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Israel Targets Khalil Al-Hayya, A Central Figure In Hamas Leadership
Khalil Al-Hayya, a top Hamas official struck by Israel in Qatar on Tuesday, has risen to a central role in the group’s leadership following the deaths of Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar last year.
Israeli officials said the attack was aimed at top Hamas leaders including Hayya, its exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator.
However, Hamas political bureau member Suhail al-Hindi said the group’s top leadership and ceasefire negotiation delegation had survived the attack on Doha in a televised interview with Al Jazeera TV.
The son of Khalil al-Hayya was killed in the attack.
At the heart of ceasefire negotiations during the war that erupted two years ago, Hayya has been widely seen as the group’s most influential figure abroad since Haniyeh was killed by Israel in Iran in July 2024.
He is part of a five-man leadership council that has led Hamas since Sinwar was killed by Israel last October in Gaza.
A Veteran Member And A Key Figure
Hailing from the Gaza Strip, Hayya has lost several close relatives – including his eldest son – to Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, and is a veteran member of the Islamist group.
Regarded as having good ties with Iran, a vital source of arms and finance for Hamas, he has been closely involved in the group’s efforts to broker several truces with Israel, playing a key role in ending a 2014 conflict and again in attempts to secure an end to the current Gaza war.
Born in the Gaza Strip in 1960, Hayya has been part of Hamas since it was set up in 1987. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood in the early 1980s – the Sunni Islamist movement from which Hamas emerged – along with Haniyeh and Sinwar, Hamas sources say.
In Gaza, he was detained several times by Israel.
In 2007, an Israeli air strike hit his family home in Gaza City’s Sejaiyeh quarter, killing several of his relatives, and during the 2014 war between Hamas and Israel, the house of Hayya’s eldest son, Osama, was bombed, killing him, his wife and three of their children.
Hayya was not there during the attacks. He left Gaza several years ago, serving as a Hamas point person for ties with the Arab and Islamic worlds and basing himself in Qatar for the role.
Hayya accompanied Haniyeh to Tehran for the visit in July during which he was assassinated.
‘Limited Operation’
Hayya has been cited as saying the October 7 attacks that ignited the Gaza war had been meant as a limited operation by Hamas to capture “a number of soldiers” to swap for jailed Palestinians.
“But the Zionist army unit completely collapsed,” he said in comments published by the Hamas-linked Palestinian Information Center, referring to Israel’s military.
Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people and abducted another 250 on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli tolls. More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza since then, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Hayya has said the attack succeeded in bringing the Palestinian issue back into international focus.
Hayya has led Hamas’ delegations in mediated talks with Israel to try to secure a Gaza ceasefire deal that would have included an exchange of Israelis abducted by Hamas for Palestinians in Israeli jails.
He has performed other high-profile political work for Hamas. In 2022, he led a Hamas delegation to Damascus to mend ties with former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which were broken a decade earlier when the movement endorsed the largely Sunni uprising against Assad, a member of the minority Alawite sect.
The breach had strained a regional alliance built by Iran to counter Israel and the United States.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Israel’s Kill List: Hamas Leaders Taken Out And Those Still Standing
In a sharp escalation, Israel on Tuesday targeted Hamas leaders based in Qatar, widening its offensive against the Palestinian militant group.
Israeli officials told Reuters the strike was aimed at top Hamas leaders, including Khalil al-Hayya, its exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator. Two Hamas sources told Reuters that Hamas officials in the ceasefire negotiating team survived the attack.
Here are some of the top Hamas figures killed by Israel and those who remain alive almost two years since the start of the Gaza war, which began when the group attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023:
Those who are dead
Mohammad Sinwar
Mohammad Sinwar was a veteran Hamas commander and its overall military chief in Gaza at the time Israel said it killed him in May.
Sinwar had been elevated to Hamas’ top ranks after Israel killed his older brother, Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the October 7 attacks, in 2024.
Yahya Sinwar
The Israeli military killed Yahya Sinwar in Gaza in October, 2024, just over a year after the October 7 attacks he helped to plan. Sinwar had been Israel’s most wanted enemy at the time, and was widely assumed to be running the war in Gaza. He became Hamas chief after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, in Iran in July 2024.
Ismail Haniyeh
Haniyeh was assassinated in July 2024 during a visit to Tehran. He had been Hamas leader since 2017. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said he was killed by a short-range projectile. The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported that the explosion which killed him was a bomb that was covertly smuggled into the guesthouse where he was staying. Israel’s defence minister confirmed in December it had killed him.
Mohammed Deif
Israel’s military said Deif, commander of Hamas’ military wing, was killed after fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Younis in July 2024. Deif, who had survived seven Israeli assassination attempts, was believed to have been another October 7 mastermind.
Marwan Issa
Deputy Hamas military commander Marwan Issa was killed in an Israeli strike in March 2024, the Israeli military said. He had been at the top of Israel’s most-wanted list alongside Deif and Sinwar.
Saleh Al-Arouri
Deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri was killed by an Israeli drone strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs in January 2024. He was a founder of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades.
Those who are alive
Izz Al-Din Al-Haddad
Haddad became the most senior Hamas military leader in the Gaza Strip after Mohammad Sinwar’s death. Israel believes he is one of the masterminds of October 7, and has identified him among its most wanted. He is believed to be based in northern Gaza, the focal point of a new Israeli offensive.
Khalil Al-Hayya
Based in Qatar, Hayya has been widely seen as Hamas’ most influential figure abroad since Haniyeh’s death. He is part of a five-man leadership council that has led Hamas since Yahya Sinwar’s death. Hailing from the Gaza Strip, he has lost several close relatives – including his eldest son – to Israeli strikes.
Khaled Meshaal
One of Hamas’ most recognisable politicians Meshaal, 68, led the group between 2004 and 2017. He became known around the world in 1997 when Israeli agents injected him with poison in Jordan in a botched assassination attempt. He is now based in Qatar, serving on the five-man leadership council.
Mohammad Darwish
Also based in Qatar, Mohammad Darwish was a little known figure until the Haniyeh assassination, since when he has risen to prominence. He is believed to be the chairman of the Hamas Shoura Council, the highest decision-making body. He is nominally the head of the five-man leadership council.
Nizar Awadallah
Nizar Awadallah, a veteran Hamas leader, was a confidant of the group’s co-founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and has taken several key posts within the group including in its armed wing.
Hamas sources said Awadallah led Hamas in Gaza in 2006 in the wake of the group’s victory in a parliamentary election. He has made no public appearance or comments since the October 7 attacks, and is believed to have left Gaza before the war began.
Zaher Jabbarin
Jabbarin is the head of Hamas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a role he performs from Qatar. He is the fifth member of the leadership council. He is in charge of the portfolio of Palestinian prisoners and part of the negotiating team.
Israel arrested him in 1993 and he was sentenced to life, before he was freed in 2011 as part of a Hamas-Israel swap deal under which Israel released over 1,000 Palestinians in return for Gilad Shalit, a soldier Hamas captured in 2006.
Born in 1968 in Salfit in the West Bank, he co-founded the first cells of the Hamas armed wing in the West Bank in 1991.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Russian Airstrike Kills 23 Civilians At Pension Point In Eastern Ukraine: Sources
A Russian airstrike on a pension payout center in an eastern Ukrainian village killed 23 civilians on Tuesday, officials said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded by urging Kyiv’s allies to step up pressure on Moscow to end the war.
Russian troops have pressed a grinding offensive across much of the eastern Donetsk region as diplomatic efforts to achieve peace in the 3 1/2-year-old war have largely stalled.
Zelenskyy said a guided bomb had struck the village of Yarova, about 15 miles (24 km) from the city of Sloviansk, a Ukrainian stronghold, and several kilometres behind the front line.
“Directly on people. Ordinary civilians. At the very moment when pensions were being disbursed,” he wrote on X.
The president posted video footage showing bodies strewn across the ground and debris. Twenty-three people were killed and another 18 people were wounded, said Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.
He added that some victims were still being identified using DNA.
“The world must not remain silent,” Zelenskyy said. “The world must not remain idle. A response is needed from the United States. A response is needed from Europe. A response is needed from the G20.”
Russia did not immediately comment on Zelenskyy’s remarks. Moscow has denied targeting civilians, but tens of thousands have died since its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Last week, a Russian airstrike near the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv killed two people from a Danish-sponsored humanitarian demining mission.
“Is this what Russia means when it talks about peace? When will Russia stop killing people?” wrote European Council President Antonio Costa on X.
Call For War Financing
Ukraine has requested a new financing programme from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the war with Russia drags on, keeping military spending high, the prime minister said on Tuesday.
Ukraine is spending about 60% of its total budget to fund the war effort and relies heavily on financial support from its Western allies to cover the cost of pensions, public sector wages and humanitarian spending.
“Active hostilities continue, and our draft state budget for 2026 has been prepared with the understanding that the war is far from over,” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on X.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Pakistan Using Foreign Tech To Spy, Censor, Silence Dissent: Amnesty
Pakistan is carrying out large-scale surveillance of its citizens through phone tapping and a Chinese-made internet firewall that censors social media — one of the most extensive state surveillance operations outside China, Amnesty International said.
The rights watchdog said in a report released on Tuesday that Pakistan’s growing monitoring network was built using both Chinese and Western technology and powered a sweeping crackdown on dissent and free speech.
Already restricted political and media freedoms in Pakistan have tightened in recent years, particularly after the military broke with then-Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2022, who was later jailed and thousands of his party activists were detained.
LIMS, WMS 2.0
Pakistan’s spy agencies can monitor at least 4 million mobile phones at a time through its Lawful Intercept Management System (LIMS), while a firewall known as WMS 2.0 that inspects internet traffic can block 2 million active sessions at a time, Amnesty said.
The two-monitoring systems function in tandem: one lets intelligence agencies tap calls and texts while the other slows or blocks websites and social media across the country, it said.
The number of phones under surveillance could be higher as all four major mobile operators have been ordered to connect to LIMS, Amnesty technologist Jurre van Berge told Reuters.
Open Secret
“Mass surveillance creates a chilling effect in society, whereby people are deterred from exercising their rights, both online and offline,” the report said.
Amnesty said its findings draw on a 2024 Islamabad High Court case filed by Bushra Bibi, the wife of former premier Khan, after her private calls were leaked online.
In court, Pakistan’s defence ministries and intelligence agencies denied running or even having the capacity for phone tapping. But under questioning, the telecom regulator acknowledged it had already ordered phone companies to install LIMS for use by “designated agencies”.
Pakistan’s technology, interior, and information ministries, as well as the telecom regulator, did not respond to questions from Reuters about the Amnesty report.
Foreign Suppliers
Pakistan is currently blocking about 650,000 web links and restricting platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and X, Amnesty said.
The controls have hit hardest in the insurgency-hit Balochistan province, where districts have faced years-long internet blackouts, and rights groups accuse the military of disappearances and killings of Baloch and Pashtun activists, charges it denies.
Amnesty said it also reviewed licensing agreements, trade data, leaked technical files and Chinese records tying the firewall supplier to state-owned firms in Beijing.
It added that the firewall is supplied by the Chinese company Geedge Networks. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Monitoring centres for mobile calls are common globally but internet filtering for the public is rare, said Ben Wagner, Professor of Human Rights and Technology at Austrian university IT:U.
Having both in Pakistan “constitutes a troubling development from a human rights perspective” and “suggests greater restrictions on freedom of expression and privacy will become more common as such tools become easier to implement,” he said.
Amnesty said the firewall uses equipment from US-based Niagara Networks, software from Thales DIS, a unit of France’s Thales, and servers from a Chinese state IT firm. An earlier version relied on Canada’s Sandvine.
Passing The Buck
Niagara told Reuters it follows US export rules, does not know end users or how its products are used, and only sells tapping and aggregation gear.
Amnesty said the phone tapping system was made by Germany’s Utimaco and deployed through monitoring centres run by UAE-based Datafusion.
Datafusion told Amnesty that its centres are only sold to law enforcement and that it does not make LIMS, while AppLogic Networks, the successor to Sandvine, said it has grievance mechanisms to prevent misuse.
The other companies named in the report did not respond to requests for comment.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Panic Erupts In Gaza City Following Israeli Evacuation Order
Israel’s military on Tuesday directed Gaza City residents to evacuate as it prepares a new offensive, threatening intensified attacks described as a “mighty hurricane” unless Hamas frees the last hostages.
Residents of the city of one million Palestinians have been expecting an onslaught for weeks, since the Israeli government devised a plan to deal Hamas a fatal blow in what it says are the militant group’s last remaining strongholds.
“I say to the residents of Gaza, take this opportunity and listen to me carefully: you have been warned — get out of there!” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
The evacuation orders caused panic and confusion among residents of the strip’s largest urban centre. Some said they would have no choice but to leave for the south, but most said they would stay, as no other place was safe.
“Despite the bombardment in the past week, I have resisted leaving, but now I will go to be with my daughter,” said Um Mohammad, a 55-year-old mother of six.
Gazans have already been displaced several times since the war started in October 2023, moving between the north and the south of the coastal enclave, in a worsening humanitarian crisis that has led to starvation.
The Israeli military has instructed Gaza City residents to move to the southern Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis, which it designated as “a humanitarian zone.”
‘Mighty Hurricane’
Netanyahu said Israeli forces were organising and assembling in Gaza City for a ground “manoeuvre”, but there had been no new advance for tanks to deepen the ground offensive so far on Tuesday.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military would step up its campaign in a “mighty hurricane” if Hamas does not free the last hostages it holds and surrenders.
Taking over the city complicates ceasefire efforts to end the nearly two-year war. Hopes had been pinned on mediation efforts to reach a ceasefire that would avert Israel’s plan.
Qatar has been pressing Hamas leaders to “respond positively” to the latest U.S.-proposed Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal during talks in Doha on Monday, an official briefed on the talks told Reuters.
Hamas said it received some ideas from the United States’ side to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza, and was discussing with mediators ways to develop those ideas.
Israel has accepted a ceasefire proposal from U.S. President Donald Trump, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Monday.
International Criticism
The offensive comes as several European countries, angered by Israel’s bombardment in Gaza, have said they would recognise a Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly this month, a move Israel rejects.
International critics say Israel’s plan, which includes demilitarising the whole strip as Israel takes security control of it, could deepen the humanitarian plight of the 2.2 million population, where famine has been declared in some areas.
Netanyahu had said Israel had no choice but to complete the job and defeat Hamas, given that the militant group had refused to lay down its arms. Hamas said it would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established.
Israel had already taken control of 75% of Gaza since the war began with Hamas’ cross-border assault on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, Israeli tallies show. Israeli authorities say 20 of the remaining 48 hostages in Gaza are alive.
Israel’s subsequent military assault has killed over 64,000 Palestinians, Gaza’s health ministry says, and internally displaced nearly the entire population and left much of the territory in ruins.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Hamas Leadership In Qatar Hit By Israeli Military Strikes, Officials Report
On Tuesday, Israel carried out attacks on Hamas leaders based in Qatar, widening its military operations across the Middle East to include the Gulf state that has long hosted the Palestinian group’s political headquarters.
Qatar, which has acted as a mediator alongside Egypt in talks on a ceasefire in the almost two-year-old war in Gaza, condemned the action as “cowardly” and called it a flagrant violation of international law.
Two Hamas sources said that Hamas officials in the ceasefire negotiating team survived the attack.
Israeli officials said the strike was aimed at top Hamas leaders including Khalil al-Hayya, its exiled Gaza chief and top negotiator.
Several blasts were heard in Qatar’s Doha, according to witnesses. Plumes of black smoke were billowing from the city’s Legtifya petrol station. Next door to the petrol station is a small residential compound that has been guarded by Qatar’s emiri guard 24 hours a day since the beginning of the Gaza conflict.
Ambulances and at least 15 police and unmarked government cars thronged the streets around the blast site an hour after the strike.
Israeli Strikes
Israel has killed several top Hamas leaders since the Palestinian terrorist group attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel has also launched airstrikes and other military action in Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Yemen in the course of the Gaza conflict.
In Lebanon, it attacked the heavily armed Iran-backed group Hezbollah and in Yemen it launched air strikes on the Iran-aligned Houthi group. Both groups have launched strikes on Israel during the Gaza conflict.
An Israeli official confirmed that Israel had carried out an attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar. Qatar’s Al Jazeera television, citing a Hamas source, said the attack was aimed at Hamas Gaza ceasefire negotiators.
The assault is likely to deal a serious, if not fatal blow to efforts to reach a ceasefire, especially since it took place in the Gulf Arab country Qatar, which has hosted several rounds of talks.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Macron Faces Search For New Prime Minister After Government Collapse
French President Emmanuel Macron is searching for his fifth prime minister in under two years after opposition parties banded together to oust centre-right leader Francois Bayrou over controversial budget-tightening plans.
Bayrou, who handed a 364-194 defeat in a parliamentary confidence vote on Monday, will officially hand in his resignation to Macron on Tuesday.
Whoever Macron picks to succeed him will face the near impossible task of uniting parliament and finding ways to get a budget for next year adopted. France is under pressure to lower a deficit that stands at nearly double the European Union’s 3% ceiling, and a debt pile equivalent to 114% of GDP.
Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s name was among those circulating for the next prime minister, with Macron’s other options being to pick someone from the centre-left or a technocrat.
There are no rules governing who the president should choose, or how fast. Macron, 47 and in office since 2017, will appoint his new prime minister in the next few days, his office said on Monday.
The Socialists were among those saying it was their turn to govern. “I would like it to be the left, the greens. We need to claim power,” Socialist Party chief Olivier Faure told France Inter radio.
The far-right National Rally, meanwhile, repeated its call for a snap parliamentary election, which Macron has so far ruled out.
Dissolving parliament “is the only way, the best way, to get out of a political crisis,” party leader Marine Le Pen told reporters.
Macron’s decision last year to call a snap parliamentary election only resulted in a more fragmented parliament.
Market reaction was relatively muted in early trading on Tuesday, with Bayrou’s departure already largely priced in. The next test will be Fitch’s decision on France’s sovereign rating on Friday.
‘Let’s Block Everything’
French businesses are worried about the impact of the political crisis.
“The fall of the government adds to months of political instability that have already undermined economic confidence,” said Maya Noël, of tech lobby France Digitale. “In the innovation sector, this instability has an immediate cost: it slows down investment and hiring.”
The country was also gearing up for “Let’s Block Everything” anti-government protests on Wednesday, which have mushroomed on social media in a potential echo of widespread anti-Macron “Yellow Jacket” protests that shook the country in 2018-2019.
The protesters have no centralised leadership, meaning it is hard to assess how big or disruptive the demonstrations may be. Paris police chief Laurent Nunez told BFM TV that 80,000 police would be deployed across the country, with authorities fearing attempts to block some main roads and train stations, and possible violent actions.
For some protesters, the “Block Everything” movement is about asking for change.
“Now that the change of the prime minister is a done deal, they need to get rid of what’s higher up … that’s a message for Macron,” 61-year-old protester Alain Petit said at a “farewell drink” for Bayrou organised in Clermont-Ferrand, in central France, late on Monday.
Other such “farewell drinks” for Bayrou were organised in front of city halls across the country, with people there saying they were gearing up for Wednesday’s protests.
Labour unions have also announced a day of strikes and protests on September 18.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Thailand’s Ex-PM Thaksin Jailed After Court Rejects Hospital Detention
Thailand’s influential former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was jailed on Tuesday after the Supreme Court determined his hospital stay was merely a tactic to evade jail, delivering a major setback to a powerful political family that has maintained dominance for two decades.
The polarising billionaire had spent only a few hours in prison upon his return from 15 years of self-exile in August 2023 before he was hospitalised after complaining of heart trouble and chest pains, prompting widespread scepticism and public outrage.
His eight-year sentence for conflicts of interest and abuse of power while prime minister from 2001-2006 was commuted to one year by the king, and Thaksin was released on parole after just six months of detention, the entirety of which he had spent in the VIP wing of a hospital.
‘Must Go Back To Prison’
The court on Tuesday said Thaksin must go back to serve a year in prison as both he and his doctors had intentionally prolonged his hospital stay with minor surgeries that were unnecessary.
“The defendant knew the facts or was aware that the situation was not a critical emergency. The defendant only had a chronic condition that could be treated as an outpatient and did not require hospitalisation,” it said.
In images screened live on television, a van carrying Thaksin arrived at a Bangkok jail soon after a ruling that has gripped the country, the latest drama in two weeks of political chaos that saw the abrupt end of yet another Thaksin-backed populist government.
The 76-year-old powerbroker is experiencing a political reckoning after his daughter and protégé, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was sacked as prime minister by a court on August 29 – the sixth premier from or backed by the Shinawatra family to be removed by the judiciary or military.
Paetongtarn’s government fell on Friday, outmanoeuvred by challenger Anutin Charnvirakul, who was elected prime minister by parliament in a humiliating defeat for Thaksin’s once unstoppable Pheu Thai party, which won five of the past six elections.
Thaksin, who has loomed large over Thai politics throughout a quarter of a century of turmoil, is Thailand’s first former prime minister to be sent to prison.
Collision Course
He accepted the verdict and said he had proudly served his people by raising living standards and changing the dynamic of Thailand’s democracy.
“I may no longer have freedom, but have freedom of thought to create benefit for the country and people,” he said on social media.
A policeman-turned-telecoms magnate, Thaksin and his parties won the hearts and votes of millions of working-class Thais with populist giveaways from cash handouts and community loans to generous farm subsidies and universal healthcare.
But his soaring popularity and brash character put him on a collision course with an old guard of conservatives, generals and old money families with sway over key institutions, and an eagerness to clip his wings.
Thailand’s incoming prime minister, Anutin, who was once a member of Thaksin’s party and served in two of his cabinets, said he did not want to see him jailed.
“I am saddened, I sympathise with him,” Anutin said.
“For someone who has governed the country, I don’t want him to face something like this.”
Daughter Voices Concern
Thaksin’s daughter and ousted prime minister Paetongtarn was emotional as she emerged from the court, moments before her father was taken to a corrections department van bound for jail.
She said she was proud of her father for creating history, but worried about his welfare.
“Me and my family are concerned,” she told reporters. “This is quite heavy.”
Ubon Ratchathani University political scientist Titipol Phakdeewanich said that, despite the verdict and the Shinawatra family’s declining influence, the indomitable Thaksin would still attempt to call the shots in politics.
“It doesn’t mean that he would completely withdraw from politics. He’ll still likely play a role within Pheu Thai,” he said.
“There are still legal ways to cut his sentence. And we have seen that he tried everything to stay out of jail.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
Seoul To Fly Charter To US For Detained Workers’ Return
South Korea will dispatch a chartered plane to Atlanta as early as Wednesday to return workers who were detained last week during a large immigration raid at a car battery plant in the U.S. state of Georgia, a spokesperson for Korean Air said on Tuesday.
A Korean Air Boeing 747-8i plane with 368 seats will fly from South Korea’s Incheon to Atlanta, according to the spokesperson.
During the U.S. immigration raid, about 300 South Koreans were among 475 people arrested at the site of a $4.3 billion project by Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution to build batteries for electric cars.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun is travelling to Washington to negotiate on issues such as seeking assurances that the detained Koreans will be allowed re-entry to the United States.
South Korean officials had kicked off the process of bringing the detained workers back home, a senior diplomatic official told reporters in Georgia after meeting with the workers in custody.
The raid was the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security’s investigative operations, and sent shockwaves through South Korea, a U.S. ally that has been trying to finalise a trade deal agreed with Washington in July.
It came just 10 days after South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae Myung, met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington and the two pledged closer business ties.
In addition to potentially fraying bilateral ties, the development has shone fresh light on how many foreign firms investing in the U.S. have struggled to find qualified American workers.
Seoul Seeks US Reentry
Seoul stated on Monday that it seeks permission for hundreds of South Korean workers, arrested last week during a major U.S. immigration raid at a car battery project and scheduled to return home soon, to be allowed to re-enter the United States.
Meanwhile, South Korean Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said on Monday that he had heard that some experts had travelled from South Korea to help with a test run of the factory, which was due to begin production in October.
Seoul has expressed its unhappiness about the arrests and the public release of footage showing the operation, which involved armoured vehicles and the shackling of workers.
Trump, who has ramped up deportations nationwide as his administration cracks down on illegal immigrants, said last week he had not been aware of the raid. He called those detained “illegal aliens”.
(With inputs from Reuters)
India, EU ‘Engaged’ In Crucial Trade Talks To Meet Year-End Deal Deadline
India and the European Union are engaged in potentially decisive trade negotiations in New Delhi this week, aiming to bridge differences over agriculture, dairy, and non-tariff barriers in order to meet an ambitious deadline at the end of the year for finalising a deal, sources in the Indian government and EU said.
New Delhi is seeking to deepen global partnerships after U.S. President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50% last month over India’s Russian oil purchases, hitting exports such as textiles, leather and chemicals.
Negotiations, relaunched in 2022, have gained pace since Trump’s re-election. Brussels, too, faced with Trump’s tariffs, has accelerated its push for trade alliances, sealing deals with Mexico and the South American Mercosur countries and stepping up talks with India, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates.
A pact with the EU could also draw India closer to the West, after unease over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to China for a summit attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders.
“Talks with the EU are progressing well,” an Indian government source said, citing Modi’s call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week, when both leaders pledged to conclude a deal this year.
So far, 11 of the 23 chapters under negotiations have been finalised, covering customs, digital trade, intellectual property, competition, subsidies, dispute settlement and anti-fraud measures, the source said.
But sticking points remain.
India has ruled out concessions on agriculture and dairy, citing farmers’ livelihoods, while the EU is pressing for greater access to India’s market for automobiles and alcoholic beverages.
Differences also persist on rules of origin, food safety standards, labour and environmental obligations, and what Brussels views as restrictive Indian quality control orders that act as non-tariff barriers, an EU official said.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity as the details about trade talks are not public.
India’s commerce ministry and the EU office in New Delhi did not immediately respond to email requests for comments.
Russian Oil Purchases
Brussels is also pressing New Delhi over discounted Russian oil purchases, which EU officials say undermine sanctions against Moscow.
While unlikely to dominate the discussions, the issue could cast a pall over the negotiations and result in resistance in the European Parliament, which would have to approve any deal, EU officials said.
European Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen and EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic will be in Delhi later this week for discussions with Indian counterparts.
In parallel, the EU’s Political and Security Committee, led by Chair Delphine Pronk and comprising ambassadors of all 27 states, will visit India from September 10-14 for meetings with officials, defence executives and think tanks.
Another contentious issue is the EU’s carbon border tax, which will levy carbon-intensive imports such as steel and aluminium from 2026.
Indian officials call it a disguised trade barrier while Brussels insists it is central to its climate policy.
EU officials said they were ready to offer flexibility in its implementation to address the concerns of small and medium-sized businesses.
(With inputs from Reuters)