Every state and territory except the ACT votes against voice, but Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney vows to ‘move forward’

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Australian voters have resoundingly rejected a proposal to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament in the country’s constitution, with voters in every state and territory bar the ACT opposing the change.

The Australian Electoral Commission said 59% of the country voted no as of 10.30pm AEDT on Saturday. The state with the highest yes vote was Victoria, at 46%, while the Queensland had the lowest yes vote, at 32%.

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Cancellation comes as Australian government echoes US call for Israel to operate by the rules of war in its response to Hamas attacks

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Two planned flights to evacuate Australians stranded in Israel have been cancelled amid growing fears of escalating violence in the region, although the Albanese government says it is working on alternatives to bring people to safety.

The cancellation of the two planned flights comes as Australia has echoed a call from the Biden administration for Israel to operate by the rules of war in its response to Hamas attacks, while pledging an additional $10m in humanitarian assistance for civilians affected by the conflict in Gaza.

Day commemorating 1986 People Power Revolution omitted from official list of holidays for 2024

The Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, has dropped a public holiday marking the anniversary of a revolution that toppled his dictator father, further fuelling concerns his family is seeking to “whitewash” history.

Ferdinand Marcos Sr ruled the Philippines for more than two decades until he was ousted by the peaceful People Power Revolution of February 1986, when hundreds of thousands took to the streets. The Marcos family was forced to flee the country, and sought exile in Hawaii.

Move comes after assassination of former PM Shinzo Abe and growing criticism of fundraising activities

Japan’s government has asked a court to strip the Unification church of its status, amid growing criticism of the group’s fundraising activities after the assassination last year of the former prime minister Shinzo Abe.

If the Tokyo district court accepts the request, the church – whose members are colloquially known as Moonies– will be stripped of its status as a religious corporation and lose exemptions from corporate and property taxes, as well as a tax on income from monetary offerings.

Cases are rising in many parts of the country and critics are blaming chronic water shortages and poor sanitation systems

The Zimbabwean government has banned large gatherings in parts of the country and increased surveillance at ports of entry in an effort to contain a rise in cholera cases.

With 100 suspected deaths, most of them in September, and nearly 5,000 possible cases of the water-borne disease in more than 41 districts, including Harare, authorities fear a repeat of the 2008 epidemic where 4,000 people died.

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Implementing Decision (CFSP)

2022/242 of 21 February 2022 implementing Decision 2013/255/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Syria

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2022/582 of 8 April 2022 amending Decision 2014/145/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on

the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2022/579 of 8 April 2022 amending Decision 2012/642/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Belarus and the involvement of Belarus in the Russian aggression against Ukraine

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2022/578 of 8 April 2022 amending Decision 2014/512/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine

Als kijker zit je op het puntje van je stoel bij het Duitse ontvoeringsdrama Liebes Kind, momenteel een grote hit op Netflix. Een oude vermissingszaak wordt heropend nadat een vrouw en haar dochter weten te ontsnappen aan hun ontvoerder. De grimmige serie zit vol plotwendingen en weet tot het einde te verrassen.

A worker was seriously injured on Saturday morning when he fell one storey while working in a hotel, the police said.

The accident happened in Dawret il-Qawra, St Paul’s Bay, at 9am.

The worker, a man aged 31 of Zebbug, suffered serious injuries.

Magistrate Victor Axiak is leading an inquiry.

The Freeport’s shore-to-ship project – which is a project designed to ensure that this commercial port keeps working in its best possible manner – will contribute to better look after the environment while reducing inconvenience for people within its vicinity, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri said.

Digging works for gullies have begun and pipes that will provide cable passages to supply the ships’ electrical currents are already being placed.

This project is estimated to cost around €12 million, will be financed through European funding, and is expected to be completed by 2025. The two terminals as well as the South Quays of both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 will be designed in a way for ships to be able to connect to the local electrical grid after switching off their engines and docking.

This means that while cleaner air should be ensured, there should also be less inconvenience for nearby residents through the lessened noise pollution.

“This is another promised Government project that will have various benefits,” Minister Schembri said. The Minister said that these benefits shall primarily be environmental since ships’ emissions are predicted to drastically lessen around the surrounding areas of Birzebbugia Bay. The Lands Minister also referenced the elimination of noise pollution from docked ships that are being worked on at the Freeport.

Minister Schembri also discussed the squaring off project at the Freeport. Through an investment close to €104 million that shall expand the Freeport for the first time in 20 years to provide an additional 30,000m² worth of land, an added guarantee should be placed on providing solid facilities to new ships working with LNG. Furthermore, the Freeport can host these ships further away from the nearby residential zone.

Additional works for this squaring off include extending the north pier located in Terminal 2 by 176 metres and the western pier by 195 metres, as well as the removed possibility of to place cranes on West Quay Terminal 1 – the pier nearest to residents. David Magro – the CEO of the Malta Freeport Corporation – said that the OPS project has begun and is already moving at a good rhythm.

A man of Chechen origin who was under surveillance by French security services over suspected Islamic radicalization stabbed a teacher to death at his former high school and wounded three other people Friday in northern France, authorities said.

France raised its threat alert to its highest level, and the attack was being investigated by anti-terrorism prosecutors amid soaring global tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas. It also happened almost three years after another teacher, Samuel Paty, was beheaded by a radicalized Chechen near a Paris area school.

The suspected attacker had been under surveillance since the summer on suspicion of Islamic radicalization, French intelligence services told The Associated Press. He was detained Thursday for questioning based on the monitoring of his phone calls in recent days, but investigators found no sign that he was preparing an attack, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

’’There was a race against the clock. But there was no threat, no weapon, no indication. We did our our job seriously,″ Darmanin said on TF1 television. French intelligence suggested a link between the war in the Middle East and the suspect’s decision to attack, the minister said.

The suspect, identified by prosecutors as Mohamed M., was reportedly refusing to speak to investigators. Several others also were in custody Friday, national counterterrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said. Police said the suspect’s younger brother was among those held for questioning.

President Emmanuel Macron said France had been “hit once again by the barbarity of Islamist terrorism.”

“Nearly three years to the day after the assassination of Samuel Paty, terrorism has hit a school again and in a context that we’re all aware of,” Macron said at the site of the attack in Arras, a city 115 miles (185 kilometers) north of Paris.

A colleague and a fellow teacher identified the dead educator as Dominique Bernard, a French language teacher at the Gambetta-Carnot school, which enrolls students ages 11-18. The victim “stepped in and probably saved many lives” but two of the wounded — another teacher and a security guard — were fighting for theirs, according to Macron.

Authorities said the third person wounded worked as a cleaner at the school. The prosecutor said the alleged assailant was a former student there and repeatedly shouted “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic during the attack.

Police officer Sliman Hamzi was one of the first on the scene. Hamzi said he was alerted by another officer, rushed to the school and saw a male victim lying on the ground outside the school and the attacker being taken away. He said the victim had his throat slit.

“I’m extremely shocked by what I saw," the officer said. "It was a horrible thing to see this poor man who was killed on the job by a lunatic.”

The National Police force identified the suspect in the attack as a Russian national of Chechen origin who was born in 2003. The French intelligence services told the AP he had been closely watched since the summer with tails and telephone surveillance and was stopped as recently as Thursday for a police check that found no wrongdoing.

Friday’s attack had echoes of Paty’s slaying on Oct 16, 2020 — also a Friday — by an 18-year-old who had become radicalized. Like the suspect in Friday’s stabbings, the earlier attacker had a Chechen background; police shot and killed him.

Martin Doussau, a philosophy teacher at Gambetta-Carnot, said the assailant was armed with two knives and appeared to be hunting specifically for a history teacher. Paty taught history and geography.

“I was chased by the attacker, who ... asked me if I teach history,’” said Doussau, who recounted how he barricaded himself behind a door until police used a stun gun to subdue the attacker. “When he turned around and asked me if I am a history teacher, I immediately thought of Samuel Paty."

The school went into lockdown, and some children were held inside classrooms for hours while distraught parents gathered outside.

“My husband was in tears. There were a lot of people crying, a lot in a state of panic,'' said Céline Bourgeois, whose 15-year-old son, Louis, was inside.

Prosecutors said they were considering charges of terror-related murder and attempted murder against the suspect.

Macron visited the school, stopping for a moment before the blanket-covered body of the teacher, which was in the parking lot in front of the school, then met with students.

He said police thwarted an “attempted attack” in another region of France after the teacher’s fatal stabbing. He did not provide details, but the Interior Ministry said he was referring to a man armed with a knife arrested coming out of a prayer hall in the Yvelines region west of Paris. The man’s motives weren’t immediately clear, police said.

School attacks are rare in France, and the government asked authorities to heighten vigilance at all schools across the country.

The government also increased its threat alert to its highest level Friday, allowing for larger police and military deployments to protect the country. Darmanin said there was no specific threat that prompted the move, but cited calls by extremists to attack amid the Mideast war.

He said authorities have detained 12 people near schools or places of worship since the Hamas attack on Israel last Saturday, some of whom were armed and were preparing to attack. France has heightened security at hundreds of Jewish sites around the country this week.

The suspect's telephone conversations in recent days gave no indication of an impending attack, leading intelligence officers to conclude that the assailant decided suddenly on Friday to act, intelligence services told the AP.

The suspect's father was expelled from France in 2018 for radicalism, the interior minister said.

An older brother is serving a 5-year prison term for terror offences. He was convicted this year of involvement in a plot for an armed attack around the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris that was thwarted by the intelligence services. Other members of the radical Islamist group were also jailed for up to 15 years. He was the group’s only Chechen.

The older brother also was a former pupil at the high school targeted Friday, according to legal records from his trial earlier this year on terror-related charges. Investigation records show that during a school class in 2016 about freedom of expression, the older brother defended a terror attack in 2015 that killed 12 cartoonists at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

Friday's attack came amid heightened tensions around the world over Hamas' attack on southern Israel and Israel's blistering military response, which have killed hundreds of civilians on both sides.

Darmanin on Thursday ordered local authorities to ban all pro-Palestinian demonstrations amid a rise in antisemitic acts.

France is estimated to have the world’s third-largest Jewish population after Israel and the U.S., as well as the largest Muslim population in Western Europe.

A moment of silence was held at the opening of a France-Netherlands soccer match Friday night to honor victims of the Israel-Hamas fighting and the slain teacher.

Macron said the school in Arras would reopen as soon as Saturday morning, and he urged the people of France to “stay united.”

“The choice has been made not to give in to terror," he said. “We must not let anything divide us, and we must remember that schools and the transmission of knowledge are at the heart of this fight against ignorance.”

Israel’s military ordered hundreds of thousands of civilians living in Gaza City to evacuate ahead of a feared Israel ground offensive. The directive came Friday on the heels of what the United Nations said was a warning it received from Israel to evacuate 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza. Palestinians and some Egyptian officials fear that Israel ultimately hopes to push Gaza’s people out through the southern border with Egypt.

Here's what's happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:

EGYPTIAN, GERMAN DIPLOMATS MEET TO DISCUSS DETERIORATING SITUATION IN GAZA

CAIRO — Chief diplomats of Egypt and Germany held talks Saturday on the deteriorating “humanitarian and security” situation in Gaza amid ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian militant groups, an Egyptian official said.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry received his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock in Cairo for talks that focused on the conflict.

Both officials understand “the necessity of immediate cessation of escalation,” said Ahmed Abu Zaid, spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry.

UNICEF CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE CEASE-FIRE AND HUMANITARIAN ACCESS INTO GAZA

BEIRUT — The U.N. children’s agency is calling for an immediate cease-fire and humanitarian access into the Gaza Strip, saying hundreds of thousands of children and their families have started fleeing northern Gaza.

UNICEF said children and families in Gaza have practically run out of food, water, electricity, medicine and safe access to hospitals, following days of hostilities and cuts to all supply routes.

“The situation is catastrophic, with unrelenting bombing and a massive increase in the displacement of children and families. There are no safe places,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

UNICEF said its staff have continued to respond to the critical needs of children across the Gaza Strip, but access is becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous.

The agency said UNICEF staff will stay in southern Gaza to continue to provide support for children in need.

HOSPITAL PATIENTS SPENT PART OF THE NIGHT ON THE STREET IN GAZA, MEDICAL AID GROUP SAYS

CAIRO — Patients and medical staff of Al Awda Hospital in Gaza spent part of their night on the street “with bombs landing in close proximity,” following Israel’s orders to evacuate the facility, the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said.

Scott Hamilton, a spokesman for the aid group, which is known as MSF, said some of the medical staff and all patients have been moved to another location.

“But the situation remains extremely complicated and chaotic,” he told The Associated Press. “We call on Israel once again to cease the indiscriminate bloodshed, withdraw their ultimatum.”

RAFAH CROSSING TO OPEN TO ALLOW FOREIGNERS TO EXIT, EGYPTIAN OFFICIALS SAY

CAIRO — Egyptian officials said the southern Rafah crossing would open later Saturday to allow foreigners to exit.

UNRWA SAYS DRINKING WATER FOR GAZA IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

BEIRUT — The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees says hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced over the past 12 hours in the Gaza Strip.

Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, warned that the Gaza Strip is running out of clean water and fuel is urgently needed in order to have safe drinking water.

Lazzarini said in statement that more than 2 million people are at risk as water runs out adding that “it has become a matter of life and death.”

Lazzarini said Gaza’s water plant and public water networks have stopped working and people are now forced to use dirty water from wells, increasing risks of waterborne diseases.

“Nearly 1 million people have been displaced in one week alone,” he said adding that at the U.N. base in the southern Gaza Strip — where UNRWA has moved its operations — drinking water is also running out.

He called for lifting the blockade that Israel imposed on Gaza adding that if drinking water is not available, people will start dying of severe dehydration, among them young children, the elderly and women.

EGYPTIAN AND TURKISH LEADERS CALL FOR END TO VIOLENCE AND DELIVERY OF AID

CAIRO — President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt on Saturday discussed the war between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza with Turkey’s chief diplomat.

A statement from the Egyptian presidency said el-Sissi and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan agreed that the ongoing escalation threatens the region’s “stability and security, which requires intensive international efforts to immediately cease violence.”

The statement said el-Sissi and Fidan expressed concerns about Israel’s “collective punishment” of the Palestinians in Gaza and called for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the besieged strip.

US NEGOTIATING FOR THE TEMPORARY REOPENING OF BORDER CROSSING

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A senior State Department official traveling with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday the U.S. has been trying to negotiate with the Israelis, Egyptians and Qataris on opening the Rafah border crossing to allow foreigners to leave Gaza.

The official said the plan was to open the crossing from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday. But the official said it isn’t clear if Hamas will allow convoys to get there unimpeded.

He said U.S. officials have been reaching out to Americans known to be in Gaza to let them know.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the negotiations.

— Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Riyadh.

ISRAEL SAYS IT HIT MILITANTS TRYING TO CROSS FROM LEBANON

JERUSALEM — The Israeli army said Saturday that it had struck militants trying to infiltrate Israel from Lebanon.

The Israel Defence Forces released infrared footage on Friday showing what they say are the strikes on militants attempting to cross the Israel border from Lebanon. It was not clear which group the alleged militants belonged to. On Friday, Hezbollah said its fighters fired several rockets at four Israeli positions along the border and the Israeli army said it had attacked Hezbollah targets with drone strikes.

“The Lebanese government bears responsibility for every attack launched from Lebanon towards our sovereignty. Anyone who tries to cross the border into our lands will be killed,” the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

An Israeli shell landed in a gathering of international journalists covering clashes on the border in south Lebanon on Friday, killing Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and injuring six other journalists.

Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told The Associated Press Saturday, “We are aware of the incident with the Reuters journalist and we are looking into it.”

He did not confirm that the journalists had been hit by Israeli shells, but called the incident “tragic,” adding, “We’re very sorry for his death.”

JAPAN SENDS EVACUATION PLANES TO STAND BY IN DJIBOUTI

TOKYO — Japan on Saturday dispatched three defense planes to a military base in Djibouti in East Africa to have them on standby in case of the need to airlift Japanese nationals from Israel and Gaza.

The Self-Defense Force’s Joint Staff said a KC-767 transport and refueling plane left the Komaki Air Base in central Japan on Saturday, while two C-2 transport aircraft left Miho Air Base in western Japan.

Japan maintains a base in Djibouti as part of an anti-piracy mission. The three planes are expected to arrive as early as Sunday to be on stand by in case a plan to evacuate Japanese nationals by a charter flight from Tel Aviv to Dubai becomes difficult due to safety reasons.

The government is reportedly considering options to evacuate Japanese nationals by land if necessary.

EGYPT ERECTS BLAST WALLS AT THE CLOSED RAFAH CROSSING

CAIRO — Egyptian authorities have erected “temporary” blast walls on Egypt’s side of the Rafah crossing point with Gaza, two Egyptian officials said.

The crossing point has been closed since earlier this week after Israeli airstrikes hit close to its Palestinian side.

The officials said the blast walls were erected as part of “precautionary measures” Egypt has taken in recent days over growing concerns about a mass exodus of Palestinians.

One of the officials said the walls will be removed once a deal is reached with Israel to spare the crossing from its airstrikes.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists.

Palestinians were fleeing in a mass exodus after Israel’s military told people to evacuate to the southern part of the besieged territory ahead of an expected ground invasion.

— Associated Press writer Ashraf Sweilam contributed.

IRANIAN MINISTER MEETS WITH HEZBOLLAH, PROMISES BACKING

BEIRUT — Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian says militant groups in the region are “fully ready” to respond to any move by Israel.

The minister spoke in Beirut at the end of a tour that took him to Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, where Iran enjoys wide influence and where tens of thousands of Iran-backed fighters are deployed.

Amirabdollahian told reporters in Beirut Saturday that he met Hezbollah’s leadership, adding that “the resistance (Hezbollah) is in excellent condition and in full readiness to respond to criminal acts by the Zionist entity.”

He added that “the resistance will decide if the war will expand or new fronts are to be open.”

During his visit to Beirut, Amirabdollahian met Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and they discussed the war.

“We will do all we can to stop the Zionist crimes in Gaza," Amirabdollahian said.

SUPPLIES FOR GAZA ARRIVED IN EGYPT AWAITING REOPENING OF RAFAH CROSSING, WHO SAYS

CAIRO — A plane carrying medical supplies for Gaza from the United Nations health agency landed Saturday in el-Arish airport in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, awaiting the reopening of the Rafah crossing point. That’s according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization.

“We’re ready to deploy the supplies as soon as humanitarian access through the crossing is established,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Egypt has designed el-Arish airport to receive supplies from aid agencies and foreign governments to deliver them to Gaza. Rafah was forced to close earlier in the week after Israeli airstrikes hit close its gate on the Palestinian side.

Adhanom also pleaded for Israel to reconsider its decision to evacuate 1.1 million people to the southern part of Gaza, saying, “It will be a human tragedy.”

US AIR FORCE DEPLOYS FIGHTER AIRCRAFT TO MIDDLE EAST

JERUSALEM — The United States Air Force said overnight that it had deployed F-15E fighter aircraft in the Middle East to support its operations backing Israel after Hamas’ unprecedented attack Oct.7.

Already, there’s more attack and support aircraft in the region over tensions with Iran as it enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.

ORGANIZATION OF ISLAMIC COOPERATION SLAMS ISRAEL'S TREATMENT OF PALESTINIANS

JERUSALEM — The 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation issued a blistering statement Saturday expressing what it describes as “its absolute rejection and condemnation of Israel, the occupying power’s calls for the forced displacement of the Palestinian people.” The OIC broadly reflects the thinking of Saudi Arabia’s rulers.

The Jeddah, a Saudi Arabia-based organization, also called for humanitarian corridors to be opened into Gaza, which is under an Israeli siege blocking food, water and medicine.

Analysts say U.S.-led negotiations to have the kingdom diplomatically recognize Israel have likely stalled after Hamas’ unprecedented Oct. 7 incursion in Israel and Israel’s devastating military campaign that followed, which have left more than 3,200 dead.

BEIJING — The European Union’s foreign policy chief said Saturday that the Israeli military needs to give more time for 1 million people to evacuate northern Gaza ahead of any military action.

Josep Borrell, speaking to news media during a visit to China, welcomed the warning to evacuate but said the tight time frame could create a humanitarian crisis given the lack of shelters and transportation.

Palestinians were fleeing in a mass exodus after Israel’s military told people to evacuate to the southern part of the besieged territory ahead of an expected ground invasion.

DBRS Ratings GmbH (DBRS Morningstar) confirmed the Republic of Malta’s (Malta) Long-Term Foreign and Local Currency – Issuer Ratings at A (high). At the same time, DBRS Morningstar confirmed Malta’s Short-Term Foreign and Local Currency – Issuer Ratings at R-1 (middle). The trend on all ratings is Stable.

KEY CREDIT RATING CONSIDERATIONS
The Stable trend reflects DBRS Morningstar's view that the risks to Malta’s credit ratings remain balanced. Malta’s post-pandemic recovery has been strong, outpacing most other European peers, and helped by the government’s support measures and a robust rebound in foreign tourism. The authorities’ decision to freeze retail electricity and fuel prices at pre-Russian invasion levels and the limited pass-through from monetary policy tightening to the local economy have alleviated the adverse economic effects of the invasion. Malta’s growth prospects remain solid despite the near-term slowdown caused by weak external conditions and elevated inflation. On the other hand, Malta’s price-mitigating fiscal measures are expected to slow the pace of fiscal consolidation. The fiscal deficit is expected to remain among the highest in the European Union (EU) during 2022 and 2023, in spite of strong revenue growth and the phase-out of coronavirus support. DBRS Morningstar considers that Malta’s still moderate public debt levels and positive growth dynamics partly mitigate risks stemming from the fiscal outlook. Nevertheless, DBRS Morningstar notes that the government has so far not articulated a clear exit strategy for the untargeted energy subsidies, and a higher-for-longer global energy prices scenario could complicate the fiscal consolidation path.

Malta’s A (high) rating is supported by its euro area membership, moderate level of public debt, solid external position, and Maltese households’ strong financial position. On the other hand, Malta is a small and open economy, and therefore exposed to external demand or confidence shocks. DBRS Morningstar considers that the authorities’ continued commitment to enhance its Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) will remain important to protect its reputation and attractiveness to foreign investment after the country’s rapid removal from Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) list of jurisdictions under enhanced monitoring in June 2022. Malta’s public finances are generally sound, but medium- to long-term challenges could stem from its contingent liabilities, changes in international taxation that affect the attractiveness of its tax system to foreign companies, or increases in age-related spending.

“Malta’s growth prospects remain solid” says international credit agency DBRS Morningstar while reaffirming our A (high) rating and rightly concluding that this administration will deliver policy continuity and more institutional reforms. - RA

— Robert Abela (@RobertAbela_MT) October 14, 2023

CREDIT RATING DRIVERS
DBRS Morningstar could upgrade Malta’s ratings if one or a combination of the following occurs: (1) a material improvement in the public debt trajectory driven by a prudent fiscal approach and strong economic performance; or (2) further evidence of increased economic and fiscal resiliency to external shocks. DBRS Morningstar could downgrade Malta’s ratings if one or a combination of the following occurs: (1) a significant deterioration in the public debt trajectory, potentially driven by a prolonged period of fiscal underperformance or weak economic growth; or (2) a reversal of improvements in Malta’s financial crimes and institutional quality reforms.

CREDIT RATING RATIONALE
Malta’s Economic Performance Remains Strong But Growth Is Slowing Amid a Challenging External Environment and High Inflation

After a pandemic-induced GDP contraction of 8.1% in 2020, Malta recorded one of the quickest recoveries in the EU. GDP expanded by 12.3% in 2021 and 6.9% in 2022. The recovery was driven both by domestic demand, which benefitted from the government’s support and the strength of the private sector, as well as a stronger-than-anticipated rebound in foreign tourism last year. The labour market remains tight, with an unemployment rate at 2.5% and employment growth at 4.9% YOY in Q2 2023. Indeed, job growth has been remarkable over the last three years, supported by foreign workers and higher participation rates, especially among female workers. The government decision to freeze energy and fuel prices at pre-invasion levels has shielded Maltese households and firms from the spike in energy prices. Still, the harmonised index of consumer price inflation reached 6.1% in 2022 due to strongly rising import prices and more demand-driven services inflation. Inflation is expected to remain elevated this year and only decline gradually over the next couple of years. It is noteworthy that monetary policy tightening pass-through to domestic lending rates has been limited, especially compared to other euro area member states, contributing to strong domestic demand and lending growth.

The Central Bank of Malta projects GDP growth to decelerate to 3.7% in 2023 and 3.6% in both 2024 and 2025. While growth is expected to significantly outperform most European peers, subdued international developments and the lagged transmission of tight monetary policy are expected to weigh on growth dynamics. On the other hand, recovering purchasing power amid slowing inflation and the inflow of European funds should remain supportive of Malta’s growth outlook. Malta’s structural labour shortages and infrastructure bottlenecks are important limiting factors at this stage. The main downside risks to Malta’s healthy growth prospects are linked to a further weakening of the external backdrop, especially if accompanied by tighter financial conditions.

Support Measures to Deal With the Pandemic and Energy Shocks Have Led to a Deterioration in Malta’s Fiscal Position

Malta’s fiscal performance has deteriorated significantly in recent years. To a large extent, this has been due to the support measures to shield households and firms from the pandemic and the energy/cost-of-living shocks. The fiscal balance shifted from an average surplus of 1.7% of GDP during 2016–19 to an average deficit of 7.6% of GDP during 2020–22. The fiscal deficit is gradually declining but is still among the highest in the EU. The fiscal deficit narrowed to 5.7% of GDP in 2022 from 7.7% in 2021, as the partial removal of COVID-19 support and strong revenue growth more than offset the fiscal cost of energy subsides (2.5% of GDP) and Air Malta’s restructuring efforts (0.9% of GDP). In its latest Pre-Budget Consultation Document 2024, the government projects a deficit of 5.0% of GDP in 2023 and targets a deficit of 4.5% in 2024. The gradual improvement mainly reflects the expectation of lower energy subsidies, in light of the decline of energy prices, and the complete phase out of COVID-19 support. The government estimates that the net budgetary impact of the energy-price measures will be 1.7% of GDP in 2023 and 1.5% of GDP in 2024. This is down from 2.5% of GDP in 2022. The reduction in energy subsidies is expected to be partially offset by higher expenditures, mostly reflecting the effect of inflation on public wages, social security benefits, and intermediate consumption.

The government plans to bring the fiscal deficit below 3.0% of GDP by 2027, one year later than expected in the Update of Stability Programme 2023–26. This plan implies an annual structural adjustment of 0.6 percentage points for the next three years. The main risk to the fiscal outlook is linked to the evolution of the energy subsidies. Additional support measures related to Air Malta’s restructuring to accrue this year appear to be sufficiently provisioned for. Over the medium to long term, revenues from Malta’s citizenship by investment scheme and corporate taxation could come under pressure and require the country to introduce compensatory measures to fill the gap. These factors account for DBRS Morningstar’s negative qualitative adjustment of the Fiscal Management and Policy building block. Finally, while Malta has already extended the working age and contribution periods in its pension system, additional measures might be necessary to contain the long-term costs of age-related spending on these systems.

Malta’s Debt Ratio Deteriorated but Still Leaves Significant Space to Absorb Shocks

The pandemic halted a period of steep reductions in Malta’s public debt-to-GDP ratio. From 2011 to 2019, government debt-to-GDP declined from 70.0% to 40.1%. The support measures to deal with the pandemic and the energy shock resulted in a significant increase in the debt ratio. In 2022, the ratio stood at 52.3%. Nevertheless, DBRS Morningstar notes that the debt ratio is lower than previously anticipated, due to higher real growth and inflation, and remains well below the Maastricht benchmark of 60.0% of GDP and the EU average debt burden of 84.0% of GDP. Malta´s moderate levels of public debt provide valuable space to support the economy if under stress. The government forecasts the debt ratio to gradually increase to 54.5% of GDP in 2024 as the projected primary deficits offset the debt-decreasing impact of the interest-growth differential. The recently announced capital injection to Air Malta could add over 1 percentage points extra to the debt ratio during 2024–25, mostly concentrated in 2024. DBRS Morningstar considers that strengthening the primary balance position will be key to stabilize or decrease the debt ratio in a context of higher interest rates and slower growth. Similar to other euro area economies, Malta’s funding costs for newly issued debt have increased due to higher monetary policy rates and high inflation. Still, the interest burden is expected to remain contained at around 1.3-1.4% of GDP over the next couple years.

Financial System Remains Sound and a Rapid Exit from the Grey List Reduces Reputational Damage

Maltese domestic banks’ strong capital position and ample liquidity levels on aggregate limit financial stability risks. Malta’s policy measures and strong post-pandemic economic recovery have helped mitigate the impact from successive shocks on asset quality. Core banks’ nonperforming loans as a share of total loans continued to improve and remained at a historical low of 2.7% in Q1 2023. The latest stress test performed by Central Bank of Malta (CBM) suggests the domestic banking sector exhibits adequate buffers to absorb substantial losses or liquidity stresses. Still, further inflationary pressures and higher interest rates amid a slowing economy could lead to some deterioration in asset quality going forward. Malta’s healthy labour market and household savings mitigate these risks.

Unlike most of its peers in the euro area, the pass-through of higher key ECB interest rates to lending rates has been limited in Malta thus far and credit growth remains strong, although lending rates to firms have started to pick up. The continuously strong credit growth in mortgage lending is increasing the concentration in the banks’ loan portfolio to the property market. DBRS Morningstar views Malta's macroprudential framework, including its borrower-based measures and the recent introduction of a sectoral systemic risk buffer, as positive, as they should help limit credit to vulnerable borrowers and prevent further accumulation of cyclical and concentration risks, especially linked to the residential property market.

Malta’s significant progress and political commitment to maintaining high standards for AML/CFT in recent years have permitted the country to exit from FATF’s grey list after one year in June 2022. DBRS Morningstar views a continuation of these efforts and commitments as key to limit the reputational impact on banking activities in Malta. Malta’s role as a small financial hub has resulted in the development of a large banking system relative to its domestic economy, including international banks, and domestic noncore banks have few or no linkages to the domestic economy. DBRS Morningstar made a negative qualitative adjustment to the Monetary Policy and Financial Stability building block to reflect its view on Malta’s relative positioning compared with other larger and more sophisticated financial systems in this building block.

The Current Account Position Deteriorated but Overall External Position Remains Sound

Malta’s external accounts are sound. Malta’s current account surplus averaged 4.8% of GDP between 2014 and 2019, with net exports of services (including travel, financial, professional, and gaming) more than offsetting the large deficit in goods and sizable primary income net outflows. The current account surplus narrowed in 2020 and 2021 before shifting to a 3.0% of GDP deficit in 2022. While the travel services balance has recovered strongly since the pandemic slump, one-off investments in the aviation sector both in 2021 and 2022 and swelling energy prices in 2022 have been a drag on the goods balance. DBRS Morningstar notes that large cross-border trade and income flows related to special purpose entities and multinationals, in addition to sizable statistical revisions, could complicate the assessment of current account flows. The CBM expects the current account to swing back to a surplus this year due to base effects related to investment, strong tourism, and lower energy prices, and to stay in the positive territory for 2024 and 2025. From a stock perspective, Malta’s net international investment asset position stood at 76.4% of GDP as of Q2 2023. Gross external indebtedness was high at 1010.3% of GDP as of Q2 2023, but DBRS Morningstar considers the risks to the domestic economy to be limited because this level mainly reflects Malta’s role as an international financial centre and the presence of stable flows of intercompany lending.

Malta Benefits from a Stable Policy Environment but There Is Scope to Strengthen Governance

Malta benefits from a strong national and overarching European policy framework, which has underpinned the country’s economic and public finance improvement since joining the EU. The Worldwide Governance Indicators for Malta are relatively strong and broadly in line with EU averages but compares weakly in terms of Control of Corruption. Malta has made significant progress in improving its governance and institutional framework in recent years, including implementing reforms to the justice system. However, DBRS Morningstar considers there is room for further convergence toward other sovereigns with very strong assessments on the Political Environment building block, including more tangible evidence of enhanced efficiency, and effectiveness in the country’s judiciary and control of corruption. DBRS Morningstar expects Prime Minister Robert Abela (Labour Party) to pursue broad policy continuity and remain committed to improving the country’s institutional and governance framework during the current legislature.

Kylian Mbappé and Cristiano Ronaldo both scored twice to help France and Portugal secure a spot at next year's European Championship with a perfect record in qualifying, with Belgium also clinching a berth in Germany on Friday.

The three European powerhouses all needed a win to qualify for the tournament and their star strikers made sure they got them.

Mbappé's two goals — including a long-range strike for the second — helped secure a 2-1 win over the Netherlands in Amsterdam for a perfect sixth win in Group B.

Mbappé opened the scoring in just the seventh minute when he beat Lutsharel Geertruida to a cross from the right by Jonathan Clauss to volley past Brighton goalkeeper Bert Verbruggen, who was making his debut for the Netherlands.

It was Mbappé’s 41st international goal, drawing him level with France great Michel Platini.

Mbappé doubled the lead in the 53rd minute when he exchanged passes with Adrien Rabiot on the edge of the Netherlands’ penalty area before curling a shot over Verbruggen.

Feyenoord midfielder Quilindschy Hartman, in his first full international appearance, made it 2-1 with 10 minutes to go. It was the first goal France has conceded in the campaign.

Greece moved up to the second place with 12 points after Giakoumakis and Giorgos Masouras scored a goal a piece to beat Ireland 2-0 in Dublin.

The Netherlands remains on nine in third with a game in hand.

The top two teams in each group directly qualify.

Ronaldo's double improved his record tally of international goals to 125 in 202 appearances and led Portugal to a 3-2 win over Slovakia.

Ronaldo converted from the penalty spot in the 29th minute, sending Slovakia goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka the wrong way to double the lead to 2-0.

Forward Gonçalo Ramos had given the hosts the lead with a header 11 minutes earlier.

After David Hancko pulled one back for Slovakia in the second half, Ronaldo restored a two-goal advantage off a low cross from Bruno Fernandes that found him at the far post.

He jumped high in his trademark celebration in front of the roaring fans in Porto after his seventh goal in six qualifying games.

Stanislav Lobotka scored the second for Slovakia in the 80th.

With three games to go, Portugal has 100% record after seven straight wins with a 27-2 goal difference, the best-ever performance in a European qualifying campaign. Slovakia was the first team to score against Portugal.

"The objective has been achieved, the first half was extraordinary and in the second we could have scored more goals," Fernandes said. "Being in the European finals is the fulfilment of another dream.”

Slovakia remains on 13 points in second with Luxembourg trailing by two in third after holding Iceland to a 1-1 draw in Reykjavik.

Bosnia won 2-0 at pointless Lichtenstein and is fourth on nine with Iceland another two back.

A man armed with a knife killed a teacher and wounded another teacher and a security guard on Friday at a high school in northern France, an attack being investigated as potential terrorism.

Antiterror prosecutors said they were leading the investigation into the attack at the Gambetta high school in the city of Arras, some 115 miles (185 kilometers) north of Paris.

Sliman Hamzi, a police officer who was one of the first on the scene said the suspected attacker, a former student at the school, shouted “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic.

Hamzi said he was alerted by another officer who was passing in front of the high school and called in. He “was shouting ‘someone is attacking with a knife,’” Hamzi said

Hamzi said he rushed to the school and saw the victim who died lying on the ground outside the school and the attacker being taken away.

“Colleagues arrived quickly but unfortunately couldn’t save the victim,” Hamzi said.

School attacks are rare in France. President Emmanuel Macron was heading to the scene along with the interior and education ministers, and the government asked authorities to heighten vigilance at all schools across the country.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that the suspected attacker had been arrested.

Julie Duhamel, an official with the the Unsa teachers’ union in the Pas-de-Calais region that includes Arras, told franceinfo that teachers had noted the suspect’s radicalization “a few years ago.” Franceinfo, quoting a police source, said the the suspect’s brother was also arrested.

Parents said pupils were still confined to the locked-down school more than two hours after the attack.

Friday's attack came three years after a teacher was beheaded outside a school in suburban Paris. Samuel Paty, a history and geography teacher, was murdered on Oct 16, 2020 — also a Friday — by an 18-year-old of Chechen origin who had become radicalized.

Martin Doussau, a philosophy teacher at the Gambetta high school, said the attacker appeared to be hunting for a history teacher.

“I was chased by the attacker who ... asked me if I teach history. (He said), ‘Are you a history teacher, are you a history teacher?'" said Doussau, who recounted how he barricaded himself behind a door until police used a stun gun to subdue the attacker.

“When he turned around and asked me if I am a history teacher, I immediately thought of Samuel Paty,” Doussau told reporters.

The attack came amid heightened tensions around the world over Hamas' weekend attack on southern Israel and Israel's military response, which have killed hundreds of civilians on both sides. There have been calls in Muslim nations for mass protests after Friday prayers over Israel’s intense bombing campaign in Gaza.

Darmanin on Thursday ordered local authorities to ban all pro-Palestinian demonstrations amid a rise in antisemitic acts since the Hamas attack.

France is estimated to have the world’s third-largest Jewish population after Israel and the U.S., and the largest Muslim population in Western Europe.

A vice president of France's lower house of parliament, Naima Moutchou, said the National Assembly “expresses its solidarity and thoughts for the victims, their families and the educational community as we learn that a teacher has been killed and several others have been injured.″

The Israeli military prepared for a possible ground invasion in Gaza on Thursday as it pounded the tiny coastal strip in retaliation for the unprecedented weekend attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas.

In a deliberate show of support for Israel, a U.S. official confirmed that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin plans to visit on Friday, a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Suffering in Gaza, meanwhile, rose dramatically with Palestinians desperate for food, fuel and medicine and the territory’s only power plant shut down for lack of fuel. The morgue at Gaza’s biggest hospital overflowed Thursday as bodies came in faster than relatives could claim them.

Israel said Thursday that a complete siege would remain in place until Hamas freed 150 hostages taken during its incursion. Egypt has engaged in intensive talks with Israel and the United States to allow the delivery of aid and fuel through its Rafah crossing point, which remained closed on both sides Thursday.

The war has claimed at least 2,800 lives on both sides, and displaced 423,000 people in Gaza.

Here's what's happening on Day 7 of the latest Israel-Hamas war:

Israel’s military ordered hundreds of thousands of civilians living in Gaza City to evacuate Friday ahead of a feared Israel ground offensive. The directive came on the heels of what the United Nations said was a warning they received from Israel to evacuate 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza within 24 hours.

Suffering in Gaza has been rising dramatically with Palestinians desperate for food, fuel and medicine and the territory’s only power plant shut down for lack of fuel. The morgue at Gaza’s biggest hospital overflowed as bodies came in faster than relatives could claim them.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Israel on Friday, a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The war has claimed at least 2,800 lives on both sides since Hamas launched an incursion on Oct. 7.

Here's what's happening on Day 7 of the latest Israel-Hamas war:

SOUTH KOREAN AND OTHER ASIAN NATIONALS EVACUATE FROM ISRAEL

SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean military plane evacuating 220 South Korean and other Asian nationals from Israel has departed Tel Aviv and was expected to land in South Korea later Saturday, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said.

The people transported on the KC-330 military transport plane included 163 South Koreans, 51 Japanese nationals and six Singaporean nationals, the ministry said.

South Korea had also sent a civilian plane earlier this week to evacuate 192 South Korean nationals. About 470 South Koreans remain in Israel, most of them long-term residents who have chosen to stay.

No South Korean casualties have so far been reported from the violence in Israel and Gaza.

16 PALESTINIANS KILLED IN WEST BANK, HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS

The Palestinian Health Ministry reported 16 Palestinians killed Friday in the occupied West Bank, bringing to 51 the total number of West Bank Palestinians killed since Hamas waged its brutal assault on Israel last Saturday.

The United Nations says attacks by Israeli settlers have surged there since the Hamas assault.

RELATIVES OF ABDUCTED ISRAELIS PLEAD FOR WORLD'S HELP

UNITED NATIONS — Relatives of Israelis abducted during Hamas militants’ attack last weekend pleaded at the U.N. on Friday for the world’s help getting their loved ones home.

Speaking by video from Israel, Yoni Asher told diplomats at an Israel-organized event that he hasn’t slept or eaten since his wife and two small daughters vanished Saturday while visiting his mother-in-law in the country’s south.

His wife called to tell him that they were locked in a safe room after people came into the house and she heard gunshots, Asher said. He said he later saw a video of his wife and daughters, who are under 5 and 3, being loaded into a vehicle, and he tracked his wife’s phone to Gaza.

“I don’t know if I got any more tears left,” he said. “I’m exhausted, and I just want to approach whoever can hear me in the international community. Please bring back my baby girls.”

Hamas fighters took 150 hostages during Saturday’s surprise assault. Alana Zeitchik said a half-dozen of her cousins were snatched from a kibbutz. They were known to be alive as of Friday morning, she said.

“We don’t want more bombs or rockets or blood or tears,” said Zeitchik, who lives in New York. “We want our family back immediately. And we want peace.”

BIDEN SAYS ADDRESSING HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN GAZA IS A PRIORITY

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Friday that it’s a priority of his administration to address the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking at an event in Philadelphia to promote a $7 billion program to kickstart development and production of hydrogen fuel in the U.S., Biden paused to note the deteriorating situation for Palestinians as Israel continues to bombard the strip in retaliation for last weekend’s attacks on Israel.

Biden said he’s directed his team to work with the governments in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab nations and the United Nations to surge humanitarian relief to those impacted by the war.

“We can’t lose sight of the fact that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians had nothing to do Hamas,” Biden said. “And they’re suffering as a result as well.”

Biden again lashed out at Hamas, saying the militant group in control of Gaza makes the terrorist group Al-Qaida “look pure.”

ISRAELI MILITARY LAUNCHES DRONE AT HEZBOLLAH TARGETS

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military has announced that an Israeli drone is currently striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

ISRAELI SHELLING ALONG LEBANON BORDER KILLS 1 JOURNALIST, WOUNDS 6

ALMA Al-SHAAB, Lebanon — An Israeli shell has landed in a gathering of international journalists covering clashes on the border in south Lebanon, killing one and leaving six injured.

An Associated Press photographer at the scene saw the body of the dead journalist and the six who were wounded. Some of them were rushed to hospitals in ambulances. One nearby car was charred.

Al-Jazeera identified two of its employees among the wounded. The Lebanon-Israel border has been witnessing sporadic acts of violence since Saturday’s attack by the militant Palestinian group Hamas on southern Israel.

ISRAEL MILITARY SAYS IT HAS CARRIED OUT SMALL RAIDS INTO GAZA STRIP

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says for the first time that ground troops have been operating inside the Gaza Strip.

In a statement Friday, the army said troops had entered Gaza to battle militants, destroy weapons and search for evidence about the missing hostages held by Hamas.

The announcement did not appear to be the beginning of an expected ground invasion of Gaza. Israel has been massing troops along the Gaza border since last Saturday’s deadly incursion by Hamas militants.

WHITE HOUSE MEETS VIRTUALLY WITH FAMILIES OF MISSING AMERICANS

WASHINGTON — The White House hosted a virtual conversation on Friday with family members of 14 Americans who are unaccounted for after the Hamas attacks on Israel.

President Joe Biden addressed the families. Other participants included Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser; Roger Carstens, hostage affairs special envoy; John Bass, undersecretary of state; and Brett McGurk, National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East.

EGYPT CALLS ON UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO STOP THE EVACUATION IN GAZA

CAIRO — In a statement Friday, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli army’s decision to tell some 1 million people in Gaza to evacuate toward the southern part of the besieged territory.

It said the move “constitutes a grave violation of the rules of international humanitarian law, and will expose the lives of more than a million Palestinian citizens and their families to the dangers of remaining in the open without shelter.”

The evacuation order comes ahead of an expected ground invasion, hiking fears of a massive influx of refugees across the heavily fortified border into its territory.

In the statement, Egypt called on the United Nations Security Council, which is scheduled to meet Friday, to stop the evacuation.

PALESTINIAN ENVOY SAYS EVACUATION ORDER COULD COMPARE TO DISPLACEMENT OF HUNDREDS IN 1948

UNITED NATIONS — The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations says his people’s mass exit from northern Gaza under Israeli military orders may compare to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians amid the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation — an event that Palestinians call the “nakba,” or catastrophe.

Ambassador Riyad Mansour called the current flight “potentially a second nakba" as he spoke to reporters at U.N. headquarters Friday before a meeting of Arab countries’ ambassadors.

The Israeli military told people to leave northern Gaza ahead of an expected ground invasion against the Hamas militants who launched an assault on southern Israel last weekend. While the evacuation order involves the northern part of the territory, Mansour said “there is no place in Gaza that is safe.”

He called for a ceasefire to allow food, medicine and water into the territory.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH ACCUSES ISRAEL OF USING WHITE PHOSPHORUS

LONDON — Human Rights Watch has called on Israel to stop using munitions containing white phosphorus in the Gaza Strip after verifying video and witness accounts of these “indiscriminate” incendiary weapons being used in densely populated areas.

White phosphorus catches fire spontaneously when it comes in contact with oxygen, releasing toxic fumes and generating temperatures of up to 815 degrees Celsius (1,500 Fahrenheit). Because it continues to burn until all of the material is used up or it is smothered, white phosphorus exposure can leave victims with permanent disabilities, scarring and chronic pain.

“The issue is that white phosphorus is indiscriminate,’’ Yasmine Ahmed, the U.K. director of Human Rights Watch, said Friday. “It is used in a way that it cannot distinguish between a civilian population and a military target … particularly in the context of a densely populated area.”

The Israeli Defense Force has denied using white phosphorus as a weapon in Gaza.

UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO DISCUSS ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR ON FRIDAY

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council is set to meet behind closed doors Friday afternoon to discuss the Israel-Hamas war as Palestinians stream out of northern Gaza on orders from the Israeli military.

Friday’s council meeting was scheduled before the evacuation order was issued and added still more urgency to the discussion. The U.N. has said the order affects 1.1 million people, about half Gaza’s population, and could turn an already dire humanitarian crisis into a calamity.

The council emerged without any collective message or action from another closed-door meeting Sunday on the Israel-Hamas fighting. At that meeting, the United States pressed unsuccessfully for a strong condemnation of Hamas from all 15 members of the U.N.’s most powerful body, where divisions have sharpened amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.

EVACUEES FROM ISRAEL ARRIVE IN CYPRUS AS THEY AWAIT REPATRIATION

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cypriot authorities say they’re gearing up to host significant numbers of third-country evacuees from Israel as the first 268 foreign nationals have used Cyprus as a waystation for their repatriation.

Cyprus Foreign Ministry spokesman Theodoros Gotsis said Friday most of the people were Portuguese citizens flown out on Portuguese Air Force C-130 transport aircraft on three flights. Others among them included Austrians and Spaniards.

Gotsis said cruise ships are also ferrying foreign nationals including Germans out of Israel. The arrival of Danish and British citizens is expected later Friday.

Cyprus has set aside temporary accommodations for evacuees until they can be repatriated.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s military on Friday ordered the evacuation of northern Gaza, a region that is home to 1.1 million people, within 24 hours, a United Nations spokesperson said.

The order, delivered to the U.N., comes as Israel presses an offensive against Hamas militants. U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the evacuation would be “impossible” without “devastating humanitarian consequences.”

This could signal an impending ground offensive, though the Israeli military has not yet confirmed such an appeal. On Thursday, it said that while it was preparing, a decision had not yet been made.

Palestinians fled in a mass exodus Friday from northern Gaza after Israel’s military told some 1 million people to evacuate to the southern part of the besieged territory ahead of an expected ground invasion in retaliation for the surprise attack by the ruling Hamas militant group.

The U.N. warned that evacuating almost half of crowded Gaza's population would be calamitous, and it urged Israel to reverse the unprecedented directive. As airstrikes hammered the territory throughout the day, families in cars, trucks and donkey carts packed with possessions streamed down a main road out of Gaza City.

Hamas’ media office said warplanes struck cars fleeing south, killing more than 70 people. The Israeli military said its troops conducted temporary raids into Gaza to battle militants and hunted for traces of some 150 people abducted in Hamas's assault on Israel nearly a week ago.

In urging the evacuation, Israel’s military said it planned to target underground Hamas hideouts around Gaza City. But Palestinians and some Egyptian officials fear that Israel ultimately hopes to push Gaza’s people out through the southern border with Egypt.

Hamas told people to ignore the evacuation order, and families in Gaza faced what they saw as a no-win decision to leave or stay, with no safe ground anywhere. Hospital staff said they couldn’t abandon patients.

Unrelenting Israeli strikes over the past week have leveled large swaths of neighborhoods, magnifying the suffering of Gaza, which has also been sealed off from food, water and medical supplies, and under a virtual total power blackout.

“Forget about food, forget about electricity, forget about fuel. The only concern now is just if you’ll make it, if you’re going to live,” said Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza City, as she broke into heaving sobs.

In the nearly week-old war, the Gaza Health Ministry said Friday that roughly 1,900 people have been killed in the territory — more than half of them under the age of 18, or women. The Hamas assault last Saturday killed more than 1,300 Israelis, most of whom were civilians, and roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed during the fighting, the Israeli government said.

ISRAELI TROOPS MAKE FORAY INTO GAZA

Israel's raid was the first word of troops entering Gaza since Israel launched its round-the-clock bombardment in retaliation for Hamas’ massacre of hundreds of civilians in southern Israel.

A military spokesman said Israeli ground troops left after conducting the raids. The troop movements did not appear to be the beginning of an expected ground invasion.

The evacuation order was taken as a further signal of an expected Israeli ground offensive, although no such decision has been announced. Israel has been massing troops along the Gaza border.

An assault into densely populated and impoverished Gaza would likely bring even higher casualties on both sides in brutal house-to-house fighting.

“We will destroy Hamas,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Friday night in a speech, adding, “This is only the beginning.”

Hamas said Israel’s airstrikes killed 13 of the hostages in the past day. It said the dead included foreigners but did not give their nationalities. Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari denied the claim.

In Israel, the public remained in shock over the Hamas rampage and frightened by continual rocket fire out of Gaza. The public is overwhelmingly in favor of the military offensive, and Israeli TV stations have set up special broadcasts with slogans like “together we will win” and “strong together.” Their reports focus heavily on the aftermath of the Hamas attack and stories of heroism and national unity, and they make scant mention of the unfolding crisis in Gaza.

In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported 16 Palestinians killed Friday, bringing the total of Palestinians killed there since Hamas' rampage to 51. The U.N. says attacks by Israeli settlers have surged there since the Hamas assault.

ISRAEL URGES MASS EVACUATION OF GAZA CIVILIANS

The U.N. said the Israeli military's call for civilians to move south affects 1.1 million people. If carried out, that would mean the territory’s entire population would have to cram into the southern half of the 40-kilometer (25-mile) strip.

An Israeli spokesperson, Jonathan Conricus, said the military would take “extensive efforts to avoid harming civilians” and that residents would be allowed to return when the war is over.

Israel has long accused Hamas of using Palestinians as human shields. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel wanted to separate Hamas militants from the civilian population.

“So those who want to save their life, please go south,” he said at a news conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said it would be impossible to stage such an evacuation without “devastating humanitarian consequences.” He called on Israel to rescind any such orders.

PALESTINIANS IN GAZA GRAPPLE WITH WHERE TO GO

Hamas’ media office said airstrikes hit cars in three locations as they headed south from Gaza City, killing 70 people. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strike.

Two witnesses reported a strike on fleeing cars near the town of Deir el-Balah, south of the evacuation zone and in the area Israel told people to flee to. Fayza Hamoudi said she and her family were driving from their home in the north when the strike hit some distance ahead on the road and two vehicles burst into flames. A witness from another car on the road gave a similar account.

“Why should we trust that they’re trying to keep us safe?” Hamoudi said, her voice choking. “They are sick.”

The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on the strike.

Hamas called the evacuation order “psychological warfare” aimed at breaking Palestinian solidarity and urged people to stay. But there was no sign of it preventing the flight.

Gaza City resident Khaled Abu Sultan at first didn’t believe the evacuation order was real, and now isn’t sure whether to move his family to the south. “We don’t know if there are safe areas there,” he said. “We don’t know anything.”

Many feared they would not be able to return or would be gradually displaced to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

More than half of the Palestinians in Gaza are the descendants of refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation, when hundreds of thousands fled or were expelled from what is now Israel. For many, the mass evacuation order dredged up fears of a second expulsion. Already, at least 423,000 people — nearly 1 in 5 Gazans — have been forced from their homes by Israeli airstrikes, the U.N. said Thursday.

“Where is the sense of security in Gaza? Is this what Hamas is offering us?” said one resident, Tarek Mraish, standing by an avenue as vehicles flowed by. “What has Hamas done to us? It brought us catastrophe,” he said, using the same Arabic word “nakba” used for the 1948 displacement.

The U.N. estimated that tens of thousands had fled homes in the north by Friday night.

HOSPITALS STRUGGLE WITH PATIENTS

Gaza’s Health Ministry said it was impossible to safely transport the many wounded from hospitals, which are already struggling with high numbers of dead and injured. “We cannot evacuate hospitals and leave the wounded and sick to die,” spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said.

Farsakh, of the Palestinian Red Crescent, said some medics refused to abandon patients and instead called colleagues to say goodbye.

“We have wounded, we have elderly, we have children who are in hospitals,” she said.

Al Awda Hospital was struggling to evacuate dozens of patients and staff after the military contacted it and told it to do so by Friday night, said the aid group Doctors Without Borders, known as MSF, which supports the facility. The military extended the deadline to Saturday morning, it said.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it would not evacuate its schools, where hundreds of thousands have taken shelter. But it relocated its headquarters to southern Gaza, according to spokesperson Juliette Touma.

“The scale and speed of the unfolding humanitarian crisis is bone-chilling. Gaza is fast becoming a hellhole and is on the brink of collapse,” said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner general.

Pressed by reporters on whether the army would protect hospitals, U.N. shelters and other civilian locations, Hagari, the Israeli military spokesperson, said the military would keep civilians safe “as much as we can.” But he warned: “It’s a war zone.”

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Aangezien de Westerse elite maar blijft aansturen op een conflict met Rusland dit bericht nog maar eens in de herhaling. Het laat zien hoe de politici van zowel Nederland en Europa alsmede de mainstream media het Nederlandse volk glashard en bewust voor blijven liegen.  Al eerder kwam voorbij hoe de NOS het Nederlandse publiek voorloog […]

Het bericht Frans Timmermans loog heel Europa voor en kreeg promotie… verscheen eerst op Achter de Samenleving.