Daily World Briefing, July 14
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday called on Hamas to hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority (PA).
During his meeting with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the Jordanian capital Amman, Abbas said that "Hamas will not rule Gaza in the post-war era," the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.
He stressed that the only viable solution for the Gaza Strip is Israel's complete withdrawal from the strip and the empowerment of the State of Palestine to assume its responsibilities with Arab and international support.
Macron announces extra military spending over next two years
French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday an additional 6.5 billion euros (7.6 billion U.S. dollars) in military spending to be allocated over the next two years, aiming for annual defense expenditure to reach 64 billion euros by 2027.
In an address to the nation's armed forces, Macron outlined France's military direction and strategic vision, and he noted that military spending "is and will continue to be a source of wealth for our gross domestic product, our economy, and our regions."
The French president also revealed plans to explore the creation of a new national service initiative. (1 euro = 1.17 U.S. dollar)
German finance minister urges EU to push back if tariff talks with U.S. fail
German Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said on Sunday that the European Union (EU) must take firm action against the United States if tariff negotiations fail to ease the escalating global trade conflict, according to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Klingbeil's remarks are in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's threat on Saturday to impose a 30 percent tariff on imports from the EU on Aug. 1, after negotiations so far have failed to yield a deal.
Urging an end to the escalating trade tensions, Klingbeil said "Trump's tariffs produce only losers. They threaten the American economy just as much as they harm businesses in Europe."
Klingbeil was quoted by Sueddeutsche Zeitung as saying that EU doesn't "need new threats or provocations," but "a fair deal."
Malaysia's forest park listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site
The Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) Forest Park Selangor, located 16 km northwest of Kuala Lumpur, has been officially listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry has said.
The listing was made during the UNESCO's 47th session of the World Heritage Committee held from July 6 to 16 at the Paris headquarters, the ministry said in a statement.
According to the statement, the listing was decided by the World Heritage Committee, following a nomination process that began in 2013.
"The forest park is a unique site and represents one of the earliest large-scale tropical forest ecosystem restoration efforts through the replanting of trees in a former tin mining area," it said.
58 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza: sources
At least 58 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes and gunfire across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinian sources said.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense in Gaza, told Xinhua that at least 15 people, including a doctor and a child, were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a crowded market in central Gaza City.
Basal added that 11 people, including a girl, were killed in separate Israeli airstrikes on the al-Shati refugee camp, and the neighborhoods of Tal al-Hawa, al-Zeitoun, and al-Sabra in Gaza City.
Israeli drones attacked a water distribution point in al-Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, according to eyewitnesses. In a press statement, Al-Awda Hospital said the bombing resulted in 10 deaths, including children, and 16 wounded.
The hospital recorded another 10 deaths from a separate Israeli airstrike targeting a residential house in the same refugee camp, according to the statement.
In the south, eight people were killed in the city of Khan Younis, Nasser Medical Complex said, noting that another four were killed by Israeli army fire outside the U.S.-backed aid center in the Shakoush area, north of Rafah.
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Britain offers discounts on electric cars to boost demand
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The Star
an hour ago
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Analysis-For Europe, 30% US tariff would hammer trade, force export model rethink
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The 30% tariff on European goods threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump would, if implemented, be a game-changer for Europe, wiping out whole chunks of transatlantic commerce and forcing a rethink of its export-led economic model. European ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday remained convinced they can bring Trump back from the brink before his Aug. 1 deadline and reach a deal that would keep the $1.7 trillion two-way trading relationship broadly intact. But the wild swings in Trump's mood towards the European Union - which he has sometimes labelled as friendly and at other times accused of being set up specifically to destroy the United States - keep the 30% threat very much alive for now. "It will be almost impossible to continue the trading as we are used to in a transatlantic relationship," EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said of the 30% rate before meeting ministers and officials of the 27 EU capitals to give them an update. "Practically it prohibits the trade." EU officials had been hoping they could limit the damage by agreeing a baseline tariff around 10% - the one currently in place - with additional carve-outs for key sectors like autos. Last year the United States accounted for a fifth of all EU exports - its largest partner. Trump's bugbear is the $235 billion U.S. deficit generated by the goods component of that trade, even though the U.S. earns a surplus on services. UPEND POLICY PLANS The impact of making European exports - from pharmaceuticals to autos, machinery or wine - too expensive to be viable for American consumers would be instantly tangible. Economists at Barclays estimate an average tariff rate on EU goods of 35% including both reciprocal and sectoral duties combined with a 10% retaliation from Brussels would shave 0.7 percentage points off euro zone output. This would eat up most of the euro zone's already meagre growth and likely lead the European Central Bank to cut its 2% deposit rate further. "Inflation would likely undershoot the 2% target more deeply, and for longer, prompting a more accommodative monetary policy stance – with the deposit rate potentially reaching 1% by (March 2026)," the Barclays economists said. An earlier estimate by German economic institute IW found tariffs of 20% to 50% would cost Germany's 4.3 trillion euro economy more than 200 billion euros between now and 2028. While arguably small in percentage terms, that lost activity could still upend Chancellor Friedrich Merz's plans to push through tax cuts and spend more on renewing the country's long neglected infrastructure. "We would have to postpone large parts of our economic policy efforts because it would interfere with everything and hit the German export industry to the core," Merz said at the weekend of a 30% rate. 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The International Monetary Fund has estimated the EU's own internal barriers to the free flow of activity are the equivalent of tariffs of 44% for goods and 110% for services. Mooted reforms such as creating freer cross-border capital markets have made little headway in more than a decade. "It is easier said than done. There isn't an agreement to deepen. The barriers are imposed by the EU members themselves to benefit their own," Folkman said of the web of national regulations. How all this plays into the EU's negotiating strategy in the less than three weeks ahead remains to be seen - but for now, the bloc has stuck to its line of being open to talks while readying retaliatory measures if they break down. One thing that might persuade Trump to reach a deal, some European observers suggest, is that the lingering uncertainty may by itself push back the timing of the Federal Reserve interest rate cut the U.S. president so desires. "The latest developments on the trade war suggest that it will take more time to get a sense of the 'landing zone' on of course raises uncertainty for everyone, including the Fed," AXA chief economist Gilles Moec said. "With this new for cutting quickly get even harder to justify." (Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz in Berlin; Writing by Mark John; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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an hour ago
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