Sweida: Clashes rattle civilians as truce frays
03/08/2025
Israeli minister Ben-Gvir says he prayed at flashpoint holy site
Middle East
03/08/2025
Humanitarian needs escalate in Sweida as truce frays
Middle East
03/08/2025
'We want this war to be over': Israeli hostage families protest in Tel Aviv
Middle East
03/08/2025
'My children sleep without food': Gaza aid fails to reach most desperate
Middle East
03/08/2025
'Famine is unfolding. It's not pending anymore': Why isn't enough food reaching people in Gaza?
Middle East
02/08/2025
FRANCE 24 report in Sweida: Tens of thousands displaced since clashes began
Middle East
02/08/2025
Italy to begin air drops of aid into Gaza, minister says
Middle East
01/08/2025
Trump's envoy visits an aid distribution center in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip
Middle East
01/08/2025
France sending 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza, foreign minister says
Middle East
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France 24
41 minutes ago
- France 24
Gaza student leaves France over anti-Semitic social media posts spat
A student from Gaza who had been studying in France on a scholarship left for Qatar Sunday, ordered out over anti-Semitic comments found on her social media accounts, the foreign ministry said. Foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot "stressed the unacceptable nature of the comments made by Ms. Nour Attaalah, a Gazan student, before she entered French territory", said the ministry statement. "Given their seriousness, Ms. Attaalah could not remain on French territory. She left France today to go to Qatar to continue her studies there," it added. The student's lawyer, Ossama Dahmane, said Attaalah had chosen to "pursue her studies in another country in a spirit of appeasement and to guarantee her security", even if "she firmly denies the accusations made against her". The young woman, who had received a student visa and a government scholarship as part of a programme for Gazan students, had been due to join Sciences Po Lille in the fall. She arrived in France on July 11, according to a French diplomatic source. But social media posts from the past two years calling for the killing of Jews, since deleted, were discovered. That led to a judicial investigation for condoning terrorism, and an inquiry to determine why the posts had not been detected in advance. FRANCE 24 was unable to confirm the screen shots attributed to her by internet users and media outlets, but Sciences Po Lille said Wednesday that her social media comments had been confirmed, without elaborating. Dahmane, the lawyer, said the "alleged facts are largely based on shared tweets, taken out of context". Barrot said Friday that France was freezing all its student evacuation programmes from Gaza pending the outcome of the investigation into how the posts had been missed. The foreign ministry would not say how many students have been affected, citing privacy reasons. France has allowed in several hundred students from Gaza since the start of the war between Israel and the Hamas movement.
France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Far-right Israeli minister sparks outrage by praying at flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound
A far-right Israeli minister visited and prayed at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site on Sunday, triggering regional condemnation and fears that the provocative move could further escalate tensions. The visit came as hospitals in Gaza said 33 more Palestinians seeking food aid were killed by Israeli fire. With Israel facing global criticism over famine-like conditions in the besieged strip, Itamar Ben-Gvir 's visit to the hillside compound threatened to further set back efforts by international mediators to halt Israel's nearly two-year military offensive in Gaza. The area, which Jews call the Temple Mount, is the holiest site in Judaism and was home to the ancient biblical temples. Muslims call the site the Noble Sanctuary. Today it is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Visits to the site by Israeli officials are considered a provocation across the Muslim world and openly praying violates a longstanding status quo. Jews have been allowed to tour it but are barred from praying, with Israeli police and troops providing security. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said after Ben-Gvir's visit that Israel would not change the norms governing the site. Israeli minister Ben-Gvir says he prayed at flashpoint holy site 06:35 Ben-Gvir visited following Hamas' release of videos showing two emaciated Israeli hostages. The videos caused an uproar in Israel and raised pressure on the government to reach a deal to bring home the remaining 50 hostages who were captured on Oct. 7, 2023, in the Hamas-led attack that triggered the war. Ben-Gvir called for Israel to annex the Gaza Strip and encourage Palestinians to leave, reviving rhetoric that has complicated negotiations to end the war. He raged against a video that Hamas released Saturday of 24-year-old hostage Evyatar David showing him emaciated in a dimly lit Gaza tunnel, and called it an attempt to pressure Israel. Ben-Gvir's previous visits to the site have prompted threats from Palestinian militant groups. Clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian demonstrators in and around the site fueled an 11-day war with Hamas in 2021. Sunday's visit was swiftly condemned as an incitement by Palestinian leaders as well as Jordan, the Al-Aqsa Mosque's custodian, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Houthi rebels in Yemen said they fired three drones at Israel; Israel's military said a 'suspicious aerial target launched from Yemen' was intercepted. The videos — released by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza — triggered outrage across the Israeli political spectrum after the hostages, speaking under duress, described grim conditions and an urgent lack of food. Tens of thousands rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday, calling on Israel and the United States to urgently pursue the hostages' release after suspending ceasefire talks. Israel's mission to the UN said it requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the hostages, which will take place Tuesday. 'They do not want a deal,' Netanyahu said of Hamas. 'They want to break us using these videos of horror.' His office said it spoke with the Red Cross to seek help in providing the hostages with food and medical care. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was 'appalled by the harrowing videos' and called for access to the hostages. Hamas' military wing said it was ready to respond positively to Red Cross requests to deliver food to hostages, if humanitarian corridors are opened in a 'regular and permanent manner' in Gaza. Right-wing politicians who oppose deals with Hamas said the videos reinforced their conviction that Hamas must be obliterated. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said a staff member was killed when Israeli forces shelled its office. Israel's military said it was reviewing the claim. The Red Cross called it an 'outrage' that so many first responders have been killed in the war. Hospital officials said Israeli forces killed at least 33 Palestinians seeking food Sunday, and witnesses described facing gunfire as hungry crowds surged toward aid sites. Desperation has gripped the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million, which experts warn faces 'a worst-case scenario of famine ″ because of Israel's blockade. No aid entered Gaza between March 2 and May 19, and aid has been limited since then. Witness Yousef Abed described coming under indiscriminate fire and seeing at least three people bleeding on the ground. 'I couldn't stop and help them because of the bullets,' he said. Two hospitals in southern and central Gaza reported receiving bodies from routes leading to the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid sites, including 11 killed in the Teina area while trying to reach a distribution point in Khan Younis. Three Palestinian eyewitnesses, including one traveling through Teina, told The Associated Press they saw soldiers open fire on the routes, which are in military zones. Israel's military said it was not aware of casualties as a result of its gunfire near aid sites. GHF's media office said there was no gunfire 'near or at our sites.' The United Nations says 859 people were killed near GHF sites from May 27 to July 31 and hundreds of others have been killed along the routes of U.N.-led food convoys. GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired warning shots to prevent deadly crowding. Israel's military has said it only fires warning shots. Both claim the death tolls have been exaggerated. Gaza's health ministry said six Palestinian adults died of malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll among adults to 82 over the five weeks that such deaths have been counted. Ninety-three children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war began, the ministry said. Malnutrition-related deaths are not included in the ministry's war casualty count. Israel has taken steps in the past week to increase the flow of food into Gaza, saying 1,200 aid trucks have entered while hundreds of pallets have been airdropped, but UN and relief groups say conditions have not improved. The UN has said 500 to 600 trucks a day are needed. About 1,200 people were killed in the 2023 attack that sparked the war and another 251 were abducted. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. The ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, is staffed by medical professionals. The UN and other independent experts view its figures as the most reliable casualty count. Israel has disputed the figures but hasn't provided its own.
Euronews
2 hours ago
- Euronews
Why copper, aluminium and steel drive Trump's MAGA agenda3
Like the US government's country-specific tariffs, the hefty 50% levies on all steel, copper and aluminium imports go beyond economics — reflecting Trump's desire to reclaim once-dominant US industries and rally his blue-collar base. "Much of the motivation for tariffs on the base inputs of production, such as copper, is primarily a political motivation," David Stritch, a senior FX Analyst at Caxton, told Euronews. "Trump has on several occasions become frustrated at the reversal in the production of all three materials, away from the United States, which was the dominant global producer as recently as the 1980's, and towards Chile for copper and China for steel and aluminium," he continued. Trump has long framed steel and aluminium as the backbone of American strength, linking their production to economic survival as well as national security. During his first term in 2018, he underscored just how central he believes these industries are. "A strong steel and aluminium industry are vital to our national security. Absolutely vital," Trump said. "Steel is steel. You don't have steel, you don't have a country. Our industries have been targeted for years and years — decades, in fact — by unfair foreign trade practices leading to the shuttered plants and mills, the laying off of millions of workers, and the decimation of entire communities. And that's going to stop, right? It's going to stop," he declared at the time. When it comes to copper, the US currently imports around half of its resources, mostly from Chile and Canada. On Wednesday, copper prices fell sharply before the 1 August deadline for the implementation of new tariffs, with US copper futures sinking 20% to around $4.55 or €3.94 per pound, marking the largest intra-day fall on record. This came after US copper prices surged to new records in July when Trump first announced the levy. Again taking investors by surprise, the president then announced this week that the raw material — as opposed to semi-finished products — would be exempt from the duty, threatening less of a supply squeeze. Imports of copper concentrate and cathodes won't be affected by new levies, although shipments of wire, pipes, and sheeting will be. Meanwhile the doubling of steel and aluminium tariffs, to 50% from their previous 25% tariff rate, has significantly raised US domestic metal prices, cutting off cost-competitive imports and increasing volatility for manufacturers. Higher input costs and shrinking availability are forcing US companies to consider reshoring their investments and redesigning their supply chains. Whether or not tariffs will actually boost domestic production nonetheless remains to be seen, as levies imposed by Trump during his first term failed to do so. By 2024, US steel output was actually 1% lower than in 2017, before Trump's initial tariffs, while aluminium production had declined by nearly 10%. According to recent analysis, Trump's tariffs could raise manufacturing costs by up to 4.5%, squeezing narrow-margin sectors like EVs and appliances, as well as delaying investment in key manufacturing hubs across the country. Industries 'snatched away' from the US For most of the 20th century, the United States was the world's top copper producer until Chile took this title, marking the end of US dominance. Today, Chile remains the largest global producer of the metal. In terms of steel production, the US peaked in the early 1970s before the industry faced a prolonged collapse, deepened by a series of recessions. Cheaper and more efficient systems in Japan, South Korea, Europe and elsewhere undercut high-cost US integrated steel mills. A strong dollar also made foreign steel even cheaper, while domestic plants were burdened with aging equipment, high labour contracts and rising environmental costs. Steel towns — the ones Trump now wants to reinvigorate nearly 50 years later — collapsed economically, despite government interventions to keep them afloat. This is why the region from New York through the Midwest continues to be called the Rust Belt, referring to corroding mills and production sites that have long fallen out of use. In terms of aluminium, the US was the world's leading aluminium producer for much of the 20th century, largely due to the abundance of cheap electricity needed for smelting and strong domestic demand from defence, aerospace and automotive industries. In the early 2000s, China overtook the US as the leading producer of aluminium. "Trump's greatest base of support, primarily blue collar non-college educated men, has seen the largest drop in employment opportunities as a result of this offshoring," Stritch told Euronews. Increasing costs, especially in green-adjacent industries Trump's sweeping 50% tariffs on copper, steel and aluminium are likely to disrupt industries that rely heavily on these materials, from construction and defence and even green technologies. "Practically, all three materials are used extensively from solar panels to car batteries, one may assume that it would thus be the US manufacturing base that suffers to the largest extent," Stritch continued. Nowhere is this pressure felt more acutely than in sectors like electric vehicles and renewable energy, where these metals are essential and profit margins are already minimal. Stritch added: "We may further speculate that owing to the high tariff placed on these goods and the general fragility of the electric car market at present, the high inputs of all three materials and the thin average industry profit margin of 5%, EV producers may endure the worst of the increased input costs."
