AFP Asia Business

France’s foreign minister warned on Wednesday that a military confrontation with Iran would be “almost inevitable” if talks over Tehran’s nuclear programme failed.”In the event of failure, a military confrontation would appear to be almost inevitable,” Jean-Noel Barrot said in parliament, adding that it would severely destabilise the region.Earlier Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron chaired a meeting on Iran.US President Donald Trump has threatened that Iran will be bombed if it persists in developing nuclear weapons. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has promised to hit back.”Our confidence and our conviction remain intact,” Barrot said. “Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons.””Our priority is to reach an agreement that verifiably and durably constrains the Iranian nuclear programme,” he added.Since taking office in January, Trump has reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy, which in his first term saw the United States withdraw from a landmark 2015 agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme and reimpose sanctions on Tehran.Western countries including the United States have long accused Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapon, which Tehran has denied, insisting that its enrichment activities are solely for peaceful purposes.The 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers required Iran to limit its nuclear processing in exchange for sanctions relief.- Complaint against Iran –Barrot also announced that France would “soon” lodge a complaint against Iran at the International Court of Justice over the fate of two detained French nationals. The complaint would be filed over “the violation of the right to consular protection”, he said, referring to Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who were detained in Iran in May 2022 on accusations of seeking to stir up labour protests.  Western countries have for years accused Iran of detaining their nationals on trumped-up charges in a policy of state hostage-taking to use them as bargaining chips to extract concessions.”We are going to step up pressure on the Iranian regime even further,” Barrot said.He also said “additional European sanctions against Iranian officials responsible for the policy of state hostage-taking” would be announced in the coming days. Cecile’s sister Noemie Kohler praised the announcement, expressing hope that this will help “move the case forward.””It is a major turning point, because Cecile and Jacques’ fundamental rights have been violated from the start,” she told AFP.”This decision testifies to the mobilisation of France at the highest level,” said Noemie Kohler. Cecile Kohler’s last spoke with her family in early March.”It’s very difficult for us because we have a feeling that she is starting to lose hope,” her sister said.In March, French national Olivier Grondeau, detained by Iran in 2022 on security charges but described by his family as an innocent tourist, was returned to France after being released. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the military was “dissecting” the Gaza Strip and seizing territory to pressure Hamas into freeing hostages still held in the territory.It came as rescuers said 34 people were killed in continued Israeli strikes on the territory, including on a UN building.The military is “dissecting the (Gaza) Strip and increasing the pressure step by step so that (Hamas) will return our hostages”, Netanyahu said in a statement, adding that Israel “is seizing territory, striking terrorists, and destroying infrastructure”.He added that the army is “taking control of the ‘Morag Axis'”, a strip of land that is expected to run between the southern governorates of Khan Yunis and Rafah.The name of the axis refers to a former Israeli settlement that was evacuated when Israel unilaterally pulled out of Gaza in 2005.Defence Minister Israel Katz earlier said Israel would bolster its military presence in the Palestinian territory to “destroy and clear the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure”.The operation would “seize large areas that will be incorporated into Israeli security zones”, he said in a statement, without specifying how much territory.Gaza’s civil defence agency said an Israeli strike that targeted a UN building “housing a medical clinic in Jabalia refugee camp” killed at least 19 people, including nine children.The Israeli army said it struck Hamas militants “inside a command and control centre” in north Gaza’s Jabalia. It separately confirmed to AFP the building housed a UN clinic.The Palestinian foreign ministry, based in the occupied West Bank, condemned the “massacre” at the clinic run by UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, and called for “serious international pressure” to halt Israel’s widening offensive.Israel has on several occasions conducted strikes on UNRWA buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for most of the past 18 months.The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter — a charge denied by the Palestinian militant group.Israel also carried out deadly air strikes in southern and central Gaza on Wednesday. The civil defence said dawn strikes killed at least 13 people in Khan Yunis and two in Nuseirat refugee camp.- ‘Horrified’ -In February, Katz announced plans for an agency to oversee the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians from the territory.That followed Israel’s backing of a proposal from US President Donald Trump for the United States to take over the territory after relocating its 2.4 million Palestinian inhabitants. The proposal outraged Gazans and drew widespread international condemnation.Israel resumed intense bombing of Gaza on March 18 before launching a new ground offensive, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire.An Israeli group representing the families of hostages still held in Gaza said they were “horrified” by Katz’s announcement of expanded military operations.”Has it been decided to sacrifice the hostages for the sake of ‘territorial gains?'” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum asked in a statement.At least 1,066 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed military operations, the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said.That took the overall toll to at least 50,423 since the war began with Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, according to Israeli figures.- ‘They’re all closed’ -Hunger loomed in Gaza City as bakeries closed due to worsening shortages of flour and sugar since Israel blocked the entry of supplies from March 2.  “I’ve been going from bakery to bakery all morning, but none of them are operating, they’re all closed,” Amina al-Sayed told AFP. On Sunday, Netanyahu offered to let Hamas leaders leave Gaza but demanded the group abandon its arms.Hamas has signalled willingness to cede power in Gaza but calls disarmament a “red line”.Egypt, Qatar and the United States are attempting to broker a new ceasefire and secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages.A senior Hamas official said Saturday the group had approved a new ceasefire proposal, while Netanyahu’s office said Israel had submitted a counteroffer. The details remain undisclosed.Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Wednesday.The visit drew condemnation not only from Hamas but also from neighbouring Jordan, which acts as custodian of the holy site, as well as Qatar and other governments.Ben Gvir has repeatedly challenged the longstanding convention that Jews may visit but not pray at the compound, stoking Palestinian fears about Israeli intentions.

Japanese video game giant Nintendo announced Wednesday that its new Switch console would be available on June 5, starting the countdown for one of the most hotly awaited gaming launches in years.Millions of fans around the world tuned in live on YouTube for an hour-long presentation from the Kyoto-based company about the Switch 2 — …

Nintendo to launch Switch 2 console on June 5 Read More »

The Israeli army said it targeted Hamas militants in a strike on a UN building in Jabalia refugee camp Wednesday that Gaza’s civil defence agency said killed 19 people, nine of them children.The army said in a statement that it struck the militants “inside a command and control centre that was being used for coordinating terrorist activity”. It separately confirmed to AFP the building housed a UN clinic.Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there were also dozens of people wounded in the strike which “targeted an UNRWA building housing a medical clinic”.The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said in a statement that the strike hit “two rooms on the first floor of an UNRWA destroyed health centre” which had been used as a shelter for 160 displaced families.”Many displaced families have not left the site, simply because they have absolutely nowhere else to go,” the statement said.It added that UNRWA staff “were managing the shelter when it was hit today” at 10 am, and highlighted that the agency had shared the building’s coordinates with the army.The military said that “the compound was used by Hamas’s Jabalia Battalion to plan terror attacks”, and accused the Palestinian group of “exploiting the civilian population as a human shield”.The Ramallah-based Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the “massacre at the UNRWA clinic in Jabalia”, calling for “serious international pressure” to halt Israel’s widening offensive.The Islamic Jihad militant group, a Hamas ally, called the bombing a “blatant war crime”.Israel has on several occasions conducted strikes on UNRWA buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for most of the past 18 months.A strike on the United Nations-run Al-Jawni school in central Gaza on September 11 drew international outcry after UNRWA said six of its staff were among the 18 people reported killed.The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in civilian buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter — a charge the Palestinian militant group denies.Israel resumed major air strikes on the Palestinian territory on March 18, after talks on next steps in a six-week truce broke down.It conducted air strikes on southern and central Gaza on Wednesday that the civil defence agency said killed at least 15 people, including children, in the city of Khan Yunis and Nuseirat refugee camp.Since March 18, at least 1,042 people have been killed in Gaza, according to figures last updated by the Hamas-run health ministry on Tuesday.In total, 50,399 people have been killed since the start of the war triggered by Hamas’s October 2023 attack, according to the ministry’s figures, which the United Nations views as reliable.

Israel said Wednesday it would expand its military operations and seize “large areas” of the Gaza Strip where rescuers said 34 people were killed in Israeli strikes, including on a UN building.Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel would bolster its military presence in the Palestinian territory to “destroy and clear the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure”.The operation would “seize large areas that will be incorporated into Israeli security zones”, he said in a statement, without specifying how much territory.Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least 19 people were killed, including nine children, when an Israeli strike “targeted an UNRWA (UN agency for Palestinian refugees) building housing a medical clinic in Jabalia refugee camp”. The Israeli army said in a statement that it struck Hamas militants “inside a command and control centre” in north Gaza’s Jabalia. It separately confirmed to AFP the building housed a UN clinic.The Palestinian foreign ministry, based in the occupied West Bank, condemned the “massacre at the UNRWA clinic in Jabalia” and called for “serious international pressure” to halt Israel’s widening offensive.Israel has on several occasions conducted strikes on UNRWA buildings housing displaced people in Gaza, where fighting has raged for most of the past 18 months.The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter — a charge denied by the Palestinian militant group.Israel also carried out deadly air strikes in southern and central Gaza on Wednesday. The civil defence said dawn strikes killed at least 13 people in Khan Yunis and two in Nuseirat refugee camp.Katz warned last week that the military would soon “operate with full force” in more parts of Gaza.In February, he announced plans for an agency to oversee the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians from the territory.That followed Israel’s backing of a proposal from US President Donald Trump for the United States to take over the territory after relocating its 2.4 million Palestinian inhabitants. The proposal outraged Gazans and drew widespread international condemnation.Israel resumed intense bombing of Gaza on March 18 before launching a new ground offensive, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire.- ‘Horrified’ -An Israeli group representing the families of hostages still held in Gaza said they were “horrified” by Katz’s announcement of expanded military operations.”Has it been decided to sacrifice the hostages for the sake of ‘territorial gains?'” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum asked in a statement.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected suggestions his government is not doing enough to secure the hostages’ release.”We are negotiating under fire… We can see cracks beginning to appear” in Hamas’s positions during ceasefire talks, he told his cabinet on Sunday.At least 1,042 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed military operations, the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said in its latest toll update on Tuesday.That took the overall toll to at least 50,399 since the war began with Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, according to Israeli figures.- ‘They’re all closed’ -Hunger loomed in Gaza City as bakeries closed due to worsening shortages of flour and sugar since Israel blocked the entry of aid supplies from March 2.  “I’ve been going from bakery to bakery all morning, but none of them are operating, they’re all closed,” Amina al-Sayed told AFP. On Sunday, Netanyahu offered to let Hamas leaders leave Gaza but demanded the group abandon its arms.Hamas has signalled willingness to cede power in Gaza but calls disarmament a “red line”.Egypt, Qatar and the United States are attempting to broker a new ceasefire and secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages.A senior Hamas official said Saturday the group had approved a new ceasefire proposal, while Netanyahu’s office said Israel had submitted a counteroffer. The details remain undisclosed.Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Wednesday, drawing condemnation not only from Hamas but also from neighbouring Jordan, which acts as custodian of the holy site.Ben Gvir has repeatedly challenged the longstanding convention that Jews may visit but not pray at the compound, stoking Palestinian fears about Israeli intentions.

The United States is increasing the number of aircraft carriers deployed in the Middle East to two, keeping one that is already there and sending another from the Indo-Pacific, the Pentagon said Tuesday.The announcement comes as US forces hammer Yemen’s Huthi rebels with near-daily air strikes in a campaign aimed at ending the threat they pose to civilian shipping and military vessels in the region.The Carl Vinson will join the Harry S. Truman in the Middle East “to continue promoting regional stability, deter aggression, and protect the free flow of commerce in the region,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.”To complement the CENTCOM maritime posture, the secretary also ordered the deployment of additional squadrons and other air assets that will further reinforce our defensive air-support capabilities,” Parnell said, referring to the US military command responsible for the region.”The United States and its partners remain committed to regional security in the CENTCOM (area of responsibility) and are prepared to respond to any state or non-state actor seeking to broaden or escalate conflict in the region,” he added.The Huthis began targeting shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the start of the Gaza war in 2023, claiming solidarity with Palestinians.Huthi attacks have prevented ships from passing through the Suez Canal, a vital route that normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic. Ongoing attacks are forcing many companies into a costly detour around the tip of southern Africa.- ‘Real pain’ -A day before the carrier announcement, US President Donald Trump vowed that strikes on Yemen’s Huthis would continue until they are no longer a threat to shipping.”The choice for the Huthis is clear: Stop shooting at US ships, and we will stop shooting at you. Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Huthis and their sponsors in Iran,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.Trump added that the Huthis had been “decimated” by “relentless” strikes since March 15, saying that US forces “hit them every day and night — Harder and harder.”On Wednesday, the Huthis accused the United States of killing four people in fresh air strikes on Hodeida province.The US president has also ramped up rhetoric towards Tehran, threatening that “there will be bombing” if Iran does not reach a deal on its nuclear program.Satellite images seen by AFP showed that Washington had between March 26 and Wednesday doubled the number of B-2 bombers at a US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, from three to six.The photos from imaging company Planet Labs PBC also showed the presence of six Stratotanker in-flight refuelling aircraft at the Diego Garcia base, within range of Iran.Trump’s threats come as his administration battles a scandal over the accidental leak of a secret group chat by senior security officials on the Yemen strikes.The Atlantic magazine revealed last week that its editor — a well-known US journalist — was inadvertently included in a chat on the commercially available Signal app where top officials were discussing the strikes.The officials, including Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, discussed details of air strike timings and intelligence — unaware that the highly sensitive information was being simultaneously read by a member of the media.