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US, Australia sign rare earths deal as Trump promises submarines
US President Donald Trump signed a deal on rare earth minerals Monday with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and said Washington’s key ally would get its coveted nuclear-powered attack submarines. The two leaders met at the White House to concentrate on a pair of areas — defense and critical minerals — in which Washington and Canberra …
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EU timber imports linked to deforestation on Indonesia’s Borneo: NGOs
Timber imports by companies operating in the European Union can be traced to logging on Indonesia’s Borneo island, a new report published Tuesday showed, with NGOs calling for the bloc to stop delaying a ban on deforestation-linked products.The EU last month said it will seek a new one-year postponement of sweeping anti-deforestation rules known as …
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Trump says Hamas will be ‘eradicated’ if group breaches Gaza deal
US President Donald Trump warned Hamas Monday it would be “eradicated” if it breaches the Gaza deal with Israel, but said he would give the Palestinian militant group a chance to honor the truce.Vice President JD Vance headed to Israel shortly after Trump’s comments, joining two top US envoys after weekend violence threatened to wreck the fragile ceasefire.”We made a deal with Hamas that they’re going to be very good, they’re going to behave, they’re going to be nice,” Trump told reporters at the White House as he hosted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.”And if they’re not, we’re going to go and we’re going to eradicate them, if we have to. They’ll be eradicated, and they know that.”Trump helped broker the Gaza deal nearly two weeks ago but it has repeatedly come under threat as Israel accuses Hamas of stalling on handing over dead hostages, and of launching attacks.Hamas’s top negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, told Egypt’s Al-Qahera News that the group was still committed to the ceasefire agreement. “We are finding it extremely difficult to extract the bodies, but we are serious and working hard to extract them,” he said in comments broadcast Tuesday morning.”The Gaza agreement will hold, because we want it to and our will to abide by it is strong.”Trump has also warned the militant group to stop public executions of rivals and alleged collaborators as it seeks to reestablish its grip on the devastated territory.Trump, however, insisted that American forces would not be involved in confronting against Hamas, saying dozens of countries that have agreed to join an international stabilization forces for Gaza would “love to go in.””In addition, you have Israel would go in in two minutes, if I asked them to go in,” Trump said.”But right now, we haven’t said that. We’re going to give it a little chance, and hopefully there will be a little less violence. But right now, you know, they’re violent people,” he added.”They got very rambunctious, and they did things that they shouldn’t be doing, and if they keep doing it, then we’re going to go in and straighten it out, and it’ll happen very quickly and pretty violently.”Trump said that Hamas was now far weaker, especially as regional backer Iran was now unlikely to step in on its behalf following US and Israeli strikes this year.”They don’t have the backing of really anybody anymore. They have to be good, and if they’re not good, they’ll be eradicated,” Trump stressed.Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser son-in-law Jared Kushner met Netanyahu on Monday to discuss “developments and updates in the region”, a spokesman for the prime minister’s office said.Vance and his wife Usha later left Washington for Israel without commenting to reporters. They were also due to meet with Netanyahu, the prime minister’s office said.
Maccabi Tel Aviv to decline tickets for European tie at Aston Villa
Maccabi Tel Aviv will decline any tickets offered to their fans for a Europa League away match at Aston Villa, the Israeli club announced Monday.The local Safety Advisory Group (SAG) covering Villa Park in Birmingham, in central England, last week blocked visiting fans from attending the November 6 match following a police risk assessment.That decision drew widespread political criticism, including from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with widespread calls for the ruling to be reversed. The British government said Friday it was working to allow Israeli fans to attend. But a statement on the Maccabi Tel Aviv website said: “The wellbeing and safety of our fans is paramount and, from hard lessons learned, we have taken the decision to decline any allocation offered on behalf of away fans, and our decision should be understood in that context.”We hope that circumstances will change and look forward to being able to play in Birmingham in a sporting environment in the near future.”The announcement came only a day after Israeli police called off the Israeli Premier League match between Maccabi and city rivals Hapoel because of “riots” between rival fans.Maccabi insisted their supporters were not involved in the unrest, while their statement questioned the motivation of those leading calls for a ban on away fans.”We acknowledge the efforts of the UK government and police to ensure both sets of fans can attend the match safely, and are grateful for the messages of support from across the footballing community and society at large,” said the club.”Our first-team squad consists of Muslims, Christian and Jewish players and our fan base also crosses the ethnic and religious divide. We have also been working tirelessly to stamp out racism within the more extreme elements of our fan base.”- Game ‘weaponised’ to stoke violence -The statement added: “It is clear that various entrenched groups seek to malign the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan base, most of whom have no truck with racism or hooliganism of any kind, and are exploiting isolated incidents for their own social and political ends.”As a result of the hate-filled falsehoods, a toxic atmosphere has been created, which makes the safety of our fans wishing to attend very much in doubt.”A British government spokesperson, responding to Maccabi’s announcement, said: “We are deeply saddened Maccabi Tel Aviv have turned down their away fan allocation but we respect their right to do so.”It is completely unacceptable that this game has been weaponised to stoke violence and fear by those who seek to divide us.”We will never tolerate antisemitism or extremism on our streets.”Earlier, UK Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy told the House of Commons the final decision must ultimately be made by the police.However, she also said the country “should be appalled” that the initial assessment was “based in no small part on the risk posed to those fans that are attending who support Maccabi because they are Israeli, and because they are Jewish”.West Midlands Police last week classified the fixture as “high risk”. They said the decision was “based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offences that occurred during the 2024 UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam”.Birmingham has been the scene of pro-Palestinian rallies since the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas began.A number of British left-wing independent and Green politicians backed the ban, with some calling for the wider exclusion of Israeli teams from international competitions due to the government’s actions in Gaza.Earlier this month, two Jewish men died in an attack on a synagogue in Manchester, England, that police linked to Islamist extremism.




