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UN Security Council to decide fate of peacekeeper mandate in Lebanon

The UN Security Council is set to vote Thursday on the future of the blue helmet peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon, which has faced US and Israeli opposition.Some 10,800 peacekeepers have been acting as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon since 1978. But the usual renewal of their mandate, which expires Sunday, is facing hostility this year from Israel and its American ally, who want them to leave.The Council is debating a French-drafted compromise that would keep the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in place until the end of next year while it prepares to withdraw.France, which oversees the issue at the Security Council and has the support of Beirut, had initially considered a one-year extension and referred simply to an “intention” to work towards a withdrawal of UNIFIL.But faced with a possible US veto, and following several proposals and a Monday postponement of the vote, the latest draft resolution seen by AFP unequivocally schedules the end of the mission in 16 months.The Council “decides to extend for a final time the mandate of UNIFIL as set out by resolution 1701 (2006) until 31 December 2026 and to start an orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal from 31 December 2026 and within one year,” the text says.At that point the Lebanese army will be solely responsible for ensuring security in the country’s south.With US envoy Tom Barrack saying Tuesday that Washington would approve a one-year extension, it remained unclear what the US position would be come Thursday.Under a truce that ended a recent war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, Beirut’s army has been deploying in south Lebanon and dismantling the militant group’s infrastructure there. As part of the ceasefire, and under pressure from Washington, the plan is for Hezbollah’s withdrawal to be complete by the end of the year.Last week Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called for the UN peacekeepers to remain, arguing that any curtailment of UNIFIL’s mandate “will negatively impact the situation in the south, which still suffers from Israeli occupation.”The latest draft resolution also “calls on the Government of Israel to withdraw its forces north of the Blue Line” — the UN-established demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel — “including from the five positions held in Lebanese territory.”

AI giant Nvidia beats earnings expectations but shares fall

AI powerhouse Nvidia reported quarterly earnings Wednesday that beat expectations, but shares slipped amid concerns about an AI chip spending bubble and the company’s stalled business in China.The California-based firm posted profit of $26.4 billion on record revenue of $46.7 billion in the recently ended quarter, driven by intense demand for chips from major tech …

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NGO says starving Gaza children too weak to cry

The head of Save the Children described in horrific detail Wednesday the slow agony of starving children in Gaza, saying they are so weak they do not cry.Addressing a UN Security Council meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the president of the international charity, Inger Ashing, said famine — declared by the UN last week to be happening in Gaza — is not just a dry technical term.”When there is not enough food, children become acutely malnourished, and then they die slowly and painfully. This, in simple terms, is what famine is,” said Ashing.She went on to describe what happens when children die of hunger over the course of several weeks, as the body first consumes its own fat to survive and when that is gone, literally consumes itself as it eats muscles and vital organs.”Yet our clinics are almost silent. Now, children do not have the strength to speak or even cry out in agony. They lie there, emaciated, quite literally wasting away,” said Ashing.She said aid groups have been warning loudly that famine was coming as Israel prevented food and other essentials from entering Gaza over the course of two years of war triggered by the Hamas attack of October 2023.”Everyone in this room has a legal and moral responsibility to act to stop this atrocity,” said Ashing.The United Nations officially declared famine in Gaza on Friday, blaming what it called systematic obstruction of aid by Israel during more than 22 months of war.A UN-backed hunger monitor called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC) said famine was affecting 500,000 people in the Gaza governorate, which covers about a fifth of the Palestinian territory including Gaza City.The IPC projected that the famine would expand to cover around two-thirds of Gaza by the end of September.Israel on Wednesday demanded that the IPC retract the report, calling it “fabricated.”After Wednesday’s Security Council meeting 14 members — all but the United States, Israel’s main ally — issued a joint declaration expressing “profound alarm and distress” over the declaration of famine and saying they trusted the IPC’s work and methodology.”The use of starvation as a weapon of war is clearly prohibited under international humanitarian law. Famine in Gaza must be stopped immediately,” the declaration says.

Iran says return of IAEA inspectors not full resumption of cooperation

Iran said Wednesday that the return of UN nuclear inspectors did not represent a full resumption of cooperation, which was suspended in the aftermath of June attacks by Israel and the United States.Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency began work at the key nuclear site of Bushehr in southwestern Iran, the nuclear watchdog’s chief Rafael Grossi said, the first team to enter the country since Tehran formally suspended cooperation with the UN agency last month.”No final text has yet been approved on the new cooperation framework with the IAEA and views are being exchanged,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, quoted by state television.The agency’s inspectors left Iran after Israel launched its unprecedented attack on June 13, striking nuclear and military facilities as well as residential areas and killing more than 1,000 people.Washington later joined in with strikes on nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks that killed dozens in Israel. A ceasefire between Iran and Israel has been in place since June 24.Iran subsequently suspended its cooperation with the IAEA, citing the agency’s failure to condemn the Israeli and US attacks.But on Wednesday Grossi said the inspectors were “there now”, adding: “Today they are inspecting Bushehr.”Under the law suspending cooperation, inspectors may access Iranian nuclear sites only with the approval of the country’s top security body, the Supreme National Security Council.Tehran has said repeatedly that future cooperation with the agency will take “a new form”.The spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said the IAEA inspectors would oversee the replacement of fuel at the Bushehr nuclear power plant.He made no mention of whether inspectors would be allowed access to other sites, including Fordo and Natanz, which were hit during the war.- ‘Litmus test’ -Grossi, on a visit to Washington, said discussions about inspecting other sites were underway with no immediate agreement.”We are continuing the conversation so that we can go to all places, including the facilities that have been impacted,” he said.He said that Iran cannot restrict inspectors only to “non-attacked facilities.””There is no such thing as a la carte inspection work.”The return of inspectors came after Iranian diplomats held talks with counterparts from Britain, France and Germany in Geneva on Tuesday.Their second round of talks since the Israeli attacks included discussion of European threats to trigger the reimposition of UN sanctions against Iran before they are permanently lifted in mid-October.The window for triggering the so-called “snapback mechanism” of a moribund 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers closes on October 18.During their previous meeting with Iran in July, the three European powers suggested extending the snapback deadline if Tehran resumed negotiations with the United States and cooperation with the IAEA, the Financial Times reported.Iran later dismissed the Europeans’ right to extend the deadline, and said it was working with its allies China and Russia to prevent the reimposition of sanctions.Iran’s deputy foreign minister Karim Gharibabadi on Wednesday said that if the snapback is triggered, “the path of interaction that we have now opened with the International Atomic Energy Agency will also be completely affected and will probably stop.”On Tuesday, Russia circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution aimed at pushing back the deadline for triggering snapback sanctions by six months, according to the text seen by AFP.The Russian proposal does not set preconditions for the deadline extension.Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, said that the updated proposal was designed to “give more breathing space for diplomacy”, adding that he hoped it “will be acceptable”.”It will be kind of a litmus test for those who really want to uphold diplomatic efforts, and for those who don’t want any diplomatic solution, but just want to pursue their own nationalist, selfish agendas against Iran,” he told media.

Venice Film Festival opens with star power, and Gaza protesters

The Venice Film Festival kicked off Wednesday with Hollywood royalty arriving for Italy’s glitzy movie showcase where a strong line up of star-packed films will vie with protests about the Gaza war for public attention. Julia Roberts and George Clooney are some of the biggest names at the 82nd edition of the world’s longest-running festival, with top directors from Kathryn Bigelow to Jim Jarmusch all due on the sandy Lido across the Venice lagoon.The main event in Wednesday evening’s opening ceremony was Francis Ford Coppola awarding a Lifetime Achievement award to German director Werner Herzog (“Grizzly Man”, “Fitzcarraldo”) for his canon of more than 70 films.Herzog, who said he always searched for the “sublime” in his films, will showcase his latest documentary, “Ghost Elephants”, about a lost herd in Angola, on Thursday.Italian director Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia” — about an Italian president grappling with doubts over whether to sign a euthanasia bill into law — was the first main in-competition movie presented on Wednesday.”Dwelling on doubt and then allowing that doubt to mature into a decision is something that is increasingly rare,” Sorrentino told journalists.”Mother”, a film depicting Mother Teresa as a sometimes ruthless figure struggling to reconcile her views on motherhood and abortion, opened the secondary Orizzonti section. Eyes were set to quickly turn to Hollywood’s favourite leading man, Clooney, who stepped off a water taxi in Venice with his wife Amal on Tuesday.On Thursday, he will be seen in the premiere of Netflix-produced comedy “Jay Kelly”, directed by Noah Baumbach, in which he plays a top Hollywood actor with an identity crisis.On the same night is the premiere of sci-fi comedy “Bugonia” from Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, which stars Emma Stone as a pharmaceutical executive kidnapped by people who mistake her for an alien.Roberts, meanwhile, will appear at Venice for the first time on Friday in the out-of-competition cancel-culture drama “After the Hunt”, from Italy’s Luca Guadagnino.Winners of the festival’s prestigious Golden Bear top prize often go on to Oscar glory, such as “Nomadland” or “Joker” in previous years.- Pro-Palestinian protest -Though the festival and this year’s jury president Alexander Payne (“Sideways”) were keen to focus on the roster of movies making their world premieres in the next 11 days, world events dominated their day-one press conference.Protesters held up a “Free Palestine” banner in front of the festival’s main building, while a group of Italian film professionals have called on organisers to openly condemn Israel’s invasion and siege of Gaza.A demonstration to condemn Israel and the war in Gaza has been called for Saturday in Venice by hundreds of local political and rights groups. The festival had already declared “huge sadness and suffering vis-a-vis what is happening in Gaza and Palestine”, its director Alberto Barbera told reporters. But he ruled out rescinding invitations to pro-Israeli actors.Israel’s nearly two-year bombardment of Gaza also featured prominently during the Cannes film festival in May where hundreds of movie figures signed a petition saying they were “ashamed” of their industry’s “passivity” about the war.The festival has selected a film about the war for its main competition — “The Voice of Hind Rajab” by Franco-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, which reconstructs the death of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab who was killed last year by Israeli forces.- ‘Frankenstein’ -The flurry of premieres to be screened in Venice also include Guillermo del Toro big-budget remake of “Frankenstein”, starring Oscar Isaac, or Bigelow’s political thriller “A House of Dynamite”, starring Idris Elba.In one of the boldest casting choices, British actor Jude Law will try his hand at Vladimir Putin in Olivier Assayas’s “The Wizard of the Kremlin”, while Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson portrays mixed martial arts champion Mark Kerr in much-hyped “The Smashing Machine” from Benny Safdie.Jarmusch marks his first time in Venice’s main lineup with “Father Mother Sister Brother”, bringing together Cate Blanchett, Adam Driver and Tom Waits, while Taiwan-born model and actress Shu Qi makes her directorial debut with “Nuhai (Girl)”.

Israel ups pressure on Gaza City as Trump eyes post-war plan

The Israeli military pressed operations around Gaza City on Wednesday, as President Donald Trump prepared to host a White House meeting on post-war plans for the shattered Palestinian territory.Israel is under mounting pressure both at home and abroad to end its almost two-year campaign in Gaza, where the United Nations has declared a famine.Mediators have circulated a truce proposal which has been accepted by Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose October 2023 attack triggered the devastating war. But Israel has yet to give an official response.On the ground, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes and gunfire on Wednesday killed at least 38 people, including 16 in Gaza City.The Israeli military, which is preparing to conquer Gaza City, said troops were operating on the outskirts of the territory’s largest city “to locate and dismantle terror infrastructure sites”.As aid groups have warned against expanding the Israeli offensive, the army’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said on X that Gaza City’s evacuation was “inevitable”.The vast majority of the Gaza Strip’s population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war.In Jabalia, just north of Gaza City, resident Hamad al-Karawi said he had left his home after a message broadcast from a drone ordered people to evacuate immediately.”We scattered out onto the streets with no place or home to take refuge in,” he told AFP.The UN estimates that nearly a million people currently live in Gaza governorate, which includes Gaza City and its surroundings in the north of the territory.- ‘Death follows you’ -Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said the US president would host top officials at the White House later on Wednesday to thrash out a detailed plan for post-war Gaza.”It’s a very comprehensive plan we’re putting together,” Witkoff told Fox News, without offering more details.Trump stunned the world earlier this year when he suggested the United States should take control of the Gaza Strip, clear out its inhabitants and redevelop it as seaside real estate.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the proposal which sparked a global outcry.In Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood on Wednesday, residents reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight.”Warplanes struck several times, and drones fired throughout the night,” said Tala al-Khatib, 29.”Some neighbours have fled… But wherever you flee, death follows you,” she said.AFP footage showed thick smoke rising into the sky following air strikes on parts of Gaza City.Defence Minister Israel Katz vowed on Friday to destroy the city if Hamas does not agree to end the war on Israel’s terms.Zeitoun resident Abdel Hamid al-Sayfi, 62, said he had avoided going outside for more than 24 hours.”Whoever steps outside is fired upon by the drones,” he told AFP by telephone.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.- Stalled negotiations -Days after a UN-backed monitor said famine was present in Gaza governorate, Israel on Wednesday called on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC) to retract the report, arguing it was “fabricated”.The United Nations has blamed the famine on “systematic obstruction” of humanitarian deliveries by Israel, which has insisted it was allowing sufficient aid into Gaza.Last week, Netanyahu said he ordered immediate negotiations aimed at securing the release of all remaining captives, while also doubling down on the plan to seize Gaza City.Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas’s 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.Key mediator Qatar said on Tuesday it was still “waiting for an answer” from Israel on the latest ceasefire proposal, which would see the staggered release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody over an initial 60-day truce.Witkoff in his interview accused Hamas of having “slow-played” the negotiations process, a claim dismissed by Izzat al-Rishq, a senior official from the Palestinian group who said the US envoy was echoing “Netanyahu and his government of war criminals”.The Hamas attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 62,895 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.