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Nov 19, 2024 - World

Spain's King Felipe VI said Tuesday he and his wife Queen Letizia will next week return to the epicenter of the country's catastrophic floods, where survivors heckled and hurled mud at them during their last visit."We do not yet have the date or the itinerary, but yes it will take place," the king told reporters during a visit to Betera in the eastern Valencia region where he met with soldiers taking part in the relief work following the October 29 disaster."From the outset, we wanted to show our willingness to be present in various ways in all the places affected," added Felipe, dressed in military fatigues.Palace sources had told AFP earlier on Tuesday that the royal couple will travel "early next week" to the Valencia region, which has suffered almost all the destruction and 222 deaths.Furious residents chanting "murderers" in the ruined Valencia region town of Paiporta pelted the couple and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez with projectiles and mud on November 3.While Sanchez and the Valencia region's leader Carlos Mazon were swiftly escorted away, the royals braved the chaos to speak with flood victims.They have promised to travel to the town of Chiva where their planned visit on the same day was cancelled.The unrest in Paiporta expressed widespread anger at political leaders for their perceived failure to adequately prepare for and respond to Spain's worst floods in a generation.The king said he wants to approach his next visit to the affected area "taking into account the circumstances we are living through here, and aware that each of us must be in our place".

Nov 19, 2024 - World

A U.S. lawmaker critical of COP29 host Azerbaijan said he was nearly assaulted when he attended the climate talks in what he called an orchestrated attack by the government."It was no question that if it wasn't for the fact that security that the embassy hired protected me, I would have been in the hospital," Representative Frank Pallone told reporters on his return to Washington on Monday.Pallone, a Democrat from New Jersey who is an outspoken supporter of Azerbaijan's rival Armenia, said he first sensed trouble when he was confronted by hostile and seemingly coordinated questions by local media during the UN-led climate conference taking place in a Baku stadium."It was sort of like an exercise in what despots do," Pallone said."In Azerbaijan there is no free media. The media is totally controlled by the state," he said."You know this was orchestrated by the government. That's what this was all about. In order to make a point that we don't want you here and we don't want you articulating concerns that you have," he said.Pallone said around 50 "thugs" then waited for him outside his hotel, with the local police refusing to take him through a back entrance but the US embassy-provided security shielding him."It was clear that they wanted to assault me," he said.Pallone said he was told he was unwelcome at a meeting between the US congressional delegation and President Ilham Aliyev, although fellow lawmakers relayed his concerns.Senator Ed Markey said he also encountered harassment and needed a bodyguard even inside his hotel, although he said Pallone faced worse.Markey, a Democrat who is a leading climate advocate in the US Congress, accused energy producer Azerbaijan of intensifying repression and "greenwashing" both its climate and human rights record by holding COP29."We can't just allow these authoritarian petrostates to ignore both the human rights and the climate threats that have to be addressed in a comprehensive way," Markey said.Markey said he met a senior advisor to Aliyev and urged a release of political prisoners as well as "good-faith" negotiations with Armenia, a year after Azerbaijan seized back the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.Aliyev set off an uproar last week by using his COP29 platform to attack France, the Netherlands and the European Union, which have all criticized him.The Council of Europe commissioner for human rights in a letter published Monday said Azerbaijan has imprisoned activists and journalists merely due to their work and opposition to the authorities.

Nov 19, 2024 - World

Dozens of lawmakers from across the world called Tuesday for the immediate and unconditional release of pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, before he is due to give evidence in his collusion trial in Hong Kong.Parliamentarians and foreign affairs experts from at least 22 countries and the European Parliament signed an open letter, expressing concern about the 76-year-old media tycoon's incarceration."His health is deteriorating. He has been held in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison in Hong Kong for almost four years. This is inhumane," they wrote, calling the charges against him "trumped up".The letter's release came on the same day a Hong Kong court jailed all 45 defendants convicted in the city's largest trial under a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.The separate charges against Lai, who founded the now-shuttered popular tabloid Apple Daily, revolve around the newspaper's publications, which supported the pro-democracy protests and criticized Beijing's leadership.Lai, who is a British citizen, denies two counts of "conspiracy to collusion" and one count of "conspiracy to publish seditious publications".But the parliamentarians said his trial was "tainted with unfairness", involving "hand-picked judges" and evidence allegedly obtained by torture."On the eve of the recommencement of his trial, we urgently demand Jimmy Lai's immediate and unconditional release," they added, warning China that "the world is watching as the rule of law, media freedom and human rights in Hong Kong are eroded and undermined".British Prime Minister Keir Starmer raised Lai's case with Chinese President Xi Jinping when they met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil on Monday.Some 30 signatories were from the UK, which handed back sovereignty of Hong Kong to China in 1997 but which has been increasingly critical of the authorities in the territory for its crackdown on political dissent.

Nov 18, 2024 - World

Whisky and migration thwarted earlier deal but UK PM hopeful of reaching agreement with Narendra ModiKeir Starmer is to restart the aborted UK-India trade talks in the new year after an agreement stalled amid disagreements over whisky tariffs and migration.No progress has been made on the deal since early this year after the last round of talks concluded. As prime minister, Boris Johnson promised a swift deal, but Rishi Sunak was said to be deeply uneasy with some of the provisions that had been negotiated by his predecessor. Talks were put on hold in March while both countries prepared for general elections. Continue reading...

Nov 18, 2024 - World

Sherry Rehman says rich nations should pay ‘internationally determined contributions’ to help poorer and worst-affected countriesAmid the endless politicking and inscrutable arguments at the UN climate negotiations in Baku, Azerbaijan, this month, it can be hard to remember what is at stake. That’s why Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s former climate change minister, is calling on global leaders to “keep an eye on the big picture”.“We’re here for life and death reasons,” Rehman said. Continue reading...