Author: France24

Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah Killed in an Israeli Strike

Nasrallah was rarely been seen in public since his movement fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on Friday, the Israeli military said, while a source close to Hezbollah said that the Lebanese group had “lost contact” with Nasrallah since Friday evening without confirming his death. Nasrallah was largely responsible for expanding Hezbollah, or Party of God, from a guerrilla faction into Lebanon’s most powerful political force.

Nasrallah led Hezbollah through decades of conflict with Israel, overseeing its transformation into a military force with regional sway and becoming one of the most prominent Arab figures in generations – with Iranian backing.

Nasrallah was the only man in Lebanon with the power to wage war or make peace, but he lead a life in hiding to avoid assassination by his movement’s arch-enemy, Israel.

He enjoyed cult status among his Shiite Muslim supporters, was equipped with a formidable arsenal far bigger and more modern than the national army’s, and held sway over Lebanon’s institutions.

Nasrallah was rarely been seen in public since his movement fought a devastating 2006 war with Israel.

In 2011, the leader showed up at a religious procession in Beirut‘s southern suburbs and briefly greeted supporters before addressing the crowd on video from an undisclosed location.

In a 2014 interview with Lebanon’s pro-Hezbollah newspaper Al-Akhbar, Nasrallah said that “the Israelis are pushing the idea … that I live far from people, that I don’t see them or communicate with them”.

He said that he regularly switched sleeping places, but denied that he lived in a bunker.

“The point of security measures is that movement be kept secret, but that doesn’t stop me from moving around and seeing what is happening,” he said.

Nasrallah was still occasionally photographed alongside other leaders of Iran-backed armed groups in the Middle East.

Very few people are believed to know where he lived. Officials and journalists who met Nasrallah in recent years described tight security measures that prevented them from knowing where they were being taken.

The vast majority of his speeches in the past two decades were recorded and broadcast from a secret location.

Supporting Hamas

A gifted public speaker, 64-year-old Nasrallah was a master of cadence, swinging from humour to belittle his enemies to rage to fire up his 100,000-man militia.

The bearded, bespectacled cleric was never seen without traditional robes and the black turban that marks him out as a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.

He was married and has four surviving children.

He was elected secretary general of Hezbollah in 1992, aged just 32, after an Israeli helicopter gunship killed his predecessor Abbas al-Musawi.

Hezbollah is the only group that refused to give up its weapons after Lebanon’s 15-year civil war ended in 1990, and Nasrallah insisted that Israel remained an existential threat.

Since Hezbollah’s Palestinian ally Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, Hezbollah has battled Israeli troops almost daily along the Lebanon-Israel border.

Political force

Born in Beirut’s impoverished northern suburb of Burj Hammud on August 31, 1960, he was one of nine children of a poor grocer hailing from the tiny southern village of Bazuriyeh.

Nasrallah studied politics and the Koran for three years at a seminary in Iraq’s Shiite holy city of Najaf, before being expelled in 1978 when the Sunni-dominated government turned on Shiite activists.

He then became heavily involved in Lebanese politics and gained much of his early experience in the Shiite Amal militia during the civil war.

But he broke away from Amal when Israeli troops marched on Beirut in 1982 to become one of the founders of Hezbollah.

He acquired his cult status in Lebanon and across the Arab world after Israel withdrew its troops from south Lebanon under relentless Hezbollah attack in May 2000, ending 22 years of occupation of the border strip.

Nasrallah’s years at the helm of Hezbollah, or Party of God, saw the group expand from guerrilla faction into the country’s most powerful political force.

Hezbollah is admired by many Shiites in Lebanon for supporting local charities, building up health and education services in its strongholds and assisting the needy among its supporters.

But in divided Lebanon, the movement is also widely hated, including by those who dream of a nation free from sectarianism and where the rule of law prevails.

Nasrallah’s personal popularity soared across the Arab world after a UN-brokered ceasefire ended the 2006 conflict with Israel, before suffering a blow when he sent fighters to neighbouring Syria to prop up President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in the war since 2011.

Workers at Main Kenya Airport Call Off Strike Against Adani Takeover

The walk-out by the aviation workers’ union began at midnight and severely disrupted flights.

Nairobi: Employees at Kenya’s main airport called off their day-long strike which had stranded thousands of passengers as scores of flights were cancelled or delayed, union leaders said on Wednesday (September 11).

The decision came after they reached an agreement with the management, brokered by ministry of transport officials and the umbrella trade union organisation.

“We have agreed. We have an agreement on a return-to-work formula,” transport minister Davis Chirchir told reporters at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

Members of the Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWI) downed tools over a planned takeover of JKIA, one of Africa’s busiest hubs, by Indian firm Adani.

The union called on the government to scrap the plan to lease the airport to Adani for 30 years in exchange for a $1.85-billion investment.

“We have not said that we have accepted Adani. We will be given veto powers and our signature will be needed for the process to move forward,” KAWI leader Moss Ndiema said.

“If it is a bad deal, we will not sign.”

Francis Atwoli, secretary general of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions, said they had been presented with the documents of the investment deal which they will study before deciding on the next course of action.

“We undertake to go through them within ten days and flat out arrears of our concern,” he said, adding that no worker will be punished for the strike.

‘Minimal operations’

The walk-out by the aviation workers’ union began at midnight and severely disrupted flights.

The Kenya Airports Authority said “minimal operations” resumed at 7:00 am (0400 GMT) but data from Flight Radar showed delays and several cancellations for flights in and out of the airport.

One stranded passenger, Elvis Mushengu, told AFP he had been waiting through the night.

“They closed the doors at around 12 [midnight],” he said. “We don’t know who’s doing the screening or what the procedure is … We’ve not slept, we’re just tired.”

Critics say the plan to lease JKIA to Adani will lead to job losses for local staff and rob taxpayers of future airport profits.

Freight and passenger fees from the airport account for more than five percent of Kenya’s GDP.

Kenya’s government has defended the Adani deal as necessary to refurbish JKIA and its terms were still being negotiated.

“This proposal is undergoing thorough due process, including stakeholder engagement, national treasury approval and cabinet clearance,” deputy government spokesman Gabriel Muthuma said on X.

“No terms have been agreed upon, and all aspects are subject to negotiation.”

JKIA handled 8.8 million passengers and 380,000 tonnes of cargo in 2022-2023 but is often hit by power outages and leaking roofs.

Adani would add a second runway and upgrade the passenger terminal, according to the Kenya Airports Authority.

Tourism is a major contributor to the Kenyan economy, accounting for more than 10% of GDP in 2022, according to government figures.

A date for a final verdict on the deal has yet to be set.

This article was originally published on France24.

At Least 4 Killed in Shooting at Georgia High School Northeast of Atlanta

Police said a suspect was in custody, but did not give a motive for the attack.

At least four people died and nine were wounded in a high school shooting in the US state of Georgia on Wednesday, law enforcement authorities said, with a suspect taken into custody.

After the latest chapter of America’s gun violence crisis, people gathered at a sports field outside Apalachee High School, some forming a circle with their arms linked.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said four people had been killed. There was no immediate word on a motive.

“An additional nine taken to various hospitals with injuries. Suspect in custody and alive. Reports that the suspect has been ‘neutralized’ are inaccurate,” the bureau said in a social media post.

Earlier, school authorities were reported to have sent a message to parents saying they were enforcing a “hard lockdown after reports of gunfire.”

After the all-clear was given, parents were invited to the school to be reunited with their children, with long lines of vehicles visible outside.

The school is located near the town of Winder, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta, the state capital.

US President Joe Biden said he was mourning the dead.

“Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write. We cannot continue to accept this as normal,” he said, referring to the frequency of such attacks across the country.

School shootings have become a sadly regular occurrence in the United States, where about a third of adults own a firearm and regulations on purchasing even powerful military-style rifles are lax.

Polls show a majority of voters favor stricter controls on the use and purchase of firearms, but the powerful gun ownership lobby is opposed to additional restrictions and lawmakers have repeatedly failed to act.

Crowds gathered

US Attorney General Merrick Garland addressed the shooting in a press conference, saying state, federal and local officials were investigating the case.

“I’m devastated for the families who have been affected by this terrible tragedy,” the top US Justice Department official said.

Local television footage showed ambulances driving across a school field about two hours after the attack was first reported, and scores of vehicles parked around the school.

A crowd of people was visible on the football field, with some gathered in a circle with their arms linked.

This year, there have been at least 384 mass shootings – defined as a shooting involving at least four victims, dead or wounded –across the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

At least 11,557 people have been killed in firearms violence, according to the GVA.

This article was originally published on France 24.

UK Suspends Some Arms Exports to Israel Over Risk of International Law Breach

Britain said it would immediately suspend 30 out of 350 arms exports licences to Israel, citing a “clear risk” they could be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law.

Britain will immediately suspend 30 of its 350 arms export licences with Israel because there is a risk such equipment might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law, foreign minister David Lammy said on Monday.

Lammy said the decision to suspend the licences did not amount to a blanket ban or an arms embargo, but only involved those that could be used in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

Soon after the Labour Party won an election in July, Lammy said he would update a review on arms sales to Britain‘s ally Israel to ensure these complied with international law.

“It is with regret that I inform the House (of Commons, lower house of parliament) today the assessment I have received leaves me unable to conclude anything other than that for certain UK arms exports to Israel, there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” Lammy said.

British exports amount to less than 1% of the total arms Israel receives, and Lammy told parliament the suspension would not have a material impact on Israel’s security.

Among the items that will come under the suspension will be components for military aircraft including fighter jets, helicopters and drones.

“The UK continues to support Israel’s right to self-defence in accordance with international law,” Lammy said.

Unlike the US, Britain’s government does not give arms directly to Israel but rather issues licences for companies to sell weapons, with input from lawyers on whether they complied with international law.

Separatist Militants Kill At Least 39 in Balochistan in ‘Coordinated’ Attacks

Government officials said that those killed were mostly Punjabi labourers, but the Baloch Liberation Army told AFP that it killed military servicemen in civilian clothes.

Separatist militants killed at least 39 people in “coordinated” attacks in southwestern Pakistan on Monday that largely targeted ethnic Punjabis, government officials said.

In one of the attacks, dozens of militants stopped vehicles travelling on a highway through Balochistan province and shot 23 people dead – one of the worst shootings in the region in the past several years.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most active militant separatist group in the province, claimed responsibility for an overnight operation in a statement sent to AFP.

Government officials have reported deadly attacks in at least three districts in impoverished Balochistan, where security forces are battling sectarian, ethnic and separatist violence.

“We have confirmed 39 people killed in several coordinated attacks carried out by the BLA terrorists,” Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan provincial government, told AFP.

In Musakhail district, between 30 and 40 gunmen stopped 22 buses, vans and trucks one after the other on a highway connecting Punjab with Balochistan, senior official Najibullah Kakar told AFP.

“Vehicles travelling to and from Punjab were inspected, and individuals from Punjab were identified and shot,” he said.

In its statement, the BLA said it had launched an operation “on highways across Balochistan”, claiming to have targeted only security personnel.

An earlier statement from the group published just after midnight on Monday warned the Baloch public to stay away from the highways, adding that their “fight is against the occupying Pakistani military”.

Militants also blew up a railway bridge in nearby Bolan district on a track that connects the province to Punjab and Sindh, with six dead bodies found nearby, said Javed Baloch, a senior government official in the district.

Ten people were also killed in Kalat district, including four paramilitary officers and one policeman responding to incidents, provincial government spokesman Rind said.

Nabi Baksh, from the Levies paramilitary force that works alongside the police, said gunmen had stormed a hotel and also targeted a village elder with perceived links to the security forces.

Surge in violence 

Balochistan is Pakistan’s poorest province, despite an abundance of untapped natural resources, and lags behind the rest of the country in education, employment and economic development.

Baloch separatists have in recent years intensified attacks on Pakistanis from neighbouring provinces working in the region, as well as foreign energy firms they believe are exploiting its riches.

Punjabis are the largest of the six main ethnic groups in Pakistan, and are perceived as dominating the ranks of the military, which is locked in a battle to quash Balochistan’s armed factions.

The BLA mostly targets security forces, and attacks on civilians often go unclaimed.

In an attack in April, 11 Punjabi labourers were killed when they were abducted from a bus in the city of Naushki, and six Punjabis working as barbers were shot in May.

In February, on the eve of national elections, twin blasts in Balochistan killed 28 people and were claimed by the local chapter of the Islamic State group.

Protests led by ethnic Baloch are staged regularly in the province accusing the authorities of a heavy-handed crackdown in their fight against militancy, including through mass arrests and detentions.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks since the Taliban government returned to power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021, mostly in the northwestern border province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but also in southwestern Balochistan, which abuts Afghanistan and Iran.

There were at least 170 militant attacks killing 151 civilians and 114 security personnel in Balochistan last year, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.

Islamabad accuses Kabul‘s new rulers of failing to root out militants sheltering on Afghan soil as they prepare to stage assaults on Pakistan.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed “deep grief and condemnation over the terrorist attack” in a statement issued Monday by his office.

This article was originally published on France24.

Democratic National Convention: Obamas Sing Kamala Harris’s Praise, Doug Emhoff Says ‘She Is Ready’

Former US president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama were among those enthusiastically lauding Democratic nominee Kamala Harris at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

Former US president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama were welcomed to the stage with rapturous applause at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Tuesday. Barack Obama told the crowd that Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s presidential nominee, is “someone who sees you and hears you and will get up every single day and fight for you”.

Barack Obama told fellow Democrats in Chicago on Tuesday that “the torch has been passed” to Harris and that the United States was ready for her to become president.

Former president Obama, who was greeted with rapturous applause and cheers at the packed arena hosting the party’s nominating convention, said Harris would fight for Americans and called her November election opponent Donald Trump “dangerous”.

“Kamala Harris is ready for the job. This is a person who has spent her life fighting for people who need a voice,” he said.
Obama called Harris “someone who sees you and hears you and will get up every single day and fight for you”.

“Yes she can,” Obama said of Harris, prompting the boisterous crowd to repeatedly chant the phrase, recalling Obama’s own “Yes we can” campaign slogan.

Before his stardust performance, his wife and former US first lady Michelle Obama told convention attendees “something magically wonderful is in the air”.

“It’s the contagious power of hope,” she said, calling Harris “my girl” and saying that hope – another rallying cry of her husband’s successful 2008 campaign – “is making a comeback”.

Former first lady Michelle Obama speaks at the DNC in Chicago

The Obamas’ turn amped up the already buoyant mood in Chicago where President Joe Biden delivered his own emotional speech late Monday less than a month after ending his re-election bid.

“In 2012 I got to vote for [Barack Obama], and everyone was pushing Michelle Obama to run for president, but now we have Kamala. So I just think that this is, in a sense, them passing on the torch,” said attendee Tomara Hall, 35, from California.

Second Gentleman shares personal remarks

In deeply personal remarks, Harris’s husband, US Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, told the convention that “she is ready”.
“She brings both joy and toughness to this task,” he said to cheers. “At this moment in our nation’s history, she is exactly the right president.”

With the party united and Harris polling strongly following Biden’s decision to drop out of the race and endorse his vice president, Democrats are making clear they believe they can defeat Trump.

Some in the Democratic faithful are making comparisons to Barack Obama’s historic 2008 campaign, when a tidal wave of enthusiasm carried him to the White House.

Bullish delegates symbolically nominated Harris as their candidate in a boisterous roll call, following a paper exercise to confirm her as their standard bearer earlier this month. “Thank you … see you in two days, Chicago,” Harris said to delegates via video link from an event in Milwaukee.

Harris, who was received enthusiastically in Chicago at her debut appearance before Biden spoke, was in Milwaukee Tuesday for an event at the arena where the Republican National Convention took place just a month ago.

The choice of the 18,000-seat arena could rile Trump, who has been rattled that 59-year-old Harris, unlike Biden, is able to draw the kinds of crowds the former president has long attracted to his events. By addressing both crowds simultaneously, Harris highlighted that she had filled the DNC and RNC venues.

Unique delegate roll-call

Still, it was not all serious on the second night of the four-day convention.

A symbolic roll call in which delegates from each state pledged their support for the Democratic nominee turned into a party atmosphere. A DJ played a mix of state-specific songs – and Atlanta native Lil Jon ran out during Georgia’s turn to his hit song with DJ Snake, “Turn Down for What”, to the delight of the thousands inside the cavernous United Centre.

Trump, meanwhile, was out on the campaign trail as part of his weeklong swing-state tour during the Democratic convention. He went to Howell, Michigan on Tuesday and stood beside sheriff’s deputies as he labelled Harris the “ringleader” of a “Marxist attack on law enforcement” across the country.

“Kamala Harris will deliver crime, chaos, destruction and death,” Trump said in one of many generalisations about an America under Harris.

Harris, meanwhile, cast the election in dire, almost existential terms. She implored Americans not to get complacent in light of the Supreme Court decision carving out broad presidential immunity, a power she said Trump would abuse.
She has also seized on Trump’s opposition to a nationally guaranteed right to abortion. “They seemingly don’t trust women,” she said of Trump and his Republican allies. “Well, we trust women.”

The vice president’s speech evoked some of the same themes that underlaid Biden’s case for re-election before he dropped out, casting Trump as a threat to democracy. Harris argued that Trump threatens the values and freedoms that Americans hold dear.

Trump said he would be a dictator only on his first day in office, a quip he later said was a joke, and has vowed as president to assert more control over federal prosecutions, a function of government that has traditionally been left to the Justice Department.

Someone with that record “should never again have the opportunity to stand behind the seal of the president of the United States”, Harris said. “Never again.”

This article first appeared on France 24.

Kamala Harris Asks Tim Walz, Minnesota Governor With Rural Appeal, To Be Her Running Mate

Walz, a 60-year-old US Army National Guard veteran and former teacher, was elected to a Republican-leaning district in the US House of Representatives in 2006 and served 12 years before being elected governor of Minnesota in 2018.

Vice President Kamala Harris picked Minnesota governor Tim Walz to be her running mate on Tuesday, choosing an affable longtime politician who Democrats hope can keep newfound party unity alive in a campaign barrelling toward Election Day.

Harris said in a post on social media that Walz has “delivered for working families”. The two will appear together in Philadelphia at an evening rally.

The Minnesota governor said it is “the honour of a lifetime” to join Harris in the 2024 election race.

“Vice President Harris is showing us the politics of what’s possible. It reminds me a bit of the first day of school,” Walz wrote on social media.

“So, let’s get this done, folks!”

Walz, a 60-year-old US Army National Guard veteran and former teacher, was elected to a Republican-leaning district in the US House of Representatives in 2006 and served 12 years before being elected governor of Minnesota in 2018.

As governor, Walz has pushed a progressive agenda that includes free school meals, goals for tackling climate change, tax cuts for the middle class and expanded paid leave for Minnesota workers.

Walz has long advocated for women’s reproductive rights but also displayed a conservative bent while representing a rural district in the US House, defending agricultural interests and backing gun rights.

Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, is adding a popular Midwestern politician whose home state votes reliably for Democrats in presidential elections but is close to Wisconsin and Michigan, two crucial battlegrounds.

Such states are seen as crucial in deciding this year’s election, and Walz is widely seen as skilled at connecting with white, rural voters who in recent years have voted broadly for the Republican Donald Trump, Harris’ rival for the White House.

The Harris campaign hopes Walz’s extensive National Guard career, coupled with a successful run as a high school football coach and his Dad joke videos will attract such voters who are not yet dedicated to a second Trump term in the White House.

Harris, 59, has revived the Democratic Party’s hopes of an election victory since becoming its candidate after President Joe Biden, 81, ended his failing re-election bid under party pressure on July 21.

Walz was a relative unknown nationally until the Harris “veepstakes” heated up, but his profile has since surged. A popular member of Congress, he reportedly had the backing of powerful former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was instrumental in persuading Biden to leave the race.

Harris and Walz will face Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance, also a military veteran from the Midwest, in a November 5 election.

Stumping for Harris, sometimes in a camouflage baseball hat and T-shirt, Walz has attacked Trump and Vance as “weird”, a catchy insult that has been picked up by the Harris campaign, social media and Democratic activists.

A ‘unicorn’

Walz gave the nascent Harris campaign the new attack line in a late July interview: “These are weird people on the other side: They want to take books away. They want to be in your exam room,” referring to book bans and women’s reproductive consultations with doctors.

Walz has also attacked the claims by Trump and Vance of having middle class credentials.

“They keep talking about the middle class. A robber baron real estate guy and a venture capitalist trying to tell us they understand who we are? They don’t know who we are,” Walz said in an MSNBC interview.

That approach has struck a chord with the young voters Harris needs to reengage. David Hogg, the co-founder of the gun safety group March for Our Lives, described him as a “great communicator”.

Walz is “somewhat of a unicorn”, said Ryan Dawkins, a political science professor at Minnesota’s Carleton College – a man born in a small town in rural Nebraska capable of conveying Harris’ message to core Democratic voters, and those that the party has failed to reach in recent years.

Dawkins praised his ability to connect with rural voters. It is a group the Biden administration has tried to reach with infrastructure spending and other pragmatic policies, but with little show of messaging success so far.

In the 2016 election, Trump won 59% of rural voters; in 2020 that number rose to 65% even though Trump lost the election, according to Pew Research.

In the 2022 governor’s race, Walz won with 52.27% to his Republican opponent’s 44.61%, although swaths of rural Minnesota voted for the opponent.

While Walz has supported Democratic Party orthodoxy on issues ranging from legalised abortion and same-sex marriage to the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, he also racked up a centrist voting record during his congressional career.

He was a staunch defender of government support for farmers and military veterans, as well as gun-owner rights that won praise from the National Rifle Association, according to The Almanac of American Politics.

He subsequently registered a failing grade with the NRA after supporting gun-control measures during his first campaign for governor.

Walz’s shift from a centrist representing a single rural district in Congress to a more progressive politician as governor may have been in response to the demands of voters in major cities like Minneapolis-St. Paul. But it leaves him open to Republican attacks, Dawkins said in a telephone interview.

“He runs the risk of reinforcing some of the worst fears people have of Kamala Harris being a San Francisco liberal,” Dawkins said.

Walz has a ready counter-attack.

“What a monster. Kids are eating and having full bellies, so they can go learn and women are making their own healthcare decisions,” Walz said in a July CNN interview. “So if that’s where they want to label me, I’m more than happy to take the label.”

As the state’s top executive, Walz mandated the use of face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic and signed a law making marital rape illegal. He presided over several years of budget surpluses in Minnesota on the road to his 2022 reelection.

During that campaign, Walz touted the backing of several influential labour unions, including the state AFL-CIO, firefighters, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), teachers and others.

His tenure was marked by the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murder. Walz assigned the state’s attorney general to lead the prosecution in the case, saying people “don’t believe justice can be served”.

This article was originally published on France24.

Paris Prosecutor Opens Probe into ‘Criminal’ Attack on France’s High-Speed Train Network

French officials described the attacks on France’s high-speed rail network as “criminal actions” and said they were investigating whether they were linked to the Olympic Games.

France‘s high-speed rail network was hit by “malicious acts” including arson attacks that have disrupted the transport system, train operator SNCF said Friday, hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

“This is a massive attack on a large scale to paralyse the TGV network,” SNCF told AFP, adding that many routes would have to be cancelled.

“SNCF was the victim of several simultaneous malicious acts overnight,” the national train operator said, later adding that vandals had damaged signal boxes along the lines connecting Paris with cities such as Lille in the north, Bordeaux in the west and Strasbourg in the east. Another attack on the Paris-Marseille line was foiled.

“Arson attacks were started to damage our facilities,” it said, and explained that traffic on the affected lines was “heavily disrupted” with many cancellations, and that the situation would last through the weekend as repairs are conducted.

Two security sources said the modus operandi meant initial suspicions fell on leftist militants or environmental activists, but they said there was not yet any evidence.

French officials described the attacks on France’s high-speed rail network as “criminal actions” and said they were investigating whether they were linked to the Olympic Games.

The disruptions as the world’s eye was turning to Paris were expected to affect a quarter of a million people on Friday and endure through the weekend, and possibly longer, officials said.

Sites of arson attacks disrupting France's high-speed rail network.

Sites of arson attacks disrupting France’s high-speed rail network. Illustration: FRANCE 24

‘Our intelligence services are mobilised’

French security forces are hunting the people behind Friday’s attacks that hobbled the country’s high-speed rail network, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said.

“Our intelligence services and law enforcement are mobilised to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts,” Attal posted on X, calling the attacks “prepared and coordinated acts of sabotage against (rail operator) SNCF’s installations” with “huge and serious consequences for the rail network”.

But Attal declined to speculate when asked in a TV interview about the possibility of leftist militants or environmental activists being behind the sabotage.

The Paris prosecutor opened a probe into a suspected bid to undermine “fundamental national interests”, saying that the crime carries up to 20 years in prison.

The investigation will also probe suspected damage inflicted by an organised gang and attacks on an automated data processing system, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.

SNCF urged passengers to postpone their trips and stay away from train stations.

Eurostar also said its rail services between London and Paris had been disrupted by the acts of vandalism, resulting in several cancellations and longer journey times.


“Due to acts of vandalism affecting the high-speed line between Paris and Lille, all high-speed trains to and from Paris are being diverted via the classic line,” Eurostar said in a statement on X. “Some trains have been cancelled, others are delayed.”

Transport Minister Patrice Vergriete said in a post on X that he “firmly condemns these criminal incidents”, and that SNCF is working to restore traffic.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez, speaking on France Info radio, said he would send police reinforcements to overcrowded train stations in relation to the SNCF incidents.

Olympics under heavy security

The attacks were launched as Paris was under heavy security ahead of the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics, with 300,000 spectators and an audience of VIPs expected at the event.

The parade on Friday evening will see up to 7,500 competitors travel down a six-kilometre (four-mile) stretch of the river Seine on a flotilla of 85 boats.

It will be the first time a Summer Olympics has opened outside the main athletics stadium, a decision fraught with danger at a time when France is on its highest alert for terror attacks.

Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castera said authorities are working to “evaluate the impact on travelers, athletes, and ensure the transport of all delegations to the competition sites” for the Olympics. Speaking on BFM television, she said, “Playing against the Games is playing against France, against your own camp, against your country.” She didn’t identify who was behind the vandalism.

Some teams like the US basketball team are based in Paris and would have traveled on Saturday by train to the northern city of Lille.

At Paris’s Montparnasse train station, dozens of passengers were waiting for more information about their trips after delays of 30 minutes to almost two hours were announced.

“Normal traffic is expected to resume on Monday, July 29,” read one of the signs in the departure hall.

“We arrived around 7am but we were told that we might not be able to leave before Monday,” said 27-year-old student Jocelyn, who had planned to travel to Bretagne and refused to give her full name.

“We expected it to be a bit chaotic in Paris with the opening ceremony scheduled for this evening, but we didn’t think it could be this bad,” she said.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AP, AFP) 

This article was republished from FRANCE 24.

Applause and Protest As Benjamin Netanyahu Addresses Divided US Congress on Gaza

Nine months into the war in Gaza, Netanyahu vowed to press on with the war until ‘total victory.’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Israel‘s ongoing war in Gaza and condemned American protesters in a scathing speech to Congress Wednesday that triggered boycotts by many top Democratic lawmakers and drew thousands of protesters to the Capitol to condemn the war in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis it has created.

Nine months into the war in Gaza, Netanyahu vowed to press on with the war until “total victory.” He also sought to bolster U.S. support for his country’s fight against Hamas and other Iran-backed armed groups, and bitterly condemned widespread opposition in the United States to the war.

“America and Israel must stand together. When we stand together something really simple happens: we win, they lose,” said Netanyahu, who wore a yellow pin expressing solidarity with the Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Netanyahu’s speech quickly took on a darker tone as he defended his country but also derided those protesting the war, gesturing to demonstrations happening as he spoke on the streets outside the U.S. Capitol, as “useful idiots” for Israel’s adversaries.

He drew shouts of applause from many in Congress, but also silence from leading Democrats who declined to stand and cheer.

Freed former hostages of Hamas and families of hostages listened in the House chamber as Netanyahu spoke. Lawmakers of both parties rose repeatedly to applaud the Israeli leader, while security escorted out protesters in the gallery who rose to display T-shirts with slogans demanding that leaders close a deal for a cease-fire and the release of all hostages.

A weeping Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, held a sign in the House chamber saying “war criminal.”

Netanyahu accused the numerous protesters of the war in the United States of standing with the militants who he said killed babies in Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7. “These protesters that stand with them, they should be ashamed of themselves,” he said.

With criticism against him rising in Israel, too, Netanyahu also aims to portray himself as a statesman respected by Israel’s most important ally. That task is complicated by Americans’ increasingly divided views on Israel and the war, which has emerged as a key issue in the U.S. presidential election.

Tall steel barriers ringed the Capitol Wednesday, and police deployed pepper spray as thousands of protesters rallied near the Capitol, denouncing Netanyahu as a “war criminal” and calling for a cease-fire.


Netanyahu received a warm welcome from House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republican lawmakers who arranged his speech in the House chamber. “Today and every day, America must stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel,” Johnson said shortly before Netanyahu began speaking. He received a bipartisan standing ovation.

Noa Argamani, an Israeli hostage who was freed in a rescue mission in Gaza, was in attendance.

The appearance makes Netanyahu the first foreign leader to address a joint meeting of Congress four times, surpassing Winston Churchill.

More than 50 Democrats and political independent Bernie Sanders boycotted Netanyahu’s speech. The most notable absence was right behind him: Vice President Kamala Harris, who serves as president of the Senate, said a long-scheduled trip kept her from attending.

The next Democrat in line, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, declined to attend, so Sen. Ben Cardin, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, served as “senator pro tempore” in place of her.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat who has family in the West Bank, sat in the House chamber with a keffiyeh, which she often wears, wrapped over her shoulders. Tlaib was censured last year for her strident criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war.

Republicans said the absence of Harris, the new Democratic front-runner for the presidency, was a sign of disloyalty to an ally. Former President Donald Trump‘s running mate, JD Vance, was also a no-show for Netanyahu’s speech, citing the need to campaign.

Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden and Harris on Thursday, and with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Friday.

Many in the swelling crowds of demonstrators protested the killings of more than 39,000 Palestinians in the war. Others condemned Netanyahu’s inability to free Israeli and American hostages taken by Hamas and other militants during the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war.

Support for Israel has long carried political weight in U.S. politics. But the usual warm welcome for Netanyahu’s visits has been diminished this time around by political turmoil, including the assassination attempt against Trump and Biden’s decision not to seek another term.

Many Democrats who support Israel but have been critical of Netanyahu see the address as a Republican effort to cast itself as the party most loyal.

Many Democrats attended the address despite their criticism of Netanyahu, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who called for new elections in Israel in a March floor speech. Schumer, of New York, said then that Netanyahu has “lost his way” and is an obstacle to peace in the region amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

About 60 lawmakers met Wednesday with relatives of those taken hostage by Hamas, and they expressed anger toward Netanyahu. “Because by coming here, he risks making himself the issue, turning the humanitarian issue of the hostages into a political one,” Maya Roman, who had several family members taken hostage, told the lawmakers.

The United States is Israel’s most important ally, arms supplier and source of military aid. Netanyahu’s visit is his first abroad since the war started, and comes under the shadow of arrest warrants sought against him by the International Criminal Court over alleged Israel war crimes against Palestinians. The United States does not recognize the ICC.

Also Read: ICC Seeks Arrest Warrant Against Israeli PM Netanyahu Over Gaza War Crimes

The Biden administration says it wants to see Netanyahu focus his visit on helping it complete a deal for a cease-fire and hostage-release. Growing numbers of Israelis accuse Netanyahu of prolonging the war in order to avoid a likely fall from power whenever the conflict ends.

Netanyahu has said his aims for the U.S. visit are to press for freeing hostages held by Hamas and other militants in Gaza, to build support for continuing Israel’s battle against the group, and to argue for continuing to confront Hezbollah in Lebanon and other Iranian-allied groups in the region.

Some Democrats are wary about Netanyahu since he used a 2015 joint address to Congress to denounce then-President Barack Obama‘s pending nuclear deal with Iran.

Netanyahu used an appearance early Wednesday to focus on Iran, its nuclear program and its network of armed allies. Iran is “behind the entire axis of terror” that threatens the U.S. and Israel, he said, speaking at a memorial for former Sen. Joe Lieberman.

This report first appeared on France24.

Hamas and Fatah Sign ‘Beijing Declaration’ for a Joint Post-war Governance of Gaza

China has sought to play a mediator role in the conflict, which has been rendered even more complex due to the intense rivalry between Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and Fatah, which partially governs the occupied West Bank.

Hamas announced Tuesday it had signed an agreement in Beijing with other Palestinian organisations including rivals Fatah to work together for “national unity”, with China describing it as a deal to rule Gaza together once the war ends.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who hosted senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzuk, Fatah envoy Mahmud al-Aloul and emissaries from 12 other Palestinian groups, said they had agreed to set up an “interim national reconciliation government” to govern post-war Gaza.

“Today we sign an agreement for national unity and we say that the path to completing this journey is national unity. We are committed to national unity and we call for it,” Abu Marzuk said after meeting Wang and the other envoys.

The announcement comes more than nine months into a war sparked by Hamas’s October attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza, including 44 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 39,000 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

The relentless fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis.

China has sought to play a mediator role in the conflict, which has been rendered even more complex due to the intense rivalry between Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and Fatah, which partially governs the occupied West Bank.

Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it destroys Hamas, and world powers including key Israeli backer the United States have scrambled to imagine scenarios for the governance of Gaza once the war ends.

Neither Israel nor the United States would sanction any post-war plan that includes Hamas, which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Washington.

While it is unclear whether the deal announced in Beijing on Tuesday can hold, it does indicate that the only world power that can engineer a rapprochement between the Palestinian rivals is China.

As Tuesday’s meeting wrapped up in Beijing, Wang said the groups had committed to “reconciliation”.

“The most prominent highlight is the agreement to form an interim national reconciliation government around the governance of post-war Gaza,” Wang said after the factions signed the “Beijing declaration” in the Chinese capital.

“Reconciliation is an internal matter for the Palestinian factions, but at the same time, it cannot be achieved without the support of the international community,” Wang said.

Fatah official Mahmoud al-Aloul thanked China for its “unending support” for the Palestinian cause.

“To China, you have our love, you have all our friendship, from all the Palestinian people,” he said.

Notably, he did not mention whether any agreement had been reached with Hamas and the other factions.

Also present at Tuesday’s meeting were envoys from Egypt, Algeria and Russia, according to Wang.

Egypt, which neighbours Israel and Gaza, is a key mediator in the conflict.

Algeria is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, and has drafted resolutions on the war.

And while Western powers have sought to isolate Russia over its Ukraine invasion, China has maintained its strategic partnership with Moscow.

‘Peace and stability’

China, Wang said, was keen to “play a constructive role in safeguarding peace and stability in the Middle East“.

He also called for a “comprehensive, lasting and sustainable ceasefire“, as well as efforts to promote Palestinian self-governance and full recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN.

Hamas and Fatah have been bitter rivals since Hamas fighters ejected Fatah from the Gaza Strip after deadly clashes that followed Hamas’s resounding victory in a 2006 election.

Fatah controls the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Several reconciliation bids have failed, but calls have grown since the Hamas October attack and nine-month war in Gaza, with violence also soaring in the West Bank where Fatah is based.

China hosted Fatah and Hamas in April but a meeting scheduled for June was postponed.

China has positioned itself as a more neutral actor on the Israel-Palestinian conflict than its rival the United States, advocating for a two-state solution while also maintaining good ties with Israel.

And it has sought to play a greater role in the Middle East in recent years, facilitating last year’s historic rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

This article was originally published on France24.