-elected, you’ve promised sweeping changes which would see student loans not repaid until a salary reaches $67,000. It’ll cost $16 billion. Is it unfair to lump this cost onto taxpayers?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Firstly, I would say that what was announced in Adelaide was really significant. Not only were there higher thresholds, but a 20 per cent wiping of people with student debt. We know a lot of people have been lumped with really significant student debts and it is impacting their lives. It may be affecting how they get a mortgage or whether they can get a mortgage or not. So, actually wiping this debt and increasing the threshold provides real cost of living relief, but also supports people into the future. This is really important for so many people that are starting out after their uni degree that have this significant debt, and this is a real practical measure that we can take to support them.
SARAH ABO: Jacqui, obviously not everyone chooses to study. Economists say this is something that actually favours the wealthy. And the architect of this scheme himself says that this does nothing to improve student living for Australians.
JACQUI FELGATE: No, I agree. And you know where I think the money should really be going, it’s actually more money to TAFE. And I know this system does include some extra funding for TAFE debt as well. But when we look at the university system, do we almost need to look at it on a wider scale now and say, should we be pushing everyone into uni when it doesn’t necessarily suit us? And I know here in Victoria, one of the number one issues is our lack of tradies and our lack of buildings. We have a housing crisis around the country, we cannot get enough builders. And I’d like to see a larger section of that money being pushed into traditional trades to get people into a career that is probably much more suited. There is this real reliance, I think in Australia that you must go to university if you’re a young person.
SARAH ABO: Exactly.
JACQUI FELGATE: And then you’re saddled with a debt that you may never be able to pay off.
SARAH ABO: And that’s the issue, I think, Amanda. I mean, a lot of us, a lot of people do want an education, but not everyone does. And so the problem is those who aren’t getting educated through tertiary means are paying for those who aren’t.
AMANDA RISHWORTH: That’s why part of the announcement yesterday was about making fee-free TAFE permanent. When I look at the impact that fee-free TAFE that we’ve introduced has had in my local TAFE campus at Noarlunga, we see construction coming back onto that TAFE campus, we see motor mechanics coming back onto that TAFE campus. That’s all been as a result of our Government’s fee-free TAFE. And yesterday at the rally, not only did the Prime Minister announce a future where we would support people with student debt, but he announced that he would make fee-free TAFE a permanent feature of our vocational education system. So, Jacqui is absolutely right. We do need to be training in both areas if we’re going to actually achieve the type of job growth into the future.
JACQUI FELGATE: I just think you need more places. If you ask anyone, there are not enough TAFE places, particularly in traditional trades. Like we talk about it on 3AW all the time. If you’ve got a kid that needs to go into that, the waiting list is really long in Victoria.
SARAH ABO: It sure is. All right, a lot to address there. Thank you both so much for joining us today.
Source: United Kingdom – Prime Minister’s Office 10 Downing Street
The Prime Minister is set to announce an additional £75 million to boost border security, bringing the investment in the Border Security Command over the next two years to £150 million.
PM to outline major investments to smash criminal smuggling gangs at INTERPOL General Assembly in Glasgow
New capabilities for Border Security Command from £150 million funding pot to drive down Organised Immigration Crime both at home and overseas
New additional funding will cover state-of-the-art tech and information centres, boosts to enforcement and intelligence resourcing and expanding CPS capacity
The Prime Minister is set to announce an additional £75 million to boost border security, bringing the investment in the Border Security Command over the next two years to £150 million.
Marking the first time the INTERPOL General Assembly has been hosted in the UK in over 50 years, Keir Starmer will today (4 November) open the Assembly in Glasgow by setting out his personal mission to smash the people smuggling gangs by resetting the UK’s whole approach to this challenge and intensifying international collaboration to meet the global scale of the threat.
The General Assembly is INTERPOL’s supreme governing body and comprises senior ministerial and policing leads from the organisation’s 196 member states.
In his speech, the Prime Minister will set out his plans to draw on his experience of bringing together agencies to tackle international terrorist and drug smuggling gangs during his time as Director of Public Prosecutions to dismantle the people smuggling gangs who drive illegal migration, profit from human misery and represent a serious threat to global security.
He will also set out how the £150 million will provide additional specialist investigators and state of the art surveillance equipment to ensure those behind this criminal activity are stopped and brought to justice.
This major funding boost for the government’s new Border Security Command will initially be directed towards a range of enforcement and intelligence activity, including:
Investing heavily in NCA technology and capabilities, delivering advanced data exploitation and improvements to technologies to boost collaboration with European partners to investigate and break people smuggling networks.
300 staff for the new Border Security Command, who will strengthen global partnerships, deliver new legislation and lead the system through investment and strategy.
100 specialist investigators and intelligence officers for the NCA, dedicated to tackling criminals who facilitate people smuggling.
Creating a new specialist OIC Intelligence Source Unit which will cohere intelligence flows from key police forces.
Boosting the Crown Prosecution Service’s ability to deliver charging decisions more quickly on international organised crime cases.
The Border Security Command, led by Martin Hewitt CBE QPM, will be provided with enhanced powers – through a new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill – to tackle organised immigration crime whilst providing for strong and effective border security.
New measures will make it easier to detect, disrupt and deter those seeking to engage in and benefit from organised immigration crime. The Command will also coordinate the work of intelligence agencies and law enforcement, who lead joint investigations with European counterparts to ensure we can bring those responsible to justice.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is expected to say:
“The world needs to wake up to the severity of this challenge. I was elected to deliver security for the British people. And strong borders are a part of that. But security doesn’t stop at our borders.
“There’s nothing progressive about turning a blind eye as men, women and children die in the Channel.
“This is a vile trade that must be stamped out – wherever it thrives. So we’re taking our approach to counter-terrorism – which we know works, and applying it to the gangs, with our new Border Security Command.
“We’re ending the fragmentation between policing, Border Force and our intelligence agencies.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:
“Criminal smuggler gangs profit from undermining our border security and putting lives at risk and they have been getting away with it for far too long.
“Our new Border Security Command, with the investment set out today, will mean a huge step change in the way we target these criminal gangs. People smugglers and traffickers operate in networks across borders, that’s why we have launched a major boost to our cooperation with international partners including other European countries, the G7 and Europol, and why we are so pleased to be hosting the INTERPOL conference on tackling international crime in Glasgow today.”
The Prime Minister will also announce that the UK Government has increased its in-year support for INTERPOL’s global operations through a £6 million investment which harnesses the organisation’s unique capabilities to tackle serious organised crime affecting the UK.
Addressing the General Assembly, the Prime Minister will say that closer cooperation with international partners is key as he details how the gangs’ operations span from the money markets in Kabul through to the Kurdish region of Iraq and right across Europe and into the UK.
He will stress the government’s ongoing commitment to strengthening security agreements to facilitate greater sharing of intelligence and more joint operational work, in particular through Europol.
The Home Office will also invest £24m in the new financial year to tackle international serious organised crime affecting the UK including drugs and firearms, fraud, trafficking and exploitation. Funds will in part be used to bolster work done by special prosecutors and operational partners in the Western Balkans.
There were more than 5,000 drug related deaths in 2023, with most of the illegal drugs causing these coming from overseas or facilitated by transnational gangs. ISOC funding will also be used to tackle drug smuggling upstream and at the UK border, building on recent successes, such as the effective collaboration with the US and Ecuador, which has resulted in the seizure of 19 tonnes of cocaine.
National Crime Agency Director General Graeme Biggar said:
“Serious and organised crime causes more harm, to more people, more often than any other national security threat. And almost all of serious and organised crime now has an international nexus. Distance, borders and languages are meaningless to criminals. This is why collaborations with INTERPOL have never been as important as they are today.
“Tackling organised crime, and especially immigration crime, remains a top priority for the NCA. We are currently leading around 70 investigations into the gangs or individuals involved in the highest echelons of this type of criminality, and we are devoting more resources to it than ever before.
“We have built up our intelligence sharing effort with law enforcement partners across Europe and beyond, including having more NCA officers based overseas, sharing intelligence and working side by side on joint investigations. This approach is bringing operational results with arrests and prosecutions, but we are also we are seeking to disrupt the people smugglers’ business model, through targeting their social media offering, their supply routes for equipment, and their financial flows.
“We are determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle these networks, wherever they operate.”
The announcement comes just a month after Britain joined up to a new G7 anti migrant smuggling action plan which included pledges to bolster border security, combat transnational organised crime, and protect vulnerable individuals from exploitation by smugglers.
The plan includes new, intelligence-led joint investigative actions to target criminal smuggling routes, working with social media platforms and internet providers to remove harmful content promoting illegal migration services or advertising fake job opportunities, and strengthening capabilities to monitor and anticipate irregular migration flows at both global and regional levels.
